Posts by David Morris13

Look, folks, let's stop the guesswork and actually listen to what the experts have to say—especially regarding that final conclusion.

wiredotter14 said:It really depends on what you're planning. If you don't have a set path yet—say, if you're thinking about jumping to a brand new platform with a beefier GPU like an RTX3070 or even higher—then aiming for 600W is a smart move; otherwise, 500W should be just fine.

But honestly, the bigger issue here is that finding all those specific power supplies you mentioned can be pretty tough in $133...
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While the EVGA 650 G3 Gold, FSP Hydro, Hyper, CX600, or the Seasonic S12 are all solid units, you really need to factor in whether they still carry a warranty and things like that...

Since these are all used, the price point fits perfectly within my budget. Whether they come with a warranty or not doesn't change much for me at this stage. Either way, thanks so much for the advice! 🙂

wiredotter14 said:I’d honestly rather just go with something new starting at 500W—why do you feel like you need 600W?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HEXA+PRO+500W

My plan is to build a PC that I can actually upgrade down the road without having to rip out the power supply all over again... so I want enough headroom to breathe. That's why I'm looking at a minimum of 600W.

Hey everyone, I'm looking to pick up a new power supply for my rig. Since my budget is a bit tight right now ($133), I've decided to hunt for something used—provided it hits at least 600W. I've put together a list of the units I've come across that look decent to me, so if anyone could help me narrow this down to a top 5, I'd really appreciate it.

Riotoro 600 w Builder edition
Kolink Classic Power 700 w bronze
EVGA 600BQ bronze
EVGA 600BR bronze
EVGA 650 G3 Gold
Seasonic S12II 620 w bronze
Zalman ZM700-GV
Zalman ZM700-LX
Zalman ZM700-TX
FSP Hyper 600
FSP Hydro 700
Corsair CS750M
Corsair GS600
Corsair CX600 bronze
Enermax ELT620AWT

In case you need my current specs:
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5
Intel Core 2 quad Q9650
Gigabyte GTX 660
Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 2 x2GB
Black Series DDR2 F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B 2 x2GB

Thanks!

Larry Ortiz5 said:Uh, look... I know I probably won't be much help here, but if you want my two cents, just grab a better motherboard that actually supports AHCI. An SSD isn't really designed to run in IDE mode—it’s just not how they're built—and besides, you won't get that full performance; the drive just won't be able to "breathe" properly and won't hit its 100% potential.

The PC is ten years old at this point, so there's really no sense in dumping money into it right now. It'll carry me through for maybe another six months, and then I'll either pick up a new desktop or just go with a laptop.

Christian Torres3 said:You’ve got a bit of a situation on your hands here—but don't worry, if you check the manual for that specific board, it actually lays everything out for you... It turns out that hard drives running in either RAID or AHCI mode simply aren't supported... which is a bit of a headache if you were planning on using them.

Thanks so much.

Hey everyone, I’ve run into a bit of a headache here:

I'm trying to get Windows installed on my new SSD, and once that's all set up, I really want to switch over to AHCI mode in the BIOS to make sure the drive is actually running at its full potential... but for some reason, I just can't find the option anywhere in the settings. Is it actually possible for a BIOS to be missing this feature entirely? I did try to troubleshoot by running the official Gigabyte updates, but every single time I attempt to launch them, the installer just crashes immediately... it's incredibly frustrating. I even tried messing around with the registry to force it, but Samsung Magician keeps flagging me, telling me that AHCI mode isn't active yet. My motherboard is a GA-P31-S3G—here is a shot of what my BIOS screen looks like:

Hey there!

So, I’ve got a Razer DeathAdder and one of the wires just snapped right off that little green circuit board next to those two thumb buttons. I tried my hand at soldering it myself, but honestly, I didn't have much luck—I think I actually damaged the traces 😵 which means those buttons might be dead for good now.
Since finding specific replacement parts for this model is basically impossible, I was thinking about picking up a used Logitech Master Series mouse since it's practically identical to the Razer DeathAdder. My plan would be to scavenge the circuit board from that one and take it to a repair shop to have them solder it properly. My question is: would that even work, considering the parts would be coming from a different series? Also, does anyone know of a reliable electronics repair shop in the Los Angeles area that handles this kind of specialized work?

thanks 🙂

Hey everyone!

My laptop keyboard is getting pretty old, and a few of the keys have finally given up the ghost—they just don't respond anymore. I'm trying to figure out where I can actually track down a replacement keyboard for this specific model... I've been browsing eBay, but it seems like everything available is laid out for the UK, German, Spanish, or French markets. I really need to find one configured for the US layout so all my standard keys are exactly where they should be. Does anyone know a reliable spot where I can pick one up here in the States?

It actually worked using that program you suggested. Thanks a ton!

I am a little baffled, though—why didn't Norton flag this at all?! I mean, I’m usually pretty careful about what I download, where I’m getting my files from, and which sites I end up browsing...

But hey, the issue is sorted now, so thanks again.

Hey everyone!
I'm running into a bit of a headache with Windows 7 and could really use some advice. Everything was running perfectly until a couple of days ago... now, when I boot up my PC, I get to the desktop, but there isn't a single icon in sight—aside from the usual My Computer and Recycle Bin—and nothing will actually open. I can move my mouse around the desktop just fine, but clicking on a program does absolutely nothing. I even tried hitting Alt+Ctrl+Del to bring up a new task, but it won't even give me the option to select one. If I try to shut down the PC through the menu, it just hangs on the "Logging Off" screen forever... it's completely frozen. From what I've gathered online, a full reinstall of Windows might fix this, but I'd really love to avoid going through all that trouble if possible. Does anyone know of another way to troubleshoot this?

I managed to get this post written and uploaded a screenshot since I'm currently running in Safe Mode.

Here is what the screen looks like when I boot up normally: http://tinypic.com/r/24guh7a/8