Pc Tech Support

[FINDUS]

Wouldn't have thought it would have made that much of a difference if it installs.

Can you post a screenshot of the problem?

I HAVE FIXED IT

I have changed the settings in the game properties to make it an administrator and set the screen res to what it needs to be.

so far it works much better than on vista.

now another problem it wont let me do screenshots thanks manx for your help and now giving me a new problem to work out

[CurtisRider]

I have just been given a Dell XPS gaming pc, and i would like some help.

Firstly, how do i find out what spec it is? I have looked up about it and nothing seems to match up on the spec listings

It looks like this but with blue lights:

It says it has quad core 2.4ghz on the system information on control panel. It has a twin monitior graphics card (i run twn screen) but i cant seem to find what it is?

I have just given it a fresh install of 7, it all works smoothly and i like how silent the computer fans are whole new world compared to my previous machine! What i want to know is what to do about the ram. 1 stick was removed as it was faulty, i believe it was a 1 gig stick. I am left with 2x512 and 1x1 according to the crucial ram checker (i think this machine was supposed to come with 3 gig originally). I want to upgrade the computer to 4gig, as i found i use quite alot of the ram when using photoshop (at least i did on my previous 3 gig machine). Should i just buy a 2 gig stick, or am i better off having 4x1gig? Or 2x2gig even? I dont know if you are supposed to mix ram or not?

Thanks in advance for help

[Muel]

Run CPU-Z and it should tell you the whole spec.

[ZeroMatt]

Alternatively use PC Wizard for a simpler list.

[Muel]

Yeh that's a goodun, doesn't give you the clock speeds or memory timing or anything though, but is perfect if you just want the spec.

[CurtisRider]

Thanks for everybodys help turns out its a 630i. I upgraded the computer to 2x2gb ram, and will get the same again when i install a 64bit version of windows (32bit doesnt use over 3.5gb) also got myself a 1tb hd as a secondary drive just want to order a decent card reader to replace the redundant floppy drive. Computer should be all good for uni now really happy with it!

[Muel]

Forgive me if I've misread, but you've put 4gb in already and are planning to add another 4gb?

Is that really needed? I've been running 4gb of DDR3 at 1600mhz for nearly a year, and only hit the page file once. That was not fun waiting for it to sort itself out.

[CurtisRider]

I have had problems when running large files in photoshop, my previous 3gb ram on my laptop was certainly not enough. Seeing as my computer is capable of running 8gb, and rams not exactly expensive, i may as well upgrade

[Muel]

Not expensive? DDR2 then?

I've been thinking about going to 8gb, but I paid £53 for my first 4gb, and it's now £84. Ram prices are silly ATM for DDR3, because the ram chips themselves for most manufacturers are made by one company in taiwan, and they're pumping the the prices up because they're bastards.

Basically if you want 8gb and can get it now cheap, I would.

[haydon_peter]

Anyone got any experience with Solid State Drives?

Currently I am using XP Home on a 500gb Samsung SpinPoint Drive.

I have been considering upgrading to an Intel X25 40gb SSD and installing Windows 7 64bit onto it then using the 500gb Samsung HDD for media.

Worth it?

[Muel]

Not for the Intel ones IMO, 40gb and pretty low speeds, I'd get one of these, they're getting good reviews from everyone I've spoken to who has one, and it's not that much more than the Intel really, and you get 64gb and silly speeds.

I fancy a pair in RAID0, should be able to break 700mbps read speeds...

[Revolver]

They are still pretty small, and expensive.

[Muel]

They're insanely fast though. My HDDs give around 100mbps peal read speed, but it has to seek the data first and if you are accessing two things at once in different places, the arm has to seek and locate back and forth all the time between the two areas, so the speed drops massively.

SSDs don't have this problem, there's virtually no lag because there are no moving parts to seek and locate stuff or discs to spin up, so they can do their peak transfer speed all the time. Win.

I the real world, the different between SSD and HDD is pretty huge.

[weirdoku]

I miss floppy discs.

[Wrayvon]

I have 2 SSDs running in RAID0. 'Tis awesome Only problem is lack of TRIM in raid. But that doesn't bother me

[ZeroMatt]

Big vouch for the c300s, will see a pretty huge improvement over the F.

Got a pair in RAID0 myself and GC seems to be doing it's job just fine anyway.

Edited August 18, 2010 by ZeroMatt

[Muel]

Blimey, looks like I'm not the biggest nerd in the vacinity for once....

What kinda spec are you both running with them?

[Wrayvon]

Haha ssshhh its a secret!

Spec is:

Q9550 at 3.9ghz

Asus P5Q Pro

9800GT AMP

4GB OCZ Reaper running at 1200mhz ish (can't remember exact figure!)

Antec P182

x2 Samsung 2433bw

Think that's about it.

Annoying thing is, I don't really use it much at the moment as I work in Manchester and live in Leeds; So I'm staying with my gf during the week, i.e no PC.

[Daniel Gray]

Can someone tell me if i can run windows 7 64 bit if i am currently running windows vista 32bit? i am to the understanding that it may be slightly slower but can work?

thanks people.

[CriminalTrials.co.uk]

Can someone tell me if i can run windows 7 64 bit if i am currently running windows vista 32bit? i am to the understanding that it may be slightly slower but can work?

thanks people.

You will likely be able to run it fine, but what spec do you have? To be honest the main reason you would install a 64bit version of windows is to utilize 4gb or more of Ram, as 32bit systems will only use upto 3gb. So if you have more than 3gb then go for it and yes your system at that spec shouldnt have any problems, infact it may even be slightly more stable.

However, you will have to do a clean install, you cant upgrade from 32bit to 64bit without formatting. Also you are likely to find that some of your pc periphirals and software packages you currently use will no longer work on 64bit, so research it first, you may be lucky

But again you shouldnt worry about speed if your wanting to go to 64bit becuase the main reason for going to 64bit is to better utilize a higher spec pc, if you dont have a high spec pc dont bother with 64bit, simple.

Hope that helps.

Dan

[tubby]

Can someone tell me if i can run windows 7 64 bit if i am currently running windows vista 32bit? i am to the understanding that it may be slightly slower but can work?

thanks people.

If you use itunes I really wouldn't recommend it, alot of people are expericening compatibility issues with the 64-bit version of win7 and itunes. which is stupid considering the amount of people relying it on these days due to ipods, ipods etc. However the 32-bit version works fine with iunes.

If you're running >4Gb or ram I wouldn't bother really with 64-bit like the dude above said.

This might have been already said but I wouldn't worry about spec's if you're running Vista on your machine ok, win7 has lower spec requirements compared to Vista!

Edited August 18, 2010 by tubby

[Muel]

Q9550 at 3.9ghz

Asus P5Q Pro

9800GT AMP

4GB OCZ Reaper running at 1200mhz ish (can't remember exact figure!)

Antec P182

x2 Samsung 2433bw

Nay bad. I'm guessing I'll see a pretty good increase then going from my 2x F3 1tb setup then. (No raid).

AMD 965BE at stock. (Overclocked to the gills only takes it from 3.4ghz to 3.8ghz, so I didn't see the point given that it took a huge voltage boost to get it stable).

Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H (USB3 and SATA3, yay!)

4gb G.Skill DDR3 at 1333mhz. (Could run 1600, but makes very little difference on the Phenom 2s as the memory controller is locked at 1333).

Powercolor ATI 5830 (crossfire at some point).

Hannspree 28" and an LG 22". (Keeping an eye out for another 22" cheap to go on the other side of the 28").

Antec 300 at the moment, I want a Haf X but can't really justify it...

---------

Just to add to the discussion above, unless you're running a quad core with 4gb of ram or higher, I'd stick with 32bit. A Dual core with 2gb of ram will perform about the same with 64bit and 32bit.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Muel

[Wrayvon]

Nay bad. I'm guessing I'll see a pretty good increase then going from my 2x F3 1tb setup then. (No raid).

AMD 965BE at stock. (Overclocked to the gills only takes it from 3.4ghz to 3.8ghz, so I didn't see the point given that it took a huge voltage boost to get it stable).

Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H (USB3 and SATA3, yay!)

4gb G.Skill DDR3 at 1333mhz. (Could run 1600, but makes very little difference on the Phenom 2s as the memory controller is locked at 1333).

Powercolor ATI 5830 (crossfire at some point).

Hannspree 28" and an LG 22". (Keeping an eye out for another 22" cheap to go on the other side of the 28").

Antec 300 at the moment, I want a Haf X but can't really justify it...

---------

Just to add to the discussion above, unless you're running a quad core with 4gb of ram or higher, I'd stick with 32bit. A Dual core with 2gb of ram will perform about the same with 64bit and 32bit.

Definitely! The speed increase I had was insane. It takes less than 2 seconds to open Photoshop CS4 now. Its very impressive! I switched from a WD Black to this raid setup. Lovely

Nice looking spec I would upgrade mine quite a bit now if I actually used it... But since I'm not at the moment, I shall leave it!

[Muel]

I'd stick with your spec until 2011 at least, new sockets on the way from AMD and Intel. ATI 6 series is on the way too.

[weirdoku]

If you use itunes I really wouldn't recommend it, alot of people are expericening compatibility issues with the 64-bit version of win7 and itunes. which is stupid considering the amount of people relying it on these days due to ipods, ipods etc. However the 32-bit version works fine with iunes.

If you're running >4Gb or ram I wouldn't bother really with 64-bit like the dude above said.

This might have been already said but I wouldn't worry about spec's if you're running Vista on your machine ok, win7 has lower spec requirements compared to Vista!

Ahh... what compatibility issues?? I using 64bit W7 and itunes and I have NO problems. My iphone and shuffle syncs fine with it. There's a 64bit version of itunes you know.

And to Daniel Gray, W7 is definitely an improvement over Vista. If you can run Vista you should be able to run W7 just fine. If you want to use the 64bit version of W7, your processor has to be a 64bit for it to work, I've tried installing it on a 32bit processor laptop, doesn't let you install it at all.