Hardware stub

Ask GN 29: Re-use of Bench Results, Pump Life, & Display Scaling

Posted on September 28, 2016

“Ye-- ye cain't take pictures h-- here,” a Porky Pig-like voice meekly spoke up from behind the acrylic windshield of a golf cart that'd rolled up behind us, “y-ye cain't be takin' pictures! I'm bein' nice right now!”

Most folks in media production, YouTube or otherwise, have probably run into this. We do regularly. We wanted to shoot an Ask GN episode while in California, and decided to opt for one of the fountains in Fountain Valley as the backdrop. That's not allowed, apparently, because that's just how rare water is in the region – don't look at it the wrong way. It might evaporate. Or something.

But no big deal – we grab the bags and march off wordlessly, as always, because this sort of thing just happens that frequently while on the road.

Regardless, because Andrew was not imprisoned for sneaking a shot of the fountain into our video or taking two pretzel snacks on the plane, Ask GN 29 has now been published to the web. The questions from viewers and readers this week include a focus on “why reviewers re-use GPU benchmark results” (we don't – explained in the video), the scalers in monitors and what “handles stretching” for resolutions, pump lifespan and optimal voltage for AIOs, and theoretical impact from HBM on IGPs.

Timestamps

00:54 Terrance McCann: "Hey Steve, when a graphics card is outputting a 1600x900 signal to a 1920x1080 monitor, what handles the "stretching" of the pixels so that it fits the whole scale of the display, the monitor or the GPU? Also, what is the process of that called??"

02:40 RepsUp100: "Hey Steve, Is it true that GPU reviewers use 'already existing' results for newer benchmarks? I came across this from another site, and I was curious to know if there is any truth to it:

'What you have to realize is that most big youtube channels they keep all their previous results. Say they benchmarked rx480 in Witcher 3 on day 1 of RX480's release. 3 months down the line they are testing a gtx1060 3gb they will get that number and plug it into their post "already existing" results (to save time is the usual reasonings used by those sites) and publish the results. And since nVidia cards typically have better Day 1 preformance everything pretty much makes nVidia cards look better since AMD tend to do their improvements "over time". Computerbase re-bench everything for every article or benchmark if there's a significant driver updates to their older results.'?"

09:07 Sergio Eduardo Flores Mena: "Wouldn't integrated RAM drastically boost performance on integrated GPUs??"

10:20 Matt McGregor: "Love these in depth Q&A videos!

Q. Can you damage an AIO water cooling 3 pin pump, or 4 pin for that matter running non-PWM, with voltage control through SpeedFan? Currently starting when SF loads at 50% pump speed (showing 1021RPM (100% is 1433 RPM) if measured correctly by SF).

Q. If no damage is caused from voltage reduction, would it help prolong pump life at all running slower most of the time?"

Host: Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke
Video: Andrew "ColossalCake" Coleman