What is the deal with the crummy new drivers?????

[Randy Simons]

hehehe, makes me wonder how many things are made to work on *intel* boards. Just like VIA, Intel should adhere to *standards*. My guess is they don't do that all the time, but everybody *thinks* intel==standard so they write for intel.

Now comes VIA, who adheres to the standard (which is NOT intel) and *boem*, things go wrong, coz the software was not written for the standard, but for Intel. And everybody blames VIA.

As for intel: they designed AGP, right. But WHO was SO &^@$^^%$ STUPID to force cards to be put "upside down" in a slot? Everybody has a computer in a tower these days, thus the card's heatsink is UNDER the card itself. Where does the heat go???

*sigh* things use to be better. Remember the old MSX? Never had "stability problems". never. If something crashed, it always was the software.

Ah well, guess we blame the gamerz for these problems. They want fast, faster and fastets, and don't care for true stability. A crash once a day, who cares? Well, I do. If I could chose between a system that was 10% faster, but whould crash once every 10 days or a system that simply wouldn't crash due hardware problems, I go for the latter.

[paulcs]

I'm sure Carmel (i840) shares many of the problems of its idiot cousin Camino (i820), although we won't know until it's released. I think the Carmel chipset is the Rambus based follow-up to the GX chipset, a Xeon platform.

If it is slower than the VIA 133A, it has nothing to do with AGP. It's probably a latency issue. (Hopefully, Intel isn't going to try to force SDRAM support on this board as well, consider how well this worked with the i820.) I really can't speak with any authority about it, however. It's an expensive server solution and a bit out of my league.

Intel certainly has some room for improvement these days. Real competition has them behaving a little strangely.

I look forward to the day one can install a VIA motherboard and never have to update the drivers. Install Windows and forget it. It'll certainly make fingerpointing a bit easier.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Joel]

As a tech support person of many years, I can tell you that the main cause of most PC problems is that connection between the keyboard and the floor.

Joel

[Caprice]

Good answer! Good answer!....
You have to wonder if its the hardware,
software/drivers but its usually the nut
behind the wheel....really when you think about it two guys with almost exact same
hardware both running same drivers that one
has no problems but the other guy...well he's
ready to threaten Intel/Via/Matrox/Nvidia
etc.with a lawsuit.
and thats "My final answer"

[PaulS]

On the question of whether or not Intel adheres to standards: It is largely irrelevant because MS makes those adjustments in the OS. They have given up (or so they say) trying to do it for VIA, so it is really VIA's job to make sure their chipset works with current MS driver models. Did anyone hear the Dell give AMD a serve? That was while Dell was losing millions because Intel couldn't supply chips. Yet they still wouldn't move to AMD because they felt all the non-Intel chipsets were too unpredictable. A real pity for the Athlon.

Paul

[Randy Simons]

Ah well, that's their problem. Things are running smooth with me rev CE of the MVP3 set on this Epox board.
My dad's Intel-based system is much less stable, no matter what I try...

[EchoWars]

"The times, they are a changin'" Watch it happen, pretty interesting. The times I spent working on etch benches (spend the day in an acid suit changing a Hydrofluoric acid or Sulfuric acid pump with Intel ****oles breathing down you neck) in the Intel Fab's were not an incredibly pleasant time, so there is probably a little glee in seeing them sweat a bit. But guess who's processor is in my system (550e).

By contrast, my trips to Austin and AMD meant a pleasant workday and the AMD guys would buy beer after work...I really should have an Athlon...

Anyway, all I want are good drivers.
Please?

Geez...I've posted more here in the last few days than since when I got the G200 WAY back when..hehe

[paulcs]

What's your take on AMD's "we don't want to be in the chipset business" business. They appear to be building new ones. Also, with VIA in the CPU market and a potential competitor on the low end, I'm not sure it's a good idea to get too dependant on them.

I'm easy. If AMD staff bought me beers, my next CPU would be an Athlon.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net


[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 02 March 2000).]