Support NeoGAF

[Baller. PhD]

Got around to taking some pictures. Please ignore the cable mess on the bottom after hastily installing a Xonar before a LAN event. Haven't got around to cleaning it up

AM3 970 @ 4.0 ghz, 4GB Crucial Ballistic Tracer, ASUS 5870, ASUS Crosshair IV, 2x1TB Spinpoint F3s for gaming drive, Vertex 2 90GB for OS, ASUS Xonar, CM Scout, CM Hyper 212+, Corsair HX 650W

http://i53.tinypic.com/21j58xz.jpg

This is my main gaming setup:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2ymy71s.jpg

At nighttime. Put LED lighting along the bottom of my wire rack. Finally, I have defeated glare!

http://i54.tinypic.com/2h6c9yg.jpg

Beautiful goddamn fucking pictures. Both your cable management and gaming set up. I like your style.

Question: where did you get the thing you have set up on top of your desk? I want it. Bad. Is the part your PC is resting on part of it, or is it a separate thing?

 

[nataku]

Oh man, so nice to finally have Windows reinstalled and be off typing and searching for solutions to my issues on my phone.

I need to try and find out of I can fix the power switch issue myself. I'd really hate to RMA the thing and be without my PC for who knows how long. I sat on my PC parts last weekend waiting for the case to come and it turns out to be the biggest problem.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Real Temp/Core Temp showing my i5 2500K is running at about 38C. No overclocking or anything, still stock, stock cooler. Is this normal?

Also noticed that the BIOS shows cpu temp as way too high. (around 60C). It's the ASUS P8P67 board.

That's probably fairly normal with a stock temperature depending on the temperature in your room/air flow in the case.

I was getting high 40s/low 50s with my i5 2500k when idle using the stock cooler. Then again, I had to apply the thermal paste myself and may not have done the best job. I switched to a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus today, and now my idle temps are in the mid to high 20s. My highest temperature playing games today has been around 50c.

 

[sestrugen]

I am trying to sell my rig to upgrade to a new intel based computer, is $500 an ok price for this computer? Ive had it for 3 months.

AMD x4 640 3.0GHz + Zalman CNPS9500 Blue LED-CU
ASUS M4A87D/USB3 AM3
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600
EVGA Nvidia GTX460 768mb Super clocked
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair TX650w
Thermaltake Black V3 + 120mm blue fan + 80mm blue fan
DVD+-/RW LG

I am trying to make a decision on whether or not is a fair price

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

DAMN, SSDDDDs are small, found a way to install in the case but wasn't sure if its o.k to mount these things on their side.

It should be fine yes?

 

[knitoe]

DAMN, SSDDDDs are small, found a way to install in the case but wasn't sure if its o.k to mount these things on their side.

It should be fine yes?

Yes. No moving parts so you can pretty much mount them at any angle.

 

[Kadey]

I'm going to do a full upgrade in the next 2-3 weeks thanks to this thread.

Currently I have.

Using it mainly for multimedia, video encoding, streaming, business related stuff and every day use. Gaming isn't a priority and very low factor. I'll be reusing my GTX 560Ti, 750 watt PSU, and 1TB internal drive to compliment them. I also have a bunch of external drives, Freezer Pro 7 or whatever cooler and a few other things.

Anybody have any other recommendations or suggestions? I'm not going to overclock anything except for maybe the processor. Not planning to SLI either.

 

[Zeal]

guys, has the reliability of SSDs really improved to the point where they are a dependable replacement for traditional drives? i would really like to get one for my OS and another as a backup for archiving.

 

[Aselith]

Oh man, Neogaf, I may have fucked up bad. I'm building a system for my friend and he got an LGA 1155 processor. I though I ordered a 1155 board but much to my chagrin when it came in it was 1156! Fuck! Well, we'll just return and swap em out an...it's a replacement only return item. Double fuck! I went ahead and ordered the correct board and paid out of my pocket so my friend can get his system up asap but now I'm stuck with this unwanted mobo.

Anyone ever encountered a situation like this and had Newegg work with them? I wouldn't mind swapping it out for a new video card but it seems like maybe even that won't be possible. Calling on Monday but was hoping someone could share a story of the Newegg being super cool and helping them out in similar circumstances. :/ Anyone?

 

[G-Pink]

Well, I have an entirely strange and infuriating problem with my newly built PC. I built it about three days ago, and ran it for about 7 hours, it posted, installed, and worked like a charm during the first and second days I had it running. The temperatures seemed fine, and all the fans were running well. The third day rolls around, and I'm trying to edit some footage for a friend, when the computer just up and turns off, without any notice. After opening it up and trying to get it to turn on again, it does, for a short time, and then turns back off. Now, when I try to turn it on, neither power button, on the case, or the motherboard works. I've fiddled with screws, tried my best to ascertain if there was a short in the cables, looked for cracked connectors on the motherboard, and looked for bulging resistors. I've tried reseating everything on the board, redoing every cable, and I thought I solved it when I pressed the power button and it started up after that, and also when it ran after trying to remove and replace the CMOS battery, but the problem is, everything on the computer runs, but no signal is being sent to the monitor, and my DRAM_LED is on. If I hold it for three seconds, it blinks, and then turns back off, refusing to post more than once after that long pause with the CMOS battery out. It seems the longer I have it off, the more time it runs without stopping.

I'm at the end of my rope, I only hope someone here might have some suggestions for things it might be. I'm hoping the motherboard or PSU might be to blame, rather than the CPU overheating, which is what my friend said it might be. To that end, I've tried reseating the fan, making sure there was a good amount of thermal paste on it, and rotating it to make sure it was level on the CPU.

Here's a picture of the motherboard when it runs. If I turn it off, or press the MemOK button, then try to turn it back on, it won't for quite some time, either with or without the CMOS battery. And the QCode in the picture isn't the only one I've had. I also had 20.

F3 supposedly means "Recovery firmware image is found"
20, which I guess is between 19-1C in the guide is "Pre-memory PCH initialization is started"

EDIT: I should also say that normally when it's in the state where the power is on, but it won't start, the Power and Reset buttons on the motherboard are lit up. That's what made me think it wasn't the PSU.

 

[comrade]

Oh man, Neogaf, I may have fucked up bad. I'm building a system for my friend and he got an LGA 1155 processor. I though I ordered a 1155 board but much to my chagrin when it came in it was 1156! Fuck! Well, we'll just return and swap em out an...it's a replacement only return item. Double fuck! I went ahead and ordered the correct board and paid out of my pocket so my friend can get his system up asap but now I'm stuck with this unwanted mobo.

Anyone ever encountered a situation like this and had Newegg work with them? I wouldn't mind swapping it out for a new video card but it seems like maybe even that won't be possible. Calling on Monday but was hoping someone could share a story of the Newegg being super cool and helping them out in similar circumstances. :/ Anyone?

Same thing happened to me with Newegg before. Ordered a bored that was SLI only when I had ATI cards. I contacted Newegg and they offered to take the board back but with a 15% restocking fee. I ended up selling it myself on eBay.

 

[Cheech]

It seems the longer I have it off, the more time it runs without stopping.

You cleaning the old thermal paste off before putting new on?

Run the cpu temp utility that came with your system and watch and see how hot the CPU gets before it shuts off. I am betting the cpu heatsink isn't making great contact with the cpu, and it's just getting so hot the thermal diode is shutting your system down so permanent damage isn't done to the cpu.

 

[Aselith]

Same thing happened to me with Newegg before. Ordered a bored that was SLI only when I had AMD cards. I contacted Newegg and they offered to take the board back but with a 15% restocking fee. I ended up selling it myself on eBay.

Awesome! I'll probably just do the restocking fee if that's all they offer and switch it for the video card if they'll let me do that without the fee. Glad to know they probably aren't going to leave me holding the bag though.

Edit: Just in case though...if anyone is interested in buying the card, it's this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...621&cm_re=p7p55d-e_pro-_-13-131-621-_-Product

I'd be happy to sell it to you for a reasonable price if anyone wants to buy. It's brand new, I just screwed it into the case, realized my mistake and repackaged it. It's a fine card, I just have no use for it as I just built myself a new system a few months ago.

 

[G-Pink]

You cleaning the old thermal paste off before putting new on?

Run the cpu temp utility that came with your system and watch and see how hot the CPU gets before it shuts off. I am betting the cpu heatsink isn't making great contact with the cpu, and it's just getting so hot the thermal diode is shutting your system down so permanent damage isn't done to the cpu.

I haven't cleaned any thermal paste off, nor applied any (don't have any extra), it's using the stock fan, and I reseated the fan and looked to see if the paste had spread well. It seemed to be a very good circle, and the fan was pretty flush. I don't know how to run a cpu temp utility if I can't get anything to display on the monitor, nor how to ascertain it's indeed that, because it seems that after the CMOS battery has been out for 10 minutes, the system seems to run for as long as I don't touch anything.

 

[comrade]

Awesome! I'll probably just do the restocking fee if that's all they offer and switch it for the video card if they'll let me do that without the fee. Glad to know they probably aren't going to leave me holding the bag though.

I tried switching mine out for the correct mobo but they were still charging me the restocking fee. Not really a big deal but I was on a budget at the time.

 

[Zinga]

Well, I have an entirely strange and infuriating problem with my newly built PC. I built it about three days ago, and ran it for about 7 hours, it posted, installed, and worked like a charm during the first and second days I had it running. The temperatures seemed fine, and all the fans were running well. The third day rolls around, and I'm trying to edit some footage for a friend, when the computer just up and turns off, without any notice. After opening it up and trying to get it to turn on again, it does, for a short time, and then turns back off. Now, when I try to turn it on, neither power button, on the case, or the motherboard works. I've fiddled with screws, tried my best to ascertain if there was a short in the cables, looked for cracked connectors on the motherboard, and looked for bulging resistors. I've tried reseating everything on the board, redoing every cable, and I thought I solved it when I pressed the power button and it started up after that, and also when it ran after trying to remove and replace the CMOS battery, but the problem is, everything on the computer runs, but no signal is being sent to the monitor, and my DRAM_LED is on. If I hold it for three seconds, it blinks, and then turns back off, refusing to post more than once after that long pause with the CMOS battery out. It seems the longer I have it off, the more time it runs without stopping.

I'm at the end of my rope, I only hope someone here might have some suggestions for things it might be. I'm hoping the motherboard or PSU might be to blame, rather than the CPU overheating, which is what my friend said it might be. To that end, I've tried reseating the fan, making sure there was a good amount of thermal paste on it, and rotating it to make sure it was level on the CPU.

Here's a picture of the motherboard when it runs. If I turn it off, or press the MemOK button, then try to turn it back on, it won't for quite some time, either with or without the CMOS battery. And the QCode in the picture isn't the only one I've had. I also had 20.

F3 supposedly means "Recovery firmware image is found"
20, which I guess is between 19-1C in the guide is "Pre-memory PCH initialization is started"

EDIT: I should also say that normally when it's in the state where the power is on, but it won't start, the Power and Reset buttons on the motherboard are lit up. That's what made me think it wasn't the PSU.

Try a different PSU, if it is just shutting off without warning chances are its the PSU

 

[Aselith]

I tried switching mine out for the correct mobo but they were still charging me the restocking fee. Not really a big deal but I was on a budget at the time.

Ah, well I'll probably just get it refunded if they'll allow it then. Thanks very much for the info, man!

 

[Shambles]

Well, I have an entirely strange and infuriating problem with my newly built PC. I built it about three days ago, and ran it for about 7 hours, it posted, installed, and worked like a charm during the first and second days I had it running. The temperatures seemed fine, and all the fans were running well. The third day rolls around, and I'm trying to edit some footage for a friend, when the computer just up and turns off, without any notice. After opening it up and trying to get it to turn on again, it does, for a short time, and then turns back off. Now, when I try to turn it on, neither power button, on the case, or the motherboard works. I've fiddled with screws, tried my best to ascertain if there was a short in the cables, looked for cracked connectors on the motherboard, and looked for bulging resistors. I've tried reseating everything on the board, redoing every cable, and I thought I solved it when I pressed the power button and it started up after that, and also when it ran after trying to remove and replace the CMOS battery, but the problem is, everything on the computer runs, but no signal is being sent to the monitor, and my DRAM_LED is on. If I hold it for three seconds, it blinks, and then turns back off, refusing to post more than once after that long pause with the CMOS battery out. It seems the longer I have it off, the more time it runs without stopping.

I'm at the end of my rope, I only hope someone here might have some suggestions for things it might be. I'm hoping the motherboard or PSU might be to blame, rather than the CPU overheating, which is what my friend said it might be. To that end, I've tried reseating the fan, making sure there was a good amount of thermal paste on it, and rotating it to make sure it was level on the CPU.

Here's a picture of the motherboard when it runs. If I turn it off, or press the MemOK button, then try to turn it back on, it won't for quite some time, either with or without the CMOS battery. And the QCode in the picture isn't the only one I've had. I also had 20.

F3 supposedly means "Recovery firmware image is found"
20, which I guess is between 19-1C in the guide is "Pre-memory PCH initialization is started"

EDIT: I should also say that normally when it's in the state where the power is on, but it won't start, the Power and Reset buttons on the motherboard are lit up. That's what made me think it wasn't the PSU.

It's hard to diagnose ghosts in the system like this that show up out of nowhere. Ideally if you can get your hands on someone else PC to test out specific parts is the easiest way to sort things out, but it isn't always possible. I would return the motherboard or PSU first and then if it goes down a second time start to look at the other item. If you have a friend with a PC you can even use his PSU without taking out of the case, just put the two boxes beside each other and run the connectors into your box form inside his. When it won't even turn on there's not a whole lot of options for trouble shooting and usually it's much less painful in the end just to RMA the thing instead of wasting a week trying to find a fix for a piece of hardware that might just be dead forever.

Would it be the PSU even if the motherboard lights up and spins? Would it not be giving the correct amount of power to allow the computer to start up, and that's why there isn't any output to the monitor?

It can attempt to start up but it will abort if it's not getting enough voltage.

 

[G-Pink]

Try a different PSU, if it is just shutting off without warning chances are its the PSU

Would it be the PSU even if the motherboard lights up and spins? Would it not be giving the correct amount of power to allow the computer to start up, and that's why there isn't any output to the monitor?

 

[Advance_Alarm]

Unless Win 7 is different from Vista, it doesn't check. You can install XP offline, and right after first boot into OS use the Win 7 disc to upgrade.

Heads up about the student Win 7- you have to pay extra to get it on disc. You can download and with some utility I completely don't remember the name of, make an ISO. Google that and you should be able to find it.

okay that sounds perfect. I've been reading around and you can upgrade from XP to Windows 7, you just have to backup your data externally, you can't install on top of it and keep your data like the Vista ---> Windows 7 upgrade. Since I'm just loading XP on a new computer I don't have to worry about that step. Really appreciate the help. The deal right now is 30$ for the Windows 7 Professional download and 15$ for the disk, I'm getting both just so I have it. You guys saved me a lot of money here, thanks.

 

[j2theizzay]

Would it be the PSU even if the motherboard lights up and spins? Would it not be giving the correct amount of power to allow the computer to start up, and that's why there isn't any output to the monitor?

Try testing it out with 1 ram stick. If that doesn't work, try it with the other stick.

 

[ithorien]

Yeah. I've built a couple systems before but I've never had one just do nothing when I hit the power.

I have been pretty disappointed with the case (Fractale Design Define R3) and had to take apart the Power LED (not switch) to clear out some metal blocking me from putting it on the MB but the power switch connector looked fine. Maybe it's just flat out broken. I wish I had a spare case to test it.

It could be the MB too I guess. Anyone know of issues with the MSI P67A-G45?

Awww. Did you get the Titanium, White or Black? Titanium seems to have ok reviews while Black for some reason doesn't. I ordered the Titanium on looks and functionality from what I saw in the Tested video, guess we'll see. Really love the look of the case :/

 

[Hazaro]

I am trying to sell my rig to upgrade to a new intel based computer, is $500 an ok price for this computer? Ive had it for 3 months.

AMD x4 640 3.0GHz + Zalman CNPS9500 Blue LED-CU
ASUS M4A87D/USB3 AM3
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600
EVGA Nvidia GTX460 768mb Super clocked
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair TX650w
Thermaltake Black V3 + 120mm blue fan + 80mm blue fan
DVD+-/RW LG

I am trying to make a decision on whether or not is a fair price

$500 is damn fair.

I'm going to do a full upgrade in the next 2-3 weeks thanks to this thread.

Currently I have.

Using it mainly for multimedia, video encoding, streaming, business related stuff and every day use. Gaming isn't a priority and very low factor. I'll be reusing my GTX 560Ti, 750 watt PSU, and 1TB internal drive to compliment them. I also have a bunch of external drives, Freezer Pro 7 or whatever cooler and a few other things.

Anybody have any other recommendations or suggestions? I'm not going to overclock anything except for maybe the processor. Not planning to SLI either.

I'd look at getting a standard P8P67 since the LE does not allow for BIOS overclocking. Incredibly stupid, yes. You can fiddle with Windows overclocking if you like.

Also drop RAM down to 1600 to save $25.

Some Vertex 2's are on the newer nm process and offer less space. It's cheaper for them, but you can make them replace it with an older one, or something to that degree. Not that well read on it.

guys, has the reliability of SSDs really improved to the point where they are a dependable replacement for traditional drives? i would really like to get one for my OS and another as a backup for archiving.

Absolutely.

Oh man, Neogaf, I may have fucked up bad. I'm building a system for my friend and he got an LGA 1155 processor. I though I ordered a 1155 board but much to my chagrin when it came in it was 1156!

Anyone ever encountered a situation like this and had Newegg work with them?

You can try to say you bought another item from them, but the era of free shipping codes and no restocking fees is over. They've grown too much and the call center people can't be handing out free stuff to people.

 

[nataku]

Awww. Did you get the Titanium, White or Black? Titanium seems to have ok reviews while Black for some reason doesn't. I ordered the Titanium on looks and functionality from what I saw in the Tested video, guess we'll see. Really love the look of the case :/

It's the Titanium version. Turns out it is the power switch that is broken. I'm hoping something just is disconnected near the power switch and I can somehow fix it myself, but I can't bother to look at it any more tonight. I spent all day troubleshooting issues with this thing. Plus, I'm hoping their support gets back to me. I already talked to them about the other issues with it I had with it so they know I'm having problems. I probably won't hear from them until Monday now though. Until then I guess I'll just keep my old case hooked up to it for the power switch, lol.

I'd really love the case if it weren't for the issues I'm having. It feels really solid and looks great.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

I am trying to sell my rig to upgrade to a new intel based computer, is $500 an ok price for this computer? Ive had it for 3 months.

AMD x4 640 3.0GHz + Zalman CNPS9500 Blue LED-CU
ASUS M4A87D/USB3 AM3
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600
EVGA Nvidia GTX460 768mb Super clocked
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair TX650w
Thermaltake Black V3 + 120mm blue fan + 80mm blue fan
DVD+-/RW LG

I am trying to make a decision on whether or not is a fair price

I'm angry, where were you friday! Wait would windows 7 come with it? That's pretty much like the pc parts I just ordered but over $150 (not sure how much the mb, and ram cost) cheaper.

I'm going to do a full upgrade in the next 2-3 weeks thanks to this thread.

Currently I have.

http://i.imgur.com/w05wIG]

Using it mainly for multimedia, video encoding, streaming, business related stuff and every day use. Gaming isn't a priority and very low factor. I'll be reusing my GTX 560Ti, 750 watt PSU, and 1TB internal drive to compliment them. I also have a bunch of external drives, Freezer Pro 7 or whatever cooler and a few other things.

Anybody have any other recommendations or suggestions? I'm not going to overclock anything except for maybe the processor. Not planning to SLI either.[/QUOTE]

There is a student discount for win7 on MS store. $29 instead of $99. Just find someone with a .edu email if you don't have one that's still active and if it won't be too much of a bother.

[url]http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=426206[/url]

 

[mkenyon]

Beautiful goddamn fucking pictures. Both your cable management and gaming set up. I like your style.

Question: where did you get the thing you have set up on top of your desk? I want it. Bad. Is the part your PC is resting on part of it, or is it a separate thing?

Its just wire shelving. There are *tons* of attachments for them, from the side shelf for the gaming rig, to hooks, to cupholders. Totally modular to be whatever you want it to be. Storables is the local store I bought it all at, but I'm sure there are online retailers that sell the stuff too.

 

[TheExodu5]

That's what I thought too and the 60GB I put in my new rig turned out to be one of those slower 50GB drives.

You should be able to RMA it with OCZ if you want to.

Shitty situation, but they rectified it in the end. Looks like you got stuck with old stock.

Because of that situation, I didn't want to go OCZ with the newer drives...but I just can't ignore how good the Vertex 3 is doing.

 

[G-Pink]

Try testing it out with 1 ram stick. If that doesn't work, try it with the other stick.

Tried it. Started up with one stick of RAM, then the other, and had the same problem.

Then, when it started up in the rare bouts of "hey it's working"ness, the CPU_LED light came on.

...

 

[Ophiuchus]

so I was getting ready to order this:





and of course the samsung drives and ASUS P8P67 pro sell out before I submit my order........ so neogaf are there any other Motherboads and HD that offer at least comparable price/proformence? I really dont want to spring for the deluxe has my build has gone just a tad over budget as it is lol.

and I wanted the pro because I am going to be over clocking. Also I grabbed the 16 Gigs of ram that were on sale for 150 a few days ago Gskill Ripsaws I believe

 

[Wallach]

I'm angry, where were you friday! Wait would windows 7 come with it? That's pretty much like the pc parts I just ordered but over $150 (not sure how much the mb, and ram cost) cheaper.

Well, mine's still up in the B/S/T thread... *cough*

Though I don't have a copy of Win 7 to include either.

 

[Hazaro]

so I was getting ready to order this:





and of course the samsung drives and ASUS P8P67 pro sell out before I submit my order........ so neogaf are there any other Motherboads and HD that offer at least comparable price/proformence? I really dont want to spring for the deluxe has my build has gone just a tad over budget as it is lol.

and I wanted the pro because I am going to be over clocking. Also I grabbed the 16 Gigs of ram that were on sale for 150 a few days ago Gskill Ripsaws I believe

DVD burner is IDE I think. Get a SATA drive. an ASUS or Samsung, one of those should have like 5x awards.

The MSI 55/65 are good boards too. Gigabyte UD4 is fine too, but no UEFI.

Tried it. Started up with one stick of RAM, then the other, and had the same problem.

Then, when it started up in the rare bouts of "hey it's working"ness, the CPU_LED light came on.

...

Have you run memtest?

 

[Scuba Steve]

When will SSDs get cheaper?

I'm thinking of doing a major overhaul for my system come next year, but I'd LOVE to get an SSD. Will it be likely that SSDs will get cheaper within a year or should I enjoy the performance boost now?

 

[123rl]

I'm thinking of getting a new system and starting from scratch. I have a couple of comparison questions as I'm out of the loop.

GPU - I'll be playing games but I'm not expecting 100+ fps at max. settings so I don't want a multi card setup. I'm looking at either the ATI 6850 or the GeForce GTX 460, which is £10 cheaper. I'll also be doing a lot of photo and possibly video editing. I'm using a two monitor setup, with both at 1920x1080p. Which is the better card?

CPU - I was looking at the AMD Athlon II X4 640 AM3 (4x3.00GHz). Is this good enough for modern games and fairly future-proof for the next 12 months?

 

[Hazaro]

When will SSDs get cheaper?

I'm thinking of doing a major overhaul for my system come next year, but I'd LOVE to get an SSD. Will it be likely that SSDs will get cheaper within a year or should I enjoy the performance boost now?

Well, most were hoping for a price drop due to the nm shift, but it seems like everyone has decided to just get new controllers and speed. So, right now, prices reflect performance to the old drives, but not the cost to make them.

Within a year I would think absolutely. With so many people in the business I can't imagine them not getting cheaper as the SATA 6gbps is going to be maxed in like 3-6 months.

I'm thinking of getting a new system and starting from scratch. I have a couple of comparison questions as I'm out of the loop.

GPU - I'll be playing games but I'm not expecting 100+ fps at max. settings so I don't want a multi card setup. I'm looking at either the ATI 6850 or the GeForce GTX 460, which is £10 cheaper. I'll also be doing a lot of photo and possibly video editing. I'm using a two monitor setup, with both at 1920x1080p. Which is the better card?

CPU - I was looking at the AMD Athlon II X4 640 AM3 (4x3.00GHz). Is this good enough for modern games and fairly future-proof for the next 12 months?

Fill out the OP list.

 

[Kyaw]

I'm thinking of getting a new system and starting from scratch. I have a couple of comparison questions as I'm out of the loop.

GPU - I'll be playing games but I'm not expecting 100+ fps at max. settings so I don't want a multi card setup. I'm looking at either the ATI 6850 or the GeForce GTX 460, which is £10 cheaper. I'll also be doing a lot of photo and possibly video editing. I'm using a two monitor setup, with both at 1920x1080p. Which is the better card?

CPU - I was looking at the AMD Athlon II X4 640 AM3 (4x3.00GHz). Is this good enough for modern games and fairly future-proof for the next 12 months?

The ATI 6850 is a better card by a very small margin.

ATI 5870: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

and

AMD Phenom II X4 955: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943

Will last longer but slightly more expensive than your initial choice of parts.

 

[MrBelmontvedere]

When will SSDs get cheaper?

I'm thinking of doing a major overhaul for my system come next year, but I'd LOVE to get an SSD. Will it be likely that SSDs will get cheaper within a year or should I enjoy the performance boost now?

Intel has a bunch of new SSDs coming out soon. stay tuned.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Well, mine's still up in the B/S/T thread... *cough*

Though I don't have a copy of Win 7 to include either.

I meant that I had already bought parts to build a pc. I didn't even think to try the B S T thread (do'h).

Also how do you guys buy Hard Drives. I was just about to order my last part (samsung HDD) and it was removed from my list because it sold out. Then I started looking for another 7200rpm 1tb drive at 59.99 and it seems like rolling dice. People having dead on arrivals all in the comments. Today I'm just going to try my luck, but man what the crap?

The ones I had my eye on. (new egg links)

HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS

Maybe it's a case of people with bad luck are the most vocal and are urged to post reviews.

 

[InertiaXr]

Also how do you guys buy Hard Drives. I was just about to order my last part (samsung HDD) and it was removed from my list because it sold out. Then I started looking for another 7200rpm 1tb drive at 59.99 and it seems like rolling dice. People having dead on arrivals all in the comments. Today I'm just going to try my luck, but man what the crap?

Spinpoint F3

Edit: Oh, that's the one thats soldout on newegg. Do you live anywhere near a Microcenter? They have F3 for 60.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Spinpoint F3

That's the one that was sold out. Good thing you posted that though. Googling it made me realize newegg wasn't the only pc store online. Guess I got comfortable having all my parts come from one place.

Edit: Dang Amazon seem to pack them in bricks with glass padding.

Edit2 : Ha they use the single cardboard wrap like they do for console game boxes. No padding, tight fit.

 

[InertiaXr]

That's the one that was sold out. Good thing you posted that though. Googling it made me realize newegg wasn't the only pc store online. Guess I got comfortable having all my parts come from one place.

Yea check the OP it's got list of vendors to buy stuff from online. I would avoid Amazon for hard drives though I've heard from lots of people that they package them extremely poorly sometimes and they turn up DOA.

 

[Elixist]

That's the one that was sold out. Good thing you posted that though. Googling it made me realize newegg wasn't the only pc store online. Guess I got comfortable having all my parts come from one place.

Edit: Dang Amazon seem to pack them in bricks with glass padding.

Edit2 : Ha they use the single cardboard wrap like they do for console game boxes. No padding, tight fit.

Tiger Direct is another online computer parts store that is good, check there as well.

 

[HolyCheck]

Knowing nothing about computers, but wearing glasses my friend has come to me with a question

ben t says (9:02 PM)
there is an "XPS 17" and a "New XPS 17"
and i cant tell the diff

I believe they are types of del laptops.. we both had a look but don't know the first place to start.. anyone know ;_;

 

[[Nintex]]

Knowing nothing about computers, but wearing glasses my friend has come to me with a question

ben t says (9:02 PM)
there is an "XPS 17" and a "New XPS 17"
and i cant tell the diff

I believe they are types of del laptops.. we both had a look but don't know the first place to start.. anyone know ;_;

I recently ordered one, the 'New Dell XPS' is the one with the Sandy Bridge parts and better GPU's. The 'old' XPS used a quad core and a Geforce 420M and these new ones are equipped with Core i5 or Core i7 CPU's and Geforce 525M, 540M or 555M parts. In any case go with the new ones they're also more efficient when it comes to power

http://www.pcworld.com/article/217708/dell_xps_17_3d_speedy_and_in_stereo.html

 

[HolyCheck]

I recently ordered one, the 'New Dell XPS' is the one with the Sandy Bridge parts and better GPU's. The 'old' XPS used a quad core and a Geforce 420M and these new ones are equipped with Core i5 or Core i7 CPU's and Geforce 525M, 540M or 555M parts. In any case go with the new ones they're also more efficient when it comes to power

http://www.pcworld.com/article/217708/dell_xps_17_3d_speedy_and_in_stereo.html

Many thanks Nintex! Haz wasn't lying when he spruked the helpfullness of this thread in the sc2 GAF final stream!

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

After a few days I think I've finally got there..

My first ever overclock - successful! (as long as I don't BSOD in the near future)

 

[JaseC]

After a few days I think I've finally got there..

http://www.abload.de/img/christups.jpg

My first ever overclock - successful! (as long as I don't BSOD in the near future)

My first experience with overclocking was with my current Intel E6420 system. All I did was set the FSB to 400x8 and it's been fine since. Even 2.5'ish years later, despite not having cleaned the PC out at all (these days I don't even have the case sides on), temps stay below 60 deg at full load.

Not bad considering it's an overclock of a tad over 1GHz (2.13->3.2). If I had bought faster RAM than DDR2-800, I would've gone higher.

 

[CrankyJay]

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch.asp?scriteria=AA77214

MWave has Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound + free shipping for $5. That's about $7 cheaper than NewEgg.

 

[Fox1304]

Anyone knows if I'll be able to get some decent framerates with a single GTX460 playong with 3D vision on , and with a 720p resolution ?
If that's not possible I might as well get a 430 and forget about 3D pc gaming for the moment ^^

 

[shouamabane]

Does anyone have experience with this HDD? I'm going for as silent as possible, but I need a lot of storage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145493

So far it's between this drive and a WD Green drive.

 

[nataku]

So after figuring ou my PC issues it seems my FW900 decided to finally die. The thing won't turn on at all. I hit the power switch and it looks like it will work fine (green power light) but then powers down with two quick flashing yellow lights every second.

Anyone know a good IPS monitor for gaming? TN isn't acceptable. I can't stand the viewing angles.

EDIT: Finally! Got it working. I must have hit the power switch a hundred times today. I really need a new monitor...