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[TheExodu5]

Could you link me to a compatible one please (are they really $90)? Also, do I need to grab some thermal compound? I have no idea what it does but I keep seeing it.



I'm highly uneducated when it comes to monitors so please give me some recommendations.

My reasoning behind choosing that monitor was that it was 2ms, 21.5" and 1920x1080 (I want this density), and most importantly had a no dead pixel guarantee.

Edit: Is 60gb enough for W7, 2-3 games, and office? I have about 5.5tb of storage for music and movies, but if 60gb isn't enough for my day-day apps I guess I could spring for the 120gb.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049&cm_re=asus_24-_-24-236-049-_-Product

Although I haven't been a fan of what I've seen in LEDs so far, some users seem to say this one is great as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236111&cm_re=asus_24-_-24-236-111-_-Product

 

[Dynamic3]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049&cm_re=asus_24-_-24-236-049-_-Product

Although I haven't been a fan of what I've seen in LEDs so far, some users seem to say this one is great as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236111&cm_re=asus_24-_-24-236-111-_-Product

Those have significantly less pixel density though. I still want to stay within the 21.5" 1920x1080 realm.

 

[mrklaw]

whats the difference between the Asus P8P67 pro, and the Asus P8P67-M pro? In the UK the 'M' is about £35 cheaper, so I'm tempted to go with that unless it has obvious things missing like USB3 or overclockability.

 

[iNvid02]

whats the difference between the Asus P8P67 pro, and the Asus P8P67-M pro? In the UK the 'M' is about £35 cheaper, so I'm tempted to go with that unless it has obvious things missing like USB3 or overclockability.

if you go the asus website you can compare the 2 directly, from the top of my head the m-pro has a few less connections, few less pci slots and a realtek lan instead of intel. i went with the regular pro

 

[keeblerdrow]

microATX form factor as opposed to ATX. It's a physically smaller board.

 

[Divvy]

So this is my first time doing this. I'm building this one mostly for work (Photoshop, Premier, Toon Boom) And some gaming too.

What do you guys think?

 

[keeblerdrow]

If it's for work and "some gaming" perhaps the 6950 is overkill. Unless by "some gaming" you mean playing everything out there at max and near max settings.

 

[TheExodu5]

So this is my first time doing this. I'm building this one mostly for work (Photoshop, Premier, Toon Boom) And some gaming too.

What do you guys think?

You should get either the 2500K or the 2600K. You already have a board that's capable of overclocking, and it's super easy to do. An overclocked 2500K will smoke a 2600 in every which way.

Put a cheap heatsink on it as well...the Cooler Master Hyper 212+.

 

[Divvy]

If it's for work and "some gaming" perhaps the 6950 is overkill. Unless by "some gaming" you mean playing everything out there at max and near max settings.

Yea that's pretty much what I mean (I only play PC games occasionally, but getting it at max settings would be nice)

You should get either the 2500K or the 2600K. You already have a board that's capable of overclocking, and it's super easy to do. An overclocked 2500K will smoke a 2600 in every which way.

Put a cheap heatsink on it as well...the Cooler Master Hyper 212+.

Done

 

[BrettWeir]

My current PC

e8500
4 Gig DDR2
Radeon 4850
Asus Mobo
Win7 (64)

My question(s)
Will my CPU bottleneck and bottom out an upgrade to ATI 6950? Is it better to hold off upgrading to a 6950 until I can upgrade the mobo/CPU/RAM?

I wont be able to build a new PC until probably next year (building a deck onto the house takes precedence), but would really at least like to upgrade the GPU.

 

[TheExodu5]

Yea that's pretty much what I mean (I only play PC games occasionally, but getting it at max settings would be nice)




Done

Also, switch the RAM to a single order of 2x4GB. Better to have 2 sticks than 4.

This should do well:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55544&vpn=996770&manufacture=Mushkin Enhanced

 

[Alex]

Is it a good time to get an SSD, or should I be waiting? I'm pretty uneducated on what is going on with them.

 

[Divvy]

Also, switch the RAM to a single order of 2x4GB. Better to have 2 sticks than 4.

This should do well:

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55544&vpn=996770&manufacture=Mushkin Enhanced

Awesome, thanks! Much appreciated.

 

[CrankyJay]

Is it a good time to get an SSD, or should I be waiting? I'm pretty uneducated on what is going on with them.

Faster (and presumably cheaper) SSDs are coming out in February if you can wait a few weeks.

 

[vocab]

Faster (and presumably cheaper) SSDs are coming out in February if you can wait a few weeks.

I find it hard to believe that Faster = cheaper.

I'm still looking for a bang for buck SSD, and so far I don't see anything.

 

[MikeE21286]

I find it hard to believe that Faster = cheaper.

I'm still looking for a bang for buck SSD, and so far I don't see anything.

Yeah the new (faster) Corsair P3 SSDs came out with a $299 128GB price tag. I'd bet the more likely situation is gonna be that we see drops on the old models.

Crucial/Micron C400 line of SSDs come out some time in February. They have a rumored price of $210 for 128GB. We'll see though...

 

[vocab]

My current PC

e8500
4 Gig DDR2
Radeon 4850
Asus Mobo
Win7 (64)

My question(s)
Will my CPU bottleneck and bottom out an upgrade to ATI 6950?

Yes, but with a newer card you'll still see the noticeable gains.

 

[SmoothCB]

Is anyone here in Beijing? I'll be moving there next week for 6 months and want to build a new rig and the only thing PC wise that I'm bringing with me is a legit copy of windows 7.

Any specific stores that you'd recommend? Any suggestions? I speak Chinese and have a decent ability to bargain with Chinese vendors.

 

[CrankyJay]

I find it hard to believe that Faster = cheaper.

I'm still looking for a bang for buck SSD, and so far I don't see anything.

I didn't say it would be cheaper because it's faster. Production costs are dropping and soon the price cut should be passed on to the customer.

 

[vocab]

Those have significantly less pixel density though. I still want to stay within the 21.5" 1920x1080 realm.

Than buy what you want. No one is forcing you to change your mind. We are just saying 21.5 and 1080p for $300 is steep. Me personally I would get a 1200p monitor. I own VW246H, and it's has been really good to me.

 

[mrklaw]

how about this?

core i5 2500K 187
coolermaster Hyper 212 18.95
Asus P8P67 111
Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic 4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop 38.54
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti TWIN FROZR II 1GB 203.50
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache 40.78
Silverstone SC17 silver 80
w7 home prem 64 bit 75.68
Seasonic M12II-520 520W Modular Power Supply 71.98
DVD drive £20

total is 847 which seems steep - I can get dinoPC to build almost the same kit (albeit in a xigmatek asgard case which I don't like) for £794 (corsair memory, asus motherboard, 1TB drive, GTX560, coolermaster TX3 cooler, 2500k, xigmatek 500W PSU, W7 home prem)

 

[Solo]

First post on the new rig. Have Crysis and STALKER SoC/CoP downloading as we speak from Steam. Can't wait to give Crysis a rip.

 

[Hazaro]

Make sure to check the config thread on GAF.
Just Cause 2 is amazing as well.

Grats and post pics!

 

[BrettWeir]

Yes, but with a newer card you'll still see the noticeable gains.

Thank you for the reply. Greatly appreciated.

 

[The Big Rig]

First post on the new rig. Have Crysis and STALKER SoC/CoP downloading as we speak from Steam. Can't wait to give Crysis a rip.

Frankly, CoP impressed me way more than Crysis when I played them both on my new computer. Enjoy.

 

[TheExodu5]

how about this?

core i5 2500K 187
coolermaster Hyper 212 18.95
Asus P8P67 111
Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic 4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop 38.54
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti TWIN FROZR II 1GB 203.50
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache 40.78
Silverstone SC17 silver 80
w7 home prem 64 bit 75.68
Seasonic M12II-520 520W Modular Power Supply 71.98
DVD drive £20

total is 847 which seems steep - I can get dinoPC to build almost the same kit (albeit in a xigmatek asgard case which I don't like) for £794 (corsair memory, asus motherboard, 1TB drive, GTX560, coolermaster TX3 cooler, 2500k, xigmatek 500W PSU, W7 home prem)

Looks great to me. The only thing I would check is that the Silverstone can support a big cooler like the Hyper 212.

Frankly, CoP impressed me way more than Crysis when I played them both on my new computer.

Visually, CoP looks pretty bad...but it plays beautifully and is an amazing game. Night time is amazing though.

Crysis...eh. It needs some modding to really look its best. Then again...so did the original STALKER.

Just Cause 2 is probably the best looking PC game out there, considering IQ and performance. Shame it didn't control a little better though.

 

[Hazaro]

how about this?

core i5 2500K 187
coolermaster Hyper 212 18.95
Asus P8P67 111
Corsair Memory XMS3 Classic 4GB DDR3 1333 Mhz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop 38.54
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti TWIN FROZR II 1GB 203.50
1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache 40.78
Silverstone SC17 silver 80
w7 home prem 64 bit 75.68
Seasonic M12II-520 520W Modular Power Supply 71.98
DVD drive £20

total is 847 which seems steep - I can get dinoPC to build almost the same kit (albeit in a xigmatek asgard case which I don't like) for £794 (corsair memory, asus motherboard, 1TB drive, GTX560, coolermaster TX3 cooler, 2500k, xigmatek 500W PSU, W7 home prem)

I'd much rather have a FROZR 560, Seasonic 520W (You don't need the modular version), and a case I liked.

 

[TheExodu5]

Those have significantly less pixel density though. I still want to stay within the 21.5" 1920x1080 realm.

Why is pixel density such a big deal for you?

Do you need to be really, really close to your screen?

Size beats pixel density (and in many cases, picture quality) every time.

In our Home Theater room, we have a 50" plasma and a 110" projector. Guess which one has better picture quality? Then guess the one I'd rather play on each and every time.

Can you possibly go to a local store like BestBuy and just buy a few monitors? Get a 21" one, and then a 24" one. See which one you like best. Return the other.

 

[The Elite]

Here is my potential purchase based on McLaren's recommendations. The Canadian NCIX store appears to have slightly different selection and pricing for some items. I did what I could.

 

[Hazaro]

Here is my potential purchase based on McLaren's recommendations. The Canadian NCIX store appears to have slightly different selection and pricing for some items. I did what I could.

That 460 seems a bit steep (Normal for Canada). Go for a 6850 if you don't mind AMD/ATi.
And if you don't plan on SLi/xFire you can drop the PSU down. Newegg usually has Corsair PSU's with a $20MIR at the same price a Seasonic unit is, which is why its in the OP.

 

[The Elite]

That 460 seems a bit steep (Normal for Canada). Go for a 6850 if you don't mind AMD/ATi.
And if you don't plan on SLi/xFire you can drop the PSU down. Newegg usually has Corsair PSU's with a $20MIR at the same price a Seasonic unit is, which is why its in the OP.

Thanks for the recommendations. I will adjust.

Edit: The 6850 appears to be the same price in Canuckistan.

 

[mrklaw]

Looks great to me. The only thing I would check is that the Silverstone can support a big cooler like the Hyper 212.

Apparently it'll take a noctua no problem, so I assumed it'd be ok with a hyper. I'll check the dimensions though. I figured as so many were recommending the 212 on here, that the micros would probably be overkill. Will over clock but I don't need silent running.


hazaro, thanks, kind of what I thought.

Any reason not to go for the m-ATX ASUS? Bit small meaning tricky to put together for someone inexperienced? It has SLI support which the standard P8P67 doesn't (these two are the same price) - you need the pro for SLI and the price just feels a bit too much for questionable extra? If it's a question of m-ATX vs full ATX, does it matter?

Edit: noctua, not micros. Bloody iPad autocorrect. Oh yes, put your name properly capitalised why don't you?

 

[Jak140]

Can anyone help? ATI Drivers seem to be causing my comp to BSOD randomly. It seems to happen when my computer tries to turn off my monitor display after idling for ten minutes, but it doesn't seem to happen every time. So far it's happened twice under the same conditions. I have an HD 6950 flashed to 6970 and the driver is v. 10.12

 

[mclaren777]

Here is my potential purchase based on McLaren's recommendations. The Canadian NCIX store appears to have slightly different selection and pricing for some items. I did what I could.

Looks good. But of course I'd say that.

 

[TheExodu5]

Apparently it'll take a micros no problem, so I assumed it'd be ok with a hyper. I'll check the dimensions though. I figured as so many were recommending the 212 on here, that the micros would probably be overkill. Will over clock but I don't need silent running.


hazaro, thanks, kind of what I thought.

Any reason not to go for the m-ATX ASUS? Bit small meaning tricky to put together for someone inexperienced? It has SLI support which the standard P8P67 doesn't (these two are the same price) - you need the pro for SLI and the price just feels a bit too much for questionable extra? If it's a question of m-ATX vs full ATX, does it matter?

I wouldn't do SLI in an HTPC case. I probably wouldn't consider it a selling feature.

In terms of mATX vs ATX, it's probably just a difference in USB/SATA and maybe a feature or two.

 

[mrklaw]

PSU question, which is probably the part i'm least confident with. With my suggested spec (GTX560, 2500k, 4GB), what do I need to be safe? Seasonic 520W 85% is £65. Corsair 500W 80% is £45. the percentage is efficiency right? So would the corsair be a bit too tight for comfort?

 

[AndyH]

Can anyone help? ATI Drivers seem to be causing my comp to BSOD randomly. It seems to happen when my computer tries to turn off my monitor display after idling for ten minutes, but it doesn't seem to happen every time. So far it's happened twice under the same conditions. I have an HD 6950 flashed to 6970 and the driver is v. 10.12

First of all did you flash a 6970 bios onto that 6950? If so I recommend flashing back to your own 6950 bios, unlock the shaders and overclock back to 6970 speeds. As far as I am aware this is the safer of the two methods.

Secondly I recommend that you uninstall your drivers, run driver sweeper, restart, and then reinstall them. Also 11.1a drivers have recently been released on the 26th might want to try them out.

I was having similar issues with bsod but reinstalled drivers and things have been fine. Also made some reasonable gains in benchs, 3D Mark 2011 4980 -> 5170 for example so I think something was just wrong with the drivers.

 

[mrklaw]

I wouldn't do SLI in an HTPC case. I probably wouldn't consider it a selling feature.

In terms of mATX vs ATX, it's probably just a difference in USB/SATA and maybe a feature or two.

Thanks. It's a big HTPC case but I feel the same. I'll go for ATX then, might have a bit more space for clumsy fingers to work around.

 

[theignoramus]

Just bought a 3.4 Ghz i7 2600 with an Asus GTx580 and 8 gigs of RAM. No one answered my question, but I'm sure my poor little card will cope with Warhead's enthusiast settings.

 

[pestul]

PSU question, which is probably the part i'm least confident with. With my suggested spec (GTX560, 2500k, 4GB), what do I need to be safe? Seasonic 520W 85% is £65. Corsair 500W 80% is £45. the percentage is efficiency right? So would the corsair be a bit too tight for comfort?

Your system won't consume over 300W under load. As long as you don't want to SLI, you'll be fine. You could even overclock the crap out of all parts with a 500W.

 

[pestul]

Just bought a 3.4 Ghz i7 2600 with an Asus GTx580. No one answered my question, but I'm sure my poor little card will cope with Warhead's enthusiast settings.

You don't really need to ask. You've just bought the fastest single gpu graphics card available atm and coupled it with a fast modern cpu. It will run Crysis very nicely at 1080p with all the fixings.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I think this is the finalized version of the pc I am going to build.

Is paying 25 dollars more (after rebate) worth it for having a corsair 650 modular? I was trying to get it below $1,000.00, but I can deal with it being a little over. There is a - $15.00 promo on the ram, too.

Edit: I might drop the motherboard to the PRO3 Asrock because I do not plan to ever SLI. That will save me $30.00.

 

[vocab]

Can anyone help? ATI Drivers seem to be causing my comp to BSOD randomly. It seems to happen when my computer tries to turn off my monitor display after idling for ten minutes, but it doesn't seem to happen every time. So far it's happened twice under the same conditions. I have an HD 6950 flashed to 6970 and the driver is v. 10.12

10.12 was the worst ATI driver all year. 10.11 like me or 11.1a if you don't get the mouse cursor lag (which I do). I think it only effects 5xxx, but I don't even know anymore.

 

[bee]

if its a gaming pc, then 4gb memory is all you will need

 

[ukresistance]

A friend recently gave me an old PC he built up a couple of years ago and now i'm looking to upgrade it piece by piece, starting with a new video card.

I'm hoping to build something up that will let me play most games and be decent enough, with reasonable expectation to handle future titles like Skyrim.

I've looked for a few cards so far and the following seems to be very good spec wise, low power and quiet. The Sapphire HD5570 1GB DDR3 However, I want HDMI and perhaps a better price.

I've been out of the loop so long, I'd appreciate any advice on alternatives to the Sapphire and any good retailers to shop from.

 

[Solo]

Frankly, CoP impressed me way more than Crysis when I played them both on my new computer. Enjoy.

Ive only played Crysis so far, but goddamn, blows me the fuck away. Posted a couple shots in the high res PC shots thread.

 

[ChoklitReign]

A friend recently gave me an old PC he built up a couple of years ago and now i'm looking to upgrade it piece by piece, starting with a new video card.

I'm hoping to build something up that will let me play most games and be decent enough, with reasonable expectation to handle future titles like Skyrim.

I've looked for a few cards so far and the following seems to be very good spec wise, low power and quiet. The Sapphire HD5570 1GB DDR3 However, I want HDMI and perhaps a better price.

I've been out of the loop so long, I'd appreciate any advice on alternatives to the Sapphire and any good retailers to shop from.

You don't want an HTPC card if you want to play Skyrim. MSI's Twin Frozr line makes very quiet cards and shouldn't be too powerful (unless you compare them to <$80 GPUs).

 

[Nabs]

Ive only played Crysis so far, but goddamn, blows me the fuck away.

Crysis is incredible. I'm playing it now as well, and having a damn good time. A couple of tips: turn on suit shortcuts. Double tap Crouch/Prone for Cloak, Run for Speed, Melee or Jump for strength. S brings you back to Armor.

Also check out the High Res Foliage Mod.

10.12 was the worst ATI driver all year. 10.11 like me or 11.1a if you don't get the mouse cursor lag (which I do). I think it only effects 5xxx, but I don't even know anymore.

10.10e may be my favorite of last year.

 

[Solo]

I'm playing it now as well, and having a damn good time. A couple of tips: turn on suit shortcuts. Double tap Crouch/Prone for Cloak, Run for Speed, Melee or Jump for strength. S brings you back to Armor.

That sounds fantastic. One of my few gripes so far has been finding it awkward to click the mousewheel to select a power in the middle of a firefight.

 

[Dynamic3]

Than buy what you want. No one is forcing you to change your mind. We are just saying 21.5 and 1080p for $300 is steep. Me personally I would get a 1200p monitor. I own VW246H, and it's has been really good to me.

I hear ya.

Any response to my SSD space questions (is 60gb enough for w7, office, and 2 games)?

and, do I need thermal compound?

Thanks for your help.