General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

dav09 · 27-01-2022 1:17pm

Maybe try here, seems to be okay price and is 1 per customer, no idea if it's a trustworthy site though but seems good on Trustpilot

https://www.kiwi-electronics.nl/nl/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w-10770?language=nl-nl&currency=EUR

Steve X2 · 27-01-2022 1:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539945#Comment_118539945

Tell me about it. I've a beast of a PC build going the last 9 months as I just cant get parts. Or don't fancy spending 2-3k on parts that have an msrp of 1k. And then the parts i wanted are outdated, so have to rejig the build idea in my head.

Pain in the arsticles it is!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539988#Comment_118539988

That's not a bad price considering.

Colonel Panic · 27-01-2022 1:29pm

I've pretty much given up on trying to upgrade my 1070-based PC now as a result of the shortage.

Inviere · 27-01-2022 6:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539988#Comment_118539988

I chanced it Dav, thanks for that. They accept PayPal so I figure I'm fairly safe

Inviere · 27-01-2022 6:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118540063#Comment_118540063

Aye. I bumped my 1070 up to a 1080Ti there, but still chugging along with a 7700K. To be fair I'm not asking much of it, haven't really played a demanding pc game in a good while. I'll wait another bit.

Colonel Panic · 28-01-2022 10:38am

There’s a bit of FOMO for me!

Although Ray tracing looks great at 30fps consoles, would love to see it on PC.

Retr0gamer · 28-01-2022 10:50am

Honestly ray tracing adds very little I find after the initial wow factor of seeing yourself in a reflection. It's definitely the future but we aren't quite there yet but it's also not that big a jump over traditional rasterised rendering. Rasterised rendering has become really good at faking it. When you are actually playing the game there's really not much difference between SSR reflections and Ray Tracing. Shadows and AO do look a lot more natural but again it's not a game changer for me.

Maybe I'm just bitter I had to go for a 6900 XT and not the 3080 I was after.

johnny_ultimate · 28-01-2022 10:57am

I actually just upgraded to an i7-12700k and 3070 (pre-built, alas, as I needed a PC quickly), from an ancient CPU and a 2060 Super. Ray-tracing is fine, but I definitely don't see it as as transformative to the experience as, say, Digital Foundry do (Alex in particular :P). DLSS is incredible though - the amount of performance that can claw back with barely any visible hit to fidelity is really fecking impressive.

But as I said elsewhere, I think the next-gen consoles are a really competitive proposition to PC at the moment. Games like Returnal or Ratchet & Clank look truly incredible on a good 4K TV - there are few games on PC putting out that level of sheer fidelity. Alas, the availability problems are very real.

Colonel Panic · 28-01-2022 11:03am

Those comments are somewhat reassuring!

I’m happy enough I snagged a PS5 last year, albeit digital when I wanted one with disks so I could ditch my PS4.

Its definitely got some jaw dropping looking games!

I wish it supported 1440p and VRR though! That would be the icing on the cake.

Jack burton · 28-01-2022 11:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118534009#Comment_118534009

That's just a link at the end of my cart.

That price is just for the standard scart cables.

Inviere · 28-01-2022 11:44am

Truly bizarre that the PS5 doesn't support 1440p and VRR....I can only hope support can be added down the line via firmware.

As @johnny_ultimate says, the new gen machines bring console parity much closer than its ever been before. Returnal looks jaw dropping. We absolutely need to move away from 30fps being acceptable though, it's embarrassing at this point. Resolution needs to come second to performance. Also, DLSS from Nvidia is pure witchcraft, far more appealing currently than Ray tracing.

Ray tracing is very nice, it's definitely the future, but as @Retr0gamer says, we're not quite there yet for the performance hit to be truly worth it. I'd say in 5-10 years time, things will be very different.

o1s1n · 28-01-2022 12:05pm

I've tried out some ray tracing with a 2070 and it does look great but it definitely feels like one of those things that's probably more impressive and groundbreaking to developers rather than players. Didn't really notice it anymore after the initial 'wow that's cool!'

johnny_ultimate · 28-01-2022 12:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544452#Comment_118544452

I definitely think developers are putting a lot more effort into performance this gen, which is great to see. Maybe it's just because they finally have the technological leeway to do it, but it's great to see 'performance modes' as nearly standard now. I personally can barely see the difference with a 'full' 4K resolution vs a well upscaled one, whereas switching from 60 FPS or higher down to 30 FPS feels like pushing a character through treacle.

sniper_samurai · 28-01-2022 12:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544205#Comment_118544205

VRR is coming in a couple of months. Sony stated at CES that it will support it by the time their new model tvs, which finally support vrr, come out in spring. As for 1440p Sony don't support it as they say there's no demand for it.

Colonel Panic · 28-01-2022 12:50pm

Mad they think that when 1440p Gsync displays aren’t insanely common.

I guess they just want their consoles under TVs, not tucked away beside a PC!

Inviere · 28-01-2022 1:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544571#Comment_118544571

I suspect you're aware given the inverted commas, but consoles are using several tricks to achieve 4k resolutions...which can be argued they're not actually true 4k at all.

That said, I completely agree that the jump from 1080p to 4k isn't nearly as noticeable or impressive as the jump from SD to HD was.

I'm far more interested and impressed by framerate these days. The absolute gulf between 30fps and 60fps is so noticeable. Funnily, I've never seen 120fps+ in the flesh, what's it like in terms of the apparent difference to 60fps?

Retr0gamer · 28-01-2022 1:26pm

Honestly it's hard to go back to 60fps once you've played at 120 fps or higher. It feels really smooth and 60 fps then feels really choppy when you go back.

120 feels really smooth and while 60 fps still plays well it's the actually choppiness in the frame rate you notice more.

It's not the big jump from garbage 30 fps to 60fps but it is noticable and a lot better.

johnny_ultimate · 28-01-2022 1:35pm

It depends on the game and platform for me.

Ive tried a few 120 FPS modes on PS5 (on an LG CX) and you really feel the lack of VRR - it needs that to smooth out the inevitable differences when you’re pumping out that many frames. I also think the hit to visual clarity tends to be much more noticeable to get there compared to 60. I reserve full judgement till VRR is implemented.

I’ve had 144hz monitors for years and you definitely feel the difference in keyboard and mouse games particularly. I don’t play competitive shooters or anything though where you’d really need it. Once I get 60 frames / 1440p on a graphically intensive new game I tend to be more than happy. Anything else is a nice bonus but I wouldn’t notice it anywhere near as much as the jump from 30 to 60.

Retr0gamer · 28-01-2022 2:13pm

Sega have pulled out of the arcade business in Japan. Covid has really accelerated the arcades decline over there.

o1s1n · 28-01-2022 2:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545361#Comment_118545361

I wonder will the likes of Ronnie try to secure some cabinets/Sega paraphernalia to bring over to Europe.

Sad to see them close but would be even sadder if everything was just skipped.

Retr0gamer · 28-01-2022 2:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545542#Comment_118545542

I think the businesses have been sold on to another company so hopefully the majority will stay open.

They've some gorgeous Egrets in those arcades though...

o1s1n · 28-01-2022 4:01pm

Ah I see! They're being bought out by GiGo. Sad to see but not as catastrophic as I was thinking, hopefully they still stay open for a while yet under that brand.

When are you moving into that new house by the way? (so we can all start applying peer pressure to get you to finally buy some cabinets!)

Retr0gamer · 28-01-2022 4:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546081#Comment_118546081

Apr/May but more likely June at the earliest.

Cabs before matresses.

o1s1n · 28-01-2022 4:48pm

Exciting stuff, that's not far off at all now in the grand scheme of things!

Reckon you'll put aside a bit of space for a cab or two? I'll start keeping an eye out :D

Jack burton · 28-01-2022 4:51pm

Sorry for the horrible screenshots dump but saw this on Facebook.

36 years worth of gaming right there. According to the seller he's priced fairly but I personally can not see that bundle being worth almost €9000.

There's a few nice titles in there and that mega drive bundle is lovely but are prices really gone this nuts? When's the bubble going to burst?

KeRbDoG · 28-01-2022 5:43pm

if this was on adverts.ie I'd offer 5euro and a bag of Tayto at least

Inviere · 28-01-2022 6:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118448422#Comment_118448422

Just going back to this briefly....I've only learned about MechaPwn the other day....they've brute forced the MechaCon chip which controls the PS2's dvd drive. You essentially flash the MechaCon with DEX (developer console flags). This means for PAL region consoles, a slim PS2 with model SCPH-7500X can be made to boot any region PS1 and PS2 games natively. Backups need to be patched as 'masterdiscs', and they'll boot natively too. Shame it's only for slims, but I suppose the Phats can load all these natively from HDD so this is more for collectors who want to use original discs without having to import various region PS2's. Some Phat's can be done, but perhaps not PAL ones? Not overly sure. Anyway - https://github.com/MechaResearch/MechaPwn

Skip to 13:08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL31ojJUgCU

Doge · 28-01-2022 8:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118539945#Comment_118539945

When I bought my pi zero W I actually warned people in a post on here about the chip shortage and urged people to get them back then. I bought one in the hope that Vade Malban would support Bluetooth controllers on the bare metal Vectrex image which will probably never happen. Since then another solution has come out that uses the 8bitdo wireless adapter so I'm just going to get that instead next time it's in stock.

If you have any trouble with kiwi electronics I could send you mine, I should probably hold onto it in case I need it for something in the future though! 🤣

Inviere · 28-01-2022 8:53pm

@Doge ah no dude you hang onto it, you never know what it could come in handy for...but thanks very much for the offer. Hopefully that kiwi place comes through, I'll update here if it does!

Jack burton · 29-01-2022 2:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546592#Comment_118546592

Aldi multipack for that lot

General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

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