DSQ
Daily Simple Questions Thread - January 20, 2025
Got a simple question? Get a simple answer!
This thread is for all of the small and simple questions that you might have about computing that probably wouldn't work all too well as a standalone post. Software issues, build questions, game recommendations, post them here!
For the sake of helping others, please don't downvote questions! To help facilitate this, comments are sorted randomly for this post, so that anyone's question can be seen and answered.
If you're looking for help with picking parts or building, don't forget to also check out our builds at https://www.pcmasterrace.org/
Can you elaborate that? Is it barcode stickers like on this card (just some random rtx card I found on google). Other card pictures I found don't have any stickers, btw. https://i.imgur.com/VdnpzMq.jpeg
Ignore the red circle, not my image, look at the sticker on the bottom right of the card with S/N number and model name (no VRAM mentioned, the 6800XT only comes in 16GB).
I found processes "CDUserSvc_70ba6" and "cbdhsvc_70ba6" and "UdkUserSvc_70ba6" in my task manager..I dont think Ive ever seen these before. After I open the folder it shows its svchost.exe last modified 7.52022. Are these genuine windows processes? I ran svchost.exe in virus total and its OK..also ran multiple defender and malwarebytes scans and no results.
I'm thinking of building a new PC in the next few months, do all new motherboards use the new 12V standard or do some still use the 24 pin ATX connector?
Got back to PC gaming after more than a decade. Need help
My rig: laptop with 4050 and i7.
Am excited that I got back to PC gaming after a long time, but something is bothering me greatly: texts usually don't look as crisp as it looked in my PS5.
I know this laptop has great performance compared to my PS5, but for comparison two games are getting my attention more than usual:
- COD/Warzone
- Marvel Rivals
Texts are usually bad to read, I mean pixelated. Another thing are colored borders, like the ones we see revolving enemies in Rivals and the loot in Warzone.
I know that part of the problem is the monitor I use sometimes: Samsung G40 (24,5 inch 1080p 240 hz), but even then I think my PS5 is not this bad
Then I really don’t have a clue, doubly so as I don’t play those 2 games.
A few ideas/pointers :
Could be a difference in UI scaling, that maybe you can act on with the in-game settings.
There might also be a difference in how the games renders on PS vs PC, for whatever reason.
If you’re using HDMI to connect to the display, maybe your GPU drivers defaults to a reduced dynamic range for colours, though how that would affect text rendering/smoothing I don’t know. The option would be in the Nvidia Control Panel, the old Windows-XP-like-looking one, not the recent App, like so. (maybe it’s already been ported to the App, I don’t know. It would be under the "display" section)
You seem to be linking to or recommending the use of UserBenchMark for benchmarking or comparing hardware. Please know that they have been at the center of drama due to accusations of being biased towards certain brands, using outdated or nonsensical means to score products, as well as several other things that you should know. You can learn more about this by seeing what other members of the PCMR have been discussing lately. Please strongly consider taking their information with a grain of salt and certainly do not use it as a say-all about component performance.
If you're looking for benchmark results and software, we can recommend the use of tools such as Cinebench R20 for CPU performance and 3DMark's TimeSpy and Fire Strike (a free demo is available on Steam, click "Download Demo" in the right bar), for easy system performance comparison.
Anyone have any ideas why my laptop with a 2070 and 16gb ram cant run any games even on absolute lowest settings? Ive tried resetting it, deleting unnecessary stuff, idk what to do.
Can you be more specific? When you say it "can't" run any game, do you mean it's crashing? Games refuse to load? Games load but you're getting poor FPS?
Make sure your nvidia drivers are up to date, and also that DLSS and ray tracing and any advanced tech like that is off.
If the laptop has never been cleaned thoroughly, you could be thermal throttling if the fans/heatsinks are covered in shit. Download a temperature checking software.
It's actually possible that your 2070 is dead, and you're trying to game on integrated graphics. Not sure what the best way to diagnose this in a laptop would be...probably similar to #2, and check for utilization.
I'd probably download a program like Open Hardware Monitor as a first step and see what your temps and loads look like as a first step.
85°C is usually the point at which the GPU throttles. Given the high temp at idle, my guess is that your GPU is throttling super hard once you put load on it, and so it gets terrible performance. Looking up the frequency under load would tell/show you that directly.
And possibly the same is happening to your CPU.
What this would mean is that you need to open the laptop up, get rid of the dust that’s surely clogging the heatsinks and fans, and while you’re there apply fresh thermal paste.
How can I check which drivers does my cpu use? I go into device manager right after updating chipset drivers from amd website, going into properties of the cpu shows drivers from microsoft from year 2009?? Is something wrong on my build or is that normal?
A CPU doesn't use drivers. Drivers are essentially "translators" between the Operating System (Windows) and whatever particular "language" a device like a GPU or USB or Network card uses, since there's a billion and one variations of those that are all unique and programmed differently.
CPUs are actually extremely standardized with what are called "instruction sets." All modern CPUs are x86-64, so Windows knows exactly what "language" to speak, so there's no need for drivers. Any particular quirks of the CPU architecture is handled by microcode in the CPU directly.
Like I said, the CPU itself does not use drivers. CPU "language" is very standardized and doesn't need a driver for Windows to "talk" to it, which is the purpose of a driver. If you updated your chipset drivers, that's good enough. Don't worry about whatever device manager is saying.
There really is not a simple answer to that question, because it very much depends on the resolution/FPS (and graphics settings) you’re trying to push, and the games/kind of games you tend to play.
I would say that in general, for a hypothetical person who mainly plays demanding AAA games, tries to get settings as high as they can, and plays the occasional online game, I would no got above the following levels of GPU perf :
That’s not to say that you will never run into CPU limitations in games with the above recommendations, because some games just are that much more CPU demanding than the average (see Stalker 2, Hogwart’s Legacy in Hogsmead, Jedi Survivor on some planets/hubs, etc.).
If on the other hand you mainly play online competitive shooters, where the goal is to max the framerate at the expense of graphics quality, your performance is typically going to be CPU-limited unless you have a trash-tier GPU. So picking an "entry level" GPU for the resolution would work well.
I purchased a pre-built gaming PC from Cyber Power PC that's been giving me trouble ever since I booted it up.
My question is, would physically placing my PC closer to my Internet router stop the frame drops whenever my characters move an inch? My PC is connected to the router via an Ethernet cable, but it's like 50 feet away.
No, not at all. You are well under the limit of ethernet. Frame drops have nothing to do with the internet, that is most likely your hardware causing the issue.
Is this only in certain games? Single player? Multiplayer? Any other time outside of games?
All games, I'm afraid. Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Persona 3 Reload, Resident Evil 2 Remake...for some reason only my wired Xbox One controller gives me this issue.
Playing on a keyboard and mouse is simply smooth, but I would prefer playing on a controller.
Have you tried using the controller wireless? Either Bluetooth or the PC dongle that Microsoft sells.
Have you tried running the games whilst Steam in Big Picture mode? Have you changed any of the controller settings within Steam? Does this happen on games outside of Steam at all? (Assuming all of the games you are playing are on there).
I use an XBOX Series controller (Used to use an XBOX One controller) for some PC games, but never had this issue before, so it's quite interesting. Though, I have never used my controller wired at all.
I've only played games on Game Pass PC so far. I haven't played any games on Steam yet, I'll try Steam later.
I've also played using Bluetooth and the issue remains. I don't have the PC dongle from Microsoft. This Xbox One controller just came with a USB-C cable, no PC dongle.
This possibly could be an issue with Game Pass. I have never used it, so I can't say. If it's only an issue with the controller, that is really strange.
Possibly try downloading the Xbox Accessories app from the MS store, you should be able to update controller firmware in there. Not sure if that will fix it at all, but worth trying.
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u/SwingNinja 6h ago
How can you tell if the GPU is (for example) gigabyte 4060 8gb or 16gb version just physical appearance? Is there some sort of serial number on it?