Should my computer run BattleField 3?

[Esoteric]

Can you still cancel your order?

Building is waaaay cheaper and you can use higher quality materials.

I had a horrible experience buying a top of the line dell about 2.5 years ago, and decided to build - WAY BETTER choice.

I hate Dell, there customer service and there products, and because of the horrible expriences I will never use them again for a PC or laptop.

[mesaywee]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Can you still cancel your order?

Building is waaaay cheaper and you can use higher quality materials.

I had a horrible experience buying a top of the line dell about 2.5 years ago, and decided to build - WAY BETTER choice.

I hate Dell, there customer service and there products, and because of the horrible expriences I will never use them again for a PC or laptop.

I've heard that dell has really picked up their game recently with their new XPS. The system looks amazing as it is though. The processor is great and the ram and hardrive don't hurt either. I'm not going to cancel my order, im just going to get the stock graphics card and then upgrade it when it arrives.

Does this look like my ideal card?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814161372

[Hack&Lube]

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...X&promoid=1310

$230.59 after rebate if you buy today.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Basically all you need to do is figure out where the FSB setting is in your motherboard's BIOS and change that setting from AUTO (which is 266) to 333 and you should easily be at 3.0GHz immediately as long as your ram is DDR2-667 or better (which almost everybody will be). Try that setting out and tell me if it works for you or not!

That's kinda what I thought it was, just wanted to make sure there was not other considerations.

[Esoteric]

Originally Posted by mesaywee

I've heard that dell has really picked up their game recently with their new XPS. The system looks amazing as it is though. The processor is great and the ram and hardrive don't hurt either. I'm not going to cancel my order, im just going to get the stock graphics card and then upgrade it when it arrives.

Fair enough, I'm sure that it'll work well for you.

One thing I'd recommend is reformatting it as soon as it comes. That way you can have a fresh install and you won't have all of the preloaded Dell software to impede with your computer's performance.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Rathji

That's kinda what I thought it was, just wanted to make sure there was not other considerations.

There are other considerations but going to 3 or 3.2GHz should be easy and you won't need to mess with voltages, ram dividers, and all the advanced things like vdroop, cpu termination, etc. If it's unstable, just give the CPU or chipset a slight voltage boost.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There are other considerations but going to 3 or 3.2GHz should be easy and you won't need to mess with voltages, ram dividers, and all the advanced things like vdroop, cpu termination, etc. If it's unstable, just give the CPU or chipset a slight voltage boost.

IIRC one thing I do is set the PCIe at 100 because as you raise the clock speed the PCIe speed also increases if it's set on auto, which can be a little dangerous. Also on my MB, the ram speed will increase as you raise the clock speed so this may have to be adjusted down as well, so the ram isn't running beyond it's capabilities.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There are other considerations but going to 3 or 3.2GHz should be easy and you won't need to mess with voltages, ram dividers, and all the advanced things like vdroop, cpu termination, etc. If it's unstable, just give the CPU or chipset a slight voltage boost.

Seems some of my RAM is 333Mhz, which blows my mind. Give what you said about needing 667Mhz, there isnt anyway I can do it without replacing that RAM?

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

If you are feeling adventurous, many 6950s can be unlocked into fully working 6970s by either flashing a new bios onto them or bridging two pins on an IC on the board.

While this worked flawlessly for the first 3-4 months of use, my 6950 started to crash/give artifacts, so I had to dial down the overclocking from the 6970 level to something in between.

Too easy for a performance increase so I'm still doing it at the risk of reducing the life of the card, but your mileage may vary.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Seems some of my RAM is 333Mhz, which blows my mind. Give what you said about needing 667Mhz, there isnt anyway I can do it without replacing that RAM?

DDR (double data rate) means that you double the speed so your ram is actually running 667.

It is very unlikely you have DDR2 ram that only runs 333. That would be DDR2-166 ram (PC2-2600) which I don't think even exists.

Remember the default FSB for the Q6600 is 266 anyway so that in itself requires ram that runs at at least 533MHz so you must have that at least. I'm guessing you actually have DDR2-667.

Run CPU-Z and tell me what the memory tab says.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Fair enough, I'm sure that it'll work well for you.

One thing I'd recommend is reformatting it as soon as it comes. That way you can have a fresh install and you won't have all of the preloaded Dell software to impede with your computer's performance.

I bought my fiance a Dell XPS laptop last Cyber Monday when they had a big sale, and the thing has run great since we've got it. Absolutely 0 complaints about the system and what Dell installed on it. You tell certain dell programs not to start with Windows, and the others are linked to touch buttons on the top of the keyboard so I leave them running. One of them allows you to access pretty much all the system controls in one stroke, so kudos to Dell for making THAT one!

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

DDR (double data rate) means that you double the speed so your ram is actually running 667.

It is very unlikely you have DDR2 ram that only runs 333. That would be DDR2-166 ram (PC2-2600) which I don't think even exists.

Remember the default FSB for the Q6600 is 266 anyway so that in itself requires ram that runs at at least 533MHz so you must have that at least. I'm guessing you actually have DDR2-667.

Run CPU-Z and tell me what the memory tab says.

Thats what I ran to get the 333, but I might have been looking at the wrong field in my rush. Will check again in a bit.

edit: Yep the frequency is listed as 332.1 Mhz, but I never even considered that it was DDR2. Thanks

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Thats what I ran to get the 333, but I might have been looking at the wrong field in my rush. Will check again in a bit.

edit: Yep the frequency is listed as 332.1 Mhz, but I never even considered that it was DDR2. Thanks

Yep, you take that number and multiply it by two. You should be safe to overclock to 3GHz at least by changing the FSB to 333MHz. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100MHz frequency. I forgot some motherboards don't do this automatically.

In case all goes wrong and your PC won't post, you need to locate the bios reset jumper and pull it out and put it back in. You can alternatively pop out the battery.

[mesaywee]

So I removed the Radeon HD 6870 from my order and got the stock video card. The Radeon cost $250 with dell so i'm looking to spend around that, wouldn't mind going to 270 or something.

I would like to order from newegg but I'm nervous about getting a card compatible with my machine. Sorry, I just know very little about hardware.

I would like to purchase it from newegg and take it to laptop depot or something similar to have it installed. Somewhere with a warranty if it fries my system.

What are your guys suggestions?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by mesaywee

So I removed the Radeon HD 6870 from my order and got the stock video card. The Radeon cost $250 with dell so i'm looking to spend around that, wouldn't mind going to 270 or something.

I would like to order from newegg but I'm nervous about getting a card compatible with my machine. Sorry, I just know very little about hardware.

I would like to purchase it from newegg and take it to laptop depot or something similar to have it installed. Somewhere with a warranty if it fries my system.

What are your guys suggestions?

I already posted my suggestion yesterday for the $230 card (regular $290) that was on sale but the sale is over now. Why do you insist on Newegg?

$250 for a 6870 was not a good deal, I'm glad you cancelled it. The other day, NCIX had a 6870 on sale for $144.99 (sale is over again). My only concern is that you get the same motherboard if you chose the stock videocard because the stock graphics is probably built into the CPU (the i7 has an IGP). Hopefully it is the same board and it has a PCI-E slot.

Why would you take a desktop computer to laptop depot to install a desktop videocard? Do they warranty their work? How much do they charge? There is no way you can fry it, it is very easy. It takes like 20 seconds to take out the old card and put a new one in and plug in the power. I installed 10 cards yesterday!

Why not buy a card from Memory Express with price match +5% to NCIX or Newegg and get them to install it? They'll gladly do it, maybe even for free. They mount CPUs onto motherboards for free (but I guess that's when you buy both from them).

[mesaywee]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I already posted my suggestion yesterday for the $230 card (regular $290) that was on sale but the sale is over now. Why do you insist on Newegg?

$250 for a 6870 was not a good deal, I'm glad you cancelled it. The other day, NCIX had a 6870 on sale for $144.99 (sale is over again). My only concern is that you get the same motherboard if you chose the stock videocard because the stock graphics is probably built into the CPU (the i7 has an IGP). Hopefully it is the same board and it has a PCI-E slot.

Why would you take a desktop computer to laptop depot to install a desktop videocard? Do they warranty their work? How much do they charge? There is no way you can fry it, it is very easy. It takes like 20 seconds to take out the old card and put a new one in and plug in the power. I installed 10 cards yesterday!

Why not buy a card from Memory Express with price match +5% to NCIX or Newegg and get them to install it? They'll gladly do it, maybe even for free. They mount CPUs onto motherboards for free (but I guess that's when you buy both from them).

Sorry, by laptop depot I did in fact mean memory express. So what you're saying is I can go to memory express, choose the card I want and they will price match it to a website? Thats amazing.

And to address your concerns about the motherboard I believe i'm fine. The stock video card is a AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3.

I insisted on newegg because I've actually never heard of NCIX. I'm sure its a reliable service but i'd feel more comfortable dealing with newegg. But now it seems like memory express will be my place of choice.

Was looking at this
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...32579(ME).aspx

Whats your opinion?

Memory express has it for cheaper than newegg.

EDIT: Just read that this card is massive, doubt a stock dell case could handle such a thing. Perhaps what i'll do is go into memory express the day I get my computer and see what they recommend.

[Esoteric]

Buy from Memory Express - Price match any online site in Canada, and they beat it by 25%!

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...ault.aspx?cc=1

They're definitely the cheapest in town!

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

Buy from Memory Express - Price match any online site in Canada, and they beat it by 25%!

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...ault.aspx?cc=1

They're definitely the cheapest in town!

25% of the difference I wish it was 25% of the full price.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by mesaywee

Sorry, by laptop depot I did in fact mean memory express. So what you're saying is I can go to memory express, choose the card I want and they will price match it to a website? Thats amazing.

And to address your concerns about the motherboard I believe i'm fine. The stock video card is a AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3.

I insisted on newegg because I've actually never heard of NCIX. I'm sure its a reliable service but i'd feel more comfortable dealing with newegg. But now it seems like memory express will be my place of choice.

Was looking at this
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...32579(ME).aspx

Whats your opinion?

Memory express has it for cheaper than newegg.

EDIT: Just read that this card is massive, doubt a stock dell case could handle such a thing. Perhaps what i'll do is go into memory express the day I get my computer and see what they recommend.

NCIX is in Vancouver. They are better than Newegg because Newegg.ca often ships from California or Ontario.

Just tell us which computer you have already, not just what's inside Then we actually know what we are dealing with.

[mesaywee]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

NCIX is in Vancouver. They are better than Newegg because Newegg.ca often ships from California or Ontario.

Just tell us which computer you have already, not just what's inside Then we actually know what we are dealing with.

The computer is a dell XPS 8300, there are two versions. One with 8 gigs and one with 12. I bought the twelve because it came with a free HD 24" monitor.

I've been focused on the 6950 2 GB. I'll be going to memory express tomorrow to talk it over with them and see what they recommend.