Vista 64 still crap...

Some of you probably saw my status update complaining about Vista 64. I spent 5 days trying to fix it, with new hardware since last time and a lot more patience. Unfortunately I got the same problems. As soon as I tried to use Nvidia's graphics drivers, the whole thing would burst into flames and complain bitterly about things not working.

Generally speaking though, it didn't burst into flames as quickly as the other time. IT just sort of...stuttered, stopped working, tried to correct itself and then limp along for a bit before it finally gave up. Like I said in the previous review on it, Vista 64 is a steaming pile of crap due to it's inability to actually work.

Unfortunately, I can't track down the reason to why it refuses to work. My gut instinct tells me that there is a problem in the way that Windows Update installs drivers for things. IT probably downloads really old drivers and starts replacing bits for the graphics drivers, which is a really bad idea. There is no way to fully reverse these updates, which basically leaves you with a difficult choice; chuck your graphics card or chuck Vista 64.

Final Thought Byte : Essentially, Vista 64 is useless. It might work for some people, but for others it will be money wasted. Like I said before, stay away from Vista 64 unless you are positive that it will actually work. IF you really want 64-bit computing though, just wait a couple of months until Windows 7 gets released.

Tags : Microsoft, Vista, Windows 7, 64-bit

Big Update Day - Xbox Live, Twitter and Apple - June 16th

People all around the world are being subject to service interruptions due to big updates. On the day that the Digital Britain report was released, which promises massive digital upgrades in the coming years in return for a small tax, all the major digital companies in the world are preparing to roll out their new generation technology.

First off is Microsoft's 24 hour Xbox Live update. No update specifics have been completely released, as usual, but we do know this update is all about getting Xbox Live ready for the new features that were announced at E3. If you thought it was cool to have Facebook, Twitter and MSN all on your computer, think again. Microsoft has teamed up with Facebook , Twitter and Sky News to bring all of these services to you directly through your Xbox 360. (MSN is already part of the Xbox Live experience). It seems that Microsoft is extending it's monopoly over access to services, which to many people are a necessity of modern day life.

Microsoft has also extended it's monopoly in terms of Windows 7 and IE8. For some bizarre reason, the EU has said that Microsoft is not allowed to ship IE8 with Windows 7. Obviously Microsoft has complied to this, knowing full well that people need IE8 to actually get hold of any other browser. I highly doubt that Mozilla, Opera, Netscape and Google are going to print CD's of their browsers, an option which Microsoft is doing...and also charging us for it. The EU really has no idea how this stuff works.

Now onto the second big update of June 16th. Following on from the whole social networking thing, Twitter is down for maintenance. Just like Xbox Live, it could be down for up to 24 hours. I expect that a million emo kids will be ripping their collective hair out right now because they can't update people on their suicidal thoughts from the comfort of their iPod.

Which brings us to our next major update. Although it's not technically going to be on the 16th, Apple is finally releasing the iPod Touch 3.0 Update... for $9.99. Which is about £7. I'm not sure what good it will do and I haven't seen anything about Google Street View being packaged in, but we'll see once its all released. Expect a review on it soon.

Final Thought Byte : All the big gaming companies are getting over the post-E3 hype and are starting to implement their promises. The UK Government is also starting to get a grip on the digital world, but as usual my thoughts tend to be rather critical. Some old Lord from somewhere posh will never understand the Internet in it's entirety. I doubt that Gordon Brown even knows what Twitter is. Regardless of this, June is going to be a very hectic month indeed. With E3 at the beginning, updates halfway through and Transformers 2 coming out at the end alongside FUEL on PC...it may just be historical

Tags : Microsoft, Xbox Live, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Transformers 2

XFX Do it Again

This review has been in our archives for months now, ready to be rewritten and released. Some of you, but probably not many, may have read our review on the XFX 8600 GT. When it was released, it was a mid to high specification gaming card, which was further boosted by XFX's superb manufacturing.

After using it for over a year, and giving it to my brother, my original XFX 8600 GT blew up. When we were doing a review on GRID we noted that the card had a tendency to run hot. It seems that it wasn't just GRID that was the problem, the design of all the 8600 GT's, regardless of brand, seemed to have major cooling problems.

So, in light of the fact that my card was going down the drain, I decided to try and buy a card for around the same sort of price. Luckily, Ebuyer had a sale on and I was able to get the XFX 9800 GTX+ Black Edition for £145. In effect, this card is a triple over-clocked version of the 9800 GT. In terms of performance, it easily outperforms any ATI card for the same price. Unlike the mid performance 8 series, the 9800 GTX+ is a dual slot card with a huge cooling unit. Under load it barely reaches 40 C, unlike the 8600 which would often reach up to 90 C.

So straight from the start, it was going to be a great card. The installation, however, was a little tricky. Due to the immense size of the card, in terms of length, width and height, you need a case with plenty of room. You also need to make sure you have two 6pin PCI-E power connectors and at least a 600 Watt power unit, anything less will choke your whole system.

In terms of playing games, the 9800 GTX+ performs well. The only game it has problem with is GTA IV. For some reason we can't see any performance boost between the 8600 GT and the 9800 GTX+, which leads us to believe that the game is crap, or that our CPU is choking the frame rates. In a couple of weeks we'll be trying to install Vista 64 again, which should open up the dual core potential.

Final Thought Byte : All in all, the XFX 9800 GTX+ is a great card if you don't feel like spending a fortune on the new 200/100 series cards. It does not match nVidia's new 295 GTX, but it will beat most of the new 100 series cards. It's also not far off the 9800 GX2. Stay tuned for a follow up review on how the XFX 9800 GTX+ Black Edition runs under Vista 64.

Tags : XFX, 9800 GTX+, Vista 64