Bothrops

GIMP. http://gimp.org/ For a windows binary (installable) try http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ --Bothrops

I have one too. Step aside. --Bothrops

I have one too. Step aside. --Bothrops

Many of the maps are clearly unbalanced, and it's well-known which side is harder. For gc members, and clan members who play regularly on our pubs to do this is a good principle -- The reasons are sound. The intention is honorable. However, it doesn't take too many of these guys to overcome the difficulty disparity between sides, and end up with a stack that is pretty nasty, even though it is on the hard side. It gets worse when this sort of clustering goes through several maps, because some folks invariably end up on the losing side for 5+ maps in a row, if they stick it out. I'm a not-so-good player with occasional good moments. I don't care about stats (especially since they're terribly broken, but that's another topic). So I tend to let myself be auto-assigned to a team. It would rarely make much difference to the balance for me to switch sides. When I play I look for good competition between teams that emphasize working together. Competition should be close, to keep gameplay exciting. I was happy to invest both time and $ into gc because of the good experiences I had on these servers. But sometimes it's pretty disheartening to stick it out through map after map of being shut out. So, IMO, when there are more than a couple of clan folks around, it's fine to default to the "pick the hard side" rule, but be aware of the balance in spite of that, and try to make adjustments before it gets to 6-0 or more. --Bothrops

[Team 5-color]-Black Lotus STEAM_0:0:5886690 27:45 131 0 active In general, there's typically a problem during the daytime in that there are no admins around and lots of non-regulars who come in. They bicker about the rules, escalate when asked to follow them, and generally disturb gameplay. The regulars and non-admin .gc members tend to try pretty hard to get them to stop, but with no authority they appear toothless. So the only alternative is to not even try to enforce the rules during those times, unless we can find an admin who can visit periodically during the midday hours. Given how singularly pleasant a place it is to play, It's a shame to see standards degrade at these times. -Bothrops

Just how do you hogtie a pit viper, cowboy? Don't get bit, lest ye have a medkit.

Thanks all! Pleased to be one of the gang.

Just skimmed this in a hurry this morning. It seems pretty incoherent to me. The PC3200 RAM will likely not be noticeably faster than the 2700, but it's a good price. You can always find a use for the other RAM, or someone who needs it. Your motherboard has 400 MHz FSB, which means it'll definitely take the 3200+ Barton. There are no faster chips in that product line, so that's the limit of that board (and mine, BTW) It will be faster in a noticeable way than the 2600 you currently have. Exactly how that translates to applications that matter (CS:S) is harder to say, and on top of that, only you can say how much improvement is worth that kind of money. I did it once, but wasn't playing CS at the time. FFXI ended up noticeably faster. To respond to those who suggest you should buy a new athlon-64 rig, here's one reasonable way to think of it: If you can't afford a new rig, it's not an option. At this point, it's nuts to dump money into anything that isn't PCI-X, which means that you're in for mboard, CPU, fan and vidcard, putting you up over $700. If you plan to save for a new rig, it's perfectly sensible to make part of that saving plan the upgrade of your current rig to give it more life. The additional life you buy will give you some immediate gratification and make your saved $$ go much further than they would earlier. Test it yourself -- make an imaginary budget, go to newegg and price out some stuff today, then price the same stuff in a month and note that it's well over $200 cheaper than it was today.