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"I need a New PC!" 2011 Edition of SSD's for everyone! |OT|

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J

jaundicejuice

Member
I'll re-post this here since I'm not having any real luck in OT.

This morning while trying to grab some dialogue clips to animate to with Audacity I made a bit of a rude discovery, as a Windows 7 user, an owner of a mobo without integrated sound and a Creative Sound Blaster X Fi Xtreme Audio card, I simply cannot grab any internal audio. At best I can do a recording that sounds as though it were done in a wind tunnel. What used to be four simple clicks in XP, is now an impossibility.

After a few hours of beating my head against this problem, initially thinking it was an issue with the beta version of Audacity that I'm using, it seems as though the best solution is to purchase a new sound card and ensure that it has manufacturer driver support for stereo mix. Is Creative a brand I want to avoid in this instance?

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a hobbist PCI soundcard. This isn't going to be a feature that I will consistently need to make use of but it's important when I need it.

In a day or two I'm going to be heading in to the shop, but I would just like to grab as much info as I can before hand. Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...

I've trying to find reviews and have been compiling a rough list of potential cards...

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=35724&vpn=XONAR ESSENCE STX&manufacture=ASUS

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=56405&vpn=70SB127000002&manufacture=Creative Labs

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=31769&vpn=70SB088600007&manufacture=Creative Labs

...to talk to the clerk about.
 
S

scogoth

Member
mojiimbo said:
IIRC the main thing is that it lets you use Intel's new Quick Sync feature(for super fast video encoding) while using an external videocard on the unlocked chips. Right now you can only use it on the locked H67 chips and integrated video has to be enabled. There's other improvements too but I forget what they are.
Click to expand...
No you cannot use Quick Sync with descrete graphics only if you use the integreated gpu even on Z68. Thats where LucidLogix Virtu comes in, its a virtual graphics driver to copy the vram buffer between igpu and dgpu so you can use the dgpu as your main output and graphics card while still using Quick Sync on the igpu. Like SLI though this tech has to be licensed and won't be on all Z68 boards.
Raw64life said:
So for the motherboard impaired, am I understanding correctly that these new Z boards will be good for overclocking as well as come with an HDMI port? I'm hoping so because that's what I was looking for earlier but had it explained to me that it was either one of the other with P and H boards.
Click to expand...

You won't be able to use the HDMI port with a dgpu but you will still be able to overclock your cpu and igpu while using the built in ports.
 
R

Raw64life

Member
scogoth said:
No you cannot use Quick Sync with descrete graphics only if you use the integreated gpu even on Z68. Thats where LucidLogix Virtu comes in, its a virtual graphics driver to copy the vram buffer between igpu and dgpu so you can use the dgpu as your main output and graphics card while still using Quick Sync on the igpu. Like SLI though this tech has to be licensed and won't be on all Z68 boards.


You won't be able to use the HDMI port with a dgpu but you will still be able to overclock your cpu and igpu while using the built in ports.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the difference between a dgpu and an igpu is. Really all I want an HDMI port for is so I can hook it up to my TV easily. Would I be able to do that?
 
S

scogoth

Member
Raw64life said:
I'm not sure what the difference between a dgpu and an igpu is. Really all I want an HDMI port for is so I can hook it up to my TV easily. Would I be able to do that?
Click to expand...

A discrete GPU is a graphics card like from Nvidia and AMD. The integrated GPU is on the CPU itself from intel. Yes you will be able to hook up the Z68 board to your TV but only when using the integrated GPU on the CPU. Most Nvidia/AMD cards come with HDMI anyways so its a moot point.

If your not gaming an H67 is fine, if you want to game then you'll need a discrete GPU and the P67 is fine. Z68 is for nobody really unless it has Virtu which allows you to use a discrete GPU for gaming and the integrated GPU for intel's Quick Sync technology to speed up video encoding because without Virtu you can only use one or the other.

So think of Z68 as H67 and P67 put together but you can only use the H67 mode or P67 mode at one time and Virtu as a driver that allows you to use both modes at once.

20110419-gnpqd2h5pi7bwdsjnu3fxgs5km.jpg
 
S

Saren is Bad

Member
Fuck my ass.

Just found out about 6950 to 6970 hack, now I'm thinking of getting Xfire 6950 and flashing them to 6970's. Is this still a near-guarantee to be able to flash a 2GB card? Thinking of getting the XFX brand.

Related: this method or SLI 570's?
 
S

scogoth

Member
Saren is Bad said:
Fuck my ass.

Just found out about 6950 to 6970 hack, now I'm thinking of getting Xfire 6950 and flashing them to 6970's. Is this still a near-guarantee to be able to flash a 2GB card? Thinking of getting the XFX brand.

Related: this method or SLI 570's?
Click to expand...

6950 will be cheaper and assuming it will work you'll get SLI 570 performance.
 
Z

Zimbardo

Member
installed my Noctua D14 today on my i5 760.

tried overclocking to 3.8ghz. 1.2volts.
ran prime95 for a couple hours. still running it now as i type this.
no errors.
highest temp was 54c on 1 of the cores. actually drops into the high 40s.

this cooler is amazing. can't believe how quiet it is, too. like, it seems just as quiet as the crappy stock intel cooler ...which was whisper silent.

absolutely awesome.
 
Ploid 3.0

Ploid 3.0

Member
Herro peep, I got the 870-G45 motherboard from the front page, I'm guessing some of you got it as well if you went by this guide. I was looking at that build's overclock ability and noticed that this MB get a lot of "leave it alone" "you got a MSI you shouldn't oc it unless you want to break it" type comments. Is it really true that if I want to overclock the processor I'll have to get a new MB (Asus or something)? I was just looking at that Hyper 212 and it will fit in that Antec 300 case. Right now the processor runs cool, so it would seem pointless to get it without overclocking. The case put out cool air.

Edit: Gratz Zimbardo, very nice.


mcrae said:
hey guys, i need to buy a new mouse. for gaming. SC2 pretty much, and random shooters every once in a while. any decent suggestions? i dont even know what to look for
Click to expand...

Ha I'd like to know this too. I have this basic logitech mouse. left/right click, wheel, wheel click. I'll need a gaming approved mouse for sure, and for a pad I have a basic blue foamy thing. At least I got the PC out of the way.

logitech_m100.jpg
 
M

mcrae

Member
hey guys, i need to buy a new mouse. for gaming. SC2 pretty much, and random shooters every once in a while. any decent suggestions? i dont even know what to look for
 
A

Animation-Imp

Member
Could someone inform me.

these specs (can't find more info, don't know which manufacturers or what motherboard and such...)

Intel® Core™ i7-870 processor
(2,93 GHz, 8 MB Intel® Smart Cache, Intel® Turbo Boost-technology)

ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 DirectX® 11 1024 MB GDDR5

6 GB DDR3-SDRAM

(S-ATA) 1000 GB
Hot Swap-slot voor 2 harde schijven

Blu-Ray-station/multi-standard dvd/cd-burner
DVD-RAM and Dual Layer

USB 3.0 voor extreem snelle gegevensoverdracht
Metal case with ventilation 62 x 27 x 60 cm

7.1 audio

eSata, Firewire, 2 x USB 3.0

Windows® 7 Home Premium

at €1099

A good deal on a mid range gaming pc,
or not recommended because dated hardware?

I'm in need for a new pc in the near future and this looks to me as an interesting deal
(don't know didly squat about modern pc hardware though...)

I would appreciate some advice.
 
L

LegoDad

Member
Who needs a SSD drive??

Amazon.com has Kingston SSDNow V100 64GB SATA II 3GB/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) for $115.67 - $45 Rebate = $70.67 with free shipping.

The SSD

The Rebate

A 128GB is then 214.95 - $55 = $159.95

also available on newegg if you'd rather that route. (FYI, this drive has had issues, but can't beat the price.)

Newegg also has $25 off $100 for new customers, don't know if that's still going.
 
E

eznark

Banned
So my buddy is now looking at joining me and building a PC. He wants to stay around $1000 though. Figure the 2500k, P8P67 Pro and 4 GB are a solid base. However I really want him to be able to get an SSD as well. Should he be looking at a GTX 560 for his video card when trying to build a rig in this range, or is the GPU in the OP $1000 build still the way to go?
 
R

Raw64life

Member
scogoth said:
A discrete GPU is a graphics card like from Nvidia and AMD. The integrated GPU is on the CPU itself from intel. Yes you will be able to hook up the Z68 board to your TV but only when using the integrated GPU on the CPU. Most Nvidia/AMD cards come with HDMI anyways so its a moot point.

If your not gaming an H67 is fine, if you want to game then you'll need a discrete GPU and the P67 is fine. Z68 is for nobody really unless it has Virtu which allows you to use a discrete GPU for gaming and the integrated GPU for intel's Quick Sync technology to speed up video encoding because without Virtu you can only use one or the other.

So think of Z68 as H67 and P67 put together but you can only use the H67 mode or P67 mode at one time and Virtu as a driver that allows you to use both modes at once.

20110419-gnpqd2h5pi7bwdsjnu3fxgs5km.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks that pretty much clears everything up. Anyone know if the Z68 Virtu is going to be anywhere near affordable or should I not even bother?
 
K

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Well, I've decided that I'm going to upgrade. However, I'm going to do it a piece at a time.

I've decided on...(sorry for copy/paste)

SAPPHIRE 100312SR Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Which piece should I start with? =D
 
S

Sarcasm

Member
What would cause a BSOD like screen except its not BSOD where it has words but a bajillon tiny colors. Entire screen. Only way out is to hard/cold boot by holding the button.

I just started controlling my character in Portal 2.

Specs are:

Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.16ghz or something)
4GB of RAM
GTX 260
 
V

Velion

Member
Sarcasm said:
What would cause a BSOD like screen except its not BSOD where it has words but a bajillon tiny colors. Entire screen. Only way out is to hard/cold boot by holding the button.

I just started controlling my character in Portal 2.

Specs are:

Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.16ghz or something)
4GB of RAM
GTX 260
Click to expand...
Sounds like artifacts from video card possibly overheating.


Kintaro said:
Well, I've decided that I'm going to upgrade. However, I'm going to do it a piece at a time.

I've decided on...(sorry for copy/paste)

SAPPHIRE 100312SR Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Which piece should I start with? =D
Click to expand...
The order you have them listed would be just fine.
 
P

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
Hello PC-GAF.

I bought a new video card last night (ASUS GTX 460). While I haven't plugged it in yet, I'm now realizing that my motherbaord is going to be PCIe 1.x while the GTX 460 is a PCIe 2.x card. I also know that it WILL still work on it, but will have limited bandwidth.

So my question is, HOW much will this cripple my card? I don't game much on my PC but I had not upgraded in so long and want to get some extra mileage out of Portal 2 and open some doors for some other PC games possibly.

I am open to rounding out a full upgrade with a new board/CPU though. My question there is, will I have to buy new RAM too? I'm.. not 100% sure what I have now (other than it's 4GB), but the whole mess was built in 2005/2006 or so, for reference. Also will my copy of Winders 7 accept the new hardware? It's a retail upgrade box, not an OEM version, which I beleive is the version that won't take on a new board/CPU. But I'd like to have PC-GAF's opinion before I drop more tax refund money.
 
N

number1jagsfan

Member
I currently have a system that is over 3 years old now:

Q6600
GeForce 8800GT
2GB RAM

Recently I bought a new 3D TV and was looking into the Nvidia 3D TV Play software, but of course my GPU is too old.

My question: Can I just swap out my card for a newer model and be ok for some 3D gaming? Is my 2BG RAM sufficient?

I am looking for a cheapish option, as I may get a new system later this year/early next year, so I just want to be able to play some games decently in 3D for now. If I just need a new card, what is a good (cheapish) option? I am in the UK
 
P

Princess Skittles

Prince's's 'Skittle's
number1jagsfan said:
I am looking for a cheapish option, as I may get a new system later this year/early next year, so I just want to be able to play some games decently in 3D for now. If I just need a new card, what is a good (cheapish) option? I am in the UK
Click to expand...
The GTX 460 was recommended to me in the portal 2 thread, I grabbed one locally for $125, that seems like a fantastic cost/power combo to me.
 
N

number1jagsfan

Member
Princess Skittles said:
The GTX 460 was recommended to me in the portal 2 thread, I grabbed one locally for $125, that seems like a fantastic cost/power combo to me.
Click to expand...

Does it work well for 3D gaming? Also, do you think my 2GB of RAM would be problematic?
 
N

number1jagsfan

Member
Sarcasm said:
Get the 460 with 1+GB if your worried about current ram.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was going to be my next question. There seems to be a lot of different variations of the 460 card available, at all different prices. Anyone know a good place to get one for a decent price in the UK? Seem to be a bit more expensive here that $125 anyway.
 
N

NeoandGeo

Banned
Is there any way to speed up boot times on an SSD with AHCI enabled? Before I did a reinstall of Windows 7 I was using IDE mode, and the boot up was less than 5 seconds after the Starting Windows screen. Now with AHCI mode, everything is speedier in the OS, but booting has lengthened to 30 seconds after Welcome screen.

Using a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
 
M

MedIC86

Member
GAF! advice me,

im pondering to get

A) GTX570
B) 6970 2GB

Wich one do you think i should get? there both quiet the same 6970 is a bit faster but the 570 handle's AA a bit better according to reviews.

And please stick it with these 2 cards, dont say get card X and overclock/unlock to card Y etc.
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
SSD prices are pretty stupid right now. When can we expect better pricing? I need 2, one for OS and one for all my media but to fit all my stuff on one I'd have to spend 1000 dollars on one SSD lol.
 
J

jlai

Member
caliblue15 said:
Who needs a SSD drive??

Amazon.com has Kingston SSDNow V100 64GB SATA II 3GB/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) for $115.67 - $45 Rebate = $70.67 with free shipping.

The SSD

The Rebate

A 128GB is then 214.95 - $55 = $159.95

also available on newegg if you'd rather that route. (FYI, this drive has had issues, but can't beat the price.)

Newegg also has $25 off $100 for new customers, don't know if that's still going.
Click to expand...


I believe the Newegg 25 off 100 coupon was only good on the 15th. Kinda regret not buying the SSD that day for 50 after coupon/rebate. Still thinking about pulling the trigger on the Amazon deal...... hard to beat the price and Amazon has amazing customer service in case the HD has problems like people have reported

I'm not sure if you have to use this link though (leads directly to the one sold directly by Amazon): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BDORM4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Ships in 1-3 weeks though
 
N

NeoandGeo

Banned
Kyoufu said:
SSD prices are pretty stupid right now. When can we expect better pricing? I need 2, one for OS and one for all my media but to fit all my stuff on one I'd have to spend 1000 dollars on one SSD lol.
Click to expand...

There is absolutely no need for a SSD to be a media drive. Get an SSD for $100 and use your current drive for Media.
 
S

scogoth

Member
MedIC86 said:
GAF! advice me,

im pondering to get

A) GTX570
B) 6970 2GB

Wich one do you think i should get? there both quiet the same 6970 is a bit faster but the 570 handle's AA a bit better according to reviews.

And please stick it with these 2 cards, dont say get card X and overclock/unlock to card Y etc.
Click to expand...

I personally like Nvidia's drivers better then AMD but other then that its a coin toss between those two.
 
S

Sarcasm

Member
Sarcasm said:
What would cause a BSOD like screen except its not BSOD where it has words but a bajillon tiny colors. Entire screen. Only way out is to hard/cold boot by holding the button.

I just started controlling my character in Portal 2.

Specs are:

Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.16ghz or something)
4GB of RAM
GTX 260
Click to expand...

The more I think, I think my GPU is dying.
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
NeoandGeo said:
There is absolutely no need for a SSD to be a media drive. Get an SSD for $100 and use your current drive for Media.
Click to expand...

Will I still have to deal with Vista loading the drive's contents when I open the media folder?
 
N

NeoandGeo

Banned
Kyoufu said:
Will I still have to deal with Vista loading the drive's contents when I open the media folder?
Click to expand...

Yes, but browsing my media folders/drives is seamless with an SSD+mechanical setup. You're doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't have your OS on a separate SSD.
 
N

NeoandGeo

Banned
91% is fine, it's what I always use on my top of the line stuff.

I have gotten away with 50-70% and never had a problem, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
M

MedIC86

Member
scogoth said:
I personally like Nvidia's drivers better then AMD but other then that its a coin toss between those two.
Click to expand...

Well i never had an NVIDIA gpu my entire life, so i was thinking of buying one
 
C

CrankyJay

Banned
NeoandGeo said:
91% is fine, it's what I always use on my top of the line stuff.

I have gotten away with 50-70% and never had a problem, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Click to expand...

How long would you wait between cleaning with 91% and reapplying thermal paste? A day?
 
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