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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition

D

DMczaf

Member
Ok, I finished. Turns on, all my components show up in Windows XP after installing all the drivers. Things SEEM fine...

Now, when I was putting on the stock fan that came with the Phenom II X4, I felt I did it wrong and removed it and placed it back on in a better position and locked it in. The instructions for the CPU said if I remove it, I should add more thermal paste. Right now idle temp is 41C. I haven't checked under load. Should I pick up some thermal paste after class at Frys just in case? Did I fuck up?
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
Well, just had to build a new PC. Not by choice. I went to lunch and when I came back my PC was completely dead. The power supply was damn hot and smelled of toxic fumes. Good thing it didn't start a fire.

Fried the mother board completely too. I can't test the CPU or video card if they're ok or not, but if someone wants a free Athlon64 3000 socket 754 or a EVGA Nvidia 6800 AGP 128MB card let me know.

I ended up getting a q9400 CPU with a 4770 gpu. hopefully that will last.

However, I'm trying to install Vista and install freezes. My Vista disks are from pre SP1 days. I've read that the new GPU maybe causing the freeze, has anyone run into a similar problem?

Is there a way to get updated Vista install disks from MS?
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
DMczaf said:
Ok, I finished. Turns on, all my components show up in Windows XP after installing all the drivers. Things SEEM fine...

Now, when I was putting on the stock fan that came with the Phenom II X4, I felt I did it wrong and removed it and placed it back on in a better position and locked it in. The instructions for the CPU said if I remove it, I should add more thermal paste. Right now idle temp is 41C. I haven't checked under load. Should I pick up some thermal paste after class at Frys just in case? Did I fuck up?
Click to expand...

41C should be fine.

Not sure what the thermal spec for the X4 is, but I'm assuming anything up to 60C-65C under load should be alright.
 
A

aznpxdd

Member
Hey all, I need to put together a budget rig for my bro, the budget is about $500 without the case and monitor. He doesn't really game anymore, so graphics shouldn't be the top priority, though it wouldn't hurt to have a decent one. Usually I don't have a problem putting together a rig, but yeah, I haven't really kept up with the "budget" side of PC component. I'd really appreciate it if someone can help me out, or give me some sort of guideline.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
MWS Natural said:
The Apple trailers are 1080p but lower (2-3 Mbit) bitrate h.264 than a bluray movie which can get as high as 40Mbps. Well they used to be I haven't really been on their site in a while.

I understand everyone's living conditions are different, whatever works for you I am not trying to judge. I personally sit at the THX recommended distance of 6.5 feet from my 5020FD, feed it 80% bluray movies with the proper biased lighting. I mean why spend all that money on a TV and not get the most out of it right?
Click to expand...

Actually, the 1080p trailer is 166 megs, and about 2:10 long, so the average bitrate is a bit over 10Mbit/sec. It's probably hitting highs of around 15Mbps, and thus, really is not any worse than your typical HDTV feed, actually it's much better in my opinion since it is encoded properly without all the annoying blocking artifacts you see in high-action or low bitrate HD feeds.

I mainly got the Kuro because of it's size, accurate color, and deep blacks, and all the buzz I guess. And for a LCD/Plasma TV, it actually has pretty decent built in speakers as well. While I'm clearly not getting all the resolution out of the TV I could be, I still am benefiting from all the other features and color reproduction, plus I didn't get it until the "fire sale" right before when they went out of business, so it was hard to resist it when it was marked down nearly 50%! If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be the owner of a 50" Samsung LCD HDTV instead.
 
D

DMczaf

Member
TheExodu5 said:
41C should be fine.

Not sure what the thermal spec for the X4 is, but I'm assuming anything up to 60C-65C under load should be alright.
Click to expand...

I ran Prime95 for about 20 mins and the max temp hovered around 63-64C
 
S

Shambles

Member
DMczaf said:
Ok, I finished. Turns on, all my components show up in Windows XP after installing all the drivers. Things SEEM fine...

Now, when I was putting on the stock fan that came with the Phenom II X4, I felt I did it wrong and removed it and placed it back on in a better position and locked it in. The instructions for the CPU said if I remove it, I should add more thermal paste. Right now idle temp is 41C. I haven't checked under load. Should I pick up some thermal paste after class at Frys just in case? Did I fuck up?
Click to expand...

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=532

Max operating temperature 62C. You should be ok for having up to 64 for a bit but you wouldn't want to constantly run it that hot. If that was with prime95 or alike you'll never stress your CPU in everyday use anyways. But yes if you remove the cooler you should re-apply the paste.
 
M

MWS Natural

Member
Minsc said:
Actually, the 1080p trailer is 166 megs, and about 2:10 long, so the average bitrate is a bit over 10Mbit/sec. It's probably hitting highs of around 15Mbps, and thus, really is not any worse than your typical HDTV feed, actually it's much better in my opinion since it is encoded properly without all the annoying blocking artifacts you see in high-action or low bitrate HD feeds.

I mainly got the Kuro because of it's size, accurate color, and deep blacks, and all the buzz I guess. And for a LCD/Plasma TV, it actually has pretty decent built in speakers as well. While I'm clearly not getting all the resolution out of the TV I could be, I still am benefiting from all the other features and color reproduction, plus I didn't get it until the "fire sale" right before when they went out of business, so it was hard to resist it when it was marked down nearly 50%! If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be the owner of a 50" Samsung LCD HDTV instead.
Click to expand...

Oh ok that's a nice bitrate, still short of the average bluray bitrate of 24Mbps. I mainly had an issue regarding your comments about 480p not looking much different than 1080p. To me it's like saying, "oh man this Lamborghini isn't that fast" when you don't drive it above 55mph. The color reproduction is probably the weakest point of the 5020 unless you have had it calibrated with controlCAL. Enjoy your TV though, it's just comments like that which irk me.
 
N

NameGenerated

Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
Ugh, I just fucked up my computer. I decided to update the BIOS.....it didn't go so well. First the computer wouldn't boot up and I need to insert the Windows CD. So I did that, got to the Windows installation screen, tried to repair but I don't have a floppy for that. So then I entered the setup, it detected that Windows was already installed so I exited and it rebooted. Now when I boot up it says "NTLDR is missing. Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart." I'm stuck.

Why do I do these things....ugh. Posting from another computer obviously.
 
Y

Ysiadmihi

Banned
NameGenerated said:
Ugh, I just fucked up my computer. I decided to update the BIOS.....it didn't go so well. First the computer wouldn't boot up and I need to insert the Windows CD. So I did that, got to the Windows installation screen, tried to repair but I don't have a floppy for that. So then I entered the setup, it detected that Windows was already installed so I exited and it rebooted. Now when I boot up it says "NTLDR is missing. Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart." I'm stuck.

Why do I do these things....ugh. Posting from another computer obviously.
Click to expand...

Do you have multiple HDDs with different OSs on them and if so did you remember to set your boot disk priority after flashing? You might be trying to launch an installation of Windows that was already ruined and you don't use.

I always forget to do this after I reset my BIOS. There's a good couple seconds of rage when that message pops up until I realize what's wrong :lol
 
T

TheHeretic

Banned
NameGenerated said:
Ugh, I just fucked up my computer. I decided to update the BIOS.....it didn't go so well. First the computer wouldn't boot up and I need to insert the Windows CD. So I did that, got to the Windows installation screen, tried to repair but I don't have a floppy for that. So then I entered the setup, it detected that Windows was already installed so I exited and it rebooted. Now when I boot up it says "NTLDR is missing. Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart." I'm stuck.

Why do I do these things....ugh. Posting from another computer obviously.
Click to expand...

You have to repair your bootloader. Google how to do this. Otherwise make sure your BIOS has the appropriate hard drive in its boot configuration.
 
N

NameGenerated

Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
I have 1 80 gig HDD with pretty much just windows on it, it's too small for all my games, and i have another bigger HDD, 300gigs I believe, with all my games and music on it. My top priority is to not lose my music as that means I'd have to re-rip it all and that takes forever. I guess I'll see what I can do. I've just about had it with my computer lately. It freezes about twice a week and display driver errors have been really frequent whenever I mess with the settings in WoW. Just getting pissed off from it all.
 
N

NameGenerated

Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
I give up. I've done fixmbr and fixboot C: in the Windows recovery system and I've messed with the boot priority countless times. Nothing is working. I guess I'm going to reinstall Windows. All this because I tried to update the BIOS. Ugggggghhh
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
NameGenerated said:
I give up. I've done fixmbr and fixboot C: in the Windows recovery system and I've messed with the boot priority countless times. Nothing is working. I guess I'm going to reinstall Windows. All this because I tried to update the BIOS. Ugggggghhh
Click to expand...

If you're just reinstalling windows on the 80 GB disk, the 300 GB ove should be the left in tact.
 
N

NameGenerated

Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
McHuj said:
If you're just reinstalling windows on the 80 GB disk, the 300 GB ove should be the left in tact.
Click to expand...
Yeah I just did it. Everything is fine but Windows is not detecting any of the programs on the 300gig disk, which I expected. Fortunately now I can operate everything. What I am going to do it wait for my external HDD to come in the mail (been meaning to get one forever, plus I will now be able to upgrade my PS3 drive) and just move all my music on to that, then buy a nice big HDD and finally get rid of this 2 HDD system I've had going on forever now. Any recommendations? 350-500 gigs would be good, buy you can never have too much space!

Also, my motherboard has an NVidia chipset, that doesn't prevent me from using ATI cards does it? Just want to make sure I can use a card before I buy one.
 
F

fatigues_gasolini

Member
Is there any way to remove a Windows install? I always boot to Windows 7, and have Vista installed on another hard drive. Is there anyway to remove it from within Windows 7?
 
M

Mudo

Member
Ok guys, my boyfriend decided he wants the desktop computer he built me 1 1/2 years ago for himself, so he is building me a new computer today/tomorrow. I play a lot of PC games so I always want the stuff that will run my games as nice as possible lol. This is a list of what he is putting together - now I'm not umm very good at the whole PC hardware thing and really just want something I can play, say, Far Cry 2 with max settings at a good framerate. Is this going to work? Sorry if the format of what I am posting is weird, it's what he sent me and I don't know how to really interpret it. Thanks ahead of time for any input:

CPU = AMD Phenom 965 OC 4200.2 MHz

Memory = 4 x mushkin 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel 7-7-6-18

Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX

Video Card = 2 x POWERCOLOR PCS+ AX4890 1GBD5-PPH Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Factory OC 950 MHz

Hard Drive = 3 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 5

Power Supply = KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W

CPU Cooler = COOLER MASTER V10 Hybrid TEC

Case = COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000

VGA cooler = 2 x ZALMAN VF1000

Case Fan = 4 x Scythe S-Flex SFF21G 120mm

Optical Drive = 2 x SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B

Sound Card = HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz

Monitor = Acer H243Hbmid 24" 2ms Brightness 300 cd/m2 Contrast Ratio 40000:1 Max (ACM) Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Uh, he's building you what I would call the best money could buy. Overkill. You'll be able to play games released in two years at max.

Don't think you really need two DVD drives, but hey at the price the rest of that probably costs I don't know if it'll make much of a difference. I also like Western Digital more than Seagate for hard drives, but that might just be because my Seagate drive just died on me and I'm not happy about it.
 
M

Mudo

Member
Ok thanks for the input. I'm glad it will be a good computer - the one I have now is alright, but games never seemed to run above 30FPS ever if I had the settings turned up high. Maybe now I'll be able to actually play Farcry2 :D
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Mudo said:
Ok thanks for the input. I'm glad it will be a good computer - the one I have now is alright, but games never seemed to run above 30FPS ever if I had the settings turned up high. Maybe now I'll be able to actually play Farcry2 :D
Click to expand...
IMO, I think most of it is a waste of money...

(IMO + I think? Thats kinda redundant.)
 
T

TheHeretic

Banned
Mudo said:
Ok guys, my boyfriend decided he wants the desktop computer he built me 1 1/2 years ago for himself, so he is building me a new computer today/tomorrow. I play a lot of PC games so I always want the stuff that will run my games as nice as possible lol. This is a list of what he is putting together - now I'm not umm very good at the whole PC hardware thing and really just want something I can play, say, Far Cry 2 with max settings at a good framerate. Is this going to work? Sorry if the format of what I am posting is weird, it's what he sent me and I don't know how to really interpret it. Thanks ahead of time for any input:

CPU = AMD Phenom 965 OC 4200.2 MHz

Memory = 4 x mushkin 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel 7-7-6-18

Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX

Video Card = 2 x POWERCOLOR PCS+ AX4890 1GBD5-PPH Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Factory OC 950 MHz

Hard Drive = 3 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 5

Power Supply = KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W

CPU Cooler = COOLER MASTER V10 Hybrid TEC

Case = COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000

VGA cooler = 2 x ZALMAN VF1000

Case Fan = 4 x Scythe S-Flex SFF21G 120mm

Optical Drive = 2 x SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B

Sound Card = HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz

Monitor = Acer H243Hbmid 24" 2ms Brightness 300 cd/m2 Contrast Ratio 40000:1 Max (ACM) Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
Click to expand...

Its excessively powerful to the point of absurdity. Generally the build relies on on some dodgy parts, the PSU and HDD's for example. Do you actually need 4.5 terabytes of storage, because thats insane.

Its a waste of money in a lot of areas really.
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
NameGenerated said:
Yeah I just did it. Everything is fine but Windows is not detecting any of the programs on the 300gig disk, which I expected. Fortunately now I can operate everything. What I am going to do it wait for my external HDD to come in the mail (been meaning to get one forever, plus I will now be able to upgrade my PS3 drive) and just move all my music on to that, then buy a nice big HDD and finally get rid of this 2 HDD system I've had going on forever now. Any recommendations? 350-500 gigs would be good, buy you can never have too much space!

Also, my motherboard has an NVidia chipset, that doesn't prevent me from using ATI cards does it? Just want to make sure I can use a card before I buy one.
Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any problems with an NVidia chipset and an ATI gfx card.

Your programs information is stored in the windows registry and it got wiped with the new install. I'm not sure if there's a way to fix that without reinstalling the programs.

gamerecks said:
Is there any way to remove a Windows install? I always boot to Windows 7, and have Vista installed on another hard drive. Is there anyway to remove it from within Windows 7?
Click to expand...

Is the Vista on it's own complete hard drive or just a partion? You should be able to format the hard drive from within windows 7. If you want to remove the boot entries, google for "bcedit" and you should find a way on how to remove the Vista boot entry.
 
N

NameGenerated

Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?
McHuj said:
There shouldn't be any problems with an NVidia chipset and an ATI gfx card.

Your programs information is stored in the windows registry and it got wiped with the new install. I'm not sure if there's a way to fix that without reinstalling the programs.
Click to expand...
Figured, I just mainly wanted to get my music off into a safe place more than anything. I'm fine with re-installing everything, except WoW which will be a bitch considering I JUST lent my friend the original's 4 discs about 4 days ago and now he went back to college. Time to use Blizzard's slow as fuck downloader. :lol
 
S

Shambles

Member
Mudo said:
Ok guys, my boyfriend decided he wants the desktop computer he built me 1 1/2 years ago for himself, so he is building me a new computer today/tomorrow. I play a lot of PC games so I always want the stuff that will run my games as nice as possible lol. This is a list of what he is putting together - now I'm not umm very good at the whole PC hardware thing and really just want something I can play, say, Far Cry 2 with max settings at a good framerate. Is this going to work? Sorry if the format of what I am posting is weird, it's what he sent me and I don't know how to really interpret it. Thanks ahead of time for any input:

CPU = AMD Phenom 965 OC 4200.2 MHz

Memory = 4 x mushkin 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel 7-7-6-18

Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX

Video Card = 2 x POWERCOLOR PCS+ AX4890 1GBD5-PPH Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Factory OC 950 MHz

Hard Drive = 3 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 5

Power Supply = KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W

CPU Cooler = COOLER MASTER V10 Hybrid TEC

Case = COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000

VGA cooler = 2 x ZALMAN VF1000

Case Fan = 4 x Scythe S-Flex SFF21G 120mm

Optical Drive = 2 x SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B

Sound Card = HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz

Monitor = Acer H243Hbmid 24" 2ms Brightness 300 cd/m2 Contrast Ratio 40000:1 Max (ACM) Maximum Resolution 1920 x 1080
Click to expand...

I bought the striker after I was unhappy about the line interference I was getting over my headphones port from my on-board audio. I still get it which leads me to believe that there is something wrong with my motherboard that is causing some EM interference. Either way though I didn't notice a huge difference in sound quality, at least to the point of being worth the money. It doesn't sound like money is an issue for him, but in case it is you won't be too hurt by dropping the sound card.
 
D

Decado

Member
Decado said:
I'd like some advice. I need more storrage space and I'd also like to upgrade my PC sometime in the next six months. I've had a experience with internal HDs. That said, I don't want to install a new internal HD in this computer if it isn't a good platform to upgrade on. Here are my specs:

Core2 Duo E6300 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 1.86GHZ 1066FSB 2MB Retail
Sapphire Radeon X1950 XT 625MHZ PCI-E 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out VIVO OEM Video Card
Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 ATX LGA775 Conroe P965 DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 GBLAN Audio Motherboard
OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
Coolermaster CAC-T05 Centurion 5 Aluminum ATX Tower Case 5X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT SILVER-BLACK No PS
OCZ GameXStream 700W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
Pioneer DVR-111D Black DVD-RW 16X6X16 DVD+RW 16X8X16 DL 8X IDE OEM DVD Burner
Sony Black 1.44MB 3.5IN Floppy Drive
Logitec X-530 speakers

Your thoughts

thanks
Click to expand...

I'm thinking about getting this for my second hard-drive:

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

How do I know if it will fit and are hard-drives easy to install (no soldering etc.)? Also, should I made it my "main" hard drive, and if so, is there an easy way to transfer or back up all the stuff on my current hard drive to it.

Also, I was looking at getting more RAM, but I cannot find a pair of 1GB sticks to match my current ones. It is my understanding that if I added 2x2 GB sticks it would negate the current RAM I have in my system. I take it I should just replace it with faster 2x2GB sticks of RAM?

thanks again
 
M

Mudo

Member
Wow I really had no idea it was THAT powerful! Um, money isn't an issue for this computer and he told me that going in - I assume since I always say I want something that will run my games really well, he's going above and beyond to make sure it happens lol. Well, I guess I'd rather it be too much than not enough. About the hard drive, I asked and it's going to be (don't quote me here) running all together somehow so the total is 3 Terabytes but it's faster (?) something like that.
 
S

Shambles

Member
Mudo said:
Wow I really had no idea it was THAT powerful! Um, money isn't an issue for this computer and he told me that going in - I assume since I always say I want something that will run my games really well, he's going above and beyond to make sure it happens lol. Well, I guess I'd rather it be too much than not enough. About the hard drive, I asked and it's going to be (don't quote me here) running all together somehow so the total is 3 Terabytes but it's faster (?) something like that.
Click to expand...

It's a solid choice then. Onboard audio isn't as bad as it used to be in the past where a dedicated sound card was almost neccesary, but it still is a notable improvement depending on your speaker setup. I'm jealous though, that is a nice machine. My motherboard warranty is up in a month and I'm considering RMA'ing it but I'm weighing if it will actually be worth the hassle. The rare time I do jack in I can do it on the back ports of the striker without much interference.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Mudo said:
Wow I really had no idea it was THAT powerful! Um, money isn't an issue for this computer and he told me that going in - I assume since I always say I want something that will run my games really well, he's going above and beyond to make sure it happens lol. Well, I guess I'd rather it be too much than not enough. About the hard drive, I asked and it's going to be (don't quote me here) running all together somehow so the total is 3 Terabytes but it's faster (?) something like that.
Click to expand...

Go with a single 4890, and add the second if games aren't fast enough. You're probably going to be more than happy with just one 4890, running SLI or Crossfire introduces a bunch of problems that most likely aren't worth dealing with when you already are running a 4890. Unless you really really need to play Crysis on Ultra-high. But then you can always add the 2nd 4890.

Maybe you can just turn them on and off on the fly though, when you load games? If that's the case, it's probably not a big deal either way. I don't know.
 
F

fanboi

Banned
fanboi said:
I'm thinking of getting a HTPC which I can play the latest games on.

What you think of this (swedish):

http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010126376.aspx
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010128920.aspx
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010190097.aspx
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010199551.aspx
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010213276.aspx
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010312844.aspx `

Around 7500 SEK around 1000 dollars.

(also posted this in the HTPC thread)
Click to expand...

ANTEC HTPC NSK2480 MATX SILVER 380W

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E8500 3.1GHZ 6MB 1333MHZ S-775

MSI G43M2-F S-775 G43 M-ATX

CORSAIR 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC8500 CL5 (2X2GB)

SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.11 1TB 7200RPM SATA/300 32MB

SAPPHIRE RADEON HD4850 1GB GDDR3 PCI-E VGA/DVI/HDMI

Instead of links!
 
R

rohlfinator

Member
Decado said:
I'm thinking about getting this for my second hard-drive:

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

How do I know if it will fit and are hard-drives easy to install (no soldering etc.)? Also, should I made it my "main" hard drive, and if so, is there an easy way to transfer or back up all the stuff on my current hard drive to it.
Click to expand...
If you have a standard PC tower it should fit, but if you want to be sure, you could open up the case and find your current hard drive, and see if there's an open bay next to it.

Hard drives are one of the easier parts to install -- just screw it in to your case and plug in two cables.

If you're happy with the performance of your current hard drive, I would just use the new one as a secondary drive. There are ways of transferring your data, but it's more work than it's worth in your case, IMO.
 
M

Mudo

Member
Hmm yeah my computer now had 2 video cards in it but they are older , and I'm not sure about the problems it causes. I have heard that before though, how it can actually be worse if you have 2 running at once than just 1...that's just so weird to me. But if there is a way I can just try it with 1 and then with 2, that is the way to go. I don't *need* to run anything on ultra-high, I just want to be able to turn most of it up and the game still be playable (not a slide show like usual lol). Thanks for the info.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
The new WHQL Nvidia driver has lists support for a spree of mobile 300M chips:

GTS 360M
GTS 350M
GT 335M
GT 330M
310M
305M

So two chips for each performance class.

Stay tuned mobile users. We expect some more information to be leaking out soon.
 
R

rohlfinator

Member
Mudo said:
Hmm yeah my computer now had 2 video cards in it but they are older , and I'm not sure about the problems it causes. I have heard that before though, how it can actually be worse if you have 2 running at once than just 1...that's just so weird to me. But if there is a way I can just try it with 1 and then with 2, that is the way to go. I don't *need* to run anything on ultra-high, I just want to be able to turn most of it up and the game still be playable (not a slide show like usual lol). Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
Dual GPUs aren't really worse, per se, but they can introduce some weird problems that a single-card system wouldn't have. And since a single 4890 or 275 can run pretty much anything on max settings with a good framerate, it's hard to recommend dual GPUs these days (unless you're dead-set on running something that would absolutely require it).
 
S

Shambles

Member
K.Jack said:
The new WHQL Nvidia driver has lists support for a spree of mobile 300M chips:

GTS 360M
GTS 350M
GT 335M
GT 330M
310M
305M

So two chips for each performance class.

Stay tuned mobile users. We expect some more information to be leaking out soon.
Click to expand...

I can't wait to see more mobile chips named after Desktop counterparts which they share none of the performance of. You'd think it would be in a companies best interest to simplify naming schemes to attract people to PC gaming.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Video Card = 2 x POWERCOLOR PCS+ AX4890 1GBD5-PPH Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Factory OC 950 MHz

Hard Drive = 3 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 5

Power Supply = KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W

CPU Cooler = COOLER MASTER V10 Hybrid TEC

Case = COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000

VGA cooler = 2 x ZALMAN VF1000
Click to expand...
Slash a 4890, 2 HDD's, PSU down 300-400w (Corsair), Xigmatek cooler, stock VGA HS's, and no sound card.

That saves around $650.
A single 4890 is already top end, 1.5TB of storage is overkill for almost anyone, 1000w is extremely excessive, A V10 is ridiculous, and stock VGA coolers are fine.

This is a V10. It cools your processor. :lol [*edit realized it is a TEC, Now it's supremely overkill]
cooler-master-v10-cooler_imagelarge.jpg
 
Shai-Tan

Shai-Tan

Banned
Dual GPUs aren't really worse, per se, but they can introduce some weird problems that a single-card system wouldn't have. And since a single 4890 or 275 can run pretty much anything on max settings with a good framerate, it's hard to recommend dual GPUs these days (unless you're dead-set on running something that would absolutely require it).
Click to expand...

Actually in 1080p some games are marginal on either of those with settings maxed (the likes of Crysis, Age of Conan). But in general I agree, I'd only get Crossfire/SLI under the following conditions: (i) larger PC monitors will run in 2560x1600. 27+ inch monitors look better up close at that res; (ii) Nvidia 3d vision or iz3d. Either of those methods cuts frame rates in half
 
K

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
evlcookie said:
As in it's slowing down ? That is how most of them work at the moment, it's why they need to be trimmed.

Small anand article on trimming for SSD's - http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3625

Unless of course you mean it's gone bad, dead, doesn't work at all. Then i'm not too sure, I haven't heard of it from anyone.
Click to expand...

It going bad. I had to send my lappy back. Irony since it's supposed to be the best component in it.
 
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