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[EphemeralDream]

Use a different VGA cable. If still a problem either the port on your motor (likely) is flaky or the port on your GPU (unlikely) is flaky. Also try to get the VGA cables as far away from any high voltage sources, like power cables, as possible.

But it is most definitely going to be better if you use a digital connection.

I notice that when I enable "composite sync" in CCC, the problem seems to go away. There's a tooltip with it that says: "Check this ONLY if you are using an older composite sync monitor as it combines the horizontal and vertical synchronization signals supplied to your monitor." My monitor is a Samsung TN panel from about 4 years back. It's not new but it's certainly not old.

Is this a bad idea? Unfortunately I don't have another VGA cable lying around at the moment to test out, but I can try your suggestion tomorrow.

 

[dinosaur_hunter2]

I'm a little embarassed here, but my problem turned out to be... the loose CPU power cable. I'm installing Windows 7 right now, so I have a question. I bought the ASUS DX-1 soundcard and the GFORCE GTX570 video card. I'll be using HDMI all the time, so... how can I make the sound go out through HDMI, considering that my video card does not have a SPDIF output? Also, where the HD AUDIO cable should go? To the DX-1 or to the motherboard?

A little problem I'm facing: the P8Z68-V is not recognizing one of my ram sticks. I know both are good because I've tested them separately, so I guess there's a problem with the memory lanes on the motherboard. Is there something I can do so I don't lose dual channel support?

Thank again, guys.

 

[Celcius]

^^Good to see it was a simple fix. To keep dual channel, you could try to move both sticks over from the blue slots to the black slots. However, if there's something defective on the motherboard, why not exchange it? (since it's brand new & under warranty)

 

[RS4-]

Feist, thanks for the vids. I think I may just go for a 360 so I don't have to fiddle around with the HDD cage; if it was easy to pull out then I'd go for a 540.

I only plan on going with a CPU loop. I'm not too fond of buying a GPU block with every upgrade since the newer cards may not be compatible.

 

[Loam]

You still need to tell use how much you are willing to spend on the monitor. Plus, what size, 22", 24" or etc.

I know it probably boils down to preference but what would you recommend for size? I would be aiming for a decent quality monitor that doesn't break 200$ if at all possible.

 

[dinosaur_hunter2]

^^Good to see it was a simple fix. To keep dual channel, you could try to move both sticks over from the blue slots to the black slots. However, if there's something defective on the motherboard, why not exchange it? (since it's brand new & under warranty)

I tried the usual remove and install it again and it worked. Now my system is using the two ram sticks. However, I still need to figure out a way to have sound through HDMI.

Thanks for your help

EDIT: Never mind about that. The sound came up as soon as I installed the Nvidia drivers. Everything is A-OK! THANK YOU, GUYS!

 

[·feist·]

NP, RS4-. Keep us updated.

I know it probably boils down to preference but what would you recommend for size? I would be aiming for a decent quality monitor that doesn't break 200$ if at all possible.

That mainly leaves you with TNs and lower-spec IPS models. Check Newegg as a reference point. They have multiple Asus TNs for ~$150-200, and LG IPSs for ~$190+, which are some of the better options available. If you can stretch a bit, Dell's 16x10 eIPS UltraSharp U2412M 24" has been on sale for $300 (down from $400) twice in the past two weeks. It's supposed to still be $300, but many of the usual click-for-profit link sources send you to the full price listing on Dell Home. You can see prices for the 22-24" models at their site.

Regarding SSD's, agreed on the Samsung. I've read quite a few reports that seem to show they're the most reliable of the bunch. I don't know what the junk collection is like on the newest ones though. That's why I was suggesting the newest sandforce drives. No TRIM with OSX.

Regarding the stock 200mm corsair fan, I have 4 of them sitting in my closet, and they'll most likely never come out. (2 from original case, 2 from RMA new case).

Good man. Figured you'd be on your game. For air-cooling use, Cooler Master's 200mm, and 230mm models are really solid, despite their shortcomings. They could also do some limited water duty, in a pinch. If Corsair would use CM's OEM, but switch to better drivers, if not better bearings, it'd be an even better stock fan. Just needs some factory case modifications, but that, and the fan upgrade, would cost them a few pennies more in per-unit profit, so...

I'm with you on the Force GT/Force 3 front, for the exact same reasons. Even with brands I usually trust on reliability, and RMA process, the GT's the only SF2xxx I've recommended, simply due to Corsair's customer service. Shame Intel's 520 SSD was pushed back (process? production capacity? hammering out the kinks with the rumored SF controller?), but once it finally releases, it should automatically shoot to the top of the head of the field, next to the other top performance+reliability picks.

 

[·feist·]

Well, I had a shitty OCZ 500w PSU I bought less than a year ago die, and rather than deal with their RMA, I replaced it with a fan-less SeaSonic X400. Copped the OCZ only out of desperation, due to having no time, limited choice, and an immediate need for a PSU. It spent its life in a zero stress build, powering a dual-core + iGPU email reader/net browser/office doc. PC, and was laughably out of spec the entire time.

Stripped out the Lian Li D12BH-12 inside it, have to rewire the fan, and also going to salvage the metal casing for use in future projects.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

Question for the more knowledgeable, I overclocked my 6100 to 3.8 with turbo core still on. Then followed with a torture test and noticed that the processor would under-volt and continued to stay stable. I understand that the point of point of using Prime95 is to have all cores stay at the overclock frequency, the issue is why would it stay stable at 1.2V?

AMD FX6100
MSI 990XA GD55

 

[WORLDWIDEWII]

building a new pc, how do i ground myself to avoid electro static discharge?

if i purchase a anti static wrist band, where do i hook the crocodile end?

 

[·feist·]

Question for the more knowledgeable, I overclocked my 6100 to 3.8 with turbo core still on. Then followed with a torture test and noticed that the processor would under-volt and continued to stay stable. I understand that the point of point of using Prime95 is to have all cores stay at the overclock frequency, the issue is why would it stay stable at 1.2V?

AMD FX6100
MSI 990XA GD55

For overclocking you want to disable turbo. Are you certain it's still running at a locked 3.8GHz with 1.2v? For stress testing you want to have all power save features off. Certain BD compatible boards/bioses are still very problematic, and won't allow for proper active use, or disabling of power save. Even when they clearly state disabled, you may need to do an APM work around.

Due to an awful fab process, a number of BDs are over-volted from the factory to compensate for stability issues, including many that don't need it. So, it's very possible to overclock, while running at lower than stock volts. Happens a lot with AMD, and Intel.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

For overclocking you want to disable turbo. Are you certain it's still running at a locked 3.8GHz with 1.2v? For stress testing you want to have all power save features off. Certain BD compatible boards/bioses are still very problematic, and won't allow for proper active use, or disabling of power save. Even when they clearly state disabled, you may need to do an APM work around.

Due to an awful fab process, a number of BDs are over-volted from the factory to compensate for stability issues, including many that don't need it. So, it's very possible to overclock, while running at lower than stock volts. Happens a lot with AMD, and Intel.

Running Prime 95 now and it drops to 3.5-3.6. So I'll just turn off turbo core in the bios. One more ? about memory, I caught a sell at newegg around black friday. It was G.Skill Sniper 1866 for $44 and some change. This memory doesn't seem to be very compatible with AMD and in order to get to the advertised clock, I had to increase the FSB to 233, which got me to 1864. Selecting 1866 in the bios wasn't a problem and the PC would boot into Windows, but overclocking brought instability. Memory required a voltage increase.

So I've wondering about the affect of Hyper Transport 3.0 and what should be, assuming it affects stability as well?

 

[Korey]

I'm upgrading my mobo/cpu/ram for the first time in 5 years, and don't plan on upgrading for another 5 (probably but not a strict rule). How does this look?

• Intel BX80623I52500K Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3 GHz Socket 1155 95W Quad-core Desktop Processor
  
  
• ASUS P8Z68-V - LGA 1155 Intel Z68 Chipset ATX Intel Desktop Motherboard
  
  
• Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/8G ValueRAM 8GB ( 4GB x 2 ) 240-pin pc3-10600 DDR3 1333mhz non-ECC desktop memory module

 

[Hazaro]

People buy things from newegg and amazon now unless you are outside US.
Looks fine. newegg has some 2x4GB kits for $30 or $32 though. Low profile ones for $36 from Corsair.

 

[Korey]

People buy things from newegg and amazon now unless you are outside US.
Looks fine. newegg has some 2x4GB kits for $30 or $32 though. Low profile ones for $36 from Corsair.

Thanks. The reason I go with Mwave (or something similar) is I want to have it assembled. I can do computer assembly but for the CPU I'd rather someone else do it because I don't want to mess with thermal paste and bending pins and all that.


1) Does Microcenter do assembly? Their prices are better, and they have a store near me.

• Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
  
  
• P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
  
  
• HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

2) Can you notice any big difference between the ASUS P8Z68-V LX versus the P8Z68-V that would affect a user like me? Here is the Newegg comparison: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627&IsNodeId=1&CompareItemList=280|13-131-781^DM%2C13-131-729^DM&bop=And


3) What's low profile? Shorter sticks? Any reason for them other than looks?

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Thanks. The reason I go with Mwave (or something similar) is I want to have it assembled. I can do computer assembly but for the CPU I'd rather someone else do it because I don't want to mess with thermal paste and bending pins and all that.


1) Does Microcenter do assembly? Their prices are better, and they have a store near me.

• Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
  
  
• P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard

2) Can you notice any big difference between the ASUS P8Z68-V LX versus the P8Z68-V that would affect a user like me? Here is the Newegg comparison: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627&IsNodeId=1&CompareItemList=280|13-131-781^DM%2C13-131-729^DM&bop=And

3) What's low profile? Shorter sticks?

No. V LX will be the same as V for your intended usage.

Low profile means they don't have retarded huge heatsinks on them.

 

[Korey]

Ok, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2UOB

• Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
  
• P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
  
• HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

Good to go?

$285 at Micro Center ($307 after tax), not bad?

 

[brotkasten]

The Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 is still out of stock. Is there any other good and comparable µATX board for that price?

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Ok, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2UOB

• Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
  
• P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
  
• HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)

Good to go?

$285 at Micro Center ($307 after tax), not bad?

That's pretty decent, considering 2500k's alone were going for $220 by themselves a month ago. I got my 2500k + Asus P8Z68-V LX @ Microcenter for $195 total, so I definitely recommend going there.

 

[Korey]

That's pretty decent, considering 2500k's alone were going for $220 by themselves a month ago. I got my 2500k + Asus P8Z68-V LX @ Microcenter for $195 total, so I definitely recommend going there.

Wow, was it a sale special or bundle or something?

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Wow, was it a sale or bundle or something?

Yeah, a bundle, and then they dropped the price of the 2500k from $180 down to $150 on Black Friday. I went back for a price adjustment, total was then $195. Aw yeah.

 

[brotkasten]

• ASUS Maximus IV GENEZ-Z, S1155, mATX, DDR3 (I know it's not the GEN3, but fuck PCIe 3.0)
• Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
• 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile PC3-12800U CL9

How's that?

 

[-PXG-]

• ASUS Maximus IV GENEZ-Z, S1155, mATX, DDR3 (I know it's not the GEN3, but fuck PCIe 3.0)
• Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
• 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile PC3-12800U CL9

How's that?

I have that mobo. The bios is really nice. Dont trust the onboard temp gauge though. I would say to get faster RAM too

 

[MobileWells]

Yeah, a bundle, and then they dropped the price of the 2500k from $180 down to $150 on Black Friday. I went back for a price adjustment, total was then $195. Aw yeah.

Oh wow, I'm disappointed that I missed that. I went with the $15 dollar off newegg i3. I would have happily payed $40 more for double the performance.

I'm working on a build for my little brother for christmas, and so far I have the i3, the h67+ mobo, the ram and the PSU (a 430 is all...might have to upgrade that). So I still need a video card. The gtx450 is $105 on newegg right now, but would I be better off saving for a 460 or a 560ti? What's the gpu bottleneck going to be with the i3? I hardly think this cpu will even be able to push 560.

The purpose is just gaming.

 

[brotkasten]

I have that mobo. The bios is really nice. Dont trust the onboard temp gauge though. I would say to get faster RAM too

Onboard temp as in all sensors or just the mobo/chipset temp? It would suck if the board couldn't read the CPU temp correctly.

 

[vaelic]

So I placed my Q6600 processor on craigs list and I have a potential buyer but he is asking the following question:

"Can you tell me if it’s a SL9UM(B3) or SLACR(GO) ? "

what does that mean and how can I go about finding out the answer for him?

thanks!

 

[brotkasten]

So I placed my Q6600 processor on craigs list and I have a potential buyer but he is asking the following question:

"Can you tell me if it’s a SL9UM(B3) or SLACR(GO) ? "

what does that mean and how can I go about finding out the answer for him?

thanks!

He's asking about the stepping/revision. It's on the heat spreader your CPU.
e: If the CPU is still in your PC, download and start CPU-Z (it's free). It can give you that info aswell.

 

[arts&crafts]

So I turned on my computer this morning and my monitor is not getting a signal. The led light on my mouse is also not turning on which I presume means my mouse is not getting power? Am I too presume that my motherboard is fucked? How do I go about confirming this if I can't see anything on the monitor?

 

[Celcius]

So I turned on my computer this morning and my monitor is not getting a signal. The led light on my mouse is also not turning on which I presume means my mouse is not getting power? Am I to presume that my motherboard is fucked? How do I go about confirming this if I can't see anything on the monitor?

When you turn it on, do the fans spin up at all? Try to clear the cmos and see if that helps.

 

[Soi-Fong]

The Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 is still out of stock. Is there any other good and comparable µATX board for that price?

Holy shit! It's out already! Dang, I guess I'll get that instead of the Asus Z68 Gen3 I was gonna go after. Which stores have them?

 

[arts&crafts]

When you turn it on, do the fans spin up at all? Try to clear the cmos and see if that helps.

Yea both the cpu fan and videocard fan are on. I just looked in the manual and "touched a screwdriver" to the clr_cmos pins but it didnt change anything. Is it possible it is a ram issue? I have tried 2 different rams (a 2gb and a 4gb) and i have tried every slot.

nvm it is fixed, I had to really RAM the memory into the slot

 

[Of All Trades]

How does a 6870 stack up against a GTX 560ti? Looking at the benchmark comparisons on anandtech it seems to hold up really well, but it's also a year old at the point soooo...? Resolution would be 1650 if that matters.

 

[mkenyon]

• ASUS Maximus IV GENEZ-Z, S1155, mATX, DDR3 (I know it's not the GEN3, but fuck PCIe 3.0)
• Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155
• 8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile PC3-12800U CL9

How's that?

I have a Gene-Z, NIB, that I'm trying to offload for $150 shipped to your door.

How does a 6870 stack up against a GTX 560ti? Looking at the benchmark comparisons on anandtech it seems to hold up really well, but it's also a year old at the point soooo...? Resolution would be 1650 if that matters.

They're fairly comparable, but the 560Ti is a slightly better card.

 

[Of All Trades]

They're fairly comparable, but the 560Ti is a slightly better card.

Yeah, that's what I'm seeing but wanted to be certain. Dell coupons bring an XPS with a i7-2600 and 6870 to a bit under $900, which is less than what it would cost me to build a PC with a 2500k/560ti due to hdd prices and having to buy a full copy of Windows, but I wanted to be certain I wouldn't be noticeably limiting myself (I play at 1650 and from what I can tell either card can beat the hell out of any game at that resolution).

 

[Hazaro]

Keep in mind the mobo and PSU are not equal to what you'd buy. I like working in Dells though, really nice case layouts and roomy.
Plus you lose overclocking comfortably and that is a 20% GPU boost (FPS boost) and 3.7Ghz to 4.2-4.5Ghz on a $25 cooler.
If you will use the 8 threads then go for it, just know your trade offs.

 

[Of All Trades]

Keep in mind the mobo and PSU are not equal to what you'd buy. I like working in Dells though, really nice case layouts and roomy.
Plus you lose overclocking comfortably and that is a 20% GPU boost (FPS boost) and 3.7Ghz to 4.2-4.5Ghz on a $25 cooler.
If you will use the 8 threads then go for it, just know your trade offs.

Yeah, I'm aware that the mobo won't be as fancy and overclocking is probably out (I could always swap out the PSU later). The 560ti is 20% "better" than a 5870? Most of the benchmarks show like a 5% improvement. Or do you mean OC'ing the GPU, in which case I had no intention of doing so even when I was trying to build a system (I was going to OC the CPU with the hyper212 but eh).

Really I don't need the i7 (would it help video encoding, though?), but there's no 2500k option; it's either a i5-23XX or the i7, and the $$+time savings are enough to make it seemingly worthwhile.

 

[brotkasten]

I have a Gene-Z, NIB, that I'm trying to offload for $150 shipped to your door.

I got a pretty good deal from a friend, but thanks.

Tbh, I still feel a bit uneasy about Asus boards. Never had a great experience with them and there were always some small, little annoyances. Still better than my current P35-DS3, I guess.

 

[Korey]

Ok, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2UOB

• Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
  
• P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
  
• HyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360526

Changed my RAM to this: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

 

[vaelic]

He's asking about the stepping/revision. It's on the heat spreader your CPU.
e: If the CPU is still in your PC, download and start CPU-Z (it's free). It can give you that info aswell.

OH, well it is not installed so I have to clear away the thermal paste and look on top of the processor itself?

 

[brotkasten]

OH, well it is not installed so I have to clear away the thermal paste and look on top of the processor itself?

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
No need to install it, just get the .zip package and start the .exe.

 

[vaelic]

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
No need to install it, just get the .zip package and start the .exe.

no no, sorry.. I meant the processor is no longer installed in a PC, it's sitting in the garage

 

[brotkasten]

no no, sorry.. I meant the processor is no longer installed in a PC, it's sitting in the garage

Well, then yes, you'd have to remove the thermal paste and look it up.

e: Holy Shit. "The mainstream Core 2 Quad Q6600, clocked at 2.4 GHz, was launched on January 8, 2007". It's been that long since the Q6600 was released? Makes me feel better about the upgrade. :lol

 

[Herpes Reasons]

Fully Watercooled FT-02 (SR-1 560, 100% EK, MCP35X, CH3F, 1090T, 5970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dow8NflZk7w

Fully Watercooled FT-02 - Noise Test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUGkPReyJ4

(ENDED) Silverstone FT02-R worklog Special Edition
http://foro.noticias3d.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=342608
Silverstone FT-02 BW 540mm RAD conversion Water Cooled **Sneak Peak**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ndg8tEvJew

Silverstone FT-02 BW 540mm RAD conversion Water Cooled** 98% complete**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0LXxsmRYk

Water Chilled Silverstone FT02
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhHJMHxHa5E

360 of the 180.2 variety:

i..need a ft02 watercooled.

sell me your case smokey. gimme

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, I'm aware that the mobo won't be as fancy and overclocking is probably out (I could always swap out the PSU later). The 560ti is 20% "better" than a 5870? Most of the benchmarks show like a 5% improvement. Or do you mean OC'ing the GPU, in which case I had no intention of doing so even when I was trying to build a system (I was going to OC the CPU with the hyper212 but eh).

Really I don't need the i7 (would it help video encoding, though?), but there's no 2500k option; it's either a i5-23XX or the i7, and the $$+time savings are enough to make it seemingly worthwhile.

I meant OC GPU, although it is about a 20% boost as well. Your parts are fine. It's a good deal especially if you get Professional Win and a 2 or 3 year instead of 1 yr warranty.

Changed my RAM to this: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

Yup

no no, sorry.. I meant the processor is no longer installed in a PC, it's sitting in the garage

G0 (SLACR) is better for overclocking which is why he is interested if you were wondering.

 

[MisterAnderson]

Uh, so I just came out from the shitter to mess around on my PC and noticed my mouse wasn't responding (Razer Naga Epic, very rarely it will lose it's wireless sync and I will have to resync it so I figured this was the issue). After trying to resync it by connecting the usb wire, Windows didn't recognize the USB device (Windows popup alert on bottom of the desktop to tell me this). "Well okay" I think. "I'll just reboot." Since I can't very well use my mouse I just hit the restart button on the PC case.

It reboots, I see the motherboard splash screen. Then the computer turns off. "Hmmm...what?" Then it comes on again, on it's own, and I see the motherboard splash screen again. It goes away, then I see the motherboard splash screen again...and this continues. I try to enter the BIOS with the delete key and nothing happens. I try to TAB to post screen, and it just freezes on the Mobo screen.

What the fuck did I do? This is awesome timing since early access for The Old Republic is in like 4 days... is my motherboard fried or something? My computer has run flawlessly for the past two years. Surely that weird mouse thing that happened just before this isn't the cause?

Edit: What the fuck. I swapped out my mouse with an older one and it went to post/is booting Windows fine...how could a USB mouse seriously prevent the computer from booting normally???

 

[brotkasten]

I have that mobo. The bios is really nice. Dont trust the onboard temp gauge though. I would say to get faster RAM too

Forgot to comment this.

The selected RAM is DDR3-1600. Shouldn't that be fast enough?

 

[chaosblade]

Forgot to comment this.

The selected RAM is DDR3-1600. Shouldn't that be fast enough?

Plenty fast. 1333 RAM is fine in the vast majority of circumstances, for that matter.

 

[RooMHM]

Just checked the price of HDDs ... oh my god.

 

[leroidys]

My brother is asking for a 1TB + external HD. Do you guys have any recommendations/experiences?

 

[Rufus]

My brother is asking for a 1TB + external HD. Do you guys have any recommendations/experiences?

Not sure that it would matter, prices are through the roof at the moment.