vesuvius27

Best of luck. Great stats. In your picture tab, try hitting enter between the image codes. The page expands a ton width wise when you open the tab, easier to only make viewers scroll in one direction.

More than likely, yes. The only thing it would increase the speed in is your internal network. So, if you stream video from one computer to the next inside your household, it may be worth it (Apple TV, for instance). If you need extra range, it may be worth it. But to get to the outside, your router isn't limiting your speeds.

Same concept. The connection can only go as fast as its weakest link. If somewhere along the way there is a slower connection, the data has to slow down as it passes through. The opposite end of the connection probably has a slower upload speed than your download speed. Kind of like pipes. If you have a small pipe leading into a big pipe, only so much water can pass in a given amount of time.

I have a Sony HDR-SR1 video camera. Recently, as I was adjusting it on its tri-pod, the little latch holding it in released, and it fell. It hit the concrete floor, and now the shutter won't close. It's in the open position, but I have no control over the shutter. Not only that, but the camera thinks the shutter is closed, so it keeps giving me a message that says the cover is closed. Any ideas?

The speed is also related to the upload speed of the person or server you are downloading from. If you are downloading from a very large site, such as Microsoft, they may be experiencing heavy volume and that divides the speed of their connection.

Well, I've trained a few skills. I did a bit of mining, and a bunch of cooking (I wonder why nobody uses trout to train to 99? :roll: ).

I got that, but how many do you have total?

If you don't already have a dedicated graphics card, it might be worth looking into. You can get an inexpensive graphics card for around $100, and it will increase performance over an integrated card. Drac, I have 2GB in my computer, but only because I got it at a time when 4GB was excessively expensive (I would have needed to get 2x2GB, I have a microATX board). I find it mostly sufficient, but I use Photoshop sparingly, and the extent of my gaming is Runescape. If he's going to be gaming and graphics editing, especially if it's in Photoshop, might be worth it to have 4GB. MrShiny, how many slots are currently filled in your PC? And, as far as hard drives go, you're probably better off upgrading, considering how much space many modern games and programs fill.

I'd say get as much as your mobo can hold, but no more than 4GB. RAM is cheap, no reason to not fill the computer to max capacity. As far as the hard drive, do you see yourself installing more programs in the near future? Personally, I think you're fine for now. When you get to about 10-15GB remaining, then you might want to look into an additional hard drive. Im pretty sure XP can only utilize 2-3 GB of RAM, so it would be pointless to get more. (I think.) You'd be wrong. XP utilizes over 3GB of RAM.

I'd say get as much as your mobo can hold, but no more than 4GB. RAM is cheap, no reason to not fill the computer to max capacity. As far as the hard drive, do you see yourself installing more programs in the near future? Personally, I think you're fine for now. When you get to about 10-15GB remaining, then you might want to look into an additional hard drive.

Coal.

What operating system do you run, and what is the total size of your hard drive?

Actually, I am no longer members. The only skill I have the bank slots and willpower to train is mining. Gettin awfully close to a level, though

That depends. If you're interested in top performance now and possibly low performance later, go with the higher end PC now. If you're looking for decent, consistent performance, get the $400 machine now and get another later. Keep in mind, if you do that, you can reuse some parts. IE, same case, same PSU (provided they don't die). Depending on the size of hard drive you get now, you may be safe using it again in a few years. A lot of it depends on how long you plan on using the high end machine. At the low end of your spectrum, if you use it for 3 years before buying another high end, get the high end PC. At the high end, if you use it for 7 years before allotting more cash for a new PC, you might be better off with the $400 machine.

In most, if not all, Linux distributions, you must enter the root password to access any significant changes. Viruses that destroy your files are boring. What's more interesting are the trojans that log your keystrokes. You don't need access to a root directory to run a program.

Macs can get viruses, too. The reason they're not as widespread is because fewer people use Macs. If the primary business computer was a Mac, millions of Mac users would have viruses. Their lack of widespread viruses is due to a lack of widespread use.

Not a rip-off. For three years ago, that's a pretty decent price for that machine. As OldJoe said, it's only more recently that good performance came relatively inexpensively.

I think WinRar can decompress almost every compression types as far I saw. I find it extremely fast and easy to use. WinRAR doesn't support gzip, tar or bzip2. 7zip is less bloated I found and doesn't bug you to buy it each time, because it's open soucre and therefore completely free. Drac, WinRAR handles all of those file types. http://www.rarlab.com/otherfmt.htm

Because their support sucks. What's even worse is that they send you these computers knowing the issues and then they give you blatantly incorrect fix dates. I was told that their ATI drivers would be updated in January, they still are not and I was experiencing the same issues the last time I touched that computer. What few problems I have had with Dell products (the laptop's max screen brightness running on battery is capped in the BIOS to prevent accidental battery drains, 5 min fix) have been addressed quickly, and to my complete satisfaction. I spent less than a minute waiting for a representative. Their support is fine.

I'm not used to AMD specs. Nor am I used to budget PCs. I usually prefer Intel CPUs. You win.

I have the 13" version of that laptop. Runs fine. Everyone gets so irritated by Dell.

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 2.9ghz $72.99 GPU- EVGA 8600GTS 256MB $54.99 RAM- Crucial 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $34.99 HD- Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM $49.99 CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $20.99 Mobo- MSI $49.99 CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99 OS- Microsoft XP OEM $89.99 Total Price: $410.92

Thanks everyone. I guess I probably should have said that I won't be gaming much, if at all, with the PC. Price is not the issue, either (buying prefab, all cost the same). I'm just looking for the best performance in using Photoshop, Flash, and movie playback. On a somewhat related note, what's the difference between a TN monitor and an IPS monitor. I'm looking at two monitors with the same size and almost the same price, one is TN and one is IPS. P.S. Hiya Drac. How is your new machine treating you?

Hello, I am going to be upgrading my computer. I am having a hard time selecting a video card. My choices are limited, so here they are: SLi, Dual nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB Obviously, ATI Radeon HD 4850 seems like a dumb choice when it's the same price as a 4870. I cannot select another card, so please restrict yourself to these choices.

Hey Drac. I like your build. I agree with the two drives, if duping a DVD it's much faster to put the original in the DVD drive and the disc to be copied in the second drive than it is to rip the DVD and then burn. Keep the big screen. I love my 22". Will they overclock the PC for you?