Extended D2 haitus

EvilBill wrote:
> Unfortunately the graphics card in my PC is on the fritz, so my
> return to the Tales of Her Speariness will have to wait till I can
> get a replacement!

Don't be too long young feller! You don't need much of a graphics card for
D2. Heck, in 2D mode the old S3 8MB things I have kicking around do the job
just fine.
--
Shaun.
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

~misfit~ wrote:
> EvilBill wrote:
>> Unfortunately the graphics card in my PC is on the fritz, so my
>> return to the Tales of Her Speariness will have to wait till I can
>> get a replacement!
>
> Don't be too long young feller! You don't need much of a graphics
> card for D2. Heck, in 2D mode the old S3 8MB things I have kicking
> around do the job just fine.

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>

--
--
* I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me
to expect the worst.

Yahoo: evilbill_agqx
Web: http://www.evilbill.org.uk
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

EvilBill wrote:
> ~misfit~ wrote:
> > EvilBill wrote:
> > > Unfortunately the graphics card in my PC is on the fritz, so my
> > > return to the Tales of Her Speariness will have to wait till I can
> > > get a replacement!
> >
> > Don't be too long young feller! You don't need much of a graphics
> > card for D2. Heck, in 2D mode the old S3 8MB things I have kicking
> > around do the job just fine.
>
> 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.

Ok, the TNT2 won't run a lot of other games but it *will* run D2 in 2D mode
(it'll give you the option of 3D when you run the video test, don't make the
mistake of ticking it). I find that there is so little difference between
the two modes in D2 that it's no big deal. A Celeron 500 and a TNT2 (or one
of the multiple 8MB S3 Virge's that I seem to have accrued) will run it just
fine.

Heh! There goes your excuse lad! Shame you're not more local to me, I have a
ti4200 and a FX5600 both sitting in boxes. My /third/ machine is also
running a ti4200 that is a bit overkill for what it does. (I made a point of
spending any spare cash on any second-hand AGP cards I saw at a reasonable
price over the last year. I'm not likely to be in a position to update my
PCs soon so am trying to get some "spares" before all AGP cards disappear
off the market and the second-hand price gets too high).

Oh, I have a 32MB TNT2 Ultra AGP sitting on the shelf too. <g> One of my
machines, the one Shady uses as her second machine for D2, runs a PCI 32MB
GF2. It doesn't have an AGP slot and the on-board graphics are abysmal (but
will still run D2 playably, amazingly). I have another mobo the same, both
running 1.4Ghz Celerons. (Nice, efficient CPUs. Shame I'm a bit short of RAM
for them and it's twice the price of modern RAM..) However, PCI graphics
cards with any grunt are like hen's teeth.
--
Shaun.
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

~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!

> Ok, the TNT2 won't run a lot of other games but it *will* run D2 in
> 2D mode (it'll give you the option of 3D when you run the video test,
> don't make the mistake of ticking it). I find that there is so little
> difference between the two modes in D2 that it's no big deal. A
> Celeron 500 and a TNT2 (or one of the multiple 8MB S3 Virge's that I
> seem to have accrued) will run it just fine.
>

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...

> Heh! There goes your excuse lad! Shame you're not more local to me, I
> have a ti4200 and a FX5600 both sitting in boxes. My /third/ machine
> is also running a ti4200 that is a bit overkill for what it does. (I
> made a point of spending any spare cash on any second-hand AGP cards
> I saw at a reasonable price over the last year. I'm not likely to be
> in a position to update my PCs soon so am trying to get some "spares"
> before all AGP cards disappear off the market and the second-hand
> price gets too high).

I did have an FX5200 back along, unfortunately I sold it on eBay last year!

> Oh, I have a 32MB TNT2 Ultra AGP sitting on the shelf too. <g> One of
> my machines, the one Shady uses as her second machine for D2, runs a
> PCI 32MB GF2.

I remember those. <g> Had a 64MB one back in the day when I was running an
old Duron 800 rig with 128 megs of RAM. LOL

> It doesn't have an AGP slot and the on-board graphics
> are abysmal (but will still run D2 playably, amazingly). I have
> another mobo the same, both running 1.4Ghz Celerons. (Nice, efficient
> CPUs. Shame I'm a bit short of RAM for them and it's twice the price
> of modern RAM..) However, PCI graphics cards with any grunt are like
> hen's teeth.

PCI graphics cards are like hen's teeth full stop! AGP ones will be soon,
too; I don't think anything better than a 7600GS is available on AGP
nowadays.

Mind you, my machine's PSU and cooling wouldn't be up to taking a 768Mb
8800GTX anyway

--
--
* I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me
to expect the worst.

Yahoo: evilbill_agqx
Web: http://www.evilbill.org.uk
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

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.

> > Ok, the TNT2 won't run a lot of other games but it *will* run D2 in
> > 2D mode (it'll give you the option of 3D when you run the video
> > test, don't make the mistake of ticking it). I find that there is
> > so little difference between the two modes in D2 that it's no big
> > deal. A Celeron 500 and a TNT2 (or one of the multiple 8MB S3
> > Virge's that I seem to have accrued) will run it just fine.
> >
>
> 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.

> > Heh! There goes your excuse lad! Shame you're not more local to me,
> > I have a ti4200 and a FX5600 both sitting in boxes. My /third/
> > machine is also running a ti4200 that is a bit overkill for what it
> > does. (I made a point of spending any spare cash on any second-hand
> > AGP cards I saw at a reasonable price over the last year. I'm not
> > likely to be in a position to update my PCs soon so am trying to
> > get some "spares" before all AGP cards disappear off the market and
> > the second-hand price gets too high).
>
> I did have an FX5200 back along, unfortunately I sold it on eBay last
> year!

Foolish boy! One thing being broke has taught me; Always have a
spare/backup. When you can't afford to just go out and buy something it pays
to have a part 'B'. (Going to pick up a spare Speedtouch 510 ADSL modem I
begged off a guy who upgraded in an nz computer group on Thursday).

> > Oh, I have a 32MB TNT2 Ultra AGP sitting on the shelf too. <g> One
> > of my machines, the one Shady uses as her second machine for D2,
> > runs a PCI 32MB GF2.
>
> I remember those. <g> Had a 64MB one back in the day when I was
> running an old Duron 800 rig with 128 megs of RAM. LOL

Hehee! I still have a few older rigs. Let's see... PIII 500, Celeron 900,
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, Duron Applebred 1.6, Athlon XP2400+ as well as my main rig
(Barton 2500 clocked to 3200 at redued vcore). All machines will run at the
push of a button and are connected to my LAN/the internet. They're worth
pennies to sell so I'd rather keep 'em.

> > It doesn't have an AGP slot and the on-board graphics
> > are abysmal (but will still run D2 playably, amazingly). I have
> > another mobo the same, both running 1.4Ghz Celerons. (Nice,
> > efficient CPUs. Shame I'm a bit short of RAM for them and it's
> > twice the price of modern RAM..) However, PCI graphics cards with
> > any grunt are like hen's teeth.
>
> PCI graphics cards are like hen's teeth full stop! AGP ones will be
> soon, too; I don't think anything better than a 7600GS is available
> on AGP nowadays.

I lashed out with my birthday money a couple months ago and bought one of
those! 256MB DDR-RAM onboard. I don't need the grunt (however, I figured get
it while I can) but Shady has some demanding dx9 games so I'm letting her
borrow it for now. I was amazed that it has a molex for extra power but was
passively cooled. "Was" being the operative word. I fitted a
thermister-controlled variable-speed 80mm fan, with the sensor wedged into
the heatsink fins. It starts off at around 900rpm in winter and stabilises
at around 1,300rpm in Windows, Hits nearly 2,000 gaming. Gotta make it last
longer I figure.

> Mind you, my machine's PSU and cooling wouldn't be up to taking a
> 768Mb 8800GTX anyway

Hehee!! There's always that.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

~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

>>
>> 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.

>>
>> I did have an FX5200 back along, unfortunately I sold it on eBay last
>> year!
>
> Foolish boy! One thing being broke has taught me; Always have a
> spare/backup. When you can't afford to just go out and buy something
> it pays to have a part 'B'. (Going to pick up a spare Speedtouch 510
> ADSL modem I begged off a guy who upgraded in an nz computer group on
> Thursday).

That works. <g>

>>
>> I remember those. <g> Had a 64MB one back in the day when I was
>> running an old Duron 800 rig with 128 megs of RAM. LOL
>
> Hehee! I still have a few older rigs. Let's see... PIII 500, Celeron
> 900, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, Duron Applebred 1.6, Athlon XP2400+ as well as my main
> rig (Barton 2500 clocked to 3200 at redued vcore). All machines will
> run at the push of a button and are connected to my LAN/the internet.
> They're worth pennies to sell so I'd rather keep 'em.
>

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>

>>
>> PCI graphics cards are like hen's teeth full stop! AGP ones will be
>> soon, too; I don't think anything better than a 7600GS is available
>> on AGP nowadays.
>
> I lashed out with my birthday money a couple months ago and bought
> one of those! 256MB DDR-RAM onboard. I don't need the grunt (however,
> I figured get it while I can) but Shady has some demanding dx9 games
> so I'm letting her borrow it for now. I was amazed that it has a
> molex for extra power but was passively cooled. "Was" being the
> operative word. I fitted a thermister-controlled variable-speed 80mm
> fan, with the sensor wedged into the heatsink fins. It starts off at
> around 900rpm in winter and stabilises at around 1,300rpm in Windows,
> Hits nearly 2,000 gaming. Gotta make it last longer I figure.
>

Indeed. I don't think I'd buy one without a fan, not since this rig didn't
come with a case fan!

--
--
* I always hope for the best. Experience, unfortunately, has taught me
to expect the worst.

Yahoo: evilbill_agqx
Web: http://www.evilbill.org.uk
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

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 did have an FX5200 back along, unfortunately I sold it on eBay
> > > last year!
> >
> > Foolish boy! One thing being broke has taught me; Always have a
> > spare/backup. When you can't afford to just go out and buy something
> > it pays to have a part 'B'. (Going to pick up a spare Speedtouch 510
> > ADSL modem I begged off a guy who upgraded in an nz computer group
> > on Thursday).
>
> 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?) 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.

> > > I remember those. <g> Had a 64MB one back in the day when I was
> > > running an old Duron 800 rig with 128 megs of RAM. LOL
> >
> > Hehee! I still have a few older rigs. Let's see... PIII 500, Celeron
> > 900, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, Duron Applebred 1.6, Athlon XP2400+ as well as
> > my main rig (Barton 2500 clocked to 3200 at redued vcore). All
> > machines will run at the push of a button and are connected to my
> > LAN/the
> > internet. They're worth pennies to sell so I'd rather keep 'em.
> >
>
> 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.

> > > PCI graphics cards are like hen's teeth full stop! AGP ones will
> > > be soon, too; I don't think anything better than a 7600GS is
> > > available on AGP nowadays.
> >
> > I lashed out with my birthday money a couple months ago and bought
> > one of those! 256MB DDR-RAM onboard. I don't need the grunt
> > (however, I figured get it while I can) but Shady has some demanding dx9
> > games
> > so I'm letting her borrow it for now. I was amazed that it has a
> > molex for extra power but was passively cooled. "Was" being the
> > operative word. I fitted a thermister-controlled variable-speed 80mm
> > fan, with the sensor wedged into the heatsink fins. It starts off at
> > around 900rpm in winter and stabilises at around 1,300rpm in
> > Windows, Hits nearly 2,000 gaming. Gotta make it last longer I
> > figure.
>
> 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.

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

Cheers,
--
Shaun.
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus 

~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.
 >> Stay informed about: Extended D2 haitus