Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 1901

quote:

---

Your motherboard can't be any worse that mine, mine takes Slot 1 Pentium II's

---

__________________
- The Babylon Project Team

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

quote:

---

Your motherboard can't be any worse that mine, mine takes Slot 1 Pentium II's

---

__________________
- IceFire
Volition Watch Project Manager
[url=http://www.volitionwatch.com]Volition Watch[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/blackwater]BlackWater Operations[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/babylon]The Babylon Project[/url], [url=http://terra.sourceforge.net]Machina Terra[/url], [url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/ott/]Over The Top[/url]

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

i mean that if you put my computer against another computer.

my Comp:

AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz (266Mhz)
A7M266 (266Mhz)
256MB DDR PC2100 (266Mhz)
GF2 MX-400 32MB

Vs My Bro's Comp

AMD Athlon 1Ghz (133Mhz)
A7V133 (133Mhz)
512MB SDRAM PC133
GF2 Deluxe Combo (Same Chipset as my GF2)

his wins in every test.

all games, he gets over 100 fps in all resolutions

*My Max Resolutions in games with GF2 MX-400 in 32bit*

Aliens vs Predator 2 = 800x600x32 @ Max Detail

Grand Theft Auto 3 = 640x480x32 @ Max Detail

FreeSpace 2 = 640x480x32 @ Max Detail


*My Bro's Max Resolutions in games with his card in 32bit*

Aliens vs Predator 2 = 1024x768x32 @ Max Detail

Grand Theft Auto 3 = 1024x768x32 @ Max Detail

FreeSpace 2 = 1024.768x32 @ Max Detail

Not fair at all.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

i mean that if you put my computer against another computer.

my Comp:

AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz (266Mhz)
A7M266 (266Mhz)
256MB DDR PC2100 (266Mhz)
GF2 MX-400 32MB

Vs My Bro's Comp

AMD Athlon 1Ghz (133Mhz)
A7V133 (133Mhz)
512MB SDRAM PC133
GF2 Deluxe Combo (Same Chipset as my GF2)

his wins in every test.

all games, he gets over 100 fps in all resolutions

*My Max Resolutions in games with GF2 MX-400 in 32bit*

Aliens vs Predator 2 = 800x600x32 @ Max Detail

Grand Theft Auto 3 = 640x480x32 @ Max Detail

FreeSpace 2 = 640x480x32 @ Max Detail


*My Bro's Max Resolutions in games with his card in 32bit*

Aliens vs Predator 2 = 1024x768x32 @ Max Detail

Grand Theft Auto 3 = 1024x768x32 @ Max Detail

FreeSpace 2 = 1024.768x32 @ Max Detail

Not fair at all.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

well, i can't afford to get a £100 card from gainward.de online store because i would still need to pay to get it into England.

Which i find totally screwed. I just think that this required payment is just another way to get more money is their pockets.

I need to find the best UK online store that sell Video Cards......all the brands if possible but mostly Gainward.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

well, i can't afford to get a £100 card from gainward.de online store because i would still need to pay to get it into England.

Which i find totally screwed. I just think that this required payment is just another way to get more money is their pockets.

I need to find the best UK online store that sell Video Cards......all the brands if possible but mostly Gainward.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
Posts: 37

Jamie, the more you type the more I'm convinced you have something wrong that is not hardware. If you don't do the detective work and figure out what computing habits that you have or what it is that is hosing up your system then you are going to spend a bunch of money on hardware and wind up depressed in another 6 months because the same issue will end up repeating itself unless the new hardware that you get somehow, indirectly, affects whatever it is that you are doing.

You have either driver issues, BIOS issues, or just a degraded Windows OS. I found personally that Windows 95, 98, and ME degraded terribly through time. After six months, I would back up my data files, do an FDISK and reinstall Windows. I would be amazed at the speed increase.

I'm not saying that this is exactly your issue, since you claim that you 'reinstall regularly' but I wonder if you are doing a complete FDISK & hard drive reformat in order to wipe out old drivers and registry files that may have old, corrupt data. But I think there's a software issue or something else. I had a very sick CD-ROM once that would freeze the system almost completely for no reason at times.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
Posts: 37

Jamie, the more you type the more I'm convinced you have something wrong that is not hardware. If you don't do the detective work and figure out what computing habits that you have or what it is that is hosing up your system then you are going to spend a bunch of money on hardware and wind up depressed in another 6 months because the same issue will end up repeating itself unless the new hardware that you get somehow, indirectly, affects whatever it is that you are doing.

You have either driver issues, BIOS issues, or just a degraded Windows OS. I found personally that Windows 95, 98, and ME degraded terribly through time. After six months, I would back up my data files, do an FDISK and reinstall Windows. I would be amazed at the speed increase.

I'm not saying that this is exactly your issue, since you claim that you 'reinstall regularly' but I wonder if you are doing a complete FDISK & hard drive reformat in order to wipe out old drivers and registry files that may have old, corrupt data. But I think there's a software issue or something else. I had a very sick CD-ROM once that would freeze the system almost completely for no reason at times.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

it ain't software problems.

my sister has the same motherboard as me except my motherboard has updated BIOS, but she is getting the same problems as me.

I can't test the games on her machine since her 3D Card is pretty ****, but she loves to play Zoo Tycoon and that doesn't work on her machine. poor girl.

Trust me, i know these things, it is NOT a software problem.

My mom's computer runs FS2 better then mine. lol

she has:

Intel Pentium III 550Mhz
384MB PC100
Creative GF2 MX-400 64MB

All games work better on hers then mine.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

it ain't software problems.

my sister has the same motherboard as me except my motherboard has updated BIOS, but she is getting the same problems as me.

I can't test the games on her machine since her 3D Card is pretty ****, but she loves to play Zoo Tycoon and that doesn't work on her machine. poor girl.

Trust me, i know these things, it is NOT a software problem.

My mom's computer runs FS2 better then mine. lol

she has:

Intel Pentium III 550Mhz
384MB PC100
Creative GF2 MX-400 64MB

All games work better on hers then mine.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Northam, W.A. Australia
Posts: 235

Your motherboard is based on the AMD 761 chipset isn't it? Despite being outgunned by more modern chipsets its still no slouch and should be more than capable of beating down the Via KT133 on your brothers motherboard. If his video card is based on the same chipset as yours (his is a GF2 MX isn't it? If its another class of GF2 such as a GTS or Pro then that may well explain a lot of things...) that only leaves the fact that his system has double the RAM yours does and the software.

__________________
"Don't stop, baby, dreamin'"
"Don't stop, baby, lovin'"
"Don't stop, babe, believin'"
Wasurenaide...
"Don't stop, baby, dreamin'"
"Don't stop, baby, lovin'"
"Don't stop, babe, believin'"
...Watashi ga iru koto o.
Itsudatte soba ni iru yo.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Northam, W.A. Australia
Posts: 235

Your motherboard is based on the AMD 761 chipset isn't it? Despite being outgunned by more modern chipsets its still no slouch and should be more than capable of beating down the Via KT133 on your brothers motherboard. If his video card is based on the same chipset as yours (his is a GF2 MX isn't it? If its another class of GF2 such as a GTS or Pro then that may well explain a lot of things...) that only leaves the fact that his system has double the RAM yours does and the software.

__________________
"Don't stop, baby, dreamin'"
"Don't stop, baby, lovin'"
"Don't stop, babe, believin'"
Wasurenaide...
"Don't stop, baby, dreamin'"
"Don't stop, baby, lovin'"
"Don't stop, babe, believin'"
...Watashi ga iru koto o.
Itsudatte soba ni iru yo.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
Posts: 37

Jamie, there is nothing wrong with your hardware as far as setup unless there is something marginally defective somewhere. Not defective enough to be 'dead' but defective enough to cause you trouble. YOu say your sisters 550mhz Pentium plays games 'better' than your 1.2 gig Athlon. That makes no sense. Something is amiss, and it's not with your Athlon. That platform is in use successfully by thousands of people on the Internet within easy reach of your keyboard. Try any of the games newsgroups or popular web-based forums like Anandtech or Toms' hardware or AMDMB.com or any of at least a dozen others - hardocp and you will find hundreds of people, if not thousands, with configurations similar to yours if not even quite as good.

You say that you keep throwing hardware at your problem and that you have spent enough to now have a Pentium IV with RDRAM.

I'm telling you that you need to realize that your hardware configuration is NOT your problem. You need to logically map out whether you have a defective component like a CD-ROM as I noted above or if you are not installing the correct drivers or who knows what else.

If you lived within walking distance of me, I could map out a strategy to methodically narrow down what your problem is and correct it with, guessing on a hunch NO outlay of cash for any new hardware.

At this point I'll probably bow out of this discussion because I'm feeling like I'm beating my forhead against the wall. I feel like I'm talking with someone who is confused but does not want to take any advice and listen with an open mind.

Trust me though, if you don't take a step backwards and really map through what's going on, you will continue to have issues whether it be on a 3 Gig Pentium IV with RDRAM or a Celeron 450 or an Athlon 2500+XP. You'll be frustrated a year from now and feel like you have gotten nowhere. And at that point, honestly, it will be your own fault.

That being said, I do truly wish you the best of luck.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
Posts: 37

Jamie, there is nothing wrong with your hardware as far as setup unless there is something marginally defective somewhere. Not defective enough to be 'dead' but defective enough to cause you trouble. YOu say your sisters 550mhz Pentium plays games 'better' than your 1.2 gig Athlon. That makes no sense. Something is amiss, and it's not with your Athlon. That platform is in use successfully by thousands of people on the Internet within easy reach of your keyboard. Try any of the games newsgroups or popular web-based forums like Anandtech or Toms' hardware or AMDMB.com or any of at least a dozen others - hardocp and you will find hundreds of people, if not thousands, with configurations similar to yours if not even quite as good.

You say that you keep throwing hardware at your problem and that you have spent enough to now have a Pentium IV with RDRAM.

I'm telling you that you need to realize that your hardware configuration is NOT your problem. You need to logically map out whether you have a defective component like a CD-ROM as I noted above or if you are not installing the correct drivers or who knows what else.

If you lived within walking distance of me, I could map out a strategy to methodically narrow down what your problem is and correct it with, guessing on a hunch NO outlay of cash for any new hardware.

At this point I'll probably bow out of this discussion because I'm feeling like I'm beating my forhead against the wall. I feel like I'm talking with someone who is confused but does not want to take any advice and listen with an open mind.

Trust me though, if you don't take a step backwards and really map through what's going on, you will continue to have issues whether it be on a 3 Gig Pentium IV with RDRAM or a Celeron 450 or an Athlon 2500+XP. You'll be frustrated a year from now and feel like you have gotten nowhere. And at that point, honestly, it will be your own fault.

That being said, I do truly wish you the best of luck.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

Well, either way, my current motherboard has no room for upgrades.

Also, i have ordered a A7v333 Motherboard, i have read all the reviews about it and shows that it is fast and reliable.

Also it has a wide range of upgradeable stuff.

eventually i can get DDR333 Memory and an ATA133 Hard Drive.

also, i can get up to an Athlon XP 2200+ and more.

Personally, i just think it is the motherboard....

There might not be anything wrong with it, but it just might be slow.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

Well, either way, my current motherboard has no room for upgrades.

Also, i have ordered a A7v333 Motherboard, i have read all the reviews about it and shows that it is fast and reliable.

Also it has a wide range of upgradeable stuff.

eventually i can get DDR333 Memory and an ATA133 Hard Drive.

also, i can get up to an Athlon XP 2200+ and more.

Personally, i just think it is the motherboard....

There might not be anything wrong with it, but it just might be slow.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 1901

quote:

---

I'm telling you that you need to realize that your hardware configuration is NOT your problem. You need to logically map out whether you have a defective component like a CD-ROM as I noted above or if you are not installing the correct drivers or who knows what else.

If you lived within walking distance of me, I could map out a strategy to methodically narrow down what your problem is and correct it with, guessing on a hunch NO outlay of cash for any new hardware.

At this point I'll probably bow out of this discussion because I'm feeling like I'm beating my forhead against the wall. I feel like I'm talking with someone who is confused but does not want to take any advice and listen with an open mind.

Trust me though, if you don't take a step backwards and really map through what's going on, you will continue to have issues whether it be on a 3 Gig Pentium IV with RDRAM or a Celeron 450 or an Athlon 2500+XP. You'll be frustrated a year from now and feel like you have gotten nowhere. And at that point, honestly, it will be your own fault.

That being said, I do truly wish you the best of luck.

---

I concur. Heinrich is on the money. I would do exactly the same thing. Narrow down the problem and figure out what the issue is and fix it. This sounds like a software issue alot more than a hardware one. Alot more like software. If your motherboard was not functioning properly...I'd look for crashing, overheats, and system instability. Correct me if im wrong, but I haven't heard you talk about that. You're complaining about performance on a machine that should technically be outclassing the ones its paired up against. So look into that before you jump up some hardware. Cost effectiveness

On the other hand, the A7v sounds good too and I hope your happy with it and learned some valuable lessons in the process.

__________________
- The Babylon Project Team

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

quote:

---

I'm telling you that you need to realize that your hardware configuration is NOT your problem. You need to logically map out whether you have a defective component like a CD-ROM as I noted above or if you are not installing the correct drivers or who knows what else.

If you lived within walking distance of me, I could map out a strategy to methodically narrow down what your problem is and correct it with, guessing on a hunch NO outlay of cash for any new hardware.

At this point I'll probably bow out of this discussion because I'm feeling like I'm beating my forhead against the wall. I feel like I'm talking with someone who is confused but does not want to take any advice and listen with an open mind.

Trust me though, if you don't take a step backwards and really map through what's going on, you will continue to have issues whether it be on a 3 Gig Pentium IV with RDRAM or a Celeron 450 or an Athlon 2500+XP. You'll be frustrated a year from now and feel like you have gotten nowhere. And at that point, honestly, it will be your own fault.

That being said, I do truly wish you the best of luck.

---

I concur. Heinrich is on the money. I would do exactly the same thing. Narrow down the problem and figure out what the issue is and fix it. This sounds like a software issue alot more than a hardware one. Alot more like software. If your motherboard was not functioning properly...I'd look for crashing, overheats, and system instability. Correct me if im wrong, but I haven't heard you talk about that. You're complaining about performance on a machine that should technically be outclassing the ones its paired up against. So look into that before you jump up some hardware. Cost effectiveness

On the other hand, the A7v sounds good too and I hope your happy with it and learned some valuable lessons in the process.

__________________
- IceFire
Volition Watch Project Manager
[url=http://www.volitionwatch.com]Volition Watch[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/blackwater]BlackWater Operations[/url], [url=http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/babylon]The Babylon Project[/url], [url=http://terra.sourceforge.net]Machina Terra[/url], [url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/ott/]Over The Top[/url]

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

well, i do need to have a big fan blowing on my motherboard.

about 3-4 months ago, when i was playing games in WinXP, it used to constantly reset itself.

I discovered why.............for just being on for like 5mins doing sweet f**k all, the temp of the CPU went to 60c with the cases on.

With them off, it stays at 55c, with the cases off and the big fan blowing on it, it stays at 35c.

and don't say that, this is my problem......because the others were nearly as slow except for one of them and it didn't like my SBLive and i had just brought the same day as the motherboard.

Well, i have had tons of problems with the other motherboards, but a tempreture was not one of them.

I am probably driving you bonkers. lol

I may not be a computer wiz, but my sisters' motherboard has the same problem.

she has:

AMD Athlon 1.1Ghz
A7M266
256MB DDR
Geforce 2 MX 32MB

even that should run FreeSpace 2.....right?

Well, everytime a ship blew up, it went down to a crawl until the flames were gone, it went back to normal.

When the jump points come, it slows right down as well.

her computer has a tempreture problem as well.......but since she has a cool Server Case, it has tons of fans on it. lol

4-5 fans or something like that, but she still gets a tempreture problem.

So, i am going to go with the thought that it is a motherboard thing..........well, my new motherboard should be here Tuesday.....i will keep you updated.

thanks for being so understanding and for not killing me and banning me for being a pain. lol

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

well, i do need to have a big fan blowing on my motherboard.

about 3-4 months ago, when i was playing games in WinXP, it used to constantly reset itself.

I discovered why.............for just being on for like 5mins doing sweet f**k all, the temp of the CPU went to 60c with the cases on.

With them off, it stays at 55c, with the cases off and the big fan blowing on it, it stays at 35c.

and don't say that, this is my problem......because the others were nearly as slow except for one of them and it didn't like my SBLive and i had just brought the same day as the motherboard.

Well, i have had tons of problems with the other motherboards, but a tempreture was not one of them.

I am probably driving you bonkers. lol

I may not be a computer wiz, but my sisters' motherboard has the same problem.

she has:

AMD Athlon 1.1Ghz
A7M266
256MB DDR
Geforce 2 MX 32MB

even that should run FreeSpace 2.....right?

Well, everytime a ship blew up, it went down to a crawl until the flames were gone, it went back to normal.

When the jump points come, it slows right down as well.

her computer has a tempreture problem as well.......but since she has a cool Server Case, it has tons of fans on it. lol

4-5 fans or something like that, but she still gets a tempreture problem.

So, i am going to go with the thought that it is a motherboard thing..........well, my new motherboard should be here Tuesday.....i will keep you updated.

thanks for being so understanding and for not killing me and banning me for being a pain. lol

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged