How's this sound?

Hi all. I've recently become hooked on GPL (one afternoon at a mates house) and was wondering if anyone has had experience running it on the system that i also plan on buying. Gigabyte Ga 7VRXP AMD 1800+XP GeForce 4 Ti4200 oh and Windows XP Has anyone out there in sim land tried running gpl on a system like this? I understand that i will need some patches, but as there is constatnly discussion here about GPL not running with particulare components i thought it was best to ask before i spend up big. Thanks a lot, and expect some further posts from me in about a month, after i continue to crash at the Ring or something along those lines.

I think most people in this group have this system... A couple of patches you'll want are the fast CPU patch, version 1.2 patch, and either the OpenGL or D3D patch. all these are available from www.papy.com GPL will definitely work with all those bits. Some people have had a few problems with win xp, but I personally haven't had a problem The parts most people have had problems with is the soundcard (particularly the SoundBlaster live). What soundcard are you looking at? David Corless "David Briggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Hi all. > I've recently become hooked on GPL (one afternoon at a mates house)and

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> was wondering if anyone has had experience running it on the system that i > also plan on buying. > > Gigabyte Ga 7VRXP > AMD 1800+XP > GeForce 4 Ti4200 > oh and Windows XP > > Has anyone out there in sim land tried running gpl on a system like this? > I understand that i will need some patches, but as there is constatnly > discussion here about GPL not running with particulare components i

thought > it was best to ask before i spend up big. > > Thanks a lot, and expect some further posts from me in about a month,after > i continue to crash at the Ring or something along those lines.

Ugh...I had the 7VRXP...and I was far less than satisfied with it, especially after I accidentally killed it with an unfortunate slip of the screwdriver and replaced it with an Asus A7V333. A far better board all-around. Look on www.amdmb.com under the forums and you'll probably come to the same conclusion that Tom was smoking the good stuff when he chose the VRXP over everything else. My own setup is VERY similar, mind you...Asus A7V333 (which is chip-wise quite similar to the VRXP; KT333, Promise RAID, but adds a much better CMedia onboard sound (it's the first onboard I've ever actually USED!), and integral Firewire (albeit only one port)), AthlonXP 2000+, MSI GF4 Ti4200... Milhouse "David Briggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Hi all. > I've recently become hooked on GPL (one afternoon at a mates house)and

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> was wondering if anyone has had experience running it on the system that i > also plan on buying. > > Gigabyte Ga 7VRXP > AMD 1800+XP > GeForce 4 Ti4200 > oh and Windows XP > > Has anyone out there in sim land tried running gpl on a system like this? > I understand that i will need some patches, but as there is constatnly > discussion here about GPL not running with particulare components i

thought > it was best to ask before i spend up big. > > Thanks a lot, and expect some further posts from me in about a month,after > i continue to crash at the Ring or something along those lines.

I think it's a good idea to install XP twice if you are going to use the PC for other things also. You have one partition for all your other stuff, and one for simracing / gaming. On the gaming partition you can disable all services and hardware you don't really need (scanner, firewire.etc.). There are quite a few drivers and other pieces of software that don't mind making your system halt for a while, carrying out some important task like checking maybe you just connected something, or there could be a new update, there wasn't one 1 minute ago but you just never know. Setting up a dual boot is very easy if you are willing to installing XP by yourself. This way you can also leave out some of the crap that come preinstalled on PC's these days. Jone.

Agree 100%. Have a look here: http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/top50.asp The most important are: Disable unnecessary services to free system resources System Settings for a Game Machine Brian "Jone Tytlandsvik" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ap32vn$qn0r2$[email hidden]... > I think it's a good idea to install XP twice if you are going to use thePC > for other things also. You have one partition for all your other stuff,and > one for simracing / gaming. On the gaming partition you can disable all > services and hardware you don't really need (scanner, firewire.etc.).There > are quite a few drivers and other pieces of software that don't mindmaking > your system halt for a while, carrying out some important task likechecking

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> maybe you just connected something, or there could be a new update, there > wasn't one 1 minute ago but you just never know. > Setting up a dual boot is very easy if you are willing to installing XP by > yourself. This way you can also leave out some of the crap that come > preinstalled on PC's these days. > > Jone. > >

Agree 100%. Have a look here: http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/top50.asp The most important are: Disable unnecessary services to free system resources System Settings for a Game Machine Brian

I have the 7vrxp, and have no problems with it. If you are going to go with it though, make SURE it is rev2. The first ones were riddled with problems, and if I am not mistaken, wouldn't work correctly with a gf4. Running a revision 2 board and gf4 4200 here with no problems. "David Briggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Hi all. > I've recently become hooked on GPL (one afternoon at a mates house)and

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> was wondering if anyone has had experience running it on the system that i > also plan on buying. > > Gigabyte Ga 7VRXP > AMD 1800+XP > GeForce 4 Ti4200 > oh and Windows XP > > Has anyone out there in sim land tried running gpl on a system like this? > I understand that i will need some patches, but as there is constatnly > discussion here about GPL not running with particulare components i

thought > it was best to ask before i spend up big. > > Thanks a lot, and expect some further posts from me in about a month,after > i continue to crash at the Ring or something along those lines.

> Ugh...I had the 7VRXP...and I was far less than satisfied with it, > especially after I accidentally killed it with an unfortunate slip of the > screwdriver and replaced it with an Asus A7V333. A far better board > all-around. Look on www.amdmb.com under the forums and you'll probablycome > to the same conclusion that Tom was smoking the good stuff when he chosethe > VRXP over everything else. > > My own setup is VERY similar, mind you...Asus A7V333 (which is chip-wise > quite similar to the VRXP; KT333, Promise RAID, but adds a much better > CMedia onboard sound (it's the first onboard I've ever actually USED!),and > integral Firewire (albeit only one port)), AthlonXP 2000+, MSI GF4Ti4200... I've got a Gigabyte 7VRX. It's a no frills board that's fast, stable and compatible. It's got everything you could ever possibly want to tweak in the BIOS. It's also dramatically cheaper than the ASUS for identical performance. RAID is more of a hassle than it's worth. The performance improvement is miniscule for 99% of tasks plus you get the extra noise and heat of a second HD. Firewire? Again, not useful unless you're the video-editing type. A CMedia sound card? I'm guessing it'll be just a matter of time before you find a compatibility issue with a game. In short, ASUS = mainboard equivalent of bloatware.

"Damien Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ap4kbr$r9q9j$[email hidden]... > > Ugh...I had the 7VRXP...and I was far less than satisfied with it, > > especially after I accidentally killed it with an unfortunate slip ofthe

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> > screwdriver and replaced it with an Asus A7V333. A far better board > > all-around. Look on www.amdmb.com under the forums and you'll probably > come > > to the same conclusion that Tom was smoking the good stuff when he chose > the > > VRXP over everything else. > > > > My own setup is VERY similar, mind you...Asus A7V333 (which is chip-wise > > quite similar to the VRXP; KT333, Promise RAID, but adds a much better > > CMedia onboard sound (it's the first onboard I've ever actually USED!), > and > > integral Firewire (albeit only one port)), AthlonXP 2000+, MSI GF4 > Ti4200... > > I've got a Gigabyte 7VRX. It's a no frills board that's fast, stable and > compatible.

You never dealt with a Revision 1.0 or 1.1 then. I had to RMA my board the first time because the friggin' thing wouldn't work well at all with my GF3, and I'm far from the only one with that problem. Mine at least worked well enough in Windows; some guys could hardly get theirs to boot with a GF2MX. > It's got everything you could ever possibly want to tweak in > the BIOS. And so does the Asus. Point? > It's also dramatically cheaper than the ASUS for identical > performance. Identical performace? Hardly...because Gigabyte fucked up the power distribution so badly on the VRX/VRXP boards, they didn't leave in any buffer at all for any tweaking after they finally gave the AGP slot enough juice with PCB 2.0. And it's not really "dramatically" cheaper, unless your time is free. > RAID is more of a hassle than it's worth. The performance > improvement is miniscule for 99% of tasks plus you get the extra noise and > heat of a second HD. Noise of a second HD isn't a big deal at all. First, my case fans easily drown out all three of my D740X's (one 40GB boot, two 60GB RAID) and second, anything that comes in less noisy than the Quantum Bigfoot that I had for a month until it popped qualifies as quiet. Though, after having one of the 60GB drives fail, I'm not going to set the pair up as a RAID again (my advanced RMA replacements just came in today) but I'm still going to run the drives; I need the space. > Firewire? Again, not useful unless you're the > video-editing type. Which I am. > A CMedia sound card? I'm guessing it'll be just a > matter of time before you find a compatibility issue with a game. Wrong; I've been using a cheapo CMedia PCI card for years and haven't had a problem; the onboard is actually better than the implementation on that card so I'm using it. > In short, > ASUS = mainboard equivalent of bloatware. And in short, Gigabyte = betaware shit. It's the only motherboard I've had to RMA, ever. The three Asus boards I've built systems off of (Asus P2B, Asus A7A266, Asus A7V333) have been the most trouble-free and consistently stable of any system I've built (and this is going up against the 7VRXP, at least four ECS K7S5As, an Abit BH6, an FIC VA-503+, a few older noname Socket5 boards, an ECS K7VZA, and a Soyo K7VTA-B). Milhouse

> You never dealt with a Revision 1.0 or 1.1 then. I had to RMA my boardthe > first time because the friggin' thing wouldn't work well at all with myGF3, > and I'm far from the only one with that problem. Mine at least workedwell > enough in Windows; some guys could hardly get theirs to boot with a GF2MX. To be fair, you're right - the rev 1.0 didn't like GF4 MXs (Many other boards didn't either). As for your GF3, well that's the first case of a GF3 not working that I've heard of. I'm not saying that Gigabyte are the ultimate, just that ASUS is so overrated. They're a bunch of bumbling Taiwanese just like the rest of them. Anyone who owned the notorious ASUS A7V rev 1.0 will attest to that. > > It's got everything you could ever possibly want to tweak in > > the BIOS. > > And so does the Asus. Point? So it should for a 50% higher price.

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> > It's also dramatically cheaper than the ASUS for identical > > performance. > > Identical performace? Hardly...because Gigabyte fucked up the power > distribution so badly on the VRX/VRXP boards, they didn't leave in any > buffer at all for any tweaking after they finally gave the AGP slot enough > juice with PCB 2.0. And it's not really "dramatically" cheaper, unless

your > time is free. Again, the A7V was an expensive mistake for those who bought one. > > RAID is more of a hassle than it's worth. The performance > > improvement is miniscule for 99% of tasks plus you get the extra noiseand > > heat of a second HD. > Noise of a second HD isn't a big deal at all. First, my case fans easily > drown out all three of my D740X's (one 40GB boot, two 60GB RAID) andsecond, > anything that comes in less noisy than the Quantum Bigfoot that I had fora > month until it popped qualifies as quiet. Though, after having one of the > 60GB drives fail, I'm not going to set the pair up as a RAID again (my > advanced RMA replacements just came in today) but I'm still going to runthe > drives; I need the space. Say no more, I can almost hear your 'vacuum cleaner' from here...get a proper PC ; ) > > Firewire? Again, not useful unless you're the > > video-editing type. > > Which I am. In which case you shouldn't be recommending your preferred hardware to a gaming newbie. > > A CMedia sound card? I'm guessing it'll be just a > > matter of time before you find a compatibility issue with a game. > > Wrong; I've been using a cheapo CMedia PCI card for years and haven't hada > problem; the onboard is actually better than the implementation on thatcard > so I'm using it. > > > In short, > > ASUS = mainboard equivalent of bloatware. > > And in short, Gigabyte = betaware shit. It's the only motherboard I'vehad > to RMA, ever. The three Asus boards I've built systems off of (Asus P2B, > Asus A7A266, Asus A7V333) have been the most trouble-free and consistently > stable of any system I've built (and this is going up against the 7VRXP,at > least four ECS K7S5As, an Abit BH6, an FIC VA-503+, a few older noname > Socket5 boards, an ECS K7VZA, and a Soyo K7VTA-B). Again the original A7V springs to mind. I have never seen so many DOA (dead on arrivals) in my life. Seeing as money is no object for you, maybe ASUS is the go (for you) In my years of building PCs, I've found that they are no more reliable than the other brands - they just add a few gimmicks and then charge more. The same with their VGA cards - they always have a gimmick like TV-in etc and then they don't give any real driver support for them.

Thanks for all the info, i know its the revision 2 board that i needed (i had a friend warn me repeatedly) On the subject of a dual XP system, i dont think there will be any need as i wont be using anything other than a printer. Oh, what kind of framerrates could I expect with this system and as many car updates as i could find? Will i be able to run GPL at full detail levels? Thanks again for all your kind help

"Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:ap403j$rgssl$[email hidden]:

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> Agree 100%. Have a look here: > > http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/top50.asp > > The most important are: > Disable unnecessary services to free system resources > System Settings for a Game Machine

Well ive added that address to my favourites, lets hope i remember to look a there when i buy the new pc. Thanks

"Damien Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ap4qoj$re6ru$[email hidden]...

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> > You never dealt with a Revision 1.0 or 1.1 then. I had to RMA my board > the > > first time because the friggin' thing wouldn't work well at all with my > GF3, > > and I'm far from the only one with that problem. Mine at least worked > well > > enough in Windows; some guys could hardly get theirs to boot with a

GF2MX. > > To be fair, you're right - the rev 1.0 didn't like GF4 MXs (Many other > boards didn't either). As for your GF3, well that's the first case of aGF3 > not working that I've heard of. I'm not saying that Gigabyte are the > ultimate, just that ASUS is so overrated. They're a bunch of bumbling > Taiwanese just like the rest of them. Anyone who owned the notorious ASUS > A7V rev 1.0 will attest to that. I suppose every company has had it's share of shit...but that's my first/only Gigabyte board and I got burned badly. Warcraft3 was the worst game for the problems; 3 minutes max before a solid lockup. I've heard many others on www.amdmb.com who had similar problems with even slower cards. It's not so much the chipset of the card as it is the fact that they just weren't getting enough power. GF4Ti's, power-hungry as they are, were absolutely hopeless. Asus is just the only company I've never had a single problem with that I've tried. > > > It's got everything you could ever possibly want to tweak in > > > the BIOS. > > > > And so does the Asus. Point? > > So it should for a 50% higher price. 50% higher is pushing it...at NewEgg.com, the 7VRXP is roughly $105 and the A7V333 is roughly $130 (last I checked, which was a little while ago) > > > It's also dramatically cheaper than the ASUS for identical > > > performance. > > > > Identical performace? Hardly...because Gigabyte fucked up the power > > distribution so badly on the VRX/VRXP boards, they didn't leave in any > > buffer at all for any tweaking after they finally gave the AGP slotenough > > juice with PCB 2.0. And it's not really "dramatically" cheaper, unless > your > > time is free. > > Again, the A7V was an expensive mistake for those who bought one. Yeah, as were a lot of Abit boards with bad caps...I suppose I just now realized that every company has their lemon boards ;) > > > RAID is more of a hassle than it's worth. The performance > > > improvement is miniscule for 99% of tasks plus you get the extra noise > and > > > heat of a second HD. > > Noise of a second HD isn't a big deal at all. First, my case fanseasily > > drown out all three of my D740X's (one 40GB boot, two 60GB RAID) and > second, > > anything that comes in less noisy than the Quantum Bigfoot that I hadfor > a > > month until it popped qualifies as quiet. Though, after having one ofthe

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> > 60GB drives fail, I'm not going to set the pair up as a RAID again (my > > advanced RMA replacements just came in today) but I'm still going to run > the > > drives; I need the space. > > Say no more, I can almost hear your 'vacuum cleaner' from here...get a > proper PC ; )

LOL...well, a 2000+ and GF4 need their cooling. ;) Though I should be building a much quieter and smaller LAN-party box soon...I emailed Shuttle and they've got two more XPC's coming out that both support AMD and have AGP slots... *grin*

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> > > > Firewire? Again, not useful unless you're the > > > video-editing type. > > > > Which I am. > > In which case you shouldn't be recommending your preferred hardware to a > gaming newbie.

Maybe so...but the A7V333 is also available without a large amount of the on-board AFAIK. And I'd be personally more tempted to recommend an Asus to someone relatively new at building computers than most other boards just because I've had them work so consistently right out of the box. > > > In short, > > > ASUS = mainboard equivalent of bloatware. > > > > And in short, Gigabyte = betaware shit. It's the only motherboard I've > had > > to RMA, ever. The three Asus boards I've built systems off of (AsusP2B, > > Asus A7A266, Asus A7V333) have been the most trouble-free andconsistently > > stable of any system I've built (and this is going up against the 7VRXP, > at > > least four ECS K7S5As, an Abit BH6, an FIC VA-503+, a few older noname > > Socket5 boards, an ECS K7VZA, and a Soyo K7VTA-B). > > Again the original A7V springs to mind. I have never seen so many DOA(dead > on arrivals) in my life. I never messed with one myself, so I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me. > Seeing as money is no object for you, maybe ASUS is the go (for you) Inmy > years of building PCs, I've found that they are no more reliable than the > other brands - they just add a few gimmicks and then charge more. Thesame > with their VGA cards - they always have a gimmick like TV-in etc and then > they don't give any real driver support for them. Oh, don't worry, money -is- an object for me. I'm a college student. ;) But I'll spend it when I deem it to be worthwhile; and after futzing around with what IMO qualify as lower-end boards (like the Gigabyte and the ECS K7S5A) I realized that dropping another $20 or so was worth it to not deal with it. As far as overall quality, I'd take my old Abit BH6 over either of those two. Abits and Asuses have always been good to me, but I've sworn off Abit since they seem to be both priced even worse than Asus (which I admit is high-priced) and they had such a LONG rash of bad caps on boards (back when I still hung out in the Abit newsgroup before I sold off my BH6). I'm also going to be paying much, much more attention to end-users and ignoring Tom's Hardware more. I should've learned the first time around when he raved about the K7S5A...nothing really bad about it, but there's nothing good about it either aside from being cheap as hell. As always, your mileage may vary. (I know mine does depending on how many full-throttle runs I do. Tiny primaries and massive secondaries do that. ;) Milhouse

"David Briggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Thanks for all the info, i know its the revision 2 board that i needed (i > had a friend warn me repeatedly) > > On the subject of a dual XP system, i dont think there will be any need as > i wont be using anything other than a printer. > > Oh, what kind of framerrates could I expect with this system and as many > car updates as i could find? Will i be able to run GPL at full detail > levels? > > Thanks again for all your kind help

Suffice it to say: YES :) Running GPL full-out is not a problem on a system like that. :) Load up all of the mods, the 3d-wheels and helmets, any other texture improvements you can think of...detail slider full right, all options on max, 1024x768 or 1280x1024 depending on your monitor, maybe AA if you run a lower res...yeah, fairly solid 36FPS. Hehe. :) Oh, make sure you get the CPU patch too. While it's kinda cool seeing what GPL would look like if it ran 70fps, the game's timing thinks its only running 4. Milhouse

Yeah, Abit made a huge blunder back in the Pentium II days. The Abit LX6 was Tom's Hardware's #1 board - it was a pricey board too. Never mind the fact that it locked up regularly when using some ISA cards e.g. SB AWE64!!