PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[froggyluv 2130]

@froggyluv: thanks , its more than enough power for me. Wont need a new system for a very long while. Let me just say night and day difference. Gonna overclock it as soon as I can (or maybe not). No I have not played any games yet on this new machine except benchmarks (pcmark vantage).

The reason I ask is I'm trying to plan out a system that can 'max out' Armed Assault' or at least play it with most everything on High with decent fps and no texture loss. I've seen post's in the troubleshooting thread with system specs that command respect in almost all games ie E8600; 4870x2, but still fall short in Arma. This really confuses the hell out of me- maybe Arma should replace Crysis as the benchmark standard  

[456820 0]

Quote[/b] ]As for hard drives... The exact amount of cache is largely irrelevant, what matters is overall performance. Even then, I doubt the boost you'd get would be worth your time backing up and reinstalling. What model are you thinking of getting anyway out of curiosity?

I already have a Samsung 320gb 7200RPM 8mb cache, the one I plan on getting is a 500gb Samsung 7200RPM 16mb cache.

Also what do you think about the dual core patch posted in my post?

Thanks.

[echo1 0]

No idea, my main system is a single core Athlon 64. I have a Core 2 Duo on my laptop, but I dont use it for much gaming, so I never investigated into it. I have the hard disk that you are talking about (the 500GB Samsung... HD501J I think it is.) Supposedly the 750GB model (The F1) is superior to it, not just with capacity, but with speed as well. I've read reviews suggesting that it is as fast as the WD Raptors for most tasks. I'd take a look if you can afford the extra money, otherwise, the 500GB model gets the thumbs up from me, its fast and quiet.

[Shashman 0]

The 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F1 is one of the best HDDs out at the moment. Not only is it a great performer, but at around GBP 85 for 1TB of storage, with 32mb cache, it's really nothing short of a steal. Definitely getting one of those for my build at the end of this month

You can also get the 750GB version, which is GBP 30 cheaper.

[CzingerX 0]

Hi,

Right now I have 2 gigs of RAM in my rig. When I put an extra stick in to fill up the 3rd slot my computer say's I have 3 gigs and performance is good.

So, when I start up my computer 9/10 times I'll get a prolonged beeeps, twice in a row and it say's my computer is in safe mode. But any time that I only restart it, it does not happen ever. Any idea what causes this? I'm kinda nervous.

All motherboard drivers are up to date along with the BIOS. All are 1 gig a piece sticks of RAM. Same brand. Crucial. Same speed. I'll switch them all up when I have 2 gigs in. So I know its not bad Ram.

AMD X2 3800

Nvidia 520 motherboard

ATI PCI Express X1950

Crucial pc4200 RAM

XP 32bit SP3

Thanks.

[Shadow NX 1]

I'd try a new PSU and hold out a few months to upgrade the rest of the machine.

After some reading trough some other websites it seems the PSUs can cause pretty weird things if low on power.

After checking i noticed that all Fans in the case start to work so its quite possible that they are just underpowered because of the now 3 years old noname PSU.

The Corsair is still bit too expensive for my taste so how about a 550W Be Quiet Dark Power P7?

Seems it has excellent reviews and 550W should do it for me.

[456820 0]

@CzingerX

I've actually got the exact same problem as you right now. For me I have found out that my keyboard "-" button is being 'held down' and that's what makes the beeping noise but I have no reason why that stops start up, so all I do is when I hear the beeps I press the "-" button and that stops it and it works.

Not sure if your problem will be down to a random button being held down but for me it is.

@Ch_123

Thanks for the advice, I might even sell my old hard drive and then get a 1tb version especially since it's at a special deal of £67 at the moment.

[Deadfast 43]

CzingerX:

Check out your MB's manual.

There should be a section for something like BIOS (POST) error beep codes.

[echo1 0]

Hi,

Right now I have 2 gigs of RAM in my rig. When I put an extra stick in to fill up the 3rd slot my computer say's I have 3 gigs and performance is good.

So, when I start up my computer 9/10 times I'll get a prolonged beeeps, twice in a row and it say's my computer is in safe mode. But any time that I only restart it, it does not happen ever. Any idea what causes this? I'm kinda nervous.

All motherboard drivers are up to date along with the BIOS. All are 1 gig a piece sticks of RAM. Same brand. Crucial. Same speed. I'll switch them all up when I have 2 gigs in. So I know its not bad Ram.

AMD X2 3800

Nvidia 520 motherboard

ATI PCI Express X1950

Crucial pc4200 RAM

XP 32bit SP3

Thanks.

Certain motherboards are very particular about RAM configurations. Out of curiosity, try getting a loan of another 1GB stick (doesnt necessarily have to be the same brand) and see if you have the same problems. I'd also do as Deadfast says and check out the beep codes, but I'd bet you that the beeps you hear correspond to some sort of generic RAM error. What sort of PSU do you have btw?

ShadowNX:

Yep, I hear good things about BeQuiet PSUs too, if its a good deal cheaper than the Corsair unit, then 50-70W isnt going to make much of a difference if you are on a budget. And generic no-name PSUs are definitely a leading cause of random shit on otherwise good computers.

Quote[/b] ]I've seen post's in the troubleshooting thread with system specs that command respect in almost all games ie E8600; 4870x2, but still fall short in Arma.

It's a well known fact that ArmA doesnt particularily scale well to two GPUs, I would say that the best thing to get the most peformance out of ArmA at the moment would be a single GTX 280.

[Shadow NX 1]

The Be Quiete is ordered after i read some more very good reviews, lets see if that is the key to all the pc problems.

And if not then i at least got a decent PSU for my next setup attempts, hehe.

What surprised me is that these things seem to suck 6watts even if you switch the PC of with the main switch.

[echo1 0]

The power button on your computer is actually controlled by the motherboard, not the PSU. The implication of this is that your motherboard is constantly turned on in order to wait for a power on signal, requiring your PSU to constantly output a 5V current, thus using up power even when the rest of your computer is powered down and doing nothing. The only way to ensure your computer uses no power is to either plug it out or hit the power switch on the back of your PSU (if this was what you were referring to when you said the "main switch" I think you could have a problem, the computer shouldnt be drawing any current when the PSU is switched off)

[baddo 0]

You can use an extension cord which has a switch so it is easy to "unplug" the computer and other devices which are attached to the same extension cord... not too difficult to do everytime the computer is used.

Also provides at least some sort of protection from over-voltage caused by for example a thunderstorm.

[456820 0]

Just another small question...

I heard that buying RAM the speed is divided up between the amount of sticks it comes in. So 2GB at 800mhz with 1gb per stick then the speed of each stick would be 400mhz. Is this correct?

If so would there be problems buying just 1gb at 800mhz and mixing it in with 2 sticks at 400mhz each?

[echo1 0]

Eh nope, all the modules would run at 800MHz, EDIT:Technically they all run at 400MHz, but because of the way DDR (or indeed DDR2 or DDR3) RAM works, 400MHz corresponds to a theoretical performance of 800MHz compared to non-DDR RAM, maybe whoever you heard that from heard this fact and got it confused. But all modules run at the same speed, which is uninfluenced by the amount of RAM modules you have (although on certain older boards, it slows down the speed if you fill all the available slots, unfortunately I have such a board )

[MehMan 0]

Is this a good LCD screen?

[echo1 0]

I'm going to give Intel the benefit of the doubt until I see some real benchmarks.

Speak of the devil, here are some already:

Hexus

Tom's Hardware

Anand Tech

20-30% increase in performance over Core 2 Duo/Quad at the same speed? Sounds good to me.

[kmossco 9]

Is this a good LCD screen?

Yes it is mate. Could do with a bit more contrast though. I just bought a LG one but with 8000:1 for contrast. 19" though.

[froggyluv 2130]

Woohooo!  Ok, postal service is reimbursing me for my smashed computer albeit minus a couple hundred bucks. So I got one week till I order and have to keep it under or close to $1100.00 US

1.Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail -$59.95 (free ship)

2.Antec EA650 650W ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 Power Supply - Retail -$99.99

3.Logitech S-220 17 Watts 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM

   -$20.99

4.mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) -$77.99 (sweet cheap!

5.ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail -$139.99

6.Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8600 - Retail -$274.99

7.Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM -$109.99

8. ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail         -$26.99

9.XIGMATEK ACK-I7753 Retention Bracket For 4 heatpipes model only - Retail -$6.99

10. VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 (with Grid) -$270.00

+17.98 ship

Total $1,105.85

Not sure about the E8600 as I hear it hit's 4.0ghz on air but maybe Ishould wait for e8500 to go E0 stepping although there's no guarentee I'll get one ( tried talking to Newegg)- but that would save me another $90.00 or so. Also, anyone know if that retention bracket wil work with that case and mobo as I really hate push-pins.

All feedback welcome

 

[MehMan 0]

Is this a good LCD screen?

Yes it is mate. Could do with a bit more contrast though. I just bought a LG one but with 8000:1 for contrast. 19" though.

It's a bit wierd, the site the owner bought it from says it has a 5000:1 contrast ratio. It's a second hand one that I'm going after, but a bit pricey, 175€, which is the price of a new one, so I'll make him drop it to 150€, but first I'll have to take a look ofcourse.

[456820 0]

@Ch_123

Ahh I get it, so if I just get a stick of 800mhz it will be fine. Do I need to stick to the same type as my other two sticks or will it not really matter?

Cheers.

[Deadfast 43]

Is this a good LCD screen?

Yes it is mate. Could do with a bit more contrast though. I just bought a LG one but with 8000:1 for contrast. 19" though.

I've this one.

Great monitor, can't complain!

[MehMan 0]

Hmm, now the contrast ratio worries me a bit. I guess i'll have to go take a look.

[echo1 0]

@Ch_123

Ahh I get it, so if I just get a stick of 800mhz it will be fine. Do I need to stick to the same type as my other two sticks or will it not really matter?

Cheers.

Well, its preferable to get two sticks because then the RAM works in Dual Channel mode and is thus faster... (I presume your motherboard has 4 RAM slots, two of which are already filled?)  How much more RAM do you want to get? If you want 1GB get 2x512MB, or 2x1GB if you need 2GB. Its generally preferable to use the exact same type of RAM in all your slots. That said, for the past year, I have been running 2x1GB of OCZ Platinum in slots 1 & 2, and 2x512MB of Corsair Value RAM in slots 3 & 4. Have had zero problems with it.

@Froggyluv;

EDIT: Ignore, misread post in half-asleep state.

[froggyluv 2130]

Nice spec, but there's one thing that I would recommend; if you want to jump on the Vista bandwagon, get the 64 bit version;

Thanks but erhm, I thought that was the 64 bit version?  

[echo1 0]

Indeed it was. Forgive me, and allow me to commend you on your sound choice of operating system!