ThunderPeel2001

So the Minecraft documentary is out (made by the same folks who are doing the DF doc, 2 Player Productions): You can buy the DVD for $20, the DRM-Free download for $8, or just download it for free from the PirateBay (courtesy of 2PP themselves). Given the choice, I decided to buy the DRM-Free download. What will YOU do?

Huh, Instapaper sounds quite useful! I think I've heard the name before, but never really took it in.

Sleeping Dogs is only £10 at the moment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rhkqZk762U

Eh, what now?

Yep, I enjoyed The Room, too. Very short, though. Lately I've been playing Plants vs Zombies (I'm sure everyone else has already played it to death) and Middle Manager of Justice (which probably deserves its own thread - but is very rough around the edges gameplay wise).

How long did that take you?

Macy Gray seemed fine to me...? Not sure why that part of the clip was even there. But: Wow! The rest of it is amazing, though. Just incredible. I can just imagine the director in his booth: "No, don't change anything. I'm trying to get fired."

Nice 'pit stains!

So I think my graphics cards just fried... My computer apparently boots up normally (from the sounds it makes, and the keyboard response) but my monitor remains blank. Very annoying! I know some Thumbs are pretty good with their hardware knowledge, so what's the current best bang for buck? I had a GTS 8800 (with 320 MB Ram). It was PCI-E. Any advice? Thanks guys.

You could make a bundle on the board game instructions black market.

Aside from the fact that it's a (barely interactive) story, and not a game, I totally agree! (Did I mention I don't believe this is a game?)

(I was just referring to the dedicated "Plug Your Shit" thread is all. Welcome back!)

Ok, so the Dell has a 300W power supply, as it turns out. Think it might be able to handle a beefier card? The reason I ask is because I just don't want to have to go through this all again if it could have been avoided by spending a teeny bit more. Thanks! A Radeon HD 6670 seems to fit the bill perfectly! Thanks for the help, guys!

Hurrah! Boo!

I don't think the series is really all that sexist. MG2 was probably very poorly translated, but who knows... MGS3 is by far the most "sexist" MGS I've played, but then it's also a huge nod to 60s Bond, which is exactly how those movies were... It seemed very knowing, and very tongue-in-cheek to me. (Slightly related: In MGS2 you get to control a nude MAN! The gall of Hideo Kojima! Doesn't he know that nude men make us male gamers feel uncomfortable? -- Actually I thought it was a hilarious moment in the game and I'm amazed that anyone felt uncomfortable because of it! Yet every time you see the game mentioned (apart from here) you see someone complain about how "gay" it was. Ha! Also, sometimes the men are sexualised, too, which is a refreshing change for Video games.)

Huh! Well things DO seem faster since I disabled Aero, but it's still slow when quickly scrolling up and down large web pages (like this one). With that in mind, it seems the graphics card IS to blame.

Yep, I'll give it a shot. Seems a shame, especially for a computer that otherwise runs well, but it's definitely the cheapest solution! (For now -- my Dad is thinking of getting a new monitor, too, which is will undoubtedly increase the resolution from the 1024x768 he has at the moment.) The HD has 586GB of free space -- definitely not that! The specs are under "system configuration" in that link - a bit confusing. Here they are: PROCESSOR : AMD ATHLON 64 X2 DUAL CORE 7550 (2.5Ghz) MEMORY : 3072MB (1X2048 + 1X1024) 800MHZ HARD DRIVE 640GB SERIAL ATA NON RAID (7200RPM) OPTICAL DRIVE : 16X DVD+/-RW DRIVE GRAPHICS : INTEGRATED ATI RADEON HD3200 AUDIO INTEGRATED HDA DOLBY DIGITAL CAPABLE

Yeah, it's been very tricky to diagnose this problem, as the machine just generally seems to run a lot slower than you think it should, especially given the specs. There doesn't seem to be any connection between anything and the moments when it slows. It can be fine, but then suddenly it'll decide that switching between windows is a big task. Very strange. I can't find any weird processes that stand out, either by name or usage. Consider the following, though: That's quite a large bottleneck, or at least drop compared to the rest, if the System Score is to be believed. As for the OS. Yep, it's a Dell Windows Image, sadly, but I've removed all the crap I could find. The system seems pretty lean to me. Especially lean enough to run something as light as Windows 7. It's just baffling Thanks for the help!

Hmm. It's pretty much running a clean install. One of the problems with the onboard Radeon is that it shares system RAM, too. Couldn't that be part of the problem? Everything else in the machine should be more than fast enough for Windows 7, I would have thought...? Edit: Oddly enough, the Catalyst Software doesn't run properly on the machine, either, despite me completely removing every trace of AMD drivers and re-installing them. Very weird.

Are you sure about that?

Welcome back... Nice of you to come along and Plug Your Shit *cough* ;-P

Could someone please recommend a PCIe graphics card for my Dad's Dell? He doesn't use it for playing games, but it does seem very slow at times, and I suspect its Radeon HD 3200 on board graphics card. His processor is: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 DUAL CORE 7 You see the machine's entire specs here: http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/uk/en/ukbsdt1/servicetag/929RJ4J (I've cleaned up the OS, but nothing seems to have helped.) Thanks! EDIT: Also, can anyone remember that thread on NeoGaf(?) that is kept up to date by someone who posts here? Looked really helpful!

I never saw it, but wasn't this the basis of Primevil?

Peacewalker seems good to me!