cerberus
09-04-04, 09:01
Well, do you have time for a brief story?
Once upon a time I was sitting in front of what I deemed to be a fairly L3370r type PC Box and accessories, thinking I was kinda cool and playing well at s0f2. Then I seen some sh!t at LANn0r 6 that made my boots curl so I got to thinking, is it just me or does some other peeps grafix and sound look better and sweeter than mine.
So whilst I was sitting there yesterday morning, smoking a fag and having a large single malt, I made a decision which led me in to the city where availability of Ub3r harware is at best... fubar. However, I found a little place tucked away that had just taken delivery of 2 hot items, so with spondoolicks in hand, I convinced myself it was the right thing to do.
2 hours later I was home looking at my new Creative Radeon ATI 9800XT Ultra and Creative Audigy 2 XS 7.1. I was quivering considering how much I had just spent and had permission off the wife to play around, especially since I had also had the forethought to get her the complete Season 3 of The West Wing on DVD.
I went on line first and downloaded all latest drivers for both along with setting a system restore point before unloading all my old ATI 9700 Pro drivers. 2 hours later, everything was fitted along with much needed cable tidying. I also decided to get the PC off the floor and placed it on a cabinet.
The moment of truth... all cables hooked in, power cable plugged in to rear, a press of the Power On switch and Shalla Kazaam !!!!!
Nothing, fucking nowt, zip, diddly squat... the big fat z3r0. Holy fook, what had I missed? What had blown? Maybe soomat was sucking too much power? Nope... the PSU didn't even kick in although I could see power to the MOBO as the Red on-board LED was on.
As they say in RPG and Round Based Turns... Character Wait, Step 6 hours. I pulled the fecking lot apart only to discover that I had indeed wired everything correctly. What the fuck was the problem? Then I spotted it... when I was pushing some of the molex connectors in to a void area to be tidied out of sight, one had caught on the inside of the Power On switch and broke the fucker off. Bollix, but at least I found it.
Now, as some may know, I own a Thermaltake Xaser III Windowed Case, and the chasis is mainly rivetted together due to its' solid weight with very little room to manoeuver in the chasis uprights at the front of the case. I then spent another 90 minutes with the thing on its' side, squeezing my hand in to the gap at the side of the floppy drive attempting to replace the switch.
Can you only imagine my language when I fuly openned the lower part of the front housing when I discovered a screw the size of my knob holding the floppy drive chasis in the case. 4 turns, out she popped and I could get at what I wanted. I replaced the switch, rebuilt and then whilst I was at it, dropped in a Penny 4 @ 2.4 Ghz to upgrade from my 2 Gig.
Two words can only describe what i have seen and heard so far from the 9800XT and the Audigy 2 XS...
[size=24]r sex0r
I got in a quick whipround on a SOF2 German server and I intend taking it all to the max over the forthcoming days with every FPS I can lay me hands on.
Thank you for bearing with me here, I just wanted to share with the group. i r v3ry h4ppY.
Spex:
Thermaltake Black Knight Xaser III Modified Case/Chasis
Pentium 4 @ 2.4Ghz
Asus NR7-S8 Mobo
1 Gig DDR PC2100
Creative ATI Radeon 9800 XT Ultra
Creative Audigy 2 XS
2 x 160 GB Seagate Baracudas @ 8 Meg Cache
2 x 120 GB Seagate Baracudas @ 8 Meg Cache
1 x 80 GB Maxtor Diamond @ 2 Meg Cache
Anyone know if upgrading the DDR Ram will do much at all? If so, what type am I looking for and spex please.
Once upon a time I was sitting in front of what I deemed to be a fairly L3370r type PC Box and accessories, thinking I was kinda cool and playing well at s0f2. Then I seen some sh!t at LANn0r 6 that made my boots curl so I got to thinking, is it just me or does some other peeps grafix and sound look better and sweeter than mine.
So whilst I was sitting there yesterday morning, smoking a fag and having a large single malt, I made a decision which led me in to the city where availability of Ub3r harware is at best... fubar. However, I found a little place tucked away that had just taken delivery of 2 hot items, so with spondoolicks in hand, I convinced myself it was the right thing to do.
2 hours later I was home looking at my new Creative Radeon ATI 9800XT Ultra and Creative Audigy 2 XS 7.1. I was quivering considering how much I had just spent and had permission off the wife to play around, especially since I had also had the forethought to get her the complete Season 3 of The West Wing on DVD.
I went on line first and downloaded all latest drivers for both along with setting a system restore point before unloading all my old ATI 9700 Pro drivers. 2 hours later, everything was fitted along with much needed cable tidying. I also decided to get the PC off the floor and placed it on a cabinet.
The moment of truth... all cables hooked in, power cable plugged in to rear, a press of the Power On switch and Shalla Kazaam !!!!!
Nothing, fucking nowt, zip, diddly squat... the big fat z3r0. Holy fook, what had I missed? What had blown? Maybe soomat was sucking too much power? Nope... the PSU didn't even kick in although I could see power to the MOBO as the Red on-board LED was on.
As they say in RPG and Round Based Turns... Character Wait, Step 6 hours. I pulled the fecking lot apart only to discover that I had indeed wired everything correctly. What the fuck was the problem? Then I spotted it... when I was pushing some of the molex connectors in to a void area to be tidied out of sight, one had caught on the inside of the Power On switch and broke the fucker off. Bollix, but at least I found it.
Now, as some may know, I own a Thermaltake Xaser III Windowed Case, and the chasis is mainly rivetted together due to its' solid weight with very little room to manoeuver in the chasis uprights at the front of the case. I then spent another 90 minutes with the thing on its' side, squeezing my hand in to the gap at the side of the floppy drive attempting to replace the switch.
Can you only imagine my language when I fuly openned the lower part of the front housing when I discovered a screw the size of my knob holding the floppy drive chasis in the case. 4 turns, out she popped and I could get at what I wanted. I replaced the switch, rebuilt and then whilst I was at it, dropped in a Penny 4 @ 2.4 Ghz to upgrade from my 2 Gig.
Two words can only describe what i have seen and heard so far from the 9800XT and the Audigy 2 XS...
[size=24]r sex0r
I got in a quick whipround on a SOF2 German server and I intend taking it all to the max over the forthcoming days with every FPS I can lay me hands on.
Thank you for bearing with me here, I just wanted to share with the group. i r v3ry h4ppY.
Spex:
Thermaltake Black Knight Xaser III Modified Case/Chasis
Pentium 4 @ 2.4Ghz
Asus NR7-S8 Mobo
1 Gig DDR PC2100
Creative ATI Radeon 9800 XT Ultra
Creative Audigy 2 XS
2 x 160 GB Seagate Baracudas @ 8 Meg Cache
2 x 120 GB Seagate Baracudas @ 8 Meg Cache
1 x 80 GB Maxtor Diamond @ 2 Meg Cache
Anyone know if upgrading the DDR Ram will do much at all? If so, what type am I looking for and spex please.