The computer and electronics super geek thread

[JB0]

Rule of thumb: If you want to use the same socket for more than one processor, get AMD.

[David Hingtgen]

Is “reinstall Windows just to clean things up” still a suggested practice?  I remember people used to do so like every year, just due to bloat, registry junk from deleted programs, etc.   I feel I have too many processes running lately, and I see things that make me think that despite utterly uninstalling the old drivers, some aspects of my new GPU are being limited to the old one’s capabilities/stats.

But—-I tweak the heck out of my windows installs, it’ll take days to get it set just how I like it.  (I feel a repair install may be pointless—-sure it’d remember a lot of settings, but I also fear it’d keep a lot of junk, defeating the point).  So I really don’t want to do it if it won’t help much.  Plus of course—about 10,000 windows updates to re-do...

::edit::  this’d be 7, BTW.  I’d still be running XP at home if I could.  

[Seto Kaiba]

22 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Is “reinstall Windows just to clean things up” still a suggested practice?  I remember people used to do so like every year, just due to bloat, registry junk from deleted programs, etc.  

Well, it's still the default response of most paid tech support outfits (e.g. Geeksquad), warranty PC repair depots, and corporate IT departments to almost any significant aberrant behavior that can't be immediately root-caused to hardware.  It's just more efficient that way if you've got a pre-prepared Windows image handy.

The older the Windows version the more likely it is to be recommended as a cure-all, and it's Microsoft's favorite fix for any issues caused by one of Windows 10's periodic not-a-service-pack-honest major feature updates.  Less necessary than it used to be due to the sheer number of repair utilities available these days.

[mikeszekely]

41 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

Is “reinstall Windows just to clean things up” still a suggested practice?  I remember people used to do so like every year, just due to bloat, registry junk from deleted programs, etc.   I feel I have too many processes running lately, and I see things that make me think that despite utterly uninstalling the old drivers, some aspects of my new GPU are being limited to the old one’s capabilities/stats.

But—-I tweak the heck out of my windows installs, it’ll take days to get it set just how I like it.  (I feel a repair install may be pointless—-sure it’d remember a lot of settings, but I also fear it’d keep a lot of junk, defeating the point).  So I really don’t want to do it if it won’t help much.  Plus of course—about 10,000 windows updates to re-do...

::edit::  this’d be 7, BTW.  I’d still be running XP at home if I could.  

In all the time I was using 7, no.  I got by with CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller.  If you're really worried that some lingering bits of stuff from your old video card are holding you back, you can try a tool like Display Driver Uninstaller, then reinstalling the GeForce drivers.  Without knowing (remembering?) what it is that you're doing it's also possible that the bottleneck isn't the GPU.

[David Hingtgen]

I did use DDU.  I might try it a few more times---I know it took a while before my 970 really "acted like a 970"---it went from "faster than the 960" to "WAY faster than the 960" after like the 3rd uninstall/reinstall session.  

I have to do some work anyways to install my new PCI-E cables, I think I may literally uninstall the card itself (physically) for a few reboots, clear everything out.  Reboot a few more times for good measure, clear it all out again, then install it.  (that's pretty much what it took for 960 to 970...)  

Semi-related--evga Precision OC, in addition to just generally sucking, is the slowest-loading program on my PC by far.  It's like 45 seconds after everything else.  Off an SSD.  I can be in a game from a cold boot before it's up and running---and that screws everything up---if anything "GPU-intensive" is started before OC loads, it won't load.  So I find myself "booted and running, but waiting around to actually start anything while waiting for Precision OC to actually get going".  I found a few references to similar issues online, but no fixes.  All the evga tech official responses were "it always starts up super-fast for us".     And it doesn't seem common enough to have a bunch of discussion.  (this is part of the reason I'm considering clearing out everything and starting from scratch---SOMETHING is delaying it I think, but I don't know what---I have as many non-essential services disabled as I can so as to have very fast boots)

PS---CCleaner is awful now, since avast bought it a few months ago.   Ad-filled bloatware that nags you constantly for extra services, and auto-runs even when you disable everything in the options. It's not "run on occasion to clear up junk", now it acts like an anti-virus, and runs 24/7 trying to find things to sell you a premium service to fix.  Do NOT update it if you have an older version.  

[azrael]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Is “reinstall Windows just to clean things up” still a suggested practice?  I remember people used to do so like every year, just due to bloat, registry junk from deleted programs, etc.   I feel I have too many processes running lately, and I see things that make me think that despite utterly uninstalling the old drivers, some aspects of my new GPU are being limited to the old one’s capabilities/stats....

Haven't done that in ages.  CCleaner, registry clean-ups, cleaning scripts which clear out temporary folders at start-up, launching only services and programs that I really need at boot, etc..have kept me from doing a reinstall. The only time I've reinstalled has been with new hardware (namely new CPU and Motherboard) or if I'm upgrading the OS and never looking back.

Corporate IT does it because there's a bunch of policies which would take a lifetime to peel back to undo and when people's jobs are based off a a few files that could likely set the company back a few hundred thousand to a few million; time is money and money is time. Get that user back up ASAP. But Corporate IT also have workstation images so they could be up in an hour vs several hours of doing a clean installation.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

PS---CCleaner is awful now, since avast bought it a few months ago.   Ad-filled bloatware that nags you constantly for extra services, and auto-runs even when you disable everything in the options. It's not "run on occasion to clear up junk", now it acts like an anti-virus, and runs 24/7 trying to find things to sell you a premium service to fix.  Do NOT update it if you have an older version.

That's disappointing, but to be honest I stopped using it when I stopped using Windows 7.

(Also, I think I'd be more worried about the fact that it is or was a major security liability.)

[David Hingtgen]

::edit::  ok yeah of course, after 2 hours of nothing, it just pops open the admin screen while I was typing this.  Yeesh... Think I’ll buy a new one Black Friday—-I do NOT like random multi-hour failures...

Do WiFi routers just up and fail, yet still seem ok?   All of a sudden I lost all connectivity——but if I connnect my PC directly to my cable modem, all is well.  But if I have the router involved—-nothing. Can’t even get to router’s home/admin page.  But all the lights “blink the right way”.  Tried swapping around all the cables——not the cables.  Tried other ports/jacks—-nope, works fine if router is taken out of the loop.   

I have done every method of a factory hard reset I know of——and it cycles through, starts blinking away—-but won’t do anything.  PC’s Ethernet port activity light blinks when hooked to router, so the router seems to be talking to it.  

I’m out of ideas, really don’t want to run to bestbuy tonight and buy a router if I don’t have to, but there’s nothing left to do.  (Though it irks me that all the router indicator lights say things are fine).  

PS——-Asus N56U.  It’s 5+ years old, could even be 10. 

 

[azrael]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Do WiFi routers just up and fail, yet still seem ok?

Usually, no. Unless you have a 3rd party firmware loaded.

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, David Hingtgen said:

Do WiFi routers just up and fail, yet still seem ok?   All of a sudden I lost all connectivity——but if I connnect my PC directly to my cable modem, all is well.  But if I have the router involved—-nothing. Can’t even get to router’s home/admin page.  But all the lights “blink the right way”.  Tried swapping around all the cables——not the cables.  Tried other ports/jacks—-nope, works fine if router is taken out of the loop.   

I have done every method of a factory hard reset I know of——and it cycles through, starts blinking away—-but won’t do anything.  PC’s Ethernet port activity light blinks when hooked to router, so the router seems to be talking to it.  

I’m out of ideas, really don’t want to run to bestbuy tonight and buy a router if I don’t have to, but there’s nothing left to do.  (Though it irks me that all the router indicator lights say things are fine).  

PS——-Asus N56U.  It’s 5+ years old, could even be 10. 

Let's see...the N56U was released in 2010. Not a bad run. Do you have the latest firmware? Are using any modified firmware packages like asuswrt-merlin? The asuswrt-merlin firmware is often recommended, but there are a number of limitations, especially when using older Asus routers. It's important to use the right packages.

Anyway, your issue sounds like something similar to what happened to me and my N66U recently. All the LEDs were on, and were not showing any faults (like the three solid LEDs of death--a common issue with the N66U). However, like your scenario, the computers on my network were not connecting to the WAN through the router. I also could not access the router's admin page since the DHCP settings had gone haywire. If I removed the router and connected a computer on the network directly to the cable modem, I got a good WAN connection.

My best guess after troubleshooting is that the router was overheating. I noticed the problem on a hot day when the AC was off. I'm not sure if that's the actual cause, though. I looked through the log once I was able to get the router back online and couldn't find anything definitive. By the way, my router is using asuswrt-merlin firmware.

This is how I resolved the router->WAN connection issue:

1. I unplugged both the router and the cable modem, and left them offline for a couple of minutes to cool off.
2. I then plugged the router in first and verified that I could login to the admin page, and that the DHCP server was running again.
3. With the router up and running, I then plugged in the cable modem to bring the WAN connection back online.

Edited August 17, 2018 by technoblue

[mikeszekely]

Lemme think about this.  IIRC, I had a Netgear wireless B router a long time ago, and I don't think it ever died, i just upgraded at some point to a Netgear N.  That one worked ok for awhile, but I started having trouble with random disconnects.  Wired would be ok, but everything wireless would lose it's connection and I'd have to power cycle the router.  So I replaced it with a D-Link AC, and recently that one's started giving me the same random disconnects.  Not enough that I'm ready to buy a new one yet, but probably next year.  So, I guess no, in my experience they don't just up and fail, they gradually do it.

[David Hingtgen]

The router is always warm, but didn’t seem hot—-this is one of the coolest days in weeks.  (Still hot midwestern summer, but not peak)

[technoblue]

Yeah, it was only a guess after a string of consecutive humid 90F+ days out my way.

I went to the smallnetbuilder forums to try and research the problem, but didn't find any leads. I found a number of "internet connection lost" threads, with members noting that the cause could have been anything from a bad firmware update (unrelated), to some cable modem update that didn't sit well with the router (possible), to some completely random critical error (also possible); however, I would have thought the router log would have shown evidence of something in these cases. The log showed nothing for my issue--really strange. I'm hoping it was a random blip, but it could be sign of actual hardware failure (worst case). I'll just have to keep my eyes on the router to see if the problem crops up again.

[David Hingtgen]

I feel much better about buying my 1080 now:

2070 $600

2080 $800

2080ti $1200

(real actual prices at nvidia.com—-2070 already pre-sold out) https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/20-series/

[mikeszekely]

23 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

I feel much better about buying my 1080 now:

2070 $600

2080 $800

2080ti $1200

(real actual prices at nvidia.com—-2070 already pre-sold out) https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/20-series/

That's insane. Maybe it's time to switch to AMD...

[azrael]

56 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

I feel much better about buying my 1080 now:

2070 $600

2080 $800

2080ti $1200

(real actual prices at nvidia.com—-2070 already pre-sold out) https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/20-series/

                  

[azrael]

OK, those are Founder's edition prices. Like HELL I'm buying those.

Non-Founders Edition prices:
RTX 2800Ti - $999 USD
RTX 2080 - $699 USD
RTX 2070 - $499 USD

[mikeszekely]

3 minutes ago, azrael said:

OK, those are Founder's edition prices. Like HELL I'm buying those.

Non-Founders Edition prices:
RTX 2800Ti - $999 USD
RTX 2080 - $699 USD
RTX 2070 - $499 USD

That's marginally better.

[David Hingtgen]

Still no specs, so can’t compare if it’s really (marginally) worth it vs 10xx series.  

[Knight26]

Nice, I'll be able to build my new computer with 10xx series even cheaper now.

[TangledThorns]

I'm hoping the rumors are wrong and the 2060 will be a RTX and affordable at -$300. I don't want to spend too much on a new GPU to replace my GTX 1060 as I expect in 2020 great innovation in graphics with Intel entering the game plus AMD rejoining it by then.

Edited August 20, 2018 by TangledThorns

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

It made my decision harder. My 6 year old screen will not last forever and I was hoping to run 4k by then, but no way I will pay that much for a video card.  Maybe the 1080ti is now a choice.

[TangledThorns]

56 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

It made my decision harder. My 6 year old screen will not last forever and I was hoping to run 4k by then, but no way I will pay that much for a video card.  Maybe the 1080ti is now a choice.

Or you can do what I did and buy a high refresh rate 1080p monitor. I'm waiting for the graphics cards and 4K HDR with refresh rates well above 60Hz before I leave 1080p.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

9 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Or you can do what I did and buy a high refresh rate 1080p monitor. I'm waiting for the graphics cards and 4K HDR with refresh rates well above 60Hz before I leave 1080p.

I want to go to 32" from 24" so 1080p is not very good on a screen that large.

[azrael]

45 minutes ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I want to go to 32" from 24" so 1080p is not very good on a screen that large.

There are 4K HDR, high refresh rate panels on the market now, assuming you want to pay ~$1000 for one. But it depends on what you are doing that requires that much screen real estate with that high refresh rate. 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

21 minutes ago, azrael said:

There are 4K HDR, high refresh rate panels on the market now, assuming you want to pay ~$1000 for one. But it depends on what you are doing that requires that much screen real estate with that high refresh rate. 

I do not need anything fancy I do not game so much anymore.  That is probably because my computer is to old to run anything new.  I just want the space for multiple windows.  I might settle on 1440p so a 1070ti would work.

[kajnrig]

Welp, I was GONNA build a new PC soon...

[Numbninja]

wow...thanx alot trump

[azrael]

https://pcpartpicker.com/

Find your part, see the price trend graph. *Looks at Core i7 8700k*...and it's trending upward. Great. On the bright side, I started updating back in June. I just need to pull the trigger on the main parts and I'm done.

[Seto Kaiba]

Dunno if anyone saw this already... it looks like the theoretical potential for UEFI malware is no longer quite so theoretical.  https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/10/first-uefi-malware-discovered-in-wild-is-laptop-security-software-hijacked-by-russians/

 

[mikeszekely]

Ugh. The level of performance I want is starting to get higher than I want to pay. I'm already considering picking up the new Assassin's Creed on PS4 so I don't have to screw around with my current box.

[JB0]

7 hours ago, azrael said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/

Find your part, see the price trend graph. *Looks at Core i7 8700k*...and it's trending upward. Great. On the bright side, I started updating back in June. I just need to pull the trigger on the main parts and I'm done.

Intel is having supply issues lately.

[technoblue]

I decided to hold out until AMD and Intel release a smaller die process, which means I'm waiting for news on CPUs based on the rumored Zen 2 microarchitecture and for Intel to finally get Cannon Lake back on track. Yeah, I'm not in a rush to do a major system overhaul this year.

[Knight26]

SO I am beginning to source parts for my new PC build, mostly used or refurbed, and I have a contact who can get me lots of GTX480s (3-4 per lot)  I know these are SLI cards.  And I can get them cheap.  So, is it worth it to grab one of these lots and SLI two (or more) cards together, or should I shell out for a GTX10xxTi card?

[mikeszekely]

58 minutes ago, Knight26 said:

SO I am beginning to source parts for my new PC build, mostly used or refurbed, and I have a contact who can get me lots of GTX480s (3-4 per lot)  I know these are SLI cards.  And I can get them cheap.  So, is it worth it to grab one of these lots and SLI two (or more) cards together, or should I shell out for a GTX10xxTi card?

A single GTX 1070 has more memory, better texture rates, better pixel rates, much better shader performance, faster core clock, should run cooler, and draw far less power.  The only real advantage tandem 480s in SLI would have is memory bandwidth.  Aside from heat and power draw, looks like two 480s in SLI should perform similarly to a GTX 1060.

To throw another wrench into things, don't forget about Nvidia's new RTX 20xx cards.  They won't be cheap, but the RTX 2070 should still outperform at least a non-ti version of the GTX 1080.  The RTX 2080 and 2080ti should be available now, and the RTX 2070 later this month.