PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[EiZei 0]

Hi Guys

I'm searching a tool I can use to show to opf community part of the project I'm working on.

In particular, I've often noticed  add-on maker usually put some images as well video about their own add-on.

I wuold ask you how can I make a video.

Thank you

I think most of them use Fraps.

[Nicolas Eymerich 0]

Just downloaded...

Thank you!

[j w 0]

Just asking, is this a good setup, what should I change, or is it good as it is?

Chassie: bZerk Miditower 550

PSU: Q-Technology PowerSupply (PSU) 400W 120MM Fan Gold-Series

MoBo: Asus - Socket AM2 - ATX nForce570 SLI (M2N-SLI DELUXE) - PCI-E / SATA / DDR2

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz / 2x1MB Socket AM2 (Box)

DDR: Kingston DDR2 1024MB 750MHz CL4 (4-4-4-12) (2pcs, total of 2048MB DDR)

GFX: Asus GeForce 7900GTX 512MB(EN7900GTX/2DHT/512M) - TV-Ut / Dvi (PCI-Express)

HD: Western Digital 250GB SATA II Caviar SE16 (7200RPM / 16MB Cache / SATA II)

Screen: LG 19" TFT L1932P-BN - Black (4ms)

Around 1700€ (euro)

[echo1 0]

I would not bother getting an AM2 Athlon, its more money for absolutely negligble performance increase. Get a 939 and save money and get proven Motherboard designs (aparently that new nForce chipset it a bit dodgy at the minute) another thing of concern is your PSU, 400W is too little, and the fact that its not from a good brand like Seasonic, OCZ, Fortron, Hiper, Tagan, NorthQ etc. is not good either. Spend more money on a good name high wattage (get at least 500W) unit. I would recommend the Seasonic S12 500W unit. If you cant find one, make sure you read up review of whatever you intend to get.

[j w 0]

Ok, taking a 500W (or more) instead.

Hm, well, the sAM2 has 5000+, so I'll stay w/ that one o;)

You said that nForce570 chipset was 'dodgy'.

Do you think that a VIA K8T890 would work better?

[echo1 0]

Hm, well, the sAM2 has 5000+, so I'll stay w/ that one o;)

Be very careful about that, those performance numbers can be pulled out of the air alot of times. If you read reviews of the AM2 on the net you'll see that even with greater model numbers and speeds, the AM2 is little better than 939. See this.

As for the chipset, I read a review when it first came out, it was possible that the magazine got one with a crappy Beta firmware or whatnot. Its worth reading into it to determine whether theres still any problem.

If I was you, I's wait for the Core 2 Duo, which is coming soon and is meant to be very good. If you cant wait, you may just be better off with a 939.

[j w 0]

Nvm, read the article

Going with an Intel instead..

Tired of this f-ing confusion

Ok, how about this then:

Chassi: Aerocool Miditower Aeroengine 2 (Black)

PSU: Antec PowerSupply (PSU) 500W SmartPower 2.0

MoBo: Asus - Socket 775 - ATX Nforc4 (P5N32-SLI DELUXE) - P4 / PCI-E / 2st 16x SLi

CPU: Intel Pentium D 950 3,4ghz 800/2x2m S775

DDR: GeIL DDR2 2GB (2x1.0GB) PC5300 667MHz - Dual Channel SPD (Value)

GFX: Asus GeForce 7900GTX 512MB (EN7900GTX/2DHT/512M) - TV-Ut / Dvi (PCI-Express)

HD:  Western Digital 250GB SATA II Caviar SE16 (7200RPM / 16MB Cache / SATA II)

Soundcard: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Screen: LG 19" TFT L1932P-BN - Black (4ms)

Keyboard&mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop Comfort + optic mouse

About 1650€ (euro)

(After a while I'll install some Zalman watercooling and OC it )

[EiZei 0]

Wish AMD would stop fucking around with the sockets already, we already have 754, 939, 940, AM2 and F. Socket-A was so much simpler.

[lee_h._oswald 0]

@All, take a look at this extremly cool hardware:

Click me now!

It would be a HELL OF FUN to play OFP/Arma with this!

MfG Lee

[j w 0]

You can buy Matrox cards.. Even those who support more the one screen

EDIT: The problem is, even if you buy the card for lets say $700, you'd have to buy a screen for like $4k

[dm 9]

JW - its not a graphics card, "just" an adapter that splits the signal across 3 monitors.

Oh, and graphics cards which support more than one monitor have been around for years my old Fx5600 would support 2 monitors, just not very well

This does seem to be an awesome piece of kit. Just a hella-expensive one, considering you'll need at least a 7800 GTX (and preferably 2 of them) to be able to play a lot of games at any decent settings. Sweet if you've got the ÅÅÅ tho

[berghoff 11]

I would not bother getting an AM2 Athlon, its more money for absolutely negligble performance increase.

Its only there so It can support better/faster CPUs? Same for 754 (not sure)-> 939.

[kegetys 2]

In the triplehead2go it seems a bit odd move to use the analog VGA signal, and the device itself is also very expensive... I think it might be possible to do this relatively well entirely in software too. Not with AGP/PCI bus though, but PCI Express might have the required bandwidth to do it, if I just had a PCI express system to try it out.

[lee_h._oswald 0]

I can't see any other way to use 3 monitors then this.

Ok, you can use one of the older Matrox cards, they support 3 monitors, but:

a) those cards cost a lot of money

b) the gaming performance is very poor

---

With this box you can use every NVidia Card with a lot of allready available games.

I tried playing in Dualscreen mode, but with the centered view of all shooters/racing games/etc you are allways looking/aiming at the point, where the two LCD's are standing together(fake screens):

With the Matrox box, it looks like this:

In the middle screen, you are seeing exactly, what you see if you are playing with only one monitor: OFP with 1280x1024 resoloution. The other two monitors will give you a huge field of view.

---

At the moment I try to get a 3rd 17" LCD Display from Samsung(172x), which I allready own two of.

If I can get it, I will buy the matrox box, which I can get for ~250 Euro.

MfG Lee

[Acecombat 0]

Have you considered having 2 nvidia cards and then using 4 monitors instead of 3?

Sure it'll cost more , but then again if sticking with 3 monitors means lowering gaing performance because of the matrox cards then i would definitely opt for either a 2 or 4 display solution.

[dm 9]

The matrox system is NOT a gfx card, its an adapter.

It doesnt need a matrox gfx card, and it doesnt "limit" performance. You just need a powerful gfx card as you have to draw 3 screens worth of data every refresh.

The 4 monitor setup would be just as power-hungry as the matrox solution, as you still have to draw each screen every refresh.

As for 2 or 4 monitor setups, they're cool and all, but they arent much good for gaming, as you FoV is split down the middle and you end up with a gap (where the edge of the monitors are) right in the important part of your game. Thats the beauty of odd-numbered multi-monitors - you still work on what is essentially a one monitor setup, but the monitors to the left/right provied a huge FoV.

[echo1 0]

Wont that centralize around the point where all four monitors touch in the center, thus obscuring what you need to see? The three screen idea is good, four would be good for applications where you need to see all your stuff on different screens, but is of little other use.

[Acecombat 0]

Yes your right the vision would be very oddly placed in between the 2-4 monitor setup. 3 is better for gaming.

5 would be pretty good aswell , if you can twist the monitors around your seat so you have to look left and right physically yourself to see whats going on in the field .

[Sertorius 0]

What do you guys think about this system I'm considering?

Case: Asus Vento 3600

PSU: NZXT PF-500 (500 Watt)

Mobo: Asus A8N SLI Deluxe

CPU: Athlon 64 4000+

RAM: 2GB Corsair High Performance

GPU: Geforce 7900GT 512MB

HDD: 160GB SATA-II

OS: Windows XP X64 Edition

Sound: SB Audigy 4 SE

Speakers: Logitech X-230

Monitor: Viewsonic Q9B 19"

CD: 16x DVD-ROM

CD2: LG GWA-4161 16x DVD-R/RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer

This system, plus a printer, keyboard, mouse, and the Microsoft Works Suite comes out at $2195. Anything I should change?

I'd especially appreciate advice concerning the mobo, as I know very little about what would be an appropriate choice.

[echo1 0]

Sertorius:

Asus Mobos are generally highly regarded, so no need to worry there. The things that could be improved about that spec are:

1) Hard Disk: I wouldnt recommend anything less than 200-250GB, Its always better to buy more space than you need.

2) Sound card: Id recommend getting an X-Fi Xtrememusic. If youre gona get a proper sound card over integrated audio (which is pretty good nowadays) you might as well get the best you can get.

3) CPU: The 4000+ is a nice CPU, but for $2k+ I'd be wanting a dual-core. How much to upgrade to an Athlon X2 3800+?

4) O/S: Win XP 64 is shit. But XP Home 32bit, and save up money for Vista next year.

Otherwise, nice PC

[ralphwiggum 6]

I recently bought stuff to put together a new PC and I was about to install XP home edition. Problem is when I boot from CD, the Windows setup starts, but says that acpi.sys is corrupt.

Any idea on how I can fix this problem?

[echo1 0]

I used to get this problem with a dodgy IDE cable (although I still use it and it works perfectly with everything else). First, do you know for sure that this CD works (is it original, or a copy that has been proven to work?) If so, try getting a lend of another CD ROM drive and IDE cable from a friend and see if it does anything. I know its ridiculous, but such are the joys of windows

[ralphwiggum 6]

I'm thinking of returning mobo and RAM. HAd enough problem. CD/DVD-R is from Sony and seems to be ok. The problem is that Windows would run, then it would suddenly give BSOD for some other reason.

[echo1 0]

I'm thinking of returning mobo and RAM. HAd enough problem. CD/DVD-R is from Sony and seems to be ok. The problem is that Windows would run, then it would suddenly give BSOD for some other reason.

If it keeps BSODing then its probably a hardware issue. What stuff did you use in the PC? The most common offenders here are PSUs and RAM (only if you bought cheap non-brand RAM)

[j w 0]

Sry for changing object, we'll get back to you ralph

I need a new headset, so I was thinking between two:

Sennheiser Headset PC-130

or

Logitech Precision Gaming Headset

Precision is like 10euro cheaper.

It looks better thouhg

Wich one should I choose?