Recent content by Toastman

How is the quality/performance for the nForce boards for an Athlon II? I notice they seem to be a little less expensive. Also, any recommendations on RAM type/speed?

I'm looking to do a system upgrade on-the-cheap, and it looks like my best bet for a sub-$75 CPU is the Athlon II X2 250. That leaves me hunting an inexpensive (but not crappy) mobo to put it in. I haven't built an AMD platform in about five years, and there seems to be a HUGE number of...

Thanks for all the feedback. I think you guys just saved me from spending $300 on a card that probably wouldn't have made much of a difference. I also appreciate the links and suggestions on cost-concious ways to do a full system upgrade. Here's what I am now batting around in my head...

PC1: PS: Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650w Mobo: ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA intel x48 PC2: PS: CoolerMaster Extreme Power Duo 600w Mobo: DFI LanParty UT NF4 ULTRA-D The CPU in PC2 is a first-gen Athlon64, not the X2, and not an AM2. I already thought of temporarily moving the 9800GX2 to PC2...

Okay, I have been seriously agonizing over my decision here. Hopefully some of you can help me out! Grab your thinking caps! The task: Get both my PCs up-to-par for running current-gen games (such as Borderlands in particular). The budget: $300 The specs: PC1: Intel Core2Duo 3ghz...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. Primarily gaming. Everything else is irrelevent since it won't be as intensive. However, heat, power-consumption, noise, and stability do matter to me. 2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable...

Thx for all the feedback guys! I figure I'll go with the Rampage Formula + DDR2 and put the money elsewhere. FYI, Fallen Kell, That article was here on Anandtech. It's worth noting both the DDR2 and DDR3 performance testing was done with 1066mhz FSB processors and 1066mhz DDR2 memory...

*bump* High-end video cards and power supplies aren't cheap, and I don't wanna end up with a set that isn't compatible.

Thx for the responses! Sounds like I'm better off putting that $500 elsewhere. I did read the DDR2 vs DDR3 article, and like everyone I've been less than impressed w/DDR3, however, I can't help but wonder if it changes the playing field any now that we have 1333mhz FSB processors in the wild...

So I'm looking to build a new gaming rig from scratch. In the interest of going "latest and greatest", I figure I'll go with a x48 chipset-based board, but I'm swaying on DDR2 or DDR3, primarily due to price. Is the extra performance that can be wrung out of the DDR3 worth it? Am I shooting...

Okay, I'm getting a little confused on the phsical power connection requirements for the 9800GX2 cards. It would appear different cards have implemented different combinations of power connections, but 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin appears to be pretty common (some have 2x 6-pin, which leads me to...

Thanks guys! Sounds like this is definitely not normal behavior. I'm gonna try to get it RMAed.

I have a new Western Digital SATA II WD2500KS hard drive, and it produces a loud, high-pitched noise, as well as as just seems to have a rather loud normal operating volume. I thought newer HDs were supposed to be quieter? Does anyone else have one of these drives, and is it this annoyingly...

Actually, I would be interested in getting to the bottom of the nVidia corrupted networking issue. Why do some people have it, and others don't? Is the issue with specific manufacturers, a specific driver version, or just nVidia just have such a poor design and bad QC that its just luck of the...

I have a DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra, and nearly all of my downloads were getting corrupted. I disabled the ActiveArmor, and the number of corrupted downloads/updates decreased, but were still happening enough to be a pain. My DFI board also has a second NIC provided by Marvell. I switched to...