The "Quick Questions That Don't Deserve A Thread"...Thread. v5 - Hardware & Software

[QUOTE=ashxu;47555810]You mean during Windows installation? I'm just going to format my secondary drive and make the folders myself, shouldn't be any problems.[/QUOTE] After You can make the folder, and just move it's location pointer wherever, it's just stored in registry [t]http://7proxies.pw/i/2015/04/15-04-19_17-35-42.png[/t] [editline]19th April 2015[/editline] Let's push the sandrakers of our world!

do benchmark scores translate well into real world performance? I have an old AMD 1055t cpu and it's overclocked to 3.87GHz giving me around 7000 points in passmark which doesn't seem to be terrible but I'm looking for what's causing the stuttering in GTA V when driving fast, and it's either the CPU or the HDD is simply too slow to load stuff in time. So could the cpu bottleneck manifest as stuttering? also yeah other specs ASUS Sabertooth 990FX r2.0 16gb ddr3 @ 1476MHz 2 x R9 290 game's installed on a WD20EARS HDD pagefile is on the system SSD also are amd completely in the shit right now CPU-wise? what would be a good upgrade?

[QUOTE=Eddie;47539042]I need to upgrade because gta 5 runs at 10-20 fps at low in windowed mode Current computer (5 year old) CPU: Amd x6 1055t 2.8 ghz MOBO: Gigabyte 890fxa ud5 RAM: 8GB corsair vengence GPU1: Sapphire 5850 GPU2: Sapphire 5850 HDD: Spinpoint f3 1Tb SSD: Kingston hyperx 120 gb Cooler: H50 PSU: Corsair 650HX Case: Silverstone ft02 The only things I can reuse is the case, Ram, psu and hdd's The upgrade I'm going for New cpu: i7 4790K New motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X UD3H (Don't know if there are anything better) New gpu: Gigabyte gtx 970 g1 windforce New cooler: Corsair h75 More ram: Corsair vengence 8gb (have 16 in total) How does it look? is this going to run gta 5 at ultra?[/QUOTE] If you have already upgraded then I would also strongly suggest replacing both your power supply unit and hard drive if they're also older than 5 years. Generally you should expect them to fail soon from now: especially the hard drive. Suggestions: - If you have the budget then you could a Western Digital Caviar Red or HGST Deskstar hard drive since it seems like you're carrying over your SSD. Otherwise you could get a Seagate or Western Digital Caviar Blue hard drive. - For a power supply unit you should get a 450W Rosewill Capstone. [QUOTE=deathmog;47539763]I'm almost fine with my current computer, but I'm going to upgrade it with the R9 290 and the PSU listed down below. I figured if my old computer just doesn't do it for me, I'll finish off the rest of the build - the only reason I want to upgrade my gpu and psu is just because of Star Citizen lol. What do you guys think of this list? [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cqDzgs"]PCPartPicker part list[/URL] / [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cqDzgs/by_merchant/"]Price breakdown by merchant[/URL] [B]CPU:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690k"]Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/URL] ($199.99 @ Micro Center) [B]CPU Cooler:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2"]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/URL] ($28.95 @ NCIX US) [B]Thermal Compound:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g"]Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste[/URL] ($6.49 @ OutletPC) [B]Motherboard:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z97extreme3"]ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/URL] ($99.99 @ Micro Center) [B]Storage:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a120g"]Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/URL] ($52.98 @ OutletPC) [B]Storage:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex"]Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/URL] ($52.49 @ OutletPC) [B]Video Card:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-1003622sr"]Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card[/URL] ($278.98 @ Newegg) [B]Case:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/raidmax-case-atx295wb"]Raidmax Atlas ATX-295WB ATX Mid Tower Case[/URL] ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz) [B]Power Supply:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120g10750xr"]EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply[/URL] ($74.99 @ NCIX US) [B]Wireless Network Adapter:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-wireless-network-card-pcen53"]Asus PCE-N53 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter[/URL] ($25.79 @ SuperBiiz) [B]Monitor:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/acer-monitor-umvh6aa003"]Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor[/URL] ($149.99 @ Newegg) [B]Total:[/B] $1013.63 [I]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/I] [I]Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-16 12:22 EDT-0400 [/I](If I have to dremel a tray in the case to fit the 290 its fine by me)[/QUOTE] I know this might be late response but if you haven't purchased the parts yet then here are my suggestions: - Don't get the thermal paste you listed. Not only are overpaying but you won't need it since the cooler you chose already comes with some. I also wouldn't suggest it since it's conductive. - I personally would recommend a Samsung 850 EVO SSD instead if you can afford it. If not then a Crucial MX100. - That 750W unit is bit more than you need. This cheaper 650W would instead be ideal for your listed build: [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1650gts3x]XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply[/url] ($71.08 @ Newegg) - You can spend a bit extra and get this wireless adapter instead: [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-wireless-network-card-gcwb867di]Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter[/url] ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz) [QUOTE=dot.rich;47553409]It will be for UE4/3ds Max/general game dev and of course gaming.[/QUOTE] If time is money then don't get an overclocking processor since you want avoid the risk of having your system crash due to an overclock. I can also recommend getting an Intel Xeon processor with a ECC compatible motherboard and memory. ECC avoids and corrects memory errors which will prevent time lost recreating lost work. [QUOTE=lexus04;47556548]do benchmark scores translate well into real world performance?[/QUOTE] You shouldn't be putting focus on synthetic benchmarks. Instead you should look at real world benchmarks that apply to you and your needs.

back to overclocking, I was thinking of OCing my GPU as well seeing as I know it can get much hotter than it currently gets. it's a 780Ti MSI branded so it got the MSI cooler on. highest I've seen it go with my current OC is 71c which should be fairly low for a GPU I think. current OC [IMG]http://i.cubeupload.com/FG3gf0.png[/IMG] the issue with this is that it's not 100% stable. when playing GTA5 for example, it'll eventually freeze and lock up, crashing my game. I've heard of flashing custom BIOS' to the card to increase voltage which I was thinking of doing to increase the OC as well, but I'm clueless as to how I should do that. how high temperatures can I get before it reaches a dangerous area? all I've heard is that GPU's can take more heat than a CPU.

I've bought a wireless adapter. For the first day, it was great. 30-50mbps download speeds, fine and dandy. About an hour ago my speeds tanked to sub 1mbps. Link speed is still fine and no other computers seem to be having issues. This has happened with three. different. wireless cards. It is seriously pissing me off. Help me facepunch, you're my only hope. [editline]19th April 2015[/editline] here's a demonstration of how shitty this is [t]http://i.imgur.com/MKOqGJC.png[/t] the peaks are when i got the new adapter [editline]19th April 2015[/editline] are you fucking kidding me right now, a complete power cycle fixed it. it has never fixed it for any other adapter.

Is it worth it to go from a intel dual core e6300 (3.3ghz OC) to a xeon x5450 for 20 euros?

[QUOTE=PredGD;47557709]back to overclocking, I was thinking of OCing my GPU as well seeing as I know it can get much hotter than it currently gets. it's a 780Ti MSI branded so it got the MSI cooler on. highest I've seen it go with my current OC is 71c which should be fairly low for a GPU I think. current OC [IMG]http://i.cubeupload.com/FG3gf0.png[/IMG] the issue with this is that it's not 100% stable. when playing GTA5 for example, it'll eventually freeze and lock up, crashing my game. I've heard of flashing custom BIOS' to the card to increase voltage which I was thinking of doing to increase the OC as well, but I'm clueless as to how I should do that. how high temperatures can I get before it reaches a dangerous area? all I've heard is that GPU's can take more heat than a CPU.[/QUOTE] For stability testing use benchmark runs of Heaven benchmark. It'll also give you a good idea of total increased performance. I'm not sure why you can only increase the power limit to 105, with my non-reference MSI 680 I can go to 135. Maybe something in the settings? I personally use EVGA Precision X because when I started OCing Afterburner had some voltage issues. That's a high core clock though, try bringing it down a bit and bumping the memory. You may also hit a point where you can increase the memory clock but you'll actually get worse performance. With my 680 I'm sitting at +100 Core and +600 Mem. I can push to +700 Mem and still be stable, but I actually get less performance. If I bump core to even +105 though I start to get artifacts in heaven benchmark.

[QUOTE=Levelog;47558417]For stability testing use benchmark runs of Heaven benchmark. It'll also give you a good idea of total increased performance. I'm not sure why you can only increase the power limit to 105, with my non-reference MSI 680 I can go to 135. Maybe something in the settings? I personally use EVGA Precision X because when I started OCing Afterburner had some voltage issues. That's a high core clock though, try bringing it down a bit and bumping the memory. You may also hit a point where you can increase the memory clock but you'll actually get worse performance. With my 680 I'm sitting at +100 Core and +600 Mem. I can push to +700 Mem and still be stable, but I actually get less performance. If I bump core to even +105 though I start to get artifacts in heaven benchmark.[/QUOTE] I gave Heaven a try [IMG]http://i.cubeupload.com/qO3RYD.png[/IMG] left is OC right is stock it ran fairly stable with my current OC, just a few artifacts every now and then. it didn't crash, so it might be a GTA specific thing, I don't know. everything else seems to run fine. I'll bump it down to 100+ on another profile and use that for GTA, see if that helps I read somewhere that the 780Ti had locked voltage control so you need to flash it to increase it unfortunately.

I mean mine doesn't have an unlocked voltage, I'm pretty sure my only gets +75 for voltage. It's your power limit that's bizarre. Have you found any good custom bios'/know how to flash them?

[QUOTE=Levelog;47558771]I mean mine doesn't have an unlocked voltage, I'm pretty sure my only gets +75 for voltage. It's your power limit that's bizarre. Have you found any good custom bios'/know how to flash them?[/QUOTE] nope, completely clueless as to how that stuff works

Right now I'm trying to clear some space on my SSD, and I was thinking if writes can affect disk performance in the long run? This SSD was a freebie I pulled from a Dell Latitude on my old internship, and it previously had Windows XP installed on it. Back then it had about 400 GB read, and 300 GB written. Now it's a year since I set it up, and it's already up to 3439 GB read, and 2286 GB written.

My Xbox controller wireless receiver it no longer working after trying to use it on another computer. The light doesn't come on and the computer doesn't even seem to have any signs that its been plugged in, even though it was plugged in not even 3 hours ago and working. Any ideas? Xbox support just says since I've had it for a few years that it's probably time for a new one but I'm not giving up that easy.

[QUOTE=Levelog;47558771]I mean mine doesn't have an unlocked voltage, I'm pretty sure my only gets +75 for voltage. It's your power limit that's bizarre. Have you found any good custom bios'/know how to flash them?[/QUOTE] Yeah the power limit changs depending on the bios. My MSI 970's original power limit was 106 but a bios update that it acquired as soon as I installed it changed the power limit to 110.

Can someone recommend me an affordable GPU to go with my current specs? Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz 8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 663MHz Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 (Socket 1155) 1863GB SAMSUNG HD204UI 850W PSU 1279MB GeForce GTX 570 is my current GPU. Basically, my goal is to be able to play GTA V PC mostly on highest settings (barring the super memory-hungry settings that don't even contribute so much, like MSAA). Right now my VRAM just isn't enough to raise the settings above Normal, I need at least 2GB. I'm on a really tight budget, however, and I think the absolute max I'd be willing to lay down would be about ~200. Let me know if this is even possible, if not I guess I'll have to save a bit longer. Let me know if there's any relevant information I've forgotten to give, it's been a long time since I've even thought about computer hardware.

[QUOTE=Faren;47560460]Can someone recommend me an affordable GPU to go with my current specs? Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz 8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 663MHz Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 (Socket 1155) 1863GB SAMSUNG HD204UI 850W PSU 1279MB GeForce GTX 570 is my current GPU. Basically, my goal is to be able to play GTA V PC mostly on highest settings (barring the super memory-hungry settings that don't even contribute so much, like MSAA). Right now my VRAM just isn't enough to raise the settings above Normal, I need at least 2GB. I'm on a really tight budget, however, and I think the absolute max I'd be willing to lay down would be about ~200. Let me know if this is even possible, if not I guess I'll have to save a bit longer. Let me know if there's any relevant information I've forgotten to give, it's been a long time since I've even thought about computer hardware.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SC6HAS4/?tag=pcpapi-20[/url] Comes with a free Witcher 3 if you're into that.

[QUOTE=PredGD;47558785]nope, completely clueless as to how that stuff works[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.overclock.net/t/1438886/official-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-owners-club"]The OP in this thread[/URL] has a good bit of information on custom bios for 780ti's.

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47560494][url]http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1589&products_id=27170&zenid=46e3f31c21018a8d8506509dd08bdfdb[/url] Right now. However if you want to go higher you need an extra $100 which would lend you a GTX 960 which will get you almost maxed out with no MSAA. [editline]20th April 2015[/editline] Aussie not America.[/QUOTE] Wow, you guys are great, didn't expect such a quick reply. I gave my budget in USD because I figured that'd be the standard everyone used, in AUD I'm willing to go to about 250, maybe a bit more if I stare at pictures of GTAV maxed out for a bit longer. At the moment I'm kinda iffy about buying an AMD GPU, I've heard a lot of things about them having problems with GTA V, but then it's only just released. Would it be worth the money to go straight for a 4GB 960 instead of that 2GB? Can see one listed next to it for 30 bucks more.

Sweet, thanks for the advice guys. All I have to do now is convince myself it's a worthwhile investment and I totally have enough money to be buying the 4GB 960. Brb taking all my coins to the bank

Any idea what would cause this? Not 10 minutes ago everything was fine. Originally I was trying to fix RO2 (uninstalling suggested files then verifying game integrity), and restarting steam. At first the friends menu was compressed and boxes overlayed each other. I deleted Friends/friendsUI.dll as suggested, launched steam, and it downloaded two seperate updates with a pause inbetween. Now it's showing stuff like this. [img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/uPnEygI.png[/img_thumb]

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47560670]You need to re-add the library the games was in. Go to settings>downloads>manage steam libraries[/QUOTE]Well, that worked. But it doesn't explain all the strange text I'm getting in steam windows.

[QUOTE=Faren;47560587]Sweet, thanks for the advice guys. All I have to do now is convince myself it's a worthwhile investment and I totally have enough money to be buying the 4GB 960. Brb taking all my coins to the bank[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/4bmrGqs.png[/img] That was easy, I'm such a pushover. Thanks for the help folks! Time to play GTA V at lowest while I wait.

[QUOTE=highvoltage;47559884]My Xbox controller wireless receiver it no longer working after trying to use it on another computer. The light doesn't come on and the computer doesn't even seem to have any signs that its been plugged in, even though it was plugged in not even 3 hours ago and working. Any ideas? Xbox support just says since I've had it for a few years that it's probably time for a new one but I'm not giving up that easy.[/QUOTE] [url]https://replayproject.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/how-to-repair-microsoft-xbox-360%E2%84%A2-wireless-gaming-receiver-for-windows%C2%AE/[/url]

[QUOTE=credesniper;47560697]Well, that worked. But it doesn't explain all the strange text I'm getting in steam windows.[/QUOTE] Those are translation strings. Steam's missing its language file, I guess.

[QUOTE=LordCrypto;47561231][url]https://replayproject.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/how-to-repair-microsoft-xbox-360%E2%84%A2-wireless-gaming-receiver-for-windows%C2%AE/[/url][/QUOTE] Well that's going to be a pain to fix. I guess it would be best to replace the fuse instead of jumping it. Thanks

Im looking to upgrade my pc. Its only 2 years old and i have some money to spare. What i was looking into getting some fans and replace my stock cooler. I have this case [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018&cm_re=200r-_-11-139-018-_-Product[/url] and my spec if you can think of anything else i should upgrade and put on the list [URL=http://s1072.photobucket.com/user/mark6789x/media/Capture_zpsmhkw1l92.png.html][IMG]http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w378/mark6789x/th_Capture_zpsmhkw1l92.png[/IMG][/URL]

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47562343]Honestly just a GPU upgrade. Get like a 970.[/QUOTE] Most definitely. I'll probably go all out and get a 980 this summer.

So, for the past week I've been experiencing slower than usual internet, but here's the weird thing, when I do a speedtest on speedtest.net or ozspeedtest, it's giving me my normal 600kb-700kb/s speedtest results, but when I download something off of mega.co.nz or google drive for example, it goes anywhere from 20-300kb/s (when it usually goes 600 no problem), and if it starts off at 300kb/s it usually drops as it downloads to ~100kb/s. I'm using them as an example cause they're the only ones I can really measure that I know are always usually fast. I'm using a Netgear DGND3700v2, but before a few hours ago I was using the TP-Link W8960N. Same issue on both. I called Dodo and they want a technician to come here but I don't think the problem would be on our end (cause if it was on our end, everything would be going slow, not just speedtest, correct me if i'm wrong). Also we had a debacle a few months ago when a technician came and we got charged over 300$ even though we were told multiple times it would be free. Anyways, here's some info on noise/line rate ADSL Link Downstream Upstream Link Rate 5677 Kbps 1004 Kbps Line Attenuation 46.5 dB 32.2 dB Noise Margin 9.4 dB 6.7 dB Oh, and I have tested it on different computers, I have the same issue.

[QUOTE=mark6789;47562334]Im looking to upgrade my pc. Its only 2 years old and i have some money to spare. What i was looking into getting some fans and replace my stock cooler. I have this case [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018&cm_re=200r-_-11-139-018-_-Product[/url] and my spec if you can think of anything else i should upgrade and put on the list [URL=http://s1072.photobucket.com/user/mark6789x/media/Capture_zpsmhkw1l92.png.html][IMG]http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w378/mark6789x/th_Capture_zpsmhkw1l92.png[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE] Selling your GTX 760 and getting a GTX 970 would be a really good upgrade. The cost difference between a GTX 970 and GTX 980 is pretty big though for only a slightly higher performance gain. Since you're playing at 1080p you'll get better value with a GTX 970. Also you could get a larger SSD and sell off your current one if you need the extra space.

[QUOTE=Triot;47562737]Selling your GTX 760 and getting a GTX 970 would be a really good upgrade. The cost difference between a GTX 970 and GTX 980 is pretty big though for only a slightly higher performance gain. Since you're playing at 1080p you'll get better value with a GTX 970. Also you could get a larger SSD and sell off your current one if you need the extra space.[/QUOTE] By this summer the 980 should be down in price. With the competing R9 3xx cards launching in June for the start, the 980 should be driven down in price. The 970 will stay the same though, maybe drop to $300.

Alright, got a bit of an odd one here. Windows 8 machine, out of nowhere, today explorer.exe started taking 30%-40% of the cpu while idle. In addition, any time I try to actually do anything (click on an icon on the desktop, right click on the task bar, etc) the whole thing gets greyed out like when a program is not responding. The funny thing is, if I am quick enough to open task manager when I boot up the computer, I can end explorer.exe, and then start a new task and do whatever. Everything else works fine, I can use the computer normally so long as I don't start explorer.exe. I can browse the contents of folders, if I open the location using the "new task" thingy in task manager. So far I've tried deleting the contents of C:\Windows\Temp, clearing out the registry values for the task bar that they say to clear [url=http://winaero.com/blog/fix-notification-area-system-tray-icons-are-messed-up-in-windows-8/]here[/url]. I've confirmed that there are no corrupt icons on the desktop. I've rebuilt the search index. I've made sure the drives weren't fragmented. Interestingly, not all of the usual icons show up in the system tray. This machine came with a bunch of bloatware preinstalled that usually creates a bunch of icons on the system tray that I never bothered to pay attention to before, but now it just shows the network indicator, the battery indicator, and the volume adjustment thing. As a test I tried opening steam in task manager and the icon for that appeared fine. What could be causing this? You guys got any ideas? This is really annoying to work with. [editline]20th April 2015[/editline] Also I just noticed that the audio doesn't seem to be working, at all. [editline]20th April 2015[/editline] Nevermind on the audio, just had to enable it in the control panel.