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[knitoe]

ugh i CANNOT get AMD vision engine control center to open... i uninstalled all the drivers, did driver sweeper, reinstalled them, still wont work. this is extremely frustrating, i would like to be able to adjust my settings when battlefield comes out

I found this. Hope it helps.

http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread....gine-will-not-open-run-after-updating-drivers.

I don't have the Vision Engine (CPU/GPU combo), but whenever I had problems with installing CCC, I just use the custom uninstall / install select all option. That seems to work every time.

 

[childplease]

Couldn't help it being video cardless made me do a dumb thing.
I went out and bought a GTX 580 today for 350 bucks :/

I should have just waited on my 6950 that is currently being RMAed.

 

[Drkirby]

Bought this monitor for $115 a little while ago, any major flaw you guys see in it?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003N7P6TC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009255&Tpk=Acer S231HL

It is a 23" Acer.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Acer makes quality monitors. I own quite a few of them. No flaws on my end!

 

[Drkirby]

I am just wondering if there is some sort of huge flaw in the monitor, which is why it is so cheap. Could just be a normal good price.\

Hey, does anyone know if there is an easy way put my monitor in portrait? So sort of stand I could by? I can't wall mount it where I am.

 

[AndyMoogle]

Snake you should add another fan on the other side of you cpu cooler for a push /pull configuration.

Is that really necessary? I read somewhere that it lowers the temp with 2-3 degrees. Seems kind of pointless.

EDIT: Here's a comparison: http://gigaflopd.com/reviews/hyper-212-plus-push-pull/

 

[Nabs]

ugh i CANNOT get AMD vision engine control center to open... i uninstalled all the drivers, did driver sweeper, reinstalled them, still wont work. this is extremely frustrating, i would like to be able to adjust my settings when battlefield comes out

What's your setup like?

 

[PigSpeakers]

Hey, I'm getting ready to buy a monitor. I want to spend about $150 tops, less if I can. What are some things to look for/avoid? And what are some great buys or does it even matter too much?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Last weekend I build my first rig ever, these are the specs:

Mother: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2GHz
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Video Card: Radeon 6850
CPU FAN: V6 GT
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000w
HDD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB and a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
8GB RAM

Building my rig for the first time was a great learning experience, so what do you think GAF, can I consider myself part of the master race?

Sure, but in all fairness, building a PC is mostly just going around the mobo diagram, looking at each arrow and saying, "do I need to plug something in here"

 

[knitoe]

Hey, I'm getting ready to buy a monitor. I want to spend about $150 tops, less if I can. What are some things to look for/avoid? And what are some great buys or does it even matter too much?

I would first look read reviews before buying. If for mainly gaming, you want a fast response time and low input. They are usually TN panels. For much better picture quality and viewing angles, look for IPS panels, but on your budget, that's probably out of range unless there's a really sweet deal out there.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Last weekend I build my first rig ever, these are the specs:

Mother: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2GHz
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Video Card: Radeon 6850
CPU FAN: V6 GT
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000w
HDD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB and a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
8GB RAM

Building my rig for the first time was a great learning experience, so what do you think GAF, can I consider myself part of the master race?

Congrats man, though I will say should have grabbed http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

 

[PigSpeakers]

I would first look read reviews before buying. If for mainly gaming, you want a fast response time and low input. They are usually TN panels. For much better picture quality and viewing angles, look for IPS panels, but on your budget, that's probably out of range unless there's a really sweet deal out there.

Would something with an HDMI port be better than a VGA for gaming? And what's a generally good response time?

 

[Marco1]

Is that really necessary? I read somewhere that it lowers the temp with 2-3 degrees. Seems kind of pointless.

EDIT: Here's a comparison: http://gigaflopd.com/reviews/hyper-212-plus-push-pull/

My apologies, I am a cooling freak.
For the price of a 120mm fan I thought it would be something for him or anyone to ponder over.
Just ignore my comment if you find it pointless.

 

[knitoe]

Would something with an HDMI port be better than a VGA for gaming? And what's a generally good response time?

Yes. HDMI (digital) is better than VGA(analog). 2ms (better) or 5ms are common for TN panels.

 

[Marco1]

Would something with an HDMI port be better than a VGA for gaming? And what's a generally good response time?

Make sure you don't have blurring when you move in a FPS.
I had a benq model that looked to good to be true for the price and while it had great image and colour the monitor looked like it had motion blur in a bad way.
http://shop.benq.co.uk/store/benqeu/en_GB/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.218557600/categoryID.27926300/pgm.76807200
Do not buy this monitor for gaming.

 

[SnakeSlashRO]

Snake you should add another fan on the other side of you cpu cooler for a push /pull configuration.

Ah ok thanks for the tip!

 

[PigSpeakers]

Yes. HDMI (digital) is better than VGA(analog). 2ms (better) or 5ms are common for TN panels.

Ok, cool. Thanks. Is using an HDTV a bad idea for a monitor? I found a 21.5 one earlier today for $170 and thought about getting it, but I wasn't sure what kind of problems would go with that.

 

[Marco1]

Ah ok thanks for the tip!

Snake read my reply to Andy above.
Adding an extra fan isn't for everybody.

 

[knitoe]

Ok, cool. Thanks. Is using an HDTV a bad idea for a monitor? I found a 21.5 one earlier today for $170 and thought about getting it, but I wasn't sure what kind of problems would go with that.

Generally, major difference between LCD monitor vs HDTV are TV tuner and added image processing (increases input lag). Do you need the TV tuner? If no, I wouldn't buy it.

 

[AndyMoogle]

Snake read my reply to Andy above.
Adding an extra fan isn't for everybody.

Well, I don't consider it to be completely pointless. With another fan you'll be able to run both at a lower speed and thus lower the potential noise one fan might be making.

 

[PigSpeakers]

Generally, major difference between LCD monitor vs HDTV are TV tuner and added image processing (increases input lag). Do you need the TV tuner? If no, I wouldn't buy it.

Thanks for the help. I ended up getting an ASUS 21.5" monitor that was the newegg customer choice. 2ms response time and HDMI. $150 and $130 after mail-in rebate (if it works).

 

[punkypine]

What's your setup like?

Radeon HD 5770
AMD PHenom II X4 820 processor 2.8 GHz
4 GB ram
64 Bit Windows 7

I found this. Hope it helps.

http://www.vgaforum.com/showthread....gine-will-not-open-run-after-updating-drivers.

I don't have the Vision Engine (CPU/GPU combo), but whenever I had problems with installing CCC, I just use the custom uninstall / install select all option. That seems to work every time.

Is that software any more effective than driver sweeper?

 

[Drkirby]

Isn't both 2ms and 5ms over kill? I mean, at 60 FPS, wouldn't it just need a 16ms response time to only have one frame behind, or is my math wrong?

 

[Caerith]

First post from my new PC. And everything is working just fine.

I went with an i5 2500k on a ROG Gene Z, set in a Rosewill Challenger U3, with 8GB (2x4GB) of G.Skill 1600 RAM, a Crucial M4 128GB SSD (C Drive), F3 SpinPoint 1TB (D Drive), and an EVGA 570 AR plugged into a Samsung SyncMaster P2770HD. Cooling is handled by a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ HSF and the standard case fans supplemented by a Scythe SY1225SL12LM in the lower side panel slot as intake. There's also a $20 Asus DVD burner. Everything is powered by Corsair's TX750 v2, which is more than the 550W I needed but with sales/rebates I got it for the same price.

To all of this, I have a USB extension cable, a USB hub, and my keyboard and mouse atop an Ikea laptop stand in front of my couch.

For anyone who hasn't built yet, here is what I've learned:

• Don't buy your stuff all at once: prices fluctuate and by waiting a day or two you can probably save $15 on your RAM or get a nice PSU for the same price you were looking to pay for an "okay" PSU.
• Video cards are frequently bundled with video games. ATI had a Deus Ex bundle last month, Nvidia has an Arkham City bundle this month. If the card you want doesn't include a game, wait a week and maybe it will.
• SSDs are totally awesome.
• HDTVs can make great monitors if you RTFM first.
• Comfy Couch Gaming is totally viable, but the Steam client is really hard to read at six feet.

 

[Nabs]

Radeon HD 5770
AMD PHenom II X4 820 processor 2.8 GHz
4 GB ram
64 Bit Windows 7


Is that software any more effective than driver sweeper?

Are you sure you're supposed to use their Vision software? CCC (Cat. Control Center) is probably the one you're looking for (I haven't updated drivers since 11.8, so I don't know if they changed). I recommend using RadeonPro either way. You can create profiles for games that need AA, and leave it at default for the rest.

 

[Caerith]

Generally, major difference between LCD monitor vs HDTV are TV tuner and added image processing (increases input lag). Do you need the TV tuner? If no, I wouldn't buy it.

That said, if you already have an HDTV that you like then you don't need to buy a monitor.

 

[Le-mo]

Gaf, I just bought the Asus Xonar DG sound card and I have no idea how to configure it for my headset. This is my current settings.

Audio Channel: 6 channels
Sample Rate: PCM 96KHz
Analog Out: FP Headphone
SPDIF Out: PCM with Dolby Headphone setting checked

It works, but the sound seems to be lower than my onboard audio driver. I have set everything to max.

Edit: I fixed the low sound problem, I just need help configuring it.

 

[Finnish the Fox]

Last weekend I build my first rig ever, these are the specs:

Mother: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2GHz
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Video Card: Radeon 6850
CPU FAN: V6 GT
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000w
HDD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB and a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
8GB RAM

Building my rig for the first time was a great learning experience, so what do you think GAF, can I consider myself part of the master race?

It's an awkward build. You bought expensive premium complimentary components while cheaping out on the two most important parts of the computer, the cpu, and gpu. I don't mean to be harsh but the phenom II x6 1090t is a complete dud, the i5 2500k totally blows it away, the game benchmarks in particular are mind blowing. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

The 6850 is also a middling second level card, given the budget a 6950 would of been a better choice. Hazaro has some good builds in the OP for various budget allowances.

 

[Psychotext]

I guess PC gaming related...

Has anyone here got a buttkicker and would they recommend it? I don't really care about it so much for gaming, but I often work very late and whist I have an excellent pair of headphones, sometimes you just need to really feel the bass (especially with the music I've been listening to lately.

 

[Tallshortman]

It's an awkward build. You bought expensive premium complimentary components while cheaping out on the two most important parts of the computer, the cpu, and gpu. I don't mean to be harsh but the phenom II x6 1090t is a complete dud, the i5 2500k totally blows it away, the game benchmarks in particular are mind blowing. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

The 6850 is also a middling second level card, given the budget a 6950 would of been a better choice. Hazaro has some good builds in the OP for various budget allowances.

He's already purchased and assembled his build unless I read his post wrong. I'm not aware of any popular retailers that allow 100% refunds of opened CPUs or GPUs unless they're faulty although I could be wrong of course. 1090t isn't great compared to 2500k in terms of gaming performance but he should be fine.

The 6850 is fine but I agree, if you have the money a better card is definitely recommended. Of course, to avoid losing money on a return or resale, you can simply buy another 6850 and CF. It scales pretty well.

 

[snoopen]

Is the difference between a 570 and 580 worth it if i'm gaming on 2x 24"?

 

[punkypine]

Are you sure you're supposed to use their Vision software? CCC (Cat. Control Center) is probably the one you're looking for (I haven't updated drivers since 11.8, so I don't know if they changed). I recommend using RadeonPro either way. You can create profiles for games that need AA, and leave it at default for the rest.

i just downloaded the drivers from AMD and let it decide what software to use, and i guess it chose that

 

[Avtomat]

It's an awkward build. You bought expensive premium complimentary components while cheaping out on the two most important parts of the computer, the cpu, and gpu. I don't mean to be harsh but the phenom II x6 1090t is a complete dud, the i5 2500k totally blows it away, the game benchmarks in particular are mind blowing. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

The 6850 is also a middling second level card, given the budget a 6950 would of been a better choice. Hazaro has some good builds in the OP for various budget allowances.

The vast majority of games will not be hamstrung by the CPU in reaching >60fps.

 

[Soi-Fong]

It's an awkward build. You bought expensive premium complimentary components while cheaping out on the two most important parts of the computer, the cpu, and gpu. I don't mean to be harsh but the phenom II x6 1090t is a complete dud, the i5 2500k totally blows it away, the game benchmarks in particular are mind blowing. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

The 6850 is also a middling second level card, given the budget a 6950 would of been a better choice. Hazaro has some good builds in the OP for various budget allowances.

My friend helped a friend of his build a similar build to this and I told the same thing to him at least concerning the CPU.

All he was concerned about was cores and basically kept on pushing onto me how the AMD had 6 cores and so beat the 2500k and 2600k. I even showed him benchmarks, but he still wouldn't listen.

 

[JackEtc]

It's an awkward build. You bought expensive premium complimentary components while cheaping out on the two most important parts of the computer, the cpu, and gpu. I don't mean to be harsh but the phenom II x6 1090t is a complete dud, the i5 2500k totally blows it away, the game benchmarks in particular are mind blowing. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

The 6850 is also a middling second level card, given the budget a 6950 would of been a better choice. Hazaro has some good builds in the OP for various budget allowances.

My friend helped a friend of his build a similar build to this and I told the same thing to him at least concerning the CPU.

All he was concerned about was cores and basically kept on pushing onto me how the AMD had 6 cores and so beat the 2500k and 2600k. I even showed him benchmarks, but he still wouldn't listen.

I have the 1090T and it works totally fine, it'll be a long time until the 1090T because his bottleneck.

 

[InfectedZero]

So I have been listening to music on my new Swan M10's and they fucking sound excellent. Just got them in this morning. Would it be necessary to buy the Xonar DG for a cheap soundcard? Would it boost my sound quality a good bit?(not compared to super good sound cards obviously)
Just wanted some feed back.

 

[Angelus Errare]

With that said if you look at his mobo he's got himself a little future proofing going on, if a time does come his X6 bottlenecks anything (going to be a while) he can upgrade painlessly to a Bulldozer processor.

 

[Darkatomz]

Gaf, I just bought the Asus Xonar DG sound card and I have no idea how to configure it for my headset. This is my current settings.

Audio Channel: 6 channels
Sample Rate: PCM 96KHz
Analog Out: FP Headphone
SPDIF Out: PCM with Dolby Headphone setting checked

It works, but the sound seems to be lower than my onboard audio driver. I have set everything to max.

Edit: I fixed the low sound problem, I just need help configuring it.

Audio Channel: 2 channels
Sample Rate: PCM 44.1KHz
Analog Out: Headphone (FP if you're using the front panel, but it's best not to. Also, click the little hammer icon and adjust the impedance to match your headphones. Most cans will probably use the Normal Gain setting)
SPDIF Out: uncheck this

Also, click the HF button in the bottom right corner of the panel.

 

[ConstructMe]

Quick question here,

Say if I buy a small 60gb ssd as a boot drive and then have a separate 1tb hdd for everything else how do i tell windows to save program files etc to the hdd instead of the ssd?

I assume with all the ssds being brought lots of people have had to contend with this problem.

 

[legacyzero]

Ok GAF. Gonna be upgrading soon. I want a new case (because the one i have is SHIT.) and going Duel DX11 cards. These are the two I'm looking at.

Can I get Gaf's opinion on these cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130565 (out of stock for now )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102940

Or if GAF has any other (or better ) suggestions. Please help me out.

 

[ConstructMe]

Ok GAF. Gonna be upgrading soon. I want a new case (because the one i have is SHIT.) and going Duel DX11 cards. These are the two I'm looking at.

Can I get Gaf's opinion on these cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161317
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130565 (out of stock for now )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102940

Or if GAF has any other (or better ) suggestions. Please help me out.

Buying one good GPU would do a much better job than buying two older less scalable GPUs.
(Such as a 570/580 or 6970.)

 

[Le-mo]

Audio Channel: 2 channels
Sample Rate: PCM 44.1KHz
Analog Out: Headphone (FP if you're using the front panel, but it's best not to. Also, click the little hammer icon and adjust the impedance to match your headphones. Most cans will probably use the Normal Gain setting)
SPDIF Out: uncheck this

Also, click the HF button in the bottom right corner of the panel.

I configured it to the settings you suggested and no sound came out so I reverted to the old setting. Maybe its my headset? This is the one that I own.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-PlayStation-Headset-Powered-3/dp/B004GCRJRK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316315641&sr=8-2

 

[Big Papa Husker]

I just ran the Heaven Benchmark on Max DX10 settings. Not too bad I'd say, considering I'm using a GFX card from 2008.

 

[Angelus Errare]

I don't understand why anyone would buy a 460 for $150 at that price point you might as well add in another $14 and grab the XFX 6870. Pretty much the best option at that pricepoint ($150)

 

[ConstructMe]

I don't understand why anyone would buy a 460 for $150 at that price point you might as well add in another $14 and grab the XFX 6870. Pretty much the best option at that pricepoint ($150)

Especially when he wants to buy two of the,

 

[DEO3]

Can anyone recommend a (nearly) silent PSU? I've got a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme on my CPU and an Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Plus on my video card, both are which are damn near silent now, but because of how loud my PSU gets when it ramps up under load, my PC is still making a racket when gaming.

 

[ConstructMe]

Can anyone recommend a (nearly) silent PSU? I've got a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme on my CPU and an Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Plus on my video card, both are which are damn near silent now, but because of my PSU ramping up under load, my PC still gets noisy when gaming.

The Seasonic X series are a good choice, as is anything from Corsair and Thermaltake.

 

[Darkatomz]

I configured it to the settings you suggested and no sound came out so I reverted to the old setting. Maybe its my headset? This is the one that I own.
http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-PlayS...6315641&sr=8-2

Ah it's Dolby. In that case...

Audio Channel: 6 channels
Sample Rate: PCM 44.1KHz
Analog Out: Headphone (FP if you're using the front panel, but it's best not to. Also, click the little hammer icon and adjust the impedance to match your headphones. Most cans will probably use the Normal Gain setting)
SPDIF Out: Check the box and change it to Dolby Digital Live. Click the button next to it and turn on the upmix option. Also, check the Dolby Pro Logic IIx button too)

 

[GuessWho]

about to order this, any recommendations?
MOBO: MSI P67A-G43
CPU: i5 2500k unlocked quad core LGA1155 3.3ghz
GPU: MSI GTX 560 ti twin frozrII OC
RAM: G.SKILL sniper f3 ddr3-1600
HDD: WD caviar green 2tb sata2
PSU: Seasonic M12II 620W


gaf approved?

 

[ConstructMe]

about to order this, any recommendations?
MOBO: MSI P67A-G43
CPU: i5 2500k unlocked quad core LGA1155 3.3ghz
GPU: MSI GTX 560 ti twin frozrII OC
RAM: G.SKILL sniper f3 ddr3-1600
HDD: WD caviar green 2tb sata2
PSU: Seasonic M12II 620W


gaf approved?

I see nothing wrong but I assume you've got a case lined up?