So I finally got my stimulus check from the government. I was pretty fricken exicted; too way too damn long, but anyway. I was looking for a new cpu for my mobo which is an Asus A8N-SLI premium. Now it turns out that it is a socket 939 and well... it seems that they dont really have any cpus for socket 939 anymore. So I decided to upgrade some of my sheet.

The Specs:

Case: Cool Master 932 HAF

Motherboard: Asus M3N78 Pro

CPU: AMD 9850 Black Edition 2.5 GHz Quad Core

Graphics card: BFG Tech 9800 GT 512 MB

RAM: OCZ Gold 8 GB's (4 sticks of 2gb)

Power Supply: Cool Master Real Power Pro 750 Watt

WD Caviar 750GB 7200 RPM SATA

Lite-On 16x DVD / 52x CD-R / 32x CD-RW SATA 

Keyboard: Razer Tarantula

Mouse: Razer Diamondback

 

Well my check still as not reached me yet

Very nice on the upgrades Rabbit. Make sure that you get a copy of Vista 64bit. Get Home Premium, as I do not think you will need the features of Ultimate and thus should not waste your money on it. If you cannot get that right away, and install XP Pro, be prepared to not see all of your RAM. You will see maybe a bit over 3GB. And you might even need to only install 4GB of the 8GB. A 32bit OS can only address 4GB, not sure what happens when there is 8GB since with 4GB in the system, it can actually see it, but does not talk to it. Seeing 8GB might freak it out. ;)

Quad core is also very nice. Though, do not expect that to do any better then a dual core in games right now. Many games are being designed with 2 cores in mind, but like before that... game makers kind of had a close mind to what was beyond just around the corner. And instead of making their games to work with as many cores as possible, they simply patched what they currently had to work with 2 cores. So, now those same people are going back and should be making the adjustment for as many cores as possible. So, next year you should see benefit. And of course, Windows will see the benefit right now.

Oh, and one other thing on the Vista, make sure you get a copy of Vista SP1. If you get Vista 'from a friend' and it is not SP1, you will need to take out all but 2GB of RAM when you install. There was a bug with the initial release of Vista which made it not install if there was more then 2GB present. They patched that, and once you patch up your install (install SP1), you can add the rest of the RAM.

Once installed, turn off these services:

- Windows Search

- Superfetch

- Readyboost

Windows Search will index your drive all the time. While you are playing a game, or not. It does not care. It is therefore, very dumb and should die. Superfetch will move data around on your drive to optimize the load times of what you use the most. Nice in theory, except it too likes to move vast amounts of data while you are doing things, like playing a game. I had it move all of BF2 around on me while I was playing WoW. Fail. Readyboost is not needed with 8GB RAM. It is something that allows you to put a flash card into your PC that can be used to supplement your RAM and page file. With 8GB RAM, your PC will laugh at the idea of needing to use a page file, let alone readyboost.

Enjoy the new toys!

-Doc

Still awaiting my case and the ram; should be here around the 14th. I don't know why I payed for 2nd day air when I get the thing 4 days later... meh. I did get the motherboard and the cpu though... Damn, the mobo is sexy. Asus really switched up the layout of the board quite abit from the SLI-AN8 Premium that I have currently.

I had an idea today though. I had bought Vista Ultimate, just as an impulse buy, and installed it onto my laptop. I now realize that I didnt need that copy on my laptop. I only have 1.5 mb ram on it and well, it just sorta slowed everything down. So what I'll do when I gut my current setup and install everything in the new one, I'll just downgrade my laptop back to XP using the factory default recover discs it had and put Vista Ultimate on my PC.  

Sounds like a good plan. Just make sure that you have a 64 bit copy. Otherwise, you will be missing a lot of that 8GB of RAM. ;)

Vista should never see a PC with less then 2GB RAM. ;)

Sorry it is taking so long to get your gear. Sounds odd that it is taking so long. I usually get things right on time from Newegg unless stuff is out of stock.

-Doc

Dr. Evil:

Sounds like a good plan. Just make sure that you have a 64 bit copy. Otherwise, you will be missing a lot of that 8GB of RAM. ;)

Vista should never see a PC with less then 2GB RAM. ;)

Sorry it is taking so long to get your gear. Sounds odd that it is taking so long. I usually get things right on time from Newegg unless stuff is out of stock.

-Doc

 Yeah I have the 64 bit version. The box has a disc for 32 and 64 bit installation. 

Well, I ordered the ram and case on Friday at like 3 am or something like that before I went to work and when I got home around 7:30pm it said that the order had charged to my account, shipped and all of that so I figured it would have been here already Saturday evening. Maybe that's why though, I ordered it on a Friday and the delivery process skips Sunday and that would mean that Monday would be considered the second day? 

Newegg does not deliver on Saturday or Sunday. Even with the over night option. There is a special over night option that includes Saturday delivery. Both UPS and FedEx do that. Newegg does not offer the Saturday delivery option that those two offer. Just the standard overnight which is weekdays only. The only non-overnight delivery option that will delivery on Saturday is FedEx Home delivery with Saturday option. Again, not offered. So, if it shipped out on Friday, and you did overnight, then expect it today.

-Doc

Dr. Evil:

Newegg does not deliver on Saturday or Sunday. Even with the over night option. There is a special over night option that includes Saturday delivery. Both UPS and FedEx do that. Newegg does not offer the Saturday delivery option that those two offer. Just the standard overnight which is weekdays only. The only non-overnight delivery option that will delivery on Saturday is FedEx Home delivery with Saturday option. Again, not offered. So, if it shipped out on Friday, and you did overnight, then expect it today.

-Doc

 

Shoot, I never thought of that. I did get the case yesterday on the 13th and Im still waiting the ram. I called Newegg to see what was going on becuase the tracker on both UPS and newegg said that the ram was still in Memphis, TN. They said that it is still scheduled for delivery on the 14th, but if I didnt get it (which I didnt =[ )  to call back tomorrow and they will see where it is at.

I did run into some problems already though. I've been switching out parts from my old case to the new one and well, the Power supply cord is a little to small. It mounts on the bottom of the case and the moboard 24pin connector has to go over the graphics card and it fit, but the cord streched out really tight. So I bought a new Ps. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171024

I really hope that the cords are long enough to reach without being tight. They look pretty long.

That brought me to my 2nd problem. My two xfx 7800gtx's are both PCI x16 and the motherboard only has one PCI x16 slot. Fuck. So I also bought a new card to compensate for the loss of my SLI. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143151

I figured I might as well just buy the card with the PS becuase that would be faster than having to RMA the motherboard and picking out a new one. 

 

Yea, my case is the same way. The PSU is mounted at the bottom, and the mobo was designed thinking that the PSU was above it and so the mount point it on the top of the mobo.

There were some mobo's designed a while back with the assumption that they would be mounted like that... but it was a whole other form factor that did not catch on. With my setup, the main PSU cable is just long enough, but with the vid card it was tricky. The main power cable is run between the mobo and the vid card, right next to the PCI-e slot. Pretty well wedged in there. But, it works. The really hard one was the addition power connect that the mobo wanted. That was way at the top, and I had to run that one right next to the CPU.

Anyway, it really should all fit. The length of the main mobo power cable is pretty standard. I cannot believe one will be longer then the other. If you have not tried running the cable against the mobo in just some other way to get it to stretch, give it another go and maybe cancel the other PSU order.

As for the video cards... yea, that can be a bitch. SLI is fun and all... but really not worth it any more unless you are wanting to drive a huge display like a 30" LCD at 2560x1200. The single 9800GT that you linked is faster then your two cards in SLI by probably 70%. The jump from the 7 series to the 8 series is pretty staggering. From my SLI 7800GTX's that I had, to the 8800GTS 640MB that I got was a more then 2x increase in performance. I now have a 9800GTX which was a 30% increase over the 8800 I had. The 9800 that you got is just a touch slower then mine.

Hopefully you will get your RAM, and the new card and be good to go in no time.

-Doc

Alright, so I finnally got my PC up and running... kinda. Install was a breeze (I have pics and I'll post later but I need some guidence please) and very beautiful. The PS units motherboard connecter is way longer than the other one and there is plenty of clearance between the graphics card and the PS motherboard connecter like I thought. Also, this is the cleanest installation I have ever done in my life! I have built atleast 5 computers (not all my own) now and this is just beautiful. The wires are all hidden its great; you cant even tell that everything is connected!

The motherboard came with some great new features. The layout is awasome, except for where the SATA connecters are. One of the connecters runs right underneath the back of the graphics card and its a really really tight fit, but its not too much of a crutial connecter. Its like STATA connecter 3 or something. But the motherboard came with this really cool thing, its like a little map and the map has different holes on it for the size of the motherboard. So when youre installing all the mounts you can see where to put them and whatnot. That actually came in really handy even though you can see where all the motherboard mounts go. I have a pic of that as well. Also the motherboard came with this really awesome connecter piece to connect the power and reset switches. You put all the case swtiches onto that piece and then put that piece onto the motherboard. It was awesome! It was really easy to get the switches connected so I wasnt like fumbling in the really tight spaces.  

I really do suggest this case to everyone as youll see from the pictures sometime.

 

Anyway, the problem. I am trying to install Vista Ultimate x64. I read on Microsoft that I have to boot from the install disc and do a complete "clean install" to upgrade to x64 becuase I have the x32 version of XP Home. So I do that. It loads but then it gets stuck on like some background image and my mouse pointer just shows up and doesnt do anything from then on when it is supposed to be installing.

I read on a fourm (when I boot to XP Home)  somewhere that I should try a different display port on my graphics card, I switched it tried it again and still the same thing. So then I thought about the ram. I had all 8gbs in there. I took it down to 2gb of ram and tried it again. Still the same thing.

 I then called Microsoft and talked with their tech support. They told me to do the same thing I did already, and then so just to humor them, I did everything over again. Something fucked up and I wasnt getting any display, just a black screen. The tech said that it was a hardware problem and gave me a case number.

I got my computer to work again back with 2gb of ram in it and Im going to call again becasue I have no idea what hardware it would be that deals with it as to everything works great and I also tried to install Vista Ultimate x32 version and it worked fine.

EDIT: Im downloading updates for my motherboard and graphics card drivers and bios right now. I'll see if that works.

EDIT: Nope, didnt work for the driver or bios update. I guess I have to call each individual part company to see what's up. I wouldnt even have a clue as to where to start. Maybe I need like a new dvd/cd drive or something. I wouldnt understand why becasue like I said, the x32 installs just fine and all of my parts are x64 capable. Maybe its the install disc for vista?

Any ideas?

Well, I am not sure where it is in the OS load screen where you are getting stuck. Do you ever get the any screens with options? Or just the Vista background, mouse pointer and nothing? If that is the case, I am pretty sure what Vista is doing is trying to figure out your HDD options so it can display them to you. Don't know if you have ever installed Vista before, but that is the only option you get during a clean install. Choose your partition (delete and make them as well, if desired) and go.

Could be something there. Do you have any USB drives hooked up? If you have other things connected, take it down to minimum.

Also, why XP? Do you have an upgrade DVD or something? Or did you load XP on there already just to see if it works or something? Oh, and all Vista upgrades are pretty much clean installs. Don't think there is an upgrade. ;)

I don't think it is your DVD, it sounds like the install is hanging on identifying your apps. One thing you can do, just to check to see if it is your hardware or what, is to download and try some other bootable OS type options. You can grab the latest 64bit Linux Ubuntu install CD, which can also boot and run from the CD. Pretty sweet. There are also ways to make a bootable Windows environment, but there are harder then Ubuntu. Anyway, if you can get Ubuntu to boot, then your hardware is fine, and you might need some driver or something for Vista to see your HDD. Otherwise, I would look at bios settings and see what your HDD configuration is... can bios see your HDD?

Don't give up on the RAM either. Try using the other 2GB sticks. Use each one by itself. Could have a bad stick.

-Doc

Dr. Evil:

Or just the Vista background, mouse pointer and nothing? If that is the case, I am pretty sure what Vista is doing is trying to figure out your HDD options so it can display them to you. Don't know if you have ever installed Vista before, but that is the only option you get during a clean install. Choose your partition (delete and make them as well, if desired) and go.

Could be something there. Do you have any USB drives hooked up? If you have other things connected, take it down to minimum.

Also, why XP? Do you have an upgrade DVD or something? Or did you load XP on there already just to see if it works or something? Oh, and all Vista upgrades are pretty much clean installs. Don't think there is an upgrade. ;)

can bios see your HDD?

Don't give up on the RAM either. Try using the other 2GB sticks. Use each one by itself. Could have a bad stick.

-Doc

Yeah, Vista only sees the background with the mouse pointer, and I never see any types of screens. In the bios however, it does say it recognizes both of my HDDs.  

For the USB drives connected I have my keyboard and mouse connected. My keyboard is connected to the PC and my mouse is connected to the keyboard's usb slot. Ill just plug the mouse into the PC instead of the keyboard.

I purchased the Vista Ultimate "upgrade version" DVD's for my laptop pretty much like 3 months after it came out and installed it just fine there although, it was the x32 version of vista. I later then uninstalled that from my laptop so I could put it onto my new PC which had XP on it already from like a long time ago. When I built my first computer before 2003, I've been using that CD key and install disc from a company called "IBuyPower", that's why my PC has XP on it.

 The Ram all works, each indiviually so thats not it. Um, Ill try putting Vista x32 for my OS and then see if I can re-do it to x64.  

Well, I put the Vista x32 version on and well... not happy at all. It installed all right, but it completly disables my cd/dvd rom drive. I can't install any of my motherboard or graphics card or even game cds/dvds. They don't auto run and when I try to open the drive from My Computer, it freezes everything. It's really wierd. Plus, the graphics just looks shitty as hell. The words and borders are all distorted and fuzzy and off color, even when I dink around with the display settings. The Vista compatability reader thing says that Windows Vista is rated at 1.0. That is shit because when I had x32 Vista on my laptop my rating was at least a 2.5 and the laptop only has 2gb of ram and a 1.66GHz dual core intel cpu. So I've decided to take the Microsoft tech's diagnostic that there is some sort of hardware problems. 

I've decided to start with the harddrive and the cd/dvd rom drive. I've ordered:

1 WD Caviar 750GB 7200 rpm 3.0gb Sata 16mb cache

1 lite-on black 16x dvd / 52x cd-r / 32x cd-rw combo SATA drive. <--- I have this one in the IDE version, and its been great so why not lol. 

 Also, just as a side note, I went to Best Buy and Office Max today to check out the prices for a cheap cd/dvd rom drive and a new hdd and everything they have is over $54.99 and $179.99. So if anybody wants to buy just a cheap fix or upgrade, it's way cheaper on newegg even with the next day saver shipping lol. I paid for the two new pieces about $170 total even with the next day saver shipping.lmao.

SUCCESS!!!!!!!

I got everything working just fine now. I'll have pictures up shortly

Awesome!

Glad to hear it. I was starting to run out of ideas there. ;)

-Doc