The framerate/occupancy concept is as old as the series itself, yes, but
before GP2 the physics were different. Besides, I was trying to avoid giving
the impression britdriver bought the biggest *** lemon in recent history.
Let's not forget the game does certain things very well, I know I have. ;-)
Jan.
=---
Richard.
Hmmm... what do you people would consider a "half-decent" system?
No kidding, just plain curiosity. (I don't dare asking what a
"full-decent" system should be expected to be like)
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
agreed, anybody buying a NEW system with specs less than those will be
guarenteed to have slowdowns with current games at max graphics etc and
future games will bog even more meaning most of the graphics will need to be
turned down.
There are plenty of PIII 800 users still and that's not a complete slug
yet, but if you are buying new....get as MUCH cpu speed as possible.
dave henrie
>> I guess by half-decent I meant about a 1.5GHz and a GF3.
> agreed, anybody buying a NEW system with specs less than those will be
>guarenteed to have slowdowns with current games at max graphics etc and
>future games will bog even more meaning most of the graphics will need to be
>turned down.
> There are plenty of PIII 800 users still and that's not a complete slug
>yet, but if you are buying new....get as MUCH cpu speed as possible.
>dave henrie
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
You must've gone for a cheap PC a year ago then. My old 1.2 (just upgraded
CPU to 1900+) is just over a year now and the CPU didn't cost a whole lot at
that point. Then again, I got AMD so it probably cost the same as that 700
Moneytel. :)
--
Frode
>You must've gone for a cheap PC a year ago then. My old 1.2 (just upgraded
>CPU to 1900+) is just over a year now and the CPU didn't cost a whole lot at
>that point. Then again, I got AMD so it probably cost the same as that 700
>Moneytel. :)
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
A 700MHz Intel had not "just become available" a year ago... I happened to
have stumbled upon a receipt for an old 700MHz Athlon while cleaning office
today and it was dated sometime in 2000 (Q1 if I remember right). At about
the price you quote even. Athlon launched their 700MHz in late 1999. Intel
followed shortly after. If you bought it for that price in 2001 you were
robbed.
Anyways to get somewhat back on topic, a year ago your specs were half
decent. Now they would barely qualify as quarter-decent, as you yourself
put. :)
That doesn't mean it's a useless computer. It's perfectly fine for
everything but ***. Not that it won't run recent games, but it obviously
will be very hard to get them running like they're meant to be run (fair
resolution, at least medium detail). With that kind of system that's only to
be expected. New games will never be designed to run great on 2 yr old
hardware.
Those old boxes you mention are perfect candidates for being Linux servers
and firewalls. I've got several stacked around the apartment myself. As for
networking *** with them.. Depends what you wanna play really. Not much
of anything will run on any of them cept the celeron. And it'd have to be
pretty old to run properly even on that. Hope you have old windows and DOS
versions laying about, you'll likely need 'em to get those games running at
all.
--
Frode
>A 700MHz Intel had not "just become available" a year ago... I happened to
>have stumbled upon a receipt for an old 700MHz Athlon while cleaning office
>today and it was dated sometime in 2000 (Q1 if I remember right). At about
>the price you quote even. Athlon launched their 700MHz in late 1999. Intel
>followed shortly after. If you bought it for that price in 2001 you were
>robbed.
The funny thing is that most machines around have lower specs, or if they have
higher ones, they're overpriced. Here's an example, for $1399:
Microtech Pentium IV
1.6 Ghz + Impresora Hewlett
Packard Modelo 845
256 Mb de Ram
Disco duro de 40 Gb
Unidad de CD-RW / DVD
Monitor de 17``
Parlante Inspire 5300 ( 5
satelitales y un sub-woofer )
Tarjetas Soundblaster Cart
Live 5.1
While this one goes for $649.50:
Computadora Dynamic
Pentium III de 1 Ghz Velocidad
128 Mb de RAM
30 Gb de Disco duro
CD de 52x
Monitor 15``
Definitely, with the 486DX/4 I wouldn't dare to play anything more recent than
GP2, DooM, Duke Nukem 3-D, Descent (1, not 2!) or ATF (which could be run under
Windows 95, as GP2 too). The Celeron is lacking a proper case with ATX power
supply, once I finally buy one it will get my 6GB HD with two different Linux
versions and Win95, I can use it to test MP maps for strategy games (something
I can't do right now with the DX/4, which is the other system that's up and
running, as the SLC-2 lacks a working HD)
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://www.racesimcentral.net/
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
It's not really important. Let's just assume you got it when it was
cutting-edge. Sad story is that 2 years is forever in this game.
Unfortunately(?) these big boxes we toy with aren't consoles and they need
constant upgrading :(
Depends a bit. For the same price you can have an 1800+ XP with twice the
harddrive and about the same specs otherwise. If you go and buy the pieces
and put it together yourself you can kill that machine for that same price.
You can't go by MHz alone. It's like comparing an original Athlon to the new
XPs based on clockspeed alone. The entire architecture has changed
meanwhiles allowing for greater advances in speed than just that. Buying a
P3 now is pointless. You're stuck without upgrade potential etc. When I went
from my 700 to 1.2 I had to swap mobo due to the socket A mobo and RAM as
well. When I went from the 1.2 to 1800+ I just swapped CPU. That's why
they're dirt cheap. If you just want a low-end machine for a server or
otherwise though, it's handy they're dumping the prices to get rid of them
:)
The other box also had a few other things this one doesn't, so they don't
seem directly comparable.
under
Ah.. The golden age of ***, eh.
--
Frode
>It's not really important. Let's just assume you got it when it was
>cutting-edge. Sad story is that 2 years is forever in this game.
>Unfortunately(?) these big boxes we toy with aren't consoles and they need
>constant upgrading :(
That's what I usually do... rather, I buy accessories first which can still be
used with my current system (like video and sound cards, HDs, etc.) and once
the system can't be upgraded anymore, change the MoBo and CPU.
Uh, no, what I intended to do was compare both of them to my current system.
The second one has a CPU similar to my current system, but comes with less RAM
and probably nothing more than a cheap 8MB video card... Oh, and seemingly no
sound card or DVD-ROM drive.
Ah, the stories of those days... Like when we managed to get access to the new
Compaqs at the university's computer lab to test the Alpha release of DooM
because nowhere else could we find a 486DX-40 with *8MB RAM* (and 15-inch
monitor, wow!).
--
__________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
\_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru
_H__/_/ http://www.racesimcentral.net/
'-_____|(
remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying
