veK

Vista and Win7 seem to have problems with the 16bit setup of the game. You should run the game with DOSBox

I'm looking for a complete collection of A&E's "Cold Case Files" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Case_Files). I haven't had any luck so far though :( I'm also looking for a complete collection of the show "Forensic Files". Not luck there either. I almost have all the episodes in the german format (it's called medical detectives here) but it's really annoying to have the speaking person's voice reduced in volume and a (bad) german voice translate. Also the translation often is not very good. Sometimes you can hear the persons finish their sentences and you know they did a bad job translating. So the original format would really be appreciated (although I now know almost all of the cases already).

Yesterday I got a 2TB HDD as well as this nice thing which is pretty nice to control my laptop (which I currently use as a HTPC) remotely from the couch. The 3D mouse controls are still a bit strange but so far it works fine for the tasks I bough it for:

Meh... that's what I hate about selfbuild PCs when every part is new: had some trouble since yesterday with some nice BSODs. PC crashed twice a few hours ago then. Fortunately I coulld find the cause rather easily: RAM. Also very fortunantely Memtest86 responded with a crazy amount of errors right at the beginning. Of course the faulty one was the one I tested last but I'm glad it was the memory itself and not the board. Good thing I ordered 4x4GB I guess because now I can return one of the 8GB kits and still have the PC running with the other 8GB. I'll get the money back though instead of new RAM because honestly 8GB is quite sufficient and I only ordered 16GB because the prices are so low right now. But I can use that money for something else like some more games or a new mouse if I find a good one.

DDWRT is nice with any router it supports ;) I'm currently looking for a new mouse. Mine is still good but it's just too small for my hands when playing games. Unfortunately no mouse has conviced me yet. Too bad they don't sell the MX1000 anymore :(

Well I'm back now at my alternative solution which was a 60GB OCZ Vertex2 and one of my 1TB Samsung HDDs for all the games. I HAD a Crucial C300 256GB though but I had a lot of trouble with it. Last night I could at least finally confirm that indeed the C300 was the problem. I've read about the same problems from other people on hardware forums. It looks like it has something to do with the latest firmware 0006. Unfortunately you can't backgrade the firmware. And the problem might occurr more often with the ASUS P8P67 mainboards although I've read the same complaints from other users with different systems. Basically what happened was this: first of all I could not get the SSD working in AHCI mode when connected to the SATA 6GB/s ports. Win7 would recognize it and install itself but after the first reboot a disk read failure would appear. No problem with IDE mode on the 6GB/s ports though. On the SATA 3GB/s ports the SSD would also work in AHCI mode but why bother which such an expensive piece of hardware which is supposed to be used on a 6GB/s port. But worst of all... no matter which setup, driver, port or cable I used... I had micro lags and freezes. Firefox would sometimes just stop for a few seconds (typing, bookmarking...) or the mouse would freeze in Excel and stuff like this. It was pretty bad in games obviously because suddenly out of nowhere the mouse wouldn't move anymore for 1-5 seconds. Try shooting enemies now! After spending so much time researching, reading forums and testing I was pretty sure the SSD was the problem. So I tested the system with a superslow 5400rpm HDD from my laptop (the one it came with) and I didn't have those lags and freezes. Obviously the HDD was very slow but it was slow all the time... no freezing and crap like that. So today I mailed the C300 back for refunds and bought a OCZ 60GB at a local store. I just finished setting everything up now and the system is running without any problems or lags so far. I put the 1TB Samsung into the drive bay so when I'm not playing any games I can just take it out of the computer which is very nice. Everything else I bought is working perfectly and I'm also happy with the case. I can hear the fans but I expected them to be much noisier. So for now I'm okay with them and don't see reason for an immidiate change. I haven't done any CPU overclocking yet because obviously I have been busy the last 3 days with this annoying C300 issue.

I'm not changing games every day. I don't have that much time to play anyway. It would have been nice though to have all games available all the time. But I can live with occasionally copying a few games. I'm not moving the data all the time so I don't worry about the SSD wearing out too quickly. I'm just happy now I won't have to put in a HDD (besides maybe my 2,5" I use for data in the external enclosure right now but which is absolutely super silent and not vibrating whatsoever and is being used all the time anyway). Because besides those negative aspects (noise, vibrations, heat, being slower...) I don't want a HDD in my computer running all day long when I don't really need it all the time. That's also why I have 2x1TB lying in my drawer with a lot of data on it which I only put into the PC (using this: http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/node/1281 ) when I'm backing up files or need something I don't have on my 2,5" 500GB HDD (which I basically call "Cache"). Unfortunately I couldn't get the mainboard I wanted because it's still not available and no new date has been set so I cancelled it and ordered a different one. Most of my hardware should arrive tomorrow or on thursday except maybe for 2 other parts (which I don't need to run the PC though). So hopefully I can build the PC then and install everything this weekend. I just hope nothing is broken or causing problems of any kind.

That's exactly my plan now athanasios

Yeah I know the C400 is coming. But I won't wait for it. I want my PC now as soon as possible, it was hard enough to wait for the new Intel CPUs. Also the C300 has fallen in price a bit around here and the C400 will be more expensive when it's available. Also it's not going to be available in February right away in Germany and I'm not waiting 2 or even 3 more months and pay even more than I'm now paying for the C300. It's a hard choice but I can live with that. If I regret it 2 months from now I might sell the C300 and get the C400 instead, there's always people willing to buy the older versions - although I doubt I will go through the trouble of reinstalling windows and all the programs yet again.

Well screw it. I just emailed the shop and told them to change my order. I cancelled the OCZ Vertex and the 2TB HDD and ordered the Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB. I guess I'll just fill it up with games and whenever I want to play something else I just backup that particular game from steam and put in on one of my external hard drives I already own. It's 240€ more this way but at least I won't be unhappy with HDDs inside of the PC running all the time and have a much faster SSD for Win7 and also have the games on this drive. They just need to get back at me and confirm the change now. This time it's really going to be one expensive PC... SSD and videocard almost make 50% of the total cost.

Usually all new boards have SATA 6GB, at least all the boards that are available so far for the new 1155 socket. But it doesn't matter for the OCZ Vertex 2 I bought and I don't think I will get a faster SSD anytime soon now. I don't care about faster load times in games. The reason I don't want them on HDD is because I don't want HDDs at all any more. I just wish 512-1024MB SSDs were more affordable. RAM prices might fall a bit more over the next few weeks but in a few months their prices will increase strongly again accodring to some information I read a while ago.

That wouldn't solve my first problem: installing all the games. I don't need all my data inside the PC and available but if I put in 1 HDD for all the games, I might as well put in another one for the data. I just ordered everything and decided to go with the 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 Extended which I will use for Win7 and programs only. I'll use one of my Samsung F1 HDDs for all the games then and I ordered Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB for all the data. So I have 1 spare Samsung F1 left over as well as my 2,5" Western Digital in another external enclosure with RFID security. I will use this one to back up the most important data every evening. I can only hope I the mainboard I want will arrive at the shop on tuesday. It was supposed to be available on sunday and now that date changed to tuesday. I really don't want to switch to a different board because I really like the one I chose now. I also had to switch memory as the one I was planning on is also not available yet. The good thing about switching though: memory is cheap as hell right now and so I ordered 16GB although this is overkill I guess. There might be a few programs that can utilize it though. Maybe I'll take pictures of everything before I built the PC and afterwards :)

So yesterday I started ordering - only the videocard for now as they are hardly available. Fortunately it has already been dispatched now and should arrive tomorrow or on monday. When the new CPUs are officially available from sunday/monday on I will order the rest of the stuff. I could have ordered some things already but I want to save shipping costs if possible. I just hope the mainboard I want will be available from monday on as well. Currently I'm still a bit indecisive about the whole 256GB SSD thing though. The problem is a. it's prize and b. it's size - because if I install Windows 7 on it and the bunch of games I bought on Steam during their holiday sale it's almost full. Obviously I don't need all the games installed all the time but then again I don't want to uninstall and reinstall games and wait for them to download over steam. Also newer versions of the SSD I was planning to get have been announced and will hit the market in about 2-4 months which makes it even more painful to spend freaking ~450€ on such a device, especially since I already paid that much for the videocard (GTX580). So now I'm thinking about getting just a 60GB OCZ Vertex2 for around 100€ and put in one of my 2 Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200rpm 1TB HDDs (which I currently use in an external enclosure for data storage) for all the games and the other one (or a 2GB Western Digital Green) for all the data. But I really hate to put in 2 (or even 1 for that matter) HDDs into that PC because even if they are silent, they still make more noise than a SSD, they vibrate, they are slow... basically they just suck once you got addicted to a SSD. It's driving me crazy, because I really don't know what to do. I make my decision and 5 minutes later I hate it and think about it again.

Yes I have a problem with that because I hate it when people say or write about stuff they don't even know. It's one of society's biggest problems: people have opinions and prejudices and are judgemental about everything without even knowing what they are talking about. It's like calling you an asshole without knowing you just so I have said something. Most of the time it's just better to shut up if one has now idea what he/she is talking about. More people should try it and instead talk more about stuff they actually really know something about and can maybe teach to others.

I have a feeling that some of the people who replied here don't even have an idea who that guy is and just post for some reason anyway. I love the AVGN episodes, I have watched all episodes that are online in GameTrailer.com's ScrewAttack section (http://www.gametrailers.com/screwattack -> AVGN tab) and having played some of the games myself as a kid I sometimes really feel sorry for him going through those usually ubercrappy games (only the NES Ninja Gaiden Trilogy comes to my mind which isn't crappy, just extremely hard). Lately there haven't been that much new episodes though because he's working on a movie if I remember correctly. Anyway... the show is really great and I can only recommend it for some great entertainment, new swear words and a good laugh :)

Too bad, I really like Numb3rs and was looking forward to another season :(

Finished the latest season of "Dexter" recently and I was great once again. I still like the first two seasons the most but I doubt that will ever change.

Yes, I'm leaving Hamburg. But I'm not going to Berlin. Actually I don't like Berlin very much. I really love Hamburg but a new task is waiting for me some place else. I'll be living in a small village soon, about 50km away from Munich. Unfortunately Holland is further away then and I have to figure out a better way to visit some of the festivals next year. Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam first and travel from there. A friend of mine from Hamburg just recently moved there. Anyways back on topic. Aside from the PC I'm also considering buying a new mp3-player next year. I really love the one I have right now because it is so small and has superb audio quality (like all the players from Cowon I owned in the past) but unfortunately it has only 1GB and the battery isn't as good as it used to be. So maybe I'll get the Cowon J3 next year altough I really don't like something that big with touch screen technology, especially since my Cowon U2 is as tiny as a lighter and perfect for any road trip. So I'm not sure yet.

Well, I think this series of threads is going into it's 6th or 7th edition with the new year arriving soon. As usual the threads starts a month early for all your investments into hardware next year. So what plans - or maybe questions - do you have for next year? I have decided to wait with my new PC until January for several reasons. First of them being that I'll move soon and leave this nice city. So building a PC right now is pretty unnecessary I guess although I'd like to have one over xmas. Another reason is money, because only after I have moved I can decide how much I can actually spend in detail on a new PC. Another reason is that the new 580GTX videocards are very hard to get right now unless you pay even more money - but this thing is expensive enough as it is so I won't do that. Also new AMD Radeon highend cards will hit the market shortly and I'm interested how well they do although I'm pretty sure I'll go with that nvidia card. But a new Radeon might come in handy regarding prices so waiting until January is probably not such a bad idea. And last but not least Intel will be releasing their new CPUs alongside a new socket in early January and I want to wait for them too. I just hope they will actually be available after their launch and mainboard reviews are up shortly afterwards. This is what I'm planning to get as of right now (I don't need a new mouse, still have a X-Fi soundcard, good headphones, a microphone and HDDs for data story): CPU: Intel Core-i7 2600K Videocard: Nvidia GeForce 580 GTX System Drive: Crucial C300 RealSSD 128GB or maybe even 256GB Power Supply: Enermax MODU87+ 600W ATX 2.3 Mainbord: don't know yet Memory: don't know yet Case: Lancool PC-K62 Dragonlord Fancontroller: Akasa AK-FC-03 DVD-Drive: Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7260S, SATA CPU-Cooler: Scythe Mugen Rev. 2 or Prolimatech's Megahalem Other: WLAN-Card, Quickport Bay, Keyboard

@ gryphon: I'm not against changes but if the newest version doesn't work as well as the old one did, then why change it in the first place? While I do not like the new style very much I might live with it. But what I can't ignore are a lot of minor technical issues that make browsing/reading/posting on the forums less enjoyable than before. Like e.g. what I posted last time: no option to sort the posts the other way around so the newest one is on top of page 1. Or that all those threads are flagged as "new posts" like described earlier by... humm I think it was Andrew. Anyways... combine those technical aspects with an "acceptable but still not as much appreciated as the old one"-design and the result is just me being around less and not being active on the forums.

This is bothering me too a lot. I also still have those skype telephone numbers everywhere. And I still can't sort the topics backwards so that the first post on the first page is the newest post. I also did misclick quite a few times and hit the wrong reply button. Somehow some personal messages also got totally messed up. And... ah well I don't want to continue with the list. Fact is I haven't been to the site nearly as much as before, not reading as many posts and hardly writing any. In my opinion this new forum sucks and the old one was way better. It was plain and simple and I never really had any problems with it.

Yes I know Supreme Commander and the camera angles are nice but I don't really like the overall design. When I played it everything looked almost the same to me just with different colours. It wasn't bad but it didn't catch me either. Maybe I'll give it another try and also check out the second game when I have a gaming PC again.

After doing some more research I decided against the OCZ RevoDrive. I'm neither buying the original nor the X2 version. I've read some professional reviews and opinions, pros and cons vary a lot but in the end I trust the two most important ones (to me because I've been a member of those sites/forums for years and know they make good tests and know what they are doing) which both pointed out some negative aspects. So now I'm pretty sure I'll get a Crucial RealSSD C300 (http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1) which is a really great and very fast SSD. As I'm going for new hardware I can get a mainboard with SATA 6Gbs so I can use the full potential of that SSD. Right now I'm also leaning more towards the 128GB (although the 256GB also has faster write speed) just due to prices. I guess I can have some software and games installed and occasionally make space for something new and put the money I saved into a better videocard, CPU or RAM.

I don't like most RTS for one simple reason: the camera is not far enough away from the battleground and I really hate that. I've played a lot of RTS games and quit most of them after one day. I really loved Dune 2 and played it extensively when it was released and years after that. I also like Emperor a lot and still enjoy playing it from time to time. But it has flaws and I wouldn't consider it to be the best game. Starcraft got my vote because it's so well balanced, interesting, has a lot of different tactical approaches and is just an overall great game although I always thought that Zerg don't really fit in there. Nowadays with broadband internet and HD videos it's also a pleasure to watch the game being played by good players. I've watched hundreds of progamer matches in livestreams and replay casts this year already and it's just pure entertainment most of the time.

There's a SC2 thread over in the gaming subforum: http://forum.dune2k.com/index.php?/topic/18558-starcraft-2/