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[Minsc]

Can you rec me a decent external? Budget: the lower the better, certainly less than $150. My notebook has eSATA

I'm a sucker for the WD passport. You can find the 500 gig version for around $120 (maybe less). They have a 3 year warranty (passport elites have a 5 year)... some mixed things about them, though mine have been working fine for probably over a year now (a 320 & a newer 500 gig version).

What made me go for them is simply they don't need a separate power source. So you can cut back on cables. And their rugged, small form. Actually sounds like a nice match for a laptop user, unless you're primarily in need of space.

 

[Ranger X]

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 32MB 640GB Hdd with lowest noise levels on the market as far as I know except SSD and such. As well as very reliable, have many friends with this hdd.

Solid state? How fast is that? price?

.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I might copy your build there (+ a second harddrive and an Intensity Pro card)

What do you all think about that build?


.

Feel free to. I'm stepping up to a 285/295 or something else if something else comes out better before my 90 day step up from eVGA.

As far as the GPU being a bottleneck--- a 9800GT is a decent card but doubt it will be choking my system. Obviously a GTX series will give the system more overhead/breathing room.

 

[Minsc]

Solid state? How fast is that? price?

.

Good solid state drives are really expensive and not practical for storage. They can read applications up to around 1000% faster, but cost $5+ per GB of storage (though a $500 256GB SSD drive is right around the corner).

There's a good article showing the speed of the Intel X-25 here.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

The X25 is just a toy that Intel can brag about. The SSD's are getting cheaper but I probably won't be putting them into my system until end of this year or next at the earliest.

 

[Ranger X]

Because i'm still not decided for my capture/encoding strategy.

I need something BOTH fast and reliable. But at the same time, 500$ + for a DD is expensive for my wallet.

Seriously I don't know jack shit what to do.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

You know Ranger---- Considering your options--- would it be cheaper for you to say--- have one of us build you a system here in the states and then ship it to you up North?

 

[Ranger X]

You know Ranger---- Considering your options--- would it be cheaper for you to say--- have one of us build you a system here in the states and then ship it to you up North?

Is that a proposition from you? If you could send some 1500/2000$ worth of PC pieces for less shipping fees than the 250+ Newegg Canada would charge me I guess we can talk about it.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I'm open to it if it's a cheaper buy for you.

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

i guess i won't be able to post in here (at least for a handful of months )

just purchased on newegg:

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G mobo
Antec EA650 650W PSU
a friend is GIVING me his 4870 he just bought. he has bottleneck-hunting fever.

~$430

not too bad considering it's a phenom II and 1066 ram huh?

 

[VictimOfGrief]

i guess i won't be able to post in here (at least for a handful of months )

just purchased on newegg:

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G mobo
Antec EA650 650W PSU
a friend is GIVING me his 4870 he just bought. he has bottleneck-hunting fever.

~$430

not too bad considering it's a phenom II and 1066 ram huh?

Not bad at all. Enjoy it!

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

Not bad at all. Enjoy it!

upgrading from:
athlon64 3200+ (the FIRST series)
1gb (512 x 2) DDR400 ram (dual channel not supported on my mobo)
7800 256mb AGP 8x

NIGHT
AND
DAY

 

[Rimshot]

Because i'm still not decided for my capture/encoding strategy.

I need something BOTH fast and reliable. But at the same time, 500$ + for a DD is expensive for my wallet.

Seriously I don't know jack shit what to do.

There are soon new normal hdd's on the market with one solid plate where the info gets written on instead of the normal hdd system. This will allow faster access time, a lot more stability/reliability and for the same amount of money. Should be out in a month or two.

Edit: I should rephrase this a little. Wasn't completely sure as it was some time I read the article but I checked up on it again. The thing was with the new technology they are able to put in more on a single plate which in turn gives faster access time, cheaper and give them more space. Think it is 500GB for each plate. And disks with them in it seem to already have come out, i think Western Digital Green series has them right now. As well as some Seagate.

The 7200.11 are the old discs and 7200.12 are the new type. (Do not buy Seagates 7200.11 discs atm, they seem to have big batch problems)

 

[Nemo]

Any opinion on a laptop with these specs? (on a serious budget here, but it should be significantly better than a subnotebook right?)

- Celeron M 530 1.73 GHz (1 MB - L2 Cache)
- DDR2 SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )
- Intel GMA X3100

360 euros.

I know I'm limited as fuck with this thing. :lol But I need to know exactly how limited. I mean I don't know anything about celeron. But I bought a P4 2.4 GHz in 2001 or 2 and that was pretty shit. How bad would this be in comparison? It seems to be released 2 years ago, so should be alright right? I don't need dual core since I'm primalery using it for typing stuff and listening to music at the same time. I'd like to play some (older) games on it though. Maybe emulators too.

 

[dralla]

Using this as a guide - http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=224 - just a couple questions. I know the basic stuff like RAM and what not, but the motherboards and heat sinks are a bit foreign to me.

What I have selected:

Processor - [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q8200 (4x 2.33GHz/4MB L2 Cache/1333FSB)
MB - [SLI] eVGA Nvidia NForce 680i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E MB
Cooling - [=== Quiet ===] AVC Silent Intel CPU Fan and Heatsink
Power Supply - 600 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready

Also got 4GB of ram, I have it on one stick so I can throw another 4GB in. And have the 9800GTX @ 1GB.

basically what I need to know is, are all of these components going to work well together.

 

[Ranger X]

There are soon new normal hdd's on the market with one solid plate where the info gets written on instead of the normal hdd system. This will allow faster access time, a lot more stability/reliability and for the same amount of money. Should be out in a month or two.

Edit: I should rephrase this a little. Wasn't completely sure as it was some time I read the article but I checked up on it again. The thing was with the new technology they are able to put in more on a single plate which in turn gives faster access time, cheaper and give them more space. Think it is 500GB for each plate. And disks with them in it seem to already have come out, i think Western Digital Green series has them right now. As well as some Seagate.

The 7200.11 are the old discs and 7200.12 are the new type. (Do not buy Seagates 7200.11 discs atm, they seem to have big batch problems)

Ok so I can hunt some Western Digital Green series and with that I will be faster than 7500rpm DD and I will have at least 500gb? If it's not sold 1$ a GB it's interesting.

 

[Rimshot]

Ok so I can hunt some Western Digital Green series and with that I will be faster than 7500rpm DD and I will have at least 500gb? If it's not sold 1$ a GB it's interesting.

Not sure what you mean by DD...
But earlier you talked about SSD(Solid Sate Disk), that's still the fastest but most expensive as well.

 

[madmook]

Hi all, got a quick question: is there an easy program that lets me change my cpu's fan speed?

I have a Gateway desktop from Best Buy and I swapped out the Q6600 with a brand new Q9650, but kept the existing heatsink/fan assembly, as the one that came with the Q9650 had some pre-installed thermal pad stuff that I don't know how to deal with (I have arctic silver 5).

Anyways, now the fan likes to spin up louder than with the Q6600 when I am stressing the CPU, but hwmonitor says the temps are around the 40's (celsius).

I tried speedfan, but it doesn't seem to be able to control the fan.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[DeadTrees]

Any opinion on a laptop with these specs? (on a serious budget here, but it should be significantly better than a subnotebook right?)

- Celeron M 530 1.73 GHz (1 MB - L2 Cache)
- DDR2 SDRAM - 667 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )
- Intel GMA X3100

You'll probably need to wipe all preinstalled software. I have a Celeron M 520 laptop that couldn't play the Vista startup sound without stuttering, until I reinstalled using ABR. Works just fine for 2D games and MAME.

Don't expect to move it around much, build quality and battery life will be as lousy as the manufacturer can get away with. Check the manufacturer's site to find out the maximum amount of RAM the laptop supports--it'll be a long time before DDR2 RAM is this cheap again.

 

[Nemo]

You'll probably need to wipe all preinstalled software. I have a Celeron M 520 laptop that couldn't play the Vista startup sound without stuttering, until I reinstalled using ABR. Works just fine for 2D games and MAME.

Don't expect to move it around much, build quality and battery life will be as lousy as the manufacturer can get away with. Check the manufacturer's site to find out the maximum amount of RAM the laptop supports--it'll be a long time before DDR2 RAM is this cheap again.

4GB. Should I upgrade to that? How much would it cost? Should I install XP on it, don't care about vista anyway.

Battery is a 6 cell lition battery I think. Says 4.5 hours. Assuming it'll a little under 2 hours with wifi.

Thanks for replying. Here's the full page, (it's in dutch though).

http://www.computerland.nl/ProductDetails.aspx?en=NS00631413

Are you sure about the build quality? Since that was pretty much my main priority. I've looked at it in person and it seemed okay, though I haven't actually held it.

 

[Hazaro]

The X25 is just a toy that Intel can brag about. The SSD's are getting cheaper but I probably won't be putting them into my system until end of this year or next at the earliest.

A toy made well. The rest of the SSD's have glaring flaws that can pop up.
I can't wait in 2-3 years when my next upgrade should hit and I can afford to put on of these in.

Laptop Stuff

I would suggest (If possible for you) waiting on a solid deal from Dell, you can get some great deals around the $500-600 range.

For Vista trying getting 4GB, 2GB is ok, 1GB not the best idea. I have a laptop with Vista on it and 1GB of RAM. You can also easily upgrade the RAM yourself, so don't buy RAM that costs $100 for 2GB when you can get it for $50.

*I was checking around and man those prices suck :[
This is the notebook I have: http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=129302
It's pretty solid imo, not much else around the netbook price range that is a notebook.
Another notebook: http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=125939

Anyways, now the fan likes to spin up louder than with the Q6600 when I am stressing the CPU, but hwmonitor says the temps are around the 40's (celsius).

I tried speedfan, but it doesn't seem to be able to control the fan.

Speedfan doesn't work on some motherboards.
You can give nTune a try. Or do a mod to make the fan take in 7V from the molex if you are dedicated.

 

[Nemo]

I would suggest (If possible for you) waiting on a solid deal from Dell, you can get some great deals around the $500-600 range.

For Vista trying getting 4GB, 2GB is ok, 1GB not the best idea. I have a laptop with Vista on it and 1GB of RAM. You can also easily upgrade the RAM yourself, so don't buy RAM that costs $100 for 2GB when you can get it for $50.

*I was checking around and man those prices suck :[
This is the notebook I have: http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=129302
It's pretty solid imo, not much else around the netbook price range that is a notebook.
Another notebook: http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=125939

Thanks man. Don't have that much to spend though, got some other priorities. Plus I already have my gaming pc, so I'm set on that front. Just need the lappy for some work. I could get a pretty great machine for 500 bucks, MM was having a sale with an X4500.

So, is ram changing the same as with a PC? As far as opening goes that is. I imagine everything in there is a lot more cramped.

 

[Fredescu]

Is Toms Hardware still the best place to go for comprehensive benchmarks? I've been out of the loop for a while, but it's coming up to upgrade time again soon.

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks man. Don't have that much to spend though, got some other priorities. Plus I already have my gaming pc, so I'm set on that front. Just need the lappy for some work. I could get a pretty great machine for 500 bucks, MM was having a sale with an X4500.

So, is ram changing the same as with a PC? As far as opening goes that is. I imagine everything in there is a lot more cramped.

Any cheaper than that and you go in 9" netbook territory.

Is Toms Hardware still the best place to go for comprehensive benchmarks? I've been out of the loop for a while, but it's coming up to upgrade time again soon.

Anandtech, Guru3D, The TechReport are my mainstays. As for basic comparison use Tom's Hardware GPU tier thing, but always search for direct comparisons of what you want. (e.g. 8800GS vs HD3850)
I pretty much read everything about new CPU/GPU stuff though.
Usually Anandtech's 25 page articles do me good.

 

[Nemo]

Any cheaper than that and you go in 9" netbook territory.

Yeah, so as far as technical specs go, that HP laptop is still better than any subnotebook around that price range right?

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, so as far as technical specs go, that HP laptop is still better than any subnotebook around that price range right?

No HP was listed. You linked a Compaq, I linked Acer's.

For 40 more dollars I'd go with whichever does warranty in your region. And then for the Acer since I own one. Screen is nice, didn't come with much extra software on it.

http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=129302

 

[Nemo]

No HP was listed. You linked a Compaq, I linked Acer's.

For 40 more dollars I'd go with whichever does warranty in your region. And then for the Acer since I own one. Screen is nice, didn't come with much extra software on it.

http://www.zercom.nl/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=129302

Yeah, I meant the compaq.

Wow, Acer seems nice. Plus it has an Intel GMA X4500HD. Thanks man! I'll check it out. If the shipping isn't too much I might even go with that.

edit, totals 405 euros. Not bad, not bad. Think I'll go for that, too bad about the 1GB ram though. Guess I can always upgrade that later.

 

[Labombadog]

i guess i won't be able to post in here (at least for a handful of months )

just purchased on newegg:

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
ASRock A780GXE/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G mobo
Antec EA650 650W PSU
a friend is GIVING me his 4870 he just bought. he has bottleneck-hunting fever.

~$430

not too bad considering it's a phenom II and 1066 ram huh?

Lucky you! Nice upgrade. Enjoy it man, its going to be great.

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, I meant the compaq.

Wow, Acer seems nice. Plus it has an Intel GMA X4500HD. Thanks man! I'll check it out. If the shipping isn't too much I might even go with that.

edit, totals 405 euros. Not bad, not bad. Think I'll go for that, too bad about the 1GB ram though. Guess I can always upgrade that later.

Yeah, but I'm sure you can find a cheap deal on laptop memory.
Or install XP or Win 7 on it.

 

[Luigison]

I have a strange request considering this is a gaming forum, but I know many of you here are IT professionals. I'm looking for a touchscreen tablet PC. I don't need it to play any games, but rather to take notes, display notes/drawing on a projector, record data in a spreadsheet/grading program, and as a journal to document labs. Any recommendations?

 

[dionysus]

2 questions:

1. When I built my beast last year, I was under the impression that anything more than 2GB on XP was a waste. Is that true? If not, that would be a really cheap upgrade for my computer.

2. I just got a second hard drive I am using for music, videos, etc. I plan on transferring that one from computer to computer without doing anything to it. Keeping most programs and the OS on my other main hard drive. What type of partition should I put on it?

 

[Angry Grimace]

2 questions:

1. When I built my beast last year, I was under the impression that anything more than 2GB on XP was a waste. Is that true? If not, that would be a really cheap upgrade for my computer.

2. I just got a second hard drive I am using for music, videos, etc. I plan on transferring that one from computer to computer without doing anything to it. Keeping most programs and the OS on my other main hard drive. What type of partition should I put on it?

1. It's not a waste, lots of things are going over 2GB now. If you have 32-bit XP the max you can recognize is 3.2 GB, though.

2. I'll let someone else answer that as I have no idea.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Because i'm still not decided for my capture/encoding strategy.

I need something BOTH fast and reliable. But at the same time, 500$ + for a DD is expensive for my wallet.

Seriously I don't know jack shit what to do.

why not get a VelociRaptor?

They are fast as hell and its only $200 after rebate these days.

 

[zoku88]

why not get a VelociRaptor?

They are fast as hell and its only $200 after rebate these days.

Aren't the still a little to slow for Capture unless you RAID them?

(HD capture, I mean.)

 

[Hazaro]

2 questions:
1. 4GB on XP?
2. I just got a second hard drive I am using for music, videos, etc. I plan on transferring that one from computer to computer without doing anything to it. Keeping most programs and the OS on my other main hard drive. What type of partition should I put on it?

I run 4GB on Windows XP 32bit. I don't think it really helps. I should migrate to Windows 7 soon, have the .iso sitting on my desktop.

2:
Partition doesn't matter (Besides obviously NTFS), just make sure it's at least 10% larger for wiggle room (or the same drive).

I recently did this on my WD6400AAKS and used Acronis True Image. Just select the Clone Tool and follow the few steps. I think the 14 day trial will let you do this.

 

[dralla]

Processor - [== Quad Core ==] AMD Phenom�„� II X4 920 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Power Supply - 680 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready
Cooling - [=== Silent ===] Extreme-Performance AMD CPU Cooling Fan System Kit
Mother Board - [SLI] Asus M3N72-D NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E/HDMI MB
RAM - 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module
Video Card - 9800GTX 1GB
HDD - 500GB

looks like this will most likely be my new PC, it fits within my price range. the 680watt PS, is that sufficient with these specs?

 

[Labombadog]

Processor - [== Quad Core ==] AMD Phenom�„� II X4 920 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Power Supply - 680 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready
Cooling - [=== Silent ===] Extreme-Performance AMD CPU Cooling Fan System Kit
Mother Board - [SLI] Asus M3N72-D NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E/HDMI MB
RAM - 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module
Video Card - 9800GTX 1GB
HDD - 500GB

looks like this will most likely be my new PC, it fits within my price range. the 680watt PS, is that sufficient with these specs?

Yes, the power supply is more than enough for this setup. What brand is it?

 

[dralla]

eh it doesn't say.

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/Store/Configurator.aspx?mid=335&c=1597283

from that list

 

[Hazaro]

eh it doesn't say.

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/Store/Configurator.aspx?mid=335&c=1597283

from that list

If you have to buy from ibuypower... get this: Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready [+ $23]
Also get 2GB of RAM, and buy 4GB of brandname yourself for $50
Heck buy the videocard separate and install that too... That's double the price of retail.

 

[madmook]

Speedfan doesn't work on some motherboards.
You can give nTune a try. Or do a mod to make the fan take in 7V from the molex if you are dedicated.

Woohoo I found the setting in speedfan that controls the fans, now I can have peace and quiet again!!!

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Quick question: Did a few tests in Fallout 3 and noticed if I lower my resolution from 1280x1024 to 800x600 the resolution says exactly the same, during combat and everything but the frame rate actually seems better in some games at 1920x1080 (Crysis Warhead, GTA4). This is because of a CPU bottleneck right?

 

[Zyzyxxz]

eh it doesn't say.

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/Store/Configurator.aspx?mid=335&c=1597283

from that list

The videocard won't do you good for long, I would just get the cheapest one from them, sell it and buy your own and install it.

The 9800GTX will be outdated fast, if not already by some standards.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Quick question: Did a few tests in Fallout 3 and noticed if I lower my resolution from 1280x1024 to 800x600 the resolution says exactly the same, during combat and everything but the frame rate actually seems better in some games at 1920x1080 (Crysis Warhead, GTA4). This is because of a CPU bottleneck right?

A better framerate at 1920x1080? In Crysis Warhead? Did you not mess with any other graphical settings? I just find that really hard to believe.

Are you getting a numerical value for your FPS or just going by what feels smoother to you?

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Quick question: Did a few tests in Fallout 3 and noticed if I lower my resolution from 1280x1024 to 800x600 the resolution says exactly the same, during combat and everything but the frame rate actually seems better in some games at 1920x1080 (Crysis Warhead, GTA4). This is because of a CPU bottleneck right?

Run fraps and report back.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Unfortunately I can't use Fraps to check the actual framerate. When I'm playing games on my TV it seems to zoom in slightly which hides the corner where Fraps displays the framerate. It stays zoomed in even when I resize the desktop to fit perfectly under the nVidia control panel.

I'm pretty much basing this on what I'm seeing and the framerate is definitely better at higher resolutions in GTA4 and Crysis at least.

 

[Shadow780]

What do you guys think of this one?

I'm not a big PC gamer but would like to play games that requires some level of high-end graphics, as well as a multimedia center (able to watch TV, plays PS3 on it, etc), and is at least 5-year proof in terms of performance and spec.

Thanks.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I have a strange request considering this is a gaming forum, but I know many of you here are IT professionals. I'm looking for a touchscreen tablet PC. I don't need it to play any games, but rather to take notes, display notes/drawing on a projector, record data in a spreadsheet/grading program, and as a journal to document labs. Any recommendations?

Tablet laptop, I'm assuming?

Lenovo: Mid-High price, lightweight, best keyboard, good-great battery life
Dell: High-Very High price, very light/thin, lots of tech
HP: Cheap-Mid Price, still quite functional
Fujitsu: Pricey, but they have a few different models, usually including a slate
Sony: Absurdly small, slow, expensive
Toshiba: Mid range pricing, always focusing on performance over weight/battery

Personally, Dell might be the way to go on a sky-high budget, but I love my Lenovo for the keyboard and overall functionality in a slimbook. HP is easily the way to go if you are budgeting around a thousand or less, and I see some of them offer low-end ATi if you want to play games anyway. The vast majority of tablets use integrated graphics chipsets only. Places like TabletPCReview are actually worth a look to get a grasp of the various models.

If you want to really go low-tech, netbooks should eventually start seeing touchscreens, but how useful they are really remains to be seen.

 

[aznpxdd]

What do you guys think of this one?

I'm not a big PC gamer but would like to play games that requires some level of high-end graphics, as well as a multimedia center (able to watch TV, plays PS3 on it, etc), and is at least 5-year proof in terms of performance and spec.

Thanks.

Jesus Christ, 4k for those piece of shit specs? This is probably going to sound redundant as hell, but build your own with much better specs and save at least 2.5k in the process.

 

[Shadow780]

Jesus Christ, 4k for those piece of shit specs? This is probably going to sound redundant as hell, but build your own with much better specs and save at least 2.5k in the process.

Yeah I was expecting a response like that, sorry I left out some details.

I don't know how to build (LOLME), I don't want a PC with bulky cases...and I don't want a iMac since I already have one.

 

[Hazaro]

What am I going to do with you...