🚀 go-pugleaf

~misfit~ wrote:
> EvilBill wrote:
>> ~misfit~ wrote:
>>> EvilBill wrote:
>>>> ~misfit~ wrote:
>>>>> EvilBill wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> True, but I don't have any spare AGP ones, just a PCI TNT2,
>>>>>> and I think that'd struggle just to run XP, let alone some of
>>>>>> the other games I enjoy. <g>
>>>>>
>>>>> Actually, you'd be surprised. It'll run D2 in 2D mode just
>>>>> fine. As for running XP, don't tell me you have the eye-candy
>>>>> turned on? The first thing I do with a fresh XP install is
>>>>> right-click the desktop, go to "Themes" and click "Windows
>>>>> Classic". Then right click "My Computer", Properties, Advanced,
>>>>> Performance, Settings and tick the "Adjust for best
>>>>> performance" box. Then a 2MB PCI Cirrus Logic card (remember
>>>>> those?) will run XP.
>>>>
>>>> The last time I had one of *those*, it was January 1998 and I was
>>>> running Windows 95 OSR2 on a Cyrix 150MHz machine with 32 megs of
>>>> RAM and a 2 gig hard drive. LOL!
>>>
>>> Heh! I ran a Cyrix CPU for a while until too many games didn't
>>> recognise it as a Pentium and wouldn't install. Swapped it for a
>>> P166. :-)
>>
>> I swapped mine for an MMX P233. <g> Ah, Socket 7... LOL
>
>
> Rich man!! I'd just upgraded my 486DX-2/66 for the Cyrix 150Mhz as it
> was cheaper (by about $100) that the P166. However, Diablo (and a
> couple other games) didn't recognise it as a Pentium-class processor.
> As everything was *very* Intel-centric in thse days some games
> 'assumed' that I had a 486 and wouldn't install. (Can't remember if
> Diablo was one). So I bit the bullet, spoke to my supplier who kindly
> gave me a full refund on the Cyrix towards the P166.
>
>>>> D2, maybe - but I'm not even sure what the impact on my system
>>>> will be of replacing a mid-end AGP card with a truly ancient PCI
>>>> one. I don't know if my monitor will even display anything on it!
>>>> Plus the current nVidia drivers don't do TNT2s any more, I'd have
>>>> to uninstall 94.24 and go back to 61.77 to even get the drivers to
>>>> recognise
>>>> the card, LOL...
>>>
>>> Yeah, I know. I see that nVidia were taking action against a group
>>> (name escapes me) who were reverse-engineering their newer drivers
>>> so that they'd work with older cards as well.
>>>
>>
>> Silly buggers. If they'd continued to support their older cards with
>> their newer drivers, they wouldn't *have* to take any action.
>
>
> Exactly! I get really annoyed with companies who try to "force" you to
> discard hardware that could be working just fine, doing what you want.
> Microsoft are doing it when they dropped support for Win98 (Although
> I for one don't need their steenking support) and now nVidia are
> doing it with their drivers. Bastards!
>

I suppose it is a good thing in one way: the older drivers are a MUCH 
smaller download. LOL!

>>
>> That works. <g>
>
> Yeah, he wrote about some problems he was having that he thought was
> due to the modem/router. I replied trying to help troubleshoot as I
> have the same model (and they were quite pricey when new, certainly
> not entry-level). He obviously has more money than me (who doesn't?)

Me. ;)

> and just replaced it. I mentioned in-group that it's a shame they
> aren't really user-serviceable on a component evel as, otherwise, I'd
> grab it for spares.
> He emailed me saying that he thinks the problem was actually with his
> ISP and they were unable to help him set up the modem as they're not
> common and most people have budget units (He'd made changes to
> Windows MTU and the modem stopped connecting). He said if I want to
> go pick it up I can have it. Very nice of him. There's still a chance
> that it could be fusked but it's only a half-hour drive so I figure
> it's gotta be worth it. They're a nice bit of kit, they run a
> cut-down *nix kernel and have basic firewall functions.
>

Sweet.
I have a pretty good router myself, I certainly wouldn't switch it out for 
an ADSL modem now, not unless it was b0rked.

>>
>> Yup, I have a few older ones too. Athlon 600 384Mb, PIII-667 128Mb,
>> PIII-933 256Mb... all pretty useless for gaming but the 384Mb Athlon
>> makes a nice backup machine for the Net and watching videos. <g>
>
> I use one of mine for decoding UHF Sky transmissions so I can watch
> the Formula 1 live instead of avoiding the news etc. and looking for
> a torrent. They all run D2 and, as there are currently a few CD keys
> in the house with Shady flatting here, it's handy to have four
> machines on-line at once.

Very cool. :) I only have the one CD-key; however, as it turns out, my card 
will still work with D2 in windowed 2D mode :)

>>
>> Indeed. I don't think I'd buy one without a fan, not since this rig
>> didn't come with a case fan!
>
> It was an impulse buy. I was there to get a HDD and the owner knows
> me quite well, I've been buying parts from him for a while now. He
> gave me a good discount on the HDD (didn't even have to ask, he just
> took it to his desk, tapped away at the keyboard and said "The best
> price I can let you have it for is xxx") I saw it on his shelf,
> decided the bills could wait as they're fast dissapearing off shelves
> and bought it.
> To be honest I'd rather have a 'passively cooled' card and fit my own,
> larger, quieter fan to it. IME 80% of graphics cards fail due to the
> buzzy little fans they usually come with failing and the GPU/VRAM
> overheating. Seems they're designed to last about 2 years.
>

Probably. Maybe that's why mine is being so dodgy now, maybe the fan's 
started to fail. Although there's no more noise than usual coming out of the 
PC.

> Mate, I don't want to hear that your rig didn't come without a case
> fan. There's nothing stopping you fitting one.

Lack of money? ;)

> All my machines have
> them, even the low-power ones. My main rig has four. (1 x 120mm and 3
> x 80mm) The #1 cause of PC component failure is heat-related. Could
> be why your graphics card is playing up now.
>

I wouldn't be surprised. I know the CPU is running slightly hotter than 
ideal, unfortunately I just can't afford any extra cooling ATM since money 
is *so* damn tight.