She isn't doing the video editing yet, but she might at some point....fortunately i did go with the 2 8gb sticks, so i could easily double up on that once she does.

Oh and the mobo i got was 35 after sale and rebates...so wtf man 35 buck mobo with 185 buck processor :-P

[Edited on December 4, 2012 at 1:02 PM. Reason : oO]

12/4/2012 1:00:32 PM

Sorry, FX is still considered the biggest PC technological blunder of the decade and you really have to be an AMD hardcore fan to love it. I don't hate AMD, I like their products and the value that they serve in the market place, specially with their GPU's.

But when a new CPU is released that barely adds any more performance compared to its 3 year old brother, uses more wattage, gives little to no payoff when overclocked, then blames the performance issue due to the software/OS, then when the software/OS is updated a year later and yields almost no boost in performance... FAIL

If you wanted to compare the best deals during BF, then the $100 i5 2500k and $50 Asus/Asrock z77 board takes the show. For AMD, the FX 8120 with Gigabyte 970 mobo was $120. I still wouldn't have paid $185 for the the 8150 w/ AIO liquid cooler; 8120 chips is still considered a better value for money even to normal every day sales price of $140. OC FX chips is exactly like putting a fart can on a honda... going to make a lot of noise, use more gas, but add nothing in acceleration.

12/5/2012 5:21:14 AM

Quote :

" OC FX chips is exactly like putting a fart can on a honda... going to make a lot of noise, use more gas, but add nothing in acceleration."

Love the analogy lol

The problem was in the motherboard...flashed bios and it still didn't recognize the chip. Tiger direct gave me a deal on switching it to the gigabyte 990 fx board. All is working as it should now!

12/5/2012 10:18:43 AM

I have a strange question. Not sure how to explain.

I have a dual monitor setup and I've noticed that images with gradients are distorted on the secondary monitor. Drag the image to the left monitor: looks fine. Drag it over to the right monitor: it looks like there are severe jpeg artifacts all over the gradient portion.

I'll have to swap out monitors just to rule that out, but I suspect that it's because of the splitter cable that's connected to the gfx card. Either that or it's just a crappy gfx card that really can't push the dual display.

The monitors are the same make/model. Just thought I'd toss that over the fence just in case anyone has ever heard of this.

12/7/2012 2:29:26 PM

Even though a monitor maybe from the same maker and model number, doesn't mean they use the same type of panels. It sounds like your running some 6 bit panels and the one that's giving you poor gradients is most likely the effect of the 6 bit panel dithering being disabled. I'd say see if the monitor settings are the same.

And what "splitter cable"... if you are running a dual monitor setup using one gfx card, there should not be any splitters... unless you are cloning with a 3rd party box that has nothing to do with gfx capabilities.

12/8/2012 4:49:17 AM

^There are millions of these. I deal with them all the fucking time at work. Mostly Dell machines, these custom video outputs are really common in older quadro, firegl and radeon cards. Its a giant fucking proprietary connector at one end and either two vga or two dvi connectors at the other.

12/8/2012 1:04:37 PM

ah yea, now I know what your talking about. Haven't dealt with those POS since 2002. Figured anyone whose running a decent modern machine wouldn't be using a POS oem gpu.

12/8/2012 1:57:31 PM

Hey guys, I'm thinking about upgrading my video card. Currently I have a Radeon HD 4850, which has aged-surprisingly well. I just recently played through Arkham City with most of the settings on very high at 1650x1080. What I would like is to switch over to NVIDIA hardware so that I can start doing stuff with their CUDA platform.

I'm hoping someone can give me a recommendation on an NVIDIA card that will be at least as good as my current one for games that is also as cheap (< $100) as possible.

Thanks.

12/9/2012 5:50:16 PM

Just wait around for a deal on the GTX 650 ($70 AR) or the GTX 650 ti ($110 AR). You could also try to find the older GTX 560 vanilla if it ever comes on sale for $100.

12/9/2012 10:42:24 PM

Ended up going with this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125444&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=286410

-$30 rebate + a free copy of ACIII for a post-rebate total of $80.

[Edited on December 11, 2012 at 7:44 PM. Reason : .]

12/11/2012 7:24:08 PM

I want to upgrade my CPU from a Phenom II 970 to a FX-4170, and my mobo Asus M5A88-v EVO has a 880 chipset, and I was wondering would this cause any performance issues since it does not have a 900 series chipset?

12/15/2012 10:12:20 PM

need a recommendation on a gpu cooler for a 6970 2gb reference. I'm considering fabbing something to make a corsair h70 or the like work but if my time/effort is much more than $50, I'll sell the card and buy a 670 or a 7950/7970 gb. I just want the card quieter. at 45% it's very audible compared to my silent components and I'm running at ~80* with it at 45

12/16/2012 7:02:49 PM

Quote :

"I want to upgrade my CPU from a Phenom II 970 to a FX-4170, and my mobo Asus M5A88-v EVO has a 880 chipset, and I was wondering would this cause any performance issues since it does not have a 900 series chipset?"

That would actually be considered a downgrade. FX quad cores suck compared to older BE chips and require more cooling to overclock the same, yet it doesn't yield very good linear performance boost at all. Waste of money, waste of watts. There's a reason why FX 4k chips are priced the same as 965+ BE chips.

@Smooth, you could whip something up and get an all-in-one liquid cooler designed to cool a cpu to cool a gpu, but you will still need to figure out how to cool the other components such as the ram modules. Honestly, it would be easier to grab yourself a 7k series high end card with a stock aftermarket cooler than to figure out sticking an h70 on the board. You could try to find someone selling a two or three fan air stock aftermarket cooler from some other manufacture card to put on yours. MSI & HIS had good stock aftermarket coolers you could probably snag up that should be quieter than a blower type fan.

Still, I say sell it off and grab 7k. Heat is less of an issue on newer cards.

12/16/2012 8:37:42 PM

I have actually done a lot of research on the two family of chips and its ashame that the Phenom II family still is consider better than the Bulldozer chips. Even the six and eight core Bulldozer chips are not a worthy upgrade. I guess I'll have to wait to see what Steamroller and Excavator is gonna put out. The only thing better about the Bulldozer chips is that most of them are 95W instead of the standard 125W of the Phenom II chips.

12/16/2012 8:43:24 PM

Quote :

"The only thing better about the Bulldozer chips is that most of them are 95W instead of the standard 125W of the Phenom II chips."

Sure at stock speeds, but pushing the bulldozer chips even a few hundred megahertz would surpass the power usage of your Phenom II chip, even when pushing the same. Granted, the FX chips overclock way higher and still remain pretty damn cool, but its way more touchy about temps. Read my 1st post on this page for earlier assessment about my honest opinion about FX's.

12/16/2012 9:55:44 PM

Do you guys have a recommendation on a solid laptop for ~$600 or less (They said they have a $1,000 limit, but I'm thinking $600 would more a better investment for what they need). In-laws want a new one, figured I'd see what you guys' take on laptops were before I tell them what to get.

They're going to do some business management, internet stuffs, and light photo editing.

12/17/2012 3:49:56 PM

^i also have the same question for a ~$400 price range

12/17/2012 4:08:55 PM

ended up with one of these deals - http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail/index/sArticle/502/sCategory/2182
they're down to $60 on newegg

12/19/2012 10:04:33 PM

I honestly got my mom a Dell i5 ivy bridge laptop during black friday for $400 that's pretty nice in terms of its value. The cpu is very powerful and has decent specs on it as well, but its fit & finish is just average, considering my 2 year old $400 Asus is miles ahead in terms of quality. Just look on slickdeals and find something in the $400-500 price range, easy to find a lot of lenovo's, asus and such with good specs. If you don't plan to game or don't need high mobility, just grab an i3 or i5 basic laptop.

Dswillia, I'd say for you, your in-laws may want to take a trip to best buy or something and see the models in store. Depending on how they use the laptop, you could take a look at ultrabooks in the $800-1000 range that are pretty sleek and coming down in price. Asus Zenbooks are on the top of the list, but most people have since to spend the extra few bucks and get the better zenbook primes for better value and quality.

If ultrabooks are too much money for less performance and don't need that kind of portability, then I'd say atleast look for a decent 14 or 15" name brand computer with a high resolution screen; not the stock 1366x768 "HD" screens that you see in cheapo laptops. 1080P in a 14/15" laptop is very nice to have when you are working with photos, viewing business docs/spreadsheets or just easier for multi-tasking in general.

Also, do note that most laptops now come with windows 8; it required me to reteach my parents how to use it over the last two weeks. My mom finds the tile format fine for normal things since she's used to mobile platforms, but trying to do anything else is a loss for her; took her 15 years just to learn how to use the start button correctly.

12/20/2012 12:58:24 AM

I saw this:

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
I can get it for $119.

Thoughts? Seemed to benchmark really well. I'm looking for something comparable to the Corsair Force GT 3. 120GB is plenty enough in size, trying to keep the budget to < $1/GB

12/25/2012 10:11:24 PM

Quote :

"SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) I can get it for $119. "

You get a free copy of Free Assassin's Creed III With Promo Code: EMCYTZT2694. Resell the game and that will be the best $/GB your gonna get unless you step up to double the SSD size (~256GB).

12/25/2012 11:29:29 PM

I pulled the trigger. Should be a phenominal performance upgrade from a 5,200rpm HD.

12/28/2012 8:02:58 PM

It won't be, your 5200 rpm drive is superior in every way. You should save yourself and give me the SSD... I will endure such hardship for you.

12/28/2012 10:27:02 PM

What thoughts do you all have with the AMD A10-5800K being used in a budget build?

1/7/2013 11:11:51 AM

If you don't plan on buying a GPU then sure. If you are planing buying a GPU separate, you may as well get a FX-4100. Its a little cheaper and a little better.

1/7/2013 1:16:49 PM

If you do plan to get a discrete card, skip the fx 4100 and grap the older and faster 955/965 BE's for the same price.

1/7/2013 4:01:59 PM

To save money I was thinking no dedicated gpu...they won't be gaming any other than Facebook games maybe...

1/8/2013 1:13:11 PM

It's that time again, where I spend too much money on video cards. I recently sold my GTX 580 Lightning Xtremes for a lot on Ebay/Amazon. Although I haven't done a lot of research yet, I have heard about the EVGA GTX 670 FTW cards.

Does it make sense to wait a few months for the 700 series cards/680 Lightning Xtreme or just go ahead and get the best 670 cards in SLI?

If so, what is the best single GPU card out there today, and does it make sense to wait a few months for MSI to make the Lightning Xtreme version of the 680 or for NVIDIA to release the 700 series cards?

2/18/2013 9:11:12 AM

I'm getting ready to do a budget gaming build. I've heard good things about the Radeon HD 7850...any thoughts on if the jump from 1gb to 2gb is really worth it?

2/20/2013 10:46:14 PM

Eh it's almost a year old and yes you want at least 2GB of VRAM. I'd look for something a little newer.

-Although after looking a little it's still up there. I'd get at least 2GB though. What's your budget?

[Edited on February 21, 2013 at 9:24 AM. Reason : s]

2/21/2013 9:05:47 AM

I'm wondering if I should just get a cheaper gtx 670, and wait for the 700 series cards. Maybe even wait for a beast mode 680 to be released. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good card to buy while I wait?

[Edited on February 21, 2013 at 9:22 AM. Reason : -]

2/21/2013 9:21:43 AM

bf3 is still the most intensive game out and ran great on amd 69xx/nvidia 5xx, so like any build question "it depends" on what you want to play

2/21/2013 12:30:02 PM

I'm basically looking for the fastest single GPU on the market, as of today.

2/21/2013 2:40:01 PM

Quote :

"bf3 is still the most intensive game out and ran great on amd 69xx/nvidia 5xx, so like any build question "it depends" on what you want to play"

Eh don't know about that. I've got a really nice overclocked 580 with an i7 at ~4.0gz and I still can't really max BF3. Metro 2033 was way more graphically intense and Crysis 3 I think looks better than BF3.

2/21/2013 3:06:01 PM

^ You should get another one of those 580's in SLI. $380

2/21/2013 3:07:47 PM

Haha I know. I'm not quite sure my PSU can handle 2 right now and I don't know if I want to drop almost $400 on older technology. I'd rather just sell my 580 and get a 680 or something. Or just wait.

2/21/2013 3:09:22 PM

Yeah, I'm in the same boat.

2/21/2013 3:28:58 PM

the best out is the fastest 7990 to my knowledge. amd just refreshed and that level card is what's going to be in consoles going forward, where all your games will be designed for first for the foreseeable future

2/21/2013 4:12:07 PM

Hey smoothcrim where did you get the info that the 7900 series is what the new consoles will be based on? Thats great news if true since we have been stuck in the 9800gt days of consoles for the past 6+ years.

Also the new GTX Titan is soon out and should be the fastest single gpu card ever made. I think the 7990 will be faster since is has two gpus though.

2/21/2013 4:35:49 PM

The interesting thing about the titan is that the clock speed is around the same as the GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme. Clock speed isn't everything, but it certainly surprised me.

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 12:10 PM. Reason : -]

2/24/2013 12:10:02 PM

forgot I posted here...I ended up going with the Radeon HD 7850 2gb, G.SKILL Sniper 2x4gb ram, kinda skimped on the cpu with a pentium g860 3.0 dual core but for my use it shouldn't bottleneck too much and I can always upgrade in the future. Everything should be here tomorrow or tuesday and just gotta pick up a case from Compusa at some point. I'm pretty excited since this is my first build.

also used shoprunner on newegg(free month trial) to get free 2 day shipping which saved me a few bucks. If anyone else is ordering a lot from there it's worth it, just keep the case out which usually isn't covered. You can cancel within the first month with no charge.

[Edited on February 24, 2013 at 9:58 PM. Reason : .]

2/24/2013 9:55:59 PM

Quote :

"the best out is the fastest 7990 to my knowledge. amd just refreshed and that level card is what's going to be in consoles going forward, where all your games will be designed for first for the foreseeable future"

It's not a single GPU though. The Titan is the fastest GPU.

Also I wouldn't say the consoles will be based on the 7990 going forward. That's kind of ridiculous considering a console in it's entirety costs a third to a half the price of a 7990 by itself.

You could say consoles will be based on Southern Islands (AMD 7xxxs) series but much closer to a lower end-mid range card. Nice graphics will always be reserved for PCs.

Just for comparison early reports say AMD's GPU for the PS4 will be a 1.84 teraflop processor and the XBOX 720 will have a 1.2 teraflop processor. Compared to current GPUs the titan runs at about 4.5 teraflops and the 7970 (single GPU) runs at about 4.3 teraflops.

2/25/2013 10:25:50 AM

^^^ ps4 launch and leaked durango docs. both are 8 core amd cpu and highly likely sourcing the gpu in the same place

2/25/2013 10:30:16 AM

posting from my new computer

2/26/2013 11:32:53 PM

congratz wawebste, is it as fast as you had hoped?

Quote :

"Just for comparison early reports say AMD's GPU for the PS4 will be a 1.84 teraflop processor and the XBOX 720 will have a 1.2 teraflop processor."

So if we use those teraflop numbers the PS4 is an AMD 7850 and the XBOX 720 is an AMD 7770 or thereabouts. Those cards were picked because they should achieve 30fps in all games at 1080p and no more. Ahh how I wish they would pick bleeding edge hardware and make it last about 5 years max instead of picking mediocre hardware lasting 8+.

2/27/2013 8:13:29 AM

Well they can't be selling these things for $700-800 either...

2/27/2013 9:19:47 AM

^^thanks, and it's definitely fast....esp. compared to what I was using. Didn't do much last night but did start borderlands 2 and it defaulted to max settings

2/27/2013 9:52:47 AM

Anyone played Crysis 3? It's pretty spectacular looking. I was able to run it on high with FXAA AA at maintain 40-70 FPS most of the time with my 580. Turning it up to Very High bumped it down into the 30's which had a noticeable impact on play-ability. Pretty decent story line, better than 2 I thought. A little short maybe.

2/27/2013 9:59:17 AM

I have an i5-2500K I've never OC'd. I think instead of getting a new mobo/processor, I'll just get an H50 water cooling and bump it up to 4.6Ghz then get a new GPU (currently on HD 6850).

2/28/2013 3:22:50 PM

YES overclock the poo out of it and it will be like a new processor. I will tell you now that the H50 and H60 are LOUD coolers. Dont know if that matters to you or not. I would think about high end air cooling (NH-D14/phanteks PH-TC14PE) unless you want/need something smaller.

2/28/2013 3:58:40 PM