evil solrac v3.0
Member
any specific coolers for the i5 set?
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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition
- Thread starter VictimOfGrief
- Start date
evil solrac v3.0 said:
Whatever you do, do not buy this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103064
Just spent about 2 and a half hours trying to mount the fan to the heatsink and then get it onto the MoBo, ended up just putting the stock cooler back in. HORRIBLE fan -> Heatsink system, I wonder wtf they were thinking when they designed that.
Hey, quick question gaf.
Have a hp pavilion comp, yeah yeah dont tease, I do plan on building one soon. However, it came stocked with a nvidia 9500gs, so I had it replaced with a nvidia 9800ultra 1 gig overclocked card. Ran very well for a few months and lately games are starting to crash my comp.
Couldn't figure it out but I'm guessing that I maybe should update the power supply?
Have a hp pavilion comp, yeah yeah dont tease, I do plan on building one soon. However, it came stocked with a nvidia 9500gs, so I had it replaced with a nvidia 9800ultra 1 gig overclocked card. Ran very well for a few months and lately games are starting to crash my comp.
Couldn't figure it out but I'm guessing that I maybe should update the power supply?
I should be doing hw
Member
I'm looking into getting a good gaming laptop, obviously for PC games but also for PS2 emulation. A 3-3.5+ Ghz CPU was quoted as being what you want for good emulation etc.
I have done a very quick and dirty look and found the Sager brand of laptops.
There are two that I saw in that:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=188463
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=171297
The first one is more expensive but seemingly doesnt have the fastest CPU from what its saying, but has SLI graphics card. I'm more inclined to the CPU speed, but I'm really not sure which one is better.
But if these laptops are are ripoffs and someone can send me in the right direction to better ones that have the cpu speed I'm after that'd be great.
I have done a very quick and dirty look and found the Sager brand of laptops.
There are two that I saw in that:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=188463
http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=171297
The first one is more expensive but seemingly doesnt have the fastest CPU from what its saying, but has SLI graphics card. I'm more inclined to the CPU speed, but I'm really not sure which one is better.
But if these laptops are are ripoffs and someone can send me in the right direction to better ones that have the cpu speed I'm after that'd be great.
That's the one I already have. I've read the Ati HD 4850 asks for 450w. I have a friend who's worked in electronics for years and he tells me the difference in watts is enough, but I'm doubtfull.Firestorm said:
However, I'd very much want to preserve my actual PSU because I'm not eager to spend more money than needed. I'm a cheap bitch >_<
I should be doing hw
Member
I mean it comes down to the sheer incomprihension I have with PC hardware. I know it's cheaper but I have no fucking clue where to start, nor the patience to do so.
Then it comes down to portibility, I like to game in various rooms around my house, where ever I feel more comfortable. Although i'd be willing to give that up if it's as cheaper as you claim, I do enjoy lobster. If not then I guess I'm willing to pony up for that privilege.
Then it comes down to portibility, I like to game in various rooms around my house, where ever I feel more comfortable. Although i'd be willing to give that up if it's as cheaper as you claim, I do enjoy lobster. If not then I guess I'm willing to pony up for that privilege.
I have not looked at what the guys are building here lately but six months ago i put together my desktop for 700 Canadian. I am not sure if people are building in this thread or the $500 pc thread but there are usually posters with a real good idea of what is the best combination of parts at the moment.
If moving room to room frequently is that important to you though you may have to look at laptops though.
If moving room to room frequently is that important to you though you may have to look at laptops though.
I should be doing hw
Member
Well honestly its not if you can build what I'm aiming for for that cheap. Also, I live in Australia so one of those laptops would really cost a small fortune.
Where are these kind, informed souls? Hook me up :lol
Where are these kind, informed souls? Hook me up :lol
Well, I've finally pulled my finger out of my arse and bought the final components for my new PC build. They are currently winging their way to my works office as we speak, and just in time for Windows 7 later on in the month too.
Now for the details:
Case: NZXT Rogue (mATX case) - £105 ish
Motherboard: Asus mATX ROG Rampage II Gene X58 - £125 (should have been about £220 but bought it almost brand new from ebay).
CPU: Intel i7 920, D0 SLBEJ S1366, Bloomfield, 2.66 GHz - £209
RAM: 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600MHz) - £96
GPU: 1GB Power Color HD 4890 - £127
Optical Drive: SATA Blu-Ray/HDD/DVD RW combi Drive - £86 (when I bought it months ago)
HDD1 160GB Maxtor STM3160813AS DiamondMax 2 (main OS drive)(eventually to be replaced with an SSD) - £28
HDD2 1TB Samsung F1 - £56
Additional Frill: LCD Screen that fits in 5 1/2" Drive bay - £50, 4 120mm Case fans. - £8 each
Overall, comes to about: £828
Pictures will come in due course!
It's main uses will be gaming, web design, coding and maybe some music development too. Will be running a good few VM's anyway for my .NET developments and Sharepoint developments.
Can't wait to get my teeth into high res and high detail supreme commander, Dawn of War 2 and Crisis!
Now for the details:
Case: NZXT Rogue (mATX case) - £105 ish
Motherboard: Asus mATX ROG Rampage II Gene X58 - £125 (should have been about £220 but bought it almost brand new from ebay).
CPU: Intel i7 920, D0 SLBEJ S1366, Bloomfield, 2.66 GHz - £209
RAM: 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3, PC3-12800 (1600MHz) - £96
GPU: 1GB Power Color HD 4890 - £127
Optical Drive: SATA Blu-Ray/HDD/DVD RW combi Drive - £86 (when I bought it months ago)
HDD1 160GB Maxtor STM3160813AS DiamondMax 2 (main OS drive)(eventually to be replaced with an SSD) - £28
HDD2 1TB Samsung F1 - £56
Additional Frill: LCD Screen that fits in 5 1/2" Drive bay - £50, 4 120mm Case fans. - £8 each
Overall, comes to about: £828
Pictures will come in due course!
It's main uses will be gaming, web design, coding and maybe some music development too. Will be running a good few VM's anyway for my .NET developments and Sharepoint developments.
Can't wait to get my teeth into high res and high detail supreme commander, Dawn of War 2 and Crisis!
No not that cheap but it would be a little more per part to go higher end. a 3ghz+ multicore processor and high end video card plus the other bits will not cost you 2400 which the first laptop looked to be. Hazaro and Brainstew helped me out with mine.I should be doing hw said:
brain_stew
Member
fresquito said:
The actual advertised wattage means, frankly, jack shit. Cheap PSUs (like the one you seem to have) use an inflated "peak" power figure and they don't deliver power where its needed in a modern rig, namely on the 12V rail. There's a whole load of 700w+ PSUs that are unable to deliver as much consistant power on the 12V rail as a "proper" quality 380w unit.
Cheap PSUs also don't include the standard overvoltage and overcurrent protections, which means if they're overloaded (which given how little power they deliver, is quite likely) they'll go out in a bang and a puff of smoke, which is not only dangerous (could cause a fire) but can often mean taking out some of the rest of your componenets as well.
I've readily stressed my belief that many way over inflate the PSU requirements of modern machines, a quality 380w unit is actually plenty for your rig, for instance, but that doesn't preclude buying a quality and reliable unit with all the relevant safety features.
In other words, go buy a new PSU, if you're cheap this will do you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_re=coolermaster_460w-_-17-171-046-_-Product
I should be doing hw
Member
Ok, do those cats hang around in this thread? Is this $500 rig thread still active to or?Grayman said:
Sorry for badgering you so much man :lol
brain_stew
Member
I should be doing hw said:
If its raw clockspeed you're after (which, with emulation, it absolutely is) then you absolutely need access to proper OCing and cooling solutions. That means desktop or bust. With a little OCing a little $70 E5300 and $20 cooler will actually be a much better CPU for emulation than anything you'll ever get in a laptop, no matter what you spend. That means you can spend 6x as much on a laptop and still get a significantly poorer emulation experience, considering those machines just aren't at all portable in anyway, I think the choice should be obvious. Honestly, if you go the shuttle/matx route, you'll have just as much portability in the practical sense.
Also note those laptop "GTX 280s" aren't anything like a GTX 280 you'd get on the desktop side, they're actually desktop 9800GTs usually with lower clockspeeds. A $100 4770 will run circles around one of them. A $500 (heck even a ~$400) rig will absolutely run rungs around a $3000 laptop in the emulation scenario if you spend the couple of hours to educate yourself about the many wonders of OCing.
Since you have the budget for it, I'd recommend a nice ASUS/Gigabyte P55 mobo + 4GB DDR3 + core i5 750 + "mainstream" ~$50 heatpipe cooler + 5850 (when there's stock). Even with a nice 23" 1080p monitor, it should still come in at less than half the price of one of those laptops. Overclock that thing to 3.6ghz-4ghz and watch it soar. Heck, with Turbo mode, it'll be an absolute beast of a "emulator CPU" even at stock, as it'll automatically clock upto ~3.2ghz with the dual threaded PCSX/Dolphin without you touching a thing.
I should be doing hw
Member
Wow thanks for that very detailed response, I understood what you said so you should take great pride in that :lol
Now that you've convinced me that the laptops are overpriced, what I'm looking for is a rig that can play all current games at around fullspecs and something with good 'CPU' to run emulators. I hope I used that term right :lol
And I guess once the groundwork is laidout I can then replace parts when they become obsolete.
Now that you've convinced me that the laptops are overpriced, what I'm looking for is a rig that can play all current games at around fullspecs and something with good 'CPU' to run emulators. I hope I used that term right :lol
And I guess once the groundwork is laidout I can then replace parts when they become obsolete.
brain_stew
Member
I should be doing hw said:
The P55 mobo + i5 750 + 4GB DDR3 + 5850 + quality 500w/650w combo (depending on whether you'd ever want to go the multi GPU route), really can't be beat in terms of price
erformance and it'll achieve what you want and still have a huge amount of overhead left.If you want it sooner rather than later then switch the GPU for a 4890/GTX 260/GTX 275.
If I was you I'd look into the possibilities of running a extra long HDMI cable to your living room HDTV with a mirrored image of your desktop monitor, this means that you won't lose the ability to play your games in multiple locations. With the excellent support of the 360 controller in modern games + Pinnacle's software for older games + desktop control and maybe even some HTPC software (we have a great thread on this at GAF search "the 4th console") and you can really combine all the benefits of PC and console gaming without any of the drawbacks of either. I don't think I have to explain just how awesome having all your console library available in your living room at a touch of a button (with no discs!) in beatiful native 1080p rendering, all from luxury of your "comfy couch" is, it speaks for itself!
Be sure to get a 1080p monitor if you go this route as it rally simplifies things, plus they're super cheap and deliver a great gaming experience anyway.If the whole "long HDMI cable" isn't your thing, then I'd recommend looking into picking up an mATX board + shuttle/mATX case. You can get some that are surprisingly roomy inside, meaning room for decent custom cooling, but have a small footprint.
I should be doing hw
Member
Wow thank you so much already. Fuck yes you speak my language! Comfy couch gaming ftw! All this stuff hasn't occured to me as possible, I have a very 90's perspective on PCs that hasn't really developed beyond that. My deskptop, which is my dads office computer still has a floppy drive in it, so yeah...
My school laptop is the best thing I have which is years old now too ( I think it has a 1.6Ghz CPU on it ) either way it's on the way out too :lol
Currently I'm on my iPhone, about to see Surrogates, but when I get back I'll do a little research on your reccomendation and then confer back to you. I'm assuming this is a DIY PC situation, as in I can't buy one like this, which may be a tad annoying (but eventually worth it I guess) as I live in Australia.
Thanks again for your insight so far man, much appreciated.
My school laptop is the best thing I have which is years old now too ( I think it has a 1.6Ghz CPU on it ) either way it's on the way out too :lol
Currently I'm on my iPhone, about to see Surrogates, but when I get back I'll do a little research on your reccomendation and then confer back to you. I'm assuming this is a DIY PC situation, as in I can't buy one like this, which may be a tad annoying (but eventually worth it I guess) as I live in Australia.
Thanks again for your insight so far man, much appreciated.
brain_stew
Member
I should be doing hw said:
Not necessary, I know a fair few places in the UK that'll put together some nice custom rigs and I'm sure there's a few in Oz, but you'll have to wait on recommendations from other posters and/or do your own research on that one, obviously. Though honestly, putting together your own rig is so damn easy these days, generally if it fits its in the right place, and modern motherboards are all nicely labelled and come with really good manuals to help you out. Plus there's plenty of guides for this sort of thing, Tech Report have a good one here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671
The HTPC stuff is all just a matter of software and buying a cable and wireless adapter for your 360 pad. Heck, you can even setup a Wiimote to control your desktop quite easily (a BT adaptor can be had for as little as $2 these days!) and it works great as a living room mouse substitute. You might want a powered USB extender routed through with the HDMI lead ran from your office/bedroom if you go the monitor + cloned HDTV route.
The proliferation of HDTVs with HDMI and stuff like excellent universal support of the 360 controller and modern HTPC software has really transformed what you can get out of a PC these days. Heck, ATI's new cards support both 7.1 linear PCM and bitstream HD audio right from the HDMI adapter on the card itself, so if you've got a nice audio setup, a single cable can carry your HD video and 7.1 HD surround sound, which is a very elegant solution.
Obviously, all of this stuff takes a little configuration, there's no getting away from that but most of it is a one time thing, and the pay off is really worth it. You can essentially end up with a super 1080p/60fps monster console of your dreams with all the trimmings and no need to worry about disc swapping ever again (learn to search "name of game no DVD" on Google, its a lifesaver for titles not on Steam, I can't remeber the last time I had to swap discs to play a game and I have over 50+ PC games installed), and still retain the option of going the old m/kb + monitor/desk route when things get serious! :lol
brain_stew
Member
jakonovski said:
Oh.............oh my...........
Red Scarlet
Member
Is there any way to check what kind of ram I have? I think I need to upgrade my video card (it's an Nvidia 7600 GS; I had $350 for my comp and that's what my friends decided upon for the budget to include everything), and it seems fine, but some maps on L4D and stuff dip to 18-25 FPS (on net graph 3, it seems more when its 25+) although normally I get 30-60+. I think I have 2 gigs of ram, but I'm not sure what kind of DDR it is.
(also curious what I should upgrade my vid card to, I don't play many different PC games; I just need something that'd play L4D/L4D2 at a constant 60 pretty much).
(also curious what I should upgrade my vid card to, I don't play many different PC games; I just need something that'd play L4D/L4D2 at a constant 60 pretty much).
brain_stew
Member
Red Scarlet said:
Download CPU-Z, and check through the different tabs, should have all the information you need.
4770 is probably the card for you, $100, nice and low power draw but more than enough performance for most modern games at very good resolution/settings/framerates. It'll blitz through L4D no bother.
Beware though, most Source engine games can be quite CPU limited, a 4770 is more than enough for the game but your CPU might hold you back, something like a $120 Phenom ii X3 720 would be a good choice for Left 4 Dead as it uses 3 threads efficiently but there's not many performance gains to be had after that.
jakonovski
Member
Acosta said:
I wanted one all the way to the end of the article, where the price was revealed. :lol
Red Scarlet
Member
brain_stew said:
My processor is some dual core thing, I think the mhz is low (like 2.5ghz or 2.2), but I kept getting that crash thing with dual core rendering on, so I turned it off.
brain_stew
Member
Phloxy said:
Seems likely, a 9800 Ultra is one hell of a thirsty card, really wasn't the best of choices to stick one in a prebuilt PC. There's also a chance its overheating as something like that shouldn't be in a case that has shitty airflow (which nigh on every single off the shelf PC suffers from), so take it out and give the HS/F a good clean with some compressed air.
Try ramping the fan with Riva Tuner, whilst monitoring temps to see if that helps.
brain_stew
Member
Phloxy said:
Oh, and fwiw, all PSUs naturally age over time, meaning they'll be able to deliver slightly less power as time goes on. You were probably pushing it to its very edge before which would have sped up any aging and before long, it passed the boundary of offering "just enough". At least, that would coincide with the behaviour you've witnessed, so it seems likely.
brain_stew
Member
Phloxy said:
Oh, and fwiw, all PSUs naturally age over time, meaning they'll be able to deliver slightly less power as time goes on. You were probably pushing it to its very edge before which would have sped up any aging and before long, it passed the boundary of offering "just enough". At least, that would coincide with the behaviour you've witnessed, so it seems likely.
As a short term measure you might want to try underclocking it, which is just a simple case of downloading EVGA Precision. If that doesn't work looking into undervolting it as well as underclocking it might be worth a look, but that can get tricky depending on the card.
I should be doing hw
Member
brain_stew said:The P55 mobo + i5 750 + 4GB DDR3 + 5850 + quality 500w/650w combo (depending on whether you'd ever want to go the multi GPU route), really can't be beat in terms of price
Ok I've just tried to do some research on the parts you just recommended and the I've already hit a speedhump. I am immeadiatly overwhelmed by options and choices in manufacturer and the like. It's not as simple as typing in P55 mobo (which I later found out meant motherboard :lol This is what you are working with here) and getting its specs. I'm bombarded with Gigabyte, DFI, EVGA etc. There is so much choice, it's frightening after you painted such a welcoming picture :lol
Ram I can deal with, thats simple enough I think. Even then though there are different manufacturers again.
Is this the CPU you mentioned? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215 If so, the Ghz looks pretty low to me. Especially considering that emulation is one of my main goals here. Or is this where this magic 'overclocking' comes into play? My common sense tells me that its probably got something to do with making it run faster than factory settings, is that accurate? I could easily be wrong here :lol But can you overclock it to the areas I want it? Seems like a big leap.
Again I'm stumped as to what 500w/650w is. Is it like the power source for the computer? I'm thinking that it supplies all the parts in your PC with power, guessing that the 'w' is meaning watts here. This is more just me using my general knowledge, I know I could be wrong. 500w/650w is quite an ambiguous term for someone like me though :lol
And the 5850 is the 'AMD Radeon HD 5850'? A google search leads to that and the '5870'.
*Cue me in fetal position*
Edit:
Oh and Surrogates wasn't very good, unless you want to see a real-doll version of Bruce Willis with hair plugs for an extended period of time. Very awkward to look at, not a good movie.
Hm. So the Phenom II X2 550 has a higher clock speed but less cores than the Phenom II X3 720. What is recommended between the two.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
evil solrac v3.0
Member
jakonovski said:
oh my.....
evil solrac v3.0
Member
I should be doing hw said:
yes, yes and yes on all your questions. give us your budget, what type of gaming you want to do and at what resolution.
Depends on what you want the to use the computer for. The PS2 and GameCube/Wii emulators won't use more than two cores, so there's no added benefit to a three or four core system, whereas PC games and applications would run faster with the additional cores. Both CPUs are easy to overclock, and you should be able to get them to around 4gHz with some Arctic Silver and a decent hsf like the Scythe Katana 3.Firestorm said:
KittyKittyBangBang
Member
Slightly OT, but I cant find COD:MW2 system requirements anywhere. Im hoping my AMD X2 4800+ will hold me over a bit longer, but I find that some games lately have had X2 5200+ as a minimum.
brain_stew
Member
KittyKittyBangBang said:
System requirements mean nothing these days, it'll manage the game just fine, MW2 is using some seriously outdated technology. I would however recommend OCing that CPU, it'll make all the difference.
Technosteve
Banned
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
I passed on this. I was going to buy it for christmas, but it only supports ATX and the videocard bay is really small, a 5870 barely fits.jakonovski said:
Don't buy it. Get the ABS 695/PC-X2000. I have a PC-X500 and it is a dream come true. I am getting the PC-X2000 this christmas and giving the PC-X500 to my brother.Technosteve said:
In my attempts to push my PC to it's limits, I tried running Mass Effect in 1680 x 1050 with 4x AA and everything else on high. It ran pretty smoothly but I noticed I could actually hear my fans going through my case (Usually silent, Coolermaster Cosmos). Checked what my temps were like and I got worried :lol
http://i37.tinypic.com/2ry3cs9.jpg
Is this normal? Was averaging 57-59 between the different cores.
http://i37.tinypic.com/2ry3cs9.jpg
Is this normal? Was averaging 57-59 between the different cores.
I should be doing hw
Member
If you read my previous posts you'll know what I'm after, and this lounge room PC gaming that brain_stew has been talking about has me pretty excited. I don't really have a budget as of yet, I don't really have a context for these sort of things. The combo I was refferred to earlier sounded like what I needed, but I'm still as of now unsure of the price range because the parts are confusing me a bit. Thanks for your clarification on a couple of my questions though.evil solrac v3.0 said:
Someone better with PC pricing in the US might do better but I just went with "damn you were going to spend $2500 on a laptop" and did this quickie:I should be doing hw said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.258675
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.245467
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.262086
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188
~$1110 - $40 MIR.
That's basically "best you can buy and not be spending stupid stupid money on". Well aside from not having an SSD for your OS/apps I guess.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.256648
~$1400 - $40 MIR =P
Lostconfused
Member
Well thats what i get for going directly to the store to buy stuff. $87 over budget and I got shortchanged on the ram. Also i just found out i need a new DVD drive/burner because i didn't notice that that i was unfortunate enough to get a p55 motherboard without an IDE connector.
Edit: on the bright side apparently there are very specific voltages for ram to use in a p55 mobo and i might have been possibly running the risk of ruining my system.
Edit: on the bright side apparently there are very specific voltages for ram to use in a p55 mobo and i might have been possibly running the risk of ruining my system.