A quick game....How much Did I Pay

[Props]

Just bought a new comp, because my old one is shot, so impulsively, I let my money do the work, and had a custom computer built...how much did I spend...and was it worth it?
First, Guess how much I spent for this...

OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium (32Bit)
Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
System Type X86-based PC

Intel MotherBoard DG31PR

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 2997 Mhz, 2 Core(s),
6MB Level 2 Cache

BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. PRG3110H.86A.0047.2008.0227.1745, 2/27/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4

320 GB HD SATA2 7200RPM

1GB (x2) 800Mhz DDR2
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.40 GB
Total Virtual Memory 4.24 GB
Available Virtual Memory 3.51 GB
Page File Space 2.29 GB

NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Adapter RAM 1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)
Installed Drivers nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version 7.15.11.7519 (175.19whql)
Resolution 1152 x 864 x 75 hertz (Running, Current)
Bits/Pixel 32
Clock Speeds; Core 500Mhz, Shader 1000Mhz, Memory 456Mhz (all overclocked)
Yeah, now that I can do research...the video card is crap...but hell the 1GB mem seemed good at the time

Realtek High Definition Audio 5.1 (On board Intel MB)

16x DVD +/- RW Dual Layer DVD Recorder
16x DVD CD Rom Drive

22" LCD Monitor
2.1 Sound System
4GB Flash Drive
Wireless Mouse/Keyboard (I don't use)
All Drivers(disks included..although I've already updated every component I could)
Using my 510mx Optical Mouse with Setpoint 4.60 and Uberoptions so I can utilize all mouse
buttons, otherwise Vista identifies it as an HD compliant mouse....



With Crysis running, the computer runs at 31C Degrees....which by what I found is a very low temp. At low settings, I get about 30-40fps vsync on(...shit that's just a guess ...let me go and find out now...)

[FATAL]

I'm guessing 1450 dollars.

[Doom_Dude]

Is this like the Price Is Right? :p

1451

[CrazedImp]

I'd honestly pay no more than $1200 for that setup, seeing as the graphics card is so dreadfully low-end and the rest of the parts in the computer, while good, just aren't worth more than $1200 all together.

[Aliotroph?]

Bleagh. How much of that went into buying Vista? I got so lucky having MSDN copies of Vista and XP from Dell. Buying such a slow, buggy Windows seems distasteful. It inherits most of XP's bugs and adds a few to boot!

[CrazedImp]

People here are still complaining about Vista? I've been using it for six months now with no real problem. Eh but then again I have a PC that can run it fast, so that's probably why.

[Aliotroph?]

So do I. I custom built my computer with Vista in mind. It's buggy, it has serious application compatibility problems, it has too much DRM, and it has driver compatibility issues with new hardware for no good reason. Here's hoping the things that do work (networking, shinier Explorer, better system restore, etc.) make it into a less annoying version of Windows.

[Raptor Jesus]

I love Vista, aside from numerous compatibility issues. Sadly, the one game I love so much, Die by the Sword doesn't work. I've read it works on some Vista computers but not mine. Although, other people who dont' have it working get an error at start up. Mine launches fine but the menu takes forever to load and locks up. I've posted a message at what appears to be the most active (which isn't very active at all sadly) DbtS message board asking for help.

There are 2 issues that have bothered me with Vista though. One, which I really don't mind much, is my icons on my desktop sometimes have the wrong symbol. Like, Gutterball 2 will have the Fraps icon. The other is when I'm in my documents, it has shortcuts to My Music that when I click on them, it says that the folder is restricted but if I navigate to it through C:\, I can access it without a problem.

I'd say you spent $1300 for that.

[Aliotroph?]

Methinks you have a dual-core machine. ;) Try alt-tabbing, finding the game's process in the task manager, right-clicking it and setting its affinity to only core 0. See if that fixes it. Both System Shock 2 and GTA: San Andreas are unplayable on dual-core machines unless you do something like that. The SS2 guys even came up with a tool that forces the executable to run like that every time so you don't have to do all the alt-tabbing.

Not sure about the icons. I found I had that problem more in older versions of Windows. Basically, Explorer is still a buggy piece of shit. It's probably one of the worst-built components on Windows.

You shouldn't even have a My Music, My Pictures, etc. in Vista. You should have only Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. These will have shortcuts in your Start menu that do work. I had the other shortcuts but I think they were copies that drifted over from a Win2K backup. The paths for the folders should be something like c:\users\Rapter Jesus\Music, for example. That reminds me, if you install games in the user folder it tends to get rid of some of the annoying UAC crap that goes on if you spend time modding said games.

Heh, tell me if the affinity thing solves the game. I'm curious now. :)

[ghost]

I am going to say 1350 US Dollars.
Anyways why complain about Vista when XP is still getting updates. Personally, I'm used to the layouts of XP so I prefer it, Vista is slightly different and I'm not quite used to it.. besides if I recall, I remember seeing something about Vista being shutoff or closed down, (can't think of that word) so looks like it won't last a while.

[Potnop]

Should've gone with an 8600 and not an 8500. I hear the 8500 isn't that fast... My 8600 works great. Not sure though...

[CrazedImp]

Should have gone with a 9600GT or 3850. Both are cheaper and work better than the now outdated GeForce 8 series.

Also isn't XP getting its support dropped later this year? Better to just upgrade to Vista when you buy a new computer to save the hassle of security problems in the future.

[Props]

I'm not divulging the price yet...but to add...I know about the video card...but before making the purchase I didn't have access to a computer and had no idea what the top card was....I didn't shop around either..more or less...I'm already planning on a new video card.

I've got Win Xp, on my other partition...yet...as CrazedImp said...XP will no longer have updates, so I'm working on tweaking Vista.

So far...I've decided that for the rescources...it's okay to leave all security measures running...while playing most games, pre-vista, compatibility wise, practically all HW components are Intel...which give no problems...and are already being updated..
As in the past with XP, I've been using trial and error with services.msc, trying to spare resources. I've set it up, where, most protection software has to be activated during Vista's launch, this way I can play Crysis with a much better frame rate.

Yeah, we can call this Price is Right!!! Come on DOWN!!!

[Aliotroph?]

XP will have at least security patches until 2014. It won't get much more support from devs when they find a reason to use DirectX 10 though.

[CrazedImp]

And you have another version of Windows coming in 2010 anyway, so I highly doubt MS will need to support XP until 2014.

[Doom_Dude]

Not to mention DirectX 11 which has been in the news recently, but I didn't read up on it, nor do I care at this point.

Anyhow, for a quick game this is taking days. :p

[Raptor Jesus]

Alio, I have UAC disabled :D. Don't want any demon out breaks :P

[Aliotroph?]

And you have another version of Windows coming in 2010 anyway, so I highly doubt MS will need to support XP until 2014.

Yes, but they will. They always have that planned out years in advance. Very limited support though, since it's just security patches. Win 98 was like that for a long time.

Hehehe, UAC off. Yeah, I did that too. UAC was too annoying when I wanted to mod some things.

[Props]

1485.00 USD

I'm pretty sure...now that I think about it...Win 95/98 won't run on my system...but I've always thought, why don't the improve the OS intead of making it resource hungry....I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't care for the flashy GUI or convenience of files enough to loose overall system power.....could you imagine, DOS running on new hardware's?

[Aliotroph?]

DOS wasn't much of an OS. You relied on every single application to contain drivers for hardware. That would never work on modern hardware. It barely worked on old hardware. No thanks.

If you want fast, use Linux and customize, tweak, hack, and otherwise fiddle with it until it's as finely calibrated as a sharpshooter's rifle. It'll be 10 times as fast as Vista, but you'll have thrown away a lot of time. :) Of course, you bought that thing to play some games too, so that might not work out 100% for everything.

I really don't mind some of the things modern OSes do with all that memory they ate. Applications are often cached so they start faster (this can be disabled with some fiddling), stuff is easier to show my mom (YAY!), I find in general my computer does a lot moer work for me now than it did ten years ago.

My biggest complaint about Windows: after thirteen years Explorer (that's the desktop shell) is still a buggy, slow, unstable piece of shit! It's still loaded with bugs that cause it to refresh at funny times and ruin your icon selection, it still messes up desktop icons, it crashes in funny ways on a lot of machines, it gets confused when a graphics-intensive game crashes and won't take the screen back (even if that's the game's fault the OS shouldn't be allowing that). It's just broken. the one in Vista has a much nicer design in terms of navigation (mostly) but it's still buggy. I don't get it. This is the part of Windows everyday users touch the most. Why does it break so much?

$1450 sounds steep for that rig, man. Did you have to pay for a retail Vista or did they give you a cheaper OEM one? If they built the machine for you they could give you OEM Vista, which would be cheaper, but then the computer shouldn't cost quite so much.

[Props]

Yeah...I think the majority of cash was for the bells and whistles. I know now, and have know since my research, that I spent too much...but it's too late, and the money is spent. I actually did pay for Vista...and have the DVD..along with NERO 7 Essentials (kind of outdated...but stable with all my HD/Drivers).

I hear what your saying about explorer. That's why I commonly close it from task manager, and refresh my configuration. I've tweaked the registry, what I call the nervous system of the computer. That's actually why I referred to DOS, because it doesn't rely on anything running in the back ground. I also had a feeling that someone would suggest Linux. Too be honest, I've never looked into it.

[FATAL]

I'm guessing 1450 dollars.
I win because Doom Dude cheated

[Props]

Alright Fatal, your the winner, and here's a chance to win some extra....

I just bought 10 bottles of gatorade...for how much?

$8 $10 $12 $15

[ghost]

I'm gonna guess 12 bucks, assuming you got them on special.

[Doom_Dude]

So my bid is no good. Hah! They don't do that on the Price Is Right! *yuck*

[FATAL]

The underline in your name caused a system malfunction in their computers.


I guess round 10 bucks!

[Doom_Dude]

No more news for you! One year! :p

[REoL]

I bid 420, Drew!

...and the actual retail price of the computer is:

1485.00 USD


DooM Dude! Come up and play a pricing game! :D

[Props]

Lol...yeah, Doom_dude...your underscore doesn't display on your podium. jk

Alright...you win, DooM Dude

Bonus round for everyone....

2 questions...2 answers....
1 (repeat)
I just bought 10 bottles of gatorade...for how much?

$8 $10 $12 $15

2
How many days would it take me to withdraw enough cash for a money order....that is used to pay my rent?

1 2 3 4 5 6

[FATAL]

4 days. That's how long it always takes to do whatever you're doing.

[Props]

....What about the gatorade?

[Sigma]

Ten for $15.

[Props]

The Correct answer, is 3 Days, and 10 Dollars. I bought the gatorade at the grocery store, promotion 10 for 10.


Next round, I just bought a DVD, Taxi Driver, brand new, special edition...how much did I spend?

[FATAL]

Ten for $15.
Right! And then you go ahead and post in a thread like this! Let's just say I wouldn't have put my money on that.

Regardless of how long you plan to say (hopefully not just that post), welcome back Sigma!








Also: I win again except for the day part.


You paid 19,99 bucks for the DVD.

[Raptor Jesus]

I'm going to say $21.99