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[Ryoma-Echizen]

The stock voltaje of the 720BE is 1.325v. AMD uses SOI process, while intel High-k. That kind of v-cores are totally safe.

An intel chip can die with that, but hey, they're made different.

 

[Fredescu]

Do all 720's have an unlocked multiplier, or do they make a non-BE version too?

 

[Metalic Sand]

Do all 720's have an unlocked multiplier, or do they make a non-BE version too?

Theres a 710 version thats not unlocked and its like 2.6Ghz instead of 2.8 i think.


Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103648&Tpk=X3 710

 

[Hazaro]

The stock voltaje of the 720BE is 1.325v. AMD uses SOI process, while intel High-k. That kind of v-cores are totally safe.

An intel chip can die with that, but hey, they're made different.

It's not going to die, just a little high

Thanks for the info. I didn't know they used different processes. I wonder what AMD is going to do for 32nm and 22nm then...

 

[Fredescu]

Yeah I know about the 710. Some retailers don't list many details about what they're selling, and frustratingly tend to be the ones with the best prices. AMDs site says it's "available as Black Edition PIB" which kinda suggests that perhaps non-BE 720's exist, but I haven't seen one yet.

 

[MWS Natural]

I have absolutely no clue on the new Phenoms, but 1.424V seems a bit high for a 45nm chip.

Did you manually set the voltage or is it still on AUTO?

Also what temps do you get idle/load using PRIME95 or ORTHOS?

Manually from what I have read from others overclocking. I was getting 37c idle but I have dropped everything down a bit because I had a crash a few mins ago. I am at 3.6ghz but but haven't tried Prime95 or Orthos, I am completely new at this. I will download those two now.

 

[brain_stew]

Manually from what I have read from others overclocking. I was getting 37c idle but I have dropped everything down a bit because I had a crash a few mins ago. I am at 3.6ghz but but haven't tried Prime95 or Orthos, I am completely new at this. I will download those two now.

OCCT is my recommendation for a stress program, finds errors much quicker for me than Orthos or Prime ever did.

 

[rass]

Hi guys, this is a cross post with the Ausgaf thread:

can anybody recommend a laptop that will run creative suite 4 adequately for the AU$1,000 to AU$1,500 range? Girlfriend needs a laptop, needs to be able to run PS, Illustrator and a program called vectorworks that ive got no experience with. I looked on ebay, is something like this: toshiba or this: Acer up to the job?
anything cheaper that would get the job done?
Does integrated graphics manage ok?
Are there brands that are best avoided?

thanks for any insight you might be able to give me, a mac user with no real PC skillz/knowledge

 

[Hazaro]

OCCT is my recommendation for a stress program, finds errors much quicker for me than Orthos or Prime ever did.

I was going to add that but all that popped up in my head was CCCP :lol

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

Hi guys, this is a cross post with the Ausgaf thread:

can anybody recommend a laptop that will run creative suite 4 adequately for the AU$1,000 to AU$1,500 range? Girlfriend needs a laptop, needs to be able to run PS, Illustrator and a program called vectorworks that ive got no experience with. I looked on ebay, is something like this: toshiba or this: Acer up to the job?
anything cheaper that would get the job done?
Does integrated graphics manage ok?
Are there brands that are best avoided?

thanks for any insight you might be able to give me, a mac user with no real PC skillz/knowledge

why not a desktop? just curious....

 

[rass]

why not a desktop? just curious....

she needs to be able to take it to tafe with her 3 days a week

 

[MWS Natural]

OCCT is my recommendation for a stress program, finds errors much quicker for me than Orthos or Prime ever did.

Thanks going to use this overnight. Only thing left to setup in my case is the fan controller. I don't know why one connectors they are included are so damn short they can't reach anything. I will have to buy some extenders or something I'm not sure. My damn DVD burner gets stuck on the drive bay as it goes back in and gets stuck, I might have to cut off the part where it is catching.

Could I buy another 4gb of DDR2 and still run it all at 1066? I think I read somewhere you can only do that with 4gb and not 8gb.

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks going to use this overnight. Only thing left to setup in my case is the fan controller. I don't know why one connectors they are included are so damn short they can't reach anything. I will have to buy some extenders or something I'm not sure. My damn DVD burner gets stuck on the drive bay as it goes back in and gets stuck, I might have to cut off the part where it is catching.

Could I buy another 4gb of DDR2 and still run it all at 1066? I think I read somewhere you can only do that with 4gb and not 8gb.

There's no explicit reason you shouldn't be able to do that, sans motherboard specific quirks. Although, honestly, your Phenom doesn't really need that sort of bandwidth, the difference in game between 800mhz and 1066mhz memory is within margin of error.

Congratulations on the OC, that things going to fly at that clockspeed. It'll eat up anything you throw at it and be hungry for more. The 720 is really incredible value, my most recommended processor bar none.

Oh, what GPU did you go with in the end?

 

[MWS Natural]

There's no explicit reason you shouldn't be able to do that, sans motherboard specific quirks. Although, honestly, your Phenom doesn't really need that sort of bandwidth, the difference in game between 800mhz and 1066mhz memory is within margin of error.

Congratulations on the OC, that things going to fly at that clockspeed. It'll eat up anything you throw at it and be hungry for more. The 720 is really incredible value, my most recommended processor bar none.

Oh, what GPU did you go with in the end?

Thanks it's been really nice so far. I am waiting for the 4770 or if that doesn't turn out as good as I have read I will just wait for the DX11 cards. I bought a motherboard with decent onboard video that will hold me over for now (not games lol).

I was too lazy to clean all the shit on my desk off so I will be posting pics of my 'rig' later.

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks it's been really nice so far. I am waiting for the 4770 or if that doesn't turn out as good as I have read I will just wait for the DX11 cards. I bought a motherboard with decent onboard video that will hold me over for now (not games lol).

I was too lazy to clean all the shit on my desk off so I will be posting pics of my 'rig' later.

Buy this!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127409

It offers insane value, and pretty much GTX 280 level performance out of the box! Go on you know it makes sense!! :lol :lol


My GTX 260 (216) just arrived!!

Damn this thing is frigging HUGE! I've never seen a GPU like it, what a monster, makes my 4850 look tiny in comparison, what with its custom shrunken PCB. As an added bonus I got a free download of 3D Mark Vantage Advanced included in the box (worth $20) along with the free Mirror's Edge, that's a pretty nice collection of freebies both of which I would have considered buying myself anyway. Throw in the very nice custom cooling (with two huge fans and three heatpipes) and the factory overclock, and I'm simply in awe of what I managed to bag for £150 delivered next day!!

Installation time now, so wish me luck!

 

[Hazaro]

Buy this!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127409

It offers insane value, and pretty much GTX 280 level performance out of the box! Go on you know it makes sense!! :lol :lol


My GTX 260 (216) just arrived!!

Damn this thing is frigging HUGE! I've never seen a GPU like it, what a monster, makes my 4850 look tiny in comparison,

Did you really have to go from a perfectly good 4850 to a GTX 260? :lol

 

[brain_stew]

Did you really have to go from a perfectly good 4850 to a GTX 260? :lol

No, I couldn't help it the deal was just too good. My rationale being that since I've moved up from a 1360x768 display to a 1080p display the 4850 was starting to struggle if I enabled any sort of decent IQ. Its an excellent card but it WAS designed for resolutions of 1680x1050 and lower, its 512MB of RAM and 256 bit bus are evidence enough of that. When bandwidth and memory start becoming an issue performance can really start to fall apart so there is method behind my madness!!

Yeah, I was a little hasty but the good news is that I jumped on that 4850 just at the right time and they still retail at the exact same price bracket due to the drop in the pound. So by the time I get my 4850 sold on, the expense isn't really that much, especially considering I was planning on picking up Mirror's Edge for £20 anyway, so it works out £130 for the card and Vantage, that's not bad at all in my book. Is replacing a GPU after all of 4 months (dear God I didn't realise it was so short....oops!!) a little insane? Well yeah, probably but I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't of got such good deals on both cards.

Oh, and my 4850 wouldn't clock for shit! Damn thing ran icy cold but it didn't like any noticeable bumps in frequency at all, and these things apparently clock past 700mhz most of the time so that's another little project for me. Its already got a ~50mhz factory OC on it and I'm hoping the custom cooling will help to get me to GTX 280 levels of performance! Now that would be a genuine leap in performance.

Anyway, drivers uninstalled, time for a restart and install.

 

[brain_stew]

So she's installed and with a little fiddling about I've managed clocks of 702/1421/1187 and that's without really pushing it, never gets past 80C either and is surprisingly quiet. The custom cooler really does a splendid job, I can't hear it over any of my other fans at idle, yet it stays comfortably below 40C.

Just ran Vantage and....my performance is above a stock GTX 280!! Looking at a few reviews of the 280 its GPU score usually comes out at 10k or just below but my £150 GPU managed 10668. Overall score for the performance benchmark was 12691 with my lowly E5200 ( at 3.5ghz of course ).

My free copy of Mirror's Edge will be finished downloading in 10 minutes so I'll boot that up and see if this PhysX stuff is all its cracked up to be.

So yep GAFers anyone that wants high performance without breaking the bank this is the way to go for sure imo. £150 or $160 for GTX 280 performance and a free game? Lovely.

 

[Minsc]

So she's installed and with a little fiddling about I've managed clocks of 702/1421/1187 and that's without really pushing it, never gets past 80C either and is surprisingly quiet. The custom cooler really does a splendid job, I can't hear it over any of my other fans at idle, yet it stays comfortably below 40C.

Just ran Vantage and....my performance is above a stock GTX 280!! Looking at a few reviews of the 280 its GPU score usually comes out at 10k or just below but my £150 GPU managed 10668. Overall score for the performance benchmark was 12691 with my lowly E5200 ( at 3.5ghz of course ).

My free copy of Mirror's Edge will be finished downloading in 10 minutes so I'll boot that up and see if this PhysX stuff is all its cracked up to be.

So yep GAFers anyone that wants high performance without breaking the bank this is the way to go for sure imo. £150 or $160 for GTX 280 performance and a free game? Lovely.

Afterwards you can fire up the infinity engine in all it's glory!! Every last leaf and bush rustling at a frame rate never before seen!

 

[Malvolio]

I also moved to a GTX 260 core 216 (evga for me) recently and am blown away at its performance. Granted I upgraded from a 8800GTS 320mb so there was plenty of room for improvement, but I never expected the kind of framerates this thing is giving me. I was afraid that the rest of my system would be a huge bottleneck, but OCing my E6700 really let the card do its magic.

I'm currently running my old 8800GTS as a dedicated PhysX processor, but I'm not sure it's worth the power and heat. What's the general consensus on that? Would I be just as well off to let the 260 handle it all?

 

[adg1034]

I also moved to a GTX 260 core 216 (evga for me) recently and am blown away at its performance. Granted I upgraded from a 8800GTS 320mb so there was plenty of room for improvement, but I never expected the kind of framerates this thing is giving me. I was afraid that the rest of my system would be a huge bottleneck, but OCing my E6700 really let the card do its magic.

I'm currently running my old 8800GTS as a dedicated PhysX processor, but I'm not sure it's worth the power and heat. What's the general consensus on that? Would I be just as well off to let the 260 handle it all?

Anandtech had a great article the other day on how little hardware-accelerated PhysX really matters in the real world: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3539 So, unless you're playing the PC version of Mirror's Edge a lot, you probably don't even need it in there at all.

Also, I love your name. +1 Twelfth Night.

 

[brain_stew]

I also moved to a GTX 260 core 216 (evga for me) recently and am blown away at its performance. Granted I upgraded from a 8800GTS 320mb so there was plenty of room for improvement, but I never expected the kind of framerates this thing is giving me. I was afraid that the rest of my system would be a huge bottleneck, but OCing my E6700 really let the card do its magic.

I'm currently running my old 8800GTS as a dedicated PhysX processor, but I'm not sure it's worth the power and heat. What's the general consensus on that? Would I be just as well off to let the 260 handle it all?

At the moment? Yes, Mirror's Edge is the only current game of note that makes any worthwile use of it and a GTX 260 can handle that by itself quite comfortably. That's not to say there won't be any future benefit, really depends on how GPU PhysX takes off though I don't hold out much hope whilst its incompatible with ATI hardware.

Yep, these really are the cards to go for atm, the performance you get for the money is just unprecedented, I honestly can't fathom how Nvidia can afford to sell them at this price.

 

[FreezeSSC]

I think im going to have to upgrade soon, my laptop isnt cutting it anymore.

 

[K.Jack]

I think im going to have to upgrade soon, my laptop isnt cutting it anymore.

What're your specs?

If you give me your budget, I'll point you in the right direction. Or are you going desktop?

 

[Malvolio]

Anandtech had a great article the other day on how little hardware-accelerated PhysX really matters in the real world: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3539 So, unless you're playing the PC version of Mirror's Edge a lot, you probably don't even need it in there at all.

Also, I love your name. +1 Twelfth Night.

Thanks for the link. Looks like I'll just box up the 8800 and shelve it until they manage to create a bigger impact with PhysX. No point in feeding it if it's not giving anything back.

I'm glad to see another fan of The Bard here!

 

[Slacker]

Anyone have a favorite "overclocking for noobs" link they can share? I'll do some googling but I thought I'd check with the Wise GAF Collective too. I just got my new hardware (GTX 260, cpu cooler, PSU) and I wanted to get it cranked up tonight, but it looks like the Hardforum post in the OP is offline since yesterday. I'm working on an Intel C2D E6400 2.13GHz with DDR2 800 RAM. Thanks!

EDIT: Hmm, now that I look, this appears to be a copy of the HardOCP article:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html

 

[brain_stew]

Anyone have a favorite "overclocking for noobs" link they can share? I'll do some googling but I thought I'd check with the Wise GAF Collective too. I just got my new hardware (GTX 260, cpu cooler, PSU) and I wanted to get it cranked up tonight, but it looks like the Hardforum post in the OP is offline since yesterday. I'm working on an Intel C2D E6400 2.13GHz with DDR2 800 RAM. Thanks!

EDIT: Hmm, now that I look, this appears to be a copy of the HardOCP article:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html

www.overclock.net is a good place to get help, a lot more people with a lot more experience there than here.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

+ ADDED 4.3.09 @ 1053 hours - Added and Updated Overclocking to include Core i7 overclocking PDF guide thanks to XtremeSystems.org. This is for the Intel Core i7 chips only.

 

[Crisco]

I just spent way too much money on a new PC build, but I am now a member of team Nehalem

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322

LITE-ON Black BD Combo Drive Model iHES208-08 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106292

PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

DFI LP UT X58-T3eH8 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136063

OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119187

And for CPU cooling:

http://www.jab-tech.com/Thermalright-IFX-14-pr-3846.html + http://www.jab-tech.com/Thermalright-LGA-1366-Bolt-Through-Kit-for-IFX-14-pr-4389.html + 2xhttp://www.jab-tech.com/Yate-Loon-140mm-Case-Fan-D14SM-12-pr-3594.html

I'll let you guys know how overclocking goes, hoping to flirt with 4Ghz. More if I get one of the new D0 stepping CPUs.

Oh yeah, ATI 4870 1GB, but I got that a few months ago and had been using it with my old Athlon64 X2 system.

 

[brain_stew]

GPU?

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I just spent way too much money on a new PC build, but I am now a member of team Nehalem

Nice man! Welcome to the club!!

 

[MWS Natural]

Anyone have a favorite "overclocking for noobs" link they can share? I'll do some googling but I thought I'd check with the Wise GAF Collective too. I just got my new hardware (GTX 260, cpu cooler, PSU) and I wanted to get it cranked up tonight, but it looks like the Hardforum post in the OP is offline since yesterday. I'm working on an Intel C2D E6400 2.13GHz with DDR2 800 RAM. Thanks!

EDIT: Hmm, now that I look, this appears to be a copy of the HardOCP article:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-240001_11_0.html

Yeah I was a total noob to over clocking (still am) but I just read everything on my CPU/motherboard that I could find on overclocking.net and was able to figure things out as I went along. The biggest thing I have learned about overclocking is to do it right you have to be PATIENT as all hell. Every tiny change you make in the bios you have to bring up your OS to make sure it boots then stress test it till you can't go anymore. I was very impatient trying to go for high clocks and really made things take even longer than they should have due to making so many changes at once I didn't know which one caused problems.

Buy this!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127409

It offers insane value, and pretty much GTX 280 level performance out of the box! Go on you know it makes sense!! :lol :lol

Nowai! That's so out of my budget! A 4770 for $100 will do me just fine lol. Or will it? Hmm..I plant to be gaming at 1920x1080...I don't know I was even thinking of upgrading to SSD before even getting a video card :lol But maybe that can wait till Windows 7.

 

[_Angelus_]

Guys its coming down. I need to make a decision soon but still need some approval from you pros. I've copied and pasted my post from the previous page since noone got around to answering it. Please leave some input,thanks.

My original post:

Need some opinions here.
I have an HP M7470N Media Center PC.
Sometime this month I plan to upgrade my gpu to an ATI 4870 1 Gig card.
At the moment there's a tv tuner card sitting next to the ATI200 in my PC.

Am I going to be able to fit the 4870 card in my rig? Its a standard case,I really don't know the length of the card I am ordering. I've heard others comment that they were able to fit the card in their exact rigs I own but for peace of mind I wanted to get some opinions here before ordering. I could remove the tv card if the 4870 needs more space,I'd hate to but I'll do it since I only used the card for BattleStar Galactica episodes and thats pretty much done now

Btw-which is the best brand to buy for the card? Diamond,Saphire,which ones? Do some have better fans built in them than others? Keep in my mind my PC fans are all stock,no heat sink or anything special here. I plan to get a card with overclocking on the go,but I know it'll have to have a good fan built on it to cool the rig down some.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Guys its coming down. I need to make a decision soon but still need some approval from you pros. I've copied and pasted my post from the previous page since noone got around to answering it. Please leave some input,thanks.

My original post:

Need some opinions here.
I have an HP M7470N Media Center PC.
Sometime this month I plan to upgrade my gpu to an ATI 4870 1 Gig card.
At the moment there's a tv tuner card sitting next to the ATI200 in my PC.

Am I going to be able to fit the 4870 card in my rig? Its a standard case,I really don't know the length of the card I am ordering. I've heard others comment that they were able to fit the card in their exact rigs I own but for peace of mind I wanted to get some opinions here before ordering. I could remove the tv card if the 4870 needs more space,I'd hate to but I'll do it since I only used the card for BattleStar Galactica episodes and thats pretty much done now

Btw-which is the best brand to buy for the card? Diamond,Saphire,which ones? Do some have better fans built in them than others? Keep in my mind my PC fans are all stock,no heat sink or anything special here. I plan to get a card with overclocking on the go,but I know it'll have to have a good fan built on it to cool the rig down some.

4870 is a normal 9.5" long so just measure that and you should have an idea. Make sure you've got 2 x 6-pin PCI-E power connectors for the card as well. As far as brand goes, XFX has the best warranty (double lifetime), VisionTek has a Lifetime warranty as well. Saphhire has the "Toxic" brand which is factory overclocked with a custom cooling solution.

Either way--- Measure--- check your power supply for the PCI-Express power connectors and double check cable management before putting a larger card in your case.

EDIT: Quick google of that model, you're going to need a new PSU for the extra juice.

Recommendations:
BFG-550W @ Newegg for $54.99 Free Shipping
Corsair 550W @ Newegg for $89.99 + s/h
OCZ Modular 500W @ Newegg for $74.99 + s/h

The BFG PSU is the best bet IMO while the other ones I listed are good as well. Let us know if you need anymore help man.

 

[dmann]

Purchased an Intel Core i7 920 the other day from Microcenter for $199.00. Too good of a deal to pass up, so now that I have the processor. I am looking to buy other components to complete the build. I have everything pretty much picked out except for the mobo.

Which x58 mobo would you guys recommend? They're all similarly priced. Also, as for the graphics card; should I get a HD4890, GTX 260 or wait a week and grab a GTX 275?

 

[godhandiscen]

Hello guys.
These are my idle temps after OC'ing to 3.6 with the AUTO feature of my mobo.

I know that using the mobo feature overstimates the voltage, so these could be lower, but even then, is this ok for idle? I see one core is way lower than the others. I think I f'd up when applying the thermal paste, but I hate working with my new case, so I doubt I will re-apply the paste.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Hello guys.
These are my idle temps after OC'ing to 3.6 with the AUTO feature of my mobo.

I know that using the mobo feature overstimates the voltage, so these could be lower, but even then, is this ok for idle? I see one core is way lower than the others. I think I f'd up when applying the thermal paste, but I hate working with my new case, so I doubt I will re-apply the paste.

For reference:

I've got one core that is always 4C degrees over the others. It's normal to have that sometimes. Also my v drop on my Gigabyte board (as with all Gigabyte boards) is about ~ .2-.4 volts or so (least it seems that way) since on load my CPU drops to about 1.32 vs. my assigned voltage of 1.3825 currently in BIOS.

You can download the guide I put up on the front page and cycle through all the combinations. On my last overclock, I finally got what the F the uncore was which was driving me NUTS!!! I finally realized how you calculated it and such. Anyways, we need some pics man!

 

[godhandiscen]

I ran prime95 and within a minute my temps were over 80. I will do the whole OC'ing later. Today I am going out with a friend. I will post pics as soon as I finish fixing my bedroom and find the camera's usb cable.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I ran prime95 and within a minute my temps were over 80. I will do the whole OC'ing later. Today I am going out with a friend. I will post pics as soon as I finish fixing my bedroom and find the camera's usb cable.

That's about typical with the i7's.

If you reach 3.6 / 3.8 and 4.0GHz, temps hit 75-85C pretty quick with Prime95. I wouldn't fret it too much.

The biggest thing to remember is that really anything over 3.6 is overkill for this processor. I've got mine at a comfortable 3.8GHz now (as 4.0Ghz was just running for bragging rights) with temps never going over 63C while gaming which is perfect for my needs. I expect that you'll get their godhandiscen.... just takes some time and tweaking.

 

[brain_stew]

Nowai! That's so out of my budget! A 4770 for $100 will do me just fine lol. Or will it? Hmm..I plant to be gaming at 1920x1080...I don't know I was even thinking of upgrading to SSD before even getting a video card :lol But maybe that can wait till Windows 7.

The 4770 was never really designed for 1080p gaming, it just doesn't have the bandwidth or memory for it. If you run out of memory or bandwidth your performance can drop off a cliff quite sharpish and if you plan to play at 1080p that situation is bound to turn p moe often than you'd like. Having just made the switch from a 4850 to a OCed GTX 260 (216) myself I can say the gap is pretty damn huge at higher resolutions. Don't get me wrong its going to be a great card and for gamers playing at 1680x1050 and below there's not too much need to spend anything more really, but if you've got a high resolution panel, you should at least think twice about it, anyway.

Far Cry 2 has got to be worth at least $10 to you so for an extra $50 outlay you're getting a significant leap in performance without the worries of running out of memory or bandwidth and you can pick up the card a whole month earlier. Well worth it imo, but the choice is yours. Oh, and sorry if I'm tempting you to spend money you really don't want to, I've fell into the trap plenty of times myself!! :lol :lol Never regretted it once though.

......................................

I'm with Victim on the PSU front as well, considering how cheap your getting that BFG PSU for its worth it for peace of mind alone. The 4870s have a 2 slot cooler, so you'll have to leave the slot immediately below your PCIe slot vacant. So long as that's not your only PCI slot, you should be OK, but again check its not too long either, you'll be stunned at just how big some of these modern GPUs are in the flesh.

With regards to idle temps, even if they were a good deal higher, I wouldn't worry about it, its load temps that actually matter.

 

[MWS Natural]

The 4770 was never really designed for 1080p gaming, it just doesn't have the bandwidth or memory for it. If you run out of memory or bandwidth your performance can drop off a cliff quite sharpish and if you plan to play at 1080p that situation is bound to turn p moe often than you'd like. Having just made the switch from a 4850 to a OCed GTX 260 (216) myself I can say the gap is pretty damn huge at higher resolutions. Don't get me wrong its going to be a great card and for gamers playing at 1680x1050 and below there's not too much need to spend anything more really, but if you've got a high resolution panel, you should at least think twice about it, anyway.

Far Cry 2 has got to be worth at least $10 to you so for an extra $50 outlay you're getting a significant leap in performance without the worries of running out of memory or bandwidth and you can pick up the card a whole month earlier. Well worth it imo, but the choice is yours. Oh, and sorry if I'm tempting you to spend money you really don't want to, I've fell into the trap plenty of times myself!! :lol :lol Never regretted it once though.

......................................

I'm with Victim on the PSU front as well, considering how cheap your getting that BFG PSU for its worth it for peace of mind alone. The 4870s have a 2 slot cooler, so you'll have to leave the slot immediately below your PCIe slot vacant. So long as that's not your only PCI slot, you should be OK, but again check its not too long either, you'll be stunned at just how big some of these modern GPUs are in the flesh.

With regards to idle temps, even if they were a good deal higher, I wouldn't worry about it, its load temps that actually matter.

Hmm....you make a good case for the upgrade. I'll see in the next month or so how my money is looking. I refuse to go into my savings to purchase a video card lol. I have to find some measurements for it because I'm not even sure if that can fit into my lanbox lite. How is the HDMI connection? Can it pass audio and video?

edit:

It can fit in my case but where does it exhaust from...I need a card that exhausts out the back to keep the temps in my smaller case down.

 

[K.Jack]

Is it a mistake for my brother to spend $120 on a 9800 GTX right now?

 

[brain_stew]

Is it a mistake for my brother to spend $120 on a 9800 GTX right now?

I wouldn't recommend it, no. Either bump it up to a GTX 260 or hold off until the 4770 hits as that will really shake things up at the $100 price bracket. Depends what he has now and what resolution he's playing at though tbh.

 

[K.Jack]

I wouldn't recommend it, no. Either bump it up to a GTX 260 or hold off until the 4770 hits as that will really shake things up at the $100 price bracket. Depends what he has now and what resolution he's playing at though tbh.

Here's the deal. He's 12 hours away and has zero tech sense.

He inherited some kind of Dell XPS desktop which came with a Radeon x300. He took it to a shop and has been told that he needs a new card. His budget is around ~$100 for the GPU, not including the PSU. I'm going to have him looking at a monitor no higher than 1680x1050.

 

[brain_stew]

Here's the deal. He's 12 hours away and has zero tech sense.

He inherited some kind of Dell XPS desktop which came with a Radeon x300. He took it to a shop and has been told that he needs a new card. His budget is around ~$100 for the GPU, not including the PSU. I'm going to have him looking at a monitor no higher than 1680x1050.

Well a 9800GTX, 4850 or GTS 250 would all fit the billing just fine. If you want to save some cash a 4830 can be had for $75 after rebate and the performacne isn't too dar behind.

.........

MWS I forgot about your specifi setup, in that case I'd probably just stick to your original plan. Nvidia's solution for audio over HDMI is a bit flakyand requires you to run a wire from your motherboard pin out to the card, but I'll be damned if I can ever get it to work. ATIs solution is much simpler, their recent cards have full 7.1 HD Audio integrated into the card, and by using the dongle supplied you should be able to get sound without too much bother.

AS you've got a small case then something like a GTX 260 isn't really suitable, their freaking huge!! Also, I figure its actually a TV you're using this with then? HDTVs tend to have much better scalers, and as such 720p should look pretty damn good, if your card can't quite hack 1080p output in some games, so having a lower powered card might not be the end of the world.

Sorry for confusing you!!

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Question.

I'm looking to buy brand new parts. My 2005 rig is starting to lag behind.

The problem is that it's impossible to find a modern motherboard these days that has more than one IDE port. My DVD-RW and HDD are both IDE connections. I don't think I will ever use up the space on my 250GB HDD so I'm not looking to buy a new one right now. I plan to use my current drive on the IDE port of the new board.

My question is, can I depend on a IDE PCI controller like this to give me the same performance out of my DVD-RW as if it were still connected to the motherboard?

 

[brain_stew]

Question.

I'm looking to buy brand new parts. My 2005 rig is starting to lag behind.

The problem is that it's impossible to find a modern motherboard these days that has more than one IDE port. My DVD-RW and HDD are both IDE connections. I don't think I will ever use up the space on my 250GB HDD so I'm not looking to buy a new one right now. I plan to use my current drive on the IDE port of the new board.

My question is, can I depend on a IDE PCI controller like this to give me the same performance out of my DVD-RW as if it were still connected to the motherboard?

Just junk the old DVDRW drive, a new SATA DVDRW drive is only $20 and worth that amount just to get rid of the awful, airflow destroying IDE cables.

You really do want a SATA HDD as well really, as HDDs have made huge strides since the IDE days of old, and you'll be stunned at just how much faster the new drive will be.

Stick to 320GB, 640GB or 1TB drives as they're the fastest. Samsung F1s get my vote but plenty of people like the recent Seagate drives.

 

[zbarron]

I just got my new build today.
i7 920 @ stock 2.66Ghz with stock cooler
6GB Corsair XMS3 @ 1600
Asus P6T motherboard

I already had a:
EVGA 9800GTX+ with 41 more days left in the Step Up Program
550W power supply
Creative SB Audigy sound card
Some bad DVD+RW Burner
160GB+500GB 7200RPM Sata drives
shitty old beige broken case

I would overclock my CPU but my graphics card is really the bottleneck right now so I won't see much if any difference in games which is the primary use of this build. I'll probably upgrade to the GTX 275 and clock it to 285 levels. Is it worth it over the 260? I figure for about $50 more it will be more "future proof."

On a somewhat related note I was disappointed to see the negligible difference in PCSX2 emulation speed.

 

[yacobod]

posting from my new core i7 920 rig, took me a while to get everything up and running

still downloading games and what not to run, so i'll post impressions as i have more things up and running, i still have to OC it tho

 

[rass]

hey guys, really hoping someone can help me out with this:

If the biggest notable difference between 2 laptops from competing brands is the graphics card, which of these cards is better:

nVidia GeForce 9200M GS 512mb
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 512mb

fwiw: the nVidia is in a HP Pavilion dv5-1222TX
and the ATI is in a DELL Studio 15

Cheers for any insight