Need help building a budgeted gaming system (amateur)

It still may be power supply because every time the power turns off the PSU still makes that hissing sound.. i have the PSU separated from the mobo now so I know for sure that hissing sound is the PSU. Maybe it just does not have enough power to stay on? Although I'm unsure why it stays on continuously when I unplug the CPU power. Maybe because it is defective it does not have enough juice to continually power the CPU and mobo? This would explain why I had absolutely no power when I had everything connected like the hard drive and the DVD drive. The PSU couldn't handle it all. So maybe it is the PSU. I already ordered a new, different PSU from NewEgg (Corsair), they gave me free next day shipping so it is scheduled to be here Friday, but may probably get here on Monday because of the holidays. They are going to refund me on this OCZ.

But if it's not the PSU then what? I tell NewEgg that the mobo may be defected as well? If that doesn't fix it I call NewEgg again and say the CPU is defective?

 

You said that the PC is on for about 5 seconds then starts the continuous reboot cycle. Could it be that the RAM is automatically being overclocked? Gigabyte has a performance profile enhancement that is compatible with some RAM. It could be misreading the RAM you have installed or maybe the RAM is not cable of producing the rated Clock Speed. When something is not overclocked properly, the motherboard should reboot and reset the settings, but if Default settings are not working, I guess that could start a continuous reboot cycle.

Try holding the Delete Key while the PC boots and see if you can access the BIOS.

It seems stupid, but just throwing out whatever I can think of now

 

I don't really have the keyboard hooked up.. i had the monitor hooked up for a while but I didn't see anything... I just attributed that to the power not staying on longer than 5 seconds. I'll hook up the keyboard if you think that will work - but if you think it is the RAM's fault .. I tried taking out both sticks of RAM and it still showed the same result (along with testing one stick individually).

 

Yeah - so it was the motherboard that was defected.

The new PSU came from newegg this afternoon - same result.

I drove to tigerdirect and bought a new motherboard, and now it's staying on! I'm glad that's over... hopefully I don't run into anymore problems. Thanks for your help.

I do have one more question though - the motherboard I bought from tiger direct was this one: Asus P5Q Green Motherboard - Intel P45, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2.0, SATA, RAID

for 129.99 + 12$ tax... the P5Q-E was not in stock.

So my question is - is this motherboard fine? Because if it is not - what I could do is just use this one and tell Newegg to refund my defected motherboard and buy a new one from newegg and after it arrives in 2-3 days, I'll return this one to TigerDirect. Should I do that or this mobo fine? Here is the link to it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3940037&CatId=3790

Thanks.

 

The P5Q should be alright, I just don't know how long it will last.

 

Sorry for my own questions but Which would cool better the antec 900 or the NZXT Tempest? I know the antec is steel and NZXT Tempest is steel/plastic. But does that matter? Thanks. Peace.

 

I have another problem.

I hooked everything up and the computer runs fine - but the first thing I do is run BIOS right? I cannot get to it.

According to my mobo manual - I just power it up and hold DEL.

I don't know why I can't get to it, it can be for one of three reasons:

1. The USB function is not working on the motherboard - the keyboard I bought is an illuminated one, so it turns blue when it is powered, but when I plug it into the USB, it doesn't turn blue - when I plug it into my laptop, it works perfectly fine. However, on my new build, if I plug in the USB halfway, at just the right amount, then it will illuminate.

2. Am I setting up the monitor wrong? From what I understand, I do not plug in the analog cord right? Only the digital? The monitor seems fine, the light is on and on the top left corner it keeps saying "Digital" and then "Analog" and keeps cycling through like that.

I don't know if the problem is that I cannot access BIOS because of my keyboard.. OR that I actually AM entering BIOS but I cannot see it because I am doing something wrong with my monitor.

I have no idea how I access BIOS.. i tried holding down DEL but it did not work. I tried using a PS2 keyboard also (although I think it is broken because none of the lights turn on).

 

It clearly says in my Mobo manual.. hold down DEL key to access BIOS... but the thing is that the keyboard is not working.. at least I don't think it is.

As I said before, it will only light up if the USB cord is halfway in the USB Port.. but I don't believe that means it is working... I just went to wal-mart and bought a PS/2 keyboard.. I plugged that in and the keyboard still didnt light up.. however.. the PS/2 Keyboard lights (numlock, scrollock, etc.) stay on for a split second when I have the PS/2 plug HALF way in there.. just like the USB.. so whatever is wrong with the USB ports is also what is wrong with the PS/2 ports.

But I don't know if the USB/PS/2 ports are the problem... someone on another forum said "When your computer posts correctly, you will see text on your screen. It will tell you when to hold down the del key. "

 

When you say everything runs fine, does this mean that your operating system was installed and you were able to boot?

If you do not see any sort of text or image at some point when turning on the PC, this means that there is still an issue.

 

No - i cant install the OS until i get through the BIOS right?

Well, I am getting a screen - it says "digital, analog, digital, analog, and so on.. on the top left hand corner".. and if i hold the menu button it says "test good" instead...what am I exactly supposed to be seeing before the BIOS screen comes up?

 

Go to about 4:10 into this video to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ksS41TxvI

Your motherboard is different, but it should look reasonably the same.

It seems to me like you are having the same problem as with the Gigabyte Motherboard, however, without the reboot cycle.

You don't need to get into the BIOS to install the OS. Usually the CDROM is set by default as a boot device, so you should get something like "press any key to boot from cd..." when you boot with a Windows CD in the drive. If you can't get this far, then it may be another component that is the problem.

You already tried two PSUs, so unlikely that the PSU is bad. Two motherboards, so unlikely the motherboard is bad. Do you have another PCI Express video card you can try?

 

How can gigabyte motherboards be bad? I thought they're the best mobos and the most reliable mobos.

 

I have this video card which I purchased beforehand.. still haven't opened it - I'll try and see if that works I guess.

EVGA 256-P2-N761-TR GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130394

 

How can gigabyte motherboards be bad? I thought they're the best mobos and the most reliable mobos.

 

just tried benching it.. same result.. tried using the other video card.. same result.. dont see anything on the monitor

 

Sorry for my own questions but Which would cool better the antec 900 at high fan speed or the NZXT Tempestat high fan speed? I know the antec is steel and NZXT Tempest is steel/plastic. But does that matter? Well all I know is the tempest has more space and is easier to set up. Thanks. Peace.

 

That should rule out the video card.

So you have tested:

Motherboard
PSU
Video Card

Either the cables are still incorrectly connected or you might have gotten a bad CPU. The only components left are CPU and RAM...

Try taking pictures of the case wires to be connected and a close up of the motherboard connectors. Maybe we can sort that out. If the connections are correct, then it has to be the CPU. Bad RAM usually gives a beep code of some sort.

I guess you can try booting only the CPU and Video Card to see if you get a Beep error, but the case speaker has to be connected. If you get a beep error, then the RAM is probably the culprit. If not, most likely the CPU.

 

It was the RAM - I replaced the RAM and now I am getting into the BIOS screen! Such a relief.

But of course, the problems do not end there. I figured since it was the RAM this whole time, I would go back to the old UD3R GIGABYTE motherboard.. so I did that and hooked it up to the the CPU, RAM, and video card.

The problem now is that it will stay on the BIOS screen from anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes... and then I lose all picture.

I'm pretty sure this is not the motherboard's fault, rather it is the video card's fault. I say this because of a couple reasons:

1. The rest of the power remains, fans still running, all lights still on - the only thing is that I lose picture.

2. When I touch the video card after only being on a little bit.. it is BURNING hot.


So I figured maybe there's something wrong with the video card... I try the other one (EVGA 8600 GTS) and that one is staying on the BIOS screen.. but it is still VERY hot.

So I figured this either meant that it's supposed to be this hot.. or this motherboard is not very good at heating the video card... ( I initially had everything in the case where the case fans were also cooling the video card, but that didn't help I believe).

So what do you think? Is it the mobo or the video card? Should I try the ASUS mobo?

 

I checked the temps in the BIOS - the system temp was around 40C last night and the CPU temp was like 45C.. or the other way around I don't remember. How do I check the voltages? I couldn't find a way to check the video card temperature (if there is a way in BIOS).

After I installed the OS last night, I put the 4830 in for a little while and I didn't lose picture.. it is currently in the machine now also and I am not losing picture. I'm actually touching the video card now and although it's reasonably hot, it's not blazing hot like it was last night.. the hotness it is at now may be normal. So I don't know what was up with it last night but I'm going out for 2-3 hours now and I'm going to leave the machine on, and I will see if I lose picture when I come back.

But besides that, the OS is installed! Thanks to everyone that helped, I learned a lot!
A couple more questions- I installed the OS and I changed settings in the BIOS so it is 64 bit and I put it in HTEP mode and also ACHI mode (I don't really know what all that means) - but anyways, the OS is installed, but I noticed that it is Windows Vista Business 64-bit. Does it really matter that it is Business? Should I exchange it? What's the difference?

My last question (I think) - I need to go out and buy a wireless adapter so I can have wireless internet ( I know wired is better but I'm going to try this)

This is the router I have - LINKSYS WRT54GL IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband Router - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124190

What wireless adapter do you recommend for gaming? Should I cheap out and just buy one for 10-20$?

Thanks.

 

I know I might break this thread but can anyone answer this all in one post and why.. Thanks.