Official PC Gamers Topic V3

[Creed Bratton]

Awesome, I sent BFG my 8800GTS 640mb for replacement under warranty, and they sent back an 8800GTX.  

Nice one, they probably didn't have the one you sent them so they gave you a better card. This is one of the thing I appreciate about the US, buyers have a lot of rights.

 

In my country when you come to claim a warranty you should be wearing a bulletproof west

In my country, they would shoot you in the head

[mkey82]

 

This is standard equipment for me when I need something replaced/fixed

 

 

But seriously, it's so bad that you can achieve anything only if

a) you have extreme amounts of good luck

b) you have good connections (like I had when replacing my new monitor which had a sleepy pixel out of the box)

c) you are very aggressive and start to throw threats in all directions when they try to f*ck with you (this is actually not a joke, I participated in such events)

 

Buyers have zero rights here. Of course, if everything goes good for you then you won't notice it.

[Abel.]

 

This is standard equipment for me when I need something replaced/fixed

 

 

But seriously, it's so bad that you can achieve anything only if

a) you have extreme amounts of good luck

b) you have good connections (like I had when replacing my new monitor which had a sleepy pixel out of the box)

c) you are very aggressive and start to throw threats in all directions when they try to f*ck with you (this is actually not a joke, I participated in such events)

 

Buyers have zero rights here. Of course, if everything goes good for you then you won't notice it.

Damn mate, that sucks donkey balls.

 

On a lighter note, I'll be getting a new GPU to replace the 3850 X2 if I do well in my exams.

[kingvercetti]

 

I hate the fact that all new high-end GFX cards run extremely hot, consume tons of power and cost an arm and a leg. Nvidia and ATI should really release stable and efficient products rather than throwing out the latest breakthrough with un-optimized drivers, cooling, efficiency etc.

Power is my main concern, I have enough juice just about to manage a 4870X2 in my system if I wanted to, even though the PSU is below the reccomended, so I can run all current cards, but for how long? I don't want to have to keep buying higher wattage PSUs, the electricity bill's already gone up £60 per quarter since I built this with all the extra power it's using (the full bill is only £160 for perspective) - it'd be better for everyone if they say doubled the amount of time between each new series release, the consumers benefit from less costs to upgrade more frequently and perfected cards and drivers, and the GPU companies would at the very worst stay on par because of the fewer people saying "oh yeah, I'll hold off till next series".

Speaking of which, does anyone have any idea when the next series of NV cards are out? I'll probably end up buying one, so long as they don't guzzle insane amounts of power, cos I'm looking to switch back to Nvidia.

 

How would you rate the card on a whole? I might get it.

It's a great card, especially considering the price, but I can't help but feel that for one of ATIs flagship cards it's a bit...meh, especially when it comes to those Nvidia branded games. Now I don't know if that's drivers or badly optimized games or what, but I'm finding that every game I'm buying isn't performing as well as I'd hoped - still good like, but I usually expect more than I get. It probably is the fact that almost every game that looks better than Super Mario Bros now comes with that Nvidia logo attatched, but I'd rather pay more and have my game smooth tbh.

[SmellyJelly]

Awesome, I sent BFG my 8800GTS 640mb for replacement under warranty, and they sent back an 8800GTX.  

Nice one, they probably didn't have the one you sent them so they gave you a better card. This is one of the thing I appreciate about the US, buyers have a lot of rights.

 

In my country when you come to claim a warranty you should be wearing a bulletproof west

In my country, they would shoot you in the head

It was nice, but unfortunately the card isn't working properly. The DVI ports may be a little loose or something, because when I plug in my monitor the screen usually has a strange shade of color over it. For example, the left port looks to be always purple, while the right is sometimes yellow, orange, or green, (though for now I tweaked it just right to show normally). I've tried three different VGA to DVI adapters, and two different monitors, (though none have a DVI port native), but the results have all been the same.

 

I sent an email to BFG a few hours ago and they responded just now- telling to mail the card back to them. Hey, maybe I'll get a GTX280 this time.

[mkey82]

 

It was nice, but unfortunately the card isn't working properly. The DVI ports may be a little loose or something, because when I plug in my monitor the screen usually has a strange shade of color over it.

If it's what I'm thinking it is then it's easily fixed. I have seen such stuff plenty of times and it's probably a loose connection (this usually means you need to grab two sets of pliers and tighten those screws; you need to grab hold of them on both ends and crank then up a bit). Since that SOB is enclosed from all sides, I'm guessing you would need a finer wrench to fit it in.

 

 

Also, elanman, it's not that bad once you get used to it. Also, some store offer goods without the "warranty" so you can get it cheaper (as warranty means basically nothing for regular people who don't want to raise hell "just" to claim their rights).

Edited November 13, 2008 by mkey82

[Koik]

Guys I am having problems with the Left 4 Dead demo. Thought I would ask you guys first.

 

My specs are

 

Intel core 2 duel process

(1.83 GHz, 667 MHz)

NIVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS

320 GB HDD

 

And the game lags like f*cking hell. I put all the settings to low, and it still lags. I do not know what is wrong.

 

Halp

 

Is it my Laptop? I dont know just got it reformated about 3 weeks ago

[SmellyJelly]

Most likely your videocard, though there's not much you can do except simply turn the settings down.

 

Thanks for the tip mkey82. Personally I'll wait and see what BFG says when the receive the card, but if they send it back without replacing or fixing it then I'll try that.

[Koik]

How can I check what kind of Video Card I have?

[Trows]

Start - Run - type 'dxdiag', then hit the display tab.

[Koik]

Which stat do you want?

 

I have this box titled "directX Diagnostic Tool" open right now

 

Here is my display stuff:

 

http://www.isarapix.org/pix19/1226633864.png

[SpaceC]

f*cking Chinese have penetrated my nation's barriers, they are bound to strike any minute, gotta get the f*ck out of seattle

-World In Conflict

[Democrab]

Which stat do you want?

 

I have this box titled "directX Diagnostic Tool" open right now

 

Here is my display stuff:

 

http://www.isarapix.org/pix19/1226633864.png

You have a nVidia GeForce 9500GS Mobile

 

Not that good of a gaming card, should be alright though.

[Loman]

You might want to update the drivers of the 9500, also.

 

[Koik]

How may I update the driver?

[freak2121]

How may I update the driver?

You click the underlined update the drivers he just said then download it and install it.Once you're done do a restart.

[Koik]

Oh I did not see that. Anyways it is downloading. What if the game still does not run well? Other games run fine like Tomb Raider Underworld. My specs fit above the recommended for Left 4 Dead. Plus I am running everything on low detail...

[mkey82]

Maybe its just a bad demo. I know some demos are not very efficient and run badly. But since this is a Valve game I don't see how this would be possible. Does it only lag or you just have a slide show? Does it perform badly on all settings equally? If so it might be a driver issue. I had a case where soem gmaes ran badly (like 0.5 FPS ) until I removed a Thrustmaster driver which caused some sort of conflict).

 

Here is what I would do in your case

1) Get all the fresh drivers for that PC. If its a lalptop I would grab those drivers from the manufacturers page.

2) Get a fresh windows install (if you aren't game for it, go to control panel, "Programs and features..." and remove/uninstall all the drivers there. Restart.

2a) Go here and dl the driver cleaner. It will clean all the remaining driver files. Restart.

3) Now install all the fresh drivers. Restart.

 

If this doesn't work then it's a hardware/compatibility related issue.

[3niX]

Well...

 

As far as I know you guys arent the only ones having trouble with L4D.

 

Try reading these:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/show...t=747979&page=2

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/show...ad.php?t=745655

 

Its a great game... I had a blast playing it online on Expert.

[Koik]

I think it is just the demo, because other games run fine.

[Abel.]

Anyone got/getting L4D? Is it good?

[mkey82]

I don't like zombies and sh*t (scary stuff), but there are a lot of people on their forums claiming it's teh best thing evah and it is a Valve game so don't see it how it could be anything but good.

 

Did you play COD5?

[Neon25]

About how "PC gaming is dying" when in fact it is much stronger than console one:

 

 

http://www.jonpeddie.com/

 

 

The PS3 and Wii came out in November 2006, and the Xbox 360 was introduced in May 2005, so the 74.7 million is over several years.

 

From Q3 2005 till Q3 2008, 196 million gaming PCs shipped, and 10 million of them were in the Mainstream Enthusiast class—and if we include mainstream desktop and High-end high-end notebook, we could add another 187 million units—now that really is a lot.

(...)

So I get a little tired of hearing about what a superior market the three-to-four-year-old consoles are when more PC gaming machines with the latest technologies are being sold every day.

(...)

Fact is the PC Gaming Market is bigger, worth more money, growing faster, and has better technology than the console market. How come no one but us seems to know that?

Edited November 19, 2008 by Neon25

[Abel.]

I don't like zombies and sh*t (scary stuff), but there are a lot of people on their forums claiming it's teh best thing evah and it is a Valve game so don't see it how it could be anything but good.

 

Did you play COD5?

Nope, I'll have to read few reviews first.

 

I'm thinking of getting the GTX 260 216, what do you guys think?

[jelly]

Personally I'd wait some more until the first DX11 cards surface, is the 3850X2 so bad?

 

 

Simple graphical explanation in case someone is confused by all the '800 cores/240 cores' BS being spouted by the GPU makers:

 

http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kayvonf/pape...ahalianCACM.pdf

[Abel.]

Personally I'd wait some more until the first DX11 cards surface, is the 3850X2 so bad?

 

 

Simple graphical explanation in case someone is confused by all the '800 cores/240 cores' BS being spouted by the GPU makers:

 

http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kayvonf/pape...ahalianCACM.pdf

Any idea of when the first DX11 GPUs will be out?

[mkey82]

http://www.jonpeddie.com/Fact is the PC Gaming Market is bigger, worth more money, growing faster, and has better technology than the console market. How come no one but us seems to know that?

The fact is PC gamers are far less gullible the console gamers (in some general case). Console gamers are ready to spend a lot more on games and subscriptions. They like all the exclusivity bullsh*t and like to compete amongst themselves.

 

I really believe the market has enough room for insertion of some closed PC platform (with a defined set of hardware) which would be designed for gamers who are not that familiar with PCs. All it needs is some gaming OS with basic plug and play support; any driver updates it could perform just like consoles perform the firmware update. You could have few various classes of set hardware games would be optimized for. Games could detect your specs readily and automatically set the graphics quality with minimum user interaction. The OS could have some sort of recovery partition for so it could repair itself if some major fault occured.

 

This kind of "console" would be cheaper to produce and it would be definitelly more durable, stable and flexible. The developers would have a LOT less problems developing and they could guarantee that each PC console will be able to run games for (lets say) 5 years. It wouldn't be built with upgrades on mind (because this would break the concept) but what would stop you from reusing such machine as a multimedia PC once it's gaming capacities have been reduced? So in fact you don't need to throw it away when something new gets there, you can use it as a standard PC (if you posses the knowledge).

 

The obvious "problem" would be less control from the manufacturer since it would be a standard PC platform anyone could access. Also the games couldn't cost THAT much as they do now as the development process would be far less expensive.

 

elanman, just hold your horses

[aidan87]

 

Any idea of when the first DX11 GPUs will be out?

Rumors say that the new ATI "R800" will arrive in mid-2009. However, these rumors didn't confirm whether it'll be DX11 compatible or not.

[jelly]

Yeah, all the sources say DX11 for RV870, and anywhere from Q1 2009 to mid-2009. It's obviously not official but it looks pretty certain that it'll be DX11.

[Abel.]

Cheers for the help guys, Jallar, were's your medal? .

 

 

mkey82: I WANT THE 4870 X2! But I might wait, I'll have to see ATI confirmation.