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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition
- Thread starter VictimOfGrief
- Start date
brain_stew
Member
Sylfurd said:
You're going to want another two gigs of RAM, 4GB makes a huge difference these days. There was no reason to get the fast RAM you bough so if you can exchange it for 4 gigs of PC6400 then go ahead and do that.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
MWS Natural said:
no.... these expire at the end of the month... fucking hell i reaaaaaaally need to twist my girl's arm to buy, but it can break our budget.... can anyone tell me if my PSU could run two gtx 260? here are teh specs....
Series NZXT Performance Power series
Model PP800
Type Complies with ATX 12V 2.2V
Maximum Power 800W
Fans 120mm Fan @ 1900 RPM Air Flow - 82CFM
Main Connector 20 + 4 Pin2
PCI-E Connector 2 x 6 Pin, 2x 6+2Pin Cross Fire Ready
SLI Support Yes
Efficiency Up to 85 %
Power Good Signal 100 < 500 ms
Hold-up Time 16ms min
Over Voltage Protection Yes
Overload Protection Yes
Input Voltage 115 < 230 V
Input Frequency Range 47 < 63 Hz
Input Current 13A @ 115V, 7A @ 230V
Output 3.3@35A,+5V@48A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@20A,+ 12V4@22A,-12V@0.5A,+5VSB@2.2A MTBF >100,000 hours
HELP HELP HELP...
MWS Natural
Member
dionysus said:
True but from watching cards for a year now it seems they cut prices in bunches not constantly. Like if I see the first price cut wait till the end of the month or early next month to see if more follow. It's like ATI cut --> Nvidia price drop response --> then ATI cut again. Next time I will try not to jump in on the first round of cuts.
brain_stew
Member
No problem at all, would probably manage three.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
brain_stew said:
is this for me?
MisterAnderson
Member
So my 4890 came in today, swapped out my 4870 with it and installed new drivers off of ATI's website. On the list of drivers, after clicking "Windows 7 64-bit Edition" there's "4800 series" and above that "4890 series". Naturally I clicked 4890 series and downloaded the first link on the list (most recent) for the Catalyst drivers. When I go into settings and see what display adapter my computer is using it says "4800 series", is this normal or should it say "4890 series"?
Edit: XFS support page says there's a more recent driver for my card. It's listed 1 day more recent than the latest ATI drivers, except the OS for the XFS card is Vista (34 or 64 bit). Would I be better off getting the slightly more recent XFS Vista 64 drivers or the ATI Windows 7 64-bit drivers? (I'm running Windows 7 64-bit).
Edit: XFS support page says there's a more recent driver for my card. It's listed 1 day more recent than the latest ATI drivers, except the OS for the XFS card is Vista (34 or 64 bit). Would I be better off getting the slightly more recent XFS Vista 64 drivers or the ATI Windows 7 64-bit drivers? (I'm running Windows 7 64-bit).
brain_stew
Member
evil solrac v3.0 said:
Yes.
brain_stew
Member
MisterAnderson said:
Yes that's fine. All ATI and Nvidia driver packages support every card anyway, if they block out a card for whatever reason, a simple line added to a .inf file will add support back. Don't worry about it.
Don't bother with OEM (in your case XFX) driver downloads, they're almost always out of date. Stick with the latest release on ATI's site.
So gaf... I may be looking to upgrade my current PC. Well...replace it really. Its been over 3 years since and my current one has trouble running TF2/L4D at times. My video card has been performing fine (8600 GT) but my processor (Athlon 3200+) has been killing everything.
Anyway, for the moment I'm looking to keep my video card, hdd, dvd-rom, and sound card to transfer over to new PC. So essentially I'm looking for a mobo, ram, cpu, and power supply. I need something that can run source games on high without hiccups of any kind. TF2 and L4D use up the majority of my gaming time, and I wouldn't mind being able to play some other slightly more intensive games. (as much as I would love to run Crysis, I don't need a rig just for it).
I currently have 200$ in gifts to spend at newegg, and I'll likely buy everything from there. Normally I would have no problem doing this myself, but after browsing I realized how completely lost I've become to hardware these days. I'll obviously spend more than 200$, but I'm curious if anyone can help me find parts to help me with a setup I've mentioned at the cheapest possible price. Any help is appreciated.
Anyway, for the moment I'm looking to keep my video card, hdd, dvd-rom, and sound card to transfer over to new PC. So essentially I'm looking for a mobo, ram, cpu, and power supply. I need something that can run source games on high without hiccups of any kind. TF2 and L4D use up the majority of my gaming time, and I wouldn't mind being able to play some other slightly more intensive games. (as much as I would love to run Crysis, I don't need a rig just for it).
I currently have 200$ in gifts to spend at newegg, and I'll likely buy everything from there. Normally I would have no problem doing this myself, but after browsing I realized how completely lost I've become to hardware these days. I'll obviously spend more than 200$, but I'm curious if anyone can help me find parts to help me with a setup I've mentioned at the cheapest possible price. Any help is appreciated.
brain_stew
Member
Concept17 said:So gaf... I may be looking to upgrade my current PC. Well...replace it really. Its been over 3 years since and my current one has trouble running TF2/L4D at times. My video card has been performing fine (8600 GT) but my processor (Athlon 3200+) has been killing everything.
Anyway, for the moment I'm looking to keep my video card, hdd, dvd-rom, and sound card to transfer over to new PC. So essentially I'm looking for a mobo, ram, cpu, and power supply. I need something that can run source games on high without hiccups of any kind. TF2 and L4D use up the majority of my gaming time, and I wouldn't mind being able to play some other slightly more intensive games. (as much as I would love to run Crysis, I don't need a rig just for it).
I currently have 200$ in gifts to spend at newegg, and I'll likely buy everything from there. Normally I would have no problem doing this myself, but after browsing I realized how completely lost I've become to hardware these days. I'll obviously spend more than 200$, but I'm curious if anyone can help me find parts to help me with a setup I've mentioned at the cheapest possible price. Any help is appreciated.
Since its for gaming you might as well upgrade the GPU while you're on as you can pick up something around 4x as fast for less than a $100 so it makes too much sense.
This combo deal is ideal for you, its insane value, sorts out your RAM, Mobo and CPU for $220 (plus $10 rebate) and nets you excellent parts:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.203012
Add this awesome GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337
And you're looking at a shit hot rig for $300, just about the most bang for buck you could ever come up with. I'll leave someone else to sort the PSU but something like Corsair's 450w should do you good.
How old is the HDD? Just because they've increased in speed an awful lot lately so you might find it a bottleneck. 640GB are super fast and super cheap.
Alright, I'm for sure ordering computer parts tonight. I want to make sure they are compatible and I'm not an idiot.
SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
Also, what kind of power supply is needed to support this stuff wattage wise (on the cheap)
SAPPHIRE 100269SR Radeon HD 4890 1GB
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
Also, what kind of power supply is needed to support this stuff wattage wise (on the cheap)
Gully State
Member
Akim said:
You don't want to skimp on a PSU unless you like having the computer turn off on you every once in awhile.
brain_stew
Member
Akim said:
They look really good to me.
The wattage figure means very little. PSUs "on the cheap" is a recipe for disaster, I'd be looking at 550w+ from a reliable brand if I were you, the core i7 is a bit of a power hog and the 4890 is no slouch either.
MisterAnderson
Member
brain_stew said:
Alright thanks man. So far everything is running great, just 1 little thing that's bothering me. In Crysis, when I look up at the skybox (this is mainly referring to the sunrise near the beginning of the game, as it was when I first noticed) there's like a giant square texture/glitch looking thing that appears in the sky sometimes. I didn't notice this on my previous rig, wondering if it's some strange glitch with the drivers or something...
How can I take pictures in game? I'm used to pressing print screen then pasting it in paint or something, but when I paste it's just a big black square.
Edit: Restarted the game and it seems to be gone...however I noticed whenever I set my post processing effects to "very high" it disables my motion blur settings. Any idea why/if I can get around this?
brain_stew
Member
Concept17 said:
Then upgrade it. It'll be a huge, huge bottleneck, plus the last thing you want is nasty IDE cables clogging up your case. Your mohterboard will only have a slot for one IDE device anyway.
Pick this up:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102
They're both super fast and great value.
I know I'm tempting you to spend a little more than you initially planned, but I must stress just what a huge and I mean huge upgrade these parts are. You'll be stunned with the performance boost, I guarantee it.
brain_stew
Member
Concept17 said:
Well the weird thing is that I started adding the exact same processor and RAM first and just as I was about to add a motherboard, I spotted deal. Basically means you get a mothrboard with the latest chipset and plenty of future upgrade options for $50. Its a great deal.
I was gonna go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121045 for my power supply.
One more question. I'm looking at this monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051 and it seems nice except its native resolution is kind of high. Will it be too much stress playing games with my setup at that resolution?
One more question. I'm looking at this monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051 and it seems nice except its native resolution is kind of high. Will it be too much stress playing games with my setup at that resolution?
Not at all for a 4890.Akim said:
Get this instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Difference after free shipping and rebate is not much. Plus awesome warranty and PSU.
brain_stew
Member
Yeah, a 4890 will eat up 1080p, nothing to worry about.
Hotsuma said:
Open your pc and there should be a label on your power supply with amps and volts listed. Add the amount of amps listed at +12 volts in order to figure out if you meet the requirement.
Example: +3.3V@36A,+5V@30A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@18A, +12V4@18A,
-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@3.0A
18+18+18+18=72 amps at +12 volts.
Don't you have an 6 pin adapter with your video card? Your power supply plugs should match either the adapter or the video card itself.
brain_stew
Member
Akim said:
No, no no, surround headsets are a huge scam, terrible, terrible creations. Pick up a set of Sennheiser HD555s for much less and buy a cheap clip on microphone from Ebay.
If you want 3D sound then get an X-FI card, their CMSS-3D headphone technology will give you much better surround sound on a stereo headset then any craptastic "surround" headset ever will.
letsbereasonable
Member
Akim said:
I have both and they're pretty great. The G9 has/had a pretty steep rebate that brings the final cost down to $30 or less, not sure if it is still going on. If it is, now would be the time to buy if you're interested.
Hey guys, I've got a couple of questions I'm hoping you all can answer for me. I'm running a Core2Duo e6600 2.4 GHz CPU, 4GB of DDR800, 8800GTS 640mb card, Antec Smart Power 450 with 32v total on the 12v rails and an Intel DG965wh mobo under Windows XP 32bit. Fairly dated stuff but it's served me well for a couple of years and I'm getting to the point where I'd like to do a small upgrade.
I really dont want to switch out the mobo if I can help it as I don't want a reformat and reinstall of Windows at this time. So what I'm wondering is if a GeForce GTX 260 would give me a decent horsepower upgrade without changing anything else out? Or am I really too CPU constrained to push the GTX 260 properly and would therefore be wasting my money?
Thanks!
I really dont want to switch out the mobo if I can help it as I don't want a reformat and reinstall of Windows at this time. So what I'm wondering is if a GeForce GTX 260 would give me a decent horsepower upgrade without changing anything else out? Or am I really too CPU constrained to push the GTX 260 properly and would therefore be wasting my money?
Thanks!
Bah, grab a Logitech USB mic for $15 on eBay or $20 from newegg, absolutely amazing quality and range.Akim said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836111601
Get some proper headphones.
CPU is pretty solid for most games, even if you do run into some CPU issues it shouldn't be that much of an issue. Not sure if you can pad mod the E6600 with that board though.matmanx1 said:
brain_stew
Member
matmanx1 said:
There's nothing dated about the E6600 its still a trooper just clock it to between 3-3.6 to breath some new life into it. Pick up this cooler to help you out in doing so.
Add the $130 GTX 260 you're eyeing and for $150 and a couple hours work you've just doubled the gaming performance of your rig, bravo!
Even without a CPU overclock you'll still ahve a pretty balanced rig, and will likely still be GPU limited in many games once you crank the settings.
Hazaro said:
"Pad Mod"? What does that mean? Sorry, but for some reason I'm clueless on that term.
Also, I game on a Samsung 720p television so I stay at 1360 by 768 resolution so I'm definitely not pushing for the highest resolutions by any stretch. And even though I've got HDMI ports on my TV and an HDMI output on my vga card when I try to use it like the display quality is terrible and the desktop never does "fit" the television correctly so I've just gone back to using a VGA adapter and the VGA port on my TV. Is this because my card doesnt support progressive scan or is it some other issue I'm not aware of?
EDIT- I've actually got one of the Zalman CNPS9700 coolers on my CPU right now although I dont believe the Intel board allows for overclocking. At least I was under the impression that it doesnt. Correct me if I am wrong!
brain_stew said:
His stock motherboard can't overclock, the only way would be to cover one of the contact circles on the CPU and make it report it's normal FSB as 333 instead of 266, making it run at 3Ghz (333*9)instead of 2.4Ghz (266*9).matmanx1 said:
Might not be stable at 3Ghz without a voltage increase, but I think it would.
At that res I wouldn't worry much at all unless you plan on playing Supreme Commander.
Check your graphics settings via the nVidia control panel to set it up for HDTV output.
brain_stew
Member
matmanx1 said:
Does your TV not have a "just scan" mode to get rid of overscan?
Not tried messing with the overscan setting in your Nvidia drivers?
brain_stew said:
It's been over a year since i messed with it so I'm going from some fuzzy memory but I do remember enabling the "just scan" option and it seemed to size the image better but the quality was still terrible. Like all text was fuzzy and the color was bad. Oh and I dont know if it makes a difference but it's actually DVI out on the card and HDMI input on the TV. I assumed it was some kind of signal transformation going on that was causing the problem even though it should be pure digital all the way through.
And I should note that the current VGA setup looks really good but if I can do better and go to a more "true" digital setup then I am all for it.
brain_stew
Member
matmanx1 said:
DVI and HDMI are electronically identical so no, that's not the case. Sounds like some artificial processing go on, on the TV side which VGA bypasses. Often HDTVs have a particular socket dedicated to PC input that does this as well, its HDMI 2 on my Samsung. Renaming the input to PC or "Media PC" in the OSD may help as well and of course turn every last bit of shitty ass digital processing off like you always should. Heck try the "game mode" as that usually switches off digital processing so it may do the trick.
HDMI out from my PC to my 1080p 40" Samsung is damn perfect, and a marked improveent over VGA so its worth having a fiddle in the menu both on the driver and TV side.
brain_stew said:
Good info, thanks for all your help!
So is that E6600 mod difficult to trick my mobo into OC'ing? I worked in IT for 10 years so I'm pretty comfortable with building and repairing PC's but the less risk to my existing setup the better. My wife still uses it for all our families photo storage and manipulation. =P
brain_stew
Member
matmanx1 said:
If its possible on your motherboard, then from my understanding it should be fairly straight forward. Obviously do plenty of reading up beforehand but if you pull it off you should get a pretty nice boost running it at 3ghz.
TheHeretic
Banned
brain_stew said:
Isn't that an old Phenom, one of the original AMD quad cores? Because those were awful. Its memory cache is tiny as well, though I haven't seen its benchmarks. Black Editions are good if you overclock them, with an unlocked multiplier, but that might not even be relevant to him if he doesn't want to overclock his cpu. An AMD 720 has a higher clock, better FSB and is roughly the same price. Its also the best value CPU on the market, and isn't expensive on newegg at all.
Visualante
Member
Anyone willing to hook me up with a noob's guide to overclocking? I've got an E2160 that I read overclocks well from 1.8ghz to 2.4ish. Thanks.
Will upgrade to quad eventually but I need to delay the purchase.
nvm found this: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=9808&page=1
Will upgrade to quad eventually but I need to delay the purchase.
nvm found this: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=9808&page=1
Kipe said:
Kipe, thanks for the response. Brain Stew mentioned it might be a better deal to just start over, so I picked up one of the XPS 435 systems from Dell Outlet.
Brain Stew,
This should be good for games, yes? I shouldn't have to swap anything out or anything I hope. Thanks for all of the help!
Hazaro said:
Cool, Haz.
The work you guys put into this thread is something else. I mainly stayed away from PC games due to the hardware upgrading/buy this/buy that/WTF -iness of it all. Reading the thread and the help that you all have provided has made things more enjoyable, unlike the salesguys that refuse to really HELP people understand what they're buying. I'm actually looking forward to trying something (besides PSO) on PC.
Sleeker said:
Your CPU speed is determined by two things. The multiplier (usually locked now) and the front side bus (FSB). To increase the speed of your CPU, you increase the FSB (FSB x multiplier = cpu speed in Mhz) but your ram can only run so fast on stock voltages at certain timings. So to get a stable system, you can feed the ram more volts to try to make it run at the faster FSB. Can be a very tough thing to balance perfectly, because you don't want to fry your CPU, Ram, or Mobo :lol
evil solrac v3.0
Member
zbarron said:
went ahead tonight and got two GTX260 for 300 bucks (plus tax, free shipping) USA! USA USA USA !!!! *ahem* anyways, i have a Q6600 and was wondering if i have to overclock it now that i have these graphic cards as opposed to my old ones (9600 gt in SLI)
edit: when using the dell promo code, make sure to choose small business at the top of the check out page or the promo code won't work.
edit2 : actually, never mind, it seems to work without it.
rhfb said:
Specs from the BIOS:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4586/img3064i.jpg
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/6483/img3065e.jpg
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8692/img3066x.jpg
CPU: E8400 @ 3Ghz
RAM: Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Ram
I was thinking about taking it from 3 to about 3.4GHz just for a little boost for gaming. (why does it say 2.83??)
I just need to be told what to do