Balderdash Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hello people, I suppose I should start by thanking you all for your help before, way back on pages one and two. I'm building another machine. I've agreed to build a PC for my sister's boyfriend. He wants a gaming rig which he wants to connect to a HDTV, and it has to have a blu-ray player. He hasn't asked for anything more specific than that, so I was wondering what you guys thought, since you were so helpful before? Obviously it's quite a big responsibility spending what is probably a good portion of his paycheck for him. I was thinking that crossfire/SLI might possibly be the way to go with an HDTV in the equation. I've never gone in this direction before though. Thoughts? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 you don't need Xfire or SLI for an HDTV. most mid to high end of the current generation can easily handle the majority of games @ 1080p. if you're looking for extra oomph at 1080p, all you really need is a card with 1GB of video RAM on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 Well I'm sure some of you are aware I have been having a hard time coming up with a half decent system to use and I was wondering. Would it be possible to put a newish CPU on a system with a Intel Pentium III. I'm not talking about anything super fast, I just want to know if its possible. I'm having a hell of a time with computers lately. Another question: I have a motherboard here that quit working one day. I was wondering if the CPU would still be any good to try in another motherboard. There were some light burn marks where the PSU connected, it was with the older 20-pin connector, the burn marks were where the two side by side red wires connect. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 Well I thought I would see what you guys think about the Barebone Kit I've ordered. As I got word today that my motherboard is shot in my laptop. Damn HP burned up Click I have a 450 Watt Power supply I will be putting in. As well as a 160GB HDD. I also have a old CDRW drive for it. I don't have the money for a new one atm. But for a simple replacement computer I think it is a good deal. I opted for not getting another laptop, seeing as how when I go to collage I'll just have to buy a new one, anyway. lol. But what do you guys think? And it will play Kotor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 its not bad. its not a screaming fast system mind you, but if its just something for the short term, then its not a bad deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It will be faster then my Laptop was. The laptop was a AMD Athlon X2 at 1.6GHz with 1GB of RAM. I figure I can upgrade this as I need to. And like I said I don't need much. I will let you guys know when I get it all set up and running. Plus this will be a good first build computer. Remember I'm just a beginner. haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Well now I'm having some problems, Im not sure if I should post here or make a new thread. So bare with me. When I got This computer all put together and tried to start it up the first time, the power supply and the CPU fan started. But the screen stayed blank and it issued 9 beeps. Then it would be quiet, then 9 more, quiet 9 more etc. I've been trying to figure it out all night with no luck. The manual says 1 long with 9 short beeps is a BIOS ROM error. But it was 9 long beeps. and the book doesn't give me any help on it. I have both my HDD and my CD drive on the same IDE since there is only one connector. Idk if that makes a difference or not. I'm almost positive I have it all hooked up right. there isn't any question on where to put everything its all pretty straight forward. So I'm lost and really want the first computer I try to build to work Soo.... Please help me! Thanks in advance for any help. I know I'm in good hands with the people here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Try unplugging it and removing the battery. If there's a clear CMOS jumper, then jump it, replace the battery, plug it in and see if it POSTs. f there is no jumper, then leaving the battery out for ~20 minutes should do the same thing, but it should have a jumper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 you'll also want to research what those beeps actually mean since its actually an excellent diagnostic tool. what is the make and model of the motherboard?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 The parts are in the link he provided (it isn't obvious, and I nearly missed it, myself). It's a Gigabyte G41M-ES2L. I've been Googling it, but haven't managed to find out what nine long beeps mean yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 The parts are in the link he provided (it isn't obvious, and I nearly missed it, myself). It's a Gigabyte G41M-ES2L. I've been Googling it, but haven't managed to find out what nine long beeps mean yet. Sorry about that :/ Its been a irritating day trying to figure this out. I've spent all day Googling my motherboard with no luck. I did try clearing the CMOS, there is a jumper. I tried both jumping it and taking the battery out with no change. I also tried laying it on cardboard and just hooking up the PSU to the motherboard with just the RAM and CPU in it. and the speaker. No luck. I found one person that has had a simmilar problems. its not the same but its close Problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 well, after doing a bit of research, you'll probably have to contact Gigabyte about the problem. that board uses the Award BIOS, and that means that the error codes are not all universally the same since Award BIOS are open for modification by the manufacturers. Gigabyte should have a database somewhere that their tech support can access that will tell you what the error code means. you can try here for e-mail, but i usually just use the phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Well thanks for your help. I think I'll try e-mailing them. Or have dad call them. Hopefully this turns out to be simple so I can have a working computer soon EDIT: I did some searching on Award BIOS and everything I have been able to find has said that the beeps I have been getting mean I have a RAM error. So should I replace my RAM first or just contact Gigabyte? Here is what I have for RAM now. It came with the barebone kit I got. Ultra DDR2 2048MB PC2-5300 667MHz EDIT AGAIN:: Here are the beep codes in my Users Manual 1 short: System boots successfully 2 short: CMOS setting error 1 long 1 short: DRAM or M/B error 1 long 2 short: Monitor or display card error 1 long 3 short: Keyboard error 1 long 9 short: BIOS ROM error Continuous long beeps: DRAM error Continuous short beeps: Power error Non of those seem to apply to whats happening to me. But I thought I'd share them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Try it again with only 1 RAM stick in the first slot. First one and then the other. If you're still having trouble, try reseating the CPU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 24, 2009 Share Posted December 24, 2009 Try it again with only 1 RAM stick in the first slot. First one and then the other. If you're still having trouble, try reseating the CPU. I only have one RAM stick. Its a single 2GB stick. But I tried it in both slots. I tried reseating the CPU(taking it out checking it and putting it back in, I made sure it was in right even though its impossible to put it in wrong) So either bad RAM or I got a bad board. Which happens so I'm not mad so long as I can a replacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Try testing the RAM stick in someone else's computer. DDR2 machines are pretty common, and you'll be able to tell right away if that stick is bad. BTW: what version of Windows were you planning on using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Try testing the RAM stick in someone else's computer. DDR2 machines are pretty common, and you'll be able to tell right away if that stick is bad. BTW: what version of Windows were you planning on using? I tested the RAM in my dads computer. It didn't work. So I took it out and it worked again. So I took one of his RAM stick(he had 8GB of ram he can afford the lose of 2GB, lol) and put it in my rig and it worked!! Thank you all so much for your help. I'm gonna have dad call tiger direct and get my RAM replaced.. But for now I'm up and running. Thank you stingerhs and Q. You have both helped so much! I'll let you know when I get my rig finished and my OS setup. I'm planning on using XP Pro SP3. Since I have a copy of that already. I may upgrade to 7 though if I feel it will be cost effective. But XP still works for me. And I hated Vista EDIT: Hey is it possible to have both a IDE HDD and CD drive on the same IDE cable? Because if not then I need either a new CD drive or HDD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted December 26, 2009 Share Posted December 26, 2009 Yeah, one will be the master and one will be the slave, with the top (black) plug for the master the lower (gray) plug for the slave and the blue plug for the motherboard. There are jumpers on the backs of IDE drives which you have to set to "master", "slave" or "cable select". If you set both drives to "cable select", master and slave will be determined by what plug they're plugged into, so I usually just use the "cable select" setting for both drives. Glad to hear that you figured out your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Does it matter which is the Slave and which the master? since one is a CD/DVD drive and the other is a Hard Drive? Will it make a difference one way or another? The motherboard end is green now. at least on this one. lol Thanks for your help, Q. I couldn't have done it without you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 ^^^^ all it does is set which channel the two drives are using on the cable so the signals don't get mixed up on that same cable. channel 0 is the master while channel 1 is the slave. it has nothing to do with boot priority or one drive controlling the other. while that matters to the tech world, its easier to just have the jumper in the "cable select" setting. in fact, most IDE devices nowadays are shipped with the jumper already set in the "cable select" setting to make the drives easier to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I set my CD/DVD drive to slave and the HDD to master. In fact I am typing this from my new computer. So far everything is working great! I got all my drivers and updates installed and its working fine. I love it! Thank you for your help. I learned a lot doing this. Thanks If I have anymore problems I will post here first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Well I am in need of a video card. I want something that will play Star Wars the force unleashed USE. I need something on the cheaper side. I have a 450watt PSU I was thinking something like this This Card or This one I need something that is decent for under $150. I know I'm asking a lot. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Sorry that I didn't see this sooner. Actually, you're not asking for too much at all. Not for $150 or less. This is easily the most powerful card that your PSU can handle. It's quite a bit faster than either of those other cards that you linked to and it's within your budget. You can get an additional 2% off if you have a Windows Live ID and go to Newegg via Bing Shopping, making the final price $117.29. EDIT: I'll keep you up to date when I find new deals if you want. I may be able to find a 1GB model for not much more if you want a bigger frame buffer. The 5770 is definitely the card to get in your price range that will run on your power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkstrong16 Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 I actually went for the HIS ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GBDDR3 and I love it. I can't hear it at all, and in runs very cool. I forget how much I paid. but it was under $100. And it plays the force unleashed flawlessly! So I should be set for awhile. Maybe when I update my PSU I'll look in to a more powerful card. Or else on my next build.. Thanks anyway though, Q! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthSlinky Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 I actually went for the HIS ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GBDDR3 and I love it. I can't hear it at all, and in runs very cool. I forget how much I paid. but it was under $100. And it plays the force unleashed flawlessly! So I should be set for awhile. Maybe when I update my PSU I'll look in to a more powerful card. Or else on my next build.. Hey I just got the same card, works wonderfully, plans TFU nicely (except the first level), plays every other game I have tried at a decent frame rate, even crysis, not bad for a card I payed $60 for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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