Edaun Ifor Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Peeps: My Wife is sold on upgrading our PC...I must be doing something right at home... I am going to buy the dual-processor 64-bit-ready Athlon, prolly an HP a1350n 4200 series processors. 2.4 GB, 1GB DDR (holds 3GB), 2000 Mhz FS bus, 512x2 L2 cache, ATI Express 200 Video (256MB), 160 GB SATA HDD, and some other stuff. It'll be preloaded with XP, but I'm running that already on my present hdd, and I think I'll prolly swap the two drives out. Question: If I don't swap the hdd, and I reinstall the game, will my account remain open and all my nice expansions still be set? It won't affect anything other than the time it takes to reinstall this, right? My beloved told me I could pick out the PC again. *sigh* Wove, Twue Wove... Within our budget, I am looking at the 4200 processor series, as earlier stated, because I don't like Pentiums for gaming as much as the good fortune I've had with AMD. Any thoughts, ideas, problems, comments? Edaun & Garu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Shawkorrr Posted March 28, 2006 Executive Share Posted March 28, 2006 Question:If I don't swap the hdd, and I reinstall the game, will my account remain open and all my nice expansions still be set? It won't affect anything other than the time it takes to reinstall this, right? 9711[/snapback] Your account will remain open yes, and your expansions will still be there :) but lets hear others opinions first tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yva Xorna Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 I've had windows freak out on me before when I changed hardware pieces but not the HD. Bascially it locked up saying that key was registered to another user. So I had to call up microsoft and get it straightened out, they were cool about it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 I've had windows freak out on me before when I changed hardware pieces but not the HD.Bascially it locked up saying that key was registered to another user. So I had to call up microsoft and get it straightened out, they were cool about it though. 9714[/snapback] So, you think it wouldbe better (easier) if I just burned a fresh copy of the orginal pre-NGe game on a clean drive? I hope I still have everything...I know I have the discs, but the orginal box is at the bottom of the landfill by now.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degan Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 So, you think it wouldbe better (easier) if I just burned a fresh copy of the orginal pre-NGe game on a clean drive? I hope I still have everything...I know I have the discs, but the orginal box is at the bottom of the landfill by now.. 9715[/snapback] You should be able to install the game to the new HD no problem. The first time you log in the launchpad will scan and d/l anything missing. As for graphics cards....Be mindful of the ATI cards young padawan, they have had probs in the past, but with the newest drivers it should be ok. Myself, I run an ATI 9800 pro card, it works well on all games but SWG...(SWG is a VERY demanding game and can push a card to its limits) I mean not that it performs poorly, but its definatly not as good as it could be. My suggestions for a graphics card, depending on your budget, would be these Diamond Multimedia Stealth ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB DDR (between $70-$90) PNY GeForce 6200 256 MB DDR AGP Card ($90 - $120 but if budget allows, i'd go with this) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Astrus Posted March 28, 2006 Founder Share Posted March 28, 2006 So, you think it wouldbe better (easier) if I just burned a fresh copy of the orginal pre-NGe game on a clean drive? I hope I still have everything...I know I have the discs, but the orginal box is at the bottom of the landfill by now.. 9715[/snapback] Heres what i do.... 1. Burn all the contents of my current SWG folder to DVD. 2. Install SWG on the "other" Comp. 3. Then I copy and paste (overwrite) the contents from the DVD Backup I made of my working SWG folder to the freshly installed SWG folder on the "other" Comp/HDD. ..should work perfectly fine...you keep all of your settings and everything is cool...just remember to copy over the fresh install before you run SWG. Note: Just copying the Backup to your HDD without Installing SWG w/ the SWG Installshield Wizard, wont work. SWG needs its registry entries which only a proper installation will give you. ...hopefully that helps you out :woot: ..I'd suggest a comp setup but It would start $1200...and thats just for the SLI Video Cards. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 You should be able to install the game to the new HD no problem. The first time you log in the launchpad will scan and d/l anything missing. As for graphics cards....Be mindful of the ATI cards young padawan, they have had probs in the past, but with the newest drivers it should be ok. Myself, I run an ATI 9800 pro card, it works well on all games but SWG...(SWG is a VERY demanding game and can push a card to its limits) I mean not that it performs poorly, but its definatly not as good as it could be. My suggestions for a graphics card, depending on your budget, would be these Diamond Multimedia Stealth ATI Radeon 9250 PCI 256MB DDR (between $70-$90) PNY GeForce 6200 256 MB DDR AGP Card ($90 - $120 but if budget allows, i'd go with this) 9720[/snapback] Many thanks. I'm running the 128MB ATI Raedon 9200 SE atm and it's laggy during peak hours and lags some in space in the AM anyway. The PC I'm looking at comes with a PCI (I hate PCI cards) Express? WTH is a PCI Express? Is that different than an AGP? It comes with an ATI 200 Xpress card, and the reviews I've read say the PC is goos, once you delete the HP programs that clog up the system, then upgrade the card. I'm pricing the Diamond Stealth card and the PNY card you mentioned, but I know nothing about the GForce chipset, so is one of those comparable, if I get one BIG enough 256MB? Astrus' idea about copying the info via DVD is good, if I had a DVD burner on my present PC, keep in mind my present PC was a custom job and is obsolete...Athlon 1100, 756 MB SDRAM, 80 GB ATA hdd, 266 FS Bus. It's worked OK so far, but TAX-RETURNS make nice computers... I knew buying a house was a good investment, just didn't know it would help my PvP one day. :) Is there going to be a big difference in me buying a dual cpu PC now or going for a 3.4 Ghz Pentium and shooting for a big 'ol Video card? The AMD 64 PCs are tempting and I know technology is heading that direction, so would it be better to get one of those or what? Thanks for your help, folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degan Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Many thanks. I'm running the 128MB ATI Raedon 9200 SE atm and it's laggy during peak hours and lags some in space in the AM anyway. The PC I'm looking at comes with a PCI (I hate PCI cards) Express? WTH is a PCI Express? Is that different than an AGP? It comes with an ATI 200 Xpress card, and the reviews I've read say the PC is goos, once you delete the HP programs that clog up the system, then upgrade the card. I'm pricing the Diamond Stealth card and the PNY card you mentioned, but I know nothing about the GForce chipset, so is one of those comparable, if I get one BIG enough 256MB? GForce = AGP Here Diamond = PCI Here The biggest difference between AGP and PCI graphics cards is that AGP cards can access the system memory to help with complex operations such as texture mapping. PCI cards can only access the memory available on the actual card. AGP doesn't share bandwidth with other devices, whereas PCI cards do. AGP also makes pipelined requests, which means it can execute multiple instructions at one time. PCI cards are not pipelined, which means each instruction has to finish before the next one is run. PCI and AGP perform almost the same as far as frames per second go, the only real highlight of AGP is in the high res performance where the direct system memory access comes into play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draejth Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 might be a bit late now but a clean install of the game and the patch files copied/burnt to disc save me hours when I swap HDD hopefuly you say you still have the game discs and patches can be found here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 might be a bit late now but a clean install of the game and the patch files copied/burnt to disc save me hours when I swap HDD hopefuly you say you still have the game discs and patches can be found here 9727[/snapback] Yes I have them. Maybe I can borrow a DVD burner. I have a CDRW, but other than slaving the old and new hdd together and copying the entire folder to the new drive, I'm out of ideas. Degan, I went to the store and got some clarification: PCI Express is the new AGP, which was the new PCI. It's in exactly the same spot as the AGP slot, right below the processor. I am told it is faster than AGP, and incompatible. I saw an ATI PCI Express card Raedon 512 DDR for $169 there. I also learned the Raedon Xpress 200 is (ugh) INTEGRATED memory, and the dude said games will run good on this integrated memory, but I do not believe it. So, I am doing a bit more narrowing-down, but I am close. Oh, TigerDirect links? Nice. The store is a few miles from my job. Nice place to go as long as you don't mind getting searched by armed guards on your way out... BTW**** ** ** I have NOT done anything to my PC yet. Prolly won't try anything until I know how it will affect my gaming. or this weekend, whichever comes first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Astrus Posted March 28, 2006 Founder Share Posted March 28, 2006 If youre upgrading for gaming, dual CPU's is damn near useless for most games...id go w/ a nice athlon64 or P4 extreme edition CPU. I actually build comps for a living.... mostly workstations and what not for video and audio professionals, school districts and students at the University of Washington. If you want some more detailed info you can send me a PM and I can help you out w/ more info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavryk_Dark-Haven Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Heres what i do.... 1. Burn all the contents of my current SWG folder to DVD. 2. Install SWG on the "other" Comp. 3. Then I copy and paste (overwrite) the contents from the DVD Backup I made of my working SWG folder to the freshly installed SWG folder on the "other" Comp/HDD. ..should work perfectly fine...you keep all of your settings and everything is cool...just remember to copy over the fresh install before you run SWG. Note: Just copying the Backup to your HDD without Installing SWG w/ the SWG Installshield Wizard, wont work. SWG needs its registry entries which only a proper installation will give you. 9721[/snapback] Thats what i did and it works fine :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 Thats what i did and it works fine :) 9737[/snapback] Maybe I'll get me a DVD burner on the side and do this beforehand...then get the new PC up and running (before I dismantle the old one) and do this. I'd sure hate to lose ANYTHING. :woot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 ..I'd suggest a comp setup but It would start $1200...and thats just for the SLI Video Cards. :o 9721[/snapback] I went to Tiger Direct and found a 256 PCIe card which says it's SLI. The page is here. I'm leaning toward the Athlon 64, at least 1 GB RAM, and an Nvidia SLI card, if I can get this one. Thanks for the help! Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Astrus Posted March 29, 2006 Founder Share Posted March 29, 2006 I went to Tiger Direct and found a 256 PCIe card which says it's SLI. The page ishere. I'm leaning toward the Athlon 64, at least 1 GB RAM, and an Nvidia SLI card, if I can get this one. Thanks for the help! Ed 9792[/snapback] oh ya thats an SLI card alright...but remember that a true SLI setup requires 2 SLI compatible cards (and motherboard) and there are at least 12 grades of SLI cards out there atm... I run 2 quadro fx 4400's SLI'd but IM NOT AT ALL suggesting those for gaming... I do alot of graphic and 3D design and animation so thats actually for work....though i do run a few games on it when im curious hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 oh ya thats an SLI card alright...but remember that a true SLI setup requires 2 SLI compatible cards (and motherboard) and there are at least 12 grades of SLI cards out there atm... I run 2 quadro fx 4400's SLI'd but IM NOT AT ALL suggesting those for gaming... I do alot of graphic and 3D design and animation so thats actually for work....though i do run a few games on it when im curious hehe. 9794[/snapback] Yeah I looked at the custom gaming PCs and they're $4000, a little more than what I'll be paying...lol I ended up buying the Athlon 64 3700+ (2.2 Ghz) , 2000 Mhz bus speed, 1 MB L2 Cache and 1 GB DDR RAM. Also found a nice and cheap 17" flat panel LCD at Tiger, and after $110 rebates, I'll be sitting pretty..it came with a dual-layer DVD+RW, and I have yet to buy the video card and some wireless gear. Maybe this weekend. HOPEFULLY, the wife won't demand I hook all this crap up immediately and lose any chance of SWG til I get it straight.. If you don't see me ingame for a few days, that's why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerokTalram Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Peeps:My Wife is sold on upgrading our PC...I must be doing something right at home... I am going to buy the dual-processor 64-bit-ready Athlon, prolly an HP a1350n 4200 series processors. 2.4 GB, 1GB DDR (holds 3GB), 2000 Mhz FS bus, 512x2 L2 cache, ATI Express 200 Video (256MB), 160 GB SATA HDD, and some other stuff. It'll be preloaded with XP, but I'm running that already on my present hdd, and I think I'll prolly swap the two drives out. Question: If I don't swap the hdd, and I reinstall the game, will my account remain open and all my nice expansions still be set? It won't affect anything other than the time it takes to reinstall this, right? My beloved told me I could pick out the PC again. *sigh* Wove, Twue Wove... Within our budget, I am looking at the 4200 processor series, as earlier stated, because I don't like Pentiums for gaming as much as the good fortune I've had with AMD. Any thoughts, ideas, problems, comments? Edaun & Garu 9711[/snapback] Yeah you can re-install fine. Though if I were you I would just copy the SWG directory to the new system even you just do this across the network or physically put the old drive in the new system. It will be a ton faster than redownloading all the patches. As for you chose I am going to make some suggestions. 1) What are you doing that will make use of Dual Processors? Games for sure won't. Some applications like photoshop will make use of dual processors but for most home users, they will never use the second processor. Get a faster single proc athlon64, it will cost less for more speed and you won't need the more expensive registered ecc ram. If you do have a use for a dual processor system, buy a Dual core Athlon64 instead of two Opterons. Again it will give you more bang for your buck and uses cheaper memory. Unless you are doing high performance computing (IE serious number crunching), you don't need ECC. I will just slow you system down. If you still want ECC, you can put unbuffered ECC in an Athlon64 box. 2) Though the ATI 200 is an alright video, I would recommend getting something higher end. The money you save buying an Athlon64 over an Opteron will save you enough to get into a higher end ATI or Nvidia Card. 3) Go with 2Gigs of RAM, especially if you want to try the 64Bit version of Windows. I'm running the 64Bit version and it works well but applications take more memory. For instance, my system runs 2 SWG sessions fine with 1Gig of RAM under WinXP but barely runs two with WinXP64. Nice thing about the 64Bit windows is that it's a little less prone to some security issues. Gotcha's: Printer Drivers and Wireless NIC drivers have been slow in coming. Though I have my system printing to a Epson C62 fine and I'm using a wireless connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerokTalram Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Yeah I looked at the custom gaming PCs and they're $4000, a little more than what I'll be paying...lol I ended up buying the Athlon 64 3700+ (2.2 Ghz) , 2000 Mhz bus speed, 1 MB L2 Cache and 1 GB DDR RAM. Also found a nice and cheap 17" flat panel LCD at Tiger, and after $110 rebates, I'll be sitting pretty..it came with a dual-layer DVD+RW, and I have yet to buy the video card and some wireless gear. Maybe this weekend. HOPEFULLY, the wife won't demand I hook all this crap up immediately and lose any chance of SWG til I get it straight.. If you don't see me ingame for a few days, that's why. 9801[/snapback] Oh Ignore the parts in my previous post about dual Opterons then. Sounds like a nice system and it's good that you got the 1MB L2 Cache over the 512MB L2 Cache. But don't skimp on the video card when you buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 Oh Ignore the parts in my previous post about dual Opterons then. Sounds like a nice system and it's good that you got the 1MB L2 Cache over the 512MB L2 Cache. But don't skimp on the video card when you buy it. 9817[/snapback] I searched the O-boards for info as to whether the integrated video will work or not and it's like 50/50. Until my video card money (Thank you, IRS) comes back, I'll either be installing and configuring my new gear or looking at it in the boxes on the floor while I continue to play SWG at 19-25 FPS and 74 ping. (Thanks, Degan for the network status info box thingy) I actually got to 30 FPS on Lok at 5 AM today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhiv Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 XP is a funny OS. Vista is gonna be worse. Allow me to explain. If you change any components (upto 5 changes allowed with XP), you need to get a new license for the software. With Vista, you'll need to get a new license more frequently. (I could be wrong cuz that info is 2nd hand). But with XP, 5 changes of hardware and it freaks. How lame is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 XP is a funny OS. Vista is gonna be worse. Allow me to explain. If you change any components (upto 5 changes allowed with XP), you need to get a new license for the software. With Vista, you'll need to get a new license more frequently. (I could be wrong cuz that info is 2nd hand). But with XP, 5 changes of hardware and it freaks. How lame is that? 9884[/snapback] GRRRRRRR. Don't care so much for that monopolizing, money-grubbing company pulling sh** like that. That's ignoramicable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerokTalram Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 XP is a funny OS. Vista is gonna be worse. Allow me to explain. If you change any components (upto 5 changes allowed with XP), you need to get a new license for the software. With Vista, you'll need to get a new license more frequently. (I could be wrong cuz that info is 2nd hand). But with XP, 5 changes of hardware and it freaks. How lame is that? 9884[/snapback] You don't have to get a new license. You just have to call them and they will allow you to reactive windows. It's just their way of trying to make it hard on the pirates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 OK folks. I'm online now with me new PC and it's fast. I am getting set up, but Mozilla.org is down, so I'm running IE6. Going to try out my video card against SWG tonight. *crosses fingers* I have to download the latest NVidia driver first, and then install the game. Edaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edaun Ifor Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 OMG!! It's freaking amazing how much more detail I can see in everything. I had to stop and enjoy the Talus sunset. Not done that ever. Space is incredible. Getting 30fps at night, 24-26 on Kash, 25 in town, and all with a 46 ping. That's default graphics setting, not the low setting I had before getting 19 fps and 74 ping. Ultra cool. Ran the game without a hitch, had a few lags down to 3 or 4 fps, but they were gone as soon as they happened. Wow. GeForce 6600 256MB card. updated driver(3/17/06). Sweetness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Shawkorrr Posted April 1, 2006 Executive Share Posted April 1, 2006 OMG!!It's freaking amazing how much more detail I can see in everything. I had to stop and enjoy the Talus sunset. Not done that ever. Space is incredible. Getting 30fps at night, 24-26 on Kash, 25 in town, and all with a 46 ping. That's default graphics setting, not the low setting I had before getting 19 fps and 74 ping. Ultra cool. Ran the game without a hitch, had a few lags down to 3 or 4 fps, but they were gone as soon as they happened. Wow. GeForce 6600 256MB card. updated driver(3/17/06). Sweetness. 9952[/snapback] Congratulations! I will never forget when I got a faster computer with a great 3D-card! Man, Talus is soooo sweet! I used to load for 2minutes every load around the galaxy. When bases were attacked: Astrus in SancT City: "Shaw, get ur wook arse over to SancT City..!" Shawkorrr in Dearic: "Sir, yes ,sir .. i'll be there in 5mins!" :LMAO: ...and when I got most of my computer parts upgraded Ke'ell timed my loading from Cnet to Nym's on Lok... 10 seconds to load! :o Trust me, your gaming experience will be much better from now on.. been to Kash space lately? :woot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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