Recent content by teacher_mark

Solved! On the advice of a tech at ASRock, I exchanged the motherboard and had no problem with the new one.

New build. At first would not post with another brand of RAM. Got RAM from recommended list and reset CMOS. No problems posting since. Volume Mixer shows the music is pumping, but nothing comes from speaker or headphones except little pops. RealTek HD Audio Manager recognizes...

Well, I thought we had a happy ending here, but my euphoria over getting to post and installing the OS has died down after a day of struggling to get the sound working. I was supposed to be up all Sunday night gaming-- and now it's Friday! I'll start a new thread to post about the sound issue...

OK! Used kingston RAM from the tested list-- still didn't work. But the helpful guy at Microcenter thought to reset the CMOS and that did it. Windows is loaded and updates are making progress. Thanks ya'll for all your help.

Oh yeah, we shuffled them.

Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules) Was the original. I don't have details on the "ballistic". I'm in what used to be called the "Harding Mall area" in Nashville, until they replaced Harding Mall with a Wal-Mart. I don't...

Yeah, but I'm afraid I don't know. At the time I didn't fully appreciate... But I found a list of tested, compatible RAM: http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=Memory I think I should try one from the list.

Curiouser and curiouser. The tech I took it to switched out the GPU- nada. But when she replaced the RAM with some she had lying around, it booted-- at least it came on screen with the message that there were no bootable drives or whatever. So, joyous, I took the Vengeance DDR3 1600 back to...

Great idea Durvelle. If it's the open box GTX that's giving me trouble, I'll be returning it, and will go with the 7850 & bioshock.

Aw man. I bought the parts yesterday afternoon, put it all together with help from my son, and when I turned it on everything started spinning, but no beep and nothing on the monitor. Luckily I have a nearby mechanic who owes me a favor. I'm taking it to her place when she opens at 10:00.

Thanks Cerb and mfenn. And now the one I'm afraid to ask. How many years do you predict I'll be content with this system, which is to say, until the parts begin failing or it's too out-of-date to play games except from the bargain bin? My guess: 6 years. Anyone?

Thanks so much! Plan C: GPU GTX 660 OC 2048MB (open box) 167 CPU AMD FX 6300 Black Edition 3.5GHz Six-Core Socket AM3+ Boxed Processor 165 MoBo ASRock 970 Extreme3 Socket AM3+ 970 ATX AMD Mother RAM Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600...

So glad I came. First, Cerb: I wondered why the color of an internal drive merited such early placement in the title of the produce-- so.. blue and green mean something. OK. On the 4 vs 8gb issue, I think you've won me over (again?). It's only a few bucks more, after all. XavierMace: Good...

OK, I think harder about the open box. Thanks. How do you feel about a refurbished SSD and HDD? And while I thought I was ready to go get the pieces, this morning I've drafted an alternate plan following a friend's beliefs that: 1) intel cpus are overvalued 2) an SSD would pay for itself in...

OK, here's the revised plan: MircoCenter- Marietta GPU: $167 GTX 660 OC 2048MB open box CPU/Mobo Bundle: $245 Intel Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1155 Boxed P MSI Z77A-G41 Socket LGA 1155 ATX Intel Motherboard Memory: $55 Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9...