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

[echo1 0]

@ ch 123: I'm gonna be posting my gaming PC Parts list right. However, this is not the complete list, so I'm only gonna post the parts I have written now and will the complete list later.

Motherboard- EVGA 121-BL-E756-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 Micro ATX SLI Micro Intel Motherboard-$199.99

CPU- Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHZ 4x256 KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor-$569.99

Hard Drive- Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache STA 3.0 GB/S 3.5" Internal Hard Drive-$84.99

Graphics Card- EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card-$139.99

Memory- OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR2 1600 Low

Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK-$149.99

As for the graphics card, I was think of getting two for a two-way SLI. So what do you think of my list so far? I researched all of the parts, so I'm pretty sure they are compatible.

I'd reiterate some of the points that came up before, there's very little point in getting one of the higher end Core i7s, when the 920 delivers the best value for money. Also, SLI is a waste, you'd be much better off getting a single fast card like the HD5870/5850.

Further to that, I wouldn't bother with an SLI motherboard. I'm a bit out of the loop regards Core i7 hardware, but if memory serves me correct, Gigabyte make some nice motherboards that are cheaper than $200. Oh, and if you want to save money, get 3GB instead of 6GB - you're never going to use the latter.

What sort of PSU and case are you getting?

[sesdelta38 10]

I'd reiterate some of the points that came up before, there's very little point in getting one of the higher end Core i7s, when the 920 delivers the best value for money. Also, SLI is a waste, you'd be much better off getting a single fast card like the HD5870/5850.

Further to that, I wouldn't bother with an SLI motherboard. I'm a bit out of the loop regards Core i7 hardware, but if memory serves me correct, Gigabyte make some nice motherboards that are cheaper than $200. Oh, and if you want to save money, get 3GB instead of 6GB - you're never going to use the latter.

What sort of PSU and case are you getting?

I haven't decided which PSU and Case to get. Is there any that you recommend? Also, what about 4GB of memory? Didn't recommend a brand of 4GB memory sticks a while back? Also, would a GTX 295 serve me well or should I just get A card from ATI 5000 series?

[eble 3]

I just got a ATi HD 5870, fro my personal experience with duel GPU cards 9800Gx2 (nightmare) I will not be going down the way again.

this HD5870 is very goo with arma2

my specs

Intel Q9450

4 gig ram

1TB HD

Sapphire HD5870

[Colossus 2]

I got a Samsung SyncMaster 204B (19", non-widescreen) and it's about to ware out, so I'll need a new screen soon. I prefer a non-widescreen LCD for several reasons, one being older games that doesn't support widescreen. The problem with that again is that the non-widescreen market is rather dead, so I guess I would need a widescreen anyway.

I was thinking about the

or a new SyncMaster widescreen, since I know what I get with that.

The question is which format is the best for gaming, 16:9 or 16:10?

Edited February 17, 2010 by colossus

[chammy 7]

Well, my Windows 7 RC1 trial version will start to expire in March, where it annoyingly shutdown my computer every 2 hours. The real expiration date is June 1 so I guess MS decided to piss people off first, maybe to keep the sale down.

Should I go ahead and purchase Windows 7 Home Edition, which is all I can afford, or go back with Windows XP with SP2? I heard Win XP runs ArmA2 faster but do you think Windows 7 is a little more polished up to run games faster?

here are my OS hardware

Intel Core 2 Quad 8400 8x CPU

EVGA GeForce GTX285 1GB "regular edition"

2GB Corsair Memory

GigaByte EP43-UD3L Mobo

160GB SATA HDD

680w Apevia PSU

Windows 7 RC 7100

Edited February 20, 2010 by Chammy

[echo1 0]

At this stage, I'd just go for Windows 7. There's not much point living in the past.

[chammy 7]

At this stage, I'd just go for Windows 7. There's not much point living in the past.

I know that heh, but about now, what are the statistics on Win 7 and gaming? I( just added 2 more G's of RAM and it has improved the performance a bit in ArmA, a whole lot more in other games, but with XP, what's skinny on that?

[Leopardi 0]

Just go for XP until Win 7 gets SP1.

[echo1 0]

Just go for XP until Win 7 gets SP1.

What's the point? Windows 7 was more stable than XP SP3 when it was back in the Beta stage. In it's release state, I'd go as far as claiming that it's more reliable than some Linux variants I've ran for extended periods of time *coughsubuntucoughs*

A lot of the big analyst companies that told people to wait for SP1 in the case of XP, and Vista (or to skip Vista) are telling people just to get Windows 7 without waiting for updates. At the end of the day, Windows 7 isn't that far detached from Vista, it's just a very well optimized/improved/bugfixed variant. The problems usually happen when, like with Vista, they rewrite everything, and release it before it was ready. Neither is applicable to 7.

I know that heh, but about now, what are the statistics on Win 7 and gaming? I( just added 2 more G's of RAM and it has improved the performance a bit in ArmA, a whole lot more in other games, but with XP, what's skinny on that?

You should consult the ArmA 2 section for more info, although it seems to be a case of YMMV, there's a lot of happy Windows 7 users, and some who reckon that 7 is faster than XP. There's some who will say the opposite... YMMV again.

As for overall performance - I remember reading some benchmarks back in the Beta days that showed it trashing Vista, and beating XP in a lot of cases. I'd say now that performance would be a great deal better.

There are other considerations to take into account though. You say that you now have 2GB more RAM. Do you have a total of 4GB now? If so, bare in mind that your old 32-bit XP wont let you use all of that.

Edited February 20, 2010 by echo1

[chammy 7]

What's the point? Windows 7 was more stable than XP SP3 when it was back in the Beta stage. In it's release state, I'd go as far as claiming that it's more reliable than some Linux variants I've ran for extended periods of time *coughsubuntucoughs*

A lot of the big analyst companies that told people to wait for SP1 in the case of XP, and Vista (or to skip Vista) are telling people just to get Windows 7 without waiting for updates. At the end of the day, Windows 7 isn't that far detached from Vista, it's just a very well optimized/improved/bugfixed variant. The problems usually happen when, like with Vista, they rewrite everything, and release it before it was ready. Neither is applicable to 7.

You should consult the ArmA 2 section for more info, although it seems to be a case of YMMV, there's a lot of happy Windows 7 users, and some who reckon that 7 is faster than XP. There's some who will say the opposite... YMMV again.

As for overall performance - I remember reading some benchmarks back in the Beta days that showed it trashing Vista, and beating XP in a lot of cases. I'd say now that performance would be a great deal better.

There are other considerations to take into account though. You say that you now have 2GB more RAM. Do you have a total of 4GB now? If so, bare in mind that your old 32-bit XP wont let you use all of that.

Heh, thanks man.

Well, yeah, I have the Win 7 64Bit, had only 2 G of RAM and it still ran crappy, now with 4 G, it runs really much faster.

I tried posting something in ArmA2 Forums and it was locked for not posting in a PC related topic, like here.

Right now my computer is now shutting down every 2 hours, I thought it was only supposed to do that come March the 1st. Jipped again. So I gotta get a legit copy now before I lose my work. I just hear that XP is better for ArmA2 but I am hoping Win 7 will get stream lined soon.

[echo1 0]

I haven't decided which PSU and Case to get. Is there any that you recommend? Also, what about 4GB of memory? Didn't recommend a brand of 4GB memory sticks a while back? Also, would a GTX 295 serve me well or should I just get A card from ATI 5000 series?

Corsair for PSUs, and either Antec or Lian Li for cases (latter are expensive, but very good)

RAM - the Core i7 supposedly works with pairs of three sticks, but for things like games that aren't particularly memory-bandwidth intensive, the usual pairs of two will have very little effect.

I wouldn't go near the GTX295, it's a dual-GPU card, and those things have all sorts of problems. I'd go for the HD5000 series. nVidia is releasing a new line some time in the not-so-distant future, but I'm not entirely sure how soon.

[sesdelta38 10]

Corsair for PSUs, and either Antec or Lian Li for cases (latter are expensive, but very good)

RAM - the Core i7 supposedly works with pairs of three sticks, but for things like games that aren't particularly memory-bandwidth intensive, the usual pairs of two will have very little effect.

I wouldn't go near the GTX295, it's a dual-GPU card, and those things have all sorts of problems. I'd go for the HD5000 series. nVidia is releasing a new line some time in the not-so-distant future, but I'm not entirely sure how soon.

Ok, is there a specific motherboard you would recommend?

[Colossus 2]

Core i7 comes in two types of sockets these days. LGA1156 and LGA1366 socket. But the LGA1156 socket is more performance for the money. Intel Core i7 860 with the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4 or Asus P7P55D (DDR3-1600/1333/1066 support) perhaps. Antec Nine Hundred, it a good and cool cabinet. Not to pricy either.

I got a Samsung SyncMaster 204B (19", non-widescreen) and it's about to ware out, so I'll need a new screen soon. I prefer a non-widescreen LCD for several reasons, one being older games that doesn't support widescreen. The problem with that again is that the non-widescreen market is rather dead, so I guess I would need a widescreen anyway.

I was thinking about the

or a new SyncMaster widescreen, since I know what I get with that.

The question is which format is the best for gaming, 16:9 or 16:10?

Anyone..? Either that or a suggestion for a new screen. :lookaround:

Edited February 21, 2010 by colossus

[Leopardi 0]

Anyone..? Either that or a suggestion for a new screen. :lookaround:

Dell 2209WA

[bangtail 0]

HP 2509m

Beautiful monitor.

[Colossus 2]

Dell 2209WA

HP 2509m

Beautiful monitor.

Sounds good, I'll have a look at them. Thanks :)

[sesdelta38 10]

Alright, I decided I'm gonna get an Ati 5870 graphics card and AMD Phenom X4 processor. What's the best motherboard for this processor?

[MaU 10]

Hello!

I have some problems with ArmaA 1, when i tried to play the game is moving in slow motion, even when i set graphics to LOW, why?

any suggestion is welcome!

this is my System

Display

System

Edited February 24, 2010 by MaU

[Sertorius21 10]

Alright, I decided I'm gonna get an Ati 5870 graphics card and AMD Phenom X4 processor. What's the best motherboard for this processor?

I personally use an MSI 790FX-GD70, though that's on the pricey side and I only got mine because I got a great combo deal on it. It does have some convenient features for overclocking. Personally, I think a Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P is a cheaper, but very well made board and will do everything you need your motherboard to do. If you've got an unlimited budget, then getting a more complex motherboard won't hurt you, but personally I'd get the Gigabyte and spend the extra money elsewhere. I can personally recommend the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro fan, it's $40 and does a great job keeping the CPU temp down. Also purchase your own thermal paste, you never know just how good or crappy the stuff is that comes pre-applied to the heatsink.

[Mr Sarkey 0]

Dell 2209WA

Excellent monitor, I have two. The IPS panel makes a huge difference and its very adjustable; tilt, pan and rotation.

[ck-claw 1]

Hey there ppl -does anyone know what is the best/fastest cpu i can fit/upgrade to a friends motherboard?

It is a:- Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M AMD Socket 754 .

Cheers

ck

Edited February 28, 2010 by ck-claw

[Sertorius21 10]

Hey there ppl -does anyone know what is the best/fastest cpu i can fit/upgrade to a friends motherboard?

It is a:- Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M AMD Socket 754 .

Cheers

ck

Maybe an AMD 3700+. That's a pretty old board. One of the problems with buying CPUs for old socket types (That I encountered when I considered upgrading to a top-of-the-line 939 CPU) is that you end up paying a large premium essentially for the "antique" value of the processor. You can easily end up spending more money on an old CPU than you would if you just got a new mobo with a new CPU.

[ck-claw 1]

Ahh thought as much! I'll just sort him an extra gig of ram and a better graphics card for now,that should tickle him along for a while for what he wants!

Thanks for the advice! :)

ck

[-Snafu- 77]

The North Korean Red Star.

http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-03-01/north-korea-cyber-weapon.html

[echo1 0]

Looks like a Mandriva ripoff.

China recently 'developed' a secure operating system for its military and government computers, turned out they based it on an older version of FreeBSD.