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

I

I should be doing hw

Member
Can someone reccomend a good, affordable set of PC speakers. I'm not sure if I want 5.1 or not, I don't want to pay an absurd amout though.
Got my mouse today though! Feels great. :D
 
M

MotherFan

Member
rhfb said:
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.
Click to expand...


I have tried the CD ones, the ones on the AMD site and the 9.11 betas. None of them worked. I updated BIOS, made sure my chipset was updated, and tested my ram. I also tried a bigger PSU and that did not help either. The only thing that helped was if my room fan was on high along with having the card fan on at least 70%. It was more stable that way, but how long it would have lasted I do not know, as that is an unacceptable solution. But, it makes me think something if overheating, what though I don't know.

GPU-z and furmark said the card gpu was around 67 when crashes occurred (I had seen it run at higher though without crashing, so ???).
Processor never went above 45
MB sensor never went above 40

I am guessing the card is faulty and maybe the ram or something is overheating, or maybe the sensor is wrong? The only other thing I can think of is possibly the SB, which the card covers. But then, I would think more people would have this issue with alot of other cards as well.

I am gonna RMA my card tomorrow and hopefully it will work when I get a replacement. If not, then I am going to go out and get a longer nvidia card than my 9500 gt and see if it really is the SB. But again, it is not as hot to touch as the 5770 is and it should be stable at decently high temps.
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
SundaySounds said:
why? I'll be using a nvidia card, so does it matter that much?
Click to expand...
That's even worse. I forget the exact details, but certain driver updates have been bricking 8800GTs for people who have an Nforce 200 chipset. If you go back a few years it was the 6800/NForce3 debacle. I still don't understand how Nvidia products could be incompatible with each other.
 
C

Corum

Member
My current graphics card (PowerColor HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card) went kapoot, fortunately the warranty had it covered and I've now received credit for what it was worth when I bought it!

I haven't really been paying attention to computer hardware recently so could anyone recommend a stable graphics card around the £100 area? (UK buyer)

So far I've found this, which looks fairly decent: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175914

Thanks.

*Edit* I probably should mention the credit is only usable with www.ebuyer.com
 
C

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Hey guys I've been eyeing this laptop for studypurposes and I was wondering two things


Athlon X2 QL-66 /
2GB /
160GB /
15.6" TFT /
ATI Radeon HD3200 /
DVD±RW /
BT /
Win 7

price circa 440 USD ( to give a perspective on the prices here in sweden : a gtx 295 costs more than 700 USD )

1. The most important one, is this a good purchase or should I keep looking?
2. Not as important, but what kind of games can I expect to run on it? D2?q3? WoW? etc
 
S

Shambles

Member
Corky said:
Hey guys I've been eyeing this laptop for studypurposes and I was wondering two things


Athlon X2 QL-66 /
2GB /
160GB /
15.6" TFT /
ATI Radeon HD3200 /
DVD±RW /
BT /
Win 7

price circa 440 USD ( to give a perspective on the prices here in sweden : a gtx 295 costs more than 700 USD )

1. The most important one, is this a good purchase or should I keep looking?
2. Not as important, but what kind of games can I expect to run on it? D2?q3? WoW? etc
Click to expand...

Beats the pants off Intel's integrated GPU's, but it's still an integrated chip itself.
 
Y

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Corky said:
Hey guys I've been eyeing this laptop for studypurposes and I was wondering two things


Athlon X2 QL-66 /
2GB /
160GB /
15.6" TFT /
ATI Radeon HD3200 /
DVD±RW /
BT /
Win 7

price circa 440 USD ( to give a perspective on the prices here in sweden : a gtx 295 costs more than 700 USD )

1. The most important one, is this a good purchase or should I keep looking?
2. Not as important, but what kind of games can I expect to run on it? D2?q3? WoW? etc
Click to expand...

It should be able to handle WoW okay. I've seen a similar system (had a better CPU than this) running WoW pretty well. Probably wouldn't handle modern games exceptionally well though.
 
K

Kintaco

Member
What processor and videcard offer the most bang for the buck? I don't need the best, just a nice hardware for the price. I currently have an AMD Athlon X2 3200+, 3GB ram, Geforce 9800GT (512mb), and dying Gigabyte mobo.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Kintaco said:
What processor and videcard offer the most bang for the buck? I don't need the best, just a nice hardware for the price. I currently have an AMD Athlon X2 3200+, 3GB ram, Geforce 9800GT (512mb), and dying Gigabyte mobo.
Click to expand...

What sort of budget are we talking about? What resolution?
 
F

Firestorm

Member
SundaySounds said:
Also, how exactly does SLi work? because I've got my gtx 260, and I've also got a GeForce 8800GTX. Can I use the two together?
Click to expand...
You can't use SLI, but you can use the GTX 260 as your primary card and use the 8800 GTX as a dedicated PhysX card.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
SundaySounds said:
WTF. this was $165 this morning.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103675
Click to expand...

Holy smokes.

I bought that for 155 in June. I wanted to stroll through this thread and see how my purchase in June still holds up.

A 4890 for $145 and the chip you posted for $155. 4gb of RAM and a sturdy mobo. Looks like I am still fine at 1080p on my 23 inch monitor.

I guess I could have waited for a 5xxx series card, but the 4890 breezes through at 1080p so no worries there.
 
S

Septimus

Member
Hey Firestorm, what happens at NCIX when the RAM is unavailable/out of stock? (Like the one you linked to on the other page.) Isn't it better to order one in stock? Unless they get restocked daily or something?
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Sorry, missed your post. lemme check it out. dammit everything i post seems to sell out x.x
SundaySounds said:
Okay, I think I've got it this time.
I'm gonna order this MoBo tonight, any reasons why I shouldn't?
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010972

and I'm gonna use it with this processor:
AMD Phenom II x4, Black Edition 3.2Ghz
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010385
Click to expand...
Any reason to not just spend an extra $50 on this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.290354
 
F

Firestorm

Member
T

TouchMyBox

Member
brain_stew said:
Nvidia chipset means stay far, far away.
Click to expand...

This post makes me sad. I bought a 780i SLI board and it was a piece of poopoo so you know what I did? I bought another 780i SLI board to replace it. :\

That said, this board has served me pretty well, even though it makes me cringe to think that I've switched to ATI gpus when I spent so much on this thing.
 
S

SundaySounds

Banned
Septimus said:
Just a bit of a random question here, are you supposed to take off your computer each night? I've heard mixed opinions.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess. It's certainly good for your pc's overall health to turn it off at the end of the night. When I leave mine on for a couple days I notice a bit of lag in the performance. Reboot clears it right up.

evil solrac v3.0 said:
are there any Mobos that support both SLi and crossfire?
Click to expand...

: / I wasn't aware that they were different. So if a MoBo says crossfire, it's only good for ATIs?
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Hazaro said:
SLi is only available on nvidia chipsets.

If Hydra tech is working as advertised, and actually hits the market soon. Then there will be a board that does any GPU + any GPU with good scaling.

http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=815&type=expert&pid=1
Click to expand...

SLI is most definitely widespread.

My motherboard supports both SLI and Xfire, and i think every other mATX board I was looking at did as well, so I ended up just figuring it was a given a new motherboard would support both.
 
R

Red

Member
SundaySounds said:
yeah, it went back to 165 the next day. but I found the Phenon II x4 3.2Ghz for 160 at zipzoomfly.com
Click to expand...
Ooh, nice price.

If anyone knows, what's the newest revision of intel's SSD? I'm looking to get an 80 GB for my boot drive.

Also wondering which set of RAM to choose between. This or this?
 
B

birdchili

Member
so when Gigabyte says to look on their website for a list of supported memory for the ga-p55a-ud3 motherboard, that's just a sick joke, right? they could just provide me with a link seeing as *i'm already on their website*.

they don't seem to have any memory recommendations since 2005? really?

should i be ok with any decent quality ddr3 1333 1.5v memory? i recall that the Gigabyte p55 boards were a bit memory fussy...
 
K

KillerAJD

Member
KillerAJD said:
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.
Click to expand...
Anybody? What about for $400? Shit, they were about to buy a $400 piece of shit desktop from Wal-Mart last night just because she wanted something, :lol
 
S

Shambles

Member
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.
Click to expand...

You'd have better luck for sure. Some reviewers mention the problems came a couple weeks into using the machine but it would improve your odds by quite a bit. You could always play the gambling game and home you get a good one. On papers it's a good mobo but saving a few bucks is rarely worth the extra hassle if you have to troubleshoot/RMA parts.

KillerAJD said:
Anybody? What about for $400? Shit, they were about to buy a $400 piece of shit desktop from Wal-Mart last night just because she wanted something, :lol
Click to expand...

250/300$ is still netbook price range. For 400$ you might be able to get into celeron based notebooks on a great sale if you're lucky, but it also depends where you live. Can I assume you're in the states?
 
K

KillerAJD

Member
Shambles said:
250/300$ is still netbook price range. For 400$ you might be able to get into celeron based notebooks on a great sale if you're lucky, but it also depends where you live. Can I assume you're in the states?
Click to expand...
Yep, living in California. Cheaper is definitely better, and she only needs it to check email, and play Farmville on Facebook. I want her to get a netbook, just so I can play around with it a bit :lol , but I think it'd be easier for her to read/use a regular laptop. It just comes down to what's the best price really.
 
S

Shambles

Member
KillerAJD said:
Yep, living in California. Cheaper is definitely better, and she only needs it to check email, and play Farmville on Facebook. I want her to get a netbook, just so I can play around with it a bit :lol , but I think it'd be easier for her to read/use a regular laptop. It just comes down to what's the best price really.
Click to expand...

You'd have to play the patience game and wait for a good sale because even 400$ at regular price only puts you into netbooks. Up here in Canada lenovo has some current coupons that allow me to buy their cheapest Core2Duo laptop for around 550$ CAD. Dell.com doesn't look very hopeful, I see a 450$ athlon II at BB (The devils store) which is getting close to what you're looking for.

Some might argue and say that an atom/celeron/single core pentium is good enough for what she wants but as far as I'm concerned I would consider them a waste of money. You could also consider building a desktop for her but unless she already has a monitor and OS you'll again find yourself strapped for cash on a desktop build as well for that budget. I'm not sure what computer retailers are common down in California so it's worth browsing their websites, but you'll probably also want other peoples opinions as well. I'm sure some people love netbooks, i'm not one of them.
 
K

KillerAJD

Member
Shambles said:
You'd have to play the patience game and wait for a good sale because even 400$ at regular price only puts you into netbooks. Up here in Canada lenovo has some current coupons that allow me to buy their cheapest Core2Duo laptop for around 550$ CAD. Dell.com doesn't look very hopeful, I see a 450$ athlon II at BB (The devils store) which is getting close to what you're looking for.

Some might argue and say that an atom/celeron/single core pentium is good enough for what she wants but as far as I'm concerned I would consider them a waste of money. You could also consider building a desktop for her but unless she already has a monitor and OS you'll again find yourself strapped for cash on a desktop build as well for that budget. I'm not sure what computer retailers are common down in California so it's worth browsing their websites, but you'll probably also want other peoples opinions as well. I'm sure some people love netbooks, i'm not one of them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the help. Guess I'll keep looking around. My only problem is I'm really not well versed in the specs of laptop stuff. I'm not really sure what is better than what.
 
S

Shambles

Member
KillerAJD said:
Thanks for the help. Guess I'll keep looking around. My only problem is I'm really not well versed in the specs of laptop stuff. I'm not really sure what is better than what.
Click to expand...

Here's a compromise as long as it has at least 2gigs of ram, a 6 cell battery and 250gig HDD. This fry's site is crap and has no details, nor do I know if fry's is decent to deal with either. The atom processors are the ones powering all the netbooks right now. They are tremendously efficient but as far as overall power go they are pretty terrible. On the low end of -real- CPU's in laptops you have the low-low end ones like intels celerons and AMD's athlon I's and turions. I prefer to only start looking at Core2Duos and Athlon II's. The link takes you to a machine with a T4200 which although is technically an older Pentium chip it's performance is similar to a C2D, faster than the one in my laptop actually.

If you want to take a look at a table with approximate CPU performance differences you can look here. Of course no testing method is perfect, but it gives you a place to start.

Edit: Fixed the link to the T4200 laptop. Also note the CPU benchmark link takes you to mid-range CPU's. You'll have to switch tables with the drop-down menu to see anything lower/higher.

Edit 2: Here's a lenovo machine with the same CPU but -might- have better supporting specs for 20$ more.
 
R

Red

Member
SundaySounds said:
Any reason why you don't want to just get 2 of these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409
Click to expand...
I have a triple channel board/i7 and am looking to build a performance machine. Trying to get solid RAM that'll run cool with an overclock.

I want the mushkin RAM for the low timings, but the dominator set has a $60 off combo deal with the psu I was leaning toward buying. Both sets have great reviews, and all other impressions I've found online have been equally glowing. I was set on the mushkin RAM for a long time, but I think I'll end up going with the other set because of the discount.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Corum said:
My current graphics card (PowerColor HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card) went kapoot, fortunately the warranty had it covered and I've now received credit for what it was worth when I bought it!

I haven't really been paying attention to computer hardware recently so could anyone recommend a stable graphics card around the £100 area? (UK buyer)

So far I've found this, which looks fairly decent: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175914

Thanks.

*Edit* I probably should mention the credit is only usable with www.ebuyer.com
Click to expand...

I'd pay an extra tenner for a 5770, same performance but DX11, significantly lower idle power consumption, triple monitor support and native HDMI out with better audio support:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175731

Either are a decent buy, though.
 
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