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macaonghusa

Thanks for all the advice. I made the order today. Antec NSK3480 should arrive in a few days adn then the building will begin

macaonghusa

Unfortunately I was too busy to make the order during week so weekend looks more likely. Still undecided on case but getting closer to a decision I think. The NSK3480 can handle two 3.5" drives and a 5.25" drive easily. I'd be happy if I could just fit in two drives (1x 2.5" and 1x 3....

macaonghusa

The Bitfenix Prodigy doesn't appeal to me. It's tiny on the inside but large and heavy on the outside; not at all like the TARDIS. At present my top choices are: the Prodigy, followed very closely by the NSK3480, then the SG05. Surprisinly the MicroATX Antec NSK3480 is actually smaller than the MIT...

macaonghusa

After much consideration over the weekend I've decided to go for a BitFenix Prodigy case. It's a bit bigger than I initially thought I'd go for but I really like the design and it seems quite easy to transport if necessary. It also simplifies my component selection a bit (e.g. can get normal PSU) an...

macaonghusa

Thanks for the follow up responses. I liked the Antec NSK3480 when I had it, other than it really needing a revised internal drive bay arrangement to accommodate more hard-drives. Take a look at the Silverstone Temjin TJ08-e as another nicely-sized mini-tower. If you like the compact SFF boxes, you ...

macaonghusa

Thank you all for the very quick responses! :-) Have you had a look at Silverstone's own SG09 and (upcoming) SG10 cases? A bit bigger than the SG05 as they support microATX. If you decide to stick to mini-ITX, the lian-li Q07 is another option. I've been looking at the other SIlverstone's as well bu...

macaonghusa

After seeing the TR Dorm PC 2.0 I knew I wanted to build something similar. I recently moved to Germany so it's almost time to start my new build. I would really appreciate some opinions from the TR forums. * The PC will primarily be used for web browsing, watching videos (SD & HD), and single-p...

macaonghusa

The issue turned out to be the PSU. Even though fans were running fine something must have degraded within the PSU. Apparently those OCZ's can be very weak on the +12V rail. Thanks for all the help in this thread.

macaonghusa

Now I have a much better idea of issue and how to resolve. Thanks for all the assistance in this thread. I knew I had asked in the right place!

macaonghusa

Sorry about delay in replying to this thread. Basically had to put it on hold for a while. a) if you have access to a PCI "Port 80" card you can check if it fires up when you power on your machine. It has 2 LED digits which display (very rapidly, so you may not see all the codes flash by ;...

macaonghusa

Do you have an old PCI video card you can try? Not anymore unfortunately but I will see if I can borrow one. Did you try a BIOS reset? I think I did a CMOS reset. i.e. no power attached to motherboard.. temp changed cmos jumpers.. also temp removed cmos battery. Did you try removing the dedicated c...

macaonghusa

Tried GPU in the other PCI-Express slot. Unfortunately got the same result - no display. GPU light on but no fan spinning.
Will try to get a friend to test the GPU in their PC if possible.

macaonghusa

Consider trying the card in your motherboard's other PCI-E slot. From my experience GPU fans spin up when the card is only receiving power from the PCI-E slot, so the inverse (the fan won't spin when receiving no power over PCI-E, but is still getting power from PSU conenctors) may be true. Thanks....

macaonghusa

This week I got a shock when my PC, that has been running perfectly for over a year, suddenly broke. The screen went black. It's definitely not a monitor fault or DVI cable issue as I tried alternatives and issue still remained. Below are the specifications of the PC: ---------------- Case/PSU: Lian...

macaonghusa

Thanks for all the replies. They were all helpful and led me in the right direction... Trying to install via IDE didn't work so I changed it back to AHCI. I then placed SSD back as only HDD in my setup and ran diskpart utility (found out about it while looking into MBR). After running a format, then...

macaonghusa

@MrJP @elmopuddy - Haven't tried yet... I will try to install in IDE mode as soon as possible (in about 3 hours time).
@Synchromesh - BIOS up-to-date since yesterday. Never thought about MBR though, will look into rewriting that as this particular board is second-hand.

macaonghusa

Unfortunately the driver linked to did not work... it was picked up and installed but the results were the same: -> After installation of driver I am returned "Disk 0 Unallocated Space 596.2 GB" (not sure how this could have happened?) along with the following message: “Windows cannot be i...

macaonghusa

thanks boing, I think I may have tried that driver before (or at least a similar one from Intel). Regardless I will try the linked driver as soon as possible and provide update when available. In the meantime is there anything else that you can think I could try if the linked driver fails? Before tr...

macaonghusa

I am using the following: Asrock P55M-Pro motherboard | Intel x25-m SSD 160GB | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 I have updated the firmware for both the motherboard and the SSD. At present only the SSD and a DVD drive are connected via SATA. BIOS -> Advanced -> Storage Configuration -> SATA Operation Mode [A...

macaonghusa

Thanks to all the feedback so far I am very close to purchasing the necessary parts. I just have some final questions before I take the plunge: 1/ Would I be better off buying an actual desktop/HTPC case rather than using my Sonata case with the below PSU? 2/ Is a 5400RPM HDD good enough? Now thinki...

macaonghusa

Before straying away from the 785G chipset, I would do some more investigating on linux support or how much cpu power is needed to do the job. Just have done as I'm reluctant to move away from 780G/785G chipsets. It appears that the nVidia 8200/8300 chipsets are the best for Linux-based HTPC's usin...

macaonghusa

Different parts have been picked (this time from Dabs.ie ) to ensure hardware acceleration in Linux. Just a few areas of concern: Am I right to assume the AM3 processor below will work on the AM2+ motherboard using DDR2 RAM? In relation to the RAM, should I use 2x1GB or 1x2GB? Any recommendations on...

macaonghusa

If you're going to run Ubuntu (or any variant of Linux at all), be forewarned that the dedicated video playback hardware on the onboard ATI graphics is useless outside of Windows. ATI only supports UVD in Windows Thanks for the tip, will have a look at some on-board Nvidia options as I would like h...

macaonghusa

Hi, I am hoping to set up a HTPC soon. I initially thought about buying something like the ASRock Ion 330 or the Dell Zino HD, but then decided I would probably be better off building a HTPC using a spare Antec Sonata II case I have lying around. I intend to primarily use Boxee and/or XBMC on the ma...

macaonghusa

@op Baldur's Gate may not be worth restarting if you got bored of it but definitely play the second game. You can't import your character since your save got deleted but its lots of fun (importing can make the game too easy anyways). I didn't play icewind dale, but Baldurs Gate 2 is awesome, Neverw...

macaonghusa

Thanks for all the responses, didn't expect so many so quick! I'd go Fallout 2 -> Oblivion -> Fallout 3 myself. You'll spend some time in the Fallout world, then you'll be in Oblivion so you don't get worn out on Fallout, then you can go back. Also, it conveniently follows the graphical progression....

macaonghusa

Hi all, suddenly found myself with some spare time so am hoping to catch up with some games I'm ashamed to say I haven't played yet. Firstly, I own Fallout 2, Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Just wondering what would be the best order to approach these games. I was thinking Oblivion first,...

macaonghusa

...it is the sharpening effects that matter. download corel windvd 9 free trial, play a dvd and turn on all2HD, then you will see what I mean. Thanks, potatochobit, I'll give it a try. At this stage, I'm pretty certain that I'll get a 785g chipset, just have to wait for some to actually be in stock...

macaonghusa

Many thanks for all the quick responses. It has eased my display concerns. :D HDMI, DisplayPort or DVI connections will provide a flawless digital image. Use whichever one your TV has. DVI and HDMI can be interchanged with a very inexpensive adapter. Perfect. Have HDMI cable already and TV has corre...

macaonghusa

Hi, I hope that this is the correct forum to post this in. I am hoping to build a home theatre PC (only part I currently have is a Antec Sonata II case) but I'm reluctant due to my past experience with outputting content to a TV (was not impressed with S-video). Of course this time I would be using ...

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Re: SFF build opinions - inspired by Dorm PC 2.0

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Re: SFF build opinions - inspired by Dorm PC 2.0

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