Desktop Computers

Used Radeon graphics cards for years, matched with Intel processors. Just always liked their prices, and the bang for the buck you get out of them. Originally had purchased this 6950, because I heard you could crack it into a 6970 for free, but I never bothered to get around to it.

How's other stats like heat, and driver support etc etc these days on Radeon cards?

And I'm in no hurry, do we think by the end of the year all of these cards we are talking about will be a lot cheaper?

The R9 cards, and someone correct me if I'm wrong here, draw a bit more power than comparative nVidia cards. The heat used to be a much bigger issue because third-party brands were using reference designs, and while you still want above-par air flow in your case, the newer cards have better fan/heat control.

I'm sure the prices will drop.

Until you get around to getting a new videocard, if your 6950 is a reference 2gb card it's very easy and 100% safe to mod it. It has dual bios with the second one being read only so unless you poke it with it stick, you can't fuck this up.

AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp

gogusrl_sl said:

Until you get around to getting a new videocard, if your 6950 is a reference 2gb card it's very easy and 100% safe to mod it. It has dual bios with the second one being read only so unless you poke it with it stick, you can't fuck this up.

AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp

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Good idea. To squeeze a little more out of it I might as well mod it to the 6970.

Actually nevermind... I don't think mine is the reference model. Doh.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161372

Here's a question for you guys

I love RAM, for some reason maybe its because when I was a kid I never had enough RAM to play certain games, so every time I put together a PC I try to go for the maxs I can afford, right now my PC has 32GB of RAM, yet, I see a lot of people recommending 8GB max. Is there any difference between 8GB and 32GB in terms of marked increased performance?

Not really, very few games if any will use that much RAM and anything that isn't used is basically wasted. Unless you do a lot of multitasking while gaming you aren't going to see a ton of benefit.

That said, I'm sure mod-heavy games like Skyrim could probably push your memory to the limit. Most out of the box won't come close.

a 32 bit game is limited to 2-4gb (need /largeaddressaware mod to go above 2gb), although its nice to see more and more games running 64 bit code now. The max I've seen my system memory at is 15gb when running Watch Dogs and a movie and having 15 browser tabs open. I have 32gb as well but only because it cost me $100 extra to go to 32 from 16.

For a while I used Dimmdrive which lets you allocate memory as a RAM drive and auto shadows steam games to your RAM drive, but I didn't see any real performance improvement in games and eventually just disabled it. I do have a SSD but most of my games are on a 7200 drive, just stuff like BF4 and MMOs are on the SSD.

so yeah I'd say 16gb is a sweet spot, maybe if you want to run big virtual machines having 32gb might be nice. Be sure to correctly pair up memory though, like getting 4 sticks of the same kind for the latest Intel I7s with quad channel.

Crone_sl said:

Since I have a Radeon 6950 2gb that's getting pretty old, that R9 280 for $200 sounds like a hell of a deal, but I think I'll hold off and pick up a nVidia 770 soon. That'll be a nice upgrade to what I have, and carry me through another couple years.

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I just replaced my XFX Radeon 6950 2GB with an EVGA GTX 770 4GB - if you're interested, I'd sell it to you if you want to crossfire it - no clue what they go for these days though.

Edit: this is a pretty sick deal though if you're interested:MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 Video Card + 3 Select AMD Gold Games $200 or less after $30 Rebate + Free Shipping

darkmiasma_sl said:

I just replaced my XFX Radeon 6950 2GB with an EVGA GTX 770 4GB - if you're interested, I'd sell it to you if you want to crossfire it - no clue what they go for these days though.

Edit: this is a pretty sick deal though if you're interested:MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 Video Card + 3 Select AMD Gold Games $200 or less after $30 Rebate + Free Shipping

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My motherboard only has 1 PCI-E 2.0/2.1 slot. Just double checked, but I have 2 pci-e 3.0 slots, and 1 pci-e original slot?

not sure if this means I could SLI or not.

Expansion Slots
PCI Express 3.0 x16 - 2 (single at x16, dual at x8)
PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 1 @ x4
PCI Express x1 - 2
PCI Slots - 2

Obtenor_sl said:

Is there any difference between 8GB and 32GB in terms of marked increased performance?

Click to expand...

Strictly gaming? No. There is not. But...

Do you heavily multitask while gaming?

No: 8 GB is fine.
Yes: Can you afford an extra $80 of RAM?
.......Yes: Get 16 GB of RAM.
.......No: 8 GB is fine.

Lenas_sl said:

Not really, very few games if any will use that much RAM and anything that isn't used is basically wasted. Unless you do a lot of multitasking while gaming you aren't going to see a ton of benefit.

That said, I'm sure mod-heavy games like Skyrim could probably push your memory to the limit. Most out of the box won't come close.

Click to expand...

I think Skyrim still hardcrashes the second it goes over 4gb ram usage tho, seems like the problem in most games. So many x86 still.

Got all my computer components in yesterday, and spent the evening putting it together. Final List:

Intel Core i5-4690K, Gigabyte Radeon R9 280, Antec Nine Hundred - System Build - PCPartPicker

Everything went smooth, PC posted on first try. My only regret so far is the case, think I could of gotten a better one, cable management was a pain in the ass.

Haven't overclocked this 4690k yet, but it's sitting at 22C idle temps. Pretty happy right now!

I had an antec 900 years back. Great for ventilation, but yeah I had issues with cables as well.

I have a bitfenix prodigy for this new build, and though its the smallest case I've ever had, the cable management is pretty awesome.

I've been fiddling around with parts on NewEgg and PCPartPicker. Trying to keep stuff under $1000 but keep it future proofed enough so I don't have to buy another one for another 5-6 years.

Honestly, gaming hasn't been a huge factor in years. I like to play games here and there -- but, it's not the end all be all. At this point, I play CS, Magestorm, get on Roll20, and a few other games. I think the video card is going to be the most expensive (was looking at 780 Ti).

Kuriin_sl said:

I've been fiddling around with parts on NewEgg and PCPartPicker. Trying to keep stuff under $1000 but keep it future proofed enough so I don't have to buy another one for another 5-6 years.

Click to expand...

Best I could do -Intel Core i7-4790K, MSI Radeon R9 280X, Rosewill ARMOR-EVO - System Build - PCPartPicker

Build assumes you already have storage, OS, and optical drive. Picked the cheapest card I could with 6GB VRAM, because in 4+ years that will probably be the most important limiting factor of an old build. Picked a motherboard that could support 4x 280x in crossfire, a case that could fit it, and a processor that could handle it. Picked a big old PSU for those 4 GPUs. Went i7 for the possibility that hyperthreading becomes important.

If you really wanted to, you could upgrade this thing over the years and stay at close to Ultra settings for a loooong ass time. Probably close to the whole generation with 90% of games. Of course, that's assuming MSI 6GB 280x cards aren' more rare than dodo birds when you go to buy 2 more in 4 years.

Sure, you could buy a 780ti right now but it'll be way more expensive. It'll be overpowered for the next year, underpowered after 4 years, and the upgrade path will be way more expensive than what I've suggested. Not to mention, the low 3gb of VRAM on the 780ti will probably give you issues with your build long before the 6gb 280x will.

'Future proof' 780ti build -Intel Core i7-4790K, MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti, Rosewill ARMOR-EVO - System Build - PCPartPicker

I'd sooner go with the 6gb EVGA Gtx 780 ACX than a 780ti if you are gonna spend $600 on a GPU that you expect to have any kind of real longevity. EVGA cards also come with a 3 year warranty.

Pretty good deal on the Intel G3258 and a mobo:Gigabyte LGA 1150 HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard + Intel Pentium G3258 Dual-Core CPU $110 + Free Shipping

Evening ladies and gents...

It has been years since I had a gaming PC, and really starting to feel the itch (been stuck playing old games on my laptop).

My budget is roughly 1000$ (perhaps more if really worth it...plan to upgrade parts later). I'm going to need an OS and monitor (probably nothing larger than 24in). I'd also love my rig being able to upgrade later for Star Citizen and such. My apologizes as I am not savvy regarding hardware, so any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'd love to be able to play current gen at max/damn near max, probably a lot of Planetside 2.