OT: PC Gaming Hardware Thread

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:03 pm

question.......

I see different manufacturers make the same video card.....like PNY, BFG & EVGA. They are also priced differently. Would there be any difference in which one you buy other than the mfg's warranty or tech support?
Aren't they the same exact board performance wise?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:07 pm

JackB1 wrote:question.......

I see different manufacturers make the same video card.....like PNY, BFG & EVGA. They are also priced differently. Would there be any difference in which one you buy other than the mfg's warranty or tech support?
Aren't they the same exact board performance wise?

No difference. Some, BFG in particular, overclock their cards so they are faster. Just find which one bundles software you like...that's usually the only difference among stock cards.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:29 am

fsquid wrote:
dbdynsty25 wrote:A buddy of mine that has had a few computers built suggests Directron.com and they seem to be well priced.
Looks like a good site DB. They have this one, which looks like the exact same one I customized on the other site.

http://directron.com/syscdh2.html

That's a great price, but the 30-day warranty is a bit tough to swallow.

Although that's just for non-defective returns, hmm.

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:13 am

Question about overclocking.....

My AMD Athlon 64 3200 has an option in the Setup settings
for overclocking the CPU by percent (10%, 20%, etc). I have
never touched this setting, but if I do, should I do so slowly
and check the temparatures as I do? How do I know how far
I can overclock it without causing problems? Also, I only
have the OEM heatsink/fan over the CPU....should I get a better
fan if I am going to overclock it? I have a 500 W PSU.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:48 pm

Well, I think I'm going to take advantage of the Cyberpower sale that ends today. It gives you free shipping on orders over $999 and 5% off.

I think I'm going to order the Gamer Infinity 8800 Pro after making a few tweaks like upgrading the processor and getting XP Home instead of Vista, and it should come in at under $1,300 after the 5% instant rebate.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/computer_buyer.asp

$1366.00

CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Tower 420W Case W/ Side-panel Window
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6420 CPU @ 2.13GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache 64-bit
PSU:NZXT PF-500 500Watt Power Supply
MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NEW!!! NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Superclocked Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (250GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:55 pm

For what it's worth, I got the Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz and the 768MB GeForce8800 GTX for a couple hundred bucks more from Dell. Maybe that's just how much more the two components are worth, I'm not sure.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:59 pm

feanor,

I'd try to bump the processor to the e6600...the reason, the 4mb L2 cache makes a really big difference. The difference between the two processors is likely 50 bucks. It's worth it.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:34 pm

Great advice, I had no idea the performance gap was that big.

And you're right, it's only $44 extra.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:49 pm

Feanor wrote:Great advice, I had no idea the performance gap was that big.

And you're right, it's only $44 extra.

Heh...actually the e6420 HAS the 4mb L2 cache...so really you're only bumping up the processor speed from 2.13 to 2.4. It is the e6400 that has the 2mb cache. My bad bro. Still probably worth the 44 bucks though.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:05 pm

I think I did alright for $1,203.65. Even at that price my wife was getting hesitant, so I had to cut a few corners. Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread.

CASE: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) X-Cruiser Mid-Tower 420W Case W/ WINDOW, MultiMeter Display & Control (Black Color)
PSU: 500 Watt Xion ATX Power Supply Dual Silent Cooling Fan

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6420 CPU @ 2.13GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache 64-bit
MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core Supports) Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard

MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NEW!!! NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE

HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

Windows XP Home Edition w/ SP2

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:18 pm

Help me!
Problem: reboots. Just boom.. cold restart. No screen of death or anything. Usually happens when I'm doing light work (surfing, e-mail) rather than in games. In fact when I'm in a game and playing.. it has not rebooted once.

I've had the machine since December 06. This just started about 1 week ago., right after DiRT came out.

I've since reinstalled XP from scratch. Had it to the PC store where of course it didn't reboot at all for the tech during the hour it was there...

It's frustrating as hell.

ASUS P5B motherboard with integrated sound
2x512MB DDR2 PC5300 RAM
Ati 1950 Pro 256MB
SATA HD 240GB
D-link wireless ethernet card

I've tried moving the memory sticks around the different DIMM slots and it reboots in every configuration I've tried, ran memtest86 etc. and they are fine.

The only thing I can think of now is the Power supply.. but since it is fine during games, and has been for months.. I'm not so sure.

Any tips?

I'll take it back to the place that put it together next week, and see what they can do.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:27 pm

GULP.. attempting a bios update now...

warnerwlf98 · Post by **warnerwlf98** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:08 pm

James_E wrote:Help me!
Problem: reboots. Just boom.. cold restart. No screen of death or anything. Usually happens when I'm doing light work (surfing, e-mail) rather than in games. In fact when I'm in a game and playing.. it has not rebooted once.

I've had the machine since December 06. This just started about 1 week ago., right after DiRT came out.

I've since reinstalled XP from scratch. Had it to the PC store where of course it didn't reboot at all for the tech during the hour it was there...

It's frustrating as hell.

ASUS P5B motherboard with integrated sound
2x512MB DDR2 PC5300 RAM
Ati 1950 Pro 256MB
SATA HD 240GB
D-link wireless ethernet card

I've tried moving the memory sticks around the different DIMM slots and it reboots in every configuration I've tried, ran memtest86 etc. and they are fine.

The only thing I can think of now is the Power supply.. but since it is fine during games, and has been for months.. I'm not so sure.

Any tips?

I'll take it back to the place that put it together next week, and see what they can do.

Hmm . . . how is the ambient temperature where the computer is located. A couple of years ago, I had almost the same problem. I have no air conditioning (although I did have a swamp (evaporative) cooler) and it was getting into the high 90s outside. An emergency setting in the bios was forcing the computer to go off or reboot (can't remember) when it got too hot.

I also had a RAM problem. It turned out one of my modules was bad. If you've tried every configuration, then you've probably tried each module by itself at a time already.

Anyhow, if you do have a warranty, be sure to use it.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:21 pm

Thanks for the advice man. THe room the PC is in has not been that hot, and I checked with various tools to see what the temps of the CPU etc. are. CPU is running cool at around 49 celsius. Plus, if it was temperature related I would have expected it to reboot when playing a game like DiRT or Rfactor, but it has never done that.. only when surfing or just sitting there doing nothing.

After the update to the BIOS I *seem* to be more stable (knock on wood.) I have not had it reboot for a couple of hours.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:45 am

Well... still up and running, no reboots since the BIOS update. Ran some DiRT and now just leaving it here with IE open overnight. Hope it doesn't reboot. If it's still up in the morning then I guess the problem is solved.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 1:20 am

If it goes down again, just get a new PSU. 90% of rebooting problems that occur after fresh installs end up being Power Supply issues. It's easy and it only costs around 75-100 for a really nice supply.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:57 am

It stayed up overnight! Woohoo!

SoMisss2000 · Post by **SoMisss2000** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:14 am

DB, i saw the Gigabyte mobo at Fry's today. They have an open box item, they said it was "returned". They marked it down to 74 bucks. I'm thinking about picking it up. just worried that i won't be building within the next 30 days and that's what there return policy is.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:34 am

SoMisss2000 wrote:DB, i saw the Gigabyte mobo at Fry's today. They have an open box item, they said it was "returned". They marked it down to 74 bucks. I'm thinking about picking it up. just worried that i won't be building within the next 30 days and that's what there return policy is.

NEVER buy open box from Fry's. That's my advice. That place is a disaster when it comes to returns and then re-packaging stuff and selling it. 9 times out of 10 it is missing something.

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:15 pm

Upgrade question:

I have 4 DIMM slots on my motherboard (Asus P5B). Currently I have 2 512MB sticks, one in DIMM_A_1 and one ine DIMM_B_1. This makes a total of 1GB and takes advantage of dual channel since one is in A and one is in B.

I want to add 1GB. Should I add a 1GB stick (and stick it into DIMM_A_2 or DIMM_B_2) or 2x512MB sticks? Which will give me better performance?

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:50 pm

What do you guys think is a decent price for a 19" widescreen LCD? There's two at Best Buy I was thinking of getting:

Samsung 19" Widescreen Flat-Panel TFT-LCD Monitor
Model: 906BW - $220

MagicSpeed ultrafast 2 ms response time
2000:1 contrast ratio; 300 cd/m² brightness
1440 x 900 maximum resolution; 160° horizontal and vertical viewing angles

MAG 19" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD Monitor
Model: LT1919WDB - $200

Ultrafast 2 ms response time
1600:1 contrast ratio; 300 cd/m² brightness
1440 x 900 maximum resolution

They seem similar based on the specs, but I'm wary of getting the MAG LCD because I can't find any reviews of it online.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:09 pm

The Samsung panels are always very highly rated...go that way.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:09 pm

James_E wrote:Upgrade question:

I have 4 DIMM slots on my motherboard (Asus P5B). Currently I have 2 512MB sticks, one in DIMM_A_1 and one ine DIMM_B_1. This makes a total of 1GB and takes advantage of dual channel since one is in A and one is in B.

I want to add 1GB. Should I add a 1GB stick (and stick it into DIMM_A_2 or DIMM_B_2) or 2x512MB sticks? Which will give me better performance?

I'd spend the extra 20 bucks and just get a 2GB pack...that way you have two dimms that are both 1GB and you can add another 2GB in the future if you go to Vista.

If you insist on only getting 1GB more right now, then definitely 2x512 so you can use Dual Channel.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:21 pm

DB:

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 know I would -- I've learned a ton of sh*t from your posts and Sport's posts.

Write a blog, start some Google Ad-Sense and other ad programs, and voila, cha-ching! There are blogs with strong traffic making nearly 10 grand per month from Google Ad-Sense and other programs ...

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2007 ... -blogging/

I'll take my 10 percent commission.

Take care,
PK

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:50 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote: I'd spend the extra 20 bucks and just get a 2GB pack...that way you have two dimms that are both 1GB and you can add another 2GB in the future if you go to Vista.

If you insist on only getting 1GB more right now, then definitely 2x512 so you can use Dual Channel.

That's what I figured you'd say. Not sure about the "extra 20 bucks" though. 1 GB is aboue $58... 2 GB is... twice that (as far as I can tell in the stores around here)