What order do you guys do your updates after a fresh os install? Anti-virus,windows updates, drivers, software (ie: firefox, java, flash, adobe), then image drive?

[Edited on May 16, 2012 at 11:52 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2012 11:51:24 PM

1) Drivers, one at a time, typically download latest from manufacturer's website in lieu of the CDs, occasionally have to install NIC driver from CD if Windows doesn't pick it up (rare)
2) AV, typically just download Microsoft Essentials
3) Windows Update (I try to use the latest install DVD w/ all the patches integrated, so updates are few)
4) Software
5) Install/Run Backup via WHS, don't image because things get outdated so quickly I find an image useless after 3-4 months.

[Edited on May 17, 2012 at 12:31 AM. Reason : .]

5/17/2012 12:30:03 AM

Truthfully the last couple times I Just let it sit and Windows does everything else. Don't think there was a single driver I had to install manually.

5/17/2012 10:59:40 AM

For gaming I'd always use the latest driver from AMD/NVidia over the Windows Update version. Even if you're not gaming, the driver usually has a bunch of stability fixes that you may not get with the last Windows Certified version.

Case in point, my 570GTX was crapping out (Drivers stopped working errors) on the default Windows Update version and just recently the 3/30 WHQL driver on NVidia's website fixed all my issues.

[Edited on May 17, 2012 at 11:30 AM. Reason : .]

5/17/2012 11:29:03 AM

Ah beta? Windows gives you the latest official driver but not the beta. I do typically update my video card drivers manually.

5/17/2012 11:30:10 AM

No not beta. Windows was giving me 285 or something from last October. This was Windows 7, not 8

[Edited on May 17, 2012 at 11:32 AM. Reason : .]

5/17/2012 11:31:22 AM

yeah tehy stopped putting the latest whql drivers from gpu makers on windows update for some reason (lazyness?).

5/17/2012 12:44:52 PM

Took me 2 hours to set everything up. Super fast! Boot sequence only 36 seconds. Yay

5/17/2012 2:25:16 PM

FYI:

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/nvidia-geforce-301.42-whql-drivers-released/

Some big performance improvements:



http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/enhance-diablo-iii-with-advanced-ambient-occlusion-shadowing/

[Edited on May 22, 2012 at 1:21 PM. Reason : s]

5/22/2012 1:00:38 PM

I had this in Entertainment Section since I was concerned about the 360 and a strict NAT. Does anyone here use a Netgear WNDR4500 router? How does it work with TWC and is it worth the money? I've got a couple of laptops, desktop PC and a 360 and PS3 that will connect to it.

5/29/2012 3:26:45 AM

I have an old gaming desktop built in 2005 that I am trying to resurrect to play Diablo III.

I am reformatting and installing Win 7. The graphics card I have is a 7800GT and I have 2GB of SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200). The processor is AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 2.4GHz Socket 939 single core.

I need to confirm that the processor can handle the game, but if it can and I can make one upgrade to my system (not looking to sink a lot of money in) I'm guessing I should upgrade the video card? My motherboard has two slots and I am just using one of them with the 7800GT. Anyone have any relatively cheap upgrade suggestions over the single 7800GT?

Depending on the price, I might be able to justify a new graphics card as well as another GB of ram. I just don't want to spend much just to play the game but I'm not going to build or buy a whole new computer just to play it either.

[Edited on May 30, 2012 at 9:50 PM. Reason : ]

5/30/2012 9:45:16 PM

^I wouldnt spend another penny upgrading that thing. 4GB of DDR3 costs 35-45 bucks max. You're better off playing DIII with that you have now and just saving for a new system down the road.

5/31/2012 2:04:56 AM

Yeah :/

I actually just bought a new Dell slimline desktop a couple years (2009ish) ago but I thought I was done playing PC games so while the processor is better than the old gaming PC and I have 4GB of RAM, the video card is a terrible on-board so I think it would probably be worse playing the game than this old computer with the 7800 GT. Hard to say though.

I guess a different option is checking into the video card upgrade options on the Dell. I don't know what kind of room it has for an external card though. Time to open the case I suppose.

[Edited on May 31, 2012 at 8:18 AM. Reason : ]

5/31/2012 8:17:05 AM

Found the specs on my Dell desktop from 2009 (different than the self-built gaming desktop from 2005):

Quote :

"Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz, 6M, 1333MHz FSB) 4GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHZ 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache Windows XP Pro Dell 20 inch Widescreen S2009Wb Full HD Flat Panel Monitor (I "upgraded" this a notch or two above the standard monitor that comes with the business models) 2 Year Warrant and 2 Year NBD On site service (obviously this drove the price up some but I hated not to have it) Video is integrated but oh well. "

The specs are actually better than I remember (I hardly use it at all because I usually just use my laptop around the house so I couldn't remember all the specs). I suppose if I could research some low-profile/half-height video cards to upgrade over the standard on-board this machine might be the way to go for me. I only say low-profile because this was a slim case series. I think it was a Vostro 420 maybe?

Perhaps this?
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-100323L/dp/B004XLPJOY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

[Edited on May 31, 2012 at 9:24 AM. Reason : ]

5/31/2012 9:02:19 AM

That will work as its better than the "recommended" hd4870 . Though I wouldnt pay more than $30 for it as it was that price on Monday. Well at least it still has a $20 rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?SID=Vx8VsqtgEeGiI0YgESSkWg6e5eb&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16814127611

5/31/2012 4:37:18 PM

so catleap q270 se 27" ips lcd is definitely worth the money. I managed to get an antiglare variant as well

6/2/2012 3:58:49 AM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-YAMAKASI-CATLEAP-Q270-SE-27-LED-2560X1440-WQHD-DVI-D-Dual-Computer-Monitor-/160787838426?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item256fb3b5da

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Perfect-Pixel-Yamakasi-Catleap-Q270-SE-27-LED-2560x1440-WQHD-S-IPS-Monitor-/130672996172?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item1e6cb7af4c

These?

6/2/2012 9:00:38 AM

ya
http://www.overclock.net/t/1225919/yamakasi-catleap-monitor-club/3700

6/2/2012 9:41:27 AM

^These panels are being sold by Microcenter now for $399. So if you want some piece of mind buying from a US B&M, there's finally an option for that.

I almost bit on one from Korea, but then I was gifted a 30incher at work

6/2/2012 2:21:58 PM

I bought mine with a 3 year squaretrade warranty and got it for $360 out the door after ebay bucks. It's the same LG panel in the ultrasharp and cinema display

6/2/2012 7:38:59 PM

i just ordered this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z33T1M/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

hardocp likes it...hoping its good. Kind of a lateral upgrade, but whatever

6/8/2012 12:25:10 PM

Good man. Got that 4GB vram.

6/8/2012 12:30:40 PM

Yea, I'm hoping it will be a benefit in Premiere.

I'm now selling 2 x Sapphire HD6950 Toxics. Bother are unlocked to 6970 BIOS. Asking $200 each if anyone is interested.

[Edited on June 8, 2012 at 1:57 PM. Reason : .]

6/8/2012 1:56:57 PM

Someone please convince me why I shouldn't purchase this today:


Asus VE248H Black 24" 2ms Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 10,000,000:1

$154.99 After $15.00 MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236102&nm_mc=EMC-EXPRESS060912&cm_mmc=EMC-EXPRESS060912-_-EMC-060912-Index-_-LCDMonitors-_-24236102-L02A


Seems like a helluva deal for a 2ms LED 24" monitor.

[Edited on June 9, 2012 at 5:16 AM. Reason : .]

6/9/2012 5:02:46 AM

it's a TN panel.
*convinced*

6/9/2012 10:01:05 AM

TNs great if you're gaming...

6/9/2012 2:58:42 PM

since there aren't really any compelling twitch games on the market, I'll take the extra 2ms hit and stay with IPS

6/9/2012 5:30:29 PM

So you've found an IPS 24" for $155?

6/9/2012 8:05:48 PM

he said convince him why not to get it, not convince him of a better deal available. I paid $120 for my 24" TN viewsonic panels. they do their job, but I wouldn't use one as my main panel

6/9/2012 8:33:16 PM

^ Convince me of a better deal or one I should consider

6/9/2012 8:36:28 PM

http://gizmodo.com/5920224/brilliant-spinning-heatsink-cools-cpus-30-times-more-efficiently

Neato.

6/21/2012 4:58:30 PM

^from the category of why didn't anyone think of that before

6/21/2012 5:13:31 PM

Seriously. I can't believe it's "30 times" more efficient. That's kind of vague. That would top water cooling and make you question why engineers haven't thought of this for server applications before.

[Edited on June 21, 2012 at 5:27 PM. Reason : s]

6/21/2012 5:23:46 PM

An air bearing seems more susceptible to catastrophic failure. One would think that they would have ironed that issue out though.

6/23/2012 3:16:58 PM

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG---23%26%2334%3B-Flat-Panel-LED-HD-Monitor/4880189.p?skuId=4880189&id=1218564864824

Looks like a pretty solid monitor for the price...

7/11/2012 8:34:34 PM

i'd buy those 24" playstation 3d monitors for $200. 120hz 1920x1080

7/11/2012 8:47:28 PM

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+Computer+Entertainment+America+-+PlayStation+3D+Display+Bundle/2891051.p?id=1218360683860&skuId=2891051

Backordered: Expected to ship within 7-30 days

7/11/2012 8:59:38 PM

Anyone wanna buy my MSI 580 3GB Lightning xtreme edition?

7/12/2012 10:34:38 AM

So here lately I've been having problems with games where they'll occasionally start up with an extremely low framerate. When this happens it is across all games, not isolated to any one particular game. The framerates are so low that all games are rendered unplayable. The only fix is to reboot the computer. Then it's usually good for several days worth of Sleep > Wake before it happens again.

This all started fairly recently, I don't remember this being an issue in the past. Any ideas as to what could be the cause? I'm currently on the most recent drivers (nVidia GTX 460) 301.42.

It has been almost exactly 3 years since I reformatted (Win 7 64 bit), maybe it's time to start fresh.

7/18/2012 9:40:10 AM

Could be a number of issues. Start by running this:

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

And checking both your vram and temps.

7/18/2012 9:49:06 AM

^^Since it's a 3 year old setup, when was the last time you cleaned the dust from your case/fans/heatsinks?

This could be an indicator that your CPU/GPU is overheating and being automatically underclocked to prevent damage. Get in there with a can of compressed air; make sure you clean the heatsink fins and fan blades. Obviously do this while the computer is off.

7/18/2012 9:59:39 AM

^^Thanks, I had a version that was 3 years old. Grabbed the new version and checked things out just to get the numbers when the system is operating as expected to have something to compare against when things go south.

I'm starting to think it may be fan/heat issue?

^It's been about a year since the last dusting. I'll have to do that today.

[Edited on July 18, 2012 at 10:02 AM. Reason : -]

7/18/2012 10:01:53 AM

Im gonna guess its a driver issue causing your gpu/ram clocks to be stuck in 2d mode after a wake event. Run GPUZ to check the clocks while in game.

7/18/2012 11:24:46 AM

Yeah, come to think of it I think all cases where I've seen this have been the first time I try to play a game after coming out of sleep mode. It's never, ever done this mid-game.

I'll also have to try restarting the nVidia display driver service the next time it happens.

7/18/2012 12:24:56 PM

I had a gtx 285 in a pc that seemingly died. The fan clicked when >80% speed, and every ~6hrs the pc would hard crash with a freeze and low buzzing sound. One day it just stopped working altogether, outputting nothing although the fan still ran. Throwing another gpu in everything booted right, but the 285 didn't post. So I shelved that back in april. I started it back up last Sunday because I forgot what was up with it and it's been running fine since then (with just the 285 in it), although the fan still clicks. So anyone know what's up with that? Maybe it's the mobo?

And then.. what's a good replacement for a 285 nowadays? Like the cheapest I can go for the same performance. What I use the pc for doesn't require a straight upgrade and i'd rather not spend $200. Needs to be nvidia for the cuda.

7/27/2012 7:11:56 AM

What would you spend? $200 is pretty low.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

Usually a pretty good break down of the best video cards for your money. You're probably looking at some variant of a 560.

[Edited on July 27, 2012 at 10:08 AM. Reason : s]

7/27/2012 10:01:09 AM

Graphics card got stuck again. The GPU core clock stays at 50MHz until a full reboot. Apparently others are having similar issues with the 301.42 drivers.

In my case I think VMs combined with remote desktop is triggering it.

8/2/2012 3:47:07 PM

mobo came in today. just put my new pc together. i got a 3770 i7, 32gb ram, 128gb ssd... also got 2gb 560ti, but i may need to upgrade that soonish.. maybe. this thing is blazing.

8/9/2012 9:35:37 PM

What is GPU worth, its about a year old?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130685

I plan on upgrading to this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809

8/16/2012 5:32:13 PM

A good condition 560 should be about $100 used.

Are you upgrading because you need a better frame rate or is it just a want?
I would think about going SLI 560s unless your hitting the 1Gb memory buffer.

8/17/2012 8:02:47 AM