Posted 09/11/2008 at 02:07:36pm

I'm in fear for doing the update to my Creative drivers on my X-Fi Fata1ity because the last one broke my audio integration into Premiere Pro 1.5. Don't ask me how that works. The UAC is off on my machine, then again I run 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate, but without Avast! and do a file scan from time to time but that's it. I'm pretty careful with files. I don't like performance cut, and most virus apps slow down Vista so much with boot time and load times. I like to be the first one on the map.

And trying to reboot into XP is just a pain in the ass. I rarely do it, but in order to make Adobe Encore 1.5 even install, XP had to be it. That's Adobe's fault, not Microsoft's. I wish I had just left Vista on the system and then installed the (now) free VMware Server app and just used a VMDK file for all my installs on a virtual machine running XP x32. Partitioning is the OLD way of doing it. I'll have to use Partition Magic to just get rid of my XP install when I need to. Hate to kill 25GB on an XP install on a nice Raptor drive.

Come on Microsoft, make us happy, and give us Retail buyers a free upgrade to the latest version. You make all your money off of the deals with Dell, HP, and IBM manufacturers anyway. Give the new person an incentive to update their older machine...something that doesn't kill their boot time. I understand 512MB aint going to run it, but better features and such will encourage them to upgrade memory which is dirt cheap and the video card which are dirt cheap also. They really don't understand the memory management against viruses and all that stuff...give them the bells and whistles! 

And for the love of God, get rid of Vista Basic! It's almost as bad as ME...almost. Business has some good features and is a lighter install, but still, Home Premium and Ultimate should be it. I agree with apps and media codecs being taken out of Business, but I liked the choice of XP Home or XP Pro. Office and power user got the latter. It was easy. Networking was better and for those of us that cared, we held on to our XP Pro builds as our backup for Vista. You did good in a lot of ways, but some things are a dissapointment. The crap that should have worked but didn't....I can't burn a freaken CD!? Granted updates and SP1 fixed that stuff, but file transfer speeds are unforgivable.

Listen to MPC. We need it to be better!

Posted 06/30/2008 at 01:31:12pm

Got one myself. Built my new rig based on some of the parts off of last year's DM. I need to tweak the two buttons better (useless right now because I've pretty much got the sensativity on the main default mid config the way I want it for ever app). But you can run this thing on any surface (save for glass, of course...a little tricky there).

I moved my PC into the living room with my 1080p HDTV, and I haven't had the time to pick up a USB extender so I play on a bean bag and with the mouse on the rug...works like a champ and I can frag away. Surprisingly comfortable...though I need it on the table for better accuracy.

Love it!

Posted 06/30/2008 at 11:43:07am

Not impressed. My Asus 3870 does the exact same thing...maybe not that power consumption savings, but I'll hear it wurr up when it needs to. I run only 230-245Watts at full load anyway (according to my APC). HL2 or Crysis will do it. UT 2004, not so much. It'll just hum along and keep on ticking.

 Come on Asus. You programmed that into my card with an overclocker!

Posted 06/25/2008 at 02:00:49pm

I paid like $240.00 for my HD3870, which I hooked up to a 47" LG 1080p HDTV. Sweet through HDMI. Quality is amazing! I'm thinking of reselling my 3870 for like $150.00 on eBay or something and paying the extra $50 for a jump  Of course, my clock is about 775MHz+ with an OC tool, so that is a trade off for the cheaper card. The way I see it, pros are as follows:

• 2.5x the procs (800 vs. 320)
• Single slot card over my mammoth of a 3870 Asus cooler
• Less power hungry
• Dirt cheap for the performance increase.
• Crysis at higher resolutions? (only played the demo, but DX10 is so sweet looking). I'd by it then for sure.

Posted 06/25/2008 at 11:44:22am

Good job guys!

Posted 04/15/2008 at 12:24:00pm

Running x64 Vista Ultimate and XP Pro on the same Raptor drive has its perks. I get the speed of 4GB of memory with no page file, and see the benefits of being able to read large 20GB AVI project files with ease in Media Player 11 x64 edition. That's one of the best things I've noticed: It takes no time at all on my 6400+ system to load these files. Sure I decided not to go with Intel (figured I could ride the wave and pick up the discount parts if AMD goes under), but I don't need to run Crysis in all it's glory (though it looks nice with a 3870 slapped in my system).

Posted 01/11/2008 at 11:15:27pm

Nice one Will! Nice to know that you being the heart of MaxPC, you got the makings of a real geek. After the all-knowing "iTunes" debate, it was debatable. I think we can now forgive you for that. Just fooling. Good job.

Posted 12/18/2007 at 08:33:09am

The bid ended fake, as the seller felt like new registrants were just bidding on this item with no intention to pay, or at least stated in the description. It's quite funny. Any teenage readers out there: Learn from this LOL

Posted 12/13/2007 at 09:03:28am

It does not turn your software into an eval. If you downloaded the updates prior to installation that allow you to "uninstall" the SP1 RC1 update, then you will understand that when you go to update your PC later with the full release, you will first uninstall RC1 then update to the real SP1. Thoughts: It functions better (file copies, fixes Sharepoint 3.0 issue though not the Sharepoint 2.0 issue with Webdav.dll file), though I don't know how worth it is to update it for two hours then have to uninstall it later and do the whole thing over again. It's causing me grief with my old Sharepoint 2.0, not letting me submit forms via InfoPath, and any forms on the site open as read only, all thanks to the Webdev.dll file. Microsofts ploy to get you to go to the new 3.0 which it does pass through credentials properly.