Posts by Casey Long2

Mud is just mud—it takes days to dry out. Honestly, I don't get why everyone is freaking out; I’ve spent two nights in a row trekking through the muck in my sneakers. At the end of the day, if you get a little dirty, you just walk it off. 🤷

From what I’ve been able to dig up, there is actually a 4860 out there—essentially a refreshed version of the 4850—but it’s only being rolled out in certain specific markets (which, let’s be honest, doesn't include us here in the States).
The stuff you’re seeing currently being sold under the 4850 label? That’s just leftover inventory 🙂

The Radeon 4850 was sitting around $180 or so when it first hit the shelves—that was back in the summer of 2008, if my memory serves me right (I ended up picking one up that autumn). These things haven't been in production for quite a while now; lately, it seems like they're really just focusing on the 5xx0 series.

Don't count on seeing any major price drops for the 5850 either—maybe you'll see a $30 discount once retailers start clearing out old stock to make room for the next generation.
Besides, we aren't exactly seeing prices plummeting during a recession (at least not here in the States).

Well, at some point during Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, two guys from the crew wandered over to us and handed out two ponchos—there were three of us, though, so clearly they aren't just handing them out to anyone and everyone. I have no idea what the vibe will be like today...

Honestly, the mud isn't even that much of a disaster; once it dries up, you can just brush it right off your pants and sneakers without any real trouble. 🤷

Spending more than 4670 on this setup is basically just throwing money down the drain.

Look, we're going to have to approach this battle a bit differently—we can't really lend a hand if you don't let us know exactly what hardware you're working with. 🤦

William Lee45, could you please take a moment to address the questions I laid out in my initial post?

What is wrong with you guys? This guy is rocking a GTX 250, yet you're all out here suggesting weaker cards instead. Unless William Lee45 is the one actually asking the question—in which case, there’s just no way to know for sure.

Look, at a $300 budget, there is absolutely no chance of picking up an NVIDIA card. Honestly, anything worth considering—if you want to make a real upgrade from that 250—is going to cost you significantly more than $300 (think along the lines of an RTX 3060 or something similar).

If I were in your shoes, I’d suggest starting by swapping out the cable first. Honestly, about 90% of the time, what looks like a faulty monitor is actually just a bad connection or a glitchy cable 😉

Timothy Rivera5 said:But at that point, I might as well just grab another one of the cards I already own. I’ll probably end up going with that new Vapor-x, the 5850—it looks like a solid choice, and the cooling setup seems top-notch.

Just a heads-up: you can't judge a GPU's actual horsepower simply by looking at how much VRAM it packs. The 5870 is an absolute beast of a chip, and honestly, having more than 1 GB of memory isn't really going to change your life unless you're trying to run three full HD monitors all at once.

Michael Reed72 said:I wouldn't advise going down that road. Honestly, that power supply probably isn't even hitting its rated 400W—let alone providing stable power—and I won't even get started on the build quality. If we're talking strictly about wattage, I wouldn't trust anything beefier than a Radeon HD 4670 on that unit, and even then, the reliability is questionable. If you're planning to step up to a more powerful card, you really should pick up a decent power supply to match. Think of it as an investment; you can carry a good PSU over to your next build, so it's worth skipping the cheap stuff. When a low-end power supply fails (and given how bottom-of-the-barrel that MS age 2007 unit is, failure is almost a guarantee), it can easily take several other components down with it—and then you'll be left wondering why you tried to cut corners.

If the options I mentioned earlier feel a bit too pricey, here are some alternatives that aren't total junk:
Coolermaster 420W
Xilence 420W RedWing Edition

Signature. Also, while you're at it, check out the video link in my signature. It'll give you a pretty clear idea of what happens when those budget power supplies decide to call it quits. 😉

Robin Fisher86 said:The power supply is 400 W ☕

What's the manufacturer and specific model? And how old is it?

I’d suggest picking up something used from a local marketplace. If you’re dead set on buying brand new, you really shouldn't spend a dime under $4350—otherwise, you're just throwing money away without getting any real value.
This one features active cooling, whereas this model comes with a passive heatsink and sits at a slightly lower price point.

The Intel Celeron E3300 is based on the Intel Wolfdale architecture—which means I have my doubts about whether this will actually work, given that we're looking at a 45 nm processor here.

I’m not entirely sure—I still have quite a few cold cathode lamps lying around, though they aren't actually running at the moment, but honestly, not a single one of them has burned out (though I have dealt with some broken ones, specifically 😁)

How were you mounting the rubber ring around the drive? My general approach is to suspend it so it doesn't actually touch the chassis, essentially just hanging from the rubber. Take a look over here http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ic.php?t=19147 for some inspiration.

Not really. Honestly, when you look at the actual performance per dollar, it’s just way too expensive—plus, it actually underperforms compared to the 5870, while pulling noticeably more power and running much hotter.

The GeForce 8600 GT should definitely be the stronger choice here—honestly, it isn't even worth picking up anything cheaper if you actually want to get some decent gaming done 😉

Taylor Campbell4 said:Honestly, maybe the easiest route would be to just hand it over to a buddy of yours—someone who actually knows their way around hardware—and let them tear the mouse apart to see what's causing those clicks.

The noise is coming from the keyboard, though. Without that, there wouldn't even be any buttons on the mouse to begin with.☕

Look, if you're planning on upgrading to a better monitor, then absolutely—go for it. But if you’re sticking with what you have right now, there isn't much point in dropping extra cash on a high-end graphics card when you aren't really pushing it hard anyway. By the time you finally decide to pick up a new screen, this hardware will probably be outdated regardless. 🙂
Regarding the power supply situation, the Radeon HD 4670 pulls all its juice directly from the motherboard—it doesn't even need a 6-pin connector or anything fancy like that. I'm not sure whose power supply you're running, but honestly, anyone would be fine with this one.

Honestly, looking at your current monitor and the rest of your setup, I really don't think anything beyond a Radeon HD 4670 is worth your money right now. If I were in your shoes, I'd just grab the cheapest version you can find with 512 MB of VRAM—you won't need more than that anyway—which should run you somewhere around $80 or $85. Take whatever cash you have left over and tuck it away in a savings account; you'll definitely want it later when you're ready to upgrade to a much better monitor. 😁