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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition
- Thread starter Spy
- Start date
Buying a laptop for college/gaming. Are there any posts in this thread with some good information on gaming laptops?
Right now I am looking at Dell's Studio XPS laptops (budget = around 1000 USD). Does anyone have any things to say about them? I am thinking about the 14 or 15 inch model (with an i7 processor). If there are any alternatives I should know about, that'd be swell information too.
Right now I am looking at Dell's Studio XPS laptops (budget = around 1000 USD). Does anyone have any things to say about them? I am thinking about the 14 or 15 inch model (with an i7 processor). If there are any alternatives I should know about, that'd be swell information too.
barnone said:
http://www.svc.com/hypersr7-w78.html
Buy the upgrade kit option with it and you are good to go for under $800. It's too bad the 8800M GTX one is sold out.
There are also some decent Asus options around your price range as well.
MoFuzz
Member
So I just made the jump from dual to quad core on my existing rig but ran into one odd issue:
I updated my Gigabyte motherboard's BIOS to the latest version and have it running at a stable OC but every time I turn the computer on, it momentarily shuts off for a couple of seconds before starting back up again. Reboots on the other hand, function as normal. I've made sure that all the connections and cables are secure as well.
The performance has been great and it's been very stable in all aspects, but the little hiccup at every startup is troublesome.
Does anyone know what might be causing it?
I updated my Gigabyte motherboard's BIOS to the latest version and have it running at a stable OC but every time I turn the computer on, it momentarily shuts off for a couple of seconds before starting back up again. Reboots on the other hand, function as normal. I've made sure that all the connections and cables are secure as well.
The performance has been great and it's been very stable in all aspects, but the little hiccup at every startup is troublesome.
Does anyone know what might be causing it?
MoFuzz
Member
@Boonoo: yes, it's similar to what you described: fans spinning up and the MB lights coming on for a second.
It never did this before I updated the mobo which is why I almost want to think it's some kind of feature that can be toggled on/off in the BIOS settings.
@Wallach: Motherboard is an EP45-UD3R. No UPS but using a pretty standard Belkin surge protector.
I've used Gigabyte boards in 2 other builds for friends recently and hadn't seen this yet...
It never did this before I updated the mobo which is why I almost want to think it's some kind of feature that can be toggled on/off in the BIOS settings.
@Wallach: Motherboard is an EP45-UD3R. No UPS but using a pretty standard Belkin surge protector.
I've used Gigabyte boards in 2 other builds for friends recently and hadn't seen this yet...
MoFuzz said:
I'm not sure if mine always did it, but it's been happening for a while. I did recently have some trouble with it where it would only do the first phase--just the lighting up and spinning then nothing then repeat. It stopped after I took out half my RAM. I eventually fixed it by moving my graphics card to the second slot and reseting my bios by taking out the battery. I don't know which fixed it, though. Now it just does the standard on off on for real.
MoFuzz said:
Little bit of digging shows this board had (or has) a common problem with getting stuck in a reboot loop. The behavior in the latest BIOS may just be an artifact of how they fixed it. I'm not sure I'd worry about it unless the problem develops and you start getting multiple cycles before it successfully boots.
it could be a voltage/overclock issue. save your settings into one of the BIOS slots and reset things back to default, do you still get the cold boot loop?MoFuzz said:
i had this on my gigabyte board when i pushed my FSB to 430mhz; this also prevented the computer from sleeping. now that i dialed it back to 330mhz and upped the multiplier instead, i no longer have either problem.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
Smokey said:
but linear.
Working on a build for a friend but does anyone have any experience with these parts?:
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB
Intel Core i5-750
The rest I'll let him pick but the core of it I want to make sure is pretty decent and I'm so out of the PC game these days. Just want to see if anyone has a similar build and can lend some insight on performance.
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB
Intel Core i5-750
The rest I'll let him pick but the core of it I want to make sure is pretty decent and I'm so out of the PC game these days. Just want to see if anyone has a similar build and can lend some insight on performance.
NarcissisticJay
Member
Ok guys.. Im about to flip the fuck out..
Recently 'upgraded' to win7 from XP and everything seemed to be awesome.. then I started to play some games.. and thats when the Audio issues started.
My mobo is an Asus P5N-D with Realtek onboard sound.. I've always had it hooked up via optical to my receiver and never had any issues with 5.1 in XP. Now in win7 I cannot get 5.1 to output no matter what I do.
I've looked all over the web and apparently this issue has been around since beta for win7 and it still hasnt been fixed yet.. or at least to my knowledge.
I've tried everything and I cant get 5.1 with my mobo and win7.. about to ditch win7 for trusty XP... again.
Sigh >.<
Recently 'upgraded' to win7 from XP and everything seemed to be awesome.. then I started to play some games.. and thats when the Audio issues started.
My mobo is an Asus P5N-D with Realtek onboard sound.. I've always had it hooked up via optical to my receiver and never had any issues with 5.1 in XP. Now in win7 I cannot get 5.1 to output no matter what I do.
I've looked all over the web and apparently this issue has been around since beta for win7 and it still hasnt been fixed yet.. or at least to my knowledge.
I've tried everything and I cant get 5.1 with my mobo and win7.. about to ditch win7 for trusty XP... again.
Sigh >.<
TheLegendary
Member
Stupid question to ask a bunch of PC gamers I know, but in my case do you really think it's worth building my own PC when I can get a Dell XPS 9000 with the same specs at the same price?
What is the benefit of building my own when I don't save any money? I used the suggestion here. http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747/6
Component Item Price
Processor Intel Core i7-860 $279.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P $184.99
Memory Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 $99.99
Graphics XFX Radeon HD 5850 $309.99
Storage
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (6Gbps) $119.99
Samsung SH-S223L $26.99
Lite-On iHOS104-08 Blu-ray reader $64.99
Audio Asus Xonar DX $89.99
Power supply Corsair TX650W $89.99
Enclosure Antec P183 $139.99
Total Buy this complete system at Newegg $1,416.90
The actual price is lower now than the guide suggests, but when I add Windows 7 itt comes out to 1440 w shipping.
I can get a Dell XPS 9000 for the same price.
Item Number Item Description
224-4399 Studio XPS 9000
317-0067 Intel® Core i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)
317-0078 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs
330-3828 Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
320-0928 21.5" Dell ST2210 Full HD Monitor with VGA cable
320-8404 ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
341-8519 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
330-6097 Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
410-1867 Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
313-8757 Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD+/-RW
313-7186 Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
410-0450 Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
410-2441 McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
960-8700 1 Year Basic Service Plan
420-9518 Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Subtotal: $1,400.99
Yes I probably get a crappy mobo. No chance for crossfiring or whatever, etc. But can you of the superior gaming race seriously convince me that it's worth the extra hassle of making my own when I'm not saving any money?
What is the benefit of building my own when I don't save any money? I used the suggestion here. http://techreport.com/articles.x/18747/6
Component Item Price
Processor Intel Core i7-860 $279.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P $184.99
Memory Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 $99.99
Graphics XFX Radeon HD 5850 $309.99
Storage
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (6Gbps) $119.99
Samsung SH-S223L $26.99
Lite-On iHOS104-08 Blu-ray reader $64.99
Audio Asus Xonar DX $89.99
Power supply Corsair TX650W $89.99
Enclosure Antec P183 $139.99
Total Buy this complete system at Newegg $1,416.90
The actual price is lower now than the guide suggests, but when I add Windows 7 itt comes out to 1440 w shipping.
I can get a Dell XPS 9000 for the same price.
Item Number Item Description
224-4399 Studio XPS 9000
317-0067 Intel® Core i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)
317-0078 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs
330-3828 Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
320-0928 21.5" Dell ST2210 Full HD Monitor with VGA cable
320-8404 ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5
341-8519 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
330-6097 Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
410-1867 Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
313-8757 Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD+/-RW
313-7186 Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
410-0450 Microsoft® Office Starter 2010
410-2441 McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
960-8700 1 Year Basic Service Plan
420-9518 Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Subtotal: $1,400.99
Yes I probably get a crappy mobo. No chance for crossfiring or whatever, etc. But can you of the superior gaming race seriously convince me that it's worth the extra hassle of making my own when I'm not saving any money?
So i bought a new comp from Dino PC:
i7 930
Asus P6T mobo
ati 5850
Artic cooling freezer Extreme
I was planning to over-clock but now I'm not sure. Running CoreTemp shows that my CPU idles at 45-50 and under full load some of the cores hit 200+, wtf this can't be normal. Please help me computer GAF.
i7 930
Asus P6T mobo
ati 5850
Artic cooling freezer Extreme
I was planning to over-clock but now I'm not sure. Running CoreTemp shows that my CPU idles at 45-50 and under full load some of the cores hit 200+, wtf this can't be normal. Please help me computer GAF.
Minsc
Gold Member
NarcissisticJay said:
Things like this make me glad I'm happy with headphones.
Wouldn't it be simpler/better to just buy a real soundcard that does what you need? People recommend $70 ones all the time here, I forget what though.
Goron2000 said:
Yea, that's not right, try realtemp instead?
Goron2000 said:
Umm, try realtemp like Minsc suggests indeed, if needed manually set your TJmax @ 100, check it's at 100 in coretemp options btw. (might be an old coretemp version without 930 support or whatever)
Some insights/info on TJmax and setting it in different programs here
Think i7s shut down at around 120°C and start thermal throttling around 90°C, so 200°C is pretty impossible.
Minsc said:
Those Asus Xonar cards are good and pretty cheap. (cheapest one around 70)
LowParry
Member
Okay.
Have an XFX 4870HD 512MB card.
Looking to upgrade to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881
I'd like to go for a 5870 but the size won't fit my case as this card seems to be the same size as to what I have now. My CPU is a Phenom II 940 BE 3.0. Probably will upgrade that later this year.
GPU good for the upgrade? Or should I wait it out? A lot of my gaming lately has been on the PC (BC2, AoC, TF2, HL2, SC2, DWII, etc.).
Have an XFX 4870HD 512MB card.
Looking to upgrade to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881
I'd like to go for a 5870 but the size won't fit my case as this card seems to be the same size as to what I have now. My CPU is a Phenom II 940 BE 3.0. Probably will upgrade that later this year.
GPU good for the upgrade? Or should I wait it out? A lot of my gaming lately has been on the PC (BC2, AoC, TF2, HL2, SC2, DWII, etc.).
Goron2000 said:
Should be some good info in this thread.
This is more a general guide but a must read if you want to be serious about it.
Oh, and this one. as well, has some good info on component voltages etc.
That should cover it, overclocking i7/X58 is pretty straightforward, easy even + you picked a great board, hf!
There are probably some templates posted in that P6T thread on OC.net, that you can just copy if you are lazy or to give you an idea about what settings and voltages you need. I advise against just copying stuff though, or copy something and try tweaking it down afterwards so you get the lowest possible voltage for your setup on every component.
This is my 920 @ 4.2 rockstable.
gregor7777
Banned
Can a quad/MB/RAM combo that o/c's well be had for around $250 these days?
I'm trying to put something together but the o/c'ing part is a bit of a pain because I've fallen behind on keeping up with hardware.
Any suggestions?
I'm trying to put something together but the o/c'ing part is a bit of a pain because I've fallen behind on keeping up with hardware.
Any suggestions?
TouchMyBox
Member
gregor7777 said:
Considering that ram is expensive at the moment, the only way you can do that is by getting an AMD tri-core and hoping that it's a fully functional quad.
~$290 should be able to accompany your needs easily though
gregor7777
Banned
TouchMyBox said:
$290 may be pushing it at the moment. About your Tri core suggestion, is there a certain CPU I should be looking at that more likely to unlock than the others?
TIA
Minsc
Gold Member
Goron2000 said:
100C at 100% CPU is not really a good place to start overclocking from. You ideally want to stick around 80C from what I've read, I think my stock i7 is at 60C at full load with minimal fan speed.
I don't know where you read 100C is normal for an i7, but my guess would be maybe your thermal paste isn't correct, I have no idea. Most people here with i7s have posted full load temps well below 80C.
Minsc said:
100 is the i7 TJmax setting, coretemperatures are measured with distance to TJmax, if your monitoring software has a wrong TJmax setting your temps will be off. Usually its correct but the 930 is "new" and if it's an old coretemp version that could have been the cause of those dodgy readings.
If you're interested, some good info here.
TouchMyBox
Member
gregor7777 said:
Eh, not really. I've built a couple budget rigs for people based on the athlon II x3 435 and I seem to have about a 50% success rate at unlocking the forth core (the chips can then easily run at 3.4GHz) You could always buy at a local store where the return policy is good though, i guess. Or you can just do a little googling as there are some batches of chips which are guaranteed to unlock, and then you could go see if you can find a chip from that batch.
I just look at unlocking as a bonus since it probably isn't worth the time to hunt down a good chip or go through returning something just to save $20-$30.
gregor7777
Banned
TouchMyBox said:
Ah, figured so. Thanks.
Perhaps I'd be better off keeping my DDR2 memory and going with a quad AM2+ and AM3/AM2+ motherboard.
The cost of RAM seems to be holding me back.
How much of a bottleneck will my old 3GB 800MHz DDR2 be?
My computer knowledge is mediocre at best, but I've managed to hammer together a few parts for a workable home PC. Seriously, I'm amazed that a computer I put together even boots up at all. It's taken two years to slap together from my last gaming PC, but my computer finally looks like this:
Antec P182 Case
Antec Earthwatts 430W Power Supply
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 95W Processor
DIAMOND Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 Video Card
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 RAM
WD 64GB SSD
WD 1TB 7200rpm Caviar Green HDD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Samsung T260HD 25.5" 1080P Monitor
Bottom line: I want better gaming performance and a quieter media PC.
All my Source gaming is at 1900 x 1200 with the specs maxed out, and it usually comes out alright. L4D2 can drop in framerate from time to time. I want to be able to do Crysis or Mirror's Edge maxed out on a smaller resolution if I can.
The stock fan on my processor is a little loud, so that's got to go. So far it's not OC'd, but I've been slowly researching good ways to do that, and I want to get an aftermarket cooling solution so I can have quieter operation and better performance. The 4770 is a noisy little bastard, though, and I'm not sure that I would want to keep it at all. Passive cooling isn't an option given the location of my video card in the case, but I don't think I could get acceptable performance out of anything that was passively cooled to begin with. I have three case fans, one directly on the hard drives and two surrounding the CPU. I probably could get a lot more out of my system if I OC'd anything at all, since my RAM, GPU and CPU are all stock right now. Still looking into this, but any pointers in the right direction would be appreciated.
So, taking all advice or suggestions on how to get my computer to STFU and perform a little better.
Antec P182 Case
Antec Earthwatts 430W Power Supply
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 95W Processor
DIAMOND Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 Video Card
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 RAM
WD 64GB SSD
WD 1TB 7200rpm Caviar Green HDD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Samsung T260HD 25.5" 1080P Monitor
Bottom line: I want better gaming performance and a quieter media PC.
All my Source gaming is at 1900 x 1200 with the specs maxed out, and it usually comes out alright. L4D2 can drop in framerate from time to time. I want to be able to do Crysis or Mirror's Edge maxed out on a smaller resolution if I can.
The stock fan on my processor is a little loud, so that's got to go. So far it's not OC'd, but I've been slowly researching good ways to do that, and I want to get an aftermarket cooling solution so I can have quieter operation and better performance. The 4770 is a noisy little bastard, though, and I'm not sure that I would want to keep it at all. Passive cooling isn't an option given the location of my video card in the case, but I don't think I could get acceptable performance out of anything that was passively cooled to begin with. I have three case fans, one directly on the hard drives and two surrounding the CPU. I probably could get a lot more out of my system if I OC'd anything at all, since my RAM, GPU and CPU are all stock right now. Still looking into this, but any pointers in the right direction would be appreciated.
So, taking all advice or suggestions on how to get my computer to STFU and perform a little better.
gregor7777
Banned
Hmm, seems like I can get one of these two setups:
Setup 1
AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model ADX635WFGIBOX
A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G
And an open box Biostar AM3 MB for ~$50.
Total ~ $250
orrrrr......
Setup 2
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX
A AM2+/AM3 MB for up to $80.
And hang with my 3GB DDR2.
Total ~ $200.
Any opinions on what I should do? I have an overclocked Radeon 4830 that I'm going to keep. The $50 from the second setup could go to a nice fan, given I want a decent o/c.
Setup 1
AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model ADX635WFGIBOX
A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G
And an open box Biostar AM3 MB for ~$50.
Total ~ $250
orrrrr......
Setup 2
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX
A AM2+/AM3 MB for up to $80.
And hang with my 3GB DDR2.
Total ~ $200.
Any opinions on what I should do? I have an overclocked Radeon 4830 that I'm going to keep. The $50 from the second setup could go to a nice fan, given I want a decent o/c.
TheMissingNin
Member
Good evening gentlemen. I was looking for some advice.
I'm needing a new PC - Budget about £1000 MAX.
The thing is that I've got it into my head that I should probably put it together myself, I know enough to upgrade a PC - but I'm crap when it comes to actually choosing components. Though I have been Eyeing up either of these systems:
"Chillblast Fusion Reactor" (with a couple of modifications here and there) => http://www.chillblast.com/pconf.php?productid=19426
or
Mesh XGS i7 930 => http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=794312
OR
I could just build it myself and save some cash for other stuff. I've been trying to put a list together for the past couple of days, but there's no-one I know who could keep me on the right track apart from you amazing Gentlemen. So here's what I've got so far (I think these parts go together, but I'm not 100%):
And I've got a list of additional questions:
Is there anything I'll need that I missed? (I mean anything - I don't want to fuck this up)
Is there any good instructional videos or what online for general PC Building?
What should I do for cooling my PC? - specifically for the Processor.
Is there anything there that's too expensive for it's own good?
I realise I probably just blew some people's mind with what I'm asking here, but you guys seem like some pro dudes when it comes to this, and I'd really like to put it together before the epic summer of PC gaming begins.
I'm needing a new PC - Budget about £1000 MAX.
The thing is that I've got it into my head that I should probably put it together myself, I know enough to upgrade a PC - but I'm crap when it comes to actually choosing components. Though I have been Eyeing up either of these systems:
"Chillblast Fusion Reactor" (with a couple of modifications here and there) => http://www.chillblast.com/pconf.php?productid=19426
or
Mesh XGS i7 930 => http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=794312
OR
I could just build it myself and save some cash for other stuff. I've been trying to put a list together for the past couple of days, but there's no-one I know who could keep me on the right track apart from you amazing Gentlemen. So here's what I've got so far (I think these parts go together, but I'm not 100%):
- Intel Core i7 920 D0 2.66GHz Socket 1366 8MB Cache (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151477)
- ASUS P6T iX58 Socket 1366 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159360)
- ATI RADEON HD 5850 1GB of Some Sort
- Antec 300/900 Case (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854 / http://www.ebuyer.com/product/118268 )
- Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804)
- Corsair 650W HX Modular PSU (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173104)
- Some amount of DDR3 1333MHz RAM (4-6GB)
And I've got a list of additional questions:
Is there anything I'll need that I missed? (I mean anything - I don't want to fuck this up)
Is there any good instructional videos or what online for general PC Building?
What should I do for cooling my PC? - specifically for the Processor.
Is there anything there that's too expensive for it's own good?
I realise I probably just blew some people's mind with what I'm asking here, but you guys seem like some pro dudes when it comes to this, and I'd really like to put it together before the epic summer of PC gaming begins.
). Is 2 better?Help me choose a new monitor. I'm going to buy a new desk so I can watch TV while using my computer. 1360x768 is getting stale for me, and a 26" screen is too big for being a monitor, especially with a low res like that. My video card is a GTS 250, so I'm not sure which res to shoot for. Don't really want to go over $200 either, but I am flexible if there is an AMAZING deal
I updated my drivers and certain files aren't playing with WMP anymore. I keep getting error messages. Anybody know where to get the codecs to play them? Or why the hell that happened? Microsoft.com would be like the best source obviously but it's the exact opposite actually. Everything was working fine before I updated these drivers.
Edit=ATI drivers by the way.
Edit=ATI drivers by the way.