The Tech Random Crap Thread

PatrThom

PatrThom

I mainly did it because I wanted to reserve the “free” electronic upgrade license for my machine, and because everyone else in the house was doing it and I knew I’d have to support them eventually. I figured I’d revert to 7 eventually but then never did.
Strangely enough, the old system files were never deleted, so I could theoretically just revert...buuuut I’ll probably just format and reinstall.

—Patrick
 
Gared

Gared

If any of this article about Microsoft preparing to roll out a monthly subscription fee for them to manage my desktop's ability to run Windows 10 is true, I need a primer on the most widely accepted Linux environment, stat.
 
Cog

Cog

This is something that probably will make me leave windows. The problem is that at least once a year I tried to do something with linux only to fail miserably. I will probably just pirate windows.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Gared said:
Verizon to Re-Organize into Three Customer Facing Businesses in 2019.

Not really sure that it will mean a whole hell of a lot to me, since I'm not one of their customers and decided to continue to not be one of their customers after that little snafu with the firefighters in California, but a lot of companies lease tower space from Verizon, and they have a lot of pull with the head of the FCC, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.
Click to expand...
One month after hurricane Michael, I still have no internet access through Verizon at home. They still have not repaired the tower
 
Gared

Gared

Ravenpoe said:
One month after hurricane Michael, I still have no internet access through Verizon at home. They still have not repaired the tower
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Didn't you hear? They're not going to repair the old 3G and 4G towers, they're just going to go ahead and install the 5G towers. Once they get them.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Gared said:
If any of this article about Microsoft preparing to roll out a monthly subscription fee for them to manage my desktop's ability to run Windows 10 is true, I need a primer on the most widely accepted Linux environment, stat.
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I know I mentioned this earlier, but can’t seem to find it, where I said that you might buy your own hardware and put it together yourself, but once you install the OS you are essentially transferring ownership of the hardware over to Microsoft at that point. The appeal is for those businesses and such who would rather just outsource it to some division of Microsoft instead of hiring/training their own team. That said, I can easily see this becoming more consumer/mainstream, with kids setting up their (grand)parents’ computers up like this to save hassle.

As for the BSD/nix wars, you may want to check out the Phoronix website, but you’re probably going to end up with Ubuntu (at least at first) just because of how widely it’s installed.

—Patrick
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Null said:
I'm sick of my potato computer (a Dell Inspirion 660 that's several years old and non-upgradeable) preventing me from playing certain games. I'm looking at buying a refurbished PC in order to save money. This is what I'm looking at:

HP Pavilion 570-p033w desktop PC - Intel Core i7-7700 3.6GHz 16GB RAM 2TB HD DVDRW Windows 10 (Certified Refurbished)


Is this a good idea?
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I've been pretty happy with my refurbished HP. My biggest complaint is a lack of room for additional drives. It has a SSD and a HDD, and no other bays for storage. Also, the onboard sound suuuucks, but I solved that by adding a sound card.

I'd make sure that whatever power supply that comes with that model can support adding a decent graphics card. (Mine came with a Radeon RX480, so I didn't have to worry about that.)
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Null said:
I'm sick of my potato computer (a Dell Inspirion 660 that's several years old and non-upgradeable) preventing me from playing certain games. I'm looking at buying a refurbished PC in order to save money. This is what I'm looking at:

HP Pavilion 570-p033w desktop PC - Intel Core i7-7700 3.6GHz 16GB RAM 2TB HD DVDRW Windows 10 (Certified Refurbished)


Is this a good idea?
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It seems a fairly ok entry level PC, but I worry that it only has one PCIEx16 slot and nothing else. You'll need that slot for your video card (since it only comes with onboard intel integrated video), and that means there's no other slots. Which isn't the end of the world if everything works right forever, but in the event your onboard NIC or sound goes bad (as it often will in my experience) or you just want better sound overall (most onboard sound solutions aren't exactly the highest fidelity), you're SOL.
 
Null

Null

Yeah I don't want to do that. I just want a decent PC that I can play Battletech, Bard's Tale IV, and other moderate-needs games on. I don't need a cutting edge alienware machine. But being able to join in some of the games you all are playing would be nice.
 
Null

Null

Paterson's about 67 miles down I-78E and 287 from me. And that's a 4GB RAM drive, I've got an 8GB unit already. It's not enough. I'm looking for something around 12 or 16.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Here's one possibility, though the PSU is only about 300W so you'd need to stay in 1060 territory.
Here's a similar one from Newegg, though again the PSU looks a little light for the higher-end GPUs.
These days I would try to stick with Haswell CPU (Core iX-4xxx series or Xeon EX-1xxx v3) or newer. There are still good Sandy/Ivy Bridge machines out there, but like we were discussing elsewhere, if games are going to start requiring Haswell or newer (I don't know, maybe they are starting to require FMA3 or AVX2 support now?), you might as well not bother with anything lower.

--Patrick
 
Null

Null

I didn't understand any of what you just said.

I mean, from context I get that PSU is power supply, but I guess 300W is bad?
GPU is a graphics card, I'd guess?

I mean this must be what it's like when people start talking about movies in front of you.
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
I didn't understand any of what you just said.
I mean, from context I get that PSU is power supply, but I guess 300W is bad?
GPU is a graphics card, I'd guess?
I mean this must be what it's like when people start talking about movies in front of you.
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Modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs, i.e. "video cards") can require 300-350W power just by themselves. If you are looking to build a "gaming" computer, the usual recommendation for a Power Supply Unit (PSU) is going to be > 500W unless you are going to stick with the lower tier GPUs (ones which require no supplementary power or only one 6-pin PCIe aux connector).
Null said:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5967EB8659
This looks like an option.
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Well it doesn't suck, but it uses an Ivy Bridge processor (i5-3xxx series) which is from 2012. If you were getting it to run WinXP- or Vista-era stuff it would be fantastic.
Different processors support different instruction set extensions (you might've seen things like SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SS4, AVX, AVX2) and the newer the game/OS, the more likely it is that game will require a processor that supports the newer instruction sets. Lack of SSSE3 support is what is finally spurring me to get a newer computer, because while the beta of Destiny 2 did not require SSSE3 support, the released game did, which caused some trouble for those of us still using processors that predate SSSE3. Computer stuff usually runs on a 5-7 year cycle, and it's been 7 years since Ivy Bridge, so that's the reason behind my recommendation for Haswell (2013) or newer.

--Patrick
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
I'm not looking to build one. I'm looking to buy one that's slightly better than what I've got.
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I get that. (I also updated the previous post with more explanation while you were posting, btw).
I'm just saying that if you can find something you like with an Intel processor that starts with a 4 instead of a 3, your computer will have a longer useful life for doing so.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Null said:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5967EB8659&Description=Refurbished Gaming PC&cm_re=Refurbished_Gaming_PC-_-9SIA5967EB8659-_-Product&fbclid=IwAR0OtjrNzX-DbpgV7PlZBeNScBKSbouuISIJDFBGAmFx973tlcpgh1rWqa8

This looks like an option.
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That looks like it could be a good deal. The 1050 alone is worth a couple hundred bucks, and my laptop uses a 1050, it can pretty much play most anything available these days.

Pat's right that the processor is a bit on the older side, but it's still quite a step up from what you've been using, and given your budgetary constraints, this may be the way to go.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I don't know why, but I thought that was one of the ones you were considering, not one you already had, and I was hoping it was also one you would definitely not choose.

Oops.

FWIW, your system is actually newer than mine.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

For the next 12hrs or so, there is a sale on this guy:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1VK-0017-007E5

It has good bones (4core i5 Kaby Lake, 12GB RAM), and some upgradeability but you’re still going to be limited to the lower-tier GPUs (ones that max out at 150W or less) due to its 300W PSU. Word is that it can even be upgraded to a beefier PSU (>=500W) but while some people have had no trouble, others can’t seem to get it to work. The person who started that thread sounds like he was trying to plug the connector meant for the video card into the motherboard by accident (they look similar except for the different number of pins), but even if he didn’t actually break his board in the process, there may be actual proprietary issues about using a “non-approved” PSU (“approved” list is in that linked post) so unless you can find someone who definitively states they were able to get it to work and what steps they took, you might want to just stick with a RX 570 (150W) or GTX 1060 (120W) or lower, and you’re probably going to want the 1060 anyway since it is better at gaming, you will just need to find one of the shorter ones (8in/20cm) to fit the case.

—Patrick
 
Null

Null

So, I can get that one, which I'll have to upgrade, or for about $20 more, another one that I won't, with a 16GB instead of a 12...

Did I mention I don't want to have to build or upgrade one?
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
Did I mention I don't want to have to build or upgrade one?
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If by “upgrade” you mean “plug in a video card,” and assuming you want the extra 12% CPU performance and a processor that is 4 full generations newer plus a system based on DDR4 instead of older DDR3, then yes.
But if you don’t feel confident installing a GPU OR you don’t want to have to drop additional cash on the 1060 later (keep in mind you can just use the GPU from your current rig for free) then I get it.

—Patrick
 
Null

Null

Yeah, after upgrading the power supply, and having to make sure I don't buy the wrong card. And let's see... a 1060 adds about $190 to the cost, instead of going with the 1050 that would be adequate for my purposes, and $50 for a 450W power supply... and that's assuming I don't need cooling, and

IGNORING THE REPEATED FACT THAT I WANT A SYSTEM I CAN JUST USE INSTEAD OF HAVING TO FUCKING MODIFY THE GUTS OUT OF IT

that is an extra $200 I don't really have for a 12% I don't need.

I appreciate you know a lot about computers but it really fucking pisses me off when you're ignoring one of the basic fucking issues here.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

I’m not, actually. You can use a 1060 with the stock 300W PSU. I even outright state that.

I’m sorry that my advice is more forward-looking than you would prefer. The 3470 system that you linked earlier will meet your stated goal of being better than what you currently have, if that is all you really wanted to know. It just has no room to grow, is all, and its Ivy Bridge processor will be obsolete 4 years sooner than the Kaby Lake will.

—Patrick
 
Dei

Dei

But he doesn't want to have to open it and fuck with it at all, and I don't think you have a suggestion that doesn't involve either more money or opening it.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Dei said:
But he doesn't want to have to open it and fuck with it at all, and I don't think you have a suggestion that doesn't involve either more money or opening it.
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I’m getting that feeling, and while *I* feel like the difficulty level of changing a video card is about on par with switching insoles in my shoes, it is obvious that others do not feel the same. Not only do I have trouble keeping track of who owns what kind of system, I also don’t know everyone’s level of technical expertise.

If I happen across any tempting turnkey systems today, I’ll be sure to pass them along (nevermind) My usual recommendations are going to be those which have the lowest TCO potential over their expected lifespan.

—Patrick
 
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