Just a shout out to our members! Forum News Discuss Just a shout out to our members! in the Vista Babble News forums; Hello Guy's. I'm back!!! New York was great! Bit tired now though crabby...

[crabby]

Hello Guy's. I'm back!!!

New York was great!

Bit tired now though

crabby

[Galt]

Are you crabby from the trip too? I'm really sorry, but that one was just hanging out there

[crabby]

God damn you all with your 'he's called crabby!' CRAP I will have you know I am very amiable at times!!!!

crabby

[Znod]

OK, then read your PMs.

[JoshW02@hotmail.co.uk]

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dazzlins so sweet!

[Znod]

Hi All:

(Embedded Suggestion--that we have a section (e.g., a Lounge) for providing personal news, discussing non Vista related matters of mutual interest, etc.)

I just wanted you to know that I have been very busy lately. Also, I think you know that I had a hip replacement about two months and go and that my recovery has been going incredibly well.

But, now for the bad news. Last Friday evening I slipped on some very slippery wooden steps, and, to make a long story short, I now have a broken ankle (both bones). So, given the combination of circumstances, I have been a tad light on Vista Babble participation. But, then I run hot and cold on things in general. Right now not much is going on with Vista so I would have been running on the cool side regardless.

My surgery is scheduled for this coming Friday. My recovery time will be something of a PIA, but, as you know, I am an excellent recoverer. And, just to cut down on the wise cracks, I want to emphasize that none of my recent "trials" are because of age--just bad luck.

One bad is that I will have to redo all the considerable advances I have made since my hip surgery. And, the other is that we have scheduled a year-end trip to Paris (i.e., we usually go somewhere in Europe at year-end). We are using frequent flier miles. So, it may come down to doing a suboptimal trip or losing the miles. As I recall, frequent-flier trips can't be rescheduled without losing the miles.

Last, I am buying a new computer. I have never had a desktop at home. We are doing some house remodeling so I am going to end up with an office and, thus, am going to buy a desktop. I think-my choice is pretty much a done deal. I can get a smoking educator discount through Gateway. I am not sure of the final price, but it should be several hundred dollars below $3,000. Ignoring minor details, the machine will have:

XP Pro;
Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz;
4 GB 667 MHz RAM,
NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256 Dual DVI;
Intel 975X Chipset;
Two 250 GB SATA 7200 RPM drives (or some other combination of 2 or 3 drives including one or two 10k RPM drives);
21" Gateway Flat Panel Widescreen;
16x Double-Layer, Multi-Format DVD/CD burner and 16x DVD ROM;
Logitech 70 watt Dolby 5.1 sound system;
Wireless B and G;
Bluetooth;
4 years on-site service;
keep your drive option;
wired and wireless keyboards and mice;
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 sound card;
Creative Labs Web Cam with headset;
and etc., etc.

I think the price sounds pretty decent. Please let me know what you think. And, yes, I know I am not getting the best on any dimension, but, from an overall perspective, I think my machine ought to be pretty formidable. Right??? Again, let me know what you think. I'm more of a laptop guy and, thus, not in the know about desktops.

Best, the Z-man

[crabby]

I would have thought someone with your tinkering attitude might BUILD your PC? You will love everything on that PC... I, on the other hand would want a better graphics card for my uber l33t gaming.

Do you want me to be more specific about bottlenecks? (I will need the mobo model). And also, check out the case and fans - big case with LARGE fans (1 front and 1 back - both 120mm, with dust filters AT LEAST) else it will just heat up, which sucks.

crabby

[Znod]

I don't quite have the time to build my own--although I suppose I could make the time. I'll try to get the mobo model. I suppose Gateway would have to tell me the model number. I think the case is somewhat small. I'll check on the fans too. Thanks much.

Gateway also offers this graphics card: NVIDIA® Quadro FX 550 w/ DDR3 128MB Dual DVI. I think the card is better than the one I mentioned, but I am afraid of it because of the 128MB specification. I am afraid that Vista might have some problem with it because of the MB value. What do you think?

[felix8406]

Well Z, hope you recuperate well and get to go to Paris.

As far as your PC, it sounds good to me, specially if you go for the 10k RPM HD. Another thing that I would consider, if available and if you can afford it, is a hybrid hard drive. Of course, you'll have plenty of RAM, but I think that MS is planning to use the H HD for more than just cache.

I don't know about Gateways customer service though. I do know that Gateway owns eMachine, which happened to be the desktop I received father's day.

When I cranked it up the first time, the HD was grinding and when I opened it, I noticed that wire management was nowhere to be found...wires were hanging all over the place. I took it back to the store and was given a new one, same model, as I didn't want my daughters to feel that I had exchanged it.

I'm not trying to scare you off, but you want to make sure you get your monies worth.

[Znod]

Originally Posted by crabby

I would have thought someone with your tinkering attitude might BUILD your PC? You will love everything on that PC... I, on the other hand would want a better graphics card for my uber l33t gaming.

Do you want me to be more specific about bottlenecks? (I will need the mobo model). And also, check out the case and fans - big case with LARGE fans (1 front and 1 back - both 120mm, with dust filters AT LEAST) else it will just heat up, which sucks.

crabby

Would a not heavy-duty gamer ever physically notice the difference in:

(a) Intel® Core™2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz 1066MHz FSB 4MB cache, non-HT) VERSUS Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor X6800 (2.93GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 4MB cache) (ht???) and

(b) 150GB 10,000rpm Serial ATA150 hard drive w/ 16MB cache VERSUS 250GB Serial ATA II/300 7200rpm hard drive with 8MB cache?

Check this link out on the E-6610's cooling system:

http://www.gateway.com/work/products..._catalog.shtml

Look for the BTX reliability link under "Desktops" near the top of the page.