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The Computer Question Thread


aznriptide859

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Laptops = no gfx upgrades but ram cpu and hdd / ssd can be upgraded to a point.

Ram is as simple as taking a cover off the bottom and putting a new stick or ram in, sometimes they also put a 2nd slot under the keyboard

SSD/HDD upgrade - again simple if you have done it before

CPU - once you find out what cpu options your modle had ie did you get the base version of the modle and there was others with a faster cpu then it's a case of getting on ebay and finding one that goes with the machine - my own way of upgrading would be ram first 4gig if possible then i would get a SSD then look at the cpu.

Overlocking, in laptops this is a bad idea so most don't allow you to.

< seems your laptop supports upto 8gig of DDR3 :D >

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=E642&Cat=RAM

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SSD: Samsung 840 Pro (if you can afford it). Hands down the best MLC SSD out there right now.

 

Got the 830 myself, it has been one of the best upgrades i have ever got for a machine - i had been running one in the laptop and saw how much of a improvement it made to that :)

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woo :D now to buy some ram!  lol. and i was hoping to be able to up the GFX as its an actual card as opposed to integrated chipsets.

 

The SSD upgrade is a bit on the expensive side but then they are putting the transfer kit in with it, my own choice if i was getting another SSD for the laptop is not less then a 256gb model.

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The SSD upgrade is a bit on the expensive side but then they are putting the transfer kit in with it, my own choice if i was getting another SSD for the laptop is not less then a 256gb model.

yeah i think ill leave that bit for now as i was looking to upgrade to save cash over buying a new one :P

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yeah i think ill leave that bit for now as i was looking to upgrade to save cash over buying a new one :P

 

The ssd is worth it though, it transforms a laptop - from cold boot to desktop in 20secs, or if it's been in sleep mode it on my old Dell D620 takes about 5secs to wake up, it makes the laptop more of a useable device / appliance (like a microwave etc push a button and it does something rather then having to wait)

 

If you get the modle number of the SSD i would check out a bunch of online stores to see if they have a better price on it (the M4 is one of the best SSD's on the market, very low failure rate compared to others and one of the best customer services i have ever used)

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Help me Arnie's.

 

I am about to throw my computer out of the window.

 

I have a RocketRAID 640 card hooked up to 4x1Tb drives

I also have an OCZ PCIe SSD that is basically a RAID 0 array of two small drives for performance

I have a 2.5" SSD in the case too, it is the only drive directly attached to the MoBo and it has the OS on it.

 

I am on Win 7 64 bit

 

I have 2xHD6950 cards flashed to HD6970 spec in crossfire.

 

I have a Phenom 6100.

 

 

Here is the issue.

Until recently I had my RocketRAID set up as 2x 1Tb RAID1 drives, so I had two mirrored 1Tb drives.

No problems at all.

 

I decided I would like a bit more performance and more space so I used the RocketRAID 640's ORLM (Online RAID Level Miration) system to convert all four drives into a single 3Tb RAID5 array.

Still no problems.

 

I rebooted.

 

Went through the 640's BIOS self test, good - found the 3Tb array.

Went through the OCZ's BIOS self test, good - zero defects.

 

Then, nothing. At this stage it usually says Loadin Operating System and goes about it's business. Nothing.

 

I am confused.

 

Power down, pop open the 4 hot swap enclosures on the front of the case, restart.

 

RAID BIOS says there is no array, Windows starts as normal.

 

Power off, drives back in, won't boot.

Drives out, will boot.

 

Put drives back in while windows is already running, PC detects new 3Tb drive and all is good. Everything works.

Flash latest MoBo BIOS, flash latest 640 firmware, run Gigabyte's 3Tb+ software (already did this aes ago but did it again, just in case).

 

Reboot, won't start.

 

Drives out, reboot, drives back in, all is good.

 

Break array down into 2x1.5Tb partitions, reboot, nothing.

 

Drives out, restart, drives in, windows detects 2x1.5Tb drives and all is good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please, somebody tell me what I am doing wrong before my computer lands on and kills a passer-by.

 

 

Did you fix this in the end ? (am guessing so due to the lenght of time)

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The ssd is worth it though, it transforms a laptop - from cold boot to desktop in 20secs, or if it's been in sleep mode it on my old Dell D620 takes about 5secs to wake up, it makes the laptop more of a useable device / appliance (like a microwave etc push a button and it does something rather then having to wait)

 

If you get the modle number of the SSD i would check out a bunch of online stores to see if they have a better price on it (the M4 is one of the best SSD's on the market, very low failure rate compared to others and one of the best customer services i have ever used)

this one mate? http://http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=9D51E8DAA5CA7304

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Amazon - £163 inc shipping  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004W2JL84

Dabs - £162 + shipping http://www.dabs.com/products/crucial-256gb-m4-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive--inc-transfer-kit--7GL7.html?src=2

 

Theres a few other places but thats just the bare drive

 

Suprised the price on this isn't better :s

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also as to the 8Gb Ram, what is a semi decent make? ive found 2x 4GB Corsair Vengance for £26?

EDIT: the 128Gb ones are like £30 :P

Cheers Apex. youve been amazingly Helpful. Drafted up a shopping list now :D

 

The kit i linked to for the SSD includes a data transfer kit so that you can clone your current HDD to it - think thats why they are charging a bit more - also 128gb will not last long, save and get the 256gb :)

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Did you fix this in the end ? (am guessing so due to the lenght of time)

 

 

Sort of.

 

I got another, even more expensive RAID card and that didn't work with my Linux dual boot.

I then gave my little brother all the RAID cards and plugged the drives into my motherboard.

 

It all works in Windows but not in Linux but at least it works.

 

Ask me about my even weirder problem, you'll love it.

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The kit i linked to for the SSD includes a data transfer kit so that you can clone your current HDD to it - think thats why they are charging a bit more - also 128gb will not last long, save and get the 256gb :)

 

Usually it's a good idea when you replace the main storage drive to just do a fresh clean install, then just transfer whatever important files/data manually.

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Usually it's a good idea when you replace the main storage drive to just do a fresh clean install, then just transfer whatever important files/data manually.

 

This is the case but without knowing the in and outs of the persons setup i went with a safe option.

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You can either burn that to a disk, use the Bootable USB tool and create a bootable/OS USB, then simply set your BIOS to boot from the USB port first so you can install the new OS.

 

I didn't have that problem on my current laptop since it still has a DVD drive, but I'm planning to replace the HDD in my incoming ASUS ultrabook with an SSD, so I might have problems with that lol.

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Microcenter has some combo deals, maybe I'll go check them and Fry's out this weekend instead of placing a massive Newegg order.  Have to pay sales tax either way, and maybe I'll see a case I like.  

 

Still planning on the i5 3570k and Asrock Z77 Extreme4, plus an 840 pro SSD.  

 

I'm still confused by modern RAM sizes; isn't 2x4GB plenty, or should I get a single 8GB stick in case I want to max it out someday?  

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't read all the 10 pages but i used the search function without any valid result.

So here i go.

 

When i play a skirmish, i film it with my gopro and a 32GB sd(hc) card.

No problems so far till now.

Last time when i put the sd-card in the card reader from my laptop it works like before.

When suddenly i get an error report when i had to choose to "fix the device" or something else, i choose to fix it.

After that, the card can't be seen in any card reader or camera.

But when the card shows up in my computer it showed as a fat 32 thing.

 

On a google search i found to check it with "manage" "my computer" and then using the disk management.

The card showed up 2 times (random).

On another google search i found someone telling to "exit the device safely" method and it can be fixed that way.

I did that the last time my laptop found the sd-card.

That was also the last time my laptop could find it, even though it was random.

 

Is there a fix for it?

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