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#119985 - 05/04/06 03:04 PM HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Joe Offline
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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


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ALTERNATIVE BROWSING
FireFox
Opera

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


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


dead pixel finder

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#119986 - 05/04/06 04:50 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Tristan Offline
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Wow! Great index; thanks, Joe.


Anything can happen on the way to Leidsdorp.
#119987 - 05/04/06 07:16 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Joe Offline
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Joe  Offline
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updated

#119988 - 05/04/06 09:25 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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Gatticus  Offline
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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
#119989 - 05/05/06 01:54 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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speedbump Offline
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Edgewood TX
http://overclockulator.pimprig.com/
Overclockulator 1.36 for PSU calculations. Glad to see the new sticky, Joe.

#119990 - 05/07/06 06:37 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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tankeriv Offline
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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)


specs: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3,2GHz, 16GB DDR3 2 x XFX Radeon 6870 2GB Crossfire, OZC Vertex 2 120GB, 2 x 2TB Samsung Spinpoint 7200RPm
#119991 - 05/08/06 11:35 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Mr B Offline
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The definitive graphics card specs page:
http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm

#119992 - 05/08/06 12:15 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Revvin Offline
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Overclockers.co.uk is a popular online shop here in the UK.

#119993 - 05/10/06 06:32 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Rilex Offline
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Rilex  Offline
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How can you leave out arstechnica.com ?!

#119994 - 05/11/06 01:23 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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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
#119995 - 05/13/06 09:01 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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Gatticus  Offline
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Canada
Quote:
Originally posted by Mr B:
The definitive graphics card specs page:
http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm
That's a handy list and I have seen it before but the guy has got it wrong here.

# Radeon X1900 XTX
# GF 7900 GTX

The X1900XTX is slightly faster than the 7900GTX.


"Electronic music should have freed the masses from the limitations of fretboards and fixed-pitch instruments. But apparently some missed the memo..." --thegibsonian
#119996 - 05/20/06 10:28 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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speedbump Offline
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Dead pixel finder, works great.
http://www.astris.com/dpl/

#119997 - 06/05/06 01:33 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Stormtrooper Offline
Lifer
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Yeah awesome idea Joe.

#119998 - 06/07/06 04:59 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Haggart Offline
I Fought Diablo
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The Lone Star State
I downloaded speedfan to my old Dell Pent II and got a temperature reading of 4 celsius (40 degrees)



"everything lives by a law, a central balance sustains all"
#119999 - 07/04/06 04:09 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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This thread was showing 13 replies so had to make it 14 as 13 is just unlucky. \:\)

Here's how to get a 3D desktop running in Ubuntu Dapper on Nvidia cards for those interested.

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper#How_to_install_Xgl.2FCompiz_.28Nvidia.29


"Electronic music should have freed the masses from the limitations of fretboards and fixed-pitch instruments. But apparently some missed the memo..." --thegibsonian
#120000 - 07/24/06 11:12 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Davros Offline
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ps: how about a list of free firewalls ?


SimHq's Resident Gaming God
#120001 - 08/22/06 02:32 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Joe Offline
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Joe  Offline
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Bridgewater, NJ
updated (sorry for the long delay)

#120002 - 08/22/06 02:44 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Davros Offline
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heres a free firewall
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
+ of course everyone knows about zonealarm


SimHq's Resident Gaming God
#120003 - 09/07/06 08:27 PM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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Gatticus  Offline
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Canada
Here's another free firewall. You get full version for 30days then it downgrades to free version if you don't buy it.


http://www.kerio.com/kwf_home.html

This one is more than just a firewall, it's more like a net nanny with firewall.

http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm

This one is free but can be a bit daunting to set up.

http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/download.php


"Electronic music should have freed the masses from the limitations of fretboards and fixed-pitch instruments. But apparently some missed the memo..." --thegibsonian
#120004 - 09/10/06 03:26 AM Re: HARDWARE / SOFTWARE FAQ and USEFUL LINKS  
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Gatticus Offline
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Gatticus  Offline
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Canada
Buyers Guide For PC Systems

This list is updated every month and has three levels of systems. Budget Box, Hot Rod and God Box.

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-guide-200608.ars


"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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