Windows 10 Sounds System Bottlenecks 4K Displays at 60Hz
Make Windows 10 Sing
Hi, Doctor. I’m trying to customize the default logon, logoff, startup, and shutdown sounds in Windows 10. Apparently, these cannot be modified in the normal Sound menu, but must be replaced in the Windows/Media folder. Unfortunately, even after enabling the Administrator account, taking ownership of the entire Windows folder, and attempting to set/change permissions, I’m still unable to make changes to the folder or its contents. I’m currently trying to get help from Microsoft Support, but I’m not particularly hopeful that they’ll be able (or willing) to solve the problem. Can you provide a working solution?
–Michael Schwobe
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: Although the logon, logoff, and shutdown entries no longer appear in Windows 10’s Sounds tab, they’re only hidden. Rather than changing folder permissions to force your way into the Windows/Media folder, bend the Registry Editor to your will instead.
Click the search icon in Windows’ taskbar and type “regedit.” Expand the HKEY_ CURRENT_USER sub-tree and open “AppEvents\ EventLabels.” Each folder corresponds to a different sound. Scroll down and click on “SystemExit.” On the right side, you’ll notice a DWORD called “ExcludeFromCPL.” Double-click it and change the value from “1” to “0.” Do the same for “WindowsLogoff” and “WindowsLogon.”
Close down the Registry Editor and get back into the Sounds tab (right-click the speaker icon in your taskbar and select “Sounds”). “Exit Windows,” “Windows Logoff,” and “Windows Logon” are now options you can select and assign .wav files to, located anywhere on your hard drive.
Righting 4K Wrongs
Good evening, Doc. I’m reading the April 2016 issue and noticed that, in your reply to the letter “The 4K Blues,” you said there were no 4K FreeSync-capable monitors available. Samsung’s UE590, which I own and highly recommend, is just that.
–Torry
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: Right you are, Torry. Not only that, but since the April issue was published, several other models hit the market. LG has the 27UD88 with an IPS panel, USB Type-C connectivity, and HDMI 2.0 support. ViewSonic’s XG2700-4K also comes with an IPS panel and HDMI 2.0. Both hover around the $700 range. Meanwhile, AOC’s U2879VF employs a TN panel, but it’s also a lot less expensive. Those three, plus the Samsung U28E590D you mentioned, serve up expansive 3840x2160 resolutions complemented by AMD’s FreeSync dynamic refresh rate technology. You have the Doc’s gratitude for spotting his oversight.
Win 10 Upgrade Woes
Hi Doc. For more than four months now, I’ve been trying to upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro. Each time I get error code C190011F. I’ve been seemingly searching forever and nobody seems to know the cause. Worse, Microsoft passes along some pretty lame answers to try explaining it.
Can you help? I’m concerned that if Microsoft can’t get this right, I’m going to have some issues with Windows 10.
– Greg Zilberfarb
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The Doctor put a lot of time into researching this, because the solution he came up with sounds downright nutty.
Are you running an AMD graphics card? An inordinately high number of Radeon owners are reporting that after going to AMD’s website and letting the company’s “Automatically Detect and Install Your Driver” utility do its work, they can move past the C190011F error.
Other folks have reported success downloading the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft ( http://microsoft.com/ en-us/software-download/ windows10), and upgrading through the bootable USB drive it creates.
Blasting Bottlenecks
Hey Doc. I recently upgraded a computer that I bought from CyberPowerPC a few years ago. It currently has Windows 10, an AMD FX-8350 processor, 16GB
of RAM, a Gigabyte 970A-DS3P motherboard, a GeForce GTX 970, and two SSDs. Which components are slowing me down, the CPU, motherboard, or graphics card? I use this PC for 3D modeling/rendering and gaming.
– Julian Petrillo
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: Those are two very different workloads. Gaming is most often graphics-bound, and a great many games run across few CPU cores. Meanwhile, modeling and rendering tend to be compute-intensive. Some software leans heavily on your host processor, while other apps are optimized for GPUs.
Overall, your configuration is fairly well-balanced. If you want to improve its performance, however, start with the platform. Intel’s Skylake architecture offers notable IPC advantages over AMD’s Piledriver, meaning it can get more done per clock cycle. In a lightly-threaded game (one that can’t take advantage of the FX-8350’s eight integer cores), combining high IPC throughput and frequency yields the least chance of a bottleneck. And even in games optimized for parallelization, the four HyperThreaded cores from a Core i7-6700K fare exceptionally.
If you’re gaming at 2560x 1440, a GeForce GTX 970 will prevent you from cranking up all of the detail settings, even with a Core i7-6700K behind it. Step up to 4K, and the problem gets worse. That card is good for 1920x1080 using the most taxing presets, or 2560x1440 with some compromises. Any higher, and you’ll want at least one GeForce GTX 980/980 Ti.
Modeling/rendering is a lot more specific, depending on whether your software runs best with a workstation card and its optimized drivers, or if it supports a specific compute API. Do a little research before upgrading, to ensure your gaming and creative tasks align with the same graphics card.
Achieving 4K at 60Hz
Hi Doc. I’ve heard of people using 4K TVs with 60Hz support as monitors through the HDMI interface. I’d like to do the same.
I thought you could only do 4K at 60Hz with DisplayPort. Can you explain the details of whatever new version of HDMI makes this possible? Do you need a video card with special HDMI 2.0 ports?
–Dan
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: There are a couple of ways to get 60Hz out of a 4K display, and both rely on available bandwidth.
The first is DisplayPort, which you’re familiar with. Version 1.2 offers a high enough data rate to support 3840x2160 at 60Hz. That’s the standard most of today’s graphics cards expose. Version 1.3 and 1.4 support 4K monitors at up to 120Hz, and those displays are expected by the end of this year. AMD has said that its Polaris GPUs will include DisplayPort 1.3-capable display controllers, and the Doc would be surprised if Nvidia didn’t follow suit soon.
Your alternative is HDMI 2.0, and yes, you need a graphics card that supports this. GeForce GTX 950, 960, 970, 980, 980 Ti, and Titan X all support HDMI 2.0. None of AMD’s cards currently support the interface. However, you can buy an active DisplayPort 1.2a to HDMI 2.0 adapter for roughly $30. And again, the company’s nextgeneration Polaris architecture will incorporate HDMI 2.0a.
Booting from M.2 SSD
Hey Doc. I can’t get my Asus H170I-PLUS D3 motherboard to recognize my Samsung XP941 M.2 SSD as a bootable drive. I’ve spent tons of time on all of the usual resources (YouTube, forums, and so on), but there doesn’t seem to be much info on configuring this particular motherboard to boot from solidstate storage. Can you help?
–Robert Buchanan
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The Doc can’t take credit for this one; Asus helped fill in the blanks to make sure you get the best answer possible, Robert.
In short, the drive won’t be seen as bootable by your motherboard until there’s an operating system installed on it. As you progress through the Windows 10 installer, it’ll recognize your XP941. Just be sure to use a GPT (GUID Partition Table) drive format.
Hitting a Speed Bump
Hi Doc, Like many enthusiasts, I have a Z97-based motherboard with an M.2 slot, though it’s only a two-lane PCI Express 2.0 link.
I love reading the reviews of fast SSDs tested on newer Z170 motherboards, but I can’t help but wonder if those same SSDs make sense in my slower M.2 slot. Would I be wasting my money getting a top-end drive like a Samsung 950 Pro? Are there cheaper SSDs you’d recommend that may not be great for the quickest PCs, but fine in Z97-based machines?
Future-proofing might be a reason to over-buy on storage today; but, honestly, I’ll probably just want the latest and greatest whenever it’s time to replace my motherboard.
–Kurt Weppler
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: Although a two-lane M.2 slot will definitely bottleneck the fastest PCIe-based SSDs, there’s rather more to storage than just sequential throughput numbers.
Take Samsung’s OEMtargeted SM951 as an example. On paper, it can read at more than 2GB/s, while your two-lane slot is realistically limited to somewhere between 650 and 750MB/s. But that’s still an improvement over the SATA interface’s ~550MB/s ceiling. More significant are the latency reductions you’ll enjoy if your motherboard supports NVMe.
Of course, you always have the option of buying an M.2-to-PCIe adapter card, which can take a higher-end PCIe-based SSD and give it a true four-lane link, so long as your motherboard’s PCH has the PCIe slot to spare.
Upgrading to Win 10
Hi Doc. I would like to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but I also want to build a new system from scratch. What is the best way to take advantage of Microsoft’s free upgrade offer (before it expires), and perform a clean install on a new system? Do I need to install Windows 7 on to the new build and then upgrade, or is there a way that allows for a clean install of Windows 10 using the key that came with Windows 7? I always prefer clean installs over upgrades, especially on new builds.
–Nick
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: It depends on your version of Windows. If the operating system came with an OEM machine, it’s technically only licensed for that system. You may be able to get away with re-installing Windows 7 on your new PC, and then upgrading to Windows 10, though this is a violation of Microsoft’s license agreement. If, however, you have a retail copy of Windows 7, you should be able to upgrade your current machine to Windows 10 and still transfer that license to your new system whenever you’re ready. You’ll activate it with your old Windows 7 key.