DescentBB

I got the system together last night (had a friend who is an IT help me since I'm so lame).

new components:

asus p6t mb (vanilla not deluxe)
i7 920
Vigor monsoon 3 cooler
corsair 750w PSU
6gb corsair xms3 (3x2gb) DDR3 1333
Evga Nvidia GTX 260

Used components:
x-fi sound blaster
sony dvd
floppy/sd reader
Tsunami Dream case
WD HD

I was prepaired to dremmel my case for the 260, but it fit with 1mm to spare (had to move the HD to the lowest bay so it wasnt in the way). The Monsoon cooler is MASSIVE. About 5\" square, and with the mb, needs 8\" of space. I had to move the window fan to the oustide of the case to make everything fit.

At first we couldnt get a post, no beep, but fans and case lights up. Checked the wires, everything is plugged in right. So we reset the cmos, and it fired right up...still no beep though. We checked everything but couldnt find anything not hooked up. Not having the post beep bugs me...

Had some issues with the high def. audio bus conflicting with my sound blaster, but I found an option in the bios and disabled the high def. audio bus, and bingo,no more conflicts.

System is up and running. I have version 0202 of the bios, which I think is the current release, form what I can tell from the asus dl page. Everything works, so I'm leary of changing anything.

I'm trying to find a program that will tell me what my cpu temperature is. As it is, I can only tell if I go into the bios on bootup (a VERY difficult task, as 9 of 10 boots, it sends me to xp, instead of the bios...so frustrating!).
Is there a certain program that will tell me my cpu temp.? or is it usually a utility on the mb driver disk? (I didnt see it when I loaded the utilities from it last night).

The only other issue is the slightly fuzzy letters in the IE7 address bar and favorites.
I checked the resolution 1280 x 1024 and the refresh rate for both monitors (72mhz max on my samsung syncMaster lcds), and it's all set correctly.
I have the latest drivers...

any thoughts on these issues?

1--cpu temp. utility
2--bios update or leave alone?
3--getting into bios on bootup problem
4--unclear text in ie7 (and mozilla email)
5--the 260 gtx comes with physX GPU acceleration...this only works in games, right? and a dedicated physX card is unnecessary with this generation of gpu?

Thanks!
RM

--edit--havent tried any speed tests, or games yet. any suggestions?

There should be some links to Core Temp and Real Temp in the \"awesome free software\" thread, and it looks like Real Temp has been updated to support the i7 so go ahead and grab that one.

BIOS updates: only if there is something broken and there is a fix that addresses it.

getting into BIOS: disable full screen logos / splash screens and crap like that, will usually improve the chances of catching the bios screen.

unclear text... its possible cleartype is not enabled or configured properly, check it in display properties. If that isn't it, we're going to need a better description or a screen shot of the problem.

The 8800 GT also has physX acceleration, although I can't remember if it needs a dedicated card or not. But it may be a case of plug in the 8800 GT and you get even more physX than you would on a single card. Something to think about before you pitch the 8800 GT anyway.

Thanks Krom!
Dl'ed RealTemp. Great program.

Should I worry about the no beep on starup/reboot?
(is that something that was done away with?)

Sounds like your mobo/case lack the buzzer needed to hear them. My Mini P180/MA78GM is like that and while it's a little unnerving not hearing the \"all is good\" beep on startup as long as you can see that it's starting up properly it's not strictly necessary.

Cleartype Tuner. If you have a buzzer, make sure it's connected the right way round (red on \"+5V\", black on \"speaker\").

I could have sworn that I had a beep with my x2 4400, but now I'm not so sure...


Well, I've just about got all the kinks worked out. This last one has got me stumped:

I have 5 monitors listed in my device manager.
My two samsung 931BF monitors show and have the correct driver.
however, I have 3 \"default monitors\" that I cant get rid of.

I've:
disabled, then uninstalled the monitors, but they show up again on boot up.
I've disabled and uninstalled ALL the monitors, but they all show up again on boot up.
I've loaded the drivers after boot up, but then one of the default monitors shows up as another samsung 931BF!
I checked the bios...but didnt find anything. There's a plug and play option but it's set to \"no\", so that the bios sets things.

I've searched all over the net, but cant find the answer to this problem.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

RM

ReadyMan wrote:I could have sworn that I had a beep with my x2 4400, but now I'm not so sure...

If it was in the same case then the motherboard may have had an onboard buzzer providing the beeps. If you're sure your case has a speaker then do as Grendel suggested and check the wiring.

The \"Default Monitor\"s are supposed to be there, its a driver workaround with something to do about multiple displays. Just ignore them.

Neither one of my current machines make a “POST” beep. I also ran into the “Default Monitor” thing on my XP box after having a second monitor connected and the removing it, same as you, I removed it, and it continued to reinstall after each boot. I finally was able to ignore it, after a while. No such deal on my Vista Box, even though I did have a second monitor connected at one time. (was a TV tho, and I guess that could make a difference)

Thanks everyone.
Glad to know that the no beep is not an isolated thing. I guess my old mb had the speaker but the P6T doesnt.
Also, the multiple monitors in device manager is strange, but good to know it doesnt affect anything. I cant honestly remember seeing multiple monitors there before the upgrade, but since I'm trying to get everything working just right, it was driving me crazy.

I'm going to finally try doing some speed tests now that I have all (hopefully) the kinks worked out!

RM

speed tests:
16,438 3DMarks
PhysX 03 marks: 10,750

These are with these 3D settings:
anisotropic filtering: 4x
AA 4x
texture filtering set to quality
threaded optimization set to on
Vertical sync set to force off

I have absolutely no idea what to set all the options at. it's hard to know what is necessary and what difference something will make.

force mipmaps?
texture flitering-trilinear optimization?
AA transpaency, multi or super?

too many options with not enough detail....

Anyone have an opinion on which settings should be set to which option?