OCC dead?

[DanTheGamer11]

Companies making a lot more stuff now doesn't help since I guess, now you can buy all sort of stuff without needing to know much about it

[bp9801]

Most of the slump in activity is down to the fact that overclocking and modding, aren't commonly discussed any more. Back when I joined, there were always people cutting up a case or putting crazy heatsinks on stuff. Much of the hardware is more homogeneous these days, with little or no room for modification. Although more people are building PCs than ever, they are easier to assemble.

 

Oh yeah. You can always attach an aftermarket heat sink or watercooling to a video card or processor, but so much is just plug and play. Entire watercooling kits can be purchased instead of assembling all the parts yourself. There are still case mods and the like, but not as many as there once was.

 

Companies making a lot more stuff now doesn't help since I guess, now you can buy all sort of stuff without needing to know much about it

 

Can buy whatever you need instead of slapping stuff together out of assorted parts that get the job done. Sleeve power supply cables yourself? Nope, can just buy already sleeved cables in a range of colors. Build a small, silent case on your own? Nah, there are a few dozen to choose from already built.

[Nerm]

Online forums of any kind have been falling off since the social media boom. Discussions happen on facebook, twitter, etc now days and that is just the nature of the beast. To make things worse the OCing/Moding/Benchmarking worlds have been dwindling as the new age of computer users seem to have little interest in that stuff. The one thing we have going for us is that PC gaming is still a big deal and if you will notice that is where the majority of our discussions in the forum takes place these days.

[lucio]

Could something like a free pc-builder bring some attention, no restriction, like other commercial sites do, just an open application to prototype your pc with, and after that you could calculate how much better it would be with overclocking or look with several pc-skins o_O please admin DO IT...

[Fight Game]

I agree it has slowed down.  Not just here but overclocking sites and forums in general.  The motherboard manufacturers have made it easier than ever to overclock.  You don't have to hunt down some super compatible hardware to make your overclock better.  Plug and play most any name brand or generic components and push a couple software buttons and most times you can get about 90% of the overclock that another guy can get after spending hours and hours fine tuning everything.  Also, there isn't much to gain, usually 10-30%, not like the 50% on some parts of the past (ie amd 1800 to 2700mhz anyone?).  And that 10-30% doesn't translate to that much more performance like it used to.  And, finally, the hardware seems to be way ahead of most software and games, and has been for a long time.  You can have a cpu and ram from 10 years ago, with a new up to date video card and play most games just fine. 

Edit:  another point can be made from having less and less gamers using a pc!

Edited November 25, 2015 by Fight Game

[potatochobit]

Technology has reached a point that far out paces software 

overclocking is fun but not really necessary for most any users

we are in a buy and play market

 

also, laptops and tablets are now priced competitively against desktops so most people can get by with just one

and the home desktop has been losing for awhile

 

OCC needs to branch out

time to get with some apple reviews

I know you can't always choose what products you receive for review

but have some sort of tablet comparison charts

 

you want to do a PS VITA section let me know

because I know almost everything about the VITA

[Black64]

I think its the hardware, there just hasn't been anything exciting in a long while.

 

Intel is still doing its thing with tiny tick-tock advances to the point that i5/2500 or i72700 is still pretty competitive with the brand new stuff.  And AMD is still selling the same fx series chips for so long now that the only new stuff is mid teir (new athlon chips).

Graphics cards is about the same with the last big step back with the gtx7xx or hd7970 series.  Since then the 9xx or r9 stuff might be better but not much.  Strides have been made in heat, power, and price, but the performance hasn't really jumped.

THIS

[IVIYTH0S]

OCC needs to branch out

time to get with some apple reviews

I know you can't always choose what products you receive for review

but have some sort of tablet comparison charts

 

you want to do a PS VITA section let me know

because I know almost everything about the VITA

No....NO! Bad potato

[El_Capitan]

OCC's always been kind of slow in the forums since I joined, which was like 5 years ago. What I usually at every site are veterans still helping the newcomers out some of the time, but most of them branching out to more advanced or specialized areas. Some have a go at custom modding, custom watercooling, unlocking voltages for graphics cards for higher overclocking, etc. Others probably just check in and see what's going on time to time (like me), but there really isn't much in the hardware world right now. For CPU's, there's no competition for Intel for the desktop world since AMD's departure from competing with them a couple years ago. For graphics cards, it's been kind of the same thing. Nothing but rebrands, rebadging, or whatever for the last few years for AMD. Nothing to really get excited about.

 

I still overclock, custom watercool, and fix a few hardware stuff every once in a while, but that's about it. Heck, most of my time gaming is on my phone and tablet (stupid Clash of Clans). There's tons to do on a PC, but my systems are so fast, it hardly takes any time to do anything on them.

[ir_cow]

I stopped gaming on the PC completely. consoles are just cheaper in the short and long run. I only use my computer to edit photos now and I can do that on my laptop.

[IVIYTH0S]

OCC's always been kind of slow in the forums since I joined, which was like 5 years ago. What I usually at every site are veterans still helping the newcomers out some of the time, but most of them branching out to more advanced or specialized areas. Some have a go at custom modding, custom watercooling, unlocking voltages for graphics cards for higher overclocking, etc. Others probably just check in and see what's going on time to time (like me), but there really isn't much in the hardware world right now. For CPU's, there's no competition for Intel for the desktop world since AMD's departure from competing with them a couple years ago. For graphics cards, it's been kind of the same thing. Nothing but rebrands, rebadging, or whatever for the last few years for AMD. Nothing to really get excited about.

 

I still overclock, custom watercool, and fix a few hardware stuff every once in a while, but that's about it. Heck, most of my time gaming is on my phone and tablet (stupid Clash of Clans). There's tons to do on a PC, but my systems are so fast, it hardly takes any time to do anything on them.

I'll be hopefully upgrading a build I made my cousin years ago, for what little traffic that'll contribute haha

 

I stopped gaming on the PC completely. consoles are just cheaper in the short and long run. I only use my computer to edit photos now and I can do that on my laptop.

Cheaper, debatable... In any case, I only get exclusives on consoles. PC Gaming is the best gaming.

[j2t]

It does seem that forums in general are slowing down, and not just tech forums.  I know I don't post much but I do check in and see what is going on and check reviews.

 

I know my activity has greatly reduced and my poor PC has been neglected just due to my work life sucking my time away.  I do miss tinkering with my PC but with my kids getting older they are using it more and more which also leaves less tinker time for me on it.