Searching for another new gaming rig

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
You are finally making sense.

Yah, but I still have to figure out how much more it will cost for a rig with a discrete card - just that now we really are talking about (probably) a couple of years to the next new machine, rather than a couple of months.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Spaced Cowboy
In all honesty, I do not think that LOtM would upgrade his OS on this PC.

We bought the dino just before Win98 was released - it came with a voucher for a free copy of Win98, and so yes, we got rid of Win95 and updated the OS.

If we were similarly on the cusp between WinXP and Vista, of course wed do the same. I dont think I see myself going out and buying Vista in order to upgrade, as long as XP meets our needs.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Quillan
Pentium Ds have already nose dived in price. Some are less than $100 now. The Athlon 64s have also gone down, though the X2s are still more expensive than the single core variants or the Pentium Ds. Don't wait too long if that's what you want, though. EOL on both the Socket 939 Athlon 64s and the Pentium Ds are the end of this year (Dec 31 for the Athlons, Dec 15 for the Intels).

yeah, i think the above chips are on a lot of the cheap machines im seeing.

I continue to subscribe to the school of thought that the best time to buy a PC is when you need one

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Yah, but I still have to figure out how much more it will cost for a rig with a discrete card - just that now we really are talking about (probably) a couple of years to the next new machine, rather than a couple of months.

A little more, but definitely worth it in the long run.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike


A little more, but definitely worth it in the long run.

As Lord Keynes once said, in the long run we'll all be playing Sims2..

[DrSpike]

I'd rather be dead.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


We bought the dino just before Win98 was released - it came with a voucher for a free copy of Win98, and so yes, we got rid of Win95 and updated the OS.

If we were similarly on the cusp between WinXP and Vista, of course wed do the same. I dont think I see myself going out and buying Vista in order to upgrade, as long as XP meets our needs.

That one does not count. everybody know that win98 was just a service pack for win95 in disguise.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I'd rather be dead.

well from what ive seen, most of the machines Im looking at have IG, but also have a slot (usually PCI?) for a discrete card. With the exception of the Dell machines. One machine did have a discrete card, but it was the most expensive combo package, and had weaker specs on everything else.

Id also note that only one machine still had Intel Extreme IG. A couple had a new generation of Intel IG (Media Accelerator, or something) and others had Nvdia IG.

[DrSpike]

I don't know what options you have available, but recall before discussing the possibility of you getting a machine built with sound but relatively cheap components. If you managed to find anything in this vein it remains the best option imo.

[Quillan]

One of the things to look for in things like Dell computers is your video card options. If that particular model gives you an IG standard but the option of upgrading to a video card, then it's a pretty good bet the motherboard has a PCI-E slot on it you could use later on. If the only options are the IG, then it probably won't have a graphics card slot. Regular PCI slots just won't work for a video card. There are a rare few cards out there that are PCI only, but they tend to be the weakest of the lot, and give poor performance anyway.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
I don't know what options you have available, but recall before discussing the possibility of you getting a machine built with sound but relatively cheap components. If you managed to find anything in this vein it remains the best option imo.

Oh, yeah, I need to check out the build it for you shop again. My sense is still that at this price level its very hard for the shop to compete, even with off brand components, but it is true that their machine would probably be the most fully upgradeable.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Quillan
One of the things to look for in things like Dell computers is your video card options. If that particular model gives you an IG standard but the option of upgrading to a video card, then it's a pretty good bet the motherboard has a PCI-E slot on it you could use later on. If the only options are the IG, then it probably won't have a graphics card slot. Regular PCI slots just won't work for a video card. There are a rare few cards out there that are PCI only, but they tend to be the weakest of the lot, and give poor performance anyway.

Yeah, thats how ive based my judgements of the Dells. In that sense its easier to tell with them than with the Emachines and Compaq specials at the retailers, which arent always clear on upgradeability (until we get to the point of going and asking them) I need to check whether what I saw was a PCI-E slot of just a PCI slot.
I suppose I could check out the specs of those machines on the Emachines or Compaq sites themselves.

[Quillan]

PCI slots are long and white. PCI-E x1 slots are short and black. AGP slots are brown, roughly as long as PCI slots are, but set back farther from the back edge of the motherboard. PCI-E x16 slots (the graphics card) are usually black (not always), about as long as the AGP slots, and about the same location as the AGP slot would be.

Edit: Found you a picture that gives a good close look at the slots. This is on a new ASRock motherboard for Conroe processors. It happens to have both an AGP 8x slot (the brown one) and a PCI-E graphics slot (the purple one). The white ones are standard PCI. You'll notice where the split is in the various slots. PCI-E x1 slots are very short, but the split is in the exact same position as on this big slot. The x1 slots just don't extend as far to the front of the board. I'm not posting it directly, as it's too large to fit on the forums and I can't resize it here at work.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/motherboards/asrock/775dual-tres/asrockL.jpg

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Quillan
PCI slots are long and white. PCI-E x1 slots are short and black. AGP slots are brown, roughly as long as PCI slots are, but set back farther from the back edge of the motherboard. PCI-E x16 slots (the graphics card) are usually black (not always), about as long as the AGP slots, and about the same location as the AGP slot would be.

Edit: Found you a picture that gives a good close look at the slots. This is on a new ASRock motherboard for Conroe processors. It happens to have both an AGP 8x slot (the brown one) and a PCI-E graphics slot (the purple one). The white ones are standard PCI. You'll notice where the split is in the various slots. PCI-E x1 slots are very short, but the split is in the exact same position as on this big slot. The x1 slots just don't extend as far to the front of the board. I'm not posting it directly, as it's too large to fit on the forums and I can't resize it here at work.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/...es/asrockL.jpg

well, uh, gee, thanks, but at this point im mainly comparing ads, Im not actually looking inside the machines, but thanks anyway

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike


A little more, but definitely worth it in the long run.

On the OTHER hand, it took some months from our last discussion to the laptop purchase, and in the time from the laptop purchase to today, the only games ive played on the laptop have been Divided Ground, Age of Kings, Victoria, and Europa Universalis. (all of which ive still got gameplay left on, BTW) So my backlog has only increased. We spoke of Intel Extreme Graphics, which wouldnt run (or so we determined, I think) Rome Total War, but would run, barely Children of the Nile.

A current IG system probably WILL run RTW - and I think Civ4 - the question will really come up for newer games, like CivCity-Rome, or whatever else is on the horizon.