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Beginner: Graphics Card

Beginner Geek: Do I Need a Graphics Card in My PC?

There’s always a lot of chatter about computer graphics cards, thanks to bigger and better models every few months. It’s not always clear who actually needs one, though. Let’s take a look at what they are, and whether or not they’re a good fit for your PC.

The Difference Between Integrated and Dedicated GPUs

The headline of this article is a bit of a trick question, in a way. Every desktop and laptop computer needs a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) of some sort. Without a GPU, there would be no way to output an image to your display. The real crux of our inquiry today isn’t whether or not you need a GPU, but whether or not you need a a dedicated (or discrete) GPU, which most people refer to as a “graphics card”.

Integrated GPUs: Money for Nothing and Our Pixels for Free

Most motherboards these days come with GPUs integrated into the motherboard or even the CPU itself. For decades now, it’s been common for motherboard manufacturers to include a serviceable (albeit not particularly powerful) GPU built right into the chipset of the motherboard–no extra hardware required. Buy a motherboard, get a simple built-in GPU that can produce an image on your display. Within the last six years or so, that integrated GPU has been integrated into the CPU instead.


Where’s the GPU? In the CPU. Magic!

Integrated GPUs are great because they’re free (and hassle-free). You don’t even have to think about them–just combine a consumer class motherboard and CPU (or buy a pre-assembled computer from a retailer like Dell or Best Buy) and, boom, you’ve got somewhere to plug in your monitor.

Integrated graphics are also very power efficient, since they use very little power beyond what the CPU was already using in the first place. And, thanks to their standardization, you’ll rarely run into any issues with drivers or compatibility. On a modern Windows machine, everything will just be taken care of for you.

Of course, integrated graphics have their downsides too. First, they’re weak. They’re intended for the demands of a desktop user who reads email, browses the web, drafts documents, not users who do more demanding things like games. Throw a modern game at an integrated GPU and it might stutter through it or, worse, just outright fail to load the game.

In addition, an integrated GPU shares all the resources the CPU shares, including your pool of RAM. This means any graphics-heavy task you throw at the integrated system, like rendering video, playing a current generation 3D video game, or the like, will consume a hefty chunk of your system resources and there might not be enough to go around.

Dedicated GPUs: Premium Pixel Pushing at a Premium Price

On the opposite side of the GPU spectrum, in terms of both price and performance, you’ll find dedicated GPUs. Dedicated GPUs, as the name implies, are separate pieces of hardware devoted exclusively to handling graphic processing. When you hear someone say “I bought a new video card for my computer” or “I need a new graphics card to play Super Soldier Simulator Shoot Shoot 9000“, they’re talking about a dedicated GPU.



The biggest benefit of a dedicated GPU is performance. Not only does a dedicated graphics card have a sophisticated computer chip designed explicitly for the task of processing video, the GPU, but it also has dedicated RAM for the task (which is typically faster and better optimized for the task than your general system RAM). This increase in power benefits not only the obvious tasks (like playing video games) but also makes tasks like processing images in Photoshop smoother and faster.

In addition to radical performance increase, dedicated GPU cards also typically offer a wider and more modern variety of video ports than your motherboard. While your motherboard may only have a VGA and a DVI port, your dedicated GPU might have those ports plus an HDMI port or even duplicate ports (like two DVI ports, which allows you to hook up multiple monitors).

Sounds good, right? Way better performance, ports, ports, and more ports, what could be better? While all those things are awesome, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. First and foremost, there’s the matter of cost. A midrange GPU can run anywhere from $250-500, and cutting edge models can cost up to $1000 (though they’re rarely worth the price to performance ratio they offer). If all you need is something simple to run two monitors, GPUs based off older designs will run you around $50-100.



On top of that, you need a free expansion slot on your computer’s motherboard–and not just any old slot, but a PCI-Express x16 slot (seen above) for the vast majority of cards, as well as a Power Supply Unit with both enough wattage to spare (GPUs are power hungry) and the proper power connectors for your GPU (if it is beefy enough to require more power than the PCI slot can provide).

Speaking of power use, increased power draw in electronics means increased heat–there’s a reason high end GPUs have huge fans to keep them cool. Be prepared for more noise and more heat–you may even need to upgrade your case and/or case fans in order to keep things cooler. Even if you don’t need to upgrade your case for airflow you may need to upgrade your case just for space–the last GPU we purchased just barely fit in our mid-tower PC case and even a fraction of an inch extra length on the GPU heat sink would have necessitated an upgrade.

So Do You Need a Dedicated GPU?

So now you know how a dedicated GPU compares to its integrated cousin, but when should you make the jump to a dedicated graphics card?

While the process of picking a specific graphics card over any other graphics card is fairly complex and you may spend quite a bit of time comparing stats and wringing your hands hoping you’re getting the best possible deal, the process of deciding whether you need an dedicated GPU in the first place is pretty darn simple. Let’s look at the two questions that really matter in the decision process.

Can Your Current Setup Handle the Games and Graphic-Centered Apps You Use?

The first and foremost reason people get a dedicated GPU is for gaming. You don’t need a dedicated GPU for watching video (even razor sharp HD video). You don’t need a dedicated GPU for email, word processing, or any Office suite type apps. You don’t even need a GPU for playing older games, as today’s integrated graphics are far better than the dedicated video cards of decades past.



You do, however, need a dedicated GPU for playing calculation-intensive modern 3D titles in all their silky smooth glory. Want to play Skyrim with dozens of mods and add-ons while still enjoying butter smooth travel through the fantasy realm? You need a decent dedicated GPU. Want to buy any top-tier title that comes out this year and enjoy stutter-free playback on your new 4K monitor? You need a great dedicated GPU.

Graphics cards are useful for some non-gamers, too. If you do a lot of photo editing (not just cropping and fixing the white balance type stuff, but intense Photoshop work), video editing, or any kind of rendering (3D art, design, etc.), then you’ll certainly get a boost from a dedicated GPU. Tasks in Photoshop like filter application, warping/transforming, and so on, all benefit from the extra power a GPU provides.

Can Your Current Setup Support the Number of Monitors You Want?

Although most people buy a GPU for gaming, there’s also a sizable (albeit much smaller) number of people who buy a dedicated graphics card in order to expand how many monitors their computer will support.

Without a dedicated graphics card, adding extra monitors to your computer is kind of a crapshoot. Some motherboards support using multiple video ports–e.g. the motherboard has a VGA and a DVI port and you can toggle a setting in the BIOS to use both of them–but most motherboards don’t. Other motherboards will allow you to keep the integrated graphics turned on and add in a lower-end dedicated GPU so you can score an extra port, but many don’t (and even when that trick works it can be a royal pain to get two totally different GPU chipsets working in parallel).



The solution for the multi-monitor lovers is a dedicated GPU that sports enough video ports for the number of monitors they wish to use. In the case of my own desktop setup, as an example, I wanted three 1080p monitors, and I didn’t want any of those monitors connected via old analog VGA connections. To that end, I needed a dedicated GPU with three or more digital (DVI, HDMI, etc.) connections.

If you want to run two or more monitors without taxing your computer, fiddling with BIOS settings, or resorting to animal sacrifice to make your monitor dreams a reality, the easiest way to do so is to simply buy a card that supports your monitor setup right out of the box. It doesn’t need to be an expensive one–just one that has the number and type of ports you need.

By How to Geek

Did You Know/Tech Term

Did You Know?

Canola oil is a contraction of Canada and “ola” (or oil)–the plant it is extracted from was developed in Canada and is their most profitable crop.

Today's Tech Term 

Cyberbalkanization

Cyberbalkanization (a.k.a. Splinternet and Internet Balkanization) refers to the segregation or splintering/dividing of the Internet due to various factors such as politics, nationalism, religion, commerce, technology, and/or other interests.

Todays Trivia

Plastic In Old Computers Yellows Because Of The Presence Of?

Argon	Ammonia
Bromine	Sulfur

Answer: Bromine

More often then not, when you come across a really old piece of electronics that originally sported a gray or beige case–like early Apple II computers, Commodore computers, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and countless other devices like computer monitors–the plastic is now an unsightly yellowish brown color.

While discoloration occurs over time in a wide variety of plastics, especially those exposed to the ultraviolet light of sunlight or fluorescent office lighting, only some of them seem to get that stained-tooth coloration. What gives? Why does one old PC monitor fade to a lighter shade of gray in the sun, but another old PC monitor takes on the coloration of a cup of tea?

The secret, unseen to the naked eye, lies in the chemical composition of the plastic. Millions of products during the 1980s and 1990s were manufactured with light-colored cases made out of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). In its pure form, the common plastic is far too flammable to be used safely in consumer products–especially those that house parts, like a malfunctioning power supply, that could literally go up in smoke. To make the plastic safe, the manufacturers used a variety of flame retarding chemicals. One of the most popular chemicals due to its abundance and low price, was bromine.

Although time alone is enough to begin to yellow plastic (so even new-in-the-box computers from the era will be a little yellow), these older bromine-rich plastics react very strongly to ultraviolet light exposure and take on a dingy yellowish-brown tinge (ironically not far off from the brown color of the original liquid bromine mixed into the plastic). Often times, this discoloration results in odd contrasts as the ultraviolet light discolors the different plastics used in the product at different rates. You can see this effect in the photo of the old SNES console here–the plastic used in the main body and the plastic used in the cartridge bay section were different and aged into an odd two-tone pattern.

Entertainment News

What makes for a No. 1 album in the on-demand age of streaming?

On-demand streaming services have changed the math for a No. 1 album. (Alex Mabaum)

By Randall Roberts

The Grammy-winning R&B singer Frank Ocean recently released two albums and a full-color, high-gloss magazine over the course of two days. In doing so, he injected enthusiasm, confusion and yet more chaos into an ever-evolving music business.

The unveiling, the latest in a line of innovative, high-profile maneuvers, disrupted the U.S. album charts. Where did Ocean end up on the chart? At No. 1, but how he got there is not as simple as it used to be.

On Monday’s Billboard Top 200 album count, the Apple Music-released “Blonde” debuted at No. 1, with a first-week tally of over 275,000 “equivalent album units” sold — note the wording in quotes.

So, what, exactly, is an equivalent album? It’s a complicated mash-up of streaming and sales data, where 10 digital-track downloads sold and 1,500 songs streamed are equal to one album.


Frank Ocean tops the charts with his "Blonde." (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

In Ocean’s case, he sold 232,000 digital-album downloads of “Blonde,” according to Nielsen Music. The album then accrued 65 million streams of its individual tracks. That number in turn is divided by 1,500 to arrive at what, for charting purposes, essentially amounts to an additional 43,000 albums sold (individual tracks from the release were not made for sale).

Got all that? You’re forgiven if not.

“It’s kind of the Wild West and it always has been. People are just trying to figure it all out,” says Tim Smith, who as founder of Blood Company manages major electronic artists including Skrillex, Zedd and Boys Noize.

In recent years the task of tabulating a record’s success and popularity has grown more complicated. What used to be an album sale is now an “equivalent album sale.” Each component — that is a song — of a release — otherwise known as a project — is measured and weighted using industry-approved equations.

Simple math? Far from it.

Whereas one album plus another album once equaled two albums, in an on-demand era of streaming and instant downloads, one better bring a calculator to unravel the new chart language. What was once as simple as adding up the sales of a few different formats has now become an SAT-worthy calculation.

Trying to distill it all are companies Nielsen Music and BuzzAngle, which track physical and digital sales and stream numbers in order to gauge success in an evolving, fluid business.

“When you say it’s the top album, you have to clarify that,” says Jim Lidestri, CEO of Border City Music, which owns BuzzAngle. “What does that mean?”

This whirlwind year has seen superstars Beyoncé, Kanye West and Chance the Rapper unveil new work through a variety of avenues, including exclusives with streaming services and surprise album drops.

And with them, consistency has become a thing of the past.

The year’s biggest album, Drake’s “Views,” premiered exclusively through Apple Music and iTunes — but only after the artist played it in full on his OVO Music radio show on Apple’s Beats 1 radio platform. At the end of its first week, “Views” had sold over 850,000 digital albums and generated nearly 250 million audio streams, according to BuzzAngle.


Drake, seen performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2015, had the summer's biggest album in "Views." (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The album, which spent much of the summer at No. 1, debuted on the Billboard chart with what Nielsen said was 852,000 albums sold and 1.04 million equivalent album sales.

The Canadian rapper eventually expanded its availability to other streaming platforms, the accumulation of which kept the record in the No. 1 slot for three months.

“There are a lot of creative strategies being tried out there," says David Bakula, who oversees chart tabulation for Nielsen as senior vice president, analytics and client development. The problem, however, is quantifying success in an era with dozens of distribution platforms.

“I don't think there's a great sense from everybody out there of, ‘This is what it takes to get to No. 1,’ or ‘This is even what a level is for No. 1,’" says Bakula.

For his part, Ocean's competing release strategy was prompted by his first new music in four years. His long-gestating album, once thought to be called “Boys Don’t Cry,” turned out to be two albums — “Endless” and “Blonde.” Only the latter is eligible to be counted on the album chart. Because it’s a video album, “Endless” is excluded.

Also notably absent from the overall calculations from Nielsen and BuzzAngle are the billions of YouTube plays, which are hard to quantify due to the volume of fan-made clips that feature incidental use of hot songs. What’s more, radio streaming service Pandora’s charts aren’t considered either, since the album tallies are designed to calculate intentional, on-demand listens.

Whew.

The result is a formula far more complicated than a decade ago, when labels measured success based on the volume of downloads, discs and records sold.

Twenty-five years ago the music industry experienced a revolution when it started using SoundScan as a data-analysis partner. For the first time, a system existed to calculate album sales in real time.

Using bar codes, it registered each purchase, replacing the old method of relying on (easily bribed) retail managers to phone in each week’s top sellers. An album sold — whether on vinyl, cassette or compact disc — was an album sold. As digital downloads entered the equation, the charts adapted accordingly.

Streaming, however, introduced a host of new variables, and two years ago Nielsen, which now owns SoundScan, introduced sweeping changes in an attempt to account for the arrival of services like Spotify, Google Music and Apple Music.

In order to accurately represent the market, says Nielsen’s Bakula, analysts needed to consider the ways in which technology had changed the variables.

The solution, in layman’s terms?

“We're going to mash it all together in this formula and we're going to come up with this number for total volume,” says Bakula. “That was the most challenging part.”

Hence what used to be considered an “album” is now called an “equivalent album unit,” and is measured through a weighted equation based on varying factors. Was it purchased for download, compact disc or LP? How many times were songs from the album streamed through on-demand services such as Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal?

“The consumer is like, ‘Wow, that’s complicated when you try and explain it,” says BuzzAngle’s Lidestri.

Still, it’s worth a shot.

Currently, the industry standard for measuring streaming activity is calculated using the aforementioned ratio of 1,500 streaming spins to one album. As well, 10 purchased digital downloads equals one album sale.


Nielsen and BuzzAngle employ different calculations to determine their daily numbers, which results in slightly varying totals. Both, however, use as the heart of their digital tracking the 1,500-to-1 and 10-to-1 ratios.

Thus, it doesn’t matter if, say, Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” “One Dance” and “Too Good” accrue the majority of spins or purchases from “Views” at the expense of the album’s less popular tracks, nor does it matter whether a listener plays an album from start to finish.

What matters is the listener’s decision to invest either time or money in music.

“A sale is still the ultimate vote by the consumer. That's taking money out of the pocketbook,” says music industry analyst Geoff Mayfield, formerly of Billboard and Universal Music and currently a consultant for BuzzAngle. “Whether you're clicking online or still buying a physical album.”

Mayfield adds that sales account for a bigger chunk of the equation.

“That's still the ultimate vote of a consumer’s endorsement,” says Mayfield. “But what that doesn't capture — and one of the things that's being brought into play by incorporating streams and song sales — is the continuing popularity of an album.”

Drake’s 2016-leading run with “Views” is the result of a devoted fan base who streamed the record throughout the summer, says Mayfield.

“That's made all the difference in the world. An album like Drake’s would probably only be No. 1 for a week or two if it was a sales-only chart. This way, the fact that it continues to be popular in the streaming world is reflected here.”

The album is one of only seven in history to surpass 1 billion streams, according to Billboard.

The result, according to Bakula, is that after the first rush of sales tapers off, streaming takes over: “This isn't about album purchases anymore. This is about constant, ongoing consumption of all the components of the album.”

By most measurements, Ocean’s first-week tally is enviable. Nearly a week after it was released, 17 of the top 20 spots on Apple Music’s “Top Songs” chart were occupied by the “Blonde” tracks. The artist’s name was trending on Twitter and Instagram throughout its release weekend, as fans rejoiced at the arrival of new projects. Some raced to pop-up shops in four major cities, and car stereos across Los Angeles amplified Ocean’s voice.

How do you measure that brand of ubiquity?

You can’t, says Skrillex manager Smith, and it won’t get any easier. “There are going to be more ways to consume and more ways to be exposed to art, so nothing is ever entirely accurate, and nothing can really cover everything because it’s going to be pretty physically — slash digitally — impossible.

“It changes so quickly that everybody tries different things,” adds Smith. “That’s part of the excitement, I think, today. And certainly in the future it’s only going to get wilder and more interesting.”

Wed Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

Listen to the last part of this statement,

“No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

If that is true then all roads don’t lead to God. The way to God is a one-way street and if you are on any other street you are on the wrong street. It also means that not everybody is going to wind up in the same place.

Let me tell you why if Jesus was who He claimed to be and did what He said He did that has to be true. Between the human race and God stands a barrier called “sin.” If we are going to be reconciled with a perfect God that sin has to be dealt with and not just to our satisfaction, but also to His satisfaction. Sin demands a payment. Jesus came specifically to make that payment. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death to pay for everything we’ve ever done wrong in the past, present, and the future. At the end of the day, you can either pay with your soul or accept a payment of His life, because sin is going to be paid for.

If your home is on fire, you had better call a firefighter and not a policeman. If you break a leg, you had better call a doctor and not a firefighter. If your home is broken into, you had better call a policeman and not a doctor. If you are drowning, you had better call a lifeguard, not a plumber. If, as a sinful human being, you want to come to a righteous Holy God, you had better call the Savior, because He is the only One that can get you there.

The comedian Stephen Colbert said, “…though I am a committed Christian, I believe everyone has the right to their own religion – be you Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.” Mr. Colbert is dead wrong. There is only one way to Jesus and that is Jesus.

Todays Thoughts

At one time or another, every believer goes through a period where our spirits are weak, tired or spent. Sometimes, we even feel hopeless. We need to encourage ourselves that even King David, who the Bible refers to as “a man after God's own heart,” possessed a weary and broken spirit. Sin had taken its toll and he cried out to God in Psalm 51 for restoration. David received his renewal because God restores the heart and soul that humbly seek Him.

 - Ron Lambros, President, Touching Lives

"One of my favorite passages of Scripture reminds us of the importance of kindness: "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7). Kindness and eternity are incredibly linked. Don't miss it.

 - Pastor Merritt

Name Your Values

Name Your Values, and Then Live by Them 

Name Your Values, and Then Live By Them
By Rick Warren

“[Moses] regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26NIV).

The first resolution: Choose to be who God wants you to be. The second resolution: Choose short-term pain for long-term gain.

And then Moses made a third life-shaping resolution: He chose God’s values, not the world’s. And that’s why God used him!

Hebrews 11:26 says, “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (NIV).

Moses made a value judgment. He clarified what mattered most to him.

Let me ask you this question: What matters most in your life? What are the top three or four values in your life? Can you name them easily?

If you ask me, I’ll tell you real simply what they are for me: integrity, humility, and generosity. I decided more than 30 years ago that that’s what I wanted to build my life on — integrity, humility, and generosity — because they’re the antidotes to the three traps of leadership.

Can you name the three most important values in your life right now? If you can’t, then you certainly can’t live by them. You’re not living your values if you can’t even name them. Before you go one more day, you need to sit down and ask, “What’s most important to me? What are the top values in my life?” And you need to write them out, because until you clarify your values, you can’t live by them.

Moses chose God’s values over the world’s values. Why is this so important? Because if you don’t decide what’s important in your life, other people are going to decide for you. They’re going to push you into their mold. And you’re going to live your life by their values, not yours.

You’ve got to decide what’s most important to you and then live by those values.

Talk It Over

• What are the three most important values in your life?
• How can you clarify them?
• How can you apply them in your life?

The Hardest Prayer

The Hardest Prayer You Can Pray

The Hardest Prayer You Can Pray
by Liz Kanoy, Crosswalk.com Editor

“Jesus said, ’Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34).

The context of this verse occurs when Jesus is being crucified. Though He was innocent, He carried His cross alongside two criminals to the place where they would be crucified, called The Skull (Golgotha). On the cross, the Son of God—situated between two sinners deserving of death—spoke to His Father and said, ’Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34). This was and is the worst crime in the history of the world; the only innocent Man to live on this earth, the only Man undeserving of death and punishment was put to death in the most humiliating and unfair way … and He said what?

This prayer was directed toward the taunting crowd, religious leaders happily observing His death, apathetic Roman soldiers placing bets for His clothing, and the criminals on either side of Him. Could you forgive someone for a terrible crime simply because they do not know God? This is the hardest prayer anyone can pray. To forgive someone undeserving of forgiveness; to forgive someone who does not even recognize their need for forgiveness.

Could you pray this prayer for terrorists, for killers, for gunmen, for bullies, for family members who hurt you deeply, for friends who stab you in the back, for co-workers who use you, for any number of circumstances that cause you or someone you love pain.

On my own, I know I cannot pray this prayer—for I am far too angered by injustice, by acts of evil, by selfish deceit. But with the Holy Spirit as my Helper and my Advocate, I can seek to grow in this prayer. To see people as not just wrong or evil but incredibly lost … and to pray most of all for God to make Himself known to them, for He is the one Whom all wrongs are ultimately committed against.

Jesus forgave those who murdered Him not only on the cross but also in their hearts. He saw their state of lostness and just as He had compassion on the crowds who surrounded him during his ministry he had compassion on His persecutors.

Intersecting Faith and Life: If Jesus is our utmost example for Holy living according to God’s will, then we can follow His example even in this—the offering of forgiveness to those who persecute us. Let us pray for our persecutors and our enemies that they might know the love of God and the freedom of forgiveness and grace.

Further Reading:
Acts 3:17
Acts 13:27
Acts 14:16
Acts 17:30
Acts 26:9

Wise Counsel

Wise Counsel

By Touching Lives 

“Where there is no guidance, a people falls; but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14

Life is challenging; and it presents us with decisions that are not easy to make on our own. We may pray about such a situation and read God’s Word for guidance, but still feel confused and uncertain about the direction we should take. In these times it can be helpful to seek the advice of other wise and godly people.

Two things the Bible makes very clear are the benefit of godly counsel and the damage of ungodly counsel. “The thoughts of the righteous are just; but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.” (Proverbs 12:5) Therefore it is important when seeking counsel that we examine the character and values of the person from whom we receive advice.

Not only are one’s character and values of importance, but we must also consider a person’s motives when evaluating the merit of their advice. Receiving advice from a person who has a vested interest or potential gain from the decision we make can lead us astray. The more subtle, but equally misleading advice can come from people who care about us, but give advice based on their own fears, insecurities or expectations. For example, a situation that would require complete reliance and dependence upon the Lord may make a family member or friend uneasy and unwilling to support. We should always seek advice from people who know and love God, seek His will, and will be faithful to the truth of God’s Word.

As we weigh out the counsel we receive from others we need to ask ourselves the question, “Does this advice fit the character and nature of God as portrayed in the Bible?” We should test to see whether the counsel we receive is true and honest, just, pure, love, of good report and would glorify God.

Seeking wise counsel is a sign of maturity and humility. Learning to discern the difference between wise and poor counsel requires discernment and reliance upon God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, our trust should never be in the people who give the advice, but in God Who through His Holy Spirit can use people to give us wisdom and assist us along the path of life.

Father, Help me to discern between wise and foolish counsel. Help me to always remain humble enough to ask for help when I need it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Monitor Advertised Refresh Rate

How to Make Your 120Hz or 144Hz Monitor Use Its Advertised Refresh Rate

So you’ve purchased a monitor that offers a 120Hz or 144Hz refresh rate and plugged it in–great! But don’t stop there. Your monitor may not actually run at its advertised refresh rate until you change some settings and sort out your hardware.

Set Your Refresh Rate in Windows

Most importantly, you’ll want to ensure Windows is actually set at the advertised refresh rate and not a lower refresh rate, like 60Hz.

On Windows 10, head to Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display Settings > Display Adapter Properties. Click the “Monitor” tab, choose your monitor’s advertised refresh rate from the “Screen Refresh Rate” list, and click “OK”.

On Windows 7 or 8, right-click the desktop and select “Screen Resolution”. Select your monitor if you have multiple monitor and then click the “Advanced Settings” link. Click the “Monitor” tab and choose the refresh rate from the “Screen Refresh Rate” box.

If you don’t see your monitor’s advertised refresh rate in this list–or if you can’t seem to get your monitor to stay configured at the advertised refresh rate–there’s more you need to do.

Check Your Cables

You can’t just use any old cable and expect a high refresh rate. Some monitors may have both HDMI and DisplayPort connections, but may be limited to a 60Hz refresh rate when connected via HDMI. In this case, you’d need to use a DisplayPort cable. Check your monitor’s specifications or setup guide for more information.

You don’t just have to worry about the trype of cable, either–you have to worry about the cable itself. For example, if you’re using HDMI, you’ll find that only HDMI 1.3 and up offer enough bandwidth. If you have an old HDMI 1.2 or earlier cable lying around, it may not offer enough bandwidth to support that faster refresh rate–even if your computer and monitor both work with a faster refresh rate over HDMI. If you’re using DisplayPort, you’ll need a DisplayPort 1.2 cable and not a DisplayPort 1.1 cable.

When in doubt, use the cable your monitor came with. It should work–in theory. Unfortunately, cheap, low-quality cables can also cause problems. Your monitor’s included cable might not even be good enough. We recently found that the included cable with an ASUS monitor couldn’t provide a stable signal at 144Hz. Instead, the screen would occasionally flicker and the refresh rate would drop down to 60Hz until we rebooted the computer. We replaced the cable with a higher-quality Accell DisplayPort cable and the monitor operated fine at 144Hz without any flickering or refresh rate drops.

As always, make sure your cables are securely connected. If you’re experiencing a problem, try unplugging the cable and plugging it back in to ensure a solid connection. A loose cable connection could cause problems.

More Troubleshooting Tips

Lots of other issues could cause your monitor to not function at its advertised refresh rate:

• Your computer’s GPU isn’t good enough. Integrated graphics or older discrete graphics might not support your monitor’s refresh rate. Be sure your graphics card supports the monitor’s resolution and refresh rate.
• You need to update your graphics drivers. Be sure to install the latest available version from NVIDIA or AMD’s website.
• You’re attempting to run your monitor at a lower resolution. Select your monitor’s native resolution–it may only support the higher refresh rate at its native resolution and be limited to 60Hz at lower resolutions.
• You’re playing a game and that game has its own integrated graphics settings. You may need to select your monitor’s native resolution and the refresh rate of 120Hz or 144Hz in each game’s graphics options menu or that game may use a lower refresh rate.

Hopefully, after going through these steps, you’ll find that your monitor runs in its butter-smooth high refresh rate.

By How to Geek

Runtime Broker

What Is “Runtime Broker” and Why Is It Running on My PC?

If you’re reading this article, then you probably spotted the Runtime Broker process in your Task Manager window and wondered what it was–and maybe even why it spikes CPU usage sometimes. We’ve got the answer for you.

This article is part of our ongoing series explaining Windows processes like: svchost.exe, jusched.exe, dwm.exe, ctfmon.exe, wmpnetwk.exe, wmpnscfg.exe, mDNSResponder.exe,conhost.exe, rundll32.exe, Dpupdchk.exe, and Adobe_Updater.exe.

So What Is It?

Runtime Broker is an official Microsoft core process that debuted in Windows 8 and continues in Windows 10. It is used to determine whether universal apps you got from the Windows Store–which were called Metro apps in Windows 8–are declaring all of their permissions, like being able to access your location or microphone. Though it runs in the background all the time, you will likely see its activity rise when you launch a universal app. You can think of it like a middleman hooking your universal apps with the trust and privacy settings you’ve configured.

Why Is It Using Memory?

When it’s not active, Runtime Broker maintains a very low memory profile, typically taking up around 20-40 MB. When you launch a universal app, you will likely see the memory usage rise to anywhere from 500-700 MB.



Launching additional universal apps should not cause Runtime Broker to consume additional memory. And when you close all open universal apps, Runtime Broker’s memory usage should drop back down to the 20-40 MB range.

Why Is It Spiking My CPU Usage?

When its just running in the background, Runtime Broker usually consumes 0% of your CPU. When you launch a universal app, that usage should briefly rise to 25-30% and then settle back down. That’s normal behavior. If you notice that Runtime Broker is consistently consuming 30% or more of your CPU, showing higher than expected memory usage, or spiking the usage even when you don’t have a universal app running, there are a couple of potential explanations.

If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 10, you may have noticed that Windows likes to show you the occasional tip via notifications. For whatever reason, this activity behaves like a universal app and engages the Runtime Broker process. You can fix this by turning off tips. Head to Settings > System > Notifications & Actions, and then turn off the “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” option.



It’s also possible that you have a misbehaving app that’s causing Runtime Broker to use more resources than it should. If that’s the case, you’ll have to narrow down the app that’s causing the problem. Make sure the app is updated to the latest version. If that doesn’t work, try uninstalling and reinstalling the app. And if that fails, make sure you let the developer know about the problem (and, if you don’t need it, uninstall it in the meantime).

Can I Disable It?

No, you can’t disable Runtime Broker. And you shouldn’t anyway. It’s vital for protecting your security and privacy when running universal apps. It’s also very lightweight when it’s running properly, so there’s not much reason to disable it. If you think it’s misbehaving, you could always kill the Runtime Broker process by right-clicking it in Task Manager and then choosing End Task.



After a few moments, Runtime Broker will launch again automatically. Just be warned that for the few moments until it relaunches, universal apps won’t be able to successfully access trust settings and may not run at all.

Could This Process Be a Virus?

The process itself is an official Windows component. While it’s possible that a virus has replaced the real Runtime Broker with an executable of its own, it’s very unlikely. We’ve seen no reports of viruses that hijack this process. If you’d like to be sure, you can check out Runtime Broker’s underlying file location. In Task Manager, right-click Runtime Broker and choose the “Option File Location” option.



If the file is stored in your Windows\System32 folder, then you can be fairly certain you are not dealing with a virus.



That said, if you still want a little more peace of mind, you can always scan for viruses using your preferred virus scanner. Better safe than sorry!

By How to Geek

Entertainment News - NCIS

NCIS: Get a first look of Jennifer Esposito and Wilmer Valderrama with badges

BY LYNETTE RICE • @LYNETTERICE



NCIS

It took not one, but two actors to replace Michael Weatherly!

But Jennifer Esposito and Wilmer Valderrama make the change look effortless in this new promo for the return of NCIS.

EW can exclusively reveal the first look of Esposito and Valderrama in their new gigs as agents Alexandra “Alex” Quinn and Nick Torres.

The duo was added to the drama’s 14th season after Weatherly departed his role as Tony DiNozzo. He’s now the star of the CBS drama Bull.

In EW’s suite at Comic-Con last month, Valderrama said he’s not there to serve as the new DiNozzo. “[Weatherly] had a fantastic journey with the show. The truth is there’s no shoes to fill, I’m definitely wearing my own. I’m excited because as a new member of NCIS I get to bring a new energy to it, a different dynamic.”

NCIS begins Sept. 20 on CBS.

Did You Know/Tech Term

Did You Know?

In 1990, the Royal New Zealand Navy became the last navy in the world to halt the tradition of a midday rum ration.

Today's Tech Term 

Cyber Warrior

A Cyber Warrior is an individual who engages in cyber warfare (defending or sabotaging computer systems, etc.) for personal, patriotic, and/or religious reasons.

Todays Trivia

Stephen King’s “The Shining” Was Inspired By Which Of These Real Life Hotels?

The Equinox	The Stanley
The Biltmore Hotel	The Crescent Hotel

Answer: The Stanley

In Estes Park, Colorado there is a beautiful and expansive hotel that offers sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains. This hotel, The Stanley, may well have simply existed as a footnote on a historic registry and a hidden gem known only to locals if not for one fateful stop by one very iconic horror writer.

Back in 1974, Stephen King and his wife Tabitha made a stop at The Stanley. The hotel was just about to shut down for the season and they happened to be its final guests for the year. If ever there was a scene to spark the mind of a writer, especially one specializing in unsettling tales, that was it. The Kings found the hotel eerily empty–they ate in a grand dining room that had been packed up for the winter, the hallways were empty and seemingly endless, and, to top it all off, canned orchestral music floated through the empty dining room. King later explained, “Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music is echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things.”

As if that weren’t enough to inspire, King described his one night in the hotel as such, “I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind.”

King went on to write The Shining, published in 1977 and, in the process, immortalized The Stanley as The Overlook Hotel in the novel. The owners of The Stanley, in turn, have done their part to immortalize King. Rather than get huffy about their hotel’s infamy, they’ve embraced it–the uncut R-rated version of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film adaptation of the book plays on continual loop on channel 42 within the hotel and, in a nod to the hedge maze outside The Overlook Hotel, in 2015 a giant hedge maze was installed at The Stanley,