The "Quick Questions that does not Deserve a Thread"...Thread. V3 - Hardware & Software

[QUOTE=Sgt Pringles;37805348]What's the cheapest motherboard I can get for use with a IvyBridge CPU? Specifically: [url]http://www.ebuyer.com/393559-intel-core-i5-3350p-3-10ghz-skt1155-6mb-cache-boxed-bx80637153350p[/url] Or does it have to be one of the newer Z77 motherboards?[/QUOTE] It does not have to be Z77, although if you don't get that you'll miss out on a lot of benefits. Socket 1155 boards with an older chipset can support Ivy Bridge [i]if[/i] their BIOS recognizes it. So it varies depending on the exact board. You'll have to look at manufacturer compatibility lists if you're shopping around. Your best bet for cheapest is probably the AsRock H61M-DGS. It supports the i5-3350P as of the latest P1.40 BIOS update (which you'll have to manually flash). It's [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315"]$45 on Newegg.com.[/URL] And AsRock is a pretty reliable brand compared to other budget brands like Biostar (ugh).

[QUOTE=mooman1080;37804728]Suggestions for a good free video editor? Or is there no such thing?[/QUOTE] Virtual Dub isn't terrible. Just don't expect fully featured tools.

I know facepunch doesn't like Apple users and stuff. I'm kinda asking the people who have macbooks. I really want to get a Macbook. Preferably the higher-end expensive ones. I was looking at the 13 inch pro with retina display and the specs were alright, but the 2000 or so dollars I think is kinda dumb. But I will be saving up for a long time. The reason I want to do this is because I've used Windows for a long time, but I wanna try something new. So does anyone think it would be worth it?

[QUOTE=ExTek;37808633]I know facepunch doesn't like Apple users and stuff. I'm kinda asking the people who have macbooks. I really want to get a Macbook. Preferably the higher-end expensive ones. I was looking at the 13 inch pro with retina display and the specs were alright, but the 2000 or so dollars I think is kinda dumb. But I will be saving up for a long time. The reason I want to do this is because I've used Windows for a long time, but I wanna try something new. So does anyone think it would be worth it?[/QUOTE] No one can answer this for you. How about you try one some time?

[QUOTE=ExTek;37808633]I the 13 inch pro with retina display[/QUOTE] Doesn't exist.

[QUOTE=mobrockers2;37808660]No one can answer this for you. How about you try one some time?[/QUOTE] Alright. Thanks anyways! And yeah, I could have sworn the site said 13, but I meant the 15 inch.

[QUOTE=ExTek;37808633]I know facepunch doesn't like Apple users and stuff. I'm kinda asking the people who have macbooks. I really want to get a Macbook. Preferably the higher-end expensive ones. I was looking at the 13 inch pro with retina display and the specs were alright, but the 2000 or so dollars I think is kinda dumb. But I will be saving up for a long time. The reason I want to do this is because I've used Windows for a long time, but I wanna try something new. So does anyone think it would be worth it?[/QUOTE] You should try hackintoshing before wasting 2500 dollars on something. Hardware wise macs have nothing of note beyond the retina display. If you don't like the OS, you can find out at the expense of a few hours of your time. If it's the aesthetics you want, I don't know what to tell you. I hate aluminum bodies because they get dents in them. I'd much rather have a black Lenovo, or even one of the business dells. I also think clean dark blue jeans or khaki slacks and plaid shirt tucked in are appropriate work attire, so take that with a grain of salt.

Should i get another hard drive or stick with getting the WD Caviar Black 1TB? Because most of the reviews are about it failing multiple times after multiple RMAs.

Caviar black's are fine, the pros outweight the cons and everyone has their bad drives. Just go look at a seagate, you'll get more negatives than a WD. [editline]26th September 2012[/editline] Just try not to put anything really important on it for a couple months and do HDD tests to make sure its health is fine.

[QUOTE=Silverspar;37810735]Should i get another hard drive or stick with getting the WD Caviar Black 1TB? Because most of the reviews are about it failing multiple times after multiple RMAs.[/QUOTE] Which model specifically? There were some blacks that shipped after being incorrectly labeled as blues, though I think that was only the 500 GB ones. There are also 32 and 64 MB cache ones. The 32s are no longer in production I believe.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;37809027]You should try hackintoshing before wasting 2500 dollars on something. Hardware wise macs have nothing of note beyond the retina display. If you don't like the OS, you can find out at the expense of a few hours of your time. If it's the aesthetics you want, I don't know what to tell you. I hate aluminum bodies because they get dents in them. I'd much rather have a black Lenovo, or even one of the business dells. I also think clean dark blue jeans or khaki slacks and plaid shirt tucked in are appropriate work attire, so take that with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE] Well I am still deciding. I have played with the OS before on a friend's laptop, and it was alright. And I know you can also put windows on it, if I don't like it. Well, right now I have a pretty decent build for a desktop. I wanted to use the laptop for college for papers, and I wanted to do a little bit of photoshop on the side, and maybe some music recording because I do that as well. The aesthetics I don't care much for. It feels pretty nice, but then again, I haven't had a laptop newer than a dell latitude 2003 model.

Well the thing is that you can get a 1000 dollar Lenevo with a 3 year warranty that will be comparable, or outright better than, a 1500 dollar mac. That gap only gets bigger as the price increases, and Thinkpads are considered moderately expensive to begin with. Don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of money to work with possibilities, and I greatly prefer having basic functionality like SD card readers, PCI expansion slots, and a three button mouse with actual buttons over a glossy body that has no rollcage type tech and questionable hinge quality. I'm sure people that frequent the hackintosh thread would know more about it than I do, but it's quite popular on laptops. Ask around for suitable models.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;37811305]Which model specifically? There were some blacks that shipped after being incorrectly labeled as blues, though I think that was only the 500 GB ones. There are also 32 and 64 MB cache ones. The 32s are no longer in production I believe.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533[/url] This one. There's alot of recent reviews about it failing and customers having to RMA it sometimes up to 6-8 times.

Interesting. Might be a bad batch or two. You could also get a 500 GB. They are 70 dollars for today only. [quote]Pros: IT IS FAST, SOLID AND QUIET Cons: IT IS ONLY 931G, ANOTHER HUGE CHUNK OF MEMORY FRAUD. I COULD SEE IF IT WAS UP TO 20G OFF. BUT 69, REALLY COMPANY. YOU SUCK[/quote] There are some retarded people on this planet.

Well [I]fuck[/I], the [URL="http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121623"]7850[/URL] i was planning on getting is now out of stock and my paypal just received the money a few hours ago. I guess i'll go for [URL="http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102998"]this Sapphire[/URL] since it's only $10 more than the asus one was. e: Ordered, assuming it will get here early next week.

What kind of laptop DDR3 4GB sticks are the best deal in regards to speed vs price? I'm expecting to pay about $140+/- 30 here. It's going into a 15 inch 2011 MacBook Pro. (the one with the GeForce 330M)

[QUOTE=01271;37816272]What kind of laptop DDR3 4GB sticks are the best deal in regards to speed vs price? I'm expecting to pay about $140+/- 30 here. It's going into a 15 inch 2011 MacBook Pro. (the one with the GeForce 330M)[/QUOTE] Well, your CPU (Core i5 540M, correct?) can't handle anything beyond [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/43544/Intel-Core-i5-540M-Processor-%283M-Cache-2_53-GHz%29]DDR3-1066[/url], so you're rather limited in speed. Best you can do is aim for the lowest latency (the CAS numbers - 7-7-7-20 seems to be the standard, but see if you can find DDR3-1066 that's lower).

[QUOTE=gman003-main;37816353]Well, your CPU (Core i5 540M, correct?) can't handle anything beyond [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/43544/Intel-Core-i5-540M-Processor-%283M-Cache-2_53-GHz%29]DDR3-1066[/url], so you're rather limited in speed. Best you can do is aim for the lowest latency (the CAS numbers - 7-7-7-20 seems to be the standard, but see if you can find DDR3-1066 that's lower).[/QUOTE] I bought some ram for my i5 540M laptop the other day. Some 2x4gb 1333 sticks and they get downclocked to 1066. Cost about 40$

Is there a big difference in SSD's? Would this one be good for the price? Seriously considering it [url]http://www.dabs.ie/products/sandisk-128gb-ssd-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-870X.html?src=2[/url]

[QUOTE=Over-Run;37817476]Is there a big difference in SSD's? Would this one be good for the price? Seriously considering it [url]http://www.dabs.ie/products/sandisk-128gb-ssd-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-870X.html?src=2[/url][/QUOTE] [quote] Sequential Read (up to): 490 MB/s Sequential Write (up to): 350 MB/s Random Read (up to): 8000 IOPS Random Write (up to): 2100 IOPS [/quote] compare to an intell 120 GB cherryville. [quote]Max Sequential Read Up to 550 MB/s (SATAIII) Up to 280 MB/s (SATAII) Max Sequential Write Up to 500 MB/s (SATAIII) Up to 260 MB/s (SATAII) 4KB Random Read Up to 25,000 IOPS 4KB Random Write Up to 40,000 IOPS[/quote] Those 4k read/write operations/second are absolutely awful. Get a samsung 830, crucial M4, or Intel cherryville instead. SSDs are all about the random read and write.

Theres no point of me waiting for haswell is there? All I do is play games and if I do get into any 3D shit ivy bridge is already good enough. I mean, will an ivy bridge last me a good 4 years before I have to upgrade or should I really just wait for haswell?

[QUOTE=Zerokateo;37819645]Theres no point of me waiting for haswell is there? All I do is play games and if I do get into any 3D shit ivy bridge is already good enough. I mean, will an ivy bridge last me a good 4 years before I have to upgrade or should I really just wait for haswell?[/QUOTE] My general rule: never wait more than 1 month for new hardware to come out. Haswell is basically a year away. Don't wait a year to upgrade, or get a new one. Just get whatever best suits your needs when you need it. Sure, if Haswell were coming out tomorrow, I'd say to wait, but not a year.

Alright cool, I'll only be using my PC for about 2 - 3 years anyway since I'm joining the marines when I'm 18 or 19 so I guess there really wouldn't be any point of waiting for haswell.

I really want a hard mousepad, what are some good hard pads?

[QUOTE=Zerokateo;37823170]I really want a hard mousepad, what are some good hard pads?[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826995046[/url]

Ever since I uninstalled Microsoft Office, my login time has gone from a brief second of "welcome" to like 40-50 seconds. Whats the deal?

Hey guys, quick question. I'm looking for a good SSD around the 240GB size. I have no experience with SSDs as I built my computer a few years ago, and all I've done since is pop in a GTX 560 Ti a while back, and then upgraded to an i7-3770. My computer's been a little wonky and slow lately, so I'm planning to do a fresh install of windows, and I'd like an SSD for fast-booting, and preferably some gaming as well, which is why I'm looking for 240GB+ over 120GB (My Steam Folder is at 400GB atm. I'll be keeping it a bit trimmed down once I get an SSD though). Any advice would be appreciated. I'm canadian, and some good deals are around on NCIX it seems [url]http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=67678&vpn=SSDSC2CW240A310&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1210[/url] [url]http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=59355&vpn=VTX3-25SAT3-240G&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology&promoid=1210[/url] [url]http://ncix.com/products/?sku=71916&vpn=AGT4-25SAT3-256G&manufacture=Others&promoid=1210[/url]

So, I'm looking for a suitable SSD replacement to the 5400rpm 2.5in hard drive in my HP Envy Sleekbook 6. I've already had a look inside and it's pretty cramped, but I'm sure there are slim enough SSDs out there to fit. The reason I want an SSD is due to durability; I can just see me bumping this laptop around just the right way and losing whatever's on it to a drive failure, even though HP utilized something they call "SmartProtect" which I'm leery of. As such, I'm not all too concerned about speed. This laptop is mainly for Photoshop and Illustrator work, so storage capacity isn't really a concern. I'd [I]prefer[/I] something over 60gb, but that's just if it can be worked into my $80 budget. Can anyone here recommend a product or a brand?

Can I hook up a DVD recorder to my TV to record PC gameplay?

[QUOTE=gman003-main;37816353]Well, your CPU (Core i5 540M, correct?) can't handle anything beyond [url=http://ark.intel.com/products/43544/Intel-Core-i5-540M-Processor-%283M-Cache-2_53-GHz%29]DDR3-1066[/url], so you're rather limited in speed. Best you can do is aim for the lowest latency (the CAS numbers - 7-7-7-20 seems to be the standard, but see if you can find DDR3-1066 that's lower).[/QUOTE] Just checked my specs again and surprise! I forgot that I'm on an i7. I'll dump the list of the specs I feel are relevant now: The MacBookPro6,2 -Intel Core i7 @ 2,66 GHz -Still the Nvidia Geforce GT 330M -Currently have two sticks of 2GB DDR3 @ 1067 MHz And then I did a lookup and found it here. [url]http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.66-aluminum-15-mid-2010-unibody-specs.html[/url] Then I looked up the processor on intel's site [url]http://ark.intel.com/products/43560/Intel-Core-i7-620M-Processor-4M-Cache-2_66-GHz[/url] Then I noticed that it didn't make a difference and I'm still looking for DDR3 1066 :V Then now I've found some at a nice price that'd normally be $20 under what I thought I'd be paying but is on sale for 40$ less. (even though competing memory are all in this exact price range +/- $2 [url]http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Technology-Notebook-KTA-MB1066K2-8G/dp/B001PS9UKW[/url] So yeah, gonna go with this one if I don't find better in the next day. All of this info also makes me somewhat sad and feeling outdated, dang. And now I've realized that I progressively answered all my questions as I wrote this post so here's a useless edit.