OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Before you read this know that it is true, as sad as it may sound, it is a true story and one that I am very ashemed of. But those of you who know me know that if I had any luck at all, it would be bad luck. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Enjoy the read and try not to laugh or cry to much.

As I begin the argues task of planning my next PC I am forced to reflect back upon the Last time I build a computer, a computer which ultimately turned out to be the worst PC decision I have ever made.

June 2001,

The Blue Box was to be the ultimate gaming computer, one that would Last me for five years. In 2001 money was beginning to become a tight commodity for me and I had to build or bust.

I opted for the build and chose my components. I opted for an MSI raid motherboard and a 1.4 Atholon CPU. I bought Kingston Ram, 512 Megs of their best DDR ram, and went with Creative Labs 5.1 Sound BLaster. To top it all off I bought a GeForce 3 video card for the bargain price of $430.00. (Ya I know, GeForce 3 cards became the missing link in NVIDIA’s universe. Oh I am sick over this purchase.)

The Atholon chip ran me $230.00, the Case $90.00, Ram $200.00, MB - $135.00, DVD & CDRW - $100.00, Sound bLaster $80.00, 80 gig WD Hard Drive - $150.00. Throw in the Intelli Optical mouse, Intel ergo Internet ready keyboard, a floppy, and the Intel Digital Sound system the grand total invested in parts comes to a whopping $1700.00.

To start off with the CPU I had bought burned up do to a bad-cooling fan within seconds of starting the system. Add another $230.00 to bill + $35.00 for a super cooler fan. Then that CPU burned up for an unknown reason. Add another $230.00 to the bill. Then the Mother board failed. Add $140.00 to the bill. Finally I get the system put together and fired up. The Hard Drive failed. Add the cost of a round trip drive to Fry’s electronics to replace it and I got off cheap. (Total $2,535.00)

Well now all things considered I am doing ok, the system is put together and time to test it. Turn it on and nothing happens. At this point I was about to cry. I called my best friend at the time but he was going through some life changing events and was unwilling to help me. So I pulled out the credit card and headed off to the local computer shop. A week later I get the call that my computer is all done. I zoom over to pick it up, pay my $125.00 bill and head home. I get home and turn on the computer only to read that I had a GeForce II card as the computer booted up. That I only had 128 Megs of Ram, and a 20 gig hard drive. I became very ill rather rapidly. I opened the case and was sickened, physically sickened at what I saw. ($2,660.00 pooof)

The computer shop, a reputable business I thought, had switched all my parts out for used inferior ones. I returned to the shop and demanded that they give back my parts. They refused saying that the parts that were in my computer were the parts it came with. I did what any person would do at that point; I called the police. I showed them the slip that outlined the parts that the computer had when I gave it to them, along with copies of the receipts, and for my trouble I was told there was nothing he could do. I was out of pocket for all of my parts, all of them. They even swapped the 1.4 AMD for a 1.0. I of course filed suite, add another $1500.00 to the bill. (Now we are up to $4,160.00)

Now out of money and stuck with a crappy machine I opted to bite the bullet one Last time and buy new parts using my credit card. At the same time I was given the novel idea to ask for my money back on the two failed CPU’s. After some diplomacy and a lot of emails AMD refunded me $460.00 following an investigation into the CPU’s and why they failed. I used that money to buy a new 1.4 AMD and 40-gig WD hard drive. Since I already had the case, mother board, and the drive bays, all I needed was a 256k DDR Ram Module, video card, sound card, and modem. I bought another GeForce 3 card, and a 128 Meg DDR Ram Dim. I opted to wait on the modem and use one of my 10/100 Ethernet cards instead since I had Broad Band. This did not include the cost of Windows 2k, which I had already bough a year before. ($220.00)

I had to take it to the shop one Last time to resolve some issues and that cost another $150.00. When I was done the computer had cost me $5,210.00. Give or take a $100.00

I disputed the cost of the shop bill on my visa, - $125.00, and the shop owner after several more missing or replaced part complaints went out of business. I never recovered my money, and the money I invested in the lawyer was for not.

To top it off, the computer has never run right. I has been plagued by oddball shut downs resulting in sever reinstalls of the OS. The insult to injury over the GeForce 3 card will always be an open wound. Any one who knows about video cards knows what I am talking about.

If I were to take this system and part it out now, I would only recover about $200.00 for that is all this system is worth.

I have never told any one about this because I am so embarrassed by what happened. Needless to say I will never make these kinds of mistakes again. When I do opt to build my new system, I will not fall prey to the same sickening things that I fell prey to here.

Without a doubt this experience was the worst PC decision I have ever made in my life.

[ May 18, 2004, 15:27: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Woah, that's an incredible piece of Bad Luck!

But don't worry about it, at least you have the guts to own up to this mistake, many people i know would hide in shame http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

You took a gamble, it never paid off. Of course, if you had just bought a new pc, if you could afford it, you might have attempted this in the future. You've gained Insight and Knowledge at the price of material wealth and some pride http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

And this still doesn't beat Ruathas Drunk message froma few months back http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I missed the Ruatha message. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

What really hurts is that a month after I finally built the system, all the prices for all the parts dropped by over half. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif Just in time for TribesCon too.

[insert]
quivering upper lip
[/insert]

[ May 17, 2004, 19:39: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Good Gawd Man! That's terrible and depressing. You should do what I do. Order it Online then tell the wife your getting a second job to pay for it. That leaves her very little time to get pissed.

Was the store Pacific Solutions?

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Well, I have built up my computers 2 or 3 times and they all worked out well. My latest buy was a whole CPU (first time I bought it as one buy), which has proved to be unstable for unknown reason. However, it works and my experiences are minor compared to yours. You have my compassion compeletely. It makes my problems seem quite bearable.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, it was not.

Do you recall the store PC Hiedens? It was in Hillsburo (sp) and it was a great location to pick up parts. To bad it went under. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Enu is ok, but they are a bit arrogant. They are the ones who I bought those AMD chips from. They were very helpful in getting my money back over the bad chips. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Frys Electronics is what I would call Ferengi Distributors Inc. You get what you pay for, buyer beware.

[ May 17, 2004, 19:54: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

well, thats quite a story. Really bad luck. More like a chain of bad luck events. I have to admit i never had ANYTHING that comes close.

There is just one thing i can tell you: Luck always balances out, so most propably you are going to have a lot of good luck in the next time (weeks, years, whatever) !

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Atrocities, If any diety exists and shapes the future of the cosmos we've determined one thing from this story...

He's a MOO3 Fan http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">LOL Very true

And thanks Rag-X http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I've built a few PCs over the years, but always from bargain second hand parts. The trick is to know someone else with more money than you who upgrades often. then blag all their castoffs for a low price/ a few beers. Sure, you don't get up to the minute hardware, but it'll run se4 nicely and you'll be able to save your pennies for the occasional killer graphics board/ ram upgrade.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

From your story I am convinced that the lawyer's way is just a waste of time and money. Firms will always have more money than the casual joe.

I would say phone to the client services of computer magazines until one home a phone call to the shop. That will do wonders beyond your wildest dreams. It's the way it works here, that is.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I took the parts the shop swapped and used them in my old computer. I picked up a cheap MB for the AMD 1.0 and used all my old parts to make a fairly good second PC. The GeForce 2 card they game me was better than the one that was in the computer so I scored there. I sold this second system for about $500.00 bucks to a co-worker. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

The old parts from that computer I put in my P2 300 and sold to my brother for $200.00.

The old parts from the P2 300 I sold to my neighbor for $100.00.

He then paid me $200.00 to rebuild his PC. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif (A 20 minute job.)

So I made near around $1,000 dollars to offset the cost of the Blue Box.

When my rebuilt computer* was stolen at TribesCon3, the insurance company, minus my deductible, paid me at replacement value. I used part of that money to rebuilt my p2 400 which I used as a back up for a year before it finally died and I ended up with this HP POS as a gift. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

And then we get into the HP story which I will leave to you forum minors to find the thread on. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

*A compac AMD 750 that my mom gave me that I cleaned up and put a cheap Geforce 2 card in. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ran great up until it was stolen at TribesCon while I was in my room sleeping.

[ May 17, 2004, 21:03: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Tribes Con Sounds like a very nice and honest place.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well aside from the hackers, thieves, and arseholes, it was a pleasent enough experience. The west coast largest lan fest to date.

When you go to events like this 90% of the time your equipment is safe. But given the rabbel and dregs of the universe that this particular event drew in, I consider my loss cheap compared to some.

There were hacking parties where Groups of scum actually hacked into other peoples computers over the lan. They say it was ok because everyone should have had a firewall. Riiiiiiiggghhhhhtttttt.

I did meet a lot of great people there and many people I did meet played hot seat SEIV with me so the loss of a free computer with a $150.00 card in it was well worth it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I hope I generated a lot of sales for SEIV that day. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Unfortuantly this is true i guess. I personally like to think that if there was a dedicated SEIV Convention that everyone could make it to (Hey it only takes a month to build an escort http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif ) there wouldn't be any sort of problems like this but i'm probably delluding myself. Althought the majority of everyone here seem like genuine nice people. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

A bitter sweet topic. Sweet for all the readers and bitter for AT. AT, I had to email this to a friend who works for computer company. Must spread the laughter. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I don't believe AT was trying to get you to laugh at him...

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

You know AT you must have a whole stack of good luck piled up somewhere just waiting for you... you really are owed. Sooner or later you are gonna score big=-)

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I will share it with you when it comes in. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I hope it lightens his day. Proof that there are people in the world with worse luck then most. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

What happen to you, Atricities is why I only buy Dell computer Online with a 3 year warranty now. The best computer I had was a MacII back in the mid-80's, I later switched over to PC's. The so call saving build your own never really work out in the long run. Got a good friend that does a good part time business repairing other build at home computers that were bought a Frys.
Never had a computer that failed completely, but I had my share of problems, both hardware and software. All the computer constructers I work with now have Dell laptops and for a good reason. Our work Dell laptop mother board failed twice, harddrive arch out by a tiny screw, battery failed, etc. Dell responded within 24 hours and fixed it every time, no question asked. Got a called from a Dell engineers group making sure that I was happy with my Dell laptop. I did extended the warranty anther two years for that laptop.
When I had a Sony computer I to ship it away for three weeks for warranty repair, that sucks. Dell at home warranty can't be beat. I will only purchase Dell computer with they at 3 yrs. home warranty. You can always extended it later.
For the record, only had to call Dell for some technical support, never a warantry repair for my two home conputers. Got they Dimension 8200 and 8300. Great Computer.

Next time Artocities purchase a Dell XPS Dimension gaming computer with a 3 yrs warantry. That my next purchase (maybe if the wife allows it)

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[ May 17, 2004, 23:03: Message edited by: Lighthorse ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Well, sounds like you learned valuable skills, at least.
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

There is something to be said about building your own computer. Most of the parts are warrenteed and in most cases, not all, but most the warrentees are good.

I learned two valuable lessons as a result of my experience.
1. Always buy using a VISA. In most states you as a consumer are protected and can dispute charges if you can prove that the item was defective and you could not return it.

2. ALWAYS, make damn sure that the people who work on your computer SIGN the inlet sheet and that that sheet lists EVERYTHING in your computer.

Oh ya, one Last lesson, Buyer Beware when it comes to Fry's Electronics.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I have to say Atrocities, this is the probably the worst story I've heard. A magazine here called APC has a section called Watchdog where people with problems with immoral computer stores write in and the magazine tries to sort out whos in the wrong. The company's are usually for cooperative if this happens, since bad publicity can destroy a buisness. I disagree with people claiming pre-built PCs are better (easier I agree with, but I always take the hard path), but I guess I've never had anything like that happen to me before (only problem I've really had was a dud power supply).

I believe that putting together my own computer is probably the best thing I could have done. I researched and choose the parts to use, rather then having some guy going for the cheapest alternative. I've learned alot from doing it myself as well, through trial and error (no more being swayed by fancy talk from a slick salesman for me). But I think the best thing about doing it myself is that upgrading isn't such a major chore. I do it all in a few hours and if I have a problem, I know I'm not going to try cover it up with inferior parts. My computer is not a static affair that in 3 years will be out of date, it will change, grow and evolve as I upgrade and change parts. Yeah it can be a bit of a pain to do it myself if I hit a bump, but I just don't trust my computer with anyone else.

Yeah I guess its an obsession, but I hate giving control of what my system will have or not have in it to other people. Its my money and I'd rather know exactly what I'm buying, there are just way too many unscrupulous and unqualified computer stores in my city. But at the end of the day its all personal preference, you say potato and I say pota....umm yeah.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

The bad thing about the pre-build computers is the service when you need it. HP has atrocious serves since all the technical calls are routed to INDIA. These people hate us and all they can do is recommend a reinstall of the OS, often leading to more problems, or that you send in the entire computer to be "fixed" which really means that HP is going to send you a inferiour replacement PC and you will never see your computer again.

I don't know about Dells service, but I have heard simular horror stories.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dells service is great. I have dealt with them here at work before and I can't really complain. I think out of all of my calls I have only had once that I got made. It was mostly because I got an India person that knew very little english, usually they know enough to work out a solution to the problem. But they always have a good fix to the problem and I have never had them suggest a reinstall of the OS.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Good for Dell then.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Well, this was a real case of a bad event morphing into a bad experience. I hope it doesn’t turn you away from home building.

If it makes you feel any better, AMD systems were touchy to set up back then. The VIA chip sets sucked big time and caused a lot of the problems. Now with XP chips and NForce 2 chipsets, AMD is just as easy and reliable as Intel.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

NOOOOOOO Not that! I will telll you everything I know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhhh

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

You can tell the guy in the cartoon works for human resources... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

(Subtle Dilbert Reference Alert)

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

The best way to have a build your own computer is like i do: I'm a lawyer but my hobbie is dismantling computers, so i made a deal with the rest of the people in my office (other lawyers): every time they wish to upgrade their computers i would do the upgrade for them (installing the new Boards, etc.)in echange for the old Boards, etc..

So i have lots of old Boards, memories, etc, and i have actually 3 computers, 1 at the office: 750mhz, 128mb Ram, HD 40GB, and 2 at home: 1.2ghz, 256mb Ram, HD 60mb, Geforce 2 and a 650mhz, 128mb Ram, HD 1.2mb (yes, i know, i'm waiting for someone to upgrade his HD so i can get a better one).

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Atrocities, just read your story. That's why I don't build my own computers. I'd rather buy a already made one at an electronics store, or in the case of my current computer, have someone else build it. In this case, it's my wife's cousin-in-law. If I can ever come up with the extra dough, I'll have him upgrade it, especially the graphics card. I want to play Knights of the Old Republic, but can't.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Greg, when you do update your graphics card, I strongly recommend that you go with the best card on the market. Video cards are changing and so are the programs that use them. The video card I just bought for $240.00 GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is already grossly outdated and considered as a medium card now.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I recommend that you do NOT go with the best card on the market... unless you have a huge amount of money to waste... in which case it would be better that you send the excess my way. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif You can get a card that costs 1/2 to 1/3 as much, and still does everything necessary to run today's high end games as well as tomorrow's. You do not need to spend an arm and a leg to buy hardware that will cost half as much in a month... the differences between the high end and medium end graphics cards are rather negligible at this point in time...

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I definitely agree with Fyron. There is not much difference in speed between high end and middle, but a lot of difference in the costs. You definitely get better value for money if NOT buying the latest most expensive. Furthermore, middleclass will remain middleclass for some time, but high end will becomme middleclass very soon. Unless you really, really need max graphics power (and have a lot of money to spend), there is no need for absolute high-end in graphic cards.

There is usually a clearly identifiable gap where prices changes from "outrageous for silly freaks buying everything that is shiny and new" to "price equal to value". Buy the top card from this price range, but don't go higher.

Of course, make sure that you need a powerful graphic card first. Games like SE play perfectly well on a used 10$ card http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Heck, it almost sounds like I'd be better off paying the $179 for an X-Box and the $50 for the KOTR game than it would to decide which graphics card to buy. Whenever I do decide to upgrade, I'll start reading the technical sections of the pc mags I buy and try to make an informed decision.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Or take the X-box.. a bit of work chipping it and you can install Linux.. install WINE and you can run SE4 on it. For the Linux fan, well worth it just to s***w MS for the $300 subsidy on every X-box.. 8-)

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I was of this school of thought too but now I must stand my ground. For best performance and the best intergrated top of the line support buy the top of the line card. The cheepies lack a lot of the estials that there big brothers have. I made this mistake twice and I'm telling you if you want the best performance and most compatability with newer games and their features, pay the price.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

I still disagree.
Of course, cheapest buy is not a good buy. But most of the features of high-end cards are not even used by a single piece of software at the time when you buy them. The best card is the one just below the high level, where reasonable prices rule. Paying double or triple the price for a few gimmicks more does not give you value for money. By the time you really need all these cool features of the high-end card, it will cost half or less - and they you can still buy it with the money you saved when buying a cheaper card firsthand. And still have money left over.

I just bought a GeForce FX5900 for less than 200€. I bet it will be good for at least 1 year, when I can buy a better card than what currently costs 500€ for around 200€ again, keeping me going for another year. Paying 500€ now would maybe give me one and a half year till I need to change, do that 2 times and you pay 1000€ for roughly the same performance over 3 years than with my schedule buying 3 cards for a total of 600€.

Yes, you need to update more often if you do not buy high end. Still it is cheaper. The prices for high end cards are just too ridiculous, there is absolutely no value for money. Do tell me for which game you absolutely need a card for more than 400$ - and please no games "scheduled to be released next month" that will beta around next year.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

What Roanon said. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ May 18, 2004, 23:39: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Hey look I agree about the cost thing 100%, but I am telling you that card manufactures are including needed and now supported features on the lower cost cards. Take for example Far Cry, by all rights my GeForce FX 57 Ultra should run this game on hits higest settings with no problem, but the best I can do is Medium. Remember this card is less than six months old and I had to buy it to run the then State of the Art Deus Ex II. Bit shading, bump shading, something dot resolution at FPS, god only knows what the hell the differance is now, but the point is if I had opted for the Radeon 9800 or the better GeForce FX card I would be playing Far Cry on its highest settings.

Really all I am saying is that more and more games are using the features you find on the high cost high end cards that don't exsist on the less expensive Versions.

If all you want to do is play NOTOR, a borning game of epic proportions, then by all means just buy the X-Box or whatever card the game requires.

And for the record, NoToR is one uber magnum boring game on a galatic grand scale.

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Yes, but you can still play Far Cry just fine, right? So that just goes to prove the point... you do not need the bells and whistles provided by the cards that cost 2x to 3x as much money...

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Of course, if you think you have to play every new game on highest settings (even if that rarely makes much difference) you NEED the most expensive card. These customers are what the manufacturers like most, and they know they can rely on them paying ANY price - because they just MUST have all the latest gimmicks, like superultraspeed with separate shadow textures for invisible pixels moving behind objects covering them, and so on.

But your average highest-tech card won't Last much longer than half a year - if you keep that standards. Nothing to say against of course, if you have enough money - its your money http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif . Ok, you can always resell our old card on ebay when upgrading - but, while the average middlehigh card will drop from around 200$ to around 150$, half a year old high tech cards usually plummet from 500$ to 200$...

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes I can play Far Cry ok, but still I would love to take advantage of all the extra features. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well no. The point he made is that even though he bought 2 or 3 GFX cards instead of one, it still cost him less because one top of the range card costs more than 3 older ones, because that's just the way graphics cards are priced these days.
As a bonus he gets to sell on/ re-home the old ones as he upgrades...

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Wierd, I have a simple gForce2 MX and it runs Farcry fine with high details. My CPU is an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ 1.46 ghz. Memory is 512meg DDR2400 (where farcry gives me problems is I occasionally loose the sound. In spite of upgrading to a SB Audigy Gamer from my old SBLive Value.)

One thing that will make most any game lag is if you let windows manage your virtual memory. It is perpetually changing the size of the HD Cache (min of 0mb and max as needed.) Set your Virtual memory to double your actual RAM. And be sure to set the min and max to the same value. It will create one big swap file. Also, it helps enormously if you defrag before setting the virtual memory. (remember to turn off VM before defragging) The final result of this will make your system seem like it is a good 50-70% faster.

That's it for my tip of the day.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

P.S. About Graphics cards,.. depending on your motherboard getting top of the line might not show any improvement at all. If you have a max 2-4x AGP then the new cards won't work, and it will cost you a MB upgrade to use it. It's just common sense. My next Upgrade will be a gForce 4 Ti or gForce FX. (depending on what I can get for approx 150$cdn. Last time I looked the FX was creeping into this price range.) Since my MB has a max of 4x AGP, I'll buy a card that will run at this speed. So even if I get the FX at 4-8x AGP I'll be running at less than peak performance, but that's ok, it means less heat issues.

My upgrade after that will be to change my CPU to a AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (since that is tha max my MB will allow.)

Nuf said, Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ June 01, 2004, 15:29: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Where should I go to manually set the amount of virtual memory??

Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
 

Just read over this.

You really should buy the highest GFX card for the money you can get.

To buy something less is really wasting your money and is totally pointless.

A guy here is saying buy a mid range card sure that'll Last a year and half but if you buy a top of the range card it'll Last for 3 or more years before you really have to upgrade.

So this guy will have spent double the amount that a top of the range card will have cost him beacuse you'll have bought basicly 3 GFX cards compared to 1 for the same amount of time.

The reasons why to buy a top of the range card:
Able to handle DX9 in hardware.
ABle to do ALL the new lighting shading and anti-aliasing etc.
the fastest ram you can get.
The highest Resolutions you can get at the different Mhz for any monitor you may have.
The highest amounts of ram.
More features in the OS and on the card, such as TV in/out features you wouldn't ever get on a mid range card.
The fastest and most amounts of bandwidth for ram and for the different rendering pipes.

To play Far Cry properly and any of the newest games coming out now, That's Half-life 2, Stalker, UT2004/UT2005, and others.

You will need to have a DX9 or DX10 capable GFX card, anything less and you are basicly wasting your time even buying and installing the card these days.

Lower cards, will have lower resolutions and Mhz ranges.
Les ram, slower ram, less ram bandwidth and rendering pipes.
Few Features if any at all.
A top of the line mid-range card feature would be TV out and maybe dual head for having 2 monitors going at the same time.

Mid range cards are also spped limited and rendering features locked, so you could buy a mid range card that can't render light maps.

The low end GeForce 3 GFX cards were locked in this way execpt the GeForce 3 top end cards, even the GeForce 4 cards are in the same boat.