PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[Shadow NX 1]

Quote[/b] ]Yeah been thinking about that too but would like to hear some more opinions if externals are as problematic as it seems.

I just wanna have something that i can still use in hmm lets say 10 years if i need the data on it.

I own 2 USB hardrives for 4 years now. One is a regular IDE HD with 200 Gigs that has been placed into a USB casing. I have changed the casing once as someone stepped on the plug and it broke. The price for a casing is about 15 - 20 Euro.

I once had problems with it when I simply pulled the cord from the USB socket instead of removing the USB device from the tray first. The drive lost it´s internal structure dossier and was not recognized by computer anymore. I managed to backup the data though and reformatted it. It was a user error as it´s advised to remove the drive from the tray first and then disconnect it. Since then I got no more problems at all and I´m moving around the drive quite often. Downside of this external HD format is that it needs an extra power supply that has to be taken with the HD.

That´s why I bought my 2nd USB drive that is a 2.5´´ drive in a leather wallet. Capacity is 250 GB. It´s a Notebook HD that´s why the size is smaller. The size is not the only benefit. It also needs no external power, so you just connect the USB wire to 2 computer USB ports and it will take the power from there.

There were one - port solutions when those small HD´s came up but there were problems with computers not being able to provide enough power on one USB port, so most the manufacturers switched to the 2 Port solution.

I had no problems whatsoever with the HD and I really like it as it´s very small in size and needs no extra power-box. The Leather wallet it came with allows you to put it into your jacket and take it with you wherever you like. I use it quite often to transport large datafiles and make backups. Since I own the mobile HD´s I hardly ever burn CD´s anymore.

Great, thanks mate, that sounds pretty good.

After some more reading i think i will get a RaidSonic ICY Box and put a 500GB samsung hd in it, sounds like a combo that will keep me happy over the years.

But one more stupid question, does it matter what kind of hd goes in there like IDE or S-ATA?

[echo1 0]

Well, I'd presume the manual/website of the device would tell you which one it supports. If it can support either, then go for SATA of course.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]But one more stupid question, does it matter what kind of hd goes in there like IDE or S-ATA?

You will gain no performance boost when using an S-ATA drive compared to an IDE drive as the bottleneck is the USB 2.0 port that only allows theoretical 60 MB/sec.

Most of the external frames are made for IDE drives, but there are some for S-ATA drives aswell. As there is no spped advantage with S-ATA drives, I´d go for a regular IDE drive solution.

[Bracken 0]

I'm afraid that its quite likely that your card is damaged - if the artifacts appear before Windows starts up, its not a driver problem, and the card wouldnt have heated up enough to be an overheating problem. Have you contacted the makers of the card about this?

Thanks again for your continued help ch_123.

The card is from Sparkle, but seen it is over a year old I expect they would just pass us by with that.

There has been some devolopments with it though, heres what happened. If anyone can make anything of it, would really appreciate it.

See I ran the dxdiag 3d draw test, for dx 7 it worked fine but for 8 & 9 the cube thing didn't even show.. just a black screen.

At this point the card was crashing OFP whenever I tried to play, it also showed large shadow artifacts in the background intro bits.

I did two things now, I don't know which of the things helped. First I ran the NVidia 10 min stress test for the GPU and PCI slot. After I ran the Nvidia monitor performance enhancer.

At this point I noticed that the dots where gone, so I opened the Dx draw tests again and this time 7 and 8 worked.

I launched OFp up (Dx8 game) and everything ran perfect for an hour, at which point I stopped playing.

So thats where we are at, the dx draw test for 9 fails so I don't no if I can launch arma or not.. or if I should even try incase It goes down hill again.

Anyone have a clue on whats happening, cause its sure is confusing me

[echo1 0]

Bracken,

So the green dots dont appear anymore, but it doesnt want to run the DX9 test... A) Have you tried running any games, and B) Have you tried uninstalling the drivers and then reinstalling the latest ones since the green dots went away?

[BraTTy 0]

Just wanted to post here to brag that you wont have to look down on me anymore...I ordered some pc parts upgrades

AMD X2 6400+ cpu and MB

4 gigs ddr2

Ati HD3870 512mb Gddr4 video card

Should be here next week , I have work ahead of me getting it up and running and I will let you know how things work.

Getting ready for Arma 2

[Shashman 0]

Sounds good apart from the processor and RAM.

You'd have been better off going for an intel cpu, such as a q6600 quad core or e6850 core 2 duo with a p35 compatible motherboard. Future proof and better value for money than the AMD 6400 x2. As for the RAM, well we know all too well what issues ArmA has with Vista and 4gb+ RAM, and you need a 64bit OS to support that much RAM anyway, which can get a bit tricky when it comes to game and certain software compaitibility (especially for drivers).

Nice graphics card though

[Mr_Tea 0]

If you buy an AM2 Board, you can upgrade you`re CPU later with no problems.

Only a reminder to the Intel-faction.

[Shashman 0]

To what?

AMD Phenom?

Intel leads the way at the moment and for the foreseeable future.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Sounds good apart from the processor and RAM.

You'd have been better off going for an intel cpu, such as a q6600 quad core or e6850 core 2 duo with a p35 compatible motherboard. Future proof and better value for money than the AMD 6400 x2. As for the RAM, well we know all too well what issues ArmA has with Vista and 4gb+ RAM, and you need a 64bit OS to support that much RAM anyway, which can get a bit tricky when it comes to game and certain software compaitibility (especially for drivers).

Nice graphics card though

buying the Q6600 can be a good idea, but think about the fact that soon (around March-April) the new quads will hit the market forcing the Q6600 to become cheaper.

Instead of purchasing the e6850 think about buying the E8400!

As far as the graphic card is concerned I cant say anything. Even though I believe the 800GT is currently the best solution.

About Vista64, most people have both installed XP32 and Vista64 and in this case 4Gig makes perfectly sense. Buy it now cause you never know what will happen once DDR3 becomes cheaper.

the P35 is definetly the best choice right now. The X38 is only a stupid transition to the X48.

[BraTTy 0]

Didn't matter to me, I've had good luck with both Intel and AMD.I had a X2 4200+ a year ago and was pleased with its performance and I just wanted a deal.

There was a good price on the 3.2ghz C2D but the MB types for it were expensive.And most of those MB's needed 1066mhz memory so a lil more cost there too.

I know this 6400+ will be fine and I like to be different.

Its only something I will use for a year or two, didn't want to spend a fortune

[456820 0]

Well I've had a small crisis in which I now need a new hard drive

Basically what do I need to look for, for a decent hard drive? Are there any makes I should avoid and some I should look at? Thanks.

[Supernova 0]

first off what kind of HD , is it external (for backups) or internal and what i like to call static.

[456820 0]

Internal SATA hard drive it shall be.

[Supernova 0]

Well do you use alot of space ?. Also how much are you willing to spend ?

[kalasnikov471 0]

I have a Hitachi Deskstar HDD and I'm happy with it, I had no problems with it, but makesure when you buy a HDD it has 7200rpm and lots of cache memory. Also you need to find out if you have a IDE or SCASI conector for your HDD.

[456820 0]

I'm looking for about 250-320GB and looking to spend £40ish.

[kalasnikov471 0]

If your thinking english pounds than here in the UK you can get a Matrox 180-250GB IDE 7200rpm with 2MB cache, and thats a very good hard drive ;-) I had my first copy on windows 95 on a 1.2GB Matrox HDD

[BraTTy 0]

AMD X2 6400+ cpu and MB

4 gigs ddr2

Ati HD3870 512mb Gddr4 video card

Should be here next week , I have work ahead of me getting it up and running and I will let you know how things work.

Got it all today and no problems (asides my new power supply was dead but I had another)

Arma works great !! Patched 1.09b

Using Xp64

[Shashman 0]

Well I've had a small crisis in which I now need a new hard drive  

Basically what do I need to look for, for a decent hard drive? Are there any makes I should avoid and some I should look at? Thanks.

Get a hdd with 16mb cache

[echo1 0]

Well I've had a small crisis in which I now need a new hard drive

Basically what do I need to look for, for a decent hard drive? Are there any makes I should avoid and some I should look at? Thanks.

I'd recommend one of these.

EDIT: Just to clarify, Ive had one of these for the past year and its an excellent disk. I based my decision to buy it on the basis of benchmarks I had read which showed it holding its own against the infamous "Raptor X" drives from Western Digital. Samsung make some bloody good hard disks.

[Colossus 2]

Well I've had a small crisis in which I now need a new hard drive  

Basically what do I need to look for, for a decent hard drive? Are there any makes I should avoid and some I should look at? Thanks.

I'd recommend one of these.

I support that advise.

[kalasnikov471 0]

Quote[/b] ]Quote (456820 @ Jan. 29 2008,09:06)

Well I've had a small crisis in which I now need a new hard drive

Basically what do I need to look for, for a decent hard drive? Are there any makes I should avoid and some I should look at? Thanks.

I'd recommend one of these.

dude, i think i might got one of them now ^^

[456820 0]

Well unfortunately my budget wouldnt stretch for one of them so instead I got a 320GB 8mb cache version from Samsung. However before actually getting the hard drive my computer had stopped turning on like normal.

Normally it would turn on and perform the hardware beep check thing and then the monitor will pick up the signal and all that etc. But now it just turns on and there is no beeping noise and the monitor says there is no signal coming from the computer.

I have double checked all cables to make sure they are securely in and I had a check for dust. However the problem is still there. Has anyone else had a similar problem? If so how did you fix it? Thanks.

[Balschoiw 0]

Open your case, remove or unplug hardware and cards one by one and check if your RAM is still right in the place and the contacts of the RAM are ok.