I feel dumb...computer related...

[Belmont31R]

This past week I upgraded my video card and power supply. The factory video card was going TU since the fan on it went bad, and I believe it was damaged from over heating. Anyways I get the new video card installed, power supply (350W to 600W) and am getting so pissed off since the text on everything now looks like shit. I must have spent 5 hours in the last few days trying to fix it. Today, finally, I found this setting option buried deep within the control program for the video card. It was the pixel mode. I must have tried 50 different setting configurations before one little button fixed everything.


Before the pixel setting fix basically the text on sites like this looked like someone set the sharpness setting on high, and no matter what I did it looked like ass. The letters were not clear, ect. Still readable but I could tell something was off. I was about to get pissed I spent over 300 on a new card and PS.....


I got a Diamond ATI HD6870 for those wondering. Kicks ass so far....but their "Catalyst" control program is the worst program Ive EVER used bar none. The menu for the Oregon Trail was better setup.....


Next I want to upgrade the OS and hard-drive to Windows7/SSD with an external HD for anything I need above the SSD. Im using Vista now.

[Preferred User]

SSDs are not all they are cracked up to be. Yet. Win7 is so much better than Vista it is not even funny.

The other thing to improve the look of fonts is to adjust the ClearType Tuner.

[Jer]

SSDs are not all they are cracked up to be. Yet. Win7 is so much better than Vista it is not even funny.

They're not? Compared to what?

Vista works just fine.

[Honu]

SSD are great for specific things and for boot its a nice luxury but not needed

if you work in Lightroom getting the cache on SSD speeds things up
music people like them for some samples and such
the downside is the size vs cost factor and really a good modern HDD like a WD 2 TB black is fast enough for most people

if I got a SSD and was a general user it would be for the boot but I would also wait for the new sandforce drives that should be out this month or next ?

I use SSD for boot and my scratch/cache drives and a Areca raid setup for main storage

I bought 5 SSD to do some testing as I work in PS and LR for a living as a photographer and a post production company we have
so for some its well worth it but I do think for others who are not making a living with a computer they are a nice luxury and if you can afford it go for it
they do help give you a boost of performance in some situations but I agree they are not the only way to boost things I think they have to be in a balanced system

car analogy just like a car to perform needs more than just a fast engine ?
you would want to have good suspension good brakes good tires and of course a decent car to hang all that on to make sure the other items could perform and balanced with power it would do well



I say wait till this summer the new ones will have been out a bit and prices will have fallen you can then pick up a current model or a new model at much less price

[Alex V]

Oregon Trail FTW!

I agree that Catalyst sucks but I don't think I ever had that problem using a number of ATI chipped vid cards on XP.

As for the SSD I'd have to agree with User and Honu, they are nice to boot from but the cost is just too much. I had great luck running a 10000rpm drive for the OS and everything else from another drive. Booted up very fast, though no hard comparison to a SSD.

Either way, my MacBook pro loads faster that any Windows based machine I have ever owned. lol

[chadbag]

One thing SSD does is reduce the noise. For some people that is important. And the can slightly improve battery on laptops. I put one in my MacBook since the storage space is not important. And in some nexenta based file servers for read and write caching.

[Jer]

The pros to SSD: faster, quieter, lower power consumption, runs cooler and no moving parts makes for better shock resistance. The cons: cost v capacity. If you don't need gobs of storage and have a netbook or laptop this is perfect to speed things up, use less battery, add durability and cool/quiet things down. I've seen the Kingston 64gb SSD go for less than $1/gb w/rebates and sales so depending on application and needs they can be a GREAT upgrade for your machine. These blanket statements that they aren't worth it are rather broad statements.

Buy a $150 netbook and swap out the included HDD for the aforementioned SSD and watch that netbook improve in every category with a minimal price investment (selling the included HDD to offset the SSD) and one lots of people who know are willing to make. I wouldn't say they're 'not all they're cracked up to be' when talking SSD. Like it or not, it is THE new standard for a quickly outdated technology when it comes to storage. Much like other formats and options of years past it's a cost v return since it's the new hotness. When prices come down and capacity goes up you can kiss older technologies goodbye.

[Honu]

I do love SSD I have 5 of them now and will throw more to the mix
they are sadly to costly and while the benefits are solid they are still not the miracle worker some think

example in a boot drive they make things way snappier so your program opens in 2 seconds compared to say 7 ? OK how often do you really open your programs ? most open once and keep it open ?

your swap file will gain some speed but more memory can help that out just as much

I do like their is no noise and all the advantages and cant wait for them to make spinning HDD obsolete cause once you do have them for boot its hard to go back once you use them for cache type drives and this is where I would say its well worth the price to update


I do agree in laptops they are great but at the same time while they help them out that money might be better used to get a faster laptop ?
but to me throwing one in a cheap laptop to help is like throwing $3000 set of wheels and tires on a $4000 car ? kinda a waste

daily crunching and waiting for things is what kills you not how fast your email launches and yes in a laptop when everything is on that disc they do help so its a worth while update but again I think you have to balance it with what you have meaning it might be time to get a new laptop and these days they can be had for cheap and your gains through out the day of a new laptop will be greater than your old laptop with a fast SSD in it

again not saying dont do it just saying evaluate

would you throw a $2000 optic on a cheap junk AR that shoots like crap ?
or would you be better off using some of that to get a nice AR and get a nice optic to match ?

again specialty use such as cache or scratch drives or anything that needs super low latency or seek is where they are king !!!!

[Honu]

Buy a $150 netbook and swap out the included HDD for the aforementioned SSD and watch that netbook improve in every category with a minimal price investment (selling the included HDD to offset the SSD) and one lots of people who know are willing to make.

I kinda agree with this because again a balance of things so agree they can help but also one has to really look at the SSD they get as many do not perform like others

IMHO the Sandforce controller ones are the ones to get with both good read and write not just good reads like some of the models

OCZ vertex line as a example and on Macs the OWC models

[Preferred User]

They're not? Compared to what?

SSDs are not all they are cracked up to be when it comes to longevity, capacity, cost, consistent operation . . .

SSDs will be cool someday and have some good uses today, but they are not appropriate for all circumstances.

Vista works just fine.

Windows 7 works better than Vista. It uses less resources, UAE and other protections are better implemented, security is more thought out, etc.