Find out what soundcard it is, that's step #1. Can you go back to your ebay history to figure that out?

If not, you can go to Windows Update and it may identify the device and update drivers automatically. Otherwise, download Unknown Device Identifier. It'll probably bug you to buy it, but it'll work freely. It should give you info about the vendor and other things. Put those into google and you should be able to put the pieces together to figure out what your soundcard is.

If you want to possibly save time and money, just do those simple things I said. I doubt a reformat will solve this problem, but it's certainly a last resort. As far as reseating the soundcard, all you have to do is open up the case and make sure the card is secured well.

Concerning what I said about the power line.. it means that some cards, in addition to being plugged into the slot, are also connected to the power supply. Don't worry about it, as your card probably wouldn't be working at all if you had a problem in that area.

I noticed you mentioned that you tried both the integrated audio input and the one on the dedicated sound card. Maybe it's worth going into the BIOS and making sure that only one is enabled. It's a far-fetched idea, but it's worth giving a shot.

That's actually a really good topic.

Valve: Splinter Cell

They wouldn't give into the over-the-top Hollywood style. They'd be more reserved and preserve what was once Splinter Cell. Only drawback is that they'd probably only release two, then create an episodic content system, but end on a cliffhanger and leave their fans hanging for like a decade.. but they'd still get the job done right.

Rockstar: Spiderman

R*'s good with the big sandbox city style. Spiderman has kind of lacked in that department in the past. Imagine GTA4.. but as a Spiderman game. It would totally help the feeling. You'd start off in Peter's apartment and naturally run into crime. Imagine a Spiderman where you can screw around and piss off civilians. Overall you'd be able to do a heck of a lot more.

Crytek: Need for Speed

Though I like the original NFS physics, Crytek would obviously make some pretty badass effects and some of the best looking cars in a game. We'd probably be racing in realistic neighborhoods where even cracks in the sidewalks are noticable.

So you said that DVI to HDMI works? If so, that's good news, perhaps. That means that at least your video card is functioning to some degree.

I would update the drivers and make sure that the TV is indeed on the right output setting.

Do you have another monitor to use? You can hook up the monitor via DVI and TV via HDMI, then go into the settings to try to enable output on the TV.

If you don't have an extra monitor, but you have two HDMI cables and a DVI->HDMI adapter and your TV has two HDMI inputs, you can get a little creative: plug the DVI->HDMI and the HDMI->HDMI to your TV and see if the PC detects both outputs. Then from there, you can enable output to the HDMI->HDMI.

If you've exausted these options, then it's possible that your HDMI port is damaged, but I wouldn't set my mind to that conclusion just yet.

What's the soundcard? :) That's arguably more important in this situation than the speakers.

If it's an intermittent problem and the results are random on every boot, regardless of human input, it's most likely a hardware problem. 90% of the time, it's happened to me because of a broken audio jack or even damaged wiring in the headphones/speakers.

Some things you can try if you haven't already:

• Wiggle around the audio input in the jack to see if it's the sound card
• Test out the speakers on an alternative device to see if they're the problem or not
• Reseat the soundcard in the slot
• Check if the soundcard requires a direct line to the PSU. Most don't, mine does.
• Of course update drivers to the latest.. or even try rollling back to older ones
• While playing audio, check the Volume Mixer to make sure that Windows is indeed outputing sound

You can also check your sound settings, too, but don't bother digging too much into it if you do hear sound sometimes. If it were a software problem, it would be consistent. If all fails, try a new sound card in your system. It's possible that you even have an inadequate PSU as well. That can cause all sorts of wierd sh*t like BSODs, reboots, certain components not working, etc. My PC was slowly getting more and more BSODs until it just wouldn't boot up anymore.. because of bad PSU.

It would help to know what video card you're using because that's what determines what you're asking. I'm using an nVidia card so I can only speak for those, but maybe this applies to other brands as well.

Initially, during the BIOS stage, there's a certain output that takes priority, yes. It's certainly worth experimenting to figure out which one that is.

Assuming you use Windows 7: once it loads up, it'll detect which monitor you're using and output to it. regardless of which port it's plugged into. If you're using multiple monitors, it'll mirror them all by default.

About the PC: I believe you'll be alright, but it's down to the compatibility, really. The only graphical option you can change is the resolution and maybe v-sync I believe, along with some "GPU transcode." I don't know what iD was thinking with that one...

Some people report terrible framerates on great PCs. I just tried the PC version of RAGE the other day and I didn't have such problems. If the consoles can run the game at 60fps, you should be able to run it fairly as well. If their history suggests anything, it's that iD doesn't do crappy ports. Their games are usually quite accessible on PC.

Concerning the gameplay: Don't expect a sh*tload of enemies in the beginning, as you'll often find yourself talking as much as you're shooting, but when it comes down to spraying bullets, you'll get your chance.

2TB will be more than enough for just games. Add an HD movie collection to that and maybe you'll hit the ceiling soon. Most games won't exceed about 25GB right? And I'm only saying 25GB because of Max Payne 3, but they'll inevitably range from less than 1GB to to 10GB mostly. The steam games were mostly older titles bundled with newer ones, so they won't take up much space.

Edit: Concerning RAID, you should be fine if it's just game installations. Not a big loss since you can just download from steam again or reinstall. I've always been scared of the fact that due to the synchronous nature of RAID, the slightest error may produce a BSOD, but then again, I'm sure the RAID interface has improved over the years and it's a bit "smarter" than I think.

I've also heard people often say you should keep the pagefile, but IMO it's not practical, especially on a smaller SSD drive and with a large amount of RAM. The first thing I did after installing the OS was disable hibarnation, system restore, and pagefile. It easily freed up 10+ GB. I've been running fine ever since and I do utilize much of my RAM, but it's still stable. Any arguements attempting to justify the use of the pagefile in conjunction with 8+gb RAM is negligible.

You pretty much nailed the main catagories, I think.

An imporant part for me is also the efficiency of the engine. A game that can run at 60fps and still look great is very efficient, but it seems that few games nowadays can run as such. Though it's pretty dated, COD4 was quite efficient for it's time. It was like the Quake 3 of this generation. Of course id themselves did a great job with Rage too. I recall it being very smooth on the 360.

Another catagory which dawned on me recently is the things like cinematography and animation. After playing Max Payne 3, I've realized how flawed most previous games have been in this catagory. With cinematography, I mean how well the cutscenes flow together and how vibrant the colors are. Compare GTA4 to Saints Row 3 for example; GTA4 was bland and depressing in comparison to SR3. Sure, SR3 utilized newer graphical elements, but the overall coloring made the experience more immersive.

As far as animation, I've noticed that there's still a sort of robotic nature with AI. Sure, I understand that the nature of animation and the mechanics of the game requires you to initially treat the character like a fundamental object in order to move it around, but when I see a character do a 45 degree turn, it rarely looks natural. Max Payne 3 is about the only game that did it right. I was playing Splinter Cell Conviction and while the the protagonist's animations are pretty good, the NPCs still seem robotic. Don't even get me started with MMOs and strategy games. Even with BF3, the characters pretty much run in a grid-like fashion from checkpoint to checkpoint.

A word of advice: Don't get something just because it's labeled as "gaming" equipment. That's just a way of reeling in noobies to pay for overpriced products. With the exception of mice and video cards, most "gaming" equipment is overpriced and sometimes isn't even on par in terms of quality than their alternatives.

Take RAM for example. The clock speed of memory makes little difference in game performance.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-speed-tests,1807-8.html

Notice that there's hardly a 4fps increase between the fastest and slowest memory tested. You're safe to get the cheapest RAM you like with minimal impact on framerate, of course you should consider compatibility and the reputation of the vendor.

Aside from that, most of your hardware questions can be answered at the Toms Hardware website. Search for "best cpu for the money june 2012" and poof! You'll get a breakdown of the best cpu's at a given pricerange. It'll save you a ton of research. You can do the same for video cards. If you find yourself confused about the relative performance of a GPU, you can take a look at:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html