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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

Can somebody recommend me a good, wired keyboard with illuminated keys for under $100? I like to play with the lights off to reduce glare on the monitor, but then I can't see the keys.

It also has to have multimedia shortcut keys since I've gotten too used to having them on the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop keyboard I've been using for the past three years.
 
a0klex.jpg


Future ref: don't touch the contacts. Probably didn't hurt anything, but you never know.
 
Stop It said:
Usually motherboard vendors have specific overclocking/monitoring suites for their particular boards. Some are good, ASUS/Gigabyte have good OC utilities, others, not so much.

What is your motherboard, I'm sure someone here can find the relevant software for you.

Edit: Looking at the post again makes me think this may be more HDD related than CPU. Have you defragged recently? And no, the inbuilt windows util doesn't count.

http://www.mydefrag.com/ <--If people have a uber rig yet doesn't use this tool, you're doing it wrong.
Click to expand...

I defrag usually once or twice a month, using defraggler. I'll give mydefrag a try when I get back to my PC. I'm using a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 / i5-750 combo.

But it may be the HDD its getting quite full, didn't know remaining HDD space could affect performance. I think I have 257gb / 1tb remaining.
 
Curufinwe said:
Can somebody recommend me a good, wired keyboard with illuminated keys for under $100? I like to play with the lights off to reduce glare on the monitor, but then I can't see the keys.

It also has to have multimedia shortcut keys since I've gotten too used to having them on the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop keyboard I've been using for the past three years.
Click to expand...

Never mind, bad recommendation for gaming.
 
Sebulon3k said:
I defrag usually once or twice a month, using defraggler. I'll give mydefrag a try when I get back to my PC. I'm using a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 / i5-750 combo.

But it may be the HDD its getting quite full, didn't know remaining HDD space could affect performance. I think I have 257gb / 1tb remaining.
Click to expand...
Firstly, I used to use defraggler until being told about mydefrag (By someone who I didn't think was that up with PC stuff), the difference is like night and day. Use the System Disc Monthly script (Do it overnight because it WILL take a while on a 1TB HDD) and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, you should be OK with 25% of HDD space remaining, remember though that a non SSD HDD is slower at the end of the drive (Sometimes by up to 30%) than at the start, so I would start thinking of prioritising/backing up some of the contents of the drive.

Right, http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3439#dl <--Download EasyTune 6, while it'll never quite match BIOS level overclocking, you should at least get some decent results of of it.
 
Curufinwe said:
Can somebody recommend me a good, wired keyboard with illuminated keys for under $100? I like to play with the lights off to reduce glare on the monitor, but then I can't see the keys.

It also has to have multimedia shortcut keys since I've gotten too used to having them on the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop keyboard I've been using for the past three years.
Click to expand...

I can get G15s for $40 around where I live. That's not a bad option.
 
Nabs said:
is this the one that has the shift+space problem on some of em?
Click to expand...

Actually, I just did some quick searching and your right. The keyboard won't allow you to hold shift+w+space. Oddly enough, I never noticed it because I always map jump to my middle mouse button.

Sorry about that, it's a bad recommendation for gaming. It feels great for typing though.
 
Corky said:
thanks buddy, I'll keep that in mind.

And thanks to everybody who helped and tolerated my obvious ´panic behaviour. The ram is busted so I had my friend give me the 3gb that was in it to begin with. Now it works like a charm ^_^

Now to find out how to optimize crysis, I tried the 2007 demo had everything on very high and 1080p and 2x AA, got around 20ish fps which is guess isnt bad at all.

;D
Click to expand...

Yay you fixed it :D

See a cool head can get everything straight. Also did you try one stick at a time? Maybe one stick is busted and the other isn't?
 
Curufinwe said:
Can somebody recommend me a good, wired keyboard with illuminated keys for under $100? I like to play with the lights off to reduce glare on the monitor, but then I can't see the keys.

It also has to have multimedia shortcut keys since I've gotten too used to having them on the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop keyboard I've been using for the past three years.
Click to expand...
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2141322

Should still be live. New G15 for $55.
 
Smash88 said:
Yay you fixed it :D

See a cool head can get everything straight. Also did you try one stick at a time? Maybe one stick is busted and the other isn't?
Click to expand...

YaY

thanks for the help buddy, since the ram is 2x2gb I'm going to have to return both of them so it didn't really matter if only one was broken :(
 
SuperAwesome said:
Wait, he tried to sell you the RAM that didn't work as well as the computer?
Click to expand...

yes thats the problem that made me angry, altho I dont hold it against the guy since he had barely/never used them.


Mystery

Yea man I tried to run it at 2.1 V but then the PC didnt even boot! So I turned it off asap

EDIT:

btw guys, my nvidia drivers crashed n' resetted all of the sudden so I thought I'd check which version of the drivers I had in case I should update.

My current version is : 257.21
Newest version is : 258.96



Should I update? If so some quick questions

1. Do I have to uninstall the older driver?
2. If yes, do I have to remove all of the " Nvidia-posts" in the " remove programs " menu? That is ; Nvidia display control panel , Nvidia drivers, Nvidia PhysX, Nvidia Sterescopic 3D driver.... ?
 
Corky said:
yes thats the problem that made me angry, altho I dont hold it against the guy since he had barely/never used them.


Mystery

Yea man I tried to run it at 2.1 V but then the PC didnt even boot! So I turned it off asap

EDIT:

btw guys, my nvidia drivers crashed n' resetted all of the sudden so I thought I'd check which version of the drivers I had in case I should update.

My current version is : 257.21
Newest version is : 258.96



Should I update? If so some quick questions

1. Do I have to uninstall the older driver?
2. If yes, do I have to remove all of the " Nvidia-posts" in the " remove programs " menu? That is ; Nvidia display control panel , Nvidia drivers, Nvidia PhysX, Nvidia Sterescopic 3D driver.... ?
Click to expand...

Just uninstall the "nvidia drivers" and it'll get rid of everything else. Also, you might want to download driver sweeper and run that after removing the drivers just to get rid of everything. Then boot up again and install the new ones.
 
SuperAwesome said:
Just uninstall the "nvidia drivers" and it'll get rid of everything else. Also, you might want to download driver sweeper and run that after removing the drivers just to get rid of everything. Then boot up again and install the new ones.
Click to expand...


/kiss

Thanks a bunch <3 Gonna go ahead and update
 
Hello GAF. I'm looking to put together the "GAF'S ultimate $500" gaming PC except with a Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz instead of the AMD Phenom II X3 720.

My question is whether or not I would be okay with a MicroATX Mid Tower instead of a full ATX mid tower case. I don't plan on doing any overclocking, so would heat be that much of an issue?
 
hey guys speaking of the phenom x3 720 BE

how do I know if I have the possibility / option to unlock the fourth core
 
I think you have some legit reasons to stew a little. There's no way he's using the RAM config he was using unless he knew the superior RAM was borked. He could have at least said as much and said he's not technical minded. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. It's nothing to hold a grudge over if he's close and it was a decent deal. But there's some shadiness to it. He probably should have just tossed them into the garbage.
 
1-D_FTW said:
I think you have some legit reasons to stew a little. There's no way he's using the RAM config he was using unless he knew the superior RAM was borked. He could have at least said as much and said he's not technical minded. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. It's nothing to hold a grudge over if he's close and it was a decent deal. But there's some shadiness to it. He probably should have just tossed them into the garbage.
Click to expand...
The deal was ridiculous. All high end parts selling at like 40% of whats its worth.

x3 720
TRI SLI BOARD
4GB of high end corsair ram (?)
dual gts 250
WD5000AAKS
Corsair 650w

Those are all really nice parts.
 
I'm looking for a decent(but not too expensive, about 30€ is ok, nothing 100€-ish)keyboard, with an USB port to plug my mouse in.
Also, i don't like too much uberflat keyboards, so that is a +.

Any suggestions?
 
Hazaro said:
The deal was ridiculous. All high end parts selling at like 40% of whats its worth.


Corsair 650w

Those are all really nice parts.
Click to expand...

Yes I really agree that I got an awesome deal, he gave me the reciept from a couple of months, 10 months or so ago and the totalprice was 1700$ ( remember shit costs alot here , gtx 470 = 470 dollars )
 
I need a quick response as I'm odering my parts :D, is galaxy an okay brand? I want to get the 460 1gig galaxy off tigerdirect, just making sure if that one is alright
 
So I got a mobo with a Marvell controller for 6gb sata (ga-p55a-ud3). Just wonder if there's any reason I should enable it. Gonna use a OCZ Vertex II ssd, which is only 3gb afaik.
 
Curufinwe said:
The LEDs in my case are all blue, too, but any color of illumination is a big improvement over none. :)
Click to expand...
Perhaps. I'll price other illuminated keyboards... and also wait to have money before ordering. :lol
 
Hey guys now that I've finally got my pc up and running I was wondering :

This might sound like stupid question ( then again all my questions in this thread has been more or less stupid :P ) but :

How do I know that the performance I'm getting is " the performance I should get "? I mean is it common that when everything is up and running that some driver or some setting can screw with you performance substantially?

I havent run any benchmark or anything, but how would I even know what I should be around?

Like how do I know that my SLI is fully functional? In the nvidia controlpanel it seems to detect the SLI but is my pc actually utilizing it ? ( ugh...even I feel that the question is stupid :( )

On the subject of performance. Playing crysis with 1920x1080 with everything on high I max out at 24fps ( bug? ) but in heavy firefights it drops to 15 fps. Is this where I should be with a

x3 720 BE
GTS 250 1gb SLI ?

Or is something wrong? Thanks again for any help , cheers
 
Corky said:
On the subject of performance. Playing crysis with 1920x1080 with everything on high I max out at 24fps ( bug? ) but in heavy firefights it drops to 15 fps. Is this where I should be with a

x3 720 BE
GTS 250 1gb SLI ?

Or is something wrong? Thanks again for any help , cheers
Click to expand...


Well I guess I can answer my own question, if anyone ever would find themselves in the same spot.

Apparently there is a bug where crysis locks everything at 24hz so obviously the max fps will be 24 fps.

I uninstalled the nvidia drivers
used driver sweeper
used ccleaner
reinstalled the latest nvidia drivers
forced a custom resulotion of 1080p@60hz.

Turned on cryis and... 60 fps at "normal" 40ish fps firefights, holy shit what a difference.




But of course you cant be me and think everything is fine and dandy, when I open a door be sure that I slam a window in my own face....

Now my pc cant find the network, the troubleshooting tool in w7 gives me nothing which leads me to believe that it cant even find the networkcard ( its on the motherboard i reckon ).

So I must've fucked up with some drivers right? I pop in my asus motherboard disc and see to my amusement that I cant autorun the setup in windows7 64 bit. Now, how do I know which driver is which? Or what the hell I'm even supposed to do? The reason I ask is that I really dont want to fuck anything up.

I promise gaf if I get help with this no more corky crapping up this thread with his bullshit....for 2 days !

update :

Looking at the specs of my mobo I found this

LAN
NVIDIA Gigabit MAC Realtek 8211CL Gigabit PHY featuring AI NET 2

Could it be that I thought the networkdrivers had something to do with the GPU so I removed it ? That must be it. Now to find the drivers for the above
 
Soo, I bought a new PC (finally), and so far I am pretty happy about it.

These are the components:
  • Palit/XpertVision GeForce GTX 460 Sonic Platinum
  • AMD Athlon II X4 635, 4x 2.90GHz overclocked to 3,2 Ghz
  • MSI 770-C45, 770
  • G.Skill DIMM Kit 4GB PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24 (DDR3-1600)
  • Samsung EcoGreen F2 1500GB, SATA II
  • Xigmatek Asgard II schwarz

My problem is: The CPU cooler is way too fast. The CPU idles at 31° and in my opinion around 50° would be more appropriate!? It also is quite loud because of this, even in standby-mode. Is there an easy way to fix this? Or is it safer to let it idle at 31°?
 
I'm losing my mind.....

Trying to find drivers via google is the equivalent of typing in "free porn no virus"....

I've hit a fucking wall again! You'd think I'd be able to find the network drivers of the mobo support dvd.

But no
 
Wallach said:
What OS?

Edit - Just go here:

http://support.asus.com/download/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Motherboard -> AM2+/AM3 -> M4N82 Deluxe -> select your OS -> grab the chipset drivers.
Click to expand...

windows 7 64

How did you find m4n82 deluxe? I cant find it in the list :S the hell?
What if I just download the nforce 980a sli drivers from the nvidia webpage? I cant for the life of me make sense of all these brands and subtitles and editions and what not
 
Corky said:
windows 7 64

How did you find m4n82 deluxe? I cant find it in the list :S the hell?
What if I just download the nforce 980a sli drivers from the nvidia webpage? I cant for the life of me make sense of all these brands and subtitles and editions and what not
Click to expand...

?

Don't choose Sl-Socket AM2 etc, choose Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3, which is further down the list.
 
Wallach said:
?

Don't choose Sl-Socket AM2 etc, choose Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3, which is further down the list.
Click to expand...

ugh my mousewheel broke, no wonder I couldnt find the ones further down didnt even notice they where there.

so I guess I need to download the chipsetdrivers right? But as I asked earlier why shouldn't I just get them from nvidia themselves?

Oh also btw, do I have to reinstall everything for the motherboard or can I chose to only reinstall the networkdrivers?

Soo sorry, please bear with me :(
 
Building a new computer for myself. Currently I'm planning something like this:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz
Ati Radeon 5870 1GB DX11
Corator DS Cooler
AMD 890FX
8GB 1333MHz DDR 3
1000Gb HD
Fractal Desing Define R2 + Corsair HX 650W

Anything I should add or change ? I'm not really sure if I need 8GB ram tho. and should I get GTX 465 insted of Radeon 5870 ? Only thing I really want to do is to play Diablo III next year with full settings and maybe some Witcher 2 :lol
 
BloodySinner said:
29256d1253761784-merc-stealth-keyboard-software-not-working-2058-2512.jpg


The only REAL gaming keyboard that matters.
Click to expand...

Please don't. No one should buy SteelSeries product. They have one of the most unreliable and broken piece of shit ever, and people working in their customer service department are rude and unhelpful.

I had to return one of their products and after a massive back and forth or rudeness, they asked me to ship the product to them. When I did, they acknowledged that they didn't receive it. After finally finding the product, they said they couldn't find it cause they can't read what I wrote (mind you, I wrote everything clearly).

I wrote a letter to the Manager about the shit service. Sure, I got a $20 coupon out of it but that doesn't help the fact that SteelSeries fucking sucks. Fuck SteelSeries.
 
Corky said:
ugh my mousewheel broke, no wonder I couldnt find the ones further down didnt even notice they where there.

so I guess I need to download the chipsetdrivers right? But as I asked earlier why shouldn't I just get them from nvidia themselves?

Oh also btw, do I have to reinstall everything for the motherboard or can I chose to only reinstall the networkdrivers?

Soo sorry, please bear with me :(
Click to expand...

I would personally get the ones from your motherboard manufacturer.

I have never owned an nVidia based motherboard so I don't know how the chipset driver installer package works, sorry. I'm also a little drunk. It sounds like you uninstalled the whole shebang through driver cleaner (or whatever you used) so you could probably just throw the hail mary on that one.
 
I use a £7.99 black microsoft keyboard with no fancy extras, the buttons are still smooth after a year and I have never been one for those keyboards with extended sides with custom movement keys for FPS games and all that, it has served me well for super cheap.
 
Wallach said:
I would personally get the ones from your motherboard manufacturer.

I have never owned an nVidia based motherboard so I don't know how the chipset driver installer package works, sorry. I'm also a little drunk. It sounds like you uninstalled the whole shebang through driver cleaner (or whatever you used) so you could probably just throw the hail mary on that one.
Click to expand...

I love you, you're drunk yet you have the patience to help me.

Well, then here goes, going to install it. I wonder if any settings are reverted, not that I know of any that I've changed...

nervous
 
Is there a good way to ship a desktop PC 1/3 of the way across the US? I'm relocating and I'm flying rather than driving so I'm not taking too much with me at this point. I was thinking the best way to do it might be take out videocard and cpu heatsink. I'd pack them separately since they are the heaviest and most likely to snap off the motherboard somehow. I would fill the rest of the case with newspaper perhaps to keep cables from flying around. Also should I be worried about my hard drive? I could always just take that with me personally if that might be an issue.
 
Diablohead said:
I use a £7.99 black microsoft keyboard with no fancy extras, the buttons are still smooth after a year and I have never been one for those keyboards with extended sides with custom movement keys for FPS games and all that, it has served me well for super cheap.
Click to expand...
eh, but i need one with an USB port fo r mouse attachment. :P that's the whole point, actually.
 
It doesnt really fit this topic 100 % so I hope you dont mind asking me here:

Yesterday while playing WoW, my pc just rebooted itself. After that I can only see the first booting screens (motherboard, ect...) but it wont go any further. Just a black screen. I'm beginning to suspect my graphics card got fried (GTX260) although I have never had any problems with overheating.
Anyone with some experience that has had this happen before or know what I can do?
 
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