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[Coldsnap]

Is there any setting guides to using a TV as a monitor? I'm going through the windows 7 appearance calibration... i hate to turn my gama down to basically zero

 

[opticalmace]

Anyone put a SSD into a slightly older laptop? (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 120gb hdd, 3gb ram).

Is it worth it? With the laptop as your only computer. Hoping to not buy a new laptop for at least another year.

 

[Seraphinianus]

what's the cheapest PCSX2 box I could build/buy? Other PC games not really required, but I suppose it could double as a HTPC

Is there any setting guides to using a TV as a monitor? I'm going through the windows 7 appearance calibration... i hate to turn my gama down to basically zero

Nvidia control panel advanced settings will give you much better control, if you have an nvidia card.

 

[Smokey]

Does the OEM Samsung F4 come with any SATA cables? I have mine in the case...but I can't seem to find any extra cables?

 

[opticalmace]

Does the OEM Samsung F4 come with any SATA cables? I have mine in the case...but I can't seem to find any extra cables?

OEM, probably not.

When I buy an OEM hard drive it's just the drive. Your mobo should have come with a few though.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Question: Do most mobos support 5.1, or will I need to get a sound card (such as the inexpensive Asus Xonar)? Better yet, how can I tell if a specific mobo supports 5.1? When I build this thing in the summer, I may hook it up to my TV, which will have my 5.1 system on it, and want to be able to take full advantage of it.

 

[Jin34]

I have the AV40's and they sound awesome. I would definitely get these over the AV30's. However when listening to hip hop or techno the bass is somewhat lacking since there is no dedicated sub. Also they are pretty huge for desktop speakers, so make sure you have room for them and they're at ear-level height.

Well I couldn't resist and got them, how tall are they say compared to dvd cases?

 

[Coldsnap]

Question: Do most mobo's support 5.1, or will I need to get a sound card (such as the inexpensive Asus Xonar)? Better yet, how can I tell if a specific mobo supports 5.1? When I build this thing in the summer, I may hook it up to my TV, which will have my 5.1 system on it, and want to be able to take full advantage of it.

lol working on this problem right now. Cant get windows to recognize my 5.1 system when plugged into receiver, its just defaulting to stereo.

 

[clav]

Anyone put a SSD into a slightly older laptop? (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 120gb hdd, 3gb ram).

Is it worth it? With the laptop as your only computer. Hoping to not buy a new laptop for at least another year.

With that setup, I would do it. Get an Intel 320 SSD or if you're on the cheap side, the Kingston V100 SSDs are close to 1 GB/ $1.

Does the OEM Samsung F4 come with any SATA cables? I have mine in the case...but I can't seem to find any extra cables?

Never. OEM sales are just the bare parts. Nothing else.

 

[Hawk269]

Holy shit... playing metro 2033 on my 54" TV through my sound system... I think I just converted to a PC gamer. My computer is staying connected to this TV, time to sell my monitor.

Yes baby...that is the way to go. So many people don't go PC cause they claim they like the big comfy sofa or teh big screen or the 5.1 dolby/dts setup. They dont realize that a PC easily hooks up to a big screen. Depending on how old your TV is will also play into it. On my 4 year old Sony 60 Rear Projection, which is 1080p, I had to make a custom rez of like 1840x1002 to have nothing cutoff.

My newer TV is perfect 1080p. Some newer sets have Full Pixel modes, which basically will display a pure 1080p at the pixel level. That is what I have set now and it just looks jaw dropping.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Is there any setting guides to using a TV as a monitor? I'm going through the windows 7 appearance calibration... i hate to turn my gama down to basically zero

Using an HDTV as a PC monitor is not as trivial as you might think, due to TV signals having different black levels than PC signals. (PC is 0-255, TV is 16-235 for anyone who cares.)

The first, most important thing is to properly configure the HDTV's display settings. You want to calibrate the TV closely to the NTSC-standard D65 (~6500K) color temperature and also properly set brightness and/or contrast, depending on what your TV's menus offer in terms of settings. This will benefit not only your PC usage but also your movie watching, since movies are color-corrected to D65 and you will have the correct colors in all your movies as well.

The second thing you need to do is set your TV's inputs to accept RGB Full-Range (or whatever your TV calls it) from the HDMI connector you are connecting to the convenient mini-HDMI output on your GTX 560 Ti. This forces the TV to use PC-level blacks, in other words 0-255. You need to make sure your video card is properly outputting 0-255, in general Nvidia Control Panel properly detects when your TV is reporting Full Range and sets the black level output by the card appropriately. If you using the VGA connector on your TV, which you shouldn't, the TV should be smart enough to know that VGA is 0-255 but double-check it to be sure. But use the HDMI input, don't use the VGA input as a general rule of thumb.

Once you've done this, you should be correctly getting video from your PC to your HDTV. It's pretty easy to check if your black levels are correct, assuming you've set up everything correctly. Just watch any Blu-ray disc from your PC and look for blacks which are gray (which means you are outputting 16-235, which is wrong) or look for extremely crushed and dark blacks (which means you are outputting 0-255, but your TV is set to 0-235, which is also wrong!).

Side note: both your PS3 and 360 also can output RGB Full-Range and for gaming you get a better color saturation and visual quality if you set the inputs you use for your true current-gen consoles also to RGB Full-Range on the TV and set your consoles to output it.

 

[opticalmace]

With that setup, I would do it. Get an Intel 320 SSD or if you're on the cheap side, the Kingston V100 SSDs are close to 1 GB/ $1.



Never. OEM sales are just the bare parts. Nothing else.

Thanks!

 

[Seraphinianus]

Using an HDTV as a PC monitor is not as trivial as you might think, due to TV signals having different black levels than PC signals. (PC is 0-255, TV is 16-235 for anyone who cares.)

The first, most important thing is to properly configure the HDTV's display settings. You want to calibrate the TV closely to the NTSC-standard D65 (~6500K) color temperature and also properly set brightness and/or contrast, depending on what your TV's menus offer in terms of settings. This will benefit not only your PC usage but also your movie watching, since movies are color-corrected to D65 and you will have the correct colors in all your movies as well.

The second thing you need to do is set your TV's inputs to accept RGB Full-Range (or whatever your TV calls it) from the HDMI connector you are connecting to the convenient mini-HDMI output on your GTX 560 Ti. This forces the TV to use PC-level blacks, in other words 0-255. You need to make sure your video card is properly outputting 0-255, in general Nvidia Control Panel properly detects when your TV is reporting Full Range and sets the black level output by the card appropriately. If you using the VGA connector on your TV, which you shouldn't, the TV should be smart enough to know that VGA is 0-255 but double-check it to be sure. But use the HDMI input, don't use the VGA input as a general rule of thumb.

Once you've done this, you should be correctly getting video from your PC to your HDTV. It's pretty easy to check if your black levels are correct, assuming you've set up everything correctly. Just watch any Blu-ray disc from your PC and look for blacks which are gray (which means you are outputting 16-235, which is wrong) or look for extremely crushed and dark blacks (which means you are outputting 0-255, but your TV is set to 0-235, which is also wrong!).

Side note: both your PS3 and 360 also can output RGB Full-Range and for gaming you get a better color saturation and visual quality if you set the inputs you use for your true current-gen consoles also to RGB Full-Range on the TV and set your consoles to output it.

don't most TVs lack the full RGB setting though? Those just crush the blacks when I tried them out on my plasma...

 

[Coldsnap]

Yea this whole HTPC seems like a logistics nightmare. Already got two problems; surround sound isn't working and when I load up a windowed video game the resolution is huge but it should be smaller than my desktop resolution.

 

[Coldsnap]

Ah, had images and texts turned up to 150%

 

[Chiggs]

So I purchased a Seagate Momentus XT SSD Hybrid at Microcenter for $99.99 today. It's installed in my HTPC and I have to say that I wasn't initially impressed, but once the adaptive algorithm begins to kick in, it really manages to impress.

It's not as good as the SSD in my laptop, but it's still pretty impressive...and it has 500GB of space.

Edit: I'd like to do an HTPC thread, but not sure if the mods are good with that.

HTPCs > Towers/mini-towers

 

[Smokey]

nvm!

 

[Coldsnap]

When using dual monitors can you set one display to have a different resolution? Thinking about getting a cheap 20ft HDMI cable and leaving my computer all setup at my desk but have my TV act as another monitor, so i can hop onto my couch to play some steam games while also still being able to use the computer at the desk. Is this possible?

 

[clav]

So I purchased a Seagate Momentus XT SSD Hybrid at Microcenter for $99.99 today. It's installed in my HTPC and I have to say that I wasn't initially impressed, but once the adaptive algorithm begins to kick in, it really manages to impress.

It's not as good as the SSD in my laptop, but it's still pretty impressive...and it has 500GB of space.

Edit: I'd like to do an HTPC thread, but not sure if the mods are good with that.

HTPCs > Towers/mini-towers

That drive has been on Amazon for $100 many times for the past months. I was always tempted to get it, but it doesn't seem to improve that well for normal day applications to be worth the cost.

Be sure to update to the latest firmware on that drive as Seagate is still fixing some problems with it.

Also, yes, I love small form factor computers over towers as well. Stuff has to look nice and function well!

 

[Hazaro]

When using dual monitors can you set one display to have a different resolution? Thinking about getting a cheap 20ft HDMI cable and leaving my computer all setup at my desk but have my TV act as another monitor, so i can hop onto my couch to play some steam games while also still being able to use the computer at the desk. Is this possible?

Yup, might run into some little problems running both at the same time (color/res) etc.

 

[mAcOdIn]

Does the OEM Samsung F4 come with any SATA cables? I have mine in the case...but I can't seem to find any extra cables?

I know people have answered before but as a purchaser of several of those very drives I can also confirm they indeed did not come with cables.

Not everything OEM comes completely bare, some DVD/BR OEM drives will come with playback media for instance but by and large they're correct, OEM products generally come with absolutely nothing else.

 

[j2theizzay]

Well I couldn't resist and got them, how tall are they say compared to dvd cases?

The AV40's are about an inch and a half taller than a dvd case, and an inch wider as well.

 

[thunker 9000]

Oh man, new rig up and running.

i5 2500k @ 4.0ghz
8gb ram
GTX 460 (1gb)
Just for fun I slapped an 8800 in there for Phys-X. Not sure if its really going to cut the mustard, but hey its better than nothing.

This thing is a beast compaired to my 2.3ghz Core Duo system

:happydance:

 

[ZimJaBim]

So about to pull the trigger on my new PC but needs some advice.

Currently working with

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400@ 3.00 GHz
Ram: 4 GB DDR2
Video Card: ATI Radeo HD 4870

Proposed Build from NCIX.ca


Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower $114.99

Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB 238.99

MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 122.35


MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr OC 880MHZ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E 244.99

Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan 104.99


Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3Gbps 64MB Cache 3.5IN 89.98


G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 90.77


Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black Retail 29.98


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT 123.98


Total Cost 1161.02 + tax


Should i pull the trigger?? is there anything i should wait for? looking forward to the Witcher 2, Battlefield 3, and TOR

Thanks for your help

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

So about to pull the trigger on my new PC but needs some advice.

Currently working with

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400@ 3.00 GHz
Ram: 4 GB DDR2
Video Card: ATI Radeo HD 4870

Proposed Build from NCIX.ca


Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower $114.99

Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB 238.99

MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 122.35


MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr OC 880MHZ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E 244.99

Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan 104.99


Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3Gbps 64MB Cache 3.5IN 89.98


G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 90.77


Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black Retail 29.98


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT 123.98


Total Cost 1161.02 + tax


Should i pull the trigger?? is there anything i should wait for? looking forward to the Witcher 2, Battlefield 3, and TOR

Thanks for your help

That is 90% identical to my February build, and it's a great machine. You shouldn't feel too bad about buying that. However, you're nearing the middle of the GPU cycle now, by the end of this year the 600/7000 series will be coming out. But as far as running BF3, Witcher 2, TOR etc the 560 will kick their asses.

 

[Merovin]

Anyone at GAF used PC Specialist before? Had some bad luck a few years back with online computer shopping, so some opinions would be nice.

 

[ZimJaBim]

Do you know if that motherboard will be compatible with the new CPUs? Or in 6 months if i needed to upgrade would i have to buy a new motherboard

 

[scogoth]

Does the OEM Samsung F4 come with any SATA cables? I have mine in the case...but I can't seem to find any extra cables?

Your motherboard will come with cables.

Edit: I'd like to do an HTPC thread, but not sure if the mods are good with that.

HTPCs > Towers/mini-towers

Please do. It'd be nice to have separate HTPC and Gaming PC building threads

Do you know if that motherboard will be compatible with the new CPUs? Or in 6 months if i needed to upgrade would i have to buy a new motherboard

Yes it will support Ivy Bridge processors but lack the native USB3 and PCIe3.0 features of the newer motherboards.

So about to pull the trigger on my new PC but needs some advice.
Currently working with
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400@ 3.00 GHz
Ram: 4 GB DDR2
Video Card: ATI Radeo HD 4870
Proposed Build from NCIX.ca
Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Mid Tower $114.99
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB 238.99
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 122.35
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr OC 880MHZ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E 244.99
Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan 104.99
Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3Gbps 64MB Cache 3.5IN 89.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 90.77
Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black Retail 29.98
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT 123.98
Total Cost 1161.02 + tax
Should i pull the trigger?? is there anything i should wait for? looking forward to the Witcher 2, Battlefield 3, and TOR
Thanks for your help

Get an SSD with this or replace it with a Spinpoint F3. Having that as your main drive will make you mad when loading games. Its a great media/storage drive not a great OS drive.

 

[Coldsnap]

Yup, might run into some little problems running both at the same time (color/res) etc.

How widespread are these problems?

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM (DDR2/DDR3) / Motherboard / GPU: It's a laptop with a Geforce 9300MS, 4GB of Ram, Intel Duo 2GHZ...feel free to mock. W7 Ultimate

Budget: Price Range + Country:My wife wants 400, I want 600. If you could get 400 with what I want I'm fine with it.

Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, 3D work, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback):Gaming, General Usage. Maybe some DVD to mobile format video conversion, but its not a key reason to bump up price.

Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?: I'm just going to us my 40in Samsung TV it can do 720p or 1080p and I'm fine with 1280X720 for better FPS. I'm sure I can find a super cheap if I need one later on. So I will need HDMI out.

List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Self Explanatory Civ 5, Deus Ex, Duke Nukem, Skyrim and Battlefield 3, although those can be medium range as long as its good FPS. I'm used to playing some games with 15-30 so I want good FPS for once. lol

Are reusing any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX 520W): Windows 7 is a student edition I bought so I have no need to pay for an operating system. Maybe I can get 100 to 200 to salvage my old laptop...though I am a bit nuts with insuring no data is transferred so I might just keep it for emergencies.

When will you build?: When do you want your computer, do you need it in a week, can you wait a month or two?: I'd prefer sooner than later (since school loans kick in at the end of the month), so I can pay it all off quickly.

Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes)
Maybe, but that's only if I feel good after the building process.

I have never built a computer before so I am really nervous about trying this, but I figure I need to learn at some point. I'd also like to be able to finally upgrade with this unit (I've only gotten prefabs before), so I don't mind starting out a little weaker, but free to build on later.

Thanks!

 

[DrForester]

Anyone put a SSD into a slightly older laptop? (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 120gb hdd, 3gb ram).

Is it worth it? With the laptop as your only computer. Hoping to not buy a new laptop for at least another year.

I did, boots up faster and all the other advantages you'd expect.

I just made the mistake of thinking my laptop needed the bigger SSD than my Desktop. So I'll be reformatting and swapping them out after this school semester is over.

I got it mainly because I plan to upgrade my laptop next year, and I figure I can use this on the new laptop as well.

 

[ithorien]

How widespread are these problems?

Some games freak out about it, the two I can remember just recently were Split/Second and Metro 2033.

Both of these the solution was to unplug the secondary, get the game running on primary, exit and replug the secondary. Some games just don't want a second monitor to be there.

 

[AssassiN]

Anyone at GAF used PC Specialist before? Had some bad luck a few years back with online computer shopping, so some opinions would be nice.

I got my current machine a couple of years back from them, good quick and efficient service.

 

[Coldsnap]

Some games freak out about it, the two I can remember just recently were Split/Second and Metro 2033.

Both of these the solution was to unplug the secondary, get the game running on primary, exit and replug the secondary. Some games just don't want a second monitor to be there.

Ah gotcha, thanks. Unplugging my computer monitor to game wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.

I got a 50 foot HDMI cable, lets hope a 1080p signal can pass through that long of a cable; I made sure to not get a super cheap one.

 

[TheExodu5]

Anyone put a SSD into a slightly older laptop? (1.8ghz core 2 duo, 120gb hdd, 3gb ram).

Is it worth it? With the laptop as your only computer. Hoping to not buy a new laptop for at least another year.

Since I replaced my Intel X25-M 80GB drive in my desktop, I figured I'd try it out in my laptop. My laptop is 5 years old...Core Duo (not Core 2) 2.0GHz, 2GB of RAM, GeForce 7600Go. My laptop is now blazing fast. Seriously, for simple web browsing, Office applications, and the like, it feels nearly as fast as my 2500K desktop.

 

[Corky]

Since I replaced my Intel X25-M 80GB drive in my desktop, I figured I'd try it out in my laptop. My laptop is 5 years old...Core Duo (not Core 2) 2.0GHz, 2GB of RAM, GeForce 7600Go. My laptop is now blazing fast. Seriously, for simple web browsing, Office applications, and the like, it feels nearly as fast as my 2500K desktop.

fuuu... something tells me my laptop only has room for one harddrive, I wish they were cheaper so I could toss one in it. 5400rpm mechanical hdd is giving me grey hairs

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Anyone in the UK not received there B3 replacement p67 board yet? I spoke to Asus about a month and a half ago but have yet to hear anything, just wondering if I should start hounding them.

 

[opticalmace]

Since I replaced my Intel X25-M 80GB drive in my desktop, I figured I'd try it out in my laptop. My laptop is 5 years old...Core Duo (not Core 2) 2.0GHz, 2GB of RAM, GeForce 7600Go. My laptop is now blazing fast. Seriously, for simple web browsing, Office applications, and the like, it feels nearly as fast as my 2500K desktop.

Thanks, I'll go for it.

Question though, someone suggested an Intel 320. Do I have to worry about Sata 1.5gbps or 3gbps or whatever? It's a Dell D630 but I don't know what kind of SATA it has (new in Q3 2007). Does it even matter?

Thanks.

 

[Windam]

Hey guys, is my fan arrangement safe here, with all four of them being connected together like this? I never had the front two intake fans connected before, but I just connected them. Here are two pics that I took to show you what I mean.
Pic 1
Pic 2

 

[Jin34]

The AV40's are about an inch and a half taller than a dvd case, and an inch wider as well.

Nice, they will fit well and the tweeters will be near ear level.

Mere days after I order them amazon takes $10 off the price, bummer.

 

[WanderingWind]

I have a Radeon HD 4650 that needs replacing. Before I go out and buy a card that doesn't fit into my motherboard, what should I be looking for?

 

[Crazymoogle]

Question though, someone suggested an Intel 320. Do I have to worry about Sata 1.5gbps or 3gbps or whatever? It's a Dell D630 but I don't know what kind of SATA it has (new in Q3 2007). Does it even matter?

I don't know if the Intel drive supports SATA 3, but anything with SATA 3 is backwards compatible anyway, so you should be fine. You can expect a transfer speed boost if you ever get a compatible motherboard or controller, but the difference isn't going to be noticeable enough to be worth buying a controller card under normal-use conditions.

 

[ithorien]

Ah gotcha, thanks. Unplugging my computer monitor to game wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.

I got a 50 foot HDMI cable, lets hope a 1080p signal can pass through that long of a cable; I made sure to not get a super cheap one.

You'll also have to only do it once, on a very few, select amount of games. After you get it running the first time, you can plug it back in and there's no issues from there on.

 

[opticalmace]

I don't know if the Intel drive supports SATA 3, but anything with SATA 3 is backwards compatible anyway, so you should be fine. You can expect a transfer speed boost if you ever get a compatible motherboard or controller, but the difference isn't going to be noticeable enough to be worth buying a controller card under normal-use conditions.

Thanks very much. I'm going to probably purchase it within the week! First SSD, very excited.

 

[clav]

Thanks, I'll go for it.

Question though, someone suggested an Intel 320. Do I have to worry about Sata 1.5gbps or 3gbps or whatever? It's a Dell D630 but I don't know what kind of SATA it has (new in Q3 2007). Does it even matter?

Thanks.

Nope, and the Intel drives max out at SATA II, so you're not really wasting money.

 

[The Bookerman]

Get an SSD with this or replace it with a Spinpoint F3. Having that as your main drive will make you mad when loading games. Its a great media/storage drive not a great OS drive.

You know how much ssd drives cost? good ones? Recommend me a ssd drive that's cheap and effective, cause I pulled the gun on approximately the same build yesterday.

 

[Kalnos]

Anyone have an idea why CPU temp wouldn't be listed in HWMonitor? Like, not even as its TMPN1 alias?

Bios recognized it and had its temp and Windows also recognized it.

 

[WanderingWind]

Welp, got the 6950. Hope it fits/is powered. Now, if I need to pick up a "future proof" motherboard. The one in the OP still valid?

 

[The Lamonster]

My 24" monitor is now slightly buzzing near the top heat vents. Is this bad?

 

[opticalmace]

My 24" monitor is now slightly buzzing near the top heat vents. Is this bad?

Never heard of this.. if it were me I would grab a flashlight and see if you can see any obstruction or something like that?