OT: Climbing System Requirements and Specs

[Fyron]

Thermodyne said:
It’s just one of Fyron’s anti Microsoft comments. Its almost automatic now.

What, talking about competing products is now considered anti-Microsoft? Seems more like that whole free market competition thing to me. Try out all of the options to see what fits you best.

[David E. Gervais]

Interesting thread,..

All I can say is the industry has gotten to the point where they are catering to the 'Bleeding Edge' (aka the top 5% of PC owners who have the latest best rigs and aparently spend the most money in the industry) This is a whole lot of bull.. the industry is gonna die faster than 5 ton rhino in quicksand if it continues to 'ignore' the mass majority of 'normal' PC users. I consider myself normal,.. why? because I can't afford to buy a new PC every year. heck I barely manage to get a new rig every 5 years. I'm still running my AMD 1.4ghz with a Gforce FX 5200. When will I next upgrade? hmmm,.. I expect another year or 2 before I can afford to make any upgrades. Real Life (tm) tends to eat up all my money, leaving little or none left for 'luxury' items.

I tend to raid the bargain bins now,.. those games run ok on my system and hey they cost less. it's a win win situation.

Nuf said,. Cheers!

[Fyron]

Thus, we have Dell, makers of cheap commodity computers.

[rdouglass]

David E. Gervais said:
<snip>.. the industry is gonna die faster than 5 ton rhino in quicksand if it continues to 'ignore' the mass majority of 'normal' PC users. </snip>

Ya know, folks have been saying that since I bought my first computer in 1978. However, every year there is a new batch of kids in the game publishers target market (demographics, whatever word you want to put there) that must have the latest and greatest game. And the latest and greatest game usually needs the latest and greatest hardware. Besides, if there were never any excitement over being able to do new things with game software, we'd all still be playing Pong. (And now how much re-playability can you get outa' *that* one. )

Hey, how do you think the game console market survives? Or the auto industry? Or the _____ industry? Oh sure, personally I agree with you. I drive a 6 year old truck not because I can't afford a newer one but why? The one I have works fine for me. I still have the same Atari I bought several years ago (don't want to admit actually how long ago) and it still works. Do I or my kids play it? Not a chance. They want to play the Xbox with Halo. Hey, I wanna' clue you in if you don't already know that Halo is quite a bit more fun than Pong.

The thing we have to keep in mind about statements like that is that there is a *lot* of disposable income out there and the game publishers target market has control over a big portion of that.

A lot of teenagers have a lot of influence over their parents money. Right or wrong, that's just the way it is. So as log as there are teens and game publishers, this industry won't die.

And besides they won't make much of guys like me - I haven't bought a PC game for myself since I bought Gold 4 years or so ago.

[TurinTurambar]

[teenager] Aw, snap... [/teenager]

2.4ghz P4, 1.5gb RAM, latest video drivers, latest DirectX (april'06)...

Now the game won't even start.

[Renegade 13]

rdouglass said:
I drive a 6 year old truck not because I can't afford a newer one but why?

6 year old truck is still practically new! I drive an 11 year old truck, love that thing and still works great...without a lot of the electronic crap the automotive companies think we want/need...

But that's a little OT so I'll shut up now

[rdouglass]

Renegade 13 said:

6 year old truck is still practically new! I drive an 11 year old truck, love that thing and still works great...without a lot of the electronic crap the automotive companies think we want/need...

But that's a little OT so I'll shut up now

Yeah, but I didn't mention that I bought it 2 years ago and the one I had before that was 10 years old.

As to the G550 driver issue, would you like me to post the full CD image? Again, I run that version and have no problems. Have you tried removing all of it (game, DirectX, and driver) and install them in this order:

Video Drivers
DirectX
Game

That's how I normally will do it if I have problems with any of those things. I install all support software first.

That help any?

[Thermodyne]

Right now there are basically 8 markets,

1) Home user looking for a deal
This is the sub $1000 market, everyone has a piece, but profits are slim It is a high
volume area, but price driven. When Vista ships, profits should improve.
2) Home user looking for a high end system
High end trophy system (hangs head in shame).
Gaming systems. Of note here would be that Dell introduced a $10,000 over-clocked
dual SLI system and sold them out in a week. They also bought out Alienware,
probably so as to enter the AMD high end market. Alienware has allocations from
AMD, and Dell does not. AMD is sold out of many high end chips and probably could
not supply Dell until a new fab comes on line. This area is a money maker so long as
the economy stays good. As said above, there is a lot of disposable income out there at
the moment.
3) Media PC’s
This area is a good profit center, but it just never took off the way it was expected to.
If sales don’t pick up, it will become a nich market.
4) Personal use Laptop
Big market with all sectors doing well. But rapidly shifting to a price driven model
which hurts bottom lines.
4) Cooperate word processor
Has been very good for the last few of years, but starting to fade. The systems
purchased during the 2000 build out are being replaced, which has driven this area, but
most of that has been completed. The industry does not see this as a good market for
the next several years. Vista could help sales in this market.
5) Cooperate servers
Lots of movement here. Server count has exploded in the last few years, and while
these are still good systems, they have created a lot of unforeseen problems. Basically, they
are using to much energy. They require a lot of power and create a lot of heat. And
because of the smaller sizes, rack density has become a real issue. Look for rack
mounted 3 phase to DC power conversion, with the servers running on pre converted
DC power. This alone gives almost a 30% power savings. Also look for the next
generation of chips to run much cooler at a lower wattage. These will start shipping
before the end of the year, Intel has samples now. And as always, there is already
some movement on the Hill to create a tax credit for IT energy saying purchases. This
should be a big market for the next few years. With electricity costs set to explode this
summer, IT managers will be able to justify a lot of new hardware.
6) Cooperate Laptops/Tablets
Hot market, and should remain hot as long as the economy stays good.
7) Developed third world
This is seen a growth market, but everyone is still trying to figure out how to make a
profit.
8) Undeveloped third world
Last untapped market. Of late there has been a lot of talk about $100 laptops to “give”
away to these people. Until someone figures out how to make money from it, this will
remain an area for future growth.

Now for the spoiler. ATT having again become a giant in the industry is looking to change the
rules. The huge internet pipe network that they run is basically free for us to use. And it should
be. Most of it was built with grants and tax credits, some was even paid for by the tax payers.
Now they want to charge a toll for the use of their pipes, just as they do with their trunk POTs
lines. They claim that they only want big users like Google to pay, but the legislation they are
pushing would allow them to surcharge every user and charge premiums for certain protocols
such as VPN. If they get their way, the cost of going online could double. This will have a
noticeable impact on the PC industry. Some studies suggest that new sales will fall off 20% and
that online gaming would be adversely impacted to the tune of an 80% decline. Just imagine if
Geo got a bill for $100 plus every month from ATT on top of what he already pays. And for
no additional service provided. Most of us would be looking at $10 to $20 a month. And if
every pipe manager came on board, only god knows who you might owe at the end of the
month. And you might even see a decline in service as internet routers were programmed to use
the most profitable pipes. I wouldn’t trust ATT to route me over to the shortest-quickest route.
They will choke their own pipes before giving toll income to another carrier. Just think about it,
you pay $29 a month for your service, and ever time you go on line the meter starts running.
Google search, 10 cents. Send a turn to PBW, 20 cents. Down load patches, 25 cents. Sure,
they claim it they wont charge users, but if the law allows them to charge, how long will it be
before the bills show up in the mail?

[Renegade 13]

Thermo, why do you think Vista will help improve sales of hardware? Is it simply a case of the new OS requiring better hardware than the previous incarnations?

Also, with reference to ATT trying to charge users...I assume that they are American, and would not effect those of us up to the North? As far as I know, they're an American only company, so...I hope!

[TurinTurambar]

rdouglass said:
As to the G550 driver issue, would you like me to post the full CD image? Again, I run that version and have no problems. Have you tried removing all of it (game, DirectX, and driver) and install them in this order:

Video Drivers
DirectX
Game

That's how I normally will do it if I have problems with any of those things. I install all support software first.

That help any?

Nope. I did all that over again just now. The main monitor goes full-screen blank and then just hangs. The game-included "debugger" text-file says :

Debug Message: Version 1.0X DEMO VERSION last updated on: Wed Mar 22 18:28:31 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 4/15/2006, 15:49:17
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: OFFICE
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: PT880_
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
Physical Memory: 1536MB RAM
Page File: 257MB used, 3176MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: Matrox Millennium G550 - English
Manufacturer: Matrox Graphics Inc.
Chip Type: Matrox G550
DAC Type: Integrated, 360 MHz
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_102B&DEV_2527&SUBSYS_0F84102B&REV_01
Display Memory: 32.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: G400DHD.dll
Driver Version: 6.12.0001.1950
Driver Date: 8/8/2005 16:12:52
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: Matrox Millennium G550 - English
Manufacturer: Matrox Graphics Inc.
Chip Type: Matrox G550
DAC Type: Integrated, 360 MHz
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_102B&DEV_2527&SUBSYS_0F84102B&REV_01
Display Memory: 32.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: G400DHD.dll
Driver Version: 6.12.0001.1950
Driver Date: 8/8/2005 16:12:52
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_140E147B&REV_60
Manufacturer ID: 65535
Product ID: 65535
Driver Name: ALCXWDM.SYS
Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5630
Driver Date: 6/30/2004 23:49:00
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0



Debug Message: *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: No compatible devices found.
Debug Message: InitializeDirect3D Failed.
Debug Message: Now windowed.
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: WM_CLOSE message received.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize start