What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)
- Thread starter tlowr4
- 4,211 comments
- 289,638 views
AOS-
Premium
- 28,801
- 'Sauga, ON
Makes a nice drink for only a dollar.
Mine isn't working properly. It flickers now and then and I'm having trouble getting it to display any clearer.
- 3,871
- Chad
- kennylmao
Just got my laptop back from the shop after I took it in for cleaning as it's been running hot even when doing basic browsing and stuff. Went to a shop my mum recommended and the service included changing the thermal paste. It was alright until I saw they had only one kind of thermal paste and it's not Arctic Silver or some other brand I've heard of, but Deep Cool. Seems Chinese as it has some Chinese writings in the packaging. Sigh, and I thought, what the hell just go with it. Went home and checked their website and... it's Chinese. Let's hope it does the job right. 
nick09
(Banned)
- 6,169
- NY
- nlck09
Mine has a nice and sharp picture. If yours is doing that then it sounds like it's dying. My old HP monitor used to do that too and would flicker if it felt a vibration. I checked the monitor and the power board was burnt in one spot and decided it was not worth fixing.
As for today I worked on a computer. User complained about his mouse not responding. All it took was taking the battery out and putting it back in to have it respond again. Got paid and as soon as I was ready to leave he comes out with another problem. He's got no internet connection. I found out that his wireless router was dying when I connected his computer directly to the modem and the internet connectivity worked. Also found out that he had no password recovery for his email account so he lost all access to a previous week's worth of email. Set him up with an gmail account and I picked out a wireless mouse for him to purchase.
Best of all, he and his son is enjoying the Ubuntu install I did months ago to replace Windows Vista(Rather needed as he's an retired man that can't afford hardware upgrades to his system to use Windows 7). It makes me happy when I hear non-tech people who are using Linux and genuinely happy with it.
@kennylmao: Don't be scared. It seems that it's a decent thermal paste company.
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- 2,055
- United States
- Brucifxr
After nearly a month of using an external monitor/keyboard, I've finally received my laptop back with a fixed screen. One of my dad's friends at work is great with computers and offered to fix it for free since it was my birthday. Glad to have it back, there's a lot more room on my desk now. 👍
- 2,351
- Gold Coast
- drbrg
- Silv3rEy3d
I've just set up my new Ouya! Just had to try it, and so far, I'm extremely happy with it. Makes a nice little XBMC box, much quicker around menus and the library than my Pi, and still reasonably priced. And as an added bonus, you can install RetroArch straight from the store.
- 9,171
- United Kingdom
- neema_t
I have to say, I feel less ripped off by Apple with every piece of their gear I pull apart! I've just taken a 22" DVI Cinema Display from 1999 apart to take out the cathodes (I want to swap them for LEDs) and the thing is a work of art. I don't think Apple made all the intricate parts - most things are labelled LG and Samsung - but for what it cost back then I can see why it was so expensive. The back of the LCD is shiny black (like a solar panel), the backlight diffuser is a huge chunk of beautifully shiny glass and the whole thing is practically military spec compared to, say, my Samsung 226BW which cost something like £1,000 less (though that's comparing something made in 1999 to something made in 2007/8).
Of course that doesn't really compare to the heap of a MacBook I had which was £700 for sub-par components, but still, between this display, the G4 Cube, PowerMac G5 and my Mac Pro, it's not hard to see where they got their reputation for expensive but very well-made products.
Now to see if I can remember how this all goes back together.
Of course that doesn't really compare to the heap of a MacBook I had which was £700 for sub-par components, but still, between this display, the G4 Cube, PowerMac G5 and my Mac Pro, it's not hard to see where they got their reputation for expensive but very well-made products.
Now to see if I can remember how this all goes back together.
- 774
- Trial Mountain
- joehazell
- hazellnut134
I just received all the parts for my new PC and will be building on Saturday 
- 6,776
- Florida
- gtamann123
My aftermarket CPU cooler came in today. And I gotta say, the instructions were like they were written in 10 seconds! Nevertheless, I was able to get it up and running as I compare the temps from my stock cooler & the new one. Here's a pic:
Sorry about the flash...
Thanks to the guys on this thread, I decided on a Zalman CNPS10X Optima in concerns of clearance but I think the heatpipes just barely misses the side panel.
Sorry about the flash...
Thanks to the guys on this thread, I decided on a Zalman CNPS10X Optima in concerns of clearance but I think the heatpipes just barely misses the side panel.
- 6,776
- Florida
- gtamann123
Well, I haven't really seen much at the time I posted that post. But now I do, and it is definitely an improvement from my stock cooler! I haven't really stressed it out but after a good time playing BF3, Tomb Raider, F1 2012, etc., the CPU never went over 40 C and the fan was practically inaudible (however, it does get loud as I inch over 1500 or so RPMs)! Note that I used the thermal paste the heatsink came with.
Because it handled the heat so well, I tried overclocking my chip & brought up temps by 2-5 C. But in question of stability, I could stress test it. However I'm confident it'll maintain everything well.
- 2,351
- Gold Coast
- drbrg
- Silv3rEy3d
I've started a new Mini-ITX build, and went with Intel this time 'round. Wife needs a new machine. Was going to go for Micro-ATX to keep it reasonably small, but the wife really wanted the Red BitFenix Prodigy case, so I had to make it another Mini-ITX build. Did a first test run with the following components:
MB: Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi (permanent)
CPU: i5-4670K (permanent)
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo (permanent, at least that was the plan???)
GPU: Intel HD4600 (temporary)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP 2x8GB 1600Mhz (permanent)
PSU: Thermaltake EVO Blue 550W (temporary)
SSD: Kingston V300 60G (temporary)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy Red (permanent)
OS: Windows 7 (temporary)
Everything that's temporary will later be replaced with (better) components from my wife's current machine. Just wanted to properly test it all works, before I get my wife to move across to a fresh clean Windows 8 install. Don't want to realize half way through the process there are issues with the new parts and get murdered in the process. 
Well, anyway, something isn't quite right. The temps I'm getting for the CPU seem way too high under load. Even with a light overclock running all four cores at 4GHz (which is the highest I can get without voltage adjustments) I'm running into the mid-60s Celsius. If I go even 100Mhz up I need to make voltage adjustments, and my temps are hitting 100, forcing the CPU to downclock itself. Thing is, the heatsink is pretty much cold to the touch. And yes, I've tried to re-seat the cpu cooler, cleaned it all up, re-applied thermal paste, taking great care, all is right there, I've done that tons of times. All I can think of right now is that there's something (which I can't currently see) keeping the cpu cooler from pressing down firmly enough on the CPU. But I digress...
I guess the coming days I'll be spending trying to figure out just what the hell is wrong here.
MB: Gigabyte Z87N-Wifi (permanent)
CPU: i5-4670K (permanent)
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo (permanent, at least that was the plan???)
GPU: Intel HD4600 (temporary)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP 2x8GB 1600Mhz (permanent)
PSU: Thermaltake EVO Blue 550W (temporary)
SSD: Kingston V300 60G (temporary)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy Red (permanent)
OS: Windows 7 (temporary)
Everything that's temporary will later be replaced with (better) components from my wife's current machine. Just wanted to properly test it all works, before I get my wife to move across to a fresh clean Windows 8 install. Don't want to realize half way through the process there are issues with the new parts and get murdered in the process.
Well, anyway, something isn't quite right. The temps I'm getting for the CPU seem way too high under load. Even with a light overclock running all four cores at 4GHz (which is the highest I can get without voltage adjustments) I'm running into the mid-60s Celsius. If I go even 100Mhz up I need to make voltage adjustments, and my temps are hitting 100, forcing the CPU to downclock itself. Thing is, the heatsink is pretty much cold to the touch. And yes, I've tried to re-seat the cpu cooler, cleaned it all up, re-applied thermal paste, taking great care, all is right there, I've done that tons of times. All I can think of right now is that there's something (which I can't currently see) keeping the cpu cooler from pressing down firmly enough on the CPU. But I digress...
I guess the coming days I'll be spending trying to figure out just what the hell is wrong here.
- 2,351
- Gold Coast
- drbrg
- Silv3rEy3d
Pako
Staff Emeritus
- 16,453
- NW Montana
- GTP-Pako
- GTP Pako
You played with ALL of them???
- 35,425
- Downtown North Dakota
- Cy-Fi
I didn't get to all of them today but I'll spend some more time with each and every one of them tomorrow!
Side note: I thought my department was only getting three then I opened the lovely Amazon box and there were five. Checked with my boss and he did indeed order five. Works for me!
Now to get them all updated, and synced with all of the AutoCAD plans, project pdfs, specifications documents, etc...
Side note: I thought my department was only getting three then I opened the lovely Amazon box and there were five. Checked with my boss and he did indeed order five. Works for me!
Now to get them all updated, and synced with all of the AutoCAD plans, project pdfs, specifications documents, etc...
- 3,204
- 2.2L Camry
- NissanSkylineN1
- Xbox??? Who is this Xbox??
Hey guys,
I'm trying to sell an iPad 2 16Gb Wifi that doesn't charge (needs battery replacement). How much would you say a good list price would be on Kijiji/Craigslist for it?
I'm trying to sell an iPad 2 16Gb Wifi that doesn't charge (needs battery replacement). How much would you say a good list price would be on Kijiji/Craigslist for it?
- 2,351
- Gold Coast
- drbrg
- Silv3rEy3d
Had finally taken out the cpu cooler, and played around with alternatives. In retrospect, I believe it was a row of capacitors (to the left of the CPU socket) which kept it from making full contact, as these were exactly the problem with several other potential cooling solutions. After a few failed attempts, I finally thought of trying one of the coolers from our existing machines, a Zalman CNPS9900A LED. Nice fit! Does not conflict with that row of capacitors, does not block the PCI-E lane, and leaves enough room for at least standard height ram (you may even still fit ram with small heatspreaders). It's quite a few years old and isn't quite as good a cooling solution as some of the alternatives I couldn't fit, but I'm currently running a mild overclock of 4.3GHz on all four cores and the temps barely make it over 60 under full load. That seems entirely acceptable to me.
Apart from that, I've retired our old media/download server, and have used the parts, together with some other spare or raided parts, in a refreshed Micro-ATX build to make use of my spare SilverStone ML03 case. Has a fresh Windows 8 install with XBMC, and will again take over the role as media/download server, but will also function as an additional XBMC box. The Noctua NH-L12 in low profile configuration simply is a perfect fit for that case too, and together with a bunch of Noctua NF-R8 80mm fans on intake keeps everything reasonably cool, while being nice and quiet even under moderate load. I won't have to expect much noise coming from that machine at all. Nice!
While we're at it, I'm looking at what else we need to refresh...
- 5,812
- shmogt
So far with my new imac it has handled my regular life pretty well. Even at the most hard-core task that I do it still easily gets it done. Today I decided to attempt to edit a movie. I use final cut pro and my last computer I could not render any effects so I'd have to guess what it would look like Lol. Couldn't even press play to watch it without having serious studder. This new one was working pretty well, but it still used up all the ram. I closed everything else to make sure it gets it all and that helped a lot. Very happy that I got the 27 since I can upgrade ram because I would of been stuck with 8gb forever if I got the 21. It still was working fine with everything else closed tho but right near the max. Than it came time to save. I have made the mistake before where I save the video than have to convert it after to make it a smaller size. This time I just saved it with compressor within final cut. It was working well even tho both programs were open, but it always had an extra maybe 5% left. After a couple hours I decided to check it out. Turns out the ram had been maxed and it had swapped 4gb lol. For me that is a extreme amount to be swapped. I just closed it and the video saved fine. I'm not really sure why it wouldn't fully say done.
👍.
