_Arda_

Hey tech gurus!

As explained 3 months ago, I am going to buy a new laptop. The main use will be for gaming, no video rendering, always plugged and don’t mind if it gets very hot. I am aiming for 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 16 or more inches 1.920 x 1.200 screen & fast hard drive (7.200 rpm). Since I posted the first time, the new Core i7 CPUs have been released.

For the same budget, all my “research” came down to two options. After looking at different brands (Alienware, Dell, HP, Sony, Ahtec, Sager/Clevo and derivatives…) it seems you either go Dual Core CPU and SLI GPU, or i7 Core CPU and single GPU. So my question is, for a gaming laptop that has to last at least 3 years or more, which of the next options is better?

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9800 (2x 2,93 GHz, 1.066 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 Cache)
• 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM a 1.333 MHz [2x2.048]
• Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M SLI 1GB GDDR3

or

• Intel® Core™ i7 975 (4 x 3.33 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 8MB L3 Cache)
• 4GB DDR3 (No idea about the MHz)
• Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M 1GB GDDR3

As a plus, the first one (C2D + Dual 260M) is a beautiful Alienware with very good ventilation system and aesthetics, while the second (i7 + Single 260M) is an ugly Sager that gets a somewhat customized screen lid.

So what the jury thinks?

Thanks in advance!

@Arda

SOLD!

Well, sorry if it sounded misleading. There were zero for selling, and I put this for a prize under the lowest last bids, so I thought it was cheap.

Thanks for you participation!

@Arda

Hey!

Well, what tittle says, Armageddon Dam/End in Black Market for CHEAP sale, get it soon!!!

@Arda

Lets give it a go!

Arc Name: Save the TV, Save the World!
Arc ID: 79690
Length: it says "Long" but the 4 mission maps are rather short.
Faction: Custom Group, Arachnos
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Arda
Difficulty Level:Easy-Medium
Estimated time to play: 20-40 minutes solo.

Poster

Synopsis: What happens when a reality warp crosses the fourth wall? Some anomalies are happening in the TV, and if no one finds what is going on and who is behind, our world as we know it can cease to exist.

For people who like pop culture references and the TV missions! For the gamers who love War Witch arcs! And cheerleaders, ninjas, vampires, zombies, ETs, time travellers, Spartans... all is here!

This arc is solo friendly and only has 1 EB/AV at the last miss. English is not my first language, so please bare with errors and don't hesitate to feed them back to me.

je_saist, the installation in Cedega seems a bit tricky, and costs 25€ every 6 months and gives no support to ATI cards, I am right?

Not criticizing, just asking.

@Arda

Neat!

I just installed Ubuntu 9.04 myself recently (newbie linuxer) and I have been smoothly using Wine with some work related applications. I was wondering if it would be easy to run CoX under Wine, and it seems easy based on your guide. I have a few newbie questions though.

1) Using the updater to install the game under Wine as you do, do you need to download the entire client to the Wine “fake” C:\ partition? Or can you just copy & paste the CoX folder from a Windows installation to the Wine “fake” C:\ partition and then tell the updater which folder CoX is it?

2) I am in Windows now, so I can’t check… When talking about audio, you say you use Pulse Audio instead of Alsa, are they Wine config options or Ubuntu preferences?

Thanks in advance!

@Arda

Hey guys, thanks for all the input! And nice webpage you got there FatherXmas, very handy.

So to sum up, Live_Wyre suggests Extreme X9000 (or Quad) and single GTX 260M card, FatheXmas goes for Duo T9800 and Dual SLI 9800GT because both are the fastest and finally Necroton votes for single GTX260M card because it has more RAM. I think all of you gave support to all the options available, hehehe! But you helped me to get more valuable info now.

You convinced me to go for a single GTX260M card... although I am pondering about going Dual SLI GTX260M, but that is 370€ more (around 525$). The laptop with the single GTX260M card can also get the Dual SLI version. It comes with the Quad as default processor, or you can upgrade to the Duo T9800… I think I will go for the Duo T9800 processor and single GTX260M, although I am still on the fence about spending more money to go Dual…

Any thoughts? Thanks for all the comments and advice!

@Arda

I summon you Tech gurus!

I am getting ready to buy a new gaming laptop, probably around Christmas. As usual, I am doing my “3 months before purchase” investigation. Some of the specs I want the laptop to have are 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 17” UXGA 1.920 x 1.200 screen, fast hard drive (7.200 rpm) and probably Windows 7 64 bit OS.

I have doubts about the differences between processors and GFX cards models. I have done some research, but the findings didn’t help me much. Please, keep in mind I want the laptop for CoH, LOTRO (which I would love to play with the Ultra-High-Res textures client) and some occasional demanding FPS (Crysis et al).

So I have 2 questions:






1) What are the main differences between those 3 processors? Which one is the best and why?

• Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 (2,8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 Cache)
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9800 (2,93 GHz, 1.066 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 Cache)
• Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9000 (2,00GHz, 1.066 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 Cache)

What is the difference between Extreme and Duo? I realize the Duo T9800 is the fastest… but that’s it? For gaming I would be better with a Quad although it has less GHz? Or the Extreme one is good enough?





2) And once again, same questions for these 2 GFX cards:

• Dual SLI™ 512MB GDDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ 9800GT
• Single GTX 1 GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce 260M

Both set ups have the same RAM, but would a dual 9800GT outperform a single 260M?


Thanks in advance!

@Arda

Hey!

Just a shameless bump to recycle my old post to say hello to our american fellas... and say that though I was wrong in the details, I think the spirit of my OP was mostly right, hehehe!

Cheers all in this new era!!! And play my arc damnit!

Arda

Thanks all for the warm welcome!

Mother, our pathes have already crossed few times. First one was few years ago in Hollows, you were buffing the newbies with your Empath, and I was doing the same with my Kinetecists Arda. Recently, I met you at Atlas Park City Hall and in Ouroboros, both times I used the /e praise and said "keep the good job"

Cheers all!

@Arda

Ooops, my bad! Nuub mistake! Deleted and reposted in the right thread

hey Col, could you be so nice as to review my arc? Thanks!

Arc Name: Save the TV, Save the World!
Arc ID: 79690
Length: it says "Long" but the 4 mission maps are rather short.
Faction: Custom Group, Arachnos
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Arda
Difficulty Level:Easy-Medium
Estimated time to play: 20-40 minutes solo.

Poster

Synopsis:What happens when a reality warp crosses the fourth wall? Some anomalies are happening in the TV, and if no one finds what is going on and who is behind, our world as we know it can cease to exist.

For people who like pop culture references and the TV missions! For the gamers who love War Witch arcs! And cheerleaders, ninjas, vampires, zombies, ETs, time travellers, Spartans... all is here!

This arc is solo friendly and only has 1 EB/AV at the last miss. English is not my first language, so please bare with errors and don't hesitate to feed them back to me.

Post deleted by _Arda_

Hey fellow players!

The TL;DR version of this post is that I am @Arda, a 32 years old Veteran player from Barcelona. I love this game and I have hope in its future. This is an “introduce myself” post that I have wanted to do for some time. I was not sure about where to post this, as I am not a New Player… so if any moderator feels this post should be moved, don’t hesitate. Also, English is not my first language, so please, be patient

The long version: never posted before because I am lazy and playing the game and the forums lurking are already a time sink Sometimes I spend more time reading the forums than playing, hehehe. Me and my wife have been playing this game for 4 years (I am getting 48 months badge next month) and we have enjoyed every moment. I am a bit nerdy and geeky, and I have read comic books since I was 8, so when I saw this game box I thought “I so have to play this game!”.

We started a bit before the Issue 5 release (Croatoa) and have been here since then. I have touched almost all the aspects of the game: PvE (2/3 solo, 1/3 teamed), PvP, SG bases, IOs, TFs, Market, MA… and got fun from all of them. I play equally Heroes and Villains and I play an average of 15 hours a week. I never went into farming or PL, I don’t mind other ppl doing them, but I have no fun with these activities. I am a bit of minimaxer, but concept is more important for me. I love this game, although I would like to think that I am not a “fanboy”

In this time I got many lvl 50s, not saying the number because you would think I have no life If you are Union based, maybe you know some of them. My forum and game handle comes from my first lvl 50, Arda (troller Fire/Kin/Fire… and I repeat I don’t like farming, hehehe). Hero side, following their order of creation, I also have Esperanza (Illu/Rad/Psi Controller), El Espectro (Dark x3 Scrapper), Drackhon (Fire x3 Blaster), Diana Archer (TA/Arch/Force Defender), Vigil Omega (WP/SS/Energy Tanker) and Shade Shard (Triform WS). Currently I am playing an lvl 40 Human PB, Stars Shard.

Villain side I have played Condena (Grav/Energy/Scirocco Dominator), Kadena (Energy/Fire/Black Scorpion Brute), Death Dancer (Dark/Ninj/Ghost Widow Stalker), Cryokinetic (Ice/Kin/Scirocco Corruptor), Dr. Borg (Bots/Traps/Black Scorpion Mastermind) and Arbiter Kane (Bane Spider). Lately I have been leveling Fobia , lvl 41 Mind/Psi Dominator. I have 24 toons between lvl 30 and 50 in Union, both sides. Oh well, stop the bragging off and lets go to the point!

As said, I have played many facets of the game and almost all the ATs to lvl 50. I am not tired yet. Of course, I have had some short breaks, I have played other MMOs (Guild Wars, LOTRO), but I always keep coming back here. Lately, I am concerned about the mood of some EU posters, some of them veteran ones. I think there is a general “I am burnt” feeling, and also the pending Doom from new games to come. I would like to shed some “positive” light.

IMHO, the strong point of this game is the level of customization and the huge number of powers combinations. For me, the main “content” are the toons, and as said many times before, their journey. I think that you can have fun as far as you can unleash your creativity… and once you have explored many of your ideas, then the game can feel bit boring. I think the Devs have been very clever adding recent features that increase the creative options. In the last year and a half (since Issue 11) we got a lot of cool and long asked features: the Architect, Day Jobs, Multiple Builds, Weapon Customization, new Powersets (Shields, Pain Domination,…), Powersets Proliferation, new IOs, the Booster Packs (Wedding, Cyborg, Valkyrie, Magic,…) and loads of superior cossie pieces (Jay is da sexiest!). We also got new ATs, the VEATs, though they came later than they should… nonetheless they are really excellent toons. And loads of QoL stuff. That’s a lot!

After the customization, the story content is next in appeal for me. Sadly, the last year and a half has been short in this area. We got Flashbacks that add replay value. Also we got some light but fine content in Cimerora, Midnight Squad, Ouroboros and the VEATs story arcs. I think the Architect is a huge move to fix the lack of content; there are already over 80k new missions with original customized mobs! Ok, most of it is [censored], but I think that if you search carefully you can find some gems there. Also, I understand that some ppl prefer to play “canon” content, as I do. I have a lot of faith in the future of the latter. I think Issue 15 is going to be a huge and content heavy issue. I expect something really great, with a new cool zone (Underwater, Moon, whatever…) and a big advancement in the ingame story. They really have had a lot of time and new resources (fresh blood!). Moreover, they have to compete with the shiny nee guys in the block. I am really looking forward for it!

To sum up, this game is about creativity, content (“canon” or not) and killing things Creativity options can decrease as time goes, not our fault, there are only many ways to develop your ideas; but I think the options have steadily increased. We also got a higher number of new missions with the Architect than we had before it. Unfortunately, “canon” content has been light lately. Hopefully next Issues’ stories and zones will be great. So have faith, and if you don’t feel as playing, just have a break and come later to experience new Issues!

Wow, that was long! I will try to restrain in further posts! And if you see me ingame, say hi!

Sincerely yours

@Arda

PS: shameless plug, play my arc!!!