Random Hardware topics

[Brian Boru]

Power Supplies

5-min video from Riley at Linus about new measurement regime for Power Supplies—the new part starts around 4:30

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRpqGF2poJM

 

[Colif]

5 minute video? only 30 seconds useful? sounds about right

 

[Brian Boru]

Budget PC Builds November 2022

Paul has an 18m vid with 3 builds at $660, $1,100 and $1,200—includes parts lists, a Google doc, and he will be updating and following up on Black Friday.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2AInCD-LW8

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Dont mind me, just lusting after another Fractal Design case. Proper lush.

Fractal Design North Review

The Fractal Design North puts the focus on a beautiful design and material mix with clean curves, a silver power button and unique wood elements. On top of that, you get to pick from a TG or side-vented variant. But is there substance underneath the surface? Read on to find out!

www.techpowerup.com

North

North reimagines the gaming PC, introducing natural materials and bespoke details to make gaming a stylish addition to the living space. Fusing design and airflow engineering, the case features fine-patterned mesh ventilation and an open front with real walnut or oak panels. The design is...

www.fractal-design.com

 

[Colif]

i like one thing about that case, its finally got pwm fans as opposed to DC. I have to replace my DC ones... I should get those in coming days. PWM would have saved me money.

 

[Brian Boru]

BBC article:
US-China chip war: How the technology dispute is playing out

All we need now is for China to reinstate export controls on rare earth minerals and the tech industry will be royally screwed.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Here's me waiting for the mid range cards, Nvidia coming in with the 4 slot cooler and potential 600W TDP

Spoiler

Allegedly

NVIDIA RTX 4090 Ti / RTX TITAN (Ada) Pictured, Behold the 4-slot Cinder Block

Here's the very first picture of an alleged upcoming NVIDIA flagship/halo product to be positioned above the GeForce RTX 4090. There are two distinct brand names being rumored for this product—the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti, and the NVIDIA RTX TITAN (Ada). The RTX 4090 only uses 128 out of 144 (88...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/directstorage-testing-shows-pcie-3-drives-are-basically-as-fast-as-pcie-5

Direct storage not showing much difference between Gen 3 and Gen 5 overall yet.

Happy to hear, my old NVME might still last a while yet.

 

[Brian Boru]

my old NVME might still last a while yet

Hope so, I'll be very sad for you if it doesn't.

Oh hang on… I haven't got my first NVMe yet, and you already have an old one? Life can be so cruel, almost as bad as the MGS5 intro at times 😢

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Sold a 128GB Samsung 830 SATA SSD that I'd had for 8 or 9 years as a boot drive at the time, Samsung
Magician reported 95% drive health.

I'm really not sure if NVME's will have that kind of lifespan. They run so much hotter than SATA because of their size and place on the motherboard.

The new consoles are both using storage tech that streams data super fast from NVME storage to VRAM/RAM. I dont know exactly how it works, but Direct Storage is the PC version of that, and it will bring performance benefits to games that use it you wont get without an NVME drive. So I'm happy that my PCI-E Gen 3.0 drive will be most likely be able to give some of that benefit in the future. I dont think SATA speeds will cut it with the tech.

Dont know if you knew or cared about any of that, but it does explain why I might care so I thought it worth saying

 

[Brian Boru]

freeCodeCamp.org is one of the tip-top YT channels, and just put this out:

Computer & Technology Basics Course for Absolute Beginners

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2kg3MOk1sY


I haven't watched, but a few comments I scanned were appreciative—and I know FCC content is usually high grade.

⭐ Course Contents ⭐
⌨ (00:00:00) Introduction
⌨ (00:00:55) What Is a Computer?
⌨ (00:03:37) Buttons and Ports on a Computer
⌨ (00:06:01) Basic Parts of a Computer
⌨ (00:08:47) Inside a Computer
⌨ (00:10:58) Getting to Know Laptop Computers
⌨ (00:12:55) Understanding Operating Systems
⌨ (00:14:21) Understanding Applications
⌨ (00:15:53) Setting Up a Desktop Computer
⌨ (00:18:47) Connecting to the Internet
⌨ (00:22:41) What Is the Cloud?
⌨ (00:25:06) Cleaning Your Computer
⌨ (00:29:02) Protecting Your Computer
⌨ (00:32:17) Creating a Safe Workspace
⌨ (00:36:25) Internet Safety: Your Browser's Security Features
⌨ (00:38:36) Understanding Spam and Phishing
⌨ (00:43:27) Understanding Digital Tracking
⌨ (00:45:39) Windows Basics: Getting Started with the Desktop
⌨ (00:47:40) Mac OS X Basics: Getting Started with the Desktop
⌨ (00:52:26) Browser Basics

 

[Brian Boru]

New screen tech hoped for by 2026—NanoLED, touted as very cheap top quality. 4-min video by Anthony at Linus:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-rudzrfwyI

 

[Brian Boru]

Optimize Your Solid State Drive With SSD Fresh
Free and $10 versions.

Usually optimizers get a bad press from tech writers. I'm not familiar with Russ Ware as a tech journo, but he's been at it a while, so…

Any of you use SSD Fresh, or think it might be helpful?

 

[Brian Boru]

Couple of PCG articles of interest:

This PSU with connectors in all the wrong places is actually a breeze to build with

I am sold on the Corsair RM1200x SHIFT power supply after installing it in my machine.

www.pcgamer.com

…

Intel puts TSMC on notice with step towards Angstrom era chips

Intel 20A and 18A nodes finalised, chips due early next year.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Making like a tree is expensive with this all-wood wireless keyboard from Japan

Wooda, cooda, shooda.

www.pcgamer.com

Makes me feel all Zen just looking at it

 

[Brian Boru]

all Zen

Sweet… and available in cherry—that's synergy!

It should help with log on, right?

 

[Brian Boru]

RIP Gordon Moore

Gordon Moore, Intel co-founder and creator of Moore's Law, dies aged 94

Mr Moore famously predicted that computer processing power would double every two years.

www.bbc.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Mobile Phone—Happy 50th!

April 3rd 1973.

The surprising ways cellphones have changed our lives

The first ever call made with a mobile phone was a conversation 50 years ago. Since then, the devices have found some unexpected uses.

www.bbc.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Jayz says nobody should have to spend more than $200-250 on a motherboard. Do you agree?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEJ1c1TYps


I think I spent over $100 on a mobo maybe once—so say ~$150 adjusted for inflation.

 

[Why_Me]

Jayz says nobody should have to spend more than $200-250 on a motherboard. Do you agree?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEJ1c1TYps


I think I spent over $100 on a mobo maybe once—so say ~$150 adjusted for inflation.

No idea about AMD, but unless someone plans on using a power hog such as the 13900K then I don't see a reason for spending over $250 for a board. If someone wants all the bells & whistles including 4080 audio codec and enough PCIe lanes to run dual M.2 SSD's this board down below fits the ticket.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8m6p99/msi-pro-z790-a-wifi-atx-lga1700-motherboard-pro-z790-a-wifi
MSI PRO Z790-A WIFI $239.99

PRO Z790-A WIFI

PRO series motherboards tuned for better performance by 16 Duet Rail Power System, DDR5 memory, Lightning Gen5 PCIe, Pre-installed IO, Extended Heatsink, M.2 Shield Frozr, Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5G LAN, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2

www.msi.com

 

[neogunhero]

Jayz says nobody should have to spend more than $200-250 on a motherboard. Do you agree?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzEJ1c1TYps


I think I spent over $100 on a mobo maybe once—so say ~$150 adjusted for inflation.

Got a Gigabyte AORUS Gaming Wi-Fi 5 back in 2018 for $120, has served me and my Ryzen 5 1600X well since then

 

[Colif]

I probably have given everything more expensive here. Good chance the last few been over 100.
My current Gigabyte X570 motherboard cost $AUD 369 here. And its almost entry lvl.
My previous Z97 mb cost $AUD 339

So yes, I have spent more... I have a Asus Deluxe model mb about 15 years ago, hate to think what it cost.

X670 boards are around $450 here.

Not in a rush to upgrade, I have 32gb of ram that I can't use in next PC so might as well get money worth now. More likely to get a 5800x3d and make PC last a few more years.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

i use Radeon chill, minimum of 75, max of 141. GPU can obviously do more but monitor can't. i have no idea of usage of my card in games. But well, none of the games I play so far on it have been graphically intensive. Not sure when that will change really.

some people are going nuts over specs of this game

Minimum:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64 bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory: 16(Dual-channel) GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super (VRAM 8 GB) / Radeon RX 5700XT (8GB)
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 110 GB available space
Recommended
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64 bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-12700 / AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory: 16(Dual-channel) GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080Ti (VRAM 12 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6800XT (VRAM 16 GB)
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 110 GB available space

Immortals of Aveum™ on Steam

Immortals of Aveum is a single-player first person magic shooter that tells the story of Jak as he joins an elite order of battlemages to save a world on the edge of abyss.

store.steampowered.com

strange, I am sure I have seen that game advertised as needing 32gb of ram as well.

if more games match PS5/Xbox specs they will want an 8 core CPU as minimum to play.
The GPU specs is based on VRAM.

@Colif quoted this here to avoid too much OT in the other thread.

Chill is the thing that bascially zeros power usage when the camera isnt moving right? I turned all of those faetures off when I had some stability problems with games when I first got the GPU.

I said it before here somewhere, but I think the new consoles reserve one or two cores for the OS and background processes, unlike PC's. Theyre also basically Ryzen 3600 Zen 2 series CPU's for games.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04r0zxenBUQ&t=1s


Seems to me for this console generation 6 core CPU's will be enough in the same way the old consoles had very weak 8 core CPU's and during that time modern dual cores with HT were pretty much enough to run any console game easily. Maybe even 4 cores with HT will be enough as the IPC in current gen is quite a bit higher than what the consoles have already.

GPU wise we are already seeing where thats going. 8GB is going to be a problem quite soon for new games, and if you want to use RT even 12 looks to be pushing it for some titles.

 

[Colif]

Radeon chill limits FPS to save power, the one you were thinking of is Radeon Boost - I have never used it, I only know what it does from watching guides on the driver package

GPU wise we are already seeing where thats going. 8GB is going to be a problem quite soon for new games, and if you want to use RT even 12 looks to be pushing it for some titles.

12 is almost not enough already. Nvidia GPU on the edge except a few models. Half the AMD ones are fine. The 8gb AMD cards were never sold as high end.

I have a question, does anyone actually play games at ultra settings? I mean, I have 2nd best AMD card and I don't push settings and generally leave them as is.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ahh I see. The tool tip for Chill makes it sound like something different.

I'm waiting on the 7800X/7700Xm later in the year. Also waiting on what kind of bonus and tax returns I get in autumn which is a pretty major factor on how much cash I can frit on a GPU

I'd like to be able to use Ultra +RT at over 60FPS in some games ideally. Its still a big ask on mid range GPUs. I wonder how UE5 and Lumen will affect RT eventually if they have a similar quality with much less performance cost. Maybe other engines/devs will figure something out as well.