The "Quick Questions that does not Deserve a Thread"...Thread. V3 - Hardware & Software

[QUOTE=Pelf;38534521]I was looking at these specs and benchmarks for the ADM A10-5800K, and it underperforms the i5-2500k even though it has much faster clock speeds. What makes the 2500k outperform the A10-5800K despite the faster clock speeds?[/QUOTE] * More execution units. Each core has several "subunits", which can in many cases be used simultaneously. Intel likes to make their cores big and beefy (particularly Itanium, but even Atoms are relatively "big"). AMD, meanwhile, made smaller cores thinking they could simply fit more of them onto a processor and compensate that way (at least with Bulldozer - earlier processors were different). Looking at benchmarks, under some loads Intel can reach 2 instructions per clock (although I would say a closer average is 1.2 or so), while AMD can't seem to exceed 0.8 instructions per clock (as of Bulldozer - their older architecture could reach higher in some cases). So ignoring all of the other things I'm about to talk about, a Bulldozer core has to run about 1.5x the clock speed of a Sandy Bridge core to run at the same speed. * Better branch prediction. When a modern processor comes to a "fork" in the program, where it could take one of two paths, it guesses which one will be taken immediately and starts running it, throwing out the results if necessary when the rest of the core figures out which one to actually take. Intel has a lead here as well, although not too great of one. * Cache. RAM is surprisingly slow compared to CPUs, so every processor made in the last decade has several tiers of cache between it and RAM. While AMD processors often have significantly more cache than Intel's closest (especially since Intel uses "inclusive" cache, where something in the first level is duplicated in levels 2 and 3, while AMD uses "exclusive" cache where data can only be in one level, for less redundancy). However, the cache doesn't help if the data the program needs isn't in there. Benchmarks tend to show Intel's Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge processors reaching 98-99% cache hit rates, while AMD's Bulldozer hits 95-96% (although, interestingly, disabling half the cores boosts it to 97% or so). Ironically, AMD's Phenom II series hit cache 97-98% of the time, so in this respect AMD went a step backwards with their new designs. * Compilers. A compiler, if you don't know, is the bit of software that takes human-readable computer code and turns it into something the processor can understand. While there are others (Microsoft's and GNU's, for instance), a lot of programs are compiled with Intel's compiler. Intel takes great care to make their compiler generate code that runs exceptionally well on their processors, and uses every new feature of their processors, but they put about zero effort into making it run well on their competitor's processors. It's arguably cheating when a benchmark is compiled with the Intel compiler, but I disagree, as enough real-world code uses it that it's a realistic benchmark. Now, after all that, you would think Intel would just thrash AMD, but it's not as bleak as it sounds. For one, AMD can shove a lot more cores on a chip than Intel. Intel's never gone over 10 cores per processor (they actually dropped down to 8 after Westmere), while AMD has 16-core chips on the market. For things that can use that many threads, like supercomputers, they can kick a large amount of ass.

Is there anyway to simultaneously connect pc speakers and headphones to my pc at the same time? I am basically looking for some sort of hub that has multiple jacks and allows me to plug in both at the same time as well as alternating between them. Anyone know of such a product, because I cannot find one.

[QUOTE=tesher07;38535194]Is there anyway to simultaneously connect pc speakers and headphones to my pc at the same time? I am basically looking for some sort of hub that has multiple jacks and allows me to plug in both at the same time as well as alternating between them. Anyone know of such a product, because I cannot find one.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA07R01T9170[/url] ? Of course it's always both on at the same time. I imagine one that lets you choose would be a tad more expensive.

[QUOTE=surfur;38518475]So i think my graphics card is artifacting, just need a few opinions to know if its hardware related or not. [img]http://u.cubeupload.com/surfur/help.png[/img] In game its a bit more jagged, in the picture it turns into these weird mark things. I tried out a few other games, happens in EP2 and related mods. i think it happens in skyrim too.[/QUOTE] Bump, never got an answer. Tried updating my drivers, didn't do a thing.

Use two soundcards.

[QUOTE=Adamhully;38533747]Anyone know the best place to buy a domain name?[/QUOTE] I use Hover, because they're Canadian

[QUOTE=surfur;38535237]Bump, never got an answer. Tried updating my drivers, didn't do a thing.[/QUOTE] Do you get it from the start or after playing for a bit? Because it could be as simple as overheating, or it could be as bad as bad RAM on the video card. Open your case and try blowing a fan on it or something, see if they go away or get better at all, if so then you'd know it's over heating, if not, well, you need a new card.

[QUOTE=tesher07;38535194]Is there anyway to simultaneously connect pc speakers and headphones to my pc at the same time? I am basically looking for some sort of hub that has multiple jacks and allows me to plug in both at the same time as well as alternating between them. Anyone know of such a product, because I cannot find one.[/QUOTE] Cheaper than forumaster's solution, as well as it having volume controls per channel: [url]http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082703&p_id=7116&seq=1&format=2[/url]

My cpu core temps are varying between 29c and 39c. Is this a big issue if I don't reapply thermal paste to fix it for couple months?

Eh, how often do they fluctuate? Is it a quick burst or just slowly comes and goes? I mean, it should be okay for a while, but optimally it should be as low as possible.

[QUOTE=tesher07;38535194]Is there anyway to simultaneously connect pc speakers and headphones to my pc at the same time? I am basically looking for some sort of hub that has multiple jacks and allows me to plug in both at the same time as well as alternating between them. Anyone know of such a product, because I cannot find one.[/QUOTE] literally every pc, ever - plug headphones into front panel, speakers into back.

[QUOTE=Shadaez;38536644]literally every pc, ever - plug headphones into front panel, speakers into back.[/QUOTE] Front panel overrides back.

[QUOTE=SataniX;38536679]Front panel overrides back.[/QUOTE] on every single PC I've ever owned you can disable this functionality with the software for your onboard sound

[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-oB_Fv7Hewho/UKySW2WWkuI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/NELBtCheeX8/s0/2012-11-21_03-35-38.png[/img] ?? [editline]21st November 2012[/editline] oh we're talking about using multiple outputs from the same controller, yeah there should be a driver control panel or something for that

[QUOTE=draugur;38535700]Do you get it from the start or after playing for a bit? Because it could be as simple as overheating, or it could be as bad as bad RAM on the video card. Open your case and try blowing a fan on it or something, see if they go away or get better at all, if so then you'd know it's over heating, if not, well, you need a new card.[/QUOTE] Yea, im on a laptop, and everything is clean and clear. its a GTX 660M. I still have a 2 year warranty. are their any tests i could do to help further weed out other problems?

So I'm battling my inner demons atm, looking at a new gpu seeing as my 5830 is showing age. I've been looking at the 600x Nvidia card lineup and the 7000x amd/ati card lineup. I really don't know what the fuck I'm looking at anymore. They changed the way they market cards now, CUDA cores and all that nonsense. I'm really on the fence because as of lately the ATI/AMD drivers have been pretty shitty. The card I currently have has a few driver issues with games for some reason. I never had issues with Nvidia, but I don't know how they've been doing lately. I'm really torn between 680, 7970 or another card that will match its performance. I would love to get 690 - but fuck paying a grand for a gpu lol. I see that the 7970 is offering 3gb of ram vs the 680s 2gb (I only have one monitor and it is a 22inch, 1680x1050 - i really have no plans to play games with two, I may get two for just to run games on one and have TS on another). I've also been looking at benchmarks and they seem pretty on par with each other, but I'm still undecided... thoughts? Current specs MB - ASUS p8p67 CPU - Intel i5 2500k @ 3.3ghz (gonna OC once i get a newer cooler - which I'm still looking at lol) Ram - 8gb of Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) GPU - 5830 GPU

If I have a stick of RAM specified 2.6V and I plug it into a laptop with specified 2.5V for RAM, what will happen? Will one tenth of a volt really make that much of a difference, enough to fry something?

[QUOTE=Ardosos;38539961]If I have a stick of RAM specified 2.6V and I plug it into a laptop with specified 2.5V for RAM, what will happen? Will one tenth of a volt really make that much of a difference, enough to fry something?[/QUOTE] It should be fine.

[QUOTE=MR-X;38539578]So I'm battling my inner demons atm, looking at a new gpu seeing as my 5830 is showing age. I've been looking at the 600x Nvidia card lineup and the 7000x amd/ati card lineup. I really don't know what the fuck I'm looking at anymore. They changed the way they market cards now, CUDA cores and all that nonsense. I'm really on the fence because as of lately the ATI/AMD drivers have been pretty shitty. The card I currently have has a few driver issues with games for some reason. I never had issues with Nvidia, but I don't know how they've been doing lately. I'm really torn between 680, 7970 or another card that will match its performance. I would love to get 690 - but fuck paying a grand for a gpu lol. I see that the 7970 is offering 3gb of ram vs the 680s 2gb (I only have one monitor and it is a 22inch, 1680x1050 - i really have no plans to play games with two, I may get two for just to run games on one and have TS on another). I've also been looking at benchmarks and they seem pretty on par with each other, but I'm still undecided... thoughts? Current specs MB - ASUS p8p67 CPU - Intel i5 2500k @ 3.3ghz (gonna OC once i get a newer cooler - which I'm still looking at lol) Ram - 8gb of Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) GPU - 5830 GPU[/QUOTE] I'd get the 680. [URL]http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html[/URL]

[QUOTE=surfur;38538232]Yea, im on a laptop, and everything is clean and clear. its a GTX 660M. I still have a 2 year warranty. are their any tests i could do to help further weed out other problems?[/QUOTE] It's probably overheating then if it's not happening any other time than when it's using resource intensive programs. I'd suggest just using the warranty just in case than then making sure you find a better way to cool the laptop down as well, maybe buy a cooling pad or whatever.

Could anyone give me some recommendations for a cheap laptop, I basically need one to do Uni stuff on but I also would like to play games on it, by games I mean games from < 2005.

[QUOTE=Thom12255;38540951]Could anyone give me some recommendations for a cheap laptop, I basically need one to do Uni stuff on but I also would like to play games on it, by games I mean games from < 2005.[/QUOTE] Budget?

[QUOTE=SataniX;38540957]Budget?[/QUOTE] Less than £200 preferably. £150 would be a good area.

Okay, so I'm gonna be buying a laptop for general computer use like surfing the web, email, and watching 1080p HD video, will this laptop be good enough to where I can watch full HD video without skipping/lag/all that nasty stuff? [url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089WLZV4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2L77EE7U53NWQ[/url] If not, recommend me as cheap of one that'll work as possible. Thanks.

Thinking of treating myself for Christmas with a new GFX Card. Here are my current specs: [img]http://puu.sh/1sMbT[/img] (If you need specific specs with regards to parts I will provide) Specifically I'm looking at [url=http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-100312-3L/dp/B005X64QAG?]this Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2 GB[/url]. Now I have three questions: 1) What wattage PSU will I need? Can you recommend me a cheap/well-priced one? 2) Will this bottleneck my CPU/RAM/Whathaveyou and most importantly, is this a good card for the price? Are there some with better benchmarks? Thanks!

just a random question for you guys: if I install windows 8 on a separate partition, can I open the 7 partition from 8 and move files over manually?

yes

sweet, thanks

I currently have an nvidia card and I'm looking at buying an ATI card to replace it. how much is gameplay affected without physx? I know only a few games take full advantage of it but I'm just curious

Just bought a new keyboard and basically what it does is it stops responding in any way every 1-20 mins. The only solution i've found so far is to unplug and replug the keyboard. The keyboards a logitech G110. Super irritating. Thinking of returning the damn keyboard tomorrow.