Engineering flaw/hrdware limitation?? all of you electronic geeks please answer

[sanioll]

I know this is a wrong forum to post this on, but since its others, hell why not?

Can someone tell me why in the world, all video/graphic cards have fans mounted on the bottom. for example, all the exotic cards, like this GeForce 5950 ultra have fans on the bottom with super cooling. But all the time, these fans fail after 2-3 months due to lift created from high speed spin. first you hear noise, then they just go bad.

for the untrained End User, this means burned video card.

so how can we change the industry standard on graphic cards?

[sanioll]

back of the card with another huge titanium heatsink. dont u love high end gaming?

[MinisterofDOOM]

That's why I buy ATI. Never had problems with cooling on any ATI card.

What you do it create an adapter from your AGP or PCI-X slot so that you can place the card away from the others and at the orientation you chose. You could even put it near/on a massive case fan or Intel Xeon fan (we all know how hot THOSE get). Just make a sort of ribbon cable adapter, maybe using some old full size IDE cable, and adapt it to the AGP or PCI-X "teeth". See?

[PoorManQ45]

I understand exactly what you mean! I have known a few fans to fail.

That's why I havn't bought a new graphics card lately. GeForce 4 MX 420 all the way baby

Anyway, in my case, I installed a case fan that blows directly at the GPU. Does it help? WHo cares, it makes alot of noise, and that's all that matters

Anyway, I would suggest a water cooling sytem. Only thing that fails is the pump, or a hose leaks .

You should know what your computer normally sounds like. That way, if any strange noises, failing ball bearing/Brush fan, occur, you will know that something is wrong.

So, do you have a dead graphics card? If so, can I have it. I'll peg it on my wall.

[sanioll]

oh no, i am a little past water cooling

now, i kinda got used to compressor cooling, -50F all the way babe!

i can push P4 to its thermal limits very easily now, but it gets very noisy.

Unfortunately, i have to turn it off during the regular workstation use due to the noise.

But shelling out $500 for a graphic card and see its fans making noise after 2-3 months is very unacceptable. well, maybe its okay, its like owning 500,000 vehicle, like ferrari f40. you dont drive it everyday and you have to service it very often.

what i want is, those graphic cards makers(Nvidia and ATI) to change their design styles, and put fans and chips on top. Due to the fan lift and effects of gravity those fans fail.
Modified by sanioll at 6:07 PM 1/20/2005

[sanioll]

Oh, MR, MinisterOfDoom,

Don't get an ATI,

Why?

Because it sucks, their drivers are bad and always will be.

Me no like them now nor later!

Nvidia=new gen technology + rock solid drivers.

KABISH??

[MinisterofDOOM]

I've NEVER had problems with ATI drivers or cards. I've only ever had one computer without ATI graphics, and none of the ATI comps have given me trouble. I'm as adamently pro ATI as you are against them. For me, its NVidia that needs to be avoided. Especially since the ONLY thing that matters (computer wise) is HL2 and it runs better on that "old" technology than on Nvidia thanks to optimization for ATI architecture.

Every Nvidia card I've ever used (never owned one, but all my friends and their parents have had Nvidias for years) had some sort of issue with compatibility that made things either not work at all, or not work properly. My ATI's have always done the job just as well as my friends' NVidia cards, if not better.

Example:

My computer is a AMD 64 at 1.2 ghz (I previsously thought it was 2.2, but I was wrong--it's my roommate's not mine). I run HL2 at 800x600 with AA at 4x and AF at 8x. All quality is on "high." Water is set to "reflect all" the highest setting. I pull an average of between 40 and 50 FPS out of that. This computer has an ATI Radeon 9600 pro. That's an OLD ATI card. This, aside from the resolution, is what you have HL2 set at on your Nvidia machine, right. Oh, and I think your AF is at 16 not 8. So my old, slow computer with an "old technology" ATI card is running the software as good as your "new" über-card. You, my friend, have officially wasted your money. The 9600 pro is available for under 150 bucks. What would you pay for an Nvidia 6800 XT? Over $500. Woops.

No, I'm definitely not convinced that

It's really a matter of opinion, but I still say ATI. I will always say ATI, unless they pull some garbage like Nvidia did with the FX series. Then I don't know where I'll turn.

[PoorManQ45]

oh no, i am a little past water cooling

now, i kinda got used to compressor cooling, -50F all the way babe!

i can push P4 to its thermal limits very easily now, but it gets very noisy.

Unfortunately, i have to turn it off during the regular workstation use due to the noise.

You have a Phase Change Cooling system! I want to see pictures? How much did it cost?

I don't think I'd spend alot of money on just a cooling system for my computer. I'd buy a 20Cubic FT chest freezer. I'd modify it so my computer could sit in there, and install an air tight gromet to pass the cables through . Gotta love that. Computer at 20 Degrees, and I can have an endless supply of ice cream at my computer desk . The only problem I can really see is the humidty, but I could figure out how to get rid of that.

Example:

I run HL2 at 800x600 with AA at 4x and AF at 8x. All quality is on "high." Water is set to "reflect all" the highest setting. I pull an average of between 40 and 50 FPS out of that. This computer has an ATI Radeon 9600 pro. That's an OLD ATI card. This, aside from the resolution, is what you have HL2 set at on your Nvidia machine, right. Oh, and I think your AF is at 16 not 8.

All the other settings are great, but turn up the resolution once. That card will fall flat on it's a$$. Frame rates in the teens

Example:

My computer is a AMD 64 at 1.2 ghz (I previsously thought it was 2.2, but I was wrong--it's my roommate's not mine). I run HL2 at 800x600 with AA at 4x and AF at 8x. All quality is on "high." Water is set to "reflect all" the highest setting. I pull an average of between 40 and 50 FPS out of that. This computer has an ATI Radeon 9600 pro.

Why are you running a 1.2GHz AMD 64? Um, that's a little slow on current Operating systems. I'm running an Old Athlon XP 2100 Overclocked to 2.1GHz . And that's with only air coolong .

[sanioll]

yeah man, tell him to run half life 2 at 1600x1200 with 4X AA and 16X AS. let see who survives?

9600isa mainstream card, come on, we allknow that.

5950 ultra has tremendous amount of memory bandwith. 30gb/sec????

[Mr1der]

so when are you guys gonna get in a slap fight?

I gotta get popcorn ready for it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Naw, no slapping for me. Where'd the .45 go?

[sanioll]

Ok, numbrs speak for themselves.

[sanioll]

and ati 9600, whatever model you got.

[sanioll]

and dont you love results? Your favorite game MinisterofDooM

[sanioll]

WOOF!!

[MinisterofDOOM]

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but BOTH companies have newer cards out than those listed there. The X800 and 6800 Ultra would kick the asses of anything on there, and are nearly even. However, the only game that matters and has high graphical requirements is Half Life 2, and it is optimised for the architecture of the X800. That means that even if the Ultra is a little faster, the X800 still does a better job running the game, since it works more efficiently with the software.

Also, another good reason to ignore that list is that that is an old game, with very little graphical prowess. It's not like it needs a good card to run anyhow.Plus, who gives a **** which card runs halo better? Why not show specs on a new game that actually USES all that power?

Try again, Nvidia boy.

[sanioll]

WELL, FROM INTENSE FIGHTS TO LOVELY FACES, 5950 GETS THE JOB DONE TO THE EXTREME!! SORRY ABOUT THE HIGHER RESOLUTIONS, BUT I HAD OT POST IT. ALSO, I HAD TO LOWER THE RES TO 1280 FROM 1600. NICO WONT TAKE FILES BIGGER THAN 500KB.

[sanioll]

..

[MinisterofDOOM]

Of ALL the pictures of Alyx, you had to take one while she looks like she's got to take a ****.

Boy...you Nvidia people...

And have you tried using the sawblades on anything other than zombies? It doesn't cut them in half! Pissed me off. I carefully carried one through radioactive sludge, accidentally killed an NPC, and when I finally got to use it, it just knocked him backwards.

Oh, and if you've finished the game, you've GOT to play through the whole thing again with the grav gun the whole time. You have to start after you get the suit, though, or it ****s things up. And you have to skip the grav gun training map, as you can't pick up Dog's ball with it. For some reason it just makes lots of duplicates of it. Actually, it makes duplicates of ANY NPC except Barned or Alyx or the other big main ones. If you try to "grab" or push a resistance member, it just makes a copy that you grab or launch, and the original is unaffected. Really wierd. Fun as hell to turn up the maximum capacity of the grav gun and toss shippng containers at combine.

Oh, and I don't know if you've done this yet, but since your machine can handle it, enter into the console cl_ragdollcollide 1. This will make the ragdolls have physical presence, and stack and not go through walls and such. Makes a BIG difference in humorous death positions.

EDIT:I just noticed blood on the console on the bottom right corner of the Alyx picture. What the hell did you get blood from at that part of the game? (That's right before you get on the elevator for the final sequence, right?)

If you don't know how to get the blue grav gun early on, do this:

--from the main menu, hit ~.--enter "map c3_citadel_04" (I think, the console will offer suggestions, so you'll know what I mean)--Then wait for all the weapons to get picked up. Make sure you have the blue grav gun, --then enter into the console "changelevel [mapname]" choose any map. To get a list of maps, type "maps *" or just start typing a name in the basic format of C3_citadel_04 and you'll get suggestions.--when you get to the new map, type "impulse 101"you now have the blue gravity gun.

--Remember, having the suit on already at the point where they give you the suit ****s things up (not bad, but you can't progress). Just do changelevel (NOT map, that resets the entity list and you loose the grav gun!!!!) and skip to the next one. --Also, you must changelevel at the grav gun training grounds, --and at Ravenholm, when Grigori tosses you the shotgun, you must take at least 1 round from it, so fire a shot off if you already have it, and then get a round from the one he tosses you, otherwise you can't move on.

And finally, to change the max capacity of the grav gun, use "physcannon_maxmass ####" The default is 1500, and you can list a default value by entering a command without a value, in case you forget. Turn it up to 10000 and you can lift anything.

BE CAREFUL LIFTING THE BUGGY AND COMBINE APCs. For some reason, this causes the game to slow down to about .25 frames per second (yes POINT 25) on my roommate's computer. Then when you let go, the thing just spazzes out and shoots around through the air and on the ground, and in the case of the buggy, you can no longer drive it. I don't know if your system will do this, but the one I use does, so I figured I'd warn you.
Modified by MinisterofDOOM at 6:04 AM 12/20/2004