Vista has an Expose type thing, but it's a) crappy and b) you have to turn on the full Aero theme, which, if my recent (and only) build is any judge, is off by default. Leave it so, those transparencies will drive you (and your RAM) mad.
I'd obviously suggest getting some good free AV and Firewall apps, there are plenty of lists on Google. Past that, I'm such a Windows virgin myself (always used Macs up until two weeks ago) that I don't know of anything else. Maybe Launchy, if you're into the Quicksilver or Butler type application launchers. I haven't tried it myself, but I may do once I start running more than just Steam on this machine.
All I play on my computer is WoW and WotLK is finally putting the screws to my four year old rig. I'd like to know what I should upgrade to get some better performance out of it, preferably as cheaply and easily as possible.
My comp:
Pentium 4 3.4 gig
Radeon X800 XT
1.0 gig RAM
I'm guessing it's going to be RAM as the first and easiest suggestion. Could you also include type? I'm fairly clueless.
Ah yes. I need to pick up Avira and Zonealarm before I forget. I kinda like Aero for the time being, I am sure after a while I will grow tired of it but for now it's nice to look at.
hm. I am trying to download the CS4 trial from adobes website. Firefox won't download activeX nor will it prompt to download the download manager. IE seemingly downloads activeX but after downloading it, it doesn't do anything. Any ideas?
If you want to go with a Phenom II I would suggest springing for a 940 X4 instead. An AM2+ motherboard should be cheaper than that AM3, and you'll be able to pick up DDR2 memory instead, which is about half the price. The overall performance should be better.
Do not, I repeat, do not get a case/PSU combo. It's a good rule of thumb to always buy the power supply separate, especially in this day and age where video cards demand so much power. It's also very important that you get a good power supply, which means spending more money than you're talking about here. This is the minimum I would go with--and brand does matter, not just wattage, which is a poor measure.
The video card, hard drive, and DVD burner all look good. Since you'll be playing at 1280x1024 you could go with a cheaper graphics card like the 4850 or even the 9800GT, to save some money, but it's up to you.
Total: $790 before shipping. Please note that while the Phenom II is overall a better processor than the Core 2 Duo and indeed many Core 2 Quads, you'd probably get a little better bang for your buck in gaming performance out of an Intel system.
I don't especially care to go with a Phenom, and I'm going to be using my computer mainly for gaming, so FPS is my bottom line here. I went with that AM3 chip because it's only $5 more than the E8400 and has been benchmarking at or above it with most games. Granted the almost non-existent performance gain from the extra ~$75 spent on an AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM doesn't justify that, so I've decided to switch an E8400.
For the mobo I'm currently looking at the GA-EP45-DS3L, I guess it's pretty versatile for the price. And with the memory, is it worth $10 for better timings?
If you want to go with a Phenom II I would suggest springing for a 940 X4 instead. An AM2+ motherboard should be cheaper than that AM3, and you'll be able to pick up DDR2 memory instead, which is about half the price. The overall performance should be better.
Do not, I repeat, do not get a case/PSU combo. It's a good rule of thumb to always buy the power supply separate, especially in this day and age where video cards demand so much power. It's also very important that you get a good power supply, which means spending more money than you're talking about here. This is the minimum I would go with--and brand does matter, not just wattage, which is a poor measure.
The video card, hard drive, and DVD burner all look good. Since you'll be playing at 1280x1024 you could go with a cheaper graphics card like the 4850 or even the 9800GT, to save some money, but it's up to you.
Total: $790 before shipping. Please note that while the Phenom II is overall a better processor than the Core 2 Duo and indeed many Core 2 Quads, you'd probably get a little better bang for your buck in gaming performance out of an Intel system.
I don't especially care to go with a Phenom, and I'm going to be using my computer mainly for gaming, so FPS is my bottom line here. I went with that AM3 chip because it's only $5 more than the E8400 and has been benchmarking at or above it with most games. Granted the almost non-existent performance gain from the extra ~$75 spent on an AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM doesn't justify that, so I've decided to switch an E8400.
For the mobo I'm currently looking at the GA-EP45-DS3L, I guess it's pretty versatile for the price. And with the memory, is it worth $10 for better timings?
The memory timings probably aren't a big deal. If you're concerned with gaming alone the E8400 is indeed probably the best, and standard, choice. That motherboard is also pretty standard. Don't think you can really go wrong with any of the above.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
All I play on my computer is WoW and WotLK is finally putting the screws to my four year old rig. I'd like to know what I should upgrade to get some better performance out of it, preferably as cheaply and easily as possible.
My comp:
Pentium 4 3.4 gig
Radeon X800 XT
1.0 gig RAM
I'm guessing it's going to be RAM as the first and easiest suggestion. Could you also include type? I'm fairly clueless.
Thanks.
Just making sure it didn't get lost in the case orgasm
All I play on my computer is WoW and WotLK is finally putting the screws to my four year old rig. I'd like to know what I should upgrade to get some better performance out of it, preferably as cheaply and easily as possible.
My comp:
Pentium 4 3.4 gig
Radeon X800 XT
1.0 gig RAM
I'm guessing it's going to be RAM as the first and easiest suggestion. Could you also include type? I'm fairly clueless.
Thanks.
Just making sure it didn't get lost in the case orgasm
Honestly, I wouldn't throw a dime into that computer. you're running DDR1, which is like, $70 for 1GB now.
If you want to go with a Phenom II I would suggest springing for a 940 X4 instead. An AM2+ motherboard should be cheaper than that AM3, and you'll be able to pick up DDR2 memory instead, which is about half the price. The overall performance should be better.
Do not, I repeat, do not get a case/PSU combo. It's a good rule of thumb to always buy the power supply separate, especially in this day and age where video cards demand so much power. It's also very important that you get a good power supply, which means spending more money than you're talking about here. This is the minimum I would go with--and brand does matter, not just wattage, which is a poor measure.
The video card, hard drive, and DVD burner all look good. Since you'll be playing at 1280x1024 you could go with a cheaper graphics card like the 4850 or even the 9800GT, to save some money, but it's up to you.
Total: $790 before shipping. Please note that while the Phenom II is overall a better processor than the Core 2 Duo and indeed many Core 2 Quads, you'd probably get a little better bang for your buck in gaming performance out of an Intel system.
I don't really like the Sonata III as a case, but it does come with an Earthwatts power supply, which is a good power supply - it's a rebranded Seasonic I believe.
All I play on my computer is WoW and WotLK is finally putting the screws to my four year old rig. I'd like to know what I should upgrade to get some better performance out of it, preferably as cheaply and easily as possible.
My comp:
Pentium 4 3.4 gig
Radeon X800 XT
1.0 gig RAM
I'm guessing it's going to be RAM as the first and easiest suggestion. Could you also include type? I'm fairly clueless.
Thanks.
Just making sure it didn't get lost in the case orgasm
Honestly, I wouldn't throw a dime into that computer. you're running DDR1, which is like, $70 for 1GB now.
Save for a new machine.
I put my model number into NewEgg's memory configurator and it's showing me DDR2 (and for a pretty cheap price). Are they wrong?
Also, couldn't I get a fairly cheap video card that would be better than my four year old one?
Ok, so as usual I've been tasked with building my friend a computer. He has a budget of $800 all-in, so I'm pushing it with this build. Prices taken from Canada Computers
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 - 164.99
Asus P5QL-EM Socket 775 Intel - 129.99
A-DATA DDR2 800 240pin 4GB Kit - 74.99
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 - 214.99
Cooler Master 690 Case - 95.99
LG SATA DVD-Writer - 29.49
Total $709.44
What do you guys think? Can you help me shave another $50-100 off this? (remember this is in Canadian Dollars)
I bought my 6600GT at the same time that ATi's x800XT was the top card on the market, so the 6200 you linked would be worse than mine and much worse than an x800. I don't think you're going to be able to find an AGP upgrade for $50, maybe like $70.
if you feel like you must upgrade now, toss another GB of ram in. You're not really going to find a better AGP video card than the one you have for less than $70. the x1650 can be had for about that much, but it honestly performs about the same as the x800, maybe a little better. Not worth upgrading.
So I happened to get one of those Intel Atom Mobos with a CPU already installed for free, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do with it. I don't think it has enough power to be a media center, but I'd rather not let it go to waste. Any suggestions?
I don't have the model in front of me, but I believe it's this one
So I happened to get one of those Intel Atom Mobos with a CPU already installed for free, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do with it. I don't think it has enough power to be a media center, but I'd rather not let it go to waste. Any suggestions?
I don't have the model in front of me, but I believe it's this one
hmm, the Atom 230 really isn't very good. Maybe set it up as a secondary PC for web browsing/IM/whatever in another room?
If you want to go with a Phenom II I would suggest springing for a 940 X4 instead. An AM2+ motherboard should be cheaper than that AM3, and you'll be able to pick up DDR2 memory instead, which is about half the price. The overall performance should be better.
Do not, I repeat, do not get a case/PSU combo. It's a good rule of thumb to always buy the power supply separate, especially in this day and age where video cards demand so much power. It's also very important that you get a good power supply, which means spending more money than you're talking about here. This is the minimum I would go with--and brand does matter, not just wattage, which is a poor measure.
The video card, hard drive, and DVD burner all look good. Since you'll be playing at 1280x1024 you could go with a cheaper graphics card like the 4850 or even the 9800GT, to save some money, but it's up to you.
Total: $790 before shipping. Please note that while the Phenom II is overall a better processor than the Core 2 Duo and indeed many Core 2 Quads, you'd probably get a little better bang for your buck in gaming performance out of an Intel system.
I don't really like the Sonata III as a case, but it does come with an Earthwatts power supply, which is a good power supply - it's a rebranded Seasonic I believe.
Ah, yeah, Earthwatts is pretty good. I'm not sure if that unit has enough amps, but it may indeed be good enough. I just have a knee-jerk NOOO reaction to case/PSU combos due to bad experiences in the past.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
So I got the hard drive back its running fine, it just needs the drivers to use the motherboard. I cannot find the disk so I am downloading the drivers from the website for this motherboard.
A GA-M61P-S3 motherboard.
I should be okay, right?
And if I just use a single hard drive, I shouldn't need to run the sata raid driver, correct?
So I happened to get one of those Intel Atom Mobos with a CPU already installed for free, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do with it. I don't think it has enough power to be a media center, but I'd rather not let it go to waste. Any suggestions?
I don't have the model in front of me, but I believe it's this one
hmm, the Atom 230 really isn't very good. Maybe set it up as a secondary PC for web browsing/IM/whatever in another room?
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I probably won't need it for that stuff in my apartment however, I plan to have a proper desktop and laptop, maybe a file server? Or how much would I need to run dedicated servers for Source games or something?
So I installed everything and all the drivers and I tried to install the newest flash player and I got the message that I didn't have enough space to install flash and needed to free up 5000kb for the program. Its a freaking 232gb HARD DRIVE!
Ok, I posted a few weeks ago about getting ready to put together a new computer (it's been a long long time since I've built one, so am a bit nervous about messing something up). Most of this buld was shamelessly stolen from the build TheFid2 built back in January. Just wanted to run this by folks here to see if I'm making any blaringly stupid mistakes (which wouldn't suprise me all that much).
A few of those items come in combo deals, so that would shave off about $40 of the price (putting the build right around $1200). The price works for me, but am I missing anything important? Things I am most unsure about are the video card (I don't have a preference between ATI or NVIDIA...) and the heatsink (a friend of mine insists I'll want one, and that it'd be easier to get it now while I'm bulding the thing... I agree, I just don't know if I'll actually need one... I don't plan on overclocking the thing (I'm pretty much a novice and would probably explode my computer if I tried something like that)).
Also, I was hoping to put off building this thing for a few months until Windows 7 comes out (I'm currently still using xp, and was hoping to be able to skip getting vista), but the sad state of my dying laptop is making me feel like I should build this thing sooner rather than later (plus, tax refund == time for a new toy!!!).
So, thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms? Jokes about my mother?
Unless you're planning on running an insane SLI/Crossfire setup in the future, the power supply is a little overkill. This 650 watt Corsair should do you fine and save you some money there. Also, with that 1920x1080 monitor, I think you'll see some benefit by stepping that 4870 up to the 1 gig version. It's not vital or anything, but you'll appreciate it in the long run.
Otherwise, looks good. Doesn't sound like you need the aftermarket heatsink, but it will save you the trouble of dealing with the atrocious stock mounting system.
Edit2: Do you have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around? I completely agree with the skipping Vista idea.
I like those suggestions... about $100 cheaper and a better video card. List is updated (any other ideas/suggestions/jokes are still welcome).
ninjaedit: Also, sadly, I don't have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around. I know I should wait (doesn't Windows 7 come out this summer?), but my home laptop is 1) really old, like it barely runs WoW old, and 2) the past few months it has started making horrible grinding noises, and will randomly turn off (I don't know if it's something loose inside, or if it's overheating (it does seem to run hotter than when I first got this), or what). I have a strong feeling it's a bout to die horribly.
I'm a very pc illiterate person but i like to play games on them.I want to make a new computer since my computer cant play any modern games and its 4-5 years old. I would only use the new one for games since i would just use this one for everything else.
I have a budget of $800-900 and i would love to be able to play tf2, starcraft 2 , sims 3 on it.
Ok guys, I've searched this thread a decent amount for tips on sound cards, but no one ever makes mention of their preference or recommendation. I know that lately onboard audio has been much more satisfactory than it was back in the old days, but I know there are some audiophiles out there that appreciate the noticable difference between onboard audio and that of a quality sound card.
Anyway right now I'm using an SB0490 Creative Sound Blaster Live external sound "card."
Lately it seems that its on its last legs. Sometimes during raids in WoW, when there's like 1000 sounds being played all at once, it will just say that its had enough, and stop playing any sound at all until the computer is rebooted. Got the latest drivers and all that fun stuff, so I don't really know whats up.
So I'm likely to be in the market for a new sound device in the near future, and I was hoping for some recommendations. Is Creative still the only way to go? EAX is pretty awesome for gaming, but its proprietary, right? Do other brands of sound cards have their own way of taking advantage of games that use EAX and making them sound just as good?
There are a lot of sound cards out there now, and while Creative still makes some good stuff there are plenty of other options that many people seem to feel are superior. HT Omega seems to be pretty popular right now, and Turtle Beach is still around.
I actually just use a Creative Audigy SE, which is acceptable and a decent improvement over onboard audio, and is only $30.
If you go with Creative Labs be careful in the X-Fi line. A lot of the cheaper cards labeled with that brand don't have real hardware X-Fi technology, they're just relabeled Audigy cards or have software processing instead. You have to spend close to $100 to get the real deal.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
I like those suggestions... about $100 cheaper and a better video card. List is updated (any other ideas/suggestions/jokes are still welcome).
ninjaedit: Also, sadly, I don't have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around. I know I should wait (doesn't Windows 7 come out this summer?), but my home laptop is 1) really old, like it barely runs WoW old, and 2) the past few months it has started making horrible grinding noises, and will randomly turn off (I don't know if it's something loose inside, or if it's overheating (it does seem to run hotter than when I first got this), or what). I have a strong feeling it's a bout to die horribly.
You could always run an Open source OS until this summer. Not a perfect solution depending on what your OS needs are, but at least its free!
Not sure if you have thought about it much, but spending and extra $50 on a case can make a difference (It is generally one of the last things you will upgrade). Having a good case wont increase your framerate, encoding times, or any of that. However, they look nice, run cooler, run quieter, and they last forever. Just some food for thought. I haven't used it yet, but I've heard great things about the Antec P182 which is on sale for $130 plus free shipping.
That should be more than enough machine to get the job done. Comes to $584 before shipping. Just ask if you decide to build it yourself and need help.
Ive heard that vista is buggy or something or has it been fixed? im using XP.
It's not bad at all. The vast majority of problems that plagued it at launch are resolved. But more importantly, if you plan on running a 64 bit OS, Vista 64 is MUCH better than XP 64. The only problem that Vista still has is that it is a bit of system hog.
ninjaedit: Also, sadly, I don't have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around. I know I should wait (doesn't Windows 7 come out this summer?), but my home laptop is 1) really old, like it barely runs WoW old, and 2) the past few months it has started making horrible grinding noises, and will randomly turn off (I don't know if it's something loose inside, or if it's overheating (it does seem to run hotter than when I first got this), or what). I have a strong feeling it's a bout to die horribly.
Rumor is we'll see the public RTM as soon as April.
Posts
I'd obviously suggest getting some good free AV and Firewall apps, there are plenty of lists on Google. Past that, I'm such a Windows virgin myself (always used Macs up until two weeks ago) that I don't know of anything else. Maybe Launchy, if you're into the Quicksilver or Butler type application launchers. I haven't tried it myself, but I may do once I start running more than just Steam on this machine.
All I play on my computer is WoW and WotLK is finally putting the screws to my four year old rig. I'd like to know what I should upgrade to get some better performance out of it, preferably as cheaply and easily as possible.
My comp:
Pentium 4 3.4 gig
Radeon X800 XT
1.0 gig RAM
I'm guessing it's going to be RAM as the first and easiest suggestion. Could you also include type? I'm fairly clueless.
Thanks.
Yup, the motherboard is rotated 90 degrees so that the plugs come out the top. Really weird, but excellent design from a cooling perspective.
I don't especially care to go with a Phenom, and I'm going to be using my computer mainly for gaming, so FPS is my bottom line here. I went with that AM3 chip because it's only $5 more than the E8400 and has been benchmarking at or above it with most games. Granted the almost non-existent performance gain from the extra ~$75 spent on an AM3 mobo and DDR3 RAM doesn't justify that, so I've decided to switch an E8400.
For the mobo I'm currently looking at the GA-EP45-DS3L, I guess it's pretty versatile for the price. And with the memory, is it worth $10 for better timings?
The memory timings probably aren't a big deal. If you're concerned with gaming alone the E8400 is indeed probably the best, and standard, choice. That motherboard is also pretty standard. Don't think you can really go wrong with any of the above.
Just making sure it didn't get lost in the case orgasm
Honestly, I wouldn't throw a dime into that computer. you're running DDR1, which is like, $70 for 1GB now.
Save for a new machine.
I don't really like the Sonata III as a case, but it does come with an Earthwatts power supply, which is a good power supply - it's a rebranded Seasonic I believe.
I put my model number into NewEgg's memory configurator and it's showing me DDR2 (and for a pretty cheap price). Are they wrong?
Also, couldn't I get a fairly cheap video card that would be better than my four year old one?
You still need an HDD, right?
I think so.
I have a Radeon X800 XT. As I recall, those are AGP.
So 2 gigs of DDR2 is a good idea, then?
I could be way off here, but I would think you could only support up to 2gigs of ram total. But going from 1 to 2 couldn't hurt anything.
I do agree that you should save for a new computer though
I'd just save for a new machine.
So would I get a performance bump out of something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150107
I don't have the model in front of me, but I believe it's this one
Before
After!
hmm, the Atom 230 really isn't very good. Maybe set it up as a secondary PC for web browsing/IM/whatever in another room?
Ah, yeah, Earthwatts is pretty good. I'm not sure if that unit has enough amps, but it may indeed be good enough. I just have a knee-jerk NOOO reaction to case/PSU combos due to bad experiences in the past.
A GA-M61P-S3 motherboard.
I should be okay, right?
And if I just use a single hard drive, I shouldn't need to run the sata raid driver, correct?
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I probably won't need it for that stuff in my apartment however, I plan to have a proper desktop and laptop, maybe a file server? Or how much would I need to run dedicated servers for Source games or something?
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11131506
(I think that'll take you to my wishlist...)
A few of those items come in combo deals, so that would shave off about $40 of the price (putting the build right around $1200). The price works for me, but am I missing anything important? Things I am most unsure about are the video card (I don't have a preference between ATI or NVIDIA...) and the heatsink (a friend of mine insists I'll want one, and that it'd be easier to get it now while I'm bulding the thing... I agree, I just don't know if I'll actually need one... I don't plan on overclocking the thing (I'm pretty much a novice and would probably explode my computer if I tried something like that)).
Also, I was hoping to put off building this thing for a few months until Windows 7 comes out (I'm currently still using xp, and was hoping to be able to skip getting vista), but the sad state of my dying laptop is making me feel like I should build this thing sooner rather than later (plus, tax refund == time for a new toy!!!).
So, thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms? Jokes about my mother?
Otherwise, looks good. Doesn't sound like you need the aftermarket heatsink, but it will save you the trouble of dealing with the atrocious stock mounting system.
Edit2: Do you have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around? I completely agree with the skipping Vista idea.
ninjaedit: Also, sadly, I don't have XP or a Windows 7 beta key lying around. I know I should wait (doesn't Windows 7 come out this summer?), but my home laptop is 1) really old, like it barely runs WoW old, and 2) the past few months it has started making horrible grinding noises, and will randomly turn off (I don't know if it's something loose inside, or if it's overheating (it does seem to run hotter than when I first got this), or what). I have a strong feeling it's a bout to die horribly.
I have a budget of $800-900 and i would love to be able to play tf2, starcraft 2 , sims 3 on it.
DVD
Case
Hard Drive
Video Card
Power Supply
Memory
Motherboard
Processor
Windows
That should be more than enough machine to get the job done. Comes to $584 before shipping. Just ask if you decide to build it yourself and need help.
Anyway right now I'm using an SB0490 Creative Sound Blaster Live external sound "card."
Lately it seems that its on its last legs. Sometimes during raids in WoW, when there's like 1000 sounds being played all at once, it will just say that its had enough, and stop playing any sound at all until the computer is rebooted. Got the latest drivers and all that fun stuff, so I don't really know whats up.
So I'm likely to be in the market for a new sound device in the near future, and I was hoping for some recommendations. Is Creative still the only way to go? EAX is pretty awesome for gaming, but its proprietary, right? Do other brands of sound cards have their own way of taking advantage of games that use EAX and making them sound just as good?
I actually just use a Creative Audigy SE, which is acceptable and a decent improvement over onboard audio, and is only $30.
If you go with Creative Labs be careful in the X-Fi line. A lot of the cheaper cards labeled with that brand don't have real hardware X-Fi technology, they're just relabeled Audigy cards or have software processing instead. You have to spend close to $100 to get the real deal.
You could always run an Open source OS until this summer. Not a perfect solution depending on what your OS needs are, but at least its free!
Not sure if you have thought about it much, but spending and extra $50 on a case can make a difference (It is generally one of the last things you will upgrade). Having a good case wont increase your framerate, encoding times, or any of that. However, they look nice, run cooler, run quieter, and they last forever. Just some food for thought. I haven't used it yet, but I've heard great things about the Antec P182 which is on sale for $130 plus free shipping.
Ive heard that vista is buggy or something or has it been fixed? im using XP.
It's not bad at all. The vast majority of problems that plagued it at launch are resolved. But more importantly, if you plan on running a 64 bit OS, Vista 64 is MUCH better than XP 64. The only problem that Vista still has is that it is a bit of system hog.
Rumor is we'll see the public RTM as soon as April.