Spatch

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by HardRider View Post
    Hasten on all characters, except those who have status toggles (I.E. Super Reflexes)
    ^^^^ This.
  2. Spatch

    New computer

    Okay, I'm quite frustrated right now. I received my new Dell system yesterday, and coincidentally also received a new SSD (Intel 520 Cherryville 120 GB) from newegg.ca. I physically install the SDD, use the transfer software to clone the OS from the HDD to the SSD. I change the drive boot order in BIOS, putting the SSD as first boot drive.

    Last night I have it humming along perfectly. Windows boot time was down to 16 seconds flat.

    Now, this morning when I fire up the computer, it's booting from the HDD. I can hear the HDD spinning, and the boot time is somewhere in the 45 second range. I double check the boot order in BIOS, and the SSD is still set as first boot drive.

    What gives? I've no idea what changed overnight, but any insight as to what might be happening here would be much appreciated.

    Cheers....

    Spatch
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei View Post
    It was fail the "instant" whomever decided they would be on a different formula than the crafted one's already in the game. FAIL FAIL FAIL! And it is still FAIL!
    This.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
    No most people complain that the worst part about respecs is having to recreate an entire build from scratch when they only want to tweak or change a single power. Compared to that the tray thing s just an annoyance which is made simpler with /cleartray.
    Quite right. I make use of /cleartray after every respec, and don't find rebuilding my trays terribly time consuming. But to do a whole respec when only a slot here or a power there need tweaking is annoying.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kailure View Post
    There was a time when you could waste grenades, but that was really early on when Lambda was new.
    Interesting, I learned something new. As most Lambda runs I go on the leader asks for the 'nades, I always assumed this was to avoid grenade overlap. But, I now discover grenades cannot be wasted.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man View Post
    Punctuation is your friend.
    So picky. I mean, c'mon, he ended with a period. What more do you want?
    /sarc
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadow35 View Post
    Whoa! Oh no! When is this supposed to go live then?
    Soon™
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadow35 View Post
    Is the new t9 Mecha set *replacing* Celestial or Fire & Ice? Or is there just going to be a 3rd set in t9 rewards?
    To my recollection, the tier 9 VIP rewards were intended to rotate. There's not much more room up there to add more rewards, so if I were a bettin' man, I'd say the celestial set will soon be rotated out. I'd be quite surprised, however, if we weren't given ample notice in advance.
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hercules View Post
    Hmmm, have they knocked down the price for powersets from 1600 to 800 recently? I cancelled sometime ago due to what I consider an exhorbitant amount of time to have to wait for a powerset ( 4 months ).

    edit: why is it showing "PERC Representative" under my sig now? Very odd.
    I'm pretty certain powersets have been 800 pts since Freedom's launch. I could be wrong, but that's my recollection.
  10. I'm quite surprised there's not a weapons pack for Staff Fighting. Seems a pretty obvious way to get people to spend their PPs over and above the actual power set.
  11. Regarding the OP's post, I say don't worry about it. The name Staff Member is sufficiently generic IMO to not warrant getting...errr, generic'ed.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tenzhi View Post
    Too bad there isn't a Toxic armor set... then you could be Staff Infection.
    Heh, I took Staph Infection on Champion. He really needs to see the doctor....
  13. Spatch

    New computer

    Appreciate your input, Gaia. Thank you.
  14. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Father Xmas View Post
    Intel SSDs still cost more than the other big brands, being the first on the market with a viable enterprise class SSD has let them be the Cadillac of SSDs.

    SSDs are a lot more complicated due to various restrictions about flash memory that don't exist conventional hard drives. Because of this an SSD controller contains a more sophisticated CPU running considerably more complex software in an attempt to hide the complex juggling that needs to be done due to flash memory. And with all complex software, there are bugs. Not sure how many are the result of trying to benchmark faster than the next drive or trying to be the first to market using controller X from company Y but there's been some oopsies along the way.

    AnandTech's Bench charts on SSDs may be helpful. However controller, firmware version and type of flash memory all effect performance. Also due to multiple memory channels in the controller, higher capacity drives tend to have better write performance as small drives (60/64GB) don't use all the memory channels.

    You can all check the charts found in the most recent SSD reviews at TechReport and Xbit Labs. The last page of the Xbit Labs review has a hierarchy chart that lumps SSDs into four tiers.
    Thanks for that input, Father Xmas. I've been on a fairly steep learning curve with these SSDs as I've researched them in recent days. But I think I'm starting to get my head around it. I'll check into Xbit Labs reviews as you suggest.

    Edit: I was already zeroing in on the Intel 520 series, so it's nice to see it rated as Tier 2 on the Xbit site.
  15. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight View Post
    Personally, if I was going out to buy an SSD, I'd look at Intel first.
    Thanks for the feedback. After reading copious amounts of reviews, my initial impressions were favoring Intel as well.
  16. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kitsune Knight View Post
    The exact line depends on how much data you have, and how large of an SSD you can afford. Putting the OS on it is a definite, and then the apps you commonly use (or at least the more intense ones), and then whatever data you have that can fit that you need very high r/w speed to (your mp3 collection / saved videos would be an example of stuff that would be better suited to the better $:GB ratio of HDDs).

    And let me tell you... upgrading a system from a spinning rust bucket to a solid state drive... is by far the biggest upgrade you can do for virtually any computer.
    I've been researching SSDs online, reading a lot of reviews primarily over at Newegg.ca. There seems to be a high incidence of failure with these things, irrespective of brand. Is this an issue with the technology in general? Or, do some brands stand out as being more reliable than others? If so, which ones?

    Thanks in advance.


    Spatch
  17. Points are supposed to be applied according to your billing cycle. This may or may not be happening in your situation, but there was an issue identified earlier this year, where player who opted for the 12+2 month renewal option had their points date changed toward the end of the month. In my case, my billing cycle ends on the 18th of the month, but I now get my PPs on the 28th.

    I get my reward token around the 23rd, which I'm still trying to figure out.
  18. Spatch

    Oro Badges

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by CasualX View Post
    Thanks guys, the stories I ran were not single missions, but I will keep hacking at it and see if I can figure out what I am doing wrong.
    This may not apply to you. I don't know if it's since been "fixed," but I recall going for those badges on my main, a Peacebringer, and the Kheldian arcs did not qualify (for whatever reason, broken, or WAI, I never got an answer to) for the Ouro badges.
  19. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by newchemicals View Post
    Edit: Looks at Spatch's AV. Yes, it should play Ultima II quite well.
    Oh, good, I was worried.
  20. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nericus View Post
    I'll vouch for the GTX560Ti, I'm running one now. Works great
    Thank you, Nericus. I appreciate you vouching for this card. Between you, Father Xmas, and Hyperstrike, all endorsing this card, I feel very comfortable in going with it.
  21. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Father Xmas View Post
    The HD 5770/6770 was a great $150 mid range card when it first came out in late 2009, it's just now two and a half years later it's considered a low end gaming card today with after rebate prices just under $100. It has about the same performance as the nVidia GTX 550Ti.

    I haven't bothered to see what other video cards Dell offers on that model but selection may be limited due to the model's modest 460 watt PSU. I'm not saying 460 watts isn't a lot, the GTX 560Ti's that Hyper listed should be fine are are around 75-80% faster than the HD 6770, just don't expect it to handle a $300+ high end video card without pushing it uncomfortably close to the PSU's limit.
    Thanks Father Xmas, I think I'll look more closely at the GTX560Ti models. I'll be sure to stay away from the higher end models, on account of the PSU.
  22. Spatch

    New computer

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Father Xmas View Post
    3) The HD 6770 is a rebadged HD 5770 is a low mid level card (AMD didn't have a 6000 series GPU for that price point). It should handle minimum to moderate UM. As for AMD cards in general, AMD drivers are somewhat hit or miss with this game. One month the latest driver works fine, the next it doesn't. There is a topic on the Tech board about what AMD drivers work well.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill View Post
    If you want to see what the 5770/1gb looks like, moderate UM, find any of my screen shots. It did funky things with the fog in the old DA (made it more like a clipping/draw distance issue than fog) where my less powerful nVidia card on another system rendered it beautifully, for instance.

    (Honestly, I'm at the point of swapping it out for a new nVidia card. Though it works fine in everything else. Just for the "pinstripes" in some shadows and the little issues here and there.)
    Thanks for your feedback, Father Xmas and Memphis_Bill. I'm concerned that this ATI card is going to give me problems, and that you describe it as a low-mid level card. When I do purchase a new computer, I like to future-proof it as much as possible (as you can see from my current desktop, working for nearly seven years, problem free). Can you suggest a more muscular video card, perhaps an nVidia product -- something that will run UM on high settings?
  23. Spatch

    New computer

    Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. It looks like I need to dedicate some more attention to my hard drive options. I do like the idea of an SSD supplementing a standard HDD. If I did a SSD+HDD configuration, I would want the SSD to be the boot drive, presumably. You've given me some food for thought. Thanks again.
  24. Spatch

    New computer

    Hello folks. I'm here hoping to get some feedback and advice on a new computer I'm looking at. First, by way of preamble, the system I'm looking at is a Dell build. I know some folks don't care for Dell, and I know I could probably build one for cheaper myself. I don't have the time, nor inclination to build one myself. And, my last three computers have been Dells (two desktops, one laptop) which I've been very happy with. My current Dell desktop has been a workhorse, approaching seven years of reliable operation.

    My main uses for the computer, apart from basic stuff like internet access and email, is for gaming. I play CoH and that other crafty war MMO. Some single player titles I've recently bought have been Skyrim and Deus Ex Human Revolution. I don't do any online FPS stuff.

    That said, here's what I'm looking at:

    XPS 8300 XPS8300
    Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
    Processors Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor (8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
    Memory 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
    Keyboard Dell USB Entry Keyboard English
    Monitor Dell ST2420L 24"W Full HD Monitor, 24.0 VIS, VGA Cable supplied only
    Video Card ATI Radeon™ HD 6770
    Hard Drive 2TB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 1TB SATA 3Gb/s 7200 RPM HDDs)
    Mouse Dell Laser Mouse
    Network Card Add 2 USB 3.0 ports
    Modem No Dial Up Modem Option
    Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
    Optical Drive Blu-ray Combo Drive (8X BD-R, DVD+/-RW) with DVD+R double layer write capability
    Sound THX® TruStudio PC™
    Speakers Dell AX510PA 10W Attached Speaker for Dell Flat Panel Monitors
    Wireless Dell 1501 WLAN PCIe card
    Price $1428 (Canadian dollars, before tax)

    Some specific questions:

    1. Is 16GB RAM overkill?
    2. Is a RAID setup preferable to a simple single SATA HDD setup?
    3. Am I asking for trouble regarding the ATI card? I know some folks prefer NVidia, and my current card is an NVidia card. Is this ATI card 'beefy' enough? Should I be looking at other options here?
    4. What's the deal with this THX TruStudio sound? My last few computers have had a soundblaster card of some kind I think, but for this build I had no option but this TruStudio deal. What the heck is it, and should I be concerned about it?

    Any constructive comments or feedback is welcome. I'm not much of a techie, so I'm appealing to the big brains around here for some help.

    Thanks in advance.

    Spatch
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by StarGeek View Post
    Enhancement Converter Salvage

    For 3 converters, it can be converted to a different random ATO in the same set. Or for 1 converter, it can be converted to a different random ATO in a different ATO set.
    Yeah, it's a bit of a lottery; you may not get a converted enhancement you want. Case in point: I had a Celerity Run that I wanted to convert into a Celerity Stealth. I had a 50/50 chance of getting it, since the Celerity set only has three enhancements. Well, I had to burn 12 converters before I finally got the stealth IO. The first three conversions went back and forth from Celerity Run to Celerity Endurance, and back again. My usual luck at play.