** Official ** Upgrade, 3D card, Hardware Tech Questions **

OK. Go to www.nvidia.com, and download the latest drivers for your video card (Detonator). Clear your Temporary Internet Files (go to Control Panel, Internet Options, then under General, select Delete Files). If that doesn't fix your problem, post here asap (I'll only be here for today and tommorrow, then back in another week). And if it does work, then happy gaming.

Horn out

 

I got the 41.09 drivers the other day wich are the latest. I also usually clear out everything like temp files, ect daily. I just don't know

 

Ugh. This is a hard one. OK, then it probably is your hard drive that is the problem. You are using 17 GB of space: this is probably slowing the speed that the games can utilise it. Try to get rid of some old programs that you may no longer need, or optimise the swap file. I can't remember how to do it now, if I do I'll post it here asap. For example, I got off a PC magazine's CD's this program called PC Accelerator XT, and it optimised my swap file, which made my games performance much better. Sorry if this isn't much help.

Horn out

 

Yea it's a rough one, I have asked a few people and they're stumped. It's about time I upgraded to Geforce4, and get some ram tho. I mite end up getting a hard drive if I feel like dealing with that mess. What pc mag are you talking about? if its pc gamer, then i probably have the disk somewhere around here . anyways I appreciate the help!

 

I'm in Australia. It's Australian Personal Computer, APC. I got the program off the, umm, possibly November or December issue. I'm not sure, But it is very good.

Horn out

 

There's a very useful program that might help you, Delphium. It's called X-Teq X-Setup. You can download it (it's freeware) from www.xteq.com, and it is a program which you can use to tweak hundreds of things, including things in the OS, and to do with the file system and memory and swap file, all arranged under a "tree" format. All the tweaks that can possibly cause your computer to screw up will flash up a warning, and it is very good. I highly reccommend it.

Horn out

 

So you say that it usually works ok after a reboot. I'll assume then that games work ok after said reboot. Does the hard drive thrash around a lot after you finish a game? My guess (from everything bad I've read and heard about WinME) is that WinME has horrible virtual memory support (just like Win9x). You might want to try setting your virtual memory to 256 MB minimum and 512 MB max. It definitely sounds like WinME is having problems managing your virtual memory if it's fixed after a reboot. I use to have the same problems with Win98SE. It would get slower and slower and slower until I rebooted. It gets less noticeable on a 1.5 GHz CPU though

 

Quick update. After taking everyone's opinions into consideration I ordered an AMD XP 2100 with heatsink fan etc and ASUS's A7V333 for just over $200. All I've left is to buy the Case and powersupply and I'm done. Thanks for the advice, don't make me regret it.

 

If you need recommendations on cases, Antec are very good. I don't personally own one, but a very good friend of mine does and he swears by them. He's a hardware genius. He can tell what jumpers are missing on a motherboard without looking at the manual and I've even seen him take 2 broken power supplies and make 1 working one out of them. Anyway, he loves Antec cases so much that he orders them from Arizona (we live in Southern California). His last one came with, I think, 5 fans, which keeps his whole system very cool, and it's very quiet.

 

I found a nice window panel case with 4 case fans but decided against it as I've no plans to overclock. Also I was planning on running a 350 power supply. I figured that should be sufficent with room to spare. As long as it's got good airflow I think I should be fine by going with form over function. I picked up an 80x80mm volcano fan for the CPU so that with mobo's auto shut down I'm not too worried about heat. Also the the mobo is jumperless unless you overclock which is nice. I'll take a second look at the Antec's though.

 

For an Athlon, you MUST have at least one case fan. Even without overclocking, they get very hot. The Volcano CPU fan is good....but not enough.

But I'm glad that you went with an Athlon...they really are better value than the P4.

 

Hi i just want to ask if anyone would be interested in trading my radeon 9700 pro for a geforce 4 video card,if anyone is intersted email ninthsith@yahoo.com thanx

 

Darth_Dagsy: I could replace Athlon in that sentence with P4 and still be correct. The only difference between the P4 and the Athlon is that if the P4 starts to get to hot (broken fan, heat sink falling off, etc.) it will clock itself back in order to cool down. The Athlon will just shut the system down. I think the P4 handles itself better, yes, but I like the performance of the Athlon.

 

Quick question, maybe OT, maybe not: I got a F4 card with TVOut. Now what kind of connecting cable/plug you should get to hook up a TV set to this card? I'd very much like to replace my current monitor with a 27 incher TV.

 

Um, what's an F4 card? Can you give us the full manufacturer and model number? And just as a quick note, you may not want to replace your monitor with your 27" tv unless it's a HDTV. Your picture would be bigger, yes, but your monitor can get higher resolutions. I think the max I can get on my 27" is 800x600. My monitor gives my 1280x1024.

 

I's sure that'll be an S video out. It looks alot like a PS/2 cable only bigger, just in case you've been playing games so long that you haven't looked at TV's in the last 3 years . Some do come with a out that has an adaptor to turn it into a standard video line which would plug right into the video line of your VCR. This would only be useful if your audio out as stereo out as well.

It'd be nice if they had component outs but I think that's still a ways off.

Edit: and unless you've got a true digital TV (these can handle higher resolution) and wireless keyboards, I'd use your monitor for the time being.

 

I mean a GeForce4 card (where did that darn G ran off to back there? ) I'm just asking because I'd like to bring my Xbox over to my room (and DSL) and rather than have a PC monitor and a TV side by side, just wanted to remove one redundant display. Didn't know about the resolution thingie though.

 

You could just run all your PC games at 800x600. Wouldn't look as good though. Get yourself a nice flat panel monitor and you at least won't have the bulk of both the monitor and the tv.

 

You need at least two fans for any computer these days, or else the hard drive will fry, and your computer will die...

I'll add a tip for people want to get a laptop. Wait until Intel releases its new Centrino line of mobile chips. They have much better battery life than the current P4-M chips, and should offer better gaming performance. Of course, if you're a gamer, you probably won't be in the market for a laptop, but then again, there are some people who are lucky enough to have a Geforce4Go or Radeon 9000 Mobility.

Horn out

 

You need at least two fans for any computer these days, or else the hard drive will fry, and your computer will die...

Or a really cold room I keep the heater really low at home and my window open a few inches all the time. Temperatures have been down below 60F at night and not over 70F during the day around here. The heater rarely comes on (I walk around the house in sweats and a sweatshirt to stay warm). Of course, when summer comes, I have to open the vent in my room full bore and turn on the AC. Heat kills computers. Of course, I have 2 fans, 1 intake and 1 outtake along with the PS fan. Right now my CPU is at 62C and my mobo is at 34C.

 

I have a question regarding X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter: My system has a Athlon XP 1900 with a GeForce 4 MX 440.

Okay so when I installed it on this new system everything is going great until at the very end when I go to PLAY the game it is telling me that my Direct X file needs to be installed. Okay so I try to install that and there is this one thing that says "not enabled" and that is Direct 3D. So it tells me to install it and when I do it says that it is already installed!

Is it because I don't have a joystick or something? Help me out please because I want to play this game again!

 

Er...if you dont have a joystick, you'll find it very hard to play XvsT (as in "impossible"). So go get a good MS Sidewinder stick. As for DirectX, I think you better go to Microsoft's Downloads site get the latest version and see if that solves your problem.

 

I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to play without one....

Thanks!

 

I'm planning of upgrading my computer. The point is I want to get an Athlon XP processor. I looked at the prices and fgenerally AMD is cheaper than Intel. Is this a good choice?
Also, what is a decent hard drive size? I'm thinking 60-80Mb would be more than enough, considering that I want to have 3 partitions with Win98SE/Win2k installed.
Thanks

 

I saw this Compaq (shudders) at Office Max: Athlon 2.53Gig, 512MB RAM, possibly integrated video with a 17 incher display., for $1.1K. Would this be a good buy?