PC Tech Thread

Indeed. And on the application of course. We use a bunch of pretty low latency network stuff. None of it makes networking easier :-)

Most TV boxes (Sky, BT TV, etc) will send the current output over a specific channel on the coax so it can be watched in different rooms by a normal telly.

Doesn't look like Virgin do this unfortunately.

https://store.virginmedia.com/discover/tv/ways-to-watch/multi-room.html

I'll be using a harmony RF remote so that's not an issue. Will have a look at technomate.

They were charging a bomb for multiroom and it still required each box to be wired to their coax.

Anyone want 100m or so of Cat6 cable? Yours for a forum donation. Collection from N15. Also a bit of twin and earth and some earth wiring if anyone wants that.

Probably 100m or so of coax as well.

Probably 100m or so of coax as well.

Do you know the coax type? Should have a cable code on the sheath....

This stuff. Although probably only 30-40m of that on closer inspection.

1 Attachment

I think that's RG6. Good cable but not what I need, cheers for taking the time to post a photo.

Hello,
I'm looking to upgrade my PC, which I use from gaming, to audio recording for about everything.

Mainboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA B150 (1151 slot)
CPU: i5-6500
GPU: Nvidia 1050ti
RAM: 16gb
Memory: SSD & HDD

My main concern is the CPU at the moment. The games I'm playing rely heavily on CPU and while the GPU is nothing to write home about, it seems to do it's job. The 6500 is more the problem here I guess.
My question is: will my mainboard support newer CPUs as long as they're on the same plug?

My idea would be to check ebay for a used newer generation i7 and plug that in there.
Also I have a M.2 slot going spare, so maybe another SSD to help with video editing.

Bad idea?

Something like an i7-8700 would give a hefty performance boost if you can pick one up cheapish. Should work with the same socket

All info, including socket, is on the Intel specs pages
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/126686/intel-core-i7-8700-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-60-ghz.html

Thanks! Some of those are on ebay, let's see if I can grab one.

What's the easiest way to rip DVDs into a simple format I could then copy to my phone and then cast?

Realised its about 13yrs since I last ripped one and that was to then burn to another disc.

Quality isn't overly important. We don't have a DVD player and they're children's DVDs that I feel morally obliged to play to mini-H.

Easiest is probably to just see if you can download them from torrents or newsgroups or whatever.

Otherwise, use MakeMKV to rip the DVD and then Handbrake to make the files a bit smaller (directly ripped they may be anything up to about 8GB each). There are loads of guides out there if you need them but they're both pretty self explanatory.

Does anyone know anything about chrome books? Wife is a teacher and her school uses them for everything, as I think most schools do. The one she has from school is pretty rubbish and laggy, so we are considering buying her a better one for use at home, which also means she wouldn’t have to bring her Covid covered laptop home each day... I have a couple of Q:

What is the fastest chromebook that can be bought?
The school obviously has some sort of corporate system, is this normally just a case of logging in with her account or will I have to give her new one to the school IT to set it up, which they are unlikely to want to do.

Any help appreciated, I know nothing about chrome books!

Cheers.

They're pretty random ones that would have come from a charity shop to start. So safe to say that they will probably not be on a torrent site.

TBH I should just lie.

It's also annoying as we got rid of my old (and good quality) DVD play because my OH insisted we use their TV which I didn't think had the old school connectors. Then last year I discovered there's a secret panel under the stand with them all in. /rant

There are plenty of top end ones like the Pixelbook that will set you back over a grand. Not really sure that's worth it though for a chromebook, a lot of the top end ones are more used for Linux. If you want something snappy then I'd look for a minimum of 8GB RAM and a modern processor (most have 4GB or sometimes only 2GB of RAM so 8GB is getting you into the more premium territory).

From what I've picked up second hand schools may require a full enrolment of the laptop which would require IT to set it up (I think this allows them to set up wifi settings, set the device so it can only log on to their registered users, etc) but you may be able to just log on if that is an option.

I guess the obvious is try it and see.

Any recommendations for a 6x3.5" bay NAS?

Compact, quiet and visible to a range of devices (Windows, Linux and Android the main ones) the main criteria. Perfectly happy to install an OS on it.

Doesn't need much power as it won't be dong anything other than serving files to Plex, backups, work documents, etc

Thats quite a nicely balanced system but the GPU is defo on the light side, unless you are 100% sure its CPU that limiting you I'd look at upgrading the GPU instead. New RTX cards yesterday means there is going to be a massive drop in prices of current (now last) gen.

Thats quite a nicely balanced system but the GPU is defo on the light side, unless you
are 100% sure its CPU that limiting you I'd look at upgrading the GPU instead. New RTX
cards yesterday means there is going to be a massive drop in prices of current (now last)
gen.

Plenty of RTX 2000 series hitting ebay today! I'm sure it will bring down the used high end GTX 1000 prices as well!

I've been putting together a new build over a few months and am so glad that I'd decided stick with my GTX 1060 until the nvidia announcement! The RTX 3080 is very tempting, but should I wait until AMD show their hand?

Can anyone recommend any silly computer games that I can play whilst writing? I am no good at concentrating for hours on end these days so I keep going to miniclips for their games but I’d like to play something that would allow some continuity like building something etc...

Plenty of RTX 2000 series hitting ebay today!

A lot of those starting bids are suddenly very optimistic.

The 10GB vram on the 3080 is a strange choice, particularly for those considering upgrading from a Ti of the two previous generations. Consensus seems be that Nvidia are waiting for AMD's move before hitting them with a 3080Ti.

I'm very tempted by the 3090, looks an absolute monster. No money down until proper reviews and benchmarks surface tho, even if that risks missing out on initial availability. Otherwise I might hang on for that rumoured Ti.

The 10GB vram on the 3080 is a strange choice, particularly for those considering
upgrading from a Ti of the two previous generations. Consensus seems be that Nvidia are
waiting for AMD's move before hitting them with a 3080Ti.

I'm very tempted by the 3090, looks an absolute monster. No money down until proper
reviews and benchmarks surface tho, even if that risks missing out on initial availability.
Otherwise I might hang on for that rumoured Ti.

As I understand it, the memory speed on the 3090 and 3080 is increased and there's RTX 10 which might help things and mitigate the need for more than 12GB of vram on the card. The Digital Foundry YouTube video showed some interesting increases!

Having said that, there's a big price gap between the RTX3080 an RTX3090 that l0oks like an open goal for a new card (RTX3080Ti?)!

What price do you guys reckon the rtx 2080 will be going for second hand? When it came out the RRP was $700 just like the 3080 and it's still going for that if you can find one.

Might have to wait until release before the prices settle down, but if it's comprehensively beaten by the £470 3070 then I'd reckon £300 tops.

I saw someone getting £275 for a 1080Ti from CEX, which is more or less on a par with a 2080. I'll probably be getting rid of my 1080Ti after upgrading and would take £250 for it, minus forum discount.

Also still got a regular GTX 1080 kicking around here. £100 if anyone wants that.