[Eye-Z]

i just completed it, AWSOME!!

its great, too easy and very short though

[Starflux]

Just now I wanted to install it (here at the office). Then I saw you had to make some Steam account or some other bullshit, and I thought; OK maybe not...

[Zack]

Originally Posted by Once A Villain

Just making sure...we are talking about the Hard difficulty setting in both games, right?

No, it was the normal setting on Half-Life. I haven't played the sequel, yet.

[Bastich]

I finished it earlier today. It was an utterly kick ass game. It wasn't perfect, but then, what is?

The Citadel was awesome looking. The ending was extremely easy though. I kind of expected more of a battle.

Since I've just finished the greatest current technology has to offer, I'm going for a retro title next. Elvira, here I come...

[Zack]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Zack, do spend a little more to get a more powerful processor. 1.3GHz won't cut it for you for the next couple years or so with newer games (including adventure games) coming. I currently have a 1.2GHz Athlon with a GeForce 4 Ti 4400 and a Soundblaster Live 5.1, and I plan on upgrading to at least 3GHz of P4 or Athlon, 1 gig of RAM, and some kind of current ATI card in the next couple months.

I have HL2 but am not playing it atm because I can't take advantage of all its graphical goodness on my wimpy machine.

Hey Trep, sorry it took me a long time to respond to your message. I've been playing on my computer a lot, and working at the Breckenridge Movie Theater here in Little Rock.

My mom and Dad have encouraged me to buy a new gaming computer, so I started doing some internet shopping today. I've read some great reviews on the hard drive, and graphics card, that I am deciding to buy, so I've wrote them down on a list. Here's what I am planning to buy for my new computer:

E-GeForce 6800 GT Graphics Card with 256MB DDR 3
AMD ATHLON 64 3400 Processor with 2.4ghz
Creative Blaster Audigy 2 Gamer ZS
200GB Internal ATA/100 Hard Drive.

That's what I've chosen so far. I'm currently looking at Memory RAM Sticks. But, I just wanted to let you know how my computer searching is going. With luck, I'll be playing Half-Life 2 on my new computer very soon, maybe even in the middle of the summer. Plus, my Birthday is coming up on July 7th, and I plan to make a big birthday list, mostly with the games I've been waiting to play.

[squarejawhero]

Hey, mines on the 3rd! Wish I was getting that computer tho'.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Zack

Here's what I am planning to buy for my new computer:

E-GeForce 6800 GT Graphics Card with 256MB DDR 3
AMD ATHLON 64 3400 Processor with 2.4ghz
Creative Blaster Audigy 2 Gamer ZS
200GB Internal ATA/100 Hard Drive.

That's what I've chosen so far. I'm currently looking at Memory RAM Sticks. But, I just wanted to let you know how my computer searching is going. With luck, I'll be playing Half-Life 2 on my new computer very soon, maybe even in the middle of the summer. Plus, my Birthday is coming up on July 7th, and I plan to make a big birthday list, mostly with the games I've been waiting to play.

You might wanna make sure your Athlon has a PCIe port and to match it up with a PCIe version of the E-GeForce 6800 GT. Looks like PCIe is the next standard, after AGP. But it's even better if you have both ports onboard (AGP and PCIe). I think that's good. Right, guys?

[Zack]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

You might wanna make sure your Athlon has a PCIe port and to match it up with a PCIe version of the E-GeForce 6800 GT. Looks like PCIe is the next standard, after AGP. But it's even better if you have both ports onboard (AGP and PCIe). I think that's good. Right, guys?

I checked the graphics card, I'm getting, and it's AGP, which is fine for me, because my last one was a GeForce 5200, and it's port was AGP.

I did not see mention of whether the Athlon's port is that one you mentioned, Trep. In fact, CompUsa only told about it's features.

Thought I should let you know that. I probably will go buy my computer on Saturday, or Sunday.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Zack

I checked the graphics card, I'm getting, and it's AGP, which is fine for me, because my last one was a GeForce 5200, and it's port was AGP.

I did not see mention of whether the Athlon's port is that one you mentioned, Trep. In fact, CompUsa only told about it's features.

Thought I should let you know that. I probably will go buy my computer on Saturday, or Sunday.

Hey Zack. That's a pretty good system and it will run Half life 2 like a dream. Make sure you get a 450 watt power supply to have enough power for the CPU and the graphics card. And tell me how much the whole thing is going to cost you. Maybe I can help you find something cheaper.

[simpson_yellow]

PCIe port on an Athlon? Have I missed something?

Are you guys talking about making sure your motherboard is compliant with your video card? i.e. PCIe mobo -> PCI graphics card. Or AGP mobo -> AGP graphics card.

Also, I'm not so sure you can get motherboards with both PCIe and AGP.

You could always get an SLI rig (a motherboard with 2 x PCIe slots so you can run two graphics cards sort of in parallel) but that's for the hardcore graphics whores (like Bastich )

Either way, that's looking like a sweet rig, Zack. You should soon be enjoying a high-res trip to City 17 Make sure you send a postcard.

[squarejawhero]

You can get PCIe/AGP boards.

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

You can get PCIe/AGP boards.

Ah, I stand corrected. Thanks for that.

Is the point of that purely so you can use an AGP card and then upgrade to a PCIe one later on without changing your mobo, or is there some other technical benefit?

[squarejawhero]

That's it in a nutshell... just gives you the opportunity to save the older board until you've got more money to upgrade, or if they get cheaper.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Bastich

I'm going for a retro title next. Elvira, here I come...

Woohoo! I wish I still had that spellbook that came with my copy (C64 version!) Have you ever finished it?

[Zack]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Hey Zack. That's a pretty good system and it will run Half life 2 like a dream. Make sure you get a 450 watt power supply to have enough power for the CPU and the graphics card. And tell me how much the whole thing is going to cost you. Maybe I can help you find something cheaper.

Thanks for the advice, SD28 (I'm going to try to find nicknames for most of the people here, if that's all right). As I said before in my earlier post, my mom and dad have encouraged me to buy a new computer. Nothing's official yet, but those items I wrote down on my list are the ones that sound the best to me, and I researched them all yesterday. 3 Gigabyte Processors may be a little expensive, but 2.4 sounds just fine for me. I'm also hoping it will run Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory like a dream, too. Those two I plan to ask for my birthday.

I have about $1,500 to spend (this is what my mom told me. I've been trying to save up, on the paychecks I've been getting from my job at the Movie Theater, and the Social Security checks. So, what do you think, SD28, will this be enough to buy that computer, or do I need to buy something cheaper?.

Also, one more question. I've decided on 1 GB of Memory so I can have smooth performance on my games, but I can't decide on whether to get a CD-ROM Drive or a DVD-ROM Drive. Which do you think is better?.

[Zack]

By the way, Simpson, when I do buy my computer, I'll take your advice on sending you a postcard, or at the very least, try to send you a screenshot.

[simpson_yellow]

Originally Posted by Zack

By the way, Simpson, when I do buy my computer, I'll take your advice on sending you a postcard, or at the very least, try to send you a screenshot.

Great. Looking forward to it

DVD-ROMs are cheap as chips now (mine cost about AU$45 late last year, which must be around US$30-35) so you should be able to squeeze one into your $1500 budget without too many problems.

I can't comment on Chaos Theory but I just played Riddick with maxed out graphics settings on my machine which isn't as good as the one you're looking at buying so you should be fine.

[Eye-Z]

Anyway halflife was amazing

[squarejawhero]

Seen the new HDR HD Lost Coast clip? Just look at the water reflections at the bottom with the rocks -

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=13

[Eye-Z]

Anyone have a half life clan that i could try out for, or is interested in starting one?