The JD

Hello once again everybody! Well, my X800 decided to straighten up and fly right all on its own so my graphics levels in CSS are top notch right about now. However, I wanted to get a new sound card for my system. I was thinking of buying a new graphics card but then decided against it because of all the major ruckus going on in that particular industry right now. Things like AMD taking over ATi and the news about DX10 cards etc. etc. so I've decided to sit back and let everything play out before I decide to spend some serious cash. My sound system however, could definitely use a makeover right about now. So far, I've been using the crappy sound card that came with my computer -a Realtek something... anyways, I wanted to know if it was wise to buy a good one now or to wait for the new batch of DX10 cards (Are they even gonna be making DX10 sound cards?). Anyways, I'm looking for a really good sound card. I will be using it for gameplay (CSS) most of the time but since I busted my PC speakers last week, I might be considering hooking it up to a 5.1,6.1 or 7.1 (Which one would you recommend?) Surround System with a Subwoofer etc. you know... the works. So then, I wanna know which cards are the best ones right about now. I don't mind paying a pretty penny for them if they can perform well. I've heard of a few like the Audigy 2 - the favourite so far, something from Creative which everybody hates because EAX keeps crashing all the games its been tried on, something called the Revolution which I haven't got a clue about and the Hercules Game Theatre XP which I also don't know anything about. So thats where I stand at this moment, if you know anything about harware and can help me out then please do so. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

If I were to rate my experienxce with ATI as below expectations then I'd rate my experiences with Nvidia as Going through Hell itself. Almost all the cards I had before this one were GeForce and to put it simply, GeForce sucks. Anyways, I am aware that different people have different experiences with both card manufacturers so lets just leave it at that before a full scale ATi Vs. Nvidia war breaks out shall we? On a different note, I have to report that some strange stuff has been going on with my card lately. usually when I run ATiTool I get a miserable 20 FPS average. However, when I ran it today I got an average that jumped around from 170 - 180 FPS. This may be due to the fact that I removed around 50 spyware infected objects form my computer using Ewido's Anti-Spyware program. Thanks Chris82! I wanted to know something else. Whats a normal temperature for a Processor and a Card to be at? Mine is always around 55 - 65 degrees Celsius. is that normal, bad good?

Thanks. I'll try AVG. BTW, I wasn't doing any of the overclocking calculations. I was using ATiTool and it has its own built in Find Max Memory and Core functions. I just clicked the buttons and waited. Should I try and manually adjust the speeds by 30 or so? I mean if 100 didn't work how will 30? Also, is it supposed to be like the memory is always lower than core or vice versa? EDIT: I got the AVG (Free Version). It came up clean.

Sorry about the double post! My browser went for a second and now I can't delete this post. EDIT: Here are my OC Test results. I ran ATiTool 3 times to get an average speed: Card: Saphire Radeon X800 GT 256MB - Stock Condition Default Speeds: Core: 474.43 MHz and Memory: 489.86 MHz OC'ed Core Speeds: 578.99 MHz, 576.00 MHz and 574.62 MHz OC'ed Memory Speeds: 542.95 MHz, 539.95 MHz and 537.30 MHz I don't know if these are good OC speeds or bad. Hopefully someone here will be able to tell me. Is there like a website where I can get the default speeds of different cards? I wanna compare these results with another card. I haven't actually set the clock to these speeds yet - I'm going to do so in a second. I thought I'd post this on here just in case something goes wrong . So if you don't hear from me soon, you can assume that I've fried my card and that I've jumped off the edge of a cliff. EDIT 2: Ok. I'm not dead...yet. I tried OC'ing the clocks but to no avail. None of my tested Speeds delivered an artifact free setting. So that was a dead end. I have another theory now: Could my card be underperforming due to overheating?

Yes 2005. I've got a subscription until September 2006. I'll probably upgrade then. Is there another (hopefully free) reliable antivirus program that I can use to scan my computer.

Hmm.... Viruses.....Reformat.....Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I run weekly checks on my system using Norton Internet Security 2005 and I've got the latest Windows Updates. Can anyone suggest a website where I can do a proper online virus scan or is there some other reliable Virus Scanning Program that I can use?

That would work. But, when i first started playing CSS, I used exactly the same settings and got 70 FPS out of it. I want to know why it decided to die out on me now. Anyways, I thought about what chris82 said and decided to install a game that I had preivously played. I chose F.E.A.R. I distinctly remember playing the game on 1280x1024 with pretty high settings. Well, I just finished installing the game and ran a few test runs. And here are the results: 1.) The game auto-detected the best settings for my PC and gave me a resolution of 800x600 which looks like crap on my LCD screen. 2.) The highest possible resolution I could tweak it to was 1280x960. 3.) On this resolution no matter how low I put the settings the game was as choppy as heck. I don't know whats gotten into my card. Its just given up the ghost. I'd buy a new one but I need to save up for at least an X1900 so until then its OC time.

Hmm, well I can't say that I ahve played any other games lately except for Devil May Cry 3 but that doesn't count as its a horribly screwed up port. So the answer is no. But..., when I first started up ATiTool and opened up the 3D object view - this is without any overclocking and no tampering whatsoever - it showed me an average of 20 FPS! I don't think thats normal. Anyways, maybe its because of my extensive over-usage of the PC. EDIT: Sorry, I didnt answer your question. I play CSS at the highest possible settings at 1280x1024 resolution.

I'm pretty sure mine is a Radeon X800 GT 256MB PCI-E Card. At least thats what DxDiag is reporting.

Make sure that you've modded the right version of GTA SA(v1.00). GTA SA v2.00 is not mod compatible and so if you have v2 and want to mod your game you'll have to downgrade. Also, try installing the mods one at a time and testing the mod in-game after each installation. This way if one of your mods is causing the crash, you'll know which one it is.

Well, the only reason I wanted to overclock it is because I was getting seriously low FPS on CSS. I'm lucky if I can get 15 FPS. There used to be a time when I used to get at least 70 FPS out of my system. EDIT: Could someone please tell me where I can get some help with using ATiTool? I've tried searching high and low and I still can't find a decent tutorial - just crappy outdated ones. Anyways, this is what I'm doing at the moment: 1.) I start up ATiTool and click the 'Show 3D View' Button. 2.) I click 'Find Max Core' and sit back. 3.) The first thing that happens is that the 3D object stops moving and 'No Errors For xx.xx.xx' where xx.xx.xx is a timer counting up, appears at the bottom of the 3D Object screen. 4.) After a while the 3D object starts moving and 'Heat-Up Phase - xx Seconds Left' where xx is a timer counting down, appears at the bottom of the 3D Object screen. 5.) The previous two steps keep repeating themselves with the countdown timer increasing in time. E.g: It starts off from 30 seconds, next time its 45 seconds, then 55 and so on. 6.) I let this run for about 5 minutes and then I saw that the temperature graph was beginning to go a little haywire so I aborted it. Exactly the same thing happens when I click 'Find Max Mem'. So is what I'm doing correct or wrong? Am I supposed to click on the 'Find Max Core' and 'Find Max Mem' buttons and let it keep going until it stops and gives me the maximum core and memory or ... should I be doing something else? Please Help!

First off, let me just say that I am a complete stranger to overclocking and although I have heard about it I have never tried it before. Anyways, I own a Radeon X800 GT and I was wonering if someone here could help me overclock it. I'm looking for a program that may or may not be free, but most importantly, easy for a beginner to use. I've heard of several such as ATiTool and Powerstrip but which one is the better one? Also, if someone could point me in the direction of a basic guide to overclocking, I'd be extremely grateful. I have to mention one other thing though. The card I bought has never been tampered with etc. and so it still has the original Heatsink and Fan combo that it came with. Also, I'm a hardcore PC user and I turn my PC off maybe once a month. If I overclock my card, I'll obviously need to turn it off more often to let it cool down, right? Please Advise. Attatched is a Test Report of CPU-Z. For those of you who don't know what CPU-Z is its basically a program that reports your PC Specs. Just open the file using Internet Explorer. Thanks for your help! JD.rar

You can also use a cheat code - "Ghosttown"