#gpu box

[wifihunters]

merry christmas to me i have now checked off "built new pc from scratch and didn't Fuck It Up" from my life achievements

[unopenablebox]

turns out if you have access to a good gpu then running the fucking enormous neural net necessary to segment cells correctly happens in 10 minutes instead of 2-5 hours

[gobusto]

Dragonforce have uploaded a Youtube video for which the first chapter title is "Also available in 8k for nobody":

However, that's not quite true; you can buy an 8K monitor from Dell.

...you know, if you don't mind spending over $4000

[yandereshingeki]

hello everybody i know i was gone for a little bit but i am back and I have lots to say

[lunarscaled]

-> They're reading their new books they got for Christmas.

[gpuboxart]

Not my book but obviously anyone who likes this blog will appreciate it

[tetranymous]

I just saw someone call a pc that had an i5 and windows 10 retro. Buddy win10 hasn't even reached end of support yet???? You can still buy PCs with i5's in them from big box stores??? Is it retro because it actually has decent I/O? Is it retro to have decent I/O, expansion and compatibility options???? It had a blu-ray drive. They still make those too. IT DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A SOUNDCARD. Like sure it had a floppy drive, but the addition of a floppy drive doesn't make the entire device retro. If I plug a USB floppy drive into a high end gaming pc, the whole PC isn't considered retro.

[beepbeepkazoo]

yeah im shipping the pc cross country i only got to really worry about the glass breaking most

[barsickceo]

где найти архив бокс артов видеокарт 90-х и 00-х? единственный аккаунт на тамблере, специализирующийся на этой теме повыкладывал неделю и забросил... @gpuboxart come back, или мне придется продолжить твою миссию...

[brandinotbroke]

@ people who still play sims 2 on windows

Those of you who use DXVK but still experience pink flashing, could you try this for me? I am too lazy to reinstall Sims on my Windows partition

Open your dxvk.conf (or create one in the installation path of the game) and write:

dxvk.enableMemoryDefrag = True

Test this setting in-game for a while, then change it to:

dxvk.enableMemoryDefrag = False

And test this as well.

By "test it", I do not mean to test it for a mere 10-20 minutes. Test it thoroughly! Different hoods, different lots, take your time and play the actual game like you normally would! If normal gameplay works, try to stress test it (cheats, CC, high quality lot imposters, etc). If it takes a few days to test, so be it, but we really need to stop reporting too fast and make sure that our observations aren't coincidence.

I do not think this is going to be the big fantastic fix people are hoping for, but it's still intriguing. DXVK is set to "auto" out-of-the-box and my suspicion is that this is what makes the game run better on Linux: The GPU drivers on Linux are different, so perhaps the "auto" setting actually works properly in Linux, but not in Windows.

[teaaddictyt]

Just some reminders for my sweet swimming friends in the TS2 community:

1. Modern EA are the most talented disappointers I have ever come across. Expect little, be pleasantly surprised if there's a higher quality than that. I have been consistently let down by EA for the last 10 years and I doubt that's going to change any time soon. Hype is RARELY (dare I say never?) met 🤣

2. "Re-Release" is not the same as "Re-Master". "Optimised for Win10/11" may just mean we don't need to let Graphics Rules Maker update the GraphicsCards.sgr file with modern GPUs, maybe GRM won't have to unlock higher screen resolution, and maybe the Sim shadows won't be black boxes without DXVK or a mod. Woo 🎉

3. Let's all agree to either ignore the "Big UTuberz" playing TS2 very badly (i.e. no idea what a cheat code is) for "the nostalgia" and then promptly dropping it again, or go comment on the videos to point out the sheer stoopid 🤦🏼‍♀️

4. Sims 2 has been available to play for the last 20 years regardless of EA, and if they put it behind a paywall, it will no doubt still be available to play. (Same with TS1 for that matter) 🥸

5. Best case scenario in my head? If I "DARE to dream"? - Maybe we won't all need to continue switching to Linux to get rid of Pink Flashing. Lol. But I doubt it. 🙈

It is nice to see that Sims 1 and Sims 2 are actually being recognised for the 25th anniversary of this franchise. Better than the usual tactic of trying to pretend the games never existed. But let's all keep our heads screwed on straight here.

Now, back to building my new mega downloads folder of doom 😎

[nornities]

How to use DXVK with The Sims 3

Have you seen this post about using DXVK by Criisolate? But felt intimidated by the sheer mass of facts and information?

@desiree-uk and I compiled a guide and the configuration file to make your life easier. It focuses on players not using the EA App, but it might work for those just the same. It’s definitely worth a try.

Adding this to your game installation will result in a better RAM usage. So your game is less likely to give you Error 12 or crash due to RAM issues. It does NOT give a huge performance boost, but more stability and allows for higher graphics settings in game.

The full guide behind the cut. Let me know if you also would like it as PDF.

Happy simming!

Disclaimer and Credits

Desiree and I are no tech experts and just wrote down how we did this. Our ability to help if you run into trouble is limited. So use at your own risk and back up your files!

We both are on Windows 10 and start the game via TS3W.exe, not the EA App. So your experience may differ.

This guide is based on our own experiments and of course criisolate’s post on tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/criisolate/749374223346286592/ill-explain-what-i-did-below-before-making-any

This guide is brought to you by Desiree-UK and Norn.

Compatibility

Note: This will conflict with other programs that “inject” functionality into your game so they may stop working. Notably

Reshade

GShade

Nvidia Experience/Nvidia Inspector/Nvidia Shaders

RivaTuner Statistics Server

It does work seamlessly with LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch.

LazyDuchess’ Launcher: unknown

Alder Lake patch: does conflict. One user got it working by starting the game by launching TS3.exe (also with admin rights) instead of TS3W.exe. This seemed to create the cache file for DXVK. After that, the game could be started from TS3W.exe again. That might not work for everyone though.

A word on FPS and V-Sync

With such an old game it’s crucial to cap framerate (FPS). This is done in the DXVK.conf file. Same with V-Sync.

You need

a text editor (easiest to use is Windows Notepad)

to download DXVK, version 2.3.1 from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/releases/tag/v2.3.1 Extract the archive, you are going to need the file d3d9.dll from the x32 folder

the configuration file DXVK.conf from here: https://github.com/doitsujin/DXVK/blob/master/DXVK.conf. Optional: download the edited version with the required changes here.

administrator rights on your PC

to know your game’s installation path (bin folder) and where to find the user folder

a tiny bit of patience :)

First Step: Backup

Backup your original Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path! The DXVK file may overwrite some files! The path should be something like this (for retail): \Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin (This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located.)

Backup your options.ini in your game’s user folder! Making the game use the DXVK file will count as a change in GPU driver, so the options.ini will reset once you start your game after installation. The path should be something like this: \Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 (This is the folder where your Mods folder is located).

Preparations

Make sure you run the game as administrator. You can check that by right-clicking on the icon that starts your game. Go to Properties > Advanced and check the box “Run as administrator”. Note: This will result in a prompt each time you start your game, if you want to allow this application to make modifications to your system. Click “Yes” and the game will load.

2. Make sure you have the DEP settings from Windows applied to your game.

Open the Windows Control Panel.

Click System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings.

On the Advanced tab, next to the Performance heading, click Settings.

Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

Select 'Turn on DEP for all programs and services except these”:

Click the Add button, a window to the file explorer opens. Navigate to your Sims 3 installation folder (the bin folder once again) and add TS3W.exe and TS3.exe.

Click OK. Then you can close all those dialog windows again.

Setting up the DXVK.conf file

Open the file with a text editor and delete everything in it. Then add these values:

d3d9.textureMemory = 1

d3d9.presentInterval = 1

d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60

d3d9.presentInterval enables V-Sync,d3d9.maxFrameRate sets the FrameRate. You can edit those values, but never change the first line (d3d9.textureMemory)!

The original DXVK.conf contains many more options in case you would like to add more settings.

A. no Reshade/GShade

Setting up DXVK

Copy the two files d3d9.dll and DXVK.conf into the Bin folder in your Sims 3 installation path. This is the folder where also GraphicsRule.sgr and the TS3W.exe and TS3.exe are located. If you are prompted to overwrite files, please choose yes (you DID backup your folder, right?)

And that’s basically all that is required to install.

Start your game now and let it run for a short while. Click around, open Buy mode or CAS, move the camera.

Now quit without saving. Once the game is closed fully, open your bin folder again and double check if a file “TS3W.DXVK-cache” was generated. If so – congrats! All done!

Things to note

Heads up, the game options will reset! So it will give you a “vanilla” start screen and options.

Don’t worry if the game seems to be frozen during loading. It may take a few minutes longer to load but it will load eventually.

The TS3W.DXVK-cache file is the actual cache DXVK is using. So don’t delete this! Just ignore it and leave it alone. When someone tells to clear cache files – this is not one of them!

Update Options.ini

Go to your user folder and open the options.ini file with a text editor like Notepad.

Find the line “lastdevice = “. It will have several values, separated by semicolons. Copy the last one, after the last semicolon, the digits only. Close the file.

Now go to your backup version of the Options.ini file, open it and find that line “lastdevice” again. Replace the last value with the one you just copied. Make sure to only replace those digits!

Save and close the file.

Copy this version of the file into your user folder, replacing the one that is there.

Things to note:

If your GPU driver is updated, you might have to do these steps again as it might reset your device ID again. Though it seems that the DXVK ID overrides the GPU ID, so it might not happen.

How do I know it’s working?

Open the task manager and look at RAM usage. Remember the game can only use 4 GB of RAM at maximum and starts crashing when usage goes up to somewhere between 3.2 – 3.8 GB (it’s a bit different for everybody).

So if you see values like 2.1456 for RAM usage in a large world and an ongoing save, it’s working. Generally the lower the value, the better for stability.

Also, DXVK will have generated its cache file called TS3W.DXVK-cache in the bin folder. The file size will grow with time as DXVK is adding stuff to it, e.g. from different worlds or savegames. Initially it might be something like 46 KB or 58 KB, so it’s really small.

Optional: changing MemCacheBudgetValue

MemCacheBudgetValue determines the size of the game's VRAM Cache. You can edit those values but the difference might not be noticeable in game. It also depends on your computer’s hardware how much you can allow here.

The two lines of seti MemCacheBudgetValue correspond to the high RAM level and low RAM level situations. Therefore, theoretically, the first line MemCacheBudgetValue should be set to a larger value, while the second line should be set to a value less than or equal to the first line.

The original values represent 200MB (209715200) and 160MB (167772160) respectively. They are calculated as 200x1024x1024=209175200 and 160x1024x1024=167772160.

Back up your GraphicsRules.sgr file! If you make a mistake here, your game won’t work anymore.

Go to your bin folder and open your GraphicsRules.sgr with a text editor.

Search and find two lines that set the variables for MemCacheBudgetValue.

Modify these two values to larger numbers. Make sure the value in the first line is higher or equals the value in the second line. Examples for values: 1073741824, which means 1GB 2147483648 which means 2 GB. -1 (minus 1) means no limit (but is highly experimental, use at own risk)

Save and close the file. It might prompt you to save the file to a different place and not allow you to save in the Bin folder. Just save it someplace else in this case and copy/paste it to the Bin folder afterwards. If asked to overwrite the existing file, click yes.

Now start your game and see if it makes a difference in smoothness or texture loading. Make sure to check RAM and VRAM usage to see how it works.

You might need to change the values back and forth to find the “sweet spot” for your game. Mine seems to work best with setting the first value to 2147483648 and the second to 1073741824.

Uninstallation

Delete these files from your bin folder (installation path):

d3d9.dll

DXVK.conf

TS3W.DXVK-cache

And if you have it, also TS3W_d3d9.log

if you changed the values in your GraphicsRule.sgr file, too, don’t forget to change them back or to replace the file with your backed up version.

OR

delete the bin folder and add it from your backup again.

B. with Reshade/GShade

Follow the steps from part A. no Reshade/Gshade to set up DXVK.

If you are already using Reshade (RS) or GShade (GS), you will be prompted to overwrite files, so choose YES. RS and GS may stop working, so you will need to reinstall them.

Whatever version you are using, the interface shows similar options of which API you can choose from (these screenshots are from the latest versions of RS and GS).

Please note: 

Each time you install and uninstall DXVK, switching the game between Vulkan and d3d9, is essentially changing the graphics card ID again, which results in the settings in your options.ini file being repeatedly reset.

ReShade interface

Choose – Vulcan

Click next and choose your preferred shaders.

Hopefully this install method works and it won't install its own d3d9.dll file.

If it doesn't work, then choose DirectX9 in RS, but you must make sure to replace the d3d9.dll file with DXVK's d3d9.dll (the one from its 32bit folder, checking its size is 3.86mb.)

GShade interface

Choose –           

Executable Architecture: 32bit

Graphics API: DXVK

Hooking: Normal Mode

GShade is very problematic, it won't work straight out of the box and the overlay doesn't show up, which defeats the purpose of using it if you can't add or edit the shaders you want to use.

Check the game's bin folder, making sure the d3d9.dll is still there and its size is 3.86mb - that is DXVK's dll file.

If installing using the DXVK method doesn't work, you can choose the DirectX method, but there is no guarantee it works either.

The game will not run with these files in the folder:

d3d10core.dll

d3d11.dll

dxgi.dll

If you delete them, the game will start but you can't access GShade! It might be better to use ReShade.

Some Vulcan and DirectX information, if you’re interested:

Vulcan is for rather high end graphic cards but is backward compatible with some older cards. Try this method with ReShade or GShade first.

DirectX is more stable and works best with older cards and systems. Try this method if Vulcan doesn't work with ReShade/GShade in your game – remember to replace the d3d9.dll with DXVK's d3d9.dll.

For more information on the difference between Vulcan and DirectX, see this article:

https://www.howtogeek.com/884042/vulkan-vs-DirectX-12/

[ms-demeanor]

So these computers will be mostly be used for CAD but also video editing. The time we are looking for is in the next few months. It will be running autodesk fusion which at minimum needs 2 cores, recommends 8 for cpu, needs 8gb of ram recommends 32gb, and needs aleast some sort of gpu and something like a nvidia quadro is recommended though I am mostly sure we would do fine with a 40s or 50s series GPU.

This is very funny to me because this is actually quite similar to the conundrum I had buying computers earlier today. Workstations are currently a bitch to get (and also that means that $1500 per device is somewhat unrealistic in the opposite direction of what I was initially thinking, especially given the graphics card)

------------------------------------

Hi Anon!

Thanks for the details! We're beginning to see some stock availability issues with hardware so I'm not finding anything that's a perfect match out-of-box for your needs but I believe I've found a solution that should be comfortably within budget as long as you've got in-house IT or an affordable contractor to help with the build.

What I've found is a Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny that comes with a 20-Core, 14th gen i7 processor, 16GB DDR5 5600 MHz RAM (SoDIMM), and an Nvidia T400 4GB graphics card. The workstation includes an upgraded Lenovo Premiere warranty with next-day onsite service. The ThinkStation has one RAM module soldered to the motherboard but two free slots and can handle a max of 96GB, so I'd recommend purchasing this device and adding 16GB Crucial modules.

Just to be sure, I did verify that the graphics card with this device is on the list of compatible cards from Autodesk.

I'm finding the workstation available from a number of vendors at about $1200, and the RAM is available for around $50. With tax, that brings your per-unit cost to around $1400, leaving just under $100 per machine to account for the labor cost of installing the RAM.

Let me know if this sounds like a solution that works for you, or if you have any further questions.

Given your timeline, you could choose to place orders from vendors who are not carrying the full 30 machines right now, but considering the possibility of scarcity I'd recommend making a decision sooner rather than later.

Thanks! Ms-D

--------------------------------

Part of what I was struggling with on my quote today is that my employer doesn't want our techs mucking around with desktop hardware; we're not supposed to be ordering and upgrading before we send things out the door but that is not a limitation that an end purchaser has to live with so you (reader or anon) have more options and more flexibility when looking for computers than I do *IF* you make sure to check that you can do upgrades. It's not hard to add RAM to a desktop unless the RAM is soldered to the motherboard with no free slots, in which case it's impossible.

You can save a ridiculous amount of money on buying machines and have a LOT of options for dealing with scarcity if you know what kind of hardware is easy to fuck with.

In this instance, I wouldn't upgrade the GPU or by a card separate from the workstation (this computer has a 300W power supply and the computer itself is the size of most power supplies, so I wouldn't want to try to find something teeny tiny to work together), especially because there's a budget-friendly option that will allow the necessary programs to run available pre-built, but literally it would cost like five hundred dollars more to get something with more RAM. So save yourself a few hundred dollars by getting a fifty dollar RAM module and paying someone to install that in the machine or doing it yourself.

I don't think we're going to get to a point of completely empty shelves, but I do think we're likely to see fewer options that exactly match what we're looking for without doing some extra work. Large Bastard has been vaguely making noises about getting a new computer for the last two or three years and he's still on the fence and my comment to him was that I'm sure there's always going to be something available at a high enough cost, but there are going to be fewer choices if he has to replace a computer quickly (which, given the age of his desktop, he might have to at some point).

[yandereshingeki]

excuse me for disappearing for 5 days I didn’t feel like posting & had a lot going on irl (work, mr forest, & I also completely rearranged my whole room by myself lol)

[canmom]

i do think like if you're not immersed in graphics and thinking about all the data flowing around between different buffers and shit that's going on inside a frame, when you see a render of a shiny box reflecting on a wall, it's like. ok and? it's a box? but there's so much nuance to the way light floods through an environment. and so much ingenuity in finding out what we can fake and precompute and approximate, to get our imaginary space to have that same gorgeous feeling of 'everything reflects off everything else'.

light is just one example, but I think all the different systems of feedback interactions in the world are just so juicy. geology is full of them. rocks bouncing up isostatically as the glaciers flow off them. spreading ridges and stripes of magnetic polarity revealing themselves. earthquakes ringing across the world. clouds forming around mountain peaks, giving rise to forests and deserts. soil being shaped by erosion, directing future water into channels. biological evolution!! I turned away from earth sciences many years ago, to pursue maths and physics and later art and now computer programming, but all of these things link up and inform the thing I'm doing at the moment.

sometimes you try to directly recreate the underlying physics, sometimes you're just finding mathematical shapes that feel similar: fractal noise that can be evaluated in parallel, pushed through various functions, assigned materials, voxellised and marching cubesed and pushed onto the gpu, shaded and offset by textures, and in the end, it looks sorta like grass. an island that will be shaped further as the players get their hands on it.

it's all just a silly game about hamsters shooting missiles. and yet when you spend this long immersed in a project, so much reveals itself. nobody will probably ever think about these details as much as I have been. and yet I hope something of that comes across.

they say of the Bevy game engine that everyone's trying to make a voxel engine or tech demo instead of an actual game. but in a way, I love that. making your own personal voxel engine is a cool game, for you.

computers are for playing with

[bringcal]

The LINUX REVIEW! Okay so I been using CachyOS on my desktop pc and Arch linux on my laptop (previously Linux Mint) for over a month now and I just wanted to post about my thoughts, from someone who has been exclusively on Windows my entire life and am not a programmer/dev (and now, no longer has anything that runs on Windows so you may see where this is going)

Laptop specs: AMD ryzen CPU i don't remember specifics, 8gb ram, 500gb storage (Truly just an average trash laptop whos already physically falling apart)

PC specs: 7600x CPU, 7800 XT GPU, 32gb ram, 2tb storage

List of things I've noticed or liked:

(Laptop) Fans no longer blaze on idle. Was really embarrassing bringing my laptop to school because of this and now no longer an issue. The fans only kick in when necessary

(Overall) Less ram usage. on idle, Windows 11 ate about half my ram on my laptop, its now about 1 gb on arch. Similarly, on my PC CachyOS is about 1.8 gb on idle.

(Overall) More customization compared to Windows. I've stuck with the cinnamon DE for all of them and at least on Cinnamon, customization is easy for the average person who doesnt wanna go mess w configs.

(Overall) I can update my computer and still use it like normal. If its a relatively deep update that needs to restart the restart time is as long as any other regular restart. I wont be tricked to being stuck on a blue loading screen for 10 minutes.

(Overall) I can run all games I like to play, even relatively newer ones like Monster Hunter Wilds. Which is now a few months old, but even Nightreign which is Brand New runs perfectly. People need to stop saying gaming is impossible on Linux. Yall are just addicted to Fortnite

(Overall) Pirating games is also easy and have had no performance issues with pirated games running via Lutris

(Overall) Better performance on Minecraft. Most games r kinda the same, but there are a select few like Minecraft who run better now

(Laptop) i can watch a FUCKING YOUTUBE VIDEO without my computer DYING

(PC) Everything just Works. CachyOS is really good. The reason this isn't an overall point is just that I'm more responsible for getting the packages my laptop needs, so obviously there wasn't a good out of box experience for a normal user on Arch. For being arch-based CachyOS is perfect and has no issues

(Overall) No Microsoft

(Overall) I can use pngs as icons for applications instead of needing to convert to ico

(Overall) And also, Converting something from one format into another is 10x simpler

List of things that are silly:

I can say "yay" to update my computer :3

I will never leave my wiggly window phase. blblublbublbubblubblub

List of things that I don't like:

Honestly such a trivial issue but the RGB on my keyboard under my capslock fucks up and gets stuck and I am in the select tiny minority where openRGB doesn't support my keyboard and akko drivers aren't available for Linux. im not sure i can say i "dont like" it because its such a non issue, its just a thing I wanted to acknowledge.