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  1. rockyjohn

    AGP card for old rig just doesnt work?

    It could be a lot of things and you really did not tell us very much. What version of AGP is the card and what version(s) do the motherboard support? For that matter, what are the make and model of the motherboard and AGP card? What was in the slot - or how did you get graphics support -...
  2. rockyjohn

    Power off LCD monitor, would that harm the hardware?

    Check your manual and see if it has any guidance. If you don't have one - or don't want to spend time rummaging for it -you can usually find one online at the manufacturer's site under support. I alway leave my monitor on and just put PC in sleep mode, which puts my monitor into power saving...
  3. rockyjohn

    Best 23-24" 1920x1080 LED monitor out there?

    Ooops - duplicate submit
  4. rockyjohn

    Best 23-24" 1920x1080 LED monitor out there?

    These articles might interest you: Three-Way 22" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, LG, And Samsung http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/s22a350h-st2220l-e2241s,2954.html Three-Way 23" LED LCD Roundup: Dell, HP, And Samsung...
  5. rockyjohn

    old monitor with new GPU

    New GPUs should work fine with older monitors - as long as they are still VGA or DVI. Did you add the drivers for the video card in the first place - the new ones from ATI? Did you try reseating the video card? Do you have only one PCIe x16 slot? What is the make and model of your PSU...
  6. rockyjohn

    Video card without external power and low profile?

    Here is an MSI HD 5670 low-profile card with GDDR5 memory - although unfortunately it cost $97. https://www.eio.com/p-30806-msi-r5670-pd512-radeon-hd-5670-512mb-128-bit-gddr5-pci-express-21-x16-hdcp-ready-low-profile-ready-video-card-with-eyefinity.aspx Business systems often have low power...
  7. rockyjohn

    Video card without external power and low profile?

    upgradvideocards.com has some information about low profile cards on their non-gaming page - including a low profile HD 5670: http://www.upgradevideocards.com/nongaming.html
  8. rockyjohn

    Best video card in the $100ish category

    You have not provided enough information for an informed recommendation. Toyota stated you typically play at 1024x768. I did not see this in your posts. Is this true? Is this the target resolution to use in planning the upgrade or do you want to consider a later improvement? What CPU do you...
  9. rockyjohn

    Need Web, Graphic & Print Design Graphics Card

    You have some decisions to make. Many of the activities you list require little video card power - Illustrator, graphics and web design, movies, etc. Upgradevideocards.com has a page dedicated to non-gaming video cards that provides helpful information and recommendations for non-gaming...
  10. rockyjohn

    Worth Upgrading From 4870 to 5870 with E8400? Or: Suggest an upgrade

    Here is a great article on balancing GPU and CPU - unfortunately it is almost 2 years old so it uses older cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-balanced-platform,2469-12.html However one of the reference CPUs is an E8400 and it shows a substantial increase in performance from a...
  11. rockyjohn

    Video card for PC DVR (Hdmi out)

    I am not sure how you will save money. Some video capture cards allow you to record video while watching it. But they still need to be connected to the cable or satellite receiver to get the video feed to start with. This is one of the better cards...
  12. rockyjohn

    Budget build; please help

    Yes the monitor is great. I have had another Dell 21.5 inch monitor (2209W) with eIPS for 2 years now. Bought in on sale for $220. It renders very nicely - even from the side.
  13. rockyjohn

    Building a PC for video editing (Adobe Premiere Pro)

    Good point. But Gulftown is getting pretty long in the tooth. When will its replacement be coming out and what performance improvments might be expected? I would hate to see him invest in Sandy/Ivy Bridge only to see them blown away by Gulftown 2 (whatever it is called) for video work. Heat...
  14. rockyjohn

    Video card dying?

    You have a nice gaming system now. Let us know how it turns out - sure hope it solves the loading and other Windows issues.
  15. rockyjohn

    Best mid-range video card for 1920x1200 resolution?

    I prefer nVidia cards and beleive the heat factor is a little better with them, but generally there is not too much difference on noise - there is often more variation between manufacturers of the same model card (especially when some don't follow the reference design on the cooler) than...
  16. rockyjohn

    best bang/buck nvidia 5 series card?

    The Anandtech review I linked above includes the GTX 460 1 GB card in the comparisons and the GTX 560 is about 15% faster. I would not get the $100 GTX 460 1 GB cards because of the brands - but the EVGA card at $140 is a viable option. An EVGA GTX 560 (also one of the better priced "big"...
  17. rockyjohn

    Best bang for your buck on low-mid range video cards?

    The HD 5670 is a good, and efficient, card. But just be aware the the price performance as a matter of course generally goes down as absolute performance increases. Its simply a matter of decreasing marginal returns as one strives for more power - and probably also increasing profit margins...
  18. rockyjohn

    Giving a friend a recommendation for a GPU...help.

    What processor does he have, what is his budget, what resolution is his monitor, and what game settings does he want to be able to run? Need to know all four to make a good recommendation. In the meantime, you might also look at the THG article that lists their recommended video cards are...
  19. rockyjohn

    Powercolor Radeon HD 6850 too close???

    How much of a gap is there between the video card and the sound card? I am guessing there should be enough room for it to pull air and the case fan facing it will help, even if it does not achieve maximum airflow. It sounds like you have already installed the video card - yes? If installed...
  20. rockyjohn

    ** UPDATE**Looking to upgrade X850XT PE, want quiet and not too power hungry

    You might be able to get something a little more powerful - probably the two limiting factors are your power supply and your budget. Please provide both if you would like a more thorough review - its hard to interpret what "affordable" means to you - and provide the make and model of your PSU...
  21. rockyjohn

    best bang/buck nvidia 5 series card?

    Here's a review of the GTX 560 Ti that includes the GTX 570 in the performance stats so you can compare the two to determine if the added performance is worth the add price for you. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4135/nvidias-geforce-gtx-560-ti-upsetting-the-250-market You might also want to...
  22. rockyjohn

    Video card dying?

    What graphics card and PSU did you order?
  23. rockyjohn

    Anyone else miffed at Netflix price increase???

    I agree. I have the streaming plus 3 DVD package so my cost went to $25 a month. But it is still a steal. Look at all the content you get without having to pay Theatre fees (gee that would be less than 3 movies a month) or purchase DVD's - maybe one or two. And everyone in the family or...
  24. rockyjohn

    HTPC's on the cheap with old P4 and Athlon XP systems

    Congratulations. Nice upgrade. You might also be able to find an inexpensive memory upgrade on eBay. For my sister's old laptop with DDR memory, I purchased a 256MB chip for less than $5 - including shipping.
  25. rockyjohn

    4890 at 1280x1024 still lags

    When you say you are getting 40-50 fps at times - how often is that? I took a quick look at the review below to refresh my memory, and it shows an average of 74 fps. It would not be unusual with that average to occassionally have frame rates dropping to 40-50...
  26. rockyjohn

    Will a PCIe 1x work on this slot?

    For a better understanding of PCIe card sizes - and understanding the implications of slot size vs. connectivity, and of compatibility, you might want to see the PCIe cards tab at Upgradevideocards.com : [removed]
  27. rockyjohn

    Tom's Graphics Card Guide: 32 Mid-Range Cards Benchmarked

    You must be purchasing your coffee at the Ritz. I would like to see the calculations. Using the full power - or an extra 100w - for just 6 hours per day, 365 days per year uses an extra 219 KW. At 15 cents per KW (assumes I am not exceeding my monthly allowance or the cost per KW jumps up...
  28. rockyjohn

    Video card dying?

    Given your components, the system should run a lot faster if all components and software are in good shape. I assume you have already double checked all connectios - data and electrical to verify they are good, and that if you video card requires a power connector it is properly connected...
  29. rockyjohn

    MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II vs Gigabyte 560 Ti SOC

    Yes, Yes, and Maybe - do you consider a 50% increase in frame rates to be a "dramatic performance increase"? http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/7 The THG Hierarchial Chart shows it to be a two step increase. They recommend go for at least a three step increase...
  30. rockyjohn

    New build, LF Advice =)

    ^+1 You might also take a quick look at these for ideas: 1. Tom's Hardware Guide does an annual "System Builders Marathon". They have post model builds for $500, $1,000 and $2,000 (March 2011) $1,000 model...
  31. rockyjohn

    psu

    Consider these two - I would go with the 600w for the small extra cost: Corsair Builder Series 500w - $40 with free shipping http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018 Corsiar Builder Series 600w - $45 AR plus $3 shipping...
  32. rockyjohn

    Benches comparing very old to newer cards

    You can find helpful information at Tom's Hardware includiing: 1. Their hiearchial chart showing qualitative but not quantitative differences between all cards 2. Graphics performance charts covering all but the most recent cards - you might have to use intermediate cards to link between real...
  33. rockyjohn

    WoW crashing -- video card related??

    Have you run memtest yet? It still sounds to me like memory issues that may only show up after playing for awhile and using a lot of memory - possible aggravated by temperature changes in the memory. You should run memtest overnight - or at least 8 hours - and only consider it stable if you...
  34. rockyjohn

    MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II vs Gigabyte 560 Ti SOC

    The price difference is immaterial. If you are willing to OC, I would go with the MSI card with the better cooler and OC, otherwise I would go with the faster Gigabyte video card. Have you verified that you system, and especially your PSU, can handle the new card? You can find a list of...
  35. rockyjohn

    So what is the lowest power *working* HTPC solution?

    You can find additional information about HTPC video cards, including recommended video cards at different budget levels and links to some HTPC articles, at: [removed]
  36. rockyjohn

    Could my computer take advantage of a GTX 460?

    The HD 5870 is a good card at $170 and XFX is one of the better brands. If you don't want to spend quite that much, I recommend the GTX 460 768MB card. It is a solid card that can be found at a discount right now because it is being replaced by the GTX 550 Ti, but the new card is slower. The...
  37. rockyjohn

    Ok screw it... Will this work?

    How do you plan to use your PC - what applications and games, and game settings and monitor resolution The i7-900 series has the advantage of faster memory - with the triple channel. This does not help gaming too much but does benefit other applications like video editng and CAD. So whether...
  38. rockyjohn

    Budget GPU for Photography

    Here is an explanation of what CUDA is designed to do – note that the first article is almost two years old and the second one year: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-cuda-gpu,1954.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-cuda-gpgpu,2299.html And an overview with FAQ...
  39. rockyjohn

    Does 178 degree viewing angle...

    Did I miss something - did you post the model number for the monitor? If its a Dell monitor, they usually disclose the panel type in specifications. Did you look there? Or download a manual and check?