Mark77

The functionality is built right into Windows 10 if you have a WiFi card that can go into access-point mode. Just click on "Mobile hotspot", and right-click to set it up. I have it set up there to share my laptop's 4G LTE connection, but I know it will share a wired Ethernet connection as well.

The problem with engineering samples (which may or may not be "stolen" property -- we are not privy to the exact agreements between Intel and the OEMs that acquire them) is that you really don't know what you're getting. And the processors themselves may have been mis-treated in the overall process of vendor testing and integration. Its hard to put a 'reliability' figure on them. Some could be seriously flawed or damaged. Some could be identical to what you would buy, brand-new, at retail. Unless you are privy to all the errata, and the history of the chip, they are best avoided.

Most DHCP servers won't "rock the boat" in run-time by changing IP addresses when the leases become due. But that's not to say that the DHCP server itself won't be changed, or the network itself undergoes a reconfiguration. Just as an example, I'm using the same public IP that I was using 3 years ago. The DHCP server of my ISP simply keeps renewing the lease on the existing IP because its working well. But 2 weeks from now, I am moving to a different "network" within the ISP corresponding to my optical fiber installation at home. Of course I will be getting a new IP address, and probably an IPV6 block as well.

Ick, these sorts of threads just lead to giant flame-wars. Each manufacturer will have a few quirks that, at various times, makes them "best". I recently replaced an Asus P8H67 motherboard, not because it was a bad motherboard (it wasn't), but rather, because I was looking for some server-like features that only a particular SuperMicro board had. Does that mean that Supermicro >> Asus? Heck no. But the board just was better for what I was going to use it for.

Okay, then you're good to go if you need to flash a firmware upgrade.

Windows 10 hands-down. I actually reverted one of my machines after a few months of Windows 10 operation, and woah, it was horrible. Actually the "Windows Update" system is so broken on Windows 7 that I couldn't even get Windows 7 to apply updates anymore. Windows 10 is an improvement in almost all possible ways.

You might need to find yourself a Sandy Bridge chip to flash a newer firmware revision onto that board. Or a suitable EPROM burner. That's assuming, of course, that newer firmware exists.

Lots of hardware like that is basically out there for cheap. The problem is, the power consumption, even at idle, is often so high that you're spending quite a chunk of coin every month just keeping the thing running 24/7 as one would usually expect from a 'server'. Keep that in mind, especially if you live somewhere that electricity is expensive, and air conditioning is required in the summer. That cheap server, might not be such a bargain after all.

I personally use parted magic for stuff like this. Go in there, shrink the partitions down to ~380gb or so (ie: less than the size of the 400gb drive). Do a dd if=/dev/sdX of=/dev/sdY bs=1M command to actually copy the data. Then run the re-sizer/partition editor to expand the partitions back out to the full 400gb size on the destination hard drive.

Basically you set up all your APs as pure Ethernet bridges. And you set the SSID and password identically on all of them. Voila, your clients should pick the strongest AP and select it accordingly.

IIRC, Microsoft changed the Windows 10 activator so it accepts Win7 and Win10 product keys. So you don't even have to go through the step of 'upgrading' first. But this might not last forever.

If the drive has important stuff on it, stop what you're doing right now, shut it off, and take it to someone who is a highly trained/experienced professional for evaluation. The longer it runs, the more damage it will likely cause. Otherwise, yeah, replace the drive. Preferrably with a SSD.

Its just one theory, out of many, that could/should be investigated. Especially if crashing persists upon a fresh re-install of Windows.

First debugging step is generally to un-do all overclocks. Almost sounds like maybe your PSU is sagging under load or something.

Do you need the extra features or not?

I'm not aware of any laptops that support using their HDMI port as an input. The only way you could use a laptop screen on a "desktop" PC is through adapters, ie: to eDP or to the older LVDS standard. Probably not pieces of kit you have laying around the house or could buy at the local computer store either. Of course LCD's cannot be run at resolutions in excess of their design. So that's a non-starter.

BTW, to answer your question, no it doesn't matter. As for what motherboard to use, whatever LGA1155 board you can get your hands on will work just fine. They're pretty much all the same unless you need more slots, certain features, or need to use PCI cards. A differentiator might be overclocking, if you have the "k" revision of the i5-2500k. But other than that, differences between the boards are subtle at best (see above post!).

Yes, slightly. For example, with my Asus P8H67-M (Cougar Point Chipset): [ 0.048136] smpboot: CPU0: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (fam: 06, model: 2a, stepping: 07) [ 0.286071] raid6: mmxx1 5621 MB/s [ 0.342726] raid6: mmxx2 6059 MB/s [ 0.399370] raid6: sse1x1 4781 MB/s [ 0.456024] raid6: sse1x2 5799 MB/s [ 0.512677] raid6: sse2x1 9619 MB/s [ 0.569330] raid6: sse2x2 11748 MB/s [ 0.569416] raid6: using algorithm sse2x2 (11748 MB/s) Identical CPU and RAM swapped to a Supermicro X9SAE-V board (Panther Point chipset): [ 0.050699] smpboot: CPU0: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (fam: 06, model: 2a, stepping: 07) [ 0.282095] raid6: mmxx1 5612 MB/s [ 0.338736] raid6: mmxx2 6029 MB/s [ 0.395389] raid6: sse1x1 4764 MB/s [ 0.452032] raid6: sse1x2 5790 MB/s [ 0.508668] raid6: sse2x1 9583 MB/s [ 0.565318] raid6: sse2x2 11646 MB/s [ 0.565407] raid6: using algorithm sse2x2 (11646 MB/s) [ 0.565497] raid6: using ssse3x1 recovery algorithm [ 6.575614] md: raid6 personality registered for level 6 A *small* performance loss when I swapped from one board to another. Everything else identical.

If you're going to put a HDD, at least bump it up to 2-3TB. 1Tb is just too small these days. But I'd be inclined to forgo the HDD, at least initially, and bump up to a 500gb SSD to start with.

HDD could be dying. But other than that, hard drives are a hideously slow part of a modern computer. Main OS's pretty much always should be on SSDs these days. I am almost to the point that if I see someone in "New Builds" come up with a configuration without a generously (ie: 240gb-500gb or more) sized SSD, I'll cuss 'em out. Lol. Seriously, get a SSD.

Sorry, I meant 4K 30Hz. I don't game (yeah, I know, blasphemy on LTT!).

Some people say that the HD 4600 handles 4K/60Hz just fine (ie: the Intel spec sheet: http://ark.intel.com/products/80373/Intel-Core-i5-4310M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz). Others say that it is limited to 60Hz. What's the real deal? Is it just a matter of using DisplayPort being mandatory?

Can you think of some examples of stuff you can't find on eBay? Unless you're talking very specialized test equipment.... Maybe you should try some of those other "websites" with smaller orders before you make a big commitment.

You could send the drive away to a metallurgist with appropriate equipment (ie: SEM, etc.) to have its materials (ie: aluminium) examined. There are differences, subtle as they may be, between virgin aluminum, and recycled aluminum. For example, when you recycle beer or soda/pop cans, they *do not* end up being used in aircraft for that very specific reason.