- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Can you guys help me become more tech savvy?
Posted on 11/18/14 at 1:18 pm
Posted on 11/18/14 at 1:18 pm
Perhaps recommend me some books, sites, podcasts or what not for learning more about everything from computers to phones to anything electronic lol. Trying to keep up, I've just never really been big on how a lot of this stuff works until lately. Figured I'd throw out a topic to see what you guys thought, because a lot of these topics come off as foreign language to me.
Posted on 11/18/14 at 1:20 pm to xxKylexx
Lord Google, he is your friend.
Posted on 11/18/14 at 1:23 pm to xxKylexx
Pick a project you're interested in, building home theater PC, setting up your current PC to stream videos to your roku/PS3, buying a camera, etc. then start researching and complete the project. The more things you do like this the more tech savvy you'll become.
Posted on 11/18/14 at 1:27 pm to xxKylexx
Reading is good, but hands on is much better though not always practical. I'd narrow your scope and learn one thing at a time, and you'll find that learning the first thing makes learning the second thing a little easier, and so on. How would you describe your skill/knowledge level now? What kind of devices do you currently own? Also, what is your biggest interest (would be the best starting point)? Mobile devices (phones tablets), full-featured PCs (laptops, desktops of all brands), networking (routers, repeaters/APs, etc), home theater, etc.?
Between all of the tech minds here, we can probably answer any questions you might have, which would be a start.
EDIT: As said above, narrowing it down to a specific project would be even better. For me, my hardware knowledge started 11 years ago with the simple desire to build a PC to use for schoolwork and general web surfing.
Between all of the tech minds here, we can probably answer any questions you might have, which would be a start.
EDIT: As said above, narrowing it down to a specific project would be even better. For me, my hardware knowledge started 11 years ago with the simple desire to build a PC to use for schoolwork and general web surfing.
This post was edited on 11/18/14 at 1:30 pm
Posted on 11/18/14 at 3:12 pm to ILikeLSUToo
quote:
with the simple desire to build a PC
I think this is a pretty good place for anyone with common sense a small amount of ingenuity to start.
If you are prone to f'ing shite up.....maybe start at researching and buying a computer or something like that.
Posted on 11/18/14 at 4:02 pm to xxKylexx
+1 for the "pick a project" idea.
If you want to stay "free" for now and have at least one computer and one more computer/tablet/smart phone, challenge yourself to make your audio available to yourself over a network. It's simple. There's actually even one quick answer: Plex. But Plex isn't the best. So go google "Media Servers" and read about the pros and cons of the free vs paid options. Then try to make one work. Tinkering is where the fun and learning are.
If that's not appealing, and you have two Windows machines with Win Pro, try setting up a remote desktop connection that's available out of your network.
If you want to spend a few bucks, building an HTPC is a fantastic option. I'd recommend installing something like VMWare vSphere and installing multiple OS on it to tinker with.
There's lots of ways to learn. Most of them are by doing. At the very least, read tons of product comparisons just to learn what's possible.
If you want to stay "free" for now and have at least one computer and one more computer/tablet/smart phone, challenge yourself to make your audio available to yourself over a network. It's simple. There's actually even one quick answer: Plex. But Plex isn't the best. So go google "Media Servers" and read about the pros and cons of the free vs paid options. Then try to make one work. Tinkering is where the fun and learning are.
If that's not appealing, and you have two Windows machines with Win Pro, try setting up a remote desktop connection that's available out of your network.
If you want to spend a few bucks, building an HTPC is a fantastic option. I'd recommend installing something like VMWare vSphere and installing multiple OS on it to tinker with.
There's lots of ways to learn. Most of them are by doing. At the very least, read tons of product comparisons just to learn what's possible.
Posted on 11/19/14 at 3:49 pm to TigerinATL
Thanks, I actually am looking to build my own pc and catch up with my friends in the "master race" as they call it lol. So I guess let's begin there. I'm sure I'll have questions along the way so do expect more topics
Posted on 11/19/14 at 4:18 pm to xxKylexx
quote:
looking to build my own pc
Check out pcpartpicker. Start by limiting your processors to FM2+ and LGA1150 (the two most current sockets). Find what's in your price range and read about the different choices and how they fit into your needs. Determine if you can go cheaper or whether increased cost is worth it. That website will then filter all your subsequent choices down so you can't make a mistake in terms of compatible products. You can then move on to motherboards and filter to your needs. Most of what you'll be doing is reading about what you need and why you need it (how much power? How many USB ports? How many expansion slots and what kind? What's the difference between ATX and mATX? What's a chipset?). I think that by looking at a non-comprehensive but rather thorough list of available products will help teach you what's out there and by knowing what's out there, you can see how you do/don't need it + alternatives that do similar things that may cost less.
Plenty of us will be around. ILike has a link to a pretty awesome thread in terms of building the highest-powered pc per dollar in his signature. It's a good thread and a good jumping off point if you're totally clueless. There are tons of online resources outside of here, but you'll definitely get fast and good responses to questions you may have here.
ETA: ILike has now also linked it in this thread. I got too wordy in my response and he beat me to the punch.
This post was edited on 11/19/14 at 4:19 pm
Posted on 11/19/14 at 4:36 pm to Hopeful Doc
quote:
Start by limiting your processors to FM2+ and LGA1150 (the two most current sockets).
For a gaming PC in particular, socket AM3+ will offer better bang for buck vs. FM2+ APUs. It's old and the chipset is a bit dated, but it's still the best budget option for CPUs between the Pentium G3258 and the latest flavor of the month i5.
quote:
Most of what you'll be doing is reading about what you need and why you need it (how much power? How many USB ports? How many expansion slots and what kind? What's the difference between ATX and mATX? What's a chipset?)
My guide covers topics like that and makes PCPartPicker a little less daunting to use.
There's another tool... that I am reluctant to suggest because it's essentially a cheatsheet that doesn't teach you anything... it's called the ChooseMyPC build generator. You give it a few very basic parameters such as budget, and it spits out a list of parts for a serviceable gaming PC based on PCPartPicker data. LINK
It's easy and actually generates a fairly optimized part list, but the pitfalls, other than you not learning anything, is that it doesn't intelligently sort through brand-specific features or best bang for buck in individual components. For example, it'll choose the cheapest 8GB RAM kit listed because brand doesn't matter, but it won't account for the fact that for 5% more money there's a kit that runs 25% faster. It'll grab the cheapest bargain bin SSD without realizing that another dollar would get you an on-sale Crucial with twice the random read/write speed. It'll suggest a lower tier AIB brand video card with a shitty reference cooler instead of noticing the factory-overclocked version with an aftermarket cooler for another few bucks... And so on... it may have improved since its infancy, but I'd consider it more of a jumping off point than gospel.
This post was edited on 11/19/14 at 4:51 pm
Posted on 11/19/14 at 4:42 pm to ILikeLSUToo
quote:
For a gaming PC in particular
That's right. Sorry. I saw a good deal on a clearance Wesena/Streacom case last night and spent like 4 hours planning an mITX HTPC with a small footprint. My mind is stuck on low-power + integrated graphics builds.
Posted on 11/19/14 at 4:52 pm to ILikeLSUToo
(no message)
This post was edited on 8/8/20 at 10:54 am
Posted on 11/19/14 at 4:55 pm to TexasTiger39
That's fine. Which forum though. I'd like to be able to at least defend my positions on certain subjects when it's inevitably shite on by disillusioned fanboys.
EDIT: and make sure you have the most up to date version. I revised it a couple months ago.
EDIT: and make sure you have the most up to date version. I revised it a couple months ago.
This post was edited on 11/19/14 at 5:03 pm
Posted on 11/19/14 at 5:01 pm to ILikeLSUToo
(no message)
This post was edited on 8/8/20 at 10:54 am
Posted on 11/19/14 at 11:34 pm to xxKylexx
Posted on 11/20/14 at 12:07 am to LSUx24x7
Wow that forum really takes me back. First PC forum I ever joined. Made some IRL friends there, and it was my first and primary source for water cooling information when I was just starting out. I've been a member there for a decade, but it's not very active anymore, and I'm pretty sure Jason (admin) has basically abandoned it.
Overclock.net is pretty much where everyone migrated as it's one of the most active forums, but there's a larger mix of smart, dumb, and lots of in between.
Overclock.net is pretty much where everyone migrated as it's one of the most active forums, but there's a larger mix of smart, dumb, and lots of in between.
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News