Dell E520 case mods

Having found out the hardway having ordered an 8800 only to find it doesnt fit with the stock dell case. So after being slightly annoyed at dell and almost returning the card I found this Taylor 78's tutorial This allows you fit an 8800 safely in to an e520 or similar Dell case it also explains that Dells standard power unit is actually capable of around 500w rather than the marked 305w meaning that you can also power your 8800 or similar card without any upgrades to your PSU (putting a new PSU in a dell case is a bit of bitch.) So I will be attempting to fit my 8800 in to my Dell this sunday.


Be advised that replacing your PSU or performing the above listed modification will void your warranty with Dell (not that they will make it easy for you to claim on in it anyway.)

Halo 3 features found in code (not garunteed to be in final release)

The guys over at 7th column dived in to the code of the beta and found this

New Vehicles!

Here’s the list of vehicles found so far within the beta code data:

Mongoose
Warthog
Hornet
Pelican
Scorpion
Ghost
Brute Chopper
Spectre
Shadow
Banshee
Phantom
Wraith

Assault Rifle
Battle Rifle
Beam Rifle
Brute Shot
Carbine
Excavator
Gravity Hammer
Flamethrower
Magnum
Missile Launcher
Needler
Plasma Pistol
Plasma Rifle
Fuel Rod Cannon
Rocket Launcher
Shotgun
SMG
Sniper Rifle
Spartan Laser
Spiker
Sword

CAPTURE THE FLAG
Invade your opponent’s stronghold, heist their flag, and bring it back to your base to score.
SLAYER
Kill as many of your opponents as you can. The player with the most points wins.
ODDBALL
Find the ball and hold on to it to earn time. The player with the most time wins.
KING OF THE HILL
Gain control of the hill to earn time. Keep your opponents off and earn the most time to win.
JUGGERNAUT
Work together to take down the Juggernaut. Beware, you kill the Juggernaut, you become the Juggernaut, and only the Juggernaut can win.
TERRITORIES
Find and control the territories on the map. The more territories you control, the faster you earn time.
INFECTION
Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins.
ASSAULT
Da bomb!
V.I.P.
Protect the V.I.P. from dying at the hands of your opponents. If you are the V.I.P., you must stay alive or your opponents score a point.

Team Slayer
Team Swords
Team Rockets
Team Shotguns
Team Fiesta
Team Phantoms
Slayer Duel
Sword Duel
Rifle Duel
Rumble Slayer
Rumble Swords
Rumble Rockets
Rumble Shotguns
Oddball
Fiesta Ball
Team Ball King
Phantom King
Crazy King
Team Crazy King
Multi Flag CTF
CTF Wraiths
CTF Classic
Shotgun CTF
1 Flag CTF
1 Flag CTF Fast
Multi Bomb Assault
Rapid Assault
Neutral Bomb
Neut. Bomb Fast
3 Plots Land Grab

Shield multiplier
Shield recharge rate
Immune to headshots
Grenade counts
Infinite ammo
Weapon pickup disabled
Player speed (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 125%, 150%, 200%, 300%)
Player gravity (50%, 100%, 200%)
Vehicle use (passenger only)
Motion tracker range (10m, 25m, 75m, 100m, 150m)
Appearance
- Vis effects (black glow, team glow, white glow)
- Active camo (good camo that might fool an elite, poor camo that might fool a grunt, invisible)
Indestructible vehicles (on, off)

And my favourite

'The game cannot start because all players are set to observer. Too many players for splitscreen. Only 2 players may play splitscreen coop on the same Xbox 360 console. The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link. Loading information from Xbox Live…'

8800 coming to a pc near me!

After suffering an old Nvidia Geforce 5200 in my old pc and the 7300 LE in this PC (not terrible but could be far better) I have finally ordered myself a new graphics card an 8800 although some may belive I should have waited and got an ATi 2600 I am an avid nVidia fan and the driver support from nVidia for my Vista Pc seems more reliable than what I hear of ATi here and about. So for that and financial reason I decided to purchase an 8800 from Ebuyer the Innovision 3d 8800 is a true 'bang for your buck' card and once I recive it I will benchtest the hell out of it and put the results up here.

Shiney new banner

This is an entirely temp banner as i dont really like the look and it was done in around 5 seconds so it is subject to change if you hate it then make me when and I'll see if I like it.

Comprehensive Halo 3 weapon review (grammar may die half way.)

Okay, now I was fortunate enough to receive a F+F (Friends and Family) invite to the Halo 3 beta which allowed me to clock my fair share of games before most people and also left me with a spare Crackdown invite. The opportunity to play early also means that I had the chance to get a feel for the weapons and the game over all before most. So for all you people who don't have the beta (Why?!?) or just want to know what I think (No really why?!?!) I am going to put out my review of the new features in several parts, starting with weapons.

The Assault Rifle.

Our good old friend from Halo one most will know that in the original installment of the trio of games this gun wasn't good for much more than the occasional grunt spray or really close range fighting. Despite what the crosshair may say, I believe that at current if we had a campaign level that's all we'd be using it for again. Its still pretty bad at mid range you cant take down an opponent in one clip without a grenade, long range is not even worth the effort if they have almost any other weapon you are screwed. But if you've seen the multiplayer vidoc from Bungie you'll see they discuss that the Assault rifle fits well with the master chiefs style which no one can deny it really does.

SMG
This weapon that arrived in Halo 2 this gun has alot more power now in Halo 3 it kicks major arse when you dual wield these beasts if your add mid range you can spray a target and stand a good chance of killing it other than the power boost these weapons are pretty much the same and of course updated textures and models.

Rocket Launcher.
The most significant changes to this weapon in Halo 3 is that they have removed the Lock on taking it back to the level of technology it had in Halo 1.It also appears to have a lower splash damage but is still a good for those beloved doubles and triples. But the lack of lock on doesn't seem to fit in with the futuristic realism in the universe of Halo what kind of weapon tech would think, 'lets take away that lock on feature because you know it really isn't working out its making the thing too damn useful!'

Spartan Laser
This is the top of the new weapons in Halo 3 most definitely my favourite this weapons can provide some fantastic kills and some even more skillfull looking doubles, but I am yet to see a tripple performed in one shot but I'm sure that it would make some fantastic montage footage. This weapon has a charge time that works well leaving the weapon very balanced. This weapon can save a game for a team and seems most effective on something like Terrotories on High ground.

Covenant Carbine
This gun is pretty much the same as the time we saw it Halo 2 it seems more powerfull and may shoot a bit faster i can take someone down with 6-7 shots if placed correctectly and is really annoying on Snow bound when someone is praying on you with it (thank god for shielded door ways.)

Plasma Rifle
Rarely used in the beta and only ever really used personally used on snowbound by me they look alot cooler now but seem weaker and really dont match an assault rifle or SMGs at a close range even with two of them. They need some tweaking damage wise for full release.

Missile pod
The only anti armor weapon that has home in this is useless for anti personal and slows down a player alot i personally think that this should be a stationary turret and the rocket launcher should be given home in again.

Turret (Pick up and stationary)
This is not an entirely new weapon to the Halo series and was seen in Halo 2 but a major diffrence is that a player can now remove a turret from its stand and walk around with it if a player gets a first shot off with it can be a formidable weapon at anti personal use and can be used to pick people off mongooses and is one the few things that can still pose a threat the now almost invincible Warthog.

Sniper Rifle
This gun now requires far more skills for kills (Crackdown refrence intended) it has a longer pause between the shots fired and means that headshot are almost essential and are most definatley nessacery in the new Game type 'Shotty Snipers' (see later articles) its model has been beefed up detail wise and the scope is wire frame (placeholder or not?) which does look exceptionally cool but isnt really realistic.

Shotgun
Slightly more powerful and far better looking no longer just a tube that spits bullets (see Halo 1) other than that nothing that new here.

Brute Spiker
A fantastic close range range weapons for dual wielding the embodiement of spam gun that results in a painful looking death for your foes with spikes stuck all over them. But it also gives a fantastic weapon for melee as well it is garunteed to remove full shields from any angle and like all weapons assasinates from behind.

Pistol
MIA

Energy Sword
MIA

If I forgot any weapons then comment me future articles about the beta will contain extensive review of game types maps and so on.