Recent content by Mutant Corn

lol :) Actually, overclocking with the multiplier has been around for quite some time. All of AMD's "Black Edition" processors, and Intel's "Extreme Edition" ones, have an unlocked multiplier. The difference with Sandy Bridge is that you can only overclock with the multiplier. I don't see how...

Pretty much anything built within the last 15 years will run Ubuntu... I'd copy down your XP product key just in case you want to go back. You should be able to find it by right-clicking on the "my computer" icon and hitting "properties".

Intel got rid of the traditional front side bus, but there are still parts of the system that serve the same function. They just moved most of it to the CPU die. AMD also replaced most of the FSB (with Hypertransport..more on that later), but they still have a more-or-less traditional north...

^ It's a whole lot easier to fix bent CPU pins than bent motherboard pins. Just saying. And IIRC most of the LGA sockets are only rated for something like 20 CPU installs, which is conceivable for an enthusiast rig...whereas a ZIF socket is really quite reliable. They both have their strengths...

Does it have an integrated graphics chip, as well as a discrete one? Usually, the default graphics device is the onboard, and to use an actual card toy have to set it to use that as the default. If the BIOS got reset somehow...

Key question here: How much is it?

What you did when you flipped the switch was put it in standby mode, which for most purposes is still "off". With that switch still "on", take a paperclip or something similar, and the 24-pin motherboard connector. Stick one end of the paperclip into the contact for the green wire, and the...

Do what? I don't know where you're looking, but 6970's go for about $100 more than a 5770. A 6970 is hardly overkill for just about any quad core rig. It might be a bit much for an Athlon II/Phenom I rig, but beyond that most anything should be able to utilize it. I don't know where you're...

Passmark is a decent benchmark and is a good way to get a ballpark estimate of a card's performance, but to get the full scope of it you need to look at a bunch of different benchmarks. Some programs/games favor Nvidia, some favor AMD, some like higher memory bandwidth, some like higher core...

Agreed, that looks awesome

If he bought RAM from a store, then he most likely has a lifetime warranty on it...most brands do. +1 to Aastii's post, though.

If it's going to take a long time, you're better off asking about it once you've got the money saved up. Assuming you take ~3 months or more, the market will be vastly different by the time you're ready to buy. In the meantime you can stick around and learn about stuff n' things :)

I'd wait a bit. AMD and Nvidia are both about to release some bad-arse GPU's that will top the ones you've got there.

Asus typically makes a better machine for a lower price. Alienwares are usually overpriced...

Different BIOS revisions in the MOBO's, maybe? They might have diffrent default settings. Some motherboard don't get the stock voltage right on some cpu's. (I'm assuming that's what you mean by "voltage".) If the RAM voltage is different, it's likely a similar issue.