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Ollie

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Posts posted by Ollie

  3. Posted

    The specs are good, although the chipset isn't that new, these guys like it tho and it appears to perform well. How much did you pay for it?

     

    EDIT - Was just looking at the PC again, you do know that it doesn't have Windows pre installed don't you?

  4. Posted

    Ok, I will try and give a quick lesson to anyone who is interested in graphics cards. When looking at them there are a few things to take into account. A graphics card is like a small computer in itself, in that it has a processor and memory. Like computer processors graphics cards processors have various flavours. There are two main CPU producers (Intel and AMD) there are also two main chip producers for graphics cards, Nvidia and ATi. Like computers they sell their chips to manufacturers to make cards with them, so you might buy a Dell PC with an Intel processor, just like you can buy a card made by XFX with an Nvidia chip.

     

    Graphics cards have memory, like a computer, ranging from 32Mb to 1Gb. Unlike a computer, you can’t add more.

     

    If we think about computer processors, for this example take the Intel Pentium processor, it has evolved over the years, from the P1 up to the current P4. In the same way, graphics cards processors have evolved, for example, the chip used on an ATi 9600 (about 4/5 years old) is not as good as the processor on a current day ATi X1900, even though it is likely that you can buy both cards with the same amount of memory. The clock speeds on the chips will be very different.

     

    Also, memory has evolved, it comes in various shapes and sizes and where old GPU’s would have used SDRAM (old and slow by today’s standards) new cards use GDDR3 memory.

     

    There are other bits and pieces that I don’t understand all that well, which I am hoping someone like Jordan can fill you in with (things like Pipelines, Memory bandwidth’s/frequencies, OpenGL, DX, etc) but here is a quick example incase that lot wasn’t clear:

     

    These are the specs that I just found for the XFX 7900GT

     

    Clock rate - 470 MHz

    Chipset - 7900 GT

    Memory - 256 MB

    Bus Type - PCI-E

    Memory Type - DDR3

     

    It is an Nvidia card, the CPU speed is 470 MHz using the Nvidia processor the 7900GT. It has 256MB of DDR3 Memory.

     

    These are the specs for the Gainwood 6600 Ultra

     

    nVidia GeForce : 6600

    Clock rate : 300 MHz

    Memory : 128MB DDR

     

    Also an Nvidia card, it has a CPU speed of 300 Mhz and is using the Nvidia processor the 6600. It has 128MB of DDR memory.

     

    Hopefully you can see why one is better than the other, there is more to it, but this will get you by at the most basic level and hopefully allow you to choose a good graphics card.

  5. Posted

    Depends how much you want to spend mike. You can get something like the 7600GT for around £110 or the 7950 GX2 for around £450. Plus inbetween there are lots of models at varying prices.

     

    Those are the nVidia cards around right now, I'm a bit behind with ati however I think if you want an ati dont go lower than the x1600 series.

     

    EDIT - No, its old and you will have problems on wow, not to mention its a bottle neck by comparrison to the rest of the machine

     

    Have a look here at some graphics cards

  6. Posted

    Well my original reason for upgrading was because I needed data integrity for my final year at university, don't want to loose my final year project, so I wanted a motherboard that did RAID 1. However, I might as well get upto date at the same time so I have got a motherboard that is pretty future proof and I'm going to get a 64bit processor, I will probably run the Vista Beta 2 x64 that I have got, but I haven't decided yet.

     

    I already have an enermax psu, they are great, I think I'm going to get this one (my current psu isn't ATX ver 2.0 compatible).

  7. Posted

    I think I'll definately go with that mobo, seem's nice and future proof even tho it is quite expensive, my last one cost £45 but that is probably why 2 years later it's useless!

     

    Time to find a good PSU now, lol!

     

    EDIT:

     

    UPDATE - For those of you that are interested, I bought this board. It is different to the one I talked about before as it has the nForce 590 chipset instead of the 570, so it does x16 SLi should I ever want it, the other board only did x8 SLi. It also has some other little extras like wifi which I probably wont ever use!

  8. Posted

    My current system:

    Athlon 64 3800+ Newcastle (512kb cache)

    2GB DDR400 ram

    Asus A8V Motherboard (VIA chipset)

    X800 Pro O/C to XTPE

     

    If i was buying now? Hmmm.

    Athlon 64 X2 or FX AM2 (definatly)

    You have to buy DDR2 ram, DDR normal will not work.

    An ASUS board with an nForce chipset

    GeForce 7850 GX2 graphics card.

     

    I'm being vauge... because i have no idea. My 3800+ is a damn good machine, its been flawless since i bought it two years ago.

     

    Thanks everyone for your input, so would this meet your needs Jordan?

     

    This Mobo looks sweet as far as I'm concerned.

     

    This CPU however, I can't afford that, so maybe for the future, and for now this.

  10. Posted

    I have decided it is time to upgrade my PC to 64bit. I am going to use the case/hdd and optical drives that I already have but need a new mobo/cpu/ram and PSU. I might be able to use the ram I already have but that depends on the mobo and the hard drives I have at the mo are ATA so unless you can get adaptors I'll need a new HDD.

     

    My question is, can anyone recommend a good motherboard? I don't have loads of cash, this is the Processor I want to get, I need a future proof Mobo so that I can upgrade to dual core at a later date.

     

    If you have a 64bit mobo and think it's good, it would be nice if you could post a llink and give me your thoughts. Thanks!

  11. Posted

    I'm selling my electric guitar complete with amp, cables, spare strings, stand, strap, softcase, beginners books, box and everything.

     

    I am at work right now but I will add some pictures once I get home. It is an electric blue yamaha pacifica, lovely guitar, had it for about a year or so but only picked it up a dozen or so times, I just don't have the time to learn to play it. No scratch’s or stickers, like new infact.

     

    I am going to put it on eBay if I can't sell it here, but thought I would give you guys a look first.

     

    Shipping might be a problem as it is (when boxed) big and heavy, so you can either pick it up or I could arrange a courier, but I would expect it to be expensive (probably around £20-30) but I will find out and add that here too.

     

    I am aiming to sell it for £100, considering the condition and extras I think it is well worth it, as it cost nearly £300 new.

     

    I’ll be sad to see it go, but I’m sure someone here can give it a good home.

     

    You can see my eBay feedback here.

     

    EDIT - I have checked the postage and it will be roughly £15-20 using Parcel Force 2 day delivery. I am going to put it on eBay tonight so please hurry if you want it!

  12. Posted

    The thing with ipod's is that they have sold so many, you are going to get a few busted ones. Especially as I am sure a lot of people don't treat them with any sort of respect what so ever. I'm sure if Creative had sold as many they would have just as many faulty ones.

  17. Posted

    Well I looked at the camera that iPaul suggested and it looks very good. Seem's to get 5 stars in most places, plus its not only cheap on amazon but its £20 off atm as well!

     

    I have also been talking to a friend of mine at work today who has just bought a fuji digital SLR and said that is brilliant.

     

    So right now that is the camera I like the look of, but the Sony cyber shots seem to be very good too.....theres just so much choice! But like I said to mum, better that than no choice!

  19. Posted

    People have issues with iPods and iTunes because they are popular. Right now its cool to be 'uncool' or hate whats 'popular' etc. I have an iPod and it's great, does what it says on the tin. Same with iTunes, had mine over a year now and no problem at all, I'll buy another one too. Especially now that I have an ipod connector in my car.

  20. Posted

    An algamation of my first and second name first few letters.

     

    I have had my screen name for everything t'internet releated since I started using it, I think I was signing up for a yahoo email account and the name I had chosen was taken so they listed some that were free and this was one of them.

     

    I have thought about changing it for years bout don't know what to and it would take months telling everyone!

  21. Posted

    So I got some money for my Birthday on friday and I would like to buy a digital camera, I have done a lot of research myself but thought some of you might have cameras that you could recommend.

     

    My mum and my aunty both swear by the Canon Ixus range and I am quite tempted by the Ixus 750.

     

    I have a budget of roughly £200-300 but would like to get something a bit lower down in that range so that I can get extras like a 2nd battery/case/large SD card.

     

    I have also heard good things about the Nikon Coolpix 5900, however I think it has been around a while now.

     

    I think I have come to the conclusion that for that sort of money you can't really buy a 'bad' camera per-se, however it is important that I get one I am happy with as it isn't something I want to be upgrading in 6 months time.

     

    Thanks in advance for your help :awesome:

  22. Posted

    That's totally awesome, you did loads all in one day! Now that IS time management for you, nice little story too. I'm only sorry that I didn't read this post before as I wanted to say it is worth wondering out of Liecster square slighty to a shop called forbidden planet where they sell loads of great comic/game/japanese type models and toys and stuff, a bit pricey but worth a look even if you don't buy.

     

    I'm heading up to the smoke later this month with my girlfriend for my birthday, I think I'll take a leaf from your book and see some of the cool stuff. I usually just go to the arcade and Oxford street, the only shop in Oxford street worth visiting is the iPod store.

  24. Posted

    I got my DC not long after it came out. I got it with Sonic, sigh, those were the days. PSO is such an awesome game, the music and the graphics and the designs I loved it all, to me PSO is what defined the DC, I did just get it for the xbox 1 but its not the same offline. I can wait for phantasy star universe, that is the only game I am genuinely excited about this year!

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