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[Stuggernaut]

My daughter ended up buying that Asus one you guys linked from Best Buy there.

She was building a pretty nice Dell one and then saw the add for the Asus one for less, went to look at it at the store, bought it.

Says she was happy to have it "right now" vs waiting on it from Dell.

Three days in and she uses it a TON...like way too many hours a day lol. She recently had surgery so other that for school she doesn't do much.

So far it works flawlessly for the few games she has on it, and of course for surfing, watching movies, etc

She is happy, which is all that matters I guess.

Ihaven't been able to tinker with it myself yet as she clings to it like a new boyfriend lol.

 

[godhandiscen]

My daughter ended up buying that Asus one you guys linked from Best Buy there.

She was building a pretty nice Dell one and then saw the add for the Asus one for less, went to look at it at the store, bought it.

Says she was happy to have it "right now" vs waiting on it from Dell.

Three days in and she uses it a TON...like way too many hours a day lol. She recently had surgery so other that for school she doesn't do much.

So far it works flawlessly for the few games she has on it, and of course for surfing, watching movies, etc

She is happy, which is all that matters I guess.

I haven't been able to tinker with it myself yet as she clings to it like a new boyfriend lol.

Sweet, which games is she playing, and how are they handling? I am interested in it myself. I was about to buy it a couple weeks ago but since I just recently got a new case I decided to save my money.

 

[Hazaro]

I think I'm going to put my tech illiterate brother onto that Econo box. His wife's cousin will put it together for $50, then he just needs a good monitor.

Will a 1440x900 monitor waste the 4850's potential, and should I bump him up to 1680x1050?

If you already have one keep it, otherwise the price difference is pretty small between them and you should get the 1680x1050

 

[Median]

I'm putting together a PC for my aunt, fairly mid-range specs, but I need help with the power supply. I was looking at a 400W Corsair psu. Would that be enough for the following?

Asus P5Ql
E7400
Kingston ValueRam 4GB
Sapphire Radeon 4550 512 MB

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Is it normal for me to run Dead Space completely maxxed out in 1440x900 completely fine with no framerate dips, but I put Crysis on the lowest settings possible at 800x600 and it's completely unplayable at like 10 fps?

 

[shadowsdarknes]

bump? lol

 

[K.Jack]

Well, what system are you working with?

Regardless, my preliminary answer is that something is wrong.

 

[Kintaro]

I order my video card. Woo, now we play the waiting game.

...

...

...

The waiting game sucks, let's play hungry hungry hippos!

Spoiler

Now to begin searching for a 1080p monitor

 

[brain_stew]

I order my video card. Woo, now we play the waiting game.

...

...

...

The waiting game sucks, let's play hungry hungry hippos!

Spoiler

Now to begin searching for a 1080p monitor

What did you go with in the end?

 

[dionysus]

What is the preferred cable type for gaming monitors these days? Is it moving to hdmi?

 

[_Angelus_]

I've been buying up a storm of games since installing my new graphics card,so much so I plan to buy a hard drive this weekend. External though,because the inside of my case is seriously full and I don't want to have to deal with putting in a new one.

Are external hard drives ok for gaming? I've read the speed on USB hard drives is 480 MPS transfer speed max,next to an internal drive thats quite slow isn't it? Has anyone tried gaming on an external,is it really that slow,what would the load times be next to the typical game installed on an internal? Does it interfere and cause stuttering problems with some games that are especially built directly stream from a DVD. Such as Mass Effect?

 

[Lastone]

I'm putting together a PC for my aunt, fairly mid-range specs, but I need help with the power supply. I was looking at a 400W Corsair psu. Would that be enough for the following?

Asus P5Ql
E7400
Kingston ValueRam 4GB
Sapphire Radeon 4550 512 MB

Thats plenty i think. I'm running an overclocked e5200 with a 4670 on a 300W psu with no problems.

 

[godhandiscen]

I've been buying up a storm of games since installing my new graphics card,so much so I plan to buy a hard drive this weekend. External though,because the inside of my case is seriously full and I don't want to have to deal with putting in a new one.

Are external hard drives ok for gaming? I've read the speed on USB hard drives is 480 MPS transfer speed max,next to an internal drive thats quite slow isn't it? Has anyone tried gaming on an external,is it really that slow,what would the load times be next to the typical game installed on an internal? Does it interfere and cause stuttering problems with some games that are especially built directly stream from a DVD. Such as Mass Effect?

Buy and external SATA drive if the inside of your case is full. One that connects through USB will cause stuttering or crash.

Is it normal for me to run Dead Space completely maxxed out in 1440x900 completely fine with no framerate dips, but I put Crysis on the lowest settings possible at 800x600 and it's completely unplayable at like 10 fps?

Reinstall Crysis. Maybe your card isnt going into 3D mode when Crysis starts. The cards ussually run in 2D mode (heavily underclocked) until games start.

 

[Median]

Thats plenty i think. I'm running an overclocked e5200 with a 4670 on a 300W psu with no problems.

Awesome, cheers.

 

[brain_stew]

What is the preferred cable type for gaming monitors these days? Is it moving to hdmi?

DVI and HDMI are electronically identical, you'll get the same results from either.

I've been buying up a storm of games since installing my new graphics card,so much so I plan to buy a hard drive this weekend. External though,because the inside of my case is seriously full and I don't want to have to deal with putting in a new one.

Are external hard drives ok for gaming? I've read the speed on USB hard drives is 480 MPS transfer speed max,next to an internal drive thats quite slow isn't it? Has anyone tried gaming on an external,is it really that slow,what would the load times be next to the typical game installed on an internal? Does it interfere and cause stuttering problems with some games that are especially built directly stream from a DVD. Such as Mass Effect?

Esata would be fine, stay the hell away from USB HDDs for game installs though.

 

[_Angelus_]

Buy and external SATA drive if the inside of your case is full. One that connects through USB will cause stuttering or crash.

My sata slots are maxed out. I guess I'll just suck it up and buy a huge internal and copy everything over from the old drive. I'll have to disconnect one of my burners that connects through sata however. Btw-I've noticed that the rate of DVD burning is much quicker when hooking up a burner through sata,backing my Buffy and BattleStar Galactica DVDs went pretty quickly. Whereas it takes twice as long to burn a DVD through IDE connection. Is sata faster through its transfer rate? Is this the norm? I really don't know much about which is better speed wise.

 

[Kintaro]

What did you go with in the end?

This one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150361

The XFX GTX 260 216 blah blah.

 

[brain_stew]

My sata slots are maxed out. I guess I'll just suck it up and buy a huge internal and copy everything over from the old drive. I'll have to disconnect one of my burners that connects through sata however. Btw-I've noticed that the rate of DVD burning is much quicker when hooking up a burner through sata,backing my Buffy and BattleStar Galactica DVDs went pretty quickly. Whereas it takes twice as long to burn a DVD through IDE connection. Is sata faster through its transfer rate? Is this the norm? I really don't know much about which is better speed wise.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815263002

???

 

[Zyzyxxz]

My sata slots are maxed out. I guess I'll just suck it up and buy a huge internal and copy everything over from the old drive. I'll have to disconnect one of my burners that connects through sata however. Btw-I've noticed that the rate of DVD burning is much quicker when hooking up a burner through sata,backing my Buffy and BattleStar Galactica DVDs went pretty quickly. Whereas it takes twice as long to burn a DVD through IDE connection. Is sata faster through its transfer rate? Is this the norm? I really don't know much about which is better speed wise.

wtf either you got a shit load of harddrives or your motherboard must suck with connections.

How many SATA slots are you using?

Anyway fi you're getting a new internal drive, I must recommend the Western Digital 640gig, uses the 320gb per platter tech whcih gives its great compuiting performance, almost as good as the old 74gb Raptor in some cases. Of course you could get balls out and get a 300gb Velicoraptor.

 

[MWS Natural]

How do you hook an external SATA up? you have the route the cable from the inside of your case through a hole somewhere?

 

[_Angelus_]

wtf either you got a shit load of harddrives or your motherboard must suck with connections.

How many SATA slots are you using?

Anyway fi you're getting a new internal drive, I must recommend the Western Digital 640gig, uses the 320gb per platter tech whcih gives its great compuiting performance, almost as good as the old 74gb Raptor in some cases. Of course you could get balls out and get a 300gb Velicoraptor.

Two Sata slots,both maxed out. I thought I had around 4 slots but nope,just two and it sucks. Oh and yes I have a WD 640Gig HD on my wish list at NewEgg,the one you're speaking about might be that very one,I'll have to check.

Right now my PC suite me fine. I didn't want to upgrade because I wanted to learn how to build my on PC first. But at the same time I wanted to get into PC gaming slowly,I got around to adding ram,power supply,and a graphics card. It suits my situation ok for now,but more importantly it made me better off since I'll just buy everything from scratch and build the beast rather than be held at gunpoint from retaial stores like Best Buy,ha.

 

[_Angelus_]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815263002

???

Nice idea there,thanks for the link. Problem is my PC only has one PCIExpresss slot and its being used by my new graphics card. Fuck this PC is barely 3 years old yet it feels last century now. So much for me thinking I got a good deal at Best Buy when I bought it back then. Yeesh. Maybe they make a PCI to Sata card instead though?
I know I have one free PCI slot remaining.

 

[brain_stew]

Nice idea there,thanks for the link. Problem is my PC only has one PCIExpresss slot and its being used by my new graphics card. Fuck this PC is barely 3 years old yet it feels last century now. So much for me thinking I got a good deal at Best Buy when I bought it back then. Yeesh. Maybe they make a PCI to Sata card instead though?
I know I have one free PCI slot remaining.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=pci esata&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Plenty of options under $20. Sure it won't be quite as fast but it'll be 100x better than USB. Yeah, stuff like that is precisely why I'll never buy a premade PC, I like to know what's inside my PC and be able to upgrade it as I see fit.

 

[jett]

Here's a totally noob question:

My motherboard has 1066mhz FSB, but in intel's website it says it supports "DDR2-667" memory. I already have a 1GB of DDR2-667, I'm looking to buy an extra 2GB. Is it ok to buy memory of 800 or 1066, or is it better to get 667?

 

[brain_stew]

Here's a totally noob question:

My motherboard has 1066mhz FSB, but in intel's website it says it supports "DDR2-667" memory. I already have a 1GB of DDR2-667, I'm looking to buy an extra 2GB. Is it ok to buy memory of 800 or 1066, or is it better to get 667?

Yes its fine, it'll just run at the slower speed.

Make sure you buy your RAM in matched pairs though.

 

[_Angelus_]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=pci esata&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Plenty of options under $20. Sure it won't be quite as fast but it'll be 100x better than USB. Yeah, stuff like that is precisely why I'll never buy a premade PC, I like to know what's inside my PC and be able to upgrade it as I see fit.

Another tasty link,thanks Brain_Stew. As soon as I get back from my afternoon jog I'm gonna check it out and go from there. Thanks for taking the time to help out.

 

[jett]

Yes its fine, it'll just run at the slower speed.

Make sure you buy your RAM in matched pairs though.

What do you mean matched pairs?

 

[Boonoo]

So I finally took some time to clean up the cables in my case (an antec 900, which, in retrospect may have not been the best choice, but it was on sale for 40ish bucks). I built this this past august, and as it was my first build I didn't feel too comfortable modding the case too much. So this is as good as it can look until I mod things further.

Setting up a watercooling system was a lot of fun; it wasn't nearly as tricky as people make it out to be. With it in place I have my q6600 at a stable 3.6 with temps hovering around 60 under full load (I think I can drop that some with a few modifications to my water block that I haven't attempted yet).

Once school gets out in a couple weeks I'm going to strip the case bare and mod it properly for cable management (mainly cutting some more holes in the back plate). I'll also probably cut some hole at the top of the back so that I can turn the radiator around and have the tubes go directly into the case.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Reinstall Crysis. Maybe your card isnt going into 3D mode when Crysis starts. The cards ussually run in 2D mode (heavily underclocked) until games start.

Will try. Didn't know there was such a thing like 2d and 3d mode.

Also, when I hit the "~" key it only tells me that my system has 1024 mb of ram when my rig clearly has 2gb of ram. I don't get that.

 

[usea]

I'm tired of my computer crashing every day, and I want to buy an all new system (keep monitor, keyboard etc obviously). I want the best bang-for-buck, and definitely won't spend $800 or more. I've been building computers for a long time, so I'm comfortable with it.

The "utility player" on techreport's april guide looks great. The video card isn't available anymore on newegg though. Any recommendations? I haven't been keeping up with the hardware game at all.

for reference, my current system is:
2 (physical) intel xeon cpus @ 3.4ghz each
2gb ram
geforce 7800, agp

 

[Ashhong]

guys quick! what do u think of this deal?? should i upgrade from my 512mb asus 4870?

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010282&prodlist=celebros

also i just bought a corsair 450w psu, think its still enough to power this new card?

edit: i guess i mean, will this new card take up a lot more power than the 512mb 4870? i have my 4870, and im assuming will not have to overclock the 4890

 

[MWS Natural]

guys quick! what do u think of this deal?? should i upgrade from my 512mb asus 4870?

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010282&prodlist=celebros

also i just bought a corsair 450w psu, think its still enough to power this new card?

Damn that's a really good deal. I keep hearing about how loud and hot the ATI cards are so I am worried about buying one for my SFF PC.

 

[brain_stew]

I'm tired of my computer crashing every day, and I want to buy an all new system (keep monitor, keyboard etc obviously). I want the best bang-for-buck, and definitely won't spend $800 or more. I've been building computers for a long time, so I'm comfortable with it.

The "utility player" on techreport's april guide looks great. The video card isn't available anymore on newegg though. Any recommendations? I haven't been keeping up with the hardware game at all.

for reference, my current system is:
2 (physical) intel xeon cpus @ 3.4ghz each
2gb ram
geforce 7800, agp

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150361

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

Edit: Screw that, buy the card in Ashong's post, be quick that deals bound to be snapped up straight away, its too hot to miss out on.

Yeah, the 450w Corsair has actually proven itself to be quite underrated, can manage upto 600w iirc. If it powers your 4870 itll manage a 4890 no bother, there's not a huge difference in power draw.

Damn that's a really good deal. I keep hearing about how loud and hot the ATI cards are so I am worried about buying one for my SFF PC.

That pumps the heat out the back of your case. It'll be fine. Jump on it I say, you're getting a stupid amount of graphics performance for your money there. You'd have payed $500 for that performance about 6 months ago (GTX 280).

 

[Ashhong]

well i actually havent tested the 450w corsair yet, but i assume its going to work lol. hmmmmmm im so torn, do i want to spend money on it. is it possible to underclock these factory overclocked cards?

who wants to buy a 512mb Asus 4870 Dark Knight card?! lol

 

[Shinz Kicker]

today i had a massive facepalm. i took my computer apart to see how my heatsink was mounted and low and behold.... i left the fucking blue scratch free film on the heatsink this whole time ( 4 months). will post new number after the weekend when i get it put back together.

*facepalm*

 

[adg1034]

today i had a massive facepalm. i took my computer apart to see how my heatsink was mounted and low and behold.... i left the fucking blue scratch free film on the heatsink this whole time ( 4 months). will post new number after the weekend when i get it put back together.

*facepalm*

It didn't... melt?

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

well i actually havent tested the 450w corsair yet, but i assume its going to work lol. hmmmmmm im so torn, do i want to spend money on it. is it possible to underclock these factory overclocked cards?

who wants to buy a 512mb Asus 4870 Dark Knight card?! lol

It should be possible to underclock it in ATi Overdrive.

 

[Ashhong]

schweet, pulled the trigger. fucking PC building, im going to go broke. i figured if i cant sell my old one at a good price i can probably just sell this card and make like 10 bucks profit.

 

[bigmit3737]

For those interested:

Zip Zoom Fly has the MSI Radeaon 4890 for $180 after rebate ($20).
And it comes with two free games; Legendary and Rainbow 6 Vegas 2.



http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010282&prodlist=celebros

EDIT:

Out of stock.

 

[usea]

Out of stock. That's what I get for sleeping during the day.

 

[MWS Natural]

well i actually havent tested the 450w corsair yet, but i assume its going to work lol. hmmmmmm im so torn, do i want to spend money on it. is it possible to underclock these factory overclocked cards?

who wants to buy a 512mb Asus 4870 Dark Knight card?! lol

How much?

Edit:
Dammit no HDMI! I need HDMI audio/video out =/

 

[brain_stew]

How much?

Edit:
Dammit no HDMI! I need HDMI audio/video out =/

Its the reference design. HDMI audio and video are provided through a dongle. Oh we talking about that Asus 4870, that has built in 7.1 through a provided HDMI dongle as well just like the reference design.

 

[Ashhong]

really it has audio and video through the dongle? it came with a DVI->HDMI connector, didnt know it did audio as well, thats cool.

MWS you got a PM

 

[usea]

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on tech report's utility player build tonight (thanks for the links brain_stew!). Will I have any problems with that AMD Phenom II and an Nvidia video card? The apparently equivalent Q9400 is almost $100 more.

I know this isn't the best thread for it, but any headphones recommendations? I prefer full-ear cans with a flat sound. They don't have to noise-cancel, as long as they're not open ear. Man, newegg's headphone selection seems slim. Where else should I buy from?

 

[Ashhong]

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on tech report's utility player build tonight (thanks for the links brain_stew!). Will I have any problems with that AMD Phenom II and an Nvidia video card? The apparently equivalent Q9400 is almost $100 more.

I know this isn't the best thread for it, but any headphones recommendations? I prefer full-ear cans with a flat sound. They don't have to noise-cancel, as long as they're not open ear. Man, newegg's headphone selection seems slim. Where else should I buy from?

im not like an audiophile, but ive had these altec lansing headphones/microphone headsets, and they are awesome.

I have the AHS-502i and love them. they completely immerse me in sound and nobody can hear it even when i turn it up very loud. I only see it on ebay. There is the AHS-602i for only 40 bucks, then use cashback etc etc.

 

[MiniDitka]

Hopefully someone here can help a computer illiterate like myself find the right card. I'm also looking for a $100 or less card to use for for some occasional gaming and video editing but have no clue what to get. I was thinking of something like this

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3747342&CatId=28

but have no idea if it would be a good choice for my setup which is...

ASUS A8NE 939 MB
2 GB Ram
AND 64 X2 4200+ Manchester CPU

I live close to Tiger Direct so thats the place I would like to purchase it from. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ithorien]

So I've finally come to the fork in the road which says "buy yourself a new PC or don't".

This is what I got so far- I have a case, drives. Old PSU so gonna get a new fresh one.

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ

Anything I should be aware of, any suggestions or changes? You guys were really helpful when I had to deal with my wife's build, so I'm all in your hands Budget right around 1k, since I can benefit from Newegg's preferred account.

I am not planning to OC with this setup because it would require me to spend more money, but I want something that will be reliable for a while.

 

[Hazaro]

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on tech report's utility player build tonight (thanks for the links brain_stew!). Will I have any problems with that AMD Phenom II and an Nvidia video card? The apparently equivalent Q9400 is almost $100 more.

I know this isn't the best thread for it, but any headphones recommendations? I prefer full-ear cans with a flat sound. They don't have to noise-cancel, as long as they're not open ear. Man, newegg's headphone selection seems slim. Where else should I buy from?

No problems, I said I endorsed it right?

For headphones a popular cheap choice are senheiser HD201's, but through an overstock deal I got some RP-F550's for $8 or so. They sell anywhere from $25-40, the 201's are around $20.
I'd much recommend the RP-F550's though, since I came from the HD201.

Anything higher than $50 you should check out head-fi.org

 

[Hazaro]

EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

I am not planning to OC with this setup because it would require me to spend more money, but I want something that will be reliable for a while.

You can go cheaper on the motherboard, you don't need an SLi board.

You can easily bump your CPU to 3Ghz on stock cooler and stock voltage.
You can also undervolt if you want to.

*Whoops meant to edit that in

 

[ithorien]

You can go cheaper on the motherboard, you don't need an SLi board.

You can easily bump your CPU to 3Ghz on stock cooler and stock voltage.
You can also undervolt if you want to.

*Whoops meant to edit that in

Reason why I was looking at this board is the combo deal with the ram, and the newegg award. Someone also said it has lifetime warranty, as opposed to the TR board.

If I drop to a mobo below, it'll put me under a grand