MrLAFLAFLAF

Yes, a new mother board aint cheap, and it would have been messy. Good thing it didn't come to that. Thanks again. (btw I am happy for this to be marked as solved)

Hi everyone, Delighted to report that everything is running smoothly, with no problems of any sort. I am now confident enough to say that the problem is solved. I am so grateful to you guys for all the help you have given me (apart from the fact you cost me over £120 in the process - jks :p), especially you Plastic Nev, you have been awesome :D. It was such a debilitating and frustrating issue, and I am so glad that is is finally over. I cannot stress enough how great you guys have been to me, and I will strongly recommend you to anyone with the vaguest technologically-related problem. Thanks again, see you around, MrLAFLAFLAF

Cheers Nev, appreciate it.

Hi everyone, Successfully installed the sound card and drivers, etc, and everything is working fine. Tried a game on friday night, and the sound was awesome, detail and 3D is astonishing, never thought it would make such a difference. Sound has not cut out yet, but, as I say, it doesn't always cut out, so I will need to carry out a few more test-runs before I have a definitive answer for you. Thanks, MrLAFLAFLAF

Hi everyone, Ordered this sound card I'll get back to you this weekend, tell you if it has worked. Thanks

Yeah, you're right about the used ones, plus I can't return them if it doesn't solve the problem. It's weird though, because I can find hundreds of PCIE x16 ones (or the ones with longer sized slots, I don't know what they're called) that are under £10. How come the PCIE x1 are so expensive? Thanks for your advice, I will probably disregard the eBay ones now.

Would any of these cards be suitable? (they are the cheapest ones I can find, vast majority of others are £80+): Card 1 Card 2 Card 3

Hi Jelly Bean, thanks for you suggestions, they are warmly welcomed :) Yes, the issue mainly happens when I play online games, but then again, that is what i spend most of my time doing on this computer :p (Also I don't have a sound card (as of yet anyway), it is a sound chip on the motherboard, according to Plastic Nev anyway) I have 4GB of DDR3 RAM According to http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ my internet speed is around 4.7 mbps The game goes through a momentary lapse visually, just before the sound cuts out, then peaks as the sound cuts out, then returns to normal after the sound has cut out I have done every possible combination of driver updating/replacement/uninstallation + reinstallation known to man, including the ones you have suggested. The speakers where working fine on my old computer, and I have no other computers that aren't laptops on which to test them. As I have mentioned, and as Plastic Nev and I have decided, we have ruled out anything that isn't hardware anyway. Thanks again for your input Jelly Bean, much appreciated :D

Oh OK sorry about that...

I'm sorry I don't understand what the problem is - your thread name asks for assistance in choosing a PSU and GPU, but you seem to already have done both. Has your problem been solved?

It turns out my friend has a PCIE x16 sound card, not x1, which sucks. I tried looking online for some, but they are really hard to find, and the ones that I do find are like £80+! Is a PCIE x1 sound card revolutionary technology or something? Crikey... i could build one myself for cheaper... Anyone know some cheap PCIE x1 sound cards that don't cost too much to return to in case it doesn't work, i.e. not USA or Hong Kong (no offense :p), preferably UK or Europe? Any money-saving advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

OK, fair enough with the wattage. So basically all you are looking for is help choosing a suitable GPU? (Seeing as you seem to have already replaced your PSU)

Well I don't usually trust those websites, I prefer to do the maths instead, and the minimum the website says could mean the ABSOLUTE minimum that your comp can run on, rather than on what it should, I believe there is a difference. :) Anyway, you have already replaced the PSU? So this is just about what GPU you want now? And is it Crysis 1 or 2 that you intend to play?

Hi kevh, First off, by 'Crysis' do you mean Crysis 2 or the original Crysis? The two have VERY different requirements.:p For now, I'll assume you mean Crysis , seeing as it recently came out. I think the GTS can run Crysis 2, but I am a bit worried about the wattage of the PSU you have selected. I know that the graphics card only requires 400W (by the way it will probably require most of that power while playing Crysis 2), but there are other things in a computer that require power, like the CPU and HDDs. They may not be the most sophsticated around, but I highly doubt they can survive on a mere 50W of power. Just suggesting, but you might want to look for a larger wattage. Then again, if your interested, I recently bought a 750W PSU to replace my old 250W, and the 250 ran Crysis 2 fine until I realised that the wattage was so low. I would also add that your CPU may be a little behind the times for a game like Crysis 2, but I don't know your budget, or even if it is Crysis 2 you are interested in, but you might want to look at that too. Also, to answer your PCIE issue, I know the GTS 450 uses a PCIE 2.0 x16 slot, but this problem has been anticipated, and the 2.0 has been made backwards-compatible with the 1.0. That is, any PCIE 2.0 x16 component is backwards-compatible with a PCIE 1.0 x16 slot on a motherboard. However, be warned, they tend not to run at full potential.

Glad I could be of service, enjoy your new GPU *ENVY* :p