Tech Things You Dont Know But Are Too Afraid To Ask.

[STRMfrmXMN]

If you change the cpu on your motherboard, i.e intel 4th gen to 5th gen on a z97 chipset will your computer still run?

Well if the chipset is different entirely, then, well, it won't fit on the mobo in the first place...

[peters.11]

but if the cpu fits, will it run?

 

Well if the chipset is different entirely, then, well, it won't fit on the mobo in the first place...

[STRMfrmXMN]

but if the cpu fits, will it run?

If it fits normally then yes, it will run. albeit, Windows will more than likely de-activate itself due to a hardware change.

 

This is actually common practice to update mobo BIOS "prior to using Haswell refresh CPU's (Intel) or Vishera CPU's (AMD)."

Basically, if you have a mobo that needs a BIOS update to run a newer CPU (I'll use Intel as an example), you're gonna have to do the following.

"Lookie new PC yay!"

"PC isn't working, looks like I need a BIOS update because my newer processor is only compatible with my mobo after an update"

*proceeds to swap out shiny new i7 with Dad's Haswell (non refresh) Core i3 to update the BIOS via the interwebz"

After updating BIOS, puts Refresh i7 back in.

Proceeds to function, albeit with Windows flipping t*ts.

There ya go.

[Swndlr]

how the actual fuck do you dual boot os

why can we watercool laptops (lel jk)

why hasnt dx12 been released yet....

am i the only one who thinks 1080p is a perfect resolution for gaming?

where does everyone pirate their music from? i need to know

am i the only one who hates the batman games?

why cant we all just learn to program and stop asking for the devs to do it?

how does a benchmarking program actually determine the power of you cpu or gpu? by performance per core or what?
 

lastly, why the hell do we need to spend so much money just to do what we love doing :c

[mr.skyrim_pc]

when you swap out the ram on a computer do you loose any data?

no.

[79wjd]

when you swap out the ram on a computer do you loose any data?

If the computer is powered on, maybe  

[terrytek]

how the actual fuck do you dual boot os

why can we watercool laptops (lel jk)

why hasnt dx12 been released yet....

am i the only one who thinks 1080p is a perfect resolution for gaming?

where does everyone pirate their music from? i need to know

am i the only one who hates the batman games?

why cant we all just learn to program and stop asking for the devs to do it?

how does a benchmarking program actually determine the power of you cpu or gpu? by performance per core or what?

 

lastly, why the hell do we need to spend so much money just to do what we love doing :c

1. You install 2 OSes and a bootloader.

2. It actually is possible. A DIY method I found on Instructables.

3. It will soon.

4. Nope. I plan to game on a TV.

5. The Pirate Bay

6. nope. I hate them too.

7. Because not everybody knows.

8. Well, it's technically synthetic, so you don't really know unless you do real world benchmarks, like rendering, video editing, etc.

9. IDK. If only money didn't exist, then we would have everything we need.

[ybriK]

Why are copper heat pipes not being used for high-end graphics cards when copper can dissipate heat much faster than aluminium?

[terrytek]

Why are copper heat pipes not being used for high-end graphics cards when copper can dissipate heat much faster than aluminium?

1 word. Money. They want to keep production costs low. Aluminum is cheaper to use than copper. Plus, a lot more aluminum is recycled, so it's cheaper.

[MG2R]

Like actually, how does watercooling work? Like, water doesn't directly splash on the CPU obviously.. but like, how does the water keep the CPU cool? How does the copper from the heatsink interact with water?

I feel like you could use a bit of a complete view on coolers, so here goes

 

Air coolers basically operate on the premise that more surface area = better

heat exchange. What this means is that, for effective heat transfer from metal

to air, you need a lot of surface area on the metal. More surface area = more

space for the air to interact with the metal = more heat transfer. To do this,

CPU coolers have a lot of thin fins. The thinner, the better, because you get

more surface area per volume with thinner fins.

 

So what happens is that the heat from your CPU goes through the heat

spreader, through the TIM, into the base plate of the CPU cooler. From there,

it either goes directly (think stock cooler), or via a set of heatpipes (high end

cooler), to a set of fins. The efficiency at which this heat transfer happens is

dependent on the materials used in the cooler and CPU. Copper conducts

heat better than aluminium; some TIMs perform better than others, and so

on.

 

Once at the fins, the heat is transferred to the air. The quicker the airs flows

over the fins, and the more turbulent that flow is, the more effective the heat

transfer will be.

 

Now, liquid coolers actually operate on the same principles. Somewhere in

the loop you have a radiator which contains a bunch of fins. You put a

couple of fans on there to pass heat over them, and the heat will transfer

from the fins to the air just like on any other air cooler.

 

The reason liquid cooling systems are usually more effective than air coolers

is threefold:

• More surface area.

  Because the radiator isn't confined to the space available around the

  CPU socket, the can be made bigger than the air coolers. Also,

  because of the construction of the radiators, the fins can be a lot

  thinner on a rad, because they don't need to support themselves

  (they have a supporting frame around them.

  Both of these factors amount to more surface area, which amounts to

  more effective heat transfer between metal and air.

• High specific heat capacity of water.

  The heat capacity of a material is the amount of energy (heat) it takes

  to heat that material up by 1 degree Celsius. In other words, the higher

  your heat capacity, the longer it will take for the temperature of the heat

  sink (water, base plate, whatever takes the heat) to rise.

  This makes the water keep temps lower for a longer time. However, it

  will NOT increase the cooling performance directly. The actual amount

  of power (heat) you can dissipate is only dependent on the radiator or

  heat sink surface area.

• Better thermal conductivity between water and metal.

  Water and metal are better at moving heat between them than air and

  metal. Therefore, the heat goes into the water very easily, which carries

  it far away from the CPU. This helps keeping the temp delta (difference)

  between the CPU core and the radiator low, even over long distances,

  as long as the flow rate is high enough.

These three things combined make it so that, even if your radiator and air

cooler have the same surface area and cooling performance, water loops

will usually perform better, because they are more efficient at moving that

heat away from the CPU socket.

 

This all comes with the added advantage that it's possible to place your

rad and fans in such a position that they don't expel the heat inside the case,

making the case temps cooler and, as such, making it easier to keep the

other components cool.

 

 

are switches non wifi routers?

No. In networking equipment there are four major appliances:

1. Switches
2. Routers
3. Modems (modulator/demodulator)
4. Wireless access points

Switches

These things are used to distribute packets within the same network. This

means that switches will only distribute packets on the same IP subnet, thus

requiring only the MAC address of the recipient.

 

These are usually used at the inner side of a network infrastructure.

 

Routers

Routers route IP packets between different networks. This means that they

need the IP addresses and translate those into the next MAC address in the

chain.

 

These are usually used at the edge of a network infrastructure.

 

Modems

A modem (or MOdulator/DEModulator) is an appliance which only does

conversion from one physical carrier (e.g. UTP cable) to another (e.g. coax).

These don't perform any routing whatsoever, open no headers, and just

take the packet from one modulated signal to another.

 

Wireless access points

These babies are devices that actually perform a modem function with some

intelligence behind it. They also "modem" the signal between two carriers

(UTP and air), but perform the extra function of distributing packets to individual

clients (like a switch) and also authenticate their clients (server).

 

Then what are "wifi routers"?

These days, the term router is often misused, because most consumer routers

are actually a combination of all of the above devices. They contain a router,

which routes packets between your ISP's and your network. They contain a switch,

which provides the router with multiple LAN ports. They contain a wireless access

point connected to that switch. And lastly, some of them (for instance, ADSL routers)

contain a modem which translates the telephone or other signal to a signal ready

for UTP.

Edited September 7, 2014 by MG2R
Fixed an error (strikethrough). Wifi is multicast, every device in the neighbourhood receives all packets, much like a bridge (predecessor of switch)

[deviant88]

Why after months of doing C# programing projects in unity and VisualStudio i dont know how to write a single simple program or game?is my memory that bad or am i doing it wrong?

[Juggernautilus]

How can a speaker achieve like almost any sound possible? Like I know how the speaker is built and how the wiring works but I am still amazed how can one small box can play every instrument, sound or even a voice. I don't know if this makes any sense.

[Guest]

What does a Hyper Threading do?

Hyper threading deploys an extra thread per core making the data flow faster... This can be usefull for editing app's, but not so much for games.

[terrytek]

Why after months of doing C# programing projects in unity and VisualStudio i dont know how to write a single simple program or game?is my memory that bad or am i doing it wrong?

Maybe it's just how you operate. Your brain might not be able to remember the vast lines of code.

[hawthorne]

7950 and a phenom II 1055t @ 2.8, does it bottle neck. 

[hawthorne]

And why are people bronies? 

 

not gonna judge, I believe in every man to his own taste however it is an area of the internet I don't really understand.

[babbaj]

(UTP and air)

 

Electromagnetic radiation*

[STRMfrmXMN]

--snip--

Why can't you just be my science teacher?

Edited September 7, 2014 by MG2R
Shortened the long quote to make the page less cluttered ;)

[MG2R]

Electromagnetic radiation*

The EM fields are the signal, air (or, actually, vacuum) is the medium.

Same thing with copper: electric fields (voltage) are the signal, copper is the medium

 

 

Why can't you just be my science teacher?

'Cause I'm not good at teaching

[babbaj]

The EM fields are the signal, air (or, actually, vacuum) is the medium.

Same thing with copper: electric fields (voltage) are the signal, copper is the medium

wouldn't space be the medium?

[MG2R]

wouldn't space be the medium?

 

According to the Google definition for a medium:

the intervening substance through which sensory impressions are conveyed or physical forces are transmitted.

 

Clearly shows that, here on earth, the medium for EM waves would be the air. Other media would be

concrete, wood, water, and basically anything else it passes on it's way before it's absorbed.

 

Now, if you want to be very nitpicky and define space by its mathematical concept, then yes, EM waves

travel through a space. Basically anything would be traveling through a space then. Space would still

not be the medium, though, just the location where the waves are traveling.

[peters.11]

What does SDK mean?

[CoolJWR100]

What is a CPU speed? My science teacher told me that it was spinning inside but I find it hard to believe.

[CoolJWR100]

What does SDK mean?

Software Development kit.

[Me1z]

What is a CPU speed? My science teacher told me that it was spinning inside but I find it hard to believe.

 

Your science teacher has no idea what they're talking about. The CPU has no moving parts. The clock rate refers to how fast the electronic signals are able to 'cycle' through the processors cores. To complete even a single process, calculations need to be run and rerun through the core(s) repeatedly making the data flow seem almost cyclic in nature.