I am at a huge disadvantage with the 6 year old PC that I use for TT. I have other newer laptops in the house, but they are used for other purposes. So.........

I was looking at buying this for the sole purpose of playing TT, and maybe using some of it's hard drive space for my MP3's.

CompUSA

It is cheap and looks like there is some room for expansion, and has a decent graphics card.

Any thoughts on this (other than..."its not a mac")

Thanks,

Smack

Last edited: Monday, December 04, 2006 at 11:23:24 AM

Actually, I thought this was a decent computer except the video, which isn't described in detail, but appears to be integrated. So if you bought this, maybe look at a better video card. Maybe a better processor too, but I guess that doesn't matter too much if you're only using this for TT.

Geez. The thing's only 14 inches tall! Size matters, man! Size matters!

Get rid of windows and run linux :)

^ I honestly have thought about linux, but not sure I have the knowlege to pull it off.

Linux has become very user friendly. I suggest you look at Ubuntu, check out distrowatch . Heck you might not have to get a new computer.

It has been my experience that you will always be outgunned by somebody. I don't get the latest computer so comp geeks will always be ahead of me.

My advice is adjust your tactics accordingly. From what I've seen, you're not SO outgunned that it's unplayable. XD

Well, I have decided to take a little of everyone's advice:

@ Player, I am going higher end on a new system (even though Mrs. Smack will be pissed when I buy my new mountain bike too)

@ Nuts: I am going to take my old system and make it a Linux box and get somewhat proficient with it, then make the new box linux next year.

@ Guishin, I haven't been completely outgunned and can pretty much hold my own, but the whole frame rate thing (hence taking Players advice) becomes really obvious on Friday night in Scrumbag playing guys with way better hardware than me. The 16MB graphics card (Nvidia Vanta) just can't hang in that environment.

@Uncle Smacky(MI)
Excellent idea. Then you can also use it for a server later. If you need help with that let me know. :)

I have similar problems as Smacky. I have a kick-arse connection, but my old comp has a crappy video card. We're talking about getting a new comp, but it's not exactly at the top of the list of priorities. What are the pros/cons of swiching from XP to Linux? Can I save a heap of dough and pick up just a tower on ebay w/o an operating system and just install linux? Any advise for a frugal TTer looking to boost his performance?

@Fish
I think a transition to linux is always beneficial :). As for making your video card better, linux really can't do that. It can make your machine run a little cleaner and faster. I would highly suggest getting a computer without windows, if you decide you really need it you can buy it later. Heck if you have a good connection just upgrade your video card and switch some of your hard drive to linux. I think dash is/was playing with an old Pent III chip and linux a little while back. If you don't have aything important on the computer now you can reinstall windows and leave some of the hard drive for linux. Linux really doesn't need much, just look at the requirments for the distribution you choose. Then just install linux and you can dual boot and check things out.

Thanks NUTS and Smacky for putting some ideas in my head. After Christmas, I'll see how much $ is left over and what's on sale, maybe I can talk the wife into letting me get a new comp. If I do that, I'll probably experiment w/ Linux and hosting on this comp. I've been doing some pricing, and I can get a new vid card, cooling fan, and internal hard drive for about $120. I might go with that option, instead.

Last edited: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 7:07:34 PM

@ NUTS: Dont see much on UBUNTU talking about system requirements. My old PC is damn near a relic of the cold war. Do you have any specs for that?

Not 100% sure but I have set up Ubuntu with a 10GB partition before. I think that after I used the automatix installer I was up to about 5 or 6GB. This was using an old Sony laptop with a Pent II. Couldn't play TT on it because of the graphics card, but it could host :)

Last edited: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 5:35:41 AM