im scared to open haha

In games like Call of Duty and Apex, I kept running into the same problem:

When gunfire, explosions, teammate voice chat and other sounds all happen at once, enemy footsteps and directional cues become much harder to notice.

So I started experimenting with a different idea:

Instead of asking my ears to process everything, what if part of that information could be moved to touch?

This prototype attaches two haptic modules to the left and right sides of a mouse. It listens to stereo game audio in real time and converts some directional events into tactile feedback.

Events on the left side trigger the left module.

Events on the right side trigger the right module.

The red LED is synchronized with the left module.

The blue LED is synchronized with the right module.

I originally built it to solve one specific problem:

Keeping track of enemy directions even when my own weapon, explosions, and background noise overwhelm the audio mix.

Unexpectedly, the prototype seems to pick up many subtle directional cues that I normally miss during chaotic fights.

A few notes about the video:

The prototype in this clip is being tested using a recorded Call of Duty replay running on my PC.

The microphone was placed very close to the haptic modules, so the “thump” sounds you hear are produced by the modules themselves.

The modules are actually quieter in real life than they sound in the video, although the output strength can still be increased.

The vibration tuning is still unfinished. Right now, I'm still trying to make the feedback feel more like a short, crisp impact instead of a buzz.

One experiment I'm curious about:

Could some positional information eventually move from our ears to our hands?

I genuinely don't know yet, but I'd love to hear what FPS players think.

If your own gunfire is drowning out enemy footsteps, would you want some of that directional information to be offloaded to touch?

I'm 18, and I don't own a laptop or an iPad. Honestly, it's embarrassing because almost everyone around me has one. Sometimes I don't even want to admit it.

The reason is simple: my family can't afford one right now. I'm hoping I'll finally get a laptop when I start university next year, but there's no guarantee.

The last laptop I had was years ago when I was a kid. It was a very low-end laptop that stopped working pretty quickly. I mainly used it to play games, type assignments in Microsoft Word because school required it, and watch some YouTube videos. I've also used my cousins' laptops a few times, but that's about it.

What scares me the most is my future. I see people my age who are already comfortable using computers, while I've mostly had to rely on my phone. I'm worried that when it's time to get a job, I'll struggle because I don't have much experience with PCs.

Some people have been kind about it, but others have acted shocked or even mocked me for not owning a laptop. It makes me feel ashamed, and sometimes I don't even want to make new friends because I'm afraid of being judged.

So I wanted to ask: has anyone else been in a similar situation? If you didn't grow up with a laptop, were you able to catch up once you got one? Is it really that hard to learn computer skills later, or am I overthinking it?

I know this might sound like a small problem to some people, but it genuinely keeps me up at night. I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar.

It was the summer of 2016 when I considered building my own PC, maybe I was looking in the wrong places (Alienware), found out I can just build my own PC for cheaper for the same components, nothing would be proprietary.

fast forward to 2026, once I finally save up some money $1,400 to spend on myself I find out there is a ram shortage, and prices shot through the roof, I checked out the price of building it myself and find it a bit more expensive then the pre-builds.

when did this happen? Why would someone want to build a pc, or pay a custom builder if it's more expensive for the same components?

Has anyone else experienced this?
For years I had a really strange issue while gaming. It wasn’t just input lag—the whole experience felt heavy. Mouse and keyboard felt sluggish, movement wasn’t responsive, and the image looked like it was constantly degrading. Everything seemed blurry, it was harder to spot enemies, and the game never looked as sharp as it should.
After trying countless fixes (drivers, BIOS settings, Windows tweaks, RAM settings, etc.), I decided to disable the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band on my router. I use Ethernet, so I didn’t expect it to make any difference.
To my surprise, the change was immediate.
It’s now been over a week, and the improvement has been completely consistent. The image is noticeably sharper, motion is clearer, the mouse and keyboard feel much lighter and more responsive, and that “heavy” feeling is gone.
I know this sounds bizarre, especially since I’m connected via cable, but the difference has been so consistent that I can’t ignore it.
Has anyone else experienced something similar after disabling the 2.4 GHz band, even while using Ethernet? I’d be interested to know if there’s any technical explanation for this.

Hey everyone, hoping to get some advice or feedback on a mess I just made.

So I upgraded my GPU about a month ago from a 3070 to a 9700 XT. Everything went smooth until last week when I started getting random reboots under load.

Turns out I totally forgot that my 2 PCIe extension cables were pigtailed into a single PCIe cable running from the PSU. When I unplugged the cables from my GPU, I smelt a foul burnt plastic smell and saw that the extension headers and connectors had actually melted together.

Is the GPU socket fixable or done for? The plastic inside the GPU port looks pretty singed. Has anyone managed to clean out melted plastic from the headers, or am I looking at a dead board / paid repair?

Did I fry the card itself? The PC was still turning on until I opened it, but I’m worried pulling that much wattage through a single pigtail messed up the VRMs or power delivery on the PCB.

how should I safely test if the GPU is still alive without risking shorting something else?

Don't know if it's salvageable at this point, but any advice on what to inspect or try next would be huge. Thanks!

Not paid promo or anything but after this period of time most mice show wear. It’s remarkable that this WL Mouse I bought in Feb 2024 still looks brand new. Like absolutely zero wear … quite impressed and thought I’d share. This is the WL Mouse mini. It’s is my daily driver … (don’t have any other mouse)

OP cleaned & repasted her Graphics Card. Instant drop of 10°C at hotspot. It was a risk though, as I did first time ever & the card went out of warranty just a few months ago.

Now going to clean the entire rig this weekend.

They've been consistently there and I also see them elsewhere once in a while too. Ignore the World Cup in the background lol.

I was checking the prices on various italian shops for 5080 since i'm making a new pc, and found a msi 5080(the ugly one that looks like a cheese grater) and i bought it, i think they will cancell it and apologize i should know for mon 27/07.

In my brain, bigger number means better card. But in reality a 5090 is significantly better than say a 9070. How does the number system work with these things?

Made a new friend in a Steam game who has been giving me a lot of shit recently about my Steam account’s age. I grew up with not a lot of money so I always had consoles until 2023 I got a good job and was able to finally afford/buy a PC that I’ve dreamed of.

This new friend is giving me shit because my account is 3 years old only…while his is 11. I don’t know why but it’s just discouraging hearing that.

I grew up with a family PC but everyone used my dad’s Steam account and we weren’t allowed to have our own and I told him there’s nothing I can do about it

I am worried that my gpu will break longterm due to sag, could anyone tell me how realistic it is? I already tried aligning it better but the backplate does not seem to be perfectly aligned.(ignore the dust)

Im having a lil trouble, and this is while idling, i have no other apps open and i have XMP or EXPO enabled (i have an intel CPU) sooo is this normal, i only have task manager, Thanks!

My system is completely stable at the runtime but I recently saw these marks on my cpu. They made me concerned about what is even happening to my cpu. I never overclocked the cpu at all. Still somehow got these marks.

I was looking to get one for my new pc, but I've been reading some reviews about these things catching on fire?? Are these just freak incidents? I was thinking about getting this one--cyberpower--42102132&source=region&negg_topt=0).

Hey everyone, just wanted to put out a massive warning for anyone using CableMod's compatibility matrix to buy custom cables, because I just had a flagship Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Xtreme motherboard completely fried and CableMod officially denied my damage claim.

Here is the trap I fell into, and why anyone buying cables right now is at risk. I explicitly ordered a Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 ATX 3.0 1200W power supply from Newegg. Newegg fulfilled the order with a mid-generation revised ATX 3.1 unit.

But here is the catch: Thermaltake quietly rolled out this internal platform wiring overhaul under the exact same retail series name, listing, and factory Part Number (P/N: PS-TPD-1200FNFAGU-L). Across the wider PSU industry, almost all other major manufacturers kept their pinouts identical between 3.0 and 3.1 updates. Because the retail part numbers match perfectly, there was absolutely zero reason to suspect that the internal wiring layouts had been silently shifted inside the modular housing.

I went to CableMod's official compatibility chart, and the notes column next to the GF A3 series was completely blank. Since they prominently print detailed warning notes for adjacent lines when there is a known hazard, a blank box actively signals to a builder that the general family nameplate is safe and validated.

When I plugged the cables in, the silent pinout difference caused a catastrophic short circuit that permanently killed my motherboard.

When I took this to support, the communication loop was incredibly frustrating. I was forced to repeatedly open separate web tickets due to an internal server block on their outbound email address, hit with constant 48-hour queue delays, and left ghosted for seven straight days until I sent a final Notice of Intent. Support finally stepped in with a flat denial, claiming they aren't liable because the physical unit was a 3.1 revision, completely ignoring that it shares the exact same retail Part Number listed on their database page.

In a public comment, their community director even admitted that CableMod knows Thermaltake constantly shifts these proprietary pinouts mid-generation, but stated that CableMod only tracks the ones "that we have verified."

Leaving an electrical fire hazard completely unflagged on a premium storefront while waiting for a customer's hardware to explode before you actually bother to update the chart is direct storefront negligence. If you are using their compatibility tool, just know a blank notes column doesn't mean your components are safe—it just means they haven't verified the batch yet.

Has anyone else dealt with silent manufacturer revisions messing up aftermarket cable compatibility? Watch out for your components, guys.

I need something cheap yet good for a first pc. Please and thank you!

It’s a turn-based tactical/strategy game with a horror twist, set in a weird-west world where the monsters are your crew's own fears – with roguelike runs that keep every attempt tense.

Here's the link if you'd like to check it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3310950/Nightmare_Frontier

I'm building my first PC because the prebuilt options in my local stores don't even specify most of the components they use, aside from the CPU and GPU. My budget is around $1,700, and these are the parts I've picked so far.

I know 16 GB of RAM and a 500 GB SSD aren't ideal, but RAM and SSD prices are currently pretty high where I live. I plan to upgrade both later.

I'd appreciate any recommendations or suggestions for improving this build.

How do i stop the ninja icon tray that pops up each time windows 11 start?

I want it to be enabled each time but this annoying box pops up and its kinda redundancy as its already in the "startup" enabled

Hey guys, my monitor just died today and I am planning to purchase a temporary one because I still want to repair my old monitor. Any suggestions for a gaming monitor that is under $200?

Upon hearing of the LG’s latest bout of shady behavior, I promptly disconnected my smart tv from the WiFi. But now, I dare not run my living room pc with it. No way am I letting LG or Microsoft download some ad-ridden companion app upon identifying the display. If Linux distros aren’t affected, this could be the push I needed to finally make the plunge.

The PCIe that was holding the ASUS DirectCU II GPU in was ripped clean(?) off. And as the title states, I’m wondering if this is an easy fix or to just scrap it. The board is an MSI Z97 GAMING 7, and the slot is the PCI_E5

EDIT: general consensus is that it is fixable, however, I’m too lazy to fix a MOBO that came from a street PC, so I’ll probably just hang onto it until I feel like I can fix it