The PC Thread

[Lex-Man]

The thing that really annoys me about my rig is that I can run Cysis in medium fine without any problems and I feel with some small bios tweaks I could run Fallout 3 and Left for dead, fine.

Also L4D doesn't run very well under XP. Poop.

[tomvek]

ATI Radeon HD 4890 review

AMD's latest pixel pounding beast is more of a mild overhaul of an existing GPU than an all new architecture. AMD says the chip itself is new, but functionally it's identical to the existing Radeon HD 4870.

With 800 shaders and 40 texture units, that's no bad thing of course. It also has the same 1GB frame buffer and 256-bit bus as the top version of the 4870.

Without any new features, then, what exactly is the point of the 4890? In a word, clockspeed. AMD has upped the chip's core operating frequency from 750MHz on the 4870 to 850MHz. Meanwhile, the clockspeed of the board's GDDR5 memory edges up from 900MHz to 975MHz.

Elegant graphics

At first glance, these are hardly dramatic steps forward. However, the 4870 was already an awesome graphics chip. Perhaps not the very fastest single GPU you could buy, but not far off and certainly the most efficient and elegant graphics processor in the world.

By comparison, Nvidia's competing chips look like pretty blunt instruments. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 may be the fastest graphics chip on the planet, but it's inordinately large and relatively expensive.

Getting back on message, while the new Radeon HD 4890 doesn't bring a huge leap in stock operating frequencies, the pre-launch internet scuttlebutt suggested we should pay close attention to the chip's overclocking prowess. What's more, AMD itself even hinted that 1GHz and beyond on the core might just be possible.

Overclock the 4890

More on that in a moment. First, how does the chip stack up at stock clocks?

Frankly, pretty much as you would expect given the increase in operating frequencies. At the epic 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, it delivers 51fps in the relatively undemanding but fantasically fun Call of Duty 4, thereby carving out a moderate 5fps advantage over the existing 4870 chipset.

That said, it still can't quite match the GeForce GTX 285's 58fps showing.

Moving on to Crysis: Warhead, possibly the most brutal test of graphics performance there is, the new 4890 puts in a playable 26fps performance with details set to maximum and a resolution of 1,680 x 1,050. That's 2fps more than a 4870 and a nicely symmetrical 2fps down on the GTX 285.

As for overclocking, our Asus-branded 4890 board can't quite deliver on the 1GHz hype. 965MHz is all it has in the tank. Still, that's enough to bring it level with the much more expensive GeForce GTX 285 in terms of Crysis performance.

All of which is jolly nice, but exactly how much will you have to pay for it? The 4890 slots in just above the Radeon HD 4870 (that board lives on) but below the Radeon HD 4870 X2 dual-GPU board. As you read these words, the usual UK online retail suspects should already have the card on offer at around the £200 mark.

That's obviously great value compared to a GTX 285. But is it worth the extra £40 over a 4870? At stock clocks, probably not. But with near 1GHz capability, well, we'd find it hard to resist.

And finally...you will not be surprised to learn that Nvidia has prepped a spoiler for the 4890 in the shape of the GeForce GTX 275. It's essentially a down-clocked GTX 285. Nvidia claims it's faster across the board. And it may well be. But pricing will be key – can Nvidia really afford to sell the 275 for as little as £200? We'll soon see.

4/5

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/comput ... 162/review

[Exxy]

Anyone seen these new Nvidia Ions?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/02/vide ... or-launch/

Look snazzy If they're cheap enough they could do really well.

[bigcheez2k3]

What I don't understand with FE is that he's built himself a decent rig but then put it in a gooseberry fool case, why not put it in a good case?

[zXe]

What I don't understand with FE is that he's built himself a decent rig but then put it in a **** case, why not put it in a good case?

my case

[Fatal Exception]

What I don't understand with FE is that he's built himself a decent rig but then put it in a gooseberry fool case, why not put it in a good case?

My case is awesome The case is well built and has nice extras like being able to install drives and PCI cards without tools.

I got for nice understated cases, rather than some massive piece of gooseberry fool with windows and flashing lights and gooseberry fool.

[degoose]

My Case



Now thats a sexy case for a pc, It weighs a bloody ton though

[akijones]

Antec 300, I cant fault this case its cheap about £50 - £60, spacious inside comes with 2 case fans (120mm and a 140mm) and is well built. Very impressed with it and can highly recommend it ill take some pictures of my one and somepoint.

[degoose]

Antec 300, I cant fault this case its cheap about £50 - £60, spacious inside comes with 2 case fans (120mm and a 140mm) and is well built. Very impressed with it and can highly recommend it ill take some pictures of my one and somepoint.

Mine has the screwless setup as well so everything locks in place, does yours have that , its brilliant to have, Makes life so much easier.

by the way that is a very nice case

[akijones]

Antec 300, I cant fault this case its cheap about £50 - £60, spacious inside comes with 2 case fans (120mm and a 140mm) and is well built. Very impressed with it and can highly recommend it ill take some pictures of my one and somepoint.

Mine has the screwless setup as well so everything locks in place, does yours have that , its brilliant to have, Makes life so much easier.

No screwless setup unfortunatley but it comes with dozens of Thumbscrews which can be used on the PSU and HDD's etc.
Its got anti dust filters in the front as well which is pretty good, the case is great value and probably not as good as yours though.

[degoose]

ok Question time people

What are the pros and cons to using a 64 bit version of vista/windows 7 . Ive never installed 64 bit before and was wondering if its even worth it. Im currently running 32 bit Windows 7 which works amazingly well.

[degoose]

Antec 300, I cant fault this case its cheap about £50 - £60, spacious inside comes with 2 case fans (120mm and a 140mm) and is well built. Very impressed with it and can highly recommend it ill take some pictures of my one and somepoint.

Mine has the screwless setup as well so everything locks in place, does yours have that , its brilliant to have, Makes life so much easier.

No screwless setup unfortunatley but it comes with dozens of Thumbscrews which can be used on the PSU and HDD's etc.
Its got anti dust filters in the front as well which is pretty good, the case is great value and probably not as good as yours though.

Yeah mine has the dust filters which is genius, I actually forgot how much mine cost so i just had a check and it was £120 . How the hell did i forgot that, thats the most ive ever spent on a case but it is superb , should be for that price though. I like the look of your case though as its nice and simple and stylish. Im not much of a fan of huge cases with loads of lights everywhere.

[bigcheez2k3]

That's mine, Antec 900. Has a lot of space inside, very good ventilation. Mine didn't come with dust filters though, I fitted some myself about 3 weeks ago. Cost me about £75 nearly a year ago.

[akijones]

That's mine, Antec 900. Has a lot of space inside, very good ventilation. Mine didn't come with dust filters though, I fitted some myself about 3 weeks ago. Cost me about £75 nearly a year ago.

I was considering that 900 case but I just couldent justify the extra money with my lack of cash, shame im sure it would have been better in the long run.

[Peter Crisp]

I have the Antec 300 and it's a great case. I don't see the point is having an expensive case when I have it where it can't really be seen.

[Fatal Exception]

I've just set my Homeplugs up and I have to say, I'll never use WiFi on a fixed location device again.

My download speeds have gone from 500K max to well over 2000K.

[aygov]

ok Question time people

What are the pros and cons to using a 64 bit version of vista/windows 7 . Ive never installed 64 bit before and was wondering if its even worth it. Im currently running 32 bit Windows 7 which works amazingly well.

The biggest advantage to 64 bit I can think of off the top of my head is the ability to address more RAM (>4 GB). Whether that's something that's important to you is an entirely different thing.

Here's a couple links that may prove to be more helpful:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/wi ... ff_x64.asp

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/0 ... ows-vista/

[Fatal Exception]

ok Question time people

What are the pros and cons to using a 64 bit version of vista/windows 7 . Ive never installed 64 bit before and was wondering if its even worth it. Im currently running 32 bit Windows 7 which works amazingly well.

The biggest advantage to 64 bit I can think of off the top of my head is the ability to address more RAM (>4 GB). Whether that's something that's important to you is an entirely different thing.

Here's a couple links that may prove to be more helpful:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/wi ... ff_x64.asp

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/0 ... ows-vista/

Its faster, you can address more than 3.5Gb of RAM and it's more secure.

The downsides are compatability, but most important things are supported now.

[aygov]

ok Question time people

What are the pros and cons to using a 64 bit version of vista/windows 7 . Ive never installed 64 bit before and was wondering if its even worth it. Im currently running 32 bit Windows 7 which works amazingly well.

The biggest advantage to 64 bit I can think of off the top of my head is the ability to address more RAM (>4 GB). Whether that's something that's important to you is an entirely different thing.

Here's a couple links that may prove to be more helpful:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/wi ... ff_x64.asp

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/0 ... ows-vista/

Its faster, you can address more than 3.5Gb of RAM and it's more secure.

The downsides are compatability, but most important things are supported now.

Indeed, I'm on 64-bit Vista and haven't run into any issues with any software compatibility issues. I think if you were married to some really old software you might run into some issues, but for the most part everything should be fine.

[Earfolds]

I ordered some RAM modules a couple of days ago and they arrived today so I installed them.

I can feel my sinuses swelling from all the dust I found.