Buying new w/c components and need suggestions

[WarYur]

YES!  Watercool did write back and told me that they knew that Aquatuning was out of that block and that they were on the process of making them now and that they should have some in "a few days".   Unfortunately I had already told Aquatuning to go ahead and do a refund yesterday and so now that money is in limbo somewhere.  LOL, Impatient we were...  Sorry am I. 

Anyway I just wrote Aquatuning back and asked if they couldn't just rebill me through PayPal when the block does come in but I am not sure if they will do that or not.

So what did you think of the mod that skinneelabs did to the HK 3 block they were testing to get better temps?  Think it's a good idea to do that?

[Dark Mantis]

It seemed to work better after the customisation but don't forget these are the lower end blocks not the one you have ordered. I really don't think I would bother doing that unless my temps were reaching the critical point. Also skinnee is using a lot of water pressure compared to most people.

[WarYur]

Yes, I noticed all of the pumps he had going and extra everything to boot...   Sure wish a had A CPU water block!     LOL, I almost burned my laptop up last night playing a new game on Steam.  I really thought it was a goner there for awhile but I finally found the trouble and got it back up and running again.  Phew!  Out of the blue my system starts to shut down during the game and the temps were upwards of 80*C on the i7 Q740 in this rig.  When I booted it back up the CPU was still running at 50% and the temps were still way up there and the CPU which has Turboboost was well over what it's maximum frequency should have been at around 2.7 Ghz!  EEK!   I couldn't figure it out right then and there so i went to bed. 

This morning with a fresh outlook I opened up the Task Manager and found this program or whatever called PresetationFontCache was running to beat the band so then I went online and luckily found a fix for it which of course was simply turning it off and deleting everything attached to it but I still can't figure out what turned it on in the first place besides the obvious (the game).

I think I need to go and take a look at the game's forum on Steam before I fire it up again tonight.  Oh, the game was (is) called "Hydrophobia: Prophecy"

[Aussie Allan]

 Laptop stands with USB fans work a treat and cheap.......I've done reviews on a couple including phase-change mats..........they all work!  tilt the keyboard forward a touch too making for better access to the keyboard!

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

I think I need to go and take a look at the game's forum on Steam before I fire it up again tonight.  Oh, the game was (is) called "Hydrophobia: Prophecy"

Hydrophobia if I remember right is Rabies!

[WarYur]

Ya I have a three fan (120mm) aluminum NZXT underneath my laptop but I had NO idea what to buy when I got that one.  I should probably change out the stock fans one of these days too but just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Hey, it's on the list though...  I will have to go and take a look at your reviews though Allen.  Where might said reviews be located?  Now Phase Change would be pretty cool!  (pun intended).  I was wondering how I could OC the Intel Q740M in this thing.

 I don't know though now I am thinking I should have my head examined for buying a Toshiba (sorry Toshiba) because there hasn't been even one driver update for the gforce GTX 460M in it.  At first we couldn't install the WHQL drivers from the nvidia site becasue while trying to install them a little note would come up that we should go to the Toshiba site to download graphics drivers becasue of how they integrate everything along with the way it goes to sleep when you close the lid and other stuff.  There was quite a talk up on their forum on this subject and finally a few of us found out by trial and error that we could install beta drivers for some reason.

I guess there is another way to get around Toshiba and alter some files in the nvidia folders to make them install on these machines but after installing the beta driver the next time I tried the WHQL and the darn thing installed great and so now we can be up to date on the graphics end of things.

Toshiba sells these laptops as a gaming laptop and then never upgrades their graphics drivers and that is ludicrous since nvidia puts out newer drivers with the coming of newer games usually.  That way you can run the games, faster, better, brighter...  You know the drill.

DM you are so right...

hy·dro·pho·bi·a

noun /ˌhīdrəˈfōbēə/ 

    Extreme or irrational fear of water, esp. as a symptom of rabies in humans

I guess this game is a remake that never made it to the shelves and I am beginning to see why.  It could be a great game if they would stop with all of the pause for a short clip things that are going on.  It is visually pretty good but I began playing once again last night and it just disappeared from my screen with no errors and so I changed to Fallout; New Vegas for a while.  I never get tired of the Fallout series and they should be coming out with a new DLC here on the 15th I believe.  LOL, you can sure tell I am not married eh? 

Man, I was looking at the new Z68 boards GB is now putting out and now I want one of those!  Oh well, you have to always expect stuff like that to happen any time you buy something new a few weeks/months later something twice as good comes out.  I probably should have waited for socket 2012 to come out or the one after that but I can't think of what that one is right now. I usually skip one new thing before getting new stuff.  I hope that nvidia comes out with something newer pretty soon but i guess the 500 series is still fairly new.

I see you prefer ATI, are they better cards or is that just a preferential thing?

[Dark Mantis]

I think you mean socket  LGA2011 actually!

The AMD Radeon cards in my opinion are better as they are more stable, quieter and don't get so hot. They also tend to be a bit cheaper. Probably if you want brute force power then the nVidia cards are slightly in front but not by any amount. I like the dependability of the Radeons and the fact that they don't fry anything within a 10 foot radius. Their power requirement is not so high either. Then there is the Eyfinity which as soon as I can afford another huge monitor I will enable and enjoy no end. All in all better cards I think.

[Aussie Allan]

I think you mean socket  LGA2011 actually!

The AMD Radeon cards in my opinion are better as they are more stable, quieter and don't get so hot. They also tend to be a bit cheaper. Probably if you want brute force power then the nVidia cards are slightly in front but not by any amount. I like the dependability of the Radeons and the fact that they don't fry anything within a 10 foot radius. Their power requirement is not so high either. Then there is the Eyfinity which as soon as I can afford another huge monitor I will enable and enjoy no end. All in all better cards I think.

 Some say tomata, ... some say tomutu , I don't have Half of DMs experience and Knowledge but I know it really comes down to personal taste and application, if your mainly gaming Either brand will produce excellent results .... But if you change your main workload to include say editing ... "CUDA"  ( accelerated Mercury Playback Engine)   is like a dishwasher! ... Once you use it , you'll never go back.

  Sure they run hot, you just have to treat them like a Nuclear Reactor and throw plenty of water at them, Utilizing CPU and GPU at the same time to accelerate software,... if set-up properly is Magic on a 27" Monitor ..................It's part of the Future I'm sure!

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I am sure that you are right there. They each have their strengths and depending on which you value more is which way you go. Just a shame you can't install both at the same time!

[WarYur]

DM, I thought that there was a way that you could install both but perhaps I am getting something mixed up there.  We have observed that it is possible that I can do that!    Like saying 2012 rather than 2011 which of course  IS what I meant.  Hey, I DO have several great excuses...  

I have pretty much always bought geforce so I guess it turned into a habit.  You are SO right about the heat though.  I called my last rig the fireplace because during the winter all I had to do to get warm was sit near my PC , monitor, and battery back-up and I could be nice and toasty in a very short period of time.  Those GTX 480's are especially hot and the more when OCed.  I guess they turned the heat down a bit in the 500 series. Maybe the next round of nvidia cards they will get it right.  

I get to buy whatever that is too. That is IF I am able to save the money up in time.  I try and skip a new technology each time something radically different comes out like in the CPU and graphics cards.  It seems all the other components in our PC's don't have the rivalry that AMD/Intel, and ATI/nvidia does.  It's too bad too because I would wish for sound card companies to have some competition going on. If you have ever tried to use

Not that there isn't any competition between motherboards and other parts but obviously the graphics and CPU industries are the most competitive and we get to enjoy the outcomes.  It's great now though being able to play any game out there just about on the very highest settings and/or in 3D as well.  I thought I read where nvidia's 3D surround was somewhat better than ATI's Eyefinity(?)  As AA said though, you have a much better understanding of what is better and why than I do DM but hey, what's wrong with brute force?    

I only have the one Acer GD235HZS 23.6" 1080P at 120hz.  After I went and saw "Avatar" in 3D I was sold though and went and bought that nvidia 3D kit and the Acer monitor although I wish that I would have held out for one of the other ones that were coming out at the time (I can't remember the names of the monitors I was looking at right now but I have been really happy with the Acer anyway).  It would be pretty neat to have 3 of them though no matter which graphics card you were doing 3D in.  Actually I do have other monitors but none that work together for 3D vision.  My apartment wasn't built the right way for me to have the room for three monitors across my desk anyway with all the other "stuff" I have on there.  Now what I would like to have would be three 55" 3D capable flat screens in either eyefinity or 3D vision!  Talk about immersion!

[Dark Mantis]

Now what I would like to have would be three 55" 3D capable flat screens in either eyefinity or 3D vision!  Talk about immersion!

It is something that I have sat and imagined also. However I think that would need a bit of "brute force" for that sort of display.

Of course at the moment we are in the part of the cycle where the hardware is driving the software unlike a few years ago where it was the other way around. Now the software is trying to utilise all the power the hardware has put at it's disposal but still can't manage it, although I am sure it won't be long before some new innovation comes along that will eat up all the spare Ghz available.

[WarYur]

I am sure you are right.  Interesting that you had also thought of the huge displays.  I was at a magazine and book store earlier today to get a Latte and was reading their PC mags and saw a Samsung conglomeration of a bunch of panels hooked together as one huge monitor and they were reviewing it but it only got a 7 out of 10.  I don't think I would like something like that because all of the panels edges can be seen so it wouldn't be as immersive as I would want it to be.  I'm happy with my little 23.5" Acer 1080P and 120Hz for 3D gaming although it would be nice to have three of them.  Doesn't look that will happen any time soon for me though...