Random Question Thread: Tech

**Anakron** · 2012-09-27 19:48

With the recent Amazon tax laws in CA, are there any online cell phone retailers left that don't charge tax for AT&T? I know AT&T dropped many of their online retailers (e.g. Wirefly) a while back.

**Kaisha** · 2012-09-28 22:57

SSD worth a shit on WinXP? I've been looking at this SSD since it's on sale, even though I'd be stuck running it in SATA2 since my mobo (and my computer in general) is ancient, so no TRIM support possible whatsoever on this rig.

Would be something I'd pop into my next PC, which I'll get off my ass and build around black friday sales. No clue if it's a reputable brand or not, I'm really out of the loop on everything that isn't a video card. 128gb is more than enough for what I plan to have running Windows on though.

Spoiler: show

**Jojimbo** · 2012-09-29 00:56

It looks to be an ok SSD, nothing special with decent performance; although not actually much of a saving when compared to others (CA prices: Samsung 830 128GB $114, Crucial M4 128GB $100, Vertex 4 128GB $90). TRIM is beneficial but so long as you get an SSD with internal garbage collection the performance hit over time should be minimal.

**hey** · 2012-09-29 02:34

You'll be missing out on quite a bit of potential, but ssds are just so much better than mechanical drives that it doesn't really matter. You'll still see a huge improvement.

**Niya** · 2012-09-29 06:31

Using SSDs on SATA2 isn't THAT much of a drawback. Sure, that might lower the overall throughput MB/s wise, but what's way more important (and the reason why SSDs are so damn fast) are the IOPS, and those don't get slowed down much on SATA2.

**Mellema** · 2012-09-29 09:20

The Vertex 4 that Jojimbo listed would be my recommendation, it's the top rated SSD currently.

Another great benefit to SSDs is that they use less power and creat less heat. I put SSDs into my laptops, and it definitely improves battery life also.

**Kaisha** · 2012-09-29 21:33

Originally Posted by Niya

Sure, that might lower the overall throughput MB/s wise, but what's way more important (and the reason why SSDs are so damn fast) are the IOPS, and those don't get slowed down much on SATA2.

This was my train of thought also. "Won't be as fast as it could be, but it'll still be absolutely blazing compared to my 7200RPM none the less".

That Vertex 4 looks good, might just order that instead. 5yr warranty is very nice to boot also, since I've heard stories about some drives just suddenly dying shortly after one year. Thankfully, it's only 128gb, real easy for me to back up to my external with its current partition sizes.

Won't bother with the mail-in rebate though, shit should just be done digitally nowadays.

**hey** · 2012-09-29 22:09

Originally Posted by Kaisha

Won't bother with the mail-in rebate though, shit should just be done digitally nowadays.

Then they'd have to actually pay them out.

**Kaisha** · 2012-09-29 22:18

Do companies even cover the shipping costs for the upc-shit they want you sending to them?

Seems my PSU has SATA power connectors, so I should be set for hooking one up to the 2.5" bay below my floppy drive.

Spoiler: show

**hey** · 2012-09-30 00:21

Originally Posted by Kaisha

Do companies even cover the shipping costs for the upc-shit they want you sending to them?

I don't think so.

Seems my PSU has SATA power connectors, so I should be set for hooking one up to the 2.5" bay below my floppy drive.

Spoiler: show

My motherboard doesn't even support IDE. Feelsgoodman.jpg

**Kaisha** · 2012-09-30 00:33

My motherboard is a freak of nature and has both an AGP & PCI-E slot. Coincidentally I made use of both ports during the many years I've had it, so money well spent I guess.

I just keep getting stuck in the loop of "Ok, I have $500-600, should I buy now, or wait for the next 'leap'" situation when it comes to getting a new machine built.

**Vendog** · 2012-09-30 10:35

I got a movie file it came in 70 .rar files. How do I put them into 1 watchable file?

**Jojimbo** · 2012-09-30 10:48

find the first one and extract it, it should automatically continue to extract the file from .part2 to .part70 or whatever they are called.

**Kaisha** · 2012-09-30 21:16

Well, I ordered the Vertex 4 drive, along with a mounting enclosure for it since my tower only has 3.5" bays. Also grabbed some case/mounting screws, since I always keep misplacing mine.

Did I possibly forget anything here for hooking it up? I already have a SATA cable handy, and my PSU has a couple free power connectors.

**hey** · 2012-09-30 23:09

Originally Posted by Kaisha

Did I possibly forget anything here for hooking it up?

No. All you need is the sata cable. You could have even skipped the mount if you wanted, and just thrown it in the case somewhere.

**Vendog** · 2012-10-01 00:53

Thanks Jojimbo that worked. Now I got one that says xvid.cd1 and .cd2 what do i do to combine them 2?

**Jojimbo** · 2012-10-01 02:57

Not sure actually, is the extension really .cd# and not part of the name?

**Ratatapa** · 2012-10-01 13:21

Dad installed the evil WAT update on his PC and i can't make it 'legal' again

used this website

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thr...ation-problems

So i ran WatRemover
Restart
Windows Loader
Restart

Still saying my windows is illegal

Windows 7 64 bits btw

**Shadowhusky** · 2012-10-01 17:22

Windows updated MS security essesstials and now I can't end the process in task manager. Tried using third party apps as well. Ends in safemode, but not normal windows 7.

**xerodok** · 2012-10-01 20:46

Run Registry Cleaner via CCleaner, then re-run Windows Loader.

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