Just a small addendum to my Alienware articles. I wanted to note that the GeForce card that came in my system (which I specifically upgraded to when speccing it out) - the GeForce 590 GTX - was noted as having 3 DVI and 1 HDMI outputs. This is incorrect for the card I received, as it came with 3 DVI and 1 mini-Display port outputs.
Also, since I did not have any DVI cables, I had to run out and buy an adapter for my HDMI cable. As a warning to others, this is a Bad Idea. Oh, it works. You get a nice picture and can use your existing HDMI cable. But, the communication between the adapter and the cable gets interrupted every once in a while to the tune of a black screen for between two and ten seconds. Irritating if you are reading or watching something, devastating if you are playing a game. I finally sprung for a new DP cable to stop it. (After getting killed ins everal different games because of the black screen.)
Just something to be aware of.
Showing posts with label PC hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PC hardware. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
My Alienware Experience - Part 4
Well, it's been two weeks now, and I am still using my Alienware Aurora R3 PC, and I still love it. I've had the chance to really give it a workout in some new, high end graphical games, and it really shines. It also works great for the day to day computing that I do.
Let me start out by saying that if you are like me and research the crap out of major purchases before you commit, then you will have read all of the internet horror stories about Alienware. They ship broken, or they don't work right, or you have to spend two months working with support to get the right stuff, etc. Of course we all realize that the Internet is 90% bitchfest, and only 10% praise. People don't come online to tell you how great a purchase they just made, but they sure do come on to complain when something goes wrong. So you may be a tad bit anxious about purchasing a computer that even has it's own sucks.com site. I say "don't be."
My Alienware shipped on-time - actually, a couple of days early. It was working flawlessly when I set it up. (Yes, I had to install all of my software and update some drivers, but hey, that's life with a PC. If you don't like that, you shouldn't be using a PC.) It has performed with excellence in all tasks that I have shoved at it, and I have yet to have occasion to complain.
As far as performance goes, let's talk briefly about two modern games: Brink and Rift. I ran Fraps during both of these games for extended periods to make sure that I was getting decent performance for my money. I chose these games because they are both newer releases, and because they both push the graphics card to work hard. In fact, these two games are the only games that I played recently that actually caused the graphics card fan to spin up to a faster level.
During multiplayer, 16 person Brink sessions, the fps (Frames per Second) never dipped below 38. They averaged out at 44. This is with all of the graphics options turned up as high as they will go and at a resolution of 1920x1200. The game looks nice, and it played smoothly, with no detectable hitching. I will note, however, that Brink is a really new release, and that it still has its share of graphical bugs. I expect that as the game is further optimized, I will see an increase in fps.
Rift is a newer MMORPG game that really has spectacular graphics. Of course, in order to enjoy those graphics, you need a PC capable of showing them to you in an acceptable framerate. I ran Rift at a resolution of 1920x1200, on the Ultra setting at first, and I was getting an average of 62 fps. But then I noticed that the "ultra" setting left quite a few graphics sliders turned down. How ultra is ultra if it isn't actually ULTRA? So, I went ahead and turned all of the sliders up to the max. Go big or go home, right? When walking around solo and questing, I averaged around 45 fps. In groups doing dungeon runs, my fps dropped just a tiny bit to average around 42. And the real test, giant raid sized outdoor events where rifts are opening and spilling out hordes of monsters and 100+ players are all on the screen at once battling those monsters. During these chaotic events, the Aurora R3 still averaged 28 fps, with a low of 24fps. Even with that many things happening onscreen at the same time, the gameplay was smooth and I never noticed any detectable graphical hitching. My old system hitched during World of Warcraft raids with as few as 20 players present, and it wasn't out of date or under-powered. it just wasn't as top notch as the new Alienware.
So, I am going to end my series of articles on the new Alienware Aurora R3 with a positive rating for the system and a few notes. The only thing even slightly bad I can say about it is that when playing Rift and Brink the GeForce 590 GTX card's fan kicks up the speed quite a bit, and the exhaust sound is quite loud. It actually makes me turn up my speakers a bit. Of course, my system sits level with my desk and about a foot away from my monitor, so moving it might make the noise a non-issue. (Or liquid cooling it, like the CPU.) The only time the system ever crashed was the first day that Brink was released. The open GL interface between the game and the graphics card locked it up tight. Other than that, it has run flawlessly. The lighting system looks great, and is fun to set up with different color schemes for each game or flashing lights when you receive an email. So far, my Alienware experience has been very positive, and I would definitely recommend them to others who want a custom gaming PC, but don't have the time to build and support it themselves.
Let me start out by saying that if you are like me and research the crap out of major purchases before you commit, then you will have read all of the internet horror stories about Alienware. They ship broken, or they don't work right, or you have to spend two months working with support to get the right stuff, etc. Of course we all realize that the Internet is 90% bitchfest, and only 10% praise. People don't come online to tell you how great a purchase they just made, but they sure do come on to complain when something goes wrong. So you may be a tad bit anxious about purchasing a computer that even has it's own sucks.com site. I say "don't be."
My Alienware shipped on-time - actually, a couple of days early. It was working flawlessly when I set it up. (Yes, I had to install all of my software and update some drivers, but hey, that's life with a PC. If you don't like that, you shouldn't be using a PC.) It has performed with excellence in all tasks that I have shoved at it, and I have yet to have occasion to complain.
As far as performance goes, let's talk briefly about two modern games: Brink and Rift. I ran Fraps during both of these games for extended periods to make sure that I was getting decent performance for my money. I chose these games because they are both newer releases, and because they both push the graphics card to work hard. In fact, these two games are the only games that I played recently that actually caused the graphics card fan to spin up to a faster level.
During multiplayer, 16 person Brink sessions, the fps (Frames per Second) never dipped below 38. They averaged out at 44. This is with all of the graphics options turned up as high as they will go and at a resolution of 1920x1200. The game looks nice, and it played smoothly, with no detectable hitching. I will note, however, that Brink is a really new release, and that it still has its share of graphical bugs. I expect that as the game is further optimized, I will see an increase in fps.
Rift is a newer MMORPG game that really has spectacular graphics. Of course, in order to enjoy those graphics, you need a PC capable of showing them to you in an acceptable framerate. I ran Rift at a resolution of 1920x1200, on the Ultra setting at first, and I was getting an average of 62 fps. But then I noticed that the "ultra" setting left quite a few graphics sliders turned down. How ultra is ultra if it isn't actually ULTRA? So, I went ahead and turned all of the sliders up to the max. Go big or go home, right? When walking around solo and questing, I averaged around 45 fps. In groups doing dungeon runs, my fps dropped just a tiny bit to average around 42. And the real test, giant raid sized outdoor events where rifts are opening and spilling out hordes of monsters and 100+ players are all on the screen at once battling those monsters. During these chaotic events, the Aurora R3 still averaged 28 fps, with a low of 24fps. Even with that many things happening onscreen at the same time, the gameplay was smooth and I never noticed any detectable graphical hitching. My old system hitched during World of Warcraft raids with as few as 20 players present, and it wasn't out of date or under-powered. it just wasn't as top notch as the new Alienware.
So, I am going to end my series of articles on the new Alienware Aurora R3 with a positive rating for the system and a few notes. The only thing even slightly bad I can say about it is that when playing Rift and Brink the GeForce 590 GTX card's fan kicks up the speed quite a bit, and the exhaust sound is quite loud. It actually makes me turn up my speakers a bit. Of course, my system sits level with my desk and about a foot away from my monitor, so moving it might make the noise a non-issue. (Or liquid cooling it, like the CPU.) The only time the system ever crashed was the first day that Brink was released. The open GL interface between the game and the graphics card locked it up tight. Other than that, it has run flawlessly. The lighting system looks great, and is fun to set up with different color schemes for each game or flashing lights when you receive an email. So far, my Alienware experience has been very positive, and I would definitely recommend them to others who want a custom gaming PC, but don't have the time to build and support it themselves.
Monday, May 9, 2011
My Alienware Experience - Part 3
So, I've had my new Alienware Aurora R3 for a whole weekend now. I wish I could say that I played the crap out of some games, but the reality is that I spent a good deal of time transferring data from my old PC, loading in programs that I use, loading drivers, and just generally setting things up. I did get to play for a decent amount of time, just not enough to form a solid opinion yet.
My impression so far is that it is a fast system, and it has been very stable. It's fairly quiet. There's always the low humming of a fan, but it's not very noticeable until the GeForce 590 gets hot, and then it can be fairly loud. I play with surround sound speakers on, however, so it's not really an issue except in very quiet moments, and really the only time I have heard the 590 heat up at all is in GTA IV. It has yet to kick in the fan on Fallout: NV, Borderlands, WoW, or COD: Black Ops. We'll see tomorrow whether or not Brink heats it up.
I really like the case and the lighting, but I wish there were more USB ports. That's not Alienware's issue though, as even if they had 50 I would want more. Mouse, keyboard, printer, back up external hard drive, UPS, XBox controller, hey, where did all my rear ports go?
I'll keep pushing it this week and we'll see how it fairs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm a pessimist, however, so the fact that it worked right out of the box means it has already surpassed my expectations.
My impression so far is that it is a fast system, and it has been very stable. It's fairly quiet. There's always the low humming of a fan, but it's not very noticeable until the GeForce 590 gets hot, and then it can be fairly loud. I play with surround sound speakers on, however, so it's not really an issue except in very quiet moments, and really the only time I have heard the 590 heat up at all is in GTA IV. It has yet to kick in the fan on Fallout: NV, Borderlands, WoW, or COD: Black Ops. We'll see tomorrow whether or not Brink heats it up.
I really like the case and the lighting, but I wish there were more USB ports. That's not Alienware's issue though, as even if they had 50 I would want more. Mouse, keyboard, printer, back up external hard drive, UPS, XBox controller, hey, where did all my rear ports go?
I'll keep pushing it this week and we'll see how it fairs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm a pessimist, however, so the fact that it worked right out of the box means it has already surpassed my expectations.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Alienware - Pictures
Man, that's some cool packaging. I can't help but wonder how much they could shave off the cost by using generic boxes, though.
Inside the Alienware Aurora R3. I like the little alien head on the liquid CPU cooling block.
All hooked up to my 27" Dell Ultrasharp. Notice the lack of bloatware on the desktop.
Alienware - Grand Theft Auto IV
This is a game I picked up a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale on Steam. I was bored, it was cheap, I figured what the hell, at the worst I'll get a few hours of enjoyment out of it while I am waiting for other games to release.
Yeah, I really should have checked into it before buying it.
GTA4 runs like crap on the PC. No matter what settings I chose, the game jerked so bad when I was driving that it literally made me dizzy. I gave up after an hour of trying to fix it because I was about to throw up. It turns out, lots of people have complained about how bad this runs on the PC.
Well, tonight I thought I would try it out again on the new Alienware and see if it was any better.
Holy. Shit.
I can actually play this game now. It looks good, it is completely smooth, and the graphic settings are turned all the way up. Color me impressed. As long as this system doesn't crap out on me during the magic money-back window, I'm sold.
Yeah, I really should have checked into it before buying it.
GTA4 runs like crap on the PC. No matter what settings I chose, the game jerked so bad when I was driving that it literally made me dizzy. I gave up after an hour of trying to fix it because I was about to throw up. It turns out, lots of people have complained about how bad this runs on the PC.
Well, tonight I thought I would try it out again on the new Alienware and see if it was any better.
Holy. Shit.
I can actually play this game now. It looks good, it is completely smooth, and the graphic settings are turned all the way up. Color me impressed. As long as this system doesn't crap out on me during the magic money-back window, I'm sold.
Alienware - Fallout New Vegas
Had a chance to put Fallout New Vegas through its paces with my new Alienware Aurora R3. All I can say is wow. My last PC was no slouch, but the thing that always killed New Vegas for me was the load times between areas, and the jerky frame rate that occurred for the first 20 or 30 seconds you were in a new area.
The Aurora gets rid of that. The longest load time I have experienced was about three seconds. Most areas transition so fast now that I don't even see the load screen pop up. There's no jerkiness as the textures load in a new area, and the animations on things like fire are much smoother. The lighting effects seem to stand out a bit better as well.
So far I'm impressed. Hopefully this Alienware will perform just as well in my other games. (Especially Brink!)
The Aurora gets rid of that. The longest load time I have experienced was about three seconds. Most areas transition so fast now that I don't even see the load screen pop up. There's no jerkiness as the textures load in a new area, and the animations on things like fire are much smoother. The lighting effects seem to stand out a bit better as well.
So far I'm impressed. Hopefully this Alienware will perform just as well in my other games. (Especially Brink!)
My Alienware Experience - Part 2
Let's start off with the good:
I have a lot more programs to install on the new system, but hopefully I will be able to take a break and put it through its paces in some games. Then we'll see what it can really do.
- My PC shipped 2 business days early. That means I got it on Friday, May 6th instead of Tuesday, May 10th. Nice. Time to set up before Brink releases.
- The system looks amazing. Ah. Maze. Ing!
- Install was very clean for a pre-built. No bloatware at all.
- The system shipped with a GeForce 590 GTX card with 3 DVI connections and 1 mini-Display Port connection. Alienware sent me a mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter. I have an HDMI cable with a mini on one end and a full size on the other that I have been using for years. I have no DVI cables left. I have a full size Display Port cable. This means that I had to run out and get an adapter for $25 just to be able to turn the thing on. Grrr. Small oversight on their part, but giant pain in my ass.
- The system shipped with NVidia drivers installed that don't support the GeForce 590 GTX card. The card laughed at me when I tried to play World of Warcraft.
- The pre-installed version of WoW is still Wrath of the Lich King. Great. Good thing I have all my stuff on a hard drive in my old PC that is separate from the OS drive. Just popped that out and plugged it into my Alienware. (Which worked flawlessly.)
- The Dell monitor that came with the system: Ugh. I guess I am spoiled by my 27" Dell Ultrasharp, but this new monitor is washed out looking and just not anywhere near as nice. I had hoped to use it as a second display (I mean, what the hell, I got the graphics power to burn now) but I think I may just end up selling it.
I have a lot more programs to install on the new system, but hopefully I will be able to take a break and put it through its paces in some games. Then we'll see what it can really do.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Alienware Aurora R3 specs
| Description | ||
 | ||
| Alienware Aurora-R3 | ||
| Intel Core i7-2600 (8MB Cache) Overclocked Turbo Boost to 3.9GHz | ||
| 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz | ||
| Alienware MM Keyboard, US | ||
| Dell 23 Inch Wide ST2320L | ||
| Single Nvidia GTX 590 | ||
| 1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache | ||
| Matte Stealth Black Alienware Aurora w/ 875W Multi-GPU Approved PSU | ||
| PC-Restore, Dim/Insp | ||
| DataSafe Local BackUp | ||
| Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English | ||
| Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup | ||
| Accessory Kit, Aurora 3, Eng | ||
| Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100 | ||
| AlienFX Color Astral Aqua | ||
| ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE | ||
| Single Drive: Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVD+/-RW, CD-RW) | ||
| NERO 9, ANW | ||
| 1 | Power DVD 9.6, 3D | |
| Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium | ||
| Automatic Updates: On | ||
| Alienhead Glow | ||
| Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Extended Year | ||
| Dell Hardware Limited Warranty, Initial Year | ||
| Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year Extended | ||
| Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year | ||
| 2 Year Limited Warranty | ||
| Accidental Damage Service, 2 Years | ||
| Warranty Support, 1 Year Extended | ||
| Warranty Support, Initial Year | ||
| Soft Contracts Consumer Accidental Damage Agreement for Alienware | ||
| Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware | ||
| Software, DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB | ||
| To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online | ||
| DataSafe Online 2.0 2GB | ||
| Steam and Portal Factory Installed | ||
| World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition | ||
| Alienhead 3D | ||
| Thank you for choosing Dell | ||
| Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling | ||
Thursday, April 28, 2011
My Alienware Experience - Part 1
So, I recently came to the conclusion that I need to buy a pre-built computer. The PC that I have been rebuilding over and over since the year 2000 is giving me major issues with just about everything that you can think of. I solve one issue only to be vexed by another. Hey, no problem, right? I used to work in tech support, I should be able to fix these things.
Yeah, no problem. Except that now I have a little girl, a wife, a dog, and a cat who all want some sort of attention at least once a day. I also attend college full time. I also practice the drums for a couple of hours a day. So, when I sit down at my PC, I want to check Facebook and then jump right into a game. (Or, you know, do my homework/ term paper/ online courses) I don't have the extra time I used to have to figure out why the hell my PC is freaking out again.
So, with all that in mind, I started looking at pre-built PCs capable of doing high end gaming stuff as well as my papers. Alienware has been around for a long time, and I was aware of them, but I was also aware that they are expensive. So, believe me when I say I did my homework. I looked at every custom gaming PC shop online. I looked up parts prices to make sure I knew what things should cost compared to what I was being charged.
In the end, I came back to Alienware.
There were a few reasons for my choice. First, they are owned by Dell. This is a big one, as I have dealt with Dell professionally for close to a decade through different jobs. I know what kind of tech support I can expect from them, and I know how to work them to get what I want. This is the biggest reason for me to buy a pre-built. I want someone else to work out the issue while I move on to something else. Dell can connect remotely and solve issues, and my coverage will let them send someone to work on it if they have to, or replace the whole thing if need be. Hell, I even have coverage for accidental spills and drops.
Secondly, was price. I know, I know, all the Internet ragers claim Alienware is ridiculously overpriced and horrible. The fact is, when you look at what you get for what you pay, they are about the cheapest custom gaming PC you can get, bar Cyberpower PC and their ilk. This is true even after looking at local shops. It helps that I got a huge discount for being a student as well.
For a little over $2000 US, I got a PC with CPU liquid cooling, an Intel i7 Sandy Bridge clocked at 3.9 GHz, 8 Gigs of DDR3 RAM, a Geforce 590 card, 1 Tb HDD, 875W PSU, Blu Ray drive, and a custom case. Because of my student status, I also got access to a package (which they pulled the day after I ordered) that included free 2 year warranty status (which I upgraded to advanced for $30), a 23" Dell HD monitor, and a free $100 Alienware headset. (TactX) I also had a coupon for $50 off, so I used it to upgrade to overnight shipping.
All in all, I am theoretically happy with my purchase. When it ships next week (The PC, I already have the headset) I will start my evaluation period and decide if it is really worth it.
Yeah, no problem. Except that now I have a little girl, a wife, a dog, and a cat who all want some sort of attention at least once a day. I also attend college full time. I also practice the drums for a couple of hours a day. So, when I sit down at my PC, I want to check Facebook and then jump right into a game. (Or, you know, do my homework/ term paper/ online courses) I don't have the extra time I used to have to figure out why the hell my PC is freaking out again.
So, with all that in mind, I started looking at pre-built PCs capable of doing high end gaming stuff as well as my papers. Alienware has been around for a long time, and I was aware of them, but I was also aware that they are expensive. So, believe me when I say I did my homework. I looked at every custom gaming PC shop online. I looked up parts prices to make sure I knew what things should cost compared to what I was being charged.
In the end, I came back to Alienware.
There were a few reasons for my choice. First, they are owned by Dell. This is a big one, as I have dealt with Dell professionally for close to a decade through different jobs. I know what kind of tech support I can expect from them, and I know how to work them to get what I want. This is the biggest reason for me to buy a pre-built. I want someone else to work out the issue while I move on to something else. Dell can connect remotely and solve issues, and my coverage will let them send someone to work on it if they have to, or replace the whole thing if need be. Hell, I even have coverage for accidental spills and drops.
Secondly, was price. I know, I know, all the Internet ragers claim Alienware is ridiculously overpriced and horrible. The fact is, when you look at what you get for what you pay, they are about the cheapest custom gaming PC you can get, bar Cyberpower PC and their ilk. This is true even after looking at local shops. It helps that I got a huge discount for being a student as well.
For a little over $2000 US, I got a PC with CPU liquid cooling, an Intel i7 Sandy Bridge clocked at 3.9 GHz, 8 Gigs of DDR3 RAM, a Geforce 590 card, 1 Tb HDD, 875W PSU, Blu Ray drive, and a custom case. Because of my student status, I also got access to a package (which they pulled the day after I ordered) that included free 2 year warranty status (which I upgraded to advanced for $30), a 23" Dell HD monitor, and a free $100 Alienware headset. (TactX) I also had a coupon for $50 off, so I used it to upgrade to overnight shipping.
All in all, I am theoretically happy with my purchase. When it ships next week (The PC, I already have the headset) I will start my evaluation period and decide if it is really worth it.
Friday, August 8, 2008
New Graphics Card - XFX GeForce 260 GTX 896MB
My new GeForce 260 GTX card came in today.NOTE: Asus Crosshair motherboard owners: This card will NOT fit into PCI-E slot 1. There is a capacitor near the back of the motherboard that sticks out just enough to catch the plastic cover over the second DVI output. Pushing will probably ruin your motherboard. You could always risk bending the capacitor down or sideways, but it wasn't worth the risk to me.
I ended up sticking this in PCI-E slot number 2. It is also NOT a good fit. If you have USB cables plugged in, you will need to bend the wires down out of the way, you will also need to bend the Asus quick connect thingy down as well, and the bottom two SATA slots are covered by the top of the card.
When people say this card is huge, they are not joking. If you have a small case, forget it. My card sticks in to the bottom hard drive bay of my Raidmax Smilodon case. If I didn't have my SATA drive in a cooler in one of the 5.25 slots above, this card would not have even fit in my case. My Killer NIC will not fit into the PCI slot above the card. This means I am going to have to go without until I can get a PCI-E soundcard, as now only one PCI slot is available to me. If I could have waited for the next gen, I would have, this thing is just too big.
On the positive side, Assassin's Creed runs smooth as butter with all the graphics turned all the way up. Ditto for COD4 and Frontlines. I am going to try out Crysis again later. And, oh yeah, I can play games again. That's always good.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB video card - Overheating?
It seems I'm having some issues with my video card.
At first, I thought it was dead. I was playing Frontlines: Fuel of War, and my PC had a weird graphics glitch, then locked up. I rebooted and was able to play for another hour before it did the same thing. When I rebooted again, Windows showed up in 640x480 and 4bit color. (Pretty much illegible.)
I tried a bunch of trouble shooting, but all signs pointed to the video card being the culprit. So, I ordered a new XFX Geforce 260 card.
Of course, now my video card seems to be OK, so I'm guessing it overheated. Unfortunately, my PC is already well ventilated, and the cooling is pretty much top notch without going to water. My guess is that it's just going to keep happening until I replace the card anyway.
UPDATE: Of course it wasn't working. 2D works, but as soon as I attempt to use ANY 3D program *BAM!* the screen goes all funky and then the PC locks up moments later. And when I reboot after trying a 3D program, even my BIOS screen is all messed up. Doh!
Oh well, my new card should be here tomorrow.
At first, I thought it was dead. I was playing Frontlines: Fuel of War, and my PC had a weird graphics glitch, then locked up. I rebooted and was able to play for another hour before it did the same thing. When I rebooted again, Windows showed up in 640x480 and 4bit color. (Pretty much illegible.)
I tried a bunch of trouble shooting, but all signs pointed to the video card being the culprit. So, I ordered a new XFX Geforce 260 card.
Of course, now my video card seems to be OK, so I'm guessing it overheated. Unfortunately, my PC is already well ventilated, and the cooling is pretty much top notch without going to water. My guess is that it's just going to keep happening until I replace the card anyway.
UPDATE: Of course it wasn't working. 2D works, but as soon as I attempt to use ANY 3D program *BAM!* the screen goes all funky and then the PC locks up moments later. And when I reboot after trying a 3D program, even my BIOS screen is all messed up. Doh!
Oh well, my new card should be here tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Dell making WoW themed laptops
STORY
Very cool. However, a PhysX card for WoW? Why? It will do nothing but add weight, heat, and power consumption.
Very cool. However, a PhysX card for WoW? Why? It will do nothing but add weight, heat, and power consumption.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM - Part Two
My new motherboard - Asus's excellent Crosshair - came in today. I hooked it up, wiped my hard drive, and installed Vista 64. Then I plopped in my new sticks of RAM, and it booted flawlessly. I'm now gaming in 64-bit with 4GB of RAM. Yay!
Seems like it was entirely the MSI motherboard that was keeping my from using the extra 2 sticks of RAM. That's OK, though. MSI wiped themselves off my hardware approval list, and Asus is back on. (Had some issues almost a decade ago with their motherboards and cards.)
Seems like it was entirely the MSI motherboard that was keeping my from using the extra 2 sticks of RAM. That's OK, though. MSI wiped themselves off my hardware approval list, and Asus is back on. (Had some issues almost a decade ago with their motherboards and cards.)
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Vista 64 and 4GB of RAM
So, here's my latest quandary in dealing with PCs: I bought another 2GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM to install in my PC. When it arrived, I installed it and tried to boot up the PC. No dice. The BIOS sees it just fine, but Vista 32 Home Premium was not booting. In fact, as soon as the post completes, the screen goes black, and that's all she wrote. Tried to boot Vista in safe mode, it hangs at crccheck loading. Every time.
No problem, I thought. I want Vista 64 anyway. So, I ordered the 64-bit version of Home Premium from MS. It arrived yesterday.
After a gruelling install (Thanks so much for that, Microshaft...) I ran in to the exact. Same. F**king. Issue.
Now, I have done my research, and it seems quite a few people have this issue as well, and people with other motherboards are having similar issues.
I have tried installing the MS patch KB9297777 with no luck. I tried backing down the RAM timings from 4-4-4-12.
I scoured the web today, and tonight I am going to try a few remaining options before I go ballistic. In the BIOS, I am going to attempt to change the RAM voltage to 2.2. (It's already upped to 2.1 per manufacturers specs.) Then I'm going to make sure it's running at 667Mhz as opposed to its 800 rating. (A memory limitation of current chipsets, apparently, is that they can't run 4 sticks at the rated speed.)
I will, of course, post the results here, in the hopes that if I can fix this, I can help others who are having this very irritating issue.
System Specs:
MSI K9N SLI Platinum motherboard (NVidia 570 SLI)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM (4 x 1GB)
EVGA 8800GTS 640 MB
X-FI ExtremeMusic
BFG PhysX card
Killer NIC M1
Hiper 580W PSU
UPDATE:
Nothing has worked. I even tried removing everything from the system but the CPU, RAM, and HDD, but nothing will cause Vista 64 to boot while there are 4 sticks of RAM on this motherboard. I'm sorry folks, I have no fix for this.
Instead, I gave up and ordered an ASUS Crosshair 590 SLI motherboard. Lots of people have great luck with 4GB of RAM and this board, so I am hoping I do too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131593
No problem, I thought. I want Vista 64 anyway. So, I ordered the 64-bit version of Home Premium from MS. It arrived yesterday.
After a gruelling install (Thanks so much for that, Microshaft...) I ran in to the exact. Same. F**king. Issue.
Now, I have done my research, and it seems quite a few people have this issue as well, and people with other motherboards are having similar issues.
I have tried installing the MS patch KB9297777 with no luck. I tried backing down the RAM timings from 4-4-4-12.
I scoured the web today, and tonight I am going to try a few remaining options before I go ballistic. In the BIOS, I am going to attempt to change the RAM voltage to 2.2. (It's already upped to 2.1 per manufacturers specs.) Then I'm going to make sure it's running at 667Mhz as opposed to its 800 rating. (A memory limitation of current chipsets, apparently, is that they can't run 4 sticks at the rated speed.)
I will, of course, post the results here, in the hopes that if I can fix this, I can help others who are having this very irritating issue.
System Specs:
MSI K9N SLI Platinum motherboard (NVidia 570 SLI)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200
4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM (4 x 1GB)
EVGA 8800GTS 640 MB
X-FI ExtremeMusic
BFG PhysX card
Killer NIC M1
Hiper 580W PSU
UPDATE:
Nothing has worked. I even tried removing everything from the system but the CPU, RAM, and HDD, but nothing will cause Vista 64 to boot while there are 4 sticks of RAM on this motherboard. I'm sorry folks, I have no fix for this.
Instead, I gave up and ordered an ASUS Crosshair 590 SLI motherboard. Lots of people have great luck with 4GB of RAM and this board, so I am hoping I do too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131593
Friday, November 23, 2007
Newegg reviews
I thought these were screened before they were posted. I guess not. Here's a helpful review I found posted under the new AMD 9500 Phenom processor.
Well, that certainly tells me a lot about the Phenom...
shes nice
Reviewed By: joe write on 11/22/2007
Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day
- Pros: your mom is cute. i would rate her at 2.4mhz with a FBS of 2000.
- Cons: she didnt like it when i just got up and left after we where done.
- Other Thoughts: dont make ninjas mad. they are scary people and have mad sillz. tell your sister i said hi.
Well, that certainly tells me a lot about the Phenom...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Corsair Memory
I was a naughty little monkey tonight.
For most men, this might mean that they made out with the secretary at work, or paid a hooker for some oral action.
For me, it means I spent money I shouldn't have on computer parts.
You see, the game Crysis came out yesterday. I've been waiting for a couple of years for this game, as it was made by the guys who made one of my all time favorite shooters, Far Cry. It looks fan-f**king-tastic. The downside is that you need to travel to the future and bring back PCs from 2010 to get it to run smooth at the very high graphic setting.
My PC runs it just fine in Medium, with a couple of settings turned up to high.
I don't want to run it with a couple of settings turned to high. I want to be high. Period. (I know, get the stoner jokes out of the way...) So, I am snapping up anything that might net me more power.
2 more GBs of DDR2 RAM should help out. Then I will have 4GB total. Of course, general 32-bit Windows weirdness will only be able to use about 3.2GB of that, but that ties in with my plan to order the 64-bit version of Vista when I get home. (It only costs $10 if you already own the 32-bit version)
Any anyway, there's a $40 rebate, bringing the price of this RAM to $52. I wish it cost that little when I bought the original 2GBs earlier this year for over $200.
Now, if the price of that Athlon 64 X2 6400 processor would just drop by another $50...
For most men, this might mean that they made out with the secretary at work, or paid a hooker for some oral action.
For me, it means I spent money I shouldn't have on computer parts.
You see, the game Crysis came out yesterday. I've been waiting for a couple of years for this game, as it was made by the guys who made one of my all time favorite shooters, Far Cry. It looks fan-f**king-tastic. The downside is that you need to travel to the future and bring back PCs from 2010 to get it to run smooth at the very high graphic setting.
My PC runs it just fine in Medium, with a couple of settings turned up to high.
I don't want to run it with a couple of settings turned to high. I want to be high. Period. (I know, get the stoner jokes out of the way...) So, I am snapping up anything that might net me more power.
2 more GBs of DDR2 RAM should help out. Then I will have 4GB total. Of course, general 32-bit Windows weirdness will only be able to use about 3.2GB of that, but that ties in with my plan to order the 64-bit version of Vista when I get home. (It only costs $10 if you already own the 32-bit version)
Any anyway, there's a $40 rebate, bringing the price of this RAM to $52. I wish it cost that little when I bought the original 2GBs earlier this year for over $200.
Now, if the price of that Athlon 64 X2 6400 processor would just drop by another $50...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
SSD - Solid State Drive
I was excited today when I received an email from Alienware stating that they now have a laptop equipped with the new Solid State Drive.
For those who are unaware, this is basically the future of the Hard Disk Drive. Instead of using the old platters that spin at high speeds while being read, the SSD uses technology similar to what USB data drives (keychain drives) use. This is good, since it consumes a lot less power, and is a lot less likely to fail. (No moving parts to break down over time.) It's also quite a bit faster.
I had read about these a while ago, and was keeping track of the progress for a bit, and then I forgot about it. Until the email. Of course, I just bought a laptop from Dell, and I'm certainly not going to pay Alienware the premium they charge just for their name, but I figured I could head to Newegg.com and check to see if they had any.
And by God, they do have some SSDs!
FOR OVER $400 A PIECE! And we're talking 16 GB IDE drives for that price. Uh...I think I will pass for now, thanks. I guess I'll be waiting until the prices come way down on these before purchasing one, considering that for $400 I can buy almost a TB of storage with a SATA interface.
Oh well, the concept is still cool.
For those who are unaware, this is basically the future of the Hard Disk Drive. Instead of using the old platters that spin at high speeds while being read, the SSD uses technology similar to what USB data drives (keychain drives) use. This is good, since it consumes a lot less power, and is a lot less likely to fail. (No moving parts to break down over time.) It's also quite a bit faster.
I had read about these a while ago, and was keeping track of the progress for a bit, and then I forgot about it. Until the email. Of course, I just bought a laptop from Dell, and I'm certainly not going to pay Alienware the premium they charge just for their name, but I figured I could head to Newegg.com and check to see if they had any.
And by God, they do have some SSDs!
FOR OVER $400 A PIECE! And we're talking 16 GB IDE drives for that price. Uh...I think I will pass for now, thanks. I guess I'll be waiting until the prices come way down on these before purchasing one, considering that for $400 I can buy almost a TB of storage with a SATA interface.
Oh well, the concept is still cool.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Received: Dell 1720 Laptop
DHL dropped this puppy off for me this afternoon. I've been configuring it for a couple of hours now. (Taking off Dell bloatware, installing my programs.) Of course, the first thing the laptop did was bluescreen while setting up Vista, so I'm not entirely confident that it's going to live up to my expectations.
In about a month, I will be writing up a review for MMORPG.com.Thursday, September 6, 2007
Newegg reviews - Cooling solution edition
It never ceases to amaze me how stupid 90% of the people writing reviews of products at Newegg.com are.
For instance: Lately my PC has been driving me insane with this crazy rattling noise. After a little investigation, it appears to be the stock AMD cooling solution. The fan is clipped to a frame that is clipped to the heatsink, and it's just loose enough to vibrate when the PC is on, thus making a horrible racket.
So I went to Newegg and looked for a cheap replacement cooling solution. I found a decent Thermaltake fan/heatsink for around 20 bucks. It's a 20 dollar cooling solution, so any rational mind would realize that it's not meant to do much more than replace a stock cooling solution, or serve as a cooling solution for an OEM processor that came without a cooling solution.
Of course, the people writing reviews at Newegg don't seem to care about being rational. I read complaints that it didn't cool as well as Zalman cooling solutions 6x its price range, that it wasn't good for overclocking, and that it wasn't totally silent. People, it's a 20 dollar cooling solution. If you want those things, you're going to need to pony up the cash for them.
I have a feeling I'm going to be totally satisfied, because I know what I'm buying. All I need is a cooler that doesn't rattle. This heatsink/fan combo has rubberized washers to prevent fan vibration. That's all I want.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drop 20 bucks on a video card from 1999 and complain that it won't run Bioshock.
For instance: Lately my PC has been driving me insane with this crazy rattling noise. After a little investigation, it appears to be the stock AMD cooling solution. The fan is clipped to a frame that is clipped to the heatsink, and it's just loose enough to vibrate when the PC is on, thus making a horrible racket.
So I went to Newegg and looked for a cheap replacement cooling solution. I found a decent Thermaltake fan/heatsink for around 20 bucks. It's a 20 dollar cooling solution, so any rational mind would realize that it's not meant to do much more than replace a stock cooling solution, or serve as a cooling solution for an OEM processor that came without a cooling solution.
Of course, the people writing reviews at Newegg don't seem to care about being rational. I read complaints that it didn't cool as well as Zalman cooling solutions 6x its price range, that it wasn't good for overclocking, and that it wasn't totally silent. People, it's a 20 dollar cooling solution. If you want those things, you're going to need to pony up the cash for them.
I have a feeling I'm going to be totally satisfied, because I know what I'm buying. All I need is a cooler that doesn't rattle. This heatsink/fan combo has rubberized washers to prevent fan vibration. That's all I want.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drop 20 bucks on a video card from 1999 and complain that it won't run Bioshock.
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