The "Quick Questions That Don't Deserve A Thread"...Thread. v5 - Hardware & Software

I have a 1TB SSD in my laptop, previously had a 5400 RPM HDD in it. I can tell you that the performance increase in daily things like downloading/moving files, opening resource heavy programs (like 3DS MAx and Photosop), and startup times (especially when you factor in how long Windows can take to update on an HDD), everything feels practically instantaneous.

[QUOTE=Toro;49255229]As a person whos never used an SSD, Is getting a 500gb SSD for stuff like my OS and software (chrome, steam, rainmeter, visual studio, etc) worth it for the price? How comparable is a 7200rpm hdd to one?[/QUOTE] It's definitely worth it. No HDD can compare to an SSD for software speed. If you're on a desktop, or a laptop with multiple drive bays, it might be cheaper to get a small SSD and a separate hard drive. That's the setup I've been using - a 120 or 180GB SSD, and a 1-2TB HDD for games and documents. Not too many games really benefit from an SSD, since engines usually have a bunch of optimizations to run off an optical disk, which makes them fast even on a HDD. But I made those builds a few years ago, when SSDs were about $1/GB, and now they're down to $0.25/GB, so it might be cheaper to just get a big SSD for everything.

Looking to get a Raspberry Pi 2, specifically to transform into a general media box. I'm gonna run Netflix and other steaming services off it as well as use RetroPi to emulate stuff, namely PS1 classics. [img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7333627/ShareX/2015-12/05T21-03-25.png[/img] [url]www.amazon.com/Samsung-Class-Adapter-MB-MP16DA-AM/dp/B00IVPU7KE[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Supply-Adapter-Charger/dp/B00MARDJZ4[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/Premium-Clear-Case-Raspberry-Model/dp/B00MQLB1N6[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-Model-Project-Board/dp/B00T2U7R7I[/url] I already have WiFi covered with a bunch of WiFi dongles floating around my house. I also have input method covered. The question is, for $67, is there any device on the market that can do what I'm attempting to do better? Needs WiFi capability, at least 2 USB ports for controllers, and at least 32 GB of storage. Netflix, Amazon Prime, PS1 and earlier emulation needed.

[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;49255515]Looking to get a Raspberry Pi 2, specifically to transform into a general media box. I'm gonna run Netflix and other steaming services off it as well as use RetroPi to emulate stuff, namely PS1 classics. [img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7333627/ShareX/2015-12/05T21-03-25.png[/img] [url]www.amazon.com/Samsung-Class-Adapter-MB-MP16DA-AM/dp/B00IVPU7KE[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Supply-Adapter-Charger/dp/B00MARDJZ4[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/Premium-Clear-Case-Raspberry-Model/dp/B00MQLB1N6[/url] [url]www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-Model-Project-Board/dp/B00T2U7R7I[/url] I already have WiFi covered with a bunch of WiFi dongles floating around my house. I also have input method covered. The question is, for $67, is there any device on the market that can do what I'm attempting to do better? Needs WiFi capability, at least 2 USB ports for controllers, and at least 32 GB of storage. Netflix, Amazon Prime, PS1 and earlier emulation needed.[/QUOTE] I don't think the raspberry pi can do netflix(please correct me if someone got it working.)

Okay I thought it could do Netflix but I did more research and it came with a huge asterisk: It requires a host machine and proprietary software to stream to your Pi. This is not Ideal.

[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;49255877]Okay I thought it could do Netflix but I did more research and it came with a huge asterisk: It requires a host machine and proprietary software to stream to your Pi. This is not Ideal.[/QUOTE] You might want to look into Android TV or Amazon Fire TV, they'll do streaming services but I don't know if you can use a USB controller.

[QUOTE=Toro;49255229]As a person whos never used an SSD, Is getting a 500gb SSD for stuff like my OS and software (chrome, steam, rainmeter, visual studio, etc) worth it for the price? How comparable is a 7200rpm hdd to one?[/QUOTE] uh, it's fuckin insane quick.

[QUOTE=IpHa;49255891]You might want to look into Android TV or Amazon Fire TV, they'll do streaming services but I don't know if you can use a USB controller.[/QUOTE] The streaming services are honestly secondary. I primarily want an emulation box that can handle a range of USB Controllers, furthermore PS3 controllers (which I've confirmed the Pi can handle). The Pi still appears to be the best device under $75 that can do this. If I can get Netflix that's great but it's not a dealbreaker for me.

i have two pcs, a ps4 and a macbook in my room and i wanted to get a new speaker system are there any solutions that let me easily switch between these devices without moving a huge cable around the room? or maybe a mixer that I can use for all of the inputs at once? what do i get?

I have a 240GB SSD with Windows installed, would I if I bought another SSD be able to dual boot with them? Windows installed on one SSD and Linux on another?

I am not sure if i'm in the right section. How do i load my original Xbox Disks on my PC? Do i need to convert them into ISO files? If so how? I want them for a game emulator i downloaded and i've got the games its just don't have a working xbox anymore.

Working Xbox emulators don't exist. You either downloaded something that can barely play commercial games at all, or malware.

Barely is better than nothing and nothing is my current situation.

[QUOTE=ElderRanger;49259073]Barely is better than nothing and nothing is my current situation.[/QUOTE] 'Barely' means Halo 1 only and not even that is stable.

[QUOTE=ElderRanger;49259073]Barely is better than nothing and nothing is my current situation.[/QUOTE] If you want to play original Xbox games, your best off getting the actual thing. They are stupid easy to softmod, especially if you have an old PC with IDE, you don't even need special games or hardware. At least stateside, they are pretty cheap and easy to find. Not sure about AUS.

Hell I still have one tucked away in a metal case with at least more than 2 controllers, lost all my games for it though. it the only console i didn't trade in or sell and I wished I kept my other such as my gamecube and n64, still have a snes but loaned that to my half siblings, probably gonna grab that back.

Akitio Thunder2 + 960 setup for my 2015 Macbook Pro Retina with a 2.5 i7 or just a new PC build? I enjoy mobility. Don't have much room, and I would prefer to keep costs as low as possible.

This Christmas I want an upgrade to skylake I currently have an i5 4460, GTX 970, and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM I'd need to get a new motherboard (which I desperately need), new RAM, and of course my new processor Which one should I get that balances the cost best with performance? i3, i5, or i7? I don't plan on overclocking anytime soon, so I won't be getting a k. Thanks!

[QUOTE=mcgrath618;49264600]This Christmas I want an upgrade to skylake I currently have an i5 4460, GTX 970, and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM I'd need to get a new motherboard (which I desperately need), new RAM, and of course my new processor Which one should I get that balances the cost best with performance? i3, i5, or i7? I don't plan on overclocking anytime soon, so I won't be getting a k. Thanks![/QUOTE] An i5 is usually the best tradeoff of price/performance. A 6600 sounds like it will do the trick.

[QUOTE=gman003-main;49264703]An i5 is usually the best tradeoff of price/performance. A 6600 sounds like it will do the trick.[/QUOTE] The i3 6100 has 3.7 GHz, compared to the i5's 3.2 GHz... I'm kinda fuzzy on how GHz work and all but it seems like more is better [editline]7th December 2015[/editline] Just realized that the i3 is 2 core whereas the i5 is quad core... I'll get an i5 6600 then

[QUOTE=mcgrath618;49264988]The i3 6100 has 3.7 GHz, compared to the i5's 3.2 GHz... I'm kinda fuzzy on how GHz work and all but it seems like more is better [editline]7th December 2015[/editline] Just realized that the i3 is 2 core whereas the i5 is quad core... I'll get an i5 6600 then[/QUOTE] The i5 also has Turbo Boost. So a 6600 can run four threads at 3.6GHz, three threads at 3.7GHz, two threads at 3.8GHz or a single thread at 3.9GHz. The i3 series, in addition to having only two cores, also lacks Turbo Boost, so that base clock speed it all you ever get.

[QUOTE=gman003-main;49265228]The i5 also has Turbo Boost. So a 6600 can run four threads at 3.6GHz, three threads at 3.7GHz, two threads at 3.8GHz or a single thread at 3.9GHz. The i3 series, in addition to having only two cores, also lacks Turbo Boost, so that base clock speed it all you ever get.[/QUOTE] Is turbo boost meaningless like "blast processing" or is it actually a thing

Is anyone experiencing memory leaks on Firefox? I'm using the latest version, but I notice that with roughly 10 tabs Firefox is using over 800MB of my 8GB RAM. The RAM usage moves up and down frequently, but for the most part it just keeps increasing.

[QUOTE=mcgrath618;49265763]Is turbo boost meaningless like "blast processing" or is it actually a thing[/QUOTE] It's an actual thing. Basically, as long as the CPU is within limits on temperature and power consumption, it will automatically overclock itself. This mainly happens when you have one or two cores running heavily, and the others sitting idle - the idle cores aren't consuming much power or producing much heat, so the working cores can use proportionally more power. So you get good single-thread performance (for all the games and software with limited multithreading), as well as good multi-thread performance (for whatever games and software can use it). It's sort of the opposite of SpeedStep, which is for scaling performance and power consumption downward. On laptops, or desktops if you turn the feature on, if you're not running heavy programs, it can underclock or even turn off some cores, to save power and extend battery life. AMD has similar tech, which they call Turbo Core (automatic overclocking) or PowerNow (automatic underclocking). And the fully generic term is "dynamic frequency scaling" but nobody says that.

So I installed an AMD 6350 FX, a V8 GTS cooler, and 16GB DDr3 1866 RAM. My computer was fine last night, booted without issue. I went to boot it this morning and it says "bootmgr is missing, press CTRLALTDEL to restart". My understanding is that something horrible happened to the Windows installation; how fucked am I? It boots into the BIOS no problem and detects both my hard drives without issue. Am I fucked?

[QUOTE=Satane;49266132]Your HDD boot order probably changed. Bios usually resets when changing cpus.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the quick reply, mate. It was booting A-OK last night with all the parts installed, it would hang up some times and not boot into the BIOS and just sit there. Fans on, everything running, weirdly. What troubleshooting steps should I take? It detects the correct hard drive on boot, but still claims bootmgr is missing. I've already attempted changing the boot order to no avail; it was booting to the correct hard drive as is but refused to find a bootmgr. Think I just need startup repair?

have you checked your legacy / uefi boot setting and ide / ahci settings alternately if your windows installation [I]is[/I] actually screwed but still on the hard drive for some reason (check on another computer) you can probably try something like[URL="http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/"] boot-repair-disk[/URL]

I don't know what legacy, UEFI, idle/AHCI settings are, I'm just now delving into more nitty-gritty PC related stuff. I can tell you it's running stock settings. I'll report back after I try repair disk.

i mean there should be a setting called "legacy boot" / "uefi boot" in the bios which you could try flipping because having the wrong setting can cause that error same with ide / ahci

So I recently changed my old GPU out for a new one (HD 7950 to a R9 390 if that matters), and after I put it in I've started getting some weird artifacts during startup. It only appears during what would be the graphics for the motherboard, but not anything else. [URL="http://i.imgur.com/emJnmwM.jpg"]Here's what is looks like[/URL] Anyone know what might be wrong? Is there a problem with the GPU most likely? I haven't had time, and wont really have time to test what might be the issue until after the 17th. So that's why I'm asking in case something is dying etc. so I can change it before anything goes bad. The monitor is also new, if that matters. Thanks in advance