Phytotron's stupid computer blog

[Phytotron]

They absolutely can cause problems, but in most cases you will get a warning. It is usually because a 32-bit package is dependent on another package that if altered will break a 64-bit package. Again, when the package manager determines dependencies it will give you a notice and a prompt (y/n).

I'm gonna hold off on this for awhile. Like I said, I can still play it under Windows, I had just hoped I would be able to install it under Linux since it's the kind of game one could pull up to play just for a little bit, as opposed to having the reboot into another OS which kinda calls for being justified by a longer play session. Know what I mean, Vern.

Anyway, thanks for all the help and information, regardless. Still learned potentially useful stuff.

[Phytotron]

Welp, I done ordered me an EVGA 750 ti SC, for a bit less than $100. I've been watching it the past near-two years since it came out, waiting for the price to come down, and would have liked to have seen it come down more, but just got kinda tired of it lingering on my mind. I'll also have to get a new PSU as the one in this Dell isn't appropriate. And then I know a fella who'll put them in for me.

About my only concern is how well Xubuntu (and possibly a different *buntu variant once 16.04 comes out) will get along with it. Apparently Nvidia's Maxwell chips are only recently supported by the kernel. 'Course, I will use proprietary drivers. Nonetheless, in perusing the interwebs I've encountered descriptions ranging from "simply go to the Additional Drivers tab and all will be well" to...much more complicated and scary PITA stuff. Like this, for example. Some are worse.

Anyone with any thoughts?


May as well ask if anyone has any noteworthy input on PSU's too. I had thought I would just sort newegg for an 80 plus gold 450-500w and go with something with good reviews, but those can be so contradictory. What's important to me is 1) quiet, 2) reliable, 3) efficient, 4) relatively inexpensive—in that order, I guess. I would have put efficiency up higher, but I've read that at lower wattages the difference between say Bronze and Gold is negligible. So.

[Phytotron]

Oh yeah, and something perhaps relevant to the previous matter (besides the realization and resolution that I would need those 32-bit dependencies). I was going through the MIME Type Editor and noticed this:

Screenshot_2015-09-13_17-03-39.png (4.94 KiB) Viewed 5797 times

Is that normal?

[Z-Man]

PSU wise, check whether you can get a beQuiet!. I have one in each of our two boxes and they really are quiet, easily drowned by the other system components. Dominant noise on my desk, if the PC under it is not busy rendering some game, is the chirp of an energy saving light bulb.
Regarding driver installation, my experience with three current *buntus and NVidia is the "Just use the additional drivers thing". Note: I used plain Ubuntu everywhere and later switched out the GUI I wanted, KODI/Steam for the living room TV box and LXDE on the ageing notebook. While that wastes a bit of hard drive space, you don't have to worry about different security fix support times. It's worth it for me.

[ppotter]

The 750 Ti really doesn't draw that much power, most variations don't even need a 6-pin connector, they're just powered through the PCIe slot. You could arguably get away with the current PSU, though it would definitely be a good choice to upgrade. Presuming it's a pre-built, you might want to double check that a standard size PSU will fit, sometimes companies like Dell like to use their own parts with weird dimensions and connectors.

A lot of PSUs are made by the same few manufacturers, you can't really go wrong with any unit manufactured by Seasonic or Superflower, from what I understand. Here is a tier list of PSUs, last updated a couple of months ago. Johnny Lucky aggregates a lot of reviews for individual units from trusted sources. For what it's worth I have an EVGA G2 550W, it has an eco mode which ensures the fan only spins when needed, and when it spins it's barely audible. Certainly quieter than the case fans and graphics card.

[Light]

PSU wise, check whether you can get a beQuiet!. I have one in each of our two boxes and they really are quiet, easily drowned by the other system components. Dominant noise on my desk, if the PC under it is not busy rendering some game, is the chirp of an energy saving light bulb.
Regarding driver installation, my experience with three current *buntus and NVidia is the "Just use the additional drivers thing". Note: I used plain Ubuntu everywhere and later switched out the GUI I wanted, KODI/Steam for the living room TV box and LXDE on the ageing notebook. While that wastes a bit of hard drive space, you don't have to worry about different security fix support times. It's worth it for me.

Are noisy PSUs still an issue? I mean, I didn't buy based on noise level at all, but my EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 is quite quiet even when running up a little bit. The only fan noise I really hear are the .. I think 8 fans in my case. lol They're not anywhere near as nicely built as the fan in the PSU though. Of course, I can let myself hear my graphics card on occasion.

[Z-Man]

Are noisy PSUs still an issue?

Depends on your tolerance level and the rest of your system, obviously. If you're the kind of guy who spends a tenner extra for a rubber suspension for your mechanical hard drive so it does not transfer its vibrations to your case and that turns out to be money well spent (because you test it without the rubber and it's significantly worse), then yes, it still matters. But if you haven't picked especially silent other components (Graphics card foremost, then CPU cooler, then the rest), you probably don't need to start caring with the PSU.

[Light]

Are noisy PSUs still an issue?

Depends on your tolerance level and the rest of your system, obviously. If you're the kind of guy who spends a tenner extra for a rubber suspension for your mechanical hard drive so it does not transfer its vibrations to your case and that turns out to be money well spent (because you test it without the rubber and it's significantly worse), then yes, it still matters. But if you haven't picked especially silent other components (Graphics card foremost, then CPU cooler, then the rest), you probably don't need to start caring with the PSU.

I can't imagine the level of silence in your room. It would drive me mad. At work I have to have headphones in so it's not silent. I would be interested to see it, but yeah, it wouldn't be worth the extra money for me.

[Phytotron]

PSU wise, check whether you can get a beQuiet!.

Those look cool, but it seems they may only be (reasonably) available in Europe. No matter!...more below.

Regarding driver installation, my experience with three current *buntus and NVidia is the "Just use the additional drivers thing".

Let's hope that's the case with me. Are any of your NVidias recent, though? It seems the main issue may be the newer Nvidia architectures (Maxwell, in my case) only recently being supported by the kernel, and not well. Which I guess applies to the nouveau drivers, and that's where the nomodeset thing comes in. But, even then...I dunno. We'll see and I'll further cross that bridge if and when I come to it.

And maybe that's been resolved; most of the threads and such I saw were a bit dated. And I'm sure there's some Internet Law about when looking up info on something, you're more likely to run across those who've had problems, since people tend not to make threads and such about how something went fine or nothing is wrong with them.

The 750 Ti really doesn't draw that much power, most variations don't even need a 6-pin connector, they're just powered through the PCIe slot. You could arguably get away with the current PSU, though it would definitely be a good choice to upgrade. Presuming it's a pre-built, you might want to double check that a standard size PSU will fit, sometimes companies like Dell like to use their own parts with weird dimensions and connectors.

Way ahead of you there. Those considerations are part of the reasons I chose this card. But my PSU does need to be replaced. Besides being an OEM that probably doesn't live up to the claimed 300w, it also doesn't have the required amperage on the 12v rail—whatever that means, but I checked it and it's wrong. I am fairly confident about a standard PSU fitting, from examples I've seen of others replacing them in this PC.

Here is a tier list of PSUs, last updated a couple of months ago.

Already found that, too. Not the easiest to take in, though.

For what it's worth I have an EVGA G2 550W, it has an eco mode which ensures the fan only spins when needed, and when it spins it's barely audible. Certainly quieter than the case fans and graphics card.

And whaddyaknow, I ended up getting this EVGA 220-G2-0550-Y1 80 PLUS GOLD 550W ECO Mode Fully Modular.... I receive those newegg "deals" emails, and this happened to show up a day or two after I made that post. I ran it by the guy helping me out and he was like "I would jump on that." It was on sale for $60 at the time. So hopefully that'll work out.

Are noisy PSUs still an issue?

I dunno, but I wanted to stipulate it since I'm fairly sensitive to that, just in case. There's almost a pun there.



By the way, what has anyone's experiences been with installing Steam on *buntu? From what I've read, seems the best method nowadays is download the .deb directly from Steam. But apparently a lot of people have had trouble with it not working once installed, something related to their graphics drivers or some such. And the solution seems to be to install Steam before installing your graphics drivers.

[Light]

Fully Modular

Thank the gods. Anyone who doesn't go modular nowadays drives me insane when you try to make your big bundle of cords look pretty.

There's almost a pun there.

As soon as I got to "case" it came to mind, then you said it. I'm not sure this is a good thing on my part, but I guess there's dorks just like me! lol

By the way, what has anyone's experiences been with installing Steam on *buntu? From what I've read, seems the best method nowadays is download the .deb directly from Steam. But apparently a lot of people have had trouble with it not working once installed, something related to their graphics drivers or some such. And the solution seems to be to install Steam before installing your graphics drivers.

Should work. I just grabbed Steam from the wily repository. Works perfectly fine. I have the -updates proprietary drivers for my r9 280x, if that matters. It has gotten much better than it was in the past. It used to be slow to start and menus with custom cursors lagged, but everything runs fine for me now.

[Phytotron]

Should work. I just grabbed Steam from the wily repository.

Ah, in 14.04 the Software Center has one of those "Buy" buttons instead of "Install," and I remember reading there being some stupid process to get that to work so forget that. I guess there's Synaptic, but like I said, people seem to be mostly suggesting using the deb, I think.

I have the -updates proprietary drivers for my r9 280x, if that matters.

Wussat mean?

[ppotter]

For what it's worth I have an EVGA G2 550W, it has an eco mode which ensures the fan only spins when needed, and when it spins it's barely audible. Certainly quieter than the case fans and graphics card.

And whaddyaknow, I ended up getting this EVGA 220-G2-0550-Y1 80 PLUS GOLD 550W ECO Mode Fully Modular.... I receive those newegg "deals" emails, and this happened to show up a day or two after I made that post. I ran it by the guy helping me out and he was like "I would jump on that." It was on sale for $60 at the time. So hopefully that'll work out.

Nice. I wish parts were cheaper over here, mine cost around £60 (~$90) and that was a pretty good deal.