Off-Topic Thread

_AVALANCHE_

Serephucus wrote: »

Click on one of them!

Nope, someone tell me their, we're on a new page now so it won't wreck it for anyone else.

Monotype

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Nope, someone tell me their, we're on a new page now so it won't wreck it for anyone else.

What?

Tea_Bag

sorry lads you can completely ignore this post. its just a saved basket for later upgrades/new builds. didnt want to start a new thread and get people confused.


that said, if you know of a better mATX Z68 mobo for ~€100 shout!
also, im looking for a subtle/refined "desktop" style mATX case with a few HDD bays. at least 2x3.5" bays and somewhere i can squeeze a 2.5" SSD. second hand is fine so if you come across something id appreciate it.


Total build cost: €745.55 + €30 shipping
BitFenix Merc Alpha €31.61
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.68
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €98.69
8GB-Kit Corsair ValueSelect PC3-10667U CL9 €33.51
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9 €38.18
LG GH24NS bare schwarz €16.86
Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, Intel Z68, mATX €92.81
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo Desktop - black €53.39
AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition - 125 Watt, Sockel AM3 €131.94
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €195.88

deconduo

Cheap:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49193&agid=635

Less cheap:
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=49191&agid=635

Tea_Bag

they both look nice, but im more into the flat this type style. its going under the TV, whereas the current case (Storm Scout) is pretty big and has to go behind the TV. i was gonna sell on the Scout. any idea on what i could get for it? still got box and in good condition.

deconduo

Tea_Bag wrote: »

they both look nice, but im more into the flat this type style. its going under the TV, whereas the current case (Storm Scout) is pretty big and has to go behind the TV. i was gonna sell on the Scout. any idea on what i could get for it? still got box and in good condition.

Its out of stock in HWVS but here's the same one from scan

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-milo-ml03b-microatx-black-slim-htpc-case-with-usb-30-w-o-psu-%28can-take-atx%29

Tea_Bag

thanks, that helps allot. it used to be €37 on HWVS!

nesf

Tea_Bag wrote: »

sorry lads you can completely ignore this post. its just a saved basket for later upgrades/new builds. didnt want to start a new thread and get people confused.


that said, if you know of a better mATX Z68 mobo for ~€100 shout!
also, im looking for a subtle/refined "desktop" style mATX case with a few HDD bays. at least 2x3.5" bays and somewhere i can squeeze a 2.5" SSD. second hand is fine so if you come across something id appreciate it.


Total build cost: €745.55 + €30 shipping
BitFenix Merc Alpha €31.61
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.68
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €98.69
8GB-Kit Corsair ValueSelect PC3-10667U CL9 €33.51
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9 €38.18
LG GH24NS bare schwarz €16.86
Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, Intel Z68, mATX €92.81
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo Desktop - black €53.39
AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition - 125 Watt, Sockel AM3 €131.94
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €195.88

HTPC or server build or what? I'm confused by the lack of a GPU with those kinds of chips. Or is it that you use your TV as a monitor?

Monotype

Tea_Bag wrote: »

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition - 125 Watt, Sockel AM3 €131.94

I assume this is an upgrade for something, but what about the 960T?
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52244
€109.90. It's built on the Thuban design, so you should get slightly higher overclocks and you get the possibility to unlock to 6 cores too. They're both black editions anyway, so you don't lose out on the unlocked multiplier.

Tea_Bag

nesf wrote: »

HTPC or server build or what? I'm confused by the lack of a GPU with those kinds of chips. Or is it that you use your TV as a monitor?

im potentially building two PC's by mashing up some new components with my current server. The server resides behind the TV as it stands, so its also used as a HTPC.

current server specs are:

MSI 770-G45
athlon X3 445 (can unlock to phenom x4, but ive disabled that and an extra core to cut back on power, as all it does is play movies. so currently x2)
GTX460
CM silent pro M600W PSU
4gb corsair vengeance 1600mhz ram
4tb's of HDDs
CM Storm Scout case

mashup build for chemical calculations, which isnt very demanding, and going to be spending life in a lab:

BitFenix Merc Alpha €31.61
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W €52.68
Crucial M4 64GB SSD 6,4cm (2,5") €98.69
8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9 €38.18
(with thanks to Mono) the 960T
the MSI 770-G45 from the current server
GTX460 from current server.

new server/HTPC (and hopefully a little quieter):

8GB-Kit G.Skill RipJaws-X PC3-12800U CL9 €38.18
(i really dont need the 8gb here. i could reuse the 4gb i have already, but my justification was that ram is apparently going to get pricey again, and if i had the 8gb i could forget about thinking of it again. i could also RAMdisk my minecraft server if i ever get that up and running again. thoughts?)
LG GH24NS bare schwarz €16.86
Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, Intel Z68, mATX €92.81
Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo Desktop - black €53.39
silent pro M600 PSU from server
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155 €195.88

the 2500K im undecided about. if i get it, im turning off two cores without a doubt. its complete overkill for something that the lads use to stream movies around our network and play youtube on the TV with. the obvious solution is the i3-2120. 65W TDP, and pretty much a beast in its own right. thing is, its €110. the 2500K is only €90 more and im getting alot more CPU. if it goes into a gaming rig in 3 years time, it'll be fine. can i say the same for the i3? doubt it. if i sell it all, i should get that extra €90 back anyway on resale value. the i5 also has the HD3000 igp vs. the i3's HD2000. i obviously want flawless 1080p movie playback. i dont want to think about the chip struggling ever during the movies etc. this is where i got the 2500K idea from, because i was originally sold on i3 + HD6450.:P


if anyone has any thoughts at all about this stuff, please do shout, i need more opinions.

anyway, with that, im hopefully going to plough back some money selling the Storm Scout case, athlon x3, 4gb vengeance ram. hopefully.

Monotype wrote: »

I assume this is an upgrade for something, but what about the 960T?
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52244
€109.90. It's built on the Thuban design, so you should get slightly higher overclocks and you get the possibility to unlock to 6 cores too. They're both black editions anyway, so you don't lose out on the unlocked multiplier.

completely sold on the 960T mono. sound.
i actually didnt even notice cause it cause i started paying attention to the HWVS page after the 955 came up, and the 690T is cheaper.:o:o

Serephucus

You could look at the 2105 for the HTPC. 3.1GHz version of the 2120, but it uses HD 3000 graphics, vs. 2000.

Tea_Bag

Serephucus wrote: »

You could look at the 2105 for the HTPC. 3.1GHz version of the 2120, but it uses HD 3000 graphics, vs. 2000.

interesting!

Serephucus, i know you're toying with the idea for a new server. what do you make of the idea to get the 2500K instead? compared to the 2105, its €85 more.

its a shame cause when i got my 2500K i paid €170 from HWVS.

nesf

I'd go cheapo with a Celeron and a HD 6450 to be honest for a server. Once it's a 1155 socket you can always throw a better chip in there later on if you need more grunt. Some of the Pentiums are really low on power and quite reasonably priced too. If you're going to be underclocking the thing anyway, why not pick up a chip for €30? You can do a HTPC off an Atom chip etc. The 6450 gives you an option of Dolby TrueHD later on too if you get a surround sound system, which is nice.

Serephucus

I'd be going cheap on this route. Get whatever you need for the server to run whatever you want it to, plus a little spare, just to be sure. If you get a cheap 1155 motherboard, you're looking at an i5 2400 at most, for a future gaming rig, with is respectable.

There's also Ivy Bridge to consider. If you want to make a gaming rig out of it in a year, odds are there will be a spate of P67/Z68 motherboards on Adverts by then, considering IB will be using Z77 and Q77 (I think). And you could easily pickup a 2500K/Z68 combo for cheap then.

Given my funds at this point, if I throw together a server at all it'll be G530-based. :P

deconduo

Monotype wrote: »

I assume this is an upgrade for something, but what about the 960T?
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=52244
€109.90. It's built on the Thuban design, so you should get slightly higher overclocks and you get the possibility to unlock to 6 cores too. They're both black editions anyway, so you don't lose out on the unlocked multiplier.

But isn't the 960T a green chip clocked at 3GHz. I'd be interested to see what sort of overclocking people are getting from it, but I would expect it to be from a fairly low bin right?

Tea_Bag

tom's got an early sample and got a 3.9Ghz OC on x4 and after an x6 unlock they got 3.6Ghz. it was on air but at 1.42v

FlyingIrishMan

Okay, I have 70euro and am in desperate need of a hard drive.
Having a steam library full of games and only a 64Gb SSD isn't good :P

Whats the best hard drive I can get for 70euro? The bigger the better, not too worried about the speed.

ShadowHearth

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

Okay, I have 70euro and am in desperate need of a hard drive.
Having a steam library full of games and only a 64Gb SSD isn't good :P

Whats the best hard drive I can get for 70euro? The bigger the better, not too worried about the speed.

try to make him to drop the price?

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/western-digital-wd-1tb-hdd/1238542

if not for now you could buy something cheap?

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/hdd-hard-disc-250gb/1139643

FlyingIrishMan

ShadowHearth wrote: »

try to make him to drop the price?

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/western-digital-wd-1tb-hdd/1238542

if not for now you could buy something cheap?

http://www.adverts.ie/hardware/hdd-hard-disc-250gb/1139643

I actually asked a question about the first link a minute before you posted it.
Only problem is he doesn't take paypal and I need it shipped to Mayo too.

I don't see the point in spending 40euro on a 250GB hard drive, I'll have that much used up with Steam games in no time and will only need to get another one then.

Headshot

Jebus how many games do you?

Serephucus

Headshot wrote: »

Jebus how many games do you?

I'd wager about 50? I have 90, and I'm using about 400GB.

Headshot

Lol you lads mad

ShadowHearth

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

I actually asked a question about the first link a minute before you posted it.
Only problem is he doesn't take paypal and I need it shipped to Mayo too.

I don't see the point in spending 40euro on a 250GB hard drive, I'll have that much used up with Steam games in no time and will only need to get another one then.

do you need them all on HDD at same time? i got 69 games on steam alone and i got only 12 games installed including minecraft, terraria and binding of isaac.

the games i stop playing i just delete and redownload when i got crawing for it.

in fact my current system got only 60gb ssd and 500gb hdd and i got 300gb still free. i got full seasons of family guy+southpark and just few movies too. i will add one more hdd later on just for storage and video recording.

FlyingIrishMan

ShadowHearth wrote: »

do you need them all on HDD at same time? i got 69 games on steam alone and i got only 12 games installed including minecraft, terraria and binding of isaac.

the games i stop playing i just delete and redownload when i got crawing for it.

in fact my current system got only 60gb ssd and 500gb hdd and i got 300gb still free. i got full seasons of family guy+southpark and just few movies too. i will add one more hdd later on just for storage and video recording.

I would rather just keep them downloaded, I have satellite broadband so my download speed isn't very good. It took me 18hours to download Portal 2, a 10GB file... So it would be much easier for me if I could keep everything downloaded all the time.
I actually only have about 120GB of Steam Games, but there are a few I have my eyes on, and I'll probably buy a lot more through out the year.

Also now that you mention it, I do plan to do some fraps recording too and I hear that uses up a lot of space.

ShadowHearth

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

I would rather just keep them downloaded, I have satellite broadband so my download speed isn't very good. It took me 18hours to download Portal 2, a 10GB file... So it would be much easier for me if I could keep everything downloaded all the time.
I actually only have about 120GB of Steam Games, but there are a few I have my eyes on, and I'll probably buy a lot more through out the year.

Also now that you mention it, I do plan to do some fraps recording too and I hear that uses up a lot of space.

you will need just a separate drive for fraps. ( well, just recomandation, not vital ).

HDDs are expensive and there are no 70eu 1gb drives, so you have to upper your budget or just buy something 250-500ish gb now and later on buy one more drive or usb 3.0 external.

_AVALANCHE_

Scrape up another €20 and get the tera.

ShadowHearth

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Scrape up another €20 and get the tera.

Better of with USB 3.0 .

_AVALANCHE_

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Better of with USB 3.0 .

I didn't check it as it was near £120 last week but it's £85/€103 now.

Monotype

The outside connector doesn't make much difference if you just want to salvage it for the drive inside. External drives are a good place too look these days as they're regularly cheaper than the internal ones. Nearly always 5400 RPM green drives though.

deconduo wrote: »

But isn't the 960T a green chip clocked at 3GHz. I'd be interested to see what sort of overclocking people are getting from it, but I would expect it to be from a fairly low bin right?

I suppose that's a fair point. It probably would be lower binned alright than the X6s. I'd hope though, that the fact that Thubans usually overclock a bit better would balance it to get similar performance to what you'd get with the regular phenom. The price and possibility of additional cores is a good bonus too.

Have the phenom X4s and athlons stopped production? They've been disappearing and increasing in price. I presume that the Thubans are still in production as they're plentiful.

ShadowHearth

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

I didn't check it as it was near £120 last week but it's £85/€103 now.

I would stay away from that one as reviews are very bad!