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Soooooo, this title is fairly self explanatory. I would like to make a super simple mineral oil cooled PC. (Easier said than done I know.) I have a few year old DELL Optiplex desktop that I plan to be the sacrificial lamb so that I don't have to spend money on all new parts for this, especially because there's a high chance that I will mess up. My basic plan right now, is to completely disassemble the Dell Desktop and then basically drill a few holes in the side, use nut and bolt to attach the motherboard, then seal with some form of glue so it doesn't leak oil. Then just have everything else sort of rest inside the case. If I end up using the mechanical hard drive, I will keep it outside of the case (5 gallon fish tank), but if I invest in something small like a 60gb SSD, I'll probably store it inside the tank. This is clearly not going to be a gaming pc, but more of a cool project that I can show off later. So my basic questions would be, do any of you fine ladies and gentleman have any tips for me before I embark on this adventure. (I.E. where to get about 5 gallons of cheap mineral oil, or if theres a certain kind I should use. Do's and Don'ts.) All help and tips, or comments telling me how dumb I am are all welcome. Thanks for all of your help in advance, I know this is probably the only forums I could take this to. -Wubnaught

Even as much as I know someone like Linus doesn't enjoy Mac OSx or Apple as a whole, I am most likely going to be buying one for college next year. My plan right now is to buy a Macbook Air 11-inch (i5, 8GB RAM, and a 256 SSD). I really want to get an external hard drive for the laptop. I'm not positive if this is all totally possible, but if there was any place I could ask, this is easily my first choice. My main things that I am looking for in it would be: - 500GB+ - Able to Hold Windows 7 (Or 8) and Ubuntu (Or other Linux distribution) - Compatible with Time Machine and Mac OS (Mac OSx's Backup solution) A main question before even totally getting into this, is if I'd be able to boot to Windows from an external drive without something like Bootcamp. I saw an external drive enclosure from Tek Syndicate, that looked like might work. It has a built in software where you can make your computer recognize it as optical drive so that you could boot to multiple different things. But I am not sure how I'd go about that. I also don't know if I'd be able to sync it up with Time Machine to back up my Macbook. Here's the link to the video and the product itself. http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-ZM-VE300-B-2-5inch-External-Enclosure/dp/B008LA8TNG/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1392939591&sr=1-6&keywords=zm+ve400(Drive Enclosure) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMQNuSoUaWA (Tek Syndicates Video) The other thing I was looking at would be this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CO1I29O/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0CKAW8Z8GXMFNSDSYPSM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846 It's compatible with Mac OS right out of the box, but I'm not sure if I could create partitions on it for ubuntu, and Windows. And if it is even possible, how I'd do it. I feel like I'm asking a lot here, anyone who takes the time to read this and/or helps, I truly appreciate it. Thank you - Wubnaught

Hello All, To make this post short and sweet, my problem is: Whenever I start up my computer, I get this error message that says CPU fan error. But whenever I just hit reset the next start up makes it work perfectly fine. I keep looking in my case to see if its loose or not, and it doesn't seem to be coming off of the CPU fan header on the motherboard. Also whenever it says this error I boot into the bios to see what is happening and it says that the fan speed is dropping occasionally below 600 rpm. But like I said, all I do is hit reset on my case and it works perfectly fine, and my temps are perfectly fine as well after I hit the reset. I sit at about an average of 28 Celsius. The CPU cooler is a Cooler Master Hyper 212. Thanks in advance for any help.

Greetings Forum! *I'm not positive where else to put something like this, so if it's in the wrong sub forum I apologize in advance* So next year I will be going to college, and right now I have my decent gaming rig, (i5, GTX 660, etc.) but an awful HP pavilion from like 2012. It's not exactly practical for me to bring a full tower + moniter + the rest of my setup into a tiny dorm. So basically I am looking into laptops for college. I plan on taking classes under the major of Computer Science. The requirements of my college are to have a i5 or i7, and 6-8GB of RAM. Nothing else other than that. I've been told numerous times to get a mac, and I know that people on this forum/Linus himself isn't a big fan. I am not either. My absolute last resort will be some form of Mac Pro or something. I'm hoping I don't have to though. That's why I came to what I think is the best place for asking something like this. So my search is pretty much for the following: - A laptop that is made by any company but HP - i5 or i7 Intel Processor (Most likely 4th Gen. But 3rd Gen is perfectly fine.) - 8GB of Ram - Enough battery to last me from class to class. (Just because college etc.) - (Optional) Graphics for light gaming. (I don't plan on being the hardcore gamer that I am now. But I want to stay as part of the PC Gaming Master Race - (Sorta Optional) This won't make or break a decision, but I would really like a backlit keyboard. I've never owned one without one. And they've really grown on me. + I will be doing work in the dark I'm assuming like writing papers at 3 am. - Something under $800-$900. But I will go up to $1000 if necessary. Like I said with the Mac, worst case scenario. Other things: I don't require any special form or amount of storage of a hard drive. I plan on taking the existing drive out of it and putting an SSD in it and converting the (most likely) mechanical drive into a external storage drive. And storing misc. stuff like games on it. I don't need a touch screen. I've accepted that most laptops will have Windows 8. I plan on upgrading to Windows 8.1 right when I get it. Unless someone finds a Windows 7 laptop or something. I would like any honest opinions on laptops that meet these specs, etc. I will post the link to the one I am looking at below, but I know depending on how much time passes, better ones will come out, http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-V3-772G-9829-17-3-Inch-Sophisticated/dp/B00D4AX0Q4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389834153&sr=8-3&keywords=acer+gaming+laptop Thanks again in advance for all of your answers. Any suggestions for laptops are appreciated, and any tips for college and laptops together are appreciated too.

So I was bored one night, and totally took apart my Xbox 360 because I am a PC gamer. Its an old Xbox 360 white console. Nothing special. So within my boredom. I decided to look into a project of turning it into a computer. But I've got no idea where to start, and/or finish. So I was wondering from you all, if this whole project is even plausible. I've sort of looked it up online and read that basically this is only possible through Linux. My final idea is to turn this thing into a fully function computer. (I know it won't be powerful but I think this will be fun) I can include any picture you all want, etc. I'm just kind of on here asking if anybody on here has every done, or completed something like this. Thanks for everything in advance. - Wubnaught

Hello all, I not super new to the forum, but I just now made an account. I thought that some might be interested in this topic. I also wanted to see if anyone could give me more info on it other than what the article states. Basically what I've picked up and understood from the article is that Intel wants people to go to Facebook and sign up for this app, so that when your computer has idle processing power when you're not doing very much, it donates it into this vast intertwining bundle of other computers around the world who are doing the same thing, which in turn creates a "virtual supercomputer" so that scientists can use that supercomputers power as a resource to help find cures for diseases like Cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer's. It's called "Progress Thru Processors" Apparently it's been going on for a while, but it's suddenly starting to pick up popularity again. That's about all I've got. Sure I've built my computer and know a solid amount about computers, I still don't totally understand the whole concept of this and/or how it's possible. Any thoughts, comments, or ideas are welcome. Thanks! For those who want to read for themselves, here is the link: http://iq.intel.com/iq/39550039/donate-your-computer-s-unused-processing-power-for-the-greater-good -Wubnaught