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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 07:27:02

Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 07:27:02
So I'm thinking of building a new i7.  I think I've figured out most of my components.

pny xlr8 9800gt 1gb x2 $170
X58B-A3 SLI $145
Corsair XMS3 4gb DDR3 $100
intel i7 quad core i7-920 i7 920 1366 2.66/8m/4.8 CPU $240

OCZ OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 60GB SATA SSD solid state drive $135

500gb hd $50



The main problem I have is that I haven't built a system for a year or two, and the graphics cards out now are kinda confusing me.  Like I know some of the 800 series were renamed gtx 200's and such, and are really just junk.  There's also new cards like the Palit GTX 460, with gddr5 memory.  Is that way better than the 9800gt?  The 9800gt always seemed like the industry standard, but is there better bang for the buck now?

I can get two 9800gts for around $160-170 and sli them, is there any single card that can beat that arrangement out now for around the same price?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: vyshane on Sat, 17 July 2010, 09:19:10
Maybe this could help?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 09:21:06
The GTX 460 is probably the card to get at the moment.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Sat, 17 July 2010, 10:00:46
I can hook you up with an original I3D Voodoo.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 11:14:13
Don't SLI two 9800GTs. SLIing two bad cards isn't a good idea. The GTX 460 appears to be promising but I don't think anyone should buy it until the 1GB version is available for $200 or less. If you're willing to buy two 9800GTs, you can buy a 5850 for cheaper than two would cost you and get basically the best card on the market, all factors included (power consumption, yada yada).

I'm wary of that motherboard. I'd rather buy a better one but they stopped making all the good X58 boards (Bloodrage anyone).
I would buy the 5850 at a $250 price point but apparently that's not the retail price right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-884-_-Product

If you can get one for $250 in any way possible, that's the best buy for your money.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:46:46
If heat or power matters to you the new ATi chips use a LOT less power than nVidia ones.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:48:12
The GTX 460 compares favorably to ATI's latest and greatest in terms of power consumption.

Also, I never really trusted ATI's driver. I keep hearing enough horror stories about them to keep me at bay.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:48:17
Quote from: D-EJ915;203594
If heat or power matters to you the new ATi chips use a LOT less power than nVidia ones.




And old video cards from companies that don't exist anymore use even less power.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:53:35
Quote from: ch_123;203596
Also, I never really trusted ATI's driver stories.


Yeah, I don't trust the stories either because I've had no problems with ATI drivers.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:55:05
Well, their Linux ones suck for sure.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 12:57:18
Besides, a 5850 at full load still consumes considerably less power than a GTX 460 (and outstrips it hands down performance-wise). The only reason the GTX 460 is deemed a success in terms of power consumption is because it doesn't suck as much as the other Nvidia cards, and not because it's better than the ATI ones.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 15:47:14
Quote from: gr1m;203608
Besides, a 5850 at full load still consumes considerably less power than a GTX 460 (and outstrips it hands down performance-wise). The only reason the GTX 460 is deemed a success in terms of power consumption is because it doesn't suck as much as the other Nvidia cards, and not because it's better than the ATI ones.


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-gf104-fermi,2684-14.html


One or two watts is considerable? Kishy, do some research for yourself as brand loyalty causes the most fanboyism with video cards as I've ever seen. I've got the Nvidia GTX 260, GTX 275, and the GTX 470. Because Nvidia's CEO is such a **** (and he is), there is much hatred towards Nvidia. The cards are fine and mine don't run hot although I know how to set them up correctly. The drivers are great and make a difference.
Its absolutely true that the current ATI/AMD cards are great and are more effecient, however their driver team is tiny compared to Nvidias. I read almost all forums with video cards and there is quite a battle between both VC makers.
ATI has some severe driver problems with certain games and especially with Crossfire & Eyefinity. The forums show this alot. I have owned many of both and would have liked to have bought an ATI this last year but (for ME) the driver problems effected the type of games I was interested in. This may not at all be an issue for you. I could easily recommend either card depending on how big you wanted to go. I'm not fanboyish at all. I just tell people that the Nvidias are not the junk as seems to be advertised. I LIKE ATI too.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 15:54:41
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/07/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-460-graphics-card-review/11

33W in that review. Power consumption differs according to the tests done. Your bad experience with ATI doesn't make ATI **** and my good experience with ATI doesn't make ATI amazing. Besides, are you forgetting that recent batch of Nvidia drivers that was killing cards? Crawl out of Huang's butthole and take a look around.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 17 July 2010, 15:58:15
I have a Savage S3 AGP card, made by diamond. I think it's 12 MB! That's enough to do anything really, you can browse the internet, use paintbrush, check emails, play a few SVGA games here and there.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:00:44
All, as usual, fully blown out of proportion. You didn't even read it all. I have not had a bad time with an ATI card. I just chose not to have the driver problems with "certain" games. Please grow up a little...I also said the guy WAS a ****. But, you know what? He doesn't make the cards himself.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:01:48
All, as usual, fully blown out of proportion. You didn't even read it all. I have not had a bad time with an ATI card. I just chose not to have the driver problems with "certain" games. Please grow up a little...I also said the guy WAS a ****. But, you know what? He doesn't make the cards himself.
Remember, I actually have owned these cards...you have NOT.
 What makes you an expert?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:02:26
Quote from: audioave10;203648
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-gf104-fermi,2684-14.html


One or two watts is considerable? Kishy, do some research for yourself as brand loyalty causes the most fanboyism with video cards as I've ever seen. I've got the Nvidia GTX 260, GTX 275, and the GTX 470. Because Nvidia's CEO is such a **** (and he is), there is much hatred towards Nvidia. The cards are fine and mine don't run hot although I know how to set them up correctly. The drivers are great and make a difference.
Its absolutely true that the current ATI/AMD cards are great and are more effecient, however their driver team is tiny compared to Nvidias. I read almost all forums with video cards and there is quite a battle between both VC makers.
ATI has some severe driver problems with certain games and especially with Crossfire & Eyefinity. The forums show this alot. I have owned many of both and would have liked to have bought an ATI this last year but (for ME) the driver problems effected the type of games I was interested in. This may not at all be an issue for you. I could easily recommend either card depending on how big you wanted to go. I'm not fanboyish at all. I just tell people that the Nvidias are not the junk as seems to be advertised. I LIKE ATI too.


In fairness, in the year Vista came out, 30% of all BSODs reported to MS were caused by the nVidia driver failing.

My pro-nVidia stance is largely based on nVidia's superior driver support for non-Windows operating systems. But I have heard that ATI's drivers for Windows are pretty good by this stage.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:04:23
An expert? I just called you out for being blind to the fact that Nvidia had some massive driver ****ups just recently. Don't hate.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:04:48
My post was an answer to gr1m only.
Where you said my head was at was hatred itself.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:13:19
It wasn't meant as an insult. I was trying to think of a dark, enclosed, isolated pro-Nvidia location and there's no place better than the CEO's butthole.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 16:28:03
The GTX460 appears to be the best bang for the buck right now, if you want cheaper get a Radeon 5770, if you want more expensive get a 5850 or 5870.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: williamjoseph on Sat, 17 July 2010, 21:09:45
I use the 4870x2. i wanna nother one so my rig is maxed out for gpu's. but the next gen is the ati-hd 5970 (http://www.pricewatch.com/gallery/video_cards/radeon_hd_5970)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 17 July 2010, 21:32:04
Quote from: williamjoseph;203747
I use the 4870x2. i wanna nother one so my rig is maxed out for gpu's. but the next gen is the ati-hd 5970 (http://www.pricewatch.com/gallery/video_cards/radeon_hd_5970)


Voodoo no like...
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/Voodoo3boxart.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 21:46:18
Quote from: gr1m;203582
Don't SLI two 9800GTs. SLIing two bad cards isn't a good idea. The GTX 460 appears to be promising but I don't think anyone should buy it until the 1GB version is available for $200 or less. If you're willing to buy two 9800GTs, you can buy a 5850 for cheaper than two would cost you and get basically the best card on the market, all factors included (power consumption, yada yada).

I'm wary of that motherboard. I'd rather buy a better one but they stopped making all the good X58 boards (Bloodrage anyone).
I would buy the 5850 at a $250 price point but apparently that's not the retail price right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-884-_-Product

If you can get one for $250 in any way possible, that's the best buy for your money.

I like ecs's motherboards.  I have 2 systems built on older slit-a 570 nforce boards which were one of the first sli boards available that everyone hated on, and picked up cheap, probably because the pci slots were only x8's, but for the price they've been really stable after driver revisions, since they were one of the first chipsets they had a lot of problems early on, but they were also one of the first ones to get fixed. They've been really stable for me for like 2 years now, and I'm all together really satisfied with them, especially for the price I paid.  Those systems are just as good playing games and whatnot as the later Asus standard gaming board I have another rig built on.  I have an 8800gt on the Asus board, and a 9800 GT on the ecs board with the lower x setting, and they benchmark almost exactly the same, with identical processors.



That ECS board is also really reasonably priced for an 1366.  Sides it's black and looks cool. lol

Does anyone have any benchmarks or know a source? So two sli'd 9800 gt's won't beat the new 460?

I'm a poor student, so I'm just looking to get a lower end 920 system right now I can play Fallout, Vegas on, and other mmofps's on  at 1080p, not some huge expensive gaming rig, since there aren't really any good games coming out for pc's anyway.

I'm pretty happy with my c2d 2.4 ghz's otherwise, although I'm getting some graphics lag from warrock at 1080p.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:09:46
Quote from: ch_123;203657
In fairness, in the year Vista came out, 30% of all BSODs reported to MS were caused by the nVidia driver failing.

My pro-nVidia stance is largely based on nVidia's superior driver support for non-Windows operating systems. But I have heard that ATI's drivers for Windows are pretty good by this stage.


The nforce driver for Vista didn't work at all, it was a complete joke.  Nforce chipset motherboards basically couldn't run Vista for a year or two after it came out.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:14:17
Quote from: chimera15;203752
not some huge expensive gaming rig, since there aren't really any good games coming out for pc's anyway.


Bah, who needs them 3D games when you have SVGA:
(http://kmgassociates.com/rayman/screens/jung09.gif)
(http://www.svatopluk.com/hexenscn/hexen1.png)
(http://oldgames.ru/images/oldgames/screenshots/stonekeep/stonekeep_03.gif)
(http://i42.tinypic.com/2d9eadt.png)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:24:24
Hehe   Here's a crystalmark bench on an i7 2.6 clocked at 3.3 and a 460

Most of my c2d's come in around around 100-150k

http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09en/ranking.php?ID=132598

Now I just need to find one running 9800's in sli. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:28:02
Quote from: EverythingIBM;203755
Bah, who needs them 3D games when you have SVGA:


I played most of those and got bored of them already, like 15-20 years ago. lol  Stonekeep brings backs some memories. lol  Hexen was fun too back then.  I thought it was so cool. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:35:43
Here's an i7 860 running a single 9800gt 512mb, not overclocked at 2.8ghz.


http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09en/ranking.php?ID=132486

Still got 260k....  

860's are 1156 socket?  Those are the cheaper i7's right?

Looking at that, since the processors aren't equal, it might be close...

Here's the graphics card test for it:

19543    5204    33682

The 460
17605    15644    35617

So the middle score Directdraw fps is 3 times, otherwise it's even or less... and the 9800gt is the 512mb version the 460 is the 1gb.  That doesn't look too impressive.  Still looking for a benchmark site directly comparing them.

Oh and btw, I really don't care that much about power consumption.  I'll get a 750-1000watt powersupply for this unit either way.

Interesting thread:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:eUt9gfcXAj0J:tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/12/1428234/Nvidias-200-GTX-460-Ups-Bargain-Performance+9800gt+vs+460gtx&cd=30&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:39:48
Cheaper but the platform has lower memory bandwidth and multi-GPU limitations. Actually, you can get a 920 D0 for cheaper than a 930 or an 860 and it's a superior chip. I would definitely go X58.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 17 July 2010, 22:42:52
Quote from: chimera15;203759
I played most of those and got bored of them already, like 15-20 years ago. lol  Stonekeep brings backs some memories. lol  Hexen was fun too back then.  I thought it was so cool. lol


I'm surprised you played them to be honest! In that case, you get the MS-DOS gaming nerd award, for playing some of the best DOS games released:
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11770&stc=1&d=1279424515)
EVERYONE GIVE CHIMERA A BIG APPLAUSE!

I never got to play hexen or heretic 1 (the demo of heretic 1 only). So, I still got lots of gaming ahead of me.

You know, they could easily make games in that SAME FASHION with updated graphics, it would be so amazing. But no... stupid game industry.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:05:51
Quote from: EverythingIBM;203763
I'm surprised you played them to be honest! In that case, you get the MS-DOS gaming nerd award, for playing some of the best DOS games released:
Show Image
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11770&stc=1&d=1279424515)

EVERYONE GIVE CHIMERA A BIG APPLAUSE!

I never got to play hexen or heretic 1 (the demo of heretic 1 only). So, I still got lots of gaming ahead of me.

You know, they could easily make games in that SAME FASHION with updated graphics, it would be so amazing. But no... stupid game industry.

I've been a pretty hard core gamer for a very long time, It's why I'm almost 40 still a student and still a virgin. My first attempt at college when I was 17 I got addicted to a game, and started missing classes.  I basically flushed an ivy league education and a great life down the drain cause of a stupid $50 game. lol

But then again, I might have ended up at Enron like my best friend did and wound up almost exactly where I am or worse too. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:31:25
Consult me before buying a power supply. I am like Kishy, Ripster, and Ricercar rolled into one, only for power supplies.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:41:50
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203771
Consult me before buying a power supply. I am like Kishy, Ripster, and Ricercar rolled into one, only for power supplies.

"http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocketfish-900-Watt-ATX-CPU-Power-Supply-RF-900WPS-/110560225479?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Other_MP3_Player_Accessories&hash=item19bde728c7 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocketfish-900-Watt-ATX-CPU-Power-Supply-RF-900WPS-/110560225479?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Other_MP3_Player_Accessories&hash=item19bde728c7")

? ;)

Quick search.  Looks like a nice one to me, modular too.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:46:30
A.) Ebay = no
B.) Open box = meh
C.) Not that great a power supply, though not as bad as some of BB's other in-house PSUs (Dynex and early Rocketfish). The X7 is one of Huntkey's better products, but I still don't feel I can recommend it, especially open box on ebay.

By the way, it seems he sells a lot of stuff from Best Buy, and for significantly below even the employee discount price (cost+ 5/10%). I'm guessing he steals from BB and lists the stuff on ebay. Problem with that is if you need it replaced and bring it in, it'll be registered as stolen (via. UPC). So double bad there.


You only need a decent 400W power supply for your system (even with the GTX460), and I highly recommend a quality 400W over a cheap 900-1000W.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:51:41
Seasonic X650 $120

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-SSX650G&title=SeaSonic-X650-Gold-650W-Power-Supply

$135 free shipping
-$10 with coupon code CASTLE10 //expires 7/18 but there will be a replacement code after
-3% with Bing Cashback
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:52:39
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203773
A.) Ebay = no
B.) Open box = meh
C.) Not that great a power supply, though not as bad as some of BB's other in-house PSUs (Dynex and early Rocketfish). The X7 is one of Huntkey's better products, but I still don't feel I can recommend it, especially open box on ebay.

By the way, it seems he sells a lot of stuff from Best Buy, and for significantly below even the employee discount price (cost+ 5/10%). I'm guessing he steals from BB and lists the stuff on ebay. Problem with that is if you need it replaced and bring it in, it'll be registered as stolen (via. UPC). So double bad there.


You only need a decent 400W power supply for your system (even with the GTX460), and I highly recommend a quality 400W over a cheap 900-1000W.


Could be that he gets it from that Best Buy employee auction site thing. I got an invite to it (although it's pretty useless for a Canadian).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:53:38
lol I don't mistrust ebay as much as you.  There are a lot of dealers like that on ebay, and I'd never take it into a store.  It's a risk but worth it.  I tend to put a lot of drives on my systems which always bogs down power supplies.  If I go with the dual sli 9800s it probably will be pulling way over 400w during the most intensive games I would guess.  I've had lots of 750w power supplies from different sources. Never had a modular one though, always wanted one.  Really surprised to see one that low.  There's another seller with one for $80.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocketfish-RF-900WPS-900-Watt-ATX-CPU-Power-Supply-/380248388649?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item588891f429 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Rocketfish-RF-900WPS-900-Watt-ATX-CPU-Power-Supply-/380248388649?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item588891f429)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:54:34
Maybe.

Still wouldn't buy.

Want something in the $50 range?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030&cm_re=Neo_ECO-_-17-371-030-_-Product

Based on an early iteration of the SeaSonic S12II Bronze 420/520/620 platform. Very good performance and reliability for its price, with a warranty backed by actual good customer service.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:54:41
No risk is worth it when it comes to power supplies.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:58:05
Drives only pull a lot of power at spinup, otherwise they're sub-10W for your typical 7200RPM SATA.


SLI 9800GTs would work on the 520W unit, you wouldn't top 400W load. Trust me, people overestimate their power draw all the time, it's the quality that matters, not the overall wattage; as long as you have enough of course.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 17 July 2010, 23:59:05
Quote from: gr1m;203779
No risk is worth it when it comes to power supplies.

Power supplies are pretty durable these days.

I want something modular in the $50 range. lol

I've put together like 5-10 systems, counting laptops, from ebay parts.  Most of them very low prices and many I thought would be bad because I got such a deal,  including graphics cards I've got for super cheap.  I put my last c2d together for under or around $300 complete, and this was a year or two ago when most complete c2d systems in the same range were going for $700+  The only problems I've ever had has been cheap mobos.  They're almost always bad.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:01:48
So you're paying $200 for your CPU and $50 for your power supply? That's a typical mistake, like when a guitarist buys a $700 guitar and a $50 amp. You should allocate more funds to a power supply.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:08:33
Power supplies have been powersupplies for 2 or 3 generations of computers now.  There's not been a major upgrade to them since sata drives came out, and really even before that.  Besides there's like a billion companies manufacturing them bringing the price down. The technology of them is mature, which is why they're much cheaper.  A core i7 is only what, 6 months to a year old, the top of personal computing, so it's going to cost more.  Sides powersupplies are more susceptible to things like lightning strike than the processor or mobo.  I'm not paying $200 for a powersupply to have it electrocuted on me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:12:46
"The technology of them is mature, which is why they're much cheaper."

What? And CPUs only came into existence with Core i7?

Besides, the technology has nothing to do with the price. You can get away with using cheap materials and poor engineering in power supplies because of their nature. CPUs, not so much. I don't want to start a random argument for no reason, I'm just saying that I think you should spend more than $50 on the one product that your $200 CPU, $150 motherboard, $200 video card and every other component will depend on.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:22:44
Power supply technology is still advancing... and many cheap companies stay behind, often intentionally. I've opened up power supplies made less than three months ago, with designs from before 2003, possibly as early as 1998. 250W units that go out of spec at 50W being sold as 500W units. Even branded units, units with what are erroneously believed to be "good" brands, based on antiquated half bridge designs or mediocre single transistor forward designs. Two transistor forward with boost converter is the standard "mature" design, but higher-end units are still advancing with resonant primary designs and DC-DC secondaries.


The Rocketfish 900W (Huntkey X7 900W) isn't horrible, Huntkey usually produces **** but they got a big loan a year ago and sank a lot of it into R&D and manufacturing. It's still not that good a unit, I wouldn't push it past 800W. You aren't pulling all that much power, true. But for the sake of a warranty (that means something) and better reliability (Huntkey is still hit and miss in the QC department) I'd get a quality unit not from ebay. And a $50 modular unit NIB is guaranteed garbage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093&Tpk=M12II%20520W

Now stop being a **** and pay as much for your power supply as you did for your keyboards.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:32:12
I haven't paid much more than $50 for most of my keyboards, not counting kitbashed ones that are really two keyboards to make one.   I definitely haven't bought any of the $200 + retail keyboards.


You really do know a lot. lol   Maybe I should jump on that used one then. lol  $50 is worth a shot for this unit and might be a good backup.  I had to use the spare I had originally planned to use to fix my mother's old machine when it's power supply gave out.  It's like an 8 year old unit, that got clogged with dust.


I should wait a little though.  I really need to get my scratchbuilt keyboard finished which may take the funds I'm thinking of using for this if I can't find an easy way to machine the plate.

I'm going to email that guy and see if he can provide any more details about like where he got it from and such. If it checks out I'll buy it, and it'll be the first part of the new system. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:34:53
Still worth spending more than $50 for a PSU.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:48:13
A year ago, that would have been true, but this is the second generation of sli power supplies.   These are the same power supplies you can get off an old c2d system.  You can buy broken velocity micro machines with bad mobo's from recycliers off ebay with 750w power supplies for a couple hundred with full lian li cases, and good graphics, memory and hard drives, or could a year or two ago.

 What I'm seeing is that they've really come down in price across the board.  There are tons of different types out there.  Meanwhile 920 i7's are impossible to buy for a reasonable price.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:53:56
Prices do seem to be coming down...(I wish RAM prices would too)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

I hate rebates though.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 00:58:51
You really don't get it. The cheap units are cheap for a reason, not because the cost of manufacture has come down. Power supply manufacturers lie, they misrepresent, they cheat, and they cut costs in order to get the highest wattage number for the lowest price with the biggest profit margin possible and damn the competition.

You want to see the type of crap cheap brands pull?

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6714&highlight=680W





Power supplies are not like CPUs, period. The same ideas of value and price don't apply. If you don't want to take the advice of someone who knows their ****, fine. It'll backfire. The X7 probably won't since it's a decent unit, my main qualms being on legitimacy and warranty, but if you go out and buy some $50 Apex "650W" and it blows up on you, don't come back to me crying because you'll get a big fat "atojiso" back in your face.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:16:55
I know. I watched like every 3dgammerman vid on youtube, and he really went into depth about power supplies and what they actually can do or not, and that they're often misleading.   He always stressed that the rail wattage is the important part, not the wattage on the box.  All said I haven't looked at the rail wattages on that one, but the fact that it's quad sli ready should say something for it.   The problem of course is the seller.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:19:41
That's also a misconception, marking "3dgammerman" a novice. The rail ratings are useful for spotting mid-range units that have been overrated, and for spotting ATX12V 1.x and ATX 1.3 units. But it isn't useful for ATX12V 2.x units, or when manufacturers just lie.

http://hardwareaware.com/review/linkworld-430w/
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:27:47
Well to be fair I don't think he's done a power supply review for a year or two. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:33:16
Seriously though.  The likelihood of a power supply failing isn't a concern to me.  If it lasts a year, it's all good.    While I know there is a small chance of it failing and destroying the mobo processor, there's a far greater likelihood my computer just won't turn on one day, or like happened to me one time, my computer will experience brownout type symptoms and intermittent bsods cause my hd's were powering down cause it was failing, and if so I'll test the powersupply, find it's no good and replace it.  It's not like I'm building this machine for someone, if I was I would probably use a higher quality brand.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:41:23
Again, I'm leaving the RF-900 out of this, this is just general principle now.


Very cheap power supplies will blow up, or worse die silently. They also will damage your components, even if they don't blow up. Damage to your capacitors and VRM circuits from out-of-spec ripple is cumulative and irreparable. Bad enough ripple (a la the 3000mV on a certain Linkworld unit) will kill hardware in hours, even things as "simple" as fans.

And a power supply death is worst when it goes quietly. When there's a bang, that means it's a primary-side failure, and that means you have a big ol' transformer between your computer and the failure point. But when the PSU dies quietly or with only a small spark or bit of smoke, that means a secondary side failure, meaning a spike of "dirty" power hitting your PC in the face, killing almost everything on the affected rail (voltage rail, not OCP rail).

And bad PSUs do fail violently.

Skip to 2:00
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 01:46:42
It looks to me like they were over volting it to get those results weren't they?  They were drawing 14 and 15 volts on the 12v rails, in addition to an unknown amperages on what rails?   They could have been pushing it far beyond 450 as it looked to me, the thing was completely maxed out.

I read all that.  I would take issue with their testing, as they're not using an actual pc requiring different levels of amperage at different times. I don't think they took into consideration peak wattages vs operating amperage either.   They also tested another power supply, that failed to explode because it had protection circuits in it.   I'm not sure how common or not these are, but I would guess that they're more common than not, since that unit is banned in certain countries.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 02:36:53
Gabriel Torres is a competent reviewer, and an ATE is superior to a PC for generating load on a power supply. The label is supposed to mark the power supply's continuous operational output. If it can't do that number continuous for at least an hour, then the label is a lie (also consider many units are rated at room temperature of 25C, rather than realistic operating conditions of 30-40C. Gabe and most other reviewers test at 40-45-50C, depending). Also, they have no control over what voltages the PSU outputs, if the voltage was out of spec that was due to the power supply, not the tester.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: williamjoseph on Sun, 18 July 2010, 04:44:31
when it comes to power supplies, i know one thing, if its light, its cheep (aka cheep parts, cheep construction, inferior quality by leaps and bounds). If it feels heavy it is expensive (aka superior quality)  I once bought a power supply from 3btech.net. it was a 3btech branded psu promicing 700 watts for $45. i blew it out on my first run on crysis running this (http://geekhack.org/showpost.php?p=121922&postcount=1). I proptly replaced it with the PSU listed in linky. no problems since. did i mention that the difference in weight was astounding to myself?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 05:23:07
Clearly Chimera's opinions on PSUs are as sophisticated as his opinions on trackballs.

That, and he has never had one fail on him, taking out two graphics cards in the process.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 09:12:56
Quote from: ch_123;203817
Clearly Chimera's opinions on PSUs are as sophisticated as his opinions on trackballs.

That, and he has never had one fail on him, taking out two graphics cards in the process.


You have? I think that's pretty rare. A google search of "power supply failure destroyed graphics cards" returned one result on the subject from 2008.  And that was a pentium 2. lol It's clear you're a snob about psu's as you are about trackballs.  Although I don't know why being left handed would effect your choice of them. lol

I've had lots of power supply failures over the year.  None on c2d+ generations.  None have destroyed components on my boards.  In addition I worked as a repair tech for a short time and my main job was repairing systems that would not boot.  I repaired hundreds of systems.  It was a rare machine that had a power supply problem.  The few that did didn't have any fried components.  It was normally the mobo that got fried from lightning strike over lan or modem lines.  Power supplies are pretty rugged these days, you really have to stress them out, even the cheap ones, to blow them, and even then they rarely take any components with them in my experience.

The fact that there a number of bad ones out there is without doubt.  The fact that there are ones that are banned in certain countries because they don't have standard protections on them, and that they would explode doesn't surprise me, but I think those are pretty rare as well.  There are also batteries that explode and cause fires in laptops, and Toyota's that don't have breaks, but what are the chances of you actually seeing and getting stuff like that? It's like 1 in 1000 odds at best.

Unless you're designing a new model line for a company or something, I don't see the point of knowing about every component of a power supply, and testing it for quality.  If it does the job, and has reasonable protection, it should be good enough.   It's just a power supply, people have been making them for 80 years.  Before computers they were made for radios and junk.  

Hell, the power supply on my apple ][ died on me, in 1979 and didn't take any components with it.  Back then, that was immature technology, and power supply failures were very common.  These days it just doesn't happen that often relative to the number of people using computers and the amount of psu's out there.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 09:54:51
I bought that rocketfish 900w for $53.  The seller responded that it was tested and worked great.  We'll see what I get. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 09:59:51
Yeah, if it's not on Google, it must not exist... Oh dear God, people on the internet...

So, how do you explain two graphics cards on two completely seperate computers with only the same PSU in common dying in the same way? (and same PSU itself just refusing to go sometime afterwards)

It is well established that dodgy PSUs kill parts, and cause all sorts of generic wankery. This isn't some myth to make people buy expensive CPUs. I have seen all sorts of computers that would blue screen, reboot randomly, and behave in all sorts of weird ways that was ultimately traced back to the PSU. I was in contact with a guy who's DVD drive would only read CDs and not DVDs. Tried everything and it couldn't work. He tried a different PSU in the computer for the lulz and suddenly it worked again. Puts back in the old PSU, breaks in the same way. That's one snobby DVD drive, amirite?

Amazingly, facts exist separately to your own experience with things. Crazy, I know...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:02:56
If you read the thread, I explained that I had seen those same brownout symptoms, so I'm aware of them. That type of failure is more common, but as you stated, putting in a new psu fixed the problem, and the parts weren't destroyed.

That type of failing is a heck of a lot more common than the psu failing and permanently destroying parts.

Google may not be a credible source for reports, but it certainly can be looked at for the frequency of reported events such as this.

There should have been more than one complaint of persons when searching for that term if it was at all common.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:08:34
I'm pretty sure I've seen a bad PSU take out some RAM too... Can't remember the specifics though.

Either way, life is too short to play a lottery with low end PSUs, especially when the price of a good PSU is less than the parts that you could end up replacing.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:17:20
Quote from: ch_123;203836
I'm pretty sure I've seen a bad PSU take out some RAM too... Can't remember the specifics though.

Either way, life is too short to play a lottery with low end PSUs, especially when the price of a good PSU is less than the parts that you could end up replacing.


That was my story. 1 stick of RAM and a motherboard.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:23:41
Quote from: chimera15;203833
If you read the thread, I explained that I had seen those same brownout symptoms, so I'm aware of them. That type of failure is more common, but as you stated, putting in a new psu fixed the problem, and the parts weren't destroyed.

That type of failing is a heck of a lot more common than the psu failing and permanently destroying parts.

Google may not be a credible source for reports, but it certainly can be looked at for the frequency of reported events such as this.

There should have been more than one complaint of persons when searching for that term if it was at all common.


Even still, I don't want to have to figure out whether there is some software problem, RAM problem, heating problem, PSU problem etc etc. They tend to cause weird problems that can manifest themselves as failures of other parts. In the example that I used about the DVD drive, if that happened to me, I would have gone and bought a new drive unnecessarily. Just a gigantic waste of time and money even if they don't fry parts (which they do).

You seem to imply that this is a regular occurence? Would it not make more economic sense to buy a good PSU that will last as long as the other components last rather than having to replace **** PSUs every once in a while? Those cheap things add up.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:26:21
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=1531458&postcount=19

http://forums.n4g.com/tm.aspx?high=&m=828595&mpage=1
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:35:57
Quote from: ch_123;203838
Even still, I don't want to have to figure out whether there is some software problem, RAM problem, heating problem, PSU problem etc etc. They tend to cause weird problems that can manifest themselves as failures of other parts. In the example that I used about the DVD drive, if that happened to me, I would have gone and bought a new drive unnecessarily. Just a gigantic waste of time and money even if they don't fry parts (which they do).

You seem to imply that this is a regular occurence? Would it not make more economic sense to buy a good PSU that will last as long as the other components last rather than having to replace **** PSUs every once in a while? Those cheap things add up.

No, because it's a $ over time consideration.   You buy a psu for $50, that you take a chance running continuously lasts 1-2 years, vrs one for $200 that may still fail from various reasons, like lightning strike, with a system's overall lifespan being at most 2-3 years on average.  Even those selling for $200, there's a chance that they're actually repackaged crap.

 It seems like the brownout thing does happen a lot, especially in previous generations.  I haven't had it happen to me with newer c2d's yet, but perhaps it will as the systems I built age.  As a repair tech, not just in that one job, but over 20 years someone building and maintaining at least 5 units at a time in my own house, and more for friends and people that know I know hardware, I've seen a lot of these units with strange brownout symptoms like that.   Not just on ones I've built either. Usually they're on units that had been running continuously for years, and usually it does effect the drives in some strange way, more than the mobo/cpu/graphics card.  Yeah I get your point about replacing the faulty indication.  I've done this as well, but even so, it doesn't always add up. Besides I have a lot of parts for testing faulty systems now. lol  Sides new cd/dvd roms/standard hd drives are super cheap as well now.

I also like to keep a spare good psu on hand to test this, for instance the one that I replaced my mother's failed unit with was that spare one.  So if nothing else this one that I just bought will fit that role.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 10:58:53
Well, for me, my time is worth more than the dollar. If I'm saving up to build a system, I'll gladly make sure to accommodate stuff that isn't going to cause me problems. If I'm spending money, I like to spend it on stuff that works.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:03:49
Maybe it's because of my early experience with computers, especially my apple ][ psu failing.  The apple 2 power supply cost like $400 or something ridiculous.  $ doesn't always equal quality.  There are a lot of different factors at play,  and with computers it's a potshot if you get something that works or not, and they fail for seemingly random reason, even reputed good parts.  So there's no reason to pay out the nose for something basic like a power supply if you can meet the necessary requirements of your build for less.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:05:36
That's not really a valid comparison, because buying replacement parts from vendors is extortion.

And I don't buy the most expensive PSU on the market. I read around and I find one that is going to be reliable. If it happens to be expensive, so be it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:06:37
Quote from: chimera15;203845
So there's no reason to pay out the nose for something basic like a power supply if you can meet the necessary requirements of your build for less.


That's where you're wrong. There is reason, but you just don't see it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:09:33
Quote from: gr1m;203847
That's where you're wrong. There is reason, but you just don't see it.


I see it, I just don't agree with it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:12:02
Quote from: ch_123;203846
That's not really a valid comparison, because buying replacement parts from vendors is extortion.

And I don't buy the most expensive PSU on the market. I read around and I find one that is going to be reliable. If it happens to be expensive, so be it.

My point is that you can't tell from reviews what is going to be reliable or not.  Companies can pay people to review products, reviews can be wrong, and it just isn't a major factor on an individual basis, as you may get the one car out of 1000 that doesn't have breaks even so.


You're paying out the nose for what people think won't fail 2-3 years down the road, is no different than buying a psu from apple that cost $400, and is a 1000% markup on the parts.  Besides there's a lot of over-engeering that goes into most of those overpriced psu's.  Why pay $200 for a psu that is built to last 10 years, when the average lifespan of a computer is 3.  My mother's system's 8 years old cause she doesn't need much power for what she does, email and whatnot, she's had 1 psu failure in the last few months on an 8 year old system that's been running continuously..and I didn't pay anywhere near a major amount of the original one that failed, and it died cause it was full of dust, not from manufacturer fault.  Her system was never anywhere near a gaming rig of course.




If I were going to build 50000 systems, I would want to review every part that went into a psu to make sure it was quality, but on an individual basis stuff like that just isn't that reliable or important.

To me it's a lot like you're arguing that I should buy a $200 dvdrw, when there are ones out now for $30, that are perfectly fine and do what I want.  The return on the cost from $30 to $200 just isn't that much.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:42:04
But $30 DVD drives cannot harm your other parts. I should just stop wasting my time because keep in mind that we're having this argument for your benefit.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:45:37
Quote from: gr1m;203851
But $30 DVD drives cannot harm your other parts. I should just stop wasting my time because keep in mind that we're having this argument for your benefit.

You saw that Mythbusters where they got cd-roms to explode didn't you?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 11:56:44
No, but apparently, neither did you because you said in your earlier post that cheap DVD drives are fine.

Besides, there's nothing wrong with $30 DVD drives because people use them a lot and not many problems are reported. I use them exclusively myself (the $30 SATA 22x DVDRW drives, be it Asus, Samsung or whatever) and they do not cause undue problems. Why are you being infuriating?

HEY GUYS CHEAP DVDS ARE FINE
YES
NO THEY ARENT CHECK OUT MYTHBUSTERS OLOLOLOLOL

Do you do this to everybody that tries to help you?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 12:22:23
It was a joke. It's not my fault that you read it seriously.  If you had seen the episode you would have laughed.


 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6avp29GqXo)
[/URL]

What's really interesting is reading the comments of this video and seeing how many people are claiming it's happened to them.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 18 July 2010, 12:38:16
Quote from: chimera15;203850
To me it's a lot like you're arguing that I should buy a $200 dvdrw, when there are ones out now for $30, that are perfectly fine and do what I want.  The return on the cost from $30 to $200 just isn't that much.

Type less. Read more.

I don't think anyone's arguing that you should always spend more money. I think they're just questioning your rationale that cheap is most likely to be as good or better than expensive. Sometimes you do get what you pay for and that goes for both ends of the price spectrum.

ch_123 and gr1m are explaining why they like to build their systems a certain way. Maybe they don't throw their systems out the door every 2 to 3 years and most people certainly don't ditch their computers every 2 to 3 years. They're making their purchasing decisions based on a lot of the same criteria you use except that if they have reason to believe that a higher priced item is likely to last longer or be safer, it's worth a premium. They didn't say that means they'll buy the $40000000 Apple branded PSU. It simply means that if they believe the cheaper PSU has a 25% chance of ruining or even just reducing the life of something else in their system and end up costing them a few hours to shop and install a new one, they're willing to spend the extra $20 or $40 or whatever they believe to be a reasonable premium for the extra assurance.

It doesn't mean they expect that the more expensive one will always be better or live up to the hype. That is always possible as well and you're correct to point out that a lot of times you're getting cheated out of your money. The difference between what you argue for and what they're arguing for is that if $40 is on the line, you'll pocket the $40 and take your chances. Their point is that if there's a reasonable possibility that the $40 will save them extra hassle or cost, they'll give up the $40 for the peace of mind.

You're simply placing different bets. You can be cheap and get burned. You can be lavish and get burned. The fact that you did or didn't get burned doesn't mean someone was right or wrong. Nobody's being an idiot. Not you. Not them.

Just for once, try this. Say "I can understand why you'd want to do that, but I think you're wasting your money. It's not the way I'd build my systems, but to each his own."
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 13:15:28
Quote from: chimera15;203850
My point is that you can't tell from reviews what is going to be reliable or not.  Companies can pay people to review products, reviews can be wrong, and it just isn't a major factor on an individual basis, as you may get the one car out of 1000 that doesn't have breaks even so.


It isn't just as black and white as 'How long does it last?'. Bad PSUs will have all sorts of issues - such as inability to deliver correct amperage under load, excessive heat, weird noises when pushed under load, and of course complete and utter failure to deliver the rated wattage - either where the system just turns off, or the PSU burns out, complete with smoke, loud bangs, and sometimes flames. All these can be tested for out of the box, and if your PSU can get over all that, the odds are that it's going to last quite a good deal longer than one that doesn't.

You mention issues with the objectivity of reviews, and how they are limited by the quality of the one unit they receive. This is true. This is why I read every review I can find, and also read anecdotal evidence from people on the internet who make use of them. And usually you can spot the sellout reviewers - usually the ones that give everything five stars.

Ultimately, you seem to be saying that buying good PSUs is pointless because they could fail within 2-3 years. Well, nothing in life is certain, so yeah, they could fail. But they are an awful lot less likely to explode into flames after a few moths compared with some 'whitebox' junk. Besides, 5 year warranty on a Corsair-brand Seasonic unit? Yes please!

I think you're making an argument where there is none.

Quote
You're paying out the nose for what people think won't fail 2-3 years down the road, is no different than buying a psu from apple that cost $400, and is a 1000% markup on the parts.


Ehh, no.

Seriously, unless you are prepared to qualify that statement, it's like "the grass is not green".

Quote
Besides there's a lot of over-engeering that goes into most of those overpriced psu's.  Why pay $200 for a psu that is built to last 10 years, when the average lifespan of a computer is 3.  My mother's system's 8 years old cause she doesn't need much power for what she does, email and whatnot, she's had 1 psu failure in the last few months on an 8 year old system that's been running continuously..and I didn't pay anywhere near a major amount of the original one that failed, and it died cause it was full of dust, not from manufacturer fault.  Her system was never anywhere near a gaming rig of course.


Asides from the fact that computers these days have a much longer useful life than 3 years, you seem to contradict yourself by talking about 8 year old computers.

The fact that your mother's PC isn't some mad gaming rig illustrates the point further. If a bad PSU is going to flare out on some low end computer, what chance is it going to stand with a high end CPU/Graphics card or loads of hard drives.?

Quote
If I were going to build 50000 systems, I would want to review every part that went into a psu to make sure it was quality, but on an individual basis stuff like that just isn't that reliable or important.


Shame that major OEMs don't think like that.

Quote
To me it's a lot like you're arguing that I should buy a $200 dvdrw, when there are ones out now for $30, that are perfectly fine and do what I want.  The return on the cost from $30 to $200 just isn't that much.


As pointed out above, the DVD drive isn't going to kill the expensive parts of your computer when it fails.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 13:46:31
I agree, this is really an argument about nothing.  It's just a matter of my experience building units, and what I think the failure rate and chances I'm willing to take of lower end psu's and people who have the money to spend more on building a better unit.  The difference between paying $750 total, and $900 is a breaker for me to build this system.  I don't have $900 to spend, I have $500 really, and I'm pushing the limits to get this unit built at $6-700.


As I've already said, I don't want to build some rock solid ultra gaming computer, (well I do, I just don't have the money to do it and I know it) just an average gaming computer that will put me up with modern times, at a reasonable price.  I'll admit that I don't have a lot of money to spend, and a psu is a place I can skimp on because the likelihood is that that that $50 900watt off ebay will work perfectly fine for me for a few years, and that's all I really care about right now.  The likelihood of the psu failing is slim in my experience, especially if I don't go with an 2x 9800gt sli solution, which brings this thread back to what it's really about, and the main question.  Will one 460 beat dual 9800gt's, which I've yet to be able to answer.

If I was building this system for someone else, and they had the money to spend, obviously I would go with a more solid supply.  As it is, I'm willing to take the risk on that unit, and if it goes bad, I know enough about the issue that I'll likely be able to repair the system.

To answer the other thing about 8 years vrs 3 years.  Gaming computers are obsolete after 3 years, probably more like 1 at most if you're a serious hardcore gamer.   Most of my family runs my hand me down gaming computers. Email/browsing computers have a much longer lifespan.  You can still use p1's to browse and do email from like what, 15 years ago.  Obviously the class and stress put on the psu is completely different as well.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:00:21
Oh, if you're only gaming, there's no reason to go i7.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:07:18
Quote from: gr1m;203876
Oh, if you're only gaming, there's no reason to go i7.

I know, that's another consideration, but I think it's the best bang for the buck right now. I could probably build a c4d gaming system for $300 right now, that would meet any requirement out there, but I am doing 3d/photoshop/editing stuff as well occasionally, but gaming is the main point I have for the system, cause my current c2d's are just slightly being overwhelmed on the highest settings for the games I play and plan to.

I can't imagine New Vegas is going to be extremely intensive on a system either, but I normally like to build a new system when benchmarks are 2-4 times what I currently own, and the benchmarks are showing that clearly.  I'd be aiming for an i7 that can get 300k crystalmarks which I think is very doable for a reasonable price.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:09:36
I would recommend a Phenom II 955/890FX platform. You'll save money, overclock the **** out of it, lose no performance in gaming when compared to i7.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:14:27
I read the last few pages, skipped this one, blah blah. Just one thing stuck out, about not being able to find good reviews? Here you are.
http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/738097-psu-review-database.html
Shinji2k went to all the trouble of listing every "good" review from every reliable (ie., has testing equipment, knows what they're doing, not paid off) reviewer in the industry. Not every power supply has been reviewed, of course, but there are a couple of hundred units listed there with competent testing, dissections, and informed opinions.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:20:10
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203886
I read the last few pages, skipped this one, blah blah. Just one thing stuck out, about not being able to find good reviews? Here you are.
http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/738097-psu-review-database.html
Shinji2k went to all the trouble of listing every "good" review from every reliable (ie., has testing equipment, knows what they're doing, not paid off) reviewer in the industry. Not every power supply has been reviewed, of course, but there are a couple of hundred units listed there with competent testing, dissections, and informed opinions.



I was talking about graphics cards I think, but nice site.  They don't have the rf900, but they have the 700...that one isnt modular though.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:23:37
Quote from: gr1m;203884
I would recommend a Phenom II 955/890FX platform. You'll save money, overclock the **** out of it, lose no performance in gaming when compared to i7.

No, not into amd stuff, except maybe in laptops.  Not really into overclocking to extremes either.   I don't see risking the equipment, or at least the stability of the system for a slightly better framerate.  Don't have the money to do that either.  I could probably start pushing my current c2d's and meet the requirements I need for the games as well, but don't want to risk the hardware as I'll probably hand this stuff down.  It's why I don't need giant psu's.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:24:38
Quote from: chimera15;203892
I was talking about graphics cards I think, but nice site.  They don't have the rf900, but they have the 700...that one isnt modular though.


The RF-900 is listed as the Huntkey X7 900W.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:30:10
Quote from: chimera15;203895
No, not into amd stuff, except maybe in laptops.

Wrong again. Intel is clearly superior to AMD when it comes to mobile products, so if you really want to be a fanboy, laptops are the best place to do it. For gaming desktops, the difference becomes trivial.

Besides, what does "not into AMD stuff" even mean? Are you into wasting money? I wouldn't think so based on your reluctance to buy a decent power supply. So why do you want to spend $100 more on CPU power you don't need, and refuse to spend $50 more on a power supply. Overclocking doesn't cost too much money. A $30 Scythe Mugen 2 is enough to push any Phenom II (maybe even the 6-cores but I haven't played with one yet) to 4GHz.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:42:06
Doesn't like admitting being wrong or misinformed, I believe.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:44:41
AMDs are unreliable, man.

*coughs*
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:44:58
Quote from: chimera15;203828
You have? I think that's pretty rare. A google search of "power supply failure destroyed graphics cards" returned one result on the subject from 2008.  And that was a pentium 2. lol It's clear you're a snob about psu's as you are about trackballs.  Although I don't know why being left handed would effect your choice of them. lol

I've had lots of power supply failures over the year.  None on c2d+ generations.  None have destroyed components on my boards.  In addition I worked as a repair tech for a short time and my main job was repairing systems that would not boot.  I repaired hundreds of systems.  It was a rare machine that had a power supply problem.  The few that did didn't have any fried components.  It was normally the mobo that got fried from lightning strike over lan or modem lines.  Power supplies are pretty rugged these days, you really have to stress them out, even the cheap ones, to blow them, and even then they rarely take any components with them in my experience.

The fact that there a number of bad ones out there is without doubt.  The fact that there are ones that are banned in certain countries because they don't have standard protections on them, and that they would explode doesn't surprise me, but I think those are pretty rare as well.  There are also batteries that explode and cause fires in laptops, and Toyota's that don't have breaks, but what are the chances of you actually seeing and getting stuff like that? It's like 1 in 1000 odds at best.

Unless you're designing a new model line for a company or something, I don't see the point of knowing about every component of a power supply, and testing it for quality.  If it does the job, and has reasonable protection, it should be good enough.   It's just a power supply, people have been making them for 80 years.  Before computers they were made for radios and junk.  

Hell, the power supply on my apple ][ died on me, in 1979 and didn't take any components with it.  Back then, that was immature technology, and power supply failures were very common.  These days it just doesn't happen that often relative to the number of people using computers and the amount of psu's out there.


I was reading some of the PSU debates, and just want to share my little piece of cheese. I agree with chimera -- you can get a good deal on PSUs even if it's a lower price; there's always someone who's just selling it to get rid of it, rather than trying to rip people off; I never once got "cheated" on ebay, everything I got was exactly as described.
I've never had a power supply stop working on me before, and I've got some fairly old & abused computers (the dust in the PSU on the 300PL I got was phenomenal -- some of it caked on so hard that I couldn't get it off even with the strongest compressed air can). But it still works fine and probably will for years to come.

There is a limit to how "cheap" manufacturers can make PSUs, as, it has to fit within a certain safety guideline.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:45:18
Quote from: gr1m;203897
Wrong again. Intel is clearly superior to AMD when it comes to mobile products, so if you really want to be a fanboy, laptops are the best place to do it. For gaming desktops, the difference becomes trivial.

Besides, what does "not into AMD stuff" even mean? Are you into wasting money? I wouldn't think so based on your reluctance to buy a decent power supply. So why do you want to spend $100 more on CPU power you don't need, and refuse to spend $50 more on a power supply. Overclocking doesn't cost too much money. A $30 Scythe Mugen 2 is enough to push any Phenom II (maybe even the 6-cores but I haven't played with one yet) to 4GHz.

It means I hate the intel graphics cards in laptops, that intel always seems to want to package with the majority of their processors. There's exactly 1 intel based tablet pc(which I own) that has ever been produced with a dedicated graphics card, and that was before the amd/ati partnerships. (although the new tm2's do have ulv's(yuck) and ati graphics cards. )


I'm not into AMD desktops cause I've owned early ones, couldn't stand them, seen and had tons of problems with them, and not willing to sacrifice capability for cost.  A cheap power supply doesn't sacrifice any of the capabilities of the system, which an amd motherboard/processor would, except perhaps extreme overclocking, which I'm not going to do anyway.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:46:04
Quote from: ch_123;203901
AMDs are unreliable, man.

*coughs*


Lefties...

=)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:51:32
Quote from: EverythingIBM;203902
There is a limit to how "cheap" manufacturers can make PSUs, as, it has to fit within a certain safety guideline.

No they don't. Only cert they have to make to be sold in the US is FCC, which says nothing on safety or quality, just makes sure it won't interfere with other devices. Leadman LP8860 units cost less than $5 to produce, and it shows.

Also, there's a difference between getting a deal on a nice unit on ebay, and buying a generic piece of ****.

Quote from: chimera15;203903
It means I hate the intel graphics cards in laptops, that intel always seems to want to package with the majority of their processors. There's exactly 1 intel based tablet pc(which I own) that has ever been produced with a dedicated graphics card, and that was before the amd/ati partnerships. (although the new tm2's do have ulv's(yuck) and ati graphics cards. )


I'm not into AMD desktops cause I've owned early ones, couldn't stand them, seen and had tons of problems with them, and not willing to sacrifice capability for cost.  A cheap power supply doesn't sacrifice any of the capabilities of the system, which an amd motherboard/processor would, except perhaps extreme overclocking, which I'm not going to do anyway.


We just had a huge discussion on all the ways a cheap PSU screws you over. And now you say there's no difference? Failed reading comprehension, perhaps?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:55:10
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203906
No they don't. Only cert they have to make to be sold in the US is FCC, which says nothing on safety or quality, just makes sure it won't interfere with other devices. Leadman LP8860 units cost less than $5 to produce, and it shows.

Also, there's a difference between getting a deal on a nice unit on ebay, and buying a generic piece of ****.



We just had a huge discussion on all the ways a cheap PSU screws you over. And now you say there's no difference? Failed reading comprehension, perhaps?


Reliability doesn't equal capability.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 14:58:50
Quote from: chimera15;203903
It means I hate the intel graphics cards in laptops, that intel always seems to want to package with the majority of their processors. There's exactly 1 intel based tablet pc(which I own) that has ever been produced with a dedicated graphics card, and that was before the amd/ati partnerships. (although the new tm2's do have ulv's(yuck) and ati graphics cards. )


I'm not into AMD desktops cause I've owned early ones, couldn't stand them, seen and had tons of problems with them, and not willing to sacrifice capability for cost.  A cheap power supply doesn't sacrifice any of the capabilities of the system, which an amd motherboard/processor would, except perhaps extreme overclocking, which I'm not going to do anyway.


As someone who been using AMD in their desktops for about 5 years, I respectfully suggest that your ****ty PSUs might have been to blame. Or perhaps you apply the same rationale to motherboards. Either way...

And yay to Intel for laptops, if only to get their Wifi cards...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:02:50
Quote from: kishy;203878
On the topic of PSUs taking out other hardware when they go, would it be possible to create...um, filters to put in between each connector and the target device (inlet and outlet plugs on said filters)?

I don't imagine such a thing would need to be too complicated. I'm not an EE guy but I think capacitors can have a smoothing effect and eat up overvoltages, right?

When connected in parallel, yes capacitors can filter ripple and noise, but they do nothing to stop overvoltage or a surge. You can also get that to a lesser extent with ferrite beads. Antec does that on some of their very high end models, ferrite rings and capacitors on the end of cables. It screws with cable management and looks ugly, so they've mostly stopped. Voltage spikes might be filtered with a metal oxide varistor, but those are bulky and can only do so much. Preventing overvoltage would require a voltage regulator... basically another power supply.

It's the designer/manufacturer's job to make sure there's sufficient filtering inside the power supply. If they're cheap enough to just chop out the caps and transient filter then they shouldn't be supported anyway.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:05:11
So chimera, when's the PSU coming? I want to see how well it all goes.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:08:36
Quote from: EverythingIBM;203911
So chimera, when's the PSU coming? I want to see how well it all goes.


Shipping within 3 days. lol  We'll see. The seller seemed responsive, even if english isn't his first language.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:11:00
The X7 should do fine for him, assuming the ebay seller isn't diddling him.





Anyway, another place cheap power supplies skimp is the transient filter.

(http://www.deviantart.com/download/171802819/transients_by_Phaedrus2401.jpg)

Transient filter filters noise and surges on the AC line before it hits the rectifiers. There are several important components.

Fuse - Doesn't do any filtering, but is designed to blow in the event of a catastrophic overvoltage situation, like a lightning strike, to prevent complete destruction of the unit.

MOV (metal oxide varistor) - Filters minor to moderate surges, does the same thing as most surge protectors. This is a critical component and must be present to prevent surges on the AC line interfering with equipment connected to the PSU.

X and Y capacitors - Used for noise filtering. Y caps are found in pairs and the connection between them must be grounded. X caps are solitary. They filter different frequencies and magnitudes of noise.

Ferrite chokes/coils - Used for noise filtering, remove high frequency noise that could interfere with switching.


The "bad" transient filter in that diagram is modeled after the Linkworld 430W, which had just the fuse and a pair of Y-caps. That is precisely enough filtering capacitor to do... diddly squat. And if there's a lightning strike a mile away that causes a surge in the AC line, that surge is hitting your components dead on because of the lack of a MOV.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:20:13
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203914
that surge is hitting your components dead on because of the lack of a MOV.


I find lack of .MOV to be very good!
(http://blog.tice.de/a_icons/icons/512%20Quicktime.png)
Means I don't have to install bloatware to play videos.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:25:00
Alright, good site finally:

http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/nvidia_geforce_9800_gt

No gtx 460 that I could find, but interesting that the gtx lines are so much better.  It seems like the 3dmarks correlate roughly to the direct draw crystalmark scores.

It looks like the gtx 285 is almost 3 times as good as the 9800gt, at $200...so hopefully the 460 will be in that range or better.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:28:10
The most typical fanboy justification: "I had so much problems with Company X 47 years ago so it must mean their products are horrible." You know what, my Pentium 4 rig sucked **** and that doesn't mean i7 sucks ****.

Also, like I said, for gaming purposes, a Phenom II system is no worse than i7. There was a review, if I can find it, that showed a Phenom II actually edging out an i7 in games because of some funky architecture. Buying a 9800GT is a foolproof way of sacrificing gaming capability though. And if the whole shebang fries, even better. I'm sure a working Phenom II system is more capable in games than a dead i7 system.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:31:14
Quote from: chimera15;203920
No gtx 460 that I could find, but interesting that the gtx lines are so much better.  It seems like the 3dmarks correlate roughly to the direct draw crystalmark scores.


It would probably come somewhere between the 4870X2 and the GTX 295.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:37:06
Quote from: gr1m;203921
The most typical fanboy justification: "I had so much problems with Company X 47 years ago so it must mean their products are horrible." You know what, my Pentium 4 rig sucked **** and that doesn't mean i7 sucks ****.

Also, like I said, for gaming purposes, a Phenom II system is no worse than i7. There was a review, if I can find it, that showed a Phenom II actually edging out an i7 in games because of some funky architecture. Buying a 9800GT is a foolproof way of sacrificing gaming capability though. And if the whole shebang fries, even better. I'm sure a working Phenom II system is more capable in games than a dead i7 system.


Well like I said I'm a year or two back on graphics cards.  That's the whole point of this thread...  It looks to me like the 9800gt was succeeded by the gtx 285, as standard, which is something I missed.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BFG-GeForce-GTX-285-2GB-video-card-/300447631137?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item45f4130721 (http://cgi.ebay.com/BFG-GeForce-GTX-285-2GB-video-card-/300447631137?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item45f4130721)


lol

Obviously what you said is true, but at this point I know intel desktop systems, I like them, and I'm sticking to them.   The main problems I had with amd's were temperature related problems, and nothing to do with the power supply.  The early amd's had no safety, and would boil themselves to death if not properly cooled.   The i7 is the top right now, so until you can show me an amd system in crystalmarks or something that isn't risking blowing its hardware to keep up, I'm sticking with plans to build an i7.

This is one of my main problems with AMD:


That's not some random test on some crappy powersupply someone found somewhere, that's all amd's, they were designed like that.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:39:49
No, the 9800GT was succeeded by the GTS250. Which was a rebranded 9800GTX+

The GTX 285 was quite expensive for what you got. The cards to get back then were either the GTX 275 or HD 4890.

Also, people wore onions on their belts because it was the style back then.

Quote
Obviously what you said is true, but at this point I know intel systems, I like them, and I'm sticking to them. The i7 is the top right now, so until you can show me an amd system in crystalmarks or something that isn't risking blowing its hardware to keep up, I'm sticking with plans to build an i7.


In many cases, the AMD chips represent much better value for money compared with Intel ones. They also don't go changing the socket every few months, or require new chipsets every time a new chip comes out on an old socket... Like all those LGA775 chips.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:51:14
He speaks truth. Only reason I'm on a Core 2 Quad is because I started out upgrading from an HP Pavilion with an E2200 and I got the Q9550 for $170, vs. $260 usual price (thank god for Microcenter).

AMD chips don't cook themselves... period. Except when overclocked with insufficient cooling, and Intel will suffer the same fate there anyway. And any modern CPU will overheat without cooling these days, anything but some of the very low-end Atoms need active cooling.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:54:11
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203926
He speaks truth. Only reason I'm on a Core 2 Quad is because I started out upgrading from an HP Pavilion with an E2200 and I got the Q9550 for $170, vs. $260 usual price (thank god for Microcenter).

AMD chips don't cook themselves... period. Except when overclocked with insufficient cooling, and Intel will suffer the same fate there anyway. And any modern CPU will overheat without cooling these days, anything but some of the very low-end Atoms need active cooling.

No, intel chips start sending 0's if they overheat.  The amd can't tell heat from anything, so it just keeps on going. I don't believe those were overclocked at all.  They were just normal settings playing a game.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: whininggit on Sun, 18 July 2010, 15:54:15
Quote from: ch_123;203925
They also don't go changing the socket every few months, or require new chipsets every time a new chip comes out on an old socket... Like all those LGA775 chips.
This. My Socket AM2 (not even AM2+) MSI board which I purchased at the end of 2007 supports all the way up to the AM3 Phenom II X4 and Athlon II X4 CPUs, as long as you use a processor with maximum 95W TDP.

As for those Athlon chips without thermal diodes, that was years ago. And these days even if the thermal diode fails, there is likely to be a second diode in the motherboard socket. Besides, it is unlikely that you can burn up a modern CPU unless you are completely clueless as to how to mount a heatsink, and in that case it might be worth being taught a lesson.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:02:00
Quote from: chimera15;203927
No, intel chips start sending 0's if they overheat.


Binary processors often send 0s during normal operating conditions too.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:02:38
Quote from: ch_123;203925
No, the 9800GT was succeeded by the GTS250. Which was a rebranded 9800GTX+

The GTX 285 was quite expensive for what you got. The cards to get back then were either the GTX 275 or HD 4890.

Also, people wore onions on their belts because it was the style back then.



In many cases, the AMD chips represent much better value for money compared with Intel ones. They also don't go changing the socket every few months, or require new chipsets every time a new chip comes out on an old socket... Like all those LGA775 chips.



http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/nvidia_geforce_gtx_275 (http://service.futuremark.com/hardware/graphics_cards/nvidia_geforce_gtx_275)

It looks to me like they were about the same in popularity except for that one month or two when they spiked.  Neither of them is anywhere near the 8800/9800 popularity...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:05:41
Quote from: chimera15;203927
No, intel chips start sending 0's if they overheat.


... I.... I have nothing to say to this. It's like you're in a long discussion with someone, then you look up and it's a five year old. Of course they aren't going to change their opinion.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:05:46
I hear Intel chips divide by zero during floating point operations.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:08:49
Quote from: ch_123;203929
Binary processors often send 0s during normal operating conditions too.

Yeah, this is a real old argument:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)

I really don't care about amd.  Like I said, show me a system that isn't blowing its hardware trying to keep up with a modestly clocked i7 and is cheaper for parts and I'll consider it.   You can't use nvidia sli on amd boards either though right? I'd have to switch to ati crossfire?  That's really the issue I have right now probably more than anything.  I'd rather not switch over to ati graphics cards, as I'm relatively used to nvidia as well.  I'd have no clue even where to start with ati desktop cards, haven't used them since the late 90s.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:08:50
One final comment on the 9800GT nonsense...


The 9800GT performs similarly to the GT240. The GTX460 performs similarly to the GTX275. Big performance gap. The 9800GT is by no means a bad card, but you can usually get a Radeon 4850 for around the same price (performs like the GTS25), and the GTX460 is far superior overall.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:10:26
Quote from: chimera15;203933
Yeah, this is a real old argument:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)

I really don't care about amd.  Like I said, show me a system that isn't blowing its hardware trying to keep up with a modestly clocked i7 and is cheaper for parts and I'll consider it.


Ah, because clearly, if an old AMD chip had failings, so do modern ones too, amirite?

And why would you want SLI or Crossfire? I'd rather just set wads of cash on fire with a lighter. Same result, except I wouldnt turn my hair grey trying to get it to work in the process...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:14:27
SLI and Crossfire have actually improved a lot. If you're going to do it the 5770 or GTX460 are the cards to use, they scale excellently as long as you have a large resolution (>1440x900)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:15:49
The demanding games I play do not scale to multi-GPU setups properly.

Unless you have a 30" screen, I do not see why you'd need it anyway.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:18:53
Quote from: chimera15;203933
Yeah, this is a real old argument:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mm1TUOYg_B8J:www.tomshardware.com/forum/65831-28-7ghz-there+intel+vs+amd+overheat+protection+throttle&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)

I really don't care about amd.  Like I said, show me a system that isn't blowing its hardware trying to keep up with a modestly clocked i7 and is cheaper for parts and I'll consider it.   You can't use nvidia sli on amd boards either though right? I'd have to switch to ati crossfire?  That's really the issue I have right now probably more than anything.  I'd rather not switch over to ati graphics cards, as I'm relatively used to nvidia as well.  I'd have no clue even where to start with ati desktop cards, haven't used them since the late 90s.


You should read that article properly. It isn't very pro-Intel...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:22:06
Quote from: ch_123;203937
The demanding games I play do not scale to multi-GPU setups properly.

Unless you have a 30" screen, I do not see why you'd need it anyway.

I used sli for future proofing.  For instance.  Right now I have two 8600gt's in sli on one of my c2d's, and while it's nowhere near the futuremarks of my 8800 or 9800, systems it does let it keep up for most things that I do on it, and it is significantly better than one crappy 8600.  It also gives me 4 monitors to play with, which I do use on this one(although not in sli then obviously).


When the prices drop or if I can get another deal on a 9800 or 8800 I'll put them in my current machines assuming the fit in the case, which they may not, I had to shoehorn the one in one case. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:24:50
By the time a single graphics card is obsolete, the second hand price for a second one has usually reached a stage that it's cheaper to replace the single card with one that is about twice as fast as it. Sell your original for bonus lulz.

It also doesn't put too much load on your Chingchongic PSUs.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: whininggit on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:29:14
Quote from: chimera15;203933
You can't use nvidia sli on amd boards either though right? I'd have to switch to ati crossfire?  That's really the issue I have right now probably more than anything.
You can use an nVidia SLI on a motherboard with an nVidia nForce chipset and an AMD processor.

Having said that, I would not want to run any kind of high-end system like that on a crap PSU. I don't even run my 10 year old P3 servers with crap PSUs. Maybe that is why they have lasted 10 years.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 16:38:35
God, I don't have crappy psu's on my c2d systems. Almost all of them are 500+ and have had good reviews.  I'm just not obsessive about knowing every stat of them.  Just like the one I picked here, pretty much at random, I've been pretty good at picking out ones that are reasonable quality for decent prices.  

3 pages about psu's that in my mind aren't worth giving that much thought to at this point.

I have 3 desktops that I use on a daily basis.  I like one to have a lot of video cards to drive the cacoon of lcds that I sit in. lol  It's my media pc that I watch shows on, and comment to you guys on.  That unit doesn't have to have a lot of power, but I like to switch sometimes to a single screen to play a game on it sometimes which is when the sli comes in.  xfx overclocked 7600gt's and 8600's dropped below $30 a long time ago, and they work fine for the majority of apps and games in sli.

Sides they're black:
(http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2006/07/17/summer_2006_geforce_7_graphics_gear/xfx-7600gt-angle.jpg)

Then I have a gaming system that I have a 1080p larger lcd on, it's no 30" but it's still a decent size, and then I have a productivity unit that I do most of my schoolwork/apps on, then I have tablet pcs also driving external lcds.  They're all in various stages of obsolesce and upgrade, so as one thing becomes obsolete I might switch it to another unit, and so forth.  So sli just gives me another option within that framework.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 17:19:48
Wattage has nothing to do with quality. Case in point: you just bought a 900W PSU for $50. Heck, I can't find an attractive 400W unit for that cheap (for me).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 17:21:21
Quote from: ch_123;203940
By the time a single graphics card is obsolete, the second hand price for a second one has usually reached a stage that it's cheaper to replace the single card with one that is about twice as fast as it. Sell your original for bonus lulz.

It also doesn't put too much load on your Chingchongic PSUs.

Right now for my 9800gt system I can pay 90-$100 for a second 9800gt, and probably get a decent performance.  Whether they'd beat a 460 is still a question..

This thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254359-33-9800gt (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254359-33-9800gt)

Suggest that two 8800gt's will beat a gtx285.

It comes down to a push really.  I can sell the 9800/8800 I have, and buy a single 285, which is a lot more hassle than just buying a single 9800/8800.

The only difference would be power consumption of course, but I'd almost rather do that than try to sell the 9800's.


This thread gives a clue then, when referenced against the orb site:

http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?cat=grfx&id=636&pagenumber=2 (http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?cat=grfx&id=636&pagenumber=2)

gtx 260 on the orb site is rated at 10k marks by itself, which is different from what their scale gives...

Strange, but it should correlate to roughly the same as a single gtx260.


Now I just need a 3dmark test for the 460.

aha!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-gf104-fermi,2684-7.html

So it's at about 14k for a 1gb.

Alright, so there it is in plain black and white, and colors.

9800gt in sli 10k 3dmark vantage.

gtx460 768mb 11k
gtx460 1gig 14k

The review doesn't say which 9800gt he was using though, it might be the 500mb card in which case it might be very much closer.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 17:49:09
Two 8800GTs won't beat a GTX280. I've seen 9800GTs (same thing as the 8800GT; really) in SLI bench similarly to a GTX260 at best.


And memory size doesn't make much difference except at high resolutions with lots of AA.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 17:58:30
Too bad that games have a funny habit of not getting the same performance kick from SLI that benchmarks do.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 17:58:59
Yes, from what I'm reading most places agree the 9800sli will slightly outperform a single 260.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1174767 (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1174767)

That gives me a better idea where to classify a modern card at least.

I might consider just getting a gtx260. lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/invidia-GTX-260-Video-Card-/280535577552?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item41513933d0 (http://cgi.ebay.com/invidia-GTX-260-Video-Card-/280535577552?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item41513933d0)

Or maybe even a 260 sli, since it looks like they're not too bad used, about $30 more than the average 9800.

The thing is I think I got my last 9800gt for like $50...so if I can get 2 9800gts for $100, it might be the only real option for me.

That would bring the cost down significantly.

Yeah see:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PNY-Nvidia-9800GT-512MB-Graphic-Card-/230499648625?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item35aad98471 (http://cgi.ebay.com/PNY-Nvidia-9800GT-512MB-Graphic-Card-/230499648625?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item35aad98471)

I'd still get over 10k 3dmarks, and be in the competitive realm for half the price of a modern retail card.

I think it's really starting to look like a push.

 2 9800gts that get around 10k 3dmarks, and I get 4 video ports, but more power consumption for around $110.
1 gtx 260 for around $110 with the same 3dmarks.
or a Gtx 460 for double that price, and only about 1.5x performance.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:07:44
Damn. Sounds just like what I need for that machine I have in the corner that runs benchmarking software all day.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:17:26
Quote from: ch_123;203960
Damn. Sounds just like what I need for that machine I have in the corner that runs benchmarking software all day.

Yeah I know, it was clear from the first 9800sli benchmark site I gave that the games performance of the sli was very low for most of the games, although some it was clearly on spec.  But that's why I was seriously considering the 260.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:20:24
2 9800s don't use much power. I would definitely not get a 260 though. What games do you play and what resolution?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:22:42
Right now I'm just playing warrock at 1080p cause I don't have time for much else.  I plan to play Fallout: New Vegas  in a couple months of course which I assume uses the same old Fallout engine.  Shouldn't be too intensive.

But I played crysis and medal of honor, and all the fps's that come out.  I should have played bad company, but never got around to it.


Right now warrock gives me a bit of problems on the highest setting at 1080p, off and on.  Might actually just be a heat issue or something with my 9800 in actuality there though, been meaning to check that, cause warrock is fairly low poly.


In warrock though I think extra framerate really helps fight lag.  I really got a boost when I upgraded from the 7600's to 8800's and 9800s there, but that was prior to the season 2 upgrades coming out in that game as well, and now everything seems relatively laggy again.



Interesting:

Fallout: New Vegas
PREDICTED System Requirements*
Intel Processor   -    Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz
AMD Processor   -    Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+
Nvidia Graphics Card   -    Geforce 9800 GT
ATI Graphics Card   -    Radeon HD 3870
RAM Memory   -    2 GB
Hard Disk Space   -    10 GB
Direct X   -    9

Ah, this sounds more like it:

http://www.vgrequirements.info/fallout-new-vegas/

So still pretty low, I'm within specs with my current systems...

Even bad company doesn't require more than a 7800 which as I recall is a really crappy card..
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:35:39
You'll need a GTX275/GTX460/HD4890/HD5830 to max Fallout 3/New Vegas at 1080p. My HD4870 1GB (comparable to GTX260) wheezes a bit during more intensive scenes at 1680x1050, though is good for the most part.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:38:52
I can play Fallout 3 at 1080p with 8xAA and 15xAF on my 985MHz core 4890.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:39:54
Sounds about right.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 18:43:27
4870s shouldn't have problems with Fallout 3 at 1080p as per Dopamin3.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 19:10:08
I get about 45-55fps with my 4870 and Q9550 @3.4GHz at 1680x1050. Max framerate is GPU-limited, busy scenes it's probably the processor struggling with the physics calcs bringing it down to 30fps for a couple seconds at a time.

1680x1050 is 85% the number of pixels as 1920x1080. So assuming performance is linear, maybe 38-45fps instead of 45-55. On a 4870. Still playable, certainly, but it could certainly be a lot better. I need a framerate of at least 45 or the jerkiness becomes noticeable enough to throw me off. 30 is the minimum playable for me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 19:18:47
3.4? On a Yorkfield? Weak.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 19:20:13
I think a good indication that my system is too slow in Warrock or there's something majorly wrong, I'm not exactly sure what, is that I always lose in collisions, and I'll get killed even when I'm around a corner from the person shooting me, and out of their line of sight.  So for instance it's like there's a shadow of my character running 2 seconds or so behind me for actual combat.  It makes the game really hard to play.

I don't think it's my connection, but it may be as simple as that.  I'm on high speed cable 10mbit which has always been perfectly fine, but warrock did change their servers around as well, and right now the most popular server is in Europe, so that might be the problem as well.
 

So perhaps the Europeans win the collisions 100% of the time because they're closer to the server? That might be an explanation that wouldn't relate to my computer.

The problem I have right now is that all my systems, even my laptops are pretty close in spec, that are capable of running that game at all, so it's not like I can fire up an older system and see if it's the same or not.

hehe

(http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/249/screenshot219.jpg)

Interesting, that's when they still had the apache still on that map, and it was chapter 2...I thought they took it off before chapter 2...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: elbowglue on Sun, 18 July 2010, 19:23:44
Agreed.  I usually run my q9550 at 4ghz, backed it off to 3.8ghz cause of some mild instability issues.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 19:25:45
3.8? On a Yorkfield? Weak!
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 20:44:31
Quote from: gr1m;203974
3.4? On a Yorkfield? Weak.

3.7GHz in winter. In summer it gets too warm. I can give you my validation for 4GHz... At 82C.


(Thermaltake V1 suuuuuuucks)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 21:30:04
Quote from: ch_123;203932
I hear Intel chips divide by zero during floating point operations.


My pentium 2 does that when I run castlevania for MS DOS.

Quote from: chimera15;203927
No, intel chips start sending 0's if they overheat.  The amd can't tell heat from anything, so it just keeps on going. I don't believe those were overclocked at all.  They were just normal settings playing a game.


Intel chips (as tom's hardware demonstrated) usually do slow things down when heat gets too intensive.

Quote from: gr1m;203921
The most typical fanboy justification: "I had so much problems with Company X 47 years ago so it must mean their products are horrible." You know what, my Pentium 4 rig sucked **** and that doesn't mean i7 sucks ****.

Also, like I said, for gaming purposes, a Phenom II system is no worse than i7. There was a review, if I can find it, that showed a Phenom II actually edging out an i7 in games because of some funky architecture. Buying a 9800GT is a foolproof way of sacrificing gaming capability though. And if the whole shebang fries, even better. I'm sure a working Phenom II system is more capable in games than a dead i7 system.


I'm running on my pentium 4 right now. It runs starcraft 2 perfectly fine, the only problem is my NVIDIA quadro... but I'll replace that piece of rubbish some day.

Quote from: kishy;203919
VLC Media Player.

Buggy as all hell - don't listen to anyone who says otherwise - but the format support is awesome.


I like media player classic better. I hate .MOV format period, very horrible codec. I don't hate it for the sake of being apple, it's just annoying and so hungry file-size wise.

Quote from: chimera15;203945
God, I don't have crappy psu's on my c2d systems. Almost all of them are 500+ and have had good reviews.  I'm just not obsessive about knowing every stat of them.  Just like the one I picked here, pretty much at random, I've been pretty good at picking out ones that are reasonable quality for decent prices.  

3 pages about psu's that in my mind aren't worth giving that much thought to at this point.

I have 3 desktops that I use on a daily basis.  I like one to have a lot of video cards to drive the cacoon of lcds that I sit in. lol  It's my media pc that I watch shows on, and comment to you guys on.  That unit doesn't have to have a lot of power, but I like to switch sometimes to a single screen to play a game on it sometimes which is when the sli comes in.  xfx overclocked 7600gt's and 8600's dropped below $30 a long time ago, and they work fine for the majority of apps and games in sli.

Sides they're black:
Show Image
(http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2006/07/17/summer_2006_geforce_7_graphics_gear/xfx-7600gt-angle.jpg)


Then I have a gaming system that I have a 1080p larger lcd on, it's no 30" but it's still a decent size, and then I have a productivity unit that I do most of my schoolwork/apps on, then I have tablet pcs also driving external lcds.  They're all in various stages of obsolesce and upgrade, so as one thing becomes obsolete I might switch it to another unit, and so forth.  So sli just gives me another option within that framework.


The new quadro I have has a little dinky fan like that, it sucks and is noisy cause it's so damn small.

Yeah, after reading all of this, I think people get way too crazy about PSUs. It's ironic since people get mad at me when I use old equipment and I haven't "upgraded," well what's the point of buying quality parts when you're going to chuck them in 2 - 5 years?

Quote from: gr1m;203952
Wattage has nothing to do with quality. Case in point: you just bought a 900W PSU for $50. Heck, I can't find an attractive 400W unit for that cheap (for me).


The more watts you're dealing with, the more components you need to control the higher current.
If you can't find a 400 Watt power supply for $50 or under, there's a real problem. Phaedrus even posted a link to some zippy PSUs which were under $50 if my memory serves.

So... the real problem you have is psychological. You think by paying more money you get something better quality... not always so. I got a lot of quality things for free even.

Quote from: Phaedrus2129;203985
3.7GHz in winter. In summer it gets too warm. I can give you my validation for 4GHz... At 82C.


Go run your computer in the basement.
And I never find it particularly too warm, it's actually very cold right now and raining every day this week.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 18 July 2010, 21:45:43
I don't get crazy about PSUs... I get smart about PSUs, and then have to correct both the crazy people and the dumb people. It sucks, it's like negotiating a peace treaty between the Israelis and Palestinians while simultaneously plotting to take over the region, only with insults and ignorance instead of bombs and guns.


You mentioned the Zippy 300W for Pentium 3/Athlon XP systems?
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&productId=2077482&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&ddkey=https:CookieLogon
Twenty five buckeroonies. Plus a couple dollars shipping, it was $31 for me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sun, 18 July 2010, 22:08:01
Quote from: EverythingIBM;203991
So... the real problem you have is psychological.


So quite possibly the craziest person (not in a good way) I've ever seen in the world has deemed that I have a psychological problem.

This is not good.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 18 July 2010, 22:16:47
Quote from: gr1m;203999
So quite possibly the craziest person (not in a good way) I've ever seen in the world has deemed that I have a psychological problem.

This is not good.


In a world that's gone crazy, the only sane people are the ones who are crazy. You might be ok. ;)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sun, 18 July 2010, 22:18:08
Quote from: hyperlinked;204002
In a world that's gone crazy, the only sane people are the ones who are crazy. You might be ok. ;)


Crazy people use these:
(http://images.apple.com/pr/photos/iMac/imac_flowershot.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: williamjoseph on Mon, 19 July 2010, 01:03:26
"shutters" I reformatted one of  those to xp
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 04:29:07
Quote from: gr1m;203999
So quite possibly the craziest person (not in a good way) I've ever seen in the world has deemed that I have a psychological problem.

This is not good.


The funny thing was that it was predicated on this -

Quote
The more watts you're dealing with, the more components you need to control the higher current.


If you have a PC AT, yeah. Actually, if you have cheap PSUs, you could end with that sort of design...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 09:21:41
Quote from: EverythingIBM;204003
Crazy people use these:
Show Image
(http://images.apple.com/pr/photos/iMac/imac_flowershot.jpg)

I bought one of those at a thrift store like 5 years ago for like $20.  It had a non functioning drive.  They used some crap brand that was prone to failure. I replaced the hd and rebuilt the system from scratch.  Put osx Jaguar on it.   It had all kinds of problems, way worse than any pc I've ever had. It's the most advanced mac I have. lol  It was useful to learn osx and mac had some games and stuff from the early days that I played that were pretty interesting and addicting.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:29:33
Quote from: chimera15;204075
I bought one of those at a thrift store like 5 years ago for like $20.  It had a non functioning drive.  They used some crap brand that was prone to failure. I replaced the hd and rebuilt the system from scratch.  Put osx Jaguar on it.   It had all kinds of problems, way worse than any pc I've ever had. It's the most advanced mac I have. lol  It was useful to learn osx and mac had some games and stuff from the early days that I played that were pretty interesting and addicting.


The only reason I'd get Mac OS9 is to play Caesar 3, Warcraft 2, and a few other oddities. The reason being is those versions were released later and supported more stuff. Although... I'm NOT using an apple hockey puck mouse. The keyboard is nothing special, but for games & arrow keys, you don't need nothing fancy.

My school I believe is throwing out some iMac G3s... might pick them up and see what I can do.

I hate OSX, it's the defining product of incompatibility. I had to use that thing for 3 years. I didn't used to get so angry at macs (I was neutral and actually used Mac OS6/7 back in the day), but using OSX after being spoiled by IBM is like... sitting on a velvet throne in contrast to a garbage can.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:35:46
Yeah, the name of the dead drives that came oem on those systems was called a Fireball.  Who names a drive fireball?  It's like just asking for your drive to suck. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:38:08
Quantum, apparently.

Any of the Mac IDE hard drives I've seen were Maxtors.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:41:03
I have a purple one of those <3
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:53:36
Complete with what looks like an AZERTY 4th-gen SGI keyboard.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Mon, 19 July 2010, 17:53:56
Quote from: D-EJ915;204226
I have a purple one of those <3

Show Image
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/imac_setup.jpg)


Did you have to do anything special to get that keyboard & mouse to work with them?
My teacher has two of them, and, I said I'd format them with OS9 or something.

My school has one of the graphite coloured ones, and a standard "bondi blue". I might take the graphite one if they're throwing it out. It could be worth money some day cause I read they're more rare.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:11:52
Quote from: D-EJ915;204226
I have a purple one of those <3

Show Image
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/imac_setup.jpg)

Hmm, yer in Virginia and into anime, and have one of those? We could be brothers or something. lol  Where are you in Virginia? Did I ask you before?  Is that Iori or someone else?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:14:55
Quote from: kishy;204231
Fireballs, at least of the age you'd find in a gen-1 iMac, aren't bad drives.

Later Quantums and pretty much any Bigfoot are supposed to be the bad ones.

Yeah mine's actually a later gen one with a slot loading cd instead of the tray on those I guess, better processor, but worse everything else.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:29:51
Mine is the 333 or the last of the tray-loaders or laptop-ram users haha.  You can use any USB keyboard or mouse with them as well, don't use the stock imac ones...please...

Graphites are the later models, probably 500MHz or faster (with firewire aka "DV") and aren't rare at all...actually the only ones which are "rare" are the weird coloured 1st gen models (like tangerine or the bright green (lime?)) and the weird graphic last-gen models.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:39:28
There weren't a any colored versions in the 1st gen iMacs. They were all Bondi Blue. Tangerine iMacs apparently were the only models that were widely available for a while because nobody wanted them except in cities where the local sports franchise had orange as one of their main colors. There aren't a lot of teams that fit that bill. Denver comes to mind... not sure what else.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:43:33
I sort them into laptop-sticks vs desktop sticks (1st and 2nd generation) which also correspond to tray-load vs slot-load...I think most other do this to but yes the first 233mhz model was only available in one colour
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:47:36
Quote from: kishy;204231
Fireballs, at least of the age you'd find in a gen-1 iMac, aren't bad drives.

Later Quantums and pretty much any Bigfoot are supposed to be the bad ones.


No, the Fireballs are the ones that died a lot. The Bigfoots were great, I have a 19.2GB that still works fine, one of the best hard drives of its day. But there was one series of Fireball drives that had a near-100% failure rate, and that killed Quantum's reputation.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 18:48:24
Quote from: hyperlinked;204259
There weren't a any colored versions in the 1st gen iMacs. They were all Bondi Blue. Tangerine iMacs apparently were the only models that were widely available for a while because nobody wanted them except in cities where the local sports franchise had orange as one of their main colors. There aren't a lot of teams that fit that bill. Denver comes to mind... not sure what else.


Cincinnati Bengals perhaps?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Tue, 20 July 2010, 07:24:27
Think I'm going to go with this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-N260GTX-2D896-OCv2-NVIDIA-896MB-PCI-Express-VGA-/120587946384?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1c139a0990

$120.  It's not super powerful, but it's still 2 or 3 times as good as a 9800, better than two 9800 sli'd in most real world situations.   That should bring the price down for the entire unit to a more affordable level.  Still way exceeds most game requirements.  Not sure it'll get me to 300k crystal marks, but should put me way above 200k.

So that leaves me with:

MSI N260GTX-2D896 OCv2 NVIDIA 896MB PCI Express VGA $120
X58B-A3 SLI $145
Corsair XMS3 4gb DDR3 $100
intel i7 quad core i7-920 i7 920 1366 2.66/8m/4.8 CPU $200

Subtotal:
$665

OCZ OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 60GB SATA SSD solid state drive $135

500gb hd $50

$750
+psu
$800

Still pretty high with the drives counted in there.  Need to see if I can find the chip for a lower price somewhere, cause that's the killer right now.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Tue, 20 July 2010, 07:42:58
Found one for $200.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-i7-920-2-66-GHz-Processor-/250669489932?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item3a5d10df0c

A new oem for $222.
  That's the key, need to search for oem I think.

Yup! New Oem $210

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core-i7-920-2-66Ghz-LGA1366-CPU-Processor-New-/190421170149?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item2c55fc77e5

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001H5T7LK/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used


Of course that adds the cost of a aftermarket cooler, which I had always planned on anyway, but still much better.  Brings the single lump cost down quite a bit.

Still looking at over a grand with all the extras like a case figured in..... pretty high.

That's coming close to the cost of a ticket to Japan.  It's a toss up if I want to get a new i7 or go to Japan. lol


http://www.asaptickets.com/cheap-tickets/economic/finnair/2010-07-20/2010-08-03/roundtrip/1/0/0/910.60/ORF/asia/japan/TYO.html?line=%28800%29+315-3517&clientsource=MFS%3AJapanKorea_countries

lol $1000 round trip ticket.  Probably doesn't include all the extra junk they'll throw in though.  I need to get a new passport too since mine was stolen like 10 years ago.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 20 July 2010, 08:27:29
1000 watt? That's like running a dryer!
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Tue, 20 July 2010, 08:30:20
It's only like 8 amps pulling max load, which it'll likely never do.  That's like a small angle grinder. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: InSanCen on Tue, 20 July 2010, 12:05:52
Quote from: microsoft windows;204487
1000 watt? That's like running a dryer!


1KW? I have an unused OCZ 1KW GameXtreme here, This (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001EJO76E/ref=asc_df_B001EJO76E716193?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B001EJO76E) is it's replacement.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 11:43:52
The power supply came today, fast shipper! Like, 3 days.  Came in the original box.  The cables are all still tie wrapped. There's some scuff marks, so obviously it's been installed but maybe not actually used, but looks good.  All cables there, and no burnt smell or anything. lol

Looks like a really good deal.

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4094/4815836420_b413a80e46_b.jpg)

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4815213793_ba7ce985ca_b.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 11:53:05
I think you should be perfectly happy with that setup.
Get a good cooler and that i7 will OC like a monster.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 12:45:41
Seems to test ok.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4815378117_fcfb6e9e61_b.jpg)

I had to cut the some of the plastic of the connectors, they wouldn't fit.  They had the wrong triangle square pattern. Maybe they were for a different modular supply or something?  Not sure.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 12:57:52
If you burn your house down, can I have your keyboards?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 13:09:24
This looks like a possible good deal on a motherboard:

No standard pci slots...kinda sucks.


http://cgi.ebay.com/gateway-fx6800-01e-motherboard-ddr3-i7-dvr-/170516590245?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item27b394aea5

Been burnt before buying used mobos though.

It's interesting these units for about the same specs sell for around $700..yet I can't build one from parts for less than that.. sigh

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gateway-FX6800-01E-Intel-i7-Vista-ATI-HD-4850-3G-750G-/250641121213?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item3a5b5fffbd
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 13:10:05
Quote from: ch_123;204858
If you burn your house down, can I have your keyboards?


lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 13:42:53
Well, since you don't overclock and don't see the merit of getting a decent power supply, honestly that pre-built Gateway doesn't seem like a bad idea. Normally I'd never let anyone buy pre-built rigs but it's not like you're listening to my custom part recommendations anyway so it'll probably be easier for you just to get that.

Can you return the parts you already bought for the i7 build?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 13:52:35
I've only bought a powersupply, which can act as a backup for my existing ones.  It's a very good powersupply, it has great reviews.  I haven't comitted at all, and still deciding if I want to use the money to go to Japan, pay off debts, or build this.  

It's not crappy at all.  It's like a $160 retail psu that I got for $50.


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-3781184418395547705&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=RF-900WPS&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

  I don't really want to buy a prebuilt.  It has a lot of things like an ati card and 3 gigs that I don't want either.  I was just complaining that it's roughly the same cost and that I can't build one for that price even though I'm putting all the work into assembling it.  I normally am able to put together a unit for less than half the price of what a similar built unit is.  It seems like with this i7 though, the processor is the main cost, and there's only a $50 difference between a oem and retail, and it's a big hunk of change at $200 just for that.  I mean the mobo and the processor together are more than 50% of the cost of the whole unit, with a c2d, or any unit I've built previously they'd be at most 30%.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:14:24
This might be a better alternative than that ecs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-Pegatron-IPMTB-TK-Intel-X58-SLI-Socket-1366-mATX-/130412112019?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1e5d2ae893
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:29:41
Quote from: chimera15;204879
I  It seems like with this i7 though, the processor is the main cost,


so build with an amd x6... I know, you have already shot that idea down. Bang for buck dude.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:33:36
Quote from: chimera15;204879
It's not crappy at all.  It's like a $160 retail psu that I got for $50.


Oh dear.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:42:57
Quote from: gr1m;204877
Well, since you don't overclock and don't see the merit of getting a decent power supply, honestly that pre-built Gateway doesn't seem like a bad idea. Normally I'd never let anyone buy pre-built rigs but it's not like you're listening to my custom part recommendations anyway so it'll probably be easier for you just to get that.

Can you return the parts you already bought for the i7 build?


Since i7's are one of the first systems meant to be overclocked I probably will overclock the i7 at least to some degree, but probably not past a reasonable safe zone.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:46:57
Quote from: instantkamera;204884
so build with an amd x6... I know, you have already shot that idea down. Bang for buck dude.

Like I said, show me an amd system that comes anywhere near an i7 and isn't oc'd with water coolers and junk and I might do that, but until I see one I'm not even going to consider it.

Here's an amd phenom and it only has 150k crystalmarks that I'm sure I could get with one of my c2ds if I overclocked them, and got a newer graphics card.

http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132716 (http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132716)

The highest phenom seems to be around 250k, which is where i7's start with the crappiest stuff.



They're just nowhere near i7 levels.

It does have a pretty crappy graphics card on that one though.

This is what I'm looking at:  This has similar components to my design:

http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132658 (http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132658)

500k!!

God that was with a 1156 mobo and a non 920 as well...how was that possible, geesh..

Maybe I should just go for a 1156, they seem to be a lot less costly.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:47:49
You won't get far with a $100 motherboard though. You can overclock a Phenom II on a $100 motherboard (heck my board, bought for $120, the 790XT-UD4P, is still one of the better boards on the market) but i7 will not go too far on a cheap board. You'd also need to spend a decent amount on cooling ($60 or more) whereas you can get away with a $30 cooler on a Phenom II.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:49:07
Quote from: chimera15;204889
Like I said, show me an amd system that comes anywhere near an i7 and isn't oc'd with water coolers and junk and I might do that, but until I see one I'm not even going to consider it.

Here's an amd phenom and it only has 150k crystalmarks that I'm sure I could get with one of my c2ds if I overclocked them, and got a newer graphics card.

http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132716 (http://crystalrank.info/CrystalMark/09/ranking.php?ID=132716)


They're just nowhere near i7 levels.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

That's a triple-core for ****'s sake. Why are you comparing a $100 triple-core to a $240 i7?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:49:23
Quote from: chimera15;204887
Since i7's are one of the first systems meant to be overclocked I probably will overclock the i7 at least to some degree, but probably not past a reasonable safe zone.


Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:53:25
Again:
(http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/9/9/2569573//this%20is%20why%20your%20stupid.PNG)

And you can overclock the **** out of Phenom IIs without spending a fortune on a motherboard and cooling.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:55:49
And those are all synthetic benchmarks which mean ****-all and which i7s are supposed to dominate. I'll dig up the gaming ones in a second but why do you think the people recommending AMD are lying to you? Do you think instantkamera or I get commission from every AMD CPU sold?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 14:58:10
http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=6

Look at the benchmarks done at higher resolutions (bottom of the page).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:03:39
http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=168710
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:06:28
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/pii_965/
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:25:44
Quote from: gr1m;204895
And those are all synthetic benchmarks which mean ****-all and which i7s are supposed to dominate. I'll dig up the gaming ones in a second but why do you think the people recommending AMD are lying to you? Do you think instantkamera or I get commission from every AMD CPU sold?

No 920's or 940's though.

the ecs motherboard I want is $145, which is a solid board, and the 1156 boards are robust and very inexpensive.   That one 500k crystalmark was on a $100 asus board.   Motherboards have been really cheap since c2d's.  I think I paid like $50 for my 570 slit-a's and asus mobos that I've been using for like 2 or 3 years now.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:31:32
Quote from: gr1m;204900
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/pii_965/

 I would think that the crysis tests have more to do with the graphics card than the cpu...  crystalmark is more intensive  cpu test which is why I would use it for selecting a cpu, and 3dmark for selecting a graphics card.

What's the name of the one you would suggest would compete with an i7? Do they cost less than $200?

This is probably a bit more like it:

http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=10 (http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=10)

They're still around the same price as the i7, so I don't really see it helping that much:

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-PHENOM-II-X4-920-2-8GHZ-AM2-RETAIL-HDX920XCGIBOX-/370191322484?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item56311f4d74 (http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-PHENOM-II-X4-920-2-8GHZ-AM2-RETAIL-HDX920XCGIBOX-/370191322484?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item56311f4d74)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:33:00
Quote from: gr1m;204895
And those are all synthetic benchmarks which mean ****-all and which i7s are supposed to dominate. I'll dig up the gaming ones in a second but why do you think the people recommending AMD are lying to you? Do you think instantkamera or I get commission from every AMD CPU sold?


The thing that seals it for me is price, period. I cant get ANY cor i7 for less than I can get the best cpu AMD makes, period. Intel have the better CPUs for sure, especialy comparing stock to stock. The minute you start talking price though, changes matters a bit.

Basically, here in Canada at least, you are talking either getting an i5 for the price of the x6, or stretching the budget a bit just to get the i7 920/930.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:33:46
Quote from: chimera15;204903
No 920's or 940's though.

Usually, when a CPU beats an i7 960, logic dictates it can beat 920s and 940s.

Quote from: chimera15;204903
the ecs motherboard I want is $145, which is a solid board,

How do you know it's solid? $145 isn't cheap. More expensive than a good 890FX board.

Quote from: chimera15;204903
and the 1156 boards are robust and very inexpensive.   That one 500k crystalmark was on a $100 asus board.

Yes because the CPU wasn't overclocked. You don't need an expensive motherboard to run stock. If you're gaming, why do you care about Crystalmark? What the **** is Crystalmark anyway? I've only ever seen you use it.

Quote from: chimera15;204903
Motherboards have been really cheap since c2d's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=X58&x=0&y=0

(http://www.omgwtfimages.com/uploads/thumb/thumb_185.jpg)

Quote from: chimera15;204903
I think I paid like $50 for my 570 slit-a's and asus mobos that I've been using for like 2 or 3 years now.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P7P55D-PRO-Motherboard-Supports-Intel-Turbo-boost-/120579279704?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item1c1315cb58)

Another option is i5. You can get an i5 750 with a P55 board instead of i7.


Quote from: chimera15;204904
I would think that the crysis tests have more to do with the graphics card than the cpu...  crystalmark is more intensive  cpu test which is why I would use it for selecting a cpu, and 3dmark for selecting a graphics card.

What's the name of the one you would suggest would compete with an i7? Do they cost less than $200?

This is probably a bit more like it:

http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=10 (http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=10)

So you linked the part where i7s beat Phenom IIs in a synthetic benchmark, and I linked the part where Phenom IIs beat i7 in gaming which is what you will be using the computer for. Lolwut?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:42:37
Quote from: gr1m;204906
Usually, when a CPU beats an i7 960, logic dictates it can beat 920s and 940s.



How do you know it's solid? $145 isn't cheap. More expensive than a good 890FX board.



Yes because the CPU wasn't overclocked. You don't need an expensive motherboard to run stock. If you're gaming, why do you care about Crystalmark? What the **** is Crystalmark anyway? I've only ever seen you use it.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=X58&x=0&y=0

Show Image
(http://www.omgwtfimages.com/uploads/thumb/thumb_185.jpg)




Another option is i5. You can get an i5 750 with a P55 board instead of i7.




So you linked the part where i7s beat Phenom IIs in a synthetic benchmark, and I linked the part where Phenom IIs beat i7 in gaming which is what you will be using the computer for. Lolwut?


You can't bench a system based on a game, when we're talking about cpu, when the majority of the games benchmark is coming from the gpu.
  If you want to talk graphics cards, we can talk crysis ratings all you want, it doesn't have that much bearing on the quality of the cpu.  You're trying to compare apples with oranges.

Crystalmark is a Japanese benchmark software.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:50:39
Quote from: chimera15;204910
You can't bench a system based on a game, when we're talking about cpu, when the majority of the games benchmark is coming from the gpu.
  If you want to talk graphics cards, we can talk crysis ratings all you want, it doesn't have that much bearing on the quality of the cpu.  You're trying to compare apples with oranges.

Crystalmark is a Japanese benchmark software.


OK, let's break this down:

- You want a PC to play games on
- There is proof that buying a cheaper CPU/platform makes no difference in game performance
- I have provided this proof
- With the money you save from the cheaper CPU, you can buy a better GPU and end up with a system that does better at what you want it to do, which is play games, or you can put the money in your pocket and have the same game performance as the more expensive CPU
- You are ignoring this proof because even though you want to play games on your computer, you want to spend more money because...???

What am I missing here? Fill me in.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:52:38
Quote from: chimera15;204887
Since i7's are one of the first systems meant to be overclocked I probably will overclock the i7 at least to some degree, but probably not past a reasonable safe zone.


Seriously, can anyone explain what's going on here?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:54:41
Quote from: ch_123;204913
Seriously, can anyone explain what's going on here?

Intel invented good performance, overclocking and "not sucking". AMD is still behind. Never mind that real overclocking came from that legendary DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-D board
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 15:57:44
Wow. So those Athlon 64s with unlocked multipliers that were touted as a feature of the chip, and the extreme ease of overclocking computers made before the late 90s was just something I was imagining?

I think I need to see a doctor.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:06:55
Quote from: ch_123;204916
Wow. So those Athlon 64s with unlocked multipliers that were touted as a feature of the chip, and the extreme ease of overclocking computers made before the late 90s was just something I was imagining?

I think I need to see a doctor.

You know that joke article about how AMD manufactures it's CPUs out of 3rd-world-country waste from landfills.

Quote
3. Has your child asked for new hardware?

Computer hackers are often limited by conventional computer hardware. They may request "faster" video cards, and larger hard drives, or even more memory. If your son starts requesting these devices, it is possible that he has a legitimate need. You can best ensure that you are buying legal, trustworthy hardware by only buying replacement parts from your computer's manufacturer.

If your son has requested a new "processor" from a company called "AMD", this is genuine cause for alarm. AMD is a third-world based company who make inferior, "knock-off" copies of American processor chips. They use child labor extensively in their third world sweatshops, and they deliberately disable the security features that American processor makers, such as Intel, use to prevent hacking. AMD chips are never sold in stores, and you will most likely be told that you have to order them from internet sites. Do not buy this chip! This is one request that you must refuse your son, if you are to have any hope of raising him well.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:06:57
Quote from: ch_123;204916
Wow. So those Athlon 64s with unlocked multipliers that were touted as a feature of the chip, and the extreme ease of overclocking computers made before the late 90s was just something I was imagining?

I think I need to see a doctor.

Like I said, I really don't know amd's.  On the intel side though, none of their cpu's with the exception of some testing ones with unlocked multipliers and sell for major $ have ever been really meant for the end consumer to overclock.  There have been motherboards that have supported it of course for a long time, at least back to p3's when I had my first, but intel never intended that.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:13:05
Quote from: chimera15;204910
You can't bench a system based on a game, when we're talking about cpu, when the majority of the games benchmark is coming from the gpu.


So, in your own twisted mind you agree. If you want to game, and CPU doesnt mean **** in games, (your) logic still dictates you'd save your damn money and buy an AMD. Just sayin'.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:16:54
Actually, with one exception, the only unlocked multiplier chips Intel makes are expensive "Extreme Edition" ones. This practice has dates back a few years, I think the first such chip was either a Pentium 4 or Pentium D.

The one exception is the Core i7 875K (I think it is called) which was designed to compete with the fact that AMD's top end chips are about $200-300, which allow overclockers that extra freedom without having to re-mortgage their house or whatever.

Some could say that this shows that AMD can't compete with Intel's top end. I would say that AMD has no interest in doing so because only nutjobs buy $1,000 consumer desktop CPUs anyway.

And qualify "meant to be overclocked". I'm pretty sure they tell you that you void your warranty if you fry the chip (although, in reality, they have no way of knowing if a chip has been fried by overclocking). So, I dont see how "You can overclock at your own risk" is any different to "Dont overclock, but here's all the prerequiste tools". Q6600 much?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:17:41
Phenom II X4, GTX460, an SSD. There's your gaming rig.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:17:52
Quote from: instantkamera;204923
So, in your own twisted mind you agree. If you want to game, and CPU doesnt mean **** in games, (your) logic still dictates you'd save your damn money and buy an AMD. Just sayin'.

Except that all the amd's on ebay cost exactly the same as the i7, or more, and as I've said all along, I don't know amd's, and don't want to find out that it's missing some feature that I like with intels.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:19:33
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204925
Phenom II X4, GTX460, an SSD. There's your gaming rig.

460's cost too much, going with a 260 pretty sure if I can get a good deal on one.  I can always use it in my existing units too, so.  Just getting a 260 might solve my warrock problems by itself.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:20:57
Quote from: chimera15;204926
Except that all the amd's on ebay cost exactly the same as the i7, or more, and as I've said all along, I don't know amd's, and don't want to find out that it's missing some feature that I like with intels.


What feature, exactly, can a CPU be missing? HT? Used to compensate for overly long instruction pipeline. Speedstep? Cool'n'Quiet. Functioning and overclocking?

I guess I just have to say that you have no business building computers if you don't even understand what differentiates components.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:21:23
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204925
Phenom II X4, GTX460, an SSD. There's your gaming rig.


That's exactly what NCspec's vent decided as well.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:22:23
Quote from: ch_123;204924
Actually, with one exception, the only unlocked multiplier chips Intel makes are expensive "Extreme Edition" ones. This practice has dates back a few years, I think the first such chip was either a Pentium 4 or Pentium D.

The one exception is the Core i7 875K (I think it is called) which was designed to compete with the fact that AMD's top end chips are about $200-300, which allow overclockers that extra freedom without having to re-mortgage their house or whatever.

Some could say that this shows that AMD can't compete with Intel's top end. I would say that AMD has no interest in doing so because only nutjobs buy $1,000 consumer desktop CPUs anyway.

And qualify "meant to be overclocked". I'm pretty sure they tell you that you void your warranty if you fry the chip (although, in reality, they have no way of knowing if a chip has been fried by overclocking). So, I dont see how "You can overclock at your own risk" is any different to "Dont overclock, but here's all the prerequiste tools". Q6600 much?




Yeah you're right. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:23:28
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204929
What feature, exactly, can a CPU be missing? HT? Used to compensate for overly long instruction pipeline. Speedstep? Cool'n'Quiet. Functioning and overclocking?

I guess I just have to say that you have no business building computers if you don't even understand what differentiates components.

Yeah speedstep for one, but not just the features of the cpu, but the mobos as well.  I don't understand i7's, or the amd competitors these days as I've said over and over again, so I appreciate this talking about them, it's making me do a lot of research.

It will take me a lot to persuade me to go from intel to AMD though because I did have trouble with them when I tried them early on, they have a bad reputation to me, even in laptops, which I do use my main tx2500z has an amd in, so.  I just have never considered building an amd desktop for like 10-15 years.  They're just associated with poor quality to me.  If you say I can get an amd system that has the same performance as an intel for like 50% the cost, then I might agree, but it's not looking that way based on ebay prices I'm seeing.  They look to be about the same cost, and less power in most situations, so it's not going to convince me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:25:04
Minus the SSD mind you because if there's ever been a bigger waste for a pure gaming rig, it's an SSD. Or how about those special gamer Network cards?

Quote from: chimera15;204933
Yeah speed step for one, but not just the features of the cpu, but the mobos as well.  I don't understand i7's, or the amd competitors these days as I've said over and over again, so I appreciate this talking about them, it's making me do a lot of research.

Please tell me, what features do you think AMD motherboards are missing? I have an AMD motherboard and can dig around my BIOS for you.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:26:12
Intel's Speedstep = AMD's Cool'n'Quiet

Not any difference in mobo features to my knowledge.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:28:29
Quote from: gr1m;204934
Minus the SSD mind you because if there's ever been a bigger waste for a pure gaming rig, it's an SSD. Or how about those special gamer Network cards?



Please tell me, what features do you think AMD motherboards are missing? I have an AMD motherboard and can dig around my BIOS for you.


Depends on how good a SSD you get.

Too bad that a good SSD is mind-blowingly expensive.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:30:40
X25M or bust. Still too expensive. I'll keep my money and wait the extra 30 seconds it takes a game to load. Although mechanical drives are soooo damn slow. Like, when I'm installing **** or transferring large files, my computer becomes unusable.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:31:42
Quote from: gr1m;204934
Minus the SSD mind you because if there's ever been a bigger waste for a pure gaming rig, it's an SSD. Or how about those special gamer Network cards?



Please tell me, what features do you think AMD motherboards are missing? I have an AMD motherboard and can dig around my BIOS for you.

I'm sold on using ssds.   I think they're more stable and less likely to just drop dead without warning, and start clicking and junk on you which I'm sick of with normal drives.   Drive click gives me nightmares.  If for that alone, let alone they are faster, I'm going to get a 60gb ssd for the system drive of the next desktop I build.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:34:45
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204929
What feature, exactly, can a CPU be missing? HT? Used to compensate for overly long instruction pipeline.


Ehrmm... sorta. What you're saying was true of the HT used in the Pentium 4, but when done right, it can be a good idea. You do know what it actually does, right?

Last I checked, current Intel and AMD chips have very similar pipeline lengths, and there aren't really any particular fundamental differences between one and the other.

The arguments made by AMD against hyperthreading include complexity, power consumption, and issues with cache misses. So it isn't an objectively brilliant idea, it so happens that Intel thinks it's good and AMD does not. Some non x86 vendors have similar things in their chips. The IBM POWER7 for example can support four threads per core.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:41:30
Quote from: chimera15;204938
I'm sold on using ssds.   I think they're more stable and less likely to just drop dead without warning, and start clicking and junk on you which I'm sick of with normal drives.   Drive click gives me nightmares.  


this coming from a guy who doesn't bat an eye at buying a PSU off sketchBay.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:41:45
Quote from: chimera15;204933
YIf you say I can get an amd system that has the same performance as an intel for like 50% the cost, then I might agree


It won't happen. Please explain why AMD would sell CPUs for half the price of Intels if they were just as good? Like, this is not an AMD fail on your part - this is a logic fail. You're saying that you will only buy Product X if it is as good as Product Y and costs half as much. How does that make sense for the makers of Product X? At all?

Your justification for not buying AMD is because it isn't as good as Intel while costing half as much at the same time. Again, that makes no sense.

However, the alternative is that you buy Product X which is as good as Product Y in games which is what you will be using the computer for and costs half as much.

Quote from: chimera15;204933
, but it's not looking that way based on ebay prices I'm seeing.  They look to be about the same cost, and less power in most situations, so it's not going to convince me.


Try this on for size. If you're adventurous enough to trust open-box Ebay power supplies, then you should give unlocking cores a shot:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138194

Chances are that you will be able to unlock the 555 into a full quad core Phenom II.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 16:43:29
Quote from: chimera15;204938
I'm sold on using ssds.   I think they're more stable and less likely to just drop dead without warning, and start clicking and junk on you which I'm sick of with normal drives.   Drive click gives me nightmares.  If for that alone, let alone they are faster, I'm going to get a 60gb ssd for the system drive of the next desktop I build.


Just don't buy a cheap one, because in many cases they are both more unstable and more power intensive than a good platter drive.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:00:22
looking for cheap 1090T's and somehow came across this:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100525060233AADGQMO (http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100525060233AADGQMO)

7 lolcorez

"AMD is from the same people who make GeForce and Asus mother boards"
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:04:25
"`just because its 7 cores doesn't mean there more powerfull. 7 cores have a extremelly high over heating rate."

Braincells... oh God... it hurts.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:06:43
As someone who has been exposed to the actual realities of CPU design, and realized how much of a brain**** it all is, I always lol at the armchair expert who predicates his opinions on the latest AMD and Intel pissing war.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:07:37
Quote from: ch_123;204940
Ehrmm... sorta. What you're saying was true of the HT used in the Pentium 4, but when done right, it can be a good idea. You do know what it actually does, right?

Last I checked, current Intel and AMD chips have very similar pipeline lengths, and there aren't really any particular fundamental differences between one and the other.

The arguments made by AMD against hyperthreading include complexity, power consumption, and issues with cache misses. So it isn't an objectively brilliant idea, it so happens that Intel thinks it's good and AMD does not. Some non x86 vendors have similar things in their chips. The IBM POWER7 for example can support four threads per core.


Right, Pentium 4 was the one with the 20-stage pipeline. I do know what hyperthreading is, it puts two threads on the same core and when one thread can't saturate the pipeline it inserts instructions from the other thread. Problems are, as you said, it's complicated, hot, and the processing overhead reduces the benefit. It only really helps when dealing with massively multiparallel code. If I ever get an i7 I'll disable HT so I can get an extra 200-400MHz on lower voltage with less heat, since it wouldn't be beneficial for anything I do.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:08:23
"AMD is from the same people who make GeForce and Asus mother boards. So they make A lot of money to begin with so they don't need more. Don't worry."

The sad reality is that AMD has been losing too much money to even be able to compete with a pimple on Intel's ass. Intel, by contrast, is expanding. So much so that when I'm done with my EE degree, I'm definitely going to try and get a job at Intel.

(http://media.bestofmicro.com/V/8/233108/original/feature_image07.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:09:09
Well, 20 for Northwood and Williamette, but 31 for Prescott. The Core 2 chips have something like a 14 stage pipeline, which is similar to AMD. I don't know what the Core i7 one is like, but I'd imagine it's the same length.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:09:52
Quote from: gr1m;204955
"AMD is from the same people who make GeForce and Asus mother boards. So they make A lot of money to begin with so they don't need more. Don't worry."

The sad reality is that AMD has been losing too much money to even be able to compete with a pimple on Intel's ass. Intel, by contrast, is expanding. So much so that when I'm done with my EE degree, I'm definitely going to try and get a job at Intel.

Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/V/8/233108/original/feature_image07.jpg)


I'd get a job with ARM. Y'know, the one that is going to survive.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:15:53
I'm disappointed with all the hexacore and octacore nonsense. Most software runs perfectly fine on 2-4 cores. I'd like to see more SSE optimizations, logic core optimizations to bring down the transistor count, smaller die size, smaller process, more of this stuff where idle cores downclock and busy ones overclock... Improvements to the manufacturing process so that there are more higher-binned chips downclocked so we can get a chip that can overclock to the same speed as a more expensive one... :p
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:16:59
Quote from: gr1m;204955
"AMD is from the same people who make GeForce and Asus mother boards. So they make A lot of money to begin with so they don't need more. Don't worry."

The sad reality is that AMD has been losing too much money to even be able to compete with a pimple on Intel's ass. Intel, by contrast, is expanding. So much so that when I'm done with my EE degree, I'm definitely going to try and get a job at Intel.

Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/V/8/233108/original/feature_image07.jpg)


where are you taking that EE degree? Mtl, so I assume either conc or McGill. I'll assume not UQAM as your written English has me thinking you are a native English speaker - forgive me if I'm wrong (I suppose you could be a hybrid from the west island though ;)).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:20:30
Quote from: instantkamera;204943
this coming from a guy who doesn't bat an eye at buying a PSU off sketchBay.

I've had tons of hard drives fail on me over the years and take sometimes years of work with them.  I've never had a psu fail and take any components with it, in 30 years of using, building, and maintaining other people's computers as well.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:22:44
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204959
I'm disappointed with all the hexacore and octacore nonsense. Most software runs perfectly fine on 2-4 cores. I'd like to see more SSE optimizations, logic core optimizations to bring down the transistor count, smaller die size, smaller process, more of this stuff where idle cores downclock and busy ones overclock... Improvements to the manufacturing process so that there are more higher-binned chips downclocked so we can get a chip that can overclock to the same speed as a more expensive one... :p


The thing with SSE instructions is that because there's no guarantee that everyone has the same SSE support, software isn't compiled with support for it (ask people who tried to get OS X running on SSE2 CPUs before people started making those hax editions). Also, because they are implemented in hardware, they increase the complexity of hardware, which is contrary to the sort of simplification that you're talking about =P

Really the issue is that manufacturers are hitting the ceiling of what can be done with the current CMOS technology. We're going to be stuck with more of the same for the foreseeable future.

Also,
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:24:21
Quote from: gr1m;204944
It won't happen. Please explain why AMD would sell CPUs for half the price of Intels if they were just as good? Like, this is not an AMD fail on your part - this is a logic fail. You're saying that you will only buy Product X if it is as good as Product Y and costs half as much. How does that make sense for the makers of Product X? At all?

Your justification for not buying AMD is because it isn't as good as Intel while costing half as much at the same time. Again, that makes no sense.

However, the alternative is that you buy Product X which is as good as Product Y in games which is what you will be using the computer for and costs half as much.



Try this on for size. If you're adventurous enough to trust open-box Ebay power supplies, then you should give unlocking cores a shot:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138194

Chances are that you will be able to unlock the 555 into a full quad core Phenom II.


I'm happy with intel. They've been working relatively flawlessly for me for the last 15 years, while the amd's I've tried have been crap.  It would take that price difference in order for me to switch.  I see no reason to switch if the difference in price is negligible.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:29:50
Quote from: chimera15;204966
I'm happy with intel. They've been working relatively flawlessly for me for the last 15 years, while the motherboards I've had for AMD chips have been crap.


Fixed.

Were the AMD motherboards from the same manufacturer and price range as the Intel ones you had?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:33:44
Quote from: chimera15;204966
I'm happy with intel. They've been working relatively flawlessly for me for the last 15 years, while the amd's I've tried have been crap.  It would take that price difference in order for me to switch.  I see no reason to switch if the difference in price is negligible.

So for you to use AMD, they have to beat Intel and charge much less. Right. You do know how dumb that is, right? And to think this whole time I've been trying to have a somewhat intelligent discussion with you. Waste of time but at least my post count gets upped.

Quote from: instantkamera;204961
where are you taking that EE degree? Mtl, so I assume either conc or McGill. I'll assume not UQAM as your written English has me thinking you are a native English speaker - forgive me if I'm wrong (I suppose you could be a hybrid from the west island though ;)).

Yeah, McGill, and yeah 100% Anglophone. I live in St. Laurent (which is very French if you live anywhere except in the Jewish part, which is very English and which is where I live).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:34:01
Quote from: ch_123;204969
Fixed.

Were the AMD motherboards from the same manufacturer and price range as the Intel ones you had?


That's probably true.  But I've had some celerons too over the years when I was really strapped for cash, and didn't have problems with them like I had with amds either, so.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:39:56
Quote from: gr1m;204970
So for you to use AMD, they have to beat Intel and charge much less. Right. You do know how dumb that is, right? And to think this whole time I've been trying to have a somewhat intelligent discussion with you. Waste of time but at least my post count gets upped.



Yeah, McGill, and yeah 100% Anglophone. I live in St. Laurent (which is very French if you live anywhere except in the Jewish part, which is very English and which is where I live).

AMD is pointless as a company as far as I'm concerned if they can't do that.  They have no point in the marketplace.  Intel is the standard, not AMD, it's always been that way.  They have to offer more for less or they won't be able to compete at all.  Even then.  I mean look at Tucker, he offered a better car for less, and still wasn't able to compete with the big 3 auto makers.  It's the same with processors. Brand recognition and customer loyalty has a lot to do with it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:40:13
In fairness, during the mid 90s, a lot of third party motherboard chipsets for AMD CPUs were ****, and this created a bad reputation for them.

Such issues are not really relevant anymore. And there's nothing wrong with the chips themselves.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:41:13
Quote from: chimera15;204974
AMD is pointless as a company as far as I'm concerned if they can't do that.  They have no point in the marketplace.


Intel processors are better and cost more.
AMD processors are not as good and cost less. That's a pretty balanced marketplace.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:48:06
Quote from: gr1m;204976
Intel processors are better and cost more.
AMD processors are not as good and cost less. That's a pretty balanced marketplace.


Yeah, except from what I'm seeing, on the used/second hand market at least, they cost the same and do less.


Show me an amd chip that I don't need a huge water cooling or hs/fan that will compete with a i7 on ebay or somewhere else and will cost significantly less and I'll consider it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:48:10
Quote from: chimera15;204974
AMD is pointless as a company as far as I'm concerned if they can't do that.  They have no point in the marketplace.  Intel is the standard, not AMD, it's always been that way.  They have to offer more for less or they won't be able to compete at all.  Even then.  I mean look at Tucker, he offered a better car for less, and still wasn't able to compete with the big 3 auto makers.  It's the same with processors. Brand recognition and customer loyalty has a lot to do with it.

But what does any of that have to do with the fact that you can save money with AMD and get the same gaming performance as Intel?

Quote from: chimera15;204978
Yeah, except from what I'm seeing, on the used/second hand market at least, they cost the same and do less.


Show me an amd chip that I don't need a huge water cooling or hs/fan that will compete with a i7 on ebay or somewhere else and will cost significantly less and I'll consider it.

Why are you using the used/second hand market to gauge a company's standing? Processors aren't cars. Anybody can sell whatever the **** they want for whatever price they want to charge second-hand.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:49:38
Quote from: gr1m;204979
But what does any of that have to do with the fact that you can save money with AMD and get the same gaming performance as Intel?


Because I can't?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:52:37
Quote from: chimera15;204978
Show me an amd chip that I don't need a huge water cooling or hs/fan that will compete with a i7

Did you ignore those Crysis links? You clearly didn't because you cried about them and also agreed that AMD is on par with Intel when it comes to games.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:52:55
Yeah, but I'm not, because I couldn't afford either one new.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:53:59
Quote from: gr1m;204985
Did you ignore those Crysis links? You clearly didn't because you cried about them and also agreed that AMD is on par with Intel when it comes to games.


I didn't ignore them.  I disagreed with them, because I wasn't sure if they were testing the cpu, or the gpu, and all the little disclaimers and junk were in German, so I have no idea what they were actually comparing.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:55:11
Quote from: chimera15;204988
I didn't ignore them.  I disagreed with them, because I wasn't sure if they were testing the cpu, or the gpu, and all the little disclaimers and junk were in German, so I have no idea what they were actually comparing.


They were testing the overall system, which is what you need to play a game. The disclaimers did not say "Warning: These benchmarks are a joke and Intel is in reality better than AMD".
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:55:13
Quote from: gr1m;204970


Yeah, McGill, and yeah 100% Anglophone. I live in St. Laurent (which is very French if you live anywhere except in the Jewish part, which is very English and which is where I live).


Yeah I lived in Mtl for four years. Plateau for one year (mt royal and coloniale) and the rest in NDG.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:57:17
Quote from: gr1m;204990
They were testing the overall system, which is what you need to play a game. The disclaimers did not say "Warning: These benchmarks are a joke and Intel is in reality better than AMD".

There are too many factors to go amd vs intel based on a whole system.  It's unlikely you can get any really fair results doing stuff this way, especially testing with a game like crysis, which is really an atypical game.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 17:59:12
Given that you can have comparative systems where the only difference is the motherboard and the CPU (which go hand in hand anyway, so there's no point in considering them separately) I'm going to disagree.

Does anyone else smell a troll here?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:00:01
Quote from: chimera15;204993
There are too many factors to go amd vs intel based on a whole system.  It's unlikely you can get any really fair results doing stuff this way, especially testing with a game like crysis, which is really an atypical game.

How is it unfair? Because it showed AMD beating Intel?

Quote from: ch_123;204994
Does anyone else smell a troll here?

Well, I haven't bathed in a few weeks.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:01:20
Quote from: gr1m;204995
How is it unfair? Because it showed AMD beating Intel?

No, but given I saw no parts list there of the units they were testing, I'm not sure it was a fair comparison.  Is there a list of what they were testing exactly?  Even the motherboard cpu combination can have big effects on performance, within brands, let alone amd vs intel.  Even from chip to chip with intel, you'll get different results, and different level of overclock capability.  One way or another it'll be unfair.  It even matters little things like what system, or even what programs are installed on the system, you'll get different results for the benchmarks.  So it's very difficult to get fair comparisons, you need a large sample size.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:01:51
I smelled one days ago. I mainly hang out in this thread to talk around him.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:02:14
Quote from: chimera15;204933
 I just have never considered building an amd desktop for like 10-15 years.  


Seriously, you are basing your judgement of AMD on 15 year old data? Sheeeeit, you might as well be talking about cyrix here...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:02:26
Also, go to the same review:

Far Cry 2:
http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=7
Same ****.

GRAW:
http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=8
Same ****.

What's a "typical" game for you? One where Intel beats AMD?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:03:57
Quote from: chimera15;204996
No, but given I saw no parts list there of the units they were testing, I'm not sure it was a fair comparison.  Is there a list of what they were testing exactly?  Even the motherboard cpu combination can have big effects on performance, within brands, let alone amd vs intel.  Even from chip to chip with intel, you'll get different results, and different level of overclock capability.  One way or another it'll be unfair.


Do you have an inability to go to different pages in reviews? And possible right click on the page and click translate?

http://hardware-infos.com/tests.php?test=64&seite=3
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:04:54
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;204997
I smelled one days ago. I mainly hang out in this thread to talk around him.


I chime in when interesting questions are raised. But yeah, most of this looks like bull****.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:05:54
Why do I always fall for these and actually waste time looking for legit benchmarks and **** :(
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:06:22
Quote from: ch_123;205001
I chime in when interesting questions are raised. But yeah, most of this looks like bull****.

It is bs, cause a bunch of amd fanboys decided to troll my post on graphics cards.  Next we'll hear from the mac enthusiasts telling me I should just buy a mac.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:06:30
Quote from: chimera15;204996
No, but given I saw no parts list there of the units they were testing, I'm not sure it was a fair comparison.  Is there a list of what they were testing exactly? Even the motherboard cpu combination can have big effects on performance, within brands, let alone amd vs intel.  Even from chip to chip with intel, you'll get different results, and different level of overclock capability.  One way or another it'll be unfair.  It even matters little things like what system, or even what programs are installed on the system, you'll get different results for the benchmarks.  So it's very difficult to get fair comparisons, you need a large sample size.


That being the point.

It's hardly unfair if you keep the GPU, HDD, RAM, etc. the same and only change the mobo and CPU and compare motherboards or motherboard/CPU pairs of comparable cost.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:07:34
Quote from: chimera15;205003
It is bs, cause a bunch of amd fanboys decided to troll my post on graphics cards.


Classy. Yeah, I think this thread is over.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:09:00
Quote from: chimera15;205003
It is bs, cause a bunch of amd fanboys decided to troll my post on graphics cards.  Next we'll hear from the mac enthusiasts telling me I should just buy a mac.


You should. They're shiny and so easy to use.

Have good PSUs too.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:09:44
Quote from: instantkamera;204998
Seriously, you are basing your judgement of AMD on 15 year old data? Sheeeeit, you might as well be talking about cyrix here...


Yes, because I decided back then that amd's suck, and stopped being interested in building them.  As I said it may not be true now, but I have no interest in switching to them, especially since I haven't been able to find any significantly cheaper than the Intel parts I've looked at.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:14:15
Quote from: chimera15;205008
I made up my mind a long time ago that instead of learning ANYTHING, I'm simply going to pretend I know everything. That way, instead of having to actually acquire information and process it, I can allow my brain to atrophy until I eventually can't remember to breath. Basically, what I believe is totally true, because I say it is. BTW, the world is most definitely flat.


awesome.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:14:58
Quote from: ch_123;205007
You should. They're shiny and so easy to use.

Have good PSUs too.

And video cards. I heard Macs now support 4870s. For $400. Should outperform 9800GTs and GTX 260s.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:15:54
Come over to the Big Rig thread, it's a better party. Chimera isn't invited due to low intelligence.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:25:10
Quote from: chimera15;205003
It is bs, cause a bunch of amd fanboys decided to troll my post on graphics cards.  Next we'll hear from the mac enthusiasts telling me I should just buy a mac.

Actually, to be fair, a bunch of pro-good-PSU(or anti-bad-PSU) fanboys decided to troll your post on graphics cards.

I think it is relevant to point out that no one HAS recommended a Mac, despite the fact that you have placed yourself squarely within their targeted user-base. This would lend credence to our suggestions to anyone willing to listen ...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:25:22
Quote from: instantkamera;205012
awesome.


Yeah, and when you buy a car, be sure to do all the research on Yugo's too.  In my mind AMD should have died a long time ago.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:28:54
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205014
Come over to the Big Rig thread, it's a better party. Chimera isn't invited due to low intelligence.


Enterprise just deleted it (from vent).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:29:11
Quote from: instantkamera;205016
Actually, to be fair, a bunch of pro-good-PSU(or anti-bad-PSU) fanboys decided to troll your post on graphics cards.


Anti-bad PSU fanboys? That's like - "Those car safety people are seatbelt fanboys".
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:29:41
Quote from: instantkamera;205016
Actually, to be fair, a bunch of pro-good-PSU(or anti-bad-PSU) fanboys decided to troll your post on graphics cards.

I think it is relevant to point out that no one HAS recommended a Mac, despite the fact that you have placed yourself squarely within their targeted user-base. This would lend credence to our suggestions to anyone willing to listen ...


So because I don't want to know every component of a psu, that I can buy for $50, I'm a Mac user? lol Or can't afford some massive graphics card, and don't want to buy an Amd?  AMD users are closer to mac users than I am.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:31:10
Quote from: ch_123;205019
Anti-bad PSU fanboys? That's like - "Those car safety people are seatbelt fanboys".


I think your ****ty PSU blew-out your sarcasm detector.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:33:43
Quote from: chimera15;205020
AMD users are closer to mac users than I am.


You don't say. (http://www.apple.com/why-mac/better-hardware/#technology)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:33:48
Quote from: ch_123;205019
Anti-bad PSU fanboys? That's like - "Those car safety people are seatbelt fanboys".

Those PSU fanboys are more like, people who want to pay 20k for an engine in their car that can make it go 200mph, but never drive more than 60mph.

Personally, I'll pay $1000 for an engine that will go 200mph, as I did, and laugh as I pass them on the road.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:34:49
Yeah. That's a pretty bad problem on this system. Should use the one I have with the Corsair PSU...

Quote
So because I don't want to know every component of a psu, that I can buy for $50, I'm a Mac user? lol Or can't afford some massive graphics card, and don't want to buy an Amd? AMD users are closer to mac users than I am.


Is Chimera a sock puppet account for MW?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:35:23
Quote from: chimera15;205020
AMD users are closer to mac users than I am.

AMD user posts in this thread have been tests and benchmarks. Your posts in this thread have been "AMD sucked 15 years ago I ain't gwain' buy sheeyit, Intel dun treat me right well". Tell me which one is more fanboyish?

Quote from: chimera15;205023
Those PSU fanboys are more like, people who want to pay 20k for an engine in their car that can make it go 200mph, but never drive more than 60mph.

Personally, I'll pay $1000 for an engine that will go 200mph, as I did, and laugh as I pass them on the road.

NO! See, PSU fanboys are more like people who want to pay more for a component of the engine that does not affect performance but affects quality drastically. People who want to pay 20k for an engine in their car that can make it go 200MPH but never drive more than 60MPH are PEOPLE WHO BUY i7 PROCESSORS FOR GAMING COMPUTERS. Trippin' over your own analogies.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:36:56
Quote from: chimera15;205023
Having a quality psu is more like, people who want to pay 20k for an engine in their car that can make it go 200mph, but never drive more than 60mph.

Personally, I'll pay $1000 for an engine that will go 200mph, as I did, and laugh as I pass them on the road.


Using the term QUALITY followed by an analogy of QUANTITY makes you look like a biter. Just sayin'.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:37:39
Quote from: gr1m;205026
AMD user posts in this thread have been tests and benchmarks. Your posts in this thread have been "AMD sucked 15 years ago I ain't gwain' buy sheeyit, Intel dun treat me right well". Tell me which one is more fanboyish?

I've at least used, serviced, and built both.   I didn't like them.  I gave them a try, and they sucked.  I'm supposed to try them again, why?  Cause some anonymous people on the net said they've changed, and showed me a benchmark that has no details?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:40:36
Actually, everyone on this thread is just a sock puppet account for me, and I own AMD. It is my corporate vision that marketing be psychologically oppressive and distinctly personal. Think Big Brother, except with CPUs.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:40:43
Quote from: chimera15;205028
I've at least used, serviced, and built both.   I didn't like them.  I gave them a try, and they sucked.  I'm supposed to try them again, why?  Cause some anonymous people on the net said they've changed, and showed me a benchmark that has no details?


Anonymous people who, by your own admission, know more about computers than you. Yes you are.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:43:42
Quote from: gr1m;205031
Anonymous people who, by your own admission, know more about computers than you. Yes you are.

I think most of them know a lot more than me in theory, but most of them lack real world experience.  The lack of theory knowledge on my part is temporary until I have time to come back up to speed.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:45:37
Quote from: chimera15;205033
I think most of them know a lot more than me in theory, but most of them lack real world experience.

I've used Phenom II and you haven't. How's that for lack of real world experience? Or is real world experience in your books defined as "good experience with Intel, bad with AMD, everyone else be trollin' and dun' goofed". Or is experience with processors 15 years ago a requirement to build gaming computers in 2010?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:48:19
Quote from: gr1m;205034
I've used Phenom II and you haven't. How's that for lack of real world experience? Or is real world experience in your books defined as "good experience with Intel, bad with AMD, everyone else be trollin' and dun' goofed". Or is experience with processors 15 years ago a requirement to build gaming computers in 2010?

Have you used/built an i7?  Have you built an amd?

As far as building a computer today, vs 15 years ago, unless everything I've been looking at is different, computers have been pretty much the same in parts since like 1984, and when I built my first at clone in 1987.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:50:57
Two. One for a guy who does 3D work and encodes media, and another for a guy who does a lot of burning/ripping for piracy purposes. If you pull the "I don't believe you" card I can get proof in a few days. The media encoding guy has a GTX 260 and his gaming performance cannot compare to my computer's because I have a much more powerful GPU. The other has a 512mb 4870, another relative featherweight compared to my 990MHz core 4890 and my computer consistently gets higher frames (4870 512mb and GTX 260 though are too weak compared to 4890s, but that should give you an idea of how important GPUs are for gaming rigs).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:53:22
Quote from: gr1m;205036
Two. One for a guy who does 3D work and encodes media, and another for a guy who does a lot of burning/ripping for piracy purposes. If you pull the "I don't believe you" card I can get proof in a few days. The media encoding guy has a GTX 260 and his gaming performance cannot compare to my computer's because I have a much more powerful GPU. The other has a 512mb 4870, another relative featherweight compared to my 990MHz core 4890 and my computer consistently gets higher frames (4870 512mb and GTX 260 though are too weak compared to 4890s, but that should give you an idea of how important GPUs are for gaming rigs).

So I do a lot of that too. Would you say that they are better for those purposes?

Obviously I know how important gpus are for gaming purposes.  The problem I've had is with people using gaming benchmarks when comparing cpus.  If they had equal gpus, which would win?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:54:01
Oh, and both spent well over $300 for a motherboard and cooling. One has a P6T and a D14 for 4GHz and the other has an EVGA E758. Initially bought a D14 based on my advice but didn't listen to my advice for the motherboard, so apparently D14s don't fit on E758s and he had to buy a Megahalems.

Yes. There is no question than an i7 hands down destroys any Phenom II when it comes to encoding and other heavily CPU-dependent stuff.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 18:59:20
Quote from: chimera15;205038
Obviously I know how important gpus are for gaming purposes.  The problem I've had is with people using gaming benchmarks when comparing cpus.  If they had equal gpus, which would win?

The German review used equal GPUs. The point of the reviews I linked were to show this:

- With the same GPUs, there is no difference in CPU platform
- With the money you save with a cheaper CPU platform, you can get a better GPU
- Your cheap-CPU+expensive-GPU system now performs the same as the expensive-CPU+expensive-GPU platform, and performs better than the expensive-CPU+cheap-GPU platform in games

The GTX 260 guy is the perfect example. The poor bugger can't play BC2 smoothly. Shoulda' bought a Phenom II and a 5850. So what if your project takes an extra 20 minutes to complete.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:00:54
I remember the days when Intel or AMD releasing a new generation of chip actually counted for ****. Nowadays, there's only very certain things that benefit from faster CPUs, and unless you're gaming, the wait times on other CPU related things can be solved by the user going off to get a coffee.

Or at least that's how I see it...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:04:39
Quote from: ch_123;205042
I remember the days when Intel or AMD releasing a new generation of chip actually counted for ****. Nowadays, there's only very certain things that benefit from faster CPUs, and unless you're gaming, the wait times on other CPU related things can be solved by the user going off to get a coffee.

Or at least that's how I see it...

What gets me these days is the widespread misuse of the word "multitasking". Watching Youtube while typing up an essay in Word and listening to music is not multitasking. Well, it is, but it's not the type of multitasking that requires people to buy 6-core processors or i7s with hyperthreading. An Atom can multitask those things.

What you really need i7s and 6-cores for are megatasking, i.e. doing multiple pieces of important, intensive **** at once. I can't name a thing because I don't really do important **** on my computers. Maybe like encoding two videos, ripping a CD and compiling a program at the same time while playing GTAIV on your second monitor. IDK.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:12:32
Quote from: gr1m;205045
What gets me these days is the widespread misuse of the word "multitasking". Watching Youtube while typing up an essay in Word and listening to music is not multitasking. Well, it is, but it's not the type of multitasking that requires people to buy 6-core processors or i7s with hyperthreading. An Atom can multitask those things.

What you really need i7s and 6-cores for are megatasking, i.e. doing multiple pieces of important, intensive **** at once. I can't name a thing because I don't really do important **** on my computers. Maybe like encoding two videos, ripping a CD and compiling a program at the same time while playing GTAIV on your second monitor. IDK.


(batch) photo processing, compiling software and heavy VM usage are up my alley.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:12:52
Quote from: chimera15;204964
I've had tons of hard drives fail on me over the years and take sometimes years of work with them.  I've never had a psu fail and take any components with it, in 30 years of using, building, and maintaining other people's computers as well.


you never stop to think your **** power supplies kill your components and caused your amd processor issues?  I guess people without brains can't think so nevermind...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:13:41
Quote from: ch_123;205042
the wait times on other CPU related things can be solved by the user going off to get a coffee.


Does this mean my next computer will come with a complimentary coffee card or year's supply of my favorite roast?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:14:35
Quote from: gr1m;205040
The German review used equal GPUs. The point of the reviews I linked were to show this:

- With the same GPUs, there is no difference in CPU platform
- With the money you save with a cheaper CPU platform, you can get a better GPU
- Your cheap-CPU+expensive-GPU system now performs the same as the expensive-CPU+expensive-GPU platform, and performs better than the expensive-CPU+cheap-GPU platform in games

The GTX 260 guy is the perfect example. The poor bugger can't play BC2 smoothly. Shoulda' bought a Phenom II and a 5850. So what if your project takes an extra 20 minutes to complete.


Well that's interesting.  He can't play bc2 smoothly even with that rig?  Hmm....
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:16:21
Quote from: hyperlinked;205049
Does this mean my next computer will come with a complimentary coffee card or year's supply of my favorite roast?


If you have a Pentium 4 machine, your computer is the coffee machine.

Predictable Pentium 4 joke is predictable, I know.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:19:22
Quote from: ch_123;205051
If you have a Pentium 4 machine, your computer is the coffee machine.


I was going to say, I still have my old athlon tbird 1.4Ghz somewhere. Im sure I could mate a lian-li with a rancillio silvia and use the CPU as the boiler.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:20:06
Not at 2048x1152 with full AA and AF. GTX 260s aren't good cards by any current standards and those settings are just too high. I don't fancy my 4890s chances with it either but a 4890 does actually get scarily close to GTX 285 performance when everything is turned up at 2560x1600 in Crysis so who knows.

Quote from: instantkamera;205054
I was going to say, I still have my old athlon tbird 1.4Ghz somewhere. Im sure I could mate a lian-li with a rancillio silvia and use the CPU as the boiler.

That would probably be an eerily effective way of dissipating it's heat at the same time.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:26:45
Quote from: gr1m;205055
Not at 2048x1152 with full AA and AF. GTX 260s aren't good cards by any current standards and those settings are just too high. I don't fancy my 4890s chances with it either but a 4890 does actually get scarily close to GTX 285 performance when everything is turned up at 2560x1600 in Crysis so who knows.



That would probably be an eerily effective way of dissipating it's heat at the same time.

Hmm, where do 4890s fall then? You think they're better than 260's? Cause it looks like I can get them for about 260 prices, around $110-120.  gtx285s are around $200 still.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:28:38
4890 competes with the GTX 275. GTX 260 is comparable with a low end 4870 IIRC.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:30:04
Quote from: ch_123;205058
4890 competes with the GTX 275. GTX 260 is comparable with a low end 4870 IIRC.


So better right? lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:30:38
A 4890 for $110 is a great idea. They're better than 5770s and [too] close to 5830s*.

*referring to the 5830's criticism of being too close to a 4890
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:32:30
The 4890 beats the 5830 by a small margin.

I'd say the GTX260 and Radeon 4870 are still high end cards, just not if you want to play on 1920x1200 or up. The only game I can't max with my 4870 at 1680x1050 is Crysis.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:35:30
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205062
The 4890 beats the 5830 by a small margin.

I'd say the GTX260 and Radeon 4870 are still high end cards, just not if you want to play on 1920x1200 or up. The only game I can't max with my 4870 at 1680x1050 is Crysis.


No way? And the thing cost me $187 more than a year ago. God bless it's soul.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:37:00
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=315&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=5

Found some benchmarks with 260's and 4890s in it.  Looks close...  Looks like in certain scenarios the 260 outperforms by a large amount, but in most the 4890 wins.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:39:01
That's why I say the 5830 is ATI's worst card in years. It performs worse than the card it's replacing and costs more (even after the price cut when the GTX460 came out), has the power consumption and heat of the card two tiers above it, and is utterly stomped by Nvidia's competition to it, the GTX460. ATI really screwed up there, $200 is a crucial price point and if you aren't strong there you're going to have a lot of trouble. They started out strong with the 5770, but now that's at $150, and the 5830 just can't take up that mantle.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: InSanCen on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:41:51
Quote from: chimera15;205033
I think most of them know a lot more than me in theory, but most of them lack real world experience.  The lack of theory knowledge on my part is temporary until I have time to come back up to speed.


Okay mate... let's give you a bit of real world experience.

Started on an 8088

Recently specced and built a 250 node Renderfarm with 48 cores per node.

I rock an X4 620 in my main rig, and am building myself one of the afortermentioned 48 core servers (Just the 1 node).

Oh, and build/repair/spec/upgrade a whole variety of systems, every day, because it's how I make my living.

My "real world experience" sorted and out of the way.

For pure performance, go i7.
For performance/cost ratio, go quad or hex from AMD.

That, my friend, sums it up, in it's entirety. If you won't go for AMD, given your stated goal of a cost-effective Gaming Rig, then it's nothing but pure fanboyism. It will play games, as good, if not slightly better, given the rest of they system is the same.

Personally, I don't care what name is on the box, as long as it fills the criteria I set out when building the thing. I ran Intel's throughout the C2D/C2Q era, and AMD stomped intel into the curb with the Athlon XP series. Both have highs and lows. Thus is life... deal with it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:42:01
Quote
Take the 3DMark06 tests at face value (as you should any synthetic benchmark), because in our next section we begin real-world testing on a cadre of popular video games known for taxing the graphics processor, and the performance curve is expected change.
Quote from the review you linked, you should really stop depending too much on synthetic benchmarks.

Check the next pages (real games) and the 4890s superiority becomes clearer.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:45:17
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,689039/Evga-GTX-285-FTW-vs-Sapphire-HD-4890-Atomic-Battle-of-the-OC-giants/Reviews/?page=8

Quote
All in all this is a more than respectable performance delivered by the Radeon - in matters of pure fps power it can get extremely close to the Geforce, which is noticeably more expensive, and in some cases the Atomic can even beat the Nvidia card.

And that's with a GTX 285. Overclock a 4890 to anything above 950MHz core (highly possible and safe and easy with Afterburner) and you'll be more than set.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:46:16
Quote from: InSanCen;205066
Okay mate... let's give you a bit of real world experience.

Started on an 8088

Recently specced and built a 250 node Renderfarm with 48 cores per node.

I rock an X4 620 in my main rig, and am building myself one of the afortermentioned 48 core servers (Just the 1 node).

Oh, and build/repair/spec/upgrade a whole variety of systems, every day, because it's how I make my living.

My "real world experience" sorted and out of the way.

For pure performance, go i7.
For performance/cost ratio, go quad or hex from AMD.

That, my friend, sums it up, in it's entirety. If you won't go for AMD, given your stated goal of a cost-effective Gaming Rig, then it's nothing but pure fanboyism. It will play games, as good, if not slightly better, given the rest of they system is the same.

Personally, I don't care what name is on the box, as long as it fills the criteria I set out when building the thing. I ran Intel's throughout the C2D/C2Q era, and AMD stomped intel into the curb with the Athlon XP series. Both have highs and lows. Thus is life... deal with it.

Professional experience isn't exactly the same as what I do, and isn't really germane to the conversation.  The facts are that new you may have a point, or building a server that has to be there for customers.  I said earlier if I was doing this I would have a completely different thought process, and would be concerned more about details.   Putting together a unit from used/refurbed/open box parts off ebay it's a completely different world.  The fact is that I'm not seeing the price advantage, and so why should I worry about AMD?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:48:08
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205065
That's why I say the 5830 is ATI's worst card in years. It performs worse than the card it's replacing and costs more (even after the price cut when the GTX460 came out), has the power consumption and heat of the card two tiers above it, and is utterly stomped by Nvidia's competition to it, the GTX460. ATI really screwed up there, $200 is a crucial price point and if you aren't strong there you're going to have a lot of trouble. They started out strong with the 5770, but now that's at $150, and the 5830 just can't take up that mantle.

I know right. ATI cards can grab the power consumption, heat output, performance/price ball and run with it when compared to everything except a 460, in which case they fumble the ball completely. As you said, the 460 is in too crucial of a price point to ignore.

Heck, even I'm gonna buy one. Afrodisiac. THE fanboy.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:50:04
Quote from: chimera15;205069
Professional experience isn't exactly the same as what I do, and isn't really germane to the conversation.  The facts are that new you may have a point, or building a server that has to be there for customers.  I said earlier if I was doing this I would have a completely different thought process, and would be concerned more about details.   Putting together a unit from used/refurbed/open box parts off ebay it's a completely different world.  The fact is that I'm not seeing the price advantage, and so why should I worry about AMD?

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-X4-955-3-2GHZ-USED-/120598867230?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item1c1440ad1e#ht_500wt_1154

Sup Mr. Ebay. The very same CPU that was seen beating the i7s in games not only in the German benchmark I linked but the other two that you seem to have ignored. $110 buy it now. Surely you can't get a 920 for that cheap?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:55:56
Quote from: gr1m;205071
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-X4-955-3-2GHZ-USED-/120598867230?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item1c1440ad1e#ht_500wt_1154

Sup Mr. Ebay. The very same CPU that was seen beating the i7s in games not only in the German benchmark I linked but the other two that you seem to have ignored. $110 buy it now. Surely you can't get a 920 for that cheap?


Well, that's what I was looking for except for the fact it's from a 0 feedback user which I don't buy from.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:57:25
Speaking of eBay, don't you just hate it when a computer you really want is on eBay for a very good price, and no one has been bidding on it since it first went up around January...

... BUT ITS IN AUSTRALIA!

(http://www1.picturepush.com/photo/a/2582294/img/Anonymous/fuuu.png)

(An artist's impression of my current state)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: InSanCen on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:57:35
Quote from: chimera15;205069
Professional experience isn't exactly the same as what I do, and isn't really germane to the conversation.  The facts are that new you may have a point, but putting together a unit from used/refurbed/open box parts off ebay it's a completely different world.  The fact is that I'm not seeing the price advantage, and so why should I worry about AMD?

I should have put it a bit clearer.

In the last 20 years I have built literally thousands of systems, ranging from charity builds from my spares pile, through to the monster renderfarm. the bulk of my work is "normal" systems (Your falls squarely into that category).

My current machine is largely 2nd hand, bought from Forum's off of early adopters. What I am saying is very germane to what you are trying to do, because I do it 320+ days a year. The server/farm builds happen on average once or twice a year.

Last week I built a system, with an identical purpose to yours. Quality gaming, without spending silly money. PhenomII, 5770, 8GB, Intel X25M SSD+2TB, 600W Seasonic PSU. Job Done. All the parts were used bar the PSU. It came in about 20% cheaper than I could source an i7 rig that would perform in the same manner. the facts are, I simply could not build an i7 rig for the same money and keep performance on par.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:58:25
Quote from: gr1m;205071
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-X4-955-3-2GHZ-USED-/120598867230?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item1c1440ad1e#ht_500wt_1154

Sup Mr. Ebay. The very same CPU that was seen beating the i7s in games not only in the German benchmark I linked but the other two that you seem to have ignored. $110 buy it now. Surely you can't get a 920 for that cheap?

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-[URL=http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6]DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6 (http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6)[/URL]

Looks like this is the lowest at all reputable seller..  Still not bad at $150 if it indeed will compete with an i7.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 19:59:27
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/8/R/206379/original/image031.png)

$110 on Ebay.

(http://media.bestofmicro.com/8/V/206383/original/image035.png)

$110 on Ebay.

(http://media.bestofmicro.com/9/0/206388/original/image040.png)

$110 on Ebay (safer for your power supply).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/cpu.php?pid=69,70,71,76,77&tid=2

$110 on Ebay with a trivial overclock that can be done on the stock cooler unlike i7s (that I can walk you through via PMs).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/cpu.php?pid=69,70,71,76,77&tid=4

$110 on Ebay with that same overclock.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-4-Performance-Crysis-Warhead.html

$110 on Ebay, look at that mmmmm.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-5-Performance-S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-Clear-Sky.html

$110 on Ebay.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-7-Performance-Devil-May-Cry-4.html

$110 on Ebay.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:02:01
Quote from: chimera15;205076
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-[URL=http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6]DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6 (http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-3-2-GHz-CPU-AM3-Black-Edition-DDR3-/300434452166?cmd=ViewItem&pt=CPUs&hash=item45f349eec6)[/URL]

Looks like this is the lowest at all reputable seller..  Still not bad at $150 if it indeed will compete with an i7.

For $10 more you can get one from Newegg.com new. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=955-_-19-103-808-_-Product
C3 stepping too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.448292
Combo deal with an SSD, might be worth your while to look into. Don't know too much about SSDs. Both $270 after mail-in-rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.430449
Combo deal with an 890GX motherboard. $30 off, $40 off with mail-in-rebates. Come on. A CPU+decent mobo that can beat an i7 for the same price as an i7 CPU alone?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.430451
Combo deal with a better motherboard (890FX, essentially the cream of the crop of AMD motherboards, has broken the world Phenom II overclock record). Mighty attractive for $270 and you don't have to deal with shoddy Ebay crap. You can also run Crossfire with two ATI cards. 2x4890s anyone?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:04:04
Quote from: InSanCen;205075
I should have put it a bit clearer.

In the last 20 years I have built literally thousands of systems, ranging from charity builds from my spares pile, through to the monster renderfarm. the bulk of my work is "normal" systems (Your falls squarely into that category).

My current machine is largely 2nd hand, bought from Forum's off of early adopters. What I am saying is very germane to what you are trying to do, because I do it 320+ days a year. The server/farm builds happen on average once or twice a year.

Last week I built a system, with an identical purpose to yours. Quality gaming, without spending silly money. PhenomII, 5770, 8GB, Intel X25M SSD+2TB, 600W Seasonic PSU. Job Done. All the parts were used bar the PSU. It came in about 20% cheaper than I could source an i7 rig that would perform in the same manner. the facts are, I simply could not build an i7 rig for the same money and keep performance on par.



Well now that I have a more solid idea of what the amd competitor is, it may be that I could save about $100...

Part of the problem I've had with AMD's is that they have like 80 processors from different generations and lines all named exactly alike.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:05:03
AMD's current lineup is very consistent.

Opteron - Server
Phenom - High end Desktop
Athlon - Mainstream
Sempron - Budget

Are you sure you are not thinking of Intel?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:07:22
All you have to look at are Athlon II and Phenom II.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:07:40
The easiest AMD guide:

Phenom II - good
Athlon II - good
Anything else, don't bother.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: InSanCen on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:07:59
Quote from: chimera15;205080
Well now that I have a more solid idea of what the amd competitor is, it may be that I could save about $100...

Part of the problem I've had with AMD's is that they have like 80 processors from different generations and lines all named exactly alike.

Their naming scheme does indeed suck huge balls until you are used to it. Once you are, it's very easy. Athlon II or Phenom II, forget the rest.

Phenom II's, either 4 or 6 core are going to be fine. The aforementioned 955BE is a great chip, and trivial to overclock for further gains. That, with an 890 based motherboard, and whatever recent graphics card you choose are going to play pretty much anything you throw at it for the next few years.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:09:18
As far as I know, you can't find any previous gen AMDs in retail channels any more. Same can't be said for Intel...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:10:56
Quote from: ch_123;205087
As far as I know, you can't find any previous gen AMDs in retail channels any more. Same can't be said for Intel...

You still see occasional Brisbanes, but for the most part yes.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:12:10
They still sell Phenom 1 9950s on Newegg, lol. I'll try to do a little summary thing here:

Phenom II X# ###
The first # following the X is the number of cores it has. There are the following:
2 cores: Phenom II X2, can be unlocked into 3 or 4-cores since to meet demand, working chips are disabled and can be re-enabled
3 cores: Phenom II X3, can be unlocked into 4-cores
4 cores: Phenom II X4, if it is a low-end 8**, the missing cache can be unlocked to turn it into a 9** proper quad. The 960T however, and any new quad that will have a "T" following the 3 digit model number, is a crippled 6-core and can unlock to a full 6-core.
6 cores: Phenom II X6, the big cheese. 6 mother****ing cores.

The following 3 ###s are the model number. The first number almost corresponds to the number of cores. I say almost because of one exception:
All 2-cores are 5, so for example, Phenom II X2 550 or 555.
All 3-cores are 7, so for example, Phenom II X3 720 or 710.
Low-end 4-cores are 8 and high-end 4-cores are 9.
Phenom II X4 810 is a low-end 4-core that is missing some cache. This cache can be unlocked to turn it into a 910.

The second two numbers are a bit more random. For example, the highest end triple core is a 720 whereas the highest end quad core is a 965.

Phenom II CPUs to avoid:
Phenom II X4 920, 940 - these are AM2 chips and can only work with AM2 DDR2 motherboards. They are fully fledged quads but they are not AM3. However, all AM2 boards can accept AM3 processors because AM3 processors can work with both DDR2 and DDR3

Steppings:
The older stepping is the C2. C2s have ****ty IMCs (integrated memory controllers) and did not overclock very well. The CPU itself was fine but to gain overall system stability, sacrifices had to be made. My CPU is like that. The CPU itself can do 3.9GHz at 1.5V Prime95 Small-FFT stable (Small-FFT is CPU-only). The memory passes memtest at 6-5-6-17 timings, 1333MHz (which means it should work fine). However, to pass Prime95 Blend, which stresses your RAM and CPU and motherboard, I have to run my 720 at 3.7GHz with 1.55V and my memory at 7-8-7-22 timings because of the weak IMC.

The newer one is a C3. Some chips are guaranteed C3s. Phenom II X4 965s are C3s as are Phenom II X2 555s. The Phenom II X2 550 has two versions. The C3 with a locked multiplier (so, not a black edition), or a C2 with an unlocked multiplier (which used to be the flagship dual core until the 555). The only X4 955 left on Newegg is a C3.

Hope this helps.

Take all unlocking information with a grain of salt. I'm an unlock advocate but my 720 cannot boot unlocked. My sister's 720 can boot but is not stable enough to run the Start Menu, so the 4th core is truly unstable.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:12:13
Alright, having trouble finding a mobo...


Is this one? It looks just like my slit-a's lol Purple!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ECS-nforce-6-Phenom-Core-16X-PCI-Express-8GB-DDR2-/150412691057?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item23054b8671 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ECS-nforce-6-Phenom-Core-16X-PCI-Express-8GB-DDR2-/150412691057?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item23054b8671)

They use ddr2?

Oh ok, it has to be a phenom 2?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:18:23
Quote from: gr1m;205077
Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/8/R/206379/original/image031.png)


$110 on Ebay.

Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/8/V/206383/original/image035.png)


$110 on Ebay.

Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/9/0/206388/original/image040.png)


$110 on Ebay (safer for your power supply).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/cpu.php?pid=69,70,71,76,77&tid=2

$110 on Ebay with a trivial overclock that can be done on the stock cooler unlike i7s (that I can walk you through via PMs).

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/charts/cpu.php?pid=69,70,71,76,77&tid=4

$110 on Ebay with that same overclock.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-4-Performance-Crysis-Warhead.html

$110 on Ebay, look at that mmmmm.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-5-Performance-S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-Clear-Sky.html

$110 on Ebay.

http://www.modreactor.com/english/Reviews/Test-ATI-HD-4890-1GB-CrossFire-AMD-Phenom-II-955-BE-vs-Intel-Core-i7-920/Page-7-Performance-Devil-May-Cry-4.html

$110 on Ebay.



I have to wonder that they show the c2q outperforming the i7 in this case?  I think I'd almost rather buy a c2q for my current systems than buy a whole new amd system.  These games tests are more about graphics cards again I would think, and the Phenoms seem to be more about competing with the c2q's than the i7.s..

I could upgrade my systems to c2q's for a couple hundred.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: InSanCen on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:18:54
Quote from: chimera15;205090
Alright, having trouble finding a mobo...


Is this one?


It'll do the job, but it's AM2+ rather than AM3. It will work, but not as well as an AM3 board, and you lose DDR3 support. If you have a pile of DDR2 this may be ok... personally, I'd sell the DDR2 (Prices are high at the moment), and invest in an AM3 board and some DDR3 RAM.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:20:37
Quote from: chimera15;205091
I think I'd almost rather buy a c2q for my current systems than buy a whole new amd system.


LGA775 is a dead end. AM3 is likely to support the next generation of AMD chips as well as any future iterations of the current generation.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:25:16
What motherboard and RAM do you have? If you can get your hands on a used Q9650 for cheap enough, that would probably be better than a Phenom II and i7 for gaming purposes. Q9650s are badass chips period. AM3 does have the longevity advantage over LGA775 (which is currently dead) and especially over the new boards because Intel are pricks, but hey, if a Q9650 can last you another 2 years if you throw it into your current PC, why not get that.

Keep in mind not all LGA775 motherboards can support 45nm C2Qs.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:28:28
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIGABYTE-GA-MA790XT-UD4P-Motherboard-AMD-790X-AM3-DDR3-/170491257032?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item27b21220c8#ht_640wt_911

That's my motherboard. People hate on Gigabyte but in my opinion and in the opinions of everyone who owns one, it's a flagship AM3 motherboard. FSB beasts (although with black editions, FSBs don't matter).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 21 July 2010, 20:45:01
It looks like what I'll try to do is get a 4890 or 260 and pop that into my current c2ds and see if that'll solve my current warrock problems or make any difference at all.   Hopefully in a few months, or keep watching for deals I'll go with an i7.   I also plan to work on getting the keyboard I'm making produced.   Hopefully by then I can either get a deal that equals phenom prices or I'll go with a phenom.  In the meantime I'll try to get my crap together and try to produce a portfolio that will get me hired as an illustrator, or some kind of designer. If I think it's good enough I'll say screw the computer and I'll try to go to Japan.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:26:27
I ended up going with this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120587946384&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I've had some luck with refurbs lately, and looks like a reputable seller that sells a lot.

I didn't want to go with ati even if it meant a slightly better performance for the price cause I know from my laptops, and from the ati cards I had before I switched to nvidia that their drivers are always crap and usually they stop supporting anything they sell really quickly.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:32:43
Did you have the ATI card in the same AMD machine that sucked 15 years ago? 2010 and my 2-year-old ATI card is still well supported and beats many of the new generation video cards. Too bad, you could have had the same. Also, it's not slightly better. Did you not read the reviews I linked, or the real-world experience I talked from? The 4890 is a viable high-end card today that rivals a GTX 285.

Whatever, the GTX 260 isn't a bad card. Do you know if the one you bought is the one with 192 cores or the updated one with 216?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:35:17
Quote from: gr1m;205311
Did you have the ATI card in the same AMD machine that sucked 15 years ago? 2010 and my 2-year-old ATI card is still well supported and beats many of the new generation video cards. Too bad, you could have had the same. Also, it's not slightly better. Did you not read the reviews I linked, or the real-world experience I talked from? The 4890 is a viable high-end card today that rivals a GTX 285.

Whatever, the GTX 260 isn't a bad card. Do you know if the one you bought is the one with 192 cores or the updated one with 216?

It's the 192 one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127361 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127361)

I have ati's in my laptops and it's a pain in the ass to get drivers for them.  I have a 2300hd in my gateway c-142xl  that was unsupported basically like a month after I bought it brand new, and a 2400hd in my tx2500z that I had to get hacked drivers for to get them to work at all with windows 7.

Yes I stopped buying ati like 10 years ago after the same thing happened to me.  A brand new card I bought from Compusa was unsupported a month or two after I bought it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:36:19
Quote from: gr1m;205097
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIGABYTE-GA-MA790XT-UD4P-Motherboard-AMD-790X-AM3-DDR3-/170491257032?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item27b21220c8#ht_640wt_911

That's my motherboard. People hate on Gigabyte but in my opinion and in the opinions of everyone who owns one, it's a flagship AM3 motherboard. FSB beasts (although with black editions, FSBs don't matter).


What's wrong with Gigabyte? I don't bother buying anything else.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:38:57
1.) Ask question like you're actually curious
2.) See what everyone thinks is good
3.) Say that what everyone else thinks is good is actually garbage because of stupid reason X
4.) ?????????
5.) trollprofit
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:45:58
Quote from: ch_123;205315
What's wrong with Gigabyte? I don't bother buying anything else.


RMA problems as of late. They're on the OCN boycott list next to EVGA and XFX now (and MSI too for some reason) (I haven't used EVGA and I support the XFX boycott, in fact I led the damn thing). I'd still buy a Gigabyte board over anything. Asus? Don't make me laugh. Overrated. People who use Asus boards are the same people that think Nvidia is better than ATI and AMD is a third-world company that makes Intel knockoffs. MSI? Maybe. DFI? The only board maker I actually liked before it closed down.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:46:13
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205318
1.) Ask question like you're actually curious
2.) See what everyone thinks is good
3.) Say that what everyone else thinks is good is actually garbage because of stupid reason X
4.) ?????????
5.) trollprofit

I was seriously considering this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-ATI-Radeon-HD-4890-HD4890-1-GB-R4890-Mint-Condition-/290455035307?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item43a0781dab
 (http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-ATI-Radeon-HD-4890-HD4890-1-GB-R4890-Mint-Condition-/290455035307?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item43a0781dab)


But the fact it's a lot less reputable seller, and the driver issues I've had in the past made me decide to stick to nvidia.  It was a toss up really.

I may still end up building a phenom in a month or two which I may decided to go with an ati if I can find some good deals.

This thread really helped me to see what's out there and bring me up to speed on what the options are.  Had I been left to my own and not started this thread I probably would have done 2x 9800gt's cause it's what I know.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:52:52
So you seriously passed up a reference 4890 for $5 more than you bought a 192 GTX 260 for?

Sorry man but there's fanboyism and then there's outright idiocy. Really. I'll put it in simpler terms since you seem to blank out when the word "ATI" is mentioned: you passed up a GTX 285 to save $5 and go with a 192-core GTX 260.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:55:28
I wouldn't compare the 4890 to a GTX285. It gets close in some comparisons, but it's closest to the GTX275.

But yeah, imagine passing up to a GTX275 1GB for $5 more than a GTX260 192 896MB.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:57:12
Quote from: gr1m;205323
So you seriously passed up a reference 4890 for $5 more than you bought a 192 GTX 260 for?

Sorry man but there's fanboyism and then there's outright idiocy. Really. I'll put it in simpler terms since you seem to blank out when the word "ATI" is mentioned: you passed up a GTX 285 to save $5 and go with a 192-core GTX 260.

Yeah, a gtx 285 with crappy drivers, from a less reputable seller in used unknown condition.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:57:32
Quote from: gr1m;205320
RMA problems as of late. They're on the OCN boycott list next to EVGA and XFX now (and MSI too for some reason) (I haven't used EVGA and I support the XFX boycott, in fact I led the damn thing). I'd still buy a Gigabyte board over anything. Asus? Don't make me laugh. Overrated. People who use Asus boards are the same people that think Nvidia is better than ATI and AMD is a third-world company that makes Intel knockoffs. MSI? Maybe. DFI? The only board maker I actually liked before it closed down.


I had two different model ASUS motherboards that died on me in the same way. What ****e.

Never had any issues with Gigabyte boards. And they're usually well priced and have good features/build quality.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:01:41
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205324
I wouldn't compare the 4890 to a GTX285. It gets close in some comparisons, but it's closest to the GTX275.

But yeah, imagine passing up to a GTX275 1GB for $5 more than a GTX260 192 896MB.


I've taken a chance tons of times on ati and always been unhappy with my decision, so it's going to take a lot for me to decide to buy one of their cards again.  I still put up with them in laptops because they're still better than intel graphics, and that's the only reason.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:03:47
Quote from: gr1m;204955
"AMD is from the same people who make GeForce and Asus mother boards. So they make A lot of money to begin with so they don't need more. Don't worry."

The sad reality is that AMD has been losing too much money to even be able to compete with a pimple on Intel's ass. Intel, by contrast, is expanding. So much so that when I'm done with my EE degree, I'm definitely going to try and get a job at Intel.

Show Image
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/V/8/233108/original/feature_image07.jpg)


Intel sacks employees over 50. Really horrible company to work with -- it's easy to tell from their business structure.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:06:28
So at the end of the day:

You still bought a shoddy power supply
You still bought a GTX 260
You're still going to buy i7

I'm really wondering why I bother. I suppose I can blame a bit of it on you too. Why bother making a help thread if you know everything?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:09:58
Quote from: gr1m;205335
So at the end of the day:

You still bought a shoddy power supply
You still bought a GTX 260
You're still going to buy i7

I'm really wondering why I bother. I suppose I can blame a bit of it on you too. Why bother making a help thread if you know everything?

Sides it wasn't $5, it was $15 with shipping.

I didn't buy a shoddy power supply, it's really excellent,
I would have bought sli'd 9800's instead got a 260
And I probably will buy an i7 unless I get a really really good deal on a phen2 if I decide to build a full computer at all, which probably won't happen cause I'll probably use the money to go to Japan after I graduate.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:13:17
X7 900W isn't excellent, just solid.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:16:44
Quote from: gr1m;205320
RMA problems as of late. They're on the OCN boycott list next to EVGA and XFX now (and MSI too for some reason) (I haven't used EVGA and I support the XFX boycott, in fact I led the damn thing). I'd still buy a Gigabyte board over anything. Asus? Don't make me laugh. Overrated. People who use Asus boards are the same people that think Nvidia is better than ATI and AMD is a third-world company that makes Intel knockoffs. MSI? Maybe. DFI? The only board maker I actually liked before it closed down.


Really? Jesus, what the hell is left out there to buy?? Good call on asus, over-rated is the right term. Not that I would avoid them like the plague (I have run asus boards with no issues) but their satisfaction among the communities I have frequented (granted, Im not really into the hardware scene these days) is luke warm at best. They just seem to have their name out there everywhere.
I recall when I built my old x2 system, asus boards with nforce (cant recall the series) had tonnes of issues with RAM support. I think I ended up with a biostar in that one (has been solid, actually).
For my upcoming build (phenom II), all I have been looking at are gigabyte. Seem well received at ncix based on real users comments.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:18:56
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205341
X7 900W isn't excellent, just solid.

Well it's excellent for me, especially for the price I paid. It's my first modular and over 750w psu. But like you said, it's not shoddy which is what he was saying.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:21:24
Quote from: gr1m;205335


I'm really wondering why I bother. I suppose I can blame a bit of it on you too. Why bother making a help thread if you know everything?


meh, I learned a thing or two (I don't game, so notice how I didn't chime in with my two cents on video cards. I care more about 2d than 3d, and haven't run windows in god knows how long) about the latest in overpriced graphics cards ;)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:41:56
Quote from: gr1m;205335
So at the end of the day:

You still bought a shoddy power supply
You still bought a GTX 260
You're still going to buy i7

I'm really wondering why I bother. I suppose I can blame a bit of it on you too. Why bother making a help thread if you know everything?


Okay first of all, you need to learn manners and stop criticizing products when someone says it works well for them. Just because YOU think it's bad or not "the best", doesn't mean you have to enforce it.

BECAUSE the product works well for whomever is using it, they can say it's excellent as it gets the job done well.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:48:23
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205331
Intel sacks employees over 50. Really horrible company to work with -- it's easy to tell from their business structure.

Almost every company does that.  It's so they don't have to pay benefits. It's total age discrimination. In Japan they don't even care, they simply don't hire anyone after 35, and it's accepted as the norm.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:52:06
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205370
Okay first of all, you need to learn manners and stop criticizing products when someone says it works well for them. Just because YOU think it's bad or not "the best", doesn't mean you have to enforce it.

BECAUSE the product works well for whomever is using it, they can say it's excellent as it gets the job done well.

Is this about your G70 thread? When you got called out for calling it an excellent CRT when in fact, according to the specifications and common opinion, it's a piece of ****?

If something works it doesn't make it excellent. Not at all. You need to learn that "This thing works" is different from "This thing works exceptionally". I've had many products that work. My Pentium 4 worked and it was a piece of ****. Onboard sound works and it sounds like ****. Semprons work and they're pieces of ****; far from excellent. You know what, I can go to Walmart right now and buy an electric guitar for like $30 bucks. It will work. Excellent guitar? Not by a long shot.

If you want to call a power supply excellent, you should have the numbers on your side, which in this case, they are not. On top of that, it was purchased on Ebay, open box; if that isn't enough to earn it the shoddy moniker, this should do it: IT'S OWN INCLUDED MODULAR CABLES DID NOT FIT INTO THE POWER SUPPLY and had to be modified by chimera15.

Quote
Definitions of excellent on the Web:

very good;of the highest quality; "made an excellent speech"; "the school has excellent teachers"; "a first-class mind"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:53:50
One of my issues with amd, is that every amd I've ever used has had a different feel of the way programs open, and the desktop in general, even my turion x2 ultra laptops, and I don't like it, like more jarring or something, I don't know, maybe it's just me impressing my opinions of amd on the machine or something. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:55:47
Quote from: gr1m;205379
Is this about your G70 thread? When you got called out for calling it an excellent CRT when in fact, according to the specifications and common opinion, it's a piece of ****?

If something works it doesn't make it excellent. Not at all. You need to learn that "This thing works" is different from "This thing works exceptionally". I've had many products that work. My Pentium 4 worked and it was a piece of ****. Onboard sound works and it sounds like ****. Semprons work and they're pieces of ****; far from excellent. You know what, I can go to Walmart right now and buy an electric guitar for like $30 bucks. It will work. Excellent guitar? Not by a long shot.

If you want to call a power supply excellent, you should have the numbers on your side, which in this case, they are not. On top of that, it was purchased on Ebay, open box; if that isn't enough to earn it the shoddy moniker, this should do it: IT'S OWN INCLUDED MODULAR CABLES DID NOT FIT INTO THE POWER SUPPLY and had to be modified by chimera15.


You're angry kid.

No, chimera is satisfied with the product. You're vehemently trying to say it's of poor quality. Your opinion is void if the product IS indeed working to satisfaction.

It doesn't matter if he has to do a few things here and they're, it's working. I had to cut some plastic tabs off of fan connectors. Some manufacturers just make things differently.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:56:12
Quote from: gr1m;205379
Is this about your G70 thread? When you got called out for calling it an excellent CRT when in fact, according to the specifications and common opinion, it's a piece of ****?

If something works it doesn't make it excellent. Not at all. You need to learn that "This thing works" is different from "This thing works exceptionally". I've had many products that work. My Pentium 4 worked and it was a piece of ****. Onboard sound works and it sounds like ****. Semprons work and they're pieces of ****; far from excellent. You know what, I can go to Walmart right now and buy an electric guitar for like $30 bucks. It will work. Excellent guitar? Not by a long shot.

If you want to call a power supply excellent, you should have the numbers on your side, which in this case, they are not. On top of that, it was purchased on Ebay, open box; if that isn't enough to earn it the shoddy moniker, this should do it: IT'S OWN INCLUDED MODULAR CABLES DID NOT FIT INTO THE POWER SUPPLY and had to be modified by chimera15.

The numbers and reviews do support it being an excellent power supply for its class.  And it wasn't a big modifications.  You probably wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know I'd done it.  It was probably a result of the seller putting cables for a different supply in with it or something, not the manufacturer.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:59:44
Quote from: chimera15;205382
One of my issues with amd, is that every amd I've ever used has had a different feel of the way programs open, and the desktop in general, even my turion x2 ultra laptops, and I don't like it, like more jarring or something, I don't know, maybe it's just me impressing my opinions of amd on the machine or something. lol


Most probably. I haven't noticed regular operation differences between Intel and AMD rigs. Especially no jarring.

Quote from: EverythingIBM;205386
You're angry kid.

No, chimera is satisfied with the product. You're vehemently trying to say it's of poor quality. Your opinion is void if the product IS indeed working to satisfaction.

It doesn't matter if he has to do a few things here and they're, it's working. I had to cut some plastic tabs off of fan connectors. Some manufacturers just make things differently.


Give it time, he hasn't used it 24/7 yet. Bad PSUs aren't supposed to die on the first day. That would just make them broken PSUs and not bad PSUs. How am I being vehement? The word "shoddy" does not really have strong emotional connotations.

Also, it was the power supply's own included cables that didn't fit into the power supply. I mean, sure, some manufacturers make things differently but even two parts of the same product?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:59:47
Quote from: chimera15;205382
One of my issues with amd, is that every amd I've ever used has had a different feel of the way programs open, and the desktop in general, even my turion x2 ultra laptops, and I don't like it, like more jarring or something, I don't know, maybe it's just me impressing my opinions of amd on the machine or something. lol


AMD just isn't as mainstream. The slower low-end semprons ran like mud... I was laughing at my friend's laptop when he had it and attempted to run "mummy maze" -- took 10 minutes to open (after that though, he's not getting AMD again I guess).

Intel seems to work better for me, AMD *did* have advantages in the past, but like everything, when the technology catches up, the companies that hastily rushed higher-end products eventually go into debt (3dfx *cough*).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:01:58
Quote from: gr1m;205390


Give it time, he hasn't used it 24/7 yet. Bad PSUs aren't supposed to die on the first day. That would just make them broken PSUs and not bad PSUs. How am I being vehement? The word "shoddy" does not really have strong emotional connotations.

Also, it was the power supply's own included cables that didn't fit into the power supply. I mean, sure, some manufacturers make things differently but even two parts of the same product?


The PSU will work fine. It won't die suddenly.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:02:59
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205391
AMD just isn't as mainstream.


Most big name computer companies use them. That works for me.

Quote
The slower low-end semprons ran like mud...


Were you comparing them with the contemporary Celeron? Were you sure that the CPU was to blame and not a poorly installed/maintained OS installation? I suspect a lot of variables were not accounted for in this assessment.

Quote
You're angry kid.


Says the guy who claims to shout at Macs in computer stores.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:05:40
Quote from: chimera15;205387
The numbers and reviews do support it being an excellent power supply for its class.  And it wasn't a big modifications.  You probably wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know I'd done it.  It was probably a result of the seller putting cables for a different supply in with it or something, not the manufacturer.

I wouldn't have noticed it no. But the fact remains you bought something that didn't work out of the box and you had to modify it. Do you really want to trust something like that with delivering power to your components?

Numbers? Phaedrus is the self-proclaimed numbers king and he sure as hell doesn't think the numbers support it being an excellent power supply. Reviews? They mean a product works. Nothing more.

Quote from: kishy;205389
Yeah. I'm all for liking things which aren't necessarily good (hell, I like my 286, and it isn't even a 'good' 286). The thing is, if you like inferior things, you need to admit they are inferior, otherwise you look like a jackass.

"I really like ______ despite it being technically inferior to such things as ______, _______ or _____. For me, ______ attribute is more important than _______ overall presentation" is generally a good form to follow when bragging about liking not-the-best things.

PSUs, no exception. Buy a reputable brand at an appropriate price, NEW, or face the risk of destroying your stuff. I'm running a pretty questionable unit in my desktop (it's a Thermaltake, but not a particularly good one) and I understand the risks involved. I simply don't have the cash to go buying a PSU that costs more than $40. Sooner or later I'll end up with a good one, but until such a time, it's a gamble every time I flip the back switch on and press that power button.

The fact in this case is that power supplies all tend to appear to work alike when they're new, even trashy ones. The difference is in how they die and how long it takes to die. These things aren't known until the death occurs.

Listen to this man.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:06:51
Quote from: gr1m;205390
Most probably. I haven't noticed regular operation differences between Intel and AMD rigs. Especially no jarring.



Give it time, he hasn't used it 24/7 yet. Bad PSUs aren't supposed to die on the first day. That would just make them broken PSUs and not bad PSUs. How am I being vehement? The word "shoddy" does not really have strong emotional connotations.

Also, it was the power supply's own included cables that didn't fit into the power supply. I mean, sure, some manufacturers make things differently but even two parts of the same product?

It wasn't like it was a quality issue that I had to repair. The plugs on the cables were clearly differently shaped.  Like triangular shapes where square should be and such, and tabs that were larger than they should be.  I'm pretty sure the cables were for a different although perhaps similar supply, as they were very close.  I just had to trim down some of the shapes here and there.

I thought for a while I was doing something wrong, like had the wrong plug that went into the hole or something, but triple checked it, with a multimeter as well.  None of the connectors on a single line would fit the holes, so it had to be wrong connectors.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: whininggit on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:07:45
Quote from: chimera15;205382
One of my issues with amd, is that every amd I've ever used has had a different feel of the way programs open, and the desktop in general, even my turion x2 ultra laptops, and I don't like it, like more jarring or something, I don't know, maybe it's just me impressing my opinions of amd on the machine or something. lol
It might not be the CPU causing this. I'm not entirely sure I know what you're talking about but I think I might - slow/jerky screen redraw although everything else is running smoothly?

Current ATI graphics card employ some very aggressive power saving techniques and leads to horrendous screen redraw speeds, to the point that a moderately complex page in Firefox can be seen redrawing with the naked eye, and opening large windows occurs in several stages from top to bottom (not as bad as when using the failsafe VGA driver, but not as quick as it should be). I considered replacing my Radeon HD 3650 with an equivalent nVidia card, but settled on overriding the PowerPlay clock speeds to something more sensible (300MHz idle vs 110MHz).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:11:26
Quote
One of my issues with amd, is that every amd I've ever used has had a different feel of the way programs open, and the desktop in general, even my turion x2 ultra laptops, and I don't like it, like more jarring or something, I don't know, maybe it's just me impressing my opinions of amd on the machine or something. lol


Wait, I'm lost. Are we talking about CPUs or electric garage doors here?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:22:49
Quote from: ch_123;205400
Wait, I'm lost. Are we talking about CPUs or electric garage doors here?

Amd garage door openers clearly open differently from intel. lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:23:37
Quote from: chimera15;205398
It wasn't like it was a quality issue that I had to repair. The plugs on the cables were clearly differently shaped.  Like triangular shapes where square should be and such, and tabs that were larger than they should be.  I'm pretty sure the cables were for a different although perhaps similar supply, as they were very close.  I just had to trim down some of the shapes here and there.

I thought for a while I was doing something wrong, like had the wrong plug that went into the hole or something, but triple checked it, with a multimeter as well.  None of the connectors on a single line would fit the holes, so it had to be wrong connectors.


ok seriously, how did I over-look this? That sounds ****ing SKETCH-EYE!

Forget the power supply quality question for a second, how do you nonchalantly continue to be like:

"Yeah, ebay rocks for buying hundreds of dollars worth of computer equipment. Sure, I might have to whittle something new out of the garbage they send me, but I'll do anything to save a buck or two."
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:27:43
Quote from: instantkamera;205407
ok seriously, how did I over-look this? That sounds ****ing SKETCH-EYE!

Forget the power supply quality question for a second, how do you nonchalantly continue to be like:

"Yeah, ebay rocks for buying hundreds of dollars worth of computer equipment. Sure, I might have to whittle something new out of the garbage they send me, but I'll do anything to save a buck or two."


I think getting something for 1/3 the cost is worth a little whittling time.  Sides I was a professional whittler, so it's no big deal to me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:37:43
Quote from: gr1m;205379


If something works it doesn't make it excellent. Not at all. You need to learn that "This thing works" is different from "This thing works exceptionally".


Totally reminds me of a newer Louis CK routine (which I am unable to find in video or transcribed verbatim anywhere ATM) where he shares his disapproval at the overuse of "top-shelf" adjectives, like "hilarious" when something is nowhere near hilarious.

Funny guy.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:49:52
Quote from: chimera15;205409
I think getting something for 1/3 the cost is worth a little whittling time.  Sides I was a professional whittler, so it's no big deal to me.


"This Chongchongic PSU has a retail value of $100, but order now with your credit card on this exclusive offer and get it for only $32.95!"
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 21:10:47
you should have bought this

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/cummarks.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 21:56:37
I swear I have that issue somewhere... actually I think they got tossed when I moved provinces. But I still have all my MaxCDs
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 21:59:31
lol @ s3. I had a savage 4 (diamond card) as well as the ever-popular s3 trio (in a VLB card i think)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:05:12
so only the top three are still biz (g400 was matrox, I BELIEVE, and they are technically still in business). I miss having all that choice (even if it was pretty superficial). I guess thats why the GPU makers now have to make 400 versions of their own products. illusion of "Choice".
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:09:55
HFS!! s3 still making their own GPUs?

http://www.s3graphics.com/en/products/class3.aspx?productId=19

that thing probably sucks, I see VIAs logo on that website. That company also owns cyrix, talk about a bowl of taiwanese suck.

but they distribute *nix drivers. good for them.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:30:18
Nvidia: still in business
ATI: owned by AMD
3DFX: out of business, employees went to Nvidia
S3: very small-time 2D/basic 3D, not a true going concern
Matrox: out of business
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:42:01
Quote from: D-EJ915;205498
Show Image
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/cummarks.jpg)


Bungholio combined with phallic object... just wrong.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:42:50
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205518
Nvidia: still in business
ATI: owned by AMD
3DFX: out of business, employees went to Nvidia
S3: very small-time 2D/basic 3D, not a true going concern
Matrox: out of business

actually (having lived in Mtl) I know for a fact Matrox is NOT out of business. I knew about the rest, save for the surprising status of S3.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:48:23
Quote from: instantkamera;205523
actually (having lived in Mtl) I know for a fact Matrox is NOT out of business. I knew about the rest, save for the surprising status of S3.

When I read that, I thought automatically of the random Maxtor products I see sometimes in Futureshops but that's probably not what you meant is it? Do they have an office here?

random maxtor futureshop product (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/maxtor-onetouch-4-3-5-640gb-external-hard-drive-stm306404ota3e1-rk-black/10121059.aspx?path=a7fc1a9fd6e0d917dbb550b249b65302en02)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:54:34
Quote from: gr1m;205526
When I read that, I thought automatically of the random Maxtor products I see sometimes in Futureshops but that's probably not what you meant is it? Do they have an office here?

random maxtor futureshop product (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/maxtor-onetouch-4-3-5-640gb-external-hard-drive-stm306404ota3e1-rk-black/10121059.aspx?path=a7fc1a9fd6e0d917dbb550b249b65302en02)


not MAXTOR, MATROX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrox)

is you dyslexic, foo? ;)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 22:59:49
and yes, Matrox is a Canadian company, founded and based in Quebec:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1055+boul+Saint-Regis+,+Dorval,+QC,+H9P2T4&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1055+St+Regis+Blvd,+Dorval,+Communaut%C3%A9-Urbaine-de-Montr%C3%A9al,+Quebec&ll=45.491006,-73.767292&spn=0.011733,0.01929&z=16&layer=c&cbll=45.490924,-73.767123&panoid=ZZzdbwdM8f67eotqq4SgYQ&cbp=12,45.27,,0,-1.01

right la, 'sti.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 23:08:50
I think someone is dyslexic lol
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 23:14:09
these cards are almost as long as that

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/FXs.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 23:14:57
Oh shi-

Gimme a braek, it's 12 MA.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 08:00:18
Quote from: D-EJ915;205531
these cards are almost as long as that

Show Image
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/FXs.jpg)


Those ARE huge, what are they? I would guess voodoos in SLI(scan line interleave, not the newfangled SLI), but I can see DVI interfaces, which I dont think they had, plus I dont see the bridge connector thingy that connects the two. Do tell.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 08:09:46
3dLabs?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 08:16:10
Nvidia SLI = 3DFX SLI with different name. Remember, all the 3DFX folks went to Nvidia when they shut down. Nvidia just changed the words behind the acronym to avoid copyright infringement while keeping the meaning clear. The new wording doesn't even make sense, "scaled link interface"? That doesn't mean anything, whereas "scan line interleave" is a perfectly sensible technical term.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 08:23:05
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205579
Nvidia SLI = 3DFX SLI with different name. Remember, all the 3DFX folks went to Nvidia when they shut down. Nvidia just changed the words behind the acronym to avoid copyright infringement while keeping the meaning clear. The new wording doesn't even make sense, "scaled link interface"? That doesn't mean anything, whereas "scan line interleave" is a perfectly sensible technical term.

Yeah I was just trying not to get trolled by crazies on the forum crying foul: "they didn't have SLI back then" or something to that effect.

Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that I failed?

Edit:

It is SCALABLE Link Interface, by the way. Which, while it doesn't quite sum up the theory of how the technology is supposed to work, it does DESCRIBE the technology as it IS scalable as well as beings a "link-interface" for the cards.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 09:47:39
Yeah, but how vague is that? You have a link interface. Ok. And it's scalable. Ok. SO what's it a link interface for? Why should I care?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 11:05:39
Quote from: instantkamera;205575
Those ARE huge, what are they? I would guess voodoos in SLI(scan line interleave, not the newfangled SLI), but I can see DVI interfaces, which I dont think they had, plus I dont see the bridge connector thingy that connects the two. Do tell.


They're nothing compared to MY voodoo card (It's one of the first ones; a real footlong!).
Title: graphics cards
Post by: audioave10 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 11:14:12
Back when video cards were very small, I saw one of those Voodoo cards and thought "perfect name".
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 12:28:05
Quote from: microsoft windows;205599
They're nothing compared to MY voodoo card (It's one of the first ones; a real footlong!).


arent the latest (voodoo5) cards the longest of the 3dfx card? Sorry, everything you have IS awesome.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 12:49:35
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205585
Yeah, but how vague is that? You have a link interface. Ok. And it's scalable. Ok. SO what's it a link interface for? Why should I care?

You say that like you have NO context at all for the term SLI.

Some would say that it is a sign of the times. Computer manufacturers try to obscure more of the technical details to the consumer, or certainly don't go out of their way to inform.

The reality is likely this:

SLI was an acronym that NV wanted to use for nostalgia - they knew gamers from the voodoo days would recognize the acronym, and that it denoted technology they were likely SOMEWHAT familiar with (parallel processing for their 3d graphic rendering).

However, despite your contention that this is the same technology, it really ISN'T (I must admit I am not that savvy when it comes to gaming, so graphics cards are not my thing. I did some research).

For one thing, Nvidia has Split Frame Rendering. SFR IS similar to Scan Line Interleaving, but works in a more intelligent and dynamic fashion based on frame composition. IF this was the only algorithm they used, I could see them keeping the OG "SLI". However, they also have Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) which does exactly what you would guess, as well as SLI Anti Aliasing (AA).

Thus, to use SLI as an acronym for "Scan Line Interleav[ing]" would be factually inaccurate, so they made something that (sorta) fit.

souce:wikipedia, of course.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 13:13:50
Quote from: instantkamera;205615
arent the latest (voodoo5) cards the longest of the 3dfx card? Sorry, everything you have IS awesome.


I don't know. I know my old I3D Voodoo is almost a foot long. It just barely fits in my full tower Gateway2000. Who knows, though. Maybe those Voodoo5 ones are even bigger...
Title: graphics cards
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 13:54:55
Almost a foot? My Sapphire 4870 is 11.5", and that's considered just on the long side of average. Look at the 5970s.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 14:07:02
I didn't measure it exactly. But it's one of these:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7b/IntergraphVoodooRush.jpg

It's pretty big.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Fri, 23 July 2010, 16:16:25
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;205642
Almost a foot? My Sapphire 4870 is 11.5", and that's considered just on the long side of average. Look at the 5970s.


I think that's longer than my stupid quadro fx 3400. Anything longer than a quadro and it might clash into the P4 heatsink lol.
(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11838&stc=1&d=1279919766)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 16:18:09
They used to have combo cards that were fairly common that took up the entire case as well, back in the early days, that did like 5 things that were previously on separate cards.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:15:50
I remember those!


I got one of those Quadro's lying around. I use my GeForce 5200 that I picked out of a busted computer a few years ago for its VGA port. It's a decent card.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:24:26
Quote from: microsoft windows;205728
I remember those!


I got one of those Quadro's lying around. I use my GeForce 5200 that I picked out of a busted computer a few years ago for its VGA port. It's a decent card.


The problem is all of my monitors are VGA only. I doubt DVI would really enhance the picture anyhow, but Nvidia could have at least had the courtesy to add a VGA port. My DVI to VGA cable (that I use) only supports 60 Hz, opposed to my adapter + VGA cable which supports 75 Hz.

Why do I even bother. I'm going to get a good ATI card that has VGA one of these days.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:30:53
My Geforce FX 55200's got both a VGA and DVI in it. My IBM P275 monitor can also handle both analogue and digital input (It's got a switch on the front to switch between them). I use the analogue input (although I oughta consider DVI since it's running at a high resolution).

VGA cable only supporting 75Hz? That's something I've never heard of. You oughta take a good look and see if Windows is recognizing the monitor right.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:34:37
Quote from: instantkamera;205575
Those ARE huge, what are they? I would guess voodoos in SLI(scan line interleave, not the newfangled SLI), but I can see DVI interfaces, which I dont think they had, plus I dont see the bridge connector thingy that connects the two. Do tell.

HP FX10 one of the fastest cards around when it was released.  After that they went with an external solution the Diamond FireGL2.  SGI and Sun had some huge ones in their deskside systems, the XVR-4000 (http://photos.sun.com/page/230) being an example which is the same size as the CPU board. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/enthauptet/bin/quads1.jpg)
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:36:50
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205734
The problem is all of my monitors are VGA only. I doubt DVI would really enhance the picture anyhow, but Nvidia could have at least had the courtesy to add a VGA port. My DVI to VGA cable (that I use) only supports 60 Hz, opposed to my adapter + VGA cable which supports 75 Hz.

Why do I even bother. I'm going to get a good ATI card that has VGA one of these days.


On a lot of flatscreen monitors, the difference between VGA and DVI is quite profound. Older Dell LCDs in particular would have lots of blur in the centre of the screen when using VGA, but would be perfectly sharp under DVI.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:38:31
With old LCD's, you need to adjust the refresh rate to minimize blurriness. I know that the old Dell's would get quite blurry at 75Hz so I'd turn them down to 60 and they'd be sharp. But the new HP monitors at work use analogue input but still look quite sharp at 1080x1024.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:44:53
Well LCDs don't really have a refresh rate to begin with anyway so running them at 60Hz is what you are supposed to be doing.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:53:00
LCD's do indeed have a refresh rate. They just don't flicker like many CRT's do at 60Hz. But using a CRT running at 144Hz definitely beats an LCD at 60Hz by a LOT.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:56:03
wat
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:57:31
BUT WHEN I OPEN UP WINDOWS DISPLAY PROPERTIES IT SAYS MY MONITOR HAS REFRESH RATE

Amirite?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:58:13
I don't know much about LCD refresh rates. I know I run mine at the normal 60Hz because it's a normal LCD but some of my games have options like "1920x1080@59Hz". What advantage is there to picking the 59Hz over the 60Hz option?
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 18:59:05
There isn't really a noticeable advantage.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:00:17
Quote from: gr1m;205768
I don't know much about LCD refresh rates. I know I run mine at the normal 60Hz because it's a normal LCD but some of my games have options like "1920x1080@59Hz". What advantage is there to picking the 59Hz over the 60Hz option?


I think refresh rates on LCD screens are related to response times.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:01:15
But, like, why would a game even have that option? To me it's the weirdest thing. It's like buying a 1920x1080 monitor and having the option to run it at 1919x1079.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:04:38
Refresh rates on LCD's, like CRT's, are simple. It's how often the screen refreshes. If it refreshes at 60Hz, that's 60 times each second. 100Hz, that's 100 times a second. The higher it is, the smoother things are on the screen.

Many gamers prefer CRT's for that reason. Since the CRT's can handle better refresh rates, they can achieve very high FPS.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:05:09
Quote from: gr1m;205772
But, like, why would a game even have that option? To me it's the weirdest thing. It's like buying a 1920x1080 monitor and having the option to run it at 1919x1079.


I don't know. Guess it's just a mystery.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:07:29
Quote from: microsoft windows;205774
Refresh rates on LCD's, like CRT's, are simple. It's how often the screen refreshes. If it refreshes at 60Hz, that's 60 times each second. 100Hz, that's 100 times a second. The higher it is, the smoother things are on the screen.

Many gamers prefer CRT's for that reason. Since the CRT's can handle better refresh rates, they can achieve very high FPS.


Go read up about how these things actually work and stop boring us with your ignorance.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:13:16
I know how they work. LCD's have a different method of refreshing from CRT's, but a high-end CRT beats the crap out of any LCD.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:30:43
nobody cares about high-end CRTs and stop saying you know something you clearly don't
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Fri, 23 July 2010, 19:31:25
Quote from: D-EJ915;205801
nobody cares about high-end CRTs


Win.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:03:01
Jesus people. The refresh rate on an LCD is the exact same as a CRT. The reason they dont FEEL (or look) the same is due to the way CRT draws AND illuminates each scan line as it scans VS. the fact that the LCD backlight is ALWAYS on (and in reality (CCFL) has a "refresh rate" of about 200hz, well above NORMAL human perception).

Quote
Much of the discussion of refresh rate does not apply to the liquid crystal portion of an LCD monitor. This is because while a CRT monitor uses the same mechanism for both illumination and imaging, LCDs employ a separate backlight to illuminate the image being portrayed by the LCD's liquid crystal shutters. The shutters themselves do not have a "refresh rate" as such due to the fact that they always stay at whatever opacity they were last instructed to continuously, and do not become more or less transparent until instructed to produce a different opacity. Most of the TFT LCDs used in portable devices and computer monitors need a continuous refresh. The driving voltage determines the transmittance of the liquid crystal.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:07:51
Quote from: D-EJ915;205801
nobody cares about high-end CRTs and stop saying you know something you clearly don't


There's plenty of people who like high-end CRT's. Including me.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:12:28
Quote from: instantkamera;205815
Jesus people. The refresh rate on an LCD is the exact same as a CRT. The reason they dont FEEL (or look) the same is due to the way CRT draws AND illuminates each scan line as it scans VS. the fact that the LCD backlight is ALWAYS on (and in reality (CCFL) has a "refresh rate" of about 200hz, well above NORMAL human perception).

the response time kind of makes the refresh rate pointless though doesn't it?  I mean if your screen is refreshing 60 times a second but it only changes 6 times a second then what does it matter if it's refreshing 60 times a second.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:12:35
Quote from: microsoft windows;205816
There's plenty of people who like high-end CRT's. Including me.


Correction, USED TO like. The benefits generally out weigh the cons, in the computing world. That includes the very colour sensitive photo crew.
CRTs still see use in high end video production, bout it.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:16:19
Quote from: D-EJ915;205819
the response time kind of makes the refresh rate pointless though doesn't it?


timing wise? Maybe. That's part of the problem with LCDs, they are really a complex layer of technology with each layer having an impact on how the image gets to your eyes.

Hardware wise, no. 60hz is 60 refreshes a second, period. Refresh rate isn't pointless, it's part of the protocol of making the hardware operate.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 23 July 2010, 20:49:31
It's not just refresh rates -

Quote from: microsoft windows;205774
Since the CRT's can handle better refresh rates, they can achieve very high FPS.


To paraphrase one of my great internet heroes - "he spewed enough BS to cover a football field full of babies 3 feet deep in bull****, which sounds cool because he could have potentially murdered a football field full of babies, but he passed on this opportunity by talking about CRTs instead."
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Fri, 23 July 2010, 21:07:39
Quote from: ch_123;205827
It's not just refresh rates -

To paraphrase one of my great internet heroes - "he spewed enough BS to cover a football field full of babies 3 feet deep in bull****, which sounds cool because he could have potentially murdered a football field full of babies, but he passed on this opportunity by talking about CRTs instead."


LCDs still utilize Hz (the slower the Hz, the worse the response & redrawing). They don't "refresh", but do draw the picture... which is why you can still get that "line" going down vertically with LCDs when viewing fast moving images.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Fri, 23 July 2010, 21:11:28
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205830
LCDs still utilize Hz (the slower the Hz, the worse the response & redrawing). They don't "refresh", but do draw the picture... which is why you can still get that "line" going down vertically with LCDs when viewing fast moving images.


face-the-****-palm
Title: graphics cards
Post by: hyperlinked on Sat, 24 July 2010, 03:44:35
Quote from: instantkamera;205815
Jesus people. The refresh rate on an LCD is the exact same as a CRT. The reason they dont FEEL (or look) the same is due to the way CRT draws AND illuminates each scan line as it scans VS. the fact that the LCD backlight is ALWAYS on (and in reality (CCFL) has a "refresh rate" of about 200hz, well above NORMAL human perception).

I think some people are having a hard time understanding why there's no LCD flicker at 60Hz when there often is flicker at 60Hz in a CRT. I hope you don't mind if I attempt to translate what you're trying to clue people in on...

If you lower the refresh rate to 2Hz on a CRT and an LCD there's a huge difference between how the two respond. With a 2Hz refresh rate on an LCD, the image will stay on the screen like an Etch-a-Sketch. Movement will be choppy as hell, but it won't blink on and off. On the CRT, the 2Hz refresh rate will result in a your screen turning into a strobe light because the image begins to fade away the second it is flashed to you. It can't simply hold the image in place until the next image replaces it.

That is how the Hz can be totally different between a CRT and an LCD. Where it's the same is that a 60Hz display is going to display no more than 60 frames per second regardless of the display device. An LCD set to 30Hz won't give you as smooth of a picture as a CRT set to 60Hz, but you won't get eyestrain from the 30Hz LCD even though the motion is less smooth because issues with eye strain and comfort isn't dependent upon the fluidity of the motion.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: whininggit on Sat, 24 July 2010, 04:07:26
Quote from: gr1m;205768
I don't know much about LCD refresh rates. I know I run mine at the normal 60Hz because it's a normal LCD but some of my games have options like "1920x1080@59Hz". What advantage is there to picking the 59Hz over the 60Hz option?

59Hz is really 59.976Hz (same as NTSC TV), but with the last 3 digits truncated. The EDID in my Dell reports that it supports 59.965Hz, but it really just maps to 60Hz.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 24 July 2010, 13:02:43
Quote from: EverythingIBM;205830
LCDs still utilize Hz (the slower the Hz, the worse the response & redrawing). They don't "refresh", but do draw the picture... which is why you can still get that "line" going down vertically with LCDs when viewing fast moving images.


Do you understand that Hz is a unit of measurement that means 1/s? That's like saying, "hey look, my measuring tape is really cool, it utilizes meters and centimeters!"
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:17:53
I overclock my CRT to get more FPS, bro.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:20:14
Quote from: gr1m;205952
Do you understand that Hz is a unit of measurement that means 1/s? That's like saying, "hey look, my measuring tape is really cool, it utilizes meters and centimeters!"


Yes thanks, I do understand that. But you didn't understand how I was trying to explain the "refresh rate" on both LCDs and CRTs -- and since so many people will cut my hand off if I say LCDs have a "refresh rate," I dropped it. The lower the Hz you set your LCDs to, the worse moving sprites will look.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:36:25
Actually, at one point, there was something in the ATI driver panel about overclocking your monitor. I forgot what it did and I can't find it anymore. Maybe my old monitor supported it? *shrugs*
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:38:07
Damn. Maybe my LCD can now be as good as some Chinese IBM-branded junk from 15 years ago. Maybe.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: D-EJ915 on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:41:59
speaking of CRTs I forgot my parents use one, it's a dell M990 that does 1600x1200 at 75Hz, pretty decent but it is not a flat screen

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/m990/En/intro/intro.htm
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Sat, 24 July 2010, 14:49:52
I still have the same CRT I used with that P4 rig (my main Counter-Strike rig until CSS was released). It was awesome in my opinion. I'll try to grab brand name and model.

Edit:

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CDsQFjAK&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.p4c.philips.com%2Ffiles%2F1%2F107s21_74%2F107s21_74_dfu_aen.pdf&rct=j&q=philips%20107s&ei=_UNLTN9Kg4LyBoHV1TI&usg=AFQjCNGNY5n6vBx0nmBOqasEmCYlKrmEbQ

Direct download link to the specification PDF. I know nothing about CRTs but it might be of interest to some of you who do.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 01 August 2010, 23:24:51
Got the gtx 260 working on this unit now.  Seems a bit better, but warrock still lags in places.  I think the lag has mainly to do with the number of people in the game, so it might be server side related, or at least non graphics card, so that at least helped me determine that.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Mon, 02 August 2010, 08:39:27
One reason why I do not prefer LCD's is that my eyes can detect little diagonal lines going through certain colors. It drives me nuts. CRT's don't do that.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 02 August 2010, 11:37:10
Quote from: microsoft windows;208372
One reason why I do not prefer **** LCDs is that my eyes can detect little diagonal lines going through certain colors. It drives me nuts. CRT's don't do that.


There, fixed.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: microsoft windows on Mon, 02 August 2010, 14:20:31
I'll make a dedicated thread where we all can argue about this.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: instantkamera on Mon, 02 August 2010, 14:38:00
Quote from: microsoft windows;208412
I'll continue to troll this forum by any means possible. Keeping with that theme, I will create a pointless thread to cover ground that has already been discussed to death. Don't actually bother participating.


Ok, I won't.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: gr1m on Mon, 02 August 2010, 14:47:55
It's been argued to death enough. When LCD technology was new, it was horrible because like all new things, they need to mature to become viable. What was the first CRT? One of those black and white TVs from the 1900s? If you compare one of those 1900s CRTs to my current LG 24" 1080p LCD monitor, of course it will look horrible. But now, with how much LCD technology has advanced, the only real advantage that the best CRT has over the best LCD is the refresh rate, and even then LCDs are now moving into the 120Hz range because you have to keep in mind that it's still a new technology that has not had as much time as CRTs to develop.
Title: graphics cards
Post by: mike on Mon, 02 August 2010, 14:54:26
Quote from: microsoft windows;208372
One reason why I do not prefer LCD's is that my eyes can detect little diagonal lines going through certain colors. It drives me nuts. CRT's don't do that.


You need to give it a good hard whack against the wall to stop that ... repeat until it works.

Your head that is - the LCD panel is fine.