OT: PC Gaming Hardware Thread

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:56 pm

That's why you buy online instead of in stores. Newegg.com...

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:49 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:That's why you buy online instead of in stores. Newegg.com...

Exactly. The only time you should be shopping at Fry's is when they have one of those crazy deals on a hard drive or something. Newegg and sometimes mwave have great prices all the time, not just for a two day sale.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:56 pm

Just did a further search. $45.99 for 1GB is as cheap as I can get it up here.

You guys have access to way more online shops in US than I do here in Canada. I'm getting it from the computer stores here in Markham area in Toronto, which is pretty much the cheapest you get up here. I'm not talking futureshop/bestbuy when I list the prices.

Most of these computer stores ARE online shops... just so happens that I'm in the area that they have actual retail stores as well.

Newegg has the type of memory I need (PC5300 667) for 74.99 + $4.99 shipping. $80 US. Looks like I can get it for that price here anyway... $92.00 CDN.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:08 pm

pk500 wrote:You should write a tech-gadgets blog with Sport, man. You two would have both the regular and Apple worlds covered, and a lot of people would read it.

I've thought about it and had a few other people mention it to me as well...but I'm just not articulate enough to garner a huge audience. I don't know...I guess I haven't put THAT much thought into it. I also severely lack creativity, so it would be hard for me to get words to paper (so to speak) on a daily or weekly basis. I don't know...I'm just a p*ssy I guess. But thanks for the kind words.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:33 pm

well, I decided to go the "cheap" route and I replaced my CPU, Colling Fan, Power Supply and added RAM. Ended up not being as "cheap" as I thought

. Good experience though...I am getting better at taking things apart under the hood now. Connecting all those power cables was a little tricky, but I think I could probably "build" a PC from scratch now.

Question 1-Some of the power cables coming off the PSU have multiple ends. Does it matter if I use the end plug or one in the middle? WHat about all the one's that aren't being used at all? Just leave em hang out or is there a way to "disable" them?

#2- what's the best way to monitor the temps? I know I can check in the settings on startup, but is there a way to constantly monitor the temps?

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:43 pm

Doesn't matter which part of the power cable you use.

Use "Speedfan" to check temperatures while in Windows. google it.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:58 pm

Do you guys use this Refresh Force or a program like it every time you update your graphics card drivers?

http://www.pagehosting.co.uk/rf/

After doing more reading, it sounds like you only need to use this program if you still use a CRT monitor.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:40 pm

James_E wrote:Doesn't matter which part of the power cable you use.

Use "Speedfan" to check temperatures while in Windows. google it.

great utility! thanks James!

My poer unit has a setting to auto adjust the fan based on temp, but I just leave it on high all the time since the noise doesnt bother me. Is that OK or should I put it on auto?

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:30 pm

My new PC arrived today from Cyberpower, and while overall I love it, I made two mistakes when I configured it.

1. I should have got Microsoft Works 8.5 for $9 extra. I thought XP came a word processor and a spreadsheet, but it doesn't and so I can't open a bunch of my old files. Looks like I'll have to buy an OEM version from Newegg for $15 including shipping.

2. I should have spent an extra $18 and got a second DVD-ROM drive to go with the main drive which reads and writes CDs and DVDs. I do have an external DVD drive, but for less than 20 bucks it would have been a good idea to have a spare internal drive.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:40 pm

Feanor wrote:I should have got Microsoft Works 8.5 for $9 extra. I thought XP came a word processor and a spreadsheet, but it doesn't and so I can't open a bunch of my old files.

Here is a free Microsoft Office clone:

http://www.openoffice.org/

I use it on my gaming PC so I can open the occasional Word or Excel document.

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:47 pm

mixdj1 wrote:
Feanor wrote:I should have got Microsoft Works 8.5 for $9 extra. I thought XP came a word processor and a spreadsheet, but it doesn't and so I can't open a bunch of my old files.
Here is a free Microsoft Office clone:

http://www.openoffice.org/

I use it on my gaming PC so I can open the occasional Word or Excel document.

I second that. Openoffice is great, and it's absolutely free. It can handle all MS office file formats.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:41 am

Thanks so much, that software looks great. I've been downloading and installing and moving computer equipment around for almost 12 hours and that link is a nice way to end a long day.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:57 pm

Any of you guys have FEAR and a system fairly similar to mine? (2 GB of DDR2 PC6400 RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 and a GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB.)

If you do, it would be good to know what minimum frame rate you get on the Performance demo at 1024 * 768 resolution with Computer set to Maximum and Graphics Card set to High.

With V-Sync off I can get a minimum frame rate of 61-65 with the Computer set to Maximum and the Graphics Card set to High, but I don't know if that will hold up in the actual game with a bunch of enemies on screen. I think that's higher than it was before I stopped using the DVD to play.

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:46 am

Feanor wrote:Any of you guys have FEAR and a system fairly similar to mine? (2 GB of DDR2 PC6400 RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 and a GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB.)

If you do, it would be good to know what minimum frame rate you get on the Performance demo at 1024 * 768 resolution with Computer set to Maximum and Graphics Card set to High.

With V-Sync off I can get a minimum frame rate of 61-65 with the Computer set to Maximum and the Graphics Card set to High, but I don't know if that will hold up in the actual game with a bunch of enemies on screen. I think that's higher than it was before I stopped using the DVD to play.

FEAR is about a two year old game now. When i bought my current rig FEAR was one of the games that convinced me to upgrade before it's release. It ran butter smooth on my Athlon 64 3800+, 1 gig of RAM, and Geforce 7800 GTX. I think you'll be fine.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:28 pm

This post was all rubbish.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:57 pm

congrats on the new rig. I wish it was time for me to get one!

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:29 pm

Short story: Don't buy a PC from Cyberpower because their workmanship is piss poor:

Long Story:

Dear Cyberpower:

I am very unhappy with the quality of the workmanship on the PC I ordered in June, and received from FedEx on 7/7/2007. I have spent dozens of hours in the last month trying to fix the PC you sent me and today, thanks to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, I finally know what the problem was. The IDE ribbon cable connecting the single internal DVD drive in my PC to the motherboard was jammed and twisted against the corner of the graphics card. It was jammed in so tight that the cable has clearly visible dents and scratches on it, and you can even see the copper wiring in one spot.

Since the PC arrived I have had constant problems with the internal DVD drive disappearing from My Computer and after calling your Tech Support numerous times, I had tried various fixes such as disconnecting my external DVD drive and making sure the IDE ribbon cable was firmly connected at both ends. Nothing worked because the actual problem was that the IDE cable was installed in a shockingly unprofessional manner. It was twisted in half and jammed underneath the corner of my GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card. There is absolutely no excuse for this because that graphics card is not very big, and my X-Cruiser case is definitely not small.

On 7/30/07 Cyberpower sent me a replacement Sony DVD drive because I thought the problem might be with the original LG DVD drive itself. Today when Best Buy took out the old drive and installed the new one, it was not recognized. Only then did they notice what a terrible state your IDE ribbon cable was in. They replaced it with a $23 Ultra ATA 100 Round Cable and then put the original LG DVD drive back in the computer, and it worked.

So I will be returning the Sony DVD drive that was sent to me as a replacement since there was nothing wrong with the original LG DVD drive, and once you get it you can withdraw the $35 hold from my credit card. I will also include your IDE ribbon cable in the FedEx box so you can see the damage for yourself.

I also think it would only be fair for Cyberpower to credit my card for the $23 cost of the replacement cable and the $39 service charge from Best Buy. I realize there is no chance of me being compensated for the countless hours wasted or the worry and frustration of the past month. The only reason I had to take my PC in to Best Buy was because Cyberpower did a horrible job of connecting the internal DVD drive to the motherboard. It almost seems that the graphics card was installed last, and the person doing it either didn't notice or didn't care that the corner of the card was grinding into the IDE ribbon cable.

It is a real shame that this obvious and serious flaw in my PC was not picked up during the Quality Control process. As well as frustrating, annoying, and wasting the time of a customer, Cyberpower has had to use its own resources dealing with this thru Tech Support.

Please contact me ASAP to let me know how Cyberpower intends to handle this situation.

Thanks.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:27 pm

yikes, sorry to hear about your problem.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 3:06 am

You didn't think to open up your case and check your cables at the first sign of an issue? Weird. I guess people like to blame other when things go wrong/bad whatever. Sure, the company should have been more careful, but sh*t...crack the case and see what you can find. Two min. and your problem is solved without all of the hassle.

wpw721 · Post by **wpw721** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:53 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:You didn't think to open up your case and check your cables at the first sign of an issue? Weird. I guess people like to blame other when things go wrong/bad whatever. Sure, the company should have been more careful, but sh*t...crack the case and see what you can find. Two min. and your problem is solved without all of the hassle.

Yeah too bad most of us just aren’t as smart as you db. A thousand bucks is just chump change, you shouldn’t worry about cracking something that cheap open and tinkering with it.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:31 am

Why $1,000 ? Almost all cases get opened at one time or another, else how do you go about upgrading your internal components ?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:12 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:You didn't think to open up your case and check your cables at the first sign of an issue? Weird. I guess people like to blame other when things go wrong/bad whatever. Sure, the company should have been more careful, but sh*t...crack the case and see what you can find. Two min. and your problem is solved without all of the hassle.

while he could have opened his case, the company does bear some fault for the workmanship being that crappy.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:24 am

DB, what kind of RAM can I get to upgrade my rig. Right now I have two Samsung 512MB DDR2 PC4200 REV 2 sticks. I'm assuming that the PC4200 is the important figure, right? I want to upgrade to 2 GB.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:51 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:You didn't think to open up your case and check your cables at the first sign of an issue? Weird. I guess people like to blame other when things go wrong/bad whatever. Sure, the company should have been more careful, but sh*t...crack the case and see what you can find. Two min. and your problem is solved without all of the hassle.

Dear oh dear.

Yeah I do like to blame companies when they do a terrible job on a basic part of a product.

If you read the second paragraph you'll see that making sure the IDE ribbon cable was firmly connected was one of the first things I tried. I did open the case and the IDE ribbon cable was so twisted and bent under the graphics card that I couldn't move it. It was actually folded in half. And like most people, I don't have spare IDE ribbon cables lying around the house so how exactly would my problem have been fixed in two minutes since the cable had to be replaced?

If you google disappearing DVD drives you'll see all sorts of non-hardware fixes listed as possible solutions, so I don't feel stupid for not realizing right away that the real problem was that a professional PC builder installed an important cable very badly.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:45 am

Oh of course the company is at fault a little bit (who uses flat IDE cables anymore anyway???)...but still, if the cable was twisted and/or frayed, it seems like it would be easy to notice. But hey...I guess I'm more daring.