Computer and tech talk and questions

[Fuzzbucket]

POP? I haven't had any issues with it but all I been doing is signing in with my hotmail acc and cleaning out e-mails and looking for some e-mails. I know the merge to Skype to keep using the IM but other than that I haven't had issues.

 

Edit: nvm I know what POP is now. >_< If I seen it as POP3 I woulda known.

POP3 - when all your emails download automatically to your pooter and you don't HAVE to go to any nasty website that looks like I am told hotmail now does. Ironically, mine download in Microsoft's Outlook - and THAT is perfectly fine.

 

ETA cross posted, but leaving that for anyone else ! Sorry ! I like referring to popping my emails

[demonicvampiregirl]

POP3 - when all your emails download automatically to your pooter and you don't HAVE to go to any nasty website that looks like I am told hotmail now does. Ironically, mine download in Microsoft's Outlook - and THAT is perfectly fine.

 

ETA cross posted, but leaving that for anyone else ! Sorry ! I like referring to popping my emails

Yeah I prefer just using the site itself but that's just me. -lol- Either way hope you get your issues solved. I never could send attachments from Hotmail (could send them too but not from) so I really can't help there.

[casprrr]

Yesterday I updated to Firefox 20.0 on my Mac, running OS X Snowleopard. Now, whenever I start firefox, it gives me a message that it was unable to recover a tab. I haven't forced quit firefox, only quit it normally, but it gives me the errors every time. Anyone else update to the latest version of firefox and encountering the same problem?

[Shato]

I'd consider myself a bonafide techie. I don't program, but I know how to work with what I've got, and I'm good at fixing problems that people have. I'm pretty good with hardware too. I just haven't taken the time to learn to program.

Same here, I love technology and learn it pretty quick, usually within minutes. I'm currently building my own computer and I love the hardware aspect of it, maybe even more than the software

 

I am a girl too so it's tough to find friends in real life to hang out with since most girls my age don't care about technology apart from their cell phones and Facebook, even most guys are pretty dumb when it comes to technology.

 

I wanted to become a software engineer and get a masters in computer science but I learned I was dyscalculic (dyslexic with numbers) and was told that taking the calculus course that is required would almost be impossible for me So not sure what I should do or where I should go now.

[Spelunker]

Same here, I love technology and learn it pretty quick, usually within minutes. I'm currently building my own computer and I love the hardware aspect of it, maybe even more than the software

 

I am a girl too so it's tough to find friends in real life to hang out with since most girls my age don't care about technology apart from their cell phones and Facebook, even most guys are pretty dumb when it comes to technology.

 

I wanted to become a software engineer and get a masters in computer science but I learned I was dyscalculic (dyslexic with numbers) and was told that taking the calculus course that is required would almost be impossible for me So not sure what I should do or where I should go now.

I'll hang out with you. :3 Same situation.

 

Go for your Computer Science masters! Just maybe become a ... hardware engineer?

 

Or squeak by in the calculus course. If it's your dream, follow it. One class shouldn't stand in the way of your future, no matter if you have a problem or not.

 

 

[Jet Raptor]

Same here, I love technology and learn it pretty quick, usually within minutes. I'm currently building my own computer and I love the hardware aspect of it, maybe even more than the software

 

I am a girl too so it's tough to find friends in real life to hang out with since most girls my age don't care about technology apart from their cell phones and Facebook, even most guys are pretty dumb when it comes to technology.

 

I wanted to become a software engineer and get a masters in computer science but I learned I was dyscalculic (dyslexic with numbers) and was told that taking the calculus course that is required would almost be impossible for me So not sure what I should do or where I should go now.

._.

You sound just like me. I'm aiming for my masters in computer science and I haven't taken all of the required math courses yet. The thought of it makes me nervous. I think I may be a little dyslexic, but I haven't been officially tested for it. And I'm just terrible at math.

Like Spelunker said, you should definitely go for it. I know I am, even though I run the risk of not passing the math classes (the first time, at least). :c I haven't had to repeat a math class since I went into college, though. Might be a good sign...though I'm still really nervous about it.

*joins the group*

 

 

Edited because I can't spell today.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Ali'i Makani Pahili

[Obscure_Trash]

Same here, I love technology and learn it pretty quick, usually within minutes. I'm currently building my own computer and I love the hardware aspect of it, maybe even more than the software

 

I am a girl too so it's tough to find friends in real life to hang out with since most girls my age don't care about technology apart from their cell phones and Facebook, even most guys are pretty dumb when it comes to technology.

 

I wanted to become a software engineer and get a masters in computer science but I learned I was dyscalculic (dyslexic with numbers) and was told that taking the calculus course that is required would almost be impossible for me So not sure what I should do or where I should go now.

Now, I don't know much about dyscalculia or what level you were diagnosed with, but I think it's pretty crappy you were told you just couldn't do it rather than being given techniques and tools to help you. Are you in college already or looking at colleges? You should talk to someone about what options are open to you and what kind of help the school can offer, as well as talk to someone who will help you manage the dyscalculia and learn to live with it while still being able to learn what you want. I know that our school is pretty good about helping people with whatever kind of learning disability; students just have to be open in communicating to the teachers what's up. One girl with a really bad distraction thing is given permission to take tests in a room by herself instead of in the classroom, for example. And there are tutoring sessions for most of the basic courses, as well as the required office hours from professors and TAs. Could you find some resource (like an internet forum) where people with dyscalculia and dyslexia can talk about their experiences and offer help and support to each other? If you want to be come a software engineer, I say go for it! You seem to really enjoy it. I see no reason why you shouldn't chase that dream.

 

(All schools are different, so I'll just throw this in here. At my college, a lot of the CS majors switch to IT majors because they can get the same basic jobs and there are more courses available so their schedules are easier and such. You should also discuss what other related majors there are that would help you become a software engineer and see if maybe their requirements seem more manageable if you do decide you don't want to try the calc class.)

Edited April 12, 2013 by SockPuppet Strangler

[Merenwen]

Hey everyone!

First time in this section, happy to see this thread LOL

 

my sister has an HP Pavalon tower they use for their business

the man thing logged in an entry and walked away

when he returned it appeared to be in sleep mode and was real loud

he moved the mouse around to wake it, and nothing happened

 

tried hitting keys, nothing, so they unplugged it and left it for a bit

 

plugged it back in, the fans all power on and the power button lights up

but no display appears. We tested the monitor it works.

 

I put a brand new power supply in it, still nothing. Put a new graphics card in it, still nothing.

 

What would be the next thing you'd suggest to try to swap out?

 

Sad thing is, it is only maybe 90 days old but Office Depot wants to ship it to HP and charge them 325$ to work on it and would take 3 weeks...they can't go this long with no PC, so they got a cheap tower from walmart and I put the hard drive in it so they at least can access their business (yeah no backup....told them they need to get backup ASAP) so now I get to swap parts until I can figure out what's wrong

[TikindiDragon]

Have you tested the monitor & cable? No display could mean the monitor has gone.

 

Was the noise being made the sound of the HDD thrashing? Could also be a hard-disk failure.

 

Step one would be try either connecting the monitor to a seperate PC, or connecting a different monitor to this one, just to check if that's the issues.

 

I imagine you've taken all the parts out and reseated them? Something being loose can cause it not to boot. If not, step two is take all the parts out, put them all back in again, and then see how it does.

 

Step three would be try taking the Hard drive and plugging it into a different machine. See if it will boot from that HDD in an entirely new set-up (it'll normally cause Windows to have a hissy about new hardware, but if you get to that stage then, no, it's not an HDD problem). If it won't boot from it, at least see if you can retrieve data from it. But if it won't boot, chances are that's your problem right there.

 

If you've checked out the graphics card & power supply already, and the HDD will run fine in an alternate set-up, then I'd try switching out the motherboard.

[Merenwen]

Have you tested the monitor & cable? No display could mean the monitor has gone. YES, it works fine on another tower

 

Was the noise being made the sound of the HDD thrashing? Could also be a hard-disk failure. I wasn't there so no clue what it sounded like, just going by what they told me, that it was loud

 

Step one would be try either connecting the monitor to a seperate PC, or connecting a different monitor to this one, just to check if that's the issues. done, monitor works fine

 

I imagine you've taken all the parts out and reseated them? Something being loose can cause it not to boot. If not, step two is take all the parts out, put them all back in again, and then see how it does. installed new power supply and graphics card, did not try unplugging the processor

 

Step three would be try taking the Hard drive and plugging it into a different machine. See if it will boot from that HDD in an entirely new set-up (it'll normally cause Windows to have a hissy about new hardware, but if you get to that stage then, no, it's not an HDD problem). If it won't boot from it, at least see if you can retrieve data from it. But if it won't boot, chances are that's your problem right there. hard drive is currently in a cheap walmart computer I installed it in so they can at least acess their business

 

If you've checked out the graphics card & power supply already, and the HDD will run fine in an alternate set-up, then I'd try switching out the motherboard.

motherboard, that bad huh?

[TikindiDragon]

motherboard, that bad huh?

If you're getting no output, and you've tried the obvious three, then yeah it may well be. That or the processor. Once you've tried peripherals and the graphics card there's not much else.

 

If you've got a stock of compatible parts I'd normally go about replacing each thing in turn to see if/when it powers up. Obviously try RAM and processor first if you've got ones that are compatible, but it sounds like you've got a pretty major componant fail going on there.

[Merenwen]

If you're getting no output, and you've tried the obvious three, then yeah it may well be. That or the processor. Once you've tried peripherals and the graphics card there's not much else.

 

If you've got a stock of compatible parts I'd normally go about replacing each thing in turn to see if/when it powers up. Obviously try RAM and processor first if you've got ones that are compatible, but it sounds like you've got a pretty major componant fail going on there.

I do have RAM sitting about

will try that first.

 

My son wants to build him a PC as a side thing to try

so will simply get him to buy the processor first and try that.

if it still doesn't work think the only thing left is MB so....

 

thanks for input

Edited April 12, 2013 by Merenwen

[TikindiDragon]

I do have RAM sitting about

will try that first.

 

My son wants to build him a PC as a side thing to try

so will simply get him to buy the processor first and try that.

if it still doesn't work think the only thing left is MB so....

 

thanks for input

No worries

 

Although do make sure the RAM matches the MB before you switch it in. It won't work with the wrong RAM.

 

You can normally get a better PC cheaper by building your own anyway, so I'd say let your son take a crack at it.

[Jet Raptor]

I hope I don't open up an entire debate (like I managed to do on another forum a while back), but here's my question:

For the price, would one recommend a Radeon or Nvidia GPU? Like, for the same price, I could get either a GTX 660 Ti or a Radeon 7950.

[demonicvampiregirl]

I hope I don't open up an entire debate (like I managed to do on another forum a while back), but here's my question:

For the price, would one recommend a Radeon or Nvidia GPU? Like, for the same price, I could get either a GTX 660 Ti or a Radeon 7950.

If you're a gamer I'd go with Radeon. I've used them in this computer so far and they've been great. nvidia isn't bad either but I prefer Radeons overall.

[Zaxian]

I hope I don't open up an entire debate (like I managed to do on another forum a while back), but here's my question:

For the price, would one recommend a Radeon or Nvidia GPU?  Like, for the same price, I could get either a GTX 660 Ti or a Radeon 7950.

The GTX 660 Ti does marginally better in benchmarks. See http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html and http://techreport.com/review/23981/radeon-...ti-revisited/11.

 

My personal preference has long been nVidia (they used to be the best, by a long way) but I think AMD's (formerly ATI's) cards are much closer in performance these days so I think it basically is just that - personal preference. If you're looking for gaming purposes, it might be worth bearing in mind that nVidia seems to have better driver support for a wider range of games.

 

ETA: Recent AMD cards have also suffered from micro-stuttering issues - so they seem on paper to give a better framerate, but things are actually less playable. On the other hand, the Radeon has a double width bus, which might age better. Also worth considering: what manufacturer you're using (not all cards are born equal), whether you'll want to overclock it, whether you'll be considering a dual-card setup in future (SLI or Crossfire - if your mobo will support them) and indeed whether you'll ever want more than 2 screens (AMD's Eyefinity is better for that than anything nVidia can offer at the moment).

Edited April 12, 2013 by Zaxian

[Merenwen]

I went with the GTX 660 Ti because I've used NVIDA in the past and love them

never had any issues..and am loving it again

[Jet Raptor]

My computer is definitely going to be for gaming. I'd like to have two screens at some point, but I don't see having more than that any time soon. Though I wouldn't complain if someone got me a third screen for a birthday or something. :I

Also, yes, I'd like to SLI/Crossfire in the future.

I just want it to be as future-proof as my budget can allow. I'm already a bit over because prices on parts are constantly bouncing all over the place.

 

ahgfuoiagtdkagd I just don't know which one to pick. I was thinking nVidia first, then Radeon, and now you guys are making me drift back towards nVidia. :c After looking at some more benchmarks, though, it's starting to look like the 660 Ti is the better buy...

The problem is that this is my first build...I've never actually owned a computer with an actual video card. I've only used Intel's integrated graphics (ogodhelpme).

 

While on the subject, what exactly is the difference between the 660 and the 660 Ti?

[TikindiDragon]

5 years ago I'd have said the nVidia without even thinking about it. Truth is things are much closer now than they used to be.

 

I've not put a Radeon into a self-built rig recently enough that I could have any real input about them, though. I've currently got an nVidia in.

[demonicvampiregirl]

My computer is definitely going to be for gaming. I'd like to have two screens at some point, but I don't see having more than that any time soon. Though I wouldn't complain if someone got me a third screen for a birthday or something. :I

Also, yes, I'd like to SLI/Crossfire in the future.

I just want it to be as future-proof as my budget can allow. I'm already a bit over because prices on parts are constantly bouncing all over the place.

 

ahgfuoiagtdkagd I just don't know which one to pick. I was thinking nVidia first, then Radeon, and now you guys are making me drift back towards nVidia. :c After looking at some more benchmarks, though, it's starting to look like the 660 Ti is the better buy...

The problem is that this is my first build...I've never actually owned a computer with an actual video card. I've only used Intel's integrated graphics (ogodhelpme).

 

While on the subject, what exactly is the difference between the 660 and the 660 Ti?

Well it's pretty much up to preference. I've used both but Radeon is the current one I'm using and it's worked for me well.

[Jet Raptor]

I don't have a preference because I've never used a video card. Q~Q

I'm probably going to go with the 660 Ti...but does anyone know what the difference is between the 660 and the 660 Ti?

 

And one last question (I feel like I'm hogging the thread). Does anyone have a good wireless adapter they'd suggest? Preferably one that's relatively cheap... It seems that the ones I've been looking at are kinda hit or miss, judging by the comments.

[Zaxian]

I don't have a preference because I've never used a video card.  Q~Q

I'm probably going to go with the 660 Ti...but does anyone know what the difference is between the 660 and the 660 Ti?

 

And one last question (I feel like I'm hogging the thread).  Does anyone have a good wireless adapter they'd suggest?  Preferably one that's relatively cheap...  It seems that the ones I've been looking at are kinda hit or miss, judging by the comments.

Benchmarks for the 660 vs the 660 Ti: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/09/13/..._card_review/11

 

And from Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Review - PC Mag:

Where the GTX 660 naturally differs from its predecessors is in how extensively its technologies are applied. It is, as you might have expected, the most modest Kepler card yet. It has only three Graphics Processing Clusters (compared with four for the GTX 660 Ti) and five SMX units (the GTX 660 Ti has seven), leading to 960 CUDA parallel processing cores (versus 1,344) and 80 texture units (versus 112). It's worth pointing out, however, that Nvidia has given the 660 a higher base clock than the 660 Ti—980MHz as opposed to 915MHz—and it's capable of boosting to even higher average levels (1,033MHz versus 980MHz). This compensates a bit for the other areas in which the GTX 660 may be lacking. The GTX 660 also has the same 2GB of video memory as the GTX 660 Ti, the same memory interface (192 bits), and the same overall memory clock (6,008MHz) as it and other cards above it in the 600 series.

I'm afraid I can't comment on wireless adaptors really - generally all much of a muchness, and performance really depends on a) where the receiver is relative to your router/walls etc. and how good your router is. You may also want to consider whether you want a wireless card or a USB adaptor - if the back of your PC is going to stuck under your desk, against the wall and otherwise tucked away, a USB adaptor that sits on your desk might be a better choice. Though o/c, if you want best internet performance then you don't want to be using wireless at all if you can avoid it.

[Alpha1]

The 7950 is better. Overclocks more, bigger memory bus, more vram at same price.

 

"The most interesting stand out from this evaluation has been the NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti, which is priced significantly higher than the Radeon HD 7870 while turning in similar performance numbers. The GTX 660 Ti has lost its value at this point in time, lending way to the Radeon HD 7950 which has benefited from falling prices and new drivers."

[Jet Raptor]

I'm afraid I can't comment on wireless adaptors really - generally all much of a muchness, and performance really depends on a) where the receiver is relative to your router/walls etc. and how good your router is. You may also want to consider whether you want a wireless card or a USB adaptor - if the back of your PC is going to stuck under your desk, against the wall and otherwise tucked away, a USB adaptor that sits on your desk might be a better choice. Though o/c, if you want best internet performance then you don't want to be using wireless at all if you can avoid it.

I have to use wireless unless I want to put my computer in the living room for all to see while I work. I hate it when people watch me use the computer...

By the time I get the computer, we won't be living here anymore...supposedly, the router will still be in the living room, but I might have to compete with more walls.

 

Back to the GPU problem...

The 660 Ti supposedly runs cooler (and quieter), though. Heat could potentially be an issue for me. There's no AC in this house, so the temperature in the house will be the temperature of the air being pushed through the case. It can get really warm in here on days with little to no breeze...like today.

ghajkdvajktghdskf *tableflip*

If I still can't decide when I finally order parts, I'll go for whichever is cheaper. :/

I am a terrible decision-maker.

 

Thanks for everyone's help~ :3

[TheDarkCynder]

Back to the GPU problem...

The 660 Ti supposedly runs cooler (and quieter), though.  Heat could potentially be an issue for me.  There's no AC in this house, so the temperature in the house will be the temperature of the air being pushed through the case.  It can get really warm in here on days with little to no breeze...like today. 

ghajkdvajktghdskf *tableflip*

If I still can't decide when I finally order parts, I'll go for whichever is cheaper.  :/

I am a terrible decision-maker.

 

Thanks for everyone's help~  :3

Most people go for EVGA's Nvidia cards, but I prefer Gigabyte. If heat is an issue, Gigabyte's cooling system should do waaay better than EVGA's cooling system.

 

Check: EVGA vs. Gigabyte

Same card, very different cooling system.

 

My own GPU is nvidia; I wouldn't use another brand. My rig has a GTX 670.