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  1. J

    Looking for a 22" WS 1680x1050 LCD

    All I can say is that I have the 206BW and it's really nice for just about everything I've put it through so far (movies, gaming, desktop work, etc) so I imagine the 22" variety is pretty good as well- I'd definitely recommend it
  2. J

    BFG 8800 GTS Driver Bug?

    I've managed to fix the issue by rolling back to the 96.89 drivers- you can get them Here! Hopefully this will be fixed soon in the next driver!
  3. J

    BFG 8800 GTS Driver Bug?

    Hi everyone, Just put together my new rig and it runs beautifully, except at 3d gaming where I'm getting (not terrible) but surprisingly low framerates given my card (for one example, 3dmark 2005 score of 3867). I read in an earlier post here that this is caused by a driver bug in the 97.02...
  4. J

    ASUS P4C800 problems

    Can you get to the bios? Are you able to reset everything to system defaults (ie run at stock speeds) to see if you can boot then? If not, try clearing your CMOS battery by removing it and putting it back in- that will reset all of the motherboard's settings and then it may load even if it...
  5. J

    Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

    I've had my Xtrememusic in the bottom PCI slot for ~3 months or so now and haven't had any issues or EMI problems- it sounds great to my ears, and infinitely better than onboard for music, movies, and games!
  6. J

    Recommendations for Sound Card Needed

    If you're into gaming and light music listening, you really can't go wrong with either an Audigy2ZS or a low-model X-Fi (Xtrememusic)- I have the latter and it gives me an incredible sound quality improvement over onboard sound, EAX in games can be really fun stuff indeed. It really depends on...
  7. J

    AGP - what is ATI's Nvidia 6800gt equivalent?

    SpeedZealot's right, X800 xt pe is more comparable to a 6800 ultra, x800 xl is the right match-up for a 6800gt
  8. J

    Reasons for x2 3800 greatness? what about 4400?

    Also, with the P180 make sure that your PSU choice has cables that are long enough to run through the giant chassis- I've heard some frustrating stories of people having to swap their PSU just because the cables don't reach- other than that it's apparently a very nice case though!
  9. J

    What Should I Do?

    I'd also advise waiting a bit more- I think the fall looks like a much more interesting time to upgrade with the introduction of Intel's Conroe processors (which regardless of how it exactly stacks up with AMD it should at least start a decent price war!) :) Also, like others have mentioned...
  10. J

    Help, MS Explorer doesn?t see my new WD SATA h/d.

    From what I've read, dynamic discs seem to have a few management options that basic ones do not, but there's no penalty/problem with them http://www.petri.co.il/difference_betwe...amic_disks_in_windows_xp_2000_2003.htm This link has more details on the topic- I just googled it. Thanks...
  11. J

    Help, MS Explorer doesn?t see my new WD SATA h/d.

    You have to either create a partition on it using software that came with the drive or go to Control Panel --> Admin tools --> Computer Management --> Storage --> Disk Management and then use that utility to create a formatted partition that windows can see/recognize. That's how you format it in...
  12. J

    having major issues with new PC - Any help appreciated

    Hmmm- it sounds like you have quite a few concurrent issues going on here- I agree your idle temps seem awfully high for the cooler you have- have you tried removing the cooler entirely, cleaning off the thermal grease and re-installing it? That may help a bit with the temps. In terms of the...
  13. J

    Picking the right power supply

    Here are some suggestions- I think the 500-550W range will be more than sufficient for your needs, as long as it's from a good manufacturer. Antec NeoHE 550W PSU- Reliable and quiet PSU that won't break the bank at $118, modular connectors make cable management easier...
  14. J

    X-Fi users - what type of surround setup do you use for gaming?

    I'm using CMSS-3D with my Sennheiser PC150's and am enjoying it nicely- especially in games the positioning is very good, even with this fairly inexpensive headset.
  15. J

    OK, latest build idea...Give me a grade A+ to F

    What about the case? By the looks of it you're trying to build a fairly quiet system (from the fans, anyway)- I know the SLK cases by Antec are pretty good but a P150 would be even better, and it comes with a fairly decent PSU (430W Antec) which is at least as good as the one in your OP.
  16. J

    How Should Vista Affect My Hardware Choices?

    Another factor to consider is that Vista will be introducing the new DirectX 10 API, and currently no graphics card on the market supports it. Therefore, if you want to truly "future-proof" your machine it's probably best to wait until close to the end of the year when the G80/ATI's next...
  17. J

    Is my soundcard dying?

    Have you tried to remove the card and just use onboard sound to see if you get similar errors? That should isolate the problem... As for speculating about why it may have failed in the first place, when you OC'd a bit did you lock the PCI frequency at 33 Mhz in the bios? I've heard that allowing...
  18. J

    Too good to be true? Temp question...

    Hey everyone, I recently did a very thorough cleaning of my pc and got a TON of dust out of my zalman 7000 that was badly clogged before. I'm running on a Gigabyte 8IPE-1000 board, which apparently exaggerates how cool temps are, but I want to know how badly so I know how careful to be when I...
  19. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    Thanks for the help guys- am going to see if I can find the P4P800 and see if that will help- but I'm still mystified as to why my cpu seems to ignore the voltage settings I'm giving it in the bios.. perhaps it just likes being undervolted? ;)
  20. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    I've heard the IS7 has a really annoying chipset fan though... but it does sound like my MB is the problem- any other suggestions?
  21. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    These are all really good tips guys, I've heard about NSD syndrome too and thus want to be very careful with my chip, but at the same time I think my core is currently undervolted and I don't know why. Do you guys think that the low voltage is the reason for the prime failures when I OC it even...
  22. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    Thanks for the suggestion- but I've got the "FG" bios which is the latest version... I wonder why the Vcore remains stuck??
  23. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    Hey Stevty, Thanks for the question/clarification- yeah I'm sure it's a northwood oddly enough- here's the section from my Everest Report- EVEREST Home Edition © 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------...
  24. J

    Help for oc'ing a 3.0c northwood- weird voltage issue?

    Hey all, I'm a bit of a newbie at OC'ing but have read up quite a bit on the topic and am trying to get some more speed out of my P4 3.0c northwood, which apparently can overclock fairly well. For cooling I've got a Zalman 7000B Al-Cu in a Sonata case (Antec 380W Truepower) and my idle temps...
  25. J

    Upgrade problems

    Just a thought- but have you tried doing a "repair installation" of XP with the updated BIOS? I know when replacing a lot of hardware (usually the mobo) Windows sometimes won't boot or function properly until you do the repair install. To do this, boot from your XP CD, enter setup, do NOT choose...
  26. J

    Should I buy a sound card

    Do you listen to a lot of music on your pc? I noticed a huge difference going from my old realtek onboard (ALC658) to an X-fi, but I also use headphones and apparently the X-fi has improved the sound you can get from them a lot. Then again, I'm not sure if the newer onboard sound chips (ALC850...
  27. J

    "3rd master hard disk s.m.a.r.t. status bad, backup and replace"

    Hmm... I'm not sure if this will work but have you thought about downloading the version of this that boots from a floppy? That should let you run it regardless of your O/S. Hope this helps!
  28. J

    "3rd master hard disk s.m.a.r.t. status bad, backup and replace"

    Hey there- it sounds to me that the HD is going bad- SMART is a series of internal specs on your HD that your BIOS or certain other utilities monitors, and if any of them start failing it usually means the drive is on its way out. If you go to WD"s website and check out "Data Lifeguard...