Support NeoGAF

[RSLAEV]

Hey I've decided that I want an A6 Llano laptop, and there's one at Office Depot that is marked down from $600 to $400. The problem is I don't necessarily need it right *now* I probably won't need it until the end of the year or so. Should I pull the trigger on it now because of this price cut? or do you guys think I will be able to find one at this price later on?

here's the link btw:http://www.officedepot.com/a/produc...ent-_-Google-_-Computers_and_Servers-_-661459

 

[TheExodu5]

LIANLI PC-90

Damn!

Getting close, Lian-Li! I like the idea of moving the HDDs. I don't quite understand where they are, in that video though...looks like they're inside the front panel? I'd have to see it in person.

Still lacking the black interior I love so much. Not a huge fan of the front grill either. Still, I'm glad to see they're trying to further innovate on case design.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

LIANLI PC-90

Damn!

WOW! I know what I'm getting next if I ever...!

 

[Tallshortman]

Hey I've decided that I want an A6 Llano laptop, and there's one at Office Depot that is marked down from $600 to $400. The problem is I don't necessarily need it right *now* I probably won't need it until the end of the year or so. Should I pull the trigger on it now because of this price cut? or do you guys think I will be able to find one at this price later on?

here's the link btw:http://www.officedepot.com/a/produc...ent-_-Google-_-Computers_and_Servers-_-661459

I would ask laptop GAF for a definitive answer since a lot of us here aren't experts on laptop parts but I've heard good things about the Fusion APUs. $400 seems like a very good price for pretty decent budget laptop specs. It really depends on how long you want to wait. If you wait until early next year the new generation of Fusion APUs will likely be out by then. I personally don't know the vector of laptop prices (besides getting cheaper overall) so I can't really comment on that part.

 

[Cystm]

Getting close, Lian-Li! I like the idea of moving the HDDs. I don't quite understand where they are, in that video though...looks like they're inside the front panel? I'd have to see it in person.

Still lacking the black interior I love so much. Not a huge fan of the front grill either. Still, I'm glad to see they're trying to further innovate on case design.

Side panel, nothing is in the way of your air flow from front to back.

Specs are up.

 

[n0n44m]

Getting close, Lian-Li! I like the idea of moving the HDDs. I don't quite understand where they are, in that video though...looks like they're inside the front panel? I'd have to see it in person.

Still lacking the black interior I love so much. Not a huge fan of the front grill either. Still, I'm glad to see they're trying to further innovate on case design.

HDDs go next to the left sidepanel ... guess they still receive enough cooling from the front 140s

case seems more aimed at large HPTX / E-ATX (server) boards and not really at holding a gazillion harddisks (like most cases that support these large boards)

that front grill isn't the prettiest out there ... would rather see a CM-ATCS-840-like "shield" in front of it. At least the interior is aluminium and not cheap plain looking steel

it's just a bit simple in terms of features, not really aimed at the average home user I guess ... but it does seem like a fun project case and I kinda want one for modding actually

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...83&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=138&g=spec

 

[tangmaster96]

LIANLI PC-90

Damn!

So much room
am i dreaming

 

[RSLAEV]

I would ask laptop GAF for a definitive answer since a lot of us here aren't experts on laptop parts but I've heard good things about the Fusion APUs. $400 seems like a very good price for pretty decent budget laptop specs. It really depends on how long you want to wait. If you wait until early next year the new generation of Fusion APUs will likely be out by then. I personally don't know the vector of laptop prices (besides getting cheaper overall) so I can't really comment on that part.

Well I just found an A6 on best buy for $450.00 standard price (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ASUS+-+...Suit/2881042.p?id=1218360613837&skuId=2881042) so I don't feel as much pressure to buy one right away. If I end up paying up to $600 for one of these it's really going to sting though :/

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

570 will be here tomorrow! w00+!!!

 

[legacyzero]

GAF. I seriously need help. I'm starting to want to upgrade my rig. Need graphics card help. Right now I have a 4890.

I'm looking to upgrade to DX11, and looking for a cheap, yet reliable card(s). I also would like to know if it would be better to have just one 1GB card, or 2 1GB cards, etc.

I have a AMD quad core, and 8 Gigs of mem. What say you GAF?

 

[Smokey]

GAF. I seriously need help. I'm starting to want to upgrade my rig. Need graphics card help. Right now I have a 4890.

I'm looking to upgrade to DX11, and looking for a cheap, yet reliable card(s). I also would like to know if it would be better to have just one 1GB card, or 2 1GB cards, etc.

I have a AMD quad core, and 8 Gigs of mem. What say you GAF?

Your definition of cheap is different than others definition of cheap. Be more specific.

 

[legacyzero]

Your definition of cheap is different than others definition of cheap. Be more specific.

I dont wish to drop $300 on a single card. What does GAF consider a good deal, they're usually always right.

Maybe give me some recommendations?

 

[Eusis]

You'll want the GeForce 560 Ti or Radeon 6950, they're in the $200 range and about as good as you can get before going into $300 (and probably the more practical choices at that anyway).

 

[·feist·]

Getting close, Lian-Li! I like the idea of moving the HDDs. I don't quite understand where they are, in that video though...looks like they're inside the front panel? I'd have to see it in person.

Still lacking the black interior I love so much. Not a huge fan of the front grill either. Still, I'm glad to see they're trying to further innovate on case design.

Yeah, they're monetizing that, in some instances, with the recent run of "X" designated variants on cases, new and old. Take the black/naked V600FB, versus the black/black V600FX.

They also showed a few new reverse airflow enclosures in prototype form some months ago. One of which was very early, and poorly thought out, so we'll see what comes of them.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

$80 off Crucial M4 128gb @ NewEgg

Yoink! A solid state drive was the one thing my rig has been missing since I built it 3 months ago. Can't wait to try it out.

 

[Ooccoo]

Just my luck - was ready to order my rig but the SAPPHIRE Toxic 100312TXSR Radeon HD 6950 is out of stock =(

 

[Tallshortman]

Just my luck - was ready to order my rig but the SAPPHIRE Toxic 100312TXSR Radeon HD 6950 is out of stock =(

Very good choice. Apparently they're relatively easy to flash and unflashed bios with factory overclock puts it on par with stock 570. I would have picked myself up one if they had been out back when I bought my 6950. Apparently you can flash and OC to stock 580 level according to benchmarks I've read.

 

[Laurentius]

Question about GPU overclocks...

I'm working on overclocking my GTX 460, and it's going pretty well. For a somewhat high GPU clock, though, should I run that constant like I do with my CPU overclock, or should I throttle it back down when I'm done playing a game? Or is it bad for the clock speeds to go up and down so much like that?

And does anyone know of any good guides for managing fan speeds on the GPU?

 

[Tallshortman]

Question about GPU overclocks...

I'm working on overclocking my GTX 460, and it's going pretty well. For a somewhat high GPU clock, though, should I run that constant like I do with my CPU overclock, or should I throttle it back down when I'm done playing a game? Or is it bad for the clock speeds to go up and down so much like that?

And does anyone know of any good guides for managing fan speeds on the GPU?

It should be fine, no need to re-adjust clock speeds since the card will not use the extra headroom when it's not under stress, assuming your overclock is stable of course.

 

[Tallshortman]

GAF. I seriously need help. I'm starting to want to upgrade my rig. Need graphics card help. Right now I have a 4890.

I'm looking to upgrade to DX11, and looking for a cheap, yet reliable card(s). I also would like to know if it would be better to have just one 1GB card, or 2 1GB cards, etc.

I have a AMD quad core, and 8 Gigs of mem. What say you GAF?

What exact CPU do you have? Also, what's your budget? Cheap is sort of relative.

 

[childplease]

Running integrated Graphics YEA!!!.
Graphics card is packed up and will be dropped off at UPS tomorrow.

Hope the RMA process is smooth and fast.

It is going to be a long 2-3 weeks

 

[Laurentius]

It should be fine, no need to re-adjust clock speeds since the card will not use the extra headroom when it's not under stress, assuming your overclock is stable of course.

Thanks. It seems stable so far. Ran FurMark several times while testing it, and ran Crysis for about 45 minutes with the overclock. Seems to be going well.

 

[·feist·]

Yet another reason why Newegg should never be an exclusive/primary source for products.

ASUS MARS II/2DIS/3GD5 GeForce GTX 580x2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121470

Again with the mandatory "you have to make an additional purchase before we'll allow you to give us your money for the item you actually want" approach.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

So today I finally installed the upgrades/replacements I have gotten these last two weeks and I reinstalled Windows 7 on my Crucial SSD, but I have a problem now. My computer will not shut off. It just reboots after clicking on the shutdown button and not quite sure what is the cause of it.

The parts that I have added are the following:

XFX HD6850 1GB
Crucial 64GB SSD
WD 640GB Hard Drive (Caviar Blue)
LG BluRay burner 10X

The parts that I didn't upgrade were:

PC Power & Cooling 610W Silencer
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L
Intel E8400
8GB G.Skill DDR2 Ram
LG DVD Burner

Nothing is overclocked.

I'm running Windows Memory Diagonstic right now, so it'll take 8 hours before I can do anything.

 

[legacyzero]

What exact CPU do you have? Also, what's your budget? Cheap is sort of relative.

Motherboard:
1 x GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGIBOX

right?

 

[·feist·]

So today I finally installed the upgrades/replacements I have gotten these last two weeks and I reinstalled Windows 7 on my Crucial SSD, but I have a problem now. My computer will not shut off. It just reboots after clicking on the shutdown button and not quite sure what is the cause of it.

The parts that I have added are the following:

XFX HD6850 1GB
Crucial 64GB SSD
WD 640GB Hard Drive (Caviar Blue)
LG BluRay burner 10X

If you haven't already, try updating your SSD firmware to the latest release, whether it's a newer, or older generation model. Crucial has had boot issues, and various conflicts related to using a SATA III device on a SATA II controller.

 

[(._.)]

I'm wanting to set up dual monitors so I can model more efficiently.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121429

Is it possible to do it with this graphics card? I'm currently using the hdmi port so I guess what I'm asking is will it work? I'm currently using the hdmi port so how would you recommend I go about hooking up the other monitor?

 

[abuC]

I'm looking at the Silverstone tj07, does anyone have experience with their cases?

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

If you haven't already, try updating your SSD firmware to the latest release, whether it's a newer, or older generation model. Crucial has had boot issues, and various conflicts related to using a SATA III device on a SATA II controller.

I'll try that once the memory test is done. Thanks.

 

[scogoth]

LIANLI PC-90

Damn!

Yep beautiful case design, its part of being the master race.

 

[Hazaro]

Click for link.
Thoughts?

 

[Tallshortman]

Motherboard:
1 x GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGIBOX

right?

What's your budget for a GPU? Your CPU is fine for gaming, just wanted to make sure you weren't going to get noticeably bottlenecked. Best mid-tier value-performance solutions I'd say are 460 1GB and 6850. Both are about the same price ~$140 after rebate.

 

[Tallshortman]

Click for link.
Thoughts?

Is this a new sale? Very tempted to get this for OS install and a few games.

 

[Caerith]

Click for link.
Thoughts?

60GB and SATA II isn't doing it any favors for performance. Maybe for a budget build, but you could get an F3 1TB for the same price.

 

[JaseC]

60GB and SATA II isn't doing it any favors for performance. Maybe for a budget build, but you could get an F3 1TB for the same price.

At a buck a gig it's perfect for an OS and/or programs drive, and despite using SATA2 it's much quicker than a mechanical HDD.

Spoiler

I myself have one.

 

[Caerith]

At a buck a gig it's perfect for an OS and/or programs drive, and despite using SATA2 it's much quicker than a mechanical HDD.

There's no question that SSD > HDD any day of the week, but how many programs (and therefore how much performance) can you get out of 60 gigs?

The M4 is at a little over a buck a gig for the second time in a week, and at 128GB SATA III it's not only faster but it has enough space for both an OS and some programs.

I think it's a bit wasteful to dip into SSDs at anything under 100 gigs.

Spoiler

At least with the frequency of M4 sales.

 

[JaseC]

There's no question that SSD > HDD any day of the week, but how many programs (and therefore how much performance) can you get out of 60 gigs?

It ultimately depends on what you use. With Win7 + Office + some image editing and video editing programs installed I still have around 13GB free (excluding data caches created by these programs, obviously).

The M4 is at a little over a buck a gig for the second time in a week, and at 128GB SATA III it's not only faster but it has enough space for both an OS and some programs.

I think it's a bit wasteful to dip into SSDs at anything under 100 gigs.

Spoiler

At least with the frequency of M4 sales.

If you had mentioned this in your initial post, I wouldn't have objected. I'm not American so I'm not familiar with newegg's deals.

 

[Caerith]

It ultimately depends on what you use. With Win7 + Office + some image editing and video editing programs installed I still have around 13GB free (excluding data caches created by these programs, obviously).

If you had mentioned this in your initial post, I wouldn't have objected. I'm not American so I'm not familiar with newegg's deals.

Ah, you're missing out. But still, even if I wouldn't recommend the 60GB, I'm glad it's going for so cheap and hope it pulls down SSD prices across the board.

 

[Corky]

ERrrrrrrrrrr no wonder I was having issues with my sound...
Someone had plugged in my headphones in the onboard jack >_<, and believe me it wasn't me. Probably my kid brother who borrowed them sometime and accidentally plugged them in that.

Now we're talking, the volume in the software is set at 5/100 and the w7 volume mixer is set at 6/100 and I can't go higher and still be comfortable. Sheesh I thought something was up.

Anywho, can someone tell me what the point of "Dolby headphone is? I generally want the music to sound like it's supposed without any equalizer effect changes etc. Switching it on I get a more hollow sound as if they're trying to emulate music in a room or something. Should I just leave it off?

 

[·feist·]

I don't have any experience with the Vertex Plus, but when you consider how Agility models have seemingly made the higher end Vertex drives look trouble-free, you'd hope it would be close to, if not better than, the latter.
I don't think it's a secret that OCZ has had some issues, even compared to other SandForce options.

60GB and SATA II isn't doing it any favors for performance. Maybe for a budget build, but you could get an F3 1TB for the same price.

I'm almost certain Hazaro has something along those lines in mind. Chiefly as a means into faster app performance in the ~$800, or lower, build range. Even for a $400-600 budget, it isn't that unreasonable to spend an additional amount for something that would provide a pronounced performance increase (even the slowest of SSDs) in day to day use. It could also serve as an inexpensive, "my first SSD" option for users who may be willing to spend $1,200+, but are still on the fence about buying a higher-end drive.

Bulldozer launch lineup.

 

[Corky]

Gaf I hate my ISP and I want to die everytime I try to use my network. With that said, why do I sometimes get this problem? What happens is that only certain sites work, google works, microsoft doesn't, GT works, Ign doesn't, Gaf doesn't etc etc.

Here's what the troubleshootlady says :

 

[Chris R]

Try using google dns or opendns and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[vanty]

Anywho, can someone tell me what the point of "Dolby headphone is? I generally want the music to sound like it's supposed without any equalizer effect changes etc. Switching it on I get a more hollow sound as if they're trying to emulate music in a room or something. Should I just leave it off?

You definitely want it off for music. It's basically a way of making a fake 5.1 sound from a stereo signal, which isn't necessary at all because you still get positional audio from games with normal stereo headphones anyway without using any software tricks.

 

[Hazaro]

There's no question that SSD > HDD any day of the week, but how many programs (and therefore how much performance) can you get out of 60 gigs?

The M4 is at a little over a buck a gig for the second time in a week, and at 128GB SATA III it's not only faster but it has enough space for both an OS and some programs.

I think it's a bit wasteful to dip into SSDs at anything under 100 gigs.

Spoiler

At least with the frequency of M4 sales.

I wouldn't say it is wasteful. 60GB is about all you need for everything that will really benefit.
You just get less read speed. You still have a large amount of the near insta loading SSD access time quickness.

If Photoshop takes 12 seconds to load normally on a HDD
Takes 4 seconds on that $60 60GB SSD
Takes 3 seconds on a $120 60GB SSD (Retail M4/Intel)
(Made up numbers)

Is that not a good value?

 

[Corky]

Try using google dns or opendns and see if that fixes the problem.

You definitely want it off for music. It's basically a way of making a fake 5.1 sound from a stereo signal, which isn't necessary at all because you still get positional audio from games with normal stereo headphones anyway without using any software tricks.

thanks to both of you

 

[vanty]

thanks to both of you

You can still play around with it and see how you like things to set up. I mostly just play TF2 so for other things the situation may be different.

 

[n0n44m]

ERrrrrrrrrrr no wonder I was having issues with my sound...
Someone had plugged in my headphones in the onboard jack >_<, and believe me it wasn't me. Probably my kid brother who borrowed them sometime and accidentally plugged them in that.

Now we're talking, the volume in the software is set at 5/100 and the w7 volume mixer is set at 6/100 and I can't go higher and still be comfortable. Sheesh I thought something was up.

Anywho, can someone tell me what the point of "Dolby headphone is? I generally want the music to sound like it's supposed without any equalizer effect changes etc. Switching it on I get a more hollow sound as if they're trying to emulate music in a room or something. Should I just leave it off?

dude why is the onboard sound enabled in the first place? disable all the stuff you don't use in the bios

Dolby Headphone is pretty cool actually, "It's basically a way of making a fake 5.1 sound from a stereo signal" isn't entirely accurate: I would say it tries to make fake 5.1 sound output from a regular 2 channel headphone. There is a difference on how it does it though depending on the source:

If the source is 2.0 it will probably apply Dolby Pro Logic II , which makes fake 5.1 out of a regular stereo source and thus isn't very accurate or good.

But if the source is true 5.1 (games, movies) then the surround image Dolby Headphone receives and produces is much more accurate and it can actually produce some pretty cool results once you get used to it.

My Yamaha receiver does the same thing actually (they've got their own name for it) and for FPS gaming I'd say it's pretty good =] I do enjoy it with movies as well, although as you say it sounds a bit more hollow at first.

there's more info I think in the "5.1 headphone" thread or something on GAF and on sites like head-fi. But you shouldn't use it on music no

also I thought Sweden was the promised land regarding ISPs ?

 

[Corky]

dude why is the onboard sound enabled in the first place? disable all the stuff you don't use in the bios

I have disabled the stuff I don't use via bios, but I just bought the soundcard so that slipped my mind xD.

Also thanks for the info, I think I'm gonna roll with dolby headphone for games and have dolby prologic IIx off. I guess this means that while ingame I should check/enable their respective 5.1 setting?

also I thought Sweden was the promised land regarding ISPs ?

Those days are ancient history, we're mere serfs compared to our southkorea/japan overlords.

 

[Caerith]

I wouldn't say it is wasteful. 60GB is about all you need for everything that will really benefit.
You just get less read speed. You still have a large amount of the near insta loading SSD access time quickness.

If Photoshop takes 12 seconds to load normally on a HDD
Takes 4 seconds on that $60 60GB SSD
Takes 3 seconds on a $120 60GB SSD (Retail M4/Intel)
(Made up numbers)

Is that not a good value?

It's not a bad value, but it really depends on your needs. 60GB can fill up pretty fast. Windows alone takes up 20GB, and some of the things you'd want to install on an SSD to take advantage of its load time are Photoshop (1GB alone, but the Adobe suite is 25GB) or your MMO of choice (25GB), and you can run out of space fast. If you use the full Adobe suite and play an MMO, you're going to have to do one of those on your slower HDD.

The M4 128GB for $170 is 30% more expensive per gig, and yes the difference in speed is relatively tiny compared to the difference vs HDD on a per-program basis. But what makes it a better value, in my opinion, is that you can benefit from SSD speed on more programs. If you use the full Adobe suite and play an MMO, as above, you can do both on your SSD and still have room left over.

I picked up an M4 128GB SSD on buy.com this weekend, but I'd gladly pay full price for it just for its volume. But that's just me, and my love-hate relationship with MMOs.

 

[n0n44m]

I have disabled the stuff I don't use via bios, but I just bought the soundcard so that slipped my mind xD.

Also thanks for the info, I think I'm gonna roll with dolby headphone for games and have dolby prologic IIx off. I guess this means that while ingame I should check/enable their respective 5.1 setting?

Those days are ancient history, we're mere serfs compared to our southkorea/japan overlords.

I'm not entirely sure how Dolby Headphone works when done by the soundcard (I've used it either as a seperate codec before for movies that immediately processed it when decoding the DD/DTS tracks, and now I'm using it in my receiver itself after it receives the 5.1 HDMI sound from my pc) ...

I guess when you switch it on, the Asus software sets the output back to 5.1 speakers from the default stereo/headphone output (can you check in the Windows sound config?). Games should then automatically start outputting 5.1 sound for Dolby Headphone to process.

---

So the "fiber optic everywhere" is false ? Our ISP over here is pretty good ... from 4 mbit 11 years ago to 120 mbit nowadays over the same copper cable

---

yeah I would say 60gb is cutting it close for the "power-user" ... on my 80gb I'm currently at 10g free space, almost 20 if I move the only 2 Steam games that are on the SSD to my regular games HDD. So with a 60gb drive I would be constantly close to having it absolutely filled, which can't really do the speed any favors either ... but for a simple budget machine it would be pretty awesome