Anyone know anything about computers?

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Biggles

I actually mean the response time, haven't looked at building a PC for a year, so a bit rusty on the terminology. Anything over 16 ms and you start to get problems with the screen keeping up with the PC and what your eye can see. Its mainly a games playing thing or watching movies but the 5ms of that Novatech screen is good. I have a 16 ms screen and I can't see any problems.

My HP is a 16ms and there is no sign of any problem when viewing something like the Rib Raid video (hi res version).

One of the reasons I bought a big name monitor was that it is rather a long way to send it back if it goes pop, and in some 15 years of PC use, every cheap computer or peripheral I've had has gone pop before its time, and none of the good brand name ones have. I've still got my first Acer 486 PC from 1991, not that it's any use for anything these days

The same applies to PC's at work; we've had several "cheapo" ones and all have given problems and blown up, the Dells/Acer we use now never miss a beat and rarely even catch fire

[jwalker]

Andy Hightower, like buying a boat, decide what you might want to do in the future and choose accordingly. A monitor which can swivel, or, at least, one with mounting holes in it's back so you can make a stand/bracket for it, will give you a bit of versatility. For drawing or movies horizontal has it but for word processing and surfing vertical format is much, much better. Also, there are considerable differences between models in terms of sharpness and colour accuracy. If you happen to be into photography, that will matter to you.

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

My HP is a 16ms and there is no sign of any problem when viewing something like the Rib Raid video (hi res version).

One of the reasons I bought a big name monitor was that it is rather a long way to send it back if it goes pop, and in some 15 years of PC use, every cheap computer or peripheral I've had has gone pop before its time, and none of the good brand name ones have. I've still got my first Acer 486 PC from 1991, not that it's any use for anything these days

The same applies to PC's at work; we've had several "cheapo" ones and all have given problems and blown up, the Dells/Acer we use now never miss a beat and rarely even catch fire

We don't mention Acer round my mate. £2000 for a top spec laptop and its been back half a dozen times and its never been right. Dells seem okay so far but not thought highly of in the serious gaming world.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

One of the reasons I bought a big name monitor was that it is rather a long way to send it back if it goes pop, and in some 15 years of PC use, every cheap computer or peripheral I've had has gone pop before its time, and none of the good brand name ones have. I've still got my first Acer 486 PC from 1991, not that it's any use for anything these days

The same applies to PC's at work; we've had several "cheapo" ones and all have given problems and blown up, the Dells/Acer we use now never miss a beat and rarely even catch fire

Do you realise that Dell - HP - Acer etc don't actually MAKE anything - they just assemble bits from China - you will find the HP screen is actually something else rebranded. Same with all the bits inside the computers - AMD or Intel CPUs - RAM - Hard drives etc etc - none of it made by the names on the PCs!!!

In fact if you wish to upgrade do NOT buy a Dell - we had one in the other day - CPU epoxied to the heatsink - non standard layout motherbopard - all done to deliberately stop upgrading - disgusting!!!

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by DJL

Yeah - I didn't make that very clear. ISO 13406-2 is the one that covers dead pixels and the like. However, it seems that manufacturers of LCD's at the cheaper end don't seem to be publicising compliance with ISO 13406-2. - Instead they list 13402-6 which I’ve never heard of - and it looks like it doesn't exist.

I've returned two LCD's in the past for dead pixels, so it quite nice to know where you stand with the manufacturer.

Ah, gotcha. Perhaps it might be worth calling ISO direct to see if you can get a sensible response from them? Or perhaps one of the bigger manufacturers of LCD panels might provide you with the info.

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by codprawn

In fact if you wish to upgrade do NOT buy a Dell - we had one in the other day - CPU epoxied to the heatsink - non standard layout motherbopard - all done to deliberately stop upgrading - disgusting!!!

A lot of the big manufacturers used to do that. That was reason why I tried to get my friends to look outside the big names with regards PCs. Very difficult to beat an image that a company has spent millions marketing.

[Biggles]

Also you never get a bargain with a PC. If it seems cheap its because it has cheap components somewhere.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Do you realise that Dell - HP - Acer etc don't actually MAKE anything - they just assemble bits from China - you will find the HP screen is actually something else rebranded. Same with all the bits inside the computers - AMD or Intel CPUs - RAM - Hard drives etc etc - none of it made by the names on the PCs!!!

In fact if you wish to upgrade do NOT buy a Dell - we had one in the other day - CPU epoxied to the heatsink - non standard layout motherbopard - all done to deliberately stop upgrading - disgusting!!!

I've never had an Acer laptop Biggles just going on a couple of desktops which seem ok. Laptops in my opinion are inherently unreliable things anyway on the basis they are packing too much heat into too small a space and anything that does that usually has a limited life expectancy.

Codders, I used to think like that with regard to upgrading then I decided that in practice it was bollocks for three reasons.

1. The "upgradable" ones usually blow up (my last no name upgradable PC from a build-it-himself shop in Worthing had 3 power supplies 2 floppy drives 2 hard drives and the final straw was when the motherboard and processor went pop simultaneously.... all in about 3 years).

2. The brand name ones don't, at least not in my experience and I've got a Dell here, three Dells an Acer and an HP in the offices at work, a Tosh laptop here and a Dell laptop at work. Two of the ones at work replaced no-name PCs that went pop or gave endless trouble again with multiple PSU's hard drives etc etc. None of the brand name ones have given any hardware trouble at all.

3. But most of all - I have never upgraded a PC and found it wasn't then lacking in some other area anyway. In the old days when you used to pay £2000+ for even a vaguely decent PC it may have made sense, but they are so cheap now that I'd no more upgrade a PC than I would put a brand new engine in a 10 year old car. It's just not cost effective, because it's still an old car, and even if you spend the price of a whole replacement PC on it you still end up with at least half the old one, in the same way that if you tried to build a new Land Rover out of genuine parts the final bill would probably be about £80,000. So I'd rather Mr Dell builds me a nice cheap reliable computer which won't go wrong and I can replace in 3 or 4 years time with another nice cheap reliable computer. The only upgrade I've done to this one is doubling the memory, and that's all I'll be doing because in 2 or 3 years when this one is a bit old and creaky it will be a good time to go for the latest technology right the way through and file the old one away in a safe place as a backup in case the main one does ever let me down one day.

Just my 2p

[codprawn]

If you don't upgrade you obviously aren't into gaming then???

As to the branded ones not going wrong - we get quite a few through our workshops!!!

[Hightower]

I've had the case in bits this afternoon and was quite dusty inside (as expected). I took the Graphics card right out and gave it a good clean and there was plenty of dust inside. Also removed the CPU fan and cleaned the heatsink and fan assemblies, I found that there was more dirt in the graphics card fan than anywhere else . I used a 240v blower used to blow up my RIB and garden inflaterbles in one hand and a vacuum cleaner in the other.

Plugged everything back in and booted up.

All went really well, except that computer was a little slow in places (think it was looking for the printer/IDSN modem as it seems to be working fine now).

I've also found out where the noisy fan is...Guess where????

Yep, the graphics card . When it warms up the noise goes away which is why the PC was running normally after the first 5 mins.

Can you buy fan asseblies for graphics cards? Is it worth it?

I also installed a Firewire PCI card so that I can now edit my videos on the PC and also installed another Hard drive which I have a question about? I'll ask later!

So to sum up: Must have been the graphics card as I think the fan was hanging on start up (dodgy bearing and loads of dust and muck).

I'm off the NovaTech tomorrow to buy this TFT monitor and another 512MB of DD Ram and a DVD recorder might buy a TV card and to ask if I can get a replacement fan for the graphics card.

[codprawn]

Why not get a Radeon all in wonder type card - graphics and TV tuner/capture - great cards!!!

[Biggles]

Anybody got a Nvidia 7800 GTX card for sale at the right price. I fancy upgrading my setup and would like to go SLI.

If someone would sell me there a 7800 GTX for a decent price that would mean they could buy a 7950 GT.

Or I'm prepared to sell my GTX to enable someone to do a SLI setup and I'll go for 7950. Any takers ?

[Hightower]

New Monitor installed, but am finding to screen display a little harsh for my eye's (still fiddling). New memory installed as well.

Right the graphics card.....Novatech say that I can't get a replacment fan for the processor and that I'll need to replace this. My problem: Mother board supports a 4x AGP graphic card, all I can buy is 8x AGP graphics boards. Is a 8x graphics card compatible with a 4x motherboard?

Another question:

I installed another hard drive yesterday and everything says its working normally, device manager and BIOS.

My problem: It's not showing in "my computer" and can't find it when looking in windows explorer.

How do I get access to it? Do I have to assign it a drive letter?

[benc]

Originally Posted by Hightower

New Monitor installed, but am finding to screen display a little harsh for my eye's (still fiddling). New memory installed as well.

Right the graphics card.....Novatech say that I can't get a replacment fan for the processor and that I'll need to replace this. My problem: Mother board supports a 4x AGP graphic card, all I can buy is 8x AGP graphics boards. Is a 8x graphics card compatible with a 4x motherboard?

I don't think so, no - but don't quote me on this, you may have to buy a pci graphics card.

Originally Posted by Hightower

Another question:

I installed another hard drive yesterday and everything says its working normally, device manager and BIOS.

My problem: It's not showing in "my computer" and can't find it when looking in windows explorer.

How do I get access to it? Do I have to assign it a drive letter?

Yes, if you right click on "My Computer", and choose "Manage", then down towards the bottom on the left, is "Disk Management". You should be able to find the disk there, and format it, and assign it a drive letter.

HTH

Ben

[Biggles]

Andy,

8 X AGP will work in 4 X AGP slot. Surely Novatech could have told you that. It just runs slower, not that you'll notice.

Might be worth checking your motherboard BIOS for an upgrade.

[benc]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Andy,

8 X AGP will work in 4 X AGP slot. Surely Novatech could have told you that. It just runs slower, not that you'll notice.

Might be worth checking your motherboard BIOS for an upgrade.

yup, sorry, was just checking - was a quite a long time ago I was using agp

Now using pci-express

[Biggles]

Originally Posted by benc

yup, sorry, was just checking - was a quite a long time ago I was using agp

Now using pci-express

Benc,

have you got a 7800 GTX for sale ?

[benc]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Benc,

have you got a 7800 GTX for sale ?

Uh, no

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by benc

I don't think so, no - but don't quote me on this, you may have to buy a pci graphics card.



Yes, if you right click on "My Computer", and choose "Manage", then down towards the bottom on the left, is "Disk Management". You should be able to find the disk there, and format it, and assign it a drive letter.

HTH

Ben

Thanks for your help Ben, formatting as we speak. I thought it was something like that but couldn't find the info I wanted.

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by Biggles

Andy,

8 X AGP will work in 4 X AGP slot. Surely Novatech could have told you that. It just runs slower, not that you'll notice.

Might be worth checking your motherboard BIOS for an upgrade.

The guy I was speaking to was just sales, he did ask another colleague , but she said if it wasn't right I could damage my motherboard and mentioned the word "fire" .

He did say he would flog me another motherboard, but I passed on that .

I'll do a search and some phoning around.

PS. Isn't changing the BIOS a bit dodgy for an amature to do?