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Your Guide to Modding:

I had completely forgotten! With Fallout New Vegas on the horizon i thought id would be appropriate to do a guide on Modding Fallout 3 (the 2 games will share alot in terms of mechanics so im guessing this might even help prepare you for moding Vegas?).
Modding Fallout 3 is very simple, theres not much to it, so Ill only imput tips and pointers. Alot of this is just to show you whats out there, but again ill only cover the basics such as Graphics and gameplay enhancements, else i'd die of old age going through EVERY mod there is out there http://www.Fallout3nexus.com is the goto site when it comes to FO3 mods so thats where all the links will be from. By the end of this guide you should have a vastly improved copy of fallout 3. Ill also Have a list of recommended mods and User profiles for you to visit at the end so you can expand on whats done here.

First, (asuming you have a clean install) make sure you're all up to date with the latest patch (currently v1.7), and while your there Grab the GECK and its 1.5 update as this will be needed further down the road. http://fallout.beths...ds/updates.html

The Essentials:  (which should set you on the path)

RAM Boost (By Default FO3 only uses 2GB of RAM, this will enable the game utilise any Extra RAM you have for a nice performance boost)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12031

Fallout Script Extender (AKA FOSE) Extends the scripting capabilities of fallout 3 without modifying Fallout3.exe or the GECK files. (choose the latest Stable version)
http://fose.silverlock.org/

Fallout MOD Manager (AKA FOMM) This is a must have, it makes managing and organising mods so much simpler. It's far superior to the one built into the fallout launcher.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=640

ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated (this program is GOLD! it cuts out all the tedious script editing you'd otherwise have to do when Modding, and automates it all with the click of a button)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=944

Install the above, along with the GECK and you should be good to go! ..
Installing your First MOD!
In General When you have downloaded and Extracted a Mod, it should be placed straight into the "Data" folder inside Fallout 3's main directory.




Small Tweaks:

Auto Aim Fix - does what it says on the tin  
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5606

Hacking terminals Made easier:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2333

Megaton/Rivet City gates open & Close:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5670

Power Armor Training - annoying that by the time you can use Power armor its too late or just not worth it? This should spruce things up!
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1413

Lighting Enhancements:

Fellout (Tired of that horrible Green Sephia effect? this is what you're looking for!)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2672

Street Lights (adds lighting to the DC Ruins where its missing! I.E at night why aren't any of the damn lamp-posts working?!)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8069
Street lights for wasteland Addon:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10045

Megaton Lighting Overhaul:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7875

Game Enhancements:

= Project Beauty HD = This isn't just a retexture job, a-lot of effort has gone into making each (of the nearly 500) character(s!) "fit the part" Also for those of you that like customising things, you'll be able to edit or choose stuff such as hair styles for each character using the GECK. I practically changed all of the main female npc hairs in my game, to better suit their character. There are very detailed instructions in the ReadMe on how to install and customise everything, I Highly recommend this mod as it Vastly improves on those vanilla models. http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=6341

= Ultimate Perk Pack = Adds over 70 perks to the world of Fallout 3! Includes custom Icons for them too. http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=1409

= Marts Mutant Mod (AKA MMM) Fantastic mod which adds loads of new and freaky creatures to fallout 3. http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=3211
The Mutant Gargantuan looks hilarious! also theres marts mutant increased spawns, so if you like a greater challenge then you can give that a go too.

GNR - More where that came from
"If you're tired of hearing "Let's Go Sunning," this is the mod for you. It adds between 20 and 100 new songs to Three Dog's Playlist!"
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1418

= Fallout 3 Re-Annimated = I got sick of seeing the same inaccurate poses and animations in the game, they just didn't look right, so i went on the hunt and found this great mod:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7670

EVE (Energy Visuals Enhanced) Simply put, if you didn't use energy Weapons before, You will now!  
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8340

CUBE Experimental: *gibbers* Words.. cannot.. express.. Watch Trailer: ................. RTS (Real Time Settler) Some of you might really like this:
.......
...................TRY IT! http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=6270 ............................................ Try it out: http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=7070

Mod Lod orders/Mix and match:
Often you'll come across a mod which you really like, but it replaces a certain part or is completely incompatible with another mod your using. In these cases you just have to decide on which version you like more and replace the respective files. That should work fine with things like Textures but when you start mixing mods which are known to have (in)competibility issues don't run crying to the head mistress saying "Senital's ruined my game!"

Also you should start looking at your Lod order in Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM) the higher up things are the more important! Sometimes when you add a new mod and select it in FOMM, its lod number will appear to randomly jump, this means it should be higher or lower than something else you have in your mod list. To keep things organised i like to drag these particular mods up/down to the corresponding place their number(s) insist on being.

Keeping this in mind you should be able to install multiple Weapon Texture mods for example. Just order the most important one Lower and the others above it (i think.. dont bash my head in if i have it the wrong way, play around with the order to find out!), this should filter out the individual textures (or whatever) you don't like. This method is a Pain up the Butthole though so i recommend you just install the main pack you want and individually replace the respective files instead of messing around with lod orders and getting probable conflicts.

Texture Enhancements: (.dds files)

Enhanced Night Sky
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=442
If you've already installed Fellout this mod should replace "skystars.dds" (perfect example of what i was saying about mix and match!)

Krzymar's High Res moon (Replaces that dull vanilla moon. Personally i like the "dark" version more as "bright" is too bright!)
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=538

NMC's Texture Pack (The Big Daddy! includes all his previous work [shown below] + more!)

↑__//=== http://a.imageshack....9/248/nmc02.jpg ===\\__↑
\\=== http://a.imageshack..../6687/nmc03.jpg ===//

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12056
Best Tex mod around, I have so much respect for Neil's work because.. well his efforts speak for themselves! you'll need to select the appropriate Texture and BumpMap packs to suit your System (Full + Max Bumpmaps FTW!)

Using ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated:
You should already have this extracted to the main directory of Fallout 3. It's Good practice to run the program after each time you install (or make any changes to) a mod. Earlier on i said it cuts out all the scripting work needed, what did i mean you ask? Well say for example you've just installed NMC's texture pack. in the early days you had to use a txt file called ArchiveInvalidation.txt and update it constantly with each mod you installed, regestering any added .dds files for instance. This as you can imagine was tedious work (what if you wanted to remove 1 particular mod or start editing stuff? NIGHTMARE!) so now we use this awesome little program which basically does it all for us so dont forget to click that Activate button!



I guess thats all, sorry it wasn't much of an actual guide but its just so easy to mod fallout 3 there was only so much i could say! hopefully though i've helped you see whats out there for the game. If you have any questions about modding or otherwise, or additions you'd like to make Feel free to post!

Recommended Mods you should check out!
Destroyable Environments - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=1904
New Shops all over the Wasteland! - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=5573
Repair Robots & have them as companions - http://www.fallout3n...file.php?id=712
Tired of companions/npc's dying? - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=8495
Megaton house Overhaul - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=1434
Lots of armour accessories - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=5424

Recommended Profiles to check out!
(Mostly Textures, Scroll down to view submissions)
BEST Supermutant / Armour Retextures & more! - http://www.fallout3n....php?id=1001644
Great Cigarette retextures and Better Booze - http://www.fallout3n...x.php?id=225951
BEST retextures for Books and Clutter/Junk - http://www.fallout3n...x.php?id=544496
Sweet Retextures for Ghouls & Radscorpion - http://www.fallout3n...x.php?id=908674

Other Cool Texture Mods!
Better Pip-Boy Map - http://www.fallout3n...file.php?id=998
Lincoln's Repeater - http://www.fallout3n...file.php?id=897
Deathclaw Gauntlet - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=2705
Historical Documents - http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=3394

DId mommy not pay enough attention to you all?

A rep should be earned, for the quality of the post. If you really have helped someone out with troubleshooting, overclock problems etc then by all means. But cmon, abusing the rep system for your own personal benefit? Pretty lame....

Cool, hopefully this works well and gets positively integrated into OCC.

Hey everyone, I jumped on here to make sure you guys had heard the terrible news, as I know Dale was very involved with this community and he would've wanted you to know.  I'd like to share a more real life side to Dale and some stories, if anything so you guys can get a better idea of what he was like in person, if you want, even though most of them are profession-related.

I knew Dale irl and worked with him in the same department at my first IT job, where he was more of a senior level guy and I was the young gun back in 2005.  Dale was a mentor to me, especially my first year since the job entailed traveling to client sites on a weekly basis.  He taught me how to develop in the toolkit for the product, and taught me how to travel for business, too.

Dale loved working in IT.  Like many of us in the same field, he never cared for the politics behind it, and was frustrated when his concerns for things were tossed away or overlooked.  Still, he loved interacting with the business to architect and develop something that worked well, as it's very rewarding.  He was really great with vbscript and could pound out pages of it on demand.  

It was really awesome traveling with him as we'd always joke around.  We'd point out rookie travelers or people who were really annoying or doing things to slow the movement of the airport down, and joke about how they needed to "start over".  Like people who would walk down a walking area in the middle of the concourse and just stop right in front of 50 people who then had to stop and go around them.

Dale also loved caffeine.  When we were traveling to north Philly for work, we'd stop and get Starbucks every morning, and Dale had his own thermos and backup thermos that he'd use.  A big fan of the energy drinks that came out too, and was always trying to latest one.  I traveled with him most around 2005, and the latest energy drink was all the rage back then.

Dale was a travel mentor to me because he traveled a lot.  He was a travel warrior when I met him, although the last 3-4 years travel for our department was all but eliminated (and welcomed).  He was really able to show me the ropes.  He talked about how one year he was a Platinum member for Marriott, and that his final report for the year showed he stayed in a Marriott for over 300 nights.  Because of his level of membership through Marriott Rewards, he was able to take vacations for free, or at least the hotel part of it.  He also one time exercised the ability to walk up to a Marriott that was completely booked, ask for a room, and they had to move someone out of the hotel so he or his family could stay there.  I believe you can still do this with Marriott, and I've always found this to be a cool story.

Since Dale worked in IT for almost all of his life, he was able to share those really old IT stories of having huge mainframes, or machines that you fed punch cards into to program it.  He used his benchmarking skills in his professional career as well, checking on a regular basis to see if a snippet of code ran too long.  If it did, he made sure it got re-written so it was smooth sailing.

After the travel warrior days for our department were over, our company moved to another office, and I was really happy when Dale was put close to me and we were in our own closed off area with a couple of other folks on our team that all were really cool.  We had a great time in there, and we were great at getting work done as well as having fun.

Dale introduced me to f@h, and got me into installing it on my work laptop as well as my home pc.  I ran stuff under his account to try and help him move up the leaderboards, although he had better systems running at his house.  He joked that in the winter the room that had all his machines didn't need heating because the heat off the boxes was more than enough.  

With me being an avid FPS gamer, and Dale being well versed in hardware, I would always take my latest PC builds to him before buying to see if I was doing everything right.  He almost always had better suggestions for me and was extremely helpful.  We'd regularly talk about where hardware was going in the future and what ran better and stuff.  I'm a database guy, but Dale taught me everything I know about hardware for the most part.  When I changed jobs, we grew apart a little, but Dale would always hit me up when I'd visit the old office and we'd shoot the shit for a little while like old times. Whenever he saw my wife(she works there as well), he'd always ask about me.  I even used Dale as a reference to get my current position.

Dale was always a great father and loved his kids, and always talked about them and had the latest pictures.  I believe his daughters are still teenagers, and his son is in college, so I can't imagine what they are going through.

Naturally with all this said, I will really miss him and so will many others. Dale was a very smart guy who was always willing to help, was a mentor to me in my early days of my career, and a good friend.

Hello all, I realise its been a while since i made one of these Big Posts but alas the pull of my Beloved OCC forums is as strong as always and I have Returned!

Today i Decided to go ahead and make a start on this thread which will be Dedicated to Listing (as the title states) Tips, Tricks & Tweaks for many games. Some will link to my work (e.g Fallout 3 guide) but mostly it's just stuff i've found and picked up on over my years of gaming. More will be added to the list as i get time, and text/picture formatting will follow too, so bear with me, as it might look a little bland at the moment Lets get started!

Post Layout:
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Graphics Drivers:


It's good practice to have the latest drivers for your graphics Card(s) installed. New Drivers Include performance enhancements (as you can see above in H.A.W.X) and Fixes for games which you might be having problems with.

I also HIGHLY recommend Downloading Nvidia Game Profiles, or ATi Application Profiles Regardless if you are running in Crossfire/SLI (more then one GPU in your system) or a single Card. These add Anti-aliasing Support (as an example) for newer titles which The main drivers can't always be updated to have upon every new games release.


In Game Settings & Driver Settings:
As a general rule of thumb, if a game has Graphics options for something you can also Set in your drivers, you want to use the IN GAME settings!

Lets take Anti-Aliasing in the ATi CCC (Catalyst Control Center) as an example. You're free to Set the Type of AA used (Super-Sample, Adaptive Multi-Sample, Multi Sample) And any Filtering options, such as Wide Tent or Edge Detect, but should have the "Use Application Settings" Checkbox ticked, and use the In game Anti-Aliasing options.

For Anisotropic filtering, the maximum setting you can apply is X16, now not all games let you choose how much you want to apply, and others only go up to lesser values such as X8 (or X15 for Fallout 3 as an example). So if you want to Max this feature out, then just set it to X16 in your Drivers and Leave the options off in game to make sure the drivers taking care of it.

Note: Many popular games, work fine when you override the Anti-Aliasing from the Drivers, but i have also come across many cases where if you enabled AA in both drivers and the game, it would cause problems. So take this as a pointer, if you cant seem to get Anti-Aliasing working correctly, enable it via the game OR the Drivers, but not both, as it could possibly cause slight conflicts and/or performance issues.


Troubleshooting Crashes:


= Steam:
Steam games can get corrupt from time to time, it could be because of a crash from an unstable Overclock, or a modification you made to the game files. Many times i come across friends who had to completely Re-Install Their Game, and often overlooked or Didn't know about a simple Feature which Steam Implemented. It's called "Verify Integrity Of game Cache" and Its Extremely simple to use. If your game is having troubles Crashing or somethings up, this is usually the first thing i'd recommend you do before anything else.

= Go to your Games Library.
= Right click on the game in question.
= Click Properties.
= Click on the "Local Files" Tab.
= Select Verify Integrity Of game Cache, and let Steam Do its thing.
= Once all files have been Verified, and corrupt or missing ones have been replaced, Startup your game, and hopefully it should work fine!

If that's not working out for you, you can also try Deleting the ClientRegistry.blob file in your steam folder.

= Games For Windows Live (GFWL)
Ah good old GFWL.. NOT!  
Crashes are a common occurrence when dealing with games which use GFWL. You'd normally think that theres something wrong with your computer, drivers or the problem lies elsewhere, when all the while theres a high probability of it being caused by your GFWL Installation screwing up. Heres the thing, When you install your GFWL games, They usually include a copy of it with them, and automatically install it. Multiple copies will end up being installed over one another again and again. It gets worse when you combine 2 services, such as Steam and GFWL, Dawn Of War II did this, Great game, but it was a Royal Pain to Track down what my crashing issue was.

So what i'd recommend you try is:
= Install your GFWL games.
= Update them with the latest patches Available.
= Completely Uninstall GFWL From your computer. (including the "Redistributable" one)
= Head to the Games for Windows Live Website, and Download the client.
= Install It, and let it Update.
= Restart your computer for good measure, and play your game!

= Other things to Try if your game is Crashing:

Overclocking: An unstable overclock will often cause your system to crash, hang, or act up in some other way. Make sure that your system is nice and stable by stress testing it (using Prime95, memtest etc). Better yet, to eliminate this possibility id suggest running stock and testing the game again.

Compatibility Mode: Older games might have trouble starting up on your computer. I'll be adding some of those games later on, as sometimes you need to do very specific things for each of them to work. First thing you could try though is to run the game in Compatibility mode. To do this:

= Right click on a shortcut or the main exe of the game
= Click Properties
= Click on the compatibility tab
= select the "run this program in compatibility mode" checkbox
= Try starting up the game with various options (e.g XP Sp3) from the drop down list.

User Account Control (UAC) Windows Vista and windows 7 use this feature for added security, but like for most of us, its more a hindrance then anything else. Constantly asking if you want to do something, and making your computer feel slow and unresponsive. If you're playing around with moding your game, are trying to use a Trainer or in some cases Installing a game, theres a chance that UAC is getting in the way and screwing things up. Thankfully you can disable this feature easily enough, instructions:

= Click Start.
= Click on your Avatar on the top Right hand side of Start menu (This opens up the User accounts screen)
= Click "Change User Account Control settings"
= There is a slider, Drag it to the bottom so that UAC is completely Turned off. Click Okay to confirm.
= Vista Users Require a Restart.
If you're uncomfortable without using it for some strange reason, you can always turn it back on again.


Hybrid PhysX:
If you have no clue what PhysX is, or what it does, here are 2 excellent videos Showcasing PhysX in Action:

.
Now whether you think its a gimmick or not is besides the point. Personally i think it adds a nice touch of detail, though it wouldn't make me want to play a game any more or less without it. I used to have one of the old Ageia PPU cards, until nvidia bought them out and consequently dropped support for them, and later blocked Physx from working when a non Nvidia Card was detected in a system, which brings me to Hybrid PhysX.

If you are running Windows 7 or XP (Sorry Vista boyos, it won't work due to WDDM 1.0), and have an old 8800 series of Nvidia card or newer, you can use it for PhysX in games where the technology's supported, while keeping an ATi one as your main card. Note: I recommend the following cards, Anything less will perform sluggish in games, and could actually hinder performance. Anything too much More, would be a waste of power, money and is quite simply put, OVERKILL. I've seen people using GTX470's as a PhysX card, Please don't be That stupid! remember that it's ONLY for PhysX, and not all games use this technology, so find a cheap efficient card along the lines of the ones listed below:

8800GT, 8800GTS, 8800GTX, 9800GTX, GT240, GTS240, GTS250.

Installation: Just Fit your Nvidia Card in the PCI-E slot underneath the ATI one. I recommend that you download the Nvidia 260.99 Drivers, and Nothing newer. You don't need to upgrade the Nvidia Drivers, as the cards only for PhysX and you wont be seeing any performance increases by using newer drivers, unless theres a Major overhaul in a new PhysX Driver (which are included within the nvidia ones.)

This method should enable you to run both cards fine without any need for hacks. If you run into problems, or are using Windows XP, or also happen to have an old Ageia PPU However, then i recommend you check out GenL's Hybrid PhysX mod which can be found here: http://www.ngohq.com...03-v1-04ff.html

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you can't get PhysX to work in some games, but are sure its working fine in others, do a search for "physx" where the game is installed. Delete any dll files which pop up. As an example, to enable GPU-PhysX in Mirror's Edge you must delete PhysXDevice.dll and PhysXCore.dll from the games "Binaries" folder.


Input Devices:


Choosing the right control method for your game can completely transform your experience believe it or not! It's an important thing to consider and is often overlooked. Lets take the Devil may Cry games as a Random example; No doubt you've come across a few people who said things like "the controls for those games sucked!" then you find out they were probably using their keyboard and mouse! Most of the following is common sense really, but i thought i'd add it in anyway (hey you might learn something! )

Joysticks:
Flight Sim/shooters, (e.g H.A.W.X) Really do come into their own when using a Joystick. Joysticks are relatively cheap to buy these days too since they haven't been a "Trendy" thing for a while, so pick one up and give your flight games another try! I recommend something from Saitek (i'm currently using a Cyborg Evo Force and love it! the x52 is widely loved too)

Wheels:
Racing games Play best on a Force Feedback Wheel, or if you don't have one use your controller! No-one should have to play racing games using their keyboard, it gets very uncomfortable fast. If you have an Xbox 360, then you can use the Wireless Force feedback wheel on your PC, it works and feels great, and also saves you having to go out and buy another wheel for playing on your PC. If you don't have one though, i'd recommend the Logitech G27.

Controllers:
The Great thing about controllers is that many game genre's play well using them! You can also get your Playstation and Xbox controllers to work on your PC without much hassle too! So you could save yourself some $ and start using your peripherals Cross Platform.

Keyboard & Mouse:
Ah yes, our most used peripherals! The accuracy of a mouse is unmatched, and you have a host of buttons to play with and bind on both it and your Keyboard. This flexibility means that its great for RTS, Shooter, and Straight up RPG games. Id Recommend Logitech, Razer and Roccat for their excellent keyboard and mouse products.

Light Guns & Motion Controllers:

Microsoft Wireless Gaming Receiver:

3D Vision:


Recommended Utilities:
= RadeonPro: http://www.radeonpro.info/en-US/
= SSAA-Tool: http://www.tommti-sy...s.de/start.html

Recommended Links:
= Find out if your hardwares up for it: http://www.systemreq...tslab.com/cyri/
= Excellent place for Tweaking your Game: http://tweakguides.com/

Games:

Batman: Arkham Asylum:

= Performance Tips: If your Nvidia Card doesn't have enough punch, or you don't have a Dedicated PhysX card, or are using an ATi only card, try setting PhysX to Low/Off as its a major performance killer.

= Crashes: Crashes in Arkham Asylum Can be caused by Games for Windows Live, (see above in Troubleshooting Crashes Section.)

= Misc: In Game Anti-Aliasing Fix for AMD/ATi Graphics cards:
As you probably know, without an Nvidia card you won't be able to enable in game AA, and are forced to use the CCC, which does not work properly in this game the last time i checked. GenL (the fellow who also made the PhysX hack) Made this little fix which, unlike the one i was previously using, doesn't disable GFWL:
http://www.ngohq.com/attachments/graphic-cards/2750d1271950287-batman-arkham-asylum-msaa-fix-batmanaa-msaa-fix-100422.rar



Bioshock:

= Performance Tips:

= Crashes: (Dx9)

= Misc: (MLAA, Sound)



Burnout Paradise:

= Performance Tips:(ssoa) (360Cont/Wheel)

= Crashes:(desktop capture)

= Misc:
(no intro)
...................................... Vanity Pack Mod: .......................................................................... ENB Series Graphics Mod:
.
............ Link: http://burnouthints..../vanitypack.htm ............................................................ Link: (coming soon)



Crysis:

= Performance Tips: Try Disabling the In game Anti-Aliasing, and use an Autoexec config, With EdgeAA Enabled. Its Much less Demanding then the In game MSAA, and you will also be able to Fine tune how your game runs with many different variables (See my guide).

= Crashes: make Sure you have your game Updated to at least version 1.2. Crysis can also get a little touchy if your running Overclocked, so Tone down your clocks just incase this is whats causing the crashes; You could also try using the 32bit exe to see if that makes any difference. The last level of the game is known to have crashes and run extremely slow, To fix this, the only thing you can really do is run the game in DirectX 9 mode.

= Misc: If you Hear a Squealing sound while Starting the game, and in menu's, don't panic, as its basically because The game doesn't use vertical Synchronisation in these places, so your cards rendering at hundreds (or thousands) of frames per second, causing this noise. You can stop it in most cases by Enabling VSync In game.

= I made this moding guide, its geared towards people with Extremely good rig's, but theres a few things you can pick out if you dont quite have the hardware. It Currently needs further updating, as some of the Download links need to be sorted and the "TOD" modifications Should be left alone for now, until i can get word from Crymod about updated versions (i will update the thread as soon as i do get word back)
http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=172883



Dragon Age II:

= Performance Tips:

= Crashes:

= Misc: BioWare were awesome enough to Release a High Resolution Texture pack for us PC Gamers:
http://social.bioware.com/page/da2-patches



Fallout 3:

= Performance Tips:

= Crashes:

= Misc: I made this guide, which you can check out for a multitude of Excellent enhancements for this game (a few links have gone down, but i'll fix that)
http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=176964



Halo: Combat Evolved - Custom Edition:

= Misc: Since it's old, you may want to disable Anti-Aliasing in your drivers to play it if you have problems starting the game.

The original Halo is (in my honest view) still the best out of all of them by far. The custom edition can be Downloaded for Free. Custom edition basically allows you to add user created content in, so there are hundreds of custom maps and Even Single-player Campaigns which you can download for the game.
Here is a "portable" version of the game i uploaded, you should be able to unzip it and run it anywhere fine:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PSOE2M54

In addition to this, i uploaded a collection of the Finest Multiplayer maps available For this game. You can of course find them all at www.halomaps.org, but you'd have to sift through probably thousands of them ( ) and i hope i can get as many people as possible to download this pack, so we can have more people play amazing maps, which deserve recognition, as most people don't even know about:
Part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GRS2LXFM
Part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J28UQLKE

= You can Also Download the CMT Singleplayer maps. These are golden, they're still in BETA stage though, so will probably change at some point in the future, but download all the Version 2 ones you see anyway! You basically have the whole Halo Campaign here, with added goodies, from extra sections in levels, to halo 3 style weapons and gear. Link: http://hce.halomaps....cfm?pg=1&sid=35

Installation Instructions: Just unzip and place the Map files into your Halo "maps" folder.
Note: The more maps you have installed the longer the game will take to start up as it Registers the maps.



Left 4 Dead 2:

= Misc: Addon's For L4D2. Tired of playing the same set of maps again and again? You should Head over to: http://www.l4dmaps.com/files.php?cat=6 and download Addon Campaigns to play with your friends. There are some Excellently done ones here, i Recently Played though "one 4 nine" and was Simply Amazed by it! Installing them couldn't be simpler either, just Download, Extract and Double click on the file and let Steam Do the Rest!

Split Screen Play on PC: If you have Xbox 360 controllers to hand, or are using a Microsoft Wireless Gaming Receiver (See input devices), you can try this out. Download the following Text file: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3RWBLSCQ - and watch this Video on YouTube for the rest of the Instructions:





Mass Effect:

= Performance Tips: You can enable Anti-Aliasing VIA Graphics drivers for this Title, as there isn't an option for it in game.

= Crashes:

= Misc: A Great place to go for tweaking your Mass Effect settings is Tweakguides:
http://www.tweakguides.com/ME_1.html
(i have worked on graphically tweaking my game with settings mostly found in this guide, in addition to others, which i'll post later on.)



Mass Effect 2:

= Performance Tips: You can enable Anti-Aliasing VIA Graphics drivers for this Title, as there isn't an option for it in game.

= Crashes:

= Misc: Here is my updated (version 2.0a) Mass Effect 2 Mod, with many features added. Also comes with a Text file which you can read the changes i made. As always make a backup of the file a mod replaces, just incase you want to go back to the vanilla (unchanged) game, why you'd want to do that though is beyond me!  
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V8Q4TKYO

Installation Instructions: Just extract, and Place in your Mass Effect 2\BioGame\Config\PC\Cooked Folder, Overwriting the Coalesced.ini file.



Need for Speed: Shift:

= Moding:

.
.

Please bear in mind that i've only just started this post, and theres much to add as i go along. For now, I'm Hungry and tired, so im going to post this and come back to it, probably later today.

Stangley, this comes when Mr Prez is sliding in the approval rating.  Bin Laden is a CIA Asset and is no more dead than me.  It is a BS politcal ploy for the 2012 election.  The government will now raise security and pass more bills in fear of retalliation to further enslave you.  ALL IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING YOU.

Ah, I see that you work in the intelligence sector with a high security clearance that allows you access to such information, but for some reason are breaking OPSEC on a random internet forum because you've seen the evil that is the US Government and want us all to know, just like a good movie?

Or you're another paranoid individual who knows nothing of how intelligence gathering and covert operations work, and you think that the CIA would be so obvious with letting such things slip by? The government is far from efficient, but come on now.

Spent some time today cleaning up this screen shot of the Crysis 2 intro video.

Feel free to download and use if you like;

ftp://wevsnet.serveftp.net:21210/pictures/cry2mp-20110416-1159474.jpg

Put some new vids up with updates and temp benchmarks.

http://www.youtube.com/user/buk355

Thanks Guys

What is wrong with staff receiving reputation?


*shrug*

Ahaha love it

 

In the end I think it is about making the person in office appear useful. For example here in Illinois a few years back we had an effort made to pass a law that required a person be over 18 to purchase certain video games. I pointed out on the show that roughly 90% of all game purchases were done by Mom and hence this would not be an effective law. However the general populace applauded this effort because they felt like it made them safe. A retired Politian and I sat down one even and talked and he explained that situation.

 

You see the truth is many of the things that people want to be protected from they cannot be. There is no law that will stop someone coming into a house and killing you if they choose. No amount of police officers on the streets or harsher penalties can stop this from happening. So instead of telling this to the people and focusing on the issues they can do something about, the political hacks make issues that are meaningless their priority because to the people they appear to care. It is a pure political move with zero impact on ever really protecting anyone.

 

The Illinois law above was being pushed after another round of blame video games for the worlds ills. It was the hot button topic and so even though it would do not good they passed the law and made good press with the public. Here is the funny part, they all KNEW the law would be struck down in court and passed it anyway, free good will and all.

 

The same today with gun laws. There is NO gun law that could be passed, even a pure ban, that would stop gun violence. To be honest when you consider the percentage of gun crimes committed by legal gun owners and how low it is, I am not sure a complete ban would even do much to lower gun violence. The issue is that something terrible happened and people do not feel safe. They have to find a blame and so the Politian's,. never one to not turn a tragedy into their gain, start putting out scape goats like Guns and Video Games. Notice BTW the Dems push hard at video games but kind of let violent movies slide, oh they get mentioned but not as aggressively. Shows who pays the most in campaign contributions.

 

The part that truly is evil to me is that in principle this is the same tactic used by evil men to rule nations for centuries. Remember Hitler used the Jews to explain all the ills of his nation and demanded the rise against them. Now I know we are not there yet but how long before we run out of things to blame and start blaming a certain segment of the population instead? Do not believe it will happen, it already does, how often does the left and the right blame the others for some action that takes place? We are on a dangerous slope as a nation.

 

Finally tell me if any of you have heard the press ever just come out and say this kid was a nut job. I mean without adding after that the need for gun laws or killing off gaming. I mean just laying the blame at the feet of the person that pulled the trigger, not at a lack of anything or what the latest thing to blame is, just at his feet.

thank you Bos and thank you OCC. I promise to fold 24/7 with the machine and I will work much harder on curbing my harsh replies.

I honestly was not f expecting to win anything but then, who does?

Thank you all again and I wrll do all I can to give back to the community.

I don't mean to be an ass...but crappy attitudes like this are why people hate Americans and their attitudes.

WHERE do I start?
(I am angry now. and I will rant here. this is my personal rant. I don't care what you think because I am on the other side of the fence than all of you and my perspective is 100% different so because of my viewpoint, I will be very much opposite to you. But you have your opinions and I do respect that. no matter how wrong you are)

I just re -1'd your comment and here's why. You're a nice guy but that comment I would have -2'd it if i could.
I fly frequently....up front...row 0....that guy who flys it and makes announcements and gets paid less than a union garbage man to do it.

AA going bankrupt.
Well I have some thoughts.
They're the last major airline to go bankrupt post 9/11. All of the other majors went through or are finishing up their bankruptcy. The reason? The whole economic industry of air travel has changed not just post 9/11 but also post deregulation. The OP of this topic says this is what happens when you take a dump on your people for so long. AA has financial obligations they cant meet without going ch.11, they're the only major alirline paying pensions....and that's going to change. Alot of their people working there 30 years are about to loose all their retirement. don't forget, pensions were still a big thing that every one counted on just 12 years ago. AA can now reorganize into something profitable....the problem with that? You. You wont pay what it really costs to operate that airplane and adequately compensate the crew that flys, maintains, cares for you inside it. Oh...the other thing....the flight attendant...is not there to serve you drinks...they are trained to save your LIFE when it goes wrong....when....that's why they are there. but while you are there, they might as well give out drinks and try to keep you happy. as happy as they can on almost poverty levels of compensation.

i 100% disagree with your comment.

There is a book explaining it all and it reads VERY well. it's called "Hard Landings" and it tells you everything you need to know about why for your $100 ticket from Madison Wisconsin to Chicago you're not in a 747 eating caviar. De-regulation.

Used to be a fully regulated sky. An Airline could not charge less than a govt. set price for a specific route. so every airline was making some money if it filled a plane. How did they get people to buy a ticket over other flights? Customer service. Buy a ticket on your company's expense account and you get to take home a bottle of something and an ice bucket and have a nice meal on the plane. that filled seats. They De-regulated it to spur competition and grow a business. Since the public will buy the cheapest ticket, the first thing to go out the window? the meals...and then the bottles of stuff for free you get to take home. So now the cheapest ticket wins. Allegiant Airlines is profiting quarter after quarter. They don't fly into the major airports if they can avoid it. Why? Landing fees cost alot to land at Ohare or JFK or Atlanta. Heck Allegiant flys into Georgia and lands at an airport a 2 hour drive from ATL and calls it Atlanta....all in the name of being cheap enough to make money off your cheap butt.

It costs money to have the best people doing the best job to give the best customer service. Your hate of the way things run now is what happens when there is no regulation on ticket prices and you think $100 is unbearably expensive for a ticket. Customer service costs money. You don't want to pay for it. The airline needs people to buy tickets and fill the plane, so they skimp on pay to make money. The not-so-good-but-acceptable people are hired to throw drinks at you. Now,....the plane costs anywhere from $50million to $200 million to buy and then pay off with plane loads of people who wont pay what it really costs to operate it. Since De-regulation, prices have dropped in order to get butts in the seat just to make money. I hate the after effect. How much was a ticket in 1985?...it was around $600 round trip, sometimes a bit less but not by much. Well run that through the cost of living and inflation index and in today's money you will see that round trip ticket cost you $1000 to $1200 in today's money. So...today....when according to that index, fuel costs 2.5x what it used to and tickets in comparison are 1/3 of what they used to be and you can see how hard it's getting to make any kind of money. The bulk cost of jet fuel going into the planes tanks is now $3 a gallon or just under. Before in 1985?...20 cents or so. A Jumbo jet flying from Japan to LA will burn 150,000-250,000 pounds of fuel depending on it's size and newness of manufacture. How much money is that?....a$$loads. The actual cost of operating the jet has multiplied and the price people pay is way way less. There is a reason they are charging for baggage and everything they can....it's because you're no longer paying what you should for a ticket to keep that airline running. Here is how bad it is. A few years ago, an interview with the then Frontier CEO stated that a 1 cent increase in fuel cost per gallon added $1million to their operating expenses. That's how serious it is today.

Now the airline behavior in response to the higher costs of flying and the lower profits on a ticket? Well, Today, out of the whole operating expense of the airline, they have to pay their employees. EVERYONE combined takes about 30% of the whole expenses. Any place they can make cuts they will to hopefully keep some money and make any profit they can. So, Under bankruptcy law they can legally adjust anyones Labor contract and cut other things the employees count on. They have taken everyone's retirement through these bankruptcy's and given it to the government to pay. (they only pay 1/3 of the actual pension payout so when you are forced to retire at age 65 due to FAA law, you have to go back to work at home depot or drive a truck to make ends meet. What was a $3k a month check is now a $1k a month check...as a 60+ yr. old guy what you gonna do now?) So now the pilots at AA have to work to the maximum age limitation of 65. I can tell you there is a huge difference in how people are able to do their job in the last 5 years of their ability. Being an airline Pilot at 65...I can only imagine how horrible it is with the international time zone changes and jet lag. The standing rule when we get home from an international trip? no power-tools. period.

So, In mid 2000's when an AA full MD-80 only profits just under $3,000 per flight. You realize how important it is to fill those seats....especially when you only make money if it's 80% full or more. How to do that? Make it attractive for people to buy those tickets. Cheap gets people to buy. customer service costs money and even if they had good customer service? A regular person would still buy the cheaper ticket because its cheaper. I have had people tell me that they would pay another $20 if it was a happy good service airline. They might but the rest of the people wont.

I flew a load of passengers from Madison, WI to Milwaukee (20 minute flight!). They asked where the connection was to Chicago. Well for that they had to go out of security, into another terminal an back through that security all inside of 30 minutes because the Travelocity/Expedia website they booked their flight on found the cheapest way by putting them on 2 different airlines. If they spent the $20 more, they would have had a direct Madison to Chicago non-stop and saved that hassle.

If you want a good comfy airline that's not horrible to travel on. PAY UP. Everyone on my flights wants everything for free and when asked how much they paid for their ticket they say "fifty bucks one way". So is it a surprise there's nothing free for you? Is it a surprise wee can only afford some surly recently divorced mom to give you a drink and maybe save your butt if something goes wrong?

Lord knows they have already taken the pilots pay/pensions/benefits away from them. taken the flight attendants pay/pensions/benefits away from them. taken the mechanics pay/pensions/benefits away from them. MY CEO was on undercover boss. He said things and made promises. He never followed through and has actually taken even more back. He has half of a basketball court in his house....indoors. My first year flight attendants qualify for food stamps and have to work 20 years to make $36k a year....being gone more than half a month from home. At this rate, I will only retire with a remote control in my hand and a recliner if i choose to help my daughter go to school in another 16 years. I would like to do a little travel, but I know they will take those benefits away if we let them. My company is about to strike and honestly? nobody wins in a strike...but i cant wait to do it and take something that belongs to me.

The job honestly has turned to crap. This industry is unregulated and hitting bottom. It is operating at a loss just to fill seats. And before you say airline pilots make boatloads of money. ask yourself. what should we get paid? you trust us to take you up to 35,000 feet where if there's a decompression you will only be conscious for 10 seconds and die in 3 minutes...and we know how to save you in that situation.. You trust us to not fly through big thunderstorms where people puke and get hurt if they didn't fasten their seat-belt. The real moneymaker pilots flying these things are taking 300 people across the ocean....how much should they get paid for that kind of liability? There is no shoulder to pull over on. there is no pause button. I train 8 weeks to fly a new plane and every 6 months have to go prove in the simulator that i'm still good enough or i have job troubles...every 6 months. I get paid statistical average household income for that and a garbage man makes more.. I would make more money being a plumber or a trash man.

But. the jokes on your guys. There are no more pilots starting to take lessons. They have seen how bad this job has become in the media and no one wants to start. It's good for me because they're going to have to pay us in the upcoming pilot shortage. how short? Well, there re more pilots retiring form the majors than there are total pilots in the regional airlines in the next 6 years. What are the regionals going to to do to replace them? They can't. there's no one. Your tickets are about to go up. I have single friends that are leaving the country to go fly in china because they PAY MORE than here.....same thing in the middle east countries. That's how bad it's become.

apologies for the randomness of the thoughts but I don't have time to sit down and think it out clearly so everyone understands. I only have 12 days off a month.....oh yeah that's nice you think. but get this. all other days? im GONE sleeping in crap hotels, getting bad sleep, and not able to do anything to my house or in my house until i get home. when I get home? no time for me...i gotttta make up the time i lost playing with my daughter. I actually have less time off at home than a 40 hour a week guy working a few blocks away.

8.6 ... such a low score ...?

Personally, I'd give it a -1 for every time I hear it mentioned That now puts my user score for it at around -215.7

I'm hoping that BD will match or at least come close to SB.  That's all AMD needs to have a HUGE win on their hands.  Their server parts already murder Intel rigs in terms of memory and I/O bandwidth...all they need to do is up their IPC and they'll be golden.

Okay guys, so many of you know that the 6950 2GB reference model is pretty much the best single GPU video card on the market, but some of you may not know why... Well you can easily flash it from a 6950 to the top-of-the-line 6970 even from your desktop! There's two ways of doing this, you can either grab a 6970 bios and flash it that way, or you can "soft mod" it so that you don't have to worry about over-stressing your card. Basically what I'm going to show you is the soft mod, and the main difference will be that you will be unlocking extra shaders. This won't increase your GPU clocks or your memory clocks, keeping the card stable and keeping the overall change very simple. But you will more than likely see a good increase in performance!

First off, you'll want to download two programs. RBE or the "Radeon Bios Editor" is the first one. The other will be ATI Winflash which will allow you to flash your cards bios from your desktop.

Before you begin, please PLEASE please make sure your BIOS switch is in the correct position. Here's a picture of my card. Notice that the switch is to the right, farthest from the crossfire bridge connectors. (click to zoom)


Next, you'll need to grab your bios off the card. Open up ATI Winflash (you'll need to run it as an Administrator) and "SAVE" the current bios to your HDD. I put mine on my desktop.


Here's where we finally get to change the BIOS. Open up RBE, then "LOAD" the BIOS that you just saved to your hard drive. The "Load" button is at the bottom.

Once you have it loaded in it should look something like this. Next, go to "Additional Features" tab (towards the top of the program) and you'll see something like this:

Since we're changing only the shader count, we'll click the "Unlock shader count" and change NOTHING ELSE.

From there, we just save the BIOS back to our hard drive. I suggest naming it something different than the original, so that you can keep a backup in case you have trouble.
"Load" the new BIOS into ATI Winflash, then "Program" it to your card. From there you'll be prompted to restart your computer.

Et voila. You can check to see if your handiwork is done by opening up GPU-Z or a similar program.

As you can see, I have the standard 6950 clocks, but I have the full shader count of a 6970! From here you can easily OC your card via CCC, without having such a high frequency floor to worry about in case of artifacts or other issues. In addition, I think (not positive on this one) that the 6970 voltage settings are a bit higher, so it should save you a bit on temps. :3

So some people can be unsure on system parts, while this forum does have guides on picking psu's, cases and some others. Why not one on system builds?
Buying a new system can be both exciting and daunting at the same time. Technology increases as each day passes so how do you know whats the best for you budget? or just simply would this component be better off in the trash can. Asking a community such as OCC is the best place to start as we can run through your build, picking out errors while also trying to save you some money amd giving you recommendations. But what happens when you have no grounds to start building (I.E you dont know where to start) ? Well, this thread will help you out. Not only will it give you some simple build suggestions but also links to other in-forum pages that will help pick power supplies (PSU), Cases, LCD's, the list just goes on. But wait, there is more! Further down the page, there is a list of CPU's and their sockets both from Intel and AMD. Also you will find a list of the GPUs that you would want to put your money into whether its just a standard everyday use or a heavy, hardcore gaming rig, this thread has it all.

NOTE:
- Rough prices from newegg US
- I will try my best to keep the systems updated.
- Although these are labeled as gaming, they will do just fine for other uses.


Some useful guides;
Crazy_Nate's How to build a system guide
Jammin's PSU list
El_Capitans Case list
Radodrill's Watercooling Information & Suggestions
Psywar's LCD Monitor Information
OCC's Memory FAQ
[RIP] Verran's fantastic Raid guide


Overclocking guides (Note: Some are from Overclock.net)
The basics of overclocking (What is it?)
Overclocking socket 1366
Overlocking 2600K/1155 (with thanks to El_Capitan for sharing)
Overclocking Phenom II CPU's
NOTE 1: Black Edition (eg x2 555BE, 1090T BE ) and Extreme Editions/K series (eg 990x, 2500k) have unlocking multiplyers meaning you can just bump up the multiplier without changing the FSB
NOTE 2: Overclocking is done at your own risk, as it may void the warranty or damage your chip. It is essential that you have the right cooling before messing with the settings (Refer to CPU Cooling at the bottom)


Please post your opinions, say what you would change. Chances are I've missed something, or picked a bad part.

basic 1 (intel)

cpu: Intel Celeron E3300 Wolfdale 2.5GHz - $40
mobo: ASRock G41M-GS - $57
ram: G.SKILL 2GB - $29
gpu: onboard
hdd:Seagate Barracuda 7200 500gb -$40 / 1tb
psu: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D - $40
case: El Cheapo - $10-20
total: $216

basic 2 (amd)

cpu: AMD Sempron 145 Sargas 2.8GHz- $43
mobo: MSI 760GM-P33 AM3 AMD 760G - $55
ram: Kingston HyperX 2GB - $25
gpu: onboard
hdd: Seagate Barracuda 7200 500gb -$40 / 1tb
psu: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D - $40
case: El Cheapo $10-20
total: $223

budget gaming/home 1 (amd)

cpu: AMD Phenom II X2 555 - $90
mobo: ASUS M4A87TD/USB - $100
ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $50
gpu: GTS450 $119 / 5770 $119 / GTX460 $150 / GTX550 $150 / 6850 $170
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
psu: SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W - 70$
case: COOLER MASTER Elite 430 - $50
total: $544 - $595

Budget gaming/home 2 (intel)

cpu: Intel Core i3-2100 - $120
mobo: MSI P67A-C43 (B3) - $125 / BIOSTAR TH67+ (use onboard gpu) - $105
ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $50
gpu: GTS450 $119 / 5770 $119 / GTX460 $150 / GTX550 $150 / 6850 $170
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
psu: SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W - 70$
case: COOLER MASTER Elite 430 - $50
total: $460 - $600

Midrange gamer

cpu: i5 2500k $220
mobo: MSI P67A-C43 (B3) - $125
ram: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $42
gpu: GTX460 $150 / 6850 $170 / 6870 $204 / GTX560 TI $239  / 6950 $240
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
psu: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600 - $70 ?
case: refer to El_Capitan's list
cpu cooler: Hyper212+
total: $612 (w/o case) - $762

amd midrange gamer

cpu: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition - $200
mobo: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO - $119
ram: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $42
gpu: GTX460 $150 / 6850 $170 / 6870 $204 / GTX560 TI $239  / 6950 $240
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
psu: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600 - $70 ?
case:  refer to El_Capitan's list
total: $646 - $736


High end

cpu: Intel Core i7-2600K - $328
mobo: ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) - $240
ram: CORSAIR XMS3 C9 8GB - $95
gpu: 6950 $240 / 6970 $339 / GTX570 $369 / GTX580 $529 / 6990 $700
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
psu: CORSAIR AX750? - $169
case: refer to El_Capitan's list
cpu cooler: Noctua NH-D14? - $75 / Watercooling
total: $1212 w/o case - $1672

ihavetoomuchmoney

cpu: 990x x 2- $2000
mobo: evga SR2 - $ - newegg out of stock
ram: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 12gb (3x 4) x 2 - $500
gpu: GTX580 $529 / 6970 x2 $687 / sli GTX580 $1058 / 6990 $700 etc
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65
ssd:Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 240gb - $464
psu: HX 1000W - $230
case: 800D ? HAF X?
cpu cooler: Custom water cooling loop x 2 (one for cpus other one for gpus )
total: ...

HTPC
cpu: i3 2100 - $125
mobo: ASUS P8H67-I DELUXE - $160
ram: G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $40
gpu: onboard - $0
hdd: samsung spinpoint F3 1tb - $65 (x2?)
psu: case comes with 150w
Disk Drive: Hp BD240I-h01 combo (?)
case: Antec ISK 300-150 - $80
total: $470 - $535 (w/ 2 hard drives)

CPUs

Intel

1155: - DDR3 dual channel ram (i.e 4gb, 8gb, 16gb etc)
i3 2100 - dual core - $120
i5 2500 - quad core - $209.99
i5 2500k - overclocking God, quad core - $220
i7 2600 - quadcore - $299.99
i7 2600k -  overclocking God, quad core - $328

1366: - DDR3 Tri-channel ram (i.e 3gb, 6gb, 12gb, 24gb etc)
i7 950 - quad core - $279.99
i7 970 - 6 cores of power - $594.99
i7 980x - hexcore powerz - $949.99
i7 990x - hexcore powerz - $999.99
Xeons

socket 775 is your core 2 duo/quads (DDR2/3 and dual channel ram) and 1156 is the i5 7**/6** and also i7 8** (DDR3 and dual channel ram)

AMD - DDR3 dual channel ram (i.e 4gb, 8gb, 16gb etc)
Athlon II X4 640 - quadcore - $99.99
Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition - dual core - $89.99
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - quad core -  $139.99
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T - hexa core - $179.99
Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition - hexa core - $199.99



GPUs* - Heres the best GPUs from both manufacturers, ATI/AMD and Nvidia

ATI/AMD -
5770 - $119
5870 - $219
6850 - $170
6870 - $204
6950 - 2gb version can be flashed to a 6970 - $240
6970 - $339
6990 - dual 6970's on one board ? - $700

Nvidia -
GTS450 - $119
GTX460 - $150
GTX550 TI - $150
GTX560 TI - $239
GTX570 - $369
GTX580 - $529
GTX590 - $700



CPU cooling - Running too hot? Heres some great coolers.
Corsair H70 (closed watercooling) - $104.81
Hyper 212+ - Best Bang For Buck - $29.99
Noctua NH-D14 - $74.99
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - $69.74
Prolimatech Megahalems- $64.99 - be aware that you will need to buy fans for this
Zalman CNPS9900 Max - $79.99
Thermaltake Frio - $58

When picking an operating system, make sure you pick 64bit as this doesn't have a cap on the amount of ram you can use. 32bit OS only allows 4gb including video ram.



Cheers

*GPU prices are entry fee for the card.
* Moderators: If there is anything i should not have such as the links in the over-clocking guides or anything that you disagree with please feel free to remove.

Looking for the list?
EDIT: update link

In the spirit of competition I will now guide you.

What to do in order to have valid links. Make sure you have an ORB account before running 3DMark06. You can use the FREE version, but you'll be limited to 5 SAVED scores. You can register other scores if you delete some of your last ones. Log into your account on the site. This is the ORB website link: hxxp://service.futuremark.com/home.action. Close your browser. Now run the benchmark. After a successful run, you'll be asked to view the result online. Click that button. Your browser will open, and the result will automatically save in your account on the first available slot (remember, if you're using the free version, you're limited to 5).

You can edit certain parameters now. Every run is considered a project. Give it a name that contains your forum username (suggested by The Smith). Now there is an important section called "Status". Here you can make the project public or private. Default is private and no one but you is allowed to see private projects. Click "Make public". Magically... a link appears, called a "Compare link". This is one of the links that can be used to validate your run.

Another link that can be used is the direct project link. You go to "All results", you click "Details" on any of your active projects and you'll then copy the link in the browser's address bar. Remember, if the project is not set to public, the link is useless.

A "Compare link" looks like this: hxxp://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=14480628. A project link looks like this: hxxp://service.futuremark.com/results/showSingleResult.action?resultId=14480628&resultType=14. Now they point to my own public project, but you get the idea. NOTE that hxxp should be http, I just put xx to avoid automatic parsing.

DO NOT POST links that have the session #ID. They are useless and only work for YOU. They seem to be working, but not for us, JUST FOR YOU.

Hope this clears up things.

There are a few people running an old version of 3DMark06, 1.1.0. The current one is 1.2.0. Bosco didn't say anything about that, but the scores are not comparable across different versions. Also there are people running tweaked, beta, or too fresh drivers. I don't know why, but FM says the run is invalid in that case. Bosco has the last word.

This could work well but we need to use it responsibly, that is why only certain areas should have reputation and that is why I think you should need to type a reason why you are REPing the member.

If that is what it takes for this system to not be abused then I say disable the whole thing until there is a way to make the members accountable for their votes.