Computer hardware and software

[Handoyo]

Money don't matter.

Seriously, if it's too long, I usually just turn it off. Especially at night. I have this crazy thing that I can't sleep if there's even the slightest of sound, like a clock ticking/winding or a computer fan...The only thing I can live with is the sound of an air-con.

 

[brehme1989]

Stand By, it's quite easy to understand what it does. The PC "freezes" until you say 'unfreeze'. Working on a minimum level that is.

Shut Down, your PC is turned off.

Hibernate, similar to shut down. If you have let's say MS Word and FM 2008 running on your PC and you hibernate, then when you turn on your PC, you'll be taken at the point where you turned it off, playing FM and continuing with your Word essay. I don't use it often, but when you utilise it at full potential, it can save you a lot of time and can be very handy. Don't know the details on hibernation though. It might harm your PC if you use it all the time

 

[Handoyo]

Thanks Yuko. Another thing, someone told me that it's harmful for a laptop if it's turned on and then you carry it around, thus shaking it all over. But it's OK to do it if it's in Standby/Hibernate mode, or turned off. How true is this?

 

[Luka]

I wouldn't recomend doing anything in a exagarated degree with your laptop while it is running, thus not turned off. Of course I'm not telling you to be paranoid, I sometimes move laptop when it is turned on, but it's not like I'm shaking it like you do with shaker.

Theoreticaly only hard drive can be dammaged if there is sudden and very powerfull physical blow, but you know electronics :>

 

[K.I.]

New Rig, hopefully this will last me a while.

Core i7 2.66
Geforece GTX 295
Motherboard Gigabyte Extreme
12GB DDR3 1333 Kingston
WD Black 1TB
Samsung DVD
Gigabyte 3D Mercury Case + 1200W PSU

Also i will probably get a Samusng 23" LCD.

 

[Ehsan]

New Rig, hopefully this will last me a while.

Core i7 2.66
Geforece GTX 295
Motherboard Gigabyte Extreme
12GB DDR3 1333 Kingston
WD Black 1TB
Samsung DVD
Gigabyte 3D Mercury Case + 1200W PSU

Also i will probably get a Samusng 23" LCD.

That's a beautiful machine. Must have set you back quiet a bit, but it will surely last for long.

I'm sure you know this but don't forget to run a 64bit OS, because recently a friend of mine bought $500 worth of RAM but had no idea only 4GB was utilized.

 

[K.I.]

Well yah but PC is an important investment i think because i do alot on my pc, gaming, movies ,shows etc..also in Egypt the Macbook Pro costs about the same i will pay for this machine so yah...Anyways about the OS offcourse i have to use a 64bit one, the 32 bit ones have a 4GB limit but actually they only read 3.5 of your 4GB.

 

[Handoyo]

Am I reading this correctly or do you have 12GB or RAM? :wth:

If yes, you are a very sick, sick man. I have 2 and I thought it's good enough. Though yes, I only play DotA with the lowest settings on WC III so...

 

[K.I.]

Hopefully i will get 12GB of ram, Ram isnt as expensive as before, the new i7 CPU uses new memory settings, which are triple channel which means there are 6 slots and i have to use 3 of them, the rams for this are sold in packs, the pack i am getting has 6GB (2GB * 3 memory pieces) and i am getting 2 packs hence 12GB. These things can actually go up to 24GB if the rams you get are 4gb per stick but 24 of these will actually cost as much as the whole PC i just posted the specs to.

 

[Stefan]

New Rig, hopefully this will last me a while.

Core i7 2.66
Geforece GTX 295
Motherboard Gigabyte Extreme
12GB DDR3 1333 Kingston
WD Black 1TB
Samsung DVD
Gigabyte 3D Mercury Case + 1200W PSU

Also i will probably get a Samusng 23" LCD.

Great machine man. You will be very happy.

 

[K.I.]

Hopefully i will, this will be the first time i ever built something like this, also thanks for your help regarding the proccessor, you were right about it and the prices. The 2.66 will be great since its prce is reasonable and its overclocking capabilities will be excellent. (i will be getting the new DO stepping version). The other core i7 are insansely priced over here for no reason.

I have a dilemma regarding the Ram though maybe you can help me with it. I will be getting the 1333 ones since the person who i am buying from told me they are the most stable ones on the market for the i7 and the motherboard because the voltage is at 1.5. Now i keep hearing from people that the 1600 will be better and will be better for overclocking but are they really worth it? They are at 1.65V (which is the maximum voltage for the i7 processor,more than that will fry it) and also for me to achieve 3.5GHz overclocking for my processor the 1333 is more than enough so why get 1600 ones? You know anything about that issue Stefan?

 

[Ehsan]

1600 will give you extra headroom for overclocking, but in my opinion it's not worth the price against 1333.

If your target is 3.5GHz then 1333 is more than enough to give you a base rate of 175MHz (but it can't go much higher). Anything above that will depend on your motherboard as well which I haven't check, but anyway the gains in my opinion are negligible, and you'll only increase by around 5 FPS depending on the games. Stick with 1333 and save some money, and in any case avoid 1066.

 

[K.I.]

Yah thats what i though also and thats what i said in my post, thanks for the inpute Ehsan. My Motherboard is the Ex58 Gigabyte Extreme, also i know for a fact to achieve a stable 4.0Ghz you only need 1200 from your rams which means its pointless to ever overclock the ram or get a 1600.

 

[Stefan]

Unless you are going to overclock stick with the cheaper ram, you will gain very little performance from the more expensive ram.

 

[Nyall]

For laptop gaming is a ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 better than a Nvidia 9600M GT?
Is it worth spending $70 extra for a p8600 than a t6000?
Which one would you recommend: A 500 GB 5400 rpm or A 320 7200 rpm?

These three are the real queries I have before purchasing my new laptop and I would like some expert advice before buying.

 

[Ehsan]

For laptop gaming is a ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 better than a Nvidia 9600M GT?
Is it worth spending $70 extra for a p8600 than a t6000?
Which one would you recommend: A 500 GB 5400 rpm or A 320 7200 rpm?

These three are the real queries I have before purchasing my new laptop and I would like some expert advice before buying.

The 4650 is better.

Not sure, what's the T6000? I know the p8600 is really good.

7200 rpm for sure due to performance. 320 gigs will be enough for your games and applications. Get an external USB drive if you ever need more space for data or movies in the future, it's really cheap.

 

[Nyall]

I meant t6400

Also, Do you recommend spending $40 extra on DDR3 or simply staying with DDR2. I have no plans to over clock or anything.

 

[Ehsan]

The T6400 is slower, but it won't make much difference for games since your graphics is good. The benefit from P8600 you will get is less heat and longer battery life. You have to decide if that's worth 70 bucks.

 

[Nyall]

The T6400 is slower, but it won't make much difference for games since your graphics is good. The benefit from P8600 you will get is less heat and longer battery life. You have to decide if that's worth 70 bucks.

So I'll go for the t6400 and 4650 then...

I'm just no convinced on the DDr2 - Ddr3 thing and is the difference in speed really that vast between 7200 rpm and 5400 rpm?

Right now I have a 320 GB 7200 rpm hdd in my pc and I couldn't really tell the difference in speed between it and my 80 GB 5400 rpm hdd. Plus I really need the space as I already have like 150 GB worth of games to install and that's without counting huge games like GTA IV, Flight Simulator X, etc.

Would the slower HDD slow down my game play?

 

[K.I.]

A little, the differance isnt much between 320 and 500 GB... you can get an external as Ehsan said.

Speaking of which, can i buy Windows Vista online 64 bit ultimate as a download? IS there something like that available or will i have to buy a hard copy and wait for it to ship? Much easier for me if i download and get the license online...