Posts by dustybadger11

wanderingbison9 said:But honestly, if you're looking at the Core i7, the graphics are pretty weak, and the multimedia capabilities just aren't there. An i5 actually comes with decent video decode and encode support for things like h264, h265, and VP9, whereas the Core i7 lacks all of that—and let's be real, it definitely isn't going to handle those tasks through software alone. If you can't rely on the hardware, why would you even bother using this machine for heavy rendering in Austin or similar programs?

That’s pretty much where my head is at too.

These i7 units were likely used by developers for their own niche requirements—my current company is in the IT sector, after all.

What am I supposed to do with 32 GB of RAM on a rig from 2012? Just sit there and watch YouTube? :😁

urbanheron4 said:For that kind of cash, you should grab both. Strip the drives out of the first one and sell the rest as parts. Use the leftover money to upgrade the RAM on your other machine.

One device per person, right? Otherwise, I’d just scoop up the whole lot and host a massive garage sale...😁😁

fadedorca66 said:How little are we talking here, if you don't mind me asking?

not really
$50-$100

wanderingbison9 said:There isn't really much room for debate here, as a 7th gen i5 is pretty much your only logical move for what you're looking to do. I just find myself wondering, though, what kind of games were you actually planning on running on a setup like that?

Fair enough, thanks!

Tetris 😁

But seriously, I have a dedicated rig for gaming, so this machine isn't exactly meant for that kind of heavy lifting...

So, I’ve been handed this golden opportunity to snag a used desktop setup straight from a corporate office for a bit of pocket change. Is there anything more tempting than scoring some decent hardware without actually breaking the bank?

So, we're looking at these used setups, and honestly, they're all pretty much priced the same:

HP EliteDesk featuring a Core i7, 32GB of RAM, a Seagate 256 GB SSD, and a 500GB WD Blue drive.

2. Dell OptiPlex | Core i5 7400 | 8GB RAM | SanDisk 128GB SSD | Seagate 1TB HDD

It would work fine for multimedia, browsing the web, maybe some light gaming, or just a reliable family computer for my wife to use. 🙂

Which one actually makes more sense to grab—a Core i7 from the Haswell era or an i5 from the seventh generation?
I’m leaning towards a newer i5; honestly, 8GB of RAM should be more than enough for what I need to do, right?

Alexander Diaz4 said:You’re gonna end up losing that $30 and being stuck without a laptop for two weeks—because there isn't a soul alive who's going to jump to fix some "potential" motherboard issue on the spot.

The whole thing was wrapped up in twenty minutes—basically just how long it took the guy to pop the casing and swap out the old motherboard for a new one.

GPU temps are way lower now, and honestly, the computer hasn't even flinched since Friday... 🎉

Called Dell today. The guy on the phone thinks it’s likely a motherboard issue. They said it should be sorted under warranty within 10 to 12 business days, which is a hell of a lot faster than what the folks at the retail store originally told me.

They did offer an expedited option where a technician comes straight to my place to fix it on-site for about $30—just covering the travel fee and stuff. Honestly, that sounds pretty reasonable; $30 isn't exactly breaking the bank compared to being stuck without my laptop for two whole weeks...

He should be heading over tomorrow.

By the way, the random shutdowns have been happening more frequently lately. This morning, after just 15 minutes of gaming while sipping my coffee, the thing just straight up booted into Safe Mode...

Alexander Diaz4 said:"What if this, what if that..."—by the time you make up your mind, your warranty will be gone. You said yourself you've still got a month left; that month's gonna fly by, and then what?

You say it's not your job to troubleshoot, yet here you are, diving headfirst into diagnosing and guessing what's wrong instead of just heading straight to the service center or wherever you bought it to talk to the professionals whose actual job it is. You came to a forum to vent instead of dealing with it.

Look, if you actually needed this laptop for work—if your livelihood depended on it—you'd know exactly what to do right now. You wouldn't even be posting this here. You'd just file the claim, grit your teeth, deal with not gaming for a month, and move on.

And as for it being "practically new" after 11 months... well, we could go back and forth on that all day.

Well, of course I started troubleshooting... within reason and based on my own limited skill set. I'm not some lazy guy who's going to sprint to the repair shop the second a machine acts up without checking if there's something I can fix myself first...

The reality is that the issues kicked in once I started gaming through an external monitor with the laptop lid closed. That's when those random shutdowns during gaming sessions began. After doing some digging and thinking it through, I realized the setup was blocking the GPU from cooling properly through the keyboard area. I rearranged my gear so the laptop stays open while I'm gaming, and it seemed like the problem was solved.

I also installed a utility to monitor GPU temps and fan speeds because I had my doubts about whether they were even spinning correctly.

Then I reinstalled all the drivers.
Then I ran the built-in self-diagnostic tools...
etc.

Anyway, after all that work, it looks like the issue is still lingering, even if it's slightly less frequent now.

Alexander Diaz4 said:Knowing how service rates work—where you're paying for labor rather than actual parts—if a place in Austria is anything like one in Germany, all that "work" mentioned above is going to cost him an absolute fortune. And let’s be real, he clearly doesn't have that kind of cash lying around. If he did, he wouldn't be hanging out here hoping someone can fix an invisible Hardware issue for free in five minutes...

edit

Here's the deal:

tldr; if you actually give a damn about Hardware and troubleshooting, just watch the video.
This guy is convinced his GPU is shot, so he sends just the card—not the whole PC—to a "repair center" because... well, he's just that sure. After they test it on an entirely different PC, run benchmarks, swap the thermal paste, and whatnot... turns out the graphics card is perfectly fine...

Pro tip:
If you have even a shred of technical curiosity, go to YouTube, type in your laptop model, and pair it with something like "How to clean out dust inside your laptop." I'm positive you'll find at least one video for your specific model—or at least something similar—showing you exactly how to open it up and clean it yourself.

If I open it up myself to try cleaning it, I lose my warranty. And what if it isn't just dust, but something else entirely? I'd honestly rather not mess around with it myself.

The reality is that I have a practically brand-new gaming laptop that isn't performing the way it should for its primary purpose. Honestly, I don't think it's my job to diagnose or fix the issue. That’s exactly why warranties exist, and why people who actually understand hardware should be the ones handling this.

My only real headache is being without a laptop for such a long stretch. If the turnaround was shorter—like a week or two max—I'd drop it off at the repair shop immediately. Instead, I'm sitting here overthinking my next move... that's really the only reason I made this post. I want to hear if anyone else has dealt with this or what you all think...

thanks everyone

fadedorca66 said:Just go ahead and drop it off for service, but maybe check if dust cleaning and thermal paste replacement are covered under warranty first. If they aren't, they'll probably charge you, and honestly, that's likely where the issue lies anyway.

The laptop isn't even a year old. Is it really possible for dust buildup or dried-out thermal paste to be the culprit this early?

Anyway, I swung by the dealer here in the States today where I originally bought the laptop to start the RMA process. They told me that if I leave it with them for the service/warranty claim, we're looking at a 4 to 6 week turnaround. Apparently, going through Dell directly might be a bit faster.

What a total disaster. What am I supposed to do now? I can't exactly go a month without my laptop...

urbanheron4 said:It’s possible the data cable just got nudged loose when it hit the ground, which would explain the error. Try popping the case open and reseating the cable.
Then again, there's always the chance the motherboard itself took a hit. You might want to check that before you go dropping cash on a new drive.

hmmm... yeah, I'll definitely try that first. Thanks for the tip. 👍

fadedorca66 said:It would be even better to just pull that hard drive out and swap it for an SSD...

https://www.cyberport.at/pc-und-zube...-nand-tlc.html

Something like this? But what am I supposed to do about my data? Wouldn't it be way more practical to just grab an external drive, dump everything onto it, install Windows, and then run the whole OS from the external unit? Or am I totally off base here...😁

So, one of the kids managed to knock an old laptop off a table a few days ago 🤦 and now it refuses to boot into Windows—just stuck staring at a blue screen with a cursor forever. I did manage to limp it into Safe Mode once, though.

During the diagnostic check, the computer flagged an issue with the hard drive:

Fail PSA V4236 Error 2000:0142. hard Drive 0 ; S/N WD-WXC1A72K4479, Short test unsucessfull.

When I tried to launch Windows, this error popped up on my face:

[B]LogonUI.exeApplication Error
The instruction at 0x00000007718FCA0 referenced memory at 0x0000007FEFA66BDD4. The required data was not placed into memory because of an I/O error status 0xc0000186.

Click OK to terminate the program.[/B]

What exactly am I looking at here? Is the hard drive officially dead, and is there any way to fix this myself without having to drag it all the way to a repair shop?

So, I’ve been rocking this gaming laptop for just under a year now,

it’s running an i7 with 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 1660ti 8GB graphics card.

Lately, though, the thing just randomly shuts itself down right in the middle of a game. I’m pretty sure my GPU is overheating; I’ve been checking the Nvidia performance tools, and the temps are hitting 90°C, even though the card seems to pass standard benchmarks just fine.

I actually went ahead and ran a quick hardware diagnostic following the instructions from the Dell support desk—you know, hitting F9 during bootup—but wouldn't you know it? The laptop didn't detect any hardware issues or problems with the graphics card at all.

On top of that, I’ve cycled through every possible diagnostic available via the Dell self-service tool and updated my drivers multiple times. Yet, the issue persists—the laptop keeps cutting out while I'm gaming, which is incredibly frustrating.☕.

The thing is, my warranty expires in about a month, so I'm seriously considering filing a claim. What are my actual chances of getting this approved, and more importantly, how on earth am I supposed to prove to them that the machine is actually defective?

shadowhound8 said:When misinformation starts spreading like wildfire, I guess I have no choice but to weigh in.🙄

If he goes looking for it, he’ll find they claim it has 30g of protein, but if you actually bother to use your brain for a second, it becomes pretty obvious that such a number is basically meaningless.
You didn't actually mention which protein you're using or when you're taking it, and honestly, wouldn't it be helpful if we knew your body weight and training routine too, especially if you're hitting it post-workout?

Honestly, it all comes down to your body weight—assuming we're talking about lean mass, of course.

Personally, I just stick to one shake, and that’s strictly after my workout.

I'm with you on that.

"Regarding your second point—the idea that the human body can only process 30 grams of protein per meal—I’d love to see you back that up with some actual scientific data. Just a heads-up: I don't consider the "Mickey Mouse Almanac" to be a peer-reviewed source. Seriously, what do you think happens when you sit down to a 10-ounce steak containing roughly 60 grams of protein? Are you suggesting that the first 4 ounces and 30 grams are perfectly absorbed and assimilated, but then a magic wand waves at the 31st gram, turning the rest into glucose, fat, or just waste? Different proteins digest at different rates, but whether it’s that steak, chicken, fish, eggs, milk, soy, or a scoop of Optimum Nutrition, they all eventually break down into amino acids—either free-form or as peptides—which can then be used to synthesize new, biologically vital proteins like skin, hair, organs, or MUSCLES!!!

By Miloš Sarčev

Based on everything we've discussed, you can pretty much crank your daily protein intake up to 3 or 4 grams per kilogram of body weight without having to worry about that "extra" stuff magically turning into fat—unless, of course, you’re planning on ignoring everything else? What happens if we don't actually manage to push the body into a caloric surplus by ramping up our intake like that? Just a quick reminder for anyone doing the math: one gram of protein packs in exactly four calories.

So, this is how one actively spends their annual vacation... ☕ 🤣

Just figured it was time to introduce myself with a current update...
nearing the end of month two on this cut

standing at 5'10", 174 lbs, 17.2% body fat
Started out at 194 lbs, 21% body fat

Is this kind of an aggressive weight drop for just two months, or what?
The goal is to get under 15% body fat, so I'm sticking to a low-carb approach with protein intake sitting around 2.5g/kg



And here's one more for Gwen



I'm officially opening the floor for a contest to see who has the most masculine glutes 😁
Who's stepping up next?

Alex Long8 said:If I can hit about 40-50 grams of protein per meal, I'm set...

One scoop of 30g usually packs around 20-24g of protein, so two scoops puts me right in that 40-50g sweet spot—that works for me. Is this the magic secret to success? Not even remotely, but hey, it’s an easy way to bump up my total intake, and since I can actually afford it right now, why wouldn't I? I've also started doing breakfast with 150g of oats and some low-fat milk, adding either two or three eggs or just a scoop of Whey; it depends on how much time I have, though I definitely prefer the eggs.

My goal is to hit roughly 185 lbs by now, so I need to hold steady there because I know once summer hits, getting to 200 lbs will be a massive uphill battle. The plan is to stay at 185 through the summer and then push from there to 200 by the end of the year.
Right now, the scale is bouncing between 180-183... after New Year's, I was sitting at 170-172. It could have gone better, but whatever, it is what it is. As long as I see the weight moving up, I'm happy. My strength is definitely climbing, especially on my bench, deadlift, and squat.

Oh sure, just eat half a pound of Whey per meal if that's your idea of a balanced diet.
That's your call, obviously.
But let's be real: you aren't going to see any meaningful movement on the scale just by slamming protein, no matter how much you chug, unless you're some kind of genetic freak.

Just remember the holy trinity of bulking:
Oats
Pasta
Rice

Basically—carbs.

I learned that the hard way. I put on over 25 lbs in a single year once I actually organized my meal plan (and most of it wasn't just fat). Before I started loading up on those, the scale wouldn't budge no matter how hard I trained or how much protein I shoved down my throat.

Alex Long8 said:Starting today, I’m doing 2 scoops of Whey for my post-workout... honestly, I don't even know why I felt the need to post this, just felt like sharing the sudden burst of motivation...

And why on earth would you do 2??
That's roughly 60g of protein in one sitting, and let's be real—hardly anyone can actually digest that much at once. Anything over 40-50g usually just gets flushed out of your system as waste. You're better off splitting that up into two separate servings.
or

If you've got extra Whey lying around, just send it my way. 😉

When I'm on a bulking phase, I usually smash through about five whole eggs for breakfast.
Once I switch to cutting, I’ll toss out two or three yolks and maybe throw in an extra egg white or two.
(Unless I'm dealing with those Omega-3 enriched ones like I am right now—those aren't going anywhere 😁.)