General Computer Thread

[Marc]

Anyone with some Microsoft Surface Experience?

We’re having some Issues where the screen goes black. If you touch on the screen or a key, you’re back at the login screen. It’s happening intermittently. I just updated all the drivers, screen savers and power saver is off. I’m not familiar enough with it, thought someone could help out.

At which point is the black screen occuring? Looking a google and on another forum, some people have experience the black screen with Windows 10, others with the Surface tablets.

Response on a Microsoft forum in response to one person's experience.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...y/9530070a-d0e0-4894-90e0-2ae6fd0f3a25?auth=1

I'd also check the system event logs (yeah I know can be a pile of mumble-jumble) to see if anything jumps out as having occured around the time of the problem.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Anyone with some Microsoft Surface Experience?

We’re having some Issues where the screen goes black. If you touch on the screen or a key, you’re back at the login screen. It’s happening intermittently. I just updated all the drivers, screen savers and power saver is off. I’m not familiar enough with it, thought someone could help out.

That sounds more a hardware problem. Bad connector or something.

 

[Santaman]

After some pondering I bought a 3Gb Asus Dual OC GTX 1060, good quality card, nice cooler and so far it does everything the broken GTX 780 did, could have gone for the 6Gb model but the games I play and the resolution of my monitor doesn't require it, also in two years I assume I'll upgrade again and then I'll see what configuration I need, so far the FX 8350 and GTX 1060 cover all my needs.

As for the Surface problems:
https://www.computerworld.com/artic...r-several-long-standing-surface-problems.html

So far I can see it seems that it has been an overpriced piece of crap...

 

[Robert Maxwell]

So, I got my hands on a touchscreen display that was once part of a point-of-sale system. VGA input. Too much ghosting to use for games or videos, but works great and screen quality is just fine.

Give me interesting/unusual ideas for what I can do with it (besides destroy it or throw it away)!

 

[Marc]

Give me interesting/unusual ideas for what I can do with it (besides destroy it or throw it away)!

interface for a home automation system?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

A touch interface on a desktop screen would be handy for general purpose use... There's tons of things I could do with that like with writing and opening multiple documents. Some games like the card games that come with windows would be fun like that.

Would be handy for that kind of general usage.

 

[Marc]

A touch interface on a desktop screen would be handy for general purpose use... There's tons of things I could do with that like with writing and opening multiple documents. Some games like the card games that come with windows would be fun like that.

Would be handy for that kind of general usage.

Other than for a POS environment, a touch screen on a desktop is a major pain in the arse to use. It's just not comfortable to use when you're putting your arm straight to do anything major with other than point of sale and those screens are often angled at the users who work from a standing position.

I had a client years ago who had an HP AIO with touch and it was pain to use.

And that's before we get to the issue of finger prints all over the thing.

Touch has it's place, just not on the desktop for every day use.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I think it's time to upgrade my graphics card. I currently have a 4gig R9 380 but that's a little old now. It does run most of my games well at 1080p but I want to make a change.

Anyone have any suggestions for a new card? I paid $360 for my card back at the start of last year.

So I'd like to not spend too much if possible. I'm thinking $400 to be my upper limit, but will that limit my choices?

 

[Santaman]

RX Vega 56 is in that price bracket and the non Ti GTX 1070

 

[John Clark]

RX Vega 56 is in that price bracket and the non Ti GTX 1070

Wish they were that sort of price here I was looking at them when my 290 died before getting the 1060. At the current rate of exchange the cheapest GTX was going for around 80 dollars more - and don't even ask about the vega. That was just horrendous

Still, for what I need, mine is fine though I wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade from a R9-380.

 

[Santaman]

I had a GTX 780 which died on me and I use a 3Gb GTX 1060 and it isn't slower than the GTX 780, in any case I don't notice a difference except that the card, an Asus with two fans, is far more quiet that the GTX 780.

Yeah, prices are out of whack..

As for the 1060, it is really not a bad card, older stuff like Borderlands 1-2-presequel and Saints Row III and IV run great on it.

 

[Marc]

Wish they were that sort of price here I was looking at them when my 290 died before getting the 1060. At the current rate of exchange the cheapest GTX was going for around 80 dollars more - and don't even ask about the vega. That was just horrendous

Still, for what I need, mine is fine though I wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade from a R9-380.

If you're pissed off with graphics card prices, blame the bitcoin miners.

Demand for the cards with that purpose in mind is impacting the supplies of the higher end cards.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Yeah bloody bitcoiners. I wish that currency would die. I have been reading about that and yeah that's what is pushing prices up.

 

[John Clark]

If you're pissed off with graphics card prices, blame the bitcoin miners.

Demand for the cards with that purpose in mind is impacting the supplies of the higher end cards.

Indeed. Just thought I'd have a quick glance for a R9 290 here and the used ones were going for about $350 at the current rate. They've probably been run into the ground and their old owners shelled out for more upt to date ones. R9-290s sold as new don't seem to be easy to find.

 

[Stephen!]

Yeah bloody bitcoiners. I wish that currency would die. I have been reading about that and yeah that's what is pushing prices up.

This is something to do with using the GPU of the graphics card to supplement the CPU's processing power?

 

[Marc]

This is something to do with using the GPU of the graphics card to supplement the CPU's processing power?

yep - at the end of the day, video cards are all about crunching numbers and number crunching is used to hashout bitcoins.

So a die hard miner could have a rig running 9 high end video cards but the CPU running things will be a measly Pentium.

Using a GPU for large scale number crunching isn't just the domain of the bitcoin miners, it's also a concept used in all of the Supercomputers and for applications like Machine Learning but they don't use consumer grade cards for that. The chips used as pretty much the same but are verified for their precision and accuracy.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Never mind the cost of video cards, mining bitcoins is likely causing ecological damage due to the escalating amount of power required.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-2017-11

 

[Marc]

Never mind the cost of video cards, mining bitcoins is likely causing ecological damage due to the escalating amount of power required.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-2017-11

yes a friend posted that on facebook the other day - truly staggering amount of power being used. Probably a good thing that the value of bitcoins is so high - not only because of the equipment cost but the electricity cos to run it.

With high-end video cards pulling north of 300watt you're easily getting into the kilowatt range to run these mining rigs.

Not sure bitcoins really offer that good an ROI.

 

[Santaman]

FSP just released a 2000 watt PSU.. so I imagine this one being REALLY popular with miners..

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

yes a friend posted that on facebook the other day - truly staggering amount of power being used. Probably a good thing that the value of bitcoins is so high - not only because of the equipment cost but the electricity cos to run it.

With high-end video cards pulling north of 300watt you're easily getting into the kilowatt range to run these mining rigs.

Not sure bitcoins really offer that good an ROI.

Greed is a big motivator, even if it screws the planet. The power demand only gets worse as the remaining bitcoins are extracted - not sure if it's an exponential relationship nor how many of the total available number have been mined so far. I just wish this stupid virtual currency would crash like tulip mania did in 1636-37.