Random Technology Questions

[Slamman]

I use Avira free after many good words from the users here for the most part, I tend not to burden a system with more then one, but if you're detecting trouble, then you should run more then one scanning tool! Use PrevX CSI as I mentioned, it's a great ACTIVE detector. updates nearly every time you reboot to scan for more updates, it's somewhat annoying but still fast at what it does.

 

As for the 512MB It'd assumed it COULD be density of the RAM they have been selling, but also wondering if it's particularly older chipsets in relation to the memory adoption?

 

 

Another issue I'm having at this very moment and unlikely to wait a day for help...is I ran a disc based XP Service Pack 3 stand alone update for a HDD with SP2, things were working well once some RAM was in that sped things up, however, it's seemingly frozen except for the keyboard with a "CLEANING UP FILES" message, it went installing SP3 for over an hour which worries me, it is just a case by case timed event that differs??

Edited August 23, 2011 by Slamman

[Slingaa]

Yeah it's me again, I'm thinking about getting this PC for general use and gaming, as I saw a review in my dad's PC magazine which is here. It says in the review it doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard, mouse or power cable.

 

What I'd like to know is what the hell is a power cable, how much they cost, how I'd get the PC to work and if there's anything else I need to use the PC. Thanks.

[sivispacem]

 

Yeah it's me again, I'm thinking about getting this PC for general use and gaming, as I saw a review in my dad's PC magazine which is here. It says in the review it doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard, mouse or power cable.

 

What I'd like to know is what the hell is a power cable, how much they cost, how I'd get the PC to work and if there's anything else I need to use the PC. Thanks.

It's the cable you plug into the wall socket to make it work, get one off Ebay for about 30p, and does it come with a copy of windows? Your link is playing up for me.

[Ryan]

Yeah it's me again, I'm thinking about getting this PC for general use and gaming, as I saw a review in my dad's PC magazine which is here. It says in the review it doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard, mouse or power cable.

 

What I'd like to know is what the hell is a power cable, how much they cost, how I'd get the PC to work and if there's anything else I need to use the PC. Thanks.

You should really contact that place you're buying the PC from. It seems really odd that it doesn't come with a power cable.

[Wolf68k]

If you're getting this to replace what you have now, you can use the power cable from the old system on the new.

[Slingaa]

If you're getting this to replace what you have now, you can use the power cable from the old system on the new.

I've got a laptop now, so I don't have a keyboard, monitor or a power cable, only a mouse.

[vertical limit]

I want to buy a new phone, but don't know which one to choose, I was kinda thinking of the Blackberry Torch or the IPhone 4.

[Wolf68k]

iPhone 5 is due out in a few months, so if you really want that then wait.

 

[sivispacem]

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Samsung Galaxy S2. I've got one, and it's brilliant. More processing power than my netbook, more RAM than any phone should ever need, and a world of applications that can be used on it. Granted, the iPhone 5 is probably going to be a fantastic piece of kit, but in the "stuff that's currently on the market" stakes it's basically untouchable. Somehow cheaper than the equivalent, prettier but less RAM/smaller screened HTC Sensation.

[Blaze]

 

 

I want one

[yoječ]

Meh... it's so over the top. Buying two GTX580s would be much cheaper (I think you'd save so much money that you could afford a proper LC), so there is really no point in buying Mars.

[OverTheBelow]

Meh... it's so over the top. Buying two GTX580s would be much cheaper (I think you'd save so much money that you could afford a proper LC), so there is really no point in buying Mars.

I think you can get tri-sli 580's for the same price as the Mars II.

[Finn 7 five 11]

Yeah it's me again, I'm thinking about getting this PC for general use and gaming, as I saw a review in my dad's PC magazine which is here. It says in the review it doesn't come with a monitor, keyboard, mouse or power cable.

 

What I'd like to know is what the hell is a power cable, how much they cost, how I'd get the PC to work and if there's anything else I need to use the PC. Thanks.

Looks very dodgy if you ask me, i would not buy it.

[sivispacem]

 

Meh... it's so over the top. Buying two GTX580s would be much cheaper (I think you'd save so much money that you could afford a proper LC), so there is really no point in buying Mars.

Then again, the standard GTX580 is basically superfluous unless you want SLI, as a pair of GTX560Tis is both cheaper and faster unless your looking at insane resolutions.

[OverTheBelow]

Meh... it's so over the top. Buying two GTX580s would be much cheaper (I think you'd save so much money that you could afford a proper LC), so there is really no point in buying Mars.

Then again, the standard GTX580 is basically superfluous unless you want SLI, as a pair of GTX560Tis is both cheaper and faster unless your looking at insane resolutions.

A single 580 doesn't suffer from microstutter, unlike any dual-card SLI solution.

[sivispacem]

 

Meh... it's so over the top. Buying two GTX580s would be much cheaper (I think you'd save so much money that you could afford a proper LC), so there is really no point in buying Mars.

Then again, the standard GTX580 is basically superfluous unless you want SLI, as a pair of GTX560Tis is both cheaper and faster unless your looking at insane resolutions.

A single 580 doesn't suffer from microstutter, unlike any dual-card SLI solution.

You see, every time I say "SLI" someone says "Microstutter". I spent about 5 years running a variety of SLI rigs, of various performances on various software and hardware bases, and I still don't really know what it refers to, let alone can convincingly say that I've actually experienced it. And this was at a time when the entire internet was a hive of activity in relation to the issue- not like now, when even those who used to rabbit on about the problem incessantly concede that it barely ever occurs. Personally, I'm convinced the entire thing is just a myth, especially seen as there is some convincing evidence to suggest that "microstutter" occurs on single GPU systems too.

[Finn 7 five 11]

Would a NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540 in a laptop (that i am looking to purchase) run most newer games on medium settings...BFBC2, Maybe GTA IV?

[OverTheBelow]

 

Would a NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540 in a laptop (that i am looking to purchase) run most newer games on medium settings...BFBC2, Maybe GTA IV?

It will do if the resolution is 1366x768. The card can also easily be overclocked to the next model up (gt 550m) with little temperature difference.

 

These GTA4 settings on patch 4:

deliver a solid 30fps most of the time with my GT 540m. When it doesn't, it's either raining (=heavy GPU load) or bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

Bad Company 2 also runs acceptably (>30fps) on medium-high with 8x CSAA.

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

Would a NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540 in a laptop (that i am looking to purchase) run most newer games on medium settings...BFBC2, Maybe GTA IV?

It will do if the resolution is 1366x768. The card can also easily be overclocked to the next model up (gt 550m) with little temperature difference.

 

These GTA4 settings on patch 4:

deliver a solid 30fps most of the time with my GT 540m. When it doesn't, it's either raining (=heavy GPU load) or bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

Bad Company 2 also runs acceptably (>30fps) on medium-high with 8x CSAA.

Alright, thanks, that should be adequate for some casual gaming, and the usual computing.

 

DO you know anything about the radeon HD 6670m?

Edited September 1, 2011 by finn4life

[OverTheBelow]

Both are good for casual gaming, provided you mean the 6570m (6670m doesn't exist, or i cant find any real benchmarks of it).

 

The performance of the 540M lies between the Radeon HD 5650 and 5730

 

I'd go with the Nvidia one though purely because it performs better, can be overclocked to the GT550m and it has CUDA and Physx (which also works surprisingly well with this card).

 

Dirt 3 runs at 60fps on most maps with 4xAA on medium. High will run at 35-45fps with no AA. Dirt 2 is slightly less optimised, but I can still (just about) maintain 60fps on most maps on medium 2xAA. Just Cause 2 gets around 50fps average with FXAA and most options on medium or off. Still looks gorgeous though.

 

If you want, name a game and I'll tell you how it runs on the GT 540m first-hand (if I have the game).

Edited September 1, 2011 by OverTheBelow

[killa kali]

About 4 days ago i downloaded something and it's making my computer lag all around. Anybody got a guide on how to backtrack my machine to a certain date where everything worked just fine?

[OverTheBelow]

Tried System Restore? You should probably uninstall the thing you downloaded.

[killa kali]

I don't remember exactly what i downloaded. I wanted to get GIMP/Paint.net running and it followed me thru steps on what to download but I was blown outta my mind at the time and don't quite remember what i did lol.

[Kweckzilber]

Look through the entire Add/Remove Programs list to see if anything clicks.

 

You can also try a search on your Program Files directory for files created recently.

[Exxon]

Does Space Engine 0.94 work on Intel GPU's?

My sister has a laptop with and i3 2.13 GHz and GeForce GT330m and the game only shows black screen.

Could it be that the GPU is still the Intel one instead of the GT330m?

And also, can MW 2 be played on Intel?

[OverTheBelow]

 

Does Space Engine 0.94 work on Intel GPU's?

My sister has a laptop with and i3 2.13 GHz and GeForce GT330m and the game only shows black screen.

Could it be that the GPU is still the Intel one instead of the GT330m?

 

Yes. Open up Nvidia control panel, create a new profile with the Space Engine EXE and set it to default to "High Performance NVIDIA Card".

 

 

 

And also, can MW 2 be played on Intel?

Not very well.

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

Both are good for casual gaming, provided you mean the 6570m (6670m doesn't exist, or i cant find any real benchmarks of it).

 

The performance of the 540M lies between the Radeon HD 5650 and 5730

 

I'd go with the Nvidia one though purely because it performs better, can be overclocked to the GT550m and it has CUDA and Physx (which also works surprisingly well with this card).

 

Dirt 3 runs at 60fps on most maps with 4xAA on medium. High will run at 35-45fps with no AA. Dirt 2 is slightly less optimised, but I can still (just about) maintain 60fps on most maps on medium 2xAA. Just Cause 2 gets around 50fps average with FXAA and most options on medium or off. Still looks gorgeous though.

 

If you want, name a game and I'll tell you how it runs on the GT 540m first-hand (if I have the game).

Sorry i meant 6770m, it does exist, it seems to be rather unknown though.

Here are some laptops i was looking at.

 

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/ho/WF...12-5131524.html

 

The actual price at the store (I went and had a look) is like $1050 Australian.

-HD Radeon 6770m 2gb.

-2.0GHZ i7 turbo boost to 2.9ghz

-1tb 5400rpm drive.

8gb ram

There is another model which is slightly more expensive only differences are

-HD Radeon 6770m

-1gb Graphics

- 750gb Harddrive 5400rpm.

8gb ram

And it is 2.2ghz to 3.3ghz i7.

 

According to this benchmarking website http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html, the 6770m gets a much higher score.

It gets 1,447 on the test whereas the GT550m which the GT540m is ocable to gets 791.

 

This is a samsung with the gt540m specs it is a pretty similar price, and it has better looking design, and i a personally a large fan of samsung.

 

 

http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/pc-peri...b=specification

 

-2gb GT540m

-750gb HDD 5400rpm

-6gb ram

- i7 2.0ghz Turboboost to 2.9ghz.

 

 

Basically it comes down to the Graphics cards, the rest i don't really care it is basically on par.

 

Aside from the benchmark here is Notebook check review of 6770m

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD...0M.43955.0.html

.

-480 unified pipelines

-725mhz core clock

-725mhz shader clock

- memory clock 1600mhz

-128bit

 

and AMD official website this combines 6600 and 6700 series together though

 

http://www.amd.com/us/procoeducts/notebook...0m-6600m.aspx#3

 

-engine/core clock 500mhz 725mhz

- memory clock 800mhz to 900mhz (conflicts with notebook check)

-memory bandwidth 51gb/s to 57gb/s

 

----------------------------------------------

 

 

and here is the gt 550m notebook check wesbite

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForc...0M.42264.0.html

- 96unified pipelines

-Core clock, 740MHZ

- Shader clock 1480mhz

- Memory clock 900 MHZ

- 128bit

 

 

and the official website

 

http://uk.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpu.../specifications

-Processor clock, 1480MHZ

- Memory clock - 900mhz

- 128bit

-96 CUDA cores

- 28.8 gb/s memory bandwidth.

 

As you can see there is some confusing/conflicting information, and i have to overclock the 540m if i want to achieve the results above, the 6770 has more pipelines, and more bandwidth, that is confirmed on both websites.

 

I will attempt to find other sources to see which specs are the correct ones.

Edited September 3, 2011 by finn4life

[OverTheBelow]

Out of all 3, in terms of raw performance for the money, this one you listed is best:

 

The actual price at the store (I went and had a look) is like $1050 Australian.

-HD Radeon 6770m 2gb.

-2.0GHZ i7 turbo boost to 2.9ghz

-1tb 5400rpm drive.

8gb ram

You should be careful buying it at the store since these brands usually make several different versions of these laptops - you may be looking at a much weaker model in-store which explains the price difference. Like you said, the GT 540m laptop probably has Optimus, which isnt perfect (sometimes you need to manually add games to work with the dedicated GPU) but it helps alot with the battery life when you're not gaming.

 

Looks to be a decision between slightly better graphics performance (~5fps difference in many games) or better battery life.

 

--

Scroll right down to the bottom and see the differences in gaming benchmarks. It's your decision at the end of the day. The 6770 is probably the better performer overall.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD...0M.43955.0.html

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForc...0M.42264.0.html

Edited September 3, 2011 by OverTheBelow

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

Out of all 3, in terms of raw performance for the money, this one you listed is best:

 

The actual price at the store (I went and had a look) is like $1050 Australian.

-HD Radeon 6770m 2gb.

-2.0GHZ i7 turbo boost to 2.9ghz

-1tb 5400rpm drive.

8gb ram

You should be careful buying it at the store since these brands usually make several different versions of these laptops - you may be looking at a much weaker model in-store which explains the price difference. Like you said, the GT 540m laptop probably has Optimus, which isnt perfect (sometimes you need to manually add games to work with the dedicated GPU) but it helps alot with the battery life when you're not gaming.

 

Looks to be a decision between slightly better graphics performance (~5fps difference in many games) or better battery life.

 

--

Scroll right down to the bottom and see the differences in gaming benchmarks. It's your decision at the end of the day. The 6770 is probably the better performer overall.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD...0M.43955.0.html

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForc...0M.42264.0.html

Yeah having a look there isn't really a huge difference, with the less graphics intensive the 550 gets more

the more graphics intensive the 6770m performed better, but either way it wasn't a whole lot.

 

Because i would have to overclock the the 540, and the PC comes with 8gb and a slightly larger drive, i guess i will go for the HP, which is a shame, because i really do like the Samsung's design, and the HP up and down keys are stupidly small even though the rest of the keyboard has largish keys, and they are very well spaced (around 1-2millimetres apart), which didn't they simply reduce the spacing slightly and half a millimetre per key would have allowed adequate room for proper up/down keys, but i guess if the arrows are such an issue a separate keyboard may be in order.

I don't see myself purchasing these right away anyway, it might be a month or two, so maybe a new model Samsung will come out.

 

I did check out dell, they have a build your own custom laptop online, which is quite good, but i don't trust dell they seem to f*ck up their PC's with a combination of retarded software/firmware and weird custom parts plus a sh*tty PSU's, or so i have experienced and heard with ventures involving dell.

 

Do you have any experience with them Over?

Edited September 3, 2011 by finn4life

[OverTheBelow]

All I know about Dell is they overprice their stuff skyhigh and yes, generally have low quality PSUs.

 

Regarding the graphics, don't forget that you can also overclock the 6770 as well, and don't forget that the GT 540m is the only one with Physx and CSAA. CPU Physx never works smoothly.

 

I don't see why you dont just get a desktop if you don't care about battery life. You'll get much better components and graphics performance for the money.