Hardware & Technical The Joystick discussion thread

[BlueThunder]

Anyone have a 580m card or compatible laptop?

My laptop's motherboard or 580m is causing problems and my machine is dying, so I can't play ED alpha for more than a few minutes.

I've gone through various tests with Dell, and they still don't know if it is a motherboard or GFX card issue. Dell are unwilling to ship me one to test with, and want to charge me £90 to send the system in for testing. The rep actually advised me to find someone else with the card or a machine that can take it.

Longshot coming up:-
Anyone in London have an 580m card I can try for a few hours, or have an AW m17xr3 or suchlike that takes a 580m and willing to have mine in their system for a bit?

EDIT: If any is able to help please PM.

 

[Adept]

What exactly is the problem?

 

[Dejay]

You could also try and find some software to observe system temperature and voltage stuff. I think there are some free utilities that read bios stuff etc. I'd hazard a guess that if it crashes under load, it's probably voltage of your power adapter. Or thermal issue. Maybe put your laptop on ice, or try outside in the cold with a fan blowing to the bottom? You could also try a memory tester.

PS: Something like this http://www.hmonitor.com

 

[BlueThunder]

Cheers for the reply.

I've done all that in conjunction with Dell. They aren't sure what the problem is.

I won't know if it is my GFX card until I test it in another system, or put a 580/680m into mine.

 

[BlueThunder]

Thrustmaster Warthog for sale

A used but excellent condition Warthog throttle and stick. I believe it has over a year of warranty left in the unlikely event of issues.

I'm looking for (EDITED) £190 plus whatever postage is agreed. Collection available from N.London.

Cheers!

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog for £259.99 (new!)

yup, you read that correctly, the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog is now available from Maplin's official ebay shop for only £259.99 with free economy delivery!

EDIT: price now gone up to £294.99 - sorry folks ya missed it.

I've been keeping an eye on these for quite a while now as i intend to buy one as soon as i can afford it and this is the cheapest i've seen them at new so far!

only 8 available so get them while they are hot HERE

note: if i had the cash on hand there would only be 7 available

 

[jabokai]

note: if i had the cash on hand there would only be 7 available

I've got the cash... but it doesn't have a twist grip so it's no use to me, sadly. I don't want pedals for a game where yaw is such a small factor.

I, speculatively, ordered an X65F from someone on Amazon for £100 + postage from the US. The seller has poor feedback but it's through Amazon, using an Amazon credit card so I have no worries about getting the money back if it doesn't come, or isn't as described.

 

[Memnoch]

note: if i had the cash on hand there would only be 7 available

You could do a lot worse! It truly is an amazing piece of kit. Feels very solidly built and weighs a ton but I have still caused the base plate of the throttle to lift off the desk occasionally, but by accidentally tilting to the side rather than lifting. It's about 6Kg I think.

 

[Rog]

I've got the cash... but it doesn't have a twist grip so it's no use to me, sadly. I don't want pedals for a game where yaw is such a small factor.

I, speculatively, ordered an X65F from someone on Amazon for £100 + postage from the US. The seller has poor feedback but it's through Amazon, using an Amazon credit card so I have no worries about getting the money back if it doesn't come, or isn't as described.

Darn it!

Couldn't resist, and have ordered an X65f also...

It's only money...

If anyone's interested, latest Saitek drivers here:
http://www.saitek.com/uk/down/drivers.php

And also a page of their potentially even more latest beta software here:
ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/beta/

Direct link to (hopefully) the latest X-65f drivers, that apparently correct some 'centering' issues:
ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/software/beta/Saitek_X65F_Flight_Controller_SD7_00000018_64_Full_pfw.exe

 

[BlueThunder]

I don't wish to appear negative guys, but that guy Julius Caeser on Amazon looks like a con artist. I was about to buy the X65f from him a number of weeks ago until I saw the feedback. I saw further negative feedback on another site. He was advertising only one but took at least two orders? These would also fetch more than £100 new. I spoke to Amazon and they assured me I'd get my money back though if I ordered, though it would come from Amazon not the seller. I hope I'm wrong though. If yours do arrive I'll feel a right fool as I bought a second hand one for double that price from the States.

I'm selling a great Warthog on this forum. Will alter the price slightly because of the Maplin deal (which is a great deal, thanks OP)

 

[jabokai]

I don't wish to appear negative guys, but that guy Julius Caeser on Amazon looks like a con artist. I was about to buy the X65f from him a number of weeks ago until I saw the feedback. I saw further negative feedback on another site. He was advertising only one but took at least two orders? These would also fetch more than £100 new. I spoke to Amazon and they assured me I'd get my money back though if I ordered, though it would come from Amazon not the seller. I hope I'm wrong though. If yours do arrive I'll feel a right fool as I bought a second hand one for double that price from the States.

Yeah, I figure it's almost certainly not a real sale and that I won't get the product... it's just a gamble really! Strange that buying on Amazon has come to that but hey ho, I know the money is safe if I don't get the item so it's worth a punt.

 

[BlueThunder]

Yeah, I figure it's almost certainly not a real sale and that I won't get the product... it's just a gamble really! Strange that buying on Amazon has come to that but hey ho, I know the money is safe if I don't get the item so it's worth a punt.

As long as you go into it with your eyes open you won't be disappointed.

FWIW The X65f is great. The only problem with it is it is not a multi-controller and the throttle is relatively stiff because of the grease they use. The throttle and stick are connected like X52 pro, so the joystick cannot be used without the throttle.

If your X65f doesn't turn up then give me a shout. I may sell mine in the future as it looks like my company is shedding programmer jobs Hopefully I'll find something quickly and can keep it.

Incidentally, it is amazing how quickly yaw on the TM split throttle can be adjusted to. I set a deadzone in the middle that works great, so I don't have to perfectly centre when I don't want yaw. The alternative is to map one of the thumb hats which also works fine.

 

[Rog]

A little concerned about that X65 purchase now, but hopefully Amazon will sort it out if there's any problems - they've always been excellent in the past.

Apparently the 'fix' for the stiff throttle is to vigorously operate it over its range about a dozen times to warm the grease up. There are also threads on one or two of the sim forums where people have dismantled it and wiped a lot of the grease out and replaced it with a lower viscosity (plastic friendly) type.

 

[BlueThunder]

I think you'll be fine. Despite me telling the rep, he told me to go ahead and order, that I wouldn't lose my money!

Yes, the grease eases up with a bit of heat. If I was definitely keeping mine I'd open it up and replace the grease.

 

[Lochemage]

I've actually owned the X65F for a while, but ultimately returned it. The problem I had was that I couldn't get the joystick forces to remain steady without overshooting, or moving on the wrong axes. For those that don't know, the joystick doesn't move, instead it senses force applied to it and registers it as axis movement. To press a button on the stick, you have to apply some amount of pressure on it which invariably causes axes to move. Since the joystick doesn't move, it's really difficult to tell when you are applying axes motion since you aren't actually getting any joystick movement feedback.

I've heard that these issues can be overcome with experience and proper force calibrations, but it just didn't seam practical to spend time learning it when I'm perfectly well versed using a normal joystick.

 

[Rog]

Yeah seems to polarise users: they either love it or hate it.

Those newer drivers (posted earlier) apparently helped quite a few with centering problems btw according to some of the sim forums, and Saitek/Madcatz have said they're going to be treating all of their sticks to an upgraded configuration program in the near future, similar to that on the new X55-Rhino.

Just checked my email, and that X65f has been shipped, so fingers crossed it's a good 'un! :smilie:

 

[BlueThunder]

Fingers crossed you get one Rog.

Looks like the Warthogs are now up to £294 at that site.

 

[jabokai]

Yes, I got that email too Rog. To be honest I still feel the deal is probably too good to be true so am 90% expecting to have to get my money back from Amazon. In the meantime I'm waiting with pessimism.

 

[BlueThunder]

Price now changed to £190. Original asking price was £215.

 

[BlueThunder]

Sold!