Sherdog PC Build/Buy Thread, v5: Stop Thinking of Your Router as a Peripheral

[Madmick]

Mick, I need your wireless networking expertise.

Home size: 2000sqft with a steady 10 devices connected
Modem: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=07JTPC3FABSW7HH554EJ
Current Router(don't laugh): http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR...qid=1420059612&sr=1-2&keywords=tp+link+router
Internet: Comcast 100Mb
Problems: Slow, inconsistent coverage, weak signal that drops in and out. I'm downloading at 15Mb/s at the far end of the house, 30Mb/s halfway, 90Mb/s next to the router.

What would you suggest?

Whoops, sorry it took me so long to see this, Biggs. I missed your post the last time I scanned the thread.

The router is giving you great performance, obviously, so that isn't the problem. First I would try to boost the signal using a wireless range extender. This is more economical and simpler than running a second network or integrating two routers. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WA...d=1420531349&sr=8-1&keywords=wireless+booster

 

[Madmick]

Ended up with a Dell Chromebook 11. Should be here Wednesday. Anyone have experience with Chromebooks before?

Minimal. Doughbelly does. He runs his in dual boot mode so that he can boot straight into his Linux shell (Mint, I think he preferred) without emulating it on top of the native ChromeOS.

 

[xcvbn]

Whoops, sorry it took me so long to see this, Biggs. I missed your post the last time I scanned the thread.

The router is giving you great performance, obviously, so that isn't the problem. First I would try to boost the signal using a wireless range extender. This is more economical and simpler than running a second network or integrating two routers. Something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WA...d=1420531349&sr=8-1&keywords=wireless+booster

Whelp, I went nuts and bought the Asus AC68U. Let's just say this thing is fucking amazing and I'm now getting 125Mb/s throughout the entire house. I still may give the N66U a shot due to the significant price difference and the fact that most of my devices aren't ac compatible. Also, I'm thoroughly impressed with the UI of Asus on their router page. I haven't had a chance to stream content on my external Hdd attached to the router- the damn thing broke juuust before buying the router, naturally.

Do you think the N66U will offer the same signal range and strength as the AC68U?

 

[Madmick]

Whelp, I went nuts and bought the Asus AC68U. Let's just say this thing is fucking amazing and I'm now getting 125Mb/s throughout the entire house. I still may give the N66U a shot due to the significant price difference and the fact that most of my devices aren't ac compatible. Also, I'm thoroughly impressed with the UI of Asus on their router page. I haven't had a chance to stream content on my external Hdd attached to the router- the damn thing broke juuust before buying the router, naturally.

Do you think the N66U will offer the same signal range and strength as the AC68U?

Probably, but no need. In theory it might have better range because it probably has equal transmission power, but it's broadcasting on a lower frequency (2.4GHz vs 5GHz) that-- like AM vs. FM-- has longer range and deals better with interference. That is, of course, unless you had already implemented the Beam Forming to specifically direct the signal of that AC router. In reality the last LTT Youtube vids I recall seeing saw a better "effective range" from the AC routers. So, even if they didn't reach as far in terms of absolute range, they were transmitting at a higher bandwidth at the edges of said absolute range. Obviously that is your chief concern, here. It could also simply be a matter of interference. The 2.4GHz band is much busier in most locations. Of course, to counter this, there's also the option with the N66U of buying longer antennae with a higher dBi that project a more powerful signal (via higher efficiency of projection of the transmission power). You just unscrew the old antennae and screw on these replacement aftermarket upgrades. These aren't too expensive, IIRC.

But...I was just casting out some Googles because I could have sworn the AC68U was dual band. You shouldn't have to buy the N66U. I think you should be able to calibrate the AC68U to broadcast an "n" signal on the 2.4GHz band instead of an "ac" signal on the 5GHz band. And...yep, looks like my memory served me well, here. check out this page. It has some screenshots of the router's GUI:
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-rt-ac68u-dual-band-wireless-ac1900-gigabit-router/

So you should definitely be able to set up an "n" network. It looks like you can set up three different networks, so you don't even have to sacrifice that ac network for your ac-capable devices. You just set up two networks: one on the "ac" standard using the 5GHz band, and one for the "n" standard using the 2.4GHz band. Connect the appropriate devices to the appropriate network. Hell, you could even set up a third "Guest" network with no password (I do this, and I'm chincy with the bandwidth, LOL). Here's a link to the User Manual:
http://content.abt.com/documents/53176/E8119_RT_AC68U_Manual.pdf

The answer should be somewhere in "Setup" in there. The GUI's within the router itself looks pretty intuitive. You should be able to figure it out.

 

[Eyepokesftw]

exactly, you can triple sli a 970 potentially or get a gtx titan ii later on.

My single MSI 970 can play any game on max settings without problems.. and yes, I have played the newest or most graphic demanding games. I can't wait to see how Witcher 3 runs and if it can use highest settings..

Everyone should be getting at 970 imo and then you can add another later sli to future proof your system for years to come.

Wouldn't bother with titan hype.

 

[xcvbn]

Probably, but no need. In theory it might have better range because it probably has equal transmission power, but it's broadcasting on a lower frequency (2.4GHz vs 5GHz) that-- like AM vs. FM-- has longer range and deals better with interference. That is, of course, unless you had already implemented the Beam Forming to specifically direct the signal of that AC router. In reality the last LTT Youtube vids I recall seeing saw a better "effective range" from the AC routers. So, even if they didn't reach as far in terms of absolute range, they were transmitting at a higher bandwidth at the edges of said absolute range. Obviously that is your chief concern, here. It could also simply be a matter of interference. The 2.4GHz band is much busier in most locations. Of course, to counter this, there's also the option with the N66U of buying longer antennae with a higher dBi that project a more powerful signal (via higher efficiency of projection of the transmission power). You just unscrew the old antennae and screw on these replacement aftermarket upgrades. These aren't too expensive, IIRC.

But...I was just casting out some Googles because I could have sworn the AC68U was dual band. You shouldn't have to buy the N66U. I think you should be able to calibrate the AC68U to broadcast an "n" signal on the 2.4GHz band instead of an "ac" signal on the 5GHz band. And...yep, looks like my memory served me well, here. check out this page. It has some screenshots of the router's GUI:
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-rt-ac68u-dual-band-wireless-ac1900-gigabit-router/

So you should definitely be able to set up an "n" network. It looks like you can set up three different networks, so you don't even have to sacrifice that ac network for your ac-capable devices. You just set up two networks: one on the "ac" standard using the 5GHz band, and one for the "n" standard using the 2.4GHz band. Connect the appropriate devices to the appropriate network. Hell, you could even set up a third "Guest" network with no password (I do this, and I'm chincy with the bandwidth, LOL). Here's a link to the User Manual:
http://content.abt.com/documents/53176/E8119_RT_AC68U_Manual.pdf

The answer should be somewhere in "Setup" in there. The GUI's within the router itself looks pretty intuitive. You should be able to figure it out.

Thanks man, I'll be busy tackling this over the next few days. It's my first attempt at not thinking of my router as a peripheral, and I'm surprisingly excited, almost giddy. My bandwidth use already averaged 1TB/month on 25Mb/s so Comcast will really hate me now....until they cap data on us North of Fresno.

 

[Doughbelly]

Minimal. Doughbelly does. He runs his in dual boot mode so that he can boot straight into his Linux shell (Mint, I think he preferred) without emulating it on top of the native ChromeOS.

Yes and no. Mostly no.

I had a Chromebook for a while to play with, as I do with many gadgets, but I don't normally keep them around for a long time. Usually, I give away the cheaper gadgets or sell them to buy a new one.

I don't believe I dual booted that box. I think I had multi chroot environment setup.

Anyway, although I do recommend Mint over *Buntu, I vastly favor Crunchbang for personal use.

Also, emulation is very different in concept and execution from multi-environment or virtualization but I'm not going to get into that.

 

[Was Exiled]

My friend ordered an asrock z97 extreme4 motherboard but cancelled it after he read all the problems people have been having with it, any good alternatives for similar price?

 

[jefferz]

Ended up with a Dell Chromebook 11. Should be here Wednesday. Anyone have experience with Chromebooks before?

I have a Samsung 550. I like it but all I do with it is browse the web.

 

[Count Zero]

My friend ordered an asrock z97 extreme4 motherboard but cancelled it after he read all the problems people have been having with it, any good alternatives for similar price?

I really don't know much about how mobo specs affect your system overall, but for my system I got an asus z97-a, and they appear to be around the same price, and my understanding is Asus has a good reputation in general (not sure about specifically with mobos).

I read a lot of good reviews, too.

 

[jefferz]

I really don't know much about how mobo specs affect your system overall, but for my system I got an asus z97-a, and they appear to be around the same price, and my understanding is Asus has a good reputation in general (not sure about specifically with mobos).

I read a lot of good reviews, too.

I don't upgrade all the time, OC, or buy the top of the line stuff but I've had Asus since socket A, prob 4 boards, and never have had one fail me.

 

[Madmick]

Yes and no. Mostly no.

I had a Chromebook for a while to play with, as I do with many gadgets, but I don't normally keep them around for a long time. Usually, I give away the cheaper gadgets or sell them to buy a new one.

I don't believe I dual booted that box. I think I had multi chroot environment setup.

Anyway, although I do recommend Mint over *Buntu, I vastly favor Crunchbang for personal use.

Also, emulation is very different in concept and execution from multi-environment or virtualization but I'm not going to get into that.

Ah, my bad, I must have confused you with someone else. I remember there being a lot of discussion in the Mayberry on Chromebooks when that thread came up like a year or so ago where they was that crazy deal on the Intel-carrying Chromebook refurb for like $129 that, IIRC, you picked up.

I know there were guys talking about the ability to dual boot, and I really liked that option, because as I learned with Macs, and specifically with any devices that have limited processing power...emulation of virtual OS's just fucking sucks. I know security guys love shit like VMWare, but unless you're running at least an i5 (any generation) or a more current i3 I just don't see the point. I'm not sure which term applied (emulation or virtualization) to the old Virtual PC software, but it was excruciating, and effectively broken.

 

[Madmick]

My friend ordered an asrock z97 extreme4 motherboard but cancelled it after he read all the problems people have been having with it, any good alternatives for similar price?

Top Recommended Alternatives:

• Asus Z97-A
• MSI Z97-Gaming 5
• MSI Z97-G45 Gaming

 

[Was Exiled]

I really don't know much about how mobo specs affect your system overall, but for my system I got an asus z97-a, and they appear to be around the same price, and my understanding is Asus has a good reputation in general (not sure about specifically with mobos).

I read a lot of good reviews, too.

his paranoia not mine lol

Top Recommended Alternatives:

• Asus Z97-A
• MSI Z97-Gaming 5
• MSI Z97-G45 Gaming

Thanks, I'll show him

 

[Madmick]

Thanks, I'll show him

NP. Use Hardware.info for motherboard comparisons. Easily the deepest spec sheet and benchmark side-by-side. Everyone in here should bookmark this website if only for this purpose. You'll never use anything to review specs on motherboards: just supplement with research of reviews and consumer feedback. This should link to a comparison of the three I mentioned above:
http://us.hardware.info/comparisontable/products/215518-217188-186948

 

[Tigger]

I have a Samsung 550. I like it but all I do with it is browse the web.

Just got my Dell Chromebook 11. Seems pretty nice so far.

 

[Doughbelly]

I know there were guys talking about the ability to dual boot, and I really liked that option, because as I learned with Macs, and specifically with any devices that have limited processing power...emulation of virtual OS's just fucking sucks. I know security guys love shit like VMWare, but unless you're running at least an i5 (any generation) or a more current i3 I just don't see the point. I'm not sure which term applied (emulation or virtualization) to the old Virtual PC software, but it was excruciating, and effectively broken.

Well, I can understand why it's easy to confuse but they really are very different things.

Despite its name and usage of the much the same conceptual terminology, the old Microsoft Virtual PC was a PC emulator and not modern hypervisor virtualization.

Emulation is the recreation of hardware with software, so the large processing overhead associated with it creates a huge performance penalty. In modern usage, emulation is something that your resort to in order to run code that won't run natively on the architecture you have. ARM on x86 or x86 on a PowerPC, for example.

Modern hypervisor virtualization generally requires the host and guest to be of identical architecture because the guest is often talking directly to the hardware. This is why you can run semi-recent 3D games in Parallels on a Mac.

Another way to think about this is that emulation is like sitting in the back seat of a car trying to give directions to a cabbie whose language you don't speak, communicating by passing a phone back and forth with a translator on the line.

Virtualization is more like sitting in the front seat, you speak the same language and you're calling rally pace notes. You might even have your own pedals and you can reach across and steer if you need or want to.

Multi chroot is a car with identical controls on both sides and you only need to share the shifter.

 

[Madmick]

Well, I can understand why it's easy to confuse but they really are very different things.

Despite its name and usage of the much the same conceptual terminology, the old Microsoft Virtual PC was a PC emulator and not modern hypervisor virtualization.

Emulation is the recreation of hardware with software, so the large processing overhead associated with it creates a huge performance penalty. In modern usage, emulation is something that your resort to in order to run code that won't run natively on the architecture you have. ARM on x86 or x86 on a PowerPC, for example.

Modern hypervisor virtualization generally requires the host and guest to be of identical architecture because the guest is often talking directly to the hardware. This is why you can run semi-recent 3D games in Parallels on a Mac.

Another way to think about this is that emulation is like sitting in the back seat of a car trying to give directions to a cabbie whose language you don't speak, communicating by passing a phone back and forth with a translator on the line.

Virtualization is more like sitting in the front seat, you speak the same language and you're calling rally pace notes. You might even have your own pedals and you can reach across and steer if you need or want to.

Multi chroot is a car with identical controls on both sides and you only need to share the shifter.

Ah, well, as it turns out, I actually had it right. I thought Virtual PC was OS emulation, and I was correct. I knew software like VMware implements virtualization. I also understood the fundamentals of both.

I understand the simple capability of a dual boot, which avoids emulation or virtualization altogether (and what I recommend for Chromebook users), but the thing I don't understand in all this is the practical difference of that from the "multi chroot" environment you mentioned. Why would you virtualize an OS when you could dual boot if you aren't a system administrator or have no need to run multiple OS's on the same machine? What are the benefits? This sounds familiar, actually. I think we may have discussed this before.

I have the most experience with Ubuntu, and don't really mind that it lacks the added potential for customization that some of the other distros do. I like the stability and the support due to the population base that Ubuntu/Mint offer. It's most appealing quality to me is that it basically enables someone like Tigger to use his exceptionally cheap laptop as if it was running a full-blown PC OS similar to Windows instead of how it comes out-of-the-box running the nerfed, glorified smartphone platform that is ChromeOS. If there is some benefit to virtualization for general use to which I'm ignorant, then I'd like to know it.

 

[Satanical Eve]

My friend ordered an asrock z97 extreme4 motherboard but cancelled it after he read all the problems people have been having with it, any good alternatives for similar price?

I have the Z77 Extreme 4 and save for being a little bit on the flimsy side, bends a little bit when you start putting parts in it, I have had no problems with it, great quality motherboard for the price. I however heard the Z97 is a fucking headache of a board and I don't know how Asrock fucked it up.

Also this is my current setup. http://www.morphinemachine.com/mypc.htm

I am most likely going to get me a second 970 and SLI them both, I have way more than enough wattage plus my case is big and well ventilated that I won't have any problems with heat.

 

[Abortedone]

I got a couple questions a friend sent me this link for this combo I told him it was not to bad http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ASRock-Extreme-3-R2-0-Motherboard-AMD-6-Core-FX-6300-CPU-Combo-/321635544348?pt=US_Motherboard_CPU_Combos&hash=item4ae2f8ed1c is the price on par or a little steep plus what do most of you think about it in general?

now for my question how good is the PSU? http://www.amazon.com/Erp750-pm-Certifications-Crossfire-Efficiency-Protection/dp/B00IZEYIRO/ref=cm_wl_huc_item