Support NeoGAF

[burgerdog]

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2843
Weird, according to that site, an 8400 wolfdale core 2 duo cpu should be compatible. Why won't the stupid lock plate go all the way down after I place the cpu in?

 

[NIghtWolf]

Yep, that card is definitely DOA. The memory is fried. No idea how it could have happened but sometimes DOA cards make it out to customers.

That's the classic checkerboard pattern of a card which someone overclocked the memory too much and it eventually couldn't handle it anymore. In this case someone at the factory should have caught on the card had bad memory during the QA process.

I see, I had bad luck this time. I'm going to contact the seller and see what to do.

Can you describe these patterns more? Is it like, certain textures being stretched and whatnot?

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers?

It doesn't let me to get into windows and if i could get i wouldn't be able to see anything, you saw the video?

Thanks for the help.

 

[K.Jack]

How many passes are needed for Memtest? Just got my RMA from Newegg, So far it has passed 3 times. I run everything at stock 15-5-5-5 @ 1.8v.

/hugs PC

Some say just leave it running over night.:lol

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Some say just leave it running over night.:lol

This or run it for 4+ hours if possible.

Just for reference.... I did the prime95 + memtest on my components for about 6 hours to determine if everything was suitable for my OC. As with anything, it varys, but multiple runs on memtest are a good thing.

 

[Baloonatic]

Looks like my computer is on it's way out again D: This'll be the third Christmas in a row! I think it's the power supply (again). When I try to turn it on first thing in the morning all the lights come on, but no display. Have to try it 3 or 4 times for it to work properly. Same thing that happened two years ago, and that was the power supply.

*Sigh* I don't want to pay to fix this piece of shit again, I HAVE to get a new PC this year. Current rig is like 5 years old, Radeon 9800 and a Pentium IV.

 

[Spayro]

And another stupid question by moi.
What's the difference between the HD 4870 Overclocked edition to the regular one, as I see the regular one costs more?

 

[godhandiscen]

And another stupid question by moi.
What's the difference between the HD 4870 Overclocked edition to the regular one, as I see the regular one costs more?

Link to them. Maybe the OC' edition is a 512 meg one. You need to get the 4870 1GB version.

 

[Spayro]

Link to them. Maybe the OC' edition is a 512 meg one. You need to get the 4870 1GB version.

These are the ones:
http://www.club3d.nl/index.php/products/graphics/item/357

http://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/products/products_overview.php?gpid=250

obviously not ordering from there, but from sites from my country. the OC one costs like 20$ less.
what's the catch?

 

[Baloonatic]

What's the difference between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo? :S

 

[Cday]

What's the difference between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo? :S

Core Duos have 32 bit microarchitecture and Core 2 Duos have 64 bit microarchitecture. Also Core Duos are mostly used in apple computers.

Edit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Core_successor

 

[Baloonatic]

Core Duos have 32 bit microarchitecture and Core 2 Duos have 64 bit microarchitecture. Also Core Duos are mostly used in apple computers.

Edit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Core_successor

Ok, cheers.

Is this:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...95W+G0+Stepping+(Retail+775)+?productId=28356

considered to be a "good" processor? Could I get 30fps out of Crysis with it if I also got an ATI 4850?

I'm so out of the loop on all this stuff D:

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

So it's been a month since I built my PC and today I just decided to use CPUZ and noticed that my ram was not running in dual channel mode because I did not place the sticks into the proper slots. =(

This wouldn't have caused any problems with the hardware, right?

 

[Cday]

Ok, cheers.

Is this:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...95W+G0+Stepping+(Retail+775)+?productId=28356

considered to be a "good" processor? Could I get 30fps out of Crysis with it if I also got an ATI 4850?

I'm so out of the loop on all this stuff D:

It's a good processor at a great price.

However games don't yet take advantage of quads. I'd recommend that you get a good Core 2 Duo now and by the time quads are taken advantage of in most games, you'll be able to get a much better one at around the same price. The i7s may even be within range by then. Although you'd have to get a new motherboard and RAM for an i7.

I'd recommend an E8400
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...uo+E8400+3.0GHz+(Retail+775)+?productId=30243

Also with a mix of very high/high settings. Crysis will run 30 fps with a 4850.

 

[Baloonatic]

It's a good processor at a great price.

However games don't yet take advantage of quads. I'd recommend that you get a good Core 2 Duo now and by the time quads are taken advantage of in most games, you'll be able to get a much better one at around the same price. The i7s may even be within range by then. Although you'd have to get a new motherboard and RAM for an i7.

I'd recommend an E8400
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...uo+E8400+3.0GHz+(Retail+775)+?productId=30243

Also with a mix of very high/high settings. Crysis will run 30 fps with a 4850.

Thanks for the reply

Could you maybe recommend a motherboard and RAM as well please xD I don't even know where to start with motherboards.

 

[bee]

However games don't yet take advantage of quads.

quite a few do, certainly far cry 2 and gta 4 both received huge boosts in frame rates when i switched from dual to quad, theres also a few older ones like ut3, supcom, lost planet etc

 

[Sanjay]

quite a few do, certainly far cry 2 and gta 4 both received huge boosts in frame rates when i switched from dual to quad, theres also a few older ones like ut3, supcom, lost planet etc

What kind of increase in FPS would one get from an E8400 at 3.8ghz going to a quad at the same speed?

 

[godhandiscen]

These are the ones:
http://www.club3d.nl/index.php/products/graphics/item/357

http://www.sapphiretech.com/uk/products/products_overview.php?gpid=250

obviously not ordering from there, but from sites from my country. the OC one costs like 20$ less.
what's the catch?

One is made by an unknown manufacturer (Club) and the other one is made by a crappy well known manufacturer (Sapphire).
Also, that amount of Overclock is something you could do on your own through the Catalyst control panel once you get the card. It all depends on the kind of cooling the card has. For example, the Sapphire card has a different cooling design from the stock ATI design, most likely this cooler is less noisy. My 4870x2 uses the stock design and in order to keep it cool I needed to raise the fan to 50% speed (25% is the default in all ATI cards), and now it is noisy as hell. I would say go for Asus or Visiontek if possible. Between those two you linked I would choose the Sapphire one since I heard they got over their problems with the 38xxx series. However, if Club offers a better warranty choose that. The overclock doesn't matter as I said, you can do it on your own, unless for some weird reason you get a weak chip which cannot OC.

 

[Cday]

Thanks for the reply

Could you maybe recommend a motherboard and RAM as well please xD I don't even know where to start with motherboards.

I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to mobos but you're looking for something like this.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...ICH10+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=33937

If you have Vista64 bit you should get 4gb RAM. Something like this:

(x2)http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...2-8500+HyperX+nVIDIA+(2x1GB)+?productId=33755

fixed the links sorry

 

[brain_stew]

How's this lookin:

Core 2 Duo E7200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052&Tpk=intel e7200

$119.99


BIOSTAR TForce TP43D2A7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138122

$89.99, $69.99 post rebate.


SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

$159.99, $144.99 post rebate.


CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

$54.99, $24.99 post rebate.

Thanks, btw.

You're only getting a 2-3% performance boost at most (and zero in games) from that E7200 over an E5200 once they're both clocked. Save the $50 and go with an E5200 instead.

Avoid that BIOSTAR motherbaord and pick up a Gigabyte P43-DS3L instead.

 

[bee]

What kind of increase in FPS would one get from an E8400 at 3.8ghz going to a quad at the same speed?

couldn't really say, but in the two games i mentioned far cry 2 and gta 4, i was running a e6600@3.6 with all ram timings etc done and now on a q9550 @ stock 2.83ghz, zero settings changed in bios and got a 40% increase in average fps in far cry2 and at times 100% boost in gta4, probably averaging maybe 60% higher framerates

now i know that the newer architecture is faster clock for clock than my old conroe but i would say the tighter ram timings and extra 800mhz more than makes up for that , meaning that its simply the extra cores giving me the massive boost

 

[Nemo]

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_Model.aspx?ProductID=2843
Weird, according to that site, an 8400 wolfdale core 2 duo cpu should be compatible. Why won't the stupid lock plate go all the way down after I place the cpu in?

EXACT same config, exact same question. I thought if I would press hard the thing would break. But you just gotta do it. No sweat afterwards. You can watch some youtube videos if they make you feel comfortable, but it works just fine.

 

[Blizzard]

I may have asked this before, but if I'm using a Gigabyte (something) motherboard and a 4850, when do I have to worry about 4850 temperatures? With 60% fan it gets quite loud, but games like STALKER still make it run up to 72-74C even in the starting room. I've heard the card can survive up to maybe 80 or even 90C, but I'd really rather it stay below 70C to avoid frying the REST of my components, like the motherboard... Oh, and do I need to worry about case temp for the hard disk? My CPU typically stays 36C-50C.

 

[K.Jack]

Have anybody downloaded the Cryostasis Tech demo? I averaged around 22fps on low. God my 8800GTS 320 is really showing its age.

What res do you run on?

800x600 was the default res after I downloaded it, so I ran it on that with the high setting.

 

[JSnake]

I may have asked this before, but if I'm using a Gigabyte (something) motherboard and a 4850, when do I have to worry about 4850 temperatures? With 60% fan it gets quite loud, but games like STALKER still make it run up to 72-74C even in the starting room. I've heard the card can survive up to maybe 80 or even 90C, but I'd really rather it stay below 70C to avoid frying the REST of my components, like the motherboard... Oh, and do I need to worry about case temp for the hard disk? My CPU typically stays 36C-50C.

As a reference HD 4850 owner, this is relevant to my interests.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

fantastic thread. absolutely fantastic.

I just put together the following system the other day:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P [LGA775/Intel P45/ATX]
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 E0
Memory: 4GB (2GB x 2) DDR2 800 RAM from some generic brand called "UMAX".
Hard Drive: Western Digital SATA2 640GB / 32MB Cache / 7200 RPM
Video Card: Radeon HD 4870 512MB (750Mhz clock speed, 3.6Ghz RAM clock speed)
Optical Drive: Some crazy cheap LG drive that can write Blu-Ray / DVD / CD and read Blu-Ray/ HD-DVD / DVD / CD.
Case: A reasonably priced case from a maker called "AQTIS".
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 650W (3 x 12V rails)
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64 Bit DSP

Thanks to the strength of the Yen compared to the Dollar, a lot of stores were having big sales and I was able to get all of the above for around $1000

It was easy to get everything set up and so far it works great. Vista 64 is great and very smooth. I just got Steam downloaded last night and have been working on re-downloading my collection. I have only tried Left 4 Dead so far in terms of games, but it runs amazingly well. I already owned a 24" LG 1920x1200 (10000:1 Contrast Ratio, 5ms Refresh Rate) LCD and I am getting a sick framerate on L4D with everything maxed out at 1900x1200 although I guess that should be expected from a Source Engine game. The real tests will come tonight when I finally get Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead downloaded.

The Gigabyte motherboard is really sweet. It has a ton of BIOS options and comes with some cool overclocking / tweaking tools. The best thing is that this sytem runs really quiet and cool. I checked on the CPU temperature after playing L4D for about 20 minutes and it was at 29C while the system temperature was at 22C. I have never had a computer run this cool. In fact the last piece of junk AMD build I was using had the processor running above 60C at pretty much all times.

So far I am really satisfied. I can't wait to try out some of the recent PC games I have missed from not having a powerful enough computer to run them smoothly. I plan on picking up Dead Space tonight. I also can't wait to try out the Blu-Ray drive. This will be my first chance to play HD video at home and I'm quite excited. I think I might pick up Casino Royale and / or The Dark Knight on my way home as well.

am a jealous bear. very jealous.

 

[Kritz]

I think I'll be upgrading my CPU sometime this year. Possibly I'll upgrade my 512mb 8800GT when something gets cheap enough with a big enough improvement.

My CPU right now is an AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ (3GHz Dual Core)... but I'm considering getting a quad core, although I don't really know what exactly I want to get in that regard. The motherboard's a Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H if anyone wants to help me out.

I scrapped this computer together when I didn't have a job, so I cut some corners on the MB and CPU. Which in hindsight wasn't the best idea. Any advice on the CPU, internets?

 

[Buggy Loop]

Im planning on buying a really nice rig next spring for Arma2 & jumpgate evolution with triple monitors. I'll buy everything i need outside the PC case and its components itself, little by little. Stuffs like mice, keyboard, flight stick hotas, flight pedals, driving wheel, etc, probably gonna end up buying the matrox triplehead + 3x 24" widescreen monitors just a month or so before building the PC, can always use everything i buy including the 3 monitors with my current laptop which is no slouch.

Bought this mouse last week, regular MSRP in canada for it was 94.99$, it was at 59.99$ @ futureshop and i bought the last one in the store and on the last day that rebate was taking place, lucky

Razer lachesis

# 4000dpi Razer Precision 3G Laser™ sensor
# 32KB Razer Synapse™ onboard memory
# Nine independently programmable Hyperesponse™ buttons
# 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
# On-The-Fly Sensitivity™ adjustment
# Variable true dpi setting adjustments in increments of 125dpi
# Always-On™ mode
# Ultra-large non-slip buttons
# 16-bit ultra-wide data path
# 60-100 inches per second
# Ambidextrous design
# Scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions
# Zero-acoustic Ultraslick™ Teflon feet
# Gold-plated USB connecto


I must say, best damn mouse i've ever used, took some adaptation for 4000 dpi but after some portal and TF2 play, i cant turn back

9 programmable buttons, from single key to macros, to general commands like cut/copy/paste/print/save, open explorer, go to desktop, zoom in zoom out, swap window, close window, and media player functions including volume.

You can mess with the X or Y axis sensitivity, meaning you can make turning around ultra fast but looking up or down a tad less, etc, havent messed with that yet.

Also got a razer destructor pad with that baby. Smoooooooootttthhhhhh

Next up on the list will be these

This is what motivated me to return to PC gaming

http://kotaku.com/5064142/a-visit-to-netdevil-hands-on-with-jumpgate-evolution

& http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4AjNRdmMJ0

 

[Kintaro]

So is the Radeon 4870 the new hotness?

 

[K.Jack]

Until the GTX 295?

 

[godhandiscen]

So is the Radeon 4870 the new hotness?

Not new but its been for a while.

Until the GTX 295?

Not even in the same league. The 4870x2 is the one competing against that card.

 

[McBacon]

So my power supply broke. Sort of, it took like three attempts for my computer to start (like revving a petrol mower), and I replaced it with a spare one, and the PC is fine.

But now my mouse and keyboard only work intermittently, and sometimes my headphones will only play out of one ear, but testing on my Zune lets me know they're fine. I guess its because I went from 600W to 400W

Is there a website where I can put in my compontents and it tells me what wattage I need?

Edit: the internet is full of Power Supply Calculators! Nevermind!

 

[Baloonatic]

So my power supply broke. Sort of, it took like three attempts for my computer to start (like revving a petrol mower), and I replaced it with a spare one, and the PC is fine.

But now my mouse and keyboard only work intermittently, and sometimes my headphones will only play out of one ear, but testing on my Zune lets me know they're fine. I guess its because I went from 600W to 400W

Is there a website where I can put in my compontents and it tells me what wattage I need?

Edit: the internet is full of Power Supply Calculators! Nevermind!

That's exactly what's happening to me at the moment Gonna have to buy a new one soon. I'm too scared to turn it off at the moment...

 

[McBacon]

Yeah, that noise it makes is just like "this cannot be good for my very expensive graphics card or my data-filled hard drives".

So I've got 470W of compontents on a 400W power supply. I need to change this, soon!!

 

[Baloonatic]

Yeah, that noise it makes is just like "this cannot be good for my very expensive graphics card or my data-filled hard drives".

So I've got 470W of compontents on a 400W power supply. I need to change this, soon!!

My graphics card and processor were only "high-end" about 5 years ago, and I only got a new power supply 2 years ago... I wonder why they keep dying

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, that noise it makes is just like "this cannot be good for my very expensive graphics card or my data-filled hard drives".

So I've got 470W of compontents on a 400W power supply. I need to change this, soon!!

Brand/Model?
400w should be fine unless you are running dual cards.
A good 400w anyway...

What was your old PSU?

When your PSU died it also could of harmed some of your other components.
-Does the mouse/KB work fine on another computer?

 

[burgerdog]

So I was able to put together my new rig and I'm surprised at how little of a boost I got over my 2001 computer which had some asus p5 something, x850 pro, p4, and 2gigs of ram. This upgraded rig has a gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3, 4850, 8400 dual core cpu, and 4gb of ram on vista. Crysis at 1280x720 was running at around 20fps with everything on high(that's what the game chooses when I select optimal performance). Stalker ran at 25-30fps at some weird 4:3 resolution on high as well, for some reason I couldn't select a widescreen resolution. Most disappointing of all is that Wrath of the Lich King still runs at sub 30 in a lot of areas, the game runs at 15fps in Dalaran, joined a raid and it was 15-20fps. I was seriously thinking that this machine would eat up wow, but sadly it doesn't and it was the main reason that I upgraded. Any tips or is that exactly how my machine should run those games?

 

[godhandiscen]

So I was able to put together my new rig and I'm surprised at how little of a boost I got over my 2001 computer which had some asus p5 something, x850 pro, p4, and 2gigs of ram. This upgraded rig has a gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3, 4850, 8400 dual core cpu, and 4gb of ram on vista. Crysis at 1280x720 was running at around 20fps with everything on high(that's what the game chooses when I select optimal performance). Stalker ran at 25-30fps at some weird 4:3 resolution on high as well, for some reason I couldn't select a widescreen resolution. Most disappointing of all is that Wrath of the Lich King still runs at sub 30 in a lot of areas, the game runs at 15fps in Dalaran, joined a raid and it was 15-20fps. I was seriously thinking that this machine would eat up wow, but sadly it doesn't and it was the main reason that I upgraded. Any tips or is that exactly how my machine should run those games?

Your performance on Crysis is what you should be getting. Try patching the game and running a configuration. I am not able to tell you whats wrong with Stalker since I don't have the game, but with I am pretty sure that you are experiencing some glitch with WoW (I've heard of it before). Go to the game.amd.com forums and see whats up.

 

[SarBear]

So, I need to purchase a Wireless adapter for a lady friend (xmas gift), but I don't know much about these things. She's got a desktop, and her apartment has free wireless.

I want something cheap, but not shoddy. I'm just not looking to spend an arm and a leg over something that can get the same results, accessing the internet.

Any insight on which one I should get from Newegg?

 

[Deleted member 30609]

What's the best choice of OS for gaming?

I'm thinking of going with XP Pro, and then just upgrading when Windows 7 is released.

 

[Blizzard]

What's the best choice of OS for gaming?

I'm thinking of going with XP Pro, and then just upgrading when Windows 7 is released.

The D-numbers guy will push Vista at you viciously, suggesting that anyone who dares disagree is stupid and misinformed. (He was nowhere when I needed him to explain how to do advanced search functionality in Vista...)

Vista 64-bit actually isn't too bad, though. I have an e8400 at 3.0 GHz, 4GB RAM, and a stock 4850. It's not the best machine in the world, but it handles most things pretty well. Even an older HP printer/scanner was autodetected and works fine, so I don't think I've had any problems with drivers. I also don't think I've had a bluescreen crash yet, and my friend had one...or actually, I might have had a couple of possibly webcam-related crashes, but that might have been my older computer, I can't remember.

If Windows 7 is coming out next year and you're waiting, you can always do that, but my guess is that there will be some early issues they'll have to iron out like always.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

The D-numbers guy will push Vista at you viciously, suggesting that anyone who dares disagree is stupid and misinformed. (He was nowhere when I needed him to explain how to do advanced search functionality in Vista...)

Vista 64-bit actually isn't too bad, though. I have an e8400 at 3.0 GHz, 4GB RAM, and a stock 4850. It's not the best machine in the world, but it handles most things pretty well. Even an older HP printer/scanner was autodetected and works fine, so I don't think I've had any problems with drivers. I also don't think I've had a bluescreen crash yet, and my friend had one...or actually, I might have had a couple of possibly webcam-related crashes, but that might have been my older computer, I can't remember.

If Windows 7 is coming out next year and you're waiting, you can always do that, but my guess is that there will be some early issues they'll have to iron out like always.

I've heard a lot of horror stories when it comes to drivers and such as far as the 64-bit version of Vista goes. I think I might just go with XP, unless anyone else can convince me otherwise. And by all means, feel free.

 

[zoku88]

I've heard a lot of horror stories when it comes to drivers and such as far as the 64-bit version of Vista goes. I think I might just go with XP, unless anyone else can convince me otherwise. And by all means, feel free.

Uhm.. they're all mostly untrue?


Not much else to say...unless, for some reason, you have some really old hardware.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Uhm.. they're all mostly untrue?


Not much else to say...unless, for some reason, you have some really old hardware.

Mmm... okay.

I guess what I'm looking for here is whether or not there are any significant benefits of going with Vista as far as gaming is concerned. Likewis with XP. I know I could research this myself, but I'd appreciate any help anyone can give.

 

[Blizzard]

I've heard a lot of horror stories when it comes to drivers and such as far as the 64-bit version of Vista goes. I think I might just go with XP, unless anyone else can convince me otherwise. And by all means, feel free.

I'm not going to be the person to convince you. Like I said, that other guy will try to do so if he sees your post. And I wouldn't say the horror stories are untrue -- I don't think lots of Windows users would band together in a big conspiracy to all lie about drivers. What I would say is that the lack of driver support that Vista may have had early on is hopefully mostly gone (XP 64-bit also has questionable driver support, or so I've heard).

Or, if you're buying new hardware from the last year or two, you're probably fine. One note of annoyance for me was that I discovered the Nintendo USB wi-fi adapter doesn't work on Vista. Apparently the company that made it got shutdown or something, and thus can't make a new driver, so I have to switch to XP if I want to use a Wii or DS online, until I finally take the trouble to buy a wireless router just for those two systems...

And again, unless Microsoft is very clever with Windows 7, I don't see how there will be LESS driver problems for a brand new release than for Vista or XP which have been out for a while.

*edit*

As for benefits, DX10 doesn't support XP. Then again, some games that support DX10 work a lot better just using DX9 options (Crysis Warhead was this way unless they made some updates that I don't know about). DX10 has some fancy lighting stuff and maybe other features. For performance, 64-bit is nice but whatever game you're interested in may not support 64-bit. For lack of bloat, XP uses a lot fewer resources than Vista, but I'd GUESS you would get similar performance to XP as long as you have the extra RAM, processor, video card, and disk space to support Vista.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I'm not going to be the person to convince you. Like I said, that other guy will try to do so if he sees your post. And I wouldn't say the horror stories are untrue -- I don't think lots of Windows users would band together in a big conspiracy to all lie about drivers. What I would say is that the lack of driver support that Vista may have had early on is hopefully mostly gone (XP 64-bit also has questionable driver support, or so I've heard).

Or, if you're buying new hardware from the last year or two, you're probably fine. One note of annoyance for me was that I discovered the Nintendo USB wi-fi adapter doesn't work on Vista. Apparently the company that made it got shutdown or something, and thus can't make a new driver, so I have to switch to XP if I want to use a Wii or DS online, until I finally take the trouble to buy a wireless router just for those two systems...

And again, unless Microsoft is very clever with Windows 7, I don't see how there will be LESS driver problems for a brand new release than for Vista or XP which have been out for a while.

*edit*

As for benefits, DX10 doesn't support XP. Then again, some games that support DX10 work a lot better just using DX9 options (Crysis Warhead was this way unless they made some updates that I don't know about). DX10 has some fancy lighting stuff and maybe other features. For performance, 64-bit is nice but whatever game you're interested in may not support 64-bit. For lack of bloat, XP uses a lot fewer resources than Vista, but I'd GUESS you would get similar performance to XP as long as you have the extra RAM, processor, video card, and disk space to support Vista.

Okay, thanks man.

 

[mr stroke]

GPU Roadmap

Rumors of the 5870x2 being stacked 40nm chips. Holy shit.
I love the insane things these people make. It's all incredible.

little confused here. so from the looks of that ATI will be doing a 58x series of cards in Q1/Q2 of 09? then an entire new card again in Q4(6870?)

and it looks like NVIDIA is waiting until Q4 to release the 380 series?(if so what is the GT212? just a refresh of the current 280's?)

 

[UltimaPooh]

I was told to wait... to see the new prices of old hardware this Q1... But I just want to see what options I have ahead of time.

Just a reminder...

I will use the computer mostly for video editing, stuff like avid, after effects, some photoshop, etc. and I'll be using it to play source based games mostly (I love Valve.) They don't need to look hot, I just want them to be functional without an hiccups.

I care more about the video editing side of things than the gaming side of things. So if I have sto sacrifice gaming for video... I choose video.

What do you guys recommend?

 

[ElyrionX]

Wow. Great work on the OP. This will definitely come in handy for me since I'm planning on building a brand new rig in 2009.

 

[zoku88]

Mmm... okay.

I guess what I'm looking for here is whether or not there are any significant benefits of going with Vista as far as gaming is concerned. Likewis with XP. I know I could research this myself, but I'd appreciate any help anyone can give.

As far as gaming goes, any recent rig would probably perform about the same in either configuration. Like, the different is like 1 or 2 fps usually, as seen in benchmarks. Gaming shouldn't really be the decided factor between the two, at least thats what I think.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

As far as gaming goes, any recent rig would probably perform about the same in either configuration. Like, the different is like 1 or 2 fps usually, as seen in benchmarks. Gaming shouldn't really be the decided factor between the two, at least thats what I think.

Good. That's what I wanted to hear.

Thanks.