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[Zyzyxxz]

well it seems Nehalem's PC gaming performance is not significant enough for me to warrant a purchase.

According to Andantech's review of iCore 7.

The price is way too much for my blood. Rumored $300+ motherboard? Starting CPU @ ~$300? DDR3 ram prices?!

I'm just gonna buy into the better Core2Duo's when prices start dropping due to new CPUs in stock.

 

[rc213]

Just finished installing Vista64, Did run into some problems installing Flash on IE7 32-bit and iTunes. Everything else installed fine.

Anyone know any decent free firewalls that are Vista64 compatible?

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

These new CPU's and Motherboards aren't worth it for gamers right now. Take advantage of the inevitable price drop of all the older components and be done with it.

 

[Caesar III]

hey guys I'm just looking around for a cheap new graphics card for my girlfriends pc. atm she has a 8600 GT but thats not that good for playing new adventure games. So we are looking for a decent card to replace this one. The problem is the length of the card. Can anyone with a 8800GT (G92) (single slot!!) check the length of the card? 22cm is max in her tower thx

 

[LordK]

Okay so here's my situation now. I've pretty much decided on this for now:

Q6600 (I'll most likely overclock this to 3 GHz)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2 gigs of ram
Windows XP

Now the hard part is deciding on the graphics card. The mobo supports crossfire. So I've been going back and forth between the gtx 260, gtx 280, and the 4870 (1 gb and 512). My goal really is to play games (stuff like DMC4, Starcraft 2, Street Fighter 4, Tomb Raider: Underworld... not Crysis or Far Cry 2) in 1920x1080 at 60 fps (with most detail type stuff at max... 2xAA or 4xAA, probably nothing higher). Obviously I could just go nuts and get a gtx 280, but I'm actually leaning towards sticking with a 4870 right now. This way, if I need the power later to meet my 1080p 60 fps goal, I could throw in another 4870 for crossfire.

The problem with that is that I'd have to decide on whether or not I get the 1 gig or 512 MB. Once again, I'm playing at 1080p and will not play at anything higher (by the time I do I'll get a new system). Then couple that in with the possibility that I might toss in another 4870 card in later... and you are now where I'm at!

So what are your guys' thoughts?

Also, I've never used SLI or Crossfire before, but do you need the *exact* (manufacturer included) same cards in for them to really be optimal (or work for that matter)?

Thanks for any input.

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

Okay so here's my situation now. I've pretty much decided on this for now:

Q6600 (I'll most likely overclock this to 3 GHz)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2 gigs of ram
Windows XP

Now the hard part is deciding on the graphics card. The mobo supports crossfire. So I've been going back and forth between the gtx 260, gtx 280, and the 4870 (1 gb and 512). My goal really is to play games (stuff like DMC4, Starcraft 2, Street Fighter 4, Tomb Raider: Underworld... not Crysis or Far Cry 2) in 1920x1080 at 60 fps (with most detail type stuff at max... 2xAA or 4xAA, probably nothing higher). Obviously I could just go nuts and get a gtx 280, but I'm actually leaning towards sticking with a 4870 right now. This way, if I need the power later to meet my 1080p 60 fps goal, I could throw in another 4870 for crossfire.

The problem with that is that I'd have to decide on whether or not I get the 1 gig or 512 MB. Once again, I'm playing at 1080p and will not play at anything higher (by the time I do I'll get a new system). Then couple that in with the possibility that I might toss in another 4870 card in later... and you are now where I'm at!

So what are your guys' thoughts?

Also, I've never used SLI or Crossfire before, but do you need the *exact* (manufacturer included) same cards in for them to really be optimal (or work for that matter)?

Thanks for any input.

At 1080p you need 1gb of video ram for sure, especially if you want to use any anti-aliasing.

As for what card to use that entirely depends on your budget. Multiple GPU's is exactly what you need because they really shine at the higher resolutions, so the 4870X2 (you don't need a crossfire motherboard for this by the way) is a good option. If thats out of your budget you could buy one 4870 now and one later. You could also consider the 9800X2 (which is great value).

As far as single cards go the 260 with the latest core is a great card. A single 4870 is a great as well.

Edit: For crossfire, getting identical cards is ideal. Its not necessary (crossfire is more lenient than SLi in this regard, crossfire allows completely different cards to be used if they are compatible). Whats important is that the cards have identical specs, but you really should get two of the same.

 

[otake]

and now we wait for amd to debut their new phenoms. they won't be able to compete.

 

[LordK]

At 1080p you need 1gb of video ram for sure, especially if you want to use any anti-aliasing.

As for what card to use that entirely depends on your budget. Multiple GPU's is exactly what you need because they really shine at the higher resolutions, so the 4870X2 (you don't need a crossfire motherboard for this by the way) is a good option. If thats out of your budget you could buy one 4870 now and one later. You could also consider the 9800X2 (which is great value).

As far as single cards go the 260 with the latest core is a great card. A single 4870 is a great as well.

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. So once I enter the realm of the 1 gig 4870, the minimum price for them on newegg is 300 bucks. The minimum price on a 512 MB is 220 (after 30 dollar rebate). But by the time I'm at the 300 dollar range, I can get a gtx 280 for 360 (after 50 dollar rebate). So it really does put me in a tough position. I can certainly comfortably afford any of these cards. The latest 260 comes in around at 264 bucks. If I got this 260, then I would lose the ability to run dual cards since my mobo only supports Crossfire. And I fully expect that if I got a 260 or a 4870 that I'd run into problems running some games in the near future I might want at 1080p. This is why I'd totally jump on a 4870 over a 260 if the prices were exactly the same. Once again, this is just me bumming around Newegg late at night.

The 4870 gives me the possibility of crossfire later... but I could spend 60 more right now and get a more powerful card that could possibly (?) last me until my next upgrade. But at the same time, I'm wondering if a single 4870 1 GB could last me until my next upgrade as well. As you can see, I'm not exactly planning to play the most taxing games (DMC4, SC2, SF4 vs Crysis, Far Cry 2). But that obviously doesn't mean I won't want some really taxing game later on.

Once again, thanks for the input!

 

[Zzoram]

Intel is all about Tick-Tock.

Tick = refinements to existing architecture, and taking it to a smaller manufacturing node
Tock = new architecture on existing proven manufacturing node, to prevent complications

Case in point, Core 2 was new, and made at 65nm like the previous Pentium D. Core 2 then got brought down to 45nm, to save power, increase speed, and minor optimizations and bug fixes, as well as a much lower price of entry.

I like to buy in at Tick, since they've perfected an architecture at that point, and usually the transition to a smaller process just makes them cheaper and faster. Tock is a bit riskier, since you're essentially buying into first revision technology on the bleeding edge, usually at a premium price as well.

i7 is a Tock, new architecture on the established 45nm process, at great expensive, with few and expensive motherboard and RAM options. I'll wait for i7 on 32nm at lower cost, with better refined motherboards and plentiful cheap fast DDR3 in 2010.

 

[Yixian]

I have this TV: http://www.dealtime.co.uk/-23pf4321 It's 720p.

I am trying to decide whether or not to sell it and get a higher res yet smaller monitor (I'm not that bothered about size) or keep this.

The only problem is, I have no idea how much I could sell that TV for. Any ideas guys?

If I can get more than £100 then I'll sell it for sure.

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. So once I enter the realm of the 1 gig 4870, the minimum price for them on newegg is 300 bucks. The minimum price on a 512 MB is 220 (after 30 dollar rebate). But by the time I'm at the 300 dollar range, I can get a gtx 280 for 360 (after 50 dollar rebate). So it really does put me in a tough position. I can certainly comfortably afford any of these cards. The latest 260 comes in around at 264 bucks. If I got this 260, then I would lose the ability to run dual cards since my mobo only supports Crossfire. And I fully expect that if I got a 260 or a 4870 that I'd run into problems running some games in the near future I might want at 1080p. This is why I'd totally jump on a 4870 over a 260 if the prices were exactly the same. Once again, this is just me bumming around Newegg late at night.

The 4870 gives me the possibility of crossfire later... but I could spend 60 more right now and get a more powerful card that could possibly (?) last me until my next upgrade. But at the same time, I'm wondering if a single 4870 1 GB could last me until my next upgrade as well. As you can see, I'm not exactly planning to play the most taxing games (DMC4, SC2, SF4 vs Crysis, Far Cry 2). But that obviously doesn't mean I won't want some really taxing game later on.

Once again, thanks for the input!

Man, my head was spinning after reading that for the first time!

So do you already have the motherboard? I'm assuming you do, but if you don't switching to an SLi motherboard is barely a change at all.

The pecking order with all these cards is almost undefinable. SLi/Crossfire can have unexpected results, and some games are better optimised for certain cards. Generally the 260 GTX performs about the same as a 4870, and for a single card solution i'd be inclined to recommend it because of Nvidias superior driver history (ATI fans will jump on me for that one).

The 9800X2 is also a contender, because in games that work well with multiple GPU's it will beat out both the 260 and 4870. Honestly will all the gpu's flying around its hard to know whats what anymore, and maybe someone who has been following it religiously can offer something more definitive than I can.

If the GTX 280 is in your price range then you can avoid the hells of trying to manage multiple GPU's and wind up with a great performing card. When you opt into crossfire you are going to have to deal with problems you might rather avoid. Because you have a crossfire supported card I would probably get a 4870 now with the option to add another one later if you are so inclined. On the other hand if you commit to a single card I would get a 260/280.

I have an 8800 GTS 512 and am still maxing out the latest games like FC2 and Dead Space. Outside of Crysis any of the cards you've listed should perform well, though 60fps at 1080p is a big ask.

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. So once I enter the realm of the 1 gig 4870, the minimum price for them on newegg is 300 bucks. The minimum price on a 512 MB is 220 (after 30 dollar rebate). But by the time I'm at the 300 dollar range, I can get a gtx 280 for 360 (after 50 dollar rebate). So it really does put me in a tough position. I can certainly comfortably afford any of these cards. The latest 260 comes in around at 264 bucks. If I got this 260, then I would lose the ability to run dual cards since my mobo only supports Crossfire. And I fully expect that if I got a 260 or a 4870 that I'd run into problems running some games in the near future I might want at 1080p. This is why I'd totally jump on a 4870 over a 260 if the prices were exactly the same. Once again, this is just me bumming around Newegg late at night.

The 4870 gives me the possibility of crossfire later... but I could spend 60 more right now and get a more powerful card that could possibly (?) last me until my next upgrade. But at the same time, I'm wondering if a single 4870 1 GB could last me until my next upgrade as well. As you can see, I'm not exactly planning to play the most taxing games (DMC4, SC2, SF4 vs Crysis, Far Cry 2). But that obviously doesn't mean I won't want some really taxing game later on.

Once again, thanks for the input!

You wouldn't want to run dual cards on your motherboard anyway, as it will cripple performance, by runing them at 8.0x. If that's the reason you bought that board then you might want to think about getting a heaper one, or upgrading to an X48 based board.

Oh, and don't go with an Nvidia motherboard, they're a world of headaches by all reports, especially if you plan to overclock. Personally I'd go with the GTX 260 (216) or 4870 1GB, they're both more than comfortable to run modern games at 1080p.

 

[Yixian]

You wouldn't want to run dual cards on your motherboard anyway, as it will cripple performance, by runing them at 8.0x. If that's the reason you bought that board then you might want to think about getting a heaper one, or upgrading to an X48 based board.

Oh, and don't go with an Nvidia motherboard, they're a world of headaches by all reports, especially if you plan to overclock. Personally I'd go with the GTX 260 (216) or 4870 1GB, they're both more than comfortable to run modern games at 1080p.

Hang on, isn't the 4850 more powerful than the GTX 260? Wouldn't it be better to go for that over a 260 if he can't afford a 4870?

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

Hang on, isn't the 4850 more powerful than the GTX 260?

Not by a long shot.

 

[godhandiscen]

Hang on, isn't the 4850 more powerful than the GTX 260? Wouldn't it be better to go for that over a 260 if he can't afford a 4870?

Not at all, but the differences arent noticeable unless you are gaming at resolutions above 1600x1050.

 

[Yixian]

Phew, I'll stick to a 4850 for 1440x gaming then.

Anyway so does anyone have an opinion on my monitor dilemma above? ^

 

[LordK]

Man, my head was spinning after reading that for the first time!

So do you already have the motherboard? I'm assuming you do, but if you don't switching to an SLi motherboard is barely a change at all.

The pecking order with all these cards is almost undefinable. SLi/Crossfire can have unexpected results, and some games are better optimised for certain cards. Generally the 260 GTX performs about the same as a 4870, and for a single card solution i'd be inclined to recommend it because of Nvidias superior driver history (ATI fans will jump on me for that one).

The 9800X2 is also a contender, because in games that work well with multiple GPU's it will beat out both the 260 and 4870. Honestly will all the gpu's flying around its hard to know whats what anymore, and maybe someone who has been following it religiously can offer something more definitive than I can.

If the GTX 280 is in your price range then you can avoid the hells of trying to manage multiple GPU's and wind up with a great performing card. When you opt into crossfire you are going to have to deal with problems you might rather avoid. Because you have a crossfire supported card I would probably get a 4870 now with the option to add another one later if you are so inclined. On the other hand if you commit to a single card I would get a 260/280.

I have an 8800 GTS 512 and am still maxing out the latest games like FC2 and Dead Space. Outside of Crysis any of the cards you've listed should perform well, though 60fps at 1080p is a big ask.

Yeah tell me about it... this stuff is confusing the hell out of me.

I haven't ordered anything yet thank god. Is it really easy to switch to a comparable SLI mobo? I'm taking a look at what SLI mobos there are for quad cores and they're all nForce 780i with similar prices. Though, apparently the nForce 780i chipsets suck ass?

Taking what brain_stew (thanks!) said into account (8x/8x crossfire crippling), ideally I could get an SLI board (16x/16x SLI) and start out with the souped up GTX 260 and then throw in another souped up 260 later. This would be optimal as it's currently 260 bucks which is 100 less than a current gtx 280 and I can no doubt get a gtx 260 later for far cheaper than 260 bucks which would yield (friggin' hopefully) much better performance than a 280 for slightly more money than I would pay for a gtx 280 right now. How's that for confusing? But if the 780i mobos suck, then what choices do I really have for SLI?

ARGH. SO MUCH SHIT!

Thanks for help you guys.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Just buy these suckers. The G.Skill 1000 version is $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

I'm not a fan of OCZ memory, love the company though.

These are good with the P5Q combo as well if you like this color better
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

Same price after combo discount.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go with the 1000 version.

Anyways, I have some questions. If I'm not going to overclock the Intel E7200, will I be alright with just using the stock fan and heatsink included?

Also, is there any good guide I should look at to build the PC? This is my first time that I'm going to do it.

 

[brain_stew]

Just stuck in my E5200 an it boot at 3.465ghz with stock voltage just fine, running on a 1320mhz FSB. Just stressing with OCCT now and my temps haven't passed 40C yet.

So I have a chip faster than a stock E8400 for £50, very nice.

Copybeaver, snce you plan to overclock I'd be atleast a little hesitant about a 780i motherboard, no personal experience here but I've heard some not so great things.

Want my advice? SLI is a bad upgrade route. If you've got the cash to blow then by all means buy an SLI rig but only if you buy both cards right away, what you may find is that you'd be much better served in a year or twos time by just buying a quicker single card. A GTX 260 (216) is a fine card, and really nicely priced, its only Crysis that is going to cause it problems at 1080p, everything else will run just fine.

So, taking that into consideration I'd pick up an affordable P43/P45 motherboard (the Gigabyte P43-DS3L is a steal imo, just bought it for my brother) and GTX 260 (216), then just save the spare cash for a future upgrade. Staying one step behnd the bleeding edge usually yields the best results imo, and this way you'll be able to replace that 260 in a couple of years for a stonking single card and not be out of pocket. There's nothing on the horizon that tops Crysis, and even that will run well on your card.

 

[Yixian]

Just stuck in my E5200 an it boot at 3.465ghz with stock voltage just fine, running on a 1320mhz FSB. Just stressing with OCCT now and my temps haven't passed 40C yet.

So I have a chip faster than a stock E8400 for £50, very nice.

NICE Btw what app do you recommend for CPU OCing?

Have you tried a 4850 with that E5200? I'd love to know what kind of results that'd give as that's 99% likely gonna be my set up, just waiting on my PS3 to get at least one bid before making the splash!

I know of a dude says he got about 25fps on Crysis at 1650x, DX10 all settings high with a 4850 overclocked (albeit with a quad core) - not sure if that sounds far fetched or not - but I'm hoping at 1280x or 1440x I can push that up to "smooth enough" fps.

 

[brain_stew]

NICE Btw what app do you recommend for CPU OCing?

Have you tried a 4850 with that E5200? I'd love to know what kind of results that'd give as that's 99% likely gonna be my set up, just waiting on my PS3 to get at least one bid before making the splash!

I know of a dude says he got about 25fps on Crysis at 1650x, DX10 all settings high with a 4850 overclocked (albeit with a quad core) - not sure if that sounds far fetched or not - but I'm hoping at 1280x or 1440x I can push that up to "smooth enough" fps.

My 4850 is in the post office, I'll be picking it up tomorrow. You want to be using the BIOS to overclock, stay away from Windows apps.

I use OCCT and Real Temp for stress testing and temp monitoring.

You want to be using Cuban's Config with Crysis, you'll get much better performance, I could run Level 5 (very close to "very high" settings but optimised) at 720p with my 8800GT and OCed E2180, so a higher res. should be more than possible with a 4850.

 

[LordK]

Just stuck in my E5200 an it boot at 3.465ghz with stock voltage just fine, running on a 1320mhz FSB. Just stressing with OCCT now and my temps haven't passed 40C yet.

So I have a chip faster than a stock E8400 for £50, very nice.

Copybeaver, snce you plan to overclock I'd be atleast a little hesitant about a 780i motherboard, no personal experience here but I've heard some not so great things.

Want my advice? SLI is a bad upgrade route. If you've got the cash to blow then by all means buy an SLI rig but only if you buy both cards right away, what you may find is that you'd be much better served in a year or twos time by just buying a quicker single card. A GTX 260 (216) is a fine card, and really nicely priced, its only Crysis that is going to cause it problems at 1080p, everything else will run just fine.

So, taking that into consideration I'd pick up an affordable P43/P45 motherboard (the Gigabyte P43-DS3L is a steal imo, just bought it for my brother) and GTX 260 (216), then just save the spare cash for a future upgrade. Staying one step behnd the bleeding edge usually yields the best results imo, and this way you'll be able to replace that 260 in a couple of years for a stonking single card and not be out of pocket. There's nothing on the horizon that tops Crysis, and even that will run well on your card.

That's a really good suggestion and I'll probably end up doing that. Thanks! The only reason I thought about SLI was basically so I don't "throw away" the power (and money I spent) of an older 260 when it's time to upgrade. But by the time I upgrade, it might as well be better to just get a new single card like you said and maybe ebay the 260 for some change. I also won't be stuck with a 780i and I'll have a nice Gigabyte mobo which I've already grown fond of.

 

[brain_stew]

That's a really good suggestion and I'll probably end up doing that. Thanks! The only reason I thought about SLI was basically so I don't "throw away" the power (and money I spent) of an older 260 when it's time to upgrade. But by the time I upgrade, it might as well be better to just get a new single card like you said and maybe ebay the 260 for some change. I also won't be stuck with a 780i and I'll have a nice Gigabyte mobo which I've already grown fond of.

Can't recommend Gigabyte motherboards enough, love my P35-DS3 and bought my brother a P43-DS3L without hesitation (about it put it together right now as it happens). Like you said by the time the GTX 260 doesn't cut it, its likely to be severely outclassed by current cards and you'll be able to pick up something sub $300 that is leagues ahead of it.

 

[Yixian]

Speaking of which, when are we going to see post-CryENGINE 2 performance games? Or another non-Crysis CE2 game for that matter? I'm not familiar with the patterns of graphical development in the PC world, is it normal for a single game to be so far and away better in visual quality than anything else for so long?

 

[chespace]

BTW, I got my Q9550 (stock 2.8GHz CPU) overclock finally stable at 3.82GHz @ 1.31 vcore.

Going to lower it down to 3.79GHz @ 1.29 vcore for cooler temps.

Realtemp reported a peak of 72C at one point in Prime95.

Also, I found out last night that Realtemp's default TJMax was set to 95C and not 100C. :'(

Now all my temps read 5C higher than I thought. But at least it's accurate now. When I got a peak of 71C before, it was actually at 76C!

 

[brain_stew]

Looks like me E5200 is stable at 3.5ghz with 1.25v, it passed 2 hours of OCCT CPU test, which I've found stresses a CPU more than even an overnight run of Prime95 and didn't even go past 45C. Whilst there's no need for it, it looks like 4ghz will be well within my reach if I want it, but I'm going to make sure not to go over 1.3v, so that I'm stil well within Intel quoted specs.

My brother's PC is nearly finished, the damn PS was a PITA as all the SATA power connectors were on the same single tiny length cable so I had to move the HDD around but nothing major. In theory my next post should be from this new PC, so wish me luck, GAF!!! Second build here we come!!

 

[pizzaguysrevenge]

BTW, I got my Q9550 (stock 2.8GHz CPU) overclock finally stable at 3.82GHz @ 1.31 vcore.

Going to lower it down to 3.79GHz @ 1.29 vcore for cooler temps.

Realtemp reported a peak of 72C at one point in Prime95.

Also, I found out last night that Realtemp's default TJMax was set to 95C and not 100C. :'(

Now all my temps read 5C higher than I thought. But at least it's accurate now. When I got a peak of 71C before, it was actually at 76C!

What kind of cooler are you using?

 

[brain_stew]

Yay! Success it booted first time and Windows installed in no time at all. It was so much easier the second time around. Now to clock this E2180....

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

Yeah tell me about it... this stuff is confusing the hell out of me.

I haven't ordered anything yet thank god. Is it really easy to switch to a comparable SLI mobo? I'm taking a look at what SLI mobos there are for quad cores and they're all nForce 780i with similar prices. Though, apparently the nForce 780i chipsets suck ass?

Taking what brain_stew (thanks!) said into account (8x/8x crossfire crippling), ideally I could get an SLI board (16x/16x SLI) and start out with the souped up GTX 260 and then throw in another souped up 260 later. This would be optimal as it's currently 260 bucks which is 100 less than a current gtx 280 and I can no doubt get a gtx 260 later for far cheaper than 260 bucks which would yield (friggin' hopefully) much better performance than a 280 for slightly more money than I would pay for a gtx 280 right now. How's that for confusing? But if the 780i mobos suck, then what choices do I really have for SLI?

ARGH. SO MUCH SHIT!

Thanks for help you guys.

Back again.

I haven't been following the recent motherboards since once you've bought one there little point in researching them. The X58 series at a glance seems to be what message boarders are recommending.

Motherboards are pretty easy to buy, you research the series and find the right maker with the features you want.

 

[roMonster]

Hey fellas, I really want to upgrade to a quad core. I need a CPU and a motherboard. I want to spend ~$350 (Canadian). I've been looking at these:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4179114&CatId=14

I was wondering if I could get some feedback.

Thanks.

 

[Yixian]

My PS3 sold for about £350/$700. Praise the lawd!

 

[Caesar III]

hey guys I'm just looking around for a cheap new graphics card for my girlfriends pc. atm she has a 8600 GT but thats not that good for playing new adventure games. So we are looking for a decent card to replace this one. The problem is the length of the card. Can anyone with a 8800GT (G92) (single slot!!) check the length of the card? 22cm is max in her tower thx

quoted for importance!

I haven't found a webshop so far which listed the length of the cards.

 

[brain_stew]

My PS3 sold for about £350/$700. Praise the lawd!

Nice! I presume it was a 60GB then?

quoted for importance!

I haven't found a webshop so far which listed the length of the cards.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261027

I'd cosider looking at that 4850, its a non reference design and is incredibly short compared to the usua design. It should have no troule fitting in her case. Its not single slot though, incase that's an issue.

Hey fellas, I really want to upgrade to a quad core. I need a CPU and a motherboard. I want to spend ~$350 (Canadian). I've been looking at these:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4179114&CatId=14

I was wondering if I could get some feedback.

Thanks.

A 2.2ghz Phenom just doesn't cut it I'm afraid, particulay given the fact tey have less performance per mhz than a Core 2 Quad. The Q6600 still offers excellent value if you want to do quad core on a budget, couple it with a P43 motherboard and you'll have a guaranteed 3ghz clock for very little. Which will in turn blow that Phenom out the water, its still a mighty fine processor at stock.

Just checked, a Q6600 plus the excellent Gigabyte P43-DS3L comes to $400 on Tiger Drect, well worth the $80 increase in price imo.

 

[rc213]

Nice! I presume it was a 60GB then?




http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261027

I'd cosider looking at that 4850, its a non reference design and is incredibly short compared to the usua design. It should have no troule fitting in her case. Its not single slot though, incase that's an issue.




A 2.2ghz Phenom just doesn't cut it I'm afraid, particulay given the fact tey have less performance per mhz than a Core 2 Quad. The Q6600 still offers excellent value if you want to do quad core on a budget, couple it with a P43 motherboard and you'll have a guaranteed 3ghz clock for very little. Which will in turn blow that Phenom out the water, its still a mighty fine processor at stock.


Just checked, a Q6600 plus the excellent Gigabyte P43-DS3L comes to $400 on Tiger Drect, well worth the $80 increase in price imo.

/strokes EP43-DS3L + C2Q Q6600 combo...

 

[Caesar III]

I'd cosider looking at that 4850, its a non reference design and is incredibly short compared to the usua design. It should have no troule fitting in her case. Its not single slot though, incase that's an issue.

Thx, The slot itself is not the problem but the cooler could be it. There is not much space in her case. I had to remove the red cage of her actual card to fit in the case.

The card has to fit in here

 

[brain_stew]

Well as long as you don't mind giving up the use of that PCI slot it should fit fine. I'm about to pick up the exact same card from the post office within the hour so I could easure it for you if you want?

Oh, and what the hell kind of CPU cooler is that??

 

[Caesar III]

Well as long as you don't mind giving up the use of that PCI slot it should fit fine. I'm about to pick up the exact same card from the post office within the hour so I could easure it for you if you want?

Oh, and what the hell kind of CPU cooler is that??

thx in advance, that would be great.

It is a BTX case so the cooler is build in in the case to blew all the air directly off the cpu out of the case. Its complete seperated from the rest of the hardware and all the cpu heat is gone.
Works great.

 

[mambadragon]

hey guys I'm just looking around for a cheap new graphics card for my girlfriends pc. atm she has a 8600 GT but thats not that good for playing new adventure games. So we are looking for a decent card to replace this one. The problem is the length of the card. Can anyone with a 8800GT (G92) (single slot!!) check the length of the card? 22cm is max in her tower thx

I am doing this from my head cause I looked into it before, but in inches:
8800GT = 9"
4850 = 9"
4870 512MB and 1 GB = 9.5"
GTX260 = 10.5"

I know EVGA shows the length of their cards on their website in their PDF spec sheets

 

[roMonster]

Nice! I presume it was a 60GB then?




http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261027

I'd cosider looking at that 4850, its a non reference design and is incredibly short compared to the usua design. It should have no troule fitting in her case. Its not single slot though, incase that's an issue.




A 2.2ghz Phenom just doesn't cut it I'm afraid, particulay given the fact tey have less performance per mhz than a Core 2 Quad. The Q6600 still offers excellent value if you want to do quad core on a budget, couple it with a P43 motherboard and you'll have a guaranteed 3ghz clock for very little. Which will in turn blow that Phenom out the water, its still a mighty fine processor at stock.

Just checked, a Q6600 plus the excellent Gigabyte P43-DS3L comes to $400 on Tiger Drect, well worth the $80 increase in price imo.

Hmm, I didn't know that the Phenom was that bad. I've decided to go with a Intel Quad Core but I can't decide between the Q6600 and the Q8200.

They're pretty much the same price and I know the Q8200 is smaller but as a head to head which one is faster?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017 (Q6600)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115055 (Q8200)

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

Hmm, I didn't know that the Phenom was that bad. I've decided to go with a Intel Quad Core but I can't decide between the Q6600 and the Q8200.

They're pretty much the same price and I know the Q8200 is smaller but as a head to head which one is faster?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017 (Q6600)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115055 (Q8200)

Stock: Q8200. Overclocked, Q6600.

The differences are that the Q8200 has a faster FSB, is a 45nm chip and has half the cache size of the Q6600. The Q6600 is a monster overclocked and will perform better with custom cooling.

Honestly though if you are going stock I would get an E8400. The difference in clock speed between 2.4-3ghz is more of a bottleneck right now than having 2 cores.

 

[frogg609]

I am looking to get a 22" widescreen LCD, that will primarily be used for gaming. I want height adjustment, as well as tilt and swivel.

What have people used here and found to be really good?

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

I am looking to get a 22" widescreen LCD, that will primarily be used for gaming. I want height adjustment, as well as tilt and swivel.

What have people used here and found to be really good?

Honestly most TN 22" monitors from reputable makers are pretty much the same. Tilt and swivel are standard features, hight adjustment is something you'll have to look for specifically. Newegg reviews should be plenty ample for picking out a monitor, I personally have an Asus. BenQ is another brand thats great value, and I hear great things about Viewsonic.

 

[brain_stew]

Just installed my 4850, and I'm amazed at the temps that this non-reference cooler achieves. I'm running ATI Overdrive Autotune at the moment and the thing doesn't even pass 50C wth the slowest fan speed! Its idling at about 32C as well, heck this is 45nm Intel CPU territory, and it wasn't was the cheapest 4850 available as well.

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-4850

£105 here for UKers

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261027&Tpk=palit 4850

And $170 for the US folk.

As promised Caeser, the card measures just under 9cm long and is two slots deep so you'll have to give up that PCI slot as I thought you might have to but don't worry about that, the card is a gem.

 

[Caesar III]

I am doing this from my head cause I looked into it before, but in inches:
8800GT = 9"
4850 = 9"
4870 512MB and 1 GB = 9.5"
GTX260 = 10.5"

I know EVGA shows the length of their cards on their website in their PDF spec sheets

thx man

 

[brain_stew]

For anyone new to overclocking I highly recommend Linx. Its a GUI for the stress test program that Intel use in their factories and will bring up errors in 10 minutes that Prime95 couldn't find in 24 hours. Nothing comes close to the stress this puts on your system so if you want to guarantee absolute stability, go for 15 or so runs of this. Much quicker and useful than leaving Prime or Orthos on overnight.

 

[Hazaro]

For anyone new to overclocking I highly recommend Linx. Its a GUI for the stress test program that Intel use in their factories and will bring up errors in 10 minutes that Prime95 couldn't find in 24 hours. Nothing comes close to the stress this puts on your system so if you want to guarantee absolute stability, go for 15 or so runs of this. Much quicker and useful than leaving Prime or Orthos on overnight.

The nature of it is so different. Prime 95/ORTHOS already stresses way past normal.

Stuff like CoreDamage and presumably Linx will just beat the shit out of your system.
I don't see the point.

 

[Angry Grimace]

What kind of cooler are you using?

Unless he switched it, there was a couple of pages on which direction to install his AC Freezer Pro 7. I'm guessing the air flow from the 1200 case and it's 10,000 fans probably helps his temps :lol

 

[chespace]

For anyone new to overclocking I highly recommend Linx. Its a GUI for the stress test program that Intel use in their factories and will bring up errors in 10 minutes that Prime95 couldn't find in 24 hours. Nothing comes close to the stress this puts on your system so if you want to guarantee absolute stability, go for 15 or so runs of this. Much quicker and useful than leaving Prime or Orthos on overnight.

Does Linx damage your CPU in any way?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Does Linx damage your CPU in any way?

There's are long debates about whether stress test programs can damage your CPU, and I've never heard a definitive answer.

I DO know that Linpack seems to have done damage to some overclocker's psyches, because seems to causes failuires where no other program will.

 

[chespace]

There's are long debates about whether stress test programs can damage your CPU, and I've never heard a definitive answer.

I DO know that Linpack seems to have done damage to some overclocker's psyches, because seems to causes failuires where no other program will.

What would be funny is if I set my CPU back to standard 2.8 clock and Linx or whatever throws an error. :lol

I'm stable at 3.8 @ 1.29 vcore with the rare peak temp of 72 under Prime95 for 10+ hours.

Not sure if I want to tempt fate.