Tech Corner

[Pol]

Kalah better to get something from the new line. That's because you want to play on it as well. If that would be for office work, your solution would work always, as a gaming computer I don't think that you will be so lucky, the chances are but low.

If you wish to be on the lazy side, you may sign in here. And AMD will tell you when the new notebooks with Carrizo APU processors will be ready for distribution.

More tech stuff is here.

Although it would be laughable if again "Heroes Nvidia" optimized game would work better on AMD. (As it's not optimized at all, which would not happen on A title from Ubisoft but hey here.. )

[Kalah]

Kalah better to get something from the new line.

No, too expensive. I'm after a cheap computer this time, but not with the typically cheap-and-not-good "Celeron" CPU option.

That's because you want to play on it as well.

Another no. I already have a gaming rig, remember?

What I use the laptop for is Internet grazing, simple image editing and writing. If I am to play games on it, it will be something simple to pass the time while travelling - that sort of thing. I guess I'll get back to this when Christmas approaches.

[Pol]

What I use the laptop for is Internet grazing, simple image editing and writing. If I am to play games on it, it will be something simple to pass the time while travelling - that sort of thing. I guess I'll get back to this when Christmas approaches.

In that case you will be satisfied, so win-win.

Mmhhm, considering there will be not negative changes in currency value cause Greece is off and Italy will went to protest, regarding the immigrants question. And dollar is going up.

[ThunderTitan]

So, what's the difference between these two:

http://www.emag.ro/laptop-asus-cu-proce ... D6B8RBBBM/

http://www.emag.ro/laptop-asus-cu-proce ... DS0VRMBBM/

[Pol]

@TT
Broadwell is newer, means lowered power consumption. Perhaps also a tid bit more performance, haven't time to check the tests. Still I think that it will be negligible.

[GreatEmerald]

So, what's the difference between these two:

Aside from what Pol said, the Broadwell has slightly faster integrated graphics.

For something more in-depth, Ark is your friend:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/81018,84695

[ThunderTitan]

What about this Toshiba: http://www.emag.ro/laptop-toshiba-satel ... DYF8YMBBM/

It has a very sizeable discount, but it wont last long.... so go, go opinions pls.

[GreatEmerald]

The processor is OK, but the graphics card is just as weak as integrated graphics, so it might as well not even be included.

[ThunderTitan]

Well its for my mother, and i was planning on getting her one without a vcard... but this one's cheaper atm then the other one.

But the dedicated vc still helps offload stuff from the RAM, right? She just wants to watch films on it anyway...


Oh, and what about this monitor: http://www.emag.ro/monitor-led-ips-hp-p ... EXWRKBBBM/


This one i like, but the discount is too low: http://www.emag.ro/monitor-led-ips-dell ... DLN3JBBBM/

[GreatEmerald]

Well, for watching video you don't even need a dedicated card. You just need something better than a GMA 600 (which is what's on my tablet ). And this is 10 times faster, so no issues there. (For videos, more important can be hardware decoding; not so much for performance as for battery life and heat, though.) In fact, it might be too good for just that use, but if it's a discount, then why not.

The monitors look OK. I'd always prefer ones with DisplayPort, but DVI works as well for the time being.

[ThunderTitan]

Well i went with the Dell monitor... too bad the stand isnt compatible with my old one... the plastic part of the clip on mechanism isnt wide enough i think, so the old stand doesnt stick in place... i really like the v design.

Also got the Toshiba, it was very cheap, it was like 30% off...

[mr.hackcrag]

What do you guys think of the verdict on Windows 10?

[Kalah]

I'm using it on my old laptop now and it seems OK. It took forever to download and install, but didn't delete any of my old stuff so I didn't have to go through the tedious process of reinstalling all my old programs. A couple of things are still weird, like the fact that the PC goes into rest mode after just a few minutes of inactivty, despite the settings saying otherwise. The rest, I feel, is just a matter of getting used to.

[Galaad]

As long as things run on 7 I stay on 7.

[mr.hackcrag]

On high resolution monitors like 2560x1440 what are the best techniques to use so that everything does not appear microscopic in size?

[Pol]

Huh, didn't notice your question.

DPI should handle it, it's just matter of operation system & driver. There I sadly don't use any super monitor, but where are troubles then often some utility will come to help.

Can you experiment or you are just thinking in advance?

Under Win8.1 is "Control Panel\Appearance and Personalisation\Display", for older Windows you could change theme. For newer I have no chance to test.

--------------------------------------------------
Yay, there will be new Crimson Drivers from AMD. Bye, bye Microsoft.Net.

[Pol]

AMD new Crimson Drivers were released yesterday.

What is out? No longer use of NET.Framework and load faster!
What is in? Shader cache. When you are walking across many location, shaders are saved to memory and then reused.

Tested? No, but it was here.

Mmmm. There's a question.
Is there any effect with MM:H7, anyone tested?

[Pol]

There for example is perfromance of my APU with DDR3 1600MHz, and there some more powerful cards for comparsion. For measuring was used Unigine Valley. BTW Heroes VI or V. run on my machine just fine, I don't dare to try MM:H7 though.





For comparsion.

Edit1:
Definitively AMD Crimson Drivers added some negligible performance but hey they already crashed four times on me. And always in desktop mode, with dreaded error 'IRQ LESS OR EQUAL'. Something silly here. *Seems like Killer's driver update - app removed, testing.

Apart from that there is also known fan bug.

Edit2:
Just if anyone have problem with Killer E2200 stability, if you don't need killer features, they offer also standard drivers, see here and there down is link to "Standard Drivers (no Killer Features)"

[Pol]

There is being re-discovered interesting niche on gaming market - a small but powerfull graphics card. To my knowledge there are two, both from AMD.

Sapphire R9 285 2GB ITX Compact OC - positionend in the middle, performance and money speaking
Sapphire Radeon™ R9 380 2G D5 ITX - also ITX edition, in the middle between these two
Sapphire R9 NANO 4G, 4GB - top, in both terms

I'm happy that I don't need to buy any atm, because new line of cards, equipped with HBM2 memories will be coming this summer. Or so they say.

There's some simple gpu performance tab.

Edit1
Added R380 ITX card.

[Pol]

I would also like to draw some attention to "Turris Omnia" router, which you can get from Indiego. Because it's not router like a router and this one
* has regular updates (Based on regular members of Turris program discovered threats, yes, that's a community.)
* it's open source
* it's top from point of performance and capabilities (can be extended by LTE modem or disk, NAS software included)

So, this can be for many people better alternative to Mikrotik routers, with their RouterOS.