OK then. Another diagnostic. Does the motherboard have a power LED on it somewhere? They're quite common although may be very small. With your computer off, see if the LED is illuminated. Then use the computer until it cuts out. Now look at the LED again. If it was on before but is not on now then ...

washu wrote:Any bulging / leaking capacitors on the MB or video card?

Nope.

That sounds like some sort of thermal shutdown issue. Something gets too hot, cuts out and only once it has cooled down again are you able to switch it back on. One hypothesis could be the PSU but equally something on the motherboard or graphics card could be at fault. Have you done any temperature...

About two months ago I was on my computer (its a dyi - about mobo, hsf, and psu about 5 years old, other components are newer) when it suddenly shut down. I then pushed the power button and nothing happened. I unplugged it, tried to turn it on and again nothing happened. I then tried a third time an...

I'm looking at a couple of Black Friday laptop deals. One is a Dell Inspiron 15R - has a 3rd generation i-3 (3110M at 2.3GHz), 6 GB Ram, 500 GB HDD, Windows 8. The other is an HP Envy with 3rd generation i-5 (3210M at 2.5GHz), 6 GB Ram, 500 GB HDD, Windows 8. Both will be the same price. Does anyone...

CA_Steve wrote:Given the wide range of speaker prices, this is one of those topics that really needs a budget.

Under $500.00 US.

I upgraded my sound card to the HT Omega Claro Halo sound card, currently using with the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 surround system. The sound card is awesome with headphones, but I'm not as happy with the speaker sound. I do some gaming, but mostly I use the speakers for listening to music. I'm interested...

Das_Saunamies wrote:Guess you got your answer on http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtop ... 5&t=152841.

Yes, I just saw that. I didn't realize Crucial had that on their site.

Has anyone used the Crucial Ballistix sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) with the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA mobo? I checked the ASUS site for compatibility, but this particular ram is not listed. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148545 http://www.newegg....

Thanks for all the helpful info.

I'm looking to get a wireless adapter for a desktop. The desktop is on the first floor of the house, and the router is on the second floor. The router is a Netgear WNDR4500. Windows 7 OS. I'm looking for the best wireless adapter in terms of maintaining a connection, throughput, and speed. Suggestio...

This is OT, but might be important for someone in the market for a 7850: the recent price drops may have brought some 7870s down into old 7850 price figures. The 7870 is basically a little beefier 7850, has a little more of everything, summarily some 45% more TFLOPS. So, if you had the money for a ...

I currently have a Sapphire Vapor-X Radeopn HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 video card. I'm looking to upgrade to a Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 video card. Does anyone know how they compare in terms of heat output and noise level?

I think AMD has dropped suggested retail prices on every gpu except the 7850...probably waiting for the GTX 650/660 cards to hit. It may be that Sapphire redesigned their 7850's and have new SKU's...and your link is to the old SKU. In any case, I see them to be in stock. Yesh, I see they are now in...

I am gettng a Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler for an i7-3770k system. I plan on some moderate overclocking. The cooler comes with 2 Noctua NF-P12 fans, which are not PWM. I'm considering replacing them with the Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans, which have slightly different specs. I'm interested in op...

Personally I'd choose the ASUS because of the FanXpert 2. Have you read the review of the ASUS board with FanXpert 2 here at SPCR? But if you don't intend to use the motherboard fan controller then I'd assume both boards are equally good. Then it boils down to personal preferences I guess. I did re...

I'm collecting parts for a new build, and have narrowed my motherboard choices to the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro and the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H. I'm interested in feedback regarding how they compare in terms of quality, reliability, and stability.

I'm interested in the Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 card. I've been watching them hoping the price might drop. They've been in and out of stock at NewEgg. Now they are showing as out of stock and as deactivated (may or may not be restocked). This is the case for both the regular one as well as the OC vers...

I'm looking for suggestions for a cooler for a i7-3770K processor. I plan on some moderate overclocking. I like the reviews of the Noctua NH-D14, but I am concerned about it's size and the ability to switch out ram (after the Noctua is installed) if necessary. Suggestions?

I'm trying to compare the Corsair Performance Pro SSD and the Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSD. Here are the links. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233227 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167086 Does anyone know how the Corsair Performance Pro stacks ...

Libraries in Win7 are just collections of pointers. What matters is where the underlying folders are located. In some cases you can use windows options to relocate folders. In other cases you need to change the registry. In still others, you have to use junction points, the windows equivalent of *n...

When I refer to the library, I'm specifically referring to the Windows 7 librairies which contain 4 folders - documents, music, pictures, and videos. My thought is to have those files on a spearate drive - and using the video folder to store the video files that I'm using as source material for proj...

Keep everything except for larger collections of documents on the SSD. Like if you tend to really use the "My Documents" folders for music and stuff, you can simply right-click on "My Documents" and relocate its position. TEMP files can benefit from SSD performance (or a RAM drive if you have a lot...

I want to use an SSD for my OS and apps, and have all other files on WD HD. I know how to move the libraries (Windows 7) to the non boot drive, but how do I set it up so all the temp files, user profiles, etc are on the non-boot drive?

Thanks for the responses!

I don't know about other brands, but with APC units, they are not shipped with the battery hooked up, and you have to connect the battery after you open the package, so you will not reduce the life expectancy of the battery by putting it in storage. However, you may need to charge the battery befor...

I'm collecting parts for a new build, and am looking to get components when they are on sale when possible. If I get a UPS 4 or 5 months before I do the build, can I store it for that time without ever using it? Will that be a problem for the battery?

I would recommend the X-560. You might be able to get away with the fully passive X-460, but the 560 would be a safer bet. I just built a build for a coworker, Ivy Bridge 3570k @ 4.2GHZ, 16GB memory, Radeon 7950 @ 975/1250, SSD, HDD, etc. It takes 50w idle, ~250w gaming load. Full tilt (Furmark + P...

I'm collecting parts for a new build, and am looking for advice regarding which Seasonic X-series PSU I should get. NOTE: Please do NOT give me suggestions on other brands of PSUs. I'm looking at the following parts: - Mobo - yet to be determined - Intel Core I7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz - HSF - yet...

[Also have you considered a P280 and/or R3? The P280/R3/550D are all in the same class of affordable silent mid-towers.[/quote] As I recall, the Antec P180 had a minor revision come out before they introduced the P190. Made me wonder if there might be a slight revision after the 550D has been out an...