Random Hardware topics

[neogunhero]

New Video card for @Zed Clampet

der8auer uses that same card in his personal rig:

View: https://youtu.be/o21CDqlCSps?si=Xho3aw4tDKji4cVo

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What are your guy's thoughts on PNY brand GPUs? They have always been a bit strange to me. They don't give into any marketing gimmicks, but their cards are well reviewed, if anything they're a bit boring. They provide sufficient enough cooling while not innovating any new cooling techniques. Their website is plain and has no full page ads about how their dies are German Military Grade Engineering or whatever BS other brands fill their pages with. Could this be a case of a company not following market trends and instead focusing on delivering a quality product, or are they just a "good enough" kind of company?

On paper though, their cards seem great. Higher than average clock speeds just from what I've seen, good build quality, and currently it is the only 5060 Ti 16GB I see on Amazon for MSRP. Some other brands have cards with lower max boost speeds, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty incomprehensible for most people, but my thinking is if you're buying cards at that budget and do not want to overclock, you're gonna want the highest speeds you can get.

Where they seem to lack is any other features that make them stand out from the competition. They do have an RGB version of this card, but it's so basic compared to a company like MSI's offerings. They've just been kind of strange to me, almost like comparing a grocery stores own brand of products to the real thing.

 

[Zed Clampet]

der8auer uses that same card in his personal rig:

View: https://youtu.be/o21CDqlCSps?si=Xho3aw4tDKji4cVo

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What are your guy's thoughts on PNY brand GPUs? They have always been a bit strange to me. They don't give into any marketing gimmicks, but their cards are well reviewed, if anything they're a bit boring. They provide sufficient enough cooling while not innovating any new cooling techniques. Their website is plain and has no full page ads about how their dies are German Military Grade Engineering or whatever BS other brands fill their pages with. Could this be a case of a company not following market trends and instead focusing on delivering a quality product, or are they just a "good enough" kind of company?

On paper though, their cards seem great. Higher than average clock speeds just from what I've seen, good build quality, and currently it is the only 5060 Ti 16GB I see on Amazon for MSRP. Some other brands have cards with lower max boost speeds, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty incomprehensible for most people, but my thinking is if you're buying cards at that budget and do not want to overclock, you're gonna want the highest speeds you can get.

Where they seem to lack is any other features that make them stand out from the competition. They do have an RGB version of this card, but it's so basic compared to a company like MSI's offerings. They've just been kind of strange to me, almost like comparing a grocery stores own brand of products to the real thing.

PNY is a great company. They aren't flashy; they just make great GPUs (and other stuff). Most of their business is in making commercial GPUs for data centers as a partner with Nvidia.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I got an 18 percent boost to AI processing by overclocking my 5070 ti. I'm pretty happy with that. And I didn't change the voltage.

 

[Colif]

I don't know of any known GPU maker I would avoid, so I don't really have an opinion on PNY. If I never heard of company before I may question it.
Makers of the cards themselves never really been a thought. They don't actually make the silicon, they just make the wrappers

 

[Colif]

ACM is off on my PC and I never changed its setting. I didn't even think to.
Should set up color management for screen but I suspect I made it too dark on my last pc.

 

[Colif]

It looks like white rays coming up from my air cooler

Is it some kind of pyramid?
Wait, no, its a reflection of my curtains.

Take glass off and only reflection left is on the side of the ram

which is what I was looking for. Shame its hard to see. Having silver coloured heat spreaders makes it hard to line up the ram slots when inserting sticks, as you can see the reflection of the one next to it as you try to line them up.

Indications are I need to dust inside as I see some on GPU. It could just be dirty from last install. It is only old part.

Trying to find colours that work with white. For RGB anyway... Blue gets boring after a while. Currently yellow

sometime next year I will replace the power cables.

 

[Colif]

With these last few parts, the value of my PC seems to be about 5k now? Someone is selling my monitor again, that added to value... My HD600 headphones are also included in cost...

if my GPU existed in the Country, it would add to cost as well.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/FyVhJn
I seem to collect GPU you cannot buy soon after release... happened with my 2070 Super as well.
My air cooler is hard to get as well, but I knew that... its why I bought it early to make sure I got the white one. Its the largest item in case, a non colour matched one would have made me essentially chose a Noctua.

 

[Colif]

 

[Zed Clampet]

It looks like white rays coming up from my air cooler

Is it some kind of pyramid?
Wait, no, its a reflection of my curtains.

Take glass off and only reflection left is on the side of the ram

which is what I was looking for. Shame its hard to see. Having silver coloured heat spreaders makes it hard to line up the ram slots when inserting sticks, as you can see the reflection of the one next to it as you try to line them up.

Indications are I need to dust inside as I see some on GPU. It could just be dirty from last install. It is only old part.

Trying to find colours that work with white. For RGB anyway... Blue gets boring after a while. Currently yellow

sometime next year I will replace the power cables.

That air cooler looks like an actual air conditioner.

 

[Colif]

In a way it does. It would need to be larger and having refrigerant in a PC is really expensive, and unlikely to look like that... as storing the coolant near CPU doesn't help in cooling either. Most have the unit away from heat source.
link
but people are working on it

You could in theory just have my cooler attached to back of the case, but attaching it to CPU at same time is potentially risky
The distance between the rear fan on cooler and rear fan on case, basically made me wonder why no one else with the cooler has ever complained about the wind noises.

Its too close, and from looking into it, the only way it works is if both fans are spinning in opposite directions. Otherwise you get turbulence. I probably remove that this weekend.

i like its stealth look. The black one in my old PC is more stealthy though... hard to ignore a white block in an all white case. Hard to see in my old one

the hiding its fans is also a feature I like. Its just a box that sux heat out of PC.

 

[Colif]

Fixing loud fans in a pc is exactly like fixing bottlenecks. As soon as you fix one, you notice another. Its impossible to be completely quiet in a case full of fans but I am getting closer. I can only tell my new ones are on from the temperatures of other things. They came with rubber mounting poles so they are exactly the same in that regard to my Noctuas in the old case.

The max speed on the new fans is lower than old ones, but they do have a zero rpm mode which makes up for it. That and I can't hear them even at 500

Next loudest part was air cooler but it was in performance mode, so I fixed that. I can't hear any individual fans now.

Now its difficult to say where PC noise and house noise meet. I eliminated some fan noises and now its possible only thing I hear is the house.

PC finished finally. Yay. Only took a month.. between initial build and fan install.

using spdif connection for sound is much easier than trying to remember which of the 5 sound connectors I need to connect which cable to on analog. One cable instead of 3.

 

[neogunhero]

Makers of the cards themselves never really been a thought. They don't actually make the silicon, they just make the wrappers

Cooling solutions is really the main differentiator between makers I think. Besides that, the OC versions of these cards from different manufacturers tend to be ever so slightly different, but nothing that a person could ever notice on their own. 2725MHz vs 2750MHz, and sometimes they can be a good $20 different, just makes me laugh lol.

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Considering doing a complete reinstall of Windows 11 when my Win 10 expires in October. Before doing that I'd like to get a really good SSD that will last. I explained here before, but I have one SSD that is DRAM-less and has trouble downloading anything over 5GB, and my other one maxes out at 500MB/s. I also have a SATA SSD at that same speed.

I have seen lots of people defend DRAM-less SSDs. They say the tech has gotten better, it doesn't matter anymore, it's cheaper, but I have not seen anyone specifically tell their experience with downloading a 50GB+ game onto a DRAM-less SSD. So I really have no idea if they are better or not, and I don't really want to take any chances. My issue is (I assume) the cache gets full, and it downloads at a max 10MB/s for maybe 20 seconds, then stop completely for a few minutes, just to come clawing back and download a little more. A 30 minute download takes overnight on that SSD. My download speed maxes at 45MB/s, and on my other two SSD's they can sustain full speed the entire download, never stopping. One workaround is to download to the better SSD then move game folder to the DRAM-less one, but I don't want to keep doing that for every game.

I want a 2TB SSD with all the fixings for under $120. Tall order, its been hard to find one that checks all boxes. I want good 3D NAND, DRAM cache, good durable controller, all while being fast (my mobo maxes at Gen 3 speeds 3500mb/s). Seems I may be a bit late to the SSD buying party since most 2TB drives under that price are considered "budget". Just a year ago I remember seeing high quality SSDs at this price point.

I guess it doesn't need to hit all those boxes, just as long as it is fast, long life-span, and does not give any issues with downloading.

 

[neogunhero]

HP ProBook x360 435 G8 13.3" FHD Touch AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U 16GB 512GB SSD W11P | eBay

HP ProBook x360 435 G8 13.3" FHD Touch AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U 1.9 GHz 16GB DDR4 512GB SSD AMD Radeon Graphics Windows 11 Pro Laptop - 468S4UC-I137. AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U (1.9 GHz base clock, up to 4.4 GHz max boost clock, 16 MB L3 cache, 8 cores) | AMD Radeon Graphics.

www.ebay.com

Got my eye on this. The missus has been complaining about her laptop for a while now, but doesn't want to go full-on gaming laptop yet. She gave me a budget of $300 to see what I can find. After searching around a lot, this seems to be the best bang for buck at this price point.

Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U, 16GB DDR4 3200MHz (single channel), 512GB SSD, Win 11 Pro. Not bad for the price! CPU is no beast, but a huge step in compared to her current laptop with a Ryzen 3700U at 8GB RAM. Here is a video showing some gaming benchmarks, but annoyingly they do not disclose settings used.

For low end budget 1080p gaming at this price point, it's pretty impressive. Weak by every measure, but hard to get anything better at $300 I think (without going full on used in poor condition). We paid $300 for her old one 4 years ago so it balances out in my head. The biggest issue may be that touch screen, some people say it's incredibly glossy, but not a dealbreaker for me.

 

[Colif]

reinstalling windows only takes 20 minutes, its installing everything else and making pc feel right that takes time...
helps to go through install and make sure you have all the programs either written down or a download folder with the installer in it ready for next PC. I have done that the last 2 times. Also helps to have all your documents etc on another hdd so don't need to move it around after, just take ownership of folders

 

[Zed Clampet]

Wife's Surface Pro (work laptop) is no longer getting power from the power pack. I tried a different power pack, and it still didn't work. With a sense of impending doom, I then deleted all her power/battery related drivers and rebooted the system. Lastly, I tried charging it via USB, but apparently the laptop isn't designed to be charged that way. It's probably the power jack that is the problem.

She's going to requisition another one and send this one back to her IT department for repairs. She doesn't get along well with the IT department, so they aren't going to be happy to see her number show up. I asked her to please not fire them all.

I asked her if she wanted to use my HP laptop, but she still has her old laptop that has all their proprietary software installed, so she's just switching to that.

 

[Colif]

laptops are a foreign world to me

it must be getting cold, I suddenly can't type. Okay, maybe not so suddenly.
Part of it is my lights are set to auto dim at certain times and I need to alter them to a later time, I have one that goes to night light at 1am

Probably still learning keyboard as well. Decided not to get another until they release version 3, whenever that is.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I actually tried a different "universal" charging cable on her laptop that I plugged into a USB charger and it worked. Not sure why the first one didn't.

 

[Colif]

Dell almost made a good computer, shame CPU socket they chose has already been replaced, and they use a 12VO Motherboard when not many are available to swap in. But its better than anything they made before. Oh and it costs $1500 more than what you could make it yourself for.

 

[neogunhero]

In newer motherboards, what exactly is the BIOS labeled USB port? Is it a designated boot-disk slot?

 

[Colif]

In newer motherboards, what exactly is the BIOS labeled USB port? Is it a designated boot-disk slot?

USB BIOS Flashback button & slot are a matching set. I thought you had highlighted the button, now I realise its just a white box around it to show it as special.

New motherboards allow you to flash bios with as little as the PSU attached.

1. download bios
2. rename it to a specific file name
3. copy onto USB
4. Put it in slot and power on board.
5. press button - don't turn off PC until its finished unless you want a paper weight.

its just an alternate way to flash the bios. You can still do it from inside the BIOS, I normally use that method.

1. Flashback lets you recover from a bad BIOS flash.
2. Its helpful when you don't have an igpu in CPU and want to install BIOS without a GPU attached.
3. its handy if the BIOS on the motherboard doesn't support the CPU you are installing but the update does.
4. and probably more.

Manual would have told you what it was. May not show how to use though, some Makers have BIOS update PDF on the motherboard website you can use for instructions

Mine uses this:

I need to update mine - I had it copied onto a USB and then one of the questions in my course needed me to use a USB so I deleted BIOS - I will just remake USB again

 

[neogunhero]

USB BIOS Flashback button & slot are a matching set.

The button scares me... surely this isn't how it works, but I'm afraid I'd accidentally press it when scrambling around trying to slot in a USB. It's got to have a failsafe against that, right? My mobo is from 2018 so not ancient but fairly old, I'm surprised how much new tech has come to mobos since then. Not just things like Wifi 7 or USB-C (my mobo actually has a single USB-C port), but things like the enhanced VRMs, BIOS flashing on the I/O, a lot more that I can't think of. Whenever I get around to building a new PC I'll be sure not to skimp out on the mobo, these new features would be handy to have in the future.

I wonder how far out until we get AM6... AM4 was only 6 years old before AM5 was introduced, and we are approaching the 3rd year for AM5 socket.

 

[Colif]

The button only really does anything if you happen to also have a USB with a BIOS file sitting in the slot. That seems unlikely to me
I don't expect it does anything otherwise, might show an error if pressed and USB in slot doesn't have a file it wants.
Most new boards have too many USB slots so just use another one for your devices. I have 12 USB slots on back of my board, pretty sure I can avoid using the wrong slot (especially since I only have a USB hub attached to pc, my mouse/kb run off it)

2 x USB4® USB Type-C® ports (DisplayPort (Note))
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red)
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

I can run displays off my USB C ports

Just by sheer luck I didn't use my USB BIOS slot. I used slot next to it instead

my button less likely to accidentally be pressed since its indented into backplate. Need to use pen to press it.

(note: my last case had black labels on black plastic. I am happy the new one is easier to read)

AM5 supported until 2027, not sure when AM6 is out. AM5 support EOL may change based on fact AMD still releasing AM4 CPU. I expect they release something new on AM5 before its finished... I don't know. I hope to be able to get an upgrade to this. I need to look into it more.

AMD quietly launches a budget gaming beast — AM4 is alive and kicking with the Ryzen 5 5500X3D, but it has limited availability

AM4 refuses to die.

www.tomshardware.com

I wonder if they renumber their CPU now they at 10. Most of the time they don't keep going past it. Intel and AMD been doing it for years.

 

[Colif]

AM6 likely come out when DDR6 is ready for prime time... that is meant to be next year. Whether AMD jumps onto it right away is unknown. It will take time for motherboard makers to release new boards as well, and ram makers to release ram... and stability issues to be ironed out. AM5 had teething issues I mostly avoided by waiting until 2nd gen on platform

I wouldn't rush into AM6 until its ready.

Zen6 AKA the next gen CPU after 9000 series will work on AM5, that answers my questions

AMD "Zen 6" to Retain Socket AM5 for Desktops, 2026-27 Product Launches

The desktop version of AMD's next-generation "Zen 6" microarchitecture will retain Socket AM5, Kepler_L2, a reliable source with hardware leaks, revealed. What's more interesting is the rumor that the current "Zen 5" will remain AMD's mainstay for the entirety of 2025, and possibly even most of...

www.techpowerup.com

24 core CPU lol.

I expect this guy was source, he really accurate and gets info early

 

[neogunhero]

AM6 likely come out when DDR6 is ready for prime time... that is meant to be next year. Whether AMD jumps onto it right away is unknown. It will take time for motherboard makers to release new boards as well, and ram makers to release ram... and stability issues to be ironed out. I wouldn't rush into AM6 until its ready.

Zen6 AKA the next gen CPU after 9000 series will work on AM5, that answers my questions

AMD "Zen 6" to Retain Socket AM5 for Desktops, 2026-27 Product Launches

The desktop version of AMD's next-generation "Zen 6" microarchitecture will retain Socket AM5, Kepler_L2, a reliable source with hardware leaks, revealed. What's more interesting is the rumor that the current "Zen 5" will remain AMD's mainstay for the entirety of 2025, and possibly even most of...

www.techpowerup.com

24 core CPU lol.

I expect this guy was source, he really accurate and gets info early

Considering the fact that many people take a long time to upgrade, I have a feeling AM4 will be coming to EOL soon and AM5 to be going strong for a few more years. As for naming... AMD recently started to copy Nvidia in the GPU space, who knows if they will do the same with Intel. If that is the case, they could call it the Ryzen 16000 series... not very catchy at all. Though Intel has shorted the number naming with the new Core Ultra line, AMD could copy that too... wait they already kind of have.

Whoever is in charge of naming new iterative pieces of tech must be running out of juice. At least Nvidia has a good while before they run out of numbers... they could go up to RTX 9000 series but can't do an RTX 1000 series, because they've already used 1000 for the GTX line and consumers would assume lower number = worse card. It's so trivial I have no idea why I'm thinking so deeply into it haha.

 

[Colif]

Nvidia, AMD & Intel been playing the "lets get to 10" and restart game for about 30 years. Since the Pentium days. Intel restarting at 200 now is just the start of another race to 10k where they start again.
They resisted restarting last time, they got to 14900 before someone said, lets go back to 200 again.

I expect AMD will change name of the GPU series once UDNA is out.

AMD to Unify Gaming "RDNA" and Data Center "CDNA" into "UDNA": Singular GPU Architecture Similar to NVIDIA's CUDA

According to new information from Tom's Hardware, AMD has announced plans to unify its consumer-focused gaming RDNA and data center CDNA graphics architectures into a single, unified design called "UDNA." The announcement was made by AMD's Jack Huynh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of...

www.techpowerup.com

CPU might tie into that as well.