Search results

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    Corsair CX400 vs 450?

    OK, looks like the only difference between the Corsair 400 and 450W PSU's is 30A vs. 33A on the 12V rail. Right now I have an OCZ 450W PSU (26A / 12V) but it's about 5 years old so I'm looking to replace it "just in case". Existing build works just fine with the OCZ (Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 89W...
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    Time for a new CPU?

    Wow, thanks everyone! I mostly play COD:WaW, L4D2, and MW2. MW2 is my main reason for upgrading, since my system actually works pretty well for L4D2 and COD5, but testing out a 1680x1050 monitor made the MW2 really slow down in big open scenes. Otherwise it's playable, especially if I turn...
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    Time for a new CPU?

    Have: Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2.2GHz x 2). S939 nf4 mobo. 2GB DDR1-400. nVidia 9600GT 512MB. 450W OCZ modular PSU from about 4 years ago. Thinking of: Athlon II X3 435 w/ new motherboard (obviously). I'm on a really tight budget ($150 or so). I might be able to save $$ by using 2GB of...
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    SLI motherboards?

    Perhaps I'm overestimating the negative impact of my Athlon X2 4200+? I figured a bump up to something "cheap", like a 5600+ or 6000+ would get me on the AM2+ platform and pop in a quad core down the road. Sounds like I don't necessarily need to? FWIW Far Cry 2 runs pretty good at 1280x960...
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    SLI motherboards?

    Got it... I figured nVidia chipsets were the only way to go for SLI, that makes sense. Thanks for your help!
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    SLI motherboards?

    OK, I have a dumb question. If a motherboard has 2 PCIe slots, does it mean that it supports run SLI? Or do you have to have a nVidia chipset to run SLI? Or do some only support Crossfire? Otherwise why have 2 PCIe slots? Reason is this. I have a S939 system (X2 4200+), 2GB, 9600GT PCIe...
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    9600GT - Stock or VF700-Cu cooling?

    So maybe I just get some more thermal tape to re-use the ram sinks too? I've been out of the video card market for a while and I see all these new Zalman models, so I really don't know how to compare the heat output of a 6800GS vs. something like an 8800GT or 9600GT. Thanks for your input.
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    9600GT - Stock or VF700-Cu cooling?

    I'm in the market for a 9600GT, and I'm trying to decide if I should just leave it "as-is" when I get it, or to use my existing Zalman VF700-Cu cooler. So I guess the question is two-parts: 1) Is anyone using the 9600GT with this cooler? Prelim. searches show that it's compatible, but I want...
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    Upgrade video card, or...?

    Cool - I really appreciate the input, helps to steer me in the right direction. Now I just have to finish my tax return!
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    Upgrade video card, or...?

    OK, here's the deal. I have an Athlon X2 4200+ (939), non-SLI mobo, 6800GS card, 2GB DDR400 RAM. Thinking of saving up a bit to get the 9600GT as a replacement, I mainly play COD4 but don't want to get screwed out of playing new games that come out. I sense my 6800GS won't cut it too much...
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    8600gt on CoD4?

    I have an Athlon X2 4200+ with a 6800GS, running 1024x768 and I get between 30-40FPS which is just fine for my stuff.. I'm looking to upgrade, but I certainly wouldn't call it "unplayable" by any stretch. (Maybe I just have low standards!)
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    Looking for headphone recommendations

    I love my Grado SR80's, but they were $100 when I got them over 6 years ago. SR60's are a bit cheaper. Still good though. In your price range, I find it hard to find much of anything good - simply put, I'd just go somewhere and audition them if at all possible. For gaming, I use a $15 set...
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    Penryn only 0-10% over Conroe?

    Maybe Intel is getting lazy again now that they are on top... Or maybe people just expect too much. Either way, the bar's set.. time for AMD to answer.
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    Heroes: Volume II

    I dunno, I don't think it was THAT weak, it was right in line with the whole "love will save the world" thing that Shaft was telling Peter Petrelli. Yeah, a Matrix-like battle would've been cool, but we've all seen that before... (and that ending sucked worse anyway!) My questions are this...
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    Best Laptop for the Buck

    Yeah, we have a Gateway rep who handles our account and is pretty responsive. Like I said, it's probably because we're "higher ed" and buy a lot of stuff (though we're a smaller college they still treat us nice). Guess it's a lot different when buying a laptop for personal use.
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    Best Laptop for the Buck

    PLEASE do yourself a favor and don't get an Acer! We (the college I work for) purchased about 20 of them last summer and we've sent back no less than half of them for dead motherboards, failed HDDs, crappy WiFi cards w/ no range and can't connect to our network, etc... just bad. We've been...
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    BF2 1.21 Patch OUT NOW!!!!

    I got the red/blue bug almost immediately after installing 1.21... it was fine for me under 1.2... not sure what they re-screwed up! It's happened about 2-3 times for me since the patch was released.
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    Can we just STOP with the Conroe/Anti-Conroe fanboi-ism on this Forum?

    Yeah, stop the Intel vs. AMD threads! ....ah crap I just kept the thread alive! Gosh darnit...
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    Hmm, even with hawt new Zalman VF700Cu i can't get my AGP 6600GT 128mb beyond 602/1145 from 500/900 stock...

    Umm, perhaps it's your GPU limiting your overclock? Your OC is pretty good I wouldn't be complaining at all!
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    BF2 1.21 Patch OUT NOW!!!!

    Amen. I'm sick of firing AT missles at tanks (or anything else for that matter!) only to have them disappear... LAME... so maybe now it will work right!
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    I'll be the one to post the thread on the obvious...It's pretty sad to see the AMD fanbois behaving exactly like their..

    I beg to differ, I believe 6 months is a LONG time in CPU world. I mean seriously, if PC's are considered outdated in 18 months, then 6 months is just 33% of the way there... so yeah, of course Conroe will be 33% faster when it's released in 6 months! It HAS to be, to keep our systems...
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    Well, it looks like Conroe @2.66 eats a fx-60@2.8 for a light afternoon snack...UPDATED ARTICLE AT AT!

    Yawn... I just upgraded (new A64 rig) and my system works great for what I do (BF2). By the time I can afford to upgrade again, AMD will have something better than (or equal to) Conroe so I really don't care!
  23. R

    IDF 2006 - Conroe Merom and Woodcrest info

    Sorry that was off topic. But to the topic, yeah, sure they seem fast.. waiting to see some reviews out of curiousity even if I won't buy one. :)
  24. R

    IDF 2006 - Conroe Merom and Woodcrest info

    Call me an AMD fanboy (I don't care) but I haven't bought Intel since my 80286 16MHz and I don't ever plan to, even if they're 800x faster than AMD. Intel's business practices disgust me. I stuck w/ AMD when the K5 and K6 was called "crap" but it worked well enough for me. And when the Athlon...
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    Any reason why I'm getting video lag in bf2:sf?

    Another vote for 2GB. Even at "medium" settings all around, I had severe "lag" for the first few minutes (and then, even during the game at times) while the system was caching to disk. I thought my HDD was going to blow up it was working so hard. Now, it hardly churns after I hit "Join...
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    Zalman VF700Cu and eVGA 6800 GS CO SE

    Bump.. still checking to see if this has been done before...
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    Think my PSU is the problem here?

    Based on that link, I need 240W (with my soon-to-arrive 6800 GS)... not sure how much of that sucks off of the 12V rail vs. 5V, 3.3V, etc.? Or is that calculator specifically for 12V load calculations? If so, I'm a couple amps short!
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    Think my PSU is the problem here?

    Darn it, it happened again today. Guess the problem isn't solved after all! Any more ideas?
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    How high can i run Bf2?

    Spending the extra $$ to get up to 2GB RAM is DEFINITELY worth it. I just went from 1GB to 2GB and it's night and day. NO STUTTERING.. which really irked me.. so now I'm much happier in BF2. This is ESPECIALLY true for the SF expansion pack, it sucks up RAM like crazy. I could tolerate 1GB...
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    EVGA screwed me?

    Yeah, it seems like rebates take AT LEAST 10 weeks, more like 12, to arrive. Same happened to me with my Samsung laser printer. 3 months later, my check for $60 came. At least it DID come though.
  31. R

    Zalman VF700Cu and eVGA 6800 GS CO SE

    That's even better than my previous 6600GT's 575/1120... (AGP).. now that I'm going PCIe in a few days (NewEgg supposedly shipped today), I want to get back in action ASAP! I just don't want to find out that it doesn't work. Re-seating the original HSF looks like a real pain.
  32. R

    Zalman VF700Cu and eVGA 6800 GS CO SE

    Hmm.. guess not! Looks like I'll be breaking new ground. Unless, of course, it's identical in form factor to a 6800 GT or Ultra in which case I'll be doing nothing new at all!
  33. R

    Zalman VF700Cu and eVGA 6800 GS CO SE

    I have a 6800 GS on its way from NewEgg (woo hoo!) and a Zalman VF700Cu sitting here from my "old" 6600GT. Looks like the eVGA HSF covers the ram, is it worth upgrading to the Zalman? I'm not so much concerned with noise as I am the cooling capability, I got the 6600GT (AGP) up to 575 / 1120...
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    CD jewel cases for DVDs?

    I use regular $0.14 CD jewel cases and they work just fine. I have a case of 200 of them at work for just this purpose. EDIT - just read the second half of your question... they have DVD jewel cases so they can charge more for the same plastic. :)
  35. R

    Think my PSU is the problem here?

    Thanks for the advice... some new news: I did a cold boot up just a few hours ago (from being off overnight), and it worked OK - I still heard the weird clicking, which happens only on startup (so it's not a fan), and I think it's my DVD+/-RW drive (NEC 3540). So now that I've posted this...
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    Think my PSU is the problem here?

    I should clarify.. the power supply has 18A on the 12V rail. Motherboard manual says "PSU should supply greater than 18A at 12V". So perhaps I'm just borderline, or is the manual just playing it safe? I used a link from another thread on the wattage consumption of all my gear, and with my...
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    Think my PSU is the problem here?

    Rig worked fine w/ my old AXP-based system w/ a 6600GT, sound card, and IEEE1394 card... but now that I'm in 939-land, I am having an interesting cold-boot problem: My new K8NGM2-FID (bios rev 3.00) is acting oddly on power-up. On a "cold" bootup (first time in the day, where it's been off...
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    BIOS wont detect HD

    Check cables, and try the HDD jumper on "CS" instead of "Master"... or vice versa... I had mine on Master when I upgraded from an older system and it wouldn't see the disc until I switched it to "CS"...
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    The *Official* MSI K8NGM2-FID GeForce 6150 Motherboard Thread

    POWER SUPPLY / COMPATIBILITY QUESTION... My new K8NGM2-FID is acting oddly on power-up. On a "cold" bootup (first time in the morning or evening, as the case may be), I hear real faint clicking... can't really tell if it's from the mobo or the HDD, but I physically switch the PS off, back...
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    GeForce 6150, etc.

    I'm building a system tonight with a 6150 built in, but plan on ordering an X800GTO2 or 6800GS later tonight... I figure I can scrape by in BF2 for a couple days on 800x600 with everything set to LOW.. maybe I'll get acceptable frame rates, but I'm not expecting anything else. Like the other...