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Mobo dying .... suggestions please on upgrading my system ...
dk70:
ATI pure drivers plus ATI Tray Tools is a wicked combination you would like but actually I like Nvidias approach to driver interface better. At least they are aware how people use desktop, have added some goodies/extras. Just the fact they keep updating that big pdf-file of changes give some points. Latest control gadget is on level with ATI .net panel I think. Both keep upgrading so none are perfect - these type of drivers can never be perfect, everything about them is non-static. Some games/game engines will look better with ATI, others run a little faster with Nvidia.
Ive read latest drivers fix some problems with Nvidia firewall - heard that before and hard to get over old ones. And very much too late if they really have made it stable. Like with Firefox memory usage I dont buy popular opinions unless gun in back but try "bsod nvidia firewall" or something in Google. Amazingly buggy feature/implementation. VIA would never get away with similar, shows how great NF4 is. To really make use of hardware firewall you have to enter ports/programs, default have zero entries so all is running off software! Good idea since problems multiply when hardware is activated... Interface way too complicated for most, geeky firewall it is. You can download fat userguide at Nvidia site, how many will read that? Well you can make a batch file for edting/stopping/starting services, no need for Apache and I think 1 more service unless you edit configuration - default is very scary. Dont work that great in Firefox either! Not surprisingly they have left out firewall in later chipsets :) Guess real problem could not be solved through drivers. They should have warned against own product - not easy to fix in hardlock mode. When firewall mess up there will be problems, on level with disk/video drivers. Only general problem with NF4 I know of. Ive had tons of problems with my MSI motherboard but due to their crappy bios support not chipset. When major annoyances are known and people still have to wait months and several releases for obvious fundamental fixes support is no good. How it goes, may be Gigabyte or whowever is sleeping today. All the same to me - you cant even pay premium price and expect much better. Too many products too fast. If I was to buy new motherboard today I would hunt down some user forums and check severity/local relevance of problems and what is being done about them. Also goes for Asrock even if about only solution for this cheap upgrade. I guess NF4 motherboards have gone down in price but at the time of Asrock SATA2 release it cost like 50% of basically identical NF4 model. A bit weak on more than semi-overclocking/overvolting but rest is pretty good - more so if you have AGP card. May be even DDR1 ram though I know nothing about their AM2 add-on card. Board also support AM2 cpu of course ;)
f0dder:
If I was to buy new motherboard today I would hunt down some user forums and check severity/local relevance of problems and what is being done about them.
-dk70
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Yeah, you have to do this >:( - I wish the motherboard makers would slow down a bit, have somewhat less products, but focus on stabilizing the stuff.
NVidia firewall was a good idea, but the implementation is horrible. I have no idea whether the problem is at the hardware level, or solely their drives. But drivers were certainly a mess - BSODs galore, ugly memory leaks, and then the "well, we'll install apache and keep it running for the config" - are some of the nvidia programmers on crack?
mwb1100:
and then the "well, we'll install apache and keep it running for the config" - are some of the nvidia programmers on crack?
-f0dder (November 05, 2006, 03:17 PM)
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It's not just them. HP has been known to do the same thing for printer drivers.
Very annoying.
Carol Haynes:
Spent most of the weekend looking at goodies ... I have come up with two solutions:
1) Bite the bullet, dig out the credit card and go for it!
2) Patch up the existing system with minimal outlay (as far as I can see I could probably just replace the mobo and CPU and continue to use everything else - I have found a number of solutions from ASROCK and MSI that allow me to stick with AGP and PATA for the time being)
Trouble is that buying new gear that is on the edge of being dropped by the manufacturers doesn't feel right - whatever I buy I will probably be stuck with the for the next few years so I think I am coming to the conclusion that (1) is the way to go!
I'll post my shopping list to see what people think when my head stops spinning!
cranioscopical:
1) Bite the bullet, dig out the credit card and go for it!
--- End quote ---
Absolutely! FWIW, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the best action is to acquire a new machine and hope to get 2 (maybe 3) years out of it before a combination of obsolescence and desire for new toys moves it down the chain, to be replaced by another.
Thus, a brand new machine becomes my main machine; my main machine turns into reserve box 1; reserve box 1 goes to my wife (who has absolutely no interest in a machine for its own sake and wants only a minimal, stable platform); my wife's box turns into back-up machine; backup machine goes to wherever seems like a good idea at the time (as long as that's not the store-room that used to have about 10 others in it).
Despite this view, last year I made the mistake of upgrading parts of my wife's machine and wound up spending as much on subsequent piecemeal upgrades as I would have on building a modest new box to suit her needs. A new machine would have been better than what she ended up with and might even have cost less. In the end, I wound up stripping and junking the 'upgraded' machine and buying her an entirely new one -- you'll notice I couldn't quite bring myself simply to toss out the whole thing, sigh.
For me, things are moving too fast these days to make most upgrades cost effective. The pain of an intial purchase is a one-time thing. The pain from a 'Band-Aid' upgrade can last much longer.
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