Off Topic Thread V2.0

challengemaster · 08-12-2015 04:45PM

ED E wrote: »

Just saw the 600C, totally going to use that for my next build (fan of inverted ATX).

Oh damn I had to look, thats my next case then haha. Looks a bit nicer than the 500R alright.

Solitaire · 08-12-2015 05:34PM

Welp, the fun continues.

Currently down to 1 monitor. As if blocking all boot attempts wasn't enough, my MSI Armor 2X appears to have melted my last VGA cable. Yes, really. Now in order to breadboard Skylake one last time I'll have to either drive down to PC World and drop €50 on a €5 DVI-D cable or do some cable surgery on my old DVI-I with pliers... with the knowledge that any slip-up will leave me PC-less until I get ahold of fresh DVI-D or DVI-D>HDMI cables

In any case, while most of my new gear might get a last-minute stay of execution I suspect the 380 will soon be winging its way back to Mindfactory taking most of my Black Friday savings with it

indough · 08-12-2015 06:31PM

Is there any way to check whether a motherboard is faulty if you don't have a cpu for it? Its socket 2011 so I can't really afford to invest in one until I know for sure and I also don't know anyone with a compatible cpu who could check it for me. I've never used meters for that type of thing so wouldn't really know where to start, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

papu · 08-12-2015 06:53PM

indough wrote: »

Is there any way to check whether a motherboard is faulty if you don't have a cpu for it? Its socket 2011 so I can't really afford to invest in one until I know for sure and I also don't know anyone with a compatible cpu who could check it for me. I've never used meters for that type of thing so wouldn't really know where to start, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I really don't think so.. why do you need to check if it's faulty? is it new or second hand?

Lu Tze · 08-12-2015 06:54PM

Solitaire wrote: »

Welp, the fun continues.

Currently down to 1 monitor. As if blocking all boot attempts wasn't enough, my MSI Armor 2X appears to have melted my last VGA cable. Yes, really. Now in order to breadboard Skylake one last time I'll have to either drive down to PC World and drop €50 on a €5 DVI-D cable or do some cable surgery on my old DVI-I with pliers... with the knowledge that any slip-up will leave me PC-less until I get ahold of fresh DVI-D or DVI-D>HDMI cables

In any case, while most of my new gear might get a last-minute stay of execution I suspect the 380 will soon be winging its way back to Mindfactory taking most of my Black Friday savings with it

And finally the unluckiest builder of 2015 award goes to... /Suspenseful pause - opens envelope/... Solitaire!

indough · 08-12-2015 07:00PM

papu wrote: »

I really don't think so.. why do you need to check if it's faulty? is it new or second hand?

its from a build i couldn't get going before, and its been stored away and forgotten until now

Gumbi · 08-12-2015 07:49PM

Solitaire wrote: »

Welp, the fun continues.

Currently down to 1 monitor. As if blocking all boot attempts wasn't enough, my MSI Armor 2X appears to have melted my last VGA cable. Yes, really. Now in order to breadboard Skylake one last time I'll have to either drive down to PC World and drop €50 on a €5 DVI-D cable or do some cable surgery on my old DVI-I with pliers... with the knowledge that any slip-up will leave me PC-less until I get ahold of fresh DVI-D or DVI-D>HDMI cables

In any case, while most of my new gear might get a last-minute stay of execution I suspect the 380 will soon be winging its way back to Mindfactory taking most of my Black Friday savings with it

Where are you based? If Limerick area I'd be happy to loan you a DVID (would give but need it for a build I plan on selling) or could give you a VGA.

Solitaire · 08-12-2015 09:25PM

Alas, sitting on Cavan's southern border ( :eek: ). I DID manage to find an old forgotten VGA cable tucked up in my HD3850 box (

) and have both monitors up. Which is Really Not A Good Thing - it really kills the chances that all my Skylake mishaps were just a series of unfortunate coincidences

The 380 seems to have the super-AIDS for sure, the question is whether I'll have to return the CPU, mobo and possibly RAM as well.

Gonna test via HDMI later. If I have to return the bulk of the shipment I hope to God I (or a German-speaking friend) can blag MF into covering the courier costs as they're gonna be huge

BloodBath · 08-12-2015 09:38PM

Got my Hyper X cloud 2's there.

The sound quality is amazing compared to my other headphones but only after I used Equalizer APU to get the sound how I like it.

Raising the gains on the low's and highs takes the flatness out of it for music.

Sounds great in games too. The 7.1 is a bit gimmicky and messes with the sound too much but maybe becasue the soundstage is too small. I haven't tried the velvet earcups yet which are supposed to be better for that.

Sound isolation is amazing with the leather.

Bazzo · 08-12-2015 10:07PM

Solitaire wrote: »

Alas, sitting on Cavan's southern border ( :eek: ). I DID manage to find an old forgotten VGA cable tucked up in my HD3850 box ( ) and have both monitors up. Which is Really Not A Good Thing - it really kills the chances that all my Skylake mishaps were just a series of unfortunate coincidences The 380 seems to have the super-AIDS for sure, the question is whether I'll have to return the CPU, mobo and possibly RAM as well.

Gonna test via HDMI later. If I have to return the bulk of the shipment I hope to God I (or a German-speaking friend) can blag MF into covering the courier costs as they're gonna be huge

Didn't somebody post some part of eu consumer law a while ago showing that the retailer is responsible for shipping costs for rma?

Solitaire · 08-12-2015 10:15PM

I thought so, but some companies will quibble in the hope of forcing consumers to pay the bill rather than endure the massive time and hassle of dragging them to court

bassey · 08-12-2015 11:22PM

BloodBath wrote: »

Got my Hyper X cloud 2's there.

The sound quality is amazing compared to my other headphones but only after I used Equalizer APU to get the sound how I like it.

Raising the gains on the low's and highs takes the flatness out of it for music.

Sounds great in games too. The 7.1 is a bit gimmicky and messes with the sound too much but maybe becasue the soundstage is too small. I haven't tried the velvet earcups yet which are supposed to be better for that.

Sound isolation is amazing with the leather.

Aye mine came the other day, really happy with them, not annoying and uncomfortable to wear for long periods like my last headphones. Was very impressed by the sound quality considering they're aimed at gamers, haven't actually tested the quality of the mic yet though

.G. · 09-12-2015 12:01AM

Solitaire wrote:

I thought so, but some companies will quibble in the hope of forcing consumers to pay the bill rather than endure the massive time and hassle of dragging them to court

They told me that if I wanted a replacement for my RMA they would cover return costs but if I wanted a refund they would not. Not sure how it works though because regardless of which option I chose on their website, I still didn't get a pre paid return label.

Solitaire · 09-12-2015 12:02AM

Life just gets weirder.

After repeated teardowns and a switch to breadboarding via HDMI adaptor, Frankenstein's Monster shows signs of life. Enough life to get Win7 running on the SSD. And because the system has onboard graphics and UEFI it has far more options to get into Windows with the 380 attached, which in turn gives me more options to attempt a rescue via card BIOS updates and the like. So long as the 380 doesn't successfully block boot attempts like it did to the old PC when it was being tested on it...

Only one fly in the ointment: how to get the motherboard drivers on to the system when the only means of communicating with it is a PS/2 keyboard that freezes when I put the driver CD in...?

Deliberately removing hardware USB support to force people to upgrade to Windows Extra Satan Edition - ggwp again Skylake...

challengemaster · 09-12-2015 03:56PM

600C review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2nSr_RI1x8

papu · 09-12-2015 05:12PM

challengemaster wrote: »

600C review

Looks like a great, well engineered case.

.G. · 09-12-2015 05:22PM

Anyone one any opinions on AS Rock Motherboards? Need to replace my RMA'd Gigabyte mobo for my sons christmas build and one of theirs is looking like just the job but I've never used them before.

papu · 09-12-2015 05:32PM

superg wrote: »

Anyone one any opinions on AS Rock Motherboards? Need to replace my RMA'd Gigabyte mobo for my sons christmas build and one of theirs is looking like just the job but I've never used them before.

I've used a few in builds and they're generally solid. Just don't go flashing / updating the bios unless you really have to..

BloodBath · 09-12-2015 06:07PM

superg wrote: »

Anyone one any opinions on AS Rock Motherboards? Need to replace my RMA'd Gigabyte mobo for my sons christmas build and one of theirs is looking like just the job but I've never used them before.

I use them in all my builds. 0 issues.

.G. · 09-12-2015 06:22PM

Thanks folks.

Solitaire · 09-12-2015 08:30PM

I haz a problem

Win7 appears to have been broken by SP1. Unlike 99% of issues SP1 DID download and appeared to install. But I can't install drivers without other updates including .NET 4.5 and Windows Update is broken. As in "locks up CPU cores and gigs of RAM and does nothing until process-killed" broken. MS FixIt gets stuck in the same loop trying to fix WU going into that same loop. Even tried the SUR tool (all ~600MB of it) and it failed to fix anything other than make WU aware of the existence of updates that it can't download due to going into its terminal spiral the second the service is fired up.

Looking more and more like a botched SP1 install might cost me an entire system format...

Calvin · 09-12-2015 08:34PM

With all this talk around the new inverted Corsair case, had a look into getting a new one. The 300R from corsair looks so well-designed and easy to manage..

Moon54 · 09-12-2015 08:41PM

Solitaire wrote: »

... Looking more and more like a botched SP1 install might cost me an entire system format...

Try getting into Safe Mode to see will it sort itself out.
Restart.

If it's still a problem, try the System File Checker in a command prompt (as admin)sfc /scannow
It'll take a while but it'll replace any corrupt files, restart to check whether it worked.

Worth a try!

RoyalMarine · 09-12-2015 09:06PM

Honest question, but I've always wondered, why don't companies who make motherboards, graphics cards etc move cable slots to more convenient locations for enthusiasts? I mean, the motherboard 20pin and 12v connections could be both moved to where the 20pin connection is located and turned 90 degree's like the sata ports.

GPU connections could be at the rear of the card.

And don't get me started on the fan connections.... Makes zero sense to have them dotted around the motherboard like someone just picked them up, and threw them on the board and said, where they land, that's where they go!

Does anyone else find the cable positions annoying as hell or is it just me?

Gumbi · 09-12-2015 09:48PM

Solitaire wrote: »

I haz a problem

Win7 appears to have been broken by SP1. Unlike 99% of issues SP1 DID download and appeared to install. But I can't install drivers without other updates including .NET 4.5 and Windows Update is broken. As in "locks up CPU cores and gigs of RAM and does nothing until process-killed" broken. MS FixIt gets stuck in the same loop trying to fix WU going into that same loop. Even tried the SUR tool (all ~600MB of it) and it failed to fix anything other than make WU aware of the existence of updates that it can't download due to going into its terminal spiral the second the service is fired up.

Looking more and more like a botched SP1 install might cost me an entire system format...

PM me before you format!

Gumbi · 09-12-2015 09:56PM

Solitaire wrote: »

I haz a problem

Win7 appears to have been broken by SP1. Unlike 99% of issues SP1 DID download and appeared to install. But I can't install drivers without other updates including .NET 4.5 and Windows Update is broken. As in "locks up CPU cores and gigs of RAM and does nothing until process-killed" broken. MS FixIt gets stuck in the same loop trying to fix WU going into that same loop. Even tried the SUR tool (all ~600MB of it) and it failed to fix anything other than make WU aware of the existence of updates that it can't download due to going into its terminal spiral the second the service is fired up.

Looking more and more like a botched SP1 install might cost me an entire system format...

I believe this is the update I used (follow the links in the link I post). After you install the update, restart, then run Windows Update as normal, it will take a good few mins, but in a much more reasonable time (10 - 15 mins or less even) it will find the 100 or so updates you need and begin installing them.

Happy days

http://superuser.com/questions/944574/windows-update-doesnt-work-and-consumes-100-of-cpu-win7-sp1

Cuddlesworth · 09-12-2015 10:05PM

I'd just love to know why you're 5 years behind on updates.

Gumbi · 09-12-2015 10:07PM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I'd just love to know why you're 5 years behind on updates.

Fresh Windows install...

Solitaire · 09-12-2015 10:46PM

New Skylake build, so a DVD has to be used for OS install. USB and most forms of LAN are not natively supported by Skylake so as soon as you're passed the UEFI you're up the proverbial creek if you don't have a DVD and PS/2 (real or emulated) keyboard to get the ball rolling

Well, so long as you don't use Win10 which loads all the common non-native stuff when running the installer. GLHF with paying €120/year or more on your Windows "rent" in a year or so's time...

Gumbi · 09-12-2015 10:53PM

Solitaire wrote: »

New Skylake build, so a DVD has to be used for OS install. USB and most forms of LAN are not natively supported by Skylake so as soon as you're passed the UEFI you're up the proverbial creek if you don't have a DVD and PS/2 (real or emulated) keyboard to get the ball rolling

Well, so long as you don't use Win10 which loads all the common non-native stuff when running the installer. GLHF with paying €120/year or more on your Windows "rent" in a year or so's time...

Any luck with the manual update I linked?

Off Topic Thread V2.0

Comments