i meant it could work much better, with a better CPUsheepdragon said:
Yeah I realize that my graphics card is the bottleneck in my new system but the other stuff pretty much wiped out my computer budget for a while, and if you look at the specs for my old system I think you'll agree that it needed replaced. If I could have picked up another 8800gt cheaply I would have considered it but Nvidia keeps rebranding the card. I still could have picked up a 9800gt and convinced it that it was a 8800gt like a friend of mine did but that seems like a hassle. I've played The Witcher and Fallout 3 at 1600x1200 and the only setting that I couldn't max out is AA and anything over 4x makes very little difference at that res anyways. With the performance I get I think I'll hold onto my card for a little longer and see what the next generation of graphics cards has to offer.Thanks for the friendly suggestion though, I'm kind of surprised to see a response on the subject without flaming about how stupid it is to put a pinto engine in a vette or something. I appreciate the civility.Xellotath said:I recommend you upgrade your video card, you have a very powerful machine with quite a modest GPU there, check out the GTX 260 / 285eace
eace:No problem, i would strongly suggest avoiding getting another 8800GT and running in SLI, your best bet would be going for one of the new GTX 200 cards, at 1600x1200 a good choice would be the GTX 260 216. The '216' part is important because it's the newer one, there is an older GTX 260 that doesn't perform as well.But if your card is fine for your needs that's great eace: The 8800GT is a legendary card considering the value it offered when it was released in late 2007.I know what you're saying about the rebranding, the 9000 series nvidia chips are basically the same as the 8000 series (with the exception of the 9600GT) but the GTX 200 cards are the new high end chips.
eace: The 8800GT is a legendary card considering the value it offered when it was released in late 2007.I know what you're saying about the rebranding, the 9000 series nvidia chips are basically the same as the 8000 series (with the exception of the 9600GT) but the GTX 200 cards are the new high end chips.I agree that the 260 216 is a great value right now I would also include the 4870 as a great value and I haven't seen the prices yet but the new 270 might be an interesting option. The rebranding goes a little farther than the 9000 series, check out the new 240's and 250's. The 250 is a rebranded 9800gtx, and the 240 is... drumroll please... the 9800gt(aka 8800gt) rebranded I think that they might have gotten a die shrink but that hardly makes them a new card. As for getting another 8800gt I would only do that if they were dirt cheap, but because of the rebranding they're not.
Yeah, I understood that. But I haven't been bothered yet, since I need a new MoBo if I'm going to get a new CPU, and I just cannot be bothered with the hassle of changing one. But I guess a change will happen within a year, or two tops.LicaonKter said:
if that MoBo is AM2+ maybe it can support Phenom II X2 920/940 :hmmm:sheepdragon said:
@Licaon_Kter:Your handbuild machine sounds totally righteous. I can tell who I'm going to ask for advice when it comes time to upgrade my processor! Right now I have a 3.2ghz Intel Pentium 4, 32 bit. On a mobo that is too #@@$@~! small to install my shiny new soundcard. And it has 4 gig of RAM sitting in it, I THINK its two sticks of RAM. And I figure, right now my hubby would kill me, but hopefully around when Dragon Age comes out, I will be able to upgrade the processor and mobo, and new ram if the new processor hates the old RAM, and....can you tell I'm a software person who isn't quite so familiar with hardware? I'm kindof, well, I don't know a ferarri from a maserati from a corvette (well, maybe not that bad, but you know what I mean), I'm just, what is shiny, what will go REALLY REALLY FAST, impress my geeky friends, and play all my fave games while having 27 apps going on in the background....including photoshop.... But anymore, I look at the specs, and I"m like, how the heck do I know? Here's how much money I have to throw at it.... what will do the job? my one friend says I don't NEED to upgrade my processor right now, its decent. But if I just bought a shiny new soundcard, and shiny new speakers, I kindof want to experience the noize.... And trying to decipher and compare the current specs makes me wish I had an engineering degree.I'm so confused...............
I can tell who I'm going to ask for advice when it comes time to upgrade my processor! Right now I have a 3.2ghz Intel Pentium 4, 32 bit. On a mobo that is too #@@$@~! small to install my shiny new soundcard. And it has 4 gig of RAM sitting in it, I THINK its two sticks of RAM. And I figure, right now my hubby would kill me, but hopefully around when Dragon Age comes out, I will be able to upgrade the processor and mobo, and new ram if the new processor hates the old RAM, and....can you tell I'm a software person who isn't quite so familiar with hardware? I'm kindof, well, I don't know a ferarri from a maserati from a corvette (well, maybe not that bad, but you know what I mean), I'm just, what is shiny, what will go REALLY REALLY FAST, impress my geeky friends, and play all my fave games while having 27 apps going on in the background....including photoshop.... But anymore, I look at the specs, and I"m like, how the heck do I know? Here's how much money I have to throw at it.... what will do the job? my one friend says I don't NEED to upgrade my processor right now, its decent. But if I just bought a shiny new soundcard, and shiny new speakers, I kindof want to experience the noize.... And trying to decipher and compare the current specs makes me wish I had an engineering degree.I'm so confused...............will talk tech and money when you are prepared... young grasshopper :evil:Starwolf said:
My current system:Case: Antec Nine Hundred (painted inside and modded for better cable management) CPU: Phenom II X3 720 @ comfy 3.5GHz / AC FreezerPSU: PC Silencer 750w redMB: Gigabyte MA790X-UD4RAM: 4gb Gskill 1066 ddr2GPU: EVGA 8800 GTS 512KB/MS: Logitech G15/G5HD: Seagate 7200.11 500GB x2LCD: Samsung 2443BW HAS With that I can play most games maxed out at 1920x1200, but often without AA.I am just waiting for the 4890's to come out to upgrade.
I tried but had no luck, although I got a 0904 batch cpu, which has been reported to be unlockable. But 4th core or not, it runs very stable and I am pretty sure I can get it up to at least 3.8 once I have my OCZ Vendetta 2.Actually, at 1920x1200 I did only see about 10-15 FPS more in some games after switching to this cpu from a X2 5000 BE (at 3.2GHz). Only a few games today are really optimized for multicores.That's why I am gonna grab myself a nice 4890 soon ;-).
maybe it's a BIOS version thing as of March 10 ( by request from AMD ) the released BIOS disables the ACC trickumm:SaSeba said:
@tech Powerup :hmmm:
My system as follows:- QX9650 @ 3.4 GHz & 1600 MHz FSB- CM Stacker 832- PC Power & Cooling 750W Silencer PSU - Crucial Ballistix DDR2 8500 4 gigs (4-4-4-12)- 2 x 150 gig Raptors - 780i SLI mobo - 2 x Nvidia 8800 GTX Ultras in SLI - HP 30 inch LCD @ 2560x1600 - X-fi Elite Pro - Gigaworks S750 7.1- XP x64 I am looking to get a couple of Nvidia GTX 285s next month probably and oclock the CPU to 4 ghz.
LicaonKter said:
@tech Powerup :hmmm:I just checked and tada, a new bios is out with corrections for ACC. I am going to test that thing tonight.
F2A 2009/03/10 Update ACC code for Phenom X3 CPUi'm guessing this BIOS would not allow you to unlock the forth core, F3F version maybe it wouldSaSeba said:
Seems like my 4th core is really defect. Well, I paid for a 3 core and that's what I got ;-)
I always build my own system, some parts are around 2 years old as I tend to upgrade parts rather than build an entirely new machine: - CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.8GHzMy gigabyte EX58 motherboard allows easy tune overclocking up 3.2 GHz.- RAM: DDR3 3GB Triple 1600I will upgrade to 6GB in a couple of months, saving for the next set now. My motherboard allows up to 24GB spread over 6 slots.- PSU: Coolmaster 650W - Video: NVIDIA GTS 250 1GB DDR3- Monitor: Viewsonic 22" wide LCD 1680x1050 - Seagate Harddisk 320g- Pioneer DVD Writer 20x - Case: ANTEC 900- Vista home premium 64bit
Only just saw this... mine has a white I / 0 power button I don't use, because we couldn't get it to hook up. So the original power switch is just there to look pretty, same as the 5 1/2 inch floppy drive. For the live on off switch, I took the power switch off of the previous incarnation of the same computer (since this was an upgrade along with a casemod)... thats the shiny blue backlit buttion on the front... it just blended in nicely. The bungee cord is to keep the thing from falling over, it is wrapped around both the case and the leg of my computer station... the cat likes to jump on the tower, and I was afraid he would knock it over. It happily adds to the weirdness of the setup. ;DEbernanit said:
CPU: Athlon X2 4200+ @ 2.75 GHz w/ OCZ GladiatorMobo: Asus A8N-E nForce4RAM: 4x512MB Samsung DDR400Video: Asus DK TOP EAH4870 512MB @ 815/925HD: 2x300GB Maxtor RAID0PSU: Corsair TX650WLCD: 24" BenQ G2400WSound: SB Audigy 2 ZSTV: Hauppage HVR-1250 PCIeCan you tell which parts are new and what's holding me back? I just picked up the 4870 and the Corsair PSU last week. The 4870 can go beyond 870/1000 without even breaking 60C and the ol' 4200+ can actually run way past 3 GHz (I got scared at 3.2 GHz) but the DDR1 RAM is clearly the limiting factor. Later this year I'll probably bite the bullet and get a new CPU+mobo+RAM (depending on how Starcraft 2 runs ).I'm happy for now though, I can run TW on high (except grass and draw distance down a notch) at 1920x1200 and it only really dips below 20fps in the Trade District. Can anybody else with a 4870 fill me in on whether I am far off what I could get with a faster CPU+RAM? 3dmark2006 gives me 10k when faster systems get closer to 14k with the 4870 but I don't trust benchmarks.
I just picked up the 4870 and the Corsair PSU last week. The 4870 can go beyond 870/1000 without even breaking 60C and the ol' 4200+ can actually run way past 3 GHz (I got scared at 3.2 GHz) but the DDR1 RAM is clearly the limiting factor. Later this year I'll probably bite the bullet and get a new CPU+mobo+RAM (depending on how Starcraft 2 runs ).I'm happy for now though, I can run TW on high (except grass and draw distance down a notch) at 1920x1200 and it only really dips below 20fps in the Trade District. Can anybody else with a 4870 fill me in on whether I am far off what I could get with a faster CPU+RAM? 3dmark2006 gives me 10k when faster systems get closer to 14k with the 4870 but I don't trust benchmarks.