Camsung

I have asked around the forum and it seems like the best way to improve the volume and sound quality of my smartphone's audio is by purchasing a portable headphone amp. I have settled on the FiiO E5 based on all the positive reviews, but i will unfortunately not be able to try it out personally before purchasing it. Does anyone here own a FiiO E5? How much will it affect the sound coming from my phone into my headphones? And are there any other alternatives?

because yours has a backplate

I just want to share my opinion on the rebranded 7970, the R9 280X from AMD. This GPU has not been received well by the enthusiast community due to its almost identical performance when compared to the last-gen (but still incredibly fast) 7970. I actually think that the 280X's critical reception stems not from its performance, but from the horrible new naming scheme AMD has implemented this time round.
Let us consider, for example, that AMD had not decided to release this card as the R9 280X and instead called it the Radeon HD 8870. This card would then have been able to smoke the 7870, which it would be directly replacing, and blow it out of the water while being priced roughly the same as a 7970. Psychologically speaking, the community would be much happier with this "8870", even though it would have been the exact same piece of hardware as the 280X. The name makes a HUGE difference in how a product is received, and if AMD had released it as the 8870, I think a lot of people would be able and willing to overlook the fact that it uses the exact same chip as the 7970, because it would technically be two tiers LOWER (assuming there would still be an 8950 and 8970). This is why the GTX 770 was not as harshly criticized for being a rebranded GTX 680, since it was numerically placed a tier lower than the 780 while being faster than the previous-gen flagship (that and the gorgeous reference cooler that actually became more desirable than aftermarket designs for once).
Another interesting thing to note is that the 7970 now costs less than a 280X and comes with three free games as part of AMD's Never Settle bundle. That, coupled with the 7970's legendary overclocking headroom, means that there is really no reason to purchase a 280X unless you want to brag about how you own the latest hardware (TTL himself actually said this in one of his recent videos).
Again, these are just my thoughts. Feel free to agree/disagree  I know there already exists an 8000 series from AMD which are OEM GPUs, but they could just as easily have used the 9000 series for their new cards.

I just want to share my opinion on the rebranded 7970, the R9 280X from AMD. This GPU has not been received well by the enthusiast community due to its almost identical performance when compared to the last-gen (but still incredibly fast) 7970. I actually think that the 280X's critical reception stems not from its performance, but from the horrible new naming scheme AMD has implemented this time round.
Let us consider, for example, that AMD had not decided to release this card as the R9 280X and instead called it the Radeon HD 8870. This card would then have been able to smoke the 7870, which it would be directly replacing, and blow it out of the water while being priced roughly the same as a 7970. Psychologically speaking, the community would be much happier with this "8870", even though it would have been the exact same piece of hardware as the 280X. The name makes a HUGE difference in how a product is received, and if AMD had released it as the 8870, I think a lot of people would be able and willing to overlook the fact that it uses the exact same chip as the 7970, because it would technically be two tiers LOWER (assuming there would still be an 8950 and 8970). This is why the GTX 770 was not as harshly criticized for being a rebranded GTX 680, since it was numerically placed a tier lower than the 780 while being faster than the previous-gen flagship (that and the gorgeous reference cooler that actually became more desirable than aftermarket designs for once).
Another interesting thing to note is that the 7970 now costs less than a 280X and comes with three free games as part of AMD's Never Settle bundle. That, coupled with the 7970's legendary overclocking headroom, means that there is really no reason to purchase a 280X unless you want to brag about how you own the latest hardware (TTL himself actually said this in one of his recent videos).
Again, these are just my thoughts. Feel free to agree/disagree  I know there already exists an 8000 series from AMD which are OEM GPUs, but they could just as easily have used the 9000 series for their new cards.

I just want to share my opinion on the rebranded 7970, the R9 280X from AMD. This GPU has not been received well by the enthusiast community due to its almost identical performance when compared to the last-gen (but still incredibly fast) 7970. I actually think that the 280X's critical reception stems not from its performance, but from the horrible new naming scheme AMD has implemented this time round.
Let us consider, for example, that AMD had not decided to release this card as the R9 280X and instead called it the Radeon HD 8870. This card would then have been able to smoke the 7870, which it would be directly replacing, and blow it out of the water while being priced roughly the same as a 7970. Psychologically speaking, the community would be much happier with this "8870", even though it would have been the exact same piece of hardware as the 280X. The name makes a HUGE difference in how a product is received, and if AMD had released it as the 8870, I think a lot of people would be able and willing to overlook the fact that it uses the exact same chip as the 7970, because it would technically be two tiers LOWER (assuming there would still be an 8950 and 8970). This is why the GTX 770 was not as harshly criticized for being a rebranded GTX 680, since it was numerically placed a tier lower than the 780 while being faster than the previous-gen flagship (that and the gorgeous reference cooler that actually became more desirable than aftermarket designs for once).
Another interesting thing to note is that the 7970 now costs less than a 280X and comes with three free games as part of AMD's Never Settle bundle. That, coupled with the 7970's legendary overclocking headroom, means that there is really no reason to purchase a 280X unless you want to brag about how you own the latest hardware (TTL himself actually said this in one of his recent videos).
Again, these are just my thoughts. Feel free to agree/disagree  I know there already exists an 8000 series from AMD which are OEM GPUs, but they could just as easily have used the 9000 series for their new cards.

I just want to share my opinion on the rebranded 7970, the R9 280X from AMD. This GPU has not been received well by the enthusiast community due to its almost identical performance when compared to the last-gen (but still incredibly fast) 7970. I actually think that the 280X's critical reception stems not from its performance, but from the horrible new naming scheme AMD has implemented this time round.
Let us consider, for example, that AMD had not decided to release this card as the R9 280X and instead called it the Radeon HD 8870. This card would then have been able to smoke the 7870, which it would be directly replacing, and blow it out of the water while being priced roughly the same as a 7970. Psychologically speaking, the community would be much happier with this "8870", even though it would have been the exact same piece of hardware as the 280X. The name makes a HUGE difference in how a product is received, and if AMD had released it as the 8870, I think a lot of people would be able and willing to overlook the fact that it uses the exact same chip as the 7970, because it would technically be two tiers LOWER (assuming there would still be an 8950 and 8970). This is why the GTX 770 was not as harshly criticized for being a rebranded GTX 680, since it was numerically placed a tier lower than the 780 while being faster than the previous-gen flagship (that and the gorgeous reference cooler that actually became more desirable than aftermarket designs for once).
Another interesting thing to note is that the 7970 now costs less than a 280X and comes with three free games as part of AMD's Never Settle bundle. That, coupled with the 7970's legendary overclocking headroom, means that there is really no reason to purchase a 280X unless you want to brag about how you own the latest hardware (TTL himself actually said this in one of his recent videos).
Again, these are just my thoughts. Feel free to agree/disagree  I know there already exists an 8000 series from AMD which are OEM GPUs, but they could just as easily have used the 9000 series for their new cards.

Holy crap that would look amazing without the hideous color accents

Isn't PhysX becoming less and less popular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q4yQbyur2c
 
What do you guys think of the extra PhysX effects? Would you get an Nvidia card just to play this game?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q4yQbyur2c
 
What do you guys think of the extra PhysX effects? Would you get an Nvidia card just to play this game?

read the post again
he DOES require a password
same with my school, you use your username and password through the browser
unless you have serious hackers at your school trying to steal confidential government information, you shouldn't worry about it

Wait for the 9970, not Maxwell...

Wait for the 9970, not Maxwell...

Wait for the 9970, not Maxwell...

Isn't the Norton Internet Security firewall better than the Windows one though?

I'm getting an SSD

Avast has actually increased my boot times compared to Norton lol

LibreOffice.
 
It's the only thing I use.
 
(I know you said LibreOffice in the OP, I just like linking things hehe)

Hi guys, I was originally going to get a 7970 in July but then my order got cancelled due to low stock and then I became extremely busy with school work... now it's September and I still haven't bought my new graphics card. All my other new parts for my new rig have been sitting here for weeks
At this point in time, do you guys think it would be a wiser idea to wait for the 9000 series to come out? My budget is $430-450 MAX so I will probably be getting something like a Radeon HD 9950 (does anyone know anything about its expected price?). I am currently using a GTX 460 1GB.