A very PC discussion

A-L-E-X · 23 Nov 2018 03:00

American Megatrends BIOS! I had that on my old AsRock board lol.

LCD cancer, first time I've heard of it, is it something that happens once a screen gets old or can happen at any time regardless of age?

vlad01 · 23 Nov 2018 06:09

I think it's age or use. I have only seen in on monitors from around 2005-2010 years of make but I only have 2 samples to go off. I made up the term as well. Google seems to agree as I found no pics of anything like it by that name or similar.

I love AMI bios, it's my fav, not a fan of that modern rubbish(the gui interface) and I wasn't a fan of phoenix bios either back in the day. This very board was phoenix, I converted it to AMI from the original Tyan variant to get better OS and CPU support and extra features. FSC rebranded the same board as theirs and put a rubbish phoenix bios on it, limiting it to win 2k and xp, new OS just BSOD and also it was limited to opteron 250 single core CPUs. I got dual core 290s which post date the 250s by quite a few years.

It's awesome! I love this Frankenstein super workstation PC that would of cost $15K+ in it's day, then I play games on it and stuff around, much satisfaction. I have just been playing with the Xonar card now with alternative drivers and C-media control panel.

The dolby headphone and virtual surround features even on my cheap old headphones sounds out of this world. So glad I ditched sound blasters.

I can't wait for the phoebus to arrive! that should be levels above this and I can run it on my daily PC.

YouTube · 23 Nov 2018 12:26

HarbingerDawn, what is the current status of your old computer

Cannibalized for parts. Mobo is dead now, and I gave the RAM away to other people. CPU is sitting unused in a box, case is stored in my basement. I think all the other parts were migrated to my new machine.

what would you recommend for every pc gamer?

It depends on a number of factors, such as budget and what exactly you'll be using it for. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

I also saw you built two other computers, what were their specs, and what were they meant for?

One was for a friend back in 2010, it had an Athlon II X4 640 (I think) and a GeForce 9500. The other was for someone else I know much more recently, it had a Z170 mobo (should have just gotten an H170 but whatever), an i5-6500, RX 470, 16 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB SSD. Both were sort of general use PCs with moderate gaming capabilities.

I've built more computers since then.

Also, why are you still using windows 7?

Because I don't like or trust Windows 10 and I will probably never use it for my own PC.

A-L-E-X · 24 Nov 2018 00:35

I dont trust W10 either but its the only thing that works on this platform lol.

What size do you guys recommend for hard drives? I have an NVMe SSD that's 500 GB and a 1 TB mech HD. I would have gone larger on the mech HD but I also have a 2 TB mech HD laying around (that one is only 5400 RPM though) and a 2 TB external HDD. For some reason external HD break down more quickly though.

Also, do you guys think I should turn my Cyberpower UPS off when my computer is off?

A-L-E-X · 24 Nov 2018 00:37

I think it's age or use. I have only seen in on monitors from around 2005-2010 years of make but I only have 2 samples to go off. I made up the term as well. Google seems to agree as I found no pics of anything like it by that name or similar.

I love AMI bios, it's my fav, not a fan of that modern rubbish(the gui interface) and I wasn't a fan of phoenix bios either back in the day. This very board was phoenix, I converted it to AMI from the original Tyan variant to get better OS and CPU support and extra features. FSC rebranded the same board as theirs and put a rubbish phoenix bios on it, limiting it to win 2k and xp, new OS just BSOD and also it was limited to opteron 250 single core CPUs. I got dual core 290s which post date the 250s by quite a few years.

It's awesome! I love this Frankenstein super workstation PC that would of cost $15K+ in it's day, then I play games on it and stuff around, much satisfaction. I have just been playing with the Xonar card now with alternative drivers and C-media control panel.

The dolby headphone and virtual surround features even on my cheap old headphones sounds out of this world. So glad I ditched sound blasters.

I can't wait for the phoebus to arrive! that should be levels above this and I can run it on my daily PC.

My old AsRock has/had AMI and its very easy to use. The new ASUS one is much harder to figure out although I think I finally have a handle on it.
I think I had Phoenix back in the day, year 2000, lol. Do you write your own BIOS? How did you change it from one to the other? I'm wondering if we can do our own BIOS in case ASUS doesn't update this one when the new 7nm CPU come out so they can be used on it. Someone wrote a new BIOS for my old AsRock motherboard to change its max memory capacity from 2GB to 4GB.

My old Sony monitor is from 2005 and I certainly hope it never gets that condition!

vlad01 · 24 Nov 2018 01:33

I just ordered a replacement stock BIOS from ebay for the Tyan variant. The boards from Tyan and Fujitsu are 99.99% the same just different bios, lacks vrm heat sinks and one enable like on the super I/O for the NIC is inverted at circuit level. The Fujitsu board even had Tyan written on it and has the same model number. These boards were licensed out to FC for one of their rendering workstation lines as an OEM part.

I found this with some research and decided I buy a stock BIOS chip to suit the original Tyan version and put that in place of the one on the Fujitsu. Works no probs except the NIC was permanently disabled because of the mentioned enable line difference. For this I just installed a PCI gigabit NIC and problem solved.

I have ordered a PLCC adapter for my chip programmer and I have tinkered with the BIOS using a AMI bios tool to unlock extra features in there for the fun of it. Mainly wanted OCing stuff, there is some but no FSB controls by the looks of it which is a bummer as I wanted that as the multi is locked upward on these CPUs.

YouTube · 24 Nov 2018 04:53

What size do you guys recommend for hard drives?

Whatever size suits your needs, naturally.

A-L-E-X · 25 Nov 2018 01:11

What size do you guys recommend for hard drives?
Whatever size suits your needs, naturally.

Thanks, I was wondering whether it's better to have 3 or 4 smaller drives in the 1-2 TB range or one big drive.
Also, no recommendation for whether the UPS should be turned off when the computer is off?

A-L-E-X · 25 Nov 2018 01:13

I just ordered a replacement stock BIOS from ebay for the Tyan variant. The boards from Tyan and Fujitsu are 99.99% the same just different bios, lacks vrm heat sinks and one enable like on the super I/O for the NIC is inverted at circuit level. The Fujitsu board even had Tyan written on it and has the same model number. These boards were licensed out to FC for one of their rendering workstation lines as an OEM part.

I found this with some research and decided I buy a stock BIOS chip to suit the original Tyan version and put that in place of the one on the Fujitsu. Works no probs except the NIC was permanently disabled because of the mentioned enable line difference. For this I just installed a PCI gigabit NIC and problem solved.

I have ordered a PLCC adapter for my chip programmer and I have tinkered with the BIOS using a AMI bios tool to unlock extra features in there for the fun of it. Mainly wanted OCing stuff, there is some but no FSB controls by the looks of it which is a bummer as I wanted that as the multi is locked upward on these CPUs.

Looks like AMI also makes the bios for ASUS motherboards now, they are just more complicated with a lot more settings to tinker with and also mouse support.

vlad01 · 25 Nov 2018 01:34

yeah all that uefi stuff now days. I like Asus for their bios. They have good OCing features and variety with their bios implementation, though their lower end boards are very hit and miss with weird bugs and broken features/functions.

Cheap Asus boards are terrible as of late, their high end is one of the best you can get (except the 9th gen intel, they are the worst this time) but the AMD versions are fantastic and top class, that is the high end versions.

I plan to get this board for the precision boost overdrive implementation. Just a few settings and the CPU self boosts to the max it can in all situation just like a nvidia GPU with good cooling. Asus did a great job as it, most other boards don't even feature this and others that do are more clunky getting working. The great thing is when 1 or 2 cores are needed they boost higher than typical clocks and when all cores it acts like a typical manual all core OC. So you get the best of both worlds. Benchmarks pit this feature slightly ahead of a manual over clock using the normal methods.

https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Pro ... -_-Product

Also this board has the best VRM design out of all current AM4 boards, so much so it's a waste even on water cooling. It's true calling in LN2 but still I would like it as I plan to upgrade the CPU on 3rd gen ryzen when it comes out and so a strong VRM is always good insurance if the CPUs are power hungry when OCing, no one knows if the core count will remain at 8 or not for the 3rd gen. It will definitely support more than 8 that's for sure when it comes to power delivery.

That all said I want it for the good bios mainly. Plus it's a good looking board with all the plastic covers thrown out and the PCH heatshink swapped out for a generic one, of course the VRM ones will have to remain as there is no generic replacements like once upon a time. I really hate the bling on PC hardware with a passion to the point I modify hardware to look plain and oldschool.

: 8612_19_asus-crosshair-vii-hero-amd-x470-motherboard-review.jpg (68.18 KiB) Viewed 2586 times

Stellarator · 25 Nov 2018 01:38

Thanks, I was wondering whether it's better to have 3 or 4 smaller drives in the 1-2 TB range or one big drive.

If I may elaborate, I think what Harbringer meant by "needs" is what exactly are planning to use the drive(s) for? Though I would not recommend it for digitally sanitary reasons, you could load load everything on one behemoth 5tb drive and set off on your merry way without ever worrying about storage issues again. That being said, I prefer to have one drive for each purpose: gaming, systems, business etc. It keeps everything nice and tidy and disallows potentially dangerous accidents like user-access violations by installed software. Plus, if one drive fails, you have emergency short-term back-ups.

A-L-E-X · 25 Nov 2018 01:44

Thanks, I was wondering whether it's better to have 3 or 4 smaller drives in the 1-2 TB range or one big drive.
If I may elaborate, I think what Harbringer meant by "needs" is what exactly are planning to use the drive(s) for? Though I would not recommend it for digitally sanitary reasons, you could load load everything on one behemoth 5tb drive and set off on your merry way without ever worrying about storage issues again. That being said, I prefer to have one drive for each purpose: gaming, systems, business etc. It keeps everything nice and tidy and disallows potentially dangerous accidents like user-access violations by installed software. Plus, if one drive fails, you have emergency short-term back-ups.

Right thats what I was thinking too. I keep one drive for Windows and the other drive for all my programs. I have two more drives, so in the future I'd probably want to take some of my lesser used programs and put them on my third drive while using the fourth drive as a data drive. The drive that has the most space is where I want to put my largest programs. Some of these SE add ons are getting up there in size, so I think I should reserve at least 1 TB on one of my 2 TB drives for that.

A-L-E-X · 25 Nov 2018 01:46

yeah all that uefi stuff now days. I like Asus for their bios. They have good OCing features and variety with their bios implementation, though their lower end boards are very hit and miss with weird bugs and broken features/functions.

Cheap Asus boards are terrible as of late, their high end is one of the best you can get (except the 9th gen intel, they are the worst this time) but the AMD versions are fantastic and top class, that is the high end versions.

I plan to get this board for the precision boost overdrive implementation. Just a few settings and the CPU self boosts to the max it can in all situation just like a nvidia GPU with good cooling. Asus did a great job as it, most other boards don't even feature this and others that do are more clunky getting working. The great thing is when 1 or 2 cores are needed they boost higher than typical clocks and when all cores it acts like a typical manual all core OC. So you get the best of both worlds. Benchmarks pit this feature slightly ahead of a manual over clock using the normal methods.

https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/Pro ... -_-Product

Also this board has the best VRM design out of all current AM4 boards, so much so it's a waste even on water cooling. It's true calling in LN2 but still I would like it as I plan to upgrade the CPU on 3rd gen ryzen when it comes out and so a strong VRM is always good insurance if the CPUs are power hungry when OCing, no one knows if the core count will remain at 8 or not for the 3rd gen. It will definitely support more than 8 that's for sure when it comes to power delivery.

That all said I want it for the good bios mainly. Plus it's a good looking board with all the plastic covers thrown out and the PCH heatshink swapped out for a generic one, of course the VRM ones will have to remain as there is no generic replacements like once upon a time. I really hate the bling on PC hardware with a passion to the point I modify hardware to look plain and oldschool.

8612_19_asus-crosshair-vii-hero-amd-x470-motherboard-review.jpg

Thats a great board! I have the X470-F Gaming which is from the same family. Lots and lots of USB ports. It also does the automatic overclock of cores, I'm regularly at 4.2 GHz sometimes on all cores, or under lighter loads it will put the core being used that high and underclock other cores down to 2.0 GHz. What kind of computer case do you intend to put it in?

I hadn't heard much about the Intel 9th generation motherboards, was there a problem with the new Asus Z390 motherboards that recently came out (or a problem with Z390 motherboards in general?) I know the new Intel CPUs (both 9700k and 9900k) run about twice as hot as the 2700X and it's recommended to water cool them even at stock settings.

vlad01 · 25 Nov 2018 02:02

I am going for the Lian Li o11 dynamic black case with 2 x 360x120 rads that use wide fin pitch so I can run a bunch of fans around 1000rpm for excellent cooling but little noise. My current PC is passive but still quite noisy as the PSU fan is loud. It's from 2008 so low noise wasn't a thing then. PSUs now days are so efficient they don't make much heat in the first place and they often have 0rpm fan modes for low to medium loads. Mine have 2 modes, noisy and hair drier lol

I might even got for the 2600 and keep the change for 3rd gen ryzen. The 2600 are stupid cheap and very capable, will make an excellent short term CPU. Miles better than my short term turned into long term AMD FX CPU haha.

The 2600 can be had for 250 AUD, that is cheap for any CPU here with basic i3 CPUs more than that a few years ago.
A good CPU back in 2015 was $750-1000 when there was only intel. Now you can get an extraordinary one from AMD here for $500 (2700x).

How times have changed in the CPU world.

25 Nov 2018 12:49

Also, no recommendation for whether the UPS should be turned off when the computer is off?

As far as I know, UPS is by design intended to be on all the time, but there are people that do prefer switch them off along with the computer.

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