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Erkki

Damn it, but computers have become really complicated

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I don't think it's an interference problem because it works just fine for those first few minutes and it worked all the time on my laptop in the exact same location.  I do have an extension cable though so I'll probably give it a try anyway.

 

I wonder if it's an issue with the USB port, like it silently dropping to USB 1.0 from USB 2.0... It's possible, I used to have a computer with obsolete USB firmware that did that.

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The desktop itself could be putting out interference I mean. A lot of desktop components aren't built with wireless friendly specs. Mine behaved exactly the same way. As the number of dropped packets built up, the speed would automatically decrease to try and reduce the number of errors.

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Yeah, try different USB ports, it can sometimes make a big difference. I know that some USB 3.0 ports have considerably more interference than USB 2.0 that can effect the wireless receivers of mice and keyboards, so I imagine it could be a similar situation for USB Wireless Receivers.

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I did try different USB ports to no effect, but it could be an interference issue.  It's one of those dongles designed for laptops, so it's very low profile and fits right up against the port.  The utility reports that I'm getting a strong signal from the router, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.  In fact now that I think about it, when I try to access the router directly it responds rather slowly too, which would seem to indicate some kind of interference.  I'll try it when I get home.

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Are the USB ports on your PC 3.0 (they will be blue)? There is a know issue with USB 3.0 ports putting out heavy but localized 2.4ghz interference. 
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.pdf
That white paper is talking about wireless mice that operate on 2.4ghz, but that is also the 802.11 b/g/n frequencies so it could be an issue.

Also I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it might be worth a try to change the channel that your router is broadcasting on, if there are other access points in range using the same channel it can cause really strange behavior.

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It wasn't plugged into a 3.0 port, but they're all pretty close to each other.

 

I've plugged it into the extension cable and while it's too early to say for sure, so far it's working great.  It's already been longer than the usual amount of time and the speed is still good.  It looks ridiculous but at this point I don't care so long as it works.

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It's been several hours now without any problems and I'm feeling pretty confident that the problem has been solved.  I'll have to find a better looking long term solution, but until then it's working just fine.  Thanks for the help guys.

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A PCIe-based wireless adapter with multiple antennas might be a better long-term solution.

 

I use this guy in my HTPC for the dual-band support and 3-antennas, I'm able to stream 1080p from YouTube and play competitive FPS with no issue. It was a little pricy, but I imagine the 2-antenna 300mbps version is also good from the look of the reviews. I'm a fan of TP-Link for more reasonably priced wireless tech than top-brand fare. I also have a TP-Link repeater at the far end of my house and it works quite well.

 

Happy to hear everything is working out one way or another.

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I'm actually using a TP-Link device right now, specifically this thing.  It was originally purchased to use on my laptop mostly because it was cheap but I'm finding it to be very solid. 

 

I appreciate the card recommendation, but I may not need it soon.  My house was supposed to come with Ethernet prewired into the walls (which it did) and 3 wall outlets to plug it into (which it didn't).  I've finally gotten the company that did it to admit they screwed up and they're going to come fix it.  Unfortunately my computer is currently on the other side of the room from the outlet so there's going to be a long cable on the floor (or possibly ceiling/wall if it's long enough), but hopefully it means I'll have a wired connection again.

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I'm actually using a TP-Link device right now, specifically this thing.  It was originally purchased to use on my laptop mostly because it was cheap but I'm finding it to be very solid. 

 

I appreciate the card recommendation, but I may not need it soon.  My house was supposed to come with Ethernet prewired into the walls (which it did) and 3 wall outlets to plug it into (which it didn't).  I've finally gotten the company that did it to admit they screwed up and they're going to come fix it.  Unfortunately my computer is currently on the other side of the room from the outlet so there's going to be a long cable on the floor (or possibly ceiling/wall if it's long enough), but hopefully it means I'll have a wired connection again.

 

Wired is really the best solution and I'm glad its in your future. I have so many dumb 50-100ft. ethernet cables strewn about the baseboards of my rental house because I personally won't settle for wireless on my desktop and non-dual band and/or non-wireless N consoles. Thank god my wife is a woman of relatively few technological needs that can settle with spotty wireless coverage in my house of seemingly concrete walls.

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it sounds like you have a solution coming, but for others in similar predicaments i have had great success with power-line connections.  

 

my wife would not tolerate a 100ft cat6 in our apartment so it was the best solution (even wireless was shakey across the room due to the ~30 other broadcasts in the complex)

 

and in our house now i cant get a fish in the walls due to the excessive insulation in between the studs - but i am running a power line from downstairs on a different circuit to the office and have yet to have any network packet drop, and get full speed out of comcast

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Listen well all so you can share in my idiocy and strive not to repeat it.

Today my PC blackscreened on me. Perhaps the suddenness and completeness of its death should have clued me in that something major was afoot but for some reason my brain said "maybe the fuse has just blown", without asking itself the pertinent follow up which should have been "did the fuse blow for a good reason".

So I changed the fuse and opened up the case so I could see my motherboards boot LEDs and perhaps diagnose the problem, plugged the PC back in & hit the on switch.

I was greater by a flash of light and smoke, and the unmistakable smell of burning plastic from my GPU.

To cut this long story short, my GPU & PSU are now both dead.

If I'd only twigged the PSU was the fault immediately I could have removed it & avoided frying my GPU

:(

So ladies and gents, I'm in the market for a new PSU and GPU.

Suggestions would be welcome, ideally what I want is a solid mid range choice for both, nothing fancy but something from a decent manufacturer.

Particularly I'd welcome suggestions of GPU's with low heat , sound and temp output (though I'd ideally still want a active one rather than a fat ass passive one).

Any and all help appreciated, I want to try and put a order in tomorrow evening and get this all done ASAP since I do most of my work on this machine.

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Listen well all so you can share in my idiocy and strive not to repeat it.

Today my PC blackscreened on me. Perhaps the suddenness and completeness of its death should have clued me in that something major was afoot but for some reason my brain said "maybe the fuse has just blown", without asking itself the pertinent follow up which should have been "did the fuse blow for a good reason".

So I changed the fuse and opened up the case so I could see my motherboards boot LEDs and perhaps diagnose the problem, plugged the PC back in & hit the on switch.

I was greater by a flash of light and smoke, and the unmistakable smell of burning plastic from my GPU.

To cut this long story short, my GPU & PSU are now both dead.

If I'd only twigged the PSU was the fault immediately I could have removed it & avoided frying my GPU

:(

So ladies and gents, I'm in the market for a new PSU and GPU.

Suggestions would be welcome, ideally what I want is a solid mid range choice for both, nothing fancy but something from a decent manufacturer.

Particularly I'd welcome suggestions of GPU's with low heat , sound and temp output (though I'd ideally still want a active one rather than a fat ass passive one).

Any and all help appreciated, I want to try and put a order in tomorrow evening and get this all done ASAP since I do most of my work on this machine.

 what are the current specs on your PC (include the fried GPU)

Just as a general suggestion though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127745

 

The BP550 may not be pretty, but it's modular and quite well made.

The 760  2gb is more than capable of playing most any current game at decent framerates and 1080p, if you running a higher rez monitor you might want to go up to a 4gb.

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Thanks for the suggestion cyrix those are both quite similar to what I'm looking at atm.

I've spent the whole day reading reviews and now I'm knackered, shopping to rebuild a dead PC feels like studying for a exam, with a added knowledge that failure is going to be accompanied by the smell of burning plastic.

Currently looking at a Seasonic G-550 for PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-seasonic-g-550-hybrid-modular-80-plus-gold-eps-12v-12cm-silnt-fan-atx-psu

& considering 2 variants on the GTX 750 ti for the GPU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-750-ti-stormx-dual-28nm-pcie-30-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1202mhz-boost-1281mhz-cores-640-vga-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-750ti-gaming-twin-frozriv-oc-pcie-30-5400mhz-gddr5-gpu-1085mhz-boost-1163mhz-cores-640-d

The Palit one has more oomph but the Msi one (which I s basically the baby brother of the one you linked) is quiter, draws less power, and runs cooler.

As for my current setup I have a i5-3570k with a stock heatsink as my CPU & 8gb of decent speed DDR3, along with a hybrid ssd/conventional boot disc, and a 2nd 1tb drive for storage, all sitting inside a Coolermaster cm690.

The old GPU was a sapphire Radeon 7750hd 1gb, & the PSU 430w.

My display is a my old but much loved formac 20" so I'm not running that high resolution atm, but want a bit of extra leeway for the future.

Have been thinking of going the extra mile and doing a bit of upgrade since I've got the case open too.

Considering grabbing a a few Antec truequiet 120mm fans to replace the stock ones in the case plus a Coolermaster Hyper Evo to replace the stock heatsink which should really reduce the case noise quite considerably. Plus maybe grabbing some after market dust filters for the cases intakes to hopefully extend the amount of time untill I have to do this stuff again.

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Currently looking at a Seasonic G-550 for PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-seasonic-g-550-hybrid-modular-80-plus-gold-eps-12v-12cm-silnt-fan-atx-psu

& considering 2 variants on the GTX 750 ti for the GPU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-750-ti-stormx-dual-28nm-pcie-30-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1202mhz-boost-1281mhz-cores-640-vga-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-750ti-gaming-twin-frozriv-oc-pcie-30-5400mhz-gddr5-gpu-1085mhz-boost-1163mhz-cores-640-d

The Palit one has more oomph but the Msi one (which I s basically the baby brother of the one you linked) is quiter, draws less power, and runs cooler.

 

To add some anecdotes to the mix, I have a Palit GTX 470 and I'm really not impressed by the build quality. I bought it because it had a highly rated custom heatsink and a higher clock speed, but it was definitely an either/or proposition in the end (as in, the heatsink worked great at base clocks, but didn't take kindly to the factory overclock). I've never known anyone to be disappointed by their MSI, you can barely hear my friend's GTX 570Ti in his case.

 

I've also known Seagate PSUs to fail, but never firsthand and it may just be Corsair propaganda.

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My main prob is that the GTX 750ti though perfect for what I want is a pretty new line from nvidia, so all these variants on it haven't really had much of a chance to be tested in the wild.

Ideally I would have liked to be able to come in and look at what people had experienced with a larger sample of the production models to see if anyone had issues like you did with your Palit card.

Tbh though the biggest point in the favour of the MSI is that's its a "Twin Frozr" & I remember the thumbs getting one when they put together their rig right after the kickstarter & always thought it was a awesomely stupid name.

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Thanks for the suggestion cyrix those are both quite similar to what I'm looking at atm.

I've spent the whole day reading reviews and now I'm knackered, shopping to rebuild a dead PC feels like studying for a exam, with a added knowledge that failure is going to be accompanied by the smell of burning plastic.

Currently looking at a Seasonic G-550 for PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-seasonic-g-550-hybrid-modular-80-plus-gold-eps-12v-12cm-silnt-fan-atx-psu

& considering 2 variants on the GTX 750 ti for the GPU

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-750-ti-stormx-dual-28nm-pcie-30-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-1202mhz-boost-1281mhz-cores-640-vga-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-gtx-750ti-gaming-twin-frozriv-oc-pcie-30-5400mhz-gddr5-gpu-1085mhz-boost-1163mhz-cores-640-d

The Palit one has more oomph but the Msi one (which I s basically the baby brother of the one you linked) is quiter, draws less power, and runs cooler.

As for my current setup I have a i5-3570k with a stock heatsink as my CPU & 8gb of decent speed DDR3, along with a hybrid ssd/conventional boot disc, and a 2nd 1tb drive for storage, all sitting inside a Coolermaster cm690.

The old GPU was a sapphire Radeon 7750hd 1gb, & the PSU 430w.

My display is a my old but much loved formac 20" so I'm not running that high resolution atm, but want a bit of extra leeway for the future.

Have been thinking of going the extra mile and doing a bit of upgrade since I've got the case open too.

Considering grabbing a a few Antec truequiet 120mm fans to replace the stock ones in the case plus a Coolermaster Hyper Evo to replace the stock heatsink which should really reduce the case noise quite considerably. Plus maybe grabbing some after market dust filters for the cases intakes to hopefully extend the amount of time untill I have to do this stuff again.

 

 

To add some anecdotes to the mix, I have a Palit GTX 470 and I'm really not impressed by the build quality. I bought it because it had a highly rated custom heatsink and a higher clock speed, but it was definitely an either/or proposition in the end (as in, the heatsink worked great at base clocks, but didn't take kindly to the factory overclock). I've never known anyone to be disappointed by their MSI, you can barely hear my friend's GTX 570Ti in his case.

 

I've also known Seagate PSUs to fail, but never firsthand and it may just be Corsair propaganda.

 

 

Seagate and Seasonic are very different :P

PSU looks great, and the 750 ti should be a significant boost over what you had before and the 760 would be another jump over that. If you aren't a stickler for Image quality and running games maxed out, the 750 ti should serve you well. It's also has very low power consumption so probably no risk of blowing up another PSU. :P

I have a MSI 760 and have zero complaints, the "twinfrozr" cooler is super quiet and keeps the card nice and cool.

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The PSU I wanted was out of stock and in a moment of madness I ordered this top of the line, hand crafted work of art.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-027-SS

It has a 7 YEAR WARRANTY!

In 7 years I'll probably be a brain in a jar strapped to a Google branded big dog, living my life in the FaceRift, but at least in that future dystopia I'll have the comfort of knowing my desktop PSU is covered.

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I don't think I've ever had PSU envy before. 

 

All my hardware is well over a year old now, so I doubt I have any real relevant experience. 

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I don't think I've ever had PSU envy before.

 

I saved fifteen bucks when I built my computer in 2010 by not buying a modular PSU, so now I experience it constantly. I don't even really get why they sell non-modular PSUs!

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I now know how those apes in 2001 felt.

No mere foam packing for this piece of artisanal electronics, the PSU came in Velour Bag with gold lettering.....

post-24580-0-82105800-1396373504_thumb.jpg

The cables are all separate in a two pocket canvas bag. What I'm going to do with these things once it's installed I really don't know.

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This all reminds me, I'm going to have to get a new router when I move out. What are the current go-to models? I'm not huge on flashing custom firmware, but if it's easy and really worth it I could be convinced.

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High end, ridiculously fast, amazing range - NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router (R7000)

 

All rounder with AC support - ASUS Dual-Band Wireless Router (RT-AC56U) (Wirecutter write-up)

 

All rounder with N support - ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

 

If you want something sub-$100, I'd wait for reviews of the latest-gen AC routers that can deliver some high speeds just with less amazing range/features.

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Booted the system from a Hirens boot CD and are running a few of the diagnostics, with all the case panels removed so the rig is just a skeleton . My plan going forwards is thus:

-Finish running Memtest

-run a check on the CPU

-plug in a old spare GPU and run gpuz

If all that comes back ok then I'll

-remove old CPU heatsink

-install new CPU heatsink and fan

-Test CPU

-Install the new system fans

The new Heatsinks gonna be the most fussy part which is why I'm leaving the following steps untill I'm sure it's seated properly and running cool.

-hook up system HDD & test

-hook up storage HDD & test

Finally

-install new GPU

Then I'll seal up the case again and hopefully be back in bussiness.

Any extra steps people think I should throw into the mix?

Also my MB has 3 system fan controllers, but this configuration will have 4 fans.

2x exhaust: 1x top, 1x back top

2x intake: 1x front, 1x bottom front

Is it best to not bother with running the fans from the MB in this case since I can't get all 4 on there or would something like, having on of the intakes (probably the front) running on full speed independant of the MB and the other 3 fan controlled by the MB?

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post-24580-0-77027400-1396430103_thumb.jpg

Snapped a quick pic of the now deceased old GPU

Does anyone have the technical expertise to be able to look at that pic and tell me what the lightly charred part of the board is.

There doesn't really seem to be any real resource for identifying what all the different parts of a modern circuit board are.

My best guess atm is that is a blown resistor, leading to what might be a chip of some kind >_<

Yeah I really kinda clueless here

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