Looking for build advice :)

silent-circuit said:
Could always open the box and bring them up in pieces. That said, the subwoofer alone is going to be a good 30 lbs.
Click to expand...

I.. uhm.. can't even get the box right side up to pick it up haha. I used to be pretty strong (I'm a 6'1" tall girl, so I'm not tiny!) until I got hurt at work.. I used to carry around 60 pound bags of gravel, soil, fertilizer, lime, etc, to peoples cars.. but now I can't even get this stuff upstairs haha.

I just realized that I may have to run an extension cord up in my room because I don't think there's enough power in here to power both computers when they're both setup. I can't even turn the vacuum on in here without unplugging a few things first. I should probably also clean my room, or dust or something because this monitor is a dust magnet and I just set it up!

..If you guys saw what the inside of my Dell looks like.. you'd probably yell at me. I may take a picture of it later, just to show you how bad the ventilation is (Although you all probably know that Dells are like that already hah), and just how much dust it accumulates. This new system I am going to clean out obsessively!
 
Heh, I got those same speakers in the Amazon deal ($145AR). The sub is HUGE. Though, I'm a bit disappointed in these Z-5500's... they're not as crisp and clear as the Klipsch... o wellz. :( But the ProMedia's were $135 shipped, and I couldn't resist the "$10 more after rebate!" It still sounds good, just not as good, lol. The control panel thing is also rather huge. :mad: Anyhow, you should be able to "slide" the box upstairs (its long enough), if you're really that impatient, lol. You'll need the sub to use the satellites, since they all hookup to it, lol.

The max res of your 9700 Pro is 2048 x 1536, so yah, the digital port should give you the res you need.

How old is your house? One room should be able to handle two systems. I've got 4+ in mine, lol. If you've got extra cash, I'd suggest getting a UPS. Also, make sure you use good surge protectors.
 
enginurd said:
Heh, I got those same speakers in the Amazon deal ($145AR). The sub is HUGE. Though, I'm a bit disappointed in these Z-5500's... they're not as crisp and clear as the Klipsch... o wellz. :( But the ProMedia's were $135 shipped, and I couldn't resist the "$10 more after rebate!" It still sounds good, just not as good, lol. The control panel thing is also rather huge. :mad: Anyhow, you should be able to "slide" the box upstairs (its long enough), if you're really that impatient, lol. You'll need the sub to use the satellites, since they all hookup to it, lol.

The max res of your 9700 Pro is 2048 x 1536, so yah, the digital port should give you the res you need.
Click to expand...

...comparing Klipsch to Logitech is like comparing the cheap paper cone 6x9s in the back of a 91' Honda Civic to the 6 speaker Boston Acoustics system in a brand new Audi. Or something. Not quite that bad. Ok, not nearly that bad. But still. (Can you tell I'm a Klipsch owner? :D)
 
enginurd said:
Heh, I got those same speakers in the Amazon deal ($145AR). The sub is HUGE. Though, I'm a bit disappointed in these Z-5500's... they're not as crisp and clear as the Klipsch... o wellz. :( But the ProMedia's were $135 shipped, and I couldn't resist the "$10 more after rebate!" It still sounds good, just not as good, lol. The control panel thing is also rather huge. :mad: Anyhow, you should be able to "slide" the box upstairs (its long enough), if you're really that impatient, lol. You'll need the sub to use the satellites, since they all hookup to it, lol.

The max res of your 9700 Pro is 2048 x 1536, so yah, the digital port should give you the res you need.
Click to expand...

Oh haha.. After installing the driver for the monitor, I can indeed raise the resolution! It only let's me go up to 1920x1200 or 1920x1080. Er.. I chose 1920x1200, this is widescreen, yes? I think everything looks okay.. Definitely looks better like this.
 
silent-circuit said:
...comparing Klipsch to Logitech is like comparing the cheap paper cone 6x9s in the back of a 91' Honda Civic to the 6 speaker Boston Acoustics system in a brand new Audi. Or something. Not quite that bad. Ok, not nearly that bad. But still. (Can you tell I'm a Klipsch owner? :D)
Click to expand...

Hah! I have them, too, but gave them to my mom. I wanted the ProMedia 5.1's, but I just cant rationalize spending so much on PC speakers when I have a full entertainment center downstairs.

Syribo said:
Oh haha.. After installing the driver for the monitor, I can indeed raise the resolution! It only let's me go up to 1920x1200 or 1920x1080. Er.. I chose 1920x1200, this is widescreen, yes? I think everything looks okay.. Definitely looks better like this.
Click to expand...

1920x1080 is for TVs... its a 16:9 ratio.
1920x1200 is for PC Monitors... its a 16x10 ratio. So, you chose the right one. ;)
 
enginurd said:
Hah! I have them, too, but gave them to my mom. I wanted the ProMedia 5.1's, but I just cant rationalize spending so much on PC speakers when I have a full entertainment center downstairs.



1920x1080 is for TVs... its a 16:9 ratio.
1920x1200 is for PC Monitors... its a 16x10 ratio. So, you chose the right one. ;)
Click to expand...

I just looked at the speakers by that company.. Holy crap. Some of them are more expensive than my entire computer put together! I can imagine that they must sound amazing though haha.

I just opened the Z-5500 box... I forgot it has those kind of wires to hook up where you.. well... God I can't explain it haha and I don't know the real name. I just know you put the wire into the little port..thingy.. and then clip the thing over it, God I'm going to build a GREAT computer :p

I also took a look at the motherboard and one of the 8800GTS's.. AHH so many wires! I'm so nervous. I took out the manuals and I'm going to read them over today to work on my knowledge a bit :)
 
silent-circuit said:
Remain calm. There really aren't that many wires. Promise. :)
Click to expand...

Suuure, that's what everyone wants me to believe ;) Ha, just kidding though.. You all have given me amazing advice and my great build, so I believe I can do it if you say so! (So glad I listened about buying this monitor).

I think I'm going to hook up the new speakers too.. I just don't want to wait for the new computer to try out the nice peripherals heh. I figure if I already have the monitor setup, I may as well just do the speakers too ;) Anyone else not able to wait for parts to come in, and like to setup things on their old system for the time being too? I got all the speakers upstairs.. but am waiting for my father to get home to bring up the subwoofer. So excited.

Oh yeah, does anyone else love the smell of new plastic items and stuff? My house smells like... I don't know, plastic bags and brand new computer items. It's such a great smell haha.. I hope that's not that weird, considering so many people love new CAR smells ;)
 
I've got a case with a water loop being bled in it (getting the air out)... and nothing else.

I'm waiting on my new RAM.

I'm going to have to take it all apart this weekend to cut some more holes in the case... so it's pointless, what I'm doing right now. Hopefully I'll at least be able to keep the loop together. Granted, it'll come apart eventually. Gotta add a northbridge block, and maybe a PWM block as well, eventually.

That answer your question?
 
silent-circuit said:
I've got a case with a water loop being bled in it (getting the air out)... and nothing else.

I'm waiting on my new RAM.

I'm going to have to take it all apart this weekend to cut some more holes in the case... so it's pointless, what I'm doing right now. Hopefully I'll at least be able to keep the loop together. Granted, it'll come apart eventually. Gotta add a northbridge block, and maybe a PWM block as well, eventually.

That answer your question?
Click to expand...

:D:D:D Haha :X Looking at the cooling border makes me so jealous! Some of the setups that people have are INSANE! I hope to be able to do the whole water cooling thing one day. It looks really awesome, and must be great when you OC.

But siiiigh at NewEgg for getting everything here in 2 days, except for the stupid case ;P They shipped it from CA... while everything else was shipped from NJ, which is so very close to NY so... Stupid California ;) Even though it really is a lovely state! Just takes forever for stuff to get here. Same with the processor from ClubIt (Which is ironic, because that was the first item to ship.. and it won't get here until tomorrow).

I need more patience hehehe. But you can't blame me ;) This computer sucks so badly... I keep eyeing Crysis and Bioshock.. but definitely couldn't run either on here.. Ahh I want to play them though!
 
Heh, yah, I couldn't wait to get my speakers up so I just setup a desk I had layin around in my living room with my 37" westy... :eek:

Syribo said:
Oh yeah, does anyone else love the smell of new plastic items and stuff? My house smells like... I don't know, plastic bags and brand new computer items. It's such a great smell haha.. I hope that's not that weird, considering so many people love new CAR smells ;)
Click to expand...

Hah! As my co-worker would say, you're a true geek. :p Welcome to the club.
 
Oh my lord, you guys. Remember me complaining about my modem and router and cable service the other day? We got it 'upgraded' to digital cable and have had nothing but problems since then.

I accidentally just tripped over the surge protector in my room which shut off everything.. Then I had to figure out how to reset the cable box. After I finally got that working, I couldn't get online. My father is yelling at me because he wants to go online (And he has no patience.. and I don't either, not a good combination).. all the wires are in.. I reset the router AND modem about 5 times.. Nothing.

So I call the cable company and the guy tells me to take out the USB wire (I don't know why though, I always had the USB and ethernet it and it never gave me a problem.. My computer sucks and sometimes one doesn't work but the other will) and then he reset the modem himself, and now it works. What a pain in the ass.. So anytime I turn the power off on the cable box, I have to call and get the modem reset by the cable company!? That makes no sense :( I am so confused.. And I hate networking so much.

At least I got the speakers setup.. and they sound much better than my old ones! So do you guys have trouble with your cable provider ever? Never had a problem before we 'upgraded'.
 
Ethernet only. USB is the devil when it comes to routers of any description. I perfer ones that don't even have it as an option so I never have to deal with calls from people about how they're using the USB and why won't it work... -shivers-

I hate my cable provider, but they're a small, local company staffed by idiots. Nothing is ever their fault. I'm paying for 99% uptime and getting 90%, if that. For a solid month service would cut out for 4-6 hours after midnight, every night. I'd call and bitch, they'd say they were 'having problems' and it'd come back the next day. I hate those idiots.
 
silent-circuit said:
Ethernet only. USB is the devil when it comes to routers of any description. I perfer ones that don't even have it as an option so I never have to deal with calls from people about how they're using the USB and why won't it work... -shivers-
Click to expand...

Well... now it's unplugged, so I learned my lesson ;) But still... this digital cable just keeps giving me issues :( I miss the old crappy cable.. Although I do like having like 400 channels ;) I'm always tripping over wires in my room because.. well.. it's like a wire jungle in here! There's no way to even have them neat orderly because they come out of all the walls, and my room is the 'central hub', i guess you could say, of the house.

Oh boy, and I'm going to have the new computer in here too! Should be fun tripping over stuff even more ;)
 
Hmmm something else that's strange.. I may have to post in the Audio section, but you guys are all really smart so you'll probably know what I'm talking about.

You know the orange plug for speakers? I've always had weird problems with that one. You know how the Z-5500 has different Effects? If I try to use the one that says 6 Channel Direct, the one center speaker is just complete static. When I put it on Stereo or Stereo x2, half the speakers don't work (I don't know if it's supposed to do that or not). They all work only on PLII Music and PLII Movie. I don't really mind because they sound great on the Music one, which is what I have it on.. But I wonder if it's my soundcard dying or something?

I've always had some kind of trouble with just that orange wire (Always have used 5.1 speakers in surround sound also), I used to have to leave it unplugged.

Ah, also, I just got yelled at again because my fathers internet connection just went out again.. ugh. Mine is working, so I don't understand.. He uses the wireless connection, I have the router in my room.. and well.. it's working for me. Damn cable companies, so annoying.
 
Normally, I would have said you didn't connect the speakers properly or something. However, it could be your soundcard, since you said it happened on your old speaker set, too. In your audio config, is it setup to output 6 channel (5.1ch)?
 
enginurd said:
Normally, I would have said you didn't connect the speakers properly or something. However, it could be your soundcard, since you said it happened on your old speaker set, too. In your audio config, is it setup to output 6 channel (5.1ch)?
Click to expand...

Yup, it's setup properly. I'm just happy they work at least in the two effects... And I'm sure they'll work on the new computer also. My soundcard sounds so great, at least to me.. It's a shame that it's dying or something.. But then again it is almost 6 years old.
 
I'm wondering if anyone else had this happen. Did you ever make an EXTREME display change on your computer, and end up waking up the next morning with a horrible pain behind your eye, and in your head? Haha, I honestly think it's from the giant leap from my 15" CRT to this 24" LCD. The brightness is also pretty insane... Colors that I didn't think much of before are now empowering! Reds are so bright that I can barely look at them...

..Maybe I just need to adjust the settings :x Although, I think this is what most monitors are like. My old one was really dark. This is the strangest pain ever though, it's just in one eye (Thank goodness for Excedrin :p). I also got my Ratpadz mouse pad today! Wow, it's so wonderful. It's big, it's smooth and my mouse feels so much nicer on it. I kinda wish I had bought a G9 mouse though now.. But my MX-518 is nice too.. Ah but the G9 is so much nicer, oh well :p I also bought Crysis, Bioshock, COD4 and pre-ordered TF2 and Assassin's Creed! I think I'm covered on the new PC games now? :)
 
Its rare, but I think you're allergic to your new 24" monitor. You'll have to package it back up and ship it to me, so I can run some tests. :p
 
I asked people about their first builds on another forum, and 95% of the people who answered said they fried their motherboard because they forgot the washers or screws that go between it and the case.

Oh lord, that made me even more nervous. I'm so scared to break something.. and with my luck it will be an expensive part :p I've been looking through the manuals and the mobo manual confused me at a few parts.. Mainly the power adapters and stuff. They didn't really explain them well... Oh dear I hope I can do this! The processor came in the mail today (I am just tossing the stock heatsink aside, yes?), so now I'm just waiting on the case!

I'm about to read all the manuals again and try to understand them more, heh. Uhm... so, once I put the CPU in I then put the MX-2 on that and then does the heatsink like stick to that or something? Do you press it against the CPU? I was also confused on that part. Anymore last minute tips you all have would be appreciated, as the closer I get to 'D-Day' the more nervous I am getting ;)
 
Take it slow. That's the only tip I have, really. Don't force anything, don't hurry anything. Just stay calm with it, and it'll get done.

Most cases have standoffs already in place. Just make sure they ones that're in there all line up with holes on your motherboard -- they should, just a good thing to check. You shouldn't need any washers, really.

Things that connect to the motherboard:
8 pin ATX power cable from PSU, should be obvious, usually down in one of the corners

24 pin ATX power cable from PSU, even more obvious, usually along one side

Fan power wire from ZeroTherm Nirvana, should be 4 pin, little 4 pin header is near the CPU socket, it is labled

SATA cables from various drives -- I usually connect hard drives to low numbered ports, optical drives to high numbered ports, makes it easier to remember. SATA is nice cause you don't have to worry about which is mater and slave and all that like with PATA.

Front panel switch wire, reset switch wire, LED (power and HDD activity) wires, internal speaker/buzzer wire (may not have one, it's ok). These all connect to a collection of pins, normally near one edge of the board and color-coded. You may have to get the manual out, or it may label what goes where on the board itself. Varies board to board. Annoying, my least favorite part, but not a big deal. Take your time.

USB & Firewire headers -- normally FireWire is red, USB is blue, but check the motherboard manual to be sure. Your case will have ports on the front or top, probably, which need to have their wires attached to these headers to work.

Audio header -- the X-Fi may have a place to connect this. Not sure. If it does, don't connect to the motherboard, connect to it. If neither do, the front or top audio ports won't work. Not the end of the world.



HSF installation basics:

Read the directions.

Install processor in socket, put down the socket mounting arm so it is secure.

Apply a thin line of thermal paste (MX2 in your case) down the center of the CPU, but not all the way to the edges. Don't use much paste -- it only needs a little.

Install backplate and HSF according to the manual instructions. This will "smush" the paste around, so don't worry about spreading it yourself.



Any other questions, we're still here.
 
Ahh yes, the front panel switch wire, reset switch wire, LED wires.. THAT'S the other thing that I could not understand in the motherboard manual! I mean, I'm sure when I actually have the motherboard out of the box and in front of me, I will understand the instructions more.. Those pictures they put in there don't really help too much for me heh. And most of the online guides I've found are pretty outdated, and I'm a bit weary of following them too much aside from the order to install things in.

So the ZeroTherm Nirvana.. is that the wire that will go into the CPU FAN slot? I was confused about all the other fans, I think the case has 5? Do they all plug into each other kinda and then go into one slot? Again, I'm sure the case will have a manual that explains it.. Just haven't gotten that yet, and none of the other manuals mention the other fans :)
 
Case fans normally connect to a molex (white 4-pin) connector from the PSU. You can 'daisy chain' most case fans -- they have ends on the cable that allow more than one to be connected to the same molex plug at the end of the 'chain'. You wouldn't want to connect all your case fans to the motherboard -- it'd be a wiring nightmare. If you want to control their speed (not have them run full speed all the time, like they will plugged directly in the the PSU) a $15 Sunbeam Rheobus ran controller will do the job. :) If you like things flashy there are all kinds of options for fan controllers, too.
 
I may invest in a pretty fan controller ;) As long as it's not like $100, I'll totally get it. I haven't read much into them, what are some nice ones, if you don't mind? :)
 
I use a Sunbeam Rheobus. My only complaint is that the LEDs (red up to half speed, blue past half speed) are freaking /bright/. It's nothing special, but it does the job. $~15-20

Zalman and Lian-Li make nice 8 an 10 channel fan controllers that're very smooth and understated. That's more my style. ~$35

Scythe and AeroCool make flashy LCD display based fan controllers that do all kinds of other stuff too. They tend to run $40-60.

The Matrix Orbital Display is probably the most flashy of the flashy displays... but it's like $100-150 last I checked?
 
Looking at this picture of my motherboard, I just realized something:
13-130-158-05.jpg

The sound card it comes with goes into the PCI Express x1 slot.. But when I put in the two GTS cards into the x16 slots, it doesn't look like the sound card will even be able to fit between them.. What do you think?
 
Syribo said:
Looking at this picture of my motherboard, I just realized something:
-snip-
The sound card it comes with goes into the PCI Express x1 slot.. But when I put in the two GTS cards into the x16 slots, it doesn't look like the sound card will even be able to fit between them.. What do you think?
Click to expand...

It'll fit in the slot to the right in that picture, between the two 8800 GTSs. No worries.
 
silent-circuit said:
Wait wait. Your board has an X-Fi chip onboard.
Click to expand...

I think that's exactly what won't be on either the motherboard, or the PCI-e card! :)

I imagine the card will be an OEM version of the "X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Express"... which doesn't look like a very good card ( relative to other X-Fi cards ). A picture of the bundled card on the P7N Diamond page looks likes a slightly different model, but you should check into. The current "Extreme Audio" cards only support EAX in software. A lot of people say the "X-Fi Extreme Audio" isn't an X-Fi card at all, because they don't have X-Fi chips. On the Creative site, the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer is the cheapest card to feature "X-Fi, the world's most powerful audio processor".

These comparison charts don't include the PCI Express variant of the Extreme Audio. I think it would be almost identical to the PCI version, though...

Anyway, I'm sure the sound from it will be better than most on-board sound... probably just won't have what you were expecting it to have... which is, an X-Fi processor.
 
Kord said:
I think that's exactly what won't be on either the motherboard, or the PCI-e card! :)

I imagine the card will be an OEM version of the "X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Express"... which doesn't look like a very good card ( relative to other X-Fi cards ). A picture of the bundled card on the P7N Diamond page looks likes a slightly different model, but you should check into. The current "Extreme Audio" cards only support EAX in software. A lot of people say the "X-Fi Extreme Audio" isn't an X-Fi card at all, because they don't have X-Fi chips. On the Creative site, the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer is the cheapest card to feature "X-Fi, the world's most powerful audio processor".

These comparison charts don't include the PCI Express variant of the Extreme Audio. I think it would be almost identical to the PCI version, though...

Anyway, I'm sure the sound from it will be better than most on-board sound... probably just won't have what you were expecting it to have... which is, an X-Fi processor.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, if that's true.. that kinda makes me sad. I'll have to wait and see how it sounds tomorrow.. If it's not great, I could always buy a separate card. Then again, it should still HOPEFULLY sound better than my Audigy 2, and the Audigy 2 actually sounds pretty wonderful to me already :)
 
Syribo,

Kord is correct. The PCI-E X-Fi isn't a true hardware based X-Fi, and that may indeed be a turn-off for some. I myself use my old, trusty PCI X-Fi Platinum with my P7N--not because I would likely notice a difference when listening to MP3s with the included card, but because every once in a while I use the MIDI ports that come on the X-Fi Platinum's front panel.

Regardless of what the PCI-E X-Fi may or may not be, most would conclude that it is better than other on-board sound solutions. Others (like Silent-Circuit) often state that you may not even be able to tell the difference between a real X-Fi and traditional on-board sound. Nevertheless, the X-Fi PCI-E provides EAX, which is a big deal to some (although less so to Vista users,) and you will have the CMSS 3D surround features (which do work well) and I believe the 24-bit Crystalizer (which is very hit or miss when activated.) If you are unhappy with the card, a PCI sound card like an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer or the Auzentech Preldue will work fine.
 
Thanks to you guys for clearing that up for me :) I think I am going to get a real X-Fi card anyway then.. Just because I find the sound quality really important in a computer, I listen to a lot of music and like great sound in games too. Now to figure out which one is better ;P So I'll either go with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829156005
The Prelude or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006
The Xtreme Gamer.. which is cheaper, but has worse reviews. I'll probably go with the Prelude if it's worth it.
 
I'd go with the Prelude. Although some of the benefit to going with a Prelude over an X-Fi was nullified when Creative finally got their Vista drivers together a few months ago.

Btw, be sure to share your build and OC results at my P7N thread on XS. It's one of the biggest (if not the biggest) P7N Diamond thread on the net, and it's a community I'm very focused on building atm. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=178286 The BIOS is a bit trickier to work with than those on the 780i reference boards, but the quality of this board makes it worthwhile. The best OC results thus come from shared community information and user results.

Thanks :)
 
Okay, I ended up just buying the Prelude (God, when my father sees his bank account.. He's going to freak out! I think I've spent about $5300 in the past week). I'll be sure to check out the board :) I'll probably need some tips on working with the BIOS since this is my first build and I'm a huge noob ;)
 
Wait wait wait wait wait.

The Prelude is PCI, yes? I don't believe there's going to be an open PCI slot (there's only one) on that board with two dual-slot video cards installed. I'd cancel the Prelude order quick.
 
$5300? On just this build?!? :eek:

Take silent-circuit's advice one step further and wait on getting -- or even thinking about -- anything else for this build until after all of your parts arrive.
 
Ahhh, that's right.. totally forgot about that. Cancelling it now then, oops!
 
tiraides said:
$5300? On just this build?!? :eek:

Take silent-circuit's advice one step further and wait on getting -- or even thinking about -- anything else for this build until after all of your parts arrive.
Click to expand...

No no! I actually spent about $3000, a little less perhaps, on this build. I bought a whole bunch of other stuff aside from the computer heh. I wish I had 5k to spend on a computer :p Although, I would probably buy a nice plasma screen TV or something instead of spending that much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top