The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

Wow man. Im really at a loss here. I restarted windows, attempted reinstall, and the damn window came up again. About the driver signing. UNBELIEVABLE!!! I did NOT have a problem on XP. This is really beginning to anger me!

I'm running 64bit! Man...if this OS is gonna have issues like this, im not even gonna bother. I was planning on going linux anyway. This just pushed me even more!

 

You will have problems disabling the driver signature in 64bit windows. You could do it for a while but then they released a security update to stop that. It is to stop viruses from installing drivers for itself on your system. I had a similar problem when I was running 64bit server 2008. What you need to do is just find a program that does the same thing. For my graphics card I am using evga precision to control fan and clock speed.

 

Well...thats pretty fricken funny! I just did a windows update early this morning too. See...I was having an error running the performance index test. Updating windows did the trick! Looks like the security update is what screwed me huh! WONDERFUL!!! You know...its hardly windows fault though. Riva tuner simply needs to sign their software...right?

 

The update that took out disabling driver signing was a while ago and was most likely built into windows 7. But you can still disable it temporarily buy going into safe mode. Unfortunately it is expensive to have the driver signed. I think it is about $500 a year. So they would need to come up with a way to make money using a free program or pay out of their own pockets every year.

 

hmmmff. That is too bad. I liked the look of Riva Tuner. Gonna have to give Evga precision a chance then. Thanks for your help buddy

Kevin

 

Well...an update to 182.08 forceware is ultimately what did it! The digital signing was negligible! Because now it is running! It may not be stable, due to not being officially supported yet but...ITS RUNNING LOL!!!

Kevin

 

Sam, thanks for that list about making quad cf work. Fabulous information - goes right in front of the new build text reference file.

And yes, I think I can wait a month or two for the 4890x2s. No problem. That's probably about the time I'll get my check with the normal trouble I have at making sure my real estate files are in order. And game-wise, although I just bought GTA4 for $20, and already have ebay-bought Far Cry 2, Crysis, Warhead, and COD5, they can all wait a while.

I'm playing back through the first Brothers in Arms which has a 2560x1600 setting (Road to Hill 30) on the big Dell, and getting 32-40 fps all settings high. It's much more immersive - I know, I know, I keep saying that. (Most of the Germans I am fighting look like teenagers - I never really saw them that closely before!)

I am playing at the hard setting - but not the authentic setting.

I did something smart for the first time - I created a new profile call Rich-hard, and started the game with that new profile. I already had played through the game on hard a year or so ago, so any chapter that I like, I can take a break, switch to the other "Matt Baker" default profile, and then try to get through it on authentic. So I have two different profiles playing the game at the same time - I never did that before. After I succeed on Authentic, or just give up having lost my patience, I can change back to the Rich-hard profile, and just resume the game.

The "authentic" setting requires the patience of god (the kind of patience you would have to have if your life were really on the line.) What makes it much harder is that there are no save points - you have to play virtually the whole chapter without one damn major mistake. It's painstakingly slow - like the original Far Cry on hardest setting. I am proud of myself - I did go back and play the first few chapters on authentic - over several different Wednesdays. I saved up some grenades for the chapter that finishes with the shootout in front of the barracks where two of the guys use a bazooka to take out a machine gunner. Just before that part of the courtyard is a room with 4 germans - and I knew that without the grenades I wouldn't make it in authentic mode - and I would have at least a half hour to an hour invested in the chapter up to that point. I threw one grenade and beat it the hell out of there - I had been playing so well I was green-yellow in color - lots of health. I crawled back into the building - no sound - I threw another grenade. Went back in again - all the germans were dead. I think actually the first grenade got them all. Out in the courtyard with the big shootout I stayed in a corner of part of the barn - no hero moves when you're playing authentic unless you want to repeat the whole goddamn chapter!! Hahahaha!

Anyway, the big Dell is like I never played the game before - there is such a difference! After this I have the second Brothers in Arms, Earned in Blood, which should play just as well (but not the third, Hells Highway - the P4 won't handle the rain halfway through the game.) I also have Far Cry 1, and Half Life 2 and the episodes. I think I have enough to keep me busy for 60 days, gaming only on Wednesday (all day - about 12 hours lol.)

First I'll pick up the Zalman 1000, test that with a small test computer to make sure it's not DOA, then put that in the spedo and mod the bottom intake fan. Next step will be the DFI, cpu and memory. I can test with an old pci video card from the little pre-agp 10-year old 200mhz test computer. Hahaha. So I can run some system tests and memory tests and maybe do some overclocking before picking up any high end graphics. That should all keep me busy enough to be able to wait a bit for the 4890x2 cards.

Man, Kevin, Krj and Sam - what a pain with this windows 7 signed driver issue! I'll be setting up vista and windows 7 partitions - I can't wait for the new headaches, lol.

Rich

 

Actually my headaches have been pretty minimal! Some installs are a pain, but the overall OS experience has been better than I expected. Windows 7 still remains the best OS they've released. At beta stage anyway LOL!

 

So far I am liking windows 7. The only things that still bother me are the driver signing and some issues resuming from sleep. But other than that windows 7 runs everything and performs great.

 

Yah...I was QUITE alarmed, when the first time after install, it didnt resume from sleep mode. I was like, "ok, lets turn this OFF right now!" I ended up having to shut it off, because it wouldnt respond from the sleep mode! There was either a driver or hardware issue that caused it I think!

 

I didn't realize other people were having this problem too. I have been thinking that I set it up wrong but now I know others are experiencing this also. I have been thinking about trying to upgrade to the newer versions to fix the problem but I'm not sure of the easiest way to do it. I am running version 7000 and I have seen downloads for the newer 7068, but i dont want to have to reinstall.

 

Worked on my MSI board I believe. Not sure what to think at this point. Since I dont believe in shutting off my equipment...

See...much like a light bulb, hot cold, hot cold, hot cold, POP!!! My HP is 8 yrs old. I never shut it off when I was running it. However the PSU gave out due to the area Im living in now. Unstable voltage in my area!

 

Well if you guys like it, maybe Windows 7 won't be as bad as all that. I have already downloaded the beta, along with vista, so I'll be ready to march forward with them for the new build.

Never turning off equipment, hmmm. I know our friend Sam would not approve of the wasted electricity, lol.

I know what you mean about light bulbs, hot cold hot cold pop! But keep in mind that a light bulb is an actual tungsten filament, and a mechanical engineering phenomenon called metal fatigue - the same thing that plagues airplane wings - comes into play I imagine. Are silicon chips affected the same way? - I am not sure if they are or not. I too have some old equipment, but I have always turned my equipment off every night. I guess I would say that most silicon runs warm - not really hot - certainly not white hot like a light bulb filament. If you don't overly stress the component, as opposed to overclocking a cpu without adequate cooling and with unsafe voltages, then the piece of silicon that never gets above its normal working temperature, in my experience and to my knowledge, should last indefinitely. Those transistors, with their little npn junctions and tunneling theory and whatnot - they friggin last forever!

But let me ask you this - surely, at the very least, you have your hard drive set to turn off after a certain period of time, don't you. I mean, I know those bearings are well made and self-lubricated, but how many billions of revolutions can they take? You don't keep that little guy spinning 24/7 for years on end do you? Hahaha. (I know some who do.)

Rich

 

Well...I tried raising the main Core clock to 600(602) from 540, it just about locked up windows during a performance test. Had to enter task manager to end the process! If I cant get a significant increase in performance, than this really is a lost cause. But then I did learn a few things anyway. Sooo...it wasnt a complete loss. And in a few weeks I can purchase a new card, and be happy. But then, if this card can run GTA IV without too many hiccups, I may still be happy for a little while anyway! Ultimately, I'm gonna upgrade sooooon!!! GTA IV is DEFINITELY in the near future! Possibly tonight

 

I've owned my AAKS drive for a little over a year, and its showing 9700hrs. Still seems good too.

Your probably right about the harddrives. I think im gonna start turning them off. Especially considering the POOR veloci hitting 10,000 rpms!

 

@Rich

If you plan Quad Crossfire, I would really recommend Core i7. Any build like that is one of those extreme cases where i7 is truly useful. Not to say you wouldn't be just as happy with a high end quad like Sam's... it would save you some money. But i7 really has the horsepower to push 4 cards to the max. It would also be a bonus to find a compatible board with full 16x Crossfire. I'm sure there are some reasonable X58 boards with everything you're looking for. I personally like Gigabyte and DFI. Though it's already been made clear that Gigabyte is not especially multi card centric.

As to Leaving your stuff on 24/7... I do it. My machines are on almost all day and night. Mostly just restarts for Windows update and drivers and the like. The power bill isn't great, but not terrible seeing they're mostly idle when I'm not using them

And Windows 7... still mostly beta. It's pretty nice so far but I'm still keeping XP Pro till 7 hits a final release. It's pretty buggy yet but they're fixing it MUCH more quickly than any Windows OS I've seen before. If they keep it up, Windows 7 is looking to be spectacular

On another note. Anyone play Tom Clancy's HAWX yet? It's friggen amazing. The graphics are GREAT and even the 9600GT runs it maxed with 4xAA at 1920 res. Locked at 60FPS. Maybe going to 35 or so in a super intense explosion with artillery pounding the deck and debris flying everywhere

The ground detail is spectacular as well. They use a mix of satellite imagery and some clever bump mapping to make the game nearly photo realistic at times. The detail on everything is astounding given the size of the maps and the scale of the gameplay. We're talking World in Conflict style graphics for ground troops you can barely see. The game is that awesome.

And I can plug in my corded 360 controller and the game detects it instantly, full rumble and button mapping and everything

 

I leave most of my computers on all the time to. But I set them to hibernate after a certain amount of time so that I dont waste too much energy. I would also agree that a core i7 will help alot with quadfire. If your not going to get core i7 then I would just stick with 2 gpus.

 

Yah...my power bill averaged under 30$ a month in my apartment. I lived alone, and the only things I ran were the dish washer, my computer, the fridge kicked on every now and again, but otherwise I was a real stickler about keeping lights off where I didnt need them!

They better be on top of windows 7! The number 7...I hold HIGH regards to the number. As gold is to the average person, the number seven is to me. The number 7 stands out! Its my lucky number, and apparently many that work for M$ LOL

Well...I got my 8600GT running at a little OC! 540 stock is now running 594 with a 50mhz mem bump! Im gonna go pick up GTA IV and see how it runs!

 

GTA IV is an odd duck. I've seen people with duals and 4870s getting single digits at parts. And I've seen people with quads and HD3850s getting awesome results. The game is bugged badly and is heavily processor dependent. Just some knowhow before you get it.

Also, read my edit above if you didn't catch it...

 

Do you think that the new Phenom II can take it? I read on the box at walmart (LOL), that my card was bare minimum. So if it is supported, and my overclock runs well, I might be ok for a couple weeks anyway! GTA SA looks pretty good.