Welcome to the Treehouse
This is my loft, which I am currently working on
Once we got put on furlough from work the wife kicked me out of the bedroom
Quote “If you’re going to be off for weeks I want you out of my bedroom"
Meaning my computer of course, since my desk was in the bedroom
As I say, it’s a work in progress
The plasterboard on the wall behind the desk isn’t stuck to the wall yet
I’m getting everything ready so I can stick it on both walls in one sitting
Need to fit a window and vents, plenty to do yet
Let’s introduce my system
The mother board is an MSI Z270 Tomahawk given to me by my brother
Memory is 16GB of DDR4 2133 Corsair Vengeance borrowed from my eldest son
HDDs consist of 1 x Corsair Force MP510 960GB NVME system drive, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB work drive and a Western Digital WD60 Red 6TB EFRX Storage drive
CPU is an i7-7700k @ 4.2G bought boxed unopened from EBay
CPU is cooled by a Corsair 280mm AIO but it’s so old I have forgotten which model it is
Fans consist of 5 Thermaltake Ring Trio RGB on 1 controller
GPU is an MSI GTX1080ti Gaming X Trio second hand from EBay
PSU is a Silverstone Strider ST850 80 Plus Platinum
Audio is a SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum PCIe card without the breakout box
Monitors are 1 x Acer XV272U 1440p 140Hz IPS and an iiyama X2485WS 1200p 50/75Hz IPS
Keyboard is a CM Storm Quick Fire Ultimate and mouse is a Razer Deathadder Chroma
Case is a Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube Black
[FONT="]My throne is DX Racer[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Now to the crust of it
The company I work for decided to reward me for a project I ran for a few months which recovered a lot of money for them which was lying fallow on our estate
This ran to the tune of a £500 bonus which I’ve decide to spend on some upgrades to the computer instead of the house
[FONT="]First to arrive is the Razer Deathadder V2 for £70 from Amazon Prime[/FONT][/FONT]
As you can see in the pic, my poor old Chroma is starting to fade in places
I loved this mouse and the 2013 version before it
Unfortunately the left button is starting to fade as well as the bodywork and I get the occasional miss-hit
Normally I would avoid V2s as they never ever live up to the original but I’m glad to say I could come to love this mouse as well
The grip and the shape hasn’t changed and suits me well
Improvements to the hardware are optical switches and 2 more buttons behind the mouse wheel, these are set to switch dpi modes but are programmable in game
The feel of the switches are tactile and are quite audible
RGB lighting is also featured as it was in the Chroma, my issue is that I don’t really care for RGB on the desk, preferring a static red keyboard and mouse
With the Chroma there was an option to save the profile to the mouse and uninstall the software but I can’t seem to find that option in the software
This could be a little more intuitive because there is a way to do it, it’s just hard to find
We will get there
The DPI settings range from 400 800 1600 2400 and 3200
I find 2400 the best setting for me but I will have to give 3200 a good try later
Next up is a keyboard
My CM Storm Quick Fire Ultimate is also getting on in age and a couple of keys no longer work properly
Fortunately I found this
A corsair K70 Lux refurb for £60 from Scan
At £40 off I thought it was worth a try
Being a refurb it arrived in a plane cardboard box with a label attached so there is no packaging to show off
As this is the standard K70 Lux it has a static red led arrangement with Cherry MX red switches although there are seven lighting effects available if you install Corsair's iCue utility
There is a key puller and a set of ten textured platinum key caps for FPS or MOBA players which I never use
The standard key caps are quite smooth but I don’t feel my fingers slipping on them as I type or play
There is no sound of a switch activating with this board as there was with my previous mechanical boards
In my room I have my CM Storm and a 2013 Razer Blackwidow Expert and I can usually hear a mechanical click before the key bottoms out but not with this, I can’t even feel the switches activating
There is not a lot of travel in the keys before they activate, normally well before they bottom out
The textured space bar doesn’t bother me, I hardly notice it unless I am typing a lot but it’s not uncomfortable in the least
A bonus for me is that I don’t have to install the iCue software
For the price I am more than pleased with this
So far that’s £130 spent
My next thought is to upgrading my RAM
DDR4 2133 just doesn’t do it these days
More and faster is always better, right??
32GB DDR4 3600 C16 should do for Photoshop and Dreamweaver
So I ordered 2 sets of 16GB G.skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL16.19.19.39 from Watercooling UK for £149 a pair, we’ll call it £300
I know these are optimised for AMD but there is nothing stopping me from using them in an Intel system
Remember I said I wasn’t too fond of RGB on the desktop?
That doesn’t go for the box
If your case has a window panel then you should show it off and bling it up as much you like, as evidenced by the Thermaltake RGB fans I mentioned at the start
With four sticks the RGB fills an otherwise dark area with light and the colours are quite vivid against the glare of the fans
System improvements are a no brainer so I only ran a couple of tests
Aida64 Cache & memory covers it
DDR4 2133 16GB
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[FONT="]
[/FONT]
DDR4 3600 16GB
DDR4 3600 32GB
So far that’s £430 spent
I was rather hoping to be able to upgrade my headset out of this but I don’t know if I can replace my Sennheiser PC323D with that
I can’t wear a headset for too long before my right ear starts to pain me so I normally only wear them for about four hours a sitting
The Sennheiser set is more wearable than some I have tried and I can usually sit all night with them on but the volume wheel on the ear piece just doesn’t want to work unless I beat it
With my budget in mind searched a few sites before I visited Scan again thinking I might have to stretch it a bit
And I found these in the refurbished section
Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless for £60
Worth a try for £40 off and also still within budget, luvly jubbly
These again arrived in a plain box with a label attached so there is no packaging to show
First thing as I pick them up is the weight
These are heavier than the old ones
On my scales these weigh in at 386 grams while the Sennheiser weigh in at 222 grams
Unfortunately in order to turn off the RGB I had to install the iCue software
Immediately on startup the keyboard went into wave mode and the lights started running across the keyboard, grr
I have to admit this software is at least more usable than Razer’s Synapse
Keyboard set to static and RGB on headset turned off
I really don’t see the need for RGB on the headset, nobody is looking at it and it will just drain the battery quicker
The shape of the ear cups is new to me and feels quite comfortable and spongy
They sort of wrap around the ear better without totally blocking out the background noise
On the left ear cup is the boom mike which can be raised and lowered turning the mic on and off
There are also buttons to mute the mic and turn the headset on and off with a toggle switch on the bottom of the shell which turns the volume up or down and if pressed will cycle through the equaliser settings held in the iCue software
I don’t think much of these pre-sets as I have tried them but I won’t use them until I have customised them
Using the stock equaliser sounds more than good enough with 7.1 or stereo
Sound wise they are as good as the Sennheiser in game and for music playback but I have yet to test the positional audio in 7.1 with some decent blu-rays
Comfort wise they only lasted the four hour test and after five hours I had to take them off
I don’t know if it’s the weight or the clamping force but at five hours it was unbearable for me
I will use these in preference to my old set as the sound quality is excellent and the volume control works
I normally only wear them for three or four hours at a time anyway
So despite the comfort issue I am pleased enough with these for the price
That’s it
£490 later if you don’t count delivery costs, which would take it over £500
Very happy with my purchases and thanks to the vendors for staying open
Stay safe everyone
This is my loft, which I am currently working on
Once we got put on furlough from work the wife kicked me out of the bedroom
Quote “If you’re going to be off for weeks I want you out of my bedroom"
Meaning my computer of course, since my desk was in the bedroom
As I say, it’s a work in progress
The plasterboard on the wall behind the desk isn’t stuck to the wall yet
I’m getting everything ready so I can stick it on both walls in one sitting
Need to fit a window and vents, plenty to do yet
Let’s introduce my system
The mother board is an MSI Z270 Tomahawk given to me by my brother
Memory is 16GB of DDR4 2133 Corsair Vengeance borrowed from my eldest son
HDDs consist of 1 x Corsair Force MP510 960GB NVME system drive, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB work drive and a Western Digital WD60 Red 6TB EFRX Storage drive
CPU is an i7-7700k @ 4.2G bought boxed unopened from EBay
CPU is cooled by a Corsair 280mm AIO but it’s so old I have forgotten which model it is
Fans consist of 5 Thermaltake Ring Trio RGB on 1 controller
GPU is an MSI GTX1080ti Gaming X Trio second hand from EBay
PSU is a Silverstone Strider ST850 80 Plus Platinum
Audio is a SoundBlaster X-Fi Platinum PCIe card without the breakout box
Monitors are 1 x Acer XV272U 1440p 140Hz IPS and an iiyama X2485WS 1200p 50/75Hz IPS
Keyboard is a CM Storm Quick Fire Ultimate and mouse is a Razer Deathadder Chroma
Case is a Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube Black
[FONT="]My throne is DX Racer[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Now to the crust of it
The company I work for decided to reward me for a project I ran for a few months which recovered a lot of money for them which was lying fallow on our estate
This ran to the tune of a £500 bonus which I’ve decide to spend on some upgrades to the computer instead of the house
[FONT="]First to arrive is the Razer Deathadder V2 for £70 from Amazon Prime[/FONT][/FONT]
As you can see in the pic, my poor old Chroma is starting to fade in places
I loved this mouse and the 2013 version before it
Unfortunately the left button is starting to fade as well as the bodywork and I get the occasional miss-hit
Normally I would avoid V2s as they never ever live up to the original but I’m glad to say I could come to love this mouse as well
The grip and the shape hasn’t changed and suits me well
Improvements to the hardware are optical switches and 2 more buttons behind the mouse wheel, these are set to switch dpi modes but are programmable in game
The feel of the switches are tactile and are quite audible
RGB lighting is also featured as it was in the Chroma, my issue is that I don’t really care for RGB on the desk, preferring a static red keyboard and mouse
With the Chroma there was an option to save the profile to the mouse and uninstall the software but I can’t seem to find that option in the software
This could be a little more intuitive because there is a way to do it, it’s just hard to find
We will get there
The DPI settings range from 400 800 1600 2400 and 3200
I find 2400 the best setting for me but I will have to give 3200 a good try later
Next up is a keyboard
My CM Storm Quick Fire Ultimate is also getting on in age and a couple of keys no longer work properly
Fortunately I found this
A corsair K70 Lux refurb for £60 from Scan
At £40 off I thought it was worth a try
Being a refurb it arrived in a plane cardboard box with a label attached so there is no packaging to show off
As this is the standard K70 Lux it has a static red led arrangement with Cherry MX red switches although there are seven lighting effects available if you install Corsair's iCue utility
There is a key puller and a set of ten textured platinum key caps for FPS or MOBA players which I never use
The standard key caps are quite smooth but I don’t feel my fingers slipping on them as I type or play
There is no sound of a switch activating with this board as there was with my previous mechanical boards
In my room I have my CM Storm and a 2013 Razer Blackwidow Expert and I can usually hear a mechanical click before the key bottoms out but not with this, I can’t even feel the switches activating
There is not a lot of travel in the keys before they activate, normally well before they bottom out
The textured space bar doesn’t bother me, I hardly notice it unless I am typing a lot but it’s not uncomfortable in the least
A bonus for me is that I don’t have to install the iCue software
For the price I am more than pleased with this
So far that’s £130 spent
My next thought is to upgrading my RAM
DDR4 2133 just doesn’t do it these days
More and faster is always better, right??
32GB DDR4 3600 C16 should do for Photoshop and Dreamweaver
So I ordered 2 sets of 16GB G.skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL16.19.19.39 from Watercooling UK for £149 a pair, we’ll call it £300
I know these are optimised for AMD but there is nothing stopping me from using them in an Intel system
Remember I said I wasn’t too fond of RGB on the desktop?
That doesn’t go for the box
If your case has a window panel then you should show it off and bling it up as much you like, as evidenced by the Thermaltake RGB fans I mentioned at the start
With four sticks the RGB fills an otherwise dark area with light and the colours are quite vivid against the glare of the fans
System improvements are a no brainer so I only ran a couple of tests
Aida64 Cache & memory covers it
DDR4 2133 16GB
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
DDR4 3600 16GB
DDR4 3600 32GB
So far that’s £430 spent
I was rather hoping to be able to upgrade my headset out of this but I don’t know if I can replace my Sennheiser PC323D with that
I can’t wear a headset for too long before my right ear starts to pain me so I normally only wear them for about four hours a sitting
The Sennheiser set is more wearable than some I have tried and I can usually sit all night with them on but the volume wheel on the ear piece just doesn’t want to work unless I beat it
With my budget in mind searched a few sites before I visited Scan again thinking I might have to stretch it a bit
And I found these in the refurbished section
Corsair Void Pro RGB Wireless for £60
Worth a try for £40 off and also still within budget, luvly jubbly
These again arrived in a plain box with a label attached so there is no packaging to show
First thing as I pick them up is the weight
These are heavier than the old ones
On my scales these weigh in at 386 grams while the Sennheiser weigh in at 222 grams
Unfortunately in order to turn off the RGB I had to install the iCue software
Immediately on startup the keyboard went into wave mode and the lights started running across the keyboard, grr
I have to admit this software is at least more usable than Razer’s Synapse
Keyboard set to static and RGB on headset turned off
I really don’t see the need for RGB on the headset, nobody is looking at it and it will just drain the battery quicker
The shape of the ear cups is new to me and feels quite comfortable and spongy
They sort of wrap around the ear better without totally blocking out the background noise
On the left ear cup is the boom mike which can be raised and lowered turning the mic on and off
There are also buttons to mute the mic and turn the headset on and off with a toggle switch on the bottom of the shell which turns the volume up or down and if pressed will cycle through the equaliser settings held in the iCue software
I don’t think much of these pre-sets as I have tried them but I won’t use them until I have customised them
Using the stock equaliser sounds more than good enough with 7.1 or stereo
Sound wise they are as good as the Sennheiser in game and for music playback but I have yet to test the positional audio in 7.1 with some decent blu-rays
Comfort wise they only lasted the four hour test and after five hours I had to take them off
I don’t know if it’s the weight or the clamping force but at five hours it was unbearable for me
I will use these in preference to my old set as the sound quality is excellent and the volume control works
I normally only wear them for three or four hours at a time anyway
So despite the comfort issue I am pleased enough with these for the price
That’s it
£490 later if you don’t count delivery costs, which would take it over £500
Very happy with my purchases and thanks to the vendors for staying open
Stay safe everyone
