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"The PC chat and advice thread"

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Wed 12/06/13 at 18:38
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
So here it is PC fans, a thread I'm starting for my own selfish intentions but that will hopefully lead to lots of friendly gaming and hardware banter.

First offer of the day; What graphics card should I get?

I got a fairly good deal on a PC the other day. AMD A8 5500 Quad Core with4GB DDR3 and a GT620 graphics card.

Obviously the graphics card is the weak element here and I want something decent but under £100. I know the AMD cards in the 6000/7000 series don't require more power (only have a 300w PSU) so that would be good and some are even DDR5. Any suggestions (or second hand cards you might want to sell!)

That said, played Borderlands 2 on medium settings and it looked OK and played fine.
Sat 27/07/13 at 10:48
Regular
Posts: 1
It's really not as simple as just get a high watt PSU. I would rather buy a 450 watt high efficiency PSU that a no-name brand that "claims" to be 600 watt. Look at reviews and buy a known brand that has The 80+ mark at least. There are a lot of 600+ power supplies on the market that are just overrated by the producer. Some of them are potentially dangerous.
Sun 23/06/13 at 11:44
Staff Moderator
"Meh..."
Posts: 1,474
pb wrote:
What does everyone think of Intel's potential move to soldered on CPUs? This could mean having to change both a motherboard and CPU at the same time, each time.

The other big development around the corner seems to be the piggy backed chips. Apparently, sticking one chip on top of another provides a better, faster connection.


I think the soldered on thing is simply a cost consideration on Intel's part, they're clearly losing the price war in terms of processor/motherboard combinations, and perhaps if they provided the entire unit the cost could be better regulated.

don't really see it as an issue, AMD do a similar type of thing with one of their CPU ranges, and quite honestly we all bought into the idea some time ago by accepting consoles into our homes; an all in unit, you might say, where a change requires replacing the whole rather than the part...

Piggy backed chips sounds rather more interesting though...

Could be what we've all been waiting for, the next big leap in performance.

Could be that it never goes anywhere, on the other hand. I'm always a bit wary when I read statements about some new tech being "much faster". In scientific terms, it probably is, but I doubt I'd notice the two nanoseconds the "much faster" connection saves me.

We'll have to see if the "practical" increase in speed is of benefit before I get too excited.
Mon 17/06/13 at 10:27
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
What does everyone think of Intel's potential move to soldered on CPUs? This could mean having to change both a motherboard and CPU at the same time, each time.

The other big development around the corner seems to be the piggy backed chips. Apparently, sticking one chip on top of another provides a better, faster connection.
Sat 15/06/13 at 16:08
Regular
Posts: 9,995
"@pb ... as Garin and Chas and myself have suggested, a 600w PSU should be your bottom line."

I have a 7850 running in an otherwise lightweight system on a 500w PSU. They have online checkers so always buy according to your needs
Thu 13/06/13 at 22:49
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
DL wrote:
@pb ... as Garin and Chas and myself have suggested, a 600w PSU should be your bottom line.

Or 7750 for now and then change PSU and better card later. Just trying to look after my pocket at the same time!
Thu 13/06/13 at 22:18
Regular
"Feather edged ..."
Posts: 8,536
@pb ... as Garin and Chas and myself have suggested, a 600w PSU should be your bottom line.
Thu 13/06/13 at 16:51
Regular
"Devil in disguise"
Posts: 3,151
pb wrote:
Well, I certainly expected a bit more support from a forum that seems to have passionate PC gamers who would certainly want to see more gamers on their platform of choice. ;)

Games that work fairly well on my current set up:
Borderlands 2
Red Faction Guerilla

...I'll be trying more tonight and I'm curious to find out how Crysis runs.

I think my mind is set on getting a 1GB DDR5 7750 now, though.


Under the parameters you set, 300W PSU and ~£100, there isn't a great deal to talk about. :) Especially as you figured it out yourself already. As long as you get a version of the 7750 that doesn't need an additional power connector you should be ok with it. I'd be somewhat nervous about trying to fit anything higher. The Nvidia equivalent is probably the GT 650 and that uses more power so they aren't an option.

And if you can switch in your 600W PSU, then the 7790 is worth a look as you'll still be just under a £100.
Thu 13/06/13 at 15:59
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
I've just read up on that and watched some Youtube videos of games being played with that card and it does look good. I dare say I could swap out the 600w PSU from my old case but it's a little noisy for my liking.
Thu 13/06/13 at 15:41
Staff Moderator
"Meh..."
Posts: 1,474
I have a 7850 and can't fault it. Plays everything at full spec, and has 2Gb of GDDR5.
Paid less than £150 for it too at Overclockers, and got Blood Dragon, Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite free.

You possibly would need to upgrade your power supply, but then that might well be the case for any decent card if you're looking for full spec gaming capability.
Thu 13/06/13 at 15:06
Moderator
"possibly impossible"
Posts: 24,985
Well, I certainly expected a bit more support from a forum that seems to have passionate PC gamers who would certainly want to see more gamers on their platform of choice. ;)

Games that work fairly well on my current set up:
Borderlands 2
Red Faction Guerilla

...I'll be trying more tonight and I'm curious to find out how Crysis runs.

I think my mind is set on getting a 1GB DDR5 7750 now, though.

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