rec.autos.simulators

by **B. Jon** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:19:21

Hey guys. I've noticed a number of posts on this newsgroup that
mention they are running in 1600x1200 mode.
Well, I can't get anywhere close to that.
I've recently been playing NFS:Underground (A LOT, as my wife is quick
to point out). With NFS, at 1024x768, full detail I notice some
chopiness. It's much better at 800x600.
Being an NVidia fan since my original TNT card, and having been burned
by ATI drivers in the past, a few months ago I opted for the best
Nvidia I could justify paying for, the GeForce FX 5600 (non-Ultra). I
believe I paid $169 for it.
Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the performance I'm seeing.
I'm curious what you guys are running and at what resolution you can
get away with in your games?
I plan on replacing this card with a month or two but don't want to
get into the same boat. I'm willing to put my past experiences behind
me and consider ATI as well (the 9600XT looks interesting for $179 at
zipzoomfly.com).

My rig is currently:
ABIT BG7 Mobo
P4 1.6ghz
Geforce FX 5600 (mfr by Chaintech)
512MB PC2100 RAM
On-board Realtek audio (but will be replaced with an Audigy 2 in the
not too distant future).
Windows XP Pro.

Thanks for any info/advice/experiences you guys can give.

by **Larr** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:58:59

In reference to ZipZoomFly.com...

Just yesterday I was pricing out a new system board, processor and memory.
This place came up during the search.

I read many of the reviews of this merchant, and while for the most part
they were ok, the one's that were bad were REALLY BAD! The common theme
seemed to be centered around returns. Basically, it seems that if you have
to return something, for any reason, you are basically screwed. Period.
Even if they ship you defective merchandise (which was reported several
times) or the wrong merchandise (also reported several times) or used
merchandise that is supposed to be new (also reported a few times). Even if
they ship you the wrong order or defective merchandise they force you to pay
return shipping, no exceptions. There are also no exchanges, no exceptions.
And if you cannot wait what seems to be incredibly long "Processing Time"
periods (which can run weeks from what I've read) they will gladly allow you
to restock the defective item and purchase a new one. For a 15% re-stocking
fee.

This place and their web site looked good until I started doing a little
research.

In short, if you get what you order and it is ok, the transaction will be
fine. If there is ANY problem with the transaction at all, you proceed
directly to hell without collecting $200.

Scared me away...

-Larry

P.S. This place was once known as GoogleGear.Com, and the reports, good and
bad, that I read go way back into the GG days and were quite consistent in
nature. I was actually so fascinated with the bad reports and their
consistent nature that I spent nearly 2 hours reading them.

by **Darryl Johnso** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:46:34

B. Jones wrote in

Just a thought, but if you have your Desktop settings for your display
set to hide settings that your monitor can't use, you may (if you have
an older monitor -- or are using the wrong monitor value) be restricted
to lower resolutions.

Start Control Panel and check the Display applet. Under Adaptor, click
on the "Display All Modes" button and see if higher resolutions are
displayed in the drop-down list. If not, then you have somehow messed
up your adaptor installation or driver install.

Also, the first screen of the Display applet will give you a slider for
screen resolution and for colour depth. How high can you move the
resolution? Can you do 32-bit colour? If you can't go to the highest
resolutions, again, it may indicate a driver issue (or something wrong
with your hardware).

HTH,
--
Darryl

by **Mario Petrinovic** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 01:27:32

Darryl Johnson :

I don't have the latest NFS, but as I remember, NFSs always had
small resolutions and chopiness. It didn't surprise me when I've read what
he wrote. But, who knows, maybe this new NFS should be ok (allowing high
resolutions and no chopiness). -- Mario

by **Mitch_** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 04:05:41

Pretty much a common theme throughout the "low price" PC suppliers.
I've given up ordering PC parts over the net for the reasons you
describe. Luckily I live in the Silicon Valley so I can get "net"
prices while still being able to quickly return any defective products.
I can use them as a price match with Fry's also as they are locaterd
very near each other and is retail. This way I get the low price and
the best return policy in the industry.

Mitch

> In reference to ZipZoomFly.com...

> Just yesterday I was pricing out a new system board, processor and memory.
> This place came up during the search.

> I read many of the reviews of this merchant, and while for the most part
> they were ok, the one's that were bad were REALLY BAD! The common theme
> seemed to be centered around returns. Basically, it seems that if you have
> to return something, for any reason, you are basically screwed. Period.
> Even if they ship you defective merchandise (which was reported several
> times) or the wrong merchandise (also reported several times) or used
> merchandise that is supposed to be new (also reported a few times). Even if
> they ship you the wrong order or defective merchandise they force you to pay
> return shipping, no exceptions. There are also no exchanges, no exceptions.
> And if you cannot wait what seems to be incredibly long "Processing Time"
> periods (which can run weeks from what I've read) they will gladly allow you
> to restock the defective item and purchase a new one. For a 15% re-stocking
> fee.

> This place and their web site looked good until I started doing a little
> research.

> In short, if you get what you order and it is ok, the transaction will be
> fine. If there is ANY problem with the transaction at all, you proceed
> directly to hell without collecting $200.

> Scared me away...

> -Larry

> P.S. This place was once known as GoogleGear.Com, and the reports, good and
> bad, that I read go way back into the GG days and were quite consistent in
> nature. I was actually so fascinated with the bad reports and their
> consistent nature that I spent nearly 2 hours reading them.

by **Eldre** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 06:07:25

>Just a thought, but if you have your Desktop settings for your display
>set to hide settings that your monitor can't use, you may (if you have
>an older monitor -- or are using the wrong monitor value) be restricted
>to lower resolutions.

>Start Control Panel and check the Display applet. Under Adaptor, click
>on the "Display All Modes" button and see if higher resolutions are
>displayed in the drop-down list. If not, then you have somehow messed
>up your adaptor installation or driver install.

I'll guess this is limited to WinXP? I don't have the same display options
with 98se...

Eldred
--
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
Member
Screamers Racing League
IICC League
GPLRank -2.4 MoGPL rank +302.38
ChallengeRank +54.48 MoC +743.77
Hist. +82.82 MoH in progress
N2k3 rank:in progress

Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

by **B. Jon** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 07:58:32

No, I may not have been very clear.
I don't have a problem choosing a resolution on my PC.
I'm saying that the FX5600 doesn't seem as powerful as I was hoping it
would be.
I don't get the performance out of it that I want.
Running 3DMark03, I get a benchmark of around 2200-2300 (can't
remember exactly and I didn't save the last time I tested a couple
weeks ago).
The point is, The FX5600 is not a very powerful card. I'd be
interested in hearing the experiences of others.

> B. Jones wrote in

> > Hey guys. I've noticed a number of posts on this newsgroup that
> > mention they are running in 1600x1200 mode.
> > Well, I can't get anywhere close to that.
> > I've recently been playing NFS:Underground (A LOT, as my wife is
> > quick to point out). With NFS, at 1024x768, full detail I notice
> > some chopiness. It's much better at 800x600.
> > Being an NVidia fan since my original TNT card, and having been
> > burned by ATI drivers in the past, a few months ago I opted for
> > the best Nvidia I could justify paying for, the GeForce FX 5600
> > (non-Ultra). I believe I paid $169 for it.
> > Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the performance I'm
> > seeing. I'm curious what you guys are running and at what
> > resolution you can get away with in your games?
> > I plan on replacing this card with a month or two but don't want
> > to get into the same boat. I'm willing to put my past experiences
> > behind me and consider ATI as well (the 9600XT looks interesting
> > for $179 at zipzoomfly.com).

> > My rig is currently:
> > ABIT BG7 Mobo
> > P4 1.6ghz
> > Geforce FX 5600 (mfr by Chaintech)
> > 512MB PC2100 RAM
> > On-board Realtek audio (but will be replaced with an Audigy 2 in
> > the not too distant future).
> > Windows XP Pro.

> > Thanks for any info/advice/experiences you guys can give.

> Just a thought, but if you have your Desktop settings for your display
> set to hide settings that your monitor can't use, you may (if you have
> an older monitor -- or are using the wrong monitor value) be restricted
> to lower resolutions.

> Start Control Panel and check the Display applet. Under Adaptor, click
> on the "Display All Modes" button and see if higher resolutions are
> displayed in the drop-down list. If not, then you have somehow messed
> up your adaptor installation or driver install.

> Also, the first screen of the Display applet will give you a slider for
> screen resolution and for colour depth. How high can you move the
> resolution? Can you do 32-bit colour? If you can't go to the highest
> resolutions, again, it may indicate a driver issue (or something wrong
> with your hardware).

> HTH,

by **B. Jon** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 08:07:57

I've been doing business with googlegear, now zipzoomfly, for a couple
of years. Every experience I've had with them has been nothing more
than exemplary (if I spelled that right).

OTOH, I have never had to return anything to them so maybe that's why
but given my past experiences with them, I wouldn't hesitate to order
again from them until they give me a reason not to.

Their prices and free 2nd-day shipping are hard to beat.

> In reference to ZipZoomFly.com...

> Just yesterday I was pricing out a new system board, processor and memory.
> This place came up during the search.

> I read many of the reviews of this merchant, and while for the most part
> they were ok, the one's that were bad were REALLY BAD! The common theme
> seemed to be centered around returns. Basically, it seems that if you have
> to return something, for any reason, you are basically screwed. Period.
> Even if they ship you defective merchandise (which was reported several
> times) or the wrong merchandise (also reported several times) or used
> merchandise that is supposed to be new (also reported a few times). Even if
> they ship you the wrong order or defective merchandise they force you to pay
> return shipping, no exceptions. There are also no exchanges, no exceptions.
> And if you cannot wait what seems to be incredibly long "Processing Time"
> periods (which can run weeks from what I've read) they will gladly allow you
> to restock the defective item and purchase a new one. For a 15% re-stocking
> fee.

> This place and their web site looked good until I started doing a little
> research.

> In short, if you get what you order and it is ok, the transaction will be
> fine. If there is ANY problem with the transaction at all, you proceed
> directly to hell without collecting $200.

> Scared me away...

> -Larry

> P.S. This place was once known as GoogleGear.Com, and the reports, good and
> bad, that I read go way back into the GG days and were quite consistent in
> nature. I was actually so fascinated with the bad reports and their
> consistent nature that I spent nearly 2 hours reading them.

> > Hey guys. I've noticed a number of posts on this newsgroup that
> > mention they are running in 1600x1200 mode.
> > Well, I can't get anywhere close to that.
> > I've recently been playing NFS:Underground (A LOT, as my wife is quick
> > to point out). With NFS, at 1024x768, full detail I notice some
> > chopiness. It's much better at 800x600.
> > Being an NVidia fan since my original TNT card, and having been burned
> > by ATI drivers in the past, a few months ago I opted for the best
> > Nvidia I could justify paying for, the GeForce FX 5600 (non-Ultra). I
> > believe I paid $169 for it.
> > Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the performance I'm seeing.
> > I'm curious what you guys are running and at what resolution you can
> > get away with in your games?
> > I plan on replacing this card with a month or two but don't want to
> > get into the same boat. I'm willing to put my past experiences behind
> > me and consider ATI as well (the 9600XT looks interesting for $179 at
> > zipzoomfly.com).

> > My rig is currently:
> > ABIT BG7 Mobo
> > P4 1.6ghz
> > Geforce FX 5600 (mfr by Chaintech)
> > 512MB PC2100 RAM
> > On-board Realtek audio (but will be replaced with an Audigy 2 in the
> > not too distant future).
> > Windows XP Pro.

> > Thanks for any info/advice/experiences you guys can give.

by **SColwel** » Thu, 01 Jan 2004 13:03:51

I have long been a nVidia card user...just recently I copped a 9800 ati card
off of ebaY..it has samsung ram on it, so it's basically a 9800 pro card.
The difference from this card to the Gainward GF4-TI4400 i was running is
unreal.

I seen a increase in 3dmark03 scores that were very nearly 4000 points. Im
getting the same frame rates I was in the past in NR2k3 but now have 4x AA
enabled with high quality settings in the ati props.

3.10 cat drivers seem very good, the res I run is 1024x768x16..

I'll never buy another nVidia card....and I always buy from www.newegg.com

SC

> I've been doing business with googlegear, now zipzoomfly, for a couple
> of years. Every experience I've had with them has been nothing more
> than exemplary (if I spelled that right).

> OTOH, I have never had to return anything to them so maybe that's why
> but given my past experiences with them, I wouldn't hesitate to order
> again from them until they give me a reason not to.

> Their prices and free 2nd-day shipping are hard to beat.

> > In reference to ZipZoomFly.com...

> > Just yesterday I was pricing out a new system board, processor and
memory.
> > This place came up during the search.

> > I read many of the reviews of this merchant, and while for the most part
> > they were ok, the one's that were bad were REALLY BAD! The common theme
> > seemed to be centered around returns. Basically, it seems that if you
have
> > to return something, for any reason, you are basically screwed. Period.
> > Even if they ship you defective merchandise (which was reported several
> > times) or the wrong merchandise (also reported several times) or used
> > merchandise that is supposed to be new (also reported a few times).
Even if
> > they ship you the wrong order or defective merchandise they force you to
pay
> > return shipping, no exceptions. There are also no exchanges, no
exceptions.
> > And if you cannot wait what seems to be incredibly long "Processing
Time"
> > periods (which can run weeks from what I've read) they will gladly allow
you
> > to restock the defective item and purchase a new one. For a 15%
re-stocking
> > fee.

> > This place and their web site looked good until I started doing a little
> > research.

> > In short, if you get what you order and it is ok, the transaction will
be
> > fine. If there is ANY problem with the transaction at all, you proceed
> > directly to hell without collecting $200.

> > Scared me away...

> > -Larry

> > P.S. This place was once known as GoogleGear.Com, and the reports, good
and
> > bad, that I read go way back into the GG days and were quite consistent
in
> > nature. I was actually so fascinated with the bad reports and their
> > consistent nature that I spent nearly 2 hours reading them.

> > > Hey guys. I've noticed a number of posts on this newsgroup that
> > > mention they are running in 1600x1200 mode.
> > > Well, I can't get anywhere close to that.
> > > I've recently been playing NFS:Underground (A LOT, as my wife is quick
> > > to point out). With NFS, at 1024x768, full detail I notice some
> > > chopiness. It's much better at 800x600.
> > > Being an NVidia fan since my original TNT card, and having been burned
> > > by ATI drivers in the past, a few months ago I opted for the best
> > > Nvidia I could justify paying for, the GeForce FX 5600 (non-Ultra). I
> > > believe I paid $169 for it.
> > > Needless to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the performance I'm seeing.
> > > I'm curious what you guys are running and at what resolution you can
> > > get away with in your games?
> > > I plan on replacing this card with a month or two but don't want to
> > > get into the same boat. I'm willing to put my past experiences behind
> > > me and consider ATI as well (the 9600XT looks interesting for $179 at
> > > zipzoomfly.com).

> > > My rig is currently:
> > > ABIT BG7 Mobo
> > > P4 1.6ghz
> > > Geforce FX 5600 (mfr by Chaintech)
> > > 512MB PC2100 RAM
> > > On-board Realtek audio (but will be replaced with an Audigy 2 in the
> > > not too distant future).
> > > Windows XP Pro.

> > > Thanks for any info/advice/experiences you guys can give.

by **Dalibor Bauernfrajn** » Fri, 02 Jan 2004 10:05:00

Not really :)

And the FX5600 is really not all that :)

--
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
ICQ: 138579247

by **B. Jon** » Sat, 03 Jan 2004 11:45:28

I hear good things about newegg.com as well.
Glad to hear about your success with ATI. Their driver issues still
scare me.
At my office, about 6 months ago I got a new Dell laptop with an ATI
chipset.
The multi-monitor setup was a nightmare. Excel would lock the entire
system (XP Pro) and only a hard reset would get it to come back to
life.
Finally someone sent me some secret ATI drivers that were NOT on
Dell's main website that resolved the problem (even though I posted
the issue on their message board and got no help from Dell support).
I'm afraid of what I'll run into with ATI but am disappointed with my
FX5600 enough to switch to the dark side.

> I have long been a nVidia card user...just recently I copped a 9800 ati card
> off of ebaY..it has samsung ram on it, so it's basically a 9800 pro card.
> The difference from this card to the Gainward GF4-TI4400 i was running is
> unreal.

> I seen a increase in 3dmark03 scores that were very nearly 4000 points. Im
> getting the same frame rates I was in the past in NR2k3 but now have 4x AA
> enabled with high quality settings in the ati props.

> 3.10 cat drivers seem very good, the res I run is 1024x768x16..

> I'll never buy another nVidia card....and I always buy from www.newegg.com

> SC

by **pjgt..** » Sat, 03 Jan 2004 20:23:24

I'm running a Radeon 9600Pro here (128mb) on my Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b
with AMD Barton 2500 (clocked to XP3000 speeds), with 512mb (pc2700)
DDR ram, and 120Mb SATA h/d, using Windoze XP Home.

I get a score of around 4000 using 3Dmark03.

Try updating your drivers for the m/b or graphics card (or both) as scores
around 2000 are way low!

8-)

*Peter* - http://www.cix.co.uk/~pjgtech/home.html

by **B. Jon** » Sat, 03 Jan 2004 23:09:38

I stay current with Nvidia's drivers. I'm using their latest.
I OC'd my cpu to 2ghz (from 1.6) but it seemed to offer only minimal
improvement so I clocked back down.
Sounds the the FX5600 is a dog, even if Toms Hardware did show it
edging out the 9600 Pro when I bought the card.
His latest tests don't show the FX5600 non-ultra card.
http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-06.html

> I'm running a Radeon 9600Pro here (128mb) on my Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b
> with AMD Barton 2500 (clocked to XP3000 speeds), with 512mb (pc2700)
> DDR ram, and 120Mb SATA h/d, using Windoze XP Home.

> I get a score of around 4000 using 3Dmark03.

> Try updating your drivers for the m/b or graphics card (or both) as scores
> around 2000 are way low!

> 8-)

> *Peter* - http://www.cix.co.uk/~pjgtech/home.html

rec.autos.simulators

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

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What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?

What video card are you using?