Bartimaeus

100%ed Rogue Legacy. It's an alright game, I guess. I think the "mage" classes - particularly Dragon - are mostly useless, with the exception of Spellsword...if you spawn with the right spell(s). I wasn't as in love with it as a lot of other people were - I honestly didn't really like the Rogue"lite" elements too much. Oh well. 100%ed the first 2 (of 3) chapters of Bit.Trip.Runner. I put a few hours into it a year or so ago, then quit because I got stuck on a particular level, (1-11). Came back to it yesterday, and it seems a lot easier now than it did then...although 1-11 was still super hard. I went through all of chapter 2 dying maybe ten times. Weird.

What makes you choose the Deluxe specifically, out of curiosity?

http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/54-skeeters-junkyard/ Any information that would actually be useful for us to help you with your problem would be appreciated. Your motherboard would be a good start...

Uh, do you ever plan on Crossfiring? I didn't realize you weren't going to get dual video cards at all. If you're not planning on Crossfiring, like, ever, drop to a lower wattage PSU. You probably need an absolute minimum of...500W, (I don't think I'd be comfortable cutting it that close, personally, though), with 550W being fairly comfortable, and 600W being very comfortable, (this is probably what I'd get...and not just because 600 is such a nicer number than 550, ). And...uh, I know you mentioned *why* you're planning on getting that much RAM...but...uh, are you sure? I mean, I feel like most everyone could get away with 8GB...with 16GB being a little ridiculous but understandable for some cases...but 32GB for a regular desktop computer? That's server level amount of RAM. Are you *really* sure you need that much?

290 might be worth it, depending on the person buying...but there's little benefit for paying an extra $100-150 for a 290X, IMO. I feel like we're not really helping you enough - is there anything you specifically need help with? (As a side-note, I'd suggest the Gigabyte UD3H vs the Gigabyte HD3 motherboard - little more expensive, but 8 true phases vs the 4(+1?) the HD3 has. Additionally, you may want to look at the EVGA G2 750W instead of the Seasonic unit - both units are fully modular, as well as very well renowned, but you're not paying a $20-30 premium for the Seasonic unit).

This is not really true of the games - at least, not in my experience. When I first went through Dark Souls, (without having ever played Demon's Souls), the biggest challenge were the controls, not really the enemies/bosses. I beat, I think, after the few three or so when I was finally got a decent grasp of the game, roughly 4/5 bosses on my first try. Dark Souls (on NG - that is, before beating the game at all) is really actually decently lenient...there's just a really steep initial learning curve. Once you understand your own character, and how bosses *tend* to move, (all the "giant" bosses are pretty predictable after one or two, if you care to notice - only the smaller, faster ones really leave any surprises), it's generally pretty easy. It's NG+(+++++) where you have to perfectly choreograph your character, and perfectly learn the moveset of each boss - 'cos each boss (and regular enemy) has twice as much (or more) health as they did in NG, do much more damage...and yet your character can get hardly any better compared to how they were in the middle to the end of NG - only the first few are comparable to NG difficulty. Then again, I enjoyed doing this, too, except for a very few that were blatantly unfair - e.g. the Capra Demon with the stupid dogs that had extremely random behavior and movesets that killed me probably 50 times in a row on NG++++++...or the Four Kings, where, unless you're wielding an ultra greatsword or something, you simply cannot do enough damage to outpace their spawn rate, and you die in a battle of attrition against 4 of them at once while they only have like 1/3rd-1/4th combined health left - stuff like that is not fun. But for the others, there's something neat about being able to know a boss so perfectly you can deal with literally anything and everything they throw at you, and then exploit those attacks to defeat them. On-topic: I like my games decently hard. However, if there is a set of difficulty rules where the game is "fair", (e.g. Core Difficulty for the IE games), then I tend to use that.

With a budget of $1800, I'd get a motherboard with at least six full phases... (edit): Maybe not. Can't seem to find a single >=six phase Z97 motherboard under <=$140 at the moment. I was expecting at least one or two...unless you're overclocking, 4+1 is fine, I guess.

A 280X at its most expensive is like...what, $300? Can probably get it closer to $250. A $120-$180 motherboard, a $60-120 PSU, a $200-300 CPU, $150's worth maybe of RAM, a $50-100 case...even at the highest values, that leaves you a little less than $700 for storage...

Crossfiring/SLI? Not a fan of doing it myself, but if that's what you're looking to do... (e:) Whoops, thought that read $1,000, not $1,800. At that budget, I'm not sure how you can avoid it, really...not unless you buy a $1,000 GPU, haha. Someone else will have to help you with that - $1,800 is more money than is sensible for me,

Update on that computer problem: I'm a moron. I need to work with more Intel CPUs...I assumed that was like that on purpose because, you know, AMD CPUs have a few blank spots here and there. Nope.

And finally, a motherboard: namely, the Asus Maximus VI (Z87). My former pick was the ASRock Extreme4, whenever it dropped down to about $120, but the Asus board just did that today, and it's a much higher quality board. I didn't really want to get an Asus board, because they seem to be having a lot of problems with their boards lately, but...it's from newegg, so hopefully I'll be good even if there are any problems - not getting rid of my current desktop, so I'm not exactly desperate for a computer ASAP anyways. Recap: Chassis: Corsair 300R (Non-Windowed, 'cos windows are ugly) @ $35 PSU: Silverstone ST50F-ESG @ $25 (it's an FSP Aurum S rebrand) MB: Asus Maximus VI (Z87) @ $120 CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k @ $100 RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 2x4GB DDR3 1600/CAS 8 @ $50 (holdover from my previous build because DDR3 is too danged expensive nowadays - giving the old desktop some very cheap 2x2GB Gskill stuff) GPU: AMD XFX 5770 (for now - my previous GTX 660 for $90 order actually did end up being canceled, sadly, so I'll have to wait for something decent to come by again) System SSD: PNY XLR8 120GB @ $35 Storage HDD: Some 5 year old or so 1TB Seagate holdover that I'm surprised is still working Storage HDD: Some 3TB WD Green that I got for free Total: $365 (discounting HDDs, since they're not specifically a part of this build, really, and the video card, since it'll end up being replaced sometime in the future most likely). Not too shabby - the retail cost of the CPU is almost more than that total. I'm fairly pleased. If I bought these all at closer to MSRP, (let's say within 10% of their current, about), it'd be closer to $800, (again, discounting HDDs and video card). All new, too, of course, (except holdovers, obviously).

Corsair 300R obtained for $35 after rebate, ($55 before). Yay! At this point, I just need a motherboard...and some cheap DDR3 for my computer so it can at least run, but I can wait for that.

Haha, what's this in reference to? Can't find a mention of "nightjar" in the last few pages of this topic... Bought a GTX 660 for $87 after MIR. Hopefully it's not canceled. My first nvidia card - not because I've had something against them before, but it's just how it's worked out in the past.

Yeah, it was supposed to be a favor for him, but at this point, I think it's done for. The very last thing I wanted to do before I called it quits, though, was screw around with the BIOS, possibly reflash it to see if that would help at all. Tough luck, I guess, as it's completely obstinate at this point. Not being able to use a keyboard means messed up beyond repair, I guess, haha.

Ooh, how I hate Windows. For some reason, after having started it up again, it suddenly decided to go into the Windows Startup Repair tool. Couldn't stop it because...you know, no keyboard...and by the time you're in it, it doesn't let you freaking cancel what it's doing - says the process cannot be stopped. Ridiculous. With the clocks at 1.1GHz, this is going to take forever for it to oh hey it just finished as I was writing this. Cannot find anything to repair. GEE, I WONDER WHY, GUYS. How about you let me decide if it needs to be repaired or not, eh? Have no idea why it suddenly let me go through without needing to set BIOS values...but it did. I switched the power supply back from my own to my brother's old one, (who actually owns the computer, in case you haven't been keeping up, ), and now it suddenly isn't requiring it...gosh darn I hate computers.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you didn't already own a copy of it. Uh...well...unless you were willing to go through more dubious methods because it's a stupid and arbitrary distinction between the two, there's not really a way to get around it.

Time to reformat!

Yeah. I'm pretty sure the motherboard is shot to at least some degree - I'm surprised I was able to consistently make it to Windows desktop before I cleared the BIOS, to be honest - in fact, that confuses me more than anything, really. What I really need is some random compatible motherboard to test out the CPU...but I just don't have one, and the cheapest one I can find online is like $60, which would be a bitter pill to swallow if the CPU is shot, too.

Sorry, I meant spending money in terms of only your GPU, too - that was unclear, though. At $80, this would be a pretty fantastic card for your build, (there's some additional 10% off coupon using MasterPass or something that brings it down to there - alternatively, use the $15 off of $50 iPhone promotion they currently have running). The card is equivalent to...a $150 or so 265, if I'm not mistaken. On the other hand, I hate PowerColor, so best of luck if you do go that route, (again, someone else should provide input).

What're you thinking of spending? You have one PCIE 2.0 slot, (x16, it seems), which should still be able to handle just about any single chip card. CPU's a little bit of a different story...but it's not too bad. Decent speed, dual core with hyperthreading. I'd imagine it should be handle to hand anything new under...$200, maybe a little more, maybe a little less? Someone else should chip in, though, before you decide anything.

That's a good idea, if you have something like that or a ps/2 keyboard try that. You might've missed it, but I already tried a PS/2 keyboard. Works on my computer, doesn't work on his. Unlike the USB stuff, it won't even power on. The ports might as well be completely dead for all I can tell. Stupid broken hardware...

But I cannot get past POST at this point. It asks me to hit either F1 or F2 to either enter setup, (the BIOS), or to just load the default values. I can't get a keyboard to work, so it just sits there, forever. Can't get past it. So even if I did make a flash CD or something, I wouldn't be able to boot to it, because it won't pass POST because I have to press a dumb key before it'll try to boot anything, haha. Only thing I can think of is...maybe a third party PCI USB or PS/2 controller? Not sure. I tried plugging in the front panel USB, just to see if that might work, but still nothing.

How would I reflash it without being able to get to desktop? (e: and without being able to press anything while outside of Windows, too...) I have no idea what any part of your second sentence means.

Oh, I forgot to say: I was finally able to clear the BIOS this morning. I had tried using the CMOS clear pins, but it would simply not work after having tried multiple times - so I took out the CMOS battery, and that finally did it. I no longer get that horrendous beep/30 minute long wait when I have USB devices plugged in, but now I can't boot to desktop: it says "Keyboard/Interface Error", "CMOS Time/Data Wrong", and "CMOS Settings", and then tells me to either go into setup, or load default settings. I can't do either, though, because again, none of my keyboards will work - they'll power on, but they won't actually work...and nor will my PS/2 keyboard. Can't do anything at that point. Ack...one step forward, two steps back.

Yeah, I physically inspected the CPU and the motherboard itself, but did not notice anything strange looking. Anyone know how good MSI support is? Just finished sending them an information/advice inquiry, and wondering if they'll actually help after having written about a page and a half's worth...