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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
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Location: Parallel Universe
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So I got HL2DM working on an old laptop, so I know my current Steam problems may lie in my current laptop. I give up. I've tried your suggestions and what Steam suggested but the damn thing doesn't work. So, I've come to the conclusion I finally need a dedicated desktop to run HL. I don't want any other crap but what I need to game. And it doesn't have to be the top-of-the-line machine that's going to play the latest games for another two years. I have a guy who says he'll put one together for me, but he's taling about first getting a card that is like a grand. Not what I'm looking for. And no, this machine will be solely for gaming - no work-related stuff.
Any suggestions for bits and pieces?
You should be more like Cantrip.  Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: The Fucking Fury
Groups: {pDs} Member, Administration, News Editor, Server Admin
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Posts: 609
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Got AIM? I read ALL your private messages.
"I don't want the salami." -WDF
WDF: I told her that she could come over if she brought beer.
Sirus: Wait, you made the recovering alcoholic bring beer?
WDF: This shouldn't surprise you, this is me we're talking about... It'll be a test.
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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
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Location: Parallel Universe
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Will Xfire do? I'm on now, because I can't play.
You should be more like Cantrip. Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
Joined: 5/9/2006
Posts: 3,491
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Location: Parallel Universe
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So I went to Fry's Electronics to buy Episode 1, for $12.99 tonight. Cheaper than getting it from Steam, and no download wait time.
I ended up spending $599 on a new machine:
HP Pavilion Desktop PC (A1350N)
Dual-core AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4200+ processor
1GB of PC3200 DDR SDRAM
250GB 7200RPM hard drive
2 x 512KB L2 cache
2.2GHz processing speed
2000MHz system bus
Dual Double-layer DVD+/-R/RW
LightScribe technology
9-in-1 media reader
Integrated ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 graphics with 256MB shared video memory
Multimedia keyboard
Software bundle: Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
It's a refurbished machine. I talked to four tech types who said get it and put in a video card later. I haven't opened the box yet. I still have time to take it back. Should I? You should be more like Cantrip. Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: Fuckstick
Groups: {pDs} Member, Server Admin
Joined: 5/9/2006
Posts: 874
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Location: I'm a ninja...I'm everywhere...
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Looks good, but what do I know, i'm a computer noob :Dlol jp jp!â„¢
PEACE IS ALL THE WORLD NEEDS...
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Rank: Not Cool Enough for a Rank :(
Groups: {pDs} Member, Server Admin, WDFNews.com Official Mapper
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if you got a warranty you should be fine. that isn't the greatest machine, but hell, it was only $600. you could probably build a machine that is a bit better for that amount of money, but you wouldn't get a warranty. but that machine will do everything you want it to consitering it blows the one i use out of the water (kinda). i say keep it if you got a warranty. it will be more trouble then its worth to return it and get a better one for cheaper.
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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
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Location: Parallel Universe
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Ya. It actually wouldn't be hard to return at all. I think it has a 90-day warranty with Fry's and maybe one year with HP.
The tech guys said they sell the same dual processor board by itself for about $500+. And I really didn't want to spend anything at all on a new machine. I just wanted Episode 1 on sale.
I swear there were five guys geeking-out on this machine asking questions and opening it up to make sure it was xpress somethingoranother. One guy bought one and then was going to have a $600 graphics card installed along with a new power supply. That's a bit much in my opinion. Once he learned I only wanted it to play HL, he gave me his screen name and said he would stop by the Tomb.
I certainly don't want to spend any more than $600; I can't justify the expense on a machine that is only going to play HL. But I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to decide. You should be more like Cantrip. Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: You're gonna stick that where?
Groups: {pDs} Member, Newsie, Server Admin
Joined: 5/9/2006
Posts: 199
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Location: San Francisco
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Cantrip wrote:
Ya. It actually wouldn't be hard to return at all. I think it has a 90-day warranty with Fry's and maybe one year with HP.
The tech guys said they sell the same dual processor board by itself for about $500+. And I really didn't want to spend anything at all on a new machine. I just wanted Episode 1 on sale.
I swear there were five guys geeking-out on this machine asking questions and opening it up to make sure it was xpress somethingoranother. One guy bought one and then was going to have a $600 graphics card installed along with a new power supply. That's a bit much in my opinion. Oonce he learned I only wanted it to play HL, he gave me his screen name and said he would stop by the Tomb.
I certainly don't want to spend any more than $600; I can't justify the expense on a machine that is only going to play HL. But I guess I'll wait until tomorrow to decide.
RETURN THAT COMPUTER NOW In a month that 4200+ is going to be worth jack diddly squat since AMD will be having massive price cuts on their processors. They are dropping prices nearly 50 percent on socket 939 and AM2 processors. Those tech guys you talked to are crazy if they thought a 4200+ was worth 500 dollars.
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Rank: Fuckstick
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I gotta friggin ask... Did you ever try formating? like 90 people told you to do it but you never said you had done it yet. Not The Face wrote:nate burn in hell asswipe Lead Salad wrote:And he promises to beat up any suspicious negroes and their children as well. Sirus touched me in my private message.
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Rank: Fecal Impaction For the Win!
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Location: RVA
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Cantrip wrote:
So I went to Fry's Electronics to buy Episode 1, for $12.99 tonight. Cheaper than getting it from Steam, and no download wait time.
I ended up spending $599 on a new machine:
HP Pavilion Desktop PC (A1350N)
Dual-core AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4200+ processor
1GB of PC3200 DDR SDRAM
250GB 7200RPM hard drive
2 x 512KB L2 cache
2.2GHz processing speed
2000MHz system bus
Dual Double-layer DVD+/-R/RW
LightScribe technology
9-in-1 media reader
Integrated ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 graphics with 256MB shared video memory
Multimedia keyboard
Software bundle: Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
It's a refurbished machine. I talked to four tech types who said get it and put in a video card later. I haven't opened the box yet. I still have time to take it back. Should I?
really? that's basically the setup i have, except with a 200gb HD, ATI Radeon 9800 card, and 1.5 gigs of RAM. It's served me well, but i also recommend you get a card for that thing. Bike wrote:I like to make werewolf movies. 
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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
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Points: 1,346
Location: Parallel Universe
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TerribleNate wrote:I gotta friggin ask... Did you ever try formating? like 90 people told you to do it but you never said you had done it yet.
No. I'm not going to reformat that work laptop. I have an older laptop, like six months to a year older, that I might do that to, but not to play games with. The problem wasn't the laptop. It was something Steam did in one of their updates and without doing anything, the problem fixed itself after a subsequent update. Steam sucks.
Buzz says to return it and I might. But before I do, I'm going to see if I can find another machine like it, or better for the same price or less. I don't think I'm going to find one and Buzz says they're coming out with new stuff next month, so the old stuff should drop in price. I kept passing on getting a new machine with the thought that that change was just around the corner and prices would drop, only to encounter the same situation where prices were going to drop again.
I don't need all the fancy bells and whistles or the card reader for example. I just need a machine that will be dedicated to the game - no word processing, no funky programs like xfire. I'll have my laptop open for that. next to the gaming machine.
I need a case, and while there are two sitting in the den from older machines, I think one with a power supply of 450 Watts should do on the cheap. A motherboard with dual processor. Memory, like a Gig. Graphics card. DvD/CD read drive to load games onto it. Ethernet card. Bundled XP Pro or whatever is necessary to run games these days and maybe an ultra quiet fan. That's all I need. But can it be done for under $600? And should Vista be a future concern?
You should be more like Cantrip. Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: Jimmy Hat Jester
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Posts: 1,796
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Seriously, don't buy from Frys. Their service sucks almost as much as their slimy salesmen who know little to nothing about the products they're selling. Also like any physical store, Frys is overpriced. You need to use your online skills. I built my machine from scratch using parts from suppliers like excaliberpc.com, newegg.com, coolerguys.com, pricewatch.com, etc. I ended up with a sweet machine for around what you paid for and I know I'll get good use out of it. I even believe individual parts (like hd, motherboard, etc.) come with their own warrantees but I could be wrong.
get your ass to mars
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Rank: Admiral OCD
Groups: {pDs} Member, Moderator, News Editor, Newsie
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buzzsaw wrote:[quote=Cantrip]
RETURN THAT COMPUTER NOW
In a month that 4200+ is going to be worth jack diddly squat since AMD will be having massive price cuts on their processors. They are dropping prices nearly 50 percent on socket 939 and AM2 processors.
Those tech guys you talked to are crazy if they thought a 4200+ was worth 500 dollars.
Ya, it's more like three-fitty. Would this setup make you happier for fifty bucks less?:
- Processor - Intel Pentium 4 (T) 524 HT
- Processor Speed - 3.06GHz
- Front Side Bus - 533MHz
- Chipset - Intel 915G
- Memory - 1.0GB PC-3200 DDR SDRAM memory (2x512MB for ultimate performance) (expandable to 4GB)
- Hard Drive - 250GB 7200RPM Serial ATA hard drive drive(c)
- (Optical Drive(s) - DVD SuperMulti Drive with LightScribe Technology: 16x DVD?R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R
- DVD-R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CDR, 32x CDRW, 40x CD-ROM ROM(d), DVD-ROM drive 16x max. speed, Includes 1 blank LightScribe 52x CDR disc
- Video Graphics - Integrated Intel graphics
- Network Interface - Integrated 10/100BaseT network interface
- Sound - Realtek ALC 882, Supports up to 8 audio channels, Dolby Pro Logic II compatible
- Fax/Modem - 56k modem
- Memory Slots - 4 DIMM (240-pin, DDR2) (two available)
- Expansion Bays - 2 external 5.25" (occupied), 1 internal 3.5" (occupied)
- Expansion Slots - 3 PCI slots (occupied)
- External Ports - Front panel 9-in-1 memory card reader ? supports Smart Media, xD, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD),
- Compact Flash I, Compact Flash II, Micro Drive, Memory Stick and Memory Stick Pro, 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 FRONT, 4 back), 2 FireWire ® (IEEE 1394) ports (1 FRONT, 1 back)
- mic/line-in/line-out/center-sub/rear/surround, Front Panel Composite Video, S-Video, and Audio Inputs, Digital Audio (Out/In)
- Compaq home professional keyboard
- Compaq PS/2 scroller mouse
You should be more like Cantrip. Twitchy: "I pulled a Cantrip . . ." GivePeaceAChance: "If the Tempest had nipples, I'd pinch that shit." Xylicon: "I'm about to deliver my [Richard] in your face for posting that stupid shit. " WDF?: "He keeps reaming me... night after night... I'm rather sore." GivePeaceAChance: "OMG MY NIPS ARE HARD" llenta: "cantrip, you fail!!!" Filliam H. Muffman: "i'm on top of dick"
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Rank: The Illuminist
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No, Buzz would be happy if you gave him a price limit and he specced something out for you.
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Rank: You're gonna stick that where?
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Gimme about a month for Conroe and price drops, and I'll build you something nice Last time I checked NTF is happy with the computer I got for her!
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