easytarget

and then proceeds to do very little to justify its cost

sounds good keep us posted on what you come up with

turn usb back on and see if you can get other usb devices to work if you can, leave it on and just use the mouse via the adapter that comes with it and plug into the old mouse connection instead of usb

is it possible to copy the whole contents of the cd to hd then install from the hd?

i'd 2nd that opinion if this is just about CM performance, i'm pretty sure that CM pegs cpu utilization at 100% so speeding up that part of the system would give you the most bang for the buck the graphics just aren't that demanding - at least not when compared to games like hl2 or d3 for example gl

i'd 2nd that opinion if this is just about CM performance, i'm pretty sure that CM pegs cpu utilization at 100% so speeding up that part of the system would give you the most bang for the buck the graphics just aren't that demanding - at least not when compared to games like hl2 or d3 for example

is this only happening in games? if so, which games? and doesn't this sound like mouse driver problems?

from an overclocking perspective the current p4's are winning out - something they haven't done in awhile and the advent of 800mhz FSB coupled with DDR400 RAM isn't to be ignored either either is hyperthreading from what i've been reading i'd say intel's winnnig right now even if you don't plan to o/c it that'd being said, bear in mind we're just starting to see reviews of the new 64bit offering from amd and it looks like they are positioning it towards gamers too and not just servers/workstations so this is a battle not unlike the nvidia vs ati one i'd say go with whoever you see is winning the battle at the time you build the system - based of course on performance AND cost here are some sites that cover the hardware scene: http://www.anandtech.com/ http://www.hardocp.com/index.html http://www.3dgpu.com/modules/news/ http://www.guru3d.com/ http://www.tomshardware.com/

bottom line for me is this - i bought the new nvidia 5900 for one reason - to play the next generation of FPS games (HL2 and D3) - based on recent articles testing nvidia vs ati cards (i'm talking the high end stuff - i.e. 5900ultra vs 9800pro) the ati card is laying down the smack so hard that i returned my 5900 and got the 9800pro yeah i'll lose fog, but frankly i don't play that many scenarious using fog - the vast majority don't have it - and since smoke is going to behave like dust in CMAK that means i don't have to worry about it when the next CM game releases i don't buy high end vid cards to play CM - to be blunt about it, no one does - it's just not a requirement of the game but if you plan on playing any fps games in the future, they'll all be based off of two game engines - HL2 and D3 take it from someone who HATES giving money to ati - i bought ati - you know why? because i'm not a fanboy of either side - i like the competition and reward the winner with my money right now, that's ati and it's not even a close competition right now nvidia better do something really really spectacular with their NV40 release - because even their latest 50 series drivers have been tested and been shown wanting both in terms of speed and most particularly in IQ dims the graphics card facts as i see them right now

i replaced my gainward gold sample gf3 128mb ti200 with an FX5900 just recently so i've got a card for you if you're interested and i'm willing to sell it for cheap (since I've got no other use for it than to sell it or give it away) ignore comments above about it not being able to run FPS games - not true - i never ran across a game it wouldn't run and since it comes from the factor overclocked to a ti500 speed (w/ a gurantee from the mfg) it's plenty fast as long as you're not planning on trying to run DX9 games on it (a whole other story of book length proportions i won't go into) it also has the added benefit of being able to run older drivers from nvidia which makes it possible to run all CM games in all their glory w/o any hiccups - fog included anyway, since this discussion came up, thought i'd just mention i've got a soln sitting in a box by my desk...

yeah, but that wouldn't out perform your 4400 if you're stuck on a 5900, madmatt made a good suggestion of waiting for the 128mb ultra my advice would still be to wait for the NV40

while i don't own the card, the part you left out that helps make the call is what card are you upgrading from?

I like gainward a lot - especially their gold sample cards since they have something other than the straight nvidia cooling on them and guarantees to run overclocked no problem i gotta say though that unless you've got 350 burning a hole in your pocket you're not likely to see a huge performance increase - you definitely don't need it in order to play CM - and if you're making this upgrade for the sake of the next gen of games (HL2 and/or D3) i'd wait till the games come out and see what's available then - worse case scenario, the 5900 will be cheaper once the next rev from nvidia and ATI comes out

i don't think surround sound is probably going to add that much for you with CM if you were talking about an FPS it'd be a different story since positional sounds behind you could give you vital details that your about to be attacked from that direction the sound in CM isn't as vital in that way since you can zoom into any part of the battle field you like and look at the situation as many times as you want whereas in fps it's a real time battlefield situation you usually find yourself in where real time directional sound feedback is useful in short, a decent pair of sennheiser headphones would probably be more useful (in truth, probably more useful in both of the above situations) - i can pick up really quiet details on my phones that i'd never hear on my speakers unless i had them cranked (at which point the rest of my family would go into revolt at the noise level) [ September 08, 2003, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: easytarget ]

no problemo btw, next gen for ati and nvidia looks to be late q4 early q1 [ September 07, 2003, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: easytarget ]

judging from your post i'd say you keep your volume pretty low lower than i do anyway, although i don't exactly have it cranked up either since i use headphones, for the most part i tend to keep it at a point just where i can hear all the tell sound signatures the game provides so i don't miss anything that would provide useful intel in the end, this is an individual call

i use NAV so i'm not that familiar with mcafee does it give you anything in the way of error messages when the game fails to run?

if you've got a 4400, i seriously doubt the cost/benefit would be there the gap in performance between the two cards wouldn't warrant the upgrade cost of approx 300 bucks if i were you i'd wait at least one more generation

i recently purchased the nvidia 5900 and like it quite a bit but i was seriously considering the ati 9800 as well from a performance stand point both are very close i'd suggest going with the one you feel gives you the best bang for the buck i measure bang for the buck based on who makes the card (they are not all the same), what software comes with it, and peformance/cost in the end i went with nvidia because i also happen to like the image quality better (this is definitely personal taste) and their drivers in the past have been updated more often than ati's oh, and because i'm also an fps fanatic, i went with the card, that from what i've read thus far, is going to be optimized for doom3 since the ati 9800 is going to be optimized and even bundled with half life 2, someone keenly interested in playing that as well might seriously consider going with the 9800 [ September 06, 2003, 12:09 AM: Message edited by: easytarget ]

I've got the 5900. What are you wanting to know about it? Don't know anything about 5600 flaws though.

vader, not to worry, i'm not trying to talk you into buying more hardware than you feel comfortable with i'm simply saying i'll be moderately surprised if a few months from now when HL2 comes out, and 6 months from now when D3 comes out that you're not back here posting that you bought a new vid card while what you say is true for the most part, what you're leaving out of your calculations on hardware needs is the fact that the source engine and the new d3 engine are a fairly significant departure from previous iterations real time rendering of what used to be the cut scenes doesn't come cheap and all fps games subsequent to the release of these two engines will be licensed on one or the other occasionally something comes along that forces everyone to upgrade - HL2 and D3 are examples of such an event (every 4-5 years) so yeah, i'm basically telling you that with a 4200 you're going to either play these two titles in 640 with everything turned off, or you're going to be watching a slide show

Might want to visit Tom's or Guru3d, to name but a couple of the many sites that have run D3 on currently available hardware. And I'm not talking about the leaked copy of D3 either. At least a couple of the reviews are with id's blessing and cooperation. And while the code may not be optimized, as is stated repeatedly, the numbers are pretty low even on a 5900 or 9800. You'll be lucky to run 8x6 with everything turned off in order to get decent frame rates.

my recommendation would be to skip the speakers and get some really good phones sounds like you've already made up your mind though gl p.s. hope you saved some bones for a wicked fast vid card or you'll be playing a slide show in hl2 or d3 i just installed a fx5900 specifically for the above two games (well, and a few others that are around the corner)

since we're all participating in a free market place we all have the power to individually decide for ourselves whether CMAK is worthy of purchase no real mystery in that strikes me as so obvious as to hardly warrant mentioning certainly not worthy of being called out for special praise as if something astoundingly brilliant had been observed

when nvidia and ati started charging as much as a computer for their vid cards they set themselves up for higher expectations in terms of support, which include but is certainly not limited to the following: useable functional drivers, better games included with the product (as in the whole game instead of some crap demo), heat syncs for the gpu and vid ram that actually work and don't block an ajoining pci slot (something they currently are not doing), cooling fans that don't fail inside of a year and don't make so much noise they're confused with a leaf blower, and web sites with actual useful and searchable help when you charge 4-500 dollars for your top end card, the above support isn't going to be seen as a luxury any more by those who purchase your product, it will be expected - as well it should be conclusion: anyone who owns 9700's, 9700 pros, 9800's, 9800pros, FX 5900's and FX 5900ultras should damn well have the right to bitch all day everyday at ati and nvidia - because both are doing a pretty lousy job of support - and to top it off, they are both cheating their brains out with their drivers trying to make their products look better speed wise instead of actually fixing said drivers and making them work properly sad state of affairs is what it is - both companies deserve each other - and it'd be really nice to see a 3rd party come along, make a comperable product speed wise that put effort into properly support their card and their customers - i for one, would love to see it