My new baby should arrive this week.

Wish me luck, I just ordered my new computer. If all goes well, I will finally have the PC of my dreams.
This motherboard
This processor
This video card
This DVD Burner
This Hard drive
2 sticks of this ram
This floppy
All wrapped up in this case, with 2 extra cooling case fans, and an upgraded 550 watt power source.
/me does jig. :biggrin:

Now, I have already been read the riot act from some about how stupid I was for ordering this particular machine, so understand, I am well aware of my defects :biggrin:

For the rest of you, be it known that I am very excited, in spite of my shortfalls..

I have that case! :biggrin: It's purdy.

Hooray for Orph!

And hey, for that price and compared to what you're coming from, even if such and such isn't as good as it could be or whatever unleashed the riot act, it'll still be a huge jump over what you have. :smile:

Damn, I gotta get some upgrades in my system, soon... Too long since I've done any tinkering! :smile: Looking to expand to a GF6 6800 Ultra and those Dell 20.1" LCD displays. I say "mmmm." The wallet/credit card says "OOF!"

yes, a marked upgrade from my current PC.

on another note, i am torn and would like some input.

would it be better to get a 19" CRT, or a 17" LCD monitor?

my funds are limited and both of these seem about the same price ranges.

i have heard that some LCD monitors are not very good at playing games. if you guys recommend that route, please suggest what specs, as all LCD monitors are definitely not created equal.

any serious replies welcome and my thanks in advance.

Avoid unbranded stuff if you want a TFT - mine causes horrible tearing on TFC, think this might a game specific bug though.

It's best to stick with the well known names like LG if you want a
decent one Orph. Blurring/Tearing seems to be the only problem i've
heard of with flatscreens. You're looking at response time as the best
indication of a monitors quality (I think)

10-15ms = fairly low, average

25ms+ = good. Iiyama, Dell, Phillips... stuff like that :smile:

I could be massively wrong of course. I picked a well recommended
budget option (17") for ?129ish and it hasn't caused me any
difficulties, aside from the vertical tearing in TFC, which is minimal
anyway.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Gwil</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>

10-15ms = fairly low, average
25ms+ = good. Iiyama, Dell, Phillips... stuff like that :smile:

</DIV></DIV>
so, the bigger response time is better? i had it all bassackwards, i figured the lower the better.. thanx gwil.

Umm... you want lower response times. :wink: Many LCDs are in the 25ms range, but the good stuff gets down to about 16 or 12. 16 seems to be the point where most people say the blurring is negligible, though odds are unless you're one of those people who gets headaches at 60hz on a CRT, you probably won't notice :smile:

Gwil have you tryed Vsync for TFC? If that option is available. Often, thats teh source of tearing. Not the monitor.

Most LCD's have too slow responce times which will cause fades, like in racing games.

I haven't Wild, but TBH the problem isn't too much of an annoyance to get me off my ass and do something about it :wink:

The response times thing i'm talking about is the one Wild makes reference too, the blurring problem.

As I said, I don't know, but i'm passing on my bastardised version of
conversations i'd heard between people about blurring on TFT monitors.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting KungFuSquirrel</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>, though odds are unless you're one of those people who gets headaches at 60hz on a CRT, you probably won't notice :smile: </DIV></DIV>

i am one of those people .. i think a 19" crt is the best route for my strange affliction.
thanx everyone for their thoughts.

I've got the same case, and a 19" CRT as well. I'd take the CRT over a
TFT/LCD any day. An LCD will still have a blur/fade even with low
response times, there's a lot about LCDs that's a total crock, they're
highly overrated even at this stage.

All I was saying is you could take some features off that you're obviously not going to use and apply that money to other, more needed, areas. Not to mention, I was trying to show you that you overpayed ... :\

1st off...I too have that tower. :smile: Although the light that is in front is pretty annoying so I had to unplug it. It flashess different colors sparatically. The side light is nice though.

About the LCD or CRT. I have an Apple 23" HD Cinema Display which I belive is some form of LCD and it has a 16m response time...I think. There IS a very slight but noticeable blur. I don't think you can go wrong with CRT monitors. You know what you'd be getting. CRTs are tried and true, and you know the pitcure'll look nice. With LCDs you would have to be carefull. just pay attention to those response times. 16m works for me. Although, your screen never gets quite as black as a CRT. Again..these are all little things. With LCD though of course you get the flat projection that doesn't warp your image (as much)....although if you are used to a crt you wouldn't notice.

Sorry I'm not more decisive but I absolutely love my Apple lcd widescreen monitor and suggest you get it (yeah yeah it's apple gimme a break ;-) ). But unless you want to sell your left nut to get one, I think Those two options you proposed sound equally nice....and as for the CRT....it is bigger...which is nice....

/rant

Floppy? What age are you living in :razz:

With the hard drive I would go for a SATA, seems a waste otherwise. Nice graphics and CPU :biggrin:

That's a nice comp you're putting together there Orph.

$loth said:
</a></b>
Floppy? What age are you living in :razz:

With the hard drive I would go for a SATA, seems a waste otherwise. Nice graphics and CPU :biggrin:

I needed a floppy to install win on my SATA hdd, as I only had two SATA
and no IDE. Needed to install driver for the win setup to find them, or
something like that. Floppys aren't that expensive either.

Computer parts seem so much cheaper over there. That processor costs around $405 over here.

Good luck with your new comp :smile: .

sloth, having a floppy is a good idea. You'll need it at some point.

Also, don't even try, he has WAY too much pride in that list. I mean, it's fine, but there's plenty of things that could have made it cheaper and an overall better system (such as ditching the needlessly excessive power supply).

Doesn't really matter though since it wasn't my (or your) money.

Floppys are great for backing up map sources (in a zip file). Especially if your CDRW drive is broke :biggrin:

Hope the
mem is CL 2.5. Almost the same price as CL 3 and it makes a difference. CL 2 it?s
expensive.<o:p></o:p>

The board it?s
great, but don?t use the AI overclocking. And if it?s the first rev, you might
have problems overclocking and using a sata hd connected to the via controller.
Data corruption. Use the promisse controller instead.<o:p></o:p>

<span style="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p>About CRT
vs TFT, I only have one thing to say: LG L1980U.<o:p></o:p></span>

What you
save in a CRT, you pay with your eyes?

hat one just fricking owns. My PC is about 3 times as bad if not more (not doing math)

800 MHz AMD Athlon

256 SDRAM

Abit K7 motherboard

Radeon 9600 SE

Soundblaster Live! 5.1

200GB HDD (but I get to use only 60, everything else is my family's file dump)

450W power

no floppy drive

CDRW

^mediocrity at its finest.

Orph, may I suggest ordering some artic silver thermal paste, also get
some Isopropyl from your chemists and clean it with a lint free cloth
(like the ones used on glasses) to clean the CPU cooler before putting
on any thermal paste, it will clean off any oils which could be on
there.

What the mobo has no Nforce CHIPSET on it omg u make AMD look like crap
man. The video card is a MAJOR bottleneck for that processer that
processer is SWEET. So is ur ram.

The graphics card is ok TBH. As long as it's not SE.

Hey and also instead of that GFX card I WOULD REALLY suggest this one it has a lot more power.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-150&depa=1

Yes that's a nice card but is it inside his budget?

Dude the 9800 256mb gets around 5000 3d mark 03 and the 6600gt 128mb
ddr3 gets lol around 8000 to 8500. for only what 15 bucks more ?

Dude the 9800 256mb gets around 5000 3d mark 03 and the 6600gt 128mb
ddr3 gets lol around 8000 to 8500. for only what 15 bucks more ?

I don't know bucks :razz: I'm not sure how much it cost's but for an extra $15 I would definatly get the 6600gt.

Anyway, whilst were on the topic of hard ware related stuff I got some
PAX.mate (acoustic absorption mats). Never bother with them.

Live from Albuquerque New Mexico.. its 6:30 am and you wanna know just how unoptimized snarkpit is? try using a truckstop internet connection :biggrin:

as for my new machine, i may have not chosen the best but i did chose what i wanted, and isn't that whats most importaant.? :smile:

it should arrive today, about the same time i make delivery in arizona .. i will be on pins and needles all the way home.

for better or worse, this machine should give me what i need to critique effectively.

playing HL2 will also be a nice bonus.

well, i am almost out of time, cya's when i gt back.. hopefully by saturday morning.

Now truck stop's have the net? What next!? Good luck with the PC Orph, looks ****ing fast.

as for my new machine, i may have not chosen the best but i did
chose what i wanted, and isn't that whats most importaant.? :smile:

Well said 'ol man. Who cares how powerfull it is. The
important part is, its yours, you bought it, you built it, you love it.

If you need any assistance building it, turn to the Maximum PC issues (if you want, I can get you some pics of the guide)

Or you can ask me. Seeing as how I built my own, and I take it
appart and re-built it every one or so to clean it, and because I love
taking it appart.

Cheers,

and because I love
taking it appart.

Thats the best bit :biggrin: I've taken mine apart numerous times over the last couple of weeks to put new quiet stuff i've got.

installing Xp pro now.. it is so cool to see 3500+ in the computer properties :biggrin:

been driving 5 days, and am tired as hell, but its like christmas here. "excited" seems like such a pathetic description. :smile:

went to Futuremark and got both of the newer benching utilities. specifically the 03 and 05.

these scores are just preliminary of course, but i am proud none the less.

03 score

05 score

dunno how well you will be able to read this but this is my new machines current stats.

now i realize that there are not many people at futuremark whom posted their scores online, but of the few i saw, mine is among the top. again, i am hopeful.

the next test, i am going to load a map i critiqued and compare the results. wish me luck. :smile:

Sweet machine orph :biggrin:

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting $loth</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Sweet machine orph :biggrin:
</DIV></DIV>
thanx bud.. i would be curious to see how it scores against some of the real monsters here at snarkpit though.. :smile:

Congratz !!!! :cool:

Nice, :eek: absolutely nice, Good Luck buddy!! :biggrin:

Congratz !!!! :cool:

In my travels online today, i stumbled across this. It seems to be a high quality utility. It will show you the exact make up of your PC. It also has a benchmark tester for your memory. according to it, my new machine is not to shabby, scoring within sight of the upper tiers of the scale list. This program also seems to be a freeware version.

Warning: images are over large. click at your own discretion.

test 1

test 2

test 3

You've got my butt beat Jon. I'll install Aquamark on my box
later tonight and run a few tests. Personally, I dont like
Futuremark, but thats just me.

Yours truely :wink: :razz:

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Wild Card</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>You've got my butt beat Jon. I'll install Aquamark on my box later tonight and run a few tests. Personally, I dont like Futuremark, but thats just me.

Yours truely :wink: :razz:
</DIV></DIV>
i'm game. what bench utility is preferable?

$loth said:
Sweet machine orph :biggrin:

thanx bud.. i would be curious to see how it scores against some of the real monsters here at snarkpit though.. :smile:

Hehe, would beat mine with it's little finger (athlon 2500, 512 ddr and
a 9600 pro). But I bet that when my heatpipe cooler get's here it won't
be quieter :razz:

Wild Card said:
You've got my butt beat Jon. I'll install
Aquamark on my box later tonight and run a few tests. Personally, I
dont like Futuremark, but thats just me.

Yours truely :wink: :razz:

i'm game. what bench utility is preferable?

Future mark (2001) test's the CPU and GFX but 2003 and 05 test the GFX mostly AFAIK.

learned this new trick tonight.. no more dloading taboo movies for me :biggrin:

Make sure you get a big big auxiliary cooler for your new baby, or she might get a fever. :smile:

Bought this today for my new baby.

turned all the settings to high, or highest and am getting from 45 to 225 FPS while playing the singleplayer game of HL2 :biggrin:

/me continues dancing

292 FPS :eek:

course, there is nothing to see, but how can anything draw so fast. :/

Not rendering much though is it :razz:

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting $loth</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Not rendering much though is it :razz: </DIV></DIV>

my point wasn't to show its drawing ability, but the numbers. how can a number of 292 even be possible?

i get this image of people walking backward, because their refresh rate is set to 85 and even though they are going forward, the drawing is 3 times faster, so they are actually stepping back :biggrin:
i know its not doing that, but after surviving 5 years of strobing images at 15 to 30FPS, i cannot help myself. in effect, it would be revers strobing cause the card is faster than the monitor is

That ... or the card would clock its self to the monitor (because it wouldn't show a proper picture otherwise)

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Orpheus</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>learned this new trick tonight.. no more dloading taboo movies for me :biggrin: </DIV></DIV>

Why do all that crazy stuff with movies when you could go here!
Works like a charm, every time! Give it a try. It's a one step process, too.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Static88</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Orpheus</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>learned this new trick tonight.. no more dloading taboo movies for me :biggrin: </DIV></DIV>

Why do all that crazy stuff with movies when you could go here!
Works like a charm, every time! Give it a try. It's a one step process, too.

</DIV></DIV>
my thanx.

No problem. I really like the results from this program.