Off Topic Thread V2.0

Monotype · 02-01-2015 10:03pm

Gumbi wrote: »

Has anyone any experience with home plugs? Thinking of picking up some, the first result on Amazon has thousands of reviews and seems solid, is there any reason not to go with model?

I understand that sometimes they don't work as well on older electical systems, but on a more modern setup I am given to believe they work almost as well as replacement ethernet cables. Is this true?

Have 100mb internet but as my PC is the extension of the house, it's behind a wall of concrete which greatly affects speeds. At best I get 20meg, more often 5-10.

Just be aware that some of the 500Mbps ones are limited to a bit lower than that... I can't remember the issue exactly, but I think that several models have the same problem. You could probably dig around and find some info if you really need to, but since your internet is 100Mb, it shouldn't be a problem either way, just thinking of the future. I see these 600Mbps ones for not a bad price.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PLA5205-Powerline-Gigabit-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B00E5HCR1O/

N64 · 02-01-2015 10:13pm

Gumbi wrote: »

Has anyone any experience with home plugs? Thinking of picking up some, the first result on Amazon has thousands of reviews and seems solid, is there any reason not to go with model?

I understand that sometimes they don't work as well on older electical systems, but on a more modern setup I am given to believe they work almost as well as replacement ethernet cables. Is this true?

Have 100mb internet but as my PC is the extension of the house, it's behind a wall of concrete which greatly affects speeds. At best I get 20meg, more often 5-10.

I've used a pair of them for a few years now. No problems bar the initial set up where it turns out a cheap ebay latptop charger was causing horrendous interference thus massively reducing the speed. My house is incredibly old, so if it will work in mine, it should work in yours!

James74 · 02-01-2015 10:51pm

Using three 500Mbps Devolo home plugs in a 30 year old house. Getting about 247Mbps to one and about 187 Mbps to the other. But I'm happy enough with that as there's quite a distance between the plugs and wireless just wasn't doing the job. Ethernet just wasn't an option either.

But to echo N64 above, you might need to play around with other stuff plugged into the same electrical circuit. I had an extension lead that was hammering my speed until I unplugged it.

ED E · 03-01-2015 12:04am

PC left completely off the AC supply for 8hrs, decided to switch on the PSU and try it just to see. Boots.

I have no goddamn clue what this machine is up to.....

papu · 03-01-2015 2:51am

ED E wrote: »

PC left completely off the AC supply for 8hrs, decided to switch on the PSU and try it just to see. Boots.

I have no goddamn clue what this machine is up to.....

Something something capacitors? Never turn it off. Or open it up again.

Headshot · 03-01-2015 1:55pm

Im debating to get this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-120-LG&groupid=17&catid=2898

Linus loves it. Its crazy money but mg its just so awesome

glynf · 03-01-2015 3:36pm

Might be best to hold off to see what's released at CES, they are releasing 2-3 new 21:9 monitors One being a FreeSync version-34UM67. Its not curved tough, but preices on the older models may drop.

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 7:38pm

papu wrote: »

4HDD bays looks like allot too, Also I don't know about others but I havent had any kind of internal Disk drive on my main pc in about 6 years..

>_>

I've 7. :pac:

ED E · 03-01-2015 7:52pm

challengemaster wrote: »

>_>

I've 7. :pac:

You sir, need to start planning your NAS build!

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 7:57pm

ED E wrote: »

You sir, need to start planning your NAS build!

Probably not the worst of ideas :P

I'd love a drobo... but the cost... In fairness the biggest drive is only 1TB. It's just a load of older drives!

I even have 2 raptors in there.... remember those?

:pac:

papu · 03-01-2015 8:11pm

challengemaster wrote: »

>_>

I've 7. :pac:

you're weird!:pac::D
Raptors , your Pc must sound like a turbo spooling up.

In an age of 6TB drives , you really don't need more than 2 bays . Mechanical HDD and SSD.

Hank Scorpio · 03-01-2015 8:29pm

Would something like this do for a old p55 mobo i5 760 and gtx 460

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Mini/204720/Inter-Tech+JY-160+Micro+ohne+Netzteil.article

Looking to make a media pc for mame or something similar, and not looking to spend alot of money on it

Cheers lads

papu · 03-01-2015 8:31pm

nuxxx wrote: »

Would something like this do for a old p55 mobo i5 760 and gtx 460

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Mini/204720/Inter-Tech+JY-160+Micro+ohne+Netzteil.article

Looking to make a media pc for mame or something similar, and not looking to spend alot of money on it

Cheers lads

if your mobo is microATX then yeah.

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 8:36pm

GTX460 is still fairly powerful to just chuck in a media PC.

Serephucus · 03-01-2015 8:36pm

Just ordered an NH-D15... Wonder what for...

Hank Scorpio · 03-01-2015 8:37pm

Whoops, thought the one I linked was standard ATX

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/Midi/73883/Sharkoon+VS3-Standard+Gr%C3%BCn%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article

Gonna grab this one, cheers Papu

Hank Scorpio · 03-01-2015 8:38pm

challengemaster wrote: »

GTX460 is still fairly powerful to just chuck in a media PC.

Got no other use for it, its been sitting in a drawer for months

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 8:47pm

nuxxx wrote: »

Got no other use for it, its been sitting in a drawer for months

I'm still using one for gaming. I reckon a GTX460 SLI is still about as good as a R9 270 and not far off a 280.

Hank Scorpio · 03-01-2015 9:29pm

challengemaster wrote: »

I'm still using one for gaming. I reckon a GTX460 SLI is still about as good as a R9 270 and not far off a 280.

Yeah they are, had to upgrade for UT4. Huge disappointment so far :rolleyes:

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 9:32pm

nuxxx wrote: »

Yeah they are, had to upgrade for UT4. Huge disappointment so far :rolleyes:

Is there actually anything playable yet? I thought it was still pre-alpha

Hank Scorpio · 03-01-2015 9:45pm

challengemaster wrote: »

Is there actually anything playable yet? I thought it was still pre-alpha

There has been for months

forums.unrealtournament.com

Make an account there, you`ll see the DL links

challengemaster · 03-01-2015 10:11pm

nuxxx wrote: »

There has been for months

forums.unrealtournament.com

Make an account there, you`ll see the DL links

Be a while before I can test it but cheers, I hadn't been keeping as much of an eye out as I should have clearly

Baked.noodle · 03-01-2015 10:44pm

Baked.noodle wrote: »

So I updated my ATI HD 6870 drivers today from 14-4 to 14-9 on Win 7 64. I know, they are out nearly two months but I usually don't bother updating for a while to avoid bugs, and seeing as my card is old I won't gain much performance anyway. Anyway, the Catalyst Control Center would crash after selecting different options on 14-9 and trying to exit. Reverted back and it's working fine now. I didn't bother booting up a game to see if the latest driver is stable in game. Anybody else notice anything strange?

Forgive me for quoting myself but I updated to the Omega drivers tonight. This time Catalyst Control Center seemed more stable and only had the border at the top go blank until I restarted it. I fired up Elite Dangerous and all seemed well. Then I sat back to watch a film on my extended desktop secondary monitor which is a TV. I turned off my primary monitor and when I did so the signal to the TV disconnected and reconnect (making the standard noise Win 7 does when you disconnect and then reconnect a device). This happened every time I turned my desktop monitor on and off, no matter if it was the primary or secondary display, nor if it was extended or duplicate.

I've gone back to the somewhat flawless 14.4 and everything is fine. I can now turn my monitor off without causing any unusual behavior from my TV. AMD, for me, seem really off the ball and I wonder if the team working on the Omega driver know what they are at. I would seriously consider getting an Nvidia card next time I'm on the market, as I would go nuts if I was forced to tolerate dysfunctional updates from AMD to get ideal performance out of a new card in games.

TerrorFirmer · 04-01-2015 12:45am

A GTX460 makes no sense for a media PC. Sell it for €80, get a GTX750 for €100. Same performance, massively lower power draw, better card all around.

challengemaster · 04-01-2015 1:20am

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

A GTX460 makes no sense for a media PC. Sell it for €80, get a GTX750 for €100. Same performance, massively lower power draw, better card all around.

€80 is a bit ambitious for a 5 year old card (IMO). I'd only pay €40-50 max for one

TerrorFirmer · 04-01-2015 1:41am

For better or worse, the 2nd hand market is not what something is worth.....but what someone is willing to pay.

And I see people willing to pay €80 for GTX460's, and even €120 for HD6950's (even though a brand new, in warranty, GTX750 is as fast)...

TerrorFirmer · 05-01-2015 1:30pm

So I started benchmarking the ridiculous G3258 + GTX980 Strix combo - €60 CPU and a €600 euro GPU. Not too often you see benchmarks pairing such hardware so I thought it would be interesting.

Observations so far....it's a mixed bag. I began with Ryse Son of Rome, the opening level of which is pretty CPU intensive. At 2560x1080 highest settings with AA, the game averaged about 50fps with a min of 24 - pretty good results for a system intensive 2014 title, played fluidly overall.

However, I encountered serious problems with Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3. Battlefield 4, 2560x1080, ultra settings with AA, 64 player Paracel Storm. Averages about 50fps, which is acceptable, but for some reason, the game freezes in a visual/sound loop for 2 seconds every 60 seconds or so, rendering the game totally unplayable.

At first I thought it was the game or drivers, but the same thing started happening in Crysis 3 - decent average framerates, but second long freezes and significant frame-drop in certain sections.

The strange part is that by turning on half-refresh v-sync through the Nvidia control panel, both games run fine - though locked at 30fps which is less than ideal, but the freezes are gone. I even forced BF4 to 200% resolution scale to force 99% usage of the GTX980 to rule out a GPU issue, and it still runs stable at 30fps with occassional dips to 26-27 - but on the whole it's totally playable.

Not sure why it's behaving that way - something to do with cpu communicating with gpu, but it's irritating. Other less CPU intensive games like Bioshock Infinite and Alien Isolation are unaffected.

But then again we also have to remember that BF4 online and Crysis 3 are two of the most gruelling benchmarks you can put a budget processor through.

Good review here from Digital Foundry which I think is a much better look at the G3258 than most other reviews.

I'll have full benchmarks later. If anyone wants a particular game tested give me a shout and I'll do it if I have it.

The system is G3258@4.4ghz, 8GB 1600mhz, GTX980 Strix.

btkm8unsl0w5r4 · 05-01-2015 2:16pm

TerrorFirmer, brilliant post there, nice job. Would be interested in the 3dmark 11 or firestrike scores.

TheDoc · 05-01-2015 3:37pm

@Terrorfirmer.

What was the reasoning behind putting a cutting edge new GPU into a machine running a €60 anniversary chip? Was it just for kicks and testing or was that a like "This is my main machine and choice I'm making".

Appreciate some guys run multiple rigs and test stuff, just wondering if thats the case.

Was reading a really interesting thread on overclockers, where there is a large community who have moved to the X99 platform from Intel, overclocking it to the limits, and the 980 is the card they are all throwing into it for these incredible machines.

challengemaster · 05-01-2015 4:11pm

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I'd love to be rich just so I could do ridiculous things like spend 1k on a gpu that comes in an aluminum flight case and then pair it with a 60 euro G3258, a €20 case, 4gb of ram and troll people on other forums with pictures.

Hi guys I just build this Pc for games, my friend pick the parts for me he said they were the best wat do u think...

I'd say he's fulfilling his lifelong dream :pac:

Off Topic Thread V2.0

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