TruXter Tech News

Image straight from Rockstar’s website for Grand Theft Auto.

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=pc

Now all of the “can you play it”  gamer benchmark sites, can use their cookie gathering techniques of “benchmarking”   and do an update already.

Uses way less machine than first stated.

So in short yes we will probably all be able to play this game.

But if you are not certain and ready to buy it. test your machine out.

Futuremark made this one  ONLINE BENCHMARK

This one really tries well, but needs an update here’s the link

You can however check a messload of other games.. no telling if it’s correctly testing though.

Grand Theft Auto iv here we come.

You can benchmark with a fast easy tool from pcpitstop

Here is my pcpitstop benchmark score

Minimum System Requirements
Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
1.8GHz Intel Core2Duo or 2.4GHz AMD Athlon X2 64
1.5 GB of RAM
16 GB free hard drive space
256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

Recommended System Requirements
Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Quad or 2.1GHz AMD Phenom X3
2 GB of RAM (Windows XP) or 2.5 GB of RAM (Windows Vista)
18 GB Free Hard Drive Space
512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870

looks like I am above low end, almost at high end, except I am on a dual core duo. not a dual core quad.

Although my processor is a higher rating than the quad core, it is still a dual duo.

See I use pc pistop because it is easy small and fast. not a huge detailed benchmarker for my computer I know, but it also isn’t very taxing on my machine. Some benchmark programs can be to much for your pc and break it by over stressing your components. Pcpistop is a light weight low stress test . it’s over in like 2 minutes. I make the score, I look at it, I tweak my machine I benchmark again and see if I got any faster. It’s great, free and easy…

So if you want to see if you are capable of playing the game, bench your machine and post your link to your score.

Ok if you do not want to read all this, let me sum it up for you. Cool your computer. Cooling your computer is greatest strongest method of overclocking you will ever do. Now for the non A.D.D. Readers in here.

Ideal range is 80-95 °F. This will be the optimal temperature region. For a short while there, it was common for a processor to boot at 150 °F. That to me that is a scary temperature. But that does seem to be a peice of the past now.

<taken from everest>

Temperatures
Motherboard   29 °C (84 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1   12 °C (54 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2   15 °C (59 °F)
MCP   47 °C (117 °F)
Aux   11 °C (52 °F)
GPU Diode   38 °C (100 °F)
HDT722516DLAT80    31 °C  (88 °F)
MAXTOR 6L080L4    23 °C  (73 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU    3013 RPM
Chassis    4116 RPM

The first thing you do to drop your temperature, clear passage from front. Get some zip ties and find a way to tie everything back without creasing anything. The flat cables (if you have them) Known as ribbon cables, do not fold or squish or crease them, the wires inside are pretty fragile.

Find all heatsinks remove the fans and clean out the dust from the heatsinks. Do the same with the fans.

Use canned air when you can, some times a toothpick  with a mashed end. what I mean by that is have one end kind of smooshed and frayed to be like a paint brush. you will need the pointy end and the brushy end to get into the tight spots. yes it is important to get in all grooves even the tiny spots.  that junk builds up fast if it has some already there to stick to.

air flow needs to be from one end to the other. not some out the back some in the back som in the front some out the side. You would have crazy crap and get nothing accomplished. you have to think about it like water.  water/air flow best when there is as little disruption as can be. So one fluid direction is best.

Also you do not want to disrupt the air flowing through the cpu’s heatsink. This one is most important, second most important is the Video Card. If you know how to replace heatpaste, I suggest you knock that out now also.

The sorriest myth is the video card memory heatsinks. If they are stuck on by two sided tape, peal them off and chunk them aside, they are useless. You want as  smooth of a metal to metal contact. Foam in between is just retarded and a really sorry joke they pulled on you. Faom tape glue is not a good heat inductive material… sorry.   but teh tech world has proven that copper is best. The heat paste people use is to creat a vacuum seal between the metals. Amazing how it all works.. just trust me foam tape is not going to cool anything.

This so far is teh best way hardware wise to make your computer feel like brand new if not slightly better.

If you have no idea what I Mean. Read This.
As a tech guy who works for a company with the word “Tech” In it’s name. As a tech guy who owns two websites with the word ” Tech” in their name. I have to point out an issue I noted when watching the commercial.

There is an issue they do not point out. I can directly point out which of the people they showed in the interview where not techy people. And I can point out the ones they picked because they looked like the stereo typical “computer geek looking” people. Fat guy, Oriental, middle eastern,skinny white guy with glasses.

First off, No tech knowledgeable person could for one minute sit in front of a computer with an unexplored operating system, without diving head first into exploration. No knowledgeable techy person would ever  accept an operating system as “fast” form watching someone else use it, or watching a video of someone else use the operating system.

Typically there is a blank look in someone’s face when they are bsing you into believing they know  more about computer than they really do. They also keep their hands near their face or wrench them with an anxiety of “please let me leave, I just signed up for a random survey  and figured I could bs my way through it, I had no idea it was about computers. Please just pay me and get this over with so I can leave.” .

Some of the people in the video, they just show a briefing of them, but no show of reaction, either those people are  just people who looked like nerds so they used them, or, those nerdy people really where nerdy and  ended up  ragging the operating system, so they didn’t show much of them.

It is clear the crowd was selected.

I myself have the operating system on the computer I am using. I really do like and enjoy allot of the features, But I also turned off a mess-load of useless resource hogging items off  Meet Black Viper.

I have followed black Viper’s instructions, for many of operating systems.

I hope you see what I noticed and raise a stink saying ” Hey I am observant, not an idiot” .

I yanked out the old single core  mother board and processor

with Amd754 64bit 3400 mb cpu

and the nvidia 7600 gs 512 mb ram

and two gig pc 3200 ddr  ram

this computer was maxed out, the processor size was the max, the ram was the two gig max and the video card, well they don’t put out much for an agp  slot, for less than about 300 bucks, and still make it worth having.

to install

Athlon  5600+ dual 64bit am2 (2900mghz)

2 gigs pc 6400 ddr2 corsair mem

EVGA nvidia 9500 gt with 512 ddr2

Crazy thing is, the memory will not max out till it gets seated with 16 gigs.  Untill they sell  8 gig mem cards for cheap, and microslop allows you to install that much ( I believe 64 vista allows a large number , unsure what that is.) I will be fine with two gigs.

I of course had an issue installing xp. I kept seeing a lock up while trying to install Vista. So I tried the un-thinkable. I installed Xp 64 bit. Crazy, it fired right up and installed everything smoothly. I whent to all manufacture’s websites and bam…. the drivers  ready and available.

I decided to go onthe regular benchmarking I do.

I started with gtaiii . The game that always lags when ou go through the underpasses, when branches pass over the car, or china town where the banners flap as you pass through. not one hitch,hiccup,fsb burp.

Windows xp 64, the operating system that was such a problem to everyone, now is the best I have ever seen. I can not believe what is going on,.

Next I jumped on vice city, walked out of the safe house jumped in a banshee and headed with teh shoreline to my right. I made it to the malibu club and about a block later… wait … wtf.. what did I see?.. I turned around.. right in front of the parking lot behind the club is a sign. !!! a sign!!! I get out of the banshee to read the sign and it says “no standing, no parking,m2″ a bunch of other stuff and something that looked like the back of a bus.

Why have I never seen this before?… Well while I was standing there.  people started walking up .. and they just stood there. Like they where waiting for a bus..  ok.. so the new card, ddr2  and the 64 bit combo just turned something on I have never seen before..   WHAT ?

So I drive around and test my typical lag areas. all was smooth.

I am about to jump into vice city and see what goes on there.

I like my machine now.

http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/08/15/gta-iv-pc-to-be-shown-to-press-at-games-convention/

Sorry but  the writer on that site, lol. But as it says

We the regular public will not be at this gaming convention, it’s a

special invite only . As we know rockstar, they will probably be shooting us some screenies within a day or so of that convention…. wait, wouldn’t you just be best off  calling that a gaming meeting?

you can’t call a sepecial invite closed doors  gathering, a convention, but more like a meeting.

Let’s see if it turns out that EA shows up.

There are a few things to First get to know when you are wanting to upgrade your computer. First one is simple. Figure out if the computer is a manufactured or a home built d.i.y. (do it yourself) computer. If it’s a manufactured computer just locate the production number and go to the manufacture’s website and see what upgrades you can get. In many cases it is best to use the parts they offer, unless you know what you are doing. If you do not but want to go the least expensive route, get a techy friend to help you. In most cases it is all about locating the part numbers, such as mother board numbers to find out what type of ram and or video card. I am pretty sure a good Google search will lead you to a safe forum full of people with the same issue, or willing to help you.

If it’s a diy computer, you might want to follow the last two suggestions I made in the earlier paragraph. Locate motherboard part number. Locate motherboard part number here. Locate the video card part number and locate the memory part number. Do the same with the hard drive. I would start with just putting the motherboard’s part number in  Google and let Google do the work for you. You should be able to find a large list of helpful links. Unless the model numbers consist of three  of the letter X. In that case you will not find anything helpful. In 95% of model number searches you will find specifications, unless your part is really out dated. Five or more years old, might be an issue. With something that old, you would benefit more to just shop online for a low cost computer.

If you are wanting to be really up to date and want to do it yourself, I have to say, buy a barebone computer. stick around 199-299 dollars. locate a really recent dated video card that is compatible with your new machine, most decent video cards  on pci-express X16 run anywhere from 50-500 dollars. Don’t be ashamed to buy the $50 one. It will only be slightly less superior to the $500 video card, and they both will be out dated at the same time.

hand full of words to remember when searching

DDR2

Pci-Express

Dual core or Quad core  if you really want to up to date with the very most recent.

500 watt power suply.

Dual layer dvd

multi card reader.

A machine like that should run you from $450 - $5000.  Shop smart on that. Remember there really is a small difference, Don’t listen to the kids that scream about the best. Really the decision is up to you and your needs and wants.  Overkill is and always will be overkill and useless. But an undershot is money wasted.

If you are looking for a monitor to upgrade Here are more phrases.

Refresh rate (lower is better)

Lcd

Hdmi

Wide screen.

Fair range is $12 an inch. But you can pay more if you must. But if you can beat $12 an inch then you are in the good, as long as the refresh rate isn’t stupidly bad.

Good luck with this, if you have any questions, bring it on. I would love to try and help.

If you have ever  clicked in to see a website and noticed that by you launch/start button you notice your browser says that you are waiting for  some program to start up from google. If you have ever said ” Hmmm should I be scared?”

If you are looking for a simple answer,

It’s a program you link with code on your website. The code in your  website sends information to google. Th information gathered is really thorough.  Types of data gathered are about the people surfing your website, such as point of origin, screen resolution, operating system, Exact search query, time on site, exit location.

For me some of this information is pretty useful. It tells me what size pictures I can put on my site to please the common public, what browser and operating system is my target to please. What content people where looking for and if I have exactly what they want or should I cover that content also or should I give a link to someone who does.

Google’s Version of the story

Not to be super conspiracy filled, but.

Um, that’s to much info about me. I am not comfortable with that much data. I really wouldn’t want the guy’s on the adopt a pet, website seeing that I whent straight to their site from an athlete’s foot site, and when I left I whent to a site about people who liked to eat with their feet.

Why is it that the google urchin gathers personal info about  us, kinda adware info. I mean really isn’t it for advertisement purposes….. why doesn’t my spybot ,asquared and addaware find it?  it is a js file so it does have beef.

Other than the issue with my personal self not liking the monitoring, I love being able to  tweak my site with the info I gather.

Talk about it here

New York, NY – August 6, 2008 – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18th and 21st in North America and Europe, respectively.

“We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.”

Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, the latest installment in the enormously successful Grand Theft Auto series features a painstakingly detailed and life-like city for players to explore; a rich, immersive narrative experience; an original soundtrack highlighting the cultural eclecticism of Liberty City; and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.

For more information please visit: http://www.rockstargames.com/IV
http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=326627
http://www.gta4.net/news/4119/gta-iv-announced-on-pc/
http://www.gta4.net/news/index.php

Quoted from Jallar’s quote at gtaforums.com