Everything needs LEDs nowadays. From PSUs to RAM to f*cking heatsinks. Even waterbocks have holes to put LEDs on them!

*sigh*

The only good thing that LEDs have done is make motherboard manufacturers so focused on them that they have forgotten about the shiny colours they used on some parts to make them more "appealing"...
(looks at his PC case, with no window, where an Asus Z87-Pro with "golden" parts rests away from his sight)

Well. Heatinks have always had LEDS... Do you remember the big giant copper cooler from Zalman back in the Socket A/478 days?
Blue-LED.


I blame Enermax. They started the whole fiasco over half a decade ago! Haha

PSA: I want to know everyone's position on if Valve Corporation obtains a monopoly as sole distributor of PC games ?

Well, my stance is very simple: monopolies aren't good in the long term, so we should always try to avoid them.

It's very simple, proper competition is good because it puts a limit on what a company/service can enforce to its customers, mostly in fear of losing them to their competing rivals, while encouraging them to keep improving over time.

That said, we should also be wary about the competition. Don't get me wrong, GOG is an excellent service and my only grief with it is that it doesn't have new many AAA games (mostly because their no DRM policy scares publishers), but I'm talking about one publisher stores and mostly the Windows Store.

Ubisoft, and EA services are almost (but only that) ok because they also sell products from other publishers, but EA's position on not releasing their new games on other stores like Steam damages us more than make us good. But we should not encourage them because we could end up in something like Battle.net, where we can only buy their games from their store, which could bring us to a situation where we'd have to install as many clients as publishers are out there. And that would not be good for anyone.

As for the WIndows Store, MSoft has proven time and time again that they're not to be trusted, and that they're not affraid to screw their customers in order to sell their newer products. That's why I don't want the Windows Store to take off. Thankfully, MSoft themselves are sabotaging their own store by now allowing cross-play with Steam and other measures.

In summary, we need several stores that compete with each other at the same level, but without breaking the ecosystem in a myriad of smaller clients.

As a side note, key stores like GMG, the Humble Store, etc. already provide certain competition, at least on price.

Valve does have a commanding share of the PC gaming market.

But they don't have a monopoly if you account for the *entire* gaming market. (Mobile, Home Consoles, Handheld Consoles etc.)

With that... A monopoly by a company like Valve would be very different to that of say... Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony etc'.
Valve is a privately held company, it doesn't need to answer to shareholders and their ever-increasing demand for more profits.

And despite that, the way Greenlight and its successor have been used to fill Steam with garbage with the consent of Steam seem to indicate that looking for higher profits is a priority for Valve/Steam.

Sadly, the RGB craze is still going on, this time with a gamepad... and a radiator!

Razer Wolverine

Thermaltake Pacific RL360 Plus RGB

What will come next?

I think the BFG Edition sucks, it's a serious downgrade from the original release. Wish the "normal" edition was there, too.

What do you guys think about this laptop? http://www.lazada.com.ph/asus-fx550iu-dm064t-156-amd-fx9830p-4gb-windows-10-laptop-withfree-asus-laptop-bag-32054069.html?ff=1&sc=EZ0r

I don't game very much anymore and what I play is mostly older or Indie, so the polaris 11 is enough for me. On the other hand the Blu-Ray drive is something I was looking for because I have many movies on that format (among them the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Should I wait for Raven Ridge aka Ryzen mobile or take this one? I know RR will have much more CPU power, but honestly I don't need it, and it's already better than my old PC I have (Athlon X4 620 @2.5 Ghz and Radeon HD 5770)

RGB toaster, RGB air conditioner, RGB microwave, RGB refrigerator, RGB HDTV, RGB street lighting, RGB table, RGB bed, RGB couch.

Edit: RGB teeth

I think you have already made up your mind. ;)

To be honest. Even if it is more than you need, the FX is not a good buy in 2017... A Core i3 would probably provide a better experience overall.
Otherwise the system isn't going to have much in the way of longevity.

With that, the GPU seems to be a desktop variant, so it's not going to be the most energy efficient, but should be a decent performer.
At 1080P (Native display res) it will struggle in some games.

To be honest. I don't mind it on the controller, it's not in-your-face merry-bloody-christmas.

The Radiatior? Kill it with fire.