Mr. Enigma
Member
Grayman said:
Agreed. Buying Vista is absolutely pointless at this point. W7 could be out as early as October and the W7 RC1 is free to use until March 1, 2010.
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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition
- Thread starter VictimOfGrief
- Start date
Agreed. Buying Vista is absolutely pointless at this point. W7 could be out as early as October and the W7 RC1 is free to use until March 1, 2010.
Sir Hamish
Member
how stable is Windows 7 RC for games? it is worth installing XP in dual-boot incase things get a bit screwy with 7?
brain_stew
Member
dazzgc said:
You need to use the cable that came with your card to connect the internal spdif out from your sound card to your graphics card. Then use the DVI-HDMI dongle that came with you card, and attach a HDMI cable from it to your TV. Make sure you enable the spdif out in Windows.
Set it up any other way and you won't get HDMI audio.
bishopcruz said:
Neither are really worth the extra spends, the 512MB restricts the usefulness of the extra bandwidth of a 4870 and the 4850 doesn't have the bandwidth itslef to make use of the whole 1GB. If you pay fro a bump in meory, you want to pay for a bump in memory bandwi dth as well neither is particularly useful without the other, which is why I don't particularly recommend either card.
Stick with the 4850 512MB if you're not playing at high resolutions or step up to a GTX 260 if you are.
If you want something better than a 4850 512MB, the consider this for instance:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434
For your extra money you're getting much better performance at high resolutions, a free copy of COD: WaW (even if you don't want it, it'll fetch $20/$30 no bother), a lifetime warranty and a 90 day stepup option. That card really is great value considering all that comes with it.
brain_stew
Member
Sir Hamish said:
The only major issue I know of is that Punkbuster won't work with W7 yet. Other than that compatability should be very similar to Vista. It was Vista that brought in the wholseale underlying changes, W7 just cleans things up a little.
Sir Hamish
Member
brain_stew said:
ah cool, i didnt know they didnt start from scrath with vista and figured it would have as many issues as vista did. thanks
I'm in the mood to upgrade.
Here's what I currently have.
CPU: Q6600 at 3.6
RAM: 8gigs ddr2 800
Video Card: 4870 512mb
(1920x1200 screen)
Hard Drives: One 750gb and one 500gb 7200rpm 32mb cache
MB: Gigabyte x48 ds4 (supports crossfire with dual pcie 2.0 16x)\
PSU: 750watt corsair
I was looking at either updating my video card situation or my hard drives.
Looking at newegg now it seems that both options are more or less the same price right now.
I could get another 4870 512mb or a 150gb VelociRaptor for 160 after rebate.
Any opinion on which to go for, if either? My video card is my weak spot right now, but I wonder if it might be better to wait things out a little further and get a new card instead of crossfiring. As far as hard drives go right now I'm hesitant to jump on the ssd bandwagon until it matures a little more.
Here's what I currently have.
CPU: Q6600 at 3.6
RAM: 8gigs ddr2 800
Video Card: 4870 512mb
(1920x1200 screen)
Hard Drives: One 750gb and one 500gb 7200rpm 32mb cache
MB: Gigabyte x48 ds4 (supports crossfire with dual pcie 2.0 16x)\
PSU: 750watt corsair
I was looking at either updating my video card situation or my hard drives.
Looking at newegg now it seems that both options are more or less the same price right now.
I could get another 4870 512mb or a 150gb VelociRaptor for 160 after rebate.
Any opinion on which to go for, if either? My video card is my weak spot right now, but I wonder if it might be better to wait things out a little further and get a new card instead of crossfiring. As far as hard drives go right now I'm hesitant to jump on the ssd bandwagon until it matures a little more.
brain_stew
Member
The only problem with that videocard upgrade is the 512MB framebuffer. Its already a bottleneck for the 4870 512MB at 1920x1200, its going to prove even moreso when crossfire is thrown into the mix.
jett said:
Heh, only in regards to the 1920x1200 resolution. I've been pretty happy with it so far. And I'm really in the mood for upgrading for the sake of upgrading rather than any practical purpose; I suppose I should hold off until I really see something I like.
Hmm, maybe I'll see if I can't find someone who'd like to buy the 512 off of me, and then I'll jump up to something new.
TouchMyBox
Member
Metalic Sand said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, and crossfire is completely different from SLI, but you do not double your memory when you have a multi-card solution.
As for my problem regarding my HDD being eaten away... Turned out that it was system restore (which can use up to 15% of your HDD) Disabled it and got 150GB back, not sure if I'll turn it back on or not.
brain_stew
Member
TouchMyBox said:
Nope, both solutions use "alternate frame rendering" (or AFR) where they each in turn render a full frame, so you effectively have two separate 512MB framebuffers, not a single 1GB pool.
This approach has many serious drawbacks (as well as the memory problem mentioned), as the two GPUs don't schedule to display their frame at regular intervals like a single solution, instead they'll simply display the frame "when its done". If both GPUs finish rendering their individual frame in quick succession (as is very often the case), you'll get two near identical frames, then a small gap, and then another two near identical frames. This is what people refer to as "microstutter" and is why I and many others believe the current multi GPU solutions are a fundamentally broken approach to GPU scaling.
That's not to mention the loss of triple buffering and compatability issues.
gregor7777
Banned
Any good options out there for a budget gaming mouse? I can't see myself spending $50 right now but my current mouse is dying.
Something in the $30 range maybe?
EDIT are the OCZ mice decent? I like the prices but I'm thinking they're probably shit.
Something in the $30 range maybe?
EDIT are the OCZ mice decent? I like the prices but I'm thinking they're probably shit.
TouchMyBox
Member
gregor7777 said:
I bought my G5 for $50 Canadian, so it shouldn't be too hard to find it in your price range. Such an awesome mouse, it just takes a little while to get used to clicking in the mouse wheel on it (for games like crysis)
gregor7777
Banned
TouchMyBox said:
Is the G5 better than the MX518? The 518 is $10 less on Newegg.
TouchMyBox
Member
gregor7777 said:
MX518 is 1800 dpi, whereas the G5 is 2000. I don't believe the mx518 has a weight cartridge, though I could be wrong. "Better" is a relatively subjective term when it comes to gaming mice though, you'll find many people who swear by their old piece of crap mouse.
xxjuicesxx
Member
I ended up going with the G5 mouse and the G11 keyboard. Cost me 125 on Amazon. Meh whatever hope its worth it, haven't even gotten them yet. I was just using my buddies and I'm like I like this its heavy.
longdi
Banned
I was checking specs for PC games at Windows Live http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Games/Pages/Catalog.aspx
Quite surprise most list their minimum requirement very low. P4 3.2Ghz or A64 3200+. The recommended specs also very low, Core 2 Duo 1.8 or A64 X2 3800+. Not very helpful. :lol
Quite surprise most list their minimum requirement very low. P4 3.2Ghz or A64 3200+. The recommended specs also very low, Core 2 Duo 1.8 or A64 X2 3800+. Not very helpful. :lol
gregor7777
Banned
longdi said:
Yeah, your best bet is to check out benchmarks from sites reviewing the hardware you have in mind.
TouchMyBox
Member
xxjuicesxx said:
That's exactly what I've got. I spent around $100 for both of them, very very worth it.
TouchMyBox
Member
gregor7777 said:
Yougamers.com also has a nifty tool which checks your system versus the publisher's specs and the site's own recommended specs.
bigmit3737
Member
TouchMyBox said:
G5 is also laser while 518 is optical.
I just got the G5. I still have to play around with the weights, but I like it so far.
Agent Dormer
Dirty Drinking Smoker
All right, so while I use a Mac for my day to day, I've decided to forgo using Boot Camp on an iMac and to actually go ahead and cobble together a PC. Here's what I've envisioned the specs being so far:
Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 (Is the $50 difference worth it?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR2
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM
Here's where my big questions marks are:
Case/Power Supply: Antec Case w/ 500W Power Supply
Graphics Card: I had been looking at the BFG 260 Reloaded, but it's currently a "deactivated" item at NewEgg. Suggestions? I was looking around the ~$200 for this.
Also pulled the trigger on the Samsung monitor deal that Dell had. That's going to be a great addition to this new setup!
Thanks in advance for the help!
Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 (Is the $50 difference worth it?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR2
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM
Here's where my big questions marks are:
Case/Power Supply: Antec Case w/ 500W Power Supply
Graphics Card: I had been looking at the BFG 260 Reloaded, but it's currently a "deactivated" item at NewEgg. Suggestions? I was looking around the ~$200 for this.
Also pulled the trigger on the Samsung monitor deal that Dell had. That's going to be a great addition to this new setup!
Thanks in advance for the help!
TheHeretic
Banned
Agent Dormer said:All right, so while I use a Mac for my day to day, I've decided to forgo using Boot Camp on an iMac and to actually go ahead and cobble together a PC. Here's what I've envisioned the specs being so far:
Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 (Is the $50 difference worth it?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR2
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM
Here's where my big questions marks are:
Case/Power Supply: Antec Case w/ 500W Power Supply
Graphics Card: I had been looking at the BFG 260 Reloaded, but it's currently a "deactivated" item at NewEgg. Suggestions? I was looking around the ~$200 for this.
Also pulled the trigger on the Samsung monitor deal that Dell had. That's going to be a great addition to this new setup!
Thanks in advance for the help!
Seems to be solid. Its a single GPU setup and i've heard you can get a 4890 for $200.
This is $209 with a rebate and is a step up from the 260.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161277
Hey guys. Normally I try to go with a three years plan computer, going from as high as possble for my budget. I'm a very lazy PC gamer so I like to mount a new PC and forget about it until next time, without OC or anything else.
Normally there is no problem with this, but this gen I'm being more demmanding and I'm playing more action games on PC as I am not happy with consoles performance. Problem is that I'm starting to see not so hot performances in some games and the upgrade virus is getting into me.
My plan was going to wait until the second wave of DirectX11 cards, but I'm thinking in doing a small upgrade now to reach to what I want perfomance wise. Don't remember exactly my CPU, I think it´s the lowest end Quad Core (Q8200 2.33 I think), 4Gb RAM and a GeForce 8800 GT (Vista 64 ofc). I had fantastic performance with games like Dawn of War 2 or DMC4, but with games like Prince of Persia I'm getting near 50 to sub 30 framerate, which is not acceptable. Some AA and V-sync on are mandatory to me at this point, especially as I only play at 720p (the PC is connected to a 28" TV with the consoles.
My budget is really low as my economy is not exactly healthy, was thinking in changing cou/motherboard/graphic card. Any suggestions?
Normally there is no problem with this, but this gen I'm being more demmanding and I'm playing more action games on PC as I am not happy with consoles performance. Problem is that I'm starting to see not so hot performances in some games and the upgrade virus is getting into me.
My plan was going to wait until the second wave of DirectX11 cards, but I'm thinking in doing a small upgrade now to reach to what I want perfomance wise. Don't remember exactly my CPU, I think it´s the lowest end Quad Core (Q8200 2.33 I think), 4Gb RAM and a GeForce 8800 GT (Vista 64 ofc). I had fantastic performance with games like Dawn of War 2 or DMC4, but with games like Prince of Persia I'm getting near 50 to sub 30 framerate, which is not acceptable. Some AA and V-sync on are mandatory to me at this point, especially as I only play at 720p (the PC is connected to a 28" TV with the consoles.
My budget is really low as my economy is not exactly healthy, was thinking in changing cou/motherboard/graphic card. Any suggestions?
xxjuicesxx
Member
Sleeker said:
Two 640's in a Raid 0.
Acosta said:
Only change your video card. You're not going to get a good bang-for-buck by changing your CPU. If you really want a faster CPU, just stick a 3rd party cooler on it and overclock.
As for the videocard, the Radeon 4890 everyone is recommending would seem to be your best bet for $200.
TheHeretic
Banned
Acosta said:
Stick it out till the next gen of graphics cards. What you should really do is try to get your CPU to 3ghz as its going to be a bottleneck in many games at that speed, especially at 720p.
brain_stew
Member
longdi said:
The recommended requirements of games have been in a bad state for a long time, just no sort of consistency across the board. What I'd generally say is if you have a 2GB RAM, 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo and 8800gt or better then you're sorted for pretty much anything on the market at decent settings/performance. A rig with those specs. has been available for console level prices for quite a while now.
gregor7777 said:
Logtitech MX518, nothing comes close at its pricerange. Its tracking has been proven more accurate than more expensive laser models as well. Plus, lots of buttons plus UberOptions is sex.
Agent Dormer said:All right, so while I use a Mac for my day to day, I've decided to forgo using Boot Camp on an iMac and to actually go ahead and cobble together a PC. Here's what I've envisioned the specs being so far:
Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 (Is the $50 difference worth it?)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Memory: G.SKILL 4GB DDR2
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM
Here's where my big questions marks are:
Case/Power Supply: Antec Case w/ 500W Power Supply
Graphics Card: I had been looking at the BFG 260 Reloaded, but it's currently a "deactivated" item at NewEgg. Suggestions? I was looking around the ~$200 for this.
Also pulled the trigger on the Samsung monitor deal that Dell had. That's going to be a great addition to this new setup!
Thanks in advance for the help!
Excellent choice of components there. Whether you go with the 720 or 945 is down to you, actual game performance will be basically identical atm and they'll both clock to excellent but similar speeds. If you use quad heavy applications a lot (3D moddeling, video encoding and the like) then by all means spend the extra money, if not its harder to justify but not in anyway money poorly spent.
This is the GPU for you, impossible to match its performance at your pricerange:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161276
Sleeker said:
Both should use the same density platters, so speed will be basically the same. All down to how much space you're after really. Samsung F1 or WD are the best brands atm.
Acosta said:
Overclock that quad (anyone can do it, just read up and it'll be a breeze, look into an aftermarket cooler) and pick up a GTX 260 (216) or 4890. Job done.
Oh and download RivaTuner and then setup the included D3DOverrider to enforce triple buffering in all your D3D games and to load at Windows startup. This can give as much as a 50% improvement in performance in games with vsync for 2 minutes work and zero outlay. Everyone should be doing this if they don't like tearing (which is presumably anyone with functioning eyes).
Solid deal on a good GFX card for those wanting to upgrade, but not buy a new rig yet.
$40 After MIR
9600GSO 768MB: http://shop4.frys.com/product/5837943
Rebate: http://images.frys.com/art/rebates_pdf/pnyvc_053109.pdf
Rebates on these have been a quick process (under a month for many).
*My monitor has not shipped yet
$40 After MIR
9600GSO 768MB: http://shop4.frys.com/product/5837943
Rebate: http://images.frys.com/art/rebates_pdf/pnyvc_053109.pdf
Rebates on these have been a quick process (under a month for many).
*My monitor has not shipped yet
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Sell your 4870 and get a 4890. Crossfire will be bottlenecked by your CPU, also, 2x4870s still only use 512MB per frame, thus your games will still suffer at the resolution you are playing.Boonoo said:
MWS Natural
Member
Hazaro said:*My monitor has not shipped yet
I have an estimated delivery date of 6/2/09. Unfortunately I will be on vacation when it arrives, good thing I am having it delivered to my job
http://www.officedepot.com/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=100005&pr=
I bought this today for my living room gaming, everything seems to be coming together nicely. I may have to invest in a bluetooth keyboard/mouse because my PC is going to get moved back to my office desk and won't be in line of sight for my current wireless keyboard/mouse to work.
brain_stew
Member
M.Bluth said:
It is but its also a pretty terrible buy, the 4670
is infinitely better as the 4650 is crazy bandwidth starved.
Regaradless the 9600GSO linked by Hazaro is an absolute steal and better than both options.
Sleeker said:
Try its DX9 rendering path perhaps, make sure you patch it upto date, Ubisoft are notorious for releasing buggy clusterfucks.
Romance Pie
Member
My Asus xonar DX is buggered, makes dolphin calls every two seconds :/
and supply for that card is long gone so I'm going to have to get a new card. So what is the deal with X-Fi cards? heard the x-fi gamer was the one to go for but was thinking if I should get the Titanium as it is pci-e. DOn't cost too much for for the titanium even though I know the x-ram is marketing BS.
and supply for that card is long gone so I'm going to have to get a new card. So what is the deal with X-Fi cards? heard the x-fi gamer was the one to go for but was thinking if I should get the Titanium as it is pci-e. DOn't cost too much for for the titanium even though I know the x-ram is marketing BS.
brain_stew
Member
Ashhong said:
This is a feature of modern Nvidia GPUs, HDMI wasn't even a standard back when your X700 was produced.
brain_stew
Member
Ashhong said:
Your 4870 has a built in HD audio codec. Use the DVI-HDMI adapter that came with it to connect up.
Minsc
Gold Member
A new thread (from PC Design Lab) on a custom Qmicra SFF system is up, just admiring the looks, it does not disappoint. I guess the theme this time was yellow, almost reminds me a little of bumblebee from transformers.
Here's a few shots:
Really awesome work, can't wait to get one. That LCD insert with the card reader is pretty sweet too.
Here's a few shots:
Really awesome work, can't wait to get one. That LCD insert with the card reader is pretty sweet too.
Well, I'm looking at retrofitting my new Cooler Master CM690 case with some fans. It's got room for:
(all 120mm or 140mm)
1x Rear Exhaust
2x Top Exhausts
2x Bottom Intakes (1 is the PSU)
2x Left Side Panel Intakes
2x Front Intakes
and finalle, 1x Right Side Panel 80mm Exhaust in behind the CPU bracket (I do have a metal Zalman 9700 bracket in behind the CPU, so it might be helpful).
These fans are incredibly impressive specs wise, but they're pricey as hell:
http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index..._id=21012&msgcount=3&overclockid=0#msg1673286
81M3/H 17DBA is impressive as hell.
Are there any other maybe less pricey fans that are similarly quiet? As you can see, I need 9x 120mm or 140mm fans. Those Fans would cost me a pretty $200, which is probably not worth it.
Also, seeing as how I'll have an obscene amount of fans, I'd like a fan controller or two to tidey up the cable mess in the case. Any suggestions on this? I don't need any fancy temperature display or anything.
(all 120mm or 140mm)
1x Rear Exhaust
2x Top Exhausts
2x Bottom Intakes (1 is the PSU)
2x Left Side Panel Intakes
2x Front Intakes
and finalle, 1x Right Side Panel 80mm Exhaust in behind the CPU bracket (I do have a metal Zalman 9700 bracket in behind the CPU, so it might be helpful).
These fans are incredibly impressive specs wise, but they're pricey as hell:
http://forums.ncix.com/forums/index..._id=21012&msgcount=3&overclockid=0#msg1673286
81M3/H 17DBA is impressive as hell.
Are there any other maybe less pricey fans that are similarly quiet? As you can see, I need 9x 120mm or 140mm fans. Those Fans would cost me a pretty $200, which is probably not worth it.
Also, seeing as how I'll have an obscene amount of fans, I'd like a fan controller or two to tidey up the cable mess in the case. Any suggestions on this? I don't need any fancy temperature display or anything.
MoFuzz
Member
Got all excited after getting my new video card, and after installing it yesterday, Call of Duty 4 freezes up anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes in. Using the latest Nvidia drivers and a fresh install of Windows XP. Not getting any visual artifacts, and Windows is otherwise stable.
Any one have suggestions? Everything is less than a month old. Getting extremely frustrated at this point.
Case: Coolermaster CM 690
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H mATX LGA775 GF9400 DDR2 1PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 Video Sound GBLAN HDMI
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked 648MHZ 896MB 2.376GHZ DDR3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
RAM: G.SKILL F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair HX520W CMPSU-520HX ATX Triple 12V 40A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E
Any one have suggestions? Everything is less than a month old. Getting extremely frustrated at this point.
Case: Coolermaster CM 690
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H mATX LGA775 GF9400 DDR2 1PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 Video Sound GBLAN HDMI
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked 648MHZ 896MB 2.376GHZ DDR3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
RAM: G.SKILL F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair HX520W CMPSU-520HX ATX Triple 12V 40A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E