Tech Corner

[Pol]

There, there we go.

Currently the best manufacturer for graphics card is MSI, through their overclocking application AfterBurner. Neverthless you can't probably do a wrong step with anyone else. The best way how to measure a quality, is via provided warranty. In CR is standard three years for graphic cards and that sounds really convincing.

HIS, MSI, Gigabyte, Sapphire, Asus, Evga..

There's an expected line up>>
from a performance point how the old and new cards correspond

HD 5450
HD 6450
HD 5570
HD 6570 (likely will be stronger than HD 5670 but who knows?)
HD 5670
HD 6670
HD 5770
HD 6770 (same chip like 5770, just rename)
HD 6870 (successor of HD 5770)
HD 5850 (the spirit continue in HD 6950, notice the shift +100 from the previous model)

For a quite nice ladder look here. Hawk cooling for MSI or IceQ from HIS is a Bliss. If you need 2xdvi (not dual link, which means just one connector) or Eyefinity go for it (three panels and more). Otherwise you can shop cheaper. Not so much though.

If so, what would be a good manufactured for a ATI Radeon HD5770?

MSI, HIS and then the others.

And what other good ATI cards are there at that price range?

None. ATI doesn't compete itself in this sector. But will be soon.

[GreatEmerald]

My HD 4980 is from Sapphire and I have no regrets. Their customer support is good, too.

[ThunderTitan]

Too late, he already ordered the PC yesterday with a Sapphire card...

And then they called him 1h ago to tell him that they don't have the processor he wanted (athlon 2 x3 455).

Here's the current config:

• Processor: AMD AM3 Athlon II X4 645, 3100Mhz 469 RON http://www.dc-shop.ro/AMD-AM3-Athlon-II ... -23283.htm
  
  Hard: HDD Western Digital Caviar Green Power 500GB, 32MB, SATA2 161 RON http://depozituldecalculatoare.ro/HDD-D ... -18397.htm
  
  MotherBoard: Placa de baza ASROCK M3A770DE 239 RON http://depozituldecalculatoare.ro/Placa ... -19895.htm
  
  Memory: 2 x Memorie 2GB 1333MHz KINGSTON DDR3 (240) CL9 182 RON http://www.dc-shop.ro/Memorie-2GB-1333M ... -19374.htm
  
  Video: SAPPHIRE ATI Radeon HD5770 Flex 1G 589 RON http://depozituldecalculatoare.ro/Placa ... -23157.htm
  
  Supply: COOLER MASTER EXTREME POWER PLUS 460W 209 RON http://depozituldecalculatoare.ro/Sursa ... -25453.htm
  
  Case: CARCASA NOX ZEN, MID-Tower, SGCC 93 RON http://depozituldecalculatoare.ro/Carca ... -24070.htm
  
  Optic: Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE (cod dcshop: 20232) 71 RON http://www.dc-shop.ro/Unitate-optica-Sa ... -20232.htm

Any thoughts?! Is the power supply enough?! Is the motherboard good?! What about the processor? Etc.

[GreatEmerald]

CM is an OK manufacturer of PSUs, but you should review the amperages on the rails there. You won't like it when it shuts down because of too much power being drawn, and I think the graphics card should be pretty demanding about that.

[Pol]

It will work, otherwise these are very "cost effective" components. Hat off! But that PSU is having little reserve. I would recommend this one.

As for the processor, that's a good think what happened. Anyway...*

The parameters may be compared directly in linked sheets. So, the important difference between these two is effectivity and power of course. Personally I would not combine HD 5770 and 460W psu even if that is possible. I like to keep some power reserve to make the things fluent.

The Motherboard:
Is obviously Asrock (With motto:"We mastered it, we rock!") and it's a good board with mid quality components. Let put it that way, Asrock provide only two year warranty (again mind that this is in CR) whereas everyone else allows three years warranty. But nobody dare to be even close to be so cheap when maintaining that certainly decent level of quality.
Again, I would bought this onefrom that shop, if that would be for myself. I don't need Asrock and I may forgive Asus notorious quality of theirs bioses. (Once day, perhaps.) - The difference is huge. Plethora of SATA ports, 3y warranty, AMD 870 + SB850, True SATA3 (6Gbps), raid = good investment to the future.

*
And perhaps a better question, why not to stretch for a true Phenom?
Their prices dropped considerably recently, so anything under AMD AM3 PhenomII X6 1055T, 2800Mhz (3300Mhz TurboCore) 9MB cache, 125W, BOX is sort of waste. (Or may be 955)

[ThunderTitan]

Well the official ATI site said 450 or more... hope that's enough.

As for why not go for more, it's because there was a budget... and i seem to have missed a step an forgot to tell you this is for my brother... he's not gonna be using it for any very demanding stuff anyhow (Blizzard games will be the most he'll likely play) and frankly i think he got kinda greedy with the card...


Also, our prices are way higher then what i saw on Newegg and other places...

[Pol]

Well the official ATI site said 450 or more... hope that's enough.

As for why not go for more, it's because there was a budget... and i seem to have missed a step an forgot to tell you this is for my brother... he's not gonna be using it for any very demanding stuff anyhow (Blizzard games will be the most he'll likely play) and frankly i think he got kinda greedy with the card...

Then again, it will work.

Also, our prices are way higher then what i saw on Newegg and other places...

Strange..

I'm doing slow upgrade with my current PC, with a destiny to receive more stable computer, more efficient (in both ways) and with full use of Windows 7 64bits - including VT and Linux inside.

My setup is:

MB ASUS P5P43TD PRO
MEM GEIL RAM DDR3 6GB(3x2GB) 1333Mhz EVO ONE (7-7-7)
CPU Intel Pentium E6600 (Have already, no other choice.)
CAS CoolerMaster Elite 360
PSU NightJar 450 (the only part from the old PC)
HDD 1,5TB Hitachi 7K3000 SATA6GB 64MB 7200rpm
GPU To be determined, either ATI HD 6570 or HD 6670, silent cooling preferred

This will be Silent HTPC and Workstation, with one central fan. The parts will be assembled in this year.

[ThunderTitan]

Well lets hope that 460 is enough... well find out on monday i guess.

[Pol]

Well lets hope that 460 is enough... well find out on monday i guess.

Probably much later.. There's very low reserve so it all lies in quality. In other words - how much the sheets lied exaggerated.

Likely, it will be good for years.
Maybe with some blackouts.

[ThunderTitan]

Well if there''s any blackouts we'll know what to change...

[Paulus1]

The thing is, that a bad PSU can fry the motherboard as well (been there :-( )

The one you've chosen isn't a top pick, it's only rated at 70% efficiency.
But since the CPU is rated at 95W and the GPU at 108W, unless you try overclocking the system, it should be good enough for the job.

[Neidhaart]

Then again, i think a bit of extra power just in case is never a bad idea.

[Pol]

Tech Corner

Technical Help - Any questions related to technical issues. Like PC, photography, gaming or internet stuff, please post here.

Let just have this useful thread, like kinda back in time.

[Kalah]

Thinking about changing out my current (old) laptop for a mini-PC. Something cheap, but that isn't too slow.

[Pol]

Bad idea. Change old laptop for a new laptop. And add peripheries.

[GreatEmerald]

Large PCs are cheaper and/or faster.

[Pol]

Large yes, but not mini. And I guess that K. is having gaming rig.

[Kalah]

Yeah, I don't need big, don't need CD/DVD-driver, don't need anything other than a computer with Internet connection, USBs, a hard drive and that kind of thing. Just something to connect to the web with and work online, among other things with this website. Obviously, if it's really slow, I'll be annoyed. But it should also be quite cheap if I'm going to bother replacing this at all.

[GreatEmerald]

Large yes, but not mini.

That's exactly what I was saying. Mini PCs are way too expensive compared to the standard sized ones. So either get a standard PC or a new laptop, if you need mobility.

[Daerandin]

I have generally been a devoted desktop computer user especially since I've always built my own computers. About half a year back I got myself a gaming laptop to replace my desktop computer. Now I know I could have gotten an equally powerful desktop much cheaper, but I have to admit being in love with the new option of simply putting my computer in a backpack and head over to a friend with it.

I would still recommend a desktop to anyone wanting a proper gaming computer that you don't intend to move around much. However, if money is not a big problem, it is quite possible to get gaming laptops now that have excellent performance. My laptop got 2 GPU's and quad core with hyperthreading. I have yet to encounter a game I can't run with settings on max.

I do agree that mini PCs are way too expensive considering what hardware they contain, a "regular" laptop would be a much better choice in my opinion.