button, the RGB LED strip
came on and the fans started
spinning, but the system
never booted. The monitor
just said there was no signal.
We even replaced the CPU
with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600,
and that didn’t work either.
We also installed an AMD
Radeon HD 6450 1GB GDDR3,
to see if the graphics card
was the problem—no luck. Is
there anything you can tell us
to help fix this? – Zack Rogers
THE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The
Prime B450M-A doesn’t come
with Asus’s Q-Code diagnostic
LED read-out, which would
help you pinpoint where the
boot process is freezing, but
it sounds like you’re well on
your way to troubleshooting
the issue.
Having tried two CPUs
(both of which show up on
Asus’s supported list since
the motherboard’s first
BIOS release) and a second
graphics card, verify that your
DDR4 DIMM is in the DIMM_A1
slot. If it is, pop it out and
reseat it. Also, bear in mind
that both Ryzen CPUs you
tried come with dual-channel
memory controllers. Using
just one module leaves half
of that controller unutilized.
Consider a second, matching
DIMM for better performance.
If you still can’t get the PC
to boot, check that the 24-pin
ATX and eight-pin EATX +12V
connectors are plugged in
securely. The next step would
be to disconnect the power,
pop out the CR2032 coin
cell battery, wait a couple of
minutes, drop it back in, and
boot again. If nothing changes,
a damaged motherboard
might be the culprit.
Accelerating Editing
Hi Doc, I do a lot of video
editing with DaVinci Resolve
- My Windows 10 PC has
a Core i7-4790 (quad-core)
running at 3.6GHz, with 16GB
of RAM. All of my working
storage drives are Samsung
SSDs, and my graphics card
is a GeForce GTX 1070 8GB.
I shoot 2160p videos with
a Sony AX700 to produce 30
to 40-minute YouTube videos
in 1080p. When I use DaVinci
Fusion effects, the editing
visibly slows down, and I
must use a proxy mode. In
the Cinebench R20 test, my
PC scores 1,691, though.
How much more speed
can I realize by building a
new system using a Ryzen
Threadripper CPU or an Intel
Xeon? Are those my only
choices? I looked at HP’s Z8
and it’s too expensive. Would
a gaming system be what I
am looking for? Should I just
wait for the next Ryzen chips
this summer? I hope to keep
the cost around $2,500.
–Lee ReichelTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
According to Blackmagic
Design’s configuration guide,
DaVinci Resolve does all its
effects work on your graphics
card, while the host processor
is responsible for I/O and video
compression/decompression.
That’s important to know for
guiding upgrade decisions.
Your PC isn’t slow. In
fact, the Doc only recently
upgraded from a similar quad-
core CPU that was ample for
his desktop workstation. Butfour Hyper-Threaded cores
and a previous-gen graphics
card are almost certainly
slowing you down compared to
something more modern.
A Ryzen Threadripper is
going to give you the most
cores for your money. A
16-core/32-thread 2950X
would be top of the line. Or
you could go with the first-gen
1950X, which also comes with
16 physical cores. Both drop
into the Socket TR4 interface
found on X399 motherboards.
Upgrading your platform
and processor also requires
new memory. Threadripper
CPUs support four channels
of DDR4 at up to 2,933MT/s
(in the case of the 2950X). Go
with 32GB, at least, across a
quad-module kit for the best
possible bandwidth.
At this point, your graphics
budget is shrinking, but a
fast GPU is perhaps the most
important part. A GeForce
RTX 2080 Ti would take you
to the top of what’s available,
albeit at the greatest expense.
A GeForce RTX 2080 would be
a better compromise between
price and performance.
Plan on spending those
savings on a beefy cooler forthe Ryzen Threadripper. AMD
doesn’t include a heatsink or
all-in-one with this processor,
leaving you to cover the cost.
And depending on the capacity
of your power supply, it may be
necessary to buy something
better suited to a high-end
rendering workstation.
Somewhere in the 750–1,000W
range would be apropos.External Drive Woes
Doc, I’ve been reading
Maximum PC for well over a
decade. Thanks! Last year, I
got a Seagate STEB4000100
4TB desktop drive. I have
never been able to get it to
work. Disk Management
shows it as Drive 3, but
the menu selections to
do anything besides take
it offline are grayed out.
Seagate has been totally
unhelpful with the warranty
and any technical support.
Recently, you published a
response to a reader’s letter
that included using Diskpart
to delete the volume and
create a new one. I followed
your instructions, only to
find that Diskpart did not list
my drive through the “list
volume” command, even
though it is shown in Disk
Management. I also tried
deleting and reinstalling it
through Device Manager,
with no change in the result.
There doesn’t seem to
be any way to get this disk
working. Do you have another
method I can try? Right now,
I’m considering using it as a
door stop. –David WinokurTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS: It
could be that the drive is bad
right out of the box, David.
But before you give up on it,
have you tried replicating
these symptoms on another
machine to rule out the USB
connection? Does the “list
disk” command in Diskpart
fail to show the drive, similar
to what you were seeing after
typing “list volume?” Have you
tried downloading Seagate’s
SeaTools for Windows utility?
The software should be able
to identify and diagnose your
Expansion Desktop disk.Despite its age, the Sabertooth X99 motherboard has enough USB
connectivity to support lots of devices at once without conflicts.maximumpc.com aug 2019 MAXIMUMPC 23