Hello, forum neighbour

[Eklektikos]

Beware the yanquis next door [tank] ;)

[Ehecatl Atzin]

HAHAHAHA!! isn't this a nice surprise! the enemy is right next door[hammer] my chinese spyes will make quick work of this advantageous situation ;)

EDIT-- And thanks to ProPain for setting it up, [thumb2]

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Hmmm.. I was thinking of setting up a thread for spam usage, distribution and consumption; but I think this one will do nicely...so without further delay, let the spam fest commence! ;)

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Don't you just hate RL?.. I mean, take a look at this, I was having a perfectly good time playing Civ with Mr. Merchant and a very nice chat in messenger, where lots of other people were present; I was just getting a hand of it when a I recieved a call from school...-The student council has called for a sesion-. Since I'm part of it, i'm screwed. To make a long and frustraiting story short...five hours later and 20 squabling delegates, nothing was achieved and a couple of council members (school of law, turism, medicine and the Humanities, that would be me) and some delegates decided to take the meeting to the local brewery. I mean yeah, I got a nice little buzz out of it, but c'mon! I was playing Civ! :D

[anarres]

Can you tell us what the meeting was about? :D

[Skyfish]

If you dont like political BS then dont be part of the Student Council ;)
I personally love meeting for hours on end for no purpose :D especially if you prolong it at the pub...
Are you from the US ?

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Well, basically, since we just changed dean in the university, he has lots of reforms and not all of them are well, sane. The new dean started by firing lots of teachers and workers and raised his salary quite a lot (almost as much as the State Governor) for example. So the meeting was basically about discussing them and seeing what the council could do to stop them [devil] I like political BS...when it's done right. Most delegates speak and say and resay what they just said, and many of them have no idea what's being discussed, so after a while it just gets old. I mean, what ever happened to getting things done and finishing it off at the pub, instead of going to pub to drown the frustaitions of the day ....and that isn't so bad either :D
I'm from Mexico and live in Tijuana ;) ...cespool of vice [devil]

[Moonsinger]

Hi Ehecatl,

I see that you have created a spoiler thread about our game...but I promise I won't peak. At the moment, I'm willing to accept an unconditional term of surrender from you, but you have to act fast because this offer won't last long.;) j/k, I'm just wondering if you have time for a power play today. I'm on MSN now, if you want to talk.

[Skyfish]

Tijuana eh ? ...just like I said... you live in the US... ;)
As for the new Dean : you guys, teachers and students, should go on strike until the State Governor removes him [mad] !

[joker]

[Ehecatl Atzin]

-Moonsinger-- sorry for not answering sooner, I've been ill. And no, Japan shall not surrender to the likes of the ottomans! ;)

-Skyfish-- that's what's in store for now I guess, a general strike until we get Mr. Potato head (that's what he looks like) out of office [hammer]

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Yes! the bastard flu has been defeated! [evil] and to celebrate I went out last night and of course got [drunk] I can't help it! this town is full of little bars ;) My mates and I went to one of our favorites, it called El Sotano Suizo, that means the swiss basement. It's quite nice :)

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Have you guys noticed the bold fonts get bigger as you scroll down the forums menu?

[Ehecatl Atzin]

[party] yeeahh! I just found the greatest little bar two blocks from University! [drunk] So of course me and me mates went off to see what ot was like and we liked it!! [party] it's great, it has this painting of miguel hidalgo playing pool with Allende and the table is being held upright by el pipila, it'sshit fun!...hmm..of, course, you'd get the joke if you guys knew who there peolpe where! lol but non the less, it has become the new alcohol hole of history students! yay! :D (yes, I'm drunk)

[Ehecatl Atzin]

I´ve been thinking of getting a new PC, this new job is giving more money to my pockets and I can finally afford to upgrade with style [coool] So I was thinking, since you guys know lots of these technicall do-hickies called computers, maybe you could help :D What sort of machine should I get? perhaps a laptop so I can work and play while on the road? what specifics? Any [help] is welcomed.

[Plux]

Get the most expensive laptop you can get. That should be quite good :D

[Eklektikos]

On a topic connected to both the beginning and end posts of this thread, my home PC is dead. This means I won't be able to play any turns until I fix it, which may not be for a week or two :(

[digger760]

quote:Originally posted by Ehecatl Atzin

I´ve been thinking of getting a new PC, this new job is giving more money to my pockets and I can finally afford to upgrade with style [coool] So I was thinking, since you guys know lots of these technicall do-hickies called computers, maybe you could help :D What sort of machine should I get? perhaps a laptop so I can work and play while on the road? what specifics? Any [help] is welcomed.


I've been looking at getting a new laptop, if you go that way make sure to get something that does DX9 graphics, like ATI 9600 mobile graphics chip or GeForce FX 5600 or the cheaper 5200 model. From what i've read the Geforce FX5600 is'nt quite upto the pace of the ATI 9600 GPU. You mioght also want to consider the processor, there is the new centrino processors, which have a lower clock speed but a 1.7 Gig centrino is apparently as fast as a 2.2 Ghz P4, but runs cooler and easier on the battery.

Personally i don't need the battery to be long lasting so i am looking for something with the 3.06 Ghz P4 and ATI 9600 mobility radeaon GPU. But these DX9 GPU's are only just coming out so i might have to wait a while until all the fuss is settled down and i can pick the one i want.

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Eklektikos-- shit happends, no prob.

Digger-- So, um, do I just go up to the counter and ask for an ATI 9600 mobile graphics chip in the laptop? It´s all in there right? I don´t have to, um, look for them separate and then install them and that sort of stuff?

[Plux]

quote:Originally posted by digger760

[quote]Originally posted by Ehecatl Atzin

I've been looking at getting a new laptop, if you go that way make sure to get something that does DX9 graphics, like ATI 9600 mobile graphics chip or GeForce FX 5600 or the cheaper 5200 model. From what i've read the Geforce FX5600 is'nt quite upto the pace of the ATI 9600 GPU.http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/ad-13.09.03-004/ (get that translated at av.com) says that nVidia-chips really trail in most new to come games (DX9), so I'd certainly get an ATi chip in your new pc/laptop. They are mostly cheaper than nVidia and perform better for that price. Not sure how this is for laptop-GPU's, though, but if there is an ATi 9600 mobility that would surely be my pick!

[digger760]

quote:Originally posted by Ehecatl Atzin

Eklektikos-- shit happends, no prob.

Digger-- So, um, do I just go up to the counter and ask for an ATI 9600 mobile graphics chip in the laptop? It´s all in there right? I don´t have to, um, look for them separate and then install them and that sort of stuff?


The Graphic Processors (GPU) are built into the laptop. And in 95% of the cases they will have:

an ATI based GPU
or NVIDIA based GPU
or intel extreme graphics
or IGP grahics (i think that is AMD equivalent of intels attempt)

NVIDIA and ATI build dedicated purpose GPU's and have dedicated memory. The intel and AMD chips are an integrated solution, which means they share there processing power and memory with other stuff on the laptop, which slows them down.

The standard NVIDIA mobile GPU in most laptops is called Geforce4 4200 Go but the latest and greatest appearing in the newest is called the GeforceFX 5600. The Geforce4 4200 Go is an DX8 GPU while the GeforceFX 5600 is a DX9 GPU, but some reports say it is'nt great at DX9 graphics.

The standard ATI mobile GPU in most laptops is called ATI 9000 mobility radeon but the latest and greatest appearing in the newest is called the ATI 9600 mobility radeon . The ATI 9000 mobility radeon is an DX8 GPU while the ATI 9600 mobility radeon is a DX9 GPU. The ATI 9600 mobility by all reports beats the NVIDIA mobile cards hands down, runs cooler and uses less power.

Both makers of the GPU have varying degrees of video memory but i think you would want at least 64Mb these days


Now you dont have to have a DX9 GPU to play games that require DX9 graphics, it just means that your main processor has to do it instead, which just slows things down a little. For example i have a an old Celeron 333Mhz laptop with a NeoMagic graphics (which has 4MB of video ram), i am mot sure what level of DX is done with the grahics chip, but i would guess it is DX5 or DX7, but Civ requires DX8.1 and it works ok... although i would'nt play any large maps or fast action games on it. I can't seem to run Rise of Nations on it thought which requires DX9 graphics...so maybe there is a minimum processots requirement for DX9 as well, this i am not sure of.

It depends on how much money you have to spend and what you want to be able to do....if you dont play lots of games, then the intel exteme graphics might be the way to go (it will mean a cheaper laotop)...but a young fool and his money are easy parted so i am waiting for something with the ATI 9600.

if you want to read up more then maybe checkout

www.tomshardware.com or
www.dell.com (just to see the variations they offer)

[Ehecatl Atzin]

Cool! thanks [goodjob] I'll look up on this and hopefully my money will also part from my pockets ;)

[digger760]

just found this article today on comparison between the latest NVIDIA and ATI mobile grapics chips
The ATI 9600 mobility radeon wins hands down!!!

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.html?i=1866

Pity i cant find anybody selling it.