PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[wamingo 1]

No, it's not that simple.

It's not as simple as not using windows because you don't like Microsoft. If you want to play games (and various apps) you HAVE to use windows. (with just a handful of exceptions). It's an evil circle and microsoft happily exploits it and takes your money.

They're being bashed for a good reason.

When people install an OS, what they really want is an user interface, that will allow them to do what they need - NOT a system that protects its market and consequently destroys choice. When you buy a linux distribution what you receive is an UI accompanied by a standard system (linux). Microsoft may have no obligations, but people have a right to want this.

Quote[/b] ]10% of the share is still a HUGE number of systems.

No, it really isn't a lot. Not when you need to sell a couple of hundred thousand games just to break even. A couple of million users simply isn't very much.

ID software can afford to do pretty much whatever they want. Whether they made any profits from going crossplatform is another question.

If microsoft isn't even making money off of xbox, which has more gamers than linux, well...

Which is another good reason to choose directx over the open-standards - xbox uses directX.

yeah this is not really arma/ofp related... but it may affect ofp one day!

[benreeper 0]

Thank you Crashdome. for saying what I feel so eloquently

Mention anything related to MS and people lose all objectivity and intelligence. It must make them feel better to hijack a thread with their personal biases. Most of the folks doing this probably wouldn't like anyone injecting religion into the discussion but think it's okay to start a system/OS war. We don't want too hear it and we shouldn't have to.

--Ben

[AOCbravo2004 0]

1700 USD computer with a 7300 and no intel duo processor? Ouch.

YEah, I have to agree, I paid 1650 for my computer with an E6600, and a 7960GX2

Also, yeah, what the hell is up with Newegg changing the format of their site, it's a big pain in the ass navigating now with that huge vertical bar on the left side now.

@Jakerod - It's a lot easier then you think to build a computer, if you can get to a store that sells used magazines look for a PC Gamer magazine, the cover should have PC BUILDING BIBLE 2006, at the bottom it says DISPLAY TILL JUNE 20th 2006. In the back it has a HOW TO on building a computer in like 75 easy steps, all with pictures, it also gives you a guide in how to install the OS. For the article they built a gaming rig with 1 7800GT, 1GB of RAM and such for 1459.89, all the parts were purchased from NewEgg. I'd scan the article and email it to you, but I'm on a crappy 5yr old laptop that gives me a MEMORY DUMP SCREEN every 15-20mins. The article also gives you a guide for tweaking XP.

[crashdome 3]

I'm going to hope and end what I had a hand in starting here.

@warmingo

points taken, but I still don't believe any of that to be true. I bet we can both agree though that this isn't really the place. I respect your opinions though. Hopefully times change (either way)

@sirex

I was speaking about the fact Apple won't legally allow it. I wasn't refering to technical details of whether or not it was possible. If I am still wrong I would love to hear differently.

[Metal Heart 0]

Quote[/b] ]Most of the folks doing this probably wouldn't like anyone injecting religion into the discussion but think it's okay to start a system/OS war. We don't want too hear it and we shouldn't have to.

Uhm.. what? Obviously a thread about DX10 will have discussion about OSes because there will be only one OS (hint: Vista) that it will work on. If you don't want to hear about it, well, who's forcing you to read such threads.

[AntipopAU 3]

Guys.

The whole argument summed up;

DirectX10 will be amazing, and will be a nice upping from the current DirectX9.0C. Armed Assault will Only use DirectX9.0c as it is being released before Vista & DirectX10 are released. But Hopefully Game 2 Will have DX10. DX10 will only be avaliable via the purchasing of Vista in Q1 2007. Vista will be the new OS with DX10 incoporated.

END OF ARGUMENTS!

[j w 0]

I'm on a mission for my family.

Since we fried our 52" back-projection-TV a while ago, we've been using a 28" (I think) tellie, wich sux bigtime.

So, yesterday, we bought a 50" plasma (omg *faints*), and now we're thinking on getting a good computer to have, so we can record movies, play movies and watch TV trough.

So, basicly, I though that what we need is a medium-good computer with a good DVD-player/burner, a big HD and a TV-card, so here's the config of it:

MoBo: Intel s775 Asus, P5LD2 SE/C - any good?

CPU: Intel Pentium D 930 3,0ghz 800/2x2m Dual Core Socket 775

DDR: Kingston DDR2 1024MB 533MHz CL4 (Kit of 2)

HD: Western Digital 320GB SATA II Caviar SE (7200rpm / 16MB Cache / SATA II)

TV-Card: Hauppauge TV-Card WinTV Nova T 500 - Comes with a remote (atleast on the pic )

CD/DVD: Samsung Intern IDE DVD±RW 16x - Svart (Dual Layer / Lightscribe) (Bulk)

GFX: Asus Radeon X1300le 128MB (EAX1300/TD/128M) - TV-Ut / DVi (PCI-E) - Not meant for a gamingcomp, so this'll do for now

All this in a Silverstone HTPC LC-13 Aluminum (black) with a Zalman PowerSupply (PSU) 360W 360B-APS to power it all.

Lands on approx 900euro, is it worth it?

And, will I be able to plug it in with the new TV (it's a Samsung)

Regards

JW

[benreeper 0]

Exactly Metal Heart, I want to read posts about DirectX 10 in a thread about it, not about the evils of MS. I hope you understand my point now.

--Ben

[Metal Heart 0]

What I don't understand is why you don't seem to understand the connection between the two.

[MAA3057 0]

It is human nature to go for the underdog. Once something becomes to powerful (i.e. USA, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Christianity) people will find weak spots and exploit it to try and bring the giant down. Microsoft has done a tremendous job on progress in the world of technology, please...lets not slow it down. If Linux came out of the rubble and became the #1 OS, people would exploit it, they would 'try' to find security gaps more often and take advantage of it (making it seem like an unstable OS), more users will encounter more errors, novice users will come up with the darnest things to accidently mess it up making it seem useless.

[Messiah 2]

is your new TV HD (high definition)? I've heard some very nasty and horrible things about HD compatability with, well, everything and anything, especially (unfortunatly for you, if its HD) samsung - obviously you can circumvent those problems by using the normal aerial socket (I'm assuming TV's on the continent work much in the same as in the UK)

[sirex 0]

If Linux came out of the rubble and became the #1 OS, people would exploit it, they would 'try' to find security gaps more often and take advantage of it

but the point is, they'd have the source code to fix it.

imho, when you get down the the nitty gritty linux just is plain better. but the top layers of the o/s have been let down due to lack of support (windows has a de facto standard monopoly on that area). windows is easyer to use and maybe better as a whole, but given the tiny amount of support linux has recieved it's shown it can do a hell of a lot with it.

i think (and i may stand corrected) that if linux had the same support from game developers and gfx card makers as windows does, it would blow windows away.

totally OT though. placebo will be along to perform the execution i expect.

to placebo, btw

[GBee 0]

It is human nature to go for the underdog. Once something becomes to powerful (i.e. USA, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Christianity) people will find weak spots and exploit it to try and bring the giant down.

I'll not disagree that it is human nature to pick David instead of Goliath - but there is often more to it than a simple desire to see the little guy win.

Powerful organisations are frequently the most lazy, the least motivated and least creative (frequently quite destructive). They don't have to exercise their intelligence when the muscle/power they wield is such an easier and cheaper weapon. It could not be said that they intended to become what they are, nor that they even recognise the differences. The old adage that power corrupts is true.

MS may have made contributions to the world of IT, especially in their early days a decade ago. What has come since though is a stagnation whilst MS protect their interests at the cost of innovation. Vista is the embodiment of this, years late without the vast the majority of promised changes or features - it's really nothing more than XP in new clothes.

Whether the open source model will suffer the same fate as Microsoft or those other examples you listed remains to be seen. It already attracts hundreds thousands of people seeking exploits - but the difference in the model is that those people create the solutions. In the world of linux and open source, choice and competition are an integral part, not something which is seen as a threat to profit or dominance.

[martinovic 0]

Quote[/b] ]it's really nothing more than XP in new clothes.

No, it has a lot more useless features and takes away 3 fourths of your RAM instead of XP's half.

[Colossus 2]

Tell me, if a developer wants DirectX in there game, when is it not possible anymore to implant/use DirectX?

[nubbin77 0]

Quote[/b] ]Powerful organisations are frequently the most lazy, the least motivated and least creative

Bash, bash bash.

I think MS is home to some of the most talented and intelligent developers and programmers in the world.  I think they might take offence at this.

You don't throw everything in the toilet and start over each time you make a new product.  

Quote[/b] ]It already attracts hundreds thousands of people seeking exploits - but the difference in the model is that those people create the solutions.

I think you will always find that there are more people motivated and willing to exploit than fix.  Linux isn't the answer (at least not yet).  

[j w 0]

From Webhallen, where I will buy it:

Quote[/b] ]Snart släpper Hauppauge dessutom en HDTV mjukvara....

That means:

"Soon Haupauge will soon also release HDTV software..."

And, yeah, it's and HD (you should have figoured out by now )

So, that's solved, what about the rest of stuff?

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

O Gee... Is MS really trying to exploit it's position and make money?

This must be the first company ever trying to make money! Or not!

Ive allways been fond of MS, I won't go for the 'lets cheer up for the underdogs hype' which seem to be the human nature much like helping the poor puppy stuck in the sewer.

Why not just accept that the people at ms is alot more succesfull than any other software company, and give them the applause for it. They obviously have been doing good, and their software works pretty good.

Sure there is errors and bugs, but it is pretty complicated software, and it's probably pretty hard creating an OS with so many features build in that can work together with thousinds of different hardware from hundreds of manufactures around the world.

Somewhere which other software developers won't even aproach.

Let's give MS a hand everyone, and screw the underdogs

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Personally I recommend a bigger wattage PSU, but that's up to you.

I overclock everything I can, and my ole 430W PSU went up in smoke because of it. However, now I use a nice ole 750W TTake one, which works a charm.

Moral: Overclocker? PSU = Big.

You said you were going to upgrade your GFX card, so that's OK. If I bought anything like that now, I'd kill myself out of frustration.

RAM's good.

HD's good.

CPU's passable (only cause mine is ~1GHz faster).

Mobo is good, any ASUS mobo will not let you down, from my experience. I'm gonna pick up their newest SLI-capable offering when I get the money, and attempt ArmA with quad SLI. <Watches 2000 imaginary AUD fly out of wallet and sighs with pleasure>

DVD drive is good, same as mine, would you believe!  

Case is good, I imagine, cause I haven't seen it.

Dunno about the TV card, no personal experience to offer.

EDIT: 1300th post! Yay!

[-ZG-BUZZARD 0]

Quote[/b] ]it's really nothing more than XP in new clothes.

No, it has a lot more useless features and takes away 3 fourths of your RAM instead of XP's half.

Long Live Windows 2000 Professional - minimum system requirements: 64mb RAM, and it runs OFP like a charm!

I hope that Game 2 will use OpenGL instead of DirectX 10 and be multi-OS, so that everybody can choose what to run it on. Personally, I can't wait for a MacOS version to run clean out-of-the-box on "IBM-compatible" PCs!

[stegman 3]

Hang on a second:

-DirectX10 is not backwardly compatable.

So if i install DX10, none of my old games will work.  Meaning I'll have to roll back?

First... you can't install DX10. You either get it when you buy Vista or you don't get it at all (Which I don't understand why all the complaining from everyone.. just DONT buy Vista if you don't want it so badly)

Quote[/b] ]

-Vista uses DX10 and/or DX9.0L.

So what benefits does DX10 have over DX9.0L?

I guess all new games will run with DX10, but will DX9.xx keep running (E.G: DX9.0M, N, O upto DX9.0X and beyonds)?

Think about when DirectX9 came out versus the capabilities of DirectX8.1. That should give you an idea about how long and what it will take before a full switch over. DX9.0L is final for series 9 AFAIK.

Quote[/b] ]@Bill Gates; what are you guys playing at, eh?  You just keep making life harder and harder for us.  

I always laugh at this... harder how? harder as in you don't get stuff for free?? You can't have your cake AND eat it to?

To include everyone else who was ranting...

They have completely re-did DirectX (yes yes AGAIN - I know) and it's either make it worse by trying to meld it back into XP or earlier systems OR optimize it for the newest OS. XP is 5 years old btw... think about that... that is almost twice the distance between Win95 and Win98 and between Win98 and WinXP. I paid my money 5 years ago and trust me.. even if I had paid full retail, off-the-shelf price at $300 (which I didn't) and had the worst experience than anyone else ever had with XP... that is still like $60/year. I pay more for my 3 domain names registration.  If it's so bad to have to upgrade... or that you gotta PAY someone who's hoping to make a living for what they do...

..then vote with your dollar(or local currency) and don't buy or use it.

Thanks, for answering the questions there, mate.

By "harder for us" i mean forcing us to make decisions between things wed never though of and things we were allready happy with.

So DX10 comes built in with Vista, is this right?

[x al 1]

Fact is: DX10 will be the most advanced interface at that time.

How about "alternative OS" and "OGL"? No way, I don't want to spend hours to configure things to run. And yes, I know what I am talking about...I have seen all OS.  

DX10 Vista = Very fast + ultra high details possible

DX9 XP = fast + high details possible

DX9 Vista = Faster than DX9 XP as first statements from high end game developers show.

Concerning all that MS bashing and flaming.

That is redicolous:

All those who say, I won't buy MS products are the first to run in the stores to get it....excusing themselves...."ah..I didn't want to buy it, but as an addicted gamer...I could not do without it  

[Dwarden 1125]

of course many hopes that Linux one day become also gaming platform ... but ... that's not gunna happen until there is some sort of "DirectX" like package (even based on OpenGL/OpenAl/ODE parts) ...

why? because DX from MS made life of developers easier (ok , sometimes ... and combine that with XNA and ability to "quite easily" port to XBOX360 ...

i like Linux yet i understood why Windows in games case still wins ...

[VISTREL 0]

I think DX10 will be used in Game2. I doubt Arma uses all DX9 features at all.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quick question:

I want to buy myself a new headset as my GameVoice is falling apart more or less.

I thought about a Medusa surround headset. Does anyone have it ? Any different suggestions ?

As a matter of fact I will have to replace my soundcard aswell. What are good ones ? I need at least 5.1 surround and reliable and working driver-support and it shouldn´t be over 100 Euro.

Besides that, does anyone know good a good and moderately priced external USB ASIO soundcard with 2 ports for monitoring and master-out ?