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Official 2008 "I Need A New PC" Thread

T

TheGreatDave

Banned
WhatRuOn said:
8600GT handles Source games pretty well. You should be fine. If anything dial back AA+AF and you should have great framerates.
Click to expand...

Yeah, seems to run fine. I'm a happy guy. Maybe I can stop playing TF on 360 now!

I'm almost certain I'm right about this, but I'll check; I can't stick my old 7600GS card in my new PC and have it improve my performance along with my 8600, right? That's just a fancy "you bought an NVIDIA motherboard" feautre, which my motherboard isn't.
 
C

Cheeto

Member
TheGreatDave said:
Yeah, seems to run fine. I'm a happy guy. Maybe I can stop playing TF on 360 now!

I'm almost certain I'm right about this, but I'll check; I can't stick my old 7600GS card in my new PC and have it improve my performance along with my 8600, right? That's just a fancy "you bought an NVIDIA motherboard" feautre, which my motherboard isn't.
Click to expand...
You can't ever do that. If you want to use two cards, they need to be identical.
 
M

Mr. Hyde

Member
Epix said:
It's nVidia's recommended driver for the 8800GTS 512.
Click to expand...

Oh, right. I saw that but decided to try this 174.74 out. So far it has been stable in everything I've tried.


By the way, does anyone know the best way to get audio from my PC to my LCD Tv? I plan to run component cables for video and I am thinking optical from the pc and TV should do the trick. I don't have surround sound setup in here, but my SHARP lcd has an optical input. Is this the right way?
 
S

SRG01

Member
Can any of our European GAFers see if the Galaxy 8600GT GDDR3 Low profile is still available in Europe? It disappeared from North America quite suddenly... :(
 
I

IronicallyTwisted

Banned
SRG01 said:
Can any of our European GAFers see if the Galaxy 8600GT GDDR3 Low profile is still available in Europe? It disappeared from North America quite suddenly... :(
Click to expand...

Galaxy GXY-GF8600GT-D3
GF8600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 128-bit, Overclocked, 600MHz/1400MHz, HDCP support!!! HDTV, DVI, Fan

Galaxy GeForce 8600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 128-bit, Overclocked, Core clock: 600MHz, Memory clock: 1400MHz, HDCP support!!! 32 stream processors, HDTV, Dual-link DVI, 2560x1600 maximum resolution, 16x Full-screen anti-aliasing, 1128-bit floating point high dynamic-range, nVidia Quantum Effects, DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 and Microsoft Windows Vista support, Fan

Thats available here (Australia).
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Lately I've been questioning my decision to go Quad Core. I could have gotten a Dual Core with a higher clock frequency for much less. Is there any source that claims Starcraft will use Quad Core processors? As in they will actually optimize the code for quad core users.
 
E

eznark

Banned
Thought I blew up my apartment last night (for a milisecond). I was playing some Crysis on my PC and watching the Brewer game on my laptop. I am pretty positive both power supplies are plugged into on UPS (I know the PC is). After about 40 minutes or so, the UPS freaks, starts screeching, and shuts off. Now, I have never encounter this before and the UPS is behind my PC so it's difficult to tell where the high pitched squeal is coming from. It took me a good 90 second or so to tell that the noise was not coming from my computer, but from the UPS. Holy crap was I relieved.

My question, why would that have happened?
 
M

Mr. Hyde

Member
godhandiscen said:
Lately I've been questioning my decision to go Quad Core. I could have gotten a Dual Core with a higher clock frequency for much less. Is there any source that claims Starcraft will use Quad Core processors? As in they will actually optimize the code for quad core users.
Click to expand...

Why regret it? I can't tell the future, but cores are going to keep getting higher in number for the next few years. Will many games take advantage of it in the coming future? I'm not sure, but I assume the bigger game developers take notice of intel's obsession with multi-core processors.

I was thinking of going with the E8400 but decided on the q6600 due to wanting a rounded out computer, and I love it so far. I need to do some wiring management and start monitoring my cpu temperature so I can OC it to 3.0 or a bit more next month, but right now it's fast as is. It'll hopefully last me until next gen of tech comes out and I can use nehalem or whatever is after it.

As to your starcraft question, I doubt anyone knows for certain yet. Blizzard being the developer they are, I'd say it could be a possibility.

I just hope Alan Wake comes out before the developers say it requires an 8 core processor. :lol
 
E

eznark

Banned
Mr. Hyde said:
As to your starcraft question, I doubt anyone knows for certain yet. Blizzard being the developer they are, I'd say it could be a possibility.

I just hope Alan Wake comes out before the developers say it requires an 8 core processor. :lol
Click to expand...


The specs will be as minimal (and scalable) as Blizzard can make em, given their track record. I wouldn't worry too much about it, from everything I've read Starcraft II will be made for the masses, spec wise.
 
M

Mr. Hyde

Member
eznark said:
The specs will be as minimal (and scalable) as Blizzard can make em, given their track record. I wouldn't worry too much about it, from everything I've read Starcraft II will be made for the masses, spec wise.
Click to expand...


Yeah. What I meant was they might support multi-core for the people who have it. I'm sure most PCs will be able to run it good.
 
D

Dolphin

Banned
Okay GAF, I've got around $550 for a computer upgrade, here's what I'm looking at:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 $179.99
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5101696

Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

Memory: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

I have a case/powersupply/monitor/DVDRW, am I missing anything? Any deals on any of this stuff around I should be looking at? Any suggestions or changes I should make?
 
S

SleazyC

Member
Dolphin said:
I have a case/powersupply/monitor/DVDRW, am I missing anything? Any deals on any of this stuff around I should be looking at? Any suggestions or changes I should make?
Click to expand...
If you are a bit on the adventerous side... newegg has openbox MSI 8800GT OC's for $149.99 but a rebate is floating around for the brand new versions of this card that would knock the price down toe $119 after rebate. If you bought this and got the original box MSI wouldn't know the difference and you just got a hell of a deal on an 8800GT. This version is clocked a bit faster than the stock 8800GT's and comes with a pretty nice cooler on it.

Card
Rebate

2x 8800GT OC for SLi for about $300 is an awesome price.
 
D

Davidion

Member
SleazyC said:
If you are a bit on the adventerous side... newegg has openbox MSI 8800GT OC's for $149.99 but a rebate is floating around for the brand new versions of this card that would knock the price down toe $119 after rebate. If you bought this and got the original box MSI wouldn't know the difference and you just got a hell of a deal on an 8800GT. This version is clocked a bit faster than the stock 8800GT's and comes with a pretty nice cooler on it.

Card
Rebate

2x 8800GT OC for SLi for about $300 is an awesome price.
Click to expand...

You can actually get 2 new ones for the same price, better warranty too.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3538922&CatId=3670
 
S

SleazyC

Member
Davidion said:
You can actually get 2 new ones for the same price, better warranty too.

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3538922&CatId=3670
Click to expand...
Yea the lifetime warranty on the EVGA cards is nice but the MSI has a pretty monsterous cooler on it to allow you to push it pretty far and $300 would be the base price you would be paying out the door for the cards. After rebates it would come out to $238. Still a risk if you get an OEM box though.
 
D

Davidion

Member
SleazyC said:
Yea the lifetime warranty on the EVGA cards is nice but the MSI has a pretty monsterous cooler on it to allow you to push it pretty far and $300 would be the base price you would be paying out the door for the cards. After rebates it would come out to $238. Still a risk if you get an OEM box though.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I've heard mixed reviews about these cards that comes with aftermarket coolers; was really looking forward to getting one back when Palit came out with them but either the warranty is a pain or the cooler's not as good as people thought, blah blah, something or another.

But well, to whomever's looking, you now have your options.
 
M

mambadragon

Banned
Dolphin said:
Err, wait a minute...is my motherboard not compatible with my videocard? Why did Newegg suggest pairing those two up?
Click to expand...

No everything you have looks good. You may want to add a good heatsink/fan for the CPU since the Q6600 is such a good overclocker. Best ones are: Tuniq Tower, Thermalright XP120 Extreme, Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B. There's also a cheaper ($31?) and smaller Zalman that a lot of people here seem to like as well.
 
D

Dolphin

Banned
njp142 said:
No everything you have looks good. You may want to add a good heatsink/fan for the CPU since the Q6600 is such a good overclocker. Best ones are: Tuniq Tower, Thermalright XP120 Extreme, Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B. There's also a cheaper ($31?) and smaller Zalman that a lot of people here seem to like as well.
Click to expand...
So a PCI Express 2.0 X16 card can go in a PCI Express X 16 slot? What's the difference?
[edit]
Oh, okay, thanks guys.
 
I

IronicallyTwisted

Banned
Dolphin said:
CPU.
Click to expand...

Ok, well, i'm using the Tuniq Tower 120 and i've got my Q6600 at around 3.7 ghz with stable temperatures. The kit also comes with high quality thermal paste. Speaking from experience, its the cooler to get, though Zalmans are good as well.

Edit: Though you'll need a big case to hold it. Its massive, and it disperses a shitload of heat into your system.
 
D

Dolphin

Banned
IronicallyTwisted said:
Ok, well, i'm using the Tuniq Tower 120 and i've got my Q6600 at around 3.7 ghz with stable temperatures. The kit also comes with high quality thermal paste. Speaking from experience, its the cooler to get, though Zalmans are good as well.
Click to expand...
I would probably go with the Tuniq, but I'm running on a budget. I might just keep the factory clock for now and upgrade to a better cooler a little later.

Okay, I'm making the plunge. If anyone has any last minute advice, let me know.
 
I

IronicallyTwisted

Banned
Dolphin said:
I would probably go with the Tuniq, but I'm running on a budget. I might just keep the factory clock for now and upgrade to a better cooler a little later.
Click to expand...

The q6600 isn't the coolest card in the world. Its a 65nm chip and even at stock cooling I was hitting 50 degrees at 2.4 ghz. You'd hate to buy a cooler and barely be able to overclock the thing.

Anyway, thats a sexy PC you've got going. Best of luck!
 
S

SRG01

Member
IronicallyTwisted said:
Galaxy GXY-GF8600GT-D3
GF8600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 128-bit, Overclocked, 600MHz/1400MHz, HDCP support!!! HDTV, DVI, Fan

Galaxy GeForce 8600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 128-bit, Overclocked, Core clock: 600MHz, Memory clock: 1400MHz, HDCP support!!! 32 stream processors, HDTV, Dual-link DVI, 2560x1600 maximum resolution, 16x Full-screen anti-aliasing, 1128-bit floating point high dynamic-range, nVidia Quantum Effects, DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 and Microsoft Windows Vista support, Fan

Thats available here (Australia).
Click to expand...

UGH. Why won't they ship more to NA? It's the best low profile card at the moment...
 
S

SRG01

Member
So, is it reliable to ship computer hardware from Asia/Oceania regions? I really want that low profile card and NA retailers haven't stocked it in months...
 
I

IronicallyTwisted

Banned
SRG01 said:
So, is it reliable to ship computer hardware from Asia/Oceania regions? I really want that low profile card and NA retailers haven't stocked it in months...
Click to expand...

http://umart.net.au/au/ Has the card you want (and is the best retailer in Australia). I'm not sure if they ship internationally, but they love money, i'm sure you can strike a deal with them.
 
C

Cheeto

Member
Damn, I'm so tempted to upgrade my GPU just for the sake of the hobby, but my 8800GTS 320 hasn't failed on anything. And these mis-releases aren't helping.
 
S

SRG01

Member
The 8800GT should still last for a year or two, since its 9000-series incarnation won't be too different.

I swear, the GPU market is becoming like the iPod market with frequent product refreshes. :(
 
bee

bee

Member
http://www.tcmagazine.info/comments.php?shownews=19285&catid=2

The discrete graphics market has been extremely active lately and the situation is not about to change anytime soon as both Nvidia and AMD are preparing new chips for the 2008 summer-autumn period.

After releasing quite a few G92 cards, the latest being the GeForce 9800 GTX, Nvidia is finally getting ready to move to an evolved architecture with the GT200 GPU(s). Set to power the next high-end offer, the GT200 is apparently taped out some six weeks ago and it is moving towards a Q3/Q4 release with the 'best' estimate seeing it arrive this fall.

The GT200 is a 1 billion transistor chip that is supposed to have over 200 Stream Processors and a 512-bit memory bus.
Click to expand...

my bet is they come out in november, so in november you will be able to buy the super high end version of the nehalem with 4 cores and 8 threads, 6 gb of ddr3 cos the high end super expensive nehalems support triple channel memory(3x2gb) and the next gen graphics cards, cant wait, thats gonna be ridiculously fast and my core2duo setup will be 2.5 years old by then so not too bad
 
E

eznark

Banned
So, this weekend I am thinking about trying to get the Q6600 up to 3.4. What should I be concerned about in terms of voltages?
 
E

eznark

Banned
VictimOfGrief said:
Check this out. Good read.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have read it, but when it comes to voltages it's mostly unhelpful:
CPU VCore – THIS IS KEY! This single BIOS setting will have the largest effect on your processor’s operating temperatures!

It needs to be enough to run stable, but not too much or else you’re just wasting power and creating a ton of heat. This is particularly true with multicore processors!

In case you’re wondering what Intel recommends for your processor, find your chip on Intel's Processor Finder. The Q6600 is between 0.85 – 1.5V.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what to make of that. Should I start at 1.5 and lower until it is no longer stable?
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
SRG01 said:
And... the sidestepping rumors continue.
Click to expand...
In that forum they are saying that this is because they expect the next ATI card to be a serious competitor. I am drooling right now. Now if only AMD could release a 3.0GHz Phenom. I would buy the whole package on day one.

I can already see myself playing Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 with these babies.
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
godhandiscen said:
In that forum they are saying that this is because they expect the next ATI card to be a serious competitor. I am drooling right now. Now if only AMD could release a 3.0GHz Phenom. I would buy the whole package on day one.

I can already see myself playing Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 with these babies.
Click to expand...
You read about the AMD Shanghai? 12 Cores. Of course Crysis will still demand 50 Cores to work right.
 
M

Mr. Hyde

Member
I was going to make a partition on Vista 64 for media and games, but vista partition and paragon partition manager is not allowing me to go through with it. @#$@ what's the easiest way?
 
K

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
eznark said:
Thanks, I have read it, but when it comes to voltages it's mostly unhelpful:

I'm not sure what to make of that. Should I start at 1.5 and lower until it is no longer stable?
Click to expand...

Unlink the ram and CPU. Set the multiplier. It's recommended to never go beyond 9x unless you know exactly what you are doing. Set your fsb. For 3.6ghz, it's 1600. 3.4 it's like 1515, 3.2, 1410, and so on. And have the voltage on auto. Overclocking for dummies. It's my first time and I got the hang of it pretty easily.
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
VictimOfGrief said:
You read about the AMD Shanghai? 12 Cores. Of course Crysis will still demand 50 Cores to work right.
Click to expand...
Yeah just saw it in Engadget, however Crysis only uses 2 cores, and they need to run @ 3.0GHz for a decent performance. 12 Cores is just simply overkill, and even a waste if they dont run at a high clock rate. Also, its the developers fault. They should start creating better multithreaded code.
 
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