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Argh

I know I've not posted for a while now, but the main reason is I'm working on something secret :o

This is number 500 in my list of to-do's now...

Basically, I'm going back to self hosting and I'm just getting the site running (which will be another few weeks at least). Then I can get proper work started on Dead Cell... I'm also spending more time sorting my car out, and researching what can be done with it. Lowering springs should be done next week which will make it look pretty good, along with getting some clear headlights and side indicators (and completely red rears). That will then make way for me to sort my bedroom out, and then I will be sorted :)

No post in a couple days

Yeah yeah, getting sloppy I know...

My birthday tomorrow... Also I'll be getting some catch up pay, woot!

Oh and I got Ubuntu working properly on my laptop now which is nice :)

Linux ATi Fun

After discovering that my laptop actually has an ATi Mobility card in it, I decided that I would try and get the ATi drivers properly installed (everything that's not desktop runs like crap at the moment).

So I've found a fairly good set of instructions, but man is this complicated just to "install" some drivers...

At least everything else I want is just a download away...

Edit 12:08: Now I've fucked up my drivers... Great... Fedora much?

Ubuntu

So I'm posting this from Ubuntu on my laptop (IMB Thinkpad X31) which has now been wiped of Windows, and it's running really well. Unfortunately I can't make use of all the graphics features due to the video card.

But anyway, I'm loving it and I'll post some screenshots tomorrow (way to late).

Also, I'm getting some parts for my car tomorrow and hopefully will be able to do it up enough to sell it and then get a MK2 Golf!

Oh yeah, and Dead Cell will have to be put on hold till I've got my Index and Middle fingers back...

Broken Finger

I've broken my index finger, how exciting is that?

The first bit of bone after the knuckle is completely severed and when it happened I could feel the edge of it poking my middle finger.... Mmmmm....

Anyway, had to take today of work cause I don't think I'll be able to drive right now, hopefully the swelling will go down by Monday enough for me to drive...

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is awesome...

VPC

I was just browsing around the web as I often do, and I decided to re-download MS VPC 2007.

Now, most people who use it know that Linux is often forked in it, but I decided to go nostalgic and get Windows 95 on there... Yep... Windows 95 :) I did have to make the disk a fixed VHD at 1GB (FAT sucks really).

So I'm playing around with it which is bloody strange, but I also decided that 2000 would be the dogs, so I just need to find my installation CD of that and then I'm good to go.

I think I may also get round to putting Fedora back on (I would use it as my main OS but we all know what Linux is like with ATi... Or at least I do...).

Anyway, pointless post, but something to write for me, and something to read for you. And here a couple of screenshots for the luls.

Behind

So I'm a bit behind with posting at the moment, I'm trying to juggle several things right now, with my car, games and writing it's quite difficult to get free time to post here.

But I've downloaded FreeOrion (Masters of Orion clone) and also Earth 2160, Manhunt, Shadowgrounds (and Survivor), Alpha Prime and both Max Paynes. So hopefully will be able to get a fair few mini reviews out over the next week.

Car...

I've now finally sorted my car out! Got MK2 Golf GTI brake pads on it as well, and discovered my disks are vented (how pointless on a 1.3 Polo).

Still to come are my back wheel bearings (Halfords helpfully had 1 kit left...), front splitter and Coil overs/springs.

I also need to clean it as it looks a state and has several fag burns...

Oh and I should be redecorating my room next weekend / weekend after.

Preliminaries

Well, I've got the foundations down for how "Dead Cell" is going to go and I've got the protagonists down to how I want them. Everything seems set for me to start work.

I'll update you with progress reports as often as possible and hopefully be able to give a few teasers out once I've done a big chunk!

Story

So I decided to start writing a piece of fiction (titled: Dead Cell) today. I'm looking to get around 250-300 A5 pages of it, and hopefully I can get it done by the end of the year depending on how I feel.

Anyway, it's basically going to be zombie survival themed, and I'll post as regularly as I can about the development of it. I just need to lay down some basics of what will happen to who etc then I can start work.

Feel free to throw in ideas and shit to me.

Unique hits Counter (PHP)

Here's a simple script that will add a hits counter based on the number of different IPs that view the page (which, of course won't work so well with things like AOL users). It's easy enough to mod this to just a page hit counter as well.

//Database Configuration
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'USERNAME';
$dbpass = 'PASSWORD';
$db = 'DATABASE';

//Database Server Connect
$connect = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

//Database Select
mysql_select_db($db);

//Users IP
$ipaddress = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

//Check to see if the user has already visited
$iptest = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query("SELECT * FROM hits WHERE address = '$ipaddress'"));

//If they haven't, add a new row into the database
if(!$iptest){
mysql_query("INSERT INTO hits (address) VALUES ('$ipaddress')");
}

//Count the total number of rows in the table
$hitsq = mysql_query("SELECT COUNT(*) AS numrows FROM hits");
$hits = mysql_fetch_array($hitsq, MYSQL_ASSOC);
echo $hits[numrows]." unique hits.";

Also, sorry about the slight inconsistency in colours...

Merc 2 Cont.

Okay, so I didn't upload any screens yesterday as I went out and one thing led to another and it ended up that I didn't get back in till about 12:30...

Anyway, I've now got some screens of the game for you here:

Merc 2 Cont.

Okay, so I didn't upload any screens yesterday as I went out and one thing led to another and it ended up that I didn't get back in till about 12:30...

Anyway, I've now got some screens of the game for you here:

New Game: Mercenaries 2

I got a new game this morning: Mercenaries 2, which I played for a short time before, it's basically a GTA-style run and blow-shit-up game.

I'll post some screenshots later on as I'm just installing it now.

From what I've played it looks pretty good so I'm crossing my fingers that this, along with the new SPORE mod tools (http://spore.vg) and Clear Sky, will keep me occupied until GTA IV and Left 4 Dead come out...

Oh and I've just remembered I need to get Far Cry 2.

Tired...

I'm bloody shagged, but I had a great weekend in London (seeing We Will Rock You) and loved every second of the show...

Can't be bother to type anything else right now, except that I'm watching Dawn of the Dead now, yay!

Tired...

I'm bloody shagged, but I had a great weekend in London (seeing We Will Rock You) and loved every second of the show...

Can't be bother to type anything else right now, except that I'm watching Dawn of the Dead now, yay!

I love Queen

As in the band, but anyway I'm going to see "We Will Rock You" In London with my Dad, Stepmum and brother. It's gonna be awesome!

I saw it for my 15th birthday with a mate of mine as well, but I could see it like, 500 times and I wouldn't get bored.

Wooo!

Also, I'm kinda bored of Clear Sky already... Well, not exactly bored just can't be arsed... Maybe over the next few weeks I'll be more bothered...

Oh and finally, I read about a fairly twisted guy who decided to decapitate a young man while on a bus... Fun fun fun!

(Is it me, or have I drastically deteriorated in writing over the last few weeks?)

PHP Cont.

Here's a quick and easy way to disallow specific IP's to your site (or other way round). You can also mod it slightly into some kind of Ban list:

//Global IPRANGE function

function iprange($from, $to){
//Lowest IP
$fromip = $from;

//Highest IP
$toip = $to;

$ip = ip2long($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
return($ip >= ip2long($fromip) && $ip <= ip2long($toip));
}

//Now for calling the Function

//If the IP is not in the Range
if(!iprange("127.0.0.1", "127.0.0.100")){
die("Denied");
}

//If the IP is in the Range
echo "Granted";

PHP

Okay, so I haven't done any PHP in a looooong time, but I thought I'd share a couple of scripts I did a while ago.

First one is a "Calculating age" script which is a small script that does exactly what you expect; determines how many years are between two dates (either dynamic dates or static dates, both can be added in easily after):


$ageTime = mktime(0, 0, 0, MM, DD, YYYY);
$t = time();
$age = ($agetime $t + ($agetime * -1) ) : $t - $agetime;
$year = 60 * 60 * 24 * 365.25;
$ageyears = $age / $year;
echo floor($ageyears);

I will post some more scripts later on this week and hopefully keep going every now and then. I'll also post how to convert this into a dynamic date (dependant on a database, IE for a users profile page).

Faction Wars

Well, after playing a fair bit of Clear Sky, it is indeed a much improved version of Shadows of Chernobyl. I'm particularly liking the faction wars part, where you take control of a base for a particular faction. It works really well as you often get people crying for help or aiding you in taking a base.

The only down side I see at the moment is, because Clear Sky are the figureheads of this game, there is no way to be a "Renegade" and help out the bandits.

However, I haven't played far so I couldn't really give an opinion. Anyway, the X-Ray engine has had an overhaul with DX10 support, which looks fucking awesome:






Yeah, so it looks fucking grand. Anyway, I may edit this post later / tomorrow, but for now you can just bask in the awesome looking atmosphere... Also, 50+ FPS.

Domain!

Bout bloody time!

My domain is fully up and running, bot on http://jaynesworld.co.uk and http://jaynesworld.co.uk.

Also here's some Zombie Panic! Source shots I took (rather than random Google image):





Oh yeah, and I've got like 5 mins left to download Clear Sky!

Tomb Raiding

No this isn't about anal sex. Get that out of your head.

I brought Tomb Raider Anniversary after remembering how damn good it is. Ah nostalgia mixed with random new things and pretty graphics.

Then I was like "OH SHIT T-REX BOSS! ARGH!"

Then I killed it and was like "Ahh..."

But yeah, great game with lots of old memories and lots of new perks.

Also.


Anal sex.


More to follow.


No not anal sex.


Yeah okay, anal sex.

Zombies

So I've been playing Zombie Panic! Source recently in the lead up to the Left 4 Dead demo. I must say ZPS is damn good.

Almost all the players in the server start as a survivor and they have to hold off for a certain amount of time against the few zombie players.


The gameplay twist (although not a twist of the genre) is that once a survivor dies he is reborn as a zombie. Zombies can die time and time again (although some servers limit the amount of respawns) while the survivors have to fend off more and more of their ex-comrades.

A pair of screenshots that I found on google as I'm at work...

Preordered!

Well I've finally pre-ordered Clear Sky on Steam. Finally able to use PayPal without erroring (apparently erroring is close to terrorism, according to Firefox dictionary).

So will be downloading that as soon as it gets released.

Also, on the subject of SPORE, I've discovered (thanks to facepunch forums) that the plant editor is actually in the game, but buggy as fuck.

BRB while I got and try (also get screens).

Update: Fuck that, they are both bollocks.

On a side note, I downloaded Second Life (good God...) and it keeps crashing to desktop, so I can't even play that... I'm really bored now...

New Domain is Up!

Woo, the new domain (jaynesworld.co.uk) is now up and running, because I'm stupid, I forgot to add the * CNAME so http://jaynesworld.co.uk/ will not work right now but http://www.jaynesworld.co.uk/ does, I've set up blogger to redirect you (from jaynesw.blogspot.com) to the www one.

So, for now you'll have to live with it, I've added the * CNAME now so hopefully tonight it should redirect.

Cleaning my Windows

The title is obviously a pun.

I decided to go through the process of cleaning my install of Vista. Went through everything really.

Starting with the basics...


Moving on to disk clean up...


Holy crap that is a lot of log files... over 900MB of the bastards.

Defrag (which is still going...)



Now Registry Mechanics turn.









Hmm, 68 results; not too shabby.

Finnally, SpyBot...







Ah, lovely... Well I did have a few results in that the first time round but it doesn't look as awesome as none, heh.

So it's all done and I notice fuck all difference... There goes a few hours of my life...

Domain!

I've now brought the domain jaynesworld.co.uk but I'm waiting for the bloddy DNS to refresh so I can actually link it to this site...

Also, GoDaddy sucks, especially with PayPal purchasing. Can't actually do it through them as it needs a "PayPal Friendly Name" which I haven't got a fucking clue about.

Decided to go through my registrar at 123-reg.co.uk, which works fine, I'm just not used to setting up JUST a CNAME...

Anyway, I'll hopefully be able to get it up tomorrow.

Little Rocket Man!

I decided that as S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky was delayed to the 15th (countdown will be changed when I can get back home and on with Javascript) I would go thourgh Half-Life Episode 2 and get the "Little Rocket Man" achievement. Well, I did it! But not after a hell of a lot of effort.

I also managed to get several other achievements (20/22) now I'm just missing "Get Some Grub" (332/333 grubs squished, God damn it!) and "Neighbourhood Watch" (which is just impossible). But I want to focus on the the Gnome one, as that requires so much time to do...

Screenshots:

You may notice I don't have any shots of the white forest retreat, this is cause I was too busy saving myself that I didn't have time to screenshot the gnome... Other than that I got most of the key points in there.

The worst part was the car, you put him in and it's fine for about 30 seconds... Until you go round a corner and he falls out, which wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have an attack chopper on your arse...

Basically, if your looking for a cheap laugh go for it, but be aware that there are A LOT of irritating bits. Once you get him in the rocket (seems Lamar is in the rocket while you do this) and close the door, the achievement is recieved. Not worth anything, but for those of you who are completionists then this is a fun adventure with Trey the garden gnome.

Oh also, "lol wtf?"

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

...Has a bug in it, of epic proportions. Also, it has been delayed on steam (at least) unit 15th September.

Fail.

SPORE Complete Look

Well now, where to start... This game was full of so much promise and so much hype... But really it's a shell of what it should have been... Now that I've played it I wish they had delayed it longer to get everything back in. Sure it looks nice and it's fun, but there's no real depth to it.

"What are you talking about, it's evolution!" you might say, but that's the thing, it rushes into it so fast that you barely get a chance to breathe before your in the space age (although that's probably the best stage).

The Bad
I'll do the bad first.

1) Limited creature parts. Honestly, things get samey quickly, once you've seen one Pedobear, you've seen them all...

2) Limited clothing. There is barely any of this, and they are just "stick-on" parts.

3) Symetrical parts. Everything is symetrical which is fine until you want an antenna on a vechile over to one side.

4) Very limited buildings. Tribal stages give you several buildings, civ/space stage gives you 4 (1 of which is the town hall which can't be moved).

5) No micro management. You can't change anything about anything in it. You can change the looks but you can't organise the structure. There's no happyness vs money modifiers, no control over the little folks after you get into civ stage.

6) No macro management. Things don't happen well enough by themselves. Even if your half-way across the galaxy, your colonies will still tell you that pirates are attacking, even after you install shiny "Uber Turrets" on the planets.

7) No space fleets. Your empire, apparently, can only sustain your ship. Yet others can sustain several hundred (Grox?).

8) Tedious terraforming tools. Yeah, okay this can be good, but the fact that you HAVE to have 2 herbivores and 1 carnivore per level is ridicolous.

The Good
Now, the good parts.

1) Fun graphics. Explains itself.

2) An imense universe. Over 500,000 planets or something... That's a lot...

3) Lots of fun ways to kill and change things.

Seriously, that's the only really good parts about this game. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I would much rather have something like Space Empires or Galactic Civilization on the last stage. That would make the game so much more fun.

Overall ,this get's aobut 6/10 from me... Mediocre until further expanded / modded...

SPORE First Glance

Well, I've got SPORE now, and after playing for a few hours I think it is going to be fairly good. I've got to the Tribal stage which is pretty fun.

I'm not so sure I like the fact there are so few build options though, A few different kinds of weapons (axes, spears and torches) and only the options to ally or eliminate the other tribes.

I hope the next two stages have more on offer because if they don't I can see people getting bored of this very quickly.

I'm only making this short as I want to get back in and get to the next stage!

Oh also, Clear Sky got pushed back to the 15th so I'm a bit peeved about that as well...

SPORE! (cont.)

...Didn't come... I'm annoyed now!

Tomorrow I hope...

SPORE!

Woooo SPORE... Well no, the full creature creator. But I made a pretty cool looking lizard man, which is what I want to conquer the universe with!

Here's some pictures of it... Standing still...

I don't have a name for him or anything, but I think he's awesome.

I also added a countdown on the right for Spore and I think you may of noticed, but I'm looking forward to this game!

Some people...

I was thinking about how to finish that sentence, and I think the best way to finish the sentence is with "are fucking narrow minded dip shits". If you pardon the French (don't get me started), but I have just read an article from February (yeah, I don't keep up with all the news) on how Middle aged men are playing childish video games and Women do not do that at all.

Here's the link before I go further (check it out):
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article3304266.ece

That has to be the most ridiculous article I have ever read.

Why is it that watching mindless TV is better than entertaining yourself by playing either a fun or competitive computer game... Riiiight... Oh I see the logic, now I want to watch big brother and do my nails!

This is sexism, basically. Women CAN'T like gaming and men MUST like gaming. She has basically said that ALL middle aged men like to play on their XBOX and don't have kids.

I am just absolutely dumbfounded by the woman who wrote the article. Surely... Surely people aren't that narrow minded and retarded... Right?

Damn.

Oh also, while I'm on the subject of retarded people and I feel that I have nothing better to do at work, did anyone read this story:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1234193.ece

"AIRPORT guards stopped a man boarding a plane — for wearing a Transformers T-shirt showing a cartoon gun."

"While an Arab man get's past security because he is wearing his sisters veil."

As much as I don't agree with Stereotyping, they are far more likely to go boom than a slightly porky man wearing a transformers T-Shirt.

Even if you do the maths, it still doesn't add up.

I hate this country. I hate people.

Damn x2.

I think I might have a problem...

I think I may have a problem that is something along the lines of spending waaaay to much money on Steam... I'm also planning on buying S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, Half-Life 2:Episode 3 and Portal 2 through Steam, so add another 3 to that list...

Just think, that money could have been used to buy myself a better car or I could have invested it, or... If I put it with the money that I spent on my computer, I could have brought myself a house... Well, not quite, but you get the idea...

Oh, and that image is shopped to get the full list in on one image, my 1200px high resolution doesn't quite get it all in!

Anyway, I'll let you bask in my awesomeness while I go and sleep. Night night!

Vista Signed Driver Check

So I wanted to install ATi tool not too long ago, and found that it didn't work due to the drivers being unsigned (as have nearly everyone with Vista). There was a command line that would do this forever, but that does not work after the RC versions. Some people report selecitng "Install anyway" works, although I had no such luck.

However, there is still hope, you can temporarily disable the option from the startup menu when Windows is loading. Just hit "F8" and select the "Disable signed driver requirements" or whatever it's called, and when you get in, it should let you install the driver. This SHOULD work for any unsigned drivers, but don't hold me too that.

After doing this I installed ATi tool without issue and rebooted back into requiring signed drivers and it's all working fine.

Also, I seem to get better results when overclocking via ATi tool than with the CCC, as I get artifacts as soon as I do any more than 10MHz in CCC but it takes more than 100MHz to start doing it on ATi tool... Curious to say the least, and I may have to investigate that more.

Gnomes in Space

Well, not quite (or at least, not yet).

I was doing a bit of googling, as per normal on a work day, and I found a very good blog:

http://treygnome.blogspot.com/

The idea is it is following the adventures of "Trey" the Gnome from HL2:EP2. In EP2, they introduced the achivements system (on PC, Xbox version of HL2 has them for all the games in the series), and one of the achievements is called "The Little Rocket Man". The idea is to send a garden gnome into space using the rocket near the end of EP2.

HOWEVER, the catch is that the only gnome in the game is right at the beginning... So you have to carry the bastard all the way though the game.

I won't be going to bed tonight...

Oh also, Spore on Friday, wooooo! Preordered it from play.com, yay!

The Old and New

Just a quick post really, I tried out Crysis on my new rig, and it's running great!

Getting around 30-40fps with everything on "Very High". I don't particularly like the game, but it's a good benchmark to see how it runs. Considering it's only using 2 of 4 cores on my CPU and only 1 of my GPU's it's not half bad!

I just hope they bring out a patch that uses all 4 CPU cores and both GPU cores, then I'll be laughing.

Also, I decided to go Nostalgic in the run up to Spore by installing Staropia (not that it is really that similar) and I've now remember why I loved it so much. I think I'll have to go back on all my games that I used to play and try them out, see if they have stood the test of time.

Also completed the Half-Life 2 series again, and made myself want Episode 3 to come out even more!

Flashing a DFI BIOS

I decided to write this quick little "How-To" for those of you who have got both the x38/x48 chipsets and a HD4870x2 working.

Now the actual issue is with the chipset not recognising the dual GPU and ussually involves beeping 3 times with 1 long and 2 short beeps (GPU error). It also will not display and video AT ALL. If you get video of BIOS but there is an error after that, then the best bet would be to google around for it and then flash the BIOS.

=Before you Begin=
You will need an old PCI-E card to be able to flash your BIOS, so if your building a complete new system, just don't get the x38/x48 chipsets.

Be aware, that flashing a BIOS can sometimes render your computer useless (if you get it wrong). So the best thing to do is make peace with the motherboard God before you do anything.

You'll also want to download WinFlash 192 :
http://www.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/Winflash192.zip

=Motherboard Specific BIOS=
Okay, you need to know the exact model of your motherboard now. As this is where you could fork it up.

So, compare your model to the list below, if it's not in this list then unfortunately it will not be the BIOS causing the issue.

LANPARTY DK X38-T2R : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X38DD821.zip
LANPARTY DK X38-T2RB : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X38DD821.ZIP
LANPARTY DK X48-T2RS : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X48DD820.zip
LANPARTY LT X38-T2R : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X38AD821.zip
LANPARTY LT X48-T2R : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X48AD820.zip
LANPARTY LT X48-T3RS : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X48GD820.zip
LANPARTY UT X48-T2R : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X48CD821.zip
LANPARTY UT X48-T3RS : http://us.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/X48BD821.zip

Now, extract both the WinFlash192.zip and the XxxxD82x.zip to your desktop. Open up winflash.exe and go to File Open. Select the BIOS iso and wait for it to load. Once it's loaded just hit update and wait. The picture in the background should change from blue to green.

After that's done, that should be it. Now power down your computer, put the HD4870x2 in and try it out.

Any issues let me know.

Upcoming Games

Heres a list of upcoming games that I'm looking forward to getting my hands on, from quite looking forward to "HOLY SHIT COME OUT ALREADY":

5) THEY - To be honest, not really read much into this, but it looks like it could be a solid FPS and the story, although not unique, is at least less mundane than the average "your a soldier, kill the drug smugglers". DX10 game.

4) Dawn of War 2 - How anybody could not want this to be released? If it's anything like the first, then this is going to get best RTS 2009. I believe they will have all the races from the previous games (with expansions) and possibly be adding more in (Gene Stealers please).

3) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky - The prequel to Shadows of Cherenobyl. Looking forward to this mainly because the idea of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe is so good. Admittedly, the English has something to be desired, but with all it's faults is a quality Roleplaying First Person Horror Shooter RPFPHS (or something like that) that has so much potential, and if they build on the bad from the old in the new, they will come out with something unique. Also it's a DX10 game.

2) Half-Life 2: Episode 3 / Portal 2 - Best. Series. Ever. Episode 3, although almost nothing is known, is likely to round of Half-Life 2 enough for people to be satisfied but also leave enough for Half-Life 3. Speculation says that Adrian Sheperd (Opposing Force protaganist) will surely make an appearance, heres hoping.

1) Spore - I have no words for this game. This looks so God damned good. Taking a species through evolution. From the very beggining to galactic colonization. And all of it is custom design. This game, if it lives up to the hype, will have to be best game of 2008. Surely.

I'm only REALLY waiting for HL2:EP3/P2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Spore. I also am still hoping (3 years later) that KotOR 3 will come out eventually... Still waiting...

Feel free to leave any comments.

ATi HD4870x2 Review

=Specifications=
Retail Price: ~£400
GPU: 2x 750MHz (R700)
Shader / Stream: 750MHz / 1600MHz
Memory: 2x 1GB (3600MHz)
Direct-X / AA: 10.1 / 24x

=Installation=
I'm posting this as the HIS instruction manual is SHIT. You will need a new power supply for this thing (Recommended 650w+), it's a dual GPU so you will need 2x PCI-E power cables. It has an 8-Pin and a 6-Pin connector on the bottom (once inserted) of the card. You'll be able to plug 2 6-Pin connectors into both, but I recommend you get the full 8-Pin connector (or at least have an adaptor). You may find that the card is not avery good fit with hard drives etc getting in the way, so it's best to put the power cables in first, as it can be a pain in the arse. Once you've slotted the card into your PCI-E slot (make sure it's a PCI-E 2.0 slot) you're all set... Or at least you should be.

=Desktop Performance=
Well, yeah there isn't really any difference to other 5.9 Aero cards, but it does now get a much healthier 5.9 for desktop gaming, rather than the old 5.8. So no I have a totally 5.9 system. Anyway, desktop performance is as good as expected really, although the card seems to idle a lot hotter than running with load.

=Gaming Performance=
Wow. Really, wow. I'll throw some fps values at you firstly. Source, max detail, 1600x1200: 130~ never dropped below 120. DooM 3, max detail (8x AA), 1600x1200 was roughly 100. Mass Effect, maxed again, 1600x1200, around 80... As you may see it runs pretty nicely for the everyday games. I have yet to run Crysis yet, but rest assured I will get on that ASAP.

=Incompatibility=
This card seems to be incompatible with the default BIOS drivers on X38 and X48 versions of DFI motherboards. If you do not want to install BETA drivers then you should avoid these motherboards for now. (See below on how to flash the BIOS).

=Noise=
According to Toms Hardware, this baby kicks out an interesting 59db in noise while running UT3. Not that I will ever be running UT3 as it sucks balls, but that's a different story. Judging from when I turn on my PC (before the BIOS beeps) the graphics card does exactly what my X1900XT does... It will start off quick loud and then die down. As I said I haven't been able to get past the I/O test yet, so I can't tell you what noise is like in game / Vista.

Now that I've run this card, I can't say it's that loud. Certainly not as loud as my X1900XT was with the stock cooler, that's not to say this is silent; but it isn't that bad.

=Heat=
Now this thing gets hot, real hot real fast. We are looking at idle tempratures of around 60-70 and light-medium load of around 70 with high load about 80-90. Fortunately the heat sink works a lot better than previous stock coolers as it has a full case on it, stopping a lot of heat go out the top. Also, you have to bear in mind this is 2 GPU's working, so there's bound to be some decent heat.

=Conclusion=
A bloody awesome card, that performs extremely well, although I will not be able to unlock it's full potential as my monitor limits the resolution. In the end (even with the DFI issues) it's well worth the money. A really beast.

=Links=
Here are some links that should explain the DFI issue better than I can (note the first link has some iffy English in it, blame the Taiwanese):

http://csd.dficlub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7672&page=5&highlight=4870

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/9225-palit-radeon-hd-4870-x2-2gb-video-card-review-22.html

Feel free to leave a comment if you have had similar issues, if your still getting issues etc.

Mass Effect Review

=Minimum Requirements=
OS: Windows XP
CPU: 2.0+ GHz
RAM: 1 GB
GFX: ATi 1300XT+

=Recomended Requirements=
OS: Windows XP
CPU: 2.6+ GHz
RAM: 2 GB
GFX: ATi 1800XL+



=First Impressions=
The PC version adds several new features into the game, most notibly an improved interface with the ability to have quick slots for easy access abilities.

The game looks great. Definately. But something isn't right. It may be the lights... Yeah, I think it's the lights. They look really pixelated on my X1900XT 512MB. But that may be a graphics card issue, as I get the same thing
with "soft" shadows... However, apart from this the graphics are great.

The interface is nice and user freindly with enough buttons fro those who don't like console-ish interfaces, and not too many for the mentally challeneged, former console, gamers.

Sounds are good, although the weapons leave a bit to be desired, as you get the same noise from the guns no matter which type you choose. The variations of the weapon models (which is only dependant on the "manufacturer") don't make a difference to the sounds.

The inventory is a little weak in the sense that you have simply a suit, 4 weapons and a type of grenade. There is no melee combat, and you can't choose to just have a sniper and pistol equiped. In fact, you can get rid of any weapons
at all, unless they are spare. This is possibly the weakest part in my opinion, as it lacks customization. Sure you can change ammo types and add a couple mods to the guns, but these are barely noticable and unseen.

Now, where this game takes off is the story. I mean, wow. I've been waiting for something like this since KotOR (Knights of the Old Republic, also grammatically spelt KoTOR). The depth of characters is pretty good, the facial expressions change depending on which way your words tilt. Mince up your sentences with some kind words and see a smile on the recievers end. Likewise, choose to be blunt and pretty much outright bastardly and they will either be angry or give in. Although limited to few "relationships" it still feels less like it's forced (KotOR 2 introduced a similar feel), and the fact that you have some pretty steamy content near the end of the game. I wont enter spoilers here, but lets just say that there is a distinct lack of clothing... The actual story of why you are there is also great, with an enemy force of robots trying to call out their gods. And you, of course, have to stop them.

=A Growing Universe=
There are 5 planets and a large space station on which the main story is based on, but there are a fair few other systems that you can explore. Systems open up as you talk to people who will send you on missions, ussually involving killing a horde of cybernetic humans or rescuing a scientist (but killing the cybernetic humans on the way). The non-story based planets are fairly bland in their, almost, randomly generated terrain, with the same type of base with the same type of rooms. However, there is a variation in the speech depending on the people you chose to explore the planet with.

=Conclusion=
While not perfect, Mass Effect plays with some of the fundamental aspects of what most gamers really want. In-depth story, great graphics and the feel that the player isn't being forced to do anything. Although the player cannot ultimately be evil, they can do things the law-abiding way or the wreckless renegade way. This is definately a game that you will want to play if you haven't already.

Feel free to disagree argue etc.