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My new/first gaming build - Page 3

post #61 of 113
11/2/11 at 8:01pm
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I've got my PC360's hooked up...I'll get it figured out.

EDIT:

First Impressions...

Graphics are great!

Sound is great except for that humming background noise...

But as of right now I am really wondering how anybody would prefer the mouse/kb over a contoller?!?!

I know it's going to take some getting used to but GD I am a BEAST with a controller!!! My fingers just seemed either cramped on the keyboard and/or I'm not that coordinated with my left pinky (for sprinting)...

Also another thing that's pissing me off if that if you're holding down sprint you can't ADS...you have to completely let go of the sprint button which has gotten me waxed a few times already! Geez...

Oh yeah...and the players on MW2 on PC are straight garbage I can't believe it! I'm sure all the good players have moved on but I was expecting more to still be playing...
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post #62 of 113
11/14/11 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Guys...been playing MW3 on PC and console (cuz I suck at PC) but didn't feel the game quite pushed my rig to the limits...

So...I did something I thought I'd never do...

That's right...I bought BF3!

Installing now...

See you guys on there (I'll be a total noob)!
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post #63 of 113
12/12/11 at 2:24pm
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Okay...so my first soundcard that was sent to me was bad...it was troubleshooted by various different methods by my A+ cert tech friend which led me to finally contact Auzentech in order to RMA the card (which took forever I might add).

So...a month later I just got my brand new replacement in the mail...

Except they sent another card in addition to the replacement and I'm just wondering if any of you guys know why they would do that or what the second card is?

The one on the right (the bigger one) is the one I wasn't expecting?!?!

Wth?
LL
LL
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post #64 of 113
12/12/11 at 3:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmfgItzThaMack View Post

Okay...so my first soundcard that was sent to me was bad...it was troubleshooted by various different methods by my A+ cert tech friend which led me to finally contact Auzentech in order to RMA the card (which took forever I might add).

So...a month later I just got my brand new replacement in the mail...

Except they sent another card in addition to the replacement and I'm just wondering if any of you guys know why they would do that or what the second card is?

The one on the right (the bigger one) is the one I wasn't expecting?!?!

Wth?

lol, looks like they accidentally sent you 2 cards....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/auzent...dcard-review/1
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post #65 of 113
12/12/11 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by formulanerd View Post

lol, looks like they accidentally sent you 2 cards....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/auzent...dcard-review/1

Yeah I watched a few reviews on it on youtube...

I almost wonder if they sent it on purpose just cause they felt bad. I mean, I originally contacted them on the 12th of Nov. Then they replied on the 15th giving me a troubleshooting step I had already tried. I wrote them back on the 15th telling them I had already done and tried what they had suggested. Then they didn't get back to me so I contacted them again on the 17th, 18th, 21st, and 25th. They finally got back to me on the 26th saying they would RMA the card. I didn't get a RMA# until the 29th. Then I had to pay shipping all the way to San Jose which cost me about $11. By the 5th I still hadn't heard from them so I sent them an email asking if they had received the card (which I knew they did cause I tracked it), they replied that they had and over the course of the next week I emailed them a few more times asking what the deal was and asked what was wrong with the card? The only response I got was that "the tech was looking at the card". When whoever recommended me to get the Forte in the first place I did some researching to make sure it was what I wanted; all the reviews said the card was great but the support was almost non-existent. I brushed it off; told myself "it won't happen to me". Well, I was wrong. Dealing with them on this RMA was a pain in the f**king a**. I already sent them an email asking about the second card to see if I could get an explanation as to why they sent it...regardless of what they say I'm keeping it anyways after putting up with their b.s. support.

So, question...should I pop both these bad boys in my machine or what?
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post #66 of 113
12/12/11 at 4:39pm
The HT HD card is great but the forte will sound better with gaming IMO. I've had every auzentech card they've ever put out, the HT card is more geared towards a HTPC.
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post #67 of 113
12/12/11 at 6:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

The HT HD card is great but the forte will sound better with gaming IMO. I've had every auzentech card they've ever put out, the HT card is more geared towards a HTPC.

I won't argue as I don't have any experience with either card, but i'd be surprised if the HTHD wasn't the same card as the 7.1, with hdmi and the other home theater features.

core base of both cards is the x-fi gaming chipset.

with that being said, craig lemme know if you sell the HTHD
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post #68 of 113
12/12/11 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 
Hey N8.......were there any settings you found that work well or didn't work so well with the Forte for gaming?

And Nerd yeah I will definitely let you know on that but I will probably just keep it for the time being just in case I start having problems with this other Forte.
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post #69 of 113
12/12/11 at 10:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

The HT HD card is great but the forte will sound better with gaming IMO. I've had every auzentech card they've ever put out, the HT card is more geared towards a HTPC.

Oh yeah what I really wanted to ask you though was what did you use Dolby or DTS under the encoder tab?
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post #70 of 113
12/13/11 at 6:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by formulanerd View Post

I won't argue as I don't have any experience with either card, but i'd be surprised if the HTHD wasn't the same card as the 7.1, with hdmi and the other home theater features.

core base of both cards is the x-fi gaming chipset.

The Home Theater HD is basically the Forte with HDMI added, and both do share the exact same processing suite for games.

I'm currently using the Home Theater HD. I like it a lot and have had no problems. It is the best option for those who want 5.1/7.1 PCM digital output over HDMI for legacy games that use DirectSound3D and EAX.
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post #71 of 113
12/13/11 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MSmith83 View Post

The Home Theater HD is basically the Forte with HDMI added, and both do share the exact same processing suite for games.

I'm currently using the Home Theater HD. I like it a lot and have had no problems. It is the best option for those who want 5.1/7.1 PCM digital output over HDMI for legacy games that use DirectSound3D and EAX.

I know with the Forte...just b/c it happened with the one I sent back, is happening with the new one I just received, and from all the reviews I've read about online - can start to make a static hissing noise sometimes when you switch from entertainment to game mode and vice versa. Have you ever noticed that the HT HD does this?
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post #72 of 113
12/13/11 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by formulanerd View Post

I won't argue as I don't have any experience with either card, but i'd be surprised if the HTHD wasn't the same card as the 7.1, with hdmi and the other home theater features.

core base of both cards is the x-fi gaming chipset.

with that being said, craig lemme know if you sell the HTHD

They pretty much are but recent revisions of both cards now have different oamps on all channels, it's surprising how much a different oamp can make. I should note that I was only using analog and not digital.

The crackling sounds are the x-FI chipsets overheating. Before revision 1.1 the cards did not have a heat sink on the x-fi chip, the chip gets way to hot and would start to warp the board and loosen it's connections. I have one in front of me right now that's fairly bowed from the heat. I'm on current revision 1.3 and it has a fairly big heatsink and no problems in over a year sitting between 2 x 580's.

The HD cards do have the same crackling issues but it seems to be fairly minor as the actual boards are bigger and stronger and will not warp as easy. Keep in mind the crackling issues were more of an issue geared towards the rev 1.0 and 1.1 more than the 1.3's, though it can still happen. I like my auzentech cards much better than my asus STX or HD titanium for pretty much everything. The wolf DAC's are great on the x-fi and HD.

I'd still say keep the forte, sell the HD, as unless you are using it for a HTPC, it's money you could have in your pocket. You can still get $180 for that card used where as the forte's go for about $80 used.



Also
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post #73 of 113
12/13/11 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmfgItzThaMack View Post

I know with the Forte...just b/c it happened with the one I sent back, is happening with the new one I just received, and from all the reviews I've read about online - can start to make a static hissing noise sometimes when you switch from entertainment to game mode and vice versa. Have you ever noticed that the HT HD does this?

You can trpy putting tape over the back panel metal top of the card so it doesn't touch the case. My first card I had to did that but since I've got my new one, I haven't had any problems.
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post #74 of 113
12/13/11 at 4:26pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

You can trpy putting tape over the back panel metal top of the card so it doesn't touch the case. My first card I had to did that but since I've got my new one, I haven't had any problems.

Yeah I actually tried that with my old Forte that I had RMA'd but that one had other problems. It's weird though cause it only starts to make that static hiss out of the left speaker (only) when I change modes sometimes; other times it's fine. Maybe when I get sick and tired of restarting my computer I'll go ahead and try the tape thing with this card and see if that helps. The card kicks major as* though there's no denying that. For now I'm just keeping it in game mode for the most part even when listening to music or whatever. I just wonder if the HT HD card has the same issues with the static hiss cause the back plate on that one is/looks gold, hmm? Dunno. Welp, I just got the cards last night and haven't had much time to mess with them but I will eventually get one of them working *hassle free* I hope.
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post #75 of 113
12/13/11 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmfgItzThaMack View Post

I know with the Forte...just b/c it happened with the one I sent back, is happening with the new one I just received, and from all the reviews I've read about online - can start to make a static hissing noise sometimes when you switch from entertainment to game mode and vice versa. Have you ever noticed that the HT HD does this?

I have not experienced any such problems with my HD. I've only used its HDMI output. My card is the first retail version, which does not have a heat sink on the X-Fi chip.
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post #76 of 113
12/13/11 at 7:44pm
I use to have an Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1 in my gaming machine. Then once I moved to Win7, I kept on getting clipping audio. It drove me nuts and from the research I did it all stemed back to poor drivers. I waited for months, tried different drivers..no luck. Finally I got fed up and threw the card in my HTPC running on XP. Right now I am using Cosair 5.1 USB headphones and couldnt be happier.. never again will I buy a soundcard. Pretty much soundcards are the way of the dinosaur unless u have special needs likes hooking it to amplifier for DDL gaming.
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post #77 of 113
12/13/11 at 9:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WiseGuy2k7 View Post

I use to have an Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1 in my gaming machine. Then once I moved to Win7, I kept on getting clipping audio. It drove me nuts and from the research I did it all stemed back to poor drivers. I waited for months, tried different drivers..no luck. Finally I got fed up and threw the card in my HTPC running on XP. Right now I am using Cosair 5.1 USB headphones and couldnt be happier.. never again will I buy a soundcard. Pretty much soundcards are the way of the dinosaur unless u have special needs likes hooking it to amplifier for DDL gaming.

Thats a pretty bold statement. I'd agree only if your using digital, otherwise, you'd have to be deaf not to hear a difference between a soundcard and
onboard.
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post #78 of 113
12/13/11 at 10:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

Thats a pretty bold statement. I'd agree only if your using digital, otherwise, you'd have to be deaf not to hear a difference between a soundcard and
onboard.

Ok I will say Creative tech in sound cards are going the way of the dinosaur. EAX is pretty much dead now OpenAL took the spotlight. I think im just bitter towards SB cards, hence the reason I refuse to buy another soundcard. They released alot of poor drivers that it someone in the community to have to make his own for ppls to download. I know onboard is crap and thats why i have never used it, except for my arcade cabinet.
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post #79 of 113
12/14/11 at 5:07am
For an HTPC gaming rig, anyone who plays just about all modern games is perfectly served by an HDMI AVR and the onboard audio controller found on a current graphics card. Every game these days uses purely software-based audio renderers for decoding, mixing, post-processing, etc. Sending the resulting audio as 5.1/7.1 PCM over HDMI avoids the extra encoding step to DD or DTS that SPDIF requires for multichannel audio, and of course allows your AVR to optimally handle bass management and room correction.

I was a big advocate of hardware audio rendering via a discrete sound chip years ago, but there is no need now when our CPUs are more than capable of handling the tasks involved.

That said, I still cling to sound cards with an X-Fi chip for fully enjoying the audio in older games. I especially love that SoundFont support.
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post #80 of 113
12/14/11 at 3:38pm
You guys are right that if you're only using digital, then there really is no point to use a soundcard. I still cling to analog since I feel it's a huge step up to the digital sound, especially with the oamps and high quality DACs involved. It's not a X-FI thing, it's just a analog thing. My second system has my old Xonar STX and although it was really good for music, it just didn't have the character of the x-fi chips did for gaming IMO. I've went so far as to have a extra forte in a box in the closet, as well as my extra HD that I got on sale for $120 a few months ago.

EAX is long gone but I have so many games that use it, I'd never let it die lol
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post #81 of 113
12/14/11 at 4:02pm
I have to agree with MSmith and N8Dogg, I have a xfi gamer and tell a big difference between onboard and the sound card. Especially with analog... good speakers and reciever...
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post #82 of 113
12/15/11 at 7:17pm
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Deleted.
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post #83 of 113
12/20/11 at 12:20am
Hey guys....I dont want to hijack this thread. Seeing some one else has already had the same question i did...I didnt want to start a new thread.

I have done some research and come up with the following for my first PC Build

CPU: i7 930
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
RAM: OCZ Gold Tri Channel 6GB PC12800 DDR3 Memory -
HDD: Western Digital WD10EARS Caviar Green Hard Drive - 1TB, 3.5", SATA
GFX: 2x XFX HD-585X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5850
Optical drive: Lite-On IHAS124-04 Internal DVD Writer
heatsink: Cooler master 212
PSU: Corsair TX950W 950-Watt Power Supply

I know ill still need a case...but other then that

A Am i forgetting anything ?

B Would you change anything

C How would this machine run ?


Thanks again for any advice .
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post #84 of 113
12/20/11 at 1:08am
Thread Starter 
It's all good man...
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post #85 of 113
12/28/11 at 9:58am
Thread Starter 
Alright......the HT HD card is going in tonight. Both Fortes I received have been garbage. I bet they sent the HT HD because they know there are a lot of problems with the Forte.
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post #86 of 113
12/28/11 at 3:42pm
They know the problem with the forte but I've put in at least 60-80 of those cards and have only had about 6 back in the last 3-4 years that I know of (I use them a lot in my builds) We have a deal with auzentech that we just swap them out instead of the customer having to rma as we can test them right there but since I'm only a builder, I don't generally do the testing.

Hope the HD works out for you.
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post #87 of 113
12/28/11 at 11:59pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah the HD is working well...overall very happy with this build. Seriously considering throwing in another 6950 to see what how many FPS I can get runninh BF3 on Ultra. Right now I'm getting around 30-40 on Ultra. I posted earlier that I was getting around 60 but that was incorrect. My little brother had messed with my video settings while he was playing and out them on High. Wonder if I'd see FPS in the 60-80 range or possibly even higher?
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post #88 of 113
12/29/11 at 3:50pm
The difference from ultra to high isn't much. IMO it's not the FPS drop. On the other hand with dual 6950's, this wouldn't be an issue anymore
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post #89 of 113
12/29/11 at 8:23pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

The difference from ultra to high isn't much. IMO it's not the FPS drop. On the other hand with dual 6950's, this wouldn't be an issue anymore

Yeah I'm probably just going to go ahead and order another one...why not? I've already dropped close to two grand on this beast what's another two fitty?!?!
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post #90 of 113
12/30/11 at 6:11am
Could you order me a second one while you're at it? You've already dropped about $2250 on it, what's another $250?
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