TweakHound

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Computer Hardware

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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O&O ShutUp10 1.8.1418
Freeware, portable privacy app. Another small update. I do recommend downloading and running it. I’ve found recent Windows Updates have changed a couple of settings Like “Disable Telemetry”.
Download | Changelog

Macrium Reflect v7.3.5672
– Macrium Task Scheduler
A scheduled backup that sleeps or hibernates the PC after completion could wake the PC a short time after completion. This has been resolved.
Missed scheduled backups for the same backup definition may not honor the Full/Diff/Inc order of precedence when starting causing an Incorrect number of backups to run. This has been resolved.
– Retention Purge
Differential retention could report an incorrect number of Differentials found in the backup log. This has been resolved.
Download | Release Notes | Thanks AG!

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

The LastPass Android App Contains 7 Trackers From Third Party Companies
“When it comes to account security, using a password manager is generally a good idea. But what happens if that password manager is tracking what you’re doing and not even telling you? According to security researcher Mike Kuketz, the LastPass Android app has seven embedded trackers, and LastPass may not know what data they collect.”
Geeze…Glad everyone has ditched this by now!

First Fully Weaponized Spectre Exploit Discovered Online
“It targets Spectre, a major vulnerability that was disclosed in January 2018.”
Over 2 years ago the chicken littles told us we needed to patch everything immediately or else. Also, it was disclosed to us in January of 2018. Intel had informed the Chinese Government before anyone else.

Four ‘New’ Beers Have Been Added to the Brewers Association Style Guidelines
“Kentucky Common Beer, Belgian-Style Session Ale, and New Zealand-Style Pale Ale and India Pale Ale.”
Sounds really interesting:
“Characteristic Ingredients: Six-row barley malt was used with 35% corn grits to dilute the excessive protein levels along with 1 to 2% each caramel and black malt. Native American hops, usually about .2 pounds per barrel of Western hops for bittering and asimilar amount of New York hops (such as Clusters) for flavor (15 minutes prior to knock out). Imported continental Saazer-typehops (.1 pounds per barrel) were added at knock out for aroma”

Can You Name the World’s Most Expensive Toll Road?
“the most expensive toll road on earth isn’t in Switzerland, California, or Germany. It’s in…”
Around here, I-95 in Virginia has optional express lane tolls lanes and the price fluctuates based on traffic.
The biggest toll I can think of per mile here is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel. It is 17.6 miles long and costs $14-18 to cross.

Home Fires
My wife and I streamed this show recently on PBS/Masterpiece/Amazon Prime. Decent show, I was drawn to it because I’m into WWII history.
“Home Fires is a British period television drama about the life of Women’s Institute members on the Home Front during the Second World War. Set in a rural Cheshire community called Great Paxford, the series is produced by ITV, and launched its first series in May 2015. The first series is set between September 1939 and early 1940.”
Wikipedia – Home Fires (British TV series)
Although not typically even close to my kind of music, I very much like the theme song:

i7-9700K on sale

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i7-9700K on sale for $249.99 at Amazon, and Best Buy. It is $305 at Newegg. Deal gone!
8 actual cores, no hyperthreading. I run the 9700KF (no graphics) on my second rig with all cores locked at 5GHz.

OK, all that expired or whatever.
For those who are lucky enough to be near a MicroCenter the current LGA 1151 CPU sale prices are:
i7-9700K = $219.99
i9-9900K = $319.99 (This is the CPU in my main rig.)
In addition, “Save $20 when bundled with a compatible eligible motherboard“.
These prices are “In Store Only”. Locations: https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx
Unfortunately for me, MicroCenter is 2+ hours away.
Some folks say Best Buy will price match these.
Again, my default running configuration for these is all cores locked at 5GHz.

Samsung 870 EVO 250GB OS Drive?

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Long ago I lamented about someone coming up with a superfast drive just for the operating system. That has been a reality since the late 2000s when SSDs became mainstream and affordable.
A couple of weeks ago, Samsung released the 870 EVO line of SSDs. The smallest and cheapest of these is 250GB version. Because I view the smaller drives as ideal for Operating System only drives, this is the drive I will be focusing on.
The 870 EVO line has been touted by Samsung and hardware review sites as the last shot at maximizing the performance of SATA drives.

SAMSUNG 870 EVO at Amazon: 250GB=$39.99 | 500GB=$69.99 | 1TB=$129.99 | 2TB&4TB $250-$489 unavailable
[Read more…] about Samsung 870 EVO 250GB OS Drive?

Thursday Random Stuff…

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AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 21.1.1 Optional (WHQL)
Support for Hitman 3, Quake II RTX and a dozen other fixes.
Download | Release Notes

Intel Graphics – Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Version: 27.20.100.9168 (Latest) Date: 1/20/2021
HIGHLIGHTS- Support for Intel Iris Xe Max Graphics (DG1)
GAMING HIGHLIGHTS – Fixes corruptions observed in Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy, Nioh 2.
Download & Info

Wise Disk Cleaner v10.4.2
Some small improvements.
Download (I use Portable version) | Release Info

While looking at some articles about the new Z590 chipset, I ran across this:
ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial
Anandtec says it’s $1843. Yes. $1,843. For a motherboard…
It got me thinking, what does a “dream system” cost?
(prices rounded)
Motherboard – ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial $1843
CPU – Intel Core i9-10900KF $500
CPU Cooler – Corsair H115i RGB Platinum (not sure about this as it has a water block) $170
Memory – Assume for premium RAM 64GB (probably more than this) $1000
Video Card – ASUS EKWB GeForce RTX 3090 24GB GDDR6X $2055
Storage – Highly debatable. x2 – 1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO 1TB M.2 $460
Power Supply – Corsair AX1000 1000 Watt, 80+ Titanium Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply $ 450
Case – Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL $245
Total – $6723 + sales tax of $336 (5%) {U.S. low of 0% in four states, high of 7.25% in California (surprise)}
Final Cost – $7, 059