Support NeoGAF

[Haeleos]

I'm racking my brain trying to find a good power supply around $80ish on ncix.ca.

The Rosewills on newegg look nice but they want $25 for shipping.

Does this one look ok?
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37325&vpn=BFGR550WGSPSU&manufacture=BFG Technologies

or I can PM this one to $46
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29136

 

[jett]

I'm looking into buying a 4850...is not having a PSU with a dedicated 6-pin PCI-E cable gonna cause problems? Or will I do fine with a molex adapter?

Hello?

 

[Ryu1999]

Hello?

I don't know about ATI, but my GTX260 came with two 4-pin to 6-pin pci-e adapters.
You're going to need 4 spare regular molex cables. It takes 2 4pins for each adapter

 

[derder]

I'm looking to get a SSD to install the RC of W7 on.

Will this suffice? Should I go for the 60 gb?

30GB OCZ Vertex SSD

 

[Minsc]

I'm looking to get a SSD to install the RC of W7 on.

Will this suffice? Should I go for the 60 gb?

30GB OCZ Vertex SSD

I would run 2 30s in RAID 0 if the price is close enough instead of a single 60. SSDs absolutely FLY in RAID 0.

Here's a recent round up of SSDs, the only real contenders are the Vertex and Intel X25, with the X25 having a slight advantage still.

 

[brain_stew]

Hello?

In theory yes, but the problem is that any PSU that doesn't have a sngle PCIe power onnector is usully a POS. Check the side of it to see how many amps it can deliver on the 12v rail.

 

[derder]

I would run 2 30s in RAID 0 if the price is close enough instead of a single 60. SSDs absolutely FLY in RAID 0.

Here's a recent round up of SSDs, the only real contenders are the Vertex and Intel X25, with the X25 having a slight advantage still.

I've never done RAID before. I have a 1.5 TB HDD that I use now that I was planning on using for storage. How would I go about setting two of these up in RAID 0?

 

[jett]

In theory yes, but the problem is that any PSU that doesn't have a sngle PCIe power onnector is usully a POS. Check the side of it to see how many amps it can deliver on the 12v rail.

It says 18A...man PC gaming is so fucking complicated these days. I think I'm just gonna stick to consoles.

 

[derder]

Looks like I should wait.

 

[K.Jack]

It says 18A...man PC gaming is so fucking complicated these days. I think I'm just gonna stick to consoles.

If you're not up to it, just take it to someone who is.

 

[Minsc]

I've never done RAID before. I have a 1.5 TB HDD that I use now that I was planning on using for storage. How would I go about setting two of these up in RAID 0?

It's usually just done in the motherboard these days? I'm not entirely sure, a long time ago I had SCSI RAID controllers, but motherboard support is how I'm hoping to go when I build my PC, so I'll have to figure it out too.

Here's some charts of performance (there's more recent ones, just can't find them atm), it's astounding how damned fast the RAID0 is compared to the other drives.

And to get a RAID0 SSD setup for ~$200 is an amazing bargain, thanks for reminding me just how cheap SSDs are getting.

A single SSD handily beats out most RAID0 HDDs, so don't worry too much if you don't want to RAID0 the SSDs, but it's nearly a 100% performance improvement with SSDs.

Edit: I really think this is going to be the single best upgrade someone can do in '09, the idea of NWN2 or DoW 2 levels loading in practically less than a second almost has me getting my credit card out now. The only downside will be having to rotate games out since you can only fit so many 10 gig games on these drives.

 

[M.Bluth]

It says 18A...man PC gaming is so fucking complicated these days. I think I'm just gonna stick to consoles.

Just buy a new PSU... A good enough PSU won't cost much

 

[bigmit3737]

I don't know about ATI, but my GTX260 came with two 4-pin to 6-pin pci-e adapters.
You're going to need 4 spare regular molex cables. It takes 2 4pins for each adapter

I ordered the same graphics card. And it should be arriving next week.

I am planning on getting a Corsair brand PSU...I think 450-550 Volts.
I should be OK right (in terms of connections)?

 

[brain_stew]

It says 18A...man PC gaming is so fucking complicated these days. I think I'm just gonna stick to consoles.

Hardware upgrades are simpler than they've ever been. A single 18a 12v rail isn't really gonna cut it for a 4850, either pick up a 4670 or upgrade your PSU.

 

[John_B]

So my old Plextor drive is dying on me, and since Plextor don't make dvd writers anymore I have to get something else. I really like slot loading drives, but not many were produced. Are there some new, good slot loading drives out there?

 

[bigmit3737]

My GTX 260 JUST arrived.

This shit is HUGE!

The only other card I have had is the 6600 GT, which is what my current PC has, and this thing is like 3x's the size of it.

It came with Overclocking utilities...does this mean I can overclock it without voiding my warranty?

EDIT: I just realized I got the superclocked edition.

Now I just need the intel processors to drop in price a bit.

 

[Slavik81]

DirectCanada is AWESOME. Not only are they the cheapest, but I sent my order in at 10am on the 22nd and it showed up at my house today (the 24th). And that's with the free shipping.

Of course, I only ordered with newegg last night, and they're shipping from the states... so my computer still might take a while...

 

[mr stroke]

Edit: I really think this is going to be the single best upgrade someone can do in '09, the idea of NWN2 or DoW 2 levels loading in practically less than a second almost has me getting my credit card out now. The only downside will be having to rotate games out since you can only fit so many 10 gig games on these drives.

holly shit ssd drives are that fast? I thought about picking up a 10,000 RPM hard drive but I guess SSD is the way to go, how much faster is a SSD drive vs a 10k HDD?

 

[dionysus]

Minsc, are all the issues with SSD "defragmenting" fixed? I heard there performance would gradually get worse because of faulty drivers keep rearranging the data storage.

 

[Slavik81]

Minsc, are all the issues with SSD "defragmenting" fixed? I heard there performance would gradually get worse because of faulty drivers keep rearranging the data storage.

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/4/14/intel-fixes-its-ssd-performance-slowdown-issue.aspx

 

[dionysus]

Excellent, excellent. As soon as I can get 100GB for around $150 I will upgrade.

 

[Minsc]

holly shit ssd drives are that fast? I thought about picking up a 10,000 RPM hard drive but I guess SSD is the way to go, how much faster is a SSD drive vs a 10k HDD?

I'm a big fan of SSDs for various reasons, speed being actually not even the biggest, though that's obviously a great thing about them. I don't have any yet (hence why I said "the idea of ... loading in under a second"), but the consensus seems to be however fast you think they are, they're faster.

There's plenty of benchmarks, if you search around, showing how many fractions of a second they can do things in, but ultimately from what I've read there's nothing you can really do to a modern machine that will give a more visible speed increase than swap in a SSD for a standard HDD.

I read about that above firmware fix when they said it would take place soon, nice to see them deliver.

I still think it's amazing you can buy a very good SSD for about $100, and RAID0 it for under $250... I think I spent more than that on my WD Raptor, and that Vertex will smoke right by my drives. It's still not quite a match for the X25M, but it's priced much nicer.

 

[Shinz Kicker]

I need cheap gpu for my 4 year old pci-e x 16 i was thinking a 4650, since its got almost twice as many stream units as a 3650 at the same cost. But without getting a shitty 2400 pro. Its just going to be used for movies and sims 3 and "the Movies"

 

[Confidence Man]

I ordered the same graphics card. And it should be arriving next week.

I am planning on getting a Corsair brand PSU...I think 450-550 Volts.
I should be OK right (in terms of connections)?

I'd go a little higher. I think 500w is the minimum for a high-end system with that card.

 

[larvi]

I need cheap gpu for my 4 year old pci-e x 16 i was thinking a 4650, since its got almost twice as many stream units as a 3650 at the same cost. But without getting a shitty 2400 pro. Its just going to be used for movies and sims 3 and "the Movies"

I just picked up one of these 9600GSO's as a budget replacement for the 7600GS that just died in one of my PC's. Assuming the rebate comes through it seems like a lot of card for $40, looks like it may have gone out of stock since I ordered it though:

http://shop3.frys.com/product/5837943

 

[adg1034]

Disproving once again the "PC gaming is too expensive!" myth, the Radeon HD 4770 is just about to release. For less than $100, this thing gets you HD 4850 levels of performance, meaning at or near 60 FPS on almost all current games at resolutions under 1920x1080. Frankly, I'm flabbergasted; Nvidia doesn't have a part even approaching this kind of value at the $100 price point.

 

[jett]

Hardware upgrades are simpler than they've ever been. A single 18a 12v rail isn't really gonna cut it for a 4850, either pick up a 4670 or upgrade your PSU.

Eh you're righ! I might pick up the 4670...that should do fine for every game not named Crysis, right?

 

[NinjaFridge]

Disproving once again the "PC gaming is too expensive!" myth, the Radeon HD 4770 is just about to release. For less than $100, this thing gets you HD 4850 levels of performance, meaning at or near 60 FPS on almost all current games at resolutions under 1920x1080. Frankly, I'm flabbergasted; Nvidia doesn't have a part even approaching this kind of value at the $100 price point.

How well will this work in my computer, if at all? I know the PSU will have to be upgraded but other than that what can i expect?

 

[adg1034]

How well will this work in my computer, if at all? I know the PSU will have to be upgraded but other than that what can i expect?

Depending on the size of your case, you might have an interesting time replacing the PSU/installing the card. As for your components, the Q8200 is a solid CPU, but in some games, you might find yourself limited by its stock speed. Again, I don't know how big your case is, but investing in a non-stock heatsink/fan assembly would do wonders in allowing you to overclock the processor.

 

[Shinz Kicker]

How well will this work in my computer, if at all? I know the PSU will have to be upgraded but other than that what can i expect?

Im pretty sure you wont get the full benefit of the card since your mobo is PCi-E x16 and not 2.0. You might have a drop in bandwidth but for 100$ this card is a hell of deal.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Threw a Phenom XII 920 on a 780g gigabyte micro atx mobo, 4gb ballistix ram, 1tb samsung f1 spinpoint and 1gb radeon 4870 (I wanted hdmi out) in a antec p180 micro atx case w/ antec 550watt modular PS.

Playing crysis/TF2 @1080p on a 42 inch plasma is awesome! The phenom XII is a beast of a proc as well, for the price I paid I think I did quite well. Total will be just about $650 as long as the $30 rebate for the vid card comes through. HDMI worked first time, sound and everything.

I HIGHLY recommend the antec case though, nearly silent until the CPU fan starts to kick in when gaming. Of course it's $109 with free shipping now, a week after I paid $129.99 plus $15 to ship it. =p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129041

 

[adg1034]

Im pretty sure you wont get the full benefit of the card since your mobo is PCi-E x16 and not 2.0. You might have a drop in bandwidth but for 100$ this card is a hell of deal.

Having a PCI-E x16 slot does not preclude his motherboard from being non-2.0. Where would you get that idea? And besides, as far as I know, no cards have run into bandwidth limitations from the PCI-E version yet anyway. NinjaFridge, you're going to be fine.

 

[NinjaFridge]

Thanks for replying. I didn't get this PC for gaming so i won't exactly be pushing it but at that price you can't really go wrong, plus going from Intel Integrated it's going to be a big jump. If i do decide to upgrade i'll probably be doing it June at the earliest (will that card be out by then). I'll definitely come back into this thread for help though, so expect to hear some noob questions considering i haven't done this kind of thing before.

 

[SapientWolf]

Disproving once again the "PC gaming is too expensive!" myth, the Radeon HD 4770 is just about to release. For less than $100, this thing gets you HD 4850 levels of performance, meaning at or near 60 FPS on almost all current games at resolutions under 1920x1080. Frankly, I'm flabbergasted; Nvidia doesn't have a part even approaching this kind of value at the $100 price point.

It's basically a 4830 refresh, which has been around the $99 and below mark for awhile. I actually expect the 4770 to cost a little bit more out the gate, since it's the better overall card (less power consumption, better overclocker, etc.)

PC hardware has been kicking PC games' asses for awhile. 60fps @ 4xAA/1080p on a sub $100 card is pretty insane.

 

[Shinz Kicker]

Thanks for replying. I didn't get this PC for gaming so i won't exactly be pushing it but at that price you can't really go wrong, plus going from Intel Integrated it's going to be a big jump. If i do decide to upgrade i'll probably be doing it June at the earliest (will that card be out by then). I'll definitely come back into this thread for help though, so expect to hear some noob questions considering i haven't done this kind of thing before.

My previous post was not in anyway trying to dissuade you from buying the 4770, that is going to be a hell of a card that should have a little boost over the 4830.

 

[Shinz Kicker]

It's basically a 4830 refresh, which has been around the $99 and below mark for awhile. I actually expect the 4770 to cost a little bit more out the gate, since it's the better overall card (less power consumption, better overclocker, etc.)

PC hardware has been kicking PC games' asses for awhile. 60fps @ 4xAA/1080p on a sub $100 card is pretty insane.

There is no possible excuse for any next gen system to have at least the power of a 4770 with probably 1 gig of ram to output 1080p graphics. I cant imagine the power upgrade the next wii will be like to nintendo dev teams. They wont know what to do with themselves.

 

[NinjaFridge]

There is no possible excuse for any next gen system to have at least the power of a 4770 with probably 1 gig of ram to output 1080p graphics. I cant imagine the power upgrade the next wii will be like to nintendo dev teams. They wont know what to do with themselves.

:lol

 

[Bebpo]

So I figured out wtf happened to my dvd drive. After the Crysis Warhead install it had been reading super slow (takes like an hour to install a 2gig game), and when I tried to burn something the buffer in Nero kept jumping from 40% to 80% and back and forth and it would take an hour to burn a disc.

After googling around, it seems that there is an XP bug and when the drive had trouble reading the Crysis disc XP locked it in PIO MODE which is ultra slow. Using this registry changing guide here:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/

I was able to restore the drive back to Ultra DMA and now it is reading/burning at normal speeds again.

Also I saw a few places mention Starforce can cause problems with drive reading, so for good measure after finding Starforce on my computer I went to their website and ran the removal tool and got rid of it.

 

[SapientWolf]

Depending on the size of your case, you might have an interesting time replacing the PSU/installing the card. As for your components, the Q8200 is a solid CPU, but in some games, you might find yourself limited by its stock speed. Again, I don't know how big your case is, but investing in a non-stock heatsink/fan assembly would do wonders in allowing you to overclock the processor.

The BIOS in HP computers don't allow for any overclocking, unless something has changed.

 

[godhandiscen]

Eh you're righ! I might pick up the 4670...that should do fine for every game not named Crysis, right?

Which games do you plan on playing?

 

[jett]

Which games do you plan on playing?

I dunno, stuff like Mass Effect and Mirrors Edge?

 

[godhandiscen]

I dunno, stuff like Mass Effect and Mirrors Edge?

You will be fine, just don't expect 60fps at the highest settings. It will be experience more polished than in consoles though, that is for sure.
Here are some benchmarks.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ati-radeon-hd-4670-review/7

Your system will pull an fps comparable to those benchmarks given that the cpu and ram are anything closer to the test setup. Do not upgrade your CPU to get a a 4850 since it will be bottlenecked by anything less than a 3.0GHz dual core.

 

[adg1034]

The BIOS in HP computers don't allow for any overclocking, unless something has changed.

You're absolutely right. I've just gotten so used to custom-built PCs that I just assume everyone can tweak CPU multipliers in their motherboard settings. My bad.

 

[brain_stew]

Im pretty sure you wont get the full benefit of the card since your mobo is PCi-E x16 and not 2.0. You might have a drop in bandwidth but for 100$ this card is a hell of deal.

That's some pretty major BS right there. If a GTX 285 isn't restricted by a PCIEx16 slot then a 4770 sure as hell won't be.

The card has a very low power draw and as such should run just fine on that HP's stock PSU.

 

[Coldsnap]

Whats company or model Laptop is my best value. I'd like another Mac but my budget is around $600, so maybe something thats light and has Mac aesthetics? I need it for typing papers, browsing the internet and maybe playing a few blizzard games (no Wow). Appreciate any info.

 

[rass]

thanks very much to everyone who helped me out deciding on parts, especially Fredescu, I just ordered my new PC:
Mobo: Asus P6T
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
GPU: Gigabyte GTX260
RAM: 6GB Kingston DDR3 1333
Case: Coolermaster RC690
PSU: Coolermaster Extreme 600w+ (I hope this isnt shit i got put on the spot :lol)
HDD: WD 640GB
DVD: Pioneer 216
OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit
also got a card reader in the front.

Grand total: (including assembly)
AU$1,964

I pick it up this time tomorrow
unfortunately I suck at sticking to a budget, so I have to use my plasma as a monitor for a couple of weeks, I think I'll live!

 

[Fredescu]

PSU: Coolermaster Extreme 600w+ (I hope this isnt shit i got put on the spot :lol)

To be honest, a Seasonic M12 500w would have been better. It will probably do the job though.

Congrats on ordering the system. Sounds like they had most things in stock.

 

[rass]

To be honest, a Seasonic M12 500w would have been better. It will probably do the job though.

Congrats on ordering the system. Sounds like they had most things in stock.

yep i had that written down from your suggestion earlier, but i decided to order through CPL after speaking to some irl friends, and they didn't have it so I was left shooting blind. Everything was in stock luckily, and as long as nothing catches fire i'll be happy

 

[Slavik81]

DirectCanada is AWESOME. Not only are they the cheapest, but I sent my order in at 10am on the 22nd and it showed up at my house today (the 24th). And that's with the free shipping.

Of course, I only ordered with newegg last night, and they're shipping from the states... so my computer still might take a while...

Newegg is slow. They still haven't shipped. (Admittedly, they've only had the order 1 full day.)
Compu2000 was ordered an hour or two after newegg and shipped already.

*visits newegg tracking page*
F5 F5 F5 F5 F5

 

[bigswords]

Hmmm I caved with so many cheap pc game , it's time to leave my BSOD POS and time to get a new i7 core pc with 4870 graphic card.

I gotten lazy over the years, I just bought it from Dell, few simple clicks should be here in one or 2 weeks!