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[OatmealMu]

I got some new sticks from G.Skill tonight. The system lasted about 30 minutes before being hit with a BSOD. So, that's a new hard drive and new memory sticks... What's left? The latest error was "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" which is at least a bit more specific than the old errors. I may just find a local repair shop and have them test the CPU and board.

I'm about to do some Prime95 tests.

 

[IrishNinja]

There's a firmware patch that fixes the "70% fan utilization at idle" problem you're referring to. Check your 6870's manufacturer website. It should be there. The patch fixed my 6850 (XFX) right up...

holy shit you're right, this totally fixed it! second it was done, shit calmed right down. thanks a lot man, no idea why i didn't try that first.

 

[gotee12]

holy shit you're right, this totally fixed it! second it was done, shit calmed right down. thanks a lot man, no idea why i didn't try that first.

No problem. Doesn't sound like a twin engine Cessna any longer, right?

 

[Angelus Errare]

You sure as heck can, but I wouldn't recommend it.

To be honest, I just prefer a clean slate when changing around hardware. To each their own I suppose.

I use to with 98, XP, Vista. But nowadays I have little reason to fresh install. While I don't install many programs those that I do install are huge and are a PITA (read: time consuming) to reinstall. That I use to do it for hardware reasons, but since 7 flushes old hardware drivers and info out of the system when you switch hardware I've found it a godsend.

 

[(._.)]

These are my current specs. I'm a casual builder who is knowledgeable on assembly but not on what the best parts are. I'm considering upgrading or replacing certain parts for stability. My current build runs ok but it seems like I'm constantly encountering issues with hiccups and memory dumps. Anything I could do so that my experience is more stable and reliable?

 

[Drkirby]

So, it seems that most of the time when I try to overclock my CPU, it just locks up windows rather then getting a BSOD or overheating, any idea on what I could do? Its an AMD Phenom II 925.

 

[darthbob]

These are my current specs. I'm a casual builder who is knowledgeable on assembly but not on what the best parts are. I'm considering upgrading or replacing certain parts for stability. My current build runs ok but it seems like I'm constantly encountering issues with hiccups and memory dumps. Anything I could do so that my experience is more stable and reliable?

You could upgrade that 260 to a 1GB 460, that should improve performance in your games at that res.

Get a Q6600 or equivalent LGA775 quad, they're fairly inexpensive nowadays. Other than replacing your motherboard with a P55 or X58 build, I'd just get the quad CPU and better GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127518
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568

So, it seems that most of the time when I try to overclock my CPU, it just locks up windows rather then getting a BSOD or overheating, any idea on what I could do? Its an AMD Phenom II 925.

It seems to me that those aren't exactly the best overclockers. You've got to remember that through the process of binning, a 925 would barely qualify as being a quad, as it's target frequencies were not to par with the high class Deneb cores, like the 965. So, basically, after cutting the silicon, it failed to perform at ~3.4GHz or had too much heat, so they binned it as a lower end part.

Sometimes you can overclock cheaper parts like that and get lucky, as supply and demand might require more '925s' rather than higher end parts, but it seems like either your motherboard BIOS is severely limiting you, or you got a CPU that is performing as it should, no better, no worse.

 

[Hazaro]

A computer should be stable. Otherwise it's a software or HDD/RAM problem.
Run a USB/DVD OS and see if you encounter the same things.
I wouldn't upgrade now on a good dual core with Sandy Bride so close. One thing you can do is put a $120 775 chip in there and clock it to about 3Ghz.

Kirby, that's what happens most of the time. The CPU reurns garbage and the comp locks up. It shouldn't overheat when overclocking, it'll throttle itself, or shut off (super rare).

 

[LegoDad]

Alright, think I have it all setup. Never started a computer without Windows, but shouldn't it show just the BIOS if I start it up and don't have windows installed?

 

[darthbob]

Alright, think I have it all setup. Never started a computer without Windows, but shouldn't it show just the BIOS if I start it up and don't have windows installed?

No, lol. The BSOD is inherent of an Windows OS install. A PC doesn't just do that.

What it will do, is it'll say that you have "No Operating System installed (or present or whatever)"

 

[Le-mo]

Ok guys, after five days of fiddling with the damn thing I finally got my first built pc up and running! On Windows XP, though. Couldn't get it to install Windows 7 it kept on freezing. I must have encountered ten major problems on the way, but I made it. So proud of myself. :lol

I'm finally joining the superior gaming race and as a treat for myself I will get Crysis 2, Crysis: War Head, BioShock 2, and Left 4 Dead as my introduction to superior gaming.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Congrats, what were the Windows 7 problems, we might be able to help.

 

[Le-mo]

Congrats, what were the Windows 7 problems, we might be able to help.

It either froze at the start up menu or will say "hyper transport failed at last boot" or something to that extent. It alternates between the two.

 

[LegoDad]

No, lol. The BSOD is inherent of an Windows OS install. A PC doesn't just do that.

What it will do, is it'll say that you have "No Operating System installed (or present or whatever)"

I wasn't talking about anyone else's problems. :lol

I just installed everything and didn't have windows installed, switch HDMI cables and boom it showed the BIOS, so I installed everything correctly it seems. Though the Kingston Hyper X fans have a Blue LED and my case has a red LED... :lol

Downloading Windows right now to give it a test run, though I need to format the SSD.

 

[darthbob]

I wasn't talking about anyone else's problems. :lol

I just installed everything and didn't have windows installed, switch HDMI cables and boom it showed the BIOS, so I installed everything correctly it seems. Though the Kingston Hyper X fans have a Blue LED and my case has a red LED... :lol

Downloading Windows right now to give it a test run, though I need to format the SSD.

BLUE LEDS for FREEZING TEMPS.

RED LEDS for HIGH FPS (at the cost of BURNING TEMPS)

:lol It's cool, I've got like 3 ricer blue fans in my case too.

 

[Drkirby]

Kirby, that's what happens most of the time. The CPU returns garbage and the comp locks up. It shouldn't overheat when overclocking, it'll throttle itself, or shut off (super rare).

I have had it just shut off twice also. So, should I just try every increment, or is there a program I could run to help me find proper settings?

 

[LegoDad]

Ugh, the plasma I'm hooking it up to to test, shows the screen to big, so I can't see half the buttons I want to press to fix things before Windows downloads. lol

 

[Ashhong]

Ugh, the plasma I'm hooking it up to to test, shows the screen to big, so I can't see half the buttons I want to press to fix things before Windows downloads. lol

Press "Format" or "Aspect" on your plasma remote. If you set it to Just Scan it should be fine. It may turn out too small like it does on mine though.

 

[brain_stew]

Press "Format" or "Aspect" on your plasma remote. If you set it to Just Scan it should be fine. It may turn out too small like it does on mine though.

If that's the case, then you need to adjust the overscan setting in your drivers. Never use anything other than the native/justscan/1:1 option when hooking up a PC to a HDTV.

 

[Ashhong]

If that's the case, then you need to adjust the overscan setting in your drivers. Never use anything other than the native/justscan/1:1 option when hooking up a PC to a HDTV.

I couldn't find the settings for the longest time. I was FINALLY able to find the stupid hidden settings in CCC today though. It's about time :lol

Also,

brain_stew
Hello friend! Have you heard the good news about Jesus PC gaming?
(Today, 03:52 AM)
Reply | Quote

:lol

 

[opticalmace]

[IM]http://i51.tinypic.com/2i1gu9h.png[/IMG]

These are my current specs. I'm a casual builder who is knowledgeable on assembly but not on what the best parts are. I'm considering upgrading or replacing certain parts for stability. My current build runs ok but it seems like I'm constantly encountering issues with hiccups and memory dumps. Anything I could do so that my experience is more stable and reliable?

First of all run Memtest to see if your RAM is faulty or not. That would definitely be a source of such problems. Then we can go from there.

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[LegoDad]

Press "Format" or "Aspect" on your plasma remote. If you set it to Just Scan it should be fine. It may turn out too small like it does on mine though.

Yeah Just doesn't work, Full did, I was WTF for 30 minutes on Just, then tried Full, lol.

My Windows 7 hasn't arrived so I'm deciding if I want to put a test run of windows 7 on for 30 days until it arrives. I think I could put professional and just upgrade to ultimate later.

 

[Easy_D]

So I want to upgrade my CPU and I'm currently looking at:

An Intel Core™ i5 Quad Processor i5-760
And an AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Price is pretty much the same so that's not a huge deciding factor in this case. So just give me some proper numbers in actual gaming environments.

I'd also like to know which one could give me the most out of PCSX2 and Dolphin.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Intels perform better in regards to dolphin emulator.

I haven't been keeping up too much with Intel but I think they're killing off 1156 socket pretty soon. (Pretty much my only issue with Intel is how fast they kill their sockets ugh).

Also the i5-760 walks over the Phenom II.

AMD right now is only great at the 100$ and below price point, once you start getting to like $150 you're better off grabbing the Intel quads.

With that said Sandy Bridge (Intel) is coming out in like a month. Bobcat/Bulldozer (AMD's next piece) isn't coming out until Q2/Q3 2011 I think

 

[Easy_D]

Okay, thanks, the i5 is just about 15 euros more, so nice to know it's much better.
Now to be on the look-out for a reasonably priced motherboard.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Is there any difference between using a 22" 1080p monitor and a 22" 1080p LCD TV to hook your PC up to?

 

[Schmattakopf]

And an AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

If you decide on this one, get the 955 BE instead.

 

[Unicorn]

Here comes a rather stupid question.

I got a SSD for my tower, but it's not recognizing it. on the back of the SSD there's two connection spots, one for the SATA and the other for what I assume is the power.

My power supply doesn't have a cord to connect to that other slot.

What do I need to do in order for my computer detect it? Wanted to load Windows onto it. :lol

 

[Easy_D]

Here comes a rather stupid question.

I got a SSD for my tower, but it's not recognizing it. on the back of the SSD there's two connection spots, one for the SATA and the other for what I assume is the power.

My power supply doesn't have a cord to connect to that other slot.

What do I need to do in order for my computer detect it? Wanted to load Windows onto it. :lol

I'm not an expert but I get the feeling you already answered your question :lol

 

[Drkirby]

You know, I think I may have come up with a unorthodox solution to my overclocking problem. Since Dolphin can only use 2 cores, and is the only program at the moment that I need to have a higher clock speed with, I really only need to over clock them, I can disable core 3 and 4 on my CPU. Then, when not using Dolphin, and can just put my CPU back on stock settings.

From what I have seen, it seems to be the 3rd core that keeps causing problems when I overclock. I noticed that when the Core unlocker feature was on it keep turning that one off, and ran pretty stable at higher clock speeds with cores 1, 2, and 4.

Or is my idea totally crazy and not going to work?

Is there any difference between using a 22" 1080p monitor and a 22" 1080p LCD TV to hook your PC up to?

Monitor won't make you jump though hoops to turn off some post processing, TV can get cable.

 

[Unicorn]

I'm not an expert but I get the feeling you already answered your question :lol

Yeah, but my question is: How do I supply it power?

 

[Drkirby]

I guess you can get a cable. Does something like this look like it would help?

 

[Angelus Errare]

Wait your power supply doesn't have SATA connectors? Damn how old is that PSU?!

 

[Le-mo]

I played the Crysis demo last night on my spanking new PC and I wasn't that impressed since it was a night stage so I couldn't see all the details.

 

[vocab]

I played the Crysis demo last night on my spanking new PC and I wasn't that impressed since it was a night stage so I couldn't see all the details.

That's incredibly normal.

 

[PumpkinPie]

What would you choose between an HD 5870 or a GTX 480?

 

[Zzoram]

Anyone here have a Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless with cherry mx brown or blue? How do you like them for gaming?

 

[teiresias]

Anyone here have a Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless with cherry mx brown or blue? How do you like them for gaming?

I have a Cherry Brown keyboard and love it. It's great for touch typing, but depending on your preferences you might be better off with a mech. keyboard with black switches for a bit more resistance. I think brown is generally considered the best compromise between the two if you need to do both typing and gaming.

They're getting VERY hard to get in the states, presumably because Starcraft 2 players have suddenly taken a liking to them, so the usual US importers are going constantly out of stock (and raising prices).

 

[Le-mo]

Can anybody give me any tips on how to maximize my gaming experience? Any plugins I should download? What my settings should be and etc.

 

[·feist·]

NCIX mistakenly listed the GTX 570 ahead of schedule. Though it's been removed, you can see the cached page with a price of $414.98 CAD for the Superclocked edition.

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Superclocked Fermi 797MHZ 1280MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=57362&vpn=012-P3-1572-AR&manufacture=eVGA
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...GTX+570+Superclocked&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

The GTX 570 is supposedly going to be released December 7 to coincide with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

http://www.sweclockers.com/nyhet/13132-geforce-gtx-570-samma-dag-som-cataclysm

 

[Zzoram]

I have a Cherry Brown keyboard and love it. It's great for touch typing, but depending on your preferences you might be better off with a mech. keyboard with black switches for a bit more resistance. I think brown is generally considered the best compromise between the two if you need to do both typing and gaming.

They're getting VERY hard to get in the states, presumably because Starcraft 2 players have suddenly taken a liking to them, so the usual US importers are going constantly out of stock (and raising prices).

I think black is most resistant so it's better for FPS but not RTS. I kinda want blue because I think hearing the click would be a good audio cue to help me notice how slow I'm playing.

 

[desu]

NCIX mistakenly listed the GTX 570 ahead of schedule. Though it's been removed, you can see the cached page with a price of $414.98 CAD for the Superclocked edition.

Interesting, might get one of these when I am in the US.

 

[Unicorn]

Wait your power supply doesn't have SATA connectors? Damn how old is that PSU?!

Its a brand new corsair 650w.

Dr. Kirby, the other slot doesn't loot like the one on the left. The bump up is more towards the middle. That one looks like the SATA connector which connects to the mobo.

Edit:
SSD is crucial 64gb.

 

[LegoDad]

Its a brand new corsair 650w.

Dr. Kirby, the other slot doesn't loot like the one on the left. The bump up is more towards the middle. That one looks like the SATA connector which connects to the mobo.

Edit:
SSD is crucial 64gb.

I have the Corsair 650w, set it up last night with a SSD no problem. one is SATA, the other is power.

 

[Unicorn]

I have the Corsair 650w, set it up last night with a SSD no problem. one is SATA, the other is power.

Mind taking a picture? If I find the cord tonight I'm going to feel like a bat- blind.

 

[Le-mo]

Can somebody give me a link to download DirectX 10 for Windows XP?

 

[opticalmace]

Its a brand new corsair 650w.

Dr. Kirby, the other slot doesn't loot like the one on the left. The bump up is more towards the middle. That one looks like the SATA connector which connects to the mobo.

Edit:
SSD is crucial 64gb.

Um which model PSU?

 

[LegoDad]

Mind taking a picture? If I find the cord tonight I'm going to feel like a bat- blind.

At school can do it later tonight, though don't really want to. Cabling is still a mess, as I just wanted to make sure it worked. I had two cords that looked the same, one for DVD drives, etc, and the other I used for HDD's the SSD and 1TB HDD.

 

[Unicorn]

Um which model PSU?

The one in the june build guide hazaro had goin'.

I had a bad mobo. DOA, so it's taken me this long to get my comp to turn on.

Edit: thnx caliblue.

The slot for me looks like a lower case "t" on its side with half the cross gone.

____I__

Like that...

 

[Poohblaster]

I've been looking around trying to find a Radeon HD4890 to run in Crossfire. The only place I've been able to find them for a reasonable price (~$150 ) is Ebay. Any other ideas on where I could look.