Something smells a bit burned

[Nerdanel]

Well just got the worst possible news today. My computer was flipping out since yesterday whenever I tried to boot a game up so decided to get it to a shop today. Since I know the owner of the place he checked my pc immidiatly and especially my graphic card. (replaced my old one with a new one to see if the problems where still around) And the conclusion was that my dual core gpu was fried. Since i'm not running the newest system I now need to find a replacement that doesn't cost to much and will keep me gaming untill I build a new system next year. Any one has a good replacement? I used a radeon HD 4850 x2 with 2gb dedicated.
Rest of my system isn't to high end so no need to juggle with the top line cards since those won't be worth their money in that system.

[Splishy]

GeForce 460GTX is pretty much the price/performance sweet spot as things stand for those that can't stretch to the nVidia 5 series or AMD 6 series. If that's out of your range then let us know what your budget is and I'll see what I can find.

[Dar]

1) when will you build your new system?
         Next year means 2012?
2) What kind of power-supply do you have?
         kinda makes the difference on what you can buy
3) make sure you check out your motherboard really good!
         your GPU might have damaged the slot (or the other way around), increasing the chance you wreck your new GPU
4) How much do you want to spend?
         When i make a new system, i generally want to spend up to 200 euro's on a card, for an inbetween card like you might
             want now, i would spend at max 100 euro's.

Do note that Ati cards are still the best performance for your money in the lower / mid bracket, and that Ati introduces a new line every autumn. The best way to spend your money (imo) is to buy the top-end cards of the previous serie when the new one is introduced and the prices drop. I bought my HD4890 oc right after the first 2 cards of the 5xxx series hit the store. (they are currently in the 6xxx series)

For an inbetween card i would suggest the 5770, its 98 euro's.
The card Splish just recommended is a step higher in price (150), at which point you will be entering the 6xxx series of Ati (6850- 140eur).

but, best advice i could give you is the dutch website Tweakers.net, releasing a best buy for pc games every month:

http://tweakers.net/reviews/2035/1/tweakers-punt-net-best-buy-guide-editie-maart-2011-inleiding.html

Then, make sure to click on the name of a card to go to the pricewatch part where you can check the lowest price in dutch / Belgian webshops.

[Nerdanel]

I'll be looking out for a new system around september next year. My current powersuply gives about 1200 watts so should be enough to keep everything running.
I'll look into those 2 cards once I'm back from work if i'm still allive by then

[Nerdanel]

Might have found something that can temporarily replace my barbequecard.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-6850-review/ engllish version

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/274308/msi-r6850-cyclone-1gd5-power-edition-oc.html
dutch version

So that's about the max i'm willing to spend (sells here for about 175 euro's)
only reason for picking the msi version is the fact that it's overclocked at the factory.
No clue wheter this one is a good one when it comes to money/ vzlue though

[Splishy]

You can get a Radeon 6950 for around £175, buy a model with the dual BIOS and you can flash the BIOS giving you a risk free (because you can always revert to the stock BIOS) 6970.

[Dar]

(sells here for about 175 euro's)

You can get a Radeon 6950 for around £175, buy a model with the dual BIOS and you can flash the BIOS giving you a risk free (because you can always revert to the stock BIOS) 6970.

Sadly the pound - euro ratio isn't that good these days, the 6950 is 198.90 euro, a good 25 bucks above budget

[Splishy]

Damned exchange rates

That said, I'd honestly be tempted to stretch the budget a little further and get one of these over a "factory overclocked" 6850.


EDIT - in fact I'd go so far as to say that if it's a stopgap you're looking for a GTX460, if something to last 18 months (which is to all intents and purposes a generation and a half of GPU) then get the 6950 and flash it. Anything else seems wasteful at this point in the game.

[Nerdanel]

Well after a burned out GPU my pc seems to be in shambles. after a somewhat anoying software prob (wich got solved with alot of mailing to splish :p) I though I was through the woods but something strange now keeps happening. From time to time my pc seems to fall out of power. it doesn't blue screen or gives any type of warning when it does this. The only way of powering the pc again is by pulling out the netcord, waiting a couple of secs and put it back in.
Does this mean the power supply is fried? Or is this a software prob as well?

[Splishy]

After reinstalling Windows if you're still having this issue (and you disabled reboot on bluescreens) then you're pretty much guaranteed a hardware issue. PSU would be your first candidate, followed by pretty much every other component I'm afraid/

[Nerdanel]

Been skimming around a bit on the net after the rescent hardware issues that I had and am considering building a new desktop. The only prob I currently have is wether to go for a AMD or intell processor. Untill now i've always used intell but I hate their constant socket changing. But i'm not to sure about amd performance so am a bit more doubtfull to go that way even though they usually are cheaper. Any thoughts or expiriences ?

[Splishy]

the AMD hex-core are the price/performance sweet spot as things stad. They can't meet the raw grunt of the Intel i series kit, but they're good value for money, that's for sure.

[Dar]

I have an i7 920, bought august 2009 and i'm very very happy with it. You'll need to ask Jozef for his experience with AMD as he bought a hexacore, but i think he is happy with it too.

To my opinion, you should take what ever brand you want. The best cpu coolers are uni-form these days, big fat chance that the Mugen 3 will, like his precessor, fit on both AMD and Intel cores. Just look for the Mobo most fitting for you with each processor and then make a choice.

[TomTheWizard]

One thing to keep in mind is AMD will soon be launching it's new bulldozer series of cpu's featuring a new socket so that's something to consider. Intel's socket for Sandybridge is still fairly young and should hopefully see more cpus heading it way.

As for the AMD hex cores, they generally get beaten by the Sandybridge i5's which are a bit more pricey overall though. Unless you can make use of the 6 cores AMD offers, the sandy i5's will offer better performance but at a higher cost.

You could also consider an AMD quad rather than a hexacore to save more moneys, depending on what you'll be using your pc for. When it comes to gaming a hexacore tends to offer no benefit. I picked up one of the quad phenom II's myself recently and it's certainly more than enough for my needs.

As Dar says, pick whichever you want, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed with either.

[Nerdanel]

been able to patch up my pc for the time being (my psu was completely busted) am still skimming around for a new pc to build and will be turning to intell due to the fact they somehow are cheaper then an amd build :p.
Am only have one thing I can't get cleared. Have been reading and aparently most people install extra cooling units on their cpu. (things like the coolermaster V8 and lookalikes)
but when I look at those things I wonder how bad that extra stress is for a motherboard (those things are huge) and wheter it is needed if you don't overclock. Since some people here seem to use them I could get some intake on the subject

[Dar]

I'm still waiting for the Scythe Mugen 3 to hit the market so i can finally start overclocking, but i can tell you this:

- Yes, they are heavy, the larger ones are in the range of 800 - 1000 grams, but these always come with a backplate and most can be fortified with a steel cable, however, the backplate system will keep your motherboard from harm.

- You don't need one if you are not going to overclock. My i7 920 has been running on the stock cooler without any problem since august 2009, with an average temp of 45-50 degrees Celsius. I just can't overclock, even with a increase of 10 mhz (with a multiplier of 12  that means 120 mhz) it goes extremely hot.

- Both MMO-Champion's Setup of the month and Tweakers.net Best Buy Edition May '11 have been released lately, have a look at what they think would be the best value for your money

[Nerdanel]

well got no clue what happened but this morning my pc worked fine and when I got back from work the thing wouldn't start up. I'm using a P5Q deluxe motherboard and there are 2 lighted switches on there to reset and power the motherboard. Both of them now think they are the smaller brother of a strobelight cause they keep flickering. I checked every power conector, my powercord, the block where all my powercords are plugged in and everything seems to be in order.
After the last bit of busted hardware I replaced my psu with a new one so it's doubtfull that got blown up in 4 or 5 days. so do the lights mean something is burned on the motherboard or is it (yet again) the power supply?

[Splishy]

You have a short between your motherboard and case by the looks. Likely the root cause of your other issues too.

Check you only have standoffs in the necessary places for attaching your motherboard to the tray.

[Nerdanel]

was thinking the same but I thought let's try the old psu (it still works but just has some loose part in it so it ocasionally looses power) and after half an hour the pc booted again. So either the short is in the new psu or the new psu is busted.
I've never seen a psu break down within a week though and according to my electricity provider there haven't been any kind of powerspikes on the network. I'll be returning the new psu for a checkup today and see what the storeowner says.
I was wondering however can the epu part of my motherboard be the cause of all of this?

[Nerdanel]

I've asked a sjop to check my pc due to all the things that happened to it lately. But since there is a big chance that it's a lost cause i've been looking around for a new build.
Got most things sorted except the motherboard and the case.
Would be handy to see if there are things that don't add up or are not the best choice.
Case: NZXT guardian 21RB (but am not sure this is ideal since i'm looking for a case that doesn't think it's a vacuum cleaner. My current one dusts up every 2 weeks)
CPU: Intell 2500K boxed (will also be using the stock cooler for the time being)
PSU: OCZ modxstream 700w
HDD: 2 x 1.5TB samsung F3 spinpoints (am doubting about wheter or not it is worth putting in a SSD for the extra cost it brings)
RAM: 2 x 4Gb corsair vengeance DDR3 1866
Optical: sony optiarc CD/DVD +-rw
Motherboard: this is the bit where i'm still in doubt. I've been checking the asrock series and mainly the P67 extreme 6 or it's bit more flashier brother the fatality one (the same as the extreme 6 but looks nicer)
The main prob is that i'm not sure about the quality of Asrock. Some say it's no good others say it's descent.
So any thoughts?
The price should be somewhere around 800 euros for this build (If I can find a shop that has all of the part) and i'll be using the 3D card from my old system for the time being since it's less then a month old atm.