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Are there seperate processors for Servers?

To my knowledge a Server PC and a desktop PC can have the same processor. But someone told me Servers are equipped with more powerful Processors (that is these processor are designed for Servers only). Is this true? Are there processors that are designed for Servers?

Is it possible to run a motherboard in distilled water?

I have read that distilled water doesn't conduct electricity. This, in other words, means that we can submerge electronic devices like PCs/laptops in it and run them without any problem. I haven't seen much information about this on the internet, but it should be possible.

So, can you really run a PC in distilled water? I don't know if you can, but I think if you could, it would start rusting/corroding in a few days. ;)

How to migrate local user to domain user?

I have a local user on my laptop. My company is migrating to a domain setup and I want to migrate the local user to a domain user, with all the settings (desktop, Start menu, programs) intact. How can I do that?

Also, is it possible to have a local user with the same settings as the domain, for when I'm working on my laptop while not connected to the domain?

Can software differentiate between a laptop and a desktop?

A license for CPU-intensive software like Pix4D says it can be installed on two devices - but with a condition. Reading the finer print, it seems that one device can be a full-processing workstation/desktop whereas the other must be a mobile device/laptop.

How would the software know? Are there giveaways in the hardware specifications for determining something like this e.g. presence of a battery?
Given the software is fully functional on both machines, wouldn't this condition become irrelevant if I just buy a high-end laptop which is just as fast as the workstation?

Can a PC be set up not to shut down when unplugged?

I have a laptop now, and I love that when the power goes out accidentally (blackout from a storm, accidentally gets unplugged...), the laptop does not shutdown on me, it just switches to battery supply. I don't lose any unsaved work, don't have to start up again...

I am about to buy a new computer - a desktop, and I want to know if there is any way to configure the computer to have a backup battery supply like a laptop.

Thanks

RAID 0 performance gains?

I'm building a new computer over the summer. I'm fairly competent in computer hardware, and am thus building the computer from scratch. I have everything planned out, but I was wondering about RAID. I asked which RAID I should use earlier, but now that it's pretty clear that RAID 1 isn't really that great, I think I'll go with cloud-backup instead of disk-redundancy. However, I still face a choice: use two 1 TB drives as two 1 TB drives, or combine them into a RAID 0 striped array. Is there any performance gain at all? I know that if one drive dies, everything is gone, so is the performance gain worth it? I'm building a pretty advanced computer, with SLI video cards and a fast CPU, so I'm thinking RAID 0 would give me some good hard drive performance. From your experience, is RAID 0 viable?

Bare-metal virtualisation for the desktop

What knowledge exists about bare-metal virtualisation products?

I'm interested in building a new desktop machine for home. I've been looking at the Intel Quad Core processors and I'd like to put 8 GB of RAM in there, but, it got me thinking about making the most out of the available resources.

I thought if I could get a good 64-bit machine, put some bare-metal virtualisation on, then have a primary system, I'd also be able to bring up some extra virtualised systems as and when I needed. I know most of the bare metal systems are designed for the server market, but, is there anything out there that works well for a desktop?

What are the caveats? I presume I won't be able to make the most out of any video cards I could buy. What about just getting a decent screen resolution, will this be a problem? I run a single 24" screen.

What about DVD/CD writing, is this possible? I'd like to re-rip my CD collection, I was hoping the quad 64-bit goodness would help me out with the encoding.

I currently use a Mac and couldn't go back to Windows so that leaves Linux. I was thinking a primary OS of Ubuntu. Does this make a difference?

What are the benefits of a dual-core CPU over a quad-core in a desktop PC?

I know that in most cases when you buy a dual-core CPU for the same price you could get a quad-core, you end up getting 2 cores that are faster individually than the 4 cores individually in the quad-core CPU.

Yes, you can essentially have 4 processes run simultaneously with a quad-core as compared to 2 with a dual-core, but because of the aforementioned difference you may find that the dual-core CPU performs better on your desktop machine.

This is in theory of course.

Has anyone tested this? Also, what are everyone's thoughts on this topic?

Is ESD a serious risk on modern machines?

I heard that static electricity was a serious concern a couple of decades ago. However, many computer builders now don't seem to bother with things like electro-static discharge (ESD) straps or other measures when working on a system.

Are computers less susceptible to ESD now?

Can I leave SSD unsecured?

I just bought a Samsung SSD 830 series for my desktop, but forget to buy a mount for it. Is it ok if I leave it connected, but not screwed in? Do I have to worry about short circuiting or any other dangers? The computer stays put in one place and is never touched nor moved around.

Thanks for your input...

Why upgrade to solid state hard drive on desktop computer

Why upgrade to a solid state hard drive on desktop computer if non-solid state hard drive speed = 6GB/s and solid state hard drive speed = 6GB/s

Will I just be paying more to get less space? they both claim to have the same speed. I know SSD will use less power, make no sound and will be harder to damage if you drop them. But if I plan on placing a hard drive on a desktop computer why should I consider using a SSD?

Master/slave PATA setup not recognized

I have two Seagate barracuda 7200.10 500 GB drives pulled from an old Lacie Big Disk Extreme. I have been using them both in a Dell Dimension 4600 in a master slave configuration, (one by default has a jumper as master and the other has no jumper as a slave. This is confirmed by this article)

I inherited an Optiplex gx620 and was attempting to set up the same configuration, but I have been having difficulties. When each drive is connected separately as master, they are detected and work perfectly. However, when connected in a Master/Slave relationship, neither are detected. This machine is equipped with the "cable select" feature, so I attempted that jumper configuration on the drives, but I had the exact same result. I have tried 3 different cables and nothing makes any difference.

Does anyone have any idea why this configuration isn't working?

Additionally, it should be noted that the PATA cable was originally connected to a DVD drive, and I'm reasonably sure that the original harddrive was on SATA with no PATA hd at all. I have changed the settings in the bios (A11) to disable all SATA, and enabled the two PATA connections.

Update: For my own sanity, I plugged both drives back into the original dimension 4600 and configured them as Master/Slave on a single IDE connector. Both drives were recognized and booted fine. I moved the exact same setup over to the new computer and it still didn't work. As a result, I'm inclined to believe this is a problem with the motherboard or BIOS.

Is there any sort of setting on the board that would cause this problem?

Are there any drawbacks of running Caviar Red (or any other NAS-ready) HDD on your desktop PC?

What does the NAS-ready imply and how suitable are these HDD's for desktop PC's?

My home desktop PC is turned on whenever I'm home and/or I'm awake (I turn it off during the night). Would a NAS-ready drive be okay for that or should I look for something else?

(I am looking at 3TB drives atm, and this is the only option where I live along with caviar greens and seagate baracudas which I would like to skip since I often see a lot of negative comments about them)

One more thing - what I'm looking for is a reliable drive, speed is not that important to me. So in the end what I'm interested in is if NAS-ready drives are reliable in a desktop PC environment.

How to troubleshoot a computer not booting up when powered on?

I can turn on my computer and sometimes it will boot up just fine. After a while of use, days or even a week, when I try to turn it on, it powers up, in that the fans spins up, the power indicator light at the front comes on (although orange, it is usually green), but it will not boot, the screen remains black and never comes on.

If I leave it for a couple days, and try it again, it comes back on, and the cycle starts over.

I have no parts for that computer that I can currently swap out to test. I have tried removing the RAM or using one stick to see if it would get any further in the process, but to no avail.

I suspect I may have a motherboard or power supply problem.

What could cause a situation like this and are there any solutions?

Edit: There is no beeping when it boots, the only thing that happens is the fans spin up and the power indicator comes on orange.

Numlock on when computer is off

I have a desktop PC which was recently moved. Since moving I've noticed that even while the PC is turned off (but wall socket turned on) the NumLock LED on the keyboard is on.

It may have been doing this before the move, but I've only noticed it now.

Maybe it matters that the keyboard is connected via a shared mouse/keyboard PS/2 port and I'm running Windows 7.

I've not checked whether the LEDs are just keeping whatever state they were in when I turned the PC off but will do this if that information could be relevant.

Why does the led stay on when the PC is turned off and how can I prevent this?