Hardware Discussion Thread

Nollog · 29-12-2010 5:19pm

All the 59 and 69 cards I've seen had only 1GB of memory.
I play at 1080p.

Unregistered. · 29-12-2010 6:58pm

/\/ollog wrote: »

All the 59 and 69 cards I've seen had only 1GB of memory.
I play at 1080p.

69** have 2GB as standard.

Trevor451 · 29-12-2010 9:27pm

Anybody know any good tutorials on how to unlock the 4th core on the AMD athlon x3 450?

Also if the 4th core does not unlock will the cpu be dead?

Thanks!

EDIT: Just had to go into bios and change the core unlock setting from disabled to enabled and it worked!

Tea_Bag · 29-12-2010 11:12pm

Trevor451 wrote: »

Anybody know any good tutorials on how to unlock the 4th core on the AMD athlon x3 450?

Also if the 4th core does not unlock will the cpu be dead?

Thanks!

EDIT: Just had to go into bios and change the core unlock setting from disabled to enabled and it worked!

i see your unlock, and raise you my L3 cache

Trevor451 · 29-12-2010 11:26pm

Tea_Bag wrote: »

i see your unlock, and raise you my L3 cache

Does the l3 cache unlock with the 4th core? or do you have to do something else to unlock it?

deconduo · 30-12-2010 2:30am

Some processors have the L3 Cache, some (like in your case) don't.

His one is only running at 800MHz anyway lol.

(I know its Cool'n'Quiet, but its still funny)

Unregistered. · 03-01-2011 3:45pm

I've been looking forward to reading up some reviews on Sandy Bridge for AGES now and the NDA seems to be up today. So for anybody who's interested, here's one such article which I'm about to read.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/1

Anandtech also have a very good article on Sandy Bridge.

Deano12345 · 03-01-2011 3:48pm

Dunno if its been posted but JohnnyGuru's review on the CX430 is up, looks like a very good budget PSU. I know alott of people on boards werent too sure on these units for a cheaper build

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=214

Short Story is :

CWT is the OEM
YL Fan
So-so efficiency
Limited noise and ripple

Solitaire · 03-01-2011 7:37pm

The ripple measurements seem very wrong. I don't believe an overrated and broken PSU design filled with mediocre caps could stay below 30mV ripple on a 12V rail that was blatantly struggling. While the +5VSB was coming in at over 40mA... wtf?

I don't know what Johnny was up to, Wolfie would have ripped it a new one. Group regulation isn't an issue as there's ways to get around that, but supremely bad group regulation is. CL1 isn't an issue as you'll never see it nowadays, but in this 12V-based era of computing a normal PSU can easily verge on the same usage patterns as CL2 and... where's the 12V rail? Sitting somewhere below 11V. And a far-out-of-spec 5V too. Which means some of the protections aren't working - at least the under- and over-voltage protections circuits, as those readings were miles out of spec. A basic workstation - even a CPU-heavy one - wouldn't really be at risk, but if you took Corsair seriously about the 430V bit and added a mid-range graphics card... the 5V rail would not be loaded enough to prevent both it and the 12V rail from soaring out of ATX spec and potentially hurting the components for the scant seconds it stays on before the CPU and graphics crash the system. They're not really designed to run at well under 11.5V!

It is an odd one... bad caps not causing ripple, and presumably decent switching transistors backing them up, so there is little sign of anything amiss until you try to run a 12V-heavy rig on it and the whole thing goes crazy - yet ripple still doesn't budge. Are those scope shots kosher? Doesn't look like it tbh. Even if they weren't, the regulation figures suggest serious issues with the actual design of the PSU rather than an issue with the components on it.

To me its a very old topology not really designed to run anything newer than a first-generation AGP-based P4 rig, and the fact that Corsair chose to list a 350W unit as a 430W one speaks volumes about their new ethos. Nothing nice either.

Deano12345 · 03-01-2011 11:06pm

Now that you say it, its definitly worrying to see, like with them revising the TX series without notifying people. If they keep going the way they are, they'll into a real jack of all trades and I think if that happens then their PSU line as a whole will get hurt, as if the AX850 (not really beating the HX850 despite being more expensive) and the AX1200 (quality issues) havent hurt them enough !

Solitaire · 03-01-2011 11:51pm

I'm afraid they're only pulling the same grift that Antec and Coolermaster have been up to for donkey's years; turning every one of their PSUs under €60 (and even many of them up to €100!) into a mediocre poopbox that they can make a nice fat margin on :rolleyes: After all, look at the the smaller SF Amazon units or the refreshed Cougar A; too awesome to be sold for peanuts and make a hefty profit!

Its just bitterly disgusting to watch the same company who sold a modern, powerful 400W PSU for <€45 claim an overrated and fundamentally unstable 350W PSU is an improvement. Would you risk running a gaming rig pulling ~200-300W almost exclusively from 12V (thus crossloading the unit out of spec!) on this thing? Because I might be picky enough to insist that 250-300W systems are run from 450-550W PSUs but I doubt the average Q6700+8800GTX Dell user would, and those vast numbers of heavily loaded Delta 305/375W PSUs out there running those rigs will soon fail to keep up with the heavy power demands of those old-yet-well-performing pieces of kit thanks to capacitor ageing. If they're not very current with PSUs what cheapy PSU would they choose - a Cougar, Superflower or Corsair?

And what odds of tears before bedtime?

Trevor451 · 04-01-2011 5:46am

Unfortunetly the acer monitor I was looking at went up in price but there is a 23 inch monitor for only €20 more.

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/5985014/art/acer/p236hbd-23-tft-screen-5-m.html

What do you guys think of the specs? Does the screen have good picture quailty?

Thanks

Jonathan · 04-01-2011 5:00pm

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my HD 4650 to a HD 5770.

What is the best deal going on a 512 MB 5770 and on a 1024 MB 5770 - is there much of a performance difference between them?

I'd rather not have to mess around with HDMI to DVI adapters, so a model with 2 x DVI would be preferred. VGA and HDMI is unimportant.

Solitaire · 04-01-2011 6:49pm

What resolution monitor are you playing on? If you're not running stuff at 1080p you don't even need a fully-fledged HD5770, let alone a 1GB model!

A HD5750 512MB would do just fine (and be a mammoth improvement in 3D over the HD4650!)

Jonathan · 04-01-2011 6:53pm

Solitaire wrote: »

What resolution monitor are you playing on? If you're not running stuff at 1080p you don't even need a fully-fledged HD5770, let alone a 1GB model! A HD5750 512MB would do just fine (and be a mammoth improvement in 3D over the HD4650!)

1680*1050.

It would be nice to get some 3360*1050 eyefinity going too, but I'm not sure how having a bezel right where the cross-hair is going to affect my gaming. :P

More a novelty, not essential.

Deano12345 · 04-01-2011 7:28pm

Trevor451 wrote: »

What do you guys think of the specs? Does the screen have good picture quailty?

Thanks

The IQ's on Acers seem fine from the ones I've seen. Contrast on them doesnt seem to be a strong point (those dynamic contrast ratios are a load of crap anyway) but anyway its a good screen and it'll serve you well !

Jonathan wrote: »

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my HD 4650 to a HD 5770.

What is the best deal going on a 512 MB 5770 and on a 1024 MB 5770 - is there much of a performance difference between them?

I'd rather not have to mess around with HDMI to DVI adapters, so a model with 2 x DVI would be preferred. VGA and HDMI is unimportant.

Jonathan wrote: »

1680*1050.

It would be nice to get some 3360*1050 eyefinity going too, but I'm not sure how having a bezel right where the cross-hair is going to affect my gaming. :P

More a novelty, not essential.

Sol is right, 5750 would be fine at 1680x1050 and all reference 5750's and 5770's come with 2x DVI

Trevor451 · 05-01-2011 6:10pm

Just another quick question :P I was looking at the PC health tab in the bios and it says this: "DDR3 RAM 1.5V = 1.488 V" is that a normal voltage for the ram to be running at or is it supposed to run at 1.5V?

Unregistered. · 05-01-2011 7:07pm

Trevor451 wrote: »

Just another quick question :P I was looking at the PC health tab in the bios and it says this: "DDR3 RAM 1.5V = 1.488 V" is that a normal voltage for the ram to be running at or is it supposed to run at 1.5V?

That's fine.

Jonathan · 05-01-2011 10:42pm

Deano12345 wrote: »

Sol is right, 5750 would be fine at 1680x1050 and all reference 5750's and 5770's come with 2x DVI

Where is the cheapest place to source one including P&P?

I said to myself I can only justify it if I can get it delivered for €100. Don't think it's possible though.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245511

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3805380/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html

http://www.dabs.ie/6JMNL8

Unregistered. · 05-01-2011 11:29pm

Jonathan wrote: »

Where is the cheapest place to source one including P&P?

I said to myself I can only justify it if I can get it delivered for €100. Don't think it's possible though.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245511

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3805380/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html

http://www.dabs.ie/6JMNL8

Komplett have a 5770 for 104, delivered. No 5750's though.

Trevor451 · 05-01-2011 11:30pm

I just ordered the Acer monitor from pixmania. I can now finally play minecraft in 1080p

Jonathan · 05-01-2011 11:32pm

Unregistered. wrote: »

Komplett have a 5770 for 104, delivered. No 5750's though.

Only has single DVI port. I'd nearly prefer to pay the extra and double the memory.

Solitaire · 06-01-2011 12:00am

WTF??!?

:eek:

They were cheaper before Christmas... and Pix weren't charging double for postage back then! :eek::mad:

RoyalMarine · 06-01-2011 2:03am

Jonathan wrote: »

Where is the cheapest place to source one including P&P?

I said to myself I can only justify it if I can get it delivered for €100. Don't think it's possible though.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245511

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/3805380/art/sapphire-technology/radeon-hd-5750-1-gb-gddr5.html

http://www.dabs.ie/6JMNL8

just seen this, and said you might be interested!

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/sapphire-radeon-hd-5770-1-gb-quick-sale/389945

Jonathan · 06-01-2011 2:16am

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

just seen this, and said you might be interested!

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/sapphire-radeon-hd-5770-1-gb-quick-sale/389945

I saw it, and I've commented on the thread too.

Getting to Waterford is a bit awkward, and my current card doesn't fit in his PC.

Thanks though!

Nollog · 07-01-2011 2:04pm

Jonathan wrote: »

I saw it, and I've commented on the thread too.

Getting to Waterford is a bit awkward, and my current card doesn't fit in his PC.

Thanks though!

I have a lightly used vapor-x 5770.
If I were to try selling it on adverts for 100 euro I could fool myself into thinking I need a 6950.

Jonathan · 07-01-2011 2:10pm

/\/ollog wrote: »

I have a lightly used vapor-x 5770.
If I were to try selling it on adverts for 100 euro I could fool myself into thinking I need a 6950.

http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/10_GRPCARD/04_PCI-E/productdetails/80001424/VMSI_AMD_Radeon_R6950_2GB_DDR5_PCI_E/R6950_2PM2D2GD5/default.aspx

Nollog · 07-01-2011 3:15pm

Yeah that's what I was thinking.

Trevor451 · 07-01-2011 10:00pm

I got just cause 2 today for pc today and wow does the game look good :eek:
Looks/preformes better than crysis imo

Deano12345 · 07-01-2011 10:14pm

Trevor451 wrote: »

I got just cause 2 today for pc today and wow does the game look good :eek:
Looks/preformes better than crysis imo

Crysis has to be the MOST woeful game from a programming perspective ever. Although JC2 does look amazing

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