Building a new PC? Look here first.

[audioave10]

voltage is easy...I think he wants full system power usage-
measured in Watts. He may have a little meter to do that and
you can get one for about $15 at hardware stores. Not sure of any other way to do it yet.

[nandersen]

For the 5th time in my life I borrowed a power consumption meter (a.k.a. "kWh meter") at the local library.
If you guys don't have such option and don't know someone who can lend you one then there's not much to do.
I don't think that such devices are expensive (perhaps 10-20$) but you may prefer to spend the money on something else and I fully understand that. If you do, however, have access to such devices please do yourselves a favor and test all the used outlets in your homes for both standby and "in business" consumption. You may be surprised!

[VINTAR]

Is that the thingy that looks like a pair of calipers that you put around wires?

[VINTAR]

Sorry for double post again. Its just that it takes ten minutes to edit a post on my mobile so i realised last night that i am still running DX9.0C because of my old agp card. Wheres the best place to get DX10 from? Should i just get it from microsoft? How do you install it, through DXDIAG or will it install itself? More noob questions

Edit: Ok so I found out that DX10 doesnt work with XP, but there is an experimental version out there which sounds interesting. Apparently made by a 19 year old kid

[nandersen]

Is that the thingy that looks like a pair of calipers that you put around wires?

No. You're probably referring to an amp meter..?

I was talking about something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/P3-International- ... B00009MDBU

[VINTAR]

Ah I see. Yes it was an Ammeter I was refering to

[ket]

Sorry for double post again. Its just that it takes ten minutes to edit a post on my mobile so i realised last night that i am still running DX9.0C because of my old agp card. Wheres the best place to get DX10 from? Should i just get it from microsoft? How do you install it, through DXDIAG or will it install itself? More noob questions

Edit: Ok so I found out that DX10 doesnt work with XP, but there is an experimental version out there which sounds interesting. Apparently made by a 19 year old kid

Thats a very interesting project, but you could always run a W7 build and get DX10 I'm currently running build 7100 of W7 and will be trying build 7232 tomorrow. I have a few spare W7 keys if you need one.

[VINTAR]

Ket, welcome back buddy. Women giving you some space now as you can see i have built a new rig since you been away. Had problems initially overclocking it but installed easytune6 and that helped alot.

[ket]

lol you could say that yeah. I dunno what it is with women always wanting me to go where they do. Glad you built yourself a new system, quite the difference from the box you were running eh?

[VINTAR]

Yeah, huge difference. I now go from off to playing FO3 in about 30 seconds

[nandersen]

Yeah, huge difference. I now go from off to playing FO3 in about 30 seconds

I envy you... my rig takes like 15-20 seconds from off until the first "beep".

[ket]

Is that thing running on coal or something?

[nandersen]

Is that thing running on coal or something?

Who knows

[VINTAR]

Where i'm lucky is that i have two rigs now at home. One my wife uses for her business and my gaming baby so i have no unnescesary BS on my rig. Its literally plug and play

[ket]

My gaming PC is also my business PC. 2 can combine into one

[Nightwatch]

My PC at home is the same, once powerful enough and loaded with suitable programs, one machine seems to be able take the load of both worlds. I have a laptop, too, but don't like them much. main reason is that I don't quite like the laptop keyboards.

[ket]

I want to get a laptop.. but in the last 3-4 weeks I've spent £300 upgrading my PC..

[Balious]

This seemed the best place to put this.

So everyone knows I need either new parts or get a new computer.

Considering the only good thing about my computer is the quad core. I am wondering is it better to build a new computer with my quad core processor along with better other parts or do I buy a new one with all these things already?

After abit of talking and abit of persuading by Jamie I was looking at the titan nero computer he is getting and was interested in it but the dual core was quite crap.

Everyone here knows my specs but I post them anyway if you can lead me to a good computer.

Copied from Xfire:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Hard Drive: 320 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio output (its what it calls it but I have a realtek card anyway)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional

The type of computer I want which most people want I believe is something that can play games like stalker and such good and can also play the latest games. Lasting a good while too but arent all the computers got the same time to live for?

[Grump642]

Two problems with what you have. Not enough memory and weak video card. Memory-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 and video card-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102825. With something like these 2, you would have a whole different gaming machine. For less then 200 pounds. Unless, of course, you just want to build a new rig. I know you probably like nVidea, but for $150, the 4870 is an awsome deal.