*****THE OFFICIAL "SPEC ME" THREAD*****

I gave up using Vista due to various software headaches like that. All I can suggest is to make sure you have the latest realtek software, and that Window's control panel's speaker configuration is set to 5.1, not stereo.

 

Likewise...

 

It's weird. It doesn't even let me get at any sort of settings that let me choose the channels. Even though surround sound works from DVDs, it's telling me that I have no speakers.

 

dbl post

 

You could possibly get a sound card. A Creative Audigy SE can be had for <$40, is easy to set up, and sounds great. Though, I don't recall ever having any problems with my Realtek HD. I thought it was SoundMax HD that had problems.

 

Have you considered the possibility it could be a faulty connector on the sound panel thinking the speakers aren't plugged in?

 

damn sam, a step faster...check everything in other words

 

I found out that even though my receiver supports 96khz it doesn't let you do any mixing with it. I knocked down the output to 48 and i mix 2.0 signals to 5.1.

As for detecting the speakers, really why should windows be giving a damn about that at all. Just send the damn surround sound signal and let my other hardware worry about sending it to the speakers. I'm guessing this is because I have it hooked up to a home theatre receiver instead of an over-priced piece of garbage "PC surround-sound systems". Still looking for solutions, I'll let you guys know if I find anything useful

 

This is because Realtek's audio control panel is interpretative - i.e. it can send/receive any of the 6 sound channels (front, rear, side, C/Sub, Line in, Microphone) through any of the 6 ports, depending on what's plugged in, so due to the software, if it doesn't think you've plugged anything in, it won't send any sound out, as it wouldn't know what to send or where to send it.

 

i had some thought of getting a quad or not, because games don't use all four cores yet and it won't at any time soon. Only some programmes utilize all four cores, so I don't think i'm going to spend too much money on quad cores, i decided on buying a dual core instead.

Which one is the best for price and performance and OC ratio? E8400 or E8500.

Hopefully it can reach 4GHz with out increasing the vcore much like in the 1.2xxx - 1.32xx zone. heh! If thats possible...my cimputer will be running 24/7, well mot of the time

 

Actually a few games do use Quad cores now, to the extent that I'm glad I bought one, but there is little point unless you are maxing out your games.

 

will quad help you maxing out your games?

 

It will for Age of Conan, Crysis, Half Life 2: Episode Two and Portal at least, for the first two it's almost essential.

 

thats only a few that you've mention, there might be more. but let be honest, games still use dual cores better than quad. so you think it's better off getting a dual or a quad? quad is more future proof tho...Man! i don't know!

 

Depends. 'Future proof' is a quad core, i.e. if you want your system to last a long time. I don't forsee 775 CPUs improving much before i7 is the current platform, and since I don't want to get rid of either my RAM or motherboard any time soon, I may as well get what's going to be the long-time winner.

 

simplify = get a quad core.

Ok, Q9450/Q9550 then.

 

If you are, make it a Q9550, as that's a better CPU and it's the same price if you get it from the right store, shop around. Remember, froogle/pricegrabber etc. are your friends.

 

how better is it compare to Q9450? better OC headroom?

 

get the new Q9550 E0 steping for better OCs.

and why are sammys out, they are the fastest 320+GB per platter drives atm.