Support NeoGAF

[Chairhome]

Does AM3 vs AM2+ make much of a difference? I found the same processor I was looking at as a non-black edition but AM3 for the same price. I'm probably leaning more towards the AM2+ Black Edition because it seems like it will be easier for me to OC.

Also, what stats am I looking at when choosing a good motherboard?

I'm looking at this:
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
(combo deal with the CPU I'm looking at)
vs

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
(suggested by SuperEnemyCrab)

Note that both only have 1 PCI-E x16 slot, so I'm guessing that would limit my ability to Crossfire/SLI (which I don't really have plans to... I would rather upgrade to a newer single card GPU), and I don't believe either one supports DDR3. Am I shortchanging myself? Should I go for a better board? Thanks again.

 

[brain_stew]

I suggest anyone considering a socket 1156 board read this:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661

 

[Minsc]

I suggest anyone considering a socket 1156 board read this:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3661

It was mentioned on the previous page, but when you really read it, you have to wonder, exactly how many people are going to be overclocking 2.93GHz to over 5GHz?

That's 2+GHz overclock, isn't that like really, really abnormal? Most people tend to overclock around to an additional 1GHz, give or take. To push it past 2GHz seems an awful lot to me. Hell, I was happy with an extra 200Mhz when I overclocked in the past, 2000+ seems awfully greedy!

Edit: It is something to be aware of, I agree. It also seems like something that may be addressed in future batches of hardware, I hope.

Also, while I'm wondering. I've read in the past that any overclocking = shorter CPU life. Period. Overclock your CPU and you reduce it's lifespan. I wonder how true that is?

 

[PflargBlarg]

Figured I should put some questions in here.

I've got a core i5 750 already bought and this bad boy is ordered, I may be able to pick it up today.

Now the question here is, what motherboard? That case has massive aircooling and I'm definitely going to be OC'ing the i5 (potentially to 4 ghz, but at least 3.7). I was thinking about a SLI capable mobo, but I have a GTX 280 and the prices on those have gone up since I bought one, so I probably won't go that route. The one I've been looking at is this one which I can price match to 130. I'm fairly confident this board will serve me well, but I just want to make sure.

EDIT: Just read that crazy overclock on the i5 750 at techpowerup that was linked, and he used the same board that I have chosen, I guess I can feel fairly confident now

 

[nubbe]

It's not the amount of GHz that punish the socket, but the amount of Volts you push through it. To get up to 5GHz you need to cram everything you can into the CPU, but it seems as if the sockets from Foxconn can't handle high voltages.

Many P55 boards also seem to suffer from poor component in general and thus will have capacitors fry.

The life of all hardware decreased if it is put under a large amount of heat.
Remember that heat is the main threat for all electronics and will cause it to fail. If you can manage the heat, the hardware will have a long and healthy life.
But even a CPU under high stress will live for many more years than you will use it. As long as the components that supply it voltages don't fail.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Could you possibly link me to a guide you used to overclock that 920? Over the past few months I start looking through guides but get lost by some terminology half way through, wondered if you knew of a better guide than what is at Toms and AnAnd.

If you do, it would be appreciated.

Also, are you on stock cooling? or why did you stop at 3ghz?

I just up the FSB by 5-10mhz at a time in the bios which forces the CPU to run faster, but a 200mhz overclock isn't really all that stressful so I'm not messing with vcore, or ram timings. You don't really need a guide, just some basic understanding of what the bios settings do. What you want to do is just keep bumping up the speed while testing for stability. When you reach a point where it's no longer stable, you can try loosening the RAM timings, or upping the voltages. I stopped at 3ghz cause this PC is on like 24/7 and I don't really need it any faster than that at the moment. I'm using a OCZ vendetta heatsink/fan. I know I could go higher, but overclocking is also stressful to motherboard components like capacitors, especially when you start increasing voltages.

Anyway, if you have a specific question, or want to post your setup, etc I am sure myself and other helpful PC gaffers would be more than happy to help out!

 

[brain_stew]

It was mentioned on the previous page, but when you really read it, you have to wonder, exactly how many people are going to be overclocking 2.93GHz to over 5GHz?

That's 2+GHz overclock, isn't that like really, really abnormal? Most people tend to overclock around to an additional 1GHz, give or take. To push it past 2GHz seems an awful lot to me. Hell, I was happy with an extra 200Mhz when I overclocked in the past, 2000+ seems awfully greedy!

Edit: It is something to be aware of, I agree. It also seems like something that may be addressed in future batches of hardware, I hope.

Also, while I'm wondering. I've read in the past that any overclocking = shorter CPU life. Period. Overclock your CPU and you reduce it's lifespan. I wonder how true that is?

The point is that overclocking speeds up the aging process. Sure this fault may only develop only whilst extremely overclocking for now, but there is an inherant fault here, and what's to say a bunch don't go kaput after a couple of years whilst running at stock?

I'd just simply recommend not buying any motherboard that uses this particular socket design, there's models that are OK, so go with one of them instead.

 

[Firestorm]

Is there a list of good Motherboards for 1156?

 

[SapientWolf]

Is there a list of good Motherboards for 1156?

Depends on your price range. The mid-rangers I would recommend are the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P, ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156, and ASRock P55 Deluxe LGA 1156. If you're on a budget then get the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R.

 

[Minsc]

The point is that overclocking speeds up the aging process. Sure this fault may only develop only whilst extremely overclocking for now, but there is an inherant fault here, and what's to say a bunch don't go kaput after a couple of years whilst running at stock?

I'd just simply recommend not buying any motherboard that uses this particular socket design, there's models that are OK, so go with one of them instead.

Ag, got it. Interesting comment mixed in the bunch there:

i seen same issue on evga x58 classified 759 with 300% more gold on it exacly same issue burned pins and proc like that even worse on evga forums that 300% more gold slots are even worse then regular slot becose gold then to melt easier

Guess this problem extends to at least one X58 model too.

Edit: Geez, reading though those comments is pretty harsh. They have you believing every P55 motherboard manufacturers has used some % of Foxconn, and the errors do present themselves on stock settings, not just when overclocked. Yikes.

 

[Firestorm]

Depends on your price range. The mid-rangers I would recommend are the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P, ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156, and ASRock P55 Deluxe LGA 1156. If you're on a budget then get the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R.

I meant with regards to the FOXCONN problem.

 

[Nemo]

Anyone know what component is at fault when the following happens?

- PC powers upon starting
- Fans spinning
- No Display
- No beeps (even with RAM removed)
- And, which leads me to believe it might be the CPU or PSU, after starting and all the above happens a few seconds later it restarts itself with the same things happening. No restarts after that though.

Couldn't find anything on Google about the last bit.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Anyone know what component is at fault when the following happens?

- PC powers upon starting
- Fans spinning
- No Display
- No beeps (even with RAM removed)
- And, which leads me to believe it might be the CPU or PSU, after starting and all the above happens a few seconds later it restarts itself with the same things happening. No restarts after that though.

Couldn't find anything on Google about the last bit.

Is there a certain beep sequence to it? Look at your motherboard manual for what the beep codes mean.

 

[Nemo]

Is there a certain beep sequence to it? Look at your motherboard manual for what the beep codes mean.

No beeps at all, not even with components removed. I don't believe the mobo is at fault because the little green light is lit

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

No beeps at all, not even with components removed. I don't believe the mobo is at fault because the little green light is lit

Sorry, I thought you said beeps. I'm like half awake. Have you tried a different video card? Or clearing the cmos?

 

[garath]

Anyone know what component is at fault when the following happens?

- PC powers upon starting
- Fans spinning
- No Display
- No beeps (even with RAM removed)
- And, which leads me to believe it might be the CPU or PSU, after starting and all the above happens a few seconds later it restarts itself with the same things happening. No restarts after that though.

Couldn't find anything on Google about the last bit.

Video card?

Also silly question, do you have the motherboard speaker plugged in? It won't beep without it.

 

[I <3 Memes]

Anyone know what component is at fault when the following happens?

- PC powers upon starting
- Fans spinning
- No Display
- No beeps (even with RAM removed)
- And, which leads me to believe it might be the CPU or PSU, after starting and all the above happens a few seconds later it restarts itself with the same things happening. No restarts after that though.

Couldn't find anything on Google about the last bit.

Is this a new build? Is the HDD working?

 

[Nemo]

Video card?

Also silly question, do you have the motherboard speaker plugged in? It won't beep without it.

d'oh, it was plugged in at first but now it isn't I might try it again. Didn't beep the first time when it was plugged in so don't have any hopes that it'll do now.

Is this a new build? Is the HDD working?

Old build, HDD works, though I did have problems recently with another one. Replaced it and works fine now. The problem happened when I put it in sleep mode, guess it doesn't want to wake up

Sorry, I thought you said beeps. I'm like half awake. Have you tried a different video card? Or clearing the cmos?

Of course, didn't think of that. Will try this.

Thanks for help guys.

found the problem, fault hdd

 

[alexthekid]

Hey guys, ive seen that there are many helpful PC gaming guys here although ive always been more of a video games guy

I am planning on buying a new computer and i am completely clueless I am going to post the specs on a couple of interesting options and i hope that you might have a little input. As of now the only thing im going to play is dota, but traditionally i have always been more into strategy games, spent hundreds of hours on games like KKND, Europa universalis 2, Heroes of might and magic 3 and Warcraft 2. But of course i want to be able to play games newer then that, it always comes out some interesting games, i am just going after as much bang for the buck as possible.

So the first option i got is:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...133&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#

It is quite cheap for being in Sweden, but i will get it without Windows so i might have to buy that. What do you thing of the computer? it has some fun stuff like television reciever blueray and stuff like that but how is the prestanda? Which games will it be able to run?

This another option:
AMD Phenom II X3 720BE processor
3 cores 2.6GHz socket AM2+
7.5MB cacheminne
2GB DDR2 PC8500 minne (2x1GB 128bit)
1066MHz minneshastighet
Nvidia Nforce 750a chipset Moderkort
Geforce 9800GT Grafikkort
2xPCI Express 2.0 x16 kortplatser
PCI Express 2.0 grafikkort
1st HDMI anslutning (via adapter)
1st DVI och 1st VGA för bildskärm
HDTV utgång upp till 1920x1200(1080P)
2xPCI Express 2.0 kortplatser, x16
Support for SLI och Hybrid Sli
500GB Sata-2 3 GB/S hårddisk
DVD-Brännare, multiformat
6st USB anslutningar (4st till option)
110dB 7.1 Ljudkort med HD audio
Enermax Phoenix Neo gamingchassi
630W sli klar nätdel

I am terribly sorry for the Swedish but i thought that you guys might understand the brand names and models. This is a little more expensive, like 70$ more or something like that. Also no windows on this either but pre-installed Ubuntu Linux and Wine emulator, how is that going to work?

Here is the last option:

Processor Intel Core 2 Duo
Processorspeed E7500, 2.93Ghz, 3MB Cache
Moderkort Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR
Memory 4GB
Memorytype 2 x 2GB A-Data DDR2 800Mhz, PC-6400
Minnesplatser 4st
Free memoryplaces 2st
Hardrive 500GB Samsung SpinPoint, 16MB Cache
Harddrivetype S-ATA II, 7200rpm
Grafic card Nvidia GeForce GTS 250, 512MB GDDR3
Optisk enhet Samsung 22X DVD±RW DL, S-ATA
Soundcard yes, 7.1 Realtek ALC888
Modem No
VGA (med adapter)
DVI Ja, 2st
USB 8 in the back och 2 on the front
FireWire No
TV-out (svhs) No
Nätverk Ja, 10/100/1000Mbit
WLAN no
Operativsystem Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Nätaggregat 400W FSP
Kabinett Antec Three Hundred


:lol :lol I tried to translate the specs as good as i could. I would be extremely thankful for any thoughts, which one would you have bought?

Best regards!

 

[Hawkian]

Sorry this was not for the direct above poster but the boot problems above.

Do you have onboard video and a graphics card?

We really ought to make the Techie thread :lol

 

[Nemo]

Sorry this was not for the direct above poster but the boot problems above.

Do you have onboard video and a graphics card?

We really ought to make the Techie thread :lol

Too true. I'd contribute in a thread like that for sure.

Anyway I fixed it, turned out I had a faulty HDD Sata cable. :lol

 

[mavs]

I think the 1366 platform is a waste of money if you plan to use it for gaming and don't use x3 graphics cards.

1366 isn't very much more expensive. If you want SLI/Xfire capability you're paying nearly the same for a 1156 board as 1366. If you want hyperthreading the 860 costs more than the 920. X58 will do dual-channel, so you don't have to buy a 6GB.

I wouldn't normally say anything on this subject, because I do like the value of i5+P55, but this really makes me regret cheaping out. Apparently the burnouts are confined to Foxconn sockets, but right now the only way to be sure you aren't getting one is to buy EVGA's $350 flagship board. I have a P55 FTW with a LOTES socket, but I'm not completely convinced of the safety of 1156 itself..

 

[Binabik15]

Great, now I´m scared.

I don´t even know if I would OC (does it even matter for games?), but I don´t want anything to melt inside my pc.

I think if I don´t buy soon, I´ll never buy a pc. Too much hassle to keep up with things and checking out parts, even with help from you guys. Plus, I get uncontrollable fits of dangerous rage whenever an electronical device isn´t working, pc gaming might not be for me (even though I had lots of fun with RtCW on a crap pc, I build a custom pc for it and the fps would drop from around 100+ to less then ten during airstrikes, that plus a router problem made me stop playing, man, what a waste of $$$).

I might just save the shitload of money and play Risen at my brother´s pc at a shitty res and horrible IQ. Once a peasant, always a peasant.

 

[SapientWolf]

1366 isn't very much more expensive. If you want SLI/Xfire capability you're paying nearly the same for a 1156 board as 1366. If you want hyperthreading the 860 costs more than the 920. X58 will do dual-channel, so you don't have to buy a 6GB.

I wouldn't normally say anything on this subject, because I do like the value of i5+P55, but this really makes me regret cheaping out. Apparently the burnouts are confined to Foxconn sockets, but right now the only way to be sure you aren't getting one is to buy EVGA's $350 flagship board. I have a P55 FTW with a LOTES socket, but I'm not completely convinced of the safety of 1156 itself..

Well, to be fair, not every gamer engages in extreme overclocking. Budget P55 builds still destroy everything except pricier i7 parts in benches.

 

[Hazaro]

Great, now I´m scared.

I don´t even know if I would OC (does it even matter for games?), but I don´t want anything to melt inside my pc.

I think if I don´t buy soon, I´ll never buy a pc. Too much hassle to keep up with things and checking out parts, even with help from you guys. Plus, I get uncontrollable fits of dangerous rage whenever an electronical device isn´t working, pc gaming might not be for me (even though I had lots of fun with RtCW on a crap pc, I build a custom pc for it and the fps would drop from around 100+ to less then ten during airstrikes, that plus a router problem made me stop playing, man, what a waste of $$$).

I might just save the shitload of money and play Risen at my brother´s pc at a shitty res and horrible IQ. Once a peasant, always a peasant.

It's just one platform's socket. Just buy a motherboard that doesn't have that. I've been running overlocked since I bought my computer 2.5 years ago. (Although I did do a CPU swap a few months back).

What Brainstew linked to was a CPU that had been to the far reaches of Earth, a -201C land of liquid gas cooling and pumping of inane amount of volts through that poor chip.
Just be reasonable with what volts you run through your chip.

There might be problems with that one socket, but there is a very large difference between what stock/air OC uses do and what LN2 does.

 

[Rufus]

Listen to the man and just pull the trigger, Binabik15. All the anxiety you're feeling now is going to fade away once your parts are on the way.

 

[Hawkian]

Hazaro, that is the craziest shit I've ever seen.

 

[Niks]

Question regarding the hard drive.

Im looking at this one...
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB

Apparently it comes bare. Do I need to buy cables or does the case already include the ones I need? If so, what kind of cables?

Thanks.

 

[Bob Coffee]

Ok i have a strange problem with the new motherboard in my rig
this little guy here. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

great board, lots of features ,but this mysterious thing keeps on happening, when i completely as in completely shutdown the system, ac cord out of the power socket, and everything, my usb devices still get power, and the power led on the front of my case stays on for no reason. I kept it unplugged for the past 10 hours, and still the lights are on, otherwise ive had little to no problems with the board, aside from my radeon 4850 dieing a day or two ago(swapped in 8600gts i had spare, so far so good). this power issue, ive had since ive installed the board.

ive checked my wiring 3 times to insure everything's wired right, my psu is more than adiquate. its a corsair Hx520w modular psu. i cant explain why this shits happening, also i disabled all the options in bios as far as waking up the sytem by keyboard, usb etc. psu worked fine in old system, everything was stable.

also of note, i have the esata bracket installed that came along with this board. could that be causing a problem?

any suggestions?

 

[Slavik81]

Any tips on overclocking my i7 920?
I'm at a QPI of 142 right now without changing any voltages.
CPU temp goes up to ~50C after a few minutes of Prime95, and Core temps go up to ~60C.

What voltages should I be changing? What's this about disabling the TDP?

My Motherboard

Question regarding the hard drive.

Im looking at this one...
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB

Apparently it comes bare. Do I need to buy cables or does the case already include the ones I need? If so, what kind of cables?

Thanks.

You need two cables. A power cable, which should be included with your power supply, and a SATA cable, which motherboard should come with.

 

[BrodiemanTTR]

How much of an improvement over my 9800 GT would a Radeon 4850 be? A situation has presented itself where I might be able to upgrade at minimal cost. Worth it, or should I save my money for a more substantial upgrade?

 

[Toby]

I just up the FSB by 5-10mhz at a time in the bios which forces the CPU to run faster, but a 200mhz overclock isn't really all that stressful so I'm not messing with vcore, or ram timings. You don't really need a guide, just some basic understanding of what the bios settings do. What you want to do is just keep bumping up the speed while testing for stability. When you reach a point where it's no longer stable, you can try loosening the RAM timings, or upping the voltages. I stopped at 3ghz cause this PC is on like 24/7 and I don't really need it any faster than that at the moment. I'm using a OCZ vendetta heatsink/fan. I know I could go higher, but overclocking is also stressful to motherboard components like capacitors, especially when you start increasing voltages.

Anyway, if you have a specific question, or want to post your setup, etc I am sure myself and other helpful PC gaffers would be more than happy to help out!

Mobo
RAM
CPU is Phenom II 920 (locked multiplier)
Heatsink

Mostly I am wondering what the hell I am doing wrong. I increased the core clock I think its called from 200 to 205, which would make a clock of 2870 MHZ, but I can only go 15 minutes in the OCCT stress test without getting an error.
Temps hovered around 45 C, I have no idea what fan speed % was at, OCCT doesn't report that.

45 C doesn't seem that high to me, I don't know why I would be getting errors after such a reasonable bump.

Edit: Ah, I bet I know what is giving me those errors. I didn't lower the RAM multiplier from 5.33. Stupid, I know, but it's hard to remember what all depends on that core multiplier. I'll give lowering the RAM multiplier a try tomorrow.

 

[Liquid Helium]

Yesterday night I was on my pc and the light on the front of it slowly faded out, then the computer turned its self off. When I tried to restart it and it turns itself on, then after 5-10 seconds turns its self off and then on again really quickly (the only way I can tell is by the fans, they all stop and start again really quick) then the fans still spin but the lights on the front of the case don't turn on and nothing comes on the screen.

This morning the same is happening, I tried taking the GFX card out and starting it with it out but it same happens, I took the ram out and put it in again but the problem still persists.

If I can't get my PC working again for tomorrow I am royally fucked. Help me GAF.

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Proccessor
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory REAPER EDITION CL4
Antec 300 Three Hundred Case - No PSU
Corsair 620W HX Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC
ASUS P5Q SE iP45 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
PowerColor HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM
LiteOn LH-20A1S 20X SATA DVD±RW/DL Black Bare Drive - OEM

 

[Himajin]

Yesterday night I was on my pc and the light on the front of it slowly faded out, then the computer turned its self off. When I tried to restart it and it turns itself on, then after 5-10 seconds turns its self off and then on again really quickly

It could be a number of things, but I had similar symptoms when my CPU heatsink became slightly unseated and my CPU started overheating to shutdown levels after a few seconds every time the power came on. You could try reseating yours and checking that there's no stray thermal paste around the CPU. Check your video card fan isn't clogged with dust or anything as well.

 

[nubbe]

1366 isn't very much more expensive. If you want SLI/Xfire capability you're paying nearly the same for a 1156 board as 1366. If you want hyperthreading the 860 costs more than the 920. X58 will do dual-channel, so you don't have to buy a 6GB.

I wouldn't normally say anything on this subject, because I do like the value of i5+P55, but this really makes me regret cheaping out. Apparently the burnouts are confined to Foxconn sockets, but right now the only way to be sure you aren't getting one is to buy EVGA's $350 flagship board. I have a P55 FTW with a LOTES socket, but I'm not completely convinced of the safety of 1156 itself..

1366 don't offer better performance.
HT is pointless and actually degrade performance almost all applications. There is a reason to why Intel abandoned that tech for quite a while.
X58 don't do anything with the memory... the controller is on the CPU.
1156 benefits games thanks to having the PCIe controller on the CPU.
The 1156 platform with the i5 is a better value however you want to twist and turn.

Having Foxconn construct a poor socket for the 1156 or the manufactures being cheap on capacitors have nothing to do with the platforms overall reliability.
This type of interface for the CPU socket has been around since the launch of the 775 socket and Foxcoon was the major supplier then too.

Foxconn's sockets seem to be frail for voltages somewhere above 1,3V+ or so since they have poor connection with the CPU. So unless you are going to try and push the CPU beyond 4GHz, there should be nothing to worry about.

 

[Binabik15]

I couldn´t even order if I wanted, 5850s will get here end of October/early November the earliest.

But I just can´t buy something that might be fucked up. Looks like getting the suspected troublemaker on the mobo is likely. I don´t even plan to overclock, but contact problems don´t sound good at all in the long run, even at stock settings.

And I don´t really want to go with a more watt hungry phenom.

I have the money, but not to (literally) burn and the build itself is getting more and more expensive (partially thanks to stores upping prices on the 5850 they don´t even have).

But hey, looking for pc parts when I should´ve learned boring law stuff instead was fun, even if nothing came out of it (except maybe bad grades :lol).

 

[Liquid Helium]

It could be a number of things, but I had similar symptoms when my CPU heatsink became slightly unseated and my CPU started overheating to shutdown levels after a few seconds every time the power came on. You could try reseating yours and checking that there's no stray thermal paste around the CPU. Check your video card fan isn't clogged with dust or anything as well.

The CPU isn't unseated and there isn't dust clogging my video card fan. Can someone give me any more ideas, I really need to fix this before Monday.

 

[Hawkian]

How much of an improvement over my 9800 GT would a Radeon 4850 be? A situation has presented itself where I might be able to upgrade at minimal cost. Worth it, or should I save my money for a more substantial upgrade?

Hard to say without knowing the rest of the details of your pc. How fast is your cpu?

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Mostly I am wondering what the hell I am doing wrong. I increased the core clock I think its called from 200 to 205, which would make a clock of 2870 MHZ, but I can only go 15 minutes in the OCCT stress test without getting an error.
Temps hovered around 45 C, I have no idea what fan speed % was at, OCCT doesn't report that.

45 C doesn't seem that high to me, I don't know why I would be getting errors after such a reasonable bump.

Edit: Ah, I bet I know what is giving me those errors. I didn't lower the RAM multiplier from 5.33. Stupid, I know, but it's hard to remember what all depends on that core multiplier. I'll give lowering the RAM multiplier a try tomorrow.

Yeah it doesn't sound like it's your CPU causing the problem. Up the voltage to the RAM, I think I am running @ 2.0v compared to 1.8v default. I have 2x2gb geil DDR 800. You could also check the timings, if you are using the SPD settings, maybe check to make sure they match the timings on the RAM itself. If you do lower the ram to 4.00 that should really give you a lot of headroom. Good luck!

The CPU isn't unseated and there isn't dust clogging my video card fan. Can someone give me any more ideas, I really need to fix this before Monday.

So you get nothing on the screen? You cannot enter the bios at all? Do you get any beeps coming from the motherboard or does it sound like its working ok when you power it up? Can you hear the HDD accessing, etc? Do you have another video card to swap out and test? What were you doing when it shut down? Has it shutdown on its own before?

 

[Liquid Helium]

Yeah it doesn't sound like it's your CPU causing the problem. Up the voltage to the RAM, I think I am running @ 2.0v compared to 1.8v default. I have 2x2gb geil DDR 800. You could also check the timings, if you are using the SPD settings, maybe check to make sure they match the timings on the RAM itself. If you do lower the ram to 4.00 that should really give you a lot of headroom. Good luck!




So you get nothing on the screen? You cannot enter the bios at all? Do you get any beeps coming from the motherboard or does it sound like its working ok when you power it up? Can you hear the HDD accessing, etc? Do you have another video card to swap out and test? What were you doing when it shut down? Has it shutdown on its own before?

Never studown on its own before.
I can't remember what I was doing when I it shut down, but it probably just had gaf on.
No video card to swap
The DVD drive's light flashes like normal and the light on the mobo still comes on when it is connected to power
It sounds ok when it boots up but I can't hear any beeps
nothing at all comes on the screen, cant get to bios

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Never studown on its own before.
I can't remember what I was doing when I it shut down, but it probably just had gaf on.
No video card to swap
The DVD drive's light flashes like normal and the light on the mobo still comes on when it is connected to power
It sounds ok when it boots up but I can't hear any beeps
nothing at all comes on the screen, cant get to bios

Is there a clear/reset bios jumper on the motherboard? Maybe give that a try. It almost sounds like it went to sleep or hibernation or something and doesn't want to come back up. Powering down should clear that though. Does you monitor have a power save mode and does it suspend when you power on the PC, even though nothing comes on the screen? That could indicate at least it's sending a signal, or detecting a connection.

Kinda weird, maybe get on the forum for that motherboard and see if anyone else ever had this happen?

 

[Liquid Helium]

Is there a clear/reset bios jumper on the motherboard? Maybe give that a try. It almost sounds like it went to sleep or hibernation or something and doesn't want to come back up. Powering down should clear that though. Does you monitor have a power save mode and does it suspend when you power on the PC, even though nothing comes on the screen? That could indicate at least it's sending a signal, or detecting a connection.

Kinda weird, maybe get on the forum for that motherboard and see if anyone else ever had this happen?

I have two monitors so I dought its anything to do with them, and neither of there lights go from orange to green when I turn them on (They did previoustly).
I have has no power connected to my pc all last night.

Ill look for a reset bios button and for a forum, thanks.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

I ordered a Velocity Micro Z30 yesterday. It has:
i5 750, intel p55mtx, 4GB RAM, Nvidia GTX260, 500GB HDD, Silver Aluminum Case. $1183 shipped.
1) How did I do?
2) What is a good 22" Monitor?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Figure this would be the place to ask, as the glorious PC master race probably knows more about this than me :lol:

I bought an off the shelf, pre-built PC about a week ago (with a shitty integrated Radeon HD 3200 card). I'm planning on upgrading it with more RAM, a new graphics card and possibly a new CPU in the future. The MB is a RS780HVF (Everest tells me it's made by Acer?), and I'm planning on getting a Radeon HD 4870 with 1 GB RAM, but it's a PCI-e 2.0 card, so I'm wondering if anyone would know if my MB has a free PCI-e 2.0 slot? Looks like that to me, but I need confirmation (snapped a pic of the slot I'm thinking of, link below) before I order the card. Also, I'm planning on upgrading from my Athlon X2 7450 dual core to a Phenom II X4 940 quad core sometime in the future. Both are socket AM2+, so my MB should support the Phenom II, right? My PSU is 250 W, so I might have to upgrade that to go with the new CPU?

Beer and pizza to whoever can answer my questions

Here's the pic. The slot at the top is a PCI-e 2.0 16x slot, right?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/Stefansawad/DSC00076-1.jpg

 

[adg1034]

Figure this would be the place to ask, as the glorious PC master race probably knows more about this than me :lol:

I bought an off the shelf, pre-built PC about a week ago (with a shitty integrated Radeon HD 3200 card). I'm planning on upgrading it with more RAM, a new graphics card and possibly a new CPU in the future. The MB is a RS780HVF (Everest tells me it's made by Acer?), and I'm planning on getting a Radeon HD 4870 with 1 GB RAM, but it's a PCI-e 2.0 card, so I'm wondering if anyone would know if my MB has a free PCI-e 2.0 slot? Looks like that to me, but I need confirmation (snapped a pic of the slot I'm thinking of, link below) before I order the card. Also, I'm planning on upgrading from my Athlon X2 7450 dual core to a Phenom II X4 940 quad core sometime in the future. Both are socket AM2+, so my MB should support the Phenom II, right? My PSU is 250 W, so I might have to upgrade that to go with the new CPU?

Beer and pizza to whoever can answer my questions

Here's the pic. The slot at the top is a PCI-e 2.0 16x slot, right?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/Stefansawad/DSC00076-1.jpg

Okay. Yes, that does seem to be a PCI-E graphics card slot. 8x, 16x... it doesn't really matter. Buy a modern graphics card. It'll fit, it'll work, it'll operate extremely fast.

As for the PSU, you desperately need a new one. 250W might work for the rig you currently have, but for desktops, those power supplies were practically obsolete 5 years ago. Grab this. And as far as I know, Phenom IIs don't require anything new/different on the motherboard than your AM2+ Athlon X2 does in order to run. Someone back me up on this, but you should be fine.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Figure this would be the place to ask, as the glorious PC master race probably knows more about this than me :lol:

I bought an off the shelf, pre-built PC about a week ago (with a shitty integrated Radeon HD 3200 card). I'm planning on upgrading it with more RAM, a new graphics card and possibly a new CPU in the future. The MB is a RS780HVF (Everest tells me it's made by Acer?), and I'm planning on getting a Radeon HD 4870 with 1 GB RAM, but it's a PCI-e 2.0 card, so I'm wondering if anyone would know if my MB has a free PCI-e 2.0 slot? Looks like that to me, but I need confirmation (snapped a pic of the slot I'm thinking of, link below) before I order the card. Also, I'm planning on upgrading from my Athlon X2 7450 dual core to a Phenom II X4 940 quad core sometime in the future. Both are socket AM2+, so my MB should support the Phenom II, right? My PSU is 250 W, so I might have to upgrade that to go with the new CPU?

Beer and pizza to whoever can answer my questions

Here's the pic. The slot at the top is a PCI-e 2.0 16x slot, right?
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/Stefansawad/DSC00076-1.jpg

The black looks like a PCI-e slot. I doubt it's 2.0 if it's old but that doesn't matter. Prebuilt from companies like that are pretty awful to upgrade with. Why do you need a free slot? Have you been using integrated graphics up until now or you have a video card already? You definitely need a new CPU, 250W is shit. Between those upgrades you definitely need a new cpu.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Okay. Yes, that does seem to be a PCI-E graphics card slot. 8x, 16x... it doesn't really matter. Buy a modern graphics card. It'll fit, it'll work, it'll operate extremely fast.

As for the PSU, you desperately need a new one. 250W might work for the rig you currently have, but for desktops, those power supplies were practically obsolete 5 years ago. Grab this. And as far as I know, Phenom IIs don't require anything new/different on the motherboard than your AM2+ Athlon X2 does in order to run. Someone back me up on this, but you should be fine.

Thanks for the reply. And as long as the GFX card is faster than the crummy old GeForce 6200 w/ 256 MB RAM I had in my previous PC, everything should be fine :lol: I'll look into the PSU you linked me to, so I might grab it when I eventually order the new CPU (currently I should be fine with the 250W PSU I've got, I guess).

The black looks like a PCI-e slot. I doubt it's 2.0 if it's old but that doesn't matter. Prebuilt from companies like that are pretty awful to upgrade with. Why do you need a free slot? Have you been using integrated graphics up until now or you have a video card already? You definitely need a new CPU, 250W is shit. Between those upgrades you definitely need a new cpu.

Just wanted to know if the free slot was a PCI-e 2.0 slot that could be used for a new graphics card, that's all I've just been using the integrated card up to now, as I haven't really been using the PC for much more than browsing porn listening to music and browsing the net. Yeah, the CPU should be upgraded but I think I'll let that one wait until I've bought more RAM, a new graphics card and maybe another HDD.

EDIT: After looking into it some more, the slot I asked about might possibly be a PCI-e 16X slot, not a PCI-e 2.0 slot, but a PCI-e 2.0 card would be backwards compatible with a 16X slot, right?

 

[adg1034]

Thanks for the reply. And as long as the GFX card is faster than the crummy old GeForce 6200 w/ 256 MB RAM I had in my previous PC, everything should be fine :lol: I'll look into the PSU you linked me to, so I might grab it when I eventually order the new CPU (currently I should be fine with the 250W PSU I've got, I guess).

Yes, you're fine with your current 250W PSU, but only as long as you don't upgrade anything inside your machine (anything that would require an additional, substantial power draw, that is). Hard drives are fine, RAM is fine, but no graphics card upgrades or CPU upgrades until you replace that power supply.

 

[somesang]

Hey guys, I could use some input. I was considering an i7 build and then I read the last few pages of this thread and thought otherwise. This is going to be a rig primarily used for gaming. Found this combo deal on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.262080

It's got a mobo, cpu, ram and a hard drive for $499 US dollars. I have a video card and a case and a power supply. It's like they made this combo for me. Question is, can I get a better deal for the price?

PS. I noticed the motherboard: ASUS P7P55D LE has a non LE counterpart for like 10 bucks more, what's the difference. Without digging too much, the LE cheaper version has some upset customers. Does it matter? This combo includes the LE version.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Hey guys, I could use some input. I was considering an i7 build and then I read the last few pages of this thread and thought otherwise. This is going to be a rig primarily used for gaming. Found this combo deal on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.262080

It's got a mobo, cpu, ram and a hard drive for $499 US dollars. I have a video card and a case and a power supply. It's like they made this combo for me. Question is, can I get a better deal for the price?

PS. I noticed the motherboard: ASUS P7P55D LE has a non LE counterpart for like 10 bucks more, what's the difference. Without digging too much, the LE cheaper version has some upset customers. Does it matter? This combo includes the LE version.

I would look at what the complaints are. If it's not a good board, it's not a good board. The only real difference is one is 2200 vs. 2000 ram (maximum) and the non LE version has a IEEE 1394a port. You could probably get a better board for the $135 they are charging.

Edit: I don't really like the bundle, maybe it's just personal preference but I don't like seagate at all and you can find better ASUS boards for the price. For not saving a whole lot of money I would just get components you know are good.