Curse

Snograt · Nov 30, 2009, 06:35 PM // 18:35

It's true about drivers - there are just as many people complaining about nVidia drivers as there are ATI nay-sayers.

Hell, I could even name nVidia employees who think their drivers are a pile of crap...

Let's face it people - there is no point bandwaggoning/fanboiing either company. Anyone can see that ATI and nVidia take it in turns to have the "card of the moment." My cynicism tells me it's because it's good, competetive business practice that keeps the prices nice and high without either company being at risk.

gone · Nov 30, 2009, 06:48 PM // 18:48

only thing that is starting to piss me off is the way the stereovision crap just auto installs itself...oh yeah, and killing nvidia services after reboot is starting to get annoying too.

moriz · Nov 30, 2009, 08:42 PM // 20:42

well, you can just go into services.exe and turn off that particular driver, so it doesn't autostart.

but believe me, nvidia's ginormous driver packages are beginning to piss me off too. i've recently cleared some 4 gb of hard drive space on my laptop, just by deleting nvidia driver installers.

gone · Nov 30, 2009, 09:59 PM // 21:59

I've been uninstalling it (stereovision).

I use -
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896645.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

-for various other junk.

Wrath Of Dragons · Dec 01, 2009, 05:05 AM // 05:05

If it helps, the HAF 932 is a badass case. I have it, love it. Huge and heavy though....nowhere in its design were they thinking "portable".
I also really like the lights on it...they are fairly dim, unlike a lot of cases that just light up the entire room.

You run 3 monitors? (or more....is the 6 monitor eyefinity thingy out yet?)
If so I would think the ATI would be a better choice.

I personally dont think SSDs are worth it yet. Definitely fast, definitely potential, but I dont see even close to the benifiet compared to the size of the hole in my pocket it would make.

As for the CPU...whats the big difference between the 1156 vs 1366 CPU? Same price for 920 and 860, different Mobo, 3ch ram on 920. What puts the 860 over the 920 in your opinion? Unless you have a mobo picked out already. And 1133 board is a tad cheaper too, I suppose.

Burst Cancel · Dec 05, 2009, 12:25 AM // 00:25

Rahja, you don't seem to have told us what games you're looking to play, and what monitor resolution you're using. A reasonable recommendation is going to be pretty different if all you play is GW on a 1680x1050 vs. Crysis maxed at 2560x1600 4xAA.

The SSD is the most noticeable upgrade for general usage, but it's not going to do much for your FPS. For a purely gaming system, you're probably better off sticking to video card upgrades as much as possible. As you're probably aware, no other single component makes nearly as much difference; even the CPU is a minor factor outside of a handful of heavily threaded (or poorly coded, lol?) games.

Lord Sojar · Dec 06, 2009, 06:09 AM // 06:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burst Cancel

Rahja, you don't seem to have told us what games you're looking to play, and what monitor resolution you're using. A reasonable recommendation is going to be pretty different if all you play is GW on a 1680x1050 vs. Crysis maxed at 2560x1600 4xAA.

The SSD is the most noticeable upgrade for general usage, but it's not going to do much for your FPS. For a purely gaming system, you're probably better off sticking to video card upgrades as much as possible. As you're probably aware, no other single component makes nearly as much difference; even the CPU is a minor factor outside of a handful of heavily threaded (or poorly coded, lol?) games.

I don't play GW anymore aside from Test Krewe stuff and an occasional login.

Crysis 2 would be nice, probably @ 1920x1200 with 4xAA. L4D2 @ 1920x1200 with 16xQ MSAA, uhh I'd like to play Starcraft II at 1920x1200 8xAA, etc. Primarily, I'm not worried about the graphics choices.

I just can't seem to make up my mind between the Corei5 750 and Corei7 860! My main drawback on my current gaming tower is the CPU just plain sucks. It is bogging down in L4D2 like a beached whale.

And, I only run dual monitors, two Samsung 245BWs.

And Wrath, the 860 outperforms the 920 in almost every test thanks to Turbo Mode. The P55 boards are also a lot cheaper. The Triple Channel DDR3 isn't that big of a boon unless you are running more than 3 cores (aka all 4 cores running at full swing) Since most games don't utilize all 4 cores to full load, dual channel is more than enough.

Elder III · Dec 06, 2009, 12:22 PM // 12:22

if gaming is the primary (and apparently only?) concern - I would go with the cheaper i5, maybe the saved cash could go towards a SSD or another "uneeded but nice" luxury component, aka some sick LED lighting, electrically chilled case mounted cup holder, etc...

Lord Sojar · Dec 06, 2009, 03:03 PM // 15:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elder III

if gaming is the primary (and apparently only?) concern - I would go with the cheaper i5, maybe the saved cash could go towards a SSD or another "uneeded but nice" luxury component, aka some sick LED lighting, electrically chilled case mounted cup holder, etc...

Yep, gaming is pretty much it on my 2nd rig. My primary rig can.... do anything. lol

I've decided to wait on the CPU upgrades until 2011 (since AMD's Bulldozer is amazing). I just bought an HD5870, so we will see what that does for FPS and stuttering. Hopefully, it will fix it in a jiffy.

Anon-e-mouse · Dec 22, 2009, 12:35 PM // 12:35

Been a while since your post Rahja, so I'd be interested in hearing about the 5870.

Lord Sojar · Dec 23, 2009, 01:13 AM // 01:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anon-e-mouse

Been a while since your post Rahja, so I'd be interested in hearing about the 5870.

Working beautifully. It didn't give me the boost I was hoping for in WoW, but I assume that is my dogmatic CPU being retarded. I plan to pop in a Bulldozer chip in 2011 with a 980FX motherboard, and 16GBs of quad channel DDR4 memory. ^_^

Elder III · Dec 23, 2009, 02:25 AM // 02:25

Rahja, was there something that you couldn't do in WoW with the 7950 GTX SLI setup that you had (if memory serves me correctly that is)??? I seem to recall being able to max it out with a 7600 GT back in the day when I actually played it (briefly). Anyways, as far as video cards go, I shall stick with my 4850s in CrossfireX and continue to drool in your general direction for the time being.

Lourens · Dec 23, 2009, 11:06 AM // 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Working beautifully. It didn't give me the boost I was hoping for in WoW, but I assume that is my dogmatic CPU being retarded. I plan to pop in a Bulldozer chip in 2011 with a 980FX motherboard, and 16GBs of quad channel DDR4 memory. ^_^

I think you might allready have ddr5 in '11

malevolence · Dec 27, 2009, 11:49 PM // 23:49

Rahja did you get the case already ? the HAF 932 is a beast , remember you guys recommend it to me

, its the best case I ever had ! Just add it some dust filters to keep it clean inside, I was without dust filter a couple of weeks and believe me I didn't get much dust , almost nothing , but maybe that is just the appartment where I live.

Anyway , I got the HD 5970 2GB from Sapphire and it fits perfectly with the HAF 932

Cheers.

Lord Sojar · Dec 28, 2009, 03:47 PM // 15:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by malevolence

Rahja did you get the case already ? the HAF 932 is a beast , remember you guys recommend it to me

, its the best case I ever had ! Just add it some dust filters to keep it clean inside, I was without dust filter a couple of weeks and believe me I didn't get much dust , almost nothing , but maybe that is just the appartment where I live.

Anyway , I got the HD 5970 2GB from Sapphire and it fits perfectly with the HAF 932

Cheers.

Nope, I'm waiting until 2011 to full upgrade the thing. At that point, I will throw in another HD5870 as well.

riktw · Dec 29, 2009, 03:39 PM // 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Nope, I'm waiting until 2011 to full upgrade the thing. At that point, I will throw in another HD5870 as well.

well then, chance your signature then :P

Quaker · Dec 29, 2009, 04:06 PM // 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahja the Thief

Nope, I'm waiting until 2011 to full upgrade the thing. At that point, I will throw in another HD5870 as well.

By 2011 there will be new cards that make dual 5870s obsolete, but the 5870s will be cheap(er).

Lord Sojar · Dec 29, 2009, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

By 2011 there will be new cards that make dual 5870s obsolete, but the 5870s will be cheap(er).

Exactly. I also will probably be using my workstation for gaming at that point, which means phenomenal cosmic power!

Winterclaw · Dec 29, 2009, 07:00 PM // 19:00

If you plan to do a full upgrade a little more than a year from now, just go with the cheapest stuff that'll play the games that will come out this year, even if you have to turn down the settings a notch. Use the money you saved when you do the total upgrade

End · Dec 29, 2009, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

but the 5870s will be cheap(er).

Was gonna call bs until I saw the (er)