It is great for feeling a little more awake when you're really sleep-deprived, but the tunnel-vision effect on high doses isn't always useful.
Exercise , healthy eating, and mindfulness will yield more benefits than any smart drug.
I've also dabbled in a bunch of the *phetamine ADHD drugs. They were more effective, but the effects taper off after a couple of months as your brain adjusts to work around the imbalance that the drugs create. They also had nasty side effects like raising my blood pressure and making my heart feel like it was racing when I was sitting in a chair doing nothing.
My experience with oxiracetam was just money down the drain. No effect I could notice whatsoever except maybe a little more sleepiness, which was definitely not the effect I was looking for.
I've been much more satisfied with my approach the last couple of years which is as you say:
Exercise - cardio on an exercise bike every day, strength training 4 or 5 days a week, yoga a couple of times a week. Healthy Eating - low carb works for me. Carbs are my worst enemy in terms of staying clear-headed. Most of my meals are Keto Chow shakes supplemented with salads, fresh vegetables, and lean meats. Mindfulness - I try to meditate every day, typically while I'm on my exercise bike or whenever I find quiet moments shortly after waking up or before going to sleep at night.
These three things have proven to be much cheaper than the drugs and way more effective. The downside is that they aren't as easy as popping pills.
And just for the record - I work out every day, take cold showers, medidate, my diet is impeccable (macro nutrient balanced) and all that combined still doesn't give me the same level as nootropics do.
2. /r/nootropics
From there you should be able to find other resources; but they're the best.
Reports vary. A friend of mine took some (of mine) and claimed to experience extreme jitters and paranoia, whereas I can only describe moda as giving me an extremely mild calming effect. Calm and hungry.
It took me a week of taking it before I could say definitively whether it was having an effect at all, so I eventually decided the drug as a recreational experiment wasn't worth the money.