Level 48!

I don't think the trident is quite as cool as the golden gauntlet, but it still works. To me, the next cool-looking level isn't truly until level 51

I'll be back in 106 days-ish.

I also got the full retail version (two copies, actually) for free. A couple months ago.

If only I actually had the time to make the upgrade...

As a couple posters said, they've been out for a short time already. Right now, they only come in the quad core flavor (more geared towards desktop replacements and mobile workstations), and you're not going to see the mainstream dual core variant until Intel rolls out more of their 32nm refresh. They're expected within the end of this year and mainstream availability will probably be early next year.

If you're going to be gaming, you're way, way better off getting a laptop with a beefy video card, and you may be hard-pressed to get both that and a mobile i7 on your budget. If mobility is not important to you, you could build a desktop computer that would mop the floor with (and steal the lunch money from) any laptop you could buy for the same price. You could even do this and have enough money left over for a netbook for everything else.

There aren't enough games out there that take advantage of quad core processors to justify the weight it has in your decision. Mobile i7 may not have a huge advantage over its Core2 counterpart when it comes to gaming, but it completely spanks it in other areas which are likely not important to you.

Also, let me introduce you to my Asus w90vp-X2. Runs great with its dual Intel X25-M SSDs in Raid0. I think you two would get along! Great for stuff like Fallout3 or Crysis while on the road.

Topic title sucks, and yes, we do have a video thread where there's heaps of stuff like this. I doubt this is worth posting again, but keep that in mind for the future.

At 9/8/09 12:23 AM, Patcoola wrote:

thats interesting do you mined posting the full specs of this computer you make claims to.

anyways here are some computers in Canada that compare to the MacPro Click here

Sure, no prob.

Taken from the Mac Pro (Quad Core) configuration page

2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon*
8gb (4x2gb) 1066MHz DDR3*
640GB hard drive
2x NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
18x SuperDrive (CD/DVR burner)
No display/additional software

$3,399

*The quad core Xeon they're talking about is actually the server variant of the Core i7 940, which supports dual processor configurations and error correcting memory. I'm not sure why they do this, because 1) This isn't a dual processor configuration. The amount of money wasted here is HUGE, and 2) Error correcting memory is slower and more expensive. Memory errors are actually extremely rare and typically used in enterprise environments where they don't want to take even the tiniest chance

Something in the ballpark of my configuration: (I'll take most of the prices from newegg.com, although lower prices are guaranteed to be found if you do sufficient searching)

2.66gHz Intel Core i7 920* $279.99
2x NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 896mb $378.98 (Not including $40 rebate)
640gb hard drive (7200rpm like the mac) $69.99
12gb (2 3x2gb kits) 1600MHz DDR3 $239.98
Upper-end X58 chipset motherboard $219.99 (Not including $15 rebate)
22x CD/DVD burner $30.99
750W corsair power supply $119.99 (Not including $10 rebate)

(Items below are subject to personal preference. Cost estimates are generous)

Decent CPU cooler: $50
Keyboard and mouse: $50
Decent case/fans: $100
Windows: $200 (As a CS student at my university, this was actually free)**
Shipping: $50

* Adjust BIOS settings in motherboard to run the processor 100% stable at 3.6GHz+ (Many enthusiasts get 4.0GHz+ just on air cooling)
** Operating system is your choice. Subtract cost if you want to use a free operating system, of course.

Cost of this system before rebate: $1,790.91
Cost of this system if you bother doing rebates: $1725.91

If you're scared of overclocking for some stupid reason but want the same proc speed as the mac, even though it turns a $200 processor in to a $1000+ processor for free, subsitute the i7 920 with a i7 940 and add $185. (No need for the ~$50 third party cooler if you don't overclock): $1910.91

If you want to use a *nix operating system, most are free. Subtract the $200: $1525.91 (Post rebate with overclocking) or $1710.91 (Post rebate, no overclocking)

The above configuration will leave you with an extra $1,650 (give or take) and will blow the socks off of the Mac Pro (Especially if you're not a newb and overclock). This can be, what, a 30" monitor and a Blu-Ray burner? Or maybe some solid state drives? You could still use the server variants of some aforementioned hardware and still save many hundreds of dollars. Or just build an octo core or something.

Instigating or discussing attacks on other websites (even if it's to troll them) is against the rules

Macs are just computers. I don't prefer them because they cost significantly more to do the same thing.

Not a big fan of the operating system either.

The machine I built for $1800 would cost over $3400 if I built a similar Mac Pro on Apple.com ... except the Mac Pro would have a slower processor, less memory, slower memory, less storage capacity, much worse video cards, and a slower optical drive that only reads CDs and DVDs

What a deal!!

Meant to include this in my first post, but if you've got your mind set on a Mac, go with the pro.

I wouldn't recommend a laptop for animating, though. You're way better off getting a desktop computer unless mobility is a huge importance to you.

At 9/7/09 11:01 AM, robin1232 wrote:

windows also doesnt support all hardware, sadly, they dont say so, resulting in a slower and most of the time more expensive pc then you'd have otherwise.

Is this some sort of joke? 99% of the time, Macs and "PCs" use the same exact hardware in the first place. If you're upgrading a component other than the hard drive or memory, better break out the soldering iron!. Actually in most cases it's just impossible

By the way, the Apple variant of most hardware has a huge price markup. X1900 XT apple upgrade kit: $399 at the Apple store. This card is 3.5 years old and a piece of shit nowadays! You can find it in new condition on eBay for $50+ or in some stores for $80+

Mac supports x64 wich is really fast too.

There have been 64bit versions of Windows since Windows Server 2003 64bit. Wouldn't surprise me if there were earlier versions. Too bad the vast majority of software out there doesn't isn't 64 bit. Of course, there are 64bit operating systems that AREN'T Windows, too.

the boot times are lower (I have a nearly full HD and it still boots in 20 secs, my pc has 20% full and boots in 3 minutes, and yes, the pc is powerful)

Funny that you mention this. One reason that they boot faster is they're dealing with a much smaller scope of hardware, while other machines have to be compatible with hardware from literally hundreds of different vendors. Macs may boot 10 seconds faster but at least I didn't pay $2500 for a 12gb RAM upgrade kit

At 9/7/09 11:31 AM, robin1232 wrote:

because the hardware is max compability it will run everything better.

64 bit windows doesnt support 32 bit apps thus being pretty useless.

64 bit is a whole different kind of binary, wich is used to calculate things faster, so it really speeds up things, not just more RAM.

It's pretty obvious at this point that you've no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Here's a screenshot of some of the processes running on my Vista Business 64bit OS. See those that are suffixed with "*32"? Yeah, those are all 32 bit apps. Could it be because ... 32 bit apps are actually supported? Hurrdurr...

At 7/18/09 05:31 AM, reviewer2 wrote:

At 7/18/09 05:28 AM, RageVI wrote: I might be wrong, but it looks like it was removed by an administrator
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/49 3581

Damnit, read my post.

I did. You're asking for a flash/video, so I linked you to what was probably the only flash made concerning the whole topic. And then, at the same time, you're asking for what started it, which is actually a forum topic that you've been linked to several times already. Pardon my dust for trying.

NOT the dick neck thing.

If you're too lazy to follow up on the links you were given, go here and search for "jellyously"

I might be wrong, but it looks like it was removed by an administrator
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/493581

At 7/17/09 02:31 PM, HecticCircleCrap wrote:

At 7/17/09 09:08 AM, HALL0WEEN wrote: After much thought, I have decided that I will stop at 5,880 EXP - Level 24

Failure. Level 47 is where it's at. Especially if you are a mod at the time you reach it.

Obligatory reply.

There are so many cool levels ahead of me that there's no point in stopping. Besides, I might actually make it in to the top 50 experience some time. Level 55 would probably be my favorite, though.

Yeah. This is something readily available for anyone to see without having to tell about it.

14.00 voting power! I've finally reached the highest current echelon of voting power goodness.

It's been a good few days! This will be the last voting power-related milestone in a long, long time. See you guys in 101 days!

Level 47!

I was hoping it'd coincide with getting 14.00 VP, but I guess that's yet to come

Sounds like a buffer overflow bug in the Adobe Acrobat Reader was exploited. I bet yours isn't up to date. That's something you'll want to make sure of in the end, however the turnout. I've seen this very thing happen before, and a system restore fixed it.

How sure are you that you just didn't download the wrong version of Daemon Tools Lite? It also appears to require service pack 2

At 6/3/09 10:03 AM, Jesse-Ray wrote: Be a console gamer.

A 360 costs 276 dollars Australian (1,946.700 American) and Orange Box costs 40 dollars (246.789 American) and all future releases will be good 'till 2012 when 720 comes out it's full proof and that way you can have a computer that costs 200 dollars Australian (164,880) like me. It's savings all round for the small cost of graphics compromise, PC gamers just try and have a go at me, your only argument is malware cracked games and useless frame rate.

What the hell is the point in being a dick about this? Not all of us have a computer just for shitting around. I already have a powerful computer for what I do, so it'd be stupid to spend money on a game console when I can play the same games on my computer, which, by the way, allows me to play at over four times the resolution of 720 "hd". I also get to maintain full control over my graphics driver settings and basically every.thing.else.

Notice I don't give a shit about how other people play their games. If you like your prepackaged game box, more power to you.

Mountain Dew Throwback uses natural sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Like they used to. Thus the "throwback"

Getting 64bit wasn't a question for me, as I was getting 12gb of RAM. That's the primary advantage, although there are other less noteworthy ones too. If you're going to go 64bit, you're betting off sticking with Vista because the 64bit flavor of XP doesn't seem to have nearly as much driver/software support.

Why hasn't anyone posted this yet?

At 5/10/09 12:20 AM, TacoFreak wrote:

1. lol 12 gb ram

I love how people lawl at me having 12gb of ram just because they can't imagine themselves putting it to use. Just last night I was using over 9gb while doing some rendering and video compositing. I can't tell you how many times I've maxed it out while using the 64-bit variants of Photoshop and Maya. And that's without the whole RAMDisk thing that I'm in to.

2. overclock your gpu

I haven't had time to play games for the past two months. Literally. I've hardly even had time to sit down. I just finished the semester, though, so I'll do this later. I might even get water blocks for 'em.

At 5/9/09 11:41 PM, Proottalfain wrote:

OUTSTANDING. Also solid state drives contain no disk at all, so you can't call it that way.

Whoops, slipped up there. I've been following SSDs for the longest time. I was thinking of going all-out when the OCZ Vertex lineup was released, but with SATA 3 and USB 3 on the horizon (Along with more advanced memory controllers for these demanding devices), it's just worth the wait. It doesn't help that Intel just slased the prices on their X25-Ms though.

At 5/10/09 12:00 AM, DraGoN-RaGe-9001 wrote:

i was wondering... how is the i7 processor? is it that much better than a quad core?

The Core i7 lineup is all quad core at this time, but it has a brand new architecture so it's a completely different beast. The worst case scenario is that performs on par with a Core 2 Quad. (This scenario seems to be confined just to gaming for the most part). Best case scenario (and there's lots of them), the Core I7 will completely mop the floor with the older processor.

In fact, my overclocked Core i7 @ 3.6ghz renders more than twice as fast as the workstations in the digital arts lab at my school, which are quad cores Xeons @ 2.66ghz. It even renders slightly faster than the octo core Macs in the other lab, which use the same processors I believe, although I don't remember their exact specifications.

It's VERY worth it if you do things like rendering, multitasking, or basically anything that can take advantage of multiple cores. Games don't do that so much.

Computer hardware thread!

Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.6gHz
12gb DDR3 8-8-8-24 @ 1440mHz
2xSLI GTX 260 (Factory overclocked)
A 640gb conventional hard drive

I do lots of 3D rendering and work with CUDA apps. This machine is supposed to hold out for me until I build a 12+ core machine when Intel's 6-core chips roll out early next year. I was also tempted to build a huge array of solid state disks, but considering how faster and cheaper they've gotten in just the past few months, I thought it much wiser to hold out for a while. It's REALLY hard to do with money burning a hole in your pocket.

Above (2560 x 1600)

But for the record, I can't stand websites that require a resolution higher than 800 x 600. Probably because they make such poor use of the space, though.

EyeLovePoozy is right. Once a thread is locked, nobody, not even moderators or administrators, can post in it.

At 5/2/09 04:42 PM, TacoFreak wrote:

No shit sherlock. But if you're going to get an Intel processor, not overclocking it is a waste because they do it really well. A stock cooler would hold you back because of the temps.

No shit sherlock. AMD has some great budget deals, but my "wait, what?" was more directed at the "fails because it has Intel" remark. Considering that Intel has been mopping the floor with AMD for a little while now, it was just a stupid thing to say. AMD is hardly even keeping up with Intel's Core 2 lineup, and that's not even their latest generation.

I do like that AMD offers enthusiast versions of the processors (unlocked multipliers, etc) without a retarded price premium like Intel. They also scale pretty well in server platforms, but I don't think he wants an octo socket machine.

At 5/2/09 03:46 PM, TacoFreak wrote:

At 5/2/09 03:01 PM, STEM wrote: You can build a pretty kickass PC with $500, that plays Crysis as well

no that fails because it has Intel

Wait, what?

also you forgot a cpu cooler

The CPU he selected is retail, which includes a heat sink and fan.

At 5/1/09 04:35 PM, Ejit wrote:

At 5/1/09 02:19 PM, Ejit wrote: david vs goliath

david wins

Ejit, I think you've grossly overestimated how much I care for the video. If I had any concern that it would get removed from Youtube (Despite the hundreds of other videos of bugs being killed on it), I would have uploaded it to my own webspace.

Thanks for the 'goliath' compliment, too

Now go weep over the fallen

At 5/1/09 03:43 PM, The-Laugher-Of-Lor wrote: Video has been removed. I guess Youtube is a spider freak.

I was going to remove the video anyway. Youtube material != Newgrounds material

At 5/1/09 03:55 PM, wildfire4461 wrote: Just thought...
Here's a pic' of my mutant Black Widow (the blades CAN rip a hole in you):

And yes i've seen a real one up close)

I was at a cottage in Virgina and right above the doorway was a whole nest of them. We bought a can of bug spray and let it loose. As soon as we did that, a cloud of hundreds of baby black windows started flying in the wind everywhere. It was craptastic.