[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by navin

f. I was part of a team that designed CPUs and GPUs (actually all I really worked on in detail was the ALU part). Later I moved to IBM to work on the Multi-Layer Ceramic (MLC) chips (we competed with Kyocera and Hitachi). But that was 25 years ago the world has changed since then.

Huh?? So who was the mod who claimed to not know much about computers a few posts back?

lol!!!

had a Yamaha drive on my 486DX2 66Mhz machine with 8MB RAM!! it had its own proprietary drivers and software - instead of using the generic drivers provided by Windows. in that one could listen to music CDs without booting the OS (it had a 3.5mm earphone jack too!)

I guess most CD drives are supposed to do this. Some optical drives have a separate audio cable going to the mobo, and the sound ought to come out through your sound card, without having to switch on the PC. I once saw a taxi which used a cd drive instead of a proper HU.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I guess most CD drives are supposed to do this. Some optical drives have a separate audio cable going to the mobo

I'm vaguely remembering a drive with a headphone output. Might have been on one of my IBM RS/6000 servers...

[bblost]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'm vaguely remembering a drive with a headphone output. Might have been on one of my IBM RS/6000 servers...

I had a Creative drive in the last century (1999) that had a headphone out.
It also had a remote and volume control.

[navin]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Huh?? So who was the mod who claimed to not know much about computers a few posts back?

Arey baba that was the 70s and 80s. We are in 2010 now. Much of what I learnt is not relavant.

I might know some very basics (clock rates and timings, chip structure and design etc..) but motherboards and CPUs have moved on and are much more sophisticated today and oldies like me need to respect the opinion of many who are much younger. They know more. They are more relavant. We old foggies are just waiting to exhale.

Even on ICE where I am usually am found I usually defer to Sam Kapasi, Bass and Trouble, Gunbir, LBM, Invinsible, Notorious etc...all of whom are much younger but much more relevant. Do not confuse me with real Guru.

[shreyasMAX]

My simple computer config.

Cabinet:- cooler master rc 690
CPU:- Intel Quad Core Q9550
MB:- Intel DG45SG II
MEMORY:- KINGSTON 2GB DDR3
GRAPHICS CARD:- NVIDIA GTX 240 XFX 1GB
H.D.D:- 1TB
POWER SUPPLY:- COOLER MASTER EXTREME POWER PLUS 300 WATTS.
CCFL tube with sound activator
4 multi coloured led fans
32" Panasonic LCD connected through HDMI cable.
Logitech Cordless key board and mouse.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by navin

So in your collective opinion the PC I got (i7-870 with 8GB and an old 512MB 6600GT graphics card) will work na?. I am intending to convert AVCHD to DVD with this machine.

I dont want to find out after I remove Ulead from my PC (Q9550/ATI4800/16GB) and install it on my wife's. Most software leaves all sorts of traces (see regedit) in your PC once it is installed and un installed so I like to install only stuff that I need and think before every install.

BTW the CD drive I have (on my PC) is an external Yamaha CRW F1E (about the size of a Mac-mini). LOL. It is over 15 years old (GTO had it before me) but it still rips CDs to MP3/Wavpack faster than any internal drive I have tested. It wont read DVD or anything else but with audio CDs it is a screamer (thanks GTO).

I would NOT buy a new graphix card - unless I am a hardcore gamer.

Originally Posted by kenpachigamer

alpha These days almost all the games which are coming out are graphic intensive(not onl first person shooter, even the strategy games also like dragon age origins,two worlds etc..) hence a good GPU is a must.
Also i think now gpu acceleration is starting to get used in video decoding. I just came across an article where in vlc used gpu acceleration . Here's the article
of course as you said for most people/other purposes an onboard graphics card is sufficient

Does Navin intend to play those games?

Originally Posted by srishiva

I think video decoding uses GPU but not encoding. I know of one ATI tech which does encoding also. That could be the future.

In that site - it is clearly written that support is just experimental and only for nvidia cards.
Which means it is not really called for - but it gives an option to use your AGP/PCI video card instaed of relying on the motherboard video or the shared RAM.

Videolan supplied the caveat that the experimental GPU acceleration would work only on Nvidia GPUs as of now. They cited troubles with the ATI drivers and the lack of access to a Intel IGP as the reason for not being able to support non-Nvidia platforms with confidence

[navin]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Does Navin intend to play those games?

This is my wife's PC. Her game of choice is a free game that comes with Windows called Solitare. Other than that we use dedicated gaming machines (Wii/PS3) for games.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by navin

This is my wife's PC. Her game of choice is a free game that comes with Windows called Solitare. Other than that we use dedicated gaming machines (Wii/PS3) for games.

aah.. a console guy, eh? i hate console games. you don't get the same level of controllability as a PC. also, in a console everyone is equal - everyone pretty much has the same hardware. on the other hand, in PC - not only skill, but the hardware you running the game on matters and thats where hardcore gamers are better than the casual gamer!

however - i come in peace (but i still don't like console gaming!)

just reinstalling NFS Undercover. had played it when i had the HD3870 512MB, now i want to see realistic it looks on the HD4870 1GB

[navin]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

in PC - not only skill, but the hardware you running the game on matters

REAL gamers depend SOLELY on their skill!

Jest Kidding.

Seriously, we are not comfortable sitting in front of a PC for long.

With PS3 we can be in bed and still play games unless it is RockBand (dirty minds will read all sorts of stuff into that statement); with the Wii (Sports, Resort, Fit, etc..) it is great fun jumping around and swinging your arms like we are monkeys (we oldies need all the excerise we can get).

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by navin

This is my wife's PC. Her game of choice is a free game that comes with Windows called Solitare.

Ha Hah, mine too! It is the only computer game I have ever played.

Disappointed with the Ubuntu version: it only allows three deals. I enjoy sticking at it and teasing the cards out for as long as it takes.

[anku94]

Originally Posted by navin

c. 16! I wish I was 16. I have friends that have grand kids your age. Ouch I am old! Everytime I move my creaking bones insist on reminding me this.

Originally Posted by navin

d. That is basic stuff you pick up from people around you when it comes to the real stuff like balancing a PC as you can see I have no idea what I am doing however I can still read data sheets (if you got to Intel's website you can download the CPU dta sheets) and understand clocking etc.. that stuff has not changed since the 70s.

IMO, the 'real' stuff is all the basics you speak of. I can't make head or tail of most of the technical things. All I know is known by everybody who follows the market.

Everytime I pop up Wikipedia trying to understand all that stuff, I see a ton of terms used in explaining things, and when I open the terms' respective pages, a 100 new terms are there to boggle you now, and when I finally reach the basics like clock signals etc., I remind myself I should be studying, and I bookmark all the stuff, which probably explains my 200+ bookmarks.

Originally Posted by navin

f. I was part of a team that designed CPUs and GPUs (actually all I really worked on in detail was the ALU part). Later I moved to IBM to work on the Multi-Layer Ceramic (MLC) chips (we competed with Kyocera and Hitachi). But that was 25 years ago the world has changed since then.

Wow.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

not exactly. AMD runs cooler than Intel and for gamers, that's a boon! unless you've a big budget (liquid cooling), you'll be using air cooling, which means lower the processor core temperature, the better. in some cases one can even do a bit of overclocking with just air cooling. that's where AMD beats Intel IMO

I didn't know of the temps part. Interesting.

Originally Posted by navin

I might know some very basics (clock rates and timings, chip structure and design etc..) but motherboards and CPUs have moved on and are much more sophisticated today and oldies like me need to respect the opinion of many who are much younger. They know more. They are more relavant. We old foggies are just waiting to exhale.

You'll be surprised by how little people actually know. I think the the actual architecture has become way too complex for enthusiast to know in the little hobby-time he spends on the subject. They limit themselves to the basics you speak of. The only difference is awareness of the current situation in the market.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

aah.. a console guy, eh? i hate console games. you don't get the same level of controllability as a PC. also, in a console everyone is equal - everyone pretty much has the same hardware. on the other hand, in PC - not only skill, but the hardware you running the game on matters and thats where hardcore gamers are better than the casual gamer!

Second that. What saddens me is that you can't use specialised hardware out of the box with games like Guitar Hero like you can do with consoles. There are jugaads, of course, but it's not the same as buying a game and plugging the stuff in and get going in 2 minutes.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Ha Hah, mine too! It is the only computer game I have ever played.

You and my parents should get together sometimes. Solitaire is the best game my mom thinks there is. Can't say the same for my dad, he's more of a Freecell guy !!!

I shudder to think of a future in which I've never played GTA San Andreas [Have to wait till next year owing to the lack of powerful hardware]. :|

[navin]

[quote=anku94;2015317Solitaire is the best game my mom thinks there is. Can't say the same for my dad, he's more of a Freecell guy !!![/QUOTE]

I like Freecell too. My wife likes Solitaire. It must be a generation thing.

BTW all went well with the upgrade. The PC is working well. Thanks everyone.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Hey, how about floating Freecell/aisleriot fan club?? I volunteer to be the President.

Just joking.

<flamebait>

I do not find the racing games as fast they used to be on i386s. They are just resource hogs.

Actually, I do not have much time to spend in front of the screen, after browsing tbhp. So, no more games for me.

[StarScream]

After my ten year old P4 stopped booting, decided to get a new machine from Dell. Placed an order for a Dell XPS 7100 earlier this week:
AMD 1055T (6 cores, 2.8GhZ)
6GB ddr3 RAM
Two hard drives (750 + 500GB)
ATI 5670 graphics card
Windows 7 64-bit professional
23" Dell monitor

[alpha1]

I like the Game Hearts.

Much better than Solitaire (too simple) or Freecell (too complex)