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[SpinningFrog]

Heres a question for you guys with more knowledge about the PCI Express slots;

I have an older Dell, about 4 years old, I upgraded it once a couple years back with a GeForce 6600 256mb card, however I'm looking to upgrade it again with something a bit newer, question is seeing as it has a PCI Express x16 slot and not one of the 2.0 ones, what would the best "bang for my buck" be?

 

[Labombadog]

Ohhh shit.

I recently told my friend through Steam to OC his PC because he is totally bottlenecking his 8800GT Sli setup with his Q6600 at stock. So I told him what to disable, and what to do to get a mild overclock since he only have a stock cooler. He came back once, and left and never came back on.....hope his PC didnt mess up on him.

*nervous*

I would feel horrible if it really did.

 

[Hazaro]

Heres a question for you guys with more knowledge about the PCI Express slots;

I have an older Dell, about 4 years old, I upgraded it once a couple years back with a GeForce 6600 256mb card, however I'm looking to upgrade it again with something a bit newer, question is seeing as it has a PCI Express x16 slot and not one of the 2.0 ones, what would the best "bang for my buck" be?

Nothing uses 2.0 except $400 and above cards to my knowledge. Even then the gains are minimals.

Your CPU will most likely need to be upgraded as well.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Ohhh shit.

I recently told my friend through Steam to OC his PC because he is totally bottlenecking his 8800GT Sli setup with his Q6600 at stock. So I told him what to disable, and what to do to get a mild overclock since he only have a stock cooler. He came back once, and left and never came back on.....hope his PC didnt mess up on him.

*nervous*

I would feel horrible if it really did.

Well if anything bad did happen hopefully a CMOS reset fixes it.

 

[Slavik81]

What's a good $225-275USD graphics card?
I'm looking at the EVGA GTX260 Core 216.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)

What's the ATI equivalent and is there anything else in and around that price range worth looking at instead?

 

[Labombadog]

Yeah. I guess I am going to wait for him. Perhaps he got off to sleep, and didnt tell me? I can only hope so.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

What's a good $225-275USD graphics card?
I'm looking at the EVGA GTX260 Core 216.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)

What's the ATI equivalent and is there anything else in and around that price range worth looking at instead?

The ATI 4870 is pretty neck and neck with it unless you want to play at super high resolutions.

You can grab em for $200 these days too.

 

[rc213]

WOOT! My Sapphire HD 4830 shipped from Newegg's La Puente, Cali warehouse so it will be delivered tomorrow. Anything that I need to know or do different with ATI Drivers in Vista/Windows 7? Besides Drive Sweeper in Safe Mode that is.

 

[godhandiscen]

What's a good $225-275USD graphics card?
I'm looking at the EVGA GTX260 Core 216.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)

What's the ATI equivalent and is there anything else in and around that price range worth looking at instead?

4870 1GB. Both of them are tied in performance. Beating each other accross different games. Besides the 4870 1GB and the GTX260 core 216 there isn't anything else in that bracket. The next bracket starts at $450 with the 4870x2.

WOOT! My Sapphire HD 4830 shipped from Newegg's La Puente, Cali warehouse so it will be delivered tomorrow. Anything that I need to know or do different with ATI Drivers in Vista/Windows 7? Besides Drive Sweeper in Safe Mode that is.

Install Catalyst Control Center after you are done installing the display driver. Install them separatedly preferably.

 

[rc213]

4870 1GB. Both of them are tied in performance. Beating each other accross different games. Besides the 4870 1GB and the GTX260 core 216 there isn't anything else in that bracket. The next bracket starts at $450 with the 4870x2.

Install Catalyst Control Center after you are done installing the display driver. Install them separatedly preferably.

Is this for Windows 7? So I just uncheck CCC the first run through the setup, Reboot, Run setup and only check CCC?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

What's a good $225-275USD graphics card?
I'm looking at the EVGA GTX260 Core 216.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)

What's the ATI equivalent and is there anything else in and around that price range worth looking at instead?

I haven't played with a GTX260 Core 216 before, but the 4870HD 1GB is awesome. I play Crysis Warhead maxxed out (although at 1440x900 resolution) and get very playable framerates. I haven't pulled up any concrete numbers, but it definitely feels like the game is running above 30fps.

I am running a Core 2 Duo E8500 (stock speed at 3.2Ghz) with 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM.

I really didn't expect the build I put together in December to run as good as it did.

 

[godhandiscen]

Is this for Windows 7? So I just uncheck CCC the first run through the setup, Reboot, Run setup and only check CCC?

I dunno how are the drivers handled in Windows 7. but in all other versions, you have the option to grab the display the driver and CCC as different installers. So no need to "uncheck" stuff. And yes, you will reboot between both installations.

 

[Slavik81]

4870 1GB. Both of them are tied in performance. Beating each other accross different games. Besides the 4870 1GB and the GTX260 core 216 there isn't anything else in that bracket. The next bracket starts at $450 with the 4870x2.

Install Catalyst Control Center after you are done installing the display driver. Install them separatedly preferably.

Hmm... The NVIDIA PhysX stuff sounds cool (particularly because this will probably be upgraded by going SLI/Crossfire), but I'm looking at benchmarks for the Saphire 1GB 4870 and I can't believe the 4870 is 10-20% cheaper and just as good as the GTX260. Very nice. I think that makes my choice fairly easy.

 

[The S-Word]

well what range desktop am i lookin at if i only want to spend around 450 for the cpu/vidcard/mobo/ram. just those parts.

 

[Cheeto]

Thanks for that! Here's my first attempt at Umart:

I'm sure if I shop around I can cut that down considerably.

Swap that processor out for a E8400.

 

[Median]

So this is the current build I'm looking:

Core 2 Duo Quad Q6600
4GB RAM 2x2GB
Sapphire Radeon 4870 512MB
Asus P5Q P45
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN 22x DVD+-R
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB HD

What sort of power supply should I be looking for?

 

[cameltoe]

swapped out the 8800GT for a 4870 1GB yesterday. Pretty big improvement with most games.

Q6600@2.8
2GB DDR2 800 (next upgrade)
Antec Tri power 650w PSU
WinXP 32Bit (I have Vista Home P 64bit, just need to re-install it. Ive been fucking around with windows 7 beta...huge improvement over Vista...just wish Steam would function properly!!)

Crysis: (running a custom super quality config) gained around 10-12fps (at 1280x720 windowed) Now its more than playable, even in the most demanding scenes. Never dropped below 22FPS

C Warhead: (running enthusiast @ 1280x720 windowed) gained about the same as crysis, maybe a few more frames. Dips into the mid 20's under heavy load.

COD 4/WaW MP: (1920x1080 all maxed 4xAA 16xAF) I cap the FPS at 100 but it never dropped below 60; the 8800GT would drop into the 40's with no AA.

GTA IV: (windowed 1280x720 no AA 8xAF, textures high, view dist 50, detail dist 50, water high, traffic 40, shadows high, shadow density 5) Huge improvement with this game. Looks great with the higher textures and runs pretty well now. Sure it still drops into the low 20's at times but its not the slide show it usesd to be.

Far Cry 2: (1920x1080 2xAA 16xAF All set to Ultra high) Smooth as silk baby!! I didnt run the BM I just started up the game and played....looks and runs fantastic!

Happy with the purchase!! Now I need to add some more ram!

 

[Shinz Kicker]

newegg has a sapphire 4870 512 for 179 + shipping plus a Mail in Rebate.
its in email promotions.

ive had a 4850 since Christmas but i could totally bite on this.

 

[FoxSpirit]

Well if anything bad did happen hopefully a CMOS reset fixes it.

It should, in my first OC tries my system always froze on startup... Thank god for ASUS' bios CPR function which detects this and autorestores the settings when you power it on a 2nd time. Phew

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

swapped out the 8800GT for a 4870 1GB yesterday. Pretty big improvement with most games.

I was planning on going this route, from a 8800gt to 4870 1 GB. What is the power requirement for the 4870?

 

[PantherLotus]

Ok, I'll be getting my tax return soon (god bless the interest paid deductions!), and my wife has agreed to alot me 400 bucks towards a new computer. I can come up with another 100-150 on my own. I already have decent speakers, a DVD-RW drive, and a 250gig external HDD.

Most important to me:
1. Big widescreen monitor (20"-22")
2. Microsoft Office (Still running 02's stuff right now).
3. A buttload of ram and a decent vid card.

Budget
$500-$600

Time Frame
Couple Months from now

Can't Have
My wife won't trust a home-built CPU and she wants a branded one with Norton.



I don't PC Game regularly, so I don't need to run Crysis or anything, but I'd like to be able to run the latest CIV and Command & Conquer.


Any help? I have a few months to decide and to see if I'll still have a job after the layoff targets have been reached.

 

[Fio]

Can anyone recommend me a online store that ships internationally? I'm thinking about buying a HD4870 but prices here in Brazil are brutally high.

 

[ag-my001]

I was hoping some of you might be able to take a look at a build for a work computer (and whatever games we can sneak on there). It will be used for picture and video editing, DFT calculations and X-ray crystal structure determination. We'll be using XP Pro for a bit due to software incompatibilities with Vista.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
MoBo: MSI K9N2 Diamond AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card (x2)
Memory: OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Hard Disk: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (x2)
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: Antec Signature SG850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready
Monitor: SAMSUNG ToC T240HD Rose-Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor

Plus the extras like heat sink, keyboard and mouse, DVD drive...

While it's not my money I'm about to be spending, I do want to make sure I'm not wasting too much on something unnecessary. If anyone has a suggestion on any potential incompatibilities or bottlenecks (RAM excepted), I'd be appreciative.

 

[Fio]

2. Microsoft Office (Still running 02's stuff right now).

Do you really need MS Office? OpenOffice is pretty good and free. You'd save a good money using it over MS Office.

 

[TwIsTeD]

anyone have experience with buying from cyberpowerpc? ....i really want to do an i7 rig but i dont have the time and patience to order and assemble everything, and honestly their prices are friggin awesome (compared to building on my own its not that much more)

The options offered are amazing since i can customize each component just how i want it, tell me its a good site gaf

 

[The S-Word]

nevermind, just looked it up

 

[Caesar III]

Do you really need MS Office? OpenOffice is pretty good and free. You'd save a good money using it over MS Office.

Office is like 30$ per PC if you don't need Access and Outlook.

The Office 2007 Home and Student Version is only 80$ and can be installed on 3 PCs.
I don't think this is expensive.

 

[Angry Grimace]

What's a good $225-275USD graphics card?
I'm looking at the EVGA GTX260 Core 216.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434)

What's the ATI equivalent and is there anything else in and around that price range worth looking at instead?

I have that exact card. It's a good card, but you should be able to shoehorn a GTX 280 in that price range by now.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

anyone have experience with buying from cyberpowerpc? ....i really want to do an i7 rig but i dont have the time and patience to order and assemble everything, and honestly their prices are friggin awesome (compared to building on my own its not that much more)

The options offered are amazing since i can customize each component just how i want it, tell me its a good site gaf

Haven't heard anything negative about them and they do have a lot of options. Looks quite good.

 

[godhandiscen]

I was hoping some of you might be able to take a look at a build for a work computer (and whatever games we can sneak on there). It will be used for picture and video editing, DFT calculations and X-ray crystal structure determination. We'll be using XP Pro for a bit due to software incompatibilities with Vista.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
MoBo: MSI K9N2 Diamond AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card (x2)
Memory: OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Hard Disk: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (x2)
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: Antec Signature SG850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready
Monitor: SAMSUNG ToC T240HD Rose-Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor

Plus the extras like heat sink, keyboard and mouse, DVD drive...

While it's not my money I'm about to be spending, I do want to make sure I'm not wasting too much on something unnecessary. If anyone has a suggestion on any potential incompatibilities or bottlenecks (RAM excepted), I'd be appreciative.

AVOID MSI motherboards like the plague. Let me link you to a good motherboard.

This is the best motherboard you can get for AMD processors right now. It has the SB750 chip, and the 790FX chip. It will overclock like crazy. Also, it has full AM3 socket support from the start. The best though, it is chip as hell because it doesn't have legacy features that the other older motherboards have. If you are going for a new AMD build, this IS the mobo:

ASUS M4A79 Deluxe

anyone have experience with buying from cyberpowerpc? ....i really want to do an i7 rig but i dont have the time and patience to order and assemble everything, and honestly their prices are friggin awesome (compared to building on my own its not that much more)

The options offered are amazing since i can customize each component just how i want it, tell me its a good site gaf

AVOID IF POSSIBLE:

I have dealt with Cyberpower back when I didn't know my shit. Three years ago. They sold a computer to my ex girlfriend. The POS would BSOD all the fucking time. They cut corners wherever they could, by using the cheapest quality fans that gave up after 2 months or so. Some of the parts that they offer are also bullshit, like a craptastic power supply that kept overheating and shutting down. Their support was also other piece of shit. They don't have on site technical support, so I had to drive the PC 4 hours to their assembly store so that they could check it out. The guys who work there are total noobs now that I realize. They couldn't identify the problem and told me the computer was fine. In the end I had to end up fixing the computer on my own, and that was the best learning experience ever. AVOID CYBERPOWER/IBUYPOWER. They are the same craptacular company.

Ok, I'll be getting my tax return soon (god bless the interest paid deductions!), and my wife has agreed to alot me 400 bucks towards a new computer. I can come up with another 100-150 on my own. I already have decent speakers, a DVD-RW drive, and a 250gig external HDD.

Most important to me:
1. Big widescreen monitor (20"-22") This is will be at least $150 btw, so your budget in reality is $450.
2. Microsoft Office (Still running 02's stuff right now).
3. A buttload of ram and a decent vid card.

Budget
$500-$600

Time Frame
Couple Months from now

Can't Have
My wife won't trust a home-built CPU and she wants a branded one with Norton. Then you will have to look at a dell, and whatever they will sell you for $450, will have to run integrated graphics. Also, Norton.. lol.


I don't PC Game regularly, so I don't need to run Crysis or anything, but I'd like to be able to run the latest CIV and Command & Conquer. You will need at a Radeon 4830 then, those are $100.


Any help? I have a few months to decide and to see if I'll still have a job after the layoff targets have been reached.

Do you have computer parts? If you have to buy a branded one, I can't help. If you can build it yourself, you can meet your target and more as long as you have a case and DVD drive. Try to convince your wife.

I was planning on going this route, from a 8800gt to 4870 1 GB. What is the power requirement for the 4870?

600W PSU will be the best. Maybe you could even go to 500W depending on your other components, but if so it has to be a Corsair or similar brand PSU which actually does deliver what it says it will.

So this is the current build I'm looking:

Core 2 Duo Quad Q6600
4GB RAM 2x2GB
Sapphire Radeon 4870 512MB
Asus P5Q P45
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN 22x DVD+-R
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB HD

What sort of power supply should I be looking for?

600W PSU. Will be ideal. Don't go cheap on the PSU though.

 

[ProfessorLobo]

For anyone not wanting to build their own PC I have an Ebay up for a gaming computer, brand new.

- AMD Athlon X2 5600 2.9Ghz Dual Core
- Sapphire ATI Radeon 4850 512Mb
- 4 Gb Corsair RAM
- DVD/CD Drive/Burner (Email for specific speeds)
- 250 GB 7200 RPM 8Mb Cache SATA3.0 GB/s hard drive
- 500W Power Supply
- 2 Masscool 80mm Case Fans (seperate)

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Been reading about AMD's Phenom 2, damn it's sounding hot!

Fantastic price and performance even in the mist of the i7 processor, and can overclock like mad. The best part is unlike the i7 when requires a different board at the least, if you have an AMD+ board already, you're good to go!

AMD is back in the game?!

Anyone have one yet? Impressions?

 

[Falch]

So my crappy ASUS laptop died today, for the fourth time in 2,5 years. Since the warranty is over, I don't intend to send the laptop in only to have him die on me again in half a year.

So I've decided I want a new computer, and it'll have to be a PC this time, not a laptop. I'm on a limited budget. I've been fooling around on several PC sites building my on PC. I'm currently looking at this (prices in euro's):

Any suggestions are welcome, as long as they're reasonable money-wise. Also, some questions:
- What do you guys think of the motherboard? Any other suggestions? I'd like to spend a maximum of 120 Euro on a good motherboard as long as it has build-in wifi.
- AOpen tower: is 450W enough? I'm not planning on overclocking (perhaps just a little with the CPU and/or Gfxcard, nothing spectacular).
- How will this system perform when playing new games (crysis, red alert 3 etc) at 1680x1050? I'm not aiming at ultra-high performance, but I'd like to be able to play the current new games at good looking settings.
- Should I go with the 32 or 64 bit version of Vista? I might upgrade the current processor for a quad CPU in a year and a half or so, if that makes any difference.

For a monitor I'm currently looking at a Samsung syncmaster 2243 NW which would set me back about 150 euro.

 

[MWS Natural]

Anyone have experience building a SFF PC?

 

[brain_stew]

So this is the current build I'm looking:

Core 2 Duo Quad Q6600
4GB RAM 2x2GB
Sapphire Radeon 4870 512MB
Asus P5Q P45
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN 22x DVD+-R
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB HD

What sort of power supply should I be looking for?

A 500w from a decent brand would be more than enough.

 

[brain_stew]

So my crappy ASUS laptop died today, for the fourth time in 2,5 years. Since the warranty is over, I don't intend to send the laptop in only to have him die on me again in half a year.

So I've decided I want a new computer, and it'll have to be a PC this time, not a laptop. I'm on a limited budget. I've been fooling around on several PC sites building my on PC. I'm currently looking at this (prices in euro's):

Any suggestions are welcome, as long as they're reasonable money-wise. Also, some questions:
- What do you guys think of the motherboard? Any other suggestions? I'd like to spend a maximum of 120 Euro on a good motherboard as long as it has build-in wifi.
- AOpen tower: is 450W enough? I'm not planning on overclocking (perhaps just a little with the CPU and/or Gfxcard, nothing spectacular).
- How will this system perform when playing new games (crysis, red alert 3 etc) at 1680x1050? I'm not aiming at ultra-high performance, but I'd like to be able to play the current new games at good looking settings.
- Should I go with the 32 or 64 bit version of Vista? I might upgrade the current processor for a quad CPU in a year and a half or so, if that makes any difference.

For a monitor I'm currently looking at a Samsung syncmaster 2243 NW which would set me back about 150 euro.

Switch out that AS Rock motherboard. Get a nice P45/P43 baord from ASUS or Gigabyte. Forget about built in wifi, buy a 10 Euro PCI card and be done with it, you'd be crazy to burden yourself with a crappy motherboard due to this requirement.

What are your thoughts on OCing? I'd suggest reading up on it and if you're confident enough to go that route, drop the CPU down to an E5200, add an AKasa 965 CPH cooler and get better erformance for less money. Otherwise I'd suggest trying to stretch to an E8400/E8500 if possible.

 

[bengraven]

New PC time! I really want to build my own, but I admit, I'm terrified. And reading this thread has made me even more terrified. I would hate to use Ibuypower, but I think I'm going to.

 

[kagete]

How about Avadirect.com? I bought a PC there based on a GAF recommendation and they're real good. I can't find the receipt right now but I remember getting an E7200/4850 setup for under $700 several months ago. They do take their sweet time to assemble and test your PC though, which may be good or bad depending on how you see things.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

anyone have experience with buying from cyberpowerpc? ....i really want to do an i7 rig but i dont have the time and patience to order and assemble everything, and honestly their prices are friggin awesome (compared to building on my own its not that much more)

The options offered are amazing since i can customize each component just how i want it, tell me its a good site gaf

great prices and lots and lots of options. i heartily recommend them. I've bought from them before.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Switch out that AS Rock motherboard. Get a nice P45/P43 baord from ASUS or Gigabyte. Forget about built in wifi, buy a 10 Euro PCI card and be done with it, you'd be crazy to burden yourself with a crappy motherboard due to this requirement.

What are your thoughts on OCing? I'd suggest reading up on it and if you're confident enough to go that route, drop the CPU down to an E5200, add an AKasa 965 CPH cooler and get better erformance for less money. Otherwise I'd suggest trying to stretch to an E8400/E8500 if possible.

why are you so quick to discredit ASRock?

You do know that ASRock outsources to Asus right?

I've got no complaints with my AMD 790gx board.

 

[brain_stew]

why are you so quick to discredit ASRock?

You do know that ASRock outsources to Asus right?

I've got no complaints with my AMD 790gx board.

No personal experience but I've heard a lot of iffy things and they're generally targeted as budget boards. ASUS and Gigabyte consistently deliver some of the best boards out there at a very reasonable price and I'd rather err on the side of caution is all. Plus the OCing options of a Gigabyte or ASUS board can't be beat.

 

[bengraven]

How about Avadirect.com? I bought a PC there based on a GAF recommendation and they're real good. I can't find the receipt right now but I remember getting an E7200/4850 setup for under $700 several months ago. They do take their sweet time to assemble and test your PC though, which may be good or bad depending on how you see things.

That's my price range, man, I might have to look into that!

Edit: Damn, cheapest is nearly 800.

 

[FirstInHell]

Ok, I'll be getting my tax return soon (god bless the interest paid deductions!), and my wife has agreed to alot me 400 bucks towards a new computer. I can come up with another 100-150 on my own. I already have decent speakers, a DVD-RW drive, and a 250gig external HDD.

Most important to me:
1. Big widescreen monitor (20"-22")
2. Microsoft Office (Still running 02's stuff right now).
3. A buttload of ram and a decent vid card.

Budget
$500-$600

Time Frame
Couple Months from now

Can't Have
My wife won't trust a home-built CPU and she wants a branded one with Norton.



I don't PC Game regularly, so I don't need to run Crysis or anything, but I'd like to be able to run the latest CIV and Command & Conquer.


Any help? I have a few months to decide and to see if I'll still have a job after the layoff targets have been reached.

By wife you mean your mom right?

 

[Ysiadmihi]

So my G-Skill RAM arrived today. Blue screen on Windows startup when using 4-4-4 timings It's nice having more RAM but I'm a little disappointed at the speed.

 

[Hazaro]

So my G-Skill RAM arrived today. Blue screen on Windows startup when using 4-4-4 timings It's nice having more RAM but I'm a little disappointed at the speed.

You act like timings matter.

5-5-5 is stock right?

 

[Ysiadmihi]

You act like timings matter.

5-5-5 is stock right?

Yes, but it was stock on my old RAM as well and lowering it gave me a massive performance increase.

 

[Median]

600W PSU. Will be ideal. Don't go cheap on the PSU though.

What should I be looking to pay for a PSU of that wattage then? Also, what are the suggested brands? I was looking at an OCZ 700W one for $119 minus a $20 rebate at Canada Computers.

 

[brain_stew]

Yes, but it was stock on my old RAM as well and lowering it gave me a massive performance increase.

I find that really, really hard to believe. Every single benchmark I've read flies int he face of that.

Are you running 4 sticks now? Try upping your MCH voltage by one notch, having four sticks puts more stress upon it.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

I find that really, really hard to believe. Every single benchmark I've read flies int he face of that.

Are you running 4 sticks now? Try upping your MCH voltage by one notch, having four sticks puts more stress upon it.

Nope I'm using two. The other two RAM slots on my board are dead or else I'd have 6GB

You don't have to believe me, but it's even posted earlier in this thread that after I lowered my timings I started seeing a huge jump in FPS in my games. I'll try upping the RAM voltage a tiny bit though to see if it helps stability.

 

[Hazaro]

Nope I'm using two. The other two RAM slots on my board are dead or else I'd have 6GB

You don't have to believe me, but it's even posted earlier in this thread that after I lowered my timings I started seeing a huge jump in FPS in my games. I'll try upping the RAM voltage a tiny bit though to see if it helps stability.

Huge jump?
You sure it just didn't go from a 1x to 16x PCI-E bandwidth or something?