The SSMB PC Troubleshooting and Discussion Thread

[eXtaticus]

I'm aiming in the 500 to 800 range,

[SuperStingray]

Currency?

[Phos]

I've got a few tips: If the only add in board you need is a graphics card, you can some money by getting a micro ATX motherboard, and the best price/performance ratio on video cards last time I checked was Nvidia's 560 ti. 4GB of ram seems to be the sweet spot.

How much graphics you need in your card depends on your resolution, what is the resolution on your current monitor?

[Ichigo Storm]

Hey guys I'd like to ask your advice before I make a purchase.

For Christmas my parents bought me a desktop pc that I can use for gaming. It's a Gateway with an i5 processor and Windows 7. My problem lies with the graphics card. All I know is it's an Intel HD card and it isn't powerful enough to run my games so I'd like to replace it. Right now I'm looking at purchasing this Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 card that comes with a free copy of Batman Arkham City for $189. My question: Is the price worth it? Will this card be able to run Sonic Generations, Skyrim, and Arkham City at their highest settings? (Those are currently my most demanding games) Is there anything I need to worry about compatability wise? Is there a better option at around the same price?

I'd like to make the purchase soon so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[Guest]

Hey guys I'd like to ask your advice before I make a purchase.

For Christmas my parents bought me a desktop pc that I can use for gaming. It's a Gateway with an i5 processor and Windows 7. My problem lies with the graphics card. All I know is it's an Intel HD card and it isn't powerful enough to run my games so I'd like to replace it. Right now I'm looking at purchasing this Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 card that comes with a free copy of Batman Arkham City for $189. My question: Is the price worth it? Will this card be able to run Sonic Generations, Skyrim, and Arkham City at their highest settings? (Those are currently my most demanding games) Is there anything I need to worry about compatability wise? Is there a better option at around the same price?

I'd like to make the purchase soon so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Duh, of course. its very powerful graphics card.

[Solkia]

Ok, so, I have my PC build planned out, but the thing I'm still trying to get info on are graphics cards.

I'm currently looking at the XFX Radeon HD 6970, because a friend of mine uses it, and is happy with the results, but I want to know what the benefits of different GPU's are.

Any advice?

[eXtaticus]

^ Give me your screen resolution, and I'll give you a recommendation.

[Solkia]

^ Give me your screen resolution, and I'll give you a recommendation.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Right now I'm looking at purchasing this Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 card that comes with a free copy of Batman Arkham City for $189. My question: Is the price worth it?

Oh hey that's [EDIT: almost] the exact card I use. It's mint.

Define "maximum settings" though, because for the latest and greatest games, they will definitely NOT manage top drawer performance on the most insanely high settings: that's what the GTX 580 and 590 are for.

However, for people with sensible 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 setups with only one monitor being used to display the actual game? You'll be fine. Actual "max settings" on PC get pretty ridiculous; I've seen people play EVE Online running several copies of the game on separate monitors on the same machine. I think one guy had six screens. It really depends on what you're doing.

EDIT: Hm, that link isn't clear on whether the card you're looking at is a GTX 560 or a GTX 560Ti - there's a reasonable difference in performance. Based on the price point and maximum possible output though, I suspect it's actually a 560Ti and the site is just dumb.

EDIT 2: Aha! Nope, it's not a 560Ti. This is the 560Ti, the one I use, and as I recall the performance loss from a regular 560 makes the 560Ti worth the extra cash. I'm trying to find the reviews to give you a way to compare. If I remember right, the regular 560 was actually released after the 560Ti and is slightly cheaper and performs slightly worse. It is, however, superior to the 460, as you'd expect, and that makes it no slouch regardless.

tl;dr: make sure you're purchasing a 560Ti before buying as it's worth the extra $30-40 to do so.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Velotix von Skruviktorrius

[SuperStingray]

^That's good. The NewEgg comments seemed to show the 560 was good enough for my purposes and I got a sweet deal on a set of parts including it.

[eXtaticus]

I currently don't have an HDTV, but I'm planning on getting either the 32" or 37" of this http://tinyurl.com/6rq5bve

1920*1080, eh? Ambitious standards for a graphics card to meet - that's a compliment, by the way; I like ambitious.

Oh god, that sounded so bad.

In any case, it's a toss-up between AMD's Radeon HD 6970 and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570; my recommendation is the 570, as it's marginally more powerful than the 6970 as far as games go, outperforms it hands-down in DirectX11-exclusive features such as tessellation, (essential in modern titles) and supports both the GPU-computing solution CUDA, (the AMD equivalent of which quite simply isn't as widespread) and Nvidia's graphical physics acceleration system, PhysX (to which there is no rival on the Radeon platform, it's worth noting) - all the while costing, as far as I can tell, the same amount of money. And don't be fooled by the amount of RAM, core clock MHz and number of cores on a GPU, as the results that you'll get out of the cards will invariably change with the architecture of a GPU - so, an 800MHz graphics card with 1.5GB RAM, for instance, could beat out a 900MHz card with 2GB as a result of the GPU's efficiency and architecture.

In short, unless you're going to buy two more of those HDTVs to hook up alongside the one you're already getting to create a triple-monitor setup, - which, to me, seemed highly unlikely - my recommendation is to go with the GeForce GTX 570. I hope that helps!

Edited December 30, 2011 by eXtaticus

[Solkia]

1920*1080, eh? Ambitious standards for a graphics card to meet - that's a compliment, by the way; I like ambitious.

Oh god, that sounded so bad.

In any case, it's a toss-up between AMD's Radeon HD 6970 and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570; my recommendation is the 570, as it's marginally more powerful than the 6970 as far as games go, outperforms it hands-down in DirectX11-exclusive features such as tessellation, (essential in modern titles) and supports both the GPU-computing solution CUDA, (the AMD equivalent of which quite simply isn't as widespread) and Nvidia's graphical physics acceleration system, PhysX (to which there is no rival on the Radeon platform, it's worth noting) - all the while costing, as far as I can tell, the same amount of money. And don't be fooled by the amount of RAM, core clock MHz and number of cores on a GPU, as the results that you'll get out of the cards will invariably change with the architecture of a GPU - so, an 800MHz graphics card with 1.5GB RAM, for instance, could beat out a 900MHz card with 2GB as a result of the GPU's efficiency and architecture.

In short, unless you're going to buy two more of those HDTVs to hook up alongside the one you're already getting to create a triple-monitor setup, - which, to me, seemed highly unlikely - my recommendation is to go with the GeForce GTX 570. I hope that helps!

What would be the point of 3 monitors o.o?

[eXtaticus]

^ To occupy your peripheral vision, and create a more immersive gaming experience. As I said, though, unless you're going to be using three monitors at once most of the time, choose the GTX 570; though only marginally, it is the better card for the cash you pay for it in virtually all areas.

EDIT: Velotix got NINJA'D!

Edited December 30, 2011 by eXtaticus

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

What would be the point of 3 monitors o.o?

High-end graphics cards are testing out experimental panoramic widescreen, 5760x1080 (that's not a typo), which requires three monitors placed next to each other in a semi-circle to work. It better accounts for your peripheral vision.

Naturally this is not worth pursuing unless you have the cash spare for it, but you did ask!

EDIT: AUGH STOP BEING SO FAST RESPONDING @_@

EDIT: By the way, as the GTX 560Ti is a very popular processor with a very robust architecture suitable for overclocking, versions of the card overclocked out of the box are frequent. These versions of the card go toe-to-toe with a GTX 570, sometimes beat it, nearly always equal it, and yet are far less expensive.

The 560Ti I linked and that I used is one such modestly overlocked-from-the-factory version. This is the "Super Overclocked" big brother model. Note the big price difference.

This section of the 560Ti review gives you an idea of how much extra guts this cranks out of the card. Also note that models given this specialist branding have to be handpicked in quality testing from the factory, so you will also pick yourself up a product less likely to fail as well.

And if the card chucks out too much heat or ends up being unstable? Turn the clocks back down to stock and still get monster performance. If you're actually looking at the 570 or above, either just pick up a 560Ti for the good price/performance ratio, or go all out and just get yourself a 580. The 570 is a solid card but next to its upstart smaller model it's a lame duck.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Velotix von Skruviktorrius

[Solkia]

Ok, so here's a new problem:

http://www.amazon.com/performance-ENGTX570-DCII-2DIS-1280MD5/dp/B004MN3HBA/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1325284541&sr=1-5

I'm looking at this graphics card, but since it take 3 slots, I'm not sure it'd even fit the motherboard and case :Y

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790 MOBO

http://www.amazon.com/Nzxt-Technologies-Phantom-Green-Enthusiast/dp/B004WO17UC/ref=pd_luc_sbs_03_02_t_lh case

[eXtaticus]

http://www.amazon.co...25284541&sr=1-5

I'm looking at this graphics card, but since it take 3 slots, I'm not sure it'd even fit the motherboard and case :Y

That's because you're looking at a version with a triple-slot non-standard cooler. Here; have a nice, smaller one:

http://tinyurl.com/7x4u4sf

Edited December 30, 2011 by eXtaticus

[Solkia]

That's because you're looking at a version with a triple-slot non-standard cooler. Here; have a nice, smaller one:

http://tinyurl.com/7x4u4sf

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

I've editted my previous post.

When dealing with the higher-end GPUs, take careful consideration of the price/performance ratio and be absolutely sure you're getting the parts that give you the performance you need and no more. The diminishing returns on the top-end cards have gotten much worse in recent years.

[Ichigo Storm]

Oh hey that's [EDIT: almost] the exact card I use. It's mint.

Define "maximum settings" though, because for the latest and greatest games, they will definitely NOT manage top drawer performance on the most insanely high settings: that's what the GTX 580 and 590 are for.

However, for people with sensible 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 setups with only one monitor being used to display the actual game? You'll be fine. Actual "max settings" on PC get pretty ridiculous; I've seen people play EVE Online running several copies of the game on separate monitors on the same machine. I think one guy had six screens. It really depends on what you're doing.

EDIT: Hm, that link isn't clear on whether the card you're looking at is a GTX 560 or a GTX 560Ti - there's a reasonable difference in performance. Based on the price point and maximum possible output though, I suspect it's actually a 560Ti and the site is just dumb.

EDIT 2: Aha! Nope, it's not a 560Ti. This is the 560Ti, the one I use, and as I recall the performance loss from a regular 560 makes the 560Ti worth the extra cash. I'm trying to find the reviews to give you a way to compare. If I remember right, the regular 560 was actually released after the 560Ti and is slightly cheaper and performs slightly worse. It is, however, superior to the 460, as you'd expect, and that makes it no slouch regardless.

tl;dr: make sure you're purchasing a 560Ti before buying as it's worth the extra $30-40 to do so.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Ichigo Storm

[Solkia]

What kind of power supply should I use? 800w?

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

I was trying to find a review to support my claims and give you some raw numbers. This is what I found. The GTX 560 is basically a gimped 560Ti. Even gimped the card is very good, but you might as well get a better-made top flight model.

Here's an interesting tidbit: when several different brands of processor (CPU or GPU) use the same architecture, the only difference between the cheapest model and the most expensive version using that architecture is how many more quality control tests the cheaper version failed compared to the expensive version. As they fail stability tests they are gimped progressively more and more until they finally become stable. The Extreme Edition Intel CPUs are the rare few that pass QA with flying colours, which is also why they cost $1000.

Naturally then, if you purchase a more expensive part, generally you are purchasing a part that did better in QA/QC in the first place.

What kind of power supply should I use? 800w?

As a rule for PSUs, make sure you leave power headroom for two reasons - future PC part upgrades, and longevity.

Contrary to the tech industry's current (justified) obsession with reducing power consumption, high-end GPUs actually suck up far more power than older cards, and this trend looks set to continue, or at least not get any better for a while.

At the moment under load a very high-end GPU not overclocked will yank about 300-400W on its own.

To actually answer your question, unless you intend to run several GPUs, 800W should be more than adequate, giving you that valuable safety headroom to boot. It depends though on what exactly you intend to include in your system, as whilst GPUs take the lion's share of power usage, every other part you include in the system adds more load. Generally, you are unlikely to need 1000W+ PSUs unless you are running multiple high-end GPUs.

[MeteorSmash]

Ok, as much as it ashames me to admit...I'm a bit lost when it comes to computer parts...so I need someone to tell me if this upgrade will make my PC decent for this day and age requirements...basically I've has this same PC for years now, not being able to upgrade it due to me buying consoles, games, and now an HDTV. Either way to give you a clear idea how bad this thing is, when using Flash it's a mess, the program is slow when drawing, and you can hear the CPU's fans' noise being louder, this also happens when I use video editing software...it's so slow too. I also got Bit Defender, which I could partly blame for making my PC extremely slow, oh and to put a cherry on top, this uses Windows FUCKING XP because any other OS makes it slower...but to make a long story short, this thing needs to be in a museum rather than my room.

So I took this thing to a computer shop, and I wrote down what they said they were gonna change to it...what I want to know is if these parts are good or outdated and if possible a brief explanation on what they do...

DDR3 memory

Intel dual core processor

4GB RAM

and a motherboard replacement...

yeah that's all I could write down since the guy was talking so fast, maybe I missed something, but that's basically most of it...

Edited January 12, 2012 by SilverTheHedgehog

[DJ FLiGHTS]

With so many necessary upgrades, you might as well invest in a new machine just so that everything works. Then upgrade it's weaknesses from there.

[exojamesm]

how much was he going to charge for these parts? parts are reasonable depending on the price

[MeteorSmash]

Um he said less than $80 for all of that