This is a huge blow for Counter-Strike and other multiplayer FPS games. In CS headshot scripts are bad but can be countered over time. These drivers, however, cannot be countered at all. This means that even on a secure server you are not safe.

Asus should be shunned by gamers everywhere for this irreversible screw up. Every worthless little cheating punk will have these within minutes and playing CS will once again become completely annoying.

-- Xaroc

FYI, Punkbuster has made great strides in combatting client side cheating in CS through a 2nd peice of client software you run on your machine. So you can play mostly free of cheats on Punkbuster enabled servers.

They obviously see dollar signs instead of fair play here. ASUS probably hopes to sell a few more cards to the 3D shooter cheating crowd by re-enabling the cheat. Cold hard cash speaks a lot louder than playing fair...

--Dave

Has it been confirmed yet that they did this intentionally? That just seems dumb. I can't believe that anyone would do that!

How in the world could they have done it accidentally? That's nonsensical.

(cues up "Oops, I Did It Again" in the playlist)

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Just an FYI--playing CS with a Radeon in D3D mode on an Abit mboard gets me exactly the same thing.

So, I just play in Glide mode.

I still don't understand why these morons cheat.

---

Quote:

How in the world could they have done it accidentally? That's nonsensical.

---

What's with all the Murphys???

Eddie, my brotha, long time no see.

=)

will this work with the Asus CUSL 815 boards? cool beans, now i have even more of a reason to get an Asus!

BTW, AMD TB or Pentium CM? I've been itching to upgrade with a new board and cpu... any suggestions? I like rock solid stabality...a few friends i know had some probs with a few tbirds...though they kinda had crap boards...

sorry was ot... but would like to hear some thoughts on it!

etc

"BTW, AMD TB or Pentium CM? I've been itching to upgrade with a new board and cpu... any suggestions? I like rock solid stabality...a few friends i know had some probs with a few tbirds...though they kinda had crap boards..."

AMD T-birds are rock solid, but getting there is a bitch.

I bought one of the original Athlon Classics, and I thought that was quirky.. but getting my new T-Bird and ASUS KT133A motherboard set up is by far, the most difficult computer build I've ever done. To be fair, if I wasn't overclocking it would have been significantly easier..

The best price/performance is without a doubt the VIA KT133A chipset mobos, with cheap PC133 memory and cheap 1ghz+ Athlon T-birds.

I recommend doing it this way--

1. buy the correct speed grade (don't attempt to overclock). Even the 1.33ghz is damn cheap; it's not worth the hassle unless you're SERIOUS about overclocking.

2. Get a _nice_ aftermarket heatsink and fan and install it properly (I recommend Alpha PAL6035)-- these chips run so hot they literally melt in under 10 seconds if run without a proper cooling. I'm not kidding. A friend of mine had a meltdown! His house was filled with a chemical stench, and the CPU core was practically a puddle.

3. Build up just the basics-- install memory, CPU, video card. Make sure it boots up OK. If it does, install the hard drive, and that's it. Don't install anything else until we've verified the basics work.

4. do a CLEAN INSTALL of the OS (from scratch). No need to format your hard drive, just make sure the OS is a brand new install. I like to rename my \windows and \program files folders, that way after I do the clean install I can pull old stuff over from there (bookmarks, mail archives, etc).

4. Immediately install the latest VIA 4-in-1 chipset drivers (v1.29 as of this writing). THIS IS CRITICAL ON A MODERN AMD SYSTEM.

5. Burn in your system overnight using stability tester (you can find it in the files section at gb.com).

6. If it passes stability tester (8 hours) then congratulations, you've built a stable core system. Go ahead and build up the rest of the computer (add-in cards and such), and re-install your games and apps as necessary.

I recommend http://www.newegg.com for excellent prices and service. Dunno if you are in the US though.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

Thanks Wumpus, I haven[t looked at pricewatch prices since mid october last year and was VERY suprised by the prices now, not the cpu and mobo prices but the SDRAM! damn sdram pc133 (good manufacturers too) is DIRT FRIGGING CHEAP. i got 128 mb atlas pc100 sdram for about 120 bux last year now that same ram is arnd 50 bux!!!! crazy....

The only prices remaining the same are mobos. I'm not lookinh to get DDR ram ... yet. and the 1ghz coppermine is pretty cheap as well (even cheaper then the 1.33 ghz tb). surprisingly the prices for some amd boards have risen due to popularity it seems (based on pricewatch).

also, newegg was one of the resellers i was checking out! i will indeed compare prices..

its come down to this for me...

between an asus -- via kt133a w/ 1.1 ghz amd tbird... or an 815e w/ 1 ghz coppermine. the prices are almost equal now (whereas months ago the pentium was about 200-300 dollars more!)

the big difference is the fsb for the amd with up to 266... though it looks most ppl prefer to stick with 133 and are happy.

so im leaning towards amd more now...

pentium was only a consideration with recent price cuts. i'm not sure they will be cutting anymore until about mid summer my guess (at least the p3) and i can't use the v5 in a p4 board(i like my voodoo 5! and dont want to spend an extra 400 bux for a new vcard AND p4 board coupled with new ram!)

btw, i WAS going to overclock but the prices right now are pretty good that I'm not a big fan of the hassle of back and forth testing and stability. i just want to play my games! ... and squezing an extra few fps in q3 is not important with me.

etc

Anyway, fast systems are incredibly cheap nowadays, which is why I consider a 1ghz P3 almost midrange any more. For example, check out the pricing at http://www.newegg.com --

Asus A7V133, VIA KT133A chipset mobo -- $117
Kingston 256mb PC133 -- $72
Athlon t-bird 1ghz 266 -- $133

Also if you need a new hard drive, IBM 60gxp is the way to go-- brand new, and the fastest yet. 60gb, ~$200 from the same vendor.

For heatsink/fan, try http://www.2cooltek.com -- I recommend the alpha pal6035 for ~$25.

That's a hell of a system upgrade for $322, especially if you manage to get 1.4ghz out of the 1.0ghz like I did.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"That's a hell of a system upgrade for $322, especially if you manage to get 1.4ghz out of the 1.0ghz like I did. "

thats what crazy... just last summer, i WAS considering upgrading to a ghz and i priced it out with mobo and processor and ram to like 900 bux... and i thought that was ok then... sheesh.

for arnd 400 bux i can almost 2x more stuff than i was planning to buy last summer!

yeah, newegg has real nice prices... i am most likely buying froim them a 1 gig tb with either the iwill (like the 1 isa) or the asus, and 256 pc/133 (coupled with my current pc/100 damn! i can play ultima ix! and maybe BCM!

actaully i played the bcm demo a few days ago, it aint so bad... not as buggy as i thought it would be!

etc

Get the Abit KT7A. I have worked with numerous Abit motherboards and they all worked like champs while the only Asus board I have owned (K7M) was a piece. I am running the KT7A with a 900 Tbird at 1000. It is rock stable with the memory settings at max.

Too bad you don't want to overclock, the new AXIA stepping 1 Ghz Tbirds are supposed to hit 1.4 Ghz without breaking a sweat. I may grab one myself even though I just recently upgraded since they only run about $150. Anyway good luck.

-- Xaroc

How funny. I had all sorts of trouble getting my Abit KT7-RAID up and running. And from the looks of the newsgroups, I wasn't the only one.

I think I'll be buying something different next time around.

I had a hard time getting the kinks worked out of my Abit KT7A system, too. For me, it was getting my SBLive! to get along with the rest of the system. I'm not sure if it was the Abit board or the VIA chipset, though. One thing for sure, a hosed sound card can wreak havock with system performance.

I have an AXIA 1.2 AMD I bought a few weeks back wich can only get to 1.4 if I pump up the voltage all the way to the max. My Abit board then adds a little voltage (not sure why it does this) and I end up running 1.92, well above the default 1.75. Heat's not too bad (27C idle, 45-47 under load) and it's hasn't locked up on me yet.

I am running the KT7A without the RAID. That may have helped in my situation. I have run an SBLive! and a Hercules Game Theater XP in my machine with no issues. I have the latest BIOS on the board as well.

I have heard the AXIA 1 Ghz are beasts, I don't know about the 1.2 Ghz ones. My system is also running at 1.92 volts. Heat is similar to yours as well.

-- Xaroc

"I am running the KT7A without the RAID... I have run an SBLive! ... with no issues."

I've got the vanilla board, too.

For me, my conflicts went away when I put the sound card in PCI slot 1, right next to AGP. I hope the issues I was seeing are over. My fear is that I'll upgrade my V5 or add some other part and start seeing conflicts again.

Weird stuff with the voltage. Thanks for passing on your specs. I thought I was the only one on the planet with it cranked up so high!

"For me, my conflicts went away when I put the sound card in PCI slot 1, right next to AGP."

So you're sharing an IRQ between your sound and video and everything is fine? Man, I guess ACPI really works because that's supposed to be a definite no-no.

"Man, I guess ACPI really works because that's supposed to be a definite no-no."

This is one of the reasons it took me forever to try it there. But when I did, it completely solved the problem. I even swapped the sound card for a turtle beach, but that didn't do the trick.

Just finished building an AMD w/1.2 ghz... was easier than i thought. Though I got the 4in1 via 430 drivers... must have made it easier to recognize the sb live... I am using a Iwill KK non DDR Raid board btw. nice board... i can step the clock up to 166... though im fine with 133 right now.

Anyway, the speed difference is noticeable in alot of games... I feel gipped that i played with a p2 450 for so long... but i guess i saved some money...

oh and tahnks for the win 98 boot up disk wumpus (from your website!).. i almost couldn't reinstall but luckily i got to your website from my old 166 pc.

one thing i like about rebuilding a pc ... my boot up time is LESS than 25 seconds... damn its good.

etc