[hannaH]

Well, if I get a laptop I will start using my old laptop bag anyway. So it doesn't have to fit into a backpack or anything like that.
I'm not too worried about battery time either since I will mostly use it where power outlets are available.

I'm leaning towards the G73JH since it would probably last much longer, seeing as how I will use it for games.
Any idea on how long the JH will last on battery if I'm only browsing the internet or watching a movie?

As for the Acer, 18,4" and 4,6Kg seems a bit overkill. I want it to be reasonably portable.

I've heard users claim less than an hour on battery, just web surfing. Great desktop-replacement machine, not much use for watching a movie on the train.

[Erin S]

So I am thinking about upgrading my home network so I can stream HD movies from my PC (upstairs) to one of the 360s, downstairs. I have picked out some parts. The router would be downstairs, near the xbox. Here are the parts I would be getting.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124386
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270059&cm_re=cat_6_cable-_-12-270-059-_-Product to connect to the 360.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320040
My other 360 will keep its standard 54mbps adapter, as will the laptop, since those are low bandwidth systems in my house currently. Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Edit-Also which is better generally? PCI based adapters or USB? I currently have a PCI 54mbps adapter and it works fine.

[adame]

So I am thinking about upgrading my home network so I can stream HD movies from my PC (upstairs) to one of the 360s, downstairs. I have picked out some parts. The router would be downstairs, near the xbox. Here are the parts I would be getting.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124386
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270059&cm_re=cat_6_cable-_-12-270-059-_-Product to connect to the 360.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320040
My other 360 will keep its standard 54mbps adapter, as will the laptop, since those are low bandwidth systems in my house currently. Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Edit-Also which is better generally? PCI based adapters or USB? I currently have a PCI 54mbps adapter and it works fine.

USB has plenty of bandwidth to handle even the full 300Mbps of an optimally performing Wireless-N link. PCI has an advantage when you want to use an external antenna. In difficult situations where you need diversity or a directional antenna, this advantage is decisive.

What I don't like is the "USB key" design, which makes it hard to position the adapter for good reception and leaves it vulnerable to getting banged around. They also tend to be large enough to block an adjacent USB port.

I have found Zonet's adapters to be better than ASUS's, having used both. Try this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130068

[Mr.Broom30]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think of the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M GPU? I've found a laptop with good specs for cheap with that GPU, and I'm not familiar with it so I figured I would ask in here what you guys think. It's a 1GB DDR5 card, which I assume is good, but I would just like some input before I commit.

[City Swagga]

@Downfalleclipse
The 360m has a higher clock speed as its older part (260m) other than that, I havent heard too much detail on the 300 series since they are only found in laptops. It is a powerful card in a laptop.

[Cartoon]

@Downfalleclipse
The 360m has a higher clock speed as its older part (260m) other than that, I havent heard too much detail on the 300 series since they are only found in laptops. It is a powerful card in a laptop.

Okay, so it's not a crappy excuse for a GPU. That's good. I would have rather gone with an AMD/ATI combo but for some reason I can't find anything close that isn't an HP; and since after doing research I found they are not too reliable in the laptop department I don't really want one.

The one I'm looking at is a 16" Asus with a Core i5 @2.26GHz (turbo boost @2.53), 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB 7200RPM SATA HDD, and the aforementioned GPU. For just under $900. Most places have it listed at ~ $1100.

[Lilit Ager]

I couldn't find the programming thread, so I'll ask here. I really want to learn about iPhone app development and maybe make my own apps. I not familiar with objective-C or with programming in general so so where is a good place to start?

[Neliel Kudoh]

Question about overclocking and temperatures:

Is there a "sweet spot" for voltage and clock speed that makes the CPU run at a lower temperature? I've been messing with my settings for hours and I usually fail a Linpack test, and the CPU gets a bit hot for my liking (low 70 degrees). But once when I tested some new settings, I never hit a temperature hotter than 66 degrees (and this was an e7400 overclocked to 3.2-3.4 ghz). I have not been able to replicate that.

I know my temperatures should be much lower, I just bought a mounting bracket for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134&Tpk=freezer%20pro%207 and two extra case fans, so could it be a bad application of thermal compound... or does that heatsink/fan just svck? On stock clocks I still am in the range of mid 60 degrees on the Linpack test (which I heard is the hottest stress test).

When I removed the heatsink to install the mounting brackets, I found that the old compound wasn't spread out nicely, there were a lot of holes in the application. But this time I spread a thin layer on the heatsink with a credit card, and I applied a line of gel to the CPU (that's what the arctic silver site said to do) and screwed that thing in tight, so what could be the problem?

[Marcin Tomkow]

Question about overclocking and temperatures:

Is there a "sweet spot" for voltage and clock speed that makes the CPU run at a lower temperature? I've been messing with my settings for hours and I usually fail a Linpack test, and the CPU gets a bit hot for my liking (low 70 degrees). But once when I tested some new settings, I never hit a temperature hotter than 66 degrees (and this was an e7400 overclocked to 3.2-3.4 ghz). I have not been able to replicate that.

I know my temperatures should be much lower, I just bought a mounting bracket for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134&Tpk=freezer%20pro%207 and two extra case fans, so could it be a bad application of thermal compound... or does that heatsink/fan just svck? On stock clocks I still am in the range of mid 60 degrees on the Linpack test (which I heard is the hottest stress test).

When I removed the heatsink to install the mounting brackets, I found that the old compound wasn't spread out nicely, there were a lot of holes in the application. But this time I spread a thin layer on the heatsink with a credit card, and I applied a line of gel to the CPU (that's what the arctic silver site said to do) and screwed that thing in tight, so what could be the problem?

It could be a factor of whether you are pulling enough of the hot air out, or whether the heatsink is pulling from the stale air from the top of the case. Is the cpu fan speed controlled by the AMD system?

[ILy- Forver]

It could be a factor of whether you are pulling enough of the hot air out, or whether the heatsink is pulling from the stale air from the top of the case. Is the cpu fan speed controlled by the AMD system?

What's the AMD system? I have it on Asus q-fan control, on the turbo setting.

[Dominic Vaughan]

Just a quick note to the people here who offered advice a few weeks back when I was having trouble with a mystery error message. For the record, I just needed to update my video drivers, but thank you everyone who suggested solutions.

[Eduardo Rosas]

I think I need to get a new router. We've been using our current one for a couple years now, and it's starting to get wonky.
Until recently, we only had two computers connected to it at any given time. Now, we have 3 laptops, one desktop, 3 cellphones (They have wifi), an Itouch, and an Xbox all connected at the same time.
It's been crashing at least 5 times a day, making me have to unplug the router and the modem and restart them.

What is a good model/brand of routers? It needs to be able to penetrate walls well because it is located on the second floor of my house. It would also have to be at Staples since we have a special membership there.

Thanks in advance,
Allstar

[Milad Hajipour]

I think I need to get a new router. We've been using our current one for a couple years now, and it's starting to get wonky.
Until recently, we only had two computers connected to it at any given time. Now, we have 3 laptops, one desktop, 3 cellphones (They have wifi), an Itouch, and an Xbox all connected at the same time.
It's been crashing at least 5 times a day, making me have to unplug the router and the modem and restart them.

What is a good model/brand of routers? It needs to be able to penetrate walls well because it is located on the second floor of my house. It would also have to be at Staples since we have a special membership there.

Thanks in advance,
Allstar

ive used both netgear and linksys and never had any issues with them. the only brand that i had difficutly with was black and orange, unfortunately it was a while ago and cant remember the brand. im usually forgiving and understand that any brand will have some bad apples, but when i have to make two returns in the same day of the same brand and model then red flags go up. im similar to you in that i have my router located on the main floor, while my gaming rig is in the basemant at the opposite end of the house which is 3 or 4 rooms away. i still get 100% signal.

just looked mine up and i have the wireless N model NR2000 which is the second most expensive netgear that i saw at the store. normally i buy newegg or tiger but we had just switched from dsl to cable and found out that their modes dont connect to the modems. living without the internet for even short periods of time for me is equivalent to not breathing.

[Kyra]

What's the AMD system? I have it on Asus q-fan control, on the turbo setting.

think he means the motherboard controlling your fan speed. your reading that you got earlier might also have been a misread of the temperature by the progam yhou were using. it happens once in a while which is why its a good idea to alway make more than one measurement.

for overheating. im not familier with that particular chip but when i stressed my system which has a i7 920 i never went above 50* C. of course im using a humungous antec 1200 case with tons of fans on it and i have my unused wires pulled out of the back and my cards are all spaced according to how the fans are placed. i would check those things. make sure your cables arent blocking airflow. GPU should be next to an exhaust fan. older pentium stock fans svcked balls (as did the CPUs) but the new fans were supposedly much better although im still using an Arctic

[Nitol Ahmed]

Can anyone reccomend me a decent gaming computer to mainly run the Elder Scrolls and Fallout titles? My birthday is coming up and I want a inexpensive but efficient computer. So any reccomendations? How much does a average computer to run Bethesda titles cost? Btw, I know absolutely nothing about computers besides the Internet

[Jesus Duran]

Okay I'm at the point where I'd need a rough estimate as to how much it is going to cost me to upgrade my power supply and graphics card.

If anyone can provide some links to Newegg, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm looking for probably the cheapest upgrades I can get.

Currently, I have a 350W Power Supply and a ATI 4350 HD.

You guys know whats next

[Niisha]

ive used both netgear and linksys and never had any issues with them. the only brand that i had difficutly with was black and orange, unfortunately it was a while ago and cant remember the brand. im usually forgiving and understand that any brand will have some bad apples, but when i have to make two returns in the same day of the same brand and model then red flags go up. im similar to you in that i have my router located on the main floor, while my gaming rig is in the basemant at the opposite end of the house which is 3 or 4 rooms away. i still get 100% signal.

just looked mine up and i have the wireless N model NR2000 which is the second most expensive netgear that i saw at the store. normally i buy newegg or tiger but we had just switched from dsl to cable and found out that their modes dont connect to the modems. living without the internet for even short periods of time for me is equivalent to not breathing.

I think mine is nano-G or something like that.

[Bedford White]

Okay I'm at the point where I'd need a rough estimate as to how much it is going to cost me to upgrade my power supply and graphics card.

If anyone can provide some links to Newegg, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm looking for probably the cheapest upgrades I can get.

Currently, I have a 350W Power Supply and a ATI 4350 HD.

You guys know whats next

The 4350's a PCI-e x16 card, so we can assume you have a PCI-e slot to upgrade in.

The minimum I'd go with would be an ATI HD 5670. These can be had for $85 and up from Newegg for 512MB, or $110 and up for 1GB.
Better than that would be a 5750, $130 and up for 1GB or a 5770, $150 to $160 for 1GB. Rebates may bring the prices of these cards down.
Above the 5770, ATI cards get expensive.

With a 5670, I'd be comfortable with one of these power supplies, all of which should cost somewhere around $50:

Seasonic S12II 380B (380W, 27A at 12V, 5 year warranty)
Corsair CMPSU 400CX (400W, 30A at 12V)
Antec Earthwatts 380D (380W, 28A at 12V)

With a 5750 or 5770, I'd rather have one of these, which should cost $50 to $65:
Corsair CMPSU 450VX (450W, 33A at 12V, 5 year warranty)
Seasonic S12II 430B (430W, 30A at 12V, 5 year warranty)
Sparkle/FSP ATX 450PN (450W, 30A at 12V)
Antec Earthwatts 430D (430W, 32A at 12V)

[Kara Payne]

Can anyone reccomend me a decent gaming computer to mainly run the Elder Scrolls and Fallout titles? My birthday is coming up and I want a inexpensive but efficient computer. So any reccomendations? How much does a average computer to run Bethesda titles cost? Btw, I know absolutely nothing about computers besides the Internet

Gotta answer some questions first to narrow down the possibilities.

1.) your budget in your country's currency
2.) what country you reside if not listed in your avatar area
3.) pre-assembled PC? ...or can you build your own?...II take it that it has be be pre-assembled??
4.) what is needed other than the PC tower? Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, Windows OS disc? All these can jack up the price.

Okay I'm at the point where I'd need a rough estimate as to how much it is going to cost me to upgrade my power supply and graphics card.

If anyone can provide some links to Newegg, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm looking for probably the cheapest upgrades I can get.

Currently, I have a 350W Power Supply and a ATI 4350 HD.

You guys know whats next

Gotta refresh memory here...what does the rest of your system look like? CPU? Monitor resolution?

The Radeon 5670 suggested by Dogs is a good start and it may even get by on your 350W PSU. What's the most you want to spend?

[stevie trent]

Gotta answer some questions first to narrow down the possibilities.

1.) your budget in your country's currency
2.) what country you reside if not listed in your avatar area
3.) pre-assembled PC? ...or can you build your own?...II take it that it has be be pre-assembled??
4.) what is needed other than the PC tower? Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, Windows OS disc? All these can jack up the price.

1.) around 400 USD (scratch that, my dad said he will chip in since our current desktop is about dead, so around 800 USD Max), I'd like to go as low as possible. Again, I have no idea about computers, so I wouldn't know the prices.
2.) United States
3.) Pre-assembled.
4.) I've already got the mouse and keyboard and moniter (i think my 32" Toshiba doubles as a moniter.) and speakers. The OS disc is for installing Operating Sytems right?What operating system do i need? And don't most comps come with windows 7 already installed.

Also, remember I only want to run and download mods for Oblivion (or TESV whenever it comes out) and Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas.

[rolanda h]

1.) around 400 USD (scratch that, my dad said he will chip in since our current desktop is about dead, so around 800 USD Max), I'd like to go as low as possible. Again, I have no idea about computers, so I wouldn't know the prices.
2.) United States
3.) Pre-assembled.
4.) I've already got the mouse and keyboard and moniter (i think my 32" Toshiba doubles as a moniter.) and speakers. The OS disc is for installing Operating Sytems right?What operating system do i need? And don't most comps come with windows 7 already installed.

Also, remember I only want to run and download mods for Oblivion (or TESV whenever it comes out) and Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas.

Try here:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_II/

configure as such....


Case: CyberPower CX-9959 Lan Party Case w/ See-Thur Window [-45]
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
CPU: AMD Athlon?II X2 255 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK [-20]
Motherboard: Asus M4A77TD AM3 DDR3 AMD 770 Chipset Technology SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio [-4]
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [+67] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
Multiple Video Card Settings: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
Power Supply Upgrade: 600 Watts Power Supplies (XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply)
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Speakers: None [-5]
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
Mega Notebook/Netbook/Server Bundle: None
Keyboard: None [-4]
Mouse: None [-3]
Flash Media Reader/Writer: None [-3]
USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
Operating System: Microsoft? Windows? 7 Home Premium [+104] (64-bit Edition)
Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Rush Service: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS

Everything else set to NONE. This comes out to $736 before tax/shipping. If you are fortunate to not have any tax charges, you can improve the system by upping the video card to a Radeon 5770 instead. This system will certainly play OB and FO3 rather well. CyberPowerPC is a pretty good custom PC provider as well.

[Carolyne Bolt]

So, I'm planning a little overhaul of my current PC since the performance has become a little lacking since I built it and I'm quickly running out of Hard drive space. So, I'm going to get a new HDD and start anew in a few weeks with a fresh install of W7 on top. I currently have a 180GB drive but am looking to upscale a bit, anyone reccomend me a larger drive that's reliable with decent performance? Also, is there any mileage in going the way of the SSD teamed with a traditional HDD?

Cheers.

[Juan Cerda]

So, I'm planning a little overhaul of my current PC since the performance has become a little lacking since I built it and I'm quickly running out of Hard drive space. So, I'm going to get a new HDD and start anew in a few weeks with a fresh install of W7 on top. I currently have a 180GB drive but am looking to upscale a bit, anyone reccomend me a larger drive that's reliable with decent performance? Also, is there any mileage in going the way of the SSD teamed with a traditional HDD?

Cheers.

IMO SSDs are not really cost effective, while there is performance to be gained, the money could be better spent elsewhere. Unless of course money is no object.

For HDDs I use the 1TB western digital caviar black. good performance, and AFAIK, WD are top for reliability.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=western+digital+caviar+black

[Alexandra Ryan]

Try here:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_II/

configure as such....


Case: CyberPower CX-9959 Lan Party Case w/ See-Thur Window [-45]
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
CPU: AMD Athlon?II X2 255 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK [-20]
Motherboard: Asus M4A77TD AM3 DDR3 AMD 770 Chipset Technology SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio [-4]
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [+67] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
Multiple Video Card Settings: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
Power Supply Upgrade: 600 Watts Power Supplies (XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply)
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Speakers: None [-5]
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
Mega Notebook/Netbook/Server Bundle: None
Keyboard: None [-4]
Mouse: None [-3]
Flash Media Reader/Writer: None [-3]
USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
Operating System: Microsoft? Windows? 7 Home Premium [+104] (64-bit Edition)
Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Rush Service: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS

Everything else set to NONE. This comes out to $736 before tax/shipping. If you are fortunate to not have any tax charges, you can improve the system by upping the video card to a Radeon 5770 instead. This system will certainly play OB and FO3 rather well. CyberPowerPC is a pretty good custom PC provider as well.

Thank you very much, I also got a free game with it (Stormrise?). I'll show my dad and see what he thinks about it.

[noa zarfati]

Gotta answer some questions first to narrow down the possibilities.

1.) your budget in your country's currency
2.) what country you reside if not listed in your avatar area
3.) pre-assembled PC? ...or can you build your own?...II take it that it has be be pre-assembled??
4.) what is needed other than the PC tower? Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, Windows OS disc? All these can jack up the price.



Gotta refresh memory here...what does the rest of your system look like? CPU? Monitor resolution?

The Radeon 5670 suggested by Dogs is a good start and it may even get by on your 350W PSU. What's the most you want to spend?

Thanks Dogsbody. That list will really come in handy. Your the best.

I'd post a dxdiag, but my desktop is without internet right now. I do have a widescreen monitor, at 1366x768. My CPU is an AMD Athlon 7550.

I'd like to keep everything under 200 USD, cheaper if possible. :shrug:

PS. How do I be sure what wattage my PSU is at? I'm assuming I gotta open it up and look on the actual unit, right?