Be Excellent To Each Other

And, you know, party on. Dude.

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Reply to topic  [ 5933 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 ... 119  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2015 21:36 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
Intel made a mistake with the I7 920 by thinking that the Phenom 2 would be far better than it was. They made that same mistake with Sandybridge too, again giving AMD a little too much respect, and thinking Bulldozer would be better than it was.

Since then they've realised the error of their ways. An I5 now costs over £200.

The motherboard in my monster rig has decided to die and so I need to gut my Hackintosh whilst I RMA the screwed board.

Bit of a bummer but I've not used the mac in over two months.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 12:30 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
Yay so I've repaired my main PC. Got a Rampage IV Extreme for £120. Fitted it and performed what has to be the easiest overclock ever, straight in at 4.7ghz.

Very happy. Just got to RMA the MSI board now but will be selling the replacement as I've vowed never to stray from Asus again.

I should have bought the Rampage at the start.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 14:33 
User avatar
Prince of Fops

Joined: 14th May, 2009
Posts: 4296
Not a gaming PC question. However, I am after PC wisdom.

I'm potentially going to be moving out of London and therefore looking to work from home a few days a week. My current Macbook Pro is creaking and aged, which makes working over the VPN slow and frustrating.

So I want a desktop PC that's got enough "grunt" (whatever that is) to make work as zippy as possible, and two monitors so I can ping between screens like I do at work. I don't code or design, I write.

So, in the words of Destiny's Child, question(s)!

1) Are brands like HP, Lenovo and Acer fine?
2) Is PC World to be avoided at all costs? Anywhere better? John Lewis?
3) I'm willing to throw up to £1000 at this to cover the machine and two screens. I'm not bothered about gaming on it but will no doubt use it for the indies and and strategy games I can't get on PS4. Any great deals out there for that sort of cash?
4) Given I'm not especially bothered about gaming on it, is it worth getting an SSD?

Finally, I don't want to build a PC. I'm shit at fingers.

Any thoughts welcomed and gratefully received.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 14:44 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
I would avoid all of said brands tbh. They're always under powered and in some cases can use non standard parts.

It all really depends on your budget, but, for example have a look at this.

http://www.cclonline.com/product/142043 ... L-EL-NGT2/

A solid, standard PC for not much money. Easily upgraded too, if that tickles your fancy :)

Scan also do a decent range of cheaper computers.. It would help if you knew what sort of spec you wanted (IE gaming, office only, etc) and then I can find you a few to choose from.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:10 
User avatar
Prince of Fops

Joined: 14th May, 2009
Posts: 4296
Awesome, thank you JC. To be honest the spec is primarily office, but being able to play the odd indie or strategy game would be nice. I'll leave my real gaming to the PS4.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:13 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
Dear PC gamers.

I played ARMA III and my PC defaulted to Very High settings.

Is that cool or what? Can I play, I dunno, GTAV with better than PS4 graphics or what bearing that mind?

Yours faithfully

Ian


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:40 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
Saturnalian wrote:
Dear PC gamers.

I played ARMA III and my PC defaulted to Very High settings.

Is that cool or what? Can I play, I dunno, GTAV with better than PS4 graphics or what bearing that mind?

Yours faithfully

Ian


It takes some serious muscles to throw around ARMA III on those settings. What is the spec of your machine?

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:42 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
Saturnalian wrote:
Dear PC gamers.

I played ARMA III and my PC defaulted to Very High settings.

Is that cool or what? Can I play, I dunno, GTAV with better than PS4 graphics or what bearing that mind?

Yours faithfully

Ian


"Bearing in mind my PC can run a two year old game at an arbitrary level, will it run a brand new game at a level higher than a completely different hardware set?"

8)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:53 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
Bamba wrote:
"Bearing in mind my PC can run a two year old game at an arbitrary level, will it run a brand new game at a level higher than a completely different hardware set?"


Pfffffttt. JC gets it and he's a PC obsessive.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:53 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
JohnCoffey wrote:
It takes some serious muscles to throw around ARMA III on those settings. What is the spec of your machine?


No idea. I should find out...back in a sec.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 15:57 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
Hearthly wrote:
Back to the £500 PC conundrum.....

I realise Saturn that it's very annoying when you state what you want and how much you've got to spend only for someone like me to say 'Ahhh yes but if you just spent a bit more....' - but that's exactly what I'm going to do however I do think it's worth noting, because if you can stretch to £600 then the performance jump from the £500 offerings really is stunning.

In short you're getting an overlocked quad-core i5 processor (considerably more powerful than anything seen in any of the builds suggested thusfar), 8GB of RAM, a 2GB Radeon 260X (which is reckoned to kick about as hard as the PS4's GPU) that will see you right for high quality 1080@60 gaming, a 1TB hybrid drive (1TB of traditional hard drive storage married to 8GB of super-fast SSD cache) and Windows 8.1. (It's got your HDMI as well.)

Apparently it runs nice and cool and quiet as well.

For £600 this is a seriously impressive PC, although you will need to add a keyboard and mouse which will take you past £600 (albeit not by much), but this is genuinely a PC that will last you for years.

Attachment:
600pc.JPG


BOOM! It was this one.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 16:03 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
It's hard to say really. I would stick to the PS4 if it were me though. It's 7 DVDs to install and takes around four hours so a piss load of hassle.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 16:07 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
Dear JC,

Is my PC better than yours and are you well jel?

Thanks

Ian


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 16:08 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
Saturnalian wrote:
Pfffffttt. JC gets it and he's a PC obsessive.


JohnCoffey wrote:
It's hard to say really.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 16:38 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
Yeah, he really let me down there...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2015 16:53 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
My short answer works out about the same as the long one, which is basically at 1080p the 260x you have is about the same as the GPU in the PS4 and then of course comes the PC premium, so overall it would look about the same but possibly not run as well due to the PC overheads.

I haven't looked at benchmarks or performance on GPUs like yours but I would say the above is about right. I don't run 1080p any more I have a 4k screen and thus only really bother with 4k benchmarks.

If I'm being completely honest if I were running 1080p now days I would buy a PS4.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2015 11:54 
Excellent Member

Joined: 5th Dec, 2010
Posts: 3353
Still have my Alienware with I7 2600K and 16GB of Ram with a GTX Titan

Been a good PC for the last 3 years, only issue I have is once in a blue moon the BIOS gets upset on reboot and the disk boot order is all messed up.

Can't see me changing it for a while and when I do not sure what I'll get

Don't suppose you build PC's for a price Mr Coffey? :)

Even though I work in IT I hate building my own systems and gave it up.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2015 12:38 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
I could do yeah. TBH though if I were buying a new PC now I'd actually plump for the new Area 51 I think it's stunning.

Thing is for gaming at least there's absolutely no point in upgrading because you still have a very quick CPU. I would upgrade your Titan to the imminent 980ti as it's a slightly cut back Titan X and fit a PCIE SSD for booting from.

Odd that you mention Alienware. On Thursday I had to swap out my Area 51 with my step son because the PSU has died.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2015 13:33 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
So Thursday just gone I went over to see my step daughter and her fiancée. Wonderful people. My step son to be is a lovely kid so for his 21st birthday about ten months back I gave him my Alienware Area 51 ALX. Sadly it started developing issues and eventually the PSU died. This is the model here.

Image

So I gave him my Dark Carnival rig (the red and black one) sans any hard drives or GPUs (the Alienware was running 670 SLI so I just moved those over to the new one) and brought it home. It's in a bit of a sorry state because I had to cut the left side panel and fit some grills due to the 670s overheating. Not only that but the PSU is proprietary and the rig won't function properly without it due to the complex IO the machine needs (motorised vents, front panel, a plethora of LEDs and so on). I almost took it to the dump up the road, then I thought I would at least investigate before calling it a day because it's a lovely unit and the RRP was £2600 and up for this model (it's the ALX).

This is the IO board here.

Image

Note it has a 10 pin proprietary connector for the power? this was the issue. A regular PSU does not come with that connector so I was thinking it really was game over. Then I found these online.

Image

Image

Both match, aside from the one guy not realising one of the 5v is +5vSB but I know exactly what that is as it's the only pink wire in the 24 pin. So what I'm going to do is order a 24 pin ATX extension (done, at a whopping cost of £3) and basically bridge the 10 needed power wires from that. That should allow full function of the IO board which means the case will be back to its original state. The only thing remaining was the left side panel which I cut (and looks pretty nasty) but I managed to find one in the USA for $26 inc so £20. I would imagine it will cost me around £100 to have shipped over but I feel it's worth it. The rest of the case is pristine I mean, not even one mark and pristine examples of this chassis are very rare due to how heavy it is and how hard it is to move. We're talking around 30 kilos empy...

Luckily I have some seriously lovely parts kicking around. An 8 core Ivybridge Xeon complete with motherboard and a choice of either a Radeon 7990 or Titan Black. It's going to be really nice when all restored :)

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 14:21 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
So I cut the proprietary connector from the Alienware loom.

Image

I then soldered it into a 24 pin extension.

Image

And connected up a Corsair RM 750.

Image

Annndd..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv3qMT0S69I

Bit squeaky but then it's been sat for nearly a year.

I've ordered a new side panel from the USA as I cut into the original and don't like it. Now all I have to do is fit all of the drooly hardware (8 core Xeon, Titan Black etc)

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:24 
Excellent Member

Joined: 5th Dec, 2010
Posts: 3353
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?

Last year we built some PC's from parts and filled them full of graphics cards for our CADD group to do some GPU based calculations.

This proved to be successful so we then spent a fortune on a HP GPU system with 48 Tesla cards which I deployed last week

As such the PC's are not needed now, one of them has 4 Titans in it!

I was thinking of taking it home for a month or so to see how it played with games


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:00 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:29 
User avatar

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 14130
Location: Shropshire, UK
Interestingly, it's currently a hindrance when using a Rift. Or at least, was when I sold mine, they might have sorted that in recent firmware updates.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:48 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Even Custom PC (home of 'rigs', 'mods', 'customisation' and LEDs) recommend going down the single big bastard GPU route rather than SLI/Crossfire these days, and have done for a while.

When you've got single cards like the 980Ti that can handle 4K gaming, SLI/Crossfire makes no sense in any scenario.

SLI/Crossfire are also dreadfully driver dependent, so if there isn't a profile for your current game of choice, only one GPU will be used. Then you have companies like Blizzard that don't support SLI/Crossfire in any capacity whatsoever so if you have a problem with one of their games the answer is always 'take one of the graphics cards out and try again'.

Then you've got micro-stutter, which has never really been properly fixed.

And then you've got the increased power requirements, and heat and noise generation that SLI/Crossfire bring to the table.

Custom PC did a £4000 'Dream PC' build feature this month, and for the graphics card they used a single Titan-X.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:53 
Excellent Member

Joined: 5th Dec, 2010
Posts: 3353
Quote:
Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?


When I played with in the past, it wasn't that great you need specific drivers for games and even then another card would be out that was better in single configuration


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:00 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
Hearthly wrote:
When you've got single cards like the 980Ti that can handle 4K gaming, SLI/Crossfire makes no sense in any scenario.


That's not true; if I've got a single card that's getting on a bit and I can get a performance jump by sticking another one of them, for relatively cheap, in a spare slot then it's difficult to argue against that. Especially if your argument is "go out and but a new hilariously expensive card instead".

Hearthly wrote:
SLI/Crossfire are also dreadfully driver dependent, so if there isn't a profile for your current game of choice, only one GPU will be used. Then you have companies like Blizzard that don't support SLI/Crossfire in any capacity whatsoever so if you have a problem with one of their games the answer is always 'take one of the graphics cards out and try again'.


Fair enough, these issues I wasn't aware of so apologies to asfish for attempting to over-simplify his question.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:28 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Bamba wrote:
That's not true; if I've got a single card that's getting on a bit and I can get a performance jump by sticking another one of them, for relatively cheap, in a spare slot then it's difficult to argue against that. Especially if your argument is "go out and but a new hilariously expensive card instead".


To a point, but even then there are several points to consider.

1) Can you even still buy a matching card for your existing card? Also, just because a card is old doesn't mean it'll be cheap even if you can source one.

2) Does your motherboard support SLI/Crossfire?

3) Power supply requirements, if you need a new power supply then all of a sudden it ain't so cheap.

4) Driver support, once a GPU gets to a certain age Nvidia/AMD stop optimising their drivers for it, so adding a second 'abandonware' GPU to an existing 'abandonware' GPU might not get you very far.

5) Noise and heat, if this doesn't bother you then fair enough.

6) Is there an SLI profile for your game of choice? The list isn't as long as you might expect..... http://www.geforce.com/games-applicatio ... =&sort_by=

That said, yes if you can maybe grab a suitable card for £50 or less, and your motherboard/power supply supports it, and the game you're having trouble with has an SLI profile for it - there's not really much to lose by giving it a go.

In the interests of fairness though, I should note that it appears that as of the latest expansion, SLI is now supported in WoW for the first time....


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:43 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
Hearthly wrote:
Does your motherboard support SLI/Crossfire?


I think it's safe to assume that in the context of a discussion about the benefits of SLI that we're starting from a point where it's even physically possible. :D

Hearthly wrote:
Power supply requirements, if you need a new power supply then all of a sudden it ain't so cheap.


That's a fair point I hadn't considered.

Hearthly wrote:
Driver support, once a GPU gets to a certain age Nvidia/AMD stop optimising their drivers for it, so adding a second 'abandonware' GPU to an existing 'abandonware' GPU might not get you very far.


I don't think this argument makes much sense. Even if there's a shortfall in potential performance because a given card isn't getting further optimisations you'll still get a decent performance boost by adding a second one (compared to having the single one), even if it's not as much as it could be in an ideal world. Unless you're arguing that adding a second card will somehow result in less power than having a single one, which I assume you're not as that would be bonkers? Also, I don't think I've updated the drivers for my ATI card in ages and it's still happily trucking along. While driver updates might make a big difference when targetted at certain high profile game (e.g. Witcher 3, GTAV, etc) I'm not convinced they make a wild difference in general.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 11:54 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
Short answer from phone.

Nvidia cards have hardware onboard to help prevent runt/dropped frames which cause micro stutter. The only remaining issue is sudden frame drops on very intense scenes which is amplified if you have SLI or Crossfire X but this is what Freesync and Gsync are for.

I've been using SLI and Crossfire since 2008 and it's not all plain sailing but from my experience SLI is by far the more polished. It's very rare that a game does not work with it but there are a few examples (like UBI's shit and the modern Wolfenstein games).

Also this - Fuck Custom PC. Until recently they were recommending Crossfire for 4k. One 980ti is not enough for 4k, Custom PC are still using three year old games to bench with.

Three way SLI adds about 8% over two cards and four way usually detracts performance.

Since buying my Titan Blacks last August I've only seen Far Cry 4 hate SLI and I don't like Far Cry anyway and Wolfenstein the old blood is it?

Other than that every game I've played has shown a significant boost from using SLI.

Crossfire? Well AMD were caught with drivers that cheated (dropped and runt frames) and did eventually address the issue with Frame Pacing. Sadly of late their driver team seems to have gone on holiday so there are no Crossfire profiles for any of the latest games. So no GTAV etc.

It's like WW3 on the OCUK Graphics forum.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:31 
User avatar

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 1883
Bamba wrote:
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?

So if I get two sound cards, I'll have better sound?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:33 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
lasermink wrote:
Bamba wrote:
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?

So if I get two sound cards, I'll have better sound?


Yes.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:52 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
lasermink wrote:
Bamba wrote:
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?

So if I get two sound cards, I'll have better sound?


Two sound cards don't produce samples in tandem for better quality sound though, do they?

SLI does render alternate frames for massive performance boosts though.

As I mentioned before it's actually very rare now for a game not to work in SLI.

And then of course there's the future, where DX12 will natively support multiple GPUs at a API level.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 13:34 
User avatar

Joined: 31st Mar, 2008
Posts: 1883
Bamba wrote:
lasermink wrote:
Bamba wrote:
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?

So if I get two sound cards, I'll have better sound?


Yes.

I'm getting four, then.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 13:56 
User avatar
Excellent Member

Joined: 25th Jul, 2010
Posts: 11128
lasermink wrote:
Bamba wrote:
lasermink wrote:
Bamba wrote:
asfish wrote:
Do you get any real gaming benefits from SLI?


Are you asking whether having multiple cards is better than a single one? Isn't that answer to that pretty obvious?

So if I get two sound cards, I'll have better sound?


Yes.

I'm getting four, then.


Four is really the minimum number of sounds card you need for modern PC gaming; really demanding stuff like Duke Nukem 3D won't even run unless you've got at least eight installed.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 19:34 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Bamba wrote:
I don't think this argument makes much sense. Even if there's a shortfall in potential performance because a given card isn't getting further optimisations you'll still get a decent performance boost by adding a second one (compared to having the single one), even if it's not as much as it could be in an ideal world. Unless you're arguing that adding a second card will somehow result in less power than having a single one, which I assume you're not as that would be bonkers? Also, I don't think I've updated the drivers for my ATI card in ages and it's still happily trucking along. While driver updates might make a big difference when targetted at certain high profile game (e.g. Witcher 3, GTAV, etc) I'm not convinced they make a wild difference in general.


Well as JC has already noted, Crossfire is by far the weaker of the two implementations, so on an AMD card (ATI don't exist anymore!) you'll be stuck with Crossfire and AMD's shonky driviers and even shonkier Crossfire. (Also note that AMD's drivers suffer badly in DX11 when paired with a weaker CPU, so an AMD card that on paper should better an Nvidia card, actually delivers less performance in reality - loads of stuff about this at Eurogamer.)

Another thing to remember is that you're limited by the VRAM on a single card, so if you Crossfire two 1GB cards you still only have 1GB of VRAM as far as games are concerned.

So in my case for example, yes I could have tried SLI-ing another 670 with my existing 670, and that may well have given me enough grunt to run GTA5 at 2560x1440, but it would have done nothing to help with the fact that my chosen settings needed 2.5GB of VRAM and the 670s are 2GB cards, and as far as GTA5 (or any other game) would be concerned - 2GB of VRAM is still what I'd have, it doesn't pool it between the two cards.

Finally, it's important to note that you can get an awful lot of GPU grunt for a reasonable amount of money. The GTX960 for example will basically top out any game you chuck at it at 1080p/60FPS, and it costs £150 - and being as it's a new card it has the latest cool-running architecture, modest power requirements, low noise, up-to-date driver support etc. (I continue to be very impressed with the 960 in Mrs Hearthly's PC.)

Dropping down to a £100 card you can still get some excellent performance, which isn't going to be a whole lot more than you'd have to drop on a second card to try Crossfiring with whatever you have now. (Unless it's a real cheap thing in which case Crossfiring it probably won't help much.)

I'm not saying it's a total non-starter and yes it may be a decent budget option to eke some extra life out of an elderly single-card PC in certain circumstances, but personally speaking I think it makes more sense to move onto a new single GPU solution.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 20:53 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
SLI and Crossfire, ironically, are only worth it on high end cards. Few reasons really but AMD and Nvidia deliberately derp their low rent cards now. For example they only come with a max of 2gb VRAM. The last cheap way on Nvidia to get flagship performance was the GTX 460, where two would beat a GTX 480 for half the price and came with 2/3rd the amount of VRAM.

Then of course there's the dreaded scenario of no profiles or game support. In which case you have to fall back on one card and if that card is low rent you'll be reducing settings to 'not even as good as a console' levels.

I learned that the hard way when I had two Radeon 5770s. It really was nothing but pain.

So yeah, multi GPU set ups are only for complete overkill from my experience.

I'm playing the waiting game now. I want two of these new gen cards but I'm being tight fisted and won't bother until I can get a pair for around £600. One isn't worth it because what I have is faster and I'm not paying release tax again.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 21:18 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
BAD NEWS - My £120 keyboard has two dead LEDs already. The LED under the 'K' key has gone and a couple of nights ago the LED under the 'G10' key went as well.

viewtopic.php?p=848043#p848043

Attachment:
arseled.JPG


A quick Google for 'K95 dead LEDs' is rather illuminating. Or rather, not illuminating, LOL. (I'm here all week.)

Basically there's a design flaw in the K95s and other mechanical keyboards by Corsair of that era whereby the LEDs aren't shielded against ESD (electro static discharge) properly and they almost inevitably start to fail after a few months of ownership. Once the first couple go, you can generally rely on one or two going every few weeks after that.

Not acceptable on a £120 keyboard.

That said, part of me was just like, 'Who cares, it's just a fucking keyboard and it's not like I really need the backlighting, it's just pretty', but then again I was like ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS FOR A FUCKING KEYBOARD IT'D BETTER LAST MORE THAN FIVE MONTHS BEFORE DEVELOPING FAULTS.

So then, I've been going through Corsair's RMA process and have said to them that:

1) I don't want it to be replaced with another K95, the design is inherently faulty.
2) I'm very disappointed as I've bought all sorts of Corsair products over the years and wasn't expecting this sort of experience on a £120 keyboard.
3) I'd like them to replace it with a keyboard that has a newer design on the LEDs which aren't prone to failure.

GOOD NEWS:

They've agreed to collect the K95 at their expense, (normally you have to pay for the return to them and they pay for the return to you), and send me one of these :)

The K95 RGB which has the new LED mounting design on it, and is also a £150 (!) keyboard.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprod ... =KB-043-CS

Attachment:
k95rgb.JPG


It's basically the same keyboard but the RGB model (16.7 million colours per key), with the updated LED design so they don't tend to start failing after six months or less....

Sexy. (2m40s for the real prettiness.)



You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 21:35 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
TBH I've owned a good chunk of Corsair products and every single one of them,barring their ram, has left me underwhelmed. I bought two of their Raptor mice for £18 each. Mine broke after three weeks (scroll wheel packed up) and Mrs JC's failed at the plug end with two wires working their way loose and snapping.

I bought a 250D ITX case only to find it was all very thin steel and plastic, with a 1mm alu slither on the front. When empty the entire thing flexes it's so thin.

Then for my big rig I originally bought all Corsair AF led fans only to find them starting to make fart noises six months in.

I'm not sold at all tbh. I think people over rate their products just because they look nice.

I had a bit of a result on my keyboard. Black widow ultimate BF4 edition, french layout, £32. All blues. I switched the Q key and a couple of others but I touch type any way so the french writing doesn't put me off.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 21:40 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Well Corsair were originally just RAM I think? I've had loads of their RAM over the years which has never let me down, but also power supplies which have been excellent too.

I guess they've let things slip a bit with their move into peripherals, and I was absolutely insistent that I didn't want another K95 as the LEDs on it WILL start to fail prematurely by all accounts.

Mind you, as a physical keyboard this K95 is absolutely gorgeous, the nicest keyboard I've ever used or owned (and the software is fine too), they just fucked up on the LEDs.

Can't really argue with them replacing it with a K95 RGB, with both collection and delivery at their expense.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 22:23 
SupaMod
User avatar
"Praisebot"

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 17013
Location: Parts unknown
I'm sorry... for a second there, I thought you said that you paid £120 for a keyboard.

:hat:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 9:51 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
TheVision wrote:
I'm sorry... for a second there, I thought you said that you paid £120 for a keyboard.

:hat:


I'm very much of the opinion that it makes sense to spend a decent wedge of cash on:

Keyboard
Mouse
Monitor
Speakers

Good peripherals will last for years, (well, apart from this fucking keyboard), and by definition you use them all the time. You're ALWAYS looking at your monitor when you're using your PC, you're ALWAYS listening to your speakers when they're making a noise, and you're ALWAYS using your K+M when interfacing with your PC - so why not spend a bit of cash on decent ones instead of cheap shit?

My current set of speakers weren't cheap (£130 IIRC), but they're about eight years old now and still going strong, and they sound fantastic.

My monitors last me for years, as do my keyboards and mice. (My last keyboard and mouse gave me six or seven years of service IIRC.)

I realise not everyone will see there being any sense in spending that much money on what they may perceive to be almost 'consumables', but for me having nice peripherals for my PC is a must.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:36 
SupaMod
User avatar
"Praisebot"

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 17013
Location: Parts unknown
I'm not exactly one to talk about spending money. You've seen the Wongawatch thread, right?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 16:59 
User avatar
Bad Girl

Joined: 20th Apr, 2008
Posts: 14353
I've just watched a video for 4 minutes on that keyboard that has colour lights. Now I desperately want one.

Damn you PC spods.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 17:12 
User avatar
Hibernating Druid

Joined: 27th Mar, 2008
Posts: 49106
Location: Standing on your mother's Porsche
The @ key is in the wrong place.

_________________
SD&DG Illustrated! Behance Bleep Bloop

'Not without talent but dragged down by bass turgidity'


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 18:45 
User avatar

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 14130
Location: Shropshire, UK
I paid £90 for a Unicomp keyboard. Which is basically an IBM Model M but in a black case and with a USB connector.

It will still be going strong in 5,000 years time when the Sun explodes.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 19:02 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Zardoz wrote:
The @ key is in the wrong place.


It's an American one innit, the @ key is in the correct place on my UK K95 as it will be on my UK K95 RGB.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 19:18 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
Saturnalian wrote:
I've just watched a video for 4 minutes on that keyboard that has colour lights. Now I desperately want one.

Damn you PC spods.


Pretties!

Check out the forum here - http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=248

There's one in there for GTAV that starts flashing 'cop style' lights when you get a wanted rating.

This is a lovely rainbow one.





Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 22:45 
User avatar
Esoteric

Joined: 12th Dec, 2008
Posts: 11767
Location: On Mars as an anthropologist...
Been working really hard on the Alienware over the past few days. A couple of months back Mrs JC decided she was going to get back into Stronghold Kingdoms and so she bought a HP beats laptop from Ebay for £250 brand new. AMD APU, pretty slow but does her Stronghold OK.

Any way, we were playing BL2 a couple of months before that and that was the only time she ever used the desktop I gave her. We talked about it and she's ready to get into some 'decent' games. So I've been working really hard on getting this Alienware all back up and running and sorted. I had to cut into the side panel before because I was running 670s in SLI with open air coolers on them and it was a sodding nightmare. I've regretted it ever since but at the time I had no choice. I wasn't going to stop using over £700 worth of GPUs.. I should have just taken the side off and left it there. Any way, found a panel in the USA and my pal Ryan will send it over soon (Gonna hurt, I reckon around £100 min) but it's going to be nice when I'm done.

Any way, I was digging around in the wires and found that one was disconnected. Looked at the tag on it and it said "Bluetooth". I've had this case three years and never realised there was a bluetooth module built into the front. Pretty neat. We have a Beats Pill and the valve amps in the surround system are bluetooth also :) I know it's only like a £2 thing but I bet at the time of launch it was a pretty hefty add on. Any way, enough of the waffle. Here is where I am up to. All of the cables are now braided and sitting in a big pile ready to be connected up. You'll note I've made a custom intake in the 5.25 bays. Nice MNPCtech grill.. I wouldn't do this but X79 boards get pretty hot so it's nice to have some airflow up top. I've also made a custom floor with a 120mm fan taking air down into the PSU :)

Image

Image

Ignore the ugly non braided wires. They're for the front panel connector but I can't braid them yet because I don't know which is which. Gonna be a bit of trial and error on those :)

Edit. Hearthly, if you think a keyboard with that kind of lighting is cool imagine an entire case. The Area 51 has the same colour palette as your keyboard and you can also program it to do certain things at certain times too using the FX software. You can have them strobing or fading from one colour into another too. Pretty cool ! if I ever get it all running again I'll do a couple of vids.

_________________
I reject your context and reality, and substitute my own.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:08 
User avatar
Hello Hello Hello

Joined: 11th May, 2008
Posts: 13381
If anyone fancies a K95 on the cheap(ish), they're currently down to just over £90 at Ebuyer.

It will inevitably start to go wrong after a few months, at which point you can RMA it to Corsair and you'll get a K95 RGB as a replacement, as the K95 never got the updated LED mounts and it's out of production now. So Corsair aren't doing me any mega-favours by sending me a K95 RGB, they just don't have any K95s left.

But you can effectively get a £150 keyboard for £90, if you're prepared to wait around six months :D


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: PC gaming hardware thread.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:14 
User avatar
Gogmagog

Joined: 30th Mar, 2008
Posts: 48607
Location: Cheshire
I think you meant to type "send it back to the firm you bought it from and if they cause a shit cite SOGA"

_________________
Mr Chris wrote:
MaliA isn't just the best thing on the internet - he's the best thing ever.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic  [ 5933 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 ... 119  Next

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Columbo, Vogons and 0 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search within this thread:
You are using the 'Ted' forum. Bill doesn't really exist any more. Bogus!
Want to help out with the hosting / advertising costs? That's very nice of you.
Are you on a mobile phone? Try http://beex.co.uk/m/
RIP, Owen. RIP, MrC.

Powered by a very Grim... version of phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.