The BEST Radeon Video Card for Under $250

Video Card Reviews

<![CDATA[

SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon R9 Fury

 
The Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury utilizes a 1050MHz Radeon R9 Fury GPU, which runs 4GB of 4096-Bit HBM (High Bandwidth Ram). The performance of this memory surpasses GDDR5 in bandwidth with more than 3x the performance per watt of GDDR5, requiring only 375 watts overall. Its revolutionary stacked configuration has 94% less PCB surface area than GDDR5.
This video card comes with 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, and 1x Dual-Link DVI-D. It also uses the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot to connect your motherboard.
This video card boasts three fans, ensuring your video card stays cool during use. These fans utilize two-ball bearings designed to keep the fans quiet, make them last longer, and keep out dust. These fans also have a high-efficiency blade design.
The video card also supports Intelligent Fan Control, which takes things like environment temperature and GPU workload into consideration, to ensure the fans are working efficient as well as keeping them as quiet as possible.
This video card is VR ready and can support multiple monitors. With multiple monitors, gaming becomes more immersive and your work becomes more productive (up to an average of 42% according to one study). This video card also supports CrossFire which allows two or more discreet graphics cards to work together to give you the ultimate gaming experience.
The Radeon R9 Fury supports OpenGL® 4.5 and DirectX®12 while also having Shader Model 5.0, ensuring it will be compatible with the newest games.
The Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury currently costs $329.99 on Newegg, but including a sale and $20 rebate card, it comes to $249.99.
 
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Mushkin SSD 1Tb Drive Review.

Hard Drive Reviews

<![CDATA[Mushkin is a competitor in memory and SSD drives, as both of the two mostly are similar. Mushkin was founded in 1994 in Denver, Colorado, In the United States. Mushkin produces Memory modules, or RAM, Solid state drives, power supplies and other small quantities of components to computers, but usually source Memory and SSD.
IMG_0023
The motherboard that will use the Mushkin SDD drive is the ASUS TUF SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1, which it is compatible for 6Gb/s  and has 8 Sata ports, in which the SSD provided from Mushkin is compatible to this motherboard.

I have received a Mushkin SSD 1TB Drive which has a storage  of 1TB. The Mushkin SSD also is a MLC meaning that it doubles on writes on each cell. Usually, MLC is better on terms of life span than a TLC and it is more common and cheaper than a SLC meaning that it will have a long lifespan, and countless amounts of rewrites to the SSD. The max sequential read up to 560 MBps while the max sequential write up to 460 MBps which is fast read and write speeds for a 1TB drive. The IOP’s for Write is around IOPS to 289.0625 Mbps and for the reading of IOPS is 296.875 Mbps. The MTBF of in other terms the average time until the drive fails is on average 1,500,000 hours. With the warranty of only a year, one year to have parts and labor with the ability to turn it back for a new one. The amount of features spans to temperature sensors and that of MLC Flash for a reliable SSD The price of the Mushkin 1Tb SSD is 249.99. Mushkin I would say has done a fair job on the product today, and seems reliable for a 1TB drive

Works Cited

“Mushkin Enhanced ECO2 2.5″ 1TB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDEC1TB.” Newegg.com- Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras and More! N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226855&ignorebbr=1>.

Cook, Robert. “SSD Throughput, Latency and IOPS Explained – Learning To Run With Flash.” The SSD Review. N.p., 16 Oct. 2016. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <http://www.thessdreview.com/featured/ssd-throughput-latency-iopsexplained>.

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SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series

Hard Drive Reviews

<![CDATA[Today I am reviewing a SSD (Solid State Drive) made by Samsung. Samsung is a multinational conglomerate founded and based in Seoul, South Korea. Started as a trading company in 1938, it is today widely known for its innovation in technology.
samsung-logo-191-1
A 250 GB SSD was requested for a gaming motherboard. The motherboard provided was
A1PyTpQOZRL._SX425_the ASUS ROG Crosshair V Formula-Z, which has eight 6Gb/s SATA ports, six of which support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 solutions.

This SSD’s specs, attached below, are great.

  • 256 GB
  • Average Latency
    .8510
  • Read: 540 MB/s
    Write: 520 MB/s
  • SSD III (6 Gb/s)
  • Buffer 3 GB
  • IOPS and IOPS conversion to Mbps
    25,000 MBps Read
    22,500 MBps      WritePicture1
  • MLC
  • MTBF: 1,500,000 hours
  • Limited Warranty period (parts): 3 years
    Limited Warranty period (labor): 3 years
  • $309.99

 
Works Cited
“Corporate Profile – About Samsung – Samsung.” Samsung. Samsung, 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. <http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/>.
“SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series 2.5″ 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PD256BW.” Newegg.com- Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras and More!Newegg Inc., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. <https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAADF3ZD3050&cm_re=ssd-_-20-147-193-_-Produc>.
Shaman, Josh. “Samsung 840 EVO SSD Review.” StorageReview.com – Storage Reviews. Storage Reviews, 19 July 2013. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. <http://www.storagereview.com/samsung_840_evo_ssd_review>.]]>

Toshiba P300 Review!!!

Hard Drive Reviews

<![CDATA[Toshiba was founded in 1875, the headquarters is located in, Minato City, Tokyo, Japan. Toshiba makes a gross income of over $68 billion a year, with over 204,000 employees. Toshiba also operates with a global network with more than 740 companies.
The type of motherboard we are wanting to get a Hard Drive for, is a business motherboard, from Gigabyte. It has two 3Gbs SATA connectors and six 6Gbs SATA connectors. I was asked to present a 1-2TB SATA Hard Drive.
TOSHIBA P300 Internal Hard Drive

  • Capacity: 2TB
  • RPM: 7200
  • Latency: 4.17mls
  • Buffer: 64MB
  • MTBF: 1,500,000
  • Warranty: Limited 2yr parts, and labor.
  • Cost: $74.99

This Hard Drive is amazing for it’s price. It is difficult to find a Hard Drive with the capacity of this, at such a low price. I a22-149-632-02m actually using this one to build my computer, just because it is so cost efficient. It’s RPM is really good also, and I would recommend this for any computer, that you wanted to have a good 2TB Hard Drive.
 
 
 
Work Cited
Newegg.com. “Toshiba.” Hard Drives. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Toshiba. “Toshiba Leading Innovation.” About Toshiba. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
 
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Seagate BarraCuda 2TB Hard Drive Review!

Hard Drive Reviews

<![CDATA[Seagate Technology is an American data storage company formerly incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology. Since 2010, they are incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, with operation headquarters in Cupertino, California. (wikipedia.com)
The motherboard that this hard drive will be working with is the MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard. The motherboard has 10 x SATA 6 Gb/s ports and can support up to RAID 0/1/5/10 modes.
This hard drive haBarraCuda2TB-larges 2TB of storage with transfer rates up to 140 MB/s and the drive also has 64MB of cache. The rotational speed is 5400 RPM and the read/write speeds are 150 MB/s. The form factor of this drive is a 3.5in and has a 2 year warranty of parts and labor. There are obviously pros and cons for this drive, but the Pros overpowers the cons by far. Also, the price is fairly low with a price of $69.97 and is a very good drive in my opinion for the price.
 
 
 
 
Works Cited:
“Barracuda 2TB Hard Drive.” NewEgg. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
“Barracuda 2TB Hard Drive.” (n.d.): n. pag. Seagate. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
“Seagate Technology.” Userbenchmark. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.
 ]]>

Google Drive Sync to a Network Folder

Ed Tech Teach, Staff Tech Reviews

<![CDATA[Recently Google Drive stopped syncing to a network folder.  This has been a conundrum for many of us that put it there so we can access it from various locations.  There is a work around.

  1.  Download the old version of Google Drive that did work.
  2. Uninstall Drive and install the version above.  You can point it to any share during the install process.
  3. Disable Google Updates in the Task Scheduler.  If you don’t it will just update and break itself.  This will disable Chrome updates as well, so it is a trade off.
  4. Make a new registry entry to disable Drive Updates.
    1. Regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\
    2. Right click on the right hand pane and select New- Key, and name it Google
    3. Click on the new Google key (looks like a folder) to enter the folder.
    4. Right click in the right hand pane and select New- DWord 32bit value
    5. Name it DefaultUpdate and make sure the value is 0
    6. Reboot

Fingers are crossed that this works until Google changes it back to allow network shares again!
 ]]>

GPO for Default Applications

Tech Administration

<![CDATA[You can do a GPO to force default applications for computers in a given AD container.
The GPO is in Computer Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Windows Components->File Explorer.
Turn on "Set a default associations configuration file" and point it to the xml file containing your default setting.
To create the XML file the easiest way is to simply set your defaults on a system and then export them.  Use the exported file (delete what you don't want to force) to set the new GPO defaults.  Open an elevated command prompt and run

dism /online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:"c:\DefaultAppAssociations.xml"

This will make the file you will then point to in your GPO.  Make sure to put it in a location your users can access.
Examples for Chrome and Firefox.
Forcing Google Chrome
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<DefaultAssociations>
<Association Identifier=”.3gp2″ ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.3G2″ ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.htm” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
<Association Identifier=”.html” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
<Association Identifier=”.MP2″ ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.MP3″ ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.mpeg” ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.mpeg” ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.oxps” ProgId=”Windows.XPSReachViewer” ApplicationName=”XPS Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.tif” ProgId=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff” ApplicationName=”Windows Photo Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.tiff” ProgId=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff” ApplicationName=”Windows Photo Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.txt” ProgId=”txtfile” ApplicationName=”Notepad” />
<Association Identifier=”.url” ProgId=”IE.AssocFile.URL” ApplicationName=”Internet Browser” />
<Association Identifier=”.website” ProgId=”IE.AssocFile.WEBSITE” ApplicationName=”Internet Explorer” />
<Association Identifier=”.xps” ProgId=”Windows.XPSReachViewer” ApplicationName=”XPS Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.htm” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
<Association Identifier=”.html” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
<Association Identifier=”http” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
<Association Identifier=”https” ProgId=”ChromeHTML” ApplicationName=”Google Chrome” />
</DefaultAssociations>
Forcing Mozilla Firefox
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<DefaultAssociations>
<Association Identifier=”.3gp2″ ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.3G2″ ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.MP2″ ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.MP3″ ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.mpeg” ProgId=”WMP11.AssocFile.mpeg” ApplicationName=”Windows Media Player” />
<Association Identifier=”.oxps” ProgId=”Windows.XPSReachViewer” ApplicationName=”XPS Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.tif” ProgId=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff” ApplicationName=”Windows Photo Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.tiff” ProgId=”PhotoViewer.FileAssoc.Tiff” ApplicationName=”Windows Photo Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.txt” ProgId=”txtfile” ApplicationName=”Notepad” />
<Association Identifier=”.url” ProgId=”IE.AssocFile.URL” ApplicationName=”Internet Browser” />
<Association Identifier=”.website” ProgId=”IE.AssocFile.WEBSITE” ApplicationName=”Internet Explorer” />
<Association Identifier=”.xps” ProgId=”Windows.XPSReachViewer” ApplicationName=”XPS Viewer” />
<Association Identifier=”.htm” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
<Association Identifier=”.html” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
<Association Identifier=”.htm” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
<Association Identifier=”.html” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
<Association Identifier=”http” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
<Association Identifier=”https” ProgId=”FirefoxURL” ApplicationName=”Firefox” />
</DefaultAssociations>]]>

Windows Server 2016 RDS Licensing Server

IT Support, Staff Tech Reviews

<![CDATA[Windows Server RDS works great for allowing thin clients to have a full desktop experience.  For RDS to work correctly, you must create a licensing server to hand out seats per client connection, whether that be per user or per device.  This guide will go step by step through the process of creating a licensing server to serve RDS seats.  We assume that you already have a Windows Server 2016 machine ready for this deployment.
In our environment, we use a separate virtual machines for each server role.  We use VMWare 6.5 as our host, and Windows Server 2016 as our VM client.  This server will only have this role installed.  Our base VM has any default roles that are installed out of the box, with an addition of the .NET 3.5 feature set.

Please make sure your server is set on the correct timezone, remote desktop is enabled, all Windows Updates have been installed, the server has been joined to your domain, and then restart the server.  When logging into the server, use a domain user account with Domain Admin privilege.

  1. Open Windows Server Manager and click Add roles and features
    1
  2. Click next confirming that you have verified the tasks listed.
    2
  3. Click next confirming that you are installing a role-based feature on the current server.
    3
  4. Click next to confirm that the server highlighted is the correct server for the role to be installed.
    4
  5. Select the Remote Desktop Services role and click next.
    6
  6. Click next on the features list, without checking an additional feature other than the defaults.
    7
  7. Click next to confirm that you want to install the Remote Desktop Services role.
    8
  8. Select Remote Desktop Licensing to install the licensing host components.
    9
  9. Click Next to install the role.  OPTIONAL: Check the Restart box and select yes to allow the server to restart after installation. (The server does not need to restart after installing this role.)
    10
  10. After the role finishes installing, click close.
    12
  11. Click on Tools > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
    14
  12. Click Review on the server you just created.
    15
  13. Click Add to Group.
    16
  14. Click continue to add the server to its correct licensing group.
    17
  15. This message will be received when you have completed the following step. Click ok to close the window.
    18
  16. Click ok to close the window.
    19
  17. Right click on the server you are trying to configure. Click activate server.
    20
  18. Click Next to configure the licensing portion.
    21
  19. Click next to use the automatic defaults.
    22
  20. Complete the required information for your organization and then click next.
    23
  21. Complete the required information for your organization and then click next.
    24
  22. Click next to start the licensing wizard.
    25
  23. Click next to confirm the settings are correct.
    26
  24. Select the correct type of agreement for your organization.  In our case this would be School Agreement.
    27
  25. Type the agreement number and select next.
    28
  26. Select the correct product version, license type, and quantity of licenses. Then click next to finish the wizard. In our case, RDS per user CAL is the correct licensing type.
    29
  27. Click Finish to close the wizard and activate your RDS licensing server.
    30
  28. Your server is now activated if the green check mark is displayed.
    31

This guide was to setup the licensing server portion of a remote desktop environment.  To setup the servers that clients/thin clients connect to, please see this post.]]>

Windows Server 2016 KMS Server

IT Support, Staff Tech Reviews

<![CDATA[Windows Server 2016 KMS – Office 2016 & Server16/Win10 KMS
Recently, we found that Server 2016 standard was having issues using the volume activation tools that are built in.  Instead of using the VAT role, we elected to build our KMS server through command line.  In this tutorial, I will walk you through the steps necessary to complete your new KMS install using Server 2016 Standard.
We are installing a KMS server for Server 2016, Windows 10, and Office 2016 Pro Plus clients.  (Other versions also activate as it is backwards compatible.)
Note:  We are using VMware Hypervisor 6.5 (Free), and our KMS server is running as a VM using Windows Server 2016 Standard (with desktop experience).  Screen capture images can be browsed here. -> Steps

  1.  Create a Windows Server 2016 Server (any edition).
    • Set the timezone, name (and join) your server with your Active Directory.
    • Enable Remote Desktop and set a static IP address (optional)
    • Check for, and install, all windows updates.
    • Reboot the server
  2. Install the Volume Activation Services Role through the server manager.  Click next through the entire process leaving the defaults.  (This GUI is what crashes for us, which is why we are using command line.)
    • Reboot the server once the installation completes.
  3. Visit the Microsoft Volume Licensing Center and obtain your KMS keys for Office 2016 and Server 2016.  Keep these for future reference.  While on the volume site, download “Office Professional Plus 2016 Key Management Service Host”.  It will be an ISO file.
    • Extract the ISO to C:\kms or an appropriate location.
  4. Use an elevated command prompt for all of the following steps
    • Install the Office 2016 KMS Host pack (What we extracted to C:\kms)
      1. cd c:\kms
      2. cscript kms_host.vbs
      3. After the VAT popup appears, close VAT and hit enter twice to return to a standard command line.
    • Install the KMS keys for Windows and Office, one at a time, waiting for the confirmation that the key has been installed prior to continuing to the next.
      1. slmgr.vbs -ipk <insert Server 2016 key here>
      2. slmgr.vbs -ipk <insert Office 2016 key here>
    • Export the licensing information.  This is for two reasons.  First, to make sure both keys have been inserted correctly, and to obtain the activation ID.
      1. cd c:\windows\system32
      2. cscript slmgr.vbs -dlv all >C:\kms\export.txt
        • cscript must be used to export the information into a txt file.
    • Open the recently created export.txt file, and scroll to the licensed products.  Copy the Activation ID‘s for both products and keep for the next step.  NOTE:  The Activation ID and Application ID are NOT the same, so make sure you obtain the correct ID.  The easiest way to find the correct product is to locate the Installation ID.  It will only be present on the two products that we have installed a key on (even though we will not be using the Installation ID.)
    • Activate your product keys.  Do each command one at a time, waiting for the confirmation before moving to the next.
      1. slmgr.vbs -ato <insert Activation ID for Server 2016 here with the dashes>
      2. slmgr.vbs -ato <insert Activation ID for Office 2016 here with the dashes>
    • Confirm that your products are activated and licensed.
      1. cscript slmgr.vbs -dlv all >C:\kms\export2.txt
        • Confirm that the two products identified before have “licensed” as their licensing status.
  5. Now your server is licensing clients.  There are thresholds that will determine when activation starts.
    • Windows Server will activate after a count of 5.
    • Windows 10 will activate after a count of 25.
    • Office 2016 will activate after a count of 5.

Additional Information about KMS:
A Server 2016 KMS key will activate all server editions up to 2016.  It will also activate all Windows Client editions up to Windows 10 including 7, 8 and 8.1.  The Office 2016 Professional Plus key will activate both Pro Plus and Standard Office 2016 installations.]]>

Intel i5-6500 – This is a review.

CPU reviews

<![CDATA[19-117-563-01
The CPU is the mind of the computer and is a necessity of a functioning computer. Some might consider the CPU the most important part of a PC as it is needed to do most of the thinking of all components of the computer. I have looked over a CPU of the i5 that can go into a Intel grade ASUS motherboard for gaming.
Intel is a Processor manufacturer company and is widely known, as they are mostly LGA based CPU products today. Thy have provided us with the i5-6500 Intel core processor.
the socket type of the CPU is to be a 1151, and is a available as a LGA CPU due to it being a Intel grade processor. The bus speed of the CPU is 3.2Ghz, as of the motherboard’s ram is close to this number to remove any excessive amount of bottleneck. In which this is a fairly well off CPU and it is well close to the RAM amount of the gamer Motherboard.
The CPU is hyper threaded into 4 threads. The cache amount of L2 is 4x256KB and L3 is around 6MB. The motherboard can support DDR3 and DDR4 for a wide expansive choice in quality.
overall, the CPU meets its standards and gets to a close fit for a working gaming machine, as of it does it even better. with the CPU running at 3.2 GHz as close to what the motherboard runs at the bottleneck is smaller than average and will run smoother.  the CPU can also support up to 64GB of memory, a fair amount for a well off gamer PC.
This CPU is Hyper threaded into 4 threads, this can conclude that the CPU is actually a “Dual-Core” which isn’t that big of a deal, but I can be accounted for. It also sits at a 65W Thermal cooling, so It’s not that beefy. but it can still provide much of what you need.
Intel has once again priced it over with a 209.99 fee at the moment and if you have the cash, I’d say this would be a better choice, but it also remains that there are also other CPU processors out there for a cheaper price that could have similar out comes, but this is a gamer PC, and if the money is on the table. I would take this CPU.
Works Cited
Intel. “Data Center Solutions, IOT, and PC Innovation.” Intel. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2017.
Newegg. “Intel Core I5-6500 6MB Skylake Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1151 65W BX80662I56500 Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530.” Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More – Newegg.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2017
Wikipidia Contributers. “Intel.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2017. ]]>