EugenyG

I'd strongly recommend going for X800XT if you go for a high-end Radeon card. The difference in performance is quite noticable between XT and XL (about 1:1 ratio with difference in price).

400 pounds? Dude you can get pretty much any gaming graphics card for that. Including top-of-the-line cards Radeon X850XT PE or GeForce 6800 Ultra. I even think that would be enough to buy 2 GF6800GT's and connect them in SLI (which would outperform any single card mentioned above).

Obivously meant 700MB.

Got my system! Typing from it now. I already installed (in that order) Windows XP Professional, NAV & NSC, NAV update, Windows Update, patches to video card, Ad-Aware, drivers for printer, CD drives and other non-essential peripherials, Office XP, and finally 2 graphically intensive games - UT2004 and HL2. UT2K4 runs absolutely flawlessly at 1024x768 (just don't like higher resolutions), at all maximum settings plus forced 16x anisotropic filtering and 8x antialiasing. Half-life 2, which is optimized for ATI, runs _almost_ flawlessly at 1024x768 at all settings maximum (can drop to ~20 FPS on crowded scenes), and <30 FPS was pretty much eliminated after switching to 8x AF and 6X AA. Battlefield 1942, which I installed later, is obviously not a challenge to 6800GT at any settings. I am however looking to test out the more detailed Desert Combat mod, and definitely the extremely polygonal-intensive BattleFront42 mod. The only thing I'm a bit annoyed is that loading times have not almost not decreased at all since my last system (P3 2.2 512 RAM and GF TI-200 3yo card). In fact, in some places in HL2 it feels like loading times between places on a level have actually increased. :S Anyone knows why? Another thing I'm surprised at is how quickly my 1GB of RAM is hogged by various Windows applications which used much less RAM on my last system. Over 700GB are already taken up as system cache, and each Iexplore window takes like 30MB RAM (used to take no more than 15). I'll test how Firefox does a bit later. I'll also post my 3Dmark score once I download it. Overall I'm quite happy with my system, rating it at 9/10 for what I tested it with so far.

LMAO. It's hilarious if he actually came up with all those words himself.

Here are my favorite Abandonware sites: http://www.the-underdogs.org/ http://www.bhlegend.com/ http://www.abandonia.com/ http://www.dosgames.com/ (already mentioned) BTW Mods -- as far as I know all of these sites are abandonware-only, and don't support any warez. Sorry if it's still against board rules.

2 fans on front, one on side, one on top = 4 fans total (excluding rear ones, of which none were included except obviously the power supply fan). I separetely bought one rear 20mm "smart" fan - turns on when needed. Here's a pic of the case.

Well, system ordered! I indeed had to change RAM to DDR, since the mobo wouldn't support it. I also had to pay an extra $20 for a case fan (the box designers did something brilliant - they put 4 auxiliary fans in the front, side, and top, but didn't include any fans in the REAR - ie where they are needed most. :? ) System will be assembled by next Tuesday.

All prices in Canadian dollars. $75 18" (301-SL) Black/Silver Case w/Transparent Side Panel 4xFan 400W P4 PS USB 2.0 $31 LG 52x32x52 IDE int CD Writer w/Software $67 LG GSA-4161BB internal 16x16 DL DVDÃÆââ¬Å¡ÃâñRW drive w/Software $189 Maxtor 250GB HD 7200rpm 16MB (SATA) #6B250S0 $155 Asus A8V-Deluxe S939 VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset 1AGP8x/5PCI/4DDR, w/Sound Gigabit Lan SATA Raid USB 2.0 ATA-133 $185 1GB DDR2 533Mhz (Kingston KVR533D2N4/1G $339 AMDÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâî AthlonÃÆââââ¬Ã¾Ãââ 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) Socket-939 512K Box $499 Leadtek WinFast A400GT TD GeForce 6800-GT 256MB AGP8x Assembly, shipping and handling: FREE. Total: $1520CAD + 15% Sales Tax = $1771 CAD ($1463 U.S. -- Final price I'm paying) I'm well aware the mobo and video cards are AGP rather then PCI-E, but I decided it's worth the $100 less, since I'm not planning to upgrade in the near future, and when I do I'll need a new mobo anyways. What do you think of the config? Competent to hold out in gaming for at least a couple of years? (In a year from now I'll probably slap on another 1GB DDR2, but for today's gaming market 1GB seems fine) Worth the money? Does it has all the box components it needs to have to work? Any last-minute changes that need to be made? Etc. PS: Stuff I already have: - Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro - Logitech MouseMan Optical - 5.1 Surround Speakers - 17" Sony Flat CRT Trinitron Monitor

Let's share the specs of the very first computers we ever owned (or if you were a kid, first computer in your household that you fairly regularly used). Mine was: Intel 80386 16Mhz (23Mhz turbo) 640KB RAM NO Hard Drive Keyboard (no mouse) PC beeper (no speakers) DOS either 3.0 or 4.0 (the old one where it said A> instead of A:\>) 5.25 floppy drive (obviously no CDROM) No other peripherials (printer, scanner etc) Kinda scary to think I used to use THAT as a computer... Especially for gaming. :wink: Share yours! :P

When choosing a hard drive: 1. What's the difference between ATA-33 and SATA? Is there actually any performance difference? Or is it just a different type of mount, and works the same as long as the motherboard supports it? 2. In what way does more cache size (16MB as opposed to 8MB) would affect HDD performance? I'm not too familiar at how HDD operates in terms of input / output to RAM and other devices. My apologizes, I meant to start a new topic rather then reply here. Mod, please delete this and the last posts of mine in this topic.

My apologizes, I meant to start a new topic rather then reply here. Mod, please delete this and the last posts of mine in this topic.

When choosing a hard drive: 1. What's the difference between ATA-33 and SATA? Is there actually any performance difference? Or is it just a different type of mount, and works the same as long as the motherboard supports it? 2. In what way does more cache size (16MB as opposed to 8MB) would affect HDD performance? I'm not too familiar at how HDD operates in terms of input / output to RAM and other devices.

Both are good games, but I don't buy them out of principle. They both are carefully-designed money-suckers. Everquest 1 had a new "expansion" every 2 weeks or close to that, just so people would have to buy each new one every time. EQ 2 went even further and now has "buyable areas" and other systems whereby the more you pay the more advantage you get. This is BS in my opinion. I can understand a SINGLE p2p systems, where ALL p2p'ers are equal, but the way they designed it is just disgusting. WoW may not do that, BUT: Paying $50 for the game, and then $15 every single month to play is a completely unfair rip-off, regardless of how good the game is. Why, may I ask, no other genre except MMORPG's charges monthly fees? I pay enough money for the game as it is. Pretty much every gaming genre (FPS, racing, strategy, etc) has on-line mode with servers (that yes, have to be maintained by paid staff) yet nobody except MMORPG makers charge ridiculous amounts of money for it. For all I care the real reason is not because of claimed "high costs" but just because they know RPG's are addicting, so they can suck more money out of consumers. And the ways they come up to achieve that are really amazing (in a bad way). I'm not going to be part of that, even if I had enough money to. P.S. Yes I know, the same even applies to RS, although to a lesser degree (single-rank p2p system, only $5 a month, no purchase fee).

Here's some Breakdancing:

The famous "Arbeit" poster was on the gates of AW I, which was for the majority of time a political concentration, not an extermination camp. The much larger and more famous complex of AW II (Birkeneau) which you have modelled, didn't have that sign. You can find detailed information here: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/auschwitz/ P.S. I really hope you are doing this for some serious purpose, like research or a school project about the Holocaust... That's not the kind of thing you model for fun.

After the format, I'll put my current O/S on it (Windows XP Home Edition). Since I'll sell it together with my Windows XP disk, and not have any other copies left of the program, I'm essentially transferring ownership, and it's not illegal in any way (at least in Canada). In fact, trying to make such a transfer illegal would violate a LOT of laws (in the U.S. it would violate the Constitution).

After I buy my new computer, I'm going to sell my current one (to the general public). I have used my computer for financial transactions and other private information, and I want to be sure nothing is recoverable from the hard disk (at least by equipment accessible to an ordinary person). A usual format, therefore, won't do. I'm looking for software that will allow me to do a zero-filling session on the hard disk (advanced multi-layer wiping features are preferred, but not absolutely nessecary, refer to "ordinary person" note). I don't want it to run frm the very hard disk it needs to wipe, because then the wipe will be incomplete (leaving the space for the program and the minimal OS on the disk). So the wiper needs to be able to run from a diskette / CD (with it's own disk-accessing OS), or at least from another hard drive when the current one is mounted as a slave. I'm going to do a regular format before a low-level one, so direct disk access (denied in NTFS) shouldn't be an issue. So if anyone knows good, FREE low-level disk wipers, please respond. I'd also appreciate any tips that you think I should know, or if you find anything technically wrong from what I've written so far. P.S.: I'm obviously well aware ALL disk data will be permanently removed after this, that's why I want to do it in the first place, so no need to warn me about that. P.P.S.: My current disk came as an OEM when I bought it, and I do _NOT_ have a low-level formatter included in the purchase package; the only disk I got for my HDD doesn't have a low-level formatter feature in it. My disk manufacturer is Maxtor.

1. Go to Safe Mode (won't work in HomeEd unless you're there). 2. Log in from the "Administrator" account (not just any account with admin privileges, but the actual account named "Administrator". This is the "master administrator" account with Windows XP. 3. First thing is put a password on it so your sister can't log in it (she'll still be able to use her own account with admin privileges, just not this particular one. (From safe mode go to Control Panel and then to Users; the "Administrator" account will be visible, and you can password protect it. 4. While still in Safe Mode, Select any folder on your hard disk that you plan on using exclusevly. 5. Right click the folder, select Properties. 6. Go to the "Security" tab at the top. 7. You will see a list of all users authorized to use that folder. REMOVE all permissions (i.e. read, write, delete, access etc) to use that folder from "Administrators" group. (note the "s" on the end). Also remove permission to access from the Users group, Guests group, any other groups or users other then yourself, and any other entry except the "Administrator" account, your personal account, and SYSTEM. This should allow only you and Windows to access that folder. You could alternatively set a "deny access" property for access specifically to your sister, but that's not recommended because she, as an account with administrative privileges, could just create another administrator account and access the folder from it.

Are you using Windows XP? Just put a password on your username... Anything within "My Documents" folder on your username will only be available to those who log in with your username and password.

Log in from safe mode using the "real" Administrator's account in WinXP Home (only available from safe mode). Claim ownership of the folder from whoever owns it (probably "SYSTEM" or other non-user account). Then delete it; if nessecary, use the command promt to /rd the folder). If that doesn't work, something is corrupt. If you are REALLY determined to wipe the folder, you can always reformat, but I don't see anything so worrying about it. There's also a small chance that it's a hardware HDD corruption, in which case nothing is going to fix it short of getting a new drive.

Nice advice. An old tech joke: "Who says it's stupid to have your dog's name as your e-mail password? Rr#Tt_fx^2!b, come here, boy!"

Once I buy my computer, I will be using it for at LEAST 2 (probably 2.5-3) years without ANY major upgrades (with the only possible exeption of upping my RAM from 1GB to 2GB). That means that by the time I am going to buy a new graphics card, I'll also need to get a new motherboard, and by that time I'll likely need a new CPU, hard drive, etc, pretty much a new computer. If there will be any software in the next years that would make a difference between AGP and PCI-E (assuming no change in any hardware), please tell me. Otherwise, as I noted, medium-term longevity doesn't matter to me.

Is there a noticable difference in performance between equal PCI-E and AGP graphics cards? If I choose the AGP version of 6800GT (as opposed to PCI-E version of the same card), I save $60 on the card, and $40 on a cheaper motherboard (which otherwise is the same). I'm not going to go SLI, so I don't need to have support for that. I'm also not going to overclock. I don't care if AGP is becoming old, because I won't upgrade the computer I'm going to buy for at least several years, by which time I'll need to buy a new motherboard and video card anyways. All I care about is immediate performance. My question is -- if you take two similar video cards, for example the 6800GT PCI-E and the 6800GT AGP8, is there an actual difference in how they perform? And if there is, is it big enough to shell out an extra $100CA on?

My personal understanding of what separates science from faith. In science, you first observe the occurences around you, and then try to come up with the most plausible theory to support them. In faith, you first have a theory, and then try to pick out desired observed occurences to support your theory. This holds true not only for religions. A person who already has a firm beleif in anything (including sciences, like some physics or biological theory), and then does whatever it takes to prove his beleif is right; ignoring, avoiding or trying to disprove any opposing evidence, is acting on faith, not on science. Anyfaith inevitably has bias towards supporting itself; sciense is (or at least true science is) bias-free. This does not imply any negative connotations to the word bias or to my perspective on faith -- human beings are all inherently biased on one level or another, and often that's good; it furthermore can well be argued that faith has it's own merit, even if it's foundations are false. That doesn't change my point, however.