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

C

Crab Milk Mickey

Member
bardia said:
I just built a PC this weekend with the EXACT same parts, except im pretty sure my mobo was the P5QL and my Radeon is HD4830. Either way, everything fits into the case perfectly and the case itself is awesome! The only thing extra you have to do is screw in 2 of the brass screws into the actual case since the case only has 4 initially screwed into it and the Asus mobo needs 6 of the holes screwed into the case.

Also you'll have no problems playing those games, i've been playing those games + fallout 3, Gears of War, and Assasins Creed @ 1680x1050 with max settings perfectly fine :)
Click to expand...
Good to know. I won't be building it myself however; I have butterfingers.
 
W

Wired

Member
Well, it finally happened I've ordered a new computer. I suppose I should thank my seemingly dying laptop for making me take the leap. This is the first time I'm going to assemble my own computer, I'm not confident in my ability in this area and to be honest I'm starting to have second thoughts after downloading and reading a bit in the Mboard manual.


CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400 3,0GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5Q PRO
Graphics Card: PowerColor ATI HD4850 PCS+ 512MB

HD: 320GB Samsung SP SATA-2 7200RPM Spinpoint F1
RAM: Corsair 4gb DDR2800MHz/CL5/XMS2-6400

Screen: Samsung 22" T220

Case: Antec Three Hundred
DVD±RW: Some random Samsung drive, not important
Keyboard: Logitech UltraX Premium
Mouse: Logitech G5 V2
PSU: Corsair TX 650w - wanted the modular 620 but it was fucking expensive. Could have gotten away with a smaller PSU but wanted something to grow into
Extra fan: Noctua P12-1300 120mm Silent Case Fan

In an attempt to save my laptop (which I fear is overheating): Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound


Nothing high end, but a damn nice leap ahead compared to my laptop with it's t5600, 2 gig of ram and ULTRA powerful Radeon Mobility X1700.
 
I

inner-G

Banned
So I got the 9800GT. Not the same one I linked to, but a BFG 9800GT 512 DDR3.
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr98512gtoce.aspx

Looks great, but I think my 400W PSU isn't cutting it.

When games get to graphically intensive parts, the video hangs but the audio keeps going. It effectively crashes. I'm going to try detaching a HDD and some junk to see if that lets it run. If so, I'll know its the PSU.

Looks great though, runs Fallout 3 with everything on max at 1280 X 1024. If i can keep it running I'll be all set :D
 
R

rohlfinator

Member
Wired said:
Well, it finally happened I've ordered a new computer. I suppose I should thank my seemingly dying laptop for making me take the leap. This is the first time I'm going to assemble my own computer, I'm not confident in my ability in this area and to be honest I'm starting to have second thoughts after downloading and reading a bit in the Mboard manual.
Click to expand...
I dunno if it's been posted or not, but Tech Report has a pretty good guide (http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671) that goes step-by-step through the process of putting your PC together. You'll still need to read your manuals a bit, but the guide should give you a place to start at least.
 
I

inner-G

Banned
GAF, I think something is wrong with my GPU or power supply.

It hangs in games, the music still runs, and if it sits long enough it can do stuff like this:

f.png


I thought it could be overheating, but i opened the case and put a fan right on it. This screen was taken with a fan like 9" from the card.

help!
 
Y

Ysiadmihi

Banned
inner-G said:
GAF, I think something is wrong with my GPU or power supply.

It hangs in games, the music still runs, and if it sits long enough it can do stuff like this:

I thought it could be overheating, but i opened the case and put a fan right on it. This screen was taken with a fan like 9" from the card.

help!
Click to expand...

It's probably your PSU if it's only 400w. What kind is it?
 
I

inner-G

Banned
Ysiadmihi said:
It's probably your PSU if it's only 400w. What kind is it?
Click to expand...
It's an Ultra Modular power supply from tigerdirect.

erg, just looked at the +12V on the sticker and it's only 240W. 400W Max combined total.
 
F

Frenck

Banned
It's me again :D

I located the problem with my cooler. I'm using the Freezer 7 Pro on a stock e5200. Somehow the max fan speed is limited to 522 rpm. Even when I play Crysis Warhead the max fan speed is 522 rpm when it should be around 900 rpm or higher.

Of course the temps are too high and get higher and higher the longer I play. I can only play Crysis for 30 minutes before the temp reaches the 70C regions :-O

It has to be some kind of power saving measure. I refuse to believe that this brand new cooler is somehow broken. Before you ask, yes I updated the bios and I checked it to see if it's set to "smart fan". It is now and it doesn't make any difference. Even when I disable smart fan, which should cause the fans to go 2500 rpm all the time, not a lick of a difference.

I read about 5v/7v/12v modes. Maybe my cooler is stuck with 5v mode or it could be a broken bios setting.

Any advice guys?

EDIT:

SpeedFan.jpg


A screenshot that shows my problem. Fan 3 (my bios calls it power fan) is a tad bit too slow.
 
D

dionysus

Yaldog
Ysiadmihi said:
It's probably your PSU if it's only 400w. What kind is it?
Click to expand...

I agree, probably need more power. Since PSUs can last a lifetime, I'd drop the extra money on a quality brand with more power than you need. Never know what the future may bring in terms of power needs.
 
Z

zewone

Member
Overclocked my old E6300 today. I was impressed with how much I could get of it since it's stock 1.86GHz. I think I could push it a little bit more, since my cores idle at 45C at the moment.

210k74j.png
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Okay, my 90s laptop isn't cutting it anymore. Need a new one. Budget about 400-500. Now I know you need to pay up for bit of a decent videocard in laptops these days. But how would it perform here?

Things I might want.

- HD movies. Hooking up to the LCD in the livingroom to watch some HD movies. Is dual core enough to run HD movies or is a decent videocard required?
- Games, what am I looking at here? 2003? Would it run San Andreas?
- Emulators? PSX?
- FL Studio?
- ...

So, Let's sat a laptop with the following specs.

- Dual Core T2390 1.86 GHz
- 2GB RAM
- 256 MB (max.) shared SiS Mirage 3+ (the fuck is this?)

#2

- AMD Athlon ™ X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-62 2 GHz
- 3GB RAM
- Geforce 8200M G

Anyone have any input?
 
Y

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Has anyone tried using an 8600GT as a dedicated PhysX card? I have one lying around collecting dust but a combination of laziness and a horribly loud fan prevent me from trying it myself :lol
 
fushi

fushi

Member
I have a quick question for laptop-age about battery life -- or prolonging it, to be specific.

I currently use my laptop (Samsung Q210) almost exclusively while in bed, mostly during the mornings and evenings (it is idle while I'm at work). I have electric plugs nearby and don't have to rely on the battery at all. Should I 1) keep it plugged in all the time and thus have the battery always be at 100%; or would it be better to 2) run it on the battery until it's below 50% or so, plug it in, recharge until 100%, unplug it, run to 50% again, and so on?

Running it completely without the battery is also possible, but I don't want to do that since I don't have anything to cover up the battery spot on the laptop.
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
fushi said:
I have a quick question for laptop-age about battery life -- or prolonging it, to be specific.

I currently use my laptop (Samsung Q210) almost exclusively while in bed, mostly during the mornings and evenings (it is idle while I'm at work). I have electric plugs nearby and don't have to rely on the battery at all. Should I 1) keep it plugged in all the time and thus have the battery always be at 100%; or would it be better to 2) run it on the battery until it's below 50% or so, plug it in, recharge until 100%, unplug it, run to 50% again, and so on?

Running it completely without the battery is also possible, but I don't want to do that since I don't have anything to cover up the battery spot on the laptop.
Click to expand...

Does your laptop not have software for managing that? Most tend to have software that lets you say "don't charge til it hits this %" and "only charge this much". Because ideally, if you want to keep the battery alive, you should be plugged in without it trying to charge.
 
A

Anticitizen One

Banned
What are the specs to run games like Crysis at max settings with a good framerate?

I'm trying to save up to buy a new PC but i'm not sure what the latest and greatest is so any help would be appricated.
 
G

Gully State

Member
inner-G said:
It's an Ultra Modular power supply from tigerdirect.

erg, just looked at the +12V on the sticker and it's only 240W. 400W Max combined total.
Click to expand...

I had an Ultra Modular power supply with my last build (x-connect 500W) and it really sucked. I would get graphical artifacts on my desktop (none while I'm playing a game) and the computer would randomly turn on about 5-10 min after I shutdown. Now this alone wouldn't make me suspicious of my PSU as other components could be responsible for the same problems. However, the tipping point came when I overhauled my PC with a new processor/mobo/gpu/memory and I started getting random crashes, reboots and at one point no recognition from my HDD. At first I thought it was the GPU too but then I cranked the fan speed all the way up and logged the temps (which were normal), ran memtest ( which it passed), etc.. and I eventually isolated the problem to my PSU and swapped it out with a Zalman one. Since then it's been running fine. This might not be the problem with your build but I definitely am not ever buying an Ultra branded PSU ever again.
 
I

inner-G

Banned
Gully State said:
I had an Ultra Modular power supply with my last build (x-connect 500W) and it really sucked. I would get graphical artifacts on my desktop (none while I'm playing a game) and the computer would randomly turn on about 5-10 min after I shutdown. Now this alone wouldn't make me suspicious of my PSU as other components could be responsible for the same problems. However, the tipping point came when I overhauled my PC with a new processor/mobo/gpu/memory and I started getting random crashes, reboots and at one point no recognition from my HDD. At first I thought it was the GPU too but then I cranked the fan speed all the way up and logged the temps (which were normal), ran memtest ( which it passed), etc.. and I eventually isolated the problem to my PSU and swapped it out with a Zalman one. Since then it's been running fine. This might not be the problem with your build but I definitely am not ever buying an Ultra branded PSU ever again.
Click to expand...
Well, I grabbed a 22" Samsung HDTV to use a monitor this morning, so I'm getting this beast to work, even if it means an XP re-install.

My local shop just opened 10 min. ago so I'm headed down to grab a PSU. Corsair is a good brand right? What about Cooler Master, Antec, or Green Power?
 
S

seat

Member
blitz64

blitz64

Member
Teetris said:
So, Let's sat a laptop with the following specs.

- Dual Core T2390 1.86 GHz
- 2GB RAM
- 256 MB (max.) shared SiS Mirage 3+ (the fuck is this?)

#2

- AMD Athlon ™ X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-62 2 GHz
- 3GB RAM
- Geforce 8200M G

Anyone have any input?
Click to expand...


The most important is the videocard on the laptop. This site mentions most laptop videocard benchmarks
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The SiS Mirage is rank 161+ although not that exact model. I would go with 8200M but even that is a very crappy card. Both cards isn't much better than the built in Intel ones. You really need a 600-700 budget for gaming. With the above mentioned, you won't be able to play the latest (crysis, gta4, supreme commander). You could play WoW and spore....

You would be able to watch HD ripped movie with any laptop and connect it to your TV.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
zewone said:
Overclocked my old E6300 today. I was impressed with how much I could get of it since it's stock 1.86GHz. I think I could push it a little bit more, since my cores idle at 45C at the moment.

210k74j.png
Click to expand...
45C idle is hot. You want your laod temp to generally be below 60C on those chips.
dionysus said:
Since PSUs can last a lifetime.
Click to expand...
PSU capabilities degrade over time, but top brands account for this. However I'd be hesitant to stress a 5 year old PSU. Luckily Corsair's warranty period is 5 years ;)
inner-G said:
So, I got a 650W Corsair PSU and 4GB of RAM...
same thing happens.
Should I just do a re-install?
Click to expand...
Go ahead and run driver cleaner and reinstall.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
blitz64 said:
The most important is the videocard on the laptop. This site mentions most laptop videocard benchmarks
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The SiS Mirage is rank 161+ although not that exact model. I would go with 8200M but even that is a very crappy card. Both cards isn't much better than the built in Intel ones. You really need a 600-700 budget for gaming. With the above mentioned, you won't be able to play the latest (crysis, gta4, supreme commander). You could play WoW and spore....

You would be able to watch HD ripped movie with any laptop and connect it to your TV.
Click to expand...

This chart's not too bad either, it gives you 6 or 7 games and an idea of what level of settings they will run on. That 8200M isn't even ranked on it, but ranked right above it, a 8400M can't even run Half-Life 2 on high, so yes, I'd say it is a very crappy card.

9600M is really were things start looking ok for gaming, and just about any desktop card would obliterate that.

Edit: It looks like the 4850 is going to be the card to have for budget gaming on a laptop, I don't think nVidia can come close to it at all for $ / performance.
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
Alright....

Good gravy.... Finally a moment to breathe.

Desktop is finally gone.... My i7 build is coming here in the next day or so.

PM's have been responded to. More details coming in the first post later today or tomorrow. :D
 
L

Labombadog

Member
VictimOfGrief said:
Alright....

Good gravy.... Finally a moment to breathe.

Desktop is finally gone.... My i7 build is coming here in the next day or so.

PM's have been responded to. More details coming in the first post later today or tomorrow. :D
Click to expand...
What is the complete specs on it?
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
Labombadog said:
What is the complete specs on it?
Click to expand...
Finalizing that now.

Right now rough specs:
Core i7 920 stock heatsink (for now)
Gigabyte X58-UD4P
G.Skill 3x1GB 1333
BFG 800W PSU
eVGA 9800GT (for now)

Less than $950 shipped. :D More details coming.
 
C

Chris R

Member
Been running into some strange issues with my computer, so I'm thinking of doing a complete disassemble and then rebuild, with a fresh format... so what is the best tweak guide to use for 64 bit vista home premium?
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Comfirmed specs for the ATi Radeon Mobility 4000 series:

ATi_Mobility_4xxx_09.png


If you're in the market for a notebook, wait for these cards. The 4670 will slaughter the 9600M/9700M in the midrange, and the 4800s will take care of Nvidia's 9800M cards, all at lower prices.
 
I

inner-G

Banned
God, re-installed windows, updated, and the same shit T_T

I think my GFX card may be too close to my southbridge chipset or something it feels kind of hot.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
inner-G said:
God, re-installed windows, updated, and the same shit T_T

I think my GFX card may be too close to my southbridge chipset or something it feels kind of hot.
Click to expand...
Reinstall DirectX :/
 
I

inner-G

Banned
Hazaro said:
Reinstall DirectX :/
Click to expand...
I did.

I think I got it though. My GPU fan isn't spinning up for some reason. It's dead silent.

Installed evga precision, and it definitely hasn't been running much, for playing stuff at 1650 60fps. :lol

Any ideas on why it doesn't spin on it's own? It's kind of weird, but I'm a n00b with these things.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
inner-G said:
I did.

I think I got it though. My GPU fan isn't spinning up for some reason. It's dead silent.

Installed evga precision, and it definitely hasn't been running much, for playing stuff at 1650 60fps. :lol

Any ideas on why it doesn't spin on it's own? It's kind of weird, but I'm a n00b with these things.
Click to expand...
It should be, it doesn't give you a fan cycle in RPM or %?

You did plug in the 6 pin power to the card right?
I don't know what to tell you man. :/
 
V

Vaporak

Member
mrplow1817 said:
Looking for a little feedback on the rig I'm looking at, specifically if the PSU will be good enough. I have already bought the CPU and mobo, so those are set. Thanks.

CPU: Intel i7 920 2.66 GHz
Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe
RAM: 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1333
GPU: EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB 512-P3-N975-AR
HDD: WD Caviar Black 750 GB 7200 RPM WD7501AALS
PSU: PC Power PPCS500 500W
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW
Click to expand...

If this is primarily for gaming, then spend less money on the CPU/Mobo/RAM and get a better video card. For gaming the choice of video card is by far the most important for determining game performance. Unless you're a serious power user, doing server/rendering/scientific kinda work loads, then i7 is simply not a good allocation of funds.
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
blitz64 said:
The most important is the videocard on the laptop. This site mentions most laptop videocard benchmarks
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

The SiS Mirage is rank 161+ although not that exact model. I would go with 8200M but even that is a very crappy card. Both cards isn't much better than the built in Intel ones. You really need a 600-700 budget for gaming. With the above mentioned, you won't be able to play the latest (crysis, gta4, supreme commander). You could play WoW and spore....

You would be able to watch HD ripped movie with any laptop and connect it to your TV.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the HD answer! Was really worried about that one the most, figured you needed a really good videocard for that. Thanks for the benchmark site. Will check everything out. I don't really want to play the latest on it, got my PC for that! :) Just old gems that I missed out on. Baldur's gate and other RPG and mostly strategy games. Everything before AoEIII you could say. Oh and San Andreas and the other GTAs.

I'm sure that if I buy the laptop now I'm going to regret it later because of the crappy videocard. But hey, you know how it goes.
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Vaporak said:
If this is primarily for gaming, then spend less money on the CPU/Mobo/RAM and get a better video card. For gaming the choice of video card is by far the most important for determining game performance. Unless you're a serious power user, doing server/rendering/scientific kinda work loads, then i7 is simply not a good allocation of funds.
Click to expand...
He's eventually going to be CPU limited though, and Core 2 / Quad Core are a dead end. I guess it's a question of whether you want to take the hit on the motherboard and memory now or later. Personally, I would do it now to avoid possible compatibility issues later. My last major upgrade ended up hosing my windows installation (admittedly, it was 100% my fault).

You will definitely notice a difference if you're a big RTS gamer. World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, and the upcoming Demigod are all CPU limited. Dawn of War II and Starcraft 2 may be as well.
 
V

Vaporak

Member
SapientWolf said:
He's eventually going to be CPU limited though, and Core 2 / Quad Core are a dead end. I guess it's a question of whether you want to take the hit on the motherboard and memory now or later. Personally, I would do it now to avoid possible compatibility issues later. My last major upgrade ended up hosing my windows installation (admittedly, it was 100% my fault).

You will definitely notice a difference if you're a big RTS gamer. World in Conflict, Supreme Commander, and the upcoming Demigod are all CPU limited. Dawn of War II and Starcraft 2 may be as well.
Click to expand...

IMO a 9800GT is going to be a limiting factor for performance before a Core2 Quad will be, even for the RTS genre.
 
R

rc213

Member
inner-G said:
I did.

I think I got it though. My GPU fan isn't spinning up for some reason. It's dead silent.

Installed evga precision, and it definitely hasn't been running much, for playing stuff at 1650 60fps. :lol

Any ideas on why it doesn't spin on it's own? It's kind of weird, but I'm a n00b with these things.
Click to expand...

Have you tried Rivatuner 1.22 or Gpu-z 1.31? I have a Evga 9600GT SSC stock cooler and idle the fan spins at 35%, After an hour of gaming it gets up to 58%. Do you have the latest drivers from nvidia.com?
 
I

inner-G

Banned
rc213 said:
Have you tried Rivatuner 1.22 or Gpu-z 1.31? I have a Evga 9600GT SSC stock cooler and idle the fan spins at 35%, After an hour of gaming it gets up to 58%. Do you have the latest drivers from nvidia.com?
Click to expand...
Yup. I got the latest driver.

I used evga precision, and it did the same thing with the fan at 80%. The card came overclocked from 600 to 625MhZ, so I tried putting it back at stock 600MhZ, but to no avail.

I really think it could be the southbridge overheating. It's only about 1/4" from the card and it feels really hot down there.
 
Y

YuriLowell

Member
I have a problem with my wireless connection. It always seems that at some random point my desktop losses connection with my router and wont see it again to reconnect. I have tried several different adapters but I have had no luck. I also get kicked off PSN all the time, and I also get kicked out of parties in XBL.

Is it time for a new router?
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
YuriLowell said:
I have a problem with my wireless connection. It always seems that at some random point my desktop losses connection with my router and wont see it again to reconnect. I have tried several different adapters but I have had no luck. I also get kicked off PSN all the time, and I also get kicked out of parties in XBL.

Is it time for a new router?
Click to expand...
Specs on said router?
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
First use promo code: EMCABBDAB

Get in a chat with a customer service rep.

Ask them to price match Microcenter's Core i7 920 @ $229.00 (link here)

They should auto-knock off an additional $10 bucks off the CPU thus making the Core i7 920 around $274.99 which is $10 bucks below MSRP.

Just ordered mine and just went through that and it worked like a charm.
 
P

PistolPete

Member
Im still trying to figure out if I should build a new PC now or wait until Diablo 3 drops and build a rig around that. Im sure my PC has to be 5 years old now (running a ATI X800 video card). The bright side of this is that it's forcing me to play older games that I missed that are still fantastic (Operation flashpoint, IL-2 etc)

Regardless, what a fantastic thread. Thanks for the time you put into this! It will make things easier once I make the jump.
 
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