If you've skimmed through a few of my posts over the past month, you'll have seen the occasional snarky remark bitching about PC parts and whinging about a motherboard that was Dead On Arrival and a PSU that shorted out.
On the 17th of September I ordered all the parts for an epic PC.
- Intel i7 12700KF processor
- Gigabyte Geforce RTX 3080TI Gaming OC graphics card
- Asus TUF Gaming Z690 motherboard
And of course, liquid cooling, fans, a spiffy case, storage, RAM, a power supply, etc, etc, etc. Everything a PC needs! I wanted ROG Strix stuff, but, beggars can't be choosers. They were all sold out. 😅 These would do just as well!!
It all arrived on the 26th of September and I squealed with glee. Took photos of my goodies. And waited for my partner to get home from work so he could build it for me. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to the innards of a PC — except reseating things and replacing RAM and graphics cards — whereas my partner has built several PCs and was looking forward to getting mine up and running for me.
Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Everything was connected properly, we turned it on for the first time, everything seemed to POST, but the monitor wouldn't receive a signal. We tried another. And another. We tried HDMI and DVI connections. There was nothing. The motherboard displayed a white vga error light. We didn't know what was wrong.
The third time we tried to turn it on, the power supply tripped. Then it kept tripping. Over and over and over. All investigations pointed to either a faulty power supply or a faulty motherboard.
We tried my graphics card in my partner's current build and that worked, thankfully, but not wanting to dissect his PC, we couldn't test everything else. So I called around all the local computer stores and ordered a new power supply, hoping that's all it was.
The new power supply arrived, and there was no more tripping. Power supply issue fixed! But... there was still no signal and the motherboard still had a white vga error light.
I returned it to the store I ordered it from (in another state) and asked them to test it. They, of course, had a sharp increase in returns lately so it took two and a half weeks before they got to my item, after it had spent a previous week in transit to get to them.
Of course my item tested completely fine for them, so they went to return it to me. Some people on various forums had a similar vga error, and for them it was because the BIOS wasn't up to date. So just in case, I asked them to update the BIOS before sending it back. They did so, happily.
When explaining my issue to the technician, they suggested it could also either be my CPU or RAM. A faulty CPU is exceptionally rare, but it was possible. And they offered to do a warranty return form up for those items to also test them for me.
Australians, if you ever buy from PC Case Gear and you have an issue with your purchase, please know that they have exceptional customer service and their technicians are friendly as hell.
Because I didn't want to wait another damned month, I told them I'd take it to my local PC repair place and get them to test these items, and if they were faulty then I'd do up a return.
Lo and behold. ONE stick of RAM was faulty. All of this for ONE stick of RAM.
The thing is... we tested all of the RAM. Isolating them one by one and it still didn't work. But only one of them tested faulty, not all of them. So, naturally, we were confused.
Instead of bothering with a return for the one stick of RAM — because I would've had to have returned the entire batch just for one faulty stick — I decided to just use two that didn't test faulty and buy another two sticks at another date. I just wanted this thing working. While 32gb of RAM would've been great, I'll happily stick with 16gb for now if this damned thing just worked.
On the 1st of November I got my motherboard back.
We reconnected it all, made sure everything was perfect and properly seated, and powered it on.
Aaaand... ... ... ...
... ... ...
It still didn't fucking work. Every single component in this machine had tested as working elsewhere, but just didn't work here. So we took the damned thing to the local repair place and asked them to deal with it.
Today, the 4th of November, the tech called us back. He had worked it out and it was such a non-job he didn't even ask us to pay for his time.
Want to know what it was?
The graphics card wasn't seated properly. Which is bloody ridiculous because we reseated everything in this machine twenty thousand times. But apparently it needed a good punch to be seated properly and LO, the friggen thing is working now. (Please re-read us testing the same graphics card in another build and having it work. We know how to seat a damned GPU. The PCI-e slot in the ASUS motherboard I'm using is apparently just a temperamental bitch.)
I would be pissed off that that's all it was, but at the moment I'm just relieved it's finally working.
It was a major pain in the arse but my glorious gaming PC is built at last and ready and it's time to put 'er through her paces. 🙂
Looking forward to sharing my new gaming experiences with you all, soon!
Until next time! ⭐️🖥💻
Let me just say this, I KNOW YOUR PAIN! When I first upgraded my Ram in my old build, it stopped working. I had no clue what the hell it was, spent hours trying to figure it out, only to realize I didn't have it push in all the way.
Then when I was building my new PC I ran into the exact same issue with the RAM, but I did figure it out pretty quickly thanks to my MOBOs debug system!
Fast forward to when I was installing my 3080, and I thought I had the exact same issue, that the 3080 wasn't seated properly. You know the saying fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times and I may just be an idiot. Well I would be damned if I was to be fooled a third time.
So I spent hours trying to figure out why the 3080 wasn't working and I was confident that it was because it wasn't seated properly as it is a tight squeeze for the beast in my case. At my ropes end I googleD it and found out that you cant daisy chain the PCIE cables for a 3080, and that is exactly what I was doing!
I'm glad you've got your computer issues figured out! I remember you telling me about the issue you had and how you were not sure if it was the MOBO or the PSU! Who woulda thunk it would have been the Ram!
It was actually the PSU!! xD ... it was tripping and I needed to get a new one. And it was one stick of RAM too! So at the moment I am foregoing my dream of 32gb of RAM and instead have your basic 16gb. It'll do for now. I can't be bothered dealing with a warranty return for that when I need to return the entire batch just for one faulty stick. 😣 I'll just get 2 more sticks later on.
AND THEN!! Apparently ASUS motherboards are known for being a bit fiddly with graphics cards. Like, we put it into my partner's build and it worked, then popped it back into mine and it didn't. Turns out you need to literally smack it into some motherboards and mine happens to be one of them, haha! Such a pain in the arse. 🤣😂 Like, I'm annoyed at this whole thing, but I admit, it is pretty funny too. xD
This is the last time I get a CPU with no integrated graphics. If I had that, I would've been able to access the BIOS and everything and would've been able to troubleshoot a lottttt easier. ☆Big heaving sigh of annoyance☆
It is a harrowing, but so damn rewarding, experience building a PC. I am glad y'all got it working.
It really is! 🙂 Definitely harrowing! 😅 But definitely also rewarding. I'm so happy it's up and running at last.
Congrats!! What a beast. Literally, me thinking about the games I can play on that build. Game on !!
!PIZZA
😁 I'm so excited to be able to play all the things. I could have on my old laptop too but I was too scared to even try half the time because of temperatures going over 100. Now I can unleash the mighty beast!!
Made me so jealous 😅
Looks like you went through quite a lot of trouble, and I guess that is why a lot o people choose consoles over PCs haha.
My last PC was a pain in the ass for countless months, thanks to its very old HDD. In the end I just took that thing out and kept it stored, I'll probably get it fixed, because it has quite a lot of important files. But, after I took it out, my PC instantly became 5 times faster, it's funny how only a single component can be such a pain the ass. The biggest issue I find is pin pointing the faulty device, if only there was some kind of an indicator showing clearly which component or parts aren't behaving right.
Yet, hopefully all your PC troubles are now a thing of the past. You have quite the PC here, it will serve you well for at least 3 to 4 years. Looking forward to some new and top notch content from you.
Cheers and happy gaming. 🥃💣
Haha, there's no way I could go console! 😁 I prefer PC too much and I'm rubbish with controllers. I need this for internetting and work too, so the entertainment aspect is a very nice cherry on top.
It's usually easy to know what's wrong with PCs. If it's running slow, it's probably the harddrive. If it only turns on sometimes, it's probably the power supply. If it's getting too hot, there's a cooling issue somewhere. For this build... it was just weird. Everything by all rights should have just worked straight away. And all along the issue was that with these motherboards you literally need to slam things into place even after it clicks in. It was so bizarre. 😞😞
I should get 3-4 years out of this! And then I'll probably have to upgrade to a brand new giant case because the size of new graphics cards is getting out of control. 🤣
Cheers!! 🍻😃
Exactly how I feel, not a fan of controllers either, unless it's FIFA and maybe some racing games. The PC is the perfect machine in my eyes, from work to gaming, I get everything done on mine.
I guess the beefier motherboards are built extra sturdy, that is why it might take some extra force. You do have the Z690, which is top of the line for Intel's line up of CPUs. Yet, at least you figured it out, I probably would've thought that the motherboard was flawed. 😂
Have you seen the new AMD 7000 series GPUs? Absolute bangers. They managed to keep the size quite compact I'd say.
I was hoping that AMD would go full pedal to the metal this time, and they surely didn't disappoint. I'm currently using the 6700XT, and the experience so far has been amazing. I thought that Nvidia was a must and AMD wouldn't be able to keep up with my ways of usage and gaming, but AMD took my experience to a different level. I am now more of an AMD fanboy haha.
I surely do hope that AMD catches up to Nvidia in the GPU market, just like they did with Intel, with their Ryzen processors. Also rooting for Intel and their new GPU line up, we need another competitor in the GPU realm. It's been way too long that we've been seeing just Team Green VS Team Red, we now need Team Blue to join the GPU kingdom. Plus, more competition means better products and pricing for us lol.
that's alot of successive problems. 😆
happy to hear that you can now play your monster pc.
It was a right pain in the butt!! lol
Like, yep, sure, PSU tripping... that's a tangible problem! Faulty RAM. Also a proper issue. A GPU that won't be seated into a specific motherboard unless YOU SLAM IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!?!?!?!?!?! Yep, that's a new one.
congrats on your new pc. What a monster.
Cheers!! 😁😁😁
Awesome, that's a pretty sweet setup. Enjoy! 😄
Cheers! 😁
That's such a pretty set up and a beast, I can imagine myself just playing games all day and not have the itch to travel😄 Congrats!
Damm that PC looks just great and powerfull
your cat is so cute !! i have one orange female too
Orange cats are the best! 😅 So feisty and full of attitude. My Charlie is three years old and still thinks he's a kitten.
yes they are like babies
If I caress my cat for half a minute, she already starts to purr and demands more affection from me.
You finally got it working. Congratulations! Your new PC (and the cat) looks awesome. Too bad you had to settle with 16GB RAM, but I suppose it will be enough for almost all games.
Cheers 😊 It's so good to finally have it up and running! Yeah, 16gb will be enough for now. I'll just buy more in a couple of months. xD
Charlie the Cat thanks you for the compliment, he certainly he thinks he's awesome too. 😸
Yes, you went through an odyssey between all this, but come on, you've got it, you've recovered it and you'll be able to enjoy your PC again, that's great.
I think you should have Googled "Budget gaming PC Australia 2022" and brought the suggested parts to get more bang for your buck. 😊
More bang for my buck? xD I got pretty much everything nearly half price during a massive sale. I got more than a bang for my buck. 😅
Wow, that is good to know. Wished I have the money to buy those GPUs for bargain sale. They'll go really expensive when China invades Taiwan in a few years. 😅
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