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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition
- Thread starter VictimOfGrief
- Start date
Christmas is coming and I had the idea that my siblings and I could get our mom a netbook (or at least money for one).
I´d say she´d need a 10" screen, 8" might be too small for her eyes :lol
Otherwise it should be cheap, have a good battery and enough horsepower to run excel, for the times her desktop is acting up. She really doesn´t do anything but mailing, skype and excel (for work).
We´re in Germany, so specific deals/prices won´t be the same, but what models and brands would you guys recommend?
Edit: spelling?
I´d say she´d need a 10" screen, 8" might be too small for her eyes :lol
Otherwise it should be cheap, have a good battery and enough horsepower to run excel, for the times her desktop is acting up. She really doesn´t do anything but mailing, skype and excel (for work).
We´re in Germany, so specific deals/prices won´t be the same, but what models and brands would you guys recommend?
Edit: spelling?
Animal
Banned
Hi guys!
So I received my computer from NCIX last night and everything was setup perfectly. They did a great job putting the components together and packed everything beautifully.
The only thing is my system is failing Prime95 blend test.
First try I had two worker threads out of eight that failed due to precision issues.
One worker thread failed with 0.5 delta and the other with 0.479 delta. The tolerance is set at 0.4 before failure.
This first run lasted less than 10minutes.
A second run which i left running all night did a bit better. I woke up to only have one worker thread had failed 53 minutes in with a delta of 0.5. The threshold is again set at 0.4.
Anybody know what's going on? Everything is at stock speed.
EDIT: This is my build.
So to answer my own question ... I've spotted lots of forum posts stating that Win 7 64-bit and prime95 have compatibility issues and even possibly Win 7 32-bit as well on multicore hyperthreaded machines.
Anyone know for certain what the deal is with this?
So I received my computer from NCIX last night and everything was setup perfectly. They did a great job putting the components together and packed everything beautifully.
The only thing is my system is failing Prime95 blend test.
First try I had two worker threads out of eight that failed due to precision issues.
One worker thread failed with 0.5 delta and the other with 0.479 delta. The tolerance is set at 0.4 before failure.
This first run lasted less than 10minutes.
A second run which i left running all night did a bit better. I woke up to only have one worker thread had failed 53 minutes in with a delta of 0.5. The threshold is again set at 0.4.
Anybody know what's going on? Everything is at stock speed.
EDIT: This is my build.
So to answer my own question ... I've spotted lots of forum posts stating that Win 7 64-bit and prime95 have compatibility issues and even possibly Win 7 32-bit as well on multicore hyperthreaded machines.
Anyone know for certain what the deal is with this?
brain_stew
Member
Has everyone updated to the GPU accelerated Flash 10.1 prerelease? It delievers a ridiculously large improvement on my system, making HD falsh video actually pretty damn nice and not a ridiculously insane performance hog it once was. I had to upgrade to the 195.55 Beta's to get it to run on my GTX 260, this is a huge win for those looking at ION based HTPCs.
More info here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678
More info here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678
Goddamnit, my new system just arrived but damn thing doesn't power. Mobo seems a bit fishy too, is it normal for a mobo to be a little bit sticky on the underside? You can obviously see some clear residue when you hold it against the light. Above side seems perfectly normal
Oh nice, will try, seems like you need recently released drivers from ATI too to make it work.brain_stew said:
NorrenRadd
Member
If I want to use 8 gigs of memory, can I use 2x2GB and 2x2GB, as long as I put them in the correct slots on the motherboard and as long as they are all the same speed?
brain_stew said:
It's pretty awesome. My laptop now plays HD flash streams flawlessly. Installed it on both my desktop and laptop but my desktop was doing well in the first place. I'm also wondering how well it performs on AMD's integrated chips as we already know the intel ones are garbage.
Teetris said:
Make sure you have two power connectors plugged into the motherboard. Both the 20-something pin one and the smaller one or else it won't boot. If it's not that it might be RMA time.
ChoklitReign
Member
Can anyone recommend any place where I can sell a Dell laptop that isn't eBay? Maybe even for parts? It has a semi-dead battery but I want to make at least $500 off of it.
Yup, both correct but no light on the mobo or anything. All mobos have a light when the PSU is turned on correct? Just to be sure I'll try the PSU on another PC but yeah, otherwise it has to be the mobo since I removed all the other parts except for CPU and still no light. Shorts and other stuff are also ruled out.Shambles said:
I wanted to taste the sticky stuff but was afraid, I did smell it though and it smelled pretty bad.
hey guys, just got my laptop, an hp compaq 615 whachmacallit
I've been trying to remove the bloatware to the best of my knowledge/capability and I was just wondering : which program/s should I use to keep my computer "clean and healthy", not talking about virusprograms, more like optimization and the such.
thx
I've been trying to remove the bloatware to the best of my knowledge/capability and I was just wondering : which program/s should I use to keep my computer "clean and healthy", not talking about virusprograms, more like optimization and the such.
thx
bee
Member
just downgraded (massive upgrade) from a 24inch 1080p monitor to a Viewsonic VX2268WM 120hz 22inch monitor
anyone not bothered about 24 inch and on the lookout for a gaming monitor simply MUST buy a 120hz model, the difference is pretty incredible
takes about 2 seconds to notice how much smoother games are especially fps shooters and also gets rid of 99% of screen tearing without the massive input lag of vsync. not enabled vsync in any games and i can't remember seeing a single tear, even after loading notoriously bad tearing games i've played in the past like crysis, gta4 and that new stalker benchmark
my best pc purchase since asus xonar essence st which btw is also incredible when paired to a high end set of headphones
anyone not bothered about 24 inch and on the lookout for a gaming monitor simply MUST buy a 120hz model, the difference is pretty incredible
takes about 2 seconds to notice how much smoother games are especially fps shooters and also gets rid of 99% of screen tearing without the massive input lag of vsync. not enabled vsync in any games and i can't remember seeing a single tear, even after loading notoriously bad tearing games i've played in the past like crysis, gta4 and that new stalker benchmark
my best pc purchase since asus xonar essence st which btw is also incredible when paired to a high end set of headphones
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
I just installed an Athlon II X4 260 CPU like 5 minutes ago.
Hey Brain Stew and others, will the Earthwatts 380 I have be ok or should I upgrade the PSU?
I copied this from the HTPC thread just in case anyone is interested.
Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
Hey Brain Stew and others, will the Earthwatts 380 I have be ok or should I upgrade the PSU?
I copied this from the HTPC thread just in case anyone is interested.
Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
You will be amazed. Enjoy the fuck outta that gameMidgarBlowedUp said:I just installed an Athlon II X4 260 CPU like 5 minutes ago.
Hey Brain Stew and others, will the Earthwatts 380 I have be ok or should I upgrade the PSU?
I copied this from the HTPC thread just in case anyone is interested.
Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
MidgarBlowedUp said:I just installed an Athlon II X4 260 CPU like 5 minutes ago.
Hey Brain Stew and others, will the Earthwatts 380 I have be ok or should I upgrade the PSU?
I copied this from the HTPC thread just in case anyone is interested.
Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
If your running pcsx2 you may need to OC your processor a bit as it is very CPU dependent and only uses 2 cores.
I was able to hunt down a Samsung XL 2370 monitor, but I won't be able to pick it up for another couple days. So I'll let you guys know how it is when I give it a full workout!
I also went against my usual norm of a budget CPU and did decide on the Q9550. I figure its a quad core version of the E8XXX series chip, and with a higher multiplier I can push it higher than the Q9400 on a lower FSB. Plus looking at some tests, the extra cache does tend to help things out. I figure I might as well retire the LGA 775 chipset in style, and when Intel decides on a singular socket in a couple years I can upgrade from there. Plus this will allow me to finally stretch the wings of my GTX 260, which I can get up to GTX 275 speeds stable.
Looking forward to later next week when I can get this all together!
I also went against my usual norm of a budget CPU and did decide on the Q9550. I figure its a quad core version of the E8XXX series chip, and with a higher multiplier I can push it higher than the Q9400 on a lower FSB. Plus looking at some tests, the extra cache does tend to help things out. I figure I might as well retire the LGA 775 chipset in style, and when Intel decides on a singular socket in a couple years I can upgrade from there. Plus this will allow me to finally stretch the wings of my GTX 260, which I can get up to GTX 275 speeds stable.
Looking forward to later next week when I can get this all together!
TouchMyBox
Member
So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my cpu,mobo,ram from an e8400 to a 965 BE (125w). I'm wondering what the go-to AM3 motherboard is at the moment. It seems all of the less expensive boards don't support higher speeds of ram. I don't really think I'll be using crossfire, but it would be nice to have.
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
MotherFan said:
I plan on doing that here shortly I'm just very insecure about how to do it. Most of the guides I see are either terribly written or in complicated English. The last time I did any real OC'ing of my CPU was back when I had a DX2-50Mhz
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
MidgarBlowedUp said:Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
Enjoy! Fuck the haters, FF12 is an awesome game.
As for PCSX2, I've tried running it on my PC (I'm running Vista Home Premium 64-bit), but for some reason it won't save my settings, so I have to configure it every time I start it. Also, it keeps telling me that the GS plugin could not be loaded, that gslog.txt cannot be created, that memcard 1 and 2 could not be loaded, that there was an error opening the CD/DVD plugin and that there's a gsinit: -1 error. What am I doing wrong here, GAF?
BTW, should a Phenom II X4 940 BE @ 3.0 GHz, 8 GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM and a 5770 be sufficient to run PCSX2? If I ever get it to work, that is
You'll be able to run it fine. I had similar problems getting it to work on Vista. Try running it as an administrator, maybe download an extra set of plugins to make sure they aren't corrupted.Combichristoffersen said:Enjoy! Fuck the haters, FF12 is an awesome game.
As for PCSX2, I've tried running it on my PC (I'm running Vista Home Premium 64-bit), but for some reason it won't save my settings, so I have to configure it every time I start it. Also, it keeps telling me that the GS plugin could not be loaded, that gslog.txt cannot be created, that memcard 1 and 2 could not be loaded, that there was an error opening the CD/DVD plugin and that there's a gsinit: -1 error. What am I doing wrong here, GAF?
BTW, should a Phenom II X4 940 BE @ 3.0 GHz, 8 GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM and a 5770 be sufficient to run PCSX2? If I ever get it to work, that is
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Crunched said:
Thanks. I'll look for some more plugins tomorrow, and try running it as administrator.
I did get it to work on my previous PC, but with a 1.8 GHz Sempron 3000+, 1 GB PC3200 RAM and a GeForce 6200 it ran like shit :lol
Combichristoffersen said:Enjoy! Fuck the haters, FF12 is an awesome game.
As for PCSX2, I've tried running it on my PC (I'm running Vista Home Premium 64-bit), but for some reason it won't save my settings, so I have to configure it every time I start it. Also, it keeps telling me that the GS plugin could not be loaded, that gslog.txt cannot be created, that memcard 1 and 2 could not be loaded, that there was an error opening the CD/DVD plugin and that there's a gsinit: -1 error. What am I doing wrong here, GAF?
BTW, should a Phenom II X4 940 BE @ 3.0 GHz, 8 GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM and a 5770 be sufficient to run PCSX2? If I ever get it to work, that is
Run whatever the newest beta version is, it runs faster than the release version. That should be able to run PCSX2 just fine.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Ceebs said:
Still get the same errors. Might be due to Windows denying PCSX2 writing to the folder, I suspect?
EDIT: I seem to get it to work somewhat now. Still won't play any damn games, though.
SundaySounds
Banned
Hazaro said:
Well his graphics card says it requires 450W+ PSU.
Also, on an unrelated note, what would be the ATI equivalent of the GTX 260 core 216 SC?
Just curious.
SundaySounds
Banned
Masenkame said:
This case is gonna be 39.99 on newegg starting monday.
http://www.facebook.com/notes/neweg...-peeks-start-today-fan-exclusive/220961708571
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
hokey1 said:
Thanks! That solved the error message problem, and after downloading a few extra plugins and tweaking the plugin configurations, I finally got Darkwatch running. It lags like all Hell in the intro though, as I'm still using the integrated HD 3200 GPU, but my 5770 should be here tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be better when I get the new GPU :lol
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
neoism said:
That thing is just ridiculously huge. Same goes for that new Nvidia GPU. Sooner or later they'll build a GPU that's bigger than the mobo it sits on.
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
Sipowicz said:
Well, I'm still trying to figure out how to do overclocking so I'm a newb but, I can tell you this. My ran is 667mhz but I wish it were 800 and higher because when I OC my CPU the mobo wants to change the ram from 667 to 800. So I have to underclock the ram to something like 640
Gully State
Member
I just got my crossfire 4850 going and I'm noticing some artifacts. On Crysis, there is some flickering on the sky and with some of the shrubbery. It's strange b/c I can't seem to get a screen cap of this as they come out normal. In Borderlands, some textures aren't loading ..
and
I'm not noticing any other issues with any other games. Also, when you crossfire 2 videocards..does one card get stressed more than the other or is the workload equally distributed? I have one 4850 that has a Accelero cooler that runs at 42C idle 55C Load whereas the other one that has a stock cooling solution from Asus runs at 62-66C idle and 95-96C load. I figure maybe if I switch the cooler 4850 to being the primary card, maybe it'll tax the second card less?
and
I'm not noticing any other issues with any other games. Also, when you crossfire 2 videocards..does one card get stressed more than the other or is the workload equally distributed? I have one 4850 that has a Accelero cooler that runs at 42C idle 55C Load whereas the other one that has a stock cooling solution from Asus runs at 62-66C idle and 95-96C load. I figure maybe if I switch the cooler 4850 to being the primary card, maybe it'll tax the second card less?
brain_stew
Member
MidgarBlowedUp said:I just installed an Athlon II X4 260 CPU like 5 minutes ago.
Hey Brain Stew and others, will the Earthwatts 380 I have be ok or should I upgrade the PSU?
I copied this from the HTPC thread just in case anyone is interested.
Getting ready to try Final Fantasy 12 with PCSX2.
Yes. As to PCSX2, sorry to disappoint you but you're going to need to do some serious OCing before you get good performance out of that, an Athlon x4 isn't a particularly good choice for a program that demands insane CPU power yet maxes out at two threads.
SundaySounds said:
It can say that all it wants, still means sweet FA, and doesn't change the fact his PSU is more than sufficient.
brain_stew
Member
Sipowicz said:
You really shouldn't be building a rig with DDR2 RAM these days. AM3 w/ DDR3 is the lowest you should be aiming for.
riceandbeans
Member
Septimus said:
Eh, if I remember right 720's are only 2.8ghz. Since PSCX2 only uses two cores, you're not gonna get much more than 50%-70% of the framerate so everything is going to be all slo-mo. The processor is gonna do more of the work the graphics card. If you want performance out of PSCX2, go for an Intel processor. They're optimized better.
You would need to overclock to get good framerates. 3.0Ghz is the bare minimum I would suggest. Luckily that CPU overclocks almost effortlessly. Some games perform better than others. Final Fantasy X runs well on more modest PCs but Dragon Quest VIII needs all the CPU cycles it can get. I have my i7 at 3.9Ghz and finally I can run it at a locked 60fps.Septimus said:
With 2 cores active you should get 3.2Ghz which should get the job done. There is room for improvement though as stated earlier.Timedog said:
Gully State
Member
Crunched said:
Is that just an inherent issue with crossfire? It kinda sucks because with the 4850's crossfired, I can get over 30 FPS for Crysis at 1680x1050 on high.
Funky Papa
FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Final build!
Tower: Zalman MS1000-HS1
PSU: Corsair HX620W
Mobo: GIGABYTE P55A-UD3
CPU: Core i5
Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600
Video card: PowerColor 5870
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 LED
Everything else is recycled from my current setup, including both the HDD and the sound card (SB Audigy 2 ZS).
Tower: Zalman MS1000-HS1
PSU: Corsair HX620W
Mobo: GIGABYTE P55A-UD3
CPU: Core i5
Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600
Video card: PowerColor 5870
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 LED
Everything else is recycled from my current setup, including both the HDD and the sound card (SB Audigy 2 ZS).
Good morning,
Thinking about buying the following and I will accept any advice. Haven't kept up with the pc times like I used to, but I think I have a decent setup here. Maybe.
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8 GHz
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 Mobo
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5770 1GB
I have everything else I'll need sitting around. Do you guys think the stock hs/fan for the Phenom is ok, or should I go with a Zalman?
Thinking about buying the following and I will accept any advice. Haven't kept up with the pc times like I used to, but I think I have a decent setup here. Maybe.
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8 GHz
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 Mobo
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5770 1GB
I have everything else I'll need sitting around. Do you guys think the stock hs/fan for the Phenom is ok, or should I go with a Zalman?