Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

[thevictor390]

I know it's been said many times, but you need to drop the Nvidia hate. A bunch of cards were made poorly has nothing to do with the chipset manufacturer. To this point I've owned three ATI and Two Nvidia cards, and only had problems with the ATIs. Drivers, specifically.

Yeah, it's a bit blaming Intel because you've had problems with an Intel chipset motherboard... personally I'd be pissed at that particular card's manufacturer. I sold my old (XFX) 9800GT to my brother and it's still rock solid.....

As far as ATI driver issues, I haven't had any problems with my 4890 though I have had issues with other cards in the past.

 

[Shawn]

I know it's been said many times, but you need to drop the Nvidia hate. A bunch of cards were made poorly has nothing to do with the chipset manufacturer. To this point I've owned three ATI and Two Nvidia cards, and only had problems with the ATIs. Drivers, specifically.

I don't need to drop shit. And I've answered this point many times, it's just my natural reaction as a consumer.

I don't see why this is such a huge point of contention for people when I bring it up. People are constantly fanboying over hard drive brands on these forums for no good or justifiable reason, why can't I do the same regarding video cards?

Seriously, I don't get it. Why is it so weird that I would go the ATI route after having a less-than-desirable experience with Nvidia? I could give them the benefit of the doubt and buy a second Nvidia card with my fingers crossed, or I could just go and buy an equally capable and similarly priced card from the competition and see what their QC and customer service is like these days.

Edit: And before some pedantic fuck jumps and pisses me off further, I know Nvidia did not manufacture my card. They gave their technology and branding to eVGA who proceeded to make a shitty product. I still see Nvidia playing a role here.

If you're interested I have a 4890 sitting around here that I don't need.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to take a raincheck for now.

Part of me was expecting that things would return to normal when the computer had had some time to sit and cool off, and that certainly was the case this morning.

On the one hand this is good since I have a fully working computer again, but sucks on the other hand because now I'm thinking the whole system's probably gonna go in a spectacular fashion sometime soon.

 

[Shawn]

Sigh... just restarted itself back into low-res hell.

You know what? I'm going to run and buy the first box I see with Nvidia logos on it because I love being hassled like this with my only computer.

 

[Adunaphel]

Edit: And before some pedantic fuck jumps and pisses me off further, I know Nvidia did not manufacture my card. They gave their technology and branding to eVGA who proceeded to make a shitty product. I still see Nvidia playing a role here.

Actually, as with all nVidia cards, nVidia DID make it, all EVGA did was stick their stickers on it.

Also, I think you're right with not buying an nVidia card. Due to similar experiences I didn't buy ATI cards for over 5 years. Just one warning. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[AiR]

Technically TSMC made it
Random thought: Modular power supplies are useless, you end up using all the wires anyway.

 

[eizbaer]

Random thought: Modular power supplies are useless, you end up using all the wires anyway.

not.
i am still very angry with myself for NOT getting a modular unit... i have some fist-sized lump of unused wiring stuffed into some corner of my PC -.-

 

[thevictor390]

not.
i am still very angry with myself for NOT getting a modular unit... i have some fist-sized lump of unused wiring stuffed into some corner of my PC -.-

Considering how seldom I actually open up my PC, I don't really concern myself with how it looks inside.

 

[smib]

Maybe not, but the components inside are concerned about the airflow.

 

[eizbaer]

Considering how seldom I actually open up my PC, I don't really concern myself with how it looks inside.

still, it's in the way of the airflow sort of and it's damn annoying when installing the whole stuff... but yeah, once that's finished it's not toooo bad.

 

[Shawn]

Actually, as with all nVidia cards, nVidia DID make it, all EVGA did was stick their stickers on it.

Huh, is that so? If it is it just further negates the need for me to explain my "Nvidia hate."

Also, I think you're right with not buying an nVidia card. Due to similar experiences I didn't buy ATI cards for over 5 years. Just one warning. Don't get your hopes up.

Thanks. I haven't gotten my hopes up, I know ATI cards probably fail as frequently as other cards. I'm interested in an ATI card because I felt like I was let down by Nvidia, not because I think ATI makes some magical cards that keep working until the end of time.


At any rate, I went to Future Shop and sort of blindly picked out a Diamond Radeon 5750 ... don't know anything about this card or whether the price I paid is reasonable. For now I just want to pop it in to ensure that the old graphics card is indeed the problem and also to have a working PC for a few days so I can research my options.

 

[JakeRadden]

5750 is a decent card.

 

[Shawn]

5750 is a decent card.

It might be overkill for me though? The rest of my system is 3+ years old so... what would be an ATI card more akin to the GeForce 9800 GTX?

Anyway, I'm still having issues. It's not like with the GeForce where the res was super low and Aero effects were disabled, with this Radeon card I get random hangs and freezes I didn't experience before.

I'm really confused because the GeForce was definitely acting up but replacing it hasn't cured the computer.

 

[thevictor390]

There could be a separate problem that is just being handled differently by the two different drivers? i.e., catastrophic event x happens, Nvidia GPU drivers crash, revert to default basic settings. Same catastrophic event x happens, ATI drivers crash in a different way, Windows hangs.....

 

[Shawn]

There could be a separate problem that is just being handled differently by the two different drivers? i.e., catastrophic event x happens, Nvidia GPU drivers crash, revert to default basic settings. Same catastrophic event x happens, ATI drivers crash in a different way, Windows hangs.....

Right. That's probably the most logical and plausible explanation...

Still, it doesn't really help me figure out what the culprit is. Do you guys reckon it could be software related? I didn't bother re-installing Windows because it just didn't strike me as a software issue...

 

[maxtortheone]

How many PCI-E slots does your mobo have? Have you tried the GPU in another slot?

 

[Shawn]

How many PCI-E slots does your mobo have? Have you tried the GPU in another slot?

Just the single PCI-E slot...

Do motherboards commonly go? I haven't heard that happening too often. What would be some symptoms of a motherboard that is on its death bed?

 

[thevictor390]

Does the motherboard have onboard video? That might be another way to eliminate a variable from the equation.

Also I wouldn't rule out software issue completely, I've had really weird "hardware" defects fixed by installing Windows fresh (granted this was from Linux, but the problems were audio feedback and scanlines in the CRT monitor).

 

[Wizegui]

I was wondering if you guys can shed some light on a C++ problem that I am having. My copy constructor

RecipeBook::RecipeBook(const RecipeBook& otherRecipeBook){
this->ingredients = new vector<Recipe>;
for(int i=0; i<otherRecipeBook.ingredients->size(); i++ )
ingredients->push_back(otherRecipeBook.ingredients->at(i));
}

is giving me a LNK1120 compile error. Any ideas?

 

[Shawn]

Does the motherboard have onboard video? That might be another way to eliminate a variable from the equation.

Also I wouldn't rule out software issue completely, I've had really weird "hardware" defects fixed by installing Windows fresh (granted this was from Linux, but the problems were audio feedback and scanlines in the CRT monitor).

Nope, no on board video either.

I think the hanging issue I'm experiencing now is happening when the machine is cold, as in just been turned on. If I make it past a certain amount of time then it doesn't seem to hiccup at all.

I suppose a reformat might be in order... I'm just so lazy when I have to do something without knowing whether it will be successful or not.

 

[thevictor390]

Nope, no on board video either.

I think the hanging issue I'm experiencing now is happening when the machine is cold, as in just been turned on. If I make it past a certain amount of time then it doesn't seem to hiccup at all.

I suppose a reformat might be in order... I'm just so lazy when I have to do something without knowing whether it will be successful or not.

I'm exactly the same, I dealt with a "failing" hard drive for a while, until finally I played around with the cables and it seems to work fine now.