What hardware are you going to buy in 2008?

[Megashrap]

I still would prefer my quarter-pound block of metal and 100 mm fan any day though.  ;D

[gryphon]

well, [tt]gryphon[/tt] couldn't handle it any more. That Dell XPS laptop needs about 3 weeks to get here. And there has been something on my list for the last couple of years, old timers might even remember my comment about it in the first hardware topic. :)

As of yesterday I finally traded in my HP laptop for the one pictured below.

It does run Vista and Windows XP if needed, for now I enjoy OSX which unlike Apple's claims is hardly the most advanced OS on the planet. But until ZetaFS and Solaris are running on this thing it'll has to do. :)

[Megashrap]

Just curious,what are the specs on that one pictured?

[gryphon]

it's not that hard to find on the Apple website ;)

Currently they only have one black model.

http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

If I still had a choice it would have been a G series and not an Intell. :)

The for me rather spontaneous purchase included the pictured MacBook, a wireless mouse, an additional power adapter and some software.

[D2k Sardaukar]

It's quite abnormal to see black Apple's, isn't it?

Oh, by the way, the Logitech Z-3 that I ordered isn't available any more, anybody know a good quality 2.1 sound system for a music and game PC (for around 60 euro)?

[Megashrap]

Not quite sure on what the conversion price would be, but this a very nice little system I have with a sound blaster audigy card.Nice price also for what your getting. I ordered 2 extra satellites for it to use for surround with my new 20" monitor.

The speakers sound awsesome,nice crisp bass also.    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121123

[D2k Sardaukar]

Not quite sure on what the conversion price would be, but this a very nice little system I have with a sound blaster audigy card.Nice price also for what your getting. I ordered 2 extra satellites for it to use for surround with my new 20" monitor.

The speakers sound awsesome,nice crisp bass also.    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121123

Well, the funny thing is that I did have those boxes, but returned them because of high scratch sound and defect volume controller. I also do have a creative sound blaster sound card.

Is there a less known brand that makes (high) quality 2.1 sound systems (for the PC) for around 60 euro?

[Megashrap]

Well I was always a die-hard Kingston fan. But after seeing these sticks with a lifetime warranty and heat spreaders etc. for the price I couldn't pass it up. I mean damn, 2 x 1 gig sticks for 42 bucks is about as low priced as it gets. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

This should all be here Friday,I'm upgrading from a socket 939 to AM2.It should smoke the 939 with DDR 400 I had.

motherboard.....http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138077R

memory..........http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

Vid card........http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127296

The CPU I have here for it is an AMD 64x2 3800+ duel core AM2 socket.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103732

[D2k Sardaukar]

You considered getting more ram? I'm personally thinking about getting 4GB (with 64 bit system, Vista).

edit: I ordered the Logitech Z-4e (2.1) for my new sound system.

It's going to be Mr Bombastic Fantastic, uhh...

[Megashrap]

Yea seeing as how that memory is a great deal i'll get another 2 gigs for mainboard fillup.

[D2k Sardaukar]

Well I got mine together and for the first time ever I can now play BF2 with all high max. setts. Freakin awseome with this 20" flat screen like a whole new game.No lag anywhere,and the loading screen even loads way faster.

This "faster loading" is with 4GB or 2GB ram?

I was thinking about using the BF2 argument in my previous reply to get 4GB, but I thought 'nah, he doesn't play that game', haha.

Anyway, what I know is that BF2 loads way faster with more ram.

And keep it mind that for 4GB ram you need a 64bit operation system to use it all, else you only use 3,2GB (if I'm correct about the exact number).

[Andrew]

And keep it mind that for 4GB ram you need a 64bit operation system to use it all, else you only use 3,2GB (if I'm correct about the exact number).

I remember MS "fixed" this by having the OS reporting 4gb, but still only using 3.2 gb.

[Megashrap]

This "faster loading" is with 4GB or 2GB ram?

Using just the duel channel mode with 2 gigs of this new memory. I've never used A Data High performance gaming memory before but it Pwns. the Kingston I used in the past by a long shot.

you can read more about it here..http://oc.adata.com.tw/1_product_detail.asp?pid=AD2800EU

[D2k Sardaukar]

I'll keep "high performance gaming memory" in mind.

The Logitech Z-4e 2.1 sound system (that I received today) is very nice. At first the sound wasn't that great but after playing for something like a hour the sound got better. I haven't had the change to fully test the sound in games (like bf2), but the loading sound (cod4 for example) is amazing detailed.

I think I did a good buy with this sound system.

[Andrew]

So my computer currently has this ram:

2x512 DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz)  -  [DDR2-533]

With 2 slots empty with max module size of 1gb per slot.

It is not EEC nor buffered (cheap).

I was looking online and see ram is cheap from online stores. Such as:

Kingston ValueRAM KVR667D2N5/1G PC2-5300 1GB 1X1GB DDR2-667 240PIN DIMM Memory - $24

I presume something like this is ok. It is not EEC nor buffered either. I have no problems with my current ram, so probably not much point in paying more for EEC/buffered ram. I presume that extra stuff would be good if I were custom building a fast computer.

My friend has a cheap computer as well, and is using vista and the computer only came with 1gb of ram (haha), so he's looking for ram as well. So I figure buy cheap ram online. The big Box store ram is expensive.

Anything special I need to be looking for when it comes to cheap ram?

Yes I know I ask this every 2 months :P

EDIT:

Turns out my friends computer can only handle 2gb max. So he's going to have to buy 2x1gb ram, and I'll probably buy his 2x512mb ram, thus giving me 2gb total. If I decide I need more ram, I'll buy more and replace my 512mb sticks. Good thing about upgrading from 1gb total to 2gb total is that my onboard video memory can increase from 256mb to 384 mb ram.

EDIT:

If the price match works I'll probably buy the new ram

[Megashrap]

Kingston rocks,plus they have a very nice and fast RMA service if need be. I mean like a second day air service,I had to send one back after lightning hit near us.I just look at this way, if they have a lifetime warranty then I don't have a problem trying them or buying them.

Before I upgraded to the ones I have now I only used Kingston value ram.

[Andrew]

I was able to purchase the ram at price matched. So it was $27 for each gb. I bought 4.

So I now have 3gb installed on my computer. The 2x512 ram I have is one speed slower than the 2 new gb I put in. If I were to remove the 2x512, would I notice a difference in speed?

Worst thing is my intel video card is supposed to support 384 mb onboard video ram. But in the options I can only select 128 and 256 (was at 256 before). So I'm not sure how I can put it to 384mb.

GMA X3000 info.

I've looked through intel messageboard for answers but all I've gotten is that for winxp all you need is 1gb to get 384 option. And in vista you need 1.5gb ram to get 384 option. I use XP, adn now have 3gb ram, but no 384mb option :(

hmm, SIW program says I am using a driver from December 2007. There is a newer driver from March 20, 2008. Guess I'll update to that and see what happens.

I finally signed up at intel forums and made a post here. Hopefully someone can give a solution there.

[Dragoon Knight]

Just got myself an nVidia GeForce 8800GTX from eBay.  It's used - the guy who was selling it only had it in his PC for about 3 months, and it was in really good condition when it arrived.  I was replacing my two 8600GTS cards.  I had them in SLI, but it wasn't enough for my gaming requirements.  From what I can tell by test-running a couple of games, this new card will do just fine. :)

Only down side is that the new card is damned noisy.  Just have to get used to it, I suppose.  Put my kickass headphones to good use. :P

[Megashrap]

Andrew, Does your mainboard have onboard video? If so those types of boards blow goats if your wanting good steady graphics.

Kingston makes one type of memory called Hyper-X which is very good high performance memory.But just depends on your needs for it.If you don't do alot of gaming then your ok I guess. I say this because I've learned the hard way that onboard graphics just flat out suckkkkkkkk.But that's just me

[Dragoon Knight]

Wait, scratch that noise thing.  Turns out that the fan on the side of my case was hitting some of the inner cabling.  The power connectors for the 8800GTX protude directly towards it; sounded like a motorbike trying to digest tin foil.  Not nice.

Sellotape has rectified the error.  My PC is now quieter than ever, and the graphics boost is astounding.  Yay for sellotape!

[Andrew]

Yes it is onboard graphics. And yes I know it is no good for games made after 2004. That is fine. I was just arguing that it does not do what it was designed to do.

Someone replied to my post at intel forums, and they said this is normal. See my previous post for link.

[veK]

I just ordered 8800 GTX. I wanted to wait for nvidias next generation videocard but those bastards keep pushing crappy cards into the market. If you take a look at the benchmarks - especially higher resolutions - the "new" 9800 GTX is often performing worse than the 8800 GTX which is cheaper. Also the speculations about the next gen chip aren't that convincing either. So now I just bought the damn 8800 GTX although it won't be enough for some games (esp. Crysis) when I want to play them @ max. settings on a 1920x1200 resolution (Crysis won't even run smoothly with max settings on 1280x1024). Anyway... I'm planning to build a new pc by the end of the year and sell my current system as one (except removing 1 raptor disc and the hdd-changers) so I figure it's not that bad to upgrade my 7600GS to a 8800GTX. I will still get an ok price for the system when the time has come to sell it I guess.

I didn't buy a standard 8800GTX though. I ordered the "XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 630M XXX" which runs @ 630(chip)/1000(memory). Default settings for a GTX are 575/900. So my card is actually closer to an ultra model than to a default GTX model.

[Megashrap]

  XFX GeForce 8800 GTX

A buddy of mine has that card and I got a chance to give it a try with BF2 game on every max set.It is a very very nice card.

The XFX that is.

[veK]

I ordered some more stuff  ::)

Not everything is hardware though...

Here is what I ordered:

- A new case

- A very stylish 3,5" Fan-Controller

- A new PSU (I don't think my current one will be powerful enough for the videocard)

- A Silencer-Box for my HDDs

- Another 500GB HDD

- 2 more SilentEagle 1000 LED Case-Fans

And here are some pictures:

Review: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=1

[Andrew]

What's the last picture of? Hard drives in a case?