Random Technology Questions

[yoječ]

There is something to it and I'm not going to argue with that.

 

Again, all what I wanted to say that on paper there is not really a reason why newer OCZ PSUs would suffer for high capacitor failure rates, or just any defects for that matter. Of course ZS/ZT/ZX are relatively new, so it might take a while to get more information on failure rates. And since ZT and ZX are manufactured by an entirely different company (these are the only series done by Great Wall), comparing them to other OCZ PSUs seems a bit unreasonable - I mean, why would they suffer from the same issues when they are completely different?

Edited August 24, 2012 by yojo2

[DEALUX]

What internet connections\providers do you guys have? I hear (or rather see) quite frequently on this forum that most people have bandwidth caps and they pay a lot of money for their subscription.

 

My subscription is basically 6 Mbps download and I think 2 Mbps upload. No bandwidth cap and I pay around $30-40 including phone (fixed line) and digital video broadcast. Come to think of it, I can safely say there is no internet provider in my country with bandwidth caps.

 

I could get 100 Mbps internet for pretty much the same price in my country, though other providers may not be as reliable here. My current provider pretty much guarantees that I have that speed (6 Mbps) all the time.

[xI Jakk Ix]

I use Virgin Media and I get around 4MB/s at best. I think I have a 10GB download limit a month. I live in a rural area so I can't really get any better.

 

I have yet another question, sorry for the mass influx of my questions I am just quite worried about spending £470 on parts for my new PC when I've never built one before. My old monitor which I'm going to use, has only a VGA slot and a VGA-to-VGA cable. The motherboard I'm getting is an Asus with a VGA port. I'm not getting a GPU yet since I'm going to be using the Intel HD 4000 graphics on my CPU. Do I need to plug the VGA from my monitor into a video card or can I just plug it into the slot on my motherboard?

[yoječ]

If you're gonna use integrated video card, you should plug the cable to your motherboard - plain and simple.

[Luna Fortuna]

What is the difference between say a high end motherboard and a mid range one? I'm guessing it has better onboard sound and graphics but what else makes it worth the price?

[yoječ]

Better SATA/PCIe controllers, onboard Bluetooth/WiFi, more VRMs, better cooling, etc... there might be many various reasons.

[Luna Fortuna]

Better SATA/PCIe controllers, onboard Bluetooth/WiFi, more VRMs, better cooling, etc... there might be many various reasons.

Thanks for that just what I wanted to know.

[xI Jakk Ix]

What exactly does better SATA/PCI Controllers mean? Are they more reliable or faster, etc.?

[Stinky12]

I wouldn't say high-end board have better SATA/PCIe controllers, high-end board usually just have more.

e.g. A H77 board will be limited to 6 SATA ports and Z77 will have 8.

Another is PCIe lanes. H77 gives you x16/x4 , while Z77 gets you x8/x8/x4. Certain premium board will add a additional chipset to give more PCIe lanes and those give you x16/x16/x4

 

If one was to compare two high-end board between 2 different chipset, then buyers would want to know which is better, but if it's just comparing withing a single

chipset family, it really doesn't matter to much.

e.g. How is SATA performance between a Intel Z77 vs AMD 970FX?

[yoječ]

What I meant is that cheaper mobos might have only SATA2, not SATA3. I should probably have said "better chipset", not "better SATA controller", since it's mostly a matter of chipset. As for the PCIe - expensive mobos might have extra chips that will inrease the number of PCIe lanes (e.g. nVidia NF200).

 

The SATA performace itself should be very similar, although AMD controllers are allegedly much worse when dealing with RAID.

[Wolf68k]

The onboard audio might not be that different from a high-end, mid-end and low-end in some cases, more so if they are from the same mobo maker. But it might come with digital audio as well the normal PC audio ports.

However a high-end board does usually offer more and better overclocking abilities and features than the mid and low end boards.

[xI Jakk Ix]

One last question. If these are all the parts I'm going to buy, will I need any extra cables?

 

Intel 3570k

Asus P8Z77-V LX

Coolermaster Elite 431

4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz

Sony DVD-RW Drive

500GB Seagate HDD

650W Corsair TX650M

 

I've just seen people buying all the components for their PC then buying extra cables as well so I'm not sure if every single cable I need to build it is included or not.

[sivispacem]

You shouldn't need more cables- I only count 2 SATA devices and most motherboards come with 4+ cables, but why only 4GB RAM? 8GB is only marginally more expensive- £10 in the context of a ~£800 build, so it seems silly not to put more in when you can.

[DEALUX]

A weird thing is happening when I open a new empty tab on Firefox. I get directed to this silly search engine that was put there when I downloaded some app from CNET, which by the way I strongly recommend against using, because their installer will forcefully install crap you don't want regardless of the fact that you deselected them prior to installing the main app.

 

I have found an add-on that had something to do with that search engine and I have disabled it. I couldn't find a way to uninstall it. Is it possible that a disabled add-on might still affect my browser\be active?

[Crokey]

 

I have found an add-on that had something to do with that search engine and I have disabled it. I couldn't find a way to uninstall it. Is it possible that a disabled add-on might still affect my browser\be active?

It shouldn't affect it if disabled, I've got a few disable add-ons myself, but if you are concerned there should be a way to uninstall it. If you are using Firefox, then click Tools -> Addons then there should be a remove button next to the addon.

[DEALUX]

Strangely I cannot remove it (I have highlighted the add-on in question): http://i.imgur.com/b3N0w.png

 

[Crokey]

Strangely I cannot remove it (I have highlighted the add-on in question): http://i.imgur.com/b3N0w.png

Try going into your Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs, it's probably in there.

[DEALUX]

Found it, uninstalled it but still I get directed to that page when I open a new empty tab. The add-on doesn't appear in the extensions list anymore so I am really stumped as to how it can still direct me to that page without an extension.

[Crokey]

Check your homepage settings in Tools -> Options -> General.

[DEALUX]

No, it has nothing to do with that. If I press the plus button to open a new empty tab, that's when I get directed to the search engine.

[Crokey]

Open up a new tab and type in the Address bar about:config -> Click proceed/ok/whatever it is

 

Then search the following

 

browser.newtab.url

 

The Value should read

 

about:newtab

 

If it doesn't change it to about:newtab (Right Click -> Modify)

[DEALUX]

It worked. Thank you!

[Miro]

Okay so I'm going to install Windows 7. Are there any risks of doing that? Do I have to install anything else? I know that I'll be losing all my programs, but I have all DVDs and also setups. Plus the save games I have in C:\ will be moved in D:\ which I won't lose hopefully.

[Shiva.]

Okay so I'm going to install Windows 7. Are there any risks of doing that? Do I have to install anything else? I know that I'll be losing all my programs, but I have all DVDs and also setups. Plus the save games I have in C:\ will be moved in D:\ which I won't lose hopefully.

I'm sure, your computer's RAM is high but if it's low then, win7 won't be a good choice. Good to hear you have backup DVDs but make sure you scan them before you start the upgrade. Have fun with windows 7

[Wolf68k]

Are you going to do a fresh/clean install (required if you're currently on XP) or install over Vista (if that is what you have currently).

Just be sure to back up everything; pictures, music, video, documents. If you use Firefox or Chrome or whatever browser, make sure to back up your profile folder it will have your bookmarks and add-ons. If you use IE then make sure to back up your Favorites folder.

I would also suggest getting drivers for your hardware and back that up some place so you can get to it without any worries. Things like your moob's chipset, network card, graphics card and anything else. Make sure there are Win7 drivers and whatever version of 7 you're installing; 32-bit or 64-bit.

[Miro]

Well I thought of installing Windows 7 over Windows XP. I think there is a way to do that without losing what's in the other drivers than C:\. I have no problems about losing bookmarks, since I'm going to re-install Firefox anyway. I'm not sure if I need to get anything else updated at drivers, but I'm going to post my dxdiag PC specs.

 

 

Current Date/Time: Computer Name: Operating System: Language: System Manufacturer: System Model: BIOS: Processor: Memory: Page file: DirectX Version:

Thursday, August 30, 2012, 23:23:49 COMPUTER_1 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) English (Regional Setting: English) Gygabyte Technology Co., Ltd. M61PME-S2P Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG AMD Athlon X2 240 Processor, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz 2048MB RAM 614MB used, 3325MB available DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

 

Thank you.

[Los Santos Pedestrian]

I asked this about a week ago and it was never answered. So, naturally, I'll post again.

 

I'm going to switch computers from my cheap one with a 2.1 GHz processor to one with a 3.0 GHz one. The more powerful one has Windows XP. Should I keep XP, or upgrade to 7?

[yoječ]

Not enough information. What CPUs are these exactly and how much RAM do these PCs have?

[Los Santos Pedestrian]

 

Not enough information. What CPUs are these exactly and how much RAM do these PCs have?

The weaker one is an AMD Athlon 64 X2, and its socket type makes it really hard to find a powerful one that's compatible. That's why I'm doing this. The better one is a Pentium 4. My computer originally had 1 GB of RAM, and I bought two RAM cards to bump it to 3. The other computer has 2 already.

 

Also, if you need to know, I also have 1024 MB video card.

[yoječ]

Pentium 4 is actually worse, lol. Mainly because it's a single core CPU.

Also, this Athlon was most probably designed for an AM2 mobo, and lots of these mobos support AM3 CPUs (yep, even Phenoms II). Or is it Athlon 64 X2 for 939 socket?

Edited August 31, 2012 by yojo2