[Richard Dixon]

Originally by Powerslide
LET'S MAKE THIS WORK PEOPLE!

Okay, now as anyone could see there are HUNDREDS of tech threads floating around in CD - ranging from questions about graphics hardware, to questions about pricier graphics hardware and other tech such as monitors, hard drives and Processors to announcement threads of new technology and more. (I accede - I'm not being very eloquent here

Any questions you have, tech news or ANYTHING related to buying/selling/information/announcements of new hardware should go here.

For example, if you come to the forums to ask "What is the better graphics hardware" or "What sort of RAM should I put in my PC?" then it should go here - I'm a little hazy, I know - but please keep all those graphics card and tech questions to one thread! Please!
So here's the summary, all:

• Announcements and queries on new or unreleased tech
  
• Benchmarks and results of hardware/discussion
  
• Questions on what sort of hardware you need/want for your machine
  
• Questions about existing tech and/or function
  
• Pricing and recommendations

Should be kept to THIS THREAD.

This has been A-okayed by CCNA for all who were wondering - it's up to you to stop filling CD with the same topics again and again that ask what the most powerful card in existence is so you can (not) buy it.

If you feel you have a question or can answer one - please feel free to do so.

Also, this is a great thread for you PC newbs, for learning more about your PC and hardware. http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=258050&st=0&p=4626051&#entry4626051

Also, a useful site for a frame of reference (not actual numbers), http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=476&model2=477&chart=174, and http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=519&model2=547&chart=211


Thanks all.
Adding more links shortly, thank you for your patience.

(Threads 1-82 have been all pruned, may they rest in peace)


http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1069729
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1073705
http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1076918
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1079401-the-community-tech-thread-%2386/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084024-the-community-tech-thread-no-87/
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1090141-the-community-tech-thread-no-88/

Do I also have to put a big glowing neon sign to this in my signature? THERE ARE TOO MANY TECH THREADS - THIS IS NOT A FORUM FOR YOUR TECH WOES!

But we will gladly help you anyway.

Honour list:
Nottheking
Lord Athanar (SUPER-PINK!)
Insaneturbo13
Anothercanadian
Tig Ol' Bitties
Dogsbody (Moderator)
CCNA (Moderator)
Níeh?ggr
wolfpup
Wierd
Softnerd
wingus
DEFRON

Oh and PLEASE, if you want us to "Build" you a PC, please indicate the following:
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?
4.) what is needed other than the PC tower? Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, Windows OS disc? All these can jack up the price.
5.) product preferences, preferred seller, and intended aim

but please, no "I want teh superererest Peecee evar1!!!!11!1", because really, only Bill Gates has that much moolah.

And, speaking of building your own PC, two good how-to videos from Newegg (thanks to SpankyTheElf for finding these):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CStOC0hET8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3buj5cIh2Bs&feature=related

Other useful links
http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1&front_id=12
http://tools.corsairmemory.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12472
http://www.memtest86.com/
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm
http://www.irfanview.com/
http://www.knoppix.org/
http://www.jonnyguru.com/
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=136602
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/
http://tftcentral.co.uk/
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
http://www.futuremark.com/products/3dmark06/
http://www.fraps.com/

[Laura Hicks]

In the last thread that one guy was asking about the cards that would fit in his case. I have a Dell Studio XPS as well and was wondering if an HD5850 would fit in mine. My case might be a bit larger, not sure what version of the XPS it is, all I know is that I have a i7 860 and a GTS 240 already in it. Oh it's the XPS 8000.


The only reason I want to go for the ATI is because I don't like the high temps that Nvidia cards get up to and it seems the last driver update I did made my GPU temps rise more than usual..idling at 62-66 C now, where as it used to be in the 40s and 50s. Which raises up to 73 C in a game I play and in another game it got all the way up to 87 and stayed around 85-87 C. Is that normal? Why would a driver update make my card's temps rise that way?

[His Bella]

In the last thread that one guy was asking about the cards that would fit in his case. I have a Dell Studio XPS as well and was wondering if an HD5850 would fit in mine. My case might be a bit larger, not sure what version of the XPS it is, all I know is that I have a i7 860 and a GTS 240 already in it. Oh it's the XPS 8000.


The only reason I want to go for the ATI is because I don't like the high temps that Nvidia cards get up to and it seems the last driver update I did made my GPU temps rise more than usual..idling at 62-66 C now, where as it used to be in the 40s and 50s. Which raises up to 73 C in a game I play and in another game it got all the way up to 87 and stayed around 85-87 C. Is that normal? Why would a driver update make my card's temps rise that way?

I hope you didn't update the drivers to Forceware 196.75...those were known to be really bad drivers to the point that they caused fans to fail on video cards. Double check that. Still though, your temperatures are within the safe operating range....

The Radeon should fit in the XPS 8000, but I'm concerned about your 350W power supply being overworked. To be honest I think you should get a new PSU for something like a Radeon 5850. I wouldn't risk anything further than a Radeon 5770 with your existing PSU.

[Vickytoria Vasquez]

I hope you didn't update the drivers to Forceware 196.75...those were known to be really bad drivers to the point that they caused fans to fail on video cards. Double check that. Still though, your temperatures are within the safe operating range....

The Radeon should fit in the XPS 8000, but I'm concerned about your 350W power supply being overworked. To be honest I think you should get a new PSU for something like a Radeon 5850. I wouldn't risk anything further than a Radeon 5770 with your existing PSU.

Haha yeah yeah I'm gonna get a 750W from corsair. And I think the forceware is 197 but I'll have to check. Yeah 197.45. 87 is safe? Haha, just seems..I don't know..kind of high.

This is the card I'm gonna get btw http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6046450&CatId=3669

and this PSU http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3438609&CatId=2533

They're both like $10 cheaper from Tiger over Newegg. Just gotta hope it fits okay in my case.

[christelle047]

I am still getting this error from Flash when using these forums:

Error #2044: Unhandled ioError:. text=Error #2032: Stream Error. URL: http://static.zenimax.com/forums/xml/footer_logos_18.xml?num=539.5921481586993
at logos_fla::MainTimeline/PrepXML()
at logos_fla::MainTimeline/frame1()

I also had my system lock up again last night requiring a hard reboot. Any idea for what could be the cause?

[The Time Car]

Hey all, I have a question here i hope someone can assist me with.

Yesterday I installed more memory on my pc ( went from 3gigs to 4) I have win 7- 32 bit installed at the moment, I know I need to install 64 bit version (I have the disc with me). Problem is that none of my discs I have, or flash drives are large enough to handle 47 gigs of space ( the size of my bethesda folder. Both Oblivion and Fallout)

I'd really hate to have to install both games and all the mods to go with it again. Any ideas on how best to accomplish this easily. BTW, I am not too terribly computer saavy so any help is appreciated

[luis ortiz]

How much of a difference in gaming performance is there between an i3 processor vs. an i7?

[James Potter]

So I keep having a recurring issue here at school. Randomly webpages will stop loading. This is using both Firefox and Opera. It just does it randomly. I havetried: updating Windows, updating ethernet drivers, switching cables, I disabled IPv6 and link-layer topology (with their suggestion), and I also have tried to flush the DNS cache with no luck. Sometimes it will load pages just fine and then the next minute it will stop. Sometimes if I reboot it is ok for a little while, but the last few times it has not helped. My instant messengers stay connected and I can send and receive messages fine. They did try to ping my system from the IT department but said it didn't work. I also tried to disable my firewall, the software they make us use is only an antivirus, which didn't seem to make much of a change. I do set it to fully allow the required programs and got rid of conflicting software. So I really only have running what they require plus my firewall.

What else can I try since the IT department is closed this weekend (until Monday evening), since I do need to do things online so I can job hunt and do work for classes?

[Jessica White]

So I keep having a recurring issue here at school. Randomly webpages will stop loading. This is using both Firefox and Opera. It just does it randomly. I havetried: updating Windows, updating ethernet drivers, switching cables, I disabled IPv6 and link-layer topology (with their suggestion), and I also have tried to flush the DNS cache with no luck. Sometimes it will load pages just fine and then the next minute it will stop. Sometimes if I reboot it is ok for a little while, but the last few times it has not helped. My instant messengers stay connected and I can send and receive messages fine. They did try to ping my system from the IT department but said it didn't work. I also tried to disable my firewall, the software they make us use is only an antivirus, which didn't seem to make much of a change. I do set it to fully allow the required programs and got rid of conflicting software. So I really only have running what they require plus my firewall.

What else can I try since the IT department is closed this weekend (until Monday evening), since I do need to do things online so I can job hunt and do work for classes?

Your problems will have to be solved between you and the help desk; we can't troubleshoot their network for you. They may be running heavy content filtering that is choking some of your Web pages (particularly if the content filter doesn't like some of the advertising). Also try Google Chrome; it seems to be better at loading pages with parts missing. And make sure your own AV (you had NOD32) and firewall are turned completely off.

[Janine Rose]

Your problems will have to be solved between you and the help desk; we can't troubleshoot their network for you. They may be running heavy content filtering that is choking some of your Web pages (particularly if the content filter doesn't like some of the advertising). Also try Google Chrome; it seems to be better at loading pages with parts missing. And make sure your own AV (you had NOD32) and firewall are turned completely off.

NOD32 is completely off. I don't even use it for on-demand scanning. I will double check my firewall and see if that helps.

[Eire Charlotta]

How much of a difference in gaming performance is there between an i3 processor vs. an i7?

Desktop or mobile? Desktop Core i7's and mobile Core i7's are very different.

In desktops, there's a big difference. Core i7 (Lynnfield) CPUs are built differently from Core i3 (Clarkdale). The Clarkdales have an off-chip memory controller that is much slower, and the Lynnfields do much better at the most CPU-intensive games.

There's less of a difference in notebooks. Except for the high-end Core i7 7xx QT and 8xx QT quads (which are also Lynnfields), all of the Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 mobile processors are Arrandale (Clarkdale in a package for notebook motherboards) bogoquads (dual-core with hyperthreading); the main difference is clock speed.

[Andrew Tarango]

Dogsbody do you have any idea about the Flash issue I have with these forums after updating?

[Sarah Knight]

Dogsbody do you have any idea about the Flash issue I have with these forums after updating?

Flash behind a content filter runs funny for me too, with the same error. I've suspected this is Flash's reaction to a resource that refuses to load.

[Robert DeLarosa]

Haha yeah yeah I'm gonna get a 750W from corsair. And I think the forceware is 197 but I'll have to check. Yeah 197.45. 87 is safe? Haha, just seems..I don't know..kind of high.

This is the card I'm gonna get btw http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6046450&CatId=3669

and this PSU http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3438609&CatId=2533

They're both like $10 cheaper from Tiger over Newegg. Just gotta hope it fits okay in my case.

They're both going to fit well, although you don't need that beefy of a PSU for the card. The Corsair 550W would be plenty and save you about $25. Even Antec's 500W Earthwatt would be good for it.

[kasia]

Is it possible to upgrade laptop CPU's? Right now my ASUS G50-VTx5 is running a P7450 @ 2.13ghz, and it seems to be the weak part of my system. Many times when gaming or multitasking I will hit 100% CPU usage, and it's starting to get annoying.

I was looking at Newegg and they feature laptop CPU's, but I'm not sure if my specific laptop can be upgraded.

[jeremey wisor]

Is it possible to upgrade laptop CPU's? Right now my ASUS G50-VTx5 is running a P7450 @ 2.13ghz, and it seems to be the weak part of my system. Many times when gaming or multitasking I will hit 100% CPU usage, and it's starting to get annoying.

I was looking at Newegg and they feature laptop CPU's, but I'm not sure if my specific laptop can be upgraded.

Laptop CPUs are sometimes upgradeable. The ASUS G50-VTX5 is one that is known to be. Socket P CPUs up to a T9600. See http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20090401070930096&board_id=3&model=G50Vt&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

If you're going to do it yourself, you should already be experienced with rebuilding a laptop, because it requires extensive disassembly and reassembly, and if you are not experienced, you will probably ruin it.

[Kelsey Anna Farley]

They're both going to fit well, although you don't need that beefy of a PSU for the card. The Corsair 550W would be plenty and save you about $25. Even Antec's 500W Earthwatt would be good for it.

Yeah I know, I just always had my eye on that 750w. For about 2 years now, so I don't mind spending a $100 on it.

[(G-yen)]

Laptop CPUs are sometimes upgradeable. The ASUS G50-VTX5 is one that is known to be. Socket P CPUs up to a T9600. See http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20090401070930096&board_id=3&model=G50Vt&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

If you're going to do it yourself, you should already be experienced with rebuilding a laptop, because it requires extensive disassembly and reassembly, and if you are not experienced, you will probably ruin it.

High chance of failure?

Possibility of electrocution?

High probability of making an $800 footrest?

Maybe a fire?

---
It wouldn't be fun without it!

What's the main difference between the T series and the P series?

[Dalton Greynolds]

edit: going to make a separate thread as I have lots of questions

[Emilie Joseph]

I have had a problem for about a month now. If I have my PC's uptime close to 24 hours, it doesn't detect a connection with my network. To fix this I have to restart my PC, which I would rather just lock my OS over night instead of entering the BIOS Pass and selecting the OS i wish to boot from the GRUB.

I'm unsure if this is a problem with the ethernet cord, as it is in pretty bad shape. There was a few knots tied in it a few months back from my grandmother(Who I got the cord from). Any advice on how to fix this?

[Rhysa Hughes]

I need to update my nVidia drivers.

So, I have to uninstall the old drivers. But, last time I did that, I think I somehow uninstalled my nVidia mobo drivers (or, at least part of them) and that took a bit of fixing...

I need help so I don't screw things up again. Can someone lay out the steps (and what program to use) to uninstall the old drivers properly? Also, this time, I have PhysX - what special treatment does it need?

Thanks. :cookie:

[Karl harris]

I need to update my nVidia drivers.

So, I have to uninstall the old drivers. But, last time I did that, I think I somehow uninstalled my nVidia mobo drivers (or, at least part of them) and that took a bit of fixing...

I need help so I don't screw things up again. Can someone lay out the steps (and what program to use) to uninstall the old drivers properly? Also, this time, I have PhysX - what special treatment does it need?

Thanks. :cookie:

If you're installing new drivers for the same old graphics card you don't have to uninstall your old drivers. But if they are from a different graphics card or brand then you do and I remember I used to use this program that I had to go into safe mode to use that would uninstall all the old driver stuff w/o taking the chipset off the mobo. I just don't remember what it's called haha.

[Betsy Humpledink]

So I just learned today that I've been accepted back to uni and am looking to replace my 5-year old laptop before classes start. http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-15-6-intel-core-i3-330m-2-13ghz-laptop-nv5905h-black-nv5905h/10137510.aspx?path=9b593f712e48a2cd2a5ebe664b2024caen02 seems to give me the best bang for the buck. Opinions? Any obvious 'gotchas' I've missed?

I realize battery life isn't spectacular, but I don't expect to take more than one class a day, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also, please note that unlike many similar posts, this is not intended to be a "gaming laptop" -- it's for school, that's it.

Thanks for your time.

[Kelvin]

I have a questions about blu-ray. I want to get the complete series of Lost, but watching it on DVD on my HDTV looks pretty bad (especially since I watched most of season 6 from ABC in HD). Is it worth it to get a blu-ray player or drive for my computer now (or over this summer really)? I might just get a PS3, since it plays Blu-ray and I would use it for games as well.

[Colton Idonthavealastna]

High probability of making an $800 footrest?
---
It wouldn't be fun without it!

What's the main difference between the T series and the P series?

This one. Laptops are made for professional disassembly and reassembly, which is a polite way of saying their parts are just flimsy enough to break readily if an amateur forces them. Since the hinges have to come apart and go back together (and give the right amount of resistance to the screen falling down after reassembly), they are the trickiest part. Also, they have a number of fiddly little ribbon-cable connectors inside, and it requires less force to pull the ribbon cable out of the connector than to pull the connector off the motherboard the right way. If the ribbon cable comes out, you may not be able to get it back in.