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I'm new to BUILDING and I was trying to make one.
I've gotten the specs here for you and I WOULD like to know how you think it would run.

Deepcool Kendomen ATX Mid Tower CHASSIS Red
D-Link DUB-H7 7 Port USB 2.0 Hub with 2 FAST Charge Ports
MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon Motherboard
Intel Core i5 7600K
Corsair Value Select CMV8GX4M1A2133C15 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 OC 2GB
Seagate FireCuda 1TB Desktop SSHD ST1000DX002
Cooler Master GX 750W CM Storm Edition

Thank you!

Please replyCurious why the i5 vs an i7. Are you sure its enough?  Btw its probably plenty but just making sure you considered having plenty of processing power for whatever you will be using it for. Have you LOOKED into games or whatever software you will be running to see if its what you need?

So I have two video CARDS. One 1GB DDR3 memory and ANOTHER 1GB GDDR5. Will the two video cards work together?Nevermind. Just REALIZED that I can't use those two cards together.
Was one an AMD and other an NVIDIA Card? WONDERING why you couldnt use them together...

Hello i am gonna built a gaming pc around 800$.What hardware do you suggest?What games do you want to run and what frame rate, screen resolution, and how many displays and what size displays etc. Assuming your going to be getting or BUILDING a desktop PC? Also are you interested in taking a refurb computer and using that with a powerful video card to stretch your budget? ( Game titles to be played will also come into consideration if going with aged refurb hardware )Maybe the OP could say if he loves or hates any of these:

League of Legends
Minecraft
Rocket League
World of Warcraft
Grand Theft Auto V
Guild Wars 2
Path of Exile
World of Warcraft
Garry's Mod

Just a suggestion...   Or he could tell us exactly what he intends to do with the computer, RATHER than play a round of 20 questions.I want to build a new pc.Especially for games (gta,some heavy horror games etc). I dont use heavy programs to have a super cpu power so i want to spend more money at gpu.Do you suggest amd or intel cpu?


Which version of GTA? And what game on your wish list has the highest system requirements?

If its Vice City it will play on just about any computer made within the last 15 years. If its San Andreas then you will want a Dual-Core or better, and if its GTA 5 you will want:
Quote

    OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1.
    Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 3.2GHZ (4 CPUs) / AMD X8 FX-8350 4GHZ (8 CPUs)
    Memory: 8GB.
    Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB.
    Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible.
    HDD Space: 65GB.

I have found most of my hardware but
I am asking for another opinion

But aim not sure if 500w are enough for this hardware

My PC Blu-Ray burner/player drive has been giving me 'failed' burns for the past few weeks.

Sometimes it will burn just fine, and then it will take 3 or 4 failed attempts to burn successfully.

Today, trying to burn the same data, it failed 6 TIMES. I've tried re-booting, thinking it MIGHT be a RAM, or memory issue, but no, burns still fail.

I THINK my drive may be going bad, can someone take a look at the Log.txt, and see if it indicates what the issue is? 

Win7

Thanks!

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space] Quote

10:30:47 AM   #7 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2988
   Recorder: PIONEER BD-RW   BDR-209D, Media type: BD-R (SEQ)

Burn process started at 10x (44,950 KB/s)

I've burned other Blu-Ray discs from this same 50 pack.

Just burned some CD's and DVD's OK. Blu-Rays still fail. Looks like it's time for a new drive.

One thought though- Have you tried any alternative burning software other than Nero?

Hey guys, I've been looking for hyper-threading in my BIOS. I don't have the most normal BIOS out there, so it's hard to find any instructions online as to where to locate it and how to disable it. After fully reviewing every possible crevice in my BIOS the only thing I found that somewhat resembled hyper-threading is something called Speedstep. The description of it sounds pretty similar to hyper-threading.

Does anyone here know anything in particular about these two things?

Thanks a bunchMy BIOS is an American Megatrends Inc. 9/04/2016Why not just specify core affinity and avoid trying to shut down hyperthreading. If your running a program that a CPU with hyperthreading is a problem, I'd just specify core affinity to core 0. I had to do this with my game Unreal Tournament 99 as for it acts up on multiple core CPUs for a game written back when single-core Pentium III's were the gaming rig processors. On a CPU with hyperthreading the 0,2,4,6 cores are physical and 1,3,5,7 would be the hyperthreaded. So if looking to avoid running on the hyperthreaded core then avoid those with core affinity set to 0,2,4, or 6What are the motherboard and CPU? We need this information. Speedstep and hyperthreading are totally different things.
Quote from: Salmon Trout on September 28, 2017, 02:05:14 AM

What are the motherboard and CPU? We need this information. Speedstep and hyperthreading are totally different things.

Why not just specify core affinity and avoid trying to shut down hyperthreading. If your running a program that a CPU with hyperthreading is a problem, I'd just specify core affinity to core 0. I had to do this with my game Unreal Tournament 99 as for it acts up on multiple core CPUs for a game written back when single-core Pentium III's were the gaming rig processors. On a CPU with hyperthreading the 0,2,4,6 cores are physical and 1,3,5,7 would be the hyperthreaded. So if looking to avoid running on the hyperthreaded core then avoid those with core affinity set to 0,2,4, or 6

Core affinity is set within the operating system, using Windows Task Manager for example, or via the Start command.

I noticed a strange white mark on the screen of my ASUS G750JM-DS71 LAPTOP today. I'm not sure what the problem is or how to fix it. It appears to be a pixel issue but I'm not sure. I have attached an image of the problem as well.

Just wondering if anyone has any idea what the problem is.

Thanks

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]Looks like the liquid crystal is damaged there. My guess is that its always there no matter what you have open including at boot before windows loads and its the back light shining through a damaged display?

If the screen got bumped or squeezed right there such as laptop lid closed and something in the way crushed between the display and the laptop SURFACE thats the most common CAUSE. The good thing is that its in an area of the display rarely used for text etc, and so unless its annoying it doesnt need to be replaced.I'll BET the lid got closed on something...Possibly a Pen and Pen Cap being larger than Pen itself created the pressure point to the display.

 Guy I worked with years ago was always snacking on trail mix and mixed NUTS and was trying to figure out why his laptop wouldnt shut after a meeting and pushed down on it and CRUNCH... He was snacking on almonds and forgot one on the top of the laptop above the keys. Well laptops dont work good as a nut cracker, and it didnt take much pressure to destroy the screen with the leverage angle.       He got lucky because it was company laptop and they issued him a new one, but they suggested he keep his "almonds" out of the laptop. .... But they didnt say almonds.     

Hey guys, I need your help.
A couple of days ago I bought a new mobo (Asus 970 pg/aura) to replace my overheating MSI and some faster RAM along with it. I installed everything without a problem, made a fresh Win 7 installation and... ran into these issues:

1) The whole screen seems out-of-focus: text is blurry, icons and pictures have jagged edges and generally fixing my eyes on one point on the screen causes eye strain. Here's a picture taken from a football manager game, mine is on the left, the one on the right is someone else's (google images): https://imgur.com/a/zWQvQ . No amount of messing with contrast, gamma or brightness has fixed this.

2) Videos. The picture is great as long as there's someting static, like a logo or a background of some sorts. But as soon as people start talking or the camera moves, the picture becomes real blurry and somewhat pixolated. Like if I switched from 1080 to 320 or there was a refresh issue. When the movement slows down, the picture gets better and there's visible focusing process. There's also strange color saturation at times.
Screenshot 1 - little motion, DOESNT look like 1080, but still decent: https://imgur.com/a/OAGsn
Screenshit 2 - in motion, notice the pixels and blur: https://imgur.com/a/NSEbt

3) Games and pictures. Blur and jagged edges again. This is what happends when I zoom in to a 1080 picture: https://imgur.com/a/V207i . The pixolation and jagged edges around the mirror are a perfect example of what I'm getting with every pict. Including 2GB pics in Photoshop.

Initially I thought this was my monitor (144hz LG 24gm77, dvi-d) ACTING up but it's kinda obvious that if I can take screenshots of the flaws and see them on different monitors, it must be something else.

I'll include my full specs and some additional info as well:

Mobo: Asus 970 Progaming/aura
GPU: Asus Ex 1050 Ti
CPU: AMD FX 8300
RAM: 4x4 Vengeance 2133
OS: Win 7 64bit
PSU: EVGA supernova G3 550W
SSD/HDD: 850 EVO, Barracuda
Temps: GPU (avg 38, Max 70), CPU (avg 32, max 42, core 15-18), mobo (27-34), flow (26-35)
RAM are running stable 2133/1.5V according to both bios and cpu-z, no memtest errors.
Nothing is OC'd as of now.
No BSOD, freezes, crashes. Games don't stutter, fps stable.

What I've tried so far:
-reformatted and reinstalled Win, twice
-a different monitor and input
-different PSU
-older nvidia drivers, directX reinstall

Any ideas?If its not the monitor or monitor cable, and you have latest drivers, I would then put the blame on the video card itself... Is this video card still covered by warranty for warranty replacement?

Also.... I am pretty sure the AMD FX-8300 maximum speed RAM for INTERNAL memory controller is 1866Mhz so the 2133Mhz is likely running underclocked. I own a AMD FX-8300 system and I am running 1600Mhz DDR3 in it and its plenty fast at 1600Mhz RAM. I dont think your issues with display are result of RAM though. I am pretty sure if you eliminated everything but the video card that its the videocard. Quote from: DaveLembke on September 14, 2017, 05:58:51 AM

If its not the monitor or monitor cable, and you have latest drivers, I would then put the blame on the video card itself... Is this video card still covered by warranty for warranty replacement?

Also.... I am pretty sure the AMD FX-8300 maximum speed RAM for internal memory controller is 1866Mhz so the 2133Mhz is likely running underclocked. I own a AMD FX-8300 system and I am running 1600Mhz DDR3 in it and its plenty fast at 1600Mhz RAM. I dont think your issues with display are result of RAM though. I am pretty sure if you eliminated everything but the video card that its the videocard.

I think this could be several separate issues.

The blurry appearance in certain applications could be a result of DPI Scaling virtualization. If you have a high DPI, then applications that don't declare themselves DPI aware are stretched by Windows, resulting in a blurry "out of focus" type of appearance.

Movies/Videos pretty much always have blur during moving scenes.

If you zoom in on an image, you'll see pixels, so I'm not sure what you are illustrating with that example? There is artifacting around said side-view mirror but it looks to be jpeg artifacting that would lead me to believe the image was a jpeg or was at some point a jpeg. (or otherwise lossy).


Now, The problem is that it would be hard to know the difference between artifacts present in the original content and artifacts that are being added afterwards. Movies are a wash- I don't think there are any real lossless formats to use. But if you are seeing those artifacts when editing data that you are 100% sure is not compressed (for example, if you make a new photoshop document and draw some things with the brush), Then I think that points towards a faulty graphics card. Which is also pointed towards by many of the issues you've illustrated.

How are you connecting the monitor? (HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI...)

I have a Dell Inspiron AllInOne 3455 that does not seem to boot. I suspect EITHER a MB or screen problem. I can see the power button light come on and it turns white. I can hear the fan fine and the hard drive briefy but nothing ever shows at all on the screen. I replaced the HD with a known good bootable hard drive but same problem. How can I figure out what is causing the problem? thx.Display, Power Supply maybe, or RAM? Does it have HDMI or other way to connect it to another display to see if thats with nothing on it too?

When did this problem occur or did you get this system given to you this way?I am just looking at it for a friend. She said the system is a little over a year old and the problem just started. Its out of WARRANTY.
Does it seem like it would be the power supply when I can hear the fan still running until I power it off?
I thought of that but I was not sure it would recognize a second monitor if it was not already set up. Unfortunately I don't have any monitors with HDMI inputs and it does not have any other monitor connectors.Either way you need an HDMI monitor to diagnose any further...borrow 1 if need be...

BTW you cannot simply swap a Windows HDD from 1 PC to another and expect it to work...Thanks, I think you are right about borrowing a monitor. At least I may see some MESSAGE or not and that would tell me the monitor is the problem.
As far as switching hard drives it may not work completely but it will at least rule out the hard drive as the problem since you usually see some indication the system is trying to boot. I did not expect it to be a working system unless I was using its cloned hard drive. I really did not think it was the hard drive but wanted to try to rule out what was easiest first. Quote

As far as switching hard drives it may not work completely but it will at least rule out the hard drive as the problem since you usually see some indication the system is trying to boot. I did not expect it to be a working system unless I was using its cloned hard drive. I really did not think it was the hard drive but wanted to try to rule out what was easiest first.

Hey there. I have an issue with my Toshiba External Hard Drive not showing up on my new PC. Shows up just fine on my old PC, but doesn't so much as show up in drive management on my new pc. The only real difference between the two systems being the new PC is much faster, and it has 3.0 USB hubs instead of 2.0 USB hubs... I'm about 98% the files are there, the new PC just isn't picking it up.

I'll note, though I don't know how much it has to do with anything, my drive when plugged into my old PC will show as a white light and blink white, where on my new PC it is a solid blue color and doesn't flash. And again, on my new PC, doesn't even register or show up as a partition. I will also note, every other USB item I've plugged into the same USB port functions (mouse, keyboard, speakers, thumb drives) and I've tried multiple other ports.

It isn't the kind that requires an external power source (just like a giant thumb drive). It has 500 GB's total, and had about 700mb or so free last I had it open on my old PC. This is a link to the same make and MODEL as mine. https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA64?th=1

Any ideas on how to access my stuff on my new PC? 

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]Do you have any thumb drives to test on this USB port to see if its a bad port on new computer? It could be possible for 2 of 4 wires to make connection to power the drive but no data communication on the other 2 wires. If other data devices such as a thumb drive work fine then it is likely a driver issue where the controller in the external hard drive Windows doesnt have the proper driver to mount this drive.

Solutions to gain access to your data at the new computer are:

- Locate the driver needed for Toshiba External USB drive support for your OS and install it so it knows how to mount this drive on new PC.
- Move the hard drive inside to a different external drive caddy that the newer OS supports the drivers for
- Remove the HDD from the Toshiba external case and mount it direct to a SATA Data and Power connection to a desktop computer
- Connect to the old computer through a network share, and have this older computer connected to the Toshiba external drive and then from newer computer access the data on the Toshiba drive through the network share with new computer connected over network to old computer. Old computer has no problems with driver support to mount this drive and so you have access to the data.
- Use a newer external hard drive that new computer can use, connect this to old computer and copy entire drive from old drive to new drive and now you have it accessible on new computer.
- Connect Toshiba drive to old computer and connect a say 64GB USB stick to the old computer and copy data needed to the 64GB drive. When done properly dismount the USB stick and connect it to new computer and now you have access to your data for specific data you needed that was lesser than 64GB in size. Larger flash drive could be used, but external hard drives are cheaper for large storage capacity.

*Myself if faced with this, I would probably just connect to the old computer with a network share to this drive as the cheapest solution to GETTING the data to the new computer. Or use a USB stick at old computer and copy the data needed from external to the USB stick and use the USB stick on the new computer.

Lastly... if the USB power is weak on the new computers USB port and this is a small external hard drive where its powered directly from the USB port, you could have a condition where the drive cant function because not enough power to spin the drive up and function. This is one main reason why i personally avoid the smaller external hard drives that are powered off of USB. I have had troubles with them and weak USB power connections. So I go for the ones that have the power adapter to not be powered off of USB and have their own power source independent of the PC that they connect to.Yeah, I've got some thumb drives and I've tested them on all the ports on my new PC, and they open up just fine. Just my EHD having the issue, and I'm not sure why because it opens up fine on my old PC still.

I'll give some things on the list a try. I'll update you with my progress. Thank you! I didn't have a clue where to start. I assume the Toshiba External Hard Drive is powered only from the USB?
Powered or un-powered hubs?
USB 3.0 needs more power than USB 2.0.

I have no problems with USB hard drives on older laptops with USB 3.0.
The drive won't work on newer machines with un-powered hubs.  They power on but are not "seen".Hey! I tried a couple things and nothing really worked, and then I took into consideration the power levels needed for 3.0 usb ports, and funnily enough, I had a USB extender LAYING around for a very short-corded mouse I had a long time AGO! Sure enough, I plugged the extender into the 3.0 port, and plugged my External Hard Drive into the 2.0 ports at the other end of the extender, and bingo, my files exist again!    Super simple work-around until I get a better External Hard Drive with a separate power supply.

Thanks so much for the help! It's not the perfect solution, but certainly the easiest! Awesome to hear you got it to power up and mount to the system to access your data.

Back in the day Turbo use to be a BUTTON on my computer to switch from 12Mhz to 16Mhz and was manual... These days they have dynamic Turbo's where they on the fly will do this without a push button.

I just bought 2 of these boards for a low cost workstation project and was curious at what point the Turbo would trigger, is it a certain percentage of CPU utilization in which it will trigger or only when the CPU is at 100% it will ramp up the clock to 2.7Ghz to try to charge through a work load to get to a certain CPU utilization to where its back to below 80% in which the clock will go to 1.7Ghz, as well as does the OS have to support a Turbo instruction to get to 2.7Ghz vs just 1.7Ghz or I dont have to worry about say using Linux on it and it being bottlenecked to 1.7Ghz etc because of a missing instruction for the CPU ( APU in this case ). Additionally are these able to sustain a constant Turbo speed without running too hot or does it run to Turbo and then when it gets to a certain temp it shuts off Turbo and then when it COOLS runs back to Turbo again and so it could be 1.7Ghz then 2.7Ghz and then 1.7Ghz and then 2.7Ghz for a slow / fast cycle during heavy CPU/APU LOADS to stay within an operating temperature margin and not roast?

I havent had any newer systems with Turbo enabled CPUs. I have 2 systems a AMD FX-8300 and FX-8350 and the motherboards dont support Turbo so they stay at 3.3 and 4.0Ghz, so I know that the board has to support it first of all and then I am not sure about if the OS has to as well. The only alternate clocking I have experience with is the COOL n Quiet or Stepping that Intels have to underclock but go full clock when needed. Not sure if this Turbo is just an on the fly overclock or if they are selling underclocked CPUs/APUs and going full clock is what the Turbo is etc.

New territory and so I figured I'd ask for info on this to know what I just bought myself into and expectations of the Turbo behavior when the system is running.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138448The old "Turbo" *reduced* performance. When Turbo was ON, the CPU speed would be reduced. The purpose was for software which relied on cycle specifics. The IBM AT introduced the Turbo button which was also featured on most clones- it reduced the 12Mhz 286 CPU down to the 4.77Mhz Speed of the XT and original IBM PC, so that software that was written cycle-dependent would run correctly- Later systems effectively reduced to speeds for the previous generation. I had a 286 which would "Turbo" down to 4.77Mhz, a 386 which would "Turbo" from 40Mhz to 12Mhz, and a 4867 that would Turbo down from 120Mhz to 33Mhz (The 386 and 486 had nifty LED digit displays next to the turbo button as well)

It isn't really related to SpeedStep, TurboBoost, Turbo Core, etc. Except in Name.

As far as I can tell the specific details of how the current stuff works aren't revealed. It fundamentally tries to intelligently determine when to overclock the chip based on Processor load but apparently it's not as simple as the utilization because people have reported issues with games or other software underperforming when it is enabled. They throttle at higher temperatures as before and the feature is a feature of the CPU- so it should work EVEN if you boot, say, MS-DOS from a floppy and run an intensive task.

Friend of mine is looking to upgrade from his Athlon II x215 2.7Ghz to a Athlon II x4 or Phenom II x4 and asked me if there is a big advantage to Phenom II x4 with L3 Cache vs an Athlon II x4 which doesnt have L3 Cache.

I looked online and found this article here: http://wccftech.com/intel-amd-l3-cache-gaming-benchmarks/

It looks like there is up to a 10% performance gain ACCORDING to benchmarks, but thats only if whatever is run can make use of the L3 Cache. Somewhere I read a while back stated the strengths and weaknesses of L1,2, and 3 Cache and some games and applications dont have a benefit in L3 Cache because they weren't coded up in a way that BENEFITS from L3 Cache. Unable to find that article to REFERENCE here.

The Phenom II x4's come at a premium on ebay in the $60 range each and the Athlon II x4 CPUs are about half the price in the $30 range.

I told him that if he wants the maximum performance he could get then the Phenom II x4 CLEARLY is, but as far as if it makes sense to spend the extra to get the Phenom II x4 vs the Athlon II x4 of a same or very close clock, that I am unsure of because I myself have never owned a Phenom II x4 to be able to know how much better it would be vs the Athlon II x4 and as far as Athlon II x4's go I only have experience with the Athlon II x4 620 2.6Ghz which I am happy with but not sure if this is crippled compared to the Phenom II x4 of say 2.6Ghz with the L3 cache being the only difference?

So looking for info on if it makes much of a difference or not and should he avoid the Phenom II x4 and buy the Athlon II x4 or go for it and spend twice a much for the Phenom II x4?

I looked to see if there was a list of what games make good use of L3 and found nothing. Here is a short list of games that we both play together.

World of Warcraft
Aion
Rift
Skyrim
Torchlight II
Diablo III
HearthstoneWell he got impatient and BOUGHT a Athlon II x4 645 3.1Ghz off of ebay. Hopefully when it arrives its a good one and not one with bent pins etc. 

So if any info gets shared about his question, it would be neat to know but it wont affect his purchase now.

Hello,how can I transfer all of my data to a new disk(ssd or hdd)?
Can I do it just with a copy paste?You can. You can also use various backup/restore or disk imaging software.is there a program for this??Acronis True Image...the best...not cheap.
Macrium Reflect or Easus ToDo...both have Free versions.BTW i highly suggest not usin copy/paste method...

Unless you happen to have 64G of RAM and a beefy PC.If your only interested in your data, not the programs installed and not the OS copied over and not making an exact copy from one drive to another via an image then here are your options:


Patio is correct in the RAM amount being an issue if your copy/pasting large amounts of data. A batch file for example can charge through a transfer because it doesnt buffer it all for transfer its FIFO ( First IN - First OUT ) as file matches are found it transfers them vs trying to send all to buffer in which system RAM gets consumed greatly.


If you have a folder named myDATA and all data is there, just right-click the folder and the select copy then navigate to destination drive and right-click and say paste.

If you have data scattered everywhere on the system it will require manually searching and copying of data -or- a batch file that is constructed to search for specific file extensions with wildcard used to search an entire C: drive and for example copy only ( documents, music, pictures, videos, and zip files ) no matter of location to a destination drive.

Example of this would be like

Code: [Select]c:
cd\.
xcopy *.jpg f:\DATA\*.* /s/d/y/h
This would grab all instances of JPG images on your system and it would construct the same path structure as the C: drive on the F: drive within the DATA folder of F:

You can do this adding line for line for as many different file extensions as you need. Also you can know that the path leads to images by specifying when there is a positive match to set the files and folder structure within the Pictures folder( aka subdirectory ) of the DATA folder such as if you want pictures only you can use this... which covers ( bmp, dib, tif, tiff, png, gif, jpg, jpeg, jpe, jfif )

Code: [Select]c:
cd\.
xcopy *.jpg f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.jpeg f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.jpe f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.jfif f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.gif f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.png f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.bmp f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.dib f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.tif f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h
xcopy *.tiff f:\DATA\Pictures\*.* /s/d/y/h

There is also ROBOCOPY if your system doesnt support XCOPY ..... However a different syntax is used for ROBOCOPY.


Here is XCOPY and then ROBOCOPY Features/switches:

XCOPY:



Quote

XCOPY source [destination] [/A | /M] [/D[:DATE]] [/P] [/S [/E]] [/V] [/W]
                           [/C] [/I] [/Q] [/F] [/L] [/G] [/H] [/R] [/T] [/U]
                           [/K] [/N] [/O] [/X] [/Y] [/-Y] [/Z] [/B]
                           [/EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...]

  source       Specifies the file(s) to copy.
  destination  Specifies the location and/or name of new files.
  /A           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
               doesn't change the attribute.
  /M           Copies only files with the archive attribute set,
               turns off the archive attribute.
  /D:m-d-y     Copies files changed on or after the specified date.
               If no date is given, copies only those files whose
               source time is newer than the destination time.
  /EXCLUDE:file1[+file2][+file3]...
               Specifies a list of files containing strings.  Each string
               should be in a separate line in the files.  When any of the
               strings match any part of the absolute path of the file to be
               copied, that file will be excluded from being copied.  For
               example, specifying a string like \obj\ or .obj will exclude
               all files underneath the directory obj or all files with the
               .obj extension respectively.
  /P           Prompts you before creating each destination file.
  /S           Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
  /E           Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
               Same as /S /E. May be used to modify /T.
  /V           Verifies the size of each new file.
  /W           Prompts you to press a key before copying.
  /C           Continues copying even if errors occur.
  /I           If destination does not exist and copying more than one file,
               assumes that destination must be a directory.
  /Q           Does not display file names while copying.
  /F           Displays full source and destination file names while copying.
  /L           Displays files that would be copied.
  /G           Allows the copying of encrypted files to destination that does
               not support encryption.
  /H           Copies hidden and system files also.
  /R           Overwrites read-only files.
  /T           Creates directory structure, but does not copy files. Does not
               include empty directories or subdirectories. /T /E includes
               empty directories and subdirectories.
  /U           Copies only files that already exist in destination.
  /K           Copies attributes. Normal Xcopy will reset read-only attributes.
  /N           Copies using the generated short names.
  /O           Copies file ownership and ACL information.
  /X           Copies file audit settings (implies /O).
  /Y           Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /-Y          Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /Z           Copies networked files in restartable mode.
  /B           Copies the Symbolic Link itself versus the target of the link.
  /J           Copies using unbuffered I/O. Recommended for very large files.

The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.

So recently, I've upgraded the CPU on my Dell OptiPlex 380. It came installed with an Intel Pentium Dual Core E5800. A month later, I decided to upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. Every single site (with the exception of UserBenchmark) I've seen comparing the two, along with a lot of opinions, show that the E8400 is significantly better. How come I'm seeing worse performance? It has a strange bottleneck in less demanding games, and only shows a performance boost in very particular games. Overall, browsing the web is a lot better, I'm able to watch Ultra HD/Quad HD VIDEO (sometimes even 4k) and can do general tasks with ease. Despite this however, its gaming performance is extremely lacking compared to my older CPU. How can this be?

Note: I've cleaned my fan and cooler, reapplied thermal paste, cleaned my motherboard, and pretty much the entire system, yet still no performance increase.What do you have for a Video Card?

Also the Pentium E5800 will do better with single-threaded games with the 3.2Ghz clock and newer core design than the older Core 2 Duo.

Other than the extra Cache, there isnt much gain in the Core 2 Duo VS the Pentium E. I wouldnt expect that much of a difference in performance however lesser performance, the only thing I see is that single-threaded games will run 200Mhz slower at 3Ghz vs 3.2Ghz however the difference shouldnt be noticed much.

I'd benchmark your system yourself to see how your system is actually running as well as look at how hot that CPU is running. If the CPU is running too hot it will thermal throttle and run like junk.

I use the free trial of passmark for my benchmarks. I generally run it before an upgrade and then after and save the results to compare or I write down the scores to see what kind of gains or unusual bottle necks pop up. https://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

Speedfan can be used to check your CPU TEMP. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php


I recently upgraded a Dell Inspiron 530S from a Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8Ghz to a Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz and one issue I ran into was the heatsink wasnt able to get rid of the hotter running E6700's heat. So I had to replace the heatsink for the socket 775 CPU and then all was better. It ran like junk thermal throttling after it warmed up. I tried a Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz in it but the chipset I found out doesnt support quadcores. The E6700 was the fastest CPU I had on hand to make it as FAST as it can run for what it is, but the extra heat the stock heatsink wasnt enough for and so the newer heatsink with heatpipes on it made a big difference and the performance gain from the E4300 1.8Ghz to E6700 2.66Ghz was then very good. I had a GeForce GT 610 video card that I added to this and it RUNS pretty well for what it is now and is my daughters new system to replace her single-core socket 478 Celeron D 2.8Ghz 335J that she had been running prior which was originally a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz but the Celeron D ran better than the Pentium 4 2.4Ghz at 400Mhz faster clock and SSE3 instructions that the Pentium 4 was lacking for multimedia and gaming. The socket 478 Celeron D 335J is interesting in that its internals were pretty much intended for a socket 775 but they made it backwards compatible to socket 478 boards to be part of the low cost new computer market and so cut corners in component composition, but marketing as a "D" when Pentium D and Celeron D's were new and so such as this Celeron D 335J was yanked out of a dead eMachine which was constructed when most systems were onto socket 775 for intel CPUs and this one was a build that eMachine cut corners using abundance of older parts in its make up but still be able to market it as NEW and Celeron D which looks like any other socket 775 Celeron D out there, but big performance differences in DDR vs DDR2 etc. This made for an interesting scenario where a slightly newer Celeron beats the pants off of a slightly older Pentium 4.

Thank you very much for the applications and such. I never would have thought the actual heat sink might be the issue, albeit I haven't tested that yet.

As for the video card, I use an XFX AMD Radeon HD 6670 (1GB DDR3) clocked at 800Mhz for both the core and memory. As for my benchmarks, the results came out surprisingly low, considering the games I'm able to run. My temperature to me seems fairly low, idling at about 32C and increasing to a max of 39C ~ 40C when watching full HD videos. As I'm typing this reply, it is at a stable 34C. While gaming, it can reach temps as high as 65C ~ 70C, only ever restarting due to heat once. After that restart, I reapplied thermal paste and never had the same issue. Also, if my PSU matters, I have a 235W max PSU. I'm well aware that that is superbly low and am planning on moving the motherboard to a bigger and better case so as to stuff a much better PSU into it.just checking a few benchmark comparison sites and the reason many sites rank the Cure 2 Duo much better seems to largely be because for some reason it is cheaper than the E5800. CPUBoss for example gives the Core 2 Duo a score of 5.9 versus the E5800's 4.9, which sounds like a good upgrade, but if you look at the breakdown, the two are pretty much identical except for the "Value" rating, which massively skews the overall comparison.

It shouldn't be performing worse, but this would at least explain why a performance increase would be expecting too much, beyond added hardware capabilities like video decoding.Your CPU temp shouldn't climb over 60C. My Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66Ghz with new heatsink levels off at 54C when gaming and rests around 35C idle, and with the stock heatsink for the E4300 it was climbing like yours over 70C towards 80C and then started to run like garbage as it slows its performance to reduce heat and avoid meltdown. The shutdown temp for the board was 85C but never shut down on me because I shut it down when i saw the problem I was facing. After all CPU installs and all systems that I pick up for free, one of the first things I do before running them for any length of time is see what the CPU temp is. Speedfan has a graphing ability too so if you want to see where it levels off at you can run that and then run games and then minimize or end the game and go back to the Speedfan session and look at graph and see where your temperatures climbed to. It also shoudl show your video card and other temperatures as well to point out any hot spots. Its correct like 99% of the time, sometimes it will show like 128C right at boot and its a bogus reading where it cant interface with that sensor etc.It could very well be the MBoard was not optimised for that CPU...even if it works

Configuration:
Processor- Intel Dual Core E5700
GPU- Internal
Cooler- Stock Intel LGA775
RAM- 2GB Kingston 1333MHz / 2GB EVM Dynet 1333MHz
Mobo- Gigabyte GA G41M Combo
HDD- Seagate Barracuda 500GB
PSU- 400 W Circle Power Supply
Case: Some generic no brand case
OS- Windows 8.1 64 Bit
 
Have run with this config (except the new PSU) for a couple years without issues. For the past one month my PC has been randomly turning off without warning or BSOD. Sometimes while booting and after running for hours at other times.
 
What I have tried so far:
1. Replaced the old PSU with leaked capacitors with a new one.
2. Replaced dead CMOS battery.
3. Cleaned the heatsink and re-installed it with new thermal paste. (Temps normal now while idle ~40 deg c and under load ~72 deg c)
4. Reseated the Processor.
5. Tried one RAM stick at a time and both.
6. Checked the PSU voltages. Fan runs normally with GREEN and Black pins shorted. Here are the readings: All Orange Pins: 3.39v, All Red Pins: 5.37v, All Yellow Pins: 12.19v, Gray (Pin : 5.35v, Purple (Pin 9): 5.25v, Blue (Pin 14): -11.62. The Red pin voltages have me a little worried because according to this article the max voltage for Red pins is 5.25v.
7. Tried breadboarding. PC ran fine for few hours but it runs fine for a few hours in the case as well. So I think breadboarding was inconclusive.
 
The BIOS speaker beeps once while booting which indicates all is fine with my Award BIOS. One of my mobo standoffs is missing but I put a cardboard between the mobo and case, so I don’t think the mobo is shorting on the back. Also cleaned the mobo as much as I could. I have no overclocks or under volting. There seem to be no loose screws lying around. All cables are plugged in properly. Another thing worth noting is that once it turns off, pressing the power button on the case won’t start the PC. I have to UNPLUG the PC from the wall socket and plug it back in before it can turn on.
 
Someone help me out here. If more info is needed I'll add it.What make and model PSU did you replace with ? ?

Meantime i'd get a few standoffs from a shop....they usually give them away.Cooler- Stock Intel LGA775

I've seen these shear at the plastic standoffs (where the spring is).  Not visible until you remove it & visually inspect close up.  It BREAKS the contact between the cpu, thermal paste & the cooler just enough so it's not in full contact which causes very fast overheating & shutdown.

Sometimes you can tell because the fan speeds up at strange times.  Is you fan speeding up before before the shutdown? Quote from: patio on September 30, 2017, 11:38:12 AM

What make and model PSU did you replace with ? ?

Meantime i'd get a few standoffs from a shop....they usually give them away.

Cooler- Stock Intel LGA775

I've seen these shear at the plastic standoffs (where the spring is).  Not visible until you remove it & visually inspect close up.  It breaks the contact between the cpu, thermal paste & the cooler just enough so it's not in full contact which causes very fast overheating & shutdown.

Sometimes you can tell because the fan speeds up at strange times.  Is you fan speeding up before before the shutdown?

I checked the heatsink locks and they are properly locked in. The heatsink doesn't move either. There were never any temp spikes and the CPU was stable at 72 Deg C with 100% load. And I have never noticed the fan speed up suddenly.

What determines a good processor besides speed?Depends on many things... mainly what is the application for the processor. You want to pair up a processor with whatever it will be used for. You dont want to buy a processor that just meets what your current program or application needs are unless it will only be used for that and that application or program would never become greater complex to execute. For most applications it MEANS buying a processor that is more than you need, but within reason. That is most people dont need a Core i9 CPU and a Core i3 or i5 would be plenty. However if your a extreme gamer then you will want a i7 or i9 CPU because you will be playing games on very high and hardware demanding settings.

CPU's have Cores and the Cores are specific and named different project names. The cores of the same project name are the same generally with exceptions being different Cache Configurations.

CPU's have L1, L2 cache and in some processors L3 and L4 cache. The Cache helps the processor in that its able to store small pieces of information that the processors core(s) will use redundantly. Cache doesnt help with non redundant operations. Cache acts as a enhancement to RAM. Cache gets information to the CPU's core faster than RAM can. L1 cache is the fastest and smallest in size, then there is L2 cache slightly slower in function which can be 128k up to around 4MB or so in size ( most are 512k to 4MB in size ), then there is L3 cache which is slower than L2 and L1 but larger than L1 and L2 and faster than getting/fetching the information from RAM. Then in mostly servers etc L4 cache which is slower than the 3 prior but still faster than the system RAM fetch time. Cache also comes in Shared among cores or dedicated per core configurations.

CPU Clock Speed and Core Count then comes into play. The more cores the more multitasking and more multithreading can happen. But the program or application that is running needs to support multithreaded execution in order to make full use of all cores, otherwise it will use 1 core of however many cores the processor has. The clock speed is the Mhz or Ghz speed of the CPU such as 2.0Ghz or 4.0Ghz. A 4.0Ghz CPU "could" get 2x as many operations completed in the same time as the 2.0Ghz CPU. "Could" is stated because while a CPU waits for information there can be idle/wasted cycles of execution so it sometimes is not exactly 2x as fast in execution. Someone who is a casual computer user and a lightweight gamer would probably be fine on a 2.0Ghz CPU, however most games these days call for a Quadcore which is 4 cores and 2.5Ghz or faster clock. A gamer would want the 4.0Ghz because the processor can handle a heavier work load in the same period of time and so the game wouldnt lag at 4.0Ghz yet on a 2.0Ghz of same CPU design the processor at 2.0Ghz might not be enough to keep up with the workload to run the game in correct timing.

Lastly there are power efficient "Green" processors and normal processors and then Extreme Processors. The green processors are energy efficient and produce less heat, but this also means that they either wouldnt be able to play games or if they do play games, performance may be sluggish. These are processors that are lesser than 45 watts TDP. Normal Processors for lack of a better title for them are in the 65 watt to 95 watt TDP ( Thermal Design Power ) and these play games generally ok depending on what game and what processor core design that is utilized with multiple cores. Then you have extreme processors which generally are 100 watts or greater TDP, most are in the 125 to 260 watt TDP range. These are power hungry and in some situations the systems act like space heaters and can heat a room while they are being used such as my AMD FX-8350 8-Core 4.0Ghz with a GTX 780 Ti video card pumps out heat out of the case enough to warm my office when its used and running heavy hardware requiring games like Witcher 3. These processors the care to same money on your electric bill ISNT really considered as for you want maximum performance or maximum affordable performance and so they generally run fast and hot.

Other features of processors to be aware of are instruction sets. Most processors share same instruction set support, but some have features that others dont. Instruction sets act like cheat sheets for calculations for a CPU mostly and make them more efficient as well as able to handle certain operations that otherwise might not be able to be handled. These are like SSE, SSE2, SSE3, and SSE4 instructions and a long list of others. Different CPUs have and lack these. Some share same instruction sets and others have their own unique ones. *Most people dont have to worry about these unless they need a processor for specific calculation or multimedia needs. Most consumer processors have a good mix of most of what you need. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_instruction_sets

Lastly a Mobile CPU to a Laptop is "drastically different" than a Desktop CPU for a Desktop Computer. Some people see Core i7 and think cool I have a Core i7... but benchmarks of a Laptop Core i7 and a Desktop Core i7 will show that the Desktop Core i7 of the same clock will perform way better than the laptops CPU. This is because Intel for example is using the i7 name in marketing and people not knowing any better may thing the Laptop and Desktop are the same CPU but the laptop is nice and compact so I want to save space so I will go with the laptop, but what they just did is settle for lesser performance usually without knowing it. Them not knowing it is generally because even the mobile Core i7 is more than plenty than more would need, but years down the road all of a sudden that laptop seems laggy say 5 years in age when software gains execution complexity and so the person who bought the desktop might not feel lagged but the laptop user is starting to feel the lag of their weaker in processing power Core i7. *The TDP rating of the CPU is usually a good indicator of performance in newer processors. If your looking at a processor that is a TDP of 4.5 watts then its an electron sipper and it will likely lag out pretty easily on stuff when it runs into heavy hardware needy software execution, but the laptop that is 45-60 watt TDP will run way better. So dont be tricked into marketing names and look at benchmarks before making your purchase as well as look at others reviews. I avoided purchase of a CPU years ago because it was found out that the CPU's hype in how good it was suppose to be was all marketing lingo and in benchmarks it performed unexpectedly poorly. In a newer design they cleaned up the INEFFICIENT design and made for a better performing processor.

I personally never buy anything right when it first comes out and let others be the guinea pigs. Most products released perform as intended. Most arent flops, but I also dont like paying crazy amounts of money for a computer, so I generally buy a good processor that is a year old or so. And this way instead of paying a large price tag the prices have then come down from their release date pricing and the most I have ever paid for a CPU alone was $159.99 for my AMD FX-8350 4.0Ghz 8-core 125 watt TDP. I built another 8-core system with a same core design AMD FX-8300 3.3Ghz 95 Watt TDP and I actually prefer this system more than its 700Mhz faster and 30 watt hotter running brother. Cooling fans on both of these systems run drastically different. The same heatsink on both, both heatsinks came from AMD as stock coolers and the 3.3Ghz runs cooler at around 48C gaming and fan runs at a slower speed to cool the CPU, however the 4.0Ghz system the processor runs hot around 62C gaming and becomes a space heater in my office as its pumping out excess heat as its driven heavy at 4Ghz. *Note: I have Cool n'Quiet enabled in my BIOS so the CPU's will underclock when idle to 1.2Ghz for example vs running full tilt to 4.0Ghz.

If your looking to build or buy a system, share with us your computing needs ( software titles and game titles and application needs such as multimedia etc ) and we can assist you in making the best decisions on what would be a good match for you to save you some money maybe, but most importantly helping you avoid buying a sluggish lemon of a system. * Lemon systems exist. These are systems that are advertised with specs that cause impulse shoppers to buy into a system based on specs, and when they get these bargain systems they find out shortly after the warranty expires that the main board for example or power supply was a junk quality component and it dies on them and they are out the money spent, or forced to spend more money to correct for quality deficient parts that lead to deficient operation.  Nowadays it's pretty difficult to compare CPUs purely based on their specs alone - Just because one CPU has a higher clock, more cores and/or more cache than another doesn't mean it will perform better.  Some CPUs are aimed at single threaded tasks with fewer, fast cores whereas others are aimed at heavily multi threaded tasks by having a huge number of cores but where they aren't that fast.

Generally, the best thing to do is to look at CPUs available within your budget and then check different reviews and benchmarks to see how the chip performs under the tasks that you plan on running on it, for example, one CPU may be significantly better for gaming whereas another may outperform it in gaming.

Do you have any particular CPUs and tasks that it will be performing in mind?Thanks for all the information. I will be using basic programs like MS office. It will not be any gaming. I need another desktop. I want to build a water cooled one to say I built one. Water Cooled isnt necessary for a system you need according to not gaming. You could get by on an air cooled electron sipper build.

I'd Suggest a modern quadcore minimum.

For my wife I built her a new system with mix of parts already on hand and this motherboard. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA7HN5HW7485&cm_re=A8-5545-_-13-138-448-_-Product

She had a Core 2 Quad system prior and it was starting to BSOD on her and the main board had issues. The cost of a replacement socket 775 motherboard didnt make sense and she really never used the full potential of the power hungry Core 2 Quad but this all in one board with an APU ( GPU + CPU ) all in one was less than $50 on sale and runs on about 1/5th the power of the Core 2 Quad. (* Note the $50 is just for this board... you would need a case, power supply, RAM, Hard drive or SSD, optical drive optional, and Operating System for it. Plus Keyboard, Mouse, and Display if you dont already have that. )

Lightweight games on facebook etc run fine on it and she no LONGER plays World of Warcraft which I tested WoW on it and got 25 fps on MEDIUM settings to stress test its potential etc. If the GPU portion of this ever falls short I can just slap a video card into it and the CPU should still be ok for the kind of games she plays.

This board is a Mobile APU driven board and so its the same benchmark as a laptop pretty much with the AMD A8-5545M. So her desktop is a laptop at heart.

She is happy with this new build and I guess thats what matters is satisfaction in performance.

I'd suggest a modern Core i3 for Intel Build  or AMD QuadCore 2.5Ghz or faster minimum though if you can afford to do so just in case you ever decide to game. A  modern Core i5 2.5Ghz or faster would be even better if you feel you might ever game.

Other considerations are what software you might run that is CPU intensive such as if you do any video editing etc. You dont want to cut yourself short buying into something that isnt enough but it can be wasteful to get something way above and beyond what you really need both in cost of all the parts as well as increased electric bill of a power hungry build.

Myself I have gaming systems that are power hungry as well as electron sippers. I generally run a system that makes the most sense for whatever i am doing so if its checking e-mail and web surfing I will be on electron sippers that use around 45 watts or less power but if gaming I will use my mid-grade or my fastest gaming system of which one uses less power than the other.

If not worried about wasting money on electric and you have a large budget and want something that is super powerful but you really dont need all that processing power though, you could build a new Core i9 for a few thousand dollars and have bragging rights on your build I suppose. 

Im a penny pincher and so most above is money saving suggestions. But its only a money saver if you can get the full use out of it without falling short on your build in which you then need another computer because performance falls short. So knowing exactly what you need and projecting your expected use of it helps to avoid buying into a build that isnt enough.

So, my Dell Inspiron 3542 just restarted on its own, and once I got signed back in and restored my Chrome, I noticed that every time I scroll, little clear boxes pop up all over my screen. I made no change to my touchpad settings, and I'm currently UPDATING my drivers. In CASE that doesn't clear things up, are there any ideas of what could be causing this? you're on the same track I would be with updating your video drivers as the first thing to try.

for good measure, check the touchpad drivers too.
and also try another browser and/or check you have the latest Chrome.I updated all my drivers last night. This morning when I booted it up, it ACTUALLY worked properly for around twenty minutes before it started freezing up, then resumed with the boxes. I'm thinking it has something to do with the touch keyboard. The icon POPPED up on my toolbar last night, even though the service is disabled. potentially a FAILING video card as it gets hotter.
is it an onbaord graphics card or an add-on?

what do you means by touch keyboard?
if keyboard suspected, swapping that will easily prove one way or the other if you're on the right track.

Hi All,
Hope things are going good!

I am looking for a cheap way to run 2 computers from ONE station. I have been using a Startech 2 port KVM with a lot of luck. However after years of service it finally crapped out. Anyone have a suggestion for a replacement?

Thanks

so 2 PC's but one set of keyboard, mouse and monitor?

when my KVM switch died, the newer models had left me behind, it was impossible to get PS/2 and VGA KVM boxes.
so there's your first hurdle, what monitor ports to you REQUIRE?
and are any one of those 3 peripherals likely to change?, forcing you you potentially change KVM's again.

in the end it was simply EASIER and cheaper to get another keyboard, monitor and mouse.

also, when flicking the KVM between rigs, does yours ever not pickup the change-over?
something like 20% of my flick overs just wouldn't get accepted by the other system and I had to reboot that rig anyway to pickup the k/b and mouse.
overall, not a SATISFYING experience with KVM's.Thanks for the reply.

I used the older KVM and had the problems you talked about. The new ones don't have those problems any more. The startech I had would let me switch back and forth out a problem. It was rock solid. Also the 2 pcs have USB interfaces.

My problem is desk space. I can't fit another keyboard, monitor and mouse on the desk.

They have gotten expensive for the quality SMALL units...be prepared.

Hello, I have a laptop Dell Latitude E5540, running Windows 7 x64. A few months ago I started experiencing this problem. I PRESS the power button, laptop behaves the same way as it normally does, leds turn on, FAN starts spinning, but the screen is completely off, no "black screen" with the BACKLIGHT on, it's just off. And it stays like this for no matter how long you wait. Once you turn it off by holding the power button and then turn it back on, same thing happens. After doing this multiple times, eventually the screen turns on, post, dell logo, and the laptop boots to windows without any problems. This issue got worse by time, requiring more and more restarts until the screen comes on, and now it reached the point where I am literally unable to get it working.

Things i've tried:

- connecting to external monitor via HDMI, monitor is not detecting any input.
- taking the hdd out and turning the pc on, same issue.
- laptop has two ram slots, FILLED with two 2GB sticks, i tried taking one out, switching slots in all possible cominations, nothing.
- taking the battery out and pressing the power button a few times, then plugging in the charging cable and turning the pc on, nothing.

That's about it I guess, any help is appreciated, thanks!Next time you get it to boot to a screen check Device Manager for any Yellow !!'s

That indicates missing/corrupt drivers.I'm afraid I won't be able to able to access windows any time soon, however i can't see any connection between drivers that are located on the hard drive and me not being able to even access BIOS.What keys are you pressing to enter BIOS ? ?

You could try with the HDD temporarily disconnected...that should get you there.I'm surprised that with all the failed boot attempts, and forcing the PC off by holding in the power button, hasn't eventually gotten you a 'PC failed to start, repairing' sort of Window.
Indicating Windows isn't the issue, but hardware is.

with the RAM and HD removed, when starting do you get any POST beeps?Is there a VGA external port for monitor ? ?

If so try that

HDMI dont work without proper drivers installed. Quote from: patio on October 18, 2017, 01:30:09 PM

What keys are you pressing to enter BIOS ? ?

You could try with the HDD temporarily disconnected...that should get you there.

I'm surprised that with all the failed boot attempts, and forcing the PC off by holding in the power button, hasn't eventually gotten you a 'PC failed to start, repairing' sort of Window.
Indicating Windows isn't the issue, but hardware is.

with the RAM and HD removed, when starting do you get any POST beeps?

Is there a VGA external port for monitor ? ?

If so try that

HDMI dont work without proper drivers installed.

I have read the article on connecting an external HDD to a PC. I used to have an external USB DVD drive for my W10 tablet PC but it broke down and is no longer available. I have had to return three drives as they would not work at all, probably because there is not enough power for a mechanical drive? To OVERCOME this some drives have two sockets, both USB. I have not yet found a DVD drive in which one socket is for AC, as is quite common with USB hubs. So I am intending to try using my one USB 3 socket which gives greater power than USB 2 I believe. But I have not found a suitable cable, such as a USB 3 Y cable with the CORRECT connectors, although I guess an AC power supply MIGHT be better?

Any comments / advice would be very welcome.Get an external enclosure that has external power block.

any ideas?Last I checked it costs more money to mine than you get in return. I gave up on mining a ways back. I did the bitcoin mining and litecoin mining and its just a big waste of electricity and wear on expensive hardware.

*The way I see it, if it were profitable FLOODS of people would be farming in droves similar to a gold rush.

Not sure if anyone here will be able to help you with this one, but I did mining before the Ethereum mining and if you want to do it just to do it I suppose it MIGHT be cool bragging rights to say that you FARM it, but your likely to spend more money than you get in return as a warning to these virtual currency mining schemes.

Bitcoin for EXAMPLE there is specific hardware out there these days that crunches faster and more power/cost efficient than GPUs can.Etherium is a new cryptocurrency. As with any cryptocurrency it is profitable at the start for a while. If you can get into the BASE of the inverted triangle before it grows too large, you can make some great returns, at the expense of the people who show up later. But of course since it's an inverted triangle, it's not a pyramid scheme, so don't worry.


The "best" is pretty much the best you can afford. Whether that is an R9 295X or a GTX 1080Ti, or an RX460 or a GTX 960.you'll never recoup the outlay on hardware, or the running costs, to mine what you want.

professional mobs have, literally, buildings full of hardware that do that one dedicated task and only manage to make it profitable enough to make it worth while.

Hello all!

I am building a new computer and I haven't really been keeping up with the new hardware since I built my current one about 5 years ago. The three main things I am worried about with this computer is that is a bit more future-proof, I don't have any parts that bottleneck or are overkill, and that it is relatively QUIET. Here is my current (very rough) draft of parts:

CPU - Intel Core i5 7600k
CPU Cooler - CM Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard - MSI Z720-A Pro LGA 1151
RAM - Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-300
GPU - Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB
Power Supply - Seasonic EVO Edition 620W

Here is a link to the list : https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DpdtvV

Things to note:

-I only really play games and don't do any editing or things like that
-I play at 1080p max, definitely not 4K and I just learned that 1440P is a thing
-I have a hdd on this computer that I would like to keep, I'm just really confused on if I would need to buy windows 10 again in order to put it on an ssd and then delete it off of this hdd...?
-I have no idea what to do about the case, motherboard, or power supply because there are just so many out there
-I kinda want it to all look nice and cohesive with colors and all that but I don't need anything with flashing RBG lights or remote-control nonsense
-How big would the ssd have to be if I just wanted it to be the OS and maybe a few games?

In conclusion, the amount of parts to pick from is really starting to get to me. I am by no means an expert at this but I do have a general understanding of what each PART does and what the numbers mean. I am not too worried about the price as long as it stays around $1300ish. One thing I very much regret is that, while building the computer I have now, I bought what I could using the money I had available and didn't wait until I could buy what I really wanted. Any help is very much appreciated and if you see any blaring problems with my draft, please don't be mad!   

Thanks so much!Why not use an i5 8600K and a Z370 motherboard? You will have 2 more cores and more performance.

I was wondering if someone could look at this video * https://youtu.be/rK8zgrxsrg4 and tell me if that is the graphic card going out or if the harddrive is messed up please. Backstory I was playing a game when the screen went black but I could still hear the computer running. So I pushed the power button on the tower and restarted. Everything was fine untill it got to the screen before it loads windows. Not sure how to say this without sounding weird but here it is I will have a screen that shows the time then a blue screen then a screen that has master with windows under it. That time it got to the blue and stuck. Now I can sometimes see (as in the video) the computer starting up and other times nothing but I can hear the computer starting up. forgot to add that the outputs are dvi and there a two of them I have tried both, have tried on old computer monitur(spelling is wrong), I do not have hdmi ports on the tower.Have you tried my suggestions from Chat earlier yet ? ?which was?Interesting that your RAM count is what it is and single channel...

If your motherboard has integrated video, Id try that and remove the video card.I do not know if I can take out the video card. I am more asking to make sure that the harddrive is good so I can use it as extra (external) storage on a new computerDLoad and run the Free diags from the HDD manuf. site....do NOT interrupt it.hard to download anything when one cannot see to downloadUmmm you could do it on any working PC...
And if you havent tried the onboard vid as suggested and still have no video you will need to move the HDD into a workin PC to test it...That computer is the only one I have and as I said I do not know what the video card isFurther thought.... Do you have ability to get or make a bootable Linux DVD such as Ubuntu or Mint? Boot this system off the Disc and you should get to a desktop environment after a few minutes for it to boot. The contents of the DVD would be loaded into RAM and with 3GB RAM and that CPU you should be all set. If your unable to get the desktop to show then its most likely a video card issue, however if your at a desktop in a Linux environment then there is something corrupt on that Hard Drive that is causing the display driver to wig out. 

This would run your system in a LIVE Linux environment and your contents of your hard drive wont be hurt in any way as long as you dont select to install once the desktop loads you can poke around the menus etc, but avoid the install shortcut that is on the desktop. 

Once you have this environment running you could use it like a regular computer ( assuming the only problem is your hard drive ), however changes are not written to hard drive and the minute you shutdown or reboot changes are erased. The browser would allow you to connect to HIGH speed internet for example and there are also some lightweight games on most distros.I do not have a way to get bootable anything as I do not have another computer
Since you cannot do any of our suggestions you need to take it to the shop...I have no plans on fixing the computer. My plans are taking out the harddrive(which I hope is still good) and tossing the computer(over a cliff but that would be BAD but it is how I feel about the tower). and making the harddrive an extenal drive when I get a new computer. Which is why I asked if the issue could be video related and not the harddriveInitial POST was not very clear in the intent to not fix this computer and only concern for the data on it. If your going to connect this to another computer solely for the data on it vs using it as a bootable drive then the video card has nothing to do with your problem. Its either a healthy drive or not a healthy drive. Connecting it to another computer using an external drive case or caddy will prove if the drive is good or not, and I would suggest running crystaldiskinfo against the drive to check its health. Standard edition portable ( 4.6mb ) is the one I use.  You download this on a healthy computer once you get one to replace this one, and then connect the drive from the old computer to new computer, then run this and it will check the SMART info on all hard drives and SSD drives and report back the health. If all is green all is good and you might just have some data corruption, if you see a warning then the drive that is yellow with a warning is either running with damage or is failing due to sluggish behavior that was detected by its self check on boot that all modern hard drives and SSD's have.

Be sure to scan this drive for VIRUS's and malware before using any data on it just in case its infected, you can avoid infecting the other computer.

https://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

*** Its sad that that computer might go over a cliff and other than a corrupt install of the OS in which the video cuts out, it may be an otherwise healthy 8 year old computer.       To me its like sending a car to a junk yard when the timing is just off, set the timing and back up and running... analogy to timing being a healthy OS environment will PROBABLY cause this system to run healthy. A bootable Linux Disc if available would have been a dirt simple way of testing the video card and rest of the computer hardware as healthy as for modern Linux Distros support about 99% of the video cards out there or have a generic driver that works.  The tower had a floppy disk holder in it so the tower is way older then 8 years old

My computer runs very well at high speeds and graphic settings  on first person shooters, games like war thunder and some simulators, but on games like TOTAL war, cities skylines and other OPEN world games, my computer runs slow EVEN on low graphics settings, why is this, do I need more processing power or a BETTER graphics card, I have 8 GB ram, so do I need more?what are the currents spec of CPU, GPU, RAM SPEED, etc etc etc...

My  external hard drive not working/responding error without losing any DATA. my external hard drive is not working, fails to respond or becomes undetectable, It’s not the first time that my external hard drive, USB drive, SD card or other storage devices not responding while connecting with PC. my external hard drive suddenly cannot be detected or RECOGNIZED by  PC and laptop. I am worry about this condition and ALSO bought new external hard drive and connect to PC and also laptop but same problem occur again so anyone can explain to me to resolve this problem because I am in troubling.
 
Thanks.
your external drive caddy may be at fault, not the external drive itself.
take it out of the caddy and try another one or connect it directly to your PC via the internal SATA and power cables.

as to data recovery, never a quick or GUARANTEED PROCESS, but try Recuva by Piriform.

Hey Everyone,

     I am looking for the best budget GPU that can handle my needs. I am building a Workstation PC (NON-GAMER). I want to run one 4K Monitor for Video Editing (4K GoPro Movies) so 30 FPS and a second 1080p or DVI (Doesn't matter really) to MULTITASK.  I am a NEWB (Only build a small media PC).

Here is my build so far and I use Cyberlink for my Offline Video Editing (Not sure if that is CPU or GPU heavy)

Meshify C Case- 5 Fans
Ryzen 7 -1700 with Wraith Spire LED Fan
ASUS - ROG Strix B350 - F Gaming
Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Thermaltake - Smart DPS G 700 W Bronze
NVme Samsung Evo 960 M.2 (Boot and Programs Drive) 250 GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200 3TB
(Will add in the future a 500 GB SSD and a 4TB Barracuda for Backup) Not enough money right now.
I am going to getting 32GB RAM (2X16) Single Rank - Any Recommendations? I'm looking at 3200, DDR4, I heard Dimms made with Samsung Black Die Chips? are better for Ryzen)

But the GPU is my Primary Focus

I am building a Workstation PC (NON-GAMER). I want to run one 4K Monitor for Video Editing (4K GoPro Movies) and a second 1080p or DVI (Doesn't matter really) to multitask.

The MOBO can also power a 75 TPD GPU without a 6 Pin if that helps.

Recommendations? Manufacturers? Who to stay away from?

EVGA 1050 ti 4GB is where I am learning. Is that too much, not enough, just right?

Thanks,

Your Friendly Neighborhood NEWB!That CARD is a fine choiceThat should be plenty. I wouldnt go with any lesser than that.

Also to mention the GTX 1050 ti I have seen come as 2 options. One video card that is powered directly from PCI-Express slot and the other with the 12V Molex power connection. The better choice is to get the one that has the 12 volt molex power connection as for it will operate better and not pull so heavy through your MOTHERBOARDS traces to power the card. There was also mention online, cant find it now to link here but that the GTX 1050 ti's with the 12 volt molex connections ran better in benchmarks as for the ones without the 12 volt molex connections are slightly clocked not as heavy such as at 1200Mhz vs 1354Mhz to be MORE GREEN by using less electricity, but with lesser power draw comes reduced performance!     So look for the fastest Core Clock in the specs, but also consider brand and features.

I bought a GTX 1050 Ti for my one system and ended up returning it because I found out that it didnt have LEGACY display support to drive a VGA monitor off of a DVI port. That legacy support for VGA displays through analog DVI ended with the GTX 780 ( 700 series GPU's ). All DVI ports on later cards are DVI Digital only. I ended up just going with a GTX 780 so that of my dual monitors I wouldnt have to buy 2 new flat screen monitors, when the current flat screen monitors are plenty for my needs.

Greetings,

Got an Old P3 board that needs some new caps. All the board does it flash its keyboard lights once every few seconds (i think its power cycling)

Anyways. the board has 6.3V 2700uf caps and my replacement caps are 6.3V 3300uf. Was wondering if this is acceptable. I have a buddy telling me yes, but wouldn't mind a second opinion. ThanksHow do you know it's only the "caps" that need replacing?

3300uF caps should work, but they will be a little slower at reaching 100% charge capacity and it will be a slightly heavier amperage draw to onboard voltage regulators ( aka VRM's ) and power supply until they level out at the voltage constant. If there is a ripple problem or a demand on this cap, it will hold up stronger than a 2700uF cap in that it carries 600uF more charge capacity as the easiest way to explain it to non Electronics Technicians.

I personally would go with exact same value components vs going with larger storage capacitors. * If you have a strong power supply the 600uF difference shouldnt be a problem, but if its a weak power supply it could cause an excessive current draw at boot that could lead to problems if the voltage rail isnt able to hold steady at a strong voltage with the extra current draw at boot. To charge the additional 600uF per capacitor the unknown is if your VRM's or power supply will be able to carry the heavier initial current draw at boot. These caps should get to full capacity within about a second of boot and voltage should hold strong enough to not affect the motherboard boot. But there is a small chance that you stress a VRM or the power supply and cause more damage.

I have performed the capacitor replacements before and easiest method is to tug at the can and remove it off the board leaving the legs in place. Then solder a new capacitor to the legs of the old. You might need to add additional flux to get it to flow to the legs of the old cap as for the electrolyte oil can make for a nasty soldering. The flux helps get the tin to flow. I have even made a capacitor daughter board with wires between motherboard and daughter board where replacement capacitors would conflict with a socket 478 heatsink for example. I poured hot glue on the bottom side of the daughter board PCB to seat and insulate all the capacitors so that they would never short to ground and I attached the daughter board to the inside of the case in a location that wasnt conflicting with limited space in the SFF ( small Form factor ) case. Also I never changed values for uF ( aka Microfarads ). Whatever value came out went back in.

Additionally Capacitors have Polarity and if you get the polarity backwards they EXPLODE!

I never bothered saving a capacitor plague Pentium III board but have saved a few Pentium 4's back when the capacitor plague was really bad and systems were dropping like stones and HP and Dell didnt have a recall to cover the poisoned electrolyte recipe capacitor problem so people were stuck buying new computers or having someone skilled replace the capacitors. Or migrate the CPU and RAM to a new motherboard that hopefully doesnt have the bad capacitors in it.

Did any of the capactors on that board short and explode blowing off the capactor body or did they just swell and vent out the electrolyte?

I have gotten boards that are bricked by the capacitor plague to boot by removing all the damaged capacitors around the CPU which is where I am guessing your capacitors are located. If it boots with them removed then its worthy of adding new capacitors. If it still acts the same then its a bigger problem then the capacitors if symptoms dont change. Running the system without these capacitors will cause the system to run in a unfiltered power state powered directly unfiltered from the VRM's and power supply and while it may boot now, do not run it for any length of time as for it might boot and look healthy but the minute you go to run something in which the CPU demands a heavier current draw and the capacitors aren't there to assist the system is likely to crash with an error or freeze up on you.It is is a common misconception by people that don't know zilch about electronics that anything wrong with a device can be fixed by changing a couple of capacitors or better still replacing all of them. I have seen this with vintage hi-fi, plasma and LCD TVs. Their pal told them "it's the caps" and, mostly, if they manage not to butcher the board with the iron, it still doesn't work. + 1   +1 with Salmon, you should bet on it not just being the mobo caps.
+1 with Dave, don't try to desolder the old caps from the underside of the board, yank them out as described and solder the new cap to the old legs. (please double check polarity)

but above and beyond all that, how old is this P3 board?
and what's the likelihood that even if you do get it working, that another failed component won't be on the near horizon?
any chance you can get another 'new' board?

and consider the cost in time, money and resources compared to taking the oppurtunity to finally upgrade the mobo (HENCE other components) to a more modern architecture.  (budget allowing of course) Quote

Got an Old P3 board

BC, can you document that?

any PC over ten years old will have issues.

Devices to test caps 'in place' are part of the radio-TV analog stuff. Trying to find a bad cap in a well populated PC board is near impossible. Unless you  cut one leg of the cap out of the circuit. Too much work to be worthwhile.

If a vendor gives you a five-year warranty on a motherboard, he will use components that he knows will last. Gigabyte does.

How do you know it's only the "caps" that need replacing?

3300uF caps should work, but they will be a little slower at reaching 100% charge capacity and it will be a slightly heavier amperage draw to onboard voltage regulators ( aka VRM's ) and power supply until they level out at the voltage constant. If there is a ripple problem or a demand on this cap, it will hold up stronger than a 2700uF cap in that it carries 600uF more charge capacity as the easiest way to explain it to non Electronics Technicians.

I personally would go with exact same value components vs going with larger storage capacitors. * If you have a strong power supply the 600uF difference shouldnt be a problem, but if its a weak power supply it could cause an excessive current draw at boot that could lead to problems if the voltage rail isnt able to hold steady at a strong voltage with the extra current draw at boot. To charge the additional 600uF per capacitor the unknown is if your VRM's or power supply will be able to carry the heavier initial current draw at boot. These caps should get to full capacity within about a second of boot and voltage should hold strong enough to not affect the motherboard boot. But there is a small chance that you stress a VRM or the power supply and cause more damage.

I have performed the capacitor replacements before and easiest method is to tug at the can and remove it off the board leaving the legs in place. Then solder a new capacitor to the legs of the old. You might need to add additional flux to get it to flow to the legs of the old cap as for the electrolyte oil can make for a nasty soldering. The flux helps get the tin to flow. I have even made a capacitor daughter board with wires between motherboard and daughter board where replacement capacitors would conflict with a socket 478 heatsink for example. I poured hot glue on the bottom side of the daughter board PCB to seat and insulate all the capacitors so that they would never short to ground and I attached the daughter board to the inside of the case in a location that wasnt conflicting with limited space in the SFF ( small Form factor ) case. Also I never changed values for uF ( aka Microfarads ). Whatever value came out went back in.

Additionally Capacitors have Polarity and if you get the polarity backwards they EXPLODE!

I never bothered saving a capacitor plague Pentium III board but have saved a few Pentium 4's back when the capacitor plague was really bad and systems were dropping like stones and HP and Dell didnt have a recall to cover the poisoned electrolyte recipe capacitor problem so people were stuck buying new computers or having someone skilled replace the capacitors. Or migrate the CPU and RAM to a new motherboard that hopefully doesnt have the bad capacitors in it.

Did any of the capactors on that board short and explode blowing off the capactor body or did they just swell and vent out the electrolyte?

I have gotten boards that are bricked by the capacitor plague to boot by removing all the damaged capacitors around the CPU which is where I am guessing your capacitors are located. If it boots with them removed then its worthy of adding new capacitors. If it still acts the same then its a bigger problem then the capacitors if symptoms dont change. Running the system without these capacitors will cause the system to run in a unfiltered power state powered directly unfiltered from the VRM's and power supply and while it may boot now, do not run it for any length of time as for it might boot and look healthy but the minute you go to run something in which the CPU demands a heavier current draw and the capacitors aren't there to assist the system is likely to crash with an error or freeze up on you.

requirements for capacitors increased, especially the demand for lower losses. The equivalent series resistance (ESR) for bypass and decoupling capacitors of standard electrolytic capacitors needed to be decreased.[28]

Although solid tantalum capacitors offered lower ESR and leakage current values than the aluminum electrolytics, in 1980 a price shock for tantalum in the industry dramatically reduced the usability of tantalum capacitors, especially in the entertainment industry.[29] [30] In search of cheaper alternatives, the industry switched back to using aluminum electrolytic capacitors.

The development of conducting polymers by Alan J. Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa in 1975 was a break-through in point of lower ESR.[31] The conductivity of conductive polymers such as polypyrrole (PPy) [32] or PEDOT [33] are better by a factor of 1000 than that of manganese dioxide, and are close to the conductivity of metals. In 1993 NEC introduced their SMD polymer tantalum electrolytic capacitors, called "NeoCap". In 1997 Sanyo followed with their "POSCAP" polymer tantalum chips.

I will be trying different multiplier on the CPU

For reference:
Some types of capacitors are will-suited for motherboard design. High capacity should translate to better stability, But more is involved.
Here is a general coverage of capacitors classified as 'electrolytic' types.
https://en.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor
Here is where it talks about the ESR.
/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor#ESR_and_dissipation_factor_tan_.CE.B4

Because of costs, reliability  and availability issues, the bust choice of capacitors for motherboards has shifted.  Check the references at the end of  link.
Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum_capacitor

Hope the OP can fix his motherboard.   
But if it were me, I would give it up. 

Are you able to get into the BIOS to adjust the multiplier setting?

Im assuming that this board once worked with that exact CPU in it and then it broke?

Hey guys i got a problem with my VEDIO card memory!
when i check my display settings it shows-
total availabe memory 256mb
shared memory 192mb
system memory 64mb
So i wanted to know if i can decrease shared memory and increase system memory.In BIOS if its an integrated card you can GO in and reduce. If its a video card that grabs system RAM PAIRED to itself such as my GeForce 8400 GS use to allocate 256MB of system RAM paired with its 256MB to make it a 512MB video card, there is no way that i know of of disabling the Shared Memory feature of the video card.

Which video Card or Integrated Video do you have? Which make/model computer if integrated?my card is intel (R) g31/g33 express chipset family
I changed those things in the bios but the details are still the same.
thankx for replying.If you reduce the memory allocation for the Integrated GPU, and then save changes it should then RUN on lesser shared memory for GPU and your system memory count should increase by that freed up. If its not working this way and your sure you save on exit, then I would replace the CMOS battery USUALLY a 2032 and then go in and make necessary adjustments and then save settings and then reboot and it should hold with the value you specify for GPU shared memory allocation.

I have an older acer LAPTOP 7250 series. No matter what I do I can't get the wifi on. "Fn+f3" does not WORK. Manually it will not turn on. When I'm in the network setting I will click it to on but it shows that it will not turn on and stay on the off side. The driver is correctly installed and says it is working properly....any suggestions?Are you running Windows 10 on this laptop? I had some issues with Network DRIVERS with Windows 10 that state they work as in no complaints in Device Manager yet the driver clearly doesn't work. My fix for my friend with an older laptop that is running Windows 10 was to buy a new USB Wireless Adapter as for the Wireless Chipset in his laptop ended support at Windows 7 and the Windows 7 driver doesnt work under Windows 10.... Oddly enough though upon first install of 10 it worked ok, and then there were some updates and the update targeted the wireless adapter driver. He can BOOT his laptop on Linux and Wireless works no problems on the internal wireless that CAME with the laptop, so its an issue with Windows 10 stomping on his wireless driver with one that doesnt play well with the chipset.

If your not running Windows 10, I would suggest getting a modern Linux Distro on a USB stick or DVD and boot off of that and see if you can connect wireless through Linux. If it works through Linux but not Windows then you know its a driver issue. If it doesnt work under Linux then the radio might have died in that wireless adapter in which the cheapest and easiest solution is to add a USB Wireless Network Adapter that supports your OS. They are around $15 each after shipping. I have an EDMAX that works flawless for my friends laptop and I also used it to make an older laptop that never came with wireless a Pentium 3 800Mhz Dell Laptop I was able to get Wireless on with this USB NIC running Windows XP a few years ago. And that was USB 1.1 and not 2.0 and it worked.Laptop wifi cards are cheap.  I've been buying lots of replacements for older laptops.  Even brand new ones don't work or half work, i.e. 1 band instead of 2.

So, I am new in building a PC. The problem is that I don't now how can I choose my parts that will be compatible with each other and will work fine without any kind of errors. However, the PC I am looking for is going to be for running new generation games and the old generation games without any kind of lag or really high heat, and at the same time it is cheap. Besides, I am living in Egypt and to get the PC parts here are going to be hard because it's really expensive to get them. However, I need a budget around 599 to 600 and to maximum 800 dollars not more than that. Besides, I need AMD or Nividia graphic card that will run the games without any issue or problem.

However, I am sorry if I posted that thread on the WRONG area.

Thanks.Hi MICHAEL,

first up, you are going to have to take a reality check on your budget versus your expectations.
you mention a budget not exceeding $800 (is that US dollars?) but want "without any kind of errors", "run old gen, new gen without any kind of lag", "is cheap", "run games without any issues".
you are describing the Holy Grail of computing - and it's just unachievable.

to meet your budget, which is already unrealistically tight, and have a GOOD percentage of that budget wasted on delivery charges, you are going to have to consider a 'budget' gaming PC and then you get into the territory of what games it will handle at an acceptable FPS rate.I need it to be for Gaming, but with good budget. I am not looking for something to overclock my PC. I just need a descent PC that can run the games without any issue and smooth. The MAIN budget is for 850 to 900 Maximum.

Thanks.2nd off you posted in the wrong section...i'm moving this.What are the import rules in your contrary?
Dome nations allow parts to be easily imported but not finished products.
If that is you case, you would find a friend to build you a computer in a country that has the best prices, then dissemble it and SHIP you the parts.

Quote from: Geek-9pm on October 22, 2017, 09:17:29 PM

What are the import rules in your contrary?
Dome nations allow parts to be easily imported but not finished products.
If that is you case, you would find a friend to build you a computer in a country that has the best prices, then dissemble it and ship you the parts.

Hello. I have HP Laptop and since a month, it's been having these problems -

1. Despite plugging in the charger 24/7, the battery icon never SHOWS 100% full. It stops between 90-95% available.
2. There's this problem where despite no power fluctuation, or voltage issues, the battery "charging" symbol keeps showing on and off, the battery charging also keeps going on and off, it shows with my screen going dull/bright every few minutes. I've tried charging it in many different places, but it keeps happening everywhere.
3. When I unplug my charger, the laptop has been shutting down after such a less time. Initially, it began with shutting down after 40 minutes of unplugging, and now it's come down to 10-15 minutes. This is despite the battery symbol showing more than 50 % battery.
4. I have stopped getting the "battery is low" notification, which used to appear twice on screen, once around 20% battery and another around 10%. (sorry I forgot exact figures)
5. The glowing button on the left side near the battery pin socket is glowing white (meaning full batter), even though the battery is never full.

 It's over an year old(maybe 1.5 years old).

What's wrong with my laptop? Please help me. Thankyou in advance.
sounds like the battery has a failure.

I had a laptop years ago where the battery held no charge, unit was just on 2 years old.

under warranty still? Quote from: Mark. on October 11, 2017, 03:48:52 PM

sounds like the battery has a failure.

I had a laptop years ago where the battery held no charge, unit was just on 2 years old.

under warranty still?

Is there any reason why have I stopped receiving notifications of low battery from my laptop though?

In a recent study, scientists at Ohio State University took apart spent batteries, and used infrared thermal imaging technology ...
...They also found the breakdown of lithium in a battery hinders the transfer of an electric charge between electrodes.

huh?
I'm wondering what will this achieve?

I just visited the HP site and downloaded the latest Bios exe. The problem is though it assumes I am using the Pavillion dv7 to update the Bios when it's the Pavilion that has a corrupt Bios preventing me getting into it. I already tried removing the CMOS, but that didn't work. I want to create the latest Bios for the Pavillion dv7 on a different computer, but on the HP site I can only find a Bios update that thinks I'm using my pavillion dv7. When I click on the Bios exe I don't come to an option that allows me to install the latest Bios on a flash drive on another computer, it just tells me to proceed to install thinking I'm using the Pavillion dv7?

Where can I get the files I need to put on a flash drive on another PC? The Pavillion dv7 is using windows 7 64bit
Thanks!You will wind up with a nice boat anchor if you use the wrong BIOS flash...which to me sounds like what you are attempting...

Quote

when it's the Pavilion that has a corrupt Bios preventing me getting into it.

You will wind up with a nice boat anchor if you use the wrong BIOS flash...which to me sounds like what you are attempting...

This needs clarification BTW....

Not gonna watch a vid...there's no reason it won't DLoad proper on any PC...much less a ny Pavilion.

Model dv7 3112sa

HP BIOS updates are EXE files.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-dv7-3100-entertainment-notebook-pc-series/4074368

HP Pavilion dv7-3100 Entertainment Notebook PC series    HP Notebook System BIOS Update (Intel Processors)
sp50586.exe
Download this file & double-click to install.

He was double clickin iy on a different Pavilion attempting to move it to a flash drive for the other PC...hence the results

HP BIOS updates are EXE files.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-dv7-3100-entertainment-notebook-pc-series/4074368

HP Pavilion dv7-3100 Entertainment Notebook PC series    HP Notebook System BIOS Update (Intel Processors)
sp50586.exe
Download this file & double-click to install.

I recently ordered a new motherboard (AB350 Gaming 3) with a new CPU (Ryzen 5 1600) and RAM (LPX Vengeance). The motherboard has a little disco before boot where it tests the CPU, RAM, GPU (labelled VGA) and then Boot. For each test, a separate light goes on and if there's no problem the light goes out again. However, with my current GPU (ASUS R9 270x DirectCU II ) the light doesn't go out. With an older GPU (Zotac GTX470) the system boots fine and everything functions. Seems like a clear cut case of a dead GPU, however my R9 270x still works just fine on my older motherboard+CPU+ram combo (P7P55-M with i5 760). When the PSU gets power, the R9 270x shows green lights above where the power is connected and when I try to boot, the fans spin. Not sure if that helps, but I thought I might as well mention it

 

As for things I've tried,

I tried plugging it into a different PCI-E slot on the motherboard, however a FRIEND said that was a bad idea since only the top one was PCI-E 3.0.

I tried using a brand new PSU (so I've tested it with TWO, both of which should be plenty to power the new system at 550W since pcpartpicker only rates it at about 350)

I updated my new motherboard's BIOS to the latest version.

I tried changing the PCI-E settings from Auto to Gen3, in case it didn't recognize the R9 270x as gen 3.

At FRIENDS recommendation, I tried turning off XMP but it was already disabled by default. I think this video from JayzTwoCents shows the exact problem I'm having


Sadly he seemed to have no idea of what caused the issue and I can't find an update about it. For him it's probably not such a big issue since he can just run another card on that system, but I can't magically switch my GPU for an identical oneBetween a known good video card and a known ( run of tolerance ) video card that works fine in one system vs another, both cards same make/model & Bios Version. I'd be looking at them side by side and comparing the rest of the chips on the video card that are standard components. Its quite possible that the one video card has 2 different standard non-custom universal chips used as for example a common Quad Comparator in which one card is using a Texas Instruments chip and another is using STMicroelectronics. These chips are manufactured to STAY within a specific tolerance but by which you can drive these chips fast and one chip may handle it way better than another brand due to the slightest difference in design. Its quite possible that his situation is a ( run of tolerance ). A run of tolerance is when 2 parts combined place the equation of their successful functionality outside of permitted functionality. In this case its likely a timing run of tolerance. the PCI Express BUS speed is not a constant between those 2 motherboards the AMD and the Intel. So the slightest tolerance offset which is still within acceptable timing by nVidia and the AMD motherboard also offset in the opposite direction for example would create a timing synchronization issue. Computer internals have to work very fast but also be timed very precisely. There are virtual traffic lights that keep from collisions from happening, but if the light turns green and the bit isnt able to pull away from the light in time then you have problems, and thats where this guys issue is.

If you tested your system with a different video card and its fine, and tested the video card that has issues in another system and its fine there, and the power supply isnt the problem of a combined power draw that is too much, then its very possible that its a run of tolerance issue. Unfortunately at the consumer level a run of tolerance means that you have to isolate it down to the known culprit as to what added to the build makes it no longer work. You have it narrowed down to video card from the sounds of it.

As the guy in the video stated you send your video card back RMA under warranty and you could get the same card back. They test it on an ATE and it passes and its shipped back. If not wanting to try to find a different video card, then the motherboard itself is the other part of the equation however the CPU itself also controls the PCI Express BUS.

Something like this to successfully test what exactly the problem is would require a test bench with a PCI Express riser with test points to TAKE signal readings to look between a known good and the troubled system and look to see where the timing issue is at. I believe its a timing issue that is choking up this guys test build.

I am going off the college in 3 weeks and my school is offering me a Dell for $2,000 and they are saying its the BEST deal I could get and its garaunteed to be compatible with the wireless ethernet stuff.. Now I'm not FAMILIAR with computers for more than surfing the internet so I was wondering if anyone could recomend some quality laptops with good customer service.. I like to use photoshop a LOT and don't plan on doing more than school work, surfing the internet, and doing a little BIT of graphic design with it.You might want to check the post dates before replying- This person posted their question over twelve years ago!so I take it there is something missing between those two visible posts that MERE mortals can't see or have been removed?

Every get into an argument about the wire size used in a power supply? What size is better?
Can a # 18 wire take 20 amps?
Why? Why not?

Helpful Information about American Wire Gage.

The tech stuff is so overbearing. But a rule of  thumb is so handy when you need it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge#Rules_of_thumb

I made a quick screenshot:

Check the link above and bookmark it.   You don't need to know all that tech stuff, it's all been done for you many engineers at many different organizations.

The specifications are all in the NFPA 70 NATIONAL Electrical Code 2014 Edition.  It only specifies AC, not DC & conductors in raceways & conduits.  Power supplies are not specifically addressed because the NEC does not address the powered equipment, only the power to the equipment.  There are other STANDARDS for motors & generators.

There are standards for DC power, particularly marine.
Searching on this "dc ampacity of wire gauges"
1st Google result give exactly what you are seeking. It references the standard American Boat & Yacht Council, ABYC E-11
https://www.bluesea.com/resources/1437

Standards are ALWAYS being revised & updated, about every 10 years for the NEC which is the oldest electrical standard in North America.  It was NEEDED about 100 years ago when electricity started to enter the home & workplace & fires were always being started.  That's why the NEC is also the NFPA #70 (National Fire Protection Association).
Computer_Commando,
Thanks for the link.
 It helps provide a better understating. 
For DC Marine use:
Quote

Critical circuits, with 3% allowable voltage drop, include
    Panel main feeders
    Bilge blowers
    Electronics
    Navigation lights

Non-critical circuits, with 10% allowable voltage drop, include
    General lighting
    Windlasses
    Bait pumps
    General appliances

Bilge blowers are mandatory pieces of equipment for boats with motors mounted within the hull. They rid the engine compartment of potentially dangerous fuel vapour. Purpose Bilge blowers are DESIGNED to remove fuel vapours in a vessel's bilge compart

My SSD hardrive failed in my Dell Inspiron 15 laptop a few weeks ago with a "No Bootable Devices Found" error message at startup BIOS.

I was hoping some of you have experience salvaging data in these type of situations.

What I've tried

• I tried loading UBUNTU on a thumb drive to try to access the hard drive -- no go. The drive did not show up in the devices list.
  I tried reconnecting the hardrive drive from the labtop in case there was a faulty connection and to RESET the drive, no go.
  I tried using SATA to usb cable to see if I can clone the drive, but the drive is not being read. It shows the Cable interface is connected with 0MB connected to it.
  When booting, I could not find the drive in the list. When I used ubuntu via USB, the usb did show up and was booted from.

• Does windows 10 have any security features which would prevent ubuntu from reading the hard drive?

• I was connecting a new vizio tv to the laptop via hdmi 2 when I noticed the drive began to be sluggish. Task manager showed 100 percent memory disk usage so I rebooted while it was in this state. Never got it running again. The initial boot a memory test ran and showed no errors were preset. The boots that followed showed no bootable devices found.

• The Hard Drive in question is a LITEON SATA SSD 512 GB
  Windows 10
  Dell Inspiron 15

I'm new to these forums and I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right section, but I hope someone could help me out.
 
Here are the specs for my computer:
 
Asus Rampage IV Extreme motherboard
Intel i7 4930k CPU
16gb G Skill Ram
EVGA Geforce 980 Ti GPU
500gb SSD
3tb HDD
4tb HDD
 
1000 Watt Seasonic Platinum Power Supply
 
 
I've been running this setup for several years now with no real problems.
 
Several days ago, I noticed that my computer would randomly crash and restart.  I'd turn it on and it would boot just fine.  But after about 15 to 20 MINUTES, it would be like the power was cut off for a second, then would come back on and the computer would boot up again.  No error screens or anything.
 
What I figured was the problem is that the power supply had a pin or two that was disconnected from the CPU power connector, so the power was insufficient.  I checked all the connections and made sure all the pins were making contact.  I've had that happen before that the motherboard wasn't getting sufficient power because of pins that had come out of the connector.
 
But what's happening now is that the computer won't boot at all.  The motherboard has lights that LIGHT up when the power supply is connected, but when I PRESS the power button, nothing happens.  I hear a clicking sound but the computer doesn't boot at all, even though the lights on the motherboard are on.
 
So I disconnected the power supply from everything and did the paperclip test to isolate the problem.  Strangely, it seems to be a problem with the graphics card.
 
If I do the paperclip test with the graphics card connected to the PSU, nothing powers on and I hear a clicking sound from the PSU.  But if I disconnect the graphics card but leave everything else connected, the rest of the components power up just fine.
 
I guess this would mean that the graphics card is faulty, but that doesn't make much sense to me.  When I've had graphics card failures in the past, usually the computer would boot up and I'd see visual problems with the display, or the motherboard would turn on and give an error code.
 
It's almost like the graphics card is SHORTING out the power supply and activating it's protection circuit.  I tried swapping out a different PCI-E power cable, and plugged it into different ports on the PSU with the same result.
 
I have a backup graphics card that I tried but it seems to not be working either.  It's a cheap one that doesn't require any PSU connections.  I can plug in into a different PCI-E port on the motherboard and leave the other graphics card alone.  The motherboard allows me to turn on or off individual PCI-E ports, so I turn off the one with the 980 Ti.
 
With this configuration the motherboard and other components boot up but there is no image on the screen.  The motherboard displays an error code (error 34) and two yellow lights are on.
 
I really don't understand what the problem could be.  I carefully checked all the temperatures of the CPU and graphics card the last time the computer was working and they were quite low.  The CPU was at around 35 degrees Celcius and the GPU was around 26 degrees Celcius.  I'm running a water cooling loop, just so you know.
 
I don't really have any ideas about what could be going on here.  I tried to be as detailed as possible, and I hope someone here can help in some way.
 
Thanks!

Hello, I recently got a computer, which runs excellent on first person shooters like battlefield and other games like war thunder etc. But I really like to play large-scale games, like cities skylines and total war games, which don't run nearly as well. I am thinking about upgrading my PC, but I don't know what to get to make bigger games run better. I have a AMD Athlon 5350 APU with Radeon R3 processor thingy and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card, as well as 8GB ram, so what should I change to make big games run better? Thanks!Entire motherboard swap needed. The Socket AM1 is meant or lightweight gaming. Its a bottleneck to that video card.

Your looking at a motherboard replacement and CPU replacement. You might be able to use your DDR3 RAM in the new board if you stick to one that supports DDR3. All other components can be reused. I'd suggest a Socket AM3+ Motherboard and a 95 watt TDP Quadcore CPU or better. This will ALLOW you to have the processing power you need combined with that GOOD gaming video card you already have. Your probably looking at spending around $130 for CPU/Motherboard combo or more depending on which board you GO with and CPU.I see, thank you.Keep the card...it's a good one...

A few years ago Intel made a SPECIAL feature Anti-Theft Technology.
Also, both hardware and software makers indicate that they now are using some kind of new technology to prevent or reduce the theft of small computers.
Here is an article:
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/product-brief/mobile-computing-protect-laptops-and-data-with-intel-anti-theft-technology-brief.pdf
Some say that it is BETTER not to talk about this because it might make it EASY for criminals to find a loop hole. But other say taht public knowledge about it woul be best for everybody. Users should know about the anti-theft features already inside of the PC they bought.

Other articles mention something called
Secret Control - Anti-theft 3.0

I mention this because in the past many have come here to le4arn how to circumvent BIOS passwords.  We know thing some of these may have been criminals trying to sell a stolen PC or laptop.

I do not have a PC with the newest stuff, so I am not aware of how these devices work. I believe that there is a way to shut down a CPU by remote control. ButI have not read a full disclosure of how this works.

So my question is: Now can we can talk about this kind of thing on this forum?
Intel Discontinued Their "Anti-theft" tech on June 30, 2015.More recycled Geek News...THANK you. I did not know, so I asked.

Can anyone show conversion for Atari XF551, 5-1/4 drive mech to 3-1/2You want to convert a 5.25 inch disk drive to take 3.5 inch disks? Is that what you are asking? Or something else?From an electronics standpoint its not simple at all to make a more MODERN drive backwards COMPATIBLE to an older system. If you wanted something more modern to work, I would go the direction of Cassette Load/Save and MP3.  * Not sure how sensitive the system is to a digital audio sample VS lossless analog audio though. I have heard of people getting older devices that allow cassette save/load to integrate with MP3 players. A whole bunch of programs could be stored on a 4GB MP3 player/recorder. 

HTTP://atariage.com/forums/topic/186110-cassettes-that-play-sound-while-they-load/Cannot be DONE

What is the difference between Intel Core i7-8550U 1.8 GHz, up to 4 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, 8 MB cache, 4 cores, 8GB Ram and Intel Core i7-7500U 2,7 GHz, up to 3.5 GHz Intel Turbo Boost, 4 MB cache, 2 cores, 16GB Ram? And so which one would you get?
Thanks!how long is a piece of string....?


it all depends on what you are using the PC for?
and what your budget is?
and whether you put more credence in dual core or quad core? or 7TH gen processor or 8th gen processor?


or like me, it's all about the GHz speed.
I don't play games, so my i3 dual core 3.9GHz process, with a SSD is a nice little speed rocket for my purposes.Here  is a comparison page.

However even though one is better than the other, in many ways they are close ENOUGH that various other differences with a system could easily make up for it. Not to mention price differences. Quote from: BC_Programmer on October 27, 2017, 07:10:19 PM

Here  is a comparison page.

However even though one is better than the other, in many ways they are close enough that various other differences with a system could easily make up for it. Not to mention price differences.

Hi guys and gals. I'm trying to repair this computer my friend who is undergoing treatment for cancer and it would be great if I could get it REPAIRED. The problem is that it won't boot. I'm quite sure that it is not the power supply because the lights come one, the fans are running and the DVD Rom drawer will open and close. I can't even get it boot from a rescue disk. I tried a different video card; no joy. I checked all the connections in the box and re-set the RAM chip. The hard drive appears to be running. Is there anything else I could check?although it does sound like the PSU isn't the culprit, you certainly couldn't rule it out.
I've had PSU's 'look' good, but once replaced, TURNED out to actually be bad after all - so worth a swap with another if for no other reason than checking off options from a list.


with the RAM removed, what POST beeps does it give?
if you can get into the BIOS, does it show the hard drive as detected?


what's this rescue disk? an external caddy HD or a DVD?  has the BIOS been set to CHANGE the boot order to check those devices before the internal drive?There are no post sounds. The problem is that I'm not getting anything on the monitor so I can't boot into the BIOS. The rescue disk is one I've used often is OTLPE rescue disk. Usually, if the computer doesn't boot I should get a warning but this is not happening.what's the make/model of this PC?


so with a small question mark still over the PSU, it sounds like the mobo is getting power.
but with no POST beeps, that's puts a stronger slant on the mobo itself at fault.


can you Frankenstein a PSU from another PC just to cross this potential culprit off the offenders list?Has onboard vid been tried with card removed ? ?...has another monitor been tried both ways ? ? Quote from: Mark. on October 29, 2017, 08:37:51 PM

what's the make/model of this PC?

has another monitor been tried both ways ? ?

Did she give you any indication of the symptoms leading up to this ? ?
Perhaps she had someone else work on it that doesn't have a clue...

Ok so, I’m actually building a dell optiplex 790. I received a dell optiplex 790 MOTHERBOARD and so I got myself an i3 dual CORE 3.4 GHZ cpu. I’m also using a 280 watt psu, so I’ve only got ram left and she can boot. My question is Would my dell optiplex 790 with an MSI GeForce GT 710 2gb RUN world of tanks at 30 frames?

Thanks in advance guys.what does the minimum SPECS for the game suggest?
what is your current RAM?

If it's USB3.0, it also must be DDR3.

I suspect it's not a direct relationship where one technically requires the other in some way...One or the other tech was "too dated" to be applicable when the other was implemented.

There may be some constraints between one or the other I'm not considering but you can add USB 3 to a system using DDR2 with an expansion card so I'd think it was just a motherboard chipset design decision...

Hi guys

I am wondering if anyone can help me please. I know nothing about computers, but have had my Dell Demension 5051 for over ten years. Running on windows XP.  The only reason I have not upgraded, is because I only ever use word, Picture it 7 and presto Page Manager. Obvious.y you guys know these the last two are now obsolete and I have heard will not work on new comps.

I simple cannot be without them and so desperately rely on this comp. a few months back, it would not boot and the signal push button start, which should go green and boot when pressed, started blinking continously orange. I turned it off and back on several times. But nothing. A couple of days later, by change I tired again and it booted. I removed everything I no longer need to an external drive, because I am aware I do not have a lot of memory. I ran a cleaning programme and CC cleaner, deleted all history.  The comp continued to work with no problem starting for a few months, then last week it started to blink orange again.

I have read and researched this problem and it all points to the errrr PSU unit. But I am confused as to why it comes on intermittently.  I have braved at 75 years old to remove the housing and the bios (I think) battery replacing it with a new one as it has never been changed. This made no difference.

I have removed all leads, plugs and power externally, I am not brave enough to touch the inside apart from the battery, and that frightened a few years from my limited life span!

So guys...I read quite a lot about this problem on here, but I did not see a problem like this, yes I covered the orange blinking light, but saw no mention of being able to get the comp to boot and wondered if mine was a different problem.....so

A....can anyone tell me why if it is the PSU why it works sometimes and not others. Today was the longest time it has taken to boot, almost 12 hours. The computer works perfect fly once booted.
B...if it is the PSU, I assume this is the largest box thing, how do I know which one to buy to replace it and where is the best PLACE to go.
C....is there anyway, I can discover whilst the computer is on, what the problem is.

So sorry to,write so much, but thought it was best to give a clear picture with all the information one may need.

I am so HOPING someone can help me..

Thank you all so much

Sea Quote

can anyone tell me why if it is the PSU why it works sometimes and not others.

The Dell Dimension series was a line of home and business desktop computers manufactured by Dell. In 2007, the Dimension series was discontinued and replaced with the for low-end models and the Dell Studio series for higher-end models.

The last high-end computers to be released under the Dimension line were the 9200 and 9200c (XPS 410 and XPS 210 in the American market, respectively). The E520, E521 and C521 were re-introduced under the Inspiron line under the names Inspiron 530, 531, 530s and 531s, with a revised case design.

The  Dell Dimension  desktop computers can be found on eBay in good condition for about $100 and even less. A Dell power supply, used, for your model is about $20 pr less.

You just might consider getting a refurbished Dell from eBay. Then your old machine would be a source of spare parts. Some vendors offer warranties.

Of relevance:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Dimension

So if you buy an old Dell of that same model line, you would be getting a ten-year old computer. You might want to try a model in the  Dell Inspiron series
Just a thought.   

EDIT: Here is a link to a eBay item that might be  of interest.

Dell 530 on eBay.
Notice thata one year protection costs about $20. That sounds kind of high to me.

So, i'm upgrading my rig and kind of in a budget. I plan on going for :

• * Ryzen 5 1600
  * ASRock - AB350M
  * Kingston - A400 240GB SSD
  * Radeon R9 280X 3GB
  * Cooler Master - VSM 650W
  * Seagate 7200 1TB HDD

So a few weeks ago, my scrolling decided to go all wonky upon my Dell Inspiron 3542 restarting itself. It would flash up toward the top of the screen every time I scrolled, clicking accidentally on things a few times, and there were clear LITTLE boxes that seemed to trail after my cursor every time. By chance, while looking for a solution, I noticed there was a pen and touch section in my control panel that definitely wasn't there before. It was registering my laptop as a touch screen when it is not. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a method to disable it completely, but I FOUND an option to disable being able to visibly see the touch scrolling, which took care of the clear boxes problem, but not the wayward cursor. It's probably also worth mentioning that on outside programs like Word, it would scroll properly. A few days ago, however, it decided to stop scrolling completely. It did for just a bit, when I first booted up my laptop, then stopped entirely. This is now the third day of this. And, when I booted it up this morning, I found my cursor to be very glitchy. I'll try to move it across the screen, and it will, increment by increment, pausing in between. All of my drivers are up to date. Every search I've done has proved fruitless. Any ideas or suggestions? Any Yellow !!'s in device manager ? ?...if so it's missing/corrupt drivers...

Use your Service Tag # to find the proper ONES at Dell's site.Nope. Everything says the device is working properly. Did you expand all the selections in DM...clik the + box next to each device on the Left...There were no + boxes. I CLICKED on Mice and other pointing devices and clicked on the Dell touchpad option. If the PC is re-starting itself there's likely a hardware issue.....what is new or changed since it worked ? ?what touch pad manufacturer is it; ELAN, Synaptics, or other?

I had an ELAN one when Win10 first got released where I had to disable it and let Windows use it's internal touch pad driver which worked for me.

I would like to upgrade my computer. here are the specs of my computer. I want to buy the parts one by one. Cant afford it to buy the parts all at once.  Help me please thanks. I would like to but first the CPU and MOBO. Can i use it right away?

[attachment deleted by admin to CONSERVE space]its a 350w power supply so its LIMITED on graphics upgrade.  You might just get a nvidia 1050ti graphics card and see how it does gaming. Other then that you need a whole new computer. I don't see any other upgrades needed worth mentioning.

after researching maybe the 470 is not so bad....

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-AMD-RX-470/3649vs3640its currently got a 3rd gen Core i5 and 12GB RAM, so not too shabby.
upgrading either/both of those will not IMPROVE gaming too much and certainly not in relation to the cost of a 8th gen Core i7.


is gaming still a big part of it's usage?


there's always the SSD upgrade path.  almost no downtime with a cloned image of the current system and the best bang for buck, but again, gaming performance may not increase too much.


so that leaves the R7 graphics card as PROBABLY your best avenue for attack - but again, what sort of increase are you expecting for the outlay?When i play PUBG i cant set it to high settings bec its to laggy. So I need to kknow what to upgrade. Thanks a lot for helpingwhere is the lag, in the frame rate or in the NETWORK connection?From the computer in question run a speedtest at www.speedtest.net and post the results here.

Please tell us if its wired or wireless also.

I would also suggest you follow the complete guide in our malware forum just to make sure you are not infected.

Hello.

I bought a new HP Elitebook back in August of this year (2017). I'm not sure exactly what model it is. Everything runs FINE, but the light on the top won't turn off now. I opened up the laptop and the flap of plastic was open and displaying light. It was hard to get the flap closed, but even with it closed, it won't turn off.

After messing with it a bit and turning the laptop off and back on, I can press the BUTTON next to it to open it and it closes fine. The light refuses to turn off still, even with the flap closed.

Any help?Ok, so this may not work, but I suggest holding down the power button until the laptop TURNS off, then if that doesn't work, try and REMOVE the battery, hit the power button a few times, PUT the battery back in and try turning it on. If the light still stays on or you can't remove the battery, try running the battery dead. I'm not an expert in the hardware section, but I hope this helps.

dell t3400 with a e5410 8gb of ram and a low level radeon level GPUfrom the little info you have provided, I'll go out on a limb and say Yes.
but, really, what is the age, HD size, history, cost, OS?
DEFINE 'office work'?Dell Precision T3400 (Core 2 Extreme QX6800 2.93GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, XP Pro 64-Bit)

It's similar to the PC I use at work, in a government finance office - I need web browser, MS Office, that's it. The big DRAG on performance is the lousy LAN & WAN performance, and the fact that we are stuck with XP and Office 2003, until March 2018, when we are getting Windows 10 and Office 365. And new PCs. So I would say, "yes", but with reservations.
that's the official, as-new, specs, but due to the age, has anything died and being replaced?, any components been upgraded?Well according to the Original post it's using a Xeon  and has 8GB of RAM.

e5410 is a 10 year old Xeon but still holds up, I THINK, for modern tasks. With 8GB of RAM as well I think it should work well enough, but of course that depends what "Office work" is. For word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, etc. It would work just fine.

I have a similarly configured system I built in 2008 which has a QX6700 which is considered less performant than the e5410 which I have used without problems for software testing, and debugging as well as web browsing without issues with Windows 10. Quote from: BC_Programmer on November 18, 2017, 08:04:29 PM

of course that depends what "Office work" is. For word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, etc.

Hello.
My pc:
*Asus Z170-P with 6700K cpu

*Corsair 750 RM

*Gtx 1080 TI Founder Edition

*Monitor Red Eagle IIyama 24' 1080p 144hz plugged by display PORT cable to GFX.

Few days ago i get power outage. Power outage was because fuse was tripped because of kitchen which was turned on in other room.

When i run pc first time on first boot ( after power outage ) refresh was normal at start 144hz.
When i manually turn off computer and turn on again,and on my second boot it happened. Refresh was lower than 144hz. To make again 144hz i turned off monitor and turn back on again.

So that was bug or that power outage related cause it happen soon after outage?

But i like i said on my first pc run ( boot ) after power outage refresh was 144hz fine. It happened just after i normally shutdown my pc and booted pc second time.

MAYBE coincidence and i am worrying for nothing,hehe ?

So conclusion: It happened not just after ( not on pc first power on ) power outage.
But on second time ( second turn ) when i boot to Windows 10. On my second turning on pc, second boot to windows. So not IMMEDIATELY after power outage.


PS: I tried to reproduce only 3 times by cutting power to pc and powering on and booting again, but 144hz on start. Not ABLE to reproduce.


Maybe coincidence and i am worrying for nothing? Or maybe i have dirty power in house?