Building new PC - help needed

[Piff]

I currently building a new PC with parts from Aria Technology Ltd. They have sut up shop for the weekend and I can,t get advice from them.

I have a few questions:-

The part in the attached picture was supplied with the pc case. There is no case manual and I can't find a manufacturers web site with instructions. I don't know what this part is (speaker?) and I can't see where it fits. Any ideas?

The case has front audio connectors - microphone & headphones. The cables are marked:
Mic In
Mic Bias
GND
Spk out L
Return L
Spk out R
Return R
The connection point on the motherboard has 9 pins marked:
1 Mic
2 GND
3 Mic Power
4 NC
5 Line out R
6 NC
7 NC
9 Line out L
10 NC
Can anyone advise the pin numbers to connect my cables to?

TV card - PCIe Pinnacle 3010ix - has three 4 pin connectors on it marked Audio out, Audio in & Video in. There are no connector cables supplies. Is it necessary to make connections to these sockets? where do they connect to?

Graphics card - Xpert Vision nVidia GeForce 9600GT 512mb PCIe 16x - this is supplied with a black 6 pin connector on the card and a cable to connect to the power supply cables, which I have connected. On the motherboard (gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4) there is also a power socket marked PCIE_12v and motherboard instructions are "the power connector provides extra power to the onboard PCIe x16 slot. When installing two graphics cards please connect the power cable from the power supply to this connector" I assume I don'y need to make this power connection as I am only installing 1 graphics card & it has it's own power supply?

I have powered up the pc briefly - it has 2 case fans, psu fan, cpu fan & graphics card fan. The graphics card fan is very noisy, drowning out the other 4 fans. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

[stevesey]

Its the case speaker/beeper - not really needed, unless you want the bios beep when it boots (and overtemp alarm if the bios supports that).

You should find a place to put it on the header where the power/reset switch and leds go.

 

[stevesey]

On the other bits.

Graphics card - nothing else to connect as you only have one, yes OEM fans can be very noisy.

TV card - you may need to connect audio out to line in on the PC to get sound - is there 3.5mm line out on the back of the TV card easiest to loop this around to line in outside the case with a 3.5 mm lead for the time being.

Mic In -> 1 Mic
Mic Bias -> 3 Mic Power
GND -> 2 GND
Spk out L -> Line Out L
Return L
Spk out R -> Line Out R
Return R

 

[HughJarse]

TV card leave it alone - you dont need a loopback cable.
It will work as it is,just plug it in. That card also has a power on function that you connect to pc power button thus allowing the card to turn on the pc.

The graphics card will shut a up a bit once the pc has started and you install the software.

As for audio connectors, whats the motherboard make and model?

 

[Piff]

On the other bits.

Graphics card - nothing else to connect as you only have one, yes OEM fans can be very noisy.

TV card - you may need to connect audio out to line in on the PC to get sound - is there 3.5mm line out on the back of the TV card easiest to loop this around to line in outside the case with a 3.5 mm lead for the time being.

Mic In -> 1 Mic
Mic Bias -> 3 Mic Power
GND -> 2 GND
Spk out L -> Line Out L
Return L
Spk out R -> Line Out R
Return R

Only connectors on back of tv card are 2 x aerial, 1 x s-video & 1 x infra red. Does this mean I need to do an internal connection or might the sound work without? If I do need the connection, is there usually somewhere on the motherboard to connect or have I got to get a cable from the end of the TV card to the line in connector on the back of the case?

 

[Piff]

TV card leave it alone - you dont need a loopback cable.
It will work as it is,just plug it in. That card also has a power on function that you connect to pc power button thus allowing the card to turn on the pc.

The graphics card will shut a up a bit once the pc has started and you install the software.

As for audio connectors, whats the motherboard make and model?

Motherboard is a gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4

 

[HughJarse]

Only connectors on back of tv card are 2 x aerial, 1 x s-video & 1 x infra red. Does this mean I need to do an internal connection or might the sound work without? If I do need the connection, is there usually somewhere on the motherboard to connect or have I got to get a cable from the end of the TV card to the line in connector on the back of the case?

Just plug it in , it should use the pc's soundcard. No cables required.

 

[HughJarse]

That board has an HD or AC97 audio config so you need to read the motherboard book in order to configure your front panel, once you have your prefered operating system installed.

 

[Piff]

Thanks everyone for now - that has solved todays problems.
I need to get a SATA power cable tomorrow and then I should be ready to install the operating system.
I'll be back tomorrow if I have a fresh set of problems!

 

[stevesey]

I'll be back tomorrow if I have a fresh set of problems!

Sata drivers?

 

[stevesey]

TV card leave it alone - you dont need a loopback cable.

I expect Hugh is right - long time since I've brought a TV card.

 

[HughJarse]

Sata drivers?

My thoughts exactly.. you know its coming dont you... It'll be raid after that

 

[Piff]

My thoughts exactly.. you know its coming dont you... It'll be raid after that

Please don't guys.
Ive chosen 64 bit windows Vista and I already know I'm heading for trouble

 

[Mr Raw]

I'd give 64 bit windows a miss unless you have a application that actually uses it, maybe certain adobe products?I service pc's by day and most users have problems with vista esp 64 bit versions.

 

[Piff]

I'd give 64 bit windows a miss unless you have a application that actually uses it, maybe certain adobe products?I service pc's by day and most users have problems with vista esp 64 bit versions.

Too late - already bought - and installation now underway

 

[timskemp]

64 bit vista isn't all that bad though it can be fussy with drivers, make sure you get latest from the web, don't rely on the ones in the box. Comes into its own when running virtual machines and 8 gig or more of RAM.

 

[Piff]

All going well, Vista installed, drivers loaded for keyboard, mouse, graphics card & TV card.
Just shutdown properly for the first time and some devices still seem to be live!

Optical mouse is still lit up (connected to mouse port not USB)
Keyboard still has a light on (connected to keyboard port not usb)
Card reader still lit up - connected to USB terminal on motherboard.

I havn't installed the motherboard driver disc as all seemed to be working OK up to this shut down.

Any ideas?

 

[GazCaff]

If you don't install the motherboard drivers you will lose a lot of hardware acceleration.

 

[Piff]

A short update.
Still struggling with the TV card they said would be compatible. Pinnacle only seem to have 64bit beta drivers and I can't determine which is the correct one. Have spoken to Aria today and it seems right to send the card back for a replacement which does have 64bit support.

Still got the motherboard problem.
Shutting down Windows leaves power on to:
Optical mouse is still lit up (connected to mouse port not USB)
Keyboard still has a light on (connected to keyboard port not usb)
Card reader still lit up - connected to USB terminal on motherboard.

Does anyone have any ideas where to start looking for a cure for this?

 

[GazCaff]

Have a look in your motherboard manual to see if there is a jumper which selects the +5v power source for your PS/2 ports. Yours may be set to "always on" which is actually handy if you want to start the PC with your keyboard (Which I do) or mouse.