he's talking about the government of his socialist country potentially paying people back for hiring prostitutes.

Dude, that's whack. I mean, megawhack.

They're retarded or handicapped or whatever and can't get laid normally. Solution: get a prostitute. (we agree here). But have the government foot the bill?

It's not the government's money, it's the taxpayer's money. Every time you add a new service, you increase the burden on the taxpayer. Personally, I would rather have an extra $5 in my check than rest well in the knowledge that some retarded schmuck is getting laid at my expense. Fuck that. If I'm going to pay in money for people getting laid, I better be one of those people.

Hell, the handicapped people typically don't even have incomes...I'm already supporting their asses because they're on some government handout, more than likely. I don't see paying for them to get their weenie roasted every other week.

Oh right. Yeh that sounds pretty shit Ox.

To each their own of course, and I understand the sentiment. But the idea is: if you would ever end up in such a situation, you would benefit from that too. It's kind of a something to fall back on when life blows up in your face, for whatever reason. And yeah, I know there are ppl who take advantage from it, but there'll always be leeches.

While no one likes to pay taxes over here either (heh), there generally isn't much criticism of the system. Ppl are happy with it, by and large.

Besides, like I said, if they refund logopedic sessions for stutterers and such, I don't see how this is much different. But I guess you would have stutterers pay for their logopedic sessions (if needed) too, aye? While it -apparently- is a major social handicap for many ppl...and if you come from a poor family and don't get any refunds that means no logopedic sessions, and a likely fucked up future. And so on, and no happiness. I personally believe them handicapped dudes deserve some happiness too. It's not like there's an army of completely physically handicapped ppl waiting for their prostitute money, either. A small group with a relatively small cost to society...like, probably not even 1 cent on a yearly basis for every working person.

But meh, you have to remember that the general idea behind this system is 'it could happen to me/my kids/wife/friends, and if so I/they want to be treated well too'. Unselfish charity is hard to find. So it's like a health insurance in other countries, but cheaper and automatically held off your wage. It has some downsides and some upsides, but I generally see the benefits from it.

there's a difference with the stutterers. Presumably, only the ones whose professional lives are affected would qualify...ie, they can't get jobs otherwise. So you're spending some taxpayer money on them so they can get a job and stop being a burden on society. Otherwise, without that, they'd end up on welfare.

I support systems like that. Job retraining for people that can't get a job. Physical therapy to make people able to get jobs when they can't, etc etc. Giving them money so they can make their own money.

Giving a retard money to go get his willie whistled doesn't qualify, imo. btw, if I were to become disabled and unable to work, I would not expect the government to pay for prostitutes.

Besides...once every other week? Jeez. I went alot longer without than that.

Hehehe, I hear ya...unfortunately. But we could still masturbate like monkeys, of course, them handicapped ppl can't. And the week thing as just an example. They're not retards btw, they're only physically handicapped. That's like saying Stephen Hawking was a retard.

But you make a good argument, and I agree that there's a difference between stutterers (etc.) and this. I guess it all comes down to what you could consider a burden to society. I personally consider someone who's brain-dead (permanent coma) a 'burden to society' -as do you. That is, they can live for all I care, but pulling the plug should be a definite option. And would be for most ppl close to them after a while, i can imagine.

But in this case, it's hard to draw a line: yes, they are without much use for society, but they're still aware like you and I are. So it's kinda of a tricky situation. But meh, this is wandering away from the point a bit...your pov certainly is valid and it made me rethink mine a bit (less convinced, but still in favor). So jolly good discussion.

Think I'm gonna put another 'discussion' on the general forum about something vaguely related to this.

Anyway, back on topic: The P4 3.0GHz is a 478 (or summin) processor. Does that mean that the socket can only be a 478?

Unfortunately, yes. I think the socket 475 processors goes up to something like 3400, after that it's mainly 775. Not a disaster, but kinda crippling in the long run.

I see no reason for you to upgrade your CPU if you already have a P4 3.0 HT. The only thing better than what you have is maybe more cache on the chip or .# more speed on your processor. Defiantly not worth spending money on.

If you dont have a gig of memory I would spend money on that
If you dont have 2 gigs memory I would spend money on that
If you dont have a SATA hard drive I would spend money on that.


Processing speed is not what normally slows down your gaming experiance anyway, its hard drive and memory and video.

I have 1GB of RAM and a SATA, yes.

I had a look at prices, and the best thing is a P4 3.4GHz. Same cache, same chip, but it costs £650. So fuck that.

Normally yes, it is the graphics card and the HD/memory that influence gameplay. But i am haiving issues with RTW. I got my 7800GTX expecting to play it on ultra graphics. Problem is, RTW is mainly a CPU based game. Many people have told me this and they say its because using 'huge army size' with max details is too much for my CPU. They also say that if i keep the same graphics settings but at a lower 'army size' it will run like i want it to.

So, some games are actually more CPU based.

Now im worrying because what if Oblivion is also a CPU based game? I have a 7800GTX but a slow processor. It will be like having a dick with no balls.

interesting analogy.

I know oblivion makes heavy use of shaders and other graphical tricks for all the prettiness. So all of that would be offloaded on the GPU. Not sure about the rest, though...RadiantAI would be all about the CPU.

I think you worry too much.

RTW prolly has some code issues with your new card. Nothing helps against shity or corrupt code.

Yea. Difference between a 3.0 and a 3.4 is small and worthless. More than likley RTW is just a resource hog. You also need to know, sometimes no matter what rig, it wont be enough. Games makers are starting to make games now that are forward compatible meaning they are designed for future technology. So no matter how much you upgrade your still behind the curve.

I got 6552 on 3DMark05. No AA, 1024*768.

Thats probably more than enough for Oblivion. My bet is that they will be aiming for 4000-4500 or so, because thats where the majority of potential customers are.

Okay, ive done some number crunching and some critical liquidation assessment.

I may be able to swap out my system for £140:

Current:

- Intel P4 3.0GHz HT
- 1024MB DDR2 RAM 400MHz
- Standard Dell PCI-E mobo.

For:

- AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Socket 939)
- GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 DDR400
- Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi PCI-E Mobo

The RAM is probably going to be the same, but the CPU apparently is much better. And obviously there's a lot of "future proofing" here, what with the SLi and skt 939.

What do you think?