Your computer appears to have an LGA 1156 based motherboard, which only supports first generation mainstream Intel CPUs up to the Intel Core i7-870 2.93GHz. Pre-built computers that aren't from boutique manufacturers do not have motherboards that support overclocking, and often have power supplies that do not support graphics cards that require extra power connectors. The best slot-powered video card you can purchase for that machine is an AMD Radeon HD 7750.

You can take your chances trying to upgrade your motherboard, but your Acer computer may have proprietary headers for the power button, lights, etc. and you would need a new power supply anyway if you wanted to do any serious upgrades.

Judging from your specs, you likely have a Core i3-550 3.2GHz processor currently.

#4, what GPU(s)? Any specific scenarios that trigger what I assume are the vertical bars of death?

Yep, same thing happened to me for Far Cry 3 with an AMD Never Settle bundle. I simply waited until December 4th and then uPlay let me download the game.

Hey folks,

If you own an AMD Radeon HD 7000 series CrossfireX (dual or more GPUs) setup and play DirectX 10/11 games, the Catalyst 13.8 drivers are definitely worth checking out. These drivers introduce the long awaited "frame pacing" technology to properly synchronize the frames rendered by each GPU instead of the second GPU's frames only being partially displayed on-screen (runt frames). DirectX 9 CrossfireX fixes are supposedly in the pipeline as well, so if you mainly play Skyrim or something, you probably won't see any difference.

Installation:
-Download the 13.8 Beta driver here (second link on the page from 8/1/13): http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_win8-64.aspx
-Uninstall your current AMD drivers via Programs and Features (If you use an AMD processor e.g. AMD FX or Phenom II, be super careful NOT TO UNINSTALL YOUR CHIPSET DRIVERS). ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use the AMD Catalyst Cleanup tool or similar tools in Windows 8 because they will break your OS!
-Install these, enable CrossfireX, and hopefully enjoy your DX10/11 titles like Crysis 3 without any stutter!

So far, the feedback on various tech sites has been positive. I figured I'd bring it to attention here because surely other people own AMD CrossfireX setups. I am unsure if this improves AMD 5xxx/6xxx setups or Eyefinity setups.

Loading times on the non-OS HDD may actually be slightly better, especially if Windows needs to load things aside from the game files or access the pagefile if it's still located on the OS drive. Also, newer, higher density HDDs have the potential for faster sequential read/write speeds even if the rotational speed is lower. It all depends on how the drives bench using something like HDTune to perform read speed tests and such.

Any particular motherboards you are interested in, or do you just plan on getting a cheap one to get your PC running again? Z77 chipset based boards are pretty nice, I have both an ASRock Z77 Extreme6 and Z77 Pro4-M running 3770Ks at 4.3GHz just fine. My first i7 system is a 2600K with an ASRock Z68 Extreme4 and it still works perfectly after 2 years even after being loaded down with 24/7 distributed computing programs the entire time. The 6 series boards are a little dated but are still fine if you find a P67/Z68 for a good price.

Orange wire = 3.3v
Red wire = 5v
Yellow wire = 12v

Set your multimeter to 20v DC, connect the black wire to any of the black wires (all grounds are common) and probe one of each of those colored wires listed above with the positive lead while the PSU is activated (green PS_ON wire jumped to ground). I would test the +12v yellow wires on the 4+4 pin "P4" connector (the supplementary motherboard power for the CPU) as well as the 20+4 pin main connector (has all three main voltage wires present).

Do you have a multimeter to check the power supply output voltages? It won't tell you everything, but it's handy to use one just to make sure the 3.3v, 5v and 12v DC rails appear to be within +/- 5% of the target voltage. If the PSU appears to be fine, I'm going to say the motherboard is bad especially if the diagnostic LEDs no longer illuminate. The ASUS "-V" series are rather "cheap" quality-wise anyway, and I haven't really been a fan of ASUS motherboards in the last few years.

Most Raidmax PSUs are borderline horrendous (their 80Plus Gold models may be alright), so that's probably your issue then. Many of those no-name PSUs are "gutless wonders" that literally cannot support half of the power output specified on their label, and they also have the bare minimum of poor quality electrical components to operate. I'd say if you can't wait for a decent PSU to arrive from Newegg or some place or are unsure if it's the PSU, just go to Best Buy and pick one up, and if it turns out your symptoms are still the same, return it.

If it turns out you need a new PSU and money isn't too much of a concern, look for 80Plus Gold certified PSUs as they are typically pretty decent regardless of the vendor and they also offer 7-10% better electrical conversion efficiency than the regular 80Plus (white logo) units.

SMAC banned him two days ago on my community for an eye test violation.

http://bans.trashedgamers.org/index.php?p=banlist&advSearch=STEAM_0:1:20616925&advType=steamid&Submit

I'm doubtful. His system was running fine while playing games (i.e. it was under stress) and suddenly it shut down and doesn't work now. RAM doesn't cause a system to exhibit a short circuit condition unless the RAM shorted out, which I have never seen or heard about in my history of computer repair.

I'll stick with my initial consideration of motherboard or PSU failure. Can you give us the make and model of your power supply as well? If it isn't a reputable brand e.g. Corsair, Antec, Enermax, Seasonic, etc. it's entirely possible it may have bit the dust, but again I'm more inclined to say it's the motherboard. I had an EVGA GTX 460 short out once, and the system would instantly shut off in a split second. While troubleshooting, I turned on the system one more time, it stayed on, and the voltage controller IC on the GPU sparked and emitted a bunch of smoke (burnt a hole in itself). I'm thinking that some voltage regulation circuit on your motherboard probably failed in such a way that the board works for a few seconds and then shuts off as a failsafe to prevent further damage or a fire. Let us know what your findings are when you tear everything down and test on a desk.

Sounds like either the power supply bit the dust or a component on the motherboard is shorted out, causing the PSU to shut off. Does the system only come on once and then won't turn on again until you unplug the system from the wall for a bit, or can you endlessly cycle the power button and the system comes on and shuts off every time? If it's the latter, I would be inclined to say a motherboard issue since you removed the dGPU, and there is probably damage from the front panel audio incident you mentioned.

I would try taking the motherboard (with the CPU and RAM) and PSU out of the case completely and setting them on a non-conductive surface e.g. a wooden desk, and try to power on with those minimal components first. If it acts normally, there's probably something in the case that is shorting out the motherboard.

I changed my MGE Dueling server over to V8 and enabled 2v2 on all the standard arenas and bball, so feel free to check it out and let me know if you have any issues. :)

Server IP: 66.150.121.96:27015 (the server mentioned in post #10)
Location: NYC, on an NFO VDS.
Weapon restrictions: None, just like my regular MGE V8 server.

The server listed above is my other MGEMod server running the "showcase" 2v2 map I developed for CPrice. I'm considering taking it down though as everyone seems to prefer MGE V8, but I have an idea of enabling 2v2 support on MGE V8 and running that on the server instead.

No problem Slin, thanks again for adding my server to the list, and so quickly for that matter. :D