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Peepnbrick

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  1. Like
    Peepnbrick reacted to Streetguru in What exactly is a CPU "Core" (Not what you think)?   
    "Core" is just referring to the overall design, unless they specifically mean the "CPU core" which is the transistors that do the math with their onboard memory and all of that.


  2. Informative
    Peepnbrick reacted to Streetguru in What exactly is a CPU "Core" (Not what you think)?   
    It's just like the overall name on that generation and product.
     
    But like Skylake and Skylake X are both skylake based with some modifications one way or another
     
    still not 100% what  you're asking, but you can look more into stuff like this maybe.
     
    CPUs before Ryzen were all one big chip pretty much if you were talking about the actual manufacturing
     
     
  3. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from Roll_Like_Rollo in Experiences with non-techies   
    This is more of an indirect experience with someone, but today I was watching The Price Is Right, and they had Samsung some tablets on the show. If you're not familiar, the key to pretty much any game on The Price is Right is knowing how much the item costs. As such, the announcer, George Gray, was giving some information on the tablets.
     
    He announces some specs, including that this Samsung tablet has 16 gigabytes of ram.
     
    ram =/= storage
     
    I'll let it slide this time, George...
  4. Informative
    Peepnbrick reacted to Sebastian in Measuring temps with IR cameras is flawed!   
    I thought this post might be worth making because I've seen a lot of hardware reviewers using thermal (i.e. IR) cameras to check external temperatures (most recently in the "Backplates cool your videocard" LTT video, but I've seen a lot of other websites do it as well). I want to make it clear that I'm not writing this post to attack LTT or anybody else, but instead I'm doing it to offer a bit of knowledge to the handful of people out there who might actually be interested. So rather than doing real work, I'm going to give a mini IR camera physics lesson on an internet forum instead.
     
    IR cameras don't have a way of directly measuring the temperature of objects in the way that a thermometer does. Instead, they measure the amount of thermal radiation coming from a surface (IR wavelengths in this case), and then use that intensity to calculate a temperature using what's known as the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. The equation looks like this:
     
    T = (I/(e*A*s))1/4
     
    where T is the temperature, I is the intensity of the IR radiation entering the camera, e is the emissivity of the surface you're pointing the camera at, A is the area of that surface, and s is just a constant which we can ignore here. The important thing to note here is that there are other variables which go into this calculation, namely e and A.
     
    Now, the most important one, and the one I'm going to focus on is the emissivity e. Emissivity is a property which varies from one material to another, and is essentially a measure of how well a given material behaves like an ideal black body (i.e., how good the material is at radiating IR). It can range from 0 to 1, where 1 is the equivalent of an ideal black body, and 0 means that the object doesn't radiate any IR radiation at all. Most thermal cameras (including the FLIR ones that I think most tech reviewers use) assume that the emissivity is 0.9 or so. This means that if the object you're pointing the camera at actually has an emissivity of 0.9, then the temperature that the camera shows on-screen will be accurate. However, there are plenty of materials which do NOT have an emissivity of around 0.9. Metals would be the most relevant example.
     
    Metals tend to have very low emissivities (often less than 0.1). So what happens if we try to measure the temperature of, say, a copper surface with our camera? The emissivity of copper is around 0.05 (varies a bit depending on smoothness of the surface), but our camera is assuming that the emissivity is 0.9, which is WAY too high. This means that the temperature that the camera calculates will be considerably lower than the true temperature (see the equation above). 
     
    Metals have another problem, and that is that they are also good at reflecting IR wavelengths. This means that when you point your camera at that piece of copper, some of the IR radiation that it's measuring is actually coming from somewhere else in the room and simply reflecting off of the copper surface and into the camera. 
     
    These two different phenomena combine to make it look like the piece of copper is colder than its surroundings, when in reality everything is the same temperature. This is exactly what happened in the IR images shown in LTT’s “Backplates cool your videocard” video. In the images it looks like the copper region is much colder than the surrounding backplate, when in reality it was probably as hot or hotter.


     
    So there are a few conclusions that we can make here. First, one should take a grain of salt if exact temperatures are measured using a thermal camera. If the emissivity that the camera assumes is different than the emissivity of the object you’re measuring, then the temperature given by the camera will be incorrect.


     
    Second, we CAN compare relative temperatures between different regions, if we do it carefully. This can be done by putting a piece of non-shiny tape on each of the surfaces that you’re trying to compare. The tape will equalize to the same temperature of whatever it’s attached to, and because you have the same tape on both surfaces (e.g., a piece of copper and a piece of plastic), the emissivities will also be the same (because now it's the tape radiating in both cases) and the temperatures of the two objects will be directly comparable. You can even take this a step further if you want to get accurate temperatures. If your camera allows you to manually set the emissivity of what you’re looking at (many FLIR cameras do), you can determine the emissivity of the tape you’re using by putting some tape on a surface, measuring its temperature with a normal thermometer, and then adjusting the emissivity in the camera’s settings until the onscreen temperature matches the true temperature. Once you know the emissivity of your tape, you can then use that emissivity in your camera’s settings to accurately measure the temperature of anything that you put the tape on in the future.

  5. Agree
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from BiscuitMassacre in YouTube Rewind 2016 is Out   
    Let's see more of MKBHD dancing! That seemed so out of place for him...
  6. Agree
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from pit5000 in YouTube Rewind 2016 is Out   
    Let's see more of MKBHD dancing! That seemed so out of place for him...
  7. Agree
    Peepnbrick reacted to Jovidah in UK Mass Surveillance Law has just passed the Parliament's Approval   
    Err... no. The amount of arrests is quite sizable. But usually it doesn't make much more than a tiny headline, and convictions are usually on lesser charges (as they usually haven't actually managed to comit anything big). Now if you look at the amount of volunteers travelling to Syria, those are really sizable numbers. While not everyone in this group is to be considered a threat, a decent amount of them are. 
     
    Admittedly, it's not an existential threat to a democracy. I can't really think of a whole lot of terror campaigns that ever brought down a country. But that doesn't mean it's a program that's easily ignored. The US already paid that price once and it caused 3000 deaths, and while I don't think their policies afterwards really made them any safer (only made it worse), at least they weren't ignoring the problem anymore.
    Actually here in Europe, there are only select few politicians who actually try to scare the public. Usually the ones who have something to gain from it. Most mainstream politicians and institutions actually try to downplay its impact. They are quite aware that giving it too much attention only increases its influence and economic impact.
    In France and Belgium sending the soldiers onto the streets wasn't meant to scare the public. It was mostly to assure the public and try to somehow try to get a grasp on problems they really did not have under control.
     
    And define 'normal methods of intelligence and investigation'? One of the reasons they want all the high-tech metadata crap is because it works. If you want to know how well the 'traditional methods'  work, just look at older terror campaigns. They all lasted a lot longer and were a lot bloodier.
     
    Again, I'm not trying to say this whole law is the best next thing since sliced bread or anything. But how on earth do you expect intelligence services to do their job if everyone keeps bringing up the bloody privacy argument at every turn? I get so bloody sick of it. Everyone always has their mouths full about privacy and how shit the government is, but never considers the other side of the coin. I dare you, next time there's a succesful attack, go call up the family of one of the victims, and tell them how hiding your dodgy porn habits are more important than the life of their son and daughter.
     
    I don't like all this crap any better than any of you do, but at least try to realize that you can't have your cake and eat it too. I would like perfect privacy and perfect security to go hand in hand as well. It doesn't. I honestly don't know where to draw the line; that's up for public debate. But you cannot claim a right to total privacy and then deny the negative consequences that come with it.
  8. Like
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from aisle9 in Upgrading to Mini-ITX - Check to Make Sure It's Good?   
    Consider me out the door.
  9. Like
    Peepnbrick reacted to aisle9 in Upgrading to Mini-ITX - Check to Make Sure It's Good?   
    go. now.
  10. Like
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from aisle9 in Upgrading to Mini-ITX - Check to Make Sure It's Good?   
    Thanks for the motivation... deal of the century right here!
     

  11. Agree
    Peepnbrick reacted to Bensemus in The Trolley Problem - Mercedes has their own answer regarding self driving cars   
    ..... Really?
     
    Do we ignore it when other tools kill people? No. We improve the tool. 
    If the car is at fault then it has a problem that needs to be fixed, same way if a human driver was at fault they need to fix what they did. Sure you can't punish the car but punishing a human doesn't undo what they did so you aren't losing anything. Insurance covers the damage like normal. The difference is the car can be improved and due to fleet learning all the cars in the fleet learn from the one's mistake. This doesn't really happen with humans.
     
    The trolley problem is poor theoretical problem. When would that realistically come up? If the car was following all the rules and ended up in that situation the humans who are injured are to blame so the car should protect its passenger as the passenger did nothing wrong. If the car managed to get into that situation then it should still protect its passenger as again the passenger did nothing wrong. The car causes injuries and the insurance covers what it can and the manufacturer bears the legal responsibilities as they are the one's who are responsible. 
     
    Due to computers having much better reactions they are much less likely to be caught off guard. Of course just because they can react faster doesn't mean there is a cause of action available to them to avoid an accident. They also are hard coded to follow the rules of the road so it should be basically impossible for them to be in the situation where they are at fault.
     
    So far that has pretty much been true. The Tesla crash was caused by a truck cutting of the car and 13 of the 14 accidents Google have been in have all been the fault of the human drivers around the car.
     
    And before you say Google's cars have caused a crash I remind you that they aren't fully autonomous yet. They still require oversight.
     
    I don't understand why it has to be 100% or nothing with you and other people against autonomous cars. It reminds me of anti vaxxers if vaccines actualy did have a chance of causing autism. They would rather risk their kids life and potentialy others due to a chance that their kid may get autism, a very manageable, potentialy negligible, condition.
     
    You seem like you would rather keep humans, who have proven over and over again that we are really not that great at driving, rather than replace us with a computer that while it won't be perfect, it will, based on current stats, drastically reduce car related fatalities.
     
    If we assume the car was at fault and causes some deaths, overall all the autonomous cars together have saved lives. 
  12. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from as96 in Using Samsung Pay in an Apple store?   
    It would be subtle at first... a man in a black suit with obscuring sunglasses enters across the room. Then another one, and another. You run for the door, but the front of the store becomes blocked as a garage door falls from the ceiling. One of the men in the black suits puts a syringe to your neck, and you wake up in a torture room with Tim Cook. He places a Macbook in front of you, and there is a flash. You wake up on an uncharted island with other Samsung Pay offenders, no memory of the incident.
     
    Or they might laugh at you.
  13. Like
    Peepnbrick reacted to as96 in Using Samsung Pay in an Apple store?   
    We need to make a movie about that. 
  14. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from terrytek in Using Samsung Pay in an Apple store?   
    It would be subtle at first... a man in a black suit with obscuring sunglasses enters across the room. Then another one, and another. You run for the door, but the front of the store becomes blocked as a garage door falls from the ceiling. One of the men in the black suits puts a syringe to your neck, and you wake up in a torture room with Tim Cook. He places a Macbook in front of you, and there is a flash. You wake up on an uncharted island with other Samsung Pay offenders, no memory of the incident.
     
    Or they might laugh at you.
  15. Agree
    Peepnbrick reacted to manikyath in Is VR the next big flop?   
    so.. i'd suggest all people in the "flop" camp to take a look at this.
     
    these are all "old people", most of which give no two damns about a counter strike or a kitty simulator 2017.
    look how every single one of them really livens up and just slides into the games without even thinking about it being VR.
    (spoiler: 2:50 )
  16. Informative
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from Rektum in [SOLVED] My Phone Drains Battery Way Too Fast...   
    Can you go into your Settings, then into Battery and look at what is draining it (maybe give a screenshot)? This is different on every phone, but some say what app uses the most, some tell you cellular connection over time - all helpful information. 
     
    Without knowing much about your phone, I'd say kill the background processes. Those include the processes that run in the background to kill background processes. If you want the best battery life, you have to do this yourself - go through every app and tune the settings so that you know everything that runs in the background, and be very vigilante of what gets downloaded on your phone. It's not hard to do if you keep up with it, and your OCD description seems like it would be worth it to you.
  17. Like
    Peepnbrick reacted to spwath in Finished my Nixie Clock   
    CLOCK DONE
     
    100$ for a clock you have to build yourself that doesnt have an alarm?
    But look...

  18. Informative
    Peepnbrick reacted to straight_stewie in Explanation of PCIe   
    Preface
     
         This guide hopes to answer the question “what is PCIe” and more specifically to help serve as a guide to system planning. I have tried to make this as accurate and as easy to read as I can. If you spot any inaccuracies please let me know so that I can fix them.
     
    What is the PCIe Interface?
     
         Peripheral Component Interface - express (PCIe) is a bus that allows expansion cards inside your computer to communicate with other components. You use the PCIe system by putting cards into slots on the motherboard. These cards can be things like graphics cards, RAID cards, network cards, even co-processors. 
     
    How Does the PCIe Interface Work?
     
    What Exactly Is A Lane?
     
    How Does All This Affect Me?
     
  19. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from RahulR in Experiences with non-techies   
    I have an Apple gift card, so I was browsing their Mac accessories. I came across this when browsing a 64 GB Sandisk USB Flash Drive that has both a USB A and C connector. The description read this:

    That's not how USB works, Apple...
  20. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from matrix07012 in Experiences with non-techies   
    I have an Apple gift card, so I was browsing their Mac accessories. I came across this when browsing a 64 GB Sandisk USB Flash Drive that has both a USB A and C connector. The description read this:

    That's not how USB works, Apple...
  21. Funny
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from WkdPaul in Experiences with non-techies   
    I have an Apple gift card, so I was browsing their Mac accessories. I came across this when browsing a 64 GB Sandisk USB Flash Drive that has both a USB A and C connector. The description read this:

    That's not how USB works, Apple...
  22. Like
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from manikyath in Phone radiation cause cancer?   
    I read an article about this about a month ago, and it stated the same things: studies have revealed that low energy microwave radiation from our devices has been linked to certain problems - like infertility if you keep your phone in your pocket all day.
     
    I'm not dismissing this as the new vaccines cause autism, because there may be effects that we just don't know yet since this long term exposure is a new thing to the human population. These symptoms might not have anything to do with whether the radiation is ionizing or not. But I'm not ready to start believing this until someone gives me a scientific explanation for how this Non-Ionizing EM Radiation causes these things. Anyone can claim there is a link between two things, but providing an explanation is much more convincing.
  23. Like
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from Bensemus in Phone radiation cause cancer?   
    I read an article about this about a month ago, and it stated the same things: studies have revealed that low energy microwave radiation from our devices has been linked to certain problems - like infertility if you keep your phone in your pocket all day.
     
    I'm not dismissing this as the new vaccines cause autism, because there may be effects that we just don't know yet since this long term exposure is a new thing to the human population. These symptoms might not have anything to do with whether the radiation is ionizing or not. But I'm not ready to start believing this until someone gives me a scientific explanation for how this Non-Ionizing EM Radiation causes these things. Anyone can claim there is a link between two things, but providing an explanation is much more convincing.
  24. Like
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from mrchow19910319 in Has anyone worked at a computer / electronics store?   
    I work in retail, but not in electronics. It's hell. People feel they are so entitled and complain that they are spending so much money when they are the only ones who decided to spend that much. I can only imagine what tech-illiterate people do in retail stores.
     
    On the bright side, you'd still be working with something that you're interested in. If I had to stay in retail, I'd want to move to electronics since it's more interesting to me. It just that retail is inherently overly-stressful for the workers.
  25. Informative
    Peepnbrick got a reaction from as96 in Has anyone worked at a computer / electronics store?   
    I work in retail, but not in electronics. It's hell. People feel they are so entitled and complain that they are spending so much money when they are the only ones who decided to spend that much. I can only imagine what tech-illiterate people do in retail stores.
     
    On the bright side, you'd still be working with something that you're interested in. If I had to stay in retail, I'd want to move to electronics since it's more interesting to me. It just that retail is inherently overly-stressful for the workers.
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