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Computer Build Thead: AMD joins NVidia, Intel in confusing name club

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Posts

  • StupidStupid Newcastle, NSWRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Fats wrote: »
    If you have to look at the keyboard, something is wrong.

    Still, that keyboard looks nice. I got the Apple wired keyboard, which seems similar in button design, and it is pleasant to use.

    I type about 45 wpm with four fingers, whilst looking at the keyboard...

    I use four fingers and one thumb, with a similar speed. I'll never be able to learn to touch-type because the first thing they do is make me take a typing test... and then place me in the advanced classes because I'm clearly too fast to be a non-typist.

    Stupid on

    26904.png
  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Stupid wrote: »
    Fats wrote: »
    If you have to look at the keyboard, something is wrong.

    Still, that keyboard looks nice. I got the Apple wired keyboard, which seems similar in button design, and it is pleasant to use.

    I type about 45 wpm with four fingers, whilst looking at the keyboard...

    I use four fingers and one thumb, with a similar speed. I'll never be able to learn to touch-type because the first thing they do is make me take a typing test... and then place me in the advanced classes because I'm clearly too fast to be a non-typist.

    I've never bothered to learn to touch type, quite simply because I couldn't give a shit.

    But in your case...

    mavis-beacon-teaches-typing-image.jpg

    Donovan Puppyfucker on
  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Hey guys, I don't feel like sifting through umpteen pages to see if there's a laptop thread (since search is still off).

    My buddy dropped his laptop and screwed the HDD. It's a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4527.

    For replacing his drive, it appears THIS has the same sata connectors, I'm just weary ordering things online not knowing for sure they'll fit the need (since I'm mostly unfamiliar with laptops). But it looks like Newegg has an easy return policy if it doesn't fit for some reason.

    Second, I want to get a SATA/USB adapter, both for trying to recover some of his files (though unlikely) as well as recovering files from an older computer of mine. Would either THIS or THIS work for such a solution? I know they say SATA, but again, I'm weary with this due to unfamiliarity in the laptop biz.

    I assume that you just attach the little cable to the SATA drive in question and it gets powered and just runs itself as a USB drive on your computer like any other?

    Custom Special on
    XBL: F4ll0utBP | STEAM | PSN : CustomSpecial | Bnet: F4ll0ut#1636
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    SATA is SATA, they share the same physical connectors. In fact, you don't even need those cables to connect a 2.5" SATA drive to a desktop -- you can plug it into a spare SATA port, power it up from the PSU, and it's good to go.

    (They aren't powered off USB, BTW. These kits will have a separate power adapter to actually juice the drive.)

    Zxerol on
  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Yeah, it looked like the kits each had a dedicated power connector for the drive.
    And I kind of still want to get the adapter so I can just connect my old drive that way instead of having to break into my desktop and mount it and all that. I just like the convenience of the USB style.

    Custom Special on
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  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Does anyone have any opinions on this card? I'm starting to lean towards Nvidia, and wanted to hear if anyone has any experience with this particular one.

    Rizzi on
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I have pretty much that exact card but made by EVGA. I've loved everything about it. It singlehandedly maxes out pretty much all my games, including what you're playing now (BC2 if you don't see this for a while).

    When I was looking for a card the galaxy ones where rating just as highly as EVGA on all the sites I checked.

    initiatefailure on
  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Awesome stuff. BC2 has a few framerate issues on my current card. And Rift. And Dragon Age..
    :(

    Rizzi on
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Well I changed from a 9600gt so it was a big change. Being able to pump both the graphics and run full physx for physx games on one card is sort of a shock for me but so far ts handled physx games like batman, cryostasis (whic used to murder my card on low settings) and metro amazingly with no stuttering. My friend wanted to see my source performance with it so I ended up with about 250-270 fps in hl2 lost coast benchmark. I haven't run any other benchmarks yet bt it's safe to say everything I've thrown at it has run flawlessly. It seems like a really solid card.
    Just double check the size. Mines feels pretty long even in a full tower

    initiatefailure on
  • AlanielAlaniel Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I have a Processor and Motherboard question:

    Right now I'm running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 with a GTS 250. Yeah, I'm just now starting to understand the process of bottlenecking, stupid me.

    I've seen a few games coming out that I'd like to upgrade for (Deus Ex, Bulletstorm, etc), but I have a dilemma.

    Obviously this is a LGA 775 chip on a LGA 775 motherboard. So I have two options:

    1. Buy this Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 and keep my current motherboard.
    2. Buy a new LGA 1366 board and probably an i7 processor, probably something like this.

    My budget allows for either option really, but I'd like to know whether buying the new motherboard and processor is, for lack of a better phrase, worth it.

    I don't mind that the Q9550 isn't as good as the i7, I know it isn't. I'm just wondering how long its going to last me. If its only going to be like a year, I'd rather go ahead and just get the new motherboard now.

    What do you guys think?

    Alaniel on
  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Putting money into an obsolete platform doesn't seem like a good idea to me ("obsolete", not bad -- I'm still running an OC'd Penryn and don't feel any need to upgrade). That Q9550 in particular seems grossly overpriced especially when the superior i7 is just $20 more.

    Seeing as how you have some $$$ to spend (considering you're linking to a ~$300 mobo), I think a complete system overhaul would be better spent, with a Sandy Bridge chip if you're going Intel.

    Zxerol on
  • AlanielAlaniel Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Zxerol wrote: »
    That Q9550 in particular seems grossly overpriced especially when the superior i7 is just $20 more.
    To be honest I just chose the 775 quad core with the most reviews and best rating on NewEgg. I read the highs and lows and it seemed like the best one there still was for that socket type.
    Zxerol wrote: »
    Seeing as how you have some $$$ to spend (considering you're linking to a ~$300 mobo), I think a complete system overhaul would be better spent, with a Sandy Bridge chip if you're going Intel.
    Well $600~ is probably my high end. :lol: I've never been very good at picking parts as far as price vs. value goes. I looked up the Sandy Bridge chip, it looks nice for about the same price as the other I linked. Any suggestions on a board to pair it with would be appreciated.

    PS What the hell?

    Alaniel on
  • JmcjoeJmcjoe Registered User new member
    edited February 2011
    Not very experienced with custom computers. Was thinking of making one from parts off newegg/tigerdirect.

    I want to keep it around $700 and I want it to play SC2 on high settings (not necessarily ultra, but if you could find a build that could, you'd be my BFF). Am I asking for too much?

    Jmcjoe on
    If God is real, and I'm an Athiest, am I Satan's friend?
  • exisexis Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Jmcjoe wrote: »
    Not very experienced with custom computers. Was thinking of making one from parts off newegg/tigerdirect.

    I want to keep it around $700 and I want it to play SC2 on high settings (not necessarily ultra, but if you could find a build that could, you'd be my BFF). Am I asking for too much?

    Do you have a monitor/mouse/keyboard already?

    exis on
  • JmcjoeJmcjoe Registered User new member
    edited February 2011
    exis wrote: »
    Jmcjoe wrote: »
    Not very experienced with custom computers. Was thinking of making one from parts off newegg/tigerdirect.

    I want to keep it around $700 and I want it to play SC2 on high settings (not necessarily ultra, but if you could find a build that could, you'd be my BFF). Am I asking for too much?

    Do you have a monitor/mouse/keyboard already?

    Yessir, I'm all set on peripherals.

    Jmcjoe on
    If God is real, and I'm an Athiest, am I Satan's friend?
  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I have a question. I was mucking about with the catalyst overclocking thing, and the top of the program has two sliders with clock settings, and memory settings, and the bottom of the screen has 400Mhz and 900Mhz.
    What's the difference?

    Rizzi on
  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Rizzi wrote: »
    I have a question. I was mucking about with the catalyst overclocking thing, and the top of the program has two sliders with clock settings, and memory settings, and the bottom of the screen has 400Mhz and 900Mhz.
    What's the difference?

    Like it says: One is the GPU clock for the card and one is the memory clock for the card. You can set both.

    Xeddicus on
  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I've got the sliders set to 825 and 1335, so why are the numbers at the bottom of the screen not the same?
    (I've never overclocked anything before)

    Rizzi on
  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Most likely because the card is down clocking atm since you don't need it blazing along to read a forum. Fire up a game and check it out then.

    Xeddicus on
  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Ah, gotcha. So I've got my 5750 set to 825Mhz for the GPU clock, and 1335Mhz for the memory.
    This is going to make me sound like an idiot, but the 6850 stock is faster than this right?

    Rizzi on
  • PirusuPirusu Pierce Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Rizzi wrote: »
    Ah, gotcha. So I've got my 5750 set to 825Mhz for the GPU clock, and 1335Mhz for the memory.
    This is going to make me sound like an idiot, but the 6850 stock is faster than this right?

    Yes and no.

    Clock speeds for a reference 6850 will be lower (775mhz gpu clock, 1000mhz for the memory clock)

    Where the cards differ, and what makes even a slower-clocked 6850 much faster than a 5750, is in the architecture of the card itself. It has about 140 more stream processing units (720 vs 960, my numbers might be off, but it's close to this), and the architecture of the card itself allows for faster pixel fill rates, etc.

    Pirusu on
  • TeriferinTeriferin Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Stupid wrote: »
    Fats wrote: »
    If you have to look at the keyboard, something is wrong.

    Still, that keyboard looks nice. I got the Apple wired keyboard, which seems similar in button design, and it is pleasant to use.

    I type about 45 wpm with four fingers, whilst looking at the keyboard...

    I use four fingers and one thumb, with a similar speed. I'll never be able to learn to touch-type because the first thing they do is make me take a typing test... and then place me in the advanced classes because I'm clearly too fast to be a non-typist.

    I used to type with my left hand, and do mouse/punctuation with my right. I've since switched over to a more standard two-handed typing style, though I still default to the old one when using unfamilliar keyboards.

    Teriferin on
    teriferin#1625
  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Pirusu wrote: »
    Rizzi wrote: »
    Ah, gotcha. So I've got my 5750 set to 825Mhz for the GPU clock, and 1335Mhz for the memory.
    This is going to make me sound like an idiot, but the 6850 stock is faster than this right?

    Yes and no.

    Clock speeds for a reference 6850 will be lower (775mhz gpu clock, 1000mhz for the memory clock)

    Where the cards differ, and what makes even a slower-clocked 6850 much faster than a 5750, is in the architecture of the card itself. It has about 140 more stream processing units (720 vs 960, my numbers might be off, but it's close to this), and the architecture of the card itself allows for faster pixel fill rates, etc.

    Oh, cool.
    And now I know. :)

    Rizzi on
  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    RAID.

    Does it work cross controllers? If you have 4 SATA ports on motherboard, but another 4 are on a pci card.

    Can you make a magic 8 disk RAID 5 thing, or does it has to be 2 4 disk arrays.

    Or does that require software RAID. And then, how CPU intensive is software RAID?

    Apothe0sis on
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Hey guys, I don't feel like sifting through umpteen pages to see if there's a laptop thread (since search is still off).

    My buddy dropped his laptop and screwed the HDD. It's a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4527.

    For replacing his drive, it appears THIS has the same sata connectors, I'm just weary ordering things online not knowing for sure they'll fit the need (since I'm mostly unfamiliar with laptops). But it looks like Newegg has an easy return policy if it doesn't fit for some reason.

    Second, I want to get a SATA/USB adapter, both for trying to recover some of his files (though unlikely) as well as recovering files from an older computer of mine. Would either THIS or THIS work for such a solution? I know they say SATA, but again, I'm weary with this due to unfamiliarity in the laptop biz.

    I assume that you just attach the little cable to the SATA drive in question and it gets powered and just runs itself as a USB drive on your computer like any other?

    The drive should work.

    As for the connector, you should get one of these:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007705%20600006255&IsNodeId=1&name=2.5%22

    tsmvengy on
    steam_sig.png
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    SO I have decided (finally) that I'm going to build/buy a new rig. The problem is the budget. Luckily I already have a GPU, 2GB ram and a brand new 1tb hdd. So all I'll need is a mobo, case, psu and processor.

    Currently have
    ATI RADEON SAPPHIRE 5570HD 2GB LOW PROFILE
    2X 1GB DDR2 RAM
    1TB SAMSUNG F3 7200

    And that's it, yeah pretty weak sauce but eh. I'm hoping I can upgrade the GPU later to something much more meatier. Also, my budget is a bit tough; £200. I was hoping for a quad-core proc, maybe a phenom but that's gone out the window as they cost a fair whack. Hope you guys can help, I'm really struggling here. (First build, go figure).

    Big Classy on
  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    So much for the budget! Well, I can get some of the parts right now and reuse the old gpu (5570). It'll give me time to save up for the Palit 460 or better yet, an EVGA version of it which is apparently well loved round these parts. Was gonna reuse the old ram but eh, safer to just buy new and I am reusing the old DVD drive.

    Any compatibility issues here? The motherboard and case I'm not sure on tbh.

    Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3 Cache Retail Box Processor £89.99
    MSI P55-CD53 P55 Socket 1156 Gigabit Lan 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard £76.24
    Black Mid Tower Gaming Case with Massive 14cm Front Fan - No PSU £21.84
    OCZ 500W Mod XStream Pro PSU - 2x PCI-E 6x SATA £57.95
    PALIT GTX 460 SONIC 1024MB GDDR5 DUAL-DVI HDMI VGA Out PCI-E Graphics Card £139.95
    G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V £48.82

    Total: £434.79

    Waaaaaay over my budget but then 'm buying everything new and really want to run games like Crysis, Bad Company 2 and the new Test Drive Unlimited on max, or atleast as close as possible. Thanks for the feedback guys.

    edit: Would I have trouble running a 5570 2GB in that and then going to an Nvidia GTX460?

    Big Classy on
  • AnteCantelopeAnteCantelope Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    You can't reuse the old RAM anyway, it's DDR2, which isn't compatible with any of the i3, 5, or 7 series.

    AnteCantelope on
  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    edited February 2011

    Just like everything else I'll start caring when I can get it into my PC for under an arm and soul. At least they have working prototypes apparently.

    Xeddicus on
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    You can't reuse the old RAM anyway, it's DDR2, which isn't compatible with any of the i3, 5, or 7 series.

    oh man thanks for the warning, that could have been frustrating. I've also decided to just re-use my current 5570 hd until such a time i have more monies. Just need to make sure everything is compatible.

    Big Classy on
  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    So i can bring the cost down a manageable £240-ish by removing the GPU and changing a few parts. Currently

    Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H H55 Socket 1156 VGA DVI HDMI Out 8 CHannel Audio MATX Motherboard - £74.99
    Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V - £40.00
    Galaxy Black Mid Tower Case with Blue Bubble Light LED Strip - 450W PSU - £37.98
    Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz Socket 1156 4MB L3 Cache Retail Box Processor - £89.99

    PSU is on the slightly small side but it should handle a 5570 (currently using a damn 280W pSU!) but it comes bundled with the case.

    Big Classy on
  • IoloIolo iolo Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Some nice V-Day deals on NewEgg, including $10 off the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black with promo code EMCKHJJ29: $150 and free shipping.

    Iolo on
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  • OrmussOrmuss Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Err, so can someone enlighten me here: what exactly has happened with the LGA1155 motherboards? I was posting here a few weeks ago about building a custom PC, but had to shelve my plans due to a money thing. Now I'm back in business, but the motherboard is...backordered or being recalled?

    Ormuss on
  • niktheniknikthenik Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    All the motherboards with the new "sandy bridge" (1155) socket have been recalled due a messup that could lead to perform decrease.

    Rumors say the will be back in march/april.

    nikthenik on
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  • OrmussOrmuss Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Sonnuva...

    So options in the meantime would be to go with AMD, I suppose? Man...I guess I should be happy I didn't order one just before they found the fault, but it leaves me unsure whether or not to wait.

    Ormuss on
  • StupidStupid Newcastle, NSWRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I'm looking for advice on a fixed storage upgrade. Space/size is not an issue; I'm currently working within a 160GB drive and I'm only about 40% full. (Mostly because I have a large NAS for all of my data files - MP3s, images, documents, etc - and the only things that are actually installed locally are the program files and critical data files themselves.)

    Anyway, I'm dealing with a pretty serious performance hit due to a VERY slow hard drive system. Every time I get a memory page fault and the system has to load from virtual memory (which is all the time) it drags the whole machine down. For example, simply loading Firefox takes upward of 45 second, during which time the hard drive light is continually locked "on" and I can hear the poor little bugger thrashing around like a netted fish.

    I found a very old hard drive shootout on tomshardware that dates back to 2009, but I have to believe that two years have resulted in some better technology. Any suggestions on where to look for the fastest possible hard drive subsystem I can get?

    Has SSD gotten mature enough that it actually beats rotating media by a wide margin yet?

    Stupid on

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  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Stupid wrote: »
    Anyway, I'm dealing with a pretty serious performance hit due to a VERY slow hard drive system. Every time I get a memory page fault and the system has to load from virtual memory (which is all the time) it drags the whole machine down.

    If you're regularly getting a lot of hard faults you need more RAM.

    Stupid wrote: »
    Has SSD gotten mature enough that it actually beats rotating media by a wide margin yet?

    I think so, but where you're going to notice the performance increase is during sequential reads/writes. So boot up times, or when a large file needs to load, or when copying large files. If you do go SSD, make sure not to cheap out too much, as the controller dictates performance, and the really cheap SSDs have shitty controllers. There is also the Seagate Momentus XT (laptop drive), which is a platter hard drive with a 4 GB flash buffer. It outperforms other platter drives, but not by a huge margin. I've a friend who installed one on his wife's laptop and he swears it makes a noticeable difference.

    Djeet on
  • StupidStupid Newcastle, NSWRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Djeet wrote: »
    If you're regularly getting a lot of hard faults you need more RAM.

    I knew this was going to be one of the first replies, thus my checking back right away.

    Yes, this is true and the new system I'm building has already taken this into account. But I'm not really willing to toss money into my current computer since it will be replaced in a few weeks. I'm currently running with a very slim 2GB of DDR2 RAM and sure enough page faults are killing me.

    I already have an 8GB setup of DDR3 sitting on the counter waiting for the re-release of the socket 1155 mainboards.

    I figured I'd upgrade my fixed storage system while I wait for that to happen, since the fixed storage will migrate over just fine. (Or maybe not, if I can find a SATA3 SSD that is worth the extra cost.)

    Stupid on

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  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Iolo wrote: »
    Some nice V-Day deals on NewEgg, including $10 off the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black with promo code EMCKHJJ29: $150 and free shipping.

    I was intrigued by the 1.5TB Seagate HDD for $59.99...until I saw the reviews. Euuugggh.

    Gaslight on
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