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  1. Mercutio

    Affordable graphics cards

    I suspect that the generic target for all of that boils down to acceptable performance in WoW, which has low poly-count models and textures that scale to look decent at pretty much any resolution. On an Intel IGP, you play at 800x600 and on AMD's you can probably manage 1280x1024 or 1280x768 or...
  2. Mercutio

    Vista hangs on shutdown/restart

    Which, I note, doesn't even support HDMI.
  3. Mercutio

    Affordable graphics cards

    The Radeon 4250 is a common IGP with a fill rate of 2240MPixels/sec and 8.53GB/sec or 11.2 GB/sec memory bandwidth. The 5240 offers a fill rate of 5400MPixels/sec and 6.4GB/sec or 12.8GB/sec memory bandwidth. I'd say there's not much difference from one to the other. For comparison, Intel's...
  4. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Walking Dead's season is only six episodes long. Dammit.
  5. Mercutio

    Vista hangs on shutdown/restart

    They make hand held video cameras, webcams, PMPs and they still make sound cards. Auzentech licenses some-or-other IP from them so they can claim full X-Fi compatibility with their high end sound cards, too.
  6. Mercutio

    Fanless power supply.

    I can certainly understand the desire for a certain threshold of quiet, but after a certain point there's not much to be done. The difference between a 120mm fan spinning at 800rpm and no fan at all is low enough that I can barely tell, and that's on a computer that's right next to my head...
  7. Mercutio

    Fanless power supply.

    I noticed that the PSU in the PC next my bed no longer has an operating fan. It's a simple 500W Antec Earthwatts. That machine is an i7 with seven 1TB drives and my old 8800GTX. I'm pretty sure that PSU is out of warranty, so now I'm curious to see how long it will operate without that fan running.
  8. Mercutio

    Affordable graphics cards

    The key part of Buck's statement is "feel like an IGP." AMD's low-end discrete cards are more or less the same hardware they build in to their chipsets and nvidia's aren't any better. On the other hand, I'm not sure that I care. A Radeon 4350 or Geforce 9400 is respectable enough for business...
  9. Mercutio

    Windows 7 nonsense

    I don't think I'd waste a Windows 7 license on a system that old, Adcadet. You're talking about tying the software to a motherboard with uncertain reliability going forward. That board is four or five years old. It's not going to live forever.
  10. Mercutio

    Vista hangs on shutdown/restart

    The good news is that Creative Labs has been relegated to obscurity and will soon be sold to serve as a brand name for some-or-other line of personal music players.
  11. Mercutio

    Windows Update

    Home systems get updated when I feel like doing it. Machines that are expected to work get updates in the wee small hours on Friday, because that gives me some time to find out if there's an issue with an update, to go out and fix something that's broken from an update, or for office workers to...
  12. Mercutio

    Desktop Case

    Silverstone has a couple very nice cases that are designed for HTPC applications. Look at the LaScala series.
  13. Mercutio

    Samsung 2 TB, eco-5400 rpm

    I have three newegg accounts. I could've gotten 15 drives. The other option I'm considering at this point is just getting an LTO changer. I've been thinking about doing that for almost a year anyway.
  14. Mercutio

    Samsung 2 TB, eco-5400 rpm

    "This code has already been redeemed."
  15. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Well, yeah. Also, I'm told that the correct term for the sport you're discussing is "Armored American Wankball." But that's neither here nor there. In closing, there is nothing on this earth so capable of depressing the shit out of a guy as not being able to find anybody to talk to on a...
  16. Mercutio

    Affordable graphics cards

    Also, this is a post from Buck! Hi Buck! I think I'd move up one little step to the 5670, for the slightly newer core and better support for video decoding.
  17. Mercutio

    Affordable graphics cards

    I should be getting a 6870 tomorrow. It's going right in a build but I'm interested in seeing how it compares vs. my 5870 for City of Heroes.
  18. Mercutio

    Fanless power supply.

    That seems awfully rich just to get some extra ventilation and some extra copper and/or aluminum on the inside.
  19. Mercutio

    Fusion power and peak oil

    Step 1: Construct a Dyson Sphere...
  20. Mercutio

    When to Build New System

    It's more of an art than a science, Lunar. It depends a lot on the specifics of your hardware. You just have to screw around with settings until you get something that works to an acceptable degree.
  21. Mercutio

    Something Random

    That's more or less the same configuration I'm contemplating, though in the interim I think I'm going to be deleting some data.
  22. Mercutio

    Something Random

    There are a number of posts on other tech forums about 5400rpm drives dropping out of arrays. I don't really want to invest in eight or 10 drives if they're going to do that.
  23. Mercutio

    Weird free space problem with 2TB drive

    That's probably not turned on.
  24. Mercutio

    3TB HD from WD

    They're available but they're not cheap. The better news is that a supply of newer cards might mean lower prices on Perc6s.
  25. Mercutio

    Something Random

    As near as I can tell, neither Seagate nor Samsung 5400rpm 2TB drives work well for RAID5/6 applications. I can expand storage on two of my storage servers by adding 1TB drives but that seems slightly less than optimal. My other option is to use 2TB 7200rpm drives, but they're more than three...
  26. Mercutio

    Fusion power and peak oil

    The problem is, fresh water isn't where it needs to be. We're not going to run out, but going forward we're going to see logistical nightmares from population centers lacking the water they need. Bad things will come of this.
  27. Mercutio

    When to Build New System

    Corsair PSUs are OEM'd from Seasonic. Everyone knew that, right? Besides being cheaper, Corsair bothers to certify their products for exotic video card configurations. I'm sure the Seasonic originals are just as capable, but they don't show up on ATI's HCL list for triple crossfire or whatever.
  28. Mercutio

    Technet Advice

    Can you possibly import your documents into Office Live?
  29. Mercutio

    Technet Advice

    My Academic Alliance sub, while I had one (it ended back in May), worked more or less just like any other Technet sub. I had a slightly different entry portal to my product keys and stuff but I had access to the same products and codes. Maybe your university's agreement with Microsoft is...
  30. Mercutio

    Windows 7 nonsense

    Again, it's one of those things I wouldn't expect a new Win7 user to know. I'd rather have a button that always does a predictable thing. The Back button is also problematic in that respect if you don't understand the filesystem.
  31. Mercutio

    Something Random

    maybe
  32. Mercutio

    Windows 7 nonsense

    The UI is inconsistent. Sometimes it's breadcrumbs, sometimes it's the pathname as a chunk of text. This is obnoxious when trying to talk someone through things on the phone or instruct them in class, particularly for people who don't grasp the concept of nested folders.
  33. Mercutio

    Something Random

    The first episode matches up with the first issue of the comic almost exactly. There are 75 issues of the comic. One of the things that's different about the Walking Dead is that it's character driven. It's not about the zombies. It's not about the apocalypse. It's about what happens after. The...
  34. Mercutio

    Fusion power and peak oil

    We're going to be fighting wars over drinkable water soon enough.
  35. Mercutio

    Something Random

    5GB is average but I just looked and yesterday it was 44GB and the day before it was 31GB. So I might be low-balling things a little.
  36. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Average is probably 5GB a day. Beginnings of new months throw the average way, way off for a variety of reasons. But now I'm going to have to figure out which 2TB drives play best with SoftRAID, because I know for sure that Seagate and Samsung 5400rpm drives both cause more problems than they...
  37. Mercutio

    Windows 7 nonsense

    Small icon view in control panel is very useful, and for some people it may just be easier to search for the stuff you want than to navigate. I like the ease of customizing my favorite folders but I miss the Up button terribly. Still, I'm not a big fan of UI mods; I don't want to get used to...
  38. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I've had it for about a week and a half and I downloaded the 2GB HD version last night for watching when I get home. I'm a big fan of the comic. My copy of the volume 1 hardcover was signed by Kirkman, Moore and Adlard. Chicago's Comic Con this year was held at the same time as a nation of...
  39. Mercutio

    PC Gaming = World of Suck

    You are missing out on something absolutely fantastic. Though I am kind of impressed that you've held on to boxed software this long.
  40. Mercutio

    Technet Advice

    Two for each, if not 10 (all mine are 10). And International variants sometimes count as unique; Windows 7 "N" has different keys from the standard products.
  41. Mercutio

    Technet Advice

    Technically, yes he is, but the product keys really do continue working, just as ddrueding said. My standard practice is to go ahead and claim all the product keys when I get the sub, then dump them on a web site I have access to. I download new .iso files as they become available, and I use...
  42. Mercutio

    Blu-Ray Burners?

    I'd have to need to do that repeatedly before I'd seriously consider the discs to the disk. A 500GB 2.5" drive costs around $50 right now and can probably be shipped for $7 or so.
  43. Mercutio

    WTB: Windows XP x64

    As I understand it, the licenses can be used for educational or demonstration purposes. The language doesn't specify the amount of time a pre-sales demo can last though.
  44. Mercutio

    When to Build New System

    The one in my living room just has three ethernet cables and one power cable coming out of it. Nothing in there needs a display, but there's a KVM in there if I really need to mess with something. I'd set the monitor on top of the machine, do what I need to do and then put the monitor back where...
  45. Mercutio

    Dell OEM ISO

    Unfortunately, I'm not where those discs are today so I'll have to get back to you.
  46. Mercutio

    Blu-Ray Burners?

    For $60, a 1TB hard drive makes a lot more sense. I just don't see an application for BD burners.
  47. Mercutio

    What on earth is a 'Hairy Aussie'?

    I think it's the thing that comes before Fixture.
  48. Mercutio

    Dell OEM ISO

    Actually it looks like my discs top out at SP2. Which is weird 'cause the last notebook I got with discs I purchased less than a year ago.
  49. Mercutio

    Dell OEM ISO

    Home or Pro?
  50. Mercutio

    When to Build New System

    Mine just has a lamp on top of it. And usually a cat. And my rack systems really are not loud.
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