[ibob4tacoz]

Check your encoding. Some converter/encoders have digital effect add ons.

But hey, you may just hear something. But do note, more often than not, it is placebo, screwed up encoding, or settings. 

I used FlacSquisher. LAME formatting. It also isn't exactly 320kbps, it actually sits around 305 because of the VBR involved. Can you recommend anything?

 

[AxelCloris]

Just ordered this combo from Microcenter for $89: Intel G3258 3.2 GHz LGA1150 processor with the MSI Z97 PC Mate Socket LGA 1150 ATX mobo. I figured this will at least get my build off the ground and started. I can save up for the i5-4690k that I had planned and either keep this mobo with it or buy a new one and transplant these parts into my wife's next desktop. Apparently the CPU overclocks pretty well, and I'll be boosting the HD7850 a bit as well.
 
Now just to pick up a cooler and a couple of additional fans and I'll be set. I know the PSU I have right now is definite overkill but I got it with the intent of being able to run a dual card system in a year or two. I'm expecting this system should be fine gaming on medium settings. We'll see soon.
 
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/AxelCloris/saved/vMVBD3

 

[DonutDeflector]

Just ordered this combo from Microcenter for $89: Intel G3258 3.2 GHz LGA1150 processor with the MSI Z97 PC Mate Socket LGA 1150 ATX mobo. I figured this will at least get my build off the ground and started. I can save up for the i5-4690k that I had planned and either keep this mobo with it or buy a new one and transplant these parts into my wife's next desktop. Apparently the CPU overclocks pretty well, and I'll be boosting the HD7850 a bit as well.

Now just to pick up a cooler and a couple of additional fans and I'll be set. I know the PSU I have right now is definite overkill but I got it with the intent of being able to run a dual card system in a year or two. I'm expecting this system should be fine gaming on medium settings. We'll see soon.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/AxelCloris/saved/vMVBD3

Have fun on your overclocks!

I heard that the new z97 Pentium has amazing overclocking ability. I remember seeing 4.5Ghz STABLE overclocks and the performance boost gives you big benefits.

 

[AxelCloris]

Have fun on your overclocks!

I heard that the new z97 Pentium has amazing overclocking ability. I remember seeing 4.5Ghz STABLE overclocks and the performance boost gives you big benefits.

 
Yeah, the OC ability of the new processors is very nice. The reports started showing up last month and they're saying that with a Z97 board you can OC this CPU to 4.5GHz consistently and reliably. I've also been looking for a good Z97 board that had at least 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 front ports to use with my Fractal case and thankfully the MSI in this combo does. I'm really looking forward to the build. It's not a super machine, but I should be able to get some very nice performance per dollar out of it.

 

[Yazen]

I used FlacSquisher. LAME formatting. It also isn't exactly 320kbps, it actually sits around 305 because of the VBR involved. Can you recommend anything?

http://www.dors.de/razorlame/download.php

 

[DonutDeflector]

Do you guys know anything about SSDs? I wanted to get a good budget SSD for my rig and found the Corsiar Force LX 256GB. I've seen good critic review online but I want feedback from "regular" PC enthusiasts.

 

[214324]

Do you guys know anything about SSDs? I wanted to get a good budget SSD for my rig and found the Corsiar Force LX 256GB. I've seen good critic review online but I want feedback from "regular" PC enthusiasts.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1179518/seans-ssd-buyers-guide-information-thread#user_SeansrecommendedSSDs
 
Go check Anandtech reviews if you want to do your own research. Probably the best place to go if you're researching SSDs. Sean at OCN does a lot of work with this kind of stuff though so that list is pretty accurate (did a lot of looking around myself and that list is great. Again, avoid Sandforce as always).
 
Ugh, my M4 might be dying. Still getting random shutoffs at some point where there's possibly something like a power spike or the protective circuitry in this crappy CX430 just freaks out and my computer remains on but the screen goes black (can't do anything). The M4 is taking longer and longer to recover at times. It's not the SATA controller because it's still picking up my 500GB WD Caviar blue after these "heart attacks". SMART is showing the SSD as good though so I might just need a new PSU (although I kind of don't want to spend any more money on this meh computer).

 

[bowei006]

Do you guys know anything about SSDs? I wanted to get a good budget SSD for my rig and found the Corsiar Force LX 256GB. I've seen good critic review online but I want feedback from "regular" PC enthusiasts.

I pretty much don't hear anything about the Corsair Force's....
 
 
Most people online seem to be buying PNY, Crucial, Intel, Samsung, Seagate for their SSD's and these are indeed great SSD companies. PNY Optima and XLR8 240GB variants for budgeters, INTEL and Crucial for those that want Reliability, and Samsung and Seagate for a mix of everything at a good price during sales. 

 

[214324]

  I pretty much don't hear anything about the Corsair Force's....
 
 
Most people online seem to be buying PNY, Crucial, Intel, Samsung, Seagate for their SSD's and these are indeed great SSD companies. PNY Optima and XLR8 240GB variants for budgeters, INTEL and Crucial for those that want Reliability, and Samsung and Seagate for a mix of everything at a good price during sales. 

STAY AWAY FROM PNY. They use Sandforce controllers (2281 to be specific). Sandforce has gotten better but nobody goes near them still for a reason unless on a really, really tight budget. Sandforce still has a bunch of driver issues and no full TRIM and garbage collection support on Sandforce based SSDs. Do not go near them (Intel Sandforce drives are still recommended, I think. I think Intel has their own drivers?).

 

[s1rrah]

Do you guys know anything about SSDs? I wanted to get a good budget SSD for my rig and found the Corsiar Force LX 256GB. I've seen good critic review online but I want feedback from "regular" PC enthusiasts.

 
Don't know too much about them but just got a new gaming laptop with two Crucial M550 512gb drives set up in a 1TB RAID 0 array and ... being my first system using SSD's ... I just have to say, I'm blown away at the speed of them. Something crazy like 900mbs in Crystal benchmark ... just ridiculous ... 
 
I second the thread at OCN ... great resource ...

 

[bowei006]

  STAY AWAY FROM PNY. They use Sandforce controllers (2281 to be specific). Sandforce has gotten better but nobody goes near them still for a reason unless on a really, really tight budget. Sandforce still has a bunch of driver issues and no full TRIM and garbage collection support on Sandforce based SSDs. Do not go near them (Intel Sandforce drives are still recommended, I think. I think Intel has their own drivers?).

I read many reports about it. 
 
I know what you are talking about. But after all the back and forth schiit storm with them, and swapping components and what not. 
 
But basically, the general idea from what I'm reading is that they are great budget SSD's now.
 
A lot of people online, Reddit, OCN etc were spouting lots of stuff about PNY, and there was no real concencus
 
So the guys at PC Part Picker, because they needed info on controllers on the chips. Went out, and got the PNY Optima and XLR8 240GB variants and did a review of them
 
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/28k0f6/in_response_to_the_pny_news_we_decided_to_buy/
 
And so while Sandforce does have some issues. It is by far something that really is noticeable today imo. Kinda like how the initial schiitstorm with plasma burn in killed plasma TV's despite the error being fixed a year or two after release by most companys.
 
And hence, why PNY is recommended by many as a budget SSD. Because it performs well, is decently well liked online by a more diverse market, and doesn't show any ill signs as of yet.
 
 
 
OCN and many enthusiast sights are like Head-Fi when it comes to talking about objects. A lot of stuff, really doesn't matter to the mass majority of users. And OS's today are pretty good with SSD's.
 
 
Enthusiasm is nice, but there has been something pretty much standard that I have noticed in my years. All the very pro-enthusiast stuff takes a crap ton of time. Researching and getting TRIM support, AHCI, bit rate in audio, transfer methods and what not. And half the time, it comes down to me asking myself why software don't have support or easy implementation for stuff like that? 99% of the time, the answer is because there is a more consumer friendly alternative that does 99% of what the enthusiast one does, OR in that software has a work around that is better now adays. 
 
The whole topic of TRIM has died down a lot in the past two years, however you still find lots of threads about it. When I was re-doing my entire MBP, I went everywhere looking at trying to get AHCI and TRIM on the Mac and Windows edition. Half an hour later, and a piece of software later, and boom. Pretty much the OS and what not are already effective with SSD's, and AHCI makes little difference on the consumer platform I was doing. 
 
Same with audio perfection and what not. A year into my journey, and I realize why S/PDIF was pretty much unheard of in usage of audio by most consumers. Because USB does 99.9% of it without issues. Half the articles about it not being were decades old or were regurgitated base on older conceptions and information.
 
These stories, play into the majority of enthusiast situations I've found myself in, and the answer to most things 'enthusiasts' do. 
 
And hence, why I am a consumerized hobbyist. The word enthusiast gets on my nerve really but I still use it a lot because it explains it to most people 99% effectively

 

[214324]

You do also realize Sandforce performance with uncompressible data is quite poor compared to other controllers, right? TRIM is quite a bit more important that you're making it seem since it's basically SSD performance maintenance. We've just taken it for granted nowadays since TRIM functionality is built into basically all consumer SSDs nowadays (Sandforce only has partial functionality and it takes a decent chunk of performance every time).
 
Edit: latest Sandforce budget drive review I could find from Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7337/corsair-force-ls-240gb-review/9
 
Still has trouble recommending Sandforce drives when you can get something like the 840 EVO for basically the same price. TRIM issues seem to have been fixed but performance is still poor for something of that price point.

 

[bowei006]

  You do also realize Sandforce performance with uncompressible data is quite poor compared to other controllers, right? TRIM is quite a bit more important that you're making it seem since it's basically SSD performance maintenance. We've just taken it for granted nowadays since TRIM functionality is built into basically all consumer SSDs nowadays (Sandforce only has partial functionality and it takes a decent chunk of performance every time).
 
Edit: latest Sandforce budget drive review I could find from Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7337/corsair-force-ls-240gb-review/9
 
Still has trouble recommending Sandforce drives when you can get something like the 840 EVO for basically the same price. TRIM issues seem to have been fixed but performance is still poor for something of that price point.

That part on TRIM is definately true and part of a lot of reasoning, in that a lot of enthusiast technologies get consumerized and 'built in'. 
 
Yeah, I did read about Sandforce and that issue. However, at the price point PNY is selling at, and the benchmarks it is giving, even with uncompressible data, it isn't a major issue at the moment
 
But yeah, I would definately take other SSD's over it if at the same price. Just that when you can find the PNY 240GB's for $55 sometimes. It offers the best price, to performance, to relaibility in its tier compared to other SSD's with the same storage size and price. And that right there, is why so many buy the PNY's and why they are recommended to new builders who don't have a lot of money.
 
I personally went with buying Samsung EVO 840 (newest edition) and the Seagate 600, because the two have fantastic benchmarks. The Seagate 600' 240s came out to a higher price, but it is often on sale nowadays and is one of the fastest SSD's in its tier. Same with the Samsung. 

 

[214324]

tbh Sandforce SSDs and others are around the same price now most of the time (at least from what I've seen) so there's really no reason not to go with the non-sandforce drives nowadays. TLC has made the 840 and 840 EVO the cost of a sandforce drive nowadays which is quite ridiculous given the performance of the drives (there's even RAPID mode which goes further to increase performance).

 

[bowei006]

  tbh Sandforce SSDs and others are around the same price now most of the time (at least from what I've seen) so there's really no reason not to go with the non-sandforce drives nowadays. TLC has made the 840 and 840 EVO the cost of a sandforce drive nowadays which is quite ridiculous given the performance of the drives (there's even RAPID mode which goes further to increase performance).

I find it depends largely on sales, time of the year etc. On a daily basis, the Samsung's aren't that that cheap