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[Combichristoffersen]

I'm facing the exact same decision. It really is a pretty difficult choice, 5770 is slightly cheaper and has a few extra bulletpoints but doesn't have the raw performance of the 4890. I've got a feeling I'll never be totally happy with whichever I go for although the impatient side of me is totally leaning to the 4890...

I faced the same decision a while ago too :lol In the end I decided to go with the 5770 due to the lower pricetag, DX11 support and the lower idle power consumption. It suits my needs, I don't really do that much gaming on my PC anyway, so I didn't really need the raw power advantage of the 4890 all that much.

 

[rocK`]

Can we talk about laptops here?

I'm in the market for a 'desktop replacement' though my desktop is fine enough as it is.

Would like a portable dragon age/aion/WoW machine, though.

 

[Meier]

When you buy from NCIX, all the individual components you choose will retain their individual warranties, just choose parts with a longer warranty if it concerns you.

The parts warranty is less important to me than the system warranty. I want to buy a PC and let the service be someone else's concern. So with that in mind, does that price seem decent?

I am a fairly casual gamer (prefer consoles) so if I can go a but lower on a few items and be okay, that would be fine too.

 

[K.Jack]

Can we talk about laptops here?

I'm in the market for a 'desktop replacement' though my desktop is fine enough as it is.

Would like a portable dragon age/aion/WoW machine, though.

Tell me your budget, desired screen size, max weight, and how much power you need.

 

[arts&crafts]

So after much deliberation I am deciding to buy myself a new videocard for christmas.
I have decided on the 5770 as my budget is around 200$ canadian and it appears to be the best based on benchmarks.

My one question is does it really matter if its made by XFX or Sapphire or powercolor or whatever? Isn't it the same hardware? I think I may stick with Sapphire as I have used their x800gto2 for the past 4 years and it has worked wonders. Just want to make sure there is no red flags towards this card that you guys know of. :lol

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=45066&vpn=21163-00-20R&manufacture=SAPPHIRE


EDIT. I will hopefully be playing at 1900 x 1080

bump just so I don't make a mistake

 

[dionysus]

bump just so I don't make a mistake

A lot of the difference is in cooling system design and the manufacturers warranty. Never used a sapphire but they seem to be a respectable company so I wouldn't have any purchasing anxiety.

 

[Mrbob]

I got my Q9550 up and running last night to good results. If anyone still has a legacy 775 mobo and don't want to upgrade everything this is a good chip to go with. I did some research on the Q9400 and Q9550. I was able to find the Q9550 within about 40 dollars of the Q9400. If you can find the Q9550 within around 50 bucks of the Q9400 I would go that route. The 9550 has a slightly higher multiplier (8.5 versus 8), so overclocking possibility is higher by default. Plus the Q9550 chip in general is a higher binned chip than the Q9400 so you have better overclocking ability. It does have twice the cache too (12mb versus 6mb), which does make a slight difference in games. But the better overclocking ability is the real difference maker. You can see some of my surprising results below. Looking at pure price to performance, the Q9550 is the best quad core to get. Although this might be changing as the Q9550 price keeps going up. But if you are looking for more of a budget chip, the Q9400 would be a good choice and not that far behind. At this point I would skip the Q8400 as the difference between that and the Q9400 is minimal.

At stock speeds on my Q9550 and GTX 260 I am now getting over 60fps in L4D2 with CX16 AA and 16AF with everything at max settings @ 1080p. Using Fraps my experience has been in the 100s with some action, and then into the mid 60s when everything goes crazy, which is awesome. Dragon Age has had a good boost too. The parts that would drop in the mid teens now holds in the low 40s, with most of the game well over 60fps now.

I did end up doing some overclocking (no games test yet) on the CPU and was able to easily hit 3.4 ghz with it (400 X 8.5). I will be able to go higher but I don't know if I'm going to push it. I'm pretty happy with the performance at stock speed and now I'll have a bigger boost. Overclocking the chip means running hotter, and my current temps are decent. I'm using the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2.0 cooler on it, and it is working ok. It has a bracket that screws into it and I had to slightly resposition the heatsink/fan so I thought I might have to clean it off and the chip to reapply some thermal paste, but temps are alright. I think the way this mounts is more stable than the Rev 1.0 model, but it is somewhat more of a pain to mount. I idle in the lower to mid 30s, and under heavy load goes into the mid 60s. I'm using Intel Burn Test for the heavy load which does maximise all 4 cores at 100 percent. The chip is rated up to 71.4C so I'm good there. These are worst case scenerios too, when I was playing L4D2 and Far Cry 2 (stock settings) my temps were only hitting the mid 40s on all of the cores. So the Arctic 7 Freezer Pro still works great as a budget cooler, but if you want to do crazy overclocks you might want a little more. I've been able to undervolt the chip too on my overclock while keeping things stable, so that is helping to keep the heat down as well. Somewhat strange going from a dual core I had to overvolt to hit 2.9 ghz to a quad core I can undervolt and hit 3.4 ghz stable, but I'll take it! You were a warrior e2160, but it is time for a new chip to shine!

Now it will be time to stretch my GTX 260 now that I have the CPU which can handle it.

 

[arts&crafts]

A lot of the difference is in cooling system design and the manufacturers warranty. Never used a sapphire but they seem to be a respectable company so I wouldn't have any purchasing anxiety.

Alright, thanks.

 

[DietRob]

How hard have you been overclocking? It's possible you damaged one of your parts. Also, have you installed any new parts lately? perhaps a ram chip that's not agreeing with your MoBo?

Not to hardcore I don't think. I've got FSB at 333 at 9x multiplier to give me 3ghz on a Q6600. It's very stable when it boots. I'm leaning towards bad ram. The 4 gig ram set I have was a cheap combo (crucial) I picked up on a sale. The RAM will be the first thing I check and replace.

 

[brain_stew]

]
At stock speeds on my Q9550 and GTX 260 I am now getting over 60fps in L4D2 with CX16 AA and 16AF with everything at max settings @ 1080p.

Told, ya.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

How would I go about getting the best bang for my buck with £700?

 

[DietRob]

I have the exact same problem (entirely different specs though). After... well, several months, I've concluded it's unsolvable. Whatever it is isn't a common problem, and for me at least if I attempt to power on enough times it will eventually work (usually around 1 in 3).

Is their anything at all in our specs that is the same?

I was talking to a friend at work yesterday and surprisingly he has had the same issue. The only constant between our two systems is Windows 7 x64

 

[Mrbob]

I know it sounds too simple, but could it be you have a loose wire somewhere connected to your power cable?

Told, ya.

Yeah thanks again for pushing me in the quad direction. I know if I would have went with an e8400 at this point I would not have been happy. Especially with future games pushing more than two cores. I have the e8400 equivalent in dual core games, with the ability to move things further when more cores are needed.

 

[Diablohead]

How would I go about getting the best bang for my buck with £700?

I would think you can get a fairly awesome machine with that value, I made a £435 gaming rig (to do work on also) in march and I am seriously happy with it. Aion at 60fps etc.

 

[ninjavanish]

Building a rig for my brother, what is the best bang for my buck graphics card in these ranges?:
$80-$100
$100-$130

It will be used for 1080p gaming (mainly l4d2 and tf2) and I'd like to get solid 60+fps performance.

I know most okay cards can do this (my 8800gt can) but I'd still like to get him the most performance for his buck if he does decide to branch out to other games.

Thank you gaf super hive mind genius

 

[rocK`]

Tell me your budget, desired screen size, max weight, and how much power you need.

$1200

15+-17'' ideal

no weight

I'd like an i5/i7 but a Q6600 would suffice

I'd like it to play Dragon Age (using as benchmark) without issues.

Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllso.

It can't be HP. I saw one that was almost perfect for me, but the fact that it was HP = no sale for me.

 

[Mrbob]

Building a rig for my brother, what is the best bang for my buck graphics card in these ranges?:
$80-$100
$100-$130

It will be used for 1080p gaming (mainly l4d2 and tf2) and I'd like to get solid 60+fps performance.

I know most okay cards can do this (my 8800gt can) but I'd still like to get him the most performance for his buck if he does decide to branch out to other games.

Thank you gaf super hive mind genius

You must have a super 8800gt. Or a really fast cpu if you get those kind of L4D2 numbers @ 1080p.

I would look at this card for him for the best bang of the buck within that budget to give him the most power for his money:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4150337&cm_re=ati_4850-_-14-150-337-_-Product

 

[ninjavanish]

You must have a super 8800gt. Or a really fast cpu if you get those kind of L4D2 numbers @ 1080p.

I would look at this card for him for the best bang of the buck within that budget to give him the most power for his money:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4150337&cm_re=ati_4850-_-14-150-337-_-Product

1) I've only played l4d1 on my rig (is 2 any more demanding?)
2) I don't max out all settings but most are set to high
3) I've actually never looked at the fps counter but from how responsive the game is I'd guess it's somewhere at or very near 60fps with some occasional slowdown

 

[BravoSuperStar]

If anyone is interested in an SSD newegg is selling the retail 80gb intel Gen2 (TRIM) drives for $214 (down from $299) as part of their thanksgiving sale. I bought one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023

 

[brain_stew]

Building a rig for my brother, what is the best bang for my buck graphics card in these ranges?:
$80-$100
$100-$130

It will be used for 1080p gaming (mainly l4d2 and tf2) and I'd like to get solid 60+fps performance.

I know most okay cards can do this (my 8800gt can) but I'd still like to get him the most performance for his buck if he does decide to branch out to other games.

Thank you gaf super hive mind genius

Try and find a 4870 for cheap. Source engine games are quite CPU heavy so bear that in mind.

 

[Hazaro]

If anyone is interested in an SSD newegg is selling the retail 80gb intel Gen2 (TRIM) drives for $214 (down from $299) as part of their thanksgiving sale. I bought one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023

GAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

That is so tempting for me to just grab that and toss win 7 and upgrade right now.

But I don't need it...

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

if i buy an SSD and install win7 on it, can i then just install all my games onto another hrad drive, i have over 20 games and i don'ty think they will all fit into an SSD.

 

[Hazaro]

if i buy an SSD and install win7 on it, can i then just install all my games onto another hrad drive, i have over 20 games and i don'ty think they will all fit into an SSD.

Yup

 

[Bebpo]

http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/...otions.newegg.com/nepro/bfdisplay/160x350.jpg

What do I buy?!??!!?

I'm willing to spend $150 or less. 1080p would be nice, but if there's a reason to go for a lower res I'll listen. Size doesn't matter. I do want a monitor that scales well so running 720p videos or 720p or lower res games scaled to 1080p still looks sharp.

Right now I have a 4:3 1280x1024 monitor. I want to replace it so my PC gaming will look better. L4D2, Dragon Age, etc...

 

[K.Jack]

$1200

15+-17'' ideal

no weight

I'd like an i5/i7 but a Q6600 would suffice

I'd like it to play Dragon Age (using as benchmark) without issues.

Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllso.

It can't be HP. I saw one that was almost perfect for me, but the fact that it was HP = no sale for me.

In your price range, forget the mobile i7, unless you're willing to sacrifice a ton of GPU power. The cheapest i7 notebook, with decent graphics power, is $1400, and that's only the 1.6Ghz i7, which is not that too, even with Turbo Mode (2.5Ghz when using two cores).

Here's a 15.6" Asus, with 2.53Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and 9800 GT equivalent, for $1199.

 

[Mrbob]

http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/...otions.newegg.com/nepro/bfdisplay/160x350.jpg

What do I buy?!??!!?

I'm willing to spend $150 or less. 1080p would be nice, but if there's a reason to go for a lower res I'll listen. Size doesn't matter. I do want a monitor that scales well so running 720p videos or 720p or lower res games scaled to 1080p still looks sharp.

Right now I have a 4:3 1280x1024 monitor. I want to replace it so my PC gaming will look better. L4D2, Dragon Age, etc...

Newegg loading so slow right now.

The 23" Acer looks good for $149.99. Remember 1080P will require a little more horsepower than your current resolution.

 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I'm expecting lower framerates. But I plan on upgrading my video card in a year so I'm not too worried about the extra horsepower.

I'm actually running most games in 1080p when outputting to my 1080i TV already since the scaling looks sharper going 1080p->1080i than 720p->1080i on my set. Still getting 60fps with most games at 1080p though I need to drop the AA and adjust a bit on L4D2 to keep stable 60fps with my 9800GTX+

 

[Septimus]

Blah NCIX is telling me I have to wait for my system to be assembled and shipped since their 5770s are backordered. Yet I'm pretty sure my order went through when there were still 6 in stock. Grrr lol.

 

[SundaySounds]

What are the advantages of a 64-bit OS?
Aside from the upgraded memory capacity.

 

[NorrenRadd]

Any problem with sticking 4x2GB of these memory sticks NewEgg into a Gigabyte P55A 1156 Board?

Alternatively, I could opt for the 1600 RAM Here

I was going to get 7-7-7-21 ram, but the price differential with this stuff on sale is too big I think.

 

[squall211]

Hey guys, looking for some suggestions here.

I'm looking to pick up a gaming laptop, but I'm not the most tech savvy person out there, so I don't know what to look for. The laptop won't likely be leaving my house, and I'd be willing (at most) to spend $2000 for a good one. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Veins]

Hey guys, looking for some suggestions here.

I'm looking to pick up a gaming laptop, but I'm not the most tech savvy person out there, so I don't know what to look for. The laptop won't likely be leaving my house, and I'd be willing (at most) to spend $2000 for a good one. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Get a desktop then? Much better value for money.

 

[squall211]

I agree, but I like the option of not being confined to my room, where a desktop would be if I were to purchase one.

 

[birdchili]

anyone know anything about this (re: spinpoint f3s)? quotes from ncix forums:

Apparently NCIX no longer has these...

They're discontinued. I doubt anyone is going to have them.

Your question though cannot be answered without violating forum rules.


Locking the thread.

strange... these are nigh-impossible to find in Canada right now (particularly the 1TB model).

full thread: http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode...id=2086519&pagenumber=1&msgcount=19&subpage=1

 

[BuggyDClown]

I'm really excited now for the prospect of finally getting a new desktop. After 4 years on a dell I'm finally going back to apple. I'll be getting the iMac 27 inch i7. Waiting another 1-2 months to finish saving up the cash, then it's all mine. Throwing in an extra 4 GBs of ram too.

 

[brain_stew]

. I do want a monitor that scales well so running 720p videos or 720p or lower res games scaled to 1080p still looks sharp.
.

You can set your videocard to do that, should do a better job than the monitor, though in my experience 1080p monitors tend to scale 720p pretty well.

 

[Max]

I just received my new PC from NCIX, I bought the assembly and testing option. I keep hearing the sound of a disc spinning for around a second over and over and I have no idea what it is (there isn't a disc in my drive), if i'm listening to something with my headset on I don't notice it but otherwise its really annoying. I'm just worried it could be a problem with something. I put my hand by each fan and I didn't feel any difference.

 

[brain_stew]

I agree, but I like the option of not being confined to my room, where a desktop would be if I were to purchase one.

Get a netbook (or cheap notebook) for around the house? For $700 less than your budget you could get both and have much better specs in the desktop (and upgrade options) than any $2000 notebook. Gaming notebooks have their place, but it is necessary to note exactly what you're giving up, its an awful lot than most realise.

 

[rocK`]

In your price range, forget the mobile i7, unless you're willing to sacrifice a ton of GPU power. The cheapest i7 notebook, with decent graphics power, is $1400, and that's only the 1.6Ghz i7, which is not that too, even with Turbo Mode (2.5Ghz when using two cores).

Here's a 15.6" Asus, with 2.53Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and 9800 GT equivalent, for $1199.

Hmm, knew the i5/i7 was an overshoot.

How is Asus? I've only bought MoBo's from them, so I can't really say much about it.

 

[SleazyC]

bump just so I don't make a mistake

XFX has a nice double lifetime warranty setup so if you ever resell the card that the person who purchases it can get a lifetime warranty.

I have never picked up an XFX card (I plan to) but I also heard they have great customer support.

 

[Ifrit]

I'm considering buying the utilty player from the techreport site, but the Asus Radeon HD 5770 or 5850 are not in stock, does anyone know a good place where I could find them online?

 

[Sullen]

I need a new monitor. I have about 300 (US) dollars to spend. The link in the OP was so-so in terms of usefulness, but I figured I'd ask in here too.

I need something 24 inches or larger, it needs HDMI ports, and the biggest points: Needs to be suitable for gaming but I absolutely have to have something with great colors. Tired of using LCDs where everything looks fucking grey or washed out.

I've been thinking about buying that Hannsg 281DPB 28 inch off newegg, but I suspect the colors are probably shit.

Can anyone please help me out with this?

 

[rocK`]

In your price range, forget the mobile i7, unless you're willing to sacrifice a ton of GPU power. The cheapest i7 notebook, with decent graphics power, is $1400, and that's only the 1.6Ghz i7, which is not that too, even with Turbo Mode (2.5Ghz when using two cores).

Here's a 15.6" Asus, with 2.53Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and 9800 GT equivalent, for $1199.

Well, I noticed newegg had a 10% cashback, so I pulled the trigger.

Thanks!

 

[Dash]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to build a new computer next month, and I was wondering what processor I should get. I heard the i5 is considered the best for gaming, but I found this phenom 2 X4 965 on newegg.ca for the same price http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=phenom-_-19-103-727-_-Product. It's 3.4 GhZ to the i5's 2.67 GhZ. From what I heard, even though the i5 has a lower clock speed than the newer phenom II's, it still runs better. Will it even be able to compete with a phenom II at 3.4 GhZ? Keep in mind that I'm building this computer mainly for gaming, with an emphasis on being able to use PCSX2/Dolphin emulation as good as the emulator is currently written. I also plan on overclocking as much as I can, so overclocking potential is a big factor in my decision.

I'm also leaning slightly towards AMD as I heard their motherboards will have better upgrade potential than Intel's. Do you think this is a valid consideration? I mean by the time I have to upgrade again, wouldn't I be better off just buying a new motherboard anyways?

Also, I will have to buy new RAM for my new motherboard since most aren't compatible with DDR2, right?

 

[Firestorm]

I'm pretty sure Dolphin and PCSX2 like Intel processors better than AMD.

 

[birdchili]

I need a new monitor. I have about 300 (US) dollars to spend. The link in the OP was so-so in terms of usefulness, but I figured I'd ask in here too.

I need something 24 inches or larger, it needs HDMI ports, and the biggest points: Needs to be suitable for gaming but I absolutely have to have something with great colors. Tired of using LCDs where everything looks fucking grey or washed out.

I've been thinking about buying that Hannsg 281DPB 28 inch off newegg, but I suspect the colors are probably shit.

Can anyone please help me out with this?

If you really need good colors, you probably want to avoid TN panels (which have the sexy refresh rates for gaming as well as the lowest prices). I just bought a NEC ea231wmi, which is a bit more expensive than your budget, only 23", and has only dvi and displayport inputs (though you should be able to adapter this really easily). It's an IPS panel, which avoids a lot of the more annoying issues with TNs. I'm very happy with the colors and black levels, and ghosting is very bearable for gaming so-far (though it won't be appropriately stress-tested until my new machine is all put together).

 

[BravoSuperStar]

I've been looking at new monitors as well and it's just kind of a shitty time to buy one. You either have to compromise color/viewing angle for response time or vice versa. I'm just going to wait it out till we get IPS/PVA panels with better response rates.

 

[Sullen]

If you really need good colors, you probably want to avoid TN panels (which have the sexy refresh rates for gaming as well as the lowest prices). I just bought a NEC ea231wmi, which is a bit more expensive than your budget, only 23", and has only dvi and displayport inputs (though you should be able to adapter this really easily). It's an IPS panel, which avoids a lot of the more annoying issues with TNs. I'm very happy with the colors and black levels, and ghosting is very bearable for gaming so-far (though it won't be appropriately stress-tested until my new machine is all put together).

Thanks for the help, but it looks like I may have to go with a TN panel. Viewing angle isnt that important to me, but like I said color definitely is. I guess now I am looking for a 24+ inch TN with the best colors I can get for a TN type.

 

[birdchili]

I've been looking at new monitors as well and it's just kind of a shitty time to buy one. You either have to compromise color/viewing angle for response time or vice versa. I'm just going to wait it out till we get IPS/PVA panels with better response rates.

i spent more time deciding on a monitor than on any other component of my system. it's definitely a compromise game for now. i miss my crt, but i'm not putting something that size on my desk again.

 

[birdchili]

Thanks for the help, but it looks like I may have to go with a TN panel. Viewing angle isnt that important to me, but like I said color definitely is. I guess now I am looking for a 24+ inch TN with the best colors I can get for a TN type.

the nice thing about going with a TN, is that they're out on display at all the retailers. go take a wander about and look for something you like. there are some *terrible* monitors out there.