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

[Derbysieger 11]

Thanks

I already did #1 and #4 so I will report back tomorrow when I have more time. (yes I did clean registries etc. I'm not new to PCs^^)

[PuFu 4591]

well, i had to start from somewhere....(might have something to do with the guy above you knowing nothing about pcs :P)

5. try with a different PSU (get one from a friend's)

[Tonci87 163]

Uninstalling drivers would have been the next thing that I would have told him. But I really didn´t think of the PSU hard reset... :o

[PuFu 4591]

Uninstalling drivers would have been the next thing that I would have told him. But I really didn´t think of the PSU hard reset... :o

Oh i was talking about the Frostburg lad btw :rolleyes:

[Tonci87 163]

Oh OK then. ^^

[Frostburg 10]

Apples. For people who can't use computers.

That would actually be a nice slogan.

It would increase sales from people like me, and all the

grandpas and grandmas and young girls who all probably know a little more than

me, lol.

It would, however, embarrass all the computer gurus who own apples

for different reasons.

[Derbysieger 11]

Thanks Pufu #2 somehow did the trick. Unplugged everything cleaned a bit of dust off the PSU (not much) plugged everything together again and the power consumption is now roughly 100W in idle (desktop, no read/write on the HDDs) wich I guess is fine considering I added two HDDs and a SSD since I checked 2 years ago (after OC'ing the rig).

[JdB 151]

I'm looking to buy a new pc. It's not going to be easy though. The main purpose of the system will be to run ArmA3 with all settings on medium at least, with some settings higher if possible. I have no problem with turning of something like PP and lowering AA and AF to 2x. I would like it to be reasonably quiet. Because of a limited budget, I can only spend €850. Nothing from my old pc can be reused in the new one as far as internal components and case goes. I have a screen and surround set that can be reused as well as the keyboard and mouse. The budget rules out an i7, and even an i5 is going to be difficult because of the other things I would need (I tried putting a system together below), so going for AMD and ATi components is something that seems inevitable.

Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus, noPSU €82

CoolerMaster Silent Pro M500, 500Watt, ATX €79 (is 500 watt enough for these parts?)

ASRock P67 Pro3 B3, S1155, P67, 4xDDR3, ATX €95

Intel Core i5-2500, 3.30GHz, 6MB, HD2000, S1155 €189

Asus GeForce GTX 560, 1GB, DirectCU II TOP €199

Corsair Vengeance B 8GB(2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 €51

OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" SATA3 €149 (only to run ArmA2 and later ArmA3)

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm 64MB SATA3 €75 (anything 500gb or above is good enough, but the price between 500gb and 1TB is almost negligible in comparison to the cost of the rest of the system)

Lite-On iHAS124 24xDVDRW, Black, SATA, bulk €19,50

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, PCIe, oem €39

€977,50

As you can see I'm still €127,50 over budget. Has anyone got any ideas to lower the price without creating a real bottleneck? (or is there already a bottleneck?)

I've also got a question about SSDs. For best performance, would Windows have to be installed on the SSD as well as ArmA3, or should Windows be installed on the hard disk so the SSD can focus on ArmA3 exclusively? (if Windows doesn't have to go on the SSD, that would mean I could do with a 60GB SSD, 15 for ArmA3 and 40-ish remaining for addons, instead of a 120gb one, which would save over €60)

Edited October 16, 2011 by JdB

[purepassion 22]

@JdB

is it out of question to wait some more time?

If the main purpose of your system will be Arma 3, I would highly recommend you to wait until the game is out. There will (very likely) be new GPU and CPU generations which will make the current stuff much more cheaper. Also you could save up some more money to really enjoy A3.

[JdB 151]

@JdB

is it out of question to wait some more time?

If the main purpose of your system will be Arma 3, I would highly recommend you to wait until the game is out. There will (very likely) be new GPU and CPU generations which will make the current stuff much more cheaper. Also you could save up some more money to really enjoy A3.

Time isn't that much of an issue*, money however is. Because of other things that I need to save for, which are higher priority, the budget unfortunately isn't going to be any higher whether it's now or in 9 months time :( (* if I don't lose my job before that time ... )

So that means the only option I have is to wait and see if prices drop, and hope the parts I can afford by that time are still in stock.

[purepassion 22]

that would strategically be the best option; yes

[PuFu 4591]

if you want to buy a new system now, just put on hold the SSD. You can get it laters if NOW you are on a budget.

But as said before, if you want a new system for A3, just wait for it...

[NeMeSiS 11]

Well, i got a problem i just cant figure out.

I currently have 2 HD4870's 512mb in my PC. I used them both in CrossFire until last spring/summer, when my room(very small) got so hot i made some adjustments to my PC (which is always on) so it would no longer function as a heater. One of the adjustments was to disable crossfire. However, back then the 'disable crossfire' in the CCC just did not work, i could click it and click 'apply' all i wanted but it just did not disable it, so instead i turned off my PC and took out the power plugs.

However now its autumn and my room is getting colder, so i wanted to enable the 2nd card again, especially with BF3 and Oblivion around the corner. But now that same problem bites me in the ass again, i replugged the power cables in the card and windows recognizes my 2nd card and shows it as installed, turned on and working in the device panel. I can also see the card in CCC but now its under 'disabled adapters' (or something similar) and the buttons in the crossfire menu's are greyed out and do nothing, not allowing me to enable it.

I already completely reinstalled/updated my drivers, which comes with some other odd problems*, but it did nothing to solve my problem.

*At some point during the driver installation my primary display becomes black and shows nothing, except for my mouse pointer. I can still blindly click on things and drag them to my secondary display and have to finish the installation blindy. After a succesful installation(where i blindly have to close the last window), or a reboot out of frustration everything works fine again.

[Tonci87 163]

Did you try to completely deinstall your drivers with driver sweeper?

[NeMeSiS 11]

I was hoping i could avoid that since driver sweeper did some unspeakable things to an old XP installation of mine, however since i doubt there would be any other way to solve this i went ahead with it anyway, and it worked, all is fine now. Thanks.

[Tonci87 163]

Now I have a Problem myself.

My old Printer HP Deskjet 816c won´t print anymore.

The LED that indicates that the cartridge is empty is flashing all the time. Now I bought a new one and its still flashing.

I really need to print a few documents...

[OrLoK 20]

Hello all

Firstly thanks to mod more moving to correct area, I'm unused to posting in sticky areas and just forgot to look above that line. Silly me. Apologies.

Anyhoo, has anyone got a Novatech Prowler Midi Case V2?

It *is* as cheap as chips, but has the fan space and some cable management etc things I need.

At that price, its probably made of cardboard, but as there are damn near next to zero reviews out there, has anyone got any hands on experience with this kit?

don't berate me for not spending an extra tenner and getting a better case, that really was the extent of my budget for this month. :(

rgds

Lok

ps oooo reply 666 I have a bad feeling about it now...

UPDATE:

Well, the case arrived....

It looks nice enough but all the materials in it's construction are awful.

Also a severe lack of space inside.

Many other cases feature things like swing out HDD enclosures for ease of access but little niceities are missing here.

Well, for 24 quid, it's a stylish case so one cant really grumble at that price, I just wish it was made from a decent material and had a bit more room.

rgds

LoK

Edited November 11, 2011 by orlok

[djfluffwug 10]

I recently purchased the Gainward GeForce GTX 560Ti 1GB Golden Sample

Specs can be seen here: http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=456

My question is, how would people rate this card? Would it be any good for ArmA 2 or similar hardware intensive games?

I hate buying something to find out it sucks :p

- Djfluffwug

[maddogx 13]

I have a GTX560Ti and am completely satisfied. :)

Just make sure you have a powerful CPU and a good motherboard to go with it.

[djfluffwug 10]

Would an I5 750 suffice?

[PuFu 4591]

the CPU is on the limit for fluid gameplay (there is a huge difference between the older i5s and the newer ones 2400 and 2500(k))

The GPU is a very decent one (i currently own a 460 that will change for a 560 2gb) for A2 and TKOH

[djfluffwug 10]

Thanks for the info MadDogX and PuFu :D

The card should be here in 2 days (If Australian postage service lives up to its expectations) and I will be trying out ArmA 2 with it. Hopefully it will be a tiny bit better than my GTX275.

I am definately next going to upgrade my I5 750 to a 2500.

[meade95 0]

I currently have a Samsung T220 monitor -

I'm thinking of upgrading as I am waiting on my new system (Alienware) to arrive next week -

I'm not exactly sure much on monitors today, if getting a 24+ inch has some drawbacks with it. ; Should I be getting HD, should I get LED or LCD?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[djfluffwug 10]

Almost all 24" monitors these days are HD.

As for LCD or LED, I am not sure of how the two compare as I only have an LCD but I figure LCD's seem good enough for me and they are cheaper to obtain so I would go with LCD but I know hardly anything about LED. I am not really the screen fanboy but more of an actual PC hardware fan.

[jblackrupert 14]

If you get a 24" make it at least supports 1920x1200.