Hardware Discussion Thread

N64

Yeah, the sapphire one had a bad cooler on it and the performance did not seem right for some reason. The asus card was absolutely perfect (games seemed a lot smoother than on the sapphire card for some reason) well, apart from the grey screen freezing issue and you know about the issue I am having with my current card.

Again, I would really love to keep this card. RMA'ing is such a hassle and the temps and performance out of this is excellent. I would actually still recommend it even with all of the problems I have had with it :P

Would EVGA be the best card manufacturer to go with?

Monotype

I'd say eVGA would be fine. I've heard good things about their customer service although that was a few years back that everyone was ranting how great they are. Looks like they have offices in the UK and Germany, so that's not bad.

cherryghost

Monotype wrote: »

I'd say eVGA would be fine. I've heard good things about their customer service although that was a few years back that everyone was ranting how great they are. Looks like they have offices in the UK and Germany, so that's not bad.

Evga are awesome. Most cards come with a 5 year warranty. Their service is excellent. Normally faulty cards and returns take about a month with most manufacturers. Evga about 2, 3 weeks max. Never had any issues with their cards mind you, a friend has though. A new card came exactly 2 weeks later with a free game and a new 5 year warranty.

Bloodwing

cherryghost wrote: »

Monotype wrote: »

I'd say eVGA would be fine. I've heard good things about their customer service although that was a few years back that everyone was ranting how great they are. Looks like they have offices in the UK and Germany, so that's not bad.

Evga are awesome. Most cards come with a 5 year warranty. Their service is excellent. Normally faulty cards and returns take about a month with most manufacturers. Evga about 2, 3 weeks max. Never had any issues with their cards mind you, a friend has though. A new card came exactly 2 weeks later with a free game and a new 5 year warranty.

And if I'm not mistaken EVGA are one of, if not the only company who's warranty isn't made void by water cooling the card!!

N64

Thanks for the help/advice guys. The PC building and upgrading forum is definitely the best part of boards.ie by a long shot.

I guess the wait time for the refund won't be so bad. I am in 6th year right now and I suppose I could devote the time I would rather playing games with study (although I will probably find something else to get distracted with) :pac:

ED E

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=81194687#post81194687

Doing a bit of OCing, not seeing improvements. OCing sub is a dead forum, so if some of ye could take a look it'd be great. Not sure whats limiting me here.

Brian

Looking for suggestions for where to find a nice CRT monitor in Dublin. >20" Dell / Sony / Iiyama/ Viewsonic / IBM / Mitsubishi / Sun. Basically any of the Trinitron rebrands or Diamondtron. Found an old Sun in college today but it only did 100 Hz even at 800 x 600 and the colours were a bit off.

Lu Tze

Try old architects/engineers companies maybe - not exactly what you are looking but those old 21" crt screens were awesome if there is still some around - kept on in a lot of places long after flat screens turned up. Might be good for a cab or whatever you are at

Brian

Just want to use it for FPS - TF2, Quake Live etc.

gooch2k9

Anyone any recommendations for a good keyboard? Preferably with media controls.

ED E

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Anyone any recommendations for a good keyboard? Preferably with media controls.

Heavy typist? If so consider mechanical.


If not though, I have a G510 and love it, and its successor looks lovely too. Comes at a premium though(I got a great deal in a sale).

gooch2k9

ED E wrote: »

Heavy typist? If so consider mechanical.


If not though, I have a G510 and love it, and its successor looks lovely too. Comes at a premium though(I got a great deal in a sale).

Ha nope cant type too well at all. Would mainly use it for gaming and general stuff.

Cheers will see can I get a deal on it somewhere, ideally looking to keep it under 40.

freeze4real

hi guys does anyone know a mouse inside out. My mouse scroll wheel wasnt working well so I opened it and fixed it.

Now I cant get the mouse to close properly. Right wont work because of this.

This is not the first a mouse done this to me.

Skylinehead

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Ha nope cant type too well at all. Would mainly use it for gaming and general stuff.

Cheers will see can I get a deal on it somewhere, ideally looking to keep it under 40.

Microsoft Sidewinder X4 is probably the best in and around the €40 mark.

gooch2k9

Has anyone got saorview going on their PCs? Thinking of setting it up cos I have no TV away in college. Was looking at this card http://www1.hardwareversand.de/PCI/49023/ASUS+MyCinema+P7131H+PCI+DVB-T+Karte.article

ED E

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Has anyone got saorview going on their PCs? Thinking of setting it up cos I have no TV away in college. Was looking at this card http://www1.hardwareversand.de/PCI/49023/ASUS+MyCinema+P7131H+PCI+DVB-T+Karte.article

Saorview isnt switched on yet is it?

kenyard

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Has anyone got saorview going on their PCs? Thinking of setting it up cos I have no TV away in college. Was looking at this card http://www1.hardwareversand.de/PCI/49023/ASUS+MyCinema+P7131H+PCI+DVB-T+Karte.article

THERE was a saorview usb reciever in the bargain alert forum for 7 euro touted there a while back.. think the consensus was if you are in a good reception area it works fine.
tbh i reckon you will still need a usb extension cable to hang it out the window.
saorview is very good alright but its hard pick up with an internal antenna, im guessing these would be similar

@ED E: i had it working 6 months ago, so its around quite some time, though probably not all around the country. the main thing is that the end of this month the old analogue gets switched off is all.

gooch2k9

ED E wrote: »

Saorview isnt switched on yet is it?

I think so, aren't they knocking off the analogue signal on the 24th?

@Kenyard: I think I have a TV connection into the room so was going to bring a antenna cable over and plug it into the back off the card, not a fan of USB peripherals for stuff like that, much prefer a permanent fix.

Tij da feen

Interesting. I would have to use one of those usb antennas or I have one of those electric powered rabbit ears somewhere around. If the UK Freeview signal is strong enough will it be able to pick it up as well does anyone know?

Until then if you have good enough internet speeds you can use www.aertv.ie

ro95

not bad

gooch2k9

Tij da feen wrote: »

Interesting. I would have to use one of those usb antennas or I have one of those electric powered rabbit ears somewhere around. If the UK Freeview signal is strong enough will it be able to pick it up as well does anyone know?

Until then if you have good enough internet speeds you can use www.aertv.ie

Is that aertv.ie good all the time? Tis mainly for watching the rugby on RTE and TnaG I want it but TnaG streams are a nightmare, so would that site suffer from the same craic.

Tij da feen

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Is that aertv.ie good all the time? Tis mainly for watching the rugby on RTE and TnaG I want it but TnaG streams are a nightmare, so would that site suffer from the same craic.

I couldn't tell you tbh but I reckon that when the big matches are on that it won't be as reliable with the extra traffic. I'd say use it as a stop-gap until you get a tuner card. They should all work since the decoding is all done software side as opposed to hardware side.

N64

I still remember when I got the g510 for €45 because littlewoods made a pricing mistake Was waiting a month for it though :eek:

The funny thing is that I never use half the features it has. The macro keys don't really apply to me because I never play MMO's at all and the on screen display just acts as a clock for me :P

Its nice the way you can change the colour of the entire keyboard though

RUCKING FETARD

http://lifehacker.com/5951431/five-best-desktop-computer-cases

Tea_Bag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efaPgUp0bh4

Monotype

Piledriver/Vishera on the 23rd.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20120921231354_AMD_Sets_the_FX_Vishera_Launch_Date.html

Gbear

Does anyone have any experience with big fans in mid-tower cases?

I'm getting a Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 Pro and I've got a Cooler Master R600 Gladiator with an ASRock Extreme 4 1155.

I'm fairly sure it'll fit (perhaps at a little squeeze) but I just wanted to run it by a few of you guys to see what you think.

The dimensions of the cooler are 123 (L) x 96 (W) x 130 (H) mm.
I don't actually have the mobo yet. From my old broken gigabyte one it would appear that I'll have something in the region of 140-180mm in all directions.
I'm not sure with RAM and other bits and bobs in the way.

Eboggles

Seeming as there's no software discussion thread I thought I might post this here. No links because I'm on my phone

AMD announces their "Never Settle" Catalyst 12.11 driver!

What's so good about this? Apparently, AMD are hoping to defeat Nvidia with a massive driver update. TPU did a review of this, the results were as follows (at least I think):

HD 7750/HD 7770 = 5% increase.

HD 7900 series = 7% increase (regular 7970 puts it up to GTX 680, beats it (I think) in many games at 1440p including BF3. Same for 7950 vs 670.

HD 7870 = 10% increase. Awesome!

Also, AMD are announcing a new games bundle. If you buy a HD 7900 card, you get Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs. Also, you get 20% off the new Medal of Honour. Sounds good . Then 7800 series cards get one less, etc.

HD7950 looks very good at the moment

Serephucus

At 19x12 and 25x16, the 7970 is still about 3-4% slower than the 680, and the 7950 a good 6-7% slower than the 670. The GHz editions beat them though. Also, they're running older NVIDIA drivers (306.23 vs 306.97, I think). Having said that, AMD's cards are cheaper, so it more than evens out.

Linkie

thewheel2.0

Eboggles wrote: »

HD 7870 = 10% increase. Awesome!

Sweet, it will be a long wait to get home from work to update them now. I love my new 7870. A fantastic card for €240 and truly feels like next generation gaming with constant > 30 fps at native 1080p on all games. The Sapphire 7870 is quiet too cant hear it over the fan on the Macho. Now I just need to invest in a big tv to take advantage of steam big picture

ShadowHearth

I got nvidia and AMD in my rigs and I have to say AMD surprises me ( in a good way ) a lot more then nvidia lately.

AMD is a lot better bang for its money these days. I would struggle to recommend any nvidia gpu these days. Unless that are hardcore fanboys.

Burgo

gooch2k9 wrote: »

Is that aertv.ie good all the time? Tis mainly for watching the rugby on RTE and TnaG I want it but TnaG streams are a nightmare, so would that site suffer from the same craic.

I use aertv a fair bit for watching rugby, have never had issue with it thus far.

beno619

Wow AMD finally caught up to nvidia in BF3, beat tham at 1920 * 1200.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/5.html

Eboggles

AMD Vishera CPUs launched and reviewed!

No links again .

Anyway, it looks like they're pretty good (by AMD's standards) in multithreaded applications, it (8350) equals the i5 2500k in 3D Mark Vantage and 3DMark 06.

Overclocking is pretty decent to, cadaveca over at TPU reached 5ghz stable on his chip.

Best thing though, is the pricing. There's no Vishera CPU over $200 making it a good buy for budget-mid range builders that are ok with overclocking and use multi-threaded software.

N64

Would you reckon it would make a good upgrade from the phenom 1090t? Might get myself an early Christmas present :P

Monotype

Not great, but certainly some big improvements over bulldozer. If the price is right, I see it as a worthy alternative for those who don't want to pay for the 3570K/Z77 combination and are looking at other i3/i5s - or even those who will avail of multiple threads and don't want to go for the 3770K. Steamroller looks like it will be compatible with AM3+, so there should be a good upgrade path.

I'm not sure I'd upgrade from a 1090T. You can overclock higher and you can get more cores, but the gap wouldn't be huge. Bulldozer was worse than the phenom IIs but this is a little better.
On the other hand, if they aren't that expensive...

Brian

Will these fit on AM3+?

marco_polo

N64 wrote: »

Would you reckon it would make a good upgrade from the phenom 1090t? Might get myself an early Christmas present :P

In all honesty I'd say not really, I'd be more inclined to hold out for Steamroller next year TBH. Although if you really do want some shiny new tech to play with, and they are priced competitively as is expected, you ought to be able to claw back quite a healthy percentage of your outlay by selling the 1090t.

Brian wrote: »

Will these fit on AM3+?

Yep both this and Steamroller next year will be AM3+ chips.

ShadowHearth

marco_polo wrote: »

In all honesty I'd say not really, I'd be more inclined to hold out for Steamroller next year TBH. Although if you really do want some shiny new tech to play with, and they are priced competitively as is expected, you ought to be able to claw back quite a healthy percentage of your outlay by selling the 1090t.



Yep both this and Steamroller next year will be AM3+ chips.

where the feck they come up with these names?!?!?!?!

marco_polo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

where the feck they come up with these names?!?!?!?!

Not sure my two theories are that either the marketing team were trying to evoke some sort of powerful multithreading metaphor, or else some AMD engineers have a large earth moving machinery fetish.

Brian

marco_polo wrote: »

Yep both this and Steamroller next year will be AM3+ chips.

Really! Well then my motherboard might have some life in it yet. It's a GA-870A-USB3. Think it is AM3+ compatible.

farna_boy

Just wondering what ye think of the gaming benchmark reviews of the FX-8350?

For most / all single threaded applications (which unfortunately includes some games), there is a clear problem with using one of these CPUs. So this will be a clear problem for some of the older games. (I note that this CPU and Skyrim don't really get along).

But for some of the newer games, as long as there is a decent graphics card and you look at the higher resolution tests, the FX-8350 seems comparable to the 3570K (HardwareCanucks, HardwareHeaven, Hexus and Overclockersclub). The thing is that most of these games seem reliant on GPU rather than CPU. So conceivably, if upcoming games are not optimised to use all available cores/threads, the FX8350 may not fair well compared to the 3570K.

I was thinking of upgrading to a 3570K, but reading these reviews I am unsure all of a sudden again. If I want x16/x16 for my crossfire setup using Intel, I will have to pay at least €240 (ASRock Z77 WS) but if I am using an AMD board the most I will have to pay (looking at hardwareversand) is €210 for an Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z but I only have to pay €145 for an ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX. There is the argument that you are not comparing like with like i.e. PCI-E 3.0 vs PCI-E 2.0, but as far as I can tell no graphics cards/games are making use of PCI-E 3.0 to its full extent yet.

I suppose this isn't a bad place to be in at the same time. I might wait and see if Intel react to this before purchasing, but at the moment I am leaning towards an AMD gaming rig.

P.S. I am surprised by the review that the FX got on xbit labs. Looking at the review from a purely gaming perspective, it gives the impression that the FX can not compete with the i5s in any level because they only tested using the 1680x1050 resolutions where the CPU seems to be at it's weakest. I know its a truer test of the CPU, in effect removing the GPU from the test, but considering no one will ever play at these resolutions, I would at least expect there to be some benchmarks showing that these CPUs are comparable to the i3570K at real world resolutions.

Serephucus

You don't need x16/x16 bandwidth. x8 PCIe 3.0 is far more than enough.

Monotype

The thing is that per core performance is lower for AMD so no matter how many cores you have, most games just aren't written to utilise them when you go above around 3. An extra core is probably handy for real world situations to handle all your desktop stuff even if that doesn't show up in benchmarks.

Cards at the moment aren't fast enough to be limited by x8, so I wouldn't be overly worried about x16/x16 unless you are planning not to upgrade for a long time. The board could be obsolete then anyway.

If you really want to compare like with like, you should be comparing x8/x8 PCI-E 3 motherboards with x16/x16 PCI-E 2. But, even x8/x8 PCI-E 2 is not limiting with top end.

farna_boy

Serephucus wrote: »

You don't need x16/x16 bandwidth. x8 PCIe 3.0 is far more than enough.

You are of course correct. I don't need it now. I think I read somewhere that there is only a 2% drop in framerates between x16/x16 and x8/x8. The thing is that I rarely do big upgrades i.e. Mobo, CPU and RAM, so when I do, I like to ensure max compatibility for future upgrades (I don't want to use those two words, but I'm sure you know what I am talking about ).

This is another reason why I am unsure if the FX is the right CPU for me. No matter what I do decide to buy now, I am fairly sure that by the time I upgrade again, the CPU socket will have changed and we will all probably be using at least DDR4 as well, so I am not really concerned about those specifications in a way. However, I will upgrade other parts incrementally i.e. graphics cards, hard drives, whatever else, so I want to be as close to the top of the market as possible for everything else if possible. Examples would be ensuring I have a lot of SATA 3 ports and USB 3.0 ports as well. So from this perspective, I think having PCI-E 3.0 x16/x16 should at least be part of the discussion/considerations but of course it is unclear if I will ever use/need them.

farna_boy

Monotype wrote: »

The thing is that per core performance is lower for AMD so no matter how many cores you have, most games just aren't written to utilise them when you go above around 3. An extra core is probably handy for real world situations to handle all your desktop stuff even if that doesn't show up in benchmarks.

Cards at the moment aren't fast enough to be limited by x8, so I wouldn't be overly worried about x16/x16 unless you are planning not to upgrade for a long time. The board could be obsolete then anyway.

These two points are my main concerns for the next upgrade I will do. I think the PCI-E 3.0 x16/x16 is probably the best way to go and will ensure max compatibility for the longest time.

The first point though is where my problem lies. I am not really sure how future games will be written (maybe other people are and could let me know). I would imagine (/hope) that new games will be written to maximise the use of all the cores/threads that are available. So I should choose the best CPU that is on the market right now. The problem now is that I am not really sure which one is the best. If current trends continue, then there will be some games that only really use single cores/threads, and therefore, at least in the short term, the 3570K is the obvious choice. But if you look at multi threaded applications in these reviews, the FX seems to fair much better (i.e. in the HardwareCanucks x264HD Benchmark). So if games do become more like these applications maybe the FX could be the way to go. However, I think it really is impossible to tell and the 3570K is probably the safer bet.

PS Maybe I should at least wait to see what effect if any Windows 8 will have on the benchmarks before I buy?

Monotype

AMD wins for most SATA 6Gbps ports anyway. But on the other hand, you get TRIM+RAID if you wanted it with two drives with Intel.

Intel would be end of the line with the CPUs. AMD will have Steamroller. I would doubt that it would pwn anything that Intel has out now, but I would say that it should be able to match it (and Intel will have its own new socket better again).

When we see the new consoles, we'll have a better idea how future games are to be written.

ED E

TTL says that this probably marks the end of AMDs serious interest in the enthusiast market, suggesting they'll move more and more into the APU game for small low cost stuff like HTPCs. This makes a lot of sense to me as they just cant compete with intel for high end stuff.

Eboggles

ED E wrote: »

TTL says that this probably marks the end of AMDs serious interest in the enthusiast market, suggesting they'll move more and more into the APU game for small low cost stuff like HTPCs. This makes a lot of sense to me as they just cant compete with intel for high end stuff.

He seemed a bit critical in that review, IMHO.

Many other reviewers have given it semi-positive reviews, Dave over at TPU gave it a 9.0. Anand also seemed somewhat pleased by the new chips also; he felt that they were a definite improvement over BD.

I'm actually going to go with an AMD build when I upgrade (I've got a 2500k, so not for a while) just to support them. If AMD do back out of the enthusiast market Intel will just (as TTL put it) "back door" us because they have no competition. Besides, at 2560x1440 the CPU will almost never be the bottleneck, so even if I'm not getting the strongest processor around it doesn't actually matter.

marco_polo

Probably kick myself when I see the answer but can't think who TTL are?