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Time to start planning my new computer


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To be honest, I haven't actually played on that machine. I'm just assuming it goes well, since no one else complains about it.

 

 

I could definitely see diminishing returns, perhaps to the point of no real gain. Less performance seems awfully unusual.

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I find the raptor hard drivers overrated personally.  It lets me load programs faster and do all that file transfer stuff quickly, but the place where I'm concerned about performance is gaming and I don't see much improvement, outside of the initial load.

 

The raptor is fantastic and not at all overrated. As for gaming, it helps a lot with the gaming experience as well. Not while actually playing, I'll give you that, but level loads as well as the initial load counts for a lot, especially the level loads. Since I got my raptor, not one game has felt like the levels load slowly. Not even Vampire Bloodlines.

 

I don't know if I'd get the 150GB one, although it is even faster than the smaller ones. So if the money is there, it's probably worth it. My preference is a raptor for OS and apps and a larger HD for storage.

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The raptor is fantastic and not at all overrated. As for gaming, it helps a lot with the gaming experience as well. Not while actually playing, I'll give you that, but level loads as well as the initial load counts for a lot, especially the level loads. Since I got my raptor, not one game has felt like the levels load slowly. Not even Vampire Bloodlines.

 

The thing is though, I hardly notice the level loads in games as it is, including Bloodlines.

 

One game I could see it helping in is BF2 (assuming it's load time is related to file transfer), but I don't play it enough.

 

 

They are good. But not worth the money IMO.

 

 

EDIT: As for the Sims 2, that certainly is a compelling argument!

Edited by alanschu
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as a guy who plays mostly crpgs with tactical pause or tb, or strategy games , be they rt or tb, we has seen 0 reason to gets a raptor. hardcore geeks swears by 'em, but fot the kind games we play we woulds much rather have 2x or 3x the storage capacity we can gets from other comparably priced quality hds.

 

HA! Good Fun!

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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Well, the raptor was much harder on the overall budget. I might slip in one of the 7950s and go for a more modest HD. Frankly, I've never used more than 50 gigs on a harddrive. I could probably get by with an 80gig drive.

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Actually, I think I'm ready to buy. Everything, all tolled, comes to $2,174.19 after taxes. That's good enough for me.

 

The real question is, wait for the 7950s or not. Some of you suggest waiting and others suggest finding what I like and buying. That's the real question now. I don't trust Vista to ship before the end of this year. In fact, I don't trust it to ship before the middle of next year and then I expect that the worst bugs and security issues won't be fixed before the end of next year.

 

So, will getting this card:

 

ASUS EN7900GTX/2DHTV/512M Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

 

mean I'm crying because I didn't wait for something. Will this card be able to use DirectX 10? What's the deal, you computer brainiacs?

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In this business, investing in the bleeding edge inevitably leads to some heartache a couple of months later. You have to accept that. At the same time, your reservations about Vista are also applicable to upcoming motherboards, CPUs, video cards etc. What if the next nVidia GPU turns out to be a disaster like the horrible FX series? Once you've spent the dough, there's really no point in thinking about what that money would've gotten you had you waited longer. The bottom line is that the stuff you have with you is damn good stuff, and well worth the $2K you spent on it.

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Well, the raptor was much harder on the overall budget.  I might slip in one of the 7950s and go for a more modest HD.  Frankly, I've never used more than 50 gigs on a harddrive.  I could probably get by with an 80gig drive.

 

You can do both though. There is no need to get the biggest raptor (although that model is improved and thus even faster). Get the smallest one for apps and then a decent size normal HD for storage. That would give you performance and capacity for roughly the same price as the largest raptor.

 

(just to illustrate my love for the raptor, the 36BG one is my only HD. When I built this computer I couldn't afford more and got that one with the intention of getting a larger HD to complement it later. I still haven't been able to afford that, but I haven't regretted my decision for a second. The performance boost the raptor gives me is so amazing that I wouldn't give it up for any amount of GB)

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So, will getting this card:

 

ASUS EN7900GTX/2DHTV/512M Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

 

mean I'm crying because I didn't wait for something.  Will this card be able to use DirectX 10?  What's the deal, you computer brainiacs?

I don't think current generation cards will be able to take advantage of DirectX 10; that is Shader Model 4, IIRC, and that isn't implemented in hardware yet. Hence why I'm waiting for three months ...

OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS

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OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT

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IMO if you care about HDD speeds you're probably going to the HDD too often, so you have other things to take care of first. :) ... If you still want a really uber drive for bragging rights, get a Seagate Cheetah (15K SCSI) :D

 

Going to the HD too often? As soon as I start a program, I go to the HD, every level loaded in a game as well. And everytime I open or save a file. Or unrar stuff etc.

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Especially when I have money and limited expenses.

 

I guess I haven't said what I'm getting.

 

Asus A8R-MVP Deluxe

Athlon64 X2 4200+

ATI Radeon X1900 XTX (I couldn't say no to 3 X's. It's the latent porn addict in me!!! Oh, this was my stupid purchase :()

2x1GB of RAM

 

As well as the other bells and whistles like DVD-RW and whatnot.

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