Problems... and pictures!

Okay so uhmm... I'm trying to format the partition or whatever uhm... Do I want to do MBR Master Boot Record or GPT GUID Partition Table?

Blah too late, couldn't wait anymore ;) Chose MBR.. and I'm formatting now. Just ran ATI Tool for a little bit, no crashing. Seems I may have a complete working system now afterall ;) Just can't wait for the RAM to get here.. And to get through the night with ATI Tool and Prime95 running.
 
Have everything installed still... Thought I was having some video problems though yesterday, got one BSOD while restarting to install new drivers. I ended up uninstalling those drivers and reinstalling a pack that I knew would work, since then I have had no problems.. I think.

I left Prime95 and 3DMark running all night. I woke up after about 10 hours, and both programs were still running, no errors or anything (But my temps were at about 68, 63, 58, 58... My room was REALLY hot. It was one of our first hot days here, and I had my windows and door shut, no air moving around.).. so then I fell asleep for a few more hours, maybe 4? (Yeah I sleep a lot), and when I woke up 3DMark was done running and it said 'Device error' or something, but Prime95 was still running. No errors still.

Loaded up 3DMark again and ATI Tool, both seemed to work.. no problems. I think I'm still okay.. but I have barely seen any performance increase since installing the second card and enabling SLI. I don't know how much of a difference a second 8800GTS would make.. Also, GPU-Z lets me see the information of each video card, but it says "SLI: Disabled" still no matter what I do. Any thoughts? Is GPU-Z just stupid? Is SLI still messed up? Could this card be dead TOO? What else should I do to make sure everything is okay?

My room has cooled down now, my idle temps are 37, 42, 33, 35 which is what my normal idle temps are.
 
Is this just because SLI is not good with WoW? I've tried SLI on and off, different performance mods, and the frame rates are either exactly the same, or a little bit higher with Single GPU as performance mode.

Also, when changing something in the Global settings in Nvidia Control panel, after you hit Apply, does it take a little bit sometimes for the change to go through? And then the computer goes really slow for a little bit (CPU % is actually low, so is RAM) but things load very slowly. Not for long, but longer than I would think.. it might be normal, I don't know.

Edit: Kept doing 3DMark for a minute to see the FPS and then compare it with SLI enabled and disabled. With it enabled I got 10-11 more FPS than disabled, doing the test at 1900x1200.. Does that sound normal?
 
Sorry, haven't used a system with SLI so I don't know what you're experiencing is normal. With that said, GPU-Z could be stupid. It is a relatively new program.

Also, do note that WoW is not graphically demanding. It was designed to run on the lowest of hardware. So I wouldn't expect too much of a performance increase with WoW with SLI. Do you notice a performance increase with other games with SLI enabled? Are you using the latest graphics drivers?
 
Danny Bui said:
Sorry, haven't used a system with SLI so I don't know what you're experiencing is normal. With that said, GPU-Z could be stupid. It is a relatively new program.

Also, do note that WoW is not graphically demanding. It was designed to run on the lowest of hardware. So I wouldn't expect too much of a performance increase with WoW with SLI. Do you notice a performance increase with other games with SLI enabled? Are you using the latest graphics drivers?
Click to expand...

Yeah.. Crysis goes a great deal faster. A LOT faster. It allows me to play with all settings on high, 1920x1200 resolution, and everything stays smooth and at its lowest stays no lower than 40FPS. I can't even play it at the same settings.. its 30FPS at most.
 
(This is going to be really long.. also, current specs are in my signature for reference :D).

Okay I've had the computer together for about 3 weeks now... (Aside from the parts I just got recently.. like a few days ago)... so, my feelings on going from my old Dimension 4550 to the computer I NOW have? Wow. What a change... Gaming is just not the same. That's the biggest difference in both my old and new computer. I could barely manage 10FPS on a GOOD day in freaking WoW (Which doesn't need great graphics in the first place.. I think it recommends a Radeon 9800 Pro, I have the 9700 Pro but whatever :p), and I usually got around 1-2FPS while trying to raid.

By the way, I also used to have every single setting on lowest possible, or just turned off. Now I can play every single thing maxed out, even the multisampling in game which has a max of x8 I think.

My FPS now? It really varies. Depends on the spot I am standing in. Lowest is probably 50FPS in really populated areas, and it can go up to 160+. (I'm trying to understand how people claim to get like over 300 FPS in WoW actually. If this system is only doing 160 as a MAX, then what the heck can do almost TWICE as well? That's a big jump). I really want to OC the CPU more, I can't even tell you. Sure, she's fast as she is... but again, can you really have 'too fast'? :p

My goal is to be able to do 3.4GHz stable with just my air cooling... MAYBE if it does well enough I can go to 3.6GHz, I don't know. I'm not sure if it could do that or not without water cooling... Need to get those stupid screws or pins for the pipes on the motherboard first, grrrr.

Crysis runs amazingly... I can play that game with all settings on High and 2x AF, 1920x1200. Lowest I hit was 30FPS at some points. It played in the 50s and 60s a lot. Since I got the second video card my 3DMark score went up to 14,580... and I had a really big increase in FPS during the tests too. Everything that has really insane graphics has improved a lot since putting in the second card, only old games are relatively the same. I can't wait to try Assassin's Creed on here.. as soon as it gets delivered :p And TF2 should be good since it isn't TOO graphic intense from what I know.

Yes, I know this is really long.. but I am like reviewing things and stuff :p The sound is really good. I wish it sounded better... but then I have to move one of the video cards down to another slot, or something, I know it's possible to do if you buy a sound card that isn't PCI-E. The 'X-fi' card that the motherboard came with is still good though. The Z-5500s are a big upgrade from my old speakers, so that helps a lot. I also bought a pair of Sennheiser HD555 headphones that sound great too. (Are you supposed to plug headphones into the soundcard itself or into the speakers? I never knew if there was a performance difference or anything.)

The monitor is beautiful. It seems to not be well liked though in reviews by ANYONE on any site. I think it's great and would totally recommend it to someone who was looking for a 24" monitor. I wish I had the room for a 30"+ monitor, I would have just gotten one.. but for the area I have, a 24" is great and still very big. It's bigger than my TV is. (I need to buy a new TV very very soon).

The hard drives go much faster with the little jumper on the back removed. I'm glad that I read about that, or I would have never known that taking off that jumper would increase speed from 1.5GB/s to 3.0GB/s. Having 1TB of space is such a great upgrade from having 250GBs.. I still want more though ;) I hope to get another pair of 500GB drives soon.

I really love the Thermaltake Armor case. I'm so glad I got the one with the fan on the side panel, and also in silver.. it looks nice. The fans move a lot of air and as long as it's not humid outside and hot (Ugh, Long Island summers) my idle temps are in the low 30s... I think that sounds pretty freaking nice.

Last thing for now, I really can't believe I am using a computer that I built myself. I am so not nervous anymore either. Now when I need to check something or put in another part, I can just get in there and not worry about anything because I know what to do. (Unless it's trying to get the mounting pins for those pipes out of the motherboard.... that's like torture to me :p I don't want to do it again!) The whole reason it works is because of this board. I would still be confused on parts, or I would have wasted a lot of money or bought crappy parts if it were not for this board. I also wouldn't have figured out the problems it had and even gotten the thing together without this board. You've all been so helpful to me :) Now I just hope I can eventually help out other new people like me too.. and give back to the community here :D
 
Glad to see everything (well almost everything) worked out for you with this PC.

I was the same way when I built my first PC "Holy shit I built this and it's working!" Though that feeling only lasted a month or so until problems started cropping up. However despite my many problems with my first build, two years later, I decided to build another PC for my bro. Using the lessons I learned from my first, his PC has been up and running for the past two years with little problems. My second personal build went just as smoothly.

So hopefully, the bad experiences on your first build won't sour you on building a second PC sometime in the future.

Oh and TF2 isn't really demanding. My friend plays TF2 on a P4 with a 6800GT and it runs fine for him. I also play TF2, while at college of course, on my laptop (Specs in sig) and it runs fine for me.
 
I am bad at trying to clean up my wires... I just spent about an hour and a half trying... And it's still not great ;) But it's better than it was! Before and after pictures!:

before.jpg

Before..

After.jpg

After... Haha, not much better :p

I've added some more fans, and an HDD cage for the front that has a fan on it. It feels so great to have everything up and running perfectly :) I also suck at taking pictures. It's always dark in my room, so I always have to use the flash :p
 
Not yet. Going to possibly get the 32" Sharp Aquos? The price isn't bad for 1080p, I think. Going to get that LCD arm if I end up staying in this bedroom and not moving to the one downstairs instead... haven't decided yet.

I took more pictures of my build and random stuff :D Because pictures are always more fun than words!

three.jpg

Nooo! Wire hell again! Have been playing around with the fan controller, trying to figure it out exactly... There are so many different wires and extension wires and adapters it came with... So all of my organizing before was in vain :( Oh well.. I'll get that neat one day! ;)

one-1.jpg

The front, obviously... And yeah.. I know one of the fan controller LEDs is not working ;) Like I said.. I'm still trying to figure it out. (5V.. 12V... whaaat?). I got the top fan today (It's part of the Thermaltake HDD cage thingy).. it has a grill, unlike the bottom one.. so they don't match.. I also don't know why I chose the locations I chose for the fan controller and stuff heh.

two-1.jpg

Do you think it makes a big deal that my big side window fan is semi blocked by my other computers giant CRT monitor? The temperature is the same with or without it there.. And I have no more room. I make sure that the monitors hot air is not pouring into the case. I have no room for anything in this room! As you can tell by all my stuff stacked up :p

One of my friends friend asked me if I could help him build a computer... he wants to do it for the first time. Everyone I know seems to want to do it now, heh.. It's like a drug or something :p And I am VERY addicted to my computer(s) indeed! :)
 
Nice pix! I see that you got the DIR-655 Router. How is it so far for you?

FYI, 5V is the lowest fan setting while 12V is the highest fan setting. If you want quiet, set it to 5V. If you want better cooling for your parts while gaming or duing a hot season, set it to 12V. If you want something of both, go with 7V.

And no, it's not too much of a big deal is blocked by a CRT. Don't worry about it. However, why is the rear of your case facing you? Or do you some crazy dual PC setup or something? Just curious.

BTW, nice selection of games! How is Assassin's Creed anyway? I was thinking about picking it up.
 
The router is really awesome! My speeds while doing anything online have increased A LOT and have not lost connection once! My fathers wireless signal is great too. Definitely was worth the money.

My setup is a bit strange since I am pretty much bed-ridden after being hurt two years ago at work. So right now it looks like this:

newone.jpg

newtwo.jpg

My old Dell, which is my second computer right now using the CRT monitor, is underneath where the speakers control panel is. I reeeally want to get rid of the giant CRT monitor and get a nice 19" LCD or something perhaps eventually :)

The only way to get the cords of the mouse and keyboard to reach me (Unless I use extensions.. which I actually use for my flash drive.. one long USB cable coming out of each computer and I have them right under the 24" monitor) is if I make the case face the opposite way of me. It is kinda annoying everytime I have to change a CD though ;)
 
Ahh I see. Make sense. I thought the CRT was your main monitor. Forgot that you had the LCD.

Yeah that router is well worth the money. The only downtime I have now is now is on the cable company's end, not mine. :)

What do you use the Dell for now?
 
My cable company is aggravating a lot of the time too :(

I use the Dell for quick viewing of messages if I'm playing a game on the new computer (full screen). Or if I'm working on the new computer and have it off, I'll use the other computer to look up help or get advice if I need it :) It's nice to have a backup... And the Dell is still fast for an old computer, it'd be great if I upgraded a few parts.

Also, I haven't even tried Assassin's Creed yet. I've been so busy with Team Fortress 2 now! I just played my first few rounds and WOW so much fun! :D
 
Sounds like you need a USB hub or longer USB extensions (check monoprice.com).
 
I actually bought some USB extension cables.. one for my printer, and two for my flash drive key thingy. One for each computer, but I wrapped them together and marked one off so I know which is which. I should have gotten a few more for the keyboard and mouse! Oops!

So... in the end, my first build ever went pretty good I think! I didn't mind the two items I had to RMA because at least the problem was found instead of not knowing which part was faulty. And my first time OCing anything (With a lot of help though... a lot of help from the forum ;) ) is going pretty well too right now. I took a screenshot of various things :D

FIRST.jpg

How do you think everything looks? I had Prime95 running and (obviously) ATI Tool.. Are my load temps too high you think? Right now I have a bunch of programs open and a few firefox windows, and my temps are at 39, 44, 35, 37... Which I'm surprised at because it's really warm outside.

I will eventually get the Q6600 to 3.4 or 3.6.... Just have to do some stuff before I can do that... I like the ZeroTherm Nirvana HSF... It seems to be working pretty well.. But what do I know ;)
 
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