Random Chit Chat

[Smart_Guy]

Does anybody have an old video card they'd be willing to give up? Required specifications are as follows:

• PCI express
• Single slot (heatsink included)
• Less than 32w power usage
• Two video outputs of any type
• Doesn't sound like a leafblower

I would be willing to pay a small amount to cover shipping and/or make a trade for it. It's for my Thinkpad.

I thought you'd say AGP when you said old. Sorry, the only PSI-E I have is Nvidia 8800 GTS 320MB which is a double slot card and requires external power. Let alone I dunno how much it's gonna cost sent internationally.

 

[foothead]

I might just go crazy and rig a HD 7970 to it. That would be something.

 

[Celery]

My local bike shop looked at me like a crazy person when I asked to buy a spoke wrench. That's, like, one of the most basic tools. They offered to true my wheels instead, until I told them I was building a wheel. The response was, "Oh, we don't do that. Want to buy one instead?"

Sure, because a bike shop that doesn't carry spoke wrenches totally has hand-built, 36-spoke, dynamo-hub touring wheels in stock. /s

In the end, I made my own spoke wrench by hacksawing and filing a groove into a very large nut.

You know you can get an open end wrench for that, just ask a mechanic to fit a wrench so you'll know what size you'll need.

 

[AMD_man]

I have an old GT 630. Doesn't require power. TDP is a bit higher than you requested, but shipping from Argentina to the US is no joke.

 

[foothead]

You know you can get an open end wrench for that, just ask a mechanic to fit a wrench so you'll know what size you'll need.

Sure, if you want to spend four hours. The wrench has to be small enough to make a full rotation without interfering with the next spoke.

---------- Post added at 08:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------

I have an old GT 630. Doesn't require power. TDP is a bit higher than you requested, but shipping from Argentina to the US is no joke.

Thank you for the offer, but the shipping would likely make it cheaper to eBay one.

 

[iPwn]

What for? Can you kill angels with that?

+1

Not just the US. The entire world population is getting dumber by the second.

And then you have the jerks that because they know about politics and can quote two stupid philosophers they are immediately smarter. Then you ask them how a light bulb works and they can't tell you. Horrible.

Yeeeaaauuup. More and more people form opinions and have no idea why or how they "know" something.

It's the only store I saw. Not only that, NO online store would take my cards. [...]

That may have to do with the .com. Depending on your card billing address, use the appropriate top level domain (e.g. .com, .co.uk, etc)

a disc is a round thing, like a discus
Disk is an abbreviation of diskette which is the enclosed thing.
[...]

I've always wondered when it was appropriate to use one versus the other (but never bothered googling it I guess haha).

And the morons in customer service didn't tell me that. LOL what a bunch of...

Customer service is also something in great decline. sigh...

 

[root]

My local bike shop looked at me like a crazy person when I asked to buy a spoke wrench..

How are they going to true the wheel if they don't have any spoke wrenches?

don't the other end of the spoke nut have screw driver type slotted heads (surely you'd use that end whilst lacing the wheel rather than a wrench?)




Also this is exactly why local business are going out of business, they don't carry and have little knowledge of the basics anymore, and yet at the same time scream about how people buy online!

 

[Smart_Guy]

I remember one store telling me that hey this video card is 2GB (comparing completely different cards of different generations), so it's better!

And by the way, Vista is better than Windows

 

[foothead]

How are they going to true the wheel if they don't have any spoke wrenches?

don't the other end of the spoke nut have screw driver type slotted heads (surely you'd use that end whilst lacing the wheel rather than a wrench?)




Also this is exactly why local business are going out of business, they don't carry and have little knowledge of the basics anymore, and yet at the same time scream about how people buy online!

They have spoke wrenches; they just weren't for sale. You use the screwdriver when initially lacing, but it still requires several complete turns afterwards. Attempting to go too far with the screwdriver leads to stripping.



Now, a question for those of you with knowledge in electronics: I need a switching regulator that can step both up and down to a fixed voltage (12v.) Am I correct in assuming that the best technique here would be to use a boost converter to a higher voltage (say, 15) then utilize a step-down regulator to achieve the desired voltage? This seems so kludgey, yet I can't seem to find what I'm looking for anywhere, apart from very expensive, low-current up/down regulators.

I'm trying to get a consistent 12v, 4A out of a li-ion laptop battery with a 10.8 nominal voltage. Cost is also a significant concern.


Note that I have zero background in electronic engineering, so go easy on me if this is a stupid question.

EDIT: It's called a buck/boost regulator, correct? I think I found what I need.

 

[Celery]

And by the way, Vista is better than Windows

Vista IS Windows.