The online racing simulator
Quote from Migz :
1000watts!! sweet!!

What kinda tweaks would these be? And are there any disadvantages? I.e speakers setting fire to themselves?



Its simple to do, there's settings on there which can be accessed from the main control unit, one of which is "boost". Turning this up to the max, along with other settings can help you get to 1000watts. There's no risk of the speakers setting fire to themselves (funny image ) neither is there a risk of them blowing. I remember reading a thread on the logitech forums about the Z5500's, and logitech said that the Z5500's components can take upto 1100w until getting damaged, so they only let you get to 1000w as a safety barrier. In reality terms, you wont need to use the 1000watts all the time. The only time i ever use it is when we have party's. My GF also mess's with it to and turns it upto 1000watts without let me knowing, so i turn it on and deafen my self . The thing that really impressed me with these though was that even with the bass turned to max, and the volume to max, you cannot get these to distort! The only thing i would reccomend though, is replacing the wires with platinum plated ones. The ones that come with it are still really good, but platinum ones, while being expensive, give even crisper sound.
#52 - Migz
yeah it'd be quite funny, wud be funny if they set on fire and nobody was to notice hah, beat your girlfriend!! how dare she! So bassicly yu just turn all the dials straight to as high as they go?
Quote from Migz :yeah it'd be quite funny, wud be funny if they set on fire and nobody was to notice hah, beat your girlfriend!! how dare she! So bassicly yu just turn all the dials straight to as high as they go?

Not all of them. If you turned treble/mid/high AND bass to max, then it would sound crap. Its best to have treble at the center, mid at about 3/4, high at full and bass at full. Theres other settings to mess about with as well, some of which you can find in the actual software.
Quote from Migz :i hope its not decent, i hope its kickass
The ammount of money im spending i could get me a supercomputer.

With that rig, you would be able to play all the newer games on the highest or high settings

DirectX 9 Games should all run on the highest (there may be a couple of exceptions) and DX10 should run on medium to high settings (Even the best computers can struggle with DX10 on highest setting IMHO).
#55 - Migz
Quote from Nathan_French_14 :Not all of them. If you turned treble/mid/high AND bass to max, then it would sound crap. Its best to have treble at the center, mid at about 3/4, high at full and bass at full. Theres other settings to mess about with as well, some of which you can find in the actual software.

Ooooh. Well the standard wattage is pretty loud anyway, my house shakes with my current ones and theyre only like 300-400 lol

Quote from mclarenmatt :With that rig, you would be able to play all the newer games on the highest or high settings

DirectX 9 Games should all run on the highest (there may be a couple of exceptions) and DX10 should run on medium to high settings (Even the best computers can struggle with DX10 on highest setting IMHO).

Ooooh! thats what ive always wanted!! this will be the first time i can play games in full res xdxd whooot!!!
Quote from Jakg :Don't bother - an XtremeMusic will sound the same.

That build looks ok (ish), although i'd definately put a quad core.

Does xtrememusic have hardware acceleration in games? I know one or two of them dont, its probably the xtremeaudio though. I cant seem to find an x-fi comparison chart.

This though I think is excellent value

The internal bay is very handy for me because I am always switching between headphones and speakers. The remote too because I use my computer as a media centre.
#57 - Jakg
XtremeAudio = Rebranded Audigy, no HW acceleration.
XtremeGamer - HW Acceleration, un-moddable.
XtremeMusic - HW Acceleration, same HW wise as a Pro, Fatality etc. Modable.
Quote from Jakg :XtremeAudio = Rebranded Audigy, no HW acceleration.
XtremeGamer - HW Acceleration, un-moddable.
XtremeMusic - HW Acceleration, same HW wise as a Pro, Fatality etc. Modable.

Yea the fatality has the xram, which is pointless.
#59 - Jakg
XtremeMusic has the xRAM too, but I think it's disabled.
Quote from Jakg :
Skulltrail Mobo = £300.
2x QX9775's = £600.
2x GTX280's = £400.

May I ask where you find those THAT cheap?

Here in Finland, Skulltrail mobo alone is 550 euros, 9775's over 1000 euros piece and 280's 550 euros.. That's around 3500 euros just for components you listed there.

Checking UK prices..
280 400-500£
9775 ~970£
Skulltrail mobo ~400£

So mobo 400£ + 2x cpu 1940£ + 2x 280 800-1000£ = that's 3140-3340 pounds!


Maybe you run some very own black market there?
#61 - Jakg
Those prices were off the top of my head, so maybe I was wrong...
#62 - Kaw
Jakg owns that computer shizzle, y0!
#63 - mr_x
Quote from Jakg :The only part of that I would recommend is the OS - a 9800GX2 on a 350w PSU? a £4 Keyboard? A printer? An ASROCK board on a £1k PC?!

Luke, seriously do NOT post in tech stuff until you know what your on about.

Personally I wouldn't recommend buying a socket 775 motherboard with an AM2 processor from Luke.S's list to go along with what Jack just said
#64 - Jakg
Personally I wouldn't recommend listening to Luke.S on anything technical tbh
Reading bit more earlier posts..
Just for side info, I run QX9650@4GHz, highly overclocked 9800GX2, 2GB highly overclocked ram, 4 HDD's (one of them is RaptorX), dvd-drive, high-end watercooling, few case fans, three usb devices.

Max power consumption I have seen so far under heavy load is 460W. At stock this idles near 200W and under load bit over 320W.
Just info to let ppl know, you don't need those 1000W psu's until you go for extreme overclocking (liquid nitrogen etc). But when you choose PSU, leave cheap brands out..
They can seriously kill your system. For example you get 500W PSU for 5$, wow whatta deal!!! In real it might not even handle 400W and goes kaboom taking your whole system with it.
QUALITY matters like Jakg has said many times
#66 - Jakg
Wow. How on earth you keep your PC quiet without managing to brag i'll never know :P
#67 - mr_x
Quote from (FIN)Eza :Reading bit more earlier posts..
Just for side info, I run QX9650@4GHz, highly overclocked 9800GX2, 2GB highly overclocked ram, 4 HDD's (one of them is RaptorX), dvd-drive, high-end watercooling, few case fans, three usb devices.

Max power consumption I have seen so far under heavy load is 460W. At stock this idles near 200W and under load bit over 320W.
Just info to let ppl know, you don't need those 1000W psu's until you go for extreme overclocking (liquid nitrogen etc). But when you choose PSU, leave cheap brands out..
They can seriously kill your system. For example you get 500W PSU for 5$, wow whatta deal!!! In real it might not even handle 400W and goes kaboom taking your whole system with it.
QUALITY matters like Jakg has said many times

Did you get the 2nd radiator attached yet? and a new case?
Quote from Jakg :Wow. How on earth you keep your PC quiet without managing to brag i'll never know :P

Skilllzz

Quote from mr_x :Did you get the 2nd radiator attached yet? and a new case?

All here, going with old case.. more modding
Problem with those powersupply ratings is that some manufacturer's come up with the numbers based on tests that do not apply in real life such as running it on 20'C temperature or measuring maximum output power based on when it breaks down.

Example:
"DiscountChina Purepower 600W" has been rated to handle up to 600W in 20'C temperature. Now put it inside a computer case where temps are usually ~40'C and see if it still can reach 600W output before blowing up. Actual performance is close to 350W powersupply.

Now, let's bring out "Geekfest K6 600W" powersupply. It's twice as expensive but it's been tested and proven to handle it's maximum capacity for long period and components are rated for much higher ampers to give enough safe margin. Considering that PSU usually lasts with you for a very long time, going for something durable is obviously better choise.

Disclaimer: brands are from top of my head as I haven't paid attention to what are the good brands at the moment.
#70 - Jakg
Quote from Crommi :Problem with those powersupply ratings is that some manufacturer's come up with the numbers based on tests that do not apply in real life such as running it on 20'C temperature or measuring maximum output power based on when it breaks down.

...whereas reputable PSU manufacturers (Corsair, Tagan, PCP&C, OCZ, Corsair etc) don't...

Take the 450w Corsair PSU - under tests it's taken up to 580w of load and still run at 85% effeciency, without damaging any parts or catching fire. Compare that to Custom PC's review of a cheap 500w PSU that, when it got near 500w actually caught fire, makes a good argument for an "investment" in a good PSU.
Always forgetting something.. :doh:

Migz, we just had convo about this same topic on our team forum and you and your dad might find help by reading our thread too

PC buying guide-thread :munching_
Quote from (FIN)Eza :Always forgetting something.. :doh:

Migz, we just had convo about this same topic on our team forum and you and your dad might find help by reading our thread too

PC buying guide-thread :munching_

Is the link correct? I can't reach the site.
#73 - Migz
Turns out the computer my dad was going to originally get was acctually only £700 but that was ONLY for the tower, no speakers or screen.

And it was also going to be payed monthly, not all in one sum, meaning he wont be able to buy the whole computer at once
Meaning im going to have to ask everybody for money for my birthday and buy the computer part by part.

But what ill do is wait a month for the newer graphics cards and either use my current computer or just move the extremely shiz graphics card to the new one.
Buy a 24" screen later and just use my shit" screen for now.
And buy the new speakers later as well.

But ive built up a list that without the graphics card,screen or speakers is about £300-400

So i'd like you to all go through it and find any faults with the pices i.e bits not fitting other bits ect.
And could you also rate this system out of 10. 0 being the worst and 10 being top of the range.
So i can show my dad how good it is for its price.

Parts List:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/113971 - Motherboard - £93.59
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429 - Ram - £55.13
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159 - PSU - £29.59
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142925 - Processor - £82.08
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134798 - Case - £18.71
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128879 - Sound Card - £63.28
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141471 - Hard Drive - £40.02
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123052 - Vista - £59.82

Total Price = £442.22

Thats the main tower, only thing missing is the graphics card which ill buy at a later time.
And a dvd/cd drive which could one of you possibly help me find one? Seeing as all the ones i see on ebuyer are all extremely pants.
Id like one thats quite fast, does everything (cd,dvd, +RW, screw bluray) and can do lightscribe discs?

Thats pretty much the system =] Just need the graphics card, and then a few mods for the case and thats it.

So yeah help me find the cd/dvd drive. Rate it out of 10. And tell me if ive missed anything out

Thank you.
For graphics card I would recommend looking into Radeon HD4850 or HD4870 as they seem to be offering a damn decent performance for the price.
As you are getting 4GB of Memory, you should get 64Bit Vista as 32Bit can only use about 3GB of Memory and 64Bit is the future IMHO.

Also you could get a "Black Edition" CPU (eg 2.8GHZ or 3.0GHZ as the price is slightly more) which has an unlocked multiplier - which makes for very easy overclocking when you need some more juice.

You would need a better fan though

Edit:// I agree with Crommi - The new ATI Radeon 4xxx Series does seem very competitive with Performance vs Price.

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG