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[MisterNoisy]

So everything is running smoothly but I can't seem to locate my second HDD on my main desktop window. Is there something in the BIOS I specifically need to activate in order to see it? It's definitely wired correctly because when I go into the BIOS I can see it listed under all the hard drives installed.

Start -> Run -> 'diskmgmt.msc' (without the quotes) and hit enter.

Assuming you can see the drive there (you should be able to), right-click the drive you can't see in the OS and then click 'Initialize Disk'. You should be good to go at that point - maybe format it too, but that's about it.

 

[ombz]

Actually it isn't true that you need Vista installed for the upgrade. Not sure if the deal is still going on but it was only $29 and it was through digital river I believe.

Edit: Yeah it now looks like it is $65 for the student version, but I am nearly 100% you do not need a previous version of Windows installed.

Well it sure didnt work when I tried (unless there is some kind of trick to it). I could install windows but the serial code I was given couldn't activate windows. It worked fine after i installed xp first.

 

[MooMoo]

Start -> Run -> 'diskmgmt.msc' (without the quotes) and hit enter.

Assuming you can see the drive there (you should be able to), right-click the drive you can't see in the OS and then click 'Initialize Disk'. You should be good to go at that point - maybe format it too, but that's about it.

It's not listed in the top half of the screen but it is listed in the bottom half as a bunch of unallocated space. When I right click it I don't have an option to "Initialize Disk"; I only have the following options:
1. 4x New _____ (all grayed out so I'm guessing it doesn't matter)
2. Convert to Dynamic Disk
3. Convert to GPT Disk
4. Offline
5. Properties

 

[MrBig]

It's not listed in the top half of the screen but it is listed in the bottom half as a bunch of unallocated space. When I right click it I don't have an option to "Initialize Disk"; I only have the following options:
1. 4x New _____ (all grayed out so I'm guessing it doesn't matter)
2. Convert to Dynamic Disk
3. Convert to GPT Disk
4. Offline
5. Properties

Not sure why it's not showing a basic disc option for you, what SATA mode are you in?

 

[MooMoo]

Not sure why it's not showing a basic disc option for you, what SATA mode are you in?

Should be in AHCI. Is there a specific wiring setup I need or anything in the BIOS I need to do beforehand?

 

[MisterNoisy]

It's not listed in the top half of the screen but it is listed in the bottom half as a bunch of unallocated space. When I right click it I don't have an option to "Initialize Disk"; I only have the following options:
1. 4x New _____ (all grayed out so I'm guessing it doesn't matter)
2. Convert to Dynamic Disk
3. Convert to GPT Disk
4. Offline
5. Properties

You will get a different menu based on where you right click. If you're right-clicking the left box, try the one on the right and vice versa:

 

[MrBig]

Should be in AHCI. Is there a specific wiring setup I need or anything in the BIOS I need to do beforehand?

Are you right clicking here? You should get an option to create a simple volume out of the unallocated space.
e: beat

 

[MooMoo]

You will get a different menu based on where you right click. If you're right-clicking the left box, try the one on the right and vice versa:

Ah, feeling like quite the dunce tonight Thanks again!

Edit: Thank to you too MrBig!

 

[mkenyon]

Good lord, this recent build has me tearing my hair out. I did get the whole loop working (no accidental leaks), but this reservoir and pump combination is total garbage. Bought the Alphacool DC-LT Single Bay res with two of the DC-LT pumps. tl;dr of it is that you get to choose between leaks or stupid loud pumps. Totally unacceptable when it's advertised as a supposedly

The Mayhem's pastel green concentrate is god damn sexy though. Bought some extra yellow dye to help bring it a tad more in line with the green from the motherboard. Since my cameraphone won't get the colors right:

Is going into this build with clear tubing and an XSPC Raystorm block:

Overnighted a proper D5 variable speed pump and an XSPC black nylon dual bay. Should arrive on Thursday, at which point I'll finish up the build. Then I'll feel like this guy.

In better news, the 360 rad fit perfectly up top after some jigsaw work. Also cut the front of the case to fit 2x120mm fans intstead of a 200mm fan. This way, I've been able to perfectly nail down my inut CFM to have slight positive pressure. Set them up for exhaust specifically for the 690 since it blows air towards the front of the case. Some progress pics here, will upload a bit more as I finish it up.

For those curious, thats what the guts of a 600T special edition looks like.

 

[MisterNoisy]

Ah, feeling like quite the dunce tonight Thanks again!

Glad to help! Don't feel bad - on my friend's build last week, we got everything in and booted up to BIOS before realizing that we'd neglected to install the I/O shield into the case... Derp.

 

[tigerin]

Get the 2500k at Newegg or Amazon, the extra $20 is worth not having to deal with NCIX.
I'd also get two of these Samsung RAM sticks instead of the Corsair.

are they bad? (ncix)

any reason why i should get two 4gbs ram sticks instead of the corsair 8gbs? btw, is it possible to play games with just one 4gbs of ram stick(just to save more money on costs) instead of two?

 

[mkenyon]

Woah, must have missed that NCIX slam.

I'm about half/half with egg and NCIX purchases right now. NCIX has better customer service, and they carry bitfenix products, which is good. And to say that they have better customer service than the egg, which has the best customer service of any company I can think of is a huge compliment.

Only had two issues come up with them, one of which my bank was the source of, the other was a packing screw up, which they fixed by sending the missing stuff via overnight delivery without me even asking about it or pushing.

It would be my go to online store if I weren't tied to my Newegg business account benefits.

 

[I H8 Memes]

I got my 2500k from ncix and I've had no problems. Pretty quick delivery too considering it was coming from California to Florida.

 

[TheExodu5]

While I prefer NewEgg and Amazon (best customer service), NCIX is probably the runner up for me in Canada.

Woah, must have missed that NCIX slam.

I'm about half/half with egg and NCIX purchases right now. NCIX has better customer service, and they carry bitfenix products, which is good. And to say that they have better customer service than the egg, which has the best customer service of any company I can think of is a huge compliment.

Only had two issues come up with them, one of which my bank was the source of, the other was a packing screw up, which they fixed by sending the missing stuff via overnight delivery without me even asking about it or pushing.

It would be my go to online store if I weren't tied to my Newegg business account benefits.

NCIX pissed me off on one occasion. They shipped me the TrackIR clip in a lousy bubble wrapped envelope. I opened it and it was broken. I said I didn't want it as a result and they wanted me to pay for shipping back to them and pay for restocking. I've been...wary since then. They've been great outside of that one experience.

 

[base shagohod]

Hey guys, from experience, what company of external harddrive is the best to get?
I'm looking for a 2TB on Amazon right now and prices look pretty reasonable all around, but I wanna make sure I'm not getting a Seagate when I should be getting a WD.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tigerin]

if i get a 4gbs ram stick now and another 4gbs in the future, will it adds up to 8? or will it stays at 4gbs(or even goes to the lowest gbs stick like the dual graphic cards mentioned in the op)?

 

[mkenyon]

8GB. They add up.

Hey guys, from experience, what company of external harddrive is the best to get?
I'm looking for a 2TB on Amazon right now and prices look pretty reasonable all around, but I wanna make sure I'm not getting a Seagate when I should be getting a WD.

Thanks in advance.

It's a crapshoot, and you'd need to do digging on each model in specific. They generally put their crappiest HDD's in external enclosures and then mark them up.

If something contains a WD Caviar Black (again, need to do digging on the model in specific), then it's a good 'un.

Otherwise, you can buy an enclosure and put any HDD in it. It's really really really easy.

 

[EternalGamer]

if i get a 4gbs ram stick now and another 4gbs in the future, will it adds up to 8? or will it stays at 4gbs(or even goes to the lowest gbs stick like the dual graphic cards mentioned in the op)?

RAM goes in slots on the motherboard. Check how many ram slots your motherboard has. As long as you have open slots after you put it in, you can always add more RAM later,

For example, if you have 4 slots for ram on the mother board, you can put 2 sticks of 2GB RAM (for a total of 4GB) and still have 2 slots to upgrade later. However if you only have 2 slots on the motherboard then you would have to take out those 2 sticks later replace it later to replace them with 2 4gb sticks of ram if you wanted to upgrade.

In short, you can upgrade the amount of ram either way, but if your Motherboard only has 2 RAM slots, you will have to rtake those two sticks out and replace it if you want to upgrade later. If it has 4 slots, you can just add two more sticks.

 

[base shagohod]

8GB. They add up.


It's a crapshoot, and you'd need to do digging on each model in specific. They generally put their crappiest HDD's in external enclosures and then mark them up.

If something contains a WD Caviar Black (again, need to do digging on the model in specific), then it's a good 'un.

Otherwise, you can buy an enclosure and put any HDD in it. It's really really really easy.

Cool, I'll look for enclosures at Micro Center tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[EternalGamer]

are they bad? (ncix)

any reason why i should get two 4gbs ram sticks instead of the corsair 8gbs? btw, is it possible to play games with just one 4gbs of ram stick(just to save more money on costs) instead of two?

4gb of ram (2 sticks of 2 GB each) is totally fine right now, especially if you have 4 slots on the motherboard.

 

[EternalGamer]

Tigrin,I just checked and the Biostar TZ77B ATX LGA1155 motherboard has 4 slots for RAM. Thus you are fine buying 2 sticks of 2GB. You can always add 2 more later if you want. Just make sure it is all DDR3 and the same speed when you buy extra down the line. Since RAM is dual channel, you always upgrade it in pairs (two sticks each time).

 

[Bombadil]

I just want to commend you guys who posted the pictures for achieving such good cable management.

My PC looks terrible when I remove the panel. Wires everywhere and I've tried multiple times to sort it out but it's impossible since I've got the connectors from the fans going to the psu plus connectors from the fan panel up front going to the fans. How did you guys manage it? Did you guys use longer wires and tape up to the top of the case or something?

 

[mkenyon]

I just want to commend you guys who posted the pictures for achieving such good cable management.

My PC looks terrible when I remove the panel. Wires everywhere and I've tried multiple times to sort it out but it's impossible since I've got the connectors from the fans going to the psu plus connectors from the fan panel up front going to the fans. How did you guys manage it? Did you guys use longer wires and tape up to the top of the case or something?

Cable management guide from the OP.

Basically, its a combination of a modular power supply, a case designed around being able to do it in the first place, zip ties, and masking tape.

 

[alternade]

For the price, isnt the i5-3550 a better deal than the 2500k? Does overclocking add that much extra 'umph' when playing games etc?

 

[Bombadil]

Cable management guide from the OP.

Basically, its a combination of a modular power supply, a case designed around being able to do it in the first place, zip ties, and masking tape.

I think I failed the part with the case being designed for it, and my psu wires are ungainly. Next time. Thanks for the link.

 

[EternalGamer]

For the price, isnt the i5-3550 a better deal than the 2500k? Does overclocking add that much extra 'umph' when playing games etc?

The 3550, no, the 3670k, yes. But Microcenter has an even better deal on the 3570k right now if you have one by you. Check out Tom's comparison of Sandy and Ivy processors:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-3570-low-power,3204-4.html

Most relevant bit

This time around, we’re again asked to accept low-power Core i5s with –S and –T suffixes that underperform the non-appended chips. But at least we’re not being assailed by higher prices on those same SKUs. The Core i5-3750T (45 W) and -3550S (65 W) are both listed as $205 products. The Core i5-3550 costs $205, while the Core i5-3570K is a $225 part.

In general, though, it’s smarter to spend an extra $20 on the unlocked K-series part that runs at higher clock rates, includes the more capable HD Graphics 4000 engine (with its correspondingly-faster Quick Sync feature), and even achieves superior energy efficiency at its stock frequency.


Zoom
Why on earth would you want one of those low-power parts then? Only one reason: to cram the performance you do get from them into a smaller form factor. In some environments, a 77 W chip simply doesn’t work. Even though our average power numbers show all of these CPUs to be fairly close to each other, our load consumption results demonstrate that it’s possible to push higher-end Ivy Bridge CPUs all the way up to their thermal ceilings. By trimming voltage and frequency, Intel prevents the –S and –T models from dissipating as much heat, ideally increasing their utility in all-in-ones, HTPCs, and embedded applications.

 

[mkenyon]

All that comparison shows is that the better on-die GPU helps when the benchmark requires GPU usage. Pretty useless info for a gaming machine, not to be too blunt.

 

[EternalGamer]

All that comparison shows is that the better on-die GPU helps when the benchmark requires GPU usage. Pretty useless info for a gaming machine, not to be too blunt.

I linked to the wrong page but if you read further in, you'll see what I man. I edited my post and quoted the most relevant part.

Basically their conclusion is that the lower wattage in the lower end Ivys makes them kinda not worth it for anything besides mobile/laptops whereas the higher end K ranked Ivy's are worth the few extra bucks.

 

[Gouty]

Alright, PC gaming noob reporting back, day 2.

My monitor sucks and I knew it wasn't doing Diablo justice so I decided to temporarily bring the PC into the tv room, just to see how it would look.

I don't have a HDMI mini cable yet but I did happen to have a VGA to HDMI cable.

Here comes the noob part: I had no idea VGA supported audio as well.

Imagine my delight when Diablo came ringing through my speakers.

Now my question is, can I get 5.1 through VGA? If so how would I go about this?

 

[JonCha]

You are just going through the process again, overwriting what you did before. You need to change your boot disk priority to go to the HDD first instead of the USB stick. That's in BIOS.

Yep, exactly. I've got Windows set up and everything, but will go into BIOS later and set the HDD as priority. Currently I have to select it manually.

And I installed the Catalyst Control Center, which sorted out my resolution (1920x1080). However I had to scale the taskbar back through the program, which seemed to almost zoom out on the desktop a little bit. Is there no way I can get the 1080 resolution without having to realign the desktop so it fits on the screen? When I first installed Center and restarted, the taskbar and programs were off screen almost completely.

 

[bodyboarder]

Here comes the noob part: I had no idea VGA supported audio as well

It doesn't.

 

[Gouty]

It doesn't.

Im not sure what you mean.

I've got a VGA cable coming out of the back of my video card with an HDMI adapter on the other end and I'm playing Diablo in stereo.

Either VGA passes along audio or Satan is a Diablo fan.

 

[colinp]

Im not sure what you mean.

I've got a VGA cable coming out of the back of my video card with an HDMI adapter on the other end and I'm playing Diablo in stereo.

Either VGA passes along audio or Satan is a Diablo fan.

I don't know the reasoning but I lol'd.

Well played!

 

[mkenyon]

AFAIK, VGA does not carry audio at all.

I also don't remember the last time I saw a graphics card with a VGA port on the back. You certain you're not confusing terms?

 

[Gouty]

I very well could be, but I checked the card and its labeled VGA.

.......



aaaaaaaand this is why you dont install computer parts drunk.

The VGA label was on the back of my case to mark the VGA slot from the stock card.

I'm guessing its DVI? Didn't know that carried audio either.

 

[Deadly Joker]

OK, i'm finally going to build my PC after almost a year of planning and saving up the necessary money for it and I have a question.

Can somebody please tell me why the GTX 580 is more expensive than the GTX 670 on New Egg?

I was under the impression that the latter was more powerful by quite a margin.

 

[daviyoung]

I very well could be, but I checked the card and its labeled VGA.

.......



aaaaaaaand this is why you dont install computer parts drunk.

The VGA label was on the back of my case to mark the VGA slot from the stock card.

I'm guessing its DVI? Didn't know that carried audio either.

VGA and DVI don't carry audio. What is this madness?

 

[Rufus]

It doesn't. You're probably talking about HDMI.

 

[Gouty]

These are the only cables exiting my PC.

This is why I originally thought it was VGA.

And this is the cable thats running to my receiver. Now as I've already stated, it does have a male HDMI on the other end but.......

 

[dk_]

I have the follwing components:

- Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9550 (12M Cache, 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
- Geforce 260 GTX
- 4 GB Ram

So I'm thinking about a new graphics card. What is a useful card for my CPU (which is still ok, I hope)?

 

[Gouty]

My PC is powered by the devil and you guys just don't want to say it, huh.

 

[Wolf Akela]

My PC is powered by the devil and you guys just don't want to say it, huh.

It's the devil whispering in your ears, resist it!

 

[jonremedy]

My PC is powered by the devil and you guys just don't want to say it, huh.

The cable is DVI.

 

[bee]

cable is dvi to hdmi as already stated, i used to run a dvi to hdmi cable also and was very surprised when i found out it passed audio through aswell

 

[blackprophesy]

I'm looking at making my gf a smaller form factor PC, and so far come up with below. I would plan to use my existing GTX570 (Asus DirectCUII) and replace mine with a GTX670 Asus TOP.

 

[colinp]

DP, sorry!

 

[colinp]

My chassis has two fans and my motherboard just a 3-pin plug for one (besides the CPU fan, of course).

I realize I use the left plug for the MB, but which of the two right plugs do I use to plug the OTHER fan in to the power supply?

edit: I didn't get it at the right angle but the rightmost is male.

 

[n0n44m]

DVI supports audio just fine, all the way up to 7.1 uncompressed

because it is completely pin-compatible with HDMI

I did not get DVI-to-HDMI audio working with an AMD HD6450 however... no issues with the Nvidia GTX210 and GTX480

In Windows 7, just right click the speaker icon in the tray, select playback devices, rightclick HDMI audio and select configure to get 5.1

My chassis has two fans and my motherboard just a 3-pin plug for one (besides the CPU fan, of course).

I realize I use the left plug for the MB, but which of the two right plugs do I use to plug the OTHER fan in to the power supply?

edit: I didn't get it at the right angle but the rightmost is male.

the male one as your Power Supply should only have female plugs ...

and obviously make sure you only have a fan plugged into EITHER the motherboard OR the Power Supply, not both

all casefans I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot lol) come with detachable Power Supply plugs so you can never plug them into both accidentally ... these are the first I've seen where both connectors are soldered on the same cable :/ weird

 

[colinp]

the male one as your Power Supply should only have female plugs ...

and obviously make sure you only have a fan plugged into EITHER the motherboard OR the Power Supply, not both

all casefans I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot lol) come with detachable Power Supply plugs so you can never plug them into both accidentally ... these are the first I've seen where both connectors are soldered on the same cable :/ weird

Thank you! I haven't actually received my PSU yet so I had no idea they only have female plugs- good to know, hah.

This is the NZXT Source 210 Elite. Besides the potential cable management headaches this may bring I like it.

 

[MrBig]

Woah, must have missed that NCIX slam.

I'm about half/half with egg and NCIX purchases right now. NCIX has better customer service, and they carry bitfenix products, which is good. And to say that they have better customer service than the egg, which has the best customer service of any company I can think of is a huge compliment.

You need to pay with paypal (which I'm always extremely hesitant in doing) and they held two of my orders in CA for almost a week before sending them out, from which delivery took another week. I'd never order from them again. For people in Canada I've always heard good things about them, though.