The computer and electronics super geek thread

[azrael]

Hey guys, been researching a build to replace my old computer for a couple of months now and wanted to run the parts by you to some feedback. I'll be using the pc for video/photo editing, storing/streaming my media collection and general office work. I wanted it to be fairly high end as I want to be able to run it for the next five years or so without having to make any major upgrades. I'll give a rational for why I choose each part. This will be my first build so any feedback is appreciated. I plan to start buying parts (case, PSU) in May and begin the build in August/September. Thanks again for your feedback!

...

As technoblue mentioned, I too would toss the WD Reds and go with either a single Black or 1TB SSD (bump up the 950 to a 1TB drive). Reserve the Reds for a NAS and use that to house your media and backups. You will not need your beast computer to be on and streaming by going with a NAS.

I would like to get an SSD very soon, as prices are probably as low as they're going to get. I currently have Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, but it's OEM. Will it copy over to the new hard drive without any problems? What about investing in Windows 10 as an alternative fix?

Yes, you can copy drive to drive. You are basically copying your disk and then copying to a new one. Ideally, you should go either to a same sized drive/partition or larger drive. It's safer. Going to a smaller drive requires shrinking your partition and some cleaning to shrink it down. technoblue mentioned one that can do it. Others are Acronis True Image, Clonezilla, Paragon, EaseUS, etc. But if you go to a smaller partition (or size) on the SSD, I would do some cleanup on the original before moving to the SSD. Fortunately, there are plenty of guides for this.

[Chewie]

Intel nailing it again.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/intels-high-end-quad-core-nuc-ships-in-may-for-650/

With that Thunderbolt port, you could add an external GPU and this is a monster.

[barurutor]

+1 on Macrium Reflect recommendation.

Drive change will require reactivation in my experience (stealth-cloned my work laptop 5400RPM hdd to a Samsung 830).

[David Hingtgen]

Crusher----I'd get the Gigabyte mobo, especially if you're going with a Samsung SSD.

[CrusherJ]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll move the WD Reds over to a nas.

David- is there an issue between Asus mb's and Samsung drives?

[Mazinger]

Word of advice to Crusher. If you are going with an Intel 1150 socket motherboard, be really careful about how you place the CPU in place. I was used to Athlon processors from years passed with hard, thick pins on the CPU versus coming up from the MB. Bent a few putting my last system together and could never quite tweak them all back into place. Had to RMA the board and get another. Felt like such a n00b.

I'd watch a few youtube vids on how it's done just in case.

[technoblue]

I use 850 EVO SSDs in one system and 850 Pros in another. Both use Asus motherboards (one Haswell system and the other Ivy Bridge). Before the Samsung SSDs, I had smaller Crucial SSDs installed. I can't say anything bad about my experience, but I know the other guys here have more to say.

Edited March 18, 2016 by technoblue

[David Hingtgen]

I have issues with my ASUS board detecting my EVO 850, and I'm not alone. It may be limited to the Z97 board family, but there's a lot of Z97's out there.

[azrael]

I have not had any issues with my Asus Z97 with an 840 Pro or my 850 Pro. But as mentioned, your mileage may vary.

[mikeszekely]

I've had two Asus mobos. The first didn't have any major problems, but it took a ridiculously long time to POST. Like, I could hit the power on a laptop after hitting the power on that computer, and the laptop would clear POST before the Asus splash screen cleared. I'm talking around 30 seconds to POST, let alone load the OS.

My current board is also an Asus, and it's definitely got issues. Nothing bad enough that I'm rushing to build a new computer, but bad enough that that I won't buy another Asus board. I have issues with one of the USB 3.0 ports randomly flaking out, it would randomly stop detecting the Kingston SSD that was my boot drive, and in maybe 1 out of 10 boots the lights on the tower come on but the mouse and keyboard don't work and no video is displayed.

[David Hingtgen]

Mike----those problems sound exactly like what mine are.

[frothymug]

After a brief internet search, it appears DX12 is only on Windows 10, is this correct? If so, I may have to go ahead and upgrade my OS if and when I get around to upgrading my GPU and installing an SSD. There goes another $100+...

[mikeszekely]

After a brief internet search, it appears DX12 is only on Windows 10, is this correct?

Correct. Dunno if anything really uses DX12 yet, but you'd be future-proofing, and the GTX 900-series is DX12-ready.

Another small gaming advantage with Windows 10 is that Microsoft makes an adapter to use Xbox One controllers wirelessly with PCs. The drivers are only for Windows 10, though. Personally, I happen to really like the XB1 controllers, although I think they tend to be overshadowed by the PS4's super-improved controller. FWIW, you can use XB1 controllers with Windows 7 and 8, just with a USB cable.

[azrael]

I've had two Asus mobos. ....

I should note that while I haven't had issues with SSDs, I have issues elsewhere. My previous board did not take well to overclocking just a tiny bit and did have voltage issues draining the watch battery several times. Eventually the on-board sound died.

Which lead me to my Z97. It is more stable on the overclocking until the last BIOS update, which caused a bunch of memory errors. Reverting back a few revisions cleared that issue, but now it has issues while booting the OS every few reboots. As with Mike, it's not earth shattering for me to replace my system now, but this will be my last Asus board for a long time.

[barurutor]

After a brief internet search, it appears DX12 is only on Windows 10, is this correct? If so, I may have to go ahead and upgrade my OS if and when I get around to upgrading my GPU and installing an SSD. There goes another $100+...

You can upgrade to Windows 10 for free with your existing Windows 7/8/8.1 key until July 29th 2016...

[frothymug]

You can upgrade to Windows 10 for free with your existing Windows 7/8/8.1 key until July 29th 2016...

I have a feeling that this won't apply to my gaming desktop, as it's running Win 7 OEM. My laptop came pre-installed with 7, and it won't stop hounding me to upgrade to 10. My gaming desktop, however, has not said a word. I think that I am not eligible to upgrade that one. Am I not correct?

[technoblue]

I think you will be okay. My understanding is that you can upgrade your OEM copy of Win7 Home to an OEM copy of Win10 Home for free today. If you want a different license that covers a different tier of Windows (Win10 Pro), then you will need to pay for it or wait until Microsoft offers a retail bundle.

[mikeszekely]

I think you will be okay. My understanding is that you can upgrade your OEM copy of Win7 Home to an OEM copy of Win10 Home for free today. If you want a different license that covers a different tier of Windows (Win10 Pro), then you will need to pay for it or wait until Microsoft offers a retail bundle.

This. As far as I know, only volume licenses can't upgrade.

[CrusherJ]

Guess I should go with the gigabyte board. Was talking with a sales guy at microcenter and he said he's got a bunch of returned Asus boards sitting around due to similar issues you guys are mentioning.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Gigabyte or MSI, can't go wrong.

[JB0]

I have a feeling that this won't apply to my gaming desktop, as it's running Win 7 OEM. My laptop came pre-installed with 7, and it won't stop hounding me to upgrade to 10. My gaming desktop, however, has not said a word. I think that I am not eligible to upgrade that one. Am I not correct?

My homebuilt Win7 OEM systems had to be beaten to make them STOP nagging me.

[azrael]

My homebuilt Win7 OEM systems had to be beaten to make them STOP nagging me.

Yeah, it takes this and blocking KB3035583 every few months.

[frothymug]

If I can upgrade, I guess I will still have to ninja clone my current HDD to the new SSD beforehand?

[JB0]

Yeah, it takes this and blocking KB3035583 every few months.

Oh, I took the brute-force atomic-fire scorched-earth approach. Changed ownership of a few system directories from trustedinstaller to me(it's my goddamn computer, Windows, don't be tellin' me I don't have rights to tamper with it!), and deleted gwx.exe and gwx*.exe from a dozen different locations.

It worked.

[technoblue]

If I can upgrade, I guess I will still have to ninja clone my current HDD to the new SSD beforehand?

You should be able to clone the drive at any point (before or after upgrading). But, if you are concerned about your OEM license, then it won't hurt to clone the drive with Windows 7 installed and then do the upgrade to Windows 10 from the SSD.

[azrael]

Oh, I took the brute-force atomic-fire scorched-earth approach. Changed ownership of a few system directories from trustedinstaller to me(it's my goddamn computer, Windows, don't be tellin' me I don't have rights to tamper with it!), and deleted gwx.exe and gwx*.exe from a dozen different locations.

It worked.

Oh, they're finding more ways to sneak in more Windows 10 nag screens. Not that most savy users touch IE in any way shape or form, but trust me, MS is finding more and more ways to nag you.

[technoblue]

Gigabyte or MSI, can't go wrong.

Gigabyte is a favorite of mine too. I really like the Ultra Durable series of motherboards, but the Gaming series is also a good alternative that doesn't add too many compromises. I've used MSI for GPUs and have no complaints (my 980 is an MSI). I don't have any experience with the motherboards, though.

Edited March 22, 2016 by technoblue

[Major Focker]

need a little help. well maybe a lot.

the other day my Synology NAS updated itself to DSM 6.0

i only noticed because suddenly i couldn't stream to my TV and so i checked the Package Center and found out that a bunch of them needed updating, like Media Server and Video Station.

when i initiate the update, the download starts, as well as the installing phase, and then it stops with a message : This package requires you to enable "pgsql".

i have no idea what that means nor do i have any recollection of enabling it in the first place. tried googling but what i found mentions stuff like CLI, telnet, etc. which i cannot do.

i asked Synology but so far no reply. anyone got any ideas on how to fix? hopefully a simple solution?

thanks

[JB0]

Oh, they're finding more ways to sneak in more Windows 10 nag screens. Not that most savy users touch IE in any way shape or form, but trust me, MS is finding more and more ways to nag you.

I use IE occasionally, on websites I have multiple accounts on, or because I need to see what something looks like when I'm logged out of the site.

That said, my IE homepage is pandora.com, because I've had trouble getting Pandora working consistently in Seamonkey since the Great Flash Purge.

[Nazareno2012]

Good thing I use GNU/Linux instead of Windows, as I don't have to go through all those troubles such as Microsoft nagging you to install updates and forcing them upon you if you do not comply (see the site Why Linux is Better for more info). I also think Unix-based systems like Linux systems (Android included), OS X, iOS, BSD, etc. are better than Windows in many ways and have a solid track record, which is one reason why I prefer them.

[mikeszekely]

Good thing I use GNU/Linux instead of Windows, as I don't have to go through all those troubles such as Microsoft nagging you to install updates and forcing them upon you if you do not comply (see the site Why Linux is Better for more info). I also think Unix-based systems like Linux systems (Android included), OS X, iOS, BSD, etc. are better than Windows in many ways and have a solid track record, which is one reason why I prefer them.

Yeah... but gaming blows on Linux.

[Nazareno2012]

Yeah... but gaming blows on Linux.

Yes I know Linux is not for everyone, I am just stating my preference for operating systems.

[azrael]

need a little help. well maybe a lot.

the other day my Synology NAS updated itself to DSM 6.0

i only noticed because suddenly i couldn't stream to my TV and so i checked the Package Center and found out that a bunch of them needed updating, like Media Server and Video Station.

when i initiate the update, the download starts, as well as the installing phase, and then it stops with a message : This package requires you to enable "pgsql".

i have no idea what that means nor do i have any recollection of enabling it in the first place. tried googling but what i found mentions stuff like CLI, telnet, etc. which i cannot do.

i asked Synology but so far no reply. anyone got any ideas on how to fix? hopefully a simple solution?

Doesn't sound like you're alone in DSM 6 upgrade issues.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=267&t=116080

[technoblue]

Yeah... but gaming blows on Linux.

But...it's getting better...

Doesn't sound like you're alone in DSM 6 upgrade issues.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=267&t=116080

I was about to write a very long post about it but stopped when I noticed your update, azrael. The fixes are overly complicated and (speaking of Linux) point to something that is missing or incomplete with the DSM 6 upgrade. A customer should NOT have to resort to command-line hacks to get their database back up and running, especially when using a system that promotes a user-friendly GUI. I think Major Focker's best bet is to wait for Synology to give him a solution. I'm just not sure how mission critical his NAS is to his network.

[JB0]

Good thing I use GNU/Linux instead of Windows, as I don't have to go through all those troubles such as Microsoft nagging you to install updates and forcing them upon you if you do not comply (see the site Why Linux is Better for more info). I also think Unix-based systems like Linux systems (Android included), OS X, iOS, BSD, etc. are better than Windows in many ways and have a solid track record, which is one reason why I prefer them.

Linux has it's own share of issues. In many ways, Linux is well on it's way to become the monolithic proprietary platform that people used to rant about when explaining why Linux is better than Windows. But it's okay because Red Hat is one of the good guys!

BSD is better(I happen to enjoy FreeBSD), but suffers from a relative lack of support.

And, well... the Unix way isn't always the right way(even when Linux actually does something the Unix way). There are also many ways in which Windows is better than the Unix knockoffs.

Ultimately, you're picking a set of decades-old decisions made at the dawn of modern computing to embrace and prop up at all costs, be it ATT's or DEC's(Several alleged instances of MS "doing their own thing to be contrary" trace through MS-DOS back to CP/M,and CP/M drew a lot of inspiration from the venerable PDP- series).

I'd like to see a ground-up OS design, free of that historical baggage, but it's impossible at this point.