TruXter Tech News

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.

Today I was Clicking around in the G4 forums. You know , Looking for game news.

Well I stumbled upon a thread that caught my eye . They guy seems to have built a

Complete custom pc case with the idea of it looking like a Jewel Box.  Look at the way he navigates the air through that thing. and the heatsinks he has all over everything. I mean the video card has the same heatsink as the processor. Amazing.

He has this thing designed to a T. Except two things. The second platform has no front support, and the build just looks kind of retro ugly. But the way it looks does not mean squat. I am 100% for the cooling it has.

here is the complete project

I have to say.

very good job man.

We all want to know ” Will Grand Theft Auto IV come to the computer?”

Let’s look at the odds by looking at the past games that have come out.

Grand Theft Auto and GTA2 came out on PC before they came out on console. GTAIII changed the pattern with it’s release for the Sony Playstation. Grand Theft Auto 3 and the Rockstar and take two families allowed the console gamers to get first crack at the world of Liberty City. The game makers just dropped them into a world of free roam with nothing but their thumbs mashing the controls, doing things that people used to do with all ten fingers. Right away, issues became noticed. The problems where stuff like the A.I. would lose control or just get stuck on simple obstacles they could have just walked around. Users also noticed what is called “pop-ins.” A ‘pop-in’ is when you are moving through this world, then suddenly a bush or a bridge just appears from nowhere, “bam, now it’s just right there” and it was not there a second ago. So Rockstar games amazed everyone with the announcement of GTAIII for the PC. The PC version had a better draw distance and I.A. was tweaked. The question is, did they make a PC version just to shut people up and make more sells?

Grand Theft Auto Vice city came out for the PS2 before it came out for the computer game players. There wasn’t any announcement of a PC version until two months before it’s release. Again, the game was tweaked and looked better on the PC. In my opinion, Vice City was a duller game than GTAIII since Rockstar stripped so much out of the GTAIII engine that it removed most of the ambiance. The items removed where all atmosphere and did bog down consoles and video cards. Nowadays, computers and consoles are finally strong enough to handle that much stress. Again, I ask “Did they make the PC version just to sell more of the same game, even to repeated customers?”

San Andreas, they never even told us it would come out for the computer. While working on San Andreas to be released for the computer (nearly a year after the console version), Rockstar games was also working on Liberty City Stories.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories where first announced to be created exclusively for a portable gaming console called “playstation portable,” aka PSP. Six months after both were released, news was announced both would be released for the Playstation2. Neither one have yet to be released for the PC.

So far, there is no announcement of a Grand Theft Auto IV coming out for the personal computer. This next game is now set back to be released on April 29th of this year. If things would have been on schedule (agreements with console makers, etc.), the once again revisit to Liberty City would have been on time, and we would have already heard the news about a computer version. Since the console version was delayed, could it be that the PC version’s news was also delayed, or pushed to be released one year from the original release date of the console version?

Since we have not received a PC version of Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, nor any news of GTAIV on anything but Xbox360 and Playstation3, I can only expect that Rockstar games would much rather put the “Stories” games and San Andreas out for the Wii console. Long before we will ever see a PC version of any, especially the newest.

TruXter

Owner and writer of :

iworkwithtech.com  and iworkwithpeople.com 

Well, so much for fun.

My cat slapped my coffee onto my computer and the fan splattered coffee all over my video card.

512 mb ram 7600 gt wasted.

Now I am running on a $40 6200 I had laying around since the last upgrade in the family.

Oh yeah my head was in the way because I was plugging in a usb chord at the time  now I smell like coffee.

Must go shower

We are building him a computer right now.

Well he is , I am just telling him how to do it easier. He spent his Christmas and birthday money  on this build.

We had to go to fry’s and to wal~mart . Wal~mart for the monitor because he had like $200 in Wal~mart gift cards.

He got dual 2.2 x2 Pentium processor , two gigs of of kingston pc2-5300 memory , nvidia 8500 gt pci-e with 512 memory.

He is right now in the middle of snapping the motherbaord in and cussing up a storm .. lol  that’s my midget!!!!

Should go good with the tower I bought him for Christmas  with the 500wt power supply and 3 ( I think it was 3) case fans. with the dvd/cdrw combo .

Right now the only thing on this machine that is old, is the 80 Maxtor hard drive.

Not bad for a 14 year old kid, but guess who his daddy is? :-P