Posts by Coconut Monkey

By the way, Coconut Monkey, I dug down through some of the links on ATi's site and actually found mention of the 9600SE a bit deeper down. The site clearly demonstrates that the processors themselves for all the 9600 products are the same, and the only differences between the various standards are the speeds at which the processor and video memory are clocked, and the size of the memory interface implemenrted on the card, as can be seen on this comparison chart:

Ahh, so it is an actual chip created by them.

I wonder why they don't mention it in the main product area.....*nudge nudge*, *wink wink*

how do you explain the different chipsets though? ATI manufactures the same chipsets for all those manufacturers.

Different manufacturer implementation at a guess. As I said before, there is no actual 9600SE chip specifically created by ATI. See?

My friends dad called the 5500 a piece of $hit

I'm afraid I'd have to agree with them. It's a cut-down 5600 which is a bad card to begin with!

they got a ati radeon 9600 pro which from my experience is notorius for driver problems.

A good buy! They can have problems, but there are numerous fixes available and the performance is well over that of a 5500.

Why did it say pro then on the adapter info?

Both cards use the same core - the difference lies in the memory interface, the type of memory used, and the core/memory clockspeeds. Also, you might notice that ATI makes no mention of the 9600SE on their 9600 product pages. ;)

ANyways, is there a good Graphics card for a low budget? Say 160 dollars or less>? Ive been looking at the fx 5900...is that cheap?

I assume we're talking US dollars - try looking for a 9800 Pro or greater, being wary of SE versions and those with 128-bit memory interfaces. A stock 9800 Pro has 8 pixel pipelines (the SE has 4), a 256-bit memory interface, and core/memory clockspeeds of 380/340.

ok it says memory bus lenghth is 64. Is that it?

Congratulations, you are the proud owner of a genuine 9600SE.

It does not include one. BTW i d/l the catylyst control center driver update. Oh and how do i see what my memory interface is? That will tell for sure.

Did you download the Catalyst 4.9 Display Driver, Control Panel, WDM Capture driver pack? It's around 26Mb in total. Do not download the 42.3Mb version - it comes with a new control centre that is known to be problematic.

To apply the new drivers, make sure you've removed the old set beforehand. There should be an entry under Control Panel->Add/remove programs. Remove that, and any other ATI drivers/control panel entry there. Restart your PC, bear the horrible image quality you now have, and run the package you downloaded earlier. It should be a straightforward installation.

To identify what memory interface your card has (and thus exactly what you have there), download and install ATI Tool. The properties button should tell you what you need to know. Do not attempt to overclock the card with this utility unless you know what you're doing.

Someone i just talked to told me all this, can someone kind of explain what he's talking about because my head exploded by the second line.

"for the love of GOD... why are you using Corsair ValueSelect with an Athon64?? NO NO NO! That's cheap RAM... You've got all this other badass stuff lined up and you're using cheez RAM. That's like trying to run a top fuel dragster on pump gas. My recommendation... Either some Corsair XMS3200LL, or some OCZ Platinum EB RAM. Trust me on this one, as high-latency, low-bandwith RAM is going to eat away at a lot of that kickass performance you're going to see from that system.

The type of RAM won't impact much on gaming performance (and you are buying all of this for games right?). The ValueSelect you picked out certainly isn't the best out there though. The low latency models suggested are top of the range, and will ensure maximum performance (however minor the increase is).

The nforce3-250 motherboard recommended by your friend is a very tasty product indeed. Excellent onboard features, and that AGP/PCI bus speed lock he was talking about will help generate a better overclock (if you ever bother with it).

it was a fresh install of windows when i put the HD in

Was that a fresh install of Windows on the hard drive when you put it in, or a fresh install of Windows after you put the hard drive in?

You might want to consider an ATI 9100IGP chipset motherboard if you decide to go for a Pentium 4. The onboard video, while currently languishing near the bottom of the performance ladder, would probably be a significant improvement over your PCI video card. Just remember that this will sacrifice a portion of your system RAM to the onboard video card.

If you don't notice any difference, then there probably isn't any difference!

Regardless, when removing unsightly blemishes from your monitor, you should only use a clean, soft, lint free cloth (I like to use a slightly damp cloth). If they prove stubborn to remove, use a small amount of non-ammonia, non-alcohol based glass cleaner. I don't know about your version of Windex, but here in Australia I believe it contains a small amount of ammonia, which is a no-no!

Found a picture, cut out the unnecessary bits, resized to 80x71, and hosted it on my website.

No one has guessed who it is yet...... :)

Cas Latency will not effect compatibility at all. It will only effect the response rate of the memory chips themselves. If you have a motherboard which can't cater to the full reponse speed of a particular RAM module, the module will work at an accordingly reduced response timing.

Don't you mean increased response timing Catweazle? :p

The CL (and other timings) can be a problem if you have sticks of RAM with a different rating. If you try, for example, running CL3 RAM with CL2 RAM, you may experience instability if the cheaper RAM cannot handle CL2. Then of course you just change to timings that both sticks can handle.

CL2 is the CAS latency of the RAM, part of the RAM's timings. In short, the lower the number, the faster the RAM. Therefore CL2 > CL3.

Nothing coding wise, but I have some "other" tips...... (which may well be repeated in certain stickies and announcements.....so sue me!)

A tabbed browser like Mozilla makes browsing topics much easier (as opposed to say, opening multiple Windows for each thread in explorer).

When posting in a thread, note the date of the first post. If it's a thread you haven't see before, and the first post is from months ago, make sure you're not helping to resurrect a long-dead thread.

Emoticons can make a world of difference if your post could be interpreted as insulting by some people (but then perhaps you should consider rewording it?).

When replying to a thread, make a worthwhile contribution to it. Don't just agree with someone or laugh at a comment. Many people find this incredibly annoying, and classify it as spam. If you can't say something relevant, don't post. Your post count will rise, but people will think of you as a spammer.

Don't post massive images. Use a resolution of around 640x480 and keep the file's size under 100Kb. Some people are blessed with broadband, others must live with dialup. Consider those with limited quotas and outdated connection technologies when posting your next picture.

That's all I can think of for now......

FLCL...Fooly Cooly...Furi Kuri--anyone else watched that?

Yes. It's quite insane. Which is why I have all three volumes......

As you can see, I like anime. I've wasted vast quantities of money buying DVDs and other, pointless, collectibles.

Currently, I'm into:
Full Metal Alchemist
Escaflowne
Chrno Crusade
Naruto (drags everything out soooo much - 83 episodes AND COUNTING - but I cannot resist)
Last Exile

Loved:
Evangelion (so predictable)
ROD the TV
Scrapped Princess
Tenchi Muyo OVA
Nadesico

Still getting used to:
Bakuretsu Tenshi
Kyou Kara Maou
S-cry-ed

This month's release of anime from our Aussie distributor looks set to further dent my bank account.

P.S. You're a true anime fan if you can guess who my avatar is. ;)

I also found out that a hard drive w/XP does not wanna be stuck into a different computer - it farts and hangs (in safe mode, too). Anybody else tried it?

Yep, you've changed the hardware by switching PCs (and changed the unique product ID code), and as a result Windows XP kicks the bucket. You can either try a Windows repair from the XP CD (here's a guide, or reinstalling Windows altogether and reactivating.

Does it show up in Device Manager? You just might need to "activate" it and set up a formatted partition.

Here's a guide.

If it looks like the one above, with the small wires, do i need to upgrade to something else?

If it's the top cable (80 conductor), then that's the best you can get.

Also, which adapter do you recomend i get. Thanks again

Not a clue sorry. I imagine they're all pretty much the same in terms of performance, so I probably wouldn't worry about which one.

Also, are there any power reductions when adding the adapter? Like, since im going from old technology to newer technology with the adapter will my drive become slower and lack its potential?

SATA drives, when plugged into a proper SATA controller, have a max transfer speed of 150Mb/s. Old PATA technology maxed out at 133Mb/s, with 100Mb/s interfaces more common. However, most drives never come close to the max transfer rate in every day usage, so you won't really be "crippling" your drive too much.

Depending on what brand you bought, you might also need a convertor for the molex power connector from your power supply unit. Seagate SATA drives only use the new standard, but others such as Western Digital have plugs for both. Convertors don't cost much though.

Yes, you can obtain an adapter for plugging a SATA drive into old PATA-only motherboards. Have a talk to the supplier and make sure you get the right adapter for what you want!

For example, in Australia, you can buy this.

Also, if your motherboard supports ATA66 or above, you'll want to obtain an 80 conductor IDE cable (if you haven't already) to be able to transfer at decent speeds (rather than be limited to ATA33). Here's a helpful comparison with an older 40 conductor cable:
[img]http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/z_000524wires4080.jpg[/img]

Radeon 7000 does not run Halo very well

I shall start with Viperman's post.

Halo Minimum System Requirements -
- Multimedia personal computer with a 733 MHz or higher processor.
- Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Windows 2000 Service Pack 1, or Windows XP.
- 128 Megabytes (MB) of RAM.
- 1.3 GB of available hard disk space.
- 8× CD-ROM drive.
- 32 MB 3D hardware-transform-and-lighting-capable video display.

As always, minimum system requirements should be taken with a grain of salt. This game can chug on my 2.8Ghz P4, 1Gb of RAM, and a 9800 Pro, at 1024x768 max detail.

As a result Viperman, I'm not surprised you experienced such poor performance, considering that people with systems many times faster experience frame rate problems (of course, opinions vary on "playable framerates").

Also, I would not judge a video card chipset manufacturer based on a fairly recently released game (for PC at least) and a video card chipset they released over two years ago. Since the Radeon 7000 came about, ATI have released the 7500, 8500, 9700, 9800 and just recently the X800 (only taking into account the max performance cards - many chipsets for smaller budgets have also been released). 2 years is a very long time in terms of computer technology, and so I'm sorry to say your card is very outdated for the latest and greatest. Still perfectly fine for general office use though!

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