[NAtIVe GOddess]

Okay, wonder if anyone here can help me, seen as I have been unsuccessful everywhere else, basically ATI have released a new driver for my Graphics Card = ATI Radeon Sapphire HD 5770.

After downloading it, Media Centre; neither Live TV nor DVD's have worked. Basically, when I choose live TV in Windows Media Centre, I get normal TV for about a few seconds before it goes black and an normal error message comes up, closing Media Centre and the tv program with it, and DVD's wont start at all.

I've tried re-configuring my TV Tuners
I've re-installed my Gpu
I've re-installed my Tv Card

All to no avail - and i've also searched for new drivers for my TV Card - Hauppauge WinTV HVR 900H (66xxx)
It's worked for months prior to the ATI driver update, and i've also tried a System Restore to before the update; which eliminated the problem. I'd leave the new driver uninstalled if it meant I could play games without trouble, but it seems prior to that update, the games don't work properly either.

Though now i've got a pretty good idea that it may be Direcxtx11 causing the trouble; that's just a hunch - and even if it is that, i've no idea how to fix it. I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do to eliminate the problem, or at least find out why it's not working.
Any help appreciated in finding a solution. Cheers.

Trying rolling back the drivers and going to the previous version.

[Richus Dude]

I need help with a computer build for my dad please. I don't need the flashiest computer ever but it needs to be able to run Autocad nicely. Budget is around $800- $1000 US and I need case, OS and everything.

Thank you in advance

[Spencey!]

Trying rolling back the drivers and going to the previous version.

I have done, it fixes the Media Centre issue, but means I have problems with some games that require the latest driver update.
In between a rock and a hard place tbh.

[sam westover]

I have done, it fixes the Media Centre issue, but means I have problems with some games that require the latest driver update.
In between a rock and a hard place tbh.

No games really require you to update your drivers, unless you're using ancient drivers or something.

A lot of people even stay with older drivers, if they don't like certain aspects of the new one.

[Jeff Tingler]

I need help with a computer build for my dad please. I don't need the flashiest computer ever but it needs to be able to run Autocad nicely. Budget is around $800- $1000 US and I need case, OS and everything.

Thank you in advance

Does this PC purely need to be a workstation or require high-end professional graphics? Any sort of gaming involved?

Decent Quadro (Nvidia) and FireGL (ATI) video cards can be quite expensive...even costing as much as your budget. If he's into games as well, a mainstream/gaming card is likely to suit both activities better than a Quadro/FireGL-type card and it'll be considerably cheaper....just not as pretty looking.

And a monitor too? I'll spec out a $1K system.

[Eve(G)]

Does this PC purely need to be a workstation or require high-end professional graphics? Any sort of gaming involved?

Decent Quadro (Nvidia) and FireGL (ATI) video cards can be quite expensive...even costing as much as your budget. If he's into games as well, a mainstream/gaming card is likely to suit both activities better than a Quadro/FireGL-type card and it'll be considerably cheaper....just not as pretty looking.

And a monitor too? I'll spec out a $1K system.

It's only a workstation and no gaming involved but a gaming card would be fine, I'm sure. He's retiring from work and would likely only be puttering around with Autocad for fun so it doesn't need to have the most gorgeous graphics.

Yes, he'll need a monitor too. I'm thinking around a 22-inch would be about the right size and can bump budget up a hundred or two if necessary.

Thanks!

[~Amy~]

It's only a workstation and no gaming involved but a gaming card would be fine, I'm sure. He's retiring from work and would likely only be puttering around with Autocad for fun so it doesn't need to have the most gorgeous graphics.

Yes, he'll need a monitor too. I'm thinking around a 22-inch would be about the right size and can bump budget up a hundred or two if necessary.

Thanks!

Because AutoCAD is of importance here, Nvidia video cards are the better way to go due to better driver and OpenGL support for these 3D CAD apps. Here is a combo deal for a system that would suit the needs rather well, but is currently out of stock, but it may come back in:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.549053

LCD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

That'll be below $1050 before tax/ship


Or consider this build, which will be around same price....

CASE+CPU Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.557247
RAM+PSU Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.553657
MOBO+OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.552628
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221
LCD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048

[Tracey Duncan]

Because AutoCAD is of importance here, Nvidia video cards are the better way to go due to better driver and OpenGL support for these 3D CAD apps. Here is a combo deal for a system that would suit the needs rather well, but is currently out of stock, but it may come back in:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.549053

LCD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

That'll be below $1050 before tax/ship


Or consider this build, which will be around same price....

CASE+CPU Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.557247
RAM+PSU Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.553657
MOBO+OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.552628
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221
LCD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048

Looks great and the price is right. Now my only problem will be trying to stop myself from swapping out my crappy old card for that nice shiny GTX 460. Thanks so much for your help!

[Theodore Walling]

I am looking for a 500Gb or (preferably) 1TB external harddrive. Fairly obviously one of the key things I am looking for is reliability. Are there any brands I should avoid and does anyone have any recommendations?

I can't afford that much beyond ￡50 - ￡70.

(I am from the UK)

[Kathryn Medows]

I am looking for a 500Gb or (preferably) 1TB external harddrive. Fairly obviously one of the key things I am looking for is reliability. Are there any brands I should avoid and does anyone have any recommendations?

I can't afford that much beyond ￡50 - ￡70.

(I am from the UK)

Don't get an external HD. Get a bare drive and an external drive enclosure, and get exponentially more reliability.

I would suggest these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
Rosewill RX-358

I couldn't find a good, UK store link for the enclosure, but I don't really know where to look.

But the enclosure is dependent on what ports you need. So, which does your motherboard have, or would you like? USB 3.0, eSATA, Firewire 800, Firewire 400, USB 2.0 are your options, in order from fastest to slowest. The one I linked has USB 2.0 and eSATA, which gives you both an option for great speed, as well as an option for the best compatibility with other computers.

I also find that a lot of times, people who want an external HD don't really need one, and just want to expand the storage for their desktop. They don't plan to move it, or use it with another computer. They don't really realize how easy it is to just put another HDD inside their case. Not saying that's you, but if it is, think about just doing that. You can always buy an enclosure later.

[Bethany Watkin]

Don't get an external HD. Get a bare drive and an external drive enclosure, and get exponentially more reliability.

That may be a good idea. I must admit I hadn't considered it until you pointed it out. I don't know about the quality of disks in the standard external harddrives, but I would imagine it isn't great?

I would suggest these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
Rosewill RX-358

Ok. Cool. Thanks.

But the enclosure is dependent on what ports you need. So, which does your motherboard have, or would you like? USB 3.0, eSATA, Firewire 800, Firewire 400, USB 2.0 are your options, in order from fastest to slowest. The one I linked has USB 2.0 and eSATA, which gives you both an option for great speed, as well as an option for the best compatibility with other computers.

It has to be something compatible with USB 2 (IIRC this includes USB 3).

I also find that a lot of times, people who want an external HD don't really need one, and just want to expand the storage for their desktop. They don't plan to move it, or use it with another computer. They don't really realize how easy it is to just put another HDD inside their case. Not saying that's you, but if it is, think about just doing that. You can always buy an enclosure later.

I have a dell low profile case, it only supports one harddrive and it is close to impossible to move things like the motherboard to a new case. I also must have two harddrives for fairly obvious reasons so I can't just replace the one currently in there.

[Janette Segura]

That may be a good idea. I must admit I hadn't considered it until you pointed it out. I don't know about the quality of disks in the standard external harddrives, but I would imagine it isn't great?

Pretty much. They use cheap drives and generally poor enclosures that you can't usually remove the drives from without breaking the enclosure.

[Kathryn Medows]

I've had great experience with an Edimax card in the past, though the one I had was one of those old 54mbps ones. Here's a 300mbps one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315078

This just came in today. Replaced my old 54mbps one fine, Windows immediately detected the drivers. Not running at full 300mbps, only 270 but still good enough. Thanks for that recommendation.

[Elisabete Gaspar]

This just came in today. Replaced my old 54mbps one fine, Windows immediately detected the drivers. Not running at full 300mbps, only 270 but still good enough. Thanks for that recommendation.

Sure thing. :goodjob:

[JaNnatul Naimah]

Greetings techies!

My brother's computer has decided to do a poo and died, so we're looking for a new system for him. We're only looking for the tower itself and the operating system to go with it (preferably W7).

Money is tight at the moment to we're probably looking at a maximum cost of AUS$700-$800 including the OS. (yes, thats Australian dollars). We're not looking for a high-end gaming, just something workable that can play a few modern games fairly well as well as perform the basic Office functions.

Basically, I'm looking for build suggestions for this machine. In building my own system, I've had good experience with http://www.macotechnology.com.au/, so if its possible to have a build from parts they have available, it'd be fantastic. (They build the system for free and install your OS and anything else you need)

Thanks in advance.

[Jay Baby]

Is there any real difference between a HDMI cable(for 360) and a HD AV component cable(Xbox 360)? I might get a HDTV for christmas. thanks.

[Ownie Zuliana]

Yes, there's a big difference. This is a pretty good article on the subject:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html

[Ludivine Poussineau]

Greetings techies!

My brother's computer has decided to do a poo and died, so we're looking for a new system for him. We're only looking for the tower itself and the operating system to go with it (preferably W7).

Money is tight at the moment to we're probably looking at a maximum cost of AUS$700-$800 including the OS. (yes, thats Australian dollars). We're not looking for a high-end gaming, just something workable that can play a few modern games fairly well as well as perform the basic Office functions.

Basically, I'm looking for build suggestions for this machine. In building my own system, I've had good experience with http://www.macotechnology.com.au/, so if its possible to have a build from parts they have available, it'd be fantastic. (They build the system for free and install your OS and anything else you need)

Thanks in advance.

Might like this...


MOBO: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Motherboard&pd1=1&pd2=AMD%20DDR3&pid=3867
RAM: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Memory&pd1=1&pd2=4GB%20DDR3&pid=2397
OS: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Software&pd1=1&pd2=Operating%20System&pid=4098
PSU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Power%20Supply&pd1=1&pd2=Antec&pid=1280
HDD: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Hard%20disk&pd1=1&pd2=Samsung&pid=1290
DVD: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=CD.%20DVD&pd1=1&pd2=Samsung&pid=1717
CPU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=CPU&pd1=1&pd2=AMD&pid=3705
GPU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Video%20Card&pd1=1&pd2=HD5700%20Series&pid=1161
CASE: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Case&pd1=1&pd2=Antec&pid=3160

Comes in just under $800 AUD. If you need to save, the Athlon X2 255, 260, and 265 are also options from here:
http://macotechnology.com.au/pd6.asp?cat=CPU&pd1=1&pd2=AMD&pd3=&pd4=2&pd5=

For the video card, the Radeon 5670 is the next step down.

[Elizabeth Falvey]

Might like this...


MOBO: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Motherboard&pd1=1&pd2=AMD%20DDR3&pid=3867
RAM: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Memory&pd1=1&pd2=4GB%20DDR3&pid=2397
OS: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Software&pd1=1&pd2=Operating%20System&pid=4098
PSU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Power%20Supply&pd1=1&pd2=Antec&pid=1280
HDD: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Hard%20disk&pd1=1&pd2=Samsung&pid=1290
DVD: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=CD.%20DVD&pd1=1&pd2=Samsung&pid=1717
CPU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=CPU&pd1=1&pd2=AMD&pid=3705
GPU: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Video%20Card&pd1=1&pd2=HD5700%20Series&pid=1161
CASE: http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Case&pd1=1&pd2=Antec&pid=3160

Comes in just under $800 AUD. If you need to save, the Athlon X2 255, 260, and 265 are also options from here:
http://macotechnology.com.au/pd6.asp?cat=CPU&pd1=1&pd2=AMD&pd3=&pd4=2&pd5=

For the video card, the Radeon 5670 is the next step down.

Would it be possible to replace that HDD with a 500GB Samsung SATA II 3.0GB/s /7200rpm 16mb cache (or frankly, any other 320-500gb HDD. 1TB would just go mostly unused) and possibly get an Intel Dual Core instead? (I've heard Intel Dual Cores are just better, but I dunno if thats true)

[Sarah Unwin]

Would it be possible to replace that HDD with a 500GB Samsung SATA II 3.0GB/s /7200rpm 16mb cache (or frankly, any other 320-500gb HDD. 1TB would just go mostly unused) and possibly get an Intel Dual Core instead? (I've heard Intel Dual Cores are just better, but I dunno if thats true)

Better than Phenom IIs? Nah.

[MARLON JOHNSON]

Hello all,

I've got a question regarding setting up and partitioning a RAID 1 configuration. I have two 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda drives sitting next to me, and I should have no trouble installing those and setting up the raid as my motherboard manual explains what I need to know. As this is my first RAID setup of any kind I don't understand what I will need to do in order to end up with three partitions on each drive, and two OS's, while having everything mirrored.

Once I load up a partition editor will I need to partition each drive with my three partitions? Google results have been leaving me a bit puzzled.

Thanks for any input.

[Sammie LM]

Hi everyone. I'm planning on getting a new computer in the future, but I want to prevent the problems that happened to my old one. For instance, the power supply apparently overheated and ruined some pretty sensitive things inside. Should I keep a fan pointed at the tower? Should I buy cans of compressed air and regularly spray the inside? Also, can a new graphics card cause other parts of the machine to overheat? Any advice on how to keep the computer clean?

[NEGRO]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
Rosewill RX-358

I have taken a look, and Rosewill products aren't available over here

Does it matter about a fan? I would prefer not to have any extra noise so I am slightly leaning towards a fan-less aluminium case with a 5200RPM harddrive (WD Green?). (The main downside is that I then couldn't really use it as a primary harddrive in the future). The one thing is I can imagine the harddrive running quite a lot of the time and IDK if the lack of a fan would do anything significant to its lifespan. :shrug:

I seem to remember Dad had a external harddrive that would spin down after 10 minutes without any use. Is that the OS or the enclosure that does that. If the latter is that a fairly common feature of (￡15+) enclosures?

[Leticia Hernandez]

Would it be possible to replace that HDD with a 500GB Samsung SATA II 3.0GB/s /7200rpm 16mb cache (or frankly, any other 320-500gb HDD. 1TB would just go mostly unused) and possibly get an Intel Dual Core instead? (I've heard Intel Dual Cores are just better, but I dunno if thats true)

If you're talking about this one:
http://macotechnology.com.au/pd9.asp?cat=Hard disk&pd1=1&pd2=Samsung&pid=2109
Go ahead.

Should you go with the Phenom X2 555, you could potentially unlock it to be a tri-core or a quad with the motherboard I specced out. The Intel Core i3 530 is a little better at stock speeds than a stock X2 555, but does cost more. The Core i5 dual-cores are certainly faster, but again...costs more. An unlocked X2 555 can be almost on par with a Phenom X4 955BE and these chips overclock well too.

[Laura]

Is there any real difference between a HDMI cable(for 360) and a HD AV component cable(Xbox 360)? I might get a HDTV for christmas. thanks.

Eh a slightly better quality image and less cable management since its only a single cable. (Though if you use or plan to use Turtle Beaches on your Xbox, stick with the Component cables)