PC Building Guide and Discussion #12

[Dick Sledge]

My friend and I played our first games of PUBG on PC together. Before we have only played on our Xbox X's. At 1080p getting between 80 and 120fps is such a vast difference it's mind boggling. We placed 18 with no kills. Didn't really come across anyone. Bad circle for us. I died in the blue without ever seeing anyone and my friend died from a random sniper in the distance while he was in another gun battle.

It makes the Xbox version feel unplayable. I'm still fumbling around with learning mouse and keyboard, but it's definitely getting better. Black Ops 1 bot mode ftw.

 

[Kestrel]

My friend and I played our first games of PUBG on PC together. Before we have only played on our Xbox X's. At 1080p getting between 80 and 120fps is such a vast difference it's mind boggling. We placed 18 with no kills. Didn't really come across anyone. Bad circle for us. I died in the blue without ever seeing anyone and my friend died from a random sniper in the distance while he was in another gun battle.

It makes the Xbox version feel unplayable. I'm still fumbling around with learning mouse and keyboard, but it's definitely getting better. Black Ops 1 bot mode ftw.

Have fun! Consoles will definitely still have their place for you, I'm sure - but you probably won't ever look at gaming quite the same again.

 

[Sol]

Hey guys I just bought a new Dell G3 laptop. This is the specs and I wanted to ask. I don't know a lot about computers so I would love some help.

It comes with a very weak SSD card with around 168 GB of space. And there's an HDD (1 tb) that's also pre-installed. I am planning on buying the Samsung evo for better performance and speed. Since most likely all the OS and details will be in pre-installed SSD how do I successfully transfer that into the SSD (Evo)?

Plus is the HDD worth keeping or is there a way I can swap that out with an SSD of a similar size for performance.

 

[guinness]

Hey guys I just bought a new Dell G3 laptop. This is the specs and I wanted to ask. I don't know a lot about computers so I would love some help.

It comes with a very weak SSD card with around 168 GB of space. And there's an HDD (1 tb) that's also pre-installed. I am planning on buying the Samsung evo for better performance and speed. Since most likely all the OS and details will be in pre-installed SSD how do I successfully transfer that into the SSD (Evo)?

Plus is the HDD worth keeping or is there a way I can swap that out with an SSD of a similar size for performance.

Samsung SSDs come with SW, IIRC, it's called Magician, that should be able to do the drive cloning.

And I'd keep the HD, and put in an external enclosure, but up to you.

 

[Matias Maccete]

My friend and I played our first games of PUBG on PC together. Before we have only played on our Xbox X's. At 1080p getting between 80 and 120fps is such a vast difference it's mind boggling. We placed 18 with no kills. Didn't really come across anyone. Bad circle for us. I died in the blue without ever seeing anyone and my friend died from a random sniper in the distance while he was in another gun battle.

It makes the Xbox version feel unplayable. I'm still fumbling around with learning mouse and keyboard, but it's definitely getting better. Black Ops 1 bot mode ftw.

The framerate difference is insane, I noticed the same when I switched.

 

[Sol]

Samsung SSDs come with SW, IIRC, it's called Magician, that should be able to do the drive cloning.

And I'd keep the HD, and put in an external enclosure, but up to you.

To be more specific the laptop I got the SSD is Pcie chip and not a 2.5. Would getting a nvme Samsung evo work as a replacement to the pcie


I really know so little so any help would be appreciated.

This is the model.
G3579-7054WHT-PUS.

Anyone looking at the specs know how I could upgrade this

 

[SniperHF]

Hey guys I just bought a new Dell G3 laptop. This is the specs and I wanted to ask. I don't know a lot about computers so I would love some help.

It comes with a very weak SSD card with around 168 GB of space. And there's an HDD (1 tb) that's also pre-installed. I am planning on buying the Samsung evo for better performance and speed. Since most likely all the OS and details will be in pre-installed SSD how do I successfully transfer that into the SSD (Evo)?

Plus is the HDD worth keeping or is there a way I can swap that out with an SSD of a similar size for performance.

You should still be able to clone it whatever you end up with.

Have you cracked it open and found out what type of SSD exactly it is you have already?

Anyway, the site here says it should take an NVMe drive
Dell G3 Series 15 Inch Thin Gaming Laptop | Dell United States

Built for speed: Dual drives with SSD options including NVMe PCIe ensure faster performance and better reliability, and a new Ethernet port supports full 100/1000 Gigabit connections for quick performance.

But that might be optional and while I'd think it would take an NVMe since they usually don't like making two motherboards, I'd want to confirm it.

You could also download SSD Life to find out exactly what SSD you have currently:
SSDLife download page - freeware, professional and portable version downloads.

To be more specific the laptop I got the SSD is Pcie chip and not a 2.5. Would getting a nvme Samsung evo work as a replacement to the pcie

Part of the confusion is, the m.2 port will take drives that still run on a SATA bus. They are quite common even. So you can have one of the cards but it still runs at SATA speeds.

But according to the specs it should be a PCIe speed one. So given that I'm not really sure how much faster the Samsung would be.
Dell G3 17 Setup and Specifications
I'm sure it would be faster but I think you'd mostly be getting another one for the increased capacity.

Could always find a speed test to run.

 

[Sol]

You should still be able to clone it whatever you end up with.

Have you cracked it open and found out what type of SSD exactly it is you have already?

Anyway, the site here says it should take an NVMe drive
Dell G3 Series 15 Inch Thin Gaming Laptop | Dell United States


But that might be optional and while I'd think it would take an NVMe since they usually don't like making two motherboards, I'd want to confirm it.

You could also download SSD Life to find out exactly what SSD you have currently:
SSDLife download page - freeware, professional and portable version downloads.



Part of the confusion is, the m.2 port will take drives that still run on a SATA bus. They are quite common even. So you can have one of the cards but it still runs at SATA speeds.

But according to the specs it should be a PCIe speed one. So given that I'm not really sure how much faster the Samsung would be.
Dell G3 17 Setup and Specifications
I'm sure it would be faster but I think you'd mostly be getting another one for the increased capacity.

Could always find a speed test to run.

Dude, thank you so much for the help, as you can tell I'm not well versed at all.

I got this laptop for a business in Photoshop / Marketing. I know photoshop is a big program so I'm very bent on getting performance boosts. I haven't gotten the laptop I'm just being proactive since Im thinking that I'll need to upgrade the pcie/nvme for better performance.

So I can't tell you exactly what the specs names are.

What would you recommend I do or alter to this laptop?

 

[Kestrel]

Well, the upgrade is complete. My parents' HTPC has gone from an E6500 with an HD 4670 to a 2400G rocking Vega 11 graphics - a very solid upgrade both to the CPU and video capabilities. I'm mildly tempted to throw some midrange games on there and see how it does.

One fail so far - no 4k Netflix. It could be a cable issue. The PC itself will do 4k, but it might not be an HDMI 2.0 / HDCP 2.2 compliant cable that I've got... I'll try swapping it out later.

 

[SniperHF]

I got this laptop for a business in Photoshop / Marketing. I know photoshop is a big program so I'm very bent on getting performance boosts. I haven't gotten the laptop I'm just being proactive since Im thinking that I'll need to upgrade the pcie/nvme for better performance.

I'm very much in the try it first school of upgrades. I'd just see how you like it as is.

AS-SSD can tell you how fast your ssd is running:
AS SSD Benchmark

You can post the results if you want and someone can tell you if it's slow or not.

I'm not really a photoshop wiz, but I've dabbled and I don't think it generally benefits from SSDs all that much. Mostly on your initial load times if you're talking about a massive file. But even files in the 4K resolution thereabouts with a high PPI aren't really that big compared to say video files. And most of that work is done in RAM once it's loaded so it really shouldn't even be hitting the SSD much.

 

[Sol]

I'm very much in the try it first school of upgrades. I'd just see how you like it as is.

AS-SSD can tell you how fast your ssd is running:
AS SSD Benchmark

You can post the results if you want and someone can tell you if it's slow or not.

I'm not really a photoshop wiz, but I've dabbled and I don't think it generally benefits from SSDs all that much. Mostly on your initial load times if you're talking about a massive file. But even files in the 4K resolution thereabouts with a high PPI aren't really that big compared to say video files. And most of that work is done in RAM once it's loaded so it really shouldn't even be hitting the SSD much.

Do you think I should be more focused on getting RAM ?

 

[Kestrel]

Do you think I should be more focused on getting RAM ?

How much RAM does it already have?

 

[Sol]

How much RAM does it already have?

It has 8gb DDR4.

 

[Kestrel]

It has 8gb DDR4.

Adobe recommends 8GB (and requires 2GB) for Photoshop. More MAY make a noticeable improvement, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Kestrel]

I seem to have a real knack for buying motherboards with BIOS issues. This time - the board would let me boot to the BIOS, but it would not let me navigate - it was like the system would freeze once it got to the BIOS options screen.

I looked for a quick flash option as the BIOS was posting, but nothing was there. I read about the option of pushing F6 for other ASRock models, but any info on my motherboard was pretty thin and the manual is a little sketchy. The company's own Windows app won't pull any BIOS info, or show any available software or BIOS downloads, even though it's supposed to.

Finally, out of desperation, I pulled the CMOS batter. The ASRock Windows app still shows nothing, but now I can navigate the BIOS - and the previous missing F6 quick flash option - is now there.

I'm going to leave the computer for my parents to use, and see if some of its other problems have been resolved by this. If not, at least I now have the option of trying to flash the BIOS, and maybe do another clean Windows install.

 

[SniperHF]

I seem to have a real knack for buying motherboards with BIOS issues. This time - the board would let me boot to the BIOS, but it would not let me navigate - it was like the system would freeze once it got to the BIOS options screen.

Have you tried changing what USB port your KB/mouse is plugged into?

 

[Kestrel]

Have you tried changing what USB port your KB/mouse is plugged into?

Yes, I did - it wasn't the port, pulling the CMOS battery resolved it. I'm hoping that it was really just a CMOS that shipped biffed, and that resetting it has resolved everything. If not, at least I can actually access the BIOS to flash it now though.

 

[Dick Sledge]

Gpu sag?

DIY quick fixes?

Edit: nevermind. Found a Jayztwocents video that worked perfectly.

 

[SniperHF]

Gpu sag?

I don't pay it much mind anymore. It used to concern me when these monster sized cards started coming out (+/- 2006 or so) but even then reports of it ever causing harm are minimal.

I have a 9800 GTX that has been in my primary and then secondary system that sags since 2008 and everything still works fine.

And if anything cards are getting lighter on average.

 

[Dick Sledge]

I don't pay it much mind anymore. It used to concern me when these monster sized cards started coming out (+/- 2006 or so) but even then reports of it ever causing harm are minimal.

I have a 9800 GTX that has been in my primary and then secondary system that sags since 2008 and everything still works fine.

And if anything cards are getting lighter on average.

It actually was a super easy fix that took 5 minutes total.

Just used a tiny m2 screw from the back. All level now. It just looks better now.

 

[Kestrel]

So, despite getting the new motherboard in my parents' HTPC to be able to access the BIOS (after clearing the CMOS), it is still having issues - it glitches and freezes when running Plex through Chrome. I am trying to get them to watch more Netflix to see if it glitches there.

At this point, what I'm thinking is, because the BIOS was already identified as a problem, flash to the most recent version of the BIOS, and do a clean Windows install with the new BIOS. If that doesn't get results, I'm thinking test the RAM next.

Thoughts?

 

[SniperHF]

When in doubt blame software. At least for the Plex thing. I have a hard time seeing a link to what might be at issue in the BIOS to something going on in Windows in Chrome using another server. Especially if everything else seems fine at the desktop level.

But for the mouse/kb thing, if you can manage to flash it I'd certainly try it. You might even email the mobo manufacturer, some of them are surprisingly responsive.
Not a mobo maker but I actually spent 45 minutes on the phone with a PowerColor tech once over an issue on a HD6950.

 

[Kestrel]

When in doubt blame software. At least for the Plex thing. I have a hard time seeing a link to what might be at issue in the BIOS to something going on in Windows in Chrome using another server. Especially if everything else seems fine at the desktop level.

But for the mouse/kb thing, if you can manage to flash it I'd certainly try it. You might even email the mobo manufacturer, some of them are surprisingly responsive.
Not a mobo maker but I actually spent 45 minutes on the phone with a PowerColor tech once over an issue on a HD6950.

Well, Everything else wasn't really fine at the desktop level - the computer would freeze when attempting reboots for example.

Anyhow - I looked into the BIOS - and I was kind of surprised to find out that the motherboard shipped with a beta version of the BIOS. I have flashed the BIOS - after which Windows would NOT reboot. I have reinstalled Windows, and I am waiting on AMD's horribly slow file server so that I can install drivers. We'll see how things go after that.

 

[SniperHF]

Anyhow - I looked into the BIOS - and I was kind of surprised to find out that the motherboard shipped with a beta version of the BIOS.

That makes sense if they had boards ready to ship out and AMD just released some new APUs at the time.

So if they shipped out a bunch of boards with the old stable version and people bought the new CPU cause that's what you do, you'd have an APU that wouldn't boot on your board at all. Of course the *right* thing to do would be for whatever board manufacturer to hold off releasing the board but well yeah.

 

[Kestrel]

That makes sense if they had boards ready to ship out and AMD just released some new APUs at the time.

So if they shipped out a bunch of boards with the old stable version and people bought the new CPU cause that's what you do, you'd have an APU that wouldn't boot on your board at all. Of course the *right* thing to do would be for whatever board manufacturer to hold off releasing the board but well yeah.

It's an X470 board - the original, non-beta BIOS is from April, after the APU's were already released, so I don't believe that's the issue.

Anyhow - I have a new suspect. The BIOS definitely was borked before, but I think it's good now... BUT, I think the Windows/Plex/Chrome problems might actually be due to the SSD. I haven't eliminated RAM as a suspect yet, BUT - Windows has having some odd behaviour. Windows was slow to boot, and I had Windows semi-lock - ie, the mouse was still fully responsive, but the GUI was locked.

To add to that, I could not download drivers from AMD's site - the system would freeze and reboot before finishing, but even when it was trying to download, I was maxing out at 300 KB/s, and the download speed would really fluctuate, and at times just completely stall. I thought it was perhaps AMD's site - well, I just downloaded the same file, with the same internet connection, with another computer, and got a solid, fairly consistent 3 MB/s.

The final nail in the coffin - their SSD is a several-years-old OCZ 64 GB... I don't know about the specific model, but I know those things were supposed to have high failure rates when they were new. I was kind of planning on replacing it for them anyway, so IF that's the culprit, great - if not, it was on the to-do list anyway.