PCFormat Forum Archive

Never heard of that brand before! Everyone has covered all the important points, so I'll just throw in my 2 cents. Manufacturers get gpus from Nvidia and AMD, and they just put on their own stickers and software bundles etc. They normally have that big box cooler on top, these are reference designs....

I've heard good things and bad things about Gigabyte and MSI. I haven't heard anything negative about Asus. That's just info through the grapevine that I remember. Sorry my statement was a bit bold:) Well since you're not too interested in overclocking I'd suggest getting the i5 2500. You can still ...

Dude I'll try get a good list together when I'm on my pc again, I can recommend things off the top of my head though coz I'm on my phone... Try stay away from PC Zone if you can... I'd get the GPU from them just check if its sealed before accepting it PSU : Coolermaster GS 700 is really good RAM. G ...

No I wouldn't know, why don't you check on google?

Not really hahaha. make that 9.55 on cpu:)

I just installed Cinebench 11.5 I scored 9.45 on cpu and 104.22 fps on opengl

Its not too embarassing! There's other people who have the same pc as you and you could be "competing" with them:) Have a look at all the benechmarks listed in this forum. Its basically 3D Mark 11, 3D Mark Vantage, Super Pi, x264... I have a link to my benchmarks in my sig. Thatll give you an indica...

I always suggest this cooler to guys who want the cheapest cooler that does the best job and I really did my homework when I came to buying my cooler. I suggest the Coolermaster Hyper 212+. Its a great cooler IMO and reviews were great and they're pretty popular, but there's a whole lot better, but ...

Aw dam I haven't used Cinebench in ages! I'll install it tomorrow. Which version are you using, and where's your score?

Uh I can't think of the bad brands, the bad brands normally don't have a name they're your generic PSU's that come in your generic ATX cases. There's so many brands that you could consider, Corsair, Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Gigabyte, Antec. I've heard bad stories about the Gigabyte Odin 585W but i...

Ya they come with the standard cooler, do you intend to OC? If so then the standard cooler isn't so great for that, but if not then you could save money by getting the normal 2500, not the K version...

I'd get the Asus anytime because of their quality over every other brand, and you get what you pay for. So the P8Z68 mobo would be good. 4GB ram is more than enough for gaming, however if you have any other plans for the computer then rather consider 8GB. G Skill ram is really good and its reasonabl...

What do you intend to use your pc for? The i7 has 8 threads and the i5 has 4 threads. So for gaming, the i5 is your best bet and if you're doing cpu intensive work then I'd rather go for the i7.
And I'd get the i5 over the Phenom anytime

I think the Bulldozers are gona be too expensive, but let's wait and see pricing. Otherwise I'd take the Phenom without a doubt. AMD always makes a better budget rig IMO in terms of bang for buck

Ahhh that makes sense:) one thing to take note of is you should measure how wide your case is, because some high performance coolers are pretty tall and they won't fit inside smaller cases. I'm pretty sure it will fit but just make sure:)

Wow no you should be worrying around 70-80 degrees. I'm guessing you have the stock cooler on there now, an aftermarket cooler can drop your temps by 15 degrees average... That Coolermaster Hyper 212 was going for around R300 last time I checked, they're really cheap but VERY effective. Where as the...

Its not necessary to get watercooling, an air cooler can do the same job much cheaper. But if you're really keen on watercooling you could get the closed loop type. The Corsair Hydro series are available at most online retailers, http://www.landmarkpc.co.za or http://www.prophecy.co.za are my favour...

Weird I didn't think a cpu bottleneck would cause screen tearing, coz my old cpu just caused my games to lag like an ordinary graphics lag. But lower graphics settings sorted that problem out quickly:)

I was running my my 6870 with a Pentium D haha and I was able to play Fallout NV but I had to keep the graphics settings low otherwise it lagged, I didn't encounter any screen tearing however...
Is it a usual screen tear?

You post your images onto a file hosting website like photobucket.com, and it gives you a image URL that you post and then your images will be loaded:)

It depends how often it happens, if it happens when your gpu is under stress then its just because its an ATI product and is a known issue regardless of V-sync. My card screen tears in a few games and obviously in Vantage its most apparent

it seems as though everyone has covered all the good gpus but ill throw in my opinion anyway... I'd get get Nvidia over ATI. That's leaves me with gtx560 570 and 580. The GTX580 is at the top, and in 3D Mark Vantage it scores 24848 on the GPU score Followed by the GTX 570 at 21569 And lastly the GTX...

Mine comes in at around 15K. I just want another gpu in xfire and I'll be finished. Maybe buy another 4gb ram one day, and little bits and bobs here and there but I'm happy where I'm at now. I could never spend 3k on ram, 5k on a screen and 3k on an SSD! Ouch!

Its downclocks your card, I thought all gpus did that anyway? The post about the psu delivering incorrect voltage to your gpu, hence your monitor? Your monitor has its own power supply and if you disconnect the gpu from the monitor, then the monitor gives you the no signal cable connected sign. I ha...

I'm afriad R2000 doesn't leave you with a big choice of mobo/cpu combo but you could get a good gpu with R2000. AMD is generally cheaper than Intel, so I'd go for an AMD cpu. AMD gpus tend to perform better with the AMD cpu, so I'd suggest getting something like a Radeon 5850