The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. June 2010 @ 04:16 |
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Well, considering until then nobody knew if Sapphire were even making any more cards, I don't think that was an unreasonable course of action :P
Sapphire, needless to say, never replied to my question.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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14. June 2010 @ 15:03 |
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Ahh so there's still hope :P
Good luck Sam.
Sorry for my lack of posting lately people. Attending graduation parties :P
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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14. June 2010 @ 19:03 |
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Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Minimal: Radeon X850XT/X1800 series/HD2900 series/HD3650/HD4550/HD5450 or above, Geforce 6800GT/7600GT/8600GT/9500GT/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon X1900XT/HD2900 series/HD3690/HD4670/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7900GTX/8800 series/9600 series/GT220 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD3870/HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 8800GT/9600GT/GT240 or above
Good: Radeon HD4860/HD5770 or above, Geforce 8800GTX/9800GTX/GTS250 or above
Optimal: Radeon HD5850 or above, Geforce GTX285/GTX465 or above
Extreme: Radeon HD5870CF (93%) or above, Geforce GTX465 SLI (93%) or above
Not too bad this one, room for 8xAA at the top end on non-crazy hardware setups. Quite heavy bias toward nvidia though, an HD5870 competing with a GTX465? ouch!
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AfterDawn Addict
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15. June 2010 @ 04:57 |
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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
4 product reviews
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15. June 2010 @ 05:10 |
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Might make some difference, but remember these dual GPU results are still based off speculative dual GPU scaling, they do not consider any problems that may arise with SLI/CF.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. June 2010 @ 05:50 |
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Replacement 5970 is in, seems to work OK, though it did cause some strange errors in my BIOS when I was connecting from displayport. Run it through 3dmark, and to all but the silentPC nutcase, the card is literally silent through all of it except canyon flight, during which it's tough to say if it's much noisier than a 4870X2 at 2D idle, let alone 3D idle or an actual game! Capacitor whine is more pronounced than the fans which, for the most part (tests 1,2 and 4 of 3dmark included) seem to be running around 900rpm, not a lot for 92mm fans. Impressive to consider at this speed the card is idling in the low-mid 30s Celsius (36 atm), with all but my rear 140mm case fan turned off, and the side open.
Card's performance will be held back initially as I'm sticking with my Q9550 for the first couple of days before I switch back to the i5, but the cooler at least really is deserving of all the praise it received. This is one of the quietest cards I've owned on a par with my XFX HD4830 (probably better, since I don't have to manually force the fan speed to keep it silent). With my Q9550 at 3.4Ghz, 3dmark06 was 19466. Seems pretty decent score for a CPU at that level, so looking forward to seeing how it does with the bottleneck (at least partially) removed. Now time to put my side fans back and try out some real games :P
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. June 2010 @ 06:46 |
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bench some games for us on the q9550 and the same for the 750. I wanna see how many fps it adds.
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
4 product reviews
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16. June 2010 @ 06:51 |
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Some examples then? I'd like to make sure the benchmarks are the same. I'll do a quick normal difficulty playthrough of Left 4 Dead 2 on the first level of The Parish.
I'll run through the first minute section of Crysis Warhead (from where he gets out of the VTOL until when he recovers from being EMP'ed). Anything else?
Given that I would want things to have been up and running for at least a day before fragsoc, I will probably make the i5 switch tomorrow if I can. I'm quite tired today so I won't risk any more hardware changes!
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. June 2010 @ 07:08 |
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umm the pretty much covers it. Metro if you have it. A dx11 title?
battlefeild?
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
4 product reviews
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16. June 2010 @ 07:26 |
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Could run BBC2, but not sure how I'd test it. Suppose I could find a fairly linear sequence in the beginning of the SP campaign. I think I have Metro 2033 but not installed. That should be a laugh.
Managed to get the card's idle temp down to 32C with the A/C on :P - forcing the fan speed to 100% for curiosity's sake does work, but manual fan speed control on it works a lot differently to normal cards, once you reduce it, it applies cooldown mode (where the fan speed is reduced by a fixed amount after a fixed interval, regardless of temperature), same as the X2s used to do but only if on automatic.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. June 2010 @ 00:56 |
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Finished my testing, and the second card is definitely bad. I'm booking a return today for collection on monday, and applying for a direct refund. I genuinely don't have the time or patience to try another 5 series card for now. I'll leave it until the 6 series comes out before I upgrade.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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18. June 2010 @ 01:31 |
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Two bad cards in a row? Man, that's really bad! It's a shame that GPU's don't have the extreme success rate that CPU's have ;) Fairly rare that people have dead/faulty CPU's.
Probably wait myself. I'm lucky when I can sit down and play a game without a guilty conscious.
I'm actually concentrating a lot of my extra time on programming(as well as family guy episodes). It's going pretty slowly right now though. A lot of what I read is not designed for the layman ;) So I find myself stumped often LOL! I don't give up very easily though. I'm very stubborn, and determined when I set a goal. Computers are the future, and I want to be a part of that xD I did find some tips for where to start though. Basically where a complete new-b SHOULD begin. If I could start designing some BASIC programs, I would be well on my way then ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. June 2010 @ 01:38 |
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I keep trying to learn programming, just can't get my head around it. Frustrating as it's something I'm sure I should be good at, but I'm really not :S
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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18. June 2010 @ 02:06 |
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I like afterdawn quite a bit. I haven't spoken with anyone on afterdawn that seem to me, to be experts in the art of programming or web development. I WILL become a programmer one day. I don't know how long it will take me, but I will. When I feel I can contribute to people of lesser knowledge, I will attempt to make programming easier than it has been for me! Certain programs used to intimidate me. Now I have a pretty firm understanding of them. Don't get me wrong, programming is very complex stuff. It does not come easy to me LOL! One day it should though. I don't know how to explain it, but basically, when my mind is bent on something(when I live and breathe it), it just begins to make sense. I believe that most people are this way. Time is something of a factor in all our lives. Time is something I'm fortunate to have a lot of. I work part time at the moment. All other time I spend learning. I believe I'm here for a reason. It's not to multiply like rabbits :p
Occasionally a good game helps me unwind of course ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 05:16 |
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Well I have some minor programming skill. I'm pretty fluent in Visual Basic and have only basic skills in C++. I can make business calculators and simple apps, games and whatnot. If you really need help programming, I might be able to point you to a friend who is extremely talented in the subject. He's a bit of an introvert though so it might be hard to get him to come on AD or an IM client to talk XD
On another note I am a bit excited about Homefront. If you haven't heard of it check out some gameplay videos on Youtube. It looks good :)
Also, my top left third molar from the back is killing me. Mind this is counting my wisdom teeth as they came in problem-free. My family has a history of bad teeth... just wish I had insurance to take care of it XD
Oh well, Ibuprofen, codeine, and a little bit of whiskey is working for now...
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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24. June 2010 @ 06:03 |
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Sniper: Ghost Warrior [AA omitted]
Minimal: Radeon X1800XL/HD2900 series/HD3650/HD4650/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7950GT/8800 series/9600 series/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon HD2900XT/HD3850/HD4670/HD5570 or above, Geforce 8800GT/9600GT/GT240 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 9800GTX+/GTS250 or above
Good: Radeon HD4870/HD5800 series or above, Geforce GTX280/GTX275 or above
Optimal: Radeon HD4850X2/HD5850 or above, Geforce GTX260-216 SLI/GTX470 or above
Extreme: Radeon HD5830 Tri-CF/HD5870 CF or above, Geforce GTX465 Tri-SLI/GTX480 SLI or above
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 13:46 |
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Thanks Jeff. Appreciate that. My problem seems to be exactly where to begin. I don't want to run before I walk you know LOL! Every language I've looked at has been intimidating to say the least! Well...almost every language. XHTML seems pretty basic. But maybe what my problem is, is not understanding the roots, the foundation of ALL programming. Where do you suggest I start? Treat me as a first year student ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 14:45 |
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RMA is finished with the second returned 5970. Turns out it was actually even worse by the time they got it, artifacts all over the place. Refund is on its way...
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 16:41 |
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Finally they're not ****ing with you now :P
Might want to post that in the AMD forum and shut some people up XD
Quote: Thanks Jeff. Appreciate that. My problem seems to be exactly where to begin. I don't want to run before I walk you know LOL! Every language I've looked at has been intimidating to say the least! Well...almost every language. XHTML seems pretty basic. But maybe what my problem is, is not understanding the roots, the foundation of ALL programming. Where do you suggest I start? Treat me as a first year student ;)
I would start with Visual Basic. You can program it with a graphic interface and it makes it easy to understand the fundamentals of object association and code structure. If you really want to learn, a "for dummies" type book or a learner's text book might be your best bet. Something that can walk you through it. Once you are pretty fluent with Visual Basic, a lot of other programming languages fall in line because they use the same basic structure(though not the same syntax ie wording convention) . C++ and HTML come to mind.
I can't be much help over the internet. But if you care to we can get together on MSN or Skype or something and I can walk you through a few basic programs. Microsoft Visual Studio is what you should be looking for. I have the 2009 edition.
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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24. June 2010 @ 16:50 |
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Oh I did, I posted their report back. I decided to leave off 'told you so' - don't want to seem like an arrogant SOB, there's enough of those there already :P
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 16:55 |
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I like this page. It speaks to me, as though I know little or nothing. Every other search I ended up reading something that assumed I was a novice or expert. Quite irritating :p
Thanks for the opinions Jeff. Always appreciated
http://www.vbtutor.net/lesson1.html
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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24. June 2010 @ 19:51 |
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Omega, excellent find. That was one of the aids I used when I started. It is the first half of one of the college textbooks :D Follow that and try every program several times until you can do it without looking. It's fairly straight forward.
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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25. June 2010 @ 08:30 |
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Singularity (AA excluded)
Minimal: Radeon X1800 series/HD2900 series/HD3650/HD4650/HD5570 or above, Geforce 7800 series/8600GT/9500GT/GT220 or above
Reduced: Radeon HD2900 Pro/HD3850/HD4670/HD5570 or above, Geforce 8800 series/9600GSO G92/GT220 or above
Moderate: Radeon HD3870/HD4700 series/HD5700 series or above, Geforce 8800GT/9800GT/GT240 or above
Good: Radeon HD4770/HD4850/HD5770 or above, Geforce 8800 Ultra/9800GTX+/GTS250 or above
Optimal: Radeon HD4770CF/5750CF/HD4850X2/HD5830 or above, Geforce GTX275/GTX280 or above
Extreme: Radeon HD5830 Tri-CF/HD5970/HD5850CF or above, Geforce GTX285 SLI/GTX480 OC or above
There's still hope :P
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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27. June 2010 @ 00:24 |
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Originally posted by sam on 10 June: Risk there of course is me buying something in september/october, only to find its sucessor arrives in December. Last word from inside ATI was allegedly that Southern Islands was on track for a 2010 release. Couple this with the fact that I will have 14 weeks over the summer with no academic work to do, prime time to catch up with the huge pile of games I never played
Wow - I very carefully read that post, and the intense agonizing over the multitude of choices was palpable - I started sweating in empathy - (or maybe it's just the caffeine buzz from all the java I drank this afternoon to try to get myself fired up for phone calls, lol.)
Originally posted by shaff: that has to be the shortest post from rich, ever!
Hahahaha!
And that was over two weeks ago - I meant to get back here last weekend but I took another real estate listing!!! Also I just closed out my first escrow for $3400 - UPGRADE BUCKS!!!
Maybe I'll actually upgrade someday - but not yet. No reason to since I have been off gaming since February! It almost kills me to say that - I'm doing a bunch of agonizing myself!! I turned on the gaming rig overnight a few weeks ago so Steam would load the new free chapter of Left 4 Dead 2 - but I don't know exactly when I'll be back on.
I won't let myself start up again until I am satisfied that I have restarted the massive phone call habit - 20 hours a week - like when I actually used to make money selling houses, lol.
However, I almost jumped on last week. What I really miss about it is, first of all, the shooting of course (but if Shaff were around I probably wouldn't miss getting killed every minute by him :P) And of course I miss the comraderie - especially in Left 4 Dead - chatting with the team - yelling during the tense moments - cheering when we get to the safe room - particularly in expert mode when the other teamies are good about checking their friendly fire.
(The last time I played - with Friends - one of the guys was soooo bad - there was nowhere I could position myself in a zombie rush - to be safe from him - where I didn't suddenly lose 50 health not due to any zombie swipes. In expert mode, trying to prevail and make some progress, in Mall no less, is pretty frustrating with a colt teammate who has terrible friendly fire stats. I probably should have just told him to stay with uzi or get his fire under control - instead of that I just bailed out and silently slipped away with no goodbyes, lol.)
One of the things that is helping me maintain the discipline and focus, to hold off the gaming until my phone calls are cranking, is that to start a gaming session, I have to completely turn the table around to activate the huge 30" monitor and my gaming rig. And turning the table around is a ten minute project. That table is right now set up for phone calling.
Do you guys remember this picture?
I called it David and Goliath - my Dell 19" 1440x900, versus the 30" 2560x1600.
I had trouble with my gaming keyboard moving too much, so I finally taped it down on the table and I also taped down a large mouse pad. The little monitor is now back to back with the big one, connected to a second 2.4 ghz business tower that sits next to the 4 ghz gaming tower. The picture shows the seat cushion, next to the refrigerator on the left of the picture. Right now the table is turned around and the big Dell is facing toward us. The little monitor is backed up to the big one, facing away, and everything is set up for phone calls, not gaming. Right now, I can turn on the gaming computer and clumsily hit some keys on the keyboard, and use the mouse, but there is nowhere to sit.
I have one more business station on the other end of the trailer, where I have another identical table, and right now that's where the outgoing telephone is, but I switch phone calling stations from time to time, trying to overcome the boredom of the calling and get back into the old rhythm. Taking that second listing a week ago was exciting! That could turn into another $3500 check - more upgrade money!
And there's still that 9450 quad core that Miles said he might loan me for a while - it's just sitting in his garage - I forget which one he is using - he doesn't pay too much attention to the hardware they give him for his animating. I'll be going over there tomorrow for a little visit - I haven't seen him for a long time - maybe I'll have some news on upcoming valve projects.
Originally posted by sam: Replacement 5970 is in, seems to work OK
Oh man! Like Jeff said "there's still hope!" They DID make another one, just for Sam :P
Originally posted by shaff: bench some games for us on the q9550
Yeah! Good idea - I can't remember if Miles said "9450 or 9550." I see specs are almost the same with 12mb L2 cache - 9550 a little faster. Maybe that will be my upgrade - take Miles' box - if he really DOES give it to me - put a better cooler on, a bunch of fans, overclock to 4ghz, and throw a couple of 5870s in it.
Quote: Finished my testing, and the second card is definitely bad...don't have the time or patience to try another 5 series card
OH CR*P!!! IT WAS EXCITING FOR A WHILE!
Originally posted by kevin: Probably wait myself. I'm lucky when I can sit down and play a game without a guilty conscious.
Wow - does that sound familiar!
Originally posted by kevin again: I'm actually concentrating a lot of my extra time on programming(as well as family guy episodes).
FAMILY GUY!! Hahahaha! I bet you like futurama too!!! Hahahahaha! They're all by the same Simpson people, am I right?
My brother - the auto cad guy - loves futurama. I watched one episode in high definition on the new 47" big screen. At first I thought - "No! A cartoon? Not for me." But then I got sucked into it.
The writing is over the top. The very weird robot is named Ender - like the majorly famous science fiction story "Ender's game." And in the one episode I watched, they were on a sandy planet, riding a huge worm. Is anybody else besides me a giant Dune fan?
They were rebuilding Vegas, and a Frank Sinatra song was playing for most of the first 5 minutes. For a cartoon, it is loaded with very sophisticated humor and double entendres all over the place! Quite entertaining, I have to admit!
Originally posted by kevin once more: I believe I'm here for a reason. It's not to multiply like rabbits :p
Hahahahaha!
Yeah, Kevin, me too! I'm here for a reason - and that's to relive World War II and kill as many Nazis as possible. Plus a few Far Cry mercs and monkeys, BF2 Mecs (or Americans depending on which side I'm on, lol) and of course ZOMBIES!
But mostly Nazis - that era seems to be the part of the last century that interests me most. That was quite a war, after which everybody multiplied like rabbits.
And finally I see I'm all caught up with you guys. Jeff and Kevin are doing some programming work - I have found it's all math and logic - but I never took it to where Kevin wants to go with it, or to where Jeff is. My opinion, Sam, if you haven't excelled, is that you just haven't gotten interested enough yet - you're too busy gorging on pixels and creating hardware solutions for high-end virtual reality.
Quote: There's still hope :P
And not to mention, busy getting involved with every kind of virtual reality they invent - you and Jeff testing all the new games.
So I take it, Sam, that nothing by way of new tech from you until Southern Islands?
But wait a second, just a few weeks ago, until you discovered they actually had another bad Sapphire card for you, weren't you heavily leaning toward that 3 gpu idea that Jeff was all in favor of?
Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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27. June 2010 @ 01:10 |
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I've actually only watched one episode/movie of Futurama. It was good. Futurama and Simpsons are the same people, Family guy is a different creator.
Interest definitely helps when attempting to learn and excel in any field ;)
Love Dune by the way xD
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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