One of those streaming setups? Where one rig just plays games and one rig just captures frames?
Sure, but why is it better in one box instead of two boxes?
I mean I guess if it’s not gonna move often it’s more aesthetically pleasing to have one large box rather than two small ones. It’s a stretch.
Pretty much just the aesthetic came to mind for me. Like they’ve got this hugeass case to hold multiple motherboards and I think you “might” be able to come up with a more compact way to do it. Maybe it folds out to do cabling.
Western Digital is trying to compete with Samsung in the M.2 drive department.
They didn’t win.
Yet.
So my HTPC has been without a GPU for awhile now. So far this has not been a problem. I haven’t even come across a situation where I found myself wanting to use the Steam Stream, but I’m sure it will work nicely if I do.
Even so, NVidia just announced that new 1050 with 3GB of video RAM. It’s small and doesn’t need additional power cables. I kinda want it. Good idea?
For an htpc to watch videos and play fairly low horsepower games? Should be great, and GPU prices seem to be going back to normal especially on the lower end like a 1050. I’d go for it.
While trying to stream yesterday my HTPC froze again. It hadn’t happened in quite some time. It was the kind of freeze where the speakers go bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and you can’t do anything.
When I tried to restart the PC, it was very strange. Fans turn on. Lights turn on. PC speaker makes no sounds. Nothing happens.
I opened it up and did some experimenting of disconnecting and reconnecting various things. There’s not a lot to this HTPC. Doesn’t even have a video card (right now). It’s just a mobo, CPU, RAM, stock cooler, PSU, SSD, and some fans.
Eventually I discovered that if I removed the second RAM stick it booted just fine. I tried taking the second ram stick (that was presumably bad) and putting it by itself in slot 1. NO BOOT! Put ram stick 1 back in slot 1. BOOT immediately.
Conclusion: RAM stick number 2 is hella bad.
Solution: Buy new RAM and maybe one of those new 1050s.
I had a failure like that once, but annoyingly, it wasn’t consistent. Sometimes it would take me 3-4 tries to get a successful boot, sometimes it would be first try. Sometimes it would be first try for days, followed by a rash of multiple attempts. Sometimes it would run fine, dawn to dusk, sometimes it would hard lock with the buzzing every few hours. The inconsistency was just enough that it was still usable, but bad enough that it was super annoying. Swapped out a single stick, never happened again.
New RAM is in the HTPC.
1050 3GB not available yet.
I don’t have any brand loyalty for RAM, but I have been trying to buy sticks that are on the motherboard’s official compatibility list and that work with XMP. Using my regular buying methods of picking things with good reviews and good prices, that is twice in a row now that I have coincidentally bought Corsair Vengeance RAM. It’s working great for me so far. Is it best RAM?
I can’t imagine you’re going to notice it for an htpc. It’s probably very good ram either way.
Used Corsair Vengeance in upgrading my in-laws PCs, my PC, and building my wife’s new gaming rig and it’s worked great. It has those silly cooler/XTREME G@M3R thingies on them which is about the only “complaint” I’ve had with them.
I’ll notice the PC being stable and not freezing up or refusing to boot.
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Those kind of memory problems are RMA problems.
Awww, I was hoping I might get another nice PC on the hella cheap. 
Congrats on fixed.
https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-6255-RX
1050 ti right now @ 150 if that helps anybody.
1180 coming in August.
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This has gone TOO far. Can only afford two RAM sticks? Only need two sticks? Motherboard got 4 slots? Want to fill all four slots so your rig looks l33t? Here are two sticks that have no RAM on them, but have the lights so it looks like you have 4 matching sticks with the same LEDs.
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I can almost see the appeal of the faux ram. Almost.
In my case I have 2x 16GB sticks, I have really no need for more anytime soon as even under heavy use I’m usually seeing an overhead of 10-12gb unused. (To be fair if prices come down I might pick up a matching set of 8s). But it would indeed look cool to fill the slots. If anything tho I would want something at least theoretically functional for those slots, like extended heat sinks for the RAM I do have, or if only aesthetic why not some super badass LED strips that look like neon billboards from the streets of Blade Runner? Little glowing anime characters laser etched from Plexi sounds like something to add some flair. I don’t think I’d want just faux chips that look like real chips.
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People still look inside their computers? I never quite got this fad. With cars, engine dress at least gets shown off when you got to a car meet, but a computer just sits on your desk.