what hardware are you going to buy in 2005...?

[Super-ness]

Yeah I need a new swivel chair, now that you mention it.

I need a better cushioned one  >:(

[DukeLeto]

Today I get my new laptop:

AMD Athlon-M 64 3400+

1024MB DDR PC2700 RAM

ATI Mobility RADEON 9550 64MB DDR

4 USB 2.0 Ports

80 GB Harddrive

Integrated Wireless LAN (Now I just need a LAN card for this thing)

15.4" WXGA TFT widescreen display

-$1200

I know someone *cough*veK*cough* is going to chastise me by saying that they could have built me one twice as good for the same price, but seriously, I don't want the hassle of trying to construct a laptop (if that's even possible?), and the one I'm getting is significantly more powerful than this computer (AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB RAM, and yes - USB 1.1.  And although the GeForce FX 5700LE 256MB is a very powerful graphics card, it's running through a 4x AGP slot right now, so meh) in almost all respects.

And I already have a nice cushiony swivel chair. ;D

[veK]

no DukeLeto... this notebook is quite alright for the price... only your other pc you intended to buy wasn't  ;)

[veK]

I got my XFX GeForce 6800GT today...  ;D

EBFD looks so damn good with all Details very high... amazing for such an "old" game

I didn't overclock the card yet, want to keep it running as it is for a few weeks until I clock it to ultra level.

It's fascinating: I had a 6600GT for a few days and it was so damn loud so I thought the 6800GT would be even louder but actually it's even more quiet than my old GeForce 3  (even in 3D modus) :O

today I tested some games with full details... and yet again we got the proof that half-life 2 doesn't stand the slightest chance against farcry and doom3 (except for the engine - but definitely not in graphics. actually it looks quite boring compared to the doom3 and farcry graphics... but I knew that before).

anyway, this card really kicks ass, now I have to go for a new tower and a lot of high-quality watercooling components  ::)

[Megashrap]

Well, I thought I would give this a try. I've always had great results from any of thier products.  http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/comboCool/cl-p0024tower112/cl-p0024tower112.htm

And a new chair also  :)

[Nyarlathotep]

Asus A8N-SLI DeLuxe

AMD Athlon 64 FX-55

2gig Corsair DDR2-667 RAM

2 Asus N6800 Video cards

2 160gig Western Digital SATA drives

Plextor 716A DVD re-writer

Plextor PX-54TAcdrom

Creative Audigy 2 ZS

Super Flower SF-201S case (6 fans)

500 watt PSU, gold plated plugs and 3 fans

The whole internal cabling would consist out of round cables to have a optimum airflow.

[Cyborg]

Why do you need 2 gigabyte of RAM?

Are you going to use it as a server?

[DukeLeto]

2 gigs isn't really extreme any more.  1 gig is a must these days, I'd say; 2 is probably helpful to prepare for the wave of next-generation games.

[Megashrap]

Thats a sweet ass Motherboard Nyar, it's on my list also.

[Nyarlathotep]

Why do you need 2 gigabyte of RAM?

The more the merrier :P

[veK]

I ordered my new notebook for work yesterday... pretty thing.

And I decided not only to built in a new watercooling system into my desktop home pc in a new case but also get 2 new s-ata hdds...

[Cyborg]

2 gigs isn't really extreme any more.  1 gig is a must these days, I'd say; 2 is probably helpful to prepare for the wave of next-generation games.

One gigabyte of RAM is definately not a must today.

So far you only need it for Doom 3's ultra graphics setting, and it warns you about the high memory consumption.

As long as you don't need two gigabyte or RAM, it's a waste of money, just like redundant disk space.

However, if you want to show off, or run a most taxed web server, two gigabyte or RAM is a must.

As Doc Nyar says, the more the merrier, but within limits.

[Nyarlathotep]

The reason I choose 2 gig of ram is due to the fact that I want to run everything in the highest details possible. 2 gig of ram is not a luxery in that case, especially with th enew games coming. Next to that, I do host quite some games from time to time, which is why I choose for 2gig of ram.

[veK]

NOWADAYS 2gig ram aren't really necessary, but if I was about to build a whole new system I'd take 2gig, too... cause they might prove useful in half a year. and for some people 1gig are a must (like me), cause if you run programs like photoshop or 3dsmax you'll soon realize that you won't get far with less memory... (and this is only for programs, not for games...)

so, if nya has got the money he should do it (I'd do it the same way...)

btw: my notebook has 256mb ram by default - I also upgraded it to 1024mb which is a lot of ram for a NOTEBOOK - but I really need it, cause it'll be used for working purposes mainly and I definitely need that much ram for the programs I mentioned (especially photoshop)

[veK]

damn it... I spend too much money on pc stuff the last time. the gpu last month, the new notebook and yesterday I ordered a wireless lan router (because of the notebook) and for my desktop pc I ordered 1x80GB Samsung S-ATA HDD and 1x300GB Seagate S-ATA HDD...  ::)

[Megashrap]

Sadly a new Bios chip  :'( damn AWDFLASH.EXE.damn it to hell.

[GUNWOUNDS]

i already have a pretty high end system with 8 fans... sure i could remake it over again with some better parts but

[desert_storm]

Next Generation games will be dual processor compatible?  were did you hear that?

[GUNWOUNDS]

Next Generation games will be dual processor compatible?

[DukeLeto]

Right, but is this really necessary?  Games like DOOM3 and FarCry are already nearly photo-realistic.  And their primary limitations are in GPU strength and video memory, not processing power.  If even a relatively inexpensive notebook can get 35-55 FPS out of DooM3 with higher-end graphics options, certainly today's top-end PCs can already get smooth performance at maximum settings.  And frankly, why (indeed, how) would games look any more realistsic than DooM3?

I can understand needing advanced processing power and loads of memory for advanced business and government applications, but why on earth would a typical home gamer need 10GHz of processing power or 8 GB of RAM?

[GUNWOUNDS]

Right, but is this really necessary?

[Megashrap]

I'm just wondering what duel CPU's along with a duel PCI graphics board setup would be capable of. *Drools* Although that would be a long time for me i've spent way too much on new parts.

[GUNWOUNDS]

I'm just wondering what duel CPU's along with a duel PCI graphics board setup would be capable of. *Drools* Although that would be a long time for me i've spent way too much on new parts.

things like that already exist.... some are super computers with multiple nodes of what you described and they actually run extremely complex programs such as earth simulations.

[Megashrap]

Yea, it's only going to get better, faster, more powerful. then somewhere along the line hopefully affordable.

[Cyborg]

I wouldn't call Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 very photo realistic.

They're more realistic than most other games, but when you look at them, it's damned easy to see that it's not real.

The reason is that they lack details it will take years to add, like real grass ( they're good to fake it now, but it's easy to see that it's fake. ), realistic number of NPCs ( as Gunwounds mentioned ) and real curved surfaces ( as most of you know most games are based on polygon-3D, which means that models are created of flat surfaces. To create curves you need quite a lot of flat surfaces. Now, this can be faked to some extent too, but as move around it's so easy to see. Graphic cards need to handle many times more polygons to draw realistic models, especially of furniture and other non-critical models as they often need to be curved just as much as the player model. Take sofas as an example. ).

Also, animations need to be better. They're very good today, but they're still not generally good enough that I'd be fooled about it being real.