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[Boonoo]

With 12GBs of RAM you're definitely a candidate for a bad stick. It is possible Windows downloaded a high priority update and restarted on it's own, but unlikely, unless you just missed the alert that pops up when it does so.

If it continues to happen, do the memtest thing overnight. Nothing like breaking in a stubborn PC... so glad mine wasn't that much trouble!

One thing to note with memtest. I've had the best luck individually checking each stick briefly before I let it go though complete passes. Some sticks are so dead that it catches them right off. It's a little more work at the beginning--popping all those sticks in and out. But it saved me time in the long run.

 

[Minsc]

no i have 6GB of RAM. Anyway, the computer registers 6GB of RAM fine. Dont know if that means anything

We'll see how this goes for a while. Good times

Yea, that's a better plan. Enjoy some games, I need to do the same!

 

[Vic]

You'd need an insane amount of pressure to break the die
Pictures? (Die, cooler, etc.)

I've installed an S1 myself (amazingly good cooler) and didn't run into that problem. I did have to superglue/thermal paste the RAMsinks on though.

:lol

Damn. That's a real bummer. Have you had a chance yet to attempt any resurrections? In my experience those things tend to be built like tanks. I've bent the socket on my CPU before, but it's kept on going.

Not to be morbid, but any pictures? I just ordered one of these myself (based on your post; I'm sick of my noisy gpu fan), so i'd like to see what's going on with it.

Hopefully it will work out for you.

Yeah, I'll take a picture of the die soon. The some parts of the 4 corners of the die are gone.

Current diagnostic: When I boot the computer with the monitor connected to the card, nothing happens on-screen yet when I tried it with the stock cooler, the fan was running non-stop at 100% which mean that there's at the least power passing through the card.

 

[I <3 Memes]

What the hell Amir0x? That keyboard looks like it was a murder weapon.

 

[Amir0x]

Like I said, it has been kept for ten years in a storage. It's the keyboard to an old Gateway computer I used to own. It had cobwebs on it and all sorts of horrible crap. I haven't even used that keyboard since, like, the year 1999 or something.

It was the only P/2 whatever keyboard i had in my arsenal. I only have USB keyboards :lol

 

[Druz]

no i have 6GB of RAM. Anyway, the computer registers 6GB of RAM fine. Dont know if that means anything

We'll see how this goes for a while. Good times

I've never crashed in windows 7 once and I've used it since before launch. Keep that in mind.

 

[Vic]

A picture as promised. The bottom right of the die is totally crushed:

 

[Hazaro]

A picture as promised. The bottom right of the die is totally crushed:

Use a q-tip + rubbing alcohol to clean up the connections and goop around the die and give it another go.

Did you do anything unusual when putting it on? Did you follow the manual?

 

[Vic]

Use a q-tip + rubbing alcohol to clean up the connections and goop around the die and give it another go.

Did that, still the same.

Did you do anything unusual when putting it on? Did you follow the manual?

As I said, put too much pressure when I've joined the heatskin and the card.

 

[rothgar]

Hmm... I would need to take a really good look under a microscope, but it seems like it should still work. I work in a failure analysis lab, and we polish the top of those die till there's almost nothing left. And they still work. That's a flip-chip device, so the top part is all silicon. The transistors are between the silicon and the plastic board. You may have chipped the corner down to the transistor level, but like I said, it's hard to say.

 

[Amir0x]

Man Windows 7 is so rad. Aero Peek ftw.

I'm so happy I built this PC. Now using it feels so rewarding, because I built it. I wish I could give everyone who helped me out through this trying building process something to show my gratitude

 

[Minsc]

Man Windows 7 is so rad. Aero Peek ftw.

I'm so happy I built this PC. Now using it feels so rewarding, because I built it. I wish I could give everyone who helped me out through this trying building process something to show my gratitude

Make sure to start pinning stuff to your taskbar, ideally, imo you should wean yourself off the desktop completely and have (next to) no icons. Then you can also do stuff like right click on the Steam icon and get a list of recently played games, works for other stuff too. Itunes gives you play/next/previous controls right in the peak popup! Plenty of other nice surprises too.

I think all the gift anyone would for help to solving others' problems is having the issues get fixed and stay fixed! That's the most rewarding thing of all.

 

[Amir0x]

I like some icons on my desktop though. Just the way I roll (Recycle Bin, My Computer, My main virus protector, Firefox)

I loooooooooove the scrolling wallpaper feature. Never had that on XP that I knew about. It's so rad. The nature wallpaper set somebody linked to in this thread was excellent.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I like some icons on my desktop though. Just the way I roll (Recycle Bin, My Computer, My main virus protector, Firefox)

I loooooooooove the scrolling wallpaper feature. Never had that on XP that I knew about. It's so rad. The nature wallpaper set somebody linked to in this thread was excellent.

After a while you'll just start deleting them most likely. I did the same thing but I wound up being unwilling to click on my desktop to use them after having them pinned to the taskbar. The only thing I have now are some file folders on the extreme edge of the screen so I can click without minimizing.

I'm tempted to build a new pc again once I get my tax return... Hmm.... :/

 

[Amir0x]

I've always been a desktop person though. I have like a certain setup I'm comfortable with, which fits me like a glove. It just feels worn in already the way I have Win7 set up. Perfect for my needs

I like a certain sense of disorganization too. I'm a disorganized person, after all.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I've always been a desktop person though. I have like a certain setup I'm comfortable with, which fits me like a glove. It just feels worn in already the way I have Win7 set up. Perfect for my needs

I like a certain sense of disorganization too. I'm a disorganized person, after all.

Cool! And I'm pretty sure the rotating desktop is new for Windows 7, I don't think vista had it either.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I'm putting together a PC for the first time ever today, too. So far I've got the PSU, DVD drive and back plate for the mobo all done nicely, and I've got the RAM in the mobo. Now comes the CPU and placing the mobo in my case, though, which I'm really nervous about. I can't fuck this up. >.<

 

[Amir0x]

I'm putting together a PC for the first time ever today, too. So far I've got the PSU, DVD drive and back plate for the mobo all done nicely, and I've got the RAM in the mobo. Now comes the CPU and placing the mobo in my case, though, which I'm really nervous about. I can't fuck this up. >.<

Do what I did. Fuck everything up at every level of the installation, and then through sweat, blood, tears and the sacrifice of prepubescent virgins, get it to run. Then the sense of satisfaction from getting it to work will be like the culmination of a hundred builds.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

I don't fear it not working at first, just ruining my £120 CPU which I can't afford to replace. :lol

I haven't even bought my 5850 yet (I'm borrowing my brother's crappy gpu for the time being) so if I add a broken part into my budget this PC won't see the life of day for another 4-6 weeks at least.

 

[Cheeto]

I don't fear it not working at first, just ruining my £120 CPU which I can't afford to replace. :lol

I haven't even bought my 5850 yet (I'm borrowing my brother's crappy gpu for the time being) so if I add a broken part into my budget this PC won't see the life of day for another 4-6 weeks at least.

It's kinda hard to ruin a CPU....don't worry too much.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I'm putting together a PC for the first time ever today, too. So far I've got the PSU, DVD drive and back plate for the mobo all done nicely, and I've got the RAM in the mobo. Now comes the CPU and placing the mobo in my case, though, which I'm really nervous about. I can't fuck this up. >.<

It's pretty hard to kill a cpu and if you're just doing the stock cooler, you're just pushing the 4 tabs in so it shouldn't be an issue at all. Just make sure it's facing the right direction and read the directions and it should be a piece of cake. And mobo placing mobo into the case I usually do first but you're just lining up screw holes.

 

[Hazaro]

I don't fear it not working at first, just ruining my £120 CPU which I can't afford to replace. :lol

I haven't even bought my 5850 yet (I'm borrowing my brother's crappy gpu for the time being) so if I add a broken part into my budget this PC won't see the life of day for another 4-6 weeks at least.

Psh post again when you rub sandpaper over it :lol

 

[Amir0x]

It's kinda hard to ruin a CPU....don't worry too much.

That's the thing that made me most paranoid too. Virtually everyone was like "OH GOD DONT PUT ANY PRESSURE ON IT WHEN YOU PUT IT IN PLACE, EVEN THE SILENT WHISPER OF THE WIND CAN CRUSH THE PINS BENEATH, RENDERING YOUR SYSTEM WORTHLESS!"

So naturally when I plopped it into place and had to push down pretty fucking hard to lock the latch in place, I freaked out! :lol

"oh god, this is waaay too much pressure!!"

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

That's the thing that made me most paranoid too. Virtually everyone was like "OH GOD DONT PUT ANY PRESSURE ON IT WHEN YOU PUT IT IN PLACE, EVEN THE SILENT WHISPER OF THE WIND CAN CRUSH THE PINS BENEATH, RENDERING YOUR SYSTEM WORTHLESS!"

So naturally when I plopped it into place and had to push down pretty fucking hard to lock the latch in place, I freaked out! :lol

"oh god, this is waaay too much pressure!!"

Ya, especially since it can be a relatively expensive component depending on the build. I was totally in that group that I was afraid I was going to break something. You just have to take a deep breath and take your time, a lot of problems is fear of not knowing from never doing it then anything else.

 

[Amir0x]

Yeah, since it was my first time, i was paranoid about everything. It is nice to have a general knowledge of how things work though. So I can upgrade incrementally now.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Yeah, since it was my first time, i was paranoid about everything. It is nice to have a general knowledge of how things work though. So I can upgrade incrementally now.

Ya, it's totally worth it in the end because once you do it that first time you're pretty much set if you ever have to upgrade or change something but I was definitely in that group also of the nerve racking first time.

 

[Inkwell]

I posted a while back about my pc randomly freezing. I still have the issue. From looking up the problem, it seems like a whole lot of people are getting the freezing as well. I don't think it's necessarily one single problem though. I think that for whatever reason, windows is crashing but is not able to generate a blue screen or error in the event viewer.

I do have a feeling that It's my ram. I tried singling out which module might be bad, but windows froze within 5 minutes trying each one separately. When I have both in though my system is much more solid and I get less freezing.

I had one freeze in TF2 where there was actually something in the event viewer. I probably won't be able to find it again, but from what I researched it seemed to most likely be linked to a memory error.

By the way, I just put in that Cooler Master 212 +. That thing is huge! I had to remove a fan located on the removable panel of my case so the heatsink would fit.

Yeah, since it was my first time, i was paranoid about everything. It is nice to have a general knowledge of how things work though. So I can upgrade incrementally now.

This last build was something like my third time and I was still nervous about some things, like using too much arctic silver, strange hardware incompatibilities, etc.

 

[Amir0x]

Ya, it's totally worth it in the end because once you do it that first time you're pretty much set if you ever have to upgrade or change something but I was definitely in that group also of the nerve racking first time.

Yup. It's just a process that I'm glad I embarked on. I doubted it for a while there when everything seemed to be going wrong, but i'm happy i pushed on with the help of GAF and elsewhere. A learning experience.

Now I just need to dust my desk and tidy up a bit, and clean up the chords behind the desk, and I'll have a beautiful work area :lol

 

[platypotamus]

You guys WOULD be talking about how rewarding it is to build your own PC right now.

I was coming in here to ask what my best options were if I didn't want to do that. I haven't messed with the hardware of a PC in years, and I've never done anything more complex than a PCI card or a stick of RAM. I don't want to deal with mounting a motherboard or power supply. I probably don't even want to deal with hard/Disc drives either. I don't have the free time I used to to deal with this sort of thing. :\

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Yup. It's just a process that I'm glad I embarked on. I doubted it for a while there when everything seemed to be going wrong, but i'm happy i pushed on with the help of GAF and elsewhere. A learning experience.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x55/Amir0x/SmallerComputer.jpg

Now I just need to dust my desk and tidy up a bit, and clean up the chords behind the desk, and I'll have a beautiful work area :lol

Hah, looks like I have the same screen. It's nice, but it suffers from ghosting.

 

[beast786]

You guys WOULD be talking about how rewarding it is to build your own PC right now.

I was coming in here to ask what my best options were if I didn't want to do that. I haven't messed with the hardware of a PC in years, and I've never done anything more complex than a PCI card or a stick of RAM. I don't want to deal with mounting a motherboard or power supply. I probably don't even want to deal with hard/Disc drives either. I don't have the free time I used to to deal with this sort of thing. :\

I really Like these guys, especially due to Hardware and labor warranties.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

You guys WOULD be talking about how rewarding it is to build your own PC right now.

I was coming in here to ask what my best options were if I didn't want to do that. I haven't messed with the hardware of a PC in years, and I've never done anything more complex than a PCI card or a stick of RAM. I don't want to deal with mounting a motherboard or power supply. I probably don't even want to deal with hard/Disc drives either. I don't have the free time I used to to deal with this sort of thing. :\

Where do you live? I think people said you only have to pay a little for ncix to build the parts you pick out. And seriously? It doesn't take that long to build, it's 4 screws MAX to mount a power supply. This isn't like building a car from scratch.

I really Like these guys, especially due to Hardware and labor warranties.

Those machines are freaking expensive.

 

[Amir0x]

Hah, looks like I have the same screen. It's nice, but it suffers from ghosting.

I went a little cheaper on the screen because I wanted some extra money to buy games for my PC :<

 

[Minsc]

You guys WOULD be talking about how rewarding it is to build your own PC right now.

I was coming in here to ask what my best options were if I didn't want to do that. I haven't messed with the hardware of a PC in years, and I've never done anything more complex than a PCI card or a stick of RAM. I don't want to deal with mounting a motherboard or power supply. I probably don't even want to deal with hard/Disc drives either. I don't have the free time I used to to deal with this sort of thing. :\

So you just want a 3 year warranty and no hassle, but that means you pay a good 30%+ premium. You can build a Dell w/ a 5870 for like $1.5K or use something like cyberpowerpc or the sort for like ~$1K.

Better yet, you can use something like http://ncix.com/ and just pay a $50 charge to have all your parts assembled and put together, saving a lot of money.

 

[chixdiggit]

Now I just need to dust my desk and tidy up a bit, and clean up the chords behind the desk, and I'll have a beautiful work area :lol

If you can get the PC off the floor you should. They suck up a lot of dust sitting on the carpet like that. Doesn't really look like an option with the desk you have though.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

I went a little cheaper on the screen because I wanted some extra money to buy games for my PC :<

Did you buy any yet?

 

[Amir0x]

Did you buy any yet?

Crysis, Witcher. I ordered Risen from Amazon and Gothic I+II+III set.

That's it for the moment. Gonna add more next week (stalker, Company of Heroes, DoD, etc)

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Crysis, Witcher. I ordered Risen from Amazon and Gothic I+II+III set.

That's it for the moment. Gonna add more next week (stalker, Company of Heroes, DoD, etc)

Both Crysis games or just the first one?

 

[Dead Prince]

time to upgrade that speaker system.

 

[beast786]

Those machines are freaking expensive.

But they are damn worth it

 

[Amir0x]

time to upgrade that speaker system.

those speakers are the last hold overs from my old 6 year old PC besides my mouse/keyboard

I intend to buy a new speaker set along with new mouse/keyboard next week as well!

 

[platypotamus]

Nice, hadn't ever heard of ncix(us) before, and I'm pretty willing to drop a quick 50 for them to put it together for me so I don't have to.

Now to talk with the wife and find out what my budget is so I can start figuring out what I want

 

[Amir0x]

just the first Crysis atm. I'm sure I'll get Warhead later.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

just the first Crysis atm. I'm sure I'll get Warhead later.

Ah, ok. The bundle for the two is pretty cheap so I was wondering if you got the two of them.

 

[beast786]

Nice, hadn't ever heard of ncix(us) before, and I'm pretty willing to drop a quick 50 for them to put it together for me so I don't have to.

Now to talk with the wife and find out what my budget is so I can start figuring out what I want

Thats an excellent advice. But i still prefer warranty and labor covered.

 

[Druz]

Crysis, Witcher. I ordered Risen from Amazon and Gothic I+II+III set.

That's it for the moment. Gonna add more next week (stalker, Company of Heroes, DoD, etc)

Good luck with Gothic. 1 has tough controls, 2 has easy controls buy you have to set it so in options. The games looked great in 2003. Just don't play Risen first because it'll annihilate your minimum standards for graphics.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Thats an excellent advice. But i still prefer warranty and labor covered.

? All the parts have warranty.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

I've got a bunch of extra money to build a new PC, this week I sold my old Toshiba pentium dual core laptop and that Athlon 620 quad core micro-atx desktop I built. Thinking of building a Windows Home server box and buying a netbook. Or maybe an Ipad. Going to upgrade my current desktop to a 6 core AMD chip when they come out, should be late April/May I think? I heard they are coming in around $300. Ion2 netbooks are supposed to be shipping later this month as well, very interested in price for performance compared to whats already out on those, Anandtech seems impressed.

Anyone here have a Windows home server setup? I've talked to a couple people that have one where I work and they both really like it. I could throw together a nice little mini-itx setup for $400-500.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Hmm, that coolit eco water cooling kit seems mighty fine and cheap, im planning to build a pc this fall, i think i'll put that in my system.

 

[GHG]

Anyone know when we should expect reviews and benchmarks for the 6 core AMD chips?