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    Xeon and ECC RAM on Intel consumer motherboards?

    I'm having trouble finding a straight answer to this: If I put a Xeon E3 in a Z68, Z77, Z87, or Z97, will it utilize ECC RAM? What about a Xeon E5 in X79 or X99? It seems likely because the memory controller is in the CPU, and it seems equally unlikely because Intel would want to...
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    Best prosumer router?

    I realize this question has probably been asked before, but I didn't see a thread that exactly answered my questions. I'm looking for a wireless router that has a few features: - 2+ VLANs - VPN (IPsec preferably, not completely necessary) - 802.11ac, as many streams as possible within...
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    Windows 8.1 connects to random guest network

    My new ThinkPad is working well, except when I'm at home it automatically connects to some random belkin.guest network that one of my neighbors has set up. I have only two networks in my list of connect automatically (home and school), and that is not one of them. How do I make it stop connecting?
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    Best tablet with active digitizer?

    I'm looking to replace an old-but-trusty ThinkPad x61t (old school convertible tablet) with something newer, but I'm kind of list trying to sift through a million tablet configurations from a hundred different vendors. I'm in college, and I use OneNote a lot for notes in class, handwriting them...
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    Media Center crashing when playing video

    I recently set up a new media center computer to replace an old one, which has kind of been a headache. The biggest issue is that when playing videos in Media Center or Media Player, I get the error message that the program has stopped responding. It may only happen with x-vid files. It is...
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    Do heat pipes dry out?

    I have a Thermalright XP-120 from about 2006, so nearly 7 years old. I used it in an AM3+ system (using the AM2 bracket that came with it), on an FX-8150. The chip ran pretty hot, enough to cause the system to shut down. A different heatsink solved the issue, so I'm certain that was the problem...
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    FreeNAS hangs on startup

    I have a FreeNAS system running on an ESXi box that works until I set up a ZFS volume. Once I do, and I restart the VM, it hangs on "Mounting Local File systems:". Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot it? It starts up fine again once I disconnect all the attached drives. I have a...
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    ESXi intermittent power off?

    I have an ESXi box that I've been trying to get set up for awhile, but I've been running into an issue where it powers off intermittently. I don't know the cause, although there is one circumstance where I can replicate the issue every time (detailed below). There are no PSODs, and nothing gets...
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    Enable Cool'n'Quiet on ESXi?

    I have an ESXi 5 box that I've recently started playing with, and I'd like to make it my primary home server system. However, I'm pretty sure that Cool'n'Quiet is not function on my FX-8150. I know the option is enabled in the BIOS, but is there a way to tell in vSphere that it is working...
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    ESXi or Hyper-V?? or maybe something else

    I'm kind of at a loss right now figuring out which I want to run at home. I've been playing around (a lot) with ESXi on a test machine, and I like it a lot. The issue is that my hard drive controllers are not compatible (RocketRAID 2720). I started another thread asking about HBAs, and I'm not...
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    Which HBA for ESXi?

    I've been playing around with ESXi, and I'm going to change my server over to virtualizing. My only issue is that I need to change my HD controller to something compatible. Right now I have a RocketRAID 2720 (which is supposedly compatible with 4.1, but I've had nothing but trouble with that...
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    Help with TF2 server setup

    I've been setting up a TF2 server for me and some friends. I'm using Ubuntu 12.04, and most everything is setup properly on the server except networking. Everything works fine from my LAN, but I'm not able to get games to connect to it from the Internet. Hopefully I've opened the proper ports...
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    PCI video card recommendation

    I need a PCI (or maybe PCIe x1, but they are more expensive) video card for my server. Storage controllers ate away all of my PCIe x16 slots. I'm currently running WHS2011, so I need something compatible with it. I may migrate to a different OS in the future, something like...
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    What features to look for in an in-car GPS?

    My wife wants to get her parents a GPS unit for their car and thought I'd think it was fun to do the research. Although I like electronics, I've never even looked at GPS units besides the in-dash unit we have in our Prius. I don't even know what I'm looking for! What are the main features...
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    Which Gigabyte Z68 tomorrow?

    With Microcenter's sweet deal on the Core i5 in addition to a $60 instant savings on a motherboard, I'm making the jump tomorrow. I'm purchasing a Gigabyte board because they're more Hackintosh friendly (or hackintoshers are more friendly to Gigabyte). Any thoughts on a recommended board...
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    BSOD: Video Card or Driver??

    Recently, after a big hardware shuffle through my gaming/htpc computers, I've been getting blue screen after blue screen on two computers. The hardware shuffle happened about the time Catalyst 11.10 was released, so I'm just not certain whether it's hardware or software. On my gaming machine...
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    Home server PSU advice

    I'm trying to find the right PSU for my home server. I was thinking I might get this 550W 80+ platinum: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817121080 It's only 550W (but "over clocks" to 650 at lower efficiency), and according to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, I only need 500W...
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    How to back up my server?

    I have a conundrum. My server has a lot of storage capacity (right now 8TB in two different RAID sets with redundancy), and I'd like to back it up for obvious reasons. But, I'm not sure how to do it; there's a lot of capacity so the only way to get all of it in a reasonable method would be a...
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    What to do with 16GB of RAM?

    Moderately funny/long story that I won't really share here, but I bought 16GBs of RAM that wasn't compatible with a particular motherboard that I was going to use as a VM server (fails memtest on that machine, passes just fine on my desktop). I didn't really figure it out until after the return...
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    4-post rack recommendations?

    I'm finally got my server/switch/router rack-ready, I now just need the rack! I'm looking for a 4-post rack, or maybe cabinet. I think 12U would be about right, 10U would be too little, or 14-15U might be ok to give me some room to grow. I'm frugal but not cheap, so price is a consideration...
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    Why doesn't windows sleep?

    I have two Windows 7 boxes that are dedicated Media Centers. They both suffer from the same affliction: when Media Center is open, they won't go to sleep! Also, if I manually put them to sleep, they'll wake up for whatever reason (guide/Windows updates, backups, maybe ghosts) and then will stay...
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    Gigabit and PCI

    I know you can't fully realize gigabit bandwidth over PCI, although it seems like it might come close (PCI is 133MB/s and GbE is 128MB/s, minus overhead). But, because all of the PCIe slots on my storage server are filled with storage controllers, if I have two PCI NICs and use link...
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    Recommended switch that supports LACP?

    I'm looking for a switch which supports link aggregation, and I'm hoping somebody might have some suggestions. I'm looking for these things: GbE Rackmountable LACP VLANs Spanning-tree As for price range, I was originally hoping to find a 24-port in the $150-$225 range, but because of...
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    1600x1080 displays?

    I was just glancing over the Steam Hardware & Software Survey, a pretty fun read if you haven't checked it out, and saw what I thought was a weird anomaly: The most popular multi-display resolution is 3200x1080. How does one get that resolution? I don't think I've ever seen a 1600x1080...
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    VirtualBox and it's own NIC question

    I am thinking of running a router OS like Smoothwall or m0n0wall instead of using the router built into my Time Capsule. But, I don't necessarily want to add another computer to my network. I have a server (right now running WHS, but that may change) with an underused quad-core processor in it...
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    RAID card or new motherboard??

    I would like RAID 5 support, and my current motherboard doesn't support it. I'm in a quandary, should I get a RAID card or get a motherboard that supports RAID 5. I will be using it with Windows, and while I don't want horrible performance, the main reason I want RAID 5 support is redundancy and...
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    Which SSD for today (literally, March 19)

    I'm buying an SSD today. I'm tired of waiting to finish my MacBook Pro, so I'd like to get my SSD (finally). I'd only wait if I can find a firm date that's not too far in the future. I am going to get a 250GB drive. I'm looking at 4: Samsung 470 - low power and good enough performance, I...
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    HyperTransport Sync Flood Error

    I have a system that works just fine in Windows. I installed Ubuntu 10.10, which worked until I installed the ATi drivers. Now it boots to the Ubuntu startup screen, then the screen flashes, and the computer restarts to HyperTransport Sync Flood Error. It still works fine in Windows. What is a...
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    Media Center and exporting channel lineups... possible?

    Does anybody know if you can export your channel lineups from media center? I'm running 7MC and an HDHomeRun on three boxes and I need to reinstall on one of them and I don't want to go through the less-than-stellar menus... Thanks!
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    Fileserver/VM host - which OS?

    I'm in the midst of rebuilding my home server. It's mainly a media streamer/backup server, currently running Windows Home Server. But, like everybody else, I'm looking somewhere else for redundancy because drive extender is going away in Vail. So, here's the conclusion I've come to: -I'd...
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    Automatic folder sync tool?

    Does anybody know a good utility to sync a folder across a network? I'd like to use it as a backup tool. I don't need to keep older versions of files or anything like that. I'd just like to have the folder backed up as is to my NAS on a scheduled basis, keeping only the newest versions. I'd also...
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    Drobo alternatives?

    I'm looking at a drobo, but they are very pricey (especially the 8-bay drobo pro). There are certain featurers of it, though, that I really like and am wondering if I can get something similar in ZFS or something else. The features I'm looking for: 1) Appears as one large volume (like RAID or...
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    graphics distortion after xp->7 upgrade

    After upgrading my wife's Thinkpad X61 Tablet to Windows 7 the desktop has some graphics distortion. It's really weird, and it happens a few times a day. The desktop background and any shortcuts get distorted, but if I use the lasso the distortion goes away. There's a link to the screenshots at...
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    Upgrade quandary, htpc and main rig

    The motherboard on one of my HTPCs burnt out again, and I'm stuck trying to figure out what I want to do. There are about four options, but if I upgrade the HTPC at all, I want it be at least a little future proof (i.e., no upgrades for about 4 years). It's not my main system, or even our main...
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    t2i video questions - timecode & audio

    I'm looking at shooting a documentary and I think the t2i might be my camera of choice. I'm just a little bit concerned about a couple things: It seems there are some issues with the audio, mainly the automatic gain control. Has this been resolved with a firmware update or anything? Also, if...
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    AFP server for Windows?

    Anybody know of a good AFP server to use with Windows? SMB file-sharing on my Mac is annoyingly slow, even with some of the fixes I found online. I found one AFP server for enterprise that's $1000 and up, money I'm not willing to spend... Thanks for the help!
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    What to do with a mini PCIe slot?

    So my wife asked me to open up her Thinkpad and blow out the dust and such. Lo and behold, there's an Intel Turbo Memory card in the mini PCIe slot. Because her computer is running the school-mandated Windows XP (and because she has a decent SSD), I don't think it's doing anything for her...
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    Socket P motherboard?

    Anybody know of any Socket P motherboards larger than ITX? I'd like Micro ATX for a few reasons. I have a CPU just laying around that I want put to use. Thanks!
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    Windows clock runs slow?

    The clock on my system is running slow and I can't find the culprit :( It works fine in BIOS and then for the first few seconds (or maybe minutes) after the system starts up. It's weird to watch, the seconds tick by correctly and then they start to go erratically, sometime fast and sometimes...
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    How to pack a computer for moving?

    In a week, I'll be making a pretty big move (Phoenix to Cincinnati), and we're packing our stuff into a POD for the move and about one moth of storage. I'm wondering some tips for packing it. I plan on using the box that came with the case, and the plastic bag that came around it (to waterproof...