Frame Rate help please

[Red Tail 444]

I'll give them a call and get on their case...thanks

[Red Tail 444]

Well, I think I may return this....I paid about 1350 for it, so what do you suggest I get for the same price, less, not more...

[mrsid2]

Did that price include the monitor?

[mrsid2]

Example (pricewatch.com)

Epox EP-8KHA+, Via KT 266A chipset ultra ATA100 AMD Socket A ATX Form Factor. Retail Box w 1yr warranty. - with cpu - ATHLON XP 1900+,1.6GHZ 266MHz AX1900DMT3C,W/VOLCANO 5 FAN

$ 324

Tufshop.com
888-919-1101
562-290-0111 -- P.O.'s accepted
 CA  100868

Antec SX1240 NEW AND FACTORY SEALED ATX FT 400W P/S BGE 6 5.25 8 3.5 2 92MM FANS FULL TOWER CASE

$ 126 $14.72 UPS GROUND!
EMS Computing
800-939-3948
352-374-8400
 FL  SX1240  

Mushkin! PRICE FOR ONLINE ORDERS- 512mb PC2100 Basic DDR SDRAM LIMIT 5pcs AMD VIA ALI approved PC2100 Rated 2.5-3-3 @ 133MHz 32Mx8 Chip Density
$ 113 $6 (FedEx 3-5 day) 1/29/2002 4:02:46 PM CT Mushkin!
800-569-1868
303-534-5306 -- P.O.'s accepted
  CO  990841

Leadtek Winfast Geforce3 nvidia Titanium 200 64MB DDR AGP4X Retail.
TV-OUT Only Retail Box 3 Year Manuf warrty Games(DRONEZ, GUNLOK)
$ 169
PowerStart Computer
877-480-9981
718-776-3702
 NY

IBM DESKSTAR 60GXP 60.0GB EIDE 7200RPM 2MB CACHE IC35L020AVER07 Model IC35L020AVER07ULTRA ATA 100 8.5ms average seek times 3 YEAR IBM WARRANTY
60.0GB
$ 104 13.95+
Sofistic.com
866-336-5428
626-336-5428

Hitachi HITACHI DVD IDE DVD RAM DRIVE. 2.6GB/5.2GB DVD RAM. GF1000. BARE DRIVE ONLY. ONE YEAR WARRANTY. CAPABLE OF READING ALL FORMS OF MEDIA INCULDING 4.7GB SINGLE SIDED MEDIA. INCLUDES VOB DECODING SOFTWARE.
$ 199 9.95 UPS  
Alinamicro
888-625-9441
949-863-0500

Creative Labs SOUND BLASTER LIVE PLATINUM 5.1 NO REMOTE WHITE BOX VERSION .
$ 83
888-393-0340
847-364-9900--School&Govt P.O.'s

That still leaves you $232 for keyboard, mouse and monitor..
If you want, you can skimp $50 off the price of ram if you buy something else than mushkin 512mb. As long as its DDR.

This kind of system will beat that dell box here and back easy.
The downside is that you have to assemble the computer yourself - but it's not that hard. The motherboard comes with a full manual which will tell you exactly what to put and where.

[Red Tail 444]

Yes that included the momitor, it also came w/ a DVD and CD/RW, as well as assorted support options, shiping, and stuff...

I'm looking at the pricewatch thing, it looks really good..but I suck at putting anything together, I even have trouble putting colored socks together...no kidding!
I would be savig a ton though....but I think it's probably safer for me to get a system already running.

I emailed the HTC folks, and they again re-assured me that my box works fine in their game (and it does, so far), but in terms of value and age of equipment, I got shafted...

I am writing a letter to Dell...those bastages..looks like I'm now in the hunt for a GF3 200 (any sellers?)

 Good Grief this is getting costly LOL

[Lephturn]

I don't think you got bad value at all.  Sure it's not a pimped-out gaming rig, but it's a very decent machine that will play games just fine.  Sure, there are better video cards out there, but they do cost more money.  Yep, you could build something cheaper yourself, but you have to build it and support it yourself too.

I don't think Dell screwed you at all.  It's unlikely that the Dell folks know as much about gaming and video cards as we do.  If you want to change something, I'd ask Dell to swap you for a GeForce 3 Ti 200 if they will.  Even if you pay the price difference, that would still be a fair deal, since I don't see that they overcharged you.  If you would rather have a more expensive but more powerful card, ask them to swap it for you.  Make them pay for shipping though since it was their dubious advice.

In the future, ask on this message board before buying, and we can likely help you choose a very good "bang for the buck" gaming machine even from Dell if you want their support and warrantee.  If you don't want to build your own, Dell is a good choice.  In fact, although I build my own machines, I recommend my family and friends who are not technically savy to just buy Dell.  I help them choose the system, everything works fine, and they get a good computer at a reasonable price.  Oh, and they never call me with problems either.

[Red Tail 444]

Thanks Lepthurn, I think I will do just that (getting a better game card)

Good job also on the Trim Articles. It's been very helpful. Now if you want to go to "Technical Support" and work your magic on my programming issues,(CH issues) I'll give you my first born

[Horn]

I too am soon upgrading my system--I'm currently using a p3/500 w/ 256mb ram, TNT 2 Ultra card, SB live Value. I get 40-50 fps in the arena and around 15-20 fps in smoke and crowds (and around the bloody sheep).

I am being told that the p3 1.2 ghz(?) runs faster than the newer P4's--something about ram combinations and mobos. I'm not sure what to believe. I've also been told to wait a month and get one of the new Geforce 4 cards due to be released shortly.

I'm not in a huge hurry.

What do ya'll think? Am I being led astray?

TIA!

Horn

[mrsid2]

Horn if you want to go the expensive way, get a P4 2.2 Ghz CPU with a RDRAM motherboard and the new Geforce4 card.

You'll pay about the double price compared to a AMD XP2000+ KT266A board and GF3 Ti500 but gain maybe 20% in speed.

[mrsid2]

Red Tail: If you don't want to build the system yourself, but want still a kickass box, check these: http://www.azzo.com/test2/systems.html

[Red Tail 444]

Looks good...

I'm probably just gonna get the GF3 upgrade, and I guess the USB controllers....I'm ticked off CH is just casting us analog people aside, however..