CPU Usage at 25% even when Idle?

Hmm funny that too Uly my son when he was younger also was into gems and semi precious stuff and I still am too. I made a couple of trips to Lightning Ridge on the bike when I was still able to ride and it was such an interesting pace and scratching through some of the mulluck heaps was real fun especially when you found even the tiniest but of colour.

My detector was a Whites MXT similar to this (US$ price) http://www.whiteselectronics.com/mxt I have still got it and the 9" circular and 8x6" elliptical coils plus all the gadgets and add ons like rechargebable batteries etc etc cost me about $1300 all up but never found much with it as I had only been prospecting for a bout 12 months before I did the shoulder

Yes well I am more hardware orientated too so hey don't think you cannot take part every little bit helps. I do up little ditties for dong stuff like testing PSU's cleaning laptops etc cos I tried doing tutorials but they are too fiddly for me. So if I would suggest you just take one particular piece of hardware and study it and it then becomes something you can contribute with and I think it would do you good too - I do it takes my mind off the constant shoulder pain and even when I was severely depressed few years ago it helped me by giving me a purpose in life.

Now seeing you are up for a new card and PSU next year I would push you in the direction of NVidia and also an Asus brand one too the PSU I have always used Corsair simply because they are so good and have a an excellent track record. Anyway if you want there are links to PSU makers because most of the brands are actually made by a few dedicated companies and even if Jones & Co made the 850watt model of a brand the 650 watt might be made by Brown Bros Ltd say for an example the Corsair model range.

To give you an idea of one of my ditties -

Using HW Info

PART A:

You can test the volts onthe PSU with HW Info HWiNFO,HWiNFO32/64 - Download <download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensorsand scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts aredoing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton)with VBATT is a dead give away you are in the section for the rail voltages.There are other section titles and one that pops up often is ITE

Now the voltage on thedifferent rails have to be within 5% =+/- of what is required or the machinewill not work properly if at all.

See this for the railvoltage info

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061.html (Section 2.)

The original right handwindow shows the machine running and is handy for that but for looking at thecomponents in some detail close it and use the main left hand side panel

FOR OTHER COMPONENTS

PART B:

Open each small squarewith + in it on the section the components are in and then click on theindividual component/s (it willhighlight in blue) - in the right hand side will appear all sorts of detailsincluding brands speeds and other essential info that particular device. Seepic for example.
and I would post this pic with this

I reckon you could do this too it is easy once you get going and it is a shame to waste a talent you have doing nothing at all

Actually mate the size of the detector makes no difference the best find I had was with one I got from EBay - yes ruddy EBay for $60 and that was $2 coin LOL!! I will give you a little tip one of the best hunting grounds for the young bloke is around showground's and near where they buy food etc cos people very often drop coins at those locales They always show pics of people on beaches but to me that takes too much time unless you are a canny sort.
Actually if one gets really serious then it is down in Victoria there are the better hunting grounds if you are looking for nuggets, although not far from where I live is the very first palce tha payable gold was ever dug in Oz a place called Ophir. The biggets gold nugget ever found in the world was at a place called Hill End near Bathurst https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhardt_Holtermann

Anyway back on topic the GPU mate it really does depend on budget of course but I found the Asus GTX 650Ti excellent and I use it in all my desktops (was $165 at the time) although I think it has been superseded by the Asus GTX 750 (about $199) ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti Strix 2GB [STRIX-GTX750TI-OC-2GD5] - $199.00 : PC Case Gear though for general work I guess tis would be no slouch Gigabyte GeForce GT 730 2GB [GV-N730-2GI] - $89.00 : PC Case Gear
This is a site I used a lot and I now also use these two Online Computer Store ? Cheap Australian Computer Shop | Shopping Express and Centre Com : Best PC Hardware Prices! the latter very good and have just got a new 27" Asus monitor from there for a saving of about $150!!

The 970 mate you are looking at some serious money - around $550 - 600 but take a look at those sites they have specials and clearances that sometimes are surprisingly reasonable. MInd you this is only a step down from what you wish I guess Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Strix 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card | Centre Com : Best PC Hardware Prices! and mate personally I am not a fan of MSI or EVGA although thre will be others who will not agree with me I am just an Asus buyer

Now the interest in hardware well it needs some grounding in basic components but Wikipedia is good for that and I am sure you can do it and it doesn't have to be done all at once

That ditty of mine well it is a very useful tool for getting details of on board components not just the PSU that I linked see pics

Yep mate just think what the Sydney site for the Easter show would be like probably pick up bills as well LOL!!

Yes those tow sites I linked Uly are really good and better than PC Case Gear who have got a tad overpriced but also keep a look out on EBay for all three as they are on it and there they don't charge postage which from PCCG is a real killer.

Actually I have tried gaming and my last buy was Sniper but I cannot work it out not being able to get out of training camp.
My favourites are the flight sims though I must admit but again there seems to be a ton of Xbox and Nintendo stuff but not a lot for PC gaming. I like the combat ones as the just flying ones are a bit boring to be honest.

I did have one once that was based around the conflict in Bosnia but it included navigation and stuff like that and I am not that clever enough I just want to go in and blast away or drop bombs

I think too that keeping it Asus does help in my mind too and perhaps one day I shall be able to get this Asus ROG laptop to do something with. That Strix looks the goods but if I were getting something I would probably plump for this one Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Strix 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card | Centre Com : Best PC Hardware Prices! not as much memory and probably a few other details but the extra cost doesn't justify it at the moment.