Support NeoGAF

[DihcarEM]

Hi, can someone give a few examples of good gaming laptops? It has to be a laptop because i will be going overseas for a full year, once there(Thailand) the laptop will be stationed in my room until i return to my own country(Belgium).
I'm looking to play games like DMC4/RE5/Street fighter 4,Assassins creed,Force Unleased,Crysis at max settings without any problems.
Also i heard that getting the biggest screens available for laptops(+20inc) aren't worth it since you would be dragging it around all the time. But for someone like me who will only be transporting the laptop to and from my destination is it do able?
Thanks

 

[AstroLad]

Hi, can someone give a few examples of good gaming laptops? It has to be a laptop because i will be going overseas for a full year, once there(Thailand) the laptop will be stationed in my room until i return to my own country(Belgium).
I'm looking to play games like DMC4/RE5/Street fighter 4,Assassins creed,Force Unleased,Crysis at max settings without any problems.
Also i heard that getting the biggest screens available for laptops(+20inc) aren't worth it since you would be dragging it around all the time. But for someone like me who will only be transporting the laptop to and from my destination is it do able?
Thanks

Check out Sager. Huge but as powerful as you can get in portables. Crysis on max though I dunno as I haven't checked out their latest line. But they will get you closer than anyone else.

 

[beje]

I have a question about Nox Urano PSUs, I've seen a lot of people advising not to get one because they tend to get fried and take away one component when they die as well but I've seen a lot of reviews praising them for stability and build quality.

Does this have some basis or it's just an urban legend generated by a couple of people that happened to suffer from this problem and that made it look like a common issue?

 

[Kinitari]

Wooot!

For those keeping track, I just got my Heatsink and CPU in the mail today, popped them in and TADAH. I am currently typing on my computer.

So for the history:

Dell computer, Mobo died - proprietary replacemnet = 600-700CDN. No way.

Bought a new Mobo, radeon 4870, 4gb ram, case, PSU = around 420CDN after Mail in rebates.

Put it together, realized the old heatsink would not fit on the new mobo, computer would turn off after a few seconds - sad.

Decided to get a new heatsink + e5200 = 120CDN after mail in rebate and price match.

Put it all in, and working like a breeze. Feels so good.

For those that were curious, my old CPU is fine - I tried putting it in with the heatsink, and it worked great. Still, new one is dramatically better.

I also accidentally purchased the Xigatek pushpin heatsink instead of the backplate model (I think I had both tabs open comparing, and I put the wrong one in my shopping cart) so I ended up having a field day trying to push the damn thing into the mobo, I swear I almost cried - I could only ever get ONE pin in at a time, the rest would not go in. Somehow I managed it, and then I actually did cry out a little bit.

This mobo comes with some wicked awesome OCing software, after accidentally OCing the computer TOO much, forcing a restart and blue screen, panicking, resetting factory settings on mobo, trying again more carefully - I am now at a very comfortable 3.7ghz average. I want to do a bit more tweaking, but I don't know if I should try tweaking the PCI-E or the memory directly - I noticed tweaking the FSB effects the memory and that's probably good enough.

Phew, now to try out some old games!

 

[brain_stew]

I have a question about Nox Urano PSUs, I've seen a lot of people advising not to get one because they tend to get fried and take away one component when they die as well but I've seen a lot of reviews praising them for stability and build quality.

Does this have some basis or it's just an urban legend generated by a couple of people that happened to suffer from this problem and that made it look like a common issue?

A cheap PSU is very likely to blow up and/or fry your other components, its no urban myth. I've never heard of "Nox Urano" for that reason alone I'd steer clear, they may be fine, but then they very well may not be so just stick with a recognised brand when it comes to your PSU, its not worth the risk.

 

[brain_stew]

Wooot!

For those keeping track, I just got my Heatsink and CPU in the mail today, popped them in and TADAH. I am currently typing on my computer.

So for the history:

Dell computer, Mobo died - proprietary replacemnet = 600-700CDN. No way.

Bought a new Mobo, radeon 4870, 4gb ram, case, PSU = around 420CDN after Mail in rebates.

Put it together, realized the old heatsink would not fit on the new mobo, computer would turn off after a few seconds - sad.

Decided to get a new heatsink + e5200 = 120CDN after mail in rebate and price match.

Put it all in, and working like a breeze. Feels so good.

For those that were curious, my old CPU is fine - I tried putting it in with the heatsink, and it worked great. Still, new one is dramatically better.

I also accidentally purchased the Xigatek pushpin heatsink instead of the backplate model (I think I had both tabs open comparing, and I put the wrong one in my shopping cart) so I ended up having a field day trying to push the damn thing into the mobo, I swear I almost cried - I could only ever get ONE pin in at a time, the rest would not go in. Somehow I managed it, and then I actually did cry out a little bit.

This mobo comes with some wicked awesome OCing software, after accidentally OCing the computer TOO much, forcing a restart and blue screen, panicking, resetting factory settings on mobo, trying again more carefully - I am now at a very comfortable 3.7ghz average. I want to do a bit more tweaking, but I don't know if I should try tweaking the PCI-E or the memory directly - I noticed tweaking the FSB effects the memory and that's probably good enough.

Phew, now to try out some old games!

It sounds like you're a very inexperienced OCer, so dial those settings way down and go and read up some guides.

You need to be stability testing your OCs, so download OCCT and run it for a couple of hours.

You need to be setting your voltage manually, and since its an E5200, don't go past 1.625v

Set your memory multiplier to 2.0/1:1 (the lowest setting) for now, we can OC the memory later.

An E5200 is going to need some serious voltage to get 24/7 stable at 3.7ghz, so set your target at 3.4ghz for now, that's plenty fast.

Lock your PCIe frequency to 100mhz

Disable C1E and EIST

Setup some slack memory timings (say: 5-5-5-18, as I say we can clock the memory later, best to keep the variables to a minimum for now)

The FSB on an E5200 usually craps out pretty low (around 340-360mhz) so start with a 300mhz fsb for now. Set your multiplier at 10x and voltage manually to 1.325v, DO NOT USE AUTO VOLTAGE


Stability test with OCCT

If that's fine then perhaps try a 333mhz FSB and keep that 10x multiplier. If that passes two/three hours of OCCT, you can then either try raining in your voltage (more voltage means more power consumption and heat, but less stability at high clocks, so the less you can get away with the better) or trying to step up your clock a little, doubt you'll get too much more milage out of that FSb so just try increasing the multi if you want.

Once you're happy with your CPU OC then you can set your memory back to stock/OC it.

 

[Kinitari]

It sounds like you're a very inexperienced OCer, so dial those settings way down and go and read up some guides.

You need to be stability testing your OCs, so download OCCT and run it for a couple of hours.

You need to be setting your voltage manually, and since its an E5200, don't go past 1.625v

Set your memory multiplier to 2.0/1:1 (the lowest setting) for now, we can OC the memory later.

An E5200 is going to need some serious voltage to get 24/7 stable at 3.7ghz, so set your target at 3.4ghz for now, that's plenty fast.

Lock your PCIe frequency to 100mhz

Disable C1E and EIST

Setup some slack memory timings (say: 5-5-5-18, as I say we can clock the memory later, best to keep the variables to a minimum for now)

The FSB on an E5200 usually craps out pretty low (around 340-360mhz) so start with a 300mhz fsb for now. Set your multiplier at 10x and voltage manually to 1.325v, DO NOT USE AUTO VOLTAGE


Stability test with OCCT

If that's fine then perhaps try a 333mhz FSB and keep that 10x multiplier. If that passes two/three hours of OCCT, you can then either try raining in your voltage (more voltage means more power consumption and heat, but less stability at high clocks, so the less you can get away with the better) or trying to step up your clock a little, doubt you'll get too much more milage out of that FSb so just try increasing the multi if you want.

Once you're happy with your CPU OC then you can set your memory back to stock/OC it.

Thanks for the advice man! Really helpful - currently running OCCT at the 300mhz FSB, dropped the target to 3.4ghz at 1.625v. I haven't really touched the memory multiplier, keeping it as is for now like you said - glad I posted this up, I guess if I had my setup running any longer I would have had more shutdowns BSDs.

If I can keep it stable at this setup, I don't think I'm going to need to OC it up much more, I haven't tried any games yet (currently re-installing Bioshock and The Witcher to test it out - I just remembered I should steal my GF's copy of Sims 3 and try that too) - but I assume with my setup I'll be good for most any games. I really just want it to be sturdy for Dragon Age and hopefully it will carry over for KotoR:O/FFXIV.

 

[K.Jack]

Hi, can someone give a few examples of good gaming laptops? It has to be a laptop because i will be going overseas for a full year, once there(Thailand) the laptop will be stationed in my room until i return to my own country(Belgium).
I'm looking to play games like DMC4/RE5/Street fighter 4,Assassins creed,Force Unleased,Crysis at max settings without any problems.
Also i heard that getting the biggest screens available for laptops(+20inc) aren't worth it since you would be dragging it around all the time. But for someone like me who will only be transporting the laptop to and from my destination is it do able?
Thanks

Budget?

 

[Minsc]

There's laptops with over 20" screens? Wow.

 

[Adent]

Run Memtest.

http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

But I can't my computer freezes.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

But I can't my computer freezes.

Your PC freezes at POST/start-up?

 

[Smokey]

*Disclaimer*

I know that building a PC is better bang for your buck. I KNOW this. I have a Best Buy card, and my dad has offered to let me get a new PC for letting him run up a nice little balance on the card sometime ago.

*/ disclaimer*

Am I mistaken or is this a pretty good PC from Best Buy (in general and for games)? :

http://tinyurl.com/lrw9fh

specs:

i7 920
9 GB RAM
I TB HD
GTX 260
Vista (upgrade to Win 7 for free later)

Price : $1,199

I wanted to get it earlier, but thought I should stop by and ask here first.

 

[MWS Natural]

*Disclaimer*

I know that building a PC is better bang for your buck. I KNOW this. I have a Best Buy card, and my dad has offered to let me get a new PC for letting him run up a nice little balance on the card sometime ago.

*/ disclaimer*

Am I mistaken or is this a pretty good PC from Best Buy (in general and for games)? :

http://tinyurl.com/lrw9fh

specs:

i7 920
9 GB RAM
I TB HD
GTX 260
Vista (upgrade to Win 7 for free later)

Price : $1,199

I wanted to get it earlier, but thought I should stop by and ask here first.

Yes that is a nice PC but I would be concerned with how upgradable is it and is overclocking locked out in the bios.

 

[Smokey]

Yes that is a nice PC but I would be concerned with how upgradable is it and is overclocking locked out in the bios.

Well I mean the only thing I would probably want to upgrade at some point would be the videocard and (maybe) processor?

9GB is more than I will EVER EVER need for anything I do, including games. I'll also likely never cross more than 100GB used on the HD.

edit: I was looking at some of the customer reviews on BB website, and a few of them mentioned ease of overclocking the bios.

Anyway this machine flies, even with Vista64, and the overclocking possibilities are basically endless: there is a special overclocking section of the BIOS which gives you both performance data and access to to timings, voltages, all that happy stuff. I haven't started cranking it up yet tho - have not felt the need.

 

[VAIL]

I'm Lookin to upgrade my monitor, but would love to bump my video at the same time, are there any combo deals out there?

Current is an Acer 19" wide display and Geforce9500 video card.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

I'm trying to decide between the ASUS G51VX-X1A and the ASUS G51VX-X2A. The only difference is the CPU. The XIA has a P8700 and the X2A has a T9600. The X2A is about $250 more expensive. 0.27 GHz and double the cache doesn't seem like its worth $250 to me.

What do you guys think?

 

[Hazaro]

Hi, can someone give a few examples of good gaming laptops? It has to be a laptop because i will be going overseas for a full year, once there(Thailand) the laptop will be stationed in my room until i return to my own country(Belgium).
I'm looking to play games like DMC4/RE5/Street fighter 4,Assassins creed,Force Unleased,Crysis at max settings without any problems.
Also i heard that getting the biggest screens available for laptops(+20inc) aren't worth it since you would be dragging it around all the time. But for someone like me who will only be transporting the laptop to and from my destination is it do able?
Thanks

Look one post above me. (You'll want something like a 260M for graphics)

There's is also a 1368x768 screen model for around $1.1k, but I wouldn't take it.

I can't find any other difference besides the processor either here...

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks for the advice man! Really helpful - currently running OCCT at the 300mhz FSB, dropped the target to 3.4ghz at 1.625v. I haven't really touched the memory multiplier, keeping it as is for now like you said - glad I posted this up, I guess if I had my setup running any longer I would have had more shutdowns BSDs.

If I can keep it stable at this setup, I don't think I'm going to need to OC it up much more, I haven't tried any games yet (currently re-installing Bioshock and The Witcher to test it out - I just remembered I should steal my GF's copy of Sims 3 and try that too) - but I assume with my setup I'll be good for most any games. I really just want it to be sturdy for Dragon Age and hopefully it will carry over for KotoR:O/FFXIV.

I'd really look at dropping that voltage if you can. Its "safe" but the highest VID setting Intel specifies, so more than you want to be using really.

I run a 3.33ghz E5200 24/7 stable myself, absolutely all you need for games. You're basically getting E8400 performance for a third of the price.

I can run my chip stable at 3.83ghz but it need a huge hike in voltage and its just not worth it aslong as you hit that 3.3-3.4ghz sweetspot, you're golden.

 

[brain_stew]

Well I mean the only thing I would probably want to upgrade at some point would be the videocard and (maybe) processor?

9GB is more than I will EVER EVER need for anything I do, including games. I'll also likely never cross more than 100GB used on the HD.

edit: I was looking at some of the customer reviews on BB website, and a few of them mentioned ease of overclocking the bios.

Well that's excellent, seems it uses a standard ASUS motherboard, which is a huge bonus. Means you can get a free performance boost of as much as 50% out of it if you want by OCing the CPU later on. Should be simple to upgrade all parts as you go with that meaning you'll never need to buy a whole new PC system again, which is great, it'll save you a fortune in the long term.

Having a i7 920 locked at stock for all of its life is a sad, sad thing, good job you dodged that bullet.



Be sure to run PC Wizard if you get it, so you know what motherboard you have exactly:

http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Oh, and have a look at the side of the PSU to see who manufactures it and what it can deliver on its 12V rails, really useful to know for the future.


The reason I'm so against retail PCs is that you're usually locked out from a load of free performance and cheap upgrades, the fact that this PC avoids those perils makes it a great buy, ASUS are a great manufacturer, I say go for it.

 

[Coldsnap]

Hopefully I don't need a new gaming computer, but I keep getting this blue screen. I took a picture of it, can anyone decode it and let me know whats wrong with my computer. I'm getting really close to just wiping it and installing Vista clean state.

Picture of my blue screen error:
http://i31.tinypic.com/mwwnb9.jpg

 

[larvi]

Hopefully I don't need a new gaming computer, but I keep getting this blue screen. I took a picture of it, can anyone decode it and let me know whats wrong with my computer. I'm getting really close to just wiping it and installing Vista clean state.

Picture of my blue screen error:
http://i31.tinypic.com/mwwnb9.jpg

wlangzxp.sys looks like a driver for a Zyxel wireless USB adapter and that error is an unhandled exception by the driver. Try updating the drivers for that and see if it helps, if not either contact Zyxel for support or get a different wireless adapter.

 

[Coldsnap]

wlangzxp.sys looks like a driver for a Zyxel wireless USB adapter and that error is an unhandled exception by the driver. Try updating the drivers for that and see if it helps, if not either contact Zyxel for support or get a different wireless adapter.

Ahh okay, thank you so much! Thats really good news because I thought maybe my videocard was broken or outdated, if it turns out my computer just needs a new driver for my USB wireless adapter or a complete new one that is awesome. That is the wireless adapter which was given to my by the verizon fios guy. My mind is blown that an outdated driver for a USB attachment would make my computer completely unstable.

 

[Smokey]

Well that's excellent, seems it uses a standard ASUS motherboard, which is a huge bonus. Means you can get a free performance boost of as much as 50% out of it if you want by OCing the CPU later on. Should be simple to upgrade all parts as you go with that meaning you'll never need to buy a whole new PC system again, which is great, it'll save you a fortune in the long term.

Having a i7 920 locked at stock for all of its life is a sad, sad thing, good job you dodged that bullet.



Be sure to run PC Wizard if you get it, so you know what motherboard you have exactly:

http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Oh, and have a look at the side of the PSU to see who manufactures it and what it can deliver on its 12V rails, really useful to know for the future.


The reason I'm so against retail PCs is that you're usually locked out from a load of free performance and cheap upgrades, the fact that this PC avoids those perils makes it a great buy, ASUS are a great manufacturer, I say go for it.

Alright thank you for the advice. I too am usually very hesitant of retail computers because of the reasons you stated, but it appears as if this machine is basically fully customizable as if it were hand built.

I know if I upgraded the video card, I'd probably want to replace the existing power supply. Also, how much can the i7 920 be overclocked? Can it get to 950 levels easily?

 

[AstroLad]

Alright thank you for the advice. I too am usually very hesitant of retail computers because of the reasons you stated, but it appears as if this machine is basically fully customizable as if it were hand built.

I know if I upgraded the video card, I'd probably want to replace the existing power supply. Also, how much can the i7 920 be overclocked? Can it get to 950 levels easily?

yes
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-4-a.html

 

[larvi]

Ahh okay, thank you so much! Thats really good news because I thought maybe my videocard was broken or outdated, if it turns out my computer just needs a new driver for my USB wireless adapter or a complete new one that is awesome. That is the wireless adapter which was given to my by the verizon fios guy. My mind is blown that an outdated driver for a USB attachment would make my computer completely unstable.

A driver could get errors because of another problem, i.e. bad memory, but usually you would see other programs getting errors as well. It also could be a problem with some other driver for the network adapter that is called before this one that is corrupting something in memory, etc. So it's not 100% sure it's a problem with the Zyxel driver/hardware but that's the best place to start troubleshooting.

 

[Ryoma-Echizen]

A review of the new HTPC/Inexpensive gaming FTW combo.

Athlon II 250(or 245-240 for saving a few bucks) + 785G mobo

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_785g_performance/page13.asp

 

[IceMarker]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

So my birthday is today and I finally got a 650W PSU and a EVGA GTX 260 and installed it into my comp.

I just went from avg. 12 FPS @ 640x480 on RE5 PC Benchmark to 60 FPS @ 1920x1080 with AA!

THIS IS AWESOME

 

[letsbereasonable]

A review of the new HTPC/Inexpensive gaming FTW combo.

Athlon II 250(or 245-240 for saving a few bucks) + 785G mobo

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_785g_performance/page13.asp

I'm probably going to with something like this for my secondary machine. Hopefully Newegg puts up a good combo deal. I should've jumped on the 945 X4 when they were running the practically free mobo deals on that, but oh well.

 

[Parham]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

So my birthday is today and I finally got a 650W PSU and a EVGA GTX 260 and installed it into my comp.

I just went from avg. 12 FPS @ 640x480 on RE5 PC Benchmark to 60 FPS @ 1920x1080 with AA!

THIS IS AWESOME

Congrats! What card did you originally have?

 

[IceMarker]

My original graphics "chip" was a GeForce 9100 AKA GeForce Motherboard 720a.

Even Crysis runs all settings at Very High around 50 FPS @ 1080p with my new card.

 

[Psychotext]

Yay, the 4890 vapor-x is in stock at a retailer I actually trust somewhat. :lol

 

[brain_stew]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

So my birthday is today and I finally got a 650W PSU and a EVGA GTX 260 and installed it into my comp.

I just went from avg. 12 FPS @ 640x480 on RE5 PC Benchmark to 60 FPS @ 1920x1080 with AA!

THIS IS AWESOME

Welcome to the master race! :lol

I'd recommend downloading EVGA Precision, these GTX 260s have some insane OCing headroom, mine's giving me GTX 280 level performance, which is always nice. You can use OCCT's GPU test to stability test.

Mine's running 675/1404/1160 as opposes to the default specification of 576/1242/999 and that's considered a "moderate" OC, these things are beasts!

http://downloads.guru3d.com/EVGA-Precision-1.7.1-download-2251.html

and

http://downloads.guru3d.com/OCCT-(OverClock-Checking-Tool)-3.0.0-download-1880.html

 

[TheHeretic]

I'd really look at dropping that voltage if you can. Its "safe" but the highest VID setting Intel specifies, so more than you want to be using really.

I run a 3.33ghz E5200 24/7 stable myself, absolutely all you need for games. You're basically getting E8400 performance for a third of the price.

I can run my chip stable at 3.83ghz but it need a huge hike in voltage and its just not worth it aslong as you hit that 3.3-3.4ghz sweetspot, you're golden.

Intel specifies: 0.85V – 1.3625V

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAY7

Its a 45nm chip dude, 1.6v is high even for a 65m.

 

[rohlfinator]

I finally got my new 4850/PSU/case set up last week and I'm really liking the setup so far. It's nothing amazing specs-wise, but the upgrade was relatively cheap and should keep me going for a good while.

It's been awesome playing through some of my Steam backlog with max or near-max settings, and I also picked up Mirror's Edge, which is a kick-ass game. I was also happy to find out that it'll play Left 4 Dead in split-screen with no problems, so I've been running through that with my brother.

It'll be really nice to finally be able to keep up with modern games for a change.

 

[cleveridea]

Smokey

I bought this Asus model and I absolutely love it. It runs everything I want to play on it beautifully on my 1920x1080 samsung monitor GTA IV, Crysis, Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Oblivion etc

Best thing is the machine has been 100% stable it has never crashed/hung in the weeks of solid use I have had out of it. (Some apps have crashed but can be shut down and O/S resumes). This was part of the reason I decided against build-it-yourself, I have had friends built custom PC's before for me but always had system freeze or reboots, basically 99% reliable.

I was thinking of overclocking an i7 920 and decided on an ASUS motherboard so it was a nice surprise to see a machine at best buy from ASUS based on the same motherboard. I checked out the BIOS and you have all the features needed for a serious overclock, I havent actually made any changes yet as I have found the most demanding stuff like Crysis runs as fast as I need.

One thing that is really cool is that Asus give a simple '2.93 GHz' option in the BIOS (or in their control app that runs by default in windows vista). So anyone can easily get that overclock without any effort whatsoever.

At some point I plan to overclock the GTX 260 (as I understand it, fan defaults at 40%). I will look at GPU upgrade when the next generation of ATI cards come out.

The machine is also nice and quiet, something I really appreciated after seeing a friends overclocked intel dual core 4890 box with half a dozen fans.

 

[baby panda]

i'm thinking about picking up sf4 but need suggestions for controllers. what i'm looking for in a controller are:
-dual analog
-preferably wired
-good dpad

about the dpads, the only ones i've really liked was the snes/cc. heard good things about the saturn but it doesn't have dual analog. no stores around me have the rumblepad2 on display so i can't test out the pad + i don't like the square holes.

 

[Ceebs]

i'm thinking about picking up sf4 but need suggestions for controllers. what i'm looking for in a controller are:
-dual analog
-preferably wired
-good dpad

about the dpads, the only ones i've really liked was the snes/cc. heard good things about the saturn but it doesn't have dual analog. no stores around me have the rumblepad2 on display so i can't test out the pad + i don't like the square holes.

You could always grab one of the wired 360 arcade sticks if you find one on the cheap.

 

[baby panda]

You could always grab one of the wired 360 arcade sticks if you find one on the cheap.

i've always done better with pads and i'll be using it for other games too.

 

[Smokey]

Smokey

I bought this Asus model and I absolutely love it. It runs everything I want to play on it beautifully on my 1920x1080 samsung monitor GTA IV, Crysis, Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Oblivion etc

Best thing is the machine has been 100% stable it has never crashed/hung in the weeks of solid use I have had out of it. (Some apps have crashed but can be shut down and O/S resumes). This was part of the reason I decided against build-it-yourself, I have had friends built custom PC's before for me but always had system freeze or reboots, basically 99% reliable.

I was thinking of overclocking an i7 920 and decided on an ASUS motherboard so it was a nice surprise to see a machine at best buy from ASUS based on the same motherboard. I checked out the BIOS and you have all the features needed for a serious overclock, I havent actually made any changes yet as I have found the most demanding stuff like Crysis runs as fast as I need.

One thing that is really cool is that Asus give a simple '2.93 GHz' option in the BIOS (or in their control app that runs by default in windows vista). So anyone can easily get that overclock without any effort whatsoever.

At some point I plan to overclock the GTX 260 (as I understand it, fan defaults at 40%). I will look at GPU upgrade when the next generation of ATI cards come out.

The machine is also nice and quiet, something I really appreciated after seeing a friends overclocked intel dual core 4890 box with half a dozen fans.

Thanks for the impressions. Always nicer to hear it from somebody on GAF rather than Best Buy customer reviews which is what I had been going by.

I'm getting really really close to buying this computer. It sounds like it's fully customizable like a DIY PC...except I don't have to do-it-myself, which is something I've always wanted to do but have been scared:lol

So the i7 920 is at stock 2.66, but they give you a simple option to push it to 2.93 ghz just like that?! That's awesome if I get it, I'd probably just check that option just because.

What kind of monitor do you have btw?

 

[brain_stew]

Intel specifies: 0.85V – 1.3625V

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAY7

Its a 45nm chip dude, 1.6v is high even for a 65m.

Ah crap I know that, it was a typo, missed the 3 before the 6 should have read 1.3625 not 1.625!!

 

[brain_stew]

i'm thinking about picking up sf4 but need suggestions for controllers. what i'm looking for in a controller are:
-dual analog
-preferably wired
-good dpad

about the dpads, the only ones i've really liked was the snes/cc. heard good things about the saturn but it doesn't have dual analog. no stores around me have the rumblepad2 on display so i can't test out the pad + i don't like the square holes.

Saturn USB, nothing else worth considering.

You'll need a 360 controller for 3D games but its useless for Street Fighter. There's no one decent one size fits all controller, you'll be hugely compromising both areas if you go that way. Saturn USB + wired 360 pad is the perfect combination for PC gamers and not particularly expensive really.

 

[Firestorm]

Speaking of controllers, what happened to the wireless 360 adapter? Any still around for $20?

 

[brain_stew]

Speaking of controllers, what happened to the wireless 360 adapter? Any still around for $20?

Its sold in a pack with the controller itself these days. Though the adapter included with mine was busted...........

 

[TheExodu5]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

So my birthday is today and I finally got a 650W PSU and a EVGA GTX 260 and installed it into my comp.

I just went from avg. 12 FPS @ 640x480 on RE5 PC Benchmark to 60 FPS @ 1920x1080 with AA!

THIS IS AWESOME

Awesome to hear. I remember you asking around a month or so ago concerning this.

Welcome to PC Gaming.

 

[Firestorm]

Its sold in a pack with the controller itself these days. Though the adapter included with mine was busted...........

Urgh. Already have a controller, just want the adapter. Stupid Microsoft =(

By the by for those interested, I got my hackintosh build up and running (I think). Tricky part was getting it to recognize my GTX 275. I'll test it out more tonight and if it works fine, I'll make a topic on it.

 

[AstroLad]

Saturn USB, nothing else worth considering.

You'll need a 360 controller for 3D games but its useless for Street Fighter. There's no one decent one size fits all controller, you'll be hugely compromising both areas if you go that way. Saturn USB + wired 360 pad is the perfect combination for PC gamers and not particularly expensive really.

Hey bs, I can't properly customize my Saturn pad on SFIV. Sure I'm missing something obvious but stuck here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=16820528&postcount=37761

Any suggestions?

 

[cleveridea]

I'm getting really really close to buying this computer. It sounds like it's fully customizable like a DIY PC...except I don't have to do-it-myself, which is something I've always wanted to do but have been scared:lol

Yeah I read up a lot about do-it-yourself and the right types of cooling, thermal paste, how to use the BIOS to overclock (memory timings, FSB speeds etc) but was too scared also to try it with expensive components (I wanted a i7 920). I also had bad experiences in the past with friends building custom PC's for me in terms of system crashes (eg freeze every 5 or 6 hours or so) but that was probably just bad luck. I never felt I had an option to buy a retail gaming computer before, I didnt even think of looking for one in stores (in the past they always had weak GPU's and poor PSU to power an upgrade). I happened to look around after seeing if there was a nice laptop for my wife in best buy.

Keep in mind that there is less expansion capability than a do it yourself - I dont think there is room inside for SLI in there. Also, it would need a PSU upgrade for a x2 card or other super hungry card like the GTX 295.

So the i7 920 is at stock 2.66, but they give you a simple option to push it to 2.93 ghz just like that?! That's awesome if I get it, I'd probably just check that option just because.

Yep super simple option, I couldnt believe how obvious and easy it was. There is an Asus 'Helper' app that runs automatically when u start vista. I clicked it and noticed a 'CPU upgrade' like button, you can click to set to 2.93 GHz. And thats it! So easy.

I also checked the BIOS and noticed all the entries required for an i7 overclock are in there, similar to Asus top end motherboards. As I understand it, although a custom cooler is always preferable, the stock i7 cooler is pretty decent compared with cheaper CPU's. So I may try an overclock to 3.2-3.5 at some later point once the next gen graphics cards come around. As of now, I find everything I like to actually play (GTA IV, Sacred 2, Dead Space, Sins/Galciv, Titan Quest, FC2, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Mass Effect, Witcher, Drakensang) runs super smooth at just the stock 2.66 GHz.

What kind of monitor do you have btw?

I think its this one http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9229685&type=product&id=1218063394621

Its a 23 inch Samsung 1920 x 1080 with 2 ms response time (in practice no visible ghosting but I dont know if thats visibly different from the slower response models). You can probably buy a monitor much more cheaply online, but buying from a physical store was really important to me, I am paranoid of bad pixels since such horrible times with bad-pixeled PSPs :lol The buy from a store and return-if-bad-pixels policy worked well for me a prior time I bought a laptop with bad pixels (twice no less), so I definitely wanted to do so again.

I went for samsung as a prior samsung model I bought was bad-pixel-free and I was super happy to find this 23 inch I bought also had not a single bad pixel (checking blank screens in black, white, red, green, blue). I was soooo happy. Also completely stupid but I love the touchmaster control - there are no buttons it feels your touch on the monitor casing itself to turn on/off or change settings.

 

[cleveridea]

oh BTW smokey the system ships with a decent razer keyboard but a *cheap* mouse. I recommend buying a nice mouse if you dont have one, I got a razer mouse as I really like the feel of the mouse, its buttons and especially the mouse wheel (both movement and clicking are very solid and 'clicky'). It also tracks better/more smoothly. Its also bad-ass as it glows blue in the dark :lol

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...razer&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1174694191542

or cheaper mail order eg newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153007

they also have other lower or higher end models with more buttons etc.

 

[Wrekt]

I'm Lookin to upgrade my monitor, but would love to bump my video at the same time, are there any combo deals out there?

Current is an Acer 19" wide display and Geforce9500 video card.

I can't help you with a combo deal but NewEgg is selling Acer 24 inch monitors (1920x1080 max reso) for $200 until tomorrow night. I picked one up about a month ago when they were selling them for this price and I'm extremely happy with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...80609-_-MonitorsLCDFlatPanel-_-L0C-_-24236049

 

[dionysus]

So my parts arrived today. It is so difficult to not go home early so I can build my new rig. I just have them sitting out on my desk right now torturing me with their presence.

Will copying the steam apps folder work with an OS change. I am going from XP to Win 7?