Random Question Thread: Tech

[Teppo]

Well I have another question concerning the duo screens. I wish to have my monitors have different pictures, or at least stretch it out. I goggled it and it sent me to DisplayFusion; which is okay on the two different pics, but stretching looks horrid. Other then that, it's very limited with all the stuff it can do; because it wants me to upgrade for 25+ bucks. My computer has a "Catalyses Control Center" but even after tinkering with that, it looks meh at best. Any suggestions, tips, ect is welcome.

[Kerberoz]

err... you mean wallpaper? Just create an image with the total combined resolution and paste the ones you want to use on either side, then select "tile"

example http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/108...=1#post4937766 (right and left are flipped there because the righthand screen is primary)

[Anakron]

The link below is a comparison of an i7 I'm looking at, vs the one I currently have (bought 3 years ago). The old one is actually 2.4GHz and the i7 is 2.2GHz (non-turbo boosted). The i7 has a CPU multiplier of 22 whereas the old one has 9. I understand the i7 is much better at multi-threading, but I read that MMORPGs and some games tend to be very CPU intensive (I don't play FPS), and most don't use more than 2 threads at a time.

Does that mean, for the purpose of dual-threaded gaming, the i7 will only be roughly twice as fast as the old one, which I bought 3 years ago? If I understand things correctly, that seems a little disappointing.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/53469,35568

Please let me know if I forgot about some very important spec. I tried googling, but couldn't make much sense of the bus type and system bus spec (especially when the latter is different units).

[Boyiee]

Well I have another question concerning the duo screens. I wish to have my monitors have different pictures, or at least stretch it out. I goggled it and it sent me to DisplayFusion; which is okay on the two different pics, but stretching looks horrid. Other then that, it's very limited with all the stuff it can do; because it wants me to upgrade for 25+ bucks. My computer has a "Catalyses Control Center" but even after tinkering with that, it looks meh at best. Any suggestions, tips, ect is welcome.

torrent ultramon

[Kilorilo]

Anyone have an idea as to why this happens. It occurs in rarzombie, a java application, as well as occasionally in Chrome and Steam, making both of them unusable till it sort've fixes itself.

Spoiler: show

[Teppo]

torrent ultramon

Alrighty, well I did that. It took me a bit, but I got a semi working version. It started my computer (that made me uncomfortable) now the program won't open up. This also happened with DisplayFusion so in order for me to reopen it; I had to uninstall and reinstall to get it to open again. Did I get another bad version?

[Deathgazer]

Anything look wrong with this?

Spoiler: show

http://i40.tinypic.com/fcihcz.jpg

[Scizor]

Looking into turning my PS2 slim into a hand held, seen some beautifully designed ones on random websites but I'm wondering if anyone on here has done it before? If so any tips or things I should look out for?

[Anakron]

Are there any programs that will let me see the CPU and GPU load while running other programs? I basically want to see where I am (performance) capped in terms of CPU vs GPU.

[Jojimbo]

MSI Afterburner has OSD option for GPU stuff, CoreTemp/Task Manager can monitor CPU usage but I don't think they have OSD, although CoreTemp can use G13/G15 LCD displays. This might work for CPU though.

[Asai]

I need ideas for a computer case with room for a full ATX board (doesn't have to be a full tower though) and custom PC lighting setups. Stuff like cold cathodes, custom fans, fan controllers that alternate the colors on the fans like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dMS4nYpeKo

Building PC for the wife and she turns into a little girl at the sight of pretty colors and lights dancing around.

Any help/ideas are welcome, as I am kinda overwhelmed by possibilities at the moment. Her favorite color is green, so the ability to have the entire case lighting shift to a solid green would be a plus, but i'd like to have something of a light and color show going on in there at the push of a button.

[Anakron]

MSI Afterburner has OSD option for GPU stuff, CoreTemp/Task Manager can monitor CPU usage but I don't think they have OSD, although CoreTemp can use G13/G15 LCD displays. This might work for CPU though.

Thanks, I completely forgot that good ol' Task Manager shows CPU.

[Kuishen]

Would there be a device I could get or a specific few cables to hook up my Sennheiser pc350s to my xbox? Obviously having the mic work for Live would be cool but just having the headphones for the sound would be amazing. Thin walls etc, can't really do anything on my tv late at night.

[Almaut]

Would there be a device I could get or a specific few cables to hook up my Sennheiser pc350s to my xbox? Obviously having the mic work for Live would be cool but just having the headphones for the sound would be amazing. Thin walls etc, can't really do anything on my tv late at night.

A dual 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter should work. Could buy one or try making one yourself if you really want to. They run about 10 bucks though on the sites that I've seen.

[Caiyuo]

The only real hangup is if you use the HDMI port as some models block the HDMI port when using the A/V cable. This can be remedied pretty easily depending on what model you have, but yeah, I believe using something like this, you can plug the A/V cables into the red and white and your headphones into the 3.5mm end: http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B0009JF...etteraddons-20

[Kuishen]

A dual 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter should work. Could buy one or try making one yourself if you really want to. They run about 10 bucks though on the sites that I've seen.

This would only put the voice input/output into the headphones, not the sounds from the tv/game.

Caiyuo's suggestion will work for the opposite. And I will do that if there is no other alternative, but is there some sort of splitter box or whatever? I'm a total audio newb so wouldn't even know what to search for in regards to that.

EDIT: Might actually be possible if I could get a long 2.5mm cable/adapter and combine the above suggestions, and have the settings to play voice through the speakers instead of the headset. Would be kind of convoluted though.

[Xno Kappa]

EDIT: Nevermind, it's as good as dead.

[Tyr]

I've been using my laptop like a desktop for the past few days -- I rarely move from my desk. I'm under the impression that keeping a battery in while it's fully charged and plugged in will cut its life short.

So what I've done the past few days is that, while plugged in, I've taken my battery (charged @ 100%) out.

1) Is my first impression, that keeping a charged battery in while plugged in is bad for battery life, true?
2) Are there any problems with doing what I'm doing? Outside of "if the plug gets cut or electricity goes out my computer will turn off" ?

[Kaisha]

Any recommended tools for seeing where the bottleneck in your computer performance lies?

My PC is old, still running WinXP, but it's gotten to the point where some games that ran fine before now run like shit, and a lot of it feels like it's being CPU bound by some reason since lowering the visual options does zilch for the framerate, and I'm trying to figure out wtf changed since a fresh format so I can address the issue.

Currently playing the process-of-elimination game by disabling any unneeded services and killing off situational processes that aren't needed to no avail so far.

[Purrrfect]

Good benchmark for mainly gaming performance testing? I've got the basic 3dmark 11, the heaven one, furmark, and the trusty old ffxiv benchmarks already. Wondering if there is anything else I should be trying too.