Show off your latest purchase!

  • Thread starter McLaren
  • 36,669 comments
  • 2,582,234 views
Just ordered some new parts to upgrade my pc some.

Ryzen 5600x will be replacing my old 2600. Thought about the 5800x but watching the game benchmarks it just wasn't all that worth it for me.

19-113-666-V01.jpg

Starting to need a bit more storage so a 1tb 980 ssd for $75 isn't bad
20-147-804-V07.jpg
 
So long decade old LG, hello Sony modernity.
g15843X85K-F.jpg

Was the cheapest model of TV I could find that offers 120Hz as a feature (Sony X85K), and regardless of all the nitty-gritty specs and comparisons with other sets will probably look better than what I've got now full stop. Should arrive on Wednesday, just in time for my extended Thanksgiving weekend.

It also means that I now need to get some sort of converter for my older game consoles which will be fun...and make this venture more expensive .:lol:
 
Let me start by saying I hate cold weather. I don't like being cold. I really hate going into a cold bathroom each morning for my shower. So in the last 30 years or so I've probably had a dozen or more space heaters. I've had ceramic ones, coil ones, many other types.

In the past I've set two alarms in the morning, one to get up and turn the heater on and another 20 minutes or so later in case I fall back asleep. Then I would get up and go into the warm bathroom for a shower. The whole process was a pain in the neck.

What I wanted was a heater that would automatically come on about 20 or 30 minutes ahead of me waking up. But I didn't find something like that until about 5 or 6 years ago. I found a heater that had a timer on it. But the way it worked is that you could set it to come on at a certain time but it would be 8 hours ahead. So if I wanted it to come on at 5am I had to set that EXACTLY at 9pm the previous night. Or 4, 5, 6 hours ahead etc. So if I missed setting the time I had to stay up until the next full hour to set it. Not the ideal solution but it was better.

Ahead of this winter season I got the idea that with all of the smart technology out there that there somebody probably made a smart space heater and indeed there is.

71vE0onUoGL._AC_SX679_.jpg


71B+qlfo3TL._AC_SY879_.jpg


This heater is made by Govee. It uses wi-fi and bluetooth to allow it to be controlled through the app on my phone. What I do on the app is to set up it's programming. I tell it which days to come on, what time to come on, and at what fan speed. There is an optional Thermo-Hygrometer which is the little device sitting on the table in the second picture. I got that also. What that does is to allow you to set the desired temperature you want the room to be. The process to pair the heater to the Hygrometer wasn't easy and I kind of accomplished it by accident.

It's about 16 inches tall. It can oscillate but I have that turned off. You can manually control fan speed but not temperature with the buttons on the top of the heater. That's how I turn it off also after my shower.

The pros are obvious. It does exactly what I've been wanting for all of these years. It comes on at the exact time I want it to without me having to worry about setting the time the night before. It is small so it doesn't take up a lot of room in my small bathroom.

The slight negatives are that the buttons on top can be quite finicky when trying to lower fan speed or turn it off. Sometimes it takes multiple touches. The fan is a bit louder than I think it should be for such a small heater. The strange thing is that it only has one fan volume regardless of the fan speed setting. It's like the only difference between low, medium, and high is the volume of air coming out. The fan volume stays the same regardless of the setting. I'm not sure if it's loud enough for my neighbors to hear it running every morning but I can hear it from my bed with the bathroom door closed.

Earlier this week I learned another thing about it. For some reason I thought for the heater program to work I had to be home with my phone's wi-fi and bluetooth turned on which I did each night before bedtime. Tuesday I had a training class out of town that I had to leave home about an hour earlier than normally wake up. So I assumed the heater would not come on. 16 hours later when I returned home I opened my front door and heard something running. The heater had come on at it's normal time and since I don't have an off time set because I turn it off manually, it had be running the entire 16 hours. I contacted Govee support about that and was told that it actually runs off of my apartment wi-fi. So it's internal clock told it to come on at it's normal time because I did not go into the app and turn it off for that day. Speaking of Govee support they have been wonderful. I've had my own personal agent since I got it and she's answered all kinds of questions I've had and she always gets back to me within 24 hours.

I'm very pleased so far with this purchase
 
Happy birthday to me! To celebrate 21 years of survival, and also what will probably be my last birthday before grad school kicks me inward, I splurged on eBay a bit:

C973A978-BDE2-4BD9-832A-081D80E6E2FD.jpeg


This is on top of the games plus an additional VMU (not pictured) I bought beforehand:

image.jpg


There was a bundle that included F355 Challenge, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi among others up for auction, but I decided not to bid on it.

And a couple of non-Dreamcast games I’ve wanted to cross off my wishlist just for good measure (but in the case of Blur, my 360 refuses to read the disc so I’m trying again on PS3):

A157D10E-53C6-4D1F-A1CA-DA9DA718772A.jpeg


OutRun 2 is on the way.
 
Happy birthday to me! To celebrate 21 years of survival, and also what will probably be my last birthday before grad school kicks me inward, I splurged on eBay a bit:

View attachment 1209403

This is on top of the games plus an additional VMU (not pictured) I bought beforehand:

View attachment 1209406

There was a bundle that included F355 Challenge, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi among others up for auction, but I decided not to bid on it.

And a couple of non-Dreamcast games I’ve wanted to cross off my wishlist just for good measure (but in the case of Blur, my 360 refuses to read the disc so I’m trying again on PS3):

View attachment 1209407

OutRun 2 is on the way.
Happy 21st birthday!

Soul Calibur is the best game I remember from the Dreamcast.
 
Last edited:
This is on top of the games plus an additional VMU (not pictured) I bought beforehand:

View attachment 1209406
Test Drive: Le Mans is seriously underrated. Really pushed the system and just good fun as well. Always found it bizarre that V-Rally was branded as a Need for Speed game in the States, but then as Test Drive (NFS' competitor) on the Dreamcast; even weirder considering Eden then went on to make TDU years later.
 
And a couple of non-Dreamcast games I’ve wanted to cross off my wishlist just for good measure (but in the case of Blur, my 360 refuses to read the disc so I’m trying again on PS3):

View attachment 1209407

Blur is so much fun. I've been playing it again a bit here and there on my Steam Deck recently. Killing Bizarre Creations is among Activision's top crimes in my book.
 
Last edited:
Blur is so much fun. I've been playing it again a bit here and there on my Steam Deck recently. Killing Bizarre Creations is among Activision's top crimes in my book.
How are you liking the Steam Deck?
 
How are you liking the Steam Deck?
I like it a lot. Looking forward to using it more regularly while traveling during the holidays, but so far it's been a great device. It has played everything I've tried regardless of the compatibility rating. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of fiddling with the control mapping via Steam.
 
Beyerdynamic DT880 Pros.
250Ohm headphones.

1669244971341.png


Audioengine D1 256bit DAC.
1669245048757.png

I have the headphones ATM, waiting on the DAC.
I have to have the PC volume at 100% just to hear at a basic level, but this is to be expected with onboard Audio.
The PS5 controller fairs a bit better as the volume is a bit louder
 
I landed a really good, stable job so I've been making a few purchases with my new disposable income as of late.

Biggest of which was a new tablet for me to use while studying.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Ultra

20221124_081217.jpg


It's been great!!! For studying it's so damn intuitive and easy to take notes on. For drawing, even more so! Thankfully there's some really decent apps like Infinity Painter (think of it as Procreate for IOS) or IBIS Paint (app pictured above). And for watching movies it's so handy!

Handles whatever my PLEX can throw at it like a charm.


Also, got the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro. I don't personally like the direction we're headed in, in terms of losing ports, but I mean.. for a tablet like this, why would you ever want to be tethered to it?? It's great to put on a podcast and listen to it while cooking.

The noise cancellation is brilliant! The touch controls are meh. They have some experimental features you can subscribe to, but the touch areas are hit or miss. Maybe in the future with an update, they'll get better.

20221124_082636.jpg



And most recently coilovers for the Audi. The rear shocks finally gave out after 18 years. However, unlike Mercedes, Audi loves to discontinue making parts for their cars after each generational cycle, so it was either pay $950 USD for two remanufactured rear air struts or $930 USD for a complete set of coilovers.

I went with the latter. I'm tired of having constant issues with the air suspension. Good thing about the Audi is, I can code out/turn off the air suspension using VCDS, no need for daisy chain loops or cutoff switches.

20221124_080957.jpg
 
Honestly love this whole setup, it's a bit wide but so compact considering all the hardware attached within the "cage" layout. Definitely how I'm going to be planning my future upgrades. Adding a separate stand for three monitors seems like a huge waste of space now.
Thanks, man. I used the Simlab triple stand but mounted to the chassis to work with my geometry.

The width addition is there so I can add vertical panels and cage on the right side. Originally I was going to stick it to the wall but like it being one unit. Plus I can tuck my ventilation, keyboard and other bits in the faux passenger area.
 
Thanks, man. I used the Simlab triple stand but mounted to the chassis to work with my geometry.

The width addition is there so I can add vertical panels and cage on the right side. Originally I was going to stick it to the wall but like it being one unit. Plus I can tuck my ventilation, keyboard and other bits in the faux passenger area.

20221124_225826.jpg


20221124_225802.jpg


This is where I'm planning to move my rig once I finish the basement. The wall design with three different cuts is perfect, because I can push my rig right up against it and add backlighting. I've already measured the radius of the curve and the width of each wall section, I can comfortably fit 55" monitors/TVs in there.

So adopting an integrated chassis monitor mount like yours would be perfect.

Also planning on adding ceiling mounted drop-down speakers, surround sound, the works.

20221124_230259.jpg

This corner of the wall is perfect for a deep L-shaped desk, with the shorter section being sit-stand to accommodate my PC, and the long section being under the window to allow me to vent out any fumes from my mini paint booth. Perfect place for painting, and for building scale models and dioramas.

20221124_230311.jpg


And I'm thinking of making the closet an open nook, so I can easily access supplies, cables, remote controllers, steering wheels, store my cameras, lenses, etc..


I'm just waiting for materials to be available again :/
 
Last edited:
View attachment 1210664

View attachment 1210665

This is where I'm planning to move my rig once I finish the basement. The wall design with three different cuts is perfect, because I can push my rig right up against it and add backlighting. I've already measured the radius of the curve and the width of each wall section, I can comfortably fit 55" monitors/TVs in there.

So adopting an integrated chassis monitor mount like yours would be perfect.

Also planning on adding ceiling mounted drop-down speakers, surround sound, the works.

View attachment 1210667

This corner of the wall is perfect for a deep L-shaped desk, with the shorter section being sit-stand to accommodate my PC, and the long section being under the window to allow me to vent out any fumes from my mini paint booth. Perfect place for painting, and for building scale models and dioramas.

View attachment 1210666

And I'm thinking of making the closet an open nook, so I can easily access supplies, cables, remote controllers, steering wheels, store my cameras, lenses, etc..


I'm just waiting for materials to be available again :/
Damn, boy. That will be awesome when it's complete. I have a dedicated room, but trying to cram my plans into it takes alot of planning. Especially since I want to do some video work.

Kind of like sim asmr in a way with a YT channel to share cool videos and crap. I thought about using my basement since I have a decent 500 sf chunk I could use but mu budget won't support since spending so much on the rig. Lol.

Can't wait to see yours finished. Sounds like a solid plan.
 
Back