Cujo

i built a server that everyone remote desktops to where i have dl programs like that installed. when anyone wants something they connect. it's specifically for bittorrent. i have azureus for bt and then when one of us wants to play we just connect to the server and limit the upload speed. btw, we have 4mbit down and 640kbit up. anything over about 10k/sec upload makes ping start to suck lol

the 9-2x is a wrx(or just plain impreza depending on the model) with saab badging. same engine and chassis. a friend's dad just got one. reviews say it doesn't handle as good as a wrx. probably because it's heavier because of the added luxury. personally, my dream car is an sti. i test drove a 2002 wrx and it's by far the most fun car i've ever driven even only for 15 minutes. it all depends on how you drive. if you want sporty and fun at the cost of luxury and refinement then go wrx. otherwise audi is the way to go. the a4 is a very nice car. nothin beats awd. i've cornered in the snow a 4x4 and a front drive (albeit a jetta with whatever their traction control thing is called and a yukon xl in 4wd). traction control helped but it didn't pull me through like the 4wd did. just play some colin mcrae 2k5 or other rally games and try the fwd vs the awd in snow and you'll notice a huge difference when moving. btw, driving games taught me to drive. big shout outs to nfs series and colin mcrae series. most fun thing to do in winter is hit up the parking lots in the snow and johnson around.

yea. i use skype and it uses 5k/sec up and down. with my connection that's fine if 1 or 2 ppl are using but not more. should clarify. i don't use skype while csing but use it while others cs and no complaints. it's much cheaper(free) than long distance phone calls to talk to my parents back home.

ya for sure if your rommie is webcaming. voicing shouldn't be as much of an issue but it COULD still affect. what is your bandwidth up and down?

hahahahahahaha wow. (laughing at your comment not the question) a text msg is less than a kb. watch your network bandwidth next time you use messenger. there's 5 ppl altogether in my house and even before we got our new router i still never really had issues unless someone was downloading or browsing large websites constantly(pron)... there's not many ppl online to talk to at this point but i just opened a couple msg windows and it used less than a kb. i believe that includes dling their display pics even.

here you go auggy. http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm most things have been updated for sp2.

yea amd will be fine then. just making sure you don't do any heavy duty mp3 or divx compression.

a64 are gaming chips. even the lowest a64 can beat the highest intel in most games. in windows you generally won't notice a difference with any modern cpu. what do you use your computer for?

are they both the same size? most 512mb sticks are double sided. if they are two different sizes they will not work in dual channel. you should definately take either one or both sticks back and buy a dual channel kit. that way you ensure dual channel will work just fine.

his psu probably isn't 2.0 but it'll still work. unfortanately with any upgrade other than another intel you'd probably have to format. you could try a repair(an option when booting the winxp cd). my friend does it and it annoys the heck out of me cause it means a more "dirty" install. ie. you'd still have all your intel drivers in the system. but it would probably still work and you'd never notice. i'm just a purist in the fresh format/install sense. though he has done it from nf2-nf3-nf4 all using nvidia and amd so the drivers are the same. at this point it makes the most sense to go socket 754 as there are very few, if any, good 939 boards with nf3 chipset(needed for agp). http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-103-483&depa=1 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-136-147&depa=1 there's my recommended cpu and mobo. all you'd have to do is set the divider right and your ram should work just fine. all your other hardware should work just fine. if you could list you complete system specs currently and if possible list your power supply stats. just the amps of the 3.3, 5, and 12v rails(it should say on your psu). if i can see that i can tell you for sure whether the psu will work. total without any taxes(do you guys have taxes?) and shipping is $298. future upgrades would be a gig of ddr400, a new vid card(maybe x800 something once prices fall some more), and maybe an sata hard drive. oh and maybe a new psu if you get an x800 card. again that depends on what your rails are cranking out.

i just tell ppl i'll have to format and they'll lose everything... that usually shuts them up. seriously though, with winxp you can make a limited profile that doesn't allow the user to install anything without an admin password. there are some other tweaks needed to be done but you can make it so that the registry is locked. i think you can make it so they're allowed to save stuff to a certain folder. my friend does this for his families stuff and apparently it works miracles. i plan on learning when i'm back home this summer cause there's a few ppl at college with me that need it. thankfully, my family all know what they're doing with computers enough that they don't click yes on every popup. my mom works at a tech support center and my dad works for an internet credit card processing company so they both are fairly comp literate.

so when you use windows a/v config wizard it works fine? try updating audio drivers.

usually below 50c on most parts though vid cards usually have a higher tolerance. my x800pro on stock cooler would hit 75c with no issues.

lol with guilt factor in mind how did you manage to live through spending an insane amount on a alienware pc?? seriously though, at this point due to changing technologies, you are gonna have to start saving to do this upgrade. even with a new vid card your fps will still drop down when there's lots of physics calcs being done. in all honesty, and it's something you probably haven't considered, you could upgrade to an a64 with nf3 chipset now(recommend socket 939). use your existing ddr333 ram with a divider and your existing agp card. that would net you a more smooth gaming experience in source as well as give you an upgrade path for a new agp card and 1gig of ddr400.

hacks

i never buy parts to just have them sit around. i wait til i can afford everything. imho that's just stupid. who mentioned piece by piece?

the x800pro vivos can almost all be flashed unless they're hard modded. you have to check the gpu first. apparently some of the newer ones are. just google it and you'll get tonnes of hits. mine was a connect 3d. it worked up to 530/530ish but could not to xt pe speeds so i just flashed it with an xt bios and enjoyed an x800xt with vivo. source at 1024 with full aa and af was nice'n smooth. can't wait to see what it's like on my a64.

zd and i seem to agree. btw, zd it's cool to meet a fellow 16 piper. too bad i had to rma mine(nothing to do with the mod). i hope the new one does 16 pipes.

lol i never thought of flooding it. it's amazing though taht everything breaks. even the help menus. i couldn't troubleshoot my problem cause i couldn't even view the help. lol

well if you're hellbent on upgrading then yea the choice is really between a 6600/gt or a 9800pro/xt. personally i'm an ati fan and i really only play source and ati is far superior in source. as long as the card is a 4x/8x card it'll work. i don't think i've ever seen an 8x that wasn't backwards compatible but i suppose such an animal could exist. yea ps3.0 is nice but right now it's the same as sse3, just a marketing ploy that has the occasional benefit. on that point, it's amazing how technical everyone has made this.

going back to what i said earlier. here is something that proves my point. notice how all the results line up nicely? that indicates a cpu bottle neck. also, consult the rest of the article as it sums up all the cards in the price range you are looking at. http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...ce_6600-33.html i don't think it's been asked yet but why so insistant on an upgrade when you can barely afford it? my 8500le with 64mb of ram is suiting me just fine at 8x6 with nothing on. i get 30fps at absolute minimum on aztec only. every other map is 40-120fps. your current card is far more powerful than mine. btw, i'm only running at 4x as well.

i reset my modem and i'm back on. very strange. no one in my house could access forums or even log in. guess it was something with my ip... thanks for posting though laz

agree 100% with norguard. get a 9800pro/xt if you absolutely must have 256mb of ram. 6600/gt does not come with 256mb. either way you're screwed for later upgrade without pcie. your current cpu/ram will not work in most if any mobos with pcie as they all support socket 775 not 478 like what you have. the cards zd mentioned are all pcie though it sounds like he's pushing a whole new system. btw, 256mb is only important if you use a lot of aa and af. that's all it's good for really.

aww that ones tame. it's just a garter snake. i used to catch those all the time when i was young. i think we still have one living in the back garden at my parents house. that first one on the other hand is freaky. never seen one of those before and i can't believe you caught him in the middle of dinner.