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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition
- Thread starter VictimOfGrief
- Start date
My monitor looks like shit but I run it at a lower resolution cause I hate how small the icons and text are at native. Any way to run it high resolution but make icons and text bigger since I'm blind?
I know you can zoom stuff in a browser but how about the OS? If I run windows lower res can I run games at native?
I know you can zoom stuff in a browser but how about the OS? If I run windows lower res can I run games at native?
Timedog said:
Uh, yes! Here: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-ca/community/make-icons-and-fonts-larger.mspx
If this isn't enough, you can play with a higher-but-not-max resolution and these options until you find something that matches your taste.
Ok I ordered my RAM and mobo this morning, order processed and shipped.
Wrapping up things here at work, I went over to Gigabytes website and looked at the support page for the GA-P55-UD4P mobo I ordered. I saw they have listings of the types of memory and CPUs currently supported.
CPU checks out ok
Memory, on the other hand, does not. GSkill F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK is listed as being one of their confirmed memory types. GSkill F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM (The one I ordered) isnt listed on there at all. Now they specifically say that they cant test all of the memory types so I might just be paranoid but Am I screwed here? Should I just return the one I ordered right off the bat the day I receive it and opt for the confirmed one or wait it out and see?
I always thought these things were practically universal as long as the memory standard is supported by the mobo. Do I have reason to be worried?
Wrapping up things here at work, I went over to Gigabytes website and looked at the support page for the GA-P55-UD4P mobo I ordered. I saw they have listings of the types of memory and CPUs currently supported.
CPU checks out ok
Memory, on the other hand, does not. GSkill F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK is listed as being one of their confirmed memory types. GSkill F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM (The one I ordered) isnt listed on there at all. Now they specifically say that they cant test all of the memory types so I might just be paranoid but Am I screwed here? Should I just return the one I ordered right off the bat the day I receive it and opt for the confirmed one or wait it out and see?
I always thought these things were practically universal as long as the memory standard is supported by the mobo. Do I have reason to be worried?
RocketDarkness
Member
Thanks for the advice on when I would/would not have to reinstall the OS. I guess if I need to upgrade my CPU, I'll go for Quad-Core (the highest my board can handle), then worry about i5 and i7 and all that new jazz if I ever need such a significant jump in power.
As far as HDDs go, I was going to order a nice 500GB one until I saw someone mention that a 640GB HDD would be faster. Why is that? Should I also get a 640?
[EDIT] HDD I was planning on buying: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136358
As far as HDDs go, I was going to order a nice 500GB one until I saw someone mention that a 640GB HDD would be faster. Why is that? Should I also get a 640?
[EDIT] HDD I was planning on buying: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136358
Romance Pie
Member
Binabik15 said:
Pretty much all cases can take either board :]
I think you may have a chance of getting it into the 360. Think the cards length is 10.5" so it would stick a little bit out more than the mobo. But you do have to thoughtful of the power cables as they plug in at the end (not the side like the 5870). Best way to see if it would fit, is to look at other peoples builds in that case and see how much clearance there is behind their cards.
Salaadin I just used the exact same ram in in the P55-UD4 (not much difference between the P version) and it works fine :]
Ahhh GAF I need some help. I thought it was just Resident Evil 5 at first but now it's happening in all my games and it's happening more frequently.
A few days ago my laptop starting chugging while playing a game for longer than four or five minutes. It's like it's going through some kind of cycle of fast and slow, but the FPS in-game isn't dropping. It's like the game itself is running slower. Tested with RE5, L4D, Titan Quest, STALKER, and audiosurf. Each game chugs after I play for just a few minutes and makes them extremely frustrating to make progress in. Once a game starts chugging I can restart it and it's usually fine for a minute or so before the problem starts up again. Same thing when I boot up a new game after quitting out of one prior.
Using an asus G1S with 8600GT. No overclocking. Running Vista. 4 GB RAM. Never had this problem before. 98% of my games ran perfectly before on reasonable resolutions, now they're all virtually unplayable. Driving me crazy. Someone please help.
Posting here because right now I'm yelling the thread title in my mind.
A few days ago my laptop starting chugging while playing a game for longer than four or five minutes. It's like it's going through some kind of cycle of fast and slow, but the FPS in-game isn't dropping. It's like the game itself is running slower. Tested with RE5, L4D, Titan Quest, STALKER, and audiosurf. Each game chugs after I play for just a few minutes and makes them extremely frustrating to make progress in. Once a game starts chugging I can restart it and it's usually fine for a minute or so before the problem starts up again. Same thing when I boot up a new game after quitting out of one prior.
Using an asus G1S with 8600GT. No overclocking. Running Vista. 4 GB RAM. Never had this problem before. 98% of my games ran perfectly before on reasonable resolutions, now they're all virtually unplayable. Driving me crazy. Someone please help.
Posting here because right now I'm yelling the thread title in my mind.
Well, getting annoyed with my gtx 260's performance in some recent games at 1080p, so just ordered a 5870. Goodbye physx, but I couldn't even use it at an acceptable framerate in batman, so it was pointless. Now my system will be a little more balanced.
That's a green drive which runs slower and takes less power. The Caviar Black 640GB would be faster as it has a higher rpm and platter density.RocketDarkness said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
EviLore said:
On a pretty old CPU at 1680x1050, I get 50+fps with 16xAA in Batman on a slightly overclocked 260. Does the hit going up to 1080p cut that in half?
I'm not considering a new monitor in the near future really, I'm just curious.
...and I just got a new PC that will likely tear Batman to shreds, so it's somewhat null.
EDIT:
I hate to say this because you've probably considered it, but that sounds like overheating. Get Speedfan, load up a game and record the temps while it's playing okay, then record them as it starts chugging and post them up here.Crunched said:
RocketDarkness
Member
I thought that might have been the case, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. I'll pay the extra couple of bucks for the increased space and speed, then. Thanks!Firestorm said:
Sweetness, ordered.
Romance Pie said:
My google-fu is weak, so I could only find one really blurry pic of a build with a 4850. The guy said that it was getting really tight. clicky
The PSU would be a OCZ Stealthxstream 500W (from the budget pc op) or a BE Quiet! Pure Power 530 Watt or a AXP Simple Power 500W or a Xilence Power 550 Watt. They´d be cheaper, but I can´t find reviews for them, so the OCZ is it for the moment.
Any other good, affordable cases under 14" that could fit it?
I think I´ll upload a pic of my setup later, maybe that´ll help recommending a case.
Oh, and is 32 mb chache needed for gaming or will a 16 mb cache 320 gig WD do just fine?
Romance Pie
Member
Binabik15 said:
Go for the OCZ PSU as Brain knows the good parts, plus it is safer to get a good PSU rather than a cheap unknown.
Ok I found some more photos of that case in action and yeah it looks like a 5850 won't fit in it sadly. I didn't know the PSU went next to the 5.25" bays like that until I saw the completed build.
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1890_6.html
Think you will be safer with the RC-335 as the card can go into the HHD bays if needed.
Plus you can place the case on the side without any negative effects.
32mb is a nice thing, but it doesn't make too much of a difference in games.
If you want to get a new HDD get a WD 640 black as the prices for them keep dropping.
hope that helps
Thanks for all the posts guys, really helpful reading.
I have a question regarding the HD5850..
Going about the cards system requirements on AMDs web page, I found these 2 items...
- 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)
- Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products.
So my question is, not any kind of PSU can power this card?? More specifically can this PSU be ok for the 5850?? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
It is not on the recommended list provided by ATI.
Thanks for the help.
I have a question regarding the HD5850..
Going about the cards system requirements on AMDs web page, I found these 2 items...
- 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)
- Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products.
So my question is, not any kind of PSU can power this card?? More specifically can this PSU be ok for the 5850?? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
It is not on the recommended list provided by ATI.
Thanks for the help.
Um. Verify with speedfan. I don't remember what chip you said you had but those are NOT acceptable- assuming you're talking about the CPU. If they're GPU temps, then somewhat acceptable but still pretty hot. Could you let me know your CPU temps from speedfan idle/load, and remind me what processor it is?
brain_stew
Member
Hawkian said:On a pretty old CPU at 1680x1050, I get 50+fps with 16xAA in Batman on a slightly overclocked 260. Does the hit going up to 1080p cut that in half?
I'm not considering a new monitor in the near future really, I'm just curious.
...and I just got a new PC that will likely tear Batman to shreds, so it's somewhat null.
EDIT:
I hate to say this because you've probably considered it, but that sounds like overheating. Get Speedfan, load up a game and record the temps while it's playing okay, then record them as it starts chugging and post them up here.
You didn't get that performance with PhysX enabled, that's for sure.
Romance Pie said:
Yes.
Looks like I´ll have to figure something out. My setup. The small case would´ve fitted under the PS3 games, the taller one won´t fit. Fitting it in horizontally (next to the ps3) won´t work either.
Placing it besides the sub (which would be moved to the left) would fit, but wouldn´t that create interference from the sub´s magnet?
Looks like I´ll have to but it to the side of the left cabinet like a red-headed step child. Remind me to buy a loooong hdmi cable :/
Great, now I´ll just have to wait until we get some (affordable) Radeons here in Germany and the PSU is in stock again. Oh, and Windows 7 comes out.
PS: Is there anything special I´d have to look for in a wifi card? Or would an usb solution be better? I won´t actually game on that connection, so it doesn´t have to be fast.
Edit: My brother has a Intel Q6600 and want´s to have a better card. 4850, 4870 or 4890? Which would be the best he can run without being bottlenecked?
brain_stew said:
Yes, with "moderate" PhysX enabled. I'm not saying my framerate was locked there, but only went below 30 at very intense moments. I'm guessing the higher resolution just really pushes the framebuffer and adding physx is the straw / camel's back.
Edit: Oh. um. I see that I said 50+, which obviously should've been 30+. :lol'' *has a small taste of crow*
Romance Pie
Member
Binabik15 said:
Nice setup.
Well maybe have a look at this case if you can find it there http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=289&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=63
it has a shorter height with a similar layout to that CM360 but people have been able to put a 4870X2 in there http://www.hardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1133290&page=130
and it looks simple too :]
NEVER place your pc next to a sub! the magnetic field it emits can screw your system. Had a friend who kept it next to his pc (smaller sub than yours) and he fried his mobo,cpu and vidcard in one go. My mate who had to fix it was completely puzzled how he did it. I know they magnetically shield speakers, but heard it is rather hard with subs.
Think any pci wifi card is suitable and leaves less stuff hanging around.
That is still a good cpu today (Great to OC too) and any of those cards will wok fine. Just depends what resolution he will be running and how much does he want to spend. Here the 4890 is almost half the price of a 5850 so is still pretty good bang for your buck.
Romance Pie
Member
Manp said:i have a an OCZ stealthxtreme (650W) and i'm not entirely satisfied with the noise level. i'd get a modular corsair instead. 620w version is completely silent.
The HX series of PSU from Corsair are great. I've currently got a enermax modu 82+ and that is dead silent. Now I have to find a way to baffle 4 HDD humms D:
darkpaladinmfc
Member
I have an Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus mobo. Can I upgrade to an i7 860 and 5870, or is my mobo incompatiable?
BravoSuperStar
Member
Goddamn, get some cooling in that case ASAP.
Minsc
Gold Member
Got my CyberPower UPS (shipped really quick for weighing like 30lbs), it's pretty sweet. Best looking UPS I've seen.
I love how it lets you see how much wattage your running through it, I'm thoroughly impressed, that's 171 watts for my 24" LCD monitor, my older AMD x64 PC, and my cable modem/router.
I always thought it'd be a lot higher for some reason (at idle).
The UPS has a LCD screen so you can see all that info without looking at the software, I'll have to see what the UPS reports playing a game under full load.
I don't know how Speedfan is for GPU monitoring. The fact that it shows higher temps at least determined that his sensors weren't totally out of wack based on the nTune reading.
I was just talking about CPU. I guess if he gets Core/RealTemp and runs them side by side we can see if Speedfan is over-gauging it. CoreTemp is only compatible with Intel chips.
Anyway, you're right that for laptop GPU temps they aren't panicworthy, though I think investing in a good external laptop cooler of some kind for gaming might be in your future. The CPU temps are hot, but you ought to try one of those other apps in case Speedfan is really just throwing crazy numbers out there for everything. I sure hope it has been highballing MY cpu temps all these years :lol
I was just talking about CPU. I guess if he gets Core/RealTemp and runs them side by side we can see if Speedfan is over-gauging it. CoreTemp is only compatible with Intel chips.
Anyway, you're right that for laptop GPU temps they aren't panicworthy, though I think investing in a good external laptop cooler of some kind for gaming might be in your future. The CPU temps are hot, but you ought to try one of those other apps in case Speedfan is really just throwing crazy numbers out there for everything. I sure hope it has been highballing MY cpu temps all these years :lol
The guide states that I can skip the PSU installation step if I got a case with a pre-installed PSU. I just want to be sure of something first, though.
I read this in the guide "Take the power supply out of the box and make sure to switch to 115v if it is not already (If you are outside the United States, this will be different)".
Is it safe to assume that the PSU pre-installed by Antec is set properly? I dont see any settings on it and its already secured in the case.
I read this in the guide "Take the power supply out of the box and make sure to switch to 115v if it is not already (If you are outside the United States, this will be different)".
Is it safe to assume that the PSU pre-installed by Antec is set properly? I dont see any settings on it and its already secured in the case.
BravoSuperStar
Member
Salaadin said:
It should be a little switch or slider toggle on the back of the power supply, but yeah it should be set correctly already.
With laptops/notebooks, you should only be using HWMonitor for temp readings.
RE: the temps. The ASUS G1S is notorious for it's joke of a cooling solution, so 90+ on the GPU is pretty much unavoidable. Cleaning out your notebooks fans occasionally won't hurt you either.
The probability that your GPU is dieing, or will die, are above average.
RE: the temps. The ASUS G1S is notorious for it's joke of a cooling solution, so 90+ on the GPU is pretty much unavoidable. Cleaning out your notebooks fans occasionally won't hurt you either.
The probability that your GPU is dieing, or will die, are above average.
The Windows 7 MSDNAA release is giving us trouble; it complains about missing device drivers during installation, whether I'm installing from USB or DVD.
We re-downloaded the disc image from MSDNAA and found that the newer download was 500 megs bigger (!), which is weird since the downloader does CRC checks, but we still get the errors. Weird that this stuff never happened with the beta
We re-downloaded the disc image from MSDNAA and found that the newer download was 500 megs bigger (!), which is weird since the downloader does CRC checks, but we still get the errors. Weird that this stuff never happened with the beta
Cleaning dust is one of the first things I tried. It's a laptop with GPU soldered to mainboard, so thermal paste as far as that's concerned is a no go. Also checked temps with Rivatuner, giving me the same readings as nTune.beje said:
Well fuck, I just ordered an X9000 to upgrade my CPU. Now I'm having heat problems and my GPU may be on its way out :lolK.Jack said:
Great news all around.
I was planning on getting arctic silver and a laptop cooler once I upped the CPU, maybe I should just not wait till the X9000 gets here.
Any suggestions for a good cooler? Right now I've removed the plates on the bottom of my laptop to (hopefully) let off some steam.
Perhaps this chugging issue is related to this other problem I've recently been having. I really appreciate all the input so far, not really expecting a miracle solution here. But if anyone has thoughts, I'd be very grateful.
Perhaps this chugging issue is related to this other problem I've recently been having. I really appreciate all the input so far, not really expecting a miracle solution here. But if anyone has thoughts, I'd be very grateful.
Foxtastical
Member
My girlfriend is finally giving up on her old socket 939 based PC, but unfortunately, there really are no easy options when it comes to upgrading one of those. Fuck the processors.
So anyways, she's decided she wants to spend around $1000 on a new PC, but she, nor I, have the time to put the thing together right now. We're in the middle of a move and new jobs, freelance, etc.
I have never used any, but does anyone have any good suggestions for pre-built PCs? I really have no idea where to look.
So anyways, she's decided she wants to spend around $1000 on a new PC, but she, nor I, have the time to put the thing together right now. We're in the middle of a move and new jobs, freelance, etc.
I have never used any, but does anyone have any good suggestions for pre-built PCs? I really have no idea where to look.
In a couple hours I am going to post from a prebuilt I just got and am setting up and cost under $1000- unfortunately the deal I got only lasted 4 hours. But I will offer some suggestions as to similar builds that are around that price point and should have performance in the same range. $1000 can really get you a pretty deadly rig these days.
Crunched, if money is no object, this is what you want prolly: http://www.bestcovery.com/node/18750?whybest=1&best=12510
It's quiet and chilltastic. The sounds you mention in the other thread could be the slow death of your case fans, but I'm actually not familiar with the particular noises at all. If you manage to lower the temps and the noises are less frequent or stop, you'll know.
Crunched, if money is no object, this is what you want prolly: http://www.bestcovery.com/node/18750?whybest=1&best=12510
It's quiet and chilltastic. The sounds you mention in the other thread could be the slow death of your case fans, but I'm actually not familiar with the particular noises at all. If you manage to lower the temps and the noises are less frequent or stop, you'll know.