i pretty much knew this would happen but i went ahead anyway. bought the orange box, but TF2 won't run. apparently it's because my card is only DirectX 8 compatible, not compliant. i didn't even know there was a difference, ya learn something new every day.

now PC is a Dell basically around 5 years old, and i pretty much know it won't pay off in the long run to upgrade. but that was me thinking that i'd have monies to buy a new system this year, but i blew them all over the summer... so the question is what to do now..

i'm thinking just get a really cheap stop gap for the old MX420  second hand or something just so i can play the orange box for the time being til i can raise funds for a new rig. any recommendations on what i should get seeing as my knowledge of vid cards has a gaping hole in it between MX420 and the 8800?

i'm not sure i want too. i'm gonna keep it i think to give a mate of mine HL2 so he'll be able to play some of the mods along with me (he only has it for Xbox). plus i'm gonna be buying all these games at some stage anyway in the not too distant future. might as well avail of the discount while it's there.

Well, concerning this whole "I need a new computer but don't want to break the bank" topic, my little bro has his old computer that he no longer wants/needs.  He is willing to part with it for about $400 and let me tell you, it's pretty decent, has 2 Asus 256mb 6600 GT's in it, 2 gigs of overclocking G-Skill ram, 2 500GB Hard Drives, a 500w Ultra PSU, a single core 3200 AMD 64, a DFI Lanparty mobo, all rapped up in a Thermaltake Armour Case (silver).  It runs games pretty well and can easily run, oh say, Biostar for example, and at pretty decent res too, 1440:900 on a 19in wide screen LG.  With all he's done with it, it's able to clock to 3.1GHz (air cooling mind you), play all the games I'm able to play (and I dual core everything and have dual 7900 GT KO's), and as far as a 3DMark with his machine, it's capable of getting right to the top of his build category.  All this and it's only a single core AMD, not bad if you ask me. 

Anyways, he's willing to part with it for around $400 or so, you'd probably have to pay for the shipping and handling, keep in mind, this thing weighs about 50 or so pounds so the shipping will be around $60+ to ship around the US.  If you do decide that you want it then just let me know and I'll get you in touch with him asap. 

I for one can understand what it takes to build a new system as well.  Currently, I am building a monster of a system but have to wait for all the core system components to come out as they won't be let out to the public until early 08.  I am currently building myself an Intel Quad core (the new 45nm), dual Nvidia 9800GTX Ultra's (1028mb per card), and 4 gigs of ram, a new mobo that's able to run all of them at speed (haven't decided which one to get yet), and a new monitor for myself to play on.  So far, if you put all these parts together on a price list it all runs out to be around $4,500 or so.  Thats just for the core components mind you, I already have the case (Thermaltake Armour Black), the 1600w Ultra X Connect PSU, 2 74GB 10k Raptor HD's, 1 750GB 7.2k HD (for storage reasons), the all new Freezone water cooler from Coolit, and numerous different fans and coolers for the system when I get it all put together.  It should be pretty interesting once I'm able to get it all together.  Wish me luck. 

But yeah, enough bragging about my new system, if you need the one my bro has then just let me know and I'll take care of the rest.