Posts by rapidpuma59

Ha! Well, perhaps there was some sort of restless spirit lingering in the machine after all. Regardless, I suppose the important thing is that everything seems to be functioning properly now.

Thanks for getting back to me.
The whole thing just sort of resolved itself, which is one of those classic tech mysteries that leaves you scratching your head. I finally got home, fired up my rig, and wouldn't you know it—the drive is showing up just fine now. I haven't touched a single setting or moved a single slider; we just upgraded to Windows 10 this past Friday, and that’s exactly when this headache started.
Up until today, the system was stubbornly identifying it as disk 0, and when I tried to right-click, the only option it would even consider was converting it to a dynamic disk—which, frankly, sounded like a recipe for disaster. But now? Now it’s appearing as disk 1, and suddenly the usual options—renaming, formatting, the whole nine yards—are all back on the table.

Thanks again, though I suppose the real mystery remains: what on earth caused such a mess, and why did it decide to fix itself out of thin air?

It appears I’ve wandered into the wrong corner of the internet with my previous inquiry, so I’ll attempt to find some clarity here instead. This entire headache began immediately following my installation of Windows 10.

Inside my machine, I have a Seagate drive that serves one singular, sacred purpose: acting as a repository for backups and essential files. For the most part, I keep it disconnected from the system entirely—I only plug it in when I need to transfer photos or critical data, and once the task is finished, I physically disconnect the cables to ensure everything stays safe. Everything worked flawlessly during the week prior, but ever since I moved over to Windows 10, the computer refuses to acknowledge its existence at all. In an attempt to troubleshoot, I actually pulled the drive out of the chassis and popped it into an external enclosure; once it was connected as an external device, the system recognized it perfectly, allowing me to move all the data I had backed up before the upgrade. However, back inside the PC, Disk Management identifies it simply as disk 0, and the only suggestion it offers is to convert it to a dynamic disk. My burning question is this: does performing that conversion wipe the contents of the drive clean, and more importantly, would it actually allow the OS to recognize it properly? I do have the capacity and the extra space to migrate everything onto an external hard drive if that is what it takes to resolve this mess, so if that's the path forward, I am prepared to take it.

That was actually the very first graphics card we ever picked up when we bought our first rig, so I’ll admit, I’ve pretty much let it gather dust in my mind for years. Now that I'm looking at it again, I can't help but wonder—could it still pull its weight for someone who just needs to browse the web? I’m actually thinking about handing this whole setup over to a buddy of mine; he isn't looking to dive into any heavy gaming or anything intense, he just wants to stream some movies and get online without a headache.

I’ve managed to unearth two more relics from the depths of my storage closet that I simply have no use for anymore:

A CTR Dell UltraSharp Monitor and an

NVIDIA GeForce GT series graphics card.

Is there actually any value left in this junk, or am I just holding onto expensive paperweights?

Much obliged.

Greetings.

About a year ago, I put together a new rig, fully intending to build out a secondary workstation from these specific parts. However, life happens, plans change, and I’ve since abandoned that idea entirely. Now, I find myself sitting here with these components just taking up space, and I'd much rather see them go to a good home than let them gather dust on my shelf. So, I am looking to sell:

Motherboard: AsRock N68C-S UCC
Processor: Intel Pentium Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: DDR2 4GB

I have to ask—is there actually any value left in this hardware, or am I just chasing ghosts? What would be a realistic asking price if I want to move these quickly? My true goal is to actually complete a sale, rather than just letting a listing sit on Craigslist indefinitely while absolutely nobody reaches out to inquire about it.

Greetings.
I find myself grappling with a rather vexing issue regarding the installation of drivers for my GTX 650. My son has been spending his time playing Call of Duty multiplayer, but he noticed that whenever he attempts to play Extinction, the whole system just gives up the ghost and shuts down within thirty seconds. We already attempted a full reinstall of the game itself, which, quite predictably, yielded absolutely nothing. Just today, I went ahead and installed the latest NVIDIA drivers, version 344.75, hoping for a miracle. Instead, when we fired the game back up, I was greeted by this dreaded message: "Fatal error: Could not create DirectX device." I even tried reinstalling the drivers a second time, thinking perhaps the first attempt was botched, but the result remains stubbornly the same. It seems the trouble traces back to this past Sunday, when I started deleting certain files that Malwarebytes had flagged as suspicious and tossed into quarantine; ever since that little housekeeping session, everything has gone downhill.
Does anyone have any insight into how one might rectify this mess, considering everything was functioning perfectly well until Sunday?

I must confess, I haven't bothered to check the updated price tags at our local retailers just yet, mainly because until very recently, the price gap was simply too massive to justify any interest. You see, since some of my close relatives live over in Germany, I can easily bypass those annoying thirty-dollar shipping fees, which makes picking up a card there significantly more palatable for my wallet. I had gone into this under the misguided impression that the R9 290 would actually outperform the GTX 970, but it appears I was quite mistaken in my calculations. I also spent some time weighing the option that Geofutko suggested—scouring eBay for a deal. Just a month ago, an R9 280 x represented the absolute peak of what my budget could possibly handle, but now, with these sudden price drops, I find my ambitions have grown far beyond my previous limits.

Timothy Kim60 said:It is now a hundred percent certainty that you can fit a GTX 960 along with your power supply into three slots. You won't even need anything fancy—maybe a CX430 or an XFX 450...

There is also a good chance the R9 290 will see a price cut soon, as that seems to be the trend; I remember seeing a Gigabyte Windforce priced at $867 once before, and by any logical standard, the price should drop even further if the GTX 970 ends up hovering around $967. Of course, if you go that route, you’re going to need a much beefier power supply.

Well, it turns out you were absolutely spot on regarding the R9 290. I was browsing Newegg yesterday and stumbled upon this:

Gigabyte GV-R929OC-4GD OC-Edition 4.0 GB OC high end Graphics Card 279.90
They have slashed the price by 37%, dropping it from 449 down to 280 dollars. And it isn't just them; the others are looking similar too:

MSI Radeon R9 290 gaming 4 G 4.0 GB OC high end Graphics Card 272.90

XFX Radeon R9 290 Black edition 4.0 GB OC high end Graphics Card 278.90

Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X UEFI 4.0 GB high end Graphics Card 285.90

It looks like the R9 290 is actually cheaper than several of the R9 280 x models right now.

You all mentioned that if I pick up the R9 290, I'll definitely need a more robust power supply, which I've already taken into account. What I am really wondering is, how much more raw power does the 290 actually pack compared to the 280 x? And given these new price points, has the R9 290 suddenly become the best bang-for-your-buck option? I also caught a rumor floating around that the GTX 960 might not even launch this year.

The real issue here is that I simply possess far too much curiosity for my own good, though I suppose I really ought to exercise some patience and just wait it out. My thanks to everyone, and we shall speak again soon.

Everything else seems fine, I suppose, but even those three thousand dollars feels like a bit of a stretch for my budget right now. And honestly, why is nobody mentioning the R9 series? Is it because the performance just isn't there, or are we all just assuming the price won't actually drop that much?

Let’s look at this from a purely practical standpoint. We all have a pretty clear idea now of what the new Nvidia cards are bringing to the table, but frankly, I’m looking at my bank account and fearing that the gtx 960 might be the only realistic option within my reach. So, I find myself wondering: if it turns out that the R9 290 ends up performing close to the level of the gtx 960 down the road, which one actually makes more sense as an investment? You guys mentioned earlier that the CPU improvements seemed mostly cosmetic, and I’m curious if we’re seeing a similar situation here. Is the R9 290 or perhaps the R9 280 x actually in the same league as the gtx 960, or is the latter still the smarter, more sustainable choice in the long run?

If things actually pan out according to those projections, I might finally be able to snag myself a decent graphics card without having to sell a kidney, wouldn't you agree?

Your memory serves you quite well, actually. In the interim, however, certain technical nuances have shifted slightly, which leaves me in this rather tedious position of trying to figure out how to squeeze every last drop of utility out of my current upgrade path, all while praying it remains somewhat functional for the next two or three years without becoming an expensive paperweight.

Well, I suppose I should extend my gratitude for the counsel provided. At this juncture, however, everything ultimately boils down to a matter of personal resolve.

David Sanders4 said:well, you can actually manage to play on medium-high settings even with a GTX 650...
And honestly, why don't you just list yours in an ad and see what kind of interest you get? People are usually looking to pay around $167, but I’d suggest aiming somewhere between 350 and $150, and just see where the chips fall...
If I were in your shoes—and I mean if you truly have the option—I would much rather pick up something used; for instance, you could find a GTX 660 sitting around for roughly $333, but for $100, you could step up to a GTX 760 which outperforms the 660 significantly, and there's a decent chance it might still carry some sort of warranty...
The thing is, graphics cards evolve at a breakneck pace every two or three years if you're playing the game right, whereas a solid CPU can easily carry its weight for over five years before it starts feeling sluggish.

You know, I've never really been one for the used market, and frankly, the fear of getting swindled by some shady seller keeps me away. When you mentioned that a GTX 650 could handle things, were you specifically referring to Watch Dogs, or were you speaking in more general terms? My whole intention here is to buy a card specifically so I can run this particular game. If it's capable of running on medium settings, then maybe this one isn't such a bad idea after all for the time being.

I certainly don't want to come across as some tightwad, truly I don't. My son has a birthday coming up at the start of December, and he's been badgering me about getting Watch Dogs for ages now, so I've decided he's definitely getting it. Everyone seems to be raving about how intense this game is, which is a bit daunting. Currently, we’re running a GTX 650, and honestly, it handles just about everything we throw at it right now. I’ve spent plenty of time grinding through a few different Call of Duty titles myself, so I'm not particularly precious about having top-tier, cutting-edge graphics or anything along those lines. As long as the action is smooth enough, I'll be satisfied; if it isn't quite there, well, that's life. My main goal here is just to get a sense of what kind of hardware I actually need to stay relevant for newer releases. He's also got his sights set on the upcoming Battlefield, which is a big one. I was wondering if cards in the neighborhood of a GTX 770 or an r9 280 x will still hold their own for those kinds of titles.

Much appreciated.
The prices you mentioned for those cards have already drifted down to where the GTX 760 was sitting just three months ago, and frankly, since I’m in no particular rush and have plenty of time to kill, I suspect they might actually dip even lower if I just sit tight for a bit.
Best regards,

In your estimation, what would constitute the most ideal resolution to this entire mess?