Hello. I've been thinking lately about some things, and here's a short rant:

I have an older-ish PC. It still runs fine for web browsing, watching video, bit torrent apps, and the like, but I want just a bit more push out of it. I have Upgraded the gfx card from a GeForce 4000MX, to a 5200FX. added a 512MB ram stick, for a total of 1GB of DDR ram, gotten great 2.1 speakers( which were an awesome bargain for $15.00) I have also broken the gfx card fan, and rigged up an 80mm one to go in its place. I also have a heatsink from a 2.1GHz Athlon/ 100mm, 2cm thick fan on there for only a 1.3GHz processor. (just put on new thermal paste yesterday.

I remember somehow changing the clock speeds on the card before, but after my HDD went, and I reinstalled, I cant seem to do it anymore. Also, what do you think about O.C.ing my CPU? I think it should be ok if clocked to 1.5GHz with a huge fan and sink on it, but I have never done this before.

Also, I never bought official virus protection for my comp. I have Ad Aware SE installed, as well as the Microsoft stock firewall, but dont have stuff like norton. (had it, 2004 version, uninstalled it becasue it was a a pain it the ass, and took 2hrs to scan everything.)

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Well, thanks for reading so far, now here's something a bit more on topic:


Shoes:Has anyone found it more comfortable to use the pedals with some shoes on? Personaly I have Driving barefoot felt wierd, so I put some on. What are your opinions?

BTW, here's mine: (link) Piloti

EDIT: just reallised I posted this in the wrong section, move to lounge/ off topic please?

You could overclock it, but what is your Mobo? i'm not familiar with Skt. A Overclocking (back then i thought NFS:U + Radeon 9000 Pro was "teh sex" ), but from my own experience (being an overclock whore), it's worth it as on my CPU, memory and GFX card i've rung a 40% overclock out of it.

Lastly, how "hot" are you on computers? do you know your way around a BIOS etc?

I'm pretty hot, but in no way a "l33t j3di m4s@3rz" (lol)

My mobo is has a Nvidia nForce2 chipset, but it came stock on the emachines PC my mom bought a couple years ago. What i suspect is the south bridge, has the words "PMC Flash" on it, and some realy small numbers, so since it's flash, s i read it SHOULD be overclockable, right?

Oh btw, check out my boradband connection speed(in sig), how is it in your opinion? And click on the link in my post up there if you didnt notice it)

If it came with an eMachines, your screwed - Pre-built PC's usually use cheap-o mobo's with no (or very limited - ie no PCI-lock) overclocking options.

Why does "Flash" make you think it's overclockable? it's probably just referring to flashing the BIOS

Open up something like Everest and give us the goods (CPU specs, GFX specs, Mobo specs, RAM specs) Also, take a look at the sensors and see if your CPU is at a decent tempurature, if it is, then overclocking will have better potential.
~Bryan~

i think it runs at around 38 degrees centigrade from what the bios hardware monitor says.

Hmm...okay, thats decent. Do you have any case fans installed and is the case properly cleaned out and ventilated? (It's best to start overclocking with a clean computer)
~Bryan~

yes,the case is wide open, theres a 100mm fan on ythe cpu/ the heatsink from a 2.1ghz athlon, and i have an 80mm fan blowing air on the 5200fx.
(it came with a tiny fan that stopped spinning so i just took it out and rigged the 80mm to blow air on it... works.

ok, about my card: I have found this info so far: (post #5) http://www.mvktech.net/download.php?view.125

BUT, I was wanting to see if I could maybe oc my processor so I could oc the the card for that, instead of just ocing it for the 1.3 stock version, and THEN Ocing the processor.

I know tihs hit is probably not worth it to some of you, but I don't feel like spending extra money on my pc atm, and this can give me the boost I need while I save up. Thank you for the help so far.

Quote from Mako. :

Shoes:Has anyone found it more comfortable to use the pedals with some shoes on? Personaly I have Driving barefoot felt wierd, so I put some on. What are your opinions?

BTW, here's mine: (link) Piloti

Your driving 'shoes' have really cheered me up. Does your Grandmother not mind you borrowing them? I personally drive in my socks.

Well, that's what I wanted to do, so no problem! Awesome that you liked my joke, and actualy, they were a present from her. (darn comfy too, mind you!)

I race in my socks too. Sometims es i do it barefoot, but as my pedals

are metal and in my basement, that is cold as HELL(in the winter at least. Its frickin 85 today :headbang

nice shoes

Regarding anti-virus and firewall: I can recommend Kaspersky Anti-Virus and Outpost Firewall.

I've used both for quiet some time and I'm very pleased with them.

I always pause Kaspersky when running leagues, however I really haven't noticed the AV bugging me when doing pick up races or practice - it can be set to auto resume after pre-defined periods like 5 mins or 3 hours - which is OK as you then don't have to remember to activate it again.

Outpost Firewall have a "Entertainment" feature which will ask you what to do when a fullscreen app/game launches - and can remember your choice - I use it for LFS and it allows me to drive without disabling the firewall, but also without risking it popping up all of the sudden.. which could be quiet sad in a race :P

My only wish is that Kaspersky would have a similar feature - so I'm only 99% satisfied with it :P

http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://personal-firewall-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Well, thank you for the effort, but I was asking about not well known freeware stuff, not things like Norton, or Kaspersky, etc. If I had money to spend on that, yes, but not right now, need it for my car.