Kyle_K_ski Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the kind comments folks. I just happened to take pictures of this thing, and will be happy to post them once Windows 7 is up and running smoothly, as well as a game or two (Ghost Recon and STALKER are the first two in). I'm more than a bit nervous about making adjustments to the BIOS, which is something that I've only ever done once before, with the guidance of a Dell technician on the phone line. That was many years ago. The good news is, and you can blare your horns for this, I have successfully changed the Time and Date settings in the BIOS. Everything else, though, gives me a bit of a shiver down my spine, and primarily because there's a product's advertised figures, and then there's the REAL values, which typically are quite smaller than advertised on the package. I don't want to input the wrong data. I'd like to describe what's on the screens available to me, and if you'd be kind enough to let me know if there are any settings that I should alter, I'd greatly appreciate it. For 10 seconds or so, the very first screen gives me the options to 1. Run the BIOS Setup 2. Access Instant Flash 3. Access the Boot Menu If I run the BIOS Setup, and then open up its "Main" tab, it lists some information that I hope is accurate. Too often, I've read of motherboards having this information wrong, with the results being the owner had a slower system than he/she should. Everything listed below is in a gray font that's inaccessible by using the standard methods. ]----------------------------------------------------- AMD Phenom II's Processor (64 bit) Processor Speed : 3200MHz (accurate, or...?) Microcode Update: 100F53/10000B6 L1 Cache Size : 512KB (accurate, or...?) L2 Cache Size : 2048KB (accurate, or...?) ----------------------------------------------------- The other point of concern that I have, also written in inaccessible gray font, is found under the "OC Tweaker" menu. Now I realize that your motherboards may not feature the same features as mine, but I'm confident that there are similarities. Under this window, the following infor is listed... ---------------------------------------------------- OC Tweaker EZ Overclocking CPU Configuration Overclock Mode [Auto] CPU Frequency (MHz) [200] (accurate, or...?) PCIE Frequency (MHz) [100] (accurate, or...?) Processor Maximum Frequency x16.0 3200 MHz ](accurate, or...?) North Bridge Maximum Frequecy x10.0 2000 MHz (accurate, or...?) Processor Maximum Voltage 1.3750 V (accurate, or...?) ----------------------------------------------------- I'm also assuming from scrutinizing the "H/W Monitor" menu,that the fact that I there are no values listed for the computer's case-fans is normal? ----------------------------------------------------- Hardware Health Even Monitoring CPU Temperature : 31 C/87 F M/B Temperature : 27 C/80 F CPU Fan 1 Speed : 2033 RPM Chassis Fan 1 Speed : N/A Chassis Fan 2 Speed : N/A Chassis Fan 3 Speed : 1467 RPM Power Fan Speed : N/A Vcore : 1.384 V + 3.30V : 3.328 V + 5.00V : 5.064 V + 12.00V : 12.408 V ----------------------------------------------------- Does anything look odd in regards to the above data? In the end, what I would like to hear is that "Kyle, these screens look good--you're hardware is being maxed without overclocking. Just slide that Windows 7 DVD into the optical drive, and let it do its thing..." At this point in time, I'm not interested in overclocking the system, but I do want all of the hardware being used optimally. If you see any exceptions, please let me know. Thanks again for your consideration. Yours! Kyle April 21, 2011 Thanks for the kind comments folks. I just happened to take pictures of this thing, and will be happy to post them once Windows 7 is up and running smoothly, as well as a game or two (Ghost Recon and STALKER are the first two in). I'm more than a bit nervous about making adjustments to the BIOS, which is something that I've only ever done once before, with the guidance of a Dell technician on the phone line. That was many years ago. The good news is, and you can blare your horns for this, I have successfully changed the Time and Date settings in the BIOS. Everything else, though, gives me a bit of a shiver down my spine, and primarily because there's a product's advertised figures, and then there's the REAL values, which typically are quite smaller than advertised on the package. I don't want to input the wrong data. I'd like to describe what's on the screens available to me, and if you'd be kind enough to let me know if there are any settings that I should alter, I'd greatly appreciate it. For 10 seconds or so, the very first screen gives me the options to 1. Run the BIOS Setup 2. Access Instant Flash 3. Access the Boot Menu If I run the BIOS Setup, and then open up its "Main" tab, it lists some information that I hope is accurate. Too often, I've read of motherboards having this information wrong, with the results being the owner had a slower system than he/she should. Everything listed below is in a gray font that's inaccessible by using the standard methods. ----------------------------------------------------- AMD Phenom II's Processor (64 bit) Processor Speed : 3200MHz (accurate, or...?) Microcode Update: 100F53/10000B6 L1 Cache Size : 512KB (accurate, or...?) L2 Cache Size : 2048KB (accurate, or...?) ----------------------------------------------------- The other point of concern that I have, also written in inaccessible gray font, is found under the "OC Tweaker" menu. Now I realize that your motherboards may not feature the same features as mine, but I'm confident that there are similarities. Under this window, the following infor is listed... ---------------------------------------------------- OC Tweaker EZ Overclocking CPU Configuration Overclock Mode [Auto] CPU Frequency (MHz) [200] (accurate, or...?) PCIE Frequency (MHz) [100] (accurate, or...?) Processor Maximum Frequency x16.0 3200 MHz (accurate, or...?) North Bridge Maximum Frequecy x10.0 2000 MHz (accurate, or...?) Processor Maximum Voltage 1.3750 V (accurate, or...?) ----------------------------------------------------- I'm also assuming from scrutinizing the "H/W Monitor" menu,that the fact that I there are no values listed for the computer's case-fans is normal? ----------------------------------------------------- Hardware Health Even Monitoring CPU Temperature : 31 C/87 F M/B Temperature : 27 C/80 F CPU Fan 1 Speed : 2033 RPM Chassis Fan 1 Speed : N/A Chassis Fan 2 Speed : N/A Chassis Fan 3 Speed : 1467 RPM Power Fan Speed : N/A Vcore : 1.384 V + 3.30V : 3.328 V + 5.00V : 5.064 V + 12.00V : 12.408 V ----------------------------------------------------- Does anything look odd in regards to the above data? In the end, what I would like to hear is that "Kyle, these screens look good--you're hardware is being maxed without overclocking. Just slide that Windows 7 DVD into the optical drive, and let it do its thing..." At this point in time, I'm not interested in overclocking the system, but I do want all of the hardware being used optimally. If you see any exceptions, please let me know. Thanks again for your consideration. Yours! Kyle April 21, 2011 Edited April 30, 2011 by Pave Low Font colours edited - Please stop using white text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) nope, the temps seem fine and fan speeds seem okay, the processor speed is about as accurate as you can get without a load of numbers cluttering your screen and the CPU can down clock if idle. same with Caches and everything else, as accurate as possible while not confusing you. only without downclocking bit if in Kb or MB or whatever. looking fab as far as i am concerned. maximum CPU temperature before shutdown is 69 degrees so you are in the green. i doubt it will get that high without a fan failure (very rare if cleaned every 6 months or so with compressed air) so yeah, as per request, stick win 7 in and off you go Edited April 21, 2011 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_K_ski Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Gaaaahhhhh!!!!! I almost forgot, but the manual for the motherboard states that are two potential adjustments that could be made to the motherboard BEFORE installing Win. 7. One that has a RAID setup, and... ...one that doesn't. An alteration to the motherboard MUST be made, so, I'm guessing that since I have only ONE hard drive (and not part of a server), that I just want the non-RAID option, correct? Edited April 21, 2011 by Kyle_K_ski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehgler_AS Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 RAID is for configuring how you use multiple disk drives to improve HDD performance or reliability. Since I believe you only have one HDD, you do not need to worry about it. My suggestion is that you just read through the BIOS options and if you see something that you know/understand and want to change do so (e.g. you may want to disable the legacy serial port and floppy disk drive support that your board probably has). But if you are not sure about a setting leave it as the default or auto-configured value. The one exception to this will eventually be your memory -- you will probably need to adjust a few setting to fully take advantage of the memory you purchased -- but I STRONGLY suggest you just run with it at default speed while you get the operating system installed and everything else squared away. You can easily go back and change the RAM speed at any time in the future. Everything you posted from your BIOS looks just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_K_ski Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 ACTUALLY there are more than two options! And I'm clueless as to the one I should have. Here are the non-RAID options: 1. without NCQ and Hot Plug functions (IDE mode) 2. with NCQ and Hot Plug functions (AHCI mode) The with-RAID options are detailed on the motherboard's disc, but after reading up on RAID, I'm pretty sure that it's not even really an option for me, with having but one SATA3 hard drive, correct? So, if that assumption is correct, which of the two non-RAID options should I go with? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCO*AFZ* Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 also to add to this.. instant flash is to flash your bios. usually only do this if something isn't working correctly. boot menu... this you will want for you install. change it to the dvd by using this so it doesn't try to boot of the hard drive as windows is not yet installed. 1 hard drive is non raid. raid is used to bind multiple drives for speed, size and or redundancy. You can't do this with one drive so non raid is what you want. You want ncq. if i remember it will speed the hard drive transfers up. Mainboard temps are right where you want them. Same with processor on idle. Both will go up some when actually being used for windows and more during gaming. I am assuming you have a 3200mhz processor. if so your gravy on processor settings. Memory - if it's working your fine. You can adjust the timings if you want to try to get more speed, but since you are novice at the moment i would read up a lot before attempting. All in all though... look how many things you learned. You'll be ready to assist your buddys or for your next build if any issues arrive. Chalk it up to a very educational experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_K_ski Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 From Roco*AFZ* All in all though... look how many things you learned. You'll be ready to assist your buddys or for your next build if any issues arrive. Chalk it up to a very educational experience. As an educator, I deeply appreciate your point. Also as an educator, I deeply achieving a fine education through the least painful means possible. And thanks again All, for everything that has helped me to GET MY SYSTEM UP AND RUNNING! YES, Win. 7 is finally installed, I put a ton of my files from my backup on it, and I very briefly tried, in the wee hours of the morning, STALKER--SOC. At the start of the game, there was quite a bit of artifacting going on, with small rectangular "boxes" of portions of the screen dragging a little bit more slowly than the rest of the screen. Strange, but it seemed to go away after a little bit, but I'm still going to keep my eye on it. What has me concerned, though, is the high-pitched whine that I heard coming from my case. I'm very sure that it's the Lightscribe optical drive producing the sound, and I suspect, to a much smaller degree, that it could be the front-mounted LED case-fan. Sometime today, I'm going to have Julie have her ear close to the case so that she can help me determine what's making the noise. The annoyingly loud noise starts up primarily when a level's being loaded/reloaded, or a Save is being made. I was so tired, that it's hard for me to recall all of the applicable details. What think you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 sounds like a CD drive thing to me. could be wrong, just an educated guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_K_ski Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 That high pitched whining it does, that would be grounds for an exchange, yes? I can't imagine that this type of noise, and at that level of volume, would be considered to be the "industry norm." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 you could certainly try and see if the next one does the same. i know my drive whines all the time, usually when something is wrong with the disk. but you can definately try it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle_K_ski Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 I tested out the LightScribe drive just a few minutes ago, and I discovered something REALLY weird. I (finally!) installed Ghost Recon, and played a default Firefight. Results? No high-pitched whine from the optical drive. I installed the one real "indulgence" I permitted myself with this build (and only because I found it on sale), ArmA 2 Combined Operations. Played a mission. Results? As above. Then I tried STALKER SOC again. Results? The high pitched whine resurfaced, but only when the game was loading, AND (this is the weird part), for however long the game was paused when Escape was first pressed on the keyboard till the time I pressed said key again to reenter the game, and for however long I was accessing the Inventory screen. Other than those occasions, there's no whine. So, I'm guessing that it's not really an issue with the optical device, but rather with STALKER's programming. To be fair, I'm playing STALKER with the "STALKER Complete" mod, but I'd be hugely surprised if said had any impact on causing the whining sounds. Any ideas? I have to say, this custom-built system is about 30% quieter than my old Dell one. And I'm really starting to like Win. 7. The "Library" feature is superb. I just wish that I could add a Display Desktop shortcut to the quick launch menu bar. Haven't been able to figure that one out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeealex Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) or it could be that stalker is spinning up the disc to a higher speed than ghost recon. either way, it's odd as for display you mean like control panel display? i swear you just drag the icon to the quick launch menu or the one that your press and it minimizes all the windows, its like a little bar in the bottom right to the very end of your screen Edited April 23, 2011 by Zeealex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRP 56 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I've had my LiteOn Lightscribe DVD burner for about 2 years or so and I must admit that it had me wondering about it when I first installed it. Sometimes I'll burn a disc and it's fairly quiet and other times it sounds like it's going to fly apart. Same thing happens when some game discs start up. I've got a LiteOn and a Asus CD burner and a Asus DVD burner and they sound fairly quiet no matter what I'm using them for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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