General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

How To Back Up and Restore Steam Games

Posted: 28 May 2015 02:26 PM PDT

We show you how to back up your games, so you don't have to re-download them

With modern PC games tallying up download sizes of 20GB (and even soaring up to GTA V's massive 70GB), sometimes it's better to back up the game to an external drive rather than slog through the long download again. If you're using Steam, there are two methods you can use to back up your games to another drive and restore them later, and thus avoid the hassle of a re-download. We'll go over both methods and point out their pros and cons.

Back Up Through Steam

Steam has a built-in backup tool to use with any of the games and software you own. You can back up (or restore) individual or multiple items at once. Steam will then compress the game(s) to a location that you specify. There are a few limitations to the tool, however. One is that any modifications done outside of Steam Workshop will not be backed up. Another is that games that are updated outside of Steam cannot be backed up. This usually applies to MMO and F2P games.

1. To start the tool, either:
Go to Steam > Backup and Restore Games. Select "Backup currently installed games" and click "Next"
or
Right-click on a game that you want backed up and select "Backup Game Files."

SteamBU 1a


You can invoke the backup process either from the top menu...

SteamBU 1b

...Or by right-clicking a game title.

2. A game selection window will come up. Tick the checkbox of each game you want to include in the 

SteamBU 2

3. Next, select where you want the backup to be saved. The selected games will be saved into one folder. For this example, we used C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Backups.

SteamBU 3

4. Name the folder for the selected games and how to split them up. If you plan on burning the games to a CD or DVD, you can select the appropriate option. There's a third option for a custom size. This will create folders named in the format Disk_#, starting with Disk_1. When the backup reaches the size limit, it creates Disk_2, and so on.

In this example, we will save into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Backups\Cities Skylines and F1 2013. 

SteamBU 4

5. Now, go enjoy a cup of coffee, have a shower, or run some errands. If you're backing up your entire library, this will take a while! Note that if you cancel now, you'll have to delete the folder where the backup would've been saved if you want to user to that folder again. Otherwise, Steam will complain that the folder exists when you try to use it.

SteamBU 5

6. When the backup process is complete, you'll get a confirmation page and the option to open the folder where the backup was saved.

Restore

To restore games:
1. Go to Steam > "Backup and Restore Games..." From there, select "Restore a previous backup" and press "Next."

SteamBU R1

2. Steam asks for the saved backup directory. It's is a little picky in that it wants the root directory of all the Disk_# folders. If it's happy with the directory you've selected, it will show what games were found.

In this example, we saved our backup to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Backups\Cities Skylines and F1 2013. This folder must be specified; Steam won't find anything in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Backups.

SteamBU r2

3. Tick the checkbox of the games you want to restore and press "Next." This will continue the install process like the normal Steam install process.

SteamBU 3

Pros:
* It's built-in and straight-forward to use
* You can split the backup into chunks if you need to
* The backups are compressed

Cons:
* It's tedious to do at the individual game level
* Since it compresses/decompresses games, it takes a while and will be slower on less powerful machines.
* Backups don't preserve modifications you've made

Manual Backup

There's a manual process you can use to back up your Steam games. One of the reasons you may want to do this is that Steam's backup utility doesn't preserve game modifications. This can be useful if you have, for instance, a heavily modified version of one of the Elder Scrolls games.

First, locate the games in your system. In Windows, the default location is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps. On Linux, the default location is /home/[username]/.local/share/Steam/steamapps (or ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps). 

SteamBU m1
The contents of a steamapps folder, where Steam programs live.

In the "steamapps" folder you'll find another folder named "common." This is where all your games and software live. A manual backup is a simple copy and paste of the game from this folder to the location where you want it stored. You can also right-click a game and select "Properties," then go to the "Local Files" tab, and click "Browse Local Files." This will open a file browser at the game's location.

However, there's another file you'll want to back up to avoid an additional headache. In the "steamapps" folder, there are several "appmanifest_####.acf" files. These files tell Steam which games are installed. To locate the appmanifest file that's tied to the game you've backed up, point your browser to the game's store page on Steam and look for the store ID number. For example, if Bioshock Infinite is to be backed up, its Steam store page URL is http://store.steampowered.com/app/8870/. The number at the end is the store ID. So for Bioshock Infinite, the appmanifest file is "appmanifest_8870.acf."

To restore the game, copy the game back to the "common" folder and its appmanifest file to the "steamapps" folder. Restart Steam and the game will appear already installed.

If you don't have the appmanifest file for the game, you can still copy the game and then use Steam to install it. When Steam asks where the game should be installed, choose the drive where you restored the game. For example, if you restored the game onto the E:\ drive, have Steam install the game to the E:\ drive. 

SteamBU m2
As this copy of Bioshock Infinite is on the E:\ drive, point Steam to "install" it on E:\.

Steam will then run the install process, but will say "Discovering existing files...." This process takes several minutes, as Steam checks to see if every file is there. After this, Steam will either consider the game installed or it will download additional files for the game as needed. 

SteamBU m3

Steam finds Bioshock Infinite is already on the drive, and is checking it.

Pros:
* It's a simple copy and paste.
* It works well from individual games to groups.
* It preserves any modifications you've made.

Cons:
* You need the game's appmanifest file for the game to immediately show up on Steam. Doubly annoying is that the appmanifest file references the game by the game's Steam Store ID.
* Steam may end up downloading the game anyway. The best way to avoid this is, at the time of the backup, ensure the game is up to date and that you can run it without error.
* Backups take more space since they're not compressed.

Bonus Tip: How To Back Up Save Files and Settings

Of course, what's the point of backing up games if you don't back up your progress and settings as well? Unfortunately, there's only Steam Cloud and not every game supports that. You'll have to figure out where the game save files and settings, and manually back them up.

In Windows, your games' save files and settings are located in one of these places:
* In "Documents" under either the game's name, or the game's publisher's name, then the game's name. For example, "Documents\4A Games\Metro2033" or "Documents\Arma3."
* In "Documents\my games." Games will usually be stored by name.
* In "C:\Users\[username]\Appdata\Roaming." You can type %APPDATA% as the location in File Explorer and it will take you there. Files are stored either under the publisher's name or the game's name.
* Where the game is installed. This is more common in games made before 2005.
* Some games may store data in "C:\ProgramData," but it's not save files. For example, Codemaster's racing games store replay data here.

In Linux, most game saves can be found in /home/[username]/.local/share (or ~/.local/share), in a folder of the game name itself, or the publisher's name, then the game's name.

To restore those files, copy and paste the files where you found them.

AMD Launches A10-7870K APU

Posted: 28 May 2015 01:47 PM PDT

Amd A10-7870k

Today AMD announced the availability of a new APU, codenamed Godavari: the A10-7870K. There's also an A8-7670K coming soon, though it wasn't part of today's announcement. Despite the new codename, these APUs are effectively extensions of the existing Kaveri APU lineup, and they should be drop-in replacements on any socket FM2+ motherboard. Other than clock speeds, there aren't any major changes. Here's the quick overview of AMD's current generation A10 APUs:

AMD A10 APU Specifications
APU GPU Compute Cores CPU
Base/
Turbo		 GPU Clock TDP L2 DDR3
Speed
A10-7870K R7 12 (4CPU + 8GPU) 3.9GHz/
4.1GHz 		866MHz 95W 4MB 2133
A10-7850K R7 12 (4CPU + 8GPU) 3.7GHz/
4.0GHz 		720MHz 95W 4MB 2133
A10-7800 R7 12 (4CPU + 8GPU) 3.5GHz/
3.9GHz 		720MHz 65W/
45W 		4MB 2133
A10-7700K R7 10 (4CPU + 6GPU) 3.4GHz/
3.8GHz 		720MHz 95W 4MB 2133

The new Godavari A10-7870K doesn't radically alter the CPU part of the APU, with a moderate 200MHz (5 percent) increase to the base clock and an even smaller 100MHz (2.5 percent) increase to the maximum Turbo Core clock. The GPU, on the other hand, sees a far more substantial 146MHz (20 percent) increase in clock speed. In layman speak, that means the new Godavari APU will be better suited for gaming, as the GPU is still the limiting factor for systems running without a discrete GPU.

From a pure performance perspective, AMD's APUs still place a distant second to Intel CPUs with discrete GPUs, but as a value proposition there's a lot to be said. The most expensive AMD APU, the new A10-7870K, checks in at a modest $150 online (though the MSRP is actually lower, at $137), which means the Intel competition currently consists of Core i3 processors like the i3-4170 and i3-4370. If you're intent on running without a discrete GPU, AMD holds a rather commanding lead over Intel's similarly priced CPUs when it comes to gaming, and competitive performance in most other tasks.

Even with the addition of an inexpensive GPU like the GeForce GT 740, AMD claims to deliver a superior gaming experience in popular eSports titles (AMD tested CounterStrike: GO, League of Legends, and StarCraft II). AMD also makes note of their superior DX12 performance, where the A10-7870K performed roughly three times as many draw calls compared to an Intel i5-4570R with Iris Pro Graphics 5200. Even though AMD's testing is limited to just a few titles, there's no doubt that for processor graphics they're beating Intel. They may not be able to compete as well with higher performance Intel Core i5 and i7 parts, but that's not the goal.

Factoring in the cost of a complete system, including motherboard, RAM, storage, case, power supply, and OS, an AMD A10-7870K build will cost approximately $500. You can build a similar Intel setup for roughly the same price, but to equal AMD on graphics performance you'll need to add at least a $75 GPU. If you want better gaming performance than the 7870K offers, we'd suggest looking toward $150 GPUs. Either way, for budget gaming, AMD picks up an easy recommendation. Just keep your expectations in check, as the A10-7870K isn't going to run 1080p with maximum quality in most recent releases.

Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair 750W Modular PSU, Acer 24-inch Monitor, and More!

Posted: 28 May 2015 01:44 PM PDT

Corsair HX750i

Top Deal:

Take it from us, you don't want to smell smoke coming from your PC. That's one of the risks you take when you skimp on a power supply and buy a generic brand for pennies on the dollar. Just. Don't. If you're in the market for a PSU, a much better idea is to check out today's top deal for a Corsair HX750i 750W Full Modular Power Supply for $130 with free shipping (normally $140 - use coupon code: [EMCASNW36]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). This is an 80 Plus Platinum model serving up 62.5A on the all-important +12V rail.

MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition LGA 1150 Intel Z97 ATX Intel Motherboard for $125 with $2 shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCASNW35])

Acer S241HLbmid Black 24-inch 5ms LCD Monitor w/ Built-in Speakers for $120 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCASNW43])

Intel Core i5-4690 Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Desktop Processor for $210 with $2 shipping (normally $225 - use coupon code: [EMCASNW32])

Asus VH238H Black 23-inch HDMI LCD Monitor w/Speakers for $130 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [EMCASNW47]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

Store Unlimited High Resolution Pictures in Google Photos

Posted: 28 May 2015 01:21 PM PDT

Endless storage

Google Photos

Thanks to the advent of the mobile phone, we're all photographers now -- just peek at your camera roll and see if you can scroll through all the pictures you've taken in less than a week. The more important ones we tend to back up, but with Google Photos, being selective is no longer a necessity.

That's because Google Photos is a new standalone service that allows you to upload as many pictures and videos as you want. There's no cap to the number of either one, though there is for resolution -- Google will maintain the original resolution of photos up to 16 megapixels and videos up to 1080p.

More than just a simple storage container, you can organize your digital memories by people, places, and more. In addition, the app will let you make quick enhancements to adjust the color, lighting, and subject.

Google tried to making sharing easier, too. Using Google Photos, you can share your photos and videos across various services, or take a set of photos -- perhaps an album with hundreds of pictures -- and create a link that you can send to family to friends.

Google Photos will be available today across Android, iOS, and the web.

Samsung Chromebook 2 Review

Posted: 28 May 2015 12:19 PM PDT

at a glance

Celery: Fine for even heavy browsing; truly stupendous battery life.

Rutabaga: Lackluster graphics performance; should be cheaper.

Insane battery life, pedestrian performance

It may surprise you to know, but we absolutely love writing about Chromebooks. Sure, none of us would trade our daily drivers in for one, but the category is vastly more interesting than a lot of others.

That's because most laptops get boring really fast. Once a new CPU is out, all of the older CPU models are flushed and there's very little difference between them. With Chromebooks, it's a smorgasbord of architectures. The new Samsung Chromebook 2 here, for example, packs a dual-core "Bay Trail" 2.18GHz Celeron N2840, which turbo boosts to 2.58GHz.

One thing we want to point out before it confuses the hell out of you is that this new Bay Trail–based Chromebook 2 is not to be mixed up with the eight-core Exynos 5–based Chromebook, which also happens to be named Chromebook 2. And yes, there are Celeron-based Chromebooks that use Haswell Celerons being sold alongside Chromebooks using Bay Trail–based Celeron Chromebooks, too. Got it? We don't.

Since we were curious as to how well the Bay Trail Celeron would do, we compared it to our old standby, an Acer C720 Chromebook using the Haswell-based 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U, and also the HP Chromebook 11, which uses a dual-core 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5250 ARM processor. The upshot: the new Bay Trail Celeron is capable, but it ain't no Haswell. It easily outperformed the HP Chromebook 11 but the results were close enough that we suspect a hotter ARM chip, such as Nvidia's Tegra K1, might give it a good run. To be fair to this little Celeron, it's fine for normal loads—we were able to load 20 web pages and scroll without the hellacious lag that ARM-based Chromebooks have given us in the past.

That's a real issue, too. Older ARM-based Chromebooks are not recommended unless you want to slow down your life. Even if the benchmarks didn't put it that far behind the Samsung, the ARM chip actually felt slow. The HP couldn't even run the OortOnline.GL graphics benchmark, nor Tanki Online. On that front, the Samsung Chromebook 2 could push out a sub-optimal 11fps in Tanki Online. The Acer C720 brought us to a playable 30fps, while a Haswell Core i3–based C720 hit 60fps.

The Chromebook 2's 11.6-inch TN panel is meh in off-axis, and colors are muted. Despite this, it's actually a technically better panel than the IPS in the HP Chromebook 11 in white saturation, black level, and compression banding. The average Joe will still pick the HP's IPS panel as being "better" side-by-side, though.

The keyboard on the Samsung is OK and has a standard 19mm pitch width. The speakers were passable but were tinnier than the Acer C720 and not as loud. We also did some write testing to the unit's 16GB eMMC storage by copying a 3.7GB video to it via USB 3.0. Performance was not as pathetic as the HP Chromebook 11, but we do wish for a bit more heft, especially when Acer's C720 series of Chromebooks offer better performance at a better price.

The battery life is nothing to scoff at, though. Sure, it's maybe half the performance of the Haswell Celeron, but it's also half its wattage, too, at 7.5 watts for the Bay Trail Celeron chip. The Acer C720, which we consider pretty good at more than five hours of constant use, was eclipsed by the Samsung, which took us up beyond seven hours. Considering that's a constant repeating of an HTML5 benchmark, we're pretty sure normal googling and email will give you a full day's use.

In the end, what we have is a middle-of-the-pack Chromebook in features, on the lower end of the scale in performance, but stupendous battery life. On the street, the Chromebook 2 is $250. The older Acer C720 we compared it to with its 4GB of RAM would set you back $320. However, you can get that same C720 with half the RAM for $199. If we had to pick performance over battery life, the C720 is the go-to Chromebook, but there is something to be said about just (barely) good enough performance with insane battery life, too.

$250, www.samsung.com


Specifications
Dimensions (H x D x W) 0.7 x 8 x 11.4 inches
Display 11.6-inches, 1366x768 TN
Connectivity HDMI, 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0, 1x Micro SD, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 ac
Processor Intel Celeron N2840
Benchmarks

Samsung Chromebook 2
 HP Chromebook 11 Acer C720-2800
CPU 2.18GHz-2.58GHz Celeron N2840 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5250 1.4GHz Celeron 2955U
RAM 2GB DDR3L/1600 2GB DDR3L/1066 4GB DDR3
SunSpider 1.02 (ms) 607.7 756.6 358.3
Google Octane V2 7,579 6,203 11,638
Peacekeeper 1,659 1,174 3,062
Wirple
 449 337 1,368
Kraken 1.1 3,897.6 5,211.0 2,500.4
OortOnline.Gl 1,380 WNR 3,258
File Copy Across USB 3.0 122 255 87
Battery Run Down (min) 434 230 309
Weight (lb) 2.65 2.30 2.76

Best scores are bolded. All three Chromebooks were tested using the latest ChromeOS update 38.0.2125.110.

Corsair Hydro H110i GT Review

Posted: 28 May 2015 11:55 AM PDT

at a glance

Mercury, God of Poetry: Runs cool; performs quietly; installs smoothly; looks snazzy.

Mercury Tracer (1988): Thick tubing may make some installs tricky.

The true successor was worth the wait

When it comes to closed-loop liquid coolers, size does matter. You might not need a CLC at all for a dual-core CPU in an office computer. But if you're overclocking a chip with four or more cores, bigger is better. A while back, Corsair came out with the Hydro H110, which has a 280mm radiator. But it's not a "smart" cooler, meaning it doesn't have its own software to tweak performance and acoustics. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; some people swear by the fan-control software that comes with their motherboard. But when you're trying to eke out every last drop of performance, sometimes digital feedback can help, or at least give you a lot more information to work with. Now Corsair has delivered the H110i GT, which communicates with your PC via a USB cable, and has several other niceties.

It makes a good first impression. Instead of a plain black radiator with rounded corners, this one is a hard rectangle. Add the chromed decorative plate running the length of the rad and sporting the Corsair logo, and you have an almost retro-futuristic look. The thick tubing is also sheathed in a glossy black braid, and the cooling plate has more chrome and shiny black surfaces. The whole package feels premium, yet understated and classy. The H110i GT is an executive-grade CLC.

The installation method hasn't changed noticeably, but that's not cause for complaint. Like most Corsair coolers, this one uses a sturdy metal backplate and a set of metal fasteners that come together intuitively. If you get stuck, the manual has a bunch of large and clear images to provide visual aid. The thick tubing isn't very flexible, but the tradeoff is a higher volume of liquid getting shuttled back and forth. And the 280mm radiator won't fit in a lot of cases, so check your measurements before you buy. And sometimes, it can technically fit but still require some maneuvering.

The main advantage of a radiator this large is that you can fit larger fans on it. Bigger fans can move the same amount of air, while generating less noise. This isn't always the case, but it's a general rule of thumb. And it's certainly true for the GT.

With its fans and pump set to "Quiet" mode, we could barely tell it was operating, even when subjected to our torture test. When switched to "Performance," the GT gets fairly noisy, but nowhere near the racket produced by the standard H100i, which uses 120mm fans instead of 140mm. The H100i's fans get up to about 2,300rpm when cranked up, while the GT's hover around 2,000rpm on the same setting. The pump can also switch between these modes, which is something we're not accustomed to. Usually, pumps have either one speed, or they adjust themselves dynamically according to CPU temperature readings. Having different gears is an interesting change of pace, though we'd prefer an automatic shift over a manual one.

We should note that Corsair issued a partial "channel" recall on this cooler, meaning it asked stores to send it back. When subjected to sub-zero temperatures during shipping, some coolant could leak. If yours didn't show any signs of leakage, Corsair indicated you didn't need to do anything. If you haven't purchased a GT by the time you read this, then the original inventory should've been replaced by now. Our review unit showed no leakage in the package or during testing. If you still have doubts, it's covered by a five-year warranty.

Overall, the H110i GT's cooling and fan noise were some of the best we've ever seen. As you can see from the chart, it does so well in "Quiet" mode that "Performance" arguably isn't worth the additional noise. Then again, we test at a relatively manageable 4.2GHz, which keeps the playing field level for air coolers. If you're going for epic overclocks, this CLC will be hard to beat.

$130 (MSRP), www.corsair.com


Specifications
Radiator Dimensions (H x D x W)1.2 x 12.2 x 5.5 inches
Weight2lb 13oz
Stock Fans2x 14cm PWM
Socket SupportLGA 1150/ 1155/ 1156/ 1366/ 2011; AM2/ AM2+/ AM3/ AM3+/ FM1/ FM2/ FM2+
Additional Fan Support2x 14cm
Benchmarks
Corsair H110i GT Quiet / Performance ModeNZXT Kraken X61 Quiet / Performance ModeCooler Master Nepton 280L Quiet / Performance ModeCorsair H100i Quiet / Performance Mode
Ambient Air24.7 / 23.223.3 / 22.722.1 / 22.420.3 / 20.5
Idle Temperature30.8 / 28.234 / 32.633.2 / 3030.7 / 29.3
Load Temperature65.7 / 62.775 / 65.364.5 / 63.367.1 / 61
Load – Ambient41 / 39.551.7 / 42.642.4 / 40.946.8 / 40.5
Price (street)$130$140$120$100

Best scores are bolded. All temperatures in degrees Celsius. All tests performed with an Intel Core i7-3960X at 4.2GHz, on an Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard in a Corsair 900D with stock fans set to Standard.

Xidax X-5 Incisive Review

Posted: 28 May 2015 11:42 AM PDT

at a glance

Xenon: A lifetime warranty that is actually lifetime.
Xenu: Dual-core feels simply quaint.

You may literally get a lifetime of service from this box

If there's one lesson we've learned in life, it's this: Don't create false dichotomies. You know, such as: "There are only two kinds of Maximum PC readers: those who like to see, buy, and read about $12,000 PCs, and those who only want to hear about the budget rigs that you can actually afford."

Since we've already created that false dichotomy, we'll just roll with it. For the guys and gals who want to see something that's budget and different, Xidax has your number and is texting you as we speak. And we can honestly say Xidax's X-5 Incisive is truly different for us. To understand what Xidax was trying to pull off with the Incisive, you have to get that it's not just any budget build here. It's one intended for a budget gamer. That means there's no fancy six-core Haswell-E Core i7-5820K, DDR4, or four-way GPUs here. In fact, it may surprise you but there isn't even a quad-core inside. Instead, Xidax outfits this machine with a dual-core 3.7GHz Core i3-4360 part. Yes, an air-cooled dual-core. Xidax said it toyed with the idea of an overclocked Pentium Anniversary Edition but it saw bottlenecks in some games from the lack of Hyper-Threading on that chip.

On the other side of the PC equation, Xidax hopes to nullify your concerns over CPU performance with the new hotness: Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 card. This "budget" card is currently making the rounds as the card to have, thanks to its price-to-performance ratio. The rest of the machine is well-apportioned—for a budget box, that is. There's a 256GB ADATA SSD, 500-watt Corsair PSU, Asrock Z97M Anniversary board, and 8GB of DDR3/1600. The case is a BitFenix Pandora Window. This is the first time we've laid eyes on the micro-ATX Pandora, but we like what we see. It's a fairly narrow case but has a few nifty features such as a brushed-aluminum sidedoor that pops off without having to unscrew it (and top, too), and a handy front LCD screen. The screen is a 2.4-inch TFT that shows the BitFenix logo—or any image you decide to drop into it.

Since performance matters, we can't review this rig without comparing it to our standard zero-point—a six-core Sandy Bridge-E box with a dual-GPU GeForce GTX 690. There are two ways to look at how the Incisive did. You can glance down at the chart and see that a dual-core—even Intel's newest Haswell core—isn't going to put a dent into a six-core chip in our benchmarks. In some ways it's not as bad as you'd expect, considering it's two cores against six—but then, it didn't win anything, either. The GeForce GTX 970 does OK, though. It's really only about 20 percent slower than the GeForce GTX 690. In the real world, this machine should be able to comfortably play every modern game at 1080p at or near 60fps, which was Xidax's aim with the machine.

Xidax has one more thing to entice you with this budget rig: a "real" lifetime warranty. The company says it will cover every component for life. That means if the GPU (well, except for AMD GPUs, which are only covered for two years due to Bitcoin mining abuse) nukes itself in 10 years, you'll get a replacement. Some will scoff that a lifetime warranty means for the life of the company, but Xidax isn't a newbie business.

It's backed by PC Laptops, a company that's been in business for 21 years. We looked around and it's true, we couldn't find any other vendor that offered such an aggressive warranty. Even high-end boutique PC vendors aren't as generous with a warranty, so such a promise is truly different.

The warranty doesn't give the box a free ride with us, though. While we get what Xidax was trying to do, we gotta say, corners could have been cut to get other components into this rig. We would have liked a motherboard that would at least offer the option for SLI support, even if it means swapping out the PSU down the road. And while a dual-core will work for most, it's probably only $75 away from a K SKU quadcore and $35 away from a locked quad-core chip. As much as we know Xidax wanted to keep the box to a usable $1,200, a dual-core in this world just feels odd.

The price itself is actually good at $1,200, though. We priced similar builds from higher-volume system builders and the difference was nil. And yes, we priced it out at retail, too, to the same effect. And none of those offered lifetime warranties, either.

$1,200, www.xidax.com

Specifications
CPUIntel 3.7GHz Core i3-4360
Mobo
Asrock Z97M Anniversary
RAM8GB ADATA DDR3/1600
GPU
MSI GeForce GTX 970
StorageADATA 256GB SSD
Optical DriveNone
Case/PSUBitFenix Pandora Window / Corsair CX50
Benchmarks
Zero Point
Premiere Pro CS6 (sec)
2,000
5,246 -62%
Stitch.Efx 2.0 (sec)
8311,144 -27%
ProShow Producer 5.0 (sec)
1,446
1,761 -18%
x264 HD 5.0 (fps)
21.1
8.3 -61%
Batman: Arkham City (fps)
76
59.0 -22%
3DMark 11
5,847
4,637 -21%

Our current desktop test bed consists of a hexa-core 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K 3.8GHz, 8GB of Corsair DDR3/1600, on an Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard. We're running a GeForce GTX 690, an OCZ Vertex 3 SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.

Ask the Doctor: CPU Upgrades, Dual Monitors, and Full Hard Drives

Posted: 28 May 2015 11:28 AM PDT

Upgrading and switching your CPU, integrating your GPU, checking your HDD space, and fixing some Samsung issues

Upgrade or Wait?

My system: Intel Core i7-920 at 3.8GHz, an Asus P6T motherboard, 18GB RAM, Crucial m500 480GB SSD, 4TB HDD, Gigabyte WindForce GTX780, with Windows 7 64-bit Pro. Although I can play games maxed out at 1080p, I'm looking to upgrade the CPU and motherboard soon. Should I wait for next generation or go for Haswell-E now (i7-5820)? —J. Richard Burton

The Doctor Responds: Whether or not you should wait for Broadwell, Skylake, or some other chipset/CPU combo depends on your needs. If you were to spring for a Haswell-based Intel Core i7-4970K on the LGA 1150 platform, that would be a big upgrade you'd definitely feel, and you could keep using your DDR3 RAM. If you went with a Haswell-E upgrade via a Core i7-5820K, you'd have to buy expensive DDR4 memory, plus a more expensive LGA 2011-3 mobo. But if you need 12 CPU threads, the Core i7-5820K CPU is the way to go. Its X99 mobo chipset should also be compatible with Broadwell-E CPUs when those come out in Q3 of 2015.

MPC107.qs doctor.motherboard

Upgraders need to think hard about the X99 chipset's arrival, as it will also require expensive DDR4 RAM.

The GPU Conundrum

I have a custom made desktop computer that I've been tinkering with for some time. It uses dual GTX 780 GPUs plugged into a 4K Samsung monitor connected via Displayport. My question is whether or not it's possible to have a dual monitor setup with the second monitor running 1920x1080 connected via HDMI to the onboard Intel HD4600 graphics chip that came integrated with my Core i7 processor? Currently my Windows 7 Home Edition does not even see the HD4600 graphics on my PC. I was told this is because when a discrete graphics card is used, it automatically turns off the integrated graphics. If this is true, how do I go about changing that so I can use my discrete GPUs for my 4K monitor and the HD4600 graphics for a second monitor? Do I have to reboot Windows without the GPUs installed to force it to recognize the integrated graphics, and then reboot again with the GPU installed, or will that turn off the HD4600 as well? Also, will the second monitor connected via HD4600 graphics need an HDMI connection or another Display port connection via the motherboard? Any help is greatly appreciated. -Jason Mesa

The Doctor Responds: The short answer to your question is that it's not possible with the combo of GTX 780 cards and integrated Intel graphics. You can use one or the other, but not both at the same time, and there's no reason for you to use the integrated graphics at all. Some combinations of AMD hardware (both CPU and GPU) do allow this, but not on the Intel/Nvidia side of things since those camps don't play nice with each other. However, you can run a second display from your GPUs, as rendering a 2D desktop requires very little processing power for today's video cards. To do that you would just need to go ahead and plug both monitors into one of your 780s. Check Nvidia's website for instructions on how to connect dual monitors for SLI to figure it out.

Is It Really Full?

I recently moved from Korea to Virginia because I'm part of the Army. I made sure to disconnect my hard drive cables to make sure they were not damaged in the move. When I reconnected them the primary hard drive was fine. However, the backup hard drive is saying that it's low on space whenever I try to run my backup program. The weird thing is they are both the same size hard drives. I'm making sure to only keep the latest copy of the backup data, so what could be keeping the computer from properly backing up? —Alexander

The Doctor Responds: We have no idea what backup program you're running Alexander, or why one of your drives would suddenly be full, but step one for diagnosing any problem involving a surprisingly full hard drive is to investigate what is taking up all that space. We prefer the freeware program WinDirStat as it's free, and we're cheap, plus it's also easy to use and shows you exactly what is hogging all them bits, both in graphical and numeric displays. Download that program and point it to your "backup" drive in order to find out what's taking up all that space. Second, be sure to closely examine your backup program as it sounds like it's just saving image files to the drive and not deleting the older one, or just updating the image file with what's changed since the last time your ran it. For what it's worth, we still use the popular freeware backup and syncing tool named SyncBack. It's free, and can sync drives or perform backups, so if you're in need of a new program to manage your data we highly recommend it.

MPC107.qs doctor.windirstat

Find out what's taking up space on your HDD with WinDirStat.

Samsung's Slowdowns

I was about to drop the hammer and purchase a 1TB Samsung 840EVO SSD until I came across some bad reviews online about slowdowns with older files on the drive. I did some online searching and the problem seems very real. Maximum PC is my primary reference to the PC world, so can you give your loyal readers the lowdown on this. What are your recommendations. — Joe Klein

The Doctor Responds: This issue is real Joe, and it's apparently caused by how the drive's controller reads the voltage level of the individual cells. According to Samsung, when data is stored in a cell it has a particular voltage, and over time the voltage would change ever so slightly. This caused the drive to have to perform multiple reads on the same cell in order to correctly determine the voltage, thus causing a major slowdown in performance for data that's been sitting on the drive longer than 30 days or so. The good news is Samsung recently addressed this issue with what it calls "Performance Restoration Software," which is a firmware update available on its website. The update process will take up to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the drive. There is a caveat though, which is the "old" data has to be rewritten to the drive in order to function properly with the new firmware, so after the firmware update is applied you will have to sit and wait for that to occur, which could take a while if you have a lot of data on the drive. Also, since it's monkeying with your data, be sure you have a backup of everything on the drive before you begin this process. Other caveats include a lack of support for RAID arrays, and you must have at least 10 percent of the drive's capacity available for the update. Also, the update will fail if you are using an AMD controller, so switch to an Intel, Marvell, or other brand controller if you can before performing the surgery.

Switching CPUs

I recently purchased a loaded PC from Cyberpower including an Intel i7-4770K chip. As this $2,600 rig was being assembled, the Core i7-4790K became available at the same price. From what I understood from Cyberpower, the upgraded CPU came out too late for them to swap it. Can the Doctor tell me if there is a way to swap CPUs without having to reinstall the OS? Or is it possible to safely overclock the 4770k to 4GHz without damaging the chip? And how would I do this? As I understand from one of Maximum PC's articles, the 4790K is essentially a factory-tweaked 4770K. —Guy

The Doctor Responds: To answer your question Guy, you can upgrade or install a different CPU without having to reinstall your operating system. In general, as long as you're not changing the motherboard, an upgrade is as simple as removing the CPU cooler and dropping in the new chip (after applying a new coat of thermal paste, obviously). However, because going from one chip to the next in the same socket usually results in a very small and unnoticeable performance delta, we don't recommend it. You usually need to wait at least two generations for an upgrade in order to achieve noticeable improvements, so for example if you went from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge you would not see much improvement. However, if you were to upgrade from an older Nehalem CPU to Haswell, you would be stunned at how fast it feels, at least at first, before you adjusted to your newfound horsepower. That said, you can upgrade to the Core i7-4970K, but the delta between it and the 4770K would be so small that it's not worth your time or money. That 4770K should last you at least a few years, so it won't be until Skylake and beyond that you should even think about your next upgrade. As far as overclocking goes, yes, you should be able to get that CPU up to 4GHz very easily in its Turbo Boost mode. Most of the 22nm Intel parts can reach 4.2GHz or so just by fiddling with the BIOS, and since it's a K-part, it's already "unlocked," so it should be quite easy. How you actually overclock it varies according to your motherboard model, so use the Google to find one to help you out with that. You shouldn't need extravagant cooling either, so a simple and efficient CPU cooler such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 should be sufficient.

Submit your questions to: doctor@maximumpc.com

Ask the Doctor: Multi-GPU Setups, Hard Drive Fears, and Cooling Cores

Posted: 28 May 2015 11:24 AM PDT

The Doctor helps you keep your cards cool, upgrade your GPU, heal a hurting HDD, and maintain your cores

Feeling The Heat

I've been a PC gamer since 1998 and a reader of Maximum PC for almost 10 years. I recently built my own system, mimicking the Turbo build in your February 2015 issue. It was easier than I could've ever imagined, and much faster than the heavily upgraded Alienware Aurora I bought in 2008. My Core i7-5820K and dual GTX 970 Gaming 4G LE cards are a perfect combo for the MSI X99S SLI Plus mobo with 16GB of G.Skill DDR4 SDRAM. Everything is great except for the heat that the second 970 cannot dissipate. I packed all of my goodies in a Rosewill Gaming ATX full-tower case and added an extra Noctua 120mm fan on the bottom for added air flow. Without overclocking, and with all the case fans running at 100 percent, GPU number two gets up to 91 degrees Celsius. I know why it's running hot. There's little room between the cards. What else can I do besides water cooling to keep the temps down? –Ssgt_Frag_Factor

The Doctor Responds: Welcome to the world of multi-GPU troubleshooting, staff sergeant. Two GTX 970s become an incredibly powerful force… when they're working together harmoniously. But a number of factors can affect an SLI- or CrossFire-equipped platform, from hardware considerations to more complicated software issues.

Axial-flow fans like the ones on your MSI cards are exceedingly popular because they're quiet. They also exhaust all of their waste heat back into your case, though. That's why the Doc favors centrifugal fans, which draw air in and typically push it out vents in the rear I/O bracket. Compounding the problem, your bottom card has very little room to "breathe," and the air it's pulling in through that narrow slit is already warm. Because MSI's X99S SLI Plus won't let you relocate either 970—they have to live in PCI_E1 and PCI_E3—so you're stuck with the physical arrangement you're currently using.

Armed with the knowledge that two high-end GPUs are heating up your PC's internals, optimizing airflow becomes the priority. You mentioned case fans running at full-speed—but what direction are they pointing? Create a front-to-back stream with intake fans up front and exhaust in the back. And experiment with custom fan profiles for your graphics cards using MSI's Afterburner software, spinning them up at lower temperatures. You could always try underclocking and undervolting as well. Both techniques (especially combined) will limit the heat those cards put out.

Unfortunately, your bottom board's cooling issues are almost assuredly affecting its maximum GPU Boost frequency, robbing you of some performance. That's not an easy conundrum to solve given your components. But the symptoms can be mitigated. The best way for others to combat this is by choosing a mobo with one extra space between PCIe slots designated for graphics (ASRock's X99 Extreme4 is one example) and videocards that dump hot air outside of the case.

MPC111.qs doctor.X99 extreme4

ASRock's X99 Extreme4 lets you install two double-slot graphics cards with an extra space between them.

Time To Upgrade?

Doc, I've some extra cash and have been thinking about getting a Radeon R9 270X to pair with my 7870 GHz Edition. The Internet is fraught with threads on CrossFire issues, but I thought there was a driver update a while back that significantly improved the situation, in addition to the Omega driver's features. It seems a 270X would be a relatively cheap upgrade for what could be a healthy performance boost. Also, since the 270X has faster memory, should I overclock the 7870 to match or leave everything alone? What would the Doc recommend? My system's specs include Windows 7, a Core i5-3570K, MSI's Z77AGD65, a Gigabyte 7870 GHz Edition card, 8GB of DDR3, and a 750W Corsair PSU. –Daniel Hill

The Doctor Responds: I'm going to share a secret, Daniel. But first let's do some math. An R9 270X with 2GB of GDDR5 sells for $175 on Newegg. A Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition fetches $100 to $120 on Ebay. So, you could spend $175 and build a sweet dual-card Pitcairn/Curaçao-based array. Or, you could sell the 7870, add it to your new-card budget, and snag an R9 290 with 4GB.

Now, the secret: the Doc's lab is equipped with some very sophisticated testing equipment, which has uncovered many multi-GPU issues over the years, most involving CrossFire. To AMD's credit, its drivers are far better now than at any time in the past. The company listened to its customers and added features like frame pacing to smooth the rate at which content is displayed on-screen. But CrossFire is a moving target, requiring profiles for new games and optimizations for new platforms, on top of the development that goes into addressing the technology's other challenges.

Whenever the Doc can, he favors single-GPU setups to circumvent all of that. The two cards you're considering in CrossFire will almost certainly be faster than an R9 290 in measures of average frame rate. They'll also consume more power, generate more heat, occupy more space on your motherboard, and create more noise. Don't forget to consider memory! At resolutions up to 1920x1080, 2GB is appropriate. Should you wish to game on a QHD or 4K monitor, though, stepping up to 4GB makes sense. The same goes for Eyefinity setups.

At least in the Doc's opinion, multi-GPU configs appeal to enthusiasts who can't get enough speed from one card. You expect to weather occasional hiccups in the name of unmatched performance. Bargains do abound for mainstream gamers combining the muscle of capable graphics processors. The GeForce GTX 460 was notoriously attractive in SLI, for example. You'll make certain compromises in the process though, and sometimes it's more fun to simply enjoy a trouble-free experience on the day a game launches.

Unhealthy Hard Drive

Whenever my hard disk is active, it starts buzzing. I'm thinking that it's going to go kaput soon. I performed a CHKDSK, but the system does not report anything adverse, saying my drives are healthy. This is an old computer (Windows XP), but I don't have the money to purchase a newer system at this time. However, I might be able to afford a new hard disk and transfer everything to that media. Or should I buy a hard disk for the box I already have? Does the buzzing mean that the current hard drive is going to take a permanent vacation? –Eric Caruso

The Doctor Responds: The Doc maintains a multi-disk network-attached appliance with all of his important files, so he's all too familiar with the sounds mechanical drives can make when they're about to become doorstops. Forgive the seemingly silly question, but are you certain the noise is coming from within the hard drive, and not some piece of your chassis around it?

You already know that hard disks employ platters spinning very, very quickly. They accelerate, they decelerate, and the read/write heads dart around in there, too. All of this creates vibration, which is most pronounced when the drive is active. And if your disk isn't properly isolated from the case holding it in place, those vibrations can turn into a high-frequency buzz. They can also negatively affect storage performance or even cause I/O errors. Depending how your hard drive is mounted in your chassis, consider installing rubber grommets to better isolate the disk from its cage.

If the issue really is internal, then the noise you're describing might best be described as a chatter, and it indeed precedes (or is accompanied by) failure. In either case, save your personal data to an optical disc, thumb drive, or cloud-based service right away. Google will give you 15GB for free through its Drive service. Whether your hard drive is healthy or not, the Doc gets the sense you may not have your important information protected against an unforeseen disaster.

With that said, in the Doc's opinion, an inexpensive hard drive replacement is always worthwhile, even for an old PC, if it keeps that machine running until you can upgrade to something quicker.

MPC111.qs doctor.deep cool icedisk

Deepcool manufactures an enclosure that not only minimizes vibration, but also keeps your 3.5-inch hard drive running cool.

Working Your Cores

My CPU is an AMD Athlon II X3 455. After I got it a few years ago, I was able to unlock the die's fourth core. Problem is, with the forth core enabled, my temps skyrocket, and undervolting even to the point of instability isn't helping at stock speeds. It was running at 65 degrees at full load originally, which I didn't worry about because it was never at 100 percent utilization.

But now I want it to fold 24/7 and the temps are up to 69 degrees at full load. That's 18 degrees higher than when it was a triple-core config. I don't plan on overclocking with my current board, so I'm not sure if I should just reseat it with some AS5 or just bite the bullet and buy a cooler I can take to another system down the road. What do you think? –James Lloyd

The Doctor Responds: The Doc remembers fondly going through his first tray of Phenom II X4 and Phenom II X2 CPUs, checking to see which Deneb-based dies ran stably with additional cores or cache switched on. AMD never made it clear how many of its cut-down models suffered imperfect silicon, or if it remarked processors from higher-end bins to meet market demand for the cheaper parts.

We do know from testing that a great many of the deliberately handicapped chips only worked with certain on-die resources disabled. Those that could be enhanced in some way often demonstrated other strange behaviors—inexplicable crashes, for example, or abnormally high temperatures like you're seeing.

That your Rana-based Athlon II X3 still operates with all of its cores enabled is definitely cool (and quite a testament to the value of those CPUs). But the Doc wouldn't recommend spending money chasing rising temperatures. A beefier heatsink may help in the short term, but the phenomenon you're describing will only worsen over time. And by then, even a three-core config could be dicey. Now's the time to go easy on this aging component until it can be replaced.

Sure, if you've some thermal paste handy, feel free to pop your sink and reapply. Cleaning off a crusty old layer could help bring your peak temps down a bit. But then think about dialing back to three cores until it's time to upgrade. An affordable Pentium G3258 or Athlon X4 760K would give you a lot more speed, and a modern graphics card—even a mainstream one—would augment your folding performance far more than that one missing core.

Submit your questions to: doctor@maximumpc.com

Half a Dozen 2-in-1 Chromebooks Slated for 2015, Does Anyone Care?

Posted: 28 May 2015 11:05 AM PDT

Convertible Chromebook, anyone?

Asus Flip

Apparently Google and its hardware partners are going to target non-education markets with at least six 2-in-1 Chromebook models scheduled for release this year. Two of them will come directly from Google, while Hewlett-Packard and Acer also plan to release branded models of their own. These upcoming systems will join existing 2-in-1 Chromebooks, which include Lenovo's N21 and the Flip 2-in-1 that Asus announced in April.

According to Digitimes, one of Google's planned Chromebooks is a 12.85-inch model powered by Nvidia's Tegra 6 SoC that will target the high-end segment, while the other is a 10.1-inch version with a Rockchip solution inside for the entry level market. Both will feature a detachable display and go into volume production in the third quarter.

As for HP, one of the two will feature a detachable display, while the other will sport a folding design similar to Asus' Flip. Acer, meanwhile, will launch a convertible powered by Intel's Skylake platform.

It will be interesting to see how consumers react to the new designs. According to data collected by Gartner, Chromebook sales are expected to rise 27 percent year-over-year, though that only equates to 7.3 million units. In addition, it's mostly the education segment that's buying these cloud-based systems -- the education market accounted for 60 percent of Chromebooks sales in the U.S. last year.

Lenovo's Concept Phone Turns Your Tabletop into a Keyboard

Posted: 28 May 2015 08:47 AM PDT

Advancing the smartphone

Lenovo Smart Cast

Remember when telephones were used for making actual phone calls? They used to have cords and a rotary dial, and they weren't very smart. Not like today's devices, anyway. The modern day smartphone is used for all kinds of tasks, even occasionally making voice calls, and models continue to get smarter. Enter Lenovo's concept phone called Smart Cast, which among other things can project a virtual keyboard onto whatever surface you're working on.

This isn't the first time we've seen a projected keyboard. Laser projection planks already exist, like the one Brookstone sells for $120. But unless someone wants to set us straight, Lenovo's Smart Cast would be the first phone to integrate a projected keyboard.

To use it, you'd flip the kickstand in the back and prop the device up in portrait mode. On top is a swiveling projector that you turn so that it can beam the keyboard onto your table, counter, or whatever surface you have in front of you.

What's neat about this is that you're not limited to just a keyboard -- it can project a virtual piano, games like Fruit Ninja, and whatever else developers conceive. Check it out:

"Whereas today smartphones are limited to consuming content, Smart Cast changes the paradigm by giving users a smart phone with built-in laser projector, infrared motion detector and high-performance algorithms," Lenovo explains. "This first ever technology combination opens a new world of interaction: Users can project a large virtual touch screen onto a table to type with a virtual keyboard and work with specific productivity apps (calculator, drawing, note-taking and even edit in Microsoft PowerPoint)."

As shown in the video, you can also use the built-in projector to show movies and video clips on a wall or give presentations.

Pretty neat, though whether it ever evolves from concept to shipping product remains to be seen.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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