Four networked desktops? If the people behind them don't have any software requirements that tether them to DOS or NT, something you might look into is substituting the machines with thin clients -- ones about the size of a paperback book can be built for around $US250, and if you aren't so adventurous, you could get one pre-built at a fair price. If you want cheaper, then thin chients are the perfect application for any Pentium Pros or K6s you have around.

This would also implement the better part of my "dealing with triviality" idea above, and would mean that system-wide software updates, configuration changes, &c. applied to one machine would take place on all thin clients instantaneously. Of course, I can understand if it's, at the moment, too late to implement something like this (although, as I hinted at before, thin clients are mostly made out of PC hardware) -- just something that you should consider in the future as an interesting solution to a problem that seems to have gotten out of hand in your case.

This post has been edited by Marxist ßastard: Jan 6 2006, 10:12 PM

yeah...my girls have each a pretty good comp, then there´s the tired one that hubbie and son use....and there´s my lappy....

But you see....it´s me being able to play Oblivion that matters just now....see me girls I don´t really bother, one of them is in US for a year, the other one is not a gamer....hubbie doesn´t understand a thing about neither comp`s or games....so it´s me ....and I just have to get it working!

The daughter who´s in US will get me Oblivion as soon as it´s out she promised!..yayyyy

Case/Power Supply
500 -watt ATX

Prcessor
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60

Motherboard
Asus A8V Deluxe

Memory
2GB (twin sticks)

Optical Drive
Pioneer DVR-108

Hardrive
500GB 7200rpm

Sound Card
Creative Labs X-Fi Xtreme

Video Card
Two GeForce 7800 GTXs


Play the game the way it's meant to be played.

I appreciate your generosity in listing your biggest mistake first. Just a plain ATX power supply won't work with this mainboard, unless you want to do a hack that'll earn you a geek Bar Mitzvah. It requires an ATX12V power supply, a hand-me-down from the server market that was obsolete before it was even suggested that K8 boards use it.

I also take it that you plan on using a generic part. Watch as it disappears in a puff of blue smoke, leaving only the charred remains of a sticker reading "hecho en Mexico."



Extra points for using an SMP system. Slight reduction for using something that, AFAIK, isn't even on the market.



With the VIA chipset? Meh. To each his own.



Extra points for taking advantage of the dual-channel capabilities of the board.



You're paying extra for a mainboard with RAID support. Why aren't you using it?



Why? Your mainboard has integrated audio. If VIA's audio is so dreadful that you have to use something from Creative instead, then you should've looked into using an nForce board.



What, in case one gets stolen by aliens and you really need an HL2DM fix? That board isnt wired for SLi, and besides that, it doesn't even have a second PCI-E x16 slot -- on top of that, it doesn't have any PCI-E slots besides that one, period. That'll limit your upgrade options. Then again, your prospects aren't too rosy anyways, with AMD set to ditch PGA939 and convert to a new processor socket probably before Oblivion is released.



Hypothetically?

This post has been edited by Marxist ßastard: Jan 8 2006, 10:56 AM

What I gave you was a quote from PC gamer. If they have somthing wrong with their Dream system then I suggest you ask them to fix it by emailing them.

letters@pcgamer.com



Would you have it any other way?

I currently have an ADM ATHLOn X2 64 3800(dual core with a processing power of 2ghz. each core has about 994mhz) it is also a 64 bitsystem.

I have 1gb of DDR ram.

My graphic card is horrible. It is a ATI Radeon x200 64mb.

Any suggestions?

aye

buy a nuw 1

Ok, before you make another post, take a look at the rules for posting. Two word responses = spam. I've closed one (incredibly pointless) topic, and have showed remarkable restraint I feel in not jumping on some of your other two word posts. Including the one which started with the phrase "two words" I'm not doing any more than this, but in future, if you reply to a post, which we want you to do natch, make it a proper reply.

New computer or new graphic card? what kind of graphic card?

The computer seems fine... at least the processor seems plenty fast.. but a 64mb graphics card is very very dated.

As someone who just updated their graphics card this is what you will need to do..

First find out what type of graphics card interface your motherboard supports. More than likely it will be an AGP or PCI-express. Once you know this you can start browsing for cards. I would recommend Newegg.com if you are shopping online. Just use their search feature to look for your interface type/amount you are willing to spend/etc. A 256mb card is going to be pretty standard now, but there is still a bunch of 128mb cards out there. You can even buy 512mb cards now, but they are pricey.

Then its just a matter of examining how much you want to spend vs. the features you want. Personally I would go for one that supports SM 3.0(Shader Model). The devs for Oblivion have said that they take advantage of it to improve performance.

Also be sure to read about any recommendations for the card. I just bought a Geforce 6800GT... and it recommended at least a 300mw power supply. I checked with Dell and found out mine wouldnt cut it. So i bought a new one of Power supply too at the same time.

The differences between 128 and 256 isn't actually that great. most of the system boils down to the amount of ram you have. i use just over 700mb ram and GeForce 6600GT and that pretty much rules any high-end games that i currently use.

The market is not as saturated with 256 cards as we may think - seeming as bench testing has shown that many current 128 cards even out-perform the newer 256 cards.

Oblivion will not be released with an ambition of forcing its players to upgrade vaste amounts - the intricacy of the game is completely scalable by the player anyway. The engine itself is going to be a damn sight tighter than the MW engine and so i can guarantee that it will run passably well on a medium-high comp. (med-high being the staple PC user diet)

Of course, if you have the funds - then upgrade to the very highest spec you can, but i really wouldnt do that until you at least test the game on your current system. No point upgrading if it runs perfectly well first time.

hey ive got the following

intel p4 1.4ghz proc
128mb ram
on board graphics
15" crt monitor with a hole in the middle from a screw driver(happened about 4 years ago)
a crappy key board with sticky keys from soda
a mouse with only 2 buttons(the kind that still has the ball in the bottom)
cd rom 48x
3.5" floppy
3.1 speakers
210w power supply
linksys cable modem
d-link router
on board sound card
and the mobo is what ever my dell comp came with
and the worst thing of all windows Me
one last thing duct tape to hold the case together

all right now after telling you what im usng at the moment i do plan on getting a new comp the main things that i wanna make sure i get is AMD and geforce are my preference and im hoping on getting a lcd monitor. any input on anything welse will be much appreciated. thx

My system meets the recommend requirements except for the gfx. I have a geforce 6600 gt pci express and they recommend the geforce 6800.

You'll meet the requirements fine . the 6600 is part of the 6800 family of cards. Since the 6600 is a step above the FX line, it should work great. I have a 6800gt AGPx8, not great, but it should be runnable with most details.

There's a reason why I'll have to buy an Xbox 360. I swore a blood oath I would not upgrade my PC until Longhorn arrived (now Vista)... and that OS has come along rather sluggishly in retrospect. My computer would die. Heck, nowadays my computer dies on full-graphics Rome: Total War session. I'm one of those "but if I just wait another month..." people.


And plus; I like third-person viewpoint enough that the Xbox 360 might serve me better this time around... ah, who am I fooling? I'm more of a console person anyway. *waits for crucification*

6800 should run it great. 6600 will run it fine. My brother uses a 6800 GT x8, and it doesnt even blink in any games today.

Im using
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
9800 256 MB x8
1.5 GB Corsair valueselect
Soyo KT600.

I better start saving cause Socket AM2 will be using completely different parts.

Can't say I've ever heard that term in reguard to a computer before...

meh...... ill have to do like i did with my old pc so i was able to play star wars galaxies.... buy a new one.......

my processor is a 1.7ghz.... that wont cut it

and ill have to get nvidia..... im more of an ATI perso but nvidia is cheaper....


ohh well beats having to buy xbox 360

This post has been edited by LinkBOX: Feb 18 2006, 06:07 AM

Well, I would retire that PC entirely, the only things I see that you could spare is the router and the cd-rom drive, you don't even need a floppy nowadays (even though it doesn't hurt to have one).

Then remains the question, how much are you willing to pay for a new comp? If you want the top of the line (and don't buy it from dell or another crappy retailer) then you'll have to cough up approximatly 2000$-2500$. But for the recommended requirements I'd say approximatly 1000$-1500$. (Ok, I'm probably goign to get flamed for this, but hey it's entirely speculations from what the prices were when I upgraded, about one month ago).

I might just add now that I'm at it, I went for the killing comp . Had a rather new comp with Radeon x800 and 2500+ XP processor but wanted to upgrade to x64, so I had a huge makeover worth 1400$.

Motherboard, Crossfire compilant: Asus A8R-MVP - 150$
Processing unit: Athlon 64 Dual-Core 3800+ - 450$
Graphics: Radeon x1800xt 512Mb - 700$

Now it runs like never before .

Edit: Oops, forgot that I had to buy a new PCU since my old 350W wouldn't bear my new setup. Got myself a 12V 600W PCU for 90$

This post has been edited by Bofra: Feb 18 2006, 11:12 AM

i upgraded my computer recently from:
- 1.7ghz Intel
- 512 mb (sd) RAM
- Old cheap motherboard

To:
- 3200+ AMD Athlon 64 €150,-
- 1024 mb RAM €75,-
- Asrock Motherboard (only mobo that has AGP + PCI-e, really good one too by the way) €65

my Radeon 9600 PRO 128mb wasn't really old enough to be replaced, so thats why i bought an Asrock motherboard, so in the future i can buy a PCI-e graphics card


so @ DaedraMaster

if you want to buy a complete new computer, and you look well, you can be very cheap
Processor 3200+ AMD Athlon €150,-
1024 mb RAM Twinmos €75,-
Radeon Sapphire x850 256mb €225,-
Mobo ASrock 939 €65,-
Case €40,-
Zalman Cooling €30,-
DVD Drive €20,-
Asus Power Supply €40,-

€645,- = $767


than you're computer is quite top of the line

o and @ Bofra:

I've had Windows x64 too for a while, but if you play alot of games, DON'T DO IT!
because ALOT of things aren't compatable ..it was driving me crazy
I couldn't play Battlefield 2, NfS Most Wanted, Mafia etc

so now I'm on Windows 32 bits again

This post has been edited by Joeri: Feb 18 2006, 12:06 PM