The computer and electronics super geek thread

[mikeszekely]

You can share files out of Dropbox now, too.

[frothymug]

Dropping in this thread to see if you guys can offer some good advice for me.

I built my computer over three years ago with top-of-the-line components and it is now starting to show its age. I am considering an upgrade and I want to know what you guys think I should do:

I have been playing Borderlands 2 and the Planetside 2 beta and I've been getting frustrated with the performance of my computer in heavy combat situations. In most low-action parts, the games run just fine at 30-40 FPS. However, when the sh** hits the fan, the frames drop to 10-15 and it's darn near impossible to perform well in combat in these cases. In Planetside 2, it typically either gets me killed or allows my target to get away because my accuracy drops. I have difficulty tracking movement since the frames are so choppy, so I usually lose track of where my target is, or I have to lower my sights to see the whole picture before raising up my gun again. The same issue pertains to Borderlands 2. I been playing with my girlfriend, but I end up getting frustrated with the game far earlier than expected. I recently dropped ALL of the in-game settings to medium and lower and the frames are now more manageable.

This tells me that my computer needs a shot of performance increases. My specs are as follows:

Intel i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz CPU

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 mobo

6 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz (if I remember that clockspeed correctly)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPU

HT|Omega Striker 7.1 soundcard

All other specs are irrelevant, unless I'm horribly mistaken. Even the soundcard makes little difference, IMO. Anyway, I am on a very tight budget and I have been considering buying a second GTX 295 off of eBay for 100-200 dollars. I have the expansion slot for it and I have a kilowatt power supply to support the power usage. Other friends have suggested I spend 300 or so to get a more modern video card, but I don't think I can justify that expense to myself and (more importantly) my girlfriend. I've also considered throwing 3 or 6 more gigs of RAM into it, since I have three unused RAM slots.

What do you guys think?

[mikeszekely]

Dropping in this thread to see if you guys can offer some good advice for me.

I built my computer over three years ago with top-of-the-line components and it is now starting to show its age. I am considering an upgrade and I want to know what you guys think I should do:

I have been playing Borderlands 2 and the Planetside 2 beta and I've been getting frustrated with the performance of my computer in heavy combat situations. In most low-action parts, the games run just fine at 30-40 FPS. However, when the sh** hits the fan, the frames drop to 10-15 and it's darn near impossible to perform well in combat in these cases. In Planetside 2, it typically either gets me killed or allows my target to get away because my accuracy drops. I have difficulty tracking movement since the frames are so choppy, so I usually lose track of where my target is, or I have to lower my sights to see the whole picture before raising up my gun again. The same issue pertains to Borderlands 2. I been playing with my girlfriend, but I end up getting frustrated with the game far earlier than expected. I recently dropped ALL of the in-game settings to medium and lower and the frames are now more manageable.

This tells me that my computer needs a shot of performance increases. My specs are as follows:

Intel i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz CPU

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 mobo

6 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz (if I remember that clockspeed correctly)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPU

HT|Omega Striker 7.1 soundcard

All other specs are irrelevant, unless I'm horribly mistaken. Even the soundcard makes little difference, IMO. Anyway, I am on a very tight budget and I have been considering buying a second GTX 295 off of eBay for 100-200 dollars. I have the expansion slot for it and I have a kilowatt power supply to support the power usage. Other friends have suggested I spend 300 or so to get a more modern video card, but I don't think I can justify that expense to myself and (more importantly) my girlfriend. I've also considered throwing 3 or 6 more gigs of RAM into it, since I have three unused RAM slots.

What do you guys think?

Honestly, more RAM isn't likely to help. Under 4GB of RAM, and anything you add will make it feel like a whole new machine, but beyond 6GB and you're not likely to notice much difference. Not that it stopped me from jamming 16GB into my current box, and RAM is pretty cheap these days.

As for the card, I'm kind suprised that you're lagging as much as your. The GTX 295 was ridiculously powerful when it came out, and I'd think it would have held its own better against more modern cards today. Have you updated the drivers lately?

Then again, SLI is kind of like a quad-core processor. Sure, on benchmark tests it looks like a huge gain. In real-world applications, though, not everything's coded to take advantage of the extra cores. And wasn't the 295 basically a pair of 280s on one board? Bottom line, yeah, you'll get a boost from SLI, and yeah, the GTX 295 was a killer card, but it's now three gerations or so behind. The GTX 295 doesn't even support DirectX 11, if I'm not mistaken (and a lot of games like Dragon Age II and Crysis 2 look a lot better with DirectX 11). On paper your GTX 295 should hold its own against a modern card like the GTX 660ti, but in practice I played a bit of Borderlands 2 with everything cranked to max, and it ran fine. Granted, I'm still pretty early in the game, but since building this box I've also played Arkham City and DiRT 3, also on max settings. DiRT 3 was even kind enough to test the settings, and reported a comfortable 48fps average.

So yeah, I guess a new graphics card can be a little pricey. But the GTX 660ti seems to the sweet spot. You could give up some performance for a GTX 660 (without the ti), but they seem to be going for around $230 average, while the 660ti is hovering around $280-$290 on sale. I think the 660ti's worth the extra money.

[Valkyrie addict]

so...latey whenever I do a paypal purchase (which I rarely do nowadays), a few hours later I get in my junk mail an obvious fishing email from "paypal" saying "my transaction didn't go trough and blah blah", the first time this happened I tough of it as a coincidence. But it has happened again, exactly after doing a purchase.

I ran a full antivirus scan (Kapersky) and full system Malwarebytes scan, nothing found worrying I had some malware/keylogger or something installed. But have found none of it.

The only thing I haven't done so far is delete cookies which I'm gonna do after I finish this post. Is this something I should worry about. Paypal account and CC have been ok and no weird activities from them.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Valkyrie addict

[Archer]

For those wondering about the Microsoft Surface tablet, it's pretty nice. THere was a microsoft store here in TN, so I went down to look at them. Was really pleased with it, so much, that I in fact bought one.

With my iPad, I could never really "do" anything, I could just consume. With the keyboard and the built in Microsoft Office, I was able to type stuff up pretty easily.

[mikeszekely]

For those wondering about the Microsoft Surface tablet, it's pretty nice. THere was a microsoft store here in TN, so I went down to look at them. Was really pleased with it, so much, that I in fact bought one.

With my iPad, I could never really "do" anything, I could just consume. With the keyboard and the built in Microsoft Office, I was able to type stuff up pretty easily.

Yeah... but Windows RT.

I looked at the Samsung tab with regular Windows 8, and I was digging the thinness, the lightness, and the screen. Then I checked the properties, saw that there's only 15GB free out of the box, sighed, and decided to wait. I'm willing to put up with a thicker, heavier tablet that can do more than the iPad or an Android tablet. Stuff one of them little hard drives they use the iPod Classic, for all I care. But if I'm running actual Windows, I think 128GB is my absolute minimum.

Actually... Lenovo has a laptop with a convertible screen. If I were buying a Windows 8 device, I might have gone with it, except it's from their business line, so it looks awful.

[Archer]

Yeah... but Windows RT.

I looked at the Samsung tab with regular Windows 8, and I was digging the thinness, the lightness, and the screen. Then I checked the properties, saw that there's only 15GB free out of the box, sighed, and decided to wait. I'm willing to put up with a thicker, heavier tablet that can do more than the iPad or an Android tablet. Stuff one of them little hard drives they use the iPod Classic, for all I care. But if I'm running actual Windows, I think 128GB is my absolute minimum.

Actually... Lenovo has a laptop with a convertible screen. If I were buying a Windows 8 device, I might have gone with it, except it's from their business line, so it looks awful.

Yeah, RT is fine for me, but I understand some need full windows 8!

[the white drew carey]

OK tech support junkies! I got a problem- a friend who has started translating my GAMERGEEKDADDY webcomic into German has sent my some translations as .rtf files. However, any program I use to open them on my Mac (OSX 10.7.5), is displaying some of the characters wrong. Any idea on how to fix? Should I ask him to send them in a different format (and would that even fix the problem)?

Thx

[azrael]

OK tech support junkies! I got a problem- a friend who has started translating my GAMERGEEKDADDY webcomic into German has sent my some translations as .rtf files. However, any program I use to open them on my Mac (OSX 10.7.5), is displaying some of the characters wrong. Any idea on how to fix? Should I ask him to send them in a different format (and would that even fix the problem)?

He could try converting to a PDF. That should handle the character issue. Or at least it should.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, RT is fine for me, but I understand some need full windows 8!

After playing with one for awhile, I'm thinking about getting a Samsung Series 5 Slate and the keyboard dock. For an Atom device with 2GB of RAM, it's actually pretty peppy, and it's Windows 8 not RT. The one thing holding me back is that it's only got a 64GB SSD. Out of the box, it's only got maybe 15-16GB free (hard to say exactly how much room the demo software is taking). The 1366x768 resolution is the same as the HP laptop I do my grad school stuff on, though, and it's thin and light enough, and I do appreciate the microSD slot and USB port. Hmm...

[Archer]

I've heard that the Lenovo ThinkPad 2 is supposed to be pretty good as well, running on the same Atom processor, and with full windows 8 for around 600 bucks (even has a stylus capacitive pen input).

[areaseven]

WTF Acer?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IzO_DzGpH0&hd=1

[mikeszekely]

Installed the last piece of my new PC and... wtf? Is it not possible to get a 7.9 CPU score on the Windows Experience Index without overclocking?

[Roy Focker]

Long Rant Time - After 5 years I'm through with Toshiba.

They have the worst customer support. So bad that I'm looking at reporting them to the BBB.

I bought an extended hardware warranty. If I have a hardware problem they're suppose to fix it. Of course being sleazy they are going to try everything before actually taking a physical look at it. When my computer first started acting up I Googled to see if others had similar problems and for possible solutions. It was a problem that happened with others (FYI screen & or computer will periodically shut down on its own). I tried all the do it yourself solutions. When that didn't work I called Toshiba. Even though I told them I tried this and that they still had me do it again. Fine I guess we gotta play this game before they take an actual look at it. I've even paid $50 for someone to take control of computer by remote to "fix" the software problem. I asked at the time if this turn out to be a hardware problem do I get my $50 back? I was told yes. I paid and watch the guy change a couple settings. Mind you I'm no computer technician but I can tell when someone isn't really doing anything at all. Still if I have to do a series of escalating calls before they take a physical look fine I'll keep playing that game.

Keep calling them back and last thing they had me do was wipe everything back to when it was shipped to me. If it was a software problem than this should "cure" it. If it was a hardware problem I wouldn't have to recover the entire system and spend time installing everything. Well the problem returned - Guess it wasn't a hardware problem after all. Now they will take a look.

If it was caused by mishandling I pay a fee. I wonder if they'll try to claim I did something. Wouldn't surprise me. I have to pay to ship it to them. Why isn't covered under warranty?

Now why am in long rant mood? During my call with them today I bought up the do I get my $50 back from the time when one of you guys fixed my computer by remote? No I don't because we exceed a time limit. Well of course we've exceed a time limit. I would only get my $50 back if it was a hardware problem. Your not even going to look to see if it is a hardware problem until you rule out every possible software problem imaginable. By this policy your going to past the time limit. Strange I don't remember that guy telling me anything about a time limit. Now the tech on the phone said we could have charged you for each call but we didn't. Here's the problem with that. The only way to get hardware warranty assistance is to call them. They're not going to give you any hardware warranty assistance unless you do all the software assistance first. Even if you have hardware warrranty they can try to get money out of you. I wish they did try to charge me for the early calls.

So now I'm waiting for the instruction on how send my computer in. I gonna look into making a bbb compliant and maybe talking to my credit card company. I mean if you get charged for a useless service is it not fraud or something? You pay for goods or service and don't get them don't you get a refund?

Now here's the funny part at the end of the call the tech ask me to rate his service from 0-10. Seriously? I asked can I give a negative number? I asked if you do a shoddy repair do I have to pay again for you fix it again. They said no. In December my warranty expires. I have a feeling they are to try to bull crap they way out of any future responbilties for a preexisting problem. I also have a feeling that their intital hardware repair is going to be something as cheap/simple as tighting a screw or a single wire. When likely the real solution is going to be replacing a part or something.

Toshiba is the worst .

[myk]

Toshiba is the worst .

That's a nightmare, to be sure. I wouldn't make a move towards getting your $50 back until they've fixed your issues. I hope they do fix it right. What Toshiba product do you have? My X505-898 has been exemplary so far...

[Roy Focker]

A Satellite P500. Which has been problem free and working well with no problem. It isn't so much the products they make that I have problem with but their customer support. When I bought it three years ago I had them include all the upgrades I could afford. I wanted to buy a computer that I could use for several years before it became too old and crappy. I decided to protect that investment by buying the longest warranty possible. When it came time to use that warranty I expected a lot better service.

[Roy Focker]

So I'm reading complaint about Toshiba when the computer act up again.

The issue with the computer is that the screen randomly turns off. You can Google and see it is a common problem. There's a few software trouble shooting you can try yourself but if those simple solutions don't work it is likely a hardware problem. Toshiba of course tries to avoid looking at under warranty computer.

I'm scrolling through the complaint and screen goes off. I get back on again and 10 second later is down again. Now I'm saving all my files again.

Here's a bit from a complaint that rings a bit true from my experience.

The third issue was my computer. Battery failing less than 1 year after purchase. I paid for shipping to Toshiba, they returned the unit very quickly.

Instead of replacing the battery, they turned off the monitoring software. I didn't realize it until after the warranty had run out.

When I paid them $50 to remotely repair a software problem I swore all they did was just disable and change some settings. Like I had my computer go hibernate mode after X hours of no use. They basically changed the setting to never hibernate. I thought their "fix" was pretty useless and knew the problem would happen again. Didn't complain at the time because I was told I get a refund if the problem returned and if it was a hardware issue.

[mikeszekely]

From my POV as a technician, Toshibas tend to be ever so slightly more reliable (I mean one out of five have a problem instead of one out of four), but when you do have a problem they're the single worst brand to deal with.

I wouldn't believe I'd ever say this, but I think HP might be the way to go. Their reliability is basically average, but their service is pretty good for being outsourced.

[Chewie]

Intel i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz CPU

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 mobo

6 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz (if I remember that clockspeed correctly)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPU

HT|Omega Striker 7.1 soundcard

With those specs a new video card would fix all your problems with those games.

Like mike was saying, the 660ti is on sale in a lot of different places and worth the extra coin. Adding another 295 would be like a bandaid on a GSW and 50-70% of your new card money.

[Roy Focker]

Still under warranty (til December) but I have to pay $25 to ship it to them. Warranties should cover of that stuff.

[myk]

Still under warranty (til December) but I have to pay $25 to ship it to them. Warranties should cover of that stuff.

Not only that, but how long will you be without your machine? That's 100% lame...

[Roy Focker]

7 to 10 days I think.

[myk]

Damn it, man. I hope you have a back-up PC...

[Roy Focker]

Yeah it is about 5 years old has low memory and still uses Windows 98.

How about some more stupidity?

I paid $25 for Toshiba to send me a box that is too small. Sure the computer can "fit" but it will be damaged in shipping. The Styrofoam bookends doesn't even fit. They have my make and model on file. They know how big it is. So I call them.

Their excuse. UPS provided the box. Well who told them what box size would be needed provide? Think Toshiba is gonna get on the case and get me the right box? No I'm too call a UPS 1-800 number Monday-Friday 9 to 6 EST and talk to them about it. I paid $25 directly to Toshiba now I have to talk to UPS to fix this problem.

[jenius]

My wife had a Toshiba laptop... unlike people here who say they are quality with poor support, my experience with it was that it was garbage. After three years it refused to boot. I read something back then about a BIOS battery or some garbage, it was a very common problem, I just took the hard drive out of the computer and called it a day.

[azrael]

Here's a food-for-thought discussion topic:

A few days ago, CNet decided to run this article: Intel to kill off desktop as we know it, reports claim

Which called back a several days to these reports:

* Intel’s Haswell Could Be Last Interchangeable Desktop Microprocessors - Report.

* Intel kills off the desktop, PCs go with it

We all know ARM-based chips are really pushing through within the past few years thanks to smartphones and tablets. But, more importantly, SOCs are starting to be the silicon-of-choice for these devices because we're going smaller and the need for an all-in-one-chip solution is a necessity for those devices. As much as I am part of the enthusiast-market that is slowly fading away, I know inevitably, we are moving to this route. We know Intel, after many years, finally integrated the Northbridge onto their CPUs as well as integrating a GPU. Intel is also integrating the Southbridge to the Haswell-generation of CPUs for ultrabooks. I'm sad to see things die this way but in my heart, I know this is the road we're heading down. One more upgrade for the road then?

[mikeszekely]

Here's a food-for-thought discussion topic:

A few days ago, CNet decided to run this article: Intel to kill off desktop as we know it, reports claim

Which called back a several days to these reports:

* Intel’s Haswell Could Be Last Interchangeable Desktop Microprocessors - Report.

* Intel kills off the desktop, PCs go with it

We all know ARM-based chips are really pushing through within the past few years thanks to smartphones and tablets. But, more importantly, SOCs are starting to be the silicon-of-choice for these devices because we're going smaller and the need for an all-in-one-chip solution is a necessity for those devices. As much as I am part of the enthusiast-market that is slowly fading away, I know inevitably, we are moving to this route. We know Intel, after many years, finally integrated the Northbridge onto their CPUs as well as integrating a GPU. Intel is also integrating the Southbridge to the Haswell-generation of CPUs for ultrabooks. I'm sad to see things die this way but in my heart, I know this is the road we're heading down. One more upgrade for the road then?

I can't say I'm thrilled to read about this, but I'm not sure how much of a problem it really is. The reality for probably 90% of users is that they don't give a crap about what's int he computer aside from the odd "I don't want to buy a computer with an AMD because my friend's brother's son's friend said Intel is better." Laptops are outselling desktops something like 10 to 1, and Windows 8 is the schizophrenic mess that it is because Microsoft is planning for the inevitable future where tablets outsell laptops 10 to 1. For those 90%-ers, whatever is inside the device is all it'll ever be, and when it stops working or they get a virus they'll buy a new one.

Now, for enthusiasts like myself, Intel integrating their HD 4000 graphics into Ivy Bridge didn't stop me from using a GTX 660 ti (and I understand that latpops with Optimus GPUs can switch to Intel graphics to save battery life when GeForce graphics aren't needed). So the biggest change that will directly impact the enthusiast market is that CPUs are going to come soldered onto motherboards. But even as I prepared to go into nerdrage mode, I realized that even that's not a huge deal. I built a computer two or three years ago with a Nehalem Core i7, then a month or two ago I built a new one with an Ivy Bridge Core i7. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have simply upgraded the CPU in the old computer because Intel has changed the socket twice since I built it. Not to mention DDR's faster, SATA III and USB 3.0 are more prevalent, and I can't recall if the old computer had PCIe 3.0 or not. No, I was in a mindset to build a new one because I wanted newer, faster everything... otherwise I would have just bought a new video card and called it a day. So ultimately, I'm pretty sure all Intel is doing is saving me the trouble of socketing the CPU myself next time.

[BeyondTheGrave]

WTF Acer?!?

Remember it could have been Lindsay Lohan or a Kardashian

[myk]

Remember it could have been Lindsay Lohan or a Kardashian

Yeah uh....was that commercial about Acer?

[Roy Focker]

The nightmare continues or will my computer disappear part 6!

I'm honesty scared that next they'll lose my computer. My first fear was they'll try to make an excuse not to repair it but now I think they're so incompetent that Toshiba will end up losing it.

Recap of what happened since my last post.

1. Toshiba gave me permission to send my under warranty laptop in to the repair center. Charging $25 shipping and sending me a box that was too small to ship it in.

2. I call Toshiba about the small box. They tell me I have to call UPS.

3. UPS says don't look at us call Toshiba they told us what box to use.

4. I call Toshiba and passed on to a case worker. Sure we'll get you a bigger box. I'll contact the service center and they'll get you one. You should get it in about 3 days.

5. After 5 working days later and no bigger box I call Toshiba to find out did they ship a box or not? I made this call in the morning. New guy said he'll have to talk to the case worker who knows what's going on and he will get back to me.

6. That day UPS arrives with a box. 3 days later than Toshiba estimate of when I would get that box.

7. BTW that new larger box is only deeper in size. The other dimensions are the same! They know what size computer I have. Why send me boxes that are too small? Well this box does come with a lot more internal padding might as well send it anyways.

8. I drop the laptop off at UPS and grab a receipt.

9. There's a message on my phone from Toshiba. "You called about not getting your box. According to our records a box was delivered on this day. If you didn't get a box please call us..." I don't call them back. If they checked the time records they would see that I called them before the box was delivered. Since they're in call center located a foreign country located thousands a miles away they have no clue what time zone is which.

10. Yesterday there's a knock my door. It is UPS with an empty box from Toshiba. I guess Toshiba decided to send out another box just in case. I refused the box from UPS. I got no laptop here to put it in anyways. Oh yeah... they sent the smaller box. The one I first got.

How it is that possible? They know how big my computer is yet that keep thinking it is smaller. The size of my laptop is simple fact of information. A fact that they are incapable of understanding. If they can't figure that out what hope do I have that they can fix my computer?

Things I now fear from Toshiba...

They'll try to say it is not a hardware issue and will charge me a diagnostic fee, repair fee and shipping back fee.

They'll try to charge me shipping charges for 3 boxes.

They'll lose my laptop.

They'll say my warranty expired (which it will during the time they'll have it) and refuse to fix it.

They'll lose it.

They'll ship it back to me in an even smaller box and it will arrive to me in pieces.

[Archer]

At this point man, I'd move on, and begin search for a new laptop. Sounds painful just reading that stream of fail from Toshiba.

Oh Toshiba.....

[Chewie]

I finally finished my new system.

Intel i7 3770k CPU

Intel Extreme DZ77GAL-70k board

Dual Intel 520 series 120GB SSDs in RAID 0

16GB G.Skill Ripjaws X RAM

Nvidia GTX 560ti graphics (card from old system, upgrading eventually)

1TB Seagate Barricuda for internal storage

In-Win Dragon Rider full case

I also tossed in a bluray drive for giggles since I needed a new SATA disc drive and it was cheap. I plan on running a 3 dispaly setup once I get a new video card. I'll be upgrading the PSU when I get the new card. Looking into the Evga FTW Edition GTX 670 with 4GB on board as it's only a $35 difference in most cases VS the 2GB version. I have to say that using a new board with visual BIOS is fantastic. It made setup incredibly easy. First power on to Windows being installed was roughly 15 minutes.

There are a few better boards out there but for what I paid for the board and CPU combo, I can't complain or really have beaten it.

With Christmas right around the corner, I am hoping to pick up Farcry 3, Black Ops 2 and Guild Wars 2 and finally be able to play them. Been limping along in BF3 for awhile now.

Just thought I'd share. =)

[Roy Focker]

Hey where was Roy?

He was waiting for his computer to be fixed by Toshiba. He had an older computer and a smart phone but those are somewhat limited.

Well did they repair my computer? Why don't you read this email I sent them after getting my computer back...

I just got my laptop back from your Repair Facility with a form letter that really doesn't say what you did exactly but the end result was you made no repairs. The exact phrase was

"Your laptop was thoroughly tested for the issue(s) as described by your request for service.

We were unable to duplicate the issue(s).

No repairs were performed on your laptop and it's being returned in the same condition as it received."

I'm curious to know what type of testing was done exactly? The issue of my screen going black or sleep mode while the laptop was being used is something that happens randomly. I have yet to predict a pattern of when it is going to happen next but it does. I'm not sure is there a way to duplicate an issue that happens randomly?

You can Google the problem and find it isn't some rare occurrence. From what I read if the easy solutions don't fix it then it likely a hardware problem. I tried all the easy solutions myself and did them again for your phone support. The problem remained. Also from what I read that it might be a faulty back light. Was the condition of back light physically checked? According the repair summary only Software was checked off. I believe I checked all the software related issues with your phone support & by online remote access and it passed. Was my laptop physically checked for any hardware problem or was it just tested for software?

What happens if my screen goes black again? What happen if my screen goes black again and doesn't come back?

And yes my warranty expired while it under their care. From the limited information on invoice it looks like they just did some software test. Which has already been tested and everything I've read says if it passes with software and the problem keeps happening it is then a hardware issue. Sounds to me like they decided to go back to square one with all the testing. I honestly think they did this on purpose to avoid doing any repair. When it happens again I doubt they are going to do anything. Citing the warranty is over even through it was exisiting problem that they failed to fix.

[Loop]

Intel i7 920 @ 2.66 GHz CPU

Asus P6T Deluxe V2 mobo

6 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz (if I remember that clockspeed correctly)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPU

HT|Omega Striker 7.1 soundcard

I have almost the same setup, I have my 920 @ 4.0ghz and I bought ddr3-2000 just to help reach the 4.0 OC. Honestly If I were you, I would OC the proc and upgrade the video card.

I have been fine with 6GB of ram myself. I changed my boot drive to a 256GB Samsung 840pro and decided to use my 300GB velociraptors as storage devices. Major difference.

So if I were you I would look into an SSD and a video card upgrade. I also have a EVGA GTX 295 with the backplate and need to upgrade if I want to really game with all details cranked to max.

I use my old 8800 GTX strictly for physx or for cuda apps when my 295 is busy. I think I will wait until next gen of Intel products and the next GPU from nVidia before I upgrade the video.

[mikeszekely]

I finally finished my new system.

Intel i7 3770k CPU

Intel Extreme DZ77GAL-70k board

Dual Intel 520 series 120GB SSDs in RAID 0

16GB G.Skill Ripjaws X RAM

Nvidia GTX 560ti graphics (card from old system, upgrading eventually)

1TB Seagate Barricuda for internal storage

In-Win Dragon Rider full case

I also tossed in a bluray drive for giggles since I needed a new SATA disc drive and it was cheap. I plan on running a 3 dispaly setup once I get a new video card. I'll be upgrading the PSU when I get the new card. Looking into the Evga FTW Edition GTX 670 with 4GB on board as it's only a $35 difference in most cases VS the 2GB version. I have to say that using a new board with visual BIOS is fantastic. It made setup incredibly easy. First power on to Windows being installed was roughly 15 minutes.

There are a few better boards out there but for what I paid for the board and CPU combo, I can't complain or really have beaten it.

With Christmas right around the corner, I am hoping to pick up Farcry 3, Black Ops 2 and Guild Wars 2 and finally be able to play them. Been limping along in BF3 for awhile now.

Just thought I'd share. =)

I've got the same CPU and same amount of RAM, but I used an Asus P8Z77-V mobo, a 128GB Kingston 200V SSD to boot, a GeForce GTX 660ti, a 1TB Western Digital for installing games, and a 3TB Seagate Barracuda for storage.

What case an PSU did you use? I used a white NZXT Phantom and a 750w Antec HCG PSU. I've traditionally used Antec cases and have been pretty pleased, but I'm actually really happy with the Phantom.

FWIW, I'm not convinced the GTX 670 is worth it. Yeah, it puts up some awesome numbers, but the 660ti doesn't sacrifice too much performance and it costs a lot less.