im going to sound like a retard but help!

[sackynut]

okaay, i have been thinking. and stuff, and looking at how much money I have. and I think i might return that barebones I bought, not sure. here is how its looking. (btw i would get full money back so it dont matter too much)

scenario 1: i keep the barebones. currently i have my tower (in sig), a laptop with a 3.0p4 with HT, 512ram, and a mobility 9600. with a NON WORKING cd drive which is gonna cost 80$ to fix. plus my barebones. I could keep it all...
have my nice computer, my okay laptop, and each time I get money continue with the barenones until its complete. im think 700$ total in the end. right now i only have 50$.
remember I bought it because its for LAN parties, my laptop is mediocore and i dont bring my desktop. this would be for friends houses and stuff like that. which (trust me) is huge for me. dont ask, it is I do a lot of LANing.


scenario 2. return the barebones for 280$, plus my 50$ = 330$. buy more ram for my laptop + fix the cd drive. and do some stuff with my tower to make it a little better. have some cash left over. and one day in the future either A. start the barebones again or B. get a new laptop.

scenario 3. same as #1, except get a dual core for my tower and put the 3200+ in the barebones. which would mean i need two new copies of windows because I would need to flash my tower's bios and it doesnt like my current install long story, anways...


I want to play FEAR on a computer other than my tower basically. I dont know if my9600 can handle it above Low. but yeah... any input?

[xSomeGuyx]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

my mate has a 9550 and he plays fear ok, not great though, not great at all.

[sackynut]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

well,its a matter of FEAR in a couple aspects:

1. quality; i want AT LEAST medium settings. I know if I did my shuttle I would MAKE SURE it was at least medium or high capable for FEAR. I do not know what my laptop would be.
2. framrates.

[TokenBrit]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

Why not just put all your desktop components into a SFF case?
That laptop will never play FEAR at medium its a dead loss, don't sink any money into it.

[sackynut]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

Why not just put all your desktop components into a SFF case?

holy crap! i never... thought of that. hmm okay thats scenario 4.

scenario 4. take all my parts from my tower and jjust stick them in a small case such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144161

[megawhompertoo]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

holy crap! i never... thought of that. hmm okay thats scenario 4.

scenario 4. take all my parts from my tower and jjust stick them in a small case such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144161

you may need a new mATX board. do you have one already? if not, you could buy one and ebay your ATX, maybe recoup about 60-75% of the cost, depending.

also, beware of the flexibility you lose with an sff pc as your main comp. temps can be a headache (and a LOUD ear-ache), cabling is critical, there's card height to consider, you MAY need a short cd/dvd drive, and the psu can have...issues, but the one you're looking at accepts a standard one, so that's good.

having said that, packing a lot of power into a portable pc is not only rewarding, it's also very practical.

[TokenBrit]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

It has occured to me that you probably wont find an SLI matx motherboard. I can't remember seeing one on my travels, although im fairly sure Shuttle make an SLI barebones. I dare say its ungodly expensive though.
Even if you can't find one I would still for for a SFF, move those 6800s on Ebay and you can probably make enough coin to grab a 7900gt or some such.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

It has occured to me that you probably wont find an SLI matx motherboard. I can't remember seeing one on my travels, although im fairly sure Shuttle make an SLI barebones. I dare say its ungodly expensive though.
Even if you can't find one I would still for for a SFF, move those 6800s on Ebay and you can probably make enough coin to grab a 7900gt or some such.

This person speaketh the truth.

Also, 2x6800 would be very hard to keep chilly in a cramped weenie case.

[sackynut]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

my mobo can fit into mATX. trust me.

[Alm()nd J()y]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

holy crap! i never... thought of that. hmm okay thats scenario 4.

scenario 4. take all my parts from my tower and jjust stick them in a small case such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144161

That's what I would get for a shuttle :). You're gonna have to see if you can squeeze a normal ATX PSU in there though, because MATX PSU's only go to like 350 WATTS .

I say this case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129145

[sackynut]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

well =( i traded back the shuttle for 300$$$$ baby! it was missing a bag that it came in, and I didnt wanna feel like I was cheating them out of a deal so I made sure I mentioned that the bag was missing (incase they wouldnt let me trade it back because of that) and he didnt care THANK GOD!

I spent some of it on more ram for my laptop.
and the rest + some other money i have is PROBABLY going to a dual core processer or a new PSU, ORRRR saving for vista!

thanks for all the help.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

hey sacky...you a student?

if so, ALOT of universities have licensing agreements with microsoft. i got my copy of XP pro and Office 2003 for $30/ea because my university buys group rate licenses.

just something to check on, instead of dropping hundreds of bucks on OS/office software.

gosh bless open source. in 5-10 years, we won't be paying for operating systems and basic office junk.

good luck anyhow...

[sackynut]

Re: im going to sound like a retard but help!

my school has pro on every computer and stuff so I could look into that thanks.