Thanks Boz! I should have the proper cable in place due to my house being wired already. At least, I think that's right. I was wondering though... Can I use the cable box on the outside of my house where the cable comes in from the ground, and hook my antenna to it so that I can use my antenna with multiple TV's?jshaas

[url http://www.gamespot.com/users/Bozanimal/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-24962731]This is an old guide[/url] I wrote that could use some updating, but it should prove helpful.

The type of antenna you use will depend heavily on your location. At 50 miles out you're going to want one of two types of antennae: The "waffle" style you selected, or a Yagi. Yagi benefits from very high gain, and a long range if you go for a long boom. The tradeoff is that the Yagi is highly directional, so if you have channels coming from multiple directions you may run into issues picking up those stations outside 145 - 180 degrees outside its range.

Note that these antennas are the same as you would have used for traditional analog reception, because HDTV is broadcast in the UHF frequency band, so you do NOT need a VHF-friendly antenna (or shouldn't).

Make sure you've got all the accessories you'll need, too, including ground wire, RG-6 cable, an antenna mount for your home, connectors for the RG-6 wire, a proper tool to cut and prep the wire and attach it to the connector, any tools you need to run the wire into your house (we plugged our RG-6 cable into the connection the cable provider had previously used, since we didn't need it anymore!), and a ladder.

That's all I have the energy for at the moment, but I know a lot about antennas. Come back and ask any questions you might have.

Happy gaming,

Boz

Takea look at the Headphone FAQ at the top of this forum, which may also be helpful as you decide which option makes the most sense for you.

Good luck!

Boz

Do not make any illusions about ddr3, the performance difference with ddr2 is not much, certainly especially with ddr2 running at 800 mhz and up.evildead6789

For newer games your cpu will give you a very hard time , for older games it will be pretty much ok but the hd 6850 will perform far from it's complete potential due to the bottleneck.

Do realize also that gpu's lower in price , the hd 6850 had a launching price of 180$ one year ago and it doesn't even meet the recommended requirments of battlefield3.evildead6789

As for Battlefield 3, you are confusing system requirements with recommendations. BF3 will require a DirectX 10.1 compatible card with 512 MB RAM (ATI Radeon 3000 or newer). You are looking at their recommended card; I can still play BF3 if I so choose (though I won't, I'm happy with UT3, TF2, and many of the other titles I have).

Rare is the blockbuster title that intrigues me. I'm more interested in From Dust and Limbo than I am BF3 or even Rage, for that matter. It's all about matching needs and desires with budget, and my threshold is pretty low. ;)

Happy gaming,

Boz

[QUOTE="dpeter45"]

It is going somewhere because the people telling him to upgrade his CPU are giving him bad advice. They clearly have no understanding of how modern gaming hardware works.

This argument drives at the heart of the matter, which is whether or not someone with a PC that's a bit older should upgrade the CPU or GPU. And the correct answer by a landside is the GPU. It will make a much bigger difference in games.

evildead6789

An aging 5770 and another socket 775 processor are not a great value, especially with DDR2 on its way out. If I were to rebuild it'd have to be a new motherboard, which means a new processor and RAM. Note also that I already max out Team Fortress 2 on every setting at native resolution; you are underestimating the capabilities of the x1950GT, which was a very robust card. Still, it's time.

Put the RAM into 1:1 with the FSB, and gradually increase the FSB, testing in Prime 95 to see if it's stable. If it fails add a bit more voltage. Try not to exceed 1.5V.

dpeter45

Further, as it happens, the XFX6850 went on sale and rebate on Newegg today! So for $120 after rebate I'll have a pretty sweet card that will represent a monumental upgrade.

Pulling the trigger!

Happy gaming,

Boz

My overclocked E6600 scores around a 2400 in passmark.

That puts it on par with a Phenom II X3.

dpeter45

It's true that I am a budget gamer, but I would hardly call my system old. The entire thing was built in late 2007, using what were considered quality parts at the time, particularly the motherboard (the x1950 still runs any modern title, albeit at reduced quality). The mobo has actually been replaced since the original, though in retrospect there was a RAM issue and the mobo did not require replacement (doh!). I may continue to use this system for future upgrades, but I have a feeling that a new graphics card and an overclock is going to be the best value to last me, and probably its last upgrade before I need to move on to a new chipset, probably in two to three years.

What I'm getting from the conversation is that the graphics card is, hands down, the piece to be replaced if anything, and the CPU is capable of a decent overclock. My concern now is how to overclock it in a way that does not significantly compromise the system. Gambler_3 is also right: I am irrationally nervous, but I am also paranoid!

Thank you,

Boz

I'm not sure what you are asking, 6matt6; are you looking for recommendations or asking about 3D television in general?

The only way to decide if you want 3D is to go to a store and sit down and watch something, and not for five minutes. Spend some time and decide if you really want to be wearing those glasses for any length of time.

For the most part 3D isn't really catching on as much as manufacturers had hoped, and you'll probably get a higher-quality traditional television at the same price. It's all a matter of opinion, of course.

Good luck,

Boz

I hope your talking about RAM and not Video Memorygmaster456

Memory means nothing.MonsieurX

Moderate overclocking is actually very simple, the harder part is installing a custom CPU cooler. I recommend you get the hyper 212+ and then go to your BIOS and put 400Mhz as your bus speed and leave everything else to automatic and you will have a 2.8ghz CPU which should give you a big boost from what you have currently.

Gambler_3

Happy gaming,

Boz

Use BBCode. That still works...The-Apostle