Daehawk, I used to have issues with the omegas too, but recent releases (in the last year or two), have been rock solid. And the integrated extras make for a very nice package. Might wanna give them another shot. I'm using the latest right now with zero issues.

Atomic

(edit) assuming you still have any radeons laying around, that is. All that said, I'm probably switching back to nvidia going forward from here. my x800xl has been nice, but I think nvidia 'has it' for awhile. we shall see. It'll be interesting to see what amd-ati does, in the future.

The speedup you get from the extra gig, might be worth it in some applications, however. Your mileage will vary

Atomic

Well, on the assumption that you're running an athlon 64 based system (big assumption, but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry), I'd like to remind everyone reading this who might be thinking along these lines, that except for one dfi motherboard that I know of, NO athlon64 system can run with all 4 memory slots full (socket939, not sure how this limitation affects socket 754 systems), and still run at 1T timings. It's a limitation of the memory controller vs the ... err.. I think it's the total capacitance of the circuit, iirc. Basically, when you start putting that many chips on the memory circuit without a buffer, something has to give.

So unless you can accept that limitation, which I believe will affect your overall speed by roughly 30%, depending on the application, avoid using more than 1 stick per channel.

I'm unaware of the limitations on intel based systems... and with socket754, the board does usually have 2 slots, which, attached to a single memory controller (there are two in a dual channel s939 chip, running in parallel), should result in the same slowdown, due again to the total capacitance of the circuit. Someone chime in here and correct me if I'm wrong.

Basically, athlon64, more than one dimm per memory channel is very very iffy, if you want to run at maximum speed.

Atomic

Technically true, but it still doesnt engage in such reprehensible behavior as to run remote software like activex controls, which can compromise security, without the users consent, etc. It will still do java/javascript stuff, I suppose, but unless I'm mistaken, those have tighter restrictions on them?

About the worst behavior I've seen from java/javascript, is those stupid popup/popunder windows that somehow, invariably, slip by your popup prevention. be it built into the browser, or something like popup stopper.

Atomic

TBH, I think what started me up on my avoid-IE crusade, is a combination of the stupid popups, combined with security worries, which at the time, were far greater than they are now. Stuck with me, I guess.

Thanks for the extra picture. Much appreciated.

* TheAtomicKid ponders

Atomic

Out of curiousity, did you check your bios settings to see if the usb ports are still enabled? I can't see why it would change, but it's technically possible.

Atomic

Oh, for the record, since nobody directly and completely actually answered your question.

Tools/Internet Options/General Tab...

the 'Temporary Internet Files' section is the one you're looking for. Under advanced options you can do things like specify how much space it's allowed to use on the hard drive, etc.

I'm on broadband, so I dont recommend allowing it to use tons of space, UNLESS YOU ARE ON A BANDWIDTH PLAN. If your on managed bandwidth, you'll want to allocate a fair amount to the cache, so that it doesnt constantly redownload pages. I've got mine set  to 50 megs, which is more than enough space to cache pages. It used to be 5 megs, but I decided to show my provider a little mercy

Oh yeah. Mozilla for the win I use IE for exactly two things. Windows Update, and a particular web game I play that needs it. Other than that, it sits unused, cause I got tired of having to deal with security worries. (activex, etc)

well, actually, I was just wondering if it had the standard tiny mouse feet, or if they'd made allowances by making the feet larger, or a solid pad, etc. eventually I'll find a pic on the net, was just curious if you'd noticed anything unusual to indicate they'd put some thought into it.

Atomic

The best way to determine if you're having a problem with sound, is to disable it completely, and I'm talkin _completely_, and see if your problems go away. (my normal solution is to pull the sound drivers and yank the card, and run the box with no audio for testing. A bit extreme, but it insures there are no errors in configuration with the sound interfering with the testing)

That said, I've seen some other posts around the net regarding stuttering, and half life 2, in particular. I myself had no real issues with hl2, but episode 1 has a point in the game that I just can't seem to get past, even with sound disabled. Still fussing with it, but I just moved to a new house, so priorities changed. Haven't had time/inclination in a couple of weeks.

Atomic

Something to do with sound, perhaps?

Atomic

(guess based on your comment about opening a door)

How are the feet on the Habu? I have problems with microsoft mice feet coming off (other mice too), but I haven't tried a razer mouse yet.

Aka, does it have feet that are going to resist coming off over time?

Atomic

Mmm... thanks. Heard a lot of good things about the tarantula from around the net. comments, etc. About the only thing that troubles me, would be how good/bad the macroing is, and... Razer support. It's somewhat infamous in my local cluster of friends, due to a poor experience. However, if I buy one, and that is becoming more and more likely due to repeated comments on the quality of the g11/g15 (poor construction, paint wears off, etc), I'd be buying it through compusa, and utilizing their return policy rather than going through razer, at least for as long as possible.

I had a logitech mx700 that really didnt hold up well over time. The paint had a very obvious reaction with my skin, and basically dissolved where your palm sits on the mouse over a few months. Also, one of the internal switches... the rightmouse iirc, cratered several months after purchase. I'm not saying logi is a bad company or anything, they make some awesome stuffs... but my experience with their 'build quality' is somewhat lacking, and comments from around the net about the g11/g15 seem to closely mirror my own general experience with the mouse.

I guess I'm  just being overly cautious. I'll wait til after xmas is done with, and see if I can't swing myself a new keyboard, though it'd be interesting to hear those comparisons on the macroing ability. Sight unseen, my only real 'complaint' about the tarantula, would be the layout for the macro keys. I'd much rather they all be on the left side, than split 50/50. I'm guessing that was to try and accomodate the southpaw crowd by giving each of us easy access to half the macro keys. I have no real use for the audio passthru, and the usb1.1 ports make me wiggle my eyebrows, but... other than a little extra cash, those don't bother me.

If I had my choice, I'd prefer a 'stripped for racing' variant. Flat black finish, no/minimal backlighting, all the macros on the left, no lighted emblem, no audio passthru, no battledock, no usb passthru, etc. Leave the build quality, the general shape/tilt/angle/whatever, all the rest, the same.

Atomic

Oooh, thanks. Much obliged!

Atomic

Knightshade, could you give us a direct comparison of the macro functions between the G11/G15, and the Tarantula? I'm really torn for a decision. The Logitech (I'd be getting a G11), appears to have more macro buttons, but the Tarantula, is of course, by gamers, for gamers. I'm wondering if there are any glaring omissions on either companies part in terms of macro functions in gaming. I've read comments around the net about having to leave games to write macro's for the tarantula,. that the g11/g15 doesnt, etc.

Lots comments around the net about the paint on the logitech wearing off... and I've had that problem myself, before... with one of their mx700 mice. But if it had, say, better macro-ing ability, that would possibly swing me back from the ... err.. dark side, as it were.

Doesnt hurt that the logitech is basically half the price.

For the record, I hate the glossy black finish, and the stroby glowy emblem thing is already bothering me, and I don't even own one yet :/

But the logi.. it is .. not black... and to be honest, I'm not a big fan of all the 'extraneous' media keys, etc. Mute might be nice.

and we all know black makes it go faster...



Atomic

Just saw this post, sorry, don't read these forums every day, but getting better

You can continue to do it manually, which is always good, but I started using this quite a while back, and I'm totally in lust with it.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Atomic

I've had outstanding success with my dlink 4300 gamerlounge. I'm not a huge fan of wireless networking, but this one is problem-free. No dropped packets, etc.

http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=370&#DGL-4300

Also, if you use bittorrent, the 4300 can handle it. every other router I've tried has problems with the number of connections it opens. (including  a couple of Linksys products)

Atomic

(if anyone doesnt need/want the wireless, they have a wired-only variant... the 4100)

I've been having a really nice experience with my m-audio revolution 7.1

Not horridly expensive, well behaved drivers, etc. It's sometimes a little confusing what you need to do in a game, to make it play nice with the card (they tell you in the cards manual to always use software acceleration, for some reason, which is a little confusing when you get to a games control options), but once you get it smoothed over, it sounds real nice.

I use my sound for a combination of game playing, music, and anime... a profile I'm sure is common. Match this little bugger up with a set of nice speakers, (I use some Klipcsh promedia 2.1's), and you end up with a very pleasant sounding solution, for less than 200$ (which is a lot more than some people want to pay, I admit)

I tend to avoid onboard hardware sound.. bad experiences in the ancient past have steered me clear of it for quite some time. That said, I've been hearing some good things about certain solutions, like Analog Devices.

All that said, this is an interesting bit of news. I was completely unaware they were doing something like this. *boggle*

* TheAtomicKid goes off to read.

For the record, I miss aureal too. Nothing compared... though I've heard the x-fi headphone routines are quite good... but I still loathe EAX.

Atomic