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Posts
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"We think this is a really bold move."
They changed...the color...of the can.
Beating off a mugger. That's bold.
Starting a new business. That's bold.
Standing up to your boss when he's so wrong he's about to implode into a wrong-singularity. That's bold.
Having Coke actually donate a significant chunk of their yearly profits to help polar bears. THAT'S bold.
This is just a cheap "warm and fuzzy" by people who wouldn't know bold if they were run over by the entirety of a 50-mile long convoy of it...TWICE. -
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Quote:Honestly, I don't know if your motherboard, even if it's pin compatible, will accept the new chip.lol had a feeling that's what happened.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817148001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115056
Honestly, if you can scrape together maybe another $100 go out and pick yourself up one of the Inspiron 620's with the i5 chip (The middle one in the pack). Heck, if you really need to, see if you can sell off the old Gateway box. It's not GREAT or anything, but I'd be willing to bet you could nab $100 for it.
$580 (after tax) shipped.
Essentially do NOTHING to it. When it arrives, slap the 9800 in there.
Then, down the road, when you have a budget again, upgrade the power supply and the video card.
Said system will kick the living snot out of the Gateway box from the get-go, and will give you an actual upgrade path
in the future.
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Quote:Your link doesn't take people to your shopping cart. It takes them to theirs.How would this do? Or is the lack of RAM my main problem?
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/Sh...px?Submit=view
Drop the links for the individual item(s) into another post. -
Hate to be a buzzkill, but that system's about as maxed as you're going to get it. You already are sporting max memory. You can't put a newer CPU in.
You could probably put a SLIGHTLY newer video card in, but anything above maybe a GTS 450. Anything more would require a PSU swap-out and the CPU wouldn't be able to keep up with it.
That'll get you into basic Ultra mode.
Any higher, and you need to look at building a new machine. -
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Quote:Is there a market? Sure.You're right, it will take up resorces and perhaps be cumbersome and not as clean or effective as the other applications out there but to say there isn't a market for it, I don't believe that's true. Most of us use Windows desktop as a default. I am sure if a 3D option were availible some of us would use it instead. There are how many desktop computers out there 500 million, 1 billion? As a business idea, if converting a small portion of CoH into a desktop application, at a relatively inexpensive cost, how many could you sell? 500,000 at $20 a piece? 10 million dollars in sales? Isn't that worth the effort?
You maybe looking at this in a practical way because of your computer experience- most of us do not have that experience.
How BIG is that market though?
Big enough that the cost of such development can be spread evenly amongst hundreds of thousands of clients?
How big is a market for a resource-hog free-roaming 3D shell where millions of dollars in development can only be spread across a couple hundred users?
In reality, the market for this type of hyper-specialized product is vanishingly small. Maybe a couple thousand users. And the development time to make something that was actually USABLE would be in the millions to tens of millions range.
Also, since they're running as a third-party app on top of an existing OS, they would need to worry about compatibility, updates, etc.
In short, it makes no sense to develop a $10,000 standards-free desktop replacement app for a $200 OS. -
Sorry, but it's not going to work.
As someone's who's been using hybrid 2D-3D desktops for years (Compiz:Linux), I can say that an associative spatial model (based on real world structures) for a desktop like you want would be a complete frickin' mess.
I don't want to have to "stroll" over to a building.
I want to be able to manually drill down in a file structure or search for what I need via command line or search interface.
Taking it 3D adds nothing.
Making it associative with structures (like hospital for medical stuff) is just kludgy and inconsistent. -
Quote:Unfortunately, most of the cards that can actually RUN (as opposed to gimping along brokenly at about negative three frames a second) tend to be dual-expansion slot.I have a similar machine to the original poster and also want to upgrade. Can you get an antec that would perhaps support larger wattage lets say 800 watts in the same case?
Also, is there a card that could still fit into 1 slot that would have enough power for ultra mode? I thought AMD had come out with something recently.
That said...
Galaxy makes a GTX 550 that only for $125. This will work if you only have one actual external expansion bay, but you still need to actually have the slot in the case next to the card open for the cooler though.
You can go up to a 6770 on the Radeon side of things with an actual single-slot solution for $140. I wouldn't try overclocking said card at all though. -
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Quote:You can spam it in broadcast, or on the Market channel. You can also post it here on the market forums as well."off-market" what the--? What do you mean? You broadcast you have this recipe and wait till someone contacts you? Or are there forums for this sort of thing?
I don't deal in such items often, but I believe the accepted method is 2 one billion inf transfers, hand over the recipe, then the balance.
At this point, even if someone were to stiff you on the remainder, you'd still be ahead of where you would be with the 10% market fees. -
All I can say is "LOLWRESTLING!"
I won't lie. Back in the early-80's (when I was like...10), we'd put on this little soap opera called "wrestling", eat pizza and laugh.
And while I admire the athleticism and showmanship that goes into trying to keep this carnival sideshow going, the melodrama got old for me years ago (like, 1985).
And while you're trying to draw some concordance between the "plot of the week" of "Rasslin" and CoH, the match really isn't there.
Yeah, CoH is starting to come up with more methods of increasing enemy threat value. But not all of them are necessarily cheap or cheaty (though a few are). -
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Quote:Is it true the most influence you can on a toon at any one time is 2 billion, what happens after that?
You can have
- Up to 2 billion inf per market slot (usually bidding for L53 specialty enhancements that don't actually exist)
- Up to 1 billion (actually 999,999,999) inf per e-mail "slot"
- Up to 2 billion inf on your character's person
If I'm not mistaken, if you've unlocked all the various market slots, this adds up to roughly 102 billion on-person and in-market, and another 20 billion in e-mail. -
Ice/ is actually a great set. You've got LOTS of layers of mitigation going on here:
- Great defense
- A damage aura
- A slow aura that also delivers -DMG
- An Endurance/Defense booster
- Toggle mez protection
- A self heal
About the only thing it's shy on is resistance. You have some decent Fire and phenomenal Cold resist. So anything that gets through your defenses is going to hurt.
Honestly, the best set I've found to pair with Ice/ is /Ice. /Ice is a VERY crowd-controllery attack set. Ice Patch is a phenomenally useful tool for attack prevention. It doesn't do any damage, but, on the flip side, if the enemy is falling on their face, neither are they. That's better than capped defenses right there! -
Quote:While I agree. Who's to say what constitutes "confusing"?Confusing goals aren't fun.
Keyes Facility is currently the worst about this. There are dozens of subgoals with frequently only slightly differing requirements and a not a lot of information to tell you how to meet them. My experience is that most people get through Keyes the first time and still don't really have much clue what was going on.
Agreed. There are ways to ramp up threats. But being one-shotted just feels cheap and cheaty.Quote:Being Insta-killed isn't Fun
There's at least some of this in all the trials. In a lot of cases, players are defeated with no warning and through no fault of their own. In cases where they have warning and can evade death via skill or sheer toughness, it's great! In cases where you can't even see WHY you died, it's simply frustrating.
Agreed...partially. Part of the issue is, the timed nature of these portions prevent players from being thorough and just killing through the enemy groups.Quote:Zerging an Objective isn't fun.
All the trials suffer from this to some degree by including so much unresistable damage and insta-kill effects. The single worst offender is the glowie hunt in Lambda. When a player is defeated and has to run back into the maze after going to the hospital, chances are the enemies left behind in the mad rush are going to zap him again before he catches back up to his team.
While I understand that the devs want to penalize death in the trials, and don't want a rolling wave of heroes breaking over the GMs, the hospital timer IS annoying as hell.Quote:Sitting in the Hospital while other people finish the challenge isn't fun.
All the trials have the frequently pointless 20 second lock on the hospital doors (as does Death From Below!). That's frustrating. However, the worst single example is when a team leader asks part of the group to sit in the hospital while another part finishes an objective. I've seen this happening pretty frequently on Keyes as players attempt to earn the badges. Players who have problematic hardware-- they can't see the green patch or lag too badly to avoid it-- are asked to stay in the hospital. Neither the team leader nor the rest of the team begrudges them the badge nor holds them responsible for their hardware issues. Still, I wouldn't even WANT a badge that I didn't help earn.
Agreed.Quote:Grinding for Currency to Buy Rewards isn't Fun. (It's called 'Work' in the Real World.)
What can I say? Some people really enjoy Skeeball. I like the rolling the balls part of it, but the collecting tickets bit comes off as just kinda dumb to me.
In the same way, getting 1 or 2 Empyrean merits a day and then discovering that you need dozens of them to get the costume pieces you want is EXACTLY like getting 12 tickets from a Skeeball machine and then discovering that you need 5000 of them to buy the crappy black and white TV at the rewards counter.
In the real world, you can say, 'Screw this. I'm not enjoying the game any more, so I'll just go to Best Buy and buy the TV I want.'
In the game, however, there's no way to do that. By gating those rewards behind untradeable, uncraftable Empyrean merits, the designers can say, 'No! You cannot have that unless you do EXACTLY what we want you to!'
Agreed. The fact that the LFG queue prevents you from doing anything more involved than street-sweeping SUCKS.Quote:Downtime is no fun.
Queuing for an incarnate trial could work if people used it, but most don't, perpetuating the problem. Instead they sit in Pocket D or RWZ shouting 'LFT for BAF!' over and over again.
When I do run a trial with friends, I typically pull out something to read while I'm waiting for everyone to assemble. I'm not even PLAYING the game at that point, let alone enjoying it.
The bad part is, I don't know any way around it.
Maybe using some of the event tech from the Arenas. Set up a raid on a specific time and date. Then allow players to sign on to the event.
However, something of this nature would require a LOT more server-side tracking.
16 people is a bit hassle-ish. But not too bad.Quote:Trying to Corral 16 or 24 Strangers is not fun.
When I'm trying to meet new people and play with others I haven't before, I feel like that if there are any more than about 5 or 6 others, I can't really keep track of what's going on, especially if I'm also providing any kind of leadership.
Trying to do the same thing with 16 others is about as much fun as listening to a screaming baby in a restaurant.
You can't immediately weed out the bad seeds or the abusers simply because there's too much going on to keep track of everything.
Regardless of the Designers' desire to make the trials accessible, they DO need leadership. Someone has to make decisions, even if it's only flipping the coin to decide who pulls.
When you're on a team of 16 and 24 and there are no leaders, or worse, there are several people on the team who refuse to listen to the leaders who do step forward, it's not just the crying baby in the restaurant any more. The screaming baby's 3 year old brother has just taken his pants off and is running around the tables, half-naked. He keeps running up to your table and trying to grab your dessert and his parents won't do a damn thing about it.
24 can be painful. Especially when multiple groups are competing for trial members on low-pop servers. -
Quote:Okay changing out a power supply itself isn't particularly hard. You just need to pay attention to what you're plugging in.Thx Father Xmas (and everyone). Looks like my budget for this is around $300.00 for the power upgrade and card.
My last question is should I take it down to a comp tech I know, or try to do it myself? I have never worked on comps much. To give you an idea of my technical level I recently had to put a new battery on my KORG A1 effects processor. I got it out of the rack, cracked the box, found the battery. Played around with it for about 1/2 hour (desperately trying to figure it out and not apply to much force and break it). I gave up, took it to my friend who is an electrical engineer (and always busy). He asks me 1) is it here (yes) 2) is it already open? (yes!) He walk over to it, touches the battery with his finger, pops it out, puts the new one in. I know a local comp tech I trust, but he has a 'real business'. Prob charge me $50.00 or so to do this.
The big one will be the 24-pin (or 20+4) main power.
On the board, the connector will be like this (the beige/white one up front to the right).

The plug on the power supply will be the largest of them all. It'll either be a straight 24-pin plug or a 20+4 configuration (so it's compatible with older motherboards). Also, if you look closely at the connector you'll see a ridged flange on the front.
If you look at the actual power connector below you'll see the clip. That gives you an indicator about the orientation of the plug (the clip side goes towards the flange-side of the connector so it locks into place). Also, you cannot plug it in backwards. The connector is keyed (as you can see). Forcing it will only break things.

Also, you want to look for the 12 volt connector on the board.
It'll usually be a 4 or 8 pin affair (in the pic below it's light blue and has a black cap on 4 of the pins).

The connectors will usually be two 4 pin connectors. If you have only a 4 pin connector on the motherboard, you can usually plug either one of the 4-pin 12V connectors into the motherboard. Note: For some reason this is always put in and around the upper left-hand corner of the motherboard. This is usually a bit cramped and requires some good manual dexterity (or small hands) or mechanical assistance to get it unplugged or re-connected.

Also you want to pay attention to the power connectors for hard drives as well.
Older hard drives and opticals (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray) use a molex power connector.


Newer SATA drives use SATA connectors.


Essentially, all you need to do is make sure you have everything connected again when you power on.
The PCI-E connector is fairly straightforward.
On your motherboard you're going to be looking for a PCI-E Express 16x connector.

You'll notice it has a little "hooking" mechanism on the front.
That's a card retention mechanism. Some of the cards nowadays are quite heavy and the hook mechanism prevents the card from working its way free.
On the card itself you'll see the connector and the actual hook on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Simply push the card into place and make sure the tab for the hooking mechanism locks in place and you're golden.

Now a lot of the cards nowadays are "double-wide" (they require two expansion slots) in the back of the machine. So you will have to remove one of the covers on the extra expansion slots to get the card to fit properly.

Additionally, most newer cards in the midrange to high end require additonal 12v power connectors.
Most of the ones we've suggested will want one or 2 6-pin connectors.
Here's the usual location for GTX 560's.

And for a 550


Said connectors will either be on the top or the front of the card. The expansion-slot covers on the card are considered the "back" of the card.
So, the tools you need for this job.
1 - Phillips-head screwdriver (Magnetic tips make things much easier just don't leave them laying on components)

Note: Local hardware stores usually sell a reversible flat-head/phillips screwdriver set that's perfect for working on computers.
Maybe a pair of long-nose (also called needle-nose) pliers for helping grip and place things in areas that are tough to get your hands into.

Well, hope this was informative (and not too scary).
It actually takes longer to type this out and prep the images than it would to get everything done. -
If you do go the soft-capping route for defense from powers and sets, it's actually rather easy (and surprisingly cheap) to do so.
If you're back on VIP, go for Cardiac with your Alpha slot and pretty much never have to worry about Endurance again.
He's a modification of my FF/Archery for FF/Elec. Just to give you an idea.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Electrical Blast
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Electricity Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(3), Ksmt-ToHit+:30(3)
Level 1: Charged Bolts -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(7), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(9)
Level 2: Lightning Bolt -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(9), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(11), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(11), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(13), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(13)
Level 4: Ball Lightning -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(15), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:50(15), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng:50(17), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(17), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:50(19)
Level 6: Deflection Shield -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(19), Krma-ResKB:30(21)
Level 8: Insulation Shield -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(21), Krma-ResKB:30(23)
Level 10: Short Circuit -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg:50(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(23), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:50(25), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx:50(25), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(27), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(27)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(29), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31)
Level 14: Boxing -- Dsrnt-I:50(A)
Level 16: Aim -- GSFC-ToHit:50(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg:50(31), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx:50(31), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx:50(33)
Level 18: Repulsion Field -- FrcFbk-Dmg/KB:50(A), FrcFbk-Acc/KB:50(33), FrcFbk-Rchg/KB:50(33), FrcFbk-Rchg/EndRdx:50(34), FrcFbk-Dmg/EndRdx/KB:50(34), FrcFbk-Rechg%:50(34)
Level 20: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A)
Level 22: Weave -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(36), DefBuff-I:50(36)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(37), DefBuff-I:50(39)
Level 26: Repulsion Bomb -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(39), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:50(39), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng:50(40), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:50(40)
Level 28: Tesla Cage -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(36), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42)
Level 30: Hover -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(42), DefBuff-I:50(43)
Level 32: Force Bubble -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 35: Fly -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 38: Thunderous Blast -- Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Det'tn-Dmg/Rng:50(45), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), Det'tn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rng:50(46)
Level 41: Thunder Strike -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(46), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(46), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(48)
Level 44: Charged Armor -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 47: Power Sink -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(48)
Level 49: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I:50(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I:50(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Heal-I:50(48), Heal-I:50(50)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(50), EndMod-I:50(50)
Code:| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1479;657;1314;HEX;| |78DA6593CB6F125114C66706B0E5550AB502B6B4B4A50F687945F726B5C59814D31| |8E3964CE002A323E0304DECCEFAD8BA7269EB236ADC94B61AFF28A355976ECCF430| |E783923209F90DDF39DFBDE7CCB9B7F864C3D7B9B5774392C76EEA6ABB5DDA1055D| |1A808C355546B5A59EA3E23F48BF6F4D2FA4EB59A29348DB2281534A157E2FDC85D| |B5511395CCA62ECAA6A19555BDB44E4B9AC1DB8DBA3044C3CCF45EFCDBCDA69E296| |8B5BAA9356A01FBDF9650698D765D6B7939AA77C321FBFD9ED045AB6998AAA9351B| |91CD9656EE6FA299BBA5226D228CDD0895B9483FA148782C459A21E49D92D2E37F6| |2CC291D9EE7B8A47D8E390FC0B7CC4BEFC0F7CCD10FCC0E796578657847E1F5C0EB| |81D707AF0FDE23F23AE0751CB236D6018F98E3C7E00933F4955925AF0B7DB9D04F0| |8BCFC8FFBAA2B3CAE6ECE482F065E41CE31E5B85183BB85D86366C400DBCCAB26B8| |C37C405EAFDDBCE5F08ECBB6363D017A98337EA64C85F8791FC99F63FF09F903AC3| |9021F15CEFF047E66C6BF301F1282A833F814B13DF01973EE39F8027CC974D0DE13| |5CA7341196EDBE9DA44DB2A64CE29B2C5C609072C2C809434B804BA04E5B4451571| |4335CC20C9730C365CC7019335CC60CBF91770ADE299C9D059C9D04CE4E02672789| |B393C4D971536D31D416432D4930053EA2F567797D79760E31D04BFE79CC637E81B| |5EF0ADF996E3D8BE825855ED6D0CB1A7A59432F69F4F2860EF20A66B9F243B1BF71| |FA27F88B993D65EE53EE2AE6B18A7A0E48CBD837C99233AF796ED957CC45AA35875| |A73AB9C3FEDECDF595A93B5AD412DCDDAB6B37F3F2519DE3BDD3CDEDF728FF7EFA0| |75EA211975C9F826BF07358B1EE9CFB9A2C8F7F97467139C9D07FF0EE6C411BBC0D| |C60B5F6CAA921253FA45C1F52AE0D29672546E2A8| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Signed.
REALLY unsure of where to put the Origins and GenCon M&G threads now. -
Quote:If that's the case you're going to need to upgrade your PSU before you buy anything.Thx to everyone helping me muddle through this. I just spent half hour on the HP website. How can you refine a 1,100 results search and get 80.000+ results? Argh...
Anyways, (again, at work) I think this is the thing I got, though less sure than the link posted above (which I'm like 99.9% sure is my PC)
But I found this on HP, and if so it says 250W.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...en&lc=en#N1106
Pop the side of the case and see if there's any info on the PSU itself.
Also, if you go to the "Help Me!" link in my sig, and can get me a CoH Helper dump, that might give us the info we need to find out about what kind of PSU your system's rocking. -



