Posts by Jeffrey Allen92

Look, he was being sarcastic. I honestly don't know how you guys missed that. He didn't buy those drives just to mess around with a thumb drive...

Yeah. I’m not sure which shop you picked up that from, but honestly, you might want to look into filing a lawsuit through a lawyer. It’s not just about getting a replacement.

crimsonstag84 said:I have no idea what you're talking about. 😵

Look, I'm saying I swapped out my old 250GB Samsung for a faster drive. Aside from shaving two seconds off my boot time—waiting 8 seconds instead of 10—there’s basically zero difference in how things actually feel. Plus, a single modern AAA game can easily eat up 100GB these days. It just isn't worth the investment right now. For the money, I'd much rather grab a 1TB drive than waste it on a tiny upgrade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ocessing_units

Look, the RX 480 is basically on par with the R9 390. The big difference is the power draw. That 390 pulls a massive 275W, whereas this one only needs about 150W.

If we aren't just talking about saving money on the electric bill, but looking at the actual cost of hardware—since the newer cards are definitely going to be pricier than the older series—then sticking with the previous generation might actually be the smarter move once the sales start hitting.

Anyway, the GT 930 and GT 940 are dropping in October. I'll probably just grab one of those. I'm leaning toward a passively cooled model to keep things quiet.

Bradley Ortiz said:If I were you, I'd bump that power supply up to 450-500W. The price difference is basically peanuts, and you'll definitely appreciate the extra headroom later when you decide to upgrade your parts...
As for the GPU, I'd personally go with the r7 260x

Yeah, that one gives you the most bang for your buck.

FUTURE IT SHOPPING CART
1 x AMD Athlon ii x4 840 Processor, 3.1GHz/3.8GHz, FM2+
1 x KINGSTON ValueRAM DDR3 (8GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800)) CL11, Retail
1 x Retail 1 x HDD western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB, 7200rpm
1 x LC Power Silver Shield Pro-Line 300W PSU, 80+ Silver
1 x LC POWER Pro-935W White Arrow Case, MIDI, USB 3.0, white, no PSU
1 x LITE ON DVDRW 24x SATA, black, bulk
1 x ASRock FM2A88M-HD+ R3.0 Motherboard
Total: $798

What kind of GPU would you guys pair with this build?

Gregory Hayes87 said:upgraded to a 240GB Kingston V300 Samsung and a Western Digital Blue 2TB,
but I honestly don't see any speed difference. Installation takes the same amount of time, game loading is identical, and macOS boots up in just under a minute. Is there some secret setting I missed, or did I just throw my $167 money
down the drain?

If you're running a server, an SSD really shines because of those access times—it can crunch through massive amounts of data from all directions at once. For a regular home user, there isn't much of a practical need for one yet, and you won't notice much of a difference in daily tasks... unless you're someone who really values a silent PC.

northernsurfer54 said:Hey everyone.
I'm looking for a solid build that leans a bit more toward gaming. 🙂

My current setup includes an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, a Corsair HX 520W, an AMD Radeon HD 6850, an EP45-UD3R motherboard, plus my case, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and a 21" 1080p monitor.

Please give me some recommendations within this budget, and let me know if I can get away with keeping the power supply.

That power supply is top-tier, and that processor can still pull some weight. Your motherboard is solid too. You could even overclock that CPU if you grabbed the right cooler. Honestly, though, that graphics card is total garbage for that resolution... but seriously, why bother upgrading such a weak link?

People are going to start arguing in the comments, but if I were in your shoes, I’d just grab this from Best Buy:

BEST BUY CART
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 840, 3.1GHz/3.8GHz, FM2+
1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2 (SFM2+, DDR3, DVI/VGA, USB3.0, SATA III) Micro-ATX
1 x Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 (8GB, 1600MHz(PC3-12800)) CL11, Retail
1 x Gigabyte R9 380X G1 GAMING, 4GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI
Total: $1047

Keep everything else and just spend a little extra cash.😁

It looks like you might be dealing with a corrupted BIOS. Just make sure you've run through your usual troubleshooting steps first to rule out anything else before diving into this.
If you're still stuck, here is how you handle the recovery:
1. Shut down the computer that has the black screen.
2. Use a different computer to grab the right Driver Pack : Dell Latitude 650 from a USB drive:
Dell Latitude 650 :- sp70256.exe (43 MB)
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/p...1&swEnvOid=405...
Quick heads-up: there might be a newer version of this software out there. It’s worth checking for an update at http://www.hp.com/
3. Hit OK.
4. Choose the option to "Create a USB flash drive to update or recover the system BIOS on another Dell Personal Computer." Click Next, pick your flash drive, hit Next again, and then click Finish.
5. Plug that USB drive into the computer with the black screen.
6. Hold down the Command Key + b and the power button at the same time.
7. Let go of both once you see the screen's backlight flash.
Just a note: the machine starts the recovery automatically once it powers up, even if the screen stays dark. You'll know it's working because the Caps Lock LED will be blinking.
8. Once you see the message "A System BIOS Recovery has occurred. BIOS Recovery (500)," go ahead and restart the computer.

Go ahead and promote the motherboard if it's still covered by the manufacturer's warranty...

Samuel Mendoza26 said:Pairing a 750W Seasonic with a GTX 1650 and an 80W i7? That’s just overkill. xD

There isn't a cheaper modular unit in the whole country... but there is the budget S12 series. I've actually used one myself, and honestly, it's solid..

It’s a decent enough build, but I honestly don't trust Fortron one bit. Personally, I'd rather feed my PC scraps than rely on a power supply like that.

https://www.newegg.com/p/750w-power-supply-example

If you really need something modular, this is a killer option. If you don't care about modularity, check out the S12 series instead...

Quick question:

Where do you guys list your rigs when you're selling? And where do you look when you're hunting for a new build? Personally, I think I could probably move my entire setup for somewhere around $1,800-$667, but I wouldn't limit myself to just looking within the US to find a buyer. Around here, people rarely want a machine like mine; if they're buying a desktop, they want a total beast, mostly because everyone is feeling the pinch lately. I've been browsing some stuff on eBay, and honestly, I see some absolute junk being listed for prices close to—if not higher than—brand new hardware. It's wild.

Bottom line, I want to sell this rig, so I need some links to sites where it would be best to post an ad. Ideally, I’d prefer something where I don't have to deal with credit card processing—just straight cash. I also need links for finding the best deals on gear. I'm not interested in anything high-end or brand new; I'm strictly looking for refurbished or used components.

I used to stumble upon all sorts of discount links and promo codes on Hard Forum, so I definitely recommend registering there. The catch is that most of it is US-based, so even if you find a deal, you end up paying a fortune in shipping to get it to you. For monitors, I've always thought www.itsco.de was pretty decent. For example, they sometimes have an NEC monitor for $79 that usually retails for $1000.

That machine is pretty old, so honestly, you'd be better off picking up something more recent. But if it used to run smoothly and now it's just dragging, you might want to run a disk check first to see if the hard drive is actually failing. If the drive itself is healthy, then try reinstalling the operating system. It’s likely just cluttered with junk files, or at the very least, you should try running some software cleanup tools to clear out the digital clutter.

mellowtiger83 said:I work in photography, and I honestly don't see the point!

Why on earth would you need 10 drives? Two is plenty—you just use two if you want to run RAID. Honestly, even a single large drive does the job. It's always smart to have one external drive for backups, though.

I'm not really sure myself. I'm just passing along what he said.

granitepanther8 said:I’ve got an integrated Realtek chip and a Creative PCI card. Every time I plug in the PCI card, the Realtek disappears. If I pull the card out, the Realtek shows up again. On my old motherboard, I had zero issues running both audio devices at once, and I could just pick my default in the sound properties. Now, I only see one option. When the card is out, it's Realtek. When the card is in, Realtek is gone. Does anyone know how to get them both active at the same time? My board is an ASUS ROG Maximus.

It looks like they probably didn't account for this specific setup during testing. You might be able to head into the Control Panel, open Device Manager, and try to manually enable the second device. I'm just not sure if the memory range is hardcoded for just one, or if you'll run into IRQ conflicts if you force it.

Anyway, if the manual fix doesn't work, shoot an email over to ASUS. They might release a BIOS update to address it. Back in the day, I actually used to write for MSI, and they ended up making two custom BIOS versions just for me.

Timothy Kim60 said:Black Widow:

Ten is just terrible. I can't think of a single case off the top of my head that holds that many drives. Maybe some specialized server or workstation chassis. Honestly, it might be easier to just grab higher capacity HDDs instead.

Ultra EDIT

Amazon once hooked a guy up with a w200 one day, click

Man, what a crazy case. You could practically hang laundry inside that thing. 😁
I'm guessing it's pretty pricey?

Never mind, I dug this up: http://www.google.com

It has 11 slots, assuming the specs are right.

I’d say your motherboard is pushing way too much power through that USB port. Try plugging in something else and see if you run into the same issue.

To put it simply, if it exists digitally, it can be hacked. We aren't just talking about federal agencies; any entity with enough technical expertise could pull it off. Ultimately, everything boils down to one thing: how much data you have and how badly someone wants it.

My initial thought was that this i5 from $467 was a total steal, but now that I've sat with it for a minute, I might be totally off base. Anyway, just ignore me...

On another note. If someone is working in photography and needs a case that can house ten high-capacity drives, they’re going to need all ten disks plus a setup that actually supports them. What would you guys suggest? I was thinking about saving some cash by skipping a motherboard with ten SATA ports and just grabbing a cheap PCIe SATA controller instead, but I can't seem to find one anywhere online.... I also checked out the Black Widow case, but there's no clear info on how many drive bays it actually has. I'm assuming a photographer would want a massive tower to fit all those drives, especially if they want something that grows with them and features enough padding to keep the noise down. For the storage itself, I was thinking about suggesting these 5TB WD Blue drives; I saw them at Best Buy for a pretty decent price.