David Hingtgen

Hard drive is from late '03. My main concern is that if it DOES go bad, I am practically forced to get a whole new PC and OS, due to HP's little tattoos embedded in the mobo and HDD. But if I replace it now I can work around it (I think). Might be worth experimenting with. $64 for peace of mind... (of course, HP does sell new ones for $325, but then the tattoo thing is so little-known within the company that it usually won't work anyways because they forgot to set it up for YOUR PC, and then you'll have to pay another hundred bucks to the geek squad at BestBuy (they are about the only place HP allows to tattoo outside the factory) so you've got a $425 HP-compliant HDD)

Personally, I don't like the new Mustang style, and think the new Camaro missed the mark. But the new Challenger I put in a whole different category. It's not "retro" but more like "if they never stopped making it". I think the new Challenger did a 100x better job than the new Charger, looks-wise. And 10x better than the Mustang and Camaro. As for the GTO: It looked exactly like a G6 somehow, despite retaining 90% of its Australian parts. And the G6 itself looks like the last Neon. First time I saw a new GTO, I thought of the Neon. Not good for a muscle car. (of course, I'd love to own one)

I've been trying to determine EXACTLY what HP's BIOS tattoo knows---I'm wondering if I could buy a new MISB hard drive of the exact type it came with, and "fool" the system that nothing's changed. Though the only reference I can find to something like that said it didn't work--but 99% of the time people are also trying to change or replace the motherboard at that time, and it won't accept a new board, even if IDENTICAL. I'm keeping the board. My hard drive shows no signs of problems, and every test/scan I run says it's fine--but this is the longest I've ever used a hard drive, and I fear it just randomly dying for no reason in the next 12 months. (isn't that how it usually happens?) Since my PC got new memory, graphics card, and PSU a year ago, it should be pretty "bullet-proof" parts-wise to last a while longer. But I do fear "random hard drive death". (I stupidly got rid of my fully-functioning-but-old PC's tower a few months ago, so I have no backup now)

All of which is why I'm considering buying a full copy of XP now, before it goes away again (remember when Vista first came out, retail copies of XP disappeared almost immediately for months until people demanded it back). (Since I currently only have an OEM-installed version without a true install disc, and it will NOT like being installed in another PC or hard drive--HP has several little things buried in their version to prevent that, or even "major" upgrades to this PC itself). Then, maybe when Vista SP2 comes out, I can/will upgrade. Last I saw, XP is supposed to be supported until 2014.

I have an INSANELY critical eye when it comes to "shades of grey matching". 99.9% of the world may say two colors match, and I'll say "no, the wings are a slightly warmer shade of grey than the belly". It comes up in aircraft modeling forums I go to.

And you won't see it for a while, as 08's don't come in white. Or red, green, blue, yellow, etc.

Testors still lists light Aircraft Grey, order it direct if you have to: http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=1367 Though most any online shop that sells Testors should have it, it's not from one of their hard-to-find lines like Marine Acrylics... Personally, I've never heard of Testors discontinuing a color. Renaming, once or twice. That particular color's been a staple of theirs for years.

I'll post a pic when I hit 3000.

I believe it was the inspiration for that Hasegawa custom VF-1. WAY too similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BAE_Nimrod.jpg

Thanks much for the info. Processor question (as I know nothing about multi-core)---if I was going to spend even more on the CPU, like 250 or so. I could either get a "faster" dual core, or move into "slower" quad cores. And various front bus speeds. This may be an impossible question, but what's "better"?

Everyone says that, but mine doesn't seem to. The motherboard is a standard ASUS (with a HP logo in the BIOS and some configuration options blocked) and I've already changed the PSU. Maybe some or even most HP's use their own parts and are like Dells, but mine seems to be "pretty normal parts in a HP case". (this discussion occured over a year ago in this thread, when I first upgraded this PC to try to get another year or two out of it)

Not mine, but so cool I had to post it:

Hereos action figures: http://2008reviews.figures.com/showgallery.php?cat=642 No Nathan? Claire gets both regular and bloody versions, but no Nathan at all?

I've been looking around, and I can't find a case at all like I want/have. Here's my current case, which is IMHO perfect (and part of the reason I bought this HP years ago): http://www.amazon.com/Pavilion-Desktop-2-8...g/dp/B0000DK3KP The two optical drives are behind individual doors, that are spring-loaded with just enough pressure to keep them closed, but open by themselves when the tray pushes them out. External buttons for the tray. I do not want "bare" drives that are exposed to dust and dirt. I also do not want them behind a single big door that covers half the tower that I have to open every time I change discs. My case has "automatic" doors for each drive, which is a really nice feature. The middle of the tower's front has a door that slides up/down, for "stuff only used occasionally". Behind it are the 3.5 floppy, front USB/firewire, audio jacks, and the card reader. A small pic of it lowered is here: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Images/c00760222.jpg Again, it's just a sliding door inside the case front itself, you don't have to swing open the entire front half of the case, etc. I want at least ONE of these features (optical drive doors, door for card readers) and really would like both. Or possibly--since I like my current case so much, how high-end of a system can it support if I completely gut it and rebuild? The limiting factor is really cooling I think. No front fans, side vents are so small and oddly placed that I think they're mainly just decoration, and a single 92mm fan at the rear. A far cry from the current "standard" of a 120mm fan at rear, 80mm fans scattered around as needed, and a large side vent/duct for the CPU. It does suck in a lot of air through the lower front of the case, the front grill holes collect lots of lint, but I don't think I could add a fan/filter to the front to cool the hard drive etc---no room with the arrangement it has. I found a "92mm to 120mm" fan adapter. I never overclock anything even slightly (CPU nor graphics) as I want as utterly reliable and long-lived a PC as possible, so it never gets very hot. (and I like them quiet, so that means keeping things cool to minimize required # of fans and fan speed) Buying a second graphics card in the future may happen, but I'm thinking it'd may be better to just get a single new one. Scenario: Buy a $150-$250 card in the next year. Buy another of that same type of card 2-3 years later when it's really cheap (under a hundred) and link them together. But would that even be worth it, or would it be better to just buy a single, brand-new card then? If so, I'll never have more than 1 card in the case.

I think that scheme makes train mode look a lot better.

Wow, I was just hoping for some hints to get started, and you build a whole new PC! If you can do it that fast, then I have a request: Make one even cheaper but can still do Vista decently (and shrink the hard drive a lot), with almost no gaming capability, and one around the grand range with just a little bit more gaming, but focusing on max processing (as in, loading/filing/moving lots of files and multi-multi-tasking, and photoshop rendering etc). Specific task: website with huge numbers of small images, already in the cache. It takes more time to "find" them than to download them. What feature of a processor would minimize that web page's loading/display time? (Say, 500 thumbnails on a single page, and I want them all displayed NOW) Or, I want to simultaneously load like 10 different 6 megapixel images into a photo editor to tweak contrast, crop, etc Question: will the 775 socket be replaced with anything else soon? Sockets don't change often AFAIK, but if the 775 is already on the "back edge" of its life span, I might wait for the next one. That's the trouble I ran into on this PC. The factory processor is about the highest-end one the socket/mboard can support, there's only 1 higher I know of, and that's kind of a pointless upgrade. To get a notably better CPU requires a whole new board--which my current graphics card won't work with. Cases---I like ones with a front "door" over the ports/card readers, and prefer USB ports and card readers etc to be mounted as high up as possible. Rounded edges are nice, too. Also, does any case nowadays offer a "true" on-off switch that actually cuts power like a light switch, or are they all now the "push to reset, press and HOLD to shut down". Because I want one that I can instantly totally cut power from with a single quick flip of a switch. (boy did this conversation quickly become a lot more complicated and specific than I intended)

If I wanted to build a new PC, what's the best way to get started? As in, a list of EVERYTHING that's needed, as well as info on how to set up a PC from scratch (as in, install bios and OS on a brand-new motherboard and hard drive). Basic goal: new PC for Vista, and *light* gaming, if that. NOTHING cutting edge or expensive--goal is to be cheap, not run Crysis at max detail and res. But better than current old PC. Under a grand would be nice. 1500 absolute limit (anything over 1200 is really pushing it). Being quiet is a big plus, but it doesn't need to be any of the fancy, weird super-quiet techniques like suspended drives and fanless liquid-cooled heatsinks. However, I'd like it to be VERY upgradeable over many years, so having the best and latest possible bridges/adapters/standards etc is probably the biggest consideration of all. I do not want to be 'stuck' with having limited upgrades because the CPU socket, grahpics card slot type or something is at the end of its life cycle. I think in summary, I'd want a motherboard that has all the latest possible sockets and standards and bridges and able to accept all the latest stuff for as many years as possible, but with only "average" components tossed in to start with. Then, in a couple years, to upgrade it with what is NOW top of the line, but in 2010 will be cheap. (this will not happen for another year or so probably, but I ask this question for both my brother and I to start watching stuff, as we both plan to build our first PC to replace our current ones) PS---will be needing full versions of Vista (unless an SP3 for XP comes out), not upgrades. Can you get full versions at OEM price at all? Though, I did see SP2 is supposed to be supported until like 2014. May just go with buying a full version of SP2--is there really any reason to get Vista, besides it being "new"? I still don't see anyone praising it really.

X360 HD-DVD add-on dropped to $129.99. Apparently Amazon was selling it for $79.99 this morning until they sold out.

HD-DVD add-on dropped to $129.99. Apparently Amazon was selling it for $79.99 this morning until they sold out.

If only my dad had never sold his custom-ordered '69 Charger, I could have one now...

Ah, but I was not sent a link to that thread. I saw it be created while refreshing the page at the forum. There were no replies, I was like the very first person to see it. I could have had reply #1 if I was so inclined.

No, you don't need to subscribe or have a gold membership or anything. Just enough points to download it. Though often times, MS makes the good stuff available to gold members earlier, everybody else has to wait a few days. PS--from now on I'll post every little tidbit I hear about ME. Happy? Retroactive announcement! Click here! http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewt...6&forum=104 This is the very first thread saying that SOMETHING will be ANNOUNCED to be download in the FUTURE, LATER. From yesterday.

I knew SOMETHING was coming (they announced it on the forums a little while ago that it'd be up this morning) but didn't know for sure it'd be actual DLC---the last time they announced something like this, it was just another dashboard theme. So I didn't drudge up the thread.

"Dodge already accepting orders". Wasn't the entire (very short) 2008 run sold out a month ago? Overall though--I think I like it better than the new Camaro. "Alcoa Forged" wheels, interesting. (I have forged Alcoa wheels, and they rock)