Gonna buy a new video card this week, under $200.

ATI 5770 the best choice?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447

1/15/2010 12:12:15 PM

there's also this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317

[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 2:17 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2010 2:11:22 PM

Never heard of HIS before. Reliable?

Does the card manufacturer matter or are they basically resellers?

1/15/2010 2:43:20 PM

HIS is a reputable brand of ATI cards, they typically have some of the best (albeit large) cooling solutions for ATI cards. There's very little difference between brands other than how good their cooling solution is, quantity and type of video outputs, the quality of their customer service and warranty. Some also go as far as to engineer overclocked cards from the factory.

[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 2:47 PM. Reason : ,]

1/15/2010 2:46:14 PM

HIS seems to be pretty good from what i've read in reviews and articles. there support seems hit or miss from people's accounts but i think you generally get that with any company. the HIS card you have to be careful of now that i look closer because under power requirements it says "450 Watt or greater power supply with one 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended (600 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)" so if you don't have that 75W 6-pin connector this won't work.

1/15/2010 2:50:49 PM

I'd pay the extra money for XFX but that's really not very justified so, if you're comfortable with HIS, go for it.

Honestly just save up and get a 5850 though. :<

1/15/2010 3:04:21 PM

^^ I have 1 6+2, so I wouldn't be able to do crossfire. But it's only a 550 watt PS anyway, so I'd have to upgrade no matter what.

If I buy the HIS today I can get it for $153
http://www.dealcatcher.com/hardware-upgrades/his-h577fm1gd-radeon-hd-5770-pcie-video-card

^ Graphics aren't that important to me. My monitor only displays 1680 by 1050, as long as I can get that resolution at high settings and decent framerate I'll be good.

[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 3:18 PM. Reason : Plus I don't have time to save up before Mass Effect 2 comes out ]

1/15/2010 3:11:34 PM

Good information on best cpu for the $:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2520.html

1/19/2010 11:09:22 PM

Pros/cons of this package?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328623

Relevant items are: Core i5-750, ASUS P7H57D-V EVO MB, G.SKILLDDR3 1600 9-9-9-24-2N RAM 4g



Typical use:
Linux - low power applications, experiments, development, browsing.
Windows - Photoshop, browsing,
gaming: not so much.

2/12/2010 11:50:49 AM

That seagate is only a 5900rpm hdd and you still need a graphics card. If you can live with the first I think a cheap Radeon HD 5750 would do.

2/12/2010 1:47:55 PM

Thanks, the HD was going to just be used for backups or some other purpose.

How bad is the built-in video on this thing? This video on the CPU is rather new to me. I'm not even clear exactly what is going on.

2/12/2010 2:27:10 PM

i...was not aware that USB 3.0 was in production...looking at some of the first benchmarks, it appears that sustained throughput of 130-140mbps is pretty common

i knew about SATA 6G, but was not aware of any boards that support it (not really surprising...i don't know every board out there, and certainly not the newest)

heck, you can get a USB 3.0/SATA 6G PCIe card for $30: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813995004

as for your onboard video, it's fine as long as you don't want to do anything hardcore...it'll easily handle HD content and even some light gaming

[Edited on February 12, 2010 at 3:06 PM. Reason : .]

2/12/2010 2:58:48 PM

that combo comes with a i5 750 (Lynnfield). Lynnfields don't have integrated graphics on the chip, this is only for the newer core i5/i3 Clarkdales. You'll need a cheap video card too.

[Edited on February 12, 2010 at 3:08 PM. Reason : .]

2/12/2010 3:08:17 PM

^ good catch...i missed that

this will get you by for $20 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?&Item=N82E16814125250

2/12/2010 3:13:06 PM

i'm about to build a computer for my mother in law tomorrow, ive been her tech support guy for the last 2 years and i finally told her that 7 years out of her old gateway was money well spent but i feel like chucking it out the window just looking at it

she doesn't use a computer much but she did just get a Zune for christmas so she's been playing around with it more, plus i gave her an old blackberry to use as a standalone PDA and some programs like iTunes absolutely refuse to even start on her machine

I convinced her to budget $400 for something that will hopefully not be outdated for 4-5 years (her usage wise)

Rosewill RS-M288-BK Black SECC Steel MicroATX Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply
ECS H55H-M(1.0) LGA 1156 Intel H55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 Dual-Core Desktop Processor
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

I left out a HDD because I'll be using her old one until it literally dies (she already has 24/7 backup) and she doesnt need dedicated graphics or sound. I'm going to put W7 on it and hope she can adapt since she's used to XP but I'll keep it the classic look so its easier

2/13/2010 12:25:53 AM

all put together, no problems

this thing is blazing and plays HD video no problem with the integrated chip

2/13/2010 3:42:37 PM

So I want to get a new monitor, and it turns out the money I recently got from dog/house-sitting could purchase the LG M237WD-PM.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605334&CatId=12

I like it because of all the connections and the full 1080p HD. I don't need to get an HD tv since my new roommate will have that piece of equipment covered. Does anybody have additional thoughts on this thing or anything similar to recommend? (I would buy it from Newegg but they're out of stock)

2/13/2010 10:33:03 PM

Just make sure you use BCB (Bing Cash Back) Its at 8-10% off right now.

2/15/2010 7:35:15 AM

So...Both my desktop and laptop are really starting to show their age. They are also both on the RC of win7, which dies in a couple weeks. Since I suppose I need to buy some legit installs of windows 7, I figured I might want to invest in some new hardware. Just trying to get started on some ideas. Any insight would be appreciated

Right now, my P4 desktop is acting as a media server, basically for sd video and music streaming to my ps3. It falls on its face when trying to play hd video or pretty much anything demanding.

-If I wanted to build a new PC and play with boxee or windows media center and such in the living room, what should I be looking at? I don't really care about games. After some research, it looks like a basic i5 system would be my best bet. Is that correct? Can anyone give me a ballpark on price or a similar configuration they have played with? I'm pretty much just looking for a starting point to play around with on newegg...

-Since I'm going to be plugging this into my tv and stereo, I was wondering if its possible(easy) to get audio+video over hdmi from a computer nowadays?

-Option 2...: I was thinking that my core2 notebook would pretty much be able to handle what I need out of a dedicated living room computer. I was considering replacing my desktop with this notebook and getting a new laptop. Has anyone used a laptop as a htpc, or would this be a bad idea?

2/17/2010 12:04:25 AM

Hmmm...

Maybe I won't hold out for the next gen nVidia cards.

http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/02/17/nvidias-fermigtx480-broken-and-unfixable/

Granted the guy supposedly has a rep as having an anti nVidia bias.

[Edited on February 17, 2010 at 3:00 PM. Reason : -]

2/17/2010 2:50:55 PM

^ yikes...though power-hungry and hot seems to be par for the course with any new nvidia product...not sure why they have such a difficult time getting it right the first time

2/17/2010 3:06:47 PM

and here comes the pendulum swing, seems i'll be spec'ing ATI for the next 3-4 years until Nvidia comes back.

2/17/2010 3:23:55 PM

Quote :

"Has anyone used a laptop as a htpc, or would this be a bad idea?"

i haven't but it would probably be a bad idea in general, not that you couldn't do this but you are limited on your output/input options due to the form factor.

doesn't seem like you'd get the most bang for your buck either...

storage would also be a issue...

2/18/2010 12:08:18 PM

and expensive if you want to do blu-ray or tv tuning

2/18/2010 1:43:41 PM

^^I use my netbook for a portable HTPC. Works great with an external HDD and onboard 250GB hdd. HDMI out so I can hook it up to any HDTV and play the multitude of 720/1080p blurays on my HDD.

Only problem is ^ you'll have trouble with a TV tuner. I still have my dedicated HTPC at home but it's always nice to have a portable one too.

2/18/2010 2:25:48 PM

i get blu-ray rentals via Netflix, so unless you have a blu-ray optical drive built-in, it's NOT convenient.

2/18/2010 3:02:36 PM

Well yes there's people who use HTPC's for playing physical media, and there's people who use it solely for downloaded/streaming media. All depends what the user is doing.

2/18/2010 5:20:56 PM

exactly, but if all you're doing is streaming or playing off a hdd, you might as well just run an HD Media Player (popcorn hour, boxee box, wd tv live) instead of an HTPC.

2/18/2010 5:35:39 PM

I guess HTPC isn't the best term to describe what I'd be doing with my machine in the living room. Pretty much all I'm looking to do is have something on all the time so I can either play music and video files on my TV or stream them to my PS3 / phone / laptop. My PS3 would cover any physical media.

My desktop right now is doing this ok, but it can't really handle HD and it's really on its last leg...I haven't really turned the thing off in the past 6 years except when I've moved.

I believe this laptop would work alright at least for now. The only problems I have with it is the battery and hinges are shot, which would be non-issues if I planted it near my tv. It would be able to handle HD and it does have VGA and SPDIF out for the video and audio.

I'm just not so sure about leaving it on 24/7....

2/18/2010 6:03:57 PM

Quote :

"but if all you're doing is streaming or playing off a hdd, you might as well just run an HD Media Player (popcorn hour, boxee box, wd tv live) instead of an HTPC."

As well as general PC functions, plus gaming, emulating etc. I know plenty of people who have HTPCs that don't have either a tuner or a bluray player because they've already got DVR and a PS3. An HTPC is mainly for streaming, watching downloaded content, and gaming/emulating IMO.

2/18/2010 6:29:07 PM

well now we're splitting hairs.

"gaming/emulating"? imho, if you asked people their priorities for a HTPC, gaming would be dead last.... and most people that PC game do it on a desktop.

but let's add it to the list:

a) Live TV, DVR, FM Radio, Blu-ray & DVD physical media support, Gaming & Emulating = HTPC
b) Streaming content, downloaded content, Online TV, Online Radio = Digital Media Player
c) Both a & b = HTPC

[Edited on February 18, 2010 at 6:58 PM. Reason : .]

2/18/2010 6:55:39 PM

True. Guess we were just dorks. Having an HTPC that could game just added another head to the apartment lan parties i had in school.

2/18/2010 7:50:22 PM

nvidia pwnt, stay home

http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/02/20/semiaccurate-gets-some-gtx480-scores/

2/20/2010 5:53:27 PM

dear Charlie Demerjian,

please get an editor.

thanks,
sexpencil

2/20/2010 6:12:06 PM

CASE: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366

FAN: CoolerMaster V8 (using aircooled to leave space on the top of the case for a future 240mm radiator for Coolit's upcoming Omni ALC cooling for gfx cards)

HDD: Single Hard Drive 128 GB Kingston 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk

HDD2: WD 1.5TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) Asus P6X58D Premium Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3 FCLGA1366 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI

MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair Dominator)

POWERSUPPLY: 1000 Watts CoolerMaster Silent Pro

VIDEO: Nvidia GTX 260


Vid card = using what I have now, XFX GTX 260 Black Edition, waiting to see how well GTX 480 (Fermi) holds up against 5970 before deciding on an upgrade. Pics to come next week.

2/25/2010 12:12:44 PM

Was there a reason you got the i7-960 instead of overclocking an i7-920 for $300 less?

Since you said the Coolit Omni is a dual radiator and was going on top of the case, I would have got a corsair h50 for the processor. It only has a single 120mm radiator but its enough for a 4Ghz i7. Plus it would mount to the inside of the case over the I/O cover.

No matter what those specs are and im jealous.
What fans are you going to use for your case/rad?

2/25/2010 12:55:57 PM

for case fans, whatever comes with the Obsidian case I guess.

Actually H50 was my top candidate for CPU until I choose the case.

Obsidian draws airs from the bottom and pushes cool air to the top. Usually with radiators u want to draw air from the outside and I felt that it would of messed with airflow (I could of inverted the fan, but meh ). So I wanted a cpu cooler that's consistent with the airflow of the case selected.

Really even with V8, managing the temp wouldn't be an issue with i7. But if I were to get a 5970, which does run hot (close to 90C for GPU and north of 100C for VRM) I want the space on top of the case for Coolit Omni that is due out soon.


[Edited on February 25, 2010 at 2:04 PM. Reason : .]

2/25/2010 1:52:52 PM

^why did you get a 1000w PSU? j/w. Anyway, you should wait and get one of these

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=245988

Apparently the 5890 and 5990 are also in the works and near future.

[Edited on February 25, 2010 at 2:57 PM. Reason : .]

2/25/2010 2:48:09 PM

^ For the 1000W - cause I wanted the head room for future expansions... 5970 in Crossfire, etc.

And OMG when is that factory OCed Asus 5970 going to be available? I was eyeing the XFX Black Edition.

2/25/2010 3:12:01 PM

what could you possibly be doing on that rig that will even come close to utilizing the hardware? i'll be surprised if you do anything in the next 3 years that utilizes that

2/25/2010 3:58:32 PM

Max out at Crysis at 2560 by 1600. Would need a rig like that to do that. haha.

2/25/2010 4:04:25 PM

My friend just got an i7-975ee

I told him he should have gotten a 920, overclocked it til it blew up, then bought another one, blown that up, then another one. Would still have been cheaper...

2/25/2010 6:19:53 PM

Building a new computer for gaming, general office use, etc... Let me know what you think. I will probably be buying next week some time. I was struggling with video cards, should I buy a single 5870 or 2 5770s. They come out to be about the same price. If you can think of anything that I could switch out to save money that would be great. I would like a SSD but my budget it $2000 and this build is just over that.


Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998805 - Retail

Video Card: XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power ... - Retail

Hard DriveSAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Opitical drive: LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support - Retail

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Keyboard: steelseries Merc Stealth Black USB Wired Ergonomic Gaming Keyboard - Retail

Mouse: Logitech MX518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Gaming Mouse - Retail

Monitor: ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail

3/3/2010 9:08:24 PM

I would go with one 5870. It will play anything you want right now while putting out less heat and noise than two 5770s. If you ever need more graphics card you can overclock it to 1000core on air. It will give you more options down the road for other pci-e cards too (sound, raid, physics).

Couple suggestions to save money on:
1) the XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) and OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 COMBO will save you $170 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.347079 The tighter timings on the mushkin will probably only net you 1-2fps in a game where saving over $100 might be better used in a cpu cooler or getting another 1T hdd for data storage.

2) Save $50 on any $100 Lain Li Case. Build quality will be the same or better and the case will be lighter because it is aluminum instead of steel.

3) The $90 keyboard seems a little pricey. I cant really advise here because im using a free dell keyboard from work but have you tried it out in a store to know you will like it? I know I have tried some in tigerdirect and although they looked nice, the keys felt funny.

I would add a CPU cooler to get the most out of your processor for $80. Just make sure your case has a 120mm fan spot. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010 IF thats too pricey or you dont want to water cool then you can get a decent 120mm air cooler for $40

3/4/2010 8:30:46 AM

Thanks for the feedback. Is that water cooler worth the extra money if I don't plan on over-clocking right away? This is the main reason I was planning on using the stock cooler for now.

The keyboard just looked neat, I usually play games 2-3 hours a night while my wife has the TV locked down with her shows and the Wii.

I will go with that Ram. I will also look into the combo discounts when i add these items to my cart in Newegg. I have never understood why you can't add combo deals to wishlists.

Thanks

3/4/2010 7:19:16 PM

Can't OC it yet... have to RMA the cooler... waiting on replacement

3/4/2010 7:53:38 PM

The water cooler will get you to 4-4.2Ghz just like a nice air cooler. It will just do it silently unlike high air flow fans. The stock cooler should get you to 3.4-3.6Ghz but it will be running near red line on temperature.

No matter what its gonna be a sweet system.

As a side note: My friend just built this piece of art and I am showing it off because I helped a little. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4269311&postcount=6072

3/4/2010 8:36:14 PM

^ what case is he using?

3/4/2010 9:44:37 PM

LIAN LI PC-7B with the harddrive bays cut out and the bottom two 5.25 bays cut off. He is using one dvd-rw and two harddrives above that. Then a piece of bent acrylic to cover it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

3/5/2010 7:17:30 AM

he didnt really take any pictures of the hdds

3/6/2010 6:18:32 PM