Posts by David Sanders4

And what kind of load are we looking at on the CPU?

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/art...GB-Memory-154/

It’s only when you look at the engine benchmarks that you notice a significant drop. As crimsonstag84 mentioned earlier, 1GB should be plenty for Full HD resolution.

Maybe not, honestly. That NVIDIA GTX 780 performs almost as well as a Titan. While the stock models might lag behind a bit, once you start overclocking, they're right on par with the Titan—plus, they're significantly easier on the wallet. Even the GTX 690 has been holding its value quite steadily for a long time now.

ruggedeagle40 said:Honestly, I’d rather just grit my teeth and limp along with this old emachine for another year or two. I'll give up gaming entirely, keep it clean, and call it a day. It’s definitely bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, but my life is already packed with enough hobbies and responsibilities; I really can't justify dumping a massive amount of cash into a new PC right now.😢

As for these two options:
Link1 - A budget-friendly choice that includes a monitor, but it feels like the specs are pretty outdated, doesn't it?

Link2 - A bit more expensive; I’d try to haggle them down to about $67, but is it actually worth it?

Regarding that second build from Oscar, the GTX 260 is roughly on par with the GTX 650. I suspect you could put together a fresh setup using a GTX 650 and a Pentium G2020 for around $667.

I’m not going to answer that question, since you’ve already answered it yourself😛
As for the coffee, I couldn't tell you—to my mind, caffeine seems more effective because of the ritual itself rather than any legendary physiological impact.

graniteharbor85 said:If you're looking at getting a new HD 7770, I'd suggest going with the Gigabyte HD 7770 1GB OC. It features a superior, quieter cooler, comes factory overclocked by about 100 MHz compared to the MSI version, and includes a 36-month warranty.

As for the power supply, you can pick up a decent Xilence Red Wing for a pretty low price, and it'll be brand new.

If that warranty info is actually accurate, then that HD7770 is an absolute steal.

There really isn't any reason to go chasing power supplies north of 500W. Following the specific advice given by Timothy Kim60 and swiftfalcon89, I’d suggest taking the same route for your build. If you want to run some rough numbers yourself, here is a decent little calculator to get you started:
http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/index.jsp
P.S. That link fosna shared is honestly pretty depressing to look at; I can only imagine how much of a headache it would be if I actually owned something like that...

I notice the word "junk" pops up quite frequently on many forums when discussing power supplies. Personally, whenever I take them apart and look at the solder joints, the coils, or the heatsinks, they all feel poorly constructed to me—it almost looks like they were assembled by someone who had a few too many drinks. Of course, that doesn't necessarily dictate actual quality, but that’s just my visual impression. Regarding your observation, based on what I can see, it looks like it provides about 330W; if that's the case, it definitely falls into the "budget junk" category. Anyway, take a look at the unit yourself, and if you don't mind, please post a photo.
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...341-012-06.jpg
That's what I'm curious about.
There are plenty of tests available for these branded power supplies, and most of them justify both their price tag and their reputation. However, there are also those "junk" units that can actually serve you well for years. In my opinion, efficiency is a crucial factor; it isn't constant but fluctuates depending on the load, usually peaking around 50% for most units.
To be specific: if that 9800GT was running fine on this power supply, then a 7750 will work without any issues. A 7770 should also be fine, though it might be a gamble. If you have the budget, go for the 7850, and once you get another opportunity, upgrade to a stronger CPU. It isn't such a big deal if you don't utilize the GPU at 100% capacity; after all, that 7850 is about 30% more powerful, and it won't cause much of a bottleneck.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...tel-core-e8400
This has been tested with a Radeon HD 6970, which is slightly more powerful than the HD 7850. Your CPU isn't listed here, but you can use the Core i5-620 as a rough comparison.
If you decide to buy a new power supply, stick to a proven, more expensive model with high efficiency. Consider this: if you compare two 500W units—one with 85% efficiency at full load and another with 65%—the first pulls roughly 590W from the wall, while the second pulls 775W. That is an extra 175W of electricity used. Based on average US utility rates per kWh$0.33, assuming about 6 hours of full-load operation daily, that adds up to about 1050Wh. At roughly $0.15 per kWh, over 365 days, the difference would be $122. This works against the cheap option. So, if a "junk" unit costs $33 and a high-end, premium unit costs $217, according to this math, the better one pays for itself in about 18 months... (keeping in mind that other factors like temperature, noise, and long-term reliability play a role too).
P.S. Please feel free to correct me if my math is off somewhere.

If you’re really just dealing with such a small amount of data, you might as well just grab a USB flash drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ps,3110-7.html

I'm not entirely sure, but what exactly are you worried about regarding the HDD mounting brackets and stuff like that?

I did some digging on those cards for you. The Sapphire, Asus, and MSI models all measure in at exactly 17 cm, while the Gigabyte version sits at 19.5 cm. I couldn't find any specific dimensions for the VTX3D, though...

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/produc...er-system-z313
I actually own a pair of these, and I have to say, I’m quite happy with them. They aren't half bad at all...

I definitely agree, though an HD7770 will probably only manage low FPS for another year or two. Honestly, most people won't even notice the difference between 30 and 60 FPS—it’s hard to tell unless you're dealing with massive drops, but if the frame rate is locked, it's a different story. That’s exactly why Nvidia's adaptive VSync exists. It's also worth looking at both minimum and average FPS in reviews, rather than just focusing on one number. On the flip side, if he’s set on Intel, I’d suggest aiming for a 3770k or maybe a 3470k. That CPU could actually keep up with at least 4 or 5 decent GPUs, though he'd likely need to swap out his graphics card every single year just to maintain a steady 60 FPS. Of course, that assumes he's playing at 1920x1080, because in my book, playing shooters without widescreen is practically a crime these days. If budget is tight, I’d still say grabbing a 7850 is a much better move than sticking with a 7700; he can just push through on 1280x1024 for another couple of years. That was my advice: either go for the better GPU now, or look for a used Q6600 or Q9550 at a reasonable price—not something priced like it's made of solid gold.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...mid=816&page=8
http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...mid=816&page=7
http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...mid=816&page=5
http://www.techspot.com/review/615-f...nce/page6.html

I’m not looking for an argument, nor am I trying to offend anyone—none of that is happening here.

Regarding
Call of Duty 1024 x 768 - Medium Graphics

What on earth is that poet trying to say?
Movies are shot at 24 fps because that’s roughly what the human eye perceives; I recently saw someone playing Crysis at 30 fps wondering why it felt so smooth...
I don't see any mention here of which GPU was used for this test.

The real issue is that some people simply lack reading comprehension. Try reading my entire post from start to finish before deciding to comment...

I tested this using a stock Q9550 paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. If anyone wants to argue, feel free, but I'm not the only one seeing this. There are millions of links out there if anyone actually cares to look—though I know how much that matters on this forum. On other sites, when someone runs a test, those are actual facts. Here? It’s mostly just endless chatter and noise.
http://www.techspot.com/review/458-b...nce/page7.html

graniteharbor85 said:Just a quick observation regarding power draw: the Intel Core i7-750K and the quad-core variant pull essentially the same amount of wattage. Even though the specs list the 750K at 100W, that number is really more of a guideline for manufacturers—it’s largely there because those chips tend to end up on higher-end motherboards with more robust power delivery systems.

When it comes to power supplies, my advice is simple: buy something high-quality with a true 400–500W rating and leave it at that. It isn't worth cutting corners here; you shouldn't skimp on the component that feeds your entire rig. If you pick up an AMD Radeon RX 450 or even a Corsair CX 430W V2.3, it’ll serve you reliably for a long time.

I haven't heard such nonsense in quite some time. An Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 overclocked to 4.2 GHz isn't going to cut it when trying to drive an AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB, let alone an HD 7970.

I find it impossible to stay silent when I come across certain things...
Here’s a link to a benchmark featuring 50 different CPUs running Call of Duty: Battlefield. It focuses on stock processors, but the real story here is the GPU performance. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590It’s twice as powerful as the Radeon HD 7850, and honestly, it might just be the second most powerful card on the market right now.
I’ll just drop the link here to avoid rambling on. It's probably easier if you all just come up with your own descriptors—words like "nonsense," "pointless," or "utterly ridiculous."
http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcon...86&pageid=8147
It’s pretty obvious that most modern CPUs can easily keep up with this beast of a graphics card, though it would just as easily run alongside something significantly less powerful.
P.S. Someone brought up the i7-3770K earlier—which one is actually worth picking up? $500 It’s more expensive than a Core 2 Quad, and just as much of a jump as moving from an AMD Radeon HD 7770 to an AMD Radeon HD 7950. So, if I pair a Core 2 Quad with an AMD Radeon HD 7950, am I actually going to see lower frame rates than someone running an i5-3570K paired with an AMD Radeon HD 7770? It seems like it might... not to mention the cost of a new motherboard and RAM just to jump from the 775 socket to 1155. It's just simple math and common sense.

Resolution is actually a huge factor here. When you're asking these kinds of questions, it really helps if you include your monitor specs or at least the resolution you're running, because the performance differences can be pretty massive...

Look, what you’ve got right now is more than enough... I’ve already posted several benchmarks here to prove it. You can definitely make this work, and honestly, it’ll be much easier on your wallet too.