electricnomad8 said:Sure, I'm using an Ethernet cable (back in the day, long before all this, we actually had to share the phone line, so we’d have to negotiate who got to use the phone and who got the computer! ;-)). Speed is 100 MB, just like with my old provider. So, it's the same. If things were any faster, wouldn't it make more sense if there was some kind of bottleneck somewhere in the hardware or software? I'm no "hacker," so I really want to hear from the pros. What bugs me most is the lag—stuttering video and audio—when I'm watching stuff on YouTube. No issues at all when I listen to my music from a CD or watch a DVD on the PC. By that logic, the computer is struggling to process standard data. Thanks for the help.
It looks like you missed the point: the Ethernet cable is just what connects the computer to the router. How does the connection actually get from the ISP to your house? Is it fiber or copper? Which provider are you with, and what speed did you actually sign up for? That might not even be the main issue, but you're mixing up your terms. Your ISP speed definitely isn't 100MB; that's just your local home network speed. The fact that you used to have to coordinate phone and internet usage just means you were using an old-school dial-up modem.
Like fadedorca66 mentioned, you need to be more specific: what's your setup look like? What software are you running? Exactly what kind of media is acting up? For example, trying to stream HD video on a basic ADSL connection can cause stuttering because there just isn't enough bandwidth for high-quality video data. You should also check your software—is everything fully updated? Generally speaking, older hardware struggles to keep up with modern, demanding multimedia content and things like that...
God, I honestly don't get you: are you actually on fiber? And what do you mean by "wired"? Like an Ethernet cable for your PC, or some old-school phone line? Which provider are you using, what's the plan, and what speeds are we talking about? I mean, unless you're running a fossil of a computer with a 10Mb network card, that shouldn't be your bottleneck—100 Mb has been the standard forever, so that's probably not the issue... It’s more likely your ancient rig just can't handle everything the internet is throwing at it... Plus, what exactly are you measuring? What kind of traffic? Video streaming, maybe?
So, DDR4 (first off, I typed DDR$, so let's just roll with that for a second)... man, those days when you could just take a single component for granted are long gone. Now we're back to this whole mess with transitions and crazy price hikes...
The Maverick actually looks pretty decent—it’s subtle and has this airy vibe, but honestly, it lets every single noise leak out and the chassis is thinner than a damn soda can. That’s why a cheap power supply is just a "weekend fix," meant to get you through until you can buy the real deal on Monday. We're talking old-school specs here; there's zero headroom for even a tiny power surge... man, a power supply that weighs less than a bag of chips? Please.
If you’re just installing them inside your PC to add some extra storage and aren't planning on doing any crazy stunts like constantly swapping them out—since they aren't really meant for that without an external enclosure anyway—then just grab a controller like I mentioned earlier. Honestly, skip the adapters if you've got spare PCI slots lying around. Using adapters means you'll be fishing wires out of the case just to plug them into a USB port. A controller is the most seamless, "natural" way to link your drive to your computer; adapters are really just a last resort when you're stuck... You can probably find one at a place like Best Buy, or just search the name online to see which shops near you have it in stock...
Are those drives gonna be the only ones in that rig, or is there a separate drive running the OS?
Look, you can get cards like this: a single ATA connector actually handles two devices (you can daisy-chain up to two things on one cable) Since it says it's bootable, you should be able to fire up the OS straight from it...
Controller
Now, if you were thinking about this as a temporary, external fix—like plugging it into different PCs just like an external hard drive—that’s a much easier way to go. It’s more practical for quick data transfers at a workbench, especially since drives aren't exactly bulletproof:
External adapter
But I'm guessing you're looking for something permanent and fixed, so the first option is probably your best bet...
Adam Thompson said:I’m not so sure about that—at least not as a general rule. In my experience, an Intel core is inherently more powerful than an AMD core. AMD can only really compete by throwing more cores at the problem or through aggressive overclocking. Take the i7 4771 vs fx 8350, for instance. Without any overclocking, the i7 wins on performance. And if you want to overclock, you need a high-end motherboard and a serious cooler, which quickly pushes the total cost close to what an i7 configuration costs out of the box. Plus, those AMD chips pull way more power. Essentially, one Intel core with Hyper-Threading is roughly on par with two AMD cores. Looking at the server side, I have to wonder: which AMD chip can actually go toe-to-toe with a single Xeon E7-2890 v2? Personally, I’d take my chances with Intel every time.
Read carefully here: Fosna already pointed out that Intel is superior when it comes to single-thread performance. Look, Hyper-Threading isn't a magic fix for lacking physical cores. Because of how it's designed and how those shared resources work, Hyper-Threading threads are essentially fighting over the same lane. You don't get double the performance from one core just because it has Hyper-Threading. So, saying 8 cores equals 4 cores plus Hyper-Threading just doesn't hold water. Even if we're talking about synthetic benchmarks, they all show a massive leap when you compare 8 physical AMD cores against 4 cores plus Hyper-Threading. The real trick is what Fosna mentioned: software is always playing catch-up to hardware. For years now, most apps haven't been tapping into the full potential of multi-core processors; they mostly just use them for system tasks. Why? Simply because software developers are often too lazy to optimize for everything available, so their apps act like they're running on one super-fast single processor.
The price gap with AMD is closing, but once you factor in extra RAM, a high-end cooler, and the power bill, it's not even an i7 Zippo anymore. The Xeon is a completely different beast; it's not even meant for the consumer desktop market. It's like comparing apples to oranges. By that same logic, ARM clusters could eat any Intel solution for breakfast, even though individual ARM cores are tiny. Let's not compare things that aren't comparable. Hey, you can prefer AMD or Intel—that's your call and your money. But look at where the industry is heading: Intel is moving toward packing more cores across all their lines while clock speeds have been flatlining for years. They have efficient cores for today's software, and the move is clearly toward parallelism.
One thing stays constant: people buy stuff backwards. The right way to do it is to define exactly what your future PC needs to do—what programs you'll run and how heavily you'll use them—set your budget, and *then* pick the hardware. If an app scales massively with core count, that becomes your deciding factor, regardless of which brand you like. Choosing Intel or AMD based on brand loyalty or gut feeling isn't the point. It's not about who is "better" in a vacuum; it's about which XY provides better performance per person, per core, or via a solid cost-benefit analysis...
Rachel Jones8 said:😁 How on earth did you pull that off? If I were to request speakers, a DVD player, headphones, a printer, and a TV... what should I leave out? The PC? 🤣 I finally pulled the trigger and placed my order (for now)! 😉 So, let me get this straight... three with 5 holes and one with 8? 😁
Exactly. I finally moved my setup into the spare room: just the PC, the monitor, and this little stereo system that doubles as an amp for my speakers and headphones. I’ve also got a single lamp—I'm big on dim lighting, honestly, it helps my eyes relax. I have two printers tucked away since I barely print anything, and I tossed that old TV in the trash. Haven't even touched a DVD player in years, and those tiny desktop speakers? Total junk. My laptop is basically just my backup for when I need to wander around the house while I'm working from home.
So, I’ve got this absolute mess of tangled cables sitting right in the middle of my living room floor. It looks like some kind of electrical octopus. Now, I’m facing a serious dilemma: do I call the guys from ConEd to come untangle this nightmare, or do I just grab a chainsaw and try to slice through the Gordian knot myself? The problem is, every time I try to pull one wire loose, something else in the apartment dies. Outlets stop working, the breakers trip... it's a total disaster. What do you think?
Man, I’m out here giving everyone else advice while my own apartment looks like a high-security nuclear facility. Seriously, there are cables everywhere. It’s just one power strip plugged into another power strip, which is then plugged into yet another power strip. What am I even doing?
So, basically, once you grab that SSD and get it installed, you’re looking at a fresh install of Windows—whatever version you're rocking. Pro tip: totally unplug your old drive during the setup process. That way, you don't end up with those annoying dual-boot menus since you won't be using the old Windows anymore anyway. Once that SSD is live, you'll just need to reinstall all your go-to programs—basically anything you used before and still want to use now. You could technically clone your current drive, but since you're planning on switching to a different version of Windows, that's probably not worth the headache. After everything is set up, your computer will run off the SSD with a clean OS, and you can go ahead and wipe all the old Windows files and software from your old drive. It'll turn that old hardware into a dedicated storage beast. Having multiple partitions is really just about staying organized. It's super handy if you ever have to reinstall your system; if you keep your files on a separate partition, you can totally nuking the main one to overwrite the OS and apps without touching your precious data. When it comes to security, partitioning doesn't change much. At the end of the day, it's still just one physical device. If the drive dies, it usually takes all the partitions down with it (though, depending on how bad the crash is, sometimes you can still salvage some stuff). And for virus protection? Same deal. Partitioning won't save you there, and honestly, it mostly depends on the type of malware anyway, since most junk targets executable programs rather than raw data.
The real win with an SSD plus a traditional hard drive is that you've got two separate physical devices. If one fails, it doesn't necessarily wreck the other. For instance, if your SSD bites the dust, your old hard drive stays perfectly safe.
Just make sure you've got your definitions straight: you've got the OS, your apps, and then your user data...
Rachel Jones8 said:Nah... just asking. 😁 Maybe one day... I'm definitely grabbing a power strip, though. I need to clean up this mess of cables and plugs. There are way too many of them.
Once you buy one, you'll uncover a dark secret passed down through generations—usually from grandfather to grandson before he passes on: they haven't actually made a power strip with enough outlets yet. Seriously, I literally had to get on my knees because even an eight-outlet strip wasn't enough for me... So I unplugged everything and left just 4 cables...
That was my main question, but we can talk about brands or sizes later... Yeah, I wouldn't even look at anything under 120, since I tend to overload everything... making a total mess. 😁
By then, who knows what will be relevant. Seize the day... Besides, if I remember correctly, you haven't really been using much of your hard drive capacity anyway... 🤷
What's up, did you seriously start the upgrade already? Or did you just go all out? It started off pretty innocent: "Let me just fix up this old PC for a few bucks," and now suddenly there's a whole new build, buying up cables, surge protectors, Intel... Just kidding...
You can pick any brand, really. I don't think it even makes sense to go for anything smaller than 128 (120) GB given how prices are right now. As for the brand, just pick based on whatever you've heard good things about—honestly, about 70% of what's out there uses the exact same controller and memory anyway...
Man, these tiny cases are driving me crazy. What happened to the younger generation? Back in my day, we actually cared about scale...
It’s like you guys are all Hobbits or something. You don't have any room in your houses for a standard midi tower, so instead, you spend all your time digging through price lists looking for high-end parts packed into the smallest possible boxes. Then, you spend even more time obsessing over prices just to figure out how to cool the damn thing down without it sounding like a jet engine. You completely lose the plot! Look, just actually *use* the computers you spent all that cash on. Stop wasting your energy arguing about box sizes and trying to prove who's the smartest builder in the room.
Graphics cards, up to 310mm in length, when 2 HDD slots (1 HDD hanging bracket total) are removed (Graphics cards longer than 170 mm will conflict with PSUs longer than 160mm)
Gainward:
Product Size : 247mm x 112mm
So, you'd have to ditch one HDD cage if your card is over 170mm, and then there's the PSU size to worry about. Plus, there are those newer, shorter card versions designed specifically for cases like this...
BTW, is this just part of the hype surrounding those uITX builds we see in all the tech magazines lately? You pick out this fancy case that ends up limiting you in every single way. You're forced to hunt down ITX motherboards—which are a pain to find here in the States—and you make a hundred compromises just to end up with a build that isn't even that much smaller. It's a lot of money and stress just for a slight visual difference, right?
The way I see it: if you buy parts from the outside in—meaning you pick the case based on looks first—you might realize too late how little room you actually have for a GPU. Unless you already have the whole blueprint mapped out in your head, you're asking for trouble...
I don’t really have any set criteria when it comes to judging actresses (for totally irrational reasons, right? 🙂), but I’ve always had a soft spot for Natalie Portman. Maybe it’s because she basically grew up on screen, starting with Leon... though honestly, she’s losing some charm for me lately. Maybe it’s just her look—she can come off a bit smug sometimes. Not that you can deny she tries to make up for it with sheer effort in her better roles. But hey, you either have charisma or you don't. She’s got that "child actor curse," where she just grew up being a little actress.
Now, I look at certain guys and I’m genuinely torn. Take Jack Nicholson or Robert De Niro; hardly anyone would call them bad, but I just can't stand their recent garbage. It’s like they went crazy and are trying to regress back to their prime: Jack is constantly twitching like he’s still in The Shining, and De Niro is stuck playing some disturbed Taxi Driver type. It seems like the moment an actor hits their peak, the rest of their career is just a struggle to recapture that magic.
Look at Clint Eastwood. The guy used to hang out on the fringes of B-movies, acting like this dry, cynical old codfish. He found his niche in that corner, carved it out his own way, redefined the rules, and left a massive mark... Most everyone else does the opposite. They go on a downward spiral, or they just happen to land a role that was tailor-made for them. - George Clooney is such a striking face, right up until O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Baaaaaam, that was it. That suave, playful, carefree vibe... now, all I see is that one character and nothing else. End of story.
- Ben Affleck and Keira Knightley: they both have these waxwork faces. Zero expression, zero spontaneity. It’s just: "Okay, script says laugh now: ha-ha, script says cry now: boo-hoo." - Nicolas Cage—I swear, the man is Hollywood's biggest "blue-collar worker." He’s like their version of a hard-working laborer who overworks every single role. With that intense facial expression, he just lacks the effortless charisma or authority to pull a role off purely on talent. We should start rating actors like figure skaters: technical execution: 5, artistic impression: 2. - Orlando Bloom, the wannabe medieval knight. Rugged, sure, but a total heartthrob hero, while the girl next to him is like: "Ugh, where is my hair regenerator?"
Does Drew Barrymore even fit here? I can't wrap my head around her; she feels so fake that I don't think I could even handle meeting her in real life...
On the flip side, Charlize Theron has moved from being just "movie eye candy" to someone I’ll unthinkingly believe in. She’s the perfect example of why a neutral look is actually a superpower; it provides the perfect canvas for insane transformations. A little bit of talent and character goes a long way when you have that kind of foundation.
Look, you aren't some teenager who needs a disco ball on your desk, right? This thing only stays lit while you're actually working; otherwise, it goes to sleep. You can still tweak everything in the settings—like how long it stays on before it shuts off—but you'll get used to it pretty fast. There’s really no need to have it running full blast 24/7 for no reason...
What exactly are you measuring, and where are you even looking? Honestly, what that old sensor was showing was probably just total guesswork—likely just the ambient heat inside the case since it used one of those tiny little probes you could tuck away wherever you wanted. At the end of the day, you can't really compare these readings, so there's no need to stress about it.
Yeah, so the stock cooler actually comes with the processor right out of the box. It’s basically designed to be just "okay," you know? It has to run at absolute max capacity just to keep the chip from overheating. This one, though, has way better heat absorption and dissipation, so the fan doesn't have to work nearly as hard. It isn't constantly redlining, which means it stays much quieter too... They definitely throw the stock cooler in the box since it's technically part of the processor package, right? But let’s be real—you aren't going to do anything groundbreaking with it. It’s basically just a spare for someone else if their fan decides to give up the ghost.
Honestly, you might want to just save everything as a Word doc or an Excel file anyway, just in case the other person can't open it. That’s exactly what happens to me! Anything that isn't strictly for internal stuff—since I have a ton of custom templates and spreadsheets just for my own use—I stick to Excel. When I try using OpenOffice or LibreOffice, things either don't open right, the formatting gets totally trashed, or the printing turns into a nightmare. One minute it looks fine on my screen, and the next, it's squishing three pages onto one... total chaos.
If you were running OpenOffice or LibreOffice on that old computer, well, no wonder! Like I mentioned before, they used to hog RAM like crazy. They'd spread through the system like wildfire, and constantly opening and closing them would eventually lead to a crash—especially since older machines didn't exactly have much memory to work with. A quick restart clears out the RAM so you can get back to work... then again, it's open-source software. It's great for home use or a small SOHO setup, but maybe not the best for high-stakes, standardized environments.
New shiny features in Microsoft Office? Look, let's be real: they haven't actually invented anything groundbreaking there in years. The basic logic has been the same since the MS-DOS days: you've got a text editor, a spreadsheet calculator, and then Windows added the ability to style things and make visual editing easier. They even tossed in some desktop publishing tools because, hey, everyone has a little printer at home now. Most "new" updates feel like putting fresh wrapping paper on an old gift. They move the menus here, shift them there, drag this, drop that... the only actual progress seems to be in collaboration tools and all that corporate data analysis nonsense.
Rachel Jones8 said:On my old PC, I used OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Now I've got Word. Why? Was it a dumb move? Honestly, I have no clue. I actually had Word before, but after a Windows reinstall... what was it, years ago? They wiped everything, so I just wanted them back. If I end up hating it or if it starts acting up, it's easy enough to just reinstall LibreOffice or OpenOffice again. I've had this weird thing happen where, after I open maybe ten documents... it just stops opening any more. Even though those first ten are already closed. It just refuses.
Look, for basic home use, any of them are more than good enough. Most people barely even touch 20% of what these programs can actually do! But since everyone seems so wary of OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or open-source stuff in general—mostly because that's just how they were trained in school, at work, or within the government, and Microsoft lobbies way too hard to let anything else stand a chance—maybe you're better off sticking with Word. Everyone has it, and honestly, it's always a headache when you're trying to mess with some newer Microsoft file format. You'll figure it out as you go; if everything works fine, don't go cluttering up your system for no reason. That issue where it won't open more than 10 docs, was that happening with Word or OO? I still use an ancient version of OO, specifically Calc, mostly because it's what I know. I love being able to pull it up from the system tray, and I use it like a sort of heavy-duty business calculator. Sure, it occasionally glitches out when I'm opening and closing things constantly—probably just bad memory management leaving leftovers behind—but I'm used to it. Everything I keep open is pretty much temporary anyway, and it always offers to restore my documents perfectly if I need it. To be honest, I actually prefer it over Excel 2010, even though that one is solid, legal, and clean. I'm just old school. I can't stand all those Microsoft tweaks they make just for the sake of looks or changing things up. I've memorized the OO formula syntax by heart, so switching messes with my head. I do a lot of stuff purely out of habit, visually, without thinking. Once I've learned "Menu, fifth one on the right, fourth one down," that's it for me. Not even counting the shortcuts! Plus, having OO in American English helps; having everything in a different language really throws me off when I stop to think about it.
I reckon he needs something pulling under 350W. That card's a bit of a power hog, though—technically you shouldn't even need an extra power connector, but they throw one in there just to keep the motherboard from taking a hit... so that EVGA Power Supply should definitely cover it. It really just comes down to what you're feeling. You a fan of the EVGA stuff or something else? Those things can get a little loud sometimes...
Rachel Jones8 said:Am I really that hard to understand? 😕 I mean... honestly, I feel like people around here just don't get me. Is it really that big of a deal?🙈 So, I tried opening a Microsoft Word document on my new PC... or well, I *tried* to. It was a total struggle! It took like a full minute just to actually open. This was back on Saturday, too. Honestly? I have zero clue why it acted like that. It’s working fine now. Just opens right up! So, about those old files—I just finished moving them all over. I opened a few just to test the waters, and they seem to be working fine! Will I run into any hiccups with the rest? Who knows, I guess we'll find out as I go... If this thing just won't cooperate... I guess I can always just redownload OpenOffice and LibreOffice, right? Then I can just save everything in a different format.
So... should I be bracing myself for some trouble? 🙄 Why make things easy when you can just make them complicated?🙂
Seriously, you're totally tripping... You still haven't actually told us what you used to make these documents. Was it Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice? You just keep dropping hints like "Open" or "Libre," but it's all guesswork at this point. Did you build them from scratch using some heavy-duty setup, or did you just whip them up whenever you felt like it? Look, I'm telling you, for basic stuff, that "compatibility" should actually work fine. We're talking about simple text files here—nothing fancy, no crazy tables, and definitely none of those weird formats specific to OpenOffice. If it's just plain text, why should it be an issue?
And honestly, when you're dealing with spreadsheets, the compatibility issues get even worse. It’s especially brutal with those complex workbooks designed by some corporate department—you know, those fancy forms with built-in validation controls? Everything basically falls apart when you try to move them between OpenOffice and Excel. Between the different scripting languages used for the macros, the mismatched functions, and even just basic stuff like date formats, it’s a total nightmare. Why does it have to be this difficult? Just to clear things up, when I mentioned "tables" earlier, I wasn't talking about anything else—I was specifically referring to how you format text within a document. It’s a different ballgame with Excel files because, well, everything in there is essentially a table. You shouldn't run into any trouble with basic spreadsheets, but if you're trying to run pivot tables or those more complex analytical tools on older versions of OpenOffice, you're probably going to hit a wall. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that Microsoft Word still lacks some basic features that were built right into OpenOffice from day one. I'm talking about things like cell spacing, not to mention those totally illogical menu layouts and those just plain stupid ribbons... but hey, that's a whole different conversation.
I'll just leave things exactly as they are for now... at least until I go and mess it all up. 😉 Well, if nothing else... I just realized how much junk was actually cluttering this place up. Honestly, it’s not even that big of a deal to just clear everything out and start fresh with a clean slate. Ready for a redo? My connection is acting up again—it's just a crappy router and an old-school USB adapter (standard b), so honestly, nothing revolutionary happened here. But honestly... the best part? This thing is dead silent. When I first hit the power button, I actually thought it hadn't even turned on! 😍
It really comes down to a difference in philosophy, doesn't it? Personally, I’m all about going 100% on everything—whether it's a specific technique or a service—as long as that warranty is active. If something breaks, let them deal with the headache on their dime! Plus, isn't it way easier to just wipe everything and reinstall the OS while things are still fresh? Once you get settled in and start feeling "at home," you begin making those little compromises. You know the drill: "I won't fix this now because I finally got everything organized exactly how I like it..." Habit is a killer, right? It traps you fast... and honestly, that’s exactly how all that digital junk starts piling up.
Man, what a sluggish connection. From what I can tell, that Gigaset USB adapter 108 is just running on the b/g standard, so we're looking at a theoretical max of 54 Mbit/s—yeah, 🙂? Plus, any router you've got plugged in should be hitting similar speeds, right? Honestly, even that is way overkill compared to the average home connection these days. Most people are probably pulling maybe 4 Mbps of actual usable speed anyway. Check your Windows wireless connection settings to see what kind of speed you're actually getting. Does it jump around a lot? Even 18 Mb/s should feel pretty smooth. If it's not hitting that, either there's too much interference between the router and the adapter, or you should run a speedtest just to make sure your ISP isn't lowballing you on the line itself...
Regarding Thunderbird, the best way to handle it is to copy the entire profile folder—just the contents!—from the old PC to the new one. The profile name matters here, so don't just overwrite the new profile folder with the old one entirely. What you want to do is copy the stuff *inside* the old profile folder and paste it over the stuff *inside* the new profile folder. Leave the actual folder name alone. Basically, don't replace the new folder with the old one; just swap the contents so you keep the new profile's name intact...
So, where are you keeping those files: on your internal hard drive, or an external one? Give me the lowdown, because if it’s an issue with the USB, we might be looking at something else... Forget about 1x4, 2x2, or 2x4 setups for now—that's old news. This gear should work exactly as you have it right now, period. You aren't going to fix these headaches overnight just by upgrading, unless there's actually a legit fault with your RAM...
Your keyboard, mouse, and monitor should plug in and play without a hitch, unless they're some fancy high-end versions that need specific drivers. Even then, the basic stuff would still work—you might just lose some extra media keys or whatever... As for the age of the tech, things would have to be ancient for the plugs not to fit. And honestly, plugging things in isn't rocket science: it’s built for dummies. Color matches color, shape matches shape; you check the pins, look at the ports, line up the connector, and push it in all the way—no force required...
Gigaset USB adapter 108 Instructions You can find the drivers here