The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware / Software Crap > The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; When life gives you lemons DANCE DANCE DANCE!

Paid in part by CF

Actually found another board for about $20 cheaper (and it's at the local vendor, so huge convenience bonus) with all the same components again. It's a Gigabyte board with a P45 chipset. Google makes it seem like a P45 is plenty fine. Any reason to be worried?

# ? Nov 13, 2008 23:39

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# ? May 26, 2013 03:15

A Bag of Milk: Jul 3, 2007; I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

Actually found another board for about $20 cheaper (and it's at the local vendor, so huge convenience bonus) with all the same components again. It's a Gigabyte board with a P45 chipset. Google makes it seem like a P45 is plenty fine. Any reason to be worried?

The Gigabyte P45 is a great board, so no problem there. I can't tell you whether or not there is a problem with your local vendor.

I have a question too. I have an E6750 processor and it runs at over 90C at load. From what I've read this should be a big problem, except it's been running like this flawlessly for over a year. Should I be worried?

# ? Nov 14, 2008 10:05

Jmcrofts: Jan 7, 2008; just chillin' in the club

I'm in the market for some headphones for my PC, since I like to be able to play games at night without pissing off my roommate. I use some in-ear buds for my MP3 player, but I'd like some circum-aurals. I don't really know much about what brands and models are reliable, so any help is appreciated.

I'd like them to be less than $100, and be good for watching movies and gaming mostly. I already have a microphone, so I'd prefer not to get a headset. Thanks!

# ? Nov 17, 2008 00:09

I Hate Admin !!: Jan 19, 2007; by Nutt Hogg

Can a Celeron 440 (Conroe 35W) be passively cooled, assuming a case of reasonable size?

Also, will this CPU decode 720p in Ubuntu without trouble?

# ? Nov 17, 2008 02:27

real_scud: Sep 5, 2002; One of these days these elbows are gonna walk all over you

Anyone have a clue why after moving to a new apartment and setting up my speakers I suddenly have odd sounds coming out of them? It sounds almost like scratching going on inside of the actual speakers. I thought at first it was interference from my on board sound, but I've been using on board for almost a year now and I've never heard this before. Hell before I moved my speakers were even closer to the actual tower so I figured they should've gotten better since they're farther away from the tower.

# ? Nov 17, 2008 05:35

be nice wicka: Jun 28, 2007; Bowl Eligible

real_scud posted:

Anyone have a clue why after moving to a new apartment and setting up my speakers I suddenly have odd sounds coming out of them? It sounds almost like scratching going on inside of the actual speakers. I thought at first it was interference from my on board sound, but I've been using on board for almost a year now and I've never heard this before. Hell before I moved my speakers were even closer to the actual tower so I figured they should've gotten better since they're farther away from the tower.

Speakers are just big magnets, they tend to pick up lots of interference. It's likely that the area you moved to has more radio interference than your previous residence. One time my speakers were picking up a radio station from Toronto; it's pretty ridiculous the kind of distances radio waves travel with the right cloud conditions.

Of course you'll probably want to check all your connections and make sure they are fine, but sometimes there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

# ? Nov 17, 2008 05:50

real_scud: Sep 5, 2002; One of these days these elbows are gonna walk all over you

wicka posted:

Speakers are just big magnets, they tend to pick up lots of interference. It's likely that the area you moved to has more radio interference than your previous residence. One time my speakers were picking up a radio station from Toronto; it's pretty ridiculous the kind of distances radio waves travel with the right cloud conditions.

Of course you'll probably want to check all your connections and make sure they are fine, but sometimes there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

drat, I've tried checking the connections and re-plugging all of them in to make sure they were as good as they could get but looks like I'm SOL. Thanks though

# ? Nov 17, 2008 12:11

Straker: Nov 10, 2005; professional sex-haver

Shazzner posted:

I'm planning on building a new gaming rig around Intel's new i7 chip (mostly as future-proofing).

Apologies if this has been asked before but:
When are the chips going to be released?

Any benchmarks for them?

I know it's been a week, but saw you didn't get a very good answer to this... check out the stickied hardware thread at the top of the forum.

Short answer, you can't "future proof" poo poo and you're wasting your money if that's what you're buying i7 for. An i7 CPU, mb and 4GB of DDR3 RAM costs what, $700? You can get a good C2D, 4GB of DDR2 and an awesome motherboard (any "elite" or "platinum"

series from any manufacturer pretty much) for half of that. You could also bump that up to 8GB RAM for another $30-40, compared to several times that for DDR3.

Just spend whatever minimum you can to get something good now, and sock the rest away for your next upgrade when (hopefully) S1366 components are worth paying for... or maybe buy a nice pair of shoes and another monitor or something given the current state of the economy, I don't know

# ? Nov 17, 2008 12:18

cent0r: Feb 19, 2007

ok don't think this quite deserves it's own thread but anyhow...

my USB mouse has just started making GBS threads itself. it's a relatively new Razer Diamondback and it'd start freezing on me (keyboard and everything else works fine) and the light on the mouse begins to flicker. i plugged an old ps/2 in and that works fine until of course i detach it and shove it into the USB slot at the back. i've also tried to plug my Razer into another computer and gave it a 5 minute test run and didn't notice any problems. i've also tried plugging it into the front and the lights don't flicker but doesn't work as windows refuses to recognize it for some reason. but i'm guessing it's a USB malfunction, am i right? is there any tests i can run to prove it? the computer still has it's warranty so it'll be nothing but a huge waste of time.

thanks in advance for any help, cent0r!

cent0r fucked around with this message at Nov 17, 2008 around 17:50

# ? Nov 17, 2008 17:48

be nice wicka: Jun 28, 2007; Bowl Eligible

cent0r posted:

ok don't think this quite deserves it's own thread but anyhow...

my USB mouse has just started making GBS threads itself. it's a relatively new Razer Diamondback and it'd start freezing on me (keyboard and everything else works fine) and the light on the mouse begins to flicker. i plugged an old ps/2 in and that works fine until of course i detach it and shove it into the USB slot at the back. i've also tried to plug my Razer into another computer and gave it a 5 minute test run and didn't notice any problems. i've also tried plugging it into the front and the lights don't flicker but doesn't work as windows refuses to recognize it for some reason. but i'm guessing it's a USB malfunction, am i right? is there any tests i can run to prove it? the computer still has it's warranty so it'll be nothing but a huge waste of time.

thanks in advance for any help, cent0r!

Well for one, the reason it's not working in the front USB port is because it's probably USB1.0. Have you tried plugging in another USB mouse into the same port? Because it sounds like the mouse just isn't getting enough power from the USB port. Are there other ports on the back that you've tried it in?

# ? Nov 17, 2008 18:03

cent0r: Feb 19, 2007

wicka posted:

Well for one, the reason it's not working in the front USB port is because it's probably USB1.0. Have you tried plugging in another USB mouse into the same port? Because it sounds like the mouse just isn't getting enough power from the USB port. Are there other ports on the back that you've tried it in?

yeah i've plugged the PS/2 into the USB port and it'd stop working too. i've been using the Razer without any problems for a few months now without problem so i don't think it's a power issue. i've tried plugging it into the other 3 ports in the back and the mouse continues to flicker but doesn't respond/move at all.

edit: i've taken it to a shop and they're ordering a replacement motherboard which will take about 2 weeks...

cent0r fucked around with this message at Nov 18, 2008 around 06:43

# ? Nov 17, 2008 18:09

Vinlaen: Feb 19, 2008

If you buy ECC RAM, do you need a motherboard the specifically supports it?

I'm a little confused because some motherboards say "it will work" but that mean it supports the ECC part of the RAM or just ignore that feature?

I'm thinking about building a fileserver and it seems like a lot of people swear by ECC RAM but even though the RAM itself is very much cheap, the motherboards (or CPUs) cost a LOT more. For example, the cheapest motherboard on NewEgg that supports ECC is $60 but the CPU is $150. Comparetively, I can get an Asus board that says "it will work" with a CPU for only $80.

What's the deal?

# ? Nov 20, 2008 01:19

Sniep: Mar 28, 2004; And I have had my final fatty blunt, and it was good.

Vinlaen posted:

What's the deal?

I'm not sure what you mean by "it will work" being stated on some consumer motherboards.

FB-DIMMs (Server grade / ECC) have a different notching than standard DIMMS. They physically will not fit in the same slot as each other.

# ? Nov 20, 2008 01:38

Vinlaen: Feb 19, 2008

Well, check this motherboard out:

Asus M3A78-EM. It's also available on NewEgg for $76.

On the Asus website (under specifications) it says:

quote:

4 x DIMM, Max. 8 GB, DDR2 1066/800/667 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture

Does that mean if I buy ECC memory that it will support single-bit memory correction?

I thought that you needed an expensive server motherboard (or one that requires expensive CPUs) like this one here. I also thought that just because the Asus accepts ECC memory that it doesn't neccessarily support error checking (eg. it just "disables" or doesn't use that part of the chip).

Maybe I'm confused because NewEgg shows "ECC Supported: Yes" for the server motherboards but doesn't show it for the desktop motherboards (eg. like the Asus M3A78-EM).

Vinlaen fucked around with this message at Nov 20, 2008 around 01:51

# ? Nov 20, 2008 01:48

A Bag of Milk: Jul 3, 2007; I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

Is there a program I can use that would identify what is in my PCI slots? I have a wireless card and I need to get drivers for it but I don't know what it is.

# ? Nov 21, 2008 07:42

Smoke: Mar 11, 2005; I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!

A Bag of Milk posted:

Is there a program I can use that would identify what is in my PCI slots? I have a wireless card and I need to get drivers for it but I don't know what it is.

You can give SiSoft Sandra a try, or you can check the device ID in the device manager(Device Instance ID under Details, check the VEN and DEV codes and Google for them)

# ? Nov 21, 2008 07:55

A Bag of Milk: Jul 3, 2007; I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

Thanks Smoke! Sandra told me the device and I googled it for drivers. Posting this with ethernet cord unplugged.

# ? Nov 21, 2008 08:41

Raazaar: May 20, 2007; Be gentle. Please.

Recently my speakers have begun to emit a distorted crackling/scratching sound only while playing games. It's pretty intermittent at first but eventually becomes more regular before the speakers stop emitting any sound and require a reboot for them to work again. I tried another set of speakers and the problem has continued so I was wondering if it was likely to be a sound card/driver issue or something else?
Thanks!

# ? Nov 21, 2008 11:06

Combat Pretzel: Jun 23, 2004; No, seriously... what kurds?!

This more an aerodynamics question than a hardware one, but anyway, I keep seeing more and more case fans with dimpled fan blades, like golf balls. They keep claiming that this reduces noise and improves airflow due reduction of turbulences. How much of these claims are bullshit?

I keep thinking, if that was the case, more "appliances" using fans/propellers of whatever sort would feature dimpled surfaces.

# ? Nov 22, 2008 11:26

EVGA Longoria: Dec 25, 2005; Let's go exploring!

What're some mouse recommendations?

I've got the Logitech Cordless Media Play Mouse, it's really nice. Unfortunately, some fo the rubber on the side buttons and the scroll wheel is beginning to wear off, so I'm in the market looking for one. Logitech has treated me well, but I'm not adverse to Microsoft's peripherals.

Kinda loking the look of the G7, wondering how people like it? How long do the batteries last. The MX1100 looks good too, how is it?

I need the side-to-side scrolling on the mouse and a back/forward button on the side for the thumb. Aside from that, I think I'm good with most anything quality.

EVGA Longoria fucked around with this message at Nov 22, 2008 around 22:42

# ? Nov 22, 2008 22:40

Sniep: Mar 28, 2004; And I have had my final fatty blunt, and it was good.

Combat Pretzel posted:

This more an aerodynamics question than a hardware one, but anyway, I keep seeing more and more case fans with dimpled fan blades, like golf balls. They keep claiming that this reduces noise and improves airflow due reduction of turbulences. How much of these claims are bullshit?

I keep thinking, if that was the case, more "appliances" using fans/propellers of whatever sort would feature dimpled surfaces.

Effective or not, I'm going to offer a theory that its a no-cost (just different molding die) way to charge more for the same part?

# ? Nov 23, 2008 00:08

EricBauman: Nov 30, 2005; DOLF IS RECHTVAARDIG

Casao posted:

What're some mouse recommendations?

I've got the Logitech Cordless Media Play Mouse, it's really nice. Unfortunately, some fo the rubber on the side buttons and the scroll wheel is beginning to wear off, so I'm in the market looking for one. Logitech has treated me well, but I'm not adverse to Microsoft's peripherals.

Kinda loking the look of the G7, wondering how people like it? How long do the batteries last. The MX1100 looks good too, how is it?

I need the side-to-side scrolling on the mouse and a back/forward button on the side for the thumb. Aside from that, I think I'm good with most anything quality.

I've got the MX 620 (for another alternative) and I think it's great, and cheaper than the 1100. It does everything you ask for, for 20 bucks less (well, at least in euroland).

# ? Nov 23, 2008 10:59

raggedphoto: May 10, 2008; I'd like to shoot you

May have come up already in the thread but didnt see it when I was scanning the 50+ pages.

I dropped my WD 160 gig portable hard drive today about 4'. It doesnt rattle when I lightly shake it nor does it click when plugged in but I get the "this device has malfunctioned" window when I plug it in. I have tried it on several computers with the same result.

Anything I can do? Or am I just poo poo out of luck, I have everything backed up except for what I put on it today, 2.8 gigs of photos that I dont want to have to re-shoot.

# ? Nov 24, 2008 01:13

EVGA Longoria: Dec 25, 2005; Let's go exploring!

EricBauman posted:

I've got the MX 620 (for another alternative) and I think it's great, and cheaper than the 1100. It does everything you ask for, for 20 bucks less (well, at least in euroland).

I liked the look of the 610, but the 620 killed my gimmick IM/email on the mouse LEDs =( did it add anything interesting?

# ? Nov 24, 2008 02:11

Sageabilly: Feb 18, 2007; by Tiny Fistpump

raggedphoto posted:

May have come up already in the thread but didnt see it when I was scanning the 50+ pages.

I dropped my WD 160 gig portable hard drive today about 4'. It doesnt rattle when I lightly shake it nor does it click when plugged in but I get the "this device has malfunctioned" window when I plug it in. I have tried it on several computers with the same result.

Anything I can do? Or am I just poo poo out of luck, I have everything backed up except for what I put on it today, 2.8 gigs of photos that I dont want to have to re-shoot.

It's dead.

Fortunately, there are data recovery options out there. Unfortunately, sending it to a big name data recovery house is going to be at least $1,000. Although the senior PC technician at the computer repair shop I work at does those same recoveries and costs a lot, lot less, if you're interested.

# ? Nov 24, 2008 03:22

raggedphoto: May 10, 2008; I'd like to shoot you

Sageabilly posted:

It's dead.

Fortunately, there are data recovery options out there. Unfortunately, sending it to a big name data recovery house is going to be at least $1,000. Although the senior PC technician at the computer repair shop I work at does those same recoveries and costs a lot, lot less, if you're interested.

Crap, thanks for the offer but unfortunately I need those images in the next few days plus I dont want to pay to recover a few images that I can re-shoot.

# ? Nov 24, 2008 04:31

totalbaddass: Dec 31, 2003

Is there any reason I should shut down my computer rather than just flipping the switch? I always heard it was bad for the computer, but I dont know why.

# ? Nov 24, 2008 09:11

Straker: Nov 10, 2005; professional sex-haver

totalbaddass posted:

Is there any reason I should shut down my computer rather than just flipping the switch? I always heard it was bad for the computer, but I dont know why.

well, you're not terribly likely to physically damage any components (assuming there are no modern hard drives that are still dumb enough to let the heads land wherever they may be in case power goes out, or anything like that), but you have a decent chance of corrupting data, because at any given moment your hard drive may not physically exactly reflect what is "supposed" to be on it. best case, Windows will probably bug you to let it check your drives the next time you start up, worst case, you might not be able to boot after, though you'd still be capable of recovering the contents with software alone.

windows also does housekeeping stuff when you shut down, apps might complain if not terminated properly, you might lose unwritten info in other apps and log files and stuff too, updates like to install extra stuff at shutdown sometimes...

# ? Nov 24, 2008 10:23

Dominoes: Sep 20, 2007; Fuckin' rat tails

How do I let my router let me host servers? At one point it did, but now it's been reset. At school with no router, I was hosting a vent server, could cost Age of Empires 2 games, Quake wars server etc, but on my home connection no one can connect. It's a Verizon FIOS actiontec router.

I've gone to advanced, protocols, and added TCP --> 3784 and UDP -->3784, ie for a ventrilo server, but it still doesn't work. I can connect to Vent/Quake Wars server using the local IP, but no one can see it with my global IP. I've set the router's firewall to minimum settings. It even looks like my router has all of these built in. In Advanced, there's an existing entry for ventrilo and Age of Empires II, along with many others, but still no-go. Firmware is latest.

Dominoes fucked around with this message at Nov 24, 2008 around 17:57

# ? Nov 24, 2008 17:48

mobn: May 23, 2005; by Ozmaugh

Combat Pretzel posted:

This more an aerodynamics question than a hardware one, but anyway, I keep seeing more and more case fans with dimpled fan blades, like golf balls. They keep claiming that this reduces noise and improves airflow due reduction of turbulences. How much of these claims are bullshit?

I keep thinking, if that was the case, more "appliances" using fans/propellers of whatever sort would feature dimpled surfaces.

Things like house fans would actually be less effective with less noise in my opinion. You're conditioned to associate the sound of a fan with a refreshing breeze.

# ? Nov 24, 2008 23:49

EricBauman: Nov 30, 2005; DOLF IS RECHTVAARDIG

Casao posted:

I liked the look of the 610, but the 620 killed my gimmick IM/email on the mouse LEDs =( did it add anything interesting?

No, the only light that's on there is to show battery level when it starts up from the kind of standby state. Other than that, there's no more buttons or functions that aren't immediately obvious.

# ? Nov 25, 2008 23:00

Total Meatlove: Jan 28, 2007; Rangers died, shoujo Hitler cried ;_;

A cooling question.

1. Is a vent, with threads for an 80mm fan
2. A Xigmatek heatsink with attached 120mm fan
3. Vents, without threading. Not adverse to making room for a fan if it would be a good idea
4. PSU and fan
5. 120mm fan venting air out.

Currently, that's how my P.C's cooling is set up.

Would it be an idea to set up an 80mm at 1. venting air out, and to have a 120mm at the bottom venting air in, with the heat sink and fan facing towards 5?
This is a three year old machine and I'm trying to get the most out of it I can for the least outlay.

# ? Nov 26, 2008 04:11

JustinZ: Jun 17, 2005; nga plz, i be the macaroni and the cheese

So i got offered a Asus P5Q Pro m/b and an Intel E8500 for $320 shipped

should i snatch it up?

and another related question, how long until the new intel chips come out and will there be a huge difference in price? Should i wait it out?

thx

# ? Nov 26, 2008 04:21

Space Gopher: Jul 31, 2006; CRYBABY FUCK

JustinZ posted:

So i got offered a Asus P5Q Pro m/b and an Intel E8500 for $320 shipped

should i snatch it up?

and another related question, how long until the new intel chips come out and will there be a huge difference in price? Should i wait it out?

It's not a great deal - check prices on Newegg before you jump on a "deal." You're looking at just over $300 before shipping, plus there's a $15 rebate on the motherboard.

The new Intel chips are already out. They're called Core i7 (or Nehalem, which was the development codename), are extremely fast, and are fairly expensive. The entry-level Core i7 920 starts out at about the same price as a mid-tier Core 2 Quad, the new motherboards are all $300 or so, and they require expensive DDR3 RAM. If you're doing heavy number crunching in a time-is-money environment, it might be worth the expense right now; even the entry-level i7 performs on par with the top-end $1500 Core 2 quad-cores in heavily multithreaded applications. A single top-end i7 can run with dual-quad workstations in certain tasks.

On the other hand, if you're doing stuff that's not mostly multithreaded (games, web browsing, office stuff), a fast dual-core like the E8500 is still your best bet. When you're only using one or two cores, there's no need to spend a lot of extra money for a processor that really shines at using four. It'll take at least six months for Nehalem-based processors to trickle down into the mainstream market, and even then, it looks like most of the benefits of the new architecture come from its multithreaded performance.

Ultimately, if you've been planning for an upgrade, now's a pretty good time. You can throw together a nice office/web/media system for under $500, and $700 or so will get you a gaming system capable of running pretty much anything under the sun at 1680x1050 and nice settings. LGA 775 is going to go away when mainstream Nehalems come into the picture, but a good Core 2 CPU should last you quite a while regardless. You can always get more performance for less if you wait a while, but if you've got the money to spend, I'd say that you should go for it.

# ? Nov 26, 2008 06:22

Zenquin: Jul 16, 2005

I have an old drive with a "Windows" and a "Documents and Settings" folder, what sort of stuff is worth searching for and saving from them? I would like to wipe the drives but I am worried that I will destroy some sort of useful or interesting data and that I might not even recognize something worth saving.

# ? Nov 26, 2008 06:28

The Dissonant: Jul 24, 2008; Just another disposable hero.

Hey guys, I accidentally dropped an external hard drive of mine. Needless to say, now when I plug it in via USB the OS kinda doesn't recognize it. The name of the device comes up as a bunch of weird special characters, and I can't explore the device (so I can't access my files). I took it to the place I bought it from and they said it just needs a case replacement, the actual disk isn't screwed. Is there a quicker fix for this kind of thing?

Also, what's a good website for buying inexpensive external hard drives? I need to upgrade to at least 1TB. Preferably in Europe or Australia this time, please.

# ? Nov 26, 2008 08:39

tripwire: Nov 19, 2004; _{ghost flow}

I had 2 sticks of mushkin 1gb ddr2 8500 dual channel ram, but one stick spontaneously stopped working and prevented the computer from even posting. I was thinking it wasn't a big deal because I still had the lifetime warranty and the original case, but because of a mixup with the website where I bought it, it wasn't on the invoice with the rest of the stuff I ordered from them at that time.. it was probably on another invoice which is now lost forever to me. So since I'm poo poo out luck on getting proof of purchase I was wondering what makes the most sense to do right now.

I only have 1gb of ram now and its operating single channel mode, and on top of that I'm not even sure if this is ram is that stable either- every time I try to start a source engine game windows will hard lock with an IRQL thingy.
Even still, I run memtest on the thing and it doesn't show any errors, so who knows whats going on there

Should I ditch that stick and buy a new kit, or try and find a single stick with the same speed and timings? Do I want ECC? Is registered ram worth the price difference?

I'm on an Asus p5q-vm which only takes DDR2.. strangely it says it supports 666,800 and 1066mhz but has (OC) next to the last one. What does that mean, you can overclock ram up to 1066? Or you have to overclock the motherboard to use ram that goes that speed?

tripwire fucked around with this message at Nov 26, 2008 around 09:39

# ? Nov 26, 2008 09:37

Straker: Nov 10, 2005; professional sex-haver

tripwire posted:

Should I ditch that stick and buy a new kit, or try and find a single stick with the same speed and timings?

buy a new kit (and try the good stick in addition to it if you want, I guess), 4gb kits are $20-30 now, it's loving ridiculous

quote:

Do I want ECC? Is registered ram worth the price difference?

gently caress no, and (unless I'm thinking of fully buffered RAM and this is an FB-only thing or something) it won't fit anyway

edit: and it may well just be saying OC because the only "real"/standard DDR2 goes up to DDR2 800. anything past that is basically "overclocking" even if it's sold as being able to run much faster than that

# ? Nov 26, 2008 10:55

Space Gopher: Jul 31, 2006; CRYBABY FUCK

tripwire posted:

I had 2 sticks of mushkin 1gb ddr2 8500 dual channel ram, but one stick spontaneously stopped working and prevented the computer from even posting. I was thinking it wasn't a big deal because I still had the lifetime warranty and the original case, but because of a mixup with the website where I bought it, it wasn't on the invoice with the rest of the stuff I ordered from them at that time.. it was probably on another invoice which is now lost forever to me. So since I'm poo poo out luck on getting proof of purchase I was wondering what makes the most sense to do right now.

I only have 1gb of ram now and its operating single channel mode, and on top of that I'm not even sure if this is ram is that stable either- every time I try to start a source engine game windows will hard lock with an IRQL thingy.
Even still, I run memtest on the thing and it doesn't show any errors, so who knows whats going on there

Should I ditch that stick and buy a new kit, or try and find a single stick with the same speed and timings? Do I want ECC? Is registered ram worth the price difference?

I'm on an Asus p5q-vm which only takes DDR2.. strangely it says it supports 666,800 and 1066mhz but has (OC) next to the last one. What does that mean, you can overclock ram up to 1066? Or you have to overclock the motherboard to use ram that goes that speed?

With DDR2 prices where they are, I'd suggest just buying a new DDR2-800 kit. 4 gigs is only $50 or so to begin with, and you can get rebates on top of that, too. Don't worry about registered or ECC RAM - without a motherboard that can take advantage of it, it's not useful.

As far as your errors are concerned: I'd try running a Prime95 torture test, but I'd suspect it's got something to do with your graphics card or drivers. It might also be a power problem if you've got a seriously underpowered PSU. Running Memtest overnight without problems isn't an ironclad guarantee that the RAM is fine (I've seen stranger things happen), but given the issues, I'd suspect it's not a memory problem. You can try poking around with Microsoft's crash analysis tools on the dump files that are generated when the system bluescreens; hopefully there'll be a pattern. You might also want to play around with Driver Verifier, too (preinstalled on Windows; run "verifier.exe"), because IRQL errors can be deceptive bitches to track down.

Space Gopher fucked around with this message at Nov 26, 2008 around 11:25

# ? Nov 26, 2008 11:16

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# ? May 26, 2013 03:15

Zorilla: Mar 23, 2005; GOING APE SPIT

Wittle Goony Gurl posted:

A cooling question.

1. Is a vent, with threads for an 80mm fan

2. A Xigmatek heatsink with attached 120mm fan

3. Vents, without threading. Not adverse to making room for a fan if it would be a good idea

4. PSU and fan

5. 120mm fan venting air out.

Currently, that's how my P.C's cooling is set up.

Would it be an idea to set up an 80mm at 1. venting air out, and to have a 120mm at the bottom venting air in, with the heat sink and fan facing towards 5?
This is a three year old machine and I'm trying to get the most out of it I can for the least outlay.

Probably just fan #1 inwards (or just leave passive), #2 to the back, #3 passive, and #5 out

# ? Nov 26, 2008 13:19

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