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Technology Stocks : Advanced Micro Devices - Moderated (AMD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pgerassi who wrote (49377)	7/30/2001 1:55:19 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Respond to of 275872

Pete, I don't doubt the benefits of non-bus-master PCI cards. However, these cards are typically the kind that trade performance for cost. Some of the problems include higher CPU utilization (though that's no big deal these days), higher PCI bus utilization, and inefficient device drivers. The 850 errata only introduced another performance penalty into the mix. That doesn't make the errata a trivial one, but it does place it in the proper context. In any case, I don't see that errata anymore on the current list. I guess it must have been fixed along with the PCI graphics card thing. <Some of these are impulse buys and customers get ticked when a seemingly simple card no longer works or crashes the system. They usually blame the system and not the card they just installed.> Yes, I know from personal experience. The trouble is that this sort of frustration is nothing new. I once had a TNT2 graphics card populating the AGP slot in my 440LX board. Every time I ran a 3D game, the system would hang at random moments. I blamed it on everything from poor drivers to a poor OS (Win98). But then I searched through DejaNews and saw that the 440LX chipset had trouble with newer AGP cards like the TNT2. IIRC, the problem was that the 440LX didn't provide enough current to power the new graphics controllers. The solution was to upgrade to a 440BX chipset. That's an easy task for me, but it's definitely way beyond your average Joe. So while the concerns are legit, they're nothing new. Tenchusatsu