PC Upgrading Discussion

[Eric Nelson]

aaaaaaah ok thanks!

Ran the new machine friday in a WTCC race of 24 cars and never went below 105 FPS! It's a whole new game now!

Same old driver though..................

 

[Christopher Aponte]

Glad it runs better Eric
it feels a whole new game when you run it with everything max (and looks better to )
as for driver just try new ones to see if any difference it makes :wink:

 

[Eric Nelson]

Glad it runs better Eric
it feels a whole new game when you run it with everything max (and looks better to )
as for driver just try new ones to see if any difference it makes :wink:

Yeah just point me to the link for the "Alien HArdware drivers" and I'll be alllll set!:glasses-cool:

 

[Christopher Aponte]

hehehehe
one thing
having 7 means that there is a big chance that you already have the latest nvidia driver installed
if not then check here :wink:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

don't know if this is algo for 7, but good to check :wink:
http://forum.racedepartment.com/har...-redistributable-9-27-1734-august-2009-a.html

 

[Damian Henderson]

Your driving will get better with the new machine, you can see more whats going on and have a very smooth running PC!

 

[Eric Nelson]

TRUE DAMIAN BUT NOW THE SPARKS AN SMOKE SCARE ME! LOL

I'LL CHECK THOSE DRIVERS CHRIS!

 

[Damian Henderson]

haha, it's like a whole new game

Try it out in the rain if you dare :tremble:

 

[Eric Nelson]

the rain? Wow haven't seen that scenario yet! BUt the ATCC season is upon me and I am SURE there will be rain in the future!

 

[Alex Townsend]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum as I've just started looking for a place to race the awesome GTR Evo that I'm really enjoying at the moment.

Basically I have the feeling that the game isn't running as well as it could as I see the odd graphical glitch here and there with the odd flicker at the top of the screen
(although I've previously only ever been a console gamer so not used to gaming on PCs so that could be it too...)

Here is my setup that I bought recently to upgrade my old system that I'd had for over 7 years. I only bought the mainboard, cpu and memory as part of an upgrade pack on ebay as it sounded like it would be a lot quicker than my old PC but now having looked at some of these posts I'm thinking it could do with tweaking...

Nothing is overclocked on this system.

Corsair HX520 PSU
MSI K9N6PGM2 motherboard
AMD Phenom X4 9600 BE
4GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory at 400 MHz (not sure what make it is though as part of upgrade pack...)
Creative Xfi Soundcard
XFX HD Radeon 4890 1GB

I'm also running WinXP which, as I've read in this post, doesn't utitlize all the 4GB of RAM unless I use 'Shadowing' in the bios?

Could someone explain how I set this and if it would have any detrimental affects on the running of the PC in general?

Just wondering if the above is ok for running GTR Evo and RFactor or if I should upgrade any of the parts to make it run more solid?

Well, still couldn't run GTR Evo above 30fps solidly with this current rig so I've sold a few components on eBay and done a bit of an upgrade.
(hopefully this will make me run GTRE and Crysis better...)

Motherboard is now an MSI 790FX-GD70
Processor is now an AMD Phenom II 965BE
Memory is still 4GB but Corsair Dominator 1600 with fan
And Windows 7 is on order to arrive upon release

I'll come back with my findings as soon as I've installed windows and the games.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Well that was a strange experience.

I always thought that if you changed the motherboard along with the CPU you'd have to re-install windows...
Doesn't seem to be the case with this board...
I put everything together and booted up. Windows started and it just started finding software as if I'd just installed a new PCI card or something!

Anyways, tried GTR Evo last night and it appears to be locked at a rock solid 60fps even whilst in the middle of a 10 car scrap using the BTCC mod on Valencia! Awesome!
Tried out Crysis but it's still low down there. I'll give rFactor a go at some point but I had no problems with that before anyway.

So, all in all the upgrades did their job and GTR is a much better experience now.

 

[Jarrod Keen]

Hey guys, I think the service that you all provide for this community is simply awsome. I really appreciate all your input on a current buildout that I'm going to undertake and may get to use your advice and opinions this week to buy myself a computer.

I'd love to get your opinion on the components for my new rig. This will be a gaming computer and I'm hoping to get a great one for just over $1000-1300. I'm going to have a local computer store build it for me for like $170 which is worth it to me as they will put it together and troubleshoot for me.

Budget: $1200-1300

Brands: no preference

Multitasking: A little multitasking with some ancilary hardware software that runs alongside some of my games. Like TrackIR and some other addons that accentuate my games. Some multiple browser open type surfing of the net.... not much photoshop or anything like that. Pictures will be stored on this computer or on an external drive that I'll buy at another time.

Gaming: This will primarialy be a gaming computer for games such as Race07 evolution, IL2 Sturmovik, COD, Battlefield, Tiger Woods Golf.

Calculations: No

Overclocking: Yes, maybe if needed.


Storage: Storage is mostly going to be some pictures and just the files and data that comes along with the games.


Legacy Support: No

Operating System: I believe from what I've read that I want Windows 7. I also need Microsoft office.

Case: Help with case, no idea on size need. No constraints from my end on space etc.... just a standard one that gets the job done is fine with me.

Accessories: Just MS Office

Recycled Components: No

Monitor: No, I have one

Stores: no preference

Location: Raleigh, NC, USA

Any list that you post should include everything that I will need to complete the job as I will literally take whichever buildout that I chose from the ones posted on this thread and order exactly what you post. Please don't assume that I have any intuitive thoughts as to what I should order to go along with your buildout... Because I don't have enough knowledge to reason through that something else should accompany my order.

Once again, I really appreciate your efforts and time. Thanks again.

 

[Christopher Aponte]

oh man you created a heavenly budget for us
just 20 min or so and I will be with something

just one question (I have read your post fast/globally): do you want to assemble all the stuff or do you prefer to pay for the assembly? (it should be no problem for you to assemble the components yourself )

 

[Jari Vinnari]

I would say these recommendations seems to be good ones.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/value-pc-build,2506.html
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/winter_2009_pc_buyers_guide/page6.asp

Basically I would choose these basic components:
Graphics card: Ati Radeon 5850
CPU: Intel Core i5-750
Motherboard: Gigabyte P55-UD4P or GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R

 

[Christopher Aponte]

Well just made something that can go with the future

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (socket 1156)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412
$134.99

Processor: Intel Core I7 -860 (socket 1156)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214
$279.99

Ram: Kingston HyperX T1 Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DD3 (PC 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104142
$122.99

Graphics card: ASUS EAH5850/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121361
$299.99

Power supply: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ700FTY 700W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341023
$94.99

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
$54.99

DVD burner drive: SAMSUNG Black DVD+RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151192
$26.99

PC case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
$79.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
$104.99

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116135
$85.45


Total price (without shipping & handling) is $1285.36
plus you can get up to $45 on mail-in rebate

 

[Jarrod Keen]

Thanks guys, what is Shipping and Handling usually? I'll dig into your recommendations tonight or tomorrow and probably purchase this weekend. Thanks again.

 

[Jarrod Keen]

BTW... There's no way that I'm assembling. I know I could and have been told by everybody that I could....but I just don't want to try it.... i could mess too many things up.

 

[Christopher Aponte]

when you have everything selected, you can enter your zip code and it should give you how much it would cost to ship it to you

as for assemble....we can always help....with an intel motherboard it is much easier to build up the pc

 

[Damian Henderson]

I would get what Chris recommended but 6gb of ram, OCZ or GSkill.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...65&cm_re=Gskill_ripjaw-_-20-227-365-_-Product

Everything else is perfect, good kit!

 

[Nick Deeley]

Save yourself $80-odd by getting Open Office software instead of Micro$oft office. Open Office is FREE, tons better and quicker

 

[Michael Herrmann]

assebling is not that hard cuz all and everyting is coded so it will only fit if you plug it right into it realy nothing you can mess up
only one thing you should pay attention to is dont touch your hardware befor you have grounded your self with touching the case