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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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4. April 2011 @ 21:20 |
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Could you guys please elaborate? MP, i'm not familiar with that acronym :p Other than of course, megapixel...
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5. April 2011 @ 04:03 |
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Re VNC, it's what we use at work to get to a lot of our servers, quite a few user's machines, and all our foreign branches (across a VPN of course), and i use it at home (plus with my home being on VPN i can jump onto home machines from work, bonus). It's got a stealth mode apparently, where the person at the remote end won't know someone's controlling their machine, until the mouse mouse of course. I'll have to figure out how to use stealth as often when you jump on user's machines they try to boot you off, irritating (and strange being how you only jump on a user's machine if they have a problem!). I find it to be a great program, even on our most distant and slowest connections it works very well.
VNC works under linux also, certainly under Puppy linux, it's also nice when i'm not at my own branch to be able to VNC onto my works linux box as it has tons of monitoring sessions open 24/7, makes troubleshooting easier sometimes, stuff like figuring out why a branch has fallen off the grid or whatnot).
Remote Desktop is crap, quite frankly, i don't like the way it logs off the machine it hops onto, not good when it's one of your own machines and it blows away what was running. I might be wrong but i don't think there's a way around that, i found it easier to dump it and switch to VNC.
As to Norton, i've hated anything by them for years, i only ever liked PCTools up to i think v1.03 back in the days of floppy discs. Longtime user of AVG however i switched to Symantec Endpoint Protection. Works very well and is very lean - it has to be lean, we run across all branches on all manner of ancient (and modern) hardware. Over and above that, anyone that manages to invite viruses or malware in (it's usually staff member's relation's) we just use a combination of Malwarebytes, Spybot, Symantec and a couple rootkit detectors. And a Puppy linux live cd as a backup in case safe mode doesn't play ball, it's great for removing dodgy directories that don't always want to be exterminated in safe mode. We don't find a need for anything else really, but each to their own as i always say.
As to CPU temperatures, being as the weather's getting a bit milder now, my Q6600 hovers around the 70C mark (as i run Seti@Home & Milkyway whenever it's powered on). And that's with all the Antec 900's fans on full. I'll just shut down the crunching in the summer, the temps are higher than normal as i have to keep the front fan grills covered with a quite think mesh to keep cat's hairs out :)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 04:55
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 04:49 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Damn you russ, damn you! I had no idea it got that low. I probably would have pulled the money out of... Some place LOL! If it were more reasonable, I'd probably get it, but 200$ is very difficult right now. Even if I sold my 965, I'd have to cover nearly 100USD. Perhaps in a few weeks.
Oman7,
I did post the price when I bought it???
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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5. April 2011 @ 08:11 |
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Creaky,
I use VNC a fair amount of the time but I'm not sure what you mean by stealth mode? When I log onto a PC they don't have to approve me and if I don't move my mouse across their screen or try to open something they don't know that I'm hooked up, is that what you mean by stealth mode? I've looked at the Connection Options... and I don't really see any options to hide all of the remotes actions from the user client. There is a switch for tracking remote cursor locally and a View only (inputs ignored) but I haven't played with those and the later should do the same as I stated prior, at least I would think so?
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5. April 2011 @ 08:24 |
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Yeah if you don't move the mouse when connecting they probably won't notice that someone is connected. I'd heard of stealth mode but not actually looked into it, i only ever connect to user's machines for legitimate reasons so have no need for it :). I just cheated and googled for an example link
However i don't think that link is too accurate as whenever i connect to anything, the remote computer's wallpaper doesn't change, all that happens is a brief pause while the computers connect, the remote machine's VNC tray icon turns black (which most user probably wouldn't notice anyway). I haven't tried the method listed above, just going from the way my use of VNC works (which is obviously just the default setup)
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 08:51 |
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That's an old version of VNC the switches they talk about have been renamed and the icon is an eye not a V now. So what they are talking about is what I mentioned, you can connect without knowledge of the client and as long as you don't move your mouse around or try to open something they won't know you are monitoring what they are doing.
Like you I use mine more legitimately however there have been times that I don't want one of my family to know that I'm watching them when they are doing something wrong but don't know that they are, in fact say they never did that when I know too well they did! That is the only time I snoop and really have no need to do so other than in that situation.
One other thing though that can tip off the client, if they are using Win7 with Aero and their video card is barely good enough for Aero their Desktop my change from Aero to non-transparent due to performance issues. However the user might not relize that it is due to a remote connection.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 08:57
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Moderator
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5. April 2011 @ 08:59 |
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Interesting, I have no idea what the latest version is as ours works fine, we use v4.5, with this icon ~
Outside of server use we only really need to remote into user's machines at one particular branch as the machines there are either haunted, else most of the users there keep us busy with *cough* problems *cough* ie user error, bless 'em. It's always priceless to be on the phone to the user in question when they jump out of their skin when the PC starts doing thing 'by itself'.
edit- yeah, i forgot about Aero. Some of our users don't notice stuff like that popping up anyways, but i get your point.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 09:05
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 09:35 |
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Actually I prefer UltraVNC as it is a free version of VNC so that is why my icon is different than yours. LOL Oooops.... The features though are the same even though they may be tagged differently.
Funny...
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 10:41
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 10:37 |
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Sam,
I would have to take a picture of my TV as its dlna connection shows a real mess of choices but I have the same problem with the Billboards folder not being shared I've even split the folder and have gone straight to the Hot and Top sub-folders and still these don't show up in the share. Very odd???
Here is snap shots of my setup and I'm consistant in my approach so again it is baffling why Billboards are sharing.
Sources Folders
Sources Folders - Blues, Jazz & Soul
Sources Folders - Billboard Hot 100
Library - Folders (Hot 100 & Top 100 do show here but not in the shares)
Library - Custom Menus
Library - Active Menus
PC Flash
PC Flash - Folders
PC Player
PC Player - Folders PG1
PC Player - Folders PG2
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 10:44
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 10:58 |
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i use serviio and i use mezzmo, and personally i prefer mezzmo. It costs 30$ but well worth it. The interface is unmatched, and very useable. Connects to practically anything, even itunes playlists.
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 10:59
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 11:12 |
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I'll check that out, $30 for Mezzmo is not bad if it is a good interface and if it will work for just about anything, maybe I can eliminate the Samsung software as TVersity will show up on my Samsung BD Players but nothing will play through TVersity on them.
Thanks Shaffaaf,
Stevo
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 11:20 |
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i have a samsung C TV and C bluray player. works perfect. though once in a while it may say file unsupported for some MKVs and serviio will play them fine, but thats once in a while
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 11:43 |
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That's good to know as I have a couple of BD-C5500's and some day I'll upgrade my Sumsung Plasma's to a new dlna LED unit. Again having Mezzmo instead of TVersity and PC Share would be much better especially if the dlna interface is much simplier.
Again thanks,
Stevo
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 12:26 |
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yeah i hate PC share myself. give mezzmo trial, they have a free one for 15 days.
i have the C5550
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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5. April 2011 @ 16:46 |
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What's funny russ, is I probably acknowledged the price, and wished I had it. Now I could afford that price, but then I could not. So I disregarded it then. Selective memory :p
Everywhere I look now, is very close to 200$, if not more. And I refuse to buy used. A guy on ebay says he had liquid cooling with it, and saw temps around 55C. That doesn't seem right to me...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 18:05 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
What's funny russ, is I probably acknowledged the price, and wished I had it. Now I could afford that price, but then I could not. So I disregarded it then. Selective memory :p
Everywhere I look now, is very close to 200$, if not more. And I refuse to buy used. A guy on ebay says he had liquid cooling with it, and saw temps around 55C. That doesn't seem right to me...
Oman7,
He probably used way too much thermal paste, has totally inadequate case airflow, or is only using one fan instead of Push/Pull. He may also be using the Motherboard controller for the CPU fan, which is far too slow to react to the faster temperature changes of the CPU and makes the CPU run hotter, overall. I over pressure my case by roughly 30%, so there is never a shortage of adequate air supply to the Radiator or the PSU. I have about 123 cfm coming in, and about 85 cfm going out, between the two fans on the Coolit and the PSU. The vent holes in the back of the case and the CPU Air duct balancing everything, it seems to work real good! I had to cut all of the duct part off of the mount for the air duct, but it looks much nicer with the screws in place.
Buying one used is not a bad deal if the price is right, because you still have the full warranty, as AMD goes strictly by the date code on the CPU for the warranty, and is reasonably flexible in their warranty policy! Far more so than Intel! You only have to return the CPU, not the CPU cooler!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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5. April 2011 @ 18:12 |
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I'm kind of funny about used stuff. And since he indicated a rather unnerving temperature, I'd rather go with new. It's all good. I'm very patient russ. I have an unnatural amount of patience. You guys might think different, since sometimes I seem like I can't contain myself. I just get excited easily :p
I wonder if Newegg's "Price Alert" helps them decide prices at all. I told their software to notify me when it drops to 159.99. Perhaps in a week or two, maybe a month, I'll be able to buy one. Ultimately though, I'd like bulldozer. I wish they'd hurry up and get it out LOL! If bulldozer is even close to what I can imagine, I'll likely be set for at least 2 - 3 years.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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5. April 2011 @ 18:38 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
I'm kind of funny about used stuff. And since he indicated a rather unnerving temperature, I'd rather go with new. It's all good. I'm very patient russ. I have an unnatural amount of patience. You guys might think different, since sometimes I seem like I can't contain myself. I just get excited easily :p
I wonder if Newegg's "Price Alert" helps them decide prices at all. I told their software to notify me when it drops to 159.99. Perhaps in a week or two, maybe a month, I'll be able to buy one. Ultimately though, I'd like bulldozer. I wish they'd hurry up and get it out LOL! If bulldozer is even close to what I can imagine, I'll likely be set for at least 2 - 3 years.
Oman7,
Since the wafer yields have been so good with the Phenom IIs, I would doubt that the heat is related to any problem with the CPU. If I could buy one a few months old for the right price, I would do it. I just wanted you to be aware of AMD's very liberal Warranty policy and how easy it is to send one back for RMA!
My new PSU arrived this morning, and I'll install it tonight. The 135mm fan should make far less noise than a 120mm. 3 less cables to deal with and hide too!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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5. April 2011 @ 18:40 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs:
My new PSU arrived this morning, and I'll install it tonight. The 135mm fan should make far less noise than a 120mm. 3 less cables to deal with and hide too!
Russ
That's a very weak (and usually false) assumption.
It's all down to the manufacturer's choice of fan control parameters. OCZ aren't known for choosing them well, or even fitting fan controllers (GameXStream)
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. April 2011 @ 19:12 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Originally posted by theonejrs:
My new PSU arrived this morning, and I'll install it tonight. The 135mm fan should make far less noise than a 120mm. 3 less cables to deal with and hide too!
Russ
That's a very weak (and usually false) assumption.
It's all down to the manufacturer's choice of fan control parameters. OCZ aren't known for choosing them well, or even fitting fan controllers (GameXStream)
Sam,
I don't know about false assumptions, because I just tested it before I install it, and the fan is exceptionally quiet. Both the new 550FTY and the GameStream 700w do have fan controllers! Even when running the Custom Autocad software utilizing all 6 cores for 3-4 hours at a time, you can't hear it running when the speed increases in the GameStream 700! You can feel the difference in airflow coming out of the back of the 700 as the load increases and the fan speeds up though!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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5. April 2011 @ 21:26 |
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Yeah I can't say much against OCZ. In my own personal experience they're pretty good.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 21:55 |
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I can I have some high end OCZ RAM and I wouldn't buy it again plus after reading all of the bad stories about their SSD drives only supports my experience with them.
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Senior Member
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5. April 2011 @ 22:15 |
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And I've heard OCZ have bad PSU's but decent RAM. 99% of bad reviews I've heard about their SSD's have been written by people that admittedly either don't know how to follow directions to update firmware and/or treat them like a traditional hard disk. I havent had issues with either the vertex or the vertex2, so my bias makes me believe it.
I guess we all get our news from different places!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. April 2011 @ 22:20
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Senior Member
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6. April 2011 @ 02:47 |
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The SSD complaints I'm speaking of had nothing to do with morons it had to do with failure rates and at just over a year of use and at worst 37% of wear the SSD's were failing. This was a very common theme in the threads I researched. As for SSD's I'll probably buy Corsair or maybe even Intel even though they are hi-priced but will not buy OCZ even if they are supposed to be faster.
I won't buy their RAM again or at least for some time I'll buy Crucial before I'll buy OCZ. My RAM still works but it performs poorly compared to other RAM in its category so if I'm going to pay good money for RAM it will be with a better product. Their RAM sure looks pretty though and that is a major factor in today?s favor, iPod's anyone?
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AfterDawn Addict
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6. April 2011 @ 05:20 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
The SSD complaints I'm speaking of had nothing to do with morons it had to do with failure rates and at just over a year of use and at worst 37% of wear the SSD's were failing. This was a very common theme in the threads I researched. As for SSD's I'll probably buy Corsair or maybe even Intel even though they are hi-priced but will not buy OCZ even if they are supposed to be faster.
I won't buy their RAM again or at least for some time I'll buy Crucial before I'll buy OCZ. My RAM still works but it performs poorly compared to other RAM in its category so if I'm going to pay good money for RAM it will be with a better product. Their RAM sure looks pretty though and that is a major factor in today?s favor, iPod's anyone?
Mr-Movies,
This Crucial seems to be about the most reliable of all the major brands, and sells very well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348
Works with either Sata II or Sata III. At 140MB/s it doesn't have the fastest Write speed, but they seem to be very reliable compared to other brands.
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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