Finally - My What New PC Thread!

[Bodhi]

Turns out the 5770 would have to get certified by R n D (don't ask), so I've ordered a 5850 instead. Got it for 200 notes inc VAT, so can't really grumble. In fact I've ordered the Sapphire one, which is supposedly best of the bunch as well.

I'm fairly chuffed in fact Let's hope it's due in tomorrow

 

[cHodAX]

Nice one.

 

[Kryten]

200? great price

 

[soze]

Really nice price im specing up my own new pc also thinking of going amd so this thread is helpful Cheapest i have seen for the 5850 is a pre order on Overclockers for £215 or so but it has no date.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

N1 Bods

 

[Bodhi]

It's here

Won;t have a chance to install til after the Chelsea match tonight, will report back when I have.

 

[cHodAX]

It's here

Won;t have a chance to install til after the Chelsea match tonight, will report back when I have.

You're a Chelsea fan eh? In that case, make sure you lick the PCI-E power cable before you plug it into the video card, that way you get a bit of extra bang for your buck!

 

[Bodhi]

You're a Chelsea fan eh? In that case, make sure you lick the PCI-E power cable before you plug it into the video card, that way you get a bit of extra bang for your buck!

I am yes. I only bought this card cos it's top of the league


Anyway it's now in this machine, installation was interesting. Nobody told me the card was the size of a house! Anyway got it in, booted up, Vista recognised it, sorted the drivers out for me (had an onboard Radeon before - gotta love unified drivers) job done. Have just run 3DMark 06 and my score has gone from 3500 to 16500!

Consider my gast flabbered. This thing is QUICK.

Thanks for the latest bout of help folks. I will revisit this thread at a later date when its next upgrade time. I'm thinking another 4Gb of RAM and some Velociraptors

 

[cHodAX]

Glad to hear it went well, that card should be up to the task for a few years. Wouldn't bother with the Raptors though, pair of F3's in raid is blistering but even a solo F3 is thing of beauty. I just replaced a drive in my system with one and it is more than twice as quick as any of my other drives.

 

[Ch3tan]

I've got a velicoraptor and it is stupid fast, even faster in raid. But for the cost, the f3's will give you more than enough performance at a fraction of the cost and much more storage.

 

[cHodAX]

I've got a velicoraptor and it is stupid fast, even faster in raid. But for the cost, the f3's will give you more than enough performance at a fraction of the cost and much more storage.

Spot on, said it better than I did.

 

[Bodhi]

Oh dear. I seem to have talked myself into going into Overclockers tomorrow for more RAM. See 4Gb is nice, but I soon run out when I'm toying with nested virtual machines, so I feel 8Gb is in order.

 

[Embattle]

I've got a velicoraptor and it is stupid fast, even faster in raid. But for the cost, the f3's will give you more than enough performance at a fraction of the cost and much more storage.

F3 is nice and fast but it didn't stop me being a little silly and getting an SSD.

AS for HSF be careful since they are getting very tall, my own Nero resulted in me needing to remove the 220mm fan located on the side panel just to fit it in.

 

[Bodhi]

Just thought I'd post an update, as I've been a tad busy. The 19" Sony TFT I was using wasn't cutting it any more so I decided to spend 150 notes on a 22" LG LED backlit widescreen thingummy, and it's rather nice. I'm using it along with a 17" Compaq TFT for some multi-monitor goodness, the second doesn;t need to be anything too massive as all it displays is Winamp, so the Compaq is perfect. As a result my desk now looks like Mission Command...

Rep for anyone who recognises the keyboard, and what button it's missing

As far as the PC goes, I've been planning the final pieces of my Workstation. The 400W PSU is probably a bit weak for what I'm running (even though I haven;t had an issue so far), so I'm going to invest in a modular Corsair, probably around 650W or so. Not only will this give better power but I'm hoping the modular cables will help keep the case clutter free and give better airflow.

Speaking of airflow, I have been tinkering with overclocking, and so far, so good. The board has BIOS presets for up to 10% overclock, which I've had it running at no stability issues. It will quite happily sit crunching SETI or Folding 24hrs a day, however the stock HSF gets a bit noisy and it does heat the room up at tad, so I have put it back to stock and am going to look at better cooling. So far the Akasa Freedom Tower has caught my eye, as the fan has a white LED on it, and I'm sure that Thermolab one I linked to earlier can be fit with an appropriately lit fan, however if anyone has any other ideas for a decent AM3 cooler I'd love to hear them. Temps went to 55 deg max when OC'ed, running around 48 deg now (both load).

Apart from that it's a couple of little things, like a new DVD Writer (mine is struggling) and another WD Caviar Black so I can run them in RAID 0 and I'll be sorted. Speaking of that has anyone tried moving from a single drive to a RAID 0 array without reinstalling Windows? I've just installed Vista 64 and have it running beautifully, could do without having to do all the updates again.

 

[JingleBells]

Rep for anyone who recognises the keyboard, and what button it's missing

No windows key

NO WINDOWS KEY

How do you manage!!!

Old IBM keyboard isn't it?

 

[MYstIC G]

IBM M series keyboard, we used to have them at work. I miss them so much.

 

[Kryten]

You KNOW when you're typing with one of those. And everyone else does too. Everyone else also knows when you're not amused, as those keyboards break EVERYTHING

Except themselves of course. Wonderful bits of kit and still worth a fortune on eBay.

 

[cHodAX]

Think I have a few M series in the attic somewhere, workhorse keyboards those bastards were.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Nostalgia clearly impeding ability to judge what makes a good, useable keyboard.

 

[cHodAX]

Nostalgia clearly impeding ability to judge what makes a good, useable keyboard.

Hush you, us old fogies are allowed to have faulty memory recall!

 

[Bodhi]

Nostalgia clearly impeding ability to judge what makes a good, useable keyboard.

Nah I'd say its 8 hours a day trying to use the crap membrane based jobbies that Microsoft and Logitech are peddling these days. To come home to a nice clicky Model M is a blessed relief.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It won't be a blessed relief on your soon to be arthritic fingers in a few years time.