Packrats new hardware

[kev]

Morning Packrat,
How did you go getting your new hardware fitted?
Is the new video card as good as you thought it would be?

[ 12-30-2002, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: kev ]

[Packrat]

The graphics are cleaner...the 9500 Pro can run 'anti alias' (reduces 'jaggies') and 'anisotropic filtering' (improves 'texture appearance')...without losing preformance....as far as the real pluses, they won't be noticable...until DirectX 9 titles come out.
I'll have to consider a MB upgrade....If I want to see the difference, between 8X and 4X AGP. (the transfer rate on 4X = 1.1 GB/s...8X = 2.1 )

As for the speakers...the onboard sound doesn't support 4 speakers, But...the cats used to leave the room, when I started certain games...Now they Run...

Today I'll prob put in a real sound card and maybe upgrade my PS.
(10:02 AM edit, to add update)...The Real soundcard...is in.. ..I am surrounded....OMG!!!! OME's (ear's)

(edit)
BTW, kev...are you looking at new or used MBs???? And...What are your options???

[ 12-30-2002, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Packrat ]

[kev]

Sorry to take so long to get back to you Packrat. Since I last posted I have had to attend a vehicle rescue, a bush fire & 2 tree fires. This is my second attempt to post this.
I am glad that your new video card is better then your old one. I only hope that it is not obsolete before dx9 comes out so that you can revel in its full glory.
A friend showed me his new pc sound sytem a couple of days ago. He played a dvd through it & the sound was mind blowing, he had a 5 speaker setup. I think some care has to be taken with these sort of sound setups because most studies a rather small & you could crack the walls.lol.
The mb I am thinking of is an asus a7n266. It has been on sale here for about $50us. I hadn't considered buying second hand because most of the used mb's are very obsolete. With this one I can get away without a video card for a while because it has 32mb of video ram built in.
Have you a good used mb for sale?
I bought wizardry8 for $15us a couple of days ago. The video plays ok on my current system but I have no sound at all, any ideas anyone?

[Packrat]

Sorry I took so long...Max is being a Payne!!! lol and I type very slow.

Sounds like they're keeping you busy....are people celebrating a little early...or ...are they getting in their last licks, on 2002???

All the old MBs I have are relics...90, 100 and 233 MHz. I set them up for neices and friends kids...So their parents can have their puters back..lol

That Asus sounds like a good choice. So does the Athlon XP 1700. Is that price for retail box??? If not you'll want a new heatsink & fan. Are there any good on-line shopping site, that ship to Aus ??? (Like pricegrabber or Dealtime)

BTW...The new Radeon cards are the ONLY ones on the market that Have DirectX 9 and 8X AGP, support...We're just waiting for some new titles... ...and maybe a new MB. (I'll prob wait until they get DDR II And serial ATA HDD's)

Also....just an FYI... Microsoft just released DirectX 9.0. I was putting together a disc of drivers...went to download DirectX 8.1...and it was gone. I don't think anyone should DL it unless they have to....If it aint broke...Don't fix it.

As far as your Wiz 8 prob. Is there anything on the games options menu, that you might have over looked???? Otherwise you should look at the 'Read Me' file...and/or see if you can find a config tool in the game folder.

[kev]

I dont know how the mb or cpu come. I've just been watching the local papers. If they dont have a good heatsink I guess I will have to buy one. I think a lot of people are using the new volcano fan so there should be some used ones on the market.
On my wizardry8 game the sound setup has the following options: none & none.
There does not seem to be a readme file with the game.

[Packrat]

All I have on Wiz 8...is a demo. The read me, is in a folder named... documentation. But all it says is... make sure you have the last drivers for your card. There might be more in the full game version.

Of course...you could try Here

[Packrat]

kev...

I thought of a couple of things you might try.

First....Run 'dxdiag'...to test your...'Directsound'.

Then...copy your save games. Uninstall the game...and Re-install it. (in case there was an option during insall) Then, apply the patch and try to launch it. If it works...you can copy back your saves.

... ...Good luck

[kev]

Had to duck off again, it's so inconvieniant to keep getting fire calls when I am trying to type.lol

I think that I may have an autodetct problem. When I get home in 2 days time I will do as you suggest & reinstall the game, this time I will run the patch before I do anything else. I have already done what the support site suggested & it didn't work. The game didn't come with the address of the support site, it came with a telephone number at $1.50 a minute.
What has occured to me is that the game may only play 3d sound & my pc cant handle it. I hope that this isn't the case or I will have to wait until I build my new machine to play it.

Did you actually trade your old card in to get the radeon? What did they offer you?

[kev]

Well, I did as you suggested Packrat.
First if found the latest drivers for my sound. By usinf the number on the bios I found that my mb is a pcchips copy made in china. It doesn't have any kind of support so I downloaded the sound drivers from the pcchips site.
Next I uninstalled the W8 game. funnily enough it left behind the saved games & the winzipped patch.
Thirdly I ran the registry cleaner through & then defragged the harddrive.
Finally I reinstalled the game & ran the patch.
After all that I still came up with the same sound problem.
I also downloaded dx9 & ran dxdiag before I did anything else. There didn't appear to be any conflicts & the sound tests worked ok.
I am now convinced that this piece of junk that I play games on is not capable of playing the sound in W8.
Bungleau & Packrat have both told me that there is music running through W&W. I have never heard that either, though it has never detracted from the game.

[Packrat]

Oh me...oh boy

no sound...no joy

Still is that any way to talk about an old friend???

originaly posted by, kev I am now convinced that this piece of junk that I play games on ....

Its just trying to help you ...justify, building a better puter...lol

regarding a previous question....No I did not trade in my old card. What I did with it....you don't want to know. A 7 mo old, Ti 4600...and its sitting in an anti-stat bag, on my shelf. Packrat, is not just my nic...it's my affliction!