As Amazon has grown, eBay has too. Amazon has gotten to such a point that eBay has to take cues from Amazon just to stay as competitive as possible. But there are times when choosing one or the other depends on the circumstances or specific situations. I will try to describe my experiences and why I might choose one over the other when seeking out a product.
Seller's Perspective
Although the brunt of my article will be about buying, selling can be important too. The main concern for the buyer should be what kind of service they are getting, and what kind of fees they have to pay to each respective company.
For eBay, you have two parts to worry about. You not only have to deal with eBay, but will likely process most (if not all) of your transactions through PayPal. So while there are eBay fees that will need to be paid, PayPal will take its cut of the profits as well. In comparison to Amazon, eBay has lower seller fees. However, when including PayPal into the mix, this may amount to similar fees from either company.
Amazon allows you to send your product in so that they can ship it for you. eBay does have this option - now - but unlike Amazon, they have no special Prime account that will allow for express, free shipping. Shipping to a Prime account may not matter if the seller offers free shipping; but if they don't, it is much easier to entice buyers if they have a Prime account and don't have to worry about paying associated extra S&H (shipping and handling ) fees.
eBay can only do so much due to their selling platform, but it is still a good place to sell from. They offer a good ratings system that imbues trust from its customers. Amazon has its reviews, and although this can be quite helpful, sometimes reviews are lumped together for similar products making it confusing as to what a buyer is actually purchasing. In opposition to eBay, Amazon will allow users more writing room to describe if a seller is good or not. (eBay gives a short one-liner is this regard.)
PayPal itself helps bring in buyers as it is (somewhat) a name people can trust. A lot of people have PayPal and do business through it accordingly; so having it as a payment system - even if negligible - can turn a potential buyer into a definite one.
However, unlike eBay, Amazon is purely for selling at a fixed price. There are no auctions to get a lower price than average. eBay does offer Buy It Now, but in addition sellers can also add an offer option, both of which can go alongside the regular auction scheme.
Some people prefer to try their chances at the best deal possible, while others don't want the hassle of sniping or constant checking.
eBay
eBay has been around for a long time now. I used to use it to buy rare or hard-to-get items. My choices were slim with that or Yahoo! Auctions. Eventually, Yahoo! Auctions went by the wayside. Why? I think it was because eBay got most of the attention from sellers. It is purely for selling and buying, while Yahoo! was really know for just its search engine, email and messenger. Knowing that fraudulent dealings seemed to be more rampant on Yahoo! Auctions didn't help either.
Nowadays, eBay seems to be more about making profits than just getting rid of whatever you can for however much you can. Sure, it still has good deals from time-to-time, but with so many buyers (and keen sellers), it's a lot harder to get. At least now eBay has really become a marketplace where pricing is competitive.
Even stores like Newegg or TigerDirect have begun selling on eBay. You can usually find the exact same items on their own stores for the same prices, but they must know that many people go to eBay first and buy there.
Amazon
Amazon has grown to such an extent that government lawsuits have been deployed just to stop it from giving the tremendous bargains it did and still does (there used to be no sales tax for certain states...). As of now, they are the largest online retailer and are spreading into other areas like smartphones, tablets, and TV programming.
Amazon always caught my eye because they had everything! You want a 1 million dollar mech robot, Amazon has it [true]. You need a DSLR, Amazon has it. What about baby lotion or diapers? Amazon has that too.
On top of this, as previously mentioned, they have a Prime account, which it allows consumers to purchase at a yearly rate and take advantage of free 2-day shipping as well as free TV shows and movies. During holidays, Prime users will get some items at a discounted price before users without Prime access. I subscribe to them yearly, even with the new hike in price, just because I use them so much.
Prices
There are many reasons to choose either eBay or Amazon. One of the most obvious is cost. Sometimes eBay has a better deal, and sometimes Amazon does. Both sell used items, although eBay does far more, and both have competitive prices on new items.
Now, I find the newer items usually sell cheaper on eBay than on Amazon. Mainly because eBay will often have people selling their items as opposed to a company. A lot of times people will have the same new product for a bit cheaper on eBay, and because they will add free shipping and no sales tax (unless a storefront like Newegg), buying from eBay may save you a lot of cash depending on the final sale value.
One good secret that people usually don't know is that Amazon has "offers". People do see that there are offers for the same product for less expense, although they often forget that new and refurbished items are normally available along with used prices.
At times I do find good deals on used items on Amazon, but that is seldom. But the secret is that there are sellers who might sell the same product new for the same, lower, or higher price. The key is to drop it into your cart and go to checkout. There you will see if the seller adds sales tax. Many times they don't, so you can actually buy the same product new for less than the Amazon advertised price.
The secret on eBay used to be to buy from a store like Newegg and they would actually have no or less sales tax than from their own site. This would have the added benefit of support not just from eBay and PayPal, but from a large popular store like Newegg too. I believe that they (Newegg) have finally learned about this trick, so prices are now the same across-the-board...
PayPal vs. Amazon Credit
Both PayPal and Amazon offer lines of credit to their customers. The main difference I have learned is that an Amazon line of credit can affect your credit score - positively or negatively - and that PayPal does not. This is a true toss up as I like the idea of not having my credit score affected, but at least on Amazon there should be far more choices to spend credit on.
That aside, both have different ways of charging interest. If you buy an item on Amazon's line of credit you will have no interest payments for 6 months if spending at least $149, or for an entire year if at least $600. eBay gives you 6 months at $99.
The other biggest difference between the two is that PayPal charges an APR of 19.99%, and Amazon charges an APR of 25.99%.
In this arena, it seems like PayPal is the obvious choice. It doesn't affect your credit and you have lower interest rates if applicable. But it really depends on what you're buying and how you're paying. If you buy thousands of dollars worth of items, then Amazon might be the place to choose since you could get at least a year to pay off your debt without interest. However, if you only buy $108 worth of items, then eBay would be the place to buy from in order to get no interest financing.
The choice between them is not as easy as pick one and give it a go. It will depend on what you are looking for, what you can afford, and personal preference.
Abundance
When talking about available stock, Amazon is the clear winner. Amazon usually has a large abundance of individual items, and to reiterate, has just about everything you could need. From groceries to electronics, Amazon has it all.
But if talking about the reverse in terms of rarity and old items, eBay is the winner. Amazon sometimes has old items for sale from users, but most people will be selling them on eBay. eBay is known for rare and old items, and because of that, people know that is the best place to get the best value.
I would say that unless a model of something is still in production, anything over 10 years old is going to be easier to find on eBay. If you're looking for autographs or mint condition issues of comics, eBay is the first place to search.
Support
I have dealt with eBay, PayPal, and Amazon support. And even though each has decent support, I would have to say that ultimately Amazon is leaps and bounds above the other two.
PayPal used to be absolutely horrible. If you got ripped off their response was pretty much, "We can't do anything, sorry". For many years I avoided them after having one such incident. I eventually used their services again because eBay lured me back in.
I ended up having another incident where all my money was taken from my bank account. This time PayPal stepped up to the plate and reimbursed me for everything lost. Since then I have had more faith in the company, and they have helped me get things done a lot more smoothly than before. Is the actual service stellar, no, it is the standard I expect a large company to provide to be considered as having good support.
eBay is a nightmare as of recently. There have been just as many horror stories for them as PayPal's past. They have cleaned up their act a lot, and have implemented policies that are better for both buyers and sellers. They have reimbursed me for non-received or non-working items and have ensured that I am taken care of when such situations occur. That being said, as of this month, I have lost a good amount of trust in their support. To make a long story short, eBay sent me a promotion for a measly $5 if I bought an item more than $20 through their eBay app on my smartphone or tablet. The $5 never appeared as stated and I have been jerked around for 3 hours (so far) proving the email was real, that I followed all the steps, and already being promised a $5 voucher that has yet to arrive (even after waiting twice the amount of time I was told it would take). After almost two weeks and three long hours of repeating myself, they did send me a $5 voucher with no spending requirement...
I recall one time where eBay just had the dumbest support person I have yet to encounter.
My order came from China. The product did not work as advertised so I attempted to settle it with the seller first. If you have read my articles, you know I don't have much trust in any Chinese product, but I do try nonetheless. Of course they wanted some sort of proof and promised afterwards to send my refund in full. After I had done so, I kept asking for a return address they never gave. So eBay gave it to me instead, and I sent it off to them. When I told them this they asked for the address and said that they didn't use this address, to which I replied that it wasn't my problem, and they would need to take that up with eBay. They then wanted other demands met where I just said, "F*ck this, time to go to the next level." I gave them horrible feedback, elevated the situation, and explained myself numerous times to eBay support.
You would think this would've been bad enough, but that wasn't the end. At one point I realize that because I sent my item back using the local post office (I have no intention spending around $100 on sending anything back to anyone), I have no way to track it back to China. This upsets me because already I know these Chinese people I'm dealing with are liars, and I'm not going to let them pretend the package did not arrive. So I call eBay support, again. This time is when I get the dumbest person working at eBay.
I explain the entire situation over, again. This guy somehow thinks that I will believe him when he literally tells me that they can track my package into China. So I ask him what the special service or program is that they use, and he tells me that he is not allowed to say. I ask him to check it then, and of course all he can see is that it reached the border of the country I sent it from, days ago... I try to explain his stupidity to him by describing how eBay is a big company, but no country, especially not China, is going to allow them any type of control to watch over packages. The guy trying to still push his fake ideas, and I end up just hanging up on him and calling back to get someone else. I get a woman who I explain the situation to yet another time. This time, she gives me back my money because she understands the predicament. I also ask her if they have some secret program to check foreign packages, and she tells me openly that there is no such thing, they merely use the tracking number with whatever service used (if possible).
Even after I had already sent the package and got a refund, the Chinese seller still tried to contact me about giving them positive feedback. I already had my money back, and I didn't trust them, so I ignored them. A few weeks later the package was returned to me because the address eBay had given was wrong. Oh well!
Was their support good? Sometimes. Is it right now? No. Being that eBay seems to help cause more issues than it solves makes me think that they are just trying to avoid incidents in any way possible. I am now considering them as a possible risk in any future purchases if something significant were to happen after-the-fact. And just knowing that you get eBay support idiots who will try to lie to you, as if somehow people like me are as stupid as them, makes me just that much more wary...
Amazon is simply amazing. Anytime I have had to deal with them, I have always ended up satisfied, if not gratified, once my time with support has finished. A quick two examples, that I have written about in the past, are a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone and a X-Men/Wolverine Blu-ray movie collection. For the Galaxy S4, I bought it and brought it overseas to use. Everything was fine until it just suddenly died. I tried restarting, pulling the battery, and anything else that I could, to no avail. I called Amazon and had one day left to return the phone. I explained that I was overseas and was upset that I had to pay for the fees to return it to the USA considering that I bought something advertised as fully functional when it clearly was not. After some yelling on my part, Amazon agreed to reimburse me for any and all shipping fees back to Amazon!
As for the movie collection, Amazon offered a special on the movie collection and I bought it. A month and a day later, they offered the same collection with the newest movie that had just been released. I tried my luck and called Amazon to explain my predicament. They understood and informed me that if I bought the movie, I could call back and have them reimburse me the difference. I did so and they actually gave me more than they should have, making the new movie a little less than $2.
I have plenty of positive stories for Amazon, but I can't recollect any negative ones to share. The same can't be said for eBay or PayPal...
Guarantees
eBay and Amazon both have guarantees to get your money-back. Both require returns to be done within 30 days, and once received, a refund will be issued if the items are DOA (dead-on-arrival), not as stated to be, or having other issues.
I have never had to do this for eBay. Yet, what is good to know, is that even if a seller specifies they do not accept returns, eBay will still honor the guarantee. This is how it should be regardless, but it is good to know eBay is on the right page.
Amazon is great about this. They actually go one step further in that if you get the product and you don't open it, you can still send it back and get your money back! You can only do this with eBay if the buyer explicitly states that you can do so.
Here is a little secret about Amazon most people likely have no idea can be done. Let's say you use your Amazon line of credit to get 6 months of no interest payments. You then realize that one of the items you bought you no longer want or need. If you call Amazon and tell them this, they will allow you to send the product back, but they will not void the 6 months of no interest payments if it brings the total below the amount to allow for special financing!
Again, it's a no brainer that Amazon has better guarantees.
Feedback
From what I have noticed, negative feedback tends to hurt sellers more on eBay more than it does on Amazon.
Even though sellers on either site can be flooded with so much positive feedback that negative feedback seems to all but disappear. And despite the fact that both sites will display a percentage of how "good" each seller is. I find myself more willing to buy from an Amazon seller than an eBay seller of equal "goodness".
Maybe it's because of Amazon's support, but when I see someone who has something like 87% on Amazon, my desire for an item does not waiver much. Instead, I just question if it is the best value. However, on eBay, if I see a seller who has something like 95%, I will look into their seller ratings and try to discern if they are trustworthy enough to buy from. As a reminder, Amazon does offer customers more space to write negative feedback, and being able to learn more about how bad a seller could be still has little affect on my buying decisions in these matters...
Mind you, this is just my preference. On a neutral field, all things being the same, Amazon and eBay offer the same type of feedback displays and manner of ratings.
Outcome
This isn't article isn't so much about which is better overall, but which one is better to go with during certain circumstances. That being said, if I had to use only one for the rest of my life, I would choose Amazon. Sometimes I do pay a premium to buy from Amazon over eBay, but given my history with them I think they deserve my business.
Don't get me wrong, if eBay has the better deal by a large margin, I will use them. If I need something old and/or rare, I'll get it off eBay if it's available. But when push comes to shove, Amazon just offers more at better values.
People know I'm a stickler for support, so that plays a huge role for me. Ignoring that, Amazon just has more items that I want. eBay eventually floods its marketplace with the same items, but often by then I have already paid for it on Amazon. And even though I did mention that eBay usually has the same items for cheaper, there have been numerous times I have found items on eBay going for a lot more than on Amazon!
Other Stores?
There are plenty of other stores to buy goods. I buy a lot of electronics so there are Internet stores like Newegg, Tigerdirect, MWave, Directron, Fry's Electronics, Rakuten (formerly Buy.com), Overstock (& O), etc. to choose from. Are they the best? I'd say no, but they do throw up decent deals every so often.
Why don't I use these stores more often? Well, for example, I have noticed that sometimes a graphics card might be priced $10 cheaper on Amazon over Newegg. I then check Newegg to find that the card in question has a rebate for $10. I don't know if Amazon has a special agreement with some graphics card manufacturers, or if they drop their price of their own accord, but I prefer this strategy. I have done rebates before and on average they take up to 3 months or more. Why do that when I can just get an "instant rebate" from Amazon?
If we're talking about the best deals, and used items, there are also plenty of forums to comb through that will provide amazing prices. However, support is a different story as it is all about trusting individuals given that no protection is generally given.
Reiterate
Again, this is not about who is the best. I am biased as evident by my experiences. And there have been several times that I choose eBay over Amazon. It's all about the best deal you can make. If you're buying an expensive item, is it better to have great support over okay support? If you need a lengthy time to pay off your purchase, are you likely to miss a payment and affect your credit score? Is the price advertised actually going to be less pricey in the other store once taxes and shipping are factored in?
Whatever your reasons are, you'll find that the above information should help determine what the best route is to take. Don't be loyal for the sake of being loyal, be a smart shopper and save money where you can.
Showing posts with label secrets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label secrets. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Hybrid Physx, HyperSLI, Different SLI, Hybrid SLI/Crossfire, & SLI with Crossfire!
I was trying to think of what I should write next as I was perusing for deals on graphic cards. Then it hit me, why not discuss some interesting tricks that can be done for SLI and Crossfire! If you don't know what those are, think of it as RAID for graphic cards. And if you don't know what that is, then check out some of my other articles, or just read on...
WARNING: The techniques below do involve risk, I am not responsible for any mishaps.
SLI/Crossfire
ATI (now AMD) and NVIDIA were always the big contenders in the graphics card realm. Generally speaking, NVIDIA brings the most power, but AMD brings in better performance for their price tag. The battle between the two rages on as consumers fight amongst themselves as to who is better and why!
Along the way some new technology came about where you could connect two (or more) graphic cards together. If you connect at least two AMD/ATI graphic cards it's called Crossfire. If you connect two NVIDIA graphic cards it's called SLI (Scalable Link Interface).
Crossfire is now officially CrossfireX. There is some confusion with this name as CrossfireX was normally mentioned in relation to mobile platforms prior to the official change, and at times was also confusingly defined by some as four or more graphic cards in an array. As such, I continue to use Crossfire for just desktop graphic cards of two or more.
SLI and Crossfire offers better performance, mainly for games. It can offer better performance in applications, if those applications take advantage of two GPU's at one time, which seems rare. But one example is Adobe Premiere Pro. It can use SLI when rendering out video. Traditionally, graphic cards would need to be connected by physical "bridges" and had slots for these bridges. As of now, only AMD graphic cards can have bridges without a physical connection.
Hybrid Physx
This is probably the least useful trick of the five I will be discussing. Not because it is boring or difficult to accomplish, but because there is little use for it. Physx is proprietary to NVIDIA and used in some games to help increase aesthetics. (There are also applications that use Physx, but I believe that's even less popular than building games with it.) If you've played any of the newer Batman games on the PC, one difference with enabling Physx on a NVIDIA card would be the smoothness and wrinkling of Batman's cape as he moves about. It is a nice complement for details, but I have never found myself using Physx despite my favoritism for NVIDIA cards.
Anyways, Hybrid Physx is a way to connect an AMD card to a NVIDIA card and increase the performance for Physx games and applications. On older NVIDIA cards and AMD cards, this seems to work quite well. There are mixed results for newer cards, but it can be done. I even read about someone getting a GTX 680 and a R9 290 to work together, which oddly enough, I have.
The titles will have the links for the full instructions, but I will give the essential requirements in order to get them working:
Older NVIDIA Graphic Cards
Newer NVIDIA Graphic Cards
Note: The Hybrid Physx for newer NVIDIA cards will only work on Windows 7/8, and can only work on games that use Physx 2.0 (not 3.0).
For newer cards there seems to be a lot more work involved in getting everything setup. There are multiple files to download and delete, and if you upgrade your NVIDIA drivers (Physx will not upgrade if already present in the system), you will need to rerun Hybridiz. There is also the chance of things crashing if not done in order and accordingly.
Again, I find hybrid Physx rather useless for so much work. Any game with Physx will run happily without it. I have never been so saddened by a game's graphics (that has Physx), and thought to myself, "I need Hyrbid Physx". If anything, I would more likely just buy another identical NVIDIA card to SLI with, and increase the Physx performance that way. But it is a cool experiment to try if you're bored and have some time.
HyperSLI
HyperSLI is the ability to enable SLI on motherboards that do not officially support it. Originally, this innovation was brought to the public by Asrock. They had created a patch for their motherboards with a certain chipset. The team at NGO took the patch and modified it to work for any motherboard.
I personally performed this method on an ASUS Crosshair III motherboard. I had bought two NVIDIA 560 Ti's not realizing that the motherboard only supported Crossfire. So I went on a hunt to see if I could enable SLI, and luckily, I could!
The newer versions of this are done by a different team and they call it HyperSLI. It is just as simple (if not simpler) to use, and should be just as successful. The process is quite simple and will take very little time to complete:
NVIDIA requires at least two x8 PCI Express slots to officially offer SLI support. Motherboard manufacturers can often save money by offering one slot as a full x16 and another at x4. So, there are still plenty of motherboards out there with just Crossfire support, and if you happen to have one, this will almost certainly work!
Different SLI
Different SLI was actually created by the same team who created HyperSLI. ATI always had the added benefit of being able to Crossfire between other graphics cards (not all, but those that use the same architecture) despite their models. NVIDIA never grasped the concept and forced consumers to buy similar models [meaning same model but with the "choice" of a different manufacturer].
Different SLI has come along to change all that. Different SLI allows you to take two different model NVIDIA cards and put them into SLI. Initially, the theory was that only NVIDIA cards using identical GPU's could successfully perform Different SLI. There were some tests to support this, while there were some that did not. At this point, it has been determined that the hardware ID's have to match, or rather the three specific characters.
This really opens the doors for many NVIDIA users. There are numerous cards that can be SLI'd. If you have a cheap card, you may be able to upgrade with a better card and get SLI. If you have a new card, you may be able to get an older, cheaper one and get SLI. In any case, there is a good chance you can get that additional boost in performance that SLI delivers.
Here are the steps you need to know, including preparation, in order to perform Different SLI:
NOTE: GTX 970's & 980's hardware ID's match, so they should be able to SLI together.
You should fully know if a card you plan to get, or already have, should work with Different SLI before trying this. There is no reason to run out and buy a card that you come to find out simply won't work. Just as there is no reason to try Different SLI on two cards you already own if they are not compatible.
This is by far the most interesting item to discuss (for me). I have been wanting to try this for some time, but have either not had the funds or not had the resources available to try. When I first found out about this method I had a GTX 480. The GTX 580 was incompatible (in either theory), and I already had SLI, so I moved on.
But now I use a GTX 680 and would love to give a GTX 770 or a GTX 690 a try; just to see if I can do it, and how good it can do if so. With a GTX 770, it should react more like a GTX 680 or 770 SLI. However, a GTX 690 would be like a GTX 680 Tri-SLI setup. Others will argue more like a GTX 670 SLI with a 680, despite the amount of CUDA cores is exactly double that of a GTX 680, and a GTX 690 tests near-identical to that of a GTX 680 SLI setup. It would be even more interesting since a GTX 690 can be said to be about on par with a GTX 780 Ti or a GTX 980, depending on the settings and game. I would really like to compare benchmarks between a GTX 680 & 690 SLI versus a GTX 780 Ti SLI or GTX 980 SLI. But I digress...
Hybrid SLI/Hybrid Crossfire
Hybrid SLI or Hybrid Crossfire refers to having a discrete GPU (a GPU not part of the motherboard or the CPU) that can link with the graphics chip integrated into the motherboard or CPU. This is not to be confused with NVIDIA's Optimus or AMD's PowerXpress on mobile chips (laptops and notebooks). These features actually just switch between either the discrete graphics card or integrated graphics depending on the GPU load.
While originally this was used with motherboards that had integrated graphics, this is now largely related to CPU's. With the popularity of CPU's incorporating integrated graphics, there has been less of a need to have motherboards with integrated graphics. I also wanted to briefly mention that AMD refers to their CPU's with integrated graphics as APU's (Accelerated Processing Units). Yet the definition for an APU would actually apply to Intel CPU's as well.
Just for a bit of history, and for my next thought, the idea of combining two graphic cards was and is called hybrid-graphics. However, this is about switching from discrete to integrated graphics, not combining the two.
Intel still has hybrid-graphics, but NVIDIA no longer supports it. You should be able to downgrade your drivers and do some tweaks to get them to work, but you may have a performance impact for newer cards. Intel also has two types of hybrid-graphics: Fixed & Dynamic. Fixed determines which graphics source to use based on power. Dynamic determines which graphics source to use based on GPU load. NVIDIA does still have an official page with Hybrid SLI information here, but you'll notice that it hasn't had an update for newer cards in some time...
AMD offers Radeon Dual Graphics, which can be turned on in the BIOS when using a AMD discrete graphics card. This is considered Hybrid Crossfire and can give an added boost when necessary. This should never be considered a better solution in comparison to a true Crossfire, however.
SLI with Crossfire!
I recently came across a video on YouTube where a group has apparently done the impossible. They have SLI and Crossfire in the same rig! Now, unfortunately, this isn't SLI in use with Crossfire. This is just having both technologies in the same computer, which is still unheard of.
Evidently, you just plug up a monitor to the respective setup and change the primary display to whichever setup you want to use. The price quoted from the video is $5000. Not too bad for a special gaming rig, but too steep for my blood.
A couple things of note: I hate it when people discover new ways to do things and do not share it freely with the public. Yes, making money off an original (working) idea is great, but all of the other techniques I have listed are and always have been free. Then again, I could barely fit three cards in my current rig, so no real loss there.
Another thing is that I have been trying to deduce how they could have done this and I think the most obvious point is Crossfire. After looking at the video, you can tell that the cards are really snug. Crossfire does not need a physical bridge (if you are using a R9 285 or higher), and because of that it has made it all possible. Without that one feature, this video would not exist without some sort of custom bridge connectors.
I imagine that the drivers are where the meat of this method lies. At first I was thinking, maybe the tweaked the drivers to work properly, or maybe they have their own special software running. But I then began thinking about some of my own testing I had done on some AMD R9 290's I bought last year. My desktop was, and is still, using a GTX 680. So, I already had the NVIDIA Control Panel installed. I didn't want to bother uninstalling and reinstalling it (as I wanted to keep using the GTX 680), so I just installed AMD Catalyst alongside it. The only problem that ever occurred was that when the GTX 680 was the only card in my computer, I would get an error message from AMD Catalyst stating no AMD graphic cards were present.
A long time prior to that, I had been trying to SLI two GTX 480's. I was actually trying to setup a Tri-SLI setup, which led me to a lot of random testing. On this motherboard, it was recommended to have a single graphics card in the top (first) PCI Express slot. It was also recommended to use the last (third) PCI Express slot if the first had any issues. I did end up trying the last slot with a single graphics card during one of my trials and was successfully able to use my monitor. I believe I was even able to use the middle (second) slot without issue...
Why are these situations important to know? Well, first off, this means the two sets of opposing drivers can be installed and used without conflict. The second realization is that there can be more than one primary slot for a graphics card. Recall that in the video it is stated to switch from SLI to Crossfire or vice-versa you simply need to select the primary card in the settings for your display. What I then imagine is that having dual displays is actually unnecessary, since only one works at a time. Meaning that you could have one display plugged in one setup, but could then take out the plug and reinsert it into the other setup when wanting to switch. You would then change the primary display card and still have the same effect. Two displays just makes it easier (lazy!).
So, what I'm trying to get at is that I don't think there is really trick involved. As long as you have newer AMD cards that do not rely on physical bridge connections, and a motherboard that supports 4-way SLI/Crossfire, you should be able to accomplish this without any modifications or hacks. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to test this theory. I do have enough graphic cards for Crossfire and SLI, but the motherboards at my disposal will do 3-way SLI/Crossfire at best. There is some sort of legendary add-on board that should allow 4-way, but that item has never surfaced to the public.
Farewell
This was an enjoyable article to write and share. My hope is that people stumble across it and think, "I didn't know you could do that!" I have a lot of friends that don't even know much of this is even possible, part of that may be that they don't have an investing interest. But I do hope that if you read this you will find the information interesting if not useful.
WARNING: The techniques below do involve risk, I am not responsible for any mishaps.
SLI/Crossfire
ATI (now AMD) and NVIDIA were always the big contenders in the graphics card realm. Generally speaking, NVIDIA brings the most power, but AMD brings in better performance for their price tag. The battle between the two rages on as consumers fight amongst themselves as to who is better and why!
Along the way some new technology came about where you could connect two (or more) graphic cards together. If you connect at least two AMD/ATI graphic cards it's called Crossfire. If you connect two NVIDIA graphic cards it's called SLI (Scalable Link Interface).
Crossfire is now officially CrossfireX. There is some confusion with this name as CrossfireX was normally mentioned in relation to mobile platforms prior to the official change, and at times was also confusingly defined by some as four or more graphic cards in an array. As such, I continue to use Crossfire for just desktop graphic cards of two or more.
SLI and Crossfire offers better performance, mainly for games. It can offer better performance in applications, if those applications take advantage of two GPU's at one time, which seems rare. But one example is Adobe Premiere Pro. It can use SLI when rendering out video. Traditionally, graphic cards would need to be connected by physical "bridges" and had slots for these bridges. As of now, only AMD graphic cards can have bridges without a physical connection.
Hybrid Physx
This is probably the least useful trick of the five I will be discussing. Not because it is boring or difficult to accomplish, but because there is little use for it. Physx is proprietary to NVIDIA and used in some games to help increase aesthetics. (There are also applications that use Physx, but I believe that's even less popular than building games with it.) If you've played any of the newer Batman games on the PC, one difference with enabling Physx on a NVIDIA card would be the smoothness and wrinkling of Batman's cape as he moves about. It is a nice complement for details, but I have never found myself using Physx despite my favoritism for NVIDIA cards.
Anyways, Hybrid Physx is a way to connect an AMD card to a NVIDIA card and increase the performance for Physx games and applications. On older NVIDIA cards and AMD cards, this seems to work quite well. There are mixed results for newer cards, but it can be done. I even read about someone getting a GTX 680 and a R9 290 to work together, which oddly enough, I have.
The titles will have the links for the full instructions, but I will give the essential requirements in order to get them working:
Older NVIDIA Graphic Cards
- First install NVIDIA drivers ranging from version 258 to 285 for the GeForce 256.
- Then download and upgrade the Physx SS driver up to version 9.11.0621.
- Now download and install the Hybrid Physx Mod 1.05ff. This should automatically patch the necessary files to get Hyrbid Phsyx to work.
- Optionally, you can use the command line included to set a desired configuration, which I assume they mean display.
Newer NVIDIA Graphic Cards
- First download and install PreHybrid for older games
- Then download and install either NVIDIA 320.49 drivers for GTX 500 series and below, or NVIDIA 314.22 for GTX 600 & 700 series. These drivers do not include Physx, which is why they are specifically used.
- Download and install the latest AMD Catalyst drivers.
- Download and install Physx driver version 9.13.0725.
- Download and run Hybridiz.
- Delete numerous files in the game directories.
Note: The Hybrid Physx for newer NVIDIA cards will only work on Windows 7/8, and can only work on games that use Physx 2.0 (not 3.0).
For newer cards there seems to be a lot more work involved in getting everything setup. There are multiple files to download and delete, and if you upgrade your NVIDIA drivers (Physx will not upgrade if already present in the system), you will need to rerun Hybridiz. There is also the chance of things crashing if not done in order and accordingly.
Again, I find hybrid Physx rather useless for so much work. Any game with Physx will run happily without it. I have never been so saddened by a game's graphics (that has Physx), and thought to myself, "I need Hyrbid Physx". If anything, I would more likely just buy another identical NVIDIA card to SLI with, and increase the Physx performance that way. But it is a cool experiment to try if you're bored and have some time.
HyperSLI
HyperSLI is the ability to enable SLI on motherboards that do not officially support it. Originally, this innovation was brought to the public by Asrock. They had created a patch for their motherboards with a certain chipset. The team at NGO took the patch and modified it to work for any motherboard.
I personally performed this method on an ASUS Crosshair III motherboard. I had bought two NVIDIA 560 Ti's not realizing that the motherboard only supported Crossfire. So I went on a hunt to see if I could enable SLI, and luckily, I could!
The newer versions of this are done by a different team and they call it HyperSLI. It is just as simple (if not simpler) to use, and should be just as successful. The process is quite simple and will take very little time to complete:
- Ensure that your CPU supports virtualization technology.
- Ensure that your BIOS has virtualization enabled.
- Download HyperSLI 1.0.
- Open HyperSLI.
- Push the button to enable SLI.
- Reboot PC.
NVIDIA requires at least two x8 PCI Express slots to officially offer SLI support. Motherboard manufacturers can often save money by offering one slot as a full x16 and another at x4. So, there are still plenty of motherboards out there with just Crossfire support, and if you happen to have one, this will almost certainly work!
Different SLI
Different SLI was actually created by the same team who created HyperSLI. ATI always had the added benefit of being able to Crossfire between other graphics cards (not all, but those that use the same architecture) despite their models. NVIDIA never grasped the concept and forced consumers to buy similar models [meaning same model but with the "choice" of a different manufacturer].
Different SLI has come along to change all that. Different SLI allows you to take two different model NVIDIA cards and put them into SLI. Initially, the theory was that only NVIDIA cards using identical GPU's could successfully perform Different SLI. There were some tests to support this, while there were some that did not. At this point, it has been determined that the hardware ID's have to match, or rather the three specific characters.
This really opens the doors for many NVIDIA users. There are numerous cards that can be SLI'd. If you have a cheap card, you may be able to upgrade with a better card and get SLI. If you have a new card, you may be able to get an older, cheaper one and get SLI. In any case, there is a good chance you can get that additional boost in performance that SLI delivers.
Here are the steps you need to know, including preparation, in order to perform Different SLI:
- Check the first post here for your card and what other cards match it for SLI purposes. Look at your graphic cards first three characters/digits after "DEV_".
- Compare these to the graphics card you wish to try. If they are a match, then they should work together.
- Install the graphic cards into the computer.
- Connect the cards by a SLI bridge. If you do not have a SLI bridge you can buy one from Amazon. But if one of your cards does not have an area for the SLI bridge, you are out-of-luck.
- Download Different SLI 1.0.
- Unzip the folder and start Different SLI.
- Press the "Patch" button.
NOTE: GTX 970's & 980's hardware ID's match, so they should be able to SLI together.
You should fully know if a card you plan to get, or already have, should work with Different SLI before trying this. There is no reason to run out and buy a card that you come to find out simply won't work. Just as there is no reason to try Different SLI on two cards you already own if they are not compatible.
This is by far the most interesting item to discuss (for me). I have been wanting to try this for some time, but have either not had the funds or not had the resources available to try. When I first found out about this method I had a GTX 480. The GTX 580 was incompatible (in either theory), and I already had SLI, so I moved on.
But now I use a GTX 680 and would love to give a GTX 770 or a GTX 690 a try; just to see if I can do it, and how good it can do if so. With a GTX 770, it should react more like a GTX 680 or 770 SLI. However, a GTX 690 would be like a GTX 680 Tri-SLI setup. Others will argue more like a GTX 670 SLI with a 680, despite the amount of CUDA cores is exactly double that of a GTX 680, and a GTX 690 tests near-identical to that of a GTX 680 SLI setup. It would be even more interesting since a GTX 690 can be said to be about on par with a GTX 780 Ti or a GTX 980, depending on the settings and game. I would really like to compare benchmarks between a GTX 680 & 690 SLI versus a GTX 780 Ti SLI or GTX 980 SLI. But I digress...
Hybrid SLI/Hybrid Crossfire
Hybrid SLI or Hybrid Crossfire refers to having a discrete GPU (a GPU not part of the motherboard or the CPU) that can link with the graphics chip integrated into the motherboard or CPU. This is not to be confused with NVIDIA's Optimus or AMD's PowerXpress on mobile chips (laptops and notebooks). These features actually just switch between either the discrete graphics card or integrated graphics depending on the GPU load.
While originally this was used with motherboards that had integrated graphics, this is now largely related to CPU's. With the popularity of CPU's incorporating integrated graphics, there has been less of a need to have motherboards with integrated graphics. I also wanted to briefly mention that AMD refers to their CPU's with integrated graphics as APU's (Accelerated Processing Units). Yet the definition for an APU would actually apply to Intel CPU's as well.
Just for a bit of history, and for my next thought, the idea of combining two graphic cards was and is called hybrid-graphics. However, this is about switching from discrete to integrated graphics, not combining the two.
Intel still has hybrid-graphics, but NVIDIA no longer supports it. You should be able to downgrade your drivers and do some tweaks to get them to work, but you may have a performance impact for newer cards. Intel also has two types of hybrid-graphics: Fixed & Dynamic. Fixed determines which graphics source to use based on power. Dynamic determines which graphics source to use based on GPU load. NVIDIA does still have an official page with Hybrid SLI information here, but you'll notice that it hasn't had an update for newer cards in some time...
AMD offers Radeon Dual Graphics, which can be turned on in the BIOS when using a AMD discrete graphics card. This is considered Hybrid Crossfire and can give an added boost when necessary. This should never be considered a better solution in comparison to a true Crossfire, however.
SLI with Crossfire!
I recently came across a video on YouTube where a group has apparently done the impossible. They have SLI and Crossfire in the same rig! Now, unfortunately, this isn't SLI in use with Crossfire. This is just having both technologies in the same computer, which is still unheard of.
Evidently, you just plug up a monitor to the respective setup and change the primary display to whichever setup you want to use. The price quoted from the video is $5000. Not too bad for a special gaming rig, but too steep for my blood.
A couple things of note: I hate it when people discover new ways to do things and do not share it freely with the public. Yes, making money off an original (working) idea is great, but all of the other techniques I have listed are and always have been free. Then again, I could barely fit three cards in my current rig, so no real loss there.
Another thing is that I have been trying to deduce how they could have done this and I think the most obvious point is Crossfire. After looking at the video, you can tell that the cards are really snug. Crossfire does not need a physical bridge (if you are using a R9 285 or higher), and because of that it has made it all possible. Without that one feature, this video would not exist without some sort of custom bridge connectors.
I imagine that the drivers are where the meat of this method lies. At first I was thinking, maybe the tweaked the drivers to work properly, or maybe they have their own special software running. But I then began thinking about some of my own testing I had done on some AMD R9 290's I bought last year. My desktop was, and is still, using a GTX 680. So, I already had the NVIDIA Control Panel installed. I didn't want to bother uninstalling and reinstalling it (as I wanted to keep using the GTX 680), so I just installed AMD Catalyst alongside it. The only problem that ever occurred was that when the GTX 680 was the only card in my computer, I would get an error message from AMD Catalyst stating no AMD graphic cards were present.
A long time prior to that, I had been trying to SLI two GTX 480's. I was actually trying to setup a Tri-SLI setup, which led me to a lot of random testing. On this motherboard, it was recommended to have a single graphics card in the top (first) PCI Express slot. It was also recommended to use the last (third) PCI Express slot if the first had any issues. I did end up trying the last slot with a single graphics card during one of my trials and was successfully able to use my monitor. I believe I was even able to use the middle (second) slot without issue...
Why are these situations important to know? Well, first off, this means the two sets of opposing drivers can be installed and used without conflict. The second realization is that there can be more than one primary slot for a graphics card. Recall that in the video it is stated to switch from SLI to Crossfire or vice-versa you simply need to select the primary card in the settings for your display. What I then imagine is that having dual displays is actually unnecessary, since only one works at a time. Meaning that you could have one display plugged in one setup, but could then take out the plug and reinsert it into the other setup when wanting to switch. You would then change the primary display card and still have the same effect. Two displays just makes it easier (lazy!).
So, what I'm trying to get at is that I don't think there is really trick involved. As long as you have newer AMD cards that do not rely on physical bridge connections, and a motherboard that supports 4-way SLI/Crossfire, you should be able to accomplish this without any modifications or hacks. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to test this theory. I do have enough graphic cards for Crossfire and SLI, but the motherboards at my disposal will do 3-way SLI/Crossfire at best. There is some sort of legendary add-on board that should allow 4-way, but that item has never surfaced to the public.
Farewell
This was an enjoyable article to write and share. My hope is that people stumble across it and think, "I didn't know you could do that!" I have a lot of friends that don't even know much of this is even possible, part of that may be that they don't have an investing interest. But I do hope that if you read this you will find the information interesting if not useful.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
5 Google Secrets You Should Know
There are plenty of Google secrets out there, a lot involve changing the interface of the Google Search engine. Such as having it slightly tilted, a Star Trek theme, or using it in a purely text environment. But I wanted to present some tricks that aren't so much secrets as they are normal features that can be used in meaningful ways people often don't think of.
1. Google Images
Now, what this is good for is a couple of things. Sometimes you need to find articles on a particular subject that has certain images, but you don't know the correct search criteria to use. Chances are you can find it in Google's search results, but if not, you can use Google Images. If the article is mentioning specific, let's say a celebrity at a red carpet affair, you can type in something like "Kim Kardashian red carpet" into Google then select the Image tab. Hopefully it will return images of Kim on the red carpet. You can then click the image to not only enlarge, but to visit the webpage that is hosting the image which may be an article will all the gossip on her attire, or whatever.
Sometimes images are banned by certain ISP's (or countries). Instead of being met by blocked websites, you can type in what the pictures are about into Google and use its Image tab again. While the actual websites that host the images may be banned, the images should show up for viewing.
If you want to access the actual website check out my third "secret".
2. Google Image Search
Google has its own image search that is more along the lines of a reverse image search. You upload or take a picture and fill out what information you can on the image in Google Image Search. It will then try to find more images related to that image (with webpage links to sites hosting the related images). It is meant to be helpful when trying to find the name of something, where to buy it, who created it, etc.
My own experience has not been great with Google Image Search. A couple of weeks ago my wife received a belated birthday gift, which was a bag by Michael Kors. There were no tags so we could not easily discern what model and type it was. I uploaded a smartphone photo to Google Image Search and typed in "Michael Kors bag", along with the color. It came up with a lot of Michael Kors items, including bags and shoes, but nothing that was identical to the photograph...
3. Google Cache
I use this trick quite often. When you search on a desktop, you will usually see little green arrows next to the URL of each search result (under the title of a link). For mobile users, you will need to click on the settings of your mobile browser and request to view as a desktop site before you can see these little arrows. This will give you the option to view a cached version of websites.
This may seem unimportant, but it can be very useful. If your ISP (or country) bans certain websites, this is a way to get around their restrictions. You no longer have to use a proxy or VPN in order to access certain webpages. The only problem is trying to go to other links that are from within those websites. You will need to copy the link and post it in Google and repeat the process to view other pages in those websites.
Another way this method can be useful is for research purposes. Maybe you are looking for a certain webpage that no longer exists. If you're lucky, Google has a cached page of it. You would just insert the link into Google and see if it has it.
4. Index of
This would be considered a Google secret, and one I have used for years. Servers have the default name of "index of". Because of this, you can use this trick to search servers with that name for different files.
Type in:
"index of:" Example of File Name
That's pretty much it. Google will then search for your criteria and give you any results that gave hits.
If you want to get more specific, you can list file types to narrow down your search. For example, if you wanted to find a certain song, you could type:
"index of:" (mp3|wav|aac|flac|ogg|opus) Song Title
Notice that the file types are all separated by dividers. You can put as many or few file types as you want, and can even mix in video or other types into it.
5. Google Voice Number
If you have a Google account (Gmail, Google Drive, etc.), and you live in the US or Canada, you have the ability to add a phone number in Google Voice. The process is simple and will require a mobile number for verification. While this is not a secret, what you can do with it is.
If you travel a lot, or happen to move to a foreign country, you can setup your iOS or Android device to make free phone calls back to the US or Canada (as long as you have WiFi). On an iOS device you will need to download a free app called Talkatone. On an Android device you can download Talkatone or pay for Spare Phone (which is by far superior in audio quality). You then add your Google account information and it will allow you to make as many free calls as you want.
Alternatively, you can use your computer and login to your Google Voice account to make calls and texts. Gmail will work for just calls, but I have noticed that if you are using a certain theme you cannot get the phone icon to display.
BONUS: Aptoide
This is more of a secret for Android users. The Play Store is great for updating apps, but Aptoide can be better. Aptoide does host illegal apps, but you should only use this market store as a way to get the latest updates.
Aptoide can't be downloaded on the Play Store, so you will first need to ensure that the option to download outside sources is enabled in Settings > Security. You can then use any web browser to type in "Aptoide download" in Google, and click the first link which should be Aptoide's install page. Click the install button on the webpage, the app will download, and once done a prompt to install it will appear.
Open Aptoide and click the "Updates" tab. It should load up the newest versions of your apps, even Google apps like Play Store!
Note: This is not meant as a replacement for the Play Store, however, it can be if you have an Android device that does come with it...
1. Google Images
Now, what this is good for is a couple of things. Sometimes you need to find articles on a particular subject that has certain images, but you don't know the correct search criteria to use. Chances are you can find it in Google's search results, but if not, you can use Google Images. If the article is mentioning specific, let's say a celebrity at a red carpet affair, you can type in something like "Kim Kardashian red carpet" into Google then select the Image tab. Hopefully it will return images of Kim on the red carpet. You can then click the image to not only enlarge, but to visit the webpage that is hosting the image which may be an article will all the gossip on her attire, or whatever.
Sometimes images are banned by certain ISP's (or countries). Instead of being met by blocked websites, you can type in what the pictures are about into Google and use its Image tab again. While the actual websites that host the images may be banned, the images should show up for viewing.
If you want to access the actual website check out my third "secret".
2. Google Image Search
Google has its own image search that is more along the lines of a reverse image search. You upload or take a picture and fill out what information you can on the image in Google Image Search. It will then try to find more images related to that image (with webpage links to sites hosting the related images). It is meant to be helpful when trying to find the name of something, where to buy it, who created it, etc.
My own experience has not been great with Google Image Search. A couple of weeks ago my wife received a belated birthday gift, which was a bag by Michael Kors. There were no tags so we could not easily discern what model and type it was. I uploaded a smartphone photo to Google Image Search and typed in "Michael Kors bag", along with the color. It came up with a lot of Michael Kors items, including bags and shoes, but nothing that was identical to the photograph...
3. Google Cache
I use this trick quite often. When you search on a desktop, you will usually see little green arrows next to the URL of each search result (under the title of a link). For mobile users, you will need to click on the settings of your mobile browser and request to view as a desktop site before you can see these little arrows. This will give you the option to view a cached version of websites.
This may seem unimportant, but it can be very useful. If your ISP (or country) bans certain websites, this is a way to get around their restrictions. You no longer have to use a proxy or VPN in order to access certain webpages. The only problem is trying to go to other links that are from within those websites. You will need to copy the link and post it in Google and repeat the process to view other pages in those websites.
Another way this method can be useful is for research purposes. Maybe you are looking for a certain webpage that no longer exists. If you're lucky, Google has a cached page of it. You would just insert the link into Google and see if it has it.
4. Index of
This would be considered a Google secret, and one I have used for years. Servers have the default name of "index of". Because of this, you can use this trick to search servers with that name for different files.
Type in:
"index of:" Example of File Name
That's pretty much it. Google will then search for your criteria and give you any results that gave hits.
If you want to get more specific, you can list file types to narrow down your search. For example, if you wanted to find a certain song, you could type:
"index of:" (mp3|wav|aac|flac|ogg|opus) Song Title
Notice that the file types are all separated by dividers. You can put as many or few file types as you want, and can even mix in video or other types into it.
5. Google Voice Number
If you have a Google account (Gmail, Google Drive, etc.), and you live in the US or Canada, you have the ability to add a phone number in Google Voice. The process is simple and will require a mobile number for verification. While this is not a secret, what you can do with it is.
If you travel a lot, or happen to move to a foreign country, you can setup your iOS or Android device to make free phone calls back to the US or Canada (as long as you have WiFi). On an iOS device you will need to download a free app called Talkatone. On an Android device you can download Talkatone or pay for Spare Phone (which is by far superior in audio quality). You then add your Google account information and it will allow you to make as many free calls as you want.
Alternatively, you can use your computer and login to your Google Voice account to make calls and texts. Gmail will work for just calls, but I have noticed that if you are using a certain theme you cannot get the phone icon to display.
BONUS: Aptoide
This is more of a secret for Android users. The Play Store is great for updating apps, but Aptoide can be better. Aptoide does host illegal apps, but you should only use this market store as a way to get the latest updates.
Aptoide can't be downloaded on the Play Store, so you will first need to ensure that the option to download outside sources is enabled in Settings > Security. You can then use any web browser to type in "Aptoide download" in Google, and click the first link which should be Aptoide's install page. Click the install button on the webpage, the app will download, and once done a prompt to install it will appear.
Open Aptoide and click the "Updates" tab. It should load up the newest versions of your apps, even Google apps like Play Store!
Note: This is not meant as a replacement for the Play Store, however, it can be if you have an Android device that does come with it...
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