Computers and Related Hardware/Software

deseipher wrote:I certainly appreciate it :woot: I tried it out last night and was getting CPU usage % in the single digits, much better than the 30%+ I was getting before. It's nice being able to use the filters and shaders without having to worry about taxing the CPU and makes the video card purchase worth it just a little more.

What about the GPU heat issue?

bmwracer wrote:
What about the GPU heat issue?

I'll be buying a new cooler soon, hopefully before the GPU melts :sweat:

deseipher wrote:

I'll be buying a new cooler soon, hopefully before the GPU melts :sweat:

I've always had really good luck with Zalman GPU coolers - cooler and quieter than stock.

The Mrs' school is getting all new computers, but they have to send in the old ones to get new ones. But it doesn't matter what computers are sent in or if they even work. So, we're going to swap 2 really old (P2) comps with 15" CRT monitors for the school's old ones (not sure what they are, but only a few years old) with LCD monitors. YAY!

Anime Dad wrote:The Mrs' school is getting all new computers, but they have to send in the old ones to get new ones. But it doesn't matter what computers are sent in or if they even work. So, we're going to swap 2 really old (P2) comps with 15" CRT monitors for the school's old ones (not sure what they are, but only a few years old) with LCD monitors. YAY!

Good deal. :victory:

It'd probably be a good thing to reformat the HDD and do a fresh install, just in case there's any viruses/malware, etc... :)

bmwracer wrote:
Good deal. :victory:

It'd probably be a good thing to reformat the HDD and do a fresh install, just in case there's any viruses/malware, etc... :)

You bet.

Although the school's pretty good now with that kind of thing. But i'll be doing all that first ;)

Optical disc offers 500GB storage

A disc that can store 500 gigabytes (GB) of data, equivalent to 100 DVDs, has been unveiled by General Electric.

The micro-holographic disc, which is the same size as existing DVD discs, is aimed at the archive industry.

But the company believes it can eventually be used in the consumer market place and home players.

Blu-ray discs, which are used to store high definition movies and games, can currently hold between 25GB and 50GB.

Micro-holographic discs can store more data than DVDs or Blu-ray because they store information on the disc in three dimensions, rather than just pits on the surface of the disc

The challenge for this area of technology has been to increase the reflectivity of the holograms that are stored on the discs so that players can be used to both read and write to the discs.

Brian Lawrence, who leads GE's Holographic Storage said on the GE Research blog: "Very recently, the team at GE has made dramatic improvements in the materials enabling significant increases in the amount of light that can be reflected by the holograms."

More capacity

The higher reflectivity that can be achieved, the more capacity for the disc. While the technology is still in the laboratory stage, GE believes it will take off because players can be built which are backwards compatible with existing DVD and Blu-ray technologies.

In a statement the firm said: "The hardware and formats are so similar to current optical storage technology that the micro-holographic players will enable consumers to play back their CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs."

''GE's breakthrough is a huge step toward bringing our next generation holographic storage technology to the everyday consumer,'' said Mr Lawrence in a statement.

He added: "The day when you can store your entire high definition movie collection on one disc and support high resolution formats like 3D television is closer than you think.''

Micro-holographic technology has been one of the leading areas of research for storage experts for decades. Discs are seen as a reliable and effective form of storage and are both consumer and retail friendly.

However, General Electric will need to work with hardware manufacturers if it is to bring the technology to the consumer market.

The relatively modest adoption of Blu-ray discs sales globally might be an issue with some companies who believe digital distribution and cloud computing is the long-term answer to content delivery and storage.

"This is truly a breakthrough in the development of the materials that are so critical to ultimately bringing holographic storage to the everyday consumer," said Mr Lawrence.

^Sugoi! Look for it in another 10 years :)

Anime Dad wrote:^Sugoi! Look for it in another 10 years :)

By then, we'll have 1+ Petabyte hard drives.... If not sooner. :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:
By then, we'll have 1+ Petabyte hard drives.... If not sooner. :beaten:

I recently switched away from DVDs - it's now cheaper to use hard drives. I buy 100 good quality DVDs at 22 cents each, which equates to about 4.8 cents/gig. For each 200, you need a case (I already have like 200 in stacks) that costs approximately $20-25, or a total cost of around 7.8 cents/gig.

I recently purchased a 1.5 terabyte drive for $113, or around 7.6 cents/gig - and it's 1/10th the size and 3x faster to copy to and from to boot.

phlargo wrote:I recently switched away from DVDs - it's now cheaper to use hard drives. I buy 100 good quality DVDs at 22 cents each, which equates to about 4.8 cents/gig. For each 200, you need a case (I already have like 200 in stacks) that costs approximately $20-25, or a total cost of around 7.8 cents/gig.

I recently purchased a 1.5 terabyte drive for $113, or around 7.6 cents/gig - and it's 1/10th the size and 3x faster to copy to and from to boot.

But you can't play a 1.5TB HDD in a DVD player. :P

And I think the HDD has a shorter life span than a quality DVD.

bmwracer wrote:
But you can't play a 1.5TB HDD in a DVD player. :P

And I think the HDD has a shorter life span than a quality DVD.

This is true... if I were doing archival work, I'd probably still use DVDs. However, in regards to playback on a media center, the hard drive would be a more efficient means to integrate lots of media at one time and much easier to organize (it's easy to keep all of one media type on one media)

The reason I don't worry about it for archival purposes is that by the time I've got to worry about the stuff on that media, I suspect most of the data I'll have stored will be available online, for free, so I don't bother :)

phlargo wrote:This is true... if I were doing archival work, I'd probably still use DVDs. However, in regards to playback on a media center, the hard drive would be a more efficient means to integrate lots of media at one time and much easier to organize (it's easy to keep all of one media type on one media)

That's true.... Though you should think about setting up a RAID configuration... That's a whole lotta data to go down the tank if the drive fails. :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
That's true.... Though you should think about setting up a RAID configuration... That's a whole lotta data to go down the tank if the drive fails. :sweat:

It's low importance data and therefore is intentionally stored as cheaply as possible - just movies, dramas, and tv shows from torrents and the internet. The important stuff (like pictures and documents) gets copied to a second hard drive and backed up on my skydrive - I'm good about redundancy and backups where it counts.

phlargo wrote:

It's low importance data and therefore is intentionally stored as cheaply as possible - just movies, dramas, and tv shows from torrents and the internet. The important stuff (like pictures and documents) gets copied to a second hard drive and backed up on my skydrive - I'm good about redundancy and backups where it counts.

Oh, speaking of pictures, I have a nice new set up of some pretty spring flowers: http://cid-d2ad83b102d2854d.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/2009%20-%20April%20-%20Flowers%20in%20the%20Public%20Garden,%20Magnuson%20Park

phlargo wrote:It's low importance data and therefore is intentionally stored as cheaply as possible - just movies, dramas, and tv shows from torrents and the internet. The important stuff (like pictures and documents) gets copied to a second hard drive and backed up on my skydrive - I'm good about redundancy and backups where it counts.

Movies. dramas, and TV shows not important???

Hmph. :beatyou:

phlargo wrote:I recently purchased a 1.5 terabyte drive for $113, or around 7.6 cents/gig - and it's 1/10th the size and 3x faster to copy to and from to boot.

Was it a Seagate HDD?

If you go back several pages, there was supposedly some issues with some Seagate drives.... :sweat:

bmwracer wrote:
Was it a Seagate HDD?

If you go back several pages, there was supposedly some issues with some Seagate drives.... :sweat:

Yeah, they have had some strange performance issues recently. To be honest, all it needs to do is stream media, so it doesn't need to be fancy. And really, it gets relatively little write time

And again, compared to pictures I've taken myself or family pictures and personal documents, downloadable content is relatively low importance - most of it is completely replaceable if I really want it.

Anime Dad wrote:The Mrs' school is getting all new computers, but they have to send in the old ones to get new ones. But it doesn't matter what computers are sent in or if they even work. So, we're going to swap 2 really old (P2) comps with 15" CRT monitors for the school's old ones (not sure what they are, but only a few years old) with LCD monitors. YAY!

Finally got these yesterday. 2 x P4/2.8G, 512MB ram, 40G HD, XP Pro, MS 0ffoce 2003, 19" LCD monitors. Nothing special, but adequate for the Mrs' schoolwork and email/surfing, and more importantly will free up the main comp for important stuff like burning DVD's and video conversion ;) The LCD monitors are really nice and i've already swapped out the 17" CRT on our main comp for one :D

I'm hoping to snare another one, if there's any more left :)

not so sure if this is the right thread to ask..but i really need some help right now.. :puppydog:

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for some unknown reason, this error just suddenly popped out..whichever choice i press, it still comes out..does anyone know how this could have happen?? it's such a bother already..i want it removed.. :shamefulcry: