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Bumblebeepee

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Everything posted by Bumblebeepee

  1. Memory test was fine, that was the first thing i tried. It wasn't just ndu.sys , only that driver was the most affected, some of the blue screens were from the other drivers being affected also.
  2. TL;DR, it was Corsair's software making the bluescreens which were supposedly caused by ndu.sys and any other drivers. So I was having an issue with random bluescreens about once or twice a week for quite some time, Any time i ran the WinDbg tool (Windows memory dump analysis tool) it would tell me that a driver caused the issue, usually it would tell me it was Ndu.sys (network driver). Now most tutorials would tell you to run the command “sfc /scannow” and then re-install your drivers, But this never really fixed anything for me. But I had a hunch, and that hunch turned out to be correct. I've been having problems with Corsair iCUE causing memory errors, conflicting with my sound card drivers (an ASUS Xonar DX), and I have to guess that the iCUE software messes with a lot of things it really shouldn't. Previously I had Corsair Link and iCUE installed to control all the Corsair parts in my PC (RM1000 PSU, K95 RGB keyboard, M65 mouse, Commander Mini and H110i watercooler) (the old Corsair Link software is needed as Corsair doesn't even bother to support their own hardware with their iCUE software). So what I've done is uninstall the Corsair iCUE and Corsair Link software, And for the last month there's been no bluescreens. Thats all, nothing else changed, no windows updates, no change in hardware or peripherals, just the Corsair iCUE and Link software uninstalled and the bluescreens are gone. Which raises the question, why/how the hell is iCUE messing with the network drivers, sound drivers, graphics drivers and storage drivers? Since finding out it was Corsair causing all my issues, and their complete lack of wanting to fix the problems with their software, I've lost a lot of trust in that company. Which is a shame as the hardware is quite good, just let down by flakey bloatware. So if anyone has corsair software installed and is getting a driver/ndu.sys related bluescreen, just try uninstalling the Corsair software. it worked for me.
  3. tl;dr Anyone found a good place to get the correct size fans for specific graphic cards? Ive got a AMD 5700XT MSI Evoke OC, one of the fans has started intermittently buzzing at high speeds. now I'd rather not send a GPU out for repair as there'd be no way to use this PC in the meantime, I did reach out to MSI's support who said they couldn't sell the fans on their own, but could sell the entire cooling for the GPU (heat-sink, shroud, fans) But they gave a approx cost of £110 +tax and shipping, (not bad if you needed the entire cooler, but annoying as i only need the fans). So i'm trying to hunt around for a matching compatible fan, or dip into water-cooling as a block from Alphacool is €98 (plus the rest of the water-cooling loop) What's your recommendations?
  4. I briefly had a UHD42, it was replacing a older Optoma projector i had and had a great experience with, but ended up returning it and getting a 4k TV instead, The bright mode was excellent, its there for people who don't have rooms that can be fully darkened. for model numbers (as they differ for Europe): The UHD30 is equivalent to the UHD40, and has a 1.1x optical zoom (1.2:1 throw) The UHD50 is equivalent to the UHD42, and has a 1.3x optical zoom and a optical vertical shift (1.5:1 throw). The UHD30/50 has Mobile-HD link (MHL), whereas the 40/42 does not (for mobile phone streaming). Two things that were not covered in the video were the very two reasons why I swapped to a TV (despite the smaller size), Firstly, the colour reproduction is good for plain old RGB, but not as much for the blended colours between. See the aqua blue colour in these Monitor vs Projector comparisons, Both next to each other: (the room lights were off, all that extra light is reflected light from the projector when it was displaying a light grey test pattern) It made the sky colours in the film Weathering with You look overly dull, Projector test pattern: Monitor test pattern (abit blurry, camera moved): And secondly, the 4k is more of a blended "4k" due to the DMD shifting technique used to achieve it from a 1080p DMD. It was not able to give the same detail as a conventional DMD / LCD was able to. Things that were 1 pixel apart are blended together. Monitor: Projector: It really did just show a gray square for the alternating black/white single pixel line pattern Pro's for Projector: Can be moved around with ease, Great brightness Huge projection area 240hz 1080p mode is fantastic, Downsides: For 70-120" screens, you can get better image quality from a similarly priced/sized TV Colour reproduction Soft / non sharp 4k visuals Overall i'd still recommend it if you have a use case where a TV just isn't large enough, or if you plan to move it around, For other situations just get a huge TV.
  5. I got a pair of PowerA enhanced xbox one controllers and they work great, They come with a long USB cable, and have two extra mapable buttons on the back of the controller. It's pretty cheap at £25 a controller, or £20 for the standard one without the extra two buttons.
  6. After using Corsair stuff for over a decade, i can only conclude that Corsair's software support is not just rubbish, its abysmal. Which is why I've started to avoid buying some of Corsairs peripherals recently, *incoming rant* Creating and assigning macro's in the Link or iCUE software is not that user friendly, most other companies had creating macro's nailed down over a decade ago, (this also applies to lighting profiles) It makes me want to swap back to my old Microsoft keyboards just for the nicer macro software. The iCUE software is not compatible with any older Corsair hardware, even if its only 3-4 years old, meaning you still need the older Corsair Link software as well. That is unless you buy the new hardware, so the 3 year old perfectly functional hardware becomes e-waste. In my system i've got a Corsair Commander mini and a Corsair RM1000 PSU, the iCUE software does not control them. Not only that, iCUE just errors out if you happen to have an ASUS Xonar sound card, and Corsair appears to have no intent on fixing the memory error their software causes. This isn't a new thing, and affects anyone with this series of sound card, (links to Corsairs forum, 1, 2, 3 etc.) I value having nice audio more than some terrible LED controlling software. If you use Win 7 and get random bluescreens, its likely because of using older Corsair USB2 devices in a USB3 port, as the constant data flow will just cause a driver error making the system Bluescreen. I had this issue in the past, just swapping the K95 RGB keyboard to a USB2 port solved my issues. And that the older Corsair Link software also has memory leaks in some versions. Enough so that i had to make a script to launch Corsair Link, wait till its told the Corsair Commander Mini what the fan profiles are, then force the processes to close so the PC wont have any issues. *end rant* What software is out there that will control Corsairs devices in place of their bloatware? And what companies actually support their peripherals for a long time?
  7. Ive seen that video from GN, got some good info in there. The biggest issue with any thermal pad is having consistent pressure across the entire pad, and ensuring a good surface contact with no gaps due to surface imperfections. Though lead being used as a thermal interface was back when devices were not kicking out more than 50W of heat.
  8. I'm more curious if a 90's cooling solution would still be effective in the current day, (i've also seen it used in vintage audio equipment from the 70's).
  9. So in the 1990's I had a IBM (Cyrix) CPU which used a thin slice of lead / lead alloy (about 1/32" thick) as its thermal interface material against the rough surface of the heat-sink, Manufacturers stopped using lead in consumer electronics due to requirements for products to be lead free, But how well would lead stand up against new thermal pads? As thermal pads are just terrible compared to any average thermal paste, and that lead should have a thermal conductivity of around 34.7W/m K (depending on purity). My best guess is that it was used to conform to the rough surface of the extruded aluminium heat-sink due to its softness, as most things did not need heatsinks back then. I'd expect if you try to use it now you'd most likely need a high mounting pressure. You'd need to avoid lead foil as it's just lead coated aluminium, but thin lead sheets can be gotten down to 1/64" thicknesses.
  10. It reminds me of this XKCD, https://xkcd.com/927/ But realisticly, how much more power can they draw through a new connector? The current ATX power delivery standards for PCIe cards are, A 12V supply +/- 5% (11.4V to 12.6V) 6 pin 75W supply, 2 or 3 wires will supply 12V, giving us 2A or 3.1A per wire. 8 pin 150W supply, 3 wires supply 12V, giving us 4.2A per wire. (2 pins of the 8 pin connector will be used to sense that a 8 pin cable is connected) These connectors have a rating of 5.5A per 18AWG copper wire in a 12 pin connector, so the 8 pin standard using 4.2A per wire is already close to the rated spec. The ratings for these connectors are based of the maximum current that can be passed without the connector or wire reaching 30C above the ambient temperature. If the maximum number of wires are used to supply +12v (6 of the 12 wires), almost 400w could be achievable from this connector if it meets the defined spec, 5.5A x 12V = 66W per wire, x6 = 396W This excludes the voltage drop due to the wires internal resistance, and also that the ATX specification does not specify the wire material, it is only assumed to be copper. A shoddy PSU manufacturer may substitute Aluminium wire as its cheaper. Footnotes; AWG - (American Wire Gauge); the lower the number, the thicker the wire is. 18AWG is thicker than 20AWG. For current ratings of Aluminium wire, take 2 from the AWG of copper wire to get the AWG for Aluminium, e.g. 20AWG copper wire will carry as much current as 18AWG Aluminium wire. If a PSU supplies 12V, the voltage drop for an 18AWG copper wire at 5.5A over a distance of 1m (3.3ft full circuit distance, 50cm each way), is 0.24V or 2%. Sources; Intel ATX specification https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/power-supply-design-guide-june.pdf Molex connector specification https://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/ps/PS-43045-001.pdf (page 8, see 12-circuit column for W-W amps at 18AWG) The Amps per wire goes down for connectors with more wires, because there a more wires to cool in a confined space. Really, two 6-circuit connectors next to each other should meet the specification for a 12-circuit connector (and currently do so).
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