devils advocate

simply put...game support...winme/win2k is a great dual boot setup...many games just don't work right in win2k...

if you are going to o/c the 800, then get the 100mhz bus, b/c the 800 w/ the 133 bus will be a lot less stable when o/c...i'm running an 800, not o/c on a bx chipset, and it works great...it goes over 900mhz, but you really don't need it to...

i'm just glad it worked for ya'

did you remember to reselect your 3d device...could be the problem

actually, another problem you might run into is the ultra 66 controllers and the scsi card...for stability, your best bet would be to choose either the scsi card or the ultra 66 controllers...I couldn't use both on my machinew/o serious headaches...The ultra 66 only gives bursts up to 66 megs, but performance wise isn't that much different that than udma 33...If you don't actually use the controllers, you could disable them in the bios...or remove the scsi card...another opt, might be to disable any ports that you aren't using to free up more resources...what is on the scsi card and what is on the ultra 66 controllers? [This message has been edited by devils advocate (edited 20 August 2000).]

be6II is a bx chipset, so I don't think that would help too much...if it is one o/s and not the other it could also be a resource conflict as well...see if there are too many things sharing an irq...long shot, but be6II's can be picky...my sblive drove me nuts on that board...might be stupid, but try moving the card to another slot...also...I think the shimmering comes from the detail textures option in open gl...set it to false and see if they go away...I have it disabled in d3d for that very reason...I'm meesing around w/ setting between the ini and ati drivers to get the best settings, but it seems to take a little time...

also...i am using the drivers on the cd...and i usually play 1024x768 or 1280x1024...

i do have sp1 applied and i usually in 32 bit color...i'm gonna post the unreal.ini d3d section to see if it helps...[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] Translucency=True VolumetricLighting=False ShinySurfaces=True Coronas=True HighDetailActors=True UseMipmapping=True UseTrilinear=False UseMultitexture=True UsePageFlipping=True UsePalettes=True UseFullscreen=True UseGammaCorrection=True DetailTextures=False Use3dfx=False UseTripleBuffering=True UsePrecache=False Use32BitTextures=True DescFlags=1 dwDeviceId=20804 dwVendorId=4098 UseVSync=True Description=RADEON DDR UseVideoMemoryVB=True UseAGPTextures=False Use32BitZBuffer=False UseVertexFog=False

i haven't had any problems w/ my ati radeon and sblive plat...I also don't have the liveware installed under win2k...It's probably w/ the liveware...My drivers haven't for the radeon haven't had one problem yet...

check their website...they should say what the mobo can handle w/ the latest bio...it is usually a matter of the mobo being able to adjust the voltage to the setting of the coppermines... http://www.asus.com/Products/Techref/Cpu/Coppermine/index.html hope this helps...it depends on your revision, but w/ a bios update, some of them do support coppermines... [This message has been edited by devils advocate (edited 17 August 2000).]

actually, it has more to do w/ your mobo...via chipsets tend to be slower than bx chipsets even though they have 4x agp and what not...there always seems to be issues tied in w/ which 4 in 1 drivers are being used...You would probaby see a boost on a bx board...as for p3 vs athlon, my 650 p3 and 800 p3 smoke my friends 700 athlon on a regular basis...it is not your porcessor...my other friend runs q3 in 1600x1200 in win2k on a p3700 and i run it on my radeon @ 1600x1200...both on bx chipsets...almost any forum will have several people having issues w/ via chipsets...

out of the list, the 6800 is the best bet, but if a 64 meg radeon comes that way, snag it...I've tried every damn card out there, but this takes the cake...but since it isn't on the list, go w/ the geforce...unless you have an athlon w/ an irongate chipset...and don't buy into all the hype surrounding the various cards...just try see each card in action so you don't fall prey to the geforce is god syndrome, besides i think you should gear the card more around games that you play...also the kind of processor you have, b/c you need power to back the card up...for me depending on your system, either v3000 or the asus 6800...just do some research on your options...

look for a kds or ctx trinitron...they are a lot less than the sony ones...the pictures are beautiful...

down8... if it is the copppermine, b/c of the "e", then o/c to 650, might be a little hard on the rest of the system...you would have to set your bus @ 130...give it a try if you want...there will be plenty of warning if it is too stressful...if it starts, but everything keeps crashing, then keep backing the bus down til its stable...a lot of people say they have to increase the core voltage a little

you can get a p3 700 for around $200 and it would be much better for you...256k full speed cache vs 128 mkes a dffrnce...also coppermines are very overclockable...my 650 goes to around 800mhz and my 80 goes to around 900mhz...i have heard a lot of people getting the 700's up to 900 and 933...anyways, there really isn't too much of a necessity to o/c @ that point...

just picked up my 64 meg radeon and damn...this thin is sweet...i've only had it in for about an hour, but games are looking sweet...I might have to reinstall nfs 5, but q3 and ut are sweet...i'm gonna try using the player...I don't have a dxr3 installed, but I'll let you know how it works...

tyan makes a dual p3 board w/o scsi and rings in under $200...2 p3 700's around $200 a piece...550 coppermines probably even cheaper...i think www.atacom.com is a site that will say whether the chip you are buying is cbo stepping or not...if you get 2 that are, then i "think" you should be all right...

usually you can only use one or the other...i have had the same problem everytime...i just put a dvd player w/ the tv and then yanked out the dxr3...btw how is that card running games for ya...i've been wanting to check one out...

i would def save up and get both...the way prices drop in 2 mos you could get and even faster processor, and maybe the thunderbird model if you stick w/ amd...and there will probably also be a nicer card out as well...and geforce 2 mx is a decent upgrade for the price, but it still uses sdr ram...you might even be able to snag a used geforce 2 gts for less then...i know i constantly sell of parts when I upgrade...hell, i'm still trying to unload a creative labs geforce ddr...anyways, your best bet is to wait...your image quality will increase w/ the nicer card, but the processor won't be able to pump out the frame rates to keep it smooth...or if you get the processor, your card won't have the memory or power to push out "pretty frames"

the same reason someone would waste their money on a 64 meg hercules geforce 2 gts...it all depends on what you use the card for...I have used both cards and *BOTH* have their drawbacks...I'm actually interested to see how the radeon hold up when it starts getting into more machines...maybe it will add another dimension to the card wars...