The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

I'm quite happy to say I own 90% of my games. CoD4, Left 4 Dead, and UT3 included. I like the vehicles better in UT3 but the weapons are lacking. My favorite is still UT GOTY. Some of the best weapons ever to grace an FPS.

 

lot of ways to buy pirated games in london

i used to do it before broadband haha.

but any game i liek i buy.

this year i have bought cod4/5 RA3 CnC3:KW and GTA IV thus far.

its only right

i like EA for one reason, FIFA 09 . otherwise meh lol

 

It's good to hear you say that estuansis, and Shaff.

Sam, on the other hand, YOU just sent me into severe depression lol.

Come on, seriously, if they can figure out how to do all this amazing shit - you're saying no way can they figure out how to foil piracy??? That's just another opportunity waiting for Microsoft to jump in and make a bunch of licensing money! There HAS to be a way - THERE JUST HAS TO BE! I don't care how brainy all those hackers are, and THEY ARE, there is going to be a way to foil that shit that will require a heavy investment that no hacker will want to make. Come on.

Counter-feiting currency obviously is highly profitable - and supposedly Iran, or maybe it was Iraq, was cranking out good old US $100 bills like crazy (what I heard was that it was happening BIG TIME - very good-looking hundreds - but the Treasury department kept it hush hush because they didn't want to undermine the value of the dollar any further at the time - say about 8 years ago.) So what did they do? They added colors and lines running through the paper that you see when you hold it up, all kinds of things the counter-feiters can't do.

So for video games, if they sincerely required a DVD to be IN THE PLAYER, no ifs ands or buts about it, (obviously these bit torrent hackers have figured a way around that), THAT would be a start. As you said, Sam, you don't usually see the fake dvds that Sarven was telling me about - THERE HAS TO BE A WAY!!!

Ok, enough about piracy. I just hope you're wrong Sam, because I don't want to play on the damn TV set, HD or not!!! Not to mention use the game remote? After all these years on the keyboard. PLEEEZZ!! lol

Shaff, have I joined a clan? No, not yet, should I?

By the way, Sam, I don't know if the clan question is about skill level, or about being, more or less, a totally committed addict. But maybe the two are the same because you certainly build up skill by playing the game all the time. I am pretty committed, but I'm trying to confine it to one day a week, which might not make me a good clan candidate, I don't know. (Now how do I control the forum addiction? Two days a week? Good idea. Wednesday is COD4 addiction. Monday and Friday are After Dawn addiction. That just might work. I'll give that a lot of thought. Some day. LOL)

Clans are BIG BIG BIG on Counter-Strike. That's where they got started.

Speaking of Counter Strike. Shaff, have you ever tried CS? It's the grand-daddy of the addictive multiplayer shooters - it may still be the most popular. They actually have professional counter strike players and world matches - the winning teams get endorsement money from game accessory companies like SteelSeries. At one time prior to xbox and halo - let's say 4 years ago - more people were playing CS online than all the other mp games added together! I don't know how it ranks today.

It's similar to COD4 - some who have played both think it's better, some think COD4 is better. The maps are simpler on CS - but some are very beautiful. The maps are a little smaller perhaps. The game play gets most of the focus. The game is not as demanding on the system hardware. Valve is really good about scaling for weaker hardware - although what Sam just told me about Left 4 Dead tells me it's one more title that has to wait for the upgrade.

I am actually afraid to go back to CS, because I was EXTREMELY hooked on it - hours and hours and hours and days without end. There was a major steep learning curve before I started to get anywhere near a 50/50 kill ratio - on my BEST days. Just for fun I jumped on a CS server about a year ago for an hour and had my ass totally handed to me. It was so bad that the mofo was blown away when I took him out on a head to head as we met under the tunnel on Dust 2. "Rick got me?" he said, almost crying. Hahahaha. I was so rusty and couldn't remember what to buy, and how to throw grenades, etc. that he thought I was a first week newbie. He didn't know I could "dance." He was admin on the site, so when he talked, even though dead, everybody could hear. He was one shocked arrogant b*tch when he bit the dust, hahahaha.

So, no doubt about it, you can get addicted to CS just like COD4. It's a little different in the sense that you don't respawn when you get killed - you have to wait out the round. (I know there is one mode of COD4 that is like that - is it the search and destroy?) But while you are waiting you can type or even voice chat with other dead players and of course while this is going on spectator mode allows you to follow different players - first person, or third person.

You gain money to buy different weapons and armor when you win - armor helps although even with head armor, most headshots are one-shot kills. When you or your team is losing a lot you start to run out of money and you have to settle for smgs like the navy or the p90, or you start going into rounds without any armor. You start playing more carefully.

In Counter-Strike the p90 is not my favorite because it's not long range - I prefer the Colt M15 silenced. It is super powerful, and long range, even silenced, and doesn't recoil too much. They also have the AK, which is the MOST powerful, other than the AWP, but you have to learn to shoot that in one-shot "bursts" hahaha - it recoils like unbelievably crazy, which I think is real life. It is SO LOUD, and also SO POWERFUL.

Sometimes I like to use that - I pick it up off dead terrorists if I am playing counter terrorist, and swap it for my Colt sometimes. You also get used to crouching down a lot in CS, because it tightens the aim - I think COD4 also does similar - but in COD4 I almost never crouch any more, unless I'm sniping or using SAW grip stopping power, and steady aim.

Life is a little more precious in Counter-Strike, which gives it a different pace. When you kill somebody there is more a feeling of satisfaction, because that player stays dead for good - maybe for another three minutes - until the round ends with somebody winning or losing. So if you kill somebody, it helps your team win. If you kill all of them, you win, even if they have planted the bomb and it is ticking away (if it explodes before they are all dead, THEY win.) Like I say, I know COD4 has one mode, maybe search and destroy, which is similar, but I haven't played that mode - the most I have experienced is 10 seconds of wait, like the other valve mp I like, Day of Defeat.

The other MAIN DIFFERENCE between COD4 and CS, is that there is a major amount of use of mics - guys constantly talking back and forth on microphones - like xbox games I have watched Kyle play. I have not come across that on COD4 - just a couple of times and the mics were OVERloud - so I left the server - it was annoying.

On Counter-Strike, you would think that the mics would be used to coordinate team activity, and occasionally they ARE: "They're planting at B", or "They're going long A" but a lot of times it's an open mic which means everybody hears, so sometimes it's just "Hey, arnold, how'd you like the way I took your head off that last time." "Your mother." Haha. Or you hear shit like "Hey blitzner, how old are you, like 12? We don't allow kids to hoard the mic on this server. Shut the fu*k up!"

But the mic and all the 'talkin trash' really adds to the atmosphere of playing Counter Strike. LOL Seriously, if I ever get tired of COD4, I might go back to CS and see what's up. It would take me several weeks to get back into gear though.

Anyway, Shaff, back to clans. Do you think that's a good idea? Are there better password clan servers available, for example, that way? What are the benefits? Are you in a clan? Why would I want to join a clan, and would a clan accept me?

Rich

 

yeah, the mode that got me hooekd to cod4 was SnD, which im told is classic CS, but i had never played CS before, and dont really liek it in fragsoc (me and sams LAN party) i prefer COD4

in my clan we all get on mumble, and scrim other clans, and play on public servers. always SnD, though on pubs we might go TDM, and we are always ont he mic.

when you die you can talk to the dead in SnD aswell.

im in a clan UTDM, we have servers aswell if you want to play with us. sam does somtimes. hehe he even scrimmed with us once hehe.

have you got xfire?

if you chekc xfire COD4 is the most played FPS on xifre of all time and overall is second the only game higher is WOW which has been otu for AGES

 

All we play at Fragsoc is gungame. Real CSS is cool, I like it.

 

Wow, sounds a lot like CSS. (Yeah, Sam, you're right, technically not CS, but CSS: Counter Strike - Source - the new CS on the Source Half Life 2 engine - the newer look with barrels that actually roll down the hill rather than being immovable - and much better looking maps - I believe the official CS tournaments are now all on Source.)

So you play almost exclusively Search and Destroy? - I never played that once on a COD4 server - guess I've been going to the wrong servers. And you guys are always on the mic - never came across that.

Yeah, I think I have xfire. Let me double check. I think I'll be doing this tomorrow - getting up early and playing cod4 all day. I'll try to get xfire going, and see if I can find your UTDM servers, and see if I can actually get on a server where guys are using the mic and the volume is not off the scale. Hope my mic works - it should! Lol

Rich

 

well add me to xifre:

shaffaaf27

and msn:

phatb_shaft@hotmail.com



people normally dont speak over the game we use mumble, or teamspeak or ventrillo to speak

 

Ok, shaff, got all your stuff. I just downloaded mumble. I'll install it on my gaming rig tomorrow - I have a lot of bandwidth so it should work - and it runs on processors down to a p3. They even have that positioning thing for COD4 - if your buddy is standing to your left, his voice comes from the left. How cool is that!!

New subject: USED PARTS!

In addition to creating great newegg builds, all you guys are also good at finding bargains. I'm considering just picking up some used stuff to throw into my existing case - to make the upgrade as cheap as possible - and save money for this summer's build.

I envision three computer upgrades within the next 18 months: 1. the one I'm going to do immediately I call EXISTING_CASE_P4_CHANGEOUT, 2. then the one in 6 months or so, NEW_BUILD_775_2009, and then 3. the last one in about 18 months, NEW_BUILD_NEHALEM_2010 with whatever ATI has in a 6000 graphics family by then - finally raping crysis full 2560x1600 30" Dell, lol.

I've been camping out at ebay. For the EXISTING_CASE_P4_CHANGEOUT, I am thinking that just about anything at all core 2 duo-wise, quad or dual core, will be way faster than my p4, and will last me 6-8 months - if I can get near 10000 3dmarks I'll be in good shape with my 1440x900 19" monitor.

So I'm looking for used bits to do my p4 changeout really cheap. I know that boozer sometimes finds some great buys on used stuff. Hey boozer, are you around?

It seems that Q6600s are selling at ebay for around $130-150, not much off retail newegg - BUT - from what I see so far, core two duos are MUCH cheaper it seems. Everybody is going quad, so the core 2 duos can be had for pennies - maybe. Let's see how these auctions turn out that I'm watching.

I'll have more data when some of these auctions end in a few days, but if I buy right, I might be able to pick up a used but still good mobo and a core 2 duo, for total at maybe half the price of new, maybe $125-150, (instead of $300 new UD3 board and new Q6600.) For gfx, I can actually get a 4870 512mb for $185-195 Buy it Now on ebay - I guess everybody wants the 1 gig version - or people just need xmas money lol - but again for now I don't have that many pixels to push. I'll sell off the 3850 for $100, and I'll be maxed out on this computer case. I don't need a cf mobo - although I'm following two auctions on ga-p35-ds4 which ARE cf, 6 mos to 1 year old technology, and they also ARE in the new "ultra dependable" family.

This summer I'll pick up a tempest (or maybe lian-li) and start the NEW_BUILD_775_2009 with non-nehalem cheaper parts - the beautiful GA-EP45-UD3P cf mobo for $116 after rebates, Q6600 or maybe Q9550 by then, and whatever is out in the 5870 family with 1 gig on board - maybe budget of about $1000-1200. I don't think I'll try to go used mobo - that ud3 looks awesome for just over $100 - but I might see what kind of used quad cpu I can pick up at that time.

So what do you think?

If my plan makes sense, where should I look in addition to ebay for some used stuff - maybe motherboard and cpu combos?

(Hey xfire is downloading the cod4 patch. The last time I installed that patch, my server list turned blank and I had to re-install the game? Should I let xfire download that patch?)

Rich

 

With all due regard, the only reason COD4 is top on Xfire is because people use it to join cracked servers - Xfire has earned pirate copies of COD4 the right to play almost uninhibited.

 

Sam, that is friggin amazing. So what's on xfire may not necessarily be reflective of how popular the game is worldwide compared to CS for example.

When you say "cracked server" what does that actually mean? Is that a server that doesn't check to make sure players have an authentic copy of the game or a unique multiplayer code that comes with an authentic copy? What's a cracked server versus non-cracked?

On another note, have you used mumble? I downloaded and installed it and went through all the mic adjustments. But there is a server and a client, which I don't quite understand, and I'm supposed to log in on this list of servers - again I don't understand. If I have mumble, or murmer, running, and I log on to a cod4 server, let's say through xfire - can people hear me - or is that particular server the one I log onto also with mumble? They have a huge FAQ that I could go through and learn, but maybe you can give me the 10 cent version. If you think I should read the FAQ I will.

What do you think about my idea of buying used bits for this little case for the immediate short term upgrade?

 

Absolutely right, it is a server that does not include a CD key check, so anyone with the game installed can join, whether or not they have a legitimate CD key. The id check used is merely the CD key the game comes with, or the downloaded version comes with (which for all the downloaded ones is the same)
Mumble servers and COD4 servers are different. Often server admins will have their own voice chat server, the address of which they will display during the server, but Mumble isn't very popular. Usually you will find Teamspeak or Ventrilo used instead, they're much the same application really. Server = your PC hosts the conversation. Client = you join a conversation.

As for the short term upgrade, I don't think you should bother. I wasted far too much money short-terming my old PC, it drained my funds loads and eared me nothing. Start fresh, you need to.

 

Sam, happy holidays and Happy Chanukah / Merry Christmas, and thanks for that clarification.

Regarding a fresh start:

Man, are you right!

Thanks for the push, bud. It's funny - all of a sudden I was kind of thinking the same thing. Then I came back to the computer and found your post. Whew! What a relief!

I swear, Sam, after spending hours on ebay over the last two days, tracking all those parts into the wee hours of the morning, looking at motherboards, pricing against newegg, reading on google, it just stopped making any sense!

It started occuring to me, finally, that in trying to save $100 here and there, without knowing what you guys know about this stuff, money-wise I would be much better off investing all those hours into my real estate work. I always know this, but I always get distracted. (Well, there's also the pull of the fascination of getting acquainted with new areas of knowledge - as I have no doubt you know very well!)

And then, the more I thought about it, the more I didn't like the idea of ripping apart my existing machine and fiddling with used parts - and not being able to play my cod4 when things for sure will go wrong. I had a nice little picture of tearing my hair out, lol!

My modest p4 custom-ventilated rig runs cod4 online, it has a 3850, it handles shader 3.0, it hits 4850 3dmark6, and the 19" shader 3.0 image looks really nice on the Dell. Maybe one day I'll throw a $20 Arctic Freezer Pro in it and fiddle with some overclocking, but it's a good spare for me the way it is.

OKAY, a fresh start! I like how that sounds!! New technology LOL!

I'll get all NEW parts, take my time, tinker with the build, and still keep playing COD4 once a week no matter what goes wrong or what has to be RMA'd.

Starting with that beautiful gigabyte ud3 board, the wish list will include the Q6600 cpu, the ultra 120, the tempest, and - what psu do you like for eventual crossfire 4870 - is it still the corsair 650?

Rich

 

Just a little nudge - I scored 6700 in 3dmark06 in 2006 - and not at the end of 2006 either.
To crossfire 4870s I recommend the 750W TX as the 650 does not have enough connectors.

 

i got over 21k now on 3d mark

 

Hahahaha.

I clearly remember when you STILL led the class in 2007, just under 7000 3dmarks, and nobody had over 5.

And your point would be ......?

Hahahaha.

What did Estuansis say: "2005 technology and now it's 2008 ... almost 2009!"

Hahahaha.

Shaff, your rig is beginning to perform - you're past your cpu troubles - and your water is humming along. However, just so you don't get hypnotized by that fan controller display, I recall that Sam also gets over 21k.

So did you beat him yet or not? ... Hahahaha!

Rich

 

400 points off him

my mobo/processor wont go above 458 FSB and be stable in games/3d mark

btw



i might RMA the mobo/CPU.....

 

Look, I see the box, I see the X, and I see the circle=360 degrees, but I still don't get it! What does that have to do with playstation - is that what you see on a ps controller??

Your FSB won't go over 458 - WTF? You mean versus FSB 1333, or FSB 1600? I could see where that could hold you back over 400 points.

You both have the same cpu, I think, maybe the 9550?, but you have a different motherboard, right? Well I don't know diddly about fsb yet, but sounds like something is wrong. What a pain!

 

458FSB = 1832. Remember the FSB is quad pumped for core 2 Quads.

X = X
Square = Box
Circle = 360

As far as I recall, the xbox 360 name was actually a clone of Nintendo's codename for what is now the Wii, Revolution.

 

Hmmmm. Well I guess that's okay, because a lot of people (Jobs is one of them) think Microsoft took Windows straight from Mac. Hahahaha.

Hey speaking of quad on the FSB, for my new build the Q6600 at newegg is about $200 with state sales tax. There are lots of used and private party new cpus for sale on ebay. If I can get a Q9300 for about the newegg price of a Q6600, is that a good thing to do?

The newegg reviews rave about the Q9300 Yorkfield - one guy said "it's the NEW Q6600" meaning latest and greatest version of budget perfomer Q6600. It's the new 45nm instead of 65, 95 watts instead of 105, 2.66ghz versus 2.4, and goes for about $270 at newegg factoring in the sales tax I have to pay here in California. But I wouldn't have the warranty - they would guarantee not DOA and probably 30 day return I bet. What do you think?

 

The Q9300 typically uses around 90W (95W TDP) versus the Q6600's 85W (95W TDP, only the original, pre-G0 version had a TDP of 105 and TDPs are usually overstated).
The Q9300 isn't really much better than the Q6600 because of its lower multiplier, and in order to get it to the same speeds, you will need a much more stringent motherboard, 2 sticks of premium RAM only, high motherboard temperatures, and worst of all, a willingness to settle for less than 100% stable system. The disadvantages to a low multiplier are numerous.