Posts by James Morris4

I don't own one myself, but if what they're claiming is actually true

dustproof, sandproof, waterproof, steamproof, acid, alkali, alcohol (lolwtf?! xD)

then it seems like a great deal, especially at that price point.

I haven't looked too hard, and I doubt there's anything truly worth mentioning at this price point, but maybe this kind of thing?

Charles Ward50 said:I'm looking at picking up a new graphics card and I've got about $500-$200 to spend. I came across this XFX PCI-E NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, 600 MHz, 1GB DDR2, DVI, HDTV, and I wanted to see if you guys think it can actually handle modern games?

Spec sheet here: http://www.xfxforce.com/en-gb/produc...ries/4650.aspx
If this one isn't any good, could someone recommend something else in the $200 range?

What resolution are you running?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is actually very well optimized, so it should run quite smoothly even on older or lower-end systems.
As I mentioned before, if you're looking to pick up a new graphics card, just let us know what your current build looks like (and what resolution you play at, obviously) so we can give you a solid recommendation.

Then you really have a short fuse.

Peter Richardson81 said:First off, my dad didn't just buy this for me; I worked my tail off all summer just to afford it, so I don't need some kids lecturing me. Maybe you should go stick some stickers on your forehead to learn some basic manners, because it's pretty obvious you haven't had a haircut in a long time. You two think you own the place and act like you're the smartest people on the planet.
The mod is the side panel—it's clearly custom, and they've done some small tweaks for cable management that you can't really see in the photo.

Honestly, you can't actually tell what the mod is just by looking at the case unless you say so, mostly because SO MANY cases come with transparent side panels. It would have been much better if you'd just posted some before and after shots or something.
Maybe work on your manners and your grammar first.
😉

Casey Long2 makes a fair point.
Even if they pick up a 5870, that card will be obsolete in two years, making it pretty pointless to bother moving it to a new build.
Graphics cards don't stay relevant for long. Maybe 18 months tops before they feel outdated...

bluebison8 said:What on earth are you guys running in these rigs that requires more than 450W?
Are you packing dual GPUs and five hard drives?

Just playing it safe.
Power supplies generally hit their peak efficiency at around 80% of their maximum capacity. I guess having some extra headroom just lets you sleep better at night.😁

I kept the components out while I was working on the case. Once everything was finished and completely dry, I just put everything back in exactly how it was before.

James Morris4 said:I'll post pictures tomorrow...

That one day turned into six, haha.
School started back up, and I already had two tests during the first week, which was a bit much.
Here are some photos. It’s nothing major, but I’m happy with how it turned out. ^^

This was the setup before the case arrived; the kid went through a bit of a struggle during that period, but things are better now. 😁



For the hole on the top (where the fans will go), I had to mark the position first, obviously. I didn't have the right tools (total amateur, haha) to make a perfect circle, so I just cut a hexagon using a hacksaw blade.





It looks pretty terrible after cutting. On top of that, I ruined one drill bit right before I even started cutting. The second bit I had was pretty bad too; it started smoking from friction before it actually pierced the metal. Because of that, I ended up damaging the surrounding paint quite a bit, though I fixed it later. Using a file helps the overall look.





Preparing for the Custom Paint Job was simple enough. I marked the areas to be painted on the case with a pencil, cut paper into those shapes, taped them down, and got to work.



And finally, how everything looks (I forgot to install the front panel):



The work is very unprofessional. I didn't have any real tools and just jumped into it without much preparation, but since this is my first PC Modding project of this kind, I'm satisfied. It definitely could have turned out much better.
I'm not entirely happy with the shade (it looked different when I tested it on paper 😁 ) and I had several slips regarding masking off the parts I wasn't painting. Plus, I didn't really have a specific theme for the Custom Paint Job; I was mostly just making up shapes as I went along.

I shouldn't take all the credit, though—my grandfather helped me out a lot. 😁 He would Give Space, help with the drilling, and so on.

So, when you say it won't launch, what exactly is happening? Are you getting an error message, or does it just fail to open entirely? I guess it would be helpful to know if you're even able to reach the main menu.

wiredmarlin5 said:There are two of them on the PC Express review.

I'll take a look. Now that I think about it, I haven't actually been looking for American reviews. I tend to avoid anything local—music, brands, food, clothing... I just have this phobia of poor quality.😁

An OS in American? Just kill me now.🤣

Speaking of Corsair.
I haven't heard anything about those power supplies, whether they're good or bad.
I did a little digging online, but I couldn't find any reviews anywhere. Has anyone else had a different experience?

I've been working on this PC Modding project for four days now.
It isn't a massive amount of work, but I haven't had much free time either, so I'm just chipping away at it bit by bit.
All the internal components are sitting out next to me, gathering way more dust than usual 😁
I'm working on the Custom Paint Job and drilling two holes—one for a top vent and another in the chassis behind the motherboard for cable management. It's similar to my last mod, just in a different spot.
I'll post some photos tomorrow; it's drying right now and I still have one section left to spray.

You'll most likely get it included with the graphics card. It's a 4-pin Molex to 6-pin adapter.

Going from 2.6 to 3.0 is a breeze. That 0.4 GHz jump is nothing to worry about. Honestly, you could probably push it even higher on stock voltage.

Overclocking won't drastically shorten the lifespan of his CPU. Sure, you might trade a 20-year lifespan for 10, but I highly doubt you'll even be using the same processor for that long anyway.
It definitely won't just die on you after a year, unless you're pushing extreme voltages or dealing with massive oscillations that end up frying the chip.
Some principles from AM2 overclocking might apply here, but the main difference is that the controller is integrated into the CPU rather than being on the chipset. That introduces extra clock cycles between the controller and the cores, plus new voltage requirements—I don't know all the technical specifics. It could get a bit tricky if you're trying to run an AM3 processor on an AM2+ motherboard, which is what I'm doing.
I'd suggest overclocking as much as possible without touching the voltage. If it becomes necessary—though I doubt you'll need it to hit 3 GHz—just bump the voltage by the smallest increment allowed. That should be plenty for stock settings.

Double posting is against the rules.

That's just the power supply voltage; what really matters to us is the wattage (W).

Ah, I see. In that case, it shouldn't matter whether it's the intake or the exhaust side.
Once we get a look at the sketch, we'll try to offer as much advice as we can. ^^