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

Septimus said:
Thanks guys, so replace it with that mobo and get 4gb of ddr3 instead of ddr2 and I'll be set?

Yup, should give you the option of upgrading to the 8 core / 16 thread brand new Bulldozer architecture 2 or 3 years down the line.

Personally I'd switch out that HDD for a Samsung F3 as well.
 

Zzoram

Member
Septimus said:
And the 5770 isn't overkill for gaming at 1680x1050, right?

Nope. The 5870 is probably not even overkill, it just lets you crank up AA more if you run out of settings, or lets you get a higher minimum framerate so dips are less noticeable. The 5770 should be good though, I think that's equivalent to the 4870 1GB, and my 4870 512MB is good at 1680x1050. I actually want a bit more power because I still don't have Crysis Warhead where I want it (I can avg 30fps in DX9 with Very High everything, vsync on, but it can dip to like 18fps and I don't like that even though it's playable, the 5870 should be able to run Very High everything solid in DX10), but everything else is easy to max.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Funky Papa said:
Isn't i7 a bit of an overkill even for hardcore gaming? I've seen plenty of PC nuts more than pleased with the cheaper i5.

I wouldn't be using my computer for just gaming. I'd be doing most if not all of my actual modeling and video editing with this computer.
 

Red

Member
Zzoram said:
Nope. The 5870 is probably not even overkill, it just lets you crank up AA more if you run out of settings, or lets you get a higher minimum framerate so dips are less noticeable. The 5770 should be good though, I think that's equivalent to the 4870 1GB, and my 4870 512MB is good at 1680x1050. I actually want a bit more power because I still don't have Crysis Warhead where I want it (I can avg 30fps in DX9 with Very High everything, vsync on, but it can dip to like 18fps and I don't like that even though it's playable, the 5870 should be able to run Very High everything solid in DX10), but everything else is easy to max.
I want a 5870 so bad, and I hate that it's less a matter of price and more a matter of actually finding one in stock. It's the one thing holding me back from buying parts right now, because what's the point of building something that I can't attach to a monitor? Driving me crazy, I feel like I'm checking google, amazon, newegg, and a handful of other places every five minutes hoping that a card will appear.

I guess I could settle for something cheaper, maybe a pair of 5770s. Will be gaming at 1920x1080, ideally. But at this point I want a 5870 on principle. I've been looking for one so hard that no matter what else I settle for, no matter how good a substitute I find, I'll end up disappointed.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Quick question:
Would I be able to run Dragon Age: Origins with a Phenom II X4 940 3.0 GHz, 8 GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM and a 5770? I'm not usually interested in WRPGs, but DA:O looks like something I might enjoy, so I'll consider dipping in (if I can run it at a reasonable framerate, that is).
 

Firestorm

Member
Combichristoffersen said:
Quick question:
Would I be able to run Dragon Age: Origins with a Phenom II X4 940 3.0 GHz, 8 GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM and a 5770? I'm not usually interested in WRPGs, but DA:O looks like something I might enjoy, so I'll consider dipping in (if I can run it at a reasonable framerate, that is).
Yes. Your setup is super-new.
 

nubbe

Member
Combichristoffersen said:
Quick question:
Would I be able to run Dragon Age: Origins with a Phenom II X4 940 3.0 GHz, 8 GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM and a 5770? I'm not usually interested in WRPGs, but DA:O looks like something I might enjoy, so I'll consider dipping in (if I can run it at a reasonable framerate, that is).
Why do you think you wouldn't?
Thats a very high end machine.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Firestorm said:
Yes. Your setup is super-new.

So I should be able to run it at more than 10 FPS? Got it. Might look into it then :D

nubbe said:
Why do you think you wouldn't?
Thats a very high end machine.

I've been out of the loop on PC hardware so long that I'm by and large oblivious to what goes on in the hardware market nowadays, which is why I prefer asking the people in this thread who are more knowledgeable on the matter than I am :)
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Quick question:
Would I be able to run Dragon Age: Origins with a Phenom II X4 940 3.0 GHz, 8 GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM and a 5770? I'm not usually interested in WRPGs, but DA:O looks like something I might enjoy, so I'll consider dipping in (if I can run it at a reasonable framerate, that is).

You can run any current PC release and anything set to be released in the foreseeable future well with that rig, so yes, of course Dragon Age will play just fine. Any multiplatform title will be a much improved experience on that rig as well of course but that goes without saying.


Combichristoffersen said:
So I should be able to run it at more than 10 FPS? Got it. Might look into it then :D

You should manage 60fps at 1080p with max settings just fine.
 

Chris R

Member
Anyone have a clue when new ATI drivers are coming out? My brother gets this error

Display Driver has stopped responding and has recovered. Display driver ATI Radeon Family stopped responding and has successfully recovered

pretty frequently on his 5770 Win7 machine :| I'm almost positive it is a driver issue, doing some research online doesn't really provide any real solution to the problem.
 

Firestorm

Member
Combichristoffersen said:
So I should be able to run it at more than 10 FPS? Got it. Might look into it then :D
Your framerate, visual quality, and features will be better than the 360 and PS3 versions of the game.
 

KillerAJD

Member
Hey, can anyone recommend me a laptop/netbook for around $250/$300? My mom has been using a cousin's laptop for a few months, but the thing is a piece of shit. It's always crashing/freezing and has tons of problems with the keyboard. All she really wants it for is to browse the web, check email, and play Farmville on Facebook :lol She'd prefer a full sized laptop, just because she might have trouble with the screen size, but if the price is right, she'll take it.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
So when Christmas is over and I've cleared my Christmas spending debt thinking of getting myself the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Quad-Core Black Edition 3.4GHz w/ 8MB Cache

Asus M4A78T-E

Corsair 8GB XMS PCE-10600 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (4x 2GB)

eVGA e-GeForce GTX275 89MB PCI-E w/ DualDVI, HDTV-Out

Those 5 components for $954.96
 
Entropia said:
So when Christmas is over and I've cleared my Christmas spending debt thinking of getting myself the following:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Quad-Core Black Edition 3.4GHz w/ 8MB Cache

Asus M4A78T-E

Corsair 8GB XMS PCE-10600 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (4x 2GB)

eVGA e-GeForce GTX275 89MB PCI-E w/ DualDVI, HDTV-Out

Those 5 components for $954.96

Bad use of funds imo. i5-750 Gigabyte P55-UD4P, 4GB DDR3 1333mhz and a 5850 should be about the same price and a much better bet.

Either way the 965 is a waste, if you need the extra clockspeed just get a 945 and clock it, that's essentially all a 965 is anyway.
 
I went ahead and bought a 1080p monitor and now I have a new problem that I'm hoping someone on this forum knows how to address.. Basically I wanted to go dual monitors with my old monitor (They're different brands and different resolutions but I don't think that matters).

Anyways, everything will boot up ok and run fine for about 5 min. Then all of a sudden both monitors flicker and go dead and I'll get a BSOD message or my PC will just reboot or it'll recover and I'll get an error message saying my video card driver crashed. I've got an Visiontek 4850 with the latest drivers and also I'm running Vista 64..
 
I'm having trouble picking out a good case for my new setup. Do you know of any sweet models? I need a full ATX, preferably one that lights up, has some sort of window. If it comes with a power supply that would be awesome, but I'm just looking for good ideas right now.
 

Aesius

Member
Building a new PC for playing the Dolphin and PCSX2 emulator, as well as a few games (Crysis, STALKER, upcoming 2010 releases). I'll be playing on my HDTV which is only 720p (1360x768).

My current rig is:
7600 GT
AMD 64 3000+
1 GB RAM

I'm planning on upgrading on the cheap, so I will likely be reusing my hard drive, case, DVD drive, monitor, speakers, etc.

Anyway, my current upgrade plan is:
Radeon 4670 512 MB ($40 with rebate)
AMD X2 250 3.0 ghz
4 GB RAM

all that + a modest mobo will be about $300. Do you guys think it will be a worthy upgrade, and at 1360x768, will it be capable of playing most games at mostly high settings? Most importantly, will it be able to run Dolphin and PCSX2 at a decent framerate?
 
nm...I figured it out. I'm using Overdrive for OC'ing my video card. Once I disabled it and set the GPU back to stock speeds, everything now runs fine. Are there any other programs that'll give me a steady overclock instead of the one Catalyst does?
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Crunched said:
I want a 5870 so bad, and I hate that it's less a matter of price and more a matter of actually finding one in stock. It's the one thing holding me back from buying parts right now, because what's the point of building something that I can't attach to a monitor? Driving me crazy, I feel like I'm checking google, amazon, newegg, and a handful of other places every five minutes hoping that a card will appear.

I guess I could settle for something cheaper, maybe a pair of 5770s. Will be gaming at 1920x1080, ideally. But at this point I want a 5870 on principle. I've been looking for one so hard that no matter what else I settle for, no matter how good a substitute I find, I'll end up disappointed.
You could pre-order one from every company on Amazon. Wait until one ships first, then quickly cancel the rest before they ship.

The only problem with this is that if they all ship simultaneously, you're fucked.
 
Aesius said:
Building a new PC for playing the Dolphin and PCSX2 emulator, as well as a few games (Crysis, STALKER, upcoming 2010 releases). I'll be playing on my HDTV which is only 720p (1360x768).

My current rig is:
7600 GT
AMD 64 3000+
1 GB RAM

I'm planning on upgrading on the cheap, so I will likely be reusing my hard drive, case, DVD drive, monitor, speakers, etc.

Anyway, my current upgrade plan is:
Radeon 4670 512 MB ($40 with rebate)
AMD X2 250 3.0 ghz
4 GB RAM

all that + a modest mobo will be about $300. Do you guys think it will be a worthy upgrade, and at 1360x768, will it be capable of playing most games at mostly high settings? Most importantly, will it be able to run Dolphin and PCSX2 at a decent framerate?

You're going to want to be OCing that processor for PCSX2 and Dolphin, 245s are much cheaper where I am, so get one of them instead if the price is any lower. You'll probably want some custom cooling as well, so you can really push that processor.

The 4770 is definitely worth the extra cash but a 4670 isn't a bad card for 720p by any means. Either are fine for emulators.

Edit: Since you'll have to be OCing anyway just get a 240, bargain at $60, should OC just the same.

Get this to aid your OCing a 240 + cooler will be the same price as 250 and allow you to get much higher clockspeeds, aim for 3.6ghz:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...36&cm_re=rosewill_92mm-_-35-200-036-_-Product


This thread will help you in your OCing endeavours:

http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/587058-athlon-ii-regor-series-oc-club.html

By the looks of things people are managing great OCs on stock cooling so its upto you whether you bother with a third party HS/F.
 

SRG01

Member
When will the 5000 series come out with a low profile card? I'm waiting for a decent video card to go into my future HP Slimline build!
 

Red

Member
Rentahamster said:
You could pre-order one from every company on Amazon. Wait until one ships first, then quickly cancel the rest before they ship.

The only problem with this is that if they all ship simultaneously, you're fucked.
Oh man, that would be awful :lol

I think I'll just stick it out. I've ordered two parts so far: an LG GGW-H20L and an Antec Twelve Hundred. I swear, that LG drive is almost as hard to find as a 5870, and I may have some searching to do yet... the place I bought it from has had my order listed as pending for ten days. They've charged me, so I hope that's of the drive being moved and not me being ripped off :lol
 

Firestorm

Member
SRG01 said:
When will the 5000 series come out with a low profile card? I'm waiting for a decent video card to go into my future HP Slimline build!
Why are you bothering with that instead of just getting a good PC off the bat? I find that getting a PC from the big manufacturers + adding a power supply and video card always ends in more headaches for more money.
 

MotherFan

Member
rhfb said:
Anyone have a clue when new ATI drivers are coming out? My brother gets this error

Display Driver has stopped responding and has recovered. Display driver ATI Radeon Family stopped responding and has successfully recovered

pretty frequently on his 5770 Win7 machine :| I'm almost positive it is a driver issue, doing some research online doesn't really provide any real solution to the problem.

I get that after a game crashes and makes it to the desktop, but far more often the game just freezes and I have to reboot..
 

Septimus

Member
Shambles said:
The amount of DOA reviews for that board is quite alarming. I'd stay away.
Oh and does this matter if they are building the PC for me? Are Gigabyte mobos usually good quality? I mean, if it was DOA they'd obviously have to build it again before sending it to me.
 

Chris R

Member
MotherFan said:
I get that after a game crashes and makes it to the desktop, but far more often the game just freezes and I have to reboot..
thats when it is happening to my brother. Going to spend a lot of time tomorrow trying different drivers to see what is the best.
 
Septimus said:
Oh and does this matter if they are building the PC for me? Are Gigabyte mobos usually good quality? I mean, if it was DOA they'd obviously have to build it again before sending it to me.

Yes, absolutely.
 
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