Support NeoGAF

[Deleted member 17706]

I'll never touch a large Samsung HDD again. I bought a 1TB drive and the PCB shorted out like 6 months after I got it. It was full, too.

I really do need to try contacting Samsung one of these days to see if I can get a replacement PCB.

 

[Iron_Scimitar]

I'll never touch a large Samsung HDD again. I bought a 1TB drive and the PCB shorted out like 6 months after I got it. It was full, too.

I really do need to try contacting Samsung one of these days to see if I can get a replacement PCB.

Oh wow, really? =\ That blows....I have the same 1TB drive on my wishlist....

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Dolphin doesn't use more than two cores effectively, so no it won't make much of a difference. All you can really do is try and up your current OC. If emulation was a priority you should have really went with an Intel build, something like an i3 would have been a good fit.

Huh, I think I passed on the i3 just because the Mobos and RAM were more expensive. For what I paid, sub $500, I think I did ok all things considered. I'm debating if I should go for a platform change since I'm pretty sure I could sell my Mobo and Cpu for pretty close to what I paid, around $100. Are there any price drops or cheaper i7/i5/i3 models coming down the pipe?

 

[lowrider007]

Quick question guys,

New CPU or GPU?

My spec,

Conroe E6300 @ 3.2Ghz
Mobo Asus P5Q Pro
GTX260
4gig DDR2 Memory
1920x1200 Monitor


I'm thinking either Q9550 or ati5850,

What do you guys think would be the best upgrade?

 

[brain_stew]

Quick question guys,

New CPU or GPU?

My spec,

Conroe E6300 @ 3.2Ghz
Mobo Asus P5Q Pro
GTX260
4gig DDR2 Memory
1920x1200 Monitor


I'm thinking either Q9550 or ati5850,

What do you guys think would be the best upgrade?

Probably CPU for now.

 

[lowrider007]

Probably CPU for now.

ummm, I was thinking the same, a bit of a boring upgrade compared with the gpu but I suppose it needs to be done really, may as well get it out of the way.

 

[GHG]

ummm, I was thinking the same, a bit of a boring upgrade compared with the gpu but I suppose it needs to be done really, may as well get it out of the way.

You'll be suprised at how much your FPS goes up going from a dual to a quad.

 

[Zel3]

Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to decide if I should just buy a Dell or build a computer for the first time.

This is what Dell is offering for around 1500

windows 7
24 inch monitor
Intel i7 920
GTX 260 with 1700mb of memory
9GB of ram
1TB HDD
wireless mouse and keyboard and speakers

How much money would I save if I decided to just build a similar computer? The deal seems pretty good to me. >_>

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Oh wow, really? =\ That blows....I have the same 1TB drive on my wishlist....

I remember there were a few people on Amazon or Newegg who posted reviews stating that their HDDs died as well. Who knows, though. I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who aren't experiencing any problems.

Over the years I have sworn off Seagate, Hitachi and now Samsung for having HDDs die on me within a relatively short period of time (less than a year). Western Digital is pretty much the only brand I will buy these days.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

ummm, I was thinking the same, a bit of a boring upgrade compared with the gpu but I suppose it needs to be done really, may as well get it out of the way.

More and more games are supporting quad cores, so you should definitely get one in my opinion. The GTX260 is still a damn good card and paired with a quad core you should be able to handle most games with sufficiently high settings and resolution.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to decide if I should just buy a Dell or build a computer for the first time.

This is what Dell is offering for around 1500

windows 7
24 inch monitor
Intel i7 920
GTX 260 with 1700mb of memory
9GB of ram
1TB HDD
wireless mouse and keyboard and speakers

How much money would I save if I decided to just build a similar computer? The deal seems pretty good to me. >_>

Yes you could get it all for cheaper. Then again, what's with the GTX 260 1700mb? Did they make a version with just double the RAM? And what is with the 9GB of RAM? Are there 3GB RAM sticks out there that I have never heard of?

You could probably get a similar setup for around $1000 give or take $100 or so.

 

[Hazaro]

24" Dell Monitor is expensive though :lol

Not a terrible deal. Better to build your own though.

 

[brain_stew]

What does it changes from 5400 to 7200 rpm?
Cause the HDD is one of the parts i'm about to buy and i could go with this offer.(if they ship in Italy, wich with all the airports locked down could be a prob. :lol)

I wouldn't use it as an OS drive, I'm planning in using it purely for media.

You'll be suprised at how much your FPS goes up going from a dual to a quad.

I'll echo this as well. It'll benefit a lot of games and applications in general.

 

[brain_stew]

Hey everyone, I'm currently trying to decide if I should just buy a Dell or build a computer for the first time.

This is what Dell is offering for around 1500

windows 7
24 inch monitor
Intel i7 920
GTX 260 with 1700mb of memory
9GB of ram
1TB HDD
wireless mouse and keyboard and speakers

How much money would I save if I decided to just build a similar computer? The deal seems pretty good to me. >_>

If gaming is one of the primary uses then its a terrible buy.

 

[Zel3]

Yes you could get it all for cheaper. Then again, what's with the GTX 260 1700mb? Did they make a version with just double the RAM? And what is with the 9GB of RAM? Are there 3GB RAM sticks out there that I have never heard of?

You could probably get a similar setup for around $1000 give or take $100 or so.

I really have no idea whats going on with the ram, the other options are 12GB and 24GB :lol

That's pretty much what it is from what I've read, a GTX 260 with with more RAM, the other option is a 'Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5' for 100 more added onto the 1500. >_>

If gaming is one of the primary uses then its a terrible buy

I would like to play the lastest games on it, at least on medium settings.

I'll just look around and see what I find, thanks for the advice guys.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I really have no idea whats going on with the ram, the other options are 12GB and 24GB :lol

That's pretty much what it is from what I've read, a GTX 260 with with more RAM, the other option is a 'Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5' for 100 more added onto the 1500. >_>





I would like to play the lastest games on it, at least on medium settings.

I'll just look around and see what I find, thanks for the advice guys.

Only $100 to go from a GTX 260 to an HD5870? What kind of wacko price scheme are they running?

 

[ChoklitReign]

If gaming is one of the primary uses then its a terrible buy.

I constructed a Newegg build similar to that and the price was actually higher. If he can afford it I don't see why not.

 

[Shambles]

I constructed a Newegg build similar to that and the price was actually higher. If he can afford it I don't see why not.

He's also saying the part choices for a 'gaming only' machine are terribly matched to his needs. And OEM machines are garbage for upgrading anyways. Just build your own, spend half as much money, get more performance, and be able to upgrade it when you want to revamp your system in 3-5 years.

Something more along the lines of a i5 750/PII 955, a 'meager' 4 gigs of ram and a much stronger GPU. Hell throw in a monitor and an intel SSD and you'll still be under 1500$

 

[·feist·]

ummm, I was thinking the same, a bit of a boring upgrade compared with the gpu but I suppose it needs to be done really, may as well get it out of the way.

Remember, if you're a U.S. resident and either you or a friend/family member live close to a Microcenter location, they have the Q9550 for $179. At that price, about the only 775 socket cpu that I'd buy over it would be Zefah's magical $120 Q6600.

I remember there were a few people on Amazon or Newegg who posted reviews stating that their HDDs died as well. Who knows, though. I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who aren't experiencing any problems.

Over the years I have sworn off Seagate, Hitachi and now Samsung for having HDDs die on me within a relatively short period of time (less than a year). Western Digital is pretty much the only brand I will buy these days.

I've more or less arrived at this stance as well. I recently bought my first Seagate in some time and within a month it began clicking. Now I have to find a replacement for this 2TB Seagate and a replacement for another 500GB Seagate that may also be failing. I've been tempted to get a 2TB Samsung, but with friends that have had failures with their Samsung hdds I'm a bit hesitant to go that route.

I really have no idea whats going on with the ram, the other options are 12GB and 24GB :lol

Unless I'm mistaken, this sounds like 3x2GB + 3x1GB, which isn't exactly ideal. As others have already mentioned, building it really is your best bet. Particularly if you want a good gaming PC that's still relatively inexpensive. Assuming that the 24" LCD is one of their IPS panel models, that would be the only part that's "tough" to find for a cheap price (compared to TNs, anyway). Along with the savings you'd get by DIY, you will more than likely end up with a better quality PSU, ram, HSF, motherboard and case than Dell's OEM offering. If you happen to live near a Fry's location they seem to have quite a few in-store tech deals. I don't, but a combo of Newegg and Microcenter has saved me hundreds on my current build.

 

[Cheeto]

I constructed a Newegg build similar to that and the price was actually higher. If he can afford it I don't see why not.

You can do a lot better for $1500

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

I'm seriously considering selling my Athlon II X3 and Gigabyte 770T after only two months. It only OCs to 3.3GHz and I feel like it's not cutting it for GTA4 and Dolphin. Assuming I go ahead and get an i3 + mobo, what's the best deal I can get? I'm thinking I can probably get ~$100-120 for my existing CPU/mobo. Maybe a little more if I sell my Hyper 212+ cooler and use the intel stock cooling, just not sure if that's a good idea. Seems like the i3s now run about $100, but I'm not sure which Mobo to get. Any advice?

 

[YuriLowell]

Im going to probably build an i7 box. Gonna go with the i7 930 at microcenter for 200 bucks.
I cant stand the chipset and motherboard I have on this system. Its so flaky and slow and just all around unreliable. Not sure if its AMD to blame or ASUS.

 

[Vic]

I'm seriously considering selling my Athlon II X3 and Gigabyte 770T after only two months. It only OCs to 3.3GHz and I feel like it's not cutting it for GTA4 and Dolphin. Assuming I go ahead and get an i3 + mobo, what's the best deal I can get? I'm thinking I can probably get ~$100-120 for my existing CPU/mobo. Maybe a little more if I sell my Hyper 212+ cooler and use the intel stock cooling, just not sure if that's a good idea. Seems like the i3s now run about $100, but I'm not sure which Mobo to get. Any advice?

Which games on Dolphin that doesn't perform well on your system?

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

I've mostly been playing Super Mario Galaxy (hoping for compatibility on SMG2 as well), Star Fox Assault, Metroid. It's not that they don't run well, say around 40fps, it's just that they aren't full speed which is really what I wanted. As I understand it, an OCed i3 should run them no problem. The reason I passed on the i3 in the first place was due to cost which has come down a bit since. I don't know if I'm just being frivolous here, or if the upgrade is worth it on a new system assuming I can get close to what I paid on the AMD parts, which were only around $120.

 

[UrbanRats]

What do you guy think is the best PSU for:
i5 750, 5850, 4gb ram, hyper 212 cooler, gigabyte ga p55a UD4--

I'm unsure between the Corsair HX650w or the HX750w.

The point is, i'm planning to add in the future an Nvidia to handle PhysX (a 9800 or a 240 or another one, dunno yet)so that's why i'm thinking, maybe a 750w is needed? Don't wanna blow money on useless power though.

 

[·feist·]

You'll be fine with the 650w version. Like you, I'm currently considering something along these lines:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121354

in addition to a 5850. For power I was looking at a Seasonic X-650, but I may go with the X-750 instead since it's only $15 more and I'd have some extra overhead for future mods.

 

[brain_stew]

Yea I know that but benchmarks at least show it is capable of playing games decently. Also no gaming laptop is going to look that sleek and give me the ability to get 6-8 hrs of normal use time in a 4lb package for that cheap while still being able to switch to the better vid card for games when needed. It's pretty damn impressive.

Not to mention every place I've read on the Internet has given it outstanding reviews. Notebook review. Laptopmag. Toms Hardware etc.

I you do pick it up make sure you OC the processor in the BIOS. I probably wouldn't bother with the overpriced CPU upgrade though.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Don't wanna blow money on useless power though.

It wouldn't be as big of a waste of having a dedicated PhysX card. :lol

From what I've read, it seems like a hassle since nvidia tries to disable its drivers when an ATI card is present, it's all workarounds that often break with new driver updates. Adding all that power consumption, noise and heat seems like waste for a few gimmicky effects in a handful of games. Just get an nvidia card as your primary card if PhysX really interests you.

edit: unless you already have your radeon, and you're just asking about upgrading your PSU... FWIW, I can't be bothered to plug in the 9800 GTX+ i have laying around. might be interesting to test out though.

 

[UrbanRats]

It wouldn't be as big of a waste of having a dedicated PhysX card. :lol

From what I've read, it seems like a hassle since nvidia tries to disable its drivers when an ATI card is present, it's all workarounds that often break with new driver updates. Adding all that power consumption, noise and heat seems like waste for a few gimmicky effects in a handful of games. Just get an nvidia card as your primary card if PhysX really interests you.

edit: unless you already have your radeon, and you're just asking about upgrading your PSU... FWIW, I can't be bothered to plug in the 9800 GTX+ i have laying around. might be interesting to test out though.

I already brought a 5850, cause the latest 470/480 nvidia card were too expensive.
I'd like the PhysX in Mafia2, especially for the cloth PhysX(yes, i know it's a gimmick, but we all have our fetishes, and seeig the trenchcoat waveing around it's mine :lol ).
Well, i was thinking about downgrading the drivers to a compatible crossli version, but thinking about it, they will probably wont be compatible with Mafia's PhysX then.

The original question was about the PSU anyway, would i need a 750w to run those two cards? Or a 650 is good enough?

 

[MoFuzz]

I remember there were a few people on Amazon or Newegg who posted reviews stating that their HDDs died as well. Who knows, though. I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who aren't experiencing any problems.

Over the years I have sworn off Seagate, Hitachi and now Samsung for having HDDs die on me within a relatively short period of time (less than a year). Western Digital is pretty much the only brand I will buy these days.

If it makes you feel any better, my brand new WD 640GB hard drive died within a month of purchase, right after I transferred all my data onto it from my old hard drives. 10 years worth of music, photos, videos.....gone.

The thing with hard drives is that everyone has had one brand die on them somewhere on the internet, and that person then proceeds to swear off from buying that brand ever again. In reality, all brands are prone to failure to some degree (some more than others obviously) so just pick one that performs well and at a decent price, but it's all a crapshoot in the end.

 

[Minsc]

If it makes you feel any better, my brand new WD 640GB hard drive died within a month of purchase, right after I transferred all my data onto it from my old hard drives. 10 years worth of music, photos, videos.....gone.

The thing with hard drives is that everyone has had one brand die on them somewhere on the internet, and that person then proceeds to swear off from buying that brand ever again. In reality, all brands are prone to failure to some degree (some more than others obviously) so just pick one that performs well and at a decent price, but it's all a crapshoot in the end.

Quoting because this is the truth. Everything breaks, or can break.

I've had probably 8 WD HDDs over the years, a couple stopped working, but well past their warranties.

Just don't be careless and keep only one copy of your data and you should be fine.

WD Blacks come with a 5 year warranty, a rarity among HDDs, but for $90, the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 is an incredible purchase, that I'd fully recommend, because baring a massive batch of drive malfunctions, there's only bad users, not bad HDDs.

It's simply your own fault for keeping everything on one single drive that can break at any moment. You can easily buy a second $90 drive to have all your data mirrored, and if you can't, you should seriously consider putting the important stuff on disc or online asap.

Edit: In fact, if there is any one thing certain about every HDD ever made, it is that it will break and stop working at some point or another, and everything on it will be lost. It's just a matter of when.

 

[fatty]

Just wanted to get some advice on a DVI switch or other possible setup. I still have my old PC with all of my email, music, and other crap on it that I still use along with my new PC that I built that I only have a couple of games installed. I want to continue to use both PCs but I only have the one monitor with a DVI input cable.

So what I've been doing when I want to switch is get under the desk and pull out each tower to manually switch over the cable to the other tower's input (both PCs are always on and connected to my network and I'm currently using two sets of keyboards and mice (or is it mouses?)).

Any inexpensive solutions out there that would save me the laziness, the DVI switches that I've come across on newegg are pretty expensive and all I'm looking for is something similar to a manual KVM switch with DVI instead of VGA. I don't necessarily need an all in one solution that includes keyboard and mouse but it would be nice.

 

[Lafiel]

Quoting because this is the truth. Everything breaks, or can break.

I've had probably 8 WD HDDs over the years, a couple stopped working, but well past their warranties.

Just don't be careless and keep only one copy of your data and you should be fine.

WD Blacks come with a 5 year warranty, a rarity among HDDs, but for $90, the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 is an incredible purchase, that I'd fully recommend, because baring a massive batch of drive malfunctions, there's only bad users, not bad HDDs.

It's simply your own fault for keeping everything on one single drive that can break at any moment. You can easily buy a second $90 drive to have all your data mirrored, and if you can't, you should seriously consider putting the important stuff on disc or online asap.

Edit: In fact, if there is any one thing certain about every HDD ever made, it is that it will break and stop working at some point or another, and everything on it will be lost. It's just a matter of when.

I must be the luckiest person in the world when it comes to HDDs. As i've only had one HDD break on me in the past few years. And i was fortunate enough to have back my important stuff on it, a few hours before it broke.:lol

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'd be much more worried if it was on AUTO because it overcompensates like MAD.
Slap it on 1.35V and work your way down from there. (Probably 1.325V, maybe 1.30V, or even lower if you are really lucky). (Load voltages, check with CPU-Z while running stress test)

Well after trying and failing to get a stable boot at 3.6ghz or even 3.4ghz I decided that I don't know enough about the world of overclocking and proceeded to spend 4 hours last night and another 2 this morning reading about it. This whole business is very confusing. I must have read thousands of posts regarding my specific setup (Gigabyte EP45-UD3P + Q6600) but there is just so much conflicting information that I still don't have much of a clue what I should be doing even after all of this studying.

Also, what is up with the various names for the same things? Vcc, (VID Control), Vtt (FSB Termination), Southbridge Vcore (ICH), Northbridge Vcore (MCH), etc... etc... Then there are all of the DRAM voltages, reference voltages, RAM timings, and more that I need to worry about. It makes me wish that there was some easy to understand guide out there explaining what the hell everything means and what their individual functions are.

Also, how important is it for my Memory to be running at 1:1? If I have 2x 2GB of DDR2 800 RAM, would I be better off running a 378 FSB x 9 (3.4ghz) with a SMM of 2.0 (756mhz) or would a 400 FSB x 8 (3.2ghz) with an SMM of 2.0 (800mhz) be better?

I can safely run my system with auto voltage settings overclocked to 3ghz (333 FSB x 9) with the Memory at 1:1 (SMM of 2.4), but I would like to push this processor as far as I safely can. I just wish this whole overclocking business wasn't so damn confusing. Oh well, I'm sure I will be better off in the long run if I learn about all of this.

 

[beast786]

Very noobish question.

Should I leave my PC on or shut if off?

 

[derder]

Very noobish question.

Should I leave my PC on or shut if off?

wat

 

[Deleted member 17706]

wat

I am pretty sure he is asking whether he should turn his computer off when not using it or constantly leave it on. I personally turn my computer off every night unless I have a download going. However, I know there are lots of people out there who leave their computers on forever and ever and brag about how long they have been running without a restart.

 

[Oreoleo]

I am pretty sure he is asking whether he should turn his computer off when not using it or constantly leave it on. I personally turn my computer off every night unless I have a download going. However, I know there are lots of people out there who leave their computers on forever and ever and brag about how long they have been running without a restart.

I've had this Adobe Reader update in my task bar waiting for me to restart my comp for like a week now. Aside from concerns about the electricity bill (Which is totally valid!) I don't see any real reason to turn your PC off regularly. Just takes that much longer the next time you want to use it

 

[beast786]

I am pretty sure he is asking whether he should turn his computer off when not using it or constantly leave it on. I personally turn my computer off every night unless I have a download going. However, I know there are lots of people out there who leave their computers on forever and ever and brag about how long they have been running without a restart.

Exactly. Thanks for the help.

I used to let my PC run for weeks. But I was told not to shut it on and off as it wears down the HDD for no reason.

 

[Minsc]

Exactly. Thanks for the help.

I used to let my PC run for weeks. But I was told not to shut it on and off as it wears down the HDD for no reason.

Your computer can spontaneously combust and start a fire at any time, for that reason I tend to leave it turned off. I'm just full of positive thoughts today! I blame that hedgehog thread in the OT.

You'd probably need to turn your PC on and off like 50+ times a week to start doing any noticeable wear damage to the HDD.

I've had this Adobe Reader update in my task bar waiting for me to restart my comp for like a week now. Aside from concerns about the electricity bill (Which is totally valid!) I don't see any real reason to turn your PC off regularly. Just takes that much longer the next time you want to use it

Just use the sleep feature! It doesn't reset your uptime counters and it's wonderful. Minimal power/fans, and instant on! Even with a SSD, sleep is still awesome, no boot up vs under a minute, sleep still wins big time.

 

[Metalic Sand]

Since its being asked turning off a PC every night wont do any damage in the long term?

 

[Dina]

Sleep will do, but unless I download something I turn it off. Seems like such a waste of power to leave it on, plus it clutters up my dustcatchers on my fans much quicker. And the 20 seconds it takes to boot up my computer every morning is not gonna kill me. That's a morning crapper, or a walk to the coffeemachine.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

I build my PC's to run 24/7. Constant uptime is my goal. If I die in my sleep in a electrical fire, so be it.

 

[Hazaro]

:lol

I used to leave my computer on for weeks at a time but now I turn it off or put it on sleep if I'll be away for a little bit.

Gotta take care of it you know? Plus electric bill.

 

[Kayhan]

I turn off my PC before going to sleep as it is quite close to my bed and makes some noise. Monitor stays on though.

 

[platypotamus]

I turn off my PC before going to sleep as it is quite close to my bed and makes some noise. Monitor stays on though.

Mine's in another room, and the whine from the fans helps put me to sleep

I'd say I'll miss it after this upgrade, but I won't, since this machine becomes my wife's, so I'll still get to hear it.

Is that rig in the OP for US $915 still a good starting point for a build? I've got a preliminary budget of about $800 (not counting the OS), and don't really know where else to start? Starting is the hardest part for me on this one.

 

[derder]

I built a file server to be left on 24/7 just so that I could keep my desktop and htpc off the rest of the time. I once left my gaming pc on for about 8 weeks straight and turned it off. When I went to turn it on again later that day, the heatsink on the CPU popped off :lol

 

[thunker 9000]

Will This; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

Work with my current motherboard? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081


Just making sure, before I buy it.

 

[Minsc]

Is that rig in the OP for US $915 still a good starting point for a build? I've got a preliminary budget of about $800 (not counting the OS), and don't really know where else to start? Starting is the hardest part for me on this one.

Start by checking out Tech Report's most recent guide and then tweaking to fit your needs!

 

[·feist·]

I used to have my primary PC on for long stretches at a time; weeks on end, even. It was mostly because of heavy multi-tasking and constant activity. Now, I'm more inclined to shutdown somewhat regularly.

I build my PC's to run 24/7. Constant uptime is my goal. If I die in my sleep in a electrical fire, so be it.

Will This; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

Work with my current motherboard? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081


Just making sure, before I buy it.

Yes.