New Gamer... any game suggestions?

No problem :)

They have packs like that with some of the other developers and game series as well, but the Valve one is easily the best. (though technically, some of those were actually developed by Gearbox...mostly the HL1 mods like Blue Shift)


edit: And yeah, it's perfectly ok to make a thread about it, especially with pics! That's like porn to us! :P
 
Building around my Asus was nice and roomy and everything is placed in a nice spot. I haven't built with a Gigabyte since my last socket 775, so I can't really speak for there newer boards, but the design was somewhat flawed. For example, the board has 6 SATA 2 ports, but when I installed a big video card like a GTX 285 it covered 4 of those 6 slots. And the fan headers where placed in ridiculous spots as well. And I gauge my system the same way, if it can run Crysis well, then other games will run no problem which has been the case so far.
 
BillOhio said:
JL... I will be running Win7, yes. On Crysis, because I know it's still considered one of the standards as far as benchmarking from games, I'm looking forward to seeing how the build will handle it. The review I saw said 40 fps second minimum (60+ avg.) when that card is oc'd, though I know that cards will vary, even individual cards of the same model. If it does work out that that 40 fps is my minimum on crysis, then I know the card will blow me away on that game and everything else. I honestly haven't played games since well before Joh was alive, since I was a little kid with an Atari 2600, so BFBC2, or something... oh geeze.

The price and reviews on the GA MoBo were to good to pass up, but I can see where I may want to upgrade eventually. Have you had the 920 for very long, and did you enjoy building around the Asus any more than building around Gigabyte?

Joh, yeah, I noticed your sig... congratulations on going with the right case ;) I have a pretty good hunch you could link to some pics of your rig to let me see what you did? With the window I'd like to think that with a dremel and some new plexiglass I could pull it off... but first things first as I've never even built, so we'll see how that goes. It would be nice to get the side-window-fan-bracket off of that window and out of the way of the larger heatsink. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing what these cards look like in that case.

I feel like a 5850 would have been overkill... so let me enjoy feeling like a stud with my 5870 before you start in with the upgrades OK? I haven't even gotten it yet and you're talking upgrades... Oh Geeze... :P

I'll be building next week, I expect. Would it be bad etiquette around here to start a thread with some pics in the Desktop forum? I know that I'll have some questions about what to do with the thing once I get it built.

Thx You Guys,
-Bill
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oh sorry, i am constantly thinking about upgrading on my own computer so i guess it just spilled over to you :P

if you have problems go ahead and start one or just continue with this thread. might be better if you started a new one though.
 
Joh, just joking around about the 'upgrade' comments :) . I already have the urge for a 2nd card, so I know what you mean. Thanks for the feedback you guys. Once my MoBo arrives today I'll have all of the parts except the card (next Thursday), so I guess I can start putting this thing together. Drenlin, I'll be sure to take some pics. ;) Wish me luck!
 
OK, the board arrived... Am starting to build... Yippee :P

(PS. Am going with the 'line down the middle' approach on the Thermalright Chill Factor 3 thermal paste. That won't make my computer blow up, right?)
 
BillOhio said:
OK, the board arrived... Am starting to build... Yippee :P

(PS. Am going with the 'line down the middle' approach on the Thermalright Chill Factor 3 thermal paste. That won't make my computer blow up, right?)
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i prefer to make a pea size gob in the middle and use a credit card to smooth it out over the processor.
 
Joh... I hear what you're sayin', and I know that's a time-tested approach. The AS5 site changes that up a little for the Intel chip, for whatever reason. The nice thing is that this heatsink has a pressure adjustment bracket on it, so whatever TIM is on there is sure to be spread out pretty well. I'd like to think I couldn't screw it up 'to' badly either way, but we'll see in a week after the last components (Card/OS) have come in.

Right now I've got the CPU and HSF installed and am figuring out how to attach the board to the inside of the case. I need to see how the standoffs and screwholes (or whatever) line up. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again for the feedback,
-Bill
 
BillOhio said:
Joh... I hear what you're sayin', and I know that's a time-tested approach. The AS5 site changes that up a little for the Intel chip, for whatever reason. The nice thing is that this heatsink has a pressure adjustment bracket on it, so whatever TIM is on there is sure to be spread out pretty well. I'd like to think I couldn't screw it up 'to' badly either way, but we'll see in a week after the last components (Card/OS) have come in.

Right now I've got the CPU and HSF installed and am figuring out how to attach the board to the inside of the case. I need to see how the standoffs and screwholes (or whatever) line up. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again for the feedback,
-Bill
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try lining up the back ports with the i/o shield and then getting your screw holes lined up.
 
Joh... thx for the continued feedback. The case had 6 risers built into and the MoBo and I was a little 'curious' how I was supposed to make that work with a MoBo that has 9 screw holes. I eventually figured out that the missing risers were with the screws that came with the case. Once you realize that then it's obviously not to complicated.

I was a little disappointed at first that the GA boards came with colored cables rather than the black... but I'm kind'a digging these baby blue Sata cables... Since I don't have the card to fire this thing up with, yet, I figure I'll work on my cable management tonight. This thing is starting to look a little Pimp.

Thanks,
-Bill
 
BillOhio said:
Joh... thx for the continued feedback. The case had 6 risers built into and the MoBo and I was a little 'curious' how I was supposed to make that work with a MoBo that has 9 screw holes. I eventually figured out that the missing risers were with the screws that came with the case. Once you realize that then it's obviously not to complicated.

I was a little disappointed at first that the GA boards came with colored cables rather than the black... but I'm kind'a digging these baby blue Sata cables... Since I don't have the card to fire this thing up with, yet, I figure I'll work on my cable management tonight. This thing is starting to look a little Pimp.

Thanks,
-Bill
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does it have the sideways sata ports? if so, the cables bend perfectly into the cable management holes, making them almost unnoticeable.
 
Yeah... It's got the sideways ports and the 90 degree cable plugs... I'd like to have 1 more but this'll work for now. I actually just started over as realized I was never gonna get the 8 pin in with this big HSF in the way... as I look at the ends of these power cables, I'm figuring its one of these pci-e 6/8 plugs that goes into the 8 pin on the motherboard... I don't have anything else that'll fit.

Thx Man,
-Bill
 
BillOhio said:
Yeah... It's got the sideways ports and the 90 degree cable plugs... I'd like to have 1 more but this'll work for now. I actually just started over as realized I was never gonna get the 8 pin in with this big HSF in the way... as I look at the ends of these power cables, I'm figuring its one of these pci-e 6/8 plugs that goes into the 8 pin on the motherboard... I don't have anything else that'll fit.

Thx Man,
-Bill
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which power supply do you have? check and see if you have a 4 pin cable or one with two 4 pin ends connected about 2 or so inches down the cable (from the ends).
 
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you should be able to plug the cables into whatever ports you want. did you figure out which cables to put into the 8 pin cpu power one?
 
I actually just found the 8 pin... I hope nobody reads this... (shit). Yeah... funny how easy that was once you try using the right plug. :/


I think it's time for a break before I re-seat this cooler.

I'll have 2 fans on the cooler by the time I'm done... I wonder if I should point it towards the fan on the back of the case, or towards the top? With that fat 5870 right underneath of it, and the massive 200cm fan above it... I'm thinking maybe point my push-pull to draw off of the GPU and towards the big exhaust up top?

And I think that I will go with the TIM approach that you mentioned... I had way to much on the first time... I like the idea of being able to see that I have the right amount of paste on the chip before I set the cooler back down.
 
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I got the board in, the CPU in, the RAM in, and connected every plug I could find so far. I don't have the Graphics card or Windows yet. I plugged it anyway thinking the at least I'd be able to see what the LED fans looked like, but they didn't turn on. I got a light on my card reader, and a light on the back panel to the CLR CMOS button.

Does that sound right so far?

Thanks You Guys,
-Bill
 
Do any of your fans spin? Do you have a monitor hooked up to see if it's even getting to POST? You should be able to get into BIOS.
 
JL,

Thanks for the feedback. I double checked the connection to the case's power button and everything fired up, including some lights on the MoBo that I didn't know to expect.The only fan that didn't come on was the one attached to the heatsink, but I'm sure that'll get worked out by the time I've got all of this thing put together (still waiting on the video card).
 
That's good to hear, nothing like putting a brand new rig together just to find out that you have a dead piece of hardware. Maybe it's just a dead fan. I hate how tiny the diagram they print on the mother board for where to place your power and reset switch, very easy to get things backwards. Kind of sucks that it doesn't have on board video, mine doesn't either so I feel your pain of not being able to use it right now.
 
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