Thats great Enigma, thanks!! I would rather stay ATI to be honest, never had a problem with them but I've had quite a few issues with the 8800GT from driver problems to very hot running temps (95-100 degrees) Just a couple of questions though: I see you changed the CPU from Intel 2500K to the AMD chip, is this just down to the price or is the AMD one slightly better performance wise? Also the GFX card down to a 6950 from 6970, Im guessing there isnt much difference between them. Same with the RAM, price or performance? Whats your take on windows 32bit... worth an upgrade to 64 at some point? Im guessing it will run fine on that system. Once again, thanks for the help!
mostly it was just to get the prices down from $1100 to $700. The Intel is actually better, but the AMD one isnt at all bad. Lots of people here run them with no issues. Graphcis card is similar, just a bit slower speeds and some shaders disabled on the lower numbered card. But the price fits your budget and the card is still very good. RAM is because it is good RAM with a good price that is in stock where you can buy from. You MUST upgrade to 64. 32-bit will not work for you at all. You would cripple your computer right from the start by running 32-bit on it.
Ok cheers Enigma. I am thinking about combining a few bits from both lists like the intel cpu and that m/b and maybe the 900w psu with the rest from this list. Will see how much money i have when i come to order it Im not really sure why i asked about 64bit as i already know... Thats what happens when trying to think and ask questions at 3 in the morning >.< lol Again, thank you very much!
The intel processors are supposed to be faster because they are more efficient. Benchmarks seem to agree. I chose the AMD for two reaons. I never had before, and I liked the fact that AMD seems to stay more bacard compatible. Right now, the market is shifting pin patterns and ddr types faster than I like to keep up with. I just see the AMD guys making more stuff that is intercompatible. The only reason I run an ATi at work over an nvidia is to get the eyefinity. Not for gaming, I only use one monitor for gaming (but I do have TS and Battlelog up on a second!) I use three monitors at work and I didnt want to have to pile up multiple video cards into my system at the office just to have them burn electricity, make all kinds of racket, and heat the room up. Kinda stupid to have two video cards running three monitors when all they do is view speadsheets- and netflix- and minesweeper- and por... nevermind I do find a lot of features with the ATi cards to be more flexble. Im just more used to NVIDIA They've worked so far, why change? Do either of you have a different opinion?
Nope, thats all perfect reasoning. There is no right way to go, there is just what you like and can afford. Either camp for any section of computers does a fine job and is plenty powerful do be playing games with. The multi-monitor thing is why a lot of people go with ATI/AMD at work for their graphics. It just makes more business sense no matter what angle your looking at.
I run 2 monitors on my current PC a 22" and a 20" (TV) Anyway, after looking through both lists and checking both Ebuyer and Scan for best prices etc I've sorted out where is best to get each item from but I've kind of put together a hybrid of both lists. let me know what you think and if this setup would be ok.... PSU - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/900w...s-bronze-sli-crossfire-eps-12v-quiet-fan-atx- Motherboard - http://www.ebuyer.com/260646-asus-s...1155-8-channel-hd-audio-atx-sabertooth-p67-r3 CPU - http://www.ebuyer.com/251596-intel-...b-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80623i52500k RAM - http://www.ebuyer.com/262585-corsai...-ddr3-1866mhz-memory-kit-cl9-cmz8gx3m2a1866c9 GFX Card - http://www.ebuyer.com/254950-powerc...playport-pci-e-graphics-card-ax6950-2gbd5-2dh CPU Cooler - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cool...0mm-fan-intel-s775-am2-am2plus-am3-754-939-94 SSD - http://www.ebuyer.com/261753-intel-...-5-sata-ii-read-270mb-s-write-ssdsa2cw120g3k5 That lot comes up at about £840 or $1300 which I dont think is too bad I'm going to get Windows 7 64bit on top of that too although the cheapest I've found so far is £101 :/ Going to speak to my uncle who might be able to get it a bit cheaper for me but still. Do you think that would be a decent setup and will all the components work together? ;p (I had to try search/match the ones you linked to the ones on scan so hopefully they are correct!) The original list without the case, HDD and DVD drive comes to £889 and this latest one I can get for £710. Just got to decide on which to go for now :S
Yep that all looks good and will work together. If you can afford it then thats the way to go! That sucks Cheapest full version of Win 7 is $99 in the states. Costs more in the EU because of stupid taxes and compliance things the EU forces on Windows to steal some money. I know that sounds mean, but its a long story. In the end all that matters is people in the EU pay more because of your government. Microsoft would just give you it for cheaper if they were allowed to It basically boils down to an invisible tax on big American companies that do business in EU states.
just an FYI nvidia came out with some budget cards that support 4 - 6 screens not bad priced and you need 64 bit for anything new these days
Just ordered the graphics card , going to get the rest when I get my money together. The new card should work in my old system right for now? And the 580W PSU is enough to cope with it? Its only going to be like that for 2-3 weeks until I order the rest of the stuff.
Lol, not so sure now, but I presumed it would be since you suggested a 600W PSU to go with it originally.
The older CPU also uses a bit more power then the new one would as does the MB chipset. And Hiper isnt exactly a top end brand PSU so it is likely not continuous rated, thus 580w would be the max power not its normal power output. On top of that it is years old which means its maximum power has diminished somewhere between 20-30%. The power supply I recommended is rated as its continuous output at 35 degrees celcius, which probably right at its average operating temp. So thats a good thing. This means even though it is rated for 620w is maximum output is somewhere around 700w. Thus the new PSU has significantly more power than the one you currently have even though it is said to be only 40w more.
It should be ok to do. Id guess that your actual power draw would be a bit less than what the PSU is now capable of putting out.
I did the same exact thing. Because four is better than two, and by that logic 16 is waay better than 8!!!1 and Im pretty sure that RAM does nothing unless I am running my music production software, which is rare these days.... was just a for-the-hell-of-it upgrade. So worth it.
Ok, so I have the new card but having a few issues :S Firstly, on boot I'm getting a error 'NTLDR is missing, press ctrl + alt + del to restart' I can now get it to boot manually by going into the boot menu, but its only after I reconnected my oldest hard drive that has a copy of XP on it. My SATA has windows 7 on it so I'm not sure what the problem is there... Also, I cant seem to get my 2nd monitor working with the card... Its VGA unfortunately but I have a VGA to DVI adapter but not having much luck, just saying no signal even though I can move windows and stuff onto that screen. Any ideas? Before I just go ahead and reformat my drives
Im just wondering how a new video card could have triggered a curruption to your boot sector on the hard drive.... could this be a BIOS issuee on the motherboard?? Help me out on that one, Enigma. I have a few ideas. First, lets try to recover the windows 7 install. Use the Windows 7 install disk and try to run the repair application. Make sure the bios are set to boot from CD first and the windows 7 install second ion the list. It just makes things work better. Most of the repair application is automated but its painfully slow. However, it is pretty excellent at repairing boot sectors when they go ape. If you were feeling entrepreneurial, I'd say search the forums around for a manual way to do this, as there are ways... but using the install disk to repair an installation should work fine. When this happes to me, I often use it as a signal that things are about ot die. In my opinion, it means the hard drive is about to be dead. Also, Im going to assume that the new video card is having trouble running in XP. Lets try fixing the windows 7 problem first. I just bet it'll all work itself out as far as drivers go and both monitors will work fine. Is there an HDMI port you can use instead? anything other than the VGA? If so, use it. If not, check your cables. This is pretty rushed, so let me know if you need clarifications on any of this. Any of us more veteran computer builders will have plenty of experience with the kind of issues your dealing with, I just bet.
Ok, well i tried the boot disk before reading this and still no luck It said it couldnt find issues but tried a system restore with no success. Im thinking of wiping the 2 partitions that have the old xp install on (never used now) and a the one with windows 7 on it. Then starting a fresh install. Im able to get on TS if you can? Got a few Qs to ask about this whole thing.
So, after speaking to you. It sounds as if your computer is a bit dead. But, if we are going to try to resurect this. Use this program to recover your Windows 7 and Office CD Keys. I've Checked it against my keys and its very accurate. Someone with better antivirus may want make sure it doesnt braodcast your cd key to the world after it finds it. http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-postdownload.php?p=91573&t=4&i=1 and this website is a pretty good tutorial on how to use the Windows 7 reformat tools to start over. http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/?q=node/366 Sorry I had to bail on you. I just had the girlfriend breathing down my neck to take her out for lunch. You know how it goes. Best of luck, buddy.