Here's to those w/ Hi-tech computers, I'm always thinking "Wow he's lucky to have those specs" and yet I get people telling me the same...  What is it that compels me to want the best system? Though I'm ahead of the game w/ what I have I seem to feel I lack the perfect system...  Now that the Duo Core is raging the markets I have this urge to run out and buy it, Build a "TIGHT ASS" system than ponder on the next wave of goodies that are put out...  My title "Another day, another dollar" is a catch phrase from a middle, white collar to a lower, blue collar class worker expression to his or her pay...  Well that phrase is beginning to sound like my system upgrades...  Everyday there's something new in the Computer world, technology thrives for change everyday, mod this mod that, upgrade here, upgrade there, compile this and so on and all the while we seem to struggle at all the virtues we don't upgrade or make seem easier and that's world hunger, peace in the mid east and so on...  Global warming is impaling our future generation and yet we live lavishly w/ out cause for caution...  Are we that naive to build a world of computers that we tend to mimic its values over humanity...  Well, I'm locked into a phase were I seem to understand the difference but I choose to ignore it.... Am I ignorant...? 

Just my thoughts on ICE (Interactive Computer Evaluation) 

*Just look at how much we spend on technology!

Robert Downey, Jr. is suiting up to star in "Iron Man," a superhero movie based on the Marvel Comics character.

Jon Favreau is directing the Paramount Pictures release. Filming is slated to begin in February in Los Angeles.

      Man, I love IRONMAN!  Spiderman & Ironman was always my favorite Marvel Super Heroes!  This goes back when they first emerged on Comic Books!  I Don't know if he's the right man to play Tony Stark though, I was thinking more of a sleek, lengthy dude like Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt...  I don't know, maybe even Tom Cruise!  Shoot, Robert better do a good job! 

    Nicholas Cage as the Ghost Rider

      I'm stoked about Ghost Rider,  Can't wait for that either...  Nicholas Cage looks like he'll sell that part pretty good.  Saw the previews and it looks good! 

How much more realism can you get?  Well the PhysX Card brings the gamer real physics property!...

Excerpt from Tom's Hardware!

Ageia, ATI, and Nvidia have each put their two cents with respect to physics becoming the next major advancement in computer games. Many in each of these companies predict that physics will add a whole new level to gameplay, similar to what 3D acceleration did for image rendering. The addition of physics that we take for granted everyday will add even more realism and thus a better immersive experience.

Hopes have been high for the solution from Ageia, and at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) this year many people were excited about the prospects of more physics and effects in their games. Although there was (and still is) a limited number of software titles that can utilize the Physics Processing Unit (PPU), the hope of seeing more titles emerge at E3 was crushed, as there were only patches to some games and a general lack of new content.

Recently we have been getting more glimpses at GPU-accelerated physics, and it raises doubts about Ageia in both the long and short run. Both Nvidia and ATI have been working with Havok, a company which you might have heard of. Havok has been developing and implementing game development tools and engines; its product list includes gameplay physics engines with multi-core and multi-thread support. Now it also has an effects physics engine called Havok FX, which is being used by ATI and Nvidia for their effects physics hardware acceleration.

To further indulge go here! and here!

Here's information you'll need to know for Online MP PC Gaming... :!:

A massive amount of data needs to be relayed to the game server and back to your PC. In action games when you press the fire button the information is passed to the server and your player will fire its weapon. Simple? Well, not really. You have to take into account what else is going on. There are other players there as well, all moving about and blowing things up. Also take into account doors opening, lifts moving, more players entering the server and you have a huge amount of data to shift via your modem. Hence, the faster your connection the more data you can handle and the less "latency" you're likely to receive.

LATENCY AND PING

When you play a single player game on your own machine against the computer you'll have hardly any latency at all. You'll aim at whatever is on screen and hit it no problem. However, when you play a game online you'll have to face a latency, as does every gamer. This is displayed as your "Ping time". On a modem you can expect ping times of 120 - 250ms (milliseconds). This is the time it takes for data from you to be sent to the games server (i.e. you fired a shot), and back to your machine again (i.e. shot has been fired). The ping time can change during a game, especially when there is a lot of action on a player's screen as there will be more data shifted to and from your machine. Some players will have lower ping times than you. This is due to the different connection types available to the net:

A ping of anything less than 350 is playable. Trying to play with anything higher is like trying to sprint through a sea of treacle with lead weights attached to your legs. You will also see players with a huge range of pings. The reason for this is mainly down to three factors: Distance from the games server, how the Players have set-up their configuration, and their connection speed.

A player with a ping of 50 is going to be able to react slightly faster than a player with a ping of 200 so in a one on one situation the lower ping player will have an edge. One factor still remains and that’s skill. Give a player who has never played online an ultra fast connection and another with a modem who knows the game inside and out and the skilled player will come out on top. So even if you do not have the lowest ping in the world you will still enjoy competing against other players on the game of your choice. As with all things in life, practice makes perfect.

LAG

You'll see this mentioned a few times, and is one word you are bound to hear constantly from other players and something you're going to love to hate. Lag occurs when data from your machine to the games server is interrupted. To you this will appear as though you are stuck to the spot and can't move/shoot, and anyone seeing you in the game will get a easy kill as you will be locked to the spot. Lag usually is temporary and only occurs for a few seconds.

TWEAKING YOUR GAME!

It's very easy to get performance-greedy with PC games. Unlike console games, PC games give you a number of options to make your game look, or sound better. If you have a high-performance PC this shouldn't be a problem, but if your PC can't handle it it may make the game jerk along slowly.

It's better that the game runs smoothly than looks nice - and this is especially important once you start playing online.

It should be quite easy to improve performance simply by visiting the graphics/visuals area in the options menu. You'll be given an option of screen resolution - basically a higher resolution makes a game look nicer, but your PC will have to work harder to achieve this. For most PCs and games it's best that you try to stick to an 800x600 or the fastest your VC resolution is allowed.

Other than that you may be given several other options. If you're given a choice of High, Medium and Low for options like "Character Detail" and "Texture Quality" set them down to medium, and if that doesn't help, put everything down to low - it'll make your gaming experience much smoother. Likewise, go for "Bilinear Filtering" over "Trilinear Filtering" and "16-Bit" Colour Depth over "32-Bit".

Also, make sure you're not running any unnecessary programs elsewhere, especially in your system tray (bottom right of your screen - right click unnecessary icons and exit them if possible.)

Hope this helps your experience on Online Gaming... 

There's nothing more aggravating :cry:then having to buy newer hardware for newer games... Big corporations target the young upper middle ****which trickles down to the lower ****w/ enticing games that are very enriched w/ violence because it's what they want... I'm a big gamer and if I could, I'd be one to try and own the latest technology just to play what's out there... I'll never outgrow playing PC games and I'm playing as much as I can, whenever I can! PS3 is totally ripping the seems off ofgaming via the new MGS4 saga, it's totally "Mind Blowing!"... KONAMI is blessed w/ KOJIMA, he is simply remarkable! The man has no bound when it comes to graphics & story line as well as the latest technology envisioned towards the modern day warfare! He's a force to recon with... If Valve had such genius direction they would conquer the whole gaming scene... Kojima rocks! :wink:

My pc spec....

AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ 2.21 GHz, Corsair 3 GB XML 400MhzRam,
Microsoft Windows XP Pro 64 Edition, Version 2003 SP1,
SATA Seagate Barracuda 250 gig,
Fatal1ty AN8SLI 939 MB,
DUAL PNY Verto 7600 GT OC 8)