Hardware Discussion Thread

Monotype · 03-07-2012 9:15pm

ZeroThreat wrote: »

I thought it was a little more complex than that to be honest, I had downloaded a windows 7 usd/dvd download tool, and for step 1 of 4, it tells me I need to browse and select the iso file, before burning to the dvd, but when I go into the folder, theres no file of that type (.iso I assume)

Is the download tool for something else I don't have?

Would appreciate a response on this, as I've just put payment through & should have pc delivered by end of next week hopefully

I tried it with renaming a textfile as ISO and it still worked. You could try reinstalling it to see if it makes any difference. Double check that you're in the right folder. Do leave it as the ISO though. Don't extract it.

ZeroThreat · 03-07-2012 9:29pm

yeah thx for clearing that up, it's burned to DVD now.

Annoying thing is I just realised a family member has windows 7 disk already.

frozenfrozen · 04-07-2012 1:19am

I copied a windows 7 disk to an external harddrive today in preparation for building my rig tomorrow, hopefully it works and will save me the slow read times from a disk. Also I didn't order a disk drive. So it better work! :P

N64 · 04-07-2012 1:34am

Provided that you used the windows 7 download tool (or the other method mentioned by tea bag) there will be no problems

frozenfrozen · 04-07-2012 1:43am

N64 wrote: »

Provided that you used the windows 7 download tool (or the other method mentioned by tea bag) there will be no problems

I used win2usb so I hope it's a similar thing, it did some formatting and looked the business so I'd say it did it

.

N64 · 04-07-2012 2:39am

http://blogs.amd.com/play/2012/06/28/the-new-catalyst/

Looks like AMD's new driver strategy is working wonders

Have any of you guys noticed performance increases updating to the latest version of catalyst?

glynf · 04-07-2012 8:59am

12.7 Is giving me +5/7 fps in BF3 but getting a weird 'driver stopped responding but recovered' e every time I restart. Prob an xfire/eyefinity problem

Montgomerie · 04-07-2012 10:30pm

The Dell U2312HM from Komplett.ie ships with another product by default.

"Power Adapter from Schuko to UK adapter
earthed 5A "

Can I just use a cable from an older PSU or Monitor. They're all the same aren't they?

N64 · 04-07-2012 10:38pm

Montgomerie wrote: »

The Dell U2312HM from Komplett.ie ships with another product by default.

"Power Adapter from Schuko to UK adapter
earthed 5A "

Can I just use a cable from an older PSU or Monitor. They're all the same aren't they?

Yeah, I have the same monitor and any standard power cable will do

http://www.tailoredsystems.co.uk/images/uploads/cables/kettle%20lead.jpg

RUCKING FETARD · 04-07-2012 11:03pm

GeForce GTX 680 vs. Radeon HD 7970: is upgrading to the latest graphics card worth it?

frozenfrozen · 05-07-2012 12:39am

Got home late and started building my new pc, apparently you don't need the back bracket on a h100 when using an x79 sabertooth.. could have bloody said that in the instructions! Finally had to google the problem and sure enough many others had made the same mistake as me

glynf · 05-07-2012 12:49am

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Got home late and started building my new pc, apparently you don't need the back bracket on a h100 when using an x79 sabertooth.. could have bloody said that in the instructions! Finally had to google the problem and sure enough many others had made the same mistake as me

Found the H80 instructions were vague as well. Gl with the build and stick up a few pictures when you're done.

frozenfrozen · 05-07-2012 12:58am

glynf wrote: »

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Got home late and started building my new pc, apparently you don't need the back bracket on a h100 when using an x79 sabertooth.. could have bloody said that in the instructions! Finally had to google the problem and sure enough many others had made the same mistake as me

Found the H80 instructions were vague as well. Gl with the build and stick up a few pictures when you're done.

Yeah I kinda knew from watching a few YouTube reviewes, but the bracket just threw me completely.
I shall! It's coming together nicely but it's a bit late so I'll finish it in the morning

will put up loads of pictures

Eboggles · 05-07-2012 10:29am

AMD Readies HD7950 Ghz Edition

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 670 presents a big problem to AMD's Radeon HD 7900 series lineup. It clearly outperforms Radeon HD 7950, outperforms Radeon HD 7970 in most cases, and maintains a healthy cost-performance lead over Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, even if it lags behind in performance. To combat this, AMD is reportedly working on a new SKU, called Radeon HD 7950 GHz Edition.

The "new" Radeon HD 7950 GHz Edition will be priced competitively to the GeForce GTX 670 (around $350-400), will retain the core configuration of the original HD 7950, with 1,792 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 3 GB of memory; but will feature higher clock speeds, with a core clock speed ≥1.00 GHz, and could feature AMD PowerTune with Boost feature. It is also reported that a majority of HD 7950 GHz Edition graphics cards launched to the market (later this quarter), will be cost-effective non-reference designs by AMD's add-in board (AIB) partners.

Yup, they're giving the Ghz treatment to another card. Apparently it's meant to compete with the GTX 670. Actually, it nearly beats the 7970! Taken from a Guru3D review in which they overclock the 7950 to 1020 core with no voltage tweak:

imageview.php?image=36341

N64 · 07-07-2012 6:47pm

I know the bulldozer series of CPU's from AMD gets a lot of hate around here (and rightfully so, considering how much AMD were hyping them up) but I was having a look around amazon and saw the FX-6100 CPU for a decent price delivered.

www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Bulldozer-FX-6100-Socket-Processor/dp/B005UBNKWO/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1341682984&sr=1-5

Is that a good price for the CPU? (not that I'm interested in buying, just want to know what you guys think)

Eboggles · 07-07-2012 7:05pm

N64 wrote: »

I know the bulldozer series of CPU's from AMD gets a lot of hate around here (and rightfully so, considering how much AMD were hyping them up) but I was having a look around amazon and saw the FX-6100 CPU for a decent price delivered.

www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Bulldozer-FX-6100-Socket-Processor/dp/B005UBNKWO/ref=sr_1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1341682984&sr=1-5

Is that a good price for the CPU? (not that I'm interested in buying, just want to know what you guys think)

The FX CPU's aren't that bad, it's just they look poor when compared to Intel's offerings. That said, a 6100 for that price is good value. The power consumption is quite bad and the chip runs fairly warm though. If you really wanted to overclock but couldn't stretch for a 2500k it isn't a bad choice.

Monotype · 08-07-2012 12:09pm

Power consumption only gets bad when you start overclocking them. Not as efficient as Intel's current offerings but better for power than older generations - e.g., Intel two generations ago, Westmere. The problem is that to keep up with Intel CPUs (Sandy+Ivy Bridge), you will need to overclock and power consumption goes out the window.
Still, AMD aren't that when you look at Socket 2011's Sandy Bridge-E CPUs which aren't much better for their thirst for power when overclocked.

It's a little bit annoying that their 'cores' aren't really full cores. It's more like three modules with 1.5 cores each. That makes about 4.5 cores by my count! :pac:

Tea_Bag · 08-07-2012 12:30pm

I'd love to have been in the meeting room when the engineers described it to the bosses.

its like.... hyper threading... not virtual but shared resources.. but very little apps use HT... so we'll try harder... go on so. fail.

Tea_Bag · 08-07-2012 2:41pm

any idea on the cheapest case that can house an E-ATX motherboard?

it'd be used as a test bench so looks aren't important.

RUCKING FETARD · 08-07-2012 3:29pm

Tea_Bag wrote: »

any idea on the cheapest case that can house an E-ATX motherboard?

it'd be used as a test bench so looks aren't important.

lego

M00lers · 09-07-2012 9:57am

Hi,
Never put much thought into eyefinity before but I want to try out dual projector gaming for the crack, I have 2 720p Optoma PJs (HDMI) and an Asus 6870 Direct CU with two DisplayPort connectors and two DVI connectors, one's DVI-I while the other is DVI-D.

Resolution will be 2560 x 720 which is less than 1080p so the 6870 should cope just fine I reckon.

Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to get eyefinity up and running via 2 x HDMI to the PJs, I believe I need an active Displayport adaptor...correct?

Any info from eyefinity users would be great,
Thanks,
Moo

Procrastastudy · 09-07-2012 10:06am

2 x 'monitors' doesn't require display port. Most 6870 are configured with 2 x mini DP 1 x DVI Single link 1 x DVI Dual Link and a HDMI port. Just convert your port of choice to HDMI.

Active adapters are only needed in 3 or more 'monitor' setups.

M00lers · 09-07-2012 10:11am

asus_radeon_hd_6870_directcu_ii_1gb back.jpg

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

2 x 'monitors' doesn't require display port. Most 6870 are configured with 2 x mini DP 1 x DVI Single link 1 x DVI Dual Link and a HDMI port. Just convert your port of choice to HDMI.

Active adapters are only needed in 3 or more 'monitor' setups.

Thanks, so for a dual config I can just use 2 x DVI to HDMI cables from each of the DVI ports, thats easy!!:D

Sarz91 · 09-07-2012 10:43am

Anyone here use the Gainward Geforce gtx 670? (The non Phantom edition.) Just ordered one and was just wondering if anyone has any experience with one.

Skylinehead · 09-07-2012 10:53am

Sarz91 wrote: »

Anyone here use the Gainward Geforce gtx 670? (The non Phantom edition.) Just ordered one and was just wondering if anyone has any experience with one.

Just seems to be a reference 670 really.

Procrastastudy · 10-07-2012 3:19pm

Since I became aware of this forum (in some entertaining circumstances

) I've learned a lot. Today I've learned that setting your SSDs up in RAID-0 isn't the best idea. That said my SSDs are pretty ancient so some questions if I may?

I've 2x Corsair CMFSSD-64GBG2D which have been in RAID 0 since I bought them. I'm wondering if I should break the RAID array and use one for Windows and some of my applications and use the other one for caching using the Intel RST.

If I leave them as a RAID array for speed, owing to the fact that they are pretty old. What tools should I use to 'clean' them - TRIM is available but not usable because they are in a RAID. Incidentally I only get around 300MB/s in HD tune on these in RAID-0 - are there some settings I should read up on? I've seen reports of 400Mb/s + on some systems.

Just as a ball park what kind of speeds do people see with newer SSDs not in RAID?

Many Thanks in advance.

Monotype · 10-07-2012 4:32pm

So what were these entertaining circumstances?

HDTune is geared more towards HDDs to be fair, so results often show up as fairly poor for SSDs.

A newer SSD could get you 500MB a second in read. In reality, you probably wouldn't notice a big difference as the main noticeable 'speed' is in the very fast access times. Then again, I suppose if you were running enormous games which move several GB into memory several times a day, you probably would.

Splitting them up and using one as SRT seems a bit silly since you'd already have another SSD in the system.

You could
1) leave things as they are. This isn't a bad idea as you get better speed than a single drive.
2) split them as keep both as regular storage. Read speeds would have dropped a bit but on the other hand, drives should be in better shape and the chances are that you wouldn't notice a big drop. You might waste a little more space given that you'd have two 'drives' now instead of one. You could span them, although I don't know how this would effect TRIM.
3) get a new drive. Your existing drives aren't bad but on the other hand, they've come down in price a lot. I would go down this route if you had somewhere to put the other drives - into a secondary computer or selling or doing someone with a slow PC a favour who's needs wouldn't exceed 64GB.

smileyj1987 · 10-07-2012 4:36pm

Tea_Bag wrote: »

any idea on the cheapest case that can house an E-ATX motherboard?

it'd be used as a test bench so looks aren't important.

A piece of wood with a few stand offs and drill holes into pci mounting brackets for holding hard drives . Maybe this could also work for you but i don't think it would be strong enough for you .
If you don't want to use wood you could also go to the Dump and get a side panel off a PC and use that .

ZeroThreat · 10-07-2012 4:43pm

Anyone here have any idea of the best place to buy a decent computer desk from?

smileyj1987 · 10-07-2012 4:49pm

ZeroThreat wrote: »

Anyone here have any idea of the best place to buy a decent computer desk from?

If your any good at basic flat pack furniture IKEA could be worth having a look around or build your own desk . If you see anyody clearing out a house a skip could be handy for some free wood .

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