network and subnet is set to
10.8.0.0/255.255.255.0, while
“Push LAN to clients” is set to
Yes. Also make sure “Respond
to DNS” and “Advertise DNS to
clients” are set to Yes to help
performance. One final tweak:
Go to the “Route” tab under
“Advanced > LAN,” and set
“Enable static routes” to Yes.
Note: This step requires
your TM-AC1900 to be running
firmware that supports
OpenVPN—Asus has been
aggressive in replacing
modified firmware with the
stock TM-AC1900 firmware
that doesn’t support these
features. If shopping for a
bargain, be sure you’re buying
a genuine Asus RT-AC68U, not
the T-Mobile version.
Once the server and clients
are set up, you need to set
up your Linux server with
Nextcloud, leaving any remote
access options disabled, so
it’s only accessible from inside
your local network. When
you install Nextcloud on your
devices, point it toward the
local instance; for example,
https://nextcloudpi.local/
if you followed our guide to
NextCloudPi in the November
2019 issue. Once you’ve got
this working internally, try
dialing in remotely using your
OpenVPN client—you should
find Nextcloud works as if you
were on your local network,
albeit a bit slower, to allow for
the secure remote connection.Vulkan Drivers
With the recent drop in
Nvidia 2070 prices, I took
the opportunity to upgrade
my Radeon 5950 to a ROG-
STRIX-RTX 2070-08G on my
MSI Z87-GD65 gaming setup,
with an i7-4770K CPU, and
32GB of 2,400MHz RAM. My
frame rates have been low
while using Nvidia’s Vulkan
driver—Doom had frame
rates in the 40s, but when
I switched to the OpenGL
driver, they were in line with
my expectations: as high as
200, and smooth play. Many
games don’t have the option
to choose OpenGL; do you
have any suggestions?
–Lonny BealTHE DOC RESPONDS: You’re
not alone in your complaints,
and you’ll find all kinds of
theories for why this may be
happening. It appears to affect
Nvidia cards more than AMD
ones, which some put down
to the fact that AMD cards are
optimized for low-level APIs,
such as Vulkan, while Nvidia
still favors high-level ones.
Brad Wardell of Stardock
has an additional explanation:
complexity (see https://ubm.
io/2OmAVQ9). While Vulkan
and its competitor, DirectX 12,
offer such improvements as
GPU multitasking, they offload
the responsibility for certain
aspects of those APIs—from
memory to multiple threads—
to the app developer. So,
you’re relying heavily on app
developers to get to grips with
Vulkan drivers in a different
way from how they had to with
OpenGL. And when it comes to
those older games written for
OpenGL and DirectX 11, some
will end up performing better
with those drivers than the
newer ones.Webcam Compatibility
A Google search suggests
that the Microsoft Lifecam
HD-3000 does not work with
Windows 10 (32 or 64-bit).
Evidently also the Logitech
C920. Were any of the
webcams reviewed in the
October 2019 issue tested
successfully with Windows 10
64-bit? –Robert RueTHE DOC RESPONDS: You
can relax, Rob: We base our
recommendations on testing,
not online clickbait. TheC920 is reported as Windows
10-compatible on the Logitech
website—we’d have been
surprised if it hadn’t been,
given Logitech’s much older
C720 webcam works perfectly
on our Windows 10 rig.
The one webcam where
you might have had a tiny point
might have been the Lifecam
HD-3000—a trip to Microsoft’s
website suggests it only works
up to Win 7, but that’s because
the download is for Microsoft’s
own defunct webcam
software. Lifecam drivers
are installed automatically
with Win 10—and if you don’t
believe us, take a trip to http://www.
catalog.update.microsoft.com
where a search for “lifecam
hd-3000” reveals both
32-bit and 64-bit Windows 10
drivers do exist. While there’s
no software to download,
you’ll find the Lifecam
works happily with existing
software, including Skype and
Microsoft’s own Camera app.
Where people have had
problems with Windows 10 in
the past, these problems have
been fixed. We remember the
Win 10 Anniversary Update
dropped support for certain
types of compressed streams
that caused our Logitech
C720 to fall over in certain
apps, but Microsoft issued a
fix. One place webcam users
often trip up is in ensuring
both Windows and their
security app have given
permission for the camera
to function—in Windows,
head to “Start > Settings
> Privacy > Camera”
to verify you’ve granted
apps permission to accessinstalled cameras. Security
tools should have similar
features—in Bitdefender, for
example, navigate to “Privacy
> Webcam access.”QSV and Dual CPUs
The video management
software I will be using for
a surveillance server has
support for a GPU, but there
are some requirements: The
CPU, mobo, and GPU must
all support QSV. I wanted to
build a dual-Xeon processor
server with hardware RAID
60 support (24 drives—three
legs of eight drives each) for
this video surveillance (under
128 CCTV cameras), but it
doesn’t look like QuickSync
works with dual processors.
Is this true? –Jim DiPasqualeTHE DOC RESPONDS: Sadly,
you’re correct: Intel’s Xeon
Scalable processor family
doesn’t support QuickSync
Video, largely because
none of them currently
have integrated graphics,
instead relying on third-party
GPUs. It leaves you having
to make a hard choice: If
a dual-processor setup is
vital to meet your hardware
needs, you’ll need to switch
to a software solution that
supports GPUs and hardware
encoding on discrete cards,
like those offered by AMD and
Nvidia instead.
However, if you think
you might be able to get by
with just a single multicore
processor, Intel’s Xeon E-2100
series is where you should
focus your attention. Virtually
all models in this range come
with integrated graphics (look
for the tell-tale G at the end of
the model name), all of which
have QuickSync support. The
current top-line model—the
E-2288G—offers eight cores,
16 threads, and 3.7GHz (5GHz
turbo) processor speed, plus
support for up to 128GB RAM.
Onboard graphics is handled
by the Intel UHD Graphics
P630 chip. Just make sure
you pair it with a motherboard
using the C246 chipset, which
supports embedded graphics
©^ and thus QSV.
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Check your securit y sof t ware isn’t blocking access to your webcam.maximumpc.com JAN 2020 MAXIMUMPC 23