Win Vista 64 bit Ultimate

[texasboy]

   Just a little bit of info for those that may be running this system, Seems to be a shortage of  of programmes/drivers which really work with vista 64 Ultimate. Simple programmes such as Crucial  memory scan/Registry Booster 2/nividia graphics are not yet compatable with this PC. They are working on it to update. Nividia scan keeps showing which drivers are installed,and recommend update to newer driver,which when you install it shows this as already installed. Some old programmes I dont even go near becaue the are not ready for me yet.
Anyone have any thoughts?
cheers

[Quantum]

I'm not sure if there's anything special about ultimate, but driver support for 64-bit windows is much better than it was only a year ago. Expect it to keep improving, 64 bit is becoming very popular.

This is the price of improved technology, I only wish Microsoft was to take a bigger jump and use a minimised kernel or something similar.

[texasboy]

Very true Quantum, the updates are getting better each month, Everything is getting faster and better graphics as updates come along. Plus I have upgraded to 20MB broadband with new modem box for £1 more than I`m paying now(extra TV channels and unlimited landline calls.). Even with the ethernet cable hooked up to wireless router (for family laptops) I can download at 2.5MBs,but I find that some of the regular companies dedicated to XP and Vista 32  cannot handle this speed  and usually 800-1300kbs is what I get. Still when you look at the big picture,we have come a long way since phone dial up and even phone broadband.
cheers
Might mention that Z-Alarm firewall didnt work and now using Vista Firewall Control

[Quantum]

Just so you know, 20 MB is not 20 MB broadband, it's 20 Mb, there difference being that there 8 b in a B (8 bits in a bytes).

So on a 20 Mb broadband connection your maximum possible speed is 2.5 MB/s, so you're very very lucky if you're actually achieving that speed. I don't know which service your with, but if it's on ADSL2+ there are a number of factors which can slow it down, distance from the local exchange and the type of weather are 2 big ones. But even if you were sitting next door to your exchange and it was a clear day, I still wouldn't expect 2.5 MB/s out of the connection just connected to a single source (downloading over http or ftp). Your more likely to max out on a private torrent site, or if you run multiple downloads at once.

[texasboy]

Just a slip on the keys. Yes 20Mb, No need to worry about exchanges ,it is all fibre optic cable straight to the house. Virginmedia with the UK`s fastest broadband. Unlimited downloads.
If I get a quiet moment ,will hook cable directly to PC and unplug wireless router and see what sort of figures I get.
cheers

[Quantum]

Just a slip on the keys. Yes 20Mb, No need to worry about exchanges ,it is all fibre optic cable straight to the house. Virginmedia with the UK`s fastest broadband. Unlimited downloads.
If I get a quiet moment ,will hook cable directly to PC and unplug wireless router and see what sort of figures I get.
cheers

That must be a very subjective definition of "fastest" given BE offers 24 Mb download 

I don't know Virgin's infrastructure, but I imagine there will likely be some technical reason why you don't always max out speed.

[texasboy]

  Most of your phone based broadband  structures  suffer horribly during peak times, where speeds can be at 3Mb . Just had a talk with Virgin and now up to 16Mbs on recent tests. You will never get full potential but even BT came 5th to 8th on broadband scale. BE is not including  times when they too suffer. Its like anything else. these companies will promise you the earth on their broadband speeds,most for the average user never reach anywhere near  what they are supposed to be getting at 5-9PM.. Phone based broadband is not the way to go,unless you just want average speeds.
cheers

[Quantum]

Most of your phone based broadband  structures  suffer horribly during peak times, where speeds can be at 3Mb . Just had a talk with Virgin and now up to 16Mbs on recent tests. You will never get full potential but even BT came 5th to 8th on broadband scale. BE is not including  times when they too suffer. Its like anything else. these companies will promise you the earth on their broadband speeds,most for the average user never reach anywhere near  what they are supposed to be getting at 5-9PM.. Phone based broadband is not the way to go,unless you just want average speeds.
cheers

Huh, interesting statement there, because suffering during peak times has absolutely nothing to do with it being a phone based phone structure. Rather simply how well the company has implemented local loop unbundling and more importantly how much bandwidth they've given their local exchange, Virgin are just as likely to suffer from this if they have a high enough peak in an area they've not invested in well enough.

I've been on phone based broadband services that don't suffer at all during peak. The only big difference between fibre optics and copper is that you don't have to make nearly as many technical compromises with fibre optics, like you can have symmetrical connections again (which virgin don't implement ) you can get speeds up to 100 Mbps (which virgin don't implement ) and you can use them to travel much further distances from the exchange (which Virgin implement on a very limited basis ).

[texasboy]

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Huh, interesting statement there, because suffering during peak times has absolutely nothing to do with it being a phone based phone structure. Rather simply how well the company has implemented local loop unbundling and more importantly how much bandwidth they've given their local exchange,

[/color]
Exactly Quantum. Most of the Tech forums are filled with members wondering why their 8Mb broadband from the phone companies especially BT take a nose dive during peak periods. They are complaining that speeds have reached 800Kbs-3Mbs during tea time. You have got to remember that the phone companies are out there to sell an imaginary product, promising  so many Mbs on broadband when they know that they wll never come close to that figure.Even Virgin  will not reach full potential but they are not tied in to a phone line or a telephone exchange, and their speeds are more realistic with little or no slow down. IE when on the 10Mb broadband, was quite happy to achieve 6-8.5Mbs. and now at 16Mbs I am even happier. Virgin are now implementing a 200Mb instead of 100Mb which should come through shortly on their broadband service. Most of the phone companies are working off antiquated exchanges and indeed are trying to update to fibre optics. Common sense tells me that old copper wires have a limit with broadband, but even fibre optics as they are today will eventually reach an overload point. There are several new theorys out there as to how the internet and broadband might progress. You may see it but not me.
For now fibre optics win hands down.
cheers

[Quantum]

200 Mb? I've not heard of this, I bet they're planning to achieve that speed by axing upload  . 100 MB, is 100 down, 100 up, perfect in my opinion!

Copper vs. optical is only about the wires to your home. The actual local exchange is not likely to be running on copper , so once you get to that point there's very little technical difference between virgin and random ISP x, there's only performance of implementation.

The big question is what to do about the internet back bone infrastructure. As it stands if large numbers of people started watching DVD quality shows on it on a regular basis, even with more modern compression techniques the internet would simply collapse under the weight of the required bandwidth.

[texasboy]

Its hard to keep up with all the changes. Virgin are about to launch 50Mb broadband. Some interesting reading on this link.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2008/05/01/notes_on_the_future_of_broadband.html.

The edge that cable broadband has over ADSL broadband is obvious in terms of the superior speeds that it can offer. At present Virgin Media have a monopoly on the broadband market, how long this monopoly is likely to last will depend on a number of factors.

BT are considering replacing it's copper wires with fibre-optic cables with a view to chasing the high-speed broadband market. The cost that such a project would incur means that this remains an idea.
cheers

[texasboy]

Just a quick update after another month.
MS/Nividia have been steadily increasing support for Vista 64 Ultimate,new drivers,updates etc.
Just downloaded latest graphics driver and there is a remarkable difference to the quality and speed. Can even read the names of the ships in the Panama Canal now
cheers

[Quantum]

Is this the 9x.xx set of drivers? If so they have PhysX support 

[texasboy]

That all goes with rig 4.0shaders. Physx.
Here is what I pulled off ntune, keeping in mind that I have backed off on CPU core to 2.8 from 3.01 ghz (stock 2.4) and also eased GPU setting back a bit(stock 600/900) Quad processor with still the 2x 8800GT cards in SLI.(can still add 3rd card for SLI)

MS Direct x 10.0 updated to latest.
Geforce Video 178.13
Ref clock 468.877MHz
FSB Freq 1875.509(QDR)
multiplier 6x
CPU Core 2813MHz
Mem Bus Freq 1406.632(ddr2)MHz
GPU Core 648MHz
GPU Mem speed 935 MHz
Would say 700/950 on GPU max before being unstable.
Actual multiplier is 9x but since I have enabled speed step and halt in set up it will show as 6x.
There are other ways to increase graphic quality/speed within the nvidia software, but dont really need this at moment.
Temps are still reasonable 45-50 when busy. Plenty of fans doing their job.
cheers

[Quantum]

Good to keep your GPU at a low temperature, apparently nvidia GPUs are far more prone to heat problems than AMD ones: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39506/135/