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[Struct09]

Hey gaf, is their such thing as a vga splitter?My 360 and my pc both use vga, but having to switch them out is tiring, any such thing exist out their?

Sounds like you're looking for a KVM switch: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000L4D42Q/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I use that to share a monitor between my Mac and PC

 

[chuckddd]

Hey gaf, is their such thing as a vga splitter?My 360 and my pc both use vga, but having to switch them out is tiring, any such thing exist out their?

My monitor has both dvi and vga inputs, I have 2 pc's, and the monitor will switch them with the press of a button. Most modern monitors have multiple inputs, but you'll probably have to buy a vga-dvi or dvi-hdmi converter or some such.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Hey just wanted to drop in and let everyone know I've found a new favorite thermal paste. I was using Arctic Silver 5 my idle temps on a q6600 were OK averaging around 37 - 40 on idle. I picked up a tube of IC Diamond and dropped the temps to around 27 - 30 on idle a whole 10c . o.0

Anyway just thought I'd give the heads up for those who haven't tried it.

Most reviews i'm looking at claim about a 2-3 C difference between the AS5 and the IC Diamond. Weird that you would see such a huge difference.

 

[longdi]

the drop probably is you taking out your hsf and cleaning it and the insides of your pc.
also the last application was not perfect. i dont believe a simple thermal paste can do miracles.

 

[Spl1nter]

I was able to unlock the 4th core on the amd x3 435 which is pretty awesome. Dont know how big of a difference it will make as but the Windows performance score for cpu went from 6.7 to 7.3

 

[TouchMyBox]

I was unable to unlock the 4th core on the amd x3 435 which is pretty awesome. Dont know how big of a difference it will make as but the Windows performance score for cpu went from 6.7 to 7.3

I will assume you meant to say "able". Yes it is awesome, did you win the lottery and get one with L3 cache also? up the FSB on your board to 230 MHz and you'll have a processor that performs very nicely in all of today's games.

 

[Spl1nter]

I will assume you meant to say "able". Yes it is awesome, did you win the lottery and get one with L3 cache also? up the FSB on your board to 230 MHz and you'll have a processor that performs very nicely in all of today's games.

lol ya I was able to unlock it. seems like no L3 cache. what temp should the cpu be running at on average?

 

[DietRob]

Most reviews i'm looking at claim about a 2-3 C difference between the AS5 and the IC Diamond. Weird that you would see such a huge difference.

Yep I read the same before making the decision to switch. I'm positive that the heatsink and thermal paste was applied correctly before the switch too. I was quite surprised with such a dramatic drop also. That is the reason I felt compelled to share with you guys.

 

[TouchMyBox]

lol ya I was able to unlock it. seems like no L3 cache. what temp should the cpu be running at on average?

I can't tell you the core temps as that is broken in my beta bios, but the cpu temp idles between 28 and 33 C depending on the length of the idle period, and I set my BIOS to have a target temp of 50 C for the CPU so it never goes over that during load. This is all with my $29 cooler. (stock didn't do a terrible job though) (this is with at a ~3.37GHz overclock)

Yep I read the same before making the decision to switch. I'm positive that the heatsink and thermal paste was applied correctly before the switch too. I was quite surprised with such a dramatic drop also. That is the reason I felt compelled to share with you guys.

I heard some people saying that it was a bitch to apply, and that they had to heat up the tube to be able to spread the paste at all. Was your experience with it similar?

 

[Spl1nter]

I can't tell you the core temps as that is broken in my beta bios, but the cpu temp idles between 28 and 33 C depending on the length of the idle period, and I set my BIOS to have a target temp of 50 C for the CPU so it never goes over that during load. This is all with my $29 cooler. (stock didn't do a terrible job though)



I heard some people saying that it was a bitch to apply, and that they had to heat up the tube to be able to spread the paste at all. Was your experience with it similar?

Ya mine is running just below 40 idle. Probably going to pick up a new cooler instead of the stock one if I overclock.

 

[Janken]

I'm currently looking for a new computer, be it a Mac or a PC. I have made a thread about it in the OT, but I wanted to ask something different here.

Since I am open to different options, I wanted to ask your opinion about the Dell Studio XPS (normal or 8000, no 9000 where I live).

I thought about the iMac for the simplicity and convenience of having everything in one place, but Dell's Studio XPS line seems to be quite competent and convenient, too.

Is it a smart choice for someone who has to do image and video editing, edit large documents, view HD movies and, in synthesis, someone who wants a solid, reliable computer that will last for a long time?

And on another note: can you recommend me a screen that has a great image quality (for watching movies and editing and stuff) and HDMI support?

Thank you.

 

[Spl1nter]

I'm currently looking for a new computer, be it a Mac or a PC. I have made a thread about it in the OT, but I wanted to ask something different here.

Since I am open to different options, I wanted to ask your opinion about the Dell Studio XPS (normal or 8000, no 9000 where I live).

I thought about the iMac for the simplicity and convenience of having everything in one place, but Dell's Studio XPS line seems to be quite competent and convenient, too.

Is it a smart choice for someone who has to do image and video editing, edit large documents, view HD movies and, in synthesis, someone who wants a solid, reliable computer that will last for a long time?

And on another note: can you recommend me a screen that has a great image quality (for watching movies and editing and stuff) and HDMI support?

Thank you.

Do you currently have a mac and are doing video editing with Final Cut? Reason to go with a mac would be because of final cut pro for video editing.

 

[Janken]

I currently have a PC with Windows. I use Adobe Premiere Pro.

 

[DietRob]

I heard some people saying that it was a bitch to apply, and that they had to heat up the tube to be able to spread the paste at all. Was your experience with it similar?

I did have to put the tube in hot water for about 30 - 45 seconds. Then just put a pea sized dot in the middle of the processor, applied the heatsink and done. I was pretty nervous about doing just the pea sized application since I usually spread thermal paste but all in all it worked out great.

 

[Spl1nter]

I currently have a PC with Windows. I use Adobe Premiere Pro.

Well are you open to building the computer yourself? Its a lot easier then you might think. I just put together my first computer two days ago. Otherwise you can order a custom build computer from ncix or go with a dell or something.

 

[Spriig]

What should I look for in a laptop when wanting to use it for Maya, Zbrush etc? (3D Modeling and Animation) Any links would be extremely helpfull.
Thanks.

 

[Red]

Got my replacement mobo yesterday and just finished putting everything together. Finally, all 6GB of RAM are detected. A victory. I have one issue left: first time I started the PC up, it crashed after about ten minutes. I tried starting it up again a minute later and had it freeze on boot and then restart. I left it for a minute and tried again, and have been using it for about fifteen minutes with no problems. Temps are all great and it seems to be running smoothly, but I haven't figured out why it was having problems earlier. I switched my RAM to the XMP profile in my BIOS, but was given a warning that this set the CPU voltage to 1.66, and that <1.65 was recommended. I'm curious about if that was what caused the problem, but can't be sure. As far as I know, I've done everything correctly to get my RAM to run at advertised timings. Plus it's running stable now, which seems weird to me if the CPU was to blame. One thing I noticed was that CPU-Z lists my i7-920's frequency as 2.8GHz. I don't know if that's due to the XMP setting in BIOS. I haven't really dealt with overclocking before this build, so a lot of this is new to me. Any thoughts? What stress tests are generally accepted as the best?

Nevermind, it's not loading on those settings anymore. Must have been the voltage, because I changed it and it's stable now. Gonna have to call Corsair or something and figure it out I guess.

 

[brain_stew]

What should I look for in a laptop when wanting to use it for Maya, Zbrush etc? (3D Modeling and Animation) Any links would be extremely helpfull.
Thanks.

How much 3D modelling and animation work are you really going to do on the go with a low resolution screen and trackpad? You really should consider building a desktop with a nice fast quad and 8GB of RAM, and large high resolution screen rather than compromising for a notebook with a low resolution screen, slow dual core processor and a large price premium.

 

[rohlfinator]

Anyone here have any opinions on the Acer H233H monitor?

Best Buy has it on sale this week for $140. I'm not too picky about monitor quality (TN screens are fine with me), and I'm looking for a 23-24" 1080p screen, so it seems like a good buy. I just went down and took a look at it, and it looked pretty solid, but I wanted to ask around a bit to make sure there aren't any glaring flaws that would make me regret it later.

 

[Minsc]

How much 3D modelling and animation work are you really going to do on the go with a low resolution screen and trackpad? You really should consider building a desktop with a nice fast quad and 8GB of RAM, and large high resolution screen rather than compromising for a notebook with a low resolution screen, slow dual core processor and a large price premium.

They actually have the mobile i7 chips in 14" laptops now, so it's possible to keep it sorta portable and have an 8-threaded 4-core CPU.

 

[TouchMyBox]

I'm looking to replace the power supply in my second machine because the capacitors are noisy. Since I've got a massive cpu heatsink, an energy efficient gpu and an SSD, I'd like to keep the PSU as quiet as the rest of the system. So what's the most quiet PSU I can buy for ~$100 CDN? I figure I'll probably end up getting a corsair 650 watt or something because Corsair is the shit, but my TX750 isn't exactly silent.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

They actually have the mobile i7 chips in 14" laptops now, so it's possible to keep it sorta portable and have an 8-threaded 4-core CPU.

i don't think it's worth it with that small of a screen. people need to stop thinking they can actually do everything on the "GO"

 

[Firestorm]

When my computer boots, everything until I hit the desktop is on my TV instead of monitor. Is there a setting in the BIOS to fix this?

 

[zoku88]

So, I have a laptop. With an 8600M GT. When I play some games, like Mass Effect/The Last Remnant/ King's Bounty, my laptop will, at some point (less than 10 minutes) suddenly shut down.

At first, I thought it was because of my GPU temps. Then I noticed that the temperatures when the shutdown occurred were totally different.

For the Last Remnant, when the shutdown occurred, it was around 72C
For Mass Effect, it was about 80-85C.

To be sure, I decided to run Furmark on my computer and folding at home to stress both the CPU cores and the GPU. No overheating :-/ temps got up to 90C-ish for the GPU and 80C-ish for the CPUs.

I'm thinking that there might be something else going on, but I can't put my finger on it.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

When my computer boots, everything until I hit the desktop is on my TV instead of monitor. Is there a setting in the BIOS to fix this?

In what order are they plugged into the card itself? Graphics cards sometimes will have a primary output, usually its the DVI input on the right side looking from the front of the case towards the back. Sometimes it will be labeled or a different color.

 

[Red]

So, I have a laptop. With an 8600M GT. When I play some games, like Mass Effect/The Last Remnant/ King's Bounty, my laptop will, at some point (less than 10 minutes) suddenly shut down.

At first, I thought it was because of my GPU temps. Then I noticed that the temperatures when the shutdown occurred were totally different.

For the Last Remnant, when the shutdown occurred, it was around 72C
For Mass Effect, it was about 80-85C.

To be sure, I decided to run Furmark on my computer and folding at home to stress both the CPU cores and the GPU. No overheating :-/ temps got up to 90C-ish for the GPU and 80C-ish for the CPUs.

I'm thinking that there might be something else going on, but I can't put my finger on it.

Are you on an Asus G1S? If so, I have the same laptop and had the same problem until I reappied thermal paste on my CPU and started using a cooling pad. Temps would regularly cause games to chug and often crash, usually within the range of 85-95C.

 

[brain_stew]

They actually have the mobile i7 chips in 14" laptops now, so it's possible to keep it sorta portable and have an 8-threaded 4-core CPU.

Sure they do, but they're clocked at 1.6ghz and demand a stupidly high premium.

 

[Firestorm]

In what order are they plugged into the card itself? Graphics cards sometimes will have a primary output, usually its the DVI input on the right side looking from the front of the case towards the back. Sometimes it will be labeled or a different color.

Yeah, this does fix it although my boot screen is still 1366x768 stretched on my 1920x1080 display x.x

 

[brain_stew]

So, I have a laptop. With an 8600M GT. When I play some games, like Mass Effect/The Last Remnant/ King's Bounty, my laptop will, at some point (less than 10 minutes) suddenly shut down.

At first, I thought it was because of my GPU temps. Then I noticed that the temperatures when the shutdown occurred were totally different.

For the Last Remnant, when the shutdown occurred, it was around 72C
For Mass Effect, it was about 80-85C.

To be sure, I decided to run Furmark on my computer and folding at home to stress both the CPU cores and the GPU. No overheating :-/ temps got up to 90C-ish for the GPU and 80C-ish for the CPUs.

I'm thinking that there might be something else going on, but I can't put my finger on it.

The 8600m line of GPUs are the most notoriously broken GPUs in recent memory. Its pretty much a broken design, I'd ask for a replacement personally.

 

[enewtabie]

Hey guys.
What I'm looking for is a pc I can buy that I don't have to build. I'm looking for something I can play current stuff on. Any recommendations? The 7-900 dollar range is what I'm looking currently. I found a HP that was quad core,8gb ram and a ATI 4650(I think) for 800.

I haven't touched PC gaming since Battlefield 2 came out years ago and I'm really out of the loop. I just tried some of the GFW stuff and I'm getting the PC itch. Appreciate the help.

 

[Firestorm]

Hey guys.
What I'm looking for is a pc I can buy that I don't have to build. I'm looking for something I can play current stuff on. Any recommendations? The 7-900 dollar range is what I'm looking currently. I found a HP that was quad core,8gb ram and a ATI 4650(I think) for 800.

I haven't touched PC gaming since Battlefield 2 came out years ago and I'm really out of the loop. I just tried some of the GFW stuff and I'm getting the PC itch. Appreciate the help.

http://www.ncixus.com/
Add parts you want. Add $50 Assembly option.

 

[zoku88]

The 8600m line of GPUs are the most notoriously broken GPUs in recent memory. Its pretty much a broken design, I'd ask for a replacement personally.

I know that. But if you look, the games are causing shutdowns at lower temperatures than what my GPU can actually handle, apparently (since I was able to go above a significant amount).

I'm not sure if getting a new GPU would actually fix my problem, since it might not be the thing causing the issue (although, I will be getting it replaced, just in case.)

And the way that my computer is turning off is kinda odd, too.

Are you on an Asus G1S? If so, I have the same laptop and had the same problem until I reappied thermal paste on my CPU and started using a cooling pad. Temps would regularly cause games to chug and often crash, usually within the range of 85-95C.

V1S, actually. Just curious, but what exactly happened when your computer turned off. Mine is a bit weird. I've had a overheating GPU before, but that would usually cause some artifacts on the screen and then would shut down suddenly. This one has the fans shutting off and the screen turning gradually dark green and then black and then turning off.

 

[brain_stew]

Hey guys.
What I'm looking for is a pc I can buy that I don't have to build. I'm looking for something I can play current stuff on. Any recommendations? The 7-900 dollar range is what I'm looking currently. I found a HP that was quad core,8gb ram and a ATI 4650(I think) for 800.

I haven't touched PC gaming since Battlefield 2 came out years ago and I'm really out of the loop. I just tried some of the GFW stuff and I'm getting the PC itch. Appreciate the help.

Noooo!!!

Go to NCIX and pay the $50 assembly fee and you can choose your own custom build tailored to gaming and easy future upgrades.

Soemthing like:

Phenom ii X4 925/955
4GB DDR3
Gigabyte/MSI/ASUS 770 AM3 motherboard
~500w branded PSU
Any SATA DVDRW drive
640GB WD Caviar Black
ATI 5770 or 5850 if you can stretch to it
Case is personaly preference
W7 x64 Home Premium OEM


Also, go grab a bunch of titles in the Steam sales, these sales are a once a year thing so stock up on classics now whilst you can. You can get Batman: Arkham Asylum plus 19 other Eidos games (including Deus Ex, the modern Tomb Raiders and the Hitman games) for just $50, GTA4 for $10 or Mirror's Edge for $5, as well as a huge swathe of quality indie titles for less than $5.

 

[Hazaro]

I know that. But if you look, the games are causing shutdowns at lower temperatures than what my GPU can actually handle, apparently (since I was able to go above a significant amount).

I'm not sure if getting a new GPU would actually fix my problem, since it might not be the thing causing the issue (although, I will be getting it replaced, just in case.)

Test memory?

 

[zoku88]

Test memory?

Already done. Nothing seemed to be going wrong :-/

Out of curiosity, does Memtest test all memory or just the main system memory. Like, would it test the memory on the GPU?

 

[brain_stew]

Already done. Nothing seemed to be going wrong :-/

Out of curiosity, does Memtest test all memory or just the main system memory. Like, would it test the memory on the GPU?

I don't think it does, no, I think OCCT has a test for GPU memory built in.

 

[Hazaro]

Already done. Nothing seemed to be going wrong :-/

Out of curiosity, does Memtest test all memory or just the main system memory. Like, would it test the memory on the GPU?

Pretty positive it is just the DDR on the mobo.

For GPU memory test... I remember someone mentioning the first level of 3DMark... 03?
I also had memory issues with Crysis (had to back down OC)

Does running ATiTool give any artifacts?

 

[zoku88]

I don't think it does, no, I think OCCT has a test for GPU memory built in.

Ok, I'll try this.

EDIT: I'll try your stuff too, Haz. Right after I finish some HDD tests (this poor HDD is on its way out, as well :lol )

Oh, it looks like made a memtest for GPUs, afterall

 

[Minsc]

Sure they do, but they're clocked at 1.6ghz and demand a stupidly high premium.

Yea, well it's not horrible for laptop pricing, they start at around $1000. I was wrong about the size, I thought I read they got in to the 14" laptops, but the smallest is still a 15" it seems, but you can get them to go to 1.73ghz which runs at 3.05ghz when it's using turbo.

 

[Hazaro]

Don't remind me of my HDD...

Poor thing has an image from my old drive (that was dying) and just feels worse and worse.

I'll make sure to defrag today or tomorrow, but I think that's not an issue.

I am so close to just getting win 7 and a SSD.
I keep telling myself I don't need it.

 

[zoku88]

Don't remind me of my HDD...

Poor thing has an image from my old drive (that was dying) and just feels worse and worse.

I'll make sure to defrag today or tomorrow, but I think that's not an issue.

I am so close to just getting win 7 and a SSD.
I keep telling myself I don't need it.

According to the SMART data, my drive has 65K pending sectors XD

 

[Red]

V1S, actually. Just curious, but what exactly happened when your computer turned off. Mine is a bit weird. I've had a overheating GPU before, but that would usually cause some artifacts on the screen and then would shut down suddenly. This one has the fans shutting off and the screen turning gradually dark green and then black and then turning off.

Mine had all sorts of problems. Hard locks, blue screens, artifacts... sometimes no display at all. My fans also did shut down randomly, it seemed they'd spin faster and faster until they suddenly died. I think I posted about it in this thread about a hundred pages back :lol

Anyone have thoughts on my problem from

? I emailed corsair but probably won't have a response for another couple of days. I'm going to try setting the timings manually after I leave work tomorrow, but I'd appreciate any input.

 

[GHG]

Ok, just recieved my new ATI 4770 in the post to replace my aging 8600GTS. Couldn't have come at a better time considering the steam sale.

Can someone just quickly run me through the process of what I have to do to get this thing installed correctly. IE with drivers and whatnot?

Do I uninstall my NVIDIA drivers now before I put the new card in or do I do that all after the new card has been plugged in?

Thanks.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Ok, just recieved my new ATI 4770 in the post to replace my aging 8600GTS. Couldn't have come at a better time considering the steam sale.

Can someone just quickly run me through the process of what I have to do to get this thing installed correctly. IE with drivers and whatnot?

Do I uninstall my NVIDIA drivers now before I put the new card in or do I do that all after the new card has been plugged in?

Thanks.

Yeah uninstall the drivers before you put the new card in. Make sure all nvidia stuff is gone from control panel/add-remove programs, then go to device manager and uninstall it there as well. Power off, install the new card, boot up and install the new drivers.

 

[GHG]

Cool. About to do it now. Here we go .

 

[ianswoody]

Does anyone have a good go-to guide when building their PC? This is my first time building one in 10 years and would like to have a step-by-step online guide to reference as I'm getting it built.

 

[Janken]

I'm currently looking for a new computer, be it a Mac or a PC. I have made a thread about it in the OT, but I wanted to ask something different here.

Since I am open to different options, I wanted to ask your opinion about the Dell Studio XPS (normal or 8000, no 9000 where I live).

I thought about the iMac for the simplicity and convenience of having everything in one place, but Dell's Studio XPS line seems to be quite competent and convenient, too.

Is it a smart choice for someone who has to do image and video editing, edit large documents, view HD movies and, in synthesis, someone who wants a solid, reliable computer that will last for a long time?

And on another note: can you recommend me a screen that has a great image quality (for watching movies and editing and stuff) and HDMI support?

Thank you.

|:

 

[Jeff Stephen]

Anyone here run into any problems with the Radeon HD 5770?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=his_radeon_hd_5770-_-14-161-310-_-Product
Was gonna pick this card up until I read the reviews and the amd boards.
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=121063&enterthread=y

 

[NG28]

I'm looking to buy a new graphics card for my pc, as my current card is shit and has trouble running dark athena at the resolution I want (1280x1024).

This is basically what I got now in my inspiron 546:

AMD Phenom 9750 quad core
4gb ram
ati radeon hd 4350

I was thinking about purchasing a radeon 3850. Will it work well with my processor or is that crappy too? Also, I found that these cards vary in price range depending on whoever makes them I guess. I found one on newegg for $70, while others are quite a bit more than that. Are they much shittier the cheaper they are?

 

[MisterAnderson]

So I had a question that I felt didn't deserve it's own thread, thought I'd ask here. I have been using the Windows 7 RC since I built my computer over the summer, and am getting the retail version of W7 Pro for xmas. I suppose I didn't realize what I was getting myself into as it never occured to me that I was going to need to totally redo my PC once I got the retail Windows 7... which means all of my saved games and shit are going to be lost unless I make sure I transfer everything.

Now, I was wondering what the most efficient way of backing up all my shit would be. I was told I need to reformat my harddrive before reinstalling a new OS, is there a way to like...totally backup EVERYTHING on my harddrive on to my external? (similar to the PS3 harddrive backup utility) or should I only take some folders like my documents and shit? I know not all my saved games are in my documents, some are probably in the Steam directory and AppData. Am I missing any other key folders that I might need to take with me to ensure no valuable game saves are lost?