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[LiquidMetal14]

I'm sure if this is the right place to ask but whats the final word on flashing the bios on the 6950? What kind of performance increase would I see and is it safe?

It's been stable for me. I would highly reccomend an aftermarket cooler like the Artic Accelero XTREME Plus. It's dropped my load temps over 30C from stock levels. I haven't run into 1 game that puts me in a bind. Enabling SSAO crippled my frame rates though but something like MLAA is a nice alternative as it does a good job at times. More or less, the 6950 flashed to 6970 levels is solid for me.

 

[RedSwirl]

Manufacturer is only thing different. And I think all of those $20 psus aren't even 80+

What about these?

 

[mclaren777]

I still can't decide what to do about my motherboard. What course of action are you guys taking?

Listed below are options available to you regarding your purchase:

1. Keep the motherboard you originally purchased. Intel tests have indicated the majority of customers will not have an issue with their existing motherboard. The issue is one of limitations on your ability to expand beyond more than two SATA ports. The risk of data loss is minimal. Please note: If you change your mind, you may still return or swap the board at your convenience.

2. Return the motherboard to Micro Center for a replacement. You will receive full credit for the original purchase amount to be applied toward any brand in-stock board you prefer. If this motherboard is already in use, you may want to wait until April when inventory availability significantly improves.

3. Swap the motherboard directly with the motherboard Manufacturer. Each manufacturer has certain provisions for exchange and availability. Go to www.microcenter.com for a complete list of manufacturer rules, or directly to the manufacturer's website. The manufacturers are prioritizing inventory for end-users who contact them directly.

 

[TheExodu5]

New Intel SSDs are out. Uses a Marvell controller.

Same controller are C400 and Performance 3.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I'm playing the wait and see card. I wonder if Amazon is offering the SATA PCIe cards like Tigerdirect?

 

[Zzoram]

New Intel SSDs are out. Uses a Marvell controller.

Is that bad?

When is the next gen of SSDs coming? Spring 2012?

 

[TheExodu5]

Is that bad?

When is the next gen of SSDs coming? Spring 2012?

Well Intel used to develop its own controller, which people considered more reliable. Some of us were hoping for a reliable and mature controller for Intel's new series.

Read the Anand review. Anandtech is the only source I trust for SSD reviews.

Edit: holy shit the new Intel SSD is abysmally bad. Gets beaten by the G2 in random reads. Wtfisthisshit.

I'm going with the OCZ Vertex 3.

 

[mclaren777]

Conventional wisdom dictates that I should reinstall my OS if I jump from a P67 to a Z68, right?

If so, I'll probably just replace my P67 with an identical unit.

 

[MisterAnderson]

So have new motherboards abandoned triple channel memory? I have an x58 board that I bought from 2009. Almost all of the new motherboards I see posted around here only have 4 RAM slots.

 

[mkenyon]

So have new motherboards abandoned triple channel memory? I have an x58 board that I bought from 2009. Almost all of the new motherboards I see posted around here only have 4 RAM slots.

Something to note is that the 1156 and 1155 boards are considered intel's "consumer" chipset. Socket 2011 will probably be triple channel.

 

[TheExodu5]

Intels non trimmed performance is bad as well (or rather how far your performance drops as you fill up the drive).

From 372/267 to 201/105. Wow.

 

[·feist·]

Supposedly these Intels are just a stop gap of sorts, and not considered the true Gen 3 SSDs which are still in the pipeline.

We'll see.

So have new motherboards abandoned triple channel memory? I have an x58 board that I bought from 2009. Almost all of the new motherboards I see posted around here only have 4 RAM slots.

LGA 2011 is supposed to have triple- and quad-channel options. Seems that quad won't be limited to only workstation and server boards. So far partners have been opted for quad channel with 8 slots (four on both sides of the CPU), and quad with 4 slots (that look similar to an LGA 1155 board) were each slot equals one channel (instead of two slots per channel). Should be interesting to see just what makes it to the consumer desktop market.

So does the other end of a miniDP cable have a DVI plug?

Is this the norm? I use 2 DVI ports for my dual monitor setup... my 4890 has two of them. What is "miniDisplayPort"?

Reference 6990s will come will three miniDP adapters.

 

[TheExodu5]

And well, G3's will come out in time for the competition as well: C500, P4, Vertex 4. I'm not waiting that long.

 

[MechDX]

Ok after watching the latest BF3 videos and cleaning myself up afterwards I am interested in getting BF3 for the PC instead of the 360. How well will my system run it:

Athlon IIx4 630
6 GB DDR3 RAM
XFX Radeon HD 5750
Windows 7 64 bit

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[R2D4]

Ok after watching the latest BF3 videos and cleaning myself up afterwards I am interested in getting BF3 for the PC instead of the 360. How well will my system run it:

Athlon IIx4 630
6 GB DDR3 RAM
XFX Radeon HD 5750
Windows 7 64 bit

Any input would be appreciated.

The game doesn't come out for 6 months. How is anyone suppose to know how it will run on your PC?

 

[mkenyon]

Could upgrade that to a 975 or 1100t (processor). If BF3 is multi-threaded, which means it takes advantage of as many cores as you have, then go with the 1100t.

Also upgrade the vid card to a 6950 2GB, or GTX560 2GB.

 

[Dynamic3]

MSI B3 boards back in stock at the Egg gentlemen! Ordered.

 

[·feist·]

Well, Fractal Design kept to their promised US distribution schedule and have officially begun selling their wares through Newegg.com today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=BESTMATCH&Description=fractal+design&x=0&y=0

At the moment, only the Define R3s are up. Black Pearl and Titanium Grey are $110, while Arctic White is $120. All three go for $17 shipping.

They initially had placeholder pages for both Define XLs, but the temporary Titanium listing is the only one up right now:

Fractal Design Define XL, Titanium Grey
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352006

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they'll show up officially on Amazon, or other major US retailers, even though Amazon sells Fractal cases on its other global sites. So that means no free shipping or any major competition to keep Newegg honest with their pricing.

And well, G3's will come out in time for the competition as well: C500, P4, Vertex 4. I'm not waiting that long.

They seem to have been caught off guard somehow and are desperately trying to recover.

 

[Krauser Kat]

Ok after watching the latest BF3 videos and cleaning myself up afterwards I am interested in getting BF3 for the PC instead of the 360. How well will my system run it:

Athlon IIx4 630
6 GB DDR3 RAM
XFX Radeon HD 5750
Windows 7 64 bit

Any input would be appreciated.

Your 5750 will always display games the best the 5750 can. If you get a 6950 now, it will always display games the best that it can. BF3 on a 6950 will look glorious, will it look like the video? probably pretty close.

Hopefully it will push cards really far and be slightly future proofed.

 

[antonz]

So have new motherboards abandoned triple channel memory? I have an x58 board that I bought from 2009. Almost all of the new motherboards I see posted around here only have 4 RAM slots.

They have abandoned it for now. 1155 Boards are dual and 2011 will be Quad Channel capable. Though Ivy Bridge Chips will also run on the 1155 boards

 

[Xapati]

So I'm thinking of building my own PC, but unfortunately I'm a total noob at this. I put together a list of components I think would make a good mid range gaming pc, but I'm open to suggestions (like I said, utter noob here). And I have a few questions:

In the 40min vid linked to in the OP they mention that the Intel processors come with a fan and that you do not need thermal paste. Is this the case with the AMD processors as well?

How do you decide on cooling, the Asgard II, the case I picked, comes with one fan, but how do I know if that's enough or if I need more? I will not be overclocking

How do you decide on power, it seems very few components seem to list the amount of power they use.

Since I need to install a WLAN card, will the antenna's on the card cause an issue with space?

Looking at the specs of the Motherboard it says 2x PCI-E 2.0 x16 (CrossFireX x16/x4), 2x PCI-E x1, 3x PCI", What is the difference between these 3 different kinds of PCI slots?

Should I get a AMD Phenom II X4 instead of the Athlong it's about 65$ more, how much difference will this make?

So I ended up getting these components and building my PC together. It took me about a day, but like I said I was a noob before. It plays all the games I want to play on full settings so I'm very pleased. The one thing I would change next time is invest in a different case, because the one I got was not very good for mounting a second fan. I ended up putting it in the front, but the intake for the fan is tiny and I don't think my System needed a second fan in the first place because I never hear it go one.

So anyway, thanks for everyone who helped me! I'll probably be posting screens soon, especially since Steam has a neat new screenshot feature.

 

[BrettWeir]

MSI B3 boards back in stock at the Egg gentlemen! Ordered.

And sold out.

 

[Red]

Reposting. Any knowledgeable response would be appreciated:

I'm looking for a new drive for my notebook. I'm using a 500GB Scorpio Blue right now, and while it's great for a 5400 rpm HDD, it's slowing down my productivity. An SSD right now is out of the question -- I don't have the budget, and they don't have the capacity. I've been looking at the Seagate Momentus line. I see these two products on Newegg.

They appear to be identical to me spec-wise. Why then does the first say "Up to 50% faster boot-up over 5400-RPM drives!" and the second "80% faster than traditional 7200 RPM drives"? That's a huge difference. Is it correct? If so, the extra $50 looks to be well worth it.

 

[Shambles]

Reposting. Any knowledgeable response would be appreciated:

I'm looking for a new drive for my notebook. I'm using a 500GB Scorpio Blue right now, and while it's great for a 5400 rpm HDD, it's slowing down my productivity. An SSD right now is out of the question -- I don't have the budget, and they don't have the capacity. I've been looking at the Seagate Momentus line. I see these two products on Newegg.

They appear to be identical to me spec-wise. Why then does the first say "Up to 50% faster boot-up over 5400-RPM drives!" and the second "80% faster than traditional 7200 RPM drives"? That's a huge difference. Is it correct? If so, the extra $50 looks to be well worth it.

These drives basically have a 4GB SSD onboard that the drive uses as a cache. The performance benefits however are very most overrated and not worth the money in my opinion. Windows already uses system memory to cache file which is much faster, and while an extra 4GB of much slower NAND flash on the HDD might help a bit, the price difference is pretty large. I know someone who owns one and they are happy with it but at the same price point i'd rather have the larger capacity.

 

[Naked Snake]

They have abandoned it for now. 1155 Boards are dual and 2011 will be Quad Channel capable. Though Ivy Bridge Chips will also run on the 1155 boards

I remember you saying that Ivy Bridge will only work with P67 boards and not H67 ones, is that still the case or will it work with both?

 

[TheExodu5]

2011 is not even set to be mainstream Ivy Bridge. Intel had been talking of only releasing an extreme version of their CPU (which is a rebranded Xeon) for 2011.

There's talk of a possible 1356 socket.

Really though, I hope they just release everything for 1155. The high end sockets are near useless to gamers and general enthusiasts. Only business class and ultra high end enthusiasts (tri SLi and up, with heavy benchmarking in mind) will really benefit from 2011. The only thing it's bringing to the table is quad channel memory and PCI-E bandwidth.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

Well, Fractal Design kept to their promised US distribution schedule and have officially begun selling their wares through Newegg.com today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=BESTMATCH&Description=fractal+design&x=0&y=0

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6112/79560514.jpg

At the moment, only the Define R3s are up. Black Pearl and Titanium Grey are $110, while Arctic White is $120. All three go for $17 shipping.

[/QUOTE]

Bummer, I am a heavy online shopper and the last time I paid for shipping was in 2009. I'll just think of this as a $130 case with free shipping =/

Now to decide on a color!

 

[TheExodu5]

TBH, it's still a fantastic case for $130. It's only real competitor is the P183.

 

[JudgeN]

Ok after watching the latest BF3 videos and cleaning myself up afterwards I am interested in getting BF3 for the PC instead of the 360. How well will my system run it:

Athlon IIx4 630
6 GB DDR3 RAM
XFX Radeon HD 5750
Windows 7 64 bit

Any input would be appreciated.

What your 630 clocked at? If overclocked to 3.6ish then the CPU is good to go and I would just upgrade the GPU. The 5750 is going to be your troublemaker, so next question would be what your price range for a new GPU?

 

[ShdwDrake]

I've been having the same type of problem with my 4870X2. Mainly happens when I play video on like VLC, WMP, etc. Can't wait to upgrade to a high end Nvidia card!
I think it may because the ATI card and driver is having issues with some hardware in your and my own configuration.

Yeah prolly so, I'm going Nvidia for my next. I flashed my mobo bios and it didn't help. Most other people with this problem are just getting Nvidia cards and thats fixing it.

 

[Mudkips]

So when can I buy a Vertex 3?

 

[traveler]

Slightly ot, but I'm looking at building a new PC for the first time and right now I'm trying to figure out what I could sell my old one for. I currently have a PC with a 8800GTX, 3.2 Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB harddrive, and a Blu-ray drive. First off, can I expect substantial returns from upgrading this considering the budget listed below? Secondly, what would be a fair price for such a rig, assuming I threw in a 22" Dell monitor, Dell keyboard and Logitech MX518? (looking to replace those as well)

Edit: Since I am considering a new build, I'll go ahead and feel out the questionnaire.

Basic Desktop Questions
Your Current Specs: See the above
Budget: ~$1000, US
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: Preferably 1080p, but I'm fine with 1080i or 720p if I can get noticeably better performance and effects as a result
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Would love to be able to run Battlefield 3, Witcher 2, Crysis 2, Skyrim, GW2, and so at high to very high
Are reusing any parts?: Nope. I have a Dell computer at the moment and I don't really understand how to upgrade from that. Besides, I definitely want to upgrade my card and processor, so I'm not sure how much of the old build would be usable anyways.
When will you build?: I can wait a bit if it would bring major changes. I want it by this holiday's rush of games at the latest, so if there are some major upgrades coming in the near future, I'll wait.
Will you be overclocking?: ...Maybe? I dunno. Never done it before and I guess it would depend on wear vs. boost

 

[TheExodu5]

Priced to move, I'd do around $400. If you're thrifty, maybe $500-600

I sold my custom built PC with a 3GHz C2Q, GTX 275, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7, Cooler Master CM 690 case, Enermax 625 Modular PSU, and 2x 1TB HDDs for $500 to a friend.

I priced it to move though. I took te current modern day value and divided everything by 2

Your PC is beat by the $600 rig in the OP, but yours does come with a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.

 

[traveler]

That's pretty much exactly the range I was thinking. Thanks for the input. It's also worth noting that, on the above, I do wish to have a bluray player as I started buying blu-rays a while back instead of dvds but have yet to really get a decent tv for my PS3. The PC is the main place I watch my movies as a result.

 

[Red]

These drives basically have a 4GB SSD onboard that the drive uses as a cache. The performance benefits however are very most overrated and not worth the money in my opinion. Windows already uses system memory to cache file which is much faster, and while an extra 4GB of much slower NAND flash on the HDD might help a bit, the price difference is pretty large. I know someone who owns one and they are happy with it but at the same price point i'd rather have the larger capacity.

Any advantage would be great though. I don't mind paying $100 for 500GB, but if the $150 drive is really as fast as the description says (80% over 7200rpm), it would be absolutely worth it. That's really what the question is. Anyone know if the two drives are really as different in speed as described on newegg?

 

[TheExodu5]

Any advantage would be great though. I don't mind paying $100 for 500GB, but if the $150 drive is really as fast as the description says (80% over 7200rpm), it would be absolutely worth it. That's really what the question is. Anyone know if the two drives are really as different in speed as described on newegg?

I see 80% over 7200RPM for both drives.

 

[Zzoram]

I'm waiting for a ~100GB high speed SSD to hit $100. What do you think, two years?

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm waiting for a ~100GB high speed SSD to hit $100. What do you think, two years?

Next generation, probably (since were coming close to hitting the SATA 6 Gb/s barrier). A year or two sounds about right.

 

[Red]

I see 80% over 7200RPM for both drives.

First one says "Up to 50% faster boot-up over 5400-RPM drives!" That's a big difference, but they look like the same drive to me.

 

[TheExodu5]

First one says "Up to 50% faster boot-up over 5400-RPM drives!" That's a big difference, but they look like the same drive to me.

Read the Hybrid Hard Drive paragraph. It states "80 percent".

I'd check, but I'm just posting on my phone. Maybe one drive is OEM and the other is retail?

Edit: yeah, more expensive one is the retail box. Cheap one is just the drive.

 

[Red]

Read the Hybrid Hard Drive paragraph. It states "80 percent".

I'd check, but I'm just posting on my phone. Maybe one drive is OEM and the other is retail?

Edit: yeah, more expensive one is the retail box. Cheap one is just the drive.

Okay, that's what I thought. Just needed confirmation. Thanks.

 

[antonz]

Just got an email from ASUS. Replacement boards for SB issue are now available for those who registered their boards.

Intel® 6 Series Resolution for ASUS Products
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing ASUS motherboards for your Intel® 6 build, and registering your product with us to streamline the resolution process. We are pleased to announced that the new revision of your motherboard is now available for product replacement; to begin the RMA process, please visit the link below.

http://service.asus.com/notice/Status.aspx

Sincerely,
ASUS Service Team
http://service.asus.com

 

[Shambles]

Any advantage would be great though. I don't mind paying $100 for 500GB, but if the $150 drive is really as fast as the description says (80% over 7200rpm), it would be absolutely worth it. That's really what the question is. Anyone know if the two drives are really as different in speed as described on newegg?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/seagate-momentus-xt-hybrid-hard-drive-ssd,2638.html

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Did that, even fresh installed windows. What I had to do is under clock my card slightly and set manual fan settings. It helped, I don't really get the error but its not a real solution. ATI cards just seemingly don't like Windows 7.

That problem is not exclusive to ATI cards FYI. No one knows what the cause of that error is as it seems to vary from case to case.

Recently it has popped up for me again. I am on a GTX 460. Using MSI Afterburner I fed the card a bit more voltage and that seems to have made it go away for now.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Next generation, probably (since were coming close to hitting the SATA 6 Gb/s barrier). A year or two sounds about right.

Hmm, I think I will just wait until later this year or early next year as I will be looking to update my video card again with a new PSU and potentially one of the newer 1155 CPU's. I like my foundation but an SSD is something that is #1 on my wishlist but the money is not justified yet.

 

[RedSwirl]

I was given this search for a PSU to fit in a stock Dell XPS 420 case.

I don't think I'll need much more than 550w but I'm still trying to figure out how to gauge quality versus price since this is the first time I've shopped for a PSU. For instance how does this one look? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

 

[MechDX]

What your 630 clocked at? If overclocked to 3.6ish then the CPU is good to go and I would just upgrade the GPU. The 5750 is going to be your troublemaker, so next question would be what your price range for a new GPU?

My CPU is running at 2.80. Im looking at probably around $200-250 at most for a GPU. I got the 5750 because it seemed like a good bang for the buck.

 

[Dynamic3]

So when can I buy a Vertex 3?

Newegg told me end of April, which really sucks.

 

[mkenyon]

My CPU is running at 2.80. Im looking at probably around $200-250 at most for a GPU. I got the 5750 because it seemed like a good bang for the buck.

I'd still really suggest going for a 965/970/1090/1100 for the proc. You'll get quite a bit more life out of your computer that way, and each of those is OC'able to 3.9-4.0.

For a GPU in the 200-250 range, look at the 5870 on discount or the GTX560. Both are about equal in performance.

 

[·feist·]

Bummer, I am a heavy online shopper and the last time I paid for shipping was in 2009. I'll just think of this as a $130 case with free shipping =/

Now to decide on a color!

I don't consider NCIX US a viable source because most (all?) items are sent from their Canadian facilities. Can't justify paying $50+ to ship a $100 purchase.
With that as really the only other reliable NA source, you can also look at it as saving $20.

When you consider how Newegg bumped up pricing on the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ to $54 for a while when they noticed how well it was selling at its $30 MSRP (to cash in on unsuspecting/uninformed shoppers), it wouldn't surprise me to see them do the same with the Defines once they see just how high demand is for these cases in the US. Can't imagine what they'll charge for shipping on the XLs. Fractal Design is still relatively small, but hopefully they make it a point to add at least one other US retailer to their list. Was hoping I could walk into Micro Center and pick one up off the shelf.

TBH, it's still a fantastic case for $130. It's only real competitor is the P183.

Yeah, and just about anything else that's similar goes for at least as much as the P183, if not higher.