What dock to use

Hi All!

I've been lurking around for a couple of week reading, learning and trying out what works best for me ( read my new sweet notebook ). I followed Alangs article on customization and everything works great.... except ( there's always a "BUT" somewhere ) I have some performance issues using Docks. I've tried Y'zDock, RKLauncher, AquaDock, ObjectDock (freeware), a couple others I can't remember from the top of my head.

By far the best one, performance wise, is Y'zDock. Using the magnification effect and going nuts with the mouse over it never pushes the CPU usage over 80%. Unfortunately it lacks some very usefull features, like "switch to running instance".

After trying all the docs I could find, I had to settle with ObjectDock with all effects turned OFF, which is a drag considering the fact this notebook has monster graphics, decent cpu (1.8) and heaps of ram (1gig). There's something about the ObjectDock that just eats away the cpu. By this I mean if any visual effects are active and mouseover it. Whats up with that? It would appear as if they use an infinite loop in the code without yealding any CPU to other processes until the zoom effect breaks the loop.

Any other docks out there?

#322381

Must be your comp cause all of those docks worked fine on my old 400Mhz P3 with 256megs of RAM.

#322390

Funny that, a Dock would be the only thing not working like expected. It's a development comp with a ton of SW, if it were really the comp, you'd expect something else not working too. I'm not rulling it out though, stranger things have happened.

Hm... could this purhaps be a directX version issue? Though I doubt any DX libs are used here...

#322396

Like Unbe said.. Must be your comp, or you have really to many soft, cause all the dock you tell work good .. Personnaly i used Y'zDock and RkLauncher and some time these 2 in same time, with my little Atlon 1100Mhz and 256megs of RAM, and work good.. All visual active.

One unnamed by you is RocketLauncher, but never try this one... So try and test it

#322443

Thanks for the tip Unbe, @ceroy. I've just gotten my old Compaq back... will try the same setup there for comparison. Cheers.

#322450

I have performance issues with docks as well. I just can't figure it out.

#322451

Well, I've just figured mine out... but doubt my info will be any good to you. I just ran 3DBenchmark on mine and guess what? It reports 0kb L1 cache, 0kb L2 cache and CPU clock internal 401Mhz external 400Mhz. Arght!!! I'm going to the shop tomorrow and the words going postal keep popping up in my mind.

An to thing just three weeks ago I wondered why they would lock the Bios setup. Well... here's the answer. Too bad I haven't tried any 3d games before now.

Oh, by the way.. Is there any reason for a benchmark report to be wrong. I'll run some more test, I guess.

Thanks for the help guys.

#322469

Regardless of anything else the benchmark would report to you, clock speed is kind of a fundamental thing that your CPU would report/the benchmark report would pick up. So... I'd be at a loss to explain how it would report having a 400 mhz CPU if you don't in fact have one... unless your CPU is somehow configured in some bizarre way, but it would have to be something pretty blatant and obvious.

#322514

could be drivers. I had that once happen with a bad batch of ATi drivers >.

#322541

About the cache, are you sure it's enabled in the BIOS? Some systems default with it turned off.

#322551

More answers... it's not the drivers it's not ATI. I attemped to enter Bios with no success... dunno the code. Anyways I was able to pause the bootup process log enought to take a picture with a digital camera and it sais either 400 or 401 Mhz at booup. Actually it reads Intel Pentium 1.8GHz nn Speed: 401Mhz

I am starting to thing the store plugged in a used motherboard the got back as "it's working A.O.K.". Those people are so gonna get it tommorow or I should really say today.

Anyways I am back on the old Compaq 866 P3 and as Unbeliever predicted ObjectDock is working great. Took me 4 hours to synchronize everything... again. It was the damn comp after all. Arght!

#322560

ok open up your case, you'll see a battery, pop it out, put it back in.

it resets the bios, should bring things back to normal

EDIT: will look something like this http://www.infopackets.com/graphics/cmos+jumper.gif

And make sure they dont apply a password when you bring it back... lol

#322592

Thankx for that Astyanax. I used to work for a hardware service shop a couple of years back, so diggin up the battery present no problem at all. Or rather it would present no problem were it not for the "Waranty void if broken" seal. Ultimately it's the copmanies notebook, so I probably shouldn't do it on my own.

Cheers!

#322622