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

J

JoseDFrog

Banned
Hazaro said:
Represent

eVGA GTX 260 (Non-216) is $160 AR

XFX 216 for a little less and free flash drive. Double Lifetime warranty helps resale value.
Unsure about MIR, but it's probably good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329
Click to expand...

Nice, my gf is getting me the card so i'm trying to keep it under $200 so that works well. Another questions, should i connect through vga or hdmi? I'm going to sleep i'll see the replies in the morning
 
V

Varna

Member
JoseDFrog said:
Nice, my gf is getting me the card so i'm trying to keep it under $200 so that works well. Another questions, should i connect through vga or hdmi? I'm going to sleep i'll see the replies in the morning
Click to expand...

I don't see any benefit in HDMI unless your monitor has speakers.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Varna said:
I don't see any benefit in HDMI unless your monitor has speakers.
Click to expand...

And the fact it'll give a much better picture than VGA?? Oh, and no HDCP nastiness either. This is of course assuming your TV 1:1 maps its HDMI input at 1360x768. If it doesn't VGA might be the better option.
 
V

Varna

Member
brain_stew said:
And the fact it'll give a much better picture than VGA?? Oh, and no HDCP nastiness either. This is of course assuming your TV 1:1 maps its HDMI input at 1360x768. If it doesn't VGA might be the better option.
Click to expand...

Oh right. I can't tell the difference to bet honest though. I suppose it would be most apparent in 1080p+ resolutions.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
hey guys whats the best way to control my fans? i have 2 exhaust fans connected to the chassis fan port on my mobo, and an optional intake fan connected to the psu fan port, as well as the GPU/CPU fans of course. ive been using the asus 4-engine thing but its so sucky. there must be gamer-certified fan controlling programs out there.
 
I

Irulan

Neo Member
Ashhong said:
hey guys whats the best way to control my fans? i have 2 exhaust fans connected to the chassis fan port on my mobo, and an optional intake fan connected to the psu fan port, as well as the GPU/CPU fans of course. ive been using the asus 4-engine thing but its so sucky. there must be gamer-certified fan controlling programs out there.
Click to expand...

Tried speedfan?
 
H

Hitmeneer

Member
Bebpo said:
Tell me about the Intel Core i7 920. It's only about $80-100 more than the Core Duo 8500 and the Phenom X4 920 and I hear the i7 are the next tier of cpus. But then the i7 940 is like twice the price at $550.

I'd like to buy a good enough cpu/motherboard/ram that in 3 years I can just spend $150-200 on a 3d card 4x more powerful than my current and be DONE and up to date to play Crysis 2 or whatever. I don't want to have to buy videocard + cpu + motherboard + ram all over again in 3 years.

Would getting the cheap i7 920 be futureproofing pretty well? Or should I wait for the 940s to drop to affordable levels if I want to future proof for 3-4 years?
Click to expand...

The new Phenom's II's are also beasts and can compete with the i7, especially because the motherboards, the ram and the CPU it self is a lot cheaper. Personally I would choose for the Phenom's II (you also have the opportunity to upgrade easier, due to the more stable socket policy of AMD).
 
B

blanky

Member
I'm thinking of upgrading my ldc, I saw this Acer X243HQ for a nice price of 180 euros. However, the 5ms has me worried, will it be an issue? I'm using it for my 360 as well. Is it worth the trouble or just let it pass?
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Ashhong said:
hey guys whats the best way to control my fans? i have 2 exhaust fans connected to the chassis fan port on my mobo, and an optional intake fan connected to the psu fan port, as well as the GPU/CPU fans of course. ive been using the asus 4-engine thing but its so sucky. there must be gamer-certified fan controlling programs out there.
Click to expand...

Nothing is a substitute for a dedicated hardware fan controller. I use an "Akasa Fan Control Jr." which can be had for less than $10, fits in your floppy drive bay and lets you manually control three case fans. If you need more then look at something that fits in one of your 5.25" bays.
 
M

Median

Member
brain_stew said:
Nothing is a substitute for a dedicated hardware fan controller. I use an "Akasa Fan Control Jr." which can be had for less than $10, fits in your floppy drive bay and lets you manually control three case fans. If you need more then look at something that fits in one of your 5.25" bays.
Click to expand...

Do you happen to have a link to where can I find one of these online?
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Median said:
Do you happen to have a link to where can I find one of these online?
Click to expand...

Well I'm in the UK so I bought mine from ebuyer.com, after a quick look it doesn't seem to be on sale in the US, but you have plenty of other low cost options on Newegg anyway:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000090011&bop=And&Order=PRICE


Edit: Even better, here's a 3.5" no frills version for $8.50 delivered with 4 controllers:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9264

I've had plenty of good dealings with Deal Extreme in the past, and you can pay via Paypal.

Reading the comments be sure to specify whether you want a black or silver one (if this matters to you) by sending the customer service an email.

Edit 2: Oops that one is out of stock, their 2 knob version which is even cheaper is still in stock though:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9263
 
M

Metalic Sand

who is Emo-Beas?
blanky said:
I'm thinking of upgrading my ldc, I saw this Acer X243HQ for a nice price of 180 euros. However, the 5ms has me worried, will it be an issue? I'm using it for my 360 as well. Is it worth the trouble or just let it pass?
Click to expand...


Perfectly fine. even 8ms will work.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
brain_stew said:
Well I'm in the UK so I bought mine from ebuyer.com, after a quick look it doesn't seem to be on sale in the US, but you have plenty of other low cost options on Newegg anyway:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000090011&bop=And&Order=PRICE


Edit: Even better, here's a 3.5" no frills version for $8.50 delivered with 4 controllers:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9264

I've had plenty of good dealings with Deal Extreme in the past, and you can pay via Paypal.

Reading the comments be sure to specify whether you want a black or silver one (if this matters to you) by sending the customer service an email.

Edit 2: Oops that one is out of stock, their 2 knob version which is even cheaper is still in stock though:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.9263
Click to expand...

interesting. my friend actually gave me one but it uses switches and dont like it. if there any way to combine the hardware controller with software? i really like the fact that the fans adjust to the temperature on the inside. i dont really know what temps are the best and things like that so i like having the PC do it for me.

also, not 100% sure how the fans connect to it. in the video one of the plugs were connected to something else? i just dont want something like my current one where i have to cut the wires and directly connect it to the switches

also what do u guys think of this card? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18947 i need a new wireless card for cheap, found an airlink one at frys for 16 bucks, but this one has bluetooth...only 4 bucks more
 
Korranator

Korranator

Member
VictimOfGrief said:
Cool Master 690. Really really well designed case. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I just put everything together this weekend and I really love all the extra room the case has. Although, the stock 120mm fan is really noisy, it's an easy fix.


..........and Sound Card suggestion for those looking to get away from Creative Labs like I did, the HT Omegas are amazing cards. I now have a built in Headphone amp, Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, and DTS support. No more crappy drivers, or retarded Cmss 3D.

http://www.htomega.com/clarohalo.html
 
G

Google

Member
Guys,

A couple of questions:

1. I'm going to be upgrading my motherboard, but keeping my hard drives. Will I be able to keep my Vista install, or is it going to spaz out on me once it realises I have a new motherboard? I'm waiting on delivery of the MOBO, but once it arrives, am I going to shit out of luck, because I haven't spent $125 on a new copy of Windows?

2. I upgraded my processor, and didn't realise that the processor box also contained a heat sink. I also purchased (a fucking huge) heat sink, as I didn't realise. Is it worth me returning that and just using the one included with the processor? I'm not going to be overclocking or anything.

Cheers,
 
T

Tideas

Banned
Google said:
Guys,

A couple of questions:

1. I'm going to be upgrading my motherboard, but keeping my hard drives. Will I be able to keep my Vista install, or is it going to spaz out on me once it realises I have a new motherboard? I'm waiting on delivery of the MOBO, but once it arrives, am I going to shit out of luck, because I haven't spent $125 on a new copy of Windows?

2. I upgraded my processor, and didn't realise that the processor box also contained a heat sink. I also purchased (a fucking huge) heat sink, as I didn't realise. Is it worth me returning that and just using the one included with the processor? I'm not going to be overclocking or anything.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

box heat sink is good enough for a CPU if u're not overclocking. dunno about #1 though
 
bee

bee

Member
Google said:
Guys,

A couple of questions:

1. I'm going to be upgrading my motherboard, but keeping my hard drives. Will I be able to keep my Vista install, or is it going to spaz out on me once it realises I have a new motherboard? I'm waiting on delivery of the MOBO, but once it arrives, am I going to shit out of luck, because I haven't spent $125 on a new copy of Windows?
Click to expand...

it won't work, you should really partition your hardrive and make a windows partition thats easily formatted, then you can keep the rest. a lot of games/apps dont need a reg entry to work so you can just keep them for years by transferring them from drive to drive or whatever
 
M

Metalic Sand

who is Emo-Beas?
So my friends OS disc is scratched to hell. I only really need one reply.

Does the Boiling water or toothpaste CD fix work? The CD is unreadable so yea... lol
 
G

Google

Member
bee said:
it won't work, you should really partition your hardrive and make a windows partition thats easily formatted, then you can keep the rest. a lot of games/apps dont need a reg entry to work so you can just keep them for years by transferring them from drive to drive or whatever
Click to expand...

Yeah, it has a windows partition - I just dont like the idea of having to spend $125+ on another copy of vista, simply because I had some hardware failure.
 
K

kuYuri

Member
So I finally got a new gaming PC, lots of thanks to my friend for recommending the parts and building it for me.

I'm going to be lttp on a bunch of the more recent PC games. I'll take a pic of the desktop later on.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Hazaro said:
**If you want double the GPU performance (and a faster CPU) for $300 more, then there is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152095
Click to expand...

Hey Hazaro, just wanted to thank you for suggesting this. I got a couple other opinions and it seemed like a good buy for me. I ended up getting it. I should be getting it sometime next week. It's nice that I'll be getting it during spring break so I won't have to deal with not having a laptop for school.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
ZealousD said:
Hey Hazaro, just wanted to thank you for suggesting this. I got a couple other opinions and it seemed like a good buy for me. I ended up getting it. I should be getting it sometime next week. It's nice that I'll be getting it during spring break so I won't have to deal with not having a laptop for school.
Click to expand...
Let me know how it turns out :D

For the price I couldn't find anything better. 2 Hours (Eco mode) is pretty good imo, plus you can always use onboard utilities to undervolt or underclock. A must for any laptop.

Plus it comes with a decent backpack! :lol
 
F

Fredescu

Member
Google said:
Yeah, it has a windows partition - I just dont like the idea of having to spend $125+ on another copy of vista, simply because I had some hardware failure.
Click to expand...
If it's a retail version of Vista it will work, though you may have to call to reactivate. OEM? Likely not.

bee said:
a lot of games/apps dont need a reg entry to work so you can just keep them for years by transferring them from drive to drive or whatever
Click to expand...
A lot of games keep their saves in your profile directory rather than the game directory though.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Fredescu said:
If it's a retail version of Vista it will work, though you may have to call to reactivate. OEM? Likely not.

bee said:
a lot of games/apps dont need a reg entry to work so you can just keep them for years by transferring them from drive to drive or whatever
Click to expand...
A lot of games keep their saves in your profile directory rather than the game directory though.
Click to expand...

I actually lost my WCIII key for the 2nd time, so a friend told me to copy the .reg files from that area from my old HDD to my new one and it worked! :lol
 
S

Slavik81

Member
Metalic Sand said:
So my friends OS disc is scratched to hell. I only really need one reply.

Does the Boiling water or toothpaste CD fix work? The CD is unreadable so yea... lol
Click to expand...
I doubt it.
You could always just snag an ISO and burn yourself a DVD, though. The part that Microsoft cares about protecting is the CD-key. The DVD itself has no inherent value.
 
M

Marcos_RB01

Banned
So i currently have my MSI K9A2 Platinum and am ready to replace. After CMOS issues and now RAID I'm looking for a new board.

Specs were posted already but here they are again:

Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition 3.0ghz

8Gbs OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 Ram

PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750Watt

Sapphire Radeon HD4870 1Gb

Soon to be had Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Dark Knight

So for the new board I have narrowed it down to:

Asus M3A79-T Deluxe - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131339&Tpk=M3A79-T

Asus M4A79 Deluxe - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131361&Tpk=M4A79 Deluxe

Foxconn A79A-S - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186149&Tpk=A79A-s

All help is greatly appreciated, but I'm currently swaying towards the M3A...

Also, I haven't received my new HSF as yet so was wondering if anyone has one as well as Ram with tallish Heatpipes, spreaders etc., how it fits or if it will.

Thanks in advance all!
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Google said:
Guys,

A couple of questions:

1. I'm going to be upgrading my motherboard, but keeping my hard drives. Will I be able to keep my Vista install, or is it going to spaz out on me once it realises I have a new motherboard? I'm waiting on delivery of the MOBO, but once it arrives, am I going to shit out of luck, because I haven't spent $125 on a new copy of Windows?

2. I upgraded my processor, and didn't realise that the processor box also contained a heat sink. I also purchased (a fucking huge) heat sink, as I didn't realise. Is it worth me returning that and just using the one included with the processor? I'm not going to be overclocking or anything.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
I would recommend reformating once you build your new system, but for one week, I ran an installation that I did on a Phenom I on a Core I7 platform without any complaints.
 
A

_Angelus_

Banned
Can some of you pros recommend me a good power supply from a reliable vendor?
I just maxed out my PC ram to 4 Gigs of DDR 3200 400 Mhz. Ram.
I plan to buy an ATI 4870 1 Gig card sometime in April.

Here are my PC specs:



Computer Make: HP Pavilion 061
Computer Model: ER883AA-ABA M7470N

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / 2.2 GHz
Three PCI
PCI Expressx16
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
DDR SDRAM/Memory speed 400 MHz/Memory specification compliance PC3200
Already have 4 GB (maxed out.)
Motherboard manufacturer's name: MSI MS-7184 AmethystM-GL6E

I'm sort of worried that a power supply might be a little too big to fit properly,is there any way to deal with the issue without having to buy a new case?

Please give me your views,I certainly don't want to buy an expensive power supply,but I do need one that will be dependable.
 
F

fatigues_gasolini

Member
Marcos_RB01 said:
So i currently have my MSI K9A2 Platinum and am ready to replace. After CMOS issues and now RAID I'm looking for a new board.

Specs were posted already but here they are again:

Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition 3.0ghz

8Gbs OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 Ram

PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750Watt

Sapphire Radeon HD4870 1Gb

Soon to be had Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Dark Knight

So for the new board I have narrowed it down to:

Asus M3A79-T Deluxe - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131339&Tpk=M3A79-T




Asus M4A79 Deluxe - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131361&Tpk=M4A79 Deluxe

Foxconn A79A-S - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186149&Tpk=A79A-s

All help is greatly appreciated, but I'm currently swaying towards the M3A...

Also, I haven't received my new HSF as yet so was wondering if anyone has one as well as Ram with tallish Heatpipes, spreaders etc., how it fits or if it will.

Thanks in advance all!
Click to expand...

I think you might want to reevalute those boards. I dont think AM2+ chips will work in AM3 sockets.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Hazaro said:
2 Hours (Eco mode) is pretty good imo, plus you can always use onboard utilities to undervolt or underclock. A must for any laptop.
Click to expand...

I'll have to try that. My last laptop was basically two hours as well, but it could go longer if I lowered the brightness to something that was barely readable. It'd be nice to conserve power without cutting down too much on the brightness.
 
A

_Angelus_

Banned
Can someone give me a heads up about the last post I made above,the power supply I linked to. I want to buy it,just want some advice from some of you is all.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Angelus said:
How's about this one here?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

I want one with abit more power because I'm thinking of adding another hard drive and burner to my PC maybe later in the year.
Any thing good/bad about this power supply?
It'll fit my casing alright/compatible with my pc overall?
Click to expand...
Yeah that's fine, you said you wanted cheap though. A HDD adds about 12W active and a burner is about 23W when in use (I think).

PSU is solid, rebate should come through fine for you.

Your system drawn would be less than 400w load easily. Doesn't hurt to get some more in case and boost your efficiency though :)
ZealousD said:
I'll have to try that. My last laptop was basically two hours as well, but it could go longer if I lowered the brightness to something that was barely readable. It'd be nice to conserve power without cutting down too much on the brightness.
Click to expand...
I think it's great that the button apparently works hassle free. Just push the Eco or TURBO button on the laptop to get up to 20% overclock on the CPU (and a bit on GPU), seemingly no jitter or anything, just an instantaneous jump.

Let me know how you like it, I'd be eyeing one of those if I end up needed a laptop for college.
 
J

Jamesfrom818

Banned
I think the 8400M GS in my Dell M1530 is in its death throes. I knew this day would come but I didn't think EVE Online would be the one to do it in. I still have my Asus 1000H so I can probably wait for some better deals on notebooks. Maybe when Diablo and Starcraft are closer.
 
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