Need help building a budgeted gaming system (amateur)

Glad you got it all figured out!!!

For the BIOS voltage settings, those would be in M.I.T. It is the first option you can select in the BIOS.. However, do not change the voltage if everything is fine. You can also look at the voltage settings from windows (and change them) using easytune6, which is Gigabyte's overclocking tool.

Video card generally get very hot. This could be solved with an after market heatsink for the video card, but the card will work fine with the stock heat sink. Just don't overclock it.

The Vista Business edition is probably better than the Home Edition if there is any difference. Odds are that it is just a Volume Licensing edition of Vista Home Premium so it is probably the same thing In the past, business editions were generally the "Pro" versions of the OS. Like Windows 2000 Pro vs. Windows Millenium, Windows XP Pro vs Windows XP Home and Media Edition, etc...

With Vista they got into the whole "extreme" hype. Sort of like those ATI cards before when they were filled with x's, like x1950xtx. A business would never buy an "Extreme" or "Ultimate" edition of something, so they just label them "Professional", "Corporate" or "Business" editions. Usually they have more features and less junk than home editions.

For a wireless adapter, anything should work. I bought a PCI card adapter with a wired antenna rather than an omnidirectional one. I figured, if the antenna has a wire, I can move it to get a better signal and the omnidirectional would be stuck in the back of my PC where it might not get the best signal and block some components or get in the way. Either way though, you can always buy aftermarket antennas for a wireless card.

The other type would be a USB adapter. This would be good if you also have a laptop with no wireless. Personally, I do not like them too much, mainly because the antenna is internal. You are pretty much stuck if there is no signal or a bad signal and you would be forced to move the PC rather than the antenna.

So, it really depends on your setup. If you are near the Router, then it does not matter as you will get near a 100% signal. Mine is in the next room and I have thick plaster walls and I get an excellent signal. The upstairs one has an older omnidirectional antenna and I have to move the PC to get a good signal because there is not a lot of movement on the omnidirectional. The PS3 has an internal antenna which would probably be like a USB antenna. This gets about 60% - 70% signal upstairs and 90% and higher in my room. It does not lose the signal anywhere, but it is just not as strong. Signal strength does NOT affect connection speed. Only the possibility of losing a signal.

If you have signal problems in your house, a PCI adapter would be best since you can upgrade the antenna. If you do not have signal problems, then any type would do and let money be your guide. Just stay away from those ultra cheap USB Dongle ones as USB adapters are usually more than PCI so something too cheap has to be a red flag.

 

Hello.

The computer is running beautifully. CS:Source and BF2 run flawlessly ... video-wise.

I still have one thing which frustrates me. I did not build this computer so I can lag spike every 30 seconds. It's not the computer - the PC is fine. It's my wireless internet.

Router: LINKSYS WRT54GL IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband Router

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

Wireless Adapter: LINKSYS WMP54G IEEE 802.11b/g, PCI 2.2 and 2.3 32bit PCI2.2 Wireless-G Adapter Up to 54Mbps Data Rates WEP, WPA, CCX 2.0 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124115


Yes, I know that wired is much much better for gaming, I am aware of that, but at this point that is not an option because my family hates wires.

Here is what I am going to try and I need some feedback.

I am going to install 3rd party firmware on my router (Tomato). I was deciding between Tomato and DD-WRT and I went with Tomato ... what is your opinion?

Also, I have no idea how to do this but from what I understand, it increases performance. I am hoping this will eliminate the lag spikes. I know that if I am not careful, I can "brick" my router - so if you guys have any guides on how to do this, I'd appreciate it. I was just going to google for some guides.

Secondly, I am going to replace my wireless adapter with this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124139

It's basically the same one I have now, but with SpeedBooster. However, it clearly says on the box that the speedbooster mode is only available under Windows 2000 and XP. So should I not bother?
However, reading a few NewEgg reviews here : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ndorMark=&Page=1&Keywords=speedbooster&=0&=10

It looks like some people have hacked the firmware and enabled speedbooster, given that they have a speedbooster wireless adapter. What do you think of this? Will hacking the firmware and enabling speedbooster still work if I have vista 64-bit?

Thanks.

 

I went to cmd and typed in "ping -t 192.168.1.1"

and then it started pinging my router.

it showed this line.. one second at a time

"reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=<1ms TTL=64

occasionaly it would have a request timed out line (every 5-15 lines)

but the thing I noticed was that EXACTLY every 60 lines ... the time would jump from <1ms to around 600-1500 ms.. just for the one line.

I'm guessing this is the spike problem that is pissing me off.

Based off google searches, I think problem is because of the incompatibility of the ralink rt2561 chipset for my adapter with Windows Vista 64-bit. It's actually a common problem.. called something like the vista 60 second lag spikes (1-3 second lag spikes every 60 seconds.

I say this because I have two other laptops. My laptop has XP. I tried this same cmd command on there... no major spikes...my dad's laptop is Windows Vista 64 bit (only difference is that his is home edition, the PC i just built has business edition) and that did not have any spikes as well.

So that means the only variable that remains is the adapter.. and based off google searches I think it's because it is incompatible with Vista 64-bit (I guess the laptop adapter is not the same chipset).

My friend has this router: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166020

He has the same problem.. however, after downloading one of the ralink drivers from these forums:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-networking-sharing/72358-vista-wireless-network-lag-spikes-2.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/235009-45-linksys-wmp54g-drivers

He was able to fix the spikes. He downloaded and installed the driver, and then ran a program called WLAN Optimizer.

http://www.martin-majowski.de/wlanoptimizer/

^ That is a fix for my exact problem.

However, I could not manage to install the rlink drivers. It kept saying unsuccessful or whatever when I clicked browse and specified the driver. It worked for him though, and he suggested that I get the same adapter as him.

What do you think?

 

The root problem for this I think is the WLAN Autoconfig, checking for new networks every 60 seconds. to disable this i go to run > services.msc, and scroll down to WLAN Autoconfig and disable it.. but the problem is that when I disable it, I can't detect my network so I can't connect.


This Autoconfig is only in Vista so what I need to do is install XP drivers for this adapter. The problem is that linksys does not have 64 bit drivers for XP so I have to use ralink or some other driver.


I do not get any error code - the error I get when trying to install any of the Ralink Drivers is this :


Windows was unable to install your network controller

Windows could not find driver software for your device

If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and check the support section for driver software.


The Ralink Wire Lan Card Utility/Status is just a big black X... the Ralink utility/status ONLY works when I install the Linksys driver from my cd that came with my Linksys adapter. That is the only driver I can get it to recognize and thus the only driver I can access the internet with, for this adapter at least.

 

Looks like you know more about this stuff than I do... I don't have a PC with Windows Vista, so I have no experience with it. I am using XP Pro 64 bit and it doesn't have the WLAN autoconfig service. I wonder if that is the replacement for Wireless Configuration? If it is, then the only way you can connect is with a 3rd party utility. Try installing the Drivers from the CD and then use the Ralink Utility. When you launch Ralink, there should be a system tray icon. Right Click and choose "Use RaConfig as Configuration utility". See if that works.

Installing drivers from a different card will not work.

As for the difference between the two cards, I bet that the Speedboost thing is a gimmick. There is no way to make your internet faster without paying for more bandwidth. What it might do is lower the overhead so that more of the bandwidth is actually used for the internet, but this is not good to mess with. Don't buy a wireless card because of something claiming faster internet speed. I get full bandwidth on my wireless and I am using a $11 wireless card. Signal strength is more important, but only if signal strength is too low. Also, make sure you are actually connected to your network. When I first installed the card, it was connecting to someone elses network by default. The laptop is even worse as it picks up like 20 networks in the area...tempting to "borrow" someone's connection

See if there is a way you can configure the WLAN program. When you connect to the internet, there should be some type of icon. RIght Click on it and launch it. Probably something like "View Wireless connections" or similar. Then you can access more advanced features there. I have never messed with that stuff, but maybe there is a setting to disable the checking for a new connection every 60 seconds.

 

I fixed it!!! Not exactly sure how - but the important thing is that it is fixed :}. My little brother has been gaming for hours without a lag spike!

I did several things - I'm not sure what fixed it - here is what I did :

1. Installed 3rd party firmware on my router (Tomato).
2. Enabled Frame Burst and AutoBurner in the Tomato settings.
3. Replaced my Linksys adapter with a SpeedBooster adapter (same adapter, just with speedbooster).

That's it. No Ralink drivers, no anti-lag software, or anything, just used the drivers from the linksys CD. I don't know what it was, it says on the box speedboster only works with XP and 2000.. but I heard people saying they utilized their non-speedbooster router to work with their speedbooster adapter via 3rd party firmware. Maybe that's what I did (I know afterburner enables speedbooster). But I don't see how that would fix it anyway.. whatever, who cares! I'm getting excellent/very good signal with great latency!

Thanks for the help.

 

Hello all.

The PC is running great - but I have this error. My videocard has this error. My ASUS video card came with a software called "ASUS SmartDoctor" - I think it just monitors my video card and allows me to overclock and adjust other settings. I haven't messed with any of it.

But the other day, I get this error from SmartDoctor:

VGA's voltage is out of safe bound. Motherboard doesn't supply reliable 12.0 voltage. Contact with its manufacturer for help.

What does this mean and how do I fix it? Is my video card overheating? I am not familiar with overclocking.

Thanks.

 

It's more likely an error from the program. Use either Speedfan or Everest to monitor your PSU's 12V output.

 

Yes, I had speedfan on my laptop. I used to check what the temperature was for my laptop. If I download speedfan, how will I know if everything is fine and that it was just a problem with a program? I don't remember speedfan ever giving me an error warning me.

 

See what it says by 12V: at the bottom, if it's between 11.7 and 12.5 you should be ok.

 

Do you mean +12V or -12V?

Either way, I think I am not fine.

+12V: keeps moving from .77V to 2.5V

-12V: around -16.8V

Is this normal?

 

It means your board's sensor isn't supported by the program then, the voltage isn't that value or your system wouldn't work at all, try Everest.

 

I installed everest. Are you sure this program is legitimate? I have 10 different icons on my taskbar now for some reason...

Also, I went into Everest, under Computer, I went into sensor. But under 12V it reads 'TRIAL VERSION'

 

Ah, I wasn't sure if the 12V was one of the things they let you see in the trial version or not.

 

Okay, do you know any other temperature sensor programs or should I look for one myself?

 

Not that I usually recommend, but have a google and see what you can find.

 

I've tried:

SpeedFan
Everest
TAT
MBM
PCProbe
CoreTemp
hmonitor

but all of them have some issues with installation and/or compatibility. This is pretty frustrating - is there any other programs you know?

 

Okay, finally got one that works.

SensorViews Pro 3.2

The +12V is stable at around 11.6 to 12.2V

So I am fine then, right? If so, thanks a lot for your help!