Random Accessories Thread

[Zed Clampet]

All of my peripherals/accessories claimed that they needed to be connected directly to the computer as opposed to a USB hub. For some reason, I bought into that, and it created an absolute cable nightmare because I have my monitor, keyboard, DAC, controllers, mouse, half keyboard all on a lapdesk that I move around as necessary.

Yesterday, after spending time unraveling my mess of cables again, I decided to ignore them and connect everything to a powered USB hub that I attached to the lapdesk. It is working out so much better, and I haven't noticed any problems.

 

[Colif]

Occasionally my mouse or keyboard will disconnect randomly. Its not often enough to make me move them both onto PC as it is too far from where I sit. Are we meant to use extension cables instead?

or use wireless receiver plugged directly into PC and hope its range its good enough.
I mainly have my kb plugged in as its wireless transmitter range is too short.

 

[Zed Clampet]

or use wireless/Bluetooth and hope the receiver has a long enough range to reach to PC - then you run into possible latency problems

This is one of the reasons I don't use wireless headphones. I had some that connected by bluetooth and the sounds always lagged behind what I was seeing on screen. It was probably just a problem with that particular headset, but between that problem and wanting to use a DAC, I haven't bought wireless since.

 

[Colif]

its a blue tooth thing, I get the same if I use my Wiim streamer as the output for my PC via Bluetooth. Its the main reason I prefer wired speakers on my PC. I would also get it if I attached my Focal Headphones to my PC and played a game.

Bluetooth latency doesn't matter if its only music. hence some dongles can be bluetooth and stream from your phone.

wireless headphones get mixed up with bluetooth ones. Its hard to know what latency they have. Gaming headsets tend to have USB Dongles to speed up communication with consoles/PC whereas ANC headphones don't.

I don't use wireless headphones as the quality of the music they can provide is lower than wired. Even if I do have a pair of Focal wireless headphones, I rarely use them. If I could redo one purchase it would be them... they good headphones, I just never use them.

 

[Colif]

https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-AU/p/hdb-630/ wireless Headphones with a dongle to reduce latency

 

[Zed Clampet]

https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-AU/p/hdb-630/ wireless Headphones with a dongle to reduce latency

Did they close Epos?

 

[Colif]

Did they close Epos?

seemingly not

Audio Solutions for Enterprises: Headsets and Speakerphones | EPOS

EPOS offers premium audio solutions, rooted in 115 years of expertise, to enhance professional performance. Discover our innovative products.

www.eposaudio.com

They appear to aim more at business clients now. Not general public

 

[Zed Clampet]

Trying to figure out how to clean my non-traditional mousepad. It has about an inch of memory foam, so soaking it probably isn't a great idea, but I'm having to wipe the surface with an alcohol wipe every day, and I seem to be losing the battle. With the heat running, we have a dust problem this time of year.

 

[Colif]

If you used AI to ask questions instead of understand things, maybe you find the answer
Google AI suggests: Memory Foam Mouse pad

gently hand wash it in a sink with lukewarm water and mild soap (like dish soap), using a soft cloth or sponge to scrub lightly, then rinse thoroughly and let it air dry completely flat, avoiding heat or machines to protect the foam and fabric

Sounds like you use best method but needing to do it every day would get frustrating.

Shame a glass mousepad wouldn't work with the way you work... it doesn't bend, mouse would just slide off.
idea: Mojo Beanbag Mouse pad - Amazon link

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1610281232/recliner-mouse-pad-caddy-armchair

 

[Zed Clampet]

If you used AI to ask questions instead of understand things, maybe you find the answer
Google AI suggests: Memory Foam Mouse pad


Sounds like you use best method but needing to do it every day would get frustrating.

Shame a glass mousepad wouldn't work with the way you work... it doesn't bend, mouse would just slide off.
idea: Mojo Beanbag Mouse pad - Amazon link

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1610281232/recliner-mouse-pad-caddy-armchair

I have ordered the MOJO!

If it doesn't work on my armrest, I'll just use it in bed

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Colif The beanbag mousepad is considerably better than I expected. Not only does the mouse track great on it, but it solves maybe my biggest problem with this set-up, which is that it sits perfectly flat. I can just let go of the mouse, and it doesn't immediately slide off. It doesn't move at all. I can't tell you how awesome that is.

 

[Colif]

Most gaming gear is for shooting games it seems, I don't play those. Guess their players are the ones who want just a little advantage over other people, and fall for the stories.
In a lot of cases, gaming gear just means it has rgb.

1. Sound: I avoided headsets by using 5.1 speakers instead. Shortly I will get a Dongle that will let me use Focal headphones with games and avoid buying any headsets. If that doesn't do it, I i will buy a Fosi K7 and use my Hifiman headphones, they are hard to beat.
2. Keyboards: never really bought one based on latency. Hall effect and digital key presses don't work all that well for typing,
3 Monitors: ghosting... VA smear... I won't have to deal with that very much longer. But its not just in games you can see that effect, I get it on these forums with the black theme. Oled is best way to avoid it without using overdrive. Does help to have a fast refresh rate. 240hz is sweet spot it seems.
4 Gaming chairs: LOL total waste of money, buy a good office chair or sit on a lounge or bed or reclining chair... don't buy something that looks like a racing seat.
5... get more sleep. Well, thats a different one but its true, Depends on games, if you competing against someone who is more aware than you, then yes.

 

[Colif]

this is hardly a small accessory

 

[Zed Clampet]

Unpowered USB hubs are miserable pieces of garbage that cause nothing but headaches. Just because of the way this setup is, I have one, but I'm getting rid of it. Every single time I sit and get ready to do something, I have to unplug things and plug them back in to get them to work. And often as not, getting one thing to work just leads to something else not working.

 

[Colif]

Yeah, I have reverted back to just having all of mine running direct off PC - its not like I lacked USB slots. Just means I am using the wireless dongle for my keyboard now as the cable is messy stretching to PC - I had a USB extension cable so now the kb cable reaches if I need to charge it.

I have the mouse dongle hanging over the top of a black lamp near PC so its signal easily reaches my mouse. Hard part is when I need to charge mouse, but I can always attach the extension cable to it then.

Camera thinks my green rgb is actually Blue

Dongle is black so you can't see it anyway.... cable is only evidence.

I only had 4 USB devices anyway. Remainder of my USB devices are dongles, one for headphones, one for Xbox Controller. They already attached to PC.

Strangely when I plugged a USB C drive into front of case, where the KB and Headphone dongle are, the kb one disconnected from KB. Which was odd. I plugged the USB C drive into back of board and that fixed that. Maybe I should just use rear USB ports

 

[Zed Clampet]

Well, here's a new SteelSeries experience. I bought a new Aerox mouse that wasn't a refurb, and I decided I was going to try using it wirelessly, so I go around to the back of my computer and plug the dongle in. Then I come back around to the front, and my PC is off. Somehow plugging in the dongle just immediately turned my PC off. So I turn it back on and the fans go absolutely nuts. I was kind of afraid it wasn't going to boot, but it did, and it came to the Windows log-in screen, and the fans were still blasting and...nothing worked. My keyboards, mouse, touchpad, etc. were just not working. So I go back around and unplug the dongle, and the fans went silent, and everything started working again.

I have no idea what happened, but I guess I'm going to go ahead and update my BIOS.

 

[Colif]

All the accessories in your PC is controlled by the same chip. That includes USB and possibly fan hubs if they controlled by USB... Iast part is a guess as I haven't seen fans attached to motherboards directly have that problem.

So one device can mess up the rest, or cause other devices to not work properly. A dying mouse caused my GPU to not start with windows... that was a fun one to work out, took a few months. Even had a shop look at my PC and obviously they didn't find anything as mouse wasn't attached.

I have seen USB devices cause windows to turn off, to protect itself. I did that by plugging the wrong drive into the wrong slot. Prefer that to having PC damage itself.

Could be a bad dongle... always possible I guess.

 

[Zed Clampet]

All the accessories in your PC is controlled by the same chip. That includes USB and possibly fan hubs if they controlled by USB... Iast part is a guess as I haven't seen fans attached to motherboards directly have that problem.

So one device can mess up the rest, or cause other devices to not work properly. A dying mouse caused my GPU to not start with windows... that was a fun one to work out, took a few months. Even had a shop look at my PC and obviously they didn't find anything as mouse wasn't attached.

I have seen USB devices cause windows to turn off, to protect itself. I did that by plugging the wrong drive into the wrong slot. Prefer that to having PC damage itself.

Could be a bad dongle... always possible I guess.

As for the fans, I've come to the conclusion that it was interfering with the Fan Control app somehow because when I unplugged the dongle and unlocked Windows, Fan Control was open on the desktop, which normally doesn't happen. It's normally just in the background.

 

[Colif]

Do you mean GCC fan control app or Fan Control?

the 2nd conflicts with HWINFO and was seeing the wrong temps on sensors. It also used to use a driver that has too much access to windows. Its called Winring0 which matches exactly what access it has. Ring 0, drivers should only have ring 1. Only the kernel should have that much access

Understanding Windows' Concerns Over Fan Control Software and WinRing0

Windows has recently taken a hard stand on a seemingly innocuous category of utilities—fan control software—with vigilant warnings that such tools can be "dangerous." As it turns out, the devil is in the details, particularly regarding a system driver called WinRing0. The Heart of the Issue...

windowsforum.com

GCC was open on desktop yesterday on startup after I updated the BIOS. That isn't normal.
My fans have been known to run at full speed too if GCC decides not to start. easy to fix, just restart App.
Not had all USB not work myself.