I need hrdware config advice! please

[Barramundi]

Hi there once again!

Following my previous thread re computer components, here is what I finally bought

asus p7p55 delux

i5 750

gtx 260 gigabyte(soc v)

Kingston 4gb 1600 ram

750 corsair

noctua se2

asus DVD drive

2x 150 gb raptor

1x 500 gb WD 32mb cach and finall

antec 902

I installed all the components but

when in bios I can see all my devices except I have a few problems!

1st I get a CPU fan error how do I get rid of that (. I have the noctua fans on the pwr fan slot)

2nd all my hdd are in bios but when I installed w7 only the 1 raptor shows?

Any help on this would appreciated

Thanks in advance 

Bara

[Blitzer]

1st I get a CPU fan error how do I get rid of that (. I have the noctua fans on the pwr fan slot)

2nd all my hdd are in bios but when I installed w7 only the 1 raptor shows?

Hi,

• If I am understanding this correctly, you have connected your CPU cooler/fan to the "pwr" connection on the motherboard? If so I think you'll find that the CPU fan has it's own connection on the motherboard or it may be called "Fan1" etc. I suggest you check your motherboard documentation for the correct connections to use. The "pwr" connector is used to connect the power supply to the motherboard so the speed of the PSU fan can be measured.
• Have you made sure the second drive has also been prepared for use, i.e. partitioned anf formatted?

[shape of grey]

1. For your fan issue, go into the bios, Hardware Monitor(health monitor) find the CPU fan tab and scroll through options until you see ignore. Select that.

As for the Raptor issue, like the above post says double check that the 2nd Raptor has been activated and formated.

[peterhayes]

Bara

This happens quite a lot in Windows 7.

As you can see it in the BIOS you may need to right click on "Computer" - "Manage" then "Disk Management" and you should see your VRAP there and if you need to - format/partition etc.  Rarely you may need to enter the Device Manager and rescan for hardware changes (as I had to to get Win 7 to recognise an unformatted SSD).

If you don't like the drive letter allocated by Win 7 you can also change that drive here.

Regards

PeterH

[Barramundi]

Blitzer thanks for the reply

my  heatsink fan has only 3 pins and my mobo CPU fan has a 4 pin connector.

So on my mobo In total I  have 4 fan connectors 2x 4 pin and 2x 3 pin

hope that makes sense!

Stuipd q's how do I partition the hdd and format??

Also with my ram they are 1600 but the read on bios as 1333 is that normal??

Sorry for being direct in my q's I thought I had done my research And was prpared but there is so much to learn!!!

Shape of grAy thanks for your reply I thought it might something to do in bios!

But was I right in how I connected my CPU fan??

Many many thanks in advance

Bara

[peterhayes]

Bara

"Stuipd q's how do I partition the hdd and format??"

See my post above you can do this via disk management as above. 

Make sure you use the NTFS method of formatting.

Regards

PeterH

[Griphos]

Your memory will read in Bios what you set them to read.  This depends on how you want them to work with everything else (including voltages and the cpu).  But 1600 ram won't usually be operated at 1600 (unless overclocking), and could operate at 1066.  I'd go with the BIOS default there unless you have a reason for changing it.

[Maurice_King]

1st I get a CPU fan error how do I get rid of that (. I have the noctua fans on the pwr fan slot)

Plug it into the CPU Fan slot so the Socket can feed back the RPM of the FAN  (This is required by some BIOS Setups so alarms can be sounded etc This is VERY important as there are many things in the BIOS that can be prevented form functioning since it sees a fault and throttles down the PC to take perceived load off the CPU.

2nd all my hdd are in bios but when I installed w7 only the 1 raptor shows?

Make sure that you have the HDD plugged into SATA Slot no2 and not an external or one set aside for CV/DVD

Stuipd q's how do I partition the hdd and format??

Not necessarily a BIOS issue you might need to simply go to you Disk management in the W7 Control Panel and Partition and format there, alternately get an old w98 CD oot from CD and format the drive in question when asked to NTFS standard, then reboot to W7 your drive should be visible.

Also with my ram they are 1600 but the read on bios as 1333 is that normal??

Does your main board support 1600 and or have you not set the memory timeings correctly in the BISO as this will effect you speeds. You might have a stick rated at 1600 but only functioning at 1333 and the rest is slowing down to the slowest stick.

[Barramundi]

Peter thanks for your reply! i must have been writing my post

when u made urs so at the time I didn't know that you posted!

Cheers

[Barramundi]

Mauriceking thankyou! my heatsink fan only has 3 pins where as my CPU fan connector has 4.

I will need to check my connections again!

With regards to ram my mobo does support 1600

[Maurice_King]

Does you Fan run ?  The forth wire is for Tach feedback and may well function without but some only use 3 wires too so you might be lucky  have a look in the MoBo manual for the Pin outs of the socket. this might tell you what you need.

NP on the memory you may need to reboot repeatredly with just one memory stick in and check they all report 1600 then repeat with 2 and so on in order to check if you have a MoBo issue, memory issue or both.

 

[peterhayes]

Maurice & Bara

I have an i7 860 on a P55 mobo (Gigabyte) and it reports the 1600 RAM as 1333.  Apparently, as I understand it, it is not a fault, but the "default setting" of the i5/i7 series of cpu's. 

As someone posted above you would have to overclock (for what gain) to get the RAM to be returned as running at 1600.  I tried it (using only Easy tune 6) and on the GIGAbyte (GA-P55A-UD4) mobo that I had it was not stable on default cooling, and obviously it will vary from mobo to mobo depending on cooling etc.

Regards

PeterH

[Barramundi]

Yep both my heat sink fans are connected via the 3 pin connectors on my mobo and working

but like if I should have connected to the CPU fan connector hoow come it's 4 pins or why didn't my heat sink come with a 4 pin adaptor!

This is my first build I'm worried I might stuff things up!

I'll try rebooting with one ram but as Pete mentioned the post. It might that I have to overclock the ram which I'll only when I get everything else sorted1st.

I don't understand why would they sell them as 1600 when clearly there not???

Cheers

[Griphos]

Yes, they are, in fact, 1600 memory chips.  But the speed of memory is dependent upon your system as a whole.  So, you bought memory that is perfectly comfortable running at 1600.  That's great.  It won't run at that speed in your stock system, but that's fine too.  It will run at the speed it needs to and will have a lot of overhead so it will run cool and last a long time.  If you upgrade, or overclock (fairly radically given your system), then you can run your memory at 1600, but it won't make much of a difference that you will be able to notice.  It's changes in CPU speed that you will notice.

[Ian Routley]

If you check the pinouts for the fan you will most-likely see that the first three pins are the same as those on the motherboard CPU fan header.  There is unlikely to be a problem on that front.

Before you go any further, are you RAIDing the Raptors ....

If not, then the advice above is fine .... if you are, then you will need to enable the RAID controller, and probably reinstall Win7 again.  Do not use concatenation or Software RAID from within windows ... it is a resource hog, and a complete waste of time.

.... Most of all .... have fun .... and crosscheck the manuals that came with your "bits" if you are unsure.

Also ... sounds silly .. but check that each drive is getting power and spinning up when the system is on, and make sure the SATA cables are connected and seated properly.

[Barramundi]

Grip thanks for ur explations helps understand it more.

Well considering this is my first build I think I'm doing k with although I didn't think so b4 I literally thought my parts were all gonna end up to waste.

Finaly finshed and wait to start working on the pc

I will b following the above advise and keep u guys posted

Once again thank you!

Cheers bara

[Barramundi]

Sorry bout my previous post it probably didn't make anysense

(that's because I'm using my iPhone)

Ian regrding ur post just so that I'm clear on this, do I install the 3 head plug my heat sink comes on the 4 pin (CPU fan) mobo connector??

Ps I don't want raid!

Cheers 

[Tim Harris]

My P6T motherboard has 4 pins, but my aftermarket CPU cooler has only 3 pins, it still fits, there is a little guide for it fit into

the cooler fan also came with an adaptor for if I wanted to use some "extra quiet" setting, but as this fan is for OC'ing I did not bother, it had 4 pins

[Ian Routley]

Actually Tim ... that sounds very familiar with my V10 also.

I think it would be a foolish company indeed that suddently introduced a new incompatible fan connector.

Plug her in !!

[Barramundi]

Meatycus thanks four ur post I will read through my heat sink manual iv just checked with my mobo manual and no mention is made  on how to fit it!

Okay on one end of the CPU fan  connector is the GND and the other CPU FAN PWM!

I'm gonna check with my heat sink manual but in the mean time if I connect my current 3 pin which end should I leave out??

Hope I made sense

Cheers

[Tim Harris]

mine looks like this

[Blitzer]

Blitzer thanks for the reply

my  heatsink fan has only 3 pins and my mobo CPU fan has a 4 pin connector.

So on my mobo In total I  have 4 fan connectors 2x 4 pin and 2x 3 pin

Hi Bara,

I just downloaded the manual for your motherboard and looking at the diagram for the motherboard layout and specifically the CPU-Fan connection it would seem from it's appearance that it has been designed to work with a 3 or 4 pin fan. If you look at the CPU-Fan connection on the motherboard I think you will find it has a key that mates with the fan connection so it should only be possible to connect the fan's plug onto the motherboard CPU-Fan connection in one orientation only - unless of course you force it on! A quick read of the manual (page 2-37) also gives a clue  - read this whilst looking at the diagram/motherboard and I think it should become clear... "ensuring that the black wire of each cable matches the ground pin of the connector."

It's highly likely that the fourth pin on the motherboard's CPU-Fan connector is there for an additional (and optional) function that your fan does not actually support. I think I'm correct in saying that older motherboards only had 2-pin connections, providing power only, 3-pins allows the moterboard to report the speed at which the fan is spinning. As for the fourth pin on a 4-Pin connection I don't know, but I'm resonably confident that it will be for an optional/new feature of motherboards/Fans that provides addtional funactionality. This could be something like the fan continuing to run after the PC has been switched off or additional controlmonitoring of the fan - I don't know. 

[Griphos]

Grip thanks for ur explations helps understand it more.

Well considering this is my first build I think I'm doing k with although I didn't think so b4 I literally thought my parts were all gonna end up to waste.

Good deal.  I'm no expert, but I'm about to build a new system too (parts ordered).  I'm also getting 1600 ram, but won't be running it at that as I won't be oc my i7 920 that radically, just probably take it to 3.5 or 3.6.  Don't want to change the voltages, at least not to start.  I'll see how she runs PNW and Darrington first! 

[Barramundi]

Blitzer thank you for your post Seriously!!! I should mention now I have everything running havent yet installed fsx

but everything else seems to be working!!!!

And thanks to non other then the ppl in this forum specifically those that replied and blitzer i really did appreciate you actually downloading my manual to look at the plugs I can know indeed have my fan connected to the cpu fan connector on the mobo.

so thanks you all very very much!!

One thing left though my hdd's still not appearing in "my computer" although as suggested i did go into device manager and they do come up there!

[Ian Routley]

OK ... well if the HDD is showing up it is fairly easy.

Select that device and create a Volume.

Give the volume a drive letter .. it should then appear.

[Barramundi]

hcornea its all been fixed thanks- silly me i forgot to partition it..

now though when i come to install fsx on the empty vrap it told me i cant install it on a root drive but what i did was instead of selecting that drive i want fsx on i replaced the letter "C' (which is my os drive) to "B" which iv set as my fsx hdd.

is that okay??

and also does it matter what letter i give my drives???

cheers

[Tim Harris]

i cant install it on a root drive

you need to create a folder on your empty drive ("FSX" for instance)

[Ian Routley]

There is a little bit of historical convention employed here ... dating back to when most computers had floppies.

In principle you can call one of your HDDs B: - but I probably wouldn;t.

Your System drive should be C: -- no exceptions here

I use A: as a floppy (yes I have one ... and it's amazing how useful it can be when a 64bit OS refuses to flash your MD BIOS)

Personally I would either at D: ... or alternatively at some letter after your (one or two) optical drives ...

so that would be F: or G: or thereabouts.

Use the same folder structure for FSX as you would on your root drive:

eg

D:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X

Note when installing addons that they are correctly reading your FSX registry entry and placing things on the appropriate drive ... otherwise you will end up with an extreme mess.

[Barramundi]

Hi Hcornea I went back and edited the name of my drives as you mentioned. not sure if you can help explain this but when im in device manager-down the bottom where the drives are also listed  and in particular my fsx drive (which is F: now) I have a 100mb partion called System Reserved

whereas on the C: (which my os there aint any partition there) sorry I couldnt include a scrn shot It  took forever to upload and so I just canceled it!!

also

    * Drive 1 SSD - C: OS - Temp Dir and Page file only (no software), fairly small capacity 64 Gb? 40 Would be sufficient if you have to user profile and Docs elsewhere - You will NEED to edit the "Environment Variables" for this  -  and edit the registry  (to make "E:\" you default Program Files Dir for instance)

    * Drive 2 Trad HD - 500 Gb, partitioned in two or even three, D:\Documents and Settings & User Profile - ( Requires editing the registry - but makes you system infinitely more recoverable WITHOUT RELOADING everything),  E:\Program Files - ( Requires editing the registry - but makes you system infinitely more recoverable WITHOUT RELOADING everything),  H:\ Flight Management & Planning Programs, "J:\Common Files" ( Requires editing the registry - but makes you system infinitely more recoverable WITHOUT RELOADING everything)

NOTE: You do not necessarily NEED to create separate partitions above but it makes for efficient segregation of various programing.

Removing the Common Files from your OS Program Files Dir WILL save you much angst in the event of an OS failure because you will not need to reload all your installed software to replace these files should "C:\" Fail

This is why I MOVE Bothe the User, Common and My Documents COMPLETELY OFF the "C:\" where they reside by default and eventually clutter things up badly.

* Drive 3 SSD - F: Dedicated to FSX, Scenery and Add-on Aircraft, no smaller than 160Gb.

thats a quote i got from my previous thread hoping someoe can help me doing that setup i wannna have w7 on c: drive alone and my documents etc on the 500gb drive which in my case is allocated as H:??

[Ian Routley]

It sounds like there is are system files on your "FSX" drive ... possibly.

Given that you don't need them, I would probably reformat the volume before putting anything on it.

[Blitzer]

And thanks to non other then the ppl in this forum specifically those that replied and blitzer i really did appreciate you actually downloading my manual to look at the plugs I can know indeed have my fan connected to the cpu fan connector on the mobo.

No problem, I remember how daunting it felt when I built my first couple of computers. You feel like you are taking a big risk with a pile of new expensive hardware and the last thing you want to do is something silly and risk runing something. Glad you are finding your way and getting things sorted - it's all good experience mate and very rewarding once you are there.