Computers
 

What kinds of systems do you guys and gals play SE on? Tell us what you use, CPU type and speed, chip set, and ram? What OS do you run and did you build it or buy it?

Re: Computers
 

Win Xp
512 MB RAM
Athlon 1 Ghz
GeForce Ti4200
Asus Mobo, VIA Chipset
Chose the pieces, computer shop people built it

I might try it on linux sometime. I heard that it works via Wine

Re: Computers
 

Ho-Kay. I'm jumping in on this just so people can read it and say ... He's kidding, right?

Win Xp
384 MB RAM
Pentium III 733 mHz
20 gig WD
NVDIA RIVA 32 meg

... bought it 'bout 3 1/2 years ago. I can play SE4, I can browse the web, I can write letters.

And I don't care what flashy new game I'm missing out on. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Computers
 

You think yours is slow? Ask Captain Kwok about his old computer... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Actually, I came pretty close to Kwok's record... I've played SE4 on three machines, I'll go in reverse order so you can be astonished at how slow the first one was...

Current machine (laptop I bought for school about a year ago)
1.2 GHz Pentium III processor
512 MB RAM
512 (or maybe 256) KB Cache
40 GB HD
Windows XP Pro

Previous machine (cheap eMachines desktop system my dad bought a few months before I got my laptop, it's SOOO slow trying to run XP on it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif )
1 GHz Celeron processor (but the Sandra benchmark utility rated it at 660 MHz... hmm, why would they put SpeedStep on a desktop machine? Or was it overclocked out of the box to make it look faster??? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif )
128 MB RAM
128 KB Cache
20 GB HD
Windows XP Home (and there's HOW much RAM? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif I literally have to wait 15 seconds for the START MENU to come up if I haven't opened it before! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif )

Way way old machine (that my brother and I bought but gave to our grandparents when my dad bought the other one)
466 MHz Celeron processor
32 MB RAM
4 (yes, that's 4) GB HD
Windows 98

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I - well it's my friends - have one out in my garage identical to that. In every aspect as far as specs. I couldn't believe it when I took it home and started it up to find out how old and slow it really was. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif He wanted me to see if I can upgrade it; I told him I could but it would be alot better to just get a whole new computer for 3 or 4 hundred more then upgrading it.

But here are my specs:
Its a Dell Inspiron Laptop that I bought a couple years ago.
Win XP Home Edition
Pentium III 866 MHz
256 MB RAM
30 GB HD
16 MB nVIDIA GeForce2 Go
I bought it from the Dell website. My next computer will hopefully come later this summer or early fall.

Re: Computers
 

Up until Last summer, I was running SE4 on this machine:

333 MHz Pentium III
384 MBs SDRAM (always nice having more RAM than CPU clock cycles http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )
8 MB ATI Rage Pro
~1.5 GB Hard Drive space over 2 drives http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
Some random MB that I do not remember...
Windows 98 (2000 towards the end of its lifespan)

So don't feel so bad. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

That computer was sort of scrapped for parts, later to be semi rebuilt, and it isn't currently in working order. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif Now, I have:

2.0 GHz Pentium IV
512 MB DDR or RD RAM (I forget which)
64 MB nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440
100 GB Hard Drive w/8 MB Cache
ASUS MB
Currently running XP Pro on it, was running 2000 until a few months back

Just a minor upgrade. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Both computers were put together by hand, by me.

Re: Computers
 

LOL! And you all thought you had it bad. Last year I was playing on this computer:

166mhz Pentium MMX chip (as in, pentium 1, and we all have fond memories of how much MMX helped, huh?)
3.2 gig HD
32 meg of Ram
Win95

And the funny thing is that I attached a cable modem to it! Which almost ended up being pointless, as slow as that machine was! Then there was the fact that towards the end, the mouse was broken (it hardly went up and down at all), and the monitor was dying (It kept going losing it's greens)...

Now I'm using:

1.1ghz AMD Duron
132meg of ram
40 gig HD

So things run considerably faster now...

[ July 08, 2003, 01:40: Message edited by: dumbluck ]

Re: Computers
 

What kinds of systems do you guys and gals play SE on? Tell us what you use, CPU type and speed, chip set, and ram? What OS do you run and did you build it or buy it?

1. p2 2g intel d850mv 1gig ram
2. ibm t23 laptop do not know the specs...
3. p2 - 450 compaq deskpro (rescued from gm ) with 256 megs ram

OS.

Currently xp , 2000 and linux flavours are mandrake 9.1 and debian 3.0r1 and gentoo 1.0

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">850 chipset = RDram
845 or off brand chipset = DDR

It's funny how it took ddr two years to catch up to RDram, but all we get now is DDR. If I ran Intel, I'd have bought Rambus and put and end to this foolishness.

Re: Computers
 

Gals? There are women who post to this board? Not that it would shock me but... I'd be shocked.

P4 2.4Ghz
768 Mb DDR
64 Mb GeForce 4 2400
9 Gb LVD SCSI HDDrv (I've got a 160 Mb file server for data)
SCSI CD-ROM
SCSI Burner
LS-120 (the only IDE device)
shabby SB Live
Logitec Marble FX (the one with the ball the size of a toddler's fist)
19" Trinitron knock-off

But that's a recent thing, obtained by nearly underhanded means. My Last box (currently the file server) was like this:

P3 550
128 Mb PC100 SDRAM
16 Mb TNT2 Ultra with a vicious shadowing problem
same 9 Gb LVD SCSI system drive
and CDDrv
and Burner
and LS-120
A couple of 20 Gb IDE drive for data
integrated sound
touch pad with Turret's Syndrome
(dead now, passed away in a tragic accident)
(no mouse on the file server means no one else touches the file server)
17" decent monitor

Anyone know a good place to get a cheap legitimate MS server OS. I'd love to make the old box a domain server.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There might be some ladies, just covering my bases.

To run a single system domain, you'll need a copy of NT server. 2k and 03K require two systems to run a stable domain.

I've seen NT server for as little as $100 with the seal thingy included.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What makes you say that? We had 2k Server, with Exchange and other Jazz, running fine until that roommate 'left'. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Where at?

Re: Computers
 

Work PC = Intel P3 - 733Mhz - 512MB Ram - Win2000
PC has needed a rebuild for months, but I can't be bothered reinstalling everything.

Home PC = Intel P4 - 1700Mhz - 256MB DDR Ram - XP
Built this PC from parts, and working fine so far, except for the bloody modem. I just need to convince my boss to give me a new one. Will get around to buying more Ram one day.

Home Laptop = Intel P2 - 466Mhz - 128MB RAM - Win98.
I've had absolutely no problems with this notebook since I bought it in London. It survived the move the Australia and even survived my mother-in-law knocking it off the kitchen table onto the tiles. Only ever had the replace the modem in its 4-5 year life span.

Re: Computers
 

Let's see... go to "My Computer", right-click (that gives part of it away...), and...

[HP Pavilion 7915]
Intel Celeron 1.2 Ghz
128 MB RAM
32 GB HD
100 MB Iomega Zip (external)
Windows XP Home Edition

Purchased in the post-Christmas scavenger season, 2001-2002.

Re: Computers
 

Loser:

On a 2K domain, the db is active directory. With an ad domain you get global catalog which can't co-exist with the infrastructure master on the same machine. The problem gets bad when you begin to add and remove objects from the domain. Searches for existing objects will result in null returns. The more db accesses you have, to greater the chance of it grabbing you. In a worst case, it can fubar the db.

If you want 03K, that's about $700, same for 2K. BackOffice will run about $1200.

I see old NT server disks at almost every computer show I hit.

EDIT: What makes me say it is several certs from Microsoft. 2k server and Directory Services being among them.

[ July 08, 2003, 02:34: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: Computers
 

http://www.linuxiso.org/

try here for some domain controller software http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

or here

http://www.ibiblio.org/

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like freeBSD. But setting it up can be a bear, and trouble resolution can be a real problem, as it is with all open source servers.

[ July 08, 2003, 13:19: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: Computers
 

I have played SEIV on four different computers... an old laptop, an ancient desktop, an upgraded ancient desktop, and the computer I'm using right now.

Laptop:
1996 Acer Laptop, 11" LCD screen
Pentium I 166MHz, 64MB RAM, 14400 baud modem, 4x CD-ROM, 1GB HDD
Windows 95

Ancient Desktop:
Pentium I 133MHz, 16MB RAM, 28800 baud modem, 4x CD-ROM, 1.5GB HDD
Windows 95/98 (upgraded when 98 came out, so played SEIV on 98)

Ancient Desktop (upgraded, by me):
AMD K6-2 400MHz, 128MB RAM, 56k modem, 16x CD-ROM, 1.5GB HDD (same one as above) and 5GB HDD
Windows 98SE

This Desktop (it, too, qualifies as ancient, got it summer 1999):
Athlon 700MHz, 128MB RAM, 56k modem, 48x/16x/4x CD-RW, 28.6GB HDD
Windows 98SE

...

All of you may now begin feeling sorry for me, and begin donations to the "Get Will a Decent Computer Fund" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

But I am planning on building another one sometime this summer... so far it looks like Athlon XP 2400+, with Soyo MB, Via chipset, 512 DDR-RAM, DVD/CD-RW combo, 40GB HDD, GeForce4 card w/ 64MB. And I know about the AMD heat issues, I got that covered (case has 6 fans).

Re: Computers
 

Hmm, I have a Compaq Presario 2700 laptop with the following specs:

1.12 GHz Pentium 3-M
512 MB RAM
30 Hz HD
Win XP Home Edition
32 MB ATI Radeon Mobility M6

It ran fine for the year-and-a-half that I've had it (I've played and finished such games as Morrowind, Jedi Knight 2 and Splinter Cell on it).

The thing is, I have been having some major heat problems with this machine lately. A couple of weeks ago, it overheated so much that it shut itself down.

Now, some kind of heat management system seems to have kicked in, so that the laptop runs with SpeedStep permanently enabled. Now, it runs for 733 MHz for maybe half an hour, until the temperature gets too bad, and then it drops to 384 MHz. At least, it doesn't shut down by itself now. This is enough to play SEIV but not for other stuff.

I know that I really ought to bring it to a Compaq Service Centre but I can't where I live, at least until the end of the year.

I'm considering either:

1) Buying a new desktop-replacement Dell Inspiron.

2) Buying the spanking new Dell Dimension 8300 but then I'll have to arrange for it to be shipped specially for me from Singapore to where I live.

I'd prefer buying the laptop but I'm worried about persistent heat problems, especially since I keep my computer running for long periods of time.

Anyone have any experience with heat problems in laptops that they'd like to share?

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">My laptop runs perfectly fine. It's an Inspiron 8100 that is about 2 years old. I run it for usually for a couple weeks before I restart. And that isn't due to heat problems, just needs to be restarted to fix a couple issues that would come up and so forth. I've been extreamly happy with it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You know what REALLY annoys me? My laptop before this was another Compaq Presario, which runs at about 450 MHz or so (I forget what exactly) with 8 Mb video RAM. I sold it to someone here and bought my Presario 2700 a year and a half ago (I wanted a laptop with 32 Mb video RAM), and now the old thing still runs perfectly fine. Right now, it probably even runs faster than mine does most of the time. Sheesh. I think that the new, big graphics chips generate a LOT of heat if you push them by running big 3-D games.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And this means what exactly?

Re: Computers
 

That means you can tell which RAM type you use by the type of your motherboard.

Re: Computers
 

I see. Don't motherBoards often support several different types of RAM?

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Some support Sdram and DDram and some support these at several speeds. But Rdram is a more advanced form of memory and requires a different type of signal.

Dual DDRam is an attempt to reach the bandwidth offered by Rdram, but so far, a faster speed setting has been needed to close the gap.

Also, Rdram has very few settings to worry about and does not corrupt data when set out of range. Ddr on the other hand has many settings to worry about and will fubar your data if you get too aggressive with the settings.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sounds like you have a dead fan, could also be an air port plugged with lint and such. Any computer shop could fix that for you.

I have a Prostar laptop with a 2.4GHz northwood chip. It runs real hot. The heat venting out the side of it is about 120f when its working hard. But when it is running on battery, I can set the speed to 25% (about 500MHz) and there is almost no heat at all.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thank you, Thermodyne. Sounds like it's going to be NT Server.

I don't care to invest time in some *nix right now. Did that, got the zeal, got the t-shirts and the "Live Free or Die" license plate to prove it, got a job, don't have time to figure it our again.

[ July 08, 2003, 13:35: Message edited by: Loser ]

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are other problems that can cause the heat-sinks to fail to dissipate heat. Smoking around a computer deposits gunk on everything inside, and this can eventually have a significant impact on the heat sink's ability to pass heat into the passing air. I've also seen ashy paraffin (from candles like) all over the inside of a computer with a heat issue.

But it is probably a fan.

And any hole-in-the-wall computer shop should be able to take care of just about any possible reason for your heat issue.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Worst one I ever ran into had roaches in it.

[ July 08, 2003, 15:20: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">When I worked at one of the big PC manufacturers we got one back in the service department that had been filled, packed even, with manure before it was carefully placed back in the packing material and shipped back. I guess someone had an attitude problem. I know someone shortly had a legal problem shortly thereafter. I doubt it was worth the laughs.

[edit: since this was, probably, intentional I do not think it can exactly compete with the roaches.]

[ July 08, 2003, 15:28: Message edited by: Loser ]

Re: Computers
 

What kinds of systems do you guys and gals play SE on? Tell us what you use, CPU type and speed, chip set, and ram? What OS do you run and did you build it or buy it?

Hmmm....since we are dredging up the dark ages, the first PC I loaded SE3 on was my first system -- Cyrix 200 mhz MMX (yes, CYRIX) , 64(later 96) mb EDO ram, 3.2 gb WD disk, 4 mb video card with W95 (later 98) OS, bought from vendor but did upgrading/reconfiguration myself (lost HD 2-3 months after purchase, so had to reload everything from scratch). Still running to this day, almost original config, Mom uses it today for email and word processing.
If I recall correctly, it ran SE4 briefly until I built my next (& still current) system.
Athlon 650 (clocked 110%), Epox EP-7KXA system board, 128 mb PC133 SDRAM (now 384) 20 GB ATA66 WD disk, 4x AGP 32mb nVidia TNT2 M64 video, running W98SE with (now) DVD-RW.
When I originally built it (early 00?), the best CPU you could get was 800 mhz and I was real proud of putting it together for under $800.
Recently got a 1.8 ghz, 512 RDram, 20 gb disk (XP)
at work, first time ever I can say my work system is better than one at home. That may have to change real soon...

EDIT: I recently saw a pic of a system that had a dead snake in it. Woman smelled something burning and sent it in for repair.

[ July 08, 2003, 19:20: Message edited by: kalthalior ]

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks for all the advice. An additional symptom that I forgot to add: when it was new, the air coming out of the side exhaust vent was really hot, now it's barely tepid. The volume of air doesn't seem to have changed, but I realize that this is hard to say. This suggests to me that something is clogging the insides and diverting the airflow.

I must say that with the size of the air intakes on these things these days, you'd expect them to come with air filters on them.

Also, when you're talking about hole-in-the-wall computer shops, you're speaking the literal truth here, since I'm in the Solomon Islands. I mean, this is a country where Australia is currently planning Iraq-style armed intervention and regime change.

Re: Computers
 

That is not what the public is told is Oz.
We are just helping out a neighbour that is having some troubles.
But then again, no-one ever believes what the Government or media tells peoples http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Computers
 

I originally played SE3 on a 486 66Mhz PC with Windows 3.1, well below the minimum requirements.

Ran surprisingly well, actually.

Re: Computers
 

I might very well have the oldest hardware here (5 years old!):

Pentium II, 233MHz
Windows 98 (1. edition)
288MB RAM (I used to have only 32MB until I added 256MB Last year)
4 GB harddisk (added a external harddisk for back-up Last year)

But I play happily SE IV and browse the internet with this system.

Re: Computers
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nope! About 8 or 9 Yrs, 200MMX, 128 Meg Ram, 4.3 Gig Hard Drive, Win 95, 16 Meg Video and a 33.6 modem http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ July 09, 2003, 20:03: Message edited by: mottlee ]

Re: Computers
 

My old system;
PII 400
384 meg ram
2 10 gig hard drives
16 meg video card

The new system;
P4 3.0 gig
1 gig ram
120 gig hard drive
128 meg video card

Re: Computers
 

I have a friend with long hair cats. Her fans die about every 9 months.