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[statham]

two years ago, I bought a phenom 6 core computer from tigers direct, that has 6 gb mem, 2.9 speed + some turbo boost. I replaced the power supply and bought a 460gtx overclocked and then overclocked it again going by specs on the internet. for a total of $660 bucks. I never thought I could replace these on my own but I did. Everything I throw at it plays everything in high, except ultra on witcher 2. it struggles. It has never overheated, and graphics still amaze me. I'm hoping this is enough for diablo 3 and I think I could move up to 560GTX before I hit bottleneck. I'm sure you could get the same for under $500 now, but it amazed me with just changing 2 parts did for my system.

 

[AgentP]

There's a good chance it probably wont work the first time and then you'll panic and spend ages trying to figure out whats wrong before you notice you didn't connect one of the wires.

Then you can pay places to put everything together for $50. But I do it myself, other than screwing up the fancy heat-sink plastic clips, nothing normally goes wrong

$699 for that low end crap is pretty sad. I guess you pay for the name.

 

[j0hnny_385]

two years ago, I bought a phenom 6 core computer from tigers direct, that has 6 gb mem, 2.9 speed + some turbo boost. I replaced the power supply and bought a 460gtx overclocked and then overclocked it again going by specs on the internet. for a total of $660 bucks. I never thought I could replace these on my own but I did. Everything I throw at it plays everything in high, except ultra on witcher 2. it struggles. It has never overheated, and graphics still amaze me. I'm hoping this is enough for diablo 3 and I think I could move up to 560GTX before I hit bottleneck. I'm sure you could get the same for under $500 now, but it amazed me with just changing 2 parts did for my system.

similar thing happened to me with my Core 2 Duo E6600 (a best back in '07). OCed it from 2.4 to 3.2GHz, 8GB of RAM (max. possible on my P5B Deluxe motherboard) and replaced my 8800GT with 6950 2GB. Suffice to say that I played The Witcher 2 on High with no problems (and close to 60fps), currently enjoying Batman: AC on 60fps with almost everything maxed out... so yea, changing one crucial thing in your PC is sometimes all that it takes to make a huge leap (GPU in my case).

 

[specialguy]

Then you can pay places to put everything together for $50. But I do it myself, other than screwing up the fancy heat-sink plastic clips, nothing normally goes wrong

$699 for that low end crap is pretty sad. I guess you pay for the name.

LOl, even a decent video card by itself is $400, (GTX670) just only the video card. (most people in Kepler thread buying 2-3 690s for $1500-$3000)

 

[Kibbles]

So what's the deal with shipping with these things? My EDD is 5/29. I ordered 5/11 with 3-5 day shipping. Does it usually arrive earlier or is it actually going to take that long?

Also for Dolphin, is there a good, cheap wireless sensor bar? It seems like all the ones on amazon have shitty reviews. :S

 

[wazoo]

Interesting to think that this unit is basically spec wise what people were expecting from the steam box rumors.

 

[JB1981]

LOl, even a decent video card by itself is $400, (GTX670) just only the video card. (most people in Kepler thread buying 2-3 690s for $1500-$3000)

Yea but the GTX 555 isn't $400

 

[Ledsen]

So what's the deal with shipping with these things? My EDD is 5/29. I ordered 5/11 with 3-5 day shipping. Does it usually arrive earlier or is it actually going to take that long?

Also for Dolphin, is there a good, cheap wireless sensor bar? It seems like all the ones on amazon have shitty reviews. :S

Just start your Wii and use that sensor bar. It uses an amazingly low amount of power when idling.

I bought two horrible wireless sensor bars, threw them away and gave up.

 

[wazoo]

I love people caling GTX 670 a "decent" video card ...

 

[Ledsen]

I love people caling GTX 670 a "decent" video card ...

Dude, people on this forum buy 4xGTX690s and RAID 512 GB SSDs... a GTX670 is nothing.

 

[wazoo]

Dude, people on this forum buy 4xGTX690s and RAID 512 GB SSDs... a GTX670 is nothing.

those people have nothing to do in such a thread.

 

[Apocryphon]

LOl, even a decent video card by itself is $400, (GTX670) just only the video card. (most people in Kepler thread buying 2-3 690s for $1500-$3000)

GTX 555 is a cut-down OEM GTX 560. Those can be had from newegg for just over $160.

EDIT: got the price wrong.

 

[wazoo]

GTX 555 is a cheap card used by DELL to make margins based on the fact that people are lost in the denomination of all those cards (and that is also the fault of Nvidia as well). They probably do not pay it the price you pay on retail, partly because GTX 555 can not be bought alone anywhere outside of the X51 packaging.

All discussions here is based on the 7850, which should have been an option on DELL website, but of course less interesting for DELL wallet.

 

[theusedversion]

Will the X51 easily fit into a backpack?

I'm currently studying overseas and thinking about getting one of these when I go home this summer. Then I could just put it in my carry-on when I fly back.

 

[AEGISX]

Very attempted. But my laptop is almost as powerful

 

[Cmd. Pishad'aç]

"No true next gen consoles in the horizon"

No love for Wii U ??

Anyway, nice rig. I'm digging the case design.

 

[-viper-]

Dude, people on this forum buy 4xGTX690s and RAID 512 GB SSDs... a GTX670 is nothing.

Do these people not care about electricity bills?

And fucking hell at quadfire GTX690s.

One GTX 690 is £899 in the UK. The fuck?

For perspective, my current PC (i5 2500k, 8GB G.Skill DDR3, 1TB F3 HDD, MSI 6950 TFIII OC Edition, Asus P8P67 Pro and Fractal Design F3 Case) cost me in the region of £600-700. I brought this exactly last year.

I think I would rather wait a couple of years before upgrading my PC again. I'll most likely only upgrade the graphics card.

Like my graphics card, it only cost me £190. Fantastic bang for buck IMO. Can run any game 1080p at max settings. It will be like this until 'next generation' games come out I imagine. I know GTX560 Ti was a favourite last year, but what is currently considered the best 'bang for buck' graphics card?

 

[konstantine7]

I've never had a nice gaming PC and I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this. I can also get the $200 Dell ecard student promo, but it looks like I can only get the $699 model with it.

 

[Chittagong]

Will the X51 easily fit into a backpack?

I'm currently studying overseas and thinking about getting one of these when I go home this summer. Then I could just put it in my carry-on when I fly back.

It should fit carry on luggage just fine. It's a bit wide so a manlier backpack is a good choice. You can pack away the powerbrick anyway.

Very attempted. But my laptop is almost as powerful

Goddam, I think I need your laptop

 

[konstantine7]

Ok well I was able to get a rep to put the $200 ecard on the $899 model. I think I'm going to order it tomorrow.

 

[Kibbles]

Have you tried playing Battlefield 3 with FXAA or SMAA instead of the built in AA options? Still waiting on mine to even finish production, but I was wondering if I should go with SMAA or not because I've heard impressions range from it has little to no performance hit, the same as FXAA, or a big performance hit.

 

[JB1981]

Ok well I was able to get a rep to put the $200 ecard on the $899 model. I think I'm going to order it tomorrow.

What is an ecard and how did u get it ??

 

[AbsoluteZero]

So what's the deal with shipping with these things? My EDD is 5/29. I ordered 5/11 with 3-5 day shipping. Does it usually arrive earlier or is it actually going to take that long?

Also for Dolphin, is there a good, cheap wireless sensor bar? It seems like all the ones on amazon have shitty reviews. :S

I'd say buy a cheap wired bar and rig it up with a battery pack, but that may or may not be above your technical capabilities.

 

[Chittagong]

Figured I should post some Diablo 3 performance while I am early enough not to spoil anything. Unsurprisingly, game runs locked 60FPS with no dips at 1080P everything maxed out. Pretty sweet.


Diablo 3 - 1080P, all settings maxed out

 

[konstantine7]

What is an ecard and how did u get it ??

It's a student deal they have going on. I'd look it up for you but on mobile right now.

 

[thechristoph]

So have people been upgrading their video cards already? I saw some mention of different cards in the last couple pages. Is anyone maintaining a page out there that catalogs which newer cards work well with the system?

Is the PSU as gimpy as they make it out to be? I'm running all stock right now but maybe in a couple of months...

 

[JB1981]

So have people been upgrading their video cards already? I saw some mention of different cards in the last couple pages. Is anyone maintaining a page out there that catalogs which newer cards work well with the system?

Is the PSU as gimpy as they make it out to be? I'm running all stock right now but maybe in a couple of months...

Chittagong upgraded to the 7850 and I have seen other people on youtube upgrade to the 560ti successfully.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

I upgraded to a GTX 560 TI OC and it ran hot so I switched to a HD 7850 OC which runs very good.

 

[KHarvey16]

Power consumption

I have been measuring the power consumption of this box for a while, running benchmarks after benchmarks and noticed it peaks at 203W during Prime95 + Furmark being torture tested for 15 minutes, which leaves a lot of headroom in the 330W power adapter.

Prolonged gaming sessions with Battlefield 3 consumee 180W As a comparison, launch PS3 consumed 189W and launch Xbox 360 consumed 172W during gameplay.

Saw this was discussed a little earlier, but you actually have more headroom than you think! The 330W rating is what the supply can provide to the components, but the value you're measuring is the power being used by the supply itself. Assuming the PSU runs at 80% efficiency(just an estimate, some may be higher, most lower) you're actually only looking at 162W! At capacity, again assuming 80% efficiency, you'd draw a little over 400W from the wall.

PSU requirements have been overstated for a very long time now, but all in all if any component is going to be too beefy it may as well be the power supply.

 

[JB1981]

I'm reading that the wifi card is really weak. Anyone here use it that would care to comment ?

 

[xemumanic]

Any word about about how this machine performs running a GTX 670? If a 7850 OC runs ok (according to R dott B) ...........

I'm looking for a new HTPC machine, and I'd love to put in a 670. But then I've been thinking I might want to wait on an Ivy Bridge model. I could actually put the CPU to use for a number of reasons, so yes, I could use an i7, even if it doesn't help in games over an i5.

Any info you guys have would be appreciated.

 

[Kibbles]

I guess I'll just idle the Wii for now. Dell still says in Production for my computer though, ffffuuuu.

So I got my card in from newegg, did the packaging change since launch? Because my box came tall rather than wide, like the review photos and unboxings and such, and it didn't come with a HDMI cable (not that I need one, but it would've been nice to have). It is the 2GB Sapphire HD 7850 OC Edition - this one to be exact: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

 

[Chittagong]

I guess I'll just idle the Wii for now. Dell still says in Production for my computer though, ffffuuuu.

So I got my card in from newegg, did the packaging change since launch? Because my box came tall rather than wide, like the review photos and unboxings and such, and it didn't come with a HDMI cable (not that I need one, but it would've been nice to have). It is the 2GB Sapphire HD 7850 OC Edition - this one to be exact: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

How bizarre, my Sapphire HD 7850 looks totally different (below left). Going by the connector size, yours is shorter so should be an easier fit and better airflow:

EDIT - I'm an idiot. I actually have a 7870, hence the different look and bigger size.

 

[Mithos]

How bizarre, my Sapphire HD 7850 looks totally different (below left). Going by the connector size, yours is shorter so should be an easier fit and better airflow:

http://i.minus.com/i76B3Lc6MLIfT.jpg

Compare the card dimensions: 8.27" x 4.13" x 1.38" from the Newegg site, to yours, and we'll see exactly how much smaller it is.

 

[chrislowe]

I've noticed one of my favorite things being my xbox-controller for the PC (I saw you had one too)

Games that support gaming for windows live usually support this controller really good!.
It makes my pc feel even more like an xbox 720

 

[Chittagong]

Compare the card dimensions: 8.27" x 4.13" x 1.38" from the Newegg site, to yours, and we'll see exactly how much smaller it is.

You know what, this made me to do some googling to figure out why my card is so different, and the reason was...


... that I in fact have been running a 7870 for a month soon. Who knew!


Need to edit that OP.

 

[FrankT]

Alright I got a couple of questions as I'm looking at either getting one of these on the top end model or the Alienware laptop. About a 400 difference. What connections does this have for a TV? I want a gaming rig for diablo 3 so the i7 with stock card would perform how well with diablo 3? How in the world do you setup a mouse on the couch? I still kind of like the idea of the laptop.

 

[Ledsen]

You know what, this made me to do some googling to figure out why my card is so different, and the reason was...


... that I in fact have been running a 7870 for a month soon. Who knew!


Need to edit that OP.

But didn't you follow Youtube instructions for how to fit a (smaller) 7850 in there?

 

[Chittagong]

But didn't you follow Youtube instructions for how to fit a (smaller) 7850 in there?

As it turns out, the card Freshydeff had in his installation videos was a 7870 too:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FreshyDeff

Also, turns out that the TFLOPs figure I put into the topic header is correct after all!

 

[Chittagong]

Alright I got a couple of questions as I'm looking at either getting one of these on the top end model or the Alienware laptop. About a 400 difference. What connections does this have for a TV? I want a gaming rig for diablo 3 so the i7 with stock card would perform how well with diablo 3? How in the world do you setup a mouse on the couch? I still kind of like the idea of the laptop.

You can hook it up the X51 with HDMI. Diablo 3 is not very hungry at all, so I reckon you might be able to max it up, maybe with just med shadows and still be 60FPS at 1080P.

For mouse I recommend the G700. You can map skills 1-4, potion, inventory and skills all to the mouse, so you won't really need keyboard almost ever. I have a small side table next to my sofa where the mouse rests (here Apple mouse and Torchlight):

 

[raven777]

Alright I got a couple of questions as I'm looking at either getting one of these on the top end model or the Alienware laptop. About a 400 difference. What connections does this have for a TV? I want a gaming rig for diablo 3 so the i7 with stock card would perform how well with diablo 3? How in the world do you setup a mouse on the couch? I still kind of like the idea of the laptop.

I have x51 i7 model. I ran Diablo 3 at 1080p maximum setting(including shadows), it was around 65-70fps. When it was on heavy battle, it fell to about 50-55fps.

 

[FrankT]

Ok, thanks for the info.

 

[JB1981]

As it turns out, the card Freshydeff had in his installation videos was a 7870 too:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FreshyDeff

Also, turns out that the TFLOPs figure I put into the topic header is correct after all!

That looks completely ridiculous lol

 

[Apocryphon]

You can hook it up the X51 with HDMI. Diablo 3 is not very hungry at all, so I reckon you might be able to max it up, maybe with just med shadows and still be 60FPS at 1080P.

The 7970m is effectively a 7870 with 7850 clocks, but Notebookcheck lists the new M17x R4 running Ivy Bridge and a 7970m as getting 100fps in Diablo 3 when maxed out. CPU difference can't account for 40fps surely?

 

[Chittagong]

The 7970m is effectively a 7870 with 7850 clocks, but Notebookcheck lists the new M17x R4 running Ivy Bridge and a 7970m as getting 100fps in Diablo 3 when maxed out. CPU difference can't account for 40fps surely?

Right, I do use V-Sync to cap it to 60FPS, that might have been essential information

probably would go much higher since it never really drops. Also, I believe the M chips are much less powerful, right?

 

[Apocryphon]

Right, I do use V-Sync to cap it to 60FPS, that might have been essential information

probably would go much higher since it never really drops. Also, I believe the M chips are much less powerful, right?

That makes sense.

The mobility cards are less powerful than the notebook versions but the 7970m's performance seems to fall somewhere between the 7850 and the 7870 and has a 20%+ performance advantage over the 560 ti.

 

[RoyalFool]

Figured I should post some Diablo 3 performance while I am early enough not to spoil anything. Unsurprisingly, game runs locked 60FPS with no dips at 1080P everything maxed out. Pretty sweet.

I want to pick up one of these machines just for Diablo, which spec have you got?

 

[ShinobiFist]

Thanks for this thread, I'm getting one of this badboys. Last PC I build was in 2004 for HL2...I'm not looking into getting a tower, those days are done for me. I need something simple and slick. The main reason I'm getting this(besides for gaming on my TV) is music production and DJ'ing....Anyone here mess with any audio software on this? Rocking Native Instruments software for the Maschine and Traktor.

 

[Chittagong]

I want to pick up one of these machines just for Diablo, which spec have you got?

Even the cheapest one (i3, GTX 545) should be just fine for Diablo 3. I got the i5 / GTX 555 / 8GB unit and swapped in a Sapphire HD 7870 2GB video card since I will play games like Max Payne 3 too.

 

[RoyalFool]

Even the cheapest one (i3, GTX 545) should be just fine for Diablo 3. I got the i5 / GTX 555 / 8GB unit and swapped in a Sapphire HD 7870 2GB video card since I will play games like Max Payne 3 too.

Ah ok, did you try it with the stock graphics card? I'm curious as to how much of a boost the 7870 makes! (I'll be getting the i5 just for that higher watt PSU, should come in handy in the long run).