Zero001

No they're not on crack it just cost less to manufacture the newer gpu.

The 9800GTX is a better card and cost less than the 8800GTX Ultra.

It's not the drivers. The card just wasn't meant for gaming. Yes, it will produce a better image than the 6600 due to an increase shader operations and pixel fill rate, but the memory & memory speed on the 8400 is lacking. As soon as you get into action the memory becomes overloaded and thats why it starts to lock up. The 8400 was made for media not games. It will handle less intensive games like CS:S, but BioShock is no walk in the park. Trying to run a $30 game with a $20 card is not a good idea.

The only other option I see, is to having everything pre-built. For $500 this is a good deal Link. Just drop in your own video card. Con: Motherboard sucks ass and you'll never be able to overclock the Dell Pro: In a year you can replace the motherboard, which the next gen of cpu's will probably require anyway Con: I have no idea what kind of power supply they stick in there Pro: It can probably handle a 9600GT since it doesn't use up as much power as the 8800's Con: RAM = DDR2 667 Pro: A year from now DDR3 might be the standard and you might replace it anyway Pro: Comes with an Operating System and HDD Con: Might be the Dell bloatware CD and you won't be able to use it on another PC Pro: Your wife gets to keep her PC EDIT: Even comes with mouse and keyboard, so it is very complete. First builds are always the most expensive because you have to invest in all the extra parts. This is kind of a way around it.

It depends how much more you want to spend. I wouldn't really say it's worth upgrading from a 9600GT to an 8800GT unless there was a good sale on it, which there currently isn't. If you feel like waiting on a rebate the 8800GTS (G92) for under $200 is a great deal. Only other thing I can think of investing in is the CPU . $200 for a quad core or a 45nm Wolfdale. The Wolfdale will run cooler, uses less energy, and if you don't overclock will be faster in about 95% of normal operations. If you use rendering programs then go for the quad. The majority of programs and games still don't take advantage of multi-threading so dual is still the standard. A year from now things could change, so the quad can be looked as an investment especially if you overclock down the road.

There's your problem. You're trying to run BioShock with an insufficient video card. Just because it's a current generation card doesn't mean it can handle it. The minimum requirement for BioShock is a NVIDIA 6600, which even though it's 3 generations old it was built for gaming not High Definition movie watching like the 8400. 6600 > 8400 8400GS Manufacturer: nVidia Series: GeForce 8 GPU: G86 Interface: PCI-E x16 Memory Interface: 64-bit Core Clock: 450 MHz Memory Clock: 400 MHz (800 DDR) Memory Bandwidth: 6.4 GB/sec Shader Operations: 7200 Operations/sec Pixel Fill Rate: 3600 MPixels/sec Texture Fill Rate: 3600 MTexels/sec Vertex Operations: 1800 MVertices/sec 6600GT Manufacturer: nVidia Series: GeForce 6 GPU: NV43 Interface: PCI-E x16 Memory Interface: 128-bit Core Clock: 500 MHz Memory Clock: 500 MHz (1000 DDR) Memory Bandwidth: 16 GB/sec Shader Operations: 4000 Operations/sec Pixel Fill Rate: 2000 MPixels/sec Texture Fill Rate: 4000 MTexels/sec Vertex Operations: 375 MVertices/sec Do yourself a favor and invest in a minimal 8600GT for $90 or spend a little more on a faster 8800GS for about $100 after rebate.

Congrats to the couple :thumbup1:

This build is just under $690 shipped. It should be under $635 shipped after mail in rebates and it won't piss you off a year from now. Down the road, you will be able to upgrade to a quad core or the current 45nm cpu's if you decide to. You can build a better AMD system for a couple more dollars, but you won't be able to upgrade it. - DVD Burner $31 - Case $70 - Hard Drive $90 - Video Card $150 - Power Supply $80 - RAM $75 - Motherboard $90 - CPU $90

Hit the print screen button. Open paint, click edit then paste. Save the image and post it.

I didn't think they made year 2000 Miata's with pop up headlights :mellow:

Are you using an administrative user account? The message "For your security, some settings are controlled by Group Policy" leads me to believe that you're not on a user account with administrator privileges. If you are can you post a screen shot of what you're seeing?

Idk why you would have so much trouble just trying to turn on a fire wall. Try Start> Control Panel > Security Center > Windows Firewall (on the left column) > Turn Windows Firewall On or Off (on th left column) > click continue on the UAC > select ON and then click OK

Just leave default settings. I rarely see Windows defender, unless you're talking about UAC which stops bugging you after the program is setup. Windows firewall does no such thing. If it has a problem with something it will ask you if you want to grant it permission, again rare pop-up. It's Windows not rocket science. If you feel better about using other software feel free to do so.

The prank caller fails. I didn't find it funny. As soon as he lost control of the story and began with the racist remarks it turned into a sad fight. :thumbdown: This completely misses the point of prank calling.

OMG! That was terrible. It was almost as bad as the video game.

Yeah, I was still writing. Prices are always changing so I have to look around. The Q6600 was actually $180 shipped last week. They're supposed to be dropping to at least $206 at all stores this week via the Intel price drop. All chips are dropping between $2-$45. If you can drive into the CompUSA in Orlando you can find good cases and you won't have to pay the shipping on the Cooler Master case. $5 tax beats $20 shipping.

CPU: Spend $10 extra dollars and get a quad core. Link Motherboard: Good choice it's a good performer at it's price range, but it might be overkill for your needs. Consider buying a GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L, it will still overclock and it compatible with 45nm chips if you decide to upgrade at one point. Memory: Unless you're heavy into overclocking you won't see any significant difference by using DDR2 1066, especially on a 65nm chip. You're better off buying twice as much DDR2 800 for a little more Option 1 Option 2 HDD: Not a bad choice, only you can determine how much space you'll need. Just consider for an extra $25 you get double the space Link Case & Power Supply: I am extremely paranoid about power supplies. I never recommend using a power supply that came with a case. There is no sense in using a cheap power supply to power an expensive system. You risk loosing all of your hardware if it goes bad. Case options: Classic or Trendy. Power Supply: Standard or Modular Video Cards: I would recommend a 9600GT over and 320MB 8800GTS, but the 8800 GT is the best card under $200. The ATI 3870 would sit in the middle. The best choice right now would be Link. Use coupon code "EMCAECCCE" to knock $20 off of it if you're a newegg subscriber. It's slightly faster than the XFX and shipped free. Both XFX and EVGA have lifetime warranties. The BFG Bundle, I gave Red is also a very good choice of PS and GPU. Shop around. New Egg is very competitive, but there are other reliable e-tailer's which sometimes offer better deals. Always keep shipping price in mind.

Red beat me to it, but I'll elaborate.

Meh... the video is overrated. Yes, it was gross but some reactions to it are completed over done. I expected much worse so when I saw it I was unaffected. My main thought was "damn, what do you have to eat to crap like that?" Then I heard it was fake, and personally I wouldn't be surprised if it is fake. BME Pain Olympics, now that's a different story. Those are some sad people, and the videos are extremely disturbing to watch. It's like having a nightmare, and I consider myself to be very desensitized.

Atarian is the first registered user since he set up the web page. Anyone in the top 250 has been around since the first month or two. Z3r0 M4ni4c is our 1337 member, even though our forum shows less than that because of banned accounts.

Ouch, looks like you dropped it a couple of times.

Come on Niko, mindless repetitive task couldn't have been that bad. Sweet office Red.

:closedeyes: you totally butchered those lyrics

Of course if makes a difference. Having the music in front of you vs playing off memory makes a big difference.

You wouldn't have any trouble running that in Vista x64. Honestly the only problems I've had was running a mod Forgotten Hope, and installing the original Dawn of War. Being a mod FH isn't coded as well and a simple right-click>properties>compatibility mode solved the issue. The same has to be done for BF1942 if you want to run the mod. Battlefield 1942 on it's own doesn't need compatibility mode. Dawn of War didn't give me a Vista issue, but rather a 64bit issue. Most of the time you just run these programs in the x86 folder, but EA gave me some extra work by making me create a new user with only access to x86. I installed it using the new user and BAM! my administrative account had the files and I deleted the new user. You shouldn't have any problems with most games. Even Command and Conquer from Windows 95 days installed and runs flawlessly.