The Great CPU upgrade Caper

[aidakeeley]

Please, Nbohr, get back to your thread. I was enjoying it.

 

I have made my point, you, to your credit, got it.

 

...

 

I was getting your humor in post #1; some excellent lines.

 

It sounds like a bit of fun and not so critically serious as some are taking it... But I do wonder seriously if you haven't tried introducing her to TDM. Or maybe some other really good (cerebral) game? It's not like we're a bunch of perverted weirdos; these games really are fun and satisfying. There's a good chance she'll be "taken in".

[nbohr1more]

Yeah I will get back into line with the topic...

 

I have tried to gently introduce her to gaming... She's now addicted to a Tetris clone on her cellphone... but these baby-steps are a glacial process.

 

She has also, expressly forbid that my son play any on-TV or on-PC video-games until he's 12 (currently 5)!

 

(But he is extremely interested in what daddy is up to on his Gameboy Advance whenever he catches me... and he loves the Zelda remake on my cellphone cause Zelda has a sword!)

[ungoliant]

oops... the next post was supposed to be this post edited, and somehow i fouled that up. I blame the beer.

Edited May 28, 2010 by ungoliant

[ungoliant]

Yeah I will get back into line with the topic...

 

I have tried to gently introduce her to gaming... She's now addicted to a Tetris clone on her cellphone... but these baby-steps are a glacial process.

 

She has also, expressly forbid that my son play any on-TV or on-PC video-games until he's 12 (currently 5)!

 

(But he is extremely interested in what daddy is up to on his Gameboy Advance whenever he catches me... and he loves the Zelda remake on my cellphone cause Zelda has a sword!)

 

don't even bother with this process. My ex-girlfriend had the same views on videogaming as your wife, and yet somehow she paid money every month on her cellphone for weird versions of mahjong, solitaire and tetris on her cellphone. I decided to rectify this situation by buying her a Nintendo DS for her birthday, to get her to stop with the silly worthless cellphone games, and in an effort to indoctrinate her to real gaming. It didn't work. I tried further with no success, and then eventually she left me for a fat balding man with no job and 3 children because I didn't pay enough attention to her, and we didn't have enough in common. ouch.

 

this is especially harsh because i'm not even that bad looking a guy. I mean shit, I've dated a Suicide Girl before, and the bitch wants to insult me like that. ARGH. I fucking hate women. Not that I really express my own merit based on the hotness of ex-girlfriends, but that one REALLY hurt.

Edited May 28, 2010 by ungoliant

[7upMan]

The breakthrough with my gf was System Shock 2, I think. We didn't have a TV at that time (we do have one now, but we almost never watch it except for the Maya the Bee or Heidi cartoons), so this was our form of entertainment - and gosh was it horrifying when deep in the middle of the night, the outside completely dark and quiet, The Manyhood started speaking: "We are searching, we are searching!"

 

Next step was then Dungeon Keeper 2, a game we still love to this day. It was there when the ground was laid for games like The Sims (that's exactly what you're looking for your wife, Niels!) and the Anno series. So, I do agree with ungoliant and aidakeeley that every non-gamer needs the right incentive to be hooked. And you really should try The Sims (or better: Sims 2, because now with Sims 3 out it should come cheaper). 

 

There is one downside, however: if you do manage to get her hooked, you might never again have any playtime on your computer. Addicts can be like that. 

 

 

[SneaksieDave]

She has also, expressly forbid that my son play any on-TV or on-PC video-games until he's 12 (currently 5)!

Begging for money or permission? Allowances? Now throw in expressly forbidding? Excuse me? That last one sounds characteristically like a hand-me-down from her Stalinesque parents. Check your baggage at the door ma'am; no need to take it out on husband and kids! Better grab that sack and work on establishing equality pronto.

 

Man. It gets harder and harder to joke about this as it is laid out. Well I guess in a positive way, it sounds to me like she's a dominant type, you're a submissive type, and you both like it about each other. So I guess you're perfect together. :wub:

[nbohr1more]

I'm programming my son for teenage rebellion... revenge is a dish best served cold...

[ungoliant]

not even gonna touch that one

[nbohr1more]

...ah, it's not all gloom and doom... she's a good mother and m'boy has fun with her activities and antics... I'm just pegged as a creep for liking "violent and unproductive" games...

 

...as long as gaming doesn't enter the conversation you'd probably think you'd stepped into 50's sitcom at my home...

[SneaksieDave]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCv6b96OK0

[aidakeeley]

I'm just pegged as a creep for liking "violent and unproductive" games...

 

See, this is inconsistent with TDM.

 

Have her play "Living Expenses" by Sonouke.

 

Fer instance.

[stumpy]

sell her for a male camel its worth 25,000 dollars.

[nbohr1more]

[nbohr1more]

Another "mana-from-heaven" event has occurred... My wife's step-sister, who took pity on me because I didn't get to go to Canada with them (her, her daughter and my family...), gave me $50 on the sly... Plus I have a whole day and a half of unfettered game time... Now I just have to have the will-power to save the money rather than enjoy foods and drinks I'm restricted from eating due to my Acid-Reflux...

 

BBQ, Coffee, Chocolate... (must fight, and save)

[Dark Phoenix]

I have to ask the OP.. Great story btw.. Why would the wife take Your money, that You worked for?

 

I'm between jobs a lot.. I own a condo and I do odd jobs for the tenants, many of them renters but some owners too in this complex. I have 16 years in AC and Heating (retired from that since Hurricane Katrina) so I do lot of that. I don't have a lot of expenses, no kids and am not ambitious. hehehe I live comfortably with what I make and have lots of time to play games since I don't have to punch a 9 to 5.. that's the point of all this.. I'm 42 and have played video games since the early 1990's. It's in my blood.. It's what I do.

 

My wife sits here when she's off and plays Second Life on the PC. I sit here and play anything I want. I don't spend a lot on games.. I buy some here and there and I always pick the ones that have mods, fan missions and expansion packs. I also download lots of legal games from the net.- saves money this way.

 

Haven't played Ghostbusters yet, and I would love to but probably won't cus it's 3rd person.. I am more of a 1st person gamer. ( until someone makes a 1st person mod for it which isn't likely cus Arati Sucks for releasing modding tools)

 

Lastly.. I just bought a laptop from Wal-Mart for $350.00 , 400 with tax. It only has an ATI 4200 on board graphics chip with 128 MB of ddr2 ram shared with system ram up to 1 gig. The laptop came with 2 gigs and I spent 50 bucks for another 2 gig stick for a total of 4 gigs. It playes Boarderlands, Oblivion, Half Life 2, Prey, Crysis, Doom 3 and TDM, Stalker SOC, and others all on medium settings. It only has a single core Simpron processor.

 

My desktop is second hand with a P4 3.00 ghz with hyperthreading. It plays everything I throw at it very well. I suggest you save up for about 6 months if possible and look into the upgrades then.. perhaps get a cheap but good laptop like I did..

 

I did find the forest level in NHAT a tiny bit harsh but everything was fine once I got past the trees.

 

Also, you may want to run an app like IOBit Gamebooster.. it closes all un needed applications for you free up cpu and ram for playing a game. I also manually disable all services that I don't want to run at startup, or that are set to automatic or manual that I don't want running. You have to do a good internet search for the processes to see if you need them or not.

[nbohr1more]

Yes, I manually close Windows services...

 

If I'm feeling ambitious:

 

1) I disable my NIC in Device Manager

2) Kill all Tray Apps (including Avast AV)

3) Stop as many Services that aren't needed for Games as possible...

4) Open Task Manager and find the straggler Processes and kill

5) Kill Windows Explorer (explorer.exe)

6) Launch Game

 

Yeah, I would LOVE a First Person Mod for Ghostbusters...

 

I really hope that this L4D Mod doesn't die:

 

Ghostbusters Multiplayer

 

For your P4 3.0ghz system, is that AGP or PCIE?

 

Also, what drivers and GPU are you using?

[Trickster]

I have decided to chronicle my foolish attempts to get a P4 3.4Ghz (Northwood) CPU without my wife closing in on my activities.

 

I can feel your pain, was in similiar position. But instead my wife closing on my activities, i was censoring my upgrade attempts by myself, i was feeling foolish to put money in things that are not really important, like powerful GPU, Cpu and so... i just found other sources of money needed and upgraded slowly , one thing at a time... you know, when yours income is the only one, wife´s at home with two kids, you simply can´t use your poor income to buy "unimportant things", you need money for diapers and such... as i say, self-censoring. But she never realizes i have an alternative money source, never realizes the hardware has changed, so she have not to worry about a thing, there´s money for diapers and stuff, everyones happy and so:blush:

Yes, i did used my parents address when ordering HW from net, just as you. I have used old pc case to hide new components, too.

It´s cheating, i know. But with good intent.

 

But i´m going to point you at different thing. I always say "you can play great games on any PC, no matter how crappy it is"

i mean, there´s great games for any PC, just find those suitable. I know you are willing to play specific games, but while you trying to get things together, use your setup to enjoy games you already can. You can for example play original Ghost Recon, which is great tactical shooter. Tactical, it means you trying to avoid being spotted, very thiefish. But instead blackjack, you re using headshots. Really great game, it´s more stealth than latest Splinter Cell.

And, there´s The Nameless Mod. Not hardware hog by any means, DX uses Unreal 1.5 engine.

While enjoying great games, you will not feel like struggling with inadequate hardware. And, finally, after you get all your upgrades, you may find that games don´t attract you anymore. Just as i did.

 

And, back then when i was playing games, my wife find it "unproductive" time killing, but then we got net connection, she discovered Facebook, and voila... PC is her best friend now. Facebook´s unproductive, you know. No complains now.

Edited June 12, 2010 by Trickster

[nbohr1more]

Sure, settling with what I have is an option...

 

 

In fact Rage3d and Beyond3d denizens already have me marked as a dinosaur because I am fixated on Doom 3 which is considered to be a relic compared to UE3 or Crytek, so in this regard I've already "settled".

 

Other than these few missions, TDM is smooth as glass for me...

 

But when something is so tantalizingly close to playable, it's hard not to want to see what a few hundred Mhz will do...

 

Of course, with my luck, it will turn out to be an AGP bus limitation, a RAM speed limitation, ATI ignoring AGP driver bugs, or a junky firmware for the PCI-E to AGP adapter (so many factors)...

 

Anyway, I've managed to stockpile 50 bucks so I'm even closer... ever so close... just need... a few... more bills... or... a... good... online deal... errgh... ARGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nbohr1more]

Not sure where to say this but I feel it's overdue:

 

In spite of my many performance gripes, Mortem Desino's visportal work in NHAT 3/3 is a miracle!

 

Anyone who doubts this needs only to invoke the r_usePortals cvar and toggle between 1 and 0...

 

Thanks for your work Mortem!

 

(I will continue to curse my at my elderly CPU. No love for Intel... But I am now more sure than ever that this is indeed a CPU performance issue...)

[nbohr1more]

...now that I've finally beat Super Ghouls and Ghost for my GBA , I am contemplating selling this off to close the gap... :ph34r:

 

(hopefully the Gamestop at the mall near my workplace wont try to rip me off too badly... )

 

The mission continues...

[ungoliant]

...now that I've finally beat Super Ghouls and Ghost for my GBA , I am contemplating selling this off to close the gap... :ph34r:

 

(hopefully the Gamestop at the mall near my workplace wont try to rip me off too badly... )

 

The mission continues...

 

I hope those aren't difficulty modes for the ghostbusters game you've been pining over... for GBA?

[nbohr1more]

Nah, I just want smoother play-through in general... (hopefully for NHAT as well)...

 

GBA = Game Boy Advanced

[Sotha]

I have decided to chronicle my foolish attempts to get a P4 3.4Ghz (Northwood) CPU without my wife closing in on my activities.

-Hm. Surely this is a joke? Please tell me it is a joke! There exists no such people as described in this thread.

I mean I think my life is difficult at times, but as I read the words written in this thread I suddenly come to realize that actually I am quite well off. I simply go to the store and buy new hardware when I need to do so. When I do so, my wife gets the old gear to use. Everyone wins.

 

My wife and I have a sort of arbitrary-expense-system where each pays bills so that in the end the net result is more or less even. This occurs without any kind of serious bookkeeping and I do not care about the details. I'm the kind of guy to whom the most important thing is that things run smoothly and little effort so that I can focus on the aspects of life I enjoy. As long I have the money for the basics and my relatively inexpensive hobbies and -of course- the hardware upgrade once per a few years, I'm happy.

 

But then again when compared to mine, your life sounds much more exiting with all the scheming and plotting. You should try playing Paranoia if you're into tabletop RPG's.

 

But, no.. I have so little tolerance of petty inconvenience from other peoples part so I suppose I would choose divorce in your situation.

 

Anyways, I wish you luck in your activities. I hope you and your wife won't end up killing each other or something.

[nbohr1more]

For my son's sake I hope so too ... (but if she starts pulling this crap on him as a teen... )...

 

Thanks for the kind words...

 

I don't know if I really deserve so much sympathy, I've got a relatively easy life except for the gaming portion of it...

[nbohr1more]

Ha HA! A CPU sale! I am over the hump! I will sneak out after work and refill my pre-paid debit card. We are almost home. I can taste those extra 400mhz!