General PC questions

JK29

JK29

New Member
Hey guys, thanks again for helping me order the parts for my next build. I have some followup general questions that I was hopping yall could help me with.

  1. Do yall think doing a test boot out of the case is a good idea when building a computer?
  2. Will my 750w power supply support an additional 4 120mm case fans? Bringing the total # of case fans to 6
  3. When I start installing the OS and Drivers should I install this software that came with my monitor?
  4. How should I monitor my component temperatures and what are optimal temperatures? (Speedfan?)
  5. Any suggestion on good programs to rip DVD's to avis or mp4s?
  6. Any suggestion on good programs to burn avi.s and mp4.s to DVDs? (lol)
  7. Can you ever completely delete something from a computer?
  8. How offten should one reformat their computer for optimal performance?
  9. Could anyone explain RAM in depth. I was looking at my resource monitor and terms like "in use, modified, standby, and free" confused me.

Thank yall so much for your input. Yall's support is really appreciated!

JK
 
JK29 said:
Hey guys, thanks again for helping me order the parts for my next build. I have some followup general questions that I was hopping yall could help me with.

  1. Do yall think doing a test boot out of the case is a good idea when building a computer?
  2. Will my 750w power supply support an additional 4 120mm case fans? Bringing the total # of case fans to 6
  3. When I start installing the OS and Drivers should I install this software that came with my monitor?
  4. How should I monitor my component temperatures and what are optimal temperatures? (Speedfan?)
  5. Any suggestion on good programs to rip DVD's to avis or mp4s?
  6. Any suggestion on good programs to burn avi.s and mp4.s to DVDs? (lol)
  7. Can you ever completely delete something from a computer?
  8. How offten should one reformat their computer for optimal performance?
  9. Could anyone explain RAM in depth. I was looking at my resource monitor and terms like "in use, modified, standby, and free" confused me.

Thank yall so much for your input. Yall's support is really appreciated!

JK
Click to expand...

2. Yes, that is plenty of power. Be sure to get a good brand, though.

3. I never installed anything with my monitor, so unless there is a feature that wouldn't work unless you install the drivers, then don't bother.

7. Theoretically, no. The military has advanced ways of getting it off, so unless you're being tracked by the FBI, then using Ccleaner and doing the 7-pass or 35-pass wiper, no criminal can find your information. To delete things permanently (or semi permanently) the program writes over data blocks over and over so the other information is virtually gone.

8. I would say maybe once a year. But if you take care of your computer, you can go for a long time. Don't mess with the registry.

That's all I can answer.
 
1. Yes-- a quick verification of new parts doesn't hurt.

If the machine won't start after you install then into the case, then you can be sure that there is a problem with the actual installation: a short to the case somewhere, usually.

3. Rarely is there a need for special drivers for a monitor.

5. I don't rip movies, generally.

7. What claptonman said.

9. One can write a series of books on RAM, the way you phrased your question.

Windows will not use all of your available RAM. I'm not familiar with the Vista/Win 7 memory management system, but if it is anything like the legacy memory management of the NT operating systems, then it is (in my opinion) poorly done.

In previous Windows OSs, they relied heavily on virtual memory, which is a system of 'paging' chunks of data onto a special hard drive area called the pagefile. Virtual memory is basically using a piece of hard drive as an extended piece of your RAM, which was useful back in the old days when Win was too bloated and no one had RAM to spare, but nowadays it's just a waste of resources.

Hard drives are slow. Much slower than volatile RAM, which is why we have RAM to begin with. Using the hard drive pagefile system therefore slows things down.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it, unless you want to go to Linux...

Here is Microsoft's explanation of RAM, pagefilng, et al.
 
To piggy back off his question about permanently deleting, how come your hard drive doesn't fill up even if you delete stuff?
 
I don't know exactly, but for a simplified explanation, its there somewhere, but you can't just see it. That's extremely simplified, but that's all I know. People can get to it if you don't permanently delete it.
There's a class I can take for my major that's called computer forensics, and for the final project we have to buy a drive from ebay and try to find the name of whoever had it from the files on it.
 
This makes we want to smash every Hard Drive I've ever used... Not that I have anything to hide of course. :D
 
Yeah, the military does a 35-pass on their hard drives, and then I think they melt them completely.

And smashing them won't solve it, either. They could recover the platters and might be able to recover some data. Just depends.
 
A typical delete in Windows sends most files to the recycle bin.

After emptying the recycle bin, then the directory entry on the drive is removed, but the data is still on the drive.

A shredder-type program will over-write those sectors where the data was kept; the old government standard was write 0s, then 1s, then write randomly; repeat seven times.

The 35-pass, of course, does this thirty-five times.

Someone with a lot of time and money on their hands can still attempt to tease out data from the platters. Unless you are a spy or organised crime professional, however, it is unlikely anyone would want to spend the resources to try to get your data after this kind of deletion.
 
Technically, yes, but it will destroy the hard drive. I don't think its 100% effective. The 7-pass writing blocks will be enough for any common criminal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top