Hardware PC Hardware, Building, and Advice

[Jammin]

Honestly, with a desktop, I think a clean install back to Windows 7 would probably be ideal. You're not really getting any advantages to using Windows 8 on a desktop since the interface is more tuned to a touch interface. You wouldn't really lose anything by keeping on Windows 7.

I wouldn't say no advantages. As much I dislike quite a few things about Windows 8 it starts absurdly faster than windows 7 and is aesthetically prettier. No question the tablet style start menu is a pain but I'm used to it now and know where everything is. So, actually, I think if I was to format I'd go back to windows 8 not 7.

Besides even if I do that there is a decent chance that my graphics card is just done. So it's not worth going through all the headaches of backing stuff up and formatting when even that isn't a guaranteed fix.

My Graphics Card was about 3 years old and not particularly high end even then so it was getting to be time for an upgrade anyway. Worst case scenerio, I'm forced to format anyway but this time with a nicer graphics card.

 

[Knifeshade]

What about having the GTX 560 installed, but the display hooked up to the iGPU/motherboard?

Any changes in BIOS. Anything show up in device manager.

 

[Jammin]

What about having the GTX 560 installed, but the display hooked up to the iGPU/motherboard?

Any changes in BIOS. Anything show up in device manager.

Sadly, having a card in the PCIe slot automatically disables the iGPU/motherboard display adapter slots in my computer and I can't find any way to tell my computer not to do that.

I wish I could see the BIOS or the device manager when the card is in, as that would tell me a lot, but sadly when the card is in there is no signal to the monitor at all.

Oh, well I ordered a new/better card today. Hopefully that will solve it. Got a good deal on it too. When you have to replace computer parts it's always nice to have to do it on black friday.

 

[Sai]

Hopefully that fixes it...It does sound like the card was the issue since you couldn't see the BIOS either. Have you tried testing the card in another computer?

 

[Jammin]

Hopefully that fixes it...It does sound like the card was the issue since you couldn't see the BIOS either. Have you tried testing the card in another computer?

Not an option, sadly, none of the other computers i have around have the PSU necessary to do the card swap; and swapping out power supplies with the one from my gaming rig is just too much of a pain. All my friends are either console gamers, Mac users, or live to far away to be worth the trip so that's out too.

 

[Knifeshade]

What's your motherboard and which platform?

 

[Jammin]

Motherboard is a MSI MS-7778 (Jasmine), and I'm not sure what you mean by platform. If you mean what operating system it's Windows 8.1.. now (It was that upgrade that started this whole mess.)

Honestly, at this point I take the whole thing as a sign that it was time to upgrade the ol' graphics card.

 

[Knifeshade]

I thought it was a Sapphire motherboard. D:

Actually, I meant if it was an Intel or AMD rig. But a quick google tells me what I need to know.
Looks like an OEM board, I assume your PC was pre-built?

Looks grim. Honestly, I'd be surprise if the new GPU will fix your problem. I can't imagine your 560 dying when it was chugging along fine before the update.

Are you sure the GPU's installed correctly in the PCIe slot, and the cable is securely plugged into its port. And have you tried each different video outputs on the GPU.

Otherwise, seems like an incompatibility to me. Maybe your motherboard drivers aren't compatible with Windows 8.1. Specifically the FCH chipset drivers. Onboard graphics works because the integrated graphics is on your CPU. Normally, we can just jump onto the motherboard's website and grab some updated drivers, but it's tricky if it's a pre-built PC. Drivers aren't freely available for end-users to download.

Of course, I may be wrong, so good luck~.

On a side note, I would have picked the R7 260X over the 7790. The 7790 isn't bad for its price, but I'd say the former is more future-proof if you decide to hold onto it for a few years. The future's been set in stone ever since the Xbox One and PS4 were revealed to both have 8GB of RAM. If you're buying new, the minimum you want is a card with 2GB of memory.

 

[Jammin]

I thought it was a Sapphire motherboard. D:

Actually, I meant if it was an Intel or AMD rig. But a quick google tells me what I need to know.
Looks like an OEM board, I assume your PC was pre-built?

Looks grim. Honestly, I'd be surprise if the new GPU will fix your problem. I can't imagine your 560 dying when it was chugging along fine before the update.

Are you sure the GPU's installed correctly in the PCIe slot, and the cable is securely plugged into its port. And have you tried each different video outputs on the GPU.

Otherwise, seems like an incompatibility to me. Maybe your motherboard drivers aren't compatible with Windows 8.1. Specifically the FCH chipset drivers. Onboard graphics works because the integrated graphics is on your CPU. Normally, we can just jump onto the motherboard's website and grab some updated drivers, but it's tricky if it's a pre-built PC. Drivers aren't freely available for end-users to download.

Of course, I may be wrong, so good luck~.

On a side note, I would have picked the R7 260X over the 7790. The 7790 isn't bad for its price, but I'd say the former is more future-proof if you decide to hold onto it for a few years. The future's been set in stone ever since the Xbox One and PS4 were revealed to both have 8GB of RAM. If you're buying new, the minimum you want is a card with 2GB of memory.

I was wrong about the motherboard when I said it was sapphire. And yeah it's a rebuilt rig that I modified for gaming purposes. And I'm quite sure I installed the card correctly in the PCIe slot. And I have tried all the ports.

I guess, we'll see when my new graphics card arrives. If a format back to windows 8 is necessarily that's what I'll do.

I looked at the R7 260X closely and choose the HD 7790 over it due to fact that it was on sale for $70 versus the R7 260x's $140. With that much of a price difference HD 7790 was the obvious choice.

 

[benelori]

I wouldn't say no advantages. As much I dislike quite a few things about Windows 8 it starts absurdly faster than windows 7 and is aesthetically prettier. No question the tablet style start menu is a pain but I'm used to it now and know where everything is. So, actually, I think if I was to format I'd go back to windows 8 not 7.

It starts faster, because windows 8 doesn't let your PC shut down properly in the first place...it's in a hybrid sleep/hibernate mode, so that the data gets loaded faster on boot...just take out that option, and see how much beefier win8 actually is ...

Besides even if I do that there is a decent chance that my graphics card is just done. So it's not worth going through all the headaches of backing stuff up and formatting when even that isn't a guaranteed fix.

Aren't you using separate drives for your data on the PC...because that way you could just have a clean install without losing info, and your win8 stuff will be put in a windows.old folder

I'm interested in what was the problem too...please keep us updated...to me it seems like this is pure software problem, but I might be wrong, I never encountered such a problem before...

What I know, and perhaps this won't be of any help...but the nvidia control panel gives you options as to what graphics adapter you want to use for different applications...perhaps playing around a bit that might help...I dunno

 

[Pat]

I'm interested in what was the problem too...please keep us updated...to me it seems like this is pure software problem, but I might be wrong, I never encountered such a problem before...

The problem occurred right after Windows 8.1 was installed which suggests it was a software problem but the video card doesn't work at all, the system doesn't even show the BIOS screen which seems to be a hardware problem, it's indeed a very interesting case.

 

[Jammin]

It starts faster, because windows 8 doesn't let your PC shut down properly in the first place...it's in a hybrid sleep/hibernate mode, so that the data gets loaded faster on boot...just take out that option, and see how much beefier win8 actually is ...

Could be but it's 4-5 seconds to get from pushing the power button to the desktop, however it achieves such a thing, I can't go back from that.

Aren't you using separate drives for your data on the PC...because that way you could just have a clean install without losing info, and your win8 stuff will be put in a windows.old folder

No, but I keep most of the important stuff on externals. The reason I don't want to do it has more to do with game and program re-installs, hunting down passwords I've long forgotten, and remodding Skyrim back to the way I like it. All that will eat up days worth of time for me. Which is why I went for new vid card first. That takes about a minute.

What I know, and perhaps this won't be of any help...but the nvidia control panel gives you options as to what graphics adapter you want to use for different applications...perhaps playing around a bit that might help...I dunno

Sadly, if that were possible that would require Nvidia drivers, integrated GPU is AMD Radeon. And I can't install those without the graphics card being in.

I'm interested in what was the problem too...please keep us updated...to me it seems like this is pure software problem, but I might be wrong, I never encountered such a problem before...

Yeah, I'll definitely post an update after my vid card arrives, probably late tomorrow.

---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------

The problem occurred right after Windows 8.1 was installed which suggests it was a software problem but the video card doesn't work at all, the system doesn't even show the BIOS screen which seems to be a hardware problem, it's indeed a very interesting case.

Yeah, at this point. I'm almost hoping it's hardware. Because a burnt out video card I can understand, and would look exactly like this, even if the timing seems kinda crazy.

The only other option I can think of is if it's a bizarre extension of the windows 8 issue where Nvidia based cards make the default monitor one that doesn't exist . Because that issue looks much the same as this, with no signal to the monitor at any stage of startup, and for some reason just isn't detecting new monitors anymore due to whatever driver issues are going on.

I suppose, it's possible Knifeshade could be right and it could be a chipset incompatibility but to be honest that goes beyond my computer knowledge. And the motherboard in my computer is a pretty common one, as it's part of a prebuilt Best Buy rig. So there are a lot of similar rigs out there, so logically if this was caused by a chipset issue with that motherboard you'd think I'd have been able to find support conversations about similar problems all over the place wouldn't you?

---------- Post added December 04, 2013 at 05:56 PM ---------- Previous post was December 03, 2013 at 12:01 PM ----------

Update

Just plugged in the new graphics card. and...it worked.

​

 

[Charlie]

Amen tot hat brother.
Finally, grats man!!

 

[Jammin]

Amen tot hat brother.
Finally, grats man!!

Thanks. Looks like whatever was going on was the graphics card. The new one worked just like you'd expect.

With my graphics card came a AMD Bronce Reward code that expires Dec 31st. Which basically gives you a free game (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon; Sleeping Dogs, Dues Ex, or Dirt 3.) but I've played everything but Dirt 3 which I have no interest in.

Anybody want it?

 

[benelori]

Thanks. Looks like whatever was going on was the graphics card. The new one worked just like you'd expect.

With my graphics card came a AMD Bronce Reward code that expires Dec 31st. Which basically gives you a free game (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon; Sleeping Dogs, Dues Ex, or Dirt 3.) but I've played everything but Dirt 3 which I have no interest in.

Anybody want it?

If you still have it then deus ex please for me ...is it the updated version or the old one?

Aaanyways...congratz congratz...a new vid card is always good, and you will be able to enjoy Witcher 3 to its fullest ...

I wish I could do that *sigh

 

[Wowzers]

I was looking at Newegg for a hard drive but happened to stumble across this: I don't know about you, but the name is UNFORTUNATE to me.

Laugh my brothers! Laugh!

 

[kkck]

Yo! I am looking for a decent laptop in the 500-650 price range. Any thoughts? I have scoured google and amazon but I have not really found one I am comfortable with.... I was hoping to be able to find one with at least HHD+SSD....

 

[Knifeshade]

These two:

Lenovo Ideapad U510 - $600

Dell 15z Ultrabook (plus sleeve case) - $614

The Lenovo has the better specs, but I'd probably give the edge to the Dell, because it has better after-sale support.

 

[Spirit]

So I'm building my own Laptop as I'm in major need of an upgrade and have a lot of money to spend. I'll mainly be using it for browsing, Media and work, with a bit of gaming on the side. Here is the current draft I have at the moment so I was wondering what anybody else here thinks of it? Anything you'd add? If so, why?

Metabox Alpha N150RD1

• 15.6" FHD 1920x1080 IPS WVA Matte 60Hz LED
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5 VRAM
• Core i7-6700HQ Processor (6M Cache up to 3.50 GHz)
• 32GB DDR4 2133MHZ (2 x 16GB)
• Crucial MX300 525GB SATA 3 M.2 SSD
• 1TB 5400RPM HDD
• Intel 8260 AC Dual Band WIFI/BT (up to 867 Mbps)
• DVD +- R/RW DL Slim Line
• Win 10 Home 64BIT License & Media - Installed & Ready-Out-Of-The-Box
• 2 Year Metabox Premium Care Return To Base Protection
• 
  
• 
  
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016
• Razer DeathAdder

Approximate Price: $2,121.00

 

[Charlie]

Graphics card looks good for decent gaming.
Everything else seems solid for what you are looking forward to doing.

A 1080p monitor is good for battery life although some would say go for a higher one. As now most peeps like quad HD.

Processor , ram @32gb (wowza) Ac dual band and 1tb hdd are solid.
If you need more storage you can always upgrade.

Looks good to me for productivity.

So when can you ship this bad boy out to me??