Nrom Normandy

Beta ends tomorrow, get your game time in before early access starts.

Go with a Core i5 2500k instead of the i7. If your computer is being used for gaming, the hyper threading on the i7 2600 isn't going to be useful. The i5 is nearly half the price of the i7 processor. You can also overclock it if you have pretty good cooling in your system. If you're waiting until summer to buy parts, the i7 will be cheaper since early 2012 a new architecture is coming out from Intel. The asus board should be fine, I'm using the ASRock board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Motherboards%20-%20Intel-_-ASRock-_-13157271&AID=10440897&PID=3938566&SID= Ram is cheap. I'd get that now if you can afford it. Both motherboards should be able to support DDR3-1600. Your power supply is fine.

You pretty much can learn a large number of skills in that game, and you can pick a load out when you go into missions and such. Reminds me of Guild Wars kind of when they've described it. Story has a lot of potential, the whole game does, but there hasn't been anything really substantial shown in how the game plays to date.

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor CPU Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler Motherboard: ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Hard Drive: Corsair Force Series GT 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) Case: Corsair CC600T ATX Mid Tower Case PSU: SeaSonic Platinum 1000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151105 CD-ROM: Asus 24x SATA DVD+-RW http://www.amazon.co...duct/B0033Z2BAQ And I'm waiting on this to come out so I can make it my main monitor once it's available: http://www.amazon.co...duct/B0063BM5NK Planning on getting an A/V receiver that supports HDMI 1.4a so I can hook up the PC and a PS3 to the monitor and get Stereoscopic 3d and Nvidia's 3d vision tech working at the same time while playing with a great set of headphones. Next year is going to be a great year in gaming for me. Also the links at the top is a good site that I recommend using if you're building a new computer. You get aggregated results from multiple sites selling those products, reviews for those products, trending for the prices, and you can easily post what you're working on to forums like this one or other places to get comments or suggestions on the build. The site also has the ability to filter parts based on what should work with what you've already selected. If you guys are planning on building new computers, you may want to wait until the next family of processors and motherboards comes out early next year. I can't remember the name of it, but it's supposed to hit retail in February. I don't feel like waiting that long. Oh, and I am going to overclock the hell out of this beast when all the parts come in.

I'm planning on getting a PS3 next year once I finish with the PC upgrades at the end of the month. This is one of the games on my list.

You really don't want to know some of the places that some of us work in.

Same here. Literally 5 minutes after they sent out the email I was subscribed. I've had an account for almost 2 years now on their site waiting for an invite. Ridiculous in a way.

Funny story, in 97 I was trying to upgrade a Compaq computer I got that had windows 98 installed on it. I bought one of the Voodoo 3 cards and installed it, and the computer would power off when I tried to use the CD-ROM. Pretty hard to play Diablo or Age of Empires when the damn thing shuts off when you play. So I ended up taking it back and getting a refund, and then I bought two Voodoo 2's and hooked them up in SLI so it was pretty much just as good as that Voodoo 3. Played the hell out of Quake 2 for a long time that way. The power supply was one of the slimmer designs since it was smaller than a mid-size tower. No bigger than some of the external power supplies you see for a monitor or something. It didn't provide enough power for some of those newer AGP video cards, so I stuck with the PCI voodoo 2's. That was when I first started realizing I could get into this computer stuff. In fact, the place I went to employed one of my friends from high school. We worked on the computer together to determine what the problem was at his shop. I paid a ridiculous amount of money to do something that I could do myself... Oh and yes, SLI and Crossfire aren't new things. They were around a long, long time ago. It just became popular again.

To be honest with you, AMD isn't about power. AMD is a company that's building off the reputations and work of previous companies including Intel's. The major industry hardware doesn't use AMD hardware, they use Intel's. That's the fact. They are reliable processors, and Intel leads the cutting edge. A few years ago, when single cores were common and everyone still had 32-bit processors, AMD was making a lot of lead-way. That's when I decided to try them out again. AMD has always been a consumer brand. They were popular in the late 90's and early 00's because it was so easy to overclock them. In fact, you could do it with a #2 pencil. Intel was notoriously more difficult to overclock, and they also were much more expensive. AMD was cheap, and that was their biggest selling point. But you got what you paid for. Intel processors now are some of the best on the market. They're easy to overclock, and they actually underclock the processors that are delivered to you. Hyperthreading isn't very useful, it's more of a gimmick, but they are the ones making the advances in terms of the tech on your processor and AMD is the one playing catch up now. Intel's focus is mostly on HPC and their research and government customers. Their consumer grade gear is very popular as well, but that tech is derived by all of the high end stuff they're working on for specialized equipment. I have been in the business of computers for over 10 years in one form or another. Brands have come and gone in the time I have been around. I don't hold any sort of allegiance to any single company, and in a single year the opinion of any particular brand will change. The fact of the matter is that the manufacturing process can produce bad hardware. Manufacturers account for the failure rate of their hardware, and that's why they include those warranties whenever you buy new gear. When you get something new, you simply need to test it to make sure that it's working right. There are plenty of applications available to test RAM and ensure there are no faulty sectors. There are plenty of ways to burn in a processor to make sure that it is working how you expect. Leaving the computer running for a long period of time allows you to monitor temps and ensure that everything is working correctly. There are tons of applications to test your HD and video card as well. The major take-aways that I have for all of you is to ensure you have a UPS connected between your outlet and your computer equipment. Your 'surge protectors' are pretty much expensive extension cables. The investment into a good UPS will save you time and money no matter what the components are. Also be sure to keep your computer cleaned. Unless you're running liquid cooling, you're using some sort of fan-based system. This pulls in the air in your house, including all the crap in that air. It collects in dust. It gets on your components. It will cause your equipment to heat up more since that dust serves as an insulator. It will cause damage. Your fans will fail, or start to oscillate over time. Get yourself a can of air and blow it out in the spring time. Unless you deal with them on a daily basis, make sure you're always grounded when you're working on a computer. There are wrist straps for that, and that's for people that don't understand electricity and what you're actually doing. Which means most of you should be wearing a wrist strap when you're working on your machines. Never use the default heatsink and fan option given with your processor. Third party ones are usually worth the cash. Same thing goes for applying an appropriate grease on top of that processor. I recommend everyone build their own computer at least once. It's a good way to appreciate the people who made a living at it like I used to.

I agree with Scarlet. Not worth upgrading at this point. Save your money, start planning on building. If you don't take Genesis' offer, think about what you might do around Black Friday deals and do research before then. There's plenty of resources available if you're interested in hearing about them. I'm surprised you're having issues with Nvidia on an Intel based computer. ATI is owned by AMD now, and to be honest, after two fried processors and two ATI cards with weird stuff showing on the screen and terrible customer support, I won't be going back. If you're concerned about your power supply, I would seriously recommend investing in a UPS. It is important to have stable power going to your computer to avoid damaging these very expensive components. I used a line conditioner when I lived in Florida because of all the thunderstorms that caused problems, and a UPS will work the same in addition giving you battery power to continue working until you can shut the system down safely. It'll save you money long-term.

Sorry to hear about his death, but I am with Stallman about the man's legacy in terms of personal computing. http://stallman.org/...28Steve_Jobs%29 If you think I'm being harsh or my comment is in distaste, then this will explain it more for you. http://www.nytimes.c...uture.html?_r=1 Keep in mind, I am a computer scientist. I know a lot about the history of the technology industry, and I have developed software for multiple platforms including Apple.

Yeah, it's a bug that's on my list of things to fix. It's a tricky one.

Hey don't bash carebear servers. In WoW I mostly played on PvP servers. I lost interest the first round because of all the high level players that simply made questing unenjoyable since there was nothing I could do to fight them anyway. Low level rogues were the worst. I prefer the story in the game. It's not bad. The biggest thing I'm looking forward to in this game is no more furries. :)

I can put a character on whatever server you guys will be on and the group doesn't matter. However, the WoW guild I was with will be making a non-pvp guild on the republic side. My girlfriend will be there. She's not interested in the pvp stuff, I have some interest. I'll likely be a sith juggernaut or sorcerer. I wasn't all that impressed with the other classes.

where r chat log version? Nrom needs test data for http://ordoimperialis.com/nromnormandy/logcleaner.html

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/k067x/could_i_destroy_the_entire_roman_empire_during/c2giwm4

You sounded fine. You actually sounded happy at times, and excited. You know, completely the opposite of the angry hate-filled cat-person persona you try to display but Agares sprays you with water about.

Scarlet is the new EM, he got that set up last night and tested his powers by appearing around.

Are you sure that Isn't pepto bismol? Are you sure they are actually having a tender moment? This could be an experiment to simply see if that dog will eat corn puffs with pepto bismol instead of milk. Those guys aren't going 'aww.' No, they are observing an experiment. Either that, or those guys are taking bets. See the guy with his watch showing? He's keeping track of time. They are waiting to see how long that dog takes to eat the corn puffs, throws up, or explodes from the food.

Do you guys have anywhere that I may direct some suggestions?

I'm not allowed to put my hands in my pockets, otherwise it'd be CCW and it's not allowed in my state.

Excellent work, Arokh. The first one I ever saw was the Gordon quest. Feels more like the one that Arokh made than the original adrian brody one. />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfSdQRqoDxc

I am going to be a bounty hunter.

I thought about doing something like that. After playing on a few guild servers, I was even offered to be brought into a few places. Unfortunately, you know I can't really do that anymore. Ordo was the last place for me for any game really, and circumstances leave me as a solo wanderer for now. Thanks for the suggestion, though. Maybe some other folks can jump in it if they're pretty serious about the game.

I have played the game with mods. 500+ people online at once for that game isn't a lot, especially when looking at the server list and most of them are empty. It was fun for a bit, but the game is only enjoyable with people who know what they are doing. This pretty much made any public servers pretty worthless to play on. I think the biggest strength of the game is playing with a small core of friends through a campaign from start to finish. That's what I saw in videos for it before I decided to pick it up. At this point I wouldn't bother buying the game unless you get it for a super cheap deal on steam or something. Otherwise wait until ArmA 3 comes out and check it out then. I checked Hollow's server daily for about two weeks and it was always empty. It would have been nice to play with you guys some more, but unfortunately it didn't work out. I don't have the patience to try and get into one or two popular servers during peak hours to find that I can't use any flight vehicles because the majority of the players can't handle the responsibility of using them.