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What hardware are you going to buy in 2008?

veK

By veK
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veK

veK

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the thread is becoming a classic now... it's the 4th year in a row  :)

new year starting soon, new hardware available in 2008, and a fresh topic right here... so what are your (hardware) plans?

personally I'm looking forward to buying one of the new nvidia videocards upon their release. the 8xxx-series is just not powerful enough if you want to play new games like crysis and want to play them on a 24" display. currently I have a lot of games on my list which I want to play as soon as I can upgrade my videocard. I really hope they release a highend 9xxx-card soon. there will be a dual-gpu card first, maybe around the end of january, but rumors are that the new 9xxx-series will be launched around march/april. I really hope so.

I haven't made any plans for any other upgrades soon...

I want to get a PS3 also, but I'll wait until they a) build it with 65nm cpus b) it is compatible to ps2 games again (the new generation is not anymore) c) they finally have controllers with force-feedback again and d) there's a modchip available so that I can play european games as well as US games... so this might still take a while, but I can't wait to play ninja gaiden sigma, devil may cry 4, heavenly sword, god of war 3 and other hack & slash games on a PS3

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D2k Sardaukar

D2k Sardaukar

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I'm thinking of buying a new PC in 2008 halfway. The current Medion PC is getting old. Maybe some people would like to advice me a little?

My thoughts are building my own PC. I have some experience in working with PC's, I already changed the videocard in the current one and gave it 3 new coolers (CPU, Power Supply and GPU). My budget is around 1000 euro up to 1600 euro and will be bought from the internetz. :) The PC will be used to play some of the latest games and simple 3D, 2D, sound editing so a big screen would be nice. I use the dutch website www.Tweakers.net for their Best Buy Guide as a basic, but you never know what will come in 2008.

Some things I have in my list (see below), but some will already be old by that time I'm afraid.

Intel Core 2 Duo ?

2x 2GB Corsair ?

2x SamSung Spinpoint 500 GB ?

Zalman 600 Watt ?

Samsung Syncmaster 226BW (22

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  • 2 weeks later...
Andrew

Andrew

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Bought Trendnet Wireless-G Router and Wireless-G USB 2.0 Adapter package for $30. Was boxing week sale. The combo has:

Trendnet 54Mbps Wireless-G Router (TEW-432BRP)

Trendnet Wireless-G USB 2.0 Adapter

Very cheap (it's supposed to be a low end model). I still have my main computer connected with a wire for best performance, but my old computer in another room is now connected with the wireless usb adapter, and performance on it doesn't really matter.

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veK

veK

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I got an ipod nano myself from a business partner as a xmas present. I sold it though because I don't like apple and I have a great cowon mp3-player which I like very much.

I just ordered another 500gb hdd, and it has already been shipped but not yet arrived.

there's some news about the upcoming nvidia videocards:

# GeForce 8800 Ultra will be replaced by the GeForce 9800 GX2 in February / March timeframe. More information and pictures are here.

# The GeForce 8800 GTX will be replaced by the GeForce 9800 GTX in February / March timeframe. This card will support Tri-SLI.

I really hope the 9800 GTX will be a good card, though I think it's not a brand new card (9800 GX2 has 2xG92 GPUs which are currently used for the 8800GT and the new 8800GTS) so I doubt the 9800GTX will be a new generation of GPU...

@2 D2k Sardaukar: tell us when you want to get a new pc and I'm sure we can give you some advice for the hardware. it's too early to tell if you are planning to get the stuff in maybe 6 months. so just keep us up to date  ;)

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Xyrvyre

Xyrvyre

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I too am planning on building my own computer in the future. Unfortunately I don't have much experience in this, except when I removed all the parts from my ancient compaq and put them back in. Suprisingly, it worked. I'm hoping to build a computer that will be able to play Crysis. I have some idea of what parts I need, but some advice would be useful.

Core 2 Quad Q6600

8800 GTS 640MB

2x 2GB of RAM (not sure what supplier)

ANTEC P150 case

It needs to cost less that US$2300 or 1500 euros (in other words NZ$3000)

I'm also planning on getting a G9 mouse and a Samsung T10 mp3

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D2k Sardaukar

D2k Sardaukar

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I'm hoping to build a computer that will be able to play Crysis.

I read that this game requires very fast computer parts if you want to play it at nice settings (nice details, AA, etc.).

The case (ANTEC) looks like a nice choice, I have seen it on LAN-party's and has a build-in power supply which doesn't make much sound.

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D2k Sardaukar

D2k Sardaukar

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@2 D2k Sardaukar: tell us when you want to get a new pc and I'm sure we can give you some advice for the hardware. it's too early to tell if you are planning to get the stuff in maybe 6 months. so just keep us up to date  ;)

I understand it's too early and I will try to keep you up to date. Thanks for the reply.

I do have two quick question. I'm thinking about getting a big screen (20/22" Samsung?) around 6 months from now, do you think I should still get a normal LCD? In other words, are there big changes going to happen for computer screens that might affect me (Production shortage?, OLED?, Mitsubishi Laser Screen?)? And is it possible with a LCD to temporary change the resolution?, so that I might change my 22" into a 20" for certain games. Like having two black bars at the side of the screen, not simply changing resolution in windows, more like temporary shutting down pixels.

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  • 1 month later...
Andrew

Andrew

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I was told that there are certain portable hard drives that are good. They are the ones where you buy the case for the hard drive (to put hard drives into) and then buy the hard drives to go into it so you can swap the hard drives whenever. Supposed to be better quality or something (because you can upgrade your hard drives). I forget exactly what they are called.

USB sound card. So you would plug it into usb, and then plug 5.1 speakers into the sound card? sounds cool.

EDIT:

Examples of the hard drive enclosures.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=2779&msg=31389

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Dunenewt

Dunenewt

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Yeah, the laptop doesn't have 5.1 sound, but I have 5.1 speakers in my room still.

I'll have to have a look at the different kinds of portable hard drive.  I just want to store all my music/pictures/videos in one place, because we have several computers at the family home as well as my laptop where I live now.  I was also thinking about copying my whole DVD collection onto one, because it takes up a lot of room at the moment.

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Andrew

Andrew

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Yah, portable hard drives are pretty cool. Just plug and go.

I guess that burning data to dvds will be gone shortly. Since portable hard drives have gotten real cheap and convenient.

Also the portable USB memory sticks are great for backing up important data. I used to have to burn to cd. I probably got 30 backup cds laying around from past decade. Now I just use my 256mb, 2gb and 4gb usb memory sticks.

I still got too many cds and dvds full of stuff laying around. The cds are almost useless, except for the ones that are sorted in a cd binder. I got 30 cds on my desk in the cd holder that are from 1997 that I burnt back when I only had a 3.2gb hard drive and bought a cd burner (~$300 for 2x burn) because there wasn't enough room on the hard drive. Those were the days. (finally threw that computer/monitor out last fall).

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Dunenewt

Dunenewt

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Yeah, USB sticks are essential these days, especially for us students. Until you meet a Win98SE computer that is.  I have two computers in my room at the family home, and one is still running that old OS, which creates a few problems, as I am still transferring several essential files from it.

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Andrew

Andrew

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I bet it uses usb 1.1 as well. Slowwwwwwww

I used to email myself all my files when I was in school doing lots of work.

Then I got a USB stick and that made life a lot easier. No more emailing myself files so I could use them on campus, then email back to home when done with it.

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veK

veK

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I'm really getting tired of waiting for that next gen nvidia videocard... they keep launching refresh-cards and dual-gpu crap but the world is waiting for the next highend monster. but here's what I will order soon:

Sennheiser PC 350 Headset - the microphone from my Medusa 5.1 Headset isn't working anymore. So I'll return it to RMA and buy this new Sennheiser Headset. I will sell my Medusa after receiving it back from RMA or use it at work maybe.

275699.jpg

And I'm also going to buy a Creative X-Fi soundcard. Right now I use my onboard sound and have my amplifier connected via the coaxial output which is fine and the sound is really good (not like most crappy onboard solutions). But for gaming the X-Fi might be better so I'm going to use both cards then.

228489.jpg

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veK

veK

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actually it's a 7.1 surround card (check this: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=15853 ). it hasn't got a digital output though. but my whole home entertainment system stays connected to the digital output of the multimedia mainboard. the soundcard is for gaming purposes (using headset) only.

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veK

veK

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I just ordered another piece of fine hardware: a Western Digital Passport II 250 GB 2,5" External HDD

I have a Trekstor 250GB 2,5" HDD, but I prefer the Passport II because it's even lighter and only need 1 usb port. So I sold the Trekstor HDD and now ordered the Passport II. I guess I really have to put a name label on it, because some friends and colleagues from work all have the same HDD  ::)

260914.jpg

some more cool pics can be found here:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=317&language=en

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