PC Discussion Thread - All PC related in here.

[baddo 0]

For some people also cross-platform support has importance when choosing hardware.

And for some people, who do game development either as a job or as a hobby, they need to also consider the tools that can be used together with the hardware. This alone can be a deciding factor.

Neither of the two above mentioned points care about some 'ultimate performance numbers' or about 'insignificant difference in price', other things are more important.

As far as I know, both NVIDIA and ATI have bugs in their video card drivers. Pick your poison.

[vilas 473]

thank You

it works, i removed battery to reset BIOS, CMOS , BIOS to default settings

i must check ARMA now , how it works under new CPU

[BraTTy 0]

So now your pumping a 6000+ and a 8800gts. Sweet !

So your development time will increase,lol

Alot of motherboards you could have held the INS key upon bootup to reset cmos too

[echo1 0]

There's a difference between reseting to factory via software, and actually reseting the CMOS the good old fashioned way (especially when the board doesnt boot past its first step and consequently doesnt recognize the keyboard). In fact, Ive come across situations where the jumper wont work, but ripping out the battery does... Nothing like good old brute force I guess

[kmossco 9]

I still can't see a single reason why is it smart to buy a worse nvidia card, when you can have better technology that performs better from AMD for less price. It simply is just a waste of money and not supporting the competition.

Oh and what's so wrong with software? You can manage exactly the same settings etc. with both companies drivers. In the end it doesn't matter at all, AMD just would give you better performance on games.

It is smart because I already had two nvidia cards and two ATI ones. Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

Why would it be smart to buy a GPU that is considered better than the others by a small margin but that in most reviews I saw it is under 9800gtx stock in some tests and under gtx 260 too.

But of course only for 13% and considering it is cheaper, it's a nice deal indeed. However, if I was to buy an ATI GPU bang-for-the-buck as the yankees like to say I would buy the 4850.

The GPU I want is the 9800GTX+ Black Edition. It will be retailed @ 200€ around here soon. Only 15/20€ more than the ATI counterpart at the moment.

If someone has had a faulty card from ancient times it doesn't mean a card wouldn't work now.

Well, tell someone that bought two cars (same model) throughout his whole life and spent more money and time in the mechanic than on the road. Then tell him and try to convince him buying another car that is an update of that model. Of course, as he isn't rich he sees a possibility of loosing his money again and prefers to buy from the competition.

That is logic, not being dumb or fanboy.

[Lepardi 0]

Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

You still haven't told even one good reason why would you 'love' nvidia over AMD?

Btw, for 200€ price, it is about 60 euros more than a HD4850. And about 10-20 euro less than HD4870 which is nearest it's price, while it outperforms it by a large margin.

[echo1 0]

Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

You still haven't told even one good reason why would you 'love' nvidia over AMD?

Because they worked and the ATI ones didnt?

[MehMan 0]

ATI didn't sort out their drivers before Nvidia. That was way back though, but it was this that shifted me to buy Nvidia products rather than ATI products, because the dodgy drivers were offputting while Nvidia provided one set of drivers that did their job well.

[Lepardi 0]

Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

You still haven't told even one good reason why would you 'love' nvidia over AMD?

Because they worked and the ATI ones didnt?

How did they not work?

[Deadfast 43]

Let me put it like this.

I was always more sided to Nvidia.

Especially after I bought an AGP version of HD2600 which proved to be a complete disaster driver-wise.

At that time I sworn I'm never gonna buy anything from ATI again.

Then the 48xx cards came out.

The price was just wonderful given to the power those card had.

I read several reviews about them and in the end had no other choice but to drop everything I had against ATI.

I bought the 4870 and there's nothing to complain about.

Well, except for a few BSOD's (which were most likely caused by Vista anyway) and a fan bug (fan runs at 20% all the times when set to auto), which was easily fixed by a simple config edit.

All in all, the card just kicks ass and you should seriously think about giving ATI another chance.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Quick product ask - if anyone is interested in selling me a CoolerMaster Stacker series side fan tray (piccy here) for around 50 AUD, kindly send me a PM.

[echo1 0]

Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

You still haven't told even one good reason why would you 'love' nvidia over AMD?

Because they worked and the ATI ones didnt?

How did they not work?

Lepardi, I think at the end of the day that some people just don't like ATI cards. Maybe their reasons are valid. Maybe their reasons are invalid. The fact is once people have been provided information that current ATI cards have a good chance of being better than whatever crap cards people might have had before is all that is required. Acting all hostile accomplishes nothing and popping up to argue whenever people want an nVidia card or express dissatisfaction about ATI cards just makes you look like an ATI fanboy. At the end of the day, it's their money, it's their computer, it's their choice... It's not as if most nVidia cards are drastically outperformed by ATI equivalents, or buying one will make your computer explode.

EDIT: Seems Intel has given a name to its new "Nehalem" architecture CPUs, they will be known not as the Core 3 but as the...

*drum rolls*

"Core i7"

Strange name, but they look like a very interesting design (supposedly the most profound change to Intel's CPUs since the Pentium Pro of 1995). Hopefully the specs on paper will translate to real-world performance boosts... Some info here and here.

[Lepardi 0]

Never liked the ATI ones and loved the Nvidia!

You still haven't told even one good reason why would you 'love' nvidia over AMD?

Because they worked and the ATI ones didnt?

How did they not work?

Lepardi, I think at the end of the day that some people just don't like ATI cards. Maybe their reasons are valid. Maybe their reasons are invalid. The fact is once people have been provided information that current ATI cards have a good chance of being better than whatever crap cards people might have had before is all that is required. Acting all hostile accomplishes nothing and popping up to argue whenever people want an nVidia card or express dissatisfaction about ATI cards just makes you look like an ATI fanboy. At the end of the day, it's their money, it's their computer, it's their choice... It's not as if most nVidia cards are drastically outperformed by ATI equivalents, or buying one will make your computer explode.

EDIT: Seems Intel has given a name to its new "Nehalem" architecture CPUs, they will be known not as the Core 3 but as the...

*drum rolls*

"Core i7"

Strange name, but they look like a very interesting design (supposedly the most profound change to Intel's CPUs since the Pentium Pro of 1995). Hopefully the specs on paper will translate to real-world performance boosts... Some info here and here.

I just hate people making up reasons for themselves, trying to convince that something is better when it is not. That guy said that closest competitor for 200e geforce would be only 10-20 euro cheaper, while it actually is 60+ euros. Then another mindless reason is that he 'loves' the letters in word nvidia more.

Why can't people just buy the best hardware for their money instead of paying for meaningless brand?

[Placebo 28]

Now now, we're getting well past the point of this thread, it's here for people to post problems and be helped, getting into arguments about ATI v Nvidia is completely off track and helps nobody

[echo1 0]

Speaking of which, did you get your HD4870, Placebo?

[Placebo 28]

Sure did, mentioned it briefly in the 4th post on the previous but 1 page

TV Out is working perfectly, if only I'd known Nvidia butchered TV Out on their cards I could have saved such trouble and expense!

[kmossco 9]

I just hate people making up reasons for themselves, trying to convince that something is better when it is not. That guy said that closest competitor for 200e geforce would be only 10-20 euro cheaper, while it actually is 60+ euros. Then another mindless reason is that he 'loves' the letters in word nvidia more.

Why can't people just buy the best hardware for their money instead of paying for meaningless brand?

You are really annoying mate, aren't you?

I have my reasons and no, I won't post them here, sorry but I ran out of troll food. Check out in the nearest K-Mart.

But just to show you a point you just wrongly dismissed:

XFX Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX Black Edition: 277.19€ (predicted to descend to 200~220€)

XFX Nvidia Geforce GTX260 896MB: 255€ (best choice at the moment)

BFG Nvidia Geforce GTX280 OC 1GB: 375,90€ / 435,70€

ASUS Radeon HD4870 512MB DDR5: 233,50€ / 239€.

So yeah, I can get a nice gtx260 for almost the same price as the 4870. Or I can wait for the 9800gtx BE.

It all depends on what I want, not what others tell me it is better even though some people's valid arguments are interesting and compelling, your constant trolling isn't.

[Placebo 28]

You know it really does make me weep to be ignored, please don't make me sad.......

[kmossco 9]

You know it really does make me weep to be ignored, please don't make me sad.......

You weren't ignored mate. Just wanted to show my point and put an end in this discussion.

Sorry about that.

[Trapper 0]

I've bought an used X-Fi Gamer soundcard at Ebay and it doesn't work properly, though the seller says it worked when he removed it from his computer.

Has anyone an insight on these problems, as it seems the Creative products got a lot of issues?

- Windows XP SP3, a SB Audigy LS card was installed before

- I've removed everything Creative more than once in clean boot state from my computer

- I've tried the old drivers on CD-ROM, a beta driver and two current drivers. For now I will stick to the latest driver.

I've tested the card three weeks ago and then the last days again after cleaning the PCI contacts. Everything else looks in shape. I still get the same problems.

- the first driver installation freezes, but finishes on the second try after a reboot.

- i've got perfect sound in windows and games for only one day. both times.

- although sometimes rebooting could already freeze my XP loading screen or the driver reports the error "The Device can't be initiated. (Code 10)". After a new reboot everthing is ok.

- on the following days the boot up/initialization problems become more

- and sound output is present for a few minutes after boot up, then it becomes quiet.

- trying to start sound operations in this situation slow my system down. Creative audio mode selection does freeze.

- one time the already dumb card produced a crackling sound when I've started winamp.

[Deadfast 43]

Creative's products suck a... a bottle of milk

Actually not really their hardware, but their drivers are a complete disaster.

That's your problem right there I guess.

Try to look for modified drivers of some sort.

[Trapper 0]

Oh I forgot. After that perfect first day of a fresh installation, the first cold start of every day, ends with the XP start up screen freeze but after a reset this start up freeze is overcome.

That leads me to the thought that something of the hardware is damaged and influenced by temperatures/voltage/running time.

Anyways is there some special custom driver I should look for?

[BraTTy 0]

I can't comment much on latest drivers (dont own Sb anymore)

That could very well be your problem.

Looking at your problems a few things come to mind...

-Make sure any onboard sound is disabled.

-Does sound like a chip possibly getting hot, are you installing it next to other cards(video) ?  try it farthest away from things.

-Could try to direct some internal fan towards it

- try a different slot anyways (if its irq conflict, usually grabs a diff irq per slot)

Usually I troubleshoot a supspected overheating card like this:

-Smell... does it smell burnt? I smell around the chips

-any cracked or oozing chips ?

-back side of the card, do any pins look like they got too hot ? burnt scores (this test is sometimes unreliable as some solder areas look burnt new)

-While its running I touch chips (be careful and I am not responsible) as a general rule if you can't hold your finger on it...its too hot (possibly defective)

Sorry if no help

[Placebo 28]

Creative's products suck a... a bottle of milk

Actually not really their hardware, but their drivers are a complete disaster.

Yeah I'd agree with that, I had a Soundblaster Live back in the day and the driver support was nothing short of abysmal.

[Trapper 0]

-Make sure any onboard sound is disabled.

check

-Does sound like a chip possibly getting hot, are you installing it next to other cards(video) ?  try it farthest away from things.

check

-Could try to direct some internal fan towards it

by now the case was always open when testing

- try a different slot anyways (if its irq conflict, usually grabs a diff irq per slot)

I've tried all three slots. Oh what did I waste my time on this crappy thing  

Usually I troubleshoot a supspected overheating card like this:

-Smell... does it smell burnt? I smell around the chips

not particularly

-any cracked or oozing chips ?

no, but the whole card looks like it was used in a wet room eviroment before. That's why I've polished the PCI contacts for my second try.

-back side of the card, do any pins look like they got too hot ? burnt scores (this test is sometimes unreliable as some solder areas look burnt new)

no

-While its running I touch chips (be careful and I am not responsible) as a general rule if you can't hold your finger on it...its too hot (possibly defective)

Will do that the next time I've got the patience for a test run.