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Hardware Discussion Thread

  • 14-05-2008 4:29pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    a) This is a discussion thread for computer components - if you wish to post a bargain alert you can do so here. You can discuss Hardware performance and upcoming hardware here. Threads relating to components are, naturally, still allowed; Hardware discussion is intended to allow general discussion outside of purchasing. If you have a serious issue with a post, bring it to the attention of a moderator by using the report post function.

    b) Anyone breaching these rules will be banned for 2 days - no exceptions.

    You can now post in this thread. :)


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 322 ✭✭ricka05


    http://www.dailytech.com/Intel+to+Cut+Prices+on+Existing+CPUs+and+Introduce+New+Parts+in+Q3/article11843.htm

    ""The current Core 2 Quad Q9550 will get a significant price cut from its current $530 to $316.""

    Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttt...............:p


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,401 ✭✭✭✭Anti


    Awesome, im in the market for a new cpu :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 234 ✭✭skuzzb




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    I want to be a realist and get another 2160/4300 and just OC it but I feel the urge to get an 8500 or q9300...the 7200 might be a decent middle ground.


  • Registered Users Posts: 589 ✭✭✭TonyM.


    The e7300 @ 2.66 will be only €20 more.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer




  • Registered Users Posts: 319 ✭✭Jaeger


    Anyone know if these are definitely compatible? About to place order in work, haven't the PSU or reliable spec to hand. The gfx card notes indicate that an 8pin connector is mandatory, not a 6pin + 2pin.

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-096-OK

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS


  • Registered Users Posts: 263 ✭✭alansweeney100


    AeroCool AeroRacer Pro

    The fan 400mm and only 12decibels!
    Might be tempted............


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Very dead on this thread...

    Here's something to help. Hope this will help some budget-minded builders:

    This cooler sucks.

    No, not being pottymouthed for SnG, I really mean it! I know it isn't a Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, which is very hard to get around these parts and thus leaves a bit of a void in the old "sub-120mm/budget tower cooler" range :( I thought it would be at least slightly superior to an ancient Zalman 7500Cu while also being fairly cheap. Well it isn't. In fact it happens to be much worse :(

    OCZ, if you actually want to make a budget cooler worth buying, try to do at least one (and preferably all) of three simple things which needn't break the bank:
    1) Use the correct size fan. Not that a 92mm fan has to suck (though yours does), but if you do use one make sure the heatpipes are the correct spacing to catch some of the friggin' air! If the fan isn't wide enough to cover the heatpipes within the primary airflow corridor it won't cool worth ****. Don't use mutant 105mm coolers unless you have suitably esoteric 105mm fans to match them. Zalman managed it! N.B. stagger the heatpipes you 'tards! (not just OCZ at fault there...)
    2) Use the correct fixings, not cack stock ones to save 2 cent. No, the Vanq isn't that much heavier than the Intel stock HSF, but that's not the point! You seemed to have cottoned on to the fact that reviewers all use flat testbeds. Sadly 80% of the units in your target audience will have vertically-inclined cases, where the Vanq's high centre-of-gravity results in a truly craptastic "Leaning Tower of Pisa" effect which kills the contact between the cooler baseplate and the CPUs IHS. And this is a cooler that clips in so tight you risk snapping your mobo to get it in! FAIL.
    3) If there was any contact to begin with. I love the old con-trick where you seem to give added value by giving a free giant hunk of stock cooling gunk. Because this just happens to conceal the fact that you don't seem to have even passed a coarse file over the base, which seems to have been hacksaw'd off a big copper pole. An average cooler manages a base finish of ~32 microinches, even with exposed heatpipes. A decent one can attain <8 microinches, even using copper rather than electroplated nickel and mad lapping jobs. I'm guessing your base's finish is around 150+. On a coincidental note I really wish I had some fine sandpaper right now. I shudder to imagine the air-voids but I want some sanding stuff before I try to reseat my cooler :(

    On a depressing note, I notice that out of the last five OCZ items I purchased four have turned out to be out-of-spec piles of dung, three of which still need the "return to sender" treatment. Such miserable QC warms my heart - simply because it means someone has defied the odds and even made Gigabyte look good. And given the problems I had with them and a certain OEM a few years back that's saying something! :rolleyes:

    Sorry, but never again, OCZ. And I've shunned other companies for far less.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 17,129 Mod ✭✭✭✭cherryghost


    the coolermaster v8. seriously. have the q6600 overclocked to 3.4ghz on air.... how could you not go wrong!?

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/coolermaster-v8.html

    it looks stunning in the case too, like a mini engine attached to the board :D


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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    I was just warning peeps off one cooler in particular :)

    If you have a decent case just ignore bling and get a Tuniq CCF (s775) or Akasa Nero (s1366). Former is the second-best tower cooler out there, and its far from expensive (at least on OCUK). Just a bit big ;) And I haven't seen the Themolab BARAM (best tower cooler out there) out this side of the pond yet anyway (plus you'd need an even better 12cm fan than the CCF to actually beat it)

    Akasa Nero is pretty decent, and at OCUK prices its one of the few decent Core-i7 coolers out there that focuses on cooling over bling.


  • Registered Users Posts: 341 ✭✭Frankieboy


    Anyone recommend some online stores for components that ship to UK. Used to only use Komplett but they don't ship to UK, I think. I know there's probably loads on them, but if anyone has had good/bad experiences with any stores in particular.

    Haven't built or upgraded for years, so kind of out of the loop with regard to whats available component wise, speeds/technology etc, if someone could recommend good magazine or website with info that would be great as well. Reviews etc.

    Thanks guys.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Frankieboy: I think these posts will be cutpasted to the Retailer Discussion thread soon. So if they seem to disappear don't panic :)

    Anyway, don't Komplett have an English site? Dabs, Pixmania and Overclockers all have UK domains for shipping to Britain, and may actually have better RMA reliability over there as well so some issues we've had with them over here may or may not apply to you :cool:

    As for your second question try hanging around here and swatting up on some recent XBit/Guru3D/AnandTech articles. Tom's Hardware used to be the best but are going a bit sideways again; as had occured previously there's signs that they're taking money from people to tilt reviews in their favour again. Either that or they are the most unprofessional hardware site on the web :( JohnnyGuru is a good source for understanding PSUs, and XBit good for finding out real component power usage.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Very surprised about the Vanquisher. In fact, was considering it as a new cooler, simply because I wouldn't have to take out my mobo. I had this before and it was very good, so I'd have thought the Vanquisher would be OK.

    Any recommendation on a cooler then using reference 775 push-pin (grr) design?


  • Registered Users Posts: 757 ✭✭✭rockal


    I'd recommend any HDT type cooler of your choice. I'm using an OCZ Vendetta2 on an E8400 OC at the moment and after a fiddly installation am quite happy with it (Idle 37, Full Load 50). This one from Xigmatek seems to let fingers (large) easier access to the push-pins.
    http://www.clunk.org.uk/reviews/xigmatek-red-scorpion-s1283-hdt-cpu-cooler-review.html


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Everyone knows CIT are a terrible brand. But what I saw today in PC World today really takes the biscuit; I had to post it somewhere. CIT 650W PSU, ATX 2.2, Dual 12v rail.

    I picked up the box out of interest, only to find it was empty - or was it? No, it wasn't empty I realized when I shook it, just the PSU itself weights less then a multi-pack of crisps. It really had me convinced that it was just heavy cardboard until I shook it. Onto the ratings...the 12v1 is 8a, 12v is 12a. That's....20a split across 2 rails. And if a CIT says 20a, it probably means 15a. God, if only there was a law regulating the marketing speak plastered across this rubbish.

    The price of this fine piece of engineering? A paltry 50 euro. :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,890 ✭✭✭Effluo


    Hey just saw this on a website

    http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=skinflint29.3&prodID=B2390296

    The "Antec 200" for circa €40

    The video review here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfCJBOSh06c

    It really seems to offer equal cooling and good quality build to that of the Antec 300 while being about €15 cheaper.

    Not sure about the styling but i'm sure a lot of people would go for this

    antec_200_hexus_computex09.jpg

    And this might feature in a lot of budget builds to come


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    WHY?! What on earth possessed Antec to go with that case design? Some kind of loss leader to increase Antec 300 sales?! :eek:

    200 is a lovely little budget case with a lot of premium features, but my GOD the front looks industrial-grade fugly! :(


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 17,129 Mod ✭✭✭✭cherryghost


    looks terrible


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 680 ✭✭✭Leman_Russ


    Yes, Industiral Grade Fugly suits this Case very well.

    Oh, Hardware Discussion... Hmmm...

    Core i5 = Best Price Performance ATM :D


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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Hmm... looks like they will appear after all: PCIex1 9500GTs are coming to town. Or at least HWVS. Maybe.

    Interesting piece of kit for older machines with free PCIex1 slots. A short while ago it would also have been a neat way to add a truly retarded number of monitors to a PC... but then AMD went and ruined it with EyeFinity :D


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    The tri-core Athlon2s and all the Energy Efficient versions of said should all be coming out soon. The fastest A2 X3 is almost as good as the ol' X3-720BE and the EE chips are a bit mad - we're not just talking about a proper modern 2.8GHz dual-core CPU with a 45W TDP, we're also talking about a proper modern 2.3GHz quad-core with a 45W ceiling :D


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    And to continue that train of thought... some more new Phenoms to play with. C3 stepping is bringing some silly fun - not only has the old X4-810 been replaced by the faster, higher-cache X4-925 at the mid-budget end of things, but we also have a rather silly addition. Fancy a gaming HTPC? How about a proper 3GHz quad with 6MB L3 cache and a 65W TDP? ;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,401 ✭✭✭✭Anti


    Benchmarks or GTFO :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 680 ✭✭✭Leman_Russ


    Anti wrote: »
    Benchmarks or GTFO :D

    This.

    Also: Photoshop + AMD = Fail and Fail


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Nope, thinking of something else entirely. An X4-965BE has difficulty keeping up with an i5 :P
    Leman_Russ wrote: »
    Also: Photoshop + AMD = Fail and Fail

    I've been telling people that for ages...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    Gulftown (i9) review here.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,977 ✭✭✭youcancallmeal


    Gulftown (i9) review here.

    Wow thought this type of review wouldnt be seen till next year. No suprises though, the 6 cores while interesting is really only useful in a server environment and the 32nm process looks great and is really pushing the boundaries!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,983 ✭✭✭leninbenjamin


    The over-clocking potential of the 32nm process though is interesting.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 36,161 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Leman_Russ wrote: »
    This.

    Also: Photoshop + AMD = Fail and Fail
    Yeah, my new box is intel, releif!


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