Hardware Discussion Thread

Overheal · 09-02-2012 08:54PM

Yuk! Any adapter I can buy so I don't have t ghetto-rig it?

Monotype · 10-02-2012 11:23AM

In fairness, since headers didn't appear for a while on the motherboards, it was the best that the case manufacturers could do to offer USB 3. Even some of the mid end boards still don't offer headers but do have ports at the back.

You can buy adapters alright...
http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-USB3-0-Adapter-Cable/dp/B005NGGKPU/

...although to get the most USB 3 ports at the front, you could use the case one and connect in the back while also adding a front panel set to connect directly to the header. Make sure you'd have the right size bays for stuff like this.
http://www.amazon.com/Biostar-Aluminum-Front-Panel-CABLEUSB30/dp/B0058NN1A0/

Overheal · 11-02-2012 05:45PM

I'll look at that. Anyway with the new Build up, this is how I look now...

Monotype · 11-02-2012 06:51PM

www.ninite.com might give you a hand with that.

Overheal · 11-02-2012 08:15PM

Not before future mark benches!

Tar.Aldarion · 14-02-2012 12:07PM

thinking of signing up to upc, moving house, so I could get a 250E voucher for either D.I.D Electrical http://www.did.ie or PC world http://www.pcworld.ie/

Any ideas on some sort of monitor or tv that would be good for 250-300E on those sites?

http://www.did.ie/Product/32andquot-HD-READY-LCD-SAORVIEW-BD32LCD/19577/28012.0.0

bit wary of HD 'Ready' tvs though? Maybe a nice monitor but they seem pretty expensive. Hmmm.

Any ideas?

Donny5 · 14-02-2012 12:11PM

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

thinking of signing up to upc, moving house, so I could get a 250E voucher for either D.I.D Electrical http://www.did.ie or PC world http://www.pcworld.ie/

Any ideas on some sort of monitor or tv that would be good for 250-300E on those sites?

http://www.did.ie/Product/32andquot-HD-READY-LCD-SAORVIEW-BD32LCD/19577/28012.0.0

bit wary of HD 'Ready' tvs though? Maybe a nice monitor but they seem pretty expensive. Hmmm.

Any ideas?

That TV you linked to is 1366*768, good enough for 720p, but definitely not good enough to use as a monitor. If you want to use it with a PC, buy a monitor and stay clear of TVs, because they have serious overscan issues and blurring.

Eboggles · 14-02-2012 12:13PM

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

thinking of signing up to upc, moving house, so I could get a 250E voucher for either D.I.D Electrical http://www.did.ie or PC world http://www.pcworld.ie/

Any ideas on some sort of monitor or tv that would be good for 250-300E on those sites?

http://www.did.ie/Product/32andquot-HD-READY-LCD-SAORVIEW-BD32LCD/19577/28012.0.0

bit wary of HD 'Ready' tvs though? Maybe a nice monitor but they seem pretty expensive. Hmmm.

Any ideas?

What size are you looking for? This is a nice monitor, but I'd be a bit wary of buying off DID, their stuff looks cheapy.

Tar.Aldarion · 14-02-2012 12:46PM

Donny5 wrote: »

That TV you linked to is 1366*768, good enough for 720p, but definitely not good enough to use as a monitor. If you want to use it with a PC, buy a monitor and stay clear of TVs, because they have serious overscan issues and blurring.

Thanks, If a tv is better value I will get a tv and use it as a tv. Don't actually really watch tv but you never know.
So I'm not sure. Just seeing what I can get on both sites. See is there any good monitor in a sale, would love a 27 inch.

Eboggles wrote: »

What size are you looking for? This is a nice monitor, but I'd be a bit wary of buying off DID, their stuff looks cheapy.

Bigger the better

have a 21 inch and a 23 inch ( latter 120Hz HD 3D) atm. so 23-27 would be perfect. Don't need another 3d one. That 24 inch HD one looks quite nice! Pity it's a bit overpriced (actually got my HD 3D 120HZ monitor for a bit less), see them for 180 but I'm gonna have to expect that getting it from these stores. Looks good thanks.

Brian · 14-02-2012 05:44PM

€250 voucher?? How?

Monotype · 14-02-2012 05:46PM

It's on the bargain alerts forum. UPC have a thread there for new customers signing up for tv and broadband.

mcgovern · 14-02-2012 05:59PM

It takes upto 60 days to arrive though. I got it installed just before Xmas and still waiting on voucher.

Tar.Aldarion · 14-02-2012 08:15PM

can get it for BB and phone too(cheaper than the standalone charge). So gonna get 50meg and phone, moving house.

Applies toThe Carphone Warehouse, D.I.D Electrical, PC World, Currys and Michael Briscoe (order it in the store you want)

Alternatively you can get a 50e voucher if you order through boards, 2 months half price and free activation of services.

if you havent gotten it 30 days after installation you can contact them and they deal with it for you.

marco_polo · 15-02-2012 10:56AM

HD 7770 reviews are out now, underwhelming performance/price levels, performance ending up roughly on a par with a 460GTX 1GB.

If you were holding off on getting a HD6850 in anticipation, move along nothing to see here.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5541/amd-radeon-hd-7750-radeon-hd-7770-ghz-edition-review/1

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7770-7750-benchmark,3135.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/498-amd-radeon-hd7770-hd7750/page9.html

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/35233-powercolor-radeon-hd-7770-amd-radeon-hd-7750/

Monotype · 15-02-2012 12:29PM

Performance is fairly close to what I expected, with the 7770 at around the 6850, perhaps averaging slightly lower although newer drivers may even things up.

Just too dear though. Price will come down but they'd want to knock off €30 soon.

cherryghost · 15-02-2012 12:37PM

Monotype wrote: »

Performance is fairly close to what I expected, with the 7770 at around the 6850, perhaps averaging slightly lower although newer drivers may even things up.

Just too dear though. Price will come down but they'd want to knock off €30 soon.

Was about to say, terrible pricing on their behalf. Pass!

MRTULES · 15-02-2012 12:46PM

So would a 6870 still be one of the best bang for your buck at around the €145?? Is power consumption over time even worth taking in to account?

ShadowHearth · 15-02-2012 01:00PM

So what is it priced at? I am on my phone and will be by pc only around 6 or 7.

cherryghost · 15-02-2012 01:03PM

About the same price as a 6850, which is faster than it. Circa 140-150 euro

Monotype · 15-02-2012 01:06PM

About €160 for the 7770. €120 or so for the 7750. Pricing at scan.co.uk.

That puts the 7770 up around the average price of the 6870, although you can get a few 6870s for cheaper. Still too dear, even for new tech.

ShadowHearth · 15-02-2012 01:07PM

****... 150 will buy you 6870... Which is pure sex with fans.

So they are doing this bullshiet after all: renaming stuff and keep same price for same performance. Even worse in fact, it is less powerful then old gen.

It will be really annoying if they will take 6870 of the market then. I can see it be a very good bargain as second hand gpu.

Monotype · 15-02-2012 01:18PM

Prices will drop in a few weeks. I just hope it drops a lot. I still think, now more than ever, that the 7850 is a replacement for the 6870. Or more like the 6870 - 6950 range. There's a fair gap there.

ShadowHearth · 15-02-2012 01:27PM

Monotype wrote: »

Prices will drop in a few weeks. I just hope it drops a lot. I still think, now more than ever, that the 7850 is a replacement for the 6870. Or more like the 6870 - 6950 range. There's a fair gap there.

Well like I said before. My money on ( might be wrong ) :

6950 - 7850 - 250ish

6970 - 7870 - 300

Will be interesting to see what will happen. It is annoying that they just change name and technology, but performance per price stays same

. Let's hope those 2 will prove me wrong!

marco_polo · 15-02-2012 01:28PM

ShadowHearth wrote: »

****... 150 will buy you 6870... Which is pure sex with fans.

So they are doing this bullshiet after all: renaming stuff and keep same price for same performance. Even worse in fact, it is less powerful then old gen.

It will be really annoying if they will take 6870 of the market then. I can see it be a very good bargain as second hand gpu.

I think I read in one of the reviews that they have already stopped manufacturing HD6850/HD6870s, so in light of todays reviews and the likely launch prices of the HD7850/70 I'd say they will disappear pretty quickly.

Monotype · 15-02-2012 03:15PM

Hopefully nvidia will have something better to offer this round. While I think the 7850 could launch at €200 and maybe drop a while later to €150, it leaves a huge gap for the mainstream buyer. If they launched higher at SH's predictions, they'd want to start filling in with 7790s or 7830s. Either way, there's still a considerable vacancy so maybe they might be a lot less powerful than we think.
A lot of people who come here have around the €150 mark to spend on a GPU. With the 6850/6870s already stopped production, it will be hard to recommend an AMD card for the average person. The 7770 isn't recommend-worthy. Possibly the 7750 for a tight budget. I'd like to see nvidia do what they did with the GTX 460 when it plunged in price. Come to think of it, the pricing on graphics cards haven't actually improved much at all since then. Prices have been mostly stagnant for a year - the 6950 has gone up, the 6850 has stayed much the same and the 6870 is about the only one that's become better value.
Maybe the €100-200 range doesn't make them most money, but they're the most important around here.

Jonny7 · 15-02-2012 03:50PM

ShadowHearth wrote: »

****... 150 will buy you 6870... Which is pure sex with fans.

So they are doing this bullshiet after all: renaming stuff and keep same price for same performance. Even worse in fact, it is less powerful then old gen.

It will be really annoying if they will take 6870 of the market then. I can see it be a very good bargain as second hand gpu.

Well the 7770 is the replacement for the 5770, about 20% faster. AMD are just trying to milk it with the price - I've noticed that with a lot of their releases recently

Obviously high range cards carry bragging rights, but these lower spec cards should have better price/performance than their predecessors out of the box - not so unfortunately. Strip away all the marketing and names, etc the card is quite good but only once it reaches the proper price point (about 110 to 120 euros in my opinion)

deconduo · 15-02-2012 04:10PM

Price right now on HWVS are:

7750 - €110
6850 - €120
6870 - €140
7770 - €140

The 7770 is a waste at that price, but the 7750 is promising. Its single slot, 55W, no PCI-E power connector needed. If the price drops to ~€100 it would be a great buy for a budget system. Take a look at this:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €346.74 + €30 shipping
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€109.00
Intel Celeron G530 Box, LGA1155|€36.26
ASRock H61M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€62.14
4GB Patriot AMD Entertainment Edition PC3-10600 1333MHz|€18.33
Samsung SpinPoint F4 320GB, SATA II (HD322GJ)|€69.00
Thermaltake Element Q, mini-ITX, 200W-Netzteil|€52.01

That will run BF3 at high 1680x1050 @40-50fps, with a power consumption of about 100-120W under full load!

Also don't forget that the 6870 was €220 or so on release and is now only €140, so the prices will drop over time. That being said, the 6870 is still king of the mid budget cards for now.

ShadowHearth · 15-02-2012 04:29PM

deconduo wrote: »

Price right now on HWVS are:

7750 - €110
6850 - €120
6870 - €140
7770 - €140

The 7770 is a waste at that price, but the 7750 is promising. Its single slot, 55W, no PCI-E power connector needed. If the price drops to ~€100 it would be a great buy for a budget system. Take a look at this:

Item|Price
Total build cost: €346.74 + €30 shipping
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€109.00
Intel Celeron G530 Box, LGA1155|€36.26
ASRock H61M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€62.14
4GB Patriot AMD Entertainment Edition PC3-10600 1333MHz|€18.33
Samsung SpinPoint F4 320GB, SATA II (HD322GJ)|€69.00
Thermaltake Element Q, mini-ITX, 200W-Netzteil|€52.01

That will run BF3 at high 1680x1050 @40-50fps, with a power consumption of about 100-120W under full load!

Also don't forget that the 6870 was €220 or so on release and is now only €140, so the prices will drop over time. That being said, the 6870 is still king of the mid budget cards for now.

Spot on 7750 can be a great product if they will price it properly!

Unfortunately with mid low end cards ati is doing really stupid thing. They needed to introduce lower price for same performance or more performance for same price. At the moment we just see same performance for same money and different label. I still don't see why would I go with 7770 over 6870, which is already got a trial with time and some solid drivers at this stage.

Let's see what will they do with pricing after hype is down. +1 on 6870

Monotype · 15-02-2012 04:34PM

Looks like new i3s won't have PCI-E 3.
At the rate of graphics card movement we might not be needing it for quite a while anyway!
http://vr-zone.com/articles/first-desktop-core-i3-ivy-bridge-processors-leaked-ahead-of-launch/14876.html

ShadowHearth · 15-02-2012 04:44PM

Monotype wrote: »

Looks like new i3s won't have PCI-E 3.
At the rate of graphics card movement we might not be needing it for quite a while anyway!
http://vr-zone.com/articles/first-desktop-core-i3-ivy-bridge-processors-leaked-ahead-of-launch/14876.html

Well at this stage pcie 3.0 is a gimmick. I doubt that even next gem nvidia will benefit from it.

Still ivy sounds to be good.

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