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Author Topic: Quick [tech] Questions Thread  (Read 1186538 times)
Trippy
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Reply #455 on: February 06, 2009, 08:03:17 PM

Web browsers on linux.  Which one is the easiest to get up and running and will display at least 90% of what I surf to?  Alternatively, maybe I want a codex pack for Firefox 3 so video.google.com doesn't make it go catatonic?
Are you using a 64-bit version of Ubuntu?

Ragnoros
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Reply #456 on: February 07, 2009, 07:39:03 AM

I want to play DoW II. But my old X850 only supports up to Pixel Shader 2.0b and DoW requires 3.0 or higher.

I was more than happy with my X850 for playing Fallout 3. ( the newest, most system testing game I own ) And if it were not for the fact that DoW won't even run under PS 2.0 I would not upgrade.

But anyway, tl;dr: What's the best bang-for-your-buck video card around the $80-$120 range?
I have been using ATI for my last two cards but I an not adverse to Nvidia. I'll do some of my own reaserch, but you guys are always helpful snarky so figured I would ask here.

Fake Edit: Do we still do strikethrough? I heard green was out.

Owls are an example of evolution showing off. -Shannow

BattleTag - Ray#1555
SnakeCharmer
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Reply #457 on: February 07, 2009, 07:47:11 AM

Cheap vid card?  You could always buy one or both of my 8800GTS G92's if I decide to sell them  Lifetime transferable warranty, never overclocked, aprox 1 year old, like new!! Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

Which brings me to...

Thinking about buying one of those snazzy GTX295's.  I'm currently running the aforementioned GTS's in SLI (x16 at each slot) at 1920x1200 resolution.  Am I going to see a measureable increase in performance?  Or will I see a bottleneck at my proc (oc'd q6600 at 3.2ghz) or my RAM (4GB 4-4-4-12 Ballistix) that will limit those gains?
Trippy
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Posts: 23612


Reply #458 on: February 07, 2009, 09:01:21 AM

I want to play DoW II. But my old X850 only supports up to Pixel Shader 2.0b and DoW requires 3.0 or higher.

I was more than happy with my X850 for playing Fallout 3. ( the newest, most system testing game I own ) And if it were not for the fact that DoW won't even run under PS 2.0 I would not upgrade.

But anyway, tl;dr: What's the best bang-for-your-buck video card around the $80-$120 range?
I have been using ATI for my last two cards but I an not adverse to Nvidia. I'll do some of my own reaserch, but you guys are always helpful snarky so figured I would ask here.

Fake Edit: Do we still do strikethrough? I heard green was out.
If you want to stick with ATI then if you can find one on sale or with a rebate for ~$120 get a 4850 otherwise get the 4830.
Engels
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inflicts shingles.


Reply #459 on: February 07, 2009, 10:34:55 AM

So, today one of the department heads decided it was time to clean out a back storage area filled with soil samples and ancient equipment. We discovered some ancient IBM PCs, so I am now typing from an ancient Model M IBM keyboard! Schild was totally right that this thing is the BOMB to type on.

You found SOME IBM PCs?

Get me another one plz.

Ah, there were only 2 keyboards, and one of them has the old keyboard connection, not the ps2 kind. I'm not even sure this second one works.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
Salamok
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Reply #460 on: February 07, 2009, 01:34:57 PM

So, today one of the department heads decided it was time to clean out a back storage area filled with soil samples and ancient equipment. We discovered some ancient IBM PCs, so I am now typing from an ancient Model M IBM keyboard! Schild was totally right that this thing is the BOMB to type on.

You found SOME IBM PCs?

Get me another one plz.

Ah, there were only 2 keyboards, and one of them has the old keyboard connection, not the ps2 kind. I'm not even sure this second one works.

5 pin din to ps2 converter
Engels
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Reply #461 on: February 07, 2009, 05:51:40 PM

Yep, in fact, in the detritus of the college's basements there is probably a drawer full of them. Unfortunately, my duties prevent me from a full archeological expedition.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
Strazos
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The World's Worst Game: Curry or Covid


Reply #462 on: February 08, 2009, 10:20:27 AM

Thanks, trying that in a bit.

Separate question: Charter is going to cap my tier of cable modem speeds to 100g a month. What program can I get to get a sense for how much bandwidth I use?  I think in way far south of 100gbs, but I want to be sure.

Bitmeter

Fear the Backstab!
"Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion
"Hell is other people." -Sartre
Thrawn
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Reply #463 on: February 09, 2009, 11:58:50 AM

So my computer has just been having more and more problems lately and it's acting up again now and I'm having a tough time pinpointing whats causing the issues.  As most of it is pushing 3 years old I'm way overdue for an overhaul.  But $$ is a bit tight.

Do you think I can do a decent upgrade for <$500?  Or at least something close to that without buying no-name crap parts.  The case, monitor, hard drives, dvd drives should all be good still.  Currently I'm running -

Windows XP
GeForce 7600
4gb DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) (Yes, I know)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+

I'm assuming I'll need/want new MB, CPU, PSU, Memory and Video Card.  Whats the way to go right now, Intel or AMD?

I'm not looking for someone to spoon feed me an exact setup (unless they feel generous) but I haven't been keeping up real well on my hardware lately so an idea of what direction to look at would be great.  Ohhhhh, I see.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2009, 12:00:33 PM by Thrawn »

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Yegolev
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WWW
Reply #464 on: February 09, 2009, 12:30:50 PM

Web browsers on linux.  Which one is the easiest to get up and running and will display at least 90% of what I surf to?  Alternatively, maybe I want a codex pack for Firefox 3 so video.google.com doesn't make it go catatonic?
Are you using a 64-bit version of Ubuntu?

Pretty sure I am not.  I think the AMD XP 3000+ is 32-bit?

Why am I homeless?  Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
Salamok
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Reply #465 on: February 09, 2009, 12:33:26 PM

I just did this, new p5q mobo, core 2 duo, 4 gig PC8500, Radeon 4850  came in at $480ish after shipping and tax, so if your current PSU can handle it you might be okay.

Fair warning I did end up dumping another $150 on a case and cpu fan 2 weeks later due to some heat issues (thinking my 12 year old single fan case couldn't keep up with the ATI card).

here is sort of what i went with:
mobo $97 (seems like it was cheaper when i bought it)
E8400 CPU $165
4 gig ram $52
ATI 4850 (asus branded) $165 (was $150 w/o rebates when I bought mine)

I left out the mail in rebates for the above but seems like there were about $50 worth all told.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2009, 12:52:10 PM by Salamok »
Trippy
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Reply #466 on: February 09, 2009, 08:02:10 PM

Web browsers on linux.  Which one is the easiest to get up and running and will display at least 90% of what I surf to?  Alternatively, maybe I want a codex pack for Firefox 3 so video.google.com doesn't make it go catatonic?
Are you using a 64-bit version of Ubuntu?
Pretty sure I am not.  I think the AMD XP 3000+ is 32-bit?
Yeah the Athlon XP is 32-bit only. Shouldn't be so hard, then, to get Flash working.

Engels
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Reply #467 on: February 09, 2009, 09:59:09 PM

I think that its not so much flash as that the ATI drivers for Ubuntu blow goats. A while back I managed, finally, to get Ubuntu's graphic drivers for ATI to work as expected, but I had to do some pretty in depth research to find the 'right ones'. This was about two years ago, I must say, so I can't be certain that the solution would be the same. However, that it still doesn't work right doesn't surprise me much.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
SnakeCharmer
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Reply #468 on: February 10, 2009, 09:27:09 AM

Ok.  Bought the Zalman CNPS9700 LED fan/heatsink.

Probably should have asked this before I bought it, but will it be able to utilize the mobo's (ASUS P5N-D 750i SLI) automatic fan control or do I have to use the external fan speed control?
Trippy
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Reply #469 on: February 10, 2009, 10:28:07 AM

Ok.  Bought the Zalman CNPS9700 LED fan/heatsink.

Probably should have asked this before I bought it, but will it be able to utilize the mobo's (ASUS P5N-D 750i SLI) automatic fan control or do I have to use the external fan speed control?
The fan in the 9700 supports PWM control so it'll work with your motherboard fan controller.
SnakeCharmer
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Reply #470 on: February 10, 2009, 11:44:57 AM

Thanks, man.
SnakeCharmer
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Reply #471 on: February 11, 2009, 02:47:28 PM

Intardnet question...

I've got Comcast as my service provider, and my plan is the 8MB down / 2MB up.  I rarely break 1MB down, usually averages about 800kb/s.  Occasionally on the start of the initial download I'll hit 2MB down, but it lasts about 2 seconds.  Is there *any* reason I should use the 8MB over the 3MB service?  Is this a problem with Comcast throttling their own download speeds, or is it a problem with my neighborhood size (about 50 houses - unknown how many have broadband, but guessing all of them).  It doesn't matter what time of day, it just seems that my DL speeds are capped awfully low for the service I have.  It seems about the same speed as my old 3MB down service.
rattran
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Unreasonable


Reply #472 on: February 11, 2009, 03:18:15 PM

Speedtest will give you an idea of what you're getting. Comcast does different stuff in different places, where I am they're still borking torrents, but I get ~20M down 3M up most times (less between 5pm and 7pm) on a 12M/1.5M plan
Strazos
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Reply #473 on: February 11, 2009, 06:31:51 PM

I have a pretty basic plan, and the speedtest swears I should get 10m down. I don't think I've ever seen anything close to that, but I am willing to bet a big part of that is on the other end of my download.

Fear the Backstab!
"Plato said the virtuous man is at all times ready for a grammar snake attack." - we are lesion
"Hell is other people." -Sartre
Murgos
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Reply #474 on: February 12, 2009, 06:50:43 AM

Make sure that you are comparing apples to apples.

Sometimes your DL speed will be reported in bytes and sometimes in bits and it can be confusing to see which you are getting.

Also, as someone who actually works with the transmission of bits on a wire there is even more ambiguity there than you are aware of because it usually takes ~10 bits to encode 8 bits of information for transmission and there is other overhead as well (preamble, header, crc and other info you never see, etc...).

So, if you have a connection that is physically capable of moving 10 Mbps you cant really expect it to move a 10 Mb file in 1 second.  So what does a 10 Mbps dl speed really mean?

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
SnakeCharmer
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Reply #475 on: February 12, 2009, 07:19:08 AM

So what does a 10 Mbps dl speed really mean?

Hell if I know.  Was hoping you could tell me.
Yegolev
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WWW
Reply #476 on: February 12, 2009, 08:33:36 AM

10Mbps just means "this is faster than 5Mbps".

Why am I homeless?  Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question.
They called it The Prayer, its answer was law
Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
Lantyssa
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Reply #477 on: February 12, 2009, 08:49:26 AM

Sad, but true.

Rarely will you ever get the full capacity of your bandwidth due to intervening networks and overhead.  Mostly it means your chances of having a decent download speed are better.  With luck it might also mean better equipment is used so you tend to have a lower latency.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Nightshade
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Reply #478 on: February 16, 2009, 10:43:56 AM

I can't seem to find any backgrounds that are up to what I would deem to be decent for my MSN messenger wallpaper. Would anyone have links to a site?
Venkman
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Reply #479 on: February 16, 2009, 11:44:07 AM

So I like having a quasi-media server PC, but we don't use it nearly enough to justify having it on all the time. What's the best solution:

1) Have it go into Standby mode. Can I wake this up remotely? How? Be accessing a shortcut to the server volume or through my RealVNC connection?
2) Find a method to remote-boot it. Is this software based or hardware?

Thanks.
NiX
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Locomotive Pandamonium


Reply #480 on: February 16, 2009, 12:52:43 PM

Wake on LAN might work, but I'm not 100% sure how that works. If it works in that any device that tries to access the computer over the LAN "wakes" it up, then it should work for you.
Lantyssa
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Reply #481 on: February 16, 2009, 07:32:37 PM

What's a good video card diagnostic program?  Nvidia 8800 GT.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Engels
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Reply #482 on: February 16, 2009, 09:06:46 PM

I've never heard of one, to be honest. What is the symptom?

Edit: You could download and install nTune or Riva Tuner to check the temperature on the GPU, but I don't think they do much more in terms of troubleshooting. NTune has a 'stability test' that you can run as well, but I'm not sure it'll tell you what the problem is if it is a GPU problem. Riva Tuner also says it has a diagnotic ability, but I am not familiar with the program.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2009, 09:12:14 PM by Engels »

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
Lantyssa
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Reply #483 on: February 16, 2009, 09:56:17 PM

Usually graphics corruption followed shortly thereafter by a crash.  Typical "dammit my vid card is acting up" stuff, but I'd like a little more to go on than educated guesses and instinct.

Temp is my first concern.  I'll see what nTune tells me.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
NiX
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Locomotive Pandamonium


Reply #484 on: February 17, 2009, 05:23:54 AM

I know there are programs that check VRAM much in the way MemTest checks normal RAM. Can't quite recall any programs, Sorry Lanty!
Engels
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Reply #485 on: February 17, 2009, 07:20:20 AM

I was just thinking that I have that same vid card, the 8000 GT, and I had to switch out the cooling fan for an after-market one. The one I got was this Zalman. It dropped my GPU temp very significantly.

The issue was that the factory cooler had a solid plate of metal as the heating conductor for both the GPU and the ram chips, and just a small piddly fan for all of it. The temps were high, around 70C at idle, hitting 90C at the drop of a hat. With the Zalman, the temp dropped to ~50C at idle, top temp of 75C, well within safety thresholds.

Now GPU heatsink installation is kinda scary to perform, but I found that this particular model was not difficult. The one plus/minus with this particular heatsink is that the fan speed is manually regulated. This is great in terms of noise control, but you sorta have to remember to crank it up during strenuous game play. Its not that loud, but if sound is a factor its something to consider.

Of course, it may be too late for your card if you're already seeing artifacts, but if you don't wanna plonk down a few hundred for a new card, this might be a troubleshooting option.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2009, 07:22:27 AM by Engels »

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
Lantyssa
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Reply #486 on: February 17, 2009, 09:41:20 AM

My card has heatpipes, a giant heat sink, plus two fans which are running fine.  I do need to look it over more carefully, but I'm more worried about the failed nVidia board problems catching up with it than it needing a new cooling solution.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Murgos
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Reply #487 on: February 17, 2009, 10:37:36 AM

My card has heatpipes, a giant heat sink, plus two fans which are running fine.  I do need to look it over more carefully, but I'm more worried about the failed nVidia board problems catching up with it than it needing a new cooling solution.

I had a similar problem once and it turned out that the fans were clogged with dust.  You can't tell while they are running but if you look at them when they are off it's pretty apparent.

I just cleaned 'em out with a cotton swab and the card was fine after that.

"You have all recieved youre last warning. I am in the process of currently tracking all of youre ips and pinging your home adressess. you should not have commencemed a war with me" - Aaron Rayburn
Lantyssa
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Reply #488 on: February 17, 2009, 01:24:21 PM

The fans are the secondary cooling, so I'm not to concerned with how gunked up they are.

Here is my card.

Hahahaha!  I'm really good at this!
Engels
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inflicts shingles.


Reply #489 on: February 17, 2009, 02:05:14 PM

Ya, that heatsink is actually considered one of the best on the market for the 8800 GT. That said, if you have old and crusty thermal paste, not even the best heatsink in the world is gonna cool the GPU properly.

I should get back to nature, too.  You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer.  Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached.  Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe

I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa

Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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