The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

You can always use your firewall as well to stop some programs from accessing the internet but unfortunately some of the programs change their update name when they are blocked, if you are using name blocking.

Just because freeware software is free doesn't give them the right to do what they want, they shouldn't be any different and the same privacy laws, that aren't enforced, should apply.

Russ,
It is always nice to have a monitoring light or indicator for network/internet access, I too wish they still had that feature.

Stevo

 

Stevo,

The one I sent you works perfectly. I'm running Win 7 Pro. You can set it to start with the computer, so it's all automatic.

Russ

 

Russ,

I'll use it after Christmas, right now I'm way to busy working and making presents for Christmas but will download it and use it for sure.

Thanks Russ,
Stevo

 

Can someone help me. I want to build a new pc as an upgrade to my current set up. I'm using an intel D945 dual core @ 3.4ghz. I haven't built a pc for a few years now and want to know what cpu's are faster. I believe xeon is a better choice but is getting dated. I don't want to spend a huge amount either. Thanks

 

Define 'Huge' amount Just how much is too much?

People with money to spend generally favor intel. AMD tends to offer bang for buck.

 

Well having a look on ebay there is an Asus P8H61-M which covers i3/i5/i7 intel CPU's for about £40. Are they any good?

quote=omegaman7]Define 'Huge' amount Just how much is too much?

People with money to spend generally favor intel. AMD tends to offer bang for buck.[/quote]

 

Ketola offered a very good post. Thanks by the way! I like their CPU chart

A lot of people in this thread dislike, or rather don't trust Asus anymore. I'm a neutral party really. I've bought multiple Gigabyte boards and seem to be hooked to them LOL! But if there's a deal to be had, go for it. Provided it offers up everything you need of course. The motherboard and CPU are some of the most important factors to consider.

 

mfx2009

I think the most important thing to know is what do you want to do with your computer, and then price out the best quality you can afford, from what will work best for you. If you are thinking about a particular component, google it and see what others have to say about it. There are also places you don't go cheap on, like Power Supplies. $15 PSUs are not going to do it. Avoid them like the Plague!

You could also take a look at "Bare Bones" kits, and check out the components offered. You can do surprisingly well with the right combination of parts. A good place to start would be www.newegg.com there's a lot of information available there.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

My first build was a barebone. I miss that little computer I modified the heck out of that case I had it near silent, and cooling an overclocked Phenom 940 rather nicely. It originally had an MSI board. The onboard Nvidia chip ultimately failed though unfortunately. Pretty outdated tech though. Only 2 sata ports, and only supported as much as a 6000+ AMD dual core. Barebones can certainly do the job I definitely like my second build more though.

The real question is what you want to do with it. Living room PC? HTPC's are pretty sweet! I built one for my brother. His family uses and loves it constantly!
Workhorse? Encoding? Gaming? Important factors to consider. Myself I do a lot of video encoding. So multi core Cpu's are a must. I plan to eventually play a great deal with Premier pro. So a suitable GPU will likely be in my plans.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. I think i will use a gigabyte board and go for an i5 or i7. Thanks everyone. ill let you know how it goes.

 

Thanks for the tip on the power supply. I always have a stock sitting about but i'm selling 3 old PC's and 2 Old Laptops and starting afresh with the latest gear. Im already running Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate and Photoshop CS5 so i have the latest software but just need the hardware to back it up.

 

Ive had nothing but trouble from the latest Asus products, oddly enough there budget sister company ASrock out performs them on many levels including durability.

if your on a budget grab an ASrock board you wont regret it, if you can lay down 130+ bucks get a Gigabyte board.

 

Merry Christmas to the whole gang.

 

Has anyone ever heard of this, or know anything about it? I'm afraid that Amazon doesn't tell you very much about it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005I735XE/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk

Any feedback would be most appreciated.

Russ

 

It's a 2 disc CD set on USB for $111, not a good deal even if you like Lady Gaga, if you ask me.

You can buy it much cheaper here on CD's or MP3's if you are into it (her);

CD Universe

 

Mr-Movies,

I meant the Media itself. I already know what it contains1 LOL!! The discussion we are having on Amazon is someone posted that the CD will be replaced with an electronic USB device that replicates a CD, DVD or BluRay disc, using flash memory, in 2012. That's not going to happen. I know you can play a DVD on a Flash Drive, but Flash Drives are not designed for continuous use, and would wear out fairly fast if continuously used that way. What it will require is SSD Nand memory, and a controller to manage garbage control, bad sectors,RAISE, etc! There's no way that Sales for SSDs are suddenly going to take off, for at least another year, until after the 2012 National Election, so development will be slow until there's more money in the economy. I think it will be 5 years before CDs are replaced with a Media Stick, and longer for DVD and BluRay. That's my opinion, anyway. What do you think?

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Russ,

I would agree with that fully USB sticks are far from reliable, slow, and really should only be used for temporary use. A SSD is too expensive and also comes with it's issues, I don't see that changing for at least 5 years as well. My other concerns would be, are they going to use these new platforms to use newer nasty protections from use much like iTunes does where you can only use your music on a total of 5 devices (computers).

Another point to consider is how do you keep track of the very small flash drives that they make now. There really isn't much real-estate to label them unless they purposely make them larger. This will be a real negative for the marketing chaps who would like to have advertising room.

It's funny I got two new 8GB USB sticks from Micro Center here in town and I've only used one of them a half dozen times before having to throw the thing out as it has gone bad already. This is more a fault of Micro Center as the sell some really poor crap and I typically won't buy memory they have branded theirs. I do have other flash sticks that have lasted years with minimal problems.

They could use an EPROM style flash that was write once and than only read, I would think that could hold up for many years but again will it perform well enough for music. If it was read only it could avoid the problems a normal flash drive experiences.

Well that's my two centavo's,
Stevo

 

Stevo,

I Don't think that it will be like a memory stick at all. Not enough space inside to put all the electronics needed in addition to what I mentioned was needed before. You would need all this stuff for reliability of the device. It will probably be square and come in a mini jewel case. This way you can read the album name on the end cap, and stack them pretty easily. Just a guess there on my part though! Here's a list of what would be needed in addition to some already mentioned.

TRIM support (O/S dependent)

DuraWrite extends the endurance of SSDs

Intelligent Block Management and Wear Leveling

Intelligent Read Disturb Management

Intelligent "Recycling" for advance free space management (Garbage Collection)

RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements)

Intelligent Data Retention optimization

Thermal Threshold Management

Native Command Queuing (NCQ) - Up to 32 commands

ECC Recovery: Up to 55 bits correctable per 512-byte sector (BCH)

BTW! You can't copy it to the HDD because of the unique individual Digital identifier in each album. You can play it on any usb media player, but you can't download it. The chances of beating the copy protection are slim to none! Like I said, the Movie and Record companies want them for the almost foolproof copy protection, meaning no more torrents from DVD, or BluRay, only CAMs from a monitor and indirect sound for CDs. I see at least 5 years before this can happen, probably even longer, given all the hardware needed, and the current economy. For DVD and BluRay, at least an additional 2 years, probably more. They could even build the controller into the device or computer that plays them.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Russ,

You wouldn't need the wear leveling or any of the write management as it would be read only so you would avoid all of those issues. Also read only would provide a much longer longevity as well. So I would disagree with all of the over head.

I think you are right that they would create a new form factor though and that is fine or good with exception to all of the security nonsense. But even if they use some form of new security hopefully someone will leak the keys and/or come up with a way to provide us with free usage and protection for the end user.

I won't buy music that I can't make my own play lists and compilations for, and I think most people feel that way that are really into music. Sure those iTune people will sign up for it but I think the music industry will shoot themselves in the foot, which they have prided themselves in doing as of late and then blame the pirates out there for their lack of reasonable pricing and product usage.

Regards,
Stevo