Yes, I finally broke down and bought a new system. I have a tendency to be very careful with my spending, which explains why it's taken me three years of blue screens and GM file corruptions (see blog below) to get me to buy a new one. My last system wasn't overly great anyway, it cost something like $350 originally (2.4GHz Celeron, 256MB RAM, integrated graphics, etc.), so it wasn't all that great. Over time I eventually had to spend a few hundred more to keep up with the stuff I was doing. Now it seems the trick will be having the stuff I'm doing keep up with it! [=D]
But enough whining about the old system, lets look at the new one:
So pretty. ^-^And finally there's a nice ASUS P5N SLI Motherboard to hold it all. Apparently the board has been built to run both a 1024 and 1333 FSB for whenever the processors are capable of using the latter (currently they don't). Obviously it's not the ultimate $18,000 liquid nitrogen system, but then again, it's not too shabby. Runs AoE3 maxed out perfectly, so I'm happy. Only thing that bothers me is that I still can't see the pretty distortion effect whenever someone cloaks in Halo. It simply fades out like it did on the old FX 5500. I haven't been able to find a good solution yet. Any ideas?The other thing about my computer is that it seems to run warm. Not overheating or anything, but the ambient temperature inside the case hovers around 50C-55C depending on the load. CPU temp. hits up to 79C on the 2nd core, and about 74C on the other 3. Of course, it seems to be quite room-temperature impacted. For example, in the evenings when my room is cooler, it runs 5-10 degrees celsius lower. When my room starts hitting 85+ in the afternoon (85+ F by the way [:P]), it runs back up at those maximum temps. Planning to buy another fan or two just to keep it happier.Oh, and I've been working on upgrading the Biotech website and I'd be interested to hear your comments on it. [:)]Biotechgameproductions.co.nr
Pretty nice. Why quad core? I've noticed more and more people getting them. Just the other day, a friend from school got one too. You won't even end up needing four cores anyways… since barely anything for the average consumer will be coded to utilize it. Maybe a game or two. But that's all.
Honestly, I have yet to see a game that uses a quad efficiently myself. If the game's dual-core enabled, it runs the quad like a dual. I'm just assuming that I'll need it in the long run. Heck, Apple's already got their octo-cores running. Still, it's kinda fun to run a game and see the CPU at 2% load.
If you're getting a glowing computer, you might want to make sure it's not RADIOACTIVE. I learned that the hard way. Now I have cancer.
X-QPack case? You're in for a world of overheating: The Apevias have the cooling capabilities of a Woolly Mammoth.
Shoulda gone with one of the Thermaltake Tsunami Dream towers, or the NZXT Lexa Classic case. Not only are they slick, but they cool amazingly.my computer glows
Oh noes! Kenon has cancer! We must do an emergency lobectomy! Its the only way to save him!
My daddy let me play with a 512 core. lol
(no joke)