$1100-$1400 to build / buy a computer

[Reynardin]

OMG! I LOVE THIS COMPUTER! 100+ fps on max graphic settings and max res! and I could only get 20 fps at minimum res and min graphic settings on my laptop >.<

[Reynardin]

Is 43 c. maximum while playing cod4 max graphics settings and 1680 * 1050 res good ?

[farlex85]

yes

[Reynardin]

thanks.
One more problem: i downloaded Mass Effect from Direct2Drive.com, but when I run the setup.exe, it says the setup has been cancelled, and doesn't install. Any ideas?
Edit: problem solved. Installed, and now it just won't run...

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by Reynardin

OMG! I LOVE THIS COMPUTER! 100+ fps on max graphic settings and max res! and I could only get 20 fps at minimum res and min graphic settings on my laptop >.<

I very glad your happy with your computer. You now have a "high-end" gaming PC that should provide you with plenty of hours of gaming fun. Enjoy as much as we enjoyed helping you decide what to get.

Don't know what to tell you about Mass Effect, never played it myself.

[BarbaricSoul]

heh, I just saw this about Mass Effect

EA to PC Gamers: “Install 3 times? Buy another copy”
Posted by: Judhudson in News - The Sims 2, News - The Sims 3, Sim News, Spore News, Video Games
This really grinds my gears…As reported here in the past, Mass Effect for PC contains a new type of SecuROM which will be present in all future EA/Maxis games.

What does it do? Not only does it install itself to your computer without a word of notification as well as disable your firewall, dvd drives and cd/dvd burning software. It limits you to installing your game on your PC up to 3 times.

This can be triggered via using up your 3 activations and each time you change a piece of hardware, reformat your computer or install/upgrade a new operating system, it takes up one of the activations.

This is proven to be true by a guy over at the Mass Effect forums. He registered and started to play the game (Activation #1). Well, when he tried to play the game he had strange artifacts on his screen. Thinking it was an OS-related issue, he reinstalled XP and reinstalled the game (Activation #2). Finding out that it didn’t help the problem, he soon figured out it was his graphics card struggling. Well, he bought a brand new card and that solved the problem (this triggers Activation #3). Game ran fine for a short period of time (2 days) and he played thru it and completed the game. Well, a week after that, he decided he wanted to run thru the game again. This is where he stumbles upon this error:

“The game can not start. For security reasons, only a limited number of machines can ever be licensed by a single purchase. This limit has been reached. Please purchase another registration code, reinstall, and then try again.”

There is no doubt that EA will try to include this new version of SecuROM on Spore and possibly The Sims 3….and if it is, we are going to encounter some very serious problems. Heck, I can’t even count the times I had to reinstall the games, upgrade my hardware and reformat…

You know, come to think of it…EA is doing this to prevent piracy of their games, but it’s only hurting us legal customers. Look at this:

If you are a Pirate:

BAD: You do have the same bugs that those with legal copies have, plus new ones depending on how the cracked copy was programmed.
GOOD: Unlimited Activations!
GOOD: No SecuROM to deal with
GOOD & BAD: It’s free, but illegal
If you are a Legal Customer:

BAD: Limited to 3 Activations
BAD: Your computer is plaqued with SecuROM
BAD: Game contains errors and bugs
GOOD & BAD: You support Maxis by purchasing the game, but you are also supporting EA, and if you support them, you support SecuROM
Honestly…what looks better to you?

http://www.simprograms.com/?p=692

[hat]

WTF? BAD EA, BAD!
You're telling me if I buy Mass Effect I won't be able to burn anything, my DVD burner will be disabled which means I wouldn't be able to play Mass Effect anyway, and if I buy a new graphics card, without even reinstalling the os let alone the game it takes away one of these "activations", and the damn thing survives a reformat?

Screw you EA. We can probably sue them even...

[BarbaricSoul]

guess I ought to post this in the gaming section also

[Reynardin]

what WHAT ?? it disables dvd burning software? where the hell did that come from! that's ridiculous!

[farlex85]

Um, it doesn't disable burning. At least it didn't for me. I bought it at the store though, didn't to direct2drive. I'm not sure about your problem though Rey, what does it say? Can you get the launcher up?

[Reynardin]

yea, the installer didn't work the first four times, but it didn't ask for the cd key either, so i'm all good.

Works fine for now, but , from the sound of the "anti-piracy measures" put into place by EA, I won't be able to play it 5 years from now..

[calvary1980]

I can tell you have been neglecting your box over gaming, get to it!

- Christine

[Reynardin]

Originally Posted by calvary1980

I can tell you have been neglecting your box over gaming, get to it!

- Christine

me? this is my first real gaming computer, I'm only 16 years old lol. I have a laptop, which I used to play games up until now, but it's just a Thinkpad R60. Decent enough, but not exactly the best for gaming. Also tends to overhead quite a bit..

[Reynardin]

Ok, when I was shifting my PSU around to find the Serial Number, I knocked the CPU cooler (Rifle cooler, check my system specs), and two of the pins popped out of the MOBO. I put them back in, but I've been noticing an increase in my cpu's core temp since then. Right now it seems to be hovering around 39 -45 C instead of the previous 32-36 C, which seems like a relatively large increase. I'm worried that when the cooling was lifted off of the CPU then placed back onto it, something may have happened to the Arctic Silver 5 which I applied earlier.
Current temps: 39-46 idle, 48-52 on high load (used COD4 on max settings to determine this)

Any feedback on this?

[calvary1980]

your dad was nice enough to drop almost 2 grand on your computer, you should take care of it otherwise your going to be one of those jamooks complaining about a component.

- Christine

[Reynardin]

eh, I'm actually paying most of it. Sorta like this: I'm selling my laptop to my mom for $600 (probably a bit more than it's worth), and I have to pay from there.
EDIT: I was looking for the S/N so I could get the mail-in rebate on the PSU.

[calvary1980]

you see, it started already why were you looking for the oem sticker on your power supply lol. turn it off and remount if the temp doesn't decrease use some isopropyl and a qtip to clean it, re-apply arctic silver 5 with a plastic bag or suran wrap around your finger.

- Christine

[Reynardin]

I'll probably do that.

"why were you looking for the oem sticker on your power supply"
-I was getting a bit desperate because I couldn't find it anywhere else (PSU box, shipping box, etc)

[Reynardin]

btw how much should I use? the instructions say to put a line down the center of the CPU, on the website, but other sources say only a dot about the size of an uncooked rice grain...

[intel igent]

line down the middle should be fine

[Reynardin]

should I spread it, or let the pressure of the heatsink do that?

[calvary1980]

1 small to medium drop in center, spread. if you use too much it can actually have the reverse effect and bring your temp up.

you only need to re-apply if the thermal compound is burned in and caked, if it breaks off like clay. probably isn't.

- Christine

[Reynardin]

ok

[Reynardin]

I didn't spread it the first time,as the instructions on the website didn't say anything about that.

So, if the compound itself isn't damaged, I won't need to use more of it, just spread it around more and remount the cooler?

[BarbaricSoul]

I use a bead about twice the size of a grain of rice, tried a grain sized bead before, just couldn't get it spead over the entire CPU without seeing the CPU though it.