Windows 8.1

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I am new to windows 8.1 and using an iso that includes November 2014 update roll up.
I need to install .net3.5. Enabling it in Features on a running system it downloads the file, where is it downloaded to, Software Distribution, and what type of file is it, an executable, cab file or other?
I need to update the image, do i need a Servicing Stack and the latest CU only or do i need to add all the updates in the updates downloader tool.
What would be the install order on a running system, install .net 3.5 then the SS and CU as per usual?
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I am using this post as a temporary location for 8.1 related uploads. Before running any file check them through as they may disable things you need to use, i run them as they are but users can cherry pick bits that suit them.

Download from Here
 
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Interesting story on the Ryzen 3000. I suppose it's best to wait 6 months or so for things to settle down, update, etc.
 
AMD OverDrive
Its those little nagging things that stop me from using Ryzen, thats why my workstation is intel now although im using the 880k on this test bench/internet setup :)
 
Didn't know that the Wraith's were different. Still, should be better than the stock fan that came with the 8320E. No need to overclock. I'm at 3.4 GHz OC'd on my Phenom now. Stock 4 GHz with twice as many cores should be more than adequate for what I do. (Will be interesting to see if NTLite runs faster.)
 
NTLite on its own will be faster but when it needs ms dism etc then that may go down to using a single core, thats been discussed here before. Time to build an image topic i think. The newer Wraiths have the heatpipes touch the cpu directly, on the older ones they are inbetween a copper sandwich.

I think you will be pleasently pleased at the upgrade that didnt break the bank. Im certain nuhi uses all availible cores when its using his engine alone. :) If you can stretch that budget a bit try a Crucial BX500 128gb ssd for around $20. Its quite a fast little drive then if you like it get the MX500 500gb. My i3 and 880k really fly on the MX's and NTLite mounts/loads images really quick :)
 
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I was going to buy a Samsung or WD 500 GB SSD last year. Then I read that people who were using AMD's Fake RAID weren't able to access SSD's.

Now, I did find a card on Amazon that does RAID in hardware. Aside from the cost, my only problem with it is getting notifications when a drive goes off line. (You have to run a program that talks to the card.) And I don't know how easy it is with the card to rebuild arrays, etc.

Figured I would wait until I upgrade my mobo someday.
 
The old amd raid issue again, stick to spinners then. There is always something with amd but intel doesnt get off lightly either, for me intel was the lesser of 2 evils and eaiser to cope with.
 
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So, not really a Win8.1 issue/topic, but since we've been talking about my upgrade to the AMD FX-8350 CPU, I am happy to report that I have successfully installed the CPU. Windows 8.1 didn't even acknowledge that it was installing the new Processor "drivers." It just booted and there they were in Device Manager. Whereas Win7 showed the "installing new hardware" message and said it needed a reboot after it installed the "drivers."

I dinked around with some BIOS settings. I am running the CPU at stock speed, but the FSB a little faster. So RAM a little faster too.

I'm tempted to upgrade two of my old sticks from 1600 to 1866. (I couldn't boot when I tried 1866.) But previous history has shown me that the speed of memory doesn't matter much, due, I suspect to L2 and L3 cache doing most of the memory work. And since the L2 and L3 are bigger - and faster -on the 8350 compared to what I had before, I expect buying faster RAM won't make a noticeable difference.

I ran some preliminary benchmarks. Using AMD's own ryzengraphic-27.blend benchmark in Blender, a Ryzen 3500 would be twice as fast.

I think I would have been unhappy spending a few hundred dollars more for only twice the performance. Besides, when I run the blender benchmark on my GPU, it's as fast as a Ryzen 3500. So it would make more sense to take the money saved and upgrade my GPU. (Were I going to do anything productive on my computer.)

The Wraith fan is amazing. I can't hear it, even at full speed. (Which, I assume, is when the RGB's go all red.) FWIW, it has the heat pipes at the bottom of the sink.

The only thing I regret is not waiting a few days more to order the chip. The price dropped a few days after I placed my order. Still, a good deal.
 
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Another thing I've noticed - in just an hour of goofing around with programs - is that most programs don't use more than 4 cores.

Or maybe I should say most of the old programs I have don't make use of more than 4 cores. Blender 2.8 uses all 8. But PowerDirector 15 used only 4. As does Magix Movie Edit Pro 2019.

I might download a trial of PowerDirector 17 to see if they use all 8.

But for now, I've set my CoreParking utility to let 4 cores park if they want to.
 
The price drop is annoying, if that were me i wouldnt be fussed by a small drop, say 10 to 20£, i would be cheesed by a drop of 30%.
I wouldnt worry about 1866 ram too much if youve been happy with 1600, save your $s. Thing is if you start spending big on your system which youve had for a few years if your board blows it could wipe the lot out and th, you would be very :mad:. I wouldnt spend on an old system, new yes, old no.
If you are video rendering then more cores the better, i do a bit of video occasionally, the rest of the time 4 are enough and i only use 1 rendering audio. All this "moar cores" or you are a peasant is crap, know your workload and programs, if 4 is enough then cobblers to them :p
Think im gonna delide my i3 then wait until intel 10th gen comes out, got a nice new noctua cooler coming this week. :)

Painless wasnt it :cool:
 
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PowerDirector 17, which came out last year (2018) only uses 4 cores. (It's running all 8, but only at 50% each.)
 
Its not being stressed out, its like comparing V8 to a straight 4 engine. Some upgrades are always as clear as night and day.
Noctua sell from amazon and its coming today, free shipping :)
 
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So I found something new today that I've been doing wrong for years.

It turns out that Windows requires passwords (not just blanks) for the Administrator Account and any other accounts in order for TaskScheduler to start programs that require Administrative privileges.

For years I've taken the lazy way out and during setup, when Windows asks me for a password, I've always hit the Enter key. That is, no password.

It's easier that way every time the UAC pops up. Just hit Enter. But I found today that a certain program wouldn't run in Task Scheduler without an actual password. And it appears that you can't go in and add a password once Windows is installed.

Well, you can. But apparently TaskManager doesn't recognize that you added a password. I had to reinstall Windows and start fresh.

Perhaps Kasual should add this to his list of "what not to remove." (It's not really a program or a component. But something that you shouldn't 'remove.')
 
So now the price of the FX-8350 on Amazon is a little higher than what I bought it for. So it pays to watch prices for a week on Amazon to see if they fluctuate.

Still happy. I bumped the FSB up to 210. I dropped the CPU multiplier to stay at 4.1 GHz. I bumped up HT and NB freqs. DRAM isn't running much faster than stock, but I had to bump my DRAM voltage up from stock 1.5 V to 1.55 V to keep things stable.

I read that two DRAM sticks are better (faster) than my four. But benchmarks on the web confirm what I found with the Phenom II X4, which was that DRAM speed didn't make much difference. (A few percent at best.)
 
Only hardcore benchmarkers(my dicks bigger than your dick) and gamers will notice a few %, us mere mortals wont and i never have, that said i buy the fastest officially supported speed ram(Crucial Ballistix) the cpu takes and only single channel, cheaper and simpler machine.
I have seen a rumour that intel will syart upping official ram speeds from 2400 and 2666 to 2933 and 3200.
Intel take note - Crucial do 3600 and 4000 ram.

On newer Ryzen machines with a dual channel memory controller(think it may be the same on quad chaneel) you can run put 1 stick per channel and it will run at its advertised speed but put 2 sticks on each cnahhel and they will only run at 2666.
 
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It's easier that way every time the UAC pops up. Just hit Enter. But I found today that a certain program wouldn't run in Task Scheduler without an actual password. And it appears that you can't go in and add a password once Windows is installed.

Well, you can. But apparently TaskManager doesn't recognize that you added a password. I had to reinstall Windows and start fresh.

Perhaps Kasual should add this to his list of "what not to remove." (It's not really a program or a component. But something that you shouldn't 'remove.')
What about creating new account with password from 'DOS'?
If that works, i can add it too for those who missed to add a pasword or prefer not to reinstall Windows.
 
An interesting benchmark, comparing running Blender in Linux vs. a 'Lited version of Win8.1: If you peruse the web, you'll find people reporting that Blender generally runs faster on Linux than Windows. (By about 10 to 15%.) I assume that's because normal Windows usually has so many things running in the background that it slows down Blender renders.

So I ran a benchmark myself with a Linix distro.

To my surprise, Blender in Linux ran the same as Blender in my 'Lited Win8.1. (The Linux distro I used automagically installed a current Nvidia driver for my GPU.) I presume this is because I have removed (and/or shutdown) a lot of the stuff that runs in the background on Windows.
 
BTW, in my latest build of Win8.1 I tried a different workflow. This time I first installed updates to the wim. Then I removed Fonts, Languages and Keyboards. Then I installed Win8.1. After tweaking a bit, I then ran NTLite Live using the Removal Preset that I normally used pre-install.

I dunno - may 'Liting is an ergodic process that gives the same results as doing the Removals pre-install. (As nuhi said once here in the forum, I do find some empty directories when I do things this way.) And it does take a little longer to install a wim that has no Removals and the initial installation is larger. But I did Removals this way this time thinking that whatever files Windows needed to run correctly would be locked out (in use) during a Live removal. (There sure a lot of dependencies, interlocking going on in Windows.)

In any event, everything seems to be working as it should. Even Dragon Naturally Speaking installed without complaint, which has been my fussiest program to date.
 
Blender in Linux ran the same as Blender in my 'Lited Win8.1
Proves that windows can be made to behave, it takes a lot of work but the result is worth it. :) :cool: Ive got ltsc well and truly tamed :D

Got my upgrade today, Pentium G5400 and H310 board, £116, reuse 4gb ram and ssd. Can retire my 880k and gt710, still works, being saved for emergencies.
 
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