Random Tech Questions you want answered.

Boudreaux wrote:
FiveIron wrote:

Question of the day:

How do you get the most bang for your buck as far as video game processing power? Buy the latest and greatest video card, or, do you put multiple (somewhat) older video cards in SLI? how many cards can you put in SLI together?

I usually consult the latest "Video Card Buyer's Guide" I can find online. They typically will either break cards into Budget/Midrange/High-End categories, or into price categories. I look at either Midrange or the $150-$250 range, and go from there.

I also try to alternate between a new graphics card and a new CPU. Although I've found that even when I try to "futureproof" my motherboards, leaving room for a better CPU on down the road, by the time I actually need to do that the higher end CPUs I need have been discontinued for 6 months. I find that really annoying.

Thw thing to be aware of right now though is video card market is absolutely broken. Crypto currency miners are destroying it. I could easily sell one of my founders edition GTX 1080's for more than I paid for it when it first came out. 1070 TI's are $900. That's over a $500 mark up.

It's *insane*

Terrible time to be shopping for a videocard.

I've been using DropBox for many years and also have a ton of space on OneDrive and Box.net that I don't use. I use DropBox for file storage and sharing and I'm about to go over my quota to the point where I'll have to start paying. I don't want to split my stuff between DropBox, Box, OneDrive, Google, etc. just to keep the storage free; I'll pay for a good product. I will need more than 20GB of space.

Which cloud storage do you guys use for file storage and sharing and why? I'm not asking about full machine backups, I'm focusing more on selective file/folder cloud storage for sharing reasons - sharing between your own PCs and sharing to others.

-BEP

bepnewt wrote:

I've been using DropBox for many years and also have a ton of space on OneDrive and Box.net that I don't use. I use DropBox for file storage and sharing and I'm about to go over my quota to the point where I'll have to start paying. I don't want to split my stuff between DropBox, Box, OneDrive, Google, etc. just to keep the storage free; I'll pay for a good product. I will need more than 20GB of space.

Which cloud storage do you guys use for file storage and sharing and why? I'm not asking about full machine backups, I'm focusing more on selective file/folder cloud storage for sharing reasons - sharing between your own PCs and sharing to others.

-BEP

I use OneDrive because you get 1tb with an office 365 subscription.

+1 to OneDrive. I use it for all my personal docs and photos in conjunction with my Office 365 subscription.

Media storage is currently on a spare computer that I'm slowly working on converting to a home/Plex server, thinking about using BackBlaze to back that up to the cloud.

I have a personal Office365 sub and also one at work. How easy is it to share files/folder with people on O365? What about if they don't have a Live account? I don't want my friends to need a Live account just to have access ( full/read ) to a folder or file.

It looks like Box.net has come a ways since I looked at it last. You can share folders/files with a password instead of them having to have a Box account. I have 50gb on Box from when they did the iPhone promotion years ago.

Do any of you use iDrive?

Google's 100gb for $2/month might be worth it since almost all of my friends have a Google account. Anyone have any issues with using Google Drive?

-BEP

I use both Google Drive and OneDrive. Google for personal and OneDrive for work.

bepnewt wrote:

I have a personal Office365 sub and also one at work. How easy is it to share files/folder with people on O365? What about if they don't have a Live account? I don't want my friends to need a Live account just to have access ( full/read ) to a folder or file.

-BEP

Personal OneDrive files are easy to share with anyone. You can generate a link for viewing or editing. Work OneDrive sharing depends on your company policy.

I use Google Drive for personal stuff. My company uses Dropbox so I use it occasionally at work.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
bepnewt wrote:

I have a personal Office365 sub and also one at work. How easy is it to share files/folder with people on O365? What about if they don't have a Live account? I don't want my friends to need a Live account just to have access ( full/read ) to a folder or file.

-BEP

Personal OneDrive files are easy to share with anyone. You can generate a link for viewing or editing. Work OneDrive sharing depends on your company policy.

Last year I had some documents to share with my tax preparer, so instead of email I shared them by sending her a link to a OneDrive folder I had, and she said she really liked that method. Anecdotal, but thought worth mentioning. #killallemailattachments

T-Prime wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:
bepnewt wrote:

I have a personal Office365 sub and also one at work. How easy is it to share files/folder with people on O365? What about if they don't have a Live account? I don't want my friends to need a Live account just to have access ( full/read ) to a folder or file.

-BEP

Personal OneDrive files are easy to share with anyone. You can generate a link for viewing or editing. Work OneDrive sharing depends on your company policy.

Last year I had some documents to share with my tax preparer, so instead of email I shared them by sending her a link to a OneDrive folder I had, and she said she really liked that method. Anecdotal, but thought worth mentioning. #killallemailattachments

That's a great idea. I might just do that this year.

So I am picking up a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (on sale at BoingBoing), and I need a decent (headset?) microphone for use with it. anyone have a recommendation? in the past I have heard that microphone quality makes a significant difference for speech recognition, so I'm thinking my laptop's built in mic is out of the question, and I know it's easy to spend hundreds on a super fancy studio quality mic, but I would really like to keep it under ~$50 if I can. Durability is good, but not a top priority (while not ideal, it would be okay if it only lasts 6 months).

T-Prime wrote:

Last year I had some documents to share with my tax preparer, so instead of email I shared them by sending her a link to a OneDrive folder I had, and she said she really liked that method. Anecdotal, but thought worth mentioning. #killallemailattachments

This is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. I'm familiar in part with most of the services but don't know what actually works well with each one.

Thanks.

-BEP

ElectricPi wrote:

So I am picking up a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (on sale at BoingBoing), and I need a decent (headset?) microphone for use with it. anyone have a recommendation? in the past I have heard that microphone quality makes a significant difference for speech recognition, so I'm thinking my laptop's built in mic is out of the question, and I know it's easy to spend hundreds on a super fancy studio quality mic, but I would really like to keep it under ~$50 if I can. Durability is good, but not a top priority (while not ideal, it would be okay if it only lasts 6 months).

A few months ago I was also looking for a decent <$50 headset for web conferences and speech (not gaming) and I ended up with the Logitech H390. Decent quality, comfort is fine (I wear them for two hours at a time).

LeapingGnome wrote:
ElectricPi wrote:

So I am picking up a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (on sale at BoingBoing), and I need a decent (headset?) microphone for use with it. anyone have a recommendation? in the past I have heard that microphone quality makes a significant difference for speech recognition, so I'm thinking my laptop's built in mic is out of the question, and I know it's easy to spend hundreds on a super fancy studio quality mic, but I would really like to keep it under ~$50 if I can. Durability is good, but not a top priority (while not ideal, it would be okay if it only lasts 6 months).

A few months ago I was also looking for a decent <$50 headset for web conferences and speech (not gaming) and I ended up with the Logitech H390. Decent quality, comfort is fine (I wear them for two hours at a time).

Thank you! That looks like it fits my needs, and is available at my local Best Buy for $20. I think I will be grabbing it this afternoon.

My new Asus router doesn't detect my Xbox one X as a console but it detects the original Xbox's OK. That would be fine if it didn't mess with the adaptive Quality of Service. But it appears to be putting the X on a lower priority. I only play multiplayer games on the "X" one. Asus documentation hasn't been very helpful. I'm trying to figure out how to do one of the following:

1. Change the client profile of the Xbox one X to a console.

or

2. Manually setup the Xbox one X ip address to get priority traffic.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: OK, I remotely just changed it to "Traditional QoS" and added a line for the Xbox. All the other stuff was already there. Won't be able to test until tonight but hopefully this works. It doesn't look like I can drag and rules around for priority though (only add and delete).

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/1lS5lBC.jpg)

Love random questions. Here is something I have been thinking about for a few months.

I have a 2 year old Lenovo Laptop with 16gb Ram. It can go up to 32gb, but 2gb kits are a few hundred dollars. If all I do s play games do I need the Ram? I am leaning towards saving my money and upgrading the laptop. In general would upgrading Ram be noticable for games? The processor is an older i7.

16gb is plenty for games and most everything. You would only want 32 if you doing stuff like running a bunch of virtual machines.

I read somewhere that maybe the DCS flight sims might benefit from more than 16, but that's the only time I've heard of a game that would take advantage.

Wasn't quite sure where to ask this, so I'll try in this thread.

I won a Chromecast Ultra in a contest a couple months ago. Is it worth keeping vs. say selling it and getting a Roku stick? Does it even matter that much?

Right now, we have a 8-9 year old tv that I think is 1080p. And stream stuff either through an old PS3, or on a small laptop. Though I do have plans to update the tv in the next few weeks to some sort of inepensive ~43" tv depending on sales.

As you can see, our setup is not that high-tech. I was mainly concerned whether I would like how the Chromecast goes through your phone to control content vs. Roku and a remote. Thoughts?

I'm kind of leaning towards just keeping the Chromecast for the convenience, since I already have it.

The ultra will probably feel zippier to use. We really liked switching to the Nvidia Shield after having the Amazon Stick for a while. I don't think it's worth the hassle to maybe get $10.

vlox_km wrote:

Wasn't quite sure where to ask this, so I'll try in this thread.

I won a Chromecast Ultra in a contest a couple months ago. Is it worth keeping vs. say selling it and getting a Roku stick? Does it even matter that much?

Right now, we have a 8-9 year old tv that I think is 1080p. And stream stuff either through an old PS3, or on a small laptop. Though I do have plans to update the tv in the next few weeks to some sort of inepensive ~43" tv depending on sales.

As you can see, our setup is not that high-tech. I was mainly concerned whether I would like how the Chromecast goes through your phone to control content vs. Roku and a remote. Thoughts?

I'm kind of leaning towards just keeping the Chromecast for the convenience, since I already have it.

The biggest difference for most is that the Roku would support Amazon Prime streaming, but the Chromecast wouldn't due to the Amazon/Google spat. Owning both, I personally prefer the Roku's interface and remote over the phone control of the Chromecast. Unless you need to stream Amazon Prime though, it's probably not worth the trouble to switch.

Cool. Thanks for the input. I didn't know about it not streaming Amazon stuff.

We have Prime, but I'd say most of our streaming is on Netflix. So probably wouldn't be that big of a deal.

What's the best Windows app for visually displaying folder/file space allocation?

PaladinTom wrote:

What's the best Windows app for visually displaying folder/file space allocation?

For me it has been and will always be WinDirStat.

LouZiffer wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

What's the best Windows app for visually displaying folder/file space allocation?

For me it has been and will always be WinDirStat.

Sadly, it doesn't read network drives. No worries though, I just installed it locally on my server and it seems to be doing fine.

Thanks!

I have used Treesize for years.

PaladinTom wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

What's the best Windows app for visually displaying folder/file space allocation?

For me it has been and will always be WinDirStat.

Sadly, it doesn't read network drives. No worries though, I just installed it locally on my server and it seems to be doing fine.

Thanks!

If you give the tool the UNC path (\\SERVER\SHARE) or assign the drive a letter it'll work.

LouZiffer wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

What's the best Windows app for visually displaying folder/file space allocation?

For me it has been and will always be WinDirStat.

Seconded.

-BEP

Doesn't deserve its own thread but any recommendations for a cheap laptop (screen size 13-15") for someone who only checks email and browses internet? Wife wants to get something for my mother-in-law whose current laptop is 10+ years old. She doesn't need anything fancy but is biased against netbooks and dells. Wants a "regular" laptop. No bells or whistles needed.

Figured some of you who follow the market might know of any good deals out there.

bigred wrote:

Doesn't deserve its own thread but any recommendations for a cheap laptop (screen size 13-15") for someone who only checks email and browses internet? Wife wants to get something for my mother-in-law whose current laptop is 10+ years old. She doesn't need anything fancy but is biased against netbooks and dells. Wants a "regular" laptop. No bells or whistles needed.

Figured some of you who follow the market might know of any good deals out there.

HP Stream maybe? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077R3YDV6...