Wobblycogs

Very briefly it shows 00 (zero zero). I'm pretty sure that's no help diagnostically though as it hasn't even had time to start POST. The manual says 00 is unused.

One of my machines keeled over and died a few days ago. The only symptom I have is when I press the power button the power supply briefly (<<1 seconds) comes on and then cuts out. A few moments later it tries to power up again and the process repeats. My diagnosis is a dead motherboard. I assume something has failed and gone short and the clicking coming from the power supply is over current protection. The motherboard briefly shows code 00 but I don't think this is of any diagnostic value. I re-seated all power cables, no change. I removed components one at a time, no change. Even just the board on it's own shows the same symptom. I also tried another power supply - not the greatest quality but it was working when I removed it from another machine - same symptom. I've tried a BIOS reset as I saw it mentioned somewhere else, nochange. I think it's dead Jim, would you agree? Anything else I could try? Assuming it's dead, what do you reckon the chance of the processor being ok? It seems a shame break it for parts but I'm not sure it's worth getting another motherboard. CPU: i7-5930K Motherboard: ASUS X99-S Memory: 32GB CRUCIAL DDR4 2133MHz GPU: 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 Thanks

Good news everybody! I was getting nothing at all from any of the audio ports on the back - I tried both the jacks and the SPDIF output. I don't know what made me think of checking the BIOS (desperation I think) but would you believe it under Advanced > Onboard Devices there's an option to turn off the on board sound system. Who the hell ships a motherboard with the sound switched off? Makes me wonder if I've got a refurbished board but I can't think of anyway to tell, it looks new. Question: should I install the drivers that came with the motherboard or leave the machine with the drivers I downloaded from Realtek directly? Anyway, here's a shot of all those audio devices. Thanks for taking a look.

The title says it all really. I've got a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro, I installed the Realtek audio drivers supplied by Asus and nothing. There's no mention of the expected output types under sound and there's nothing that looks like Realtek sound showing up under device manager. I do have through the monitor which is attached via a display port cable, I assume that is provided by the NVIDIA High Definition Audio device. I've also tried downloading and installing the drivers from the Realtek site. Hopefully I'm about to feel stupid but it's like the hardware is just not there. Thanks.

Thanks for the help guys. I bit the bullet and removed the heat sink from the drive after finding a couple of people with exactly the same problem. It's very easily removed as it's only held on with a couple of sprung metal clips on each side. In fact it's so easy I'd say it was designed to be removed. Underneath the heat sink is a medium quality thermal pad, The thermal pad on the motherboard supplied heat sink feels superior. Thanks again

So there I am happily building my new machine and I come to install the M.2 drive when I discover it conflicts with the shroud that covers the motherboard chip set (see attached picture). The Corsair MP600 comes with a heat sink which is far to tall to fit under the motherboard chip set shroud. The motherboard comes with heat sinks for the M.2 drives but I was hoping to use the built in one as it looks like it would do a better job and I don't particularly want to go invalidating the warranty of a brand new drive before I've even turned it on. What would you do? Thanks.

Thanks, I've done some reading based on what you wrote and I'm honestly not sure if I'm more or less confused now. The RCA connectors are outputs, the inputs are just the top row. So I connected up an optical SPDIF cable and went into the Windows sound settings, selected the digital optical output and the supported formats tab. When I test dolby digital it plays a sound and I'm pleased to say I get 5.1 output and the dolby digital light illuminates on the amplifier / receiver. The problem is that is the only thing I can get to make a sound. I've tried playing a film through Plex that I know has AC-3 and got no sound. I tried the same film though VLC and again nothing. From what I've been reading the problem is that the vast majority of motherboards don't come with a license for dolby digital live so can't create a 5.1 digital output but they can just pass through a 5.1 stream if they receive it. It seems that you can "activate" the dolby digital live features of the RealTek drivers (I won't link it here as it's perhaps a little bit close to the edge legally). Does that sound about right? EDIT: So I remembered I had PowerDVD installed so I stuck a DVD in. Played though VLC I get no output over optical but though PowerDVD I get glorious 5.1 surround. I'm fairly sure I can't only get 5.1 over SPDIF if the source is providing 5.1 which means Windows sounds and games would probably not produce any sound.

I've got a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 system (old review) that works just fine and I don't particularly want to replace. The problem is computers output 5.1 or 7.1 on an array of 3.5mm jacks and the DTT3500 doesn't fully support that as input. For what it's worth the motherboard I'm using is an Asus X570-F with 7.1 output over five 3.5mm jacks - pretty standard stuff. So in theory the DTT3500 can produce 5.1 surround sound but I've pretty much only ever had it running on 4 channels. Here's a photo of the connectors on the back (and the review I got the photo from). As you can see it's got two 3.5mm input jacks which is how I get 4 channel sound. The manual indicates that the digital ports support 5.1 but that would require converting the analogue output from the computer to a Dolby Digital signal. In the past I've tried an optical SPDIF cable as most motherboard seem to come with a hole that's the right size but that only gives stereo sound (IIRC that's all you can get off an optical SPDIF). Do I have any options here or an I stuck with 4 channel sound? Let's say I really want 5.1 sound what is my best option for replacement kit? Thanks.

I've just bought the parts for a new machine, this is my first build in over a decade so things have changed a bit and I could do with some help! I'm going through the manuals while I wait for everything to show up and I've become a little confused. First the components... Power Supply: Corsair RM750 Motherboard: Asus X570-F --> 24 pin ATX connector and 8 + 4 EPS12V conectors Graphics Card: https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Graphics-Card/GV-N207SGAMING-OC-8GC#kf --> 8 + 6 PCIe power connectors The manual for the motherboard says it'll run with just the 8 pin EPS12V connector but implies you're better off with both the 8 and 4 pin connectors populated. The spec on the Corsair site states that there's a single EPS12V connector but that seems to be wrong. The review of the RM750 on Toms states the supply has 2 * 4+4 EPS12V connectors (which all the retailers state as well) so I think the specification on the Corsair site is wrong. Taking Toms review to be correct can the EPS12V cables be plugged into any of the sockets marked "6+2 PCIe & 4+4 CPU" in this picture (the sockets with 8 holes)? I assume I then just use two of the other "6+2 PCIe & 4+4 CPU" sockets for the video card and leave off one of the 2 pin connectors? Thanks for any help ? P.S. In hindsight I should probably have bought the RM750x but oh well it's done now.

Thanks all. Don't worry I won't be trying to cram ten or twenty fans in the case, there wouldn't be space for anything else. I threw one of these powered splitters (CA-PWM-03) in the basket when I was getting the rest of the bits because I assumed that I would need extra power but I think I'll look for an unpowered splitter now.

I've just bought myself an Asus X570-F motherboard and it's got two 4-pin case headers, each one can supply 1A @ 12V. I'm looking at populating the case with Noctua NF-F12 or NF-P12 fans, 3 at the front and probably one at the back. Looking at the spec for the fan it says they draw 0.09A max, that would seem to imply I could theoretically run ten from a single header (assuming I could find a splitter). Is that correct? I assume I'm good to run three of these fans off a single header? Are the Noctua fans particularly low power or something? Thanks.

Thanks to the feedback. I've switched to the EVGA GPU as that seems to have a consensus as a good change. I can only find a single 64GB memory kit and that would have to be ordered from Corsair. I'm not against that but I can't see me ever needing the other two slots for anything. The 3600 memory seems expensive compared modest bump in speed it would provide. I'm going to run the stock cooler for now and get a AIO in the future, I'm already at my total cost limit. I've got some spare hard drives kicking around and a NAS so storage isn't an issue. Time to look at cases... Quick question, anyone buy from Alza.co.uk? I've not heard of them before, they are fairly cheap for a couple of components but there's no shortage of horror stories on review sites.

I'm looking at building a new machine and I could do with someone looking over my spec to make sure everything is compatible and I've not missed anything out. This isn't my first build but I've not built a new machine in a long time. CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply The machine will be used for a bit of everything, software development, gaming, video editing, you name it. I realise that's a fair chunk of ram to be sticking in a machine but the software I work on needs it. Recommendations for cases would be greatly appreciated, I quite like the understated design of the one I've selected (and the price point is about right) but I'm not completely sold on it. Thanks :-)

I'm looking at buying a 4k monitor to replace my ageing Asus VH242H and I can't decide which one to go for. In the line up at the moment are: Samsung U28D590D - Nice looking monitor and a good price (£312), seriously tempted. Asus PB287Q - Seems fairly similar to the Samsung but currently a bit more expensive BenQ BL3201PT - Lovely looking monitor but expensive, 32" is a plus Acer B326HK - My current favourite, 32" and IPS The monitor has to be a reasonable all rounder as I do software development, watch movies, edit videos and occasionally a bit of gaming. I'm running Win 8.1 (and will upgrade to Win 10 at some point) but I would really like to avoid scaling if possible hence the inclusion of 32" models - my eye sight is good but I'm not getting any younger! Driving the monitor will be a single GTX 970 and I'll be running it over a decent Display Port cable. I suppose what I'm asking is if the Acer B326HK is worth the extra (almost double the price) over the Samsung U28D590D. Other than physical appearance is the BenQ much better than the Acer? Thanks for your help.