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#119985 - 05/04/06 08:04 AM HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Joe Offline
SimHQ Technology Editor
SimHQ Veteran

Registered: 04/05/02
Posts: 16860
Loc: Bridgewater, NJ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
LCD Response Time is not the same as CRT Refresh Rate. LCD response time is a measure of how long it takes an LCD pixel to turn on or off; a 16ms or lower response time is good for gaming. The refresh rate on a CRT is a measure of how many times per second the entire image is redrawn on the monitor glass. For CRTs, the higher the refresh rate the better (to avoid flickering). For LCDs, a refresh rate of 60 Hz is recommended, and this value has no effect on the displayed image.

If you want to create a dual-boot system with Windows 98 and Windows XP, you must install Windows 98 first. Each OS must be installed on its own hard drive partition.

HARDWARE TROUBLESHOOTING & DIAGNOSTICS
Testing memory: Memtest86+
Testing CPU/memory stability: Prime95
Overall system evaluation: SiSoft SANDRA
CPU/memory/motherboard information: CPU-Z
System monitoring: Motherboard Monitor & SpeedFan
Power calculations: Overclockulator

Hard drive diagnostic utilities are available from your hard drive manufacturer's website.

To test your power supply (PSU), disconnect all connections to your computer hardware and use a paperclip to short the green pin on the 20/24-pin ATX connector to any black pin. This will start the power supply and turn its fan. It is not good for your power supply to retain this condition for a length of time, but it is good for a quick test.

Be aware that not all power supplies are created equal. Lesser-known and no-name brands will rarely supply their rated power.
Avoid PSUs from the following manufacturers: Deer, Allied, FoxConn, Powmax, Raidmax
Buy PSUs from the following manufacturers: Antec, PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, Sparkle, Fortron, Enermax, Tagan


BENCHMARKING
3DMark 2001
3DMark 2003
3DMark 2005
3DMark 2006
PCMark 2005
HDTach


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ALTERNATIVE BROWSING
FireFox
Opera

ANTI-SPYWARE / ANTI-VIRUS
Adaware SE Personal
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Windows Defender
Avast!
AVG
TrendMicro housecall (online scan)


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DEDICATED HARDWARE NEWS AND REVIEWS
Ars Technica
Anandtech
HardOCP
Tom\'s Hardware

DEDICATED HARDWARE FORUMS
HardOCP
Overclockers.com
Anandtech

BRAND_SPECIFIC FORUMS
Abit
DFI
MSI


BRICK & MORTAR HARDWARE LISTINGS
salescircular.com

ONLINE HARDWARE RETAILERS, US
Newegg
Directron
ZipZoomFly
MWave
TankGuys
HeatSink Factory
SV Compucycle
Sidewinder Computer Systems
SilenX
Azatek

ONLINE HARDWARE RETAILERS, UK
dabs
Komplett
Maplin
Micro Direct
PC World
Aria
Chillblast
Ebuyer
Kustom PCs
Misco
Overclock.co.uk
Over-clock.co.uk
Scan.co.uk
Tekheads
TheCoolingShop
Overclockers.co.uk

ONLINE HARDWARE RETAILERS, Canada
NCIX


BUILDING A NEW PC
Tom\'s Hardware building guide
Ars Technica Budget Box
Ars Technica "Hot Rod" (fast gaming rig)
Anandtech buyer\'s guide
Build Your Own PC
Silent PC review

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VIDEO CARD DRIVERS & UTILITIES
The Guru of 3D
Powerstrip
RivaTuner
nHancer (nVidia only)
Coolbits (nVidia only)
3D chipset specs

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dead pixel finder

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#119986 - 05/04/06 09:50 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Tristan Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 03/04/02
Posts: 1041
Loc: Chelsea, Michigan, USA
Wow! Great index; thanks, Joe.
_________________________
Anything can happen on the way to Leidsdorp.

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#119987 - 05/04/06 12:16 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Joe Offline
SimHQ Technology Editor
SimHQ Veteran

Registered: 04/05/02
Posts: 16860
Loc: Bridgewater, NJ
updated

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#119988 - 05/04/06 02:25 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Gatticus Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 08/06/05
Posts: 2894
Loc: Canada
ONLINE HARDWARE RETAILERS, Canada/US

http://www.ncix.com
_________________________
"Electronic music should have freed the masses from the limitations of fretboards and fixed-pitch instruments. But apparently some missed the memo..." --thegibsonian

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#119989 - 05/04/06 06:54 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
speedbump Offline
SimHQ Senior Member

Registered: 11/23/05
Posts: 5200
Loc: lost in East Texas
http://overclockulator.pimprig.com/
Overclockulator 1.36 for PSU calculations. Glad to see the new sticky, Joe.
_________________________
ASUS P5N-E SLI
E6300 Wolf @ 3.9Ghz with Ximatek HDT-S1283
A lot of noisy fans moving a lot of air
2x1GB DDR2 AxeRam
1x750 WD Black and 1 WD 1Tb Green
PNY 8800GT 512 OC to within an inch of it's life
Win XP

www.razzledazzleart.com

http://texascbx.blogspot.com/





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#119990 - 05/07/06 11:37 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
tankeriv Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 08/21/02
Posts: 3589
Loc: Holland
Some more links :

Guru3d.com many drivers, beta drivers and utillities for your graphics card

http://www.tweakers.net Dutch hardware site. (for the Dutch amongst us) (very comprehensive)
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specs: AMD Phenom II X4 965 3,4GHz, 8GB DDR3 Sapphire Radeon 4850X2 2GB, 2 x OZC Vertex Turbo 60GB (RAID 0), 2 x 73GB SCSI, 10K 2 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint

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#119991 - 05/08/06 04:35 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Mr B Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 12/22/01
Posts: 2285
The definitive graphics card specs page:
http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm

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#119992 - 05/08/06 05:15 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Revvin Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 04/12/00
Posts: 1612
Loc: United Kingdom
Overclockers.co.uk is a popular online shop here in the UK.
_________________________
Revvin
The CH Hangar - Profiles, news and help for CH users

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#119993 - 05/10/06 11:32 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Rilex Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 02/20/02
Posts: 2918
Loc: Washington
How can you leave out arstechnica.com ?!

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#119994 - 05/11/06 06:23 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS
Gatticus Offline
SimHQ Member

Registered: 08/06/05
Posts: 2894
Loc: Canada
For those wanting to build a quiet PC
http://www.silentpcreview.com/
_________________________
"Electronic music should have freed the masses from the limitations of fretboards and fixed-pitch instruments. But apparently some missed the memo..." --thegibsonian

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