I managed to figure out a decent methodology for RAM overclocking, got my 3000MHz kit running stable at 3200 with the CL down from 17/16 to 14 (better latency). I had upped it to 3200 before but I think there was some instablility, increasing the DDR voltage to 1.4 seems to have solved it.

RAM overclocking can be a riduculously fiendishly complicated thing to do with the myriad of timings and subtimings, but I was able to get results by just changing the first few numbers + the memory clock. You have to validate that you are getting both stability and a performance boost though, motherboards can automatically adjust subtimings to maintain stability. I found using MemTest86 booted from a USB to test stability for a few hours, and five or so runs of the Geekbench CPU test to get an idea of performance improvements worked well for me. The Timespy benchmark (available throught he Steam demo) actually showed some real difference between settings, CPU physics score that is. Oh and I fixed the clockspeed while I was doing this, with most modern processors they will turbo depending on the temperature, which would introduce unuseful variance.

About a 2.8% improvement shown by Geekbench, and a 4.3% increase with Timespy's physics score. Not a massive difference, but combined with my CPU and GPU overclocking it all adds up quite nicely. Just something that's been bugging me for a while and it's nice to get everything running to most of the full potential.

I made it seem complex there, but now I've mostly figured out the basics of testing it's really not too bad. If anyone wants to have a go and needs a hand give me a shout.

Facewon wrote:

Cool. I assume that is a bad idea for laptops?

*I wrote the below, then remembered that an issue that can happen if you set things waay of is the computer won't be able to boot properly, and probably not get into the BIOS. I'm a bit spoiled using my mobo, as it has a dual BIOS, meaning I can switch to the backup in case the main one is fucked. I haven't needed to do that with this particular board as it will just boot loop a few times, beeping at me to indicate an issue, before rolling back to last stable settings so I can undo what I did. If you did run into an issue and it wouldn't boot, you would probably need to open it up and temporarily remove the CMOS battery. Resetting the machine by removing the CMOS battery can potentially solve issues with seemingly dead laptops btw.

So unless you are quite sure of your laptop's BIOS behaviour, probably don't bother with pushing things faster than their spec.



Not really. The main thing is being able to finely adjust memory clockspeeds as well as the timings, though you might still see performance improvements with it doing auto timings. And chances are DDR voltage control will be necessary if you wanted to push it a whole lot. You should be able to do the same process with Memtest86 and Geekbench, though if the CPU clockspeed is not fixed and is turboing based on temperature then that will introduce variance which will make it tricky. Not many laptops support proper overclocking, so this probably won't be a thing you can do anyway. But switching between XMP profiles might be.

Has anyone used a either Steam Link or the Steam Link App?  I'm thinking of getting this missus into some couch Divinity 2 but have the issue of getting the thing onto the TV downstairs.

I'm hoping I can get the app on the android tv and don't have to resort to buying a steam link at great cost.

@hunk I think.

Steam Link and Steam in home streaming works best with a wired connection, or very fast and stable wireless..

It can work well with a laptop, just install steam and sign in with the same account as a PC connected to the same network.

You can plug in various controllers and rebind stuff with the Steam big picture UI, which is nice.

Hello.

Kow wrote:

Never used one but they're usually dirt cheap.

hunk wrote:

Steam link is decent hw and dirt cheap nowadays. You could also try an Android device icw the steam app but have never tried that meself. Results may vary depending on the hw. You can also consider using an old laptop (Mac/win) you have lying around.

Really?  I've not seen a cheap one since they stopped making them.  I've seen a few on ebay bidding but never seen the final purchase price.  Most of the buy it now options are 45-50.

Was using my Steam Link yesterday.  It's hardwired and I always do the network test a few times before connecting to the PC.  Annoyingly, the latest update has removed the latency figures from the test so there are no numbers I can refer to.  It just says 'tested up to 30 mbps' which doesn't really help.

Tried a number of games: Dead Cells, SNES emulator with a Kaizo style SMW hack, Ikaruga, and a few others.

All played really well.  The only one I had minor issues with was the SMW emulator as the hack requires precise timing of inputs and I was a bit out compared to plugging the PC directly into my plasma.  I'd also turned off one of the latency settings in the emulator to get it to run at the proper frame rate so that would also affect lag.

So, for native PC games it was great.

I feel like it should just work, but I'm not sure. There's probably someone else out there who has tried it with the same sort of setup.

Tried out the sharpening thing in Skyrim, seems to work pretty well with it set to 30%, seems like it's doing some subpixel stuff. Quite nice for softer looking games, worth trying out.

Also there was an integer scaling thing added, which is supposed to be really good for those playing retro or pixelly games on high resolutions. I think it was a Turing only feature atm, but it should be totally doable on older gens too.

I’ve not seen one for ages. I assumed the super cheap prices were because they were selling them off.

Used to have mine set up via Ethernet, was great. Haven’t tried it via WiFi.

Good, I'm not going bonkers.  I'll have a butchers at this Raspberry Pi then.  Hopefully going to get the missus into a bit of couch Divinity 2.

Good to hear the pi worked out
Keep us posted on how things are going.

I'll keep you posted on how it's all going.  I'm tempted to start again with BerryBoot and BusterOS, it's currently got Stretch.

I've got the 3 B+ and had set it up to run over wifi whilst updating the Stretch OS and installing the Link.  I've got a switch behind the TV so I'll have it hardwired but can test the wifi for you.  Most sites say there could be a few lag spikes over wifi.

My one downside is that the PC is going over powerline at the moment so that's going to restrict me. That may change if I can get a cable up the wall cavity, across the attic, and down.  I've got 300MB FTTP so if I can get it hardwired, I'll be golden for streaming.

Did you really just post an advert for bud?