JustDenDimi

Well, I don't think it'll matter much. It's still TSMC that's making the actual chips, which means overall supply of GPU's won't increase (much). (We don't know how many wafers each company will be allotted)

I think people will still be buying more Nvidia and AMD because they know what to expect in terms of performance, stability, divers, etc...

21 minutes ago, Spotty said:

It's interesting that the pressure for this is coming from Microsoft's shareholders. Wouldn't they have the most to gain by preventing repairable devices and requiring customers to buy new devices on a regular basis...

Though, Microsoft is more of a software and service based company and isn't exactly a huge player in the hardware space. There's the surface laptops but they're not on the same scale as other laptops. They definitely don't have the mindshare and locked in fanbase that someone like Apple has. If an Apple laptop breaks the customer will go buy another Apple device. If a surface laptop breaks the customer will go buy pretty much anything else. In that regard it's probably in Microsoft's best interests to make repairs easy and accessible to keep customers on their devices for as long as possible, building that brand trust and reliance.

The cynic in me is thinking maybe the shareholders are wanting to take the whole corporate pride month approach thinking that if they champion whatever is trendy and popular the customers will flock to them to support them because the customers think the company shares the same values as them. Customers see Microsoft being pro right to repair, while practically all other companies in the industry are fighting against it, and think that buying a Microsoft device is showing support for right to repair.

 

Whatever the reason they're doing it moving towards right to repair is a good direction for them to head in and I do hope that the independent review will come up with some good recommendations for the industry to follow.

This was a specific shareholder called 'As You Sow'. They are a non-profit foundation chartered to promote corporate social responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and legal strategies.

9 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Astroturfing is imminent, keep your eyes peeled.

Had to look that one up. 

But yes, I expect some nay-sayers or maybe even other companies not agreeing with the study. For now only time will tell what, if any, impact this will have.

Summary

Microsoft agreed to a study by an independent third-party after 'As You Sow' has filed a shareholder resolution asking Microsoft to look into the impact of making it's devices easier to repair. The study will focus on the 'social' and environmental effects easier to repair devices and providing parts and documentation to more repair shops, especially shops that aren't official Microsoft service providers, would have. This research comes after pressure from its shareholders, especially 'As You Sow', a non-profit foundation chartered to promote corporate social responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and legal strategies.

Quotes

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In a first-of-its-kind victory for the right-to-repair movement, Microsoft has agreed to take concrete steps to facilitate the independent repair of its devices following pressure from its shareholders.

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Microsoft has agreed to have an independent third-party study the potential impact of it making its devices easier to repair and to make changes based on those findings by the end of 2022.

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As You Sow calls Microsoft's commitment “an encouraging step,” but it’s worth keeping in perspective that it is just a step — what Microsoft has actually done today is said that it’ll have a study done and then use it to “guide” its “product design and plans for expanding device repair options,”

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iFixIt CEO Kyle Wiens called it a “huge, landmark move” on Twitter and, in an email to The Verge, said that it “wasn’t just talk,” citing the Surface Laptop’s improvements in repairability over the years. 

My thoughts

As an avid supporter of right to repair, and a tinkerer myself, I definitely like where this is going. I'm still sceptical on what effects this study will have, especially since Microsoft 'promises' to make changes by the end of 2022 depending on the findings. I also find this really funny timing since the 'Framework' laptops have just become available since august. It's almost like they got inspired somehow. This could also just be major coincidence of course.

Sources

Grist. (2021, October 7). Bowing to investors, Microsoft will make its devices easier to fix. https://grist.org/accountability/bowing-to-investors-microsoft-will-make-its-devices-easier-to-fix/

Clark, M. (2021, October 8). Microsoft has promised to actively look into right to repair. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/7/22715241/microsoft-as-you-sow-right-to-repair-study-agreement

This answer might be a bit late, but I have this problem as well. I tried a few things and it turns out that for me it had to do with the fact that the Windows scheduler is horrible and wants everything to run on core 0. Setting the affinity of your OBS to NOT use core 0 and maybe even core 1 will probably fix your frame drops in OBS.

VPNFilter malware - Cisco's Talos finds new network gear vulnerability

Cisco's Talos Intelligence group shares their findings about a new multi-stage malware they found on network devices in a blogpost. The post summarises the different stages of the malware, manner of infection, malware activity, and how to protect your devices (if possible) against the threat.

The below information can also be found on the blogpost itself: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/05/VPNFilter.html

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The known devices affected by VPNFilter are Linksys, MikroTik, NETGEAR and TP-Link networking equipment in the small and home office (SOHO) space, as well at QNAP network-attached storage (NAS) devices. No other vendors, including Cisco, have been observed as infected by VPNFilter, but our research continues.

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For several months, Talos has been working with public- and private-sector threat intelligence partners and law enforcement in researching an advanced, likely state-sponsored or state-affiliated actor's widespread use of a sophisticated modular malware system we call "VPNFilter." We have not completed our research, but recent events have convinced us that the correct way forward is to now share our findings so that affected parties can take the appropriate action to defend themselves.  In particular, the code of this malware overlaps with versions of the BlackEnergy malware — which was responsible for multiple large-scale attacks that targeted devices in Ukraine. While this isn't definitive by any means, we have also observed VPNFilter, a potentially destructive malware, actively infecting Ukrainian hosts at an alarming rate, utilizing a command and control (C2) infrastructure dedicated to that country. Weighing these factors together, we felt it was best to publish our findings so far prior to completing our research. 

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The VPNFilter malware is a multi-stage, modular platform with versatile capabilities to support both intelligence-collection and destructive cyber attack operations.

Brief Technical Rundown

Stage 1

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The stage 1 malware persists through a reboot, which sets it apart from most other malware that targets internet-of-things devices because malware normally does not survive a reboot of the device. The main purpose of stage 1 is to gain a persistent foothold and enable the deployment of the stage 2 malware. Stage 1 utilizes multiple redundant command and control (C2) mechanisms to discover the IP address of the current stage 2 deployment server, making this malware extremely robust and capable of dealing with unpredictable C2 infrastructure changes.

Stage 2

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The stage 2 malware, which does not persist through a reboot, possesses capabilities that we have come to expect in a workhorse intelligence-collection platform, such as file collection, command execution, data exfiltration and device management. However, some versions of stage 2 also possess a self-destruct capability that overwrites a critical portion of the device's firmware and reboots the device, rendering it unusable. Based on the actor's demonstrated knowledge of these devices, and the existing capability in some stage 2 versions, we assess with high confidence that the actor could deploy this self-destruct command to most devices that it controls, regardless of whether the command is built into the stage 2 malware.

Stage 3

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In addition, there are multiple stage 3 modules that serve as plugins for the stage 2 malware. These plugins provide stage 2 with additional functionality. As of this writing, we are aware of two plugin modules: a packet sniffer for collecting traffic that passes through the device, including theft of website credentials and monitoring of Modbus SCADA protocols, and a communications module that allows stage 2 to communicate over Tor. We assess with high confidence that several other plugin modules exist, but we have yet to discover them.

Defending agains the threat

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Defending against this threat is extremely difficult due to the nature of the affected devices. The majority of them are connected directly to the internet, with no security devices or services between them and the potential attackers.

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Despite these challenges, Talos has released protections for this threat from multiple angles, to try to take advantage of the limited options that exist.

Update #1

The FBI released a Public Service Announcement regarding the VPNFilter malware. https://www.ic3.gov/media/2018/180525.aspx

The GPU uses the PCI-e cable listed on the datasheet you listed. Most PSUs will have at least 2 of these connectors. ^^

14 hours ago, ThePirateHunter said:

And one more question? The screwdriver's "head" is magnetized (I hope you understand what I want to ask :D)?

Yes, they won't fall out if you hold the screwdriver with the head downward. ^^

So if you switched everything up, do the parts that you used to swap in work as a standalone PC? If not it might be bad power in your house? But that seems unlikely unless the wiring is really iffy in you building.

I think he means the DNS server your PC connects to to resolve the site you're trying to reach. I personally use the Google DNS server (8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 for ipV4) for both ipv4 and 6. I have no idea how to find the best DNS server for you specifically.

2 minutes ago, Airdragonz said:

500w will be safer. Also allows some headroom for oc and power fluctuations. 

Indeed, since you're playing with the part that delivers power to all the other parts in your system it's better to leave it some breathing space. Also, if you're not sure about what PSU to choose, here's a PSU tier list. Maybe go even a little bit higher than 500W.

I think most use Stereo, and some people prefer to enable HRTF and others don't. I personally use stereo with the feature enabled. It completely depends on what you're used to and how you hear everything around you. You shouldn't use certain settings because someone else uses them. It's the same with playing your game 4:3 stretched because you're used to that. I tried that but it's nothing for me. Just try some things and see what's best for you.

I'm only in my first year of electronics in college so take what I say with a few grains of salt.

As far as I'm aware running less voltage trough your LEDs won't damage them, only a higher voltage would be a problem.

And if the resistor does get hot, you can replace it with 2 2K resistors in parallel to spread the load. I've been told this is being done in quite a few circuits.

Check if you have mini dumps enabled and check the BSOD log file with BlueScreenView. It will help you narrowing down the cause.

Going by your title, (Laptop VS Desktop) The desktop will be cheaper using the same parts. So is it worth it? Depends on if you think it's worth it. Do you want a laptop because you will be gaming on the go? Because if you only plan on gaming at home there's no real reason to buy a laptop. In terms of upgradability, as far as I'm aware you wont be able to switch out the CPU/GPU except maybe if the GPU is on an MXM module, and even then, I don't know if that will make it possible to upgrade.

And as for Volta, I wouldn't hold my breath. There's no information about when the consumer Volta GPU's will come out.

Yes, they would also be compatible with hardware from years ago.

1 minute ago, Nena360 said:

But the 56 is 30$ less than a 64 why would anyone buy 56? O3O

Oh sorry, I saw the nr 6 3 times and assumed they were all Vega 56 cards. True, that's quite weird.

Mining

No, if anything the dust would go deeper into the heatsink. But I expect the fans to not have enough power to move the dust that's stuck in there. I would suggest using a compressor or a can of compressed air and blow the dust out in the opposite direction the fans blow air into the card.

1 minute ago, Sunday Soup said:

i found the verify option. sad to say it didn't help

Then I would suggest uninstalling the game, BattleEye, cleaning up the remaining files, and installing the game again.

Just now, Sunday Soup said:

the game isn't in my steam library though. I don't play a lot of games through steam

Oh right, I forgot Fortnite doesn't run from Steam, there should be an option in the (Epic Games) launcher somewhere. I don't play the game myself so I don't know how it looks.

3 minutes ago, Sunday Soup said:

I may sound like a noob rn. but how do you verify the files through steam?

 

Right click the game in your Steam library, go to properties, the local files tab, and click the verify integrity of game cache button.

It's always possible to mine on any hardware, the problem is the strain it puts on your components and the cost of your electricity.

Here's a link to a site that allows you to calculate your mining power and readability, take it with a grain of salt though.

EDIT: and indeed, mine altcoins, not bitcoin.

1 minute ago, Sunday Soup said:

I'm not trying to load any custom shaders or anything. so should I just wait for a fortnite update for the time being?

I googled around quickly and it seems it's indeed BattleEye causing this. The cause would be BattleEye not being able to update. It's suggested to uninstall BattleEye, verify the game files trough Steam and it should work.

I recognize this, I used to get this in PUBG when trying to launch it with custom shaders. It was battle eye detecting this as some kind of cheat injecting into the game. They fixed it with an update though.