"I need a New PC!" 2011 Thread of reading the OP. Seriously. [Part 2]

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ACE 1991 said:
So will I be able to take advantage of the windows 7 $29.99 student discount deal (I'm eligible) for my new rig if it says it's the upgrade edition? I really, really hope there is someway I can, I'm very tight on money.

If you mean "can I use the upgrade edition of Windows 7, if I'm not upgrading?" the answer is yes. There are a couple of ways around this, the first being installing Windows 7 twice (thus "upgrading" from Windows 7 to Windows 7).
 
LordCanti said:
If you mean "can I use the upgrade edition of Windows 7, if I'm not upgrading?" the answer is yes. There are a couple of ways around this, the first being installing Windows 7 twice (thus "upgrading" from Windows 7 to Windows 7).
Yes, that's what I meant, I apologize for the poor wording. How would I go about that?
 
LordCanti said:
If you mean "can I use the upgrade edition of Windows 7, if I'm not upgrading?" the answer is yes. There are a couple of ways around this, the first being installing Windows 7 twice (thus "upgrading" from Windows 7 to Windows 7).

The second being a registry "hack".
 
ACE 1991 said:
Yes, that's what I meant, I apologize for the poor wording. How would I go about that?

Install Windows 7. Then install Windows 7 again on top of it. It's dumb enough not to notice, and will let you activate it at that point.

iSurvivedTheOutage said:
The second being a registry "hack".

Which might as well be a crack. Neither method is likely "legal" in the most technical sense, but double installing seems...more legal...if that makes any sense. ;P
 
LordCanti said:
Install Windows 7. Then install Windows 7 again on top of it. It's dumb enough not to notice, and will let you activate it at that point.



Which might as well be a crack. Neither method is likely "legal" in the most technical sense, but double installing seems...more legal...if that makes any sense. ;P
So how do I install it the first time? Use someone else's install discs? All I have is a laptop running windows 7 64bit on my laptop.
 
Drazgul said:
Get one with a non-reference cooler, Twin Frozr III's and Directcu II's are the best as far as I know?


Yeah DirectCUII is probably going to run the cooler at the expense of well....3 slots.

sn1pes said:

I have that baby on the way to me now. :P Ive read different reviews and it seems to run warmer than its MSI and Asus' counterparts, but still performs very well.
 
Drazgul said:
Get one with a non-reference cooler, Twin Frozr III's and Directcu II's are the best as far as I know?

There's the Galaxy with the Accelero as well...but I have less confidence in them as a manufacturer...and the PCB is blue. I would assume it does perform the best, however.
 
ACE 1991 said:
So how do I install it the first time? Use someone else's install discs? All I have is a laptop running windows 7 64bit on my laptop.

It comes as an .iso right? You need to burn it to a DVD, as an image.
 
Posting for a new page:

If you're in the Puget Sound region, I have a CM Storm Scout case. Only modification is I cut the HDD cage to allow for full sized GPUs, and it can now only hold a max of 3 HDDs. This is free.

Also, $200 for a XFX 5870, lightly used.


Drazgul said:
Get one with a non-reference cooler, Twin Frozr III's and Directcu II's are the best as far as I know?
Stock 570s actually don't run loud or hot. The Vapor chamber they use on the reference cards is really nice for a blower type design. It also keeps heat out of your system. I'd only suggest the big non-reference coolers if your case has great airflow.
 
LordCanti said:
It comes as an .iso right? You need to burn it to a DVD, as an image.
Ah hah! Didn't realize this. Will it allow me to install 7 (the version on my laptop) before "upgrading" to 7? I appreciate all your help on this, I've been away from the PC scene for a while.
 
ACE 1991 said:
Ah hah! Didn't realize this. Will it allow me to install 7 (the version on my laptop) before "upgrading" to 7? I appreciate all your help on this, I've been away from the PC scene for a while.

I'm confused. What are you trying to do? Port your settings and everything from the laptop, to the new computer? If so, use Windows Easy Transfer.
 
Drazgul said:
How'd you fix the issue in your last post? Loose wiring or?

And yeah of course it's more quiet than the reference cooler by default since you're meant to OC the shit out of that card - whether you want to squeeze every last bit of juice out of it (and probably make the fans sound more like a leaf blower) is up to you of course.

I was plugging in two 6 pins. Where the card needs one 6 and and one 8. I don't have an 8 so I used a 6+2 and that worked.

sn1pes said:
I hear that 570's can be loud and run hot. Is there a certain one I should go for?

The card I got is meant to have better cooling. After playing Deus Ex on max(and at a smooth 60 the entire time) it got to a maximum temperature of 56c. Although, it's not really a powerhouse of a game. It's very quiet to what I was expecting from a card that size. I'll give it a run on The Witcher 2 sometime and see how it handles that after a while.

iSurvivedTheOutage said:
Yeah DirectCUII is probably going to run the cooler at the expense of well....3 slots.

Yeah, it's giant. The fans are huge.
 
LordCanti said:
I'm confused. What are you trying to do? Port your settings and everything from the laptop, to the new computer? If so, use Windows Easy Transfer.
I'm building a brand new rig in the next couple of weeks and would like to be able to take advantage of microsoft's windows 7 student discount program. However, from what I gather, it is the "upgrade" version, and not just a windows 7 OS install. Maybe i'm understanding it incorrectly? Here is a link to the offer: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.216644200
 
Darklord said:
I was plugging in two 6 pins. Where the card needs one 6 and and one 8. I don't have an 8 so I used a 6+2 and that worked.



The card I got is meant to have better cooling. After playing Deus Ex on max(and at a smooth 60 the entire time) it got to a maximum temperature of 56c. Although, it's not really a powerhouse of a game. It's very quiet to what I was expecting from a card that size. I'll give it a run on The Witcher 2 sometime and see how it handles that after a while.



Yeah, it's giant. The fans are huge.

Link to your card?
 
ACE 1991 said:
I'm building a brand new rig in the next couple of weeks and would like to be able to take advantage of microsoft's windows 7 student discount program. However, from what I gather, it is the "upgrade" version, and not just a windows 7 OS install. Maybe i'm understanding it incorrectly? Here is a link to the offer: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.216644200

I understood that much. I just didn't understand how the laptop figured into things.

You'll burn the .iso to a disc (as an IMAGE, or it will not work), then you'll have that disc in the DVD drive at first boot. It will boot from the disc, and you'll install Windows 7. At this point, it will ask you to activate Windows, and you won't be able to. Just open the DVD tray, and then close it (or manually navigate to the disc using Windows Explorer) and it should pop up a dialog box, asking you what you want to do. Just "upgrade" from there, and it should work fine.
 
LordCanti said:
I understood that much. I just didn't understand how the laptop figured into things.

You'll burn the .iso to a disc (as an IMAGE, or it will not work), then you'll have that disc in the DVD drive at first boot. It will boot from the disc, and you'll install Windows 7. At this point, it will ask you to activate Windows, and you won't be able to. Just open the DVD tray, and then close it (or manually navigate to the disc using Windows Explorer) and it should pop up a dialog box, asking you what you want to do. Just "upgrade" from there, and it should work fine.
Great! I'll try this. thank you, kind sir.
 
TommyT said:
Razer Lycosa has the option of no backlight, WASD backlight, or full backlight keys. I'm using it and am loving it.

edit: There is no control on the brightness of the backlight though. It's either there or it isn't.

Just checked it out, it looks sick.And its exactly what I,m looking for,gonna pick one up, thanks man.
 
well finaly got my new 6870, really happy, even got the newer version with the difrent fan, got it for some 185€ (sapphire, all the other brands are around 260€ for some reason)

a guy that knows more about PCs comes tomorrow to instal it, don't want to do it myself since I am rather incompetent with these things
 
hey guys!

I recently installed a pair of 2gb ddr3 sticks in my rig, bringing it up to a total of 8gb in dual ch.

Is it normal to have ram at 22% load when at destop with no apps open, and only microsoft security essentials running in the background?

as i type this i have about 50 processes open and about 25% ram usage, no other web pages open but this.

i know that before installing the new sticks i wasnt using up 2gb of ram just idling.
that woulda been half my ram O_O!

wierd.
 
Bah, as much as I love my dell u2311 monitor, I want something slightly bigger and high-res, but I don't think my 1gb vram is enough for gaming @ 2560x1440 :(, someone talk me out of it.
 
Hi GAF! Any suggestions on where to start upgrading this junker?

Your Current Specs:
CPU: E5400 Wolfdale 2.7GHz OC: 3.64GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core
RAM: 2x2GB ADATA 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX
GPU: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile

Budget: $300-$400 + USA

Main Use: Gaming, Emulation (Wii maybe), graphic design work, movies, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)

Monitor Resolution: Dell ST2210 1920 x 1080, will not be upgrading
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Diablo 3, DOTA 2, BF3, etc.

Are reusing any parts?:
PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-460-PMSR-A3 460W ATX12V V2.3 (need to upgrade?)
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-SWN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower
RAM: 2x2GB ADATA 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

When will you build?: In about a month

Will you be overclocking?: Yes
 
Yoritomo said:
Yay, SLI'd 580s now..

I'm starting to think GAF is comprised of a collection of millionaires. Sigh... who the hell DOESN'T have sli 580s here :I?

Share the wealth.
Socialism go.
 
Corky said:
I'm starting to think GAF is comprised of a collection of millionaires. Sigh... who the hell DOESN'T have sli 580s here :I?

Share the wealth.
Socialism go.
Rocking my 4870 512MB baby! Low settings no AA/AF to get nice framerates at 1080p :D
 
Corky said:
I'm starting to think GAF is comprised of a collection of millionaires. Sigh... who the hell DOESN'T have sli 580s here :I?
There's your reason to not get a bigger monitor and better graphics card to go along with it.
 
Corky said:
I'm starting to think GAF is comprised of a collection of millionaires. Sigh... who the hell DOESN'T have sli 580s here :I?

Share the wealth.
Socialism go.

Priorities. I take my lunch every day to work, buy reliable used cars (my current car is 11 years old), budget aggressively, don't own a smartphone, have cable, or even a land line. I am the sole provider for my little family of 5. Doesn't take a millionaire to spend 900 dollars on video cards for a hobby you enjoy. Especially when I won't need to upgrade for a long long time.

I used to have an old car and do track days at a nearby motorsport ranch as well as in college station. 2 580s in sli is far far cheaper than a set of tires and rims for a trackday car so sim racing has sort of taken over for track day events until my kids are older (so my wife can join the workforce again) or out of the house.
 
irriadin said:
I'm trying to decide between these two ASRock motherboards. Both have the Z68 chipset, and apart from minor differences like the number of USB 3 ports and such, I can't figure out why there's a $60 price difference between the two (unless that's the cost of having a "Fatal1ty" mobo)

ASRock Z68 Professional Gen3 (Fatal1ty) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157263

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264

I would hate to have to look at that guys face every time i booted my PC.


Yoritomo said:
Priorities. I take my lunch every day to work, buy reliable used cars (my current car is 11 years old), budget aggressively, don't own a smartphone, have cable, or even a land line. I am the sole provider for my little family of 5. Doesn't take a millionaire to spend 900 dollars on video cards for a hobby you enjoy. Especially when I won't need to upgrade for a long long time.

I used to have an old car and do track days at a nearby motorsport ranch as well as in college station. 2 580s in sli is far far cheaper than a set of tires and rims for a trackday car so sim racing has sort of taken over for track day events until my kids are older (so my wife can join the workforce again) or out of the house.

Respect.
 
SYNTAX182 said:
Hi GAF! Any suggestions on where to start upgrading this junker?

Your Current Specs:
CPU: E5400 Wolfdale 2.7GHz OC: 3.64GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core
RAM: 2x2GB ADATA 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX
GPU: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile

Budget: $300-$400 + USA

Main Use: Gaming, Emulation (Wii maybe), graphic design work, movies, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)

Monitor Resolution: Dell ST2210 1920 x 1080, will not be upgrading
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Diablo 3, DOTA 2, BF3, etc.

Are reusing any parts?:
PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-460-PMSR-A3 460W ATX12V V2.3 (need to upgrade?)
Case: COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-SWN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower
RAM: 2x2GB ADATA 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

When will you build?: In about a month

Will you be overclocking?: Yes
If you want a modern motherboard and CPU, you're going to have to replace the RAM as well. DDR2 is dead. Just pick out a mobo, proc, and ram from either of the builds in the OP. It's going to be hard to do that with a 300-400 budget though, especially when you need a new GPU.


Corky said:
I'm starting to think GAF is comprised of a collection of millionaires. Sigh... who the hell DOESN'T have sli 580s here :I?

Share the wealth.
Socialism go.
Clearly, your only option in life is to SLI the RoG Mars cards, for quad 580 SLI.
 
shizz man ive only got a 460gtx (SUUPAHHH-CROKUU!!!)

im thinkin of waiting till the next gen nvidia card to spend around 300-350 on a good card then, trylu max out BF3 ULTRA QUAL111.TESSELLATION!

:P

besides for some reason i think bf3 is gonna run sweet on a 460gtx, and im only playing at 1280x1024 :)
 
Yoritomo said:
Priorities. I take my lunch every day to work, buy reliable used cars (my current car is 11 years old), budget aggressively, don't own a smartphone, have cable, or even a land line. I am the sole provider for my little family of 5. Doesn't take a millionaire to spend 900 dollars on video cards for a hobby you enjoy. Especially when I won't need to upgrade for a long long time.

I used to have an old car and do track days at a nearby motorsport ranch as well as in college station. 2 580s in sli is far far cheaper than a set of tires and rims for a trackday car so sim racing has sort of taken over for track day events until my kids are older (so my wife can join the workforce again) or out of the house.

big ups, I was being facetious though ;), but still props.


mkenyon said:
Clearly, your only option in life is to SLI the RoG Mars cards, for quad 580 SLI.

evidently... evidently.
 
mkenyon said:
If you want a modern motherboard and CPU, you're going to have to replace the RAM as well. DDR2 is dead. Just pick out a mobo, proc, and ram from either of the builds in the OP. It's going to be hard to do that with a 300-400 budget though, especially when you need a new GPU.
.
Ah damn, lol. Ok, I'll upgrade the CPU, RAM and Motherboard first since the games I'll be playing won't be out for a few months. Thanks sir.
 
What's with Intel i5 2400 being an alternative for i3 2100? Are they supposed to have similar prices? Because i5 2400 is around 50% more expensive wherever I look...

Also, if I could only change one thing, which is more important for good The Witcher 2 experience:

i3 -> i5 change

or

GTX 460 -> GTX 560 TI (or something similar) change?
 
AbsoluteZero said:
So what's the best inexpensive mouse these days? I've got the itch for some TF2 but the scroll wheel on my Sidewinder has gone to shit.
Spoil yourself, it's worth it.

Least expensive mouse I would consider is the Death Adder, which isn't too bad. Nothing can touch the Xai (and soon sensei) though.

*edit* Also if you are a claw type gamer, the CM Spawn is a really nice mouse.
Alastor said:
What's with Intel i5 2400 being an alternative for i3 2100? Are they supposed to have similar prices? Because i5 2400 is around 50% more expensive wherever I look...

Also, if I could only change one thing, which is more important for good The Witcher 2 experience:

i3 -> i5 change

or

GTX 460 -> GTX 560 TI (or something similar) change?
Hard to say, both of those are fairly incremental upgrades, and wouldn't offer much of a performance boost. I'd say go 2500k, and grab a 7xxx when it comes out. Or, if you are up for tweaking and playing with configs, a second 460. This is really only recommended if you are experienced with drivers, profiles, and the like, or think you would enjoy doing that sort of stuff.
 
Corky said:
Bah, as much as I love my dell u2311 monitor, I want something slightly bigger and high-res, but I don't think my 1gb vram is enough for gaming @ 2560x1440 :(, someone talk me out of it.

dat dat ips one? i'll buy it
 
So... AMD 6950 or Nvidia GTX 570? I normally always go with Nvidia, but the price difference and the fact that I can get Deus Ex for free make me tempted to go with AMD...
 
PLEASE HELP

I'm having problems with my new PC. I've been out of country for a few weeks and before I left I was have problems with graphic intensive game just freezing. I assumed it was overheating but the temps looks normal. I'm back now and I really want to play Deus Ex but it keeps freezing and crashing after about 15 minutes.

What should I do?

BTW I have a GTX 570 and sandy bridge.
 
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