My AMD rant (blowing off steam)...

[Wing Nut]

Friggin AMD piece of crap!  I will NEVER buy another AMD or Gateway again.    This computer is only a few months old and already I get some kind of clicking sound at random intervals, I get all kinds of conflicts with codecs, it has no power, and it crashes more than a Kennedy after a 2:00 AM bar closing...

End of Rant...  ;)

[Politically Incorrect]

Doesn't sound like a AMD issue

[congo]

Yeah, the AMD cpu is probably the only good thing in that machine

[Wing Nut]

CPU's... 2 of them.

I can only say the Intels I've had worked excellent until the day the PC's died of other causes.

[congo]

The AMD rig in my spec below processes 8.2 gb/sec in memory bandwidth, that tops the chart in Everest and it's the fastest rig I've ever seen, I know there are plenty of faster (in some respects) PC's out there, but the AMD cpu is not the cause of your woes.

AMD and Intel both make a large range of CPU's with a wide range of power. It's up to you to do the research and choose the correct components for your PC, but like so many people, you haven't got the time or the knowledge to do that, so you just went and bought a Gateway with a XXXX cpu which sounded good.

Did it occur to you why the Gateway was cheap and attractively priced? It's because they use cheap mainboards, cheap ram, cheaper cpu's, cheaper everything! It's not just gateway, it's all the big PC dealers. I say dealers, because they don't make the components, they buy them, from the cheapest suppliers.

Until you understand what a chipset is and you start building your PC based on that knowledge, bagging this manufacturer or that one will do no more than blow off frustrations.

If I were a betting man, I'd lay money that your problems are not even hardware related, but instead related to software and bios, and I'd lay 10:1 odds as well, because over 95% of PC problems are simply caused from the operators filling the PC up with garbage software (unwittingly) until it no longer runs at all.

Some current flight sims seem to fit this category

PS. There is a paradox in your signature  My signature contains one as well, but mine is hardware related......

[Wing Nut]

Hence the reason I wrote "or Gateway again..."  From now on I build my own stuff.  I may not be the most knowledgable person out there, but I know I can do that.  :P

[congo]

Of course you can, and there is plenty of help available here if you need it. The new Intel cpu's are somewhat more powerful than the AMD equivalents, but there is not a great practical difference at rated speeds. The Intel Core 2 Duos just happened to turn out as fantastic overclocking cpu's, and this fact alone is enough to sway me (and millions who will NEVER overclock) towards the dark side for now, but at stock speeds, your not going to even see the difference between cpu manufacturers in most PC applications.

If you want to test my software theory, obtain a spare hdd, format it, install windows and drivers and watch your PC spring into action again, until you fill it up with junk again that is

Be careful though, I'd say most driver installation setup routines these days don't just add the tiny few kb's of driver files, but they also install dodgy bloatware and spyware, there is a technique used to cut through this crud and keep your PC clean and install the proper drivers without all the garbage contained on the driver install disks.

[Wing Nut]

 

Here is my computer according to Belarc.  Oddly enough, it doesn't mention the second drive I installed at 120 gigs where my FS stuff and music is.
 



System Security Status  CIS Benchmark Score
1.25 of 10

Virus Protection
Up-to-date

Microsoft Security Updates
 2 missing
(or more)

[congo]

I can see the 120gb hdd, but it's marked as 113gb free space.... the 113gb I understand, but why

[Gunny04]

Definatly not the processer type.... Its the junk that comes with the PC, my HP had over 70 things booting at start up... that was a mess, this Acer wasn't as bad only 40 but still a mess.... Now I happily boot with 25 things and running 28 at the moment. Definatly clean that thing out and you should be better, and Congo, What can I do to find out if I have un needed junk running and run the absolute bare minimum to operate XP with?

Gunny

[congo]

I did it mostly by trial and error over the years gunny, it caused me a few dozen formats and I have to keep learning due to new software additions and updates, but in the end I realised that you actually don't need a damn thing other than your explorer main page and ISP nameserver IP's so you can connect to the net.

So now, I won't even connect hardware to my system that requires extra running background processes like a HP printer for example, or a joystick that won't auto-configure.

Windows XP picks up and reads my cameras, routers, joysticks, mice, keyboards, usb storage devices etc all with inbuilt XP drivers, I don't have to add any software to use my equipment.

I successfully run a 3 PC home network, and two gaming servers on seperate PC's, everything works, and works fast.

I let NOTHING auto-update or auto-connect to the internet except for my Trackmania Nations game (because it's coded in and can't be stopped manually, but the firewall will block it if I chose to do that, but I trust the game so I let it do it's quick little checks), I don't run active AV/ASpy. I build custom XP install disks with a few small tweaks that seem to have a large impact.

The XP tweaks have to do with shutting down system file checking and other automated processes that use large amounts of system resources, such as System Restore, File Indexing and network monitoring utilities.

I keep everything backed up on a disconnected HDD so of someone wants to hack me, or virus me, I'll be back up again in 3 hours time right where I was before, but this has not happened since the Blaster worm got me on dial up several years ago. (touch wood)
After that attack I dumped Norton and that seemed to relieve me of most PC issues from then on. I think Norton is better now, but it's a huge resource hog and should not be on a gaming PC IMHO.

I can honestly say that 90% of my PC woes were self inflicted due to my experimentation with the OS and trying to minimise the overhead of the system, but it has paid dividends in the long term, I now feel as if I'm basking in that warm, soft, sweet spot and I'm in no rush to take on a new OS environment like Vista. XP is running fantastic now.

[Gunny04]

Absolute conveinence! Hmm I should probably do the same and toss all the non configuring junk out the door and see what I can get the processes down too. I always run my net, MSN and xfire. The card reader can't be turned off because you have to restart to get it going again... worthless thing in my opinion, but I need to use it so it stays on (I often don't restart my computer for 1-6 days) Thanks for the responce congo!

Gunny

EDIT: Just missed the end of your post, Hmm the auto updating I think I can find about 10 programs that do that automaticly, time to shut em off

[congo]

I just noticed you have a FAT32 partition on your hard disk Kevin. What's up with that? Perhaps it's the Gateway restore partition? Why Fat32 I wonder

[Boca]

Lots of wise words, Congo...and I agree with your philosophy on keeping a clean software platform. I preach the same gospel on other non-computer forums that I visit. Like you, I tell them that 95 % of their PC woes are self inflicted.  When people are telling me to forgo Windows and go to Ubuntu or some other Linux OS because "Windows sucks and crashes all the time"  I remind them that I've ran various forms of windows for 7 years with only one crash ( way back when I was just learning about computers ).
              My current XP pro runs as smooth as glass and I put that down to me streamlining it's operations.

BUT, I'm always willing to learn new tips and tricks, that's why I come to places like this.  ;)

[visualchaosfx]

I have 2 AMD machines and they work great since I followed Nicks tweaks. On my compaq computer, I got that at Office Max and it came with a crap load of software that I don't use so I went to the website, downloaded the necessary drivers for the thing, bought me a copy of Windows XP Home from Walmart, deleted the old partition and created a new one, installed XP Home, added a Nvidia 7600 GS card, added another GB of memory, did Nicks XP tweaking stuff, play FS9 with the PMDG 747, which is processor intensive, and all is well.

I'm planning on using both computers for my simpit. Its going to be an all monitor setup except for the MCP, yoke, rudder pedals and that CH throttle thingie.

How much do you want to sell that gateway comp? I may be interested in buying it if the price is right and its not on a payment plan type deal.