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Windows 11 Update Allowed on Out-of-Spec PCs, But…

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OK, then, the word is out. Yes, Microsoft is permitting out-of spec PCs to install Windows 11, but that doesn’t mean a lot. In fact, they won’t promise that such PCs will keep getting upgrades — even of the security sort — once the RTM version goes live later this year. This has been widely reported in the trade press.  I found Windows Latest and Thurrott.com coverage most noteworthy on this topic. That said, MS hasn’t issued an official proclamation on this topic. So far, everything’s been communicated in press encounters. Bottom line: Yes, a Windows 11 Update allowed on Out-of-Spec PCs is true, but that doesn’t mean it will keep working indefinitely.

If Windows 11 Update Allowed on Out-of-Spec PCs, But…

Frankly, as Paul Thurrott noted, the situation is kind of a mess. Yes, users can update out-of-spec PCs to Windows 11. If that doesn’t work they can use the Media Creation Tool or a Windows 11 ISO to do a clean install instead. Thing is, there’s no telling right now how long that install will keep working. Nor can I think of a “back-to-working” path for such PCs except for a clean install of Windows 10 sometime in the future, either.

To me, this sounds like a recipe for extra work and heartache, with the bill coming due later this year. I’m still going to upgrade the hardware on the only other PC I have on which I plan to run Windows 11 that currently fails to meet its system requirements. IMO, anything less — especially taking a chance on older hardware — is simply unacceptable.

You, dear readers, can do as you see fit. Personally, I think installing Windows 11 on systems that don’t meet the system requirements is a recipe for disaster. It may work now, but MS won’t say it will keep working. Not good!

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Benchmarking, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

HDD Still Claims Price-Performance 2.5″ Crown

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For laptops and portable applications, 2.5″ drives still rule. Once upon a time, hard disk drives (HDDs) owned this space, both in terms of capacity and price performance. But with a 2.5″ 8TB Samsung QVO drive readily available on Newegg for US$700, HDDs no longer own the capacity crown for this space. But 8TB for $700 translates into US$87.50 per TB. The same outlet offers the 5 TB 2.5″ Seagate Barracuda for US$147.59, or US$29.52 per TB. That’s nearly 3 times lower on a per-TB cost basis (2.96 to be more precise). And that’s why HDD still claims price-performance 2.5″ crown.

How HDD Still Claims Price-Performance 2.5″ Crown

Why do mechanical hard drives still deliver better price-performance than SSDs? Because of the costs of materials and manufacturing. HDD manufacture is a mature industry and does not depend on riding the curve for IC mask sizes, scaling and so forth. SDDs on the other hand are made of chips, and that’s a challenging technology wave to ride, and a very competitive marketplace in which to compete right now. Chip shortages may not last forever, but they affect all chip-dependent industries right now, including SSDs.

That said, the form factor on the Seagate 5TB drive is outside the envelope for use inside many laptops (its 15mm height makes it “too fat” to fit; ditto for most external USB-A or USB-C drive enclosures). I’ve owned a couple of these drives and they make excellent backup and external storage devices for the half-dozen-plus laptops I keep around. A 2TB Samsung QVO goes for US$170, and is only 7mm tall (as are all capacities in this line). Thus “laptop suitability” also goes to the more expensive SSD drives.

The Tide Is Turning Toward SSDs

As far as laptops and tablets go, I don’t see much future for HDDs any more. At best, they will make useful portable or compact external storage units for mobile use. Inside the laptop itself, though — except for so-called “portable workstations” — there’s little room for drives that can’t max out capacity in the 7mm 2.5″ form factor. I guess one can hope for a next-gen technology breakthrough in platter density that will let HDDs catch back up with flash RAM chips. But I’m not holding my breath waiting for that, either. IMO the future — even for storage — is entirely solid state, not mechanical.

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Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

GPU Buying Circus Resumes Briefly

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Those who need to know were probably already paying attention. Those who don’t, however, may find this story to be an odd mix of bemusement and horror. Around midnight last night, would-be GPU owners looking for reasonable prices started lining up at Best Buy outlets around the USA. At 7:30 this morning, the company started handing out tickets to the first 100-200 people in line. What were these people lining up for? The latest installment, as the GPU buying circus resumes briefly — long enough for the company to sell through its allotment of 17,000 30xx GPUs. Models include 3070, 3080 and even a few of the seldom-seen 3090s.

Why and How the GPU Buying Circus Resumes Briefly

Every now and then Nvidia teams up with Best Buy to release a fixed lot of graphics cards for sale to the public. These may be purchased at the maker’s MSRP. Otherwise, GPUs available for purchase through typical outlets — Newegg, Amazon, CDW and so forth — routinely sell for 2 or more times those prices. On eBay, the multipliers get even larger.

Why is this happening? There’s still a shortage of GPUs on the marketplace even though China has basically shut down its mostly coal-powered coin-mining operations. Those operations have moved elsewhere — some even to the USA — and are still buying huge numbers of GPUs. By holding these sales at Best Buy from time to time, Nvidia is helping a small percentage of gamers and PC enthusiasts buy equipment that’s otherwise too pricey to contemplate.

Why Am I Telling You This?

I’ve written recently about upgrading one of my desktops to a Ryzen 5800X CPU on an Asrock B550 Extreme4 motherboard, with 64 GB RAM, a fast NVMe SSD, and so forth. What’s missing from this configuration is the GeForce 3070 or 3070 Ti that would typically be part of such a refresh. I’ve got a second machine I’ll be rebuilding in similar fashion before the end of September.

Right now, I’m running older Nvidia GeForce 1070 Ti models on both of those PCs. (FWIW, these sell for US$800 on Newegg right now; I paid about US$400 for them 5-6 years ago.) I had briefly considered leaving the house at 4 AM this morning to line up for a shot at a card at my local Best Buy. But then I realized that if I’m not willing to wait 6 hours in line for Aaron Franklin’s world-class BBQ here in Austin, I’m not willing to do likewise for a GPU, either. It’ll just have to wait. Prices should come down sometime in the next 6-12 months. Or, I’ll wait for a windfall of some kind, hold my nose, and pay US$1,400 for a GPU that should cost US$600. Two of them, in fact. Sigh, and sigh again.

Note: Here’s a shout-out to Tom’s Hardware (for whom I write regularly about Windows OS topics) whose story clued me into this circus: Best Buy Restocks 17,000 Nvidia RTX 30 Series GPUs Tomorrow, August 26. It’s what prompted me to write this story.

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Check Windows TPM Status 2 Ways

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What with Windows 11 looming ever closer on the horizon, more Windows 10 users will want to check TPM status on their PC. TPM is, of course, the Trusted Platform Module that provides hardware-level credential caching and encryption to protect systems from snooping and takeover. Today, I’ll show you how to check Windows TPM status 2 ways. One way uses a PowerShell cmdlet, the other way runs a Microsoft Management Console snap-in (an .msc file).

How to Check Windows TPM Status 2 Ways

Naturally, both methods require admin privileges. That is, you must run the cmdlet in an Administrative PowerShell session. Alternatively, you must be logged into an administrative-level account to access the proper MMC snap-in.

Way 1: PowerShell

Prosaically enough, the necessary cmdlet is named get-tpm. As its name portends, it provides detailed information about the presence and state of TPM on the target system upon which it is run. Go ahead, take a look:

Check Windows TPM Status 2 Ways.get-tpm

Note all the details about TPM presence and status. Source: my i7-6700 PC, which has no TPM.

Way 2: Run TPM.MSC (MMC Snap-in)

To take this path, simply type tpm.msc into the run command box or the Windows search box. It does not provide as much detail as the PowerShell cmdlet, but it is a little faster and easier to run. That said, here’s what its output looks like:

Check Windows TPM Status 2 Ways.tpm.msc

The TPM plug-in for the MMC just provides basic presence/absence information, though more data appears when a TPM is present (see next screencap below)
[Click image for full-sized view.]

TPM Info from Win11-Ready System

For comparison purposes here’s a side-by-side rendition of the PowerShell cmdlet (left) and MMC snap-in (right) from my 11th generation Lenovo X12 Hybrid Tablet PC. It meets the Windows 11 hardware requirements and tells its story about the TPM capabilities present on that machine. Note: 11th generation Intel CPUs provide TPM 2.0 emulation in firmware, rather than in a separate TPM chip.

Click image for full-sized view.

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New BIOS Defaults Target Windows 11

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In the process of bringing up a B550 motherboard with AMD Ryzen 5800X CPU, I found myself wondering about Windows 11 hardware requirements. Specifically about Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 support, both mandatory to meet those requirements. Looks like Asrock, and probably other mobo makers, are thinking along those lines, too. On August 6, that company released version 2.10, in which that new BIOS defaults target Windows 11. The lead-in graphic specifically states “Enable AMD CPU fTPM in BIOS default.”

Things Get Easier When New BIOS Defaults Target Windows 11

Before flashing the mobo to the new BIOS I’d started messing with the firmware TPM (fTPM) settings therein. Amusingly, to flash the BIOS one must first disable fTPM settings. More comforting, the post-update version enables fTPM by default and no longer requires such contortions for subsequent re-flash operations.

I just learned some new and interesting factoids about the Ryzen 5800X CPU — namely:

  • The part has a TDP of 105W, well within my new build’s power budget of 750W.
  • The part runs a Vermeer core at 3.8 GHz with 4MB of cache.
  • Memory speeds of up to 3200 MBps DDR4 are supported. I purchased 2667 to save a little on cost.

When to Take the Upgrade Plunge

The current build is running Windows 10 21H1 Build 19043.1165. I plan to keep it at the current Windows 10 production build level until MS formally releases Windows 11 upgrades via WU. If this PC doesn’t get an offer by the time an official ISO appears, I’ll download same and forcibly upgrade that PC through an in-place upgrade. I paid good money to make the machine ready for Windows 11. Thus, I want to take it to Windows 11 as soon as a production version is available.

Next, I’ll be planning my own production desktop upgrade. Before bringing the 5800X/B550 build up, I’d been thinking about taking the other desktop down the Intel upgrade path. But now, seeing how fast and fluidly this system runs, I’m increasingly inclined to do the same thing again inside my bigger Rosewill Blackhawk case. I still have a month or so in which to make my buy. Count on me to keep you posted in the interim. Cheers!

New BIOS Defaults Target Windows 11.WnyNot11

Output from the WhyNotWin11 program after flashing the BIOS shows the system 100% ready for Windows 11.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

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Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

New NVMe System Delivers Formidable Punch

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The electrician visited our house early today to fix some switches. He also helped us find a GFI plug we didn’t know we had (duh!). He had to turn off power at the breaker box momentarily, so all the PCs went down. I took that opportunity to pop the case on the new Ryzen 5800X build. I moved the NVMe SSD from the M.2.2 slot to the M.2.1 slot. That’s when I learned this new NVMe system delivers formidable punch power, I/O-wise. Let me explain.

If New NVMe System Delivers Formidable Punch, How So?

We’re talking about the transition from PCIe x3 to x4, along with a new generation of SSD controller technology here. The lead graphic shows CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 results from my 2016 vintage i7-6700 system left and the 2021 vintage Ryzen 5800X system right. The underlying NVMe drives are Samsung 950 PRO 512GB left, and Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB right. The speed increase ranges from 1876.41 vs. 3444.19 (upper left), or 1.83x, to 124.9 vs. 226.81 (lower right), or 1.75x. The biggest differences occur in the upper right cell, and the one beneath it. Those ratios are 2.13 and 2.12, respectively.

Thus we’re talking about a speed boost ratio for I/O in the neighborhood of 7/4 at the slowest and 15/7 at the fastest. In roundish numbers, say 2:1. That’s pretty decent. I daresay it’s a big enough difference to be noticeable. I can tell the difference in ways that range from working with the filesystem, to performing backups, to running applications, and more.

Where Value Sits…

I’m still learning how the new system works, and what it can really do. I just ran WhyNotWin11 on the PC and it doesn’t have TPM turned on. I just checked the Asrock website. Happily it provides instructions on how to turn on fTPM in BIOS for that motherboard. It’s a single, simple option, so I’ll take care of it the next time I reboot. Then, the system should be ready for Windows 11.

Switching the NVMe from the M.2.2 slot to the M.2.1 slot delivered the promised speed increase. It also made the 2 previously blocked SATA devices on that machine visible. So far, it’s been a peach to work with. The speed and capabilities of this current-gen Ryzen processor definitely impress. I am indeed inclined to think the upgrade was worth the cost. I’m still waiting for Nvidia 3070 cards to come down in price before endowing that PC with more graphics oomph, though.

Stay tuned. I’ll report in on system temps and stuff, and take a few pics of the build later this week. Should be fun!

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5800X Rebuild Boots Right Up

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It was an interesting Saturday. My son and I started working on the rebuild of our oldest desktop PC around 10 AM that morning. He’d never built a PC before, so I had him doing most of the driving. It was an educational experience for both of us. But happily, this 5800X rebuild boots right up on the first try. In fact, we got Windows 10 clean installed with just one minor hiccup. Total time invested so far: around 4.5 hours (but plenty of software still to install).

5800X Rebuild Boots Right Up, But…

On the first go-round from my Ventoy boot disk, Windows 10 refused to allow the brand-new Sabrent Rocket 2TB NVMe to act as the boot/system drive. A quick once-over using DISKPART showed it was NOT formatted for GPT. Once I cleaned the drive then converted it to GPT, the installer was able to take it from there. First time to use an unallocated drive teaches me that GPT is now mandatory. Live and learn.

Other lessons learned during this install adventure included:
1. Always good to have a grabbing tool or clamps to use for handling small screws in tight places.
2. It’s good to have ample wiring room in which to route power and control cables.
3. The Antec 900 still makes a great PC case, but it shows its age with no front-panel USB 3 ports.
4. The CoolerMaster Hyper 212 is a TALL cooler. I had to remove the case fan from the side panel to button the case back up (fortunately it has plenty of ventilation anyway).
5. I’m missing a couple of SATA drives, because of lane conflicts from the M.2 NVMe in use. I see an easy fix in the mobo manual, tho…

Worthwhile Investment?

The parts I purchased for the rebuild cost about US$1,200. It’s still too early to tell if the upgrade is worth that price. But time will tell pretty shortly. In the meantime, stay tuned, and I’ll keep you posted.

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Insider stuff, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 11, Windows OS Musings

First Windows 11 ISOs Now Available

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OK, then. It was on June 28 that the first Windows 11 Insider Preview release made its debut on the Dev Channel. Mid-day yesterday I learned that MS had finally added Windows 11 ISOs to the Windows Insider Preview Downloads page. That’s right: the first Windows 11 ISO now available are ready to download. The lead-in graphic shows my selection of Dev Channel for Build 22000.132 (the number is truncated).

First Windows 11 ISOs Now Available: Grab One!

Because my Ventoy UFD doesn’t have a Build 22000.132 image amidst its collection, I did just that. I next had to confirm language (English, more properly EN-US). Then I had to click the “64-bit download” button shown here:

First Windows 11 ISOs Now Available.button

64-bit download button shows full details for Win11 version ISO.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

As is often the case when making MS downloads, it took a while to wind up. But eventually I started seeing download speeds ranging from just over 200Mbps to as high as 410 Mbps. The whole shebang took just over 3 minutes to complete.

Final file size, according to Explorer: 5,358,902 KB. That equals 5,233 MB or 5.11 GB. That makes this ISO too large for FAT-32 (which has a maximum file size of 4 GB). Good thing I’m using Ventoy: it will mount the ISO from its own EFI FAT-32 partition, even though the file resides on an exFAT partition (not subject to the 4 GB max filesize limitation). Good stuff!

One More Thing…

For some odd reason my ususal WIMVP MS account wouldn’t give me access to the Windows 11 ISO download. I had to sign out and sign back in under what I thought was an obsolete MS account. Not only did it please me to find a way to grab the ISO, it also gives me an important clue about why I’ve been unable to access my WIMVP benefits lately. Just another bonus as I live the dream here in Windows-World!

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Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

USB Flash Drive Follies 4th vs 11th Gen

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Just yesterday I got videotaped for an upcoming session at SpiceWorld 2021 Virtual. One of the subjects I covered for HPE covered “the aging of technology” and what that does to IT efficiency, security and resiliency. That got me to thinking. “How has USB fared as faster busses, faster connections, and faster media have evolved over the past while?” I decided to conduct some USB flash drive follies 4th vs 11th gen systems to see what changed.

What’s Up With USB Flash Drive Follies 4th vs 11th Gen?

It turned into a tale of two drives, two systems, and three means of attachment. These were as follows:

Drive 1. Sabrent mSATA SSD enclosure with Samsung 950 EVO mSATA 500GB SSD USB 3
Drive 2: Fideco NVMe SSD enclosure with Sabrent Nano NVMe 1TB SSD USB 3.1
System 1: 2014 Vintage Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (i7-4650U, 8 GB RAM, USB 3)
System 2: 2021 Vintage Lenovo ThinkPad X12 (i7-1180G7, 16 GB RAM, USB 3.2/Thunderbolt 3)

The three means of attachment were USB 3, USB 3.1 (both using Type A connectors) and USB 3.2 using USB-C.

Technology Trumps Bus Speed

First things, first. There’s simply no comparison between mSATA and NVMe devices. It’s an order of magnitude from the older mSATA SSD technology to the newer NVMe. That tells me — and it should tell you — it’s simply not worth buying mSATA devices anymore. If you’ve still got them (I’ve got half-a-dozen) you can still use them.

The aging effect shows very strongly in the mSATA results. They stay pretty much the same across both systems and across all USB connection types (3.0, 3.1, and 3.2). That’s because the mSATA enclosure is either 3.0 or 3.1 (I just checked: it’s 3.0).

Things get more interesting with the NVMe devices. They run at about half-speed when there’s no UASP support on the PC (as with the Surface Pro). Amusingly, I got the same results from my Belkin Thunderbolt 3 dock with a USB 3.1 cable plugged into the NVMe enclosure. But when I used a USB-C cable directly into a USB-C port on the ThinkPad X12 I got big-block read/write speeds of ~1050 MBps read/~1004 MBps write from the NVMe flash device. Compare that to ~455 read/~457 write through the Thunderbolt dock for the same device.

Very interesting! This tells me that USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 or better drive enclosures, coupled with PCIe x3 or better NVMe SSDs in those enclosures deliver the fastest external drive storage I can use today (on my newer systems with USB-C, of course). And it looks like the performance boost from using the fastest possible port and connection is also very much worth it. Good to know!

This just makes me more interesting in acquiring a Thunderbolt 4 dock to see if it can extend that performance to secondary ports (right now, I get best speed only from USB-C ports on the X12, of which there are only 2).

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First Windows 11 Hardware Refresh

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OK, then. I’m getting ready to upgrade one of my two remaining desktops to make it meet Windows 11 hardware requirements.  This is my first Windows 11 hardware refresh, so I want to get things right. The irony of the situation is that this PC is already running Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.132. That’s not supposed to continue, as and when an RTM version hits the Internet. I’m trying to get out in front of those changes…

Where My First Windows 11 Hardware Refresh Begins

Given what’s in this still-capable Windows 10 (and 11) PC, it’s been around for a while. Here are its key components:
1. Intel i7-4770K (4th generation/Haswell) CPU
2. 32 GB DDR3 RAM
3. Asrock Z97 Killer Motherboard
4. Samsung OEM 512GB NVMe PCIe x3 boot/system SSD
5. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
That CPU dates back to 2013, but I believe I built this system in 2014, and later upgraded its graphics card. It is getting kind of long in the tooth, but I’m keeping many parts for the refresh build.

What Goes, What Stays?

Of the four numbered items above, 1-4 are going, Because of the current market situation for GPUs, it’s not smart for me to lay out over US$1K for a new one right now. Here’s the other stuff I bought to put inside that machine (I’m keeping the case, the PSU, all the peripherals, and some of its existing drives, as well):
1. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU (8 core/16 thread)
2. G.Skill 64 GB DDR4-2666 (2×32 GB modules)
3. CoolerMaster Hyper 212 RGB closed-loop liquid CPU cooler
4. Asrock B550 Extreme4 AM4 Motherboard
5. Sabrent Rocket Q NVMe PCIe x4 SSD 2TB

Open Questions for the Build

This will be my first time to put together a PC that aims to comply with Windows 11 requirements. I’m curious to see if those will be met by default, or if I’ll have to fiddle the BIOS to get Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 emulation working. Whatever happens, count on me to keep you posted right here. The target schedule for the project is Saturday, August 21. I’m going to take a back seat, and let my 17-year-old son Gregory take the old stuff out, and put the new stuff in. Wish us luck!

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