Okay, my first problem was buying a pre-built HP computer. My second problem was thinking the case would be gaming upgrade friendly. So maybe we can forget those things lol.
HP - H81414 motherboard specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03517389
I yanked the weak video card and power supply and put the following in:
Thermaltake Smart 850w power supply (overpowered, but I will get to that):
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1264&ID=2085
EVGA Geforce GTX 660 superclocked:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/EVGA+-+GeForce+GTX+660+2GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+3.0+Graphics+Card/6820043.p?id=1218808244387&skuId=6820043&st=evga geforce gtx 660&cp=1&lp=1
This tower had an odd memory configuration of (2)4gb and (1) 2gb...yanked them and went with 4x4gb of the following:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+Vengeance+2-Pack+4GB+DDR3+DIMM+Desktop+Memory+Kit/2904596.p;jsessionid=930308D20951F603D4A92F45F3466D33.bbolsp-app02-49?id=1218361848253&skuId=2904596&st=corsair vengeance&cp=1&lp=1
I bought the tower with the idea of tossing my old radeon hd 5770 and 600w power supply in and playing Guild Wars 2 on medium settings. This set up was fine, if you dont mind crappy visuals. I decided to upgrade the video card. Ended up getting a evga gt 640 superclock...was worse than my 5770...but it ran with no problems. Got tired of low end cards and went with the gtx 660 sc...wow what a card compared to what I had been using. Ran GW2 on ultra settings, and never below 50 fps...I was pretty happy except i was getting a noise from the PSU. I was led to believe that the PSU just couldnt handle it. Could play just fine, other than the noise. Noise was dependent on load on the card. Normal computing no noise. As soon as a game loaded and the frame rates kicked in, the noise was constant and fairly loud.
Now, I already ruled out any wires hitting fans, loose objects vibrating, and fan bearings. I even returned the first gtx 660 i had and exchanged for another gtx 660 to get the same problem. Noise was definitely from the power supply anyway.
I have my old computer that the 600 power supply and the 5770 were in. I put them back in that old Gateway like it was before and it ran just like it used to, awful visuals and all. No noise, not even a little.
So went back to best buy today and got the Thermaltake smart 850 psu. Today is also the day I got the Corsair ram.
Installed ram and new power supply, all cables attached properly. Then the real problems started.
First power up, all fans including case, cpu, psu, and gpu would turn on, then right back off repeatedly. The power light and red trim light (think ghetto alienware lighting on the front of the case)would turn on and off with the fans. I did not see any lights on the mobo come on either. It would stop on its own after maybe 1 minute. The psu did not seem to ever get up to speed, so to speak. Fan would barely move...no noises or odors though. No signs of damage or from being fried.
I read somewhere that the ram could be the issue (im a noob so no clue how true that is) so i put the old ram back in. Same problem.
I am going to try the old 600 watt power supply in the hp tower and see if it powers on to rule out a bad power supply. At least see if it will boot up.
I am really at my witts end here, and any help would be appreciated. I have tried to give as much info as I could possibly think of...please be gentle if I have left anything out that you think is obvious. Last pc I built was a single core P4 and hyperthreading was new lol. I have probably forgotten more than I learned from that.
I will be checking back often, so thanks in advance for any help.
Update: Old PSU powered the unit up fine...but still the noise under load. I am checking the Smart psu's cable management system...more things to plug in and unplug, etc...will see how it goes
Update 2: Checked and triple checked all connections on Smart 850 psu...same results.
HP - H81414 motherboard specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03517389
I yanked the weak video card and power supply and put the following in:
Thermaltake Smart 850w power supply (overpowered, but I will get to that):
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1264&ID=2085
EVGA Geforce GTX 660 superclocked:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/EVGA+-+GeForce+GTX+660+2GB+GDDR5+PCI+Express+3.0+Graphics+Card/6820043.p?id=1218808244387&skuId=6820043&st=evga geforce gtx 660&cp=1&lp=1
This tower had an odd memory configuration of (2)4gb and (1) 2gb...yanked them and went with 4x4gb of the following:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Corsair+-+Vengeance+2-Pack+4GB+DDR3+DIMM+Desktop+Memory+Kit/2904596.p;jsessionid=930308D20951F603D4A92F45F3466D33.bbolsp-app02-49?id=1218361848253&skuId=2904596&st=corsair vengeance&cp=1&lp=1
I bought the tower with the idea of tossing my old radeon hd 5770 and 600w power supply in and playing Guild Wars 2 on medium settings. This set up was fine, if you dont mind crappy visuals. I decided to upgrade the video card. Ended up getting a evga gt 640 superclock...was worse than my 5770...but it ran with no problems. Got tired of low end cards and went with the gtx 660 sc...wow what a card compared to what I had been using. Ran GW2 on ultra settings, and never below 50 fps...I was pretty happy except i was getting a noise from the PSU. I was led to believe that the PSU just couldnt handle it. Could play just fine, other than the noise. Noise was dependent on load on the card. Normal computing no noise. As soon as a game loaded and the frame rates kicked in, the noise was constant and fairly loud.
Now, I already ruled out any wires hitting fans, loose objects vibrating, and fan bearings. I even returned the first gtx 660 i had and exchanged for another gtx 660 to get the same problem. Noise was definitely from the power supply anyway.
I have my old computer that the 600 power supply and the 5770 were in. I put them back in that old Gateway like it was before and it ran just like it used to, awful visuals and all. No noise, not even a little.
So went back to best buy today and got the Thermaltake smart 850 psu. Today is also the day I got the Corsair ram.
Installed ram and new power supply, all cables attached properly. Then the real problems started.
First power up, all fans including case, cpu, psu, and gpu would turn on, then right back off repeatedly. The power light and red trim light (think ghetto alienware lighting on the front of the case)would turn on and off with the fans. I did not see any lights on the mobo come on either. It would stop on its own after maybe 1 minute. The psu did not seem to ever get up to speed, so to speak. Fan would barely move...no noises or odors though. No signs of damage or from being fried.
I read somewhere that the ram could be the issue (im a noob so no clue how true that is) so i put the old ram back in. Same problem.
I am going to try the old 600 watt power supply in the hp tower and see if it powers on to rule out a bad power supply. At least see if it will boot up.
I am really at my witts end here, and any help would be appreciated. I have tried to give as much info as I could possibly think of...please be gentle if I have left anything out that you think is obvious. Last pc I built was a single core P4 and hyperthreading was new lol. I have probably forgotten more than I learned from that.
I will be checking back often, so thanks in advance for any help.
Update: Old PSU powered the unit up fine...but still the noise under load. I am checking the Smart psu's cable management system...more things to plug in and unplug, etc...will see how it goes
Update 2: Checked and triple checked all connections on Smart 850 psu...same results.
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