Mr Anonymous

Hey guys, thx again for the posts. I've been reading around and yeah, I think just about any of the best brands will have some people who have had something of theirs that has "blown up" or failed in one manner or the other - be it an Antec SG-850, Corsair HX 520, Season M12D - saw a thread over at HardOCP forums where some guy said that his PC Power & Cooling 750W burnt out and was not looking forward to the replacement because of that and people told him it was just bad luck and it was otherwise a good brand. I guess its just luck of the draw, although the PSU is one of those things you are always perhaps even more so concerned about due to the fact it is responsible for powering your PC.

I live in Australia and the GTX 275's and 4890's are pretty equal in pricing overall. Also, on another forum, someone recommended this card - although I haven't seen it anywhere retail yet:- MSI Radeon 4890 Cyclone SOC review (1GHz) http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-radeon-4...c-review-1ghz/6

Hey guys, I've done some googling and I'm slightly worried about what I'm reading about the Corsair PSU's. I've found quite a few people complaining of "buzzing" sounds coming from their Corsair PSU's - whether it'd be the TX or HX series. Some links:- http://www.driverheaven.net/hardware-discu...zing-sound.html http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=75330 http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=79675 http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1034414842 Dunno, just seems like the decision for a new PSU got harder

Hey guys, just an update, I'm also considering the Corsair TX850. The reason being it's only 6.25" in length (16cm). My current TPII 550W is 5.5" (14cm) in length. I have a feeling the HX850 or SG-850 units would be too long at 7.1" (18cm) length. Just quickly, whats the general thought on the TX850 - incase I go with that one? I've read some reviews, it seems to rate very well, although 2 things:- - one reviewer mentioned it can get hot under load - jonnyguru mentioned some loose heatsink screws. Edit: Forgot that the Seasonic M12D 850W is also 16cm length as well, so then it would bring up a Seasonic M12D vs Corsair TX850 comparison. The Seasonic is definately the higher priced one. Thanks for any feedback once again!

Hey guys, Some of you probably came across my thread in the Power Supplies forum where I mentioned I would go for a GTX 275, well, I'm actually tossing around between a 4890 or GTX 275. The problem is there's alot of different brands and ideally I'm looking for:- - an overclock over default GPU clock speed would be nice - nice cooling with a fan that isn't too noisy - good temperatures overall My current system is:- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66Ghz (stock) 4GB DDR2 RAM Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L Mobo 512MB Radeon HD 4850 Antec TruePower II 550W PSU (will be upgrading to an 850W PSU) My goal is to play at the native resolution of my 22" screen (1680x1050) with everything on MAX and AA if possible (im more than happy if 4AA can be pulled off). I don't want to spend the extra cash on a GTX 285 since DirectX 11 is on the horizon, plus I'm not playing at insanely high resolutions. I have been considering a few cards:- Gigabyte GV-N275UD-896I GTX275 896MB PCI-E 2.0 DDR3 512-bit 633/2268MHz, Dual Dual-Link DVI, HDMI, HDCP, Fan. (Gigabyte have seemingly customized the card a bit to make it more durable - plus I figured Gigabyte card with Gigabyte mobo would be a nice match) XFX 11X-GTX275-896X PCIe GTX275 896MB xXx GPU Clk: 670MHz, Shader Clk: 1404MHz (a minor overclock to GPU clock speed) XFX HD-489A-ZDDC PCIe HD4890 1GB xXx w/ HawX GPU Clk: 900MHz, Stream Processors: 800 (quite a nice overclock to GPU clock speed, but apparently has a noisy fan) XFX 11X-HD4890-1GBETCH PCIe HD4890 1GB Extreme w/ HawX GPU Clk: 875MHz, Stream Processors: 800 (a minor overclock) MSI R4890-T2D1G-OC ATI HD4890 PCI-E 2.0 1GB CORE 880MHZ MEMORY 3996MHZ DDR5 256-BIT (minor overclock) Then there are various 4890's at stock GPU clock speeds. My current HD 4850 512MB is one I purchased with the first wave that came out in June 2008 and the stock cooler and fan is quite poor. I guess the difficulty with all this is finding the right balance with temperatures/cooling efficiency and performance. Just FYI. Last week I purchased a Sapphire 1GB Vapor-X HD 4890 (factory overclocked to 870mhz) and have since returned it. This line of card seemingly has some issues and quite a few people are having problems with it - indicated as much at the Sapphire forums. So the Sapphire brand is off my list at this point. Any help or recommendations with this would be awesome. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm looking to invest in either a new 1TB or 1.5TB HDD. I've narrowed down the selection to the following:- Western Digital WD15EADS ***LEANING*** 1.5TB (1500G) 32M IntelliPower SATA2 Caviar Green Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB, 3.5" CUDA7200.12, 7200RPM, 32MB, SATA2 3.0GB/S, NCQ Western Digital WD10EADS 1TB (1000GB) CAVIAR GP 7200RPM SATAII 3.5" 32MB Western Digital WD1001FALS ***LEANING*** 1TB(1000GB) CAVIAR BLACK/7200RPM/SATA 3GB/s /32MB CACHE/3.5" I've got the Seagate on the list but I'm partially put off by the supposed firmware issues with the 7200.11's that they had. I've marked the ones I'm leaning towards getting in the 1TB or 1.5TB sizes. The 1.5TB Caviar Green will cost me about 40 dollars more than then 1TB Caviar Black and the 1TB Caviar Black costs around 15 to 20 dollars more than the 1TB Caviar GP. I think in the end they are all pretty similar with only some slight differences in the way they operate and their warranties.

Thanks heaps guys.

Hey all, Verran, I agree with you that 700 to 750W would be more enough. The reason I'm looking at the 850W range is because it comes down the question - do I want to pay an extra 40/50 dollars for an 850W PSU? For me, that extra 40 bucks or so for extra 100W is something I'm willing to go with - if anything to give me that *extra* piece of mind Thanks all once again for the help!

Thanks all once again The SeaSonic definately looks like an interesting choice. PSU's have definately changed since I got the TPII-550W. Back in January 2006 this was a very high-end PSU that I got, along with (at the time) a powerful 256MB 7800GTX and AMD X2 4200+ CPU Sorry for the total noob question here, but just want to confirm, with all this modular stuff in regards to PSU with the below image for example:- Any of the first 4 connectors (6 pin) from the left of the above image are for the PATA(Molex cable) and SATA cable connections, while of course the 2 on the right are for the 6 + 2 pin PCI-E cable connections? From what I've noticed this kinda seems to be the standard for the newer modular PSU's, although for some like Antec SG-850 they colour code the PCI-E connectors with a "red" color, while all the PATA/SATA ones are black.

hey guys, thanks for the replies. I was actually also considering the upgrade because the TPII 550W unit is already 3.5 years old. I purchased it way back in January 2006 with my previous system and carried it over to the new one which I got in July 2008. I figured, it might be getting a little old after such a long time. Personally, I'm not sure what kind of damages could be caused to system components if a PSU was to die - hopefully it wouldn't take anything with it. When I do go with one of the 850W units, I was leaning towards antec because the SG-850 unit is about 17 dollars cheaper, similar performance to HX850, plus my experience with the TPII 550W unit has been very good.

Hi all, I'm in the process of looking for a good portable USB 2.5" HDD around the 500GB range. I was interested in the:- Seagate ST905003FAM2E1-RK FreeAgent Go 2.5" 500GB USB2.0 8MB Cache(BLK) I was interested until I read about some of these problems people were having:- http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/messag...mp;thread.id=73 http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-repli...fm/1149729.html As you can imagine, reading about these kind of stories has put me off getting one of these. The other one I also am considering is the:- Western Digital WDME5000TA PASSPORT ESSENTIAL, USB2, 500GB, 5400RPM, 12ms (BLACK) I have very little knowledge about what have been good/proven portable HDD's, so just wondering what kind experiences you guys have had with any of the above and perhaps which you would recommend? Thanks in advance!

Hi all, Currently my system specs are:- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 2.66Ghz (stock) Corsair 2 x 2GB DDR2 RAM Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L MOBO 512MB Radeon HD 4850 Pioneer DVD-RW drive 1 120mm case fan 640GB WD HDD 22" LCD Screen Antec TruePower II 550W PSU Basically my goal is to play at 1680x1050 resolution which is native to the 22" screen, preferably with AA. I'm considering on upgrading the PSU (and video card - probably GeForce GTX 275) and want my PSU to also be "future proof" and be able to handle the next generation of DirectX 11 cards that will come in the near future. For this, I'm thinking about a good 850W PSU, and just wondering if you guys think that 850W will be enough for any single gpu configuration now or in the future. The PSU's I was thinking about are the Corsair HX850 and Antec SG-850. These 2 PSU's seem to come highly recommended...just wondering, given my current config (with the addition of one more HDD soon) will 850W do the trick? and what you guys think about these 2 particular brands/models of PSU? Thanks heaps for any advice and recommendations!

Hey guys, Thanks heaps for the replies. The whole thing with ESD, well, seeing as how different people had different recommendations it had me puzzled. What I can say is that in the motherboard manual, for instance, when dealing with say inserting a cpu it says to "turn off the power and unplug the power chord from the power outlet to prevent damage to the hardware". In general though it seems there are some people who keep it plugged in and some that don't. For those who keep it plugged in (and power off) get the "true ground" while those who don't have the PSU power chord plugged-in to the power outlet kinda "equalize" themselves with the case and components in it. I take it though, generally speaking, whether the PSU isn't plugged in or it is plugged in (and off) as long as you touch the non-painted metallic parts of the case (or PSU), both methods will give you a degree of safety, whether it'd be replacing a video card or even installing a motherboard.

Hi all! Just wondering if anyone could confirm if i've got my facts straight on several things when it comes to upgrading a new PC:- In regards to ESD:- Some places have said to touch the PSU and/or Metal case of the system that is not plugged into the power outlet - the instructions in the motherboard manual actually say to not only turn off the power, but also unplug the PSU's power plug from the power outlet too. Others have said to leave the PSU power plug plugged-in to the power outlet, but have the power turned off, since then this allows you to ground yourself since the PSU is actually plugged in. I'm just wondering if you were to upgrade say a video card, RAM modules or HDD (or handle any computer components in general), which is the best approach to take to ensure to discharge static electricity? What approach do you take and just wondering what has/hasn't worked. Also on this topic, my room has a timber floor with a small carpet on top. I've always rolled the carpet back before handling components since wood does not conduct electricity - from my understanding, but I'm still not sure which is the best way to ground myself. In regards to using 8-pin PCI-E connector for 6-pin video card:- Just wondering, some new PSU's (like Antec TPQ-850) have one or two PCI-E 8 pin connectors fixed to the PSU, if I was to install a 4890 that requires 2 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, could I just use the 2 8-pin connectors - but simply only connect the 6-pin portions of them and leave the 2 extra pins dangling on the side? or do I have to use one of the modular PCI-E 6-pin cables and connect them via that? I just ask, since if I could use 6 of the 8-pin PCI-E which are already fixed to PSU and it would cut down on cabling. In regards to using molex "FAN ONLY" connections for case fan:- At the moment, I have a single case fan plugged in via a Molex connection to the Antec TrueControl 2.0 550W PSU. On the Molex power connection it has "FAN ONLY" written on it, just wondering, if a new PSU does not indicate fan only on any of it's Molex power connectors, can the fan be plugged into any old Molex power connector then? In regards to general HDD safety:- Just also wondering in general if putting my case on the side (since I find it easier to take out and insert video cards this way) is harmful for the HDD? I'm always super careful, but just curious if that can have a negative effect on the HDD.. Hope this isn't a too long a read! But any help, tips, etc would be great. I'm trying to learn what I can and some of the things like ESD in particular have me slightly worried. Thanks.