ATI graphics cards

[Marauder(CDN)]

I never thought to post this stuff earlier till i assisted DS with his graphics a bit...anyone running ATI and experiencing any difficulties might want to consider these drivers
www.omegadrivers.net/ati.php
I have been running the drivers from this site for a few years..they get rid of alot of the junk ATI puts in and are optimized for gaming.


downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

this 2nd link is for a program to completely clean out drivers...sometimes uninstalling them just isn't enough.

[Death's Shadow]

thanks for the assist mar... working much better now ... only lagged once and that was on holland. might be the mods there though. still going to get a higher power vid card soon.. finaly talked the lil lady into it hehe..

[RedRock]

Since my drivers are from Apple for my Apple-supplied and Apple-chosen vid card in my sweet Macintosh computer, I don't have to worry about it--Apple will include driver updates automaticallly when needed in any OS patch that comes out.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[michiganmilitia]

I hear ya Red!

[Death's Shadow]

lol and if your precious mac fries its vid card then what ... package up the thing ship it off to a repair center pay ungodly amounts of money for the repair then wait for em to ship it back to you.. no thanks i think ill just get a new card and do it myself.. that is whats wrong (as i stated before i should have looked closer before i bought the thing) my vid card is going.. new drivers mar helped with are better but still vid lag out once in a while.

[vinsanity]

My ATI All In Wonder 9800 256K card has never failed me But when I choose to upgrade it I can do so in minutes without difficulties or loss of my PC.

[Marauder(CDN)]

exactly...I have been eyeing up the X1950Pro turbo by HIS...I could have my X800 out and it in and running in about 5 minutes...cost..the upgrade only. Mainly just waiting for a nice price drop on the card now..
about $100 price drop...is $289 USD

www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=278&view=yes

this thing is a monster..I might have to move some hard drives to fit it into my case...and my case is quite large

[RedRock]

Uhm, you're still missing the point here.
If my computer stops working, I might know the reason, but most likely I won't know if it's the vid card or USB Bus or mega-freeple-wonker, etc. Nor do I need to. Nor do I care. I won't be fixing it myself. The 3-yr AppleCare warranty I purchased for about $150 will cover it. I take the Mac to my local Apple Store* and voila, ze repair she is begun painlessly and I get me mac back real quick-like, no cost. In the meantime, I use the other Macs I own or the pc at work and get by just fine.

*Drop by an AppleStore some day and see just how busy the store is and how much interest and excitement is being expressed by the people visiting. You WON'T see that at a Dell store or CompUSA or Walmart computer section.

[Death's Shadow]

lol well were i live there are no apple stores or dell for that matter. HMMM i save money again i dont need to purchase the extended warrenty on my PC cause its not available cause I built the box myself. and if it needs repaired I will do it myself. There is satisfaction In building things with your own 2 hands and knowing that you have the knowlage to modify it the way you want it. But as I said before what ever floats your boat.

If you can afford the mac and warranty and multi back up computers and all the bells and whistles for the mac, more power to ya. lol

well im off to purchase my new vid card and will have it installed and up and running in a matter of min when i get home. catch ya laters

[RedRock]

dreamingshadow said:

... multi back up computers .....

Oldest one, from 1986, finally gave away 5 years ago.
Next oldest one, from 1993 or 94, one I can't bear to give up, boxed up and sitting there lonely, but still usable in a pinch.
Next oldest one, from 95, just gave away to future son-in-law, the ITD type who wants it to play networking with and to use it for parts (sigh, he's ...ugh.... one of you, hope he doesn't infect my daughter).
Next oldest one, from 98, gave away last year to needy family whose Windows box gave up the ghost.

That leaves just the modern Macs, bought over last 4 years, that I can use:
One for oldest daughter (available summer only).
One for other two daughters to share (middle child will buy her own this summer).
One for wife.
One for me.
None is a backup, each is a primary and much loved machine.
All networked and on the internet via the built-in wireless cards they come with, through my Apple Airport Extreme base station, and I still haven't read the manual for either the base station or any of the Macs.

[Death's Shadow]

lol can i come work for you red? wow that is some coin. 4 mac's in 4 years. no way i can compeat with that. i just have my lil box here and son has laptop he bought last month (windows vista) and a cheepy wirless router that i just pluged and played.

and there is hope yet if he is one of us.. maybe he can show you the true power of the dark side hehehe

[vinsanity]

The bottom line is this... I spent less than a grand 5 years ago on a PC that is still screaming fast. I can upgrade it at any time I choose to for pennies on the dollar in comparison to a mac upgrade (er, replacement). And I never have to take my PC to any store to be repaired over time under a warranty that I had to pay for. As I have said in the past, Macs are very good machines... but until they can be upgraded by their owners and the price drops significantly, I will not buy another one.

[RedRock]

Yes, DS and Vince, I understand that, the old economic argument. But be honest, now.

What's MISSING in your "bottom line" and thinking are two things: 1) The expert knowledge, time, and effort you personally put into it, from seeking and obtaining the parts, to putting them in, to making them work with everything else, and 2) Your LOST TIME (time is both money AND life) while doing it. These are not figured into your accountings, or you count them for ZERO, which is blatantly incorrect. If you put in the $ cost of having someone of your abilities do it, plus the lost $ you could have been earning while doing it, your cost is actually way higher than you think, certainly double what you purport. I'm not talking about a 2-minute snap-in installation of RAM or a wireless card (I've done that on 3 of the older Macs), but the real stuff--cutting holes in cabinets and putting in fans, filing and sanding and drilling, wiring and soldering, putting in bigger power supplies, matching the vid board to the processor to the RAM, doing command line patches to make components work together, etc. The average pc user cannot do this, has no interest in even trying, and has more to do with his time, even if it's not making money, than playing PC Surgeon. I assume you really enjoy doing all the pc work, and that's an intangible "income" that might well be worth far more than anything else here we've talked about, but toward the bottom line of the average person having a good pc that works, it's irrelevant.

After that, it's all personal choice--foreign or American, apple pie or pecan pie, chocolate or vanilla, big end or little end, helmet or no helmet, 3-day old store brand white bread or fresh brand-name 12-grain bread, Windows or Mac, etc.--and personal choices have costs and consequences, some good, some bad, some intended, some unexpected, but real nonetheless.

So at least admit to yourself the real situation, the real cost involved, the real cost you CHOOSE to spend in both life and money. You get what you pay for.

I'm happy with how I choose to spend my $ and time. I'm a MacUser.

Oh, and so is Rush.

;D

[Marauder(CDN)]

there is no filing,soldering or hole cutting. the only real matching you have to do is when you buy the parts, buy the CPU-Motherboard-ram and make sure they are the appropriate ones. It would be no different than you going to a store to buy RAM and having to know that you need Memory X for your stuff..and I need Y for mine. After that all of it is basically snap installation including the power supplies. takes me about 15 minutes to install EVERYTHING and have the system running ready to install an OS( and I do charge for the build). After that you just baby sit it and click yes at the proper times, probably no different than when you do an update. I get $50 a format for basically doing nothing extraordinary that an average user could do if they just sat back and thought about it for 5 minutes. Don't get me wrong..is very easy money and the joe-blow who doesn't know...pays for my hardware upgrades. I have had 2 computers at a time installing OS's and I am in the Playground having a game. So basically I was making $50-$100 for killing my fellow players..kind of sweet when you think about it.
That is why I have a business..DES Computer Service. The incidental formats I just do as sideline...the complete builds I run through my business.


this is my toy...and yes I have to neaten up my wiring..it was all wrapped in UV reactive yellow casing..but I got tired of that

Also from all the spare parts I have collected..Lil M is going to get an upgrade..she is going to end up running:
AMD A64-3700
with 1 gig Corsair dual channel Ram...2x512
with a 9600XT ATI video card...not too shabby for a girl of 12...the other one is running an Athlon XP3200 with a gig of ram

oh by the way..the 19" LCD I am running cost me nothing out of my own pocket...was over $300 CDN when I bought it and the formatting and cleaning up of various systems paid for it.

Also not meaning for it to sound rude or anything, I make money from people that sound like your previous posting sounds..however I offer no extended warranty just the same warranty as what the manufacturer offers..no same day replacement and if it has to be shipped to me at my expense..you must cover it. The ignorance of others is what I make money from...plain and simple. That is also why you would pay more for a system from me then other places...I make sure I get components that have at least 3 years of warranty where possible...the only things that usually do not have that is what this posting started from...video cards.For example..a standard Seagate harddrive is 5 yrs..quality name brand memory..lifetime, motherboards and CPU's 3yrs..power supplies anywhere from 90 days to lifetime depending on brands..so extended warranties are kind of a farse in my opinion for computers because the manufacturers cover most of it. Unless it covers labor.I carry no stock ( therefore I have no overhead)and build on demand so people get what is current.
(I edited this several times today that is why it is so chopped )

[Death's Shadow]

sounds about like what I was doing a few years back Mar. BOD (build on demand) was huge back in the late 90's and I made a killing off people that wanted clone type systems. unfortunatly the manufactures have gotten wise that people will pay to have a system custom made by people like us at half the cost of their boxes. Then dropped thier prices down to a compairable level, It kinda killed the buisness around here anyway... I still get a few clean and reformat jobs I do on the side but nothing like the 10 plus BOD systems a week I was doing.

I am compleatly self taught in computer repair (and the help of others more knowlageable when I hit a wall) In fact I even taught my father how to build and repair his own system.

If only our friends knew the power of the darkside... hehehe