Skeletor_118

Hey guys, so I'm currently in a course at my college to get A+ certified and take the CompTIA 220-901 and 902 exams. However, especially over the past 3 weeks I've been more caught up with a new job and have ended up falling a bit behind in my coursework, and I won't get a chance to really catch up for a few more days. Luckily, I have until March 14 to take the 901 exam, and we still haven't started working on material specifically for the 902 exam yet. Being an online class, we have been using videos to learn from, from lynda.com, and as good as they are, the biggest chunk I've missed is a 5 hour long chunk of videos for networking. Of course, I recognize that it's because it's likely very important to the test, and to a lot of work with computers, but at the moment I'm mostly concerned with what I need to know to pass the test. I know that's not ideal, and I will try to learn as much of the topic as I can at a later date. But for right now, I need to pass the 901 exam, and then pass the 902 exam. Does anyone have any tips for the 220-901 exam that could help me? I'm still somewhat new to all of the intricacies of computers and pc building, though I've learned a lot over the past months both from this class, as well as my own research (on LTT and elsewhere) to eventually build a pc of my own. Unfortunately, I don't think I know much of anything regarding networking, and I don't know exactly what to expect for the exam. Any advice is appreciated, and I'm hoping I'll be able to watch all of the material I should before going into the test. My school has also provided me with a code to be able to take a practice exam through Kaplan IT Training, so I will be doing that as well. Also, if this is not the proper category for this, I apologize, I wasn't sure. I figured general discussion would be a pretty safe bet.

@fasauceome thanks I'll take a look at the Ryzen lineup, though like I'd mentioned, I'm not quite familiar with them. What are the differences between a Ryzen CPU and an Intel one? And what do you mean move up a graphics tier? Would I possibly bottleneck my system if my CPU isn't as good as my GPU or something?

Hey, So I've never built a PC myself, and as much as I've been learning about components themselves, I realized I've missed out on a huge part which is actually figuring out how/if parts would work together, and how to plan a build. Now, I have plenty of time before I plan on actually building my first PC, but I want to learn as much as I can before I do it. What should be the first thing I look at when I'm getting ready to build? Should I base my build around a case or should I look at a motherboard first? When I'm looking at a case how large of one should I get? Is there anything I should especially look for in a case? I don't care for a ton of fancy stuff, though I would love to have one with a tempered glass side so I could see inside it. For looking at a motherboard how do I know what to get? All I've really learned is that I would need one with LGA 1151 because of the processors I've looked at all say that. So far all that I know is I want it to have two M.2 slots (I have one drive I'll take out of my current PC, and I want to also get anothre larger one), and of course at minimum 2 RAM slots. I may get one or so internal drives as well, but I'm unsure as I already have a 2TB external drive, which will more than last me for a long time. On to processors, I only really know Intel's line, and I've been looking at likely getting an i7-8700 or something around that, whatever the best I can get within my budget. I've seen stuff written about heatsinks for CPUs but I'm honestly clueless about that at the moment, so if anyone could give me some info about that, it would be greatly appreciated. With GPUs I think I'm pretty good on that front, it's basically just which one I'm going to buy when the time comes. The only thing I know for sure about a GPU is that I am planning on getting at minimum a GTX 1070, and I am going to want to play VR on the system, so I'll likely need either an HDMI port or just an adapter. RAM I also am perfectly fine on, as I was planning to just take my 16GB out of my current system and put it in the new build. Storage is pretty simple, and I already have an internal M.2 drive I can move to a new system, and then I want to buy another one so I can have more games downloaded to load up super fast. For cooling, I'm not sure what would be the most reasonable system. Should I get a bunch of fans for air cooling? Would it be practical to try to water cool it? If I'm looking at fans how many should I get, and how do I know what fans would be best for me? I know I'd be gaming for several hours at a time, so I imagine I'd want to have a pretty good cooling system. Lastly, for a power supply, I know I'd need to figure out how much power all my other parts require and get one that meets that requirement. I remember a TQ video I watched that mentioned that it's not a good idea to get a power supply that's too powerful, but one that basically has a bit of a buffer between its power rating and the power requirement of the PC. However, where would I look at everything to see how much power they can draw so I can figure out what power supply to get? How much of a buffer should I have between my system requirements and how much power a PSU puts out? Should I take into account the peripherals I have and tack on a few more watts or so? If I have missed anything and you have actually read all of this, please let me know. When it comes to RBG lighting on/in the case, I think it'd be cool to have like an LED strip or something lighting the inside of my PC, especially since I want to have a side of tempered glass. If you have read all of this mess, thank you, and I appreciate any tips anyone might be able to give.

Regarding whether or not the entire video was ripped from TQ, I'm not entirely sure about that, as I wasn't the one watching the videos. I'm also not sure if there is more than one being used. All I know is that the video my friend was watching was definitely not being streamed from YouTube, and that it was just under 6 minutes long, which would make sense for a TQ video. I'll ask them to let me know if there's more TQ videos on the platform that she sees, and whether or not it's the entire video or just a segment.

We pay so much for textbooks and all because the people making the books use copyrighted material, which requires them to pay to be allowed to use it. I actually had an English teacher last semester that got around this by simply entering in the URL for short stories into the book for us to type out. Doing this, she made the book not only much thinner and use less paper, but she reduced the cost of making it, which allowed the book to only cost the students $88, as opposed to what could have easily been ~$200.

Okay so I'm at college and I have a friend that is in a computer literacy course and I happened to glance at a video she was watching for the course... It was a Techquickie video with Linus talking about more basic stuff about computers! The thing is, it was not through YouTube, but a program called SAM from Cengage. I knew he was a great source of information but I never realized he actually had his videos used for education. I actually did a few google searches and found nothing talking about them working together so I'm actually not even sure if it was done with permission.. Would that even be legal, given that the program the videos are being used in is a for-profit learning tool? I may just not be looking in the right places, or it may be that it's perfectly legal, but I wasn't sure, and I figured I could bring it up within the community in case nobody else was aware.

What I was talking about with my hesitation with open-back headphones isn't as much about a noisy environment, but more so that I just like to be kind of isolated. But I guess it doesn't really matter too much. I've never used open-back before, so I was more just wary of it because it's something I've never encountered before. But if you say that games are more immersive with them, I won't doubt you, you definitely seem to know what you're talking about. With all that you're talking about with sound signatures and stages, I'm kind of lost, to be honest. I've never really researched anything about it, and I wouldn't know what to listen for to notice either property. Comfort is definitely a factor, as I tend to be at my computer wearing my headphones for several hours at a time. I also have glasses, so softer pads would definitely be nice so the frame isn't pressed into my head. I can understand breaking in a pair of headphones, though, so I'm not worried about that. If you could possibly explain what soundstages and sound signatures are, I think I could understand what you were talking about much better.

Alright so I've learned that for the best sound quality, it's best to get headphones without a built-in microphone, and then a separate, standalone mic. However, I don't know what headphones to get. Currently, I'm using a Razer Man O' War headset with a built-in mic, and I do use Razer Surround Pro because it makes everything much clearer and makes it easier to differentiate sounds, not just in games. For a new sound setup, I'm looking at most likely getting a ModMic, as I do have limited space, as well as a desk that's less of a desk, and more just a foldable table stuck in the corner. But I'm not sure what headphones to get. I want over-ear headphones, and while I'm looking at some headphones that seem amazing (like the Massdrop Sennheiser 6XX), they have an open back, which I'm afraid will limit my immersion and isolation within whatever I'm doing. I personally like to be kind of isolated and able to focus solely on whatever game or video I got running. I've also looked and found Sennheiser's HD 300 Pro and HD 569. I'm not really one that knows the differences very well between headphones, so I was wondering if anyone here might be able to help me there. Out of the ones I've found, would there be one you guys would recommend the most for me? Or is there another pair of headphones? If possible, I'd like to stay under about $200 with what I'm looking for, as I still would have to get the microphone.

Alright thanks for the tips. I'll definitely keep a lookout for what comes out this year, and on prices of parts

Yeah I get that and I'll of course be adjusting everything as parts come out.. But if I were to come into $1k suddenly right now, that'd what I'd most likely put in it. This is just a rough guideline for now

Alright thanks. I just use standard headphones, at least for now, so I think I should be good in that case.

So I'm doing some research right now and trying to plan out a PC build for late in 2019 or possibly 2020, looking at what's currently available. So far, I've been looking at getting these parts for it and I wanted to know what others thought about it: Case: be quiet! Pure Base 600 window Motherboard: MSI B360M MORTAR LGA 1151 CPU: Intel i7-8700 Coffee Lake GPU: GeForce GTX 1070 (possibly the Ti, depending on price difference) RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) Storage: 1- 250GB M.2 drive (planning on adding a Samsung 970 EVO 500GB at some point) + 2TB WD external drive I've not looked at cooling yet, and I'm going to have to do a bit more research to see what PSU I need.. But for never having done this before I'd like to think I've done pretty decently so far..? I dunno but feedback and advice is greatly appreciated. I'd like to try and keep the costs around $1k or less if possible. I'm disregarding costs for storage and RAM, as I already have those parts and will just transfer them to the new build.

I'm currently trying to research building a PC and while looking at parts I stumbled across audio cards. What are they, exactly? Do I necessarily need one? I'm not an audiophile, but I do play a decent amount of music on my computer, and I do require good audio for gaming, as I use audio cues to help with my overall awareness. Should i get an audio card? And if so, do you guys have any suggestions? I've never built a PC so I'm still learning what to look for and what I do and don't need/want. Thank you for any help!

Ah yeah I forgot about the K thing.. Alright well glad I didn't try it, thanks. I've got no clue, my system is a prebuilt HP computer since I had to get it fast and didn't have time or money to try to learn how to build a computer.

I have an "HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop" Here's a link to the exact one I have if you want to look for yourself: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavilion-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-256gb-solid-state-drive-shadow-black-with-a-brushed-hairline-pattern/6253612.p?skuId=6253612