oldgoat99

I've been burned a couple times on used parts. Even with a guarantee it's a pita to do a return and get a refund. I think I'm going with a GTX 660 which can be had for $130 after MIR. Power supply requirement seems low. From what I remember from 5 years ago, the graphics cards were more power hungry back then than they are now, no? It looks like it will work well with my 620W power supply. I appreciate all your inputs. Thanks

ok, like this one?... [RANT] I hate shopping graphics cards! It's worse than shopping used cars. Model numbers don't mean crap. At least with cars when you look at them you can almost always count on the model as an indication of power. For example if you see a car with a model number ES200 and another model ES350 you can assume the ES350 is going to have more power or at least it will be an upgrade from the ES200. Not so with graphics cards, they're all over the place. [/RANT] I guess that's why there are forums with experts.

I need a new video Card. Budget is $150, preferably less. What would you recommend? System specs below. Thanks

ok, yeah, I had the DVD out of the loop for booting which apparently was causing the BOOT MGR missing problem. Now the ssd is not being recognized by the on-board sata 3 controller. In the bios I see the 6 sata 2 ports but nothing about any sata 3 ports? So, do I download and install the latest bios or just plug the ssd into a sata 2 port and be done with it? I appreciate your help.

I decided to upgrade my system with more memory and an SSD. I didn't have a sata 3 cable so I installed it using sata 2 and it worked fine. After I got a sata 3 cable I plugged it into a sata 3 port and shortly after power up I get "BOOTMGR Missing". I bought another cable and tried it with the same results. So I installed windows 7 on one of my old drives and tried to see if the SSD would be seen by either of the internal sata 3 ports and... nada. If I lug it into a sata2 port and it sees it fine. So, a couple questions. 1. Will sata 3 make it much faster? 2. I read somewhere that the sata 3 controller on the p6x58d is crap. Would a sata 3 adapter plugged into a PCI Express slot be the way to go? And if yes, does it matter which one? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I worked in the semiconductor industry for over 30 years and KNOW how chips are manufactured. Before the chips are encapsulated in plastic or whatever covering is used, the production operator injects a small amount of smoke into the device. This smoke is like the life blood of the unit and if for some reason it escapes, it's NOT a good thing. If the smoke is let out the device it usually becomes non-functional. Letting the smoke out can be caused by a number of reasons.

Yes, thanks for posting that link. I like it too. Ordered it today. I am concerned about the amount of noise generated by my new system so that was a factor in my choice. It looks like it will work fine for my needs. Thanks for the offer. You don't have any old i7 processors you don't want do you? And, thanks to everyone for their inputs. By last night my brain was fried from looking at all the options.

It's time for me to upgrade... I plan to build a medium-high end i7 PC to replage my 5 yr old Dell. I do some video and graphics editing + flash authoring. I have an HP w2338h 1920x1080) monitir with a standard Video-In and HDMI (no DVI). I would appreciate some input on what GPU I really need. I suspect I don't need to spend a lot on a video card but hope maybe someone here could provide some direction. I know "What's your budget?' Well, I don't have a budget but I don't want to spend more than necessary. Thanks...