Recent content by eriznik

Can anyone please recommend a good brand of laptop that is available new from the manufacturer without any of the proprietary software garbage installed. I would like to find a laptop in which I can install the OS/drivers/apps and such myself without the need of a install disk from the...

Currently, I am considering the following: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R MSI P45 Neo3-FR ASUS P5Q LGA All three are P45 boards. Any thoughts?

Looking for motherboard recommendations that satisfy the following: Price range is $75 - $120 Intel E8400 CPU 2x2GB Corsair PC2 6400 (800) DIMMS PCIe Video card (GeForce 8600GTS) At least 4 Sata 3GB/s At least 4 rear panel USB At least 2 onboard USB (so 4 front panel USB) Onboard front...

What about the E8500? It's also built on 45nm tech, is clocked faster, but is duo core. It's $50 less than the Q9300 (the least expensive Q9 I could find). Ultimately, I'd like to keep the cost of the CPU (not including aftermarket fan/heatsink) below $200. Do you think the E8500 would be a...

I recently was given a used MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 nForce 650i motherboard and am going to build a new machine with it. Does anyone care to recommend a good CPU? I am considering Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad. The machine will be used mostly for gaming, watching...

Thanks for all your input everyone. I guess it's a total crapshoot when it comes to video cards. Maybe it was just the X1900 GT model in particular that was cursed. Anyway, I think I am going to go ahead with the Asus card after all. It has a 3 year warranty which is good enough, and from what I...

I was all set to buy a new ATi Radeon card...specifically, the Asus 4870 1GB Dark Knight, that is, until my current ATi card started with the artifacts (again). Let's back up a little for some history. I had been a long time nVidia customer, all the way back to the days of the GeForce 2...

Good point. I should have included that in the original post. I'll be buying a new monitor when I buy the card, so it will be either 1680x1050 or 1920x1200...but most likely the former.

I am split between getting the ASUS EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1GD5 vs the ASUS EAH4870 DK TOP/HTDI/512MD5. Anyone have any insight as to which is more worthwhile; the extra 512MB RAM or the near 10% overclock? I play mostly MMORPGS, like Everquest II and Age of Conan, and rare play shooters. I know the...