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

[jefferspang 2]

Lol, you're the first person I've given that advice to that actually is going to run AutoCAD. :D

My primary concern then is that your processor may be too slow. You should be able to run ArmA2 fine, but you may want to get a faster processor to future proof yourself for ArmA3. I'm getting an i5 3570K (the K means it's unlocked and can be overclocked). Cost may be your primary factor here, though.

Thanks for the input. In that case, I've decided that I'll go for the i7 3770 (no K) (4 x 3.4 GHz), what do you think about this?

[xeno426 10]

I'd get a K version. It's only about $10 more expensive, and gives you a lot more options in case you want to overclock in the future.

That will work, but the i7 has a very minimal performance improvement over the i5. You get more bang for your buck with the i5 series.

[Tonci87 163]

Not if he really wants to use it for CAD stuff. Hyperthreading helps a lot! So go for an i7

[xeno426 10]

Ah, true. I (again) hadn't considered CAD use.

[jefferspang 2]

Again thanks guys for the answers :) Just one last question, I'm not good with electrical so I was hoping someone can help out.

I need a 700-750 Watts power supply to run the Graphics Card but the UK mains give about 240 volts. I was able to successfully use my kettle on the same plugs (consumes around 1800-2200 Watts) on numerous occasion without melting any fuses (granted I didn't keep it plugged in and boiling and only plugged it in for 2-3 minutes). So I what I'm asking is will the 750 Watts running for quite some time blow the fuse in standard UK mains?

[xeno426 10]

I'm afraid that question is outside my area of experience. Although a 750W should be enough to power your computer, assuming you don't have a crap load of HDD's or aren't running SLi/Crossfire.

I should note you want to make sure that's 750W true/sustained power, not peak power.

[Derbysieger 11]

No need for 750W if you're only running a single GPU. The Sys in my sig runs on a 525W PSU ;) and I still have room for a few more HDDs (currently 3HDDs plus 2 SSDs). If you want to be sure go for a 600W PSU but unless you plan on SLI/crossfire and/or a huge amount of HDDs more than 600W is definitely overkill. Just make sure it's a certified PSU and not some cheap no name product.

[jefferspang 2]

No need for 750W if you're only running a single GPU. The Sys in my sig runs on a 525W PSU ;) and I still have room for a few more HDDs (currently 3HDDs plus 2 SSDs). If you want to be sure go for a 600W PSU but unless you plan on SLI/crossfire and/or a huge amount of HDDs more than 600W is definitely overkill. Just make sure it's a certified PSU and not some cheap no name product.

Ok cheers, I was under the impression that the bigger the better, just realised that 600Watts is enough to run the single GPU I need. I also noticed that on your sig, your GPU is 'Gainward', what exactly is gainward?

[Derbysieger 11]

Gainward is just a brand like Sapphire or ASUS ;)

[Placebo 28]

Anyone had low mic volume issues with an onboard realtek soundcard and been able to fix it? Real bloody pain, tried all the tweaks, bought 4 different mics and no matter what the sound is crazy low, yet if I plug the mics into my wife's laptop they work perfectly. Need the mic to work well for talking on skype.

[xeno426 10]

Anyone had low mic volume issues with an onboard realtek soundcard and been able to fix it? Real bloody pain, tried all the tweaks, bought 4 different mics and no matter what the sound is crazy low, yet if I plug the mics into my wife's laptop they work perfectly. Need the mic to work well for talking on skype.

Have you made sure you have mic boost on?

[MissileMoose 10]

Anyone had low mic volume issues with an onboard realtek soundcard and been able to fix it? Real bloody pain, tried all the tweaks, bought 4 different mics and no matter what the sound is crazy low, yet if I plug the mics into my wife's laptop they work perfectly. Need the mic to work well for talking on skype.

Just to confirm, you do have your volume levels up to 100%?

http://i.imgur.com/7Yp55.png

[Placebo 28]

Yup they're the things I tried :(

[spooky lynx 73]

Guys, I have some problem. Got this mainboard for sake of saving time and money (it took me a little cash to get it) after my old good passed away. Also I have this video card and Creative Sound blaster X-Fi Xtreme audio PCI card. So now I seek for the way to connect sound card to mainboard, as VGA card occupies almost all available space near the PCI slots, and I have only one PCI slot available to plug anything in it. Sounf card can't be plugged in mainboard, there's not enough space for it because of VGA card. Any suggestions?

[Tonci87 163]

Return it, that MB is outdated by any means.

Oh and don´t go for Mini ATX Mainboards if you want to make a gaming PC. They are not build to have big GPUs on them.

[spooky lynx 73]

Return it, that MB is outdated by any means.

Oh and don´t go for Mini ATX Mainboards if you want to make a gaming PC. They are not build to have big GPUs on them.

Unfortunately returning is not an option - I have to use my old Socket 775 CPU until I get enough cash for migrating to modern socket (1155 maybe). And any full-ATX S775 MBs aren't available for me anymore, only mATX:( Have to wait until I finish my appartments refit because all money go there.

[NeMeSiS 11]

I dont think USB to PCI connectors exist. If you had a PCIe1x slot left you could have gotten a PCIe to PCI adapter but i am afraid the amount of slots on your motherboard is a bit... Sparse.

X-Fi cards arent very big, cant you just force it in so it kinda touches the plastic heatsinkstuff of the videocard without blocking the fan? :p

[spooky lynx 73]

X-Fi cards arent very big, cant you just force it in so it kinda touches the plastic heatsinkstuff of the videocard without blocking the fan? :p

There's a little chance not to block the fan of VGA. But I'll try again. Maybe after some beer I'll manage to do it:D

Found some soultion:

CSE-RR32-1U Riser card.

Although it's server stuff, I suppose it will help me to solve the problem. Also there's similar card:

but it's PCI-X bus. I've read PCI-X and PCI hardware can work together but it will work with less fast PCI frequencies. Am I right?

[froggyluv 2130]

Just bought a new set of Rosewill headphones that realy sound outstanding. Only problem is -Arma 2 won't work on them. All of my other games play and sound great but with Arma there is just no sound period. If I disable the headset and enable my old speakers it works -but vice versa a no go and I very disappoint.

The headset is the type with dual USB plugs and Im wondering if this is somehow having a negative effect as with my old headset (the kind with the green audio jack and pink microphone cord) I never had any probelem switching between speaker/headset even mid game.

Edit: Found this happens with Arma Beta only -not standard 1.62

Double Edit: NM:Updated headset drivers fixed it. Sorry for false alarm :)

Edited November 11, 2012 by froggyluv

[cjgsicknote 10]

hi all got a query and someone here may be able to please advise me! Recently i bought a crucial m4 128gb ssd. I removed my old hdd and clean installed windows to my ssd. I then put my old hdd back into my machine running alongside my new ssd. I quickly realised i could now boot into either drive giving me, in effect, two computers. I can access steam on my hdd when booted to my ssd and all seems to run fine etc etc. My question is though; is this a normal practice?, can this harm your pc?, i seem to have different versions of driver for my gpu on my ssd and hdd so will this affect anything? Any info on this sort of thing would be greatly appreciated, i seem to have very quickly built my first rig having no prior experience and whilst everything seems to work as desired i keep running into questions about my machine that i have no answer for!!.

[xeno426 10]

What you've got is a classic dual-boot system. While you can do it, there's really no benefit to having a dual-boot system when both run the same operating system. I'd suggest running a different operating system on one hard drive (like Linux) or a different version of windows (for game compatibility) if you want to continue doing it. Otherwise you're really just taking up extra space for that redundant operating system.

[vilas 473]

there is something wrong with M$, is it the same in your countries ?

in my country price of 7 rosen for doznens of percent after 8 :O

i wanted to buy this new PC, i had it almost completed , Windows 7 Home in Poland costed 530 PLN 2 weeks ago

now today when i wanted to click "buy" ... it costs 700 PLN (170 EU, 220 USD) :O

700/530 = 32 % price up, wtf ??? it should go down when new product is up

i would never expect 30% price rise after premiere of Win 8 :|

Edited November 16, 2012 by vilas

[spooky lynx 73]

Maybe the first price was without any taxes and the last one - with all taxes included?

[vilas 473]

no, it was "shoping cart" in webshop, so it was saved position in virtual cart, i was waiting for premiere of 8 with natural hope that after it i will buy whole PC cheaper cause price of 7 should go down, instead of this i see this +170 PLN surprise, so is it the same in other countries ?

after premiere of Vista prices of XP went down, after premiere of 7 prices of Vista went down, but here ???

[Derbysieger 11]

win 7 home premium 64bit is about 70-80€ here in germany. I'd strongly recommend to buy it in an other EU country because 170€ for home premium is absurd. That's 90-100€ more than here in germany.

price developement over the last year doesn't show any large spikes like you describe: http://geizhals.at/de/?phist=620886&age=365