So my components came yesterday and I finished throwing my new system together tonight.
Only had one snag.
I bought a 4gb kit (2 x 2gb) of the g.skill DDR2 1066 RAM and for some reason when I have the two sticks in DDR2_1 & DDR2_2 slots and power on the fans and everything kick on but nothing on the screen.
In my troubleshooting process (reset CMOS, unplug unnecessary devices, etc) I pulled one of the sticks of ram out and sure enough I got post. So I at first thought the stick of ram was probably bad. I swapped the two sticks and tried again with the other one in this time... post again!
So I stick them both back into slots 1 & 2 thinking I just didn't plug them in properly... no screen.
I plug them into 1 & 3 and it works. and recognizes all 4 gigs
Problem is my mobo (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P ) says they need to be in 1&2 (or 1&2 and 3&4 if four sticks) to run dual channel.
I there a setting somewhere in the bios I need to change? should I try them in slots 3&4? is there a downside to that?
On Another note, with a brand new system for the first time in YEARS and running win7RC what's out there that I can run right away to see some sweet graphics?
Newegg has HIS Radeon HD4890 1GB PCI Express Video Card + S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Skies PC Game [added automatically] for $200 - $10 coupon HARDOCPVGA685 - $20 rebate = $170 with free shipping.
I'll be watching the speaker discussion for stuff to add to the OP so give Zzulu some good advice.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
So, I want to buy some decent speakers as a present to a person
I haven't used speakers in like, 10 years, so I have no idea what I should get.
Any suggestions?
2.1 or 5.1 (Or More)?
I don't know. I honestly know nothing about sound
Well what are they doing much of? If it's just music I would go with 2.1 (basic stereo with a bass).
However if they're gaming or watching movies perhaps go with the 5.1 (your basic surround sound).
Though you will have to check if their mobo does 5.1, which most do on board these days.
Well what are they doing much of? If it's just music I would go with 2.1 (basic stereo with a bass).
However if they're gaming or watching movies perhaps go with the 5.1 (your basic surround sound).
Though you will have to check if their mobo does 5.1, which most do on board these days.
__________________
I think 2.1 will suffice. It's for a laptop with onboard sound.
I'm thinking of the Logitech Z-4, which is pretty cheap, or the slightly more expensive Logitech Z-2300
Memory
Memory is cheap and the speed doesn't matter nearly as much as the quantity so get 4 gigabytes at least, if you are going with an i7 CPU then get 6. Just make sure your memory is compatible with your motherboard and your memory comes with a good warranty. Also take a glance to see that your memory doesn't require too high a voltage. For DDR2 1.8V or less should be good without any need mess around. For DDR 1.65V or less would be better.
Memory
Memory is cheap and the speed doesn't matter nearly as much as the quantity so get 4 gigabytes at least, if you are going with an i7 CPU then get 6. Just make sure your memory is compatible with your motherboard and your memory comes with a good warranty. Also take a glance to see that your memory doesn't require too high a voltage. For DDR2 1.8V or less should be good without any need mess around. For DDR 1.65V or less would be better.
Even going for the DDR2 - 6400 ram I seem to be paying the same price for 4gig.
How big a deal is the high voltage? Damaging? Because that stuff IS cheap to buy per gig. If it is bad for performance then obviously I'll look around.
The only thing with 2.1v ram is that you'll have to go into your bios when you're setting things up and increase the voltage manually because most likely your board is only going to supply 1.8v by default. A few boards might have issues with supplying the extra voltage but any board worth its cost should be able to. If you want to be supersafe about it you can always check your mobo manufacturer's website for a list of supported ram brands/speeds.
The only thing with 2.1v ram is that you'll have to go into your bios when you're setting things up and increase the voltage manually because most likely your board is only going to supply 1.8v by default. A few boards might have issues with supplying the extra voltage but any board worth its cost should be able to. If you want to be supersafe about it you can always check your mobo manufacturer's website for a list of supported ram brands/speeds.
Is it possible to make the necessary changes if you don't have 1.8v ram on hand?
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
So you found the list and it wasn't on there? Doesn't surprise me really, they rarely update those things. Looks like they do have several models of ocz 1066 ram on there, and a typical range of voltage (1.8-2.1), so my bet would be that you're good.
seems to be about what I am looking at buying. Any glaring mistakes? cannot order today on account of monies, but reckon similar will be about when I persuade the purse to open up!
The only thing with 2.1v ram is that you'll have to go into your bios when you're setting things up and increase the voltage manually because most likely your board is only going to supply 1.8v by default. A few boards might have issues with supplying the extra voltage but any board worth its cost should be able to. If you want to be supersafe about it you can always check your mobo manufacturer's website for a list of supported ram brands/speeds.
Is it possible to make the necessary changes if you don't have 1.8v ram on hand?
Well considering I have yet to find DDR2 1066 ram that can run anywhere near 1.8v I'm thinking it's an easy problem to overcome. Don't all recent C2D and C2Q run 1066?
For those of you who have pruchased components from newegg that were defective and you rma'd them through newegg: Did they ship you a replacement and THEN you shipped the defective product back or did you have to ship the product back, wait for them to get it, then they shipped a new one to you?
Reason I ask is (as mentioned earlier) I might have a bad ram slot on my motherboard which when I get home tonight I'll be able to test and verify. If it is bad then I'll want to RMA it, but it will slightly suck to have to go without my awesome new system, I JUST got, for however long it takes if I have to ship the original board back before they even think of shipping me a new one.
Alright, I have a semi-finalized list of what I'll be getting for my new PC. I've decided, instead of upping the specs to maximize my budget, I'm going to be thankful that i can get what I need for way under my budget instead. So, on that note, here's what I'll be getting for my gaming PC. Any general thoughts or advice welcome:
Also, just to verify, it's okay if the video card has more connectors than the power supply, right?
Also, the power supply has one fan. Will that be sufficient or should I be finding some way to add more cooling?
Alright, I have a semi-finalized list of what I'll be getting for my new PC. I've decided, instead of upping the specs to maximize my budget, I'm going to be thankful that i can get what I need for way under my budget instead. So, on that note, here's what I'll be getting for my gaming PC. Any general thoughts or advice welcome:
Also, just to verify, it's okay if the video card has more connectors than the power supply, right?
Also, the power supply has one fan. Will that be sufficient or should I be finding some way to add more cooling?
The case comes with 2 exhaust fans. If you want to add intake fans, it has space for up to 3 120mm fans...I'd recommend getting 1 or 2 for front intake. The power supply should work fine with that card.
edit: Did we ever find out what monitor you're using?
Well this sucks. I got my old computer running last night after another CMOS clear. I played about an hour of TF2 and ran an hour of Prime95 and no freezing as was previously the issue. I go to plug in my second hard drive and I get the previous freezing problem almost as soon as Windows boots up (the freezing will happen in the BIOS settings screen if I leave it there long enough). At first I was glad to not have to buy new parts as I had been in the process of doing (already have 4gb ddr2). Now I'm back to having no idea what is wrong. The power supply? The motherboard SATA slots or chipset going bad? Is there even a way to definitively test these two components without completely replacing them?
e: And now it's back to freezing after 30-90 seconds of booting up no matter what I do. I just got done thrashing the fuck out of the thing for a couple hours with no problem. Fuck.
Alright, I have a semi-finalized list of what I'll be getting for my new PC. I've decided, instead of upping the specs to maximize my budget, I'm going to be thankful that i can get what I need for way under my budget instead. So, on that note, here's what I'll be getting for my gaming PC. Any general thoughts or advice welcome:
Also, just to verify, it's okay if the video card has more connectors than the power supply, right?
Also, the power supply has one fan. Will that be sufficient or should I be finding some way to add more cooling?
That power supply has 2 PCIE connectors (one is 6+2 I assume that will work) and that PS seems to have a lot of power on the 12V rails. Should be no problem what so ever.
That does seem like a nice PS+Case combo.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Alright, I have a semi-finalized list of what I'll be getting for my new PC. I've decided, instead of upping the specs to maximize my budget, I'm going to be thankful that i can get what I need for way under my budget instead. So, on that note, here's what I'll be getting for my gaming PC. Any general thoughts or advice welcome:
Also, just to verify, it's okay if the video card has more connectors than the power supply, right?
Also, the power supply has one fan. Will that be sufficient or should I be finding some way to add more cooling?
Any thoughts on OCZ power supplies? I can grab this 600w StealthXStream (NE link with pretty favorable reviews) from Microcenter for $40 after rebates, which also gives me the chance to return it if that doesn't fix the problem.
I've been putting together a computer for general use, gaming and photoshop. I was going to make an I7 but I don't think what I'd be doing on the computer would justify the price. I'm trying to keep it under 800 dollars, let me know what you think and what you'd recommend to change.
Is this enough to play recent and new video games with good graphics? I want to make sure I get good performance out of games. Someone recommended to me that I switch to this pure AM3 board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392 with DDR3 RAM.
Hey, sorry to have my first post here be a beg for help, I've lurked here for a while, but now I've got a question that's required me to actually register and ask some (hopefully) qualified people.
I recently built my first system, using a couple different guides. Here are the specs:
AMD Phenom II X3 720
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD4850 x2
Antec 300
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
WD Black 640GB
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
I know it's not one of them newfangled i7 systems, I built it on a relatively cheap budget, however I expected to get a good deal of performance out of it. I've been having serious FPS problems with the Crysis demo though, and I just wondered if you guys could evaluate how well a rig like this should be running Crysis, just so I can see if I've fucked up the setup somewhere?
Is it me, or is this a ridiculously good deal for what it comes with, especially since it includes a 64 bit vista install? Pricey yes, but about the same as the build I was looking at and better performance in several areas.
My one reservation is the lack of SLI support but with a GTX 285 would that matter for a few years?
Edit: My one other reservation is that iBuyPower is supposedly a tad sketchy, although not direly so. Buying through NewEgg makes me feel a little better though.
Henry,
Its not a terrible deal. But I would only get it if (for whatever reason) you don't want to build your own computer. You don't know the quality of the power supply or ram, both of which could come back to seriously bite you. For example, I just built a similar system without much effort (I'm sure you could save an extra hundred if you tried) for less money, and that was with Vista. If I were you, I would build the system you wanted (including SLI if you wanted it), with equipment that you trust AND you know whose warranty information on, and then just install Win 7 RC on it.
Someone please, please take a hard look at these too to make sure I'm not going to have any issues. I don't want to buy all this shit to find out some of it isn't 64-bit compatible or whatever.
I'm building one computer for myself. Something to use Photoshop, Coreldraw, and Photoshop on. No games, I just want to be able to cut through as much work as possible easily and I want it to last at least 5 or 6 years.
The first computer is going to have a copy of Vista Business 64-bit, and the second computer is going to have a copy of Windows XP Pro 64-bit installed.
If anyone has any tips for shaving price/costs off of either one of these I'm all ears.
@Cal: what resolution? your build should be fine for 1680x1050 and under. Any higher and I would get a more beastly card like a 4890 / gtx 275, or put 2 260's in SLI.
Is Windows XP 64-Bit any good or should I just stick with the 32-Bit version and my 3.3GB of ram?
Everyone here will tell you the same thing:
That WinXPx64 isn't any good, and that you should use Win7RC until it's released..
BUT! I know you said you don't want to deal with Win7RC and what not.
So you're only option is Vista 64, or being stuck with less useable RAM than you paid for by going Xp 32-bit.
Your only other potential option is using WinXP64 and then upgrading to Win7 when it's released. You might be able to "tough it out" on XP64 until then. That is, if you already have a copy. Nobody wants you to buy WinXP64 of course.
Hey, sorry to have my first post here be a beg for help, I've lurked here for a while, but now I've got a question that's required me to actually register and ask some (hopefully) qualified people.
I recently built my first system, using a couple different guides. Here are the specs:
AMD Phenom II X3 720
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD4850 x2
Antec 300
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
WD Black 640GB
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
I know it's not one of them newfangled i7 systems, I built it on a relatively cheap budget, however I expected to get a good deal of performance out of it. I've been having serious FPS problems with the Crysis demo though, and I just wondered if you guys could evaluate how well a rig like this should be running Crysis, just so I can see if I've fucked up the setup somewhere?
@imperial6/slash000 Well, I just ran the demo's benchmarking tool at 1680x1050, 4x AA, no AF, DX10, Very high, and got an average FPS of 12.23. What the hell am I doing wrong? I've suspected it might have something to do with Crossfire not being enabled, the game not using both my GPU cores, but nothing I've tried so far with drivers and Catalyst Control Center and whatnot has seemed to help at all. Any other solutions/possible bottlenecks in my setup?
So i got the video card installed and it works great. I reinstalled windows and recovered everything I really needed.
There is just one problem. The motherboard I got had the fan power connector in an out of the way place and I had to the foresight to get a molnex adapter to solve that problem, but not for the HD audio cable.D:
It went from the front of the case to the far side of the motherboard, just under the fan (if only they were switched, I would have had no problems).
I have had no sound for the last week, not so bad but Postal 2 has no subtitles and a lot of Oblivion is the atmosphere and that requires music.
I left the HD audio cable unattached and went to find an extender but settled on a $32 sound card. I hooked it up but its slightly askew due to the case's quirks. Windows detected it and it was installed, and i have the speakers plugged into the card but no sound.
@imperial6/slash000 Well, I just ran the demo's benchmarking tool at 1680x1050, 4x AA, no AF, DX10, Very high, and got an average FPS of 12.23. What the hell am I doing wrong? I've suspected it might have something to do with Crossfire not being enabled, the game not using both my GPU cores, but nothing I've tried so far with drivers and Catalyst Control Center and whatnot has seemed to help at all. Any other solutions/possible bottlenecks in my setup?
Sounds strange honestly, maybe try gpu-z to make sure your card is running as it should be. Is it playable with those same settings but AA off?
@imperial6/slash000 Well, I just ran the demo's benchmarking tool at 1680x1050, 4x AA, no AF, DX10, Very high, and got an average FPS of 12.23. What the hell am I doing wrong? I've suspected it might have something to do with Crossfire not being enabled, the game not using both my GPU cores, but nothing I've tried so far with drivers and Catalyst Control Center and whatnot has seemed to help at all. Any other solutions/possible bottlenecks in my setup?
Sounds strange honestly, maybe try gpu-z to make sure your card is running as it should be. Is it playable with those same settings but AA off?
Well, at this point, after installing Catalyst 9.5, I have 2 seperate "4850x2"s showing up in device manager, and GPU-z, but only one showing up in Catalyst Control Center. I have no way of enabling Crossfire in CCC, and GPU-z sees each of my "seperate" 4850s as being not in Crossfire. Also, no, turning off AA only makes High barely playable, but that's with very frequent dips way below the 20 fps mark.
Posts
Only had one snag.
I bought a 4gb kit (2 x 2gb) of the g.skill DDR2 1066 RAM and for some reason when I have the two sticks in DDR2_1 & DDR2_2 slots and power on the fans and everything kick on but nothing on the screen.
In my troubleshooting process (reset CMOS, unplug unnecessary devices, etc) I pulled one of the sticks of ram out and sure enough I got post. So I at first thought the stick of ram was probably bad. I swapped the two sticks and tried again with the other one in this time... post again!
So I stick them both back into slots 1 & 2 thinking I just didn't plug them in properly... no screen.
I plug them into 1 & 3 and it works. and recognizes all 4 gigs
Problem is my mobo (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P ) says they need to be in 1&2 (or 1&2 and 3&4 if four sticks) to run dual channel.
I there a setting somewhere in the bios I need to change? should I try them in slots 3&4? is there a downside to that?
Company of Heroes is very pretty and impressive DX10 for an RTS.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Cykstfc
I haven't used speakers in like, 10 years, so I have no idea what I should get.
Any suggestions?
2.1 or 5.1 (Or More)?
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
I'll be watching the speaker discussion for stuff to add to the OP so give Zzulu some good advice.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I don't know. I honestly know nothing about sound
However if they're gaming or watching movies perhaps go with the 5.1 (your basic surround sound).
Though you will have to check if their mobo does 5.1, which most do on board these days.
I think 2.1 will suffice. It's for a laptop with onboard sound.
I'm thinking of the Logitech Z-4, which is pretty cheap, or the slightly more expensive Logitech Z-2300
Am I on the right track here?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-149-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=817
So this is too high a voltage?
Another set of RAM says 1.8 in the facts, but uses 2.2 in the description - so am confused.
That memory has a high clock speed and fairly tight timings so it's easy to believe that it needs more than 2V.
Go for something slower. It won't matter and will be cheaper and lower voltage.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
How big a deal is the high voltage? Damaging? Because that stuff IS cheap to buy per gig. If it is bad for performance then obviously I'll look around.
Is it possible to make the necessary changes if you don't have 1.8v ram on hand?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
(edit) I am like 99.9% sure though.
By switching to scan.co.uk I can save a bit more on some of the componants too!
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/8666/build2.jpg
seems to be about what I am looking at buying. Any glaring mistakes? cannot order today on account of monies, but reckon similar will be about when I persuade the purse to open up!
Well considering I have yet to find DDR2 1066 ram that can run anywhere near 1.8v I'm thinking it's an easy problem to overcome. Don't all recent C2D and C2Q run 1066?
Reason I ask is (as mentioned earlier) I might have a bad ram slot on my motherboard which when I get home tonight I'll be able to test and verify. If it is bad then I'll want to RMA it, but it will slightly suck to have to go without my awesome new system, I JUST got, for however long it takes if I have to ship the original board back before they even think of shipping me a new one.
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20 - OEM
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBNT - Retail
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail
And this awesome Antec case and power supply combo
Also, just to verify, it's okay if the video card has more connectors than the power supply, right?
Also, the power supply has one fan. Will that be sufficient or should I be finding some way to add more cooling?
The case comes with 2 exhaust fans. If you want to add intake fans, it has space for up to 3 120mm fans...I'd recommend getting 1 or 2 for front intake. The power supply should work fine with that card.
edit: Did we ever find out what monitor you're using?
e: And now it's back to freezing after 30-90 seconds of booting up no matter what I do. I just got done thrashing the fuck out of the thing for a couple hours with no problem. Fuck.
That power supply has 2 PCIE connectors (one is 6+2 I assume that will work) and that PS seems to have a lot of power on the 12V rails. Should be no problem what so ever.
That does seem like a nice PS+Case combo.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I honestly like this case better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129037
Or this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129018&Tpk=antec%20solo
which has a combo deal with that PSU as well.
I've always found the Antec 300 to just be a boring case. Plus those two have cool bungees that hold your hard drives in place.
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
Case and Power Supply: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case COOLER MASTER RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.201730
Video Card: XFX GX260NADFF GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329
Is this enough to play recent and new video games with good graphics? I want to make sure I get good performance out of games. Someone recommended to me that I switch to this pure AM3 board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392 with DDR3 RAM.
I recently built my first system, using a couple different guides. Here are the specs:
AMD Phenom II X3 720
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD4850 x2
Antec 300
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W
WD Black 640GB
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
I know it's not one of them newfangled i7 systems, I built it on a relatively cheap budget, however I expected to get a good deal of performance out of it. I've been having serious FPS problems with the Crysis demo though, and I just wondered if you guys could evaluate how well a rig like this should be running Crysis, just so I can see if I've fucked up the setup somewhere?
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Henry,
Its not a terrible deal. But I would only get it if (for whatever reason) you don't want to build your own computer. You don't know the quality of the power supply or ram, both of which could come back to seriously bite you. For example, I just built a similar system without much effort (I'm sure you could save an extra hundred if you tried) for less money, and that was with Vista. If I were you, I would build the system you wanted (including SLI if you wanted it), with equipment that you trust AND you know whose warranty information on, and then just install Win 7 RC on it.
Someone please, please take a hard look at these too to make sure I'm not going to have any issues. I don't want to buy all this shit to find out some of it isn't 64-bit compatible or whatever.
I'm building one computer for myself. Something to use Photoshop, Coreldraw, and Photoshop on. No games, I just want to be able to cut through as much work as possible easily and I want it to last at least 5 or 6 years.
Here's the build:
Antec Sonata Plus 550 Black/ Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 550W Power Supply
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail (x2)
EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
And here's the second build. A bit more pedestrian computer that the boss is using for paperwork and some minor CorelDraw work.
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Antec Basiq BP430 430W Continuous Power ATX12V Version 2.2 Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E6300 - Retail
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-2GBPK - Retail (x2)
SPARKLE SFPX94GT1024U2 GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
The first computer is going to have a copy of Vista Business 64-bit, and the second computer is going to have a copy of Windows XP Pro 64-bit installed.
If anyone has any tips for shaving price/costs off of either one of these I'm all ears.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
@outsie: http://www.cpu3d.com/review/6408-9/sapphire-radeon-hd-4850x2-2gb-ddr3/benchmarks-crysis-dx10.html (benchmarking crysis in dx10 with a 4850x2, on a q6600 processor -- note those are all with 4x aa and 16x af)
@max: xp 64, last I heard, is terrible. If you want to go 64-bit, go with vista, or windows 7 rc. (someone correct me if xp 64 is actually ok now)
Everyone here will tell you the same thing:
That WinXPx64 isn't any good, and that you should use Win7RC until it's released..
BUT! I know you said you don't want to deal with Win7RC and what not.
So you're only option is Vista 64, or being stuck with less useable RAM than you paid for by going Xp 32-bit.
Your only other potential option is using WinXP64 and then upgrading to Win7 when it's released. You might be able to "tough it out" on XP64 until then. That is, if you already have a copy. Nobody wants you to buy WinXP64 of course.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Here's a fairly similar rig:
Core2 Quad Q6600
Sapphire Radeon HD 4860x2 (2 gig)
2 gig DDR2
Benchmark results:
results with 4x aa and 16x af turned on:
link
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
There is just one problem. The motherboard I got had the fan power connector in an out of the way place and I had to the foresight to get a molnex adapter to solve that problem, but not for the HD audio cable.D:
It went from the front of the case to the far side of the motherboard, just under the fan (if only they were switched, I would have had no problems).
I have had no sound for the last week, not so bad but Postal 2 has no subtitles and a lot of Oblivion is the atmosphere and that requires music.
I left the HD audio cable unattached and went to find an extender but settled on a $32 sound card. I hooked it up but its slightly askew due to the case's quirks. Windows detected it and it was installed, and i have the speakers plugged into the card but no sound.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Sounds strange honestly, maybe try gpu-z to make sure your card is running as it should be. Is it playable with those same settings but AA off?