[Zack]

Hey guys, It's me, Zack, and I finally have my new computer!.

I bought it a month ago at CompUsa with the help of my parents, and had to wait for the company's tech support section to assemble it all together. But the problem was, after we took it home, and started it up, we kept having this loud whining sound, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong at first. We then fiound out that the computer's alarm system kept saying it was too hot, even though the games I were playing had very smooth frame rates. So, we kept taking it back to the company's tech support to have them fix it, until finally we couldn't stand the computer's whining any longer (yes, that's right, we kept having the same problem over and over again). We took it back, and had them take out some power cords that were connected to the alarm system, and we got a new motherboard to support the computer's power supply. We finally got it back today, after we had another problem with the sound card. But they managed to fix it.

Anyway, that's the whole story, and I hope to never go to that CompUsa Store again. I mean everybody was so inept there, and their customer service was dreadful. But, at least, the computer's up and running very smoothly. Here's the components of the computer:

Windows XP Home Version
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
AMD Athlon 64 3400 Processor with 2.4 ghz
A 500 Watt Power Supply (it used to be 400 Watts)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer
1 GB of RAM
a 233 GB
A Maxtor 250 GB Hard Drive
A Memorex DVD/RW Drive (it uses CD-ROM Discs also)

That's about all I can think of that I've got on the computer. I currently have Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II-The Sith Lords installed on my computer, and I've got a wallpaper for it on my background, which looks really nice. I also have a lot of other games which I haven't played yet. But, I will probably start playing some of them this week.

Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know about this, and I'm very happy that I have a new computer that's very fast, and is running very smoothly right now. So, to make it short and sweet: I'M BACK, EVERYONE!.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Wow, I jump for joy for you, happy man!

You should get a lot of mileage out of that baby for the next couple of years. Realistically, however, many of the games coming out in that time will, of course, be more and more demanding (requiring at least 3GHz, faster graphics cards, etc.). But you'll be able to play most of them now and further on.

How's KOTOR II going? I had a blast with it on Xbox but it was so fricking buggy. And the final levels were definitely rushed ( , resulting in grey room after grey room after grey room. You might wanna check out Fable: The Lost Chapters when it's released.

[Zack]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Wow, I jump for joy for you, happy man!

You should get a lot of mileage out of that baby for the next couple of years. Realistically, however, many of the games coming out in that time will, of course, be more and more demanding (requiring at least 3GHz, faster graphics cards, etc.). But you'll be able to play most of them now and further on.

How's KOTOR II going? I had a blast with it on Xbox but it was so fricking buggy. And the final levels were definitely rushed ( , resulting in grey room after grey room after grey room. You might wanna check out Fable: The Lost Chapters when it's released.

Great to hear from you again, Trep. I started playing The Sith Lords last night, but we had to take the computer to the store for a check-up today, so we could get the Sound Blaster Audigy II card working again. I'm thinking of starting over, and making her a Jedi Guardian, because I remembered that I had already played the game as a male Jedi Sentinel last time I played it.

However, I bought Deus Ex: Invisible War at the store because I remember being a fan of the very first one. I think I need to play it before I start the sequel. Fable: The Lost Chapters sounds intriguing, so I might check that out. I'm also curious what it's like to be a Vampire in Vampire: Bloodlines.

I'm slowly moving into the Role-playing Genre, and so these are the games I plan to buy, sometime, soon. Anyway, it was great to hear from you again, buddy (or honey, if you prefer that), and I hope to see you on the forum, later today.

[Zack]

Cute frog by the way, Trep.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Zack

...I hope to see you on the forum, later today.

As if I could easily walk away from here. AG community = addiction.

My PC is desperately outdated, though thankfully it can still play Indigo Prophecy (though I'm leaning towards getting it for Xbox). I don't expect to get a new, more powerful PC any time soon, so I'll have to comfort myself with my Xbox til then. Currently I'm playing Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and having a geat time time with it (even though the excellent multiplayer doesn't interest me; I'm not a Live subscriber). I've just finished Thief: Deadly Shadows (great, albeit buggy and weak framerates). I'm also slowly winning my way through Project Gotham Racing 2.

I'm planning on getting the Xbox 360, with the promising RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as my first game for it. Gonna break the bank.

[smashing]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

You should get a lot of mileage out of that baby for the next couple of years. Realistically, however, many of the games coming out in that time will, of course, be more and more demanding (requiring at least 3GHz, faster graphics cards, etc.). But you'll be able to play most of them now and further on.

The clockspeed of AMD works differently to that of Intel chipset. AMD chips are usually rated lower than that of Intel, but the ability of the chips could easily outperform many of the Intel chips with higher speed. The 3400 processor is barely a year old, and should easily last you for 2 to 3 years without much problem. Try not to overclock it though, for AMD chips are notorious for high temperature.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Yeah, I've always known the AMD processors to be better suited to hardcore gaming than the Intel. My current rig is an Athlon. Still, I'm not terribly demanding, and I'm not a hardcore tech slut either, nor am I a consummate geek who can take his computer apart and put it all back together again. I'd like a relatively powerful system to run most of the tech demanding games I'm more interested in (UT 2007, for example, gets a 'meh' from me because I'm generally bored with multiplayer first person shooters these days, whereas a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still in my peripheral vision because the gameplay looks fresh).

I'm pretty much set on the Xbox 360 and depending on what games come out for it, it's possible I may become more of a console gamer for the next several years. I'm absolutely looking forward to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Alan Wake, and Dreamfall, and hope that many other exciting game like these will come to the 360.

[smashing]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Yeah, I've always known the AMD processors to be better suited to hardcore gaming than the Intel. My current rig is an Athlon. Still, I'm not terribly demanding, and I'm not a hardcore tech slut either, nor am I a consummate geek who can take his computer apart and put it all back together again. I'd like a relatively powerful system to run most of the tech demanding games I'm more interested in (UT 2007, for example, gets a 'meh' from me because I'm generally bored with multiplayer first person shooters these days, whereas a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still in my peripheral vision because the gameplay looks fresh).

I'm pretty much set on the Xbox 360 and depending on what games come out for it, it's possible I may become more of a console gamer for the next several years. I'm absolutely looking forward to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Alan Wake, and Dreamfall, and hope that many other exciting game like these will come to the 360.

Get the FX chip then. It'll go the distance (for a very high cost!!)
Or better still, get the duo-processors chip! State of the art technology!

I'm not sold on getting the XBOX 360 yet, especially due to compatibility issue. Interestingly, the XBOX here are NTSC/J compatible, and can't play any of the nice games that are released elsewhere. So all I could play most of the time, is either japanese released games (which are few and far between), or popular games (first person shooter), which tend to get boring after a while. Think PC is still the only choice for me!

[simpson_yellow]

Nice one, Zack. That should keep you entertained for quite a while.

Looking forward to that City 17 postcard .

[Captain Blondebeard]

Very nice. I myself recently upgraded my PC. Im not sure how it is for gaming but I know it is blazing fast. Perhaps a gamer here can tell me if this is a good gaming rig?

Pentium D dual 2.8
2 Gigs DDR2 ram
200 gig Seagate hd
ASUS P5LD2 1066 FSB Dual Core Motherboard
ATI Radeon x800 PCI express 256 mb

The PC is great for me to produce music. I know the video card isnt as good as it could be but I am counting on it running Oblivion. The reason I ask is I get an occasional glitch or two when playing Battlefield 2. Can someone tell me what is so good about running dual core processor? I can build pC's I just dont know too much about the specifics.

[smashing]

Originally Posted by Captain Blondebeard

Very nice. I myself recently upgraded my PC. Im not sure how it is for gaming but I know it is blazing fast. Perhaps a gamer here can tell me if this is a good gaming rig?

Pentium D dual 2.8
2 Gigs DDR2 ram
200 gig Seagate hd
ASUS P5LD2 1066 FSB Dual Core Motherboard
ATI Radeon x800 PCI express 256 mb

The PC is great for me to produce music. I know the video card isnt as good as it could be but I am counting on it running Oblivion. The reason I ask is I get an occasional glitch or two when playing Battlefield 2. Can someone tell me what is so good about running dual core processor? I can build pC's I just dont know too much about the specifics.

*jaw drops*
That's a good rig! Should've cost a bomb!

Have you downloaded the latest driver from the ATI website for your graphic card? And did the glitch occur for one-player game, or for multiplayer game? If it's during a multiplayer game, then don't be too concerned. Occassion glitch will happen even if you're running with cutting edge technology.

Dual core processor is good in that the heat dispersion is better. Hence, other than running one processor at such a high speed, while producing such large amount of heat that you could literally boil an egg with, the summation of both core could run at a higher speed but at a lower temperature. Temperature management is currently the bottleneck for CPU capacity, not the chip. Dual-core is released to address this issue. However, this early on in the technology advancement, dual-core will not be any different from the usual chips in terms of performance.

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by smashing

Try not to overclock it though, for AMD chips are notorious for high temperature.

Bullshit. Most OCers use AMD chips.

[squarejawhero]

AMD chips USED to have temp problems. Bartons on up solved that.

[smashing]

Originally Posted by temporaryscars

Bullshit. Most OCers use AMD chips.

In fact, literally all OCers use AMD chips, as certain kind of overclocking (playing around with bios setting per se) won't void the warranty even if the process screw the chip out. Intel place a prohibition that would automatically void the warranty when found to be modified.

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

AMD chips USED to have temp problems. Bartons on up solved that.

Yup! AMD seems to be cooler than Intel chip these days, but the potential of a temperature problem arising with overclocking still exist.

[Aj_]

Pentium D really isn't that good at anything right now IMO. At the same price points AMD 64bit CPUs beat them even in multi-threaded benchmarks.

Although it has a lot to do with the support for them, I can't see the support suddenly appearing, 64bit still isn't nearly supported as it should be. Intel have had this problem before, with Pentium 4's being beaten handily by Pentium 3's, and the Prescott which was way underpowered to start with.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Thanks for the info. The glitches occur while playing multiplayer. Just so long as I can play Oblivion well.

[Zack]

Originally Posted by simpson_yellow

Nice one, Zack. That should keep you entertained for quite a while.

Looking forward to that City 17 postcard .

I'll do my best, Simpson. Just one question: How do you put a screenshot for the game you're playing on the forum topic that you're on. Sorry if that's a silly question.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Zack

How do you put a screenshot for the game you're playing on the forum topic that you're on. Sorry if that's a silly question.

Capture the screen and paste it into Photoshop or similar graphics program and resize it (I suggest 800x600 tops) and do whatever else it needs to be crisp, clear, and bright. Then upload into Photobucket or whatever online and link to it from here.

[Aj_]

or use FRAPS.

[simpson_yellow]

If you can't be bothered downloading and installing FRAPS (although you should, it's quite handy), F5 is the screen capture key for Half Life 2. This will save pictures to your C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\yourname\half-life 2\hl2\screenshots directory.

Photobucket that Trep mentioned is here

I'm just saying this for your interest though - I really don't expect you to go to any trouble for a screenshot .

Originally Posted by Trep

and do whatever else it needs to be crisp, clear, and bright

Were my Deadly Shadows screens too dark? They look OK on my monitor but I might have my brightness up a tad high.