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[knitoe]

This might not be the appropriate place to ask, but hopefully you can help me all the same. I've been running into freezing issues/instances that popped up two months ago and now it's crept up into my gaming and now I want to fix it.

The computer would freeze and hard lock when playing flash videos on youtube and while I'm downloading files. This never happened before and I'm sure my pc could handle such tasks. And now it hard locked while playing BF2 (may be just game-related but felt I should mention it anyway), and if this creeps up when the witcher 2 is out I'm gonna go insane. I already updated my flash and video codecs just to be sure and did virus/malware scans as well, still getting hard locks when doing the tasks above.



Total amount of system memory 12.0 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2



Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type ATI Radeon HD 5670
Total available graphics memory 4091 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 1024 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 3067 MB
Display adapter driver version 8.690.0.0
Primary monitor resolution 1920x1080
DirectX version DirectX 10


I don't want to update my video driver as A) it's worked perfectly fine beforehand and b) ATI drivers are ass and cause me nothing but headaches. It always fucks up my resolution after updating it and I always have to rollback.

Is there any other checks I need to do? Or do I just need to a new video card? Please help a pc newbie in all this, thanks.

Start by reinstalling video drivers. Just because it worked before doesn't mean drivers couldn't become corrupted. And, just because AMD drivers "sucks" before doesn't mean they are now. It's going to be hard to help you if you don't even want to try the normal troubleshooting stuff first.

 

[ph33nix]

Ok so for an update from earlier:

I removed the whole mobo and stuff from my system. All I kept in was the ram (and I tried with 2 different slots), and the GPU. I noticed when I put the 24 power connector pin in, I got the CPU-LED... but then I put in the 8 pin connector at the top and then my GPU and I get VGA-LED and the boot_device_led

I'm just really confused...I guess I'm gonna try to get a cheap, shitty graphics card to see if it really is the mobo or what

this sucks ass

 

[Kalnos]

Ok so for an update from earlier:

I removed the whole mobo and stuff from my system. All I kept in was the ram (and I tried with 2 different slots), and the GPU. I noticed when I put the 24 power connector pin in, I got the CPU-LED... but then I put in the 8 pin connector at the top and then my GPU and I get VGA-LED and the boot_device_led

I'm just really confused...I guess I'm gonna try to get a cheap, shitty graphics card to see if it really is the mobo or what

this sucks ass

1. Try every pci-e slot. Some boards limit one to SLI/Crossfire from what I have discovered.

2. Next, try an older GPU if you have it.

If those fail, it's probably a failed pci-e slot.

 

[ph33nix]

1. Try every pci-e slot. Some boards limit one to SLI/Crossfire from what I have discovered.

2. Next, try an older GPU if you have it.

If those fail, it's probably a failed pci-e slot.

I did try all of them...and yeah, I'm planning on getting a shitty GPU from best buy tomorrow morning, testing it, and then just returning it when I get my answers. I'll know for sure then

thanks for the help everybody!

 

[Edgeward]

Start by reinstalling video drivers. Just because it worked before doesn't mean drivers couldn't become corrupted. And, just because AMD drivers "sucks" before doesn't mean they are now. It's going to be hard to help you if you don't even want to try the normal troubleshooting stuff first.

Thanks, for the first time I got the drivers to install correctly. Hopefully this fixes anything and everything.

 

[Trouble]

I need advice PC-GAF.

I bought my current PC about a year and half ago. I was going to build one, but I found a screaming deal on this one and I'm lazy.

HP e9180f
Core i7 920
9GB DDR3
Nvidia GTS 250
460W PS

Been happy with it, but I think it's time to upgrade the video card. I want to buy a card that will last the rest of the life of this system (2 years minimum).

I was looking at a GTX 570, specifically this one
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EHZD5W/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Then I looked at the specs and it says minimum 550W PS. Dammit.

So now I'm also looking at this OCZ PS.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EYV690/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I know fuck-all about Power Supplies these days.

Questions:
Are these a reasonable choices?
Is 600W good enough, or should I play it safe and get 700? (I'm never going to SLI)
Should I expect these to run considerably hotter than my current card and PS? I'm almost tempted to move the guts of this thing into a better case, but again, I'm lazy. I've never had any heat issues with this system even under heavy load, but the case doesn't have great airflow.

TIA

 

[Mohonky]

I need advice PC-GAF.

I bought my current PC about a year and half ago. I was going to build one, but I found a screaming deal on this one and I'm lazy.

HP e9180f
Core i7 920
9GB DDR3
Nvidia GTS 250
460W PS

Been happy with it, but I think it's time to upgrade the video card. I want to buy a card that will last the rest of the life of this system (2 years minimum).

I was looking at a GTX 570, specifically this one
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EHZD5W/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Then I looked at the specs and it says minimum 550W PS. Dammit.

So now I'm also looking at this OCZ PS.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EYV690/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I know fuck-all about Power Supplies these days.

Questions:
Are these a reasonable choices?
Is 600W good enough, or should I play it safe and get 700? (I'm never going to SLI)
Should I expect these to run considerably hotter than my current card and PS? I'm almost tempted to move the guts of this thing into a better case, but again, I'm lazy. I've never had any heat issues with this system even under heavy load, but the case doesn't have great airflow.

TIA

I had a similar problem. Core i7 920, 6gb DDR3 running my old 8800GT, wanted to upgrade to GTX570 but the shitty PSU was never going to have a bar of it.

Basically ended up buying an 850watt PSU, GTX570 and Case and just swapped it all over. Now I has happy times.

 

[Trouble]

I had a similar problem. Core i7 920, 6gb DDR3 running my old 8800GT, wanted to upgrade to GTX570 but the shitty PSU was never going to have a bar of it.

Basically ended up buying an 850watt PSU, GTX570 and Case and just swapped it all over. Now I has happy times.

Seems to be the route I'm likely headed for. Glad it worked out for you.

 

[dwebo]

Seems to be the route I'm likely headed for. Glad it worked out for you.

Recommended PSU estimates are always overly cautious, since there's such a wide range of PC hardware and it's always better to be safe than sorry. OTOH, real world 570 benchmarks (total system usage) have it at 371W for Crysis and 330W for Metro 2033. A 600W psu would be more than enough.

Other thing to be aware of is the 570 is 1.5in longer than a 250, so make sure there's actually room enough in there for one. Store bought PCs can be pretty cramped.

 

[MysticX]

hey guys...what was the name of the HDD speed tester program?

 

[Corky]

ATTO disk benchmark is widely used

 

[mAcOdIn]

This might not be the appropriate place to ask, but hopefully you can help me all the same. I've been running into freezing issues/instances that popped up two months ago and now it's crept up into my gaming and now I want to fix it.

The computer would freeze and hard lock when playing flash videos on youtube and while I'm downloading files. This never happened before and I'm sure my pc could handle such tasks. And now it hard locked while playing BF2 (may be just game-related but felt I should mention it anyway), and if this creeps up when the witcher 2 is out I'm gonna go insane. I already updated my flash and video codecs just to be sure and did virus/malware scans as well, still getting hard locks when doing the tasks above.



Total amount of system memory 12.0 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2



Graphics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter type ATI Radeon HD 5670
Total available graphics memory 4091 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 1024 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 3067 MB
Display adapter driver version 8.690.0.0
Primary monitor resolution 1920x1080
DirectX version DirectX 10


I don't want to update my video driver as A) it's worked perfectly fine beforehand and b) ATI drivers are ass and cause me nothing but headaches. It always fucks up my resolution after updating it and I always have to rollback.

Is there any other checks I need to do? Or do I just need to a new video card? Please help a pc newbie in all this, thanks.

I don't know if I'd think it was the videocard to be honest.

Flash could indicate that but also just downloading stuff? That almost sounds random at that point, I'd be inclined to maybe downloading and running memtest and checking how your power supply levels are.

 

[MysticX]

I tried that ATTO Bench and was wondering about the results, as I can´t see any indicator wether it´s slow or fast

but it tested by default 0,5 2 8192 @ 256MB and it bottlenecked at 35MB, already at point 8 and it doesn´t get any higher, is that a good indicator to exchange the HDD?

btw, it´s an old laptop using an ATA HDD

 

[Hazaro]

In general:
Older laptop/5400 drives : 40MB/s
Newer drives: 80-100MB/s
SSD: 150-500MB/s

That sounds about right for an older ATA. Try Spinrite if you think it has problems.

 

[MysticX]

In general:
Older laptop/5400 drives : 40MB/s
Newer drives: 80-100MB/s
SSD: 150-500MB/s

That sounds about right for an older ATA. Try Spinrite if you think it has problems.

thx, windows had detected frequently controller error on the hdd, so I guess it needs replacing anwyay

 

[kurtrussell]

Can anybody point me towards the possible solution to what may cause the Geforce driver to "crash and recover"?

Googling it seems to be a common problem but the cause of it seems vague. I know it's most likely not the temps because both GTS 450 cards are running between 61 degrees and 69 degrees when it crashes. I also think I can rule out my PSU because I am using a Seasonic X-460 fanless PSU which whilst saying 460W on the box, in actuality is stupidly overspecced and can quite comfortably push 700w+ (the 2 x GTS cards are only 110w peak each and my CPU is an AMD 45w)

I only get the crash so far in Crysis - I've been able to run both HL2, Portal fully maxxed with no issues, and also some other recent-ish games at full spec (Spore, Painkiller, Cities XL 2011, Doom3)

Anybody with any ideas of where I could start troubleshooting this?

 

[Corky]

Can anybody point me towards the possible solution to what may cause the Geforce driver to "crash and recover"?

This might be a shot in the dark but when one of my 460s broke I could still run games ( like crysis for example ) but I kept getting that same driver error, finally I tracked the root of the problem and as mentioned on of my 460s was broken so SLI was obviously messing everything up.

Try somekind of gpu-stressing software like unigine heaven 2.5 with one gpu at a time. This is by far the easiest and often quickest way to exclude gpu hardware issues imo.

 

[Gromph]

Can anybody point me towards the possible solution to what may cause the Geforce driver to "crash and recover"?

Googling it seems to be a common problem but the cause of it seems vague. I know it's most likely not the temps because both GTS 450 cards are running between 61 degrees and 69 degrees when it crashes. I also think I can rule out my PSU because I am using a Seasonic X-460 fanless PSU which whilst saying 460W on the box, in actuality is stupidly overspecced and can quite comfortably push 700w+ (the 2 x GTS cards are only 110w peak each and my CPU is an AMD 45w)

I only get the crash so far in Crysis - I've been able to run both HL2, Portal fully maxxed with no issues, and also some other recent-ish games at full spec (Spore, Painkiller, Cities XL 2011, Doom3)

Anybody with any ideas of where I could start troubleshooting this?

I had currently the same problem with my GTX580.

I tried on other pc and still the same issue. 3dMark high test, FFXIV, and Metro 2033 make it crash.

I sumited a ticket to EVGA for RMA and they point me to this.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=586183

I will check it later but i still think is hw problem, couse the other PC runs a 460 fine and the new run it too, and 580 crash driver on both.

 

[Hazaro]

Can anybody point me towards the possible solution to what may cause the Geforce driver to "crash and recover"?

Googling it seems to be a common problem but the cause of it seems vague. I know it's most likely not the temps because both GTS 450 cards are running between 61 degrees and 69 degrees when it crashes. I also think I can rule out my PSU because I am using a Seasonic X-460 fanless PSU which whilst saying 460W on the box, in actuality is stupidly overspecced and can quite comfortably push 700w+ (the 2 x GTS cards are only 110w peak each and my CPU is an AMD 45w)

I only get the crash so far in Crysis - I've been able to run both HL2, Portal fully maxxed with no issues, and also some other recent-ish games at full spec (Spore, Painkiller, Cities XL 2011, Doom3)

Anybody with any ideas of where I could start troubleshooting this?

Just keep trying older and newer drivers until one works globally.
I had TF2 crashes on 3 revisions of drivers.

 

[Laurentius]

All right, so I have a few questions.

This hard drive is on sale at Newegg for $70. That sounds ridiculously cheap for a 2 TB drive. The reviews on Newegg seem generally positive, though. It's certainly not top of the line (meaning it's probably not the fastest) but it's definitely good for most purposes. And 2TB is a ridiculous amount of space that I'm sure I would never use.

Any suggestions? I've been needing to spring for a new hard drive for a long time now -- I'm still running a 160GB HDD. That's just not nearly enough space for anything now. 2TB would be a huge jump...but does somebody have any recommendations for a different HDD? I don't necessarily need a full 2TB -- I could easily live with 1TB. But that price is so good. Not sure if I would be making a bad decision by going for it.

Also, I've already got a monitor, but this one is on sale for $110...I kind of want a dual monitor setup. Argh, good deals are awesome but sometimes they force my hand before I'm really ready! =D

 

[Mohonky]

Seems to be the route I'm likely headed for. Glad it worked out for you.

As dwebo pointed out, be wary with the size of the GTX570. I wasn't expecting to HAVE to try and get a new case, but I bought one anyway. I purchased the Thermaltake Armour+ MX and the card is literally only in there by millimeters.

The generic case from the pre-made PC I purchased before hand would never have fit the card or even come close to it. I suspect your HP will need a new case also.

 

[Yoritomo]

All right, so I have a few questions.

This hard drive is on sale at Newegg for $70. That sounds ridiculously cheap for a 2 TB drive. The reviews on Newegg seem generally positive, though. It's certainly not top of the line (meaning it's probably not the fastest) but it's definitely good for most purposes. And 2TB is a ridiculous amount of space that I'm sure I would never use.

Any suggestions? I've been needing to spring for a new hard drive for a long time now -- I'm still running a 160GB HDD. That's just not nearly enough space for anything now. 2TB would be a huge jump...but does somebody have any recommendations for a different HDD? I don't necessarily need a full 2TB -- I could easily live with 1TB. But that price is so good. Not sure if I would be making a bad decision by going for it.

Also, I've already got a monitor, but this one is on sale for $110...I kind of want a dual monitor setup. Argh, good deals are awesome but sometimes they force my hand before I'm really ready! =D

I use the Samsung F4s almost exclusively for my storage array. 11 or so of the 15 drives in my array are Samsung f4s and they've been solid.

The worst news I've heard lately is that seagate purchased samsung's hard drive business. There's a good reason that everyone keeps suggesting the F3 for 1tb drives and the f4 for storage, they're the best drives out there right now.

 

[mrklaw]

is there any clever software out there that will let you cache often-used files from a mechanical HDD to an SSD? While the OS on SSD is fine, it'd be nice if I play minecraft all the time, or maybe I'm having a portal 2 marathon, to have that cached on the SSD. It'd be a pain to manuall put them on and take them off again.

 

[Diablohead]

Quick question, I have a GTX 260 and it has served me well, and still does, but how much better is the 550 Ti model? is it worth paying £110 to swap it over?

I know processor comes into it also but I can upgrade that in a few months, sort of sick of having to play games in dx9 because the 260 has no dx11.

 

[Yoritomo]

is there any clever software out there that will let you cache often-used files from a mechanical HDD to an SSD? While the OS on SSD is fine, it'd be nice if I play minecraft all the time, or maybe I'm having a portal 2 marathon, to have that cached on the SSD. It'd be a pain to manuall put them on and take them off again.

z68 chipset about to come from intel should do this.

 

[TheExodu5]

z68 chipset about to come from intel should do this.

Not quite what he's looking for. The Z68 SSD caching feature is pretty useless...you get the benefit of sequential loading frequently used apps off the SSD, but almost none of the benefits of having an OS natively on an SSD.

 

[TheFatOne]

I ran into a problem setting up my new pc. Everything was fine until I tried to install windows 7. It got to 7% then I hit a BSOD. When I try to run it again it goes until the windows icon then my computer restarts. My only guess is that something is wrong with my HDD, but I have no idea what to do.

 

[ph33nix]

Well, I just went and got a shitty graphics card, plugged it in, same results. I guess it's my motherboard then? It was one of the defective P8P67 Pros...but I was too lazy to get a replacement since I was only using two 6.0 ports. I guess this is a sign!

 

[MentalNoiz]

I know this isn't related to the OT, but I made the mistake of buying an Alienware, and am having various issues with it. I wanted to tell everyone here of their BS policies just in case someone in here is even thinking about buying Dell's.

I've just found out that if any part inside my computer is bad, this is Dell's policy :

Dell Policy Concerning Exchanges -
If the part exchange is setup inside the first 21 days from the invoice date, the replacement part will be New.

If the part exchange is setup outside of the first 21 days from the invoice date, the part replacement will be Refurbished/Used.

I am past thde 21 day period.

After watching the videos in the first post, I should have built my own ... seems so easy.

 

[TheExodu5]

^ yep. Live and learn.

I ran into a problem setting up my new pc. Everything was fine until I tried to install windows 7. It got to 7% then I hit a BSOD. When I try to run it again it goes until the windows icon then my computer restarts. My only guess is that something is wrong with my HDD, but I have no idea what to do.

Could be HDD, memory, or CPU. My first guess would be the memory.

 

[Diablohead]

Hm comparing the two cards I asked about, seems my 260 is actually better

http://www.hwcompare.com/9745/geforce-gtx-260-vs-geforce-gtx-550-ti/

 

[Yoritomo]

Not quite what he's looking for. The Z68 SSD caching feature is pretty useless...you get the benefit of sequential loading frequently used apps off the SSD, but almost none of the benefits of having an OS natively on an SSD.

so you can't use ssd caching if the os is loaded on the ssd?

 

[·feist·]

Intel Z68 + Lucid Virtu: specs, review, encoding and gaming benches using Intel Quick Sync with Virtu's i-Mode and d-Mode.

LucidLogix Further Simplifies Virtu GPU Virtualization Software for Sandy Bridge Enabled Systems and Announces Consumer Free Trial Version
http://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ifies-Virtu-GPU-Virtualization-Software-Sandy

LUCIDLOGIX* VIRTU* SOLUTION USER GUIDE
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/19993/eng/Lucid_Virtu_User_Guide.pdf

Lucid Virtu Installation Guid
http://download.asrock.com/manual/Virtu/Z68 Extreme4/English.pdf

3 Hardware installation
3.1 i-Mode
i-Mode provides user with Intel Sandy special features and power saving options when no 3D gaming is used.

To use Lucid VIRTU solution in i-Mode, display must be always connected to Sandy Bridge motherboard video
output.
Note: Display can be also connected to IPG VGA output instead of IPG DVI output.

3.2 d-Mode
d-Mode is provided for demanding 3D gamers to achieve uncompromised 3D performance of discrete GPU
installed in the system. In this mode, Virtu allows user to utilize Intel special features such as trascoding, while
display is connected to discrete GPU.

Note: We recommend you use d-Mode for better 3D performance unless you use Intel Insider feature or the
power saving i-Mode.
To use Lucid VIRTU solution in d-Mode, display must be connected to discrete GPU installed in the system.

Lucid Virtu 9-page review - Standard vs i-Mode vs d-Mode benchmarks and power consumption:

http://www.expreview.com/14754-1.html

 

[TheFatOne]

^ yep. Live and learn.



Could be HDD, memory, or CPU. My first guess would be the memory.

Right on the money exodu. It was infact the memory. Had my brother bring over his ddr3 memory to test it out. Everything works fine now. I have a question though. I already installed windows 7(oem version) I can just add the new memory and I will be fine right?

 

[·feist·]

Right on the money exodu. It was infact the memory. Had my brother bring over his ddr3 memory to test it out. Everything works fine now. I have a question though. I already installed windows 7(oem version) I can just add the new memory and I will be fine right?

Yes.

Hm comparing the two cards I asked about, seems my 260 is actually better

http://www.hwcompare.com/9745/geforce-gtx-260-vs-geforce-gtx-550-ti/

Even if it weren't better, the 550 Ti is hardly a good buy.

Since you're happy with your current card, you should at least wait until the GTX 600s and AMD HD 7000s get released, at this point.

 

[TheFatOne]

Yes.

Sweet it sucks because now I have to wait another week before I can use my new pc

 

[Livanh]

Hi PC-Gaf!
I would appreciate your opinions on this setup:

• INTEL Core i5 2500K 4x3.3GHz boxed
• 2.5" OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 Series
• GAINWARD (Retail) GTX570 Phantom 1280MB HDMI/DVI
• 8GB CORSAIR CL9 PC3-10667U CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 KIT
• 600W be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER BQT E8-600W
• GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3-B3 - P67 DDR3 / Rev.3
• 3.5" SAMSUNG 1000GB SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 7200U/m
• Fractal Design "DEFINE R3" MidiTower o.NT. black

In particular I'm not sure about the mainboard, ssd and the boxed i5.
Are the boxed fans any good nowadays?
The system probably wont see any overclocking but it should be quiet.
PSU any good? sufficient?

Thx in advance

 

[TheExodu5]

so you can't use ssd caching if the os is loaded on the ssd?

I don't think so...though I could be mistaken.

Hi PC-Gaf!
I would appreciate your opinions on this setup:

• INTEL Core i5 2500K 4x3.3GHz boxed
• 2.5" OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 Series
• GAINWARD (Retail) GTX570 Phantom 1280MB HDMI/DVI
• 8GB CORSAIR CL9 PC3-10667U CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 KIT
• 600W be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER BQT E8-600W
• GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3-B3 - P67 DDR3 / Rev.3
• 3.5" SAMSUNG 1000GB SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 7200U/m
• Fractal Design "DEFINE R3" MidiTower o.NT. black

In particular I'm not sure about the mainboard, ssd and the boxed i5.
Are the boxed fans any good nowadays?
The system probably wont see any overclocking but it should be quiet.
PSU any good? sufficient?

Thx in advance

I'd go with an Intel 320 over the Vertex 3. The Vertex 3 is faster, but real world difference is really not that noticeable enough to warrant the extra cost and reduced reliability (this is coming from a Vertex 3 240GB owner). For the price of the 120GB Vertex 3, you could even get a 160GB Intel 320.

I'm running a Gibabyte board (UD4 for SLI)...no issues. It's been great.

Not sure about that PSU...I know the PSU brands tend to be different in Europe so maybe someone else can comment on whether or not it's good.

Everything else looks great. I wish that Gainward GPU was avaible in North America...it looks so awesome.

 

[·feist·]

Sweet it sucks because now I have to wait another week before I can use my new pc

You have zero spare ram at all? How about borrowing one of your friend's modules until you RMA yours?
As long as it isn't a work machine, he can last a week on a single 2/4GB stick. Just buy him a beer or two.

 

[Trouble]

As dwebo pointed out, be wary with the size of the GTX570. I wasn't expecting to HAVE to try and get a new case, but I bought one anyway. I purchased the Thermaltake Armour+ MX and the card is literally only in there by millimeters.

The generic case from the pre-made PC I purchased before hand would never have fit the card or even come close to it. I suspect your HP will need a new case also.

Recommended PSU estimates are always overly cautious, since there's such a wide range of PC hardware and it's always better to be safe than sorry. OTOH, real world 570 benchmarks (total system usage) have it at 371W for Crysis and 330W for Metro 2033. A 600W psu would be more than enough.

Other thing to be aware of is the 570 is 1.5in longer than a 250, so make sure there's actually room enough in there for one. Store bought PCs can be pretty cramped.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

 

[TheFatOne]

You have zero spare ram at all? How about borrowing one of your friend's modules until you RMA yours?
As long as it isn't a work machine, he can last a week on a single 2/4GB stick. Just buy him a beer or two.

Ohh I didn't think of that. My brother is super nice so he will probably let me borrow a stick for a week. At least I know what the problem was, and I am glad everything else worked fine. Now I need to overclock this puppy.

 

[AliceInJam]

Hey PC-GAF,

So I have been stalking this thread for a while now, I I think I am ready to finally join the ranks of the pc gamer! I do not currently have a gaming pc, so this will be my very first one. It will be strictly for gaming. So I guess my question is, should I stick with the build in the OP or something else? I really want to be able to play the witcher 2 when it comes out! Thanks!

 

[perryfarrell]

Question for the experts: What part of my PC should I upgrade? My PC has some pretty old parts and I'm suffering from some in-game lag and stuff.

My set-up is:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor
XFX HD-477A-YDFC Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
WINTEC AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
WINTEC AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

 

[Veal]

Question for the experts: What part of my PC should I upgrade? My PC has some pretty old parts and I'm suffering from some in-game lag and stuff.

My set-up is:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor
XFX HD-477A-YDFC Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
WINTEC AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
WINTEC AMPO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Overclock the processor.
Get more ram.
Possibly a newer video card.

 

[Mr Nightman]

Overclock the processor.
Get more ram.
Possibly a newer video card.

yes I too say that ram and video card are what seem to be bottlenecking things.

 

[Merovin]

Okay GAF, I've finally settled on a potential build (and may have gone slightly crazy in the process), let me know what you think, and what could be altered/added/removed if needed.

• Intel Core i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache)

• Asus P8P67 Deluxe

• 8GB Kingston DDR3 1600MHz

• 2x 2GB Nvidia GTX560

Then some form of SSD and a huge HD (is a sound card worth having?)
I was originally planning to build this myself, but I'm definitely getting nervous now as I've never attempted anything like this before. Thinking of using pcspecialist.co.uk as they will build it as well, but I'm wondering how much more that will make it cost?

 

[Saren is Bad]

Okay GAF, I've finally settled on a potential build (and may have gone slightly crazy in the process), let me know what you think, and what could be altered/added/removed if needed.

• Intel Core i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache)

• Asus P8P67 Deluxe

• 8GB Kingston DDR3 1600MHz

• 2x 2GB Nvidia GTX560

Then some form of SSD and a huge HD (is a sound card worth having?)
I was originally planning to build this myself, but I'm definitely getting nervous now as I've never attempted anything like this before. Thinking of using pcspecialist.co.uk as they will build it as well, but I'm wondering how much more that will make it cost?

I'm going to say that the ASUS board you have chosen is a bit overkill. It only adds another Ethernet port that I don't even know what its purpose is, and I think it adds a USB 3.0 Header. I'd go with the PRO.

As for processor, I'm willing to bet people will say go with the 2500k, which may be a good idea if you don't do alot of rendering of some kind, but I'd say go with what you want.

 

[Merovin]

I'm going to say that the ASUS board you have chosen is a bit overkill. It only adds another Ethernet port that I don't even know what its purpose is, and I think it adds a USB 3.0 Header. I'd go with the PRO.

As for processor, I'm willing to bet people will say go with the 2500k, which may be a good idea if you don't do alot of rendering of some kind, but I'd say go with what you want.

I did wonder about that, okay I'll go with the PRO, cheers. With regards to rendering, I don't at the moment (mainly because I can't), though I have been playing around with the concept, but I can't really say it'll ever be anything I'll truly delve into. I'll check out the 2500k again.

 

[Livanh]

I'd go with an Intel 320 over the Vertex 3. The Vertex 3 is faster, but real world difference is really not that noticeable enough to warrant the extra cost and reduced reliability (this is coming from a Vertex 3 240GB owner). For the price of the 120GB Vertex 3, you could even get a 160GB Intel 320.

Care to elaborate that a bit? Because just comparing the stats the vertex looks way better. Did you have any problems?

And what about the boxed CPUs? Still as loud as ever?

 

[Dosia]

Has anybody here purchased win7 through the microsoft student discount program? My girlfriends bro is a student and he is still awaiting confirmation. Its going on 3 days how long should it take?