Computers And Video Games

[Mindgrinder]

Boy oh boy , nice clean setup there, btw could u give us ur review on those bose speakers

nice i have older version of those bose speakers the best for pc you can get!

[whizzkid_ram]

Picture of my gaming rig. As you can see, I am eagerly waiting for the Ninja 250!!!

Nice setup with bose speakers...Plz review those speakers for us...

[mostwanted_racer]

The DDR5 is on the graphics card. The card itself will fit on all standard motherboards that we get nowadays, for Core 2 Duo/Quad/i3/i5/Phenom II etc processors. And these motherboards have slots for either DDR2 or DDR3. DDR5 is used only for GPU's as of now, so all 5xxx series cards are compatible with current PC's.

As of now the 5xxx series are costly. You can decide which one to go for: If you are going to play the latest games(which use DX11) on 19" or 22" or bigger monitors then maybe the 5xxx series, otherwise a 4890 or a GTX 275 will be more than sufficient.

@ Tany: Thanks for the update, I recently brought ACER H233H 23'' Full HD Wide Screen Monitor, already got idea of graphics Card, so can you advice which Motherboard & processor to opt for Hard Core Gaming ?

Few Market Options available are:

1. Core 2 Quard + MSI P45 Chipset
2. Core 2 Quard + Intel P45 Chipset
3. Core i7 + MSI X58 Chipset

Or any else combination.

[mostwanted_racer]

Core i5

Recently got the news about INTEL Core i5 / i3 Processes ? When do we expect these available in INDIAN market ?

[bluevolt]

Nice setup with bose speakers...Plz review those speakers for us...

I'll oblige...

Well, what to say, these speakers are out of this world specially when you are playing games or watching DVD movies. Though the physical setup consists of only two speakers and an Acoutimass bass module, the effect is a true 5.1 surround sound which usually comes through a physical 5 speaker+base unit setup. I used to have a creative 2 speaker setup before this, and they were pretty good, but these BOSE speakers just blow them skyhigh out of water.

When I went to the Bose showroom, I reviewed four types of speaker systems for my PC: 1) Bose Companion 2 at Rs.8000 2) Bose Companion 3 at Rs.17000 3) Bose Companion 5 at Rs.23500, and lastly 4) Bose Music Monitors at Rs.24000. The Companion 2 and Music Monitor are just speakers without bass units, so I ruled those out because the magic of Bose sound also lies in the accompanying Acoustimass bass unit. The Music Monitor produces extremely high fidelty audio, so this might be a cool thing to have if you are into mixing music or a true music enthusiast. But the flip side of the music monitor is that it does NOT have a bass unit, so you will miss the "Oh-my-god" sound. And avoid the entry level Bose Companion 2 at all costs - you will get much better value with creative or Harmon Kardon at that price. I checked out the Companion 3, and it was a cool system - till I heard the Bose Companion 5 in action. The Companion 3 system belts out decent sound, but the Comp 5 sounded just too good to be true. The salesman played a sample track from Jet Li's movie - the Hero, and that was all what was needed for my hand to reach into my pocket and whip out my credit card!!

I enjoy this system every time I play it - the action in the games come alive with the great sound, and ditto for movies. This morning I watched the Terminator 3 crane truck chase sequence with the volume at 60%, and I enjoyed every bit of it. My summary on the Bose Companion 5 music system:

1) If your house is not very big, then this system can well serve as the main home theater system in your drawing room, if you do not plan to use it 100% for the PC. The only thing is that these speakers connect through USB only, so you have to make sure your other peripherals (like the DVD) player has USB ports can channel the output through those speakers. In regular sized drawing rooms found in most of the apartment flats/house we live in, you will still feel the power of these speakers. It is also a cheaper alternative to buying an entry level Bose Lifestyle system, which will cost much, much more than these babies.

2) No sound card is needed to use these speakers. I have a creative soundblaster card installed, but it is useless when used with Bose.

3) I love the small volume control pod. Mute and un-mute is touch sensitive and can be done with a gentle tap of your finger in case you have to attend a call. These are two 3.5 input ports in the pod, so you can attach your iPod or headphones. The volume is controlled by an ergonomic circular dial on the same pod.

4) Listening to regular music is fun too - less fidelity than the Bose Music Monitors but 3x better than any other non-Bose speakers. I also have a 2000 Watt Sony Hi-fi, but after I got these Bose speakers, I got to know what I was missing. All these years, I was listening to noise and not music!

5) At full volume, the sound is crystal clear, no hiss, tear or noise. It slightly rattles the glass of my cupboard behind my chair, though.

6) At Rs.23,500 it is expensive, but will probably last you decades, if not a lifetime. One thing about buying the best is you have no more mountains to conquer, and you are satisfied materistically - which is a rare emotion.

Will be happy to answer any questions!

[tanay]

which Motherboard & processor to opt for Hard Core Gaming ?

Well there are lots of options:
1) The Core i7 920/950/975 + X58 chipset way: highest performance but at the highest cost.
2) The core i5 or the Core i7 8 series + P55 chipset: slightly lower performance than option 1 but at a lower cost. Don't know if this is available in India yet but should be popular within 2 months I guess
3) AMD Phenom II X4 955/965 + 790FX chipset; performance slightly lesser than option 2 but with a high value-for-money factor, can be overclocked easily if you feel like it.

Would be better not to go for the Core2 Duo/Quads, they are now in phase out.
The above 3 options are all 4-core. Depending on your preference and budget you can take any one.

[whizzkid_ram]

I'll oblige...

Well, what to say, these speakers are out of this world specially when you are playing games or watching DVD movies. Though the physical setup consists of only two speakers and an Acoutimass bass module, the effect is a true 5.1 surround sound which usually comes through a physical 5 speaker+base unit setup. I used to have a creative 2 speaker setup before this, and they were pretty good, but these BOSE speakers just blow them skyhigh out of water.

When I went to the Bose showroom, I reviewed four types of speaker systems for my PC: 1) Bose Companion 2 at Rs.8000 2) Bose Companion 3 at Rs.17000 3) Bose Companion 5 at Rs.23500, and lastly 4) Bose Music Monitors at Rs.24000. The Companion 2 and Music Monitor are just speakers without bass units, so I ruled those out because the magic of Bose sound also lies in the accompanying Acoustimass bass unit. The Music Monitor produces extremely high fidelty audio, so this might be a cool thing to have if you are into mixing music or a true music enthusiast. But the flip side of the music monitor is that it does NOT have a bass unit, so you will miss the "Oh-my-god" sound. And avoid the entry level Bose Companion 2 at all costs - you will get much better value with creative or Harmon Kardon at that price. I checked out the Companion 3, and it was a cool system - till I heard the Bose Companion 5 in action. The Companion 3 system belts out decent sound, but the Comp 5 sounded just too good to be true. The salesman played a sample track from Jet Li's movie - the Hero, and that was all what was needed for my hand to reach into my pocket and whip out my credit card!!

I enjoy this system every time I play it - the action in the games come alive with the great sound, and ditto for movies. This morning I watched the Terminator 3 crane truck chase sequence with the volume at 60%, and I enjoyed every bit of it. My summary on the Bose Companion 5 music system:

1) If your house is not very big, then this system can well serve as the main home theater system in your drawing room, if you do not plan to use it 100% for the PC. The only thing is that these speakers connect through USB only, so you have to make sure your other peripherals (like the DVD) player has USB ports can channel the output through those speakers. In regular sized drawing rooms found in most of the apartment flats/house we live in, you will still feel the power of these speakers. It is also a cheaper alternative to buying an entry level Bose Lifestyle system, which will cost much, much more than these babies.

2) No sound card is needed to use these speakers. I have a creative soundblaster card installed, but it is useless when used with Bose.

3) I love the small volume control pod. Mute and un-mute is touch sensitive and can be done with a gentle tap of your finger in case you have to attend a call. These are two 3.5 input ports in the pod, so you can attach your iPod or headphones. The volume is controlled by an ergonomic circular dial on the same pod.

4) Listening to regular music is fun too - less fidelity than the Bose Music Monitors but 3x better than any other non-Bose speakers. I also have a 2000 Watt Sony Hi-fi, but after I got these Bose speakers, I got to know what I was missing. All these years, I was listening to noise and not music!

5) At full volume, the sound is crystal clear, no hiss, tear or noise. It slightly rattles the glass of my cupboard behind my chair, though.

6) At Rs.23,500 it is expensive, but will probably last you decades, if not a lifetime. One thing about buying the best is you have no more mountains to conquer, and you are satisfied materistically - which is a rare emotion.

Will be happy to answer any questions!

Excellent review dude...By your review i understood how these Damn helluva speakers would be ...I already heard the bose is famous for mind blasting performance...So there will be only one USB connector in Bose Companion 5 to connect to the motherboard ??..So the onboard 5.1 channel Audio in my motherboard will be useless?

[EL LOCO DIABLO]

Anyone here tried Machinarium? A simple point and click game with a ton of puzzles that will baffle you trying to figure them out, and it's a humble 281Mb game! One of the most awesome game i've played in a while, and i've not even covered half!

[mostwanted_racer]

Well there are lots of options:
1) The Core i7 920/950/975 + X58 chipset way: highest performance but at the highest cost.
2) The core i5 or the Core i7 8 series + P55 chipset: slightly lower performance than option 1 but at a lower cost. Don't know if this is available in India yet but should be popular within 2 months I guess
3) AMD Phenom II X4 955/965 + 790FX chipseterformance slightly lesser than option 2 but with a high value-for-money factor, can be overclocked easily if you feel like it.

Would be better not to go for the Core2 Duo/Quads, they are now in phase out.
The above 3 options are all 4-core. Depending on your preference and budget you can take any one.

@ Tanay: Thanks for the update buddy.. the best option would be to wait till next year and get the best of all with new upcoming processors, G-cards and CPU.

[mostwanted_racer]

PC or PS3 ?

Hi,

I am thing of upgrading my PC in 2010 when all the latest DX 11 cards are available as well the new i7 processor series. But on a second thought to go for Sony PS3, since next year Sony is going to launch the new PS3 Slim which would be much cheaper than the present one ?

So which one to choose either upgrading PC or buying a PS 3 ?

[bluevolt]

Excellent review dude...By your review i understood how these Damn helluva speakers would be ...I already heard the bose is famous for mind blasting performance...So there will be only one USB connector in Bose Companion 5 to connect to the motherboard ??..So the onboard 5.1 channel Audio in my motherboard will be useless?

Unlike a sound card dependent system(where you have to the unit into the sound card), these speakers can connect to any USB port available on your PC/Lappy. These could be the same one you plug in your portable hard disk or mouse on. So this is basically a plug and play USB device.

Though presence of a sound card does not make any difference, it works with your on-board 5.1 channel audio. I say this because when you try to configure these speakers, there is an option of 5.1 channel sound set as default.

[varun_r15]

how many cs players are there (cs 1.6)
i am soon making a xbhp server for online 1.6

[moeed]

^^ That's great. I used to play cs. Not getting time these days.

[balajidiwakar]

i used to play CS 1.6 in steam 2 yrs back.....now switched to Team Fortress 2

[chilled_fire]

all of duty Mordern warfare 2

Just preordered it today , cant wait to get my hands on this one , as mordern warfare was really good .