Interesting trend noted with Civ4 (artificial obsolete computer syndrome)

[Addled Platypus]

just be happy they did not ham string us along and make us buy the new MS O/S VISTA

[H Tower]

and dearmad joins the list of those clinically insane over the wait for civ4 to be released...

[CustodianV131]

Hmmm guess I must be a nerd then. Dearmad's reasoning makes perfect sense to me

I'm not in the computer business, but also build my own pc's. I've no trouble keeping up with the tech, its fun to do. (Hmmm my condition is quite bad I guess )

Also I think he likes his Win 2000 because it was a great and stable windows version which had a lot of what's in XP, but is less of a resource hog. Still I've long ago went over to XP, gotta keep up and all .

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by H Tower
A friend of mine, is a computer nerd, he works in IT 9 hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week, and he doesn't have the time to build his own computer, he doesn't want to spend the time doing research, he wants to play with his kids.

It takes about an hour to do the research over the Web, an hour to collect the components and an hour to build it, for a total of 3.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
just be happy they did not ham string us along and make us buy the new MS O/S VISTA

Firaxis is not stupid.

[H Tower]

for you maybe, not everyone can do that.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by H Tower
for you maybe, not everyone can do that.

Oh fine. Double that to 6 hours then. Still very doable over a couple of weekends.

[AeonOfTime]

@dearmad: Honestly, you guy's want good hardware advice, and friendly instruction, go to anandtech.com or something.

it's not magic.

"Bragging..." what a joke. If I wanted to brag it wouldn't be about the 50 IQ it takes to slap a computer together.

Since my first PC (a 486 DX2 66) I have built all my systems myself, and started working as a Web developer about 9 years ago - I can't even begin to fathom the amount of time I spent in front of a computer screen (even worse now that I run my own company). What I know for sure is that you lose perspective without even noticing - for you building a custom system may be the simplest thing in the world, but to most people it's not.

You may feel it takes only 50 IQ, but those 50 IQ are highly specialized

I have a number of friends working in IT that have absolutely no clue what's going on in their computers, some have even never seen the inside of one but know how to use it very well. There are also those that would like to know more, but give up when confronted to the truckloads of technical terms which can be utterly confusing.

Simple task: choose some RAM for your machine - sure, easy you say! But even that task can be overwhelming... SDRAM, DDR, ECC, PC3200, CL2.5 ?! Even I had to check again lately, and I upgrade my systems every year with a small budget.

@Disk Killer: As I said, it's strange to on the one hand laugh at people who are reluctant to upgrade and on the other hand resist other types of upgrades. I truly have no idea what your point is.

[Brizey]

I plan to build my own computer this time, just for the heck of it.

By the way, for me, it will NOT be cost effective. It will just be for fun.

I work about 60 hours per week and have a baby on the way. And my main hobby is cars (I have a "medium" modified WRX), not computers. My free time is worth at least US$100/hr to me. I don't make quite that much, but you would have to pay me that much to work any more than I currently do. So if I take three to five hours to build a computer, I calculate it will cost me $300 to $500 bucks. So while I may save a little bit on hardware, I lose the free time.

Remember that most people are just users, and have no real affection for computers. I want to do it because I enjoy tinkering. Most people would be better served just buying a premade package and being done with it and spend those three hours with their kids, chasing girls, playing Civ4, etc. etc.

To be frank, I thought he was boasting a bit, too, and was trying to be gentle about it.

[BigRich]

Originally posted by dearmad


And this isn't somehow a rip? wow... Ok, your low-intensity flame noted, but sounds more like there are two things going on in your post:

defense of ignorance.

defense of laziness.

I'll have neither, thank you, no matter how "well stated."

H Tower's post didn't strike me as being a flame.

Ignorance? Possibly, although it's a harsh term for someone lacking in a single, pretty specialised skill.
Laziness? Nope, just different priorities. I'm sure most everyone on this forum could learn to put a computer together. Whether they consider it worth the time taken to climb the learning curve is another matter. Same goes for financial outlay - that 20 a month could be funding a bunch of other things that are worth more to them than computer upgrades.

Speaking for myself, I take a definite 'if it aint broke don't fix it' approach to computers. Provided it runs reasonably well (allowing for Windows' little quirks ) and runs the games I want to play, then I see no reason to mess around with it.

Rich

[lard]

It seems a little strange to comment on how easy or hard it is to learn something until you've actually tried learning it. I've no idea how easy or hard it is to learn evolutionary biology because I've never actually tried learning it.

As far as building your own PC goes, I have done so many times and, it really IS pretty easy. These days it's as simple as putting a hi-fi together. You plug the right size/shape/colour plugs into the right size/shape/colour holes. It's really not much more than that.

Lard.

[Disk Killer]

I roll my own PCs, too... it's not horribly hard, but very scary for people who have never even added a card or component (due to the potential to destroy equipment (say, forgetting to use spacers properly when screwing in the mobo to the case)). Also, there's a need for a lot of research up front so the do-it-yourselfer buys the best mix of parts that will actually work properly together; it's hard for a complete beginner to understand why an Athlon XP CPU doesn't work in the 939 pin mobo, for example.

A DVD-ROM upgrade is a very easy first project for someone interested in trying their hand at their own computer building/repair, and has a very low risk factor.

[dearmad]

Re: Re: Interesting trend noted with Civ4 (artificial obsolete computer syndrome)

Originally posted by Disk Killer


You laugh at people who are reluctant to upgrade to a DVD-ROM drive, yet you cling to an OS that, as of 2006, will be two generations behind the current.

Complain loudly about Microsoft all you want - the thing is, if they want to properly support their current OSes they need to retire the support for the older OSes. It's not as if they're releasing one a year - XP came out at the end of 2001 (and was a true home/business hybrid, unlike Windows 2000); Vista will come out five years later.

As I said, it's strange to on the one hand laugh at people who are reluctant to upgrade and on the other hand resist other types of upgrades.

I truly have no idea what your point is.

Who laughed? Not me. I scoffed. At whom? The industry, not users. I scoffed that there is NO GAME challenging my current rig hardware wise. And NO GAME challenging the OS- but there IS a creep in the industry, and it is to *artificially* and arbitrarily say, win2000 not supported, but radion 7200 is OK. Now that IS a joke, especially with the hardware we have available now.

So much defensive manhood in here about penis size, I mean rig power I guess... funny stuff!

[dearmad]

Originally posted by H Tower
and dearmad joins the list of those clinically insane over the wait for civ4 to be released...

HAHA! LOL- made my morning. and it's about TIME someone properly assessed me for that diagnosis!

Ah... it is good to see my name in the list of patients who need medication (read: the GAME!)

[Disk Killer]

Re: Re: Re: Interesting trend noted with Civ4 (artificial obsolete computer syndrome)

Originally posted by dearmad


Who laughed? Not me. I scoffed. At whom? The industry, not users. I scoffed that there is NO GAME challenging my current rig hardware wise. And NO GAME challenging the OS- but there IS a creep in the industry, and it is to *artificially* and arbitrarily say, win2000 not supported, but radion 7200 is OK. Now that IS a joke, especially with the hardware we have available now.

So much defensive manhood in here about penis size, I mean rig power I guess... funny stuff!

But then a lot of people on this board make me laugh when they whine about not having a dvd rom drive! Wha-!? I mean they cost $20 now and are the simplest thing to install inside the box.

I'm not defensive, not with my LiteOn 16X DVD-DL burner; I'll let the others decide who seems to be defensive about their manhood.

Edit: Oh, and hardware requirements vis a vis OS requirements are two completely different things, bud. A security update on Win2000 can introduce incompatibilities that Microsoft is not interested in fixing (if the incompatibilities, for example, cause problems only in gamers; which is not a target audience for Win2000 in the first place)... you're comparing apples and oranges.