Questions 101

**Praetor** · 05-24-2005, 07:22 PM

Questions 101

Why was I sent here?
Odds are it's because we need to know your system specs .. i.e., what components are inside your computer! To be able to answer that, read on

Anywho, this thread is dedicated to informing the reader of two things

Knowing what information to provide when asking questions
Knowing how to obtain that information

What Information is Required?
Logical Information

If your question is currency specific, provide that currency (if none is provided, it is assumed to be USD).
If your budget encompases tax ... provide the tax percentage.
Newegg does not ship outside of USA and Puerto Rico
If your question is country specific ... tell us that country
If you have a question about a virus or what-not that you suspect has infected your computer ... please name the virus if you know it.
If you're looking for a computer (or component) suggestion/advice, the intention of the machine is important and the budget

Technical Information

CPU Make and Model. The make will generally be either AMD/Intel and the model is composed of either a MHz/GHz rating on older processors or a performance rating on all current generation processors. More recently, it is more relevent/important to provide information about the core of the processor (i.e., Newcastle, Prescott etc) as well as its socket/interface information (i.e., Socket775 or Socket939(
Motherboard Make and Model. If this is an OEM (i.e., dell, ibm, compaq etc) system, then say so. Depending on the question it may be wise to provide the BIOS version number
RAM information. This include the manufacturer (i.e., Corsair, Geil or even 'generic'), as well as the amount of memory you have (i.e., 256MB or 512MB) and the performance designation for it (i.e., 166MHz or PC3200) and any 'features' that RAM has (i.e.., ECC or Registered)
Video information. This includes the video chip powering it (i.e., nVidia GeForceFX5500, ATi Radeon 9700 or Intel Extreme Graphics 2) as well as the interface (i.e., AGP, PCIe or Integrated/Onboard) as well as the amount of memory available to the video card (i.e., 64MB or 512MB). Depending on the question it may be wise to provide the AGP speed (i.e., AGP 2X or AGP 8X)
Power supply. For questions about system crashes/stability/freezing, this is more important than people realize. Please provide the make and model of the power supply (i.e., Antec TruPower 430 or 'generic') as well as the power ratings if possible.
Operating system. Not everyone uses WindowsXP and even amoung XP users, not everyone uses SP2. So specify the OS and any service packs that may be present.
Drivers and APIs. This is an extension of the video card information, please provide the driver revision (i.e., nVidia Forceware 76.10 or ATI Catalyst 4.70) and the currently installed version of DirectX as applicable.
Optical drives. Provide the make and model and if relevent, the firmware installed (i.e., LiteOn 1633s or 'generic')
HDD. Include make (i.e., Maxtor, Seagate), model/size (i.e., DiamondMax 10 or 160GB), interface (i.e., PATA, SCSI etc) and the amount of cache available (i.e., 2MB or 8MB)
Temperatures. If you're asking about a cooling/temperature question be sure to include both the idle (generally the lowest) and the burn (generally the highest) temperatures observed
If you've overclocked anything or changed anything from default, please say so

How do I find out this information?

CPUz This is a free program that provides a good chunk of information about almost everything relevent to the system. The quickest route is to goto the About tab and select the Registers Dump (txt) option and then include this file as an attatchment in your post. This provides the basic information on the CPU, RAM and motherboard
RivaTuner. This free application will provide a crapload of data about the videocard
- On the Main tab, in the top section labeled Target Adapter there should be two things (a drop down menu and a box), the contents of both the dropdown menu and the box define the video card you have installed
- Still on the Main tab, in the bottom section labeled as Driver Settings there should be a box with some values in it, the first of which should have a description of "Display Driver". Provide both the filename and the version number.
- If you need to find the temperature of the videocard (and your card supports this functionality), again on the Main tab, in the top portion labeled Target Adapter, there should be a button labeled Customize. Clicking on the arrow next to it will present a menu, one of the entires (if available) will be "Hardware Monitoring").
You can find out the version of DirectX you are running by clicking on the Start Menu, selecting "run" and then typing dxdiag. On the very first page at the very bottom there is a label for "DirectX Version"
Nero InfoTools This program will tell you all the basic information about any optical drives you may have present as well as any capabilities it has. All the drives detected are listed in the dropdown box at the very top (the dropdown box lists the model numbers). Most of the relevent information will be on the Drive tab in the section labeled General
SpeedFan is a free program that can display all sorts of low-level hardware information. The relevent information can be found on the Readings tab on the right hand box (for the temperatures) and the bottom box (for the voltages). Users of ASUS motherboards may wish to use ASUS Probe.
If you want to find the full version number (and build info) of your Windows operating system, click the Start button and then select Run, type cmd to bring you to the command console. Type ver to do a version dump and then exit to close the console.
To find out the specs on your PSU, LOOK AT IT! You'll see a sticker on it that looks like this ... and if you dont ... say so.
Programs likes Everest, PCWizard and Sandra are useful apps which tell you most of what you want to know in a single application

My computer wont boot! So how do i find out information??
Well to put it bluntly: use your eyes. Damn near every computer component is labeled in some identifying manner.

Have a look at some of the 101s. More may/have been made although not necesarily listed here. Have a look at each of the applicable section for more.

05-24-2005, 07:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 25 Posts: 19,952	Questions 101 Questions 101 Why was I sent here? Odds are it's because we need to know your system specs .. i.e., what components are inside your computer! To be able to answer that, read on Anywho, this thread is dedicated to informing the reader of two things Knowing what information to provide when asking questions Knowing how to obtain that information What Information is Required? Logical Information If your question is currency specific, provide that currency (if none is provided, it is assumed to be USD). If your budget encompases tax ... provide the tax percentage. Newegg does not ship outside of USA and Puerto Rico If your question is country specific ... tell us that country If you have a question about a virus or what-not that you suspect has infected your computer ... please name the virus if you know it. If you're looking for a computer (or component) suggestion/advice, the intention of the machine is important and the budget Technical Information CPU Make and Model. The make will generally be either AMD/Intel and the model is composed of either a MHz/GHz rating on older processors or a performance rating on all current generation processors. More recently, it is more relevent/important to provide information about the core of the processor (i.e., Newcastle, Prescott etc) as well as its socket/interface information (i.e., Socket775 or Socket939( Motherboard Make and Model. If this is an OEM (i.e., dell, ibm, compaq etc) system, then say so. Depending on the question it may be wise to provide the BIOS version number RAM information. This include the manufacturer (i.e., Corsair, Geil or even 'generic'), as well as the amount of memory you have (i.e., 256MB or 512MB) and the performance designation for it (i.e., 166MHz or PC3200) and any 'features' that RAM has (i.e.., ECC or Registered) Video information. This includes the video chip powering it (i.e., nVidia GeForceFX5500, ATi Radeon 9700 or Intel Extreme Graphics 2) as well as the interface (i.e., AGP, PCIe or Integrated/Onboard) as well as the amount of memory available to the video card (i.e., 64MB or 512MB). Depending on the question it may be wise to provide the AGP speed (i.e., AGP 2X or AGP 8X) Power supply. For questions about system crashes/stability/freezing, this is more important than people realize. Please provide the make and model of the power supply (i.e., Antec TruPower 430 or 'generic') as well as the power ratings if possible. Operating system. Not everyone uses WindowsXP and even amoung XP users, not everyone uses SP2. So specify the OS and any service packs that may be present. Drivers and APIs. This is an extension of the video card information, please provide the driver revision (i.e., nVidia Forceware 76.10 or ATI Catalyst 4.70) and the currently installed version of DirectX as applicable. Optical drives. Provide the make and model and if relevent, the firmware installed (i.e., LiteOn 1633s or 'generic') HDD. Include make (i.e., Maxtor, Seagate), model/size (i.e., DiamondMax 10 or 160GB), interface (i.e., PATA, SCSI etc) and the amount of cache available (i.e., 2MB or 8MB) Temperatures. If you're asking about a cooling/temperature question be sure to include both the idle (generally the lowest) and the burn (generally the highest) temperatures observed If you've overclocked anything or changed anything from default, please say so How do I find out this information? CPUz This is a free program that provides a good chunk of information about almost everything relevent to the system. The quickest route is to goto the About tab and select the Registers Dump (txt) option and then include this file as an attatchment in your post. This provides the basic information on the CPU, RAM and motherboard RivaTuner. This free application will provide a crapload of data about the videocard On the Main tab, in the top section labeled Target Adapter there should be two things (a drop down menu and a box), the contents of both the dropdown menu and the box define the video card you have installed Still on the Main tab, in the bottom section labeled as Driver Settings there should be a box with some values in it, the first of which should have a description of "Display Driver". Provide both the filename and the version number. If you need to find the temperature of the videocard (and your card supports this functionality), again on the Main tab, in the top portion labeled Target Adapter, there should be a button labeled Customize. Clicking on the arrow next to it will present a menu, one of the entires (if available) will be "Hardware Monitoring"). You can find out the version of DirectX you are running by clicking on the Start Menu, selecting "run" and then typing dxdiag. On the very first page at the very bottom there is a label for "DirectX Version" Nero InfoTools This program will tell you all the basic information about any optical drives you may have present as well as any capabilities it has. All the drives detected are listed in the dropdown box at the very top (the dropdown box lists the model numbers). Most of the relevent information will be on the Drive tab in the section labeled General SpeedFan is a free program that can display all sorts of low-level hardware information. The relevent information can be found on the Readings tab on the right hand box (for the temperatures) and the bottom box (for the voltages). Users of ASUS motherboards may wish to use ASUS Probe. If you want to find the full version number (and build info) of your Windows operating system, click the Start button and then select Run, type cmd to bring you to the command console. Type ver to do a version dump and then exit to close the console. To find out the specs on your PSU, LOOK AT IT! You'll see a sticker on it that looks like this ... and if you dont ... say so. Programs likes Everest, PCWizard and Sandra are useful apps which tell you most of what you want to know in a single application My computer wont boot! So how do i find out information?? Well to put it bluntly: use your eyes. Damn near every computer component is labeled in some identifying manner. Have a look at some of the 101s. More may/have been made although not necesarily listed here. Have a look at each of the applicable section for more. RAM 101 CD/DVD 101 HDD 101 CPU 101 . OC 101. PSU 101. Video Card 101 RAID 101 __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 11-17-2005 at 07:07 PM.

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