By-Tor

Red dial has always been very easy to call out on the MBW... new and old. The red SUBMARINER font is totally off. I wrote this back in 2005 and the information is still valid. Now, keeping today's rep standards in mind, I wouldn't give that watch very good review. The old red 1680 MBW is very inaccurate rep without tons of expensive mods... and even after theose mods the dial just plain sucks. I've seen $90 reps that are more faithful to the gen. The white one is a great "base watch" though... providing you actually do those (expensive) modifications. The case construction on the old MBW watches is second to none... but then again the crown guards, pearl and default crown are all terrible.

Damn... I already bought the 9600... not because I thought it was better (I definitely trusted ammandel's suggestion 100%) but I was a bit worried about my power supply (as ricardo said the 8800 takes more power) but no worries guys, I get excellent performance (actually I could call it "superb" compared to my integrated POS) from this one. MLB 2k9 looks incredible, and runs smooth as butter (anyone wants the game BTW, I can give you the RS links)!? I also bought an extra 2GB RAM. I didn't want to install everything there but gave 20€ to the nerdy kid in the computer store. I said "I'll give this to you for installing the stuff... if I see you to put it into your own pocket". He set up everything for me and it's working like a dream. I get totally different performance from this machine now. Next time I'll just buy the best gaming machine that money can buy. In the long run it's much easier so you don't have to do these updates which are always frustrating. Millions of thanks to all of you. I'm happy. PS: Why those integrated cards are so bad? I mean, I almost got the same performance from my ancient Celeron 1300 in the old days (in some old games). @its_urabus: Much appreciated my old friend... but all cool now!

I wish I could return a favor here Ricardo... But actually all available Bentley reps are somewhat outdated. I recall they came in 2006 when they were considered respectable... but they're not quite up to today's standards (BCE, SFSO etc.) They completely lack AR among other things. I doubt there is even a rep of Bentley GMT done... at least not something that could be considered "respectable", aka 7750-based one.

More excellent advice. I'll get that 9600 gt card that Ricardo suggested (if it uses lower power than 8800 gt) and add 1GB of ram. I actually received another PC game today, MLB 2k9 Baseball and I was shocked how slowly it ran. It was like playing one of those chd "modern" games in MAME emulator. It was terrible... I hope this better card helps. Thanks again everyone for the great suggestions. This is the place where you can find anwers to all questions. PS: Oh I still have another one... what's the meaning of life?

Ok... found my system specs. I found out from the receipt that paid 299 € for this... so it definitely wasn't expensive. It came without OS of course... don't want to pay extra for things that any bozo can get for free. Fake cracked Windows with gen performance and all updates... goes along well with my rep philosophy. I wanted a low end machine for cheap, mainly for photo editing and Internet browsing... and apparently that's what I got. I didn't know I was going to play new games but recently changed my mind. Processor: Amd Athlon X2 5200 AM2 64bit Mainboard: ASUS M2N68-VM NF630A DVI,HDMI,VGA HardDrive: 250gb sata 7200rpm MEMORY: 2048mb DDR2 800Mhz DVD -RW dual layer 20x Power: 400w ATX Video card: Integrated GF7050PV Sound card: Integrated 8-CH.HD Audio

I have XBox 360 too. I'm a sports game fan... especially hockey. As great as the 360 hockey games look, they're still just plastic... just like all other sports games that can't receive community made mods. If you install the "rebuilt NHL 2004", "Classic PES 5 with World Cup 1990 mod" or "MVP Baseball 2005, with 08 mod" or rFactor to your system (PC) you'll find out what I'm talking about. Being European, I had never even seen a baseball game in my life before I checked what the guys in the MVP community had done. That video game alone got me interested in baseball (of all sports)! Rebuilt NHL 2004 is even better... it runs circles around my XBox NHL 09 in "feeling" and atmosphere... everything except in the graphics department actually, it's not even funny. The hardcore fans have rebuilt those games completely... to a sensational shape... added some insane details, stats, reports, and other characteristics from the real sport... no "out of the box" console sports game can ever come close and have "soul"... no matter how pretty it is. That's why I'm a PC gamer through and through. Just my 2c. @ricardo: Thanks man... appreciate your advice.

Thanks Ricardo. I posted my specs in the initial post. I hate Vista... I won't install that no matter what. I've seen enough of the compatibility issues with some older games I want to play.

Amazing. Will buy that particular card tomorrow. Much appreciated mate. If you need some watch assistance, just drop me a pm... anytime. PS: Thanks everyone else too. I wasn't aware that XP can't use more memory than that. You learn more every day. I'll keep you posted.

You know what they say... "pictures speak louder than words". PHOTO

Amazing. Thanks mate... you really seem to know your stuff. I can install the card... I've done it many times. But appreciate that guide... really superb. How can I determine what my PSU "wattage" is? Is the info accessible from the control panel? Is the video card recommendation the same? And no extra RAM needed (necessarily)?

Sure. Very soon... like in 15 minutes. But my two remaining camera batteries just died... typical! Can I get the mainboard specs from the Control Panel... or do I need the manual? Of course I can't find it. That is also very typical.

It was a complete system. It was some sort of "budget" machine as my girlfriend has her own laptop and I was mainly just editing photos and magazine layouts (my profession) and browsing the Internet. Now I got my old "gaming passion" back when I saw some new sports games. I snapped a few photos of my mainboard. Perhaps Ammandel can see what I can fit to this POS. (sorry the photos are terrible as I don't have much light here). PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2 If you need clearer pics let me know and I'll drag better lamp here. I'll tell you the motherboard specs now... hold on... I'll look for the manual.

Thanks mate. So I'll buy more RAM and new graphics card... cool! Can you install another graphics card to a system that has integrated one already installed (it can't be taken off of the mainboard)? @ammandel: would it help, and could you give me more information if I snapped a picture of my mainboard and stuff?

Hi all tech wizards... I just bought a new desktop machine a while ago. I wasn't too anal about the performance because I was under the impression that all somewhat modern machines can run modern games just "ok". Well that doesn't seem to be the case here. Looks like I saved a few bucks in the wrong place... my machine has TERRIBLE performance with all new games: NHL 09 (well that doesn't really matter as 2004 is superior to it every way), FIFA 09 (awful performance), PES 2009 (same thing). I can run all vintage games perfectly of course... but looks like I need a new video card for the modern games. I have never been even remotely interested in computers THAT way (so I don't really know which is good and which isn't anymore) but I'd like to play games occasionally. I have XBox 360 and all hockey and soccer titles but I actually hate XBox... I much rather play from PC. Can the tech wizards tell me whether my specs are totally outdated or not. Here goes... Video card: Processor: Do you think changing video card would improve my performance with games... or is my processor just crap? Or perhaps there could be some "tricks" to improve the speed? Could it be that my RAM is just insufficient? What do you think is the main obstacle in getting decent game performance? I know the video card is "integrated" to the mainboard so I'm not sure if it's even possible to change. I'll buy new computer stuff tomorrow based on your guidance... or perhaps dump this whole damn machine and buy another. Thanks in advance. All help much appreciated.

I love the ExpI... in the pictures. But damn it's SO small. But I have many times thought about adding one into my collection anyway. Such a basic but classy piece.

You don't know what you're missing guys... I got a few viruses (no biggie) but also a DVD collection of Pamela Anderson sucking horse di*k! I gotta test these Viagra bottles... got a few great deals too.

@Ubi: That Omega is just I'm starting the week with my beloved frankenbaby.

GMT... my favorite subject. You only have 2 serious options (from reps): bklm1234 can provide the best version of the "old" 16710 model. I have compared that rep to genuine in my section. Read the article here. Another very good option is the "Ultimate GMT IIc". Review here. Just make sure you get the correct version as there are inferior ones out there. Again, I recommend bklm1234 who really knows his stuff. Happy hunting! PS: All replicas of the vintage 1675 are hmm... not that great.

Great pics & watches guys! Good old Sub for me today!

Damn... I almost thought I had accidentally arrived to the PAM section... I've never been there (not without my parents anyway) and those creepy watches scare the hell out of me! Seriously guys... they all look cool and very "pro".

Yeah it used to be that way for me as well... before I had bought my first 10 or so.

Hey man... that's not Lada... it's an old Citroen!!! THESE are Ladas!

Yeah Lada sounds amazing... and didn't Bernie always want a Russian driver?

Nice story and an excellent watch. This rep has remained to be in my collection since 2006 (when they first introduced the SMP chrono rep). Mine is from the very first batch that has ETA dw... got it from the legendary Eddie Lee. I really love mine and it's one of those reps that will never leave my collection (unless I buy the gen... which is unlikely as the rep is so good).