____

EzyDVD didn't have The Great Escape when mum stopped in on the way to picking me up from work, so she's put it on order for me. Should have it in my hand by friday :)

I'd actually put control over graphics. Nothing worse that you sweet looking game that needs 3 hands to play decently ;) Actually, gameplay + control can probably be bundled together.

I've had countless nations, but this is the one that's lived the longest so far... http://www.nationstates.net/darkwebz

ok, so i ran 3dmark06 again.. SM 2.0: 314 - Return to Proxycon: 2.689 fps - FireFly Forest: 2.553 fps CPU - Red Valley (1): 0.240fps - Red Valley (2): 0.376fps My system.... AMD A64 3500+ (2.22ghz) 2gb DDR 400mhz ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128mb how is that kind of score possible with that :-s if someone can explain how 3dmark performs so crap, while every single game on this pc works flawlessless, i'd like to hear it.

Common sense works. Almost every system-critical piece of hardware will have instructions. Hence, you should read them. And the OS is a trivial issue, like 90% of your software. A lot of sites well software for cheap / almost wholesale prices. And to reitterate again, if you build your own - it builds your knowledge, and that's less time spent hounding tech support about problems since you'll be capable of working them out and taking the necesary action :)

Samurize

I got a score < 1,000 last time I ran 3d mark. Somehow I was only pulling 2-4fps on almost every test they ran :uhh: what the [cabbage]?

Holy thread-bump batman! I want TP already :(

I clicked to post that.

Aye, I heard that and was like "what the hell, [cabbage]!" and i was true :(

Negative. Individual hardware warrenty > warrenty for entire pc. At least you don't lose the entire machine if someone has a problem. Also, you can upgrade all you like, and you don't lose your warrenty on anything ;) Purchase online, it'll be delivered to your home, it's all self-explainitory how to assemble a computer. Read the instruction booklets - there for a reason. And most of it is common sense.

Well, I was running the system in single channel since I made the second post, up until about 6am (puts it at about 4 hours) and was playing bf2 for the majority of that time and got no crashes. I'm putting it down to a parity bit error unless i see otherwise.

Ok, I cleaned the cpu heatsink (damn there was a lot of dust on it) and also put some new thermal paste down. And for a testing measure, I'm going to keep running the system with dual channel disabled. I can live without dual channel optimization if that's the problem.

Ok, I've been getting some irritating stop errors lately... First one happened when the system was idle... IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0x0000000A (0xFA3F3CBC, 0x00000001, 0x00000000, 0x8050298A) I ram memtest on my ram (2GB Dual Channel Geil DDR 400MHz): 1. One stick at a time 2. Paired (single channel) 3. Paired (dual channel) Got no errors on any of them. And the next one also tends to happen while idle.... PFN_LIST_CORRUPT 0x0000004E (0x0000008F, 0x0005A4FF, 0x0004F3B7, 0x00000000) Generally something botching the ram access or bad physical ram. And I let memtest run 5 times on each test and got 0 errors following #1. But here's the kicker: When I'm playing memory-intensive games (battlefield 2, half-life 2 and Oblivion) I randomly get blue screens. It's a BSOD, just with no error message. I've talked around and I have two solutions: 1. CPU over-heating (AMD A64 3500+) 2. Problem with my video card (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb) I've checked my cpu temperature right after i've gotten an error (in bios) and it has never been over 25c. Although I'll give it and it's fan a clean once I make this post. The VGA can't be overheating since I have a Zalman ZM80D-HP on it, wonder if there's anything I can do to check it out more thourghly?

So it wont launch till 18 months AFTER the xBox 360? Go Sony. Give customers even more insentive to buy a compeditors product. They should give up now and make the PS3 into a super-console for the next round. With the number of screw ups they've had this time, I'm suprised they didn't throw in the towel and drop blu-ray and just gotten units out there for close to half the price.

Nah, scandanavian or something around that rea. Old school "race" apparently. I dunno the full details and can't be arsed looking.

If you want the "best" custom computer website, find one that sells all the hardware seperately, and just pick and chose and assemble it yourself. Plenty of them around. and there's a sticky for such things, iirc. Edit: so it seems you've already read that list :-s What more is there to do? If you need help with hardware and working out the best pc for your budget just ask, and people will provide you with that they come up.

Mythbusters proved that impossile. Killer playing card = busted.

Hence "near-permanent", hobgoblin11 ;) It's a self-imposed subordinate of insomnia. You can "train" your body to get by with less sleep. And it takes less to "reset" it. I've been averaging 4-5 hours a night for the better part of 6 years and I'm fine. It's not rare for me to go for 40-50 hours without sleeping either. And, if I fall asleep around 10pm (like the rest of my family), I'll wake up about 3, maybe 4 am and be unable to fall asleep again, simply because my body has no reason for it. It's just the way I am. It'd take me the better part of a month to fix myself into a normal sleep pattern again.

Best advice I've seen posted yet. I was doing that not too long ago trying to work out why my pc wasn't booting. It only took one attempt to work out it was the psu, but still a good technique if you're not sure of the problem.

Nothing wrong wtih card throwing. I used to do it when my darts board was busted. It's quite fun when you're sick of everything else.

In all seriousness*: 1. Red Bull or V in the morning 2. Two of the above in the afternoon / evening. 3. If you start to feel drowsy, go out for a run / walk. 4. Come back and hit up on a cafinated drink. Do that 3 or 4 times a week for a month then lay off the drinks in the afternoon / evening. Another month after that drop the one in the morning and you'll be fine**. then you'll never have this problem again. * You really don't want to follow this advice unless you are looking for near-permanent changes to your body clock and sleep paterns ** Average 3-5 hours a night and be fine for the next day or two with little side effects

lmao, AlienWare is overpriced. You're paying more for the name than the hardware that makes the computer, almost. There's nothing special about them.

Failed the first time, passed the second. Instructor intevention ftmfl :uhh: I stalled at a roundabout and had 1/5 of a body length into the roundabout. There was a car coming from the other direction and I started the cut, but it into gear and i went to take off. Bam, stalled again because the [wagon]-hat instructor had kept his foot on the break citing "possible accident" as intevention even though the other car wasn't even in the roundabout yet. My normal driving instructor had a go at him as well. But he refused to change his decision. Other than that, I had two minor errors - one was a failed sholder check. And the other was a stall after parallel parking. So 3 errors in total. :(

in. 3 is more to be 'awe' about nowdays.