Random Tech Questions you want answered.

merphle wrote:
Malor wrote:

But keep an eye out, the 5600Xs are getting pretty easy to find.

Even 5800s have been pretty consistently in stock at various places, including Best Buy (for example).

They're usually easier than 5600Xs, because they're at a lousy price point. The 5600X is $300, so you add $150 for 2 more cores. But if you instead add $250 ($550 total), you get six more cores (the 5900X). In effect, those last four cores cost $25 each.

I myself bought a 5800X on the theory that the single-CCX build might be better for emulation, and I wanted 8 cores for parity with the new consoles, but I think the overall advice to stick with either the 5600X or 5900X is solid. The 5800X isn't very cost-effective.

Of course, the 5900X is hard to get, so when you can get reasonably close and have it today, the 5800X looks more appealing.

5900x at Best Buy go go go!

Edit: Dagnabbit. I sat in the "please wait" queue for 40+ minutes, and hit the Add to Cart button as soon as it popped up, but it refused to add. Now it's showing as sold out.

It's been a week since I replaced my CPU and no crashing. KNOCK ON WOOD!

I started the RMA process for the 3800X as soon as the 3600X I have installed passed the OCCT tests I ran. Today the RMA was approved so I packed up my 3800X back in the clam shell it came in and inside the little box the clam shell fit into. I then bubble wrapped it all and put it in a shipping box. I had to pay for shipping out of pocket which sucked, but I got tracking and I paid for the insurance on the CPU's value. It's a business right off anyway.

I am glad I got the 3600X as a temporary replacement. With how terrible shipping stuff is right now, It's probably going to end up being a month before I get the replacement for my original CPU. Hopefully I can sell someone the 3600X after I get the replacement CPU back into the system, and not lose too much money on the whole deal.

I'm just so happy my system is back up and running normally.

Gaald wrote:

Hopefully I can sell someone the 3600X after I get the replacement CPU back into the system, and not lose too much money on the whole deal.

Garion's looking at the 3600s in the PC building thread, might bring it up there.

I live in Canada it probably won't be worth the shipping cost if he is in the U.S.

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

I thought in the computer world smaller equaled more speed (as long as heat wasn't an issue). I'm not sure about the capacity thing.

Pretty sure the micro are the actual size, and the bigger ones are just those embedded in a larger case with a bigger connector.

Edit - Nope, I’m wrong, the micro format appeared four years after introduction of the original.

FiveIron wrote:

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

They easily could, but then the card would cost a lot of money. Modern NAND is really tiny. Space isn't the constraint, it's just cost. If you want it to be bigger or to go faster, it has to cost more. A bigger plastic case is just for convenience, not necessity.

I remember reading a few years back that if they were to pack a 3.5" SSD with NAND, it would be like twenty terabytes and would cost $50,000. They could probably put even more in now.

Malor wrote:
FiveIron wrote:

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

They easily could, but then the card would cost a lot of money. Modern NAND is really tiny. Space isn't the constraint, it's just cost. If you want it to be bigger or to go faster, it has to cost more. A bigger plastic case is just for convenience, not necessity.

I remember reading a few years back that if they were to pack a 3.5" SSD with NAND, it would be like twenty terabytes and would cost $50,000. They could probably put even more in now.

ah that makes sense, it's interesting though that the highest SD you can get right now is only 1TB.

I also saw this thing on amazon that enables you to put two micro SD cards in one converter. It's grammar is pretty bad though so my guess is that it just doesn't work.

im thinking about the new macbook pro coming out and just wanted the most external storage i could get so i don't have to pay a stupid amount to upgrade through them.

Malor wrote:
FiveIron wrote:

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

They easily could, but then the card would cost a lot of money. Modern NAND is really tiny. Space isn't the constraint, it's just cost. If you want it to be bigger or to go faster, it has to cost more. A bigger plastic case is just for convenience, not necessity.

I remember reading a few years back that if they were to pack a 3.5" SSD with NAND, it would be like twenty terabytes and would cost $50,000. They could probably put even more in now.

They do make 3.5 inch SSDs though. Nimbus Data makes them in sizes ranging from 16 TB to 100 TB at prices ranging from $3,000 to $40,000. Obviously they are aimed at the data center market. Sadly limited to SATA-3 or SAS-2 (6 Gb/second just like SATA-3) interface so no PCIe speeds.

Those Exadrives, though, are very specifically marketed at nearline storage tasks (ie, not actually adjacent to the workload, but not archive either). They are designed as drop-in replacements for HDDs, so as not to require a chassis change, and even with in-line dedupe built in, they can double the performance of HDDs. The fact that they are limited to 6GB/sec is a design choice, a market selection really, not a technical limitation based on capacity or media type.

I do see 8 and 16TB SSDs running at higher speeds becoming common these days, in professional use settings (datacenters and large scale solutions).

Is HDR gaming on Windows just a gimmick, or a genuine improvement?

I’ve read a bunch of monitor reviews recently and saw a lot of variations on “it has HDR support but doesn’t get bright enough for a real HDR experience.” And also found a few references online to HDR mode increasing GPU load significantly.

FiveIron wrote:

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

Same reason hard drive capacity isn't a function of the size of the PC tower it's installed in.

Totally subjective, Misplacedbravado, but to me it makes colors richer. Whether that's a gimmick or not is up to you. G-Sync monitors are already a good step up; HDR is not as big a jump but if your monitor and card can do it, it's a nice luxury. Again, personal opinion.

FiveIron wrote:

does anyone know why normal sized SD cards offer no advantage over the micro equivalents? I feel like for being twice the size they should offer more capacity or speed.

It's another one of those things where the advantage has disappeared over time. No one is working to improve SD cards when you can just stick a micro-SD in an adapter.

So the only advantage left is they fit into into a normal sized SD card slot without an adapter.

For a while, when supporting an old device that could only address a limited capacity, you could still save money with an SD card on the LOW end, but it looks like even that's not the case anymore.

Anyone here had success replacing the stick sensors on a controller? I have a stack of Xbone controllers on a shelf with left stick drift and I keep thinking I should try to fix some of them. I’ve replaced buttons and triggers and other parts before but never the stick sensor. Are the replacement sensors on Amazon any good?

Robear wrote:

Totally subjective, Misplacedbravado, but to me it makes colors richer. Whether that's a gimmick or not is up to you. G-Sync monitors are already a good step up; HDR is not as big a jump but if your monitor and card can do it, it's a nice luxury. Again, personal opinion.

Makes sense. I'm coming off of an underwhelming initial impression here -- but that's from Tetris Effect, where the visuals are mostly a distraction from the gameplay anyway.

misplacedbravado wrote:
Robear wrote:

Totally subjective, Misplacedbravado, but to me it makes colors richer. Whether that's a gimmick or not is up to you. G-Sync monitors are already a good step up; HDR is not as big a jump but if your monitor and card can do it, it's a nice luxury. Again, personal opinion.

Makes sense. I'm coming off of an underwhelming initial impression here -- but that's from Tetris Effect, where the visuals are mostly a distraction from the gameplay anyway. :)

Interesting choice of game since I actually use that one as an example where my good HDR VA TV makes the game look better than my non-HDR TN monitor does.

I'm need to take over a friend's wife's computer tonight to fix some stuff. I'm on Windows 10, I assume hers is, too, but there's a chance it's on W7. I have no idea if she is using a Microsoft Login or a non-MS login. Her laptop _may_ be domain connected, but I doubt it.

What is the most lightweight program/utility we can use that requires the least amount of effort on her part? I've used many in the past but it's been a few years since I've used one where I had to worry about a low tech level of the person doing the sharing.

She has a google account and uses Chrome so I was thinking about using the Google remote desktop utility.

-BEP

Last time I did that I used the one built into Chrome. It worked fine once it got going, but you need the other person to install a chrome extension to kick things off, and walking them through that bit took several minutes of "tell me what buttons you see" back-and-forth.

bepnewt wrote:

I'm need to take over a friend's wife's computer tonight to fix some stuff. I'm on Windows 10, I assume hers is, too, but there's a chance it's on W7. I have no idea if she is using a Microsoft Login or a non-MS login. Her laptop _may_ be domain connected, but I doubt it.

What is the most lightweight program/utility we can use that requires the least amount of effort on her part? I've used many in the past but it's been a few years since I've used one where I had to worry about a low tech level of the person doing the sharing.

She has a google account and uses Chrome so I was thinking about using the Google remote desktop utility.

-BEP

I hadn't used it in ages, but I just recently used TeamViewer and it still works just fine. Just a download and launch - no need to even install.

Who the hell is buying GPUs for 3x MSRP?

Someone must be, cos Ebay is lousy with 'em.

I forgot to mention the RMA on my CPU was approved by AMD. I shipped it out last week. Made sure it was packed up nice and protected in it's original little plastic clamshell and then put inside the small box, then bubble wrapped and placed in another box for shipping.

It is currently waiting to clear customs in the U.S. according to the tracking. Estimated time to arrive in Miami is the 20th. Hopefully it will get there sooner. It all depends on how long it sits in customs.

I appreciate the suggestions for the remote control.

-BEP

Jonman wrote:

Who the hell is buying GPUs for 3x MSRP?

Someone must be, cos Ebay is lousy with 'em.

Remember, the ones you see still on eBay are the ones that haven’t sold yet. The cheaper ones have already sold. Could be no one is buying at the higher price which is why they are still there.

Might not be 3X retail but its pretty close on Newegg and they still sell them in seconds...

The GTX 1060 I bought over a year ago now lists for 3 times the price. Not on eBay, on Amazon and NewEgg.

LeapingGnome wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Who the hell is buying GPUs for 3x MSRP?

Someone must be, cos Ebay is lousy with 'em.

Remember, the ones you see still on eBay are the ones that haven’t sold yet. The cheaper ones have already sold. Could be no one is buying at the higher price which is why they are still there.

Change the ebay filter to show recently-sold listings. 3090s are selling for $3k.