Your Guide to a Magic PC - Guide in First Post [2012/03/05]

[Psykoboy2]

This'll be my first nVidia card. I've always been ATI, but I want to try nVidia out.

Also, just an observation, but I NEVER see ATI booths at PAX or E3. Plenty of nVidia sections though.

[LiquidRain]

nVidia's marketing and developer relations have always been stronger.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by LiquidRain

nVidia's developer relations have always been stronger.

I heard that exact statement from a PC developer. They are VERY supportive to game developers on PC. Even to the point of sending their tech guys to the studios to help with the development process with their tech.

This is something that apparently ATI doesn't do. Or at least doesn't do often.

[Xerxes]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

I heard that exact statement from a PC developer. They are VERY supportive to game developers on PC. Even to the point of sending their tech guys to the studios to help with the development process with their tech.

This is something that apparently ATI doesn't do. Or at least doesn't do often.

You know I went to event here in Houston back when they first merged. They were pumping up they're stuff but for the most part weren't really the life of the party. It was standing room only, even for the presentation and most of the kiosks didn't really have much in the way of people working the crowd. They got booklets in your hands coming in and a little gift back on the way out.

Now that you mention it, they don't even do commercials like Intel does. Is their marketing department broke?

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

I feel like I'm pretty damn dumb when it comes to PCs. I feel that way, not sure if I am, but I totally second guess myself on everything concerning builds and parts.

For instance, I was *this* close to pulling the trigger on a new GPU - the GTX 690 - and then I started looking at the size of the card and other aspects and got a bit nervous.

You probably aren't dumb; Just cautious. I know that's how I am when I get that urge. Having to pick between the small percentages of price/performance. I still find assembly the hard party. I imagine I look like I'm disarming a bomb when putting things together. Although the beads of sweat is probably from Houston weather conditions.

[J Arcane]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

I heard that exact statement from a PC developer. They are VERY supportive to game developers on PC. Even to the point of sending their tech guys to the studios to help with the development process with their tech.

This is something that apparently ATI doesn't do. Or at least doesn't do often.

They used to, back before they merged.

It's been a long time though.

[Slack3r78]

Originally Posted by LordDon

Windows 7 really really hates it when you throw a new CPU, motherboard, and videocard at an existing install.

W7 actually handles that better than any previous NT. I went from an Nvidia based AMD board and Nvidia card to and Intel/Intel/Radeon rig without having to reinstall.

[Xerxes]

Originally Posted by Slack3r78

W7 actually handles that better than any previous NT. I went from an Nvidia based AMD board and Nvidia card to and Intel/Intel/Radeon rig without having to reinstall.

But wouldn't you feel better with a re-install.

[Bone]

I always try the repair install first. Reinstalls drivers and most critical files, leaves programs and data in place. But I haven't tried it with W7.

[Zecon]

My brother has offered to buy me a new pc to play gw2 with him.
Any recommendations? I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1050547
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[National Kato]

I see in both Liquid's OP and the Tech Report article that the recommended amount of memory to have is 8GB. It's been a while since I built a PC, but I always thought that more memory was better and since memory prices are so low, you should pack as much as you can.

What, if any, are the pros/cons to 8GB over say 16GB? Is 16GB overkill?

[Psykoboy2]

There was a rig at PAX that had 8x8GB sticks for a total of 64 gigs of RAM. That was overkill. If the price of 16GB of RAM were through the roof, then people might call it overkill, but with RAM as cheap as it is, I don't see it that way.

It's affordable planning.

[Shjinta]

Originally Posted by National Kato

I see in both Liquid's OP and the Tech Report article that the recommended amount of memory to have is 8GB. It's been a while since I built a PC, but I always thought that more memory was better and since memory prices are so low, you should pack as much as you can.

What, if any, are the pros/cons to 8GB over say 16GB? Is 16GB overkill?

I got 16GB of Ram in my box. I'm pretty sure you're more than fine with 8GB assuming you don't do a lot of RAM intensive stuff

[National Kato]

Okay, cool. Just didn't know where it might be one of those things like the difference between the i5 and i7 chipsets, where I wouldn't see the benefits of the extra RAM for gaming above 8GB. Nice to know I still understand some of the aspects of a PC build.

[Shjinta]

Originally Posted by National Kato

Okay, cool. Just didn't know where it might be one of those things like the difference between the i5 and i7 chipsets, where I wouldn't see the benefits of the extra RAM for gaming above 8GB. Nice to know I still understand some of the aspects of a PC build.

I just had a lot of income at the time and wanted to overkill it :P

[resikel]

If you want overkill, get a chipset/board that support 64GB, then make a ram disk setup, then run your games from there.

[National Kato]

I'm going to buy a rig from iBuyPower, so likely it'll be overpowered in some respect. It's so easy to click and upgrade!

[Doogie2K]

I'm still kind of surprised no one's expressed much shock that Scott's seriously considering buying a $1,000 video card. I mean, $500-$600 is still kind of nutso for a 680 4 GB, but at least it sounds like a thing I'd have considered doing once upon a time.

To each their own, man, but $1,000? Jesus.

[Slack3r78]

Originally Posted by Doogie2K

I'm still kind of surprised no one's expressed much shock that Scott's seriously considering buying a $1,000 video card. I mean, $500-$600 is still kind of nutso for a 680 4 GB, but at least it sounds like a thing I'd have considered doing once upon a time.

To each their own, man, but $1,000? Jesus.

lol, wat?

Seriously though, unless you're trying to drive a multihead or super high res setup, there's no need. A $250-300 card will run anything out there just fine at 1080p. If anything comes out 2 years down the road that needs more power, there will be new $250-300 cards that run it fine. I've never understood why people buy extreme high end cards.

[LiquidRain]

The extra 8GB simply won't get used* unless you're doing heavy Photoshop work. (or something similar)

* don't get pedantic on me, people who know about how memory subsystems work.

edit: that said it won't hurt.

[National Kato]

That's what I assumed, Liquid. I've always used the 'file cabinet/desktop' analogy with regards to HDD space and memory. Having more memory never hurts as it allows for more things to be running simultaneously, and at some point in the future it'll be needed.