Glad I didn't wait for Bulldozer. I miss the days when FX 64 raped everything Intel had.
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Glad I didn't wait for Bulldozer. I miss the days when FX 64 raped everything Intel had.
Proud owner of an Athlon X2 and Phenom X4..but now AMD, RIP.
I think the biggest problem is that an i5-2500k, which isn't a flagship processor, beats out all the new flagship 8150 Bulldozer chips... Then there's the flagship i7-2600k and i7-980x which both just completely destroy the Bulldozer 8150's.
On top of that Intel is going to be releasing the i7-2700k or whatever the replacements are going to be soon. Plus Ivy-Bridge with 22nm processors.
At this point, Intel has pretty much proclaimed that "resistance is futile" to AMD.
Quoted for truth. I'm still rocking my Socket 939 Athlon 64 3200+.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrickssj6
Freelancer, AMD not doing well here is also bad for Intel. If AMD goes under, Intel may face scrutiny and a possible split. It's also bad for us. Intel now knows for sure that AMD can't compete, and so they are free to hike prices on the high end parts.
All the same, looks like my new rig will be sporting a blue sticker instead of a red one.
AMD has more to work with than Intel, they still have their GPU line.
Except that Intel also has a hand in the GPU market and, in fact, has the majority share of it thanks their long history of integrated graphics.
Intel is already being watched thanks to their scandal early last decade with AMD. They should be wary of a weak AMD.
One failing will only make the other stronger, there's no other competition.
So I'm having a bit of a heat issue with my current machine. The issue is most prevalent when I'm playing more demanding games, such as, Crysis, BC2, and BF3. the problem seems to be with my CPU temperature. On average it's temperature reads at around 40c. When gaming for a lengthier amount of time the temperature shoots up to about 49c. It's at about this point that without warning my entire machine will completely shut off; One second everything is all hunky dory, and then, all power shuts off. The only thing I can do to stop it at the moment is shove a big box fan next to my tower; that usually keeps it at around 45c.
does anyone have any recommendations on a new cooling system that may solve this problem? my current system specs are as follows:
Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E
CPU: Intel Core i7 950 (4x 3.06GHz/8MB L3 cache)
CPU cooling: Liquid cooling system, with 120mm 2800 rpm fan
Case cooling: Two standard 120 mm fans at 1600 rpm
GPU: GTX 460 1GB soon to be GTX 570
Memory: 6 GB DDR3-1600
Power supply: 700 Watt (no cooling)
50 degrees isn't anything to worry about. My 2500k hits 80 degrees when I' benchmarking... Got to be something else.
There is no other consumer x86 competition in the world apart from AMD, and AMD is only able to compete now because they used to work for Intel and because of a technicality back in 1994. If AMD goes bankrupt and isn't bought by another company with the intention of producing x86 parts, then Intel has a monopoly. Because the entire home computing industry relies on x86, customers have no choice and have to pay whatever Intel wants them to for a new computer. Unless ARM takes the home and business PC markets by storm (and it might), Intel will be split into two smaller companies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Freelancer
Caboos001: First, is your system clean? Second, do you have adequate airflow for the fans? Even on liquid, it helps. Third, are your coolant levels OK? I might suggest removing the heat sink on the CPU, cleaning off the old thermal paste, and applying new paste. Oh, and what are your GPU temperatures? Also, 'Lancer, he's not running a Sandy Bridge Core series, he's on Nehalem. Different tolerances.
Yeah but 50 degrees is still nothing, at least it should be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Warsaw
My GPU runs at 40c on average, I have yet to take a reading while gaming. My machine is very clean at the moment, nothing serious that could cause heat problems. My air flow seems alright. the systems seems to be ventilating ok; I am however considering picking up a PCI slot case cooler such as this,Link, to improve it some. Lastly, I honestly have no idea what my coolant levels are at, I'll have to check.Quote:
Originally Posted by Warsaw
Edit: Ok so I took a look and my coolant levels are fine. I did manage to take off my heat sink, however, this is my first time doing so, and I have no idea weather or not I need to apply new thermal paste. I imagine doing it regardless can't hurt. I did snap a couple of pictures and from the looks of it I may need to do just that.
Attachment 2416Attachment 2417
I'll be running some stress tests over night to see if the issue may be something besides heat problem. Though the fact that cooling the machine with an epic box fan seems to keep it from crashing keeps me leaning towards a heat problem.
If you take off the heat sink, you MUST clean off the old paste and put new paste on. I recommend using a coffee filter with rubbing alcohol to clean of the paste, as it will not leave residue.
I really hope that once you took that off you didn't just slap it back on to use the PC. You need to re-apply paste every time you remove your waterblock/HSF like Warsaw said.
Nope, it's all stripped down and waiting for its new graphics card right now. Just ordered a new fan and some more thermal paste as well, so once it all arrives I should be in business.Quote:
Originally Posted by Freelancer
Go into your BIOS and find what you've got the heat shutdown threshold at.Quote:
Originally Posted by Caboos001
http://www.modacity.net/forums/showt...l=1#post597948Quote:
Originally Posted by Freelancer
Mkay, so a little update here. My graphics card came in just yesterday, along with a tube of Arctic Silver 5, and another case exhaust fan. I'm having some mixed results here. The overall temperature of my CPU has dropped to 101F while idle and the temperature usually maxes out at about 138F while gaming; an overall improvement from what it ran at last. Then, my new GPU (GTX 570) idles at 113F and maxes at around 183F.
Now my system has shut down on me on at least 2 different occasion while playing BC2, with the same max temperature readings you see above. however, now instead of just completely shutting off, the system just restarts itself. I have tried looking at my BIOS for my heat threshold but it does not seem as though I have anything indicating what it is, nor do I have an option to change it. It seems odd to me that my system now crashes at a lower heat level than it did before. Could this problem be related to my power supply perhaps? over the past hour I've been putting my system under some more stress while gaming, I have yet to crash as of yet, so here's hoping the issue has somehow resolved itself.
EDIT: Well damn, guess what, it was a problem with my PSU after all. I was just casually gaming early when out of nowhere my computer shut down. I figured it was just another random shutdown and attempted to boot it back up. Well with a push of the power button all that turned on were the LED case light for a split second followed up with a faint, "PST" sound from the PSU. So how many other components do you guys think the PSU took with it?
Do you hear or feel any other fans moving at all?
The GPU should still have a slight movement of the fan if only for a second, depending on your card there may be a red LED saying if the card is damaged or not.
It can go either way, either the PSU only took it self out or wiped the entire system with it, it's happened to me before now.
Yeah, no fan movement whatsoever. It just does the same thing as before. Now there is one little red light just under my PCI slot that turns on and stays on when the power switch is in the on position, but the computer is not booted up. Looks just like this ( not my computer though)
Attachment 2435
Also, a couple of USB peripherals like my wireless adapter show a power light indicating they do have some kind of power. as for my GPU, I have nothing more than the fan to indicate if it has any power.
It looks like your motherboard may have taken the clout as well then.
Try testing with another PSU if possible if you're still getting nothing then it's safe to assume the board has died as well.
I just hope you don't have an Asus motherboard, I sent one of those for a repair and it got lost in Russia for 8 months.
Sounds like PSU to me.
Alright, everything turned out better than expected. Bought a new PSU and have everything hooked up. There is no damage to my motherboard, no damage to the CPU, no damage to anything but the old PSU itself, which upon further inspection is completely fried. from the looks of it, the guys who built it installed it in such a way that it was getting next to nothing for ventilation; leading to the heat problem which of course lead to its inevitable death. Thanks for the help guys, I now have an even better idea on what I'm doing thanks to this past week. Though, while it's an overall improvement, I still can't computer; so I'll of course have more questions in the future.
Just ordered one of these.
Price I paid was around £40 give or take a few pennys to replace my old Belnea screen from back in early 05.
Anyone had experience with Acer screens before?
Pick me, pick me!
I have a 22" 1680x1050 Acer monitor. It's attached to my kitchen PC. I believe the model is the X223w. Good colours, no dead pixels, even light distribution and best of all: 16:10 aspect ratio. Have not had a single issue with it. Build quality is solid, but nothing special.
I thought someone here might have used an Acer display, wasn't sure who though.
I've been checking up some details and if the spec's I've been given are correct, then it seems this monitor may have been a bargain.
According to several sites this display has a contrast of "8000000:1 (ACM) Contrast Ratio".
Usually I'm well kept up to date on computer hardware but I must admit, I don't keep myself up to date on displays, on your display are the range of colours any good?
Reason I ask is my current display is starting to fade in terms of the colours displayed, even with messing with the options plus there's faint "static" like fuzz on the screen if you look hard enough.
All I'm really looking for is whether Acer are a good reputable maker of monitors like they seem to be for laptops.
Good news and bad news.
Good news: Acer makes monitors better today than they did 5 years ago. I don't hear more dead pixel complaints on their monitors than the competitors these days. The problem is that they are still low spec monitors, but they are cheap. You're not gonna get good contrast ratios with most Acer monitors.
Bad news: Acer is the worst possible company to buy a laptop from (and their Gateway and eMachines divisions). Their stuff is just absolutely junk. It falls apart within 4 months from regular use. Acer is in no way possible a reputable laptop manufacturer. They use cheap components to keep prices low on laptops that have many more features than well made laptops that are from better manufacturers (Toshiba, Samsung, Lenovo). My sister got a Gateway laptop in early April against my warnings. The thing is basically falling apart and she's kicking herself now. My friend in Ottawa bought a Gateway last August before heading off to university. Before a month even ended since he got the thing, the bordering around the trackpad and buttons came off and the buttons became loose. All plastic too. Just really shoddy components all around.
The only type of laptop that Acer makes very well are their netbooks. Those little guys are made of fucking brushed metal. How is it that they don't do that for mid-range price laptops?
If you're after something that's going to display 97% of the Adobe RGB gamut and if you're hoping for an IPS panel, look elsewhere. This is not a professional panel. That said, as a monitor, the colours are not faded, the contrast is in-line with what I expect out of a matte LCD display, and there is no static.Quote:
Originally Posted by =sw=warlord
Double post, because it's necessary.
So, I need a new computer. Again. My last build went up in blue smoke; that was partly my fault, and partly the motherboard's fault. Now, it's irrelevant. I have no idea which parts are salvageable apart from the hard drive and the DVD drive. CPU and RAM might be, but I have no way of testing them. I'm not inclined to buy a bunch of expensive parts on the assumption that I can reuse those components. So? I am building a new rig.
I intend to build an X58 system. Sandy Bridge doesn't offer any features that I care to take advantage of, and Nehalem's performance is almost at clock-for-clock parity with it. I want the full 36 lanes of PCI Express, which is why I am choosing it over the Z68 platform. I also want the triple-channel memory. Know that I've done my homework. What I want is a second opinion on my choice of parts, rather than an opinion on the platform.
So, here's the build:
CPU - i7 950 3.06GHz
Motherboard - ASUS Rampage III Formula X58 LGA 1366
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333: CAS 7-7-7-21
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD6970 2GB x2 (using in Crossfire)
HDD - 1TB WD Caviar Black 7200rpm 32MB Cache
And a maybe buy:
SSD - SanDisk Ultra SDSSDH-G25 120GB
The SSD is not a high priority. I require a machine that can play BF3. I bought it, but I cannot play it with my current computer.
Thoughts?
Have fun.
You could afford a 6990 for the price of those two 6970s. Also, you may be getting 50% more memory bandwidth with triple channel, but it's not like your processor will make up for it and give you par performance now that Sandy Bridge is around. Two 6990s barely saturate 16 PCIe lanes so it's not like you'll need that many lanes with two 6970s. The i7 950, and even the 960, would be the bottleneck.
If you're still set on TRIPPAHL CHANNAHL memory, just stick with a single 6970 and consider this a decent mid range machine to keep you going till whatever comes out to replace LGA 2011 and the Sandy Bridge Enthusiast chips due in 5 or so months. You say you've done your research and looking for concerns about the parts. Keep in mind that only the enthusiast level of hardware can make full use of the chipset (i7 990x, dual 6990s, RAID, etc.). You'd get much better performance per dollar out of Sandy Bridge.
Except the equivalent SB CPU (i7 2600K) is $315 where as this CPU is $260. I don't call $55 chump change. The only 1155 boards worth buying are those sporting Z68, and none of them have the full PCIe support. I can also get RAM at a better price/quantity ratio than with a dual-channel setup. When you say the 950 is the bottle-neck, you have to remember that this is one very high bottleneck. All the benchmarks I've read conclude that any CPU you buy, whether it's a Sempron or an Intel Extreme, is a bottleneck to the best GPUs out today.
Performance per dollar lies with Nehalem on the i7 and Sandy Bridge on the i5.
If I were building a mid-range machine, then I'd be sticking with AMD on the AM3. Performance per dollar on those Phenom II X4s and X6s is really hard to beat right now. This machine I build now is going to last me for another six years with only one intermittent RAM and/or GPU upgrade around its mid-life (expansion to 24GB and dual HD7990). Like it has with my current machine, the console market will allow me to get away with that.
I appreciate the input, so thank you. I had considered most of those points before choosing. I just really do not like the Sandy Bridge platform; it reeks of LGA1156 shenanigans. On the LGA 1366 front, the i7-990X is a money sink for little real-world advantage. I cannot afford two HD6990s right now, and as they are likely to disappear and be found only at exhorbitant prices later, I won't be able to later add a second for Crossfire. Thus, dual 6970s are optimal (I'm going to be running 2560x1600...I'm not wasting power here).
P.S. I am going to be overclocking this.
P.P.S. Also interested in hearing any thoughts on a full-on Bulldozer build. I know it's not good now, but what about the possible future using heavily threaded applications and the fact that AM3+ is still sticking around for one more generation? Benches show that FX-8150 = i7 2600K when it can be fully loaded, so there's hope.
No, the equivalent SB CPU is the 2500k and it's 219 dollars. The 2600k shames the 950.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/100?vs=288
Anyways, have fun with your PCI express 2.0 mobo with PCIe3 around the corner.
And oh, you still have some research to do. There are 1155 boards out there that can give you dual 16x slots for your video cards.
Then again, you seem to be confused that you can't afford something that's less expensive than what you're trying to get. Wasn't telling you to get two of them. You're overclocking so you can easily overcome the 5-10% difference between a 6990 and 6970cf.
Not like I'm trying to lead you to the best in your price range, deals with what you put in it instead of what you could put in it, and is generally cheaper than what you've suggested considering you're at the end of a cycle and all. That would be silly.
Ok, I'll play:
I've actually had the 2600K vs. 950 CPU comparison up all day. That's not what I call shaming, especially when they aren't clocked the same. Shaming is what the i5 2500K does to the FX-8150. If you want a slightly more accurate picture, compare the 975 Extreme and the 2600K. Even then, it's still not clock-for-clock.
On the graphics front, the last time I checked $700 is not less expensive than 2 x $320. Look at the rebate; I do rebates. Benches then show two 6970s as outperforming a single 6990. I already stated why I wouldn't get an HD6990, and it's a perfectly valid set of reasons. I said I can't afford two, and the only reason to get the 6990 over two 6970s is if I plan on getting two. I can't get another one later within reason, since I don't exactly have a steady income. Oh, and then there's the fact that two 6990s is barely better than one. Not worth an extra $700.
PCE Express 3.0 is irrelevant when none of the CPUs can activate it. None of the motherboards sporting both Z68 and PCI Express 3.0 have x16/x16. There are plenty of P67 boards, but then you lose the entire advantage of getting a Sandy Bridge system. I haven't been able to find a PCIe 3.0 Z68 board that also does x16/x16. Here's the best Z68 board that supports PCIe 3.0. None of the planned Ivy Bridge chipsets (the 7 series) support x16/x16, either.
I'm coming from a single-core AMD Athlon 64 3200+. ANYTHING is a step up. I don't give a rat's ass about power consumption, noise, or boot times.I don't foresee any major graphical revolution happening within three years with the current consoles sticking around(whelp, new Xbox to be possibly revealed in 2013). Most games are also not CPU-limited when it comes to using an Intel CPU with all the settings cranked up. I've seen the performance boost of the Socket 2011, and it's not much over the i7 990X, let alone the i7 2600K. Considering that those benches are with the most powerful SKU, it makes it clear that Sandy Bridge-E will be just as underwhelming compared to Sandy Bridge as Bulldozer was to the Phenom II. X79 lacks the staying power of X58.
Bottom line: since I seem to be unable to, find me a PCI-E 3.0 board with 16x/16x on the PCI-E 3.0 lanes, and I'll bite for the 1155.
so yesterday i noticed when i was looking at the bios readout thing that flashes on the screen when you boot up a computer that my ram speed was DDR3 - 1333. i was like, "no. that is not right, i paid for more than that." my ram is ddr3 and rated at 1600. idk if youd call that rating but thats the speed its designed to work with. so i went into the bios and changed the ram speed from 1333 to 1600.
doesnt seem to be a problem, but is there anything else i need to do to take advantage of the full 1600 mhz, or is that fine?
E: unrelated, im pretty sure im running the newest nvidea drivers on my GTX 560Ti (285.62), and just now my screen went black for a second or two, came back on, and said the drivers recovered from a crash or something. this is the second time this has happened. is that just a new driver issue?
if you have mixed memory speeds for the RAM, the entire set will be clocked to the speed of the lowest denominator.
It's not a driver issue, it's a feature! Yay Nvidia! :downs:
Also, there is a good portion of RAM that is advertised at a certain speed, but runs slower by default. It's like some sort of safety net, according to reviews I've read on Newegg.
Well, you can just put it up to speed in the BIOS right?
The insides of your guys computers look really nice.
...you should see mine :smith:
yeah thats exactly what i did. just changed the ram speed from 1333 to 1600. my question was whether or not this is all i had to do. i was thinking i might also have to do something like reset the voltage or something. idfk. it works just fine now so i guess not. also it was 4 identical sticks of 2gb ram that all came in the same box, so theres no mixed speeds there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amit
also, i clean installed the nvidea drivers again and i havent had a problem since, so i guess we're good
Usually when it comes to RAM you're supposed to adjust your voltage to get the advertised speed and timings. Adjusting the speed and timings first is like unnecessary overclocking.
Okay guys, I'm having a bit of a problem I'm hoping you can help with. I finally got my new graphics card in the mail. I uninstalled the drivers for the old one, even going as far as to remove it from the device manager. I install the new card, plug in the 6 pin power cord, and turn everything on. The monitor takes a while to come on, and when it does all I get is a gray box that says "Input not supported". I tried it several times but still the same issue. One of those times the picture did come up for a split second, then it just went to the box again. Old GPU works fine. Is there something I could have done wrong or should I just go ahead and RMA it as defective?
This is the GPU I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo
And this is my motherboard: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ctID=c01701270
As far as I can tell, it should be compatible.
Your resolution is either too high or the refresh is too high or both.
Boot in safemode and set the adjustments there and then reboot.
I'm not sure what you mean. I'm still using the same monitor and software video works fine. When I plug the new GPU in I can't get it to show a picture at all. Just the gray box.
You say you're using a new GPU.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pooky
With me if I install a new GPU windows changes the resolution to max resolution and refresh.
Do what i said above and see how it goes.
Yeah but, that assumes I can get into Windows at all. I haven't even made it that far. I just get a black screen as soon as I turn the power on.
Guys, he can't even see the POST.
Yo, just plug the card into another PC and turn it on. If you get the grey screen again, you know the GPU is borked.
I would if I had one :\
Plug the old card back in and start from the beginning. Before shutting down to take the card out, make sure you set the resolution to something low.
I'm looking for some advice on building my first rig. My budget is $1000 and I'll be using GTX 560 SLI later when I have more money saved for a second card. This is my current build so far.
Mobo: Gigabyte Intel Z68
Graphics: EVGA GTX 560 (Planning on buying a second one for SLI)
PSU: Corsair 750W
Processor: Intel i5-2300 Sandy Bridge
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw Series 8GB (I'm contemplating if I should go 6GB just to save a few bucks :P)
HDD: Western Digital 500GB 7200 RPM
Monitor: Hannspree 21.5"
Optical Drive: Sony CD/DVD burner (I'm a Sony whore)
Case: Sentey Optimus Extreme Division Tower (Not sure if I should with this one instead)
That's pretty much it. I'm open to any suggestions as long it stays within my budget. :)
You should make a new thread freelancer and keep it updated!Quote:
Last edited by Xetsuei; September 4th, 2009 at 03:05 AM.
To much technology not enough time!!
Why Freelancer? I'm in here just as often and am usually on the ball faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rook
Besides, we don't need a new thread. The OP with the "builds for price segment" is a waste of space, especially when all decent builds point to Intel platforms these days.
Decent builds under $400 point to AMD, still.
Honestly, it depends on what parts you are scrounging, but AMD is good only if you are going to buy an AMD A-series APU and actually use its integrated graphics. Do not scoff at the i3, it will ravage the equivalent AMD.
Oh, and with the massive disappointment that was Bulldozer, I can't recommend AMD anymore. Intel just has too much of a performance-per-watt lead. And I'm no fanboy, all of my computers have been AMD.
E: So, Sandy Bridge-E is a goddamn waste of time and money. The performance isn't there, you're better off buying Sandy Bridge for performance or even Gulftown if you want to save money.
I was dissapointed with Sandy Bridge E as well. Ultimately, about 10% higher performance overall with amazing boosts upwards of 30% on things heavily memory intensive. Not an impressive leap from a 2600k at all, but I'd love a pair of these Xeon flavor on a server.
SB-e is as expected... Fastest thing out there even if it's twice as expensive for little gain :iamafag:
My new hardware shipped this morning :)
Not necessarily. The X4 and X6 Phenom II's still get the job done and do it better than an APU can. The graphics on the APU can't match a $100 graphics card for a budget gaming PC. And I think the X4 955 Black Edition goes directly against the i3-2100. While the i3 is faster at stock speeds for gaming, I can overclock my X4 955 BE to smoke it in gaming. You can overlock i3's properly so they are stuck with stock gaming performance while the AMD Phenom II's destroy it when it comes to multi-threaded applications and general productivity. I value that over extra gaming performance. Performance I know I don't need.Quote:
Originally Posted by Warsaw
Yeah, and that's the catch. You have to choose what really suits your needs, and that's why the templates in the original post are a waste of time (which is the real point I was making). It's actually better to help people here on a case-by-case basis. And believe me, I know about the Intel vs. AMD subtleties, I did build a Phenom II X4 955-based system last year for the same reason. Contrary to what you just stated, though, the i3 2100 and Phenom II X4 955 at base clocks are so neck and neck in every department (even multitasking and general productivity) that it makes a hard sell for either and you you have to really go with personal preference. Remember that most people do not overclock.
Oh, and the GPU in the A8-3850 is equivalent to an HD3850 (modern form on 32nm, HD6550D), hence the name. While it was never exactly the greatest GPU in the world from any angle, it certainly was no slouch either. It is without equal if you want to make a budget game machine; you can play just about any title out there today with decent results using it. If you ask me, it's currently AMD's crown jewel, with the FX looking at it in envy.
tbh whoever proposed the idea of i3, i5 and i7 should get a medal. Each processor fitting its niche perfectly.
(owner of Phenom II X4 955)
Well, for the first time, they actually have an architecture that can scale to the various niches. The idea has been around since Pentium D.
I think they do more feature crippling than actual power scaling. The i3 is a monster for mundane tasks, but both it and the i5 lack hyper-threading on the desktop. The i5 also has a better GPU.
So a friend of mine has given me a $5,000 budget to build him a PC. Here is what I'm thinking:
Case and Cooling:
NZXT Phantom Full Tower, Red - $159.99
3 x Cooler Master 200mm Red LED Fan (two top, one side) - $59.97
Noctua NF-P14 FLX 140mm Fan (front) - $19.99
Corsair Hydro H80 CPU cooler - $99.99
2 x Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120mm Fan (for the H80) - $39.98
Core Components:
Intel Core i7-3930K Processor, 3.20GHz w/ 12MB Cache - $629.99
Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 - $349.99
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 - $99.99
2 x eVGA GeForce GTX 580 3GB - $1,199.98
Corsair Professional Series HX1050 Modular Power Supply - $219.99
Drives:
Crucial M4 2.5in SATA III Solid State Drive, 256GB - $399.99
2 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green SATA III w/ 64MB Cache - $379.98
Samsung 12x Internal Blu-Ray Combo, SATA, Black - $89.99
Other Stuff:
Windows 7 Pro - $149.99
Samsung S24A450UW 24in Widescreen LED LCD, Black w/ HAS, USB - $349.99
Sub-Total: $4,249.80
GST: $212.49
Total: $4,462.29
He would still need a keyboard, mouse, and speakers (he wants surround sound ones) after this and inside the budget.
In addition, he was the one that picked out the case from a few suggestions I made. The Phantom is really nice as long as you maximize its cooling potential, hence all the fans.
We're still debating what he wants to do for graphics cards. It's going to be dual GTX 580's or a single GTX 590. If he goes the GTX 590 route he wants to add a second one later (which is the only reason to get a 590 over two 580's). I told him that two 580's are insanely good and will easily last for 6 years worth of games at 1920x1200 and that GTX 590's are already getting hard to find on the market. I also mentioned the fact that two GTX 590's = quad SLI which doesn't have the greatest driver support yet. I think he's leaning towards the GTX 580's now because he kinda wants to water cool them in the future and maybe add a third to the system.
Suggestions?
Shit for that amount of money you might as well liquid cool it.
Note how the cost of those components kind negates that fact right now. Can't water cool it now. Doing a custom water-loop for the CPU and two GPU's will run you at least another $1,000.
He should recycle a HDD and use that rather than blowing $800+ on HDDs that would be half the price usually. He should wait until HDD prices come back down. Who knows. SSD prices will probably drop by then, too.
EDIT: Okay, maybe the SSD he can get, just to have something nice and fast, with a bit of space on it. However, the Hard Drives he should wait for. With 256GB, I think that's enough to last 5 months easy if you don't download too much stuff.
I'm not sure if he has one to recycle, but that's a good idea. I'll remind him that he can do that. Thanks for reminding me.
you know, you might also throw a little card reader in there. i added one to my build for 15 bucks and im surprised at how often ive used it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820223109
this is the one i bought. it has a black and a gray faceplate, so i guess you could use the black to go with the red case.
E: it does have a blue LED on the front though. idk if hes gonna get upset about that, but i figure i should mention it anyway
All the bays on the phantom are covered anyway, not a big deal. I'll ask if he's interested in a card reader.
Phantom for reference:
You can see how all the bays are covered up, that front panel cutout you see is a door. The handle is the larger gap in the near-side of the front panel.
If you haven't, you should ask him what kind of looks he wants in a case. I myself would rather buy a Fractal Design XL, as I believe it's a better case and that it looks better. M $0.02.
Yeah, said I did that in the first post regarding this. He's been looking through cases constantly and hasn't found anything better than the Red Phantom to his liking. He actually bought all three of the in-stock Phantom colors (black, white, and red) and tried them out where he wanted them. Than he returned the black and white ones since the red works best according to him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Warsaw
I'd take a Fractal Design XL over the Phantom myself, and I recommended the Corsair Obsidian series to him which has a similar look to the Fractal Design XL. He didn't like how plain it looked.
As this is his first gaming PC he's at the stage where he wants it to look really cool as well as run really cool. I find that when people get their first gaming PC's they usually go with something extravagant like the Phantom and then as they mature on the technological front they move towards the minimalistic look.
I was the same way. I'm lucky I was too poor to afford a gaming case back then. That was back when I was 14/15. My stance has changed since. Otherwise, I would have ended up with some ridiculous looking piece of crap. Minimalistic ftw.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cortexian
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bodzillai'm thinking about a new keyboard
This is my current one
I've got a Saitek eclipse II at the moment and it's been awesome for about 4 years but i've just started to have some buttons die on me.
my f8, f9 key are dead and so is my "next song" and left windows key.
i cant do quick loads in Deus ex HR because i cant rebind the keys (seriously wtf) and it's a little frustrating not being able to go to the next song.
I've done the big cleanout pulled it all apart soaked it but to no avail, the pathway from these buttons to the receiver or controller or what ever is just dead which is a shame.
So i'm looking for something thats a backlit keyboard, has some buttons for music and just looks and feels like a good solid standard keyboard. Basically the same deal as what i've got now.
What do you recommend?
*KEyboarD*DEAD*senD*heLP·charaCtEr*MAP*typInG*·p lEAsEQuote:
Originally Posted by Bodzilla
Zilla's keyboard is shot. he's typing using character map (start - program - ease of access -etc). He wants to know what keyboard to get. I know phobias got this and it's cheap and p good apparently and he wants your thoughts
http://steelseries.com/products/keyb...eelseries-6gv2
Should I think about upgrading my RAM?
System Specs:
Antec Three Hundred Mid-Tower Case
Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66 GHz LGA 1156 95W (B1) @ 2.66 GHz
Asus P7P55D Pro (Intel P55 Chipset) LGA 1156 ATX Motherboard
OCZ OCZ3P1333LV2G 4 GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 7-7-7-21
Western Digital Caviar Green 750 GB WD7500AADS Hard Drive
XFX Radeon HD 5850 1 GB GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E 2.0 HD-585A-ZNFC
Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 600 W
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Also, I don't know if my RAM timings at the moment are a bit off or something and Halo gives me a not enough memory message
Newegg seems to have great prices for 8 GB RAM kits and most of them are for DDR3-1600.
Fry's also has some stuff (after rebate) like this
will 8 GB or more make a noticeable impact?
So, I don't know if I should buy more memory and what kind/brand of memory from Newegg/Fry's and I don't know if all DDR3-1066, 1333, and 1600 are compatible with my computer.
Has nothing to do with RAM. More than 4GB is unnecessary.Quote:
Originally Posted by bleach
You call 80 Euros = $111 CAD cheap? Jesus Christ. Especially for a keyboard with next to no features other than "durability"Quote:
Originally Posted by n00b1n8R
Right now i'm using a Microsoft Sidewinder X4, and I highly recommend it. It has a bunch of keys on it, from music control to 6 buttons to assign anything from macros to clicks to. It do0esn't have the mic inputs you're looking for, but for the price it's an amazing keyboard.
lmao, you've never used this keyboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amit
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=17723
That's On-Screen Keyboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by n00b1n8R
Also, the Steel Series mechanical is pretty nice.
It's cool, you don't know what you're talking about. I get that :allears:Quote:
Originally Posted by Amit
I haven't used that specific model, but my friend is big up on overpriced steel series shit for WoW and I used the Shift: Cataclysm that he has. It was nothing special. However, that model does not have the mechanical switches. I don't think Bod will care about that, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phobias
If you're into keyboards that are more about lighting and fancy shit, yes this keyboard is not for you. It is however a great cheap mechanical keyboard and it is also quite strong. Great to type on, very strange at first but well worth switching over.
Keyword: mechanical. Heh, so you were right. A cheap mechanical one it is. I have no doubt it'll do a great job of retaining its quality. Still, the rubber used on regular keyboards do a good enough job. No need to needlessly spend that much on such a basic keyboard when I cheaper one can do the same job. Well, if Bod wants his keyboard to last 5+ years, I guess it's the logical option. I couldn't imagine not replacing one every five years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phobias
With Halo perhaps, but yesterday I took a look and saw I was using about 11GB.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrickssj6
When I am going to do Genome calculations, I will take 1TB RAM into consideration :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Zeph
I've never cared about the aesthetics of a computer case. Never saw the point. It's a box that holds my computer parts, for fuck's sake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cortexian
EDIT: Maybe I should rephrase that, though. I care about the aesthetics insofar as I actively avoid flashy cases, and choose relatively boring-looking cases. "I'm a huge fucking nerd" is a message I would rather not be sending with my computer case.
I use a dell standard 101 key keyboard I got so many years ago. No problems here.Quote:
Originally Posted by n00b1n8R
Yeah, most keyboards will work no problem for 6 years+. He's sort of right, though. I didn't realize what he was talking about until I read it was mechanical based.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rook
I always spill stuff over my keyboard...so I wanted to buy a machine-washable one...but they are expensive :S
You can wash almost all of them if you open the thing up. I did that with an old Logitech and it took 6 years of blood and sweat off it :D
I cleaned my 6 year old Microsoft Basic Keyboard 1.0 last weekend. So easy. I spilled soup in there early last year, so it had crusted over a lot and some keys stuck. So I was reading this thread and decided I needed to clean that shit out. I don't use it anymore, but if I ever need to use it again, I'd rather not have it be disgusting. I flipped the keys off using a small flat screw driver, soaked the keys in lukewarm dish washing soap + water overnight. Strained them out, washed them two more times to make sure not of the gunk is still on them. Laid them out with the hollow section facing down to let the water come out. Let them dry for a day. To clean the inside surface of the board itself, I had to take it apart, but it was just a few simple screws to release on the back and the thing comes right off. Had to use an aluminum dishwashing scrubber to get all that crazy shit off. It was disgusting. I gagged a few times. By the end, though, everything looked brand new again. I should have done this right after the soup fell on the keyboard, but whatevs.
I'm sure I posted this before, but this is fucking awesome:
http://blog.backblaze.com/2009/09/01...cloud-storage/
67 Terabytes (1.5TB single drives) for $7,867
90 Terabytes (2TB single 5,900rpm drives) for $5,617 - I would likely build this, I came up with this price based on the 2TB drives I've been using priced at their normal price of $70 each.
Cost savings are likely through the lower RPM, that's the only way I can see 67 TB costing more than 90 TB. Had I a need for such large storage, I would probably do the same thing; lower RPM means less wear which further translates to longer life.
Yeah, those 1.5TB drives are 7,200rpm ones. They use them because they're a backup solution company so they need the performance. For a home user that just wants to store petabytes of movies it's not needed.
So I recently tried updating to the F6 BIOS from F5 on my P67A-UD7-B3, the update went fine except whatever changes they made didn't agree with my setup. If I enabled the XHD RAID (which I need to do because my boot drive is two drives in RAID-0) the BIOS couldn't seem to find a boot drive and Windows would never load. If I stuck the Windows install CD in and tried repairs it couldn't find any problems, and if I tried a custom install it said it couldn't install to the RAID-0 because the system couldn't boot from it.
Anyway, I flashed back to F5 and now I'm getting different issues. I can boot to Windows fine but my BIOS is acting really weird. If I restart my PC it will actually shut off for a few seconds (like it does when you finish a BIOS flash). It automatically starts again and proceeds to boot with some weird non-default BIOS settings.
The same issue happens if I shut down the PC. When I manually start it, it starts and then shuts down for a few seconds before proceeding to boot and give me weird BIOS settings.
If I change the BIOS settings and save, the system restarts normally without shutting down and starting again, and proceeds to Windows. However it is VERY unstable, even at default BIOS settings. I've tried overclocking, underclocking, and manually inputting values similar to what this CPU should be running at (3.3GHz).
EDIT: Just flashed the BIOS again to F5 and it's not doing the weird start or shutting down when restarting. Playing with BIOS again now, was able set my memories XMP profile (1866MHz) which also set my CPU multiplier to 37. So running 3.7GHz stable now (just ran IntelBurnTest). Going to start upping it again.
EDIT EDIT: Just got 4.4GHz stable. I'll work on getting that extra 200MHz again tomorrow.
EDIT EDIT: Stable at 4.6GHz again, yay!
What's your opinion on this mobo?
I have a Phenom II x4 and two 6870's. I'm looking for something under 100 that I can crossfire at x8x8, and something that all of my parts are compatible with. If I do get this i'll probably also get a CPU cooler to OC more.
I had that exact mobo. It's absolutely rock solid, I can't find any fault with it. It will what you want it to do and more.
Did you crossfire with it? And will I be able to overclock nicely?
I didn't get that far. Computer blew up before I could purchase a second HD5770, taking my first 5770 and everything else down with it. Was not the fault of the motherboard, was an unkeyed plug being plugged in backwards (FFFFFFFFFFF-). You can overclock splendidly though.
