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

[QUOTE=LordCrypto;47571783]imagine you're driving through the city, and you want to get from your house to the grocery store, well thankfully there's only one light between you and the grocery store and it's always green in the direction you're wanting to go but if you want to go to a nice fine restaurant, there's a bunch more lights with a bunch more traffic buildup there (why speedtest could be fine, while mediafire isn't)[/QUOTE] Yeah for the path to a TS server I used to use I was getting fucked as soon as I hit Cogentco's lines. Fuck Cogentco.

[QUOTE=Uberpro;47571717]Should I wait for the r9 3XX or buy this r9 290 now? I'm aching to play GTA V and my current rig is ancient. [URL]http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/4096MB-PowerColor-Radeon-R9-290-PCS--Aktiv-PCIe-3-0-x16--Retail-_950327.html[/URL][/QUOTE] Grab a 970, costs a bit more than a R9 290X, but uses far less power and runs far cooler and quieter. The 290X uses over 200W while the 970 is rated for 165w or so. The 3.5gb vram issue was fairly overblown and is not a huge issue unless you use stuff like supersampling or high resolutions like 1440 or 2160.

[QUOTE=Uberpro;47571717]Should I wait for the r9 3XX or buy this r9 290 now? I'm aching to play GTA V and my current rig is ancient. [URL]http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/4096MB-PowerColor-Radeon-R9-290-PCS--Aktiv-PCIe-3-0-x16--Retail-_950327.html[/URL][/QUOTE] What is the specs of your current rig? I ask since you mentioned it's ancient.

[QUOTE=343N;47572060]That makes sense, but my main gripe is dodo telling me it's on my end and wanting a technician here and I don't want the traffic to be fine when he comes and get charged a large sum of money, only to have it go back to shit later[/QUOTE] t1 support doesn't even know what packet routing is if there is an issue the tech should be smart enough to identify it and alert their noc about it

In the market for a solid monitor, I don't know much other than wanting a 1080p one though. Stuff like [URL="http://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/us/en/hp-pavilion-23xi-23-inch-diagonal-ips-led-backlit-monitor?jumpid=ba_r329_hhocse&aoid=44661&003=6663635&010=C3Z94AA#ABA&ci_sku=C3Z94AA#ABA&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw="]this.[/URL] Recommendations?

[QUOTE=LordCrypto;47573086]t1 support doesn't even know what packet routing is if there is an issue the tech should be smart enough to identify it and alert their noc about it[/QUOTE] holy fuck they kept saying it was because of the dropouts on my end and i keep saying 'no its not because of that why would it be it doesn't make sense???' and then they're like 'ok we'll look into it'. get a call today, they say 'ok we'll monitor for the next 24hrs for dropouts' FOR FUCKS SAKE GODDAMN i have no idea what to do now, the nets become fucked again cant even load a image/video on facebook and torrents back to going 20kb/s when (was fine this morning and evening) and speedtest is STILL ok (speedtest giving me 300kb/s, worse than usual but still mega is only going 50-70, line rate is at a nice 5342Kbps down/868 Kbps up.) this is getting on my fucking nerves i'm gettin sick of this shit

Right guys. Need some help here. I've tried googling, nobody has the same issue as me. My microphone keeps disconnecting but only when i play games. It's almost as if it gets disabled after a few seconds of playing games, and this has only just recently happened. I'm on skype and its all fine, then i start up a game and it will just disconnect and sometimes reconnect randomly. Device manager says theres no issue, my mic works fine and does actually work so im all out of ideas on how to fix this. Any suggestions?

I'm planning to grab a 128GB SSD for the PC I'm going to build in early/mid June. I'm going to use it as a boot drive for Windows 8.1, a few core programs, a modded Skyrim install, and maybe one or two other games that would strongly benefit from being loaded on an SSD. I'm torn between the Samsung 850 EVO and the Crucial MX100. The benchmarks I've seen show the 850 does a bit better, but I've also heard a lot of people complain it suffers from random slowdowns. Also, the MX100 is $20-$30 cheaper than the 850 on Newegg (or it was before it went out of stock again). Which one should I pick? Or, alternatively, is there a third option someone would strongly recommend?

[QUOTE=Lordgeorge16;47578083]I'm planning to grab a 128GB SSD for the PC I'm going to build in early/mid June. I'm going to use it as a boot drive for Windows 8.1, a few core programs, a modded Skyrim install, and maybe one or two other games that would strongly benefit from being loaded on an SSD. I'm torn between the Samsung 850 EVO and the Corsair MX100. The benchmarks I've seen show the 850 does a bit better, but I've also heard a lot of people complain it suffers from random slowdowns. Also, the MX100 is $20-$30 cheaper than the 850 on Newegg (or it was before it went out of stock again). Which one should I pick? Or, alternatively, is there a third option someone would strongly recommend?[/QUOTE] Samsung 850 EVO. Currently it's being sold for a bit less than the MX100: [b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e120bam]Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] ($67.98 @ OutletPC) Samsung have a strong history of extremely reliable SSD's despite the reported issues of the 840/850 EVO. Also you'll get better value upping the capacity to at least 250GB+. You could consider that as an option if you have a larger budget.

Reported? Pretty well proven as Samsung is still trying to fix them.

[QUOTE=Levelog;47578210]Reported? Pretty well proven as Samsung is still trying to fix them.[/QUOTE] Wouldn't it still be the same as proven? If not then proven is what I was meant say instead.

[QUOTE=Triot;47578223]Wouldn't it still be the same as proven? If not then proven is what I was meant say instead.[/QUOTE] I guess usually when people say reported like that it's meant to be in skeptical nature.

So what are the odds of those issues getting fixed within the next couple of months?

[QUOTE=Lordgeorge16;47578247]So what are the odds of those issues getting fixed within the next couple of months?[/QUOTE] Well there really haven't been any reports of the issue in the 850, but it's a bit early in it's lifespan to tell. As for the 840, it's not fixable. Samsung at the moment has been reduced to using their software to do an automatic refresh of the drive every once in a while which keeps the performance issues at bay.

Hello everyone. I recently got into checking every detail about my PC's GPU and CPU and stuff like that. The thing is, I don't really know what it means or how to read it. Well one thing that came up recently is I'm using GPU-Z and when I go to the sensor tabs, GPU Core Clock and GPU Memory Clock of the intel graphics are max even though I'm not really doing much. Is this normal? Here's screenshots if they help. If more info is needed, I can give it (click for bigger): [t]http://i.imgur.com/imkj0nl.png[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/LST4118.png[/t] I do have the Intel Graphics but also Nvidia graphics and that one doesn't seem to be at max. Is that normal? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I really do not know much detail about the internals of a computer or how it works, just the basics.

The GPU load is 0%. It's not being used at all, nothing to worry about.

[QUOTE=Levelog;47579128]The GPU load is 0%. It's not being used at all, nothing to worry about.[/QUOTE] Alright thanks. Like I said I have no idea how to read this stuff, thanks for pointing that out. I feel stupid.

Found out that my audio issue was to do with my front microphone panel being iffy (apparently) since i put my headphones in the back of the computer now and its being all fine. Strange. still don't see how it would be funny only on games though.

Well I decided to go with the R9 290. But now I have to decide between these two: [URL]http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/4096MB-PowerColor-Radeon-R9-290-PCS--Aktiv-PCIe-3-0-x16--Retail-_950327.html[/URL] [URL]http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/rating/1/4096MB-Asus-Radeon-R9-290-DirectCU-II-OC-Aktiv-PCIe-3-0-x16--Retail-_949752.html#reviews[/URL] Both cost the same. PCS+ seems to get praised because of its coolers. DirectCU II coolers on the other hand seem to get a lot of shit, as they apparently took them straight from Nvidia cards. But Powercolor is still a cheaper brand than ASUS. They also offer one year less warranty than the Asus, only 2 years. Bare in mind that I'm talking about the R9 290 (not the X), and that asus is DirectCU II OC (not the more common one without OC)

so atm i'm in and out of my office working on stuff there and at home, and so at the end of every day i zip up the project i'm working on and stick it on my external hard drive i'm trying to delete an old version of a folder to replace it with the new one from my work pc that i've brought home from yesterday, only it's saying i don't have permission to do so. nor do i have permission to rename it, and i need to use the same folder structure for things to work properly. is there some magical way i can force something to be deleted/renamed? why is this folder unable to be deleted in the first place? thanks in advance for any help

Has anyone here ever used EVGA's 'Step-Up' program? I'm thinking about using it as sort of deferred payment on a 970 upgrade. I have a 750 Ti now and I figured I'd buy a 960, grab a Witcher 3 code which for me is basically $50 off and then upgrade within 90 days. While in the interim I could save some money and have a card that's still better than what I had. Second question, EVGA has two qualifying 960s, one is there [URL="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1133036-REG/evga_04g_p4_3966_kr_geforce_gtx960_4gb_sc.html"]4GB variant[/URL] that has a backplate, for someone who games at 1080p would I have any real reason to spend the extra dosh on that? Thanks for the help.

Is it better to SLI two of [URL="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D3LE2MK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00"]these[/URL], or buy a brand new GTX 970? I'm sort of leaning towards SLI since I already have one card, and it'd be easier than buying a new one and selling my current one. What's confusing is the fact the GTX 770 is the same price as the GTX 970, and I don't know why.

Okay I'm getting sick of this. Each time a .webm loads and it doesn't buffer enough to let the video play (so it stops), the video just breaks. It either becomes black or I can't drag the progress bar back to the start. Anyone know how I fix this? Using Chrome.

both the 360 pads i have are broke how easy is it to use a ps4 pad? do you just set it up once with ds4tool or do you have to configure it per game? if its going to be an effort i will buy a xbone pad as im used to the layout on pc

I've was wondering about the clock speeds on an i5 professor for a laptop. It says at standard it's 1.80ghz but at maximum its 2.7ghz. How's this achieved and when? Is it when you've got your power settings on maximum or just done when it needs the extra juice?

[QUOTE=O'Neil;47586626]I've was wondering about the clock speeds on an i5 professor for a laptop. It says at standard it's 1.80ghz but at maximum its 2.7ghz. How's this achieved and when? Is it when you've got your power settings on maximum or just done when it needs the extra juice?[/QUOTE] That's Turbo mode, kicks on when the CPU is under load to increase performance. It's basically an auto overclock function. Low power settings disable it.

[QUOTE=O'Neil;47586626]I've was wondering about the clock speeds on an i5 professor for a laptop. It says at standard it's 1.80ghz but at maximum its 2.7ghz. How's this achieved and when? Is it when you've got your power settings on maximum or just done when it needs the extra juice?[/QUOTE] There's actually several things going on. First, on any recent processor, the standard clockspeed is essentially "it will never run lower than this when at 100%". It can go substantially below that when idling - my i7 is currently running at merely 1.2GHz, even though it's standard clockrate is twice that, and that's with ten programs open. Second, on Intel chips, there's multi-core turbo - increasing the clock rate of all cores above the standard, when demanded by the current workload and allowed by both power limits and thermal limits. This usually does not last too long - it's designed to let the chip handle millisecond-long spikes in processing load quickly, so it can dive back down to that slow and efficient idle rate. So if it tries to do this for too long, it will likely start to overheat - so the chip puts a stop to it, and goes back down to the standard clockspeed, which can be sustained as long as the battery lasts. Third, there's single-core turbo - increasing the clock rate on a single core to an even higher clock. If I'm correct in guessing you're talking about the Core i5-5350U, this would put one core at 2.9GHz, and the other at 1.8GHz or lower. This is used when a single thread is chewing up everything - the other core can't help, other than taking care of other tasks so the other core can be completely dedicated. So the chip will put all its power and heat budget towards that one core, for as long as it will last. It can usually sustain higher than the standard clocks on one core, but probably not all the way up. This is to make older programs, or ones that cannot use multithreading anyways, run faster. All of the clock increases are done only as demanded - it won't run above standard clocks unless there's a significant load. And when idle or near-idle, it will drop clockrates down considerably, to save power and heat.

[QUOTE=gman003-main;47586839](i)[/QUOTE] To add to this, as an example, my i7 4500U usually hangs out around the 790 Mhz range when just web browsing. And will run up to that 2.9 ghz figure when needed. Its pretty much instant and you never notice it, except if the CPU is overheating in games where you might feel a bit of a framerate dip if it has to fall back in speeds significantly (which is normal CPU behavior anyway).

Thinking of buying an Nvidia 960 (or should I wait??). Should I upgrade my 430w PSU? Rest of my PC in case it matters. [t]http://puu.sh/hoJa2/019e7965fd.png[/t]

Tengo un problema grande, amigos. (Posting from my laptop) My desktop is running Win 10 technical preview (newest official build, 10049). I checked my updates today and noticed a display driver update. I installed it, and shortly after doing so my display flickers and crashes. No output to the monitor. Aight, this OS is in beta, no biggie. I run (win+r) shutdown -r and it restarts. Aight. I get to the log on screen, log on, and after a short amount of time crash again. Now I'm a little worried. I try again. Same results. Okay, I figure I should revert the driver update (which you can do now apparently). I devise this plan: 1. Boot in safe mode (I was able to get in during one of my attempts and there were no crashes here) 2. Open the settings app 3. Revert the update Now to get into safe mode in Win10 as far as I know, you have to enable it in msconfig. No problem. Yes problem. You see, ~70% of my boots don't make it to the log on screen. The other ~29% crash before I can open/while I am in the msconfig dialog. For the past hour or so I have been sitting at my desk doing this: 1. Power on 2. After a bit, encounter: 2a. log on screen or 2b. crash (blank screen, either black or blue of log on screen) or 2c. BSoD (only happened once) If I make it to the log on screen: - Try to open run dialog before I crash - Try to use run dialog to open msconfig before I crash - Try to navigate to Boot tab, press safe mode, and press ok before I crash - Reboot in safe mode Otherwise: - Hard shut down - Go to step 1 So here are my questions: - Am I wrong trying to revert the driver installation? - Am I doing this entire process wrong? - Is there an easier way to boot into safe mode? - I have my install DVD from several builds ago, would it help in any way? [editline]23rd April 2015[/editline] Forgot to mention that in one of my attempts I successfully disabled all startup programs. [editline]20th April 2015[/editline] Solved thanks to based system restore.