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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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Senior Member
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23. December 2012 @ 03:59 |
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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23. December 2012 @ 06:07 |
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I have one 3TB Red, so far so good I suppose, although I haven't had it very long. Main issues I've had have been wrestling with 3TB drives in a controller that doesn't support them.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 10:39 |
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Finally got my new side panel on. Works wonderfully. My video cards now load at previous idle temps... They can obviously handle the heat but DAMN do they run cooler with an intake fan. Will post internal shots at some point I'm sure. Probably next time I have it open ie when my 1090T is purchased and being installed. BTW the fan placement is functionally perfect though I might have dropped it half an inch to concentrate more flow on the bottom card. Bottom card runs cooler anyway so meh. Still allows more airflow to it. Everything runs drastically cooler with it in place which was the original goal.
And for those of you who want to see my ugly mug :P
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8678/dsc00164vk.jpg
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 24. December 2012 @ 11:00
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 13:35 |
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Nice mug :p
I really wanna replace the 230mm side fan, and go with quad 120mm fans. But since I don't want to add another fan controller. I'd have to go with low Rpm fans. I wonder what would do an excellent job, without being too noisy?
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 15:01 |
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Cooler Master case fans are reasonable. Not the best airflow but still decent and relatively good noise characteristics. Work well enough and cheap, so not a big risk to experiment.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 16:03 |
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To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 16:11 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Nice mug :p
I really wanna replace the 230mm side fan, and go with quad 120mm fans. But since I don't want to add another fan controller. I'd have to go with low Rpm fans. I wonder what would do an excellent job, without being too noisy?
I used to use four of these, but they were a lot cheaper than that!
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. December 2012 @ 20:17 |
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Guess I'll wait for a sale ;) More than likely with my tax return anyhow!
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
Senior Member
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25. December 2012 @ 05:42 |
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Merry Christmas guys
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Senior Member
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25. December 2012 @ 10:39 |
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Originally posted by Deadrum33:
Anyone have first hand experience with these 2TB WD Red drives?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236343
Running out of space on home media server, currently at 4x1GB RAID5 i want 4 of these REDs (merry X-mas to me) to replace it.
Merry X-mas to all, and i went ahead with my purchase. I am on work vacation till the 2nd so i should be able to receive these and rebuild my array before then.
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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25. December 2012 @ 13:04 |
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its about GD time someone brings Variable RPM drives to the civilian market.
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. December 2012 @ 15:47 |
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WD Green/Red drives are not RPM variable and never have been.
'Between 5400 and 7200rpm' is a marketing ploy - the drives spin at 5410rpm, so the article isn't false, it just gives the false impression they're variable spin speed drives.
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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25. December 2012 @ 17:28 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
WD Green/Red drives are not RPM variable and never have been.
'Between 5400 and 7200rpm' is a marketing ploy - the drives spin at 5410rpm, so the article isn't false, it just gives the false impression they're variable spin speed drives.
well that's crap, so what does the red drive actually do that the green cant? all i'm getting by what you've just said and a side by side is the red drives appear to be slower spinning black drives
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 This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. December 2012 @ 17:32
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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25. December 2012 @ 17:51 |
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Originally posted by DXR88:
Originally posted by sammorris:
WD Green/Red drives are not RPM variable and never have been.
'Between 5400 and 7200rpm' is a marketing ploy - the drives spin at 5410rpm, so the article isn't false, it just gives the false impression they're variable spin speed drives.
well that's crap, so what does the red drive actually do that the green cant? all i'm getting by what you've just said and a side by side is the red drives appear to be slower spinning black drives
Red drives are built to a slightly higher standard that leaves them slightly better suited to the 24/7 usage environment of a NAS/home server (but Greens weren't that badly suited), and as far as I can tell, also support use in RAID, whereas Greens do not.
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25. December 2012 @ 17:53 |
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Green drives aren't built for RAID/NAS but you used to be able to flash them to get them to work. So yes, they are either slow black drives or fully functional greens depending how you look at things.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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25. December 2012 @ 17:56 |
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I agree with Sam. I have no beef with the green drives. I wouldn't mind trying a Red drive, but since the greens have been reliable (TOUCH WOOD), I really don't see the need :p
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
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25. December 2012 @ 18:04 |
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Originally posted by Deadrum33:
Green drives aren't built for RAID/NAS but you used to be able to flash them to get them to work. So yes, they are either slow black drives or fully functional greens depending how you look at things.
well my glass is always half empty, to say its half full requires vast amounts of optimism.
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25. December 2012 @ 18:08 |
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Originally posted by Deadrum33:
Green drives aren't built for RAID/NAS but you used to be able to flash them to get them to work. So yes, they are either slow black drives or fully functional greens depending how you look at things.
The Red drives share very little in common with the Blacks, they are derivatives of Greens. Even the manufacturing serial numbers are very similar -
One of my WD30EZRX Mk. II drives has a serial beginning WMC1T04594..
My WD30EFRX (Red) 's serial begins WMC1T08465...
Compare this to a WD30EZRX Mk. I and it's totally different - WMAZW04318...
(Mk.I / Mk.II Denotes the large casing 4x750GB original model versus the standard casing 3x1TB newer model that started production a few months ago)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. December 2012 @ 18:09
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harvardguy
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25. December 2012 @ 22:58 |
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I don't have anything to add to the hard drive discussion, but ....
Quote:
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Yuletide, and so on....
Stevo
I second that motion - have a good time all!
Originally posted by Sam:
Rich: I know about 8 or 9 people who owned Medusa headphones. Every single one had to do soldering on a regular basis to keep them operational. I believe all of them, perhaps except one, have now all moved onto higher quality headsets.
Well, in a way that's good news - the part about "Soldering will keep them working." They are easy to take apart - so I'll just cannibalize from one to keep the other operational - I didn't see any replacement 30mm speakers available on google research. (If I missed something - please link me.) Yes, eventually I'll move on up - maybe to the really pricey ones with speakers on top and sound tubes leading down to each ear.
Originally posted by ddp:
harvardguy, don't drop the soldering iron when it is hot on the family jewels.
DDP, been soldering in the buff again? Like Kevin, I'm at a total loss for words. :P
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Far Cry 3 still amazes me. I know this is the builder thread, not the gaming thread, but ..... Here are a few shots for any computer builder who wants to create a powerful enough rig to play this superlative game, at 24" gaming, or at 30" gaming 2560x1600, which is my setup.
You will need a somewhat modern PC, and also sli or crossfire multiple video cards depending on your resolution.
Graphically the game is just so stunning - it is Crysis on steroids. I have to fight the urge to take screenshots everywhere I turn.
I have never played a more beautiful game.
MSI afterburner logging for about 40 minutes shows me that it runs with my 3 gigs of vram buffers completely full. I'm sure 2 gigs will be fine for 24" gaming. The textures all over the map are incredible.
Incredible textures, incredible sunsets, incredible rainy weather with lightning, incredible water.
Jeff talked about the clunky controls, but I have gotten used to them. Small price to pay. I am now down in the southern islands and they supply dune buggies more often than quads - and there are plenty of dune buggy jumps built into the map. As shown below, it's not so tropical - but still pretty countryside - more reminiscent of Far Cry 2.
I have found where they keep the hidden folder with the game saves, and I can go back in time whenever I want to - whenever I get the urge to have some fierce battles. I wiped out the pirates on the northern islands before I thought about the saves - I was left with better weapons, but nobody to fight, lol - so I am not making that mistake again.
My new favorite weapon is one of what they call "signature weapons" which they customize in addition to adding a flamboyant paint job. Contrast the "Ripper" shown below with the generic LMG (light machine gun) shown above.
This Ripper carries a 200 round clip, 400 rounds total, and spews out lead at 15 rounds per second versus 1/2 that rate for a regular LMG. The bullets are $3 each - that's $1200 if you empty the ammo in one firefight, and you might have to do a lot to earn that kind of money - so by charging for the bullets they add an interesting economy to the game, like Counter Strike.
Oh, and by the way, fire is even better than Far Cry 2 - VERY realistic, and it propogates rapidly.
The new southern islands privateers are much tougher than the pirates, and there are lots of heavies as well in super thick armor. The AI is great - they throw grenades now into suspicious bushes - and they attack very aggressively. The battles are challenging.
But the new extra-strength sniper rifle kills a heavy with a head shot - THAT makes things simpler. i carry the ripper, but I try not to use that unless I have to, as I said, the ammo is $3 a bullet, and you can go through $1200 in one firefight. So I mostly try to limit myself one of the assault rifles which pick up ammo from dead guy weapons. Add to that bow plus sniper rifle, that's my 4-weapon loadout. You can always change weapons at any safe house.
Last night I fought a bandit stronghold and died about 4 times, so by the 4th round I was kind of ticked off, and more in a run and gun mood, no more Mr. Movies, I mean, no more Mr. Nice Guy. I barreled in there, stealthily arrowed the fixed machine gunner, arrowed the sniper above him, to get those two key guys out of the way before all hell broke loose, then I noisily shot the bear cage apart and killed the 4 pesky attack dogs. Then while the bear was busy, I tore into the building, trying to plant a few mines on the stairs.
It was some great action - the thinned-out enemy ranks (courtesy of bear)
had some guys lobbing grenades into the 2nd story room while others tried to rush the door. Then the helicopter tried to find me through a window until I tagged it with a grenade arrow.
It blew apart which is what I hoped would happen, since I didn't have a rocket launcher with me. Vehicles explode magnificently in this game - they removed all the stops - I love it!
And just in case you think it's all shooting and bedlam, don't get the wrong idea. There is everything to do in this game other than killing people. There is archery, there is wave running, there is dune buggy or quad 4-runner racing, and lots of pistol shooting, shotgun, sniper, rocket launcher, everything!
Gurgle gurgle! Here I'm underwater swimming with a manta ray.
It's good to keep a lookout for sharks when you do this. As you can see, I have 32 seconds left on my 40 second deep diving syringe - but not to worry - when I start gasping I can take another syringe and keep doing that for a total of 8 minutes under water! The definition is not as great - you're under water without a mask after all - but the adventure makes up for it!
Here's what a manta looks like, up front and personal. Kind of goofy - I didn't know that.
Again, for anybody reading this builder thread, you will need to build a strong rig, plus sli or crossfire, and I recommend one of the new Nvidia cards, or the top 7000 family AMD cards, 7970 or 7950. Estuansis is going to try it with a couple of 2-gig 6000 family cards - maybe that will work also. We'll wait to hear when Jeff reports back.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
I need some advice:
My new recent graphics card overclock suddenly began failing. My rock solid overclock has always been 975 core, 1350 memory, and vddc 1087. That is still rock solid. But lately I was trying for some extra fluidity for Far Cry 3, especially for racing around in the quad 4-wheel vehicles, or in the water on the wave runners.
So by tweaking the vddc above my 1087 up to 1131, I got 10 hours of gameplay at 1050 core clock - but that was before the weekend. All of a sudden, that 1050 ceased to be stable, and now it fails within 10 minutes, even upping the vddc to 1150 (my temps are still low in the 70s - it's cold here so the computer is running cool.)
I can't get it above 1000, but that was stable for 8 hours yesterday.
So I have a question for you guys. I am running 1350 memory clock as I mentioned. Is it possible that too slow of memory would inhibit my formerly stable 1050 core overclock? I have read, "Try core clock first, then try memory." But still I wonder. I did try some faster memory clocks, like 1375 and then 1400, but that didn't help, and I have not messed at all with memory overvolting - where I would need HIS iTurbo instead of Sapphire Trixx.
I am guessing you guys will say - "No, get the core clock stable first, only after that, then try increased memory." Is that correct?
Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. December 2012 @ 23:57 |
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Curious, are there HDMI cables that accept audio on one end, but on the other end, it's dead, with an RCA/left/right, or 3.5mm Jack? Essentially, an hdmi cable that bypasses the audio for another source. My brother got a projector, it only accepts inputs(no passthru), and the speaker sucks(naturally). we're aware of running through a Receiver that has passthru. What we want to do, is hook it up to a Boombox in the spring, for outdoor movies ;) Thoughts, suggestions?
I suppose depending on the source device, we may be able to run audio out from it, to the boombox. Just curious is all.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. December 2012 @ 23:58
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AfterDawn Addict
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26. December 2012 @ 00:44 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Nice mug :p
I really wanna replace the 230mm side fan, and go with quad 120mm fans. But since I don't want to add another fan controller. I'd have to go with low Rpm fans. I wonder what would do an excellent job, without being too noisy?
Oman7,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186078
I would highly recommend this Arctic Cooling 74 CFM 1350 rpm fan for the CPU cooler. Just plug it into the CPU fan header on the motherboard, and you will be amazed at how quiet 74 cfm can be. Highly recommended!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186079
For the side cover top fan position, I installed this Arctic Cooling 74 cfm@ 1300 rpm fan and run it with a Zalman, single fan controller at a fixed quiet rpm.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118217
Combined with the 3 fans that came with the case, it's almost silent in operation, and I get extremely low temps. I can't say enough good things about the Corsair 400R case. For a Mid-Tower, it has more than enough working room inside, can support up to 6+1 HDDs and 4 ODDs. If there was ever a case, cooled by airflow alone, that's more efficient at cooling than this one, it's probably in the same "Carbide" series cases that Corsair builds. I have tortured this thing repeatedly with the 1090t in the 990XA-UD3 and the FX-8320, in the 990FXA-UD5, and the temps have never gone over 53C in either of the two 400Rs I bought, at ambient temps of 85F. I know that sounds pretty high, but it's what we see, when it's 115F outside. It seems downright cool, walking into 85F then! LOL!!
So far, I've been nothing but impressed with the quality and performance of both machines, while the 1090t wins the benchmark war, at 87,200+ MIPS, by over 7000 MIPS. The FX-8320 flexes it's muscles and stomps all over it, ripping HD Content with ConvertXToDVD 5, because it's multi-threaded, and uses all 8 cores. The 1090t is slightly faster at encoding with CCE. That says a lot given the 8320 runs 500MHz faster than the CPU speed limited 3.4GHz 1090t. It looks to me like the benchmark numbers I read for each platform, seems to correspond to the performance characteristics of each CPU, fairly well.
Best Regards, and Merry Christmas to all,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
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26. December 2012 @ 00:51 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Curious, are there HDMI cables that accept audio on one end, but on the other end, it's dead, with an RCA/left/right, or 3.5mm Jack? Essentially, an hdmi cable that bypasses the audio for another source. My brother got a projector, it only accepts inputs(no passthru), and the speaker sucks(naturally). we're aware of running through a Receiver that has passthru. What we want to do, is hook it up to a Boombox in the spring, for outdoor movies ;) Thoughts, suggestions?
I suppose depending on the source device, we may be able to run audio out from it, to the boombox. Just curious is all.
Oman7,
I know it's different for nVidia, as there is no audio cable needed for HDMI. There should have been a cable with the video card, about 8" long. I got one with the HD4670, but never used it. With the GTX-550ti, I activate it with the
nVidia control panel. You might look in CCC, and see if you can enable the HDMI sound from there.
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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Senior Member
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26. December 2012 @ 01:25 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Curious, are there HDMI cables that accept audio on one end, but on the other end, it's dead, with an RCA/left/right, or 3.5mm Jack? Essentially, an hdmi cable that bypasses the audio for another source. My brother got a projector, it only accepts inputs(no passthru), and the speaker sucks(naturally). we're aware of running through a Receiver that has passthru. What we want to do, is hook it up to a Boombox in the spring, for outdoor movies ;) Thoughts, suggestions?
I suppose depending on the source device, we may be able to run audio out from it, to the boombox. Just curious is all.
NO.
What you need to do is run HDMI cable + a 3.5mm TRS to RCA or TRS to TRS as an extra cable, paired set. However I have seen some converters that strip out the audio to RCA or TRS that you might be able to use but converters come at a cost and I don't mean money.
For cables and most converters Monoprice is a great place to shop.
Monoprice's Website Home
Here is just what you need there are others like this but this should get you going.
bidorbuy.co.za South Africa
I hear it is very nice in South Africa at this time of year... :D
Hope that helps Kevin,
Stevo
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
Yuletide
Happy Hanuka
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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26. December 2012 @ 01:39 |
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Quote:
Graphically the game is just so stunning - it is Crysis on steroids. I have to fight the urge to take screenshots everywhere I turn.
I still give Crysis the nod in sheer visual fidelity and use of modern graphics techniques, but Far Cry 3 is a lot more consistent. To say it beats Crysis is laughable, but to say it is an equal to Crysis in many ways is true. Crysis did many things [arguably] better such as water, lighting/shadowing, dense foliage cover, AI, physics, explosions, the list goes on. I could spend hours comparing the two, drawing a contrast, but suffice to say Far Cry 3 suffers from the limits of consoles in ways that Crysis simply doesn't. The two are a very close analog though, and Far Cry 3 being half a decade newer, not more modern, goes a long way in that regard. Crysis outclasses it by miles on the technical level, but Far Cry 3 is infinitely better optimized and more polished.
Quote:
Jeff talked about the clunky controls, but I have gotten used to them. Small price to pay.
The controls themselves are fine. What I meant to complain about was the interface. In Far Cry 2, everything was done from the perspective of the player. Checking your map, buying guns, everything blended seamlessly. Far Cry 3 makes much greater use of menus and inventory trees better suited to the d-pad on a 360 controller. Not overall bad per-say, but definitely the remains of a console port. It makes the game less immersive as you must leave your character's perspective to do anything.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 26. December 2012 @ 01:51
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AfterDawn Addict
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26. December 2012 @ 06:51 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Curious, are there HDMI cables that accept audio on one end, but on the other end, it's dead, with an RCA/left/right, or 3.5mm Jack? Essentially, an hdmi cable that bypasses the audio for another source. My brother got a projector, it only accepts inputs(no passthru), and the speaker sucks(naturally). we're aware of running through a Receiver that has passthru. What we want to do, is hook it up to a Boombox in the spring, for outdoor movies ;) Thoughts, suggestions?
I suppose depending on the source device, we may be able to run audio out from it, to the boombox. Just curious is all.
Unfortunately there's no easy way of doing this without a display device that does it for you, or a high-end receiver that outputs the audio as digital, which you then D-A afterwards with a separate adapter. Annoying, but that's how it is unfortunately.
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