Random Question Thread: Tech

**Omniyoji** · 2012-10-19 15:47

Not exactly sure if UMA branding is the same as their previous GMA but I do know that the older 1st gen eee pcs could run FFXI. I'd be willing to bet yes but not 100% sure on that one.

**Isiolia** · 2012-10-19 15:54

Originally Posted by Esvedium

Any chance that this netbook will be able to play ffxi in SNES settings? I can get it for ~$70, so might just try anyways, and have a cheap netbook/toy/etc to play with.

Should, yeah. Most results I've seen for FFXI on netbooks are on previous generations of Atom CPUs, and N2600 in that has an improved GPU over those. Still wouldn't expect much, but it should run.

**RKenshin** · 2012-10-19 19:28

Random question I think I know the answer to, but not 100% certain.

I have two HDDs: One with Windows, another with a few games/programs and a bunch of misc storage.

Planning to remove the Windows drive, and replace it with an SSD formatted with Windows. This will 'break' some if not most of the games/software I have installed on the second drive though, right?

**Caiyuo** · 2012-10-19 20:05

The case I bought recently has a "slim ODD bay" in it, but I can't find what that would be used for. Is it something like fan controllers or like a slim DVD drive? I haven't been able to find either and a slim DVD drive actually sounds like it would look great.

**Mojo** · 2012-10-19 20:35

I dualbox on the 1215 (in regards to that Netbook line.) It's completely different hardware though, but I think it should be able to handle one instance alright.

**Isiolia** · 2012-10-19 20:44

Originally Posted by RKenshin

Random question I think I know the answer to, but not 100% certain.

I have two HDDs: One with Windows, another with a few games/programs and a bunch of misc storage.

Planning to remove the Windows drive, and replace it with an SSD formatted with Windows. This will 'break' some if not most of the games/software I have installed on the second drive though, right?

Probably, as the registry information won't be present or any .dlls they had to register. Unless you duplicate the HDD to the SSD instead of reinstalling everything.

Steam can rebuild itself (at least) if that's part of what you've got there.

Originally Posted by Caiyuo

The case I bought recently has a "slim ODD bay" in it, but I can't find what that would be used for. Is it something like fan controllers or like a slim DVD drive? I haven't been able to find either and a slim DVD drive actually sounds like it would look great.

My assumption is that ODD is Optical Disk Drive and would refer to a laptop style optical drive (like this one). I've seen those in some small form factor PCs.

**hey** · 2012-10-19 22:50

Originally Posted by RKenshin

Random question I think I know the answer to, but not 100% certain.

I have two HDDs: One with Windows, another with a few games/programs and a bunch of misc storage.

Planning to remove the Windows drive, and replace it with an SSD formatted with Windows. This will 'break' some if not most of the games/software I have installed on the second drive though, right?

It will break everything that needs to actually be installed. If you can't reinstall any of it for whatever reason, you can always copy the registry settings, and register the .dlls, to manually install them.

**Spoony Bob** · 2012-10-20 09:18

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...b/IMAG0024.jpg

Having some startup issues out of the blue. Hangs at this screen and won't respond to either of the prompts displayed, and there doesn't seem to be any activity from the HDD as it sits. Never had any problem like this, any ideas?

Cut the power after 10 min or so and unplugged all USB ports and it seemed to come up just fine. Odd.

**Adajer** · 2012-10-20 09:54

Found out the hard way you shouldn't mismatch fans on a heatsink. sweet

**Caiyuo** · 2012-10-20 12:51

Did something ...break? lol Just put mine together last night, holy god after-market coolers are a fucking pain, I had no idea.

On that note, I'd seen in the SSD Optimization guide to use RAID mode for SSDs to take advantage of Intel SRT. Is that recommended over setting it to AHCI? I'd always seen the latter and was confused by which to use. Windows installed in all of 5 minutes so I'm not sour over redoing it however many times.

e: is this for intending to install the OS on a mechanical hard drive and just using the SSD as a cache drive? Is that a good idea? I've got a 120GB SSD, and 500GB and 750GB mechanical hard drives installed. Are there pros and cons to using SRT as opposed to just installing to the SSD or is one method distinctly better?

**Adajer** · 2012-10-20 14:16

I have a Hyper 212+. I screwed up the install at first myself. I put the stock cooler on the pull side and a cooler master r4 blue on the push side. Got some vibration with higher rpms. Mostly between 50% and 90%. I have turn them down to 30% to keep things quiet and stable. I ordered another CM Blade master fan to match the stock fan.

**Nitsuki** · 2012-10-20 14:40

Something's up w/ my games, i believe it's the hdd where i have them installed, but in LoL i'm having sounds delayed or skipping. The worst is in borderlands 2, the game takes an insanely long time to even get out of the title screen, textures stay blurry for a good 5 minutes til the sharpen themselves, and the music cuts out quite a lot. Now the hdd has no weird sounds coming out of it or anything, could formatting the drive do the trick? I hate to reinstall everything i have from steam and LoL only for this to happen again. Or should i just go and buy another drive? I don't really have money right now to shell out an ssd, but any help would be awesome.

**RKenshin** · 2012-10-20 16:18

Originally Posted by Spoony Bob

Spoiler: show

Having some startup issues out of the blue. Hangs at this screen and won't respond to either of the prompts displayed, and there doesn't seem to be any activity from the HDD as it sits. Never had any problem like this, any ideas?

Cut the power after 10 min or so and unplugged all USB ports and it seemed to come up just fine. Odd.

Did you have an external HD plugged in through USB when it hung like that?

I've seen it happen to other people, and it even happens to me sometimes. I'm not exactly sure why, but if I have an external HD plugged in when I start up the computer it hangs at the motherboard logo. Restarting with it unplugged always fixes it.

**Niya** · 2012-10-20 17:06

Originally Posted by Caiyuo

On that note, I'd seen in the SSD Optimization guide to use RAID mode for SSDs to take advantage of Intel SRT. Is that recommended over setting it to AHCI? I'd always seen the latter and was confused by which to use. Windows installed in all of 5 minutes so I'm not sour over redoing it however many times.

e: is this for intending to install the OS on a mechanical hard drive and just using the SSD as a cache drive? Is that a good idea? I've got a 120GB SSD, and 500GB and 750GB mechanical hard drives installed. Are there pros and cons to using SRT as opposed to just installing to the SSD or is one method distinctly better?

You'd have to set your controller to RAID mode for SRT to work, it's a must. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology
120GB is large enough for usage as a "stand alone" system disk with windows and a few applications/games. SRT would just waste most of the space since it can only use up to 64GB for caching. It's meant to be used with really small SSDs and is pretty much useless since the SSD prices dropped so fast.
tl;dr: screw SRT, install windows to SSD and enjoy your fast system

**Spoony Bob** · 2012-10-20 17:16

Originally Posted by RKenshin

Did you have an external HD plugged in through USB when it hung like that?

I've seen it happen to other people, and it even happens to me sometimes. I'm not exactly sure why, but if I have an external HD plugged in when I start up the computer it hangs at the motherboard logo. Restarting with it unplugged always fixes it.

I did, and I did unplug it on my second attempt. I've never had it happen before though, and it's not the first time I've had my external HD plugged in though.

Computers are crafty like that I guess.

**Caiyuo** · 2012-10-20 17:33

Originally Posted by Isiolia

My assumption is that ODD is Optical Disk Drive and would refer to a laptop style optical drive (like this one). I've seen those in some small form factor PCs.

Thanks and you're right, that's what it's for, saw confirmation on a review for the case. After I saw your post I tried to find a cheap slot-in drive to make it look nice, but they seem to be either crazy expensive or much slower burners than regular-kind.

Originally Posted by Niya

You'd have to set your controller to RAID mode for SRT to work, it's a must. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology
120GB is large enough for usage as a "stand alone" system disk with windows and a few applications/games. SRT would just waste most of the space since it can only use up to 64GB for caching. It's meant to be used with really small SSDs and is pretty much useless since the SSD prices dropped so fast.
tl;dr: screw SRT, install windows to SSD and enjoy your fast system

Fuck yes, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Appreciate you explaining, Niya, thanks!

**Callisto** · 2012-10-20 18:16

If I have a PCIE 1.0 card(with the short stubby connector) will it work in a longer 2.0 slot?

**Niya** · 2012-10-20 18:50

Do you really mean a card for the 1.0 generation of PCIe or just a x1 card?
1.0 cards should work without problems in 2.0 (and 3.0) slots, but not 100% sure about it.
x1 cards work on every slot length, you could even put a x1 or x4 into a PEG (x16) slot and it would work. The connectors are built so any combination will fit.

**Callisto** · 2012-10-20 19:36

Just a x1 card, my board only has one actual x1 spot that's occupied already, then two x16's and an x4, I need to add another card with an x1 connector to the board and wasn't sure if I can just pop it into the x4 slot or if it'd fall out or whatnot.

**Obiron** · 2012-10-20 20:07

Originally Posted by Caiyuo

Fuck yes, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Appreciate you explaining, Niya, thanks!

Just to add to what Niya said, RAID mode will include AHCI. Typically a board has 3 settings, at least on older boards that I'm used to:
IDE - old school, no AHCI or RAID
AHCI - AHCI on, RAID off
RAID - AHCI on, RAID on.

So AHCI is recommended, and RAID mode gives you that along with the added RAID functionality.

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