Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: caldera on February 19, 2014, 02:18:07 PM
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OK, so I built a new system that is all together (crossing fingers) but have a doubt about power to the disk drive. The power supply has two bundles that each have 4 identical connectors. To save some clutter, I used one bundle to hook up both the disk drive and optical drive. Is that ok? Also, the HDD has a sata power, data and another connector which is comprised of two rows of 4 metal pins and looks sort of old-timey. Is that some sort of hookup for retro machines?
With regard to initial startup, I am totally lost. Any recommendations? I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. :uhoh
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Sounds good so far. Ignore the extra connections as long as you have the HDD power and data hooked up. I would boot into BIOS and make sure the optical drive is part of the boot drive sequence. You need your Win7 product key. Now just turn it on and see what happens.
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Never turned on a brand new system before is what I'm getting at. What usually happens? Never messed with bios, so basically am clueless here.
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Generally it starts and says it can't find an operating system or HD or it boots from the CD. You should be OK with default BIOS settings to start but you'll want to read the manual to see if you need to adjust anything. Put the Win7 CD in the optical drive and see if it loads on startup. Let us know what happens.
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Let us know what happens.
Yes please do.....your concerns and hesitation and exactly what you are describing is what is stopping me from building my own computer......I can put the componants together with no issue (in theory).....but as soon as i have to do anything Bios related im worried that i will get stumped as i have little to no computer experiance..... Im really curious as to how you make out to see if this old dog can learn any new tricks....
Most importantly.......fingers crossed for you sir :aok
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OK, so I built a new system that is all together (crossing fingers) but have a doubt about power to the disk drive. The power supply has two bundles that each have 4 identical connectors. To save some clutter, I used one bundle to hook up both the disk drive and optical drive. Is that ok? Also, the HDD has a sata power, data and another connector which is comprised of two rows of 4 metal pins and looks sort of old-timey. Is that some sort of hookup for retro machines?
With regard to initial startup, I am totally lost. Any recommendations? I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. :uhoh
Read that mobo manual, double check every component. Make sure you have cpu fan pluged in right, you used good thermal grease with cpu cooler, use optimized bio defaults in beginning. Is your ram in right slots and seated correctly, is vid card seated right. Make sure you have bios set right for your hardware before OS install. Do you have or know where to get the correct hardware drivers after OS install, chipset, video, sound lan. Should all be on the mobo CD but double check. Is it 32 bit or 64 bit windows...................... ...
In bios select 1st boot device as the optical drive.
Read up on all your hardware choices so you set bios correctly.
Read up on every step of a W7 clean install before you do it.
Do not rush in, keeps your forehead curved and all hair follicles in good shape. You are about to discover that there is more to it than selecting components.
luck
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Good advice, MADe. Double checking every cable and component is well seated is a very good starting point before the first booting attempt. Although most of the cables can't be connected wrong, some case to motherboard cables can. Triple check that your front panel USB, FireWire and sound cables are in their relevant connectors! Their connectors are often interchangeable! If in doubt, leave them unplugged. The only essential front panel connector is for the power switch. The motherboard manual has very clear pictures for the connectors and their location, so getting them right should only crave for some reading skills.
@Caldera, mbailey and other hesitants: Yes, the first boot is a thrilling moment, at least for me after having built and rebuilt dozens of computers. Triple checking the cables helps a lot. If the computer has a brand new blank hard disk, the boot order is mostly irrelevant: You'll get a message for a missing operating system and a request to insert one, then press some button. If you see that message, your build has succeeded so far! Just put the disk into the optical drive and press the desired button to continue with the installation. Changing the boot order is something you'd like to do during a reinstall or a cd based virus check. Other than that there should be no need to mess with the BIOS settings at this moment. Later with everything installed you might want to check that the BIOS version is new enough to be fully compatible with your components.
If for some reason you don't get anything on the screen simply check all the cables and components again. Just today I plugged another hard disk in and couldn't boot any more. It appeared that I had pulled off the power cord for the HDD containing Windows. Some cables are very loose.
Good luck!
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I have a copy of Windows7 from a previous build, but didn't do the initial startup, which makes me a bit nervous about blowing the whole thing to smithereens. :uhoh
:rofl I remember feeling that way when I bought my first computer.
Nothing bad's likely to happen. You have to work very hard to mess something up.
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For anyone new to building computers, check out carey holzman on Youtube. Lots of good video tutorials.
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Thank you for the help so far, sirs. :cheers:
After much trepidation, I fired the new rig up today. No fire or even smoke was seen - so far. :uhoh
There are a few issues that require your esteemed help:
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The handbook for the motherboard suggests if only 2 memory sticks are used, they should be placed at the 2nd and 4th slots.
"Enabling Dual Channel Mode can enhance system performance."
Now, how do I enable dual channel mode or is it automatic? The alternating slot placement works for me because the memory sticks have large heat spreaders, which prohibit me from using slot 1 anyway. The CPU cooler partially blocks the first slot.
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Again regarding the memory, how do I go about changing the settings or at least confirming the motherboard is running them at the manufacturer's recommended timing?
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Tested the "rate system performance" thingy in the control panel but the graphics came up rated 1.0. How do I make sure the video card is running the graphics and not the onboard chip?
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The system has 5 fans: CPU, front, front, top and back. The top fan and lower front fan do not turn on. I tried to find out why but the MSI motherboard utility only lists three fans. The utility says sys1 fan and sys2 fan are on auto settings and working fine but those numbers don't correspond with the fan numbers on the motherboard:
Sys1 fan - hooked to top fan (not working)
Sys2 fan - hooked to bottom front fan (not working)
Sys3 fan - hooked to top front fan (working)
Sys4 fan - hooked to back fan (working)
CPU fan - hooked to cpu fan (working -thank God)
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Finally a question on temperatures. The CPU temp goes from 32 celcius to 34 celcius and the motherboard seems steady at 26 celcius. Are these normal ballpark numbers? I assume the non-functioning fans would help a little bit, but these temps are without any programs running.
My system is an i-5 3570k in an Antec900 case with a Hyper212 cpu cooler.
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Now, how do I enable dual channel mode or is it automatic?
It may be automatic and done by choosing the recommended slots. Your handbook should tell about possible bios options in the "installing ram" section. If nothing else is mentioned than to use the 2nd and 4th, then that's it. The ram sticks should have identical values for Dual Channel to work and yours do.
how do I go about changing the settings or at least confirming the motherboard is running them at the manufacturer's recommended timing?
Again, the handbook is your friend. Usually in the first part is about the mechanic install of components and the second explains the bios settings. Most often they are automatically set to right values by SPD.
The CPU temp goes from 32 celcius to 34 celcius and the motherboard seems steady at 26 celcius. Are these normal ballpark numbers?
Yes, they look good. I suppose your room temperature is above 20 celsius, so you can't go below that inside your case with any number of fans. Since the CPU delivers its excess heat inside the case, the motherboard temperature naturally is a little higher than your room temp.
Have you connected your monitor to the onboard connector? If not, there's something fishy going on with your video card. Have you installed the drivers for it? And before that, have you installed the motherboard drivers? Motherboards will disable the built-in video chip if a pci-e card is installed. Only some laptops and brand name desktops may have a dual video card system which should swap between the cards depending on need. In such case the performance thingy may not trigger the more powerful card automatically on, causing a low performance digit. In the dual card situations there should be a checkbox in the video settings.
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on a lot of mobos you need to manually set correct speed and or timings for ram to work Art their top speed.
it is done in BIOS by overclocking. look at your mobos box find the speed for your ram and if it says oc next to it then you need to overclock.
semp
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on a lot of mobos you need to manually set correct speed and or timings for ram to work Art their top speed.
it is done in BIOS by overclocking. look at your mobos box find the speed for your ram and if it says oc next to it then you need to overclock.
semp
And remember that in some cases running ram at sync with FSB is actually faster than slightly overclocking it.
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Things are progressing nicely now. My graphic card is now in control, sending the performance rating from the minimum 1.0 to the maximum 7.9. :banana:
The non-working fans seem to be the only problem left. Nothing in the motherboard book or any paperwork from the case or anything else gives a clue. Bios changed when the motherboard drivers were installed, so now only the cpu fan and sys1 fan are listed. As mentioned previously, my non-working top fan is hooked to the motherboard sysfan1 terminal but bios seems to think a different fan is sysfan1. :rolleyes:
Anyone else have this issue, either with the Antec 900 case or MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard?
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Anyone else have this issue, either with the Antec 900 case or MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard?
caldera,
on my old Antec 900 case ( 1st version model ),for the front intake 120mm fans, I use the 2 4 pin Molex connectors to power them up.... I dothe same for the top 200 mm exhaust fan
for the back exhaust 120mm fan I use a 4pin molex to a 3 pin small plug Adapter for the mother board connection ( I think it is a 3 pin, might be a 4, I'd have to open it up a visually check )
I get my VC card Temp, my CPU Temp, my MB Temp, and my Case Temp ........
here is a Google shopping list linkto give you an idea of all the connector types ( I have a saved bookmark for a more descriptive Fan connector types website, but can't seem to locate it quickly )
https://www.google.com/search?q=Computer+Cooling+Fan+connector+types&biw=1920&bih=1047&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=JDMQU8TsOsTw0wHUkoGIBg&ved=0CCUQsxg
One other thing I recommend is, I would go to the MotherBoard Manufacturer website, Videocard website, and any other components websites you might be using , for instance a programmable USB keyboard, etc and download all the most current drivers for all your components , this are almost always newer than what comes on the CD-Rom that comes with the individual PC components...
I hope this helps
Best of Luck
TC
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Test the fans in different connectors. There was not much told in the manual as you said, only that sys1/2 can be automatically controlled whereas sys3/4 are more traditional ones. Do you have the monitoring program installed from the motherboard cd?
Large fans can draw more juice than can be delivered through the motherboard, so an external fan controller block connected directly to the PSU might be a nice solution. http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g34/c17/list/p1/Bay_Devices-Fan_Controllers.html (http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g34/c17/list/p1/Bay_Devices-Fan_Controllers.html) has a huge variety of fan controllers from simple splitters to touch operated illuminated show stealing gadgets.
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One other thing, when you load your OS on to your HDD . If it doesnt load and keeps saying you have a corrupted file and can not load. Try returning you mobo. In my experience that means that it is something wrong with the mobo. Normally getting a mobo fixes this.
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Derp, it appears that the problem was Operator Error. The motherboard has two fan connectors with 4 pins and two with 3 pins. All four fans have 3 pins, so that should explain why only two fans work.
Just ordered some widgets and thingies to hook up the fans to the power supply and then all will be well. In theory. ;)
Thanks everyone for the help.
p.s. Mbailey, it's a piece of cake. More or less. It does require an IQ of 90 or above but my 88 was somehow just enough to squeak by. :D
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This shows you how to connect 3 pin fans to 4 pin connections.
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-012074.htm
Connecting them to the PS will work too.
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Be very careful if you use molex adapters. Some are so badly made that the contact pins move inside the adapter -> you need to wiggle and use force to connect them -> adapter housing is so badly made you can force it upside down in -> bad stuff happens. Been there, tried that. I learned never to connect 'fool proof' connectors without visually checking them for polarity the hard way.
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Derp, it appears that the problem was Operator Error. The motherboard has two fan connectors with 4 pins and two with 3 pins. All four fans have 3 pins, so that should explain why only two fans work.
Just ordered some widgets and thingies to hook up the fans to the power supply and then all will be well. In theory. ;)
Thanks everyone for the help.
p.s. Mbailey, it's a piece of cake. More or less. It does require an IQ of 90 or above but my 88 was somehow just enough to squeak by. :D
caldera, the fourth pin allows the mobo to control the fan speed. but if you only connect fans with 3 pins then they run at full speed. however I think the reason yours didnt work is because you had them connected to the wrong pins. if I remember correctly.
if you want to control fan speed then get a fan speed controller like they suggested. they're around 30 bucks and they look pretty cool on your computer.
semp
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p.s. Mbailey, it's a piece of cake. More or less. It does require an IQ of 90 or above but my 88 was somehow just enough to squeak by. :D
Thanks Sir......with an IQ hovering somewhere around the weight of a gnat when it comes to computers....i think ill take the plunge
Just out of curiosity....how do you tell what componants work with what?
Over the next few weeks, im going to start bying stuff piece by piece.....My boy wants to play games like Arma and Crysis (think i got that right) and im looking for a system thatwill do that...and play AH with some eye candy on..... I dont want to derail your thread....so if youwant me to starta new one I will....Im budgeting around 800 +/-
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Thanks Sir......with an IQ hovering somewhere around the weight of a gnat when it comes to computers....i think ill take the plunge
Just out of curiosity....how do you tell what componants work with what?
Over the next few weeks, im going to start bying stuff piece by piece.....My boy wants to play games like Arma and Crysis (think i got that right) and im looking for a system thatwill do that...and play AH with some eye candy on..... I dont want to derail your thread....so if youwant me to starta new one I will....Im budgeting around 800 +/-
Look at tomshardware.com to get ideas. They have lots of technical info and there is a header at the top of the homepage which lists major components. You can search articles that rate all the popular models of that component. Since AH relies more on the CPU than GPU, I looked for a processor first and went from there. I went for what was recommended as the best buy. Then did some pointing and clicking on amazon.com and spent only a couple bucks more than what a much less capable computer from 5 years ago cost me. The grand total to my doorstep (including the fan splitter and molex adapter I just bought) came to $1004. Other sites may cost less if you want to shop around.
Here are my system specs:
Intel I-5 3570K processor
MSI Z77A-G43 motherboard
Corsair TX-650 power supply
Corsair Vengeance (2x4gb) DDR3 memory
WD Blue 1TB hard drive
EVGA GTX760 Superclocked video card
CoolerMaster Hyper EVO cpu cooler
Asus dvd drive
Antec 900 case
Make sure to check the specs on everything before you buy. Your processor and motherboard have to be he same type, ie: lga1155. Also make sure your case has enough room for your video card and don't skimp on the power supply. I could have picked a better one but this one should be adequate for the time being.
This shows you how to connect 3 pin fans to 4 pin connections.
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-012074.htm
Connecting them to the PS will work too.
Looking at that diagram, I could swear they were hooked up just like that. They are unhooked now, so I could be wrong. Going to see if the adapter I ordered works. :noid
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Success! :banana:
Everything works now. Just flew a few sorties with the graphics cranked and the load was so light, the power supply fan didn't even turn on. :lol
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Success! :banana:
Everything works now. Just flew a few sorties with the graphics cranked and the load was so light, the power supply fan didn't even turn on. :lol
you mean the fan in the power supply?
semp
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you mean the fan in the power supply?
semp
(http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o460/caldera_08/psf.jpg~original) (http://s343.photobucket.com/user/caldera_08/media/psf.jpg.html)
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(http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o460/caldera_08/psf.jpg~original) (http://s343.photobucket.com/user/caldera_08/media/psf.jpg.html)
you dont have to be a dick you know. wasnt sure if you were talking about the ps fan or the case fans that you couldnt figure out how to connect to the mobo and connected to the power supply instead.
semp
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you dont have to be a dick you know. wasnt sure if you were talking about the ps fan or the case fans that you couldnt figure out how to connect to the mobo and connected to the power supply instead.
semp
Thin skinned as ever, huh?
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Success! :banana:
Everything works now. Just flew a few sorties with the graphics cranked and the load was so light, the power supply fan didn't even turn on. :lol
You might want to look into that. I would expect the PS fan to run from power on to power off.
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Thin skinned as ever, huh?
only when i laughed when you couldnt figure out how to connect 3 pin fan connectors to your mobo.
semp
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Thin skinned as ever, huh?
Guncrasher loves to be a smartarse, but mostly falls flat on his arse. We can have a little bit of fun at his expense :D
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For anyone new to building computers, check out carey holzman on Youtube. Lots of good video tutorials.
Thanks, just watched one of his videos. Very informative. :aok
Coogan
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Guncrasher loves to be a smartarse, but mostly falls flat on his arse. We can have a little bit of fun at his expense :D
well ripley considering how out of touch you are in the real world. since you have been implying since last yer that win7 is getting hard to get even thou there's 5 store s nearby that sells it. then again since you dont live in the country I wouldnt expect any less from you.
btw do you still think win8 is the greatest thing since slice bread?
btw caldera, even a dweeb live me know how to hook up a 3 pin case fan to a mobo that has 4 pins. it's right in the mobo documentation. and for sure I wouldnt have buy any extra stuff since everything is included.
like i said before, live and learn boss :salute
semp
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well ripley considering how out of touch you are in the real world. since you have been implying since last yer that win7 is getting hard to get even thou there's 5 store s nearby that sells it. then again since you dont live in the country I wouldnt expect any less from you.
btw do you still think win8 is the greatest thing since slice bread?
btw caldera, even a dweeb live me know how to hook up a 3 pin case fan to a mobo that has 4 pins. it's right in the mobo documentation. and for sure I wouldnt have buy any extra stuff since everything is included.
like i said before, live and learn boss :salute
semp
Yes as said previously it's not presented in any brick&mortar stores anymore that I know of. Some selected specialized stores and online resources still offer it but that's it. You are making a career on personal attacks and failing miserably at it. I suggest looking up something else instead.
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You might want to look into that. I would expect the PS fan to run from power on to power off.
Depending on the Power Supply the fan may not turn on for a long time, or even ever in certain systems. Most decent quality ones anymore don't run until a certain load % or temperature to maintain their "silent" state as long as possible.
The SeaSonic X650-850 series uses the following;
(http://c1.neweggimages.com/BizIntell/item/17/151/17-151-102/X_650-750-850_05.jpg)
Would never know it's on in my case (using the X750) due to the hellfire GPU fans under load. :lol
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Yes as said previously it's not presented in any brick&mortar stores anymore that I know of. Some selected specialized stores and online resources still offer it but that's it. You are making a career on personal attacks and failing miserably at it. I suggest looking up something else instead.
you dont know of any "brick and mortar" stores that sell win7 because you dont live here. perhaps in your country they dont sell it anymore. but here we have:
bestbuy. there's 4 or 5 stores within a 20 mile radius of my house http://www.bestbuy.com/site/windows-7-professional-sp1-64-bit-system-builder-oem-windows/2603254.p;jsessionid=8B3FB13584C22E5B47DB1DD6A20B9787.bbolsp-app02-110?id=1218339241057&skuId=2603254&st=windows%207&lp=1&cp=1
fry's now they sell only the full version which is 100 dollars more http://www.frys.com/product/6023288
and also newegg. since they have a will call store about 20 miles from where I live.
I actually only shop at those 3 stores, so I am not sure if there's more such as officemax who will also sell it.
am I failing miserably pointing out to you that win7 is still widely available? cause if you want I can take pictures of the stores next time I got there. then of course you may argue that they arent "brick and mortar" but rather they're made out of mostly wood. just like most buildings here in the united states.
semp
edit: and this is not a personal attack. I am just correcting the bad information you are providing.
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Depending on the Power Supply the fan may not turn on for a long time, or even ever in certain systems. Most decent quality ones anymore don't run until a certain load % or temperature to maintain their "silent" state as long as possible.
The SeaSonic X650-850 series uses the following;
(http://c1.neweggimages.com/BizIntell/item/17/151/17-151-102/X_650-750-850_05.jpg)
Would never know it's on in my case (using the X750) due to the hellfire GPU fans under load. :lol
Mine spools up at system start up and then immediately shuts off. Auto-leveled my plane in-game and the fan was still off. Corsair TX650.
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Mine spools up at system start up and then immediately shuts off. Auto-leveled my plane in-game and the fan was still off. Corsair TX650.
Running on max speed for a second at startup has been common practice for many computer fans for ages. It serves for automated testing purposes. 650 watts is quite a lot of juice for modern computers and it's common knowledge that AH doesn't stress a high end gaming rig too much, so it's quite possible that the PSU stays cool enough in silent mode. If you're uncertain about whether it works properly or not, run some benchmarking program in a loop for a while to see if the fan starts rotating. You might even want to hang a piece of knitting yarn in front of the outhale grill as a telltale.
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you dont know of any "brick and mortar" stores that sell win7 because you dont live here. perhaps in your country they dont sell it anymore. but here we have:
bestbuy. there's 4 or 5 stores within a 20 mile radius of my house http://www.bestbuy.com/site/windows-7-professional-sp1-64-bit-system-builder-oem-windows/2603254.p;jsessionid=8B3FB13584C22E5B47DB1DD6A20B9787.bbolsp-app02-110?id=1218339241057&skuId=2603254&st=windows%207&lp=1&cp=1
fry's now they sell only the full version which is 100 dollars more http://www.frys.com/product/6023288
and also newegg. since they have a will call store about 20 miles from where I live.
I actually only shop at those 3 stores, so I am not sure if there's more such as officemax who will also sell it.
am I failing miserably pointing out to you that win7 is still widely available? cause if you want I can take pictures of the stores next time I got there. then of course you may argue that they arent "brick and mortar" but rather they're made out of mostly wood. just like most buildings here in the united states.
semp
edit: and this is not a personal attack. I am just correcting the bad information you are providing.
You just don't know how to read. If you fail to understand the wording 'brick and mortar stores that *I* know of' then you're beyond help. :rolleyes:
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Mine spools up at system start up and then immediately shuts off. Auto-leveled my plane in-game and the fan was still off. Corsair TX650.
So it did turn on. :aok
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You just don't know how to read. If you fail to understand the wording 'brick and mortar stores that *I* know of' then you're beyond help. :rolleyes:
oh you mean, like since I dont know of any brick and mortar factories that make cars, then they must also be hard to get. my bad. crap, and I am in the process of getting a loan to buy one. what a waste of time. do you know of any factories that make cars?
semp
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oh you mean, like since I dont know of any brick and mortar factories that make cars, then they must also be hard to get. my bad. crap, and I am in the process of getting a loan to buy one. what a waste of time. do you know of any factories that make cars?
semp
Hah stop making yourself a joke please. You're so desperate to attack me that you dig up a long forgotten thread from months ago lol. How lame is that? Especially considering you fail to understand that if you still have stores offering Win7 on shelves it doesn't mean the rest of the world still does lol.
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Hah stop making yourself a joke please. You're so desperate to attack me that you dig up a long forgotten thread from months ago lol. How lame is that? Especially considering you fail to understand that if you still have stores offering Win7 on shelves it doesn't mean the rest of the world still does lol.
but on the other hand ripley why are you so desperate to not admit that perhaps in other countries windows 7 is selling just as strong as ever? in fact many online rig companies will give you the option to downgrade to win7. you ever notice that the bb is populated by mostly people from the usa? and when you make comments such as "I dont know of any brick and mortar store that sells it then it gives the impression that win7 is very hard to get. after all not many people know you dont live in the same continent.
and you didnt make that comment only several months ago. you didnt a day or two ago. you arent actually telling a lie, but you are misleading as hell.
Yes as said previously it's not presented in any brick&mortar stores anymore that I know of. Some selected specialized stores and online resources still offer it but that's it. You are making a career on personal attacks and failing miserably at it. I suggest looking up something else instead.
I'll tell you how desperate microsoft is getting. right now, they're offering windows 8 as an upgrade for free. not sure if they are doing that in your country as I dont really live there so I wont even make a comment about it. I'll take your word if they do or dont.
semp
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Just curios, caldera, but did your Antec 900 case fans come with those built in fan speed toggle switches :L-M-H, and if so what did you set them to?
I, myself, have all mine toggled to M (medium speed)...
Glad to hear you got your pc build working good for you!
TC
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Just curios, caldera, but did your Antec 900 case fans come with those built in fan speed toggle switches :L-M-H, and if so what did you set them to?
I, myself, have all mine toggled to M (medium speed)...
Glad to hear you got your pc build working good for you!
TC
Thanks, it's working great. All four are set to low speed. After a few hours of playing AH yesterday, the CPU temp was a smoking hot 27 degrees C. :aok
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but on the other hand ripley why are you so desperate to not admit that perhaps in other countries windows 7 is selling just as strong as ever?
Windows XP was *selling* strong as ever long long time after MS had officially phased it out and was limiting availability. You don't get the point.