Help madali buy shit

[madali]

I hate looking for an item, comparing different ones, etc. So, I need some shit, and just tell me whats good, and I'll go and buy it.

First thing I need is a 3d graphics card for gaming purposes. Nothing to awesome, I dont need something that is 1500 dhs that will allow me to see the sweat coming off the face of some random character two miles away in a map.

So, anything between 200-400 dhs range should be okay. PCI-Express, as I changed my motherboard, and the computer guy told me that the old graphics card (Radeon 6800 or something) didnt work with it (which by the way, the guy never game me back, talk about getting screwed).

[ozzylogic]

Al Ain Center Mad, it's fucking Heaven for me. Call me (take the no. from Fizz) and I'll tell you what to buy exactly. If interested, I know someone selling good cards @ low prices, used albeit.

I bought my GeForce 6600 for AED 285 in October last year, and ever since the release of the Geforce 8800 series, prices have dropped. If you're willing to spend upto 400, you'll get a really good card these days. I would suggest an NVidia as opposed to the Ati, as they're built for gaming.

[ozzylogic]

Btw, I've pimped my system, check it out

What games are you playing these days btw? In my system, Half Life 2, Lego Star Wars 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, NFS Most Wanted, Doom 3, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, etc. run @ full resolutions with everything maxed out.

During the day:


Lights out, CounterStrike with Fizz and sistah:


My Config:
Intel P4 3.44 Ghz HT OC'd to 3.6/Zalman CNPS7000Cu
MSI 915P Neo2Platinum
2 X 512 MB Samsung DDR2
Axtrom GeForce 6600 256 DDR2
SB Live 5.1
2 X 80 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM
External LG DVD RW
Unknown semi-transparent case & PSU

[madali]

This is what happens when you guys ignore me! I was in Bur Dubai for some work yesterday, and I was like, what the hell, so I went to Al Khaleej Centre, and was browsing, and then realized it was 2pm, and most shops were closing, so I just bought a GIGABYTE GEFORCE 7300 GT for 375 dhs.

So far, seems okay, since I'm really a gamer, and just wanted something to play my first person shooters, since after a day of work, I just like to shoot people.

I'm replaying Call of Duty 2, which I adore

[ozzylogic]

Good choice! The GS/GT series are amazing.

Do you need help in buying any other hardware?

[madali]

I need some kind of external USB harddrive!

[ozzylogic]

Is this how your GRFX card looks like? It's freakin' awesome, with no fan, it's silent!



External Hard Disk? I found Geant with the best price and variety, even better than Plug-Ins and Telefonika. Also, Geant have a 7 day refund policy, which I've used, and it's worth it.

We used Western Digitals, Seagates and Maxtor, with Maxtor being the fastest, and WD being the slimmest. We've also used the AED 185 ones, which are 80 GB, but they suck arse, so don't go for them. You'll need @  least AED 350 to 400 for a good external hard disk (Maxtor, SG, WD, Lacie)

[madali]

Yeah, thats the one. I've just played Call of Duty 2 and Serious Sam 2, so neither requires top cards, so I dont know how it will be with newer games.

By the way, any games you recommend? I dont really want somethings that too addictive, as the last thing I want is to come home from work, and play 6 hours of a RTS game.

For hard drive, I'm mainly looking for safe storage. I want to remove my MP3s from my system, and put them in the hard drive. I have around 30 gb of mp3s, all organized, with album covers, systematic track names. Everything is so organized, which means, you have the BAND NAME->ALBUMS (the folders start with the year of release followed by name of album), and each album will have album cover, and each track is TRACK NUMBER - NAME OF SONG.mp3. Plus, all the info is correct in the mp3 itself, so if you put them in WIMAMP or something, all the info is organized, plus with a review from ALLMUSIC.COM

Which, basically means that I'd be upset if something happens to it. I dont want to put them on CDs or DVDs, because if I get additional album from a band, then I cant put that album in the band folder, if its on a CD/DVD.

So, yeah. I dont care about the actual physical size of the hardware, since I wont really be carrying it to much.

[ozzylogic]

I'll get back to you about which hard drive you wanna buy, but from what I've experienced and read, the Maxtor One Touch is your best bet.

About the games, what genre are you interested in? The games you mentioned were FPS...go for F.E.A.R., it's one of the top-rated games of last year, but has steep system requirements. I'd also recommend Doom3, if you haven't played it already.

[madali]

I read the good reviews of FEAR, played it, but couldnt get into it, and have played Doom3 already.

[ozzylogic]

I liked Doom3 more than Quake4, and I'm downloading it's free expansion pack these days. F.E.A.R lagged on my system before I upgraded by RAM to 1GB, but it was immersive, and the graphics as good as Half Life 2, if not better.

Maybe you should try out some RTS, but don't play for 6 hours I downloaded the Command n' Conquer Tiberium Wars 3 Demo, and it's brilliant. It's also 1.2 GB.

[ozzylogic]

Mad, I went to Geant in IB while shopping for work, and got the following prices:

Transcend pocket drives: (80 GB) AED 359, (100 GB) AED 459, (120) AED 549

Lacie (designed by Porsche): (160 GB) AED 499

iOmega 80 GB desktop drive: AED 449

According to reviews, Lacie's are the best (from the list above), then comes Transcend, and iOmega's are the worst performers. Also, pocket drivers cost more than desktop drives as they're smaller, hence the name.

I would recommend the Lacie, any day.

[madali]

Not a bad price. thanks, man.

[ozzylogic]

Anytime man...anytime. They've got better deals than Plug-Ins...and I used to think SeaGate and Western Digital were better, but apparently, they aren't.

[sammy]

i'd recomment lacies or WD's......
or if your a miser like me, just get a usb hdd case from bur dubai and a good laptop hdd
the case would set u back a max of about 20 dhs and the hdd about 280 (Depending on the capacity)
i already got about 6 of those