sorry intel guys, i had to go amd cuz they were cheaper.
athlon 64x2 dual core 5600+
2GB ram
256MB geforce card (built into MB, 512mb card soon to come)
sound blaster live (used it from old comp cuz i cant get the onboard audio to install)
sony sata DVD burner
120GB IDE hard drive (new hd comin up next paycheck)
all for under 400 bucks... not bad eh? or should i hope they used lube...? any thoughts?

 

what os are you running? with xp i bet it smokes but if running vista im sure it'll be a dog like mine amd64x2 5200+ 3 gigs of ram and 500gig hd. altho i ask alot from mine with games and such so maybe im too picky. i paid alot more than you did too which is the suck.

 

im runnin xp, im thinkin of tryin vista, i dunno tho if vista is worth spending 150 on.. that 150 could be an upgrade for my rig, i dunno.

 

Go for a 512 MB 8800 GTS Nvidia based card.
Good card, I am running the Evga brand one.

If you get that, it should run the new UT III perfectly if you are into the UT games.

We have a server setup for the game which I manage, and will soon be building a better server.

Stick with XP for games.
It is a proven fact that Vista slows down games right now.
I do run Vista on my new Dell laptop though.

 

okay, will do corey, thanks. about how much is that 512MB 8800 gta nvidia? and as soon as i buy the gamei ll let you know.

 

GTS, not GTA.
Here is a good shop, it is the one I deal with.
http://www.infotechnow.com/

I built my whole new gaming PC over Christmas from there.

Here is the card for $329
http://www.infotechnow.com/product.php?prId=5404

The GT is less, but not as good.
http://www.infotechnow.com/product.php?prId=5268

The GTS has a new GPU design.
You can Google the card too to find it cheaper.

It is perhaps the best gaming card out now.
Some new 9800s have hit the market, but they are not as good as the 8800 GTS.

Later 9800s will be, then I will upgrade mine perhaps.
But mine makes mincemeat of any game out right now at maximum settings.

Also the Evga brand is one of the better ones, and they often superclock it from the factory over Nvidia's stock specs.

 

will my power supply support that? its a 450 watt power supply. or should i buy a stronger power supply when i get that card?

 

450 may do it for now.
On my old gaming tower I put in a 500 watt one, and I run a 256 MB AGP evga 7800 card that required a power plug.

On the new PC I am running a 600 watt Thermaltake.

Try it with your current one first.
A power supply is so easy to swap out, if you need a bigger one, it will be a cinch to swap.

 

i built this computer myself, i had to remove the power supply to get the last motherboard screw in. yeah took me about a minute to remove it. easy. lol.

 

question for anyone who wishes to answer it.. i just tried playing the original unreal tournament, and its glitchy and stuff, goin frame by frame, etc, but when i play Unreal Tournament 2004 with everything maxed out, its smooth as hell. any ideas? maybe UT is too old?

 

I get the same issue on my new gamer I just built.
UT 2004 (more advanced than the older one) and UT III play super fast.

The old UT runs slow on mine too.
However on my old tower of power 2.4C Intel, two GB of RAM, and the AGP 7800 vid card, the old UT runs like a champ.

I have not looked into the issue yet.

The thing to do is ask over at this forum.
http://utforums.epicgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

I am a member there, and I may try to post tonight if the time allows.
They have the old UT section there as well, and it might be best posted there instead.

 

try only using one core for the game and disabling cool and quite feature. a lot of older games wont run right with those features and multi cores.

i play deux ex and it runs on the original ut engine, but was a dog with cool and quite and using both cores.

 

Bud, I have not delved yet into how to do either of those tasks.
My first duo core

Well the laptop has it too.
You know, the old UT is not running as fast on it either.
I think you are onto something here.

 

http://www.vista4beginners.com/power-management

if you are running vista xp is almost the same

then to enable only one core fire the game up ctrl atl del out into task manager, processes right click on program, affinity then select cores.

 

Thanks, just tested that option with Vista on the laptop for another program running.

I see:

CPU 0
CPU 1

Which one do you uncheck?

What were these?
cool and quite

Ozzie, you should try this.
I would, but I am hitting the fartsack in a few minutes.

 

And I thought there were only truck mechanics and engine nerds on here.
I should come here next time I need help with my digital camera or my lawnmower.
You guys are the best.

 

He he, I am a closet geek at heart.
I have 5 running computers in my home (3 towers, 2 laptops) but I am only using 3 right now.

Sitting here watching the news and surfing on my new wireless laptop, and the main PC is my gaming rig in the bedroom.

The old tower (before I built the new gaming rig) is only used now for recording TV shows.
2 TV tuner cards in it to do 2 shows at the same time if needed.
Then I watch the shows back via cable that goes to the TV in the living room.

Oh, the old PC is also an MP3 server via Apple's iTunes.
I can cue up a list and play it back on the 5.1 surround system hooked to the TV so I can listen to it in the living room.

 

Pretty interesting Corey.

I am going to get a new computer pretty soon here. Probably a Dell, Gateway, or Sony.

Wanted to say, if you feel the need to get rid of one of your computers, I got tons of calls for my old Compaq laptop on Craigslist! and got like 45 out of it. It was sitting in my closet.

 

lol sweet setup corey. Right now i've got 2 pc's on my computer table. 19" crt that is cracking the table and on my better pc 22" widescreen lcd. we also have a dell rack mount tower in the garage. it can't fit into the house so it kicks my 4 runner outside. my brother is a network admin for a large lumber company so we have all sorts of weird pc e here. when do you guys play ut? set a time up and we should all have a yota tech shoot em up match

 

un-click whatever core you like it doesn't matter