PC Discussion Thread II - All PC related discussion goes here.

[Przemek_kondor 13]

What about the one build in MS Windows?

[spooky lynx 73]

What about the one build in MS Windows?

I don't think it works:) Like the whole MS security software.

[derdoe 10]

Does anybody know any freeware firewall? Or does Avira or avast have it built-in?

Zone alarm seems to be a solid firewall. There is also a free version of it.

[Przemek_kondor 13]

I don't think it works:) Like the whole MS security software.

It doesn't work because it disabled by default. There is no big magic behind firewall apps, so if you'll get fancy buttons and additional process from firewall app downloaded from Internet (which usually are work just on top of windows firewall) you wont be safer.

[xeno426 10]

Your best firewall is often a good built-in hardware one on your router.

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

Xeno wrote:

2x8GB sticks would prevent you from ever using the other two RAM slots, and 2x16GB sticks probably wouldn't even work.

Yeah, I picked up on this as I read through one customer's comment after another. I'm happy that you're backing up my choice. I've learned some important lessons doing this, that's for sure. Thank you again for your patient and detailed advice.

And Vilas, no need to explain the level of English grammatical skill that you have - I admire your capabilities, for your second-language English skills are FAR better than my second-language Polish skills. The only Polish I ever learned was from hearing my Grandpa and other relatives swearing in it! :) It's too bad that my family didn't train me to use it in a broader way. A couple of years before my Grandpa died I was the first to discover that not only could he fluently speak English and Polish, but also Russian and German too! Not bad for a man who only had a third grade education (but he was a master farmer and builder, which is all one really needs to survive in life, anything else goes to primarily serve the elite who ensnare the majority of the resulting profits, and use it to rule the world).

[jefferspang 2]

I've just received my new comp, specs are in my sig. I've set everything on V High except for 3d Resolution which is set on 100%. I have this problem where the textures constantly flicker from extremely low res to high res then back to low res and so on .. as well as the weapon name on the top right of the screen constantly flickering. I've got MCC sandbox and even when I've set the draw distance to around 1K, I'm still getting this flicker. I've tested this on Lingor, Utes and Zargabad... :/ Can someone maybe explain what may be going on here?

*edit - Ok it's gone now, all I did was turn down the AA and video memory..

Edited November 25, 2012 by JeffersPang

[pd3 25]

Has anyone else seen this:

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/11/26/2016228/is-intel-planning-to-kill-enthusiast-pcs

I would like to know how BI will respond to a change in the hardware side of the industry if this happens.

Enabling dominance of the pre-fab computer market will only lead consumers, as well as the company itself down a bad path.

[Tonci87 163]

I call this story BS

[xeno426 10]

Kyle_K_ski, you may find this useful. It's a top list of 240-256GB SSD.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/240gb-256gb-ssd-review,3313.html

Give it a thought, since you may find 128GB very limiting, very quickly.

[pd3 25]

I hope you're correct.

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/11/26/intel-kills-off-the-desktop-pcs-go-with-it/

I can only imagine the bad news this will mean for people who want to build their own computers to play PC games.

The first thing that comes to mind is that OEM manufacturers are required to sell motherboards with intel chips on them, which may or may not result in a distribution agreement to PC manufacturers, which may in turn result in exorbitant prices in a market swarming with pre-fab machines, with emphasis on screwing over consumers who wish to buy "gaming machines".

[xeno426 10]

It would probably fuel a greater move towards AMD, though.

[vilas 477]

i believe it, why ? cause every big company tries to monopolize market , so called free market is a myth in many industry branches, olygopoly is fact and when on market you have 2-3 companies, they can make agreement between each other instead of competee , agreement is better for both, cause than they have more profits instead on minilaizing costs etc.

so i believe it,

in my country we had such non-free markets practics in case of mobile phones, 3 companies had price x cents for call to each other, when 4-th new company entered marked, suddenly all those 3 companies had much bigger prices to call to 4th mobile company phones and it stands still ,

[pd3 25]

It would probably fuel a greater move towards AMD, though.

I think so, with the exception that I understand that AMD is in a bad way financially.

I really hope this bid by intel is not accompanied by AMD folding based on the market disruption that results from them basically not telling ANYONE they were doing this.

If that is the case, I hope it results in some kind of antitrust claim being filed.

Again, it may be paranoid conjecture, but its our hobby at stake here.

I'm okay with AMD, sure they're not as fast as intel, and they consume more power, but if they offer an alternative, more power to them.

My 980 black edition is a power hog, but it plays arma 2 quite well.

I -was- planning on building an intel based rig after arma 3 came out, however I'm now wondering if the price on intel i7s are going to jump as a result.

The absolute WORST outcome should all this be true, is for the PC market to rest primarily in the hands of manufacturers such as Dell, et-al.

We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

Yup, I'm back AGAIN, and boy do I NOT want to be here over something that seems "so trivial," but it is driving me up a wall nonetheless, and any detailed help would be greatly appreciated.

As I shut my system down last night, Windows Update informed me that it was going to install new updates as it shutdown. Now, this morning, whenever I try to right-click and "save image as" an image from the internet, the GUI-window first displays categories of images on my hard drive, primarily organized by that image's/directory's file size (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Unspecified, etc., etc."). This now means that I have to do a TON of very annoying scrolling just to specify in which folder I want to save the image to.

This auto-categorizing applies to EVERY browser I've tried, Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer 64-bit, so I'm assuming that this new auto-sorting-by-size issue is due solely to the operating system's settings.

Changes that I make to how I sort/categorize/arrange my data has ZERO effect on what is displayed in the "save image as" GUI.

I want it set back to what I had last night, before the update was applied - which was that whenever I saved an image, the GUI window would only display the directories in an alphabetized list.

Here's a link to an image I made showing exactly what I see: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?x7p6m5lambhia39

Any advice on this will be warmly welcomed.

And thank you, by the way, to Xeno on the SSD drives list. I received my new RAM, and ArmA 2 is working MUCH more smoothly now (till several aircraft appear, and then the framerates drop significantly). I've yet to check the BIOS to see what speed the RAM is running at. My old RAM was set to 1600, and I intend to set my new sticks to the same setting if they're not there already.

[spooky lynx 73]

Guys, need your advice about RAM change. Now I have 2x2Gb Kingston KVR1333D3N9/2G installed in MSI G41M-P28 mobo, it supports frequency 1333 MHz max. I'm seeking some other RAM to get as New year gift:) Planning to ask for 2x4Gb modules (mobo doesn't support more than 8Gb). Any suggestions about what modules are better than my current Kingstons?

[xeno426 10]

MicroATX? I feel your pain...

Since RAM is pretty interchangeable, look for sticks with the lowest timing speeds. Memory at that speed isn't terribly common, since that's OC (overclocked) speed. It's made worst by the fact that RAM is so old now, so you're going to be limited in choice and cost will tend to be higher, since they are likely out of production.

So far, the cheapest option I've found is a pair of Crucial memory sticks on NewEgg, everything else seems to at least of ECC and I don't know if your motherboard will accept that. At DDR3 1333 speeds, it seems nothing has CAS latency below 9 as well.

[Schismatrix 1]

Hi

So I'm building a new gaming desktop to be ready for Arma 3 (and other upcoming titles) and I'm currently looking at what components I want in it. If any PC-buffs could tell me if this build is solid, I would appreciate it :D

CPU:

Intel® Core™ i5-2300 Processor (2.8GHz)

http://ark.intel.com/products/52206/Int ... o-3_10-GHz

MOTHERBOARD:

P67A-GD65 (B3)

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P67A-GD65 ... div=Detail

GRAPHICS:

N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC

http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N670GTX- ... cification

-is there a difference wether the GTX is from ASUS or MSI?

RAM:

Kingston Hyperx 4GB DIMM DDR3

HDD:

Good ol' Western Digital blue wd3200bpvt (320GB, 2.5", SATA-300)

I'm still not sure about power supply, but perhaps I will update when I've had a look around.

Let me know what you think! Any comments are appreciated :cool:

[xeno426 10]

CPU:

Intel® Core™ i5-2300 Processor (2.8GHz)

http://ark.intel.com/products/52206/Int ... o-3_10-GHz

Current i5's are in the 3500+ range; that processor may not be very future-proof, and you may also find it lacking when you finally get ArmA3.

RAM:

Kingston Hyperx 4GB DIMM DDR3

Unless you are running 32-bit Windows (for god knows what reason), jump up to 6 or 8GB. It's a decent boost in performance without a great deal of extra cost. Anything beyond that will likely not provide much benefit to a gamer. As a good rule of thumb, you want about 1-2GB for the operating system and associated programs, and leftover RAM roughly equal to the game size. This obviously doesn't apply to massive

Also, what speed RAM are you looking at? You probably don't need more than DDR3 1600.

HDD:

Good ol' Western Digital blue wd3200bpvt (320GB, 2.5", SATA-300)

That's a little... small for a conventional HD. If you're going with a regular HDD, go for something bigger (500GB at least, I'd suggest 1TB). Otherwise look into the 240-260GB range of SDD, particularly for ArmA3. I'd still suggest getting a large conventional drive for media and games that don't need the performance boost, 'cause you will be feeling the squeeze on a drive that small.

Unless you don't like music, movies, mods, or have lots of games, in which case you probably won't be using up much HD space. :p

[crassus 0]

I'm ready to take the plunge and buy Win7 64-bit Pro, as I want to get max usage of 16GB of RAM I have in my rig. (I'm currently running WinXp Pro.) But after reading the 1- and 2-starred comments at NewEgg.com, I'm wondering if the stories regarding the inability to re-install Win7 are founded. Reports about how the OS is tied to the hardware, reports of MS telling customers they have to buy another license, etc. etc.:butbut:

[xeno426 10]

If you buy Windows 7 OEM, then yes, it is tied to the motherboard when you first activate it.

If you purchase regular retail Windows 7, you don't have that issue.

Keep in mind the lowest two grades of Windows 7 (Starter and Home Basic) are pretty much only found as OEM.

[crassus 0]

If you buy Windows 7 OEM, then yes, it is tied to the motherboard when you first activate it.

If you purchase regular retail Windows 7, you don't have that issue.

Keep in mind the lowest two grades of Windows 7 (Starter and Home Basic) are pretty much only found as OEM.

Thanks, Xeno. I think I see at NewEgg in the descriptions the differences.

Question: Maybe I should just get the Home Premium Upgrade?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116713.

[MissileMoose 10]

Thanks, Xeno. I think I see at NewEgg in the descriptions the differences.

Question: Maybe I should just get the Home Premium Upgrade?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116713.

Windows 7 Home Premium (Retail) will be suitable for most people. Have you considered Windows 8?

[Schismatrix 1]

Ok thanks for the info!

I'm doing it on a pretty tight budget of 700-750€, so unfortunately I'm not really able to get the newest "shiny" stuff. Also, I have external HDD's for music, movies etc so I only need to accomodate what should always physically be on the machine :D

True, a CPU upgrade to the one you mentioned is probably necessary for it to be durable in the long therm. Ouch my economy hurts!

Also, what speed RAM are you looking at? You probably don't need more than DDR3 1600.

Yeah, I think the offer I spotted was for DDR3 1800, but not shure. But it doesn't matter, since I probably have to get twice(!) as much memory as you say.

Believe it or not, but I'm running XP 32bit :cool:

[xeno426 10]

Unless you upgrade to a 64-bit operating system, you're not even going to be able to make use of 4GB of RAM. And why would you need 14-16GB of RAM, unless you were doing video editing?

If you already have external hard-drives, definitely look into SDD's. You'll see a huge improvement in ArmA performance.