Be Excellent To Each Other

I have no idea what you're talking about, to be honest. TL;DR.

that may, in fact, be the longest forum post in the world... ever!

I don't think it matches my rant over GTAIV but yes, it's classic beans and waffle I will grant you.

What I was trying to say to Myp but messed up royally was had I left out a single shred my Nvidia buddies would have completely discounted it. It's the old ostrich in the sand thing. So I left nothing to chance. Infact it seems I did leave one thing to chance because when my 285 owning friend read it he had this to say -



So I did and sent him the video haha.

Sorry John, TL:DR. You were impressed with your new Radeon though, I take it?

It turns out I did indeed have a faulty motherboard. ASUS Tech Support asked me to return it and I got a replacement at the weekend, which works fine. Dissappointingly, I can't get the kind of hefty overclock out of it that I've heard plenty of other people have been, but I suspect that this may be down to my case not having decent enough cooling. Whatever, I now have a Intel Core i5-750 CPU running perfectly at a relaxed 3.2GHz and it totally knocks the shite out of the PC it's replaced in the benchmarks I've run. I could probably get a fair bit more out of it, but why bother?

However, the last two weeks of getting that fucking thing to work have been rather stressful and so the missus has once again questioned why I don't just sell my PC either as a complete unit, or as seperate parts, on eBay and buy myself a prebuilt system from a reputable company with a decent warranty. I've done a little research and I reckon I ought to be able to get most of my money back on the computer by selling it (I shopped around for the parts to get the best prices in the first place), so... well... it appears I may have ordered an Alienware m15x laptop. Normally I wouldn't bother with an AW since they;re so overpriced, but this one with the spec I've ordered actually seems very reasonable (though I wouldn't say 'cheap').

I've also had a look to see how much I'd get for that on eBay and it seems that I could pretty much get my money back on it if the laptop arrived and I decided not to keep it. So that's what I'm doing, I'll take delivery of the machine, benchmark it and if it runs similarily to my PC I'll keep it and flog the PC. I may do that even if it's not quite as good, simply because it'll be a proper computer with a proper warranty.

For JC's benefit, the spec I've ordered is: Core i7 720QM @ 1.6 GHz (don't laugh, I've read reviews and it's meant to be an amazing CPU), 4GB RAM, GeForce GTX260M 1GB, 500GB HDD and all the various trimmings. Cost just under £1300. It's meant to be quite something in terms of build quality, etc.

Glad you are happy with the end result

Oooh:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/02/01 ... cron_25nm/

The frames, man, the frames!

JC, I settled in with a nice cup of tea* and a biscuit* and read through your epic post on the last page.

Your findings indicate one of 2 things. Either:

The ATi card is an unsung hero

or

The Nvidia card is a bag-o-shite

* Can of Red Bull
* Chicken Sandwich

Only it really doesn't. I looked on Apple's website because I owned Macs for years (iMac G3, Power Mac G4, Powerbook G4 (which I still own, though it no worky too good), Intel iMac), so naturally I was very tempted to jump straight back into Steve Jobs' welcoming embrace. But even the most expensive 15" Macbook Pro has nothing like the spec on this Alienware and it costs £1900!

It saddens me to say it, but Apple can keep fucking off for a bit longer as far as I'm concerned. I do so love their computers too.

probably. I have the same Nvidia card that JC had and the performance on it is not as ZOMG! as I'd been lead to believe.

congrats Alienwares laptops are awesome. Even Custom Pc said so (mentioning of course the price.. but quality does come at a price).

I'm aware of the funny clock speeds of laptop cpus. In honesty its not all about the clock any more. It's much more about the gpu. the 260 is more than adequate (god listen to the new me....).

In other news the irresponsible side of me is back with an air of caution.. Basically I'm going to ask Videocardshop to send me a second 5770 and credit me the rest. Then I found this motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?M ... TA2%20R3.0

Now its quite old (2007) but was the first AMD based Crossfire board. I emailed Assrock and asked them about 5 series crossfire and they replied saying that not only has it been tested and confirmed working but it also has a brand new bios update 4 days old. The seal on the deal? £32 delivered for that board.

So I think with the wonder that is the 5 series I am going to give Crossfire a try. It won't cost me anything and I wont be getting rid of the Crosshair

Dav, it's a bit of both. All of the older gen GPUs are a bag of shite due to the ridiculous temps they run at. It's practically impossible to use one without killing it eventually. I know what I wrote down was incredibly long winded but it was supposed to be. It wasn't there to be casual reading for a forum it was there to help any one who might be considering getting a new GPU. So I made sure I laid out everything that someone could possibly want to know to save them the three or so days of looking all around the net and doing research. Also stuck in a video to seal the deal so you can actually see it actually running a game. Something that reviewers never do. Benchmarks smenchmarks. They mean fuck all in real world terms

Zio. Indeed. I was actually dissapointed when I fitted that 280. I was expecting an all out wank sesh, but what I got was actually not anywhere near as impressive as the look and price at launch should have done.Yes it ran everything I threw at it but here I am 7 months later with a card almost equally as capable, running at half the temps, half the size, with half the power consumption and noise and £120 full RRP at launch.

I don't game with my Mac so a lot of the spec is fluff to me, if you're comparing individual performance figures for the components compared to the price Apple will always look like much less value compared to a PC, but I highly value how they're put together and how the OS is written specifically to get the most from the hardware. I paid £1299 for my MacbookPro over a year ago and it doth rock mightily for the purposes for which it was bought and has, most importantly, it has just worked.

And yes, Steve Jobs cock tastes like honey roast chicken.

Crossfire affirmative.. Just phoned Videoshop. 280 confirmed faulty issued £185 credit lolol

So I ordered a second 5770 haha.

You'll never see me criticise anyone for choosing a Mac over a PC as I think they make wonderful computers, especially the laptops. My Powerbook G4 is now over 6 years old and all that's wrong with it is a fucked battery and a (relatively) ancient hard drive - if it was worth spending the cash on replacing both it would still be a very useable computer. If I hadn't gone quite so mental with the Steam Christmas Sale, I'd probably have gone for one of the cheaper 15" Macbook Pros as I tend to think they're worth the premium price - but I'm not spending nearly 2 grand on a machine that'll struggle with half the games I own.

You'll see me do it, usually at the point they moan some piece of software isn't available on a mac.

/winces

Is that the same point where they boot into windows you mean?


@Zio Obviously I am in no way slagging your decision to buy a PC, especially if it's gaming that it'll be used for mainly. You scrubber

Yeah, that's like 1 and a half surveys.

Sorry.

The initial outlay is quite large, but Macs tend to hold their value quite well, don't they?

It might well be, if I didn't have a mate that does them for 'cost'*.


*Beer

I thought you said you lost £800 due to the sellers changing their mind?

Yes. But so do Alienwares. I've seen dead P4 machines about five years old sell for almost £300. Dead as in broken, IE - no worky Donald Ducked.

Until the recent mass surge of desktops flooding Ebay (due to their switch to those new Mini Me Dellienwares) the desktops also commanded top dollar.

More cost and more hassle.

Aye, that was other stuff too, though.

Usually, provided Apple don't suddenly decide to totally change the hardware architecture of their line-up of machines. For instance: changing to the Intel x86 architecture, making a laptop with a Power PC G4 processor suddenly worthless!

Yeah, the Alienwares really do seem to hold their value. I suspect this may have something to do with trying to order one from Dell. Paying top dollar for a second-hand laptop could well be worthwhile if it means you're buying it from a human being that might, y' know, pop it in the post for you fairly sharpish. It's so far only taken Dell 72 hours to make their 'near instant' decision regarding the payment method I chose for the laptop. Fantastic sales service!

Wait for the fucking phasing. If anything will anger you, tease you and wind you up it'll be that.

Thankfully they seem capable of actually supplying laptops. Now if only one could say the same about their new desktops....

I would just like to say that even though in the end I caved and guiltily bought my computer from Nazi's-are-Us I'm very happy with it, and I my 4850 1gig GFX card. It's the business. The only compromise I've had to do in a game so far is Crysis at 1680xthingymabob instead of 1920xwhatchamacallit as it nips along at that lower setting, but chugs a little on the higher when things get tricky. Other than that it's all completely peachy. The card stays cool at between 32 and 42 no matter what I throw at it too. And (touch wood) I've had no problems whatsoever with the computer in the four months I've had it so far. Not one glitch. (Touches wood again.)

Now off to the coffee shop to do some writing.

On a moleskin notepad, v1.0, the sort Hemingway used. Yeah. LOOK impressed.

Without wishing to go down the dark road of Mac Vs PC debate, I have to say that this is largely nonsense. There's very little reason to ever need to invoke Boot Camp on a Mac, unless it's games you'll be wanting, and even then most of the big titles get ported over to OS X fairly quickly these days. Virtualy everything I've ever wanted to do on a computer is entirely do-able on a Mac, in OS X.

And even if you do need to use Boot Camp, it's one of the most hassle-free experiences you could ask for. The Boot Camp application on OS X makes a FAT32/NTFS partition of whichever size you want on your active hard drive via a simple slider, without the need for reformatting or anything. It then burns you a CD with all the Windows drivers you need, which install absolutely effortlessly once you're in Windows.

Seriously, installing and using Windows via Boot Camp on a Mac is actually much less hassle than just doing it on an actual PC. Apple are absolutely the grand masters at user friendly design.

Nobody can run Crysis well Pete, so don't worry. It's the sort of game Skynet would struggle running at top settings.

Oooh, moleskin! I have one of their notepads for my college course + random scribblings. Moleskin are basically the Apple of the stationery world!

Crysis chugs no matter what Pete. It even chugged on my 280 at a supposed 48fps min. It's just early DX10 code letting it down. Warhead had less enemies and less going on so was far nippier (if that's a word). If you have reached the cavern part with the fancy lights and swinging shadows you will know the achilles heel. I think it was utterly jaw dropping but poorly optimised..

Damn straight they are! I love my moleskin, and it gets attention from the ladies as well. They last a surprisingly long time as well, I was a bit cagey about laying out the money for one (£10 for a notepad?!) but this one's lasted for an age and feels lovely to write on, the texture of paper on hand is most nice, and the feeling of quiet satisfaction as you flip one open - oooh. All it lacks is some sort of quiet chiming noise when opened.

Just looked at the OCuk site and my computer now costs £110 more than it did when I bought it a few months ago, with the same system specs! So I win there. Just remembered that my card is a 4870, not a 4850 - I think. I'm not sure. How do I check, it just says '4800 series' when I look.

Oh, and just had a look at the temp setting, 27c for this card! I don't think mine has ever risen above 39c to be honest.

JC buy a Moleskin pad. They are perfection. It may fill an upgrading hole you never knew needed to be scratched.

Moleskin!?! You monster! Moles are *tiny*! They must have to kill hundreds to make a notepad. Get paper next time, you fiend!

Well the second 5770 is a bonus in honesty Pete. I wasn't expecting the RMA turn around to be so fast but then they don't have the 280GTX XT any more and haven't since I got mine. And I certainly wouldn't want an inferior one because it would be, well, you know, inferior. I phoned them earlier and they were dead nice about it. No fucking around just basically said the card was tested and found to be indeed faulty.. They said they could not replace it (very honest they could have strung me along for 90 days fucking around with XFX) so I mentioned credit and he said that was fine.

Now obviously it's kind of tricky because all they sell is graphics cards (well they have a motherboard but its LGA 775 on the 790i) so that leaves me with sitting on a credit note for ages (and I am sure that in the end it would become null and void) or grabbing something with that credit. Another 5770 makes perfect sense as two together will use less power than my 280 did and kick it's ass in all kinds of ways. It sucks that I need another motherboard but in honesty the way I go through shit it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a spare.

I reckon you could do it with three.

/wanders off to experiment.

Moleskin? sounds like one of them fancy condoms.

Oh wait that was lambs skin.

You've obviously never been on the receiving end of belligerent apple fans demanding you port your programs to macs (Response: Sod off, apple fans. I'm not spending money because you chose a shitty computer). And more cost is largely nonsense? You get windows for free on the mac, then?

"Moleskin" is the heavy cotton. "Moleskine" are the notebooks.

I see. I think I'm going to call you Zanussi from now on. The appliance of science

Are you home now? It's just that I have another one of those gay Alienware bios exe things and I want the bios out so I can pinch the new logo.

Sorry, that sounds rude. What I meant to say was please could you use your l33t h4x0r sk1llorz to remove the bios rom like you did before

Yes, I am home now, but I can't remember what I did last time to get the BIOS out. Didn't I document it in the post?

Nah you were dead cool and secretive.. I think it involved Linux though?

It was a Perl script I used; details here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4822&p=312566#p312566

You can probably do that in a few seconds using a Linux boot CD.

Is it just me who can picture this ending in tears?

Noooo I don't want it for putting in a bios

I want it to use for my desktop backgrounds

Oh good. I think.

Aren't logos in bioses usually crappy low-res and 256 colours (at best) though?

Yeah but some of them are actually ok to be converted to 32 bit colour. Thisun for example came from Lacesensor's bios

Wow, is that Windows 7? Looks like a Chinese OSX rip-off.

Yes, and yes.

Wait a minute... people 'pay' for Windows? To be fair, I wasn't really addressing your 'more cost' point, because we're talking about an Apple computer where more cost is a given. This may be why I use a Windows machine these days, but I wouldn't begrudge someone buying a Mac if they have the budget for it. They're really incredibly lovely computers and are in many respects totally worth the premium price tag.