[Maeva]

I have a low profile dell dimension C521 with 1gb of ram. I could do with another GB of ram as some tasks tend to hit swap. A flatmate has old ram from his macbook, but it looks as if the chip is half size. Would it work or not at all? (I am assuming not at all, but given that it is 4gb of ram it is worth checking imho).

The ram I have been given is: hynix - 2gb 2rx8 pc3 8500s

I don't know what is in my computer, but I could check. It is the ram that came with it as is. 2x512 "normal sized" sticks irrc.

[Dawn Farrell]

Oh and PLEASE, if you want us to "Build" you a PC, please indicate the following:
1.) your budget in your country's currency..........about 200-500$ US
2.) what country you reside if not listed in your avatar area.........United states
3.) pre-assembled PC? ...or can you build your own?...........prefer a pre-assembled
4.) what is needed other than the PC tower? Monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, Windows OS disc? All these can jack up the price........none except proably the a windows os disc
5.) product preferences, preferred seller, and intended aim ......... none

[candice keenan]

I'm interested in buying a new monitor. I'm looking to buy a 32' (can be bigger) and would prefer for it to be an LED. The price cannot exceed 400.00$. I am subscribed to Newegg's E-Blast deals and I've been seeing a lot of monitors on the market lately but I'm hoping to gain some insight on what I should be looking for when purchasing a monitor and possible suggestions.

[Channing]

I decided to hold off buying a GPU for my computer for a bit and I need to know: this time, for about 180 USD or a little more, what is the best card that i can get for gaming on my system. i was looking at the 550 ti, but reviews showed that it was being outpreformed by the gtx 470. For around that price, what is the most powerful thing I can get? it needs to last for awhile.

[Sara Lee]

So I'm having a bit of trouble with my PC... My computer will occasionally 'freeze' for a second, but start working again, and it seemingly happens randomly. I only notice this while I'm doing certain things. If I'm gaming, the game will stop for a second, but it's apparently still running, and so for the second or so my computer was frozen it'll play everything that happened between then and now really fast. It also happens during videos, it'll freeze for a second then jump ahead, and also when I scroll web pages it'll happen, or if I'm typing my text won't show up, but if I keep typing everything will appear a second later. Also, my computer will lag for a second if I close tabs or open/close programs. My cursor and sound still works, but my display freezes up. Never had this problem before with any of my computers. Any idea what's causing the problem?

It's been doing this for at least the past couple weeks, and it wasn't really a problem, but its getting progressively worse. I watched my processor usage, and it isn't spiking to 100% or anything, so it doesn't seem to be that.Watching it again, it'll randomly shoot up to around 30-40%, and that's when the problem occurs. Not sure what's causing that. Might run a virus scan...

[Nicola]

So I'm having a bit of trouble with my PC... My computer will occasionally 'freeze' for a second, but start working again, and it seemingly happens randomly. I only notice this while I'm doing certain things. If I'm gaming, the game will stop for a second, but it's apparently still running, and so for the second or so my computer was frozen it'll play everything that happened between then and now really fast. It also happens during videos, it'll freeze for a second then jump ahead, and also when I scroll web pages it'll happen, or if I'm typing my text won't show up, but if I keep typing everything will appear a second later. Also, my computer will lag for a second if I close tabs or open/close programs. My cursor and sound still works, but my display freezes up. Never had this problem before with any of my computers. Any idea what's causing the problem?

It's been doing this for at least the past couple weeks, and it wasn't really a problem, but its getting progressively worse. I watched my processor usage, and it isn't spiking to 100% or anything, so it doesn't seem to be that.Watching it again, it'll randomly shoot up to around 30-40%, and that's when the problem occurs. Not sure what's causing that. Might run a virus scan...

curious as to what your hard disk i/o is at those times, as it sounds like you're hitting a wall there more than anything to me. Either that or it's a power setting for the cpu/disk causing it to artificially cap or spin down at inopportune times.

Resource Monitor will give you all the information for HDD performance you need on Vista/Windows 7. It's not in XP AFAIK, but I'm sure there are alternatives probably from the hard drive manufacturer.

[Josh Dagreat]

Hey guys, Ill be building a new computer on boxing day (The day after Christmas here in Canada) and one of the major reasons i'm doing so is for skyrim. I want to make sure I can run it on ultra with some High-res texture mods as well. Here's what i'm planning, if anyone has any recommendations or tips that'd be awesome.

Intel Core i5-2500k Quad-Core (O.C'd)

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P ATX Intel Motherboard

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 RAM

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6970 Graphics card

SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC (SDD) (OS and a few things like skyrim, 1 or 2 often used apps)
-Sustained Sequential Read
Up to 500 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)
-Sustained Sequential Write
Up to 95 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)

Windows 7 home premium 64 bit

Full HD (1920x1080)

[Mizz.Jayy]

Hey guys, Ill be building a new computer on boxing day (The day after Christmas here in Canada) and one of the major reasons i'm doing so is for skyrim. I want to make sure I can run it on ultra with some High-res texture mods as well. Here's what i'm planning, if anyone has any recommendations or tips that'd be awesome.

Intel Core i5-2500k Quad-Core (O.C'd)

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P ATX Intel Motherboard

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 RAM

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6970 Graphics card

SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC (SDD) (OS and a few things like skyrim, 1 or 2 often used apps)
-Sustained Sequential Read
Up to 500 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)
-Sustained Sequential Write
Up to 95 MB/s (SATA 6Gb/s)

Windows 7 home premium 64 bit

Full HD (1920x1080)

PSU?

[Nathan Hunter]

Mighty BSF tech folks, I present a question to you:

If you were in a situation of needing to buy a laptop which would only be used to allow a 70 year old man to browse ebay and do banking what type of options would you consider? Cheap is good here, as long as it has reliable hardware things like storage aren't too important.

If it matters at all I will be visiting a best buy this friday.

[maria Dwyer]

Mighty BSF tech folks, I present a question to you:

If you were in a situation of needing to buy a laptop which would only be used to allow a 70 year old man to browse ebay and do banking what type of options would you consider? Cheap is good here, as long as it has reliable hardware things like storage aren't too important.

If it matters at all I will be visiting a best buy this friday.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Toshiba+-+Satellite+Laptop+/+AMD+E-Series+Processor+/+15.6%26%2334%3B+Display+/+4GB+Memory+-+Black/3438577.p?id=1218402124648&skuId=3438577 seems to be a solid choice if you are only going to use it for very basic things. It seems solid, it will work, but not do much else.

[Kill Bill]

Mighty BSF tech folks, I present a question to you:

If you were in a situation of needing to buy a laptop which would only be used to allow a 70 year old man to browse ebay and do banking what type of options would you consider? Cheap is good here, as long as it has reliable hardware things like storage aren't too important.

If it matters at all I will be visiting a best buy this friday.

Be careful letting anyone not tech savvy start throwing around credit card and personal info on the internet!

[Jason Wolf]

PSU?

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W High Performance Power Supply

[lucile]

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W High Performance Power Supply

Everything is in order, thats a hell of a build. Are you trying to fit everything youre doing on that SSD or do you have another HDD? I wont comment on the actual SSD, thats one thing I have no idea about.

Oh and youll want an aftermarket CPU cooler if you plan on OC'ing that i5.

[Pumpkin]

What would be a worthwhile upgrade from a GTS 250? Also considering I invested $130.00 into buying it a couple years back. I'm not really familiar with the ATi/AMD lineups, but I'm willing to get one if it's a worthwhile and cost effective upgrade.

[John Moore]

Everything is in order, thats a hell of a build. Are you trying to fit everything youre doing on that SSD or do you have another HDD? I wont comment on the actual SSD, thats one thing I have no idea about.

Oh and youll want an aftermarket CPU cooler if you plan on OC'ing that i5.

Thanks, that means a lot. I'm quite excited. I've been planning it on and off for a few months now. (You could say years, but then It never really stops when you look at it like that :tongue: ) Ill also be purchasing a 1TB Caviar blue for media and other games. I'm planning on buying a Corsair H80 if I can find one in Canada. Newegg.ca has it deactivated.

If your interested heres the rest of my planned build:

LIAN LI PC-A71F USB3.0 Black Computer Case

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse Black RF Wireless Mouse

Silverstone FP35B USB 2.0 Card Reader with extra silver front panel

Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800

Samsung PX2370 23" Widescreen LED-Backlit LCD Monitor (This is the monitor I really want. Not sure why Samsung ever discontinued it)

SAMSUNG 21 5IN BX2250 LCD LED Monitor 1920X1080 2M (One possible replacement)

[Kevin Jay]

What would be a worthwhile upgrade from a GTS 250? Also considering I invested $130.00 into buying it a couple years back. I'm not really familiar with the ATi/AMD lineups, but I'm willing to get one if it's a worthwhile and cost effective upgrade.

We need to know what current hardware you've got in your computer, it may not be worth anything if the rest of your computer is underperforming.

[Sheila Esmailka]

Be careful letting anyone not tech savvy start throwing around credit card and personal info on the internet!

He's been doing it for years. We've been over safety a thousand times and he really only does use ebay, his local bank's website and his email which is only used to confirm things from those two sites. Safety isn't an issue these days.

Thanks for the recommendation evilsqirrel, anyone else have any ideas? I'd be interested to see if there are any options that aren't a netbook in the $250< range that are worth considering.

[Amelia Pritchard]

We need to know what current hardware you've got in your computer, it may not be worth anything if the rest of your computer is underperforming.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz stock speeds
GPU: EVGA GTS 250 w/512MB DDR3 @ stock speeds
RAM: 2GB DDR2
DSP: Soundblaster Audigy 4
PSU: 550w Antec 30amp on +12v
OS: Windows XP SP3

[carly mcdonough]

He's been doing it for years. We've been over safety a thousand times and he really only does use ebay, his local bank's website and his email which is only used to confirm things from those two sites. Safety isn't an issue these days.

Thanks for the recommendation evilsqirrel, anyone else have any ideas? I'd be interested to see if there are any options that aren't a netbook in the $250< range that are worth considering.

Sorry, I was just thinking of my own grandparents, they could get into some trouble. :laugh:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93GHz stock speeds
GPU: EVGA GTS 250 w/512MB DDR3 @ stock speeds
RAM: 2GB DDR2
DSP: Soundblaster Audigy 4
PSU: 550w Antec 30amp on +12v
OS: Windows XP SP3

I'm going to let Tig (or someone else) swoop in, my knowledge of hardware is limited to newer stuff, but atleast he has the info he needs.

[remi lasisi]

My post kinda got in a swarm of questions and I was wondering if anyone knows a good deal for a nice graphics card for about 180 USD? I decided to hold off until black friday/cyber monday and does anybody have any good video cards? I would prefer an Nvidia card.

[Reven Lord]

My post kinda got in a swarm of questions and I was wondering if anyone knows a good deal for a nice graphics card for about 180 USD? I decided to hold off until black friday/cyber monday and does anybody have any good video cards? I would prefer an Nvidia card.

560Ti is roughly that price.

[Tha King o Geekz]

Processor - Intel Core i7 - 2.2 GHz
RAM - 8 GB
Discrete graphics adapter model GeForce GT 540M
Optical Drive - Blu-ray Player / DVD Rewriter
Operating System - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Display Resolution 1600 x 900 pixels

Need some desperado advice. Does this fail, or is it like, sorted?

I hope I get more of a response than the one in the Skyrim place did.

[teeny]

For Black Friday sales on Newegg, I'm looking at upgrading from my 4770 (Which is actually running much better than I thought it would). The two cards below are my top picks, I'm leaning towards the 560 since with the Black Friday deal it is only $180 and the 6950 is $230. My question is, would the performance of the 6950 be worth the extra $50? I have a 550w PSU and from asking on here before, I'm pretty confident that I can buy either without a PSU upgrade as well.

Plus, I've not heard much about Galaxy, the manufacturer of the 560. Is it a dependable brand? It's other cards get decent reviews on Newegg.

EDIT: Just saw that the 560 is only $180 after rebate... I have a rather bad taste in my mouth after my rebate with Antec took months to get back.

[R.I.p MOmmy]

For Black Friday sales on Newegg, I'm looking at upgrading from my 4770 (Which is actually running much better than I thought it would). The two cards below are my top picks, I'm leaning towards the 560 since with the Black Friday deal it is only $180 and the 6950 is $230. My question is, would the performance of the 6950 be worth the extra $50? I have a 550w PSU and from asking on here before, I'm pretty confident that I can buy either without a PSU upgrade as well.

Plus, I've not heard much about Galaxy, the manufacturer of the 560. Is it a dependable brand? It's other cards get decent reviews on Newegg.

EDIT: Just saw that the 560 is only $180 after rebate... I have a rather bad taste in my mouth after my rebate with Antec took months to get back.

I'd recommend the 560 Ti over the original 560, I saw one on Newegg for $219 from Gigabyte, and it came with a free game. The 560Ti and the 6950 are roughly the same card, they split wins across multiple games, so you can't go wrong with either one.

[Neliel Kudoh]

Processor: i5-2430M (2.4GHz/3MB Cache)
Ram: 8GB
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6650M (2GB Dedicated)
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray & DVDRW
Screen Size: 17.3"
Resolution: somethingx900 I think.

What do you think for playing like Skyrim?