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Hi, gang. Built two new PCs, one big productivity box and one back-up/gaming box. Existing PCs (to be replaced) are 8 years old and have been performing flawlessly. The productivity PC has been powered for 8+ years continuously (4770K on Asus Z87-A). New productivity box: Non-OC Ryzen 7 5800X...

Hi, gang, My main productivity PC has been running flawlessly for 5+ years. It's a 4770k clocked at 3.8 GHz on a Z87-A MB with 32 GB DDR3, an old Samsung SSD that boots Win 8.1 (presently) and a bunch of SATA hard drives. The base PC really only hosts a bunch of VMWare virtual PCs that have...

Back in the day I seem to remember a software package -- maybe Disk Keeper or something similar -- that purported to maintain data and drive integrity on conventional storage drives. As I recall, it would periodically move a chunk of data, clean the data blocks, refresh the formatting tracks on...

Hi, gang, One of my 3-TB Seagate Constellation drives seems to work fine, doesn't throw errors, etc, but it's reluctant to spin up when first inserted into its Icy Dock. I have to eject and insert it several times, and after doing so, it powers up, works fine, tests fine, etc. If I eject it and...

Hi, gang, Couldn't find answer to this anywhere... Can I format (slow, full GPT format in Win 7) two 4-TB SATA-3 hard drives at the same time? I need to test and format a pair of hard drives (no RAID, just separate drives), but full-formatting takes a long time and I wanna speed that up...

Hi, guys, Rebuilding my spare PC / gaming PC, and I want to make sure my temps and settings are okay before I put it into service. Bought the CPU/MB combo for $90 at Microcenter. Couldn't resist. Stuff: GA-78LMT-USB3 v5.0. Has VRM heatsinks (unlike earlier versions) and solid caps...

Hi, gang: Looking for some advice. Wondering whether I should keep my present productivity box or build something a bit newer. This system runs multiple VMs and does NO gaming. (Gaming box is an older X4-965BE / AMD 7950 / Samsing SSDs / 8 GB RAM. More than adequate for my present gaming...

Hi, gang: I have been driving myself crazy trying to find a wireless router/AP that is immune to WPS exploits AND has a physical on/off switch for its wireless function. Most units have an on/off power switch, but I need the ethernet ports and the rest of the device to stay working at all...

Hi, gang: I have a 2006 Samsung CLP-300 color laser printer that had its firmware inappropriately updated sometime in the past. The original 2006 model should never have been updated, and its black text printing is too dark as a result. Samsung says it can't provide the original 2006...

Hi, gang: Trying to decide whether to upgrade my two main PCs. I like to stay in the price/performance sweet spot...not the $$$ bleeding edge. :) Box 1: Productivity: i7-930 on an ASUS Rampage II Gene OCd to a moderate 3.8 GHz with a Hyper 212. Win 7 64-bit HP (soon Win 8 Pro so I can...

Hi, gang: I'm trying to refurbish three PCs for family members, and in the process of testing the HDs, I'm getting confusing and contradictory results. I'm hoping y'all can help :) I have three 500-GB drives, one Seagate 7200.12 and two WD5000AAKs units. Test results follow: Seagate...

Hi, gang: I recently ordered a XIGMATEK 400-W PS (Model PC402) from newegg so I'd have something halfway decent (yet inexpensive) laying around for emergencies, troubleshooting, powering refurb PCs, etc. I used it to test a PC the other day, and when I connected the PS to my el-cheapo...

Hi, gang: My SO and I just renewed our service w/Verizon and I'm having a hell of a time figuring out which phone(s) to keep. I will try to be brief (and somewhat articulate), as the issues are confusing! Right now, SO has the Fascinate and I have a Droid 2. Droid X is too big, so it's out...

Hi, gang, I'm wrestling with the typical long-term data storage/backup issues, and I'd like some opinions on my options. I presently have several hundred burned DVDs/CDs with movies, music, books and software. After 10 years or so, I've never encountered a corrupted data disk, but I...

Hi, Gang, Just built an i7-930 system with 12 GB of RAM on an ASUS Rampage II Gene MB. Easy and stable OC to 3.8 GHz with Hyper 212+ cooler. This is my main productivity box (no REAL gaming), which presently runs XP Pro X64 as the host OS and a bunch of VMWare 7 VMs for various dedicated...

Hi, gang: I'm testing my new i7-930 build. It's a 24/7 productivity box that won't run games...just a bunch of VMs... I have the chip running at 3.6 GHz / 1.21 v, with Speedstep, etc, disabled. It's presently 10-pass stable running LinX on a Hyper 212 Plus cooler. I'm still testing to...

Hi, Gang, I'm starting to play around with my i7-930 / ASUS Rampage II Gene build...and I'm noticing quite a temp difference on core 0 -- it's about 8 C cooler than cores 1, 2 and 3 under load (and about 4-5 C cooler at idle). I'm not going for a killer overclock, as this is my main...

Hi, Gang: I'm finally building a set of manly PCs to replace my now-long-in-the-tooth desktops. My productivity PC, which runs multiple VMs and handles TV and video playback, printing and video editing, scanning, etc -- but no serious gaming, only casual -- will run an i7-930 with 6-12 GB...

Hi, gang: I've been having issues with my "foolin' around" PC... When running UBUNTU 9.1 64-bit, no probs whatsoever... In XP, SP3, after trying to run Modern Warfare 2 the other day, the game starts, but freezes or blacks out, forcing a hard "with the switch" reboot... After...

Hi, gang: Overclocking an E6300 on a Gigabyte 945G chipset mobo (GA-945GCM-S2C). It's a backup PC and a Hackintosh experiment box. I can pass MEMTEST and boot into/run XP at bus speeds up to 350 MHz (from 266 stock for the E6300). Running Orthos now... Problem is, there's some...

Hi, gang: I'm trying to boot Hiren's 9.5 CD on a customer's Dell Vostro 200 machine with a SATA DVD-RW drive. The boot CD initially comes up okay, starting up in its DOS emulator mode, but when it tries to load most of the selected utilities, it can't find a driver that works with the SATA...

Hi, gang: I have an X2-5000 BE that I'm trying to OC... The same core keeps failing Orthos each time. I didn't think too much of it until I noticed the log when Orthos says it's launching two threads. When it does so, it reports each core as having the same frequency 3128 MHz in this case...

Hi, gang: EXPERT SUGGESTIONS NEEDED! I had a perfectly stable system yesterday.... Newegg combo. Antec 650 Trio + TForce 550 + 3600 X2 + Freezer Pro 64 + 4 GB Super Talent 667 at 4-4-4-11-15 2T, (757 MHz) = TOTALLY STABLE @ 2.6 GHZ (moderate OC from 1.9).with a lil extra CPU V, RAM at 2.1...

Hi, gang: Here's one for the veterans: I found a Shuttle AN50R nForce 3-150 MB in my goody pile the other day and I used it to test some 754 procs before selling them on eBay. That thing overclocks like a champ (with SLK-948U HSF) and, for its day, was a pretty sweet deal (2 NICs-1 Gb...

Hi, gang: MY TF550 + 3600 Brisbane combo from newegg has been perking along just fine for months now, running at about 2.6 GHz with no stability issues whatsoever. But I feel the need for speed, and I want to pop in a 5000 BE CPU. I have heard that there are BIOS issues in accessing higher...

Hi, Gang: DS3 drive strangeness... Just installed a 6300 on a new DS3 with a gig of Corsair Value Select 667 and a Seagate 250-GB perp. SATA II HD. Just looking for a solid machine with a bit of a tweak here and there -- not a huge overclock, etc. As I always do, my first boot up is to...