Posts by mellowtiger83

fadedcobra17 said:I’d certainly love to be an expert on computer hardware myself.

For God's sake, just tell us what kind of budget we're looking at here. At this rate, I'd be paying it off on an Amex 24 for years.

It’s easy to sit here and talk about building a rig at IBM, downtown, Links, or wherever else—they’ll put it together and have it delivered in about five business days, and then you're done.

Also, what do you actually plan on doing with the machine?

Look, this isn't some holy scripture.

fadedcobra17 said:https://www.bestbuy.com/pc-build-example-link

Is this an improvement?

Massively overpriced. Of course it isn't better. Stop looking at those pre-built configurations!

OrangeTurtle said:The Q6600 is actually a solid processor. With 4GB of RAM, you can get quite a bit done. 😉

You’re just as bad as I am when it comes to hijacking threads😁, that Q6600 belongs in the other thread. This one has an i3 540, if my memory serves me correctly.

One quick side note regarding starting new threads: if you think a faulty motherboard is why things are slowing down, you're in a tough spot. It’s an LGA 1156 socket board, and those are impossible to find these days—and even when you do, they cost a fortune.

Look, man, an MS power supply that's been running for five, maybe six or even more years? It’s just not going to be reliable anymore.

I'm not talking about modern MS units, which have actually improved quite a bit lately🙂.

Back then, the only decent thing they made was their 400W platinum model; nothing else really held up.

It's highly probable your PC is acting up specifically because of that power supply.

By the way, try resetting your BIOS to default settings! Sometimes that does the trick, though there's a slight chance the motherboard itself is faulty (not that I'd bet on it).

Joseph Allen71 said:So, I am having some issues getting things started. It seems I need a "spark plug and platinum" replacement. 😉 This computer takes about forty minutes just to boot up. During that entire window, the only thing visible on my monitor is the power LED blinking on and off.
I don't need anything high-end, so I am wondering if it is worth fixing this, or if I should just look for something new or used for around $3,000.
Intel Core i3 540 3.07GHz, socket 1156 LGA
ASUS (Intel) H55M-LE motherboard
4 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX series 2GB
500W power supply

Staring at the wall and chanting "why now, right when I'm short on cash" hasn't helped much. If you have any ideas, please share them.

Edith: To prevent too many questions regarding the GPU, here it is:

Of course there will be questions about the graphics card. We all know the 5670 chip, but there are massive speed differences between the DDR3 and DDR5 versions. Yours is basically the 95% slower version with an absurd amount of VRAM for no reason!🙂

wearypanther15 said:Thanks
I could use American Express for 4-6 monthly installments at Lynx here in my city, or does anyone have experience with this specific local shop?
I see they offer American Express installments, possibly even online
Thanks everyone for the help

In my opinion, Lynx is the best option for installments because their prices stay consistent regardless of how you pay. Pro tip: just order online first, then it's easy to settle up at the physical store. Their online prices are significantly lower than what you'll find on the shelf in the actual shop!

Meanwhile, at most other retailers, using an American Express card can end up costing you 10-15% more compared to paying cash.

I find myself in agreement with Timothy Kim60🙂. There is simply no logic in purchasing those pre-built configurations. You can secure a far superior machine for less money, or if you insist on spending the same amount, you end up with a significantly better build overall.

Samuel Hayes3 said:Hey everyone, I’m looking to upgrade to a new rig, so I figured it might be a good idea to sell my old one. 😁

Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 Case
Motherboard: ASRock hH97-PRO4
PSU: Fortron Hyper 700w
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590, 3.3GHz
GPU: Sapphire R9 270 dual-X OC Boost, 2GB GDDR5
RAM: Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury, 1866mHz, 8GB(2x4GB) white
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB 7200 SATA 6Gb/s
SSD: OCZ SSD ARC 100 120GB
It's about 2 years and 7 months old. No warranty left.

Thanks!

Are you kidding me right now? Seriously, what happened? Have you lost your mind?

You have a perfectly functional machine and you're already looking for a new one. Just drop in a GTX 1060 or a 1070 and you'll be fine; an RX 580 would work too. Everything else in there is solid.

Even the memory is sufficient. You could always add another 8GB later if things get heavy.

fadedorca66 said:Signed, sealed, delivered. There's really no point overthinking processor purchases. For all you know, the previous owner was a hardcore overclocker, and neither you nor the folks at Intel would ever be able to tell.

Honestly, the best listings are the ones that use phrases like "like new" or "well-maintained." It’s a chip, not a vintage Mustang. What does "well-maintained" even mean for silicon? Like, what, were they supposed to take the heatsink off every night, polish it up, and reapply paste?

🙏, those are the most ridiculous ads in my opinion😁. And the claims about things never being overclocked and being bundled with Noctu gear... please.

Regardless, it doesn't matter. If the processor still functions, there's no question of damage. I did once have a cheap chip that worked, but incorrectly—likely a cache issue. I only realized it after swapping out absolutely every other component. Buying a different CPU finally solved the problem.
But that was ages ago, so it’s irrelevant to modern processors. We were dealing with a Pentium 200 mmx back then, so you can imagine how long ago that was.🙂

Timothy Kim60 said:The 750Ti is undeniably more powerful, but paying that much $167 is just madness. A gtx 1030 performs similarly to a gtx 750 and costs only $193. You get a 3-year warranty, and while power consumption isn't a huge deal, it does pull less juice. Plus, it uses a passive cooler, which means there's no fan to fail or break down eventually.

Mine is an Asus passive model, and inside my HP SFF case, it hits 80C quite easily. If a gaming session goes on long enough, it can even touch 85C, but the silence is lovely🙂, and during the winter, it doesn't climb past 75C in my room.

It honestly doesn't need any kind of extra cooling. If it can survive in an SFF chassis, it will certainly be fine in a standard tower.

The main advantage here is the silence.

If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't touch that 2500k just yet. It’s still a very capable CPU, especially considering how much headroom you have for overclocking.

To be honest, I highly doubt your processor is the bottleneck here. If you take my word for it, there's definitely more life left in that chip.

Looking closer at your specs, the whole rig is actually quite solid. You might consider putting some money toward a better GPU—maybe something like a GTX 1050 or a 1060.

Alternatively, you could just sell the whole setup and build something new. Keep the SSD for the next build, and perhaps salvage a few other components.

Timothy Kim60 said:It would be helpful to know which specific software is being used here.

Most likely Adobe Lightroom or something similar. I doubt he's using anything else; that’s the industry standard, the gold standard.
As a photographer myself, I can't really imagine what else he'd be running.
Maybe some extreme version of PaintShop Pro, but honestly, it's basically just Photoshop at that point.
What matters most to him is how fast those RAW files load if he's shooting RAW. So, he needs a solid CPU, plenty of RAM, a fast SSD, and obviously, a reliable HDD for backups.

In my estimation, if you're looking at that specific use case, sticking with an i3 or an i5 featuring integrated graphics would be the most logical route. Alternatively, one might consider a newer AM4 A8 from AMD.

An SSD is an absolute necessity to ensure reasonable read speeds for RAW files and general system responsiveness. You'll also want a standard HDD alongside a dedicated external hard drive for backups.

Adam Moore3 said:Look, whether it's because the GT1030 is basically $200 or just because it can't compete with the card we're actually discussing, the 750Ti, it's clearly inferior. It's even a bit weaker than the GTX 750; you'll see a lower average FPS on it.

Do yourself a favor and actually look up current retail prices before making claims...

The most affordable 750Ti you'll find on Newegg is $167 👏

It's true, the gt750ti is noticeably faster. However, the gt1030 can be pushed quite a bit through overclocking. You can really crank those clocks up!

Adam Moore3 said:400-$167 max

?? That's basically the price of a brand new gtx 1030, which actually outperforms a gtx 750!!.

It appears the gtx 1030 phenomenon is going to seriously disrupt the used graphics card market.🙂

But honestly, you should be able to pick up $133!

Forgive my ignorance here, but how exactly does a graphics card assist with photo processing?

Wouldn't an Intel integrated unit be more than enough? I know those cores do a fine job with video, but I'm not quite certain about photos.

stormybadger8 said:I wonder if the folks over at Williams saw this ridiculous analysis too, because clearly they used it as an excuse to tell Massa to step on it. 🤔

Williams is honestly just plain stupid. But then again, what do I know? Out of all the drivers playing for Williams, Felipe Massa is actually better. It makes absolutely no sense. Massa managed to qualify the Williams in the top 10 again, while Lance Stroll can only dream of doing that in Abu Dhabi.

stormybadger8 said:Interesting...

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...alifying-score



The British media is busy blathering about how Kimi is lagging behind Vettel, acting like it’s some massive crisis for Ferrari and their shot at the constructors' title...
Meanwhile, they’re staying dead silent about the fact that Bottas is easily the worst driver left on the grid when you look at his qualifying gap to his teammate—which is usually the clearest sign of who actually has the pace.

Based on this logic, it implies Stroll is somehow twice the driver of Massa. Absolute nonsense. What a joke of an analysis.

Raymond Anderson14 said:So, I’m planning on upgrading my gaming rig this coming October.

Last year, I just swapped out the graphics card, but my processor is really starting to struggle.
Since I'm currently running an AMD, I’m looking to make the jump over to Intel—specifically moving to a Skylake i7.
I’ll be shopping at Micro Center, where I originally bought this whole setup since they handled the full build for me.

I could use some guidance on what exactly needs replacing. I assume I'll need a new motherboard too, but I'm stuck on which one to pick.
I actually had this entire configuration put together by the experts here about two years ago, so I figured I'd come back to the community for some advice.

Current specs:

CPU: AMD FX-8320
Cooler: LC-CC-120 Liquid Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P AM3 RAM
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2x4GB 1866MHz
GPU: Nvidia GF GTX 1060 6
PSU: XFX TS Series 550W 80+
Cooler: LC-CC-120 Liquid Cooler

My main goal is to get an i7-6700K. My budget would be around $1667.

P.S. There's also a bit of a buzzing noise coming from somewhere—not sure if it's a fan or something else. Should I look into replacing that as well? Thanks in advance! 🙏

Upgrading this current setup is pointless unless you're just looking to throw money away. Simple advice: overclock that CPU. Just Google Search "how to overclock" and you're set.

If you are determined to upgrade regardless, get a better cooler, maybe liquid cooling, and go for it.

One tip: everything doesn't always need to be set to Ultra. The difference between High and Medium is barely noticeable, you know?

stormybadger8 said:https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/11/...ing-puncture/?

Interesting. So even back in 2015, Mercedes had an engine mode that could shave a full second off a lap time. They only let their customer teams touch that kind of power once, and that was pretty much it...

So? What’s the big deal here?