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[ahoyle77]

Here's an OCC review of it where it benchmarks in DoWII, which is the same engine as CoH.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_hd5670_1gb/11.htm

You getting similar performance? If not, it might be the mobo and/or proc. Might even be a PCIE 1.0 motherboard, which would severely limit your videocard.

I dont know that I tried it with those exact settings, but I was staying right about 30, dipping to 15 or so in some of the tests at times. Definitely not the 52 this test shows. I know I've read some games are more graphic card intensive, and some cpu intensive, I guess I'd be screwed on the cpu ones. I know I ran a 3dmark (not sure what version) at home and the tests were maintaining a 30-10 fps on the gpu tests, but when it came to the cpu tests, it was 0 mostly, and occaisonally spurts to 1 or 2 fps! I guess you want those to be about equal to avoid a bottleneck at one or the other?

 

[Kadey]

Time to upgrade my PC. If you hear mention of a PC being blown up in PA, it's probably me.

 

[mkenyon]

"Bandwidth"?

Layman's terms please.

Also I ordered it. So happy!

Imagine you have a water supply that provides water at 10 PSI. You have two hoses, one that has a max rating of 15 PSI and one that has a max rating of 30 PSI.

The SSD is that water supply, SATA II and III are the hoses. Even though you have a bigger hose, your water supply will still be at a max of 10 PSI.

 

[Wrekt]

So hard deciding between these cheap SSDs that have been popping up the past few days or waiting for the new stuff. I was hoping they'd get a bit closer to the $1 per GB mark and unfortunately went in the opposite direction and made bigger/faster/more expensive drives.

I won't even be getting a mobo till the 1155 stuff comes back into stock, but I don't want my one missing piece to be the drive that will have the OS on it. Such a tough call.

 

[mkenyon]

The current Vertex 2/Sandforce and Crucial C300s are blazing fast. I mean, I don't really understand how my OS/basic programs experience could get much quicker. Everything already works faster than I can give it orders.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Imagine you have a water supply that provides water at 10 PSI. You have two hoses, one that has a max rating of 15 PSI and one that has a max rating of 30 PSI.

The SSD is that water supply, SATA II and III are the hoses. Even though you have a bigger hose, your water supply will still be at a max of 10 PSI.

Buy my future board will have SATA 6gbs.

The current Vertex 2/Sandforce and Crucial C300s are blazing fast. I mean, I don't really understand how my OS/basic programs experience could get much quicker. Everything already works faster than I can give it orders.

That's good to know.

 

[Ashhong]

Hey guys, this question is more tech support ish, but that thread is dead and I need immediate help.

My computer is having trouble turning on. I turn it on, it works fine. I turn it off and on again, it wont boot. The fans turn on full blast and dont go down like normal. Also the lights on my keyboard go on and then off. If I wait like 30 minutes it will turn on again.

I have replaced my PSU and it has the same problem. Any ideas??

Gonna try asking again. I know this doesnt technically fit the thread, but I'm desperate. Although once I figure out the problem I will be looking to replace it. So it does belong!

 

[mkenyon]

It's backwards compatible, if that's what you're worried about.

 

[mkenyon]

Gonna try asking again. I know this doesnt technically fit the thread, but I'm desperate. Although once I figure out the problem I will be looking to replace it. So it does belong!

Could be overheating. Try taking off the CPU heatsink, clean off the thermal compound with isopropyl alcohol, reapply some new stuff, then reseat the heatsink.

Alternatively, the wires to your power button might be shorting. You have another computer to try parts in?

 

[reptilescorpio]

i've just often seen it being said in the past in these threads that soundcards are obsolete or not needed which i always questioned but after my onboard experience i know for a fact that's wrong (yes i realise coax out to some dedicated equipment is better but i want a nice, neat internal solution)

After reading a few articles from sites talking about how we still need sound cards (after not having one for the past 6 years) I've got the Xonar DG on my list as it is a reasonable price. How comparable is the Xonar DX as it is $100 compared to the $40 DG, I don't have a decent set of headphones yet and would most likely use Turtle Beach X41's.

 

[mkenyon]

The DX is powered with the same plug historically used by floppy drives. As a result, you get better sound through non-amped speakers/headphones.

The DG just gets power through the PCI-E channel IIRC.

 

[MisterAnderson]

I'm probably going to be upgrading from an ATI card to an nVidia card today. Is there anything I need to do to completely clean my system of ATI display drivers aside from simply just uninstalling it from the control panel?

 

[Oreoleo]

I'm probably going to be upgrading from an ATI card to an nVidia card today. Is there anything I need to do to completely clean my system of ATI display drivers aside from simply just uninstalling it from the control panel?

I've been told using Driver Cleaner Pro is worthwhile.

 

[Ashhong]

Could be overheating. Try taking off the CPU heatsink, clean off the thermal compound with isopropyl alcohol, reapply some new stuff, then reseat the heatsink.

Alternatively, the wires to your power button might be shorting. You have another computer to try parts in?

I do have another computer, but I have already replaced the GPU and PSU in this computer to try and fix it. Only thing left is the mobo and RAM and CPU.

I thought maybe its overheating, but how would that explain the fact that the computer turns on and runs fine as long as I don't turn it off? I can turn it on and use it for hours fine. I turn it off and then on again and it won't boot.

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm probably going to be upgrading from an ATI card to an nVidia card today. Is there anything I need to do to completely clean my system of ATI display drivers aside from simply just uninstalling it from the control panel?

Install Driver Cleaner
Uninstall AMD drivers
Reboot into Safe Mode
Run Driver Cleaner
Reboot
Install Nvidia drivers

 

[reptilescorpio]

The DX is powered with the same plug historically used by floppy drives. As a result, you get better sound through non-amped speakers/headphones.

The DG just gets power through the PCI-E channel IIRC.

Thanks for the info, hopefully I can find some more reviews before grab everything.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm probably going to be upgrading from an ATI card to an nVidia card today. Is there anything I need to do to completely clean my system of ATI display drivers aside from simply just uninstalling it from the control panel?

Uninstall the drivers from device manager first, then turn off your computer. Plug in the new card, install the new drivers, reboot.

 

[Trojita]

So I'm looking to replace my Asus 4870 512 MB video card. If possible I'd only like to spend around $200-$300 for the best bang for the buck card. Any suggestions? If it makes a difference I play on 1920x1200.

I'm thinking about putting the old card in a HTPC I build myself or the server I just bought.

 

[mkenyon]

6950 2GB, flash it with the 6970 BIOS. If you don't like AMD or feel uncomfortable with flashing the BIOS, then go with the 560Ti, 2GB model if you can spring for it. Otherwise 1GB will be fine.

 

[Darkatomz]

After reading a few articles from sites talking about how we still need sound cards (after not having one for the past 6 years) I've got the Xonar DG on my list as it is a reasonable price. How comparable is the Xonar DX as it is $100 compared to the $40 DG, I don't have a decent set of headphones yet and would most likely use Turtle Beach X41's.

'Need' is a strong word. Onboard audio processing is adequate to most people out there. But that being said, for $30, the improvement is pretty significant

Spoiler

see: at least noticeable to most people

. Stay away from the DX. It's older hardware, and doesn't have a headphone amp, which you would probably be looking for if you have... headphones.

The DX is powered with the same plug historically used by floppy drives. As a result, you get better sound through non-amped speakers/headphones.

The DG just gets power through the PCI-E channel IIRC.

...The power that a sound card gets means very, very little to the quality of the sound. Besides, the DG is a PCI card, not PCI-E. The PCI-E slot doesn't provide adequate power, hence the need for power plugs for your graphics and sound cards that go here.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Just a quick question. Do you think I'd get more value out of buying two 560 ti 2GB and putting them in SLI or one 580? Either of those would cost around the same price. I'm leaning towards one 580 since single gpu systems don't have to deal with any bullshit, but figured I'd ask anyway.

 

[mkenyon]

A single card is always the right choice. Unless you have an unlimited budget.

 

[slidewinder]

I dont know that I tried it with those exact settings, but I was staying right about 30, dipping to 15 or so in some of the tests at times. Definitely not the 52 this test shows. I know I've read some games are more graphic card intensive, and some cpu intensive, I guess I'd be screwed on the cpu ones. I know I ran a 3dmark (not sure what version) at home and the tests were maintaining a 30-10 fps on the gpu tests, but when it came to the cpu tests, it was 0 mostly, and occaisonally spurts to 1 or 2 fps! I guess you want those to be about equal to avoid a bottleneck at one or the other?

One way to get a better idea is to try benchmarking at increasingly lower resolutions without changing your other settings. If you are bottlenecked by your CPU, you will not see very large gains in performance as you go down in resolution, as the CPU tends to limit you more with regard to less resolution-dependent aspects of the game.

You can also try running a graphing utility like MSI Afterburner or ATI Tray Tools to see what your GPU utilization % is like while running the game. If it's low then, again, it may be that your CPU is stopping you from getting the most out of your video card.

 

[Trojita]

6950 2GB, flash it with the 6970 BIOS. If you don't like AMD or feel uncomfortable with flashing the BIOS, then go with the 560Ti, 2GB model if you can spring for it. Otherwise 1GB will be fine.

I'm fine with ATI. I've been using them for 8 years. I was considering trying something different and going Nvidia but if AMD is still the way to go I can stick with them. How successful is the flash rate? I'm assuming 6970 bios makes the card faster.

 

[TheExodu5]

Just a quick question. Do you think I'd get more value out of buying two 560 ti 2GB and putting them in SLI or one 580? Either of those would cost around the same price. I'm leaning towards one 580 since single gpu systems don't have to deal with any bullshit, but figured I'd ask anyway.

For value, GTX 560 for sure, but definitely go the 2GB route.

Still, there's the bullshit you might have to deal with. I often wish I would have just gotten a single GTX 580 over my GTX 570 SLI setup. Less power requirements. Ability to put on a nice 3rd party cooler (Accelero Xtreme Plus). No microstuttering. No need to set up SLI profiles for certain games. No other SLI related issues (texture flashing in some games). It's also much easier to upgrade from a non SLI setup, since you know you won't be going down in performance. If I want to upgrade from my GTX 570 SLI to the next generation of cards, I'm likely going to have to take both a financial and performance hit to make the jump. It might be a while until a single GPU can beat out GTX 570 SLI.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Mkenyon to continue the ongoing legacy of brain_stew and Hazaro?

 

[reptilescorpio]

'Need' is a strong word. Onboard audio processing is adequate to most people out there. But that being said, for $30, the improvement is pretty significant

Spoiler

see: at least noticeable to most people

. Stay away from the DX. It's older hardware, and doesn't have a headphone amp, which you would probably be looking for if you have... headphones.


...The power that a sound card gets means very, very little to the quality of the sound.

Thanks for more info, the DX is up for pre-order shipping end of the week so maybe it is a new version (or we just get it late in Australia). I will definitely pick up the DG unless I see another card in action in person.

 

[Darkatomz]

Thanks for more info, the DX is up for pre-order shipping end of the week so maybe it is a new version (or we just get it late in Australia). I will definitely pick up the DG unless I see another card in action in person.

Uh... the DX is like 3+ years old. Asus isn't putting out any new sound cards in the near future as far as I know.

 

[bee]

the xonar dx has a floppy power connector because its not a native pci-e card, its essentially a pci card with a bridge chip but the bridge can only pass data not power, hence the floppy power. nothing to do with sound quality

its also a very good card for the price and certainly not one to avoid

 

[mkenyon]

'
...The power that a sound card gets means very, very little to the quality of the sound.

I've always had doubts about this myself (I mean, doubts about my claim), but it's what I've been told by a few audiophile friends. I will cede to your wisdom here as I don't really know much at all, my info is secondhand.

I'm fine with ATI. I've been using them for 8 years. I was considering trying something different and going Nvidia but if AMD is still the way to go I can stick with them. How successful is the flash rate? I'm assuming 6970 bios makes the card faster.

100% in my testing (done it for 3 friends), I've heard of some horror stories, but angrier voices are always the most prominent on the net. Its all anecdotal, but I'd feel safe if I were you. It more-or-less turns the card into a 6970.

Mkenyon to continue the ongoing legacy of brain_stew and Hazaro?

I've been lurking this thread for literally a year and a half. That's how long it took my membership to get approved. I'm glad to finally contribute. Considering my job allows for lots of frequent 'net trips, I'll be here for a long while.

 

[Darkatomz]

the xonar dx has a floppy power connector because its not a native pci-e card, its essentially a pci card with a bridge chip but the bridge can only pass data not power, hence the floppy power. nothing to do with sound quality

its also a very good card for the price and certainly not one to avoid

Not worth it at all these days.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Not worth it at all these days.

I've read a few threads from other forums that seem to vouch for the DX as having superior sound over the DG despite it being the older card. Whether or not these people actually have used both or are just attributing quality for price, I have no idea. I'm still confused myself as to which to go, but I might be forced to stick with the DX just because it's PCI-E. Are there any $150ish sound cards that are PCI-E that also have a headphone amp? The only one I can find is the $199 Asus Xonar Essense.

 

[SuperSonic1305]

What is a cheap good quality hard drive? The one that I got with my brand new computer last year has been acting up and constantly corrupting since October. I'm tired of doing clean installs and don't want to bother sending this all the way to Vancouver for a replacement.

 

[Hazaro]

Mkenyon to continue the ongoing legacy of brain_stew and Hazaro?

I hope so. We both takes breaks at times. Everyone in the thread helps chime in at points too!
Plus I actually have work now so I'm not sitting at GAF for far too many hours a day.

I've read a few threads from other forums that seem to vouch for the DX as having superior sound over the DG despite it being the older card. Whether or not these people actually have used both or are just attributing quality for price, I have no idea. I'm still confused myself as to which to go, but I might be forced to stick with the DX just because it's PCI-E. Are there any $150ish sound cards that are PCI-E that also have a headphone amp? The only one I can find is the $199 Asus Xonar Essense.

If you'd want a $100 soundcard I'd think you know. If it's something you are curious about I'd suggest picking up a $20-$30 Xonar DG (I have one) because of its onboard amp and just the general things a dedicated soundcard will give you (mainly the control panel).

Also are you sure you need more than one 560 in terms of power?
TechReport measured the DG vs the DX iirc and it was the same. As a supporter of value I'd suggest you pick up a DG (if you have a PCI slot to spare).

What is a cheap good quality hard drive? The one that I got with my brand new computer last year has been acting up and constantly corrupting since October. I'm tired of doing clean installs and don't want to bother sending this all the way to Vancouver for a replacement.

Samsung F3 1TB $55-$60.
Anything under that is not the best value for speed and capacity.

 

[Trojita]

I've always had doubts about this myself (I mean, doubts about my claim), but it's what I've been told by a few audiophile friends. I will cede to your wisdom here as I don't really know much at all, my info is secondhand.

100% in my testing (done it for 3 friends), I've heard of some horror stories, but angrier voices are always the most prominent on the net. Its all anecdotal, but I'd feel safe if I were you. It more-or-less turns the card into a 6970.

I've been lurking this thread for literally a year and a half. That's how long it took my membership to get approved. I'm glad to finally contribute. Considering my job allows for lots of frequent 'net trips, I'll be here for a long while.

Any specific brand you would recommend? I've been using Asus I believe for the past 8 years. I see XFX has a card with a rebate right now. Are they good?

Is the Asus card that says it is turbocharged just the 6970 bios flashed onto it?

 

[mkenyon]

I'd recommend ASUS and Sapphire equally. They really stand by their products and give interest into the gaming community. They're always supporting local events and meeting in person, gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I've had problems with XFX cards in the past, albeit both Nvidia cards. Totally anecdotal, so don't take my word as gold there.

The Turbocharged is just a factory overclocked card, not with the 6970 BIOS flash.

 

[TheExodu5]

I've read quite a few reports of Sapphire using low quality components in their cards, for what it's worth.

edit: can't find them any more...could have been FUD.

Out of the cards I've owned (recently):

XFX 8800GT - first one was unstable at stock clocks...had to downclock it. I exchanged it for another that worked fine, but ran super hot (95C)...that was probably a fault of the 8800GT stock cooler itself, though. I filed a ticket with XFX support and they got back to me fairly quickly. They offered to send a new cooler free of charge.

MSI GTX 275 - great. Clocked ~10% above stock, and ran at <85C at 40% fan speeds (nearly inaudible). This was with MSI's Twin Frozr cooler.

EVGA GTX 570 - one of them came in an egg shell carton, and the other in a foam carton...I have no idea why. The one in the egg shell carton had a bent bracket, and I had to take pliers and bend it back into place. Still, I phoned support and they were great.

I never dealt with MSI support, but I've heard that they're equally great as well. While Asus has some nice products, their support was awful for a friend of mine, so I've been shying away for the time being. Basically, a friend of mine had compatibility issues with an MSI GTX 570 and his Asus AM2+ motherboard. He e-mailed both supports. MSI got back to him within a day and offered to test the card on similar chipsets to see if they could reproduce the same issues. They got back with the results within a few days after that with test results. Asus, on the other hand, took a week and a half to get back to him, and then only offered for him to have to mail the board in (no express RMA in Canada) and hope the new one would work. Not completely unexpected, but a week and a half of waiting is ridiculous.

 

[mkenyon]

Any links to this? Or was it mostly forumtalk? I pretty much whore over tech blogs and OCC/HardOCP/Bit-Tech/Anandtech and haven't seen any such claims. Would be interested to read, as I see one of their reps pretty regularly and would love to bring it up.

 

[TheExodu5]

Any links to this? Or was it mostly forumtalk? I pretty much whore over tech blogs and OCC/HardOCP/Bit-Tech/Anandtech and haven't seen any such claims. Would be interested to see for sure though, as I have see one of their reps pretty regularly and would love to bring it up.

It was probably forum talk. Ignore what I said.

 

[Trojita]

How much of an increase will I see from a 4870 512 MB to a 6950 with the 6970 bios flash?

I'm not sure if I really need the upgrade to enjoy my games or I'm just having ugradeitis.

 

[TheExodu5]

How much of an increase will I see from a 4870 512 MB to a 6950 with the 6970 bios flash?

I'm not sure if I really need the upgrade to enjoy my games or I'm just having ugradeitis.

Somewhere around 80%.

 

[Zinga]

How much of an increase will I see from a 4870 512 MB to a 6950 with the 6970 bios flash?

I'm not sure if I really need the upgrade to enjoy my games or I'm just having ugradeitis.

Pretty sizeable upgrade, though the 4870 is no slouch either imo and can play any game out there, if I was you I would just wait another year for 28nm products as it's still a fine card!

 

[mkenyon]

How much of an increase will I see from a 4870 512 MB to a 6950 with the 6970 bios flash?

I'm not sure if I really need the upgrade to enjoy my games or I'm just having ugradeitis.

Huuuuuuuge. It's going to make a very substantial difference, especially at your higher res. Others might confuse what you have with the 4870 1GB, and that would be less of an upgrade. You're maxing out your VRAM for sure right now, and the processor difference is outstanding on top of that. It's worth it.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

'Need' is a strong word. Onboard audio processing is adequate to most people out there. But that being said, for $30, the improvement is pretty significant

Spoiler

see: at least noticeable to most people

. Stay away from the DX. It's older hardware, and doesn't have a headphone amp, which you would probably be looking for if you have... headphones.


...The power that a sound card gets means very, very little to the quality of the sound. Besides, the DG is a PCI card, not PCI-E. The PCI-E slot doesn't provide adequate power, hence the need for power plugs for your graphics and sound cards that go here.

huh? I'm fairly certain the Xonar D2 has a headphone amp.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

Phenom II 955 deneb4X OC'ED 3.8ghz Cooled with a Corsair H70 liquid cooling system
Northbridge OC'ed 2200mhz
G.Skill Ripclaw designed for Intel 1600mhz 8 gbs
6950 flashed to 6970 OC'ed to match specs
Antec 550w PSU

Tried 2400mhz NB, but after log in the desktop would not load. Also did a voltage increase, but I had 4 pins going into an 8 pin MB. Could it have been the 4 missing pins affecting the amount of power going to 6950 when I increased the voltage to the NB?

 

[KolosLazar16]

Are there ANY ideas when the 25nm Postville Refresh SSD's are supposed to come out?

 

[Hazaro]

If I had to pick cards at equal price I'd go with XFX or MSI.
XFX for double lifetime warranty.
MSI for some of the extra aftermarket stuff they do on cards.
eVGA is also pretty solid on service, there's no real faults with most of the card sellers.

 

[Kadey]

Going from a 4870X2 to a 560 Ti is such a vast improvement. I can actually hear myself now. Lot less heat, etc. And I probably won't run into any more ATI driver issues.

 

[TheExodu5]

Are there ANY ideas when the 25nm Postville Refresh SSD's are supposed to come out?

Postville Refresh?

edit: oh G3 codename...no clue so far.

I've given up on the Intel drives. I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go with the Vertex 3.

 

[Zzoram]

Going from a 4870X2 to a 560 Ti is such a vast improvement. I can actually hear myself now. Lot less heat, etc. And I probably won't run into any more ATI driver issues.

Is it even much of a performance boost? I thought the GTX560 was ~2.2x a single HD4870