[Toasty]

Toasty, on Jun 16 2008, 11:59 PM, said:

I have two screens next to each other connected to a fancy new graphics card.

[Nosferatu]

You may have to simplify it more, T.
My new one is too big for my screen, but it still fits. The other size is much too small.

http://www.rainslick.com/filestore/Wallpaper03_1920x1200.JPG

[Toasty]

I used the power of technology to combine two desktops together?

New desktop. Found a 2560x1600 picture in my image folder that I downloaded a while ago.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2640/desktop4mw2.jpg


Now if only I had a taskbar to do the background justice...

[Toasty]

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n308/Mr_T_02/S5001780.png


That's my setup. The desktop on rollers has my "server," an old IBM monitor not pictured, and some various computer components on the bottom shelf (the motherboard in the bottom right corner is there right now).

But the two monitors on my main desktop are hooked up to the Dell. I've also switched back to Dualview mode instead of the horizontal span I was using (see previous screenshot). The difference is that each monitor is like a seperate desktop, except the white one doesn't have a taskbar at the bottom.

[Sea of Time]

Is that Peach Snapple?!?!? I think I love you.

[Toasty]

Yes. Yes it is. XD I've got another one sitting in front of me right now. I think I've dranken more than half of the 12 pack case my mom bought.

[Nick Presta]

http://img262.images.../desktopba1.png

My Laptop desktop. KDE 4.1 Beta 2. Sweet.

[Someone Else]

Sea of Time, on Jun 21 2008, 10:03 AM, said:

Is that Peach Snapple?!?!? I think I love you.

Forget the Peach Snapple, is that a fireplace? I wish I had one.

[Toasty]

Yes. There's also one right above it upstairs. We rarely use the upstairs one though.
I live in a split-level btw.

And what's with the rotating icons on your desktop, nick?

[Nick Presta]

Toasty, on Jun 26 2008, 02:32 AM, said:

And what's with the rotating icons on your desktop, nick?

New feature so I was playing around with it <_<

[Split Infinity]

Toasty, you could just be a smartass and join two 1024x768 wallpapers together. <_<

[Toasty]

Yeah, or I could have two monitor's like in the picture. I've complained about my dell enough times that people should know I have one, and that's an old Dell Dimension 8100 in the picture. I said I bought a "server," and it's there in the picture too.

What more evidence do you need?

[EDIT] That would be two 1280x960 wallpapers, thankyouverymuch.

[Split Infinity]

Toasty, on Jun 17 2008, 04:50 PM, said:

I'm using two CRT's setup as 2048x768, but it's much better than what I had before.

2(1280x960) =/= 2048x768

And what's this about evidence? I was making a suggestion, not accusing you...

[Toasty]

I changed the resolution, numbnuts. In that mode, I could only go to 2304x864 max. I didn't like how applications treated the screens, so now I treat them as seperate monitors instead of one wide one. They're both running at 1280x960, with the Black one at 85Hz and the white one at 70Hz.

[Split Infinity]

Eh, I don't like oversized desktops. In the time it takes to scroll to the window you want I could have just alt+tabbed and have it right in the middle of my screen.

[Toasty]

I can have two windows open in fullscreen at once. Plus, since you can see more of the content in the window with a bigger desktop, you actually scroll much less.

[redchi]

my new wallpaper

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[inthenameofDT]

here's mine

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/970/twilightprincess22rf4.th.jpg

[Lightning Star]

My most favorite wallpapers of all time...It's going to be a loooooong time before I take this one down. And the reason my icons are covered up by the task bar is 'cause I have it on Auto-hide and my mouse happened to be over the task bar.

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9195/mostamazingbgeverpd5.th.png

*starry eyed* oh the drama! <3

[Split Infinity]

You know, I used to hate the classic theme but now that I'm forced to use it on account of the slowness of my laptop, I've taken a real liking to it. High five, Icy! :(

[Toasty]

If you're going to use the calssic theme, you should at least customize the colors. <.<

I assume that uchihacest arouses you? :(

[Split Infinity]

It looks terrible on anything other than grey...

[Eugine]

I've been using classic so long. Once you go classic, you can't go back.

Icy, I love that wallpaper. Got a link to the actually wallpaper?

[Saturos S.]

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j168/sstriker_photos/Desktop.jpg

A cookie who can guess where that is.

[inthenameofDT]

hawaii

[Eugine]

Rome? It looks like Rome. Italy atleast?

[Ironsight]

It looks like a building I climbed on in Assassins Creed.

[Split Infinity]

Rome's my guess.

[Drizzy Drake]

I have weed on my desktop. No, really, this weed is so sticky, it's sticking to my computer screen.


Oh, and my wallpaper is of marijuana.

[inthenameofDT]

i have a picture of my cat on my laptop.

[Saturos S.]

Eugine, on Jul 3 2008, 11:59 PM, said:

Rome? It looks like Rome. Italy atleast?

Split Infinity, on Jul 4 2008, 02:11 AM, said:

Rome's my guess.

Yup, *gives a cookie*

It's the forum romanum, only picked it as a background because I like sunny photos.

[Lightning Star]

Nice picture, thar. :D Rome is really beautiful.

Split Infinity, on Jul 3 2008, 12:39 AM, said:

You know, I used to hate the classic theme but now that I'm forced to use it on account of the slowness of my laptop, I've taken a real liking to it. High five, Icy! :D

Yeah, my computer's slow too. Yay for classic! *high fives back*

Toasty, on Jul 3 2008, 02:14 AM, said:

If you're going to use the classic theme, you should at least customize the colors. <.<

I assume that uchihacest arouses you? :(

Eh,too much to bother with. I have it hidden most the time, so I don't even think about it.

And...heheh...


Ain't nothing better. >D

Eugine, on Jul 3 2008, 04:25 AM, said:

I've been using classic so long. Once you go classic, you can't go back.

Icy, I love that wallpaper. Got a link to the actually wallpaper?

http://www.animepaper.net/gallery/wallpape...gged/item71496/

You have to register at the site to download the wallpaper, but it's well worth it. :D

[Blue]

This is my current wallpaper.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Toasty]

*effin' saved*

That websites got a crapload of good backgrounds. Too bad you need to subscribe to them to get half of 'em. D:

[Laharl]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z254/laharl_the_slayer_07/untitled-12.jpg

awesome wallpaper is awesome

[Toasty]

Haruhi?

[Ironsight]

I'm planing on using this after i get bored wiith the one I stole from WD
http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/9905/1215514663052fe7.jpg

[Laharl]

Toasty, on Jul 8 2008, 11:03 AM, said:

Haruhi?

aye, courtesy of some questionable vectoring

[Zeypher]

http://i36.tinypic.com/2rft1dj.png
Ownage.

[Nosferatu]

Well that's boring.

Time for a clean up.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4637/metadc9.png

[Ironsight]

OH SHI-
IT'S THE META.

[Zeypher]

http://i35.tinypic.com/10o32c5.png
I used to have Zelda Icons and Zelda cursors, but I took them off.

[Caael]

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7702/desktopgt6.png

I am aware that my desktop is very cluttered, but I like it that way.

[Split Infinity]

Multitaskbars look weird.

Why do you have the same shortcuts on your desktop and your quick launch?

[Caael]

So if i'm using several full screen windows and want to open something fast, then I use them. I barely use my desktop items, mainly quick launch shortcuts.

[Max]

This is a new one for me. I've been working at Sikorsky Aircraft (makers of the Blackhawk helicopter) this summer, and this is a nice shot of an H-53 variant, probably a CH-53E Super Stallion for the Navy.



Nice factoid: The new H-53K variant they are working on has an engine that weighs as much as an entire Blackhawk helicopter. See great shots here and here.

[Someone Else]

Helicopters. Awesome.

Zeypher, on Jul 21 2008, 01:52 PM, said:

<snip>
I used to have Zelda Icons and Zelda cursors, but I took them off.

Since when does Link deflect attacks with his sword? =P Nice, anyway.

[Toasty]

Max, on Jul 25 2008, 04:09 AM, said:

This is a new one for me. I've been working at Sikorsky Aircraft (makers of the Blackhawk helicopter) this summer, and this is a nice shot of an H-53 variant, probably a CH-53E Super Stallion for the Navy.

CH_53_Su...Stallion.jpg

Nice factoid: The new H-53K variant they are working on has an engine that weighs as much as an entire Blackhawk helicopter. See great shots here and here.

It must be pretty cool working there. May I ask what your job is?

And does the H-53K have some kind of radar absorbing paneling? Becuase it's stealthy looking.

[Max]

Toasty, on Jul 26 2008, 02:08 AM, said:

It must be pretty cool working there. May I ask what your job is?

And does the H-53K have some kind of radar absorbing paneling? Becuase it's stealthy looking.

I'm doing software development for them, more than that, I cannot really say.

And I'm pretty sure they don't have any special radar absorbing paneling, and they are pretty far from stealthy. They are enormous beasts, favoring function over form. It's a pretty awesome machine, I hope to see one in person some day (they only build Blackhawks/Seahawks and some commercial helos at the facility I work at.

[Zeypher]

New DT: http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/wallpa...ntendo_blue.jpg

Nah I'm joking :P

I can't decide between this:
http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/wallpa...8/nightmare.jpg

Or this:
http://www.zelda-infinite.com/files/wallpa...68/serenity.jpg

HALP!

[Toasty]

"Please Don't Steal Our Bandwidth!"

Seems....interesting.

[Zeypher]

That's weird, you can't link to images on their site...

[Legolastom]

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/Legolastom/000111MahWallpapers.jpg

They were MEH anyway Zeyph. If you really wanna OOT pic then get the picture with Link and Y.Link in the middle and the two Hyrules on both sides.

[Zeypher]

I've never seen that one before.

[Legolastom]

I think it was the cover to the soundtrack of the game.

[Zeypher]

Oh, this:
http://www.soundtrackcentral.com/pics-larg...eldaoot_ost.jpg

I'll try and find it somewhere.

[Caael]

That was also on the cover of the strategy guide, which would be a bigger picture so try find that.

[Laharl]

delicious Mai

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z254/laharl_the_slayer_07/untitled-13.jpg

[Ironsight]

Armored Core ***gotry
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2163/armoredcoresilentlineit1.jpg

[David]

Behold:

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc152/bookking99/Images/Untitled-2-2.jpg

[Toasty]

Why are your icons so ginormous?

I've got the cover of the Gurren Lagann OST as my background, but for some reason, it only shows up when I shutdown my PC. While it's on, it's just a plain blue background.

But I've got some official art of The Last Remnant as the background on my other PC.

[Split Infinity]

I'm guessing it's on thumbnails mode, didn't know you could do that on a Vista desktop.

[David]

Ashley Tisdale, on Sep 8 2008, 12:53 AM, said:

Why are your icons so ginormous?

Originally I had a bunch of icons on there I didn't need, and stuck them into the "All my useless crap" briefcase you see there. then I thought that the icons looked terribly small, considering there were only 4 of them at the time. So I made them larger to take up more space and be easier to see, because I'm OCD like that. :P

[Nosferatu]

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/9546/backroundua0.png
Pay no attention to the dual-screen'd TV being an asshole.

Edit: Haha wow. It sized it down so much.
From 2704 x 1050.

[Caael]

Miley Cyrus, on Sep 8 2008, 05:37 AM, said:

Armored Core ***gotry
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2163/armoredcoresilentlineit1.jpg

looks like a spartan laser.

[Ironsight]

It's a sword really. But I thought something similar when I first saw it.

[Toasty]

I think he was talking about the head. The head looks a lot like a spartan laser.

[Ironsight]

...Oh.
Yeah, it does, kind of. I guess.

[Split Infinity]

http://www.gamerhelp.com/images/content_images/129360-9.jpg

Interesting.

[Split Infinity]

Double post to show you this. It's ultraminimalistic because this computer is only really good for two things, browsing and music. It's on the Classic theme obviously, but I'm surprised it can even run XP at all. Or Office 2007, for that matter.

And no the Start menu isn't transparent, that's just me being awesome.

[Toasty]

Thanks to an orgasmically awesome program called Enso that my friend showed me, my desktop is now incredibly minimalistic. It almost seems......empty, now. And sad. And lonely.

Especially when compared to my previous desktops.

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7546/desktop6cl7.png

[Split Infinity]

Double wallpaper is fail. Try one of the dual monitor widescreens.

And have you been using TweakUI?

[Toasty]

Only a little bit. Changed a few things here and there. Also modified the registry to add some significant functionality to XP. Like the ability to log into the Administrator account without using the secure login screen in XP Pro, or starting up in safe mode.

PC Stats had a huge list of tips and tweaks for XP. Pretty interesting stuff in there.


And dual view, which is the screen setup I prefer, doesn't allow one wallpaper to span across two screens. If I wanted that, I'd have to use horizontal span, which is a major pain in the arse if you want to maximize a window to only one monitor.


When nick did it with his, he was using some Linux distro with the KDE 3.x GUI (I believe, as KDE 4 wasn't out yet).

[Split Infinity]

You could always just split it into two seperate wallpapers.

[Toasty]

It uses the same wallpaper for the second screen as the one you have for the first screen. You can't just split up a wallpaper, because you'll only be able to use one half at a time.

[Nosferatu]

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1163/nerobackroundep5.png
Edit: Christ it down scaled that ****er. It should be 1680x1050.

Edit: http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/5225/hellsingsz2.png

[Toasty]

Gurren Lagann OST scans ftw.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6937/vistasf1.jpg


Yeah, I think I found a way to span an image across two screens. Hopefully it'll work in XP aswell.


[EDIT]

Yup. It works. :fcp:

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/466/xpxz3.jpg

[Ironsight]

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4835/explodingbussb5.png

[Caael]

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb204/Caael/desktop2.png

[Laharl]

ive had this one a few months now but its so awesome

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z254/laharl_the_slayer_07/untitled-16.jpg

[Ironsight]

Trying to get this to work.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2785/fireeverythingbypheonix.jpg
Obviously, its a little large.

[Caael]

Bump for dual screens :)

http://i38.tinypic.com/1z14i1h.png

[Toasty]

Dual 800x640's? What is this? 1990? My bad.

And who uses the default windows XP skin any more? Patch that uxtheme file already and install some custom themes!


The wallpaper is delicious though.

[Caael]

New look:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb204/Caael/dualmonitor.png

[Toasty]

Very nice. though I personally suggest Muin, NiteLiteXP, and gNIGHT as far as XP styles go. There's also a modification of Muin called NOOTO that's pretty good. It's just a .msstyles file though. You need Muin installed before it'll work.

I've got a package that I put together for replaceing the uxtheme file that has a bunch of styles in it if you want it.

[Nosferatu]

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4008/desktopai.png

[Legolastom]

Cant organise my stuff at all, because shitty fucking desktop constantly randomly re-arranges them, even randomly fucked up my resolution when I logged in earlier, /shrug ohwell.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/Legolastom/Desktoppic1212.jpg

[ThankMeLater]

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8853/wallpapercu.jpg

anybody have some nice 1920x1080 desktops?

[Mallick]

if my compu has any desktops on it tomorrow ill see what ive got. on this compy my only high res desktops are of Kristen Bell

[lifeform287]

Mike Babcock, on Mar 26 2010, 06:59 AM, said:

if my compu has any desktops on it tomorrow ill see what ive got. on this compy my only high res desktops are of Kristen Bell

What, gonna get your fucking computer back?

Edit: O hi Lifeform287. Subconscience logins ftw.

[ThankMeLater]

sheba nudes naow

[Nosferatu]

ThankMeLater, on Mar 26 2010, 01:13 PM, said:

sheba nudes naow

You do realize I'm the same person but I just logged into 287 by accident right?

[Caael]

http://i42.tinypic.com/104kmc7.jpg

<3 organised desktop

[ThankMeLater]

well i'm rocking a 42 inch, so having 52 icons on my desktop isn't the least bit inconvenient. plus, i hate having to go through folder's so find important apps, so really the neatness would be counter productive.

[Mallick]

lifeform287, on Mar 26 2010, 12:10 PM, said:

What, gonna get your fucking computer back?

Edit: O hi Lifeform287. Subconscience logins ftw.

Yeah the hard drive was dead. I replaced it and have got it going with Windows 7. Now all I need to do is set it up again. >_>;

[ThankMeLater]

how much is windows 7 to buy?
how stable are the illegal versions?

[Mallick]

I'd advise against a bootleg copy of W7. It'd just be too big of a pain to keep up with - having to redownload and install new versions all the time 'n' stuff. 32bit was $140 but I believe 64 is only $105.

[Toasty]

Don't ever get a bootleg copy. If you're not going to buy it (in which case I don't blame you. Windows 7 is worth closer to $60 in my eyes), then look for a legit copy online, find a legit key, and get yourself a cheapo prepaid phone.

The legit key will probably have been overused a dozen times, so Windows is going to complain about it being fake. However, because it's a legit key, you can call Microsoft's automated phone service and activate your copy of Windows 7 over the phone by speaking a long string of numbers into the phone (which will be provided for you by Windows 7), and typing in the numbers that the automated phone service responds back with.

That's how I activated my copy.

The prepaid phone is just a precaution to make it harder for Microsoft to find you should they actually decide to go after a consumer of pirated goods instead of a producer (which very rarely ever happens).

http://www.goldensun-syndicate.net/forum/public/style_images/gssv3/snapback.png' alt='View Post' />Caael, on Mar 26 2010, 06:06 PM, said:

<3 organised desktop

What happened to your taskbar? Is it just on autohide or something?

ThankMeLater, on Mar 26 2010, 08:09 PM, said:

well i'm rocking a 42 inch, so having 52 icons on my desktop isn't the least bit inconvenient. plus, i hate having to go through folder's so find important apps, so really the neatness would be counter productive.

You only have 1920x1080 pixels. You can get that on a 27", or even some 24"'s. A 30" monitor has more realestate at 2560x1600.

Just sayin'.


Also, props to Nos for using Windows 7 instead of Vista, like all you other chumps (except for PDM).

[Caael]

Toasty, on Mar 28 2010, 08:35 AM, said:

What happened to your taskbar? Is it just on autohide or something?

Also, props to Nos for using Windows 7 instead of Vista, like all you other chumps (except for PDM).

Yeah it's just on autohide to make it look purdy.

And I'm using XP, bitches.

[ThankMeLater]

Toasty, on Mar 28 2010, 01:35 AM, said:

You only have 1920x1080 pixels. You can get that on a 27", or even some 24"'s. A 30" monitor has more realestate at 2560x1600.

Just sayin'.

it's a tv, if that makes any difference. if not, why wouldn't i be able to get sucb bigh res's.

[Toasty]

Because the maximum resolution being used by TV stations nowadays is "only" 1920x1080, TV manufacturers have no reason to produce a set that's capable of a higher resolution (though that will change once we start seeing support for a "Quad HD" format, but that's quite a ways off).

But because graphics cards nowadays can output 2560x1600, and there's people out there who actually have use for the much screen space, we do in fact have monitors that have resolutions has high as that.

Also keep in mind that a TV will usually be more expensive regardless solely because it requires extra hardware to interpret signals from a set top box or antenna (i.e. it needs hardware to turn signals from old analog standards like composite video into images on screen).

That said, I think you'd be hard pressed to find even a cheap quality (if there even is one) 30" monitor for less than $800-900. Top quality ones usually cost anywhere from $1200-$1500. I think I've seen one for $2000 once, though.



[EDIT] Also, no offense, but anyone here who's still using XP is just blatantly retarded, because you all should really know better than that. XP is now considered a legacy OS, just so you know.

[ThankMeLater]

whatever. im a decent ways away from the screen, and any higher res would make forum text unreadable at this distance, so i don't really need more.

and what's a legacy OS mean?

[Toasty]

Why anyone would surf the web on a 42" TV is beyond me, but on to your question.

A "legacy OS" is, in layman's terms, an obsolete and outdated operating system. An OS is usually officially considered legacy when the developer(s) officially stop releasing any major updates. Though usually they'll continue to release security patches for a few more years (in MS's case, I believe they'll do so until 2020. Though thankfully, support for IE6 is supposed to be dropped in 2014).

tl;dr it means you shouldn't be using it unless you're a big corporation who's major applications won't run on a more modern OS.

[ThankMeLater]

Toasty, on Mar 29 2010, 04:19 PM, said:

Why anyone would surf the web on a 42" TV is beyond me, but on to your question.

A "legacy OS" is, in layman's terms, an obsolete and outdated operating system. An OS is usually officially considered legacy when the developer(s) officially stop releasing any major updates. Though usually they'll continue to release security patches for a few more years (in MS's case, I believe they'll do so until 2020. Though thankfully, support for IE6 is supposed to be dropped in 2014).

tl;dr it means you shouldn't be using it unless you're a big corporation who's major applications won't run on a more modern OS.

because a 42" tv > 19" inch monitor. games are better, movies are better, production is a fuck ton easier.. the only thing i find remotely annoying is that some forum text seems to be real small. here is fine, rapbasement is pretty much unreadable without the magnifying glass. so why sacrifice all that when i can use the magnifier?

[Toasty]

Or, you could do the smart thing, and get a second 24-27" or so monitor for browsing the web.

I know why you'd use a 42" for gaming and movies and whatnot. But for anything not related to media consumption, that big screen size will make things difficult. That's why you get a smaller monitor with the same resolution, and thus, the same amount of "screen real estate".

I use my 34" LCD TV for gaming and movies occasionally, but it's absolutely horrible for web browsing since it's too big for you to get reasonably close to.

[ThankMeLater]

like you said, monitors are expensive as fuck, and id rather chill on the couch where the speakers are evenly spread out, then move up close to a monitor every time i wanna surf the web.

[Mallick]

I dunno whatchu talking about. TVs are great for web browsing. On my bro's (720p :\) 39" TV the only part that sucks about it is trying to read text in iTunes.

[ThankMeLater]

itunes is fine for me. its only some forums.. other sites are entirely fine to read.

[Toasty]

ThankMeLater, on Mar 30 2010, 02:20 PM, said:

like you said, monitors are expensive as fuck, and id rather chill on the couch where the speakers are evenly spread out, then move up close to a monitor every time i wanna surf the web.

I said 30" monitors are expensive. Most other monitors are less expensive solely for the fact that they're baiscally LCD TV's without the tuning equipment. A good 19-22" LCD screen will usually run you between $140-$200. 24-27" is usually about $180-$280. Add about $75 for top quality stuff.

As far as surfing the web while hooked up to a TV, just do what I do and connect a second monitor that you set on the coffee table or something.

Mike Babcock, on Mar 30 2010, 03:16 PM, said:

I dunno whatchu talking about. TVs are great for web browsing. On my bro's (720p :\) 39" TV the only part that sucks about it is trying to read text in iTunes.

The pixel's in a 720p are much bigger, so text is easier to read.

[ThankMeLater]

the closer second monitor is actually a good idea, but i really don't have a problem with using the tv, so ill never drop a few bills of a a new monitor.

[Toasty]

Suite yourself I guess. I just always find that having a monitor is useful. For me, the TV is more like an add-on than the other way around. But then again, I surf the web and do geeky computer stuff a lot more than I play games or watch movies.

[Mallick]

Speaking of computers. Toasty, I want you to do me a favor and design my a PC. Now, don't go crazy and put two 5970s in it, but I would like it to be higher end. Have fun; I'm sure you will. I await the result =D

[Toasty]

Why would I put in a couple of 5970's when I could opt for three brand new GeForce GTX480's?

Currently working on 4 setups of varying prices. What's your limit?

[Mallick]

I'm just shopping around for now, so the sky is the limit. I don't know why you'd put two GTX480s in there, they're garbage for the price. If I'm gonna have two GPUs with crossfire, I'd probably be happy with 5770s tbh.

Also, Crucial Rendition vs. Corsair for RAM? Or would ye suggest something higher end?

[Toasty]

The GTX480's are based on Nvidia's new Fermi architecture, which is far better than the architecture ATi designed for the 5970 and 5800 series. The latter wasn't even originally designed with DirectX 11 in mind. It's still an impressive architecture, but Fermi's got more going for it.

That said, when you shop in the extreme high-end, the price or value of the card is the last thing on your mind.


Corsair XMS is really good if you want high-end RAM. Though for DDR3, if you find the right model of the value variant for Crucial, you can get crazy good overclocks. That's only if you get the sitcks with the right chips from Micron.


Also, give me an e-mail address so I can send you the lists. I don't want to list out all the items here.

[Mallick]

Toasty, on Mar 31 2010, 09:34 PM, said:

The GTX480's are based on Nvidia's new Fermi architecture, which is far better than the architecture ATi designed for the 5970 and 5800 series. The latter wasn't even originally designed with DirectX 11 in mind. It's still an impressive architecture, but Fermi's got more going for it.

Yeah I'm not pleased with the 5800 series at all. Shit's hella weak.

Toasty, on Mar 31 2010, 09:34 PM, said:

That said, when you shop in the extreme high-end, the price or value of the card is the last thing on your mind.

I'm not shopping in the extreme high end, good sir.

Toasty, on Mar 31 2010, 09:34 PM, said:

Corsair XMS is really good if you want high-end RAM. Though for DDR3, if you find the right model of the value variant for Crucial, you can get crazy good overclocks. That's only if you get the sitcks with the right chips from Micron.

I'm not terribly worried about the repercussions of low end RAM. It's not nearly as expensive to replace, and I can afford more of it. :3 also, should I really bother with DDR3 as of right now? Is it worth the value?

Toasty, on Mar 31 2010, 09:34 PM, said:

Also, give me an e-mail address so I can send you the lists. I don't want to list out all the items here.

[email protected]

[Toasty]

DDR3 has already begun to replace DDR2. Within about two years, DDR2 will be considered somewhat obsolete. Also, as of right now, DDR2 and DDR3 prices are fairly similar. They're also both hella' expensive. It's twice as expensive as it was around this time last year.

And I'll send you the lists here shortly.

[EDIT] They're all sent off.

If you want a case to go with any of the builds, I'd suggest this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811146058

I currently have my latest build tucked in that case, and I love it. My only complaint is that it could use some more space behind the motherboard tray for easier cable-routing.

And if you want a new hard drive too, I'd suggest this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148395

[Mallick]

ILoveCommunism, on Mar 31 2010, 11:58 PM, said:

DDR3 has already begun to replace DDR2. Within about two years, DDR2 will be considered somewhat obsolete. Also, as of right now, DDR2 and DDR3 prices are fairly similar. They're also both hella' expensive. It's twice as expensive as it was around this time last year.

Yeah the prices have gone up quite a bit as of late. I noticed that DDR3 costs twice as much as DDR2 on NCIX though.

ILoveCommunism, on Mar 31 2010, 11:58 PM, said:

And I'll send you the lists here shortly.

[EDIT] They're all sent off.

If you want a case to go with any of the builds, I'd suggest this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811146058

I currently have my latest build tucked in that case, and I love it. My only complaint is that it could use some more space behind the motherboard tray for easier cable-routing.

Hmm, thanks. The format of the email is a little annoying but the builds are helpful.

ILoveCommunism, on Mar 31 2010, 11:58 PM, said:

And if you want a new hard drive too, I'd suggest this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148395

I picked up a 1.5TB hard drive from seagate today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822148337

Cost $94 before taxes. I was pleased. Hey, what do you know/think of liquid cooling?

[Toasty]

I'd be a little wary of that hard drive. I think Seagate fixed the problems with that particular model, but I might be wrong. dunno.


Anyway, liquid cooling can be expensive, and unless you get one of those prebuilt all in one kits like the Corsair kit for the CPU, it's too much of a hassle.

I might make a rig someday with liquid cooling, but from what I hear, they're a pain to maintain. Especially if you're not very experienced.

[Mallick]

Well NCIX will only give you %50 of your money back if the item has been unpackaged, so I'll be sticking with this thing until it bites the dust.

Yeah I'm not planning on Liquid cooling any time soon; I've not even OCd any of my stuff. I'm too cheap to run the risk of instability.

[Toasty]

But here's the funny thing: All processors are designed to run faster than what they're rated at. Take the Penitum E5200 (my processor), and the E5300. Heck, you could even throw in the Core 2 Duo E7200 and E8600 too. They're all the exact same architecture, and the architecture is what determines the maximum speed (it's the sole major factor, at least).

The E5200 runs at 2.5GHz stock. The E5300 runs at 2.6GHz stock. Both have the exact same specs, except for the core speed. Obviously, because they're the same, the E5200 is also capable of running at that higher speed.

The only major limiting factors in overclocking is the thermal envelope, and the maximum rated voltage of the processor. Too hot, and the processor will start throttling to keep temps down. You'll start to see a severe performance decrease because of it, too. So you just need a good heatsink. Too little voltage, and the CPU won't be receiving enough juice to operate. Too much voltage, and you fry it.

Basically, you should be able to get 3.33GHz easy on any Intel CPU based on the Core 2 architecture (with a few exceptions here and there due to defects). I know I've been able to run my E5200 at 4.2GHz stable at one point, but my RAM became a major bottleneck because of it, so I had to adjust some stuff. I think I settled on 4GHz. But then I upgraded my RAM, and the new stuff doesn't OC as well, so I'm limited to 3.16GHz on my CPU.


Basically, as long as you don't push the overclock, you don't have to worry about it being unstable. If you run into instability problems, just up the voltage a bit. But keep the temps down, or you'll fry the CPU.

[Mallick]

Huh. Didn't see this post until now. Thanks bro. As for my desktop.. rate it pls, everyone?


http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/4765/desktopuk.png

[Moonear]

Mike Babcock, on Jun 25 2010, 12:49 PM, said:

Huh. Didn't see this post until now. Thanks bro. As for my desktop.. rate it pls, everyone?
[pic][/url]

Pretty minimalist, which I always like in a desktop, and Emma Watson is gorgeous.
9/10

[Legolastom]

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/Legolastom/DesktopMasterLolFez.jpg

Here is mine now, squished thanks to PB.

[Toasty]

QUICK! NOBODY POST IN THIS SECTION! IT HAS 7777 REPLIES!


....oh wait, nvm.

http://rlv.zcache.com/awesome_smiley_photo_sculpture_photosculpture-p153359710604909267qdjh_400.jpg

[ThankMeLater]

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/926/dontuseforgssf.jpg

desktops a bit full, but on a 42" it doens't really matter, and i hate going through vista';s start menu to find shit.

[Mallick]

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/2913/desktopzj.png


I usually auto-hide my taskbar, but I figured I may as well point out the feature in w7 that lets you apps shit to it.

[Moonear]

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6216/43241103.jpg

[Caael]

http://i28.tinypic.com/29ndl6q.jpg

I have about 300 wallpapers on a 1 minute cycle each though so y'now. Also, in W7, how do I set dual screen wallpapers to be dual screen and not be squashed into one?

[Toasty]

Should either be Fill or Tile.

And Skidz, a 42" screen only has a resolution of 1920x1080, which actually gives you less space than a 30".

Referencing physical screen sizes doesn't really work when you're trying to show off your e-penis. :P

[ThankMeLater]

suck my 2 4890's and i7 975, bitch.

and if you say the former is outdated, i'ma smack you with my djm-800 and CDJ 1000's.

[Toasty]

Former is outdated. You got jipped.

GTX495's are where it's at.

[Caael]

Owned by toasty

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/5067/coolface.jpg

[ThankMeLater]

Toasty, on Jul 17 2010, 12:54 AM, said:

Former is outdated. You got jipped.

GTX495's are where it's at.

You told me to get them. Remember, this is a year ago we're talking here.

And caael, you really wanna fuck with me?

[Mallick]

Caael, on Jul 16 2010, 02:55 PM, said:

[super common desktop]

I have about 300 wallpapers on a 1 minute cycle each though so y'now. Also, in W7, how do I set dual screen wallpapers to be dual screen and not be squashed into one?

Meh, I guess I do the same thing. I've got a gig or two of desktops and I usually change it up every day or so.. until I find one I like [usually a girl XD] and stick with it for a week or two.

[Toasty]

ThankMeLater, on Jul 17 2010, 06:34 AM, said:

You told me to get them. Remember, this is a year ago we're talking here.

And caael, you really wanna fuck with me?

I told you it'd probably be better to wait, but those would do okay.

4890's are like mainstream performance now. Plus, they only support two monitors per card.

HD5000 series and GTX400 series both offer triple monitor support on one card, and to top it off, they're more powerful (and in case of the HD5000 series, more power efficient) than the 4890's.


Since you've already got the 4890's just keep them and wait a bit for the prices to drop on some of the higher end HD 5000 hardware. Or maybe even the GTX400 stuff, but those cards seem to be really loud, hot, and power hungry.

[ThankMeLater]

Toasty, on Jul 19 2010, 04:15 PM, said:

I told you it'd probably be better to wait, but those would do okay.

4890's are like mainstream performance now. Plus, they only support two monitors per card.

HD5000 series and GTX400 series both offer triple monitor support on one card, and to top it off, they're more powerful (and in case of the HD5000 series, more power efficient) than the 4890's.
Since you've already got the 4890's just keep them and wait a bit for the prices to drop on some of the higher end HD 5000 hardware. Or maybe even the GTX400 stuff, but those cards seem to be really loud, hot, and power hungry.

you didn't tell me to wait. you might have meant to. but whatever, i'm never really gonna try and impress you with computer hardware, unless i have some 10 grand lieing around.

[Toasty]

Pfft. 10 grand wouldn't even get you a quarter of the kind of machine I have in mind.

But this is going off topic. Though I admit I don't care to post my desktop. It's just a bunch of images of tropical places cycling through on a 1 minute cycle.

[Moonear]

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/8751/ifdjvfdnvo.jpg

[Mallick]

What resolution is the original?

The one I've got is only 1680x1050

[Moonear]

Mike Babcock, on Jul 21 2010, 04:38 PM, said:

What resolution is the original?

The one I've got is only 1680x1050

Were you talking to me? The wallpaper was 1366x768.

[Legolastom]

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/Legolastom/Desktopengeerslul.jpg

Another desktop, in again the same shitty quality as my other uploads...

[Moonear]

Damn, your desktop is way too cluttered. Do you just download everything straight to it?

[Legolastom]

Sometimes.

[Toasty]

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6966/64970369.th.png

New 1680x1050 next to my old 1440x900.


Would be running Ubuntu 10.04, but I haven't fixed the issues with the bootloader on this comp. It's set up to triple-boot Mac/Windows/Linux, but a few things went awry when upgrading the linux distro.

[Legolastom]

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/Legolastom/Desktop9.png

I leiked this picture.

[Toasty]

*thumbs up*

[Toasty]

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5017/screenshothr.png

Figured I'd do both monitors, so you can see my wallpaper, and then also be incredibly jealous that my OS looks way better than yours.

[Someone Else]

Linked because the screenshot is huge, had to save as a JPG so it's not like 5MB. Also is there a way to not make tinypic/photobucket squish your images?

http://i55.tinypic.com/wlye79.jpg

New huuuuuge, sexy monitor. I just have stock wallpapers of landscapes randomly switch out once everyday. If anybody has any nice pictures of landscapes similar to that at 1920x1080 *looks at Caael* please show me.

[Eugine]

http://interfacelift...loads/date/any/
Great website for wallpapers WD.

[Someone Else]

Sweeet. Thanks Eugy.

[Zeypher]

http://i.imgur.com/TFx4B.jpg

Wind Waker FTW.

[Toasty]

Eww...Windows.

Eugine, on 31 January 2011 - 09:36 PM, said:

http://interfacelift...loads/date/any/
Great website for wallpapers WD.

Yeah, I was going to suggest that, but then I saw your post.

Interfacelift is pretty much the de-facto site for wallpapers. I get pretty much all of my wallpapers from there.

[Someone Else]

Toasty, on 03 February 2011 - 12:39 AM, said:

Eww...Windows.

http://files.sharenator.com/PopeNiggaPlease_Random_Pics_P-s342x409-60546-580.jpg

[Toasty]

Take a look at my screenshot. Tell me that doesn't look (and function) way better than windows.

[Someone Else]

Going off of a screenshot alone it looks a lot like Mac, which imo is clunkier than Windows in terms of interface (despite people claiming it easier to use for people unfamiliar with computers).

I'm sure Linux is great for hardcore computer nerds, since those seem to be the kind of people who sing praises to it so much, but a hardcore computer nerd I am not, and probably never will be.

[Toasty]

I know people who hardly know anything about computers, and they like Ubuntu a lot better than Windows. My mom is 50, and she learned it in a few minutes, after I showed her the basics.

It actually functions fairly similarly to windows, in the way you access your files and whatnot. It's really not that difficult to learn.

Plus it's free, the software is all free, it's more stable, there's no viruses, you can get a lot of Windows games to play on it with Play On Linux, the hard drive doesn't need defragging, the Operating system doesn't slow down overt time from regular use (unless you fill the hard drive, but that's true for all OS's), it's harder to hack into, patches/updates/security fixes are released in days (sometimes even hours for security holes), not months, etc. etc. etc.

I'd list more, but I think you get the point. This is just from a consumer viewpoint. I have a whole other list for computer-nerd-specific reasons to switch.

[Caael]

Toasty, on 03 February 2011 - 04:37 PM, said:

I know people who hardly know anything about computers, and they like Ubuntu a lot better than Windows. My mom is 50, and she learned it in a few minutes, after I showed her the basics.

It actually functions fairly similarly to windows, in the way you access your files and whatnot. It's really not that difficult to learn.

Plus it's free, the software is all free, it's more stable, there's no viruses, you can get a lot of Windows games to play on it with Play On Linux, the hard drive doesn't need defragging, the Operating system doesn't slow down overt time from regular use (unless you fill the hard drive, but that's true for all OS's), it's harder to hack into, patches/updates/security fixes are released in days (sometimes even hours for security holes), not months, etc. etc. etc.

I'd list more, but I think you get the point. This is just from a consumer viewpoint. I have a whole other list for computer-nerd-specific reasons to switch.

When I get my macbook pro, I'm gonna have a laaaarge partition dedicated to Linux. You can help me :D

[Someone Else]

If I'm 100% satisfied with Win 7 (Vista was terrible for various reasons, XP's interface was ugly and had little changes from previous versions) why would I choose Linux? Had zero problems with Windows 7, damn fine OS for what I want to do. It still seems to be somewhat of a memory hog but I don't see it as a big issue for me personally.

[Toasty]

Free software? Snappier OS? Cooler software?

Heck, you can even keep Windows on another partition and boot into it whenever you feel like it. and with the specs your computer has, you could even run Windows 7 fairly easily within a VM with Virtual Box.

The latter is actually really freaking awesome, because you can use ctrl+alt+arrowkeys to switch workspaces. So, just put the VM in fullscreen on another workspace, and then use the shortcut keys to switch between Windows and Linux on the fly.

If you wanted to do that, you could, though I would suggest getting at least another 2GB of RAM.


Regardless, you can still run Windows in a VM, or simply have it in another partition. Or both.


Plus, everything. EVERYTHING is free. tons of good audio, video, and picture editing software for free (enough to give $500+ suites a run for their money).

If you want to just try it out, go to Ubuntu.com and follow their tutorial for installing Ubuntu to a flash drive. Or just burn a disk and run it (though the flash drive is faster).


Oh yeah, and I'll say this again: No viruses. Not even a need for anti-virus. Plus it's harder to hack into. And you'll never have to worry about windows logging your keystrokes.

Caael, on 03 February 2011 - 05:14 PM, said:

When I get my macbook pro, I'm gonna have a laaaarge partition dedicated to Linux. You can help me :D

I.....I don't know what to say....Can I just marry you instead?

[Caael]

http://store.apple.c...GURE-MACBOOKPRO

Gonna get the mid range 15" one. i7 and .13GHz isn't enough justification for an extra £300. Thoughts Toasty?

[Toasty]

The i7 will actually give a pretty good speed bump, but it may not be worth it to you. Especially if you don't have a lot of cpu-intensive applications. Though Minecraft will certainly thank you, since it's a CPU whore.

I would suggest going for the glossy hi-res display. It's sharper, and the color definition is better than the anti-glare. You might also want to consider upgrading the hard drive, but it's probably cheaper to just upgrade that yourself later (same with the RAM. Apple charges through the teeth for that stuff).

Since both have the same GPU, you won't see much of a speed bump for standard 3D games. Though since Minecraft is written in Java, it's primarily CPU bound. Transcoding video is also a CPU-intensive application. You COULD use the Nvidia GPU, but Nvidia's transcoding engine is absolutely awful. Fast, but produces a horrible image, so you're better off using the CPU for transcoding. AMD/ATi's stream engine is pretty good though, but Intel's new engine built into the Sandy Bridge CPU's is probably the best right now.

But, Apple is still using Nehalem, so the latter is a moot point.


If I were you, I would assess how important it is for you to get the laptop right now, since Apple will likely be updating th Macbooks to Sandy Bridge sometime this year. Probably. They usually wait 6 months before adopting new CPU's, and the macbooks are due for an update iirc.


[EDIT] Oh yeah. Buy the extended warranty, and then use the hell out of the laptop. My friend pretty much abused his (not carelessly, he just used it a lot, like as a temp server, and other stuff), and he basically ended up getting a whole new laptop (a few parts at a time) thanks to the warranty. When anything broke, he just sent it in and they replaced the defective part.

[Caael]

http://i56.tinypic.com/dqhurm.png

FFF YEA

[Toasty]

lol windowze