Upgrading and switching your CPU, integrating your GPU, checking your HDD space, and fixing some Samsung issues
Upgrade or Wait?
My system: Intel Core i7-920 at 3.8GHz, an Asus P6T motherboard, 18GB RAM, Crucial m500 480GB SSD, 4TB HDD, Gigabyte WindForce GTX780, with Windows 7 64-bit Pro. Although I can play games maxed out at 1080p, I’m looking to upgrade the CPU and motherboard soon. Should I wait for next generation or go for Haswell-E now (i7-5820)? —J. Richard Burton
The Doctor Responds: Whether or not you should wait for Broadwell, Skylake, or some other chipset/CPU combo depends on your needs. If you were to spring for a Haswell-based Intel Core i7-4970K on the LGA 1150 platform, that would be a big upgrade you’d definitely feel, and you could keep using your DDR3 RAM. If you went with a Haswell-E upgrade via a Core i7-5820K, you’d have to buy expensive DDR4 memory, plus a more expensive LGA 2011-3 mobo. But if you need 12 CPU threads, the Core i7-5820K CPU is the way to go. Its X99 mobo chipset should also be compatible with Broadwell-E CPUs when those come out in Q3 of 2015.
Upgraders need to think hard about the X99 chipset’s arrival, as it will also require expensive DDR4 RAM.
The GPU Conundrum
I have a custom made desktop computer that I’ve been tinkering with for some time. It uses dual GTX 780 GPUs plugged into a 4K Samsung monitor connected via Displayport. My question is whether or not it’s possible to have a dual monitor setup with the second monitor running 1920x1080 connected via HDMI to the onboard Intel HD4600 graphics chip that came integrated with my Core i7 processor? Currently my Windows 7 Home Edition does not even see the HD4600 graphics on my PC. I was told this is because when a discrete graphics card is used, it automatically turns off the integrated graphics. If this is true, how do I go about changing that so I can use my discrete GPUs for my 4K monitor and the HD4600 graphics for a second monitor? Do I have to reboot Windows without the GPUs installed to force it to recognize the integrated graphics, and then reboot again with the GPU installed, or will that turn off the HD4600 as well? Also, will the second monitor connected via HD4600 graphics need an HDMI connection or another Display port connection via the motherboard? Any help is greatly appreciated. -Jason Mesa
The Doctor Responds: The short answer to your question is that it’s not possible with the combo of GTX 780 cards and integrated Intel graphics. You can use one or the other, but not both at the same time, and there’s no reason for you to use the integrated graphics at all. Some combinations of AMD hardware (both CPU and GPU) do allow this, but not on the Intel/Nvidia side of things since those camps don’t play nice with each other. However, you can run a second display from your GPUs, as rendering a 2D desktop requires very little processing power for today’s video cards. To do that you would just need to go ahead and plug both monitors into one of your 780s. Check Nvidia’s website for instructions on how to connect dual monitors for SLI to figure it out.
Is It Really Full?
I recently moved from Korea to Virginia because I’m part of the Army. I made sure to disconnect my hard drive cables to make sure they were not damaged in the move. When I reconnected them the primary hard drive was fine. However, the backup hard drive is saying that it’s low on space whenever I try to run my backup program. The weird thing is they are both the same size hard drives. I’m making sure to only keep the latest copy of the backup data, so what could be keeping the computer from properly backing up? —Alexander
The Doctor Responds: We have no idea what backup program you’re running Alexander, or why one of your drives would suddenly be full, but step one for diagnosing any problem involving a surprisingly full hard drive is to investigate what is taking up all that space. We prefer the freeware program WinDirStat as it’s free, and we’re cheap, plus it’s also easy to use and shows you exactly what is hogging all them bits, both in graphical and numeric displays. Download that program and point it to your “backup” drive in order to find out what’s taking up all that space. Second, be sure to closely examine your backup program as it sounds like it’s just saving image files to the drive and not deleting the older one, or just updating the image file with what’s changed since the last time your ran it. For what it’s worth, we still use the popular freeware backup and syncing tool named SyncBack. It’s free, and can sync drives or perform backups, so if you’re in need of a new program to manage your data we highly recommend it.
Find out what’s taking up space on your HDD with WinDirStat.
Samsung’s Slowdowns
I was about to drop the hammer and purchase a 1TB Samsung 840EVO SSD until I came across some bad reviews online about slowdowns with older files on the drive. I did some online searching and the problem seems very real. Maximum PC is my primary reference to the PC world, so can you give your loyal readers the lowdown on this. What are your recommendations. — Joe Klein
The Doctor Responds: This issue is real Joe, and it’s apparently caused by how the drive’s controller reads the voltage level of the individual cells. According to Samsung, when data is stored in a cell it has a particular voltage, and over time the voltage would change ever so slightly. This caused the drive to have to perform multiple reads on the same cell in order to correctly determine the voltage, thus causing a major slowdown in performance for data that’s been sitting on the drive longer than 30 days or so. The good news is Samsung recently addressed this issue with what it calls “Performance Restoration Software,” which is a firmware update available on its website. The update process will take up to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the drive. There is a caveat though, which is the “old” data has to be rewritten to the drive in order to function properly with the new firmware, so after the firmware update is applied you will have to sit and wait for that to occur, which could take a while if you have a lot of data on the drive. Also, since it’s monkeying with your data, be sure you have a backup of everything on the drive before you begin this process. Other caveats include a lack of support for RAID arrays, and you must have at least 10 percent of the drive’s capacity available for the update. Also, the update will fail if you are using an AMD controller, so switch to an Intel, Marvell, or other brand controller if you can before performing the surgery.
Switching CPUs
I recently purchased a loaded PC from Cyberpower including an Intel i7-4770K chip. As this $2,600 rig was being assembled, the Core i7-4790K became available at the same price. From what I understood from Cyberpower, the upgraded CPU came out too late for them to swap it. Can the Doctor tell me if there is a way to swap CPUs without having to reinstall the OS? Or is it possible to safely overclock the 4770k to 4GHz without damaging the chip? And how would I do this? As I understand from one of Maximum PC’s articles, the 4790K is essentially a factory-tweaked 4770K. —Guy
The Doctor Responds: To answer your question Guy, you can upgrade or install a different CPU without having to reinstall your operating system. In general, as long as you’re not changing the motherboard, an upgrade is as simple as removing the CPU cooler and dropping in the new chip (after applying a new coat of thermal paste, obviously). However, because going from one chip to the next in the same socket usually results in a very small and unnoticeable performance delta, we don’t recommend it. You usually need to wait at least two generations for an upgrade in order to achieve noticeable improvements, so for example if you went from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge you would not see much improvement. However, if you were to upgrade from an older Nehalem CPU to Haswell, you would be stunned at how fast it feels, at least at first, before you adjusted to your newfound horsepower. That said, you can upgrade to the Core i7-4970K, but the delta between it and the 4770K would be so small that it’s not worth your time or money. That 4770K should last you at least a few years, so it won’t be until Skylake and beyond that you should even think about your next upgrade. As far as overclocking goes, yes, you should be able to get that CPU up to 4GHz very easily in its Turbo Boost mode. Most of the 22nm Intel parts can reach 4.2GHz or so just by fiddling with the BIOS, and since it’s a K-part, it’s already “unlocked,” so it should be quite easy. How you actually overclock it varies according to your motherboard model, so use the Google to find one to help you out with that. You shouldn’t need extravagant cooling either, so a simple and efficient CPU cooler such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 should be sufficient.
Submit your questions to: doctor@maximumpc.com
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1d2CJrR
