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[Eaten By A Grue]

there shouldnt be a problem with the voltage, no need for the other RAM.

Honestly I don't want to chance it. I think the worst that could happen is that the system can't detect the RAM because it does not have enough power supplied to it, but I rather not face the worst scenario and burn something out.

 

[Firestorm]

Having seen the Sonata's and the Antec 300 up close, I think it'll be tough to fit that video card in either of them. They both considered mini-tower's, so I think it be worth it to look at a mid size case for a better fit for the GTX 275. I've got the same card, and that thing is beastly in size.

It fits in both, but just barely. I don't plan on upgrading the computer. By the time I want to upgrade, I assume I'll be moving to an i7 or i5 system and I can just give this one to my dad or something. I'll probably just run stock for about 10 months then get an "upgrade" by overclocking =) NCIX said they'd install the CPU heatsink + paste for me so I'll just do that all now. They just don't warranty overclocks so I want to go stock for a few months until I'm sure the system won't die on me out of the blue!

Going off what TheExodus said I think I'll be going with the 300. How loud are 120mm fans?

Edit: Okay they're about 25dB on low. If I have like 3, I think it'd hit 31dB... Hm. I wonder what the charts mean by "whisper". There are different levels of whispering!

 

[DanManIt]

I need to get a laptop for college (engineering major) and I was thinking of getting one that is good for gaming as well. I have looked at a couple options (Dell Studio XPS 16, Sony FW series, MSI 627) But I'm still unsure as to what I should go with.

Can anyone offer suggestions on gaming laptops for college?

 

[Firestorm]

Will you be relying on batteries or do your lecture halls usually have outlets?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&type=product&id=1218092150636


Or wait a few months as people keep saying the new cards are coming out and are a massive upgrade (better power, less power usage).

 

[MWS Natural]

I really don't think it would. Increasing the resolution doesn't use that much RAM. Even at 1080p with decent IQ and FP16 HDR and triple buffering, you're still using less than 90MB on your framebuffer. Sure, that'll make a difference with a 512MB card but with a 1GB card, your framebuffer size really isn't going to be a deciding factor.

Since most of people don't even bother with triple buffering, you can wipe off 50% from that figure straight away, and FP16 HDR still isn't commonplace either, so the figure is again reduced in many cases. Point is, 2GB really is a waste, heck I doubt these cards even have the bandwidth to effectively use all of that, more than 1GB,s sure, but the whole 2GB? No, not at all

Oh ok, I saw some benchmarks somewhere for Sapphire's 2GB 4870. 95% of games showed no increase in performance at high resolutions except for GTAIV and I think one more game.

 

[DanManIt]

Will you be relying on batteries or do your lecture halls usually have outlets?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&type=product&id=1218092150636


Or wait a few months as people keep saying the new cards are coming out and are a massive upgrade (better power, less power usage).

Probably batteries, although when I shadowed a student for a day I noticed no one really seemed to bring their laptops to classes. There was only a few in each class that did

 

[K.Jack]

I need to get a laptop for college (engineering major) and I was thinking of getting one that is good for gaming as well. I have looked at a couple options (Dell Studio XPS 16, Sony FW series, MSI 627) But I'm still unsure as to what I should go with.

Can anyone offer suggestions on gaming laptops for college?

What's your budget, how soon do you need it, and how important is gaming at native resolution and high details?

edit: and style; what's your aesthetic preference?

 

[Jamesfrom818]

Probably batteries, although when I shadowed a student for a day I noticed no one really seemed to bring their laptops to classes. There was only a few in each class that did

Depends on the class and professor really.

 

[ElfoMan]

Hey guys, a friend asked me for help in choosing a notebook/laptop.

He's looking to spend around $1000 or less; other things he would like: 64bit processor, and a nonintengrated video card to play some games. Would be nice but not necessary: 4GB ram and 15.6" or more.

I've been trying to avoid to look into brands like HP and Sony since I had bad experiences, and have looked mainly at ASUS laptops because a friend has one and I've heard good things.

I have been browsing Newegg.com and Bestbuy.com for a while...
and I liked this one: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9366651&id=1218092150636&type=product

He would like to buy it before August because he's a student.
What to you guys think? Any other suggestions?

I posted this a few days ago, since then the budget got lower and we finally decided on a refurbished:
ASUS G50Vt-X5 intel Core 2 Duo p7450 2.13ghz / 4gb ram / 320gb hdd / 15.6" wxga / DVD-Writer / vista premium / 802.11abgn wireless
# Graphics : NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS
# Video Memory : 512MB GDDR3

Now the question is: CircuitCity.com has it for $740 and mwave.com has it for $750

From where should I order?
mwave has 9.4/10 on http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2089-p1-s2-d1.html#reviews
And I don't know how are the new guys that own CircuitCity.com.

Suggestions? Please answer quickly. Thanks.


Update: I just ordered it from CircuitCity, $739.99 free shipping, no taxes, cool.

 

[K.Jack]

I'd go with Circuit City myself.

 

[dasupremeone]

finally buying my 4890. I have two 6 pin PCIE power connectors but the 4890 needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin. so I found this on newegg, should work, right? or should I get a gtx 260...decisions decisions...

 

[DanManIt]

What's your budget, how soon do you need it, and how important is gaming at native resolution and high details?

edit: and style; what's your aesthetic preference?

Okay my budget is up to about $1,500. I need it by mid-august and I definitely want to be able to game at the native resolution, but I obviously do not expect high details on a laptop for new games.

As for aesthetics, I usually prefer simple and not flashy, but I'm willing to make some compromises as long as it isn't too over the top

 

[Firestorm]

finally buying my 4890. I have two 6 pin PCIE power connectors but the 4890 needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin. so I found this on newegg, should work, right? or should I get a gtx 260...decisions decisions...

Not the GTX 260. The 4890 and GTX 275 look around the same price now. If you're interested in PhysX, you could get the GTX 275.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150387
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143183
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125279

I think XFX warranties your card even if you overclock it.

 

[MWS Natural]

finally buying my 4890. I have two 6 pin PCIE power connectors but the 4890 needs a 6 pin and an 8 pin. so I found this on newegg, should work, right? or should I get a gtx 260...decisions decisions...

Every 4890 doesn't need a six and an eight, the standard one takes a six and a six. The Sapphire and some of the factory overclocked ones take a six and a eight; both come with adapters in the box from my experience.

You're comparing the wrong cards.
4890 vs. 275
4870 vs. 260

Buy whichever fits your needs or offers better bang for the buck, I've seen some great deals on each at different times.

 

[AstroLad]

Any UPS recommendations? I'm using my old one but I keep overloading it and I'm sick of it beeping at me during Crysis.

 

[TheExodu5]

I need a recommendation as well. My room takes up too much power, and the breaker blows now and then.

 

[scorcho]

Any UPS recommendations? I'm using my old one but I keep overloading it and I'm sick of it beeping at me during Crysis.

Except for the dastardly blackout in the summer of 2003 why the hell would you need a UPS? Living in some illegal, hand-wired shack in Bed Stuy?

Give this a shot - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101067

or this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842107114

 

[Epix]

Need some help diagnosing a problem GAF. Computer not booting. Here's the rundown:

1. Got home yesterday, computer running fine.
2. Switch to a different user in Vista.
3. Vista switches to the other user. Screen goes black. I can only see the mouse.
4. Use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to go to the taskbar. Video res is now 800x600 (down from 1900x1200).
5. I switch back over to the original user and the video res is still 800x600.
6. Restart computer.
7. Computer won't boot.

Here's where it gets a little interesting. Out of 5 times I attempt to boot, 3/5 times I can hear it post but I can only see the motherboard logo (the first thing you see when you reboot) and then I lose all video signal to the monitor, 1/5 times the system won't post and will just sit there with the fans blowing full tilt and no video signal to the monitor, 1/5 times the fans will kick on for maybe 3 secs and then everything shuts down on it's own. Weird.

My first thought was video card since the first symptom was the resolution change in Windows. Now I'm thinking PSU due to the erratic behavior when I try to boot. Any ideas or advice before I start buying replacement parts?

 

[Diablohead]

Can a driver for the gpu effect anything if they corrupt? someone here should know.

Speaking of PSU's I phoned dinopc this lunchtime and they were very good, I had a choice of sending the machine back or them sending me a new psu of the same make to replace it myself, I have moved parts and done installs before so I decided to take the new psu, saves me packing up the pc and having it gone for over a week.

I am going to be very careful when installing it though, if I get a problem again they might try to blame me for opening the case, so I will take a pic of before, during and after so they can see I installed it correctly.

 

[scorcho]

System specs? Sounds like it could be an underpowered/faulty PSU.

 

[Epix]

System specs? Sounds like it could be an underpowered/faulty PSU.

I want to say 600w PSU. Quad Core Q6600 OC to 3.0GhZ, 8800GTS 512.

 

[scorcho]

I want to say 600w PSU. Quad Core Q6600 OC to 3.0GhZ, 8800GTS 512.

Considering the Q6600 is a power monster (what are you running the volts at to get 3.0?) that could be pushing it, but it's hard to say unless you have a spare PC to plop either the video card in. Bring your Q6600 back to its original specs/voltage and see how your machine boots.

 

[Epix]

Considering the Q6600 is a power monster (what are you running the volts at to get 3.0?) that could be pushing it, but it's hard to say unless you have a spare PC to plop either the video card in. Bring your Q6600 back to its original specs/voltage and see how your machine boots.

It's been a while since I've been in the BIOS but I want to say 2.4V or something. I may try removing the CMOS battery and resetting everything to default and give that a try.

 

[Hanzotori24]

Ok so I've been having major problems with my PC performance while doing 25 man raids in WoW. I have terrible stutter and hangups. I especially notice where a lot is going on like during the Hodir fight and Yogg. It is so bad on these two fights that I can hardly do anything, I usually die right away because I can't move fast enough. I have all my settings turned down in game and even on my ATI catalyst everything is turned down. Is it a bottleneck somewhere in my pc? I'm pretty sure its not my internet, I never have problems elsewhere in the game. Here are my specs:

Asus M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G Micro ATX Mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.5ghz +95W Black Edition
G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Ram
ATI Radeon 4850 512MB GDDR3 IceQ4 Turbo Graphics
2 x WD Caviar SE 320gb 7200 RPM/3.5" Internal HD

I'm running at 1920x1080 on an Acer H243Hbmid 24" Monitor. Sound and network card is onboard on the mobo. It performs the same on both Vista and Win7.

I've tried reinstalling the game, running without addons, resetting wtf/wdb folders, the typical blue response on tech support forums.

 

[scorcho]

I'm betting it's your CPU, but drop the resolution to see if that makes the situation smoother. WOW is more CPU-limited then video card, from what I've read.

 

[Epix]

I'm betting it's your CPU, but drop the resolution to see if that makes the situation smoother. WOW is more CPU-limited then video card, from what I've read.

My CPU in the sense that it's not getting enough power or that it's shot?

 

[scorcho]

My CPU in the sense that it's not getting enough power or that it's shot?

It's underpowered for the task. Does your board accept AM2+ CPU's? If so the X3 720 could be a cheap upgrade option.

 

[Salacious Crumb]

It's been a while since I've been in the BIOS but I want to say 2.4V or something. I may try removing the CMOS battery and resetting everything to default and give that a try.

I think you mean 1.4v :lol

 

[brain_stew]

I need to get a laptop for college (engineering major) and I was thinking of getting one that is good for gaming as well. I have looked at a couple options (Dell Studio XPS 16, Sony FW series, MSI 627) But I'm still unsure as to what I should go with.

Can anyone offer suggestions on gaming laptops for college?

Wait for laptops based on the new GTS 250M/260M chips to hit. They offer a huge increase in both power and efficiency.

 

[TheHeretic]

Ok so I've been having major problems with my PC performance while doing 25 man raids in WoW. I have terrible stutter and hangups. I especially notice where a lot is going on like during the Hodir fight and Yogg. It is so bad on these two fights that I can hardly do anything, I usually die right away because I can't move fast enough. I have all my settings turned down in game and even on my ATI catalyst everything is turned down. Is it a bottleneck somewhere in my pc? I'm pretty sure its not my internet, I never have problems elsewhere in the game. Here are my specs:

Asus M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G Micro ATX Mobo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.5ghz +95W Black Edition
G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Ram
ATI Radeon 4850 512MB GDDR3 IceQ4 Turbo Graphics
2 x WD Caviar SE 320gb 7200 RPM/3.5" Internal HD

I'm running at 1920x1080 on an Acer H243Hbmid 24" Monitor. Sound and network card is onboard on the mobo. It performs the same on both Vista and Win7.

I've tried reinstalling the game, running without addons, resetting wtf/wdb folders, the typical blue response on tech support forums.

Your motherboard has onboard graphics. Its not, for some reason, using that is it? Do you play any other games, how do they perform? Your CPU should be 2.7ghz btw if i'm not mistaken, and it shouldn't be a bottleneck on such an old game. I'm not familiar with how CPU hungry WoW is but its an old game, I can't imagine it would struggle on that hardware.

 

[Nolimit_SS]

Last year I built my computer which was supposed to be high end, run everything maxed etc.
Got lots of recommendations, spent lots of money and finally got my PC.
Wasn't exactly what I hoped for but I kept telling myself it's great.
Biggest problem is, I paid tons of money and had best graphic card at that time and games(WoW for example) still wouldn't give me over 60 FPS, hell it goes to 30 even and below.
And in AoC last night I had like 2 in city, 12 outside.
So I told myself, eff ATI, never again and decided it's time for upgrade.

I built my PC last summer, just before new cpu stuff came out, it's still OK I would say but I want to upgrade it. New cpu, dd3 and with that new mobo...
I don't have money to buy new PC however, or even to upgrade mine straight away so I'll have to sell my parts and somehow get some extra money to buy new ones.

So first, this is my configuration and comments:


COMPUTER (TOWER): COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000, it's huge and I like it. No need to replace.
Power Supply (PSU): it was suggested on newegg, COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro1000
Case Fan(s): got like 3-4 inside
Motherboard: Intel P5Q Pro, think it's time for new one that supports nehalem(i7?) and dd3.
Processor (CPU):Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz - time to upgrade this. It was suggested as great CPU to OC, but I'm not much of overclocker.
CPU Cooler/Heatsink with Fan (HSF): XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Big heatsink and cooler, dunno if it needs to be upgraded but PC is kinda hot, dunno whats the problem, maybe cables of psu are interrupting airflow because they are huge
Memory (RAM): G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)- time for dd3
Hard Drive (HDD): 2x WD 640gb 7200 sata, no need to replace i think.
Optical (Disc) Drive (CD/DVD/HD-DVD/BR): just 1 dvd burner
Video/Graphics Card (GPU): Here's the full name
ASUS EAH4870X2/HTDI/2G Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
And I really want to replace it. It's running very got and giving me shit performance in games. Never again ati...

OPERATING SYSTEM (OS): gonna put win7 x64.
And I have 24" screen.

Well as I said earlier, please suggest me what I should do, what to upgrade with what etc.
I really need this PC to work fine because it's driving me crazy.

Oh and beside WoW and AoC I do play other games, in fact I'm just gonna run COD4 and see how much fps I get there on max.

Edit: Just did test in COD4, in buildings I'd get around 200 when its quite. Goes down to 100 when fighting, and outside goes to red around 50 even below 30.

 

[Atilac]

Are the drivers up to date? On the GPU?

 

[TheCrow]

Wait for laptops based on the new GTS 250M/260M chips to hit. They offer a huge increase in both power and efficiency.

Do you or anyone else know of any kind of release window for laptops with the new GTS chips or any price estimates?

 

[Nolimit_SS]

Are the drivers up to date? On the GPU?

Yes they were, and that was problem with AOC.
Anyhow, I got convinced I shouldn't upgrade anything so no need for any other answers heh.
I'll just OC cpu and vga when needed and all will be good I hope. And when out, I'll switch to win7 64bit which should improve performance.

 

[crimzonflame]

I heard the new i5 are coming in September. Maybe I should put off building a new computer till then.

 

[secretanchitman]

I heard the new i5 are coming in September. Maybe I should put off building a new computer till then.

you should. not only new cpus, but new gpus from ati and nvidia are (should be) coming out then too.

hooray for my first post! been lurking here for years....yes years lol

 

[K.Jack]

Do you or anyone else know of any kind of release window for laptops with the new GTS chips or any price estimates?

Here's what I do know:

- Both Nvidia and ATi are having trouble allocating sufficient GDDR5 for mobile cards
- Mid-September is the most liberal estimate I'll give you on the arrival of these GPUs
- Asus is likely to be first to market with a GTS 200 equipped notebook; It's already released a model with an entry level 200 card, the N51VN-A1, which has a GT 240M. The GPU is decent at best, pretty much the 200 core series version of the 9600M GT, except it's 40nm and has a 50% increase in stream processors(48 vs 32).


Just to avoid confusion: There will be G, GT, GTS, and GTX mobile GPUs. The GTX cards are still under development, so we should expect those in 2010. There are GTX chips out now, but they're G92b cores, while the upcoming products will be genuine G200.

What kind of battery life are you looking for?

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

I got my case and mobo, but how the hell can I tell the case's positive and minus wires? For every connection there are two wires, one is a colored wire and the other is white. I can see the letters "A" and "G" on the back, does that mean "Active +" and "Ground -"?

I have a Cool Master Centurion case btw.

 

[TheCrow]

Here's what I do know:

- Both Nvidia and ATi are having trouble allocating sufficient GDDR5 for mobile cards
- Mid-September is the most liberal estimate I'll give you on the arrival of these GPUs
- Asus is likely to be first to market with a GTS 200 equipped notebook; It's already released a model with an entry level 200 card, the N51VN-A1, which has a GT 240M. The GPU is decent at best, pretty much the 200 core series version of the 9600M GT, except it's 40nm and has a 50% increase in stream processors(48 vs 32).


Just to avoid confusion: There will be G, GT, GTS, and GTX mobile GPUs. The GTX cards are still under development, so we should expect those in 2010. There are GTX chips out now, but they're G92b cores, while the upcoming products will be genuine G200.

What kind of battery life are you looking for?

Thanks for the information.

Battery life isn't that important since the laptop will be mostly plugged in an electrical socket. Looks like I'll just wait and order a laptop after school starts as long as the price is around $1000.

 

[IceMarker]

My first post on GAF... here goes... (And I hope I'm posting in the right place for this.)

So I have a HP Pavilion a6720f I bought back in June with my graduation money for college, gaming, etc.

My specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad-Core Processor 2.2 GHz
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9100 256MB (Integrated Chipset)
RAM: 6.00GB
HDD: 640GB SATA
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Monitor: 23" HP w2338h Widescreen 1920x1080 (1080p)
Other Information: 1 PCI-Express 2.0 16x Slot; Lightscribe DVD Drive; 300W Power Supply (Stock)

Just FYI here are some games I've ran FPS tests on...
F.E.A.R.: 58.9 FPS; Max Settings; 2xAA; 1920x1080 Dx9
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin: 28.7 FPS; Medium Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Doom 3: 59.7 FPS; High Quality; 2xAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Halo 2: 27.4 FPS; High Quality; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx10

And a couple CAPCOM benchmarks...
Street Fighter IV: 62.3 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 720x480 Dx9(?)
Resident Evil 5: 12.5 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9

I'm obviously concerned with upgading my PC, which I'm never done before except a simple RAM upgrade for my previous PC. So...
My birthday's coming up here in a couple weeks and my dad is considering buying me a video card for my big day.
So my questions to GAF are these...
1) Will buying either a 9800GTX+ or a GTX 260 be worth the purchase?
2) Which card should I put on my list?
3) Will either card fit/work in my machine?
4) Will a 500W power supply do the job?
5) With my CPU and RAM, would the graphics card be the last barrier against my games running at 60 FPS?

Thank you guys and I hope you can help!

 

[RadioHeadAche]

I don't feel like making a new thread for this, but I'm looking for a new laptop. I'd like something that's not too expensive (around $400-700). I would like a good brand with a 64-bit architecture and a decent graphics card/chip. I'm not too concerned about playing new games, but I would like to use it for some older ones such as Halo: Combat Evolved.

Any recommendations?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

My first post on GAF... here goes... (And I hope I'm posting in the right place for this.)

So I have a HP Pavilion a6720f I bought back in June with my graduation money for college, gaming, etc.

My specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad-Core Processor 2.2 GHz
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9100 256MB (Integrated Chipset)
RAM: 6.00GB
HDD: 640GB SATA
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Monitor: 23" HP w2338h Widescreen 1920x1080 (1080p)
Other Information: 1 PCI-Express 2.0 16x Slot; Lightscribe DVD Drive; 300W Power Supply (Stock)

Just FYI here are some games I've ran FPS tests on...
F.E.A.R.: 58.9 FPS; Max Settings; 2xAA; 1920x1080 Dx9
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin: 28.7 FPS; Medium Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Doom 3: 59.7 FPS; High Quality; 2xAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Halo 2: 27.4 FPS; High Quality; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx10

And a couple CAPCOM benchmarks...
Street Fighter IV: 62.3 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 720x480 Dx9(?)
Resident Evil 5: 12.5 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9

I'm obviously concerned with upgading my PC, which I'm never done before except a simple RAM upgrade for my previous PC. So...
My birthday's coming up here in a couple weeks and my dad is considering buying me a video card for my big day.
So my questions to GAF are these...
1) Will buying either a 9800GTX+ or a GTX 260 be worth the purchase?
2) Which card should I put on my list?
3) Will either card fit/work in my machine?
4) Will a 500W power supply do the job?
5) With my CPU and RAM, would the graphics card be the last barrier against my games running at 60 FPS?

Thank you guys and I hope you can help!

I haven't used an AMD processor in a long time, but as far as I can tell your bottleneck is definitely the video card. I had actually never heard of it before and honestly I am rather impressed by the performance that it offers considering that it is an integrated card.

If you get a GTX 260 or Radeon 4870 (if you don't care about brand) you will almost certainly be blown away by the performance increase. You can probably expect at least a 10x increase in performance and will have no problem running most games with maximum or near-maximum settings at 1080p.

A 500w power supply should be sufficient assuming you don't have a ton of other hardware hooked up to the thing (then again I don't know how much power an AMD chip consumes these days), but you might want to invest in a quality 600w~ power supply just to be safe. There are many posts in this thread that discuss the merits of a good power supply. It is definitely one of the parts of your PC that you don't want to skimp on.

edit: To give you an idea of the kind of performance you can provably expect I have a dual core CPU (E8500 3.2ghz) and a Radeon 4870 1GB with 4GB of RAM and I get well over 60fps on Street Fighter IV with all settings at their highest in 1920x1200 resolution.

 

[IceMarker]

Thanks Zefah just what I wanted to hear!

Well I did some research after your confirmations and it seems that GTX 260 would be the way to go if I want a card that'll last me a couple years... I'm trying to be price sensitive though which is why I'm asking about both cards. (I don't want my dad to go broke!) :lol

So should I absolutely go with GTX 260 or should I look elsewhere for a good balance of price and power? At the moment the cost of a new PSU and the GTX 260 is costing my dad upwards $200.
(And I hope the new power supply and card doesn't overheat my computer, but I don't wanna shell out more for a new cooling system.)


EDIT: After more research I'm really afraid that after plugging all this stuff in (Assuming I get the PSU and GPU.) that I'll turn on my computer, run Crysis or some other intensive game and having my new power supply, my motherboard or my new gpu FRY! Can someone comfort me here!?

 

[spermatic cord]

What determines framerate in game? I want TF2 to run better. At no action it's at 60 fps but as soon as action starts it goes to 25 fps. I have a ATI HD 4670, 4 gigs of RAM, and a Intel Pentium D 3.00 GHz. Is it the CPU holding my comp back? Is it worth upgrading the CPU?

 

[IceMarker]

^Definitely sounds like the CPU is holding you back.
I have an integrated GeForce 9100 chipset and a 2.2 GHz AMD Quad Core (As shown in my specs a couple posts up.) and it runs TF2 great!

Oh and I'm pretty sure framerate is determined by 3 major components of your PC: RAM, GPU, and CPU.

 

[remz]

upgrading my CPU from an old pentium 4 to a E8400 practically doubled my FPS, was totally epic, so I bet it's your CPU

could be the 4670 though... not really familiar with that card

 

[brain_stew]

My first post on GAF... here goes... (And I hope I'm posting in the right place for this.)

So I have a HP Pavilion a6720f I bought back in June with my graduation money for college, gaming, etc.

My specs are as follows:
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad-Core Processor 2.2 GHz
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9100 256MB (Integrated Chipset)
RAM: 6.00GB
HDD: 640GB SATA
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Monitor: 23" HP w2338h Widescreen 1920x1080 (1080p)
Other Information: 1 PCI-Express 2.0 16x Slot; Lightscribe DVD Drive; 300W Power Supply (Stock)

Just FYI here are some games I've ran FPS tests on...
F.E.A.R.: 58.9 FPS; Max Settings; 2xAA; 1920x1080 Dx9
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin: 28.7 FPS; Medium Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Doom 3: 59.7 FPS; High Quality; 2xAA; 1280x720 Dx9
Halo 2: 27.4 FPS; High Quality; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx10

And a couple CAPCOM benchmarks...
Street Fighter IV: 62.3 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 720x480 Dx9(?)
Resident Evil 5: 12.5 FPS; Minimum Settings; NoAA; 1280x720 Dx9

I'm obviously concerned with upgading my PC, which I'm never done before except a simple RAM upgrade for my previous PC. So...
My birthday's coming up here in a couple weeks and my dad is considering buying me a video card for my big day.
So my questions to GAF are these...
1) Will buying either a 9800GTX+ or a GTX 260 be worth the purchase?
2) Which card should I put on my list?
3) Will either card fit/work in my machine?
4) Will a 500W power supply do the job?
5) With my CPU and RAM, would the graphics card be the last barrier against my games running at 60 FPS?

Thank you guys and I hope you can help!

Does the case take a standard ATX PSU?

Your CPU isn't exactly ideal. If a game uses 3 or more threads, performance will be great, if it doesn't it could prove a bottleneck.

You might want to just add something like the 9800GT green edition:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133279

It'd mean no replacing the PSU and wouldn't become CPU bottlenecked, pretty nice to be able to get up and running games for $90 and minimal fuss.

The GTX series of cards are huge, you really need to check if they'll fit in your case.

 

[brain_stew]

What determines framerate in game? I want TF2 to run better. At no action it's at 60 fps but as soon as action starts it goes to 25 fps. I have a ATI HD 4670, 4 gigs of RAM, and a Intel Pentium D 3.00 GHz. Is it the CPU holding my comp back? Is it worth upgrading the CPU?

TF2 is CPU bottlenecked in most cases, so yeah, that's the issue here. Have you enabled multi core support in TF2? Should help quite a bit.

If your motherboard can take a 45nm E5200 or E6300 it'd be a nice upgrade for very little.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

What determines framerate in game? I want TF2 to run better. At no action it's at 60 fps but as soon as action starts it goes to 25 fps. I have a ATI HD 4670, 4 gigs of RAM, and a Intel Pentium D 3.00 GHz. Is it the CPU holding my comp back? Is it worth upgrading the CPU?

It is absolutely your CPU. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if overheating is killing your performance. The Pentium D's consume a lot of power and get really hot from what I have seen.

Definitely go for a Core 2 processor if you can. They are pretty much a generation ahead of your current processor and even a lower end Core 2 Duo will almost certainly outperform your Pentium D by a large margin.

But yeah, the graphics card isn't that hot either. I think it is pretty much the equivalent of a GeForce 9600 which really isn't that great. A 4850 or better would provide a much better gaming experience.

Then again, TF2 really isn't too demanding unless you are playing in high resolutions with lots of AA on.

 

[rohlfinator]

I don't feel like making a new thread for this, but I'm looking for a new laptop. I'd like something that's not too expensive (around $400-700). I would like a good brand with a 64-bit architecture and a decent graphics card/chip. I'm not too concerned about playing new games, but I would like to use it for some older ones such as Halo: Combat Evolved.

Any recommendations?

Do you have any other features (battery life, size, screen resolution, etc) you'd like to have? That would help narrow it down a bit. Any laptop you buy today in that price range will be 64-bit, and I think you'd be fine with any non-Intel GPU for Halo:CE.

I'd recommend browsing around a bit at the Notebook Review forums and look at the recommendations for someone who posted a similar request. The folks there have a pretty good idea of what's on the market right now.