Cooling Science Partition Work Windows 10 Growth
Windows 10 Grows
Hi Doc, I’m a long-time reader, and I always look forward to your column. I have two questions. First, in the January issue, there was an article that covered creating Windows 10 recovery media. I followed the instructions and used the Windows media creation tool, intending to burn a DVD, but received a message that the image was too large for my disc.
Then I tried using Windows’ Recovery Drive creation tool (Windows 10 Pro 64-bit). I had a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer Glide in my USB port, and started the utility. After a couple of clicks, a message told me to “Please wait,” with a moving progress bar. But the bar stopped with an error that said, “We can’t create the recovery drive. A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive.” It didn’t give me any information about the problem or how to solve it. My only storage drive on this system is a 750GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD. Any ideas?
My second question is this: I’m putting a parts list together for my next PC, based on the Kaby Lake architecture and Intel’s Z270 PCH. It’s shaping up well for the most part, but I’m hoping you can clear up the current storage landscape. Between M.2, U.2, NVMe, SATA, and PCIe, my head is spinning (no pun intended). What would the best-performing drive interface be for this new system?
– Steve Vanetti
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: By Microsoft’s own admission, the company recently refreshed its Windows 10 media, which put the ISO file’s size over the capacity limit of a single-layer DVD. Now you’ll need a flash drive (8GB-plus) or a blank dual-layer DVD.
When you fire up the media creation tool, choose the “Create installation media for another PC” option. Microsoft will likely suggest a language, edition, and architecture based on your hardware. If you’d like to change any of those, uncheck “Use the recommended options for this PC,” and click “Next.” The following screen lets you create a bootable USB flash drive or download the actual ISO. Although the Doc likes to keep ISOs on a storage server for safe-keeping, you may not share the same compulsion. In that case, leave the default selection, plug your drive in, and proceed. You’re warned that files on the drive will be deleted, and asked to choose a drive letter/device. Once you move to the next screen, Windows starts downloading.
As far as storage is concerned, it may be easiest to explain with an example. Let’s start with MSI’s Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard, if only because the Doc has one sitting in front of him as he writes this. The board’s specs claim support for six SATA ports, two M.2 slots, and an optional Turbo U.2 Host Card.
The SATA ports provide up to 6Gb/s, or roughly 600MB/s, of peak throughput. Many modern SSDs hit that ceiling during sequential transfers, so they’re already a bottleneck. The M.2 slots support SATA, too, but in a different form factor (M.2-based SSDs look like sticks of gum lying down on your motherboard). Here’s where things get tricky, though: MSI’s M.2 slots also accommodate SSDs designed to communicate over PCI Express. Four lanes of third-gen PCIe give you 32Gb/s to work with. There’s always the option to plug a PCIe SSD into an expansion slot on your motherboard, or MSI sells a Turbo U.2 Host Card separately. The U.2 interface is similar to M.2 in that it enables up to four lanes of third-gen PCIe. But it takes the connection off your motherboard, enabling you to attach an ultra-fast SSD using a cable.
If performance is top priority, PCI Express-based storage using the NVMe protocol rules. It maximizes bandwidth and minimizes latency compared to SATA and the old-school AHCI protocol. As such, the drive you’re looking for will drop into an M.2 slot, occupy a PCIe add-in card, or plug into a U.2 port. The form factor you choose is largely a matter of personal preference.
Partition Manipulation
Doc, I thought I could do almost anything on a computer, but the more I research this, the less confident I am. I have Windows 10 (build 1511) and want to upgrade to build 1607. When I try, I get a message that says, “We couldn’t update the system reserved partition.” Is there a reasonably safe way to expand that partition? I looked at Partition Magic and another
package I can’t remember the name of—neither appeared capable of doing the job.
– Joel Vignere
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: It should be possible to extend your system reserved partition. First, back up all your important files to another device. There are no guarantees this process will work the same way on your machine as it did on one of the Doc’s test beds. Proceed with caution, understanding that fiddling with partitions can result in data loss.
If you’re willing to accept the risk, download an app called MiniTool Partition Wizard Free. The utility gives you a Windows Disk Management-like look at your storage subsystem, but with far more flexibility. One of its capabilities is labeled “Move/Resize Partition.” Use that to shrink your operating system partition a bit. Then, click the “Extend Partition” feature to make the system reserved partition larger.
The Doc’s native Windows 10 installations all have 500MB system reserved partitions, so that might good to aim for.
GPU Upgrade
Hi Doc, I'm planning a Socket AM4-based build using a Ryzen 7 1700X or Ryzen 5 1600X. I own an Acer Predator XB271HU 144Hz G-Sync monitor and an EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card.
As much as I would love to buy a new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, it’s simply out of my price range. So, should I snag another 1070 and run in SLI, or upgrade to a 1080? I play first-person shooters such as Doom ,Battlefield, and Call of Duty.
–Daryl Austin
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: On its own, your GeForce GTX 1070 is fast enough to play most games at 60fps or more, using the top quality settings at your monitor’s native 2560x1440 resolution. However, you undoubtedly want even higher performance, given that display’s 144Hz refresh rate.
SLI is a viable option. In DirectX 11-based games, adding a second GPU should yield impressive scaling. But be aware that the benefits of SLI are often less pronounced under DirectX 12. Further, there’s not much support for multi-GPU rendering in today’s VR games. Given the diminished attractiveness of these configurations, the Doc would recommend against a second 1070.
At $500, the least-expensive GeForce GTX 1080s are certainly more affordable than they were pre-1080 Ti. Still, $500 is a hefty sum for a fairly modest step up. Re-evaluate the performance you’re seeing after piecing together that Ryzen-based configuration and try to stay patient. After all, Vega will change the graphics landscape soon, either by wooing gamers or justifying a wave of new GeForce sales.
The Science of Cooling
Good morning, Doctor. Why don’t CPU cooler manufacturers rate their products based on the watts of heat they can dissipate?
I have a 220W AMD processor that I cooled for several years using Cooler Master’s Hyper 212 EVO. I recently read that it needs liquid cooling. Due to the size of my case, though, I went with a 120mm radiator platform. After installing NZXT’s Kraken X31, the CPU seems to be running hotter than before. Now it crashes when I play Doom, where it was fine previously. Does the X31 have less capacity than the Hyper 212? I am running the X31 in performance mode, and installed another fan in a push/pull configuration.
This system will go to my son once I upgrade to Ryzen. Currently it sports a Radeon R9 280. Is it worth buying the Radeon RX 480?
–Ray Brown
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: Excellent question, Ray. The Doc took your inquiry to the knowledgeable folks at Corsair, where senior project manager Bobby Kinstle helped address it: “The heat capacity of a liquid cooler varies with a bunch of other factors, including what it’s attached to and how. The numbers I could come up with would sound big, but are ultimately meaningless. Case in point: the H100i set to full speed, with heat directly applied to the cooler as efficiently as possible, has a heat capacity of several thousand watts before the plastic melts. At such extreme power levels, however, other variables come into play. For instance, the thermal grease may exceed its absolute heat capacity first.
“Chip packaging is often the biggest thermal resistance to overcome. Heat is generated in a very thin layer on the silicon, but then has to conduct to a copper cap via thermal grease or solder. Next, the cap has to conduct the heat and hopefully spread it out a little (but not much, since it’s only 1mm thick). Heat has to pass through another layer of thermal grease atop the heat spreader, after which it can enter the cooler. Recent CPUs with thermal grease inside of them can hit their thermal conductivity limits at power levels as low as 200W. Intel’s Core i7-4790K is a famous example of this. Overclocked, it’s almost impossible to cool with systems running at ambient. That’s why you often see die temps in the 55–60 C range with only 95W loads.
“Now, take the same cooler and put it on a 250W Titan X. We’ll see die temperatures around 35 C. In this example, the die is much larger, reducing the heat flux per square millimeter. Also, the silicon is in direct contact with the water block through just one layer of thermal grease (a very poor conductor of heat compared to metals).”
So, yeah, there are a lot of factors that go into defining coolingco performance other than heath capacity. In your specific case,ca the Hyper 212 EVO is undersizedu for something like ana FX-9590, whereas an X31 shouldsh be fine. If you’re seeing higherh temperatures with the NZXTN closed-loop liquid cooler, thereth may be a problem with theth hardware itself or your installationin (insufficient or unevenu pressure on the CPU?).
As for graphics, the RadeonR RX 480 represents a respectablere upgrade over the R9 280, particularly if your son plans to game at 2560x1440.