Hyperstrike

Yeah, for desktop spanning, NVSurround isn't exactly the "best" solution. Especially since the Taskbar stops working right... You get a taskbar that spans ONE screen and doesn't retract... And the tech is, essentially, an abandoned demo. It's infuriating...

If you want to burn that sort of money on tiny hard drives...I guess? Some of Seagate's newer offerings in the consumer space are getting more reliable (some of the better "DNA" from their myriad hard drive company purchases is finally outing). If you want an eye opener, look at Backblaze's quarterly drive results. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-hard-drive-stats-q1-2019/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-q2-2019/ They basically operate on a least-cost basis for hard drive acquisition. Then they make up for it with massive redundancy and even more massive partial redundancy. And their "storage pods" are hard drive torture devices. If it's durable in their environment, you pretty much never have to worry about anything other than the extremes of the bathtub curve. https://www.backblaze.com/blog/life-and-times-of-a-backblaze-hard-drive/

Note: "Cold" storage doesn't really denote temperature. It's a euphemism for extremely low-access storage.

Zep's right. It's a pain right up front. But once you're used to it... My only regret is not stepping down from 4K monitors to the 2560x monitors. 4K on 27" is still a LITTLE too small (and therefore choppy text) to read at 20/20 vision.

With the Cudas being that old, I'm not sure it's worth using drives that far past their warranty date. And I'm using a 300GB 15Krpm drive! ESPECIALLY IN SOFTWARE RAID! A Western Digital 1TB Blue is $45 And you can snag a Crucial 500GB for $67 (and PCI-E to boot!). $112 and you can still move over up to 4 SATA devices! (The PCI-E drive takes over SATA controllers 5&6).

Okay, if it's TRULY archival (cold storage), Western Digital Purple. If you're going to access it more frequently than once a year? Western Digital Red or Red Pro if you want a slightly more performant drive.. HGST used to be on the list. But they've essentially been folded down into Western Digital now, and remaining drives are going for "Are you NUTS?" prices. Also, if your SSD is more than about 70-75% full, it's DEFINITELY time to either throw stuff out or get a bigger drive. The fuller the drive gets, the faster it'll wear out.

Well, in the process of moving. Finally got my office Computer moved. Still not an IDEAL setup. But I'm not spending out a million dollars to have my all-singing, all-dancing home office. And below is my previous location.

20 years ago? I'd have agreed with that. Unfortunately, I don't agree with it any more. I'm in Chicago, and unless you actually KNOW and trust the person putting a machine together for you, I wouldn't touch someone else's prebuilt, off-the-shelf stuff with a 100 yard pole. No idea how long it's been sitting there. And unless you've VERY familiar with SOTA, you have no clear way of knowing if the stuff in the box isn't 2 years old, refurbed, etc. This is why I don't recommend buying off the shelf from Worst Buy or similar Big Box stores. I had a client who'd basically buy his office new computers like that and it was Fuster Cluck City. No two machines matched. Goofy driversets on all of them. Funky behavior out of all of them. But by George! He got a DEAL! *GRUMBLE*

If that's the only thing stopping you, SCREW the HDD. Get yourself a decent sized SSD! It won't see the performance of SATA3 or PCI-E, but it's still a damn sight faster than your hard drive? I'd also look at simply doing a clean reinstall of WIndows at the time. As you might be dealing with an install that has problems too. And a fresh install will generally run faster than a cloned instance. Then if you have more stuff on the HDD, you can either keep it as bulk storage or replace the drive later. Startups won't be near-instataneous the way they are with fully integrated systems that were set up that way from the word go. But they'll be a darn sight faster (as will program launches) and the performance is NOTICEABLE. Three brands of SSD I trust. Samsung, Intel, Crucial in pretty much that order. And Intel thinks their **** don't stink and prices outrageously accordingly. Samsung Evo 860 500GB $75 Samsung Evo 860 1TB $129 Crucial MX500 500GB $67 Crucial MX500 1TB $110

I don't mean to be rude. But I honestly wouldn't trust this. This is generally someone duplicating an OEM license. Does it work (now)? Yeah. But down the road? Let's just say that while I'm fully cognizant of the savings that can be realized, I my trust level simply isn't high enough.

The 1050 is an high-entry level card from the previous generation of NVIDIA cards. The 1660 is a mid-range card in NVIDIA's current generation of cards. Their current generation has two branches: GTX: Which is essentially a progression of their last generation. RTX: Which is a new type of card with hardware built in for dynamic ray tracing. Essentially this isn't REALLY anything more than a tech demo at this point, as the RTX stuff incurs some major performance penalties as-is. The RTX cards are their highest performance cards. 2060, 2070 (which is mostly obviated by the 2060), and 2080. The GTX card is an attempt to still deliver mainline gaming performance without the additional cost that RTX incurs. In video gaming, 10% is "margin of error". It's essentially the point at which you cannot reasonably tell the difference between two setups without actual benchmarking software/hardware). While, on synthetic benchmarks a 2060 is CLEARLY superior to the 1660, in MOST (but not all) gaming are within margin of error. And, even when it loses, for the most part the "losing" benchmark is still above 60 frames per second, and, often, above 100. And the price difference between the 2060 and the 1660? About 80-100 bucks. If you're just looking for hard numbers between a 1660 and a 1050, you can find it here. If you don't have the confidence to part one together and are looking at pre-built? Look at Dell's G5 gaming series. Pretty much all meat, no fat. Recommend starting with their $719 "step up" from the base model. It gives you an i5 processor with 6 cores, vs the i3 with 4. Top speed is virtually the same. If you're looking for improvements over this base system. 1: Step up from the base 1650 to the 1660 (+$50) 2: Step up from the base 1TB HD to the 512GB SSD plus a 1TB HD (+$50) (Crazy pricing, as it's cheaper to get a dual-drive SSD+HDD than it is to just get the SSD.) 3: Just a suggestion, but maybe opt for at least a year of their Support+ (general support plus accidental damage) as well. (+$100).

When comparing against other MMs, common IOs isn't exactly the way to go. It's inefficient to slot, and FF is primarily a support Secondary. Again, take a look, up-thread, at the Bots/FF build I dropped.

You've actually wrung a HELL of a lot out of it. I slapped together one of my standard "Usual Suspects" quickie builds and your build was basically superior on everything but E/N Resist. It's why I didn't even bother posting the build.

Yeah. Tankermind generally requires set bonuses and the various uniques.

Looks fairly good!

Uh. What? How're you built? Chasing defense buffs?

Yeah, but it's kinda like Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "You TOTALLY killed us you evil *Insert Derogatory Descriptor Here* DICKWEED!" *Insert your insane laughter* "And now you're RIGHT where I want you!" *FWOOSH!*

Good for your friend. For most people, Unstop is merely a suicide button with a 3 minute delay and pretty much HAS been since the advent of Invention Sets. And, in the current game, with the understanding of Defense, Resistance and their various synergies, it's even LESS relevant. And on a heavily tweaked build, you're simply better off using small or medium Inspies or Incarnate powers (Barrier, Melee), as they offer zero crash. Seriously, on a build like this (see below), what is Unstoppable REALLY providing? Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Tanker Primary Power Set: Invulnerability Secondary Power Set: Super Strength Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(3), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(3), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(5), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(5), GldArm-3defTpProc:50(7) Level 1: Jab -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg:50(7), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(9), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(9), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(11), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%:50(11) Level 2: Temp Invulnerability -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(13), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15) Level 4: Haymaker -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg:50(19), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(19), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(21), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(21), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb:50(23) Level 6: Dull Pain -- RechRdx-I:50(A) Level 8: Resist Elements -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(23), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(25), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(25) Level 10: Unyielding -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(27), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(27), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29) Level 12: Resist Energies -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(29), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(31), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31) Level 14: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A) Level 16: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33) Level 18: Invincibility -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(33), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(34), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), Rct-ResDam%:50(34) Level 20: Knockout Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(37), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc:50(37) Level 22: Weave -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(37), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(39), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39) Level 24: Combat Jumping -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(39), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(40) Level 26: Tough Hide -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(40), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(42), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42) Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(42) Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I:50(A) Level 32: Super Jump -- Empty(A) Level 35: Hurl -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg:50(43), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(43), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(45), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc:50(45) Level 38: Foot Stomp -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(46), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(46), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc:50(48) Level 41: Char -- SprEnt-Acc/Hold:50(A), SprEnt-Hold/Rchg:50(48), SprEnt-End/Rchg:50(48), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End:50(50), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End/Rchg:50(50) Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End:50(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:50(15), Mrc-Rcvry+:40(17) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:50(A), PrfShf-EndMod:50(17) Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Melee Core Embodiment Level 50: Resilient Core Paragon ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1421;647;1294;HEX;| |78DA65934B4F135114C7EFB4536A4B91168416FAA2155A8A582DB0772142409A34C| |1B86D2A5EDB89CDD0748A91A589F8D8296ADCF8C09DEF0FA01B5F9F4045403F838F| |448DEEC6D3397F5BCDDCA4FDDDF99F73EEFFDC3B73F367A77D4F67CF1D128AEF70B| |56418C56325FDB4ACBBF2A5B2B6249AC34DBF18ABC569794AEA86CCCEE96756AABA| |AC974E6855ADB11A46382FAB526617576A345F6CD4A55E6E5444576179B99A9DD1C| |A9586A6977DD6D3822CD5E8A1FBEFC34959372A5ACD87D4862E0D2370A4A62D650B| |AB7559CC978C86ACAF86A89351FABDF5D09FD2ECCD7489244DD2AA70C4C038534D8| |0416254151D134E2172AA18F7FE53FB81B58E2DE6AE6D7087E9FD087E62BE235F85| |6B9DCA0FD67C3FC15FCCDDBF9959F2710AF6719E572DAD670DBCC0DC7311BCC4ECB| |FCC7C4F3E2EAE15AE7DC2D2364973C3DB8D3DF763CF21EC39843D3FCF08E141AE07| |7D0EA2CF41F419419F5BB46E27723BB16E04EBC6B06E0CEB3AE853E8425F5D6B0EA| |BDE495A37EABBE11583D710BC86E0B54D5E01CE5503F388CD3013B3E01CF89D99A3| |73ECC539F65EE1F3D97B155C07AF3187AF8337982AF5D687DEFAE0370CBF14FC52F| |0EBA7DC207283C84D21378D9CF451E60EED6300B903C84D2337837533A899A0FEC3| |D607672A61BCCB0CD8439E519C6734C15A90B438B4B849434CD20A499C40F23EEF6| |CEC01F8107CC41C7F0C3E614E51ED086A476E21769BB9FF0E7817DC601EB8C76C5E| |8651BCADD11788BD045F3173AFC1374CF3FF1151058629AC98C8A8ADEB678ED9A20| |76D4ACEA64CDA94299BB260530A2A6C49512CC5E36F5D50F3B3B775B111FDDA561C| |4A0257FBB862D13FCFD7E18BADEA5B5B51949B7C41FCEBCC0DFA8A73F07B966CCF7| |D419AE344FE004300FD04| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Or this Brute Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Brute Primary Power Set: Super Strength Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Punch -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury:50(7) Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(7), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(9), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(9), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(11), StdPrt-ResDam/EndRdx:30(11) Level 2: Haymaker -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(13), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End:50(17) Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(21), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(23) Level 6: Dull Pain -- RechRdx-I:40(A) Level 8: Knockout Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx:50(23), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(25), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(25), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(27), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc:50(27) Level 10: Resist Elements -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(29), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(29), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(31) Level 12: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A) Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33) Level 16: Unyielding -- UnbGrd-ResDam:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(33), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34) Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(34) Level 20: Resist Energies -- RctArm-ResDam:40(A), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(34), RctArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(36), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(36) Level 22: Weave -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(36), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(37), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37), Rct-ResDam%:50(37) Level 24: Combat Jumping -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(39), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(39) Level 26: Hurl -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg:50(40), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(40), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg:50(42), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc:50(42) Level 28: Invincibility -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(42), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(43), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43) Level 30: Assault -- EndRdx-I:50(A) Level 32: Foot Stomp -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc:50(46) Level 35: Tough Hide -- ShlWal-Def:50(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(46), ShlWal-Def/Rchg:50(46), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48) Level 38: Char -- SprEnt-Acc/Hold:50(A), SprEnt-Hold/Rchg:50(48), SprEnt-End/Rchg:50(48), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End:50(50), SprEnt-Acc/Hold/End/Rchg:50(50), SprEnt-Rchg/AbsorbProc:50(50) Level 41: [Empty] -- Empty(A) Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Fury Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Pnc-Heal/+End:50(17), Mrc-Rcvry+:40(19) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod:50(A), PrfShf-End%:50(19) Level 50: Resilient Core Paragon ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1395;630;1260;HEX;| |78DA65935B6F124114C76761B1B64081D6422F5C8BA505854AF4DD442B4D6B49489| |AF84AB08EB009D992DDC5D8471F7CD7AAF1C54BEB25F1FE11B4D7EFE097F092A8D1| |B7F5B0E7DF56B393ECFE3267FEE79CFFCCEE546FCE053ECCDF3A2F14FFC576C334E| 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Rage crash? What Rage...OH CRAP! I'm only down to Incarnate Soft Cap! THE END IS NIGH!

So we're all in agreement now? All Brutes must be deleted with extreme prejudice! YAY! 😉

Tanker modifiers are...Tanker modifiers.

I apologize for my abject lack of declaratory loquaciousness. 😉

IMNSHO...it IS too good. Sorry.

The quote above pretty much expresses my feelings on this subject.