Posts by darkowl72

Jeremy Hayes5, sorry, but we aren't mind readers here... we only know what you actually type out... so just say what you mean

Sometimes yes, sometimes no (based on my own experience), which is why I said it that way...

$23? Pure madness... that’s easily an hour of work plus dealing with their thermal paste... you actually came out ahead, which is honestly impressive if you ask me... 👍

I'm sure they have some... from what I've seen, the guys there are solid and actually know their stuff, though it wouldn't surprise me if they charge a premium just to drive out to Chicago for every little screw-up. 🙂

Those coolers are top-tier, so don't even sweat it... honestly, they're probably the only decent thing left in Indianapolis, or anywhere else in this part of the Midwest, once you head west from the main drag towards the outskirts...

Look, Green hit the nail on the head... I'm totally with him on this. Just head over to Best Buy and ask them how much they'd charge to install: and Both of those would fit your current setup perfectly. They should have them in stock, and since they aren't exactly slammed right now, you could probably get them installed in a day or two.

Anyway, you should know your monitor size—whether it's 19", 20", 22", etc. As for resolution, just check your display properties or your GPU settings; it'll show something like 1024x768, 1600x900, or 1680x1050.
Regarding the power supply, honestly, if you aren't changing anything else, it doesn't really matter. But if you want to be sure, check the spec sheet to see if there's one +12V rail or two (like +12V1 and +12V2) and look at the amperage listed under each... specifically how many watts it puts out on those +12V rails.

But again, the PSU isn't the issue here. Just swap out the coolers on the GPU and the CPU and the whole thing will be silent.🙂

Alright... 👍

Getting it fixed by a shop is easy enough... though if you’ve got a buddy who knows his way around hardware, it’ll be way cheaper than paying a pro... you just have a bad approach here. 🙂 You're leaving way too much room for error when picking a technician. 🙂🙂🙂🙂 Just lay it all out clearly for me... I need to know your CPU, how much RAM you're running, what kind of power supply (brand included) and its wattage, plus what resolution you actually play at... also, does your case have any extra fans, and is your current GPU doing the job for you, noise aside?

Once we've nailed down those specs, then you head into a shop and ask: "How much to upgrade X, Y, and Z?" Use that to hunt for a mechanic who isn't going to rip you off. If you walk in there saying you've got a thousand bucks to spend, just be ready to walk out with a thousand-dollar bill. 😂

The Sapphire HD 3870 is hands down the best ATI card I've ever put through its paces. It actually holds its own against the 8800GTS 640MB, though in my book, that card still misses the mark of being truly elite. This card did extremely well in 3DMark06, consistently beating the 8800GTS across every resolution—and the gap only widened as the resolution climbed. Honestly, I haven't seen a GPU perform this well at high resolutions before. In the 1680 x1050 setting, the Sapphire HD 3870 never dipped below 46 FPS during gaming tests. What really surprised me was the thermals; it sat at a cool 48 Celsius while idling and only hit 60 Celsius under 100% load. Even when pushed to the limit, I couldn't hear the HD 3870 over my CPU cooler. I did notice that right when I power up the PC, the card's fan spins like crazy for about a second, making a loud noise. It didn't bother me one bit, though. A moderator from The Sapphire forums told us it’s totally normal—just a quick Power-On Self-Test. Taking the card apart was a breeze, and swapping in my own thermal paste was even easier. That’s a huge plus if you're planning on slapping an aftermarket cooler on it. Usually, installing the display drivers for ATI has been a headache for me, but I didn't run into a single hiccup with this one. Plus, The Catalyst Control Center remains a solid tool for tweaking performance. With HDMI, DirectX 10, and HD support, this card covers all the bases, and at a $219.99 retail price, the value is insane. Definitely put this Sapphire HD 3870 on your Christmas sale wish list; it handles high resolutions like a champ and supports all the latest tech without breaking the bank.

Overclockers Club. Look, if this card is supposedly in the same league as the 8800 GTS, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to run every Call of Duty title out of the box. People keep telling me it isn't actually a loud card either—apparently, the fan only screams at 100% during the initial boot-up, but once you're actually gaming, it stays cool and the fan is barely even audible.

So, here’s what we can take away from all that:

Maybe you just got a dud that keeps pinning the fan at 100%. Try fixing that through The Catalyst Control Center or SpeedFan to get those RPMs down. Just keep an eye on your temps—use the numbers mentioned above as your baseline. If your temperatures start spiking wildly once you dial back the fan speed, let me know.

Either they shoved some refurbished card down your throat from a pile of returns where the fan's already dying and making a racket...

Look, here’s how you handle it: if the PC is still under warranty, just take it back to the shop and tell them it suddenly started making a ton of noise. Don't mention that it's been loud since day one. Just get them to swap out the GPU for you. If the warranty is expired, you've basically got two moves: either buy a new card or just fix the cooling on the one you have. Honestly, any decent cooling kit is going to cost way less than a whole new graphics card. If your current card is still performing well enough for you, upgrading the cooler is probably the smartest way to go.

If you're looking to swap out that GPU, the HD 4670 is technically an option since it’s stronger, but I wouldn't suggest it. Honestly, you should go for the HD 4830 instead. It sits right in that same price bracket—you can find it at Best Buy—and it's a significantly better card. The memory bandwidth is way higher thanks to that 256-bit bus, so you won't run into any issues running whatever games you throw at it. Plus, it runs cool and quiet. I actually picked one up for my son recently and I'm pretty happy with it. For the cash you're spending, it's easily the best bang for your buck, even if it isn't exactly top-of-the-line cutting edge stuff. I can't find anything using that search engine link. It looks like it's broken or just isn't pulling up any results.

Look, just to be safe, you should probably list out your specs first: what CPU are you running, how much RAM do you have, what kind of power supply are we talking about, and what resolution are you playing at? Before you make any final decisions, give me those details—it could totally change my recommendation.

And look, at the end of the day, you probably haven't even fixed your case airflow yet. It’d be smart to just slap a 120mm intake fan in the front and a 120mm exhaust in the back. That’ll seriously help the airflow and stabilize your temps if they actually are an issue—though I don't think they are right now. If you've got the rig sitting out on the desk with the side panel open, the fans should have already dialed back their RPMs. But hey, just something to keep in mind for later...

It’d be helpful if you actually specified which monitor and GPU you’re running... otherwise, we're all just playing a guessing game here. My best guess? You probably just need to install the proper drivers for both the card and the monitor, then your problems should clear up.

If by "mixer output" you mean an "aux in" or "line in," you can actually find that on certain Genius speakers... these ones are pretty decent:
or if you want something with more kick:

The first one has a 3.5mm stereo jack, while the second uses RCA cables: http://www.geniusnet.com/geniusOnlin...portlet-action

But, you want them to have USB too? Now there's the catch... I haven't seen any like that... or maybe I just don't know where to look.

Wait, you said it’s only a year and a half old? Then it should still be under warranty. As far as I know, Asus usually gives you a 36-month window on their gear...

Grab your phone or a camera and film the glitch happening in real time, then take it straight to an authorized service center. If you show them the video, they can't try to claim everything is working fine and pass the buck back to you. 🙂 Better to deal with this now while the warranty is actually active rather than waiting for it to die completely once you're out of luck...

Either EM interference, which the author even illustrated using their phone 🙂

If you've got a mess of cables or some kind of rectifier/charger sitting too close to your cable or monitor, that could be generating EM interference...

It’s weird, though... if you haven't been plugging random junk into your USB ports and everything was fine before, I don't see what else it could be besides the printer itself acting up.
Try uninstalling the driver, running a quick cleanup with something like CCleaner to wipe out any leftover junk, and then just reinstall everything from scratch following the manual...

Check the cable—make sure it actually says USB 2.0 on it. I once spent days losing my mind because both my printer and scanner were glitching out, only to realize I was using an ancient USB 1.1 cable...

If none of that works, then yeah—it's time to head to the repair shop...

That’s the right way to look at it. You set a budget, find some decent branded scanners that hit your requirements, and call it a day. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

Both Canon and HP make solid gear...

I’m using an Epson FastFoto and I’m happy with it. I don't do anything crazy intensive, and the landscape orientation works fine for me. It comes with a slide adapter and a user-friendly software bundle that's great for people who just want things to work out of the box, though you can still dive into the manual settings if you need to. It’s fast enough for my needs, and honestly, I’m done looking.

Man, if I remember right—and it’s been a long time—it might not even be a breakdown... It really just comes down to whether the fix costs more than the actual hourly rate... 😍

Look, there isn't much smart advice to give here... everything is playing out exactly like you said... 🙂

Fixing an old one? I wouldn't bother... most crucial printer components have been made of cheap plastic for years now that wears down instantly. They intentionally shorten the lifespan of modern printers so you're forced to buy a new one almost immediately after the warranty expires... so I honestly think those $100 would be a total waste of money very quickly...

Before you go out and buy some new inkjet, do your homework on the ink costs... if you don't want to deal with refilling them yourself, there are services that do it for you; I use one particular shop.. 🙂 Refilling an HP Photosmart runs me about 20 and $10 (for black and color) and I'm perfectly fine with that...

For high-volume printing, though, I use a Brother laser (picked it up at Walmart 😍 for $100, and it came with a 3-year warranty) and I get my toner refilled at that same spot... but that's only because I need volume sometimes and color other times... if you truly never need color, buying a cheap laser and just refilling the toner is the winning move...

I didn't tag @ because I thought it was obvious 🙂

So, Terry Wilson3: yeah, I'm talking to you... 🙂

👍 A ton of effort went into this. It’s one of those rare projects that actually makes it to the finish line instead of being abandoned the second things get difficult.

Massive respect!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

There’s definitely a difference...