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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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28. August 2009 @ 16:12 |
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It's still £4.72 compared to the £3.42 delivery off Dabs making the Antec £39.29 and the Corsair £41.12. That's the £1.83 it costs me that to get to sixth-form. So which unit is truly better?
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 16:14 |
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I personally would go for the Corsair to be honest. The main problem with the Antec units is exactly this, the price has gone up several pounds.
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 16:34 |
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Wow, Sam, you have a great memory! You're right, I had the Antec 1200 for about 30 days, which is not a mesh case - yes that's right, I remember now, we had that discussion about the mesh, based on you having had the 900.
Originally posted by sam:
Aluminium is not just strong enough, it's superior to SECC in every way.
Originally posted by shaff:
aluminium also help with the coolings better :D
.......
(PS aluminium > aluminum)
Aww, I just "misspelled" it to be funny :D
I know you have an aluminum Lexa, Sam. That's good to hear you guys endorsing that metal - in my mind I had some last reservations about strength - but I'll put those aside.
Out of curiousity, when you say superior in every way to SECC, could you list those comparison benefits, which I assume would include lighter weight?
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 16:55 |
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It looks nicer, it wears better against scratches, it's sturdier, it's lighter and as said, it conducts heat better, if you put any weight on that argument.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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28. August 2009 @ 17:09 |
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LOL! I noticed Aluminum's unusual properties at a rather young age actually. I think 12-13. I was cooking a pizza on aluminum foil. I noticed that it did not absorb nearly as much heat as steal. In fact, I could grab it with bare skin!!! Aluminum cools rapidly! While steal does not. Perhaps however, aluminum foil's reflective properties kept it cool too...
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 17:57 |
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Well, aluminum foil is very thin. So how much heat can it hold, and yes, it cools rapidly. A piece of steel is not foil, and it will hold the heat, and burn the sh*t out of your little 12 year old fingers, lol.
But although I, too, used to cook on aluminum foil all the time, I have heard lately that there may be some link to Alzheimer's, so I don't use it for cooking anymore.
Speaking of burning, I chose yesterday to run the Intel Burn Test on my modest 5% overclock of fsb 210 instead of 200.
Do you guys remember that really hot series of days when my trailer temps were at 98, and my gpu temps hit 100. Those tests caused Jeff to advise me to get the Zalman after-market 3850 cooler, which sparked my after market cooler frenzy! LOL
Well, yesterday was another hot day. Earlier in the day I saw 98 degrees again on the thermometer. So with sweat breaking out on my brow, I ran the stress test only 3 times, noticing the cpu temp climb to 74, and then hit Sam's ultimate high number of 75!!
(Actually for some strange reason, on my 3.2 p4 - now 3.36 - I couldn't get the Intel Burn Test to open - the program said the configurations were wrong and to re-install???, although the program opens fine on my 2.8 p4. So I ran LinX which uses the same Linpack files to stress the cpu.)
The computer passed the test. Then I went over to the business end of the trailer and noticed the temperature at 106. Just now it shows 108. Hahahaha. Do I know how to pick the right days for stress testing, or what? It's friggin burning up over here!!!
(I ran the test last night after things cooled down, this time for 10 iterations - again no errors. I had upped memory voltage to 2.6 from 2.5 to help the overclock. My 3dmark6 is up to 5144 from 4860 or so - I'm so proud of my little P4, hahaha.)
By the way, what is a good stress test for the gpu? Somebody said use ATT for the artifact finder. I read a little about FurMark and downloaded that. The gpu temps by the way, never exceed 74 now with the vf1000, down from 100! Thanks Jeff.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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28. August 2009 @ 18:12 |
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I grabbed it directly out of the hot oven... The foil temperature was hardly even warm. Thats why I was impressed.
I heard about that study a while back. Alzheimer's that is
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. August 2009 @ 18:13
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 19:23 |
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Oh, now I see what you mean. Well, the foil should have been the same temp as the oven of course - which was what, maybe 400 degrees. That would normally be enough to burn you.
But of course, one can hold a hot potatoe at the same temperature for a fraction of a second - what maybe a quarter of a second - before the heat penetrates the outer skin and hits the nerves. You can kind of toss it from hand to hand.
But being foil, unlike an equally hot potatoe, it immediately gave all its heat to your fingers, and cooled to body temp within that 1/4 second window.
But I have to agree, that IS kind of remarkable. I would not have guessed, until you told us all just now, that one could grab foil from the oven and not get burned.
So what does anybody think of our sunny southern california 105 outside temperatures? (Typically reserved for Las Vegas.) What's the temp in overcast Britain, 65?
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 19:53 |
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Stop it with the Fahrenheit :D Celsius for the win!
Been in London for the last few days and it was (at a guess) about 35oC in the sun, so not much colder than there (at night in my room it was constantly 27oC...)
If i can point out how odd the Fahrenheit scale is:
"The zero point is determined by placing the thermometer in brine: he used a mixture of ice, water, and ammonium chloride, a salt. This is a type of frigorific mixture. The mixture automatically stabilizes its temperature at 0 °F. He then put a thermometer into the mixture and let the liquid in the thermometer descend to its lowest point. The second point is the 32 degree found by putting the thermometer in still water as ice is just forming on the surface. The third point, the 96 degree, was the level of the liquid in the thermometer when held in the mouth or under the armpit."
Celsius:
0oC - Freezing point of water, 100oC - Boiling point of water.
Plus, Kelvin goes directly off Celsius, so science is on our side :D
PSP, all the way from 1.00 to 5.50 GEN D2 - DS Lite w/ M3DS Real (M3 Sakura v1.34)
PS3 3.01 - iPod Touch 2G 16GB Jailbroken - Xbox 360 60GB - PC, Q6600, 3GB DDR2, GTX260 (216) 896MB |
AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 20:32 |
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More specifically, it's been quite hot here by our standards, temps around 75-85 during the day. Had a bit of the post-heat thunder and rain here tonight.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 20:35 |
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@Rich
The best GPU stress test I've found so far is FurMark.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. August 2009 @ 20:36
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 20:51 |
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so i have an 80GB PS3 and a Dell S2409W Monitor which have been connected via hdmi for 8 months.
but now i turn it on and its black.
i have turned it on by holding it down, by resetting the display settings, i have formatted the HDD and done the master reset on the PS3 to no avail, but all i get it a blakc screen.
if i jiggle the hdmi (at the back of the PS3) it shows red dots. i have tried a different HDMi cable to no avail, i have used both HDMI cables with my PC to this monitor and it works.
so i assume its the PS3, but i went to my aunts, and she has a sony 42" bravia which can do 720p/1080i max.
SO i thought why not connect it up. i did and it worked instantly, BUT i connected it back to my monitor and nothing :(
WTF can i do?!
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|. |
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 20:59 |
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FurMark it is then - thanks Jeff. I've got it downloaded.
Oh Shokz. Celsius vs Fahrenheit. Of course science is on your side! It's so much cleaner. But other than for computers, if I said to somebody around here -"It's a ghastly 42 degrees" they'd think I was hallucinating.
Anyway, let's see, 106 degrees F here, and Shokz is in London where it's 35C. Oh, conversion conversion - 35 x 9/5 (is that right, 212-32 = 180 versus 100, yes, 9/5 - it's 5/8 for KM versus miles, oh dear) = 7x9 = 63 + 32, = 95 degrees Fahrenheit - quite warm.
Come on Shokz, you're just giving me trouble for nothing, don't tell me you walk around using Celsius, lol. (That's only for cpu and gpu temps, hahaha.)
Seems like where Sam is, is quite a bit cooler, but maybe more humidity with the rain and all.
Edit:
Hey does everybody like memtest for testing memory? I finally got it onto a floppy and it's running right now.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. August 2009 @ 21:01
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 21:25 |
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(sorry for second post - shaff was posting while I was editing)
Nothing Shaff. You're screwed. (How quickly he forgets about Shaff's help with the southbridge lanes, lol.)
Well, all right. You have proven that the ps3 works - at grandma's house. Did you take both hdmi cables with you to grandma's house?
Your display works from your PC, but not (at this time) through the hdmi from the ps3. And you are using the same identical hdmi cables from your PC to your display that you were trying to use from your PS/3 to your display?
Why does this remind me of my ide intermittent cable problem that caused me to wipe my disk drive. The cable would work with the drive in a certain physical position - you would think that in itself would have said to me "CABLE dummy! Not DRIVE!" But it didn't alas.
My point of that sad little story is maybe the methodology of your test. You didn't expect it to work at grandma's so you didn't take both cables, #1. Secondly, if you move the cables around a bit at Grandma's is there any problem at all?
If the identical cables absolutely work between PS/3 at grandma's, and identical cables absolutely work at home between computer and monitor - I would tend to think not a cable problem. Then why did your ps/3 all of a sudden become incompatible with YOUR monitor, but not grandma's. Your monitor is compatible with your computer, but not the ps/3.
In my case, the problem was the cable, but in your case, it probably is NOT the cable - although I am not sure you have completely rigorously tested the cables yet.
What setting on your monitor recognizes the PS/3 as opposed to recognizing the computer? Have you fiddled with your monitor in the setup settings so something that used to work, now doesn't?
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 21:44 |
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i tried both cables in both senarios, and all the possibilites :(
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. August 2009 @ 21:52 |
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problem solved..... powercycled the monitor and it now works..... ODD!
need epic facepalm
MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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28. August 2009 @ 23:25 |
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Told ya so!
Hahahaha!
Good! Way to go!!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. August 2009 @ 07:03 |
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FurMark and the OCCT graphics test are serious hardcore. When all four GPUs run a well-scaled game like Left 4 Dead they run at 89-90ºC at around 3800rpm fan speed. Run OCCT on them, they run at 97-99ºC at the full 5000rpm fan speed and power usage rises from typical 700W to around 840W. Add the CPU test on top and it comes out at around 920W. Needless to say I stopped that test!
I don't believe 35C was the outside temperature in London for a minute, there isn't that much of a difference from where I am.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. August 2009 @ 11:56 |
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Yeah not a lot of room for temp variation. Isn't England like smaller than California? Eh I know quite a few countries smaller than Wisconsin even. Throws off my perspective XD
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. August 2009 @ 15:37 |
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England is 50,000 square miles (The whole of the UK is 95,000) California is 160,000 square miles.
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Member
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29. August 2009 @ 15:54 |
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moved...
I could put something funny here but I cant be arsed. Now GO AWAY!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. August 2009 @ 06:41
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CHEESEPIE
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29. August 2009 @ 21:26 |
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Ok can anyone help me out with a quick question; Ive been having issues with blocky shadows in some games, my shadow settings/texture settings are always set to max with very good FPS but I end up with shadows that look like this: http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1074/blockyshadows.jpg - this being Call of duty 5: WaW, Ive noticed these types of shadows in other games I own such as Devil May cry 4 and Assassin's creed. Is this just game programming or a flaw with my card/not using my card to its fullest? or even my card's inability to handle the shadows fully?
specs: ASUS G50VT-X5
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 / 2.53 GHz
RAM: 4gb
Graphics Processor / Vendor NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS
Video Memory GDDR3 SDRAM - 512 MB
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AfterDawn Addict
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29. August 2009 @ 21:43 |
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MGR (Micro Gaming Rig) .|. Intel Q6600 @ 3.45GHz .|. Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F60 SSD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|. Lian Li PC-A70B .|. Be Queit P7 Dark Power Pro 850W PSU .|. 24" 1920x1200 DGM (MVA Panel) .|. 24" 1920x1080 Dell (TN Panel) .|.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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29. August 2009 @ 22:03 |
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Your PC is fully capable that just happens to be how the shadows look. I might recommend a round of driver updates for everything in your system though if you haven't done so recently. New drivers, more often than not, will usually fix most of your problems instantly. This could be especially true with your laptop video card as they need different drivers and often tend to have compatibility issues with some games unless they are fully updated.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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29. August 2009 @ 22:26 |
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Interesting post Keith. And how big is California? Well, probably about twice as big as Oregon, wouldn't you think? So about twice as big as Great Britain.
Man, I loaded Far Cry - the original. I finally remembered I had given my copy to my little gaming Mexican friend Fernando, so I had to buy it on ebay for $8 total with shipping. I'm going to load up this computer and then let anybody game on it - friends of my brother's - relatives, etc. out in the sunroom - when I replace it here in my trailer/office with the new build. So I decided the game collection wasn't complete without Far Cry.
But I wasn't ready for the cinematic experience of last night! On my 3850, I can play Far Cry at 2560x1600 - all settings maxed - and still 40 to 50 fps! And is it beautiful - man oh man!!
I seriously used to play the hell out of that game 3 to 4 years ago. I beat it on highest difficulty (which means you get to repeat lots of stuff, lol - no quick-save) - I even played just the demo for countless hours before finally buying the game. In fact, on the demo, one time I worked for almost two weeks to get three helicopters crashed and burning on top of the fort all at the same time, which is hard as hell to do - you have to time it just right. I only did it the one time - got close a couple other times. I took screen shots, so that I could try to stop myself from playing that one 5-minute finale over and over again, lol.
By the way, on another part of Fort, (same as demo) did you know that you can run the jeep up from the beach and crash into the mercs, landing it halfway up the stairs - jump out and grenade it - and if you time it just right the jeep explodes in a huge fireball as the gas tank ignites, killing most of the rest of the mercs that you didn't flatten on your run up the stairs? That is a rush, hahaha. (Usually I hit a tree - when it all came together it was SO much fun!)
But nothing compares to playing Far Cry last night on the Big Dell at 2560x1600, all settings maxed, with frames of 40 and 50 fps. The main thing I wanted to remember to tell you guys, is that there are gorgeous parrots in that game flying around - lots of them - each one an extravagant bursts of rich colors as only a flat panel can render! All my prior hundreds of hours of playing Far Cry was on a CRT. I never noticed any parrots.
And there are beautiful yellow and black tropical fish with their little heads down on the sand eating whatever little fishees eat - I dove underwater again and again so I could watch them. And of course, the vibrant tropical plants, with flowers oozing rich colors of red and yellow. But nothing beats the parrots. I stayed up all night and got through the first 8 chapters or so - until Val and Jack Carter jump out of the helicopter. I played it on highest setting - it's the only way to make the game challenging, but you do have to have patience.
I started to say the mercs are idiots - unlike real life they won't fire on an empty bush in case that's where the guy is who's been killing all their buddies - but this time they actually DID do that. (Funny there's a sniper section in Brothers in Arms, Road to Hill 30, that is always troublesome - multiple snipers hiding behind bushes and trees - but a couple days ago in "testing" the game after reload, I just mowed down all the bushes and tree areas with the BAR. Sure enough, two dead snipers and no more problem with that section.) I knew the mercs couldn't see me, cause I couldn't see them. But all of a sudden my thick folaige was under sporadic fire and I ran the hell back toward the beach. Then later I watched them fire on other areas after I had already back-tracked. I guess the game throws in some extra fancy merc AI if you crank up the difficulty.
And what is amazing, I played a whole mini-campaign that I never played before, and never knew was in the game. Virtually a whole new chapter! When you fly the hang glider for the first time, after blowing up the com tower in Fort - I always found the helicopter shoots you down way too fast - so I used to stop using the glider and just worked my way down the path. But after COD4 where I got used to shooting the gunner, last night I decided to fire on the heli with the AR, and if you hit him enough, the gunner falls to his death and the helicopter is rendered impotent and flies away.
Then I angled the kite to the right to avoid gunship fire from the river, and, putting the Colt in zoom mode (right-mouse) for better accuracy, I killed two of the mercs manning a hilltop outpost that were shooting at me as I was trying to land. I was surprised when on earlier attempts I had gotten way up behind the mercs in order to come down behind them, that slightly farther inland on the hill was a watchtower with sniper, lol, and then beyond that was an entire camp of mercs, with about 10 large buildings, firing range, 3 watch towers, fuel depot, etc. Plus Doyle radiod me with a new assignment - to bomb the munition depot to create a diversion so he could come and pick me up - none of this had I ever played before!
Anyway, as regards the thrilling graphics experience, now I know what you guys - especially Sam and Jeff - have been raving about regarding Crysis. That makes me doubly firm in my resolution to not play Crysis, although I will be installing it today (and I have played the demo at low settings on a crt) until I have the hardware to run it at 2560x1600 in all its full glory.
The experience of Far Cry last night was profound - and THAT technology is from 3-4 years ago. Now I know what Jeff means when he talks running around the Crysis jungle for a couple hours at a time, taking it all in!
Those parrots - my god - it is true, in real life some of them are almost unbelievable in their colour display. I never noticed the little rascals before in my pre-30" Dell life. Haha.
Rich
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