Dual-Core Chip Ends Pentium's Reign

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by jumpy

Subman1, what symptoms did you get with having an underpowered PSU trying to run your gfx card? anything like the following:
1) very limited picture with trails left on the screen by the mouse
2) PC boots but the screen won't display - you can hear windows loading jungle and icons on taskbar 'poping'
I only ask as I'm addin an old ATI9600 to my GF's machine and that's pretty much what it does. I think that it's a PSU defficiency

No - you get the vid card beeps on boot up with a blank screen - as in my case that is.

By the way - ATI 9600 has hardly any power draw. Try loading in safe mode (Hit F8 on startup) to see if you get a clear pic then. If so, you know its a driver issue. That is assuming you can see your system post correctly.

Issues that I have seen where there is lack of power involve very long boot times - like 5 to 10 minutes to boot as XP recovers from error after error. Not saying that it's the same across the board since lack of power has weird results like you describe, just that I haven't see a situation like yours. Only time I have seen a situation like you describe, though not as bad, is with a dying vid card that was fried (probably bad RAM on the vid card) from static electricity.

-S

[SUBMAN1]

Hahaha! It looks like someone else is having the same circuit breaker problems as I had with my power hungry computer!

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/...ion/page2.html

-S

[Skybird]

To be honest, I more and more feel that in the future I want a small notebook only, since I play less and lesser flight sims and hardware demanding stuff, but stick to Steel Beasts and some strategy things of archaic age and spartanic hardware demands anyway, and only want Word, Chess, a bit of digital picture processing (camera) and internet. From system to system i found it harder to keep myself informed about what to buy, and compatabilities, and standards. The chase is no longer worth it for me, I think.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Skybird

To be honest, I more and more feel that in the future I want a small notebook only, since I play less and lesser flight sims and hardware demanding stuff, but stick to Steel Beasts and some strategy things of archaic age and spartanic hardware demands anyway, and only want Word, Chess, a bit of digital picture processing (camera) and internet. From system to system i found it harder to keep myself informed about what to buy, and compatabilities, and standards. The chase is no longer worth it for me, I think.

You know why? You aren't getting the qaulity sims like you used to get anymore. I mean, what is there after Falcon? You aren't going to get anything close to it. Occasionally a SHIII slips through and you are blown away by it, but for the most part, there is nothing new that is worth your time.

I got sick of my ATI 9800 AIW on a XP3200, and my ATI gave me problems, so I spent a boatload upgrading it. Now I have an uber system and nothing to play on it. I am rather disappointed. Oblivion was the only game that was decent lately and the only thing that wouyld use the hardware.. THe only new game out that might be entertaining is Prey, but that is just a Doom 3 engine and I can make that engine fly. Dunno. UPgrading now is not a major need for most people with what is available on the shelf right now, or even in the near future.

The best way to descibe it - I am bored with gaming in general right now. So I feel probably the same way.

-S

PS. ALl my new system is good for with now is turning my hot summer room into an even hoter one with all the power is sucks in.

[Skybird]

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

[Ducimus]

Intell charges too much as it is already. They'll want an arm, a leg, and your next unborn kin for that chip. I'll stick with AMD. Comperable, or even better performance, at a reasonable price.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Intell charges too much as it is already. They'll want an arm, a leg, and your next unborn kin for that chip. I'll stick with AMD. Comperable, or even better performance, at a reasonable price.

I already paid an arm and a leg for my X2 4400+, so whats the difference?

-S

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

No jaded would be a better word - we've seen it all and know whats good and bad, and the industry is flooded with a lot of bad right now - cookie cutter games. We grew up in a generation of always new and revolutionary. Now new and revolutionary is tosed in the name of making what they know will sell vs. taking a chance to make something that could be the next big thing or a flop. What you see is the movie industry mentallity on the gaming world.

As you might guess, I don't watch many movies anymore either.

-S

PS. SOmething new and revolutionary will eventually come down the pike and you will want to play it. Only problem is, it will be a long wait.

[mog]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

Yeh. My favourite games of all time are some of the first I ever played, like Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and Monkey Island. The graphics were terrible, but it didn't matter!

[jumpy]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-172-AM)
The 3 main changes on the AM2 are that it will now use DDR2 Memory. A new pin out configuration which requires new heat sink fan configuration is also required. AM2 heatsinks will be available shortly and all our AM2 processors are retail boxed supplied with heatsinks and fan.
Below are the following recommended memory configurations:-
AM2 FX-62 DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 (PC2-6400 - PC2-8500)
AM2 Dual Core X2 DDR2-667 or 800 (PC2-5300 or PC2-6400)
AM2 Athlon 64 DDR2-533 or 667 (PC2-4200 or PC2-5300)
AM2 Sempron DDR2-533 or 667 (PC2-4200 or PC2-5300)


Price: £189.95 (£223.19 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Yay, looks like the one for me soon. Only trouble is I'll need a new motherboard (£150.00), 2GB DDR2 RAM (£200.00), PSU (£50.00) and graphics card (£200.00 - 300.00) to go with it
All told it will take about 700 or 800 quid to upgrade - which is what my 'old' computer cost about 3 years ago.



NINJA EDIT:
what the hell happened to my font?!

[scandium]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

Well, the games have (IMHO) gone downhill for the following reasons:

1. New games require so much code that much of it is recycled from other previous titles, giving most games a similar look & feel to many other games;

2. The market has changed. The major market for PC games used to be the 20+ enthusiast/game crowd, now the market is much bigger and many titles simply pander to the lowest common denominator for the largest masse appeal possible;

3. Related to #2 is the growing share of the console market and desire to port PC titles to the machines, meaning they have to conform to their limitations and appeal to the same audience;

4. The technology has gotten so good that games are getting increasingly realistic, and there is more and more demand for 'realism', but often it seems this translates into superficial eye candy at the expense of actually making the game 'fun' or interesting, let alone novel or unique;

5. All of the above explains why there are dozens and dozens of RTS clones and 3-D shooters, which require only improvements to existing code/graphics, and pander to the widest possible audience so game makers get the maximum return on minimum risk. Doing something different, novel, is risky and potentially much less profitable.