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[miauw62]

Definitely agree with you, there. Unless you're doing something like cryptography, you don't need a $400 video card.

Or cryptocurrency mining, if you're into useless money :V

My Acer worked quite nicely for several years, but it may have been the exception. It turned into a radiator at the end of it's life, though (damaging the video card in the process, I'm afraid. Not that it really matters anymore)

[Daonitre]

Definitely agree with you, there. Unless you're doing something like cryptography, you don't need a $400 video card.

Or cryptocurrency mining, if you're into useless money :V
...

We play Dwarf Fort -might as well be cryptography in some cases (I like having 500+ chicks, 200+ dogs, and lots of water generators/turning cranks as often as possible)

As for BitCoin (which I'm sure you're talking about) both of the major cities near me (Central Texas) accept it as currency at the day's current rate and give a discount for using it over Dollars... hardly useless (though these days just farming it will take too long to make it worthwhile). Oh, and you now have to report it on your taxes Cause you know, currency intended to be anonymous should be reported. /cough

As for the person posting the picture of the PCI-e, please check the motherboard manual... it'll have a full layout and avoid any chance of ill advice that might slip through here. For all I know you were trying to point out the internal Aux In port on the sound card. Not likely, but possible.

...what am I doing here... back to the Fort side for me

[miauw62]

Definitely agree with you, there. Unless you're doing something like cryptography, you don't need a $400 video card.

Or cryptocurrency mining, if you're into useless money :V
...

We play Dwarf Fort -might as well be cryptography in some cases (I like having 500+ chicks, 200+ dogs, and lots of water generators/turning cranks as often as possible)

As for BitCoin (which I'm sure you're talking about) both of the major cities near me (Central Texas) accept it as currency at the day's current rate and give a discount for using it over Dollars... hardly useless (though these days just farming it will take too long to make it worthwhile). Oh, and you now have to report it on your taxes Cause you know, currency intended to be anonymous should be reported. /cough

As for the person posting the picture of the PCI-e, please check the motherboard manual... it'll have a full layout and avoid any chance of ill advice that might slip through here. For all I know you were trying to point out the internal Aux In port on the sound card. Not likely, but possible.

...what am I doing here... back to the Fort side for me

You can't use your GPU for DF as far as I know, so not really :V

And Bitcoin is prone to suddenly crashing and such and you're usually not getting much out of it without hardware built for it, so I ment something more along the lines of mining other coins (litecoin, doge, etc) and then converting those to BTC.

[Daonitre]

You can't use your GPU for DF as far as I know, so not really :V

And Bitcoin is prone to suddenly crashing and such and you're usually not getting much out of it without hardware built for it, so I ment something more along the lines of mining other coins (litecoin, doge, etc) and then converting those to BTC.

Good points. I swear there was a thread a few years ago about transferring some CPU processes to the GPU though, probably used an additional program to redirect. This computer still feels so beast I don't notice the difference anyway, built it myself Dec 2012 for 1700 after everything.

Technical Tricks

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Video Card Options
[PRINT_MODE:2D]
This value changes how Dwarf Fortress draws to the screen. As such, changing this value can significantly change the performance of Dwarf Fortress on your computer. Possible values for this are "2D", "2DSW", "2DASYNC", "STANDARD", "TEXT", "ACCUM_BUFFER", "FRAME_BUFFER", "VBO" and "PARTIAL". A technical description of what these do can be found in this post. "PARTIAL" print mode takes an additional argument similar to how the PARTIAL_PRINT value worked in previous versions, with the number representing the number of frames a changed tile is rendered before it is skipped. "TEXT" is only available on OSX and Linux.
[SINGLE_BUFFER:NO]
If this is "NO" Dwarf Fortress will use double buffering, which may reduce flickering of the screen at the expense of a possible (small) drop in frame rate. If this is "YES", double buffering is turned off.
[ARB_SYNC:NO]
On video cards that support the OpenGL ARB_sync extension, turning this on can greatly improve performance in GPU overload conditions. However, this can cause Dwarf Fortress to crash on some video cards.
[VSYNC:NO]
If this is set to "YES", when Dwarf Fortress redraws the screen it will wait for the monitor to finish its vertical retrace. This can negatively impact your FPS if G_FPS is set high, as the game is forced to suspend calculating game frames to wait for the monitor to finish. The main reason to change this to "YES" is if tearing of the game image occurs regularly for you.
[TEXTURE_PARAM:LINEAR]
Can be either "LINEAR" or "NEAREST". If it is "NEAREST", the texture values use the nearest pixel value without averaging. If it is "LINEAR", the texture values use the average of the adjacent pixels. In terms of what the two options do to the graphics, the "LINEAR" option will appear to blur adjacent pixels and can result in a fuzzy appearance. The "NEAREST" option will produce a sharp, pixelated look but may result in images looking clipped at some different screen resolutions.

NO! Why am I back here again... ducks back to fort

[redwallzyl]

my hard drive is failing and i am wondering where the cheapest place to by a replacement is.

model

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

634925-001

500GB SATA hard disk drive - 7,200 RPM, 2.5-inch form factor, 9.5mm height - Raw drive, does not include hard drive bracket, hard drive connector adapter, or screws

for an HP laptop

im also wondering how i could find out if there is a better one that it can be replaced with.

[Tellemurius]

Laptop drives are mostly the same unless you grab the hybrid drives or SSDs

So say lets go for OEM replacement
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W014M8024 WD black, same specs for 60 bucks

Hybrid drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178339 Seagate Hybrid Drive, basically has a huge buffer which can help alot times alot without the SSD price. 75 bucks

SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-148-820 Extreme loading speeds but pricey for the storage size. 112 bucks

[Descan]

So I basically need a new computer.

Well, Laptop. I'm commuting to university so I'll need something to travel. Touch-screen/pen-screen would be stellar so I can take quick notes, like a foldable/detachable one? Doesn't need to be *extremely* powerful but it is an engineering program so there are probably some programs it'll need to run.

And on a budget. :v

I was thinking an Asus, I've seen some semi-comparable (2.20 ghz duo core VS 1.8 quad-core for example, same hard-drive size and such, for anywhere from 350 to 550 bucks. I would *prefer* something in that range, but it might be stretchable up to 700 or 800.

ANY HELP IS APPRECAMATED

[MaximumZero]

Well, any CAD should be done in a lab setting on the school computers, so unless you plan on buying and installing AutoCAD or something you should be okay with just a decent machine.

Also, I thought you wanted to do brain doctoring?

[Descan]

Biomedical engineering program.

[MaximumZero]

If you can get a software list from the college/university, we'd definitely be able to pin the tail on the donkey. That said, I have no idea what your hardware requirements are.

[crazysheep]

Personally, I'd recommend doing your engineering work on uni computers. Yes, I know it can be a hassle to grab a free computer before everyone else rushes to finish their work, but having wrestled with trying to get a chemical engineering simulation program to work properly with university licenses on my laptop... I'd rather just use the uni computers, much faster.

At least that should help narrowing down your specs a little.

[Astral]

What are people using to mount ISO files these days? I'm mainly looking to reinstall Warcraft 3 and the expansion using my (legitimate) ISO files and CD keys that I have had for years, mainly for the feeling of nostalgia and trying to recall details of things from old maps for use in the new Source 2 engine via DotA 2.

I previously used Daemon Tools Lite, but from what I hear they are plagued with malware, adware and spyware on install, so I'm loathe to install it on my month fresh computer after a reformat.

[Lord Shonus]

I use SlySoft's Virtual Clone Drive. It's free, and painless to use.

[Rose]

I use Daemon tools because it was the first x64 one out there, and I stuck with it.

You do have to deselect a bunch of adware in the install, though.

[Sappho]

I use Virtual Clone Drive too. It has served me well.