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[coopolon]

Don't know much about monitors but can someone help me out here. Which one should i get between these 2?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260019

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260037

The DellU2211H is pretty good, but at that price ($250) you could get a 23 or 24 inch if you were willing to shop around or wait for a sale (or here is one now).

If you want good response time don't know why you would spend $175 on a 22 inch Dell when you could get a 23 inch Asus for the same price. But I don't follow TN panel reviews so maybe that Dell is really good. It probably has better ergonomic features though.

 

[TylerD]

I was telling a coworker about my new build and he asked me for an offer on my left over components. He hasn't had a new home PC since 2001 and is a super nice guy so I am selling him my CM Centurion case, Gigabyte MoBo w 4 GB DDR2, Intel e8500, Radeon 4850 HD 512 for $150

I helped him pick out that Corsair CX 430 V2, Samsung FP3 1TB, DVD Burner, and Acer 21.5 in 1080p monitor and I am going to show him how to hook up everything over a 6 pack next weekend once I confirm that my new machine is functioning.

Going to definitely make sure to tell him that everything is ASIS. I didn't have a single problem with that damn machine hardware wise over 3 years other than a HDD dying. I hope it lasts him a long time.

 

[Syphon Filter]

The DellU2211H is pretty good, but at that price ($250) you could get a 23 or 24 inch if you were willing to shop around or wait for a sale (or here is one now).

If you want good response time don't know why you would spend $175 on a 22 inch Dell when you could get a 23 inch Asus for the same price. But I don't follow TN panel reviews so maybe that Dell is really good. It probably has better ergonomic features though.

nm

 

[Renoir]

You forgot to connect the 8 pin power connector which is right above the fan cpu heatsink.

Thank you for the response.
Everything is working fine now.

 

[Recon]

Question!

I overclocked my Cpu for the first time ever. It is a Q6600 and the default clock is 2.4ghz. I clocked it to 2.98. When i look at my clock speed in windows, it says it is a " Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @2.40 GHz 2.98 GHz. Is this right?

 

[Duxxy3]

Hopefully final update:

Put the coolermaster 212 and now i barely even know my computer is on. CPU temps dropped about 10c.

Now that it's fall i'm finally ready to game in summer heat!

 

[cackhyena]

Hoping someone can help me out with a minor issue. Every other time I restart my computer, the vibrancy of my monitor takes a nosedive. Really noticeable. I check the settings of the monitor and nothing is changed, so I'm assuming it's something to do with the GFX card?

 

[EVIL]

I can choose from 2 builds

either Intel oriented
- Intel Game PC

550 W PSU
Intel Core i5-2500K
Standaard cooling
Asus Moederbord P8H67 (rev.3)
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 806,00

or AMD oriented
- AMD Game PC

550 W PSU
AMD Phenom2 X6 1090T 3.20GHz
Standaard cooling
Asus AM3+ M5A97 PRO
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 773,00

I am planning to run Battlefield 3 and do allot of photoshop work.

which would be a better choice?

 

[Broseybrose]

I was telling a coworker about my new build and he asked me for an offer on my left over components. He hasn't had a new home PC since 2001 and is a super nice guy so I am selling him my CM Centurion case, Gigabyte MoBo w 4 GB DDR2, Intel e8500, Radeon 4850 HD 512 for $150

I helped him pick out that Corsair CX 430 V2, Samsung FP3 1TB, DVD Burner, and Acer 21.5 in 1080p monitor and I am going to show him how to hook up everything over a 6 pack next weekend once I confirm that my new machine is functioning.

Going to definitely make sure to tell him that everything is ASIS. I didn't have a single problem with that damn machine hardware wise over 3 years other than a HDD dying. I hope it lasts him a long time.

Thats an incredible deal. Make sure he knows that you couldve gotten $500 easy for that rig. Not to rub it in his face, but to make sure he understands the value of his new computer!

 

[Broseybrose]

I can choose from 2 builds

either Intel oriented
- Intel Game PC

550 W PSU
Intel Core i5-2500K
Standaard cooling
Asus Moederbord P8H67 (rev.3)
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 806,00

or AMD oriented
- AMD Game PC

550 W PSU
AMD Phenom2 X6 1090T 3.20GHz
Standaard cooling
Asus AM3+ M5A97 PRO
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 773,00

I am planning to run Battlefield 3 and do allot of photoshop work.

which would be a better choice?

Core i5.

 

[Quote]

What do you guys use for checking temps and fan speeds?

 

[Smokey]

Going to give another shot at a sound card. Will probably get the Xonar Essence. I want a headset that has Dolby Digital and a mic on it. What are the best options for this?

Anybody?

 

[coopolon]

Thats an incredible deal. Make sure he knows that you couldve gotten $500 easy for that rig. Not to rub it in his face, but to make sure he understands the value of his new computer!

While $150 is a perfectly reasonable price, especially since he's helping set them up, I don't think those parts are worth anywhere near $500. Just looking at the OP you can build a i3 2100/460 for a little more than $500.

 

[Recon]

Question!

I overclocked my Cpu for the first time ever. It is a Q6600 and the default clock is 2.4ghz. I clocked it to 2.98. When i look at my clock speed in windows, it says it is a " Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @2.40 GHz 2.98 GHz. Is this right?

Quoting again, please help me PC MASTER RACE!

 

[Universaldamps]

Quoting again, please help me PC MASTER RACE!

That's correct good sir. It'll have the Specification of the CPU with it's stock speed, but then have the core speed you've changed it to. Here's what mine looks like -

 

[Recon]

That's correct good sir. It'll have the Specification of the CPU with it's stock speed, but then have the core speed you've changed it to.

Awesome. My gaming Rig is getting really old, it started out q6600@2.4GHz/2gb ram/500gb HDD/8800 GT. Its now Q6600 @ 3.0GHz/4GB Ram/1.5 TB HDD/ 560 Ti. I think this will be the last incarnation of my rig before i move on to a more glorious one.

 

[Hazaro]

I can choose from 2 builds

either Intel oriented
- Intel Game PC

550 W PSU
Intel Core i5-2500K
Standaard cooling
Asus Moederbord P8H67 (rev.3)
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 806,00

or AMD oriented
- AMD Game PC

550 W PSU
AMD Phenom2 X6 1090T 3.20GHz
Standaard cooling
Asus AM3+ M5A97 PRO
8192MB DDR3 RAM
1000 GB SataIII HDD
Nvidia GTX560TI 1GB
€ 773,00

I am planning to run Battlefield 3 and do allot of photoshop work.

which would be a better choice?

Intel. Faster in both.

What do you guys use for checking temps and fan speeds?

Bottom of OP

Sorry for bringing this up again, but would really appreciate some insight here.

If you were really sorry you would have read my post under yours!
lmk how the HT benches go.

While $150 is a perfectly reasonable price, especially since he's helping set them up, I don't think those parts are worth anywhere near $500. Just looking at the OP you can build a i3 2100/460 for a little more than $500.

Correct, current used sale value is more like $250-$300.

 

[Ooccoo]

^^Any particular reason why you chose the P8Z68 Deluxe over the P8Z68-V PRO? (worth the extra cash?)

Just went for what the OP suggested.

 

[TylerD]

While $150 is a perfectly reasonable price, especially since he's helping set them up, I don't think those parts are worth anywhere near $500. Just looking at the OP you can build a i3 2100/460 for a little more than $500.

Yeah, the build would be so much cheaper for him but his monitor is terrible so he insisted on me helping him pick out a new one. I think it is a 15 inch dell LCD and the color is so jacked up on it.

He spends most of his money on car stuff and house payments. Like I said, I hope that everything works right off the bat. As long as the PSU is not DOA we should be good.

 

[Hazaro]

Updated. Comments, suggestions, upcoming releases, etc. welcomed.
Fixed two typos, updated RAM selections, TONS more mobo options. Made some options clearer, added better notes.

http://i.imgur.com/oYswA.png

 

[The Teachinator]

Anybody?

I'm using a logitech 7.1 wireless headset with no sound card. Sounds decent. I also run my gtx580 sound out to my onkyo 805 home theater....sounds awesome. As an audiophile I see no point to using a sound card when the onboard options are great for the compressed audio files our games have.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Updated. Comments, suggestions, upcoming releases, etc. welcomed.
Fixed two typos, updated RAM selections, TONS more mobo options. Made some options clearer, added better notes.

http://i.imgur.com/oYswA.png[/IMG[/QUOTE]
Nice update. Looks like my rig loadout is closer to the extravagant listing aside from the vid card I picked out, and not snagging a sound card.

 

[Ooccoo]

The Xonar DG is all out of stock on newegg. I guess I'll use this post to ask how important buying a sound card is considering my motherboard has the following stats

Onboard Audio

Audio Chipset
Realtek ALC889

Audio Channels
8 Channels

 

[abuC]

All my parts came, except of course the motherboard which was an ASrock gen 3 extreme7. They had its arrival date listed as sometime in November, unacceptable. I canceled the order and will go to Microcenter and pick up the Asus Maximus IV extreme tomorrow.

 

[RukusProvider]

Updated. Comments, suggestions, upcoming releases, etc. welcomed.
Fixed two typos, updated RAM selections, TONS more mobo options. Made some options clearer, added better notes.

On the 1000+ builds
I'd suggest for the AsRock that you specify Gen 3 boards. Non Gen 3 are still for sale. Under optional, for RAM, specify voltage should be 1.5 or below regardless of RAM.

 

[abuC]

The Xonar DG is all out of stock on newegg. I guess I'll use this post to ask how important buying a sound card is considering my motherboard has the following stats

Get the Omega Claro instead.

 

[Hazaro]

The Xonar DG is all out of stock on newegg. I guess I'll use this post to ask how important buying a sound card is considering my motherboard has the following stats

A sound card is something you can definitely add on after you get everything setup. Onboard today on these new chipsets is quite good and I have a hard time telling the difference on my ATH-AD700's from my ASUS P8P67 PRO onboard vs my Xonar DG.

Get the Omega Claro instead.

Big jump from a $20 card to $180 like the ones I listed.
Why that over the Xonar ST and X-Fi? (Not a super fan of the X-Fi on the list tbh)

On the 1000+ builds
I'd suggest for the AsRock that you specify Gen 3 boards. Non Gen 3 are still for sale. Under optional, for RAM, specify voltage should be 1.5 or below regardless of RAM.

Done. RAM was in above section and I wanted to keep lines and my inane comment on RAM DOA.

 

[Tonner Cyn]

I have applied some MX-4 to my cpu and temps seem to be a little lower. I guess the next thing to do is to try it overclocked and see what happens. As I said before, the default core voltage is 1.5v but I was able to get it stable at 1.32v - should I go ahead and change that?

On a side note, while I had the case open I checked out my kingston Hyper X RAM, which I was told was good. It is 1.65v and for some reason I thought I heard here that is not desirable. Is this something i should consider changing?

EDIT: My case is a CoolerMaster 690 II Advanced. There is room for another 140mm top fan. Would this help drop temps any?

 

[Hazaro]

You want 1.5V if possible for Socket 1155.
If you are on 1155 and have 1.5V CORE CPU voltage that is too high. If you have it stable at 1.32 that is much much better.

 

[Parl]

Budget: Cheapo, in British pounds
Main Use: 1080p video playback, web browsing (no gaming)
Monitor Resolution: 1080p
Are reusing any parts?: All but mobo/CPU covered (DDR3 and DDR2 RAM floating about too)
When will you build?: Very soon
Will you be overclocking?: No

Wanting a good performance/price ratio for a mobo/CPU combo. Looking at the very cheap CPUs like E5700/E6600/X2 260 etc and cheap mobos. I've read a few times that AMD mobos offer better IGPs, but maybe that's the higher end because benchmarks seems to show the G41 intel ones on par with the £20-£25 more expensive Radeon HD 4250 ones. And if you want to pay about £35 for an AMD mobo like the £35 intel G41s, then you're stuck with Geforce 7025 which seems to be awful.

Cheapo doesn't mean anything to me. What is your system price?
If you are thinking pure playback an AM3 board + Fusion would be great.

Sorry about that. The budget is about £140 for mobo+processor+RAM, but if you can achieve roughly the same results (ie a computer capable of running 1080p video well) then additional power is redundant. Low power consumption would certainly be a nice plus.

So a Llano APU would be a good bet, do you reckon?

 

[Jtrizzy]

So since we are talking sound here I'm trying to decide what to do. Get a $300 Denon HDMI 1.4/3d pass through compatible receiver. Will I still need a sound card to get uncompressed 5.1/7.1 from the hdmi on my 580?

My other option is to just get a sound card with an optical out and hook that up to my current 10 year old Denon that only takes optical. Any advice?

 

[Hazaro]

Sorry about that. The budget is about £140 for mobo+processor+RAM, but if you can achieve roughly the same results (ie a computer capable of running 1080p video well) then additional power is redundant. Low power consumption would certainly be a nice plus.

So a Llano APU would be a good bet, do you reckon?

If it is purely file based video playback then one of these mini setups is all you need.
Check if your case can accept mini ATX and mATX (2 sizes).
Flash will do 720p mostly fine, and some odd 3rd party internet stuff that doesn't use hardware acceleration (yet) won't work well.
Local Blu-Ray and 1080p is gravy though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157228 (mini ITX)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131697 (mATX version)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131732 (mini ITX version)
+
$50 1866Mhz memory (Helpful to CPU.APU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231474

There's your $150 goal met at something like 30W.

*This is about as far as my knowledge goes, you might like to ask an HTPC site as well.

 

[dyergram]

Just a quick question pcgaf hivemind I currently have a quad core 4gb ram and a 5850 is it worth me putting in another 4gb ram?

 

[Fair Trial]

Just a quick question pcgaf hivemind I currently have a quad core 4gb ram and a 5850 is it worth me putting in another 4gb ram?

Depends on what you mean by worth: adding more ram is never a bad thing but gaming wise is not gonna make nearly any difference at all.

 

[scorcho]

Just a quick question pcgaf hivemind I currently have a quad core 4gb ram and a 5850 is it worth me putting in another 4gb ram?

with how cheap RAM is, there's not much reason you shouldn't up it to 8gb (we're talking about DDR3, right?)

 

[dyergram]

Yea its ddr3. I'm happy with my performance I just wondered if id get some extra juice out of games if I doubled it.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll really see much of an improvement in gaming, if any at all. Maybe a couple frames.

 

[Effect]

Is it worth it to get a full retail version of Windows 7 or should the OEM version work just fine? Is there usually an issue getting it reactivated if one needs to change the motherboard after the install?

I'm currently using Windows Vista HP 32bit but adding more ram to my system is meaningless unless I have a 64bit OS. So I need to upgrade at some point but not sure I want spend close to $200 on the OS alone.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I've never had a problem using OEM versions. Never had one of 7, but I can't imagine it's differnt. I'm sure I moved my XP and Vista ones to new computers when I upgraded at least once in their respective life times. The worst I ever had to do was call up support. Just tell them you did a system restore. I haven't had to do that in forever though. Seems like they made it easier to activate online, even if it detects new hardware.

 

[Corky]

I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll really see much of an improvement in gaming, if any at all. Maybe a couple frames.

From the reviews I've seen, you won't even get a 1% increase in fps going from 4 to 8, but again times change and you can only benefit from more ram

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

But, DDR3 is the cheapest it's ever going to get. So, if you're really itching for it, now is the time.

 

[Yaska]

Ok, I need urgent pc-gaf help. So I got a 580 gtx, but my old PSU ( store hasn't sent my new PSU yet) has only 1 8 pin and 1 6 pin pci-e power cables. Asus decided to include a Y-cable instead of a single cable. I ordered a 6pin 8 pin adapter, but it'll prolly take atleast tomorrow to get here. I however found an old EVGA 601-ev-1009-R1 2x 4 pin to 6 pin adapter, and would like to use it. Problem is that there's only 5 pins in aforementioned adapter and the hole happens to be just at the spot of a pin connector in the 8 pin adapter, while the 8 pin adapter has a hole below where my 4 pin to 6 pin connector has a pin. What to do? Just wait it out or try it out anw? Card requires 2 8 pin PCI-e connectors.

 

[Syphon Filter]

nm

 

[Spectacular Dr Dawg]

Finallt got most of the parts to my PC. All that's left now is the CPU which should be arriving tomorrow.

Parts pictured:
Case: Lian Li PC-Z70
Motherboard: MSI Z68 GD80
PSU: Corsair Hx 850W
GPU: MSI Lightning GTX 580 1,5GB
RAM: G.Skill 8GB Sniper DDR3 1866MHz
Disc Drive: Samsung 12x Combo Blu-Ray Drive
SSD: Crucial M4 128GB
HDD1: Samsung F3 1TB 7200rpm
HDD2:Samsung F4 2TB 5400rpm
HDD3:Samsung F4 2TB 5400rpm (will use both of them in raid1)
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DG

Not pictured :
CPU: i5 2500k
Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow

Accessories:
Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Keyboard
Asus 23"VG236H 120HZ 3D monitor
Nvidia 3D Vision Kit

 

[larvi]

Anyone have any experience with overclocking a Q6600 (or any other LGA775 processor) on this mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128496

I've been very happy with my Q6600 running a stock clocks and it currently is enough for my gaming needs, but thinking about doing an OC on it to tide me over for another year or so. My current mobo/memory configuration isn't cutting it for overclocking so I was thinking of picking up this P45 motherboard along with some DDR3 1600 ram. I will then be able to use that ram for when I do finally upgrade my CPU.

Also any thoughts on the benefits of 16gb vs 8gb ram (Win7 64bit)? I do run virtual XP sessions quite a bit so I'm thinking the extra ram would help. And one of the issues I have today with my current system is I have mismatched ram sticks so it's hard to adjust the timings for overclocking. If I bought 4 x 4gb of the same ram now I would avoid that problem in the future. And ram seems pretty cheap right now (can get 16gb for ~$80 after rebate)

 

[Gareth Bale]

Speedfan is telling me my CPU is running a 124C. Surely that can't be right. I was looking at adding some additional fans to my case though, as it gets quite hot in my room. Any suggestions on good fans that are easy to add to an R3 case?

 

[ExMachina]

Look what got delivered today!

The Newegg box didn't lie. My first mechanical keyboard and it's awesome. I noticed that sometimes I couldn't register certain combinations of multiple WASD keys + shift on my cheapo KB, so I decided to pick up a quality mechanical. Was debating between this and the tT Meka G1, but I decided that I didn't have the room for a huge board and didn't need the audio jacks.

 

[Tonner Cyn]

So what is the reason for going with 1.5v RAM vs other voltages?

 

[Gareth Bale]

Also, Coretemp has it running at 44C. That seems quite high when all I'm doing is browsing gaf. Should I pick up a Hyper 212?

 

[Tonner Cyn]

Hmm, I think I am going to come off as a complete noob, but I want to get this figured out. Hopefully I haven't damaged anything, but I have a feeling the voltage i have been messing with in the BIOS is the RAM voltage. Here's a link to the manual for my mobo:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z68a-d3h-b3_e.pdf

If anyone is willing to look at the BIOS setting portion of the manual and let me know where exactly I should go to determine the CPU voltage and how to change it I would be greatly appreciative. Page 41 of the manual in the section 'Advanced Voltage Settings' looks like where I might want to go. I'm not quite sure how to interpret the instructions. When talking about the Dynamic VCore(DVID) it says this option is configurable only when CPU Vcore is set to Normal. I don't see a CPU Vcore setting to change. Help please?