Random, but I find it satisfying to have just the right thing when doing a job. In this case:

For Distribution ONLY with a new COMPAQ. Good stuff.

It's still installing. I think I'm on the final reboot.

I've just realized another interesting thing about this Compaq: the power supply. It has +5VSB. It's pretty much ATX but with the AT P8/P9. My Deskpro is weird like this as well, but it doesn't have this strange green one. I checked them and they are all 3.3V

The Compaq passes and will now be added to the collection. I spent the rest of the day playing on it yesterday and it worked perfectly. Even ran the VCR through it and it works good.

This last "issue" is actually a "sh*tty disc" problem. EVERY computer I've ever tried to install ROTT DW on, it does this. I can copy the game off the disc and play it, but the installer is corrupt.

Now, I'm pulling apart a few computers to correct some issues. I jumbled together a computer with ASUS P5QPL-AM and P4 650 and it needs work. It will randomly slow down to the point where I would normally expect a blue-screen, but it troops through it and returns to normal. More frequent in CPU intensive areas. NOT do-able, so I'm going to try replacing/upgrading the CPU to either Core2Duo E6750 or Core2Quad Q6600. Not sure how I want to do it yet, but I think I'm leaning towards the Duo, since I only really need single core performance on that machine.

THIS issue was brought to you by this OTHER issue. My P5N-D computer "DiskWizard 2" crashed while gaming a while back and crashes randomly now. I know it's the motherboard, because it's been on it's last leg for YEARS and it just keeps trooping along. The Pentium D 960 is running at 4.2, so that's probably not helping, but this thing was always doggy and slow without an overclock. The P5QPL was supposed to be the back-up!

What I'm going to do, is steal the GPU out of "DW2" and put it into the P5QPL system along with the CPU upgrade. The P5QPL is running a XFX 9800GT that WAS on ITS last leg, too, but seems to be working normally after I upgraded the cooler, as a test. Since the chipset is actually "modern" I can pair the C2D or C2Q with the GTX 460 and have a decent match. The P4 was indeed a hard bottleneck.

The upgrade to the P5QPL went smoothly. I decided to go with the Core2Duo(E6750).

Started right up after the BIOS was done reconfiguring. I did "de-tune" the memory, so I could have 1:1 DRAM/FSB ratio. The difference in latency was nil between 667 and 800. I tightened the timings a little, too; 4-4-4-12. Got 5ns faster. I feel like I should be able to do better, but this is good.

I had to install windows XPx64, since I had 32-bit on it. Pretty much unnecessary, but I wanted to properly gauge performance vs. the AMD counter-part it will be playing with/against and didn't want the OS to be a variable.

I was gaming for hours and it didn't do "the thing" once. It's not belching out hell's inferno, either. The GPU is hot, but it was doing that already; normal. Ready for LAN party again!

Wow, so I decided to race these two real quick, since they're both plugged in. VISUALLY 3dmark 2001 took almost the same amount of time. Maybe 5 seconds off. I was expecting the faster computer to go faster, but it was essentially the SAME. The "FPS" readout on the AMD was almost double the other the whole time. Probably going to try racing 03 and 05 next.

I ran 2003 and it was pretty much like 2001. Both ran different speeds, but the tests were about the same.
The AMD scored 73381 and the C2D got 47652. I'm guessing this is mostly a difference in GPUs.

And now I ran 3Dmark2005 and woah! Such excitement! The AMD started off good, a few seconds lead with a quicker load time. They also went about the same until it got to the CPU test. The Core2Duo left the AMD in the dust! It was clearly going faster. The Intel finished first with a 21 second lead!

Nice scores!