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So I'm sitting here with my second Dell U2715H monitor and second video card (GeForce 970), after RMAing both, yet I still don't have a usable display. The first U2715H was worse, but it's only a question of degree. The replacement, despite being hardware revision 01 (original was rev. 0)...

Is there any way I can get a router (Netgear WNR3500v2) to connect wirelessly with a DSL modem (Zyxel C1000Z) which also has wireless connectivity, so that I can ultimately access my Internet connection through the router? So far I can't make it work. The WNR3500 does have a "wireless...

I'm still using a 21" CRT as my primary desktop display for many reasons, among them the superior color representation vs. an LCD. What's sitting on my desk now is an NEC AccuSync 120. It was one of the last ones manufactured, probably ever, and I bought it in 2008. In the last year or...

I have a rather old pair of Sony headphones (model MDR-W08) that my computer (Samsung laptop with a Realtek ALC 269 device) simply doesn't like. That is, whenever these headphones are connected, I only get sound in the right side. I've already done all the usual troubleshooting, to include...

Has anyone had any luck whatsoever getting Bluetooth devices to be accessible from within a virtual machine of any kind, assuming of course the host machine has the requisite Bluetooth bits and pieces? I've tried this with a Windows 7 and 8 guest on either a Windows 7 or Linux (both Ubuntu...

I know, I know, I'm late to the party, but in the last week I finally got around to playing the original Bioshock on PC. I have the 1.1 patch, which, I believe, was the very last patch. Yes, video card drivers are current, as are all other drivers, and Windows 7 itself has all the latest...

Anyone here use a phone by Blu? A friend owns a Blu Samba Jr. Q53. It works well, but there is a lot of mystery involved. That is because there is almost NO documentation available, from the vendor or anywhere else. The quick start card contains little more than "here's how to unpack the...

Is it in any way possible to use a PS3 Blu-ray drive to watch Blu-ray content on a PC? This guy I know has a Playstation 3 that died, so he gave me the Blu-ray drive out of it to experiment with. So far, I'm thinking there's no way to use it with a PC. Not only is it so huge it won't fit in...

A few months ago, I attempted to build a system with all the latest goodies: Ivy Bridge CPU (i5-3570K), Z77 chipset motherboard, SSD, etc. (ok, well, the graphics card wasn't cutting-edge, a 560 Ti. But I'm not spending $400+ on a video card). I also tried to configure the system with 16 GB...

I'm having a weird problem with "sleep" mode in a system built with an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard. The system has to be placed in "Sleep" mode twice, or it doesn't stay asleep. If I am using Windows 7 and invoke the "Sleep" command, or just let it enter "Sleep" automatically through power...

I need a new motherboard for a system I built in mid-May. It originally used a Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H, and I'd like something close in features and price. So far the leading contenders are the ASRock Z77 Extreme4, and the MSI Z77A-G43. The reason I'm getting a new motherboard is that the...

I had to send the motherboard of my newest build in for repair, so naturally I had to unmount the CPU and CPU cooler. My motherboard is on its way back now, so pretty soon I'll have to put it all back together. Is there any reason I can't simply re-use the existing patches of thermal grease...

Only about a month ago, I built a brand new system using a Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H. Almost all is well, but it exhibits some weird behavior related to sleep/resume. The problem is that resuming from sleep takes 3 presses of the power button, or mouse buttons, or keyboard (the latter two are...

Get yours yet? There was a $20 American Express giftcard from TigerDirect.com in today's mail. So effectively, I only paid $189.99 for my i5-3570K. I wasn't sure it was going to happen. I ordered my -3570K on launch day (4/29). A few days later, the offer code was no longer recognized by...

When the video card for my latest build was about halfway here, I realized I had accidentally bought a 384-CUDA core card (MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II) instead of a 448-CUDA core card. Really wish they would have given them different model numbers, since they are technically different GPU...

I was up all last night putting together my latest build, which has an Intel 520 series SSD as its one and only drive. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H (a UEFI-capable board) with a Core i5-3570K CPU. I left most of the BIOS settings at defaults for my Windows 7 64-bit install, except...

I'm trying to revive a very old build that I think just had a bad power supply when I put it aside years ago. The problem then (late 2009) was that the motherboard and case power LEDs would illuminate when I pressed the power button, but nothing else happened. For a long time, I assumed...

I'd like to add Bluetooth capability to my desktop. Which USB dongle is the best? They're all fairly cheap, but I have no experience in this area. My notebook PC came with Bluetooth built in. I'm not entirely sure I "need" a Bluetooth 4.0 dongle. While BT 4.0 is the latest thing, from...

This morning, I was fooling around with a new PSU, and the parts left over from a system that stopped working a while ago. For the first time in years, I got fans turning. So I think the old PSU was the real problem. The new PSU is destined for my latest build (Ivy Bridge CPU etc.), but...

I recently bought an NZXT Source 210 Elite case, and unfortunately, it came with two 3-pin, 140mm fans. My motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H) has three, 4-pin fan power/control sockets. I haven't started the built yet. Am I correct in thinking the motherboard won't be able to control the...

For years, I've had most of my setup (PC, monitor, speakers, printer, router, cable modem, external HDD, second monitor) plugged into a single, 8-outlet surge protector. I forget the brand, but it was around $50 so it's nothing magical. I think it's time to step up to a UPS, so that my whole...

I'm having a weird problem where most of the time, when I try to open a link someone posts (e.g. to a product's page at Newegg) I get a blank tab. Often, this blank tab has a lot of odd garbage in the URL. Here's a recent example. The original link looked like this...

I'm building a new system soon, and I'm really tired of my old Saitek Eclipse keyboard. What I hate about the Eclipse is the poor internal illumination. It's uneven, and not bright enough to see the key markings clearly, even at maximum brightness, even in an otherwise-dark room. I'd like...

I just bought an NZXT Source Elite 210 case (in white) for my new build. Don't have all the components yet, but I'm thinking of ways to keep the dust out. I'd like to put some kind of air filters in/on the case so the fans themselves don't get dusty, as well as block/filter the openings where...

I posted my first build thread too early, not quite a month ago. Now that Ivy Bridge is available for purchase, let's see how things look. Note that my design goals have changed somewhat since my original thread. 1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc...

Is there any place I can buy a slim-to-regular drive bay adapter for anything approaching a reasonable price? "Reasonable" means "significantly less than the price of a new full-size DVD-RW drive." Think $5-$10. So far I've only found things such as this sheetmetal monstrosity for $28...

I'm going to build a new system once the Ivy Bridge stuff is all on the market. My existing desktop has a Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS sound card I bought years ago. I'm wondering whether I should transfer it to the new build. What I don't like about the Audigy is that Creative doesn't...

I have an Enermax CS-10181B sitting around from my first build. The guts died a long time ago, so I'm thinking about re-using the case. The system was very noisy when running, probably because of the seven, 80mm fans. Most of them ran at full speed all the time, because they were plugged...

I recently started a thread contemplating a new system. If I do build, I'm going to wait until after the Ivy Bridge stuff hits the market. But I'm also wondering whether I could get by, just upgrading the machine I already have. Here's what's in my system. I built it in mid-2008 and have...

It's been at least 4 years since I was current on what's available in PC components. Now planning to build a replacement desktop this summer, so it's time to get edumacated. Browsing parts at Newegg.com, I have sort-of narrowed it to an Intel CPU, possibly a Core-i5. But I'm open to other...