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[autobzooty]

So I recently installed my brand new nvidia GTX 560 Ti and I'm not getting QUITE the results I expected. My big tester was gonna be StarCraft 2, which I assumed could easily pull 60 FPS on max settings with my core i7 920 overclocked to 3.5 GHz and my new GTX 560, but it seems to be more of a 45-60 FPS range. Dips down to 30 quite frequently with vsync on.

I've seen benchmarks of the 460 running the game at 60 FPS max settings for all but the most intense battles, but my framerate dips when my screen is looking at the shaders of a mineral patch. I don't think it's a driver issue since I downloaded the latest drivers off nvidia's site less than a week ago, but I don't know what else it could be.

Anything I can do to lock this game at 60, or am I gonna have to drop my graphics settings after my new purchase? :\

 

[Absinthe]

UPS just delivered my build:

So Stoked!

 

[Slayer-33]

WTB C400 ugh...

 

[Funky Papa]

Nobody replied to my questions Did I say something wrong?

SSDs = like one giant and blazing fast pendrive instead of a HDD. Meaning that they offer almost instantaneous access and make zero noise. They should also last longer.

As for the graphics card... It is hard to make any recommendation without knowing the rest of your hardware. The 5850 is a good budget card anyway.

 

[shouamabane]

I'd be wary of iBuyPower. Their customer service is terrible.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[knitoe]

was the LE released later? regular/pro/etc seem to be at 1502 already lol (1003 was the first I flashed to when I got mine)
edit: looking at the site the initial bios was 0701 and a late January version called 0709 .. the hell?

now that you mention it I do faintly remember my cpu being warmer than idle in the bios but havent been in there in over a month

Pretty sure, LE was released the same time. For some reason, Asus just uses different number system, like how P8P67 WS official latest bios is 1103.

You should notice everytime your computer boots the CPU fan kicks in at max than becomes quiet. The CPU is being tested = heat.

 

[n0n44m]

Pretty sure, LE was released the same time. For some reason, Asus just uses different number system, like how P8P67 WS official latest bios is 1103.

You should notice everytime your computer boots the CPU fan kicks in at max than becomes quiet. The CPU is being tested = heat.

haven't rebooted in a month either using sleep all the time hehe

 

[knitoe]

haven't rebooted in a month either using sleep all the time hehe

With SSD drive, regular boot up takes <20 sec. Thus, really don't see much point in sleep. And, the blinking blue power light is kinda distracting during sleep.

 

[TheExodu5]

An idling PC costs me less than $0.30 a day and also gives me the ability to stream videos to my iPhone or other devices whenever I desire, so I just leave it on at all times.

Electricity in Canada is cheap.

 

[Shambles]

Saved by God. Thank you.

Sounds like you got it figured out. What worked? I would have just assumed the HDD was dead a long time ago and replaced it.

Edit: Ah looks like it must have been the boot priority suggest above. I have a hard time keeping up in this thread sometimes

UPS just delivered my build:

So Stoked!

Looks awesome, let us know if it works out alright.

 

[Kyaw]

Does anyone here have the Gigabyte 480 'Special Edition'?
I should be receiving it tomorrow to upgrade from my 4870.

Cant wait!

 

[momolicious]

1. They used to have a short lifespan. They're about equal to mechanical drives now. Super ridiculously fast. Still too expensive for storage and games. Buy one for OS and general programs.

2. GTX560, 6850 2GB are the current sweethearts.

SSD has short lifespan!? how can that be with no mechanical moving parts

 

[n0n44m]

Does anyone here have the Gigabyte 480 'Special Edition'?
I should be receiving it tomorrow to upgrade from my 4870.

Cant wait!

I got a regular Gigabyte 480 with Arctic Cooling aftermarket cooler ... powerful card =] mine's quite a crappy overclocker unfortunately

you got yours from oc'ers.co.uk? They've got quite nice deals at times but the extra shipping to .nl is a bit too much for me =[

 

[Shambles]

SSD has short lifespan!? how can that be with no mechanical moving parts

Flash chips have a lifespan related to how often they are used. Modern SSDs use wear levelling techniques that spread this wear and tear evenally to all the sectors of the chips. Lifetime issue are irrelevant as current SSDs should last you decades, much longer than you'll have need for them.

 

[Kyaw]

I got a regular Gigabyte 480 with Arctic Cooling aftermarket cooler ... powerful card =] mine's quite a crappy overclocker unfortunately

you got yours from oc'ers.co.uk? They've got quite nice deals at times but the extra shipping to .nl is a bit too much for me =[

Yup, got it from OCUK. Great deal. I heard they can be overclocked to 890mhz core. :O

 

[n0n44m]

Yup, got it from OCUK. Great deal. I heard they can be overclocked to 890mhz core. :O

awesome .. mine does 875~895 (furmark~3dmark stable) at 1.2v (bios mod) although I run either stock or 800@1.1v for all current games lol (1080p maxed @ 60 fps <3 )

 

[Kenka]

Sounds like you got it figured out. What worked? I would have just assumed the HDD was dead a long time ago and replaced it.

Edit: Ah looks like it must have been the boot priority suggest above. I have a hard time keeping up in this thread sometimes

Looks awesome, let us know if it works out alright.

Precisely. It was some weird shit linked to that. Add to that the fact that I can't burn an ISO of Windows properly (had to do it twice) and you get the reason why I felt so bad.

Now, I seem to have a problem with my RJ-45 port. But please, don't laugh.

Thanks for the support mate. Once my PC is ready and good, I'll reward you for your availability and kindness

 

[black_vegeta]

UPS just delivered my build:

awesomeness.jpg

So Stoked!

Definitely let us know how it works out.

 

[Kyaw]

awesome .. mine does 875~895 (furmark~3dmark stable) at 1.2v (bios mod) although I run either stock or 800@1.1v for all current games lol (1080p maxed @ 60 fps <3 )

I'll probably keep it at 800 for safe keeping. I'm guessing the temps are acceptable with 800@1.1v?

 

[n0n44m]

I'll probably keep it at 800 for safe keeping. I'm guessing the temps are acceptable with 800@1.1v?

yeah my stock voltage is quite high at 1.088 so 1.1 is only a small jump from there ... ~55C after an hour of Bad Company 2

the cooler on that special edition should have no problem keeping it cool at 800mhz

 

[blanky]

I have two questions.

- I read somewhere that of all the SSD's available Intel's were most reliable, something like 0,59% to around 2% for the others (i suppose failure rate). As far as picking the most reliable and stable SSD out there, does it really matter which I pick or are Intel's really significantly more reliable?

- About the ASUS ENGTX580 Direct CU II, I have my eyes set on this card. However I wont be beginning to build until July, it will still be around by then wont it?

 

[Wolf Akela]

Looking to replace my old casing. It has a temp monitor that I don't even use. :|

What's the cheapest full tower that has a sliding HDD bay and a bottom-placed PSU? Preferably with no built-in PSU. Sliding as in like this one:

 

[autobzooty]

So I recently installed my brand new nvidia GTX 560 Ti and I'm not getting QUITE the results I expected. My big tester was gonna be StarCraft 2, which I assumed could easily pull 60 FPS on max settings with my core i7 920 overclocked to 3.5 GHz and my new GTX 560, but it seems to be more of a 45-60 FPS range. Dips down to 30 quite frequently with vsync on.

I've seen benchmarks of the 460 running the game at 60 FPS max settings for all but the most intense battles, but my framerate dips when my screen is looking at the shaders of a mineral patch. I don't think it's a driver issue since I downloaded the latest drivers off nvidia's site less than a week ago, but I don't know what else it could be.

Anything I can do to lock this game at 60, or am I gonna have to drop my graphics settings after my new purchase? :\

Did some benchmarking with fraps. Seems to depend on the map I play. Minimum frame rate of 50 FPS with an average of 59.97 on metalopolis, but on twilight fortress it dips all the way to 25 at times. Very frustrating. I didn't realize there was such a huge difference in hardware needs per map in this game. Really was expecting this card to be MORE than enough to run this game...

Can anyone confirm? Am I doing something wrong here?

 

[Wolf Akela]

^Depends on the map for me.

Like when I played that custom game where you just had to manage bases which automatically produced units that are sent to the enemy side, my PC could crawl to as low as 3FPS even though I normally get about 45-60FPS.

 

[·feist·]

Looking to replace my old casing. It has a temp monitor that I don't even use. :|

What's the cheapest full tower that has a sliding HDD bay and a bottom-placed PSU? Preferably with no built-in PSU. Sliding as in like this one:
http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/678/HDD_bay.JPG

$120 - NZXT Phantom (using $20 off coupon EMCKGHF35)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=nzxt+phantom&x=0&y=0

$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EPUQAE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$150 - Fractal Design Define XL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...STMATCH&Description=fractal+define+xl&x=0&y=0

$160 - Cooler Master HAF X
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0338051

$160 - Antec 1200 V3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9100&cm_re=antec_120-0-_-11-129-100-_-Product


Midtowers are very spacious these days. You can easily find a fulltower replacement that's roomy, cools well, and is inexpensive.

 

[CrankyJay]

$160 - Cooler Master HAF X
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0338051

Fuck, I really wish I lived near a Microcenter.

 

[Smokey]

Now that the 590 has released and I have a release date for the C400...it may be that time. How does the 590 compare to SLI 580?

 

[Dinokill]

My new built

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz

Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus

Case: COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000

GPU: XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready

Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W ATX12V (from my old pc)


What do you think?

 

[Extollere]

Question... I'm on a budget - and my current PC has an old 8600 GTS card. I want to upgrade without spending a shit ton of money, but is it better for me to buy another 8600 GTS for my SLI mobo, (so I'd be running two of the same), or should I just buy one new card that's more powerful?

 

[TheExodu5]

One new card. 8600GT is very weak by today's standards. $120 will buy you a card that's 4-5 times faster.

 

[G-Pink]

Okay, similar to my list quite a while ago (just before the recalls happened), I've made a list of the PC I plan to order. Please lemme know what you guys think. This machine will be used primarily for video editing and gaming, so that's why I went with the i7. I went with a Fractal Design R3 case after seeing Jeff Gerstmann's PC being build with the black version of that case, and liking how it looked. Down the road I'll probably upgrade to 16 GB of RAM, and at the same time, grab either an SLI 560 Ti, or another video card.

 

[EatChildren]

So, I got my system set up a couple of days ago. Again, huge thank you to those who helped me pick the hardware. Runs like a dream.

As per my temp issue earlier, I got Windows installed, hit up RealTemp, and saw that my CPU idles ~30, dipping into the 20's every now and then. Under load it gets no hotter than 45 degrees, and is mostly still in the 30's while gaming. I'm thinking these temps are pretty damn fine, and while it doesn't idle at a super low temp it does seem to handle load temps really well.

I do have two more questions thought .

- Upon boot-up, my mobo states that there is no hard disk detected, but then boots fine into Windows. It's weird. It says it while booting (I'll get a shot when I get home), but boots regardless. I didn't have any trouble installing Windows, nor have I had any HDD problems. The HDD is pretty new too. Maybe it's a MBO setting? I've got it plugged into the 6GB/s SATA port, for what it's worth.

- I've noticed a couple of graphical oddities. They'll be hard to explain without screenshots so I wont try too hard until I get home. They're very, very specific things, so I'm thinking it might be a driver or software problem rather than a hardware problem. The best way I can explain it is I get some strange texture flickering, almost like an alpha layer problem, with some props, as well as some transperancy issues. One example would be in Crysis Warhead, those 'swamp' trees with big roots and lots of grass and moss hanging over them. The mossy stuff flickers somewhat, as if it isn't rendering correctly. It's hard to explain so I'll be sure to grab some screenies when I get home, but as said I dont think it's a hardware issue.

 

[Shambles]

Save yourself 100$ and get the 2TB caviar green instead.

 

[TheExodu5]

If it's a main drive, then Caviar Black...but for the difference in price, I'd probably try to spring for a cheap SSD, yeah.

edit: oh, he already has an SSD there...yeah drop it to a Green then.

There are better SSDs out now than the Intel.

 

[Funky Papa]

OCZ Vertex 3 prices and ship date

We received confirmation tonight that the Vertex 3 will start shipping in 1-2 weeks.

The 120G will MSRP at $279.99 and the 240G at $539.99. These prices are up slightly from originally expected due to NAND price fluctuations.

Man, the wait is killing me.

 

[MikeE21286]

$120 - NZXT Phantom (using $20 off coupon EMCKGHF35)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=nzxt+phantom&x=0&y=0

$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EPUQAE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$150 - Fractal Design Define XL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...STMATCH&Description=fractal+define+xl&x=0&y=0

$160 - Cooler Master HAF X
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0338051

$160 - Antec 1200 V3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9100&cm_re=antec_120-0-_-11-129-100-_-Product

Midtowers are very spacious these days. You can easily find a fulltower replacement that's roomy, cools well, and is inexpensive.

IMO the NZXT is an awesome case, however the HDD storage is absolutely atrocious...nothing like the picture that Wolf Akela put up.

 

[G-Pink]

Alright, I'll drop to the Green, are you sure the difference in RPM won't matter? (5400 vs. 7200)
As far as SSDs go, I figured the Intel would be the most reliable, but if you have some suggestions, I'm more than happy to take them.

 

[Shambles]

Even if it was a main drive the small difference in performance isn't worth 2.5X the price. Modern hard drives are also so much faster than what they used to be that even the slower models perform quite well, although not up to par with the current 7200RPM drives. My fairly new storage 2TB caviar green outperforms my primary 7200RPM drive that is going on 3 years now. Can't wait until I get my hands on an SSD though.

Yeah with an SSD as the primary having a black for secondary is a pretty big waste. You can get the 5400/5900 RPM 2TB drives now for as low as $70. Off the top of my head I'd say they are only around 15% slow for access times and throughput.

 

[TheExodu5]

Alright, I'll drop to the Green, are you sure the difference in RPM won't matter? (5400 vs. 7200)
As far as SSDs go, I figured the Intel would be the most reliable, but if you have some suggestions, I'm more than happy to take them.

That OCZ Vertex 3 is really damned fast. I'm waiting for that.

 

[G-Pink]

That OCZ Vertex 3 is really damned fast. I'm waiting for that.

Tempting, but how reliable has OCZ been historically? And as far as RMA, how easy? I'm fine to order everything but that for the time being, then get one of them in a week or two, but I want to know I'm getting something that'll last.

 

[TheExodu5]

Tempting, but how reliable has OCZ been historically? And as far as RMA, how easy? I'm fine to order everything but that for the time being, then get one of them in a week or two, but I want to know I'm getting something that'll last.

Well, if you want something faster with more assurance, maybe check out the Intel 510 series.

The OCZ drives have been fine, but the firmware for the Vertex 2 had growing pains.

 

[knitoe]

So, I got my system set up a couple of days ago. Again, huge thank you to those who helped me pick the hardware. Runs like a dream.

As per my temp issue earlier, I got Windows installed, hit up RealTemp, and saw that my CPU idles ~30, dipping into the 20's every now and then. Under load it gets no hotter than 45 degrees, and is mostly still in the 30's while gaming. I'm thinking these temps are pretty damn fine, and while it doesn't idle at a super low temp it does seem to handle load temps really well.

I do have two more questions thought .

- Upon boot-up, my mobo states that there is no hard disk detected, but then boots fine into Windows. It's weird. It says it while booting (I'll get a shot when I get home), but boots regardless. I didn't have any trouble installing Windows, nor have I had any HDD problems. The HDD is pretty new too. Maybe it's a MBO setting? I've got it plugged into the 6GB/s SATA port, for what it's worth.

- I've noticed a couple of graphical oddities. They'll be hard to explain without screenshots so I wont try too hard until I get home. They're very, very specific things, so I'm thinking it might be a driver or software problem rather than a hardware problem. The best way I can explain it is I get some strange texture flickering, almost like an alpha layer problem, with some props, as well as some transperancy issues. One example would be in Crysis Warhead, those 'swamp' trees with big roots and lots of grass and moss hanging over them. The mossy stuff flickers somewhat, as if it isn't rendering correctly. It's hard to explain so I'll be sure to grab some screenies when I get home, but as said I dont think it's a hardware issue.

Your temperature seems fine. Run Prime95 and see what your max temp would be.

As for MB no HDD detected, it could be that your MB has 2 different storage controller and one of them doesn't have a device connected to it. For example, my Asus P8P67 Deluxe have both a Intel and Marvell controllers. And, since all my drives are connected to Intel controller, the Marvell controller always says there are no HDD detected. I just disable the controller in the bios and now, the bootup process just bypass the whole thing.

For you graphic issue, are you overclocking the video card? If yes, try lowering the overclock. If no, try reinstalling drivers and/or different ones.

 

[G-Pink]

Well, if you want something faster with more assurance, maybe check out the Intel 510 series.

The OCZ drives have been fine, but the firmware for the Vertex 2 had growing pains.

Aight. I think I'll take your advice, and wait for the Vertex 3. No harm in waiting a week or two. Thanks a lot for the advice.

The case I got should fit everything I'm buying, right? It's a mid-size, and I assume it's the same size as the one in this video: http://www.tested.com/news/how-to-build-a-future-proof-1500-gaming-pc/2003/

 

[TheExodu5]

Aight. I think I'll take your advice, and wait for the Vertex 3. No harm in waiting a week or two. Thanks a lot for the advice.

The case I got should fit everything I'm buying, right? It's a mid-size, and I assume it's the same size as the one in this video: http://www.tested.com/news/how-to-build-a-future-proof-1500-gaming-pc/2003/

Yeah that case will do fine.

I actually have an Intel X25-M. I wanted to go Intel again, but it's just so hard to ignore the sheer performance of the Vertex 3 drives.

The only place where the OCZ doesn't do as well is QD=1 random reads, but that's not a huge deal. As soon as QD=2, it jumps way up.

Sequential speeds are second to none:

 

[DrForester]

Got my G.Skill 240 GB SSD into my laptop today. Man it's even better than I thought it would be. Can't wait to run the thing on battery on a trip.

 

[MikeE21286]

does anyone have any knowledge on installing a new SSD into a MBP?

I'm possibly looking at buying one and I would like to get one of the newer SSDs into it, however I have no knowledge on the sorts. I have no intentions of paying the upgrade fees from a standard 7200/5400 rpm laptop hard drive to a 2.5" SSD if I can do it myself.

Some people in the forums at Macrumors have mentioned it, yet I haven't dug too much yet..

 

[Raistlin]

I have two questions.

- I read somewhere that of all the SSD's available Intel's were most reliable, something like 0,59% to around 2% for the others (i suppose failure rate). As far as picking the most reliable and stable SSD out there, does it really matter which I pick or are Intel's really significantly more reliable?

Actually that is true. Most SSD's are around as reliable as decent consumer-level HDD's (a little better, but it's probably within the margin of error or close to it?). Regardless, intel's seem to be a freak show - they can be run over by tanks. Note though, there were plenty of changes for their new line, so I can't comment on them

Now that the 590 has released and I have a release date for the C400...it may be that time. How does the 590 compare to SLI 580?

It doesn't

 

[Cyrus365]

Guys sorry to bug you often: for gaming and future SLI/Crossfire, and some like photoshop graphic work:

Which of these 3 or other would you recommend:

(Going with asus 1155 Board Deluxe and i7 2600K)

So graphic card:

XFX Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 1GB 5GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort Video Card for 235.99, after MIR it's 204.99

XFX Radeon HD 6950 XXX 830MHZ 1GB 5.2GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort Video Card for 229.99 after MIR, it's $200?

So same card, just one slightly over clocked and is cheaper??

Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort Video Card for 279.99 (Is it worth 80 bucks more for a 1 gig step up?)

XFX Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 2GB 5.0GHZ DDR5 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card for 279.99, after MIR 245.99

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Fermi 850MHZ 1024MB 4104MHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card for 249.99

MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr OC 880MHZ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E Video Card for 249.99

Or better yet, is better to go with 460 GTX priced lower, for the better value, ultimately in the end I'll want to do SLI/Crossfire with the card, so want to get a decent/good card now...but nothing too crazy or expensive...250 range is my top limit I believe.

 

[Schlep]

My new built

What do you think?

Looks like a good job. Is your CPU power cable too short to route through the case? How are the temps on your 212+?

 

[EatChildren]

For you graphic issue, are you overclocking the video card? If yes, try lowering the overclock. If no, try reinstalling drivers and/or different ones.

I only just got the card, so no overclocking other than the factory overclock I have. I just got home so I can give some screenies now of the problems.

Two problems in Crysis Warhead;
- First one here. As you can see the ice at the start of this level is all funky, with black streaks through it. There also appears to be some strange anti-aliasing/blur on the wooden planks. It only appears at the start of this level, in this area. As soon as I exit everything is fine. I turned off all anti-aliasing, and the black lines mores or less disappeared. However, there was still some really strange blurring around those wooden planks.
- Second problem here. You can see that the draping moss and vines on the tree have strange pixel effects, as if the transperacy isn't working properly. Even weirder, they react oddly to the blur of movement. When I move, they create black artefacts that 'move' with the blur. You can see them here. They only appear on these specific trees.

I couldn't get a good shot from Crysis 2. The best way I can describe the problem there is to imagine that you're looking at one plane of glass through another glass, like looking through one car window at another, or one glass barrier to another. The one in the background with somewhat glitch with the one in the forground, cancelling out any decal effects.

So if the piece of glass in front of me is all cracked and smashed, and I'm looking through it to a piece of glass in the background, it wont display the cracks and what not on the front plane wherever the background panel is positioned.

I've reinstalled the drivers and it made no difference. I might roll back to the ones before and see if there's any problem there.

Anyone got any advice?