"Rate my Rig" thread

[Uraniun235]

What's XFX's warranty like? eVGA has a lifetime warranty, which always rocks.

[salm]

Which maker for 7950GT? I'd suggest XFX for quietness, but you need to have decent airflow in the case to avoid having it overheat.

Who's the maker of the PSU? A 430W PSU will work, if it's made by a good company.

It´s a WinFast PX7950GT
The Power supply is a TG480-U15.

I´m just reading the paper thingy the guy at the store gave me and now i´m confused.
It lists all the components and it says: Power supply up to 600 Watts. TG480-U15 (480 Watts)

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Looks good, although the E6400 might give better bang for buck. The disparity with the power supply is probably that 600 watts is the peak power output (which is meaningless) and 480 is the continuous (read: real) power output.

[Beowulf]

XFX has a double lifetime warranty: as long as you own it, or who ever you sell it to owns it.

The power supply appears to be made by Tagan, which I've never heard of. Never heard of WinFast either, for that matter.

Edit: some research has revealed that all Tagan power supplies are really made by Topower, which doesn't have the greatest of reputations.

[salm]

The disparity with the power supply is probably that 600 watts is the peak power output (which is meaningless) and 480 is the continuous (read: real) power output.

Ah, ok. Thanks.

The power supply appears to be made by Tagan, which I've never heard of. Never heard of WinFast either, for that matter.

Edit: some research has revealed that all Tagan power supplies are really made by Topower, which doesn't have the greatest of reputations.

I checked this WinFast thing and it appears that WinFast is not the producer but a series of cards produced by a company called Leadtek.

[Arrow]

I've got a cousin that's in the market for two laptops. One's going to a be gaming machine, the other is just office work. He's willing to spend ~$2k for the first, less for the second. He hates Dell. Can anyone recommend a good brand to go with? The machine won't be spec'ed out until January/February, once he has his tax refund, but I'd like to get him started.

[Master of Ossus]

I've got a cousin that's in the market for two laptops. One's going to a be gaming machine, the other is just office work. He's willing to spend ~$2k for the first, less for the second. He hates Dell. Can anyone recommend a good brand to go with? The machine won't be spec'ed out until January/February, once he has his tax refund, but I'd like to get him started.

Acer makes really good laptops for higher-end customers. I'm also (believe it or not) a fan of HP, which seems to deliver some really good specs for the price. I haven't had an HP in a long time, but the last one I had was a great machine and lasted for years without problems.

[Arrow]

My last HP experience was a bad one, but if a couple of more people recommend them, I'll pass that on. I keep forgetting about Acer, and I always hear good things about them.

[phongn]

HP's business line laptops are fine designs and are just about up there with IBM/Lenovo's ThinkPads. You pay a premium but get a good product with good support (for either of the two company's designs)

[Beowulf]

On the other hand, my fiancee had a consumer grade HP. Over the past 3 years, the HDD broke, the CD burner could no longer burn CDs, the touchpad button got stuck, wifi card broke, and then finally the power jack jammed (yeah, it was weird). Maybe the business line is better, but I don't think I can recommend the HP consumer line.

[Edward Yee]

Model: HP Pavilion dv2120us
Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2, TL-52 (1.6 GHz, 1024KB L2 cache)
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 6150 with 128 MB RAM
Display: 14.1" WXGA HD BrightView widescreen (1280 x 800)
Hard Drive: 120GB (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: LightScribe & double layer capable, 8x DVD+/-RW
Internet: 802.11b/g WLAN
Battery: 6-cell (OEM)
OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Vista Capable
Features: 1.3 megapixel webcam, 5-in-1 media reader, QuickPlay, little remote control, earbud headphones
Weight: 5.3 lbs (which is either before battery, or I'm pretty fucking weak.)

The deal's on CompUSA for $800 ($1000 plus tax/shipping - $200 in rebates) and comes with a HP printer ($69 - $69 rebate); at Circuit City the notebook rebate is $50 less and no printer is included (although I don't actually need it).

Is -- or rather, was -- this a good buy, along with a CompUSA TAP 2-year protection plan for $120, considering that seems to be sold out in most of New York? (Was able to snap up one at the last minute, but everything's still unopened.)

[Ace Pace]

Looks alright, though that thing isn't going to be a gaming machine.

[General Zod]

Decent enough machine. It should be able to run things like Half Life and Halo without too many issues (mine will, and it's a bit weaker spec wise), though don't expect it to run everything at hi-res. Which mine manages to do rather decently with half the ram and only a single core 2ghz processor. (I have the dv6000us model).

[Lagmonster]

Merged with the proper thread.

[Edward Yee]

Thank you for the correction, Lagmonster.

Re: gaming -- I can't financially afford serious gaming (computer alone, much less accessories, games and subscriptions), so I'm pleased that your feedback deems it at least okay. Although, it's actually better than my desktop!

Incidentally, General Zod, Circuit City had a $700 for a dv6119us, but while there was a big gap in HDD space (80 GB vs 120 GB), less so in size and other stats. Was I correct in assuming that 14.1" notebook weight and battery life (better than 15.4" notebooks? I don't know ) was worth more.

P.S. 1 GB is not user-accessible due to QuickPlay, but I accept that; I'm also aware that 12 GB may end up being "reserved" for system restore data.

[General Zod]

Incidentally, General Zod, Circuit City had a $700 for a dv6119us, but while there was a big gap in HDD space (80 GB vs 120 GB), less so in size and other stats. Was I correct in assuming that 14.1" notebook weight and battery life (better than 15.4" notebooks? I don't know ) was worth more.

I honestly couldn't say. However it's usually safe to assume that anything that's 'bigger' than your standard parts will consume more power. I typically have my laptop plugged into an outlet, so it's really a non issue for me.

[Tolya]

Im getting ready for an upgrade of my machine. Here is what I currently have:

AMD 2000XP+ (1.67Ghz) sitting on an nForce2 400 ASUS A7N8X-X (the one without dual channel DDR capability)
Kingston PC3200 512mb DDR, from what I remember its CL2.5
Ati Radeon 9800 Pro
Chieftec PSU (dont remember the output exactly, around 400W)

Those are the essentials of my current machine. It's not top notch I know, but it still allows me to play most of the current games, on lowered details.

Now this is what I want to do:

I already bought a new case, since my current one has the power supply sitting right above the processor, which really restricts the usage of any better cooling system than the 'stock' one. The new case is bigger and has some additional mountings for fans (one in the front, two in the back below the PSU). Next thing Im getting is a decent cooling system (like Scythe Ninja, but thats one of the alternatives of the top of my head), which will allow me to overclock my Athlon to 2Ghz (already tested that its stable in that freq, the only problem is overheating).

But the biggest problem is my RAM. I have a single chip of Kingston PC3200 DDR, which is branded as DDR-400, but PC Wizard utility shows it as being capable of 200Mhz. I only become interested in hardware when I need to replace/upgrade something, so the last two years have been a black hole for me in terms of tech knowledge.

So, what kind of memory stick can I add to it so the whole thing can be stable? I was thinking about getting something around 1Gb of Ram, but 512mb (which would double my current physical memory capacity) is the less financially painful option.

My video card is quite good, although it is only 128mb ram with PS2.0. However it runs on a 256-bit architecture (whatever this means, but the last time I checked it was highly preferable to 128-bit even if the amount of ram was smaller). I don't plan on replacing the video card. First off, because I find it is still sufficient, secondly, I got it only last year and don't want to throw it out already. Plus, with DX10 coming around the corner, I don't want to buy a mediocre card which will be totally obsolete in a couple of months.

My biggest pain is the RAM really. I would buy something, but stability is the most important thing in my case. Since the time my old Codegen PSU (it fried, go figure) and some generic RAM sticks went to trash bin and I plugged some really dependable stuff (like a Chieftec and Kingston RAM) I didn't have a single lock-up with a critical hardware error. It is the most stable PC that I owned and operated all my life

I use my computer for three things: work (which is mainly word processing and editing small audio recordings in Cool Edit 2000), browsing internet and games. Speaking of games, I do play all those new fancy titles that appear, but the prospect of lowering the graphical galore to medium levels 1024x768 is perfectly okay with me.


---Merged with the thread for getting opinions on new tech (Lagmonster)

[Edward Yee]

What about when you do have to be on the go with it?

(I too made the assumption re: size and power consumption, but I don't know the accuracy of "judging by cover" in this case.)

[Beowulf]

PC3200 = DDR-400 which runs at 200MHz. 1GB of RAM should be fine for a little while longer. When it's not, you're probably going to have to do a complete overhaul. I wouldn't recommend bothering getting the Scythe Ninja. It'd be a better idea to just save the cash towards getting a new system next year.

Pretty much any brand of memory you trust should work just peachily.

[General Zod]

What about when you do have to be on the go with it?

(I too made the assumption re: size and power consumption, but I don't know the accuracy of "judging by cover" in this case.)

I usually manage to find an outlet somewhere, even on the go, so that's not too big of an issue. Otherwise I make sure I won't need it for any more than a couple of hours without an outlet if I need to if I can't find an outlet immediately. If I want more battery life I can always upgrade to the 12 cell battery, though at $180 a pop I'm somewhat leery about doing that.

[Zac Naloen]

This christmas my present is basically gonna be some money to upgrade my pc with.


What i need is advice on whats best to get.

Now, I'm planning on keeping my peripherals, I.e DVD/R drive, graphics card, hdd etc.

But I've reached the limit of upgrade ability processor wise with the motherboard. So I need a new motherboard, New processor and 1.5 gigs of memory on a budget of about £300, but with a little bit of leeway in the upwards direction.

I have a 550watt power supply so that isn't a huge issue.

Any idea's of what I can get in that price range, that is reasonably future proof?


*edit, upped the budget a little bit.

[Beowulf]

Well, Zac, what do you have right now? DDR or DDR2 RAM? A64 or P4 or what?

[Zac Naloen]

Well, Zac, what do you have right now? DDR or DDR2 RAM? A64 or P4 or what?

I have DDR ram and an amd 2500XP.


Everything I have now is being gutted though so don't worry Beowulf, Zod helped me over AIM. I'm sorted.

[Edward Yee]

I usually manage to find an outlet somewhere, even on the go, so that's not too big of an issue. Otherwise I make sure I won't need it for any more than a couple of hours without an outlet if I need to if I can't find an outlet immediately. If I want more battery life I can always upgrade to the 12 cell battery, though at $180 a pop I'm somewhat leery about doing that.

In my case I may tend to need (or admittedly "just" want) the laptop going for longer than that, as my travel tends not to have available outlets. (When I go to Chinatown, the only "on demand" outlet is in a cafe that charges $4 for the day, regardless of how long I actually need it or will be there. )

Agreed regarding 12-cells, but have you found discounts taking them to $140?

[General Zod]

I usually manage to find an outlet somewhere, even on the go, so that's not too big of an issue. Otherwise I make sure I won't need it for any more than a couple of hours without an outlet if I need to if I can't find an outlet immediately. If I want more battery life I can always upgrade to the 12 cell battery, though at $180 a pop I'm somewhat leery about doing that.

In my case I may tend to need (or admittedly "just" want) the laptop going for longer than that, as my travel tends not to have available outlets. (When I go to Chinatown, the only "on demand" outlet is in a cafe that charges $4 for the day, regardless of how long I actually need it or will be there. )

Agreed regarding 12-cells, but have you found discounts taking them to $140?

I haven't found them for much cheaper, but then again I haven't really been looking that hard either. My best recommendation would be to get either an extra twelve or six cell battery and have it on hand for when your main battery dies, if you can afford it.