Personal computing discussed

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by MixedPower
Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:37 am
Forum: Mobile Tech
Topic: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget
Replies: 20
Views: 9890

Re: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget

What can one do in Photoshop or Illustrator that will use the most memory possible? Why are you so adamant this upgrade? Your friend probably won't do anything that will use that much memory, and if he ever has the need for more RAM he can upgrade later. For whatever it's worth I just repeated the ...
by MixedPower
Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:09 am
Forum: Mobile Tech
Topic: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget
Replies: 20
Views: 9890

Re: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget

Well, the horse has bolted, and the budget might have been too limited to allow for it, but a desktop for work + IPS tablet for client presentations could have been a good option. A hacked (or even stock) nook or Kindle tablet with its lovely IPS screen would be a much nicer medium to show clients ...
by MixedPower
Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:42 pm
Forum: Mobile Tech
Topic: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget
Replies: 20
Views: 9890

Re: Photoshop Laptop on a Budget

I would go for the better graphics card. Photoshop doesn't usually need a ton of processing power, while a good GPU can make use of some genuinely useful features. Another thing to think about is storage. Having a fast disk drive (SSD/Hybrid/7200RPM) is very important, as well as ports for a fast co...
by MixedPower
Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:42 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish
Replies: 24
Views: 3502

Re: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish

And how exactly does one do that? The link thegleek posted assumes you've already made it past the product key entry screen. When I had this issue recently, I could not get past the product key entry screen. No trial mode, no opportunity to activate. The key pulled from the registry was not accepte...
by MixedPower
Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:26 pm
Forum: Windows
Topic: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish
Replies: 24
Views: 3502

Re: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish

Guys, it's rejecting his product key up front. He's not even getting to the activation screen. Right, but you should be able to skip the product key screen entirely and run XP in trial mode until it's activated, which you can do by phone once in the OS. Regardless, this discussion is academic now t...
by MixedPower
Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:19 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish
Replies: 24
Views: 3502

Re: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish

Drewstre wrote:
Can't activate by phone, I'm hung up on the Product Key entry screen during install. Can't get past it.

You should be able to skip the activation screen and finish the install, although I can't remember exactly how you do this (maybe by not typing a key and clicking the "next" button?).
by MixedPower
Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:23 am
Forum: Windows
Topic: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish
Replies: 24
Views: 3502

Re: Need to buy legal, _LEGIT_ WinXP key, quickish

Have you tried activating the key over the phone? There have been a few times I've had to reinstall Windows on a machine where the online activation failed but the phone activation worked flawlessly.
by MixedPower
Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:46 pm
Forum: General Hardware
Topic: Thanks to everybody at TechReport
Replies: 32
Views: 4150

Re: Thanks to everybody at TechReport

I know I'm being a Debbie Downer here, but that single gigabyte of graphics RAM is going to be a bottleneck in many situations where you actually need the processing power of both cards. I personally would send them back and get a pair of 2GB cards if the option still exists.
by MixedPower
Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:38 pm
Forum: Processors
Topic: ATOM PROCESSOR
Replies: 23
Views: 5446

Re: ATOM PROCESSOR

As you can see, the I5 2400 will provide a different magnitude of CPU power for the extra money, especially with a decent Video card for the editing. The OP is looking at systems in the $300-400 range. I doubt they're going to want to spend 50% or more of that on JUST a processor. The OP has neithe...
by MixedPower
Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:35 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: TR Haiku thread
Replies: 364
Views: 112149

Re: TR Haiku thread

Solomon Grundy
Surely approves of this thread
Brought back from the dead
by MixedPower
Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:06 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Interesting PC Holiday Repairs?
Replies: 51
Views: 8844

Re: Interesting PC Holiday Repairs?

I decided to clean my keyboard a few days ago, but in my haste to get back to playing Arkham City I must not have dried a few of the caps sufficiently because I have about a dozen or so keys that no longer work. Try using a blow dryer on it, or baking it on your oven's lowest setting. You've got no...
by MixedPower
Sat Dec 31, 2011 2:09 am
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: Interesting PC Holiday Repairs?
Replies: 51
Views: 8844

Re: Interesting PC Holiday Repairs?

I decided to clean my keyboard a few days ago, but in my haste to get back to playing Arkham City I must not have dried a few of the caps sufficiently because I have about a dozen or so keys that no longer work. Fortunately while I wait for a new one, I can use my parents' keyboard since their syste...
by MixedPower
Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:20 pm
Forum: Gaming
Topic: Games that make you RAGE
Replies: 71
Views: 16900

Re: Games that make you RAGE

When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Mario Kart Wii. Sometimes I swear that game is rigged so that skill level doesn't actually matter. Being good at the game only gets you blue-shelled more often. Last one I remember cursing at was Mario Galaxy, one of its jumping puzzles. I hate ju...
by MixedPower
Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:50 pm
Forum: Graphics
Topic: 2 screens/1 card
Replies: 6
Views: 1581

Re: 2 screens/1 card

Adding a second monitor will have very little impact on the VRAM your system will use. So long as you don't use both screens while gaming 1GB will be fine.
by MixedPower
Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:14 pm
Forum: Gaming
Topic: COD series price fixing?
Replies: 32
Views: 4967

Re: COD series price fixing?

If you think MW2 prices are bad, check out the price for the original Call of Duty game on Steam.
by MixedPower
Thu May 12, 2011 12:15 pm
Forum: The Back Porch
Topic: what is your dream car?
Replies: 93
Views: 12668

Re: what is your dream car?

I think I would have a 2012 Jag XK. It has a good mix of comfort and performance, plus a very pleasant interior.

EDIT: Make that the XKR-S, in this color.
by MixedPower
Sun May 01, 2011 10:17 pm
Forum: Windows
Topic: What unusual things do you do to your Windows install?
Replies: 37
Views: 5386

Re: What unusual things do you do to your Windows install?

When I would install XP on one of my PCs, I would always go into the registry and make the 'start' menu into the 'cheese' menu.
by MixedPower
Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:54 pm
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs
Replies: 24
Views: 2980

Re: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs

If you have an .edu email address or two handy you can get Windows for $30 a copy. LINK On that page, the box says "upgrade" in the top left corner. I couldn't see any more info if the product is an upgrade only, or they got sloppy when they chose their image. Ah, I didn't catch that. The...
by MixedPower
Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:51 am
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs
Replies: 24
Views: 2980

Re: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs

If you have an .edu email address or two handy you can get Windows for $30 a copy. LINK
by MixedPower
Fri Apr 08, 2011 1:44 pm
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs
Replies: 24
Views: 2980

Re: Advice for 2 Newspaper PCs

Will these PCs need a full terabyte of local storage? In my design experience, both in college and professionally, practically everything is saved to network drives. If that's the case here then going to the 500GB Spinpoint models will save you $15 each.
by MixedPower
Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:46 am
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Video Ram reporting on 6970?
Replies: 5
Views: 1131

Re: Video Ram reporting on 6970?

Get a new version? Cayman support was only added in 0.5.0. 0.5.2 adds 6990 support, so I would imagine it's a software problem on your side. I doubt it; I'm using 0.5.1 and everything is reporting correctly, but there is no sensor listed at all for RAM usage. I haven't tried 0.5.2 but the release n...
by MixedPower
Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:08 am
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Video Ram reporting on 6970?
Replies: 5
Views: 1131

Re: Video Ram reporting on 6970?

Crayon Shin Chan wrote:
GPU-Z.

I'm not sure whether it's an issue with hardware or software but GPU-Z doesn't seem to report VRAM load on the 69xx series. It may be more widespread than this, but I know it doesn't report the numbers for my 6950.
by MixedPower
Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:47 am
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Building My First Custom Rig, Need Advice!
Replies: 58
Views: 6077

Re: Building My First Custom Rig, Need Advice!

While the 6950 BIOS flashing seems to be fairly safe I'm not so sure it's worth it. In your case you'd have to successfully flash two cards; even if that works out fine good luck getting the things replaced under warranty if one (or both) dies later on. You'll also have hotter, louder, and more powe...
by MixedPower
Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:03 am
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Building My First Custom Rig, Need Advice!
Replies: 58
Views: 6077

Re: Building My First Custom Rig, Need Advice!

A pair of HD 6950s in Crossfire will be fairly similar to a GTX 580 in terms of noise and heat. You'll pay a little more for the two cards and use a bit more power, but you'll get much better performance in return. Of course, all this depends on the resolution of your monitor. A setup like this make...
by MixedPower
Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:54 am
Forum: Echo Vale
Topic: Replacing bad speakers
Replies: 5
Views: 1820

Re: Replacing bad speakers

It seems I underestimated how much bass I would be sacrificing by losing the subwoofer. I may have to stretch my budget and go with the ProMedia system. Thanks for the responses.
by MixedPower
Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:08 am
Forum: Echo Vale
Topic: Replacing bad speakers
Replies: 5
Views: 1820

Replacing bad speakers

My speakers died on me a few months ago and I'm finally getting around to replacing them. I'd like to get a quality stereo system for under $100 and right now I am looking at these M-Audio AV30s . Does anyone have experience with these? Are there any other 2.0 speakers I should be looking at in this...
by MixedPower
Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:45 pm
Forum: Storage
Topic: SSDs and Ramdisks? Are ramdisks necessary?
Replies: 29
Views: 6502

Re: SSDs and Ramdisks? Are ramdisks necessary?

But I just wanted to point out to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ff700229 to view actual ram usage. I hadn't heard of that before, does it show you much that Resource Monitor doesn't? I'm really interested in your hardware and how you've set it up for this. I have a system that I'v...
by MixedPower
Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:45 pm
Forum: Graphics
Topic: Graphics Card Upgrade: 560 Ti or 6950, Manufacturer?
Replies: 5
Views: 1439

Re: Graphics Card Upgrade: 560 Ti or 6950, Manufacturer?

There's a workaround to get a dedicated PhysX card working with a Radeon as the primary GPU. I don't have a Geforce card to test this with but I've heard it works flawlessly. LINK
by MixedPower
Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:40 am
Forum: Storage
Topic: Missing 300GB off an external drive?
Replies: 2
Views: 1381

Re: Missing 300GB off an external drive?

Have you cleared the trash from the drive? I'm not sure exactly how to do it on Mac, but I know there is a hidden .trashes folder that shows up on a drive when you transfer files on a Mac and plug it into a PC. It can get quite large as well.
by MixedPower
Tue Feb 15, 2011 2:41 pm
Forum: System Builders Anonymous
Topic: Most drives in the smallest case
Replies: 4
Views: 1090

Re: Most drives in the smallest case

With that adapter you should be able to fit up to ten drives in this Lian Li case. LINK

Unfortunately Newegg is the only place I could even find one listed, and its expected availability is in two months.
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