I mean I know you want something better but for 500$ it's hard to beat the cpu performance of a decent second gen i7. Graphics wise easier but to make it a worthwhile upgrade instead of a yeah it's better but not that much you have to find a ryzen 4000 equipped laptop. Those can play all lighter games of today. Or some intel xe laptop.
This thread covers a broad list of different software and utilities, how they’re used, and what to use them for. I have also provided links to said programs for quick and easy downloads for you all.
I may split these into different categories in the future. I've clearly done that to an extent, but I may give titles to the different areas later.
Feel free to suggest other edits.
EDIT: after reading through all of these, I decided it might be a good idea to not manually edit in other recommendations, but rather let them just be posted in this thread.
Cheers!
Cinebench -- https://www.maxon.net/en/products/cinebench/
More of a benchmark than stress test, this lets you test your CPU’s multicore speed by using your CPU to render an image. I see Cinebench commonly used to get an idea of thermal performance, as well as multithreaded performance in general. Usually if a system isn’t performing as normal, it can be recommended that a user runs Cinebench to get an idea of how their CPU is performing compared to how it should be performing, since Cinebench scores are easy to find online.
There are a few Unigine programs used for benchmarking, I personally recommend Unigine Heaven and Superposition. These are used usually to test GPU performance and overclocks. I’ve used Unigine programs combined with Cinebench to identify bottlenecks in systems in the past, as well as my personal GPU overclock.
Aida64 and Prime95 -- https://www.aida64.com/ https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/prime95-download.html
These are in the same boat, as they are programs designed for extended stress testing of your CPU. The workloads they put a CPU under are usually not close to real world stress levels. These are usually used to measure temperatures at full load over time since they run longer than Cinebench, as well as to test overclock stability over time.
Prime95 may experience problems when using it on Haswell and newer Intel CPUs with automatic voltage settings. It should also be noted that with these stress tests that you either need proper cooling or to set voltages to manual to prevent any overheating issues while testing.
Aida64 is also useful for its ability to show temperatures per core while running, as well as thermal throttling.
Furmark -- https://geeks3d.com/furmark/
Furmark is a extended stress test for your GPU. The workloads your GPU is under are definitely higher than pretty much anything you’ll likely use it for. Furmark is commonly used to test overclock stability over time.
BE WARNED: Furmark has been known to kill Nvidia Kepler(GTX 6xx-7xx)series and lower GPUs. Maxwell(GTX 9xx) and higher GPUs are not known to be killed by Furmark, and I’ve personally never heard of it happening.
Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas Pro -- https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/
https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html
Commonly used video editing suites. I’ve personally used Premiere Pro and quite like it. Tutorials are easy to come by for both since they are basically the most popular editing suites. They do cost a pretty penny, so be prepared for that. Premiere Pro does have a 5 day trial period. I cannot speak for Vegas Pro.
Open Broadcaster Software --https://obsproject.com/
Lightweight easy to use recording and streaming software. Highly recommended for lower end systems. I’ve used this a lot in the past. It is free, but you can choose to pay in order to support it. It’s also open source. Commonly known as OBS.
XSplit Gamecaster and Broadcaster -- https://www.xsplit.com/
More taxing recording and streaming software. Not recommended for a lower end system. There are both free and paid options available. More commonly referred to as XSplit.
Discord -- https://discordapp.com/
Discord is a somewhat lightweight chat application offering audio, video, and text communication. Quality is good, and the interface is pleasant as well. One can also create servers that are maintained free of charge. There is also a wide list of bots one can add to a server.
Teamspeak -- https://teamspeak.com/en/
Teamspeak is similar to Discord. Teamspeak servers will have to be hosted manually and will cost money, however. I have heard reports of it being less secure and users being able to grab IPs from servers, but I’m not sure if that issue was fixed in the last update or not. Cannot speak for quality(perhaps someone else can).
Skype -- https://www.skype.com/en/home/
Mostly phased out by Discord, basically the same thing. There are no servers in Skype, however. Audio and video quality is decent.
Mumble -- https://www.mumble.com/
Phased out by Skype, Discord, and Teamspeak. Offers audio and text communication. Servers are manually hosted. Quality is decent.
CPU-Z and GPU-Z -- https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/cpu-z-download.html
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/gpu-z-download-techpowerup.html
Very useful system utilities for finding information about your CPU and GPU. GPU-Z is particularly useful for spotting scam cards, although it is possible to fool GPU-Z.
Windirstat -- https://windirstat.net/
A quick and easy way to see what takes up space on a drive.
ShareX -- https://getsharex.com/
Quick and easy way to capture screenshots and share files. Also offers quick and easy uploading to image hosting sites.
VoidTools -- https://www.voidtools.com/
Fast way to search a drive. Only works on NTFS formatted drives, unfortunately.
Advanced IP Scanner -- http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/
Reliable and free network scanner to analyse LAN. The program shows all network devices, gives you access to shared folders, provides remote control of computers (via RDP and Radmin), and can even remotely switch computers off. Easy to use and runs as a portable edition.
CrystalDiskInfo -- https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
Gives you a complete readout of all your computer's SMART information, as well as a current temperature and health status. From its dashboard, you can quickly see a long list of up-to-date system data, so you know when things are going well, and if it seems like something is going wrong. Displays basic HDD information, monitors S.M.A.R.T. values, and disk temperature.
Snappy Driver Installer -- https://sdi-tool.org/
Useful tool for finding and installing drivers automatically. Useful for when you install an operating system and don't want to look for every driver individually.
Ultimate Boot CD -- http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Extremely useful
tool for troubleshooting & diagnosing a PC that either won't boot or otherwise is playing silly buggers.
Great for pretty much anything. Has tools like: Allows you to change forgotten passwords (Local accounts only). Incredibly useful for helping family members. A whole bunch of disk diagnosis, recovery, cloning, wiping, and management tools. Memory testing tools (including Memtest86 and Memtest86+).
MSI Afterburner and EVGA Precision XOC -- https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner
https://www.evga.com/precisionxoc/
Both of these are GPU overclocking tools. They are very similar in both features and interface, I personally prefer Afterburner. They will allow you to change clock speeds, fan curves, and(on some cards) voltages.
AMD Ryzen Master -- https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/ryzen-master Software-based overclocking tool for AMD Ryzen processors. Not as reliable as BIOS overclocking, and will need to be re-enabled after a system restart. Useful tool for users new to overclocking that want to avoid the BIOS. Also reports temperatures.
HWMonitor -- https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
Commonly used tool for finding hardware information and provides monitoring.
MemTest86 -- https://www.memtest86.com/
The best memory test out there since trying every slot and DIMM.
Nvidia GeForce Experience -- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/geforce-experience/
Automatic driver downloads and updates. ShadowPlay clips(on GTX 6xx and higher cards). Recording and streaming capabilities. If you’re into that sort of thing, I personally like it.
Display Driver Uninstaller -- https://www.wagnardsoft.com/
Very useful program that will uninstall and completely wipe your GPU drivers and anything related to them. Recommended to run when switching GPU brands or experiencing driver issues.
ShutUp10 -- https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/oo_shutup10.html
Quick, easy, and intuitive way to control and view what data Windows 10 is sending.
Gimp -- https://www.gimp.org/
Free image editing tool, similar to Adobe Photoshop.
Blender -- https://www.blender.org/
Free open-source 3D modelling program. Very extensive program, with even plugin support. Program itself is free, some plugins are paid. Somewhat higher learning curve if you have never used a 3D modeler. May be very taxing on lower end systems.
Lightshot -- https://app.prntscr.com/en/
Faster, easier way to take screenshots in Windows. Allows for easier cropping, sharing, and editing.
Foxit Reader - https://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf-reader/
My choice of PDF reader for years. It's been more reliable than Adobe Acrobat Reader which tends to crash frequently (like every other Adobe Product) and fail to recovery your files when it does crash. The UI for Foxit Reader is based on the Ribbon of Microsoft Office so you should feel right at home.
pdfbinder - https://code.google.com/archive/p/pdfbinder/
Um... it binds PDFs. That's about it. Simple, free, and lightweight application that just works 100% of the time. Not much else to say.
Mp3tag - https://www.mp3tag.de/en/
Easy to use application to edit the tags of your audio files. Supports all the formats you'll ever want including mp3, flac, m4a, etc.
Anonymous247538 reacted to jaslion in Laptop for 500$ USD, in europe.
Anonymous247538 got a reaction from maartendc in help I don’t know where to post this
