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[n0n44m]

All i know is the 4870x2 is one of the biggest piece of shit designed cards ive ever used.

haha when I studied in the US for half a year I helped my roommate with too much money build an i7 rig (when they were brand new) with TWO 4870x2 cards ... shit was mental lol ... the noise ... the heat ...

my GTX480 is nothing compared to that thing haha

---

as far as affordable mid-towers go, I really like my CM690 II (Advanced) =] HAF 912 seems more or less the same, more airflow but I'm not a fan if its look

 

[shinobi602]

I have a 4870 that is 9.5" long and it just fits. 11 card would not fit. Well, it might, but you would have the thing poking into the 3.5" drive bays.

That's why I'm worried about getting a mid tower. I plan on getting a GTX 580 when I upgrade sometime in the summer or fall, hopefully price will be down, and that thing's 10.5"...

 

[Mr Nightman]

That's why I'm worried about getting a mid tower. I plan on getting a GTX 580 when I upgrade sometime in the summer or fall, hopefully price will be down, and that thing's 10.5"...

the haf 912 i posted last page would definitely fit an 11-12inch card

 

[MisterAnderson]

There's really no point in getting the dual GPU cards, other than saving space. Get one high end card, and if you decide you really want the extra performance, go ahead and get a second one. Single GPU cards are easier to sell off once you're done with them.

Why is there no point in getting dual GPU cards? And what is this "microstuttering" people keep talking about when referencing them?

 

[tigerin]

i'm thinking of buying a imac/macbook pro. but i think it would be cheaper to go this route. does anyone know a good site that explains or guides that teach me how to build my own pc? cause the original post gave me a headache. lol

 

[MisterAnderson]

i'm thinking of buying a imac/macbook pro. but i think it would be cheaper to go this route. does anyone know a good site that explains or guides that teach me how to build my own pc? cause the original post gave me a headache. lol

From what I remember, the case manual/motherboard manual explained it perfectly well to me. Typically installation order tends to be (from what I understand) putting in the power supply first, then the optical drive/harddrives/etc., then the motherboard (if you get an aftermarket cooler put the backplate on the motherboard first - the instructions to do that would come with the cooler). Then once the motherboard is in, you can put in the video card(s), processor, memory, etc. and wire everything up. I'm sure there's tons of resources somewhere online that would provide a more detailed step by step guide but there's instructions that come with each product you'll buy.

A philips head screwdriver is pretty much all you'll need, everything that needs screws comes with it. In some cases you might need to buy a SATA cable or two if the harddrive/optical drive you buy doesn't come with them.

 

[Mr Nightman]

From what I remember, the case manual/motherboard manual explained it perfectly well to me. Typically installation order tends to be (from what I understand) putting in the power supply first, then the optical drive/harddrives/etc., then the motherboard (if you get an aftermarket cooler put the backplate on the motherboard first - the instructions to do that would come with the cooler). Then once the motherboard is in, you can put in the video card(s), processor, memory, etc. and wire everything up. I'm sure there's tons of resources somewhere online that would provide a more detailed step by step guide but there's instructions that come with each product you'll buy.

A philips head screwdriver is pretty much all you'll need, everything that needs screws comes with it. In some cases you might need to buy a SATA cable or two if the harddrive/optical drive you buy doesn't come with them.

It may be easier to just install the processor while the motherboard is out of the case, so he can clearly see what hes doing. At least just the chip itself, then the heatsink/fan when its in the case

 

[Raistlin]

Well this is interesting. My Powercolor PCS++ 6950 will be showing up tomorrow. The initial plan was to get one now and then get a second for crossfire/xfinity at a later date. Problem is they seem to be having issues with the initial batch - some do not unlock the full shader compliment. Newegg has deactivated the product, and Powercolor hopes to have some more info hitting tomorrow. Initial Powercolor reaction however (their customer service is quite responsive), RMA for a new one or a reference 6970. So even if mine is okay, there's no way to know if I can get a matching one later ... hell or ever. May no longer be available.


Lo and behold, rumor has it the 6990 may actually be hitting on the 8th. That's got me thinking ... if it does show up this week and is priced close to PCS++ x 2 ... why don't I just say fuck it, RMA the 6950, and just bite on the top dog?

2 x 8-pin to power it. LOL

 

[mantidor]

My good old 8800 has finally died on me. It couldn't even load Windows without going insane.

Now my PC is old but I'm really, really hoping I don't have to change anything but the card. Now I've been so out of the PC scene that please keep with me and my ignorance.

So:

Your Current Specs: Intel Core Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz / 2Gb DDR2 I think (how can I be sure?) / Motherboard: Intel DG31PR /500Gb HDD
Budget: $250 if only video card, in other case $750
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1680 x 1050, not planning to upgrade
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Actually the games I play the most are old games like Freespace and Homeworld, so I just need to be able to play new games at decent settings for the next couple of years.
Are reusing any parts?: Hopefully all of them.
When will you build?: As soon as possible.
Will you be overclocking?: No

I live in Colombia if that matters, but I've been using amazon for everything and I never look back, with taxes and shipping is still cheaper than buying here.

I've been thinking in the 560. if it's just impossible with this I might as well save a little more and get a new whole PC. The most important thing for me now is that I don't get into this situation again, I don't want to have to change it all again when in the future I decide to upgrade just the card.

edit: Now that I think about it, the possibility of just buying another 8800 or a similar, slightly better card is also under consideration, as long as it's really cheap, I'm thinking $100 at most.

 

[Johnny2Bags]

update :

now I can only stay at the desktop for a couple of seconds to a few minutes before my display loses the contact and goes into powersave mode, and I can't regain the picture without rebooting manually.

Any ideas?

Same thing was plaguing my significant others computer that I had built... Confused me for a long time.. It would let her stay in a game menu (plants vs. zombies etc.) but windows desktop would put her display into powersave. thought it was PSU issue or MOBO issue.
I replaced them both for her so can't say which it was but it works flawlessly now.

Either her motherboard was failing and bios was not allocating enough power to her video card, or one of her rails on the old PSU was fluctuating and dying. I don't have a computer parts repair shop near me, so I replaced them both out of frustration... worked.. but if you don't decide to sell it all, I'd suggest bringing in the PSU for a quick (usually free of charge) rail test on the thing.

=(

And LOL at your previous post, at least you've got your sense of humor about you!

 

[Ptaaty]

the reason fans blow out the back and in the front is usually the top part of the case front has drives.

Hot air rises so your exhaust should be near the top....mine has a giant (180mm?) one on the very top to blow out, plus a 120mm on the top of the back, plus a 120mm blowing in the bottom of the front...plus...an 80 (had another 240mm on the side but it hit the CPU cooler) on the side.

All running really pretty slow so it is quiet but well vented.

 

[Jin34]

Weird question: Can you run 3 sticks of Ram in a dual channel set-up without problems or will they all run in single channel? They are all the same speed and timings.

 

[momolicious]

How is the HAF912 in terms of noise? Is it pretty quiet

 

[Saige]

I think I need gaf’s help.

I was trying to overclock my Q6600 after putting in a new cooler. I was following this guide, and the only things I changed in the bios was the clock multiplier and FSB to what it said in the guide. After saving the changes and rebooting, my monitor no longer receives a signal.

I’ve tried restarting the pc many times, but beyond that I have no clue how to fix this.

My setup: Asus P5K / Q6600 / 6GB DDR2 / 6950 / Windows 7 64Bit

 

[winnarps]

How much could I get for the following rig?

No peripherals, Windows Vista business installed.

OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 500W Power Supply
320GB 7200RPM HDD

 

[Lasthope106]

How much could I get for the following rig?

No peripherals, Windows Vista business installed.

OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 500W Power Supply
320GB 7200RPM HDD

I would offer you $300

 

[Jin34]

Wrong thread.

 

[MacAttack]

Your Current Specs: Intel Core Quad Q6600 @2.40GHz / 2Gb DDR2 I think (how can I be sure?) / Motherboard: Intel DG31PR /500Gb HDD
Budget: $250 if only video card, in other case $750
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1680 x 1050, not planning to upgrade
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Actually the games I play the most are old games like Freespace and Homeworld, so I just need to be able to play new games at decent settings for the next couple of years.
Are reusing any parts?: Hopefully all of them.
When will you build?: As soon as possible.
Will you be overclocking?: No

What kind of power supply do you have? It will probably also needed to be replaced.

 

[Ecto311]

How is the HAF912 in terms of noise? Is it pretty quiet

I have it with the 2 stock fans in it, it has spots for 2 200mm fans though. I don't notice the sound at all. I would think it would get quieter with bigger fans. really decent case for the price.

 

[TheExodu5]

$300-400 sounds about right.

 

[rocK`]

I think I need gaf’s help.

I was trying to overclock my Q6600 after putting in a new cooler. I was following this guide, and the only things I changed in the bios was the clock multiplier and FSB to what it said in the guide. After saving the changes and rebooting, my monitor no longer receives a signal.

I’ve tried restarting the pc many times, but beyond that I have no clue how to fix this.

My setup: Asus P5K / Q6600 / 6GB DDR2 / 6950 / Windows 7 64Bit

You just need to reset the CMOS (basically the bit of your motherboard that saves all this information). Google your board's manual on how to do this. When you reset your CMOS, you'll be back to factory settings.

 

[Hazaro]

My good old 8800 has finally died on me. It couldn't even load Windows without going insane.

Now my PC is old but I'm really, really hoping I don't have to change anything but the card. Now I've been so out of the PC scene that please keep with me and my ignorance.

edit: Now that I think about it, the possibility of just buying another 8800 or a similar, slightly better card is also under consideration, as long as it's really cheap, I'm thinking $100 at most.

768MB GTX 460.

 

[Saige]

You just need to reset the CMOS (basically the bit of your motherboard that saves all this information). Google your board's manual on how to do this. When you reset your CMOS, you'll be back to factory settings.

Thank you, i will try this when i have some time tomorrow. i was starting to think i was shit out of luck since i couldn't find anything through googling.

 

[·feist·]

I think I need gaf’s help.

I was trying to overclock my Q6600 after putting in a new cooler. I was following this guide, and the only things I changed in the bios was the clock multiplier and FSB to what it said in the guide. After saving the changes and rebooting, my monitor no longer receives a signal.

I’ve tried restarting the pc many times, but beyond that I have no clue how to fix this.

My setup: Asus P5K / Q6600 / 6GB DDR2 / 6950 / Windows 7 64Bit

Sounds like you need to tweak your voltages, among other things.

With your PC off (power switch on the PSU turned off as well, or disconnect the power cable), press and hold the main power button on your PC case for a few seconds. Set everything back to normal, and try to power up again. If need be, you can also try the motherboard jumper, or motherboard battery route to reset things.



....................................................................................................................

AMD Radeon HD 6990 listed on a Euro retailer's site for €715

http://www.salland.eu/product/979891/asus-radeon-hd-6990-4096-mb-90-c3chi0-t0uay0yz.html
http://www.salland.eu/product/print/979891/asus-radeon-hd-6990-4096-mb-90-c3chi0-t0uay0yz.html

And MSI's Cyclone II version of the Nvidia GTX 550 Ti (N550GTX-Ti-M2D1GD5/OC) listed for 2000.00元 on the same Asian retailer that was one of the first to leak GTX 560s.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9459241989

 

[mantidor]

What kind of power supply do you have? It will probably also needed to be replaced.

Oh right, I checked while I was removing the card, and apparently it's only 300W. Now I'm sure I have to replace it.

I'm really considering the idea of just a replacement for the 8800 in the same range of power/price, the more I think about it I just don't have the money to upgrade the whole thing.

 

[·feist·]

16C/32T 40MB L3 16 DIMMs

Must be nice.

 

[teh_pwn]

Well this is interesting. My Powercolor PCS++ 6950 will be showing up tomorrow. The initial plan was to get one now and then get a second for crossfire/xfinity at a later date. Problem is they seem to be having issues with the initial batch - some do not unlock the full shader compliment. Newegg has deactivated the product, and Powercolor hopes to have some more info hitting tomorrow. Initial Powercolor reaction however (their customer service is quite responsive), RMA for a new one or a reference 6970. So even if mine is okay, there's no way to know if I can get a matching one later ... hell or ever. May no longer be available.


Lo and behold, rumor has it the 6990 may actually be hitting on the 8th. That's got me thinking ... if it does show up this week and is priced close to PCS++ x 2 ... why don't I just say fuck it, RMA the 6950, and just bite on the top dog?

2 x 8-pin to power it. LOL

Crossfire can mix between same models within the last 2 digits. Ie, you could crossfire 6950 with 6970. Not sure about 6990 and 6970/6950 cross firing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_CrossFire#Advantages

But why worry so much over a trivial 5% performance gain (DX11 only, DX10 is the same)? I really don't understand this mentality. It's like getting the Intel Extreme Edition processors to get that last 10% increase in performance that you'll never notice.

 

[shinobi602]

Will this power supply be enough for the PC I'm planning to put together? What if I plan to SLI or Crossfire in the future?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

I'm hoping to get a GTX 580+ Phenom II X6, only two drives (HDD+DVD-R/RW), 4gb DDR3 ram...pretty much it.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

Will this power supply be enough for the PC I'm planning to put together? What if I plan to SLI or Crossfire in the future?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

I'm hoping to get a GTX 580+ Phenom II X6, only two drives (HDD+DVD-R/RW), 4gb DDR3 ram...pretty much it.

750w for that setup is more than enough. Heck, you'd be fine at like 550-600, but yeah you're good.

 

[teh_pwn]

Something to keep in mind about power supplies is that they tend to get really noisy as you reach peak load. So even if your system peak load is expected to be 700 Watts, getting a kW PSU may keep things quiet.

 

[·feist·]

Will this power supply be enough for the PC I'm planning to put together? What if I plan to SLI or Crossfire in the future?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

I'm hoping to get a GTX 580+ Phenom II X6, only two drives (HDD+DVD-R/RW), 4gb DDR3 ram...pretty much it.

Did you see my reply to your motherboard question? The second part would also apply.
Unless you already have the CPU, this is not a good time to buy an X6. Intel's new 1155 parts are a better buy in most cases, and AM3+ is right around the corner.

 

[shinobi602]

Did you see my reply to your motherboard question? The second part would also apply.
Unless you already have the CPU, this is not a good time to buy an X6. Intel's new 1155 parts are a better buy in most cases, and AM3+ is right around the corner.

True that, I'm waiting for the AM3+, was just a question regarding if it was enough in general.

 

[Raistlin]

Crossfire can mix between same models within the last 2 digits. Ie, you could crossfire 6950 with 6970. Not sure about 6990 and 6970/6950 cross firing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_CrossFire#Advantages

But why worry so much over a trivial 5% performance gain (DX11 only, DX10 is the same)? I really don't understand this mentality. It's like getting the Intel Extreme Edition processors to get that last 10% increase in performance that you'll never notice.

I'm aware you can mix. That's not the point.

What I'm not getting is your last paragraph. What are you going on about?

 

[Jtrizzy]

So when will the whole sandy bridge thing be sorted out? I was planning on waiting till the summer to build a new PC since its mostly for BF3, but I'm getting impatient.

 

[Cdammen]

This might've been answered already and I've found some answers Google-ing but I can't be sure until I've asked some GAFers.

I have a HDD with Windows 7 OEM (student license) on it, and want to make a clean install on a SSD and use it in the same computer as my original install. Is the license linked to the motherboard?

 

[knitoe]

So when will the whole sandy bridge thing be sorted out? I was planning on waiting till the summer to build a new PC since its mostly for BF3, but I'm getting impatient.

The fixed Sandy bridge Ver B3 are starting to appear at retail. Get one of hose and you should be fine.

 

[knitoe]

This might've been answered already and I've found some answers Google-ing but I can't be sure until I've asked some GAFers.

I have a HDD with Windows 7 OEM (student license) on it, and want to make a clean install on a SSD and use it in the same computer as my original install. Is the license linked to the motherboard?

Yes.

 

[knitoe]

Weird question: Can you run 3 sticks of Ram in a dual channel set-up without problems or will they all run in single channel? They are all the same speed and timings.

They will run in single channel.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Why is there no point in getting dual GPU cards? And what is this "microstuttering" people keep talking about when referencing them?

Microstuttering is when the GPUs are outputting frames in a manner that is not properly synchronized.

If 60 frames per second looks like this:

I        I        I        I        I        I        I        I

60 frames with microstuttering thanks to dual GPU might look like this:

I   I              I   I              I   I              I   I

Although strictly speaking the same number of frames was generated in the period of time, you end up with two frames close together followed by a gap far longer than the normal gap between frames in 60 fps mode. So although you're getting 60fps technically, it looks worse than 60fps normally does. If you examine over shorter timescales what you're actually getting is the framerate rapidly alternating between, say, 20 fps and 120 fps.

 

[Curufinwe]

What kind of power supply do you have? It will probably also needed to be replaced.

300W is quite low - the 8800 GT required a 400W PSU.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_8800_gt_us.html

 

[The Elite]

Thanks to McLaren for helping me select the parts for my new PC! I have it hooked up to my 1080p 47" TV and most of the games look great. Crysis is a wee bit stuttery but I almsot suspect that's the mouse than anything else. I'll play around with the settings and see what I can do.

 

[TheExodu5]

Microstuttering is when the GPUs are outputting frames in a manner that is not properly synchronized.

If 60 frames per second looks like this:

I        I        I        I        I        I        I        I

60 frames with microstuttering thanks to dual GPU might look like this:

I   I              I   I              I   I              I   I

Although strictly speaking the same number of frames was generated in the period of time, you end up with two frames close together followed by a gap far longer than the normal gap between frames in 60 fps mode. So although you're getting 60fps technically, it looks worse than 60fps normally does. If you examine over shorter timescales what you're actually getting is the framerate rapidly alternating between, say, 20 fps and 120 fps.

Good visualisation.

One thing to note however, is that if you're running at 60fps vsynced, there will be zero microstutter. I guess that's thanks to a double/triple buffer.

I've definitely noticed microstutter in Rift with my 2x GTX 570. 40-50fps looked about as smooth as 30-35 on a single gpu.

 

[DualX]

So I decided the other day that I needed a new PC especially since I'm going to need one to play Battlefield 3 with all it's glory. Plus I'd love for it to be able to handle the stuff like what was shown at GDC with that amazing Unreal Engine 3 tech demo. Now, I normally build my own PC and whatnot, but a friend of mine recommended this website which allowed me to customize every single bit of what I wanted in my desktop.

And well, here it is.

This will be the first time I've had a computer with liquid cooling, but the main attractions that I was shooting for was the UEFI motherboard, Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and the solid state drive. Think I might be future proof for at least 2-3 years?

Cost of the machine came out to be $1,482.95 with the 5% off in delayed shipping, $1,547.95 with shipping.

 

[cackhyena]

Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but I didn't see an SSD in the list there. If I were to build from scratch, I think I could spend less than that and come out with an SSD as well in the build. It will still be a nice little beast though.

 

[momolicious]

So I decided the other day that I needed a new PC especially since I'm going to need one to play Battlefield 3 with all it's glory. Plus I'd love for it to be able to handle the stuff like what was shown at GDC with that amazing Unreal Engine 3 tech demo. Now, I normally build my own PC and whatnot, but a friend of mine recommended this website which allowed me to customize every single bit of what I wanted in my desktop.

And well, here it is.

This will be the first time I've had a computer with liquid cooling, but the main attractions that I was shooting for was the UEFI motherboard, Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and the solid state drive. Think I might be future proof for at least 2-3 years?

Cost of the machine came out to be $1,482.95 with the 5% off in delayed shipping, $1,547.95 with shipping.

I doubt many people will be able to handle the amazing unreal 3 tech demo right now lol well at good framerates

 

[DualX]

Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but I didn't see an SSD in the list there. If I were to build from scratch, I think I could spend less than that and come out with an SSD as well in the build. It will still be a nice little beast though.

It's in there as my primary drive 80 GB Intel X25-M MLC SSD - Single Drive. SSD's are just expensive...

I doubt many people will be able to handle the amazing unreal 3 tech demo right now lol well at good framerates

Yeah I suppose that's true since it was running on THREE GF580's. I mean damn!

 

[TheExodu5]

So I decided the other day that I needed a new PC especially since I'm going to need one to play Battlefield 3 with all it's glory. Plus I'd love for it to be able to handle the stuff like what was shown at GDC with that amazing Unreal Engine 3 tech demo. Now, I normally build my own PC and whatnot, but a friend of mine recommended this website which allowed me to customize every single bit of what I wanted in my desktop.

And well, here it is.

This will be the first time I've had a computer with liquid cooling, but the main attractions that I was shooting for was the UEFI motherboard, Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and the solid state drive. Think I might be future proof for at least 2-3 years?

Cost of the machine came out to be $1,482.95 with the 5% off in delayed shipping, $1,547.95 with shipping.

Spend the tiny bit more and ensure the PSU is Corsair...I'm pretty sure they give you the option. 700W is pretty much overkill. The 650 Corsair is a good choice.

Also, it's worth noting that it's not real traditional liquid cooling. It's more along the lines of the Corsair H50, which is somewhat equivalent to air cooling in terms of performance.

Also, for gaming, you can definitely go down to a 2500K. A 2600K isn't really worth the difference in price, considering it just gives you hyper threading (15-20% performance in applications that support 8 cores).

Finally, their current special allows you to upgrade from a 1GB GTX 560 Ti to a 2GB GTX 560 Ti for free...you might as well do that.

 

[vermadas]

Since we are on the subject of micro-stutter problems, maybe you guys can give me some insight on mine. It looks kind of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G375cUecgQ

Except it's much less severe. The micro-stutter I deal with is kind of rhythmic and occurs about once every second. It's like the video is slowly getting "behind" and every second it syncs back up. I've noticed it in several games; Serious Sam HD, Madballs, WoW, and even VVVVVV. I've been dealing with it a while, and although it's annoying it's never been bad enough to make a game unplayable (though it did make VVVVVV even more difficult in parts). Updating drivers and toggling v-sync has not helped.

Specs:
C2D e8400
4 GB DDR2 RAM
AMD 4850 512 MB
P35 chipset
Win7 64
I'm at work right now so I don't have the complete details on my build.

I had favored nVidia for quite some time, but at the time I wanted to upgrade my card 2.5 years ago, the 4850 was by far the best bang for the buck. For a while I have considered this issue inherent to the card itself and as a result I'm feeling pulled back to nVidia when I upgrade again, but I thought I should get a second opinion from GAF. I'm planning on doing a lot more PC gaming this year so I've been looking at the GTX 460, but if I can get this problem resolved with the 4850 I might be more inclined to wait and upgrade more of my components later this year (and possibly stick with AMD).

Anyone have any input? Thanks.

 

[iNvid02]

alright so im on "the list" for getting a b3 revision from asus
but nobody knows the time frame, just wanna get this over with

 

[TheExodu5]

Since we are on the subject of micro-stutter problems, maybe you guys can give me some insight on mine. It looks kind of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G375cUecgQ

Except it's much less severe. The micro-stutter I deal with is kind of rhythmic and occurs about once every second. It's like the video is slowly getting "behind" and every second it syncs back up. I've noticed it in several games; Serious Sam HD, Madballs, WoW, and even VVVVVV. I've been dealing with it a while, and although it's annoying it's never been bad enough to make a game unplayable (though it did make VVVVVV even more difficult in parts). Updating drivers and toggling v-sync has not helped.

Specs:
C2D e8400
4 GB DDR2 RAM
AMD 4850 512 MB
P35 chipset
Win7 64
I'm at work right now so I don't have the complete details on my build.

I had favored nVidia for quite some time, but at the time I wanted to upgrade my card 2.5 years ago, the 4850 was by far the best bang for the buck. For a while I have considered this issue inherent to the card itself and as a result I'm feeling pulled back to nVidia when I upgrade again, but I thought I should get a second opinion from GAF. I'm planning on doing a lot more PC gaming this year so I've been looking at the GTX 460, but if I can get this problem resolved with the 4850 I might be more inclined to wait and upgrade more of my components later this year (and possibly stick with AMD).

Anyone have any input? Thanks.

That's a tricky one. See if you have some sort of "render frames ahead" option in your GPU control panel. If it's 0-1, try raising it to 3. If it's 3 already, maybe try the opposite and lower it. I've experienced some judder issues with this setting.