Messages

31

General Hardware / Re: New Motherboard

« on: March 18, 2008, 09:19:54 AM »

ok, done!
 MSI P35 Platinum Combo 

 Looks like a nice $150 transitional board. (zipyourfly)
 Grabbed myself a full/retail copy of vista basic also for $135 (fleabay)
 

 
 

32

General Hardware / Re: New Motherboard

« on: March 18, 2008, 07:24:40 AM »

 I seem to have confusion about nvidia/ati physical differences. RE: would my antec truepower trio 650 work with the X38/P35? PCI-E plugs on PSU universal with crossfire/ATI?".
 
 I'll assume the PCIE plugs on SLI-PSU's are universal through ATI crossfire and Nvidia SLI linked cards...........
 I cant run SLI on a P35 or X38/X48 chipset...so....
 Can a single Nvidia PCI-E card be used on the P35/X38 board? (Ie: MSI P35 Platinum) with forceware,  until I purchase an ATI card?
 http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/cpu_mobo/msi/intel/lga775/p35combo/p2.shtml
 Reviewing a card here with an 8800gtx & forceware. (Didnt think this was possible.)
 Im confused.
  I like the $144 price over x38's.
 

33

General Hardware / Re: New Motherboard

« on: March 13, 2008, 05:15:26 AM »

 Thats pretty much what I was expecting to hear. Ive read quite a few people with BIOS issues from the start, (with flashing needed) So I guess they all have their own issues.
  I only mentioned the MSI board becuse (Ive heard) It doesnt have as many issues from the first boot??, and soli-state capacitors. I would rather go with soomething that doesnt look like grandmas purse in color, but I want to avoid headaches if possible with my first MB/OS swap.

UPDATE: Seems ebay has turned my luck around a bit. I MAY be able to take your origional advice after all Ben...would my antec truepower trio 650 work with the X38? PCI-E plugs on PSU universal with crossfire/sli?

34

General Hardware / New Motherboard

« on: March 12, 2008, 05:15:38 PM »

 RE: [Quote "Zeus"]If you're looking for a new board, I'd go with an Intel P35 or X38 chipset as they have better support for newer Intel 45nm Wolfdale processors.  I know that some 680i boards don't support these new processors.[/Quote]

 Im not sure Im ready to leave my 7950GT's in SLI for crossfire just yet. Adding a 3rd could be a possibility though down the road, if I go 780i.
  My truck rear-end & air-conditiong compressor broke last week at the same time, and im currently selling off my $2500 worth of photography equipment to fund my pc upgrade, so something NOT buggy, & not bank breaking would be nice. SO.......
 Price is an issue here, to the point Im just considering going to 680i, just because prices are dropping, and theyre proven & tested. Both chipsets Ive had my eye on EVGA boards mainly for customer support ratings, but have read some 780i's have issues.
 Anyone heard anything bad about the MSI P7N Diamond 780i 775 board?
 Would this be a better choice over a proven 680i?
 Any suggestions?

 Still undecided about selling my E6600 on ebay & upgrade to Q6600 or not.....
 
   

35

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 29, 2008, 05:22:37 AM »

erm......"latest & greatest" = "homeless & girlfriendless" 

36

General Mayhem / Re: POLL - Cell Phones?

« on: February 29, 2008, 04:49:35 AM »

 I run my own business and do all my own work in the field, so I have to have my business phones transfer the calls over to my cell.....btw, answering services just dont cut-it. Imagine running a pc repair business & performing all your own work, being on a job making money, while your answering service loses jobs for you because they cant sell, or answer technical questions properly.
 Im a plumber.....bad enough.
 Couldnt imagine being in the tech field back in the day when it was just 2-way motorola's & pagers.
 Growing up, we had answering services, 2 secretaries, 3 trucks (with 2-way radios), a main office radio, 1 phone with 5 incoming lines, one for each area-code, a portable 2-way with cellular technology, 4 pagers.............it was a freaking circus, and an expensive one at that!
 Now? 2 employees, 1 truck, 1 phone, 1 line, 5 area-codes, and 2 cells phones.

37

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 28, 2008, 07:15:29 AM »

 Like this? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3208221&CatId=1599

 *Drool *Slobber

  Yeah a EVGA tri-SLI nForce 780i with a Q9300 would be nice.....but geez. My GF is already on me about a ring, Im self employed, but aint gettin paychecks  not much elbow room in the financial department atm LOL
 Any recommendation on a good cheap 775 SLI board? Brand?  
I didnt expect much with this pc in the OC department when i bought it, but I loved the case & new I could upgrade. But hey, I LEARNED (yay), and its noticeably faster now. 
 

38

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 27, 2008, 02:14:05 PM »

 Nope. No difference actually. I made the changes u suggested, Vcore at 1.4, then relaxed memory back to 5-5-5-15 so I could try again, but shooting for 1200 FSB froze after Post beep (ASUS flash screen). 1195 did the exact same thing as before these changes also, and froze at windows splash screen.  Reset RAS & everything is now back to my last OC including Chipset at 1.5V & VCore at 1.4. C1, vanderpool. execute disable bit &  speedstep disabled.

39

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 27, 2008, 09:36:59 AM »

 I disabled C1E, Vanderpool & Speedstep again like u said. My pc Time & date went wierd, had to reset & sync to microsoft server.......(couldnt do ms updates error#80072F8F) Fixed........but my Logitech G15 LCD display keeps resetting to stock (like drivers crashed & reset) I have reinstalled most recent drivers for this device yesterday, but it occured again. (LCD starts displaying things I have disabled in logitech lcd manager software) (OH WAIT!....I bet its cause I cleared RAS after reinstalling...der!) BUT ANYWAYS.......heres some pics:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 If you want any more sub-menu's just let me know. I've come up with the conclusion that my MB is kinda limited on OC options, but the only 1 thing everyone pointed out about the BIOS/MB was the lack of RAM Voltage beyond 2.1V (which is my max voltage rating authorized by corsair) Other than that, I dont see anything that stands out (aside from chipset voltage which is untouched/stock) but im not the professional.....
 I dont have high hopes......and im thinking maybe vista basic in the future as microsoft offers "alternate media" aka 64bit for all retail versions of vista.....for a small fee. Maybe a new MB in the future.....

40

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 26, 2008, 06:19:40 PM »

So...instead of sync'd I got some bsod 
E6600 2.4GHz@2.68GHz
FSB:DRAM
297.9MHz : 335.2
9:8

Corsair Value Select 667 DDR2 4-4-4-12-15 @ 2.1V (1.8v 5-5-5-15 orig)
I couldnt get FSB 1200 much less 1333......I raised VID from 1.325 up to 1.450 but my pc didnt like it, so VID is back on auto, C1E enabled, speedstep enabled, all stable.....(my RAM WAS at 5-5-5-15 2.1V and couldnt get 1333.......it was the last thing I altered)
 Temps are fine, was nice & hot today for testing. GPU didnt OC so well, but managed to tweak the core from 550MHz to 560MHz & memory from 700MHz to 725MHz.....not a complete waste.
 Seems faster.... But not a hot rod  

41

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 25, 2008, 11:32:48 AM »

 I had this gut feeling it was the noobish question of the year......thanks again. I understand the linked/unlinked or "linked & sync'd"...just havent seen anything in BIOS for either so Im good to go!

42

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 23, 2008, 08:40:32 AM »

Thanks for the straight answer & fast reply! I went though vista & did a few tweaks to get back 8%. Afterwards I decided to run through the motions in BIOS for an OC attempt & noticed I cant seem to find the "PCI Clock Sync" option.......



 Also....SpreadSpectrum opens a sub menu:
 CPU SpreadSpectrum - Disabled
 PCIE SpreadSpectrum - Down Spread
 LDT SpreadSpectrum - Center Spread

 I take it I should have the 3 of these disabled..? RE: "SpreadSpectrum Disabled"

 Update: Ive managed to find this Quote:
 "Most devices that follow the PCI clock set 33.33Mhz as their standard speed. To derive the PCI clock speed, a motherboard uses a PCI divisor".

If the computer is running at an FSB of 100Mhz; the PCI divisor is normally /3. 100Mhz/3 = 33.33Mhz.

If the computer is running at an FSB of 133Mhz; the PCI divisor is normally /4. 133Mhz/4 = 33.33Mhz.
 The divisor this refers to, is this the LDT reading in BIOS? Or is this something "set" that I dont have access to?

43

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 22, 2008, 05:55:13 AM »

 Ok.....so I've been broke & bored. Still contemplating getting Vista64bit when tax return check arrives. $240 is kinda steep. Meanwhile I decided to pop in my "upgrade anytime" vista home premium, Figured I'd get a taste of it. Install went smooth except SLI-Nvidia drivers & NetFramework 1.1 security patch, which drivercleaner & websurfing helped resolve.....but there was one thing I couldn't figure out. Windows Update had some "nforce memory controller" optional update available, Dated late 06. I couldn't find much on the net about this, other than 1 post in a forum from a guy with a similar ASUS P5N series MB, who was laughed at for even considering allowing windows to update his drivers, and to DL them from the manufacturer. Well, I did both. I DL'd the memory controller first in windows update, then later went to nvidia & installed nforce winvista32_1501_international, which I believe to be the latest nforce drivers.
 Should I have run drivercleaner after doing the vista upgrade, and the mem controller install, BEFORE installing this new nforce winvista32_1501, and are there any more system drivers I should be aware of? Ive now done a new BIOS, new GPU, and now nforce......is this the NB chipset driver only or does this control SB also?
 Vista MS Update also showed Nvidia nforce Serial ATA Controller update, which I did for some reason which I hope was a good reason 
 Help a noob out here please  Ive NEVER updated BIOS or Chipsets (always relied on restore disks) & recently last year just learned how to run drivercleaner when doing Video updates.
 BTW....I did notice some changes with some software during the upgrade. Everest free home edition no longer showed GPU temps, but trial version of everest ultimate solved this problem.
 And I noticed my RAM IDLE in XP used to be 11%, now its settles in around 28% 
 Piggy! Piggy!
 

44

General Mayhem / Re: overclocking

« on: February 14, 2008, 05:55:05 AM »

 Update:

 Speedfan removed & replaced by CoreTemp & Everest. Bonus: Everest gives more accurate GPU temps over RivaTuner....
 
 
 

45

General Hardware / Re: Vista 32Bit SP1 RC rumor

« on: February 13, 2008, 02:41:13 PM »

speaking of which, im getting conflicting answers on installing a 64bit upgrade version of vista onto a 32bit version of XP. Seems the answer from microsoft is no, but yet, im hearing if you do a clean install from the "upgrade anytime disk", its ok......??...