all of the above to simply say, if you're going to wait or not, might i recommend that you find a really comfortable mouse and keyboard to add to your setup? it doesn't seem like much, but i have really begun to find that these small things can really add to the overall experience one has in many areas of life.
I already have a mouse that I really like. It's lightweight, comfortable, and just works right, every single time. Much of the paint has worn off over the years, but that's fine, because that doesn't affect the functionality. The mouse was $14 before shipping, too; I've used more expensive mice, but didn't like them nearly as well.
As for the keyboard, I've used a lot of keyboards, but never one that made me say, this is better than most keyboards. Some keyboards find creative ways to be worse than most others (the most common are wireless and the fraudulently-named "ergonomic" keyboards), but I'm not aware of any ways to meaningfully improve on what you could get 20 years ago.
ha! too true.
my worst keyboard yet was a new logitech wireless. gahds that thing was awful.
well as long as your comfortable i spose that's the most important bit. though im sure you won't need it, good luck on your rebuild over time (ROT? somehow that doesn't sound right
"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play." Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
I tried updating the motherboard BIOS. That made no difference.
What I find strange is that the motherboard says that the SSD failed a SMART test while SeaTools says that it passed a SMART test. The SSD passes the other three tests in the SeaTools suite, one of which is a very in-depth test that takes about half an hour to run.
I tried using the SMART monitoring in SpeedFan, and it says everything is wonderful, just as it should be on a new drive. For comparison, it says that my old OCZ Agility has 16126 uncorrectable sectors and should therefore be replaced. CrystalDiskInfo also says that the new SSD is fine. So does HD Tune--and with a test that scans the entire SSD and takes over 20 minutes, no less.
I looked into it somewhat and it seems that what SMART attributes drives support varies wildly from one drive to the next. The newest BIOS available for my motherboard predates the launch of the first SSD on a LAMD controller by about a year and a half, so the motherboard BIOS writers had no way of knowing what SMART values the SSD would offer or what the normal range would be. A lot has changed since then, too; when the motherboard launched, nothing supported either TRIM or SATA 3. On that basis, I'm inclined to say that the motherboard BIOS test is simply wrong.
I figured out how to disable the motherboard BIOS check of the SSD. That would at least get the BIOS to stop complaining. I just don't want it to be akin to disabling an annoying fire alarm when there is a real fire.
As for the claim of 39% write endurance, write endurance is hard to measure and plenty of vendor-provided tools that expose some numbers on it have been wrong.
I submitted a ticket with Seagate support last night and am hoping to hear back soon.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I have an I5 laptop and have no need what so ever to upgrade,so any decent I7 should be good for about another 10 years especially if all we are going to get is Wow or Wildstar type graphics.
My PC is only an ancient 5200+ and 8800GT and still runs ANY MMORPG,yes even FFXIV,albeit not on high settings of course but good enough to see good visuals.A lot of these games are so ancient ,they even have global lighting and little to no shader use and shadows are imo rarely needed or noticed.
Even the single player games are easily run on my I5 Laptop,game design right now is really sad it is moving backwards faster than forwards.
I will wait and see what Valve or Epic games comes up with next to see if i should even think about any PC upgrade,otherwise i bet my I5 laptop will still play the newest with ease.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I tried updating the motherboard BIOS. That made no difference.
What I find strange is that the motherboard says that the SSD failed a SMART test while SeaTools says that it passed a SMART test. The SSD passes the other three tests in the SeaTools suite, one of which is a very in-depth test that takes about half an hour to run.
I tried using the SMART monitoring in SpeedFan, and it says everything is wonderful, just as it should be on a new drive. For comparison, it says that my old OCZ Agility has 16126 uncorrectable sectors and should therefore be replaced. CrystalDiskInfo also says that the new SSD is fine. So does HD Tune--and with a test that scans the entire SSD and takes over 20 minutes, no less.
I looked into it somewhat and it seems that what SMART attributes drives support varies wildly from one drive to the next. The newest BIOS available for my motherboard predates the launch of the first SSD on a LAMD controller by about a year and a half, so the motherboard BIOS writers had no way of knowing what SMART values the SSD would offer or what the normal range would be. A lot has changed since then, too; when the motherboard launched, nothing supported either TRIM or SATA 3. On that basis, I'm inclined to say that the motherboard BIOS test is simply wrong.
I figured out how to disable the motherboard BIOS check of the SSD. That would at least get the BIOS to stop complaining. I just don't want it to be akin to disabling an annoying fire alarm when there is a real fire.
As for the claim of 39% write endurance, write endurance is hard to measure and plenty of vendor-provided tools that expose some numbers on it have been wrong.
I submitted a ticket with Seagate support last night and am hoping to hear back soon.
Why I buy my PCs rather than build them
It's not a buy versus build situation. It's an issue with upgrading a 4+ year old computer, with an SSD that didn't exist until long after the last motherboard BIOS update, and hoping the parts will play nicely together.
That's possible I suppose that it's just a BIOS thing - SMART is really horrible at predicting failures anyway, so I don't think that disabling it your really missing much.
I've got a similarly old motherboard, and it's running SATA3 SSDs fine (Crucial C300). That's not to say that other drives with other firmware and other Motherboards with other controllers won't play oddly together.
First, thank you for all the advice and help over the years. Even back when I was just lurking, you've helped me more than you could know!
My advice to you is to spend that chee$e, get the 5 big screens and the full tower case and all the bells and whistles. You've been making that phat lootz, it's now time to spend some. Sell the old machine, keep your storage drives, transfer the data and shred'em, get a new burner, blu-ray even.
What's next? Gonna jerry-rig a tesla coil to your balls to be a ghetto cyborg?! Stop the madness and build a signature worthy rig!
Re monitors : Why do you want more and which games to you play where Eyefinity would be beneficial over 1 large main screen and 2 smaller satellites?
I have Eyefinity just now with 3 x 1080p DGM 120hz screens and wish i was running a single1440p for gaming with 2 1080p monitors for everything else. Eyefinity rocks for the likes of FSX but is a waste of money for 99% of games where a single 27" at higher res would be a better experience. It comes down to whether the majority of your time is taken up by games where peripheral vision add substantially to the experience, if it's not then don't bother.
I couldn't do without 3 screens btw just that they don't add much to the gaming aspect for me.
Re monitors : Why do you want more and which games to you play where Eyefinity would be beneficial over 1 large main screen and 2 smaller satellites?
I have Eyefinity just now with 3 x 1080p DGM 120hz screens and wish i was running a single1440p for gaming with 2 1080p monitors for everything else. Eyefinity rocks for the likes of FSX but is a waste of money for 99% of games where a single 27" at higher res would be a better experience. It comes down to whether the majority of your time is taken up by games where peripheral vision add substantially to the experience, if it's not then don't bother.
I couldn't do without 3 screens btw just that they don't add much to the gaming aspect for me.
For three monitors in landscape mode, I'd agree. But that's why I want to put them in portrait mode. There are lots of programs where more vertical pixels would be nice, and 1920 vertical pixels is more than you can get in landscape mode by anything short of a very, very expensive 4k monitor. That lets you read more before you have to scroll down, for example.
Comments
ha! too true.
my worst keyboard yet was a new logitech wireless. gahds that thing was awful.
well as long as your comfortable i spose that's the most important bit. though im sure you won't need it, good luck on your rebuild over time (ROT? somehow that doesn't sound right
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Why I buy my PCs rather than build them
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I have an I5 laptop and have no need what so ever to upgrade,so any decent I7 should be good for about another 10 years especially if all we are going to get is Wow or Wildstar type graphics.
My PC is only an ancient 5200+ and 8800GT and still runs ANY MMORPG,yes even FFXIV,albeit not on high settings of course but good enough to see good visuals.A lot of these games are so ancient ,they even have global lighting and little to no shader use and shadows are imo rarely needed or noticed.
Even the single player games are easily run on my I5 Laptop,game design right now is really sad it is moving backwards faster than forwards.
I will wait and see what Valve or Epic games comes up with next to see if i should even think about any PC upgrade,otherwise i bet my I5 laptop will still play the newest with ease.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
It's not a buy versus build situation. It's an issue with upgrading a 4+ year old computer, with an SSD that didn't exist until long after the last motherboard BIOS update, and hoping the parts will play nicely together.
That's possible I suppose that it's just a BIOS thing - SMART is really horrible at predicting failures anyway, so I don't think that disabling it your really missing much.
I've got a similarly old motherboard, and it's running SATA3 SSDs fine (Crucial C300). That's not to say that other drives with other firmware and other Motherboards with other controllers won't play oddly together.
Regardless I think I would RMA or return it...
First, thank you for all the advice and help over the years. Even back when I was just lurking, you've helped me more than you could know!
My advice to you is to spend that chee$e, get the 5 big screens and the full tower case and all the bells and whistles. You've been making that phat lootz, it's now time to spend some. Sell the old machine, keep your storage drives, transfer the data and shred'em, get a new burner, blu-ray even.
What's next? Gonna jerry-rig a tesla coil to your balls to be a ghetto cyborg?! Stop the madness and build a signature worthy rig!
I say this all out of love!
Re monitors : Why do you want more and which games to you play where Eyefinity would be beneficial over 1 large main screen and 2 smaller satellites?
I have Eyefinity just now with 3 x 1080p DGM 120hz screens and wish i was running a single1440p for gaming with 2 1080p monitors for everything else. Eyefinity rocks for the likes of FSX but is a waste of money for 99% of games where a single 27" at higher res would be a better experience. It comes down to whether the majority of your time is taken up by games where peripheral vision add substantially to the experience, if it's not then don't bother.
I couldn't do without 3 screens btw just that they don't add much to the gaming aspect for me.
For three monitors in landscape mode, I'd agree. But that's why I want to put them in portrait mode. There are lots of programs where more vertical pixels would be nice, and 1920 vertical pixels is more than you can get in landscape mode by anything short of a very, very expensive 4k monitor. That lets you read more before you have to scroll down, for example.