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[Hazaro]

I was going to get a ATI Radeon 5850, but I just got the new NCIX newsletter. They have a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 280 for $219 Canadian.

Should I get that instead?

I wouldn't.

Depending on the price(I'm not too sure how GPU prices in Italy are) the 4890 would be a much better choice than the 5770. It is around 30% faster and is essential if you're playing above 720p resolution with high detail. At your res I'd definetely pick up the 4890 and it should last you for a good while yet and allow you to play every single game maxed out.

A 4870/4890 is on par/slightly faster than a 5770 but they have less features and use much more power. With the potential difference of $10-15 I'd go for the 5770 instead. A few months back I was pushing the 4870 but it's not a big deal, especially if they are still in stock anywhere.

I've never bought PC parts on Black Friday, but was hoping to this year, is there substantial savings online of in b&m?

There are some Black Friday deals (a lot are actually retail), then there's a 'Cyber Monday'.
There were some ok deals in the past 2 years, but nothing super great.

I hate admitting that I'm noobish when it comes to PC things but I can't help it...like right now.

I started the benchmark and it had a graph in the lower left running and it just went really, I didn't see an indication of FPS unless it was the graph w/ just no number.

For overclocking guides, are they CPU/MOBO specific?

More chip specific. The motherboards are just slightly different in their layout. Basic options like CPU/Northbridge voltage, FSB speed, etc. are the same.

I dug up a guide, but I've actually forgotten how old those processors are. Going from 2.0 -> 2.4 probably isn't going to help you much. Better to just upgrade.

Tnx Mr Brit. I'll explore the italian prices of those graphic cards (what about the 5770 Hazaro suggested?).
I suppose while I keep on playing at 1400x900 I will not have too many problems (well, it depends... games are not born equal... ^^).

A 5770 will fly at 1440x900 and manage 1920x1080.

 

[Mr_Brit]

I wouldn't.

A 4870/4890 is on par/slightly faster than a 5770 but they have less features and use much more power. With the potential difference of $10-15 I'd go for the 5770 instead. A few months back I was pushing the 4870 but it's not a big deal, especially if they are still in stock anywhere.

A 4870 is faster than a 5770 and costs significantly less. A 4890 is significantly faster than a 5770 (around 30-40% especially at high resolutions where a 5770 simply won't cut it) and costs around the same amount. The features the 5770 provides such as eyefinity are pretty much useless to 99.9% of people especially gamers where a 5770 would be too weak to run games at such high resolutions. The only advantage it has is power draw which won't make that much difference as most of the time will be spent idling in 2D mode.

A 5770 will fly at 1440x900 and manage 1920x1080.

Maybe now but in a years time it will start choking even at lower resolutions whereas the 4890 will keep running on.

 

[Nakazato]

anyone know if the Radeon 4670 is any good ?? Im planning to upgrade from a x1900. and is pci-E x16 compatible with 2.0 cards ??

not worried about 1080p. 720p or 1400x900 is just fine

 

[Minsc]

A 4870 is faster than a 5770 and costs significantly less. A 4890 is significantly faster than a 5770 (around 30-40% especially at high resolutions where a 5770 simply won't cut it) and costs around the same amount. The features the 5770 provides such as eyefinity are pretty much useless to 99.9% of people especially gamers where a 5770 would be too weak to run games at such high resolutions. The only advantage it has is power draw which won't make that much difference as most of the time will be spent idling in 2D mode.

But a 5770 beats a 4890 in StarCraft 2. Surely that counts for something!

 

[Ezahn]

Depending on the price(I'm not too sure how GPU prices in Italy are) the 4890 would be a much better choice than the 5770. It is around 30% faster and is essential if you're playing above 720p resolution with high detail. At your res I'd definetely pick up the 4890 and it should last you for a good while yet and allow you to play every single game maxed out.

Thanks again. It seems the 4890 is pretty scarce here in Italy, even online. I should search something in the used market... is the loss of DX11 much of a bad thing? I have Vista Ultimate 64, btw.
Should the 4890 be able to run things fairly even if I change my monitor in the near future?

 

[gregor7777]

Crossfire question:

I have an overclocked 4830 and a stock 4830. The o/c on the faster 4830 is at the firmware level. (I forget what program I used to set the clocks, can someone name a few?)

Anyway, should I o/c the stock 4830 to match the speeds of the other card or does it not matter? Would they both run at the same o/c'd speed in crossfire? How does that work?

 

[Mr_Brit]

Thanks again. It seems the 4890 is pretty scarce here in Italy, even online. I should search something in the used market... is the loss of DX11 much of a bad thing? I have Vista Ultimate 64, btw.
Should the 4890 be able to run things fairly even if I change my monitor in the near future?

The 4890 will be good for a long while yet. DX11 just like DX10 are both useless, Vista can run both however neither make any difference and aren't worth the performance impact. A used 4890 would be a great choice, cheaper and faster than a 5770.

 

[Ezahn]

On last fokkin'n00b question for me today:

what's the sweet spot for pc gaming resolution nowadays?

I mean, I'm a missing a great deal playing at 1400x900?
Is it better to run fluidly with good details at 1400x900 or acceptably at higher res?

 

[Mr_Brit]

On last fokkin'n00b question for me today:

what's the sweet spot for pc gaming resolution nowadays?

I mean, I'm a missing a great deal playing at 1400x900?
Is it better to run fluidly with good details at 1400x900 or acceptably at higher res?

1680*1050 or the equivalent 16:9 resolution is perfect, especially if you're planning on picking up a 4890. It'll let you play all games maxed out with some AA sprinkled in for most games.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

My predicament. I wanted to buy parts around Black Friday hoping I could upgrade my whole PC then (aka build from scratch).

FFXIV comes out the 22nd of September and I received an abysmal score on the benchmark.

IMG: http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab145/mpmaley0/ffxiv.png

If I were to upgrade my video card only for now do you think that would be enough to get my by for 2 months? Someone in the other thread suggested overclocking the CPU, something I've never done before.

Both of those is what is killing you. 8600 was a cheapy card back when it came out and the 2GHz CPU isn't helping in the least.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

So just got and installed my XFX 5770 (875MHz).
In terms of overclocking this or my CPU, what do people think:

 

[WEGGLES]

Anything wrong with this card?
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=52824&vpn=HD585XZNFV&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1078

It's $50 off, and is the card I want.

 

[Hazaro]

A 4870 is faster than a 5770 and costs significantly less. A 4890 is significantly faster than a 5770 (around 30-40% especially at high resolutions where a 5770 simply won't cut it) and costs around the same amount. The features the 5770 provides such as eyefinity are pretty much useless to 99.9% of people especially gamers where a 5770 would be too weak to run games at such high resolutions. The only advantage it has is power draw which won't make that much difference as most of the time will be spent idling in 2D mode.

Maybe now but in a years time it will start choking even at lower resolutions whereas the 4890 will keep running on.

The problem is stock of 4870's and 4890's is very limited. It's hard to recommend a graphics card that isn't listed on many retail sites. When I was trying to recommend a 4870 over a 5770 they were the same price and only buy.com had it. The 5770 and 4870 tie in a lot of cases and sometimes the 4870 will pull ahead by a respectable margin.

Since he is looking at the used market I encourage looking for a cheap 4870/4890 if he can find one.

Also the power draw is more apparent in the idle mode where it is 50w less idle vs 80w less load. That is nothing to be mocked.

anyone know if the Radeon 4670 is any good ?? Im planning to upgrade from a x1900. and is pci-E x16 compatible with 2.0 cards ??

not worried about 1080p. 720p or 1400x900 is just fine

It is backwards compatible.
If you can stretch budget to a 5670/5750/5770 it will serve you much better in the long run.
Also important is your CPU.

what's the sweet spot for pc gaming resolution nowadays?

I mean, I'm a missing a great deal playing at 1400x900?
Is it better to run fluidly with good details at 1400x900 or acceptably at higher res?

You aren't missing anything, but certain details in the distance might be a bit clearer.
Going for a 22 or 24" display now (1920x____) would be what I would recommend.

So just got and installed my XFX 5770 (875MHz).
In terms of overclocking this or my CPU, what do people think:

I take it that is 2.5Ghz? You can go much farther than that.

Also the load temps are much more important. See links to OCCT/Prime 95/ORTHOS and the FUR benchmark for GPU in the OP.

Anything wrong with this card?
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=52824&vpn=HD585XZNFV&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1078

It's $50 off, and is the card I want.

Isn't it promotion time in Canada? It might not be the reference cooler but at $50 and a game I'd bite.

 

[kinggroin]

The 4890 will be good for a long while yet. DX11 just like DX10 are both useless, Vista can run both however neither make any difference and aren't worth the performance impact. A used 4890 would be a great choice, cheaper and faster than a 5770.

Useless? I wouldn't go THAT far. Tesselation, DoF, Rendering optimization and accuracy do account for something, even if it is represented in a small handful of games.

I will say that getting a 5770 for DX11 is a waste IMO. Why get a card for features it's too underpowered to really take advantage of?

Personally, unless power draw is that big a deal, I'd try to find a 4870 or 4890 first. Both can run 1080p max details (maybe some AA depending on the game) in pretty much all games (save maybe Crysis and metro) without any issues.

 

[demosthenes]

Both of those is what is killing you. 8600 was a cheapy card back when it came out and the 2GHz CPU isn't helping in the least.

XFX sent it to me for free when my previous card burned out...I wasn't going to complain as it was an upgrade :lol

 

[Ezahn]

Thanks all, guys. You have been really helpful.

(I'll probably wait a bit still, maybe my 8800GT @ 1400x900 is enough for me atm: the big question was if I'm missing a great deal with this low resolution and according to you I am not, not really anyways...)

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks all, guys. You have been really helpful.

Makes it worth it

 

[demosthenes]

Random question.

Why have power supplies been moved to the bottom of most towers?

 

[Broken Arrow]

Hey guys, a friend of mine is going to the States next week and I was planning on ordering a PC from ibuypower.com so that he could bring it to me, so a couple of questions arise:

1) Do you recommend ibuypower?
2) What do you think of this rig? (value for price, ability to play most of the actual games at full settings, easy to upgrade, etc.)

Thanks!!

Price: $1,696

Gamer Fire 600
Case ( Zalman Z7 Gaming Case - Black )
Processor ( [== Six Core ==] AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T Six-Core CPU )
Processor Cooling ( [Free Upgrade] Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator [AMD] )
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1800 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 5970 - 2GB - Single Card )
Free Stuff ( [Free] 2GB MP3 Digital Audio Player - Free With Purchase Of AMD Phenom II X6 CPU )
Free Stuff ( [FREE Game] - BattleForge - Free with purchase of ATI Radeon HD 5000 series Video Card )
Free Stuff ( [Free Game Download] - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Free with Purchase of AMD Phenom II CPU + ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series Video Card )
Free Stuff ( [Free Game Download] - S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat - Free with Purchase of AMD Systems )
Motherboard ( [CrossFire] Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H -- AMD 890GX w/ 2x PCI-E 2.0 x16 )
Power Supply ( 800 Watt -- Power Supply - SLI Ready )
Primary Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive )
Optical Drive ( 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )
Meter Display ( NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen Fan Controller & Temperature Display )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Professional + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-bit )
Keyboard ( Logitech Deluxe Keyboard - Black )
Wireless Network Adapter ( ASUS USB-N13 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 300Mbps Wireless USB Adapter )
Power Protection ( Opti-UPS SS1200-AVR Mighty Voltage Regulator )
Advanced Build Options ( iBUYPOWER Specialized Advanced Packaging System - Protect your investment during transportation! )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service - Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - [RUSH !!!], Ship Out in 5 Business Days )

 

[demosthenes]

Ok...so I just put this together. I wanted to spend around $1,000 and w/ rebates it'll be in the neighborhood of $1,100...not the end of the world.

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3128412&cm_re=P55A-UD3-_-13-128-412-_-Product

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspxItem=N82E16819116369&Tpk=core i5 655

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447
(I know it's not zomg awesome buit I'd rather spend $170 now and $170 2 years from now than $400 now)

HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820250001
&
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...129042&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-042-_-Product
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...129066&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-066-_-Product

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059

Questions:
-SSD, need advice on these because I know next to nothing besides that they're faster than normal drives.
-Monitor, it seems like a good bang for the buck, would take suggestions on this.
-Would welcome any comments suggestions. I haven't really looked at hardware in 4 years so I'm a bit rusty.

 

[Nakazato]

It is backwards compatible.
If you can stretch budget to a 5670/5750/5770 it will serve you much better in the long run.
Also important is your CPU.
.

I this really just is a stop gap upgrade for my 4 year old pc till i can get enough money to save up and build a whole new one
So my specs atm is

E6600 @2.4 Ghz
2 gigs of Ram
x1900 512.

Do you think i should add another gig of ram as well making my specs (or should add 2 gigs and make it 4 gigs ??)

2.4
3-4 gigs
4670

?

 

[Hazaro]

Hey guys, a friend of mine is going to the States next week and I was planning on ordering a PC from ibuypower.com so that he could bring it to me, so a couple of questions arise:
1) Do you recommend ibuypower?
2) What do you think of this rig? (value for price, ability to play most of the actual games at full settings, easy to upgrade, etc.)

Thanks!!
Price: $1,696

I wouldn't personally. When they started out they had an iffy rep but it seems they've cleaned up somewhat.

Ability to play games is fine (5970 is a beast, that's $600 alone).

A lot of excess drives up the price such as watercooling, display, GAMER case, etc.

I would not recommend buying a water cooled system from any premade, unless it was from a super highend botique PC store. It's just more stuff to go wrong, in water's case horribly wrong.

Ok...so I just put this together. I wanted to spend around $1,000 and w/ rebates it'll be in the neighborhood of $1,100...not the end of the world.
Questions:
-SSD, need advice on these because I know next to nothing besides that they're faster than normal drives.
-Monitor, it seems like a good bang for the buck, would take suggestions on this.
-Would welcome any comments suggestions. I haven't really looked at hardware in 4 years so I'm a bit rusty.

Swap in an i5-750. You picked a dual core instead of a quad.

Get a 1TB Samsung HDD and either a 40GB Intel V or 80GB Intel M.

I this really just is a stop gap upgrade for my 4 year old pc till i can get enough money to save up and build a whole new one
So my specs atm is

E6600 @2.4 Ghz
2 gigs of Ram
x1900 512.

Do you think i should add another gig of ram as well making my specs (or should add 2 gigs and make it 4 gigs ??)

If you upgrade to 4GB and overclock your CPU to 3.2-3.6Ghz (Should manage ~3.0 on stock cooler) along side a 5770 or 5850/GTX470 you should be set for quite a while.
If you've been living with 2GB all this time you might not want to spend on the upgrade now though.

My base system was actually an E6600 with 2GB of RAM and a 7900GS instead of the 1900.
I've upgraded it gradually over the years to an E7200 @ 3.8 (vs. my E6600 @ 3.2), 4GB, a new HDD, and a GTX 260. New monitors too.

I went though 7900GS -> 8800GTS 320MB -> 8800GT -> GTX 260 though so I've had many more stopgaps :lol

 

[filipe]

Alright, from great advice from Hazaro, this my new build, please someone let me know if everything looks in order...

If everything checks out, I click the order button tonight!

 

[Songbird]

Hi, guys. Good news and bad news.

Bad: I ended up ordering the parts at Overclockers but hit a big snag: They wouldn't post them without several forms of ID. I eventually cancelled this order after waiting on the phone for a good five minutes. Keep that in mind if you choose to order from in the future! Very annoying.

Good: I ended up visiting a few local PC shops in town and found a great deal. The same specs plus a GTX 480 for the same price! Guys were very helpful and I should have the system tomorrow, they even built it up for me. So if you happen to be in Preston soon :lol visit http://www.1st-direct.co.uk/ and tell them the Thnikkaman sent you!

If everything checks out, I click the order button tonight!

That looks great IMO, happy gaming!

 

[demosthenes]

Swap in an i5-750. You picked a dual core instead of a quad.

Get a 1TB Samsung HDD and either a 40GB Intel V or 80GB Intel M.

Do SSD suffer the same thing where when you format they lose space so 40GB is actually only 35 or 37GB?

The 40GB isn't bad coming in at around $100, but the 80GB soars over $200 :|

edit: And I won't use 1TB...probably ever, so I can save the $30 or so...and I have a ton of random HDs...if I somehow ever did need the space.

 

[Nakazato]

If you upgrade to 4GB and overclock your CPU to 3.2-3.6Ghz (Should manage ~3.0 on stock cooler) along side a 5770 or 5850/GTX470 you should be set for quite a while.
If you've been living with 2GB all this time you might not want to spend on the upgrade now though.

My base system was actually an E6600 with 2GB of RAM and a 7900GS instead of the 1900.
I've upgraded it gradually over the years to an E7200 @ 3.8 (vs. my E6600 @ 3.2), 4GB, a new HDD, and a GTX 260. New monitors too.

I went though 7900GS -> 8800GTS 320MB -> 8800GT -> GTX 260 though so I've had many more stopgaps :lol

Just Checked the prices of the 5770 dont know if i can do that right now :lol :lol. But ill definitely upgrade the Ram now its just a video card issue what the best card for about $100-75 ??

 

[Hazaro]

Alright, from great advice from Hazaro, this my new build, please someone let me know if everything looks in order...

http://i.imgur.com/Pv6A7.png

If everything checks out, I click the order button tonight!

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=52824&vpn=HD585XZNFV&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1078
NCIX has a sale on the 5850. If that runs out grab a... 5850 instead. I had no idea the price differences were that much. Very silly.
Grab the 650w Corsair instead.
Grab the 1TB Samsung HDD (Or if you don't think you will use that much ever get the 640GB WD drive)
-
Minor things:
Get some thermal paste (MX-2, AS5, AS Cerm) if you think you might have to mount the heatsink more than once.

If you are interested in the SSD still pick that up. It's one of the best investments you can make in a computer.

Do SSD suffer the same thing where when you format they lose space so 40GB is actually only 35 or 37GB?

The 40GB isn't bad coming in at around $100, but the 80GB soars over $200 :|

edit: And I won't use 1TB...probably ever, so I can save the $30 or so...and I have a ton of random HDs...if I somehow ever did need the space.

Yes SSD's have the same space issue. What you are putting on it is your OS, browser, and main functionality programs.
That 640GB is a fine drive so no worries. I'm on one right now.

Just Checked the prices of the 5770 dont know if i can do that right now :lol :lol. But ill definitely upgrade the Ram now its just a video card issue what the best card for about $100-75 ??

5670 off the top of my head. The extra money you spend on the card will go a long way though. If you want to upgrade your RAM I'd put that money into a 5770 instead. (Or a 4870 if you can find it cheaper now that that's been brought up).

 

[Gritesh]

So I know I said that I was going to pull the trigger on a new machine and was debating on the Phenom X6 or the i5 750.

I never ended up doing it.

Turns out my 5850 was fried, local shop replaced the card for me under warranty

(Memory Express)


I was talking to them about the upgrade route and the guy mentioned that if I can hold off for a few months I should. There is rumor of intel prices dropping in August, and there is rumor of Intel announcing the i9?

Problem is will Intel support the 1156 socket (sp?) with the new i9 or will they go with a new socket next year..I wasn't willing to gamble on my computer not being able to be upgraded next year with just a new processor.

So then I asked about the Phenom II X6 and the AM3 socket. Apparently the bulldozer (codename) processor that AMD has been talking about for 2011 release WILL be supporting the AM3 socket.

End result was
A) Take a risk with the intel i5, gain better performance now, but chance that the i9's wont support the 1156 socket next year.
B) Take a hit on performance with the X6, but knowing that AMD's new CPU will support the AM3 socket next year.

I couldn't decide so I walked away with nothing.


Curious to know what GAF thinks about the ability of future upgrades with these two routes, I'm not in a huge rush to upgrade but the thought is there.
Through all these pages I don't think this topic has really been brought up yet.

Thanks GAF.

 

[centracore]

PC-GAF, I need your help! I built this PC in early 2008 and it has been working well for me but with the now impending release of Final Fantasy XIV I want to make sure that my system can handle it no problem. I haven't been following PC hardware news so I am really out of the loop.. this is what I currently have:

EVGA Nforce 750I SLI FTW LGA775 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail

EVGA E-GEFORCE 9800GTX Superclocked 700MHZ 512MB 2.2GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

OCZ XTC Platinum Edition PC2-8500 DDR2 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-18 Dual Channel EPP Memory Kit

Are there any individual things I can upgrade to get a big performance boost without upgrading everything? Or would that not be worth the time and money and I should just look at upgrading all of it?

 

[Hazaro]

So I know I said that I was going to pull the trigger on a new machine and was debating on the Phenom X6 or the i5 750.
I never ended up doing it.

Problem is will Intel support the 1156 socket (sp?) with the new i9 or will they go with a new socket next year..I wasn't willing to gamble on my computer not being able to be upgraded next year with just a new processor.

So then I asked about the Phenom II X6 and the AM3 socket. Apparently the bulldozer (codename) processor that AMD has been talking about for 2011 release WILL be supporting the AM3 socket.

End result was
A) Take a risk with the intel i5, gain better performance now, but chance that the i9's wont support the 1156 socket next year.
B) Take a hit on performance with the X6, but knowing that AMD's new CPU will support the AM3 socket next year.

I couldn't decide so I walked away with nothing.

That's more the technology thread but it was briefly touched on here.

Intel will most likely be releasing 2 new sockets along side slightly updated processors for 1156 and 1366.
AMD will probably continue to update AM3 and bring in an AM3+

It's a tough call that I've been thinking about personally since I want to upgrade in Winter. I'm just waiting to see.

PC-GAF, I need your help! I built this PC in early 2008 and it has been working well for me but with the now impending release of Final Fantasy XIV I want to make sure that my system can handle it no problem. I haven't been following PC hardware news so I am really out of the loop.. this is what I currently have

You are good. I believe there's also a PC benchmark so you can decide for yourself.

 

[demosthenes]

Haz...I don't think 40GB would be quite enough. (Windows 7, TF2, LFD2, FFXIV at the minimum).

Is there anyone you would recommend beyond Intel for 60/64gb drives? Seems like all of their 80s are $300.

 

[Parham]

PC-GAF, I need your help! I built this PC in early 2008 and it has been working well for me but with the now impending release of Final Fantasy XIV I want to make sure that my system can handle it no problem. I haven't been following PC hardware news so I am really out of the loop.. this is what I currently have:

Are there any individual things I can upgrade to get a big performance boost without upgrading everything? Or would that not be worth the time and money and I should just look at upgrading all of it?

You're good to go.

There is a benchmark available if you want to be completely sure that your computer can handle the game.

 

[Minsc]

Haz...I don't think 40GB would be quite enough. (Windows 7, TF2, LFD2, FFXIV at the minimum).

Is there anyone you would recommend beyond Intel for 60/64gb drives? Seems like all of their 80s are $300.

Just get a 500GB/1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 or WD Black if you can't afford a SSD + a normal HDD. Both the Black and Spinpoint probably run circles around your current HDs.

FFIV could very well approach 50GBs with expansions and mods and temp space, who knows.

 

[Broken Arrow]

I wouldn't personally. When they started out they had an iffy rep but it seems they've cleaned up somewhat.

Ability to play games is fine (5970 is a beast, that's $600 alone).

A lot of excess drives up the price such as watercooling, display, GAMER case, etc.

I would not recommend buying a water cooled system from any premade, unless it was from a super highend botique PC store. It's just more stuff to go wrong, in water's case horribly wrong.

Thanks a lot Hazaro, will defnitely consider other options then...

Any recommendations of a great pre-built online store like ibuypower?

I'm afraid of a DIY kit because I may not have the posibility of returning defective equipment...

 

[demosthenes]

Just get a 500GB/1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 or WD Black if you can't afford a SSD + a normal HDD. Both the Black and Spinpoint probably run circles around your current HDs.

FFIV could very well approach 50GBs with expansions and mods and temp space, who knows.

Right now I have a pretty old 10K Raptor that needs replacing so I thought of making the jump to SSD now. Just didn't want to spend $300 :x

 

[Minsc]

Right now I have a pretty old 10K Raptor that needs replacing so I thought of making the jump to SSD now. Just didn't want to spend $300 :x

I actually upgraded from two 10K raptors myself, to an 80GB intel SSD and 1TB WD Black. The WD Black feels faster than the 10K raptors strangely enough.

No one wants to spend the $300 for a SSD + HDD, but you might as well just bite the bullet and do it, given where you're coming from. Your SSD will never feel slow, so no reason not to splurge a couple hundred on it. Just make sure you get a separate HDD for games too, preferably the $70 1TB Spinpoint F3 or WD Black, and you'll be very happy with windows/game loading times.

 

[Nakazato]

5670 off the top of my head. The extra money you spend on the card will go a long way though. If you want to upgrade your RAM I'd put that money into a 5770 instead. (Or a 4870 if you can find it cheaper now that that's been brought up).

I think i will go after this one . And trade some stuff on Amazon so i can buy more ram thanks for all your help

 

[Hazaro]

Haz...I don't think 40GB would be quite enough. (Windows 7, TF2, LFD2, FFXIV at the minimum).

Is there anyone you would recommend beyond Intel for 60/64gb drives? Seems like all of their 80s are $300.

Programs like TF2, L4D, and other games wouldn't benefit.

By core programs I mean browser, music player, video player, small software, and special programs like Photoshop. That's it.

The Crucial 64GB is going for $150
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1
But I'm not sure if it is actually released yet since the news came out 3 days ago.

Thanks a lot Hazaro, will defnitely consider other options then...

Any recommendations of a great pre-built online store like ibuypower?

I'm afraid of a DIY kit because I may not have the posibility of returning defective equipment...

Off the top of my head I can't. If I had to buy prebuilt I'd probably get an HP or DELL. HP's current rig with a i5-750 and 5770 isn't bad. You'd only need to replace the PSU and upgrade the graphics if that wasn't enough.
Your limit of 7 days really gets in the way though. Not sure how many can fit that in.
Maybe you should just bite the bullet on parts? Not sure.

 

[demosthenes]

I actually upgraded from two 10K raptors myself, to an 80GB intel SSD and 1TB WD Black. The WD Black feels faster than the 10K raptors strangely enough.

No one wants to spend the $300 for a SSD + HDD, but you might as well just bite the bullet and do it, given where you're coming from. Your SSD will never feel slow, so no reason not to splurge a couple hundred on it. Just make sure you get a separate HDD for games too, preferably the $70 1TB Spinpoint F3 or WD Black, and you'll be very happy with windows/game loading times.

I had a friend that would do. One HD for OS, one HD for games/programs, one HD for files/storage.

How necessary is that though?

On my current setup I have the 74GB Raptor taking care of my OS + programs/games and I have files storage on another internal drive.

1 TB just seems so unnecessary to me, I will never use it.

Programs like TF2, L4D, and other games wouldn't benefit.

By core programs I mean browser, music player, video player, small software, and special programs like Photoshop. That's it.

The Crucial 64GB is going for $150
http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1
But I'm not sure if it is actually released yet since the news came out 3 days ago.

I was told differently before

 

[Hazaro]

I had a friend that would do. One HD for OS, one HD for games/programs, one HD for files/storage.

How necessary is that though?

On my current setup I have the 74GB Raptor taking care of my OS + programs/games and I have files storage on another internal drive.

1 TB just seems so unnecessary to me, I will never use it.

That setup is perfect.
Just use the SSD for OS / common or special programs and your 640GB for everything else.
The read speed on the newer 640GB and 1TB drives are up there with the raptors because of platter density so don't sweat not having your games on a raptor.

I was told differently before

Ah I really should try to explain more than one sentence, I always seem to have to revisit what I say.

Games do benefit, but not usually so much in load times. Most games should have their info packed into 1 large file so a normal HDD can access is fast, but there are cases where this is not the case, or the HDD has to read certain objects before they are loaded, etc. Minimum FPS might take an increase too.

The last real indepth article I read about SSD's and gaming was in 2008 so I am trying to dig up some more info.

 

[Minsc]

I had a friend that would do. One HD for OS, one HD for games/programs, one HD for files/storage.

How necessary is that though?

On my current setup I have the 74GB Raptor taking care of my OS + programs/games and I have files storage on another internal drive.

1 TB just seems so unnecessary to me, I will never use it.

Get the 500GB ones then. It's not uncommon for games to be 20GB these days, I think L4D2 is close to that with all the asset files it uses, FFXIV most likely will be, WoW is over 20GB. Dragon Age is over 15GB, I think my Mass Effect 2 folder is coming on close to 20GB as well.

Basically a 80GB is enough for Windows + 2 large games these days. A 500GB Spinpoint is about $50, when you're paying $200 for 80GB, 6x the space for 1/4th the price is a no-brainer.

Games will do better on a SSD on average they load a little faster (sometimes not really), but that's about it. Your minimum framerate may be a little higher too, due to less pausing to load data, but no one will recommend a SSD for a gaming upgrade.

 

[demosthenes]

Alright, you guys are being an incredibly huge help.

Another noobish question.

In my current setup all programs are running on my Raptor. Do you have to do anything to have HD 1 - OS, HD 2- Programs? AKA, all of my programs reside on the same drive as my OS right now, but if I separate them does that cause any complications?

 

[Songbird]

Alright, you guys are being an incredibly huge help.

Another noobish question.

In my current setup all programs are running on my Raptor. Do you have to do anything to have HD 1 - OS, HD 2- Programs? AKA, all of my programs reside on the same drive as my OS right now, but if I separate them does that cause any complications?

As far as I know there should be no problems as long as the alternate drive is formatted properly and the registry knows games are installed there. I learned this from partitions though, not separate drives.

Ed: By the registry knowing where games are I suggest reinstalling them on HD2 so there are less headaches.

I managed to beat you this time Hazaro!

 

[Hazaro]

Alright, you guys are being an incredibly huge help.

Another noobish question.

In my current setup all programs are running on my Raptor. Do you have to do anything to have HD 1 - OS, HD 2- Programs? AKA, all of my programs reside on the same drive as my OS right now, but if I separate them does that cause any complications?

You'll have to select a different install location every time but that's about it. Maybe Win 7 has an option for this. I don't know.
If you are talking about cloning your OS and programs to a different drive... I'm sure there is a way to get both onto one drive.
Day to day usage there is no issue.

The largest issue is that if you want all of your

Spoiler

possible 400GB of bought

Steam games installed you will have to do a workaround.

 

[Minsc]

Alright, you guys are being an incredibly huge help.

Another noobish question.

In my current setup all programs are running on my Raptor. Do you have to do anything to have HD 1 - OS, HD 2- Programs? AKA, all of my programs reside on the same drive as my OS right now, but if I separate them does that cause any complications?

Install everything to your SSD like normal (C:\), but put Steam on your larger, second HDD, and that's it; you never have to think about it again. Steam will automatically put stuff on the drive its located, you don't get asked when you buy games where to put them.

Your setup should look like this:

HDD1 (SSD): Everything but games.
HDD2 (Samsung/WD Black): Games.

If you really want, you can put a game or two on the SSD, but there's really no need. You definitely want all your programs on the SSD with the OS. I also backup my 1st HDD to my 2nd, it's only about 15GB of data compressed, despite being around 45GB uncompressed. I also back up my active game saves from HDD2 when I can (not nearly often enough), you can never be too careful.

 

[centracore]

Thanks Hazaro and azentium! If there was one thing I could upgrade and get the biggest performance boost though, what would that be, the video card? Or would the rest of the components be holding things back?

Just wondering cause if I can get a new video card now then I could upgrade everything else sometime down the road.

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks Hazaro and azentium! If there was one thing I could upgrade and get the biggest performance boost though, what would that be, the video card? Or would the rest of the components be holding things back?

Just wondering cause if I can get a new video card now then I could upgrade everything else sometime down the road.

Depends. Not sure if FFXIV is more CPU or GPU intensive at whatever resolution and settings you are at. Most likely GPU would be the thing to upgrade.
The 9800GTX is a good card so the longer you wait the better, but if you are not happy with its performance picking up a 5850 or a GTX 470 would be the next upgrade.

You should download the benchmark http://download.nvidia.com/downloads/nZone/demos/FFXIVBenchmark.zip and see for yourself.

*I ran it and is is very dependent on your GPU just from how it scales from 720 to 1080.
**...And my results are off from others. It's an odd benchmark. I'd just wait for retail to see what it really runs like.

 

[Parham]

Thanks Hazaro and azentium! If there was one thing I could upgrade and get the biggest performance boost though, what would that be, the video card? Or would the rest of the components be holding things back?

Just wondering cause if I can get a new video card now then I could upgrade everything else sometime down the road.

Your current video card is fine as it is. However, if you are still intent on upgrading, I would recommend getting an HD5850.

 

[TouchMyBox]

I was told differently before

I'm always first to load, bitches.

 

[demosthenes]

Depends. Not sure if FFXIV is more CPU or GPU intensive at whatever resolution and settings you are at. Most likely GPU would be the thing to upgrade.
The 9800GTX is a good card so the longer you wait the better, but if you are not happy with its performance picking up a 5850 or a GTX 470 would be the next upgrade.

You should download the benchmark http://download.nvidia.com/downloads/nZone/demos/FFXIVBenchmark.zip and see for yourself.

*I ran it and is is very dependent on your GPU just from how it scales from 720 to 1080.

Do you think I'm aiming too low w/ this card then?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447