the speaker is present, tried a hiper power one which is running a q6600 and a 8800gtx plus 3 hdds. code 88
never got it running. its just 3 days old. if the mobo hasn't killed the e8500, i might brave it and put the q6600 to see if it posts n if lucky to update the bios?
will keep you informed. shed me some more ideas in the mean time