Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by

RMA Gainward GPU - any experience?

Arcisal — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:14:27 +0800

Hi, my Gainward 3060ti I bought back in 2022 is starting to have serious issues (artifacting, PC crashing). I have verified that the GPU is the issue by switching to my CPU iGPU (5600g).

Gainward website says to claim warranty directly from distrbutor. The store I bought my GPU from is gone (probably bankrupt). Anyone have any experience claiming warranty on Gainward GPUs?

Where to buy GPU?

Arcisal — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 09:28:34 +0800

Hi guys,

Where should I be looking to buy a GPU for my rig (if prices ever come back down to sane levels)? Are Shopee and Lazada reliable places to buy from? I noticed the usual retailers (TMT, Viewnet, etc) have stopped posting their price list and only offer GPUs as part of a package now - is this practice usual or only cause of the GPU shortage?

Planning to to take a gap year

Arcisal — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 03:09:05 +0800

Hi.

I'm an A-Levels student and I've been procrastinating on my applications to university for a long time now. So much so that the deadline for UCAS applications is this coming Friday.

The reason for the delay is because of my indecisiveness. I'm considering taking a gap year as I am one year younger than most of my classmates (they're 19, I'm 18). I'm already on my final semester for A-Levels and if I decide to follow through with the application, I will be studying in the UK at the ripe age of 18.

I think that's a bit too rushed as the course I plan to apply to (Economics & Politics) is only 3 years. I feel like being a year younger than everyone has given be the privilege to take a gap year without too much repercussions rather than a chance to end my studies earlier.

The problem is I have no idea what I would do to make this gap year worthwhile. To add to that, my parents are pretty conservative and like most Malaysian parents, the term "gap year" is synonymous to "lazy".

I'm thinking of taking up an internship and travelling, but one can only do those things for so long. Not to mention the question of where. My family isn't particularly rich either so I want to be able to at least become partially financially independent rather than leech of the hard-work of my parents.

I've also heard that taking a gap year may look unwholesome on my CV/resume/application. Honestly, I only think it looks bad if you take it without being able to have things to talk about during the gap year. In other words, you've wasted a year of your time and money.

Are there any more things I could do during a gap year? I'm a banana so I definitely intend to learn Chinese (or Mandarin). I might take up some form of Computer Science or Programming as I'm interested in taking a CS degree alongside my Economics degree.

Please help. 2 days left.

Your "must-win" hero

Arcisal — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:10:46 +0800

Which hero do you use to trash noobs?

For me, it will probably be Razor, OD or Clinkz. Pubs can't handle them.

10 Most Commonly Made Errors (And How to Fix Them)

Arcisal — Sat, 03 May 2014 02:17:57 +0800

If you are a at least semi-adequate at DotA, you may find a lot of new players making the same mistakes over and over again. Sometimes, this is not just limited to newbies, but also to players who have never been educated in the finer arts of DotA. This list pins them all down and teaches players (new and old alike) on how to solve them.

1) Last Hitting
A very basic skill that is scarily not known by many people, please for the love of God, learn to last hit. Whether or not you're a support or a carry, a jungler or a offlaner, please just learn to do it. It gains you experience and is the most basic and efficient way of earning gold.

Another reason why people last hit is so that you do not push the lane. Yes, sometimes you should NOT push the lane. When do you (not) do so? In most situations, its when your carry needs to farm, especially during the laning phase. If you auto-attack the creeps, you will push the lane to the enemy tower, making it unsafe to trade last hits or harass with the enemy tower nearby. It also makes the enemy mid-laner's life easier for when he/she ganks your sorry ass.

2) Pulling and Double Pulls
A very big mistake I see a lot of new players, especially supports make, is not pulling properly. If you don't know what pulling is, it is simply using the neutral creep camp adjacent to your safelane (easy camp) to aggro a wave of your own creeps so that they will pull the lane back to your own tower. This helps because it allows your carry to last hit in the safety of your own tower as well as it denies an entire creepwave of experience to the enemy, if done right.

Now the biggest problem I see in pubs is people pulling the easy camp either without stacking first, or not doing a double pull. What happens if you don't do either? Well, firstly, the creep wave will not be destroyed, allowing your enemy offlaner to gain experience, and secondly, the half wave will merge with the next wave which will eventually push your lane again by A LOT, meaning all the way back to the enemy tower. This defeats the purpose of a pull and can even cause harm to your carry.

3) Positioning
People seem to think that just because you play a support hero, you have a reason to feed. It does not. A good support hero separates himself from the bad ones by doing support-ty stuff, as well as not feeding. One big reason why I see supports feed so much is because of bad positioning during teamfights. If you're playing Crystal Maiden, please don't lead your team into the enemy team cause you'll just die in four hits. Don't expect a lina to be in the center of a teamfight cause she'll just drop like a fly.

Keep in mind of ramps and trees. Ramps are very important because being on the high-ground grants you uphill vision as well as may cause the enemy to miss some of their attacks from attacking from the low-ground. This is especially important when you are defending your base or sieging your enemy's.

And please, just because Freezing Field is off cooldown, don't blink into 5 enemy heroes and waste it.

4) The Side Shop
I don't see enough people utilizing the side shop, especially during the laning phase. Many basic things can be bought there instead of walking all the way back to your fountain or using your courier. Brown Boots, Energy Orb, Blink Dagger, Orb of Venom and more can all be bought there to save your courier for something else more important. The all important TP scroll can be purchase there to help a different lane.

Just use it. Please. Whenever a courier is seen delivering brown boots to a safelane carry, a kitten is drowned.

5) TP Scrolls, Wards and Consumables
Now you may ask, why should I spend my gold on consumables when I could be saving up for something permanent? Because they win games. Its not your carry that is 6-slotted in 40 minutes or your mid laner who makes sick plays. It's the poor humble support who bothered to ward, deward, upgrade the courier, smoke gank, block enemy camps, pull, stack and so much more for your team that literally carries the other players to victory.

TP Scrolls are either not carried around often enough or people have too much of them. Firstly, always carry a TP scroll. Secondly, carry only a TP scroll, especially if you're a support. If you always expect to have one in your inventory, you'll always be 135 gold short regardless cause you will always buy one more when you can to have 2. Likewise, a TP scroll is just 135 gold, which is like 3 last hits or a medium camp and a bit less. It doesn't hurt to be able to appear on the other side of the map and surprise your enemy if they try to dive your Tier 1.

Wards win games. Period. Wards grant vision and helps your carry farm. It protects Roshan from the enemy and helps you to see oncoming ganks. Please, please, please, buy wards. Even if you are the carry, for once. 150 gold will not setback your Battlefury by more than 20 seconds (?) and 7 minutes of safe farming grants more than just 150 gold.

Dust and Sentries are extremely important. Remember your first DotA game where there was this annoying purple little shit who kept destroying you and your team, you want to know why he's so powerful or OP to newer players but rarely ever picked in competitive gaming? Its because people in the lower tiers barely buy vision or detection. Riki is free to roam the enemy jungle and lanes and gank whomever he sees fit without the threat of being caught. The same goes for Bounty Hunter, Clinkz and common SB carriers.

6) "We need tank"
DotA is not like other games. Its an entire genre of its own. That being said, you do not need a "tank" in your team and there is no hero that can play a true tank role besides possibly Axe. Honestly, if I see an Axe and a CM, I could just right click the CM first after dodging Axe's taunt. In DotA, it doesn't take a lot to just switch targets.

However, it does not mean you shouldn't be disregarding beefy or high HP heroes. If you know your team is easily susceptible to burst damage or is just plain papery, it doesn't hurt to pick a "tankier" hero. Key word is hurt, not kill. Just because your team is squishy in general, it doesn't mean the game is lost. Tankiness is a good thing, but not essential.

7) Specialising in Roles
What I mean when I say "Specialising in Roles" is when you plat only one role and dedicate your gametime to "mastering" it. Yes, its good if you know how to support your team well or know the tips and tricks of wards, ganks, pulls or whatever. But specialising in roles and heroes is BAD. It doesn't make you versatile and at this level most of us play at (amateur), playing one role doesn't help very much. Besides, to master learning how to play a support, you must first learn how to carry and vica versa.

Mushi from Team DK is a great example of a pro player that doesn't specialise in a few heroes. He played 14 out of 16 possible different heroes during TI3 and can play both at mid and the offlane in Team DK. Aui_2000 used to play carry for Team Dignitas but is now a fantastic support player for C9.

8) Stats and Underestimating Them
Too many new players underestimate the value of stats, especially stats like armor, your main attribute and whatnot. Early on, stats can solve a lot of issues you face such as mana problems or being too squishy. For example, a Bracer costs only 525 gold and provides 6 strength. Now that may not seem like a lot at first glance, but 6 Strength actually translates to 114 HP. If you put that into perspective, Crystal Maiden starts with 454 HP and a Bracer is almost a quarter of her entire health pool. Crazy right. Early on, that's probably three extra right clicks you can tank or one more nuke you can hold out.

Armor is also a severely underestimated stat. Armor can be used in two ways, to reduce incoming damage and amplify your own on enemy targets by getting their armor into negative values. For example, 6 armor provides 26.5% damage reduction. That means any incoming attacks deal almost a third less of their total damage. In the same way, if you have -6 armor, you will have 26.5% damage amplification, meaning attacks coming your way deal a third more damage than it normally does. 6 armor can be easily provided by a Medallion of Courage which costs only 1075 gold.

9) Buying the Same Items...all the time
One big problem faced by even older players of DotA is when they purchase the same items over and over again, regardless of the game and their situation. How many times have I seen a Radiance being built on Bloodseeker or a Weaver rushing Linkens first. In DotA, item build are flexible meaning that you can switch around and tweak your item build to adapt to the situation. Are you against a Quas Wes Invoker with his pesky Tornado-EMP combo? It'd be good if you could just get Arcanes instead of maybe Treads. Need to tank up and teamfight early on? Drums of Endurance is a fantastic item for this, even if it means delaying your Battle Fury by 8 minutes. Is your team behind and farm hard to find? Cheaper items like Drums, Basher, Desolator and so on and much better alternatives to trying to save up 3800 gold for your Sacred Relic.

A good player knows how to change his item build either for the benefit of his team (purchasing items like Mek, Pipe, Vlads etc.) or to adapt against the enemy team (building Linkens versus a magic-heavy lineup or getting a Medallion of Courage against high armor carries).

10) Over and Under Commitment
If you watch a lot of pro DotA, you will see that many of them know how to coordinate with each other and make big plays or dive towers to grab kills. Firstly, pro players can do this because, well, they're professional. These guys have been playing DotA for over 10 years or know the game inside out. Every dive, every risky play is carefully calculated in both numbers and ballsiness.

That being said, do not try to make "big plays" unless you know what you're doing. Diving that T3 to kill that Terrorblade is probably a bad idea. Blinking into 5 enemy heroes to cast your Freezing Field is also pretty bad. Pro players get away with doing all these flashy stuff because these guys know each other's capabilities and know that their teammates are right behind them. Too often after a 5-man Blackhole, your team is still walking towards you or hasn't TPed in yet.

Overcommitment doesn't just extend to heroes. It also involves towers. Sometimes, it's just good to let that T1 go cause you just can't defend it. It's better to let it go than risk feeding another 3 lives to the enemy carry.

Undercommitment happens when people are too afraid to push or Roshan. You should take every opportunity to push. If you see more than 3 heroes on another lane, go ahead and push yours. The enemy carry has died after a big teamfight? Go take their T3. 3 of their heroes are dead but you're too far away from any of their towers, take a Rosh while you can.

I hope this list helps new (and old) players identify their mistakes and improve themselves as players.

My first build. How is it?

Arcisal — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 22:57:38 +0800

"Budget" gaming build with SSD. How does it look?

Intel i5-4440
ASRock H81M-HDS
Sapphire R9 270x Dual-X
Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Plextor MS5 128GB
Cooler Master N200
Corsair VS 550W
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2x4GB)

Are the components compatible? Will not be overclocking.

Slip-ons that aren't Vans

Arcisal — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 17:20:00 +0800

I love slip-ons.

God damn, they're so comfortable if they fit and they're so versatile and useful. But to my misfortune, the only pair I've been able to find in KL are Vans, which I have absolutely no problem with.

Except their hugely vulgar soles.

They are so thick and large, it's disgusting. Everything apart from the sole is perfect, but the sole is what matters right (pun intended).

I need a new slip-on. Preferably something plain or minimalist with basic patterns. And most importantly, without a gigantic bulging sole.

Can we create a Lowyat/Good Pubber group?

Arcisal — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:57:55 +0800

Just as the title says, we should create a Lowyat group, or at least a "Good-pubbers guild", based online in Lowyat.

This is so that we can party and pub with people we know who are good communicative players which we meet in pubs. We add them, invite them to the group and when we have no one to pub with, we just create a party with whoever is online and have a much better pub experience.

It helps filter out the trolls and the inexperienced. There should be no minimum amount of wins. The only criteria is:

1) Be friendly and communicate with your team. Make small talk, call missing, "GLHF" and whatnot.
2) Be knowledgable of the game (Know why your CM is going 0-4-25 or why you shouldn't creepblock the safelane). If you're a beginner, then you should be more than ready to take criticism and be ready to learn the game. If you're a pro, then you shouldn't flame your fellow Good Pubbers and be willing to teach people gently.
3) Speak English. Or at least try. If we grow big enough, we can eventually branch out and separate by language/region. Though, for now, English is the unifying language.

Too many times I play game as the only one buying wards, upgrading courier, buying smoke/sentries, dewarding and stacking camps and in the end, my carry (fat as ever) will call out "LoL, Bane 0-5 n only lvl 13" when he ignores my 31 assists and forgets that I'm the reason he's level 20 by the 25th minute.

This is also so that carry players can find good supports who save spells for "kill-securing" or refuse to upgrade the courier.

And this is for everyone to share knowledge about the game and make the Malaysian Dota community much better.

This can also act as a scrimming platform for teams to organize scrims against one another or for casual pubbers to play CM.

ADP or A-Levels

Arcisal — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 19:23:13 +0800

How is ADP in Taylor's Lakeside? I've been hearing about how most people in Taylor's is all clubbing and partying. I don't mind, but I'll be one year younger than everyone and I don't have to money for it.

Did IGCSE, got 9 A's. Can I apply for financial aid? Not that I need it though. Just more of why not right?

I'm not sure what I want to do in the future but America seems pretty likely. It's either UK or US. I'm worried that halfway through the course, I decide that I want to go to the UK, but can't cause I took ADP. Can I go study in the US with good A-Levels? Do I still have to do SATs?

On an unrelated note, I have a friend who will be entering Taylor's Lakeside one semester earlier than I am. Easy to keep in touch or not? We won't have same classes and shit, but probably still see each other right? And is Taylor's really all clubbers only?

Deodorant & Aftershave

Arcisal — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 08:52:18 +0800

Hi. May I know a good type of SCENTLESS deodorant/anti-perspirant? I want to wear my Old Spice Classic Aftershave but I don't want the smells to clash.

BTW, where can I get more Old Spice products? They are awesome. I found my Classic aftershave in Cold Storage 1Utama.

Choosing a monitor?

Arcisal — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:33:54 +0800

Hi guys. I need some help choosing a monitor for my computer.

My preferred size is probably 22"-24" with a resolution of 1950x1080. I will be using it for gaming so a nice response rate of 5ms or less is required. I would also prefer if it is an IPS panel, not TN. Glossy panels also please.

Resolution: 1950x1080
Size: 22"-24"
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Response rate: >5ms
Panel: IPS Glossy
Budget: RM700

I don't give a crap about 3D function, backlighting, touchscreen or any fancy wancy mumbo jumbo.

My budget is RM700 and it should look sexy as hell.

Thanks!

Where to buy GPU

Arcisal — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 21:33:12 +0800

Hi. I can't find any online store that sells GPU (Video Card, Graphics Card, Graphics Processing Unit etc.) in Lowyat Forums? Can anyone link me one?

Is there anywhere that sells MSI GTX 760?

Jatomi Fitness?

Arcisal — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:54:07 +0800

Does anyone have any experience with this gym in Tropicana City Mall? They look quite good.

I asked for their membership price but they said I need to see a consultant. Anyone know why? She said starting price at least RM160 a month, which is super expensive.

Are their trainers good? Are the machines, facilities, people there good/nice? Any feedback or advice is appreciated.

Volleyball court in KL?

Arcisal — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:32:30 +0800

Where are all the volleyball courts in KL? Any indoor ones?

And please. I'm a noob so no super pro kakis. Otherwise malu to play.

Internship for secondary school graduate

Arcisal — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 14:01:32 +0800

6 months ahead of me before college even starts. I'm thinking of getting an internship in a firm or a company to be their dog or waterboy. I don't mind if it's unpaid, as long as I get job experience and I know it'll help me get a job in the future.

Am I being unrealistic? Should I just stick to low-paying part-time F&B jobs?

Question about A-Levels

Arcisal — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 13:56:55 +0800

Hi. I'm pretty much stuck in a very big dilemma. A ton of questions below. I don't know if I want to go to the UK or the US.

1) I'm thinking of doing a BA in Economics and Politics or something like that when I get to Uni, but I don't know which college to go to now and which subjects to take.

2) And should I be taking A-Levels or ADP? I know A-Levels in accepted in the UK, but does that mean if I take it I'm unable to change my mind and go to the US?

3) Will my desired Uni course (Econs & Politics) be useless in the future? Don't want to spend parents money and waste it all just because I can't find a job.

4) Most importantly, UK or US? I'm open to other uni courses such as IT or Animation or Web Design, maybe even pure Economics. But then again, both the UK and US are two very big places.

My gosh, help me.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I have looked at pinned threads. If I have missed my answer in any of them, please forgive me.

Considering starting, a few questions

Arcisal — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 02:59:56 +0800

I'm thinking of finally giving in and starting WoW, despite it being the end of the expansion. I'll shamelessly admit that I've played in a few private servers, but I quickly got bored due to having very little players and/or a dead community in general.

A few quick questions:

1) Which server are Malaysians at? I hear Gundrak US and Saurfang US. I'm looking for a server that is decently populated (not too dead, but not too long login queues) with an active AH and a community that is alive. I speak fluent English and Malay, but when I speak Cantonese I sound like gwei lo.

2) What is the community like? I hope they aren't mostly populated by 13-year old l33t Sp34kErz.

3) Any lag problems for people living in KL? I have Unifi.

4) Can I purchase a one-year card? Would it be worth it?

5) Are there any active guilds? I'm looking for a semi-hardcore raiding/PvP guild. Not too strict, but has an organized roster and all.

Art Supplies

Arcisal — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:13:13 +0800

Hi. Does anyone know where I can purchase the following:

-Hobby Knives
-Winsor and Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes (#2 (or a #1), a #0 and#3/0)
-Brush Soap (Master's Brush Cleaner and Preserver)
-Distilled Water
-Paint Rack
-Matte Medium
-Painting Mat (Slip Grip Hobby Mat)
-Simple Green degreasing solution
-Super Glue debonder

And has anyone have any experience with Forwarding Services with parcels? Like Shipito, International Worldwide, vPOST or Parcelforce?

And where can I find Malaysia's importing policies, like taxes and import prices.

Thanks.

Good, cheap IEMs

Arcisal — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:56:26 +0800

Hi. I'm looking for a pair of good cheap IEMs or in-ear headphones/monitors.

Any ideas? My price range is between 100-180+.

I'm looking for more clarity in the instruments and better sound proofing from outside.

I have also considered Feels Pro 900 and Denon AH-C260. Does anyone have any experience with these? If so, it would be good to share them.

Anyone Selling Laptop Graphics Card?

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 07:30:00 +0800