Brian Frank
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Everything posted by Brian Frank
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Is XP really worth buying or should I stick with Win2k pro?
Brian Frank replied to pr-man's topic in Software
If a purty GUI is your liking and you'll use the integrated functions, it might be. I've run XP, and don't see anything worth $300, but other ppl are estatic about it. -
Linux is not the only alternate OS out their. You have the Mac, specifically OS X (I know we've got some anti-Mac ppl here) as it's based on Unix, BSD--which I have downloaded and am going to run shortly. BeOS, Solaris, and of course Unix are also options. Another option, which I favor, is stick with Win2k or 98, and give XP the finger. There is not enough "features" IMO to justify $300 for a purty GUI, because that's what it amounts to for me. I know there is new stuff, but my Win2k setup works, and it works well.
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Need opinions - Best video card in terms of support for 2k(a
Brian Frank replied to Pythagoras's topic in Hardware
3dfx had good drivers out, however, the hardware needed more muscle to really threaten Nvidia. In some cases a GF2 MX card would peform on par with a Voodoo 5, quite sad considering that was when the V5 was $200 and an MX was $100. 3dfx had the exact opposite problem of ATI: Good drivers, sorry hardware. However, my Voodoo 3 performs rather well, considering its age. -
I'd just let it be then, unless you will go insane because of it.
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I've heard good things about them from the ppl that still have their SBLive!s.
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Boy, what a bad review they did there. Said the VP6 was that stable. Bull! The VP6 is one of the most stable boards I've used, second only to the Tyan Trinity 400.
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You have two options: Get rid of it and get a different card, or get the Audigy drivers and try them out.
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It might be that Win2k already comes with drivers for that printer. Have you tried installing it with the default Win2k drivers? (You don't need to download anything)
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Need opinions - Best video card in terms of support for 2k(a
Brian Frank replied to Pythagoras's topic in Hardware
But that's all worthless without good drivers. It doesn't matter how good the hardware is if the driver's are bad. I think ATI could absolutely blast the GeForce 3 off the map if they get their drivers down pat. Nvidia may not necessarily have the best hardware, but they do write drivers that are good to begin with and then continue to tweak them to get the most out of the card. I'm not saying Nvidia makes bad hardware, because crappy hardware is not always salvagable by drivers--no matter how good. Nvidia is not perfect, however the solid support and performance is the reason they are top dog in consumer video cards. I hope that ATI does improve their drivers, because that would up the competition, and a war in graphics like the Intel/AMD one wouldn't be a bad thing. -
It's is a little confusing, but always make sure to backup, I repeat backup, the current BIOS. You will have to download the BIOS, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to download the latest BIOS flasher for your particular BIOS; i.e if your BIOS is an Award BIOS, use that BIOS flashing program and get it off your motherboard company's website. You will need a bootable floppy disk in a pure dos environment, so have a Windows 98 boot floppy handy. I personally use a second floppy to backup the current BIOS to and flash from, but you don't have to. If you still have your manual, it may have instructions on how to do this, but it varies from company to company. A bad time to flash your BIOS is when you may experience a power outage, like during a storm. Once the program starts erasing and writing the BIOS----DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!! it will tell you when it's completed the flash and whether it's successful. I've done this several times, and with no ill effects. Basically, follow the directions closely--maybe even read through the steps before you flash, and keep the directions handy during the flashing process. Many current motherboards have a jumper or a setting in BIOS to prevent accidental erasure of the BIOS, and thus must be disabled or things are no go. Check your manual. It's nothing to sweat if you follow the directions exactly and don't do it when the chance of losing power is greater than usual. You will not be in windows, only a pure DOS environment, so it is command line only land. The bad part about flashing the BIOS is that if it is interrupted during the process, you will not be able to boot up the machine! Again, read the directions carefully and you will be fine. If you're especially queasy about it, you can take it to a PC shop and have them do it, though it will cost you.
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What program are you using to OC the card? You may want to download the newest version. I prefer NVMax, but a few people like PowerStrip.
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I haven't tried it, but there is a firewall in XP. Not sure how well it does the job though... I've heard of current firewalls having problems with XP, such as Black Ice and ZA.
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I'm not sure how relevant this is but you should know that the drivers off 3dfx site (what's left of it) are the last ones. XP will most likely never see 3dfx card's drivers, and since the drivers are designed for Win2k, they may not work fully under XP. Those XP drivers may cause problems, as the writer's of them may not have all the kinks worked out. I know this sucks, as my V3 3000 AGP was marvelous under XP, Beta 2 anyways, and it is fairly old by today's standards. You mention an SiS and Via KT133 board's: have you installed XP on both of them? I really hate to say go buy a new video card to possibly make it run, because I can't say the V3 is the problem. It may just be that you can't run it no matter what. I haven't checked it in depth, but you may want to check the Games database here and see if anyone has gotten it to work. When you've tried compatibility mode, which OS's did you try? If you havent' gone through all of them, that's something to try...
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I have heard of some motherboard's BIOS being incompatible with Win2k, so you may have to download and flash a new BIOS. I'd also suggest grabbing at least another 64MB of ram too. Yes, as FatFish was talking about the Win2k startup, what do you mean it doesn't start up? BSOD, lockup, error, reboot? It may take your system quite awhile to boot up with the resources you have.
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I believe Abit's TH7-II mobo has RDRAM on it with Socket 478.
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I'm glad you can address me with respect, Down 8:D:D:D
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Yeah, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is great. Can't wait for the movie
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This should be posted in "Buy, Sell, or Trade." Thanks Not to be rude, but look where you put things from now on. Someone move this thread to the appropriate part of the forums.
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PA is a good idea gone terribly wrong. I wonder if the designer's of it were influenced by something. Greed, drugs, booze... ;(
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Personally, this review seemed pretty whacked out, but it could just be me. Anandtech
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Gamma VERY high after any ending 3d app with my GF256
Brian Frank replied to Dazultra2000's topic in Hardware
That could do it. -
Hopefully not, but we can't say for sure. Part of the problem is creative's fault with the SBLive!, not all Via's, as driver support has made quite a few people here irate about it. Now that the problem is know, I'd hope that Creative would make certain that the cards wouldn't conflict with hardware.
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No. As far as I understand, the video in laptops in integrated, as in the video chip is soldered onto the motherboard in the laptop. The only way you could change it would be to solder in the chip yourself, but you'd have to have an exact match in the pin layout, and be an expert at soldering. And then there's the whole "voiding-your-warranty" schpiel, a unique hell in itself.
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Need opinions - Best video card in terms of support for 2k(a
Brian Frank replied to Pythagoras's topic in Hardware
That nailed it. -
Not really sure...you may want to file a bug report to MS and see about that. Everything sounds good, but I'm also not a networking god yet.