BTGBullseye

Sleeping Dogs can be a hog, but it doesn't use GPU hardware accelerated physics, so you don't have a reason to shell out for an Nvidia card unless you plan on getting some other games that support Nvidia's PhysX acceleration. I personally love PhysX, it seems to get closer to real physics than Havok or any other physics engine I've tried. (and I have quite a few games that use it, including Borderlands 2)

No, just need a legit installation of Win 7. (it's a code for the 'Anytime Upgrade' system that's built into the Windows 7 update system) All the 'upgrade' does is unlock a few features, (it's possible to do so without 'upgrading') enable some things that help with stability, (just a few hundred settings changes in the registry) change all the labels to say "Ultimate", (really this is the part that costs the extra $80 when you purchase it normally) and allow you to install multiple UI language packs that can be switched to and from on the fly. (very few people use this capability) Basically the code just takes about 6 days worth of messing with your system out of the equation. (and cuts it down to 15 minutes of 'updating')

Last I saw AMD had Sleeping Dogs or a CPU Magazine subscription if you go for a lower end card, whereas Nvidia is the magazine, Borderlands 2, or Primal Carnage. (as of now, on Newegg) I am in agreement for the GFX card choices, though I must mention that right now the only ones that will offload the physics computations off the CPU are the Nvidia cards. (AMD still hasn't gotten it integrated into their stuff, despite the fact that they could quite easily) So if your CPU is getting maxed out in games that have physics, you might want to try getting an Nvidia card.

Ah, ok... That makes sense. Do you want a code that will upgrade your version to Ultimate? I can get one for you... Perfectly legit too.

Companies have been trying for the past decade or so to make it so that despite you having purchased a product, you still can't ever own it. Car companies started the trend with leasing to allow more freedom with your vehicle purchasing, and other companies are doing it now to try and limit your freedom.

Have you checked to see if you can get a replacement controller board for the drive? I've seen them for as little as $5 including S&H for non-SSD drives...

To each their own... I would rather pay the same for 2 680s as I would a single 690, and get better performance even if I have to do a little work to get them to SLI properly. 670s are about 3/4 the performance of a 680, and can be OCed to beat the non-OCed 680s, so I'd personally recommend the 670 for a single card solution.

From a lot of benchmarks I've seen, a triple GTX 680 setup can outperform a dual GTX 690 system for about 3/4 the price. Yes, I know, less CUDA cores, but still... From what I hear it's the difference between running an 8x/8x/8x/8x quad-SLI and a 16x/16x/16x tri-SLI. (it only outperforms if you can run all cards at 16x speeds) A dual GTX 680 will max out any game currently on the market, and only drops below 60 FPS if you're running a triple monitor setup with the biggest performance hogs there are. Triple 680 will bring it back up to 60 FPS on a triple monitor system. (or so the benchmarks I've seen seem to say)/

I'm still just an absolute beginner, but I can do amazing things with DOS, so it should be fairly easy to move over... (been trying to find decent learning systems that don't force me to listen to the selling points for making businesses want to run Linux, (or the overly technical descriptions of what an operating system is) and that usually takes up a dozen lessons or more)

Yeah, it's better for certain tasks mainly because of the split L2 cache... If Intel had the split cache it would probly do better than the 8350. (but it doesn't, so no point in the comment) If I get enough money to build a system, I'll wait till next-gen processors and GPUs are out, just in case they start to change the architectures again. (and because I don't want to pay top dollar for something that might end up 1/2 power of a similarly priced newer chip/card)

You run Ubuntu, I run Fedora... I've actually never tried Ubuntu.

And that all signs point to them being unable to support human life without significant terraforming.

Same. It would've been an awesome game if they had just continued where Generals left off, added a bunch of units, and updated the GFX.

Far Cry 3. Best of the series IMO. I get the same framerates on FC3 as I do on FC2, only with better looking GFX. (I'm going to manually disable SSAO though to get some better performance)

8/10 So, you're into the commercial Christmas, not real Christmas then... The real Christmas season starts the 25th and ends on the day before Epiphany.

Banned for THAT BEING CONTROVERSIAL?!?!

Hehe...

"Maybe, if you come here and rip my clothes off right this instant..."

44 minutes into 2013. Haven't been here in a year it seems... Oh wait... Anyways, my resolutions: Have more fun, be bored less, destroy the universe a couple times, and build a better mouse trap.

Shit... Now I'm going to have to download Dune... Again... (I own the extended version on VHS already, so don't fret about the downloading being illegal) Thanks for spoilering that.

DESTROY THEM WITH LAZORS!!!!

If it didn't have so much overbright bloom, and therefore decent performance, and some better customization ability for the GFX settings, I would probly agree. All but the bloom issue is the same for Metro 2033...

Just to let you know, I'm a great strategist, so if we are doing anything physical, let me know and I'll figure out the best way to implement...

"Hmmm..."

8/10 You didn't Christmas it up any....