New PC 2008

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:04 am

Ok, I'm starting my project now. Bought:

2 EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130370
Limited 30-Day Return Policy $439.98
($219.99 ea)
1 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139006
Standard Return Policy $119.99
Subtotal $559.97

There's about $100 in rebates coming soon to a mailbox near me. I'll probably ask for the rest of it for Christmas or something. Just couldn't pass up on two GTX 260's with free Far Cry 2 for $175 after discounts and rebates. To SLI the cards, I needed a massive power supply. Wanted to wait for the i7 CPUs to settle down. But. I couldn't. So, I'll probably grab a quad of some kind with a new motherboard and memory. I'll need a new hard drive. I'm considering:

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

for $239 after rebate. Loads Win XP in 3 seconds! So say reviewers. I'm still running ata/100 right now.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:53 am

I wouldn't want to do without 2 monitors... are you sure you can do 2 in SLI mode?

Post by **Troy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:02 pm

Been thinking more about my problem...

So it installed fine... and was doing fine until I put my first DVD in after the Windows DVD which was my ASUS drivers disc, because I realised the LAN on the motherboard wasn't active yet, so it was motherboard driver time.

It went through its install process which restarts it, loads up a new driver, and restarts again... when it had finished with all of them, it restarted for the last time.... and then, on bootup, asked me to insert the disc that was already there... and presto chango, I no longer have a working DVD drive

Under "my computer" the DVD drive shows as an uknown drive, that can't be opened(vista says it was moved with an error message)

I'm going to go home and try a few tricks and fixes I read up on some forums, but I'm guessing I'll need a new Disc Drive out of the whole thing...

Edited By Troy on 1227204251

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:40 pm

DL a driver for the DVD drive and then run the executable.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:54 pm

Or load your old copy of XP.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:29 pm

GORDON wrote:I wouldn't want to do without 2 monitors... are you sure you can do 2 in SLI mode?

Well. That was something you could have brought to my attiontion YESTERDAY!!

Actually, you can not run multiple monitors in SLI mode. Suck. There goes the coolness factor when running SupCom. However, SLI can be turned on and off in software. So, at most, I reboot, and I'm in SLI mode for gaming. Reboot, and I'm back to dual monitors on one card. I MIGHT not have to reboot. Tech support guy wasn't sure. I didn't press the issue cause even a reboot isn't going to hurt.

So, ya, that's gonna suck that I can't SLI and play SupCom on two monitors. I will probably take the performance hit and play on two cause, when multi-playing, the game is only going to run as fast as the weakest link. So, all other things being equal, I won't see much from SLI. Or, maybe I will. We'll see.

So, over all, it's just SupCom that will be hurt by this. I'll admit, I was pissed when I first read that I can't do two monitors. But then, less pissed when I found out it was just a reboot away, at most.

I bought EVGA graphics cards. So, I've been calling their tech support. It's 24/7, and they answer fast, and they are AMERICAN!! I'm VERY happy and impressed with their tech support. It's been quicker to call them with my random questions than it is to google and read for the answer so far. A+ tech support. Read also that their tech support will even help you overclock and other advanced stuff. They are 'gamers and enthusiasts' who do that stuff themselves, says their tech support page. You can overclock these cards without breaking the warrenty as well.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 4:47 pm

Well, I wasn't 100% certain, but I thought I read that somewhere.

Post by **Troy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:50 pm

It was the CD drive the whole time.

Apparently it died right at that last install, no shit.

I just bought a new Sata Sony one.. and it worked instantly!!!

Loading my video card drivers cd, then audio... then steam/games next...

Post by **Troy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:17 pm

5.9 across the board, apparently.

mmm....

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:12 pm

You should have tried for 6's.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:16 pm

French judge screwed him.

Plus 5.9 is the current max... adjustable later as hardware specs change.

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:20 pm

I know, I was kidding.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:21 pm

I figured, but just in case.

Post by **Troy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:09 pm

Going on try two on the first Forged Alliance mission atm...

Fucking cloud of gunships came out of nowhere, and I wasn;t thinking "big" enough.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:41 pm

GOT MY CARDS!! and power supply. Install went pretty smooth. Had to bust out the manual for the motherboard for things boot properly. Loaded the latest Nvidia drivers and all was well. Upon booting, the system said I had SLI ready cards and asked if I wanted to turn it on. I did. So, it did. No reboot required. Then I started TF2. I got the valve splash page and hit escape to get past it. Then, moment later, I got some wacky memory page overflow F parameter tweaking error. I had to reboot. When the system came back up, I told it to turn SLI off. It did, and I did not have to reboot. Both monitors came on just like they should. Awesome. I really like that. I started TF2 and it loaded normally. I went into graphics setting and cranked them all up. Game ran fine all night long. I couldn't tell an overwhelming difference between old and new settings though. Didn't really expect to in that game.

I'll let you know how Bioshock looks though.

Post by **GORDON** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:49 pm

TF2 runs the 3(?) year old Half Life 2 engine, and HL2 ran just fine at full graphics on my old system, which is the system you just had. I saw no difference in that game after upgrading.

Post by **Troy** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:21 pm

TF2 ran at max on my old system too.

Bioshock looks stellar on the new one though.

Post by **GORDON** » Wed Nov 26, 2008 8:08 pm

GORDON wrote:We always had these threads in the past, so I'll continue the tradition:

1

EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i FTW SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813188026

Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
$189.99

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF
Item #: N82E16820145197

Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy
$176.00
$136.00

2

Welp, either that mobo or that RAM died, today. RMAing each of them since it is impossible to tell which.

SO far both companies have me jumping through hoops.... you do this stuff on their webpages, and on each page there is a convenient, "unable to display this page" error which invalidates the previous 10 steps and then you have to get back on the phone.

And I only seem to have hardware problems right before a holiday, or right before a weekend. In this case it is both. Gonna be days before my main system is back online.

I hope that new laptop arrives soon.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:25 pm

We got our laptop already. Showed up yesterday. I thought you ordered the same day I did. In any case, they shipped ours fast, so yours must be close as well.

Oh, and dumbass on me for assuming my old system wouldn't run HL2 at full and not even trying. Ahh well.

Edited By Cakedaddy on 1227813984

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 7:30 pm

Mine has been sitting in Maumee since midnight.... no deliveries on Thanksgiving, I guess.