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    Linux Gaming Video Card?

    If you were buying a new system and wanted to do some gaming on linux, would you go for an ATI video card, or nVidia? I'll split this into 2 questions: 1) Which one has better proprietary binary drivers that "just work"? 2) If I prefer to use open source drivers only, which brand is...
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    nVidia vs. ATI - Driver Quality?

    Looking to buy a new video card to go with Ivy Bridge. I've used nVidia for years, and generally trust their drivers. Used an ATI 1st generation Radeon (maybe ~10 years ago), and felt the drivers weren't... quite as polished as nVidia. Obviously that was a long time ago, though. How are the ATI...
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    Asus & Virtu MVP

    EDIT: OK, apparently I missed a couple of examples of motherboards that had it. I was just looking at the feature advertisement, and failed to look at the actual spec sheets. Still, I'm surprised several expensive boards don't have it. Changing the nature of my post due to that. Is Virtu MVP...
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    Thermal Armor Motherboards?

    I'm considering buying a new Asus "TUF" Thermal Armor motherboard for my new Ivy Bridge system (Asus "Sabertooth" Z77 chipset): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821 I'm actually not specifically in love with the Thermal Armor, but I like the Asus brand, I happen to...
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    Heavy Wifi Use Disconnects?

    When using wifi on my laptop at home, it usually stays connected just fine when browsing websites & such. However, when I do any kind of heavy operation, like download or upload a large file from my SMB file server, there's about a 30-40% chance that Wifi will disconnect, taking around 60-120...
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    New Gaming Rig - RAM Amount?

    If you were building a new gaming rig (Ivy Bridge, GeForce GTX 680), how much RAM would you buy for it? I generally only upgrade every 4 or 5 years, so.. I'm trying to be somewhat future proof. I'm not doing any virtual machines, this is literally *only* for gaming (and/or web browsing, etc)...
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    Mini Rig w/ Good PSU?

    I'm looking to replace my old gaming PC with a new gaming PC sometime this summer. I'm *considering* migrating from my standard size to a mini size (1x 5.25" external bay, 2x 3.5" bays). Is it feasible to get a miniature barebones PC, with a beefy enough power supply to support a decent Ivy...
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    Which 30" Monitor to buy for gaming?

    My ancient 19" Samsung CRT is starting to die, and I'm looking to finally upgrade to an LCD. I don't mind spending more, I just want to get the best 30" gaming monitor that's available right now, a monitor that will (hopefully) last me at least 5-8 years. I will mostly be gaming with it, and...
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    Core 2 Duo & DDR1

    I just got a new Core 2 Duo processor (E6600 - 2.4 Ghz with 4MB L2 Cache). With it I got an ASRock motherboard (chipset: Via PT880) which allows me to use DDR or DDR2 memory, and right now I have some DDR400 RAM plugged in. This lets me do upgrade in phases from my old Barton system. First of...
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    EPIA Fileserver?

    I'm building a linux fileserver (it will host a bunch of files for home use like digital pictures and CD/DVD images, and run daily incremental backups to a secondary hard drive with rdiff-backup). My entire home network is gigabit LAN based, with a couple wireless laptops. I'm eyeing a...
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    Best Low-Energy Light Bulbs?

    I just bought a house, and am looking to install the lowest-energy light bulbs I can get, all over the house. Up-front cost isn't really a concern, and the time it takes to "earn back" my investment doesn't matter either - I'm doing this because I care about the environment, and want to be a...
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    Why don't hard drives spin at other RPM's?

    I'm just curious, why hard drives always spin at certain speeds. For example, desktops are almost always 5.4k, 7.2, 10k, or rarely 15k. My question is, why is it like this? Why isn't there such thing as an "8k rpm" or "7.5k rpm" drive? Are these set RPM speeds a certain sweet spot in terms of...
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    When will we get >750 GB drives?

    I'm building a personal server to store all my data and automatically keep incremental backups. I notice that on pricewatch, newegg, etc. that 750 GB is the largest SATA drive I can buy - and the price shows it. 750 GB drives have been out for QUITE a while (6+ months I believe), so does anyone...
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    Intel P965 in SFF Barebones PC?

    I'm planning to build a Small Form Factor Barebones PC (PVR box, mythtv, it's going to rock, but that's beside the point). I'm leaning toward using a Core 2 Duo CPU, and I was all hyped up about Intel's P965 chipset (which anand's latest article says has better performance and uses less power)...