Tech minor victory thread
- Thread starter DarkAudit
- Start date
I am also waiting for RAM to arrive. It's coming from CA, though, so even though it was supposed to arrive this past Fri, I'm gonna give some slack for the fires, etc.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Got my laptop back from its warranty repairs today! The keyboard works again! They didn't even wipe the hard drive like I was afraid they would!
My joy has been slightly dampened by the fact that an update has broken hamachi on the laptop, but at least this is something I can fix, albeit a bit of a hassle.
My joy has been slightly dampened by the fact that an update has broken hamachi on the laptop, but at least this is something I can fix, albeit a bit of a hassle.
Considering what's on the hard drive, I'm surprised you didn't get a visit from the FBI.
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh, there's nothing on my laptop but steamConsidering what's on the hard drive, I'm surprised you didn't get a visit from the FBI.
All the GOOD stuff is on my home desktop!What, you don’t keep a drive prepared as the one you swap into whatever machine you are sending in for service?Oh, there's nothing on my laptop but steam
—Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Nah, this laptop was still brand new, I got it in september. Nothing on it but steam, hamachi, and teamviewer, and discord I guess. So it wasn't really worth messing with. No personal stuff at all.
I've already reinstalled hamachi and fixed it so it is working again.
—PatrickGot my SSD for the laptop. 1TB SanDisk with 3D NAND as recommended by @PatrThom in Discogs last night.
Windows 10 didn't want to activate as a hardware refresh from the old system. MS support kept telling me I needed the old Win7 Ultimate key from over 10 years ago. When they tried to escalate, I got transferred to a number that was closed for the weekend. So I decided to try my luck with a grey market key. It was bad luck. Fortunately I spent the extra $5 for buyer protection, and filed a ticket to see if I can get a refund without going through a paypal dispute.
Tried clearing all keys and trying again with MS support. Nope. Kept repeating that I needed the old Win7 key even though I told him repeatedly that I didn't. Then I realized I had that surplus Optiplex. I was certain that key had never been used to upgrade. Dude now said if I wanted to do that, I'd have to install Win7 on the new box first. NO. That wasn't going to happen. Since I was getting nowhere with MS, I said a curt goodbye and hung up. To the Google I went.
Turns out activating a Win10 install with a Win7 key IS a thing. A few moments of uncertainty later, and I have an activated copy of Win10 with a legit key. Take THAT, phone support guy!
Tried clearing all keys and trying again with MS support. Nope. Kept repeating that I needed the old Win7 key even though I told him repeatedly that I didn't. Then I realized I had that surplus Optiplex. I was certain that key had never been used to upgrade. Dude now said if I wanted to do that, I'd have to install Win7 on the new box first. NO. That wasn't going to happen. Since I was getting nowhere with MS, I said a curt goodbye and hung up. To the Google I went.
Turns out activating a Win10 install with a Win7 key IS a thing. A few moments of uncertainty later, and I have an activated copy of Win10 with a legit key. Take THAT, phone support guy!
Assuming the old computer is still functional:
How to Find Your Lost Windows or Office Product Keys
--Patrick
How to Find Your Lost Windows or Office Product Keys
--Patrick
What does Resident Evil 2 have over the others besides an earlier launch date? Or was the only winning move not to play?
RE2 is the only one of those games that interests me, and it's a game I've already played. But that's more an indictment of modern AAA gaming than your choice.
With two Capcoms and an Ubisoft, I was screwed no matter what I did.
Found a Tech here that changed my iPhone 6 battery out in under thirty minutes and $50.
I heard that they were much higher. Or that they were about to go back up on the price after that little scandal. Not to mention an 80 mile drive.
Well since that’d mean you’d have to go ~350MPH to make that only take 30min, I completely get it.
—Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I had to go a little above the price range I wanted, but I managed to snag an i7-4770 off ebay for $120. That'll give me a 31% increase in CPU power, which will hopefully iron out the VR hiccups I'm having to tiptoe around right now, and keep this rig running for a couple more years.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, it was more than I was willing to spend.
I was happy with my i5-4670 until I got my oculus rift. Now suddenly CPU power matters again, for the first time in 20 years.
GasBandit
Staff member
Has nothing to do with that. Has everything to do with the 3d accelerator revolution of the late 90s, when the GPUs became more important than the CPUs. The last time the speed of my processor mattered, it was when I overclocked a celeron 333a to 500mhz in 1999. Next machine after that, no game put any strain on any processor whatsoever.
Yeah, but I blame the Pentium 4 Prescotts for that. Once Intel hit their GHz wall in 2004, the only way to increase performance was going to HAVE to be outside the CPU. And also because while adding 150MHz to a 300MHz processor gets you a 50% performance increase, adding 150MHz to a 3.4GHz chip would only get you a 4% increase in performance, but then the CPU power draw/heat would go up another 65W, too.
Plus that’s when Shader 3.x/DX9c finally came out and NVIDIA/ATI finally started releasing cards that could actually do REAL work (6600GT, X1900).
—Patrick
Plus that’s when Shader 3.x/DX9c finally came out and NVIDIA/ATI finally started releasing cards that could actually do REAL work (6600GT, X1900).
—Patrick
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