If you look at the link, the biggest takeaway is that the 950m comes in two flavors—GDDR3 or GDDR5—whereas the 960m only ships with GDDR5.
Are there differences between them? Sure. Is there a massive gap worth sweating over? Not really.
I also forgot to mention: if you aren't dead set on a Toshiba, take a look at some other laptops. You can find plenty of solid options for similar money, or even less. Check out these models here:
And honestly, just hunt for the best deals on Amazon.
By the way, do you think the 1060m will become cheap mainstream gear in a month and tank laptop prices? That would be nice... but it's probably a pipe dream. 🤷
You can definitely game on NVIDIA cards. Just hit up Notebookcheck and search for something like a GTX 950; you'll see exactly which games run and what kind of FPS you can expect.
Anyway, if money isn't an issue, that Toshiba is a beast. If you like it, stop overthinking and just get it...
Just make sure to double-check if that Toshiba "No Matter What" warranty deal is still active...
I’m not trying to say the repair shop is incompetent, but it’s pretty unheard of for both the graphics card and the hard drive to die at the exact same time... 🤷 I’ve been working with desktops and laptops for years now, and honestly, I can’t think of a single scenario or cause that would trigger a simultaneous failure like that...
Is this an authorized service center?
Obviously, you won't get anything out of the warranty, but swapping a hard drive is easy and cheap—it's the GPU that's going to be a headache. I don't know your specs, but from what I know, if your laptop only has one dedicated GPU, it’s basically non-replaceable. If it’s a high-end rig with dual SLI cards, we might have some options.
Either way, this sounds like a powerhouse machine, so it's worth the effort. Get your laptop back and take it somewhere else for a second opinion—find a reputable, highly-rated shop. Maybe find someone who can do a quick reballing on the spot to see if they can save the graphics chip...
Look, I’ll say it again: I’m not ruling out the possibility that their diagnosis is actually right. But if they’re telling you the whole motherboard needs replacing—along with the GPU, CPU, and maybe even the RAM—then yeah, the repair probably isn't worth the money...
Solid build quality, completely toolless, and comes with four decent 120mm fans that actually have potentiometers. It’s also got hotswap bays for 5.25" and 3.5" drives. Plus, you get two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports that aren't cramped together. The design looks a little old-school, but honestly, it works incredibly well.
These branded machines can be a total pain because they come with all sorts of proprietary restrictions that make installing anything a nightmare. Usually, you end up having to do a full system recovery just to get things moving. It really depends on which specific model you're dealing with, so find the exact model number and hunt for a tutorial on YouTube. I once spent way too much time struggling with an SFF unit like this—some of them even have these hardware modules you have to physically pull out before you can install a single thing...
What version of Windows are you running and what kind of Motherboard is in there? Give me the full specs and let me know what BIOS version pops up during boot...
8 GB of RAM is plenty for what you need, and honestly, throwing more memory at this thing isn't going to change a thing. If you actually want a faster Computer, you need to step up your processor and graphics card.
The Dell is actually pretty solid with its 3-year warranty. The HP Pavilion is decent too—has an IPS screen and a backlit keyboard. Then there's the Lenovo clamshell with the IPS touchscreen and backlit keys, plus it runs Windows (!). The HP is also a really good option, but honestly, my pick is the ASUS p because of that 3-year warranty, which even covers the battery (!)...
Look, you've got plenty of options here. Just decide what you actually care about. Even the weakest processor on this list will handle your basic tasks just fine. Sure, there's a difference in graphics performance, but since gaming isn't your main thing, I don't think that should be the deciding factor...
If you can't or simply won't bother with those, there's a basic tool built right into Windows. Just go to the drive icon, right-click, and run checkdisk. It won't cover everything, but it'll give you a decent baseline idea of what's going on with the drive.
Look, a hard drive is a delicate mechanical component. Eventually, things are going to start failing and performance will tank. Sometimes it’s fixable, but if you ignore the warning signs, things will only get worse until you're left staring at a dead drive and lost data...
Those specialized tools provide a ton of actual intel—total runtime, the specific condition of the internal components, and a rough estimate of how much life it has left in it...
First thing’s first: go ahead and run a health check on those drives using some decent freeware. You talking about a desktop setup—like an internal drive—or are we dealing with an external USB drive here?
The Zalman Z3 + already comes with three fans built in, so I'd say you probably don't need two more, IMO.
Tnx crimsonstag84 👍
I honestly thought there was only one version of this board and that our local retailers just made a typo, but I guess I was just rushing through it too fast...
Yeah, if DDR4 Z isn't as cheap as I originally thought, then it's definitely not worth the jump...
A Z series isn't strictly necessary since you aren't planning on overclocking, but honestly, the board is solid. It’s well-equipped, and that Z chipset gives you slightly better features and components—better price-to-quality ratio, more PCIe lanes, more USB ports, M.2, SATA Express, 8-channel HD audio... basically, if it were me, that's what I'd pick.
Like I said before, I'm pretty sure DDR3 is just a typo. If you look at the Gigabyte specs, there isn't even a board with that model number using DDR3; it clearly states DDR4.🤷
If you go with the Zalman Z3 + or the R1, you're getting a bundle of three solid 120mm fans, so you won't need extras. The Z9+ even comes with four fans and a temperature probe. Honestly, I’d rather you put that extra $67 somewhere useful (like grabbing a Western Digital Black with a 5-year warranty) or just save the cash.
As for the power supply, it's top-tier. It's modular, Gold certified, and carries a 5-year warranty 👍
Regarding the motherboard, here is what I would pick:
Just one heads-up: double-check which RAM is actually compatible. Both General Dynamics and Links list it as DDR3, but the manufacturer specs say DDR4. Usually, the manufacturer knows best, but who knows... 🤷
It's not coming from the sound card. That means your analog output is active—basically, it's stuck on headphones. Go into your playback devices and set the Intel HDMI audio as the default instead.
I’ve got an ASUS MA770-UD3 on one of my rigs that's acting up with USB devices. It's just this one machine out of all the ones I've worked on. You have to watch out for motherboard revisions; if a board is solid, they tend to keep producing it for a while, which is why you see those markings like Revision 2 near the edge of the PCB. I've had cases where the Revision 2 boards worked flawlessly, while the Revision 1.0 versions were nothing but trouble—usually specifically with USB connectivity. Different revisions use different components, which basically means the hardware capabilities change from one batch to the next.
As for this specific UD3, it’s hit-or-miss with USB 3.0 devices because it doesn't actually have full native hardware support. It’s a mess of variables: the BIOS, the controller, drivers, device firmware, or even just the cables if you're using them. Even the voltage the controller allows through the ports can screw things up. On some older boards, they use mixed controllers—one set for 1.0 and another for 2.0—so it really depends on which port you plug into. Try plugging a 3.0 device into a 1.0 port and see how much of a headache you have.
There are a few things you could try, swiftridge72—maybe flash the BIOS, wipe and reinstall the USB drivers, or mess around with the USB port settings in the properties menu. But honestly? Most of that is just a massive waste of time that rarely fixes anything. Though, hey, maybe you'll get lucky. 😬