To that end, I bring you a review of my recently acquired graphics card…
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\nAccording to the box, the Sapphire X1650 is a graphics card from either “ATI” or “Radeon” or maybe “Malaysia”. I’m upgrading my graphics card from the old NVidia 6200 to the X1650. At first I was worried because 1650 is a lower number than 6200, which would seem to suggest that the 1650 will have weaker megabytes or smaller gigahertz. But the “X” in front of the name is like a multiplier, and it means “more better”.<\/p>\n
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| This is the box. I don’t know why it has a picture of a dead alien on it. <\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n The box is more complex than it seems, because inside of the box pictured above was another<\/em> box. It was brown and had very tricky flaps. The inner box didn’t really open and close so much as unfold<\/em>. I couldn’t figure out how to fold it back up again so I threw it away.<\/p>\n I got the AGP version of the card. AGP stands for “A Good Plug”, because it will plug into my motherboard, unlike the other kinds of graphics cards which don’t. I don’t even know why they make those ones. I like the fan, because it looks like the turbine on a jet, and jets are fast.<\/p>\n Installation was a snap. I just took the cover off the thing and plugged the whatzit into the slotty bit on the motherboard. There were several little wires and nobbly bits in the box along with the graphics card. I didn’t know what to do with them so I put them back in the box and pretended I didn’t have them. <\/p>\n I’m happy to report that the X1650 driver \/ software installer is following the industry standard guidelines for sucking in every way possible. It began with a needlessly elaborate graphics splash screen that launched a chain of subsequent installers. Each one ran without explaining what it was or why I might want it. I just had to sit there and hit “next” or “finished” every couple of minutes. That is, I was obliged to participate without being offered any information or choices. <\/p>\n I think there were five installers in all. While I got the needed drivers, I also got a bunch of crap I didn’t want. (I can now right-click on the desktop and access all sorts of esoteric performance options. It’s like cluttering up your car steering wheel with buttons to regulate the fuel mixture and air intake. Why are these here where I might accidentally use them?)<\/p>\n It took longer to run the installer than it did to find my plus-ended screwdriver, and that’s like ten minutes.<\/p>\n |
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