leo
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Post by leo on Jan 13, 2012 23:00:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2012 23:26:08 GMT
Leo At a glance, it looks fairly respectable. It would have been nice to have eSATA out, but at that price... Don't forget to factor in the cost of the OS.Does your existing PSU have mainly molex PSU connectors ? Most deals like that in Australia come with a case, PSU and preinstalled OS, so they should work straight from the box. Regards Alex
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 13, 2012 23:38:38 GMT
Alex, Thanks, theres so many options just not sure what I'm looking for.
I've got Win7 and Vista so presume I can install one of those ok? I've got quite a decent 650w modular psu with an assortment of leads with various connectors
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2012 23:54:44 GMT
Hi Leo I would use W7. It's better for audio too. Regards Alex P.S. If I disappear for a while, my Norton Security is soon about to expire, and a new copy has yet to arrive.I will be trialling the new highly rated K7 Ulktimate Security from Japan in the interim, if bloody Norton doesn't stuff me around. If all goes well, I will then be able to restart Norton when the package arrives.Frigging Norton, unlike others, shuts down completely on the expiry date, instead of just no new updates.
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Post by freddypipsqueek on Jan 14, 2012 0:15:13 GMT
Alex - Any reason you don't use Avast ? Leo - Easily quick enough. All of my kit is (min) 4 years old but I run SSD drives on them. If you have no intention of gaming I would drop the specs and look to pick up an SSD to speed up the boot up and app loading time. I have to say that I'm still Windows XP (and love it). Overclockers (Stoke on Trent) do a good line of bundles - see, www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-188-OK&groupid=43&catid=2047&subcat=
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 0:24:39 GMT
Freddy I changed from McAffee which was a real resource drainer to Norton after it received top marks in several local PC magazines. The Norton package I am waiting on is 3 User , and comes free with renewal to a local PC magazine subscription.Good enough reason to stick with Norton ? Alex
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 14, 2012 0:38:55 GMT
Alex, Norton gave me a lot of problems on the pc running Vista although to be fair a lot of things didn't run great with that OS , I ended up using Eset Nod32. Anyway hopefully yours goes ok, if you do try K7 let us know how you get on. Freddy, Thank you for the advice and link, I'll have a look at that now. I don't really bother with games although my son does, as long as it'll run world war craft he'll be happy Win7 was on the little netbook, the poor thing really struggled with it so I installed XP, it seems a lot better.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 1:50:43 GMT
Leo So far, so good. It all went smoothly and I saved Norton's User settings as per the prompt. Actually, with what I have seen so far , it seems very much like Norton to use. K7 claims to have >30% of the security market in Japan, so it should be pretty good ? Regards Alex
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Jan 14, 2012 9:37:57 GMT
I used to pay for anti virus software every year and tried several, Norton, McAfee etc. I think the last was Bit Defender and to be honest they were all resource hogs and when Bit Defender starting going screwy I uninstalled it and used Microsoft Security Essentials. I've been using it for a couple of years now without any incidents and I won't be paying for anti virus software again. If Microsoft Security Essentials starts messing about, there is other free anti virus software available and I'll try something else.
Leo, I have a similar set-up, Intel Core i5 2500K, 8GB ram and an Asus P8P67 PRO and I'm very pleased with it, it's fast and because it's an unlocked processor if you have a good CPU cooler you can overclock it. I managed to get mine from 3.3GHz to 5.0GHz, but backed it off a bit to 4.6. Having said that, because it has speed-step, unless you're doing something processor intensive, like video processing or gaming it clocks itself back to about 1.6GHz to save power.
If you're only browsing the web, e-mailing, word processing, listening to music etc. it's probably overkill and you probably wouldn't see much benefit over a lower priced Core i3 or possibly one of the AMD processors, but I don't know much about those.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 9:39:38 GMT
Leo, if you finally go for an SSD based PC don't forget to optimize Windows for it. From correctly aligning partitions (4K multiple), to diabling swap file if you have enough RAM for intended use, etc. The less you write to it the longer the life, newer SSD drives have very good life extending algorithms but still... There are many guides for SSD OS optimizing in the web.
For gaming a good discrete graphics card can be a must. Depending on game type and screen resolution the difference between integrated and mid/high end discrete can be huge (cost too).
For a general purpose PC a Core i3 2100 should be aplenty (or equivalent AMD, IMHO Intel's are better though costlier). If running 32bit OS (recommended for general purpose) the max. usable RAM would be aprox. 3.5GB so 2 x 2GB DIMMs would be enough. Most recent "brand" PCs come with 64bit OSs but, also IMHO, is waste and responds more to marketing hype than anything else. They have far more compatibilty issues with apps and drivers and not many advantages in every day use.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 9:57:47 GMT
Javier Also Auto Defragging should be turned off if using a SSD with Windows 7 Alex
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Post by freddypipsqueek on Jan 14, 2012 10:07:00 GMT
Having stuggled with 64 bit Vista I would also stay with a 32 Bit OS particularly if you have small (older) printers etc where there way not be 64 bits drivers.
Even if you only do internet surfing its worth paying for a good separate graphics card (£50 or so for a lowish Directx X Asus ATI card) - my main work machine has a Matrox Parhelia in it (10 years old, useless for games, but the best 2D image I've ever seen at high resolutions). The separate graphics will also sort out Warcraft. W7 does have better optimisation for SSD's, and it has Directx X, and with 4GB of ram, if you already have a 32bit copy of would go with it.
Sorry to be a bore but when looking at the motherboard get one which will allow the processor to be upgraded (e.g. i3 to i5 to i7); then if you want to speed it up the you can buy a new CPU and swap it out. By the time you do this the faster CPU will be half the price anyway.
My 2 main PCs are AMD but I tend to agree that Intel (and an Intel chipset motherboard) is always a safer bet and worth the extra £20 or so.
Alex - Avast is free and it happily runs in the background. I have it running on 8 PC's and its always worked without a hitch. I rate Norton with HP printer drivers; I always get the feeling their in control of my PC/life.
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Post by freddypipsqueek on Jan 14, 2012 10:09:02 GMT
Should have added this - Really like the ESI Juli@ soundcard I fitted recently. happy to pull it and send it to you if you want a try before you buy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 10:19:42 GMT
Freddy I said that to Norton Support recently when trying to stop the bloody program from doing "Idle Time" scans during slow ripping sessions or uploading .wav files where I didn't want any additional PC activity. These programmers need to get it through their thick skulls that they aren't the main event, but a necessary evil that should be unobtrusive and under complete operator control if need be,without being disabled.Just because there is no mouse or keyboard activity does not necessarily mean that the computer is idle. Alex
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 10:23:20 GMT
Should have added this - Really like the ESI Juli@ soundcard I fitted recently. happy to pull it and send it to you if you want a try before you buy. The Asus Xonar D2X and Essence are also good cards when using SPDIF instead of electrically noisy USB, as they use an additional Power supply feed.
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 14, 2012 12:52:21 GMT
If you are searching for a good and reliable antivirus solution for Windows, don't go for crap like Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee etc. There are much more reliable solutions around that don't load your PC unnecessary while offering still very good security. Below are my favourites. I can proof that these are superior to Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee etc. in side-to-side comparisons. We are currently replacing a former antivirus solution in our corporation with ESET and we did a lot of testing before we have choosen ESET. www.eset.com/If you want a good but free antivirus solution, have a look at AVIRA Free: www.avira.com/The commercial variant of AVIRA is even better (but not free). The biggest disadvantage of AVIRA Free is the periodical advertisement for the commercial version. If you can live with that, then you don't have to go for the commercial version unless you need some of the advantages the commerical version provides. ESET isn't well known, mostly because their main target marget is corporate/business. ESET is often used in very big installations with hundreds of PCs. We've used ESET so far with Windows Professional XP 32-bit and Windows 7 Professional in the 32- and 64-bit variants. Our Windows based servers (we have also Solaris and Linux servers) are using also ESET. Most of these servers are already virtualized on our VMware ESX cluster and are running Windows Server 2008 R2. At least one server is still running W2K3 R2 server. Almost all servers and clients that are still running Win XP, W2K3 R2 server and Win Vista will be migrated to Win7 or W2K8 R2 in the next few months. Some of the idots that did our job before we did it, have decided to go for Norman antivirus solutions which was a extremely bad decision for the corporation. They had a lot of virus infections even with the newest Norman solutions and current virus definitions. On top, Norman made working on some PCs almost impossible because it was slowing down the whole system - without protecting it really. Even Norton Anti-Virus is better than Norman...
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 14, 2012 13:12:25 GMT
650W is absolutely OVERKILL for a normal PC. Even if you have a CPU with high TDP (for example 130 or 140W TDP), a much smaller PSU will do the job easily. 650W are only necessary if you have also at least one very power hungry graphics cards that draws alone between 200 and 300W.
My newest PC is using a 380W PSU and is more powerful than most PCs we have discussed on the RG forum so far. It has still big reserves in the PSU departement and the box is already filled up with components (no slots free...). Quick specs: i5-2500K, 16GB RAM, ASRock Z68 Pro3-M motherboard, GeForce GT430 based graphics card, additional Gbit-Ethernet card, ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard and a PCI card (currently a M-Audio Revolution 7.1, but I've had also other expansion cards in that sold in the last few months, a Hifn based crypto accelerator with hardware RNG for example).
Sure, you can use 650W with a normal PC. That's not a problem. But it has only disadvantages compared with PSUs with an appropriate size: Bigger power consumption that will raise your electrical bill, higher thermal dissipation that has to be cooled additionally and/or will lower the lifespan of the components in your PC due to increased heat, often more noise because the cooling solution needs to be more powerful.
Bigger PSUs are not better in general. Only an appropriate sized PSU which has some reserves will give you optimal results.
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 14, 2012 13:29:17 GMT
Regarding the intel/AMD discussion:
Seen from a technical viewpoint, intel is superior at the moment. But there are other viewpoints: The price point of some AMD processors is very interesting, although they have usually a higher TDP compared to intel CPUs with similar performance. And with the Zacate/Brazos and Llano series, AMD is making business in a market segment where intel doesn't have to offer much at all. The integrated graphics of AMD processors is also more powerful compared to intel CPU graphics (thanks to the acquisition of ATI a few years ago).
I have mostly intel CPUs at home, but I really enjoy to have a choice and alternatives to intel CPUs. Some significant advantages in intel CPUs are also from AMD (think AMD64 aka x86-64 here).
AMD has suffered greatly in the financial department because of some dirty tricks from intel. Of course, this also had an influence on the technical development at AMD. Compared to the size of intel, AMD was always a dwarf (but a powerful "dwarf" if you ask me...). According to rumours, Apple was thinking of using AMD CPUs with integrated graphics for their recent MacBook Air. But AMD couldn't satisfy that big demand from Apple, they simply couldn't produce enough of these CPUs to be a reliable partner for Apple. Sometimes, live is hard and cruel...
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Crispy
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Post by Crispy on Jan 14, 2012 19:38:17 GMT
I have used the Free version of Avast anti virus for about 5 years now with absolutely no problems at all. It updates itself every time I log on and has saved my bacon a few times when surfing the net. I swear by it. www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download
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elysion
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Post by elysion on Jan 14, 2012 20:16:54 GMT
Personally, I don't know AVAST since I don't use it. I didn't have it in the crap solutions list. It's hard to beat Norton Anti-Virus, McAfee and Norman in the crap department. Seriously, AVAST is probably quite good for a free solution, although I'd prefer AVIRA (which I do know thouroughly). ESET plays in another league, but there's no free version. ESET isn't only for corporate users, it's also a good choice for home users. It's not widely known though. One of the advantages of ESET is that it is available for various platforms (Win/Mac/Linux and some mobile OS), but that's certainly not very important for someone with just one computer at home (regardless of the OS used). Both ESET and AVIRA don't slow down Windows computers very noticeable and the scanning results are very good. We had a quite big infection on multiple Windows computers last year (all equipped with the crappy Norman which I really hate). AVIRA did a very good job cleaning those infected computers, we've used the free Linux version of AVIRA on the "Desinfec't" CD from the German computer magazine "c't" for that. That incident gave me enough arguments for a real change at work. Things are much better know. The craptastic Norman antivirus solution was not our decision. Some of our predecessors on the same job did a lot of wrong things, Norman antivirus was just one of those problems.
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leo
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Post by leo on Jan 14, 2012 21:11:21 GMT
Big thanks guys, its much appreciated , plenty for me to digest The pc which died used a Q6600 cpu, MSI mobo, 4GB RAM, Geforce GTX460 Antec 650w modular psu. I'd like the replacement to be at least as quick, the above was a few years old now but it ran most things ok. I noticed though I spent far less time online since mainly using the Netbook and android phone . Regarding the antivirus after trying Norton, Kaspersky and ESET I liked ESET the best, it seemed most reliable and smooth with crappy Vista
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xerxes
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Post by xerxes on Jan 14, 2012 21:12:22 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 21:21:45 GMT
Javier Also Auto Defragging should be turned off if using a SSD with Windows 7 Alex Yep, there are many tweaks to apply, that is why I put the "etc" and recommended googleing for a complete guide. Many recent defragging apps are SSD aware and warn/ask the user before defragging SSD units, even free ones like Defraggler ( www.piriform.com) If the sound card is going to used as a PCIe to SPDIF bridge there would be no need to go for the D2X, a cheaper DX will do just as well at nearly half the cost. The D2X has a better analogue section but it would be wasted if using SPDIF only. BTW, I've read that Intel will be heavily promoting Thunderbolt this year and that we will soon see MoBos witch such ports appear in the market. Hopefully there will be manufacturers producing optical (glass not crappy plastic) ones so we can get fully isolated extremely high speed external devices. It would be the ideal connection for external DACs. At work we have been using Kaspersky for quite a few years and we are quite happy with it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 22:14:46 GMT
Javier I believe that part of the high performance of the more expensive cards via coax SPDIF may come down to the use of that additional power supply feed. Alex
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2012 22:22:17 GMT
Your views are at complete odds with those of the 3 local PC magazines that rated the vastly improved version of Norton as the best overall performer.My understanding is that McAfee is now also far less demanding on system resources. People need to take into account also, your absolute loathing of anything that has to do with Microsoft products. ;D
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