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

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47307847]nope that's exactly what it is and it is exactly what it's saved as as a .edb edb = extensable database[/QUOTE] My teacher insists that it isn't a database. :( Even after I told him that it is in fact saved as database. Do you know any sources that explain what exactly it does and is? That isn't Wikipedia.

Got a minor problem here. I recently built a new comp for my dad and put a Pentium G3258 in it. I will eventually OC it, but right now the idle temp with the stock cooler is 52C in bios. Is that normal? I put Arctic MX-4 on it in anticipation for when I oc it, and I put enough on it, but why is that idle(if it truly is idle in bios) temp so high?

[QUOTE=zombini;47311753]Got a minor problem here. I recently built a new comp for my dad and put a Pentium G3258 in it. I will eventually OC it, but right now the idle temp with the stock cooler is 52C in bios. Is that normal? I put Arctic MX-4 on it in anticipation for when I oc it, and I put enough on it, but why is that idle(if it truly is idle in bios) temp so high?[/QUOTE] BIOS temps are not good measures of idle temps. I definitely run a notable amount higher in bios than in OS.

So, the router and modem came in today. And here's what's wrong. The router is perfect, it's a TP-Link and the 5ghz feature is fantastic. The modem though, I didn't realize that DOCSIS won't work with my DSL. I'm not very great at networking, but I'm trying. Can someone recommend me a very fast modem with DSL that has no built-in router? It's very hard for me to find.

When I was way younger, some made a PC for me and in the build they included a 5.1 surround sound system... the old logitech X540: [thumb]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91ubzrQHhIS._SL1500_.jpg[/thumb] I have it lying around but I can't really use it anymore with my computer because it's a laptop and I move around a tonne. I wanted to hook it up to my TV, but I'm not sure what kind of cheap media centre I should get to accept the separate inputs from it since it's definitely not going to plug right into my TV. On an unrelated and not too critical note, is there a good way to cross the room for the rear speakers? Don't really wanna have a wire running down the floor and I can't route it inside the floor or walls because it's an apartment I'm renting

[QUOTE=Elspin;47312159]On an unrelated and not too critical note, is there a good way to cross the room for the rear speakers? Don't really wanna have a wire running down the floor and I can't route it inside the floor or walls because it's an apartment I'm renting[/QUOTE] Try sticking the wires to the wall/ceiling with blu tack. Just take care not to tug them.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/gwEM9HW.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/7hqGld9.jpg[/img] fonts keep getting cutting off in chrome (lady gaga's G, the Y, etc), does anyone have a fix for this?

[QUOTE=zombini;47312532]Try sticking the wires to the wall/ceiling with blu tack. Just take care not to tug them.[/QUOTE] Sorry, meant about the cable management. As in having a cable lying across my floor to cross from my TV to behind my couch, not how to mount the speaker itself

So I'm thinking about getting a 970 and I've found [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#X=14326,36250&c=186&sort=a8&D=2,4&xcx=0]15[/url] different cards. Any one in particular I should be looking at? I don't know the major differences between all of these, I'm assuming it's mostly down to just the brand's quality.

[QUOTE=Shock_Coil;47312901]So I'm thinking about getting a 970 and I've found [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#X=14326,36250&c=186&sort=a8&D=2,4&xcx=0]15[/url] different cards. Any one in particular I should be looking at? I don't know the major differences between all of these, I'm assuming it's mostly down to just the brand's quality.[/QUOTE] The MSI Twin Frozr V is widely considered to be the best.

my friend is having issues with running certain games on steam - namely, tf2 and payday 2 - and we can't figure out how to fix it here's what he says is happening: [QUOTE]When launching a game from either steam or my desktop the game will launch and I will be shown a black screen before being returned to my desktop where all I can see is the games icon in the task bar and hear the games main menu music. The game launches and runs but I cannot see it or interface with it.[/QUOTE] (he lost his facepunch password which is why i'm posting it here)

[QUOTE=Elspin;47312846]Sorry, meant about the cable management. As in having a cable lying across my floor to cross from my TV to behind my couch, not how to mount the speaker itself[/QUOTE] That's what i meant. Tack the wires up on the wall to avoid having that cable on the floor in the first place.

Would anybody be up for a general overclocking thread?

My motherboards temp was 117C according to some softwares(speecy,hwmonitor,hwinfo64 etc). In ai suite it was 30C. So I immediately shutdown computer ad then look to bios it was 30C too. So I thought it probably softwares fault but is it possible to work on that temp value without taking serious damage for motherboard ? Also I open the case while its running to see if there is heat in it. But there wasnt. It should even melted right ? :D

[QUOTE=Aleksey17;47314416]My motherboards temp was 117C according to some softwares(speecy,hwmonitor,hwinfo64 etc). In ai suite it was 30C. So I immediately shutdown computer ad then look to bios it was 30C too. So I thought it probably softwares fault but is it possible to work on that temp value without taking serious damage for motherboard ? Also I open the case while its running to see if there is heat in it. But there wasnt. It should even melted right ? :D[/QUOTE] It's probably a faulty sensor or a software issue. HWMonitor and Speccy constantly report my CPU at ~100C when idle even though my laptop is relatively cool. The only program that ever got it right was CoreTemp, and the latest version doesn't display the temperatures properly anymore. The guy who works on it said he was going to introduce and upload a fix as quickly as possible. That was almost two years ago.

I am looking to buy a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD but I am unsure how to migrate Windows to the new drive. Right now, I have a 1TB HDD with about ~800gigs used, but I am only interested in moving Windows to the new drive for now. Should I just install the SSD and then install Windows on it, and delete the old Windows on the HDD or what? Also, I only have the upgrade disc version of Windows 7. Will this cause any problems? Thanks in advance!

Made a [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1384168]thread about it[/url] a while ago but tigerdirect is liquidating so I'm looking to pick up a new CPU. Two quick questions: 1) How can I tell if a CPU has enough processing speed for my graphics card? According to dxdiag I'm currently using: [url]http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-520/specifications[/url] 2) Do all CPUs fit all motherboards? My computer has some pretty outdated parts, I don't want to buy a new part just to find out the connections are all wrong and I end up needing adaptors or completely new parts.

[QUOTE=polarbear.;47316912]Made a [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1384168]thread about it[/url] a while ago but tigerdirect is liquidating so I'm looking to pick up a new CPU. Two quick questions: 1) How can I tell if a CPU has enough processing speed for my graphics card? According to dxdiag I'm currently using: [url]http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-520/specifications[/url] 2) Do all CPUs fit all motherboards? My computer has some pretty outdated parts, I don't want to buy a new part just to find out the connections are all wrong and I end up needing adaptors or completely new parts.[/QUOTE] There are many different CPU sockets, and most are not swappable. What is your current CPU or motherboard? Something like Speccy should be able to tell you.

[QUOTE=polarbear.;47316912]Made a [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1384168]thread about it[/url] a while ago but tigerdirect is liquidating so I'm looking to pick up a new CPU. Two quick questions: 1) How can I tell if a CPU has enough processing speed for my graphics card? According to dxdiag I'm currently using: [url]http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-520/specifications[/url] 2) Do all CPUs fit all motherboards? My computer has some pretty outdated parts, I don't want to buy a new part just to find out the connections are all wrong and I end up needing adaptors or completely new parts.[/QUOTE] 1) This is a really complex subject, there's no single number that you can compare to see if your CPU is fast enough. However, it's also not a matter of "it works or it doesn't", it's "if your CPU isn't fast enough to keep up, your GPU will be unable to run at full speed". And it works vice-versa - if your GPU isn't fast enough, your CPU won't be able to run at full speed. There is always some component in your system keeping other things from performing at full. You can't avoid having one part be the bottleneck - you simply need to be aware of which part is the bottleneck, so that when you upgrade, you upgrade the part that actually matters instead of buying a shiny new graphics card that can run any faster than your existing part. Oh, and to make things even more complex, it also depends on what software you're running. Assuming it's games, different games will have a different balance of load between the CPU and GPU. As for your GPU, a GeForce 520 is crap. Any CPU made in the past decade will be fast enough for it. 2) Not all CPUs fit all motherboards. The thing to look at is called the socket. You cannot use adapters - you must have a motherboard with the right socket for your CPU. Intel CPUs change sockets pretty much every other year. 2013-2014 CPUs used LGA 1150. 2011-2012 CPUs used LGA 1155. Before that was LGA 1156. Sometime later this year will be CPUs that use LGA 1151. And there's a second line of ultra-expensive CPUs that use LGA 2011-3. None of these are intercompatible. AMD CPUs change somewhat less frequently. There's Socket AM3+, for high-end CPUs. There's Socket FM2+, for their combined CPU/GPU chips in the midrange (since 2012 - before that it was FM1). There's Socket AM1 for their ultra-cheap chips. What CPU/motherboard do you currently use? If you're far enough out of date, it will probably be cheaper to buy both new instead of hunting down a compatible, obsolete CPU.

Is it worth the extra £40 to get the R9 290 (£230) over the R9 280X (£190). Bare in mind I just want to run all modern games at 1920x1080 60+fps

[QUOTE=gman003-main;47317011] What CPU/motherboard do you currently use? If you're far enough out of date, it will probably be cheaper to buy both new instead of hunting down a compatible, obsolete CPU.[/QUOTE] Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz, 2200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s) System Model: G41M-ES2L Not sure if that's the motherboard, according to google it should be

[QUOTE=polarbear.;47317160]Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz, 2200 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s) System Model: G41M-ES2L Not sure if that's the motherboard, according to google it is.[/QUOTE] Okay, the E2200 is a very old CPU, on the LGA 775 socket. If you need to upgrade your CPU, but don't want to get a new motherboard, you can still do so, but you'll be buying second-hand. The best you're likely to get is a Core 2 Quad Q9650. They seem to run about $100 on eBay right now, but you can probably find them cheaper if you look hard enough. That doubles your core count and boosts your clocks by 50%, so it's roughly six times as fast. There are a few compatible CPUs that are faster still, but they're still way too expensive for not much faster. If you're willing to get a new motherboard as well, you can get significantly faster. The current go-to mid-range gaming CPU is the Core i5 4690K, which will be about 12-15 times faster than your current Pentium. It'll be about $300 to get a good motherboard and CPU, but it won't just speed up your CPU. Modern motherboards include stuff like USB 3.0, and support faster RAM and SSDs. It's up to you to decide if that's worth it to you - that is a fair amount of money, and you might well be better off just getting a better LGA 775 CPU instead. By the way, what's your current GPU? That might be contributing to your problems.

So I have a wireless headset (it's a Gioteck EX-05 if you're wondering) and recently it's been completely unable to sync to the USB receiver. I live in a dorm and there are a lot of wireless routers all around me (if I look for wifi connections on my phone I get like 12 available connections), is it possible that all the routers are causing too much interference and making the headset unable to connect to the receiver?

What's the recommended microphone for VoIP? How do I improve the quality of transmitted voice?

Can DVI-D be used for 21:9 monitors or is it just displayport?

[QUOTE=morky;47322649]Can DVI-D be used for 21:9 monitors or is it just displayport?[/QUOTE] Depends on the resolution. DVI, HDMI and DP can handle any aspect ratio as long as they have the bandwidth for all the pixels. But since most 21:9 displays are 2560x1080, and you can run 2560x1440 on DVI-D, I would say yes, you can probably run your 21:9 monitor over DVI-D.

As long as it's a dual-link cable. I've run my 21:9 off DP, DVI-D Dual Link, and HDMI w/Ethernet.

[QUOTE=Aleksey17;47314416]My motherboards temp was 117C according to some softwares(speecy,hwmonitor,hwinfo64 etc). In ai suite it was 30C. So I immediately shutdown computer ad then look to bios it was 30C too. So I thought it probably softwares fault but is it possible to work on that temp value without taking serious damage for motherboard ? Also I open the case while its running to see if there is heat in it. But there wasnt. It should even melted right ? :D[/QUOTE] Maybe it reports Fahrenheit but calls it Celsius? I've seen a few temperature sensors that did that.

im probably retarted but ive got windows 8 and when I run programs, even file explorer, they dont show up in windows, but theyre running. I tried making new user accounts same issue. Any idea what could be causing this?

My graphics card was overheating (getting up to 90 C) so i upped my graphics card's fan speed... It's super loud now, but the temps are like 20 C lower... Should I be worried about having my fans spinning so fast? They are at about 4080 rpm right now.