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[Chiggs]

Anyway, so I replaced my 4870x2 with a GTX295+. For all those who called me an ATI fanboy, well, what now? I am fucked.

[CONNERY]YOH PLAYING BOTH SHHHIIIDES![/CONNERY]

 

[Hazaro]

Then a year or two passes then you must upgrade again. One of the downfalls in PC gaming..shit PC period. I personally dont mind, but this is answering to "why do people still buy consoles??".

Next topic: I am buying 2 monitors for dual monitoring (sp?). Using two monitor tax the GPU much? Or not much? I have a 4850, and was wondering if I would need to upgrade to another card by then.

Thanks.

2 years is a long time

Hardly nudges the GPU. Pushing twice the screen-size in game is another story.

What about the Nvidia PhysX card? Is it worth it?

No, also Nvidia cards now can do PhysX. Performance decreases though, it's mostly for a few small things right now. I believe ATi is working on some kind of version with their tech.

I thought I'd read that CPU cache had little effect on gaming.

Once you go over 2MB, even 1MB the impact isn't that much.

28Amps on a single 12V line?? That sounds crazy.
That would equate to a roughly 800W PSU :lol :lol :lol

Most PSU's are single rail, but labeled multi rail.
Read more: http://www.jonnyguru.com/

 

[brain_stew]

I just added those and it comes out to 200 dollars.... why are people still buying consoles??????

People are simply poorly educated on the subject. As things stand right now, gaming on the PC is cheaper than PS3 gaming once you factor in the savings made on each and every purchase. Its a big leap to make, no doubt but once you're over the initial hurdles its very ahrd to look back. I think I'm going to look into creating a "ideal" bang for buck setup, with say a $500/£400 budget, and update it as necessary.

With advice taken from others, it would be a great addition to the op, if you're willing to add it Victim? Highlighting just what is available for the money can really help bring the message home, and as 'm such a fan of "bang for buck" components its probably the area where I can give the best advice.

 

[Labombadog]

People are simply poorly educated on the subject. As things stand right now, gaming on the PC is cheaper than PS3 gaming once you factor in the savings made on each and every purchase. Its a big leap to make, no doubt but once you're over the initial hurdles its very ahrd to look back. I think I'm going to look into creating a "ideal" bang for buck setup, with say a $500/£400 budget, and update it as necessary.

With advice taken from others, it would be a great addition to the op, if you're willing to add it Victim? Highlighting just what is available for the money can really help bring the message home, and as 'm such a fan of "bang for buck" components its probably the area where I can give the best advice.

If I had the money to blow I would love to challenge people in GAF to create the cheapest yet cost effective PC. One day GAF...one day.

 

[brain_stew]

If I had the money to blow I would love to challenge people in GAF to create the cheapest yet cost effective PC. One day GAF...one day.

I'm working on it now. Looks like the $500 budget is very doable. This is with some excellent parts aswell, more than enough to max any game at 1680x1050, most at 60fps.

I'm going to create one "overclock" friendly build with slower CPU but better motherboard and CPU cooler and one for those averse t overclocking where I'll budget more for the CPU.

Any input from other members is welcome, I think it'd be great to have an updated ultimate bang for buck sub $500 PC config ready for cost conscious GAF members to work from. I now it would have helped me out a lot when I built my first rig 9 months ago.

Edit:

Here we go, my first two proposals, firstly for those willing to overclock, this should manage 3.5ghz quite comfortably and it'll only set you back $475 after rebate ($495 before):

Secondly, for those unwilling to overclock (though I highly recommend it), I recommend spending a little more on the CPU side, and have come up with this very similar build for $502 after rebate ($522 before):

I'm pretty astonished at just what is avaiable for the money, these two rigs will fly though games. If you've got the extra cash a $30 upgrade to a ATI 4850 is thoroughly recommended.

If you want to run Crysis at max settings you're going to need a hell of a lot better computer than that. I think if you ran everything at medium it would be fine.

It'll tear through high settings at 720p. Even better, install CCC config and you'll be able to manage CCC level 5 giving visuals very close to very high settings at 720p/30hz no problem at all. These configs I've put together, will manage Crysis just beautifully.

Another point I must note. Most Crysis benchmarks out there are complete bunk. They use the built in benchmarking tool which is completely texture bound, despite the fact that ingame you'll be shader bound for the vast majority of the game. Its a bad representation of ingame performance. This is particularly poignant because ATI's cards have a higher ALU:TEX ratio than Nvidia cards, so they're going to perform badly in the flyby but much better ingame. I myself noticed this when going from a 8800GT to 4850. If you'd have believed the benchmarks based on the flyby benchmarking tool, performance should have been the same for me. It was not. Crysis received a very healthy boost ingame because of the massive of shader power available on ATI's latest cards.

 

[Beq]

E8400 OEM + Scythe Ninja w/ 120mm fan
Foxconn MARS
x4 1GB G.Skill DDR2-800
x2 300GB Maxtor Sata2
eVGA 7600GT KO
SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Samsung 18x DVDRW w/ LightScribe
OCz 600w GameXtreme
Thermaltake Swing case

Just got this from a forum member on a different forum for $600 shipped.... Is there anything that I should upgrade? I am thinking that the video card might be a bit outdated, but I haven't messed with pc's in so long, that I really don't know what is good and what is not.

 

[zoku88]

JW, why are you going with 4x1 GB instead of 2x2 GB?

No plans on further RAM upgrades down the line?

 

[Labombadog]

E8400 OEM + Scythe Ninja w/ 120mm fan
Foxconn MARS
x4 1GB G.Skill DDR2-800
x2 300GB Maxtor Sata2
eVGA 7600GT KO
SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Samsung 18x DVDRW w/ LightScribe
OCz 600w GameXtreme
Thermaltake Swing case

Just got this from a forum member on a different forum for $600 shipped.... Is there anything that I should upgrade? I am thinking that the video card might be a bit outdated, but I haven't messed with pc's in so long, that I really don't know what is good and what is not.

Upgrade the graphic card to a 4830/4850 and your all good, but it really depends on what resolution you will be playing on. Is that CPU Oc'ed?

JW, why are you going with 4x1 GB instead of 2x2 GB?

No plans on further RAM upgrades down the line?

He bought it from a forum member. 4Gb of RAM is perfect for now, and perhaps 2 years from now, so I wouldnt worry about that now. What he needs is a new graphic card, and he will have a beast of a PC.

 

[Beq]

Upgrade the graphic card to a 4830/4850 and your all good, but it really depends on what resolution you will be playing on. Is that CPU Oc'ed?



He bought it from a forum member. 4Gb of RAM is perfect for now, and perhaps 2 years from now, so I wouldnt worry about that now. What he needs is a new graphic card, and he will have a beast of a PC.

I dont believe it is overclocked. Also, what monitors is everyone buying right now? Thinking of a 22" lcd, 24" if the price is good enough. Thanks.

 

[Labombadog]

I dont believe it is overclocked. Also, what monitors is everyone buying right now? Thinking of a 22" lcd, 24" if the price is good enough. Thanks.

Either will be awesome. Acer is a good brand for the money, so I would go with them. If your resolution is in the 1680 x 1050 then I would go with the 4850, but if its higher then go for a 4870 (1Gb if its 1200p).

edit: Do you know how to OC? Because a E8400, is one beast of an OC'er. Most of them get to the 4Ghz with proper cooling.

Oh, I misunderstood him. I thought he meant that he got the config specs from some other forum and not the actual computer itself.

Its all good.

 

[zoku88]

He bought it from a forum member. 4Gb of RAM is perfect for now, and perhaps 2 years from now, so I wouldnt worry about that now. What he needs is a new graphic card, and he will have a beast of a PC.

Oh, I misunderstood him. I thought he meant that he got the config specs from some other forum and not the actual computer itself.

 

[ElfoMan]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...lickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16814102770

SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850
$144.99
-$15 Mail Rebate
- $20 (with code EMCABBDEB)
= $109.99 with free shipping.

 

[Open Source]

What about the Nvidia PhysX card? Is it worth it?

No. Better to put that money into a better nvidia GPU (or GPUs), since nvidia 8 series and up does physx processing now.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

No. Better to put that money into a better nvidia GPU (or GPUs), since nvidia 8 series and up does physx processing now.

but an ageia physx card is worth it actually. it really does help by giving you a bump in frame rates.... all IMO of course...

 

[Hazaro]

but an ageia physx card is worth it actually. it really does help by giving you a bump in frame rates.... all IMO of course...

I think buying a separate GPU is better. It will be offloaded onto the CPU soon anyway. (I think)
Even so it's still like $100.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

but an ageia physx card is worth it actually. it really does help by giving you a bump in frame rates.... all IMO of course...

depends but if you take in price/performance its not really worth it.

With the increasing use of dual cores and quad cores and as games become multithreaded its not really necessary for a dedicated physics card...yet, we dont know what future games hold instore for us but for the current games what we have now is very adequate.

 

[Russian Steve]

So I have a problem I was hoping some one might be able to help me with. I have an Acer X1200; specs here. Over all it's pretty decent the only thing lacking is the graphics card. It has an NVIDIA GeForce 8200 so I really need to upgrade.

Here in lies the problem, it's a pretty cramped mini pc so I have no idea which graphics cards would actually fit.

 

[godhandiscen]

[CONNERY]YOH PLAYING BOTH SHHHIIIDES![/CONNERY]

lol. Man, were have you been?

Then a year or two passes then you must upgrade again. One of the downfalls in PC gaming..shit PC period. I personally dont mind, but this is answering to "why do people still buy consoles??".

Next topic: I am buying 2 monitors for dual monitoring (sp?). Using two monitor tax the GPU much? Or not much? I have a 4850, and was wondering if I would need to upgrade to another card by then.

Thanks.

I do not agree with your first statement. You only need to upgrade if you want a graphical quality beyond what consoles offer. I have seen a 7800 GTS playing Fallout 3 just fine on medium @ 1024×768. The game felt almost as fluid as the 360, and in instances it looked better. Now this is a videocard that arrived before the 360 came out. Also, I didn't join PC gaming either unless I was conscious I could afford it. When I was a broke high school student, I stuck to consoles.

Beware: There is a problem with dual monitors and the 4850. A friend of mine gets a lot of BSOD's when dual monitoring in Vista. Apparently many users have the same problem with that card, he found a thread in [H]. Besides that, dual monitors decrease your performance to an unnoticeable extend. I have found I get 3 more fps while benching with only one monitor in Trackmania. Now, running your game in windows mode for easy alt tabbing is another deal. That will take off another 1-2fps off your experience, but easy alt tabbing is worth it. On the plus side, you will be able to monitor temps and such on the second monitor.

 

[avaya]

My system finally arrived. My i7 920's running 31 degrees idle, the GTX 295 is 48 degrees.

Question on PhysX with the NV control panel, if you disable GPU based PhysX will it improve gfx performance? I assume it does.

 

[Keen]

Ordered the following:

Proc:Intel Core™ i7 920 Quad Processor
Mobo:Asus P6T Deluxe V2, X58, Socket-1366
Memory:Corsair TWIN3X 1600MHz DDR3, 6GB
PSU:Seasonic M12 700W
gfx:Gainward GeForce GTX 295 1792MB PhysX (or eVGA. But they only have the gainward in stock. Is it worth it to wait?)
hdd:Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM



Can't wait to start building

 

[godhandiscen]

Ordered the following:

Proc:Intel Core™ i7 920 Quad Processor
Mobo:Asus P6T Deluxe V2, X58, Socket-1366
Memory:Corsair TWIN3X 1600MHz DDR3, 6GB
PSU:Seasonic M12 700W
gfx:Gainward GeForce GTX 295 1792MB PhysX (or eVGA. But they only have the gainward in stock. Is it worth it to wait?)
hdd:Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM



Can't wait to start building

Yes, definitely worth the wait. EVGA has a overclocking utility that works wonders from reviews. Also, for $20 more you can get the version that has the metal back plate (or get the back plate later) which dissipates heat and keeps your card cooler when overclocked. And the 90 days step up program is sweet. If the GTX300 series shows up in 90 days and is arguably superior, you will be able to upgrade at almost no cost.

edit: Though if you game at 1900x1200 and beyond, I would suggest an OC'd 4870x2 since it is faster due to its higher memory bandwidth.

Ok I finally got almost all my parts for my build! Took me alot of choosing and research but I think I'll be happy with what I get:

Phenom II 920 @ 2.8ghz (BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD)
ASrock 790gx mobo
4 gigs of DDR2 800 Ballistix
Seasonic M12 700W
Antec Three Hundred case (1x 140mm fan, 3x 120mm fan)

Gonna change out all the 120mm fans for Yate Loon fans.

I have a year of experience with the Phenom processor, and I have read a lot about Phenom 2. The 920 has the multiplier locked, and the Phenom core is bad at raising its clock. Unless you get lucky, you won't be able to overclock it much, which you will definitely need to in 8 months or so, when games use quads better and most quads will be at above 3.0GHz. I absolutely recommend the Phenom II 940 even if it is $100 more for this reason. You will be able to achieve 4GHz on air, and easily beat low oc'd 920s.

edit: Overclocking through the multiplier (only available in the Phenom II 940) is some dreamy shit. I miss it.

 

[CAVE343]

Ordered the following:

Proc:Intel Core™ i7 920 Quad Processor
Mobo:Asus P6T Deluxe V2, X58, Socket-1366
Memory:Corsair TWIN3X 1600MHz DDR3, 6GB
PSU:Seasonic M12 700W
gfx:Gainward GeForce GTX 295 1792MB PhysX (or eVGA. But they only have the gainward in stock. Is it worth it to wait?)
hdd:Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM



Can't wait to start building

That's a very nice build. What kind of case do you have?
I have a 4870X2 right now and the fan noise is such a pain in the ass, is the GTX295 more quiet?

 

[Keen]

Yes, definitely worth the wait. EVGA has a overclocking utility that works wonders from reviews. Also, for $20 more you can get the version that has the metal back plate (or get the back plate later) which dissipates heat and keeps your card cooler when overclocked. And the 90 days step up program is sweet. If the GTX300 series shows up in 90 days and is arguably superior, you will be able to upgrade at almost no cost.

edit: Though if you game at 1900x1200 and beyond, I would suggest an OC'd 4870x2 since it is faster due to its higher memory bandwidth.

Of course, now that I ordered yesterday the eVGA, which had a projected in-stock date of friday, was in-stock today Oh well, I probably won't OC the card anyway but that 90-day upgrade option sounds sweet. If it works in Sweden that is. And it was cheaper.

 

[godhandiscen]

That's a very nice build. What kind of case do you have?
I have a 4870X2 right now and the fan noise is such a pain in the ass, is the GTX295 more quiet?

Yes but it is also more hot. I ran my 4870x2 at 35 degrees on idle, @ 70 with Crysis on full load. The fan speed was 50% and it was really loud. The 295 runs at 46 on idle and above 80 (i've read 90 even) on load. You basically have to manually increase the fan speed if you want the card to last more than a year, thus making it as noisy as the 4870x2.

 

[CAVE343]

Yes but it is also more hot. I ran my 4870x2 at 35 degrees on 70 with Crysis on full load. The fan speed was 50% and it was really loud. The 295 runs at 46 on idle and above 80 on load. You basically have to manually increase the fan speed if you want the card to last more than a year, thus making it as noisy as the 4870x2.

Hmm okay, I've also made some profiles for my 4870X2 and I've set the fan speed to 70 or 80 for gaming. It sounds like the pc is going to take off

But was the switch to the GTX295 worth it for you? I'm still debating if I should switch.

 

[godhandiscen]

Hmm okay, I've also made some profiles for my 4870X2 and I've set the fan speed to 70 or 80 for gaming. It sounds like the pc is going to take off

But was the switch to the GTX295 worth it for you? I'm still debating if I should switch.

I haven't received it yet. I have another friend who runs a small PC shop here in town, and he build a 295 rig before. The reason why I made the switch was because my 4870x2 was burning due to the fact that it was a launch one (stock cooler) and I had OC'd it. Also, the fact that my sound card was basically touching it, didn't help. I only have 2 1600x1050 monitors, and even though the 4870x2 shines at 1900x1200 and above, it loses against the 295 at the resolution at which I play, so I made the switch since I won't upgrade my monitors until I can buy 2 of them. If I had even one 1080p monitor I wouldn't have made the switch from what I've read. Now, I will be able to provide detailed impressions next week when I get the card from newegg. Also, realize this switch cost me nothing (I always pay for extended warranty). If I had to pay even $30 to switch to a 295, I wouldn't have done it since the gains in framerate I am expecting are below 4fps.

edit: I think there are noticeable gains in Crysis though, but loses in Fallout 3

My system finally arrived. My i7 920's running 31 degrees idle, the GTX 295 is 48 degrees.

Question on PhysX with the NV control panel, if you disable GPU based PhysX will it improve gfx performance? I assume it does.

Anybody with an answer to this? I would assume it decreases it in games that support PhysX, and has no effect in games that don't support it, but if so, why would there be such an option? For people with dedicated PhysX cards?

 

[Ranger X]

So right now this is what I would be going for:




-Acer X223WBD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor ------- 199$

-Geforce 9800 GT 512mb GDDR3 video card ------- 149$

-Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card (i don't care for 5.1 and more) ------- 38$

-OCZ GameXstream Power Supply 700 watts/ ATX/ 120mm fan/ SATA ready/ SLI ready/ EPS/ Active PFC ------- 142$

-Intensity Pro capture card ------- 429$

-ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 motherboard Intel X58 ------- 402$

-Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz processor ------- 349$

-Corsair XMS3 Tri channel 3gb DDR3 memory ------- 123$

-Western Digital Caviar SE16 640gb 7200 rpm SATA hard drive ------- 90$

-Diablotek CPA-801 ATX Mid-Tower Case ------- 29$

-HP DVD1040i Lightscribe Super-Multi Retail DVD burner ------- 38$

-Vista 64 bits Home Premium ------- 142$



This should cost me around 2400$ CAN with tax and shipping included from TigerDirect. I build a similar set on Newegg and it ended up like 2500$.

 

[godhandiscen]

List individual prices to see if we can find you better deals, at least on the videocard. That is a weak choice for a totally new build. Maybe you can go cheaper on other parts in order to have a higher powered card. I would recommend a 4830 if you are looking at that price range btw.

 

[Ranger X]

List individual prices to see if we can find you better deals, at least on the videocard. That is a weak choice for a totally new build. Maybe you can go cheaper on other parts in order to have a higher powered card. I would recommend a 4830 if you are looking at that price range btw.

Actually I want to spare on the videocar because gaming isn't my prority. I want a budget videocard and then buy another one down the line. I also want to go cheap on the soundcard because i'm not planning to use 5.1 or more.

I will update the prices right now

 

[godhandiscen]

Actually I want to spare on the videocar because gaming isn't my prority. I want a budget videocard and then buy another one down the line. I also want to go cheap on the soundcard because i'm not planning to use 5.1 or more.

I will update the prices right now

Still, the 4850 will give you more power at the same cost unless Nvidia countered with a price slash.

You can definitely find a 4850 for that price, and it will obliterate the 9800.

 

[Labombadog]

So right now this is what I would be going for:




-Acer X223WBD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor ------- 199$

-Geforce 9800 GT 512mb GDDR3 video card ------- 149$

-Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card (i don't care for 5.1 and more) ------- 38$

-OCZ GameXstream Power Supply 700 watts/ ATX/ 120mm fan/ SATA ready/ SLI ready/ EPS/ Active PFC ------- 142$

-Intensity Pro capture card ------- 429$

-ASUS P6T Deluxe LGA 1366 motherboard Intel X58 ------- 402$

-Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz processor ------- 349$

-Corsair XMS3 Tri channel 3gb DDR3 memory ------- 123$

-Western Digital Caviar SE16 640gb 7200 rpm SATA hard drive ------- 90$

-Diablotek CPA-801 ATX Mid-Tower Case ------- 29$

-HP DVD1040i Lightscribe Super-Multi Retail DVD burner ------- 38$

-Vista 64 bits Home Premium ------- 142$



This should cost me around 2400$ CAN with tax and shipping included from TigerDirect. I build a similar set on Newegg and it ended up like 2500$.

What resolution is that monitor?

 

[Cheeto]

Actually I want to spare on the videocar because gaming isn't my prority. I want a budget videocard and then buy another one down the line. I also want to go cheap on the soundcard because i'm not planning to use 5.1 or more.

I will update the prices right now

So spend nothing at all and use the onboard sound.

 

[Ranger X]

Still, the 4850 will give you more power at the same cost unless Nvidia countered with a price slash.

You can definitely find a 4850 for that price, and it will obliterate the 9800.

So I should go with this right? It's also 10$ less lol

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4259630&CatId=3670

(4850 is 186$ Can)

.

 

[Ranger X]

What resolution is that monitor?

1680x1050

Should be enough.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

So I should go with this right? It's also 10$ less lol

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4259630&CatId=3670

(4850 is 186$ Can)

.

yeah, my friend recently bought that card. Only thing that bothered me about it was the stupid heatsink cover design.

As if it was powerful enough to warrant handles so you can hold on to them to keep it from flying away.

 

[godhandiscen]

yeah, my friend recently bought that card. Only thing that bothered me about it was the stupid heatsink cover design.

As if it was powerful enough to warrant handles so you can hold on to them to keep it from flying away.

Did you end up buying the Phenom II 920? I strongly suggest the 940. You will see over one 1GHz in stable 24/7 overclocking gains on air with a decent cooler.

So spend nothing at all and use the onboard sound.

QFT. Asus has excellent integrated audio. 5.1 even.

 

[Doubledex]

I dont believe it is overclocked. Also, what monitors is everyone buying right now? Thinking of a 22" lcd, 24" if the price is good enough. Thanks.

For gaming and TV?
Samsung SyncMaster 226BW !
Totally awesome

 

[VictimOfGrief]

newest eVGA 9800GT card P/N : 512-P3-N973-TR is a great card if you're looking for a budget beater.

Have mine OC'ed already lol I know right?) to 650/1625/950 and the thing is rock solid without getting above 50C while gaming.

Newegg had it for $114.99 I believe yesterday but might have crept back up to $124.99.

Either way, don't spend the money on the SC cards and just download eVGA precession and OC away.

I put myself in the step-up que for my GTX285 and I'm #172 right now. :lol So I guess I'll have to wait a while before I get it but it'll be worth it.

BTW, quick runs of FEAR 2 and TF2.

Fear 2 (according to FRAPS) 30-60 FPS constant. Never dips below 30
TF2 60FPS+
I'm going to get FO3 re-installed and pick up my game where I left off. Miss that game.

I'll get benches of the rig here in the next week or so.

 

[godhandiscen]

newest eVGA 9800GT card P/N : 512-P3-N973-TR is a great card if you're looking for a budget beater.

Have mine OC'ed already lol I know right?) to 650/1625/950 and the thing is rock solid without getting above 50C while gaming.

Newegg had it for $114.99 I believe yesterday but might have crept back up to $124.99.

Either way, don't spend the money on the SC cards and just download eVGA precession and OC away.

I put myself in the step-up que for my GTX285 and I'm #172 right now. :lol So I guess I'll have to wait a while before I get it but it'll be worth it.

BTW, quick runs of FEAR 2 and TF2.

Fear 2 (according to FRAPS) 30-60 FPS constant. Never dips below 30
TF2 60FPS+
I'm going to get FO3 re-installed and pick up my game where I left off. Miss that game.

I'll get benches of the rig here in the next week or so.

How does step up works? Is this the eVGA step up?

 

[VictimOfGrief]

How does step up works? Is this the eVGA step up?

Yes... eVGA has THE best Step-Up program bar none.

I bought the 9800GT to at least tide me over until I got the funds for the 285. What you do is register your product, enter the Step-Up program... select the card you want and go into the waiting queue. You pay the difference between the cards; In this case... $124.99 - $384.99 = Total cost to me to Step-Up : $266.53.

Now what's crazy about this... is when the price is going to start going down on the 285... my total cost is going to go down as well. Very cool stuff.

You have about 90 days (+/- when you get it registered... for me I have 82 days left) before my Step-Up period ends.

If anyone is thinking about it, I highly recommend it. Only issue is being down without a system while you have your new card shipped out to you.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Hey guys, I'm trying to decide between this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211188

and this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

The G-Skill is cheaper, but I have the 2x1GB version of that A-DATA RAM and I'm quite happy with it (mostly because it runs very stable when lowering the timings). Should the G-Skill be able to handle 4-4-4-12?

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Go G.Skill.

I had that A-Data RAM and it didn't OC that well for me. G.Skill are usually more flexible with timings and OC'ing.

 

[avaya]

Tried some OC'ing on my i7 today.

Got it to 3.61GHz, BCLK = 180, XMP Profile with DDR3@1443MHz, VCore = 1.425V, DRAM = 1.64V

Seems pretty stable, but it's running at 40 degrees idle

Might try to go 4Ghz this weekend when I have time, seems a bit pointless since the gain is pretty non-existent apart from in benchmarks.

Anybody with an answer to this? I would assume it decreases it in games that support PhysX, and has no effect in games that don't support it, but if so, why would there be such an option? For people with dedicated PhysX cards?

I've turned it off, will run some benches to see if it makes any sort of difference.

BTW is the EVGA Step-up for North American customers only? I hope it's worldwide!!!

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Tried some OC'ing on my i7 today.

Got it to 3.61GHz, BCLK = 180, XMP Profile with DDR3@1443MHz, VCore = 1.425V, DRAM = 1.64V

Seems pretty stable, but it's running at 40 degrees idle

Might try to go 4Ghz this weekend when I have time, seems a bit pointless since the gain is pretty non-existent apart from in benchmarks.




I've turned it off, will run some benches to see if it makes any sort of difference.

BTW is the EVGA Step-up for North American customers only? I hope it's worldwide!!!

Nope, US only.

 

[avaya]

Nope, US only.

Ahh well, I suppose I'll be bending over for my next upgrade

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Did you end up buying the Phenom II 920? I strongly suggest the 940. You will see over one 1GHz in stable 24/7 overclocking gains on air with a decent cooler.

Yeah I did end up going with the 920 to save some money.

Sure the overclocking headroom potential may not be as high but it can go 3.5ghz easily and for now thats enough for me.

I figure I would upgrade to a AM3 CPU later this year depending on income anyway so its really just a placeholder for now.

My parts are coming in today, once I get the system setup I'll post some overclocking results in the benchmark thread in the next couple days once I familiarize myself with the system.

 

[Ranger X]

Anybody else to counter this argument?

Radeon HD 4830 > Geforce 9800GT

.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Anybody else to counter this argument?

Radeon HD 4830 > Geforce 9800GT

.

I'd go with ATI since I have good experience with them but they are pretty much neck and neck.

GO for whichever offers the better price but personally I feel getting the 4830 would be better just because its newer.

 

[Slavik81]

I really want to put together and i7-based system this summer. Prices are STEEP, though. Any chance they'll drop any significant amount over the next 3 months or so?

 

[FoxSpirit]

Most PSU's are single rail, but labeled multi rail.
Read more: http://www.jonnyguru.com/

Hmmm, couldn't find a specific article.

And, and what do you mean by odd performance?