Topic: Death to my PC

[TrackVino]

So where did you get all this stuff? Newegg?

[brainlessfool]

According to FedEx, my package has left DECATUR, GA and is now in MEMPHIS, TN. Only two more days left

only two days left in my rain of terror? 

[BigMike [OP]]

So where did you get all this stuff? Newegg?

Nope, NewEgg is in Cali so I didn't want to pay upwards of $60 for tax.. Before I order something from Cali, I would just find it locally in my city so I wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

I got everything from http://www.monarchcomputer.com They had me sold with a special combo package deal that had reduced prices on the motherboard and process if purchased together and the combo included a free copy of Half Life 2 and FarCry. I'm not a bug gamer like I used to be, but I figured that if I were to buy those games, I would be out another $50+, so I went with this company because of their combo deal.

Check out their webpage, they have some pretty good prices and they are definately a professional company.

BigMike

[BigMike [OP]]

FedEx is my hero ! My mb arrived 1 day early, actually both times I ordered 3-day air, I got both packages 1 day early.

Im in class now, but when I get back home I'm putting everything together, so my next reply here will most likely be on my new system

Cya

[TrackVino]

I still havent found what you were looking for, I guess none of my friends use that kind of software. Sorry

I would however like a copy of you Half Life. 

[914Runner]

So is it up and running mike?!?

[BigMike [OP]]

Hello from my new system!

I just got my DSL setup so here I am

Man this system is FFAASSTT! This is the fastest system I've ever used. I'm very happy with it so far.

Also this fresh install of win xp is a plus too

I'll come on sometime tomorrow, I need to get some sleep so I can hit the 1/2 sale at the wrecking yard in about 6 hrs from now.

Later
BigMike

[TrackVino]

Good, now fix the problem with the full server, I want to post more pics without having to delete old pictures from the picture war. That wont be much of a war without pictures. 

[unclejpl4x4]

well if U ever want to really test your system out  try planetside.com     It is a CPU demanding game  more then a GPU. I'm on my second comp   to keep up with it   and refused to build a third  comp

[BigMike [OP]]

OK I've got some benchmark scores to compare with:

SiSoft Sandra 2004:
Dhrystone: 9726
Whetstone FPU/iSSE2: 3529/4613
RAM Int: 3434 / Float: 3437 MB/s

3DMark2000 Score: 21,576

I couldn't believe my 3DMark. I know it's an older version, but its the free one and I've used it for a long time.. My old system couldn't even hit 10,000 so this system is over twice as fast with 3D applications as my older P4 2 Ghz with a GeForce ti4200.

I've got my AMD 3200+ overclocked to 2.24 Ghz and my Video card can pull a stable 1.1 Ghz GPU clock speed which is sweet.


Hey Track, About Half Life 2, MAN It's the most amazing graphics game I've ever seen in my life, but I've also been out of the gaming world for a while.. But its really sharp and ultra lifelike. All of the physics in the game are interactable, such as lifting boxes and throwing anything within reach. I'll give you a call tomorrow and talk to ya about it...

Uncle, I'll check out that game tomorrow. Hopefully there's some demo?

Oh, and regarding Half Life 2, My system can run the game very smoothly MAX EVERYTHING. 1600x1200x32, Full/Highest Detail with 8xS Antialiasing and 16x Anisotropic, plus I have the card set for "High Quality" instead of "High Performance", so it could be even better.... I found out how to get the Frames per second to display in the game, so I'll check that out next time I launch it... With only 512 Mb ram it takes a good 5 mins just to start that game and load a level, crazy..

[BigMike [OP]]

Hey,

My old system was running 1 gig of ram, one PC2100 and one PC2700. The PC2100 module runs at a 266 Mhz while the PC2700 runs at 333 Mhz.

Now I knew that even though I had the PC2700, that the system was limited to the slower 2100 module, but I didnt really care much about it at the time......

Anyways, I just tried to install the PC2700 module into this system to see if the mb would accept it, and it did! So Now I'm running on 1 Gig of Ram, the PC2700 and a DDR400 (PC3200). So my total Memory speed is 333 Mhz but I've got it clocked at 350 Mhz right now.

And I just tried to Memory bandwidth test to see how much slower it would be, and get this, its actually faster:
SiSoft 2004 Memory Bandwidth Benchmark:
Int: 5206 / Float: 5157. So that is an increase of about 48% in my system memory performance, which is strange indeed considering the ram is a bit slower now.

With the single 512 module, my system would have about 300 Mb of free memory with nothing loaded, and right now I've got 746 Mb Free memory with SiSoft, Fire Fox, and a couple other programs open at the moment..

I'm going to try Half Life 2 again now with the added memory performance and see if it loads any quicker. Also I'll enable the Frames per second code and report that back as well...

brb

[BigMike [OP]]

What a difference a little ram can make. I was using swap files that entire time.. It now takes about 20 seconds to load the game, and another 10 to load a level. Also there is no more slight pausing while walking into newly textured areas.

My frame rates inside of buildings is around 100-150 fps downwards to outside in the city/country side, I saw as low as 40 fps.

But it is greatly playable. I would say anything over 25 fps is playable, I dont have any kind of slow downs what so ever.

I was going to dish out another $50 and get a proper matching DDR400 512 mb ram, but hey its so quick with the PC2700 right now I dont think it would matter to much.

Anyways, cheers
BigMike

[TrackVino]

Sounds like your really enjoying it. Cool

I cant just upgrade my memory that quick, im running DDR2 which I dont know anybody else running it, cant just pick up a stick from a friend or have anything laying around.

My first experience with the first Half Life was awsome, it was the greatest game of its time, and now the second one suppose to be way better.

They used Hollywood actors for the characters and voices. Cant wait to see it at work.

[blackdiamond]

BigMike,

How much money did you save by purchasing online?  Between the 15% restock fee, the additional shipping and your lost time it should be fairly close.  I often purchase online products, but there is always a risk if things don't go well.  Sorry to hear things were such a pain. 

I have a Sony Vaio that works great for me, I chose the Sony because few people know enough about them to say bad things about them.  It seems that every other brand has a party of haters.      I don't play games so speed isn't super critical for me, but it does fine. 

My problem is Microsoft Money 2005, I have lost everything three times is the last few months (twice in the last week).  It doesn't seem possible to save a useable backup file for use after a reformat.  I had Money 2001 before and it was never a problem...say...speaking of Money 2001, I would be happy to give it to you so that you can avoid any future financial woes.  If you send me your address on PM I will mail it to you free of charge (no S/H).      It worked well for me, I have almost switched back twice.  I still have the original box and everything.

[BigMike [OP]]

I was courious so I installed the same SiSoft program on my mothers P4 2.8 GHz cheap-o DELL computer and here are the comparisons:

Using SiSoft Sandra 2004

Processor Benchmark:	Intel P4 2.8 GHz (DELL)	AMD 3200+ (My System)
Dhrystone:	7273	9726
Whetstone FPU:	2003	3529
iSSE2:	3447	4613
Memory Bandwidth:
Int ALU:	2773 MB/s	5206 MB/s
Float FPU:	2781 MB/s	5157 MB/s

But I wonder how much of that has to do with all the crap Dell loaded into the OS.

To compare the actual systems,

The P4 runs at 2.8 GHz with a Bus Speed of 532 MHz.
My AMD 3200+ runs at 2.2 GHz with a Bus Speed of 2100 MHz.

So that's the real kicker, the AMD system's bus is 4 times the Intel systems.. The Intel is actually a 4x133 = .53 Ghz and the AMD is 2x1050 = 2.1 Ghz

So both my Bus and Processor speeds are nearly the same. That's pretty cool.

bd, I don't know if I saved much $$ or not, especially since now a days you can get a cheap system with a flat panel monitor for less than I paid for my just my system. I figure I've got $500-$600 in this system, which is typical for me. This is the 3rd system I've built in 4 years and every time I build a system, it has always costed me about the same.

My mother board was $158
Processor was $183
RAM was $45
Video Card was $185
Case w/450 watt PS was $25 from a friend at a computer store

So that's, wow right at $599. I'm sure I could have got a system that would be a *bit* slower than this one that would have a New LCD Monitor, New Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, etc for the same price, plus I would have gotten some kind of warrantee, but man I just can't stand how PC companies load so much crap onto Windows......... I just like to build stuff and know that if something went wrong its because of something I did.

But I could have gotten a different Motherboard for like $120, a GeForce 6600 instead of the 6800GT for around $100, then my system would have only costed $428 but it surely wouldn't be nearly as fast as it is right now, which means that it won't LAST AS LONG and I would want to upgrade it much sooner than this system that I've built.

Out of the systems that I've built in the past, this one is the quickest if I compare it to what is out on the market. Usually my systems are just sub-par with the best system, but I think this system is more than half of what the top of the line systems are, so if I take care of it I'm sure I can get 2 years out of this one, then it only becomes $300.

BigMike

[914Runner]

Speaking of new computers, I got a new (to me) AMD Atlon XP 2400+, MSI K7S5a Pro,  ATI Radeon 9000 64mb, Maxtor 40 GB 7200RPM HD, and a 512 stick of ram from my friend for under $200! I ordered a stick of Crucial Ballistix DDR400 Thursday and its gonna be here Tuesday, so then this thing should be set for awhile with the exception of a new graphics card.

I was looking about getting a new MB and CPU, but most of the MB's I want are PCIe and I dont want to have to dish out 200 for a graphics card.

[blackdiamond]

I am no where near a computer geek (probably am a geek however), but I do have an opinion/observation on AMD vs. Pentium.  My wife swears that AMD is far superior and refused to own a Pentium computer, I pointed out that all of her computers seem to have mysterious gremlins and that maybe she should try a Pentium.  Hopefully it won't be anytime soon, but I think she might consider a Pentium processer after her latest gremlin prone HP/AMD experience.

[914Runner]

I would rather have a P4 but I needed a new computer really bad, I was using a old P1 100, and this wasn't too bad of a deal.

Where can I get these memory test that you ran BigMike?

Thanks

[BigMike [OP]]

I've been using a software analaysys program called SiSoft Sandra. The version I'm using is a bit old and is from 2004.

Try this website: http://www.sisoftware.net/

I've always been an Intel user. My systems, in order:
Intel 386 DX66
Intel P 133
Intel PII 300
Intel PIII 533
Intel PIII 800
Intel P4 2.0

and now the AMD 3200+