Yet Another Component I'm Lusting After

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 8:14 pm

I want, I really really really want the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers that came out this year! But they are $400!!!!!!

Will this ever end? Will I ever stop spending so much money on my pc's?

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 11:27 pm

Originally posted by VoodooDali
Will this ever end? Will I ever stop spending so much money on my pc's?

To put it bluntly NO.

I recently upgraded my RAM from 64 to 256 and now planning to go to over 512. Why I...don't...know...

Now that I start to think about it, my 17 inch monitor is beginning to look a bit small...

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Fri Apr 26, 2002 11:56 pm

I see we have an Upgraders Anonymous group forming here. Count me in.

I don't think any piece of hardware has stayed in my system for more than 12 months. I'm currently eyeing up another 60GB hard disk, an IDE RAID controller and an Athlon 2000+, but... must... not... spend....

@Tamerlane, 512MB is good. Do it anyway.

Baldursgate Fan · Post by **Baldursgate Fan** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:04 am

@All

While you are on the subject of upgrading and memory...

I am thinking of upgrading my gaming laptop from Acer 500 MHZ 10 Gig 128MB Ram to the Dell Inspiron 1.7 MHZ 60 Gig (maybe 40) 512MB Ram.

Queston is, is there any significant performance boost after 512MB? Is 1024MB Ram, for example, overkill?

Thanks in advance for your input.

EDIT: And how may I transfer my games (BG Series, Planescape, EE) over to the new laptop without a zip drive?

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:23 am

@BGF, depends entirely on the OS you're planning on using. Windows 98 doesn't make much use of memory over 384MB (I think) but 2000/XP will love that much memory. As for transferring games, you'd need to re-install them anyway. If you're really keen (and want to try for the whoops thread) you could get a couple of 2.5" to 3.5" drive conversion kits and stick both drives in a desktop PC and use something like Ghost to copy the entire windows setup.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:49 am

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
@BGF, depends entirely on the OS you're planning on using. Windows 98 doesn't make much use of memory over 384MB <snip>

I've even had friends that have had memory over 512 not detected or even crashed their computer (windows couldn't handel it) because of it, in Windows 98/ME

Baldursgate Fan · Post by **Baldursgate Fan** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 7:06 am

@Mr Flibble and Xandax

Wow! Thanks for the advice!

I will stick with 512MB then. I knew Win ME was bad, but had no idea it was this bad.

Cheerio.

Quark · Post by **Quark** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 8:20 am

You want Klipsch speakers, huh? My 4.1s are awesome. The bass (weaker than 5.1's) is one of the loudest in my dorm. I still think the quality is better than most home systems I've listened too.

There is one disadvantage: all the extra bass makes every other system seem completely flat if it doesn't have a subwoofer (my house's home system, my car stereo, etc ...)

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 10:01 am

I dunno what's good on that Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers, but I'll stick with BOSE. I'm still saving my hard earned money to get that baby

Quark · Post by **Quark** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 12:57 pm

Bah, I know from personally experience to stay away from BOSE computer speakers. Stupid subwoofer that came w/ my Gateway cracked within 2 months - and the highest it was ever set was halfway.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:36 pm

Well i am lusting after the new Creative Mp3 player, oh how i want, i already have a JB2, but i just can't resist the new one.....it is lovely

As for Speakers, i have some Cambridge Soundworks 4 point speakers, not too bad but i am upgrading my car speakers at the mo so i can't afford to buy anything else...

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 2:40 pm

@Quark : Perhaps Gateway which is the source of the prob

(Joking !)

ATMOF, the BOSE speakers I mentioned are not BOSE Computer Speakers. They're for sound system - I planned to integrated the whole sound system on my room which where the PC resides now

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 3:39 pm

Originally posted by KidD01
@Quark : Perhaps Gateway which is the source of the prob (Joking !)

ATMOF, the BOSE speakers I mentioned are not BOSE Computer Speakers. They're for sound system - I planned to integrated the whole sound system on my room which where the PC resides now

Ohh, God damn would I love to do that!

It's really annoying, at home I'm running a PII 350, and though it runs older games really well (boosted by 128 MB and a TNT 2 card) everything else runs slow. I want a new PC so bad that I would kill for one! (But I can't afford it, and I also want broadband for NwN!

)

So much money to spend, so little money to spend with!

(Ahah, this summer I will work my ass off to earn money for a new machine, it will be mine!

)

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 3:54 pm

@Nippy, have you considered 2nd hand stuff? There are a lot of techno-junkies (myself included) who upgrade rather frequently. Even a 1 year old system will still be in the 1000MHz region, so if the budget is a bit tight it might be worth looking into.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 4:29 pm

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
@Nippy, have you considered 2nd hand stuff? There are a lot of techno-junkies (myself included) who upgrade rather frequently. Even a 1 year old system will still be in the 1000MHz region, so if the budget is a bit tight it might be worth looking into.

I have considered that, it's just a question of finding a good enough system thats been kept in good condition, but I will endeavour to try and find a machine about 1.2/1.3 Ghz (Athlon probably) quite cheaply. I'm a good haggler.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 7:56 pm

@VoodooDali:
I have always had a good experience with Altec Lansing speakers. Sure, there's nothing super-special about them, but they always sound fine. It is my opinion that having a good sound card is about 80% of good computer audio and the remaining 20% is the speakers. For instance, you don't want to drop $400 on good speakers only to use AC97 motherboard sound.

@Tamerlane:
Memory in your computer is like gasoline in your car: You can never have too much, and when you don't have enough, you're sure as hell going to regret it. If you can afford 512 MB, buy 512 MB. If you can afford 1.5 GB, buy 1.5 GB. It's better to have too much by way of system resources than not enough.

@Nippy:
Instead of upgrading your entire system, have you considered rebuilding your machine one piece at a time? If you're running out of hard drive space, just get a bigger hard drive. If you're video card isn't as good as you want, upgrade from your GeForce2 to a Radeon 8500.

That way, rather than dropping $1,000 on a new machine every year, you can put $100 in here and there and after a year or so, your entire computer will have been replaced without the big one-time hit on your wallet.

There are also some components whose performance doesn't really change when you buy a computer with more horsepower. For instance, a 3.5" floppy drive is a 3.5" floppy drive, whether it's in a 200 MHz Pentium MMX machine or a 1.8 GHz Athlon. Same thing for your cooling fans, modem, network card, power supply, SCSI card and a few other things. So instead of buying a whole new computer, just get the parts you need.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Sun Apr 28, 2002 2:17 pm

Originally posted by HighLordDave
@Nippy:
Instead of upgrading your entire system, have you considered rebuilding your machine one piece at a time? If you're running out of hard drive space, just get a bigger hard drive. If you're video card isn't as good as you want, upgrade from your GeForce2 to a Radeon 8500.

That way, rather than dropping $1,000 on a new machine every year, you can put $100 in here and there and after a year or so, your entire computer will have been replaced without the big one-time hit on your wallet.

There are also some components whose performance doesn't really change when you buy a computer with more horsepower. For instance, a 3.5" floppy drive is a 3.5" floppy drive, whether it's in a 200 MHz Pentium MMX machine or a 1.8 GHz Athlon. Same thing for your cooling fans, modem, network card, power supply, SCSI card and a few other things. So instead of buying a whole new computer, just get the parts you need.

Thanks for the reply.

One of the things is, in my local Freeads they are selling a machine like this:

Athlon XP1700

40 GB HD

256 SDRam (not the best I know, but that doesn't really matter to me)

DVD

64MB Graphics card

Good sound card

17" monitors

Plus generic gear

This costs £565 which is a damn good deal in my opinion (and it's a new system but I need to know the clock speed for the chip, anyone tell me?

Also HLD, I had considered upgrading systematically but it wouldn't really work for me, I'd rather buy a new system because this rig would cost too much to upgrade (i.e. EVERYTHING needs to be upgraded!

)

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Sun Apr 28, 2002 2:38 pm

Originally posted by Nippy

This costs £565 which is a damn good deal in my opinion (and it's a new system but I need to know the clock speed for the chip, anyone tell me?

1466MHz. Looks like a good deal too.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Sun Apr 28, 2002 3:52 pm

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Well i am lusting after the new Creative Mp3 player, oh how i want, i already have a JB2, but i just can't resist the new one.....it is lovely

Can I have your old one please?

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Sun Apr 28, 2002 4:23 pm

Originally posted by Yshania

Can I have your old one please?

Have and buy are two differing words