Jager

the core 216 is better then the 260 its a updated and unlocked chip. the 9550 is much better then the 9400 due to much bigger l2 cache (double!) and you probably want the 600w just incase your friend decides to step up with a bigger vid card down the road or more drives etc. if you could give us some idea of the budget you are working with it would allow us to present many different options within your price range. edit2 if you can afford the i7 system the memory throughput destroys anything on the market right now and a 9550 wouldnt hold up to a i7 920 at stock speeds most of the time as gaming takes more out of core 1 and 2 then 3 and 4 unless specifically optimized for multicore usage.

ram just grab a 2x2gig set of ddr2 off newegg if you can they are fine should be about 50-60 bucks for a decent set of speedier timings ddr3 you should go 3x2gig or 6 gigs of ram so that it runs at its best. they sell matched sets as well and again id point you toward newegg and find the best price versus best timings and go from there.

they are good, but if your friend is not a computer person having to diagnose a bad soldered chip on an nvidia board is impossible without a flat rma to nvidia (the chips are epoxied on and the solder/bedding for the pins is under that) so the newest ones are ok, but nvidia rolled the chips that go can go bad (takes about a year or so) in with the newer ones and didnt bother telling anyone til afterwards when they were all installed. the newest intel mobos support sli (some x series) so you could go that route and as long as your vid card is a gtx 2 series (250 260 etc) it will be fine those chips are made after the issue was discovered and such. ati cards are not bad though it really depends on the gaming your friend plans to do, as well as the resolution at which the monitor runs. most ati cards are neck and neck with their nvidia couterparts.

I dont, not at all after nivida screwed the pooch with their chip solder and epoxies i went as far away from them as i could, they "decided" not to take the effected chips out of the bins and basically gave the finger to thousands of customers and OEM's. course fixing the problems would bankrupt nvidia all together, but that should tell you how bad it is. ati has its issues, but they at least so far havent been that crappy.

the p 45 is pretty much hands down the 775 board to go with, jsut make sure your southbridge is also good. pcie 2.0 x16 x2 is the minimum a p45 should sport. nividia boards are not known as great long term boards as they have had issues with the chip solder, depending on the newer versions may be better but YMMV. the 790i is the best nividia board on the market atm comparable to the p45 in total options etc. great all around boards, great overclockers and tons of expansions if your friend wants to get new gear. the 750i is comparable to the p43 and some g31 series mobos. use these if hes on a bit of a budget squeeze and or plans only to run 1 vid card and isnt pushing crazy overclocks. they are great boards but have limitations in overall number of slots and ram specs etc. as for the designations, the numbers are for differences in the level and newness of the chipsets. ie the g series g31 etc is a lower budget mobo chipset that generally supports 1 vid card and 2 mem sticks. the q idk, havent paid attention to that. P p43 being teh budget p45 for the high end 775 socket mobos (c2d c2q p4 etc) x is for the i7 boards. x58 is the most common. its the top performer atm HTH

as to why its better, the video card in the first one is better the 285 wipes the floor with the 230 hands down. as for the cost, depending on where you are shopping you should certainly be able to get it cheaper.

well here are the updated photos of my system, in stage 3 of building (still have to reinstall my awter cooling system and decide if I want more storage space. this is the case (old photo of a door behind it to show height overall) first monitor 28". old 20.1 inch monitor turned sideways next to 28" and a full shot of the desk and case as they are at the moment along with the blankets in my chair. system specs now are mozart tx case, with biostar tseries motherboard 2x2 gigs of ram (ddr2 800mhz) q6600 1.5 terabytes of diskspace (approx) 20.1 inch and 28 inch monitor logitech mx1000 mouse and microsoft intellimouse 3.0 saitek eclipse 2 keyboard logitech 5.1 speakers and the icemat siberia headphones. watercooling by koolance and swiftech.

congrats to tcp cloud, venomous and daze, glad to see you all getting recognized for your work.

within steam is the abiltiy to defragment game files , just right click on the game and go to properties, then check under the local content tab if memory serves. it should improve your gaming somewhat overall, as far as fps drops that is alot to do with many factors, id suggest power cycling your modem and router and restarting your pc, then trying your games, i bet there will be some improvement. the longer stuff is on the more bits and pieces of data and old program traces pile up and slow crap down, restarting get s rid of that "debris"

the tuniq tower would not fit how? as in it hits things on the motherboard? or that the kit does not include the correct mounting hardware. if it is the hardware just call sunbeam support and have them ship you the mounting hardware. if it is the motherboard, there are a few potential fixes without buying a new HSF, jsut post the model of your mobo and I will see what I can do for you.

Later green remember its the city, hookers are more expensive. See you in a few months.

it itsnt a clone, it is a mil spec steyr aug. in OD green

wait a gun thread... that I havent posted on... oh man is it ON. my CCW weapon of choice but an inch longer, apparently google prefers the commander models in photos, who knew. I have some others, but my next purchase is likely to be the mil spec steyr AUG semi auto.

what about 2 stupid dogs, ren and stimpy, angry beavers. man i miss shows that had adult overtones that made the show hilarious to rewatch years later. "Dont wizz on the electric fence"

well grim dowload a program called memtest or prime 95, either or, run an extended loop against the memory and the processor separately and it will let you know pretty quick if components are gonig bad. I also recommend cleaning out the vents with compressed air, making sure you have defragmented your HDD recently, clean out your cache and other files if your low on physical space, and post some damn specs on the laptop, Without knowing what your setting in CSS are versus your laptop specs thats all i can give you.

the other thing the videos are trying to show though is the zombies rushing you, the AI trying to follow you and hit you when your stuck or cramped area wise. L4D so far seems to be a decent setup for what an "actual" human speed zombie would be and how swarm inteligence (hivemind) works.

congrats guys

ok now that the stupid responses are out of the way, legal check the temperature in the tank, if its below 80 its likely that its gone into hibernation mode and will not eat. you need to slowly warm it up back to about 85degrees. what type of snake is it. (important info) is the skull of the rat larger side to side then the snakes head in between its eyes. if its too big it wont eat. make sure its got a clean water source that is cleaned daily or more if it is defecating in it. lastly pick it up listen to it breathing, if you hear a whooshign sound or what sounds like hissing and or you see it in its cage with its upper body vertical alot you may need to take it to the vet due to it likely having a respitory infection. it will not eat until thats cleared. further info can be given based on type of snake size/age of snake and cage size bedding setup etc. HTH

congtrats guys, raven this still means i will abuse you thouroughly on surf. it is simply impolite to let rank come between us

congrats you guys.

hmmm well i guess i shall grab photos of the various pc crap sitting around the room. gotta find batteries

the part that legal is not mentioning is that this lawsuit is also forcing bestbuy to deal with the geek squad issues they have been denying for a long time. Geek squad members are known and have been caught stealing customer information off the computers brought in, even taking personal photos, music and banking information. Bestbuy has two options to do now, 1 they find her data and her laptop, they give her a new pc and they sign her up and pay for a lifetime of credit id theft protection insurance. That is the minimum I would expect to recieve when my data goes missing. If the component companies and NDA info stored on my pc were to be leaked to whomever was on the geek squad and published id be in serious trouble, and possibly ruined. 54 million "seems" expensive sure, and I agree its a tad bit much, but if bestbuy was only charged say 10 thousand dollars, a sum they make in a bad day from 1 store. there is no real punishment. having a 54million dollar lawsuit is the smack in the face that Bestbuy and the other computer service companies (circuit cities firedog etc) to pay real close attention to exactly how liable they are with warrenties and data protection. legal can correct me if my information is outdated, but in any case of hacking or data theft the owner of the data generally sets the price or "worth" of said data. it may be 5 bucks but if the company/person claims it was worth as little as a few hundred thousand then suddenly its an FBI matter and federal laws have been broken. That lady has bestbuy by the balls basically, and unless she has an idiot for an attorney she will likely win her case. Watch bestbuy scramble and probably force changes as to how their repair service works as well and her laptop may "appear". bestbuy is very lucky she did not have an ibm laptop with the internet traceback feature built in, that as soon as she reports it missing it will broadcast a signal on any wireless signal available. if it can be proven that the computer crossed state lines without her consent or spelled out on the forms bestbuy or the affiliate doing the work could face criminal charges for theft of data and services which is something that the feds love to try in court, judges give out stiff sentences for that as well, 5-10 years is the norm or more depending on the "value" the victim says the data is worth.