The Computer Megathread

[Blooker]

There's an XFX Radeon HD 6870 that's 8.66", it's this one.

Does it support an Asus motherboard?

[Ad Bot]

[Acid]

So, here's the problem:

I got a new 550W power supply and an ATI radeon HD 6870 video card for christmas. In my excitement, I unhooked the power cables of my old CPU, unscrewed it and took it out. Then I reassembled my new PSU and video card with all the cables in the right slots. When I turned it on, all the fans started spinning, the lights went on, but I there wasn't anything showing up on my monitor. I tried reconnecting certain parts, the hold-the-button-for--seconds trick, but nothing helped. So I unscrewed the PSU and the GPU and put back my old ones. The same thing happened. Is there anything i'm doing wrong? All cables are in the right spots. Here's where the cables go:

• My 20-pin cable goes into the 24-pin on my motherboard (It has always worked like this)
• My 4-pin cable goes into a 4-pin slot near my GPU
• My HDD goes via a SATA cable to my SATA1 port
• My DVD-Drive goes via a SATA cable to my SATA2 port
• My DVD-Drive and HDD both have power cables connected to them

I still have 1x4 cable which I couldn't find a spot for hanging loose in my case.
Please help :o

I have the same problem with only the graphics card :(

[Tokthree]

Would a AMD Athlon II X2 245 CPU bottleneck this GPU?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-200-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1982

[Freeze]

ethan, the computer came yesterday

it works great! thank you once again :D

[Littledude]

I'm looking to buy an amd 6970 with some work/christmas money. Can you suggest the best brand to buy? I was looking at this gigabyte one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125371 mostly just because the 3 fans drew my attention. actually I better measure the room that I have, the above card looks too big. Yeah I only have a bit less than 11 inches of space, from the back of the computer up to a bit before the hard drive cage (to account for the plugs).
Current system specs:
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5850
PSU: 800 watt
I'm also using 2 monitors if that effects anything regarding manufacturer choice.

Is there any real difference between these two cards?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131391
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131394
or are people paying the extra 60 dollars for the call of duty name and slightly different design.
My current graphics card is a powercolor and it has not failed me so I think I'll go with them again, unless advised against it.
I was also looking at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102957 because it is a bit shorter in length than the others and I'm not supremely confident about the amount of space I have.

[ECrownofFire]

The way graphics cards work is that Nvidia or AMD or whoever builds the GPU, then individual manufacturers like MSI, EVGA, Asus, or PowerColor go out and actually build it and add cooling fans and such. So there's not a difference in the core design of it, but the differences in manufacturing mean that they have different speeds and different power requirements.

[Becquerel]

Whats the BEST CPU I can get for 500$?

[dawngaward0110]

I have the same problem with only the graphics card :(

What do you mean with only the graphics card? Did you replace it?

[Messes]

I'm restoring my computer right after I finish backing up 72gb of music and videos then i'm installing new cpu, psu, and gpu

Question: After restoration, what are the things i'm going to need to download before I install the parts (if any) such as drivers or stuff? Never did it before.

Then after that i'll swap out my parts

[Legodude77]

Can anyone help me install steam on Ubuntu with Wine? I get Fatal Error: Could Not load module 'bin/FileSystem_Steam.dll' when I try to launch it. Did I not install Wine or steam right?

[kakashi11]

Ordered my PSU today, i got my Graphics card already, it's bigger then i thought!

Getting PSU tomorrow, :D

[Legodude77]

I got blockland and steam to work with Wine. C: Now if only steam wasn't down.

[Tetris]

Hey, I've got a laptop question. I made a topic about it but people didn't seem to notice it.

Hello. I am trying to find a very powerful gaming laptop, mostly for playing Blockland, Minecraft, World of Warcraft and Command and Conquer at full graphics with no lag, and two have caught my eye. I don't have that much expierence in buying laptops and comparing specs, so could you guys help me out a bit?


Laptop 1:

http://bit.ly/twIpBm

Toshiba Qosmio X770 - Gaming Laptop



 Processor
   
2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® technology

 Operating System
   
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64 Bit

Key Features
   
Toshiba Reel Time
Toshiba Bulletin Board
Hard Drive Impact Sensor
Toshiba USB Sleep n Charge
Toshiba Sleep and Music
Toshiba Media Controller
harman/kardon Speakers w/Sub Woofer

Memory
   
Standard Memory: 4GB DDR3 + 4GB DDR3 (1333 MHz)
Maximum Memory: 8GB DDR3

Hard Disk Drive
   
1.5 TB (2x 750GB 5400 RPM); Serial-ATA hard disk drive

Optical Drive
   
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive with Blu-ray Disc™ ROM
Maximum speed and compatibility:
Read: CD-ROM (24x), DVD-ROM (8x), BD-ROM (6x)
Write: CD-R (24x), CD-RW (4x), DVD-R (Single Layer (8x), DVD-R (Double Layer (4x), DVD-RW (6x), DVD+R (Single Layer (8x), DVD+R (Double Layer (4x), DVD+RW (8x), DVD-RAM (5x)

Display System
   
Type: 16:9 TFT Active Matrix colour LCD display with LED backlight
Size (diagonal): 17.3” HD+
Native LCD Panel Resolution: 1600x900x16.7 million colours
External Support and Max. Colour Support (dependant on CRT): Up to 2,048 x 1536 x 16.7 million colours

Graphics Controller
   
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 1.5GB (DDR5)– Dedicated Graphics-Up to 4095MB (64bit OS) dynamically allocated shared graphics memory with 8GB of system memory.

Sound System
   
Realtek ALC269Q-VB5-GR Software Sound, High Definition Audio Link, harman/kardon speakers w/ Sub Woofer

Communication
   
10/100/1000 Mbps Integrated Ethernet LAN
Intel 802.11 b/g/n Wireless LAN w/ WIDI
Integrated 1.3M Camera (w/ Built-in Mic)

Expansion
   
2 memory slots – Slot 1 has 4GB. Slot 2 has 4GB. Zero free memory slots available.
Ports: Bridge Media Adaptor (SD Card, SDHC Card, SDXC Card, Multimedia Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Mini SD Card, Micro SD Card), 1x USB 3.0, 3x USB 2.0 RJ45, external microphone port, headphone port, RGB, HDMI

Keyboard
   
Canadian Bilingual Keyboard
102 keys with 15 Function keys
Color: Tile Half Glossy Black w/ Backlight

Pointing Device
   
Touchpad Pointing device with Gesture

 Additional Software
   
Toshiba ConfigFree™
Toshiba Disc Creator
Toshiba Value Added Package
Norton Internet Security Trial
Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 includes reduced-functionality versions of Word® and Excel® only, with advertising.

Physical Dimensions
   
Dimensions (in mm): (WxDxH) 413.6x 274x 28/43.9
Weight: Start at 3.4kg
Color: Metallica Urban Black w/Red Strip
 
AC Adapter
   
180W external Universal AC adapter input voltage (100 – 240V 50/60Hz Frequency (Universal), output voltage (19V, 9.5A)
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 171 x 86 x 41.5
Weight: 880g

Battery
   
Battery Type: Removable, Rechargeable 8-cell Lithium Ion (Li-ion) 10.8V x 47Wh capacity
Battery Life: TBD
Dimensions: TBD

Environmental Specifications
   
Temperature: Operating 5° 35°C (41° 95°F);
Non Operating –20° 65°C (-4° 149°F)
Thermal Gradient: Operating 15 C per hr. max;
Non Operating 20 C per hr. max
Relative Humidity: Operating 20% to 80% non-condensing; Non-Operating: 10% to 90% non-condensing
Altitude (relative to sea level): Operating: -60 to 3,000m.;
Non-Operating: -60 to 10,000m.
Shock: Operating: 10G; Non-Operating 60G
Vibration: Operating 0.5G, 0.25G; Non-Operating: 1G


Laptop 2:

http://dell.to/hLT5QW

Alienware M17x R3 - Gaming Laptop (Popular Choice?)



Processor

Intel® Core™ i7 2670QM 2.2GHz (3.1GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)

Operating System

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit
Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit

Memory2

4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2DIMMS)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
24GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (4DIMMS)

Video Card

1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6870M
1.5GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M

Display

17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 60Hz WLED
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle

Audio and Speakers

Integrated brown townog 5.1 Surround Audio Support
Integrated Digital 7.1 Surround Audio Support (via SPDIF or HDMI 1.4)
Audio Powered by Klipsch®

Hard Drive

Up to 1500GB3 hard drive (7200RPM)
Up to 1000GB3 Solid State hard drive

Optical Drive

Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

Wireless

Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 (1x2 bgn)
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 bgn+ Bluetooth)
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 agn+ Bluetooth)

Bluetooth

Internal Wireless Bluetooth 3.0

Ports

(1x) Power/DC-in Jack
(2x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports
(2x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0/2.0 Combo ports
(1x) eSATA 3Gb/s + USB 2.0 Combo port(with USB charge function support)
(3x) Auto-sensing jacks for Line-out (2 line out; 1x SPDIF/Headphone)
(1x) Microphone Input jack
(1x) RJ-45 (10/100/1Gb IPv6)
(1x) HDMI-1.4 output with Audio
(1x) HDMI-1.3 input4 with Audio5
(1x) mini-Display Port
(1x) VGA Port (DB-15)
(1x) 9-in-1 Media card reader

Camera

3.0 Megapixel Video and Picture Camera

Battery

High Capacity 9-cell Lithium Ion (90-WHr)

Keyboard

AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design

Color Options

Soft Touch - Stealth Black
Soft Touch - Nebula Red

Dimensions

Height (rear): 1.77" - (45mm)
Height (front): 1.75" - (44.5mm)
Depth: 11.96" - (304mm)
Width: 16.14" - (410mm)
Starting weight* - 9.39lbs (4.26kg); [9.67lbs (4.39kg) with 3D panel]


So yeah, I would be verrry thankful if you helped me decide. I tried laying it out so its semi-easy to compare, but if not I also included the websites.

[HerpaDerp]

So, here's the problem:

I got a new 550W power supply and an ATI radeon HD 6870 video card for christmas. In my excitement, I unhooked the power cables of my old CPU, unscrewed it and took it out. Then I reassembled my new PSU and video card with all the cables in the right slots. When I turned it on, all the fans started spinning, the lights went on, but I there wasn't anything showing up on my monitor. I tried reconnecting certain parts, the hold-the-button-for--seconds trick, but nothing helped. So I unscrewed the PSU and the GPU and put back my old ones. The same thing happened. Is there anything i'm doing wrong? All cables are in the right spots. Here's where the cables go:

• My 20-pin cable goes into the 24-pin on my motherboard (It has always worked like this)
• My 4-pin cable goes into a 4-pin slot near my GPU
• My HDD goes via a SATA cable to my SATA1 port
• My DVD-Drive goes via a SATA cable to my SATA2 port
• My DVD-Drive and HDD both have power cables connected to them

I still have 1x4 cable which I couldn't find a spot for hanging loose in my case.
Please help :o

So basically you have a computer without a CPU? That's your problem. Or you screwed up your CPU when taking it out and putting it back in (If you did)

[KoopaScooper]

The alienware one seems to be the better.
But you could also go with an ASUS or different one and get more for the price.
What are you trying to do with it?