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future ghost posted:Our clients keep buying these pieces of poo poo even though they perform horribly for the specs. 2 have already straight up died under warranty - at least Lenovo will send techs out next-day I guess. Thanks! It's not silent, but it's still pretty quiet to my ears. I've been doing some digging over the past day, and it looks like I can snag an additional 16Gb of ECC ram for $25 and a 2.93Ghz X5570 cpu for $45. Is something like a r9-290 a reasonable card these days (asking because I've found someone else on the internet using one in their z800, and I am concerned that the 12V rails might not have enough juice for something state of the art).
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Apr 12, 2016 00:07
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If I'm getting a wireless keyboard for the living room, is the convenience of an included touchpad worth it or should I just get a full sized one and use a mouse with it?
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Apr 12, 2016 07:14
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Lemming posted:If I'm getting a wireless keyboard for the living room, is the convenience of an included touchpad worth it or should I just get a full sized one and use a mouse with it? It's really up to personal preference. If you won't be doing a lot of mousing one with a little trackpad should be fine. If you don't like trackpads and will be doing a lot of mousing (like me) you want a separate mouse. If you want to use it on a couch I believe logitech even makes a couch mouse.
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Apr 12, 2016 09:24
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Hey guys follow up question to my CPU cooling stuff I got my Cooler Master Hyper 212 today and by dumb luck I managed to install it successfully. however, on like the last minute of the install process i noticed that my case fan wasn't running when I started my PC. I don't know if it was always broken or if it just broke in the install process. I didn't know how to unplug it since its wires went into a big clump of PSU wires that I didn't personally set up, so I just left it on a HDD tray for now So anyway, the CPU cooler is working fine. Is it a really bad idea to run the PC without a case fan for now? the CPU cooler is pointed in the same direction as my old case fan so it's kind of doing its work for now. i thought running without a case fan might be an awful idea but the temperatures look good right now so i don't know Minorkos fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Apr 12, 2016 |
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Apr 12, 2016 14:38
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Minorkos posted:So anyway, the CPU cooler is working fine. Is it a really bad idea to run the PC without a case fan for now? the CPU cooler is pointed in the same direction as my old case fan so it's kind of doing its work for now. i thought running without a case fan might be an awful idea but the temperatures look good right now so i don't know
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Apr 12, 2016 15:06
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Lemming posted:If I'm getting a wireless keyboard for the living room, is the convenience of an included touchpad worth it or should I just get a full sized one and use a mouse with it? For what it's worth, I found the nice big trackpad on the Logitech K400r wireless keyboard to be very nice for use with an HTPC or similar device: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-K400R-Keyboard-Transceiver/dp/B008QS7TRK  Essentially it's fully suitable for doing full real-computer stuff. I think there's a newer version out, but that's the model I've used. If what you're mostly after is to be able to control a media player and type to search, you might want to consider this instead: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Multimedia-Remote-Keyboard-N5901/dp/B0036VO67I  You basically can use it one handed, and it has that trackball type thing for mouse control.
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Apr 12, 2016 17:17
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fishmech posted:For what it's worth, I found the nice big trackpad on the Logitech K400r wireless keyboard to be very nice for use with an HTPC or similar device: I've got one of these for my htpc and its pretty great. Good range, batteries last for ever, and the extra mouse button on the top left means you can use the track pad on the right with your thumb whilst holding it naturally
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Apr 12, 2016 18:17
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Rexxed posted:It's really up to personal preference. If you won't be doing a lot of mousing one with a little trackpad should be fine. If you don't like trackpads and will be doing a lot of mousing (like me) you want a separate mouse. If you want to use it on a couch I believe logitech even makes a couch mouse. I don't really plan on doing anything extensive, but I have a wireless mouse if I need it. fishmech posted:For what it's worth, I found the nice big trackpad on the Logitech K400r wireless keyboard to be very nice for use with an HTPC or similar device: Yeah, this is one I was looking at. It sounds like you and the guy above me had a good experience with it as well, so I'll just get that. Thanks!
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Apr 12, 2016 18:28
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Housh posted:I'm not sure if this is the right place but I am wondering what is the cheapest media player device to hook up to a TV to play 1080p mkv files. I don't want to stream as the internet in the place is flaky. I want to be able to dump files on a usb drive and play them on the TV. I have a WDTV and it plays 1080 across my LAN from a NAS no problem at all, as well as off a USB stick plugged into it. As an MKV is just a container, it would depend on what the audio and video streams are encoded with before you could say if the WD could play it back or not, but I think I've found maybe one or two it couldn't manage out of many hundreds. Also, really new stuff like HEVC won't play at all.
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Apr 13, 2016 12:46
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I am having a shockingly hard time finding the answer to this simple question: In Windows 10, if you have a mirrored storage space with 2 drives or a parity storage space with 3 drives, are integrity streams enabled FOR FILE DATA? I've found sources that say yes, some that say no (i.e. it's only enabled for metadata), and absolutely nothing on MSDN that can't be interpreted either way.
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Apr 13, 2016 23:26
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Pfox posted:Thanks! It's not silent, but it's still pretty quiet to my ears. I've been doing some digging over the past day, and it looks like I can snag an additional 16Gb of ECC ram for $25 and a 2.93Ghz X5570 cpu for $45. Is something like a r9-290 a reasonable card these days (asking because I've found someone else on the internet using one in their z800, and I am concerned that the 12V rails might not have enough juice for something state of the art). future ghost fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 01:30
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Does anyone make an LFX power supply of at least (but preferably more than) 400W? I have a SFF Dell 3040 and the power supply in there is 8.5 x 2.25 x 3.25 roughly. I assume I can't stick an ATX supply in there... I just want a gpu I can play Rocksmith with.
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Apr 14, 2016 02:33
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future ghost posted:Make sure the case cooling is up to snuff, but either a 290 or 970 should work well if it has the 850W PSU installed. IIRC those came with either 850W or 1000W models. Good price on the RAM and the CPU (95W TDP) appears to be supported just fine on the Z800's although you'll want to make sure the BIOS is the newest version before replacing it. What are your thoughts on a more powerful gpu like the R9-390 in the 850w power supply?
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Apr 14, 2016 03:42
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Chuu posted:I am having a shockingly hard time finding the answer to this simple question: Have you tried asking in this thread?
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Apr 14, 2016 12:06
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I have a power supply question--I have a fairly barebones desktop rig with a DVD-R drive, SSD, HDD, and a wireless card. It's running off a 550W PSU right now. If I want to put a GTX 970 or 980 in there, should I be worried about upgrading the power supply, or am I safe?
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Apr 14, 2016 17:55
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What processor does your computer have? Are you running any overclock?
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Apr 14, 2016 19:50
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Pfox posted:What are your thoughts on a more powerful gpu like the R9-390 in the 850w power supply?
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Apr 14, 2016 23:34
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I'm in a household with 3 computers and a wireless Roku on the tv. I play league of legends sometimes, and when other people are using the internet my ping skyrockets into the hundreds or low thousands. The ping is a lot higher on wireless than it is plugged directly into the router, which I gather means my router needs to be replaced. How much should I expect to spend on a new router if I want my household to be playing games and streaming video at the same time? Does anyone have any recommendations?
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Apr 15, 2016 00:05
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Ignite Memories posted:I'm in a household with 3 computers and a wireless Roku on the tv. I play league of legends sometimes, and when other people are using the internet my ping skyrockets into the hundreds or low thousands. The ping is a lot higher on wireless than it is plugged directly into the router, which I gather means my router needs to be replaced. How much should I expect to spend on a new router if I want my household to be playing games and streaming video at the same time? First, what internet speeds do you have? No router's going to help if your internet speed is just so slow that a bunch of people streaming videos hammers it. Second, the best router for pretty much anyone who needs wifi right now is this one, which is about $90 and should handle just about anything you throw at it: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Arche...csubtag=WC29013 But I'd seriously considering just buying a long ethernet cable to hook your computer to the router permanently. You're always going to have better latency on wired unless something gets broken.
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Apr 15, 2016 00:27
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Seems to be about 35 down, 6.5 up. edit: I think I swapped these but yeah Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Apr 15, 2016 |
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Apr 15, 2016 00:29
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Ignite Memories posted:Seems to be about 35 up, 6.5 down. Ok, then yeah you might be getting a problem from an outdated/insufficient router, and the one I linked would be a good option.
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Apr 15, 2016 00:48
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Thank you, an article I googled also recommended the Archer C7 so I'll think about getting one of those.
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Apr 15, 2016 01:00
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I got the same router in Feb. I have two TVs using fire sticks, chromecast in my daughter's room, and I game slot. No problems, you'll be very happy.
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Apr 15, 2016 01:06
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I built myself a brand new computer. I'm reinstalling/redownloading games, and when I am downloading anything of decent size (a gig or over) every thirty seconds or so, my internet connection will cut out. It takes maybe ten to twenty seconds for it to get back up to full speed. I'm on Windows 10 (disabled the option to share Windows updates with other PCs) and using the most up to date version of driver for my motherboard's ethernet port. My motherboard is an ASUS Maximus VIII Hero. Does anybody have any ideas what could be happening? This did not happen on my previous computer, this is severely crippling my ability to do anything internet-wise while downloading. If I created a graph of internet activity over time, it'd look like a wave function.
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Apr 15, 2016 05:06
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SlayVus posted:What processor does your computer have? Are you running any overclock? i5-4590, no overclock!
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Apr 16, 2016 19:18
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Node posted:I built myself a brand new computer. I'm reinstalling/redownloading games, and when I am downloading anything of decent size (a gig or over) every thirty seconds or so, my internet connection will cut out. It takes maybe ten to twenty seconds for it to get back up to full speed. I'm on Windows 10 (disabled the option to share Windows updates with other PCs) and using the most up to date version of driver for my motherboard's ethernet port. My motherboard is an ASUS Maximus VIII Hero. Does anybody have any ideas what could be happening? This did not happen on my previous computer, this is severely crippling my ability to do anything internet-wise while downloading.
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Apr 16, 2016 19:35
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I'm planning on streaming content from PC to a non-smart tv downstairs, and am looking for a device that does this. I'm looking into a google chromecast, but I had a few questions: The computer has an i5 3570k and an Nvidia GTX 970, would playing a 1080p video playing through VLC put a serious dent into the performance (Whilst it's being used for Gaming, etc)? What determines the effectiveness of the streaming quality? Just how far the dongle is from the router? Will it effect download/upload speeds and Ping of stuff actually connecting to the internet? Is it possible to completely sequester off the vlc window/whatever is broadcasting so, for example, the person using the PC normally doesn't accidentally shove his mouse pointer into the screen being broadcast? Alternatively is there something better than a chromecast that isn't big/expensive? Thanks!
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Apr 16, 2016 21:05
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Haledjian posted:i5-4590, no overclock! A system with that CPU and a 980 will draw less than 400W, possibly as little as 300W. Your PSU is high quality and will actually output 550W, so you're more than fine.
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Apr 16, 2016 21:25
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Rookoo posted:I'm planning on streaming content from PC to a non-smart tv downstairs, and am looking for a device that does this. I haven't 'used VLC in this way, I'm assuming it is transcoding the video to a stream and you will display that via your chromecast? That can affect peformance depending on what hardware is doing the transcoding (3d card, cpu, integrated graphics). Chromecast to me is awesome for Youtube and other things streamed off the internet. As far as displaying what's on the screen, the chrome plugin is pretty disappointing both performance and quality wise. If you don't mind setting one up, you can use a raspberry pi with kodi (formerly xbmc) and play off a shared folder on your network. This will make little impact on your gaming, and unless your network is jacked up, shouldn't be an issue there either.
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Apr 16, 2016 21:45
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future ghost posted:It would be fine. drat, is it ever! Thanks for the encouragement!
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Apr 17, 2016 00:57
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Alereon posted:If you have any non-Microsoft antivirus/firewall/security software installed, uninstall it. Just to confirm, this only affects your computer, so you know its not the router, right? No, the internet drops. I made a thread about it in haus of tech support: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3772471 . My network still works, its the internet that is dropping (for the entire network, not just my computer) when I get over 1.5MB/s or higher.
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Apr 17, 2016 04:00
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Rookoo posted:I'm planning on streaming content from PC to a non-smart tv downstairs, and am looking for a device that does this. As already said, the Raspberry Pi running Kodi will not interfere with your PC too much: just set up a shared folder on the PC and tell Kodi where it is. Any video files you pop in the shared folder on the PC will be accessible in Kodi. I currently run a Raspberry Pi 2 this way. If you go for this option it's a bit more technical because you've got to install Kodi to the sdcard on the Pi. I've used the original Pi this was and a Pi 2. The Pi 2 is 100x better at Kodi due to better performance. Definitely use the second gen Pi if you go this route. There's an easier option, though. Just install Plex server on the PC and stick a Chromecast in the TV. If you have a smartphone pay for the Plex app and you're good to go. Any media you add to the Plex server and then play via Plex will be transcoded invisibly in the background on your PC and streamed to the TV. You have a solid i5 processor in that PC, so the performance hit on the PC should be negligible. Both solutions could be hampered if you have a really bad router or poor connectivity around your house. If not, you'll be fine.
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Apr 17, 2016 04:25
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Follow-up from my previous post- the good news is that I was able to work out a better PC set-up. The bad news is that the one I have still sucks effectively handling Adobe applications, and is outright horrible for editing videos in After Effects/Premiere. I can't even do a live preview. And it still can't run >1 Adobe CC application without crashing. Is it possible to add a half-decent GPU into this set-up to beef up its performance? I'm particularly worried about the terrible 280W PSU that I'm stuck with:
I have a feeling that the crappy PSU is going to limit my upgrade options. Picture of its innards: 
melon cat fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Apr 17, 2016 |
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Apr 17, 2016 05:07
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), 1024 MB Matrox M9128 LP PCIe x16
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If the power supply doesn't have a 6-pin cable, they make Geforce GTX 950 cards that don't require them. Though, have you tried removing the Matrox card, connecting your monitors to onboard video, and installing the latest Intel HD Graphics drivers? It's far faster and more capable than the Matrox card. Additionally, your system memory should be installed in matched pairs, using three modules like that will severely affect system performance.
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Apr 17, 2016 05:45
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Alereon posted:If the power supply doesn't have a 6-pin cable, they make Geforce GTX 950 cards that don't require them. Though, have you tried removing the Matrox card, connecting your monitors to onboard video, and installing the latest Intel HD Graphics drivers? It's far faster and more capable than the Matrox card. Additionally, your system memory should be installed in matched pairs, using three modules like that will severely affect system performance. I believe that modern Intel systems can be pretty flexible when it comes to running in dual channel. If that setup is 2x 4GiB in one channel, 1x 8 in the other, it should be ok: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/000005657.html
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Apr 17, 2016 09:08
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HalloKitty posted:I believe that modern Intel systems can be pretty flexible when it comes to running in dual channel. If that setup is 2x 4GiB in one channel, 1x 8 in the other, it should be ok: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/000005657.html
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Apr 17, 2016 10:10
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Alereon posted:At best that will only be for the first 8GB though. Adobe apps are also very sensitive to memory bandwidth because of the kind of work they do, so that will hurt. Here's our existing RAM setup (all DDR3, max bandwidth PC3-12800): Slot 1: 4 GB Slot 2: 8 GB Slot 3: 4 GB Slot 4: (Empty) So, it sounds like our setup for better Adobe CC performance should instead be this: Slot 1: 4 GB Slot 2: 4 GB Slot 3: 4 GB Slot 4: 4 GB Is this correct? Would it be even better if we just upgrade to 32GB (8 GB + 8GB + 8 GB + 8 GB)? Speccy screnshot, just in case it helps:  Alereon posted:If the power supply doesn't have a 6-pin cable, they make Geforce GTX 950 cards that don't require them. Though, have you tried removing the Matrox card, connecting your monitors to onboard video, and installing the latest Intel HD Graphics drivers? It's far faster and more capable than the Matrox card. Additionally, your system memory should be installed in matched pairs, using three modules like that will severely affect system performance. melon cat fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Apr 17, 2016 |
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Apr 17, 2016 17:28
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Alereon posted:At best that will only be for the first 8GB though. Adobe apps are also very sensitive to memory bandwidth because of the kind of work they do, so that will hurt. I think that's only for "flex" mode, which is not what I'm referring to. "Dual-channel (interleaved) mode This mode offers higher memory throughput and is enabled when the memory capacities of both DIMM channels are equal." There's 8GiB in one channel, and 8 in the other. The whole lot should be dual channel according to the page. Unless it doesn't apply to the current boards somehow.  vs  I readily admit it's a weird memory configuration, and never one I'd aim for if I was building a machine, but it might be OK. HalloKitty fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Apr 17, 2016 |
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Apr 17, 2016 17:33
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melon cat posted:I'm not sure if the PSU that I have has a 6-pin cable. It's enclosed in a cage, and IT will flip a poo poo if I start opening things up. Is there a quick way of finding out how many pins my PSU has? And in order to connect my monitors to onboard video, is it just a matter of removing the Matrox card and plugging the monitors into the motherboard's ports? Please don't open up your PSU unless you know how to handle high voltage electronics. If it has a 6-pin cable will be along the wires that come out of it, leading into the computer case. Though looking at the pictures of the innards you've posted so far, it looks like it flat out doesn't have them.
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Apr 17, 2016 17:46
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I've been under the impression for a number of years that dual channel memory doesn't make much of a difference for most applications. After a quick search, this knucklehead seems to have found the same thing with a bunch of testing after kingston told him as much. http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel In any case, I think this not very short hardware question topic is getting way out of scope. Don't worry about the memory.
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Apr 17, 2016 17:57
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