Trinculo

voted B cause well can you say rocketeer? knew you could

OTOH I'd change my vote to A if those pods sucked in and 'stowed' next to the body when you were not flying, and extended out and started thrusting when flying or hovering.. that would totally sell me on that design

Thanks for the option to vote: This was hard though because I liked parts from all three designs. a few thoughts

For me 'retro sci-fi' means Forbidden Planet and Jetsons.

We have a lot of armor, and while I voted for C it was for the very 'jetson-esq' boots and gloves. Those rocked it enough to swing the vote that way even though I felt the body of the suit largely duplicated other existing options.

The soft suit (prefer B, but A would be ok) would be preferable for the body, upper arms and legs. Very forbidden planet which is 100% FTW in m book.

Chest detail on A rocks, as would something similar on a sleeve

BUBBLE HELMET is a total must accessory for these if we are going retro.

For my money, give me most of B, add the chest detail from A, and the boots/gloves from C and that would be my dream package.

I agree, the uptime record here has been far better than some other games I've played. Which is of course what makes events like today all the more painful since we are not used to this kind of thing.

as of 8:30 ish pacific time Infinity was giving me cannot connect to login server, but Guardian is working.

Is anyone else seeing everything as 'down' on the server status page? It's been useless for me all day long even when Infinity was up and I was playing it said everything was down.

argh dammed helpful utilities..

I can't find anything called windowblinds (will keep looking) any idea how I get to that thing?

I have a brand new HP Envy 17" laptop, Intel Core I7, AMD Mobility 5850, 8 gigs of ram, 1G dedicated video ram, running Win7 Ultimate 64 bit

When I try to start Cityof, the updater works normally (although was slug slow monday night) and then after clicking start I get the blue "loading" bar graphic and nothing more. The Cityofheroes.exe spikes briefly to around 75K, then drops to 65K and just sits there, not using cpu or anything.

I have:
* Disabled the stupid HP stuff that lets you do basic stuff without the OS loaded, system boots to windows not the HP mini-os junk
* Kicked norton AV off in favor of the MS Security Essentials
* Ensured that both COH exe's are NOT running in compatibility mode, and ARE set to run as admin.
* Installed the latest BIOS from HP
* Installed the latest Audio Drivers from HP, also touchpad driver as well.
* Installed the latest Video Drivers from HP (8.741), also tried an older version(8.712), and a newer one from ATI site ( Cat 10.7/ Vid 8.753). I even completely removed old and then installed the drivers, with restarts after each phase (uninstall, restart, install, restart, test)
* Checked for bad memory by running it with just 4G of ram (twice, once for each stick of memory)

COH Helper runs but crashes with the following Unhandled Exception error (perhaps a clue?)

************** Exception Text **************
System.OverflowException: Value was either too large or too small for an Int32.
at System.Convert.ToInt32(Double value)
at CoHelper.clsRegInfo.get_AmbientOcclusion()
at CoHelper.frmMain.ForumFormat()
at CoHelper.frmMain.cmdUBB_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventAr gs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4952 (win7RTMGDR.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
CohHelper
Assembly Version: 0.2.0.2
Win32 Version: 0.2.0.2
CodeBase: file:///C:/Users/Chuck/Desktop/CohHelper.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Management
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Management/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Management.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Deployment
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Deployment/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Deployment.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------


HIJACK THIS shows the following

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 8:43:49 AM, on 8/25/2010
Platform: Windows 7 (WinNT 6.00.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16385)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Users\Chuck\AppData\Local\Google\Update\1.2.183 .29\GoogleCrashHandler.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\NEC Electronics\USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver\Application\nusb3mon.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Toolbar\Platform\4.0.0369.0\mswinext.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Envy Document Card Utilities\hpdocstart.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Hp\HP Software Update\hpwuschd2.exe
C:\Users\Chuck\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applica tion\chrome.exe
C:\Users\Chuck\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applica tion\chrome.exe
H:\HP Envy Guides.exe
C:\Users\Chuck\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Applica tion\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://g.msn.com/HPNOT/1
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://g.msn.com/HPNOT/1
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://g.msn.com/HPNOT/1
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://g.msn.com/HPNOT/1
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C255C8A-E604-49b4-9D64-90988571CECB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Search Helper - {6EBF7485-159F-4bff-A14F-B9E3AAC4465B} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Search Enhancement Pack\Search Helper\SEPsearchhelperie.dll
O2 - BHO: Windows Live ID Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: URLRedirectionBHO - {B4F3A835-0E21-4959-BA22-42B3008E02FF} - C:\PROGRA~2\MIF5BA~1\Office14\URLREDIR.DLL
O2 - BHO: MSN Toolbar BHO - {d2ce3e00-f94a-4740-988e-03dc2f38c34f} - C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Toolbar\Platform\4.0.0369.0\npwinext.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O3 - Toolbar: MSN Toolbar - {8dcb7100-df86-4384-8842-8fa844297b3f} - C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Toolbar\Platform\4.0.0369.0\npwinext.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NUSB3MON] "C:\Program Files (x86)\NEC Electronics\USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver\Application\nusb3mon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSN Toolbar] "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Toolbar\Platform\4.0.0369.0\mswinext.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Microsoft Default Manager] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Search Enhancement Pack\Default Manager\DefMgr.exe" -resume
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Envy Guides AutoPlay] C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Envy Document Card Utilities\hpdocstart.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files (x86)\Hp\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StartCCC] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe" MSRun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATICustomerCare] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI\ATICustomerCare\ATICustomerCare.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Google Update] "C:\Users\Chuck\AppData\Local\Google\Update\Google Update.exe" /c
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - .DEFAULT User Startup: IconPackager.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\MyColors\IconPackager.exe (User 'Default user')
O4 - Global Startup: Bluetooth.lnk = ?
O4 - Global Startup: Stardock MyColors.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\MyColors\SDDelayedLaunch.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Windows Home Server.lnk = ?
O8 - Extra context menu item: Send image to &Bluetooth Device... - C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_ie_ctx.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Send page to &Bluetooth Device... - C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_ie.htm
O9 - Extra button: Blog This - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &Blog This in Windows Live Writer - {219C3416-8CB2-491a-A3C7-D9FCDDC9D600} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Writer\WriterBrowserExtension.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Se&nd to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: OneNote Lin&ked Notes - {789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIELinkedNotes.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: OneNote Lin&ked Notes - {789FE86F-6FC4-46A1-9849-EDE0DB0C95CA} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\ONBttnIELinkedNotes.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send To Bluetooth - {CCA281CA-C863-46ef-9331-5C8D4460577F} - C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_ie.htm
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Send to &Bluetooth Device... - {CCA281CA-C863-46ef-9331-5C8D4460577F} - C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\btsendto_ie.htm
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\windows live\wlidnsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\program files (x86)\common files\microsoft shared\windows live\wlidnsp.dll
O18 - Filter hijack: text/xml - {807573E5-5146-11D5-A672-00B0D022E945} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE14\MSOXMLMF.DLL
O23 - Service: Andrea ST Filters Service (AESTFilters) - Andrea Electronics Corporation - C:\Program Files\IDT\WDM\AESTSr64.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AMD External Events Utility - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\atiesrxx.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Bluetooth Service (btwdins) - Broadcom Corporation. - C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\btwdins.exe
O23 - Service: CinemaNow Service - CinemaNow, Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\CinemaNow\CinemaNow Media Manager\CinemanowSvc.exe
O23 - Service: DeviceVM Meta Data Export Service (DvmMDES) - DeviceVM, Inc. - C:\SwSetup\QuickWeb\QW.SYS\config\DVMExportService .exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: HP Health Check Service - Hewlett-Packard - C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Health Check\hphc_service.exe
O23 - Service: HP Wireless Assistant Service - Hewlett-Packard - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWA_Service.exe
O23 - Service: HP Documention Flash Card Detection Service (hpdoccardsvc) - Hewlett-Packard Developement Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Envy Document Card Utilities\doccardsvc.exe
O23 - Service: hpqwmiex - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\hpqwmiex.exe
O23 - Service: HP Service (hpsrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Hpservice.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: HPWMISVC - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch\HPWMISVC.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Management and Security Application Local Management Service (LMS) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\LMS\LMS.exe
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\stlang64.dll,-10101 (STacSV) - IDT, Inc. - C:\Program Files\IDT\WDM\STacSV64.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Management & Security Application User Notification Service (UNS) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\UNS\UNS.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Stardock WindowBlinds (WindowBlinds) - Stardock Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Stardock\MyColors\VistaSrv.exe
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 11577 bytes

Hyper,

I was just going based on the original system he had asked about and the wishlist that FatherXmas put together for him, which had custom coolers, above average case, etc.

You don't always get what you pay for, sometimes you pay a premium to get the current 'top dog' etc. Intel has a history of charging a premium for their top cpu's unless there's competition (which sadly there really isn't for the I7).

As an example, an 2.9Mhz I870 is $290 at newegg right now, A 3.2G I-960 is $570 $10 short of doubling the price for +10% mhz.. how exactly would that be getting what you pay for?

CM

Given what you just said, I'd ask yourself how important a fancy case is worth vs a servicable one (eg. coolermaster vs antec), and a few other things.. I'd start with the "$750" system that Fatherxmas lists, and as I said earlier make a few tweaks to it as your budget allows.

If you've no interest in overclocking, don't buy a 'black' or 'extreme' cpu, just get normal locked cpu. with stock heatsink

I run dual of a 5770 card.

Newer mon is the 24" 1920x1200 main gaiming mon
Secondary is a 20" in portrait mode 1050x1680

The 'tall' montor works great for email, blogs, forums etc all of which tend to have 'tall' format content. SO for secondary monitor, you might want to look for one that can easily be rotated 90deg into 'portrait' orientation

Yeah, I've built all my own boxen since the Compaq Deskpro (8086 era) (if you don't count the laptops). It is satisfying to know exactly what's in there, and design a good balanced system. ALSO something designed with upgrades in mind, such as faster cpu, more memory, etc down the road. And since I'm an ex computer tech, it's childs play for me.

But I have to admit, the deta in price between pre-built and DYI has been dropping. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a I7 system for the price of that Dell.

(although if I did, it would have a proper PS, a bit better video card, and not fill all 4 memory slots dammit! Which down the road upgrade wise might bring the price closer since I'd not be tossing out at least two sticks or memory and a pefectly good (if undersized) power supply, when it came time to get more ram, or a better video card)

The biggest downside to the dell as FatherXmas mentioned is that it's not really well 'balanced' in that it's got a killer CPU (about 1/4 of the sys cost for dyi of same chip), but then skimps a bit on the video.. Thing is, with respect to CityOf, that means you are going to be limited by the video card most of the time, and basically all that extra cpu horsepower is pretty much going to waste.

That's why most of the systems He's spec'd out, and the tweeks I've suggested (or hybreds 'crossbreeds' of his wishlists, use a slightly less powerful CPU and slightly more powerful video (or less video, but a $750ish price target)

Chain is only as strong as weakest link. A system's performance is limited by the first constraint that occurs in the system, any improvments that don't address that constraint, don't improve the performance of the system. So if your system is limited by the video card, then a faster processor, makes little to no difference, it's just a waste, until you address the primary constraint.

If you're going to build a system around an ati 5770, then you'd just as well save some money on the CPU, and a few other parts, and target a $700-$800 pricepoint. If you're going to spend $1K, then IMHO you'd be better off to go with better video than the 5770. (even if the I7 cpu does kick *** on the Phenom)

The Envy line is obviously HP's response to Apple and Dell's Aquisition of Alienware, it's designed to be their 'premier' line, just like Alienware is for Dell.. (sexy cases, backlit keyboards and all that. My personal preference runs to the gunmetal and white lighting, instead of the red.. but that's just a personal thing

So comparing the link you sent, if you upgrade the video you're at $1450, so for $50 more you'd be going up to a 17" display that can do true HD resolution.. so more details and such in game, more room on the screen.. and if you want to watch blu-ray disks or whatever you'd get a larger screen with HD quality.

The Newegg deal at $1500 also includes a second larger battery, so you have both the standard 6 cell, and the 9 cell.. which if you are doing a LOT of stuff portable can be a real lifesaver. (not so much if you'll mostly be using it plugged in)

It's also 8G of ram, not 4 that is stock on the link you sent.
and free shipping.

All in all I think it's a better value than the one from dell, if you don't mind a larger laptop

Portability wise, I'm not sure that the weight difference is that much.. but I'll admit the larger size makes it a little harder to find bags etc to fit. But youa re also talking about something that is effectively a desktop replacement. Get a verticle laptop stand like the 3M 550, and you can open it way up, stand it up and use a usb or bt keyboard for better ergonomics when you are not 'on the road' (also gets the display up to eye level)

but mostly I think you need to ask yourself, is a 17" screen too big, or once you start doing a lot of video and gaming and such are you going to curse the 15" for being too small.

As far as I understand it, the 5730 is a big step down from a 5750 that's in the HP.. that might make a difference to what you can do in CoX Bumping that to be comparable raises the price $100

Always difficult to compare across brands like this.

Yeppers will try to let you know. Driver updates usually fix this kinda stuff, so I'm remaining optimistic so far.

For reference this is the one I got http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834157279 which was $1500 I tried to build the same thing at the HP site and it was several hundred more, so I think personally newegg has a pretty darned good deal going there. (but then, that's probably obvious, I would not have bought it otherwise)

There's also something to be said for the 17" full HD resolution 1920x1080 screen Comparing a 15" to that is a little lopsided if you ask me. but hey, you know what you need better than I do, and if a 15" screen will do, then it does make for a more portable unit..

I think he was just trying to maximize the hardware bang while staying under the price of the package.

No doubt there's savings to be had if you scale back a little.. it's all a question of budget. Speed costs, how fast do you want to spend?

For example, if you are trying to trim some $ then

Drop the processor back some.. you can go down to a 3.0 gig instead of a 3.4 gig, and drop about $30 off the cpu.. Or better yet, drop back to a unlocked dual core like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103846 and droplike $70 off the cpu. The MB he selected has the 'core unlocker' capability, which means you may well get a quad core (if your cpu was downbinned) after all. (it's a roll of the dice, but so far from what I've heard the odds are in your favor) And it's an unlocked cpu so you can probalby overclock it to 3.4 or higher if you are into that kind of thing.

Coolermaster cases are great, but again you could save some there if you needed to, same with the PS which might be a bit of overkill at 750 watts. (although you might also want to drop to a lower power video card, I think an ATI 5770 draws less power than the nVidia unless I'm remembering wrong.

Anyway none of that is knocking with FatherX put together, it's just a point that if that config is outside your budget, then you can shave things down a bit.

For another path to a slightly more affordable system, look at the $750 gaming rig he has linked (which is $671 at current prices) You could take that as a base and go with Most of what he has there, but swap in the MB, and Memory from the wishlist he made for you, and that dual core 'black' Phenom-II I listed above (and hope it turns out to actually be viable as a quad core) That could still be a pretty killer rig, and at a rough guess somewhere close to $750

Heh I just got an HP Envy 17" from NewEgg. has a ATI mobility 5850 video in it, quad-core cpu 8 Gigs of ram, etc.

Deadsexy gunmetal color Aluminum case, backlit keyboard.. (a bit like something apple would make, but a tiny bit edgier, and $600 less expensive at least)

upgraded it from W7Home to Win7 Ultimate, pretty much no problems till I went to run CoX. That took me from being stoked about this new box to just pure dismal dissapointment (so far)

First there was the download. nothing but pain. tip for the rest of you, don't try to update late on a monday night/early Tuesday AM I figured I was like 5+ hours ahead of the maintenance period, so hey no problem right? And I've got a sick broadband and doublechecked it, and speedtest.net showed me getting 20Mbits download speed. Right, should be set to go..

But Nooooooo. The speed for the update was running at times as low as 100KB/sec With predictions of 4+ hours to update. But wait says I, I have a current version of the game on my desktop (also Win7x64) I'll just copy it from there and let it patch.. So, copy things over, let the patcher do it's thing.. try to launch and coh.exe hangs at the little loading logo. Bah sez I, maybe the architechture (Phenom on desktop, I7 on Envy) is an issue, I guess I'll have to let it pach. SO uninstall, and return to downloading the game client directly.. should be only a few hours right?

but NOOOOOOO now the update is even slower, with speeds as low as 30Kb/s and predictions of 35+ hours to update (arrrrghhh), it's midnight pacific, still 4 hours before patch time, but I suspect most of the update servers were down to update their content or else were turned into newts by an evil witch, because that was just dragging. My pipe should be able to pull around 2,000KB/s this is like 1.5% of my capacity. Go to bed, hope for better news in the AM. Well obviously it 'got bettah' at some point during the night as the update was done this AM. YES!

But when I try to run CityOf, it just hangs with the initial small 'loading' graphic in the middle of the windows screen. rest of system is fine, it's just COH that's hung. arrrgggghhhhh and no time to twiddle, must head to work.

Ach well I figured being brand new it would have fairly up to date drivers.. silly me I guess, I really should have known better than to expect 'out of the box and patched with winupdate' drivers to cut it. So I've downloaded latest (8-13-2010) audio and video drivers from HP's site to a flashdrive, and will try installing them this evening after work to see if it makes any difference.. Hopefully I can report back with good news.. (gods I hope so)

I for also welcome our new Plasma overlord


(especially since I do Software QA work for a living, and devs like him represent job security for folks like me)

Red side forever..

proud member of Infinity VG 'Commedia Del Morte' and supporter of SoA workers local #1138 (fighting for better health care for minions)

Everything I've seen from AMD says that the 5750, 5770, 5850, and 5870 will all support Eyefinity. Abet, for most of those you would be limited to 3 screens max (2DVI 1DisplayPort), that is until we see the 6DP model(s?) arrive.

Yeah my understanding is that it looks like 'one monitor' to the game, but I've no idea if the game is going to properly present me with the choice for a 5760x1080 or 5760x1200 'display', nor if the game engine itself is able to deal with calculating for that many pixels. I mean 57x12 is well beyond 'widescreen' or 'landscape' and well into the land of 'panaramic'

Even tricker would be to see if it would allow me to do 3240x1920 or 3600x1920 if you have monitors that can be flipped to 'portrait' mode.

and yeah, those old Matrox cards were the bomb, nice to see the technology resurfacing in a way

One other thing that I'd love to know..

If indeed ATI is becoming the official 'logo-on-the-spash-screen' video vendor, then is there any thought being offered to support for ATI's "Eyefinity" multi-display feature?

For those not familiar, here's a review, the video on particular is very enlightening..

http://hardocp.com/article/2009/09/2...nology_review/

The prospect of something like say 3 widescreens, (perhaps even in portrait mode?) all at once in a 'wrap around' configuration is well.. drool inspiring..

Can you say 'immersive'? knew you could.