PC Tech Thread

Yep but I use Soluto to time it. It's quicker to desktop but the 50 seconds is when Soulto tells me everything has finished loading.

Its about 30 seconds to being able to get on-line.

My linux laptop boots in 3 seconds.

Not including BIOS, which takes about 25 seconds and would be the same with Windows.

I have an old XP installation which is on it's last legs. Would cloning the current installation to an SSD be a good temporary solution before upgrading?

Like this: http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/move-to-ssd-migrate-your-pc-to-solid-state-1148051

Is it really that simple? I just have too much software that would need licencing checks to be arsed to do it at the moment, and I'm going to get an SSD anyway.

I don't really understand the shrinking process. Is it temporary, or can you boot and use the shrunk install from the SSD? I've reduced my current install down to 160GB minimum. Better to spend double on a 256GB rather than shrink and benefit from the extra space on the upgrade?

Sorry to think aloud. Oh and my current MOBO does have SATA and eSATA

N66U waiting to be remotely exploited.

ftfy.

June 2013: http://threatpost.com/unpatched-vulnerabilities-disclosed-in-asus-home-routers/101317

Advice at the end of the article: Disable all uPNP-based services (including DLNA), disable all remote management features, change every password (to something non-dictionary and LONG).

Read the comments. That was patched shortly afterwards.

Bah, I forgot that scrolling below the fold doesn't have negative mental health implications this far away from the Daily Mail.

There's a tonne of other info about that compromise. I have no plans to utilise their AI whatever either. Plus, given the hackability of these units, they're more likely to have exploits found and published than most other units.

Better the devil you know, in effect.

Interesting idea, using your tablet or smart phone as an extra touchscreen for games or apps on the PC.

Power Grid

That's what I'm talking about!

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about your earlier post!

Presently I have a Zoostorm pc which I now want to upgrade to a gaming pc. I've selected some items that I thought would help me do so and would like some feedback please.

Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
CPU Intel Core i3 3220 Dual Core CPU: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
PSU OCZ OCZ-CXS500W-UK CoreXStream Series 500W Power Supply: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Do you think with these items, I could upgrade to a half decent gaming pc?

Hippy what's the benefit of the N66U? Why invest over a free router?

It's meant to be faster with greater range but I want to run OpenVPN on it so all my traffic is encrypted rather than me having to run a software VPN on each machine/device.

It's also something else to play with.

I got the N66U to run OpenVPN.

It's basically fast enough to not significantly degrade the internet when you're encrypting everything.

Holy smokes it gets hot though.

Big Dave - Any idea what your motherboard is? What's your overall budget?

I got the N66U to run OpenVPN.

It's basically fast enough to not significantly degrade the internet when you're encrypting everything.

Holy smokes it gets hot though.

That'll be the vast amount of porn you're steaming streaming.

Big Dave - Any idea what your motherboard is? What's your overall budget?

I have a Asus H61 motherboard.

Asus P8H61-MX USB3 Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel H61, DDR3, S-ATA 300, Micro ATX, PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0, Gigabit LAN, GPU Boost): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

It's not that great though.

I have a Asus H61 motherboard.

Asus P8H61-MX USB3 Motherboard (Socket 1155, Intel H61, DDR3, S-ATA 300, Micro ATX, PCI Express 3.0, USB 3.0, Gigabit LAN, GPU Boost): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

It's not that great though.

Really depend how much you want to spend and what games you want to play. What CPU do you have now?

This might be useful: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

Presently I have a Zoostorm pc which I now want to upgrade to a gaming pc. I've selected some items that I thought would help me do so and would like some feedback please.

Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
CPU Intel Core i3 3220 Dual Core CPU: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
PSU OCZ OCZ-CXS500W-UK CoreXStream Series 500W Power Supply: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Do you think with these items, I could upgrade to a half decent gaming pc?

Dave - I've just built a new mid-range gaming/workstation PC with the following base build:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-514-AS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-432-IN

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/amdradeongraphicscards/amdhd7850series/fx-785a-cnjc.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrives-internal/solidstate/128gbandabove/mz-7pd256bw.html

Compared to the previous build I had with a 3-generations-out-of-date CPU, an Ati 6850, and 6gb of ddr2 memory, this absolutely flies. It's silent, and doesn't show any signs of straining until I turn all settings on maximum on Rome 2. Boots to the desktop in roughly 12-13 seconds too... which is nice ;)

...and just to make the potential performance increase clearer:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=681

Not bad for a £120-130 upgrade

SJB,

Thanks for getting back to me. My budget is around £200 -250 for the upgrading. My cpu now is a intel celeron 2.4ghz, onboard graphics, 8gb DDR2 ram.

The 3220 looks like a good deal then as your current CPU would bottleneck any other upgrades. The GTX 650 looks like a good card for the price.

Is your PSU on the way out or are you just worried it is not beefy enough?

This is a good site for comparing prices and checking compatibility: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/

You might want to think about getting some ddr3 ram if you have any extra money, otherwise put any spare pounds into the best graphics card you can afford.

Just saw this if anyone is interested.

http://www.cclonline.com/product/78216/BX80616I3530/Processors/Intel-Core-i3-530-2-93GHz-Dual-Core-Processor/SPR0087/?siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-8mrSS9d85niMCmTuIUSTwA

^ That would be perfect for a HTPC...

I'm very tempted but must save money at the moment!