Computer information and advice

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Qwixt
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Qwixt »

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VPaulus
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by VPaulus »

It's from a good brand, and I've read nice reviews about this model. But I really, really doubt that you need a 1050 PSU.
You can calculate the power you need using this calculator:
http://www.coolermaster.com/power-supply-calculator/
I usually add more 15/20% to the calculator result. My most powerful PSU it's a Corsair 750W, and it's not even assembled on my gaming machine.

In a PSU you shouldn't only worry with how powerful it is, there are other concerns, like efficiency , silence, etc, etc...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/psu ... ,2916.html

Again, these PSUs are heavy, so make sure that the computer case is really solid and permit good cable management.

A list of alternatives:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Lobster »

Build my own machines. Never used anything but AMD. You can thank me for keeping Intel prices reasonable later. [;)]

I should add I've been doing that for 27 years so actually only used AMD since they first came out with the AM486 family. Not real sure what year that was. Yeah I'm old. Takes a bit to dredge up that stuff from the memory banks. [:D]
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Rising-Sun »

Yeah don't want to buy those cheap PSU, infact they can damage or even destroy your hardware, even Blue Screen of Death too.
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Qwixt
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Qwixt »

ORIGINAL: Lobster

Build my own machines. Never used anything but AMD. You can thank me for keeping Intel prices reasonable later. [;)]

I should add I've been doing that for 27 years so actually only used AMD since they first came out with the AM486 family. Not real sure what year that was. Yeah I'm old. Takes a bit to dredge up that stuff from the memory banks. [:D]

I have used AMD gpus quite a bit. If you want to talk about going back, I did use a knockoff 8088 because it had a higher turbo, like .5-1 mhz higher [:D] I was like, why would anyone not keep the red button pressed for turbo mode. I even bought a 8087 and did some assembler programming to use it. It was quite a bit different programming for it because it was stack based registers, not normal cpu register based.

The last AMD cpus I used were when they beat intel with their first 64 bit processor. Ryzen has me interested, but there is no reason for me to upgrade from my 5820k. I still think you are asking for some hardship adopting any brand new hardware from AMD based on my GPU experiences of the past. They are getting better though. If I was building a machine right now, I would wait for 6 months or so to see if intel has an answer, and to give the ryzen drivers time to mature.
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Gilmer »

ORIGINAL: Qwixt

To hit on #1 from VPaulus, do not skimp on the PSU. I don't mean wattage when I say that either. I mean quality. PSU is severely underrated when it comes to the importance of a computer.

I never get wireless for my desktop computers. Always wired connected. Onboard motherboard sound is much better these days as long as it is a recent version.

I my current computer I have a M.2 x3 for the system hard drive (128gb as I do not put many programs in this drive). Then I get the normal large 7200 rpm hdd, and one larger SSD drive for games that I want to load faster. The larger SSD I partition one 64gb section as cache to use for Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology), then rest is for games. That 64gb cache is then used for the large HDD to help commonly load things load faster. You do need intel chipset and supporting motherboard for iRST though.

I am probably a bit overboard and not the normal or average sort of user here.

I have to agree with this one. I can't remember what power source I got but I think it is Corsair and a nice one at that. I wish I had bought a modular one and messed that up. I had planned on getting modular which gives you the ability to unplug cables you aren't using. So, I have a mess of cables at the bottom of the case. :(
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Gilmer »

ORIGINAL: stuart3

My first SSD was a 60Gb cache drive, which effectively converted my HDD to a hybrid drive. The speed increase was impressive. Later, I replaced it with 500Gb SSD. That also produced an impressive speed boost, so I also recommend an SSD for the OS and games, with a cheaper but larger HDD for pretty much everything else. But do go to the Steam Store and check out the amount of disk space required for the games you may be thinking of buying. You might get a shock. I would recommend at least 500Gb if it fits your budget.

As to sound, internal is very high quality these days, but it sometimes gets bad press because so many users play it through cheap, tinny speakers. As with all sound systems, they are only as good as the poorest component so get some good speakers.

Yes, yes, and, yes. Do not scrimp on anything! You'll regret it. One of the reasons I don't like prebuilt computers now is that their wireless cards usually suck and you don't even realize it. I have wireless cable and I told my brother in law ( a computer guy for the Air Force, now retired and a contractor for the AF) that I was getting 1.4 megs download on my wireless and he said, "That sucks! You should be getting 8 times that!" So, fast forward to my computer I built and I got a top of the line decent wireless card and my speeds jumped about 8 times, like he said. I couldn't stream netflix on the old computer. Too many freezes. Now I can watch pretty much any TV/netflix streaming. No problems at all.
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Mobius
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Mobius »

Computers are so cheap now that you should buy two. My 10 year old vista machine's mother-board just gave up the ghost so I ordered a new game machine. As I always had two computers I am still running email and older software on an XP. But, the price of a new lower tier machine is $300-400. I'm going to replace the xp with one of these.

I wouldn't pay up too far out of the norm for a new computer. Save the extra cash for the next computer you may buy in 4-5 years. Where they will be twice as fast and better at the same price today. And today's OS will be depreciated.

I found two computers useful when testing games (developing software). I can email the programmers while testing the game w/o impacting the game. Plus it is a hard buffer for any malware or unwanted incursions.

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wodin
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by wodin »

The new AMD chip is a good choice if you where looking at the I5 CPU's

thinking of getting he Ryzen1600

My first proper PC was Intel..but since then I've gone for AMD..purely due to budget restraints..if I had the money I'd prob go for an I7.
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Yogi the Great
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Yogi the Great »

Thanks again everyone it has been very helpful and informative.

My senior mind apparently thought back to my previous computer (Pentium) what I actually have now is a Dell XPS 8500, Intel i5 3450, windows home premium, 8 GB ram, graphics card apparently an AMD Radeon HD 7570.

While it can still play the majority of my current games, it does struggle with things like the total War games, CIV IV, V & VI and even games like Order of battle and a few others. Long load times, slow performance and occasional total crashes. Even sometimes just shuts down totally and has to have a restart like it did a few minutes ago the first time I was trying to write this message for posting. With the graphics becoming an even bigger game feature and predicted future will be even higher graphics and program size I have to buy now or in the next year or two I expect while having to possibly not buy some new release games until I do.

Oh been trying to remember the actual year of purchase, I know it is no older than 2007 (copyright of the windows program) and no newer than 2011. Probably 2010 0r 2011. I remember that Windows 8 was recently out at the time but was also being trashed so bad in the reviews most everyone including most computer sales people and techs were telling people to stay with 7.
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VPaulus
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by VPaulus »

Well, the CPU Intel i5 3450, was released on the 2nd quarter of 2012. [:)]
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Yogi the Great
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Yogi the Great »

ORIGINAL: VPaulus

Well, the CPU Intel i5 3450, was released on the 2nd quarter of 2012. [:)]

Ok I was a year off, but thanks
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Qwixt
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Qwixt »

ORIGINAL: Yogi the Great

While it can still play the majority of my current games, it does struggle with things like the total War games

In my experience when they are released, Total War games were built for 2030 hardware [;)]
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Yogi the Great »

When I purchased the computer it was pretty close to the top of the line other than maybe the graphics ability. Dell has seemed to lose some of their luster since and a lot of their market share. I did some "customizing of PC's on several sites as pat of this exploration and it seems companies like Dell, HP, Acer etc. price wise struggle trying to match prices with say CyberpowerPC or Digital Storm.

Seems you can find a lot of negative reviews on almost any company these days. [&:]
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stuart3
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by stuart3 »

There is no reason why a third gen i5 shouldn't play current games if it is paired with the right components (I'm using a 2nd gen i5 with a GTX970). If your "total crashes" are due simply to the system being asked to handle more than it was designed to be capable of because games have become bigger and better, then all you really need is a better graphics card. Of course that will probably need a more powerful PSU, but a HD7570 is not a powerful card.

Adding a SSD will cure the long loading times. In theory, 8Gb should be enough to play any game, but you have probably picked up several programs that are running in the background and eating into that 8Gb, so an upgrade to 16Gb could help.

If all you really want is to be able to play current games, then a new PC sounds like it could be an extravagance.

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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by stuart3 »

Check out this comparison of the HD7570 with modern graphics cards and you will see where your main problem lies.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.p ... on+HD+7570
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by ernieschwitz »

I had an interesting conversation on the topic of new computers. Depending on your computer you may actually get less performance on newer machines than older ones. Especially with games that only use one core. Which would be most IGUGO type games. If that is your thing, I recommend not looking at the number of cores, but only at the clock-speed (the GHz), and maybe number of threads = number of cores (unsure about this)...
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by Lobster »

ORIGINAL: stuart3

There is no reason why a third gen i5 shouldn't play current games if it is paired with the right components (I'm using a 2nd gen i5 with a GTX970). If your "total crashes" are due simply to the system being asked to handle more than it was designed to be capable of because games have become bigger and better, then all you really need is a better graphics card. Of course that will probably need a more powerful PSU, but a HD7570 is not a powerful card.

Adding a SSD will cure the long loading times. In theory, 8Gb should be enough to play any game, but you have probably picked up several programs that are running in the background and eating into that 8Gb, so an upgrade to 16Gb could help.

If all you really want is to be able to play current games, then a new PC sounds like it could be an extravagance.


The motherboard and memory you use also helps significantly with performance. It's not a one off deal, it's the total package. It's like sticking a two barrel carb on a high performance engine. Strangle the throughput and it just chugs along.
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by stuart3 »

Especially with games that only use one core. Which would be most IGUGO type games.

That's the traditional situation. Many games use only one core, and few use more than two. But DirectX 12, Mantle, and Vulkan are making it easier and more efficient to spread the load across multiple cores. AMD have launched their Ryzen range on the premise that future games will utilise all available cores and so the number of cores available will outweigh clock speed. Hyperthreading, and AMD's equivalent treats each physical core as two virtual ones, thereby effectively doubling the number of cores available. It probably won't yet affect Matrix, but AMD expect several existing AAA titles to be patched to take advantage of this.
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RE: Computer information and advice

Post by stuart3 »

The motherboard and memory you use also helps significantly with performance. It's not a one off deal, it's the total package.

Also the total price. [:)]
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