Posts by Benjamin King2

It doesn't necessarily mean the thing is completely fried—it might just be failing to push enough juice to all your components. That is, assuming there's actually an issue with it to begin with. Which is why I’m telling you to swap it out and test a different one; you have to play the substitution game if you ever want to pinpoint which specific part is acting up.

Look, you should probably grab a different power supply from a friend or somewhere else just to test things out—and while you're at it, double-check all those connectors running from the PSU to the motherboard to make sure they're actually seated properly. The PC will still attempt to fire up even without a CPU installed, so that really narrows it down: the issue is either sitting in your power supply or it's a problem with the motherboard itself.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-listing-example

Vegas generally plays nice with GeForce cards—it just works—whereas you tend to run into all sorts of driver headaches and hardware acceleration issues when dealing with Radeon setups. Now, if we’re talking raw gaming power, that GTX 660 is going to hold its own better, but for the 2 GB version, you're looking at shelling out an extra $50 or so more than what this guy is asking on Craigslist. So, yeah, just weigh your options and see which deal actually makes sense for you.

CPU, motherboard, and RAM combo - $1200
Case - $250
GPU - maybe $200 to $250
Hard Drive - $300
SSD - $500
DVD drive - $80
Windows - $700+$267 (do you actually have the install media handy?)

Jesse Lopez83 said:Feel free to hit me up in the comments or just give me a call through my Craigslist ad—I’ll be posting it shortly.

Hey, don't even think about dropping any Craigslist links here—that's strictly against the rules. Just head over to the Hardware Marketplace in the Classifieds section and start a thread there for your sale.

Sam Anderson13 said:Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E motherboard (it's got 4 DIMM slots, tops out at 8GB RAM)
RAM: 1 stick of 1GB TwinMOS DDR2 PC2-5300

The system just won't boot whenever I try to pop in another stick—honestly, I have no clue what's clashing here.

It’s a motherboard issue, right?

Or maybe the RAM itself is the culprit? What are the actual specs on that problematic module? It should be right there on the sticker somewhere.

Motherboard and processor combo - $67
RAM - $50
Storage - 70-$27

Do you have the exact same hair situation as Thomas in post #467? 😁

Lawrence Cruz30 said:About 80% of the time I’m just surfing the web—the other 20% is watching movies or doing stuff in the office. I don't care about gaming at all. If I could actually swing an extra $3,000, I’d toss in some more cash and grab a $4,000 laptop instead. Reliability and longevity are the big things for me. Since I dropped $5,000 on my current setup three years ago, I honestly assumed laptops had finally caught up to the performance of old-school desktops by now. 🤷

Try having three beers first and then we can talk. That monitor alone is worth $800-$300, so you’d need to find another $2,000 just to cover the rest of the specs. Honestly, you aren't going to get anything "extraordinary" for $4,000—that's pretty much just standard mid-range pricing these days. And as for reliability and durability? Well... if you drop it, you drop it. There are no guarantees in life.

Douglas Barnes35 said:So, I've been messing around with this laptop HP630 Proc lately—just one of those things that sits on the desk and makes you wonder why we ever thought these things were the pinnacle of mobile computing—and honestly, it’s a trip. It’s got that specific kind of build quality that feels both sturdy and strangely flimsy at the exact same time, if that makes any sense? Anyway, just some thoughts on the hardware.
Specs: Intel Core I3 CPU m 380
2.53GHz—just sitting there. Simple, right? Just a number on a spec sheet. But when you're staring at it, wondering if it’s actually going to pull its weight or just choke the second you open more than two tabs in Chrome... well, that's where things get interesting.
4GB of RAM—yeah, that’s the number we're looking at. Just a baseline, really.
So, I’ve been messing around with the Radeon HD 6370 m Star lately—just one of those things you pick up and realize how much "modern" tech actually relies on aging silicon—and honestly, it’s a trip. It’s not exactly going to win any awards at a gaming convention, obviously, but for certain tasks? It gets the job done without throwing a tantrum. It’s just... fine. If you have realistic expectations, it’s fine. If you’re expecting it to run the latest AAA titles like they were designed for a high-end rig, well, you're going to have a bad time. But hey, that's life, right? Just some thoughts while I tinker.
It’s been a whole year. A full, entire year.
What kind of cash am I looking at for this thing?

Maybe $2,000—or maybe even a couple hundred more than that. Did you actually pick that up brand new just last year? I'm only asking because, honestly, a model running a processor like that is probably closer to two or three years old by now.

Lawrence Cruz30 said:Could use some eyes on this—is it actually worth selling? This rig is over three years old now, and honestly, I’m thinking about just offloading it to fund a new laptop instead. What do you guys think?

So, here’s the breakdown on this setup—the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P running an AMD 770 + SB710 chipset. It’s an AM3 board, which was pretty much the standard back in the day, and it features 6xSATA ports with RAID support and uses DDR3 memory. Just thought I'd lay the specs out there for anyone looking at this particular configuration.
So, I've been looking at this AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black edition—the kind you get in the BOX—and honestly, it’s a bit of a classic. It runs on the AM3 socket, which is pretty straightforward if you're building around that platform. Just a solid, no-nonsense chip for anyone trying to put together a rig without overcomplicating things.
So, I’ve got my hands on this DDR3 4GB kit from Kingston—it's the 2x2GB setup, running at 1333MHz with CL9 latency (specifically that KVR1333D3N9K2/4G model)—and honestly, it’s just one of those standard, reliable pieces of hardware you pick up when you aren't looking to break the bank. It’s nothing flashy, obviously—no extreme overclocking magic here—but for a basic build, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Just solid, predictable memory.
The XFX HD5770—comes with 1GB of DDR5, an HDMI port, two DVI outputs, and a Display Port... plus DirectX 11 support. It’s basically the standard setup you'd expect.
Western Digital 500GB hard drive—specifically the 5000AAKS model—running on SATA II with a 16MB buffer. It’s a 7,200 RPM driver with an 8.9 ms seek time. Just some straightforward specs for the record.
So, I've got this Corsair 400W power supply—part of that CX Series CMPSU-400CX EU line—with a standard 12cm fan. It’s just sitting here, nothing flashy, just a solid little unit.
So, I’ve got this LG GH22NS DVD burner sitting here—it's a DVD±RW drive, if you care about that kind of thing—and it handles 22x DVD±R, 8x DL, and 40x CD-R. Just thought I'd put that out there.
The CoolerMaster Elite 332—it’s that sleek black and silver combo—measures in at roughly 191mm wide, 421mm high, and 484mm long. Just some quick specs if you're looking to see if this thing actually fits on your desk without taking over the whole room.
So, I've got this 22" Samsung SyncMaster 2220LM sitting here—just a standard monitor, nothing too wild—but it’s definitely one of those pieces that makes you think about how much hardware changes. It’s just a screen, really, but sometimes you find yourself staring at these older panels and wondering if they actually hold up better than the cheap plastic junk we see everywhere now. Anyway, just putting it out there.

It really all boils down to what you actually plan on doing with the thing—because let’s be real, if you're looking at that price point, you're basically picking up a machine with significantly weaker performance compared to what you could snag for around 3,000 bucks.

Every manufacturer builds their own proprietary toolkit—so honestly, just pick the one made specifically for your drive.

Amanda Lee42 said:What else could cause those files to hang during expansion besides overheating, AHCI issues, or faulty memory?

Grab a Microsoft bootable disc and run some disk diagnostics—it’s probably the easiest way to see what's actually going on. While you're at it, just run MemTest to rule out the RAM entirely. The thing about Live OS environments is they use next to nothing when it comes to memory usage; it's totally possible your RAM is "fine" enough to boot a lightweight live environment, but fails miserably once you try to load anything substantial.

It shouldn't be clearing anything out—honestly, it sounds like your port is just acting up. Try swapping it over to some other USB ports and see if that fixes it.

Then you’re going to have to hit the road.

Personally, I’d suggest he just goes with a P-series processor—it's a solid choice—but unfortunately, it isn't showing up on the CPU support list.

Motherboard:
RAM:
SSD: (they cost about half as much—around $250+)

3470 versus 3570—it’s basically a toss-up.

Steven Fowler12 said:How long does a low-level format actually take on a 2TB hard drive? I remember once needing to reformat a USB stick—just a simple task, right?—but I ended up having to use some specialized deep low-level formatting tool, and that tiny 32GB stick took basically all day. If I recall correctly, it was about 23 hours...

What on earth are you talking about with this "low-level format" nonsense? Just do a standard format on your system partition and call it a day. There aren't any "leftover scraps" hiding there.

CPU - $250
Motherboard - roughly $400
GPU - about $200
Case - $400

Cooling? That’s a tough one—depends entirely on how much you're actually willing to shell out for it. 🙂

You could always just grab this one too—honestly, you aren't going to notice much of a difference with the pricier speakers unless you're counting an extra 1W of power as a massive upgrade. 🙂

http://www.amazon.com/speakers-audio-systems