Posts by mellowsurfer59

How much life do you think is left in that toner? If we're looking at a usage rate of about 250 pages a month, I’d say we're in pretty good shape.

I'm not quite following you—what kind of prints are you referring to?

We typically print somewhere between 200 and 300 pages a month. Our company handles property management, so we mostly just run off invoices for our clients, official memos, late notices, and similar paperwork. This usually happens within the first three business days of the month, and for the rest of the month, we just print the occasional document here and there.

For instance, I bought a laser printer for my own home use about five or six years ago for $200, and I still use it perfectly fine today. I haven't even had to swap out the toner yet! In that sense, a small, budget-friendly device is more than enough.

Hi there!

I was wondering if anyone could point me toward a good recommendation? I'm looking for a black-and-white laser printer for a small office setup, ideally something priced around $167.

Thanks so much!

My brother just called me while I was at work, sounding pretty stressed. He’s using an old Microsoft laptop running Windows 7, but when he powered it up this morning, Windows update suddenly kicked in out of nowhere. It started "configuring files for Windows 10 installation," and once that finished, he was hit with a blue screen stating the "Windows 10 upgrade" was underway. There isn't a single option to hit > or stop the process.

He has some incredibly important documents on that machine, so what should his next move be? Is it safe to perform a hard shutdown by holding down the power button?

I'd really appreciate some quick advice on this.

Alright, so here is my current setup:

- MSI B75 Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-3450, 3100 MHz
- Intel Panther Point B75, Intel Ivy Bridge
- 240GB SSD
- 650W Power Supply

Quick question: Is it actually worth investing in liquid cooling? Prices seem to range anywhere from $350 up to $167.

As for the case, I’m really feeling this one:

Oh, right! I almost forgot to mention that I've got a 240GB SSD in there. 🙂

I think I'll take your advice and stick with my current motherboard and processor instead of swapping them out.

My apologies for the bluntness of my previous post; I was struggling to recall the exact processor model.

To get back to the point, I’m running an Intel Core i5, paired with a 650W power supply.

The rig isn't strictly built for hardcore gaming, which is why I dropped about $600 on a new graphics card just two months ago.

However, I’m feeling incredibly cramped inside this case. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bit more breathing room? I really want something better organized. I saw some sleek, large cases in the future priced around $150 to $500, but I’m looking for something higher quality so I don't end up making a mistake. Since I'll be upgrading the case anyway, should I also grab a new cooling setup? It tended to run quite hot during the summer, and with this newer GPU, I'm worried the heat issues might actually get worse.

About two months ago, I picked up a new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970. Since my current rig was built about four or five years ago, the case is pretty basic—small and a bit cramped. I’m looking to do a modest upgrade to give it some breathing room.

I'm actually at work right now, so I can't check the exact motherboard model, but it's an ASUS Military Class board from about four or five years back.

My power supply is also relatively new; I grabbed it at the same time as the GPU. However, I am definitely interested in a new cooling setup.

So, here is my shopping list:

- A new case: something better, larger, and more spacious.
- Improved cooling solutions.
- Potentially a new motherboard? Honestly, this one still runs perfectly fine, so I'm not sure if it's worth throwing money away. I'd much rather put that extra cash toward a high-quality case.
- Maybe bumping up to 16 GB of RAM. I have 8GB now, which gets the job done, but I see there's a sale coming up at Best Buy for $200 for a 16GB kit.

My total budget is roughly 450 USD.

I'll probably be shopping at Best Buy.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

So, I headed down to the local computer shop today to get this checked out. The technician actually ran a diagnostic on their own rig using my card, and wouldn't you know it? It worked perfectly fine there. He suggested that the issue might be my power supply—which was honestly my first suspicion too—so I went ahead and picked up a brand-new one right then and there. Well, I just finished getting everything installed, powered up, and... nothing. Still nothing. Honestly, it makes you wonder if you can even trust your own instincts anymore.

So, I picked up an EVGA GeForce GTX 970 WF3 yesterday, but I’ve hit a bit of a snag—it just won't run.

Here’s what I'm working with:

- ASUS B75A-G43 (MS-7758)
- Intel Core i5-3450, 3100 MHz
- Intel Panther Point B75, Intel Ivy Bridge
- 240GB SSD
- XFX PRO550W Power Supply
- 8GB RAM

I'm honestly stumped on where things went wrong. I double-checked all my connections to make sure everything was seated properly, and the power supply should have plenty of headroom. I even tried using different cables from the PSU, making sure they were both firmly connected. Despite all that, the only thing showing up on my monitor is a single blinking line in the upper right corner.

To add to the mystery, my old GTX 660 ti is still working perfectly fine without any issues.

Is it possible that I just got a dud card?

I've gone ahead and updated my previous post regarding the power supply, which is an EVGA 550W.

Greetings to all you good people,

Here is my current PC build:

Motherboard:
- ASUS B75 Motherboard (MS-7758)
- QuadCore Intel Core i5-4590, 3100 MHz
- Intel B75 Chipset, Intel Haswell
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 750
- SSD OCZ-ARC100 240GB
- Power Supply: EVGA 550W

My rig is about three and a half, maybe four years old now. It’s been rock solid until recently, but now my graphics card has started acting up. My main game is Call of Duty: Battlefield; until just a few weeks ago, I was running it on Ultra settings without a single hiccup. However, lately, I've been hitting stuttering issues on Ultra, forcing me to drop down to High settings. It works for now, but is it really ideal? Not quite.

To make matters more interesting, I went out yesterday and picked up an incredible new monitor. I definitely overpaid for it, but it looks amazing! Now I'm worried that my visual performance might be even further limited by my current hardware.

So, why am I listing these specs? I'm looking for some compatibility advice. I'm planning to buy a new graphics card and I'm ready to spend up to $833, but I'm genuinely unsure if a new card will be too powerful for this specific setup. Is it actually worth upgrading just the GPU, or am I eventually going to have to bite the bullet and buy an entirely new computer? I would dearly love to avoid the latter option if possible.

Thank you all in advance for any help you can provide.

Thanks so much for the advice. I've decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the OCZ ARC model.

If you were stuck choosing between these two options—same capacity, different brands, and one comes with a higher price tag:

Oh, that sounds wonderful... perfect for $323.

Thanks so much. 🙂

Right now, I'm running a 120 GB Kingston SSD. It’s actually a solid little drive, but it’s proving to be way too small for my needs. Once I load up Battlefield 4 along with a few other programs, I'm basically redlining my storage capacity. I think it's definitely time to upgrade to something with at least 240 GB of space.

I realize that moving up in capacity usually means paying a premium, but does anyone happen to know where I might find a decent deal for under $333?

For instance, would this be a smart move? I'll admit, I've never even heard of this particular brand before, and I'm certainly no hardware expert. Surely there are some tech enthusiasts here who can weigh in on their reputation?

I really appreciate any advice or help you all can give me.

Just wanted to drop a quick note here in case anyone was wondering. I was over in Canada recently and managed to pick up $250 in cash at the local post office—that happened to be my daily limit on my American Express card.

Hi there!

I’m looking for some clarification regarding cash advances using my American Express cards while traveling abroad.

To give you some context, I hold two different American Express cards from JP Morgan Chase—one is the premium version with the heart design, and the other is the standard green one. Both cards have a specific cash withdrawal limit within the US $500, but when I'm traveling internationally, the limit is set at $600.

I have two specific questions I was hoping someone could help me with:

1. If I have already withdrawn $500 here in the States, does that impact my ability to withdraw the full $600 abroad? Do I need to pay down my current balance first to "reset" that international limit, or are those two things treated completely separately? It seems likely they aren't connected, but I’d feel much better getting a definitive answer.

2. Since I’m currently living in Washington, D.C., and things are a bit tight financially right now, I’m planning to withdraw that $600. A friend of mine did something similar recently; she just drove across the border into Delaware and handled it there quite easily. Her limit was actually $500, and they just gave her $250 on the first day and another $250 the next. She used a local post office near the border to get it done in about ten minutes. Would that be a viable plan for me, or is there a better way? Also, should I specifically look for ATMs that display the American Express logo to ensure the transaction goes through smoothly without any hiccups?

Thanks so much for your help!