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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

Guys, thanks to all of you're advice I can finally play the games I want at the resolution I want nicely! Now my question is, do you people have any suggestions for mics? At the moment I'm using a 360 controller and mic. Is there a nice cheap one I can place on the desk and have pick up voice? I used to use my webcam for this but it made tons of noise.
 
Kamaki said:
Guys, thanks to all of you're advice I can finally play the games I want at the resolution I want nicely! Now my question is, do you people have any suggestions for mics? At the moment I'm using a 360 controller and mic. Is there a nice cheap one I can place on the desk and have pick up voice? I used to use my webcam for this but it made tons of noise.
Click to expand...

I just use a generic brand 5 euro mic that I place on my desk (a bit like this one) . You can find those at any story with a bit of computer related hardware. Works perfectly with Skype and all my games, you don't need anything fancy.
 
Ok guys, got a monitor question.

Is 1080p too much for a 22 inch screen (it says its 21.5 actually) or at that size should I be looking to go more towards 1650 x 1050?
 
PumpkinPie said:
Are these components a good match for one another?

Asus Striker II Extreme MOBO
Intel Q9770 3.0ghz CPU
XFX GTX 260 GPU
8GB Corsair RAM
Click to expand...

You're not buying that CPU are you? $1500 is way, way overpriced for that! The GTX 260 is as fine a fit as anything else slightly faster or slower, but you won't find many system guides recommending it these days, most go with a 5770 or 5850.

GHG said:
Ok guys, got a monitor question.

Is 1080p too much for a 22 inch screen (it says its 21.5 actually) or at that size should I be looking to go more towards 1650 x 1050?
Click to expand...

I don't think it's too much, worst case scenario windows 7 has dpi scaling, and 1080p will give you 1:1 pixel mapping with 1080p video, which is nice. The only real downside is you're going to get worse performance on your native resolution when gaming. There's nothing wrong with either, I'm on a 22" 1650x1050 screen right now at work, and it's fine as well.
 
Minsc said:
I don't think it's too much, worst case scenario windows 7 has dpi scaling, and 1080p will give you 1:1 pixel mapping with 1080p video, which is nice. The only real downside is you're going to get worse performance on your native resolution when gaming. There's nothing wrong with either, I'm on a 22" 1650x1050 screen right now at work, and it's fine as well.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. Would 24 inch for 1080p not be a better fit?

You say your using 1650 x 1050 at work right now? Whats it like for document viewing? Can you see two documents side by side comfortably if you wanted to?
 
GHG said:
Ok thanks. Would 24 inch for 1080p not be a better fit?

You say your using 1650 x 1050 at work right now? Whats it like for document viewing? Can you see two documents side by side comfortably if you wanted to?
Click to expand...

1650x1050 is actually quite nice for viewing two documents side by side, but if you can afford to go larger and not sacrifice quality or performance, you'll never regret it, same like with buying a HDTV :)
 
Minsc said:
You're not buying that CPU are you? $1500 is way, way overpriced for that! The GTX 260 is as fine a fit as anything else slightly faster or slower, but you won't find many system guides recommending it these days, most go with a 5770 or 5850.
Click to expand...

$1500?? I've had this CPU for 2 years, it was quite cheap, are they expensive nowadays? I have all of those components already aside from the motherboard, just looking for a MOBO that goes with the rest of the stuff I have as the one I have now is a shitty Dell BTX.

EDIT: Oops... typed in totally the wrong CPU, I have the Q9650 :lol
 
BravoSuperStar said:
Just get the dimensions and order one? As long as it's not like some crazy finnish-zimbabwae standard should be pretty easy to find one.
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Except that the fan used in OEM GPU coolers isn't really a standard... so... anyone with reasonable input?
 
Orellio said:
One of my coworkers bought a slightly lower end Acer laptop (i3, Intel VGA. he's not a gamer) off Newegg a few weeks ago and he loves it. He brought it in once and it seems like a really nice laptop. I helped him shop around for a good price and the Acer line couldn't be beat, so I think you made a wise purchase.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks. I have owned an Acer netbook before, and I own an Acer monitor. But I've never owned one of their laptop's. I loved my Toshiba, I put in hours and hours of TF2 on it, but at 9lbs it was just to big for me. Looking forward to a slightly smaller form factor in the Acer, but without sacrificing CPU/GPU power. Wish it had a 9cell battery instead of the 6cell it comes with though. They also have a slightly different configuration for the same price, a bit slower i5 CPU but a 500gb HDD. Storage is not a factor for me so I went with the faster CPU.
 
Okay, maybe a dumb question, but the AMD X6's are all socket AM3 and 45nm right? If I upgraded my mobo now and picked one up, what's the likelihood that I can use the same mobo when they move to 32nm?

I guess I'm trying to figure out what the expected life of the AM3s are at this point. Will next years APUs be compatible or would they have a new socket for those?
 
dekjo said:
Okay, maybe a dumb question, but the AMD X6's are all socket AM3 and 45nm right? If I upgraded my mobo now and picked one up, what's the likelihood that I can use the same mobo when they move to 32nm?

I guess I'm trying to figure out what the expected life of the AM3s are at this point. Will next years APUs be compatible or would they have a new socket for those?
Click to expand...
According to this roadmap, at least their first run of 32nm Bulldozer chips will use AM3. I've seen some talk that it might be an "AM3+" that's slightly different, but it should still be compatible.
 
So I've been rocking a tpad t43 for the last 5 years and finally pulled the trigger on a new lappy. Unfortunately the damn thing isn't going to be in by late May. So I do have the option to cancel the order and find something else or change some things around if you experts think there is anything I should do differently. The only thing I was thinking was to have get the standard 2 500gb hd's and just install an ssd myself, but the price would have been almost identical. In a month from now I dont know if it will be different.

Here are the specs, what do you guys think (the goods are in italics, the customizations are in bold)?

1 x ASUS G73JH-A2 - PRE ORDER () = $1,834.00
Warranty 2 Year ASUS GLOBAL Warranty, 24/7 Support, 1 Year Accidental Coverage & 2-Way Pre-Paid Shipping for Repairs (N.A. Accidental Requires Registration w/ ASUS)
Software Bundle (Not Installed) No Software Bundle
Microsoft Office Software (Medialess) No Office Software
System Recovery Backup Disks Yes, please create backup recovery DVD
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit w/System Recovery + Drivers & Utilities Disk
Notebook Cooler No Notebook Cooler
Mouse / Keyboard Accessories Asus G Series Razor Gaming Mouse
Fingerprint Reader No Fingerprint Reader
Port Replicator / Dock / Adapters No Dock/Hub/Adapter
Spare AC Adapter None Standard*
Car Adapter No Car Adapter
Battery Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
Case Asus G Series Matching Backpack made by Targus
Sound Card Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
TV Tuner No TV Tuner
Camera Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
Wireless Network Accessories No Network Accessory
Wireless Network -Intel® Advanced-N 6200 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
Bluetooth Internal Bluetooth + EDR
Memory Card Reader Internal 8-in-1 Card Reader: MMC/SD/Mini-SD/XD/Memory Stick/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo
Floppy Drive No Floppy Drive
Exterior Finish Standard Finish
External Monitor Video Adapter No Video Adapter
Thermal Compound Stock OEM Thermal Compound

(1920x1080)Processor - Intel® Core™ i7-720QM, 1.60-2.80GHz, (45nm, 6MB L3 cache) - Standard
Display 17.3" FHD 16:9 "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright LED Glossy Screen
Dead Pixel Policy ASUS Zero Bright Dot (ZBD) 30 Day Pixel Guarantee
Graphics Video Card ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5870 1024MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
Ram 8,192MB (8GB) DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (2GBx4) - Standard
Primary Hard Drive - 80GB Intel G2 X25-M Solid State Drive (SSD Serial-ATA II)
Second Hard Drive - 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Buffer (Serial-ATA II 3GB/s) - Default
External Hard Drive (Back Up) No Back Up Hard Drive
Optical Drive - Combo Dual Layer SuperMulti 8X DVDRW Drive w/ Software-
 
rohlfinator said:
According to this roadmap, at least their first run of 32nm Bulldozer chips will use AM3. I've seen some talk that it might be an "AM3+" that's slightly different, but it should still be compatible.
Click to expand...

That's right - I remember seeing that, thanks. I think I'll take the leap later this month or next month to see how the X6 affect other AMD CPU prices.
 
Ok, this might be a dumb question, but what would the benefit of building a PC be over just buying one? Like, if I build this PC, would I be able to find a cheaper (and comparable) one prebuilt?
 
I thought NCIX had an option to build the machine for you? I made my "high end" machine from a few pages back over there (changed the motherboard, went with cheaper corsair ram, and went with a 1GB 5870 instead of 2GB) and I got all the way to the checkout process and the option wasn't there?

Did they take this out?
 
Question, is there a 12" to 13" laptop out there with the new i5/i7 processors, a decent GPU, ram, etc?

I want to be able to use GNS3, play games if I want and everything else while still having portability. My HP 3500 is getting long in the tooth. The laptop sector seems to be moving toward the netbook or longer battery life and on the other end of the spectrum are the Deathstar Desktop replacements.
 
Minsc said:
...1080p will give you 1:1 pixel mapping with 1080p video, which is nice. The only real downside is you're going to get worse performance on your native resolution when gaming. There's nothing wrong with either, I'm on a 22" 1650x1050 screen right now at work, and it's fine as well.
Click to expand...

For gaming purposes, do you think it's physically possible to notice the difference between 1680x1050 and 1980x1200 on a 23 inch screen? Aside from the frame rate hit (lolz)
 
A question about minimum specs for blu-ray playback as far as CPU.

My buddy just got a blu-ray drive but his older Pc is stuttering playing back movies (blu-rays). It's a Athlon 939 socket 2.2ghz, 64bit single core CPU running Win 7 home premium 64bit with 2gb RAM, Nvidia 7950gt 512mb, 400gb RAID 0 disk array. Using PowerDVD 8 that came with the drive. Checking taskmanager, the CPU is 80-100% load when playing back, with video hardware acceleration on or off in PowerDVD, makes no difference. Latest video card drivers, etc. Is that CPU just to weak? I suggested he try and find a dual core 939 on Ebay or something, but I would have imagined those specs are capable of playing blu-rays?
 
Dash said:
For gaming purposes, do you think it's physically possible to notice the difference between 1680x1050 and 1980x1200 on a 23 inch screen? Aside from the frame rate hit (lolz)
Click to expand...

Usually you don't hit 1920x1200 until you get up to 24 inch monitors and yes it is noticeable to a certain degree. I currently have a 24" 1200 as my primary and a 22" 1050 as a secondary display. The 24" is far better for side by side document viewing. For gaming the main difference is total size, the detail level is pretty similar.

BravoSuperStar said:
A question about minimum specs for blu-ray playback as far as CPU.

My buddy just got a blu-ray drive but his older Pc is stuttering playing back movies (blu-rays). It's a Athlon 939 socket 2.2ghz, 64bit single core CPU running Win 7 home premium 64bit with 2gb RAM, Nvidia 7950gt 512mb, 400gb RAID 0 disk array. Using PowerDVD 8 that came with the drive. Checking taskmanager, the CPU is 80-100% load when playing back, with video hardware acceleration on or off in PowerDVD, makes no difference. Latest video card drivers, etc. Is that CPU just to weak? I suggested he try and find a dual core 939 on Ebay or something, but I would have imagined those specs are capable of playing blu-rays?
Click to expand...

Socket 939 is so far gone that buying any parts would just be a waste of money. Hard to justify when the Athlon II quad core is running for 100$. Of course you'd have to replace the motherboard and memory as well. If you have some DDR2 laying around you could salvage that by using an AM2+ board instead of an AM3 board. (Yes your CPU is weak, what nvidia drivers are you runningÉ)
 
BravoSuperStar said:
A question about minimum specs for blu-ray playback as far as CPU.

My buddy just got a blu-ray drive but his older Pc is stuttering playing back movies (blu-rays). It's a Athlon 939 socket 2.2ghz, 64bit single core CPU running Win 7 home premium 64bit with 2gb RAM, Nvidia 7950gt 512mb, 400gb RAID 0 disk array. Using PowerDVD 8 that came with the drive. Checking taskmanager, the CPU is 80-100% load when playing back, with video hardware acceleration on or off in PowerDVD, makes no difference. Latest video card drivers, etc. Is that CPU just to weak? I suggested he try and find a dual core 939 on Ebay or something, but I would have imagined those specs are capable of playing blu-rays?
Click to expand...
All he needs is to fetch a videocard that supports the DirectX Video Acceleration API.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DXVA

DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) is a Microsoft API specification for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms that allows video decoding to be hardware accelerated. The pipeline allows certain CPU-intensive operations such as iDCT, motion compensation and deinterlacing to be offloaded to the GPU. DXVA 2.0 allows more operations, including video capturing and processing operations, to be hardware accelerated as well.

DXVA works in conjunction with the video rendering model used by the video card. DXVA 1.0, which was introduced as a standardized API with Windows 2000 and is currently available on Windows 98 or later, can use either the overlay rendering mode or VMR 7/9.[1] DXVA 2.0, available only on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and later OSs, integrates with Media Foundation (MF) and uses the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) present in MF.
Click to expand...

I could run a 1080p video with a single core AMD Sempron running at 800mhz (stayed idle while watching movies) and a GeForce 8400GS which had PureVideo HD (Avivo HD with ATi).

The cheapest videocard sold at newegg.com atm ($19.99 w/ free shipping) support DXVA: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCate...name=Desktop-Graphics-Video-Cards&Order=PRICE

I wouldn't recommend any of those cheap cards if he wants to game though.
 
Shambles said:
Socket 939 is so far gone that buying any parts would just be a waste of money. Hard to justify when the Athlon II quad core is running for 100$. Of course you'd have to replace the motherboard and memory as well. If you have some DDR2 laying around you could salvage that by using an AM2+ board instead of an AM3 board. (Yes your CPU is weak, what nvidia drivers are you runningÉ)
Click to expand...

Video drivers 197.45 version. Yeah, its replacing the whole mobo/ram/cpu thats holding him back, he has a budget of $80-100 max.

Vic said:
All he needs is to fetch a videocard that supports the DirectX Video Acceleration API.


I could run a 1080p video with a single core AMD Sempron running at 800mhz (stayed idle while watching movies) and a GeForce 8400GS which had PureVideo HD (Avivo HD with ATi).

The cheapest videocard sold at newegg.com atm ($19.99 w/ free shipping) support DXVA: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCate...name=Desktop-Graphics-Video-Cards&Order=PRICE

I wouldn't recommend any of those cheap cards if he wants to game though.
Click to expand...

Great news since at least he can use the video card in a future PC. I will suggest this instead of a new CPU. Thanks for the help guys!
 
Hey everyone. Can I purchase OEM Windows 7 from a brick and mortar store, or can you only get those via sites like newegg? I can't seem to find this at the usual spots (Best Buy, Frys, etc.)

Or alternatively, can I purchase an OEM digital copy that can be downloaded and burnt to a disc to be installed?

I'm hoping to be able to install as soon as tomorrow afternoon. I'd hate having to wait for a disc to be shipped. Thanks in advance for your answers. :)
 
Cheeto said:
i no rite, lulz... ok, anyone else?
Click to expand...
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff309/rico2001/Items/HD 5850/IMG_2068.jpg

AVC 12V 1.2A
Model... maybe you can find it on photoshop using sharpness...

Usually these kinds of fans are extremely hard to find since they are only made for ATi.

You are probably better off doing an RMA. Alternatively open it up and see if a wire or something is lose and just battering the fan?
delleps said:
Ok, this might be a dumb question, but what would the benefit of building a PC be over just buying one? Like, if I build this PC, would I be able to find a cheaper (and comparable) one prebuilt?
Click to expand...
Would wouldn't be able to find one prebuilt at the same price with the quality of components / performance.
Usually prebuilts skimp on cases / power supplies / motherboards.

Plus you get the experiences of making it yourself and being able to upgrade it whenever you feel like. Each component has its own warranty.
 
BravoSuperStar said:
Video drivers 197.45 version. Yeah, its replacing the whole mobo/ram/cpu thats holding him back, he has a budget of $80-100 max.
Great news since at least he can use the video card in a future PC. I will suggest this instead of a new CPU. Thanks for the help guys!
Click to expand...
I have an HTPC running at my parents with an old 939 at 2.6 Ghz. Unless he plays games, I can recommend an HD4350 like this one. They are pretty damn cheap and are available passively cooled if silence is wanted. Able to play back 1080p files fine.
 
Should HDCP be a dealbreaker when looking at buying a new monitor?

I mean, will Blu-Ray ever take off on the PC platform? I want to buy a new monitor and be done for the next 4-5 years for that, just a bit worried that if I get a non-HDCP one I might be left in the dark a bit come a couple of year time.

ADVISE ME GAF!
 
GHG said:
Should HDCP be a dealbreaker when looking at buying a new monitor?

I mean, will Blu-Ray ever take off on the PC platform? I want to buy a new monitor and be done for the next 4-5 years for that, just a bit worried that if I get a non-HDCP one I might be left in the dark a bit come a couple of year time.

ADVISE ME GAF!
Click to expand...

My feelings are the blu-ray tech is being leap-frogged by direct downloading, and desire to have no optical drives at all, the need for optical drives is being replaced by usb thumb drives and the internet. The only reason to buy a blu-ray drive in a pc is if you need to watch/rip movies. Backups are better served by online or external HDD. You'll never need a blu-ray to install anything, unless it's a gimmick or extremely specialized software.

I'd be more worried about having 120hz 3D support than bluray handshaking, but that technology is even too primitive to worry about imo.
 
Hazaro said:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff309/rico2001/Items/HD 5850/IMG_2068.jpg

AVC 12V 1.2A
Model... maybe you can find it on photoshop using sharpness...

Usually these kinds of fans are extremely hard to find since they are only made for ATi.

You are probably better off doing an RMA. Alternatively open it up and see if a wire or something is lose and just battering the fan?
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll see if I can grab the model number from this... it doesn't seem like any is hitting the fan... sounds more like it's off balance or a bearing is shoddy. If I lay the case on its side it gets a lot better. I guess I'll start a RMA inquiry, but if I'm going to be without the card for weeks I'll probably figure it out myself.
 
Minsc said:
My feelings are the blu-ray tech is being leap-frogged by direct downloading, and desire to have no optical drives at all, the need for optical drives is being replaced by usb thumb drives and the internet. The only reason to buy a blu-ray drive in a pc is if you need to watch/rip movies. Backups are better served by online or external HDD. You'll never need a blu-ray to install anything, unless it's a gimmick or extremely specialized software.

I'd be more worried about having 120hz 3D support than bluray handshaking, but that technology is even too primitive to worry about imo.
Click to expand...

Basically, I'm going 3D regardless. I tried it the other day and I want it. So its a toss up between the following two monitors:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013U3Q70/

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/gaming/zm-m215-no-driver

The latter is a newer model, has 1080p and HDCP support. But as you can see its like £70 more expensive. Its not that I don't have the money, its just a case of whether I can justify it.

Both perfectly support all the 3D solutions out there (3d Vision, IZ3D, Tridef), so I'll first of all have options and not be tied down to one solution (which is whats stopping me from getting a 120HZ solution, its nice to have the possibility to be able to go back to ATI and not lose 3D, especially with the way things are going right now with the GPU market). Also the price of the glasses. Can get additional pairs for these monitors for a bout £10, compared to £100+ for 3D vision if I want to enjoy 3D films/games with other people.

Final thing is if I go with the 1080p one I may well be tempted to get a GPU upgrade very soon. I have a 260GTX superclocked (it performs exactly the same as a GTX 275 would in all situations) and I'm worried it might not be enough for 3D at 1080p. But I guess I could always turn some options down (though turning resolution down isn't an option with 3D). I vowed not to get a new GPU unless its doubling my performence.

I just can't decide between the two. I'm gonna buy within the next week or so. Might just flip a coin or something :lol . I do know one thing though, I dont want another 2D monitor. I know I could get a top line one for the money I'm looking to spend but they just don't do enough for me to spend any kind of money. Yeh I'll be getting a decent resolution bump, but woopie-do, it won't feel very new to me. I'm just a tech freak I guess, if I'm spending money on hardware I have to have something that gives me new options.

One thing thats also an option with these monitors is 3D ATI Eyefinity. *Drool*. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQL0KiRVQtM I can dream :lol .
 
Cheeto said:
Thanks. I'll see if I can grab the model number from this... it doesn't seem like any is hitting the fan... sounds more like it's off balance or a bearing is shoddy. If I lay the case on its side it gets a lot better. I guess I'll start a RMA inquiry, but if I'm going to be without the card for weeks I'll probably figure it out myself.
Click to expand...
My limited experience with RMA has been painless for all the times I have done it. Which brand 5850 do you have?
I also tried looking around for the usual disassembly sites but none seemed to have the backside of the fan.

*Actually I bet if you PM'd someone on XS (Xtreme Systems) (Heck any OC site) who is using water or Extreme cooling they would have the cooler separate and on hand and they could give you the model.
 
Xdrive05 said:
Hey everyone. Can I purchase OEM Windows 7 from a brick and mortar store, or can you only get those via sites like newegg? I can't seem to find this at the usual spots (Best Buy, Frys, etc.)
Click to expand...
The Frys website seems to show the OEM version in stock. Micro Center also sells Windows 7 OEM.
 
Hazaro said:
My limited experience with RMA has been painless for all the times I have done it. Which brand 5850 do you have?
I also tried looking around for the usual disassembly sites but none seemed to have the backside of the fan.

*Actually I bet if you PM'd someone on XS (Xtreme Systems) (Heck any OC site) who is using water or Extreme cooling they would have the cooler separate and on hand and they could give you the model.
Click to expand...
Visiontek, its was the cheapest and it came with a key for Assassin's Creed 2. Oh, and that's a great idea... I'll give that a shot... I've heard Visiontek has terrible support
 
Minsc said:
My feelings are the blu-ray tech is being leap-frogged by direct downloading, and desire to have no optical drives at all, the need for optical drives is being replaced by usb thumb drives and the internet. The only reason to buy a blu-ray drive in a pc is if you need to watch/rip movies. Backups are better served by online or external HDD. You'll never need a blu-ray to install anything, unless it's a gimmick or extremely specialized software.

I'd be more worried about having 120hz 3D support than bluray handshaking, but that technology is even too primitive to worry about imo.
Click to expand...


Well it depends though. I have an HD camcorder. Just had a son and we made ton of videos.

And I am also planning to convert most of my family stuff video into BLurays.
 
Odious Tea said:
Here's an excellent video for people who are considering building a PC for the first time. It's from Tested.com (friends of Giant Bomb) and the host pretty much runs through all the steps of building a computer. With some hand incidental information as well.

Really can't recommend it enough. The PC they built was pretty great, but if you're stretching your dollar then don't go with the system they put together. Hunt around for prices and alternatives.

http://www.tested.com/news/video-how-to-build-the-best-1500-gaming-pc-step-by-step/152/
Click to expand...

wow I really appreciate this man. I've never built my own pc, but have upgraded,etc. on my own and was thinking of building my own pc late this year. This will come in handy. It honestly seems so much easier to build one than I thought.
 
a program just crashed on me and my ram is stuck at 55% used. task manager doesnt show anything using a shitload of ram. what can i do?
 
beast786 said:
Well it depends though. I have an HD camcorder. Just had a son and we made ton of videos.

And I am also planning to convert most of my family stuff video into BLurays.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's definitely a valid use, I'd just as soon convert everything to mkv and throw it on a 1TB drive and sync it to an online backup, I wouldn't trust my home videos on discs, not even multiple ones. There's that whole discs are cumbersome thing... just rather have it all sorted into separate individual files accessible anytime over a network w/ a double click.

Game systems these days can play mkv files, if not, well newer TVs can, and if not, things like the WD-TV can, or a HTPC. I can see the desire to stick it on blu-ray, but eventually the discs will fail, which will suck for home video / family / child memories.
 
Man I am so confused on what I want..

I just spent the day at Fry's, Microcenter and CompUSA (Yes we still have CompUSA.. Its pretty much Tiger Direct in store form)


Came back with this..

Intel i5 750 - $190
Gigabyte GA-H55-UD2H - $100
1TB WD Caviar Black 7200RPM 32mb cache - $100
4GB DDR 1600mhz (2x2gb) - $114
Antec Three Hundred Case - $60
Antec 550w True Power PSU - $88

After tax comes out to about $718.

I'll stick my Radeon 5670 in it for now then upgrade it a few months from then..



My other option is.. buy a gaming notebook.

Right now I'm eyeing the Alienware m11x.

Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo SU4100 - 1.3Ghz OC'd to 1.73ghz
4GB DDR3 Ram
LED Backlit 11.6" LCD w/ 1366x768 resolution
nVidia Geforce GT 335m 1GB graphics card
Intel Integrated Graphics (Can be switched on)
250GB SATA 7200RPM HDrive
1.3mp Webcam w/ facial recognition
3in1 card reader that includes SIM Card reader for 3G Broadband
HDMI/VGA/Display Port/2 Headphone connections/3 USB 2.0 Connections
Backlit Keyboard w/ customizable colors
6-8 hrs of battery life in normal tasks - 3 hours battery life w/ gaming
4.4lbs in weight.



Not sure what I will get.

Either way.. I get $1k a year that my company reimburses me on pc upgrades so.. whatever i get I can always upgrade the other come January.
 
I've posted about my freezing issues a couple of times here. I think I've found 3 separate issues that were causing it. I'm posting this in hopes of helping others who may run into this problem here.

1.) Others have reported this, but my freezes seemed to occur less after I changed my power plan to high performance in windows 7. I would sometimes get up to 3 freezes in a row within a few hours. This seemed to make the freezes reduce to about once a day.

2.) I updated my BIOS, but it didn't fix the issue. After doing this I had to redo all of my settings. I got a bit curious and decided to see if I missed any settings my first time through. I saw a setting called Intel Virtualization Tech. It seems like it's supposed to be used to run multiple operating systems. I think it's needed to run xp mode in windows 7 as well. Anyways, I didn't need that enabled. Since disabling it I've had a total of 1 freeze within the past week. It could just be luck, but considering how often it happened before I don't think it is.

I've searched, but haven't found any similar occurrences with this bios setting. I'm wondering if anyone has any more information on this. I'd also like to know if there are any other bios settings I should be aware of or change. I'm on an asus with an i5 750 if that helps any.
 
When looking for memory, lower latency is always better? I've looked at:

Geil Black Dragon 6GB 1333MHz Triple Channel (CAS 7-7-7-24)

or

Corsair XMS3 6GB 1333MHz Triple Channel (9-9-9-24)

The Corsair costs more but apparently latency is higher (sorry, I'm a noob at this)...how come?
 
Ok I need some feedback on this thing getting it custom built (so I do NOT fuck it up) and after reading around here I settled on the following.


CPU: Intel® Core i7 930
Operating System: No Operating System
Motherboard: Asus P6T SE
Memory: 6.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz XMS3 CL9 (3x 2GB)
Hard Drives: 1TB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Sound card: Onboard 7.1 Audio
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
PSU: 700W OCZ

Total
£1,025.80 (I hate the 17.5% VAT :()


What do you guys think?
 
TurtleSnatcher said:
Man I am so confused on what I want..

I just spent the day at Fry's, Microcenter and CompUSA (Yes we still have CompUSA.. Its pretty much Tiger Direct in store form)


Came back with this..

Intel i5 750 - $190
Gigabyte GA-H55-UD2H - $100
1TB WD Caviar Black 7200RPM 32mb cache - $100
4GB DDR 1600mhz (2x2gb) - $114
Antec Three Hundred Case - $60
Antec 550w True Power PSU - $88

After tax comes out to about $718.

I'll stick my Radeon 5670 in it for now then upgrade it a few months from then..



My other option is.. buy a gaming notebook.

Right now I'm eyeing the Alienware m11x.

Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo SU4100 - 1.3Ghz OC'd to 1.73ghz
4GB DDR3 Ram
LED Backlit 11.6" LCD w/ 1366x768 resolution
nVidia Geforce GT 335m 1GB graphics card
Intel Integrated Graphics (Can be switched on)
250GB SATA 7200RPM HDrive
1.3mp Webcam w/ facial recognition
3in1 card reader that includes SIM Card reader for 3G Broadband
HDMI/VGA/Display Port/2 Headphone connections/3 USB 2.0 Connections
Backlit Keyboard w/ customizable colors
6-8 hrs of battery life in normal tasks - 3 hours battery life w/ gaming
4.4lbs in weight.



Not sure what I will get.

Either way.. I get $1k a year that my company reimburses me on pc upgrades so.. whatever i get I can always upgrade the other come January.
Click to expand...


Remember the CPU in the M11X is a CULV. It's made for long battery, not gaming. M11x is a great gaming netbook, but even compared to standard gaming laptops its going to choke.
 
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