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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

Doytch said:
So I want to get another 2GB of RAM (currently have 2x1GB) but I absolutely can't find anyone who still stocks 2x1GB packs of OCZ Gold XTC PC6400. The alternatives are obviously to mix-and-match, or get a 2x2GB set. Mixing and matching shouldn't be too much of an issue right? I mean, the sticks I have now are underclocked anyway (333 vs. 400) so it'd just be an issue of getting sticks that have the same timings at 333 Mhz.
Click to expand...
I too am interested in the answer to this question.
 
Doytch said:
So I want to get another 2GB of RAM (currently have 2x1GB) but I absolutely can't find anyone who still stocks 2x1GB packs of OCZ Gold XTC PC6400. The alternatives are obviously to mix-and-match, or get a 2x2GB set. Mixing and matching shouldn't be too much of an issue right? I mean, the sticks I have now are underclocked anyway (333 vs. 400) so it'd just be an issue of getting sticks that have the same timings at 333 Mhz.

But it looks like the RAM prices are kind of high atm. Are we near the high of the RAM pricing curve right now?
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If you're underclocked, it really shouldn't matter. When you're reaching max specifications, issues can pop up. I've had such issues recently where 2 of my sticks were rated for 2.1V at 400mhz and my other 2 were rated at 1.8V. Had to pull the higher voltage ones out to regain stability.
 
Man its nice being able to play Crysis with mostly Very High settings (rest on High), The game is actually pretty decent when you're not worried about tweaking it for better performance all the time (It ran like ass on my previous AMD X2 4800+ dual core rig even tho it had the same GTX 260).

I bought the "Maximum Edition" pack from Steam (Crysis / Crysis Warhead combo for $39) I started off with the original Crysis and will install Warhead after I beat it.

i7 920 @ 3.2ghz (stock H/S for now, will shoot for 4ghz when I get better cooling)
6GB Corsair DDR3 1600 triple channel
EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked edition.
Win7 64 Ultimate.
Been playing it on my 50" Kuro 5080HD Plasma via DVI to HDMI PC output.
 
Yeah looks like the ATI 5850 is going for $300 on average right now. Probably going to upgrade to that in the next couple of weeks.
My next question, with my Core 2 Duo E6600, how much will my system be at a bottleneck?

I mean, aside from PC specific software, there isn't that much out there taxing CPUs right? Quad-core isn't THAT in demand?

Thanks again
 
Just upgraded from:

dual core 6600 2.4ghz
8800GTS 328MB
2GB corsair XMS
MSI random board from 4 years ago
Win XP 32-bit Pro

to

intel i7 860 (2.8Ghz)
HD5770 1GB
4GB Gskill
ASUS p55 mobo
Win 7 64-bit ultimate :)

Feels so good to run Bad Company 2 with highest settings 4x AA, 16x AF :)
 
the e6600 is starting to get really old and will indeed bottleneck a 5850.

It may still be worth upgrading to depending on what your old card is, but dont expect to be able to play every new game at max setting because you have a good video card.

MMO's and strategy games are the biggest typical offenders for being more cpu intensive than gpu limited, but there a big handful of random games such as GTA4 that are really cpu intensive as well.
 
AgentOtaku said:
Yeah looks like the ATI 5850 is going for $300 on average right now. Probably going to upgrade to that in the next couple of weeks.
My next question, with my Core 2 Duo E6600, how much will my system be at a bottleneck?

I mean, aside from PC specific software, there isn't that much out there taxing CPUs right? Quad-core isn't THAT in demand?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

At stock it definitely is, OC it to 3ghz+ and things will be better. I'd still recommend the cheap quad (Q6600 is ideal) + OC route, you'll be able to take advantage of the increasing amount of quad optimised software (including damn near every major release in the last 12 months) without blowing $500+.

Both me and Exodu5 have performed similar upgrades in the past week or so and the results are very impressive, your framerate will literally damn near double in stuff like SR2, BC2, GTA4, Ghostbusters and games like L4D2, ARMA2, Dragon Age and Dirt 2 will all receive a really nice boost.
 
Ok, so I bought the Radeon HD 5850 as suggested by you guys a few page back, and now I was wondering about overclocking. I was reading this guide and started wondering if over-volting the GPU is something that I should look into.

I already plan on doing memory and core overclocking, but is over-volting worth the risk?
 
Brazil said:
Ok, so I bought the Radeon HD 5850 as suggested by you guys a few page back, and now I was wondering about overclocking. I was reading this guide and started wondering if over-volting the GPU is something that I should look into.

I already plan on doing memory and core overclocking, but is over-volting worth the risk?
Click to expand...

Its upto you, unlike normal GPU overclocking it absolutely does come with an inherent risk and if you don't know what you're doing you can fry your GPU. Having said that, stay sensible, constantly monitor temperatures, take the necesarry precautions and be conservative with your overvolting and you should be fine and come out with some pretty impressive results.

See what you can get out of it at stock volts first, and if you're happy with that level of performance, then leave it at that.. If you're not, yes its worth looking into but do your research first.
 
Doytch said:
So I want to get another 2GB of RAM (currently have 2x1GB) but I absolutely can't find anyone who still stocks 2x1GB packs of OCZ Gold XTC PC6400. The alternatives are obviously to mix-and-match, or get a 2x2GB set. Mixing and matching shouldn't be too much of an issue right? I mean, the sticks I have now are underclocked anyway (333 vs. 400) so it'd just be an issue of getting sticks that have the same timings at 333 Mhz.

But it looks like the RAM prices are kind of high atm. Are we near the high of the RAM pricing curve right now?
Click to expand...
Short answer, mixing is fine.

Longer answer, yes it works but it'll add a little bit more work on your northbridge and is possible it could slightly impact your overclock if you have one. Usually a small bump in NB voltage will solve this.

I'd also list a B> add on anandtech, I'm sure quite a few people have 2GB of OCZ

*All new comers to GPU overvolting I'd say just leave it at stock really. If you needed a bit more push you'd have bought something more.
(I am a heretic because I did try to hardmod my 8800GT to get a voltage boost :lol, but that was when I was benching so it was ok.)
 
just wanted to say thanks to firestorm and everyone else that helped me with my new pc. so far everything is running great.

however learning a new OS after using the same one for 8 years is a bit of a pain for me. :lol
 
brain_stew said:
At stock it definitely is, OC it to 3ghz+ and things will be better. I'd still recommend the cheap quad (Q6600 is ideal) + OC route, you'll be able to take advantage of the increasing amount of quad optimised software (including damn near every major release in the last 12 months) without blowing $500+.

Both me and Exodu5 have performed similar upgrades in the past week or so and the results are very impressive, your framerate will literally damn near double in stuff like SR2, BC2, GTA4, Ghostbusters and games like L4D2, ARMA2, Dragon Age and Dirt 2 will all receive a really nice boost.
Click to expand...

Thanks man
 
Jordan91 said:
Going to build a new PC. Have a better budget this time.

CPU - i5 750 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755
GPU - HD 5770 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/189741
Case - P183 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161660

I am struggling to chose Motherboard and Memory though.
4 GB Memory, not fussed whether I get SLI or not.

If anyone could suggest any. I'd say roughly £200 - £250 left to spend.

Thanks!

:)

(Posted on Tech Support Gaf thread and got no reply, hoping for better luck here)
Click to expand...

Personally I'd either spend less on the case or less on the CPU/MOBO combo and stretch to a 5850 if gaming is your primary concern as that'll net you the better performance. An MSI 770 board + X4 925 is super cheap yet offers excellent performance (and some nice OCing headroom should you need it). 5850s can be had for as little as £220 delivered these days:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/Graphics-ATI/ATIHD5800Series/nov-5850.html
 
AgentOtaku said:
Why not just go for longevity and get an i7 quad at this point?

Don't want a solution but rather another decent upgrade for the next 3 or so years
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Because you'd be spending around $400 more at a minimum and there'd be literally no advantage in games if you can clock upto 3ghz or higher. It requires a brand new motherboard, RAM, CPU cooler, the works, its just not worth it. Pick up a Q6600 G0 off Ebay or overclock.net for <$140 and OC the tits off it and you've got i7 performance without the outlay.

There's at least two Q6600 up for sale at overclock.net right now for $120, and you'll know before buying whether its capable of a decent clock.


http://www.overclock.net/main-components/660034-fs-ft-q6600-1-3v-vid.html

http://www.overclock.net/main-components/658893-sale-1-23vid-q6600-go.html


You'll get much better longevity spending $120 now plus $400 in two/three years time than spending ~$500+ right now.
 
brain_stew said:
Personally I'd either spend less on the case or less on the CPU/MOBO combo and stretch to a 5850 if gaming is your primary concern as that'll net you the better performance. An MSI 770 board + X4 925 is super cheap yet offers excellent performance (and some nice OCing headroom should you need it). 5850s can be had for as little as £220 delivered these days:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/Graphics-ATI/ATIHD5800Series/nov-5850.html
Click to expand...

Keeping the case as it was something I picked up a while back.

I mean I could go up to £350 as a budget and work around it. Always worried about OCing anything which causes problems in a long run where I could spend £50 less and get the same... I'll investigate looking at the MSI 770 Board and X4 925 and work out what I have left. I will be doing some gaming on it, it is mainly for normal every day use, 1080p video (which obviously comes easy now.) Looking to get back into some MMORPG scene, Star Trek online caught my eye.

Trying to get involved back on to the PC Gaming side, haven't done any PC gaming in a long time.
 
Jordan91 said:
Keeping the case as it was something I picked up a while back.

I mean I could go up to £350 as a budget and work around it. Always worried about OCing anything which causes problems in a long run where I could spend £50 less and get the same... I'll investigate looking at the MSI 770 Board and X4 925 and work out what I have left. I will be doing some gaming on it, it is mainly for normal every day use, 1080p video (which obviously comes easy now.) Looking to get back into some MMORPG scene, Star Trek online caught my eye.

Trying to get involved back on to the PC Gaming side, haven't done any PC gaming in a long time.
Click to expand...

Given your demands a X4 925 should more than suffice (and probably a 5770 as well if I'm honest), its still a very fast CPU for pretty much anything you throw at it. Stay within specification and OCing won't cause any harm as long as you have sufficient cooling. Its an option you have for later down the line, better off OCing than junking the part completely.
 
Any suggestions for good Memory and Cooling?

After seeing the 5850 now... I sort of want which is never a good idea but still.
 
AgentOtaku said:
I agree with you on just going for Quad at this point. Not crazy about overclocking or buying used though. So howabout a brand new Q9550 or something. Get to keep my mobo and wouldn't have to overclock that much.
Click to expand...

The issue is they're so awfully overpriced, I find it hard to recommend them, its cheaper than getting a whole new setup, but you are paying a premium. That's why I recommended the other route as it gets you upto a quad without investing too much in a dead end platform. US prices for 45nm quads aren't quite as outrageous as they are in the UK so they're more of an option for you.

I'd probably say the Q9400 is your best option:

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

You're not losing out on a whole lot of performance (probably about ~15% or so) but a $80 lower pricetag is much easier to swallow.


Its a toughy, that's for sure, there's no obvious option and all the potential paths have their drawbacks. Having said that I've just myself went from a E5200 (for all intents and purposes a 45nm E6600) to a Q6600 myself and I couldn't be happier considering the minimal outlay it involved. Now that my thermal paste has settled, my temps are much better and I'm stress testing at 3.6ghz and she's holding up great! :D I don't see anything really testing this thing for quite some time yet. Through some tweaking and by buying used I've basically netted myself better than core i5-750 performance for £90. Can't argue with that.
 
brain_stew said:
The issue is they're so awfully overpriced, I find it hard to recommend them, its cheaper than getting a whole new setup, but you are paying a premium. That's why I recommended the other route as it gets you upto a quad without investing too much in a dead end platform. US prices for 45nm quads aren't quite as outrageous as they are in the UK so they're more of an option for you.

I'd probably say the Q9400 is your best option:

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

You're not losing out on a whole lot of performance (probably about ~15% or so) but a $80 lower pricetag is much easier to swallow.
Click to expand...

Shit, thanks mate!
 
AgentOtaku said:
Shit, thanks mate!
Click to expand...

Anandtech's Phenom ii X4 940 review should give you a good idea of performance as it includes results for a bunch of CPUs, including the Q9400.

Its a pretty damn impressive chip, basically neck and neck with a 3ghz Phenom ii and GAFers have been buying Phenom iis by the truckload and been incredibly happy with their performance, so it should more than suffice.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3492&p=19

The gap between it and a Q9550 is never more than 15% in those tests, often less. Its definitely a good option for a quad upgrade on the cheap.
 
hello again PC GAF.

been playing a lot of PC games lately and im getting the upgrade bug.

this is the system i put together at the end of last year:

* 1 x GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
* 1 x OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail
* 1 x AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945WFGIBOX - Retail
* 1 x Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996659 - Retail


im currently running an old 4670 thats just not cutting it and i want to upgrade to something that would suit my system a bit better.

im thinking about a 5750, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102859

but i wanted some advice from people who know better than i.

thanks for your help.
 
Daigoro said:
hello again PC GAF.

been playing a lot of PC games lately and im getting the upgrade bug.

this is the system i put together at the end of last year:

* 1 x GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
* 1 x OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail
* 1 x AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945WFGIBOX - Retail
* 1 x Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996659 - Retail


im currently running an old 4670 thats just not cutting it and i want to upgrade to something that would suit my system a bit better.

im thinking about a 5750, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102859

but i wanted some advice from people who know better than i.

thanks for your help.
Click to expand...


What resolution?

Go with a 5770 at a minimum, they can be had for $140 after rebate, so no good reason not to. Consider a 5850 if you can afford to and game at a high resolution. Both are good upgrades.

Here's the cheap 5770, it comes with the improved cooler to boot

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317&cm_re=5770-_-14-161-317-_-Product
 
some Euro mainland links to buy PC stuff.. and yeah, I'm Belgian..

German online shops
Comtech (http://www.comtech.de)
Snogard (http://www.snogard.de)
Fort Knox (http://www.fortknox.de)


Belgian online shops
East Flanders
Dreambuilder Systems (http://www.dreambuildersystems.be/)
Forcom (http://www.forcom.be/)
VDH Soft (http://www.vdhsoft.be/)
PC Warehouse bvba (http://www.pc-warehouse.be/)
Padeg Computers Aalst (http://www.padeg.com)
Microforce BVBA (http://www.microforce.be)
IMPACT Services and Technologies (http://www.ist.be/)

Antwerp
Forcom (http://www.forcom.be/)
Tones BVBA (http://www.tones.be/)
Digital Century (http://www.digitalcentury.be/)
Allwebsales (http://www.allwebsales.be/)
Het Computer Winkeltje (http://www.hcw.be/)
Gecko Computers BVBA (http://www.geckocomputers.be/)
Com Technology bvba (http://comtechnology.be/)
PcPartner (http://www.pcpartner.be/)
Bells Computercenter (http://www.bells.be/)
Wallabie BVBA (http://www.wallabie.be)
Info TECH (http://www.info-tech.be)
MPL – Multimedia Postorder Lijn BVBA (http://www.mpl.be)
Ziva shop (http://www.ziva.be/

Brabant
Loveno (http://www.overclocking.be/)
Compu-squ@re (http://www.compu-square.be/)
PC Warehouse bvba (http://www.pc-warehouse.be/)
Ericom Computers (http://www.ericom.be)

West Flanders
CV-COMPUTERS (http://www.cv-computers.be)
Dima Computers (http://www.dimae.be/)

Brussels
Padeg Computers Anderlecht (http://www.padeg.com)

Limburg
Eurosys (http://www.eurosys.be)
Compu City (http://www.besteprijzen.be)
Bells Computercenter (http://www.bells.be/)



(most links verified)
(based on an old list courtesy of the Arena51 forums)
 
So I have three 1TB drives. How do you recommend I partition them? Should I make one 300GB partition just for Windows and the rest for what I'll be using?

EDIT: Should I go with NOD32 or Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition for my anti-virus solution? Note that I'll mostly be gaming on this machine.
 
AgentWhiskersX said:
So I have three 1TB drives. How do you recommend I partition them? Should I make one 300GB partition just for Windows and the rest for what I'll be using?

Also, what's the best anti-virus program out there nowadays?
Click to expand...

I personally only use around 40 GB for my system drive, so an 80-100GB would be more than enough (coincidentally I have an 80 GB SSD). The main purpose of partitioning a system drive is so you can do a complete drive backup, in case you need to restore your system (IE backup the ENTIRE C:\). If your system drive is 1TB, and you have all sorts of games and crap mixed in, it slows the process down tremendously. I can do a incremental backup of my C:\ in under 1 minute with acronis true image. I wouldn't make additional partitions past that unless you had specific reasons.

Microsoft Security Essentials gets the job done for free for me, it's quite a nice piece of software, very non intrusive. I've used 3 or 4 different pay anti-virus program, and i like MSE better than all of them, and it's free to boot.
 
Minsc said:
I personally only use around 40 GB for my system drive, so an 80-100GB would be more than enough (coincidentally I have an 80 GB SSD). The main purpose of partitioning a system drive is so you can do a complete drive backup, in case you need to restore your system (IE backup the ENTIRE C:\). If your system drive is 1TB, and you have all sorts of games and crap mixed in, it slows the process down tremendously. I can do a incremental backup of my C:\ in under 1 minute with acronis true image. I wouldn't make additional partitions past that unless you had specific reasons.

Microsoft Security Essentials gets the job done for free for me, it's quite a nice piece of software, very non intrusive. I've used 3 or 4 different pay anti-virus program, and i like MSE better than all of them, and it's free to boot.
Click to expand...
Hey thanks! Would you prefer Microsoft Security Essentials over NOD32? That's what most people are leaning towards if I did my research correctly. Also, I'll be using this for gaming mostly.
 
AgentWhiskersX said:
Hey thanks! Would you prefer Microsoft Security Essentials over NOD32? That's what most people are leaning towards if I did my research correctly. Also, I'll be using this for gaming mostly.
Click to expand...

I do. NOD32 has some intrusive elements that I did not like, MSE is barely noticeable to me.
 
brain_stew said:
What resolution?

Go with a 5770 at a minimum, they can be had for $140 after rebate, so no good reason not to. Consider a 5850 if you can afford to and game at a high resolution. Both are good upgrades.

Here's the cheap 5770, it comes with the improved cooler to boot

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317&cm_re=5770-_-14-161-317-_-Product
Click to expand...

1400x900 at the moment.

thanks for the advice. ive been going super budget for so long on GPUs im thinking i want to step up a bit, but im trying not to spend too much in general.
 
Daigoro said:
1400x900 at the moment.

thanks for the advice. ive been going super budget for so long on GPUs im thinking i want to step up a bit, but im trying not to spend too much in general.
Click to expand...

If you've no plans to move away from 1440x900 then just get the 5770, you'd see no real benefit from the 5850.
 
mikespit1200 said:
Someone may have answered this a few pages back, but is there any difference in the coolers between these two 5770s?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317&cm_re=5770-_-14-161-317-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102868
Click to expand...

The Vapor-X is a custom design but since the stock (V2) cooler is proven to give great results I wouldn't bother with anything else its already the coolest and quietest mid-high GPU on the market.. Save the cash.
 
AgentWhiskersX said:
Hey thanks! Would you prefer Microsoft Security Essentials over NOD32? That's what most people are leaning towards if I did my research correctly. Also, I'll be using this for gaming mostly.
Click to expand...

NOD32 costs money, that's a pretty damn good reason to avoid it! :lol

Both Avast and MSE are free and more than sufficient (they're actually better than the majority of pay options), no need to spend money on AV software these days.


Just ran Vantage's CPU test with my stable 3.56ghz Q6600 and I score 12353, which is better than a Phenom ii 965 hooked up to fast DDR3 RAM (http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/17) and within touching distance of the i5-750, not bad for a £90 upgrade.


Edit: Just tested it in 3DMark06 and I score 4845 in the CPU test. That's faster than a i5-750, i7-920, Phenon ii 965 and a QX9770, so I reckon this thing should last me for a good while yet. :D
 
Just built a PC for someone. Got lots of troubles because his main PC broke down (was running hot for way too long) and he needed a replacement fast. Almost nothing was in supply the day I had to buy the parts, so I had to settle for some. Some guy in a store sold me a Phenom II x4 940 as a replacement for the 955 - the idiot (yeah, me too). 940 is an AM2 socket chip, so it didn't fit on my motherboard.

Turned out allright tho, since I found an awesome shop in Breda (netherlands) - recommendation here http://www.cdromland.nl - which had virtually every part needed in supply. I went with the Asus M4A79T Deluxe and the AMD Phenom II X4 955.

After setting it up, MORE TROUBLES. No post, nothing. After some testing, I found out it could only be the Motherboard, CPU or the Mem - my guess was the Mobo (fucking Asus ships out motherboards without support for the newer CPU revisions in their BIOS) but I had to be sure.

Went back to the store, and indeed, after flashing the BIOS, everything was rosy. My final setup is

AMD Phenom II X4 955
Asus M4A79T Deluxe
Kingston 2 x 2048mb DDR3 1333MHz
Intel X25-V 40GB SSD (boot drive)
Samsung SATA HDD from old PC
Radeon HD4650 1GB
Cooler Master HAF 932 Fulltower case
BluRay driver (no rw sadly)
BeQuiet 700W PSU

Thinking about putting an aftermarket CPU cooler in there, or perhaps watercooling, depending on how hot it runs. Prelimary figures are around 30 degrees (no load), seems pretty okay.
 
fizzelopeguss said:
Well, i just found out my little 3yr old nephew pulled off the warranty serial sticker off my GPU (I was boxing the thing up to send to evga, torn to pieces). Absolutely gutted i remembered a thread on [H]ardocp about graphics card repairs.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

By baking... figuring i have nothing left to lose i tried it out. Within 45 minutes i had the thing stripped, baked and then put back together...the fucking thing WORKS, just played a few hours of dark void and absolutely no issues. Bearing in mind this GPU was artefacting in POST, windows would default to 640x480 and games would crash instantly.

I'm as happy as a pig in shit, hopefully it'll survive till the new nvidia cards arrive. Gonna get some proper thermal paste and try this with my RROD 360. I'll post results if anyones interested.

Remember, little boys, computer hardware and loose warranty stickers don't mix!
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to try this with my laptop card. Wish I had known about this before I ordered a crappier $100 replacement that can't run 3D games.
 
LAUGHTREY said:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12898032


I'm about to hit 'buy' on this, anything I should know about this computer before I do? I'm trying to spend less than 500 total so with this and taxes and shipping I hope to come out to around 500.


Brain_stew put this together for me mostly but the video card he chose was oos, is the new one I got any good or is there anything I should know?
Click to expand...

I would put an ATI 4670 instead of the GF220, or if you want a more power for a few bucks more the 5670.
 
mikespit1200 said:
I would put an ATI 4670 instead of the GF220, or if you want a more power for a few bucks more the 5670.
Click to expand...

But if I didn't want to do that, it would work right? The Evga card is compatible right?
 
LAUGHTREY said:
But if I didn't want to do that, it would work right? The Evga card is compatible right?
Click to expand...

Well, yeah it will certainly boot up and work as advertised but I think you have room for more gaming performance if that is what you are after.
 
LAUGHTREY said:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12898032


I'm about to hit 'buy' on this, anything I should know about this computer before I do? I'm trying to spend less than 500 total so with this and taxes and shipping I hope to come out to around 500.


Brain_stew put this together for me mostly but the video card he chose was oos, is the new one I got any good or is there anything I should know?
Click to expand...

That GPU is trash and horribly overpriced, this is faster and cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150450&cm_re=4670-_-14-150-450-_-Product

Though I'd strongly recommend going with this if you can:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131334&cm_re=5670-_-14-131-334-_-Product


For the sake of $15 you really ought to upgrade to a triple core CPU as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724&Tpk=x3 435

Also, get this RAM instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0231277&cm_re=4gb_ddr3-_-20-231-277-_-Product


This HDD is faster and has a larger capacity for the same price, get it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52181&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-181-_-Product


Edit: The X3 435 and your chosen motherboard are available in a combo, saving $15 so you get the upgrade to a triple core CPU for free, buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.334991
 
Minsc said:
It is indeed a nice laptop. To be a bit cynical though, in the end, it's still a $1000 11" laptop, that struggles to run DiRT 2 at medium, no AF, and at a low resolution and no AA on most of those games (then again, it is just an 11" screen, I'm not knocking the pixel-per-inch count, just saying you aren't really stressing the hardware at a low resolution as you would be at 1.5x+ the resolution on a normal high res display).

For me, it's amazing and a little disappointing, it truly has some nice power under the hood, but I don't see the point in playing DiRT 2 at medium, you need to spend $1000 + warranty to buy it in the US configured properly (4GB RAM + duo core CPU). For that money you can buy a rig with a 1200p display that will run the game at twice the framerate at the highest settings across the board with AA.

I'd be just as happy playing Starcraft, Red Alert 2 or the like maxed out on a $400 netbook, or better yet, playing some nice puzzle/tower defense games on an iPhone, and save the real gaming for my main rig.
Click to expand...
High-end mobile gaming should come from one thing, and that's necessity. Outside of this, notebook gaming is, in every way, an impractical pursuit. Anyone who has everyday, extended and personal access to a desktop has no business spending what I do.

My main rig has to fit in a briefcase, so the ~$2k I put into my notebook was easy to swallow, as my lifestyle + desire for a competent gaming machine necessitates that I drop that much. This was before this new wave of $1k gaming machines, but none of those can sniff at the build quality of my Clevo, and I wouldn't buy them anyway.

It's funny, that when I sit down next to a $$$$ Macbook Pro user, I question why someone would spend so much on such lacking hardware, so I guess it's a cycle.
 
Back in 2006 (holy hell, that was a long time ago) I built my current computer. Since then, the only thing I've upgraded was my video card in 2007 (also a long time ago) and added 2 extra GB of RAM around the same time.

- Intel E6400 (2.14Ghz - I've overclocked it to 2.8 before with a nice cooler but it has some heat problems)
- Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Motherboard (LGA 775)
- 8800GT 512MB
- 4GB DDR2 800 RAM
- 500W PSU
- Resolution: 1920x1080 (24" monitor)

Surprisingly this thing is a beast, considering it's age and cost, there's nothing that it can't run. Unfortunately it's a little long in the tooth, pumping up AA and AF causes some framerate issues and some CPU intensive games (GTA4, Red Faction, etc...) lag pretty far behind. Over the last 8 or 9 months I've really kind of stepped back from gaming except for the occasional foray into an MMO or my Dragon Age stint. I kind of wanted to dive into Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 but don't think my PC would be able to handle them the way I want to play games like that.

All that being said, I don't have much money to spend, I'm buying my first NEW car in a couple of weeks ($9,000 down) so my finances are tight. I was wondering what you guys would recommend as an upgrade for around $400 or if it's even worth it?

The processor needs to be replaced first if I upgrade but I'm limited with my socket type. I don't mind replacing the motherboard (to go to something like an Athlon board) but that would only eat into my budget. I'm surprised people are still recommending Q6600s all these years later, are they really still worth the price? I haven't stayed up on the video card scene, or at least not the pricing, is there any really good mid-range budget cards that kick ass these days? 8800GT has surpassed my expectations in staying relevant for over 2 years already.
 
Houston3000 said:
Back in 2006 (holy hell, that was a long time ago) I built my current computer. Since then, the only thing I've upgraded was my video card in 2007 (also a long time ago) and added 2 extra GB of RAM around the same time.

- Intel E6400 (2.14Ghz - I've overclocked it to 2.8 before with a nice cooler but it has some heat problems)
- Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 Motherboard (LGA 775)
- 8800GT 512MB
- 4GB DDR2 800 RAM
- 500W PSU
- Resolution: 1920x1080 (24" monitor)

Surprisingly this thing is a beast, considering it's age and cost, there's nothing that it can't run. Unfortunately it's a little long in the tooth, pumping up AA and AF causes some framerate issues and some CPU intensive games (GTA4, Red Faction, etc...) lag pretty far behind. Over the last 8 or 9 months I've really kind of stepped back from gaming except for the occasional foray into an MMO or my Dragon Age stint. I kind of wanted to dive into Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 but don't think my PC would be able to handle them the way I want to play games like that.

All that being said, I don't have much money to spend, I'm buying my first NEW car in a couple of weeks ($9,000 down) so my finances are tight. I was wondering what you guys would recommend as an upgrade for around $400 or if it's even worth it?

The processor needs to be replaced first if I upgrade but I'm limited with my socket type. I don't mind replacing the motherboard (to go to something like an Athlon board) but that would only eat into my budget. I'm surprised people are still recommending Q6600s all these years later, are they really still worth the price? I haven't stayed up on the video card scene, or at least not the pricing, is there any really good mid-range budget cards that kick ass these days? 8800GT has surpassed my expectations in staying relevant for over 2 years already.
Click to expand...

Bioshock 2 isn't out yet, but as far as know both that game and Mass Effect 2 run on Unreal Engine which is a few years old and developers have really gotten a handle on it. That said, I was shocked at how well optimized ME2 is. I'm running the game on my laptop with a 2.4GHZ C2D and 9600M GT and runs incredibly smooth, smoother in fact than Mass Effect 1 if you can believe. Neither of those games you listed are particularly CPU intensive so I would say just to wait out your finances and build a whole new rig when you have the money considering there are some new tech like 6-core CPUs, Nvidia's Fermi cards and ATI's 6000 series all due within the next 6mos to a year.
 
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