The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

So, Kevin, with the Prime 95 giving you 44 degrees on your new XIGMATEK cooler (are you using two fans on it - probably just the one, right?) how does that compare to the temps you were getting with the coolit?

 

How did you know the caps were bad? I never heard of anything like that - I find it quite interesting that you can actually pick up spare parts for a circuit board in terms of a cap kit. Does anybody else besides Jeff have experience with this? (I know, DDP, that you were a hard core board tech, but I mean in terms of your own personal PC equipment.)

Hey Jeff, besides Skyrim, heard about any interesting shooters lately?

 

When you say "rescued from a customer" is your business still involved with fixing computer equipment, or is it hardware and software like Sam is doing with his thin client software and cloud-based apps running on - what? - mainframes?

 

NOt me LOL! I tell them I don't make house calls. Bring me your tower, and I'll look at it.

Rich, I'd say the temps are roughly the same(the coolit averaged 40 -42C Load). The Coolit was slightly better with load temps. The idle temps are considerably cooler with the Mega killer though. Rather odd. But My voltage isn't high yet either.

 

Well most newer boards use solid state capacitors so the only real way to know is either by burn marks, broken contacts due to overheating, or a digital multimeter. On older boards the caps are simply blown and will usually have a bulged or fully popped top.

Only certain model boards have re-cap kits put together for them based on popularity of the board and demand for the kits as it's all community driven. I had the recap kit for my X38-DS4 put together for me by a more knowledgeable friend. I simply replaced all the caps between the socket and VRMs with caps of identical specs but a higher heat rating.

http://www.thecapking.com/howto.html

I have been playing a lot of Battlefield 3 and some RTSs. Also have been playing a game called World of Tanks. If you like tanks or WW2, it's probably going to interest you. Really easy to get into, difficult to master. Also, it's free to play with no limits but there is premium membership with an in-game store and currency. Very simplistic though. Tank customization is key. Youtube some gameplay.

Same for me. I always charge but am really fair as most things brought to me are fairly simple fixes.

 

Wow, I'm still amazed at how technically savvy all you guys are - replacing your caps for cryin out loud - and Sam wrestling for a year with that spooky pci-express controller problem before figuring it out - doubtless I'd be scratching my head for years never having gotten to the bottom of that problem.

Or of any bad cap problem.

And it sounds like solid state caps aren't fool-proof, just harder to diagnose - you need special equipment that only Jeff possesses, lol. Well, Jeff and DDP. Probably Sam and Kevin too, now that I think about it, but that's going in too deep for me, lol.

Speaking of too deep, I went to that World of Tanks, Youtube gameplay like you suggested, Jeff.

Man! Actually some pretty good looking Massive Multiplayer Maps. I guess they make money by letting you get so hooked you start buying upgrades, like maybe better armor, or heavier hitting rounds. It sure reminds me of the two RTS games I finally finished - Company of Heroes and World in Conflict.

Yeah, no doubt I'd get hooked. I think I'll stay away like I've successfully stayed away from Counter Strike for going on 4-5 years now - but I keep thinking of going back.

I went through some postings on "best fps dozen of all time" etc, and I was able to snag a copy of Las Vegas 2, but while I liked how they let you customize the hero, down to Asian or other ethnic facial models, type of facial hair, or even the opposite sex, the graphics are so sparce. How old is that Clancy game?

But on the opposite side of the graphics situation, I got gifted both Bioshocks, never having played either of them. At first I loaded them on the XP drive, but then also on the Windows 7 drive when I noticed the Direct X 10 option was of course grayed out on the XP version. That made me very curious. I played 5 minutes of it but didn't see an immediate quality difference. I also noticed that the default is turning off "force global lighting." Again, I turned it on, but couldn't see the difference. Is that something that might kill my fps rate?

I have them installed but I won't be playing for another month or so. The Youtube videos tried to show some differences in DX9 to DX10 quality. What do you guys think?

 

The concept of capacitor replacement 'kits' is new to me too. Normally speaking it is one or two offending capacitors - if more, the whole board is usually suspect. In this case, there are plenty of places you can get replacement capacitors, it's just a question of getting the old ones off and replaced without damaging anything in the process

Replacing caps isn't something I personally bother with, apart from being potentially labour-intensive depending on where the problematic component is, I don't see it as a permanent solution. This plus, the vast majority of faulty components I've encountered have not suffered capacitor failure.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (to which I assume you're referring) is from around 2008. It was panned a bit on release for being a direct console port - the PC version did not receive any improved graphics, thus it looks how it does. Good to play, but dated graphics. Fortunately it does not share the original Rainbow Six Vegas' lust for hardware.

Bioshock (certainly the second game, also criticised for having slightly worse graphics than the original), is not the best use of DirectX10. I wouldn't worry about not having it / not seeing the benefit of it

 

Well the necessity certainly arose in my case. The board was quite high-end and thus worth saving, and it was OOP so a replacement would be second hand anyway. As far as being a permanent solution, it's basic physics. The capacitors near the VRMs on some earlier X38-DS4s were simply not rated for a high enough temperature. I replaced those capacitors with some of identical specs and brand, but a higher heat rating. These also happen to be the caps Gigabyte themselves chose to remedy the board in later revisions, so my repair is technically manufacturer correct. Gigabyte apparently thought it was a permanent solution, would you argue with Gigabyte about build quality on motherboards? lol. I'm fairly confident in my work, and the board has been folding@home nearly 24/7 since I made the repair.

True, on most things it's pretty pointless to replace a part if an overall problem is the cause ie it will keep blowing the same part due to other issues such as quality of build. But I've basically fixed the problem by using parts that won't blow. Simple enough. I CBA to remember model numbers but re-cap kits have been put together for several popular boards with a common problem ie bad caps on an otherwise proven good board. I think you will agree, Sam, that the X38-DS4 was a good board. So should I throw it out due to a problem I can fix easily with a couple spare hours and some patience? No thank you, I work for my hardware.

 

Curious, are there any good racing games, VERY similar to Gran Turismo 5 for the PC platform? Something I can enjoy until the PS3 can be emulated in a few days from now ROFL!

Disregarding the price of course. I just want a good racing game. Win credits/money doing races, achieve licensing, etc. Essentially a Gran turismo knock off.

 

I wish there were, I truly do. The only thing that comes close to that caliber is GRiD, which is well worth a look if you haven't played it, but nothing like the Gran Turismo series I'm afraid.

 

Thanks Sam. I thought as much. I figured if anyone knew, someone in this thread would I don't like giving $ony too much money. So a PS3 is out.

I may just try GRiD.

Wow. 14.99USD ain't bad at all!

 

Grid is amazing.

 

If that's true, than I think I can afford a measly 15 dollars I look forward to playing it on my friday night

 

Thanks a lot guys! You're right Jeff! Grid is a-mazing! Probably the best looking game I've played on the pc yet. I can't imagine it getting better, but I'm sure it does. I now see the likelihood of an SLI down the road. The 570 handles grid like a champ. I didn't see any lag with 4AA. Honestly I didn't see any difference between 2 and 4.

Man my internet sucks! At least I had to work while I download it through steam. It was ready when I got home I think my brother may just drool about it LOL! Gran Turismo looks good on the PS3, but you know... I think grid just looks incredible on my PC!

A buddy at work recommended I check out skyrim. I guess I have some trailers to check out

 

GRiD is 4 years old, so it's not surprising it runs fine on a GTX570 at 1920x1200. Even the HD4870s could take it at 2560x1600, but only the 1GB versions

 

4yrs old. That's probably even more amazing. I had to crank my fan up to 65%. I worry when my temps are easily reaching 75C LOL! At 65%, it hovered around 70 - 72C max. I can live with that. 65% is obviously audible. But my stereo can drown it out easily

 

Grid is a well well made game no doubt. Yes, very pretty as well

I far prefer Grid to the newer Dirt titles but Dirt 1 is still my favorite in the series. Dirt 2 was way too gimmicky but Dirt 3 goes back to the more purist roots of Dirt 1. I suppose they tried to make Dirt 2 more mainstream without realizing racing games are not mainstream, only racing fans will play them for any length of time. So currently Dirt>Grid>Dirt3>Dirt2. Dirt 2 ended up too heavily consolized and that ended up hurting the game. Even then Dirt 2 is fantastic, if the least popular in the series amongst fans.

I've also meant to check out some older series including TOCA Race Driver. I believe the TOCA series is the prequel to Dirt and Grid. I could care less if it's a little older as long as it's fun.

 

Wow, dirt 3 was released nearly a year ago, and it's still 50USD. I may just wait on that one. I do have multiple games that are itching to be finished LOL!

Thanks again Jeff.