Building My Own PC Part VI

I finally solved the problem with my video card.

For those of you just tuning in, I bought a new computer about 2 weeks ago from TigerDirect. Well, I actually bought all the pieces required to build my own computer. And I spent 5 hours in the floor of my living room trying to figure out how to put it all together. I did finally get it in working order, except for the graphics card. The motherboard has graphics built-in, so I was able to use my computer (which ran wonderfully) without the super-awesome GeForce 9600, but anytime I tried to plug in the 9600, the computer would not boot.

To make a long story a little shorter, it turns out that the problem was that I was putting the card in the wrong slot. Imagine that! It was the only card I have for the 2 PCIe slots on the motherboard, so naturally I plugged it into PCIE1. After calling XFX (the manufacturer), they told me it actually needed to go in PCIE4. Go figure. But now I'm gaming with full-power sexiness. The only thing I lack is a couple of cooling fans to make sure everything stays in working order for years to come.

Here are the specs for my finished system:

• Ultra X-Blaster ATX Black Mid-Tower Case
  
• Ultra LSP750 750-Watt Power Supply
  
• XFX nForce 750a SLI Motherboard
  
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Black Edition Processor
  
• ZEROtherm Butterfly BTF90 CPU Cooler
  
• Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory
  
• XFX GeForce 9600 GSO Video Card - 768MB DDR2
  
• Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/32MB/SATA-3G
  
• Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/32MB/SATA-3G (2 of these bad boys)
  
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
  

Total Cost ($)

    699.97 subtotal

(+)  24.90 shipping

=   724.87 paid

(-)  70.00 rebates

(-)  50.00 gift card

= 604.87

This has been a great experience, and I doubt that I will ever buy a retail PC again. I am officially a do-it-yourself consumer.

Building My Own PC Part V

Still no progress with getting my new computer to display anything when I install my GeForce 9600. The fans on the 9600 are spinning, so there is sufficient power, etc. but my motherboard still does not post. (You know that little beep you here a few seconds after powering on your computer? That's called posting. It lets you know that the motherboard is booting properly.)

I'm just getting frustrated now as I have pretty much exhausted my ideas. For any ideas I have left, I also have strong arguments for why they would not be successful.

I could uninstall current graphic drivers and install 9600 drivers in their stead, but the software that came with it won't install the drivers unless it detects the 9600 as being installed. But I can't use the software if I can't see my screen.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Building My Own PC Part IV

I got Windows Vista installed.
I got World of Warcraft installed.
I did NOT get my GeForce 9600 graphics card installed.

The computer looks like a beast and runs like a champ, but the computer still does not boot up (or at least the monitor doesn't) when I plug in my big daddy graphics card.

In all the tutorials I've watched, this issue is never addressed. I have plugged the monitor into both DVI slots and the integrated VGA slot, with no change.

So for now, it looks like I am going to have to enjoy my system without the extra frame-rate boost.

But when Blizzard Entertainment releases Diablo III (I estimate early-mid 2010), I will need to have figured this problem out.

Building My Own PC Part III

I sat down in my living room floor with 2 gigantic boxes at 8:45pm last night. When I got up from that spot it was 1:30am and I was holding over 70 pounds of computing sexiness.

So I got it all put together, and from what I can tell, it's all put together correctly. The fans are spinning, the LEDs are glowing, but after booting it up to take a look at the BIOS... nothing. The monitor doesn't show anything. *sigh*

So today after work I'll go home and try to troubleshoot why it isn't displaying anything. Hopefully today I can get my Windows Vista installed and various software downloaded.

If anyone can offer potential solutions for why nothing is showing on the screen (the monitor doesn't even come out of sleep mode: yellow light), or any online resources for where I might find a solution, hit me back.

Building My Own PC Part II

Woot! According to UPS tracking, my computer that I ordered from TigerDirect.com on Thursday, November 13 should be arriving today, Monday the 17th. That is incredible! Too bad I don't think that any of my roommates are home to sign for the delivery... so I might have to make a trip to the UPS Store to pick it up, I don't know how failed deliveries really work...

Building My Own PC Part I

I love TigerDirect.com. Great site, great service, super-fast shipping, and really great products.

So I looked nowhere else when I decided that I needed to upgrade my PC. So enough jibba-jab, here are all the pieces that I bought that will be assembled into a sexy piece of machinery:

Computer Case & Power:
* Ultra X-Blaster Clear Side Blk Mid-Tower Case
* Ultra LSP750 750-watt Power Supply

Motherboard + Processor: 2.8GHz Dual Core
* XFX nForce 750a SLI Socket AM2+ Motherboard
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Black Edition 2.80 GHz
* ZEROtherm Butterfly CPU Cooler

RAM & Hard Drives: 4GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive
* Corsair 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz RAM Memory (2 x 2048MB)
* Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200RPM 32MB cache/SATA-3G
* Seagate 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200RPM 32MB cache/SATA-3G (that's right, I'm getting 2!)

Video Card: GeForce 9600
* XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB PCIe w/Dual Link DVI

Operating System: Windows Vista
* Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Pricetag: $725
$724.87 - $70 in rebates = $654.87

Stay tuned for updates on this experience!