Recent content by jgortner

"Once you decide you need a graphics upgrade, you will have thrown away the big benefit of an apu" I don't get this. These chips are faster and cheaper than their counterparts. What exactly am I throwing away here by getting the APUs?

Howdy! I am going to be doing a from scratch build with the new AMD 2400G APU. However, I've read that current / existing motherboards will require a BIOS update to use. But how am I supposed to update the BIOS if I don't have a CPU that works with it? Or do motherboards not require a CPU in...

And just to confirm, getting the 3 GB 580 won't help future proof me at all yes? Basically for my setup the extra ram provides essentally NO benefit even for future game releases. As a note it would cost me an extra $130 to get the extra ram.

Sorry I missed that! Just being devil's advocate as much as I can =) Meant no disrespect. And thanks again for all your advice and help! At this point I am thinking the 580 1.5 GB in lieu of all the advice, the fact that I will not be playing on multiple monitors, or at a resolution higher...

These benchmarks reflect games with the eye candy NOT turned up. Which is why I think the difference is little, no?

You can play Metro 2033 at absolute MAX at 1080P with playable / smooth framerates on a 480?

Yes, but the focus of this topic is game quality: so what settings are you playing at? Ultra? The whole point is I want to be able to turn all the quality settings to max!

Thanks for the replies so far! But please keep in mind a dual GPU option is not an option for me. So welsh, your saying that all those options games give you, like higher character textures, animations, etc. don't tax a GPU's VRAM? It's on the GPU processor?

By the way here is what I'll be paying through my vendor so you can take into account price difference: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX) (EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR) [+$186] More Info1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 2.5GB (Includes PhysX) (EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR) [+$227] More...

All, I have been feverishly and meticulously reading, researching, and reviewing for weeks now. I've made my decision which cards are options for me but one thing is left standing: the card's memory. How does video memory effect what options I can turn up in games? Animation detail? AA...

From what I am reading I don't think I need a Z68 board if I am running a SSD only system, no?

Which Z68 do you mean? Can you give the full model number or a link to description?

Thanks for the feedback! No storage drive needed. Don't have much data and all else is in the cloud.

Hi All, Been a while since I build my own computer. Just wanted to check and see if everything is compatable and works with everything else I bought! Loved this site for years but this is my first time posting so thanks in advance! Corsair Carbide Series 400R Gaming Case MSI P67A-GD55 (B3)...