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[rudieboy77]

Interestingly Toms now recommends Athlon II X4 640 and the Phenom II X4 965 in the entry level, over the Pentium G860 etc...
They specifically mention that the newer games they are testing are using more than two cores. I actually have been wondering what the effect of eight core chips in consoles will have in porting them over to PC. Will PC games two years from now need a six or eight core to operate at a higher level?

 

[Pandemic]

G'day, so my shit graphics card is starting to fail on me, and thought it was time to upgrade. First of all, is there anything worth keeping from my current PC?
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9950 Quad-Core Processor, AMD64 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 4093 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, 512 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 953865 MB, Free - 524237 MB;
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., GA-MA78G-DS3HP

I was considering the hard drive, since there's still another 400GB of space left. Unless I should get a new one..?

Thanks.

 

[Koroviev]

G'day, so my shit graphics card is starting to fail on me, and thought it was time to upgrade. First of all, is there anything worth keeping from my current PC?
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) 9950 Quad-Core Processor, AMD64 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 3
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 4093 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, 512 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 953865 MB, Free - 524237 MB;
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., GA-MA78G-DS3HP

I was considering the hard drive, since there's still another 400GB of space left. Unless I should get a new one..?

Thanks.

I think you're ready for a fresh start...you could keep the HDD, but the capacity doesn't really tell us anything about the quality of it. I'm thinking you're probably better off upgrading to a newer HDD in conjunction with an SSD. 4GB of RAM isn't bad, but again, that doesn't tell us if it's DDR3 or not...and Samsung RAM is cheap, wonderful, and a perfect match to the Hyper 212 Evo.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Do you frequently access most of the data on your HDD, or has it simply accumulated over the years? Going a little spartan on the storage could save some money, at least in the short-term...personally, I would swap out the 64 GB SSD for a 128GB model (double the space and faster) and the 1TB HDD for a 500GB model, but I don't know if you do media work or anything of that nature.

Would you be overclocking right off the bat? If not, you could go with a cheaper, non-overclockable motherboard for the time being and later purchase one with that capability as you start to feel less satisfied with your processor performance.

And I don't have an optical drive installed atm...I would like to get a blu-ray drive at some point, but I very rarely watch movies and I never buy physical copies of PC games. To install the OS, I've simply used a friend's PC. So, if you could work out something like that, you could ditch the optical drive...or just use your old one. You can also install the OS from a USB, but I've been too lazy to create one.

All of your other parts look very solid and it would be remiss of me to suggest alternatives.

All good points. I'll sleep on it anyway.

Thanks Koroviev, you've been a great help.

 

[Pandemic]

I think you're ready for a fresh start...you could keep the HDD, but the capacity doesn't really tell us anything about the quality of it. I'm thinking you're probably better off upgrading to a newer HDD in conjunction with an SSD. 4GB of RAM isn't bad, but again, that doesn't tell us if it's DDR3 or not...and Samsung RAM is cheap, wonderful, and a perfect match to the Hyper 212 Evo.

Terrible with PC's, so is there any way of checking what my PC's HDD brand is and/or what the RAM brand is?

Much appreciated.

 

[Exuro]

Terrible with PC's, so is there any way of checking what my PC's HDD brand is and/or what the RAM brand is?

Much appreciated.

When did you get the machine? Chances are it's DDR2 if you got the pc when that cpu was newish. But to make sure, you can take it out and snap a picture. We'll be able to tell you what it is.

 

[Pandemic]

When did you get the machine? Chances are it's DDR2 if you got the pc when that cpu was newish. But to make sure, you can take it out and snap a picture. We'll be able to tell you what it is.

Got it around mid-2009.. So 3-4 years ago.

 

[Koroviev]

Terrible with PC's, so is there any way of checking what my PC's HDD brand is and/or what the RAM brand is?

Much appreciated.

This will analyze your HDD and this will tell you about your RAM, but as the other poster said, I don't think the specs are going to fair well by modern standards...

Did you build it yourself, or is it an off-the-shelf PC?

All good points. I'll sleep on it anyway.

Thanks Koroviev, you've been a great help.

No problem

Edit: Argh, Waterfox suddenly hates Youtube for some reason. I need my How-to videos and vocaloids <:T

Well, disabling hardware acceleration fixed it. Yay?

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I asked in the B/S/T thread but I am actually contemplating doing SLI/XF this year.

I am eyeing 2 7950's or 2 660ti's as they go for about 600 for each individual setup.

First question is what is the best bang for buck option right now for the 600-650 range and is there anyone selling a cheap 670 or 7950 or even a XF/SLI set of anything in the performance range of those 2 cards in SLI? Preferably not with stock cooling and twin or triple fan setup. I'm going to have money semi soon and am trying to line things up right.

 

[Exuro]

This is kind of a random/weird 2 part question that I was thinking of, but do they make ribbons for pci slots and are there horizontal cases that would use them to make both the mobo and video card parallel to reduce the vertical part of the case?

 

[scogoth]

More Warsow insanity starting up in 15-30 mins.

Twitch.tv/kudochop - streamed at 60fps

Still you in the background?

 

[Koroviev]

I asked in the B/S/T thread but I am actually contemplating doing SLI/XF this year.

I am eyeing 2 7950's or 2 660ti's as they go for about 600 for each individual setup.

First question is what is the best bang for buck option right now for the 600-650 range and is there anyone selling a cheap 670 or 7950 or even a XF/SLI set of anything in the performance range of those 2 cards in SLI? Preferably not with stock cooling and twin or triple fan setup. I'm going to have money semi soon and am trying to line things up right.

Why not just get a GTX 680?

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Why not just get a GTX 680?

Money, I am eyeing an MSI Lightning 680 for 500 right now. If I can do SLI 670's or something in the 600 range that far exceeds 680 single card performance then I'm all ears. I know the 3GB 7950 would be 640. This is something I just basically decided to do right now so I am actively looking for the best bang for buck. If that means a 680 then fine but if I can get much more performance with 2 GPU'S at around 6-650 then I will bite.

 

[electricpirate]

Second batch of parts ordered. Just need good deals on PSU and a 1tb or 500 GB hd and I'll be good to go. Final tally will hit just shy of 900 after I do the rebates. Build will happen mid February.


Could have hit 850, but I missed a few deals. Chest la vie.

 

[sorijealut]

PCgaf: is it normal to keep wanting to open up my side panel?

I keep wanting to look inside, and I think I know why they make windows now lol.

 

[Koroviev]

Money, I am eyeing an MSI Lightning 680 for 500 right now. If I can do SLI 670's or something in the 600 range that far exceeds 680 single card performance then I'm all ears. I know the 3GB 7950 would be 640. This is something I just basically decided to do right now so I am actively looking for the best bang for buck. If that means a 680 then fine but if I can get much more performance with 2 GPU'S at around 6-650 then I will bite.

But don't SLI/CF setups still have issues? AFAIK, you're better off going with the next tier of card as opposed to two lesser cards.

PCgaf: is it normal to keep wanting to open up my side panel?

I keep wanting to look inside, and I think I know why they make windows now lol.

My case has a Window... But I keep wanting to open it anyway. My temps are great, but I'm still paranoid that I somehow managed to mess up the Evo installation :x

 

[Koroviev]

DP, sorry

 

[scogoth]

PCgaf: is it normal to keep wanting to open up my side panel?

I keep wanting to look inside, and I think I know why they make windows now lol.

You can them made after the fact or do it yourself and bolt a piece of plexiglass to the side

EDIT: LOL Team ZFZ nice dog

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Second batch of parts ordered. Just need good deals on PSU and a 1tb or 500 GB hd and I'll be good to go. Final tally will hit just shy of 900 after I do the rebates. Build will happen mid February.


Could have hit 850, but I missed a few deals. Chest la vie.

This x650 is on sale right now for

But don't SLI/CF setups still have issues? AFAIK, you're better off going with the next tier of card as opposed to two lesser cards.

I have read a lot already but here is a video I found that sort of turned me on more to doing say, 2 660ti's in SLI vs 1 680. WATCH.

SLI and XF is becoming more and more optimized and this build is being put together with SLI/XF in mind. If 2 7950's in XF are better performance then I'm going to opt in to those but the 2 660's look very promising so far.

 

[kennah]

Haha. You just missed a pair of 670s in the bst thread for 450$ shipped.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Way to throw dirt on me while I'm down!

I'm not gonna cry

Spoiler

I do that in private

 

[kennah]

I'm just amused that I got everyone to say 'nipples'

 

[Koroviev]

Friend of the family had a guy build a new work station for her... He really gouged her on the cost. Even had the gall to give her an older version of the i7 (this PC was built in November 2012). I hate IT shysters

 

[sorijealut]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055QZ216/?tag=neogaf0e-20

My mouse I'm using is on sale!

Pretty great optical mouse, of course great build quality of Logitech.
It's the successor to the famous MX518. Best part of it would have to be the rubberized grips on each side.

 

[kennah]

Friend of the family had a guy build a new work station for her... He really gouged her on the cost. Even had the gall to give her an older version of the i7 (this PC was built in November 2012). I hate IT shysters

 

[electricpirate]

This x650 is on sale right now for

Thanks, but that is about 2.5 times what I'm looking to spend, even if it looks great . I have no interest in SLI, and my current build isn't that powerhungry.

I'm currently thinking this is my best bet in my price range, http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-hive550 I really wanted Modular, and this thread pionted me to Rosewill for this.

I'm going to check around for PSU deals this week, but probably will end up ordering that one.

 

[Exuro]

What's the difference between platinum/gold/bronze/certified 80 plus? My friend is thinking of upgrading his comp(has an old phenom 1) to a 3570k or 2500k and I'm trying to see what would be a good psu. This caught my eye but I'm not sure if it's good or whatnot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

Second question.

My friend dual boots windows 7 with Fedora and wants to know if there'll be any complications with the UEFI that newer boards have, if he needs to get a certain board or whatnot.

EDIT: Third question. Will hyperthreading be usefull for next gen games?

 

[radjago]

What's the difference between platinum/gold/bronze/certified 80 plus?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUS#Efficiency_level_certifications

 

[electricpirate]

What's the difference between platinum/gold/bronze/certified 80 plus? My friend is thinking of upgrading his comp(has an old phenom 1) to a 3570k or 2500k and I'm trying to see what would be a good psu. This caught my eye but I'm not sure if it's good or whatnot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

Second question.

My friend dual boots windows 7 with Fedora and wants to know if there'll be any complications with the UEFI that newer boards have, if he needs to get a certain board or whatnot.

I was debating that. It's great for that from price, Antec is a good brand.

I would grab it, but I really want a modular PSU (In a modular PSU the cords plug in on the PSU instead of being permantly attached.) It seems to help pretty dramatically with Cable management, and god forbid you ever have to change your PSU, you can simply unplug everything from the PSU, pop the new one in and plug them back in.

 

[CharpyImpact]

Have dedicated outputs for both?

Sorry for the late reply. No, I have a dedicate output for the GPU but I only have 1 Optical out.

 

[EMT0]

I was debating that. It's great for that from price, Antec is a good brand.

I would grab it, but I really want a modular PSU (In a modular PSU the cords plug in on the PSU instead of being permantly attached.) It seems to help pretty dramatically with Cable management, and god forbid you ever have to change your PSU, you can simply unplug everything from the board, pop the new one in and plug them back in.

That's going to be me in two days

As a sort of resolution on my issue, I ordered the Antec 550W modular PSU. I just realized that modular power supplies would be universal when it comes to the cables, thanks to your post. I'm very happy with my choice right now. VERY happy, because I don't want to go through the hassle of cable management. I'd rather build a PC from scratch than have to replace cables....that's the not-so-fun part.

 

[clav]

Interestingly Toms now recommends Athlon II X4 640 and the Phenom II X4 965 in the entry level, over the Pentium G860 etc...
They specifically mention that the newer games they are testing are using more than two cores. I actually have been wondering what the effect of eight core chips in consoles will have in porting them over to PC. Will PC games two years from now need a six or eight core to operate at a higher level?

That is interesting.

Been waiting to see what AMD offers as I was disappointed with Intel with the LGA 775 boards, and Intel keeps the trend of retiring older sockets way too quickly.

 

[Pandemic]

This will analyze your HDD and this will tell you about your RAM, but as the other poster said, I don't think the specs are going to fair well by modern standards...

Did you build it yourself, or is it an off-the-shelf PC?



No problem

Edit: Argh, Waterfox suddenly hates Youtube for some reason. I need my How-to videos and vocaloids <:T

Well, disabling hardware acceleration fixed it. Yay?

Sorry for the late reply, PC froze then I needed to go out to get a few things.

My PC was custom built, and this is what I've gathered from the links..
My HDD brand is..
WDC WD10EAVS-00D7B1 1000.2GB (WD stands for Western Digital Corporation)

And my RAM brand is..
RAM : 4096 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
RAM Speed : 400.8 MHz (1:2) @ 5-5-5-15
Slot 1 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : Team Group Inc.
Slot 2 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : Team Group Inc.

Hopefully that's the type of details you need

 

[Hawk269]

But don't SLI/CF setups still have issues? AFAIK, you're better off going with the next tier of card as opposed to two lesser cards.



My case has a Window... But I keep wanting to open it anyway. My temps are great, but I'm still paranoid that I somehow managed to mess up the Evo installation :x

I have been doing SLI since I got my original 460's in SLI, then moved to SLI 480's, then SLI 580's, then SLI 680's and now 690 and have never really had an issue with SLI. Yeah, every once in a while you get a new game that they may not have a SLI profile on day 1, but usually they have drivers ready. Outside of that, really no big issues.

 

[mkenyon]

You can them made after the fact or do it yourself and bolt a piece of plexiglass to the side

EDIT: LOL Team ZFZ nice dog

zfz.Daphne loves to chase down llamas. Except, literally.

 

[GMM]

Made some changes to the build i expect to buy:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 Ghz Hexa-Core
CPU Cooler: Intel Thermal Solution Liquid
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5
Memory: 2 x Kingston HyperX Beast 32 GB Kit
OS Storage: Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 120 GB SATA
Video Card: Asus US GTX680-DC2-4GD5 Geforce GTX680 4GB
Case: Cooler Master HAF X
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750

 

[Horse Detective]

Why is it that I sometimes see different brand names next to the same GPU model?

I have been wondering this for a long time, and I always forget to ask. I swear I have seen at least 3 different brand names next to "GTX 660"...

edit: never mind, apparently I am still not mentally apt enough to read the OT. *Sigh*

 

[GMM]

Why is it that I sometimes see different brand names next to the same GPU model?

I have been wondering this for a long time, and I always forget to ask. I swear I have seen at least 3 different brand names next to "GTX 660"...

Because the likes of EVGA, Asus and Gigabyte make their own versions that is based on the core from Nvidia or ATI?

 

[histopher]

Hey guys,

Can anyone comment on the below build please? I began with the Enthusiast build, but then showed it to people I know and this is now what I've ended up with.

It may be a case of too many cooks, and although both people who contributed to this are both IT professionals they don't follow this as closely as what I've seen by you guys.

Are there any parts I should change? Thanks again...

PSU: Corsair HX-650 V2 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply
Memory: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Retail Box
Video: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Overclocked 2GB
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001

 

[catmincer]

Really quick question.......

7970 worth it for 1080p resolution or am I better off saving some $$ and going for a 7950?

 

[Akai__]

Hey guys,

Can anyone comment on the below build please? I began with the Enthusiast build, but then showed it to people I know and this is now what I've ended up with.

It may be a case of too many cooks, and although both people who contributed to this are both IT professionals they don't follow this as closely as what I've seen by you guys.

Are there any parts I should change? Thanks again...

PSU: Corsair HX-650 V2 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply
Memory: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Retail Box
Video: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Overclocked 2GB
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001

The Samsung 840 is only good, if it is the Pro version, so either go with the 840 Prp or with the 830, because they have a longer life time and are performing better.

You could also spend 20$ more on your CPU and get the 3770K model. It's easier to overclock, if you want to overclock in the future.

For what are you needing 16GB of RAM?

 

[BlazinAm]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...lack/6819675.p?id=1218808633848&skuId=6819675

HP - Pavilion Sleekbook 14" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Black
I found this deal online and I was wonder if I were to buy this laptop and upgrade the ram to 16GB at 1600mhz, which chip makers should I go with? Is 16GB an insane amount? The current ram stick inside is clocked at 800mhz is a little low for me. Any advice would be most helpful.
I would need the 16 gb of ram because I run a large compiler along side multiple applications.

I am upgrading from a intel dual core 2.2ghz with a geforce 9600m and 4GB of ram laptop so yea. I am not expecting much but this laptop is old and slow.
Edit:
I would also assume I would need to do some BIOS modifications, would I just stick them in and run a test or is it more involved than that?

 

[kikonawa]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pa...lack/6819675.p?id=1218808633848&skuId=6819675

HP - Pavilion Sleekbook 14" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Black
I found this deal online and I was wonder if I were to buy this laptop and upgrade the ram to 16GB at 1600mhz, which chip makers should I go with? Is 16GB an insane amount? The current ram stick inside is clocked at 800mhz is a little low for me. Any advice would be most helpful.
I would need the 16 gb of ram because I run a large compiler along side multiple applications.

I am upgrading from a intel dual core 2.2ghz with a geforce 9600m and 4GB of ram laptop so yea. I am not expecting much but this laptop is old and slow.

Why in the world would you want to have 16gb rm?
If you ask me , 8 is allready overkill for this laptop

 

[BlazinAm]

Why in the world would you want to have 16gb rm?
If you ask me , 8 is allready overkill for this laptop

Explorer, two versions of ecilpse, and own developed tool sets. Plus chrome.
Edit:
Looks like it is sold out everywhere.
Edit2:
I found a better deal on clearance will update.

 

[Hazaro]

Hey guys,

Can anyone comment on the below build please? I began with the Enthusiast build, but then showed it to people I know and this is now what I've ended up with.

It may be a case of too many cooks, and although both people who contributed to this are both IT professionals they don't follow this as closely as what I've seen by you guys.

Are there any parts I should change? Thanks again...

PSU: Corsair HX-650 V2 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply
Memory: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Retail Box
Video: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Overclocked 2GB
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001

Fill out the sheet in the OP. Otherwise we don't know what you are building for, what you want to spend, what you want later, etc.

 

[mere_immortal]

OCZ Vertex 4 or Samsung 840 Pro if I'm going for a 256GB SSD?

 

[Hazaro]

OCZ Vertex 4 or Samsung 840 Pro if I'm going for a 256GB SSD?

840 Pro

 

[BlazinAm]

If I am buying ram for a laptop(different laptop I am looking at.) upgrade should I go to the manufacturer, Toshiba ($99 for one 8GB stick) or Crucial who is offer 16GB for $87.99.

 

[GMM]

Looking to go with this for my audio setup (Keep in mind i will mainly be doing video on my rig):

Sony MDR-7506

Avid 9900-65143-12 Fast Track

If anyone have some experience with either, i would love to hear.

 

[Hazaro]

If I am buying ram for a laptop(different laptop I am looking at.) upgrade should I go to the manufacturer, Toshiba ($99 for one 8GB stick) or Crucial who is offer 16GB for $87.99.

2x4GB for $40. Do you need 16GB of RAM in your laptop?

Looking to go with this for my audio setup (Keep in mind i will mainly be doing video on my rig):

Sony MDR-7506

Avid 9900-65143-12 Fast Track

If anyone have some experience with either, i would love to hear.

I would ask Head-Fi and/or headphone GAF depending on how serious you want to be.