Posts by Coconut Monkey

There used to be all kinds of problems with Sound Blaster Live!s and VIA chipset motherboards (but I think it was isolated to the KT133 chipsets). Fixes included (off the top of my head):

1. Moving the SB Live to the very last PCI slot (at the bottom).
2. Updating to the latest motherboard and sound card drivers.
3. Changing PCI bus options in the BIOS. The problems arose with the SB Live attempting to "hog" the PCI bus. I'm not sure of the exact setting(s) that required changing (one I think is to lower PCI latency timer), but there was a PCI Latency patch released by a third party that attempted to combat the problem. Try some googling for PCI hog, SB Live and VIA.

You NEED thermal paste. Metal on metal is not an efficient means of heat transfer!

Here's an application guide.

1) I'd prefer just HTML, or if you want to go flash, make any "transitions" as short as possible. Many flash sites have these annoyingly long transitions to the next area. Sure, it looks fancy, but after the third time it starts to grate.

2) A decent set of tools (free obviously) for the programming languages. Granted, it may not be up to date, but it saves downloading or buying it yourself. Many of my uni books have failed to supply the right tools or just offer trial versions I have to eventually pay for.

4) I suppose that could be useful, and you would have plenty of room since most of the CD would just be code text and HTML!

You didn't read that correctly mod_rock. "The only Windows compatible 64-bit processor", meaning it's a 64-bit CPU which is happy to run on the only type of Windows currently available - 32-bit.

Also, only the 3100+ Sempron is A64 based (I believe there's also a 3300+ coming). All the slower versions you see are based on the Thoroughbred AthlonXP core.

Whup, I beg to differ with myself. Seems there's some more A64 core (minus the 64) models in the works - 2600+, 2800+ and 3000+.

So everything is running at 32 bits and then I see an advertisement that shows the amd symbols and says "the ONLY windows compatible 64-bit pc processor" its for alienware computers. Is it only alienware computers come with windows coded for 64 bits?

You didn't read that correctly mod_rock. "The only Windows compatible 64-bit processor", meaning it's a 64-bit CPU which is happy to run on the only type of Windows currently available - 32-bit.

Also, only the 3100+ Sempron is A64 based (I believe there's also a 3300+ coming). All the slower versions you see are based on the Thoroughbred AthlonXP core.

You need to make sure the SATA drive is booted from first in the motherboard BIOS, if you experience problems with the old drive plugged in and having its installed OS loaded instead.

What do you mean? Does the configuration I suggested not work? Are you sure you're reading the jumper diagrams the right way?

Also, what brand and model burner do you have? Is it brand new? Does it work in any other PCs?

Are the burner and old drive sharing an IDE cable? If so, you must ensure they have the correct jumper and cable configurations. The drive with the master jumper setup sits on the end connector of the cable, while the drive with the slave jumper setup sits on the middle.

Or, preferably, connect them to your motherboard through different IDE channels (a cable each).

You can check for any model/serial numbers on the card itself, or possibly take a nice photo and paste it here.

As for your old card, what do you mean "stuck"? Is it plugged into an AGP or PCI slot? You've unscrewed the backing plate? Maybe flicked the little plastic clip on the slot itself that could be obstructing movement?

Good question, Coconut Monkey. The problem is that what I'm storing is raw footage in AVI format. These files are uncompressed, which is what I want. But, of course, they're very big.

Are you sure it's uncompressed? Raw video takes up a LOT of space. A typical 20-minute video file (768x576, 25fps) would take over 40GB! With the right compression you can have a much smaller filesize with a minor dip in quality. Take DVD video for example - looks fine right? It's compressed! A movie-length feature can take up around 4Gb on a DVD.

Have you considered other, cheaper ways of storing your home movies? Say recording to DVD?

Are you using decent compression for these movies? How much space is one taking up?

I don't like the idea of all those burning programs being used, especially with the updated ASPI drivers (which shouldn't be necessary AFAIK).

Either a serious rollback with system restore or a reinstall of Windows (you can try a repair).

It is just where you can record data on both sides of the Disc, and yes it is a special disk, and I want to say I say them at best buy for 15 bucks for 3 of them, but I am nto sure about that one.

Those are dual-sided discs jfountain, not dual-layer discs. ;)

Far better value for now though. :-|

Here's that guide again!

Sorry, this is not the place for advertisement. Use the contact us form to discuss prices on advertisement on this site.

Use methylated spirits or isopropyl alcohol (obtained from your local chemist). You can use acetone as well, but don't breathe in too much or get any on your hands.

Here's a guide for cleaning off old paste and applying some new stuff. It applies to all pastes.

It's a fairly new home recording standard for DVD discs (it's been around on movie DVDs for ages though). As you can see from the description, it allows for the storage of around 8Gb worth of data (compared to the 4.7Gb of single layer discs), and yes, you need a supported drive with special dual layer discs (which cost a fair bit).

I recommend the latest drives from either Pioneer (DVR-109) or NEC (ND-3520A).

what do you mean?

Your CPU would be the bottleneck in an X850XT/6800 Ultra setup. ;)

DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module.

It's basically just the connection standard for RAM sticks and RAM slots. Most modern PCs have DIMM slots supporting DIMM modules. ;)

BIG MEANIE i cant back up anythin every thought of that?

Civic, have you even tried any of the suggestions from Catweazle? Or more importantly, the tips and tricks in the thread linked?

Eh...i beg to differ coconut cards do play a huge part in the sense that if you dont have one it eats your memory and if he only has 128 that will GREATLY kill his system. I recomend going to newegg.com and buying some parts

In this case Ignite, we're advising Richie to update his entire system, since his current setup is a bit of a dead end. 128Mb of RAM, even on its own, is hardly enough. I'd recommend at least 512Mb!

So, in the end, he'll have more RAM to play with. Even so, it would help to get a dedicated card, preferably a Radeon 9200.

Trying to find something that can handle my fx-55 is proving to be a mission

Heh heh....

You might find it's the other way round!

Heavens, this looks terribly confusing!

You installed the drive as a slave and it showed up correctly in the BIOS. Now, did you partition and format the drive? Or did you use some program that was supplied?

I think you should start from the beginning! Remove those tools. What operating system do you have?

That's just extra functionality offered by AMD to adjust the CPU speed and voltage based on processor load, saving power and lowering stress (ever so slightly) on the CPU. If you want to save what must be only a couple of dollars on the next power bill or a few years of life on a CPU that will be replaced long beforehand, go right ahead! I'd only worry about such things when using laptops or other battery-powered devices.

Next most important thing is the speed and responsiveness of the RAM chips. The colockspeed of the video RAM is measured in Megahertz, and the responsiveness in nanoseconds. More MHz is better, less ns is better.

There's also the "width" of the "data highway" to the RAM to take into consideration. For example, two cards with 600Mhz DDR RAM. One uses a 128-bit memory interface, the other a 256-bit memory interface. The 256-bit model has twice the transfer rate!

Most high end cards have a 256-bit memory interface (keep an eye out for SE, EZ, Lite editions though - these are usually crippled versions).

In the case of the P4s, I think it's just a case of front side bus support. Some newer boards might not support P4 Willamette 400Mhz FSB CPUs (some Abit models for example), but generally they should support pretty much everything. Check the motherboard manual or the CPU support list available on many manufacturer websites.

What motherboards do you have there?

Well no one has repsonded, but i dont think it was the videocard, i think there is an even bigger problem, i have my old card in and my pc froze while i was doing in Adobe preimiere, what could be the problme, could it be a virus, im freaking out now, what am i supposed to do now?

Give us time! :mrgreen:

Did you properly uninstall the previous video card's drivers from add/remove programs? Did you properly uninstall the new card's old drivers before installing the latest ones? Mixing drivers can cause all kinds of trouble, so make sure you just have one set sitting on your system.

Make sure you have the latest motherboard chipset drivers as well. These are available from the motherboard manufacturer's website (Asus in this case), or, if the board is rather old, you might want to check out the chipset manufacturer's website (I think you have an SiS chipset there).

If instability continues despite the above fixes, you might want to try turning off AGP fast writes via the ATI control panel or the BIOS. There is only a tiny performance drop from disabling it.

If you want to lower it by a few degrees then you can make a funnel/tunnel from the hole in the side of the case to the heatsink fan.
This is basically a direct conduit for air flow from the outside of the case to the heatsink and ensures that you aren't pullin warm air from inside the case onto the heatsink.

You might find that these "duct mods" actually obstruct airflow in your case and really don't help at all.

No cross posting now. ;)

I'll leave your other thread which has already been replied to.

Video cards do not play much of a part in capturing or editing video (with a few exceptions, such as special 3D effects or extra features to remove interlacing or pixelisation). Onboard RAM takes away some system RAM, which can reduce performance, but you can always allocate the bare minimum (typically 8Mb).

I would concentrate on the CPU (Intel P4 for video editing), RAM and hard drive.

In this second part of our three-part analysis on 64-bit computing architectures, we'll delve into Hammer's microarchitecture and compare/contrast to Itanium's existing design coming up design.

*cough* ;)

Please cite the original author or website Blacktop - it's clear that you did not write that post yourself. ;)

Errm....I just stick the motherboard on top of the metal risers and screw in. Easy done.

You're an unnecessarily fussy old prick Catweazle (hey, his words, not mine!). :D

I think 3Ghz is fast enough for now! 1.68V on the CPU voltage is not healthy. Granted, it works fine now, but too much juice can gradually kill a CPU. Your results might vary, but to be safe I would just sit on default speeds - 3Ghz is more than enough for general usage and great for games.

If you really want to overclock, then stay below 1.6V, and see how far that gets you. Also, what speed is your RAM running at? You can check with a utility like CPU-Z.

Ah, but you can always buy new core components later. The X800 Pro (well, I would suggest a 6800GT, but that's another story) would be a nice performance increase in the meantime.

Then again, there's the whole PCI-E debate as well (in which case I'd recommend an X800XL) and then you would need a new motherboard and CPU anyway.

Choices!

kk thnx
im looking for a case that is differnet than most of the rest that ny1 else will have so basically i want to to be differnent and stand out whilst offereing gd ventilation etc

The best way to achieve that is to buy any old case and modify it yourself! If you're handy with metalworking and don't mind some extra work, you can come up with a very unique case indeed.

I don't really feel the need to stand out from the crowd though, which is why I bought the popular Antec 1080AMG. Weighs a ton, but it's very roomy, comes with 5 spots for 80mm fans with 2 provided, removable hard drive bays, slide out optical drives (you need to attach some "runners" to the sides though) and a mighty fine 430W power supply.

and that is when the flash is designed for a specific piece of hardware,

Yep. Judging by the "D" at the end of the model number, our friend may have a rebadged OEM drive. The risk is greater, but the potential for dual layer burning is there!

There are ways to recover from a failed flash, but they're rather risky themselves and I certainly wouldn't be game to try (it involves plugging the drive into the IDE channel while the PC is on).

Like I said, you attempt an update at your own risk!

Whoa, thread resurrect!

however if your agp is only running 4x then you should consider getting a new a motherboard first then a graphics card.

Wouldn't make much of an impact nizzy - there's hardly anything separating AGP4X and 8X in performance. ;)

True but I just don't know why you would buy a SATA drive if you would need to use an adapter? Why not just go with a cheaper ATA drive?

You can carry the drive across to a SATA ready system in future, and SATA drives are not that much more expensive these days.

But yeah, I'd just buy a PATA drive. :cheesy:

Hi Coconut, it is a cheap case but has a rear exhaust fan, a CPU exhaust, and I added another 80mm fan on the removable panel. It is a large case and has plenty of space for air to circulate.

Sounds good then. Is the side panel fan blowing onto the expansion cards?

If you want to add another fan, then an intake at the front would do nicely.

Even so, the max transfer speed doesn't matter that much in this case. The performance difference between SATA and PATA drives is negligible, and drives never hit anywhere near the max transfer speeds (which are theoretical) of the interface they use in general operations.

Personally, I'd only start worrying if it hits 60.

Do you have good case ventilation?

Don't forget AGP 3.0 ;)

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html

The motherboard should have a CMOS clear jumper (check the manual or download one). Unplug the PC from the mains and the motherboard from the PSU, then swap the jumper across. Leave for 5 seconds, and swap back. If you cannot locate a jumper, then just pop the CMOS battery out (it should be easily identifiable on the board - it's one of those round Lithium Ion ones) instead (still unplugging everything). Leave for 30 minutes or so, then pop it back in.

If the monitor cable is damaged and does not unplug from the back of the monitor (i.e. it goes inside with no easy removal) then I think you just may have to buy a new monitor. You cannot easily replace that cable yourself - it involves opening up the monitor and properly wiring up a new one. Paying a repair shop to do it for you may be so expensive as to not be worth it. My old 17" CRT had a damaged cable and an installed replacement was going to cost $110. Considering I could buy a brand new 17" for $80 more, it wasn't worth it.

See if you can get a free quote from a repair shop first.

It just sounds like you haven't correctly installed the drives. Put the hard drive on the primary IDE channel (the first connector on the motherboard - usually labelled IDE0 or IDE1). Ensure it is set to "master" in the jumper configuration and that it is plugged in with the end of the IDE cable. Same story with the optical drive, but on the secondary IDE channel (the second connector on the motherboard). Do not place both on the same IDE channel/cable.

Long answer, yes!

There is a third party firmware update for your drive that unlocks -R burning, but you use and install it at your own risk (this is not an official update, and is not guaranteed to work)! Basically, you need to download a firmware updater program (a "flasher") and then run it in a pure DOS environment and apply a downloaded firmware update file.
The start page
The firmware

Failed or frequent firmware updates could result in a paperweight. If you are unsure of the process, then don't take the risk.

The "maximum directx level" of your card is 7, so Half Life 2 is detecting that correctly. However, the latest Nvidia drivers are designed with the latest cards in mind. You might want to try some older revisions. Nvidia hosts a driver archive, so try something in the 4x.xx range (perhaps 45.32) or, if nothing there works out, something in the 5x.xx range. Maybe even look into 3x.xx.

On the other hand, you're missing out on all the new graphical "shinies" Half Life 2 supports - perhaps it's time to look at a new video card? ;)

Whoa! Some clarification needed here.

Normally the power cable like the one that goes to your hard drive does the job for you

As I said, the fan linked does not have this type of connection, nor does it come with an adaptor.

... and if it has been a long time you didnt open the processor

Take the heatsink off the CPU you mean?

... take some glue ( specific .. you should ask a computer shop for this glue)

The "glue" is thermal paste, designed to provide a means for transferring heat between the uneven metal surfaces of the CPU and heatsink base. Do not use thermal adhesive - it's not as efficient and could be a problem should you ever need to replace the heatsink or CPU!

and place it in between the processor and the sink .. it'll solve your problem greatly.

Replacing the thermal paste every now and then can help temperatures, but you need to make sure you remove the old stuff beforehand. This guide tells you how (it applies to all thermal pastes).

Take a look here.