at this point I'm assuming you have onboard sound.

Did you update the bios firmware and all the systemboard drivers? (most importantly the audio driver?)

If so, what systemboard do you have?

That would be a no.

mfsa

Great post :)

I can relate. I beta tested and played all MMos since EQ1 so was pretty heavy into it.

2-1/2 years ago I had 2 lvl50 toons in EQ2 and then my son was born. After that I lost interest in MMOs. Lost 50lbs (that would be the beer and soda I constantly drank online)

Don't get me wrong...I still love gaming, but I'm sticking to the ones that I can click SAVE and call it a day anytime I want.

SIDE NOTE: Out of all the MMOs...and I've done it all. EQ1 was still the best... The penalties were evil :) As long as I live I will never forgot some of the corpse recovery missions we had to deal with :) EQ1 really encouraged the imagination and sparked a sense of wonder. (cruising around with a DE Necro or Warrior was some serious abuse:)

Hehe, yes i'm playing bioshock right now and its bloody awesome!

You should defintley pick up COD4, it's a great game, but i would also suggest STALKER, as that was also another awesome game, and the prequal is due out soon, so you should play the first one before that!

Enjoy!

Kusimekaa

Bwuahah, "bloody awesome" is the perfect way to describe Bioshock.

The first couple Big Daddys I had to deal with I was completely overwhelmed. But now it seems like I have 20 different attack strategies going on in my brain.

Now I'm calm when fighting a Big Daddy while there are two marilyn manson wannabees stabbing my back.

I will definately pick up COD4 and Stalker

Symphony of Destruction :)

I've been PC gaming since...well, the beginning. I finally built a new system after about 4 years.

First thing I went out and picked up Bioshock and Crysis.

All the hype was telling me that I would piss my pants when I loaded up Crysis but ..what the hell.

Bioshock is a F***ing masterpiece at 1920x100. Crysis is ok, but as I saw on another forum..." It's like a laggy version of Far Cry"

What should be the next title i pick up? COD4?

Would appreciate some recommendations on must haves.

How long did you run your tests? Did you do a 3dmark06 1 hour loop to test the configuration in a gaming environment?

Voltage is getting pretty high there as well. Also what process did you use? You didnt just up vcore to a high amount and go for a straight high oc did you? I am asking cause of how high of vcore you have it at.

However if you ran those stress tests for at least 12 hours and stable, then its a darn fine overclock. You should be proud!

CreasianDevaili

I ran each of the following tests separately for 2 hours a piece:

3 memtests at the same time, prime95, Orthos, 3dmark06, and I played Bioshock at 1920x1200 for a few hours :)

I changed my vcore from 1.505 to 1.5 (still reports 1.440 in CPUID) I did in fact just up the vcore directly to 1.505. I did a little research on what OC I could expect from this systemboard and memory and I saw 50+ people getting 3.6ghz so I just went for it.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=328007

So far it has been extremely stable (knock on wood) The only issue I had was that when I ran orthos for a couple hours the first two cores were about 65c toward the end and it triggered something in my BIOS to reset my FSB back to default.

I reset my bios, and reconfigured with my original settings plus changed this:

C1E - DISABLE
TM2 - DISABLE
EIST - DISABLE
Performance Enhanced- Standard

I reran Orthos and still got about 65c peak at times, but otherwise seemed okay...

I need to order a couple more case fans tonight, I'm currently just running the stock fans that came with the CM 690 + a Tuniq tower.

I just picked up a G15 and I love it! The lighted keyboard is a must have... and I'm digging the fact that my system temps can be displayed on the LCD.

I just had the same issue. Did you get some pathing error that referred to x:\source\... ?

If so...the problem is that your DVD drive isn't liking the speed the DVD was burned at.

I reburned my DVD at the lowest speed and it fixed the issue. If you have a store bought DVD, you're only choice may be to temporarily use a diffrent DVD drive or obtain a different DVD.

I just assembled my system and just began the overclocking process. Still trying to digest all the information out there :shock:

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Q6600 G0
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK
EVGA 8800 GTS G92
Tuniq Tower
Vista Ultimate x64
1920x1200
3DMARK06= 13,961
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=5559405

FSB= 400
CPU Multiplier = 9 (3.6ghz)
vcore= 1.505 (says 1.440v in cpuz, not sure why)

Memory Multi SPD= 2.0 (800/800)
CAS= 4
DRAM RAS# Delay=4
DRAM RAS# Precharge=4
TRAS= 12

Orthos test passed : max core temp 66c
prime 95 test passed
memtest passed

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5559405&WishListTitle=GIGABYTE+GA%2DP35++++%241100

I decided to go with $1100 Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L system, but I made some of the suggested changes:

1. Traded the Q6600 for an E8400

1. though it's out of stock at Newegg and not seeing it on Clubit.com
2. Would this work? http://www.directron.com/bx80570e8400a.html

2. Traded the PC Power & cooling 750W for a 610W

3. Traded the 250gb 7200.10 for a 500gb 7200.11 32mb cache

1. This system will only be used for gaming.
2. I'll be using a 24" LCD at 1920x
3. At the moment mainly interested in Crysis, Hellgate, and Bioshock
4. I'd be happy with getting a rig together for $1200, but I don't want to cut to many corners...willing to go up to $1600 (trying to save some cash for a high quality 24" LCD to replace my 21" CRT)
5. Plan to use Vista x64, will dual boot xp if I get frustrated

Here are the two systems I'm looking at:

$1100 Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L based system: Over the next 18 months or so, I could always slap in a 9800 series or 10800 or whatever series in when they come out and/or a 10k rpm drive or two

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=5559405&WishListTitle=GIGABYTE+GA%2DP35++++%241100

$1400 780i based system: Over the next 18 months or so, on this build I could add another GPU in SLI if I feel the need.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=8395648&WishListTitle=EVGA+780i+%241400