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priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

I just finished Arkham Asylum last night, what a fantastic game. I couldn't think of another stealth/brawler game that was that well done or that much fun. I'd put it a little higher than Assassin's Creed and I really, really liked that game. Hopefully the next Splinter Cell is as good.

Also, if I replay the story, do I get to keep the upgrades, sort of like Shadow Complex where you keep your level? There were a couple upgrades I didn't unlock so I haven't seen the whole thing yet I guess.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 17:48

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# ? May 24, 2013 15:49

JEEVES420: Feb 16, 2005; The world is a mess... and I just need to rule it

Micromancer posted:

$300 you say?

Quad core AMD Phenom 9600 - $100
motherboard - $60
two gigs of 1066mhz ram - $40
1gb PCIe video card - $60

I could save $10 on the vid card, but I really like the HDMI port. It's also not a knockoff brand like EVGA, Sparkle or the like.

Still leaves you $40 for shipping

Really, upgrading instead of replacing is a good idea these days.

Edit: And if you wanted to just go the full monty and get a case, power supply, dvd burner with a 500gb hard drive it would run around $130 more

I built my roommates complete PC for $300 from Fry's and then added $40 more for an X1850xt from SA Mart. He was amazed that you could build a semi high end for that cheap.

I on the other hand upgrade in pieces once a year. One month it will be mobo/proc, then vid card, then Ram, then sound/hdds/etc. Stretching it out allows me to get better parts while still using my current rig. Spending $200-$300 a month for 3 months builds a machine that will last a while. I actually don't think I will need to upgrade this year, we shall see when Crysis 2 comes out.

Also I hate tiger direct, their site just seems off, their ad campaigns look like crap, and their prices are not that great.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 18:15

Micromancer: Apr 17, 2002; He went out to the store
and when he got back
Roll-marks said .22 Short, jack.
If anything I could say that
this gun was rare
Its covered it sweat,
toilet water, and hair

JEEVES420 posted:

Also I hate tiger direct, their site just seems off, their ad campaigns look like crap, and their prices are not that great.

I hear this a lot and my only complaint with them is rebates are retarded and I didn't have gook luck getting them.

I also acknowledge they aren't the best prices - I just give them as an example and encourage people to shop around.

and a 900 pieced together system is what I run. For the last three years. I have yet to run into something I wanted to do that it couldn't.

3800 X2, 1gb DDR2, three 80gb drives striped into a single 240mb drive for speed. 512mb video card until I sold it and stepped down to a 256 7600. I have a 1gb 9600 down stairs but have been too lazy to install it because what I have still works.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 18:54

Otto Skorzeny: Nov 7, 2008; He's a PSoC, loose and runnin'
came the whisper from each lip
And he's here to do some business with
the bad ADC on his chip
bad ADC on his chiiiiip

both times i used tiger direct they dicked up the shipping

their prices aren't that great either, as noted

ymmv

# ? Sep 2, 2009 18:59

Ensign Expendable: Nov 11, 2008; Родина слышит

You only have a gig of DDR2? It's dirt cheap, no reason not to have at least 2.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 18:59

Micromancer: Apr 17, 2002; He went out to the store
and when he got back
Roll-marks said .22 Short, jack.
If anything I could say that
this gun was rare
Its covered it sweat,
toilet water, and hair

Ensign Expendable posted:

You only have a gig of DDR2? It's dirt cheap, no reason not to have at least 2.

Ive had another gig in it that I intended to buy. It did nothing noticable for any of the games I had installed so I didnt bother buying it.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 19:04

BitBasher: Jun 6, 2004; Shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never ever cut a deal with a dragon.

Micromancer posted:

...It's also not a knockoff brand like EVGA...

In my experience EVGA is rock solid. They have good support and for motherboards they are consistently among the highest rated by users on newegg... just saying.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:21

Crunkjuice: Apr 4, 2007; That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Micromancer posted:

$300 you say?

Quad core AMD Phenom 9600 - $100
motherboard - $60
two gigs of 1066mhz ram - $40
1gb PCIe video card - $60

I could save $10 on the vid card, but I really like the HDMI port. It's also not a knockoff brand like EVGA, Sparkle or the like.

Still leaves you $40 for shipping

Really, upgrading instead of replacing is a good idea these days.

Edit: And if you wanted to just go the full monty and get a case, power supply, dvd burner with a 500gb hard drive it would run around $130 more

What the hell, when did computer parts get so stupidly cheap? I've been playing L4D and TF2 on a first generation macbook pro. If stuff is getting this cheap, it might be time for me to build a desktop...

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:24

joehonkie: Jan 12, 2006; I'm a member of STARS.

EVGA is not in any way a knockoff brand. i've used EVGA only for something like 5 years.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:30

Capn Beeb: Jun 29, 2003; Can it be fired with a massive erection?

priznat posted:

Also, if I replay the story, do I get to keep the upgrades, sort of like Shadow Complex where you keep your level? There were a couple upgrades I didn't unlock so I haven't seen the whole thing yet I guess.

You just keep your level and all the perks it gives you. You don't keep your guns and extra items.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:38

Pretty Little Rainbow: Dec 27, 2005; by T. Finn

Throwing my word in for EVGA again, I have a 7950 GT KO PCI-E by them that I haven't had a single problem with. Even when I was retarded and didn't have the secondary power plug hooked up to it and my whole computer would constantly reboot during games frying my mobo the video card still came out of it unharmed.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:44

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

Capn Beeb posted:

You just keep your level and all the perks it gives you. You don't keep your guns and extra items.

Oh that's great, thanks! Yeah I guessed no access to the line launcher til you get it later etc.. That's a great toy.

I may do a replay on hard but I can imagine it will be pretty brutal, especially against a group of dudes with shock batons/knives and the Titan goons

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:55

JEEVES420: Feb 16, 2005; The world is a mess... and I just need to rule it

Micromancer posted:

I hear this a lot and my only complaint with them is rebates are retarded and I didn't have gook luck getting them.

I have never received a single rebate in my life. About 5 years ago I started telling people to not bother getting my rebate. I shop by instant sale prices, gently caress rebates.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:55

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

JEEVES420 posted:

I have never received a single rebate in my life. About 5 years ago I started telling people to not bother getting my rebate. I shop by instant sale prices, gently caress rebates.

If it's something I'm buying anyway I'll fill out a rebate but the fact something has a rebate does not sway me into buying it because of that. I count any rebate money I do get as "found money".

That said, costco rebates are frigging excellent. Fill it all out online and within 4-6 weeks get a check. Don't think I've ever not gotten a rebate from there, and I have kept track.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:57

joehonkie: Jan 12, 2006; I'm a member of STARS.

JEEVES420 posted:

I have never received a single rebate in my life. About 5 years ago I started telling people to not bother getting my rebate. I shop by instant sale prices, gently caress rebates.

I came to this conclusion as well after getting shafted a few times.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 20:58

Capn Beeb: Jun 29, 2003; Can it be fired with a massive erection?

priznat posted:

Oh that's great, thanks! Yeah I guessed no access to the line launcher til you get it later etc.. That's a great toy.

I may do a replay on hard but I can imagine it will be pretty brutal, especially against a group of dudes with shock batons/knives and the Titan goons

I'm a huge retard and thought you were talking about Shadow Complex

Starting a new game in Batman doesn't give you anything extra, you have to unlock all the extra tools and armor upgrades as you go. Speaking of Batman though, I love the railing takedown and wish you could do it more often.

Also EVGA rules I have one of their 8800 cards and it's been great to me

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:01

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

Capn Beeb posted:

I'm a huge retard and thought you were talking about Shadow Complex Starting a new game in Batman doesn't give you anything extra, you have to unlock all the extra tools and armor upgrades as you go. Speaking of Batman though, I love the railing takedown and wish you could do it more often.

Doh! Oh well, it'll still be fun. I think the armor upgrades are first priority though, especially if i replay it on hard.

Is the railing takedown when you are hanging by your hands off a ledge/railing and grab someone who gets near? I had no idea you could even do that, I must try it now. I like the inverted takedowns quite a bit, especially using a batarang to cut the guys loose while their friends are hanging around underneath.

Also, blowing up a wall when a couple guys are in front of it is great fun. I think replaying the challenge rooms will provide me with hours of entertainment alone.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:05

Hustlin Floh: Jul 20, 2009

priznat posted:

Oh that's great, thanks! Yeah I guessed no access to the line launcher til you get it later etc.. That's a great toy.

I may do a replay on hard but I can imagine it will be pretty brutal, especially against a group of dudes with shock batons/knives and the Titan goons

He's talking about Shadow Complex. In Batman you get nothing. You can go back to a mostly-empty island and collect riddles, but that's about it unless you start a new game.

edit: maybe next time I won't leave the window open in the background for 10 minutes before posting.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:08

Capn Beeb: Jun 29, 2003; Can it be fired with a massive erection?

priznat posted:

Doh! Oh well, it'll still be fun. I think the armor upgrades are first priority though, especially if i replay it on hard.

Is the railing takedown when you are hanging by your hands off a ledge/railing and grab someone who gets near? I had no idea you could even do that, I must try it now.

Yeah I did armor upgrades first thing on my hard run. Then focused on the combo boosting upgrades I think. Railing takedown is when you're on a ledge or overhang and a dude is in front of you. Hit Y and Batman bounces their face on the railing and pulls them over. It makes a terrible sound and it rules so hard

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:19

priznat: Jul 7, 2009; Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

Capn Beeb posted:

Yeah I did armor upgrades first thing on my hard run. Then focused on the combo boosting upgrades I think. Railing takedown is when you're on a ledge or overhang and a dude is in front of you. Hit Y and Batman bounces their face on the railing and pulls them over. It makes a terrible sound and it rules so hard

Awesome, I must try that as often as possible. In the last Splinter Cell I really enjoyed Fisher's "lethal" takedown of the knee to the spine. Ouch. Do that in front of a ledge and they just fall right over, while I cackle morbidly.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:21

King Carnivore: Dec 16, 2007; VAT?!? Do you not like the new look?

JEEVES420 posted:

I have never received a single rebate in my life. About 5 years ago I started telling people to not bother getting my rebate. I shop by instant sale prices, gently caress rebates.

When I bought my computer gubbins from TigerDirect a year ago there were four items I filed rebates on: 2 2 gig sticks of ram, video card and something else that I forget, but I want to say PSU. It took a couple months, but all my checks came in eventually, like 60 bucks or so in total.

YMMV, indeed.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 21:27

FullMetalJacket: Apr 5, 2008

tiger direct sucks balls for re-baits

anyways, because i feel like it zeez are my system specs:

xfx 9800gt 512 (i want a 260)
athalon xp x2 5600( want a quad core now)
asus m2a-vm (asus download site sucks balls)
4 gig mem
1tb hdd
600w psu
and very soon an antec 900 II case. sweet.

cost me about 650CDN this past feb, but prices have come down a fair bit since then.

it runs everything rather well on med-high settings, but will bog down to the 20fps area on intense action scenes. i'll prolly do the cpu/vid card swap in a month or two.

# ? Sep 2, 2009 23:22

Micromancer: Apr 17, 2002; He went out to the store
and when he got back
Roll-marks said .22 Short, jack.
If anything I could say that
this gun was rare
Its covered it sweat,
toilet water, and hair

EVGA has been good to me as well - I always considered them second tier because the prices were always the same as Sparkle (which was terrible bought two cards one was DOA) I always figured the two EVGAs Ive used were missing something under the hood to justify the cost.

I did however never experience a single issue with either card. Guess now I know why

# ? Sep 3, 2009 00:42

BitBasher: Jun 6, 2004; Shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never ever cut a deal with a dragon.

Micromancer posted:

EVGA has been good to me as well - I always considered them second tier because the prices were always the same as Sparkle (which was terrible bought two cards one was DOA) I always figured the two EVGAs Ive used were missing something under the hood to justify the cost.

I did however never experience a single issue with either card. Guess now I know why

Actually I have experienced one of their cards failing... It was overclocked to hell and back and outright died after 3 years. BUT... Lifetime warantee! They replaced the card in less than a week. Schwing!

# ? Sep 3, 2009 00:46

Uncle Caveman: Jun 16, 2006

Crunkjuice posted:

What the hell, when did computer parts get so stupidly cheap?

It's seriously blowing my mind. Micromancer's previous posts are literally the first time I've checked prices on PC hardware since my last major purchases: 2GB ram and the GeForce 7900 when Oblivion came out... three years ago.

I guess I just assumed things were still really expensive and didn't bother upgrading since my system could still Fallout 3 well enough...

# ? Sep 3, 2009 00:48

Micromancer: Apr 17, 2002; He went out to the store
and when he got back
Roll-marks said .22 Short, jack.
If anything I could say that
this gun was rare
Its covered it sweat,
toilet water, and hair

Uncle Caveman posted:

It's seriously blowing my mind. Micromancer's previous posts are literally the first time I've checked prices on PC hardware since my last major purchases: 2GB ram and the GeForce 7900 when Oblivion came out... three years ago.

I guess I just assumed things were still really expensive and didn't bother upgrading since my system could still Fallout 3 well enough...

Thats not shopping around. Not even trying for cheap poo poo on eBay. Hell, its all name brand poo poo too it's not even a BUDGET build. Asus is great, Crucial is great, and while I only know Gigabyte for their motherboards, I'd expect nothing but good things from them for vid cards based on that.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 00:53

Ygolonac: Nov 26, 2007; FURRED STREET,
BITCHES!

JEEVES420 posted:

Also I hate tiger direct, their site just seems off, their ad campaigns look like crap, and their prices are not that great.

If you shop Tiger Direct, you *will* be spammed for eternity.

Last February, I bought my new CPU from them (as Newegg kept selling out). Not a single other thing.

I'm still getting not only 3-5 emails a week, but paper catalogs.

EVGA is not bad - I got their 8800GT-something-I-forget-all-the-details last February as well; that model had some issues with undercooling, and mine was puking hard within a week and a half.

Even though I'd bought from Newegg, they were cool with running a cross-shipped RMA on the warranty (I'd bought the upgrade for cross-shipment as soon as I figured out what the problem was).

We will not speak of Crucial - 1st 2 gig-sticks were dying within a month, but it took me longer to verify what the problem was. RMA-replace with Newegg, and buy a couple extra sticks to go to 4 gig/have as backup. Those two start failing within two weeks, and are RMA'd for money-back and I buy 4 gig of G.Skill, which have not given me any problems whatsoever. I still have a set of "Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)" that I don't think I even opened. (Same lot number as the failed ones.) No overclocking, no overheating, just garbage RAM.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:29

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; American planes, full of holes and wounded men, took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground.

Uncle Caveman posted:

It's seriously blowing my mind. Micromancer's previous posts are literally the first time I've checked prices on PC hardware since my last major purchases: 2GB ram and the GeForce 7900 when Oblivion came out... three years ago.

I guess I just assumed things were still really expensive and didn't bother upgrading since my system could still Fallout 3 well enough...

Jesus holy gently caress, me too. The last time I priced out what it would cost me to build a new tower was back in 2005 or so, back when video cards ALONE would run $500+.

Good goddamn, if monitors can be had this cheap I might just have to make myself a dedicated gaming rig for the first time in forever.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:35

TheNothingNew: Nov 10, 2008

Micromancer posted:

Thats not shopping around. Not even trying for cheap poo poo on eBay. Hell, its all name brand poo poo too it's not even a BUDGET build. Asus is great, Crucial is great, and while I only know Gigabyte for their motherboards, I'd expect nothing but good things from them for vid cards based on that.

Gigabyte makes good stuff, video cards included. Crucial's all right for memory, I like G.Skill better. Sparkle made good power supplies, back in the day, didn't know they made anything else.
Sorry, I used to be balls-deep in the build-your-own/overclocking thing.

FullMetalJacket posted:

stuff

A quad-core will only help for games that are optimized to use them. Last I checked, that was none of them. Admittedly, it's been a while.
I do think you'd be better off buying a better vid card, and maybe a faster dual-core (it's been a while since I bothered with AMD, I don't know where yours stacks up).

Cyrano4747 posted:

Good goddamn, if monitors can be had this cheap I might just have to make myself a dedicated gaming rig for the first time in forever.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1920%20x%201080

For gaming, you want a 5 millisecond or less response time, and a contrast ratio of at least 1000:1.
I don't know about brands anymore, though. I cheaped out and went with Westinghouse, whom I don't recommend. The blacks are not black, and I've got a loving stuck yellow pixel in the middle of the screen.

TheNothingNew fucked around with this message at Sep 3, 2009 around 02:53

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:45

Ensign Expendable: Nov 11, 2008; Родина слышит

TheNothingNew posted:

A quad-core will only help for games that are optimized to use them. Last I checked, that was none of them. Admittedly, it's been a while.
I do think you'd be better off buying a better vid card, and maybe a faster dual-core (it's been a while since I bothered with AMD, I don't know where yours stacks up).

Windows 7 is supposed to have really optimized threading, so a quad core processor may be treated slightly better. I'm not sure how much better, I'll have to look for benchmarks once it actually comes out. The performance increase is probably not big enough to justify a quad core though.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:51

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; American planes, full of holes and wounded men, took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground.

Ensign Expendable posted:

Windows 7 is supposed to have really optimized threading, so a quad core processor may be treated slightly better. I'm not sure how much better, I'll have to look for benchmarks once it actually comes out. The performance increase is probably not big enough to justify a quad core though.

I'll believe a new iteration of windows has really good/optimized/effective anything when I see it working.

What was the last iteration of windows that worked well before it's first service pack?

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:54

Captain Novolin: Dec 11, 2007; These children have taught me how to believe.

FWIW, I've noticed that pretty much every thing runs worse on vista then it did when I used the win7 RC. Not massively worse, but annoying in some spots.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:56

TheNothingNew: Nov 10, 2008

Ensign Expendable posted:

Windows 7 is supposed to have really optimized threading, so a quad core processor may be treated slightly better. I'm not sure how much better, I'll have to look for benchmarks once it actually comes out. The performance increase is probably not big enough to justify a quad core though.

I think something's got to be out there already, from how people talk it seems like half of SH/SC is already using Windows 7.

Edit: hahaha, beaten like a red-headed step-child.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:57

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; American planes, full of holes and wounded men, took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground.

Captain Novolin posted:

FWIW, I've noticed that pretty much every thing runs worse on vista then it did when I used the win7 RC. Not massively worse, but annoying in some spots.

gently caress it, I'm still using XP SP3. I really don't see a compelling reason to shift right now.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:57

The Automator: Jan 16, 2009; I was like Oatmeal, are you CRAZY?!?

Cyrano4747 posted:

I'll believe a new iteration of windows has really good/optimized/effective anything when I see it working.

What was the last iteration of windows that worked well before it's first service pack?

I've been running the Windows 7 Beta since...March? April? Either way, it's been a while.

It's loving awesome in every way. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. Windows 7 is baller as gently caress.

Edit: A compelling reason is being up to date and losing absolutely no performance. Seriously, every PC I've put 7 on runs it every bit as fast as XP SP3.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:58

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; American planes, full of holes and wounded men, took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground.

The Automator posted:

I've been running the Windows 7 Beta since...March? April? Either way, it's been a while.

It's loving awesome in every way. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. Windows 7 is baller as gently caress.

Huh. Good to hear.

What are the specific reasons for moving to Windows 7 from XP on a machine (well, partition) that's just used for games and dicking around. I don't have any "serious" stuff on that part of the drive, so data issues don't matter to me.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 02:59

The Automator: Jan 16, 2009; I was like Oatmeal, are you CRAZY?!?

Cyrano4747 posted:

Huh. Good to hear.

What are the specific reasons for moving to Windows 7 from XP on a machine (well, partition) that's just used for games and dicking around. I don't have any "serious" stuff on that part of the drive, so data issues don't matter to me.

Direct X 10/11, better memory management, better processor utilization.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 03:04

Captain Novolin: Dec 11, 2007; These children have taught me how to believe.

Also windows 7 is really pretty.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 04:16

Inspector_71: Oct 7, 2003; ...essence

Cyrano4747 posted:

gently caress it, I'm still using XP SP3. I really don't see a compelling reason to shift right now.

There isn't one, and there certainly won't be one until Windows 7 at least goes gold unless you really need 64-bit support. Like you said though, it's best to wait for SP1, although I could see myself going up to 7 before that if it gets enough positive response.

I'm actually running a very old build of Windows 7 Beta on my Macbook and I don't think it's noticeably worse than XP in any way. A little slower on certain things, but I think I can safely assume that's due to the thing not having the hardware to really kick rear end.

# ? Sep 3, 2009 04:34

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# ? May 24, 2013 15:49

Detective Thompson: Nov 9, 2007; Oh well looky what what we got ourselves over here.

Inspector_71 posted:

There isn't one, and there certainly won't be one until Windows 7 at least goes gold unless you really need 64-bit support.

As I am not up on really any sort of technical talk, what is the 32/64-bit thing refer to in regards to Windows?

# ? Sep 3, 2009 05:33

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