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[chaosblade]

Actually I am able to run Batman at its highest settings with everything on its highest with medium physx on my 5850/8600 GT setup between 50-60 FPS. Now I am confused though, I was told last page that my card is still good and that I shouldn't upgrade until the next gen of cards come out, and now I am being told my 5850 is holding me back. Which one is it?

That's not really what I meant, a 5850 is still a solid card (I have one too). It's just that Batman is a game that runs better (a lot better IIRC) on NVidia cards.

I misunderstood your question though, for some reason I thought you were talking about general performance... I blame my lack of sleep.

A 8800GTX is a lot more powerful than a 8600GT (8600GT is a lot less capable than I remembered). So that would definitely be a big upgrade for Physx. A GTS 250 or 450 would also be good options.

 

[Ezahn]

Now, though, I always try to play single player games with 3D Vision since it adds a lot to the visual spectacle.

Tnx for sharing Van Buren.
I hope my upcoming single 580 will be able to keep up in 3D for a while.

 

[Hazaro]

Ok, so I am in the looking towards perhaps building a pc, but I have only ever owned a laptop, and while I am good with computers at a software level, I have pretty much no clue on the hardware side of things.

Obviously I need to do more research, but I thought I would fill out this list here to hopefully get some quick feedback!

Budget: £1000 (tbh the thought of spending that much scares me, but the budget is there if needed)

Main Use: Gaming and Music production (Presumably I need a good sound card for this?)

Monitor Resolution: I would want a decent resolution, so 1080p?

List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Battlefield 3, total war shogun

When will you build?: Can wait

Will you be overclocking?: Most likely no, as I would prefer the computer to run as silently as possible.

Other notes:

I would want to make sure that this was as upgradable as possible, and not to have to worry too much about heat and sound from the computer.

Also, and I understand this is a hard question to answer, but would it be better to get a laptop for my circumstances, bearing in mind it would have to have a high resolution, not get too hot and not look like a toy. If I did end up getting a laptop, it would not have to play battlefield 3, but It would have to be able to play the witcher 2 at medium settings and at 30fps...

I understand this post is long, unspecific, and clearly written by someone who doesn't know what they want, but I needs dat GAF guidance!

(also, is Novatech the best site to use for UK?)

A good place to start is the OP build. A Shinobi case + some Scythe Kama 900rpm fans would be a great option, but there are many other good options as well.

You'll also want a good sound card maybe with ASIO support. Make sure it has true ASIO support that works in practice though. I'd suggest asking head-fi.org or perhaps a musical production forum or even call a few businesses to find out what they use.

I'd also throw in an Intel 320 120GB/160GB drive for productivity.

 

[f0rk]

Stupid question
I have 2 program folders now as I'm on 64-bit Windows, does it matter most stuff is installing to the 32-bit folder? Does it affect games?

 

[Hazaro]

Stupid question
I have 2 program folders now as I'm on 64-bit Windows, does it matter most stuff is installing to the 32-bit folder? Does it affect games?

It will go to which folder it is meant to.
Most default to x86 unless it was a specific 64 bit install.
Not to my knowledge.

 

[giancarlo123x]

Got fed up with my old shit computer and spent 300 hundred last night to get a new computer and a graphics card which is enough to play TF2 on everything high. Feels great to play with my friends.

 

[ithorien]

Got fed up with my old shit computer and spent 300 hundred last night to get a new computer and a graphics card which is enough to play TF2 on everything high. Feels great to play with my friends.

THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?!?!

j/k

 

[Coldsnap]

all that to play TF2 on high... wow!

 

[Cory_t_]

I'm looking in to building a NAS box using FreeNAS and I have a few questions. Feel free to slap me if this is too off-topic.

1) I'v read that software RAID5 can be risky. Anyone have any bad experiences with it?

2) What kind of hardware am I looking at? The most recent suggestion I could find for a cheap build was using an AMD sempron at 2.8GHz and 1GB of RAM. Is this really sufficient?

3) If I grab a mobo with 6 SATA ports and I want to expand down the road can I simply grab a SATA card and add to the RAID using that without having to back-up and rebuild the entire array?

4) If anyone could link me to a semi-recent how-to on building a FreeNAS box that would be just awesome. I can't seem to find anything more recent than like 2009.

Again if this is off-topic than just kick me out but to anyone who can help, thanks very much!

EDIT: Forgot my most important question. Is this worth my time? Can I build something that will be cheaper than a 4 or 6 bay retail NAS box?

 

[ithorien]

I'm looking in to building a NAS box using FreeNAS and I have a few questions. Feel free to slap me if this is too off-topic.

1) I'v read that software RAID5 can be risky. Anyone have any bad experiences with it?

2) What kind of hardware am I looking at? The most recent suggestion I could find for a cheap build was using an AMD sempron at 2.8GHz and 1GB of RAM. Is this really sufficient?

3) If I grab a mobo with 6 SATA ports and I want to expand down the road can I simply grab a SATA card and add to the RAID using that without having to back-up and rebuild the entire array?

4) If anyone could link me to a semi-recent how-to on building a FreeNAS box that would be just awesome. I can't seem to find anything more recent than like 2009.

Again if this is off-topic than just kick me out but to anyone who can help, thanks very much!

EDIT: Forgot my most important question. Is this worth my time? Can I build something that will be cheaper than a 4 or 6 bay retail NAS box?

I recommend a Synology http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049MPQGI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Friend of mine bought this after we talked about it, and he's very very happy. Of course this is only two drives, so you'd have to spend more for bigger capacity.

 

[gokieks]

I'm looking in to building a NAS box using FreeNAS and I have a few questions. Feel free to slap me if this is too off-topic.

1) I'v read that software RAID5 can be risky. Anyone have any bad experiences with it?

2) What kind of hardware am I looking at? The most recent suggestion I could find for a cheap build was using an AMD sempron at 2.8GHz and 1GB of RAM. Is this really sufficient?

3) If I grab a mobo with 6 SATA ports and I want to expand down the road can I simply grab a SATA card and add to the RAID using that without having to back-up and rebuild the entire array?

4) If anyone could link me to a semi-recent how-to on building a FreeNAS box that would be just awesome. I can't seem to find anything more recent than like 2009.

Again if this is off-topic than just kick me out but to anyone who can help, thanks very much!

1. If you're using FreeNAS, you really should take advantage of its ZFS support. RAID-Z is not without its quirks (primary one being that when expanding you have to add drives in sets of 3 or more), but in terms of features it's way ahead of software RAID-5. In terms of reliability it should be fine, especially since RAID-Z vdevs (think RAID arrays) are designed to be portable - one created under FreeBSD can be later moved to running under OpenSolaris.

2. It really depends on your workload - if it's going to be a personal NAS with few concurrent users accessing it, any recent multi-core CPU should be fine. But with ZFS, more memory is very helpful - and RAM is so cheap that honestly it's not worth skimping out on. Any cheap Athlon/Phenom X2/X3 with 4GB of RAM would be more than enough for a home use NAS.

3. Yes, you should be able to if it's a standard SATA controller card (i.e. not a RAID controller).

4. I don't have any links to a FreeNAS guide, unfortunately - my file server is actually an old desktop (single-core A64 with 2GB of DDR1) running FreeBSD, with 3 2TB ZFS drives in RAID-Z. Performance on it is a little subpar (multi-core CPU and 4GB of RAM is the recommended spec for ZFS fileservers), but it's worked out very well for me so far, and I'll be converting my current desktop to handling the fileserver duty after my next desktop build.

 

[Shambles]

For those on a budget newegg.ca has the Phenom 2 X3 720 for $60 after coupon code CEMCKDHA27. Combine that with a cheap AM3 motherboard and it'll leave you with a very capable GPU and plenty of money leftover for a stronger GPU or SSD. Sadly I couldn't unlock the 4th core on a 720 build last year but it seems most people are able to. I'm sure they're just clearing out stock and trying to sell the last of these they have laying around. One of the best performance/$ I've seen in a while.

 

[karlhungis]

I got a free i7-990X from work and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a cheap upgrade path. My current build isn't ancient but it isn't that new either.

This is my current build:
Yorkfield Quadcore QX9650
6GB of DDR2
ASUS Mobo
AMD 4850 GPU

I am guessing that the most bang for my buck would to just invest in a new gfx card but I know that I don't know everything and I was curious if someone here had any other ideas.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[TheExodu5]

I got a free i7-990X from work and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a cheap upgrade path. My current build isn't ancient but it isn't that new either.

This is my current build:
Yorkfield Quadcore QX9650
6GB of DDR2
ASUS Mobo
AMD 4850 GPU

I am guessing that the most bang for my buck would to just invest in a new gfx card but I know that I don't know everything and I was curious if someone here had any other ideas.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

You're going to need to replace the motherboard and RAM to support the new CPU. Completely worth it, though, considering how much that i7 is worth. After that, yeah you'll probably be wanting to replace that GPU with something like a 6950.

 

[RedSwirl]

Uh... I never investigated how much it costs to add RAM.

Currently I'm running on 3GB.

 

[mkenyon]

I got a free i7-990X from work and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a cheap upgrade path. My current build isn't ancient but it isn't that new either.

This is my current build:
Yorkfield Quadcore QX9650
6GB of DDR2
ASUS Mobo
AMD 4850 GPU

I am guessing that the most bang for my buck would to just invest in a new gfx card but I know that I don't know everything and I was curious if someone here had any other ideas.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Need a 1366 board and some new DDR3 RAM. Fortunately, the stock cooler that comes with the 990x is actually really good. If you want to get the most out of your system, you'll need to buy a new GPU as well. There's just about no way to bottleneck that CPU, so take your pick on GPU. That's the most powerful processor out there right now.

Cheapest path would be to mail that to me.

 

[Smokey]

When will we see the equivalent of the i7 990x for Sandy Bridge? End of this year?

 

[mkenyon]

When will we see the equivalent of the i7 990x for Sandy Bridge? End of this year?

Won't be on sandybridge, will be socket 2011.

Sandybridge is actually marketed as the "non-enthusiast" chipset.

 

[Smokey]

Yo...over at EVGA site just messing around, looked at their rig contest...

What the FUCK is going on here :O

 

[darthbob]

Yo...over at EVGA site just messing around, looked at their rig contest...

What the FUCK is going on here :O

Looks like LN2 cooling for Quad SLI 580s (or 590s) and for the CPU and NB.

 

[ithorien]

Yo...over at EVGA site just messing around, looked at their rig contest...

What the FUCK is going on here :O

Nitrogen most likely.

 

[hlhbk]

That's not really what I meant, a 5850 is still a solid card (I have one too). It's just that Batman is a game that runs better (a lot better IIRC) on NVidia cards.

I misunderstood your question though, for some reason I thought you were talking about general performance... I blame my lack of sleep.

A 8800GTX is a lot more powerful than a 8600GT (8600GT is a lot less capable than I remembered). So that would definitely be a big upgrade for Physx. A GTS 250 or 450 would also be good options.

Ok guys so last question here for now. I am about to plug in this 8800gtx. Aside from having to monitor the heat increase I am a bit confused on if my power supply can handle both cards.

Here are the links to my components I am currently running. Do you think with the power supply listed I can run both a 5850 and a 8800gtx?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009
Power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211
Proc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665
Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227572
memory

The link for my ati card is dead but its a standard 5850 non overclocked

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143093
8800GTX

Case:

1 x XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Also have a PCIE sound card.

 

[TheExodu5]

Looks like LN2 cooling for Quad SLI 580s (or 590s) and for the CPU and NB.

Could be a dual-Xeon motherboard as well.

 

[Prophet Steve]

I am doubting between a 2 and 1 GB version of the 6950. On 1920x1080 it shouldn't matter much right?

 

[Smokey]

Could be a dual-Xeon motherboard as well.

That's pretty much all I could make out from that pick. Most likely the SR-2 mobo too right? Is that the only one that does such a thing?

I am doubting between a 2 and 1 GB version of the 6950. On 1920x1080 it shouldn't matter much right?

Get the 2GB if you can. Really can't recommend a 1GB card unless you're on a strict budget.

 

[momolicious]

Go here:

http://www.windows7news.com/2010/05/25/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7/

AHCI must be enabled before you install Windows 7 as MAB mentioned above. However, if you've already installed it, follow the directions on that page to get it working. I made the same mistake and the fix above worked fine for me. The system will boot into Windows and it will install the proper drivers.

thanks! From the user comments on the site says it could decrease performance for non-raided HDD? Mine is not RAID, just single caviar black drive... so i shouldnt turn on ACHI?

Also does anyone know why my fan does not ramp up even when hitting 45C like i set target temperature to? i ran prime95 and the temps jumped to like 50 without ramping fan up

 

[Hawk269]

When will we see the equivalent of the i7 990x for Sandy Bridge? End of this year?

Smokey, you are not lookng to upgrade already are you?

 

[Hawk269]

I am doubting between a 2 and 1 GB version of the 6950. On 1920x1080 it shouldn't matter much right?

Yes it does. I just applied the DX11 and High Rez Texture Pack for Crysis 2 and when gaming at the same resolution as you, the game is using 1.4gb of my 1.5 on my 580's. If you can, I would recommend 2gb. From what I understand, beyond 2gb is not needed at that resolution unless you are multi-screen playing or going beyond 1080p. For most, 1gb is good, 1.5 way better and like I said, if you have the money to go to 2gb vs. 1gb, why not?

 

[Ether_Snake]

Hey guys I need a new modem because I'm switching IP. I don't want a wireless modem. I got a Speedstream 5200 and I can't figure what to buy to replace it since I have to return this one. Any idea?

I'm such a noob

 

[Hawk269]

Yo...over at EVGA site just messing around, looked at their rig contest...

What the FUCK is going on here :O

Yeah, this is nitrogen cooled system. Saw a video of it a while back where they were at some convention. Cant remember what GPU's they were, but everything was massively overclocked (gpu/cpu/memory) to some insane levels.

 

[| Praxis |]

Does anybody here use an Akasa Venom cpu cooler? I want to swap the stock fans for something with leds, if that's possible?

 

[Prophet Steve]

That's pretty much all I could make out from that pick. Most likely the SR-2 mobo too right? Is that the only one that does such a thing?



Get the 2GB if you can. Really can't recommend a 1GB card unless you're on a strict budget.

Thank you, and Hawk too.

Friend was trying to convince me otherwise. But I'll spend the extra money then.

 

[hlhbk]

To anwser my own question I just stuck the 8800GTX in and its working great.

 

[darthbob]

Could be a dual-Xeon motherboard as well.

Yeah, probably. I don't see why they'd have that beefy of a cooler on the north bridge, so yeah, probably the SR-2.

Makes sense as it's obviously running quad graphics.

 

[SaintR]

Information relevant to my interest.

I've been trying to figure this out for a while. Is it preferrable to get a Physx card if you have an amd or just get an Nvidia card?
I have a 2gb 6950 btw but I'm not against replacing with a higher end Nvidia card if the latter is more efficient(selling etc)

 

[knitoe]

I've been trying to figure this out for a while. Is it preferrable to get a Physx card if you have an amd or just get an Nvidia card?
I have a 2gb 6950 btw but I'm not against replacing with a higher end Nvidia card if the latter is more efficient(selling etc)

Performance wise, high end Nvidia card > high end AMD + low end Nvidia card for Physx. Also, with Nvidia card only, it's much more easy to setup since you don't have to worry about using hack drivers to get the AMD setup to work. And, new games may not work since the hack drivers are old.

 

[black_vegeta]

Even though I still need to buy my GPU, I'm going to start building my rig. I'll just use the gpu that is in my current to get a display on screen. I won't be able to get my gpu for a little while since I just recently got laid off from my job.

Wish me luck.

 

[L00P]

I'm thinking of getting this soon when I get paid. Anyone know if a 500 watt PSU is enough for it?

 

[Movement]

I'd recommend 750w.

 

[black_vegeta]

Got damn, the sound of the hinge securing the cpu! HAHAHA, this stuff is tense.

 

[TheExodu5]

Got damn, the sound of the hinge securing the cpu! HAHAHA, this stuff is tense.

I built a PC for a friend of mine, but I had him do the lever. It's so much fun to watch a newbie do it.

 

[black_vegeta]

I built a PC for a friend of mine, but I had him do the lever. It's so much fun to watch a newbie do it.

I knew the sound was going to come from reading this thread. Louder than I expected but keep on going until it was secure.

Now, the Noctua cooler...

 

[domlolz]

My 9800 is starting to slack and with a jump in graphics due with games like BF3 I need to upgrade my computer but I don't have the money (nor can I be arsed) to upgrade my processor, motherboard and ram at this moment so if I wanted a card that would be a significant upgrade over my 9800 and one that would be able to run newer games at a decent level that I'd carry over when I upgrade the rest, what should I go for? Nothing too ridiculous, ~£150-200 I'd guess. The 460 looks promising, would that be a good upgrade over my 9800 (obviously held back by my processor though)?

 

[Smokey]

Smokey, you are not lookng to upgrade already are you?

If they release a 6 core this year for 1155, I'll be going to that. If the 6/8 core processors are going to be only be on LGA2011 then no as that means I'll have to get a whole new mobo. If Nvidia releases their new cards this year I plan on getting one of those as well.

Other than that no

Even though I still need to buy my GPU, I'm going to start building my rig. I'll just use the gpu that is in my current to get a display on screen. I won't be able to get my gpu for a little while since I just recently got laid off from my job.

Wish me luck.

Damn bro, good luck getting back on your feet. In the meantime enjoy the process of putting your machine together

 

[L00P]

I'd recommend 750w.

I guess around 600w should be fine then

 

[black_vegeta]

Damn bro, good luck getting back on your feet. In the meantime enjoy the process of putting your machine together

Thanks, I'm applying dat thermal paste right nao!

 

[darthbob]

I guess around 600w should be fine then

600W is just fine, be sure to get one from a reputable brand, and check the 12V amps. Go for a single rail if possible.

 

[L00P]

600W is just fine, be sure to get one from a reputable brand, and check the 12V amps. Go for a single rail if possible.

Will do. Thanks!

 

[scy]

My Mionix NAOS 5000 + Propus 380 (mousepad) came in today. Hm ... I must say, this has to be the most comfortable mouse I've used in quite some time. I've been trying to see if I can replicate the terrible LOD or positive acceleration on it but, honestly, I've yet to after a few hours of Bulletstorm (on a side note, fuck yeah).

Need to spend some time dialing in the DPI settings I want on it but, overall, quite satisfied with the mouse.

As for the mousepad, mouse glides a lot better on it and doesn't make that awful sound that it does when on my table. It's a hard pad, though, so it's really not that much more comfortable for my wrist than the table itself but mouse movement feels more fluid. Right now, after ~3 hours of use, I'd say I couldn't really do without it if only for less of that harsh scraping sound.

 

[SaintR]

Performance wise, high end Nvidia card > high end AMD + low end Nvidia card for Physx. Also, with Nvidia card only, it's much more easy to setup since you don't have to worry about using hack drivers to get the AMD setup to work. And, new games may not work since the hack drivers are old.

Thanks a lot for the response....I'll sell my HIS 6950 and replace it with Asus 570 or 580 depending on how much I want to spend. Once again thank you for clearing that up for me.