Official Computer Help Thread

[DenimRogue]

Use the online sources like https://besttechexpert.guide/ to find all the necessary info and compare prices. Do remember you should build the computer around the powerful CPU (Ryzen from AMD or i7 CoreDual from Intel). Also, nowadays the actual RAM should be at least 8 GB.

 

[Contrabardus]

That's true. CPUs tend to last longer than most other hardware if you futureproof and go high end.

A good powerful CPU will likely last you through two or three GPU upgrades.

 

[Shirotsume]

A good CPU these days will likely last you slightly less than a decade. I put a gen 1 i7 in the computer I built in ~09, and I replaced it early this year. Not because I had to, but because I was changing MOBOs to get better features like DDR4/USB3/PCI slots/etc. Nothing was maxing out the CPU.

 

[chronodekar]

A good CPU these days will likely last you slightly less than a decade. I put a gen 1 i7 in the computer I built in ~09, and I replaced it early this year. Not because I had to, but because I was changing MOBOs to get better features like DDR4/USB3/PCI slots/etc. Nothing was maxing out the CPU.

Does this also apply for games like Skyrim or Fallout? As in; do those games not get CPU bound, and having a more recent CPU would make them playable? (playable = 60FPS).

Or .. to ask the question in another way, can a gen1 i7 play Fallout 4 with say ... a 1080 nvidia card at max settings with 60FPS? Assume a resolution of 1920x1080.

I was under the impression that CPU upgrades were important for gaming. Please, correct me if I'm wrong?

And before you ask, no I'm not mixing up CPU and GPU. I doubt if a 880 GTX could play a game released this year comfortably (AAA games, that is).

-chronodekar

 

[Shirotsume]

I mean, I was playing skyrim at (unmodded) max settings with a gen 1 i7 and 2x HD 7870s. (Not that the crossfire actually did anything for skyrim, so you can consider it a single 7870)

Now, that said, some games ARE CPU bound, World of Warcraft being the classic example. That said, most games that are genuinely CPU bound are typically pretty old, and even though they're CPU bound there's an 'effective limit' on how much effect a good CPU can get you, and most midrange CPUs will get you there.

As for Fallout 4, I have zero idea. I despise what the fallout series has become and do not play it. From what it looks like though, this person seems to find it A-OK.

 

[Shirotsume]

Sorry for the double post- One thing I SHOULD point out is that the above video is with the i7-930 overclocked from 1.8Hz to 3.8GHz.

That said, the i7-930 was a card that was all but explicitly made for overclocking. You could hit 4.0 with hyper 212+ (which is what I did).

But yeah, as long as you get a top of the line card that has headroom, you're gonna be good for a long while.

 

[da_fox2279]

I need to replace old, damaged HP Envy-17t; I'm thinking of getting an HP 17.3" AMD A9. I'm a casual gamer, who really plans on using it for browsing, streaming, and misc things. Is this a good choice?

Also, would it be possible to connect the new laptop to my old one to access/copy some things, like my IE favorites or some .txt documents I didn't get a chance to save to my external hdd?

 

[Antimatter]

For some reason, my windows will nto boot on first startup. I always have to turn the PC back off and on again.

I think I need to reinstall windows or something, it's done this even after changing cpu/motherboard.

 

[zerohour]

two problems on two different computers, using the same hdd.

-shift keys don't work on the first one. took it apart and keyboard cable is still connected to the motherboard. would assume the keyboard is just getting old, but it;s both of them instead of just one.

-second computer boots fine, but during the bootup the screen starts flashing on and off, before settling on a blank black screen. worked fine earlier in the day. no idea what happened.

 

[roting_CORPSE]

anyone know what the hell is up with Reddit. it asks me to change password but when I get to the screen to change said password my browser freezes.

bot chrome and firefox.

 

[chronodekar]

just checking; is this the url you are using to change password?

https://www.reddit.com/prefs/update/

-chronodekar

 

[roting_CORPSE]

that and the email link the sent me.

 

[chronodekar]

Perhaps it's something with the new reddit page? Try the old one in incognito mode. i.e. login to here = https://old.reddit.com

and after that try changing your password here = https://old.reddit.com/prefs/update/

-chronodekar

 

[da_fox2279]

Does anyone know how to shut down the speakers on a TCL tv (model 43S403) when hooking up a soundbar (Vizio model S3821W-CO)? I'm trying to get it to work, but I can't get the tv speakers off, so I get that damn double echo bit.

 

[mgsaintz]

TCL should have built in setting for that, Settings>Audio>TV Speakers>Enabled/Disabled.

 

[da_fox2279]

Thank you. I couldn't figure that out... In retrospect, seems obvious.

 

[da_fox2279]

Edit: Removed. Got the info elsewhere. Sorry to have bothered y'all.

 

[sith2886]

So TIFU I updated from Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-Edition-18.12.1 10 19.1.1 and everything from my mouse to my videos started lagging. I then went and reinstalled 18.12.1 and the problem persisted. How do I fix this?

HP latop,
Windows 10
AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon HD graphics 2.00 Ghz
4 GB of RAM

 

[ThreadWeaver]

Download the previous edition again from AMD, or in your case HP. They usually keep a number of old versions available for just such an occurrence. Do a complete uninstall of the current version (use the uninstaller included with the app if one shows up in the programs list under AMD or use the add/remove programs are of the control panel.) then reboot. Then install the old version.

I am a software packrat and keep almost a year's worth of drivers around, despite them taking up hordes of space (Nvidia's video driver packages have crossed the 500MB mark now) so I can troubleshoot with the older versions if necessary. You may want to start keeping at least one or two, if not a few, of the previous versions around, just in case.

 

[sith2886]

well I rolled back my laptop and it's still lagging even without the AMD install. Plus it was almost impossible to get windows to run at all.

 

[da_fox2279]

Running Win10. Using Firefox to browse... pretty much everything, honestly, since Edge fucking sucks, but with Imgur, I keep having problems with the site freezing at times, only for it to reload and the following notification come up on the edge of my screen: 'Aplication has been blocked from accessing Graphics Hardware'.

Is this a common thing with Firefox? I'm using the most recent updated version, and I don't have this problem with most other sites.

 

[BtML]

Dont forget to disable all the built in spyware bullshit. There's lots of guides online.

Okay, so this is something that's been bothering me ever since Win10 became a thing, and now that I updated my system with it, what should I make sure are disabled (or just straight up deleted)? I mean, that thing where Windows Update looks updates through connections that cost money (who's idea was that? and how can I get my hands on them?) is disabled, thank god, but what else is there?

Also, WTF is the point of putting Xbox stuff in here? That doesn't compute at all.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Well... I'm not going to give you all the settings I use as number of them I doubt would be applicable to you, but on any Windows 10 system I set up for myself... I do following:

Windows 10:

- Select No to having Cortana remember setting and send information to Microoft

- Settings\Network and Internet\Wi-Fi: Turn OffSettings\Network and Internet\Wi-Fi: Find Paid Plan and Hotspot near me: Turn Off

- Settings\Network and Internet\Wi-Fi: FindHotspot 2.0 Networks: Turn Off

- Settings\Network and Internet\Wi-Fi: Let me use sign up: Turn Off

- Settings\Network and Internet\Airplane Mode: Turn On

- Settings\Network and Internet\Airplane Mode\Wireless devices: Turn Off

- Settings\Network and Internet\Mobile Hotspot: Turn Off

- Settings\Network and Internet\Mobile Hotspot: Turn on remotely: Turn Off

- Settings\Privacy\General\Change Privacy Options All to Off

- Settings\Privacy\Location: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Camera\Let Apps use my Camera: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Microphone\Let Apps use my Microphone: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Speech Inking Typing\Getting to Know You: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Account Info: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Contacts: All to Off

- Settings\Privacy\Calendar: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Call History: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Email: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Messaging: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Radios: Off

- Settings\Privacy\Other Devices: All to Off

- Settings\Privacy\Feedback and Diagnostics\Feedback : Never

- Task Bar: Cortana: Hide Cortana

- Task Bar: View People Button: Uncheck

In Windows 10 under Edge in configuration screen:

- Clear Browsing Data\Choose What to Clear: Turn On Download History, Data, Passwords, Media Licenses, Popup Exceptions, Location permissions, Full screen permissions, Compatibility permissions

- Advance Settings: Send Do not track requests: Turn On

In Windows 10 under Internet Explorer 11 in Tools/Internet Options/Advanced:

- Check Yes to Close Unused Folders in History and Favorites,

- Check No to Use Smooth Scrolling,

- Check Yes to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

- Check Yes to Send Do Not Track Requests.

In Windows 10 under Media Player 12:

- Turn off all options to go to intenet to update the audio/video files... this has the nasty habit of altering date / time stamps and is not always correct. I prefer my data to remain as is.

In Windows 10 under Explorer:

- I turn off the auto updating and generating of thumbnails.. there was a hack a few years ago that involved that ability and I just turn them off automatically ever since I heard about it.

Does that help?

EDIT: Edited a couple times to clean up the formatting... I initially copied direct from my Excel Configuration sheet and the formatting did not come over as clean as wanted.

 

[BtML]

Okay, that is pretty useful information, especially the one on Cortana.

Though, I have to comment this: what the ever loving f**k is with all these phone functions?? Like, what even is the damn point??

Thank you, PCHeintz72.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Okay, that is pretty useful information, especially the one on Cortana.

Though, I have to comment this: what the ever loving f**k is with all these phone functions?? Like, what even is the damn point??

Thank you, PCHeintz72.

I have a feature phone with no bluetooth (by choice)... so those functions are worthless to me, but can prove to be an entry vector.

Some of those features some may want left on, for example... if you actually use wifi, you normally will not airplane mode except when jacked in or not near connections you feel secure using. I have my house wired, so I do not use Wifi for my systems... I do have wifi for the gadget level devices in the house, like my moms and nephews tablets.

I do set other items in windows 10, but those are most of the internet type ones... I set some network lan/wan settings and sharing rights, but I'm not bothering with posting those, most people don't deal with networks, and my house is configured more like a small business than a house.


EDIT: Oh, and one thing I forgot... those settings are what I see... however, differing versions of windows 10 may have some more or less items than I posted.... they varied the screens a bit as it evolved over the last few years... those are the ones I wrote down as of the last time I reset one of my systems.