sonofsanta

Symmetry is overrated. Exhibit 1: a symmetrical controller that, much as I love the console, was pretty 'orrible: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/N64-Controller-in-Hand.jpg/291px-N64-Controller-in-Hand.jpg I mean, honestly, did anyone pick that controller up for the first time and hold it correctly, or did everyone try and hold it round both shoulders and stretch their thumb to the analog stick? I used to use the L button (whenever a game used it) by bashing the controller against my leg. The most comfortable controller ever might be the GameCube controller, I reckon. Just lovely to use that was, as weird as it looked.

Maybe it's because I'm crap with PS controllers (seriously, how can anyone aim with those sticks? They're so soft and mushy and in the wrong place and urgh) but I'm not really enjoying the game bit of Last of Us. The story introduction is brutal, and I'll keep playing for the story, but the game itself seems a pretty standard 3rd person cover shooter with minimal crafting shoehorned in. I didn't really get on with Uncharted, either; that game just felt like I was the world's worst stunt man frustrating a director who kept shouting at me to "GO BACK, DO IT AGAIN, DO IT RIGHT THIS TIME." If you could do exactly what the game wanted of you it looked good, but I never really felt like I was playing, only doing as I was told. I think it's mostly just because I'm crap with DualShock controllers though. 360 pad till I die! (or get an Xbox One pad for my PC)

Pro tip: you can watch dogs any time you like - for free! Just go to a park.

That is properly rubbish TBH, if you still intend on building a gaming PC, but want games to play now... I'd probably buy a Wii U, because those are games that won't ever crop up on PC. Buying a PS4/XB1 is kind of redundant alongside a gaming PC, bar a (very) few exclusives. Depends on how much you love Nintendo games, though. I know I'll end up getting one at some point, for Mario Kart/Smash Bros/shiny-new-Zelda, but if none of them interest you then it'd be pointless.

I don't know as there's really much difference between PCs and consoles these days, given how many bloody updates I seem to get everytime the PS3 gets turned on. You ran Netflix fine yesterday before the update, why the bleedin' crikey do I have to do the update now before I can use it again? Cos you're blackmailing me into performing the update? How about you let me download updates in the background and install on shut down then, like every PC has done for 15 years now? As my PC is plugged into a TV and I have a wired 360 controller as well... yeah, it's basically about where the game is going to be cheapest/prettiest for me. Or if I need a mouse to aim cos analogue sticks are 'orrible for FPS.

Yeah, it looks a beaut doesn't it? I'm sure there were more articles run about pairing it with a discrete GPU at the time that showed how GPU dependent everything is these days. If your budget is limited (i.e. your name isn't @Sunnyknight) then max the GPU first before bumping the CPU up. The only unknown is future proofing - as @tmcd35 says, consoles have lots of cores now, albeit stupid low power AMD Jaguar cores, but game engines should start to take advantage of that soon and only two cores/two threads could get limiting. An i5 is the minimum for future proofing IMHO - one i5 CPU core can easily keep up with two Xbone/PS4 cores.

You are kidding, right? The only thing in that PC of @Zoom7000 that could do with an upgrade is the GPU, and you don't need to spend anywhere near £1k on that. An SSD would be good as well. But upgrade an i7-2600K? Why? The 3000 series was only a die shrink and Haswell was targeted at power efficiency and integrated graphics, with little in the way of IPC improvements. £350+ on a new i7 and motherboard (stupid Intel and their sockets) would probably get you about 10% more performance. EDIT: 10% more performance on the CPU, which would probably net you about a 1% increase in games.

Looking at benchmarks for the Pentium Anniversary Edition - so only dual-core, without the HyperThreading of an i3 - that manages 80% of the performance of an i7 for about 20% of the price, at stock, with a discrete GPU. Overclock it and it was only 2FPS slower on that benchmark. So yeah, if you're building to a budget, an i3 is plenty. Better that and a beefier GPU. Not as future proof, perhaps, but compromises need to be made for money reasons.

Do you need to create an online account and log in before you can fire that crossbow?

My missus isn't the problem... my mortgage is. I did spend half an hour last night pricing up how much a refresh of CPU + mobo + RAM (+ bigger SSD, + new case...) would be, so I can save up for when Skylake launches... might just about be able to scrape together the £600 in a year. All I need is for nothing at all go to go wrong this year - no broken boilers or cars or pets - and I'll be fine.

Has anyone else had problems with video playback on Lollipop? Every now and then my phone decides it can't play videos, no matter what app I'm in - Facebook will constantly whirl its circle, YouTube tells me there was an error - and the only fix is to reboot my phone. It seems to happen without rhyme or reason - I can watch a video fine, then ten minutes later unlock my phone and it's broken. I've tried disabling the experimental video player in video options but it made no difference (Nexus 4, 5.0.1)

Corsair tend to be solid, so that CSM650 will do a good job. jonnyguru did a review of the 550W unit and found no major problems with it considering its market position (i.e. not premium, just solid): JonnyGURU - Corsair CS550M 550W

Quoted for truth.

You need a Z97 board to overclock that i5-4690K processor. If you're not interesting in overclocking, there's no point in buying the 4690K - get a slightly lower i5 without the K suffix. Stick to MSI, Gigabyte or Asus and you'll be alright, in general. Motherboards aren't as important as they once were now that so much is on the CPU.

That GPU would be, I think it's fair to say, the very best choice. Gigabyte Windforce cooler is a good 'un, and although the GTX980 is better, it's not that much better considering how much more it costs. 970 is absolutely the sweet spot for price/performance at the moment and the only people going for 980s are those for whom money is no object. Without getting into specifics on components, I'd say an i5 is more processor than you'll ever need for a gaming PC; an i3 will be all you need right now, but hopefully game engines will start multithreading better now that the consoles are so flush with cores. Don't pay for a K processor unless you're actually going to overclock; tbh any i5-4XXX CPU will be fine, you're not missing out on much getting a slightly lower clocked one to save £30-40. Get 2 x 4GB RAM now and you can easily upgrade with another 2 x 4GB in future. Get a 256GB SSD for your OS/other apps and a big mechanical drive to install games to; they don't benefit a great deal from being installed on an SSD, so you can save money on your SSD capacity. And only get a PSU that you can find a good review for on jonnyguru.com

I feel your pain. I had to open KeePass to get a password to do an update yesterday. The login prompt came up and I just sat there, staring blankly, completely at a loss for how I should get in. Having trouble with my keyboard today; I like the split ergonomicalnessosity of it, but it's taking a bit of getting used to again after two weeks away.

Righto, that's PC World removed from my recommendations going forward. I knew their recent reasonable prices were too good to be true; I had, in my naivety and optimism, thought that they were just turning their business aroung by being competitive. Heaven forfend

After all, there's only one more sleep to Christmas the holidays! Muppets Christmas Carol is the Christmas movie of my childhood and the film I need to get me in the spirit. And it is indeed the holidays tomorrow, so I'll take my opportunity now to say Merry bloomin' Christmas! to one and all, and cheers for the entertainment, the advice, and the general sounding board and support. See you in 2015, brave IT soldiers o7

A lot of the Pirate Bay sites that claim to be up - .cr was one - were only proxies and aren't actually up. It was a well known site, but it had done its time and proved its point, and, well... there are other, erm, kickass places to get your torrents from if you still need to. Amazed TPB lasted as long as it did, though!

"I don't want to spend more than a thousand pounds, but I want it to last." Last? For £1000, it'll wash your car and mow your lawn for you. Best options with a bit more headroom in the cost, then. All of these recommended with the addition of £79 spent on a 256GB MX100 SSD £300: PC World, Lenovo i3-4005U, 4GB RAM - good spec for now if anyone you know wants a cheap laptop, but doesn't meet future requirements as well as some of the pricier options £450 gets you a Lenovo with an i5-4200U and 8GB of RAM at Amazon, but... ...£470 gets you the same with an i7-4510U instead. Worth the £20 upgrade, I reckon. Also at PC World for £500 if Amazon run out of stock. My preference, though, money allowing, is £520 for a Lenovo with an i7-4510U, 8GB RAM, nVidia 820M and a 1080p screen in a slimmer chassis at Amazon. Looks lovely. Nearly £600 with a true SSD in, but if someone is willing to spend the money it'll be grand. I'm still amazed that PC World are one of the best options for laptop purchases at the moment. They're seriously upped their game. Now we just need manufacturers to start using proper M chips instead of silly ULV U chips!

I really don't know. That Event Log isn't much use really, is it? Doesn't actually say anything new. The only trouble I've ever had with DirSync was when the password had expired on the account I was using. Have you tried logging in to Webmail with the credentials you're giving DirSync?

I have had an instructables page open for a fortnight on a tab waiting for a chance to do this and post it to much fanfare in the "cool things" thread. Not much point now, is there? (as if I'd ever have the time anyway...) EDIT: http://www.instructables.com/id/Floppy-Disk-Pen-Holder/ FWIW, though it's pretty straightforward.

What's in the event log? DirSync seems to use the Application log. The FIM Sync tool may also give some clues - it'll have installed to "C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell\miisclient.exe" (and it's a useful tool when you're in production, so you can monitor syncs - I made a shortcut to it on my server's desktop)

UHD 4K TV with cristal picture quality Can't get clearer than cristal! IME it's never worth buying a budget brand TV because the interface is usually horrible; stick to established brands like LG, Panasonic etc. and you get a much more satisfying TV experience. Not as relevant if you're using it as a monitor, but then there's a review on that model that specifically discusses use as a monitor, and it ain't a happy review.

Updated my guide on how to install the free copies of Office, figured you lot may as well have it to edit/use/send out as well: Installing your free copies of Microsoft Office Dec2014 EG.docx