The (new) Official PC building thread!

rob,

check your virtual memory settings. start>right click on my computer>click on properties>click advanced>under performance click settings>click advanced>make sure your virtual memory is at least 2048mb initial size. some say even higher will improve performance but that's where mine is set.

 

Mort
it is set at 2046 right now. should i change it ? if so what to?

 

i went into it some more and it said recomended is 3069. and im at 2046.so i changed it to 3069.

will this hep with stabillity?

 

rob,

I don't know if it will hep or not but it show won't hewrt.

 

Ooohh BURN! lol Man he got you there.

Rob, why don't you go ahead and run that test again and see for yourself if it helped

 

what put it back up to 4.05ghz and see if it will work??? i might..lol

just where are yo hiilll billies from anyhow>?

 

Theone: I assumed they were different, but not in any way I could see from the specs... However "A better fan that's locked at full speed" - that doesn't sound better to me. Most graphics fans are still noisy, I think you're spoilt with your quiet 7600GT...
Even though you can unlock the fan speed with a BIOS flash, why should you have to do that?
Mort: My my, all of that over one typo! Lol!

 

Rob, this "hiilll billy" is from Florida, what about you? lol

 

sammorris,

I gotta stop trying to do 9 things at once! I'm up to my hip bones in broken PCs and everybody wants theirs now! LOL!! I just wasn't thinking. It's locked at 29% from the factory. The bios flash is to unlock it if needed. Sorry about that!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

That makes more sense, since 29% is probably enough to keep it cool at idle that's kinda nice. Remember though kiddies, that just because the HD3870's speed never exceeds 40% automatically (and therefore is near silent but doesnt overheat), if you want some overclocking, you can just ramp up the fan speed in RivaTuner. It's probably the same with that card as well.

 

O boy stay away for a while and an hour of reading, fast reader..its the thinking LOL

@ Gm. thanks for the info

@ Sam... thanks alot you really got me sold- going for the AC 7

hope I didnt leave anyone out.

 

Heh, same problem for me, hence that huge post! This thread really moves fast...

 

Somebody please shoot me if I ever consider another ATi video card! I just put together an Asus A7N8X Deluxe MB with an old Athlon 2400+ with my X800GTO. It's an old Socket A MB, but brand new, in the box! Usually I install the video card software last, but this time I decided to do it before upgrading to SP-2. Mistake! The ATi software screwed everything up. I couldn't get SP-2 to even install. Every time I tried the Optical drive would freeze up. If I clicked on the window I would get a message that it wasn't responding!

Then I went and did a fresh install with my newest XP-Pro, SP-3 only to find out that I had to install SP-1 to get the USB 2.0 working. It wouldn't install because "the version of XP-Pro was newer than SP-2". I finally found a cure at M$ and downloaded the update. All works well now! LOL!! I just didn't intend to spend a day and a half doing it! LOL!! Oh well, live and learn! ROFLMAO! Nice speedy machine though, for what it is!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

So wait, why is ATI's software to blame for all that?

 

sammorris,

You're right of course, but I would think in the amount of time the X800GTO has been around there would have been an update from them to solve the problem. I've owned 3 ATi cards in my life and each was an adventure. The first one wouldn't even install the software that came with it! The second one the software wouldn't see the hardware, said that "no ATi compatible card was found" and canceled the install! The third (and Final!) one was the X800GTO and it's always given problems with the Power connector that has to be plugged in from the PS. It's a known problem, more to do with the design of the Molex plug, than the video card itself, but it wasn't until the PCIe cards came along that they changed the plug to the PCIe plug we have now. I've seen the white plastic on the Molex plugs actually turn brown and melt from the connections arcing inside them.

Maybe it's me, but I do recall you having a problem not too long ago with yours. The only problems I've ever had with nVidia cards have been minor and were solved with a simple phone call, usually followed by new ForceWare e-mailed to me by nVidia in a matter of minutes! I guess I've just had better luck with XFX cards than anything.

I fully realize that this is not the latest MB, but then again, the X800GTO isn't the latest video card either! LOL!! I had forgotten just how good the older Athlons really were compared to the Intels of the day. It's quite fast given it's clock speed of 2.0GHz.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Yeah and my Current 2.6Ghz Celeron D gets up to 100 percent CPU usage running JUST firefox on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibson.

 

the only thing I don't like about ATI is that you have to install .NET Framework for the genuine ATI drivers and their fans can be a little on the noisy side. do you still need .NET Framework for their newer cards?

 

Yeah, I think they still do. It's a useful thing to have though so I don't see why it's a con.

 

The HD3870's fan is dead silent at stock, only if you manually force the speed up is it noisy, and you only need to do that if overclocking, it runs cool enough by default.
A few people I know have had huge issues with nvidia drivers. I'm not saying ATI's are good, but I don't think nvidia's are any better either really, and as for the molex connector, that could happen with any device really...
I'm not trying to stick up for ATI but I think your loathing of them is a little unjustified.

 

If we are being honest, every company has its positives and negatives. For lulz,

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m5/BruceleeJKD/S1051683.jpg