My missing hard drive

[Huck69]

This is the first of two problems i have with my new PC. I've just built my first PC, which i geared towards gaming. the basic specs are....

Intell Q6600 Quadcore
2x BFG 8800GT 512mb Graphics cards
4x1GB OCZ Platinum revision 2 DDR2 memory.(i was going to install Vista 64bit, but decided otherwise)
EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard.
2x Hitachi 300GB Hard drives.
Windows Vista home premium




My first problem (the title to the thread), is that i can't seem to find my second Hard drive. I have a C drive (which it says is mirrored, whatever that means), but no D drive.

The second problem is That when i try to play Crysis, the game appears in a window, and not in full screen. I have riva tuner setting the fans to 50%, and top resolution.

Thanks in advance for any help.


Oh....I had the Icey blue screen of death appear a coupel of times. It tolsd me to check the memory, which i did through the administrative tool, and downloaded PC doc. Does anyone know if PC doc was worth the money, or if i should find another program ?


Huck

[Stormcrow]

First thing first, make double sure you have the latest BIOS for that motherboard. I have the same board, and it's been a major headache because the thing is so finicky. The newer BIOS tend to bring it up from an utter disaster to a board that you can squeeze the awesome out of with some fine tuning.

Mirrored Drive usually means your drive is running in a RAID array, meaning that the drives are both acting as C: and copying the same information between the two. This is good if your running a server or something and want to back up the data easily in case a drive fails, or want to run RAID0 for the speed boost it gives. Go into the BIOS, and make sure that RAID is disabled. It should be under Integrated Peripherals.

On the Crysis shortcut, right click and select properties. Make sure that the windowed mode is set to Fullscreen and not Maximized, see if that works. Since your running two 8800GT's, I'd personally set the fans to 100% because those things run HOT.

I've never used PCdoc, most problems can be solved by googling a bit and asking questions. The 680i BIOS tends to set the memory timings up wrong, go into Memory Timings in System Clocks under Advanced Chipset in the BIOS and make sure the voltage is set to the manufacturer specs and the timings are correct. Usually the BIOS wants to set the the Command Per Clock to 1T, which really strains most RAM. Set it to 2T.

Also, are you overclocking at all? If so that opens a whole other can of worms with the memory settings on that board. Not hard, but a PITA if you don't know about it.

[Huck69]

Ok, time for me to show my ignorance.


Where do i get the newer BIOS from ? From the EVGA website ? All i did was download the drivers, didn't know i had to do anything else.

I had to enable the raid to get the windows installed, and quite frankly, i was stabbing in the dark. I used to work in an assembly factory, and only really knew how to stick the bits together....Thanks for the help.


"The 680i BIOS tends to set the memory timings up wrong, go into Memory Timings in System Clocks under Advanced Chipset in the BIOS and make sure the voltage is set to the manufacturer specs and the timings are correct"

What would the proper setings be, and can i find it easily in the manual ? I'm sorry if i sound lazy, but i'm in work while reading this, and whatever info i'm armed with before i go home can speed up the fixing process.

[Stormcrow]

BIOS is in the Evga forums, located here: 680i SLI - P32 BIOS Released
It also includes instructions on how to flash your chip should this be your first time doing it.

Looking at the specs of your RAM, found here, you should set it to 4-4-4-15 2T with a voltage between 1.9-2.1 (set it to 2.0 for a good spot in the middle, you can up it later should you decide to overclock).

You shouldn't need RAID in order to install Windows. Vista streamlines the installation process, you should only need to create a partition on one drive, format it then install. Update the BIOS on the board and make sure RAID is disabled, this could be a problem due to the 680i's problems with SATA Hard drives in earlier BIOS releases. You'll probably have to reformat the second drive but you'll have C: and D: in the end.

Also, if you could set up a sig as per forum rules that'd be nice. Just include everything you posted up top and add in what your using to cool the CPU and the case its all packed in. You got a good system there, we'll see if we can't get it running nice and smooth. Oh! And welcome to HL, the tech support's free but its BYOB.

[Huck69]

Thanks again mate. If i post again, you'll know i've stuffed things up :P

[Huck69]

Got my Hard drive back, thanks.

Fixed my Crysis issue by hunting for Patches (so far ao good anyway)

My memory settings were 5-5-5-15 2T, which was close to what you said anyway mate, so i left it - basically because i have no idea if 5 is better than 4 :P

Left the BIOS well enough alone. Dabbling with that crap at this stage scares the B'jesus out of me, and i'm happy just to be able to Play my games without the PC blowing up.

And i've started turning my fan up when i play games.


Thanks for the help again Stormcrow.

(Might be worth subbing, just for that)

[theburan]

4-4-4-15 timings should be a bit faster than 5-5-5-15... not sure if you'll actually notice it though.

[Parker]

Hey Huck, glad you got everything fixed so far! Stormcrow gave lots of good info! Even taught me a few things reading it...
BTW, :welcome: to HL!! Where glad your with us!

Originally Posted by Huck69

My memory settings were 5-5-5-15 2T, which was close to what you said anyway mate, so i left it - basically because i have no idea if 5 is better than 4 :P

Cas 5 (5-5-5-15 2T) is fine, but Cas 4 (4-4-4-12 2T) is better (faster).
The memory you have is Cas 4 memory, but BIOS's usually set them up to Cas 5 for you (I guess it's just for safety precautions?)

Moving the memory timings down to Cas 4 will make your computer faster, not by to much, but it's enough to make me write this out for you this late... lol...

Hope it helps you!
Enjoy!

Edit:
darnit theburan! you beat me....

[Huck69]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

Oh! And welcome to HL, the tech support's free but its BYOB.

Quicky.....what does BYOB mean ? Anyone.

[oldman_gamer]

Originally Posted by Huck69

Quicky.....what does BYOB mean ? Anyone.

Bring your own babe!
Bring your own beer
Bring your own bottle

Welcome to HL Huck