Foundation

[woodchip]

No mans sky has come out with a big patch called Foundation. Link shows some of changes:



Want to read a bit more try this:

https://imperium.news/no-mans-sky-the-f ... on-update/

[Tunnelcat]

Woody, do you have this game? I considered it at first, then dropped all consideration once the bad reviews came out. I haven't heard if the Foundation patch has made any difference in play, at least enough to buy it right now at it's current price.

[woodchip]

No TC, I don't have it. Even with the patch I don't think I'll be interested. Going to wait until I can afford a GPU upgrade as looking in pc gamer I see some really gorgeous games in their top 20 picks.

[Tunnelcat]

I got some early Christmas cash from my dad, so I went and blew it on an Nvidia EVGA GTX 1070 Founders Edition card. All I can say is: WHOA! What a difference, even on my 5 year old system with an ancient ASUS motherboard. I wouldn't buy an Nvidia EVGA card right now with the multi-ACX cooler fans however. There was apparently a problem with the thermal pads not making contact with the chips on the card and things were really overheating. My Founder's Edition card had a single HSF setup, which doesn't have the problem that's now being referred to "ramgate". My new card isn't really that loud and it's much quieter than my old GTX 680. Heck, my system fans make more noise. I've got HITMAN's visuals cranked up all the way and it doesn't even get over 50 C at full load.

[Krom]

All EVGA ACX cooled cards built after November have thermal pads applied over the power chokes so that issue which was greatly inflated by internet sensationalism is no longer a concern unless you bought old stock, which EVGA will replace free of charge if you ask them to.

[Tunnelcat]

I realize that. I've been lurking on the EVGA forum and reading all about it since I was shopping around. I personally like EVGA's cards myself. My only concern is if you happen to get one shipped to you that was built before that date, it's going to cause you a big headache. Between the necessary graphics BIOS updates and thermal pad replacements, it would quickly become a hair puller to upgrade the card. If a buyer could be sure of the build date before they placed their money down, then OK. Some vendors may still have some old stock or returns that weren't pulled out of the system by now, unless EVGA pulled all of them. You'd for sure have an issue if you got one of the bad ones. At least EVGA has a very good warranty and return policy, I'll hand that to them.

My only other reason for not buying either an ACX fan card or even EVGA's hybrid card (which looks like a really nice solution for a super quiet card IMO) has to do with my current micro ATX case. I have very limited space inside the thing and having a card that vents most of it's heat inside the case would've been an issue. I've already modified things with extra fans in order to get a positive pressure inside the case for the best cooling and so far, everything is happy. The hybrid card had a different issue for me. It wouldn't fit at all because my PS is in the top of the case (stupid place for it, but what can I do) and there is a large power connector coming out of the motherboard that would have interfered with the radiator's fan. I almost got a hybrid, but after doing some measuring, no such luck.

By the way, continuing woody's topic, I've read on the Steam forums that the Foundation pack has greatly improved the game play. I'll wait and see as they further patch the game before plunking my money down. One game I do recommend is ABZU. That has got to be the most visually stunning game I've seen and played in years. Once I got going on it, I forgot all about the time for hours. Too bad it's so short, about 2 hours or so.

[Krom]

Yeah, for a MicroATX case a blower design does make the most sense.