Have you tried changing the DPI setting on the monitor properties in Windows?

Sorry to hear that. Yesterday I ordered a Gigabyte 4870 along with the rest of a new system. I was selfishly wondering if you think your card's problems are a VisionTek thing or an ATI problem?

From what I read on the AMD forums, it's not just VisionTek. Most people were getting video at POST and during boot, but losing it after Windows loaded, maybe the new 8.9 drivers fixed that. Others had the opposite problem, no video at POST or during boot up, but did get video after Windows loaded the driver. And then there were some, like me, that had no video at all if I used DVI. I even tried another DVI cable. I could only get video with VGA.

Some people posted responses they got from ATI, and ATI was blaming the problem on their monitor, saying it had a corrupt EDID. Corrupt EDID or not, my monitor worked fine with my old Nvidia card. I did a search for "4870 edid," and tried some EDID reader utilities that were linked in some forum posts I found. With my old card it was able to read the EDID.

Some people posted that had no problem with the card at all, then after a few months they no longer got video over the DVI. I decided just to RMA'd it back to NewEgg for a refund and got the GTX 260. I had enough money in the bank that I could buy the 260 while waiting for the refund. I didn't want to take a chance on another 4870.

A friend of mine just upgraded to a Powercolor HD 4870 with 1GB of RAM, and he didn't have any problems with it though. Maybe it's just cards that are rebranded reference cards.

This comment was edited on Sep 18, 02:49.

Referring to the Witcher Enhanced import?

Hang tight, still deciding which option to go with. If I do get an import, I want to get the Enhanced import with the goodies, not the original release. Theyarecoming could ship a copy to me, but we figured it would cost about $75 CDN...almost twice the price of off the shelf here for the censored version.

Well, let me know which one if you do want it - I can ship for free from me to you.

The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in contention.

I ordered a VisionTek ATI HD 4870 and what a nightmare.

Sorry to hear that. Yesterday I ordered a Gigabyte 4870 along with the rest of a new system. I was selfishly wondering if you think your card's problems are a VisionTek thing or an ATI problem?

If you have not tried the relatively new cut of beef, Flat Iron, I recommend you try it. It is like a cross between filet mignon and strip steak.

Enahs isn't lying here (for once!), the Flat Iron steak is the best, dollar for dollar nothing comes close.

Stitch what TV (model and name) do you have? Check the manual to find out what resolutions are supported for the VGA/DVI output.

I'm using a 40" Sony Bravia, 1360x760 Ive found is the best reso to use.

----------------------------------------------------
Trackmania United Forever, Bionic Commando Rearmed, GRID

PSN= Puscifer73 • Trackmania= puscifer604
"Blues News" Steam Community... http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/

When you decrease the size of your screen resolution (i.e., from 1024x768 to 800x600), all of the application windows, fonts, etc increase in size. I always joked that lower screen resolutions were for older people with bad sight. But I've run into a problem. I've hooked up a computer to my HD TV and its native resolution is 1900x1200. While this looks amazing for video, I can't read a single thing on the screen (font & application size). I've increased the font via the display properties under the appearance tab, but a good portion of headers and generally, window size is still so small, that i have to walk up to the TV to read it. Does anyone know of a 3rd party application that will allow me to increase the size of windows and fonts but still keep the native resolution of the TV?

I would be surprised if Windowblinds or another Stardock app didn't do that...

http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/



------------------------------------------------
http://theslip.nin.com/
"The Bellic boys! Taking over your town, assholes!"

Can you output at 720P resolution? The TV should have no trouble handling that, and everything should be larger.

Which version of Windows are we talking here?


Alternating Logo (GreaseMonkey script):
http://www.ualr.edu/szsullivan/scripts_/BluesNewslogo.user.js

ok guys, i have a question for ya'll.

When you decrease the size of your screen resolution (i.e., from 1024x768 to 800x600), all of the application windows, fonts, etc increase in size. I always joked that lower screen resolutions were for older people with bad sight. But I've run into a problem. I've hooked up a computer to my HD TV and its native resolution is 1900x1200. While this looks amazing for video, I can't read a single thing on the screen (font & application size). I've increased the font via the display properties under the appearance tab, but a good portion of headers and generally, window size is still so small, that i have to walk up to the TV to read it. Does anyone know of a 3rd party application that will allow me to increase the size of windows and fonts but still keep the native resolution of the TV?

My favorite cut of steak is Porterhouse.

If you have not tried the relatively new cut of beef, Flat Iron, I recommend you try it. It is like a cross between filet mignon and strip steak.
http://bbq.about.com/od/steaks/a/aa051207a.htm


I can eat it and enjoy it as just steak, but not my preferred cut. It is however excellent for stuff you want beef in it.

Enahs's Flat Iron Steak delicious sandwich recipe:
Marinade
2 parts: Balsamic Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar
1 part: Malt Vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Soy sauce
1/4 part: Good Brandy
Fresh Black Pepper
Diced Garlic
Red Pepper
A whole heaping of you favorite hot sauce

Mix marinade well, let Flat Iron Steak marinate for 4-6 hours.

When it is near done marinating, slice some Vidalia Onions, and a melody of bell peppers (Green, red, orange, yellow, etc); sometimes I throw in good mushrooms.
Saute peppers and onions in a tiny amount of olive oil.

Throw that big ass piece of marinated beef on the grill and cook to desired doneness.

Let the meat rest for 10 minutes.
Slice thinly on a bias.

Make a sandwich with the meat and sauteed peppers and onions, not sliced bread, but more like hoagie role type bread (what ever is good and fresh).

If you desire cheese, pepper-jack is the way to go, or papper-jack and cheddar.

Sauce is not needed because of the flavor of the marinade. But if you do need some wetness to the sandwich, mix equal part Ranch Dressing, Taco Cause, then add about a quarter amount of Cesar dressing, mix well. I know, sounds off, but this is a great sauce for beef! But do not put too much on the sandwich, you gotta be able to taste the meat!

Enjoy.





Alternating Logo (GreaseMonkey script):
http://www.ualr.edu/szsullivan/scripts_/BluesNewslogo.user.js


This comment was edited on Sep 17, 16:13.

Whats the word on Rock Band - how are the new peripherals/tracks? I liked drumming in RB1 but the drums were so shitty it was a chore.

[edit]

ZP did Spore today
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/218-Spore

It's about as accurate as a review can be. Sorry Will, the game *sucks*.


This comment was edited on Sep 17, 15:18.

Dagok - you want me to get it and send it to ya?

Referring to the Witcher Enhanced import?

Hang tight, still deciding which option to go with. If I do get an import, I want to get the Enhanced import with the goodies, not the original release. Theyarecoming could ship a copy to me, but we figured it would cost about $75 CDN...almost twice the price of off the shelf here for the censored version.

----------------------------------------------------
Trackmania United Forever, Bionic Commando Rearmed, GRID

PSN= Puscifer73 • Trackmania= puscifer604
"Blues News" Steam Community... http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/

Ahh, found part of the answer, Prime Rib is:

"It is very tender, flavorful, and expensive. A slice of uncooked prime rib roast is really a "rib steak" which includes the "rib eye" portion."

So, you can either get a rib eye or a prime rib cut from a side of beef, but not both. I suspect the rib eye is more cost effective....

PHJF Sorry to hear about that. My sister sent me an email Monday that started off 'Hey - big storm. We have no power and our roof came off. This happened yesterday around 2pm. Say it was like a cat 1 hurricane. Could be a week w/o power'. So with my sister just under 6 months pregnant on blood pressure meds, and now has diabetes from the pregnany I was freaking out.
It seems Hurricane Ike went all the way up to Chicago. Luckly their room is steel and it just rolled itself up and got caught on their fireplace, so they just had to unroll it and nail it down. And there wasn't any rain which was another lucky break for them.
They just got their power back on yesterday, but they said the worse problem they had was explaining to a 2 year old why nothing worked.
I just told them 'Welcome to my world, welcome to Florida!'

Do we have any steak aficionados here?

I like prime rib. I like it more than I like filet mignon. However, restaurants specializing in steak rarely serve prime rib. Why is that? Does cutting prime rib off the carcass ruin a bunch of other cuts?


This comment was edited on Sep 17, 13:01.

My last post was when I was upgrading my system. I ordered a VisionTek ATI HD 4870 and what a nightmare. I installed the card, turned the system on, and no video. I thought I had done something wrong, but I could hear the HD, so the system was booting. I could ping it from my notebook, so I knew it was up. I ended up digging out a VGA cable and hooking it instead of DVI, and bingo I had video.

I check on the AMD forums and found tons of people with the problem. Come to find out the AMD cards are extremely picky when it comes to reading your monitor's EDID. If the EDID is corrupt or not written strictly to the standard, it just doesn't work. Just do a search for "4870 edid" and see.

The card came on Friday, so I had all weekend to dick with it, but I could not get it to work. I emailed AMD and VisionTek since VisionTek doesn't answer their phones on weekends.

I get a reply from AMD on Monday saying that I would need to contact the card manufacturer to get an updated video BIOS. There are two different knowledge base articles on AMD's site about this, one says to update your video BIOS, the other says it's a known problem and there is no fix yet.

So I call VisionTek since I haven't gotten a reply yet. The guy on the phone was nice and spoke English. He said I could send them the card for a replacement, but he even suggested it would be quicker to exchange it where I bought it. When you open he box, there was a big yellow sticker that said not to return the card to the retailer if it's broken too. WTF ever.

I post on AMD forums, and basically their solution is use VGA and deal with it, maybe they'll fix it with a BIOS update. So I call NewEgg to RMA this card for a refund, and I go ahead and order a GTX 260.

I did play a few games with the ATI HD 4870 before I sent it back. It's nice, and was a little bit faster than the GTX 260.

What sucks is that when I bought the card, NewEgg had deals on all their video cards. The VisionTek HD 4870 had a $15 instant rebate and free GRID game. There were discounts on the GTX line of cards too, but that was all over by the time I had to order the replacement card.

Oh, and VisionTek's "lifetime" warranty is a joke. I did get an email reply from them, after I RMA'd the card. They wanted me to send it to them for warranty replacement. The catch is, you pay shipping both ways, and the email said you have to include a check or money order for $10. Then the card they replace it with is no longer covered under warranty, so their "lifetime" warranty only works once.

I replied and told them no thanks, I'm returning it to the store I bought it from and I will make sure not to buy a VisionTek product ever again. I've had to send a few things to a manufacturer for warranty repair or replacement, and at most I've only ever had to pay the shipping to them.

Oh well, enough ranting. I ended up with a BFG GTX 260, with a real lifetime warranty and 24/7 tech support, and their 100 day trade up program if something newer comes out. Other than the DVI problems, I liked the ATI 4870, I would have tried another one, but I didn't want to take a chance in it not working either, which would mean another RMA and more time to get up and running.

Hmmm I'm up to... 64-ish hours without my fucking electricity

I went 9 days without power in that ice storm last winter, and about lost my mind...

Hope yours comes back soon...

------------------------------------------------
http://theslip.nin.com/
"The Bellic boys! Taking over your town, assholes!"

Yay! I haven't been able to log in and post for weeks!

Hmmm I'm up to... 64-ish hours without my fucking electricity. Ohio is a great big clusterfuck atm. I sleep like shit without a desk fan, have two serious exams this week, and half my study material is on my computer. Getting read to strip naked and run around launching molotov cocktails while chanting in pagan tongue.

I'm in the business so I know how tricky these things can be.