View Full Version : Reality Check Minneapolis
flounder43
11-21-02, 01:26 PM
AMD is in town tonight, Thursday November 21 at 8:30 International Market Square.
Who is going?
So far, I know Sickboy is, and I am going to try to meet up with him. Anyone else?
http://www.amdrealitycheck.com/home.html
Twisted
11-21-02, 02:01 PM
i might try and get a ride
Gravity Man
11-21-02, 02:09 PM
If I can figure out how to get there. :D
hey i was just thinking about starting a thread about this, but yeah i am going, do you have a set meeting place or what flounder?
Kid Payne
11-21-02, 02:36 PM
I signed up, but won't be able to go. Dang dang dang, the thought of the possibility of winning a free processor just kills me.
EDIT*
For some reason I thought this was for Brooklyn...Sorry wrong location.
flounder43
11-21-02, 02:59 PM
Originally posted by Demont
hey i was just thinking about starting a thread about this, but yeah i am going, do you have a set meeting place or what flounder?
Well, Sickboy and I have exchanged cell phone numbers, and are going to meet up that way.
If you have a cell phone, we could do that...
BTW, it can be tricky to get to International Market Square...here are some directions for those that haven't been there...
http://www.harriettubman.org/direct.pdf
SickBoy
11-21-02, 06:20 PM
I'll be wearing a blue Fox Racing sweatshirt.... it's got a big Fox logo on it.. :) Hard to miss.
flounder43
11-21-02, 11:19 PM
I just got back from the event. I thought it was nice enough, although a bit cheesy, of course.
I did get a t-shirt, but no cpu. Met Sickboy for the first time. Also met Demont and Gravity Man.
Lots of people there, it was packed. The odds of winning, therefore, were not very good.
SickBoy
11-21-02, 11:21 PM
Just got back... It was cool to meet you guys... but I must say, that event went EXCESSIVELY long....
And honestly, we KNEW the chick was going to win the dance contest. I think she might have an... ahem... night job... lol
Gravity Man
11-21-02, 11:40 PM
All I got was a t-shirt. It was too long and there were too many people, but at least we didn't have to stand outside at 5 AM. Nice meeting you all, though.
BinarySuperman
11-21-02, 11:47 PM
i just got back from the NY event and it wasn't that bad considering i didn't win/get anything, and i got lost and ended up paying for a cab, oh and i stood in heavy rain for 30 mins. im SO HAPPY now.
hey, my friend with the lisp won one of the 2200+'s. the other person with my was my brother. nice meeting you guys, but i didnt meet sick boy, oh well. :)
i did manage to get a hat and a shirt. as well as a hat for said friend and a shirt for my brother. (ultimate frisbee helps my jumping and grabbing skills)
oh yeah, how about that hardocp dork who won the system contest, his very appearance offended me.... bah!
see you next year guys. :D
Originally posted by SickBoy
And honestly, we KNEW the chick was going to win the dance contest. I think she might have an... ahem... night job... lol
i already forgot her name but i met her before the show. my friend tried to steal her ticket things, cause she left them at the registration table, haha. i agree about the night job, lol.
PontifexMaximus
11-22-02, 12:17 AM
Hey flounder43 and any other O/C forum members at the Minneapolis show!
I saw you guys at the event! I'm brand new here in the forums, but I've been an anonymous lurker of the website predominantly and some with the forums since sometime in 2000. I'm a total junkie when it comes to reading Ed and Joe's famous analogies when explaining computer technology. It always gives me a chuckle or sheds some helpful insight. I wanted to say something to you guys tonight, but I knew I was just some anonymous lurker. Anyways, I'm the boof who inserted the floppy cable incorrectly and got 2nd place tonight in Minneapolis. I got all frazzled after having trouble screwing in the darn motherboard. They gave me a screwdriver that was too big for the screws so it continually slipped out of the screw's grooves. I should have brought my own trusty magnetic multiple head screwdriver like the other guy. I was just sooooo nervous and my hands were shaking soooo much! Oh well, I still got 2 2200+ T-Bred A's (KV3C's), 2 shirts, hat, bag, $500. It was still a blast. I wish I read this thread before the show.
P.S. After the contest I was stuck onstage during the final raffle, so I was chitchatting with a PR guy from AMD....he was one of the few actual AMD employees there. I tried to smoothe him over into telling me a release date for Hammer. Alas, all I got was "it'll be out in Q1."
NOTE: I think my memory served me incorrectly on the above quote....I was too high on adrenaline. The rep actually told me "first half." Ignore Q1, though I sure wouldn't mind it if it came out in Q1.
Leif
hey, cool, i was rooting for you man! even though you didnt win the big prize, congrats! 500 bucks is a good chunk of cash, and that will be a nice upgrade from your 750 in the sig.... but can i have the other 2200+? :D
SickBoy
11-22-02, 07:01 AM
Leif - what was the deal with the floppy thing? We know you had it wrong the first time (and honestly, who DOES get it right the first time? I don't think I ever have), but when you switched it you got the floppy drive fail error? That seemed kinda weird to me. LOL those computers were probably designed to explode if assembled even the slightest bit incorrectly (hence the guy in NY who apparently fried his PSU making the same mistake)... :)
And look at it this way... if that other guy hadn't won he probably would have gone home and committed suicide because he wasn't "King of the Nerds".... :D
PontifexMaximus
11-22-02, 07:42 AM
Originally posted by SickBoy
Leif - what was the deal with the floppy thing? We know you had it wrong the first time (and honestly, who DOES get it right the first time? I don't think I ever have), but when you switched it you got the floppy drive fail error? That seemed kinda weird to me. LOL those computers were probably designed to explode if assembled even the slightest bit incorrectly (hence the guy in NY who apparently fried his PSU making the same mistake)... :)
And look at it this way... if that other guy hadn't won he probably would have gone home and committed suicide because he wasn't "King of the Nerds".... :D
LOL. To tell you the truth I'm not sure. It baffled me too. But quite honestly, I'd never been so anxious before. It felt like I was dreaming about this and thinking all along...do I have what it takes to be a supergeek and prove my geekdom? And then I realize....no I'm just an average Joe. Damn!
I couldn't even recall for you everything that happened. I don't remember if that floppy connector was keyed properly on the end that connects to the mobo....perhaps I connected that backwards? But I'm sure I didn't. I know that the end connected to the floppy wasn't keyed. And I just couldn't remember going souly from looking at the ribbon which end was up. I knew I had a 50/50 chance so I thought I'd try it one way and hope like hell. I don't connect floppy cables for a living...nor even a pastime. It's just not that exciting for me. Now I could instantly tell the difference between a T-Bird, Palomino, and T-Bred chip....that's a little more exciting for me. Oh well. I had a lot of fun. It was definitely worth my time.
I guess I can't argue with what DS said here (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=140678).
Surely you all know the one thing you are 50% likely to screw up, no matter how good you get.
Go ahead, take a guess.
Even a seasoned professional like me makes this mistake occasionally, because FLOPPY DRIVES do not always conform to the standards that other devices conform to. How often do you get keyed cables? How often is the drive's connections proerly keyed? And how often does pin1 go next to the power lead, like it always does for IDE or SCSI?
P.S. If you cheered for me thanks a lot. I came by myself, so I had no fan club with me. I didn't know a soul there except there was this one tall redhaired guy that I think went to my alma mater college, Luther College. I didn't have a chance to say hi to him though.
hey, cool, i was rooting for you man! even though you didnt win the big prize, congrats! 500 bucks is a good chunk of cash, and that will be a nice upgrade from your 750 in the sig.... but can i have the other 2200+?
I'm probably going to sell both of these processors on EBay this weekend. I see that they're going for $164 currently at NewEgg and I know that won't last very long. Wait a couple weeks and I could lose $20 or more value on each one. Plus they're both T-Bred Rev A's (AXDA2200DKV3C). If I was actually going to go AMD, I want at least a T-Bred B but more preferrably a Barton. I don't think I'll wait for Hammer yet. Originally, I was planning to go with a C-1 P4 and I like that Asus Granite Bay mobo. I'm still formulating my decision.
BinarySuperman
11-22-02, 11:08 AM
lol both guys from NY had the floppy error, honestly i think thats sad, i have never put that cable in incorrectly, and i remember one of the box builders tell all his friends that he will buy them all dinner with that 100 bucks he got if they wont tell anyone that he screwed up like that during the battle of the boxes.
flounder43
11-22-02, 12:59 PM
Lol, that was you, Leif? Good job with the questions, too bad about the floppy. I was the one shouting "Flip the floppy cable!"
My theory is that it was wrong the first time, and you needed to reset the cmos after fixing it. I know that there have been times when I tried it both ways and it didn't work either way.
Good to see you here, hope to see you around more!
Eric
SickBoy
11-22-02, 03:03 PM
Leif - you've already got two chips... hear the wind whisper, "Dual.... Dual.... Dual... Dual...."
:)
Congrats Leif, and since nobody else has said it,
WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!
We might be wierd, but we're friendly.
steve
PontifexMaximus
11-22-02, 08:54 PM
Originally posted by skou
WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!
We might be wierd, but we're friendly.
steve
I think I just might like this place! :p
Really stupid question...
All of this about the floppy cable..the idea is to get this rig up and running in the shortest amount of time, right??
Why not boot from CD?? Bypass the floppy altogether?? What OS are they using?
B.
flounder43
11-22-02, 09:15 PM
Originally posted by PontifexMaximus
I think I just might like this place! :p
I am sure you will.
It is good to see yet another Minnesota overclocker!
BTW, that dude that won the $2,500 posted about it as well...
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909774&m=6010977935
flounder43
11-22-02, 09:17 PM
Originally posted by Mr B
Really stupid question...
All of this about the floppy cable..the idea is to get this rig up and running in the shortest amount of time, right??
Why not boot from CD?? Bypass the floppy altogether?? What OS are they using?
B.
The OS was Win XP Pro. They just were testing how fast you could build the computer correctly. Of course, it is silly because the floppy cable is just plain unpredictable. Maybe I would have just not plugged it in...
BinarySuperman
11-22-02, 09:43 PM
so theres no way of knowing which way the floppy cable goes in? why would computer manufacturers make them like that?
flounder43
11-22-02, 09:47 PM
Originally posted by BinarySuperman
so theres no way of knowing which way the floppy cable goes in? why would computer manufacturers make them like that?
Some of the floppy drives are keyed, that is, they only have one way to plug. However, most don't, at least in my experience.
Gravity Man
11-23-02, 12:34 AM
PontifexMaximus- Welcome to the forums! We could always use some more Minnesotans. :)
Congrats on getting to the battle of the boxes. Sounds like you made an impressive haul, even without winning that extra 2 grand (although I'm sure it would have been nice).
One little questuion: am I the only one who thought those AMD breath mints were pertty bad? I don't even know what they're supposed to taste like and I've been eating them for the last hour...
There's a picture with me in it on one of the pages linked to in the Ars Technica thread: http://teamj.no-ip.org/tdog/images/DSCN0173_JPG.jpg I'm the one in the foreground with the hat on, I have no idea what I'm doing. :D
flounder43
11-23-02, 12:43 AM
Originally posted by Gravity Man
One little questuion: am I the only one who thought those AMD breath mints were pertty bad? I don't even know what they're supposed to taste like and I've been eating them for the last hour...
There's a picture with me in it on one of the pages linked to in the Ars Technica thread: http://teamj.no-ip.org/tdog/images/DSCN0173_JPG.jpg I'm the one in the foreground with the hat on, I have no idea what I'm doing. :D
I think those mints are pretty tasty...a friend of Demont has some extras, I hear...:rolleyes:
Yep, that is you, looking intently at the stage...
I cannot appear in photographs for, well, good reason...
W00r!!!!
from the arstechnica thread
i started filling out battle of the boxes forms once everyone was let in...after i had filled out around 15-20 of them (and placed them in the box), i overheard the AMD rep manning the signup booth say you were only allowed to fill out one. well... what's done was done. so i stopped, being a good ethical fellow. or something to that effect.
ummmm WTF???
check battle of the boxes rules, i think its pretty clear...
http://www.amdrealitycheck.com/legal.html
flounder43
11-23-02, 02:44 AM
Originally posted by Demont
ummmm WTF???
check battle of the boxes rules, i think its pretty clear...
http://www.amdrealitycheck.com/legal.html
I noticed that earlier, but I didn't want to start any ill-will...
im always up for some ill will, especially when it means you or i could have been the ones on stage if he didnt cheat like a madman.... :|
what was his full name?
Gravity Man
11-23-02, 03:14 AM
I could let it slide if it were just 2 or 3 forms, but 15-20 is just wrong. I'm not about to stir up trouble in another forum, but I'm not above an email or two to the appropriate people at AMD.
Originally posted by Gravity Man
I could let it slide if it were just 2 or 3 forms, but 15-20 is just wrong. I'm not about to stir up trouble in another forum, but I'm not above an email or two to the appropriate people at AMD.
my thoughts exactly, i will do some sleuthing tomorrow.
SickBoy
11-23-02, 08:46 AM
Yeah, I'd be behind emailing AMD.... that nerd punk doesn't need $2500 to back up his claims to be king of the nerds.... lol. I filled out **one** form like all the other honest people.
And next time I want to know how to get a VIP.... apparently being a QA Engineer in the Software Solutions Group of the market leader in CAD design software and the industry's premier PLM suite doesn't count for much.... :rolleyes:
Ok I'll quit tooting PTC's horn now... lol.
SickBoy
11-23-02, 08:49 AM
Oh and BTW....
Flounder - I wanted soooo badly to get called up to the stage so I could tell them what I was running in my main rig (like you mentioned)...
"Wait, Duron's can't run in SMP... pay no attention to the boy in the Blue Fox sweatshirt" as I'm hauled off by the AMD Gestapo.... lol.... :) :D
flounder43
11-23-02, 12:45 PM
Originally posted by SickBoy
Oh and BTW....
Flounder - I wanted soooo badly to get called up to the stage so I could tell them what I was running in my main rig (like you mentioned)...
"Wait, Duron's can't run in SMP... pay no attention to the boy in the Blue Fox sweatshirt" as I'm hauled off by the AMD Gestapo.... lol.... :) :D
LOL, that cracks me up...
PontifexMaximus
11-23-02, 02:08 PM
Thanks flounder for the link to the other guy's posts. That's too bad the guy got away with 15+ entry forms. I just keep thinking that if I had my trusty magnetic screwdriver....it would have been much easier plugging in that motherboard. The Philips screwdriver they gave me was slightly too big for the screw's notch on top so it constantly kept slipping out. It was extremely difficult to tighten the screws let alone inside the case. That part flustered the hell out of me and I almost lost it for the rest of the way.
My floppy connector had no tabs....believe me I checked. And unfortunately the floppy drive had to be connected properly to pass the checklist....just like all the mobo screws had to all be screwed in.
I realize now that I goofed in not picking up an extra stick of memory....it didn't even dawn on me at the time that I could pick up an extra stick of memory with my extra cash on the list....just a stupid mistake. So I'm sure I would have lost in the benchmarks even if the floppy was connected properly. Let alone I'm slow and meticulous whenever I do anything, so even with my trusty screwdriver, I'm sure I would have lost on time.
I'm still elated with how the night went. It was a bit surreal being on the stage....it's amazing some of the crap people yell at you too. I'm happy I won what I did fair and square.
imo, if i remember correctly i think the best way to go would be to get the video card upgrade the 128 stick and the 1800+. i think it was exactly 299. since all the benchmarks are games, i think the better video card would do it.
Gravity Man
11-24-02, 03:12 AM
I didn't look at the prices, but since AMD is trying to sell processors, the benchmarks are probably highly CPU dependant. I would have gone with the 2000+, onboard video, and as much memory as possible. I don't think the difference between a GF4 MX440 and an onboard MX420 would be as much as the difference between an XP 1800+ and an XP 2000+, but I could be wrong.
SickBoy
11-24-02, 08:02 AM
Originally posted by Gravity Man
I didn't look at the prices, but since AMD is trying to sell processors, the benchmarks are probably highly CPU dependant. I would have gone with the 2000+, onboard video, and as much memory as possible. I don't think the difference between a GF4 MX440 and an onboard MX420 would be as much as the difference between an XP 1800+ and an XP 2000+, but I could be wrong.
The onboard video was nForce1 onboard video, I think.... so more like GF2 MX-level....
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