The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

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CancerStick: Jun 3, 2011

Good deal. One last question.

Should I go hardcore in trying to remove the paste that is currently on there. As in, remove the processor and clean that real good. Or should I just get off the majority with a q-tip or something and reapply. If I am getting it real clean, what's the most efficient way without messing something up.

Thanks again, especially Alereon as you were a tremendous help in my Support thread.

# ? Apr 14, 2012 22:56

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 01:46

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

Get it real clean. Q-tip works, but adding high-purity isopropyl alcohol (which costs all of a dollar at a drug store) makes it a lot easier to clean.

# ? Apr 14, 2012 23:13

Rexxed: May 1, 2010; Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

CancerStick posted:

Good deal. One last question.

Should I go hardcore in trying to remove the paste that is currently on there. As in, remove the processor and clean that real good. Or should I just get off the majority with a q-tip or something and reapply. If I am getting it real clean, what's the most efficient way without messing something up.

Thanks again, especially Alereon as you were a tremendous help in my Support thread.

I use a little bit of paper towel with some rubbing alcohol and q-tips and try to get both sides fairly clean. The old paste is usually pretty goopy, so you're kind of wiping it off onto the paper towel, using the alcohol to get it more malleable. You can leave the CPU mounted to clean it, I don't like to remove them unless I really need to, but you only have to get the top clean (and maybe dab up any that went over the side with the q-tip. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you should be able to get most of the paste off. There may be some residue on the underside of your heatsink, usually due to the paste seeping into any tiny grooves in the metal, which is okay really. The rubbing alcohol will evaporate pretty fast and everything will be dry and ready to remount.

# ? Apr 14, 2012 23:15

Incessant Excess: Aug 15, 2005; Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness

I have a spare monitor and I wonder if I can just hook it up to my pc to have, say a game running on one monitor, while having a browser or video on the other. Now, I know I can do this if I run a game in windowed mode, but what about games that don't support it? Is there some way where I maximize something on only one monitor, without it stretching over both?

Also, the two screens are different resolutions, would I be able to run them both in their native resolutions or would one have to be stretched?

# ? Apr 15, 2012 21:04

TheUnforgiven: Mar 28, 2006; lanky fuck

Biggest human being Ever posted:

I have a spare monitor and I wonder if I can just hook it up to my pc to have, say a game running on one monitor, while having a browser or video on the other. Now, I know I can do this if I run a game in windowed mode, but what about games that don't support it? Is there some way where I maximize something on only one monitor, without it stretching over both?

Also, the two screens are different resolutions, would I be able to run them both in their native resolutions or would one have to be stretched?

It should just go full screen on your primary monitor without stretching or anything, thats how mine works at least. I have two different sized monitors on different resolution and the secondary stays at the desktop during full screen games.

Now I have a question, I need some sort of NAS/Network Printer solution. Can anyone recommend a NAS that I can attach a printer to or some sort of solution for me?

# ? Apr 15, 2012 21:36

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

TheUnforgiven posted:

Now I have a question, I need some sort of NAS/Network Printer solution. Can anyone recommend a NAS that I can attach a printer to or some sort of solution for me?

Re: Printer, Brother HL-2270DW. Fantastic printer, has both wifi and ethernet connectivity.

Re: NAS, one of the better deals right now is the HP N40L Microserver, which takes up to 4 drives standard, more with moderate elbow grease. The hardware is pretty compatible with any NAS OS you want to go with - FreeNAS, Ubuntu Server or other Linux, Windows Home Server, etc.

# ? Apr 15, 2012 21:53

Penguin Bacon: Apr 19, 2010

Biggest human being Ever posted:

I have a spare monitor and I wonder if I can just hook it up to my pc to have, say a game running on one monitor, while having a browser or video on the other. Now, I know I can do this if I run a game in windowed mode, but what about games that don't support it? Is there some way where I maximize something on only one monitor, without it stretching over both?

Also, the two screens are different resolutions, would I be able to run them both in their native resolutions or would one have to be stretched?

My work has had dual monitors for years and we've yet to encounter anything that will make a maximize span both windows and this is with vista. It's better on my win7 home box.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 05:28

Chuu: Sep 11, 2004; Grimey Drawer

lilcasino posted:

Is there any use for DDR memory, I have a lot from upgrades. I hate to just throw them away.

If you have 1GB sticks of DDR400 or better these are shockingly expensive on eBay -- $10-$20/GB depending on the brand and density.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 05:51

Agent355: Jul 26, 2011

Making a wishlist for a friend's PC

He's going to be getting his own case, hard drive, and OS. I also included two GPU options depending on which he liked more. I'd like some second opinions on this stuff because I'm sure some goon knows better than I do.

The goal by the way is cheap but functional.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19026425

# ? Apr 16, 2012 19:54

Glans Dillzig: Nov 23, 2011; knickerbocker expert

Agent355 posted:

Making a wishlist for a friend's PC

He's going to be getting his own case, hard drive, and OS. I also included two GPU options depending on which he liked more. I'd like some second opinions on this stuff because I'm sure some goon knows better than I do.

The goal by the way is cheap but functional.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19026425

Is he going to use it for basic grandmas_funny_catte_pics.jpg browsing, rendering 1080p video, gaming...? "Cheap but functional" is kind of vague.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 20:06

Agent355: Jul 26, 2011

Walter_Sobchak posted:

Is he going to use it for basic grandmas_funny_catte_pics.jpg browsing, rendering 1080p video, gaming...? "Cheap but functional" is kind of vague.

He wants to play a couple games but they're older and not graphically intensive. Specifically bloodbowl legendary edition and tribes:ascend are the two he mentioned to me.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 20:10

Soylent Yellow: Nov 5, 2010; yospos

I just decided to buy myself a new set of speakers, and went with a set of Bose Companion 3s. I'm by no means a hardcore audiophile, but I happened to have the money lying around. Do I need a dedicated soundcard to get the best out of my new toy, and if so, what would be a reasonably inexpensive choice?

# ? Apr 16, 2012 20:27

Incessant Excess: Aug 15, 2005; Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness

TheUnforgiven posted:

It should just go full screen on your primary monitor without stretching or anything, thats how mine works at least. I have two different sized monitors on different resolution and the secondary stays at the desktop during full screen games.

Now I have a question, I need some sort of NAS/Network Printer solution. Can anyone recommend a NAS that I can attach a printer to or some sort of solution for me?

Penguin Bacon posted:

My work has had dual monitors for years and we've yet to encounter anything that will make a maximize span both windows and this is with vista. It's better on my win7 home box.

Thanks for the advice, I hooked up my second monitor and everything works like it ought to.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 20:53

future ghost: Dec 5, 2005; Gun Saliva

Soylent Yellow posted:

I just decided to buy myself a new set of speakers, and went with a set of Bose Companion 3s. I'm by no means a hardcore audiophile, but I happened to have the money lying around. Do I need a dedicated soundcard to get the best out of my new toy, and if so, what would be a reasonably inexpensive choice?

No, you don't need a soundcard for your Bose speakers. If you'd like to blow more cash though you can pick up an ASUS Xonar DG card.

# ? Apr 16, 2012 21:21

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

Agent355 posted:

Making a wishlist for a friend's PC

He's going to be getting his own case, hard drive, and OS. I also included two GPU options depending on which he liked more. I'd like some second opinions on this stuff because I'm sure some goon knows better than I do.

The goal by the way is cheap but functional.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19026425

With Ivybridge coming out pretty soon I would hold off building a PC for a bit if I could at all help it.

# ? Apr 17, 2012 03:54

Duke Chin: Jan 11, 2002; _{^{Roger That:}}
MILK CRATES INBOUND

_{_{^{- FUCK THE HABS -}}}

Here's a short little question that I couldn't really think where to ask soooo, I guess here.

I want to get a little media center-style keyboard/trackball combo thing that MUST have a windows key (to swap application-in-active-window for dual monitors) and was thinking about this lil guy:

http://usb.brando.com/usb-2-4ghz-rf-wireless-multimedia-tiny-keyboard_p00678c034d015.html

Ayyone have any experience with anything like these? Do they have lovely range? Do you know of something better?

[edit - just noticed that 10M range, that's plenty and one plus going for it...]

# ? Apr 18, 2012 08:55

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Duke Chin posted:

Here's a short little question that I couldn't really think where to ask soooo, I guess here.

I want to get a little media center-style keyboard/trackball combo thing that MUST have a windows key (to swap application-in-active-window for dual monitors) and was thinking about this lil guy:

http://usb.brando.com/usb-2-4ghz-rf-wireless-multimedia-tiny-keyboard_p00678c034d015.html

Ayyone have any experience with anything like these? Do they have lovely range? Do you know of something better?

[edit - just noticed that 10M range, that's plenty and one plus going for it...]

There's also the Logitech Dinovo Mini, which does the same thing, but that would be about 3x the price:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848

# ? Apr 18, 2012 15:07

future ghost: Dec 5, 2005; Gun Saliva

Duke Chin posted:

Here's a short little question that I couldn't really think where to ask soooo, I guess here.

I want to get a little media center-style keyboard/trackball combo thing that MUST have a windows key (to swap application-in-active-window for dual monitors) and was thinking about this lil guy:

http://usb.brando.com/usb-2-4ghz-rf-wireless-multimedia-tiny-keyboard_p00678c034d015.html

Ayyone have any experience with anything like these? Do they have lovely range? Do you know of something better?

[edit - just noticed that 10M range, that's plenty and one plus going for it...]

I use one of these little guys for my HTPC:

http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-Entertainment-Wireless-Keyboard-TouchPad/dp/B003UE52ME

Good range & battery life, although it uses a trackpad instead of a trackball if it matters. It's cheap, but I haven't noticed any problems with durability and mine feels pretty solid overall.

# ? Apr 18, 2012 16:14

Sir Sidney Poitier: Aug 14, 2006; My favourite actor

I think that the motherboard has died in my Windows Home Server. There's no way I can replace that ancient board with one of the same model so I will have to change it - does this mean I will have to reinstall the OS?

# ? Apr 18, 2012 16:35

chippy: Aug 16, 2006; OK I DON'T GET IT

Anyone got any good tricks for extracting bits of audio jack from headphone sockets? My clumsy-arse housemate managed to break off the end of his headphone plug in my girlfriend's laptop.

# ? Apr 18, 2012 17:07

teardrop: Dec 20, 2004; by Pragmatica

^ ^ ^ maybe a thin drill bit could bite in to it a little so you could pull it out. of course, it could also wreck the jack

I am moving 2000 miles by plane + USPS. Instead of shipping my entire PC, I'm thinking I'll pull out the mobo/CPU/graphics and hard drive, put these in a box, and bring them as a carry-on. Do I need to put them in an anti-static bag or anything?

teardrop fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Apr 18, 2012

# ? Apr 18, 2012 20:23

Sir Sidney Poitier: Aug 14, 2006; My favourite actor

Anjow posted:

I think that the motherboard has died in my Windows Home Server. There's no way I can replace that ancient board with one of the same model so I will have to change it - does this mean I will have to reinstall the OS?

The answer is yes. I got BSOD when I changed.

# ? Apr 18, 2012 20:24

future ghost: Dec 5, 2005; Gun Saliva

teardrop posted:

I am moving 2000 miles by plane + USPS. Instead of shipping my entire PC, I'm thinking I'll pull out the mobo/CPU/graphics and hard drive, put these in a box, and bring them as a carry-on. Do I need to put them in an anti-static bag or anything?

It's a good idea to put the components in (separate) antistatic bags. If you have the original boxes they came in, or if you have servicing equivalents, you should use them to make sure the parts are secured and padded properly during transit.

# ? Apr 18, 2012 20:42

Duke Chin: Jan 11, 2002; _{^{Roger That:}}
MILK CRATES INBOUND

_{_{^{- FUCK THE HABS -}}}

grumperfish posted:

I use one of these little guys for my HTPC:

http://www.amazon.com/FAVI-Entertainment-Wireless-Keyboard-TouchPad/dp/B003UE52ME

Good range & battery life, although it uses a trackpad instead of a trackball if it matters. It's cheap, but I haven't noticed any problems with durability and mine feels pretty solid overall.

Hah funny, I was looking at that same little guy before running across the brando - is there a button on your that effectively works as the Windows key?

# ? Apr 19, 2012 05:56

future ghost: Dec 5, 2005; Gun Saliva

Duke Chin posted:

Hah funny, I was looking at that same little guy before running across the brando - is there a button on your that effectively works as the Windows key?

The ctrl key + Fn key acts as the Windows key. I think all keys are added in (including F keys) via Fn and clearly marked if they're not already on the pad as distinct keys.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 05:59

Sir Sidney Poitier: Aug 14, 2006; My favourite actor

I have a question about cooling.

I have just sorted myself out a home server, it's using a Coolermaster Stacker 830 chassis, with 4x 120mm fans on the side, 1 on the front, 1 on the top, 1 on the back and 1 in the PSU. The board is a SuperMicro X8DTL-6F and the CPU a Xeon E5606. The heatsink is this:

There is no way I can run it with the fan on - it is RIDICULOUSLY loud. Do you think I'm okay to have it as passive only? Or do I need to order myself a bigger passive heatsink?

# ? Apr 19, 2012 17:09

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

You should be able to stick a couple inexpensive consumer coolers on there, since they're just LGA1366 sockets. Like the Cooler Master Hyper 212+. Then you aren't dealing with tiny fan that looks to be made for 2U chassis.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 17:28

Dogen: May 5, 2002; Bury my body down by the highwayside, so that my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride

That is seriously one of the worst looking heatpipe coolers I have seen. drat. Is that an 80mm fan on there? No wonder it's loud.

# ? Apr 19, 2012 18:02

Hypnolobster: Apr 12, 2007; What this sausage party needs is a big dollop of ketchup! Too bad I didn't make any.

My computer is horribly loud thanks to lots of harddrives, a bit of a poo poo case and loud fans.

I'd love to relocate it to a nearby closet to keep noise (and potentially keep dust down, who knows if being out of traffic will help with that) at a minimum, and have more space around my desk.

I've got to go 20-25 feet. Everything is VGA, DVI and USB, including sound. I need 4 usb ports full time and preferably 2 more for extras. I don't know where to even begin looking for this. Will DVI and VGA go 25 feet without some sort of help? I'm fairly certain that USB won't without some kind of boost or a swap to ethernet inbetween. Do the ethernet USB extenders have any sort of lag issues?

# ? Apr 20, 2012 03:08

Wonder_Bread: Dec 21, 2006; Fresh Baked Goodness!

Anjow posted:

I have a question about cooling.

I have just sorted myself out a home server, it's using a Coolermaster Stacker 830 chassis, with 4x 120mm fans on the side, 1 on the front, 1 on the top, 1 on the back and 1 in the PSU. The board is a SuperMicro X8DTL-6F and the CPU a Xeon E5606. The heatsink is this:

There is no way I can run it with the fan on - it is RIDICULOUSLY loud. Do you think I'm okay to have it as passive only? Or do I need to order myself a bigger passive heatsink?

Your board probably isn't set to throttle the CPU fan down. Most of the server-class Intel boards I used to install have this disabled by default, since they're usually chucked in a server room where nobody gives a gently caress about noise. No idea about Supermicro though.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 03:36

Ceros_X: Aug 6, 2006; U.S. Marine

Hypnolobster posted:

My computer is horribly loud thanks to lots of harddrives, a bit of a poo poo case and loud fans.

I'd love to relocate it to a nearby closet to keep noise (and potentially keep dust down, who knows if being out of traffic will help with that) at a minimum, and have more space around my desk.

I've got to go 20-25 feet. Everything is VGA, DVI and USB, including sound. I need 4 usb ports full time and preferably 2 more for extras. I don't know where to even begin looking for this. Will DVI and VGA go 25 feet without some sort of help? I'm fairly certain that USB won't without some kind of boost or a swap to ethernet inbetween. Do the ethernet USB extenders have any sort of lag issues?

First though, is locking your PC in a closet with no airflow a really good idea, considering it's going to be like 300 degrees in that bitch after a few hours?

# ? Apr 20, 2012 04:23

Hypnolobster: Apr 12, 2007; What this sausage party needs is a big dollop of ketchup! Too bad I didn't make any.

Ceros_X posted:

First though, is locking your PC in a closet with no airflow a really good idea, considering it's going to be like 300 degrees in that bitch after a few hours?

It's a big closet, it's got louvers on the doors and ambient temp going from ~70 to ~90 doesn't worry me too much. It's 90 degrees in here most of the summer anyway. I suppose if it's a problem, I have some big 12v fans that are quiet enough that I can use to circulate air in and out of the closet.

# ? Apr 20, 2012 04:27

Star War Sex Parrot: Oct 2, 2003

How the heck do you RMA a Sapphire graphics card:

quote:

Sapphire VGA products carry a 2 year warranty with all enquires carried out through your initial place of purchase. This can only be carried out by the original purchaser Please contact your Dealer/Reseller for Warranty / RMA service.

Amazon only does a 30 return window, and yet Sapphire says to go through the merchant? What the gently caress?

# ? Apr 22, 2012 00:07

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

Sapphiretech.com -> Support -> Support Ticket

# ? Apr 22, 2012 00:16

Star War Sex Parrot: Oct 2, 2003

Thanks. I made a ticket earlier today, but was discouraged when I read their warranty verbiage. I guess I'll wait for Sapphire's response.

# ? Apr 22, 2012 00:31

Star War Sex Parrot: Oct 2, 2003

Amazon got back to me first and said I could return it even though I've had it for over 3 months. I'll close the ticket, get my money back, then hunt for a GTX 680.

God I love Amazon so much.

# ? Apr 22, 2012 01:29

Chuu: Sep 11, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Dogen posted:

That is seriously one of the worst looking heatpipe coolers I have seen. drat. Is that an 80mm fan on there? No wonder it's loud.

It's probably designed for 1U servers where noise isn't an option. If it's as short as I think it is, it's actually really well designed if it can handle 130W TDP's.

# ? Apr 22, 2012 04:54

Chuu: Sep 11, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Ceros_X posted:

With Ivybridge coming out pretty soon I would hold off building a PC for a bit if I could at all help it.

I would consider going the other route. Many stores are having firesales on SB/Z68 combos. I believe you can get almost $100 an i5-2500K + Asus Z68 board from Microcenter right now. For pretty much everyone out there, they will not be able to tell the difference between SB and IB.

Check out the parts picking thread for more info.

# ? Apr 22, 2012 04:56

Experto Crede: Aug 19, 2008; Keep on Truckin'

Just got a new PC, and the onboard graphics are Intel HD, but I can't for the life of me find any mention on my system of whether it's HD 2000 or HD 3000. The Device id is 0102, however.

Anyone know how I can find out?

# ? Apr 22, 2012 17:11

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 01:46

Factory Factory: Mar 19, 2010; This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

What CPU is in the PC?

# ? Apr 22, 2012 17:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

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