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PC Enthusiast-Fi (PC Gaming/Hardware/Software/Overclocking)
Oct 16, 2012 at 9:12 AM Post #34 of 9,120
Changing batteries, buying batteries, charging batteries, throwing away batteries, opening battery packing, throwing away battery packaging, opening battery enclosures, removing batteries, putting in new batteries, closing battery enclosures, losing batteries, running out of batteries, driving to the store to buy batteries, paying for batteries, driving home from the store after buying batteries, locking the door after going to the store to buy batteries, opening the door to leave to go to the store to buy batteries, closing the door after leaving to go to the store to buy batteries, walking to the car to go to the store to buy batteries, driving the car to the store the buy batteries, starting the car, turning off the car, buying gas for the car to drive to the store to buy batteries. FREAKING BATTERIES.
 
Oct 17, 2012 at 4:16 PM Post #38 of 9,120
I've always been a PC enthusiast for as long as I can remember, though my main desktop is still running on five-year-old core components. I probably would've had a new graphics card, and maybe even a new CPU, mobo, and RAM too if not for Head-Fi and a newfound Stax addiction cutting into my PC upgrade budget.
 
Still, my Q6600 (3.2 GHz 8x400)/8 GB DDR2-800/8800 GT/X-Fi Titanium HD setup is adequate for most games released these days.
 
If anything, I'm starting to spend more on old PC parts these days to satisfy the retrogaming, VOGONS-browsing side of my PC addiction, to the point where I paid up for an industrial Socket 478/875P motherboard specifically because it had an ISA slot that I could put old sound cards in while still allowing for a fast enough CPU to handle XP-era gaming up to 2005. Still trying to get Win98SE to boot reliably with more than 512 MB of RAM installed (preferably without paying $21 for a patch), but once I do, I'll have a nice 98SE/XP dual-boot setup with broad sound card compatibility. AWE64 Gold for DOS games, Montego II/Aureal Vortex2 for A3D games, X-Fi Prelude for DirectSound3D/OpenAL games, all in one box! (Yes, I seriously put THREE sound cards in one computer just for gaming's sake.)
 
And speaking of old sound cards, I just paid up for a Sound Blaster AWE32 that was complete in box, unusually for old ISA sound cards these days. I'm planning to replace my AWE64 Gold with it as my DOS ISA sound card of choice since it has the rare ASP/CSP chip (which TFX needs for QSound), but I may need to get a new case for the retro box first, because that card's long enough to likely be blocked by the hard drive cage. (Unfortunately, only now do I realize that it may be one of those revisions without a genuine Yamaha OPL3 FM synth chip on closer inspection...damn Creative and their constant revisioning of cards, even with the same model numbers!)
 
Oct 17, 2012 at 4:21 PM Post #39 of 9,120
Sounds like fun. I remember when I got my first soundblaster 16 I think it was labelled to replace the pc speaker for Doom 2. What a difference even though I ran horrendous PC speakers at that time. Kind of curious how it would sound these days.
 
Nov 13, 2012 at 1:49 PM Post #40 of 9,120
A quick question for you guys:
 
I'm looking to upgrade my PC as it has just started to struggle with some the new games coming out. The bottleneck is the graphics card.
 
I'm currently running a BFG GTX 275 on an Asus Crosshair 3 motherboard. One supports SLI and the other Crossfire. Would my best/cheapest upgrade option to be buy a new motherboard and find another second hand 275 to run in SLI or to invest the money in a new graphics card?
 
Thanks in advance!
 
Nov 13, 2012 at 3:04 PM Post #41 of 9,120
Quote:
markyb16 said:
A quick question for you guys:
 
I'm looking to upgrade my PC as it has just started to struggle with some the new games coming out. The bottleneck is the graphics card.
 
I'm currently running a BFG GTX 275 on an Asus Crosshair 3 motherboard. One supports SLI and the other Crossfire. Would my best/cheapest upgrade option to be buy a new motherboard and find another second hand 275 to run in SLI or to invest the money in a new graphics card?
 
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-sli,2298-6.html
 
From the looks of it, the GTX 275 in Sli 
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
 
Ranks up to the 7850 of this generation. This card is $160 and has more features, more acceleration, DX11, warranty, newness, and can probably even handle most games better.
 
Buying a SLI motherboard isn't expensive but the cheapest motherboard you should go implying you are using a Phenom II 900 Series with graphics at that speed anyway would be $80($55 are all m-atx motherboards that are good) and at $80, even if you could get another 275 for say $90, it would still cost more than the new card, not to mention you would now have an inferior motherboard, that motherboard may not be good, and that used card may have problems. The majority of AM3 motherboards have since been phased out on newegg and buying a used motherboard from ebay? On newegg, the majority of new AM3 motherboards are not that good. Last month the ECS motherboard with AM3 was given out for free so that newegg could thin their stock.
 
Basically if you want to get a cheap good AM3 motherboard and GTX275, you coan go ahead. It will probably ring up to $120 at the cheapest but also comes with a whole slew of headaches of will it work, are there any problems they aren't telling me and etc.
 
Just get a good 7850 at $165, not to mention it also has a good overclocking headroom and you may even be able to get a 7870 on deal time for about the same price this black friday.
 
Personally, I would not want all the headaches from buying used especially in parts that are 2+ years old. You could not only get a faster card, that card would have resale potential, black friday is comming up, that card has all the new acceleration features, DX11, brownie points and etc.
 
Nov 13, 2012 at 3:33 PM Post #42 of 9,120
Ah snap, didn't realize there was a PC gaming thread.
 
Recently got a GTX 650 Ti, and loving the heck out of it. Being able to max out all my games with 8xAA is definitely sweet, and even better that most of them run at 60FPS. Just wish I had a better monitor, since 1440x900 is my max.
 
I did have a chance to drag my computer out into the living room and play Skyrim on the TV in 1080p. That was quite a treat.
biggrin.gif

 
Nov 13, 2012 at 3:34 PM Post #43 of 9,120
Quote:
kukuk said:
Ah snap, didn't realize there was a PC gaming thread.
 
Recently got a GTX 650 Ti, and loving the heck out of it. Being able to max out all my games with 8xAA is definitely sweet, and even better that most of them run at 60FPS. Just wish I had a better monitor, since 1440x900 is my max.
 
I did have a chance to drag my computer out into the living room and play Skyrim on the TV in 1080p. That was quite a treat.
biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

Yay :) Go get a new monitor this black friday. A decent 1080p one should only be about $120 if not less anyway! :)
 
Nov 13, 2012 at 3:36 PM Post #44 of 9,120
Psh, as if I even have that much money! I had to sell two pairs of headphones just to get the card, and there's no way I'm selling my last pair!
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