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mr.hackcrag
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 27 Jul 2016, 21:37

It looks like this:

http://imgur.com/a/p78t6

I joined a network that had fewer bars highlighted blue (towards the right) and the mbps actually went up. :|

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 28 Jul 2016, 05:22

That's maximal network speed given by used protocol. Both parties automatically try to set up the best protocol available. But real speed can be only measured by transfering large file when counting time. It will be different.

As for maximal speed for LAN you can seen often 100Mbps or 1Gbps, for wifi 54Mbps or 150MBps or 180Mbps.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 09 Aug 2016, 17:37

Just a warning. Some people complain that after Microsoft 10 Anniversary update they stopped seeing the second physical drive. Seems like most of them have here another distribution (dual boot) and update damaged disk MBR, so it was shown empty.

In that case don't panic, either use recovery or some utility to fix MBR. This doesn't appear to be the only scenario, the update seems to be a bit wonky.

So, the best advice ever. Backup before or disconnect the other drives before you run the update.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Dalai » 09 Aug 2016, 23:56

Pol wrote:disconnect the other drives before you run the update.
That is very... messed up. :S
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 22 Aug 2016, 21:09

Killer E2200 - network card (on Asrock Killer Board)
Still running Windows 10 and one pretty day, they rolled up an "update" to my driver. From that moment some of the pages were not loaded or just a partially. For these having the same trouble.

#1 - Resumed my driver. (Standard Edition, I don't need Killer Features)
#2 - Disabled Automatic Driver Update in Win 10

This is second time, Windows 8.1 actually did the same thing to me.

So for Windows 10 the latest version is 9.0.0.37 released on 26. 1. 2016. The Windows "update" was from previous line 8.x.x.x.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 03 Sep 2016, 02:58

When I connect iPhone to PC (non-mac) in past, I could open it in file explorer. Then I connected it to 3.0 USB and it doesn't recognize or appear in file explorer. Troubleshoot said iPhone usb is not meant for 3.0. Regardless which USB slot I put it in now, it is never recognized in file explorer. Any fix?

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 03 Sep 2016, 07:02

I'm not iOS user, never met with this problem myself.
Could it be USB Driver problem? In that case you could try to reinstall them on PC.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 04 Sep 2016, 05:15

Yup, uninstall fixed the problem. You never cease to amaze me Pol! :applause:

FYI, this was the error message:

This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)
Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API.

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 05 Sep 2016, 08:03

MSI AMD RX470 4GB Gaming X
We have a new candidate for best performance/price ratio card. At least in Europe. Link to spec is here.

This is middle range gaming card.

So natural nVidia rival would be GTX 1060.

Let see main differencies:
  • RX 470
  • 230€ with Tax. Price winner
  • FreeSync Support
    Provide lcd panel + vga card synchronization, so you don't need to use vSync and still have no tearing. But you need lcd panel with FreeSync support - costs almost the same like the normal one.
  • Better DirectX12 support
    Expected to be even better with new driver releases because of newer vga chip design. Now that means 5-30% above GTX 1060.
  • Vulcan Support
    Alternative to DX12 for these not having Windows 10 or liking new Doom.


  • GTX 1060 6GB
  • Better performance in DX11 titles. Performance winner!
    That could be 10 - 15% on average above RX 470.
  • G-Sync support
    If you have one of these overpriced monitors with G-Sync support.
  • A little better power consumption.
  • CUDA and other just nVidia environments.
  • 340€ with Tax
PS Also if that helps you RX470 is generally 10% under RX480 performance. The difference is in memory GDDR5 8000MHz vs 6700MHz and in number of Compute Units, 36 vs 32, alas that means 2304 vs 2048 Stream Processors. The price tag is 280€ vs 230€.

PPS This is based on prices of shops nearby my place - that's Prague, Czech Republic. If you are from USA deduce 21% percent, because this is our tax and you don't have it. Compared edition were MSI Gaming X 480/470/1060.

PPPS - Of course none Might & Magic title uses DirectX12. But you are still safe above recommended requirements. Need to say, you are much safer with nVidia but for that price it's really a question.
Last edited by Pol on 05 Sep 2016, 08:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 05 Sep 2016, 20:38

First question should be what is your aim to play?

DX11 games - ie older and mostly also current titles?
DX12 games - which will probably rule in ongoing five years?
Or both?

Do you have more requirements, PSU limitation, outputs, FreeSync, mulimonitor setup?
Do you use CUDA, GameWorks, OpenCL?
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 06 Sep 2016, 04:54

Pol wrote:First question should be what is your aim to play?
DX11 games - ie older and mostly also current titles?
DX12 games - which will probably rule in ongoing five years?

Here's the problem: there are no PC games that get me excited right now and I am not playing any games. Only thing I am looking forward to this year is Dark Souls 3 DLC, Mortal Kombat XL, and Bloodstained. So probably investment for future games and DX12.

Pol wrote:Do you have more requirements, PSU limitation, outputs, FreeSync, mulimonitor setup?
I think this is my PSU, but I'll have to double check later, could be 750W version... http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.as ... G2-1000-XR

This is my only monitor: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/aur ... ,3465.html

I've been thinking about getting a new monitor. I'm not sure if I'll discard the old one or bother with setting up two monitors (I don't quite see the point). I've heard 4K is the best type of monitor. Is it true?

Not sure what the other things you mentioned are.
Pol wrote:Do you use CUDA, GameWorks, OpenCL?
Don't even know what these are. :?
Last edited by mr.hackcrag on 06 Sep 2016, 05:01, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 06 Sep 2016, 07:07

mr.hackcrag wrote:Here's the problem: there are no PC games that get me excited right now and I am not playing any games. Only thing I am looking forward to this year is Dark Souls 3 DLC, Mortal Kombat XL, and Bloodstained. So probably investment for future games and DX12.
There's a catch. Highest requirements are for DS3 - Intel CPU i7-3770/RAM 8GB/VGA nVidia GTX970 and these are pretty high.

If you wouldn't need it ASAP I would wait, otherwise you should be peeking on GTX 1080 or RX 490 (not realease yet) and it would cost more. That's with some reserve to the future.

Otherwise on both RX 480 & GTX 1060 it will be playable just on or little under recommended configuration.

CPU can be drag, what is the one which you have?
mr.hackcrag wrote:I think this is my PSU, but I'll have to double check later, could be 750W version... http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.as ... G2-1000-XR
Nice.
mr.hackcrag wrote:I've been thinking about getting a new monitor. I'm not sure if I'll discard the old one or bother with setting up two monitors (I don't quite see the point). I've heard 4K is the best type of monitor. Is it true?
In that case you should probably get monitor with FreeSync support. Planned distance?

4K is mix of resolution modes around 3840 × 2160 px.Whereas standard monitor have just FullHD 1920×1200 px. So, the card perfomance would need to differ greatly. Everything mentioned above, as well as normal game specification, are given only for FullHD.

For 4K you should go about 2 classes up, so gaming highend. Where is counted GTX 1080 but from AMD only R9 Fury or Nano, from the previous generation. New RX 490 could been here too but no idea about exact performance, as it wasn't yet released.
mr.hackcrag wrote:Don't even know what these are. :?
These interfaces are used for video editors, graphic editors, renderes, compression or crypto software. You would need to check their support in the app.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 14 Nov 2016, 21:24

Hiatus. For some AMD RX 470(D), for others GTX 1060 or up. Seems we don't have news and can wait only for a new hw wonders, like promised ZEN CPU. With perfectly balanced jing & jang and fine tuned eletricity.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 27 Nov 2016, 16:15

I am in no hurry for GPU right now. Do you think it is best to wait for ZEN? Other option is to choose one of these which look like nice price with rebate:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4683 ... Video_Card

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4678 ... nd_RGB_LED

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4689 ... n_HeatSink

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 27 Nov 2016, 16:21

Zen is for CPU only. Anyway, now it's nice that it's offered with Civilization VI. Next year should come up some better revisions.

Yes, the XFX actually looks nice, due to the price. (Note please, that they have recently some problems with cooling, if I remember well. But these cards shouldn't be on market any longer.)
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby mr.hackcrag » 28 Nov 2016, 01:15

On second look, it seems the XFX one doesn't have warranty like the other two. Seems like the Asus is best bang for buck. :confused:
Last edited by mr.hackcrag on 28 Nov 2016, 01:16, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 28 Nov 2016, 09:06

mr.hackcrag wrote:On second look, it seems the XFX one doesn't have warranty like the other two. Seems like the Asus is best bang for buck. :confused:
Not mentioned on microcenter, strange. But, it should be the same, see:
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/amd- ... -480p8lfb6

I would say that performance/price ratio the XFX is the only winner. Of course MSI is overclocked and Asus can be overclocked, XFX is not meant to, that's why it's cheaper.

Just to mention it again, this is mid range gaming card, on par with nVidia GTX1060 - more exactly, in DX11 it's apprx. 8% under, in DX12 it's approx. 12% better. The numbers are likely to change slightly in the future in favour of RX480.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby Pol » 09 Dec 2016, 12:08

This is getting better. With new Radeon ReLive driver, the performance of RX 480 and GTX 1060 6GB is reported to be almost on par also under DX11. Note that it's already better under DX12 for AMD. So, the RX480 is profiling like a better and better choice. Sure between these two here is running a price war!

guru3d.com - New driver overview.

Now, if they could shorten the card length - they would be really almost identical with params and price.

Because from this view, the nVidia have it covered, with mini cards, like here or here or here and AMD not but have action with Civilization VI. for free.
Last edited by Pol on 09 Dec 2016, 13:25, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Tech Corner

Unread postby GreatEmerald » 20 Jan 2017, 22:10

Oh, I didn't know there was an option to stop Win10 from downloading drivers. That will be useful.

In my case, there was a problem with my mother's workstation. It used to have an old entry-level NVIDIA card, but its DVI connector was rather unreliable and that's pretty bad for a workstation. Since I had bought an AMD 5450 for my HTPC, and then retired the HTPC due to a mini-PC that's much more quiet, I swapped the two cards. The problem is, AMD's drivers for 5450 on Windows 10 are garbage and cause a sort of checkerboard pattern on every odd boot (in contrast, AMD Linux drivers are amazing). I tried installing beta Crimson drivers, but the same problem persisted. Then uninstalled the driver, and the problem went away. But, of course, Windows keeps trying to automatically reinstall the driver. Right now as long as nobody presses the "I accept the agreement" button it will be fine, but it's not ideal.

As for my own rig, I have a GTX 660 which is running a bit long on the tooth. It can run Mass Effect 2 at full HD with 2xAA but just barely. I'd like to record at 4xAA instead, or at least 2xAA with guaranteed 60 FPS. And then Unreal Tournament 4 is not running great at all. So I'm monitoring the graphics space, but not really rushing right now. Maybe once Vega is out, I might get an RX 470. Or maybe just wait for Navi. (NVIDIA on Linux right now is a complete no-go, no Wayland support to speak of, whereas AMD is doing great on the free drivers.)


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