Viewing Thread:
"Shame on you PC Systems"

It's the ever changing law.. PCs grow out of date within at least a month. It's upsetting I know but whats the point.

This is the law that says "Thee who buys a PC will always regret for the system you buy is guaranteed to be cheaper or/and out of date within a few months" Ok. It's not a law yet but it should be. I'd like to call it Rakuga's Law.

I can almost guarantee that your buying of a PC will be pleasurable at first sight but terrible at second. Why? The ever changing market of PCs is more rapid then that of consoles. With consoles at least you only need to wait a year to have to update at least. With PCs its more like every month IF you want to have the latest computer - and this costs money. Why do we need to upgrade so much? So we can play the latest computer games that strive on advances in computer technology. New 3dfx cards, new processors are being churned out one my one guaranteeing that a PC buyer will be disappointed soon.

I bought a Pentium 1 233mhz back 2 years ago. It cost me ONE THOUSAND pounds. It was the newest thing. Look at it now. It would sell for peanuts - 100 pounds at least. That's 1/10 of it's original cost. It's out of date now, and lets face it crap - most games on it will be unplayable. My latest computer (700mhz P3) cost me £433 (no monitor) and I bought it about a month and a half ago. Now I have already bought more RAM and am in the process of getting a 3dfx card which I now realise I desperately need JUST to play some PC games I have only dreamed about. My 56k modems crap and like many others in online computer games I find myself at a disadvantage to the luckier people around the world who keep up to date and can afford the likes of ADSL, ISDN or cable. The key to having a computer is limiting updates. If you can get a really good computer then you might if lucky be able to hold on to it for a year maybe 2 without losing out on playing top games.

The world of computers is unfair lets face it. If you can't afford to update your computer as often as you wish you could I offer you then answers of Rakuga's Law.

1) Never go for the latest computer. It will only be out of date within a few weeks. Go for a smaller processor so you can afford to update. At the moment I'd say get 600-800mhz processor.

2) Buy a console. They are cheaper to afford then a PC

3) Save at all times. A quid a day if possible. Just save don't spend this money. THis money can then be used for new computer parts.

4) Don't rush into buying a computer. Look through the market. If you have a budget of 700 quid your best option is a Maxx PC - quite a lot of stuff for a good price.

5) Don't get unnecessary parts just for the sake of it. IF you won't use all 40gb hard disk space don't get it. If you don't have a high speed internet connection or anything worth copying don't get a CD writer.

The key to buying a computer is expect to be disappointed within time and watch your spending.
Thank you for reading.

Point still stands that you don't -need- the latest machine to play new games. This box is way overspecced, but will last for a long time yet. My friend bought a p2-400 when they were the latest systems around, and has very few problems running games.

lets just say
the computer I bought for 433 pounds I saw the exact same thing for the same price with an extra 266mhz and 64mb ram then I bought it for. FROM THE SAME COMPANY. This is what I mean by disappointment. This was after a month! That to me is cheaper then when I bought it - am I not right.

And sure you can play games with specs of 400-600mhz but these are called MINIMUM specifications. This doesnt ensure the game will play well. It may be slow, not run very smoothly. The games that most get affected by this are multiplayer online games.

Firstly I meant 3d accelerator card but for some reason I said 3dfx
and
you do need to update often for most games if you want to get the BEST out of them! You don't have to but its usually required to be able to play the best games as they were meant to be.

Rakuga wrote:
> PCs grow out of date within at least a
> month.

No they dont... Newer systems come out for them... but beacus you have a 1Gig system and they have released a 2Gig system doest mean your system is out of date...

PCs are created for the business market not the home market... When your number cruntching 500+ users simultaniously using a multiple LAN and as a post in a WAN... you still dont need 2Gig...

If you look at most PC games... the reccomended spec is still about 450-700 MHz or LESS

>Why do we need to
> upgrade so much?

You dont.... what are you talking about?!?!

So we can play the latest computer games that
> strive on advances in computer technology.

No... you dont!?


>I bought a Pentium 1 233mhz back
> 2 years ago. It cost me ONE THOUSAND pounds. I

I bought a P2 450 in 1998... and I paid less than a thousand...

My latest
> computer (700mhz P3) cost me £433 (no monitor) and I bought it
> about a month and a half ago. Now I have already bought more RAM and
> am in the process of getting a 3dfx card which I now

3DFX are out of business... dont buy a 3DFX card!... If your machine came with less than 64MD ram... then what are you doing? ... If it came with 64MB+ you dont need any more RAM to play games...

> The world of computers is unfair lets face it.

No its not...


1) Never go for the
> latest computer.

Terrbile advice... ALWAYS go for the most powerful computer you can afford... always go for spec over software... never buy a mid range computer because it will go out of date sooner!

2) Buy a console. They are
> cheaper to afford then a PC

Unless you want to use the internet, Word Process, Spreadsheet, etc...

The key to buying a computer is expect to
> be disappointed within time and watch your spending.
Thank you for
> reading.

Why buy something you expect to be dissapointed with?

Black & White? Half-Life? Giants? These games are great fun single player too, and the console market still has no equivalent of a LAN party. Negligable pings there, and up to 32 players.

I'd just like to clarify..
The nice thing about computers is the ability to write documents. YOu dont need the best computer ever to do that which is absolutely great. The darker side of PCs is the gaming side.

You said not many people have high speed internet connections.. have you ever played an online game? Every game I play at least 1 person (usually many more) have extremely low pings. Cable and ADSL and ISDN are becoming increasingly popular mainly for the reason people dont want to miss out on the advantage of having a low 'ping'. It's a known fact that with a low ping you are a "LOW PING B**TARD" as people like to say (I apologise for swearing). They have the ability to see you split seconds before you thus killing you first SPOILING online games.

Zeldapro wrote:
> I used to have a P1 but it still works and you can't play any new
> games so now we have a few P3 laptops and one P3 computer, that
> dosen't have any probs!

I have a p1 to but I can play c&c red alert 2 and Im using it now.
My bro has a 1.2ghz amd and it has not crashed in 4 months.

Rakuga wrote:
> It's the ever changing law.. PCs grow out of date within at least a month. It's upsetting I know but whats the point.

I disagree - they are out of date within 18 months, but in a month your computer can still be classified as "new".

>This is the law that says "Thee who buys a PC will always regret for the system you buy is guaranteed to be cheaper or/and out of date within a few months" Ok. It's not a law yet but it should be. I'd like to call it Rakuga's Law.

Well yes, but this is true with just about anything in the way of modern technology. If this wasn't true then the games market would have to stop moving right now.

>I can almost guarantee that your buying of a PC will be pleasurable at first sight but terrible at second. Why?

While PCs might not last for ever, an average PC for, say, £1000, can last you a good 18 months in terms of meeting minimun system requirements on most games, and much more if you are prepared to upgrade your PC. (128 MB costs less than £100 these days)

> The ever changing market of PCs is more rapid then that of consoles.

This means that PC games are generally more up to date technically as well - I prefer just about all PC games to consoles games.

> With consoles at least you only need to wait a year to have to update at least. With PCs its more like every month IF you want to have the latest computer - and this costs money. Why do we need to upgrade so much?

You don't - you DO NOT NEED the latest computer. Buying a computer above 1000Mhz at the moment is really just vanity since it is not econimical in the long run, and current software won't work any better on P4 systems above 1 gig.

>So we can play the latest computer games that strive on advances in computer technology. New 3dfx cards, new processors are being churned out one my one guaranteeing that a PC buyer will be disappointed soon.

There are always new things around, and while games will work better on better systems, you do not need a P4 1700 Mhz with 256MB RAM and 64MB Geforce Ultra 3D card in order to run the latest games at the highest detail levels. Why should you be disappointed - as long as you know that there WILL always be something else.

>I bought a Pentium 1 233mhz back 2 years ago. It cost me ONE THOUSAND pounds. It was the newest thing. Look at it now. It would sell for peanuts - 100 pounds at least. That's 1/10 of it's original cost. It's out of date now, and lets face it - it's poor - most games on it will be unplayable.

You have had 2 years of enjoyment from this system. It is only in the last 6 months that this cannot run some of the latest 3D releases, and all older games will run perfectly on it.

>My latest computer (700mhz P3) cost me £433 (no monitor) and I bought it about a month and a half ago.

That's not too expensive for a PC, and that base system with a few extras will work fine for at least a year.

Now I have already bought more RAM and am in the process of getting a 3dfx card which I now realise I desperately need JUST to play some PC games I have only dreamed about.

RAM and a decent graphics card together can only cost £150 max in order to run the latest games.

>My 56k modem is bad and like many others in online computer games I find myself at a disadvantage to the luckier people around the world who keep up to date and can afford the likes of ADSL, ISDN or cable.

Very few people have high speed internet access. Anyway, compare this to console systems - only the DC and a very few games have online facilities, and this is only at 56K or less.

>The key to having a computer is limiting updates. If you can get a really good computer then you might if lucky be able to hold on to it for a year maybe 2 without losing out on playing top games.

Don't buy the latest computer - what's the point? It is a known fact that consoles are much cheaper, but the PC can do so much more than a consoles

>The world of computers is unfair lets face it. If you can't afford to update your computer as often as you wish you could I offer you then answers of Rakuga's Law.

Now you're giving tips yourself and telling people how to buy a computer - come on , a minute ago you were telling us how bad PCs were!

>1) Never go for the latest computer. It will only be out of date within a few weeks. Go for a smaller processor so you can afford to update. At the moment I'd say get 600-800mhz processor.

True - most people do go for more expensive PCs just so they can say "I've got so and so"

>2) Buy a console. They are cheaper to afford then a PC

But PCs can do so much more than consoles - they can save files, do work, and have infinite other fuctions for all the family - a console can just play games.

>3) Save at all times. A quid a day if possible. Just save don't spend this money. THis money can then be used for new computer parts.

Well, if you don't want to buy anything other than a PC, and you have a limited budget, then this seems to be a sound suggestiong.

>4) Don't rush into buying a computer. Look through the market. If you have a budget of 700 quid your best option is a Maxx PC - quite a lot of stuff for a good price.

Definitely - don't just go into PC world and believe what they tell you

5) Don't get unnecessary parts just for the sake of it. IF you won't use all 40gb hard disk space don't get it. If you don't have a high speed internet connection or anything worth copying don't get a CD writer.

Again, I agree completely. So many computers include scanner, digital camera, CD writer and so on, which most people rarely use. Find another deal that doesn't include them if you don't want them - don't assume that PCs "come with them". They are often just a way of adding lots more to the price for a few cheap extras.

>The key to buying a computer is expect to be disappointed within time and watch your spending.
Thank you for reading.

Not much to say to that, other than I think you are missing the point that many people have a PC as well as a console, and that a PC is also a good tool for education and work.

Then again, I use my PC mainly for gaming, despite the cost, and the games are often quite a bit cheaper than those on consoles.

OK, that's just about it - thank you if you actually bothered to read all of this, and thank you to Rakuga for giving me something to write about.

I hope you don't mean a 3dfx card they wen't bust and were taken over by nvidia. Get a Geforce 2 ultra or a Geforce 3.

My mate (-=lewq[DC]=- where are you?) still runs a 25mhz 386 as a server box, doesn't play games, but runs local/irc/http daemons, runs chat clients, has a text editor and acts as a modem gateway, and copes with it perfectly well.