• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition

Zyzyxxz

Member
TheHeretic said:
The answer is to get neither. AMD Phenom II 940 is what you should get.

I agree, the best non Core i7 quad core are the Phenom II series processors.

If you gotta stick with your current intel socket then get a Q6600 and OC it mad.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
OMFG. About 4 months ago, I got the Lian Li PC-X500 and I bitched in this thread because I had just paid $400 for what felt essentially just like a pretty case. Now, I finally opened it to clean inside and guess what. NOT A SINGLE SPECK OF DUST INSIDE. This case is god like. The cooling power is almost unchallenged, and even then it remains extremely silent thanks to the noise cancelling material. I have a GTX295 yet the noise is that of a laptop under load. I am amazed. I have learned to love this case and realize that it was money well invested. From now on I will only buy Lian Li cases.

x500d09s.jpg
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Yea, Lian Li cases have always been great, I've read many good reviews about them. Looks way to big for my liking, though, I'll put up with some compressed air for a much smaller case if I have to.
 

longdi

Banned
Zyzyxxz said:
I agree, the best non Core i7 quad core are the Phenom II series processors.

If you gotta stick with your current intel socket then get a Q6600 and OC it mad.

not exactly, Intel Core 2 Quads are actually equal to PII. So a Q9550 is also suitable if he wants to stick to Intel. Q9550 = PII 955, however must be noted Q9550 achieves that with a lower clock (2.8ghz vs 3.2ghz), so it has more oc potential. :D
 

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
speaking of, I forgot to ask you dudes what you think of this mobo--already ordered but hasn't shipped yet if it happens to be the worst evar, contrary to the reviews i read:

EVGA X58 3X SLI Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600
 
Alright guys, so I finally got the 6-pin adapter for my video card, however i'm still having a problem. When the 4-pin ATX on the motherboard is plugged in, it still shuts off after a few seconds. Is the power supply not strong enough and causing it to cut out?

When the 4-pin isn't connected, the computer runs but i get no image.

Did i screw up something? Help?

edit. Okay, this is weird. My computer doesn't turn off/on with the case's actual power switch, but only when i turn the power supply on or off... The power button's cord from the case to the mobo has to be plugged in though. Did i seriously mess something up?
 
FromTheFuture said:
Alright guys, so I finally got the 6-pin adapter for my video card, however i'm still having a problem. When the 4-pin ATX on the motherboard is plugged in, it still shuts off after a few seconds. Is the power supply not strong enough and causing it to cut out?

When the 4-pin isn't connected, the computer runs but i get no image.

Did i screw up something? Help?

If the PSU wasn't strong enough it'd be during heavy 3D use when it cut off I'd imagine, even then, I just don't see that as a possibility either.

If you suspect its your PSU, then boot without a HDD, DVD drive and just one stick of RAM. See if that gets you further.

So have you definitely got one PCIe 6 pin and two molex connectors going to your GPU now?

Could you take a picture of your motherboard with everything hooked up?

Edit: Have you got the motherboard pinouts and case headers properly hooked up? They easily come out so re-check them. Sounds like your problem to me.
 
I'm trying to get my new PC set up for 5.1 channel audio through my reciever. I have it hooked up in my theater room right now, and am using the HDMI on my 4890. The problem is that whenever I try to configure the speakers, the only two options available are "mono and stereo"

2mrxp52.jpg


So if I go to the ATI HDMI properties to see if there's anything to change, I can't really find anything there either. I also noticed it says under the "Supported Formats" tab that it's "Maximum number of channels: 2"

4ptkhz.jpg


Thinking that I might have to setup my audio through my video card options, I then tried to find HDMI sound options in the Catalyst software but could find nothing there either. Can anyone help get me set up for 5.1?

Edit: Another problem when I have it set to HDMI is, although I do get audio, sounds are cut off on the front end for like a second. So for example when I start a song up in the Zune software, I can see the equalizer moving up and down as the song playback timer goes for a second or two, then the speakers kick in and I hear the song from that point on. Some short sounds (like system sounds) are so short that I don't hear them at all.
 
Alright well i tried to take some pictures but i wasn't exactly sure what to take of other than the motherboard in its entirety. It's kind of difficult to see all of the wiring though. (Is it possible to screw stuff up by having a bad wiring job?) I tried taking out the 2nd RAM, HDD and disc drive but the result was the same. Also, i have slight OCD and i've checked the case headers a billion times. It should be correct unless i haven't realized i can't read or i'm mentally challenged or something (hope not).

5x65c9.jpg


and here's a video of the start up. Not sure if it will offer anything but i decided to shoot it anyway.

View My Video - (Either my computer sucks or tinypic made it extremely choppy)

I tried reseating everything the other day, and i managed to reseat everything except for half of the GPU... embarassing but there's a sort of locking mechanism on the GPU (well just a plastic piece that holds one side in place) that is a pain to get off, and i could only get half of it off unless i'm doing something wrong.

Is it possible i could have broken something? Should i remove everything and put it back together or something? I'm beginning to get worried... =\
 
Are you sure the RAM is in there right? You might have to have one in each channel. If that mobo supports dual channel I think you have them in there wrong, they shouldn't be seated right next to each other. Check your mobo manual to be sure, there should be a section that covers RAM installation.
 
FromTheFuture said:
edit. Okay, this is weird. My computer doesn't turn off/on with the case's actual power switch, but only when i turn the power supply on or off... The power button's cord from the case to the mobo has to be plugged in though. Did i seriously mess something up?

You might have wired the power switch in wrong, the positive and negative side has to be right, try rotating the plug and plugging it in again to switch the positive and the negative side.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
AstroLad said:
speaking of, I forgot to ask you dudes what you think of this mobo--already ordered but hasn't shipped yet if it happens to be the worst evar, contrary to the reviews i read:

EVGA X58 3X SLI Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600
EVGA released the "Classified" editions later to correct some issues this mobo had IIRC.
 
Sonofabitch!! Wow thanks a lot guys, i think the thing is finally working. Or, well, atleast i got an image on the screen. Apparently Antec lied to me or something. The manual says that LEDs polarity matters while the power/reset switches don't. Naturally i followed the LED's instructions on the positives and negatives which resulted in the shut down of my computer.

Also, about the RAM, the manual says these two things:

"The four DDR2 memory sockets are divided into two channels and each channel has two memory sockets as following:

> Channel 0: DDRII_1, DDRII_3
> Channel 1: DDRII_2, DDRII_4"

and then after a Dual Channel Memory Configurations Table, it tells me

"If two memory modules are to be installed, it is recommended that you install them in the DDRII_1 and DDRII_2 sockets"

So naturally i placed the RAM in the way you see shown in the picture. Also those sockets are the same color - that's gotta count for something right? :D
 
FromTheFuture: Those motherboard/case header connections do not look right to me. Red is positive, black is negative. Might want to just double check that. Other than that I think this is starting to go beyond what people on a forum can do for you, might want to take it into a local computer shop, they would probably check it out for free for you.

edit: uh nevermind. :D
 

Toby

Member
FromTheFuture said:
edit. Okay, this is weird. My computer doesn't turn off/on with the case's actual power switch, but only when i turn the power supply on or off... The power button's cord from the case to the mobo has to be plugged in though. Did i seriously mess something up?
Alright, I watched your video and I am a bit confused. It sounds like you are flipping the switch on the back of the PSU and your computer starts to turn on?

I haven't seen that before with any of my builds, and I don't think that should be happening. Something I would try is to remove the PWR switch pin header and try to manually start it with something metal (a screwdriver tip). My last case arrived with a bad power switch, and it wouldn't do anything when I pushed the power button. Could be that.

Never mind, glad you got it working.
 
Thanks SuperEnemyCrab and Toby, i figured out the problem... i wish i had put that up earlier so you could have just told me. I wrote it earlier but i always ask so many questions i guess they get lost in the jumble.

Thanks everyone... I'm glad i didnt screw anything up too bad. I guess my first self-built PC was a success then! :lol I have to admit i feel like an idiot though. Then again, i don't know if it's entirely my fault. But anyway.

Thanks to everyone in this thread. I really appreciate it. What would i do without you guys? :D
 
FromTheFuture said:
Also, about the RAM, the manual says these two things:

"The four DDR2 memory sockets are divided into two channels and each channel has two memory sockets as following:

> Channel 0: DDRII_1, DDRII_3
> Channel 1: DDRII_2, DDRII_4"

and then after a Dual Channel Memory Configurations Table, it tells me

"If two memory modules are to be installed, it is recommended that you install them in the DDRII_1 and DDRII_2 sockets"

So naturally i placed the RAM in the way you see shown in the picture. Also those sockets are the same color - that's gotta count for something right? :D

Unless I'm not understanding a table that is in the manual or something, based on what you said I still think you have it wrong. Using your image as a diagram (the top slot starting at slot 1), I think it goes like this:

(slot 1) color 1 (channel 0)
(slot 3) color 1 (channel 0)
(slot 2) color 2 (channel 1)
(slot 4) color 2 (channel 1)

So i think you should have two sticks of RAM placed like:

(slot 1) color 1 (channel 0) Installed
(slot 3) color 1 (channel 0) Empty
(slot 2) color 2 (channel 1) Installed
(slot 4) color 2 (channel 1) Empty
 

Rufus

Member
Judging by the colors I would have installed them the same way though. It makes much more sense to me to use the yellow (or red) slots for both sticks...
 

Gowans

Member
I put this in the wrong thread so let me try again

Guys,

My Mrs has finally moved her computer from her parents house to ours.

Here are the specs what can I expect and what's the cheapest way to beef it up as take it over as my gaming PC :D

Windows XP
AMD Seppron Processor
LE-1250
2.21 GHz 1.87 GHz of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 430 (512mb)

I'm login into my Steam account now and battlefield heroes to give it a run through. (usually use my low end gaming laptop).
 
If anyone using an HD 4890 with an HDMI 5.1 audio setup could help me out here I would really appreciate it. My post is a litte ways up this page with the picture aids. I'm driving myself nuts here trying to figure this out.

Edit: I think I figured it out. Apparently I need ATI audio drivers, for some reason I just assumed it would have been included in the Catalyst drivers but I have to get them off the realtek website. But unless there's something wrong with my connection, the links keep timing out or something (A popup comes up saying "550 Failed to change directory.")

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Can someone confirm if the links are just bad/temporarily unavailable or if it's just me?
 

Gowans

Member
Gowans007 said:
I put this in the wrong thread so let me try again

Guys,

My Mrs has finally moved her computer from her parents house to ours.

Here are the specs what can I expect and what's the cheapest way to beef it up as take it over as my gaming PC :D

Windows XP
AMD Seppron Processor
LE-1250
2.21 GHz 1.87 GHz of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 430 (512mb)

I'm login into my Steam account now and battlefield heroes to give it a run through. (usually use my low end gaming laptop).


:( Battlefield Heroes runs like shit on low :(

What do I need?
Here's my local PC shop I'll pass on the way back from work
http://www.falconcomputers.co.uk/

what can I get?
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I really don't know if there's any way to beef up that PC. The video card is terrible so maybe you can get a super cheap 8600GT or some other low power alternative (hopefully someone else can point you in the right direction). It's really an old machine, so you won't really be able to bring it up to current specs.
 
MisterAnderson said:
I'm trying to get my new PC set up for 5.1 channel audio through my reciever. I have it hooked up in my theater room right now, and am using the HDMI on my 4890. The problem is that whenever I try to configure the speakers, the only two options available are "mono and stereo"

2mrxp52.jpg


So if I go to the ATI HDMI properties to see if there's anything to change, I can't really find anything there either. I also noticed it says under the "Supported Formats" tab that it's "Maximum number of channels: 2"

4ptkhz.jpg


Thinking that I might have to setup my audio through my video card options, I then tried to find HDMI sound options in the Catalyst software but could find nothing there either. Can anyone help get me set up for 5.1?

Edit: Another problem when I have it set to HDMI is, although I do get audio, sounds are cut off on the front end for like a second. So for example when I start a song up in the Zune software, I can see the equalizer moving up and down as the song playback timer goes for a second or two, then the speakers kick in and I hear the song from that point on. Some short sounds (like system sounds) are so short that I don't hear them at all.


I've seen that exact same problem like 2 days ago somewhere else. I'm trying to dig that up. Unfortunately I got no clue why you should actually do that, but that was the solution:
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/do...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
Choose the ATI HDMI Audio Device driver (R2.28, 13901k)
That should give you the possibility to choose more than Stereo. However, I dunno if that'll solve your other problem too.
 
Thanks for replying, and yeah I figured out I needed that driver but every one of those mirror sites pops up this error message: "550 Failed to change directory." Can you or anyone else click on them to see if it works for you?
 
FromTheFuture said:
Alright well i tried to take some pictures but i wasn't exactly sure what to take of other than the motherboard in its entirety. It's kind of difficult to see all of the wiring though. (Is it possible to screw stuff up by having a bad wiring job?) I tried taking out the 2nd RAM, HDD and disc drive but the result was the same. Also, i have slight OCD and i've checked the case headers a billion times. It should be correct unless i haven't realized i can't read or i'm mentally challenged or something (hope not).


and here's a video of the start up. Not sure if it will offer anything but i decided to shoot it anyway.


I tried reseating everything the other day, and i managed to reseat everything except for half of the GPU... embarassing but there's a sort of locking mechanism on the GPU (well just a plastic piece that holds one side in place) that is a pain to get off, and i could only get half of it off unless i'm doing something wrong.

Is it possible i could have broken something? Should i remove everything and put it back together or something? I'm beginning to get worried... =\

First things first, that HS/F is on the wrong way around!

You sure you got those pinouts right? Looks like you're using far too few there.

I've had PCs fail to boot because of something as simple as a dodgy fan controller, so disconnect evrything but the bare essentials. I.E. 1 stick of RAM, CPU and GPU, don''t have any HDDs or fans or anything else hooked up.

You want to have the thing booting with as little as possible and keep adding other things until it stops booting, whichever component that stops it from working is the one that is likely faulty.

Clear your CMOS.

Edit: Well that was a little worthless! :lol
 
FromTheFuture said:
Yeah. I'm retarded. Thanks for pointing that out. This computer has got my brain out of whack. Let's
pretend this never happened. :lol

Download CPU-Z to find out if the RAM is running in dual channel mode.

Pleased you got it sorted, knew it would be the pinouts, they're usually where people go wrong (including me) on their first build.
 
Gowans007 said:
:( Battlefield Heroes runs like shit on low :(

What do I need?
Here's my local PC shop I'll pass on the way back from work
http://www.falconcomputers.co.uk/

what can I get?

Its looking like a new build for me, though you may have some salvagable parts. New components are at a historic low so its hard to recommend anyone to buy premium priced parts for outdated platforms.

Is this a "OEM" PC or a custom build? If its from HP/DELL could you link to the specific machine and if its a custom build could you link me to the actual motherboard specification, thanks.

How much RAM do you actually have, your description was far too confusing.


MisterAnderson said:
Thanks for replying, and yeah I figured out I needed that driver but every one of those mirror sites pops up this error message: "550 Failed to change directory." Can you or anyone else click on them to see if it works for you?

This lists support for ATI HDMI audio, should work:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Realtek-HD-Audio-2.27-Driver-download-2317.html

Just google ATI HDMI audio device realtek and you should find a host elsewhere if this link is no good, that Realtek download wouldn't work for me either.
 
Gowans007 said:
I put this in the wrong thread so let me try again

Guys,

My Mrs has finally moved her computer from her parents house to ours.

Here are the specs what can I expect and what's the cheapest way to beef it up as take it over as my gaming PC :D

Windows XP
AMD Seppron Processor
LE-1250
2.21 GHz 1.87 GHz of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 430 (512mb)

I'm login into my Steam account now and battlefield heroes to give it a run through. (usually use my low end gaming laptop).


if you want to play the latest games, there isn't much anything to salvage, save a dvd drive and that's it. cyberpower is nice if you dont want to build (but im not sure if tehy ship overseas) newegg to buy all your parts, (check the first page of this thread) and brain_stew made a thread about how to build a gaming PC for 500 dollars (british pounds?) or so.
 
Frankfurter said:
I've seen that exact same problem like 2 days ago somewhere else. I'm trying to dig that up. Unfortunately I got no clue why you should actually do that, but that was the solution:
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/do...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
Choose the ATI HDMI Audio Device driver (R2.28, 13901k)
That should give you the possibility to choose more than Stereo. However, I dunno if that'll solve your other problem too.

So since that link is dead as of this writing, I found this: http://www.filecluster.com/downloads/Realtek-ATI-HDMI-Audio-Device.html

It's labeled at 2.25 as opposed to the more recent 2.28 driver, but I can't seem to find that anywhere else. Anyway, after installing that driver, it actually solved my weird "some sounds not playing or being cut off on the front end" thing, but ironically it still doesn't give me the option to choose 5.1 audio. In fact it actually restricted me to stereo and took out the option for mono (not that I care, just noting the change).

2ked1y.jpg


This is driving me mad. Why won't it give me the 5.1 option damnit!!
 
MisterAnderson said:
According to this, yeah I am.

What are you connecting it to? Could that be an issue? If you're using a gigglebyte board download the audio drivers directly from the site. I'm using a driver dated 6-16-09.
 
SuperEnemyCrab said:
What are you connecting it to? Could that be an issue? If you're using a gigglebyte board download the audio drivers directly from the site. I'm using a driver dated 6-16-09.

The receiver is a Sony Multichannel AV Receiver that supports HDMI, DTS, Dolby Digital, etc. I've never had a problem using HDMI audio through my PS3, so I really can't see why it would be an issue with the stereo itself other than a possible compatibility issue or something.

Anyway, I went to the Gigabyte site and searched for drivers for my mobo, and this is what came up: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...?ProductID=2986&ost=windows+7+64bit#anchor_os would that help you think?
 
MisterAnderson said:
The receiver is a Sony Multichannel AV Receiver that supports HDMI, DTS, Dolby Digital, etc. I've never had a problem using HDMI audio through my PS3, so I really can't see why it would be an issue with the stereo itself other than a possible compatibility issue or something.

Anyway, I went to the Gigabyte site and searched for drivers for my mobo, and this is what came up: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...?ProductID=2986&ost=windows+7+64bit#anchor_os would that help you think?

I know MWS Natural is using multichannel HDMI audio from his 4890, might want to PM him to ask how he got it configured.
 
MisterAnderson said:
Anyway, I went to the Gigabyte site and searched for drivers for my mobo, and this is what came up: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...?ProductID=2986&ost=windows+7+64bit#anchor_os would that help you think?


Not sure because on my gigabyte audio driver description it specifically says HDMI, instead of just "Realtek Function driver for Realtek Azalia audio chip (Including Microsoft UAA Driver in English edition)".

This is what it says for my mobo: "Realtek Function driver for Realtek Azalia audio chip (Including Microsoft UAA/HDMI Driver in English edition)".

But they seem to be the same chipset, ALC889A, so I dunno *shrug*....

This is a link to my drivers page: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...3016&ost=windows+vista+x64+(64-bit)#anchor_os
 
I know I've asked a few question about possible builds in this topic before but seeing as I actually have the funds now to build my computer I figured I'd ask once again for thoughts on what I plan to build. You know, just to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

Mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX *Already purchased
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
PSU: Antec BP550 Plus 550W
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB *Already purchased
OS: Vista 64bit/Windows 7 64bit
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC

I'm a bit stumped on a dvd/cd drive, any recommendations? Thanks for the help!
 

yanhero

Member
So I finally brought a cpu cooler (Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366) and did my first overclock. What should I use to check for stability??
 
SpinningFrog said:
I know I've asked a few question about possible builds in this topic before but seeing as I actually have the funds now to build my computer I figured I'd ask once again for thoughts on what I plan to build. You know, just to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

Mobo: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX *Already purchased
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
PSU: Antec BP550 Plus 550W
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB *Already purchased
OS: Vista 64bit/Windows 7 64bit
Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC

I'm a bit stumped on a dvd/cd drive, any recommendations? Thanks for the help!

It is apparently too late but as a gaming computer that is lopsided. Way too much cpu and too little video card. Then again, you could have your reasons for that.

Newegg is having some weird shortage of decently priced DVD drives that don't install dumb ass software on your computer.
 

Toby

Member
Can anyone suggest a good socket AM2 heatsink?

Looking to spend $20-$40. Just want something that will help me OC better than the stock cooler. I have an AMD Phenom II X4 920.
 
Hrm... i'm going around GAF and i can't help but notice the lack of a PC game recommendation thread? Is there one i don't know about? This sucks, i want a game to play on my new rig but i got nothing. I wish i knew someone with a loaded Steam account i could borrow!

Also Toby, awhile back someone recommended to me Rosewill RCX-Z940-LX and told me it is an Akasa heatsink/fan that has been rebranded under Rosewill at lower price. Worth checking out? But isn't $20-40 a decently sized range for CPU heatsinks?
 
So it seems that MWS Natural was able to get 4890 HDMI 5.1 channel operational on XP but had the same problem I had with Windows 7 and never found a solution (although he hasn't been able to do much about it since his 4890 is RMA'd currently). I'm wondering if I should just save myself the trouble, cut my losses and just buy myself a decent sound card to go optical.

Anyone know if this is a good buy? http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=17791
 

Fredescu

Member
FromTheFuture said:
Hrm... i'm going around GAF and i can't help but notice the lack of a PC game recommendation thread? Is there one i don't know about? This sucks, i want a game to play on my new rig but i got nothing. I wish i knew someone with a loaded Steam account i could borrow!
Two recent ones:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366573
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366014

There are tonnes of demos around though, and a decent selection of free games too.
 
Top Bottom