ApexExtreme to use nForce2 Integrated Graphics

slower then a geforce4MX on a AGP card. nothing else to discuss .
it's maybe interesting if you have a lot of old games laying around :LOL:
 
Hey, if they use pc3200(or beyond) it could possibly get inbetween geforce 4 mx420 and 440 speeds.

Anyhow, sadly g4 mx will be enough for most people and they won't know it can get better. I know tons of people now who use nforce2 integrated graphics and geforce 4 mxes. I also know some with geforce 2 mxes, 1 person I think may have a geforce ddr, another has a geforce 4 ti 4600 or something, but I'm the only one with a radeon 9700 pro.
 
Yes enough for most people until they try and play Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or other such games ;)

One benfit of these games is that it does make SOME customers upgrade their graphics cards.

Edit: P.S. I am using a GF4MX Int GPU and I have stopped playing PC Games.

I wonder why VIA has done this though. It is likely to be a cost and timing issue but they have changed the CPU as well from a 1GHz Eden processor to a much more powerful AthlonXP 2000+. It seems to me that with the Deltachrome the system was not balanced at all (a 1GHz Eden CPU would be a bad combo with such a 'powerful' GPU).

The original spec did not stop VIA winning some award(s) but really this new version of the Apex Extreme sounds absolutely rubbish and incredibly over priced.
 
Tahir said:
Yes enough for most people until they try and play Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or other such games ;)

One benfit of these games is that it does make SOME customers upgrade their graphics cards.

Edit: P.S. I am using a GF4MX Int GPU and I have stopped playing PC Games.

I wonder why VIA has done this though. It is likely to be a cost and timing issue but they have changed the CPU as well from a 1GHz Eden processor to a much more powerful AthlonXP 2000+. It seems to me that with the Deltachrome the system was not balanced at all (a 1GHz Eden CPU would be a bad combo with such a 'powerful' GPU).

The original spec did not stop VIA winning some award(s) but really this new version of the Apex Extreme sounds absolutely rubbish and incredibly over priced.

Great to see the upgraded cpu, at least now they're low end, but the mx gpu is still lame. However, there isn't much better they could throw in there for cheap, the integrated gpu is only like $20, and there isn't anything in the same price range that will outperform it. Even under $100 is a bit hard to find, geforce 4 mx agp card wouldn't be a worthwhile upgrade, and a geforce fx 5200 would suck, a geforce 3 would be about the only semi cheap thing they could put in, but I think they want integrated. In that case, the only other choice might be an integrated radeon 9000 or whatever number, which wouldn't perform any better due to the memory but at least you'd have pixel shaders.(but not the performance to run them)

Oh, and about games like prince of persia, it's kind of strange to see 4 year old console hardware pushing pcs foward, last gen assuming one had a 3d card they didn't need to upgrade to play rogue squadron, and the gen before that consoles could barely play doom. Anyhow, it's wierd to see since if it wasn't for PCs existing, I don't think we'd see the current generation of consoles as powerful as they are, consoles wouldn't need to compete as hard for graphics......eh, well at least the xbox probably wouldn't exist, dreamcast may have come out the same, ps2 probably would have, and gamecube might have.
 
Tahir said:
SRP: $499 :oops:

Woah, I could probably build it myself for under $200.
$50 cpu, $80 motherboard with integrated graphics. $30 case with power supply, $20 dvd drive, $50 512 MB memory, total $230. Ok, that's over $200, but if the apex only has 256 you can halve the memory price and it comes out under $200, did I miss anything major? Oh yes, a hard drive, lets say another $40 to get a decent sized one, still under $300.
 
not everyone knows how to build a pc .

This is a better set up than what you'd get from dell for the same price.

Not saying much but hey whatever
 
Tahir said:
http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1080325266.html

Basically I concur with what was written there. The machine is absolutely useless. There is no point in this thing existing with the specs it has as far as I can see.

Well, the Athlon is a significant improvement over VIA's chip.....

And I'd say it's about the same as a dell would give you,
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_desktop1?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
at least this comes with a monitor. Video card is crappier though(intel extreme graphics integrated), and I found conflicting information on dell's site, at another point they have the processor listed as a 2.4 ghz celeron instead.

With a quick search on pricewatch.com I found this(hope link works)
http://www.pcusa.com/shopKitConfig....0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,

I was able to customize a pc with an xp 3000, nforce2 with integrated video, audio, and lan, a cpu heatsink/fan, 256MB pc2700 ram, 30GB harddrive, 16x dvd drive, atx mid tower with case fan, 300 watt power supply, and windows xp for $507.
 
that dell model only has a 128 megs system ram.


and yes some companys will offer a pc at that price
but most people will just buy dell its one of the bigger suppliers of pcs .
 
Fine, dump the monitor(though for $50 I'd rather take it) and get 256MB of ram instead and it comes out to $520. But really, isn't it a much better deal to get a dell for that price which can be upgraded and do more than just play games and watch movies? Take the $500 dell with the monitor, spend $25 and buy your own extra ram(256MB at like any store that sells computer parts and has weekly sales) and then spend $70 and get yourself a radeon 9000 or a geforce 4 ti and you'll have a computer that can whoop that apextreme all over the place and still suck.
 
Thats if you know what your doing .

My father couldn't just go and buy a faster cpu or a 9000pro and put it in the pc . He wouldn't know how .

Tons of people are like that .

Also the case would not be as big as the dell case and would not take up much room .

So you could hook it up to your pc .

Is it over priced mabye.

Its it a dumb idea . Most likely .

Was it a mistake to make it. Well i doubt it .
 
jvd said:
Thats if you know what your doing .

My father couldn't just go and buy a faster cpu or a 9000pro and put it in the pc . He wouldn't know how .

Tons of people are like that .

Also the case would not be as big as the dell case and would not take up much room .

So you could hook it up to your pc .

Is it over priced mabye.

Its it a dumb idea . Most likely .

Was it a mistake to make it. Well i doubt it .

I think it was a mistake, but I guess they'll make money for the price they're selling it at. Still, for something that's supposed to be competing with current consoles that lacks the functionality of a pc and has worse graphics, it really shouldn't even cost as much as the current consoles. Installing a video card isn't much harder than installing a game, people who can't do that should just stick to consoles instead, or their current pc and solitaire.
 
I wonder if this has to do with Via's availability of parts. I mean, how many S3 Deltachromes are available on the retail market?
 
Yes it was. Which begs the question why the change so soon after announcing in January that it would be DC?
 
I know most people who buy a computer wouldn't know how to upgrade A CPU or video card.. but they're not the kind of people who would play games enough to buy the Apex system IMO. They bought their PC to write letters and check email, too, gaming was secondary. I don't think the Apex system will have the functionality or appeal of a PC to any audience at all, enthusiasts or casual users.

Ah well.
 
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