The (new) Official PC building thread!

The onboard audio's great for films and music, but for games, it's a bit suck. It seems to get bogged down by games that have too many sounds going on at once and some get missed out. No gamer needs an X-Fi card, but somewhere in the middle would be nice.
GTR: nvidia chipsets and graphics cards typically get hot because nvidia like to push the limit of what they can fit with a small heatspreader, and usually give you a naff stock heatsink. Of course, some motherboard manufacturers (particularly) Asus put proper heatsinks on their chipsets, but ultimately you wonder why they have to go to such lengths. The heatsink on my P35-DS3R is probably marginally smaller than my old P5N-E SLI and yet is much cooler (suffice to say you can touch it when your PC's playing games and it won't give you blisters)

 

OK mate, thanks for the advice.
Just out of curiosity what speaker setup do you have?
Im using the Harmon/Kardon Soundsticks II, but looking for something that bit louder.

 

sammorris,

I had the same problem when I first installed the MB. I discovered that mine came set for 7.1 through the HD Audio manager. Once I took care of that,it seems to work fine. If you use the analog, game sounds do seem get lost when the sound activity is high. Mine is set up to be able to use one or the other at the push of a button. I have a 4 year old Sony Digital Audio control Center Model STR-K660P 420 Watt PL-II 5.1 surround system, and I don't plan on changing it any time soon, and you know just how fussy I am about my music! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Dougal79: I use the logitech Z-5500s, ridiculously loud at max, awesome sound quality, 5.1 and supporting digital (although not dts, not properly anyway), they're not even THAT expensive. The only thing you have to be wary of is that they're not shielded against electromagnetic interference, so if your house is prone to that, you may hear the occasional pop from them. other than that though, they're fine.0
To put it into perspective, volume 15 of 40 is pretty damn loud (certainly a volume level you wouldn't want to use late at night) and I've tested that the sound quality is good as far as 30. I only didn't go further because it hurt my ears! XD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121120

Note: 97% of nearly 1000 reviews on newegg are Excellent or good.

 

My buddy got some of these about a year ago and they are LOUD among other things. lol. Logitech THX-Z 5300

...gm

 

Yup, they're the ancestors to the Z-5500s, also good. I had no idea they were that cheap in the US!

 

I know this is probably stupid but maybe your gigabyte mobo doesnt like the 3870? Maybe it doesnt like the card being PCIE 2.0?

BIOS update or try jittering around with pci frequency?

 

It can't be that. My motherboard works fine.

 

Faster clock rates causing it?
I'll search around for people with the same board to see if problems have been seen.

 

Anyone had any experience with this ram - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...+Extreme+Performance+(2x1GB)+?productId=26802

 

Sorry I haven't Pepp. BUT I've talked to a few of my "guru" friends and they say that Patriot RAM isn't as good as the NAME brand stuff. NOT saying it won't work but from what I've "heard" it doesn't OC well. If it were me I would stick with mushkin, OCZ, Crucial, Corsair, and G.Skill.... JM2C on that... hth......

.....gm

 

Thats annoying as Toms Hardware supposedly rates it. Ive now got a spreadsheet with all the parts and prices and shops hyperlinked that Im looking at in it, and have just found this case which appeals to me:-
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Nexus+Clodius+Midi+Case+?productId=30298

The more I look around the more Im getting to the conclusion that Im gonna have to build this myself to get close to my budget and specs which could be interesting LOL

Edit - Which reminds me what other English sites are there other than Xcase, Ebuyer, Aria, Scan, Misco and Overclockers.

 

Trust me, I did a LOT of research on this matter when my PC was originally made and I came to the conclusion that it's always best to build it yourself.
After faffing around with memory timings, overclock settings and putting things back the way they were, games seem to work fine again now.. That was weird. I'll try a different copy of Crysis, the game ran fine except for that crash...

 

spend the extra £5, and get the cm-690. you can also get a side window panel for about £11-12

 

pepp77,
If you are going to use DDR2 800 memory, I would recommend this. If you don't plan on overclocking at all then it won't matter a whole lot what you use as long as it's a name brand!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

I'm hoping to get the 1066 version for mine in the next few months so I can overclock mine to 3.8. My G.Skill runs out of leggs after around a 10% OC! I can get it to about 900MHz and no more! I already know that The Ballistix (not the Tracers!) work, so I'll just have to wait! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

sam and greensman,

the ram you guys linked to is only cas 5. I would strongly recommend cas 4 for DDR2 800 memory.

for desktop speakers I recommend these Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Multimedia Speaker System, (6 Speakers, Black) my klispch are only 2.1 but they are the best 2.1 system I have ever heard. great tight bass and clear crisp high end. I hear stuff I never heard with other 2.1 systems I've had. I have heard the 5.1 system and it sounds even better.

 

@Russ - Shame the only site I can find it on over here in England is Overclockers at £70 nearly twice what Ive been looking at.

But they do have the 1066 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-114-CR for £65 lol

 

Proper Crucial Ballistix is hard to come by in the UK - this is the only place I've found it so far.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-114-CR

Edit: Ah, pre-empted. Oh well!

 

pepp77,

UGH! Sorry to hear that. As you can see, it's much less expensive here! Very highly rated memory too!

You might check these out. Someone here just bought some and said they were good!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227089

Best regards,
Russ

 

you can get a side window panle for the CM RC-690? if so where i want one badly if possible???