E-Cycler Build..AKA..Frankenstein

[Stratobat]

Hey OleBoy,

I don't use Windows 7 but I can say this much... If I had Windows 7 sitting on the desk, I'd format and install it in a heartbeat.

You have to look at it in a global context and not just from a flight simulation perspective. Windows 7 is newer, people are happy with it, it comes with better security (From what I've heard and read) and being 64 bit, you'll probably see more performance and have a little future proofing thrown into the mix as well.

On my Windows XP setup I can see 3.49Gb of RAM.

Regards,
Stratobat

[OleBoy]

SB, maybe I should consider it. 7/64 I mean. I never planned on the flightsim pc ever going on the internet though, so I don't know if it makes any difference.
...It's going to have the very least it needs to run to avoid all unnecessary resources. FS9/FSX, Adobe Photoshop and my other painting goodies at the most.

[txnetcop]

You can always dual boot your OS. I have win7 64 Ultimate and XP on mine...although I have not had any trouble with using Win7 for anything because Ultimate lets you use XP compatibility mode.

[Stratobat]

Hey OleBoy,

I never planned on the flightsim pc ever going on the internet though, so I don't know if it makes any difference.

I reckon a little built in redundancy wouldn't be a bad thing.

Should your internet computer fail, at least you will still be able to stay up and running, so to speak :salute:

Regards,
Stratobat

[OleBoy]

The CPU cooler came today and I have it installed. Nice cooler!! It was 4-pin so I connected it to the CPU header. All is good there.

Ted, I'm in need of assistance because I have no idea what's going on. I did everything by the motherboard book, but it won't take off. It does, but the video signal is not recognized. I tried two different VC'ds and three cables trying to get it resolved. No dice. It keeps restarting too. I'm not sure what's going on. I even went through the troubleshooting in the back of the manual and nothing changes.

I gave up for the day as I had my fill of frustration. Tomorrow is another day. Not sure what to do, but I'll hit it again after coffee

[txnetcop]

The CPU cooler came today and I have it installed. Nice cooler!! It was 4-pin so I connected it to the CPU header. All is good there.

Ted, I'm in need of assistance because I have no idea what's going on. I did everything by the motherboard book, but it won't take off. It does, but the video signal is not recognized. I tried two different VC'ds and three cables trying to get it resolved. No dice. It keeps restarting too. I'm not sure what's going on. I even went through the troubleshooting in the back of the manual and nothing changes.

I gave up for the day as I had my fill of frustration. Tomorrow is another day. Not sure what to do, but I'll hit it again after coffee

There is a six or eight pin socket up near the CPU make sure you have powered that from the power supply. The HD4870 uses two six pin connectors which I am sure you have found. Let me know it that is the issue.

[OleBoy]

24 pin to the motherboard
8 pin for the cpu
two 6 pin connectors for the 4870

no go

it starts under full load, and is now beeping once. runs for about 10 seconds and then restarts. still no idea on the video signal. I've checked and triple checked all connections.
....I did a good amount of searching for others that have/had the same (no signal) issue. There's lots of posts in reference. What I make of all I read was that it may be my monitor? Not sure on that though. I tried connecting to another monitor (both are Dell) but nothing.

[txnetcop]

24 pin to the motherboard
8 pin for the cpu
two 6 pin connectors for the 4870

no go

it starts under full load, and is now beeping once. runs for about 10 seconds and then restarts. still no idea on the video signal. I've checked and triple checked all connections.
....I did a good amount of searching for others that have/had the same (no signal) issue. There's lots of posts in reference. What I make of all I read was that it may be my monitor? Not sure on that though. I tried connecting to another monitor (both are Dell) but nothing.

One short beep is good does the light on the board show up when you first turn the unit on?

[txnetcop]

I checked that video card thoroughly before sending it but if you have another video card to test it with try that

[OleBoy]

I also tried the 8800gt that Bob sent. That ones not detected either. I tried both PCIEx16 slots to see if that made any difference. No dice there either. I'm wondering if the issue is coming from the PSU?

update;
It's not the PSU, and it's not the VC. When it gets turned on it screams at me with a consistent count of fast beeps. Over 23 and then restarts. My guess is the motherboard is junk

[Stratobat]

Does it allow you into BIOS?

I had a problem with the CPU cooler that was installed on my Gigabyte motherboard. The guys who built the computer had to go into the BIOS and change something before it would boot into Windows.

Regards,
Stratobat

[OleBoy]

Got it sorted finally. It's a bad stick of ram. Once I took out that bad stick, it went into bios real fast! Whew, was I getting nervous when poor Frankie wouldn't open his eyes.
....Now to get hold of the guy I got the memory from to see if I can get a new stick. Or, should I go through Kingston for that?

An update; I got hold of the seller. he's emailing me the needed info so I can RMA the bad stick. One thing though, is it wise to send just one stick in, or should I send both to make sure of a matched pair? I'm thinking the latter.

[OleBoy]

A little update.

I'm still waiting on the memory to arrive. Hopefully today.

Good news for our furry friend. The past week has been hectic. Our dog had to go through a 2nd MRI and surgery immediately after that. I was camped out in the waiting room for more time than I care to think about. Bored, tired and unknowing what was going on behind the doors during all the procedures. Eleven hours later I went home. That was was Tuesday evening. Wednesday I got a call from the man who did the operation. The surgery was a success. The not seen fragments that were pushing into the spinal cord were successfully removed. Good news (smile)

Thursday my wife picked Pip (our dog) up from the facility and brought him home. It's good to have him home, and hopefully very soon (60 days) he will be back to his normal self.

[OleBoy]

New memory arrived yesterday. Both sticks working.

Microsoft Essentials installed, updated and scanned drive C
FSX with Acceleration installed and ready to go.

Latest drivers installed and tested. WOW The visuals are simply amazing!!

[paulb]

Good news all round!

Cheers

Paul

[OleBoy]

I think It's time to venture into overclocking this erratic pacemaker to see if some of the stutters will go away. Just a little bit for now. This may sound funny to some, but I have never, ever overclocked. I slept in past the alarm going off on my alarm clock more than once. Does that count for overclocking?

Are there any tutorials on doing this so I can understand what I need to do. And why?

[txnetcop]

Don look at all 5 videos first and decide how far you want to go. There is really good info here even though he starts out like an idiot!

Overclocking Gigabyte EP45 UD3P
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrZX9IScqGQ

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTLBL...eature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJEbF...eature=related

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liRb3...eature=related

Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRlgq...eature=related

Ted

[OleBoy]

Very informative of this guy to do this. Thanks Ted.

Watching the videos is a darn good thing in my case. I see where you mean he started off wrong too. He doesn't mention changing the settings all to normal until after he got way beyond what he was tutorializing.
....Part three seems to go only about half way through and then just stops? I'm sure that leaves out a lot of need to know info. I'll keep trying. Although the other videos are working fine

[txnetcop]

I was going to do an overclocking video on the 775 socket system motherboards but I wrote a guide instead. It's in here somewhere, but danged if I know where...
Ted

[OleBoy]

The videos are nice for a virtual walk-through familiarization. Which helps me out immensely considering my knowledge of anything about it.

I'm going to hold off and maybe do some more reading. Your tutorial sounds like that's the ticket though

[OleBoy]

It's been a while. I haven't attempted any overclock as of yet. I've been trying to absorb NickN's list of FSX settings. As per his itemized guidance, I did a complete reformat/reinstall and have been trying to follow Nicks suggestions to the letter for best results. I gotta say, I'm overwhelmed with all he suggests while trying to keep my sanity. I had no clue. My mind is numb from all the reading and chasing around. I've asked myself more than once if it's really worth it :isadizzy: