Archive: 38 posts

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I have a crappy PC. It's a Dell Dimension 8200. Single-Core processor, 368MB RAM, and 80GB HDD. I decided I needed to upgrade, so I bought a new PC. Depending on how patient you are, pick which version you'd like to read: After dealing with a PC arriving broken and getting a replacement arranged, I'll have my new PC on Tuesday. Specs: HP Pavilion Slimline s3600z Windows Vista 500GB HDD 3GB RAM AMD Phenom Quad-Core Processor (1.8 Ghz) 512MB Nvidia Geforce 9500GS Video Card On November 14th I bought a computer from HPShopping.com. I customized it so it had the best hardware they offered, and ordered it at a price of $890.96. It arrived on November 22nd, but it arrived broken. We first determined it was the video card, so they sent me a replacement card (they did not ask for the original broken card to be returned to them). That did not fix the problem, so I opted to replace the PC. I put the order in and sent back the broken PC, and they told me the replacement would cost $749.99 because they had extra rebates at the time the replacement was ordered. They refunded the $140 difference, and informed me the replacement would be built by December 9th. However, the order shipped out yesterday, November 28th, and I'll have it on Tuesday, December 2nd. The best part is I have a spare, working Nvidia video card, worth around $150 on it's own. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'm happy overall, though, because my PC (specs below) will run current-gen games (including Crysis) beautifully. Specs: HP Pavilion Slimline s3600z Windows Vista 500GB HDD 3GB RAM AMD Phenom Quad-Core Processor (1.8 Ghz) 512MB Nvidia Geforce 9500GS Video Card

2008-11-29 20:01:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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Lol unlucky O_O But my PC is worse Packard Bell (no idea the speed) 192mb RAM (minus about 100mb of that because of my video card) 30GB HDD XP LOL

2008-11-29 20:04:00 Author: DrunkMiffy Posts: 2758

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Mate SLI the two video cards together if they are the same spec. Cheers QuozL

2008-11-29 20:14:00 Author: QuozL Posts: 921

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Mate SLI the two video cards together if they are the same spec. Cheers QuozL I don't know how to do that, but I'll look into it. EDIT: My PC doesn't support that anyway, I looked into it.

2008-11-29 20:17:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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You could put the video card up in the shop for 150 points. 1 LittleBigExperience = $1, correct?

2008-11-29 20:31:00 Author: BassDeluxe Posts: 984

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Wow, a 9500 video card, nice nice. My friend just went and bought one for 200 dollars yesturday on Black Friday lol.

2008-11-29 21:16:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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I hope you don't plan on doing a lot of gaming on that, a 9500 isn't really that great.

2008-11-29 22:24:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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I hope you don't plan on doing a lot of gaming on that, a 9500 isn't really that great. I've never been into PC gaming. I'll do a bit of it, but the PC is mainly for general use.

2008-11-29 22:50:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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that's still awesome. My computer is old. I don't know the specs but it's a basic 2003 Bell Dimension 3000 and it's slow.

2008-11-30 03:15:00 Author: Frank-the-Bunny Posts: 1246

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I'm happy, though, because in the short time I had my PC (it worked briefly) I discovered it will run all of the games I want to play with flying colors. It even surpasses Crysis' recommended settings by far, so I won't really have problems playing the games I want to. Other than that, I'll be using the PC for multitasking, such as having Firefox + Digsby + extra programs running all at once. I need it to run smoothly, so I opted for the extra RAM and the higher-end processor. A good decision, in my opinion. that's still awesome. My computer is old. I don't know the specs but it's a basic 2003 Bell Dimension 3000 and it's slow. Yeah, I saw your thread (and replied). It sounds older than mine, which means you should probably just buy a new computer if you want to avoid the hassle of worrying if you need all new parts.

2008-11-30 05:48:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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nice i love the new computer feel! the keys m,right,left,up,down arrows, right shift, dont work because my bro spilled gaterade and pepsi on them

2008-11-30 06:39:00 Author: Snrm Posts: 6419

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...And yet you were able to type the letter "m" Lol jk I know what you meant xD

2008-11-30 09:29:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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yes that's a pain. Congratulations on the new computer though. Sounds like it'll be a great addition and money well spent.

2008-11-30 22:13:00 Author: Frank-the-Bunny Posts: 1246

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CC, i am SO jealous! I was looking up getting a new PC - but at the specs i want it'll cost me ?1100 and i don't have that sort of money

2008-11-30 23:15:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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CC, i am SO jealous! I was looking up getting a new PC - but at the specs i want it'll cost me ?1100 and i don't have that sort of money What are the specs you were aiming for? It sounds overly expensive, especially since you have to upgrade hardware every two years.

2008-12-01 00:54:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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What are the specs you were aiming for? It sounds overly expensive, especially since you have to upgrade hardware every two years. If you're planning on upgrading it every two years it would probably be a better idea just to build it on your own in the first place. It'll probably save you at least the cost of upgrading to the point of a brand new computer.

2008-12-01 03:38:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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What are the specs you were aiming for? It sounds overly expensive, especially since you have to upgrade hardware every two years. Haha, bear (is that right? bear? bere? yeah bear) in mind that what i want is a PC in a lifetime where money grows on trees Basically my dream Desktop PC: Intel Extreme Quad Core 3.33 8 Gig Ram 1 TB Hard Drive Blu Ray Reader/Writer 2GB Radeon HD Graphics Card And that comes to around ?1100 - ?1200 on PC Specialist (www.pcspecialist.co.uk). Without a moniter! LOL. Bad times. I wish though eh? The PC would last many years.

2008-12-01 03:55:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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Sweet! All's well that ends well Good luck with the new computer you will almost the same set up as me (only you will have an extra 1GB of ram, boo ) I have a feeling you will be pleased

2008-12-01 10:12:00 Author: Akanouk Posts: 46

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How did you get to 'customize' your pc?

2008-12-01 10:40:00 Author: TheArmedReaper Posts: 1543

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Haha, bear (is that right? bear? bere? yeah bear) in mind that what i want is a PC in a lifetime where money grows on trees Basically my dream Desktop PC: Intel Extreme Quad Core 3.33 8 Gig Ram 1 TB Hard Drive Blu Ray Reader/Writer 2GB Radeon HD Graphics Card And that comes to around ?1100 - ?1200 on PC Specialist (www.pcspecialist.co.uk (http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk)). Without a moniter! LOL. Bad times. I wish though eh? The PC would last many years. 8 GB RAM? It takes a 64 bit version of Windows to take advantage of anything over 3 GB. 8 GB is a little overkill. I know this is your dream PC, and it's merely speculation, but based on that, I'd suggest you consult with someone who knows a lot about PCs before you buy one. How did you get to 'customize' your pc? Shopping.HP.com (http://www.shopping.hp.com) has many PCs that you can customize by choosing from various options. Many sites have this, but I bought from HP, which is why I'm providing their site. Anyway, for example, they gave me the option between a dual-core, a tri-core, or a quad-core processor, and I opted for the quad-core. Each piece of hardware in the PC had options like that, and you can build it based on your price range and/or desired power. They build the PC when they recieve the order from you, so you aren't getting one that's been prebuilt and has sat around in a box.

2008-12-02 01:29:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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8 GB RAM? It takes a 64 bit version of Windows to take advantage of anything over 3 GB. 8 GB is a little overkill. I know this is your dream PC, and it's merely speculation, but based on that, I'd suggest you consult with someone who knows a lot about PCs before you buy one. A 32 bit OS can use up to 4GB of RAM including both the RAM on the motherboard, VRAM on the graphics card, or any others.

2008-12-02 01:36:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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A 32 bit OS can use up to 4GB of RAM including both the RAM on the motherboard, VRAM on the graphics card, or any others. Ah, then I see where I made my mistake. My graphics card has 512MB RAM, and my PC has 3GB, so I can see why they said any more onboard RAM would be fairly useless. They offered 4 GB, but I didn't choose it due to that advice.

2008-12-02 01:50:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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honestly - you wouldn't need more than 4 Gig of RAM if you even got it. I got a fair idea as to how all the computer works (in a very basic manner ofcourse) but on the website i gave i just bumped up all specs to the max, except uneeded things. And i won't be buying a new PC for at least a few years yet (unfortuanatly ) as i just don't have the money. The best looking games i can run are Spore/Half Life 2 etc. No top graphical games. That's what the PS3 is for Which i don't have in uni :'(

2008-12-02 02:09:00 Author: ryryryan Posts: 3767

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I'm looking through the customizable pages now. Kinda complicated. But what gives with the only screen size? 12.5 inch? And seeing as I'm in the UK, do you think they can ship it over? Do I get any insurance on it? Help?! EDIT: Wait... I'm looking at the laptops...

2008-12-02 14:04:00 Author: TheArmedReaper Posts: 1543

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honestly - you wouldn't need more than 4 Gig of RAM if you even got it. I got a fair idea as to how all the computer works (in a very basic manner ofcourse) but on the website i gave i just bumped up all specs to the max, except uneeded things. And i won't be buying a new PC for at least a few years yet (unfortuanatly ) as i just don't have the money. The best looking games i can run are Spore/Half Life 2 etc. No top graphical games. That's what the PS3 is for Which i don't have in uni :'( If Microsoft has any say in the matter - and they will - you'll need 4+GB RAM before you know it. Heard somewhere that Internet Explorer 8 will require more RAM than all of Windows XP. While certain companies work to make slimmer products (see Google Chrome), Microsoft sees the introduction of dual and quad-core machines as a pass to keep making bloated products.

2008-12-02 14:08:00 Author: supersickie Posts: 1366

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I just customized my laptop... ?920... I'll have to start saving then. XD I wonder if I can buy it from England and get it shipped here?.. (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&email_id=575291&jumpid=in_r329_emailconfig)

2008-12-02 15:05:00 Author: TheArmedReaper Posts: 1543

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If Microsoft has any say in the matter - and they will - you'll need 4+GB RAM before you know it. Heard somewhere that Internet Explorer 8 will require more RAM than all of Windows XP. While certain companies work to make slimmer products (see Google Chrome), Microsoft sees the introduction of dual and quad-core machines as a pass to keep making bloated products. That seems rather odd. Most of the people who actually plan on using 4GB of RAM in the near future would probably be the people who know enough to not use internet explorer. Oh well, Microsoft can shoot themselves in the foot if they want to.

2008-12-02 15:34:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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That seems rather odd. Most of the people who actually plan on using 4GB of RAM in the near future would probably be the people who know enough to not use internet explorer. Oh well, Microsoft can shoot themselves in the foot if they want to. You'd think, wouldn't you? However, just because a person has that much power just means it was sold to them; they didn't necessarily plan on using it. Microsoft's target demographic isn't the computer people though; it's the folks who are casual users and haven't even heard of things like Chrome or Firefox. It'll be those people that say, "Man, my computer sure is slow with this new IE 8! What's that? I should get a new machine? One with eight cores, you say? Seems reasonable to me!" Just how I see it though; I could be wrong.

2008-12-02 15:43:00 Author: supersickie Posts: 1366

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Ech hem. My laptop.... (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/load_configuration.do?destination=review&email_id=575291&jumpid=in_r329_emailconfig)

2008-12-02 15:48:00 Author: TheArmedReaper Posts: 1543

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You'd think, wouldn't you? However, just because a person has that much power just means it was sold to them; they didn't necessarily plan on using it. Microsoft's target demographic isn't the computer people though; it's the folks who are casual users and haven't even heard of things like Chrome or Firefox. It'll be those people that say, "Man, my computer sure is slow with this new IE 8! What's that? I should get a new machine? One with eight cores, you say? Seems reasonable to me!" Just how I see it though; I could be wrong. One of the major complaints with Vista was that it required too much power to actually run. I don't see why they would try it again.

2008-12-02 21:03:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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One of the major complaints with Vista was that it required too much power to actually run. I don't see why they would try it again. According to Microsoft, they aren't going to do that again... with an operating system that is. Windows 7 promises to be a much tighter package in comparison to Vista. That isn't saying much however as Vista weighs in at about a 15GB install and really requires at least 1GB RAM before the OS will function in a semi-respectable manner.

2008-12-02 21:10:00 Author: supersickie Posts: 1366

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According to Microsoft, they aren't going to do that again... with an operating system that is. Windows 7 promises to be a much tighter package in comparison to Vista. That isn't saying much however as Vista weighs in at about a 15GB install and really requires at least 1GB RAM before the OS will function in a semi-respectable manner. They may not do that with Windows 7, but you seem to be saying that they will with IE8, which doesn't seem to be consistent.

2008-12-02 21:12:00 Author: dobilay Posts: 60

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They may not do that with Windows 7, but you seem to be saying that they will with IE8, which doesn't seem to be consistent. It may seem contradictory, but the proof is in the pudding. IE 8 Beta 2 requirements: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/support/system-requirements.aspx Windows XP Professional requirements: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865 Long story short, IE 8 requires as little as 128MB RAM with XP and 512MB RAM with Vista. XP Professional as an OS requires a minimum 64MB RAM. Perhaps I'm looking at the numbers wrong, but IE 8 doesn't appear to be a step in the slim direction by any means. Am I wrong? EDIT: A look at IE 8's use of resources compared to IE 7 and Firefox... http://exo-blog.blogspot.com/2008/09/internet-explorer-8-over-2x-fatter-than.html A very notable section of the article: ...With a massive working set approaching 20% of our test bed?s 2GB RAM configuration, IE 8 may be the long awaited ?killer app? that drives customers towards 4GB+ systems and the 64-bit flavors of Windows Vista/7... ...It may be that Microsoft?s focus on parallelism will reap dividends once the hardware catches up with the software - much like Vista has looked better as the Windows PC ecosystem has evolved to support its epically porcine girth. Such massively-threaded products will likely feel more at home on the 4, 8 and 16-core systems of tomorrow, but for right now they represent the worst kind of code bloat...

2008-12-02 21:27:00 Author: supersickie Posts: 1366

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Well, I got my new PC and it works beautifully. Vista is quick (imagine that!) and I actually like it. Overall, I'm happy, although I need to get rid of that stupid gadgets sidebar. *goes to fix*

2008-12-03 01:33:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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Oh, come on! The sidebar is great! ...Mostly. Okay, so pretty much every single third-party program isn't good. But it has its good uses. The MSN add-on you can find actually works very well, and is much lower-profile than the contacts tab. I just like having a clock and calendar up at all times, because I usually end up needing it, and a fast calculator can come in handy (third-party, though). And the notepad can be very useful when you need to quickly jot something down and be reminded later. (Much faster than launching up Word, for sure.) However, it does come up with stuff you just don't need. Trim it down and use it the way you'll actually use it, rather than...the way it wants you to use it. Remember you can drag icons out onto the desktop, which especially helps with the notepad due to the size increase. If your computer runs it well, Vista really is a visual treat. Luxury over necessity, sure. But it's pretty cool if you've got it. General tips: If you haven't already, go into Preferences and tweak your window colors. Not presets, tweak it. Lots of fun, there. And if you haven't already, cut down on what your Start Menu displays to what you need. A lot of it, such as the search (come on, it's in every single other window, why do you need it filling up your task bar?) is just superfluous. A big one: Windows button-Tab, not Alt-Tab. Why? It looks sweet! And it does the same thing, just a lot slicker. Plus, you can Windows-tab it, then click what you want, over more tab presses. (In lieu of that, you can probably take that icon off your Quick Launch.)

2008-12-03 05:46:00 Author: Mark D. Stroyer Posts: 632

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Oh, come on! The sidebar is great! ...Mostly. Okay, so pretty much every single third-party program isn't good. But it has its good uses. The MSN add-on you can find actually works very well, and is much lower-profile than the contacts tab. I just like having a clock and calendar up at all times, because I usually end up needing it, and a fast calculator can come in handy (third-party, though). And the notepad can be very useful when you need to quickly jot something down and be reminded later. (Much faster than launching up Word, for sure.) However, it does come up with stuff you just don't need. Trim it down and use it the way you'll actually use it, rather than...the way it wants you to use it. Remember you can drag icons out onto the desktop, which especially helps with the notepad due to the size increase. If your computer runs it well, Vista really is a visual treat. Luxury over necessity, sure. But it's pretty cool if you've got it. General tips: If you haven't already, go into Preferences and tweak your window colors. Not presets, tweak it. Lots of fun, there. And if you haven't already, cut down on what your Start Menu displays to what you need. A lot of it, such as the search (come on, it's in every single other window, why do you need it filling up your task bar?) is just superfluous. A big one: Windows button-Tab, not Alt-Tab. Why? It looks sweet! And it does the same thing, just a lot slicker. Plus, you can Windows-tab it, then click what you want, over more tab presses. (In lieu of that, you can probably take that icon off your Quick Launch.) Wow I did not know that, and yes I totally agree, Vista is really a great treat, I love the transparency all windows have ( if you have that option enabled ) And I really like the sidebar, I mean it can be so useful, I have an eBay widget on there and it tells me whenever someone bids on an item or whenever an Item I'm interested in is close to selling. There are some really neat things with Vista, you just need to "See for yourself"

2008-12-03 06:18:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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No! The hpshopping.com site is for US buying only so now I have to get mine from the stupid hp.com/uk, inwhich it doesn't have an online customizable option, so I'll have to phone them up and tell them.. Argh! grrgrrgrrgrr

2008-12-03 07:27:00 Author: TheArmedReaper Posts: 1543

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No! The hpshopping.com site is for US buying only so now I have to get mine from the stupid hp.com/uk, inwhich it doesn't have an online customizable option, so I'll have to phone them up and tell them.. Argh! grrgrrgrrgrr What kind are you planning on getting?

2008-12-04 05:30:00 Author: ConfusedCartman Posts: 3729

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