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Haydz

Haydz

Haydz

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Joined
14 Jan 2009
Posts
679
Location
Manchester
Okay, been sat with my current build situation for about a year now, which can be found in my sig.

I eventually added an MX518 and a mouse mat (big change from wood), which I found pleasing, although being tethered to a wire can somehow irritate me with the mouse (I guess time will heal this).

So after working all summer and getting a small reward for the exam results I achieved for my GCSE's I'm considering adding some upgrades to my system, I've come up with a few items and would like to know whether they're good choices etc.

Current Basket:
PowerColor ATI Radeon 5830 - Currently sat on a very bare 9400GT card, which gives me an amazingly poor Windows Experience Index of about 1.0, it also has a tendancy to get extremely hot when doing, pretty much nothing, it's also not recognized by any hardware related applications. I do have a preference to AMD/ATi, don't ask why because i'm not quite sure myself, and with the 5xxx series using the latest DirectX, I am assuming this would be a future proof choice, these cards are also energy efficient and don't get too hot (so I'm told). I'm far from a hardcore gamer (which I why i've lasted so long on the 9400), just the few 2d/light 3d games. So any guidance here would be nice.

Plantronics GameCom 367 - I've currently got a headset which I use very frequently with ventrilo, it was some cheap thing I picked up at the local PC store, and is very painful on the ears, therefore a headset purchase is a must, the reviews of this product appear to be absolutely phenomenal, so I'm confident with this choice, correct me if I'm wrong.

Verbatim DVD-R 16 50 Spindle x2 - Well these are irrelevant to the thread really.

I also require a USB flash drive for college but, not too keen on the current selection, they don't really appeal greatly, above 4GB is overkill, I managed to choose the DataTraveler Generation 3, which is satisfactory so im okay here.

Now I have a question for the majority with the following;
OCuK Value 1mtr HDMI Male - Male Cable(CDLHD-301)
I have chosen these because I require a hdmi cable for my xbox as the original one has come victim to wear and tear, and needs replacing, also the new GFX purchase supports native HDMI, which I much prefer to use than using the standard analogue or DVI input, but the real question here is, how much difference is the quality between the higher priced cables? I understand they are made from different materials but, will I notice any real difference?

I am currently on a Stock cooler, with my overclocked CPU @ 3.4 ghz, the temperature's seem to peak at 65 degrees, I haven't really ran many benchmarking tests as I'm not sure when I would need to use that much cpu, is the reward from going aftermarket cooler and potentially overclocking an extra 0.2 ghz worth it?

That's pretty much it, Brings my total to £178.79. Now I would appreciate any assurances/recommendations to my product choices if at all possible, sorry for waffling on completely I'm far from the hardware expert so I must rely on you experienced folk.
Going off the spec in my sig, if there's anything you can recommend to improve my computing experience, please do recommend. I have a budget of around £300, however not fussed about spending all of it, I would like to have some pennies left over :).
 
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Im sure the ATI 5830 will serve you well, you didn't mention what resolution you will be using but the card is quite capable of playing all the new games at decent quality.

Regards the oveclock, I wouldn't bother really it doesn't make much difference unless you are CPU limited in something. Although an aftermarket cooler could be quieter.
 
Apologies, in my excitement to push the post button, I forgot about resolution :D

I'm using my TV as my monitor, which sits at a comfortable 32", It's nice for the combination of browsing/watching films, plus it serves my xbox and love for bbc three.

Windows 7 recommends me to be using 1360x768.

I have noticed that the majority of the noise comes from the cpu fan, could be nice to hush that up a bit :)
 
Redmint said:
If you're desperate to go with ATI then that card isn't too bad, however this one is cheapest and faster despite having a bit less RAM:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-139-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1830

Apart from that I don't have too much to say on your choices. :)
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I'm curious as to how that is "faster", having compared the specs the ATI card seems to have higher numbers on the majority of specs. Apologies if this is a stupid question but I've always thought Bigger is Better.

Hoping to whack the buy button fairly soon so I can get it delivered tomorrow :)
 
You can't really compare core clocks etc with Nvidia and ATI cards as they use completely different designs. It's a bit like the fact that an i5 at 2.66GHz will beat a Phenom II at 3.2GHz in most applications.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_460_Cyclone_OC_768_MB/31.html Performance summary of the 2 cards at different resolutions, It might only be 8% or so ahead in a lot of tests, but considering they're basically the same price & similar power consumption I'd go with the 460.
 
On the higher priced cables, there is next to no difference what so ever. It made a difference back in the day of analogue signals, but not with digital signals. The only real difference that you will get is more shielding (which most people don't need) and a thicker harder to bend cable, which just makes it awkward to keep tidy.

Also the 460 does appear to be much better at that price range, the 768mb is very good, but iirc the 1024mb model has faster memory aswell, and is only £10 more than your listed 5830. Id say definatly worth it.
 
Phage said:
EDIT: from the link above the 5850 is 15% higher than a 460, and 25% over the 5830. Uses less power and runs cooler as well.
Click to expand...

I'm running an ATI card atm so I'm not exactly biased, just trying to give him the best option without changing his budget.

Also the price difference is more than 15%. ;)

Power consumption wise the 460 is pretty much on level terms with the 5850.
 
well not quite £20 if you get the 1gb 460 is it?

EDIT: I stand corrected the 460's have come down a bit in price I think since last time I looked.

I would buy the cheapest 1gb 5770
 
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