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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition

D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Gaf!


I got a Sony laptop as a gift.

sony-vaio-aw-series-laptop-2.jpg


Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Processor: 2.66GHz
Screen Size : 18.4"6
Hard Drive: 1TB (500GBx2 @ 4200RPM)
Camera : Built-in 1.3 MP MOTION EYE® camera and microphone with face-tracking technology
Optical Drive: BD-RW / DVD-RW / CD-RW
Memory: 4GB DDR2
GPU: nVidia 9600M GT (512MB)
Security : Biometric Fingerprint Sensor


I know something more powerful could have been bought with the price, but does it suck? should I take it back and try to get something else?

(sidenote: the raid 0 on the HDD moves hella fast. access time is slow, but average write speed is about 30% faster than anyone's 7200rpm hdd.)
 
M

madmook

Member
Specs are alright... the thing must be massive, though, right? Are the hdds really 4200rpm? They're more than likely 5400's. The 9600m gt is holding the whole package back somewhat, but that'll only matter if you plan on gaming with it.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
madmook said:
Specs are alright... the thing must be massive, though, right? Are the hdds really 4200rpm? They're more than likely 5400's. The 9600m gt is holding the whole package back somewhat, but that'll only matter if you plan on gaming with it.
Click to expand...
it's pretty wide. pure 16:9 setup...about 9 pounds.

StarCraft 2, Sins of A Solar Empire, The Orange Box.

all I can think of for now?
 
M

madmook

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
it's pretty wide. pure 16:9 setup...about 9 pounds.

StarCraft 2, Sins of A Solar Empire, The Orange Box.

all I can think of for now?
Click to expand...
I don't have personal experience with the 9600m gt, but going by user reports/opinions I've read, those games should run fine. Even SC2, whenever it comes out. Just maybe not at that native res with aa/af and settings maxed, but at least well enough to enjoy.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
madmook said:
I don't have personal experience with the 9600m gt, but going by user reports/opinions I've read, those games should run fine. Even SC2, whenever it comes out. Just maybe not at that native res with aa/af and settings maxed, but at least well enough to enjoy.
Click to expand...
that's what I'm thinking.

I'm just trying to rationalize why I shouldn't dump it entirely, get the cash, and pick up one of those homely (but uber) Sager laptops with the 9800M GTX card.

Idunno man. It's a laptop, you know? I feel like as long as it runs the staple games, movies, Adobe Creative Suite and my programming apps, I'm okay. I'll leave the uber games to a desktop or gaming console and maybe call it a day.

I feel like I've been stuck in a state of paralysis of analysis. Holding onto an unopened laptop box for going on 3 days, pondering the pros and cons.

I could damn near get that Gateway gaming laptop and a 46" XBR6 television for what they paid for this laptop. I feel guilty. Sigh.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Dreams-Visions said:
that's what I'm thinking.

I'm just trying to rationalize why I shouldn't dump it entirely, get the cash, and pick up one of those homely (but uber) Sager laptops with the 9800M GTX card.

Idunno man. It's a laptop, you know? I feel like as long as it runs the staple games, movies, Adobe Creative Suite and my programming apps, I'm okay. I'll leave the uber games to a desktop or gaming console and maybe call it a day.

I feel like I've been stuck in a state of paralysis of analysis. Holding onto an unopened laptop box for going on 3 days, pondering the pros and cons.

I could damn near get that Gateway gaming laptop and a 46" XBR6 television for what they paid for this laptop. I feel guilty. Sigh.
Click to expand...

If you're dumping it and getting another laptop to play games on it, should you be waiting for ATI's mobile cards due out in like a month since they are going to be significantly cheaper and faster?
 
IlludiumQ36

IlludiumQ36

Member
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Dreams-Visions said:
that's what I'm thinking.

I'm just trying to rationalize why I shouldn't dump it entirely, get the cash, and pick up one of those homely (but uber) Sager laptops with the 9800M GTX card.

Idunno man. It's a laptop, you know? I feel like as long as it runs the staple games, movies, Adobe Creative Suite and my programming apps, I'm okay. I'll leave the uber games to a desktop or gaming console and maybe call it a day.

I feel like I've been stuck in a state of paralysis of analysis. Holding onto an unopened laptop box for going on 3 days, pondering the pros and cons.

I could damn near get that Gateway gaming laptop and a 46" XBR6 television for what they paid for this laptop. I feel guilty. Sigh.
Click to expand...
Wow, less than they spent on that, you could have the Sager 5797 with a 2.53Ghz QX9300 and the new GTX 280M (desktop 9800 GTX+) or Mobility 4870 (cards will be supported in the 5797 by the end of March/early April).
Minsc said:
Great, how is it I haven't seen a ton of benches posted comparing the mobile 4870 X2 against nVidia's mobile cards?
Click to expand...

The "real" mobile 4870, which will use GDDR5, isn't out yet. The mobile 4850 has been benched against Nvidia's highest current mobile chips, and it surpasses them. It's right about the performance of the desktop 4830.

ATi has also announced the mobile 4860, which is 40nm, 128-bit w/ GDDR5 on a 650MHz core.

The most important aspects of these ATi mobile chips is how cheap they are.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
K.Jack said:
Wow, less than they spent on that, you could have the Sager 5797 with a 2.53Ghz QX9300 and the new GTX 280M (desktop 9800 GTX+) or Mobility 4870 (cards will be supported in the 5797 by the end of March/early April).


The "real" mobile 4870, which will use GDDR5, isn't out yet. The mobile 4850 has been benched against Nvidia's highest current mobile chips, and it surpasses them. It's right about the performance of the desktop 4830.

ATi has also announced the mobile 4860, which is 40nm, 128-bit w/ GDDR5 on a 650MHz core.

The most important aspects of these ATi mobile chips is how cheap they are.
Click to expand...
If I had until April to wait, yea probably. though right now that 5797 with a QX9300 is MUCH more expensive than this Sony.

IlludiumQ36 said:
They're out now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152103

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152102

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220503 (out of stock at the moment)
Click to expand...

that Asus is sweet, but waaaaaaay too heavy (12lbs!)

I might go with the MSI in the second link. Something to think about!
 
LowParry

LowParry

Member
Anyone familiar with Phenom II 940's? The stock fan that comes with it. I see the square area below it that's white/gray. Is that already pre thermal pasted or just the marker of where to place the sink over the CPU?
 
A

AndresON777

shooting blanks
Any recommendations for a cheap laptop?

less than 500 preferrably, I just want to surf the net and perhaps mess around with photoshop
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
CcrooK said:
Anyone familiar with Phenom II 940's? The stock fan that comes with it. I see the square area below it that's white/gray. Is that already pre thermal pasted or just the marker of where to place the sink over the CPU?
Click to expand...

Not familiar with it, but typically stock fans from AMD/Intel come with a pre-applied thermal paste or tape square that's ready to go once you pull off the protective film. It's supposedly not nearly as effective as putting on Arctic Silver or whatnot, but it's easy.

Of course, if you put it on without removing the film, or if it doesn't have film and you think it does...-_-
 
O

Open Source

Banned
ChrisGoldstein said:
Any recommendations for a cheap laptop?

less than 500 preferrably, I just want to surf the net and perhaps mess around with photoshop
Click to expand...

Watch slickdeals.net and pick up one of the laptops that pops up on the front page every few days. Usually it's a Dell.
 
LowParry

LowParry

Member
Crazymoogle said:
Not familiar with it, but typically stock fans from AMD/Intel come with a pre-applied thermal paste or tape square that's ready to go once you pull off the protective film. It's supposedly not nearly as effective as putting on Arctic Silver or whatnot, but it's easy.

Of course, if you put it on without removing the film, or if it doesn't have film and you think it does...-_-
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a tape like square. I have Arctic Silver paste now. It just best to scratch off the pre thermal paste and put my own on then?
 
M

madmook

Member
Liquid_Bike said:
I love mine, but I'm never happy with my cable management but thats not the cases fault.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Liquid_Bike/pcguts.jpg/IMG][/QUOTE]
Five hard drives?
Click to expand...
 
O

Open Source

Banned
ahoyhoy said:
I have a question: would I be able to Crossfire two of these on this power supply?
Click to expand...

Yes, as long as you don't need more than 2 molex connectors for other things (optical drives, PATA hard drives, etc.). It has enough PCI-E connectors to power one card, so you will have to use the molex to pci-e adapters that come with the cards to provide the 2 connections for the other card. A power supply with 4 pci-e connectors would be better but not necessary.
 
L

Liquid_Bike

Member
CcrooK said:
The PSU is at the bottom? That's whacked.
Click to expand...

Its more efficient when located at the bottom, there is a vent on the bottom of the case for intake and then the warm air is sent the rear exhaust like a standard case. Essentially the psu's air supply is entirely separate from the main case, assuming the intake faces the proper direction.


madmook said:
Five hard drives?
Click to expand...

Plus one external :lol
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
Ok, I got my XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition and installed it on my old AMD 4000 2.4ghz processor and I dunno, it seems pretty solid. It's taking every game I try with max everything 4x AA/16AF and seems pretty close to 60fps.

On Crysis at medium with 2x AA it seems close to 40-60fps. At everything on high EXCEPT object/texture with 2x AA it's probably around 20-30fps and playable. I haven't tried putting objects up to high yet. When I put texture on high it...doesn't load the textures. :\ Do you need a 1gig videoram card to play Crysis with textures on high?

I'll still probably upgrade the processor/motherboard, but I think I need to upgrade to a new monitor to take advantage of the card. Right now I'm either outputting 1152x648 on my hdtv or 1280x1024 on my old LCD monitor. I might go get a 1680x1050 monitor to game on instead.
 
L

Luthair

Member
Hey guys, I was thinking of getting a Macbook and was wondering whats the overall opinion on these things? I was just gonna get the smaller 999.99 (US) one with the white shell and the basic specs. I dont need a gaming beast, but I was something to help me at skool. Any Suggestions?
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
CcrooK said:
Yeah, it's a tape like square. I have Arctic Silver paste now. It just best to scratch off the pre thermal paste and put my own on then?
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you want to apply your own, you need to remove whatever compound is already on there. May want to use some sort of sandpaper after if you scuff it too much though.

Arctic Silver is definitely better, but it all depends how much you want to deal with setting your own paste as opposed to using whatever Intel/AMD judged was fine.
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
Open Source said:
Yes, as long as you don't need more than 2 molex connectors for other things (optical drives, PATA hard drives, etc.). It has enough PCI-E connectors to power one card, so you will have to use the molex to pci-e adapters that come with the cards to provide the 2 connections for the other card. A power supply with 4 pci-e connectors would be better but not necessary.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? It looked like it had 4x6pin in one of the photos, but admittedly it was hard to tell. You'd think a crossfire certified supply would need to roll with either 4x6pin or 2x6pin+2x8pin to feasibly work...
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
What's a good freeware program for checking your cpu/gpu temp?

My new power supply was HUGE in terms of the cables and I can't close the side door now because there just isn't room to fit all the extra power cables (there must be like 20 connectors attached to this 750w supply). I'm not overclocking anything, but I want to be safe and see how hot things are running.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Luthair said:
Hey guys, I was thinking of getting a Macbook and was wondering whats the overall opinion on these things? I was just gonna get the smaller 999.99 (US) one with the white shell and the basic specs. I dont need a gaming beast, but I was something to help me at skool. Any Suggestions?
Click to expand...

The white Macbook is pretty horrible value. If you want to do any gaming at all go with the aluminum Macbook, whilst its certainly not a gaming machine you'll be surprised at the number of modern games it'll run fairly well. Regardless of your gaming ambitions, the aluminum Macbok is just an altogether much better machine, it really is a great bit of kit and well worth the upgrade over the old plastic models.

Find someone that can get a student discount through the Apple site and go that way. You save nigh on 20% by doing that in the UK so I'm sure the US has similar savings.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Bebpo said:
Thanks. What's the max temperature you don't want to go beyond?

My stuff is in the low 50s.
Click to expand...

CPU - 60c load
GPU - 90c load (Preferred lower, I'd keep it under 65c load if possible, but it can withstand higher)
 
C

CurlySaysX

Banned
Hardware monitor is really good as it records the highest temps and lowest.
So if you play some full screen game you can check what max temperatures your pc parts reached after you've finished playin'
 
P

Poimandres

Member
Okay, I'm perilously close to buying a new computer.

I live in Australia, and have no inclination for building my own comp (which I know is the most cost effective way to go).

I'm checking out these two:

http://www.gocomp.com.au/index.php?cpath=productinfo&pid=II01821&catpath=0_1_36

http://www.ticomputers.com.au/pdtDetailList.asp?grp=pdt&pdtid=TIW0035

What do you guys think? They are around the same price, but I'm not sure which would provide better performance. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
 
S

SRG01

Member
Luthair said:
Hey guys, I was thinking of getting a Macbook and was wondering whats the overall opinion on these things? I was just gonna get the smaller 999.99 (US) one with the white shell and the basic specs. I dont need a gaming beast, but I was something to help me at skool. Any Suggestions?
Click to expand...

For the love of God, why would you need a MacBook if you're just going to be doing school stuff? Pick an OS for its strengths, and unless you're doing a lot of productivity/art stuff on your notebook, pick a cheap windows or linux machine.

I'm still wondering if Dell will release a Linux version of the Dell Minis.
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
Thanks for the help guys. I already own the PS, so I was just wondering if it would work or not. I'll probably order up one next week.
 
C

Chris R

Member
Ok I need some help here. I bought a Mac Mini, but I'm trying to find a decent price on 4GB of DDR3 SODIMM 1066. Cheapest I've found is 71$ shipped (to Alaska, so thats 20$ in shipping) from Newegg, but maybe someone else knows of a better site? Or maybe I'll just have to ship the memory to my Uncle in Arizona and have him mail it to me in a padded envelope to save 20$ on shipping :lol
 
S

SRG01

Member
rhfb said:
Ok I need some help here. I bought a Mac Mini, but I'm trying to find a decent price on 4GB of DDR3 SODIMM 1066. Cheapest I've found is 71$ shipped (to Alaska, so thats 20$ in shipping) from Newegg, but maybe someone else knows of a better site? Or maybe I'll just have to ship the memory to my Uncle in Arizona and have him mail it to me in a padded envelope to save 20$ on shipping :lol
Click to expand...

Did you use a RAM checker (ie. Crucial or Kingston) to make sure that it'll work with the Mini? They're usually pretty finicky about the type of RAM they use...
 
I

itxaka

Defeatist
Dreams-Visions said:
it's pretty wide. pure 16:9 setup...about 9 pounds.

StarCraft 2, Sins of A Solar Empire, The Orange Box.

all I can think of for now?
Click to expand...


Just to let you know, my recent laptop has a 9300m gs and runs Team fortress 2 (I guess the source engine is the same for all the games) pretty decent at 1366x768 with almost everything up (I put everything at low on online fps...quake legacy I guess) and Sins of a Solar empire runs perfectly awesomely.

So don't worry.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
ahoyhoy said:
Thanks for the help guys. I already own the PS, so I was just wondering if it would work or not. I'll probably order up one next week.
Click to expand...

If you've already got it then I'd just go ahead and use it. Sure you may have to use molex converters but I'd be VERY surprised if it didn't work. That Antec has every built in safety feature under the sun so you've got no risk of frying your componenets, so you've got nothing to lose by trying it. No need to spend an extra $100 when the kit you've got can do the job already.

As for the setup, I'd recommend giving each GPU a dedicated PCIe six pin (becasue in actual fact the 4870 very rarely draws more than this anyway) then use the supplied molex connectors for the other sockets. This should best distrbute the 12V power between your components.


SRG01 said:
For the love of God, why would you need a MacBook if you're just going to be doing school stuff? Pick an OS for its strengths, and unless you're doing a lot of productivity/art stuff on your notebook, pick a cheap windows or linux machine.

I'm still wondering if Dell will release a Linux version of the Dell Minis.
Click to expand...

Honestly the aluminium Macbook is really a fine laptop, the form factor, design, build quality and surprisingly decent game performance is really hard to beat. Sure you pay a price premium but if you can get the very healthy student discount then most of that is wiped out anyway. I've not seen any Windows laptops that can match in terms of the overall package if you want a high quality, portable and powerful machine.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
gamerecks said:
If you are gonna go for a triple core, get the 720, its multiplier is unlocked.
Click to expand...

Is the 720 faster than the Intel 8500?

I don't overclock, I just run stock and those two are basically the same price.
 
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