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Karai Pantsu PALGN Moderator


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 10109 $poons: 29.06 Location: Melbexico

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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Yee. Payment made, parts allocated, ETA 01/07/11 - looking forward to (touch wood) games not crashing all the fucking time!
Also, the whole jump from 512mb to 2gb video card is... daunting.
Reclaiming lost PC gaming heritage? MY BODY IS READY.
Edit: Also, thanks again for all the halp and advice. You dedicated PC folken are the bizzomb. _________________
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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You're welcome. Round these parts we're a good bunch, helping each other out.
Outside of these parts though we just throw things at everyone and pretend* like we're up ourselves.
Looking forward to hearing how it performs!
*Might not actually be pretending. _________________
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Karai Pantsu PALGN Moderator


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 10109 $poons: 29.06 Location: Melbexico

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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Not as much as I'm looking forward to finding out, I can guarantee you
AAAAAAAlso, being that this will be my first ATi GPU... is there anything I need to know re: drivers and similar? I remember, back in the dark ages, people warned against using the standard Catalyst (I think they were) drivers, and instead recommended community released driver packs... but this was years and years ago, I assume that has all changed? _________________
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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It's all changed dramatically, yeah. Long gone are the days we resorted to community drivers.
Here's a few tidbits for you which help all round:
-All driver downloads etc
-Steam has an inbuilt "search for latest ATI drivers" option in its settings, so you can keep up-to-date through there.
-Download RadeonPro. This tool will give you advanced profile based options. Catalyst doesn't really support having profile settings for seperate apps, but this tool allows you to have that and also gives you a lot of options which you don't have in Catalyst as well. It'll also give you notifications as to what API a game is running, framerates, it can take screenshots and also do benchmarks.
TL;DR, it's invaluable.
-While not as important, CAPs are always worth grabbing. They're small and contain hotfixes that are released often by AMD. While 90% of the time it's for Crossfire users, there are also some optimisations for single card here and there. Worth looking into.
-Finally, don't fret too much about fresh driver installs every time you update. After the 10.x catalysts, you don't really need clean re-installs every time anymore and can usually install over. Only if you run into massive issues you do a clean driver re-install.
That should help. RadeonPro is probably my biggest recommendation, it is seriously that good. _________________
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Karai Pantsu PALGN Moderator


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 10109 $poons: 29.06 Location: Melbexico

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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You are the best, no substitutes will be accepted. _________________
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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Happy to help
Also, I've changed the topic to this thread and also stickied it. I think it's a nice thread to ask general questions on new builds, parts, etc.
AWAY. _________________
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GooberMan


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 3682 $poons: 127.80 Location: Melbourne! Booyah.

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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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I approve of this thread rename. The amount you need to spend to get a PC that outperforms a console is really trivial these days. And if your TV feels lonely, well, I haven't seen a modern PC that lacks a HDMI port and the ability to plug an Xbox controller in to it.
But I'm not upgrading any time soon. Still some life in my Q9550 yet. _________________
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A l e x


Status: Offline Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 597 $poons: 49.60

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:53 am Post subject: |
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Well a few days later and im impressed with it so far, the cpu cooler i got is good though its pump can sometimes get loud, not sure if thats just how it is or a problem with mine but i can live with it.
This will be the thing to push me into being more of a pc gamer now i think, consoles for exclusives, pc for pretty much everything else sounds good  _________________ Wanna go to space?
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Karai Pantsu PALGN Moderator


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 10109 $poons: 29.06 Location: Melbexico

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:17 am Post subject: |
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It's the time to re-integrate, for sure. Consoles nearing the end of their life-cycles with nothing new (and significantly more powerful than we already have) on the immediate horizon just yet, PC is getting more attention again. Breath in, breath out. _________________
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ZeroX03


Status: Offline Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 3582 $poons: 775.40 Location: Melbourne

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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So I need a upgrade for my shitty graphics card (HD2600XT), I'm looking to spend no more than $200, and I have my eye on the Radeon HD6850, thoughts plz? _________________
b+2,1 mindgames
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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First make sure your specs are up to scratch so you don't bottleneck the card or not give it enough juice from your PSU.
The 6850 is fairly mid-low range, but it runs most games pretty decently at modest resolutions so assuming you're not going for super high end extreme omghnng kind of stuff it should do the job for you pretty well.
What games and res are you intending to use it for primarily, and what's your CPU and Power Supply? _________________
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ZeroX03


Status: Offline Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 3582 $poons: 775.40 Location: Melbourne

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:23 pm Post subject: |
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I have a Core 2 E8400, power supply is a stock 750W that came with the case. Resolution wise probably just at 1280*720. Games that I want to run realll good would mainly just be SSFIV AE, max specs on this card slugs at around 20fps lol. _________________
b+2,1 mindgames
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TamTam79


Status: Offline Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 1605 $poons: 244.00

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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6850 would be fine for that res.
Hell, a GTX 285 would be fine. _________________
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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^That.
720p is piss to run. You'll be good to go. _________________
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TamTam79


Status: Offline Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 1605 $poons: 244.00

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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BTW in case it wasn't made clear in my post, you can hammer 720p for well under $200, bro. _________________
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ZeroX03


Status: Offline Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 3582 $poons: 775.40 Location: Melbourne

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm, think I might get the Asus GF GTX 550Ti... _________________
b+2,1 mindgames
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Island_Wolf


Status: Offline Joined: 01 Feb 2007 Posts: 3126 $poons: 849.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| TamTam79 wrote: | | BTW in case it wasn't made clear in my post, you can hammer 720p for well under $200, bro. |
Ermmm, or even 1080p from a below $200 card (I got a ATi Radeon HD 5770) that was brought a year ago. Yeah, I run on the uncool 1080p resolution *feels cool*
Technically, any card that is out now? _________________ "Work hard now, play even harder later"
I am an Industry Ambassador at Girl Geek Coffees (Sydney)
Unofficial PALGNchat - IRC Client *New Server!*
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TamTam79


Status: Offline Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 1605 $poons: 244.00

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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Just about anything released in the last 3 years will run 720p with room to spare, IMO. _________________
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GooberMan


Status: Offline Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 3682 $poons: 127.80 Location: Melbourne! Booyah.

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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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Please get over the resolution. Any card released over the last few years can run ultra HD resolutions comfortably. Whether it will run it smoothly solely depends on how many polys a game throws at your video card. _________________
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mipac


Status: Offline Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 2931 $poons: 849.60 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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It's about time I caught up to the Master Race, I'll be purchasing a new PC over the next few days and could use some advice. I'm looking to spend between $1500 and $2000, my local computer guy offered me the following (not much detail for now but he is getting back to me with exact parts).
Option 1:
CPU: i7 2.93GHz (4x)
RAM: 8GB
GPU: 1GB 6850
HDD: 2TB
Blu-ray reader/DVD burner
Windows 7 64 bit
$1,499
Option 2:
CPU: i7 3.08 GHZ (x4)
RAM: 12GB
GPU: 2GB 6950
HDD: 2TB
Blu-ray burner, DVD burner
Windows 7 64 bit
$2000.
Any recommendations? _________________
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Jarrod


Status: Offline Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 8284 $poons: 369.60 Location: Preston

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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What will you use the computer for? Because 8GB is overkill for games, and only really useful for image/video/audio editing as well as running a virutal machine. 12GB is fucking insane.
HDD is SS I assume? i7 is good, but again not really necessary unless you intend to use editing software threaded for the extra virtual cores. Games wont make much use of it.
Seems expensive to me. _________________
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Frozencry


Status: Offline Joined: 04 Nov 2005 Posts: 9277 $poons: 1628.10 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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$2000 for a 6950 based system seems overpriced. You could probably order all the hardware with a 6970 and 1155 chipset (sandybridge) from an online shop for less.
As Jarrod said, 8GB is overkill unless you're using multimedia products too, and 12GB is just e-peen. _________________
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mipac


Status: Offline Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 2931 $poons: 849.60 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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Definetely mainly going to be used for gaming, there will be a bit of audio editing done from time to time but nothing too intensive editing wise. I figured the price wouldn't be that great (however doubt I could find much better in Bathurst), I guess buying parts online will be the way to go. _________________
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Jarrod


Status: Offline Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 8284 $poons: 369.60 Location: Preston

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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If thats the case then you definitely wont need over 8GB. 4GB is all you need for high end gaming. 8GB is only really useful for the mentioned examples, or if you want to future proof. RAM is cheap as chips so its not a big deal going for 8GB over 4GB, but whether or not it is necessary is something to consider.
12GB is overkill and you wont ever use it for anything ever. Ever.
And yeah, like Denny said you could get the same stuff and better for cheaper. Just buy online and get it shipped. I dont know if they ship to you (I assume they do), but I bought mine from PC Case Gear and they were great, tracking and wrapped up nice and secure. They just wont put it together for you. _________________
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mipac


Status: Offline Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 2931 $poons: 849.60 Location: Sydney

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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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I think I'll go with 8GB, the price difference between 4 and 8 makes me say eff it. It seems that RAM speed is pretty damn important too, anything I should be looking out for?
GPU wise, I'm liking the look of the GTX 580 although it seems to only be available in a 1.5GB option? I'm sure that's fine but I just assumed there would be a 2 GB model.
As an aside, Metro 2033 in DX11 must look amazing because...damn.
 _________________
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