I Need Help Showing Off!

All that power and no idea what to do with it.

God Bless America !!

First show them Oblivion or some game at 600x800 at absolute lowest settings. Then crank it up and explain how hardly any PC can do what yours is doing.

Other than running Oblivion, you could download 3DMark06 and run it, then record the numbers it gives. Those numbers will give a good comparison to the numbers given on lessor computers.

I prefer 3dMark05, seems to be a much fairer benchmark. '06 is far too CPU centric for my liking, especially considering it's a graphics benchmark.

Either one is fine, and I use both for comparisons. I mainly think such numbers give an objective benchmark that says "Here, this is what my computer did. How did your computer do".

Flight Simulator 04 will run beautifully your rig with max'd settings, and makes for an amazing computer demo. On the other hand, Flight Simulator X will bring the most powerful rig down to it's knees, even more so than Oblivion.

Oblivion,
FSX
Quake 4

I used 3dmark 2001 back in the day to show off--I loved telling my dad it wouldn't even run on his PC--but 3dmark is becoming less impressive for that purpose as I don't even like to watch it. Sure it bogs down your system, but it doesn't look like it should.

Games are good if your going to let them play, which may be problematic if they don't know how, but I find nVidia tech demos to be my most effective tools to wow people. (edit: Glad to see I'm not the only one.) I just don't know why they don't have the 8800 demos available yet. They've got flash videos on their site, but those would be a lot better as full screen interactive demos. Still, the flash videos alone got one non-geek friend to say wow.

Anyway, if they don't know much about computers, Luna should be a good demo for them until something newer is released. But it won't justify your GPU or CPU.

Generally speaking, your hardware is ahead of software. You really won't have any software to justify your purchase unless you go with comparing numbers, as others have said. But don't expect others to care that much. You've got to build it to appreciate numbers. What they'll appreciate is what they see and hear. (BTW, you do have a good sound system, right? That will enhance the experience, whereas bad or no audio will diminish it greatly.)

That said, your trying to wow them, not justify. Justification is about you. Showing off is about them. What you want to do is show them a few games, show them a few tech demos, run a few benchmarks, do some multitasking, then tell them about the future. Your system is going to be top-of-the-line for a while. Let them know what's coming. Vista. DX10. Multi-threaded apps. HD multimedia. Then tell them your system is ready to chew the future up and spit it out.

You know and I know that your system will eventually be obsolete, but neither of us cares right now. You don't want them to think about obsolescence of anything except their own hardware. If you wow them, you've got instant support of your purchases. You won't have to justify, they will.

Granted, with this kind of flash you'll likely be called upon for a lot of help with decision making, purchases, and tech help, but just take the easy way out: Point them to good internet resources and say you're too busy. "Teach a man to fish..."

Sorry for being long winded. I hope this helps.

I dont think numbers impress people that dont know about computers, whats a fps anyways? but I've always found 3dmarks graphics to look impressive.

I agree w/ Chuck, nvidia's demo will push your card and "eyecandy" factor to the limit. Esp. the Nalu demos.

Try MS Flight Sim 2004 or the New Flight SimX

On most computers it is nothing more than a glorified slide show.

Get a decent flight stick (wireless) and let them land a 747 at Meig's Field.

I hope you have a nice 30'' monitor to go with that.

-E

I'm a simulator fan since the begining of the universe (both flight and driving). It's actually the only thing I do with a PC when it comes to graphics. I have 2.000 hours on the VATSIM network and been using FS2004, maxxed out and fully loaded with all these nice add-ons. Now, I tried FSX on the PC of my signature, and at everything maxxed out I get 14 fps... I want to shoot myself, I spent every penny on this pc and it still won't play FSX... Damn them, I am disappointed.

You should've read the reviews!

BTW hardOCP has a max playable setting test, check it out, mimic their settings...

Use a game like counter strike that will create sooooooooooooooooooo many fps that they will sh!t their pants 8O

Just be sure to have some febreeze on hand