Hardware Revolution - Latest Comments

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Theradiantchild — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:51:28 -0000

DO ATi drivers still suck? I've never had much luck with them.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Mark L — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:07:25 -0000

If I wanted to do RAID 0 with 2 of the SandDisk 120GB SSDs and the Tier 3 motherboard, do I need a dedicated RAID controller or does the mobo support that? Or should I pick a different mobo?

Re: The Best Video Cards For Your Money: February 2012

Tovud — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:28:16 -0000

is the radeon 7850 better than gtx 560 ti?

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Joe Guy — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:46:50 -0000

Just curious, http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GTX... <-- What do you think of that card?

I picked it up recently at $249 ($30 rebate on $279). The price is up to 299 again but it should come down a bit again soon.

I admit I don't know much about cards but the Adrenaline Crysis 2 Benchmark clocked 49.1 FPS on Ultra, 1920x1080, DX11 and the high resolution pack.

I thought it was the best deal at that price point, those 448 cores rock.

Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Re: The Best CPUs For Your Money: May 2012

ZJ — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:31:51 -0000

The Amazon.com link to the Intel core i7 3770k actually goes to the i7 3770, not the 3770k. There is a difference you know.

Re: The Best CPUs For Your Money: May 2012

MathieuB — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:04:24 -0000

Actually, the 7970 and 680 will have no problem with PCI-Express 3.0 8x-8x.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Michael Nørgaard — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:59:01 -0000

Yes, if you update the BIOS to version L2.03. You will find it here:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/beta....

"Supports Intel's 3rd Generation CPU.
To support Intel's 3rd Generation (Ivy Bridge) CPU, corresponding BIOS and drivers update are required."

Re: The Best Video Cards For Your Money: February 2012

Michael_suffredini — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:01:47 -0000

I was looking at the GTX 560 and 570s but i don't want to bottleneck the card. what would be better or could I even get a higher end card?

system:
intel core i3 - 550 3.2 GHZ
6 gb ram
750 W antec power supply

Re: The Best CPUs For Your Money: May 2012

PwnBroker — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:12:06 -0000

yes but it would have its downside, higher cost on the platform for one and the fact that that the gtx680 was never supposed to be pcie 3.0 compatible on the x79/2011 platforms. whether nvidia updates the drivers for 3.0 on those platforms we will have to wait.

you could also just upgrade the ivy bridge platform to a board like ECS with pcie bridge to increase those lanes to 32 like the NF200 chip was to SB. then you could argue at what point in time will game code actually start using all that band width.

Re: Entry-Level Workstations v2.0: Low-Noise, Reliability and Performance at a Low Cost

Rico Palma — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:58:11 -0000

Hi!

Please if you have time kindly update this post to your most recent recommendation.. Thanks a lot, I would like to read your most recent recommendation for this level of workstation.

Re: How to choose RAM: Part 1 – Understanding RAM terms

Anonimo Anonimo — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:53:40 -0000

I don't know if you where just trying to be funny with the "someone freaked out with the 666" because that was not the reason why it's 667 and not 666. Pretty much all speeds in the computer world since the 'ye olde days' are divisions of round numbers, but having a 1666.(insert infinite number of 6's here) mhz cpu, for example, is highly impractical so the number is rounded to the closest number that drops the dot which is 1667. Of couse sometimes there may be marketing reasons but 667 is right by the math and 666 is not.

Re: The secrets of choosing the right Motherboard

khalyl Townsend — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:14:53 -0000

So Im planning on building a computer, but I have no clue what platform chipsets are. Anybody want to help me understand this?

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Roflcopter572 — Sat, 05 May 2012 08:57:00 -0000

Does the ASrock pro3 gen3 natively support that 3rd gen core i5?

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Michael Nørgaard — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:04:47 -0000

Hi Mathieu. Thanks for another thorough article. Can you suggest an alternative, at the same price level for BIOSTAR TZ77XE3 since this motherboard, for inscrutable reasons, is not yet being sold in Europe.

I'm thinking ASRock Z77 Pro4, ASUS P8Z77-V LX or MSI Z77A-G43?

Re: Budget Gaming PCs v3.4: Now with speakers, headphones, earphones and headsets recommendations!

Skwidgy — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:03:02 -0000

would Intel G620 and Radeon 6850 work flawlessly? I mean will it avoid "bottlenecking" even though Intel G620 is an entry level cpu, while 6850 which is a high-mid range gpu. What are the expected FPS for games that are CPU and GPU extensive (eg. GTAIV, Crysis 2 and Skyrim).

Re: Budget Gaming PCs v3.4: Now with speakers, headphones, earphones and headsets recommendations!

BSmith — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:56:00 -0000

Just took your advice on all this after doing some research the last few days.

I'm on a student's budget, but wanted a computer I could do my graphic design work on and still be able to play some of the newer video games on.

My girlfriend had a high def monitor she didn't use, but since it only runs at 720p I went with the Tier 1 build, thinking the higher end graphics with the T2 build would be lost. One thing I did differently is changed the RAM suggested, as I couldn't find it on Amazon, but took the RAM suggested by Amazon with the purchase of the processor:(http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...
Mostly just because I couldn't find the suggested RAM on Amazon and wanted to have it all bundled under my Prime account. If it ends up being a bad choice, I'll gladly take the time to replace it with the suggested RAM and only be about 30 bucks.

Everything should be here by Wednesday and I'll glad write a post or submit and article or whatever detailing my experiences. This is my first attempt at building a PC, wish me luck.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Xais Hawj — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:06:04 -0000

Most retail Blu-Ray drives should come with a software bundle. I'm not sure about OEM drives however.

Re: The Best CPUs For Your Money: May 2012

Driscoll42 — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:20:10 -0000

The i7-3770k vs. the i7-3820 is not quite an easy recommendation. In general, yes the 3770 is better, however the 3820 has superior PCI-E lanes (40 vs. Ivy's 16). For powerful CF'd or SLI'd cards you will want the 3820 in order to maintain peak performance, such as 7970 CF or 680 SLI.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Pineappl — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:51:21 -0000

So in order to play Blu-Ray on a PC you have to buy both a Blu-Ray DVD reader AND the blu-ray media player software? Quite an expensive feat to do. The software Pro version is $80.

Also, did you get any feedback regarding those silencio sound-proof cases you recommended last article? I heard different things and was curious what people ended up thinking about them i.e. (it was a noticeable difference in sound reduction, or they created a lack of good airflow and hindered cooling).

P.S. I don't hear no dubstep >: |

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Tevye — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:27:23 -0000

I'm glad you endorse and love the Samsung 830. It's the drive I purchased recently, and I'm glad to hear you rate it as such.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

MathieuB — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:32:11 -0000

Tevye

While you may not agree with me, based on my own rigorous research (days when I updated The Best SSDs and HDDs For Your Money article), I'd say that the Samsung 830 series SSD is the fastest 2.5" SSD overall, when it comes to real-world user experience and real-world performance.

The OCZ Vertex 4 doesn't even come close, due to poor write performance.

The Plextor M3 Pro is an excellent drive, backed with a 5 years warranty, that performs very close to the 830 and is its closest contender but overall still, the Samsung 830 comes ahead.

As for the Corsair Performance Pro, it's slower than the Plextor M3 Pro and thus is slower than the Samsung 830 series as well.

Hope this clears it up for you, feel free to ask questions if you want more clarifications.

Cheers,
Mathieu

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

MathieuB — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:26:37 -0000

Bryanalbert Rivera

For the Extreme 4, higher cost is why, the Biostar offers similar features at a lower price, while having great reviews.

As for the z77 extreme 6, I'd stay away from it, it has quite a lot of negative reviews so far on newegg.

Hope that helps,
Mathieu

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Bryanalbert Rivera — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:09:55 -0000

Before this update you highly recommended the Asrock Extreme brand for motherboards for bang for your buck. In this update Asrock professional is the only suggestion. Is there a reason you didn't recommend the z77 extreme 4 or 6? Just curious because i really enjoy ur input and updates and I am in the process of building my rig. I originally intended on purchasing the z77 extreme 4 board because of ur recommendations for the p67 asrock extreme 4 boards. I look forward to your response. Thank you.

Re: Mainstream Gaming PCs v3.4: Ivy Bridge, Faster Video Cards, Faster SSDs and Larger SSDs/HDDs!

Tevye — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:21:31 -0000

"The Samsung 830 series is the fastest 2.5″ SSD on the market"

I don't believe this is the case, at least not any longer. I really wish the Samsung 830 was the fastest drive, but I believe the Plextor M3 Pro, Corsair Performance Pro, and OCZ Vertex 4 beat it out.

Re: The Best Video Cards For Your Money: February 2012

Jag — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:56:33 -0000

I'm trying to decide on a video card(s) for my setup. Any help would be apprecited. I mostly play MMO's (swtor, GW2, etc) on three 24" monitors at 5760x1200.

Would 2 HD7950's be better than one 7970? Or go with 2 GTX580's or One GTX680? Not sure which way to go.

My system:
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 MB
i7 2600k
16GB GSkill Ram
Silverstone 850W PS