taks Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 (edited) well, i finally got my latest system up and running. this has been nothing short of painful. first of all, while i generally like the quality of ASUS hardware, their software as well as documentation leaves a lot to be desired. horrid is actually the word i'd use for it. the AI Gear program, designed to allow overclocking, along with AI N.O.D., don't work right. At least, the two overlapping GUI images for every call of the top-level program, and each of the sub-programs, are difficult to decipher. You have to poke around on the buttons in order to figure out which is actually active. some of them are hidden, too. very strange. the odd thing about this build, using a P5B-E, is the boot process, also known as the rain dance i have to do to get things started. it seems that there are two items in the Bios (i blame AMI for this... got they suck) that are required for booting. first is a list of all your drives. only the first on the list shows up in the second item, which is the boot priority. i have to set the first to my first physical drive (C:), and tell the system to boot from it, even though i'm actually booting off the second physical drive (E:). i'm not sure i want to venture down the discovery lane with this. it works, so i should be happy, right? sheesh. other than that, all seems well. brilliantly, i installed norton (booo) and sure enough, it immediately went to work preventing me from doing simple things, like accessing my own network. yeah, the one that i created. literally, windows told me that i did not have permission to access the workgroup and that i should contact my sys admin. well, i'm the sys admin that just set things up. no mention of norton behind the scenes. on a whim i disabled norton and magically things worked. i think norton is actually a virus, one much more virulent than the ultimate virus, winders. grrr. i have mcafee, maybe it'll get a call instead. oh, i would recommend either putting the core2 on the mobo before installing, or finding a way to support the middle of the board (such as folded cardboard) for when you install the fan. i heard waaaaaay too many cracking and popping noises when i installed it, and that has me worried. also, modular cables with the supply are OK, not as great as i had hoped. it would be better if i were allowed to pick the actual cables themselves, so i didn't have unused connectors hanging around. i.e., if you only need one PCIE power connector, you certainly don't want a cable that has two or three on it, modular or otherwise. same goes for my standard 4 pin cables, which all have three connectors and i'd prefer two cables, each with two (easier layout). so, i've only had one BSOD and that was before i did the Bios and intel chipset updates. everything is fine as i've said. let me say that NWN2 is pretty sweet on a 21 inch monitor at 1600x1200 with every option on max or high and still pulling around 40 fps. of course, that's not why i upgraded... it's for school work, really. need faster simulation times. i swear it. taks Edited May 27, 2007 by taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokishi Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 Post pics Current 3DMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkreku Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 Go with Abit next time. Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted May 27, 2007 Author Share Posted May 27, 2007 pics of NWN2? or my rig? i've had several abit boards and, 5 years ago, that would have been my choice. asus is winning the review war for the most part these days (i weight anandtech's review pretty heavily) and the primary complaint is always their poor support and terrible documentation. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokishi Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 Pics of the rig Current 3DMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted May 29, 2007 Author Share Posted May 29, 2007 yeah... hmmm... it's a mess, particularly since the danged IDE port is on the bottom of the board and i've got a full tower. let me think about how i can do this. camera phone may work. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 it seems that there are two items in the Bios (i blame AMI for this... got they suck) that are required for booting. first is a list of all your drives. only the first on the list shows up in the second item, which is the boot priority. i have to set the first to my first physical drive (C:), and tell the system to boot from it, even though i'm actually booting off the second physical drive (E:). i'm not sure i want to venture down the discovery lane with this. it works, so i should be happy, right? sheesh. That would make sense if "C:\" is used as a label in the first list to refer to the harddrive (as opposed to the floppy (A:\) or the CD-ROM (D:\)). The second list being a refinement of the first list, identifying the actual device. OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted May 29, 2007 Author Share Posted May 29, 2007 sort of... it allows me to designate which drive appears first, though the actual SATA0 location is what turns up as C:, regardless of which order i put them in, and i'm booting off the second, which appears as E: (because my CD is at D:, for whatever reason). i think they have it backwards in the Bios. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 The CD (DVD) is always D:\ ... just like the second floppy is always B:\. OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Not always. Mine is F. And you can actually remap drive letter allocation via Control Panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WITHTEETH Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 oh, i would recommend either putting the core2 on the mobo before installing, or finding a way to support the middle of the board (such as folded cardboard) for when you install the fan. i heard waaaaaay too many cracking and popping noises when i installed it, and that has me worried. I felt the same way about the sounds of pressing the fan in. I thought of putting the fan in first before putting it in the case, but i thought the fan might block the motherboard screw holes that attach the mobo to the case... Well i regret it, but everythign seems to run fine.... Except maybe once every couple months i turn to hit the power switch on my case and nothing... I have to unplug the power cord to the mobo and replug it back in. weird... Always outnumbered, never out gunned! Unreal Tournament 2004 Handle:Enlight_2.0 Myspace Website! My rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted May 31, 2007 Author Share Posted May 31, 2007 Except maybe once every couple months i turn to hit the power switch on my case and nothing... I have to unplug the power cord to the mobo and replug it back in. weird... that was a common problem with the power supply i had with a vaio. unplugging the cord to the box, or the plug to the mobo, "reset" the PS state and all was well. i never really tried to figure it out. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Not always. Mine is F. And you can actually remap drive letter allocation via Control Panel. Maybe in the OS, but not in the BIOS. OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WITHTEETH Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 I believe you can change it in partition magic. Always outnumbered, never out gunned! Unreal Tournament 2004 Handle:Enlight_2.0 Myspace Website! My rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 Maybe in the OS, but not in the BIOS. Well because BIOS doesn't have any concept of "drive letters" to start with. What exactly it is that you are referring to? IDE channel? But that depends on how you hook up your cables. Elaborate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 I believe you can change it in partition magic. Sure you CAN change it, but I wouldn't. Otherwise you could use "B" ... same difference, except who knows what sort of plague or famine you will bring down from the gods if you do. :ninja10: Maybe in the OS, but not in the BIOS. Well because BIOS doesn't have any concept of "drive letters" to start with. What exactly it is that you are referring to? IDE channel? But that depends on how you hook up your cables. Elaborate. Um. The menu-thinggie. In the BIOS-thinggie. I'm not really talking about assigning drive letters, more the way tradition has created the expectation that people refer to "the hard drive" as "C". OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 Um. The menu-thinggie. In the BIOS-thinggie. What menu-thingie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 In the BIOS-thinggie. OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 the new AMIBios with the SATA connectors allows you to designate which input appears first in the drive list. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 btw, as i noted my latest build was initially spurned by a need to run more than one app at a time. in particular, when i kick of a matlab simulation, it takes down a single core (my current simulation runs for about 45 minutes to an hour). during that time, even editing a small word document is impossible, let alone any attempt to surf the web or play games. new build, however, jams righteously with matlab cranking on one core and NWN2 on the other. i'm sure i'm getting memory conflicts, but the overall degradation is not that noticeable. quite nice. i highly recommend dual core for this reason alone. multitasking HOoooo! taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokishi Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 LOL try multi-tasking with Company of Heroes or Supreme Commander, Conroe 98% usage FTW! Current 3DMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted June 1, 2007 Author Share Posted June 1, 2007 those games will utilize both cores? taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bokishi Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 Those games will utilize 4 cores. Core 2 Quads are recommended for optimum settings in those games. Current 3DMark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taks Posted June 2, 2007 Author Share Posted June 2, 2007 wow. cool. taks comrade taks... just because. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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