Pulse301

Well if you are a gamer you probably don't want to go to Win2000 (because of HAL). If you are going to update OS's go to WinXP. Having said that, most likely it is a problem witht he chipset. Make sure you have installed all the patches. And I don't just mean drivers, they have all sorts of registry patches for the VIA chipset. Also, make sure that if your CD-ROM drive is on the same cable as another drive you don't have it set to Cable Select, just tell it master or slave. There may also be an IDE busmaster patch you should look for. Usually freezing up like this is a problem with hardware and not a function of the OS (directly). Of course ME is a POS and no one should ever install it. If you have a copy of Win2000 install it and run through installing a game and try to get it to lock up. Most likely the problem will be spelled out in a STOP error or in the system log.

I guess if you consider "quite some time" to be about 6 months. Now back in the day ATI was the leading graphics card maker, and I beleive they still hold the title for notebooks. But When nVidia came along with their TNT2's and GeForce cards, nVidia took the sales and power lead. Of course to start with VooDoo had the lead, but they weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, and nVidia bought them out before their monster 4 GPU card came out. nVidia has led the scene since I believe 1999, of course ATI would do alittle better, then nVidia would throw the next best thing out there. This of course went on until the Radeon 9700 when ATI took a commanding lead (in performance) and hasn't looked back. Even the GeForce FX can't beat the new 9800. And The FX was just released. I think these next few months could get interesting.

thanks isburns, I'll kepp a look out for your post. As far as the Acoustic edge goes, I kinda wonder how well it does over the SB card. I'm looking for a card that does the decoding for me, I don't want something that will eat up more clock cycles, I mean after all, Windows uses enough. I know I'm gonna go with a SB card, most likely the X-gamer. Is there any review for the acoustic edge. And also does the acoustic edge do 5.1 on games the same way someone was saying they do it on MP3s? Where it breaks them up itself and sedns it to a certain channel? That just doesn't seem like it would make for good sorround sound, it seems like it would just kinda screw it up, possibly sending sounds to channels that wasn't suppose to get those sounds. Although it sounds neat that it would send different sounds to each sat. from MP3s, it also seems like that wouldn't improve sound unless you were sitting exactly in the center. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I would love to learn more about the AE. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

Thats a really good idea with the wireless k/b and mouse, but I have the Razer Boomslang 2000, so I won't be giving that up, plus I don't like the possibility of being in the middle of a frag fest and my batteries dying. I had a prof in College who had a wireless mouse that was actually just a remote with an arrow key on it, it was really neat, anyone know who may have made that? As far as I'm concerned the GameTheatre XP is not a viable solution for me, because of the fact it doesn't do DD decoding onboard, and I want 5.1 with games...if it is ever supported. I know that the X-gamer and the Platinum are the same card, its the live Driver I really wanna know about. Is buying that combo the only way I can get remote control use w/ my computer, or is there a cheaper alternative that lets me use a remote w/ my computer, perhaps through USB or even something I have to use a PCI slot for that has a box for the front, eitehr one is perfectly acceptable for me, considering I have 2 open 5 1/4 slots and 1 open 3 1/2 and I think 2 PCIs. So really I'm just looking for a cheap remote control for my computer. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

I've been waiting for the 5.1's and Operation Flashpoint. Have any of you Europeans played OF yet? The demo was awesome, but of course the promise of it being out in May was BS. Its suppose to get here in the States by Sept 16 I think...so I expect it about Nov. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

I really like the idea of having a remote control for the front of my comptuer where I can control volume...and whatever else I'm wanting to take over. But is $100 extra for the Live Drive really worth it??? Is there another alternative to getting remote control functionallity in your comptuer thats like $30 or so? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just something where I can control the volume, stop/pause on the DVD, fast forward, just the basics. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

I guess we should go with Central, since that is where Amy is. Good thinking. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

OK...this is the official pool for the 5.1's. I need something to do before I go crazy waiting for my speakers. The Phew bet on Wednesday at 9:46, and Tabbycat bid on Tues at 8:29. Both were off. So let's start another one. I'm gonna bet on Monday, July 23rd at 10:15 AM. Now were gonna have to depend on Amy for the official real time when they are availible, which should be the time when you can order them online. So Amy needs to watch it for us and tell us the exact time. The prize for getting it right should be a free set of 5.1's...Amy, we gotta depend on you for that one too. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.

I preordered my 5.1's through hifi Buys, which is of course owned by Tweeter who provides the electronics for Outpost.com. I wonder if they'll be there the 15? Thier computer said July 20, but the salesman said to expect them earlier than that. ------------------ Life is a bowling ball, don't throw it in the gutter.