popcorn_skollie

Thanks for the tip. Never knew about their automated functionality. I'll check it out.

Good old ssh is a big plus I'll admit. WD has its own encrypted file system with a windows explorer overlay. It is a bit wonky. Slower. But still easily accessible. I'm not overly concerned about user rights and encryption even on the server end. The data isn't exactly sensitive. Moving copying and updating is definitely slower over lan. Sure. A dedicated workstation would certainly handle this much quicker. But these days any new content I download goes to the nas by default. No matter where I get it from. And that's like one or 2 things a week. Plex scans the nas daily and pulls data pretty accurately from online databases. Usually I would que up some stuff and forget about it. Then when ever I kick back with the xbox or what ever it would recommend newly added titles. I like that. I'm still using the free service of Plex though. So I miss out on stuff like recommended titles, new episode notifications, trailer viewing and so on. I'm not the type to typically keep up to date with particular stuff unless I really, really like it. If something looks interesting. And a complete season is available. I'd probably que it up. But if something new is 3 episode in I don't bother. Too much trouble keeping up. Some exceptions. Now I'm not going to deny being a dirty little pirate when the mood strikes. But I tend avoid torrents for security reasons these days. If something is on Hulu, Amazon or HBO and I really want it. I'll ask around first. But if its fresh content its generally safer. An episode drops and seeds pop up quickly I generally find to be safe. Some of the local invite only wug groups do regular updates on tons of stuff. Especially if its popular. There's also discord groups with links to big ftp libraries.

Having previously used a workstation as a media server myself before moving to a nas. I find that personally the pro's outweigh the cons. For starters the smaller footprint is a big plus. With no need for additional desk space for another computer, monitor and peripherals. I find that a nas on the desk (which takes up about as much space as a book or 2) as a more convenient and economical use of space. It is also far more efficient in terms of power draw especially for something which is intended to be on 247. Any convenience of a workstation over a nas with regards to access and management can be overcome by using any computer on the lan with credentials. Or even using my phone. I've considered the option of a pie. Which is a far cheaper solution. But the pain of getting it setup physically (with enclosures, cables and multiple powered devices for 2 drives and the pie) as well as the software side of things. Well, it seems a tad inconvenient and frankly a bit out of my league. I really, really like the nas. I can be anywhere in the world and listen to music simply not found on spotify and soundcloud. Complete access to terabytes of my own personal music library without using up any space on my fone. Or paying any subscription fees to online music services. When visiting family abroad I have complete access to years and years of family photos. Which I can share with them on the fly again without having them physically stored on my fone. With no space limitations like free online cloud services and no subscription fees to the ones which offer enough space for my libraries. Then there's Plex. Having used Kodi and a few others. I find that Plex is simply the most universal platform for streaming. Nearly every smart TV has Plex preinstalled. Its also super easy for kids to navigate using tablets. It also saves bandwidth. So instead of the kids hogging the line rewatching the same crap over Netflix. They just watch Captain Underpants for the umpteenth time in 1080p without any internet usage at all. Kodi doesn't seem to be as prevalent or user friendly for those less than tech savvy. I just want something thats a little better than what I have and am willing to pay a little extra. But the home solutions from Qnap, WD and Synology just seem so expensive. If I consider the cost of a nas and 2 drives. I'm looking at around 10-12k all in. That's nuts. Why aren't there any 2 bays with included drives off the shelf? Why can't I get an easy, plug and play, all in one solution for say 5k or 6k. Why do I have to choose between buying the same thing again for the same price (R3,500) or leap towards triple the price for solutions that are more professional than I require. There has to be a middle solution here. I just can't find it.

My nas died. Kinda. It was non responsive for a week. At the time I wasn't too phased. I have numerous redundancies of important work files. And they're all all backed up to the cloud too. And decades of family photos are redundant across a few computers here at home. Then it mysteriously sprang back to life 2 nights ago. Going through the library, I realised how much of it I'll miss if this thing dies again. Remasters of old classics. Surf and mountain biking videos that are really hard to come by. Not to mention the music. Some of those mp3's I've literally had for more than 20 years and simply put. They would be impossible to get again. As a short term solution I bought a 4tb wd gold and am now I'm in the process of grabbing it all bit by bit. But I want need a new nas. So I'm looking for suggestions that wont break the bank. For home use. 2 bay so I can run them in raid 1. The most important feature to me would be native Plex support that can handle a bit of transcoding. 1080p local lan streaming is a must but would consider paying a little more if 4k was supported at minimal extra cost. But not essential. I'm not really interested in streaming from the device online. The primary function would be to act as a single library source to all tv's, smartphones and pc's here at home. Being away from home however I would like to access my photo and music library online. Which I'm sure any nas can do these days. I've asked around and this is one area of hardware most gamers aren't too familiar with. I've been running a WD My Cloud Home device for the last 3 years. This is a bottom of the barrel nas solution but it worked really well for us here at home. All smart devices connected to the home lan are able to stream through Plex. Which is a convenience that's really hard to let go of. I payed like R3,500 for it about 3 years ago. And that included the preinstalled 4tb drive. But the solutions I'm looking at now start at like R3k+ without any drives at all. Not everything has native support for Plex. And the ones that do seem a little more professional (and expensive) than what I require. Any network manne in here?

I'm struggling to find the video now but Playstation revealed some interesting things about the process of their collaboration with AMD. The general assumption that AMD slaps their existing technology to meet the requirements of the console space is misguided. Sony revealed that the process of AMD's APU development for consoles is a 2 way street. Its a bit of a crude oversimplification but an APU is the process where the CPU and GPU are integrated into a single die. This is done to mitigate high power requirements and by extension allow for far a greater degree of efficiency with regards to power consumption and by extension, thermal headroom and performance. Sony revealed that its not simply a case of going to processor manufacturers and asking who can make what they need for their new console at the best price to performance. AMD doesn't simply 'win the tender' because they make good stuff at a good price. Sony worked very closely with AMD to develop this technology. And while AMD may well benefit from a significant cash injection as a result. The relationship in terms of actual tech development is far more beneficial to AMD. Their achievements in the PC space is not just a reflection of what they are able to achieve on their own merits. But rather what they were able to learn from working with other companies. AMD's recent ability to develop an entirely new generation of standards in the pc space is as much a result of in house development as it is through collaboration. The ace AMD has up its sleeve as I mentioned before is that as a single company, they are able to understand the requirements of both the cpu and gpu space simultaneously. This is pivotal in creating APU design for consoles. Nvidia is still a predominantly gpu manufacturer. And their recent acquisition of ARM hints at their intentions to branch out into the cpu space and by extension...APU. Its no coincidence that Nvidia did this. Mindfull of AMD as always. Then Intel has been developing their discreet gpu for a few years now. So they too are thinking of the long game too.

Its such a shame they still have this reputation. These days its probably a result of the memes more than anything else. Personally I've had driver issues from both sides over the years. But the days of driver issues in general are long forgotten. Right now I have machines with cards from both. The funny thing is I struggled with Nvidia's turing drivers because of an outdated windows build. Thats was maybe 2 years back? Easily overcome with updates but Radeon never seemed to mind that at all. I also prefer the driver interface over Nvidias. Stats and OC options are easier to navigate and understand. And the Relive stuff makes streaming easy. Nvidia doesn't really lack anything. But the layout is certainly less intuitive. As for reliability I can't complain on either end. I can't remember the last time a game crashed with any card I have now. I doubt AMD will drop a card that can compete with Nvidia's top tier offerings. But I don't believe its a case of them unable to do so. I think they're perfectly capable of competing for the top spot. But its not a viable marketing strategy. Not when most enthusiasts are in the mid range. Its also where the value prospect of performance to dollar makes the most sense from a consumer perspective. They're a business. Their incentive is market share. They achieved this with Ryzen. Offer better value for money in the mid range. Make a product which is 90% as good as Intel's offering at half the price. Nvidia is clearly mindful of this if their latest offerings is anything to go by. I mean lets be clear. They quite literally offered a new line of gpus where the entry level card is more powerful than last generations flagship at half the price. We haven't seen such a drastic jump in performance to price between generations since what. 10 years ago? They knew that 2080ti owners would be fuming but its a risk they took because they anticipate an AMD response that would threaten market share. To add to that for them to msrp the 3090 at double the price of the 3080 means they're not looking to compete in that space. Just maintain the crown. For those who care about raw performance irrespective of price. Here's my prediction. AMD will slide in with 2 or 3 cards at launch. No card to compete with Nvidia's top tier 3090. Maybe? But probably not. The flagship will perform just shy of the 3080 but at a much better price and probably more ram. It might even compete head to head in some titles especially with devs using radeon for its optimization process. And this space has and continues to grow significantly. The second card will perform somewhere halfway between the 3070 and 3080. At a price that's slightly less than halfway between the 3070 and the 3080 msrps. Then maybe a 3rd card that's shy of the 3070 performance. But at a very good price. This is where they aim to sell the most cards. Then over the next 2 years both sides will pepper the market with cards at almost every $50 price increment and partners pcb's will follow suite. If AMD really is out for the crown they will have to fork so much money into rnd that the return on investment just wont make business sense. Not right now anyways. But if they continue on their current trajectory. Mark my words. In a few short years AMD will do to Nvidia what they've done to Intel. Its the long game they're playing. And Nvidia knows it. Ask yourself why Nvidia just bought ARM. They're taking AMD's threat seriously. Intel didn't see em coming. They got comfortable making the same crap year after year with small increments in performance at bigger increments in cost because they could. They got away with it because they weren't challenged. Now they're behind in rnd because they threw more money into exploiting their existing product stack for higher margins. Think of it this way. AMD is fighting a war on two fronts. They have been for a long time. Where as Intel and Nvidia have the same common adversary. For AMD to present such a great threat to Intel in such a short space of time says heaps about what they're truly capable of as a tech company. And they're pretty hot on Nvidia's heels too. These achievements speak volumes especially considering that they have far less at their disposal when compared to both Intel and Nvidia's resources respectively. Global GPU market share ending 2nd quarter 2020. I think its fair to say that Nvidia got a nice bump with its launch. But lets wait for Navi and see what happens

I take it renovations are done. I love how you've integrated your power for cable management. Looks mooi.

Some of the 10 series cards are able to ray trace despite a lack of rt cores due to some software wizardry with driver updates. They do come at a questionable performance drop that make them seem moot. But could make games like minecraft at 1080p worth the trouble. https://www.pcmag.com/news/nvidias-ray-tracing-for-gtx-10-series-cards-will-drag-down-fps

At this point the prospect of getting a previous gen card off the shelf doesn't seem like a bad idea. A 2080ti is still a beast. Its a waiting game now. Navi will drop end of next month. The 3060 and so forth might seem like a worthy option as well.

The distributor prices I've seen on partner cards for the 3080 are around R17k including vat. And from what I've heard the backlog on pre-orders is ridiculous. Either way you slice it. I've never seen a price disparity this huge between msrp and local. Look to be fair you're always going to pay a premium for any Strix, Aorus and the like over founders. And we will have to wait and see 3rd party benches to warrant whether those performance gains are worth spending on. Prices 'should' also even out once shelves are stocked. But at these prices I doubt many retailers will risk having that much cash tied up in their inventory. It feels like these early prices are indicitive of demand.

https://youtu.be/raNWOkG54VQ Check the size of this thing. I think it takes up 4 slots!

Team Green's new GPU MSRP vs local retail pricing RTX 3070 - $500 (R8,000) RTX 3080 - $700 (R11,000) RTX 3090 - $1500 (R24,000)

Congrats! Just a heads up incase you're wondering about the soap opera effect on your new tv. Not everyone notices it off the bat but these new models support variable refresh rates. So depending on what you're watching you could see some ghosting or this strange blur in high motion scenes. Hisense avoids the jargon and actual refresh rate numbers by calling it 'motion smoothing'. You can change this in your picture settings. https://youtu.be/sor5qTTsOOQ https://youtu.be/rN1NjPHROis

Besides the monitor and peripherals. You could build a console killer pc for 10-12k off the shelf easy. And game comfortably at 1080p for the foreseeable future. I mean the new i3 craps all over my 6600k and the Ryzen 3300x is a fantastic alternative that wont break the bank. Then you also have the option of staggered upgrades over time. And, if you have a keen eye and lurk like a parasite on carb. You could score deals on some great parts. A pc will always be a larger initial investment. But long term it always going to be way better value overall.

I still think the PS5 is the winner. Especially if its your primary gaming device. Xbox exclusives are just utter *** in comparison. I have my reasons for the xbox. But I'll always be a pc gamer first.

I'll eventually get the S. Perhaps a year or so after launch. Keep an eye on specials and bundles. Who knows. Maybe I can score it over black friday 2021. I still sub to game pass which covers my current xbox and pc titles. I don't intend giving that up. I also heard that the sub would include EA pass games from November at no additional cost. That's fantastic value. There are things to bear in mind here if opting for the X. Remember baseline performance aims are 4k 60fps. And with variable refresh rate support we're talking 1440p at 120 frames easy. Thats unheard of. If your TV can't push that you're wasting your money. We're at a point now where the line between console and pc are basically the peripherals. I'd go as far to say that if every game on every console had native support for a keyboard and mouse without the expense of input lag. Then the casual pc gaming market would be in serious trouble. For the first time you're looking at consoles that warrant buying a new display or tv to actually benefit from what it has to offer. The disk drive. Look. I get that its nice to pop in a disk and play. Its even nicer to get some cash back when you're done with it. But remember. Game development these days are moving towards a digital platform all together. I read reports about the new Halo being the only Halo intended for release for the next decade. Meaning that any new content will come in the form of updates and dlc's. I remember having a copy of fifa 18 and the first time I popped it in I had to wait for a 2gb update before I could even play. Then your library tries to update games every other day. Its crazy. New content is being dropped all the time. Bugs are fixed. etc. It really makes me wonder what the point is in having the convenience of an optical disk at all.

I pulled some strings with old friends in the local distribution supply chain. After a few months of cherry picking parts I came up just short of 15k. The psu which is valued at around 2k is excluded because I just happened to have an old sealed unit from a previous rma. The case was all I overpaid for by a couple hundred. Because I was fussy. So I think its fair to say you're looking at around 18-20k retail for the stuff above. Then I also have to buy a gpu. Which I expect will set me back between 10-15. When all is said and done. Maybe 25-30k. At which point I'll try and recover some of the expenses by flogging my old parts on carb. Conservatively I should get back roughly 8k for my old machine. The worst part is once this build is done. My existing monitor wont be able to take advantage of all the horses under the hood. I have a 75hz ultrawide. For me to actually benefit from all the frames the build will be able to render I'm looking at spending at least another 5-7k for a high refresh rate display. But I will be able to cap frames in the meantime to keep things smooth until I'm able to afford it. I've always been in the habit of staggering upgrades over time. I can't afford to drop all that money in one go. But if I'm smart and patient. It will eventually pay off.

I've splurged a bit on a new build. 3600xt on the B450 platform. I've struggled to decide between opting for b550 or x570 instead but the deal was too good to pass up on. Considering things like pcie4 and forward compatibility with the new upcoming Ryzen processors. I realized that this build will still be so far ahead of what I have now that the cost to performance gains make sense to stick with b450. Pcie4 is still an option with bios updates and if I ever want to upgrade the cpu in the next few years. And I could probably get a better deal on current gen Ryzen 7 or 9 upgrade as apposed to trying to go up an entire generation. Even then the performance gains per rand will be better value. This will be my first AMD platform in over a decade. I will also have nvme storage which is new to me and light years faster than sata ssd I have now. Now I wait patiently for big navi and 3rd party benches of partner cards between team red and team green before I decide on a new gpu. Exciting times ahead. Parts so far Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite mobo paired with a Ryzen 5 3600xt processer. I got this cooler new on carbonite. Sticking with air for now. With no real intention of moving to water if I'm honest. I think I'm over it. This cooler in particular is actually intended for the Ryzen 7 processors. Which means that its capabale of a higher tdp that the Ryzen 5 I will slap it onto. Giving me more thermal headroom for a bit of OC should I decide to go that route. The fastest ram I've ever owned in both latency and frequency. With OC headroom to boot as well. The nice thing about this kit is that despite purchasing 2x8gb dims. It comes with with 2 additional dummy dims to populate the empty slots. Which is a nice aesthetic touch for a small price. For the case I went with Corsair's Carbide 275R. Paired with their CS850w modular psu. More than enough power to keep things going even if I upgrade in time to come. I've also settled on 2 ssd's for storage. 1tb Klevv nvme and 1tb Hikvision sata ssd. I'll think about additional hdd storage later. The highlight of the build remains. But lets see what these new cards do before I decide

I have 4 hisense tv's in my house. A 55 inch 4k in my lounge. A 40 inch 4k in my bedroom. And 2 x 32 inch cheapies for each of my kids. I have previously owned samsung and lg tv's as well. For movies and series you can't complain at all. Anything 1080p and up looks great even on the 55. Contrast ratio is decent. Colour gamut is not the best but you have options to tweak it. If you're looking for a budget TV that can deliver. Look no further than Hisense. You're going to get more for your money. Once you start looking at high end TV's for gaming or a proper immersive cinema experience. Thats when I'd start looking at other brands. On both Hisense 4k tv's I own. (I don't know about the new ones) I can only watch native 4k at 24hz. Even though its specced to run at 60hz. It doesn't do that at 4k. It runs at 60hz for resolutions of 1080p and lower. Something they probably put in the fine print while misleadingly advertise on the box. This is not really a big deal. The xbox runs fine at 1080p 60hz. And most reasonably sized 4k feature films wont exceed 30fps. Besides. Most of what I watch on netflix etc I watch at 1080p anyways. Its not a deal breaker but people deserve to know none the less. After sales service. Simply put. The best I've had so far. The 40 in my room had internet problems after around 6 months of use. I told takealot. They sent Hisense to my house. Two guys with screw drivers and did some testing and told me it cannot be repaired. It was replaced with a brand new one at no cost a few days later. No problems since. Look its not bells and whistles like top end tv's. But once its up and running you'll be surprised at the quality you're getting for the money you paid. Hevc (x265) codec support is a huge plus. Every dirty little torrent you download will play perfectly from a flash drive or over lan or wifi. What I don't like. Dealing with the in house smart functionality is a pain. They might be snappier and more reliable on newer models but I hate dealing with mine. Don't get me wrong they work. But they're slow. Very slow. Netflix navigation is 'acceptable' That's me being generous with my description too. Don't get me wrong. It works. And once you're watching what you want the navigation doesn't matter. But that's it. If you're patient and don't know what to watch you're ok. But if you have a nas or external drive with a massive library you need to excessive some patience to get to what it is you want to watch. Because a tv with 2gigs of ram and a little compute unit is going to struggle with your terabyte drive. Wanna watch Zoolander 2? Tough ****. Either watch Gilmore Girls or go make some popcorn while titles H - Z is loading. This is where you realize why its so much cheaper.

I got smashed by a double after riding one almost all the way to shore. Fences circa 2008. That year brought some swell to remember. The last thing you expect to see after you kick out is an over head that close to shore. It threw me down head first. I was so close to shore that the nose got lodged in the sand underwater and the force of the wave snapped it clean off. Dunes and Hoek always make me feel like its out of my league. I've only scored a few to remember there. Most times I just had my ass handed to me. 4 to 6 days and a random 8 footer just swings by to clean up. That's when I get nervous. They say false bay locals are soft. But the dangers manne are quick to refute that. Wave sizes being equal. The west coast just feels like it has more power per foot. And when it gets bigger. That power feels exponential.

Dude. I have a super retro windsurf setup here at home. My cousin does interiors and a few years back he was tasked with this divorcees house in van riebeekstrand. She threw out a stoep full of her ex husbands ***. I scored a board, sail, straps and some things I don't know the names of. They need some work but definitely usable. The wetsuit was a real gem though. Proper 80s/90s era. And mooi condition. Neoprene in good shape. Must not have seen much sun or sea. Best of all. Its bright blue, with like this yellow and red stripe trim. Man I hate that its too big. I'm hoping it fits when I try it on in a decade or so. If I could hipster this suit with a short fat pintail singlefin. Man, I would like grow the mustache and everything.

ffs Patch. That laugh burst out of me like a xenomoprh. Where's my inhaler.

I also find it weird how localism is still a thing. There's so many websites that would describe to you in detail, exactly how to find certain spots. When you should go. Which conditions will work. With directions, instructions and even tips on where to park. From like hundreds of countries. Thinking back I was probably one of those guys. Young. Stupid. Following a senseless trend of defending my home break. But I wanted to surf 'other peoples' spots too. Sigh. You know a couple years back there was some surf article showing off Elands Bay. I was so upset at the time. But in hindsight I remember meeting a brazilian there. He came so far for a few solid lefts. Thinking back I thought that was pretty cool. Meeting him in the water. He worked as a farmer. Avocados. And he found his way to this this little remote fishing town on the west coast of South Africa. Before I derail this thread by too much. I do have a wife story I can throw in. A friend of mine was involved in this youth outreach program called Palama Metsi. Talking years back now. They had teamed up with a backpackers lodge over in Ebay. My buddy was like: Hey, If you want you could stay there for free this weekend. Conditions looked lekker and I sell it to the wife as our romantic getaway. She agrees. Now if you don't surf. Ebay has very little to offer you. And she was not impressed with the accommodation either. Communal kitchen type setup. There wasn't a microwave never mind wifi. At least we had our own room. Romantic it was not though. Those walls were paper thin and she was like nuh uh mister. I surfed some clean 4 footers the next morning and we drove home.

Haven't ridden my bike since lock down started. Then when trails opened. It was too late for me. I was already so lazy and demotivated. What started off as legitimate work related stress just became silly excuses eventually. And so. Over the last couple weeks the wife has been on my ass. Like legit pestering me. Why don't you go ride? Why don't you go surf? Dammit woman leave me alone.