MaximumPC 2007 07

D-V-IVERS

I have a Dell 19-inch LCD monitor. Will an Nvidia

GeForce 6600 OC graphics card support this

monitor’s DVI input with the drivers on the instal-

lation CD or will I have to download another driver

from the Nvidia website?

—Gene Macavey

You won’t have any problems running the

monitor with your bundled graphics card

driver, but as a general rule, you should run

the latest graphics driver available. Check

Nvidia’s website for the most recent version.

MIX-N-MATCH 8800S

In your May 2007 issue, you answered a question

(Congrats, It’s Twins) in regard to matching SLI

cards. You said that as long as the GPUs match

there’s no problem. Does that mean I can run an

8800 GTX with my 8800 GTS? Or does the dif-

ference in video memory (768 versus 640) make

this not possible?

—Sel Baskurt

You couldn’t run an 8800 GTX and an 8800 GTS

in SLI, but it’s not because of the difference in

memory. The GTX and the GTS are within the

same family, but they’re architecturally differ-

ent. The 8800 GTX has 128 stream processors

and 24 rasterizers, while the 8800 GTS has 96

stream processors and 20 rasterizers.

The Doctor thinks you could run an 8800

GTS with a 640MB frame buffer with an 8800

GTS with a 320MB frame buffer in SLI, but

in that situation, you’d be wasting half the

memory on the higher-end card because the

combination will seek the lowest common

denominator in terms of memory.

THESE TWO MONITORS ARE GR...

<BZOOP>

I have two 7800 GTs running two NEC MultiSync

LCD1760NX monitors and a Cintiq 21UX.

Whenever I’m forced to restart my computer, the

second NEC monitor will come on and then go

black, as if in Sleep mode. If I turn the monitor

back on immediately, it will stay on for a varying

amount of time before going black again. I’ve

dug through every Display Property setting and

built-in monitor setting trying to correct the issue,

but in the end I have to turn the monitor off for

a few minutes and then turn it back on hoping it

will stay on.

—Woody Hearn

Since you’re describing an intermittent prob-

lem, the Doctor assumes you know that when

you run both 7800 GTs in SLI, one of the two

displays will go dark. This is the standard MO

for SLI. Intermittent problems like this are

always a bear to solve, but you might first

try swapping cables. It’s possible that the

monitor isn’t sensing that it’s connected to

your videocard and is therefore going into an

energy-saving sleep state.

VISTA ACTIVATION ODDITIES

I bought a copy of Vista, ran home, and installed

it. For a number of reasons—an inability to find

the right drivers, system slowdowns, fear of losing

my key because of over-activation, and plain lazi-

ness—I never activated it. When I finally felt I could

live without my copy of XP, I attempted a clean

install. When I tried to activate Vista, I got an error

message that said my key was for an upgrade

how 2 IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME

60 MAXIMUMPC july 2007

Ask the Doctor

Diagnosing and curing your PC problems

Depth and click OK. Save your result as a TIFF image, which

you can then tweak to perfection using an image editor.

Photomatix’s

Tone Mapping

window fea-

tures a few

controls to

fine-tune your

image.

SHOOTING SHORTCUTS

If you don’t have manual controls on your camera or are feeling

lazy, here are a few shortcuts to get the requisite photo exposures.

Instead of measuring and calculating exposures, set your cam-

era to Auto Bracket mode with a 1 EV difference between expo-

sures (such as -2, -1, 0, +1, +2) and snap a fi ve-frame burst. This

is also a good way to capture multiple exposures of a composition

that contains potential movement (such as the ocean or people).

Don’t have manual controls? Shoot your composition in pro-

gram mode at 0 EV; next, alter the exposure compensation up and

then down the EV scale to get the other shots.

Instead of fi ve shots, aim for the middle shutter speed between

your two measured speeds and shoot just three images.

Forgo measurements and calculations altogether and shoot in

Aperture Priority mode with matrix metering, using exposure com-

pensation in 1 EV increments instead of shutter speeds.