'Ello interguild folks, since bmwsu wanted my help and I needed to register to this site, I though I could make a thread to see if there was a intresset of getting help with computer(s) and computer building.

I can help with most of the things you may have problems with (that is computer related)

Find me the best graphics card you can. Budget is £140, but can go a little higher.

ohai there
so you're 16 and a computerfreak? that's awesome

can you explain to me what's the actual difference between intel processors and AMD processors? I mean, AMD are cheaper by FAR, but rumor says intel are better O_o

Best graphics card is a big word I asume by your age you are looking for a gaming mabey a low end video editing card (for exampel "montages")

Well this is a tricky one, either you find a nvidia GTX 560TI that fits your budget (normaly they go for about 150GBP) or you buy a AMD 6870 for 100GBP that preforms about 3-7% worse than 560TI
HINT AWSOME PRICE http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-HD-687A-ZHFC-Graphics-Memory/dp/B005C31F2M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342558224&sr=8-2



To start you want a short or a long answear

Well to start of they are build in diffrent architecture, for exampel intels latest generation of CPU's (Ivy bridge/3rd gen core CPU's) are in 22Nano meters (For short NM) while AMD's am3(+) is 45NM.

Power (Watt)

Intels Ivy bridge draws much less power (Becuse they have shurnken the chips to 22nm from 32<-45<-65 and so on) versus AMD that is 45nm.
But the main reason that intel draws less power is becuse they got so much more efficiently architecture than amd

Horepower

It is the same story here in most common senarios, until you take a CPU from am3+ (Lets take FX8120) and throw it in a multi threaded senario then it preforms about as good or even better as a cpu that costs the dubble.

TLR
Intel got a more efficiently designed architecture than AMD that is why they preform better in almost all cases

'Low end'? I want to be able to play current games comfortably. I don't like video editing at all, lol. My main problem at the moment is that I cannot physically play games such as Fallout or Metro 2033 without my computer steaming and inevitably exploding. I mean, I couldn't even play Magicka till I go my £30 card. Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll probably go with the 9870 since it was suggested over at Facepunch as well, and I want some money left over to spend in the Sunmer Steam Sale with no worries. Thanks again.

When i meant low end i was pointing at a low end video editing card (IE a Quadro card)
The 6870 works perfect for all games atm, you can play about all games on high/ultra except BF3 with a 6870

Oh ok, I didn't realise how straining in a computer is for video editing.

Yup editing is very very straining on the computer

Also, it might be possible to just run a graphics card emulator off of your cpu, if you have good processing but a weak graphics chip. I did that on my laptop. Most multicores can do that pretty well. Vid editing is probably a different story, but I havn't tried that.
Tada! I helped!

Just saying, you do not emulate the Graphics card, you proberly use hardware acceleration

That is atleast what you use in video editing, never heard of a graphics card emulator also that would be very bad since a cpu is not design to work the same as gpu.
A gpu is deisgned to do more rapid work but not as safe from a failed calculation while a cpu is designed never to fail a calculation. Might be the oposit way cant remember it from the top of my head

That's sort of true, but not really. There's nothing wrong with using a cpu to do graphics work, since a cpu has a built in floating point unit, which is basically what a gpu is. Hardware accell is the opposite of what I described. It's using your gpu to take load off of the cpu (and to do that work faster). That only works if you have a good gpu to begin with. If it's the other way, you have an awesome cpu and a crapy integrated graphics card on your laptop, then emulation works.
See this:
http://www.epicdot.com/forum/showthread.php?2085-Graphics-Card-Emulator

Never said it was inpossible to do it, i said you proberly use hardware acceleration.

Although i really doubt the preformance of a CPU->GPU, welp proberly works fine if you wanna play on low settings or so

This is kind of computer related...

PC or Mac?

(If I remember correctly, your brother said he has never owned an apple product, lol.)

PC is a personal computer, a mac is also a pc
I can help in linux and windows, possibly help with some osX

You can't even play a game from 1997 without your computer exploding? It really is time for an upgrade.

As for my question, what is the best GNU/Linux OS for personal use?

PC. I don't even know why this question is being asked. The only positive with Mac is that it's stylish.

Do not say that!
A mac is good for somethings, for exampel it is very safe to use (No viruses), fast, clean, easy to use


I really love Debian and crunchbang

Also i think he is refering to Fallout 3 or fallout new vegas

Also, why would anyone use a Mac over Linux?

Becuse linux requires an huge intresset in the OS, while mac is made for the person that buys the computer and surfs the web, or the professionals that NEVER want the computer to crash

I don't understand why so many people think that. In my experience with Ubuntu, it is far more user friendly than Windows. Yes, you can use the Terminal to operate everything, but so can you in Windows. With with the general browsing, the Ubuntu Software Center and the far less intrusive (and better) security, it is much easier to use Ubuntu than Windows even for the computer illiterate.

Well just to surf linux is very simpel, but when you want to install something sh*t gets harder, troubleshooting is a p*in in linux since so "few" use it (compared to windows)
although i love linux to death but it is to few programs that works nativly and you need programs like wine to run.

Also ask isa about how linux went for him Ask how he liked the "WT F" command

wut, was my comment deleted??

eh I'l rewrite it from memory, posted it yesterday

erm. well thanks do you know what algorithm the computer uses to divide numbers X and Y? aka, if I give it 5000/43, how does it do that?


also, I very much like Mac over windows and linux. I use linux in university, mac in work and windows at home, and comparing all of them, I like Mac>>windows>linux.

there was literally only 1 problem I had in the Mac in the 11 months I'm working at the lab with it, and that was a problem like, "if you use microsoft windows on a mac, you can't write in hebrew from right to left". in other words, something ignorable.

Ugh sorry cant really help there, a bit over my head. More advanced question in software is not my strong point

How would I restore a computer to factory settings? Do I need the reset disks or the OS CDs or something?

If my motherboard supports dual-memory, and has 4 memory slots, is it better to get 4x2GB sticks, or 2x4GB sticks?