Cheezzzus

The text is actually from a text on the theory of ethics. It kind of makes sense if you put it into google translate. http://www.lipsum.com/
 
These build look sick by the way. I'm so looking forward to one day doing a water cooled build with my own case mods

It's not latin, Lorem Ipsum is just a place holder used in web and graphic design. It's so instead of actually writing something real while showcasing your new web design or poster or something, you just put lorem ipsum as a place holder to show how it would look like if it had text in it. It's not possible to read because it's just random words with latin roots in a random order.

Hey guys, I recently read an article about awesome GTA IV graphics and it reminded me of a tutorial I made a while back on how to make your GTA IV look awesome if you have a halfway decent pc. I know there are a lot of walkthroughs out there but I combined a bunch of them because I'm basically using five mods and the order you install them in is VERY important. Also I took the time and did some research for the optimal in-game settings to go with these mods. So if you want your game to look like this (keep in mind that this isnt even with a high end pc and still playable >25 fps):
 
 
 
Only do this if your pc runs GTA IV at 30 fps on high settings, otherwise don't install iCEnhancer!
 
step 1. downloading everything needed:
 
iCEnhancer: http://www.shacknews.com/file/32415/grand-theft-auto-iv-icenhancer-21-final
iCEnhancer config: http://www.gta4-mods.com/misc/rainbows-icenhancer-21-cinematic-config-f16017
Better city textures: http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=5906 (i recommend using the torrent)
HD road textures: http://www.mediafire.com/?aczlzw12m4tlmr2
Environment mod: http://www.gtagarage.com/mods/show.php?id=5726
Coronas: http://www.mediafire.com/?d4zzmijrd52
 
Step 2: Make a full backup of your EFLC folder
 
Step 3. Installing all the mods in the correct order:
The first mod you want to install is the iCEnhancer. For this first extract the files in the rar file to a location of your choice. Now for EFLC the folder you need is 1.0.7.0 - EFLC. Open the folder and simply copy everything in the main files folder. Now paste this in your EFLC game folder. Say yes to merge all maps, and yes to replace the files. OPTIONAL (do this if you are having problems with the red sky): go into the shaders folder and open the rar file, copy the shaders map. Now go to EFLC\common and paste, merge folder and replace files as usual.
Now you want to go on and unpack the environment mod. If you've done this simply copy all the folders inside the grand theft auto IV map. Paste these in your EFLC, and again merge folders and replace files.
 
the next step isnt required, it just makes the game look better and run smoother if you have a decent pc. you can try to optimize your game graphics yourself using the in-game options.
 
Now open up notepad and put this in:
-memrestrict 699145600
-forcehighqualitymirrors
-notimefix
-novblank
-noprecache
-framelimit 30
-novblank
-noprecache
-norestrictions
-noswapdelay
-renderquality 4
-shadowdensity 0
-viewdistance 0
-detailquality 100
-shadowquality 3
-reflectionquality 4
-reflectionresolution 2048
-shadowresolution 2048
-waterquality 0
-waterreflectionquality 5
-minspecaudio
-dx10
/high
 
Then click save as, and save the file in your EFLC game folder with the name "commandline.txt"
If there already is a commandline.txt, just paste the above commands in there and you're set.
Good now you can install the better city textures mod, open up the better city texture folder and open the folder called Grand theft auto IV. Now copy the map pc and paste in your EFLC game folder. Merge folders and replace files.
 
You're almost done now, open up the HD road textures and copy the map pc again and paste this in your EFLC game folder. Merge folders and replace files.
Now you go into the coronas file, then into the coronas folder and then copy the file coronas.wtd. Paste this file in EFLC\pc\textures. Replace the original coronas file.
Go to your iCenhancer config and choose "cinematic feel - Normal Gameplay" in here you want to copy iceconfig and iceshader.fx, paste these directly into your EFLC map. If your computer isnt that great (you get around 25-30 frames on high settings normally) open up the performance mode folder and copy that iceconfig, paste this into your EFLC map. For all the pasting, again just replace files.
 
Now you launch your game, if it crashes make sure you don't have any other programs running, in my case "core temp" made it crash.
Load up your game and go into options. Here you adjust your display settings to 50% brigthness, 20% contrast and 100% saturation for the best visual looks. And if you want to have the motion blur deselect the "definition" option. Only do this if your pc can handle everything at max otherwise it will look more pixelated that blurred!
 
ENJOY!
 
Sadly for a normal GTA IV install I don't know exactly what to do but you need to make it "modable" first. In this case google will be your best friend as I have no experience with modding the regular GTA IV. 
 
If you want to try other mods there is also "ultimate graphics tweak", "ENB by Vucko" and much more HD or 4k textures out there. There are also crazy vegetation mods and mods that make the cars even better. 
 
Warning You might experience a red sky at times, don't worry nothing is broken this just occurs at times when you are running all these mods together
 
If you have a superbeast pc you might wanna turn up all the settings in iCEnhancer and really get blown away by the textures and graphics! Imagine what we could do with a good GTA V port...
 
ps I did a quick search through the forum and didnt find another thread like this, but if there is one please don't get all mad

As mentioned above, the macbook air has that shitty TN panel bullshit, so washed out colours and shitty viewing angles galore. Take a look at this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2333663
 
I don't know if you read my post, but there is more than the sony vaio pro. The vaio pro might be lightweight but it comes at a cost... it throttles because it has some heating issues. I think you are making a big mistake going for the mac, if you really care that much about the display quality (oh and the macs display isn't even 1920 by 1080...)
 
Good luck

The MacBook Air does not fit your requirement of an IPS display. Given your colorful and ignorant descriptors, I thought you should know.

Having only 6 gigs of DDR2-800 memory... And I hate myself for being to lazy to upgrade to a SSD ._.

Your ram is more expensive than my entire system... LOL

I just died a little on the inside... but it's not the worst on this forum, trust me

I'm pretty sure I have the worst cable management on this forum. Oh well. 

you can see more from my build log(kinda) its ghetto and a failure http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/71997-my-failure-ghetto-build/

Cable management on the cheap:
 
   
If there isn't room to manage your cables, then create that room!
 
 
~Cheezzzus

why tf did u comment on an old thread like this? spam much? i got all bumped up and shit

Wow guys... over TWO THOUSAND VIEWS! Thank you so much! And now It's time for a butload of pictures to finish this build log!
 
So one of the first things to do was to make sure to be able to attach the cable box to the case.
 

 
After this I got all my parts ready for assembly
 

 
Then I installed the PSU. (sorry for blurry pic)
 

Those cables... it hurts my eyes
 
And now it was time to start the harsh job of getting the boxes in place and getting the cables through the tubing. Some of the cable were such a pain to get through the tubing *ahum*24-pin*ahum* And the front panel connectors for the status LED's were to short to fit through the tubing. Also there was no more room in the tube to get the cable from the front 120 mm fan through.
 

 

I pulled the cables through the tubing using metal wire, as seen on this picture
 

 

 
After all this work i got the tubing out of the way to fit the motherboard in.
 

 

 
Then I could finally plug all the cables into the motherboard, damn those front panel connectors!
 

 

 

 
Now to see wether i connected all the cables correctly. The system booted but instead of going into windows it went to the BIOS where i saw this
 

fuck
 
I wasn't happy at all with this, cause i though I would have to remove one of the cable boxes to acces the SSD. Luckely i realised in time that there might be one other way to access it! Took off the front panel, and thank god that this case has a removable tray for a SSD or HDD up there...
 

 
After removing the tray the problem became evident.
 

 
The sata cable must have come loose during getting that damn 24-pin through the tubing. Anyway after reconnecting it and installing it back in place the system booted into windows 7.
 

a as-ghetto-as-it-gets test system
 
Ofcourse I had to play "wildlife in HD" one of the must-do's in windows 7!
 

 
This actually reminded me I still had to install most of the drivers. 
 
After this I noticed some of the paint on the tubing was missing (I did not use plastics paint, this is still a budget build ) So i just had to repaint it...
 

eww
 

that's better
 
The next day after I got home from university I did the photoshoot of the case in daylight (pictures further down the thread). Afterwards I closed everything off and installed the pc in my mothers "office".
 

[bBB] in its natural habitat
 
Oh and here's a picture of my mothers old pc:
 

 
After booting up I went into the BIOS to check if all the settings were as i desired. Ofcourse they weren't.
 
First off I had to change the fan profiles. 
 

 
This machine was running at almost ambient temps with the fans at max as you can see, after I changed the profile and waiting half an hour the temps became a bit higher and still very cool.
 

 
But then I checked the RAM, and it was only running at 1066 mhz THE HORROR!
 

 
Ofcourse I quickly changed this to 1600 and it's all working like a charm now.
 
After installing all the needed drivers and some needed software(CCleaner, auslogic disk defrag, malwarebytes etc) I decided to do some benchmarks. Sadly I'm having trouble with DirectX atm as it will simply not work. This apu should be able to run DirectX programs though. I'll try reinstalling drivers later. 
 
But before the results... ITS PICTURE TIME!
 

 

 
 
Just kidding here are the actual pictures
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you enjoyed this build log and now the final three pictures are just a size comparisons with my htc One X to show how small this case actually is.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
At the moment I'm still doing some benchmarks, I already completed a few runs for the SSD benchmark and I completed the passmark (performance test 8) I'll post the results once I get DirectX to work. If you guys want to see other benchmarks feel free to leave a reply!
 
 
Once again, thanks for all the support I've gotten and for the amazing amount of views this already has! I hope you enjoyed this build log and are happy with the end result. And maybe, just maybe I might do something like this again somewhere in the future
 
 
~Cheezzzus

It wouldn't surprise me if it's their R9 290X card. I CANNOT wait for their next ARES card. Two 290X GPUs? Yes please :wub:

Or the card is tiny
 
 
But yea that thing is just ginormus

the facebook post is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605601756149893&set=a.186749591368447.43127.179161458793927&type=1
 
I think it's probably going to be one of the AMD R9 cards. Although I'm hoping for a Mars or Ares card

Wow guys... over TWO THOUSAND VIEWS! Thank you so much! And now It's time for a butload of pictures to finish this build log!
 
So one of the first things to do was to make sure to be able to attach the cable box to the case.
 

 
After this I got all my parts ready for assembly
 

 
Then I installed the PSU. (sorry for blurry pic)
 

Those cables... it hurts my eyes
 
And now it was time to start the harsh job of getting the boxes in place and getting the cables through the tubing. Some of the cable were such a pain to get through the tubing *ahum*24-pin*ahum* And the front panel connectors for the status LED's were to short to fit through the tubing. Also there was no more room in the tube to get the cable from the front 120 mm fan through.
 

 

I pulled the cables through the tubing using metal wire, as seen on this picture
 

 

 
After all this work i got the tubing out of the way to fit the motherboard in.
 

 

 
Then I could finally plug all the cables into the motherboard, damn those front panel connectors!
 

 

 

 
Now to see wether i connected all the cables correctly. The system booted but instead of going into windows it went to the BIOS where i saw this
 

fuck
 
I wasn't happy at all with this, cause i though I would have to remove one of the cable boxes to acces the SSD. Luckely i realised in time that there might be one other way to access it! Took off the front panel, and thank god that this case has a removable tray for a SSD or HDD up there...
 

 
After removing the tray the problem became evident.
 

 
The sata cable must have come loose during getting that damn 24-pin through the tubing. Anyway after reconnecting it and installing it back in place the system booted into windows 7.
 

a as-ghetto-as-it-gets test system
 
Ofcourse I had to play "wildlife in HD" one of the must-do's in windows 7!
 

 
This actually reminded me I still had to install most of the drivers. 
 
After this I noticed some of the paint on the tubing was missing (I did not use plastics paint, this is still a budget build ) So i just had to repaint it...
 

eww
 

that's better
 
The next day after I got home from university I did the photoshoot of the case in daylight (pictures further down the thread). Afterwards I closed everything off and installed the pc in my mothers "office".
 

[bBB] in its natural habitat
 
Oh and here's a picture of my mothers old pc:
 

 
After booting up I went into the BIOS to check if all the settings were as i desired. Ofcourse they weren't.
 
First off I had to change the fan profiles. 
 

 
This machine was running at almost ambient temps with the fans at max as you can see, after I changed the profile and waiting half an hour the temps became a bit higher and still very cool.
 

 
But then I checked the RAM, and it was only running at 1066 mhz THE HORROR!
 

 
Ofcourse I quickly changed this to 1600 and it's all working like a charm now.
 
After installing all the needed drivers and some needed software(CCleaner, auslogic disk defrag, malwarebytes etc) I decided to do some benchmarks. Sadly I'm having trouble with DirectX atm as it will simply not work. This apu should be able to run DirectX programs though. I'll try reinstalling drivers later. 
 
But before the results... ITS PICTURE TIME!
 

 

 
 
Just kidding here are the actual pictures
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you enjoyed this build log and now the final three pictures are just a size comparisons with my htc One X to show how small this case actually is.
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
At the moment I'm still doing some benchmarks, I already completed a few runs for the SSD benchmark and I completed the passmark (performance test 8) I'll post the results once I get DirectX to work. If you guys want to see other benchmarks feel free to leave a reply!
 
 
Once again, thanks for all the support I've gotten and for the amazing amount of views this already has! I hope you enjoyed this build log and are happy with the end result. And maybe, just maybe I might do something like this again somewhere in the future
 
 
~Cheezzzus

Alright people I just got back from university and did the outside "photoshoot" for project [bBB] with an actual camera. Can't post those pics yet cause I first need to (literary) dust off my drum kit and start playing again, look in what state my poor baby is now :'(
 

 
After I finish rockin' it out I'll get back to project [bBB] All I have left to do is do some driver and software installs and place the rig where my mother desires it to be.
 
Any benchmarks/software you wanna see this cheap build run?
 
I'll back to you guys in a bit!
 
~Cheezzzus

the facebook post is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605601756149893&set=a.186749591368447.43127.179161458793927&type=1
 
I think it's probably going to be one of the AMD R9 cards. Although I'm hoping for a Mars or Ares card

It's this card folks, the on in the middle, R9 280X.

Aaaaaand that was a thousand! congratz haha

the facebook post is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605601756149893&set=a.186749591368447.43127.179161458793927&type=1
 
I think it's probably going to be one of the AMD R9 cards. Although I'm hoping for a Mars or Ares card

cool

BCLOCK, baby!