Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65323 times)

TA · « **Reply #300 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:14:57 AM »

Define "super-budget". Are we talking $300? $500? $1000?

Mongrel · « **Reply #301 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:25:31 AM »

$500 is probably a good yardstick for a maximum, but given that I have no income currently, I have strong incentives to keep it as low as possible.

Deciding how low to go is probably where trying to maximize value-for-money comes in.

TA · « **Reply #302 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:28:48 AM »

Do you know what case you have? Those things are surprisingly adaptable, and using an existing case can shave quite a bit of money off.

Mongrel · « **Reply #303 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:32:58 AM »

Er, it's not a brand name case. It dates to the late 90's.

...

It's old enough that it's beige and all-metal. Let's put it that way.

It is possible that I won't need a new one, but the old one is cramped and arcane, so I can't say for sure.

I'm going to go look at benchmark part prices this afternoon from the super-discount computer chain in Toronto, so I'll see what the ugliest and cheapest of new cases costs.

Mongrel · « **Reply #304 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:41:26 AM »

For the record, here's the old setup:

S939 HT 1000 GeForce 6150 +nForce with 430 VGA integrated nVidia GB LAN
AMD Athlon 64 x 2 CPU (single core... like 3.2 Ghz, iirc)
2GB RAM (can't remember the designator, but it's the "older style" RAM)

TA · « **Reply #305 on:** October 27, 2010, 07:43:19 AM »

Well, this isn't exactly my area of expertise, so I don't think this is gonna be the best deal you could find. But this case should hold this motherboard, which will seat this processor and this memory, and hold this video card and this hard drive. Before shipping, that's about $450 American, and the manufacturers of the components are all companies I'm pretty sure can be trusted - I'm using their stuff in my current box, and it's working swell. Unless I'm forgetting a piece, and I don't think I am, that should run TF2 quite fine.

Edit: Fuck, forgot the power supply. Here's one, that puts it at $494.93 American. That's edging a little close to your maximum, but I'm not really sure where to really get significant savings without a major sacrifice of capability.

ObliviousObi · « **Reply #306 on:** October 27, 2010, 08:03:38 AM »

Seems like that setup should work TA, next question though, do you already have an OS you can use? If not you're looking at spending more.

Mongrel · « **Reply #307 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:27:45 AM »

Yeah, just going to chump it out with my old copy of XP for now.

I'm hoping this is actually an easy fix though. I remember something like this happened before and it was just that the BIOS had stopped booting from my main hard drive and instead tried to boot from an ancillary drive with some old Win98 fragments on it, which of course caused it to fail to boot. It wasn't a difficult thing to fix, but we had no idea why it happened and almost fixed it by accident, while trying to boot from Linux DVDs.

ObliviousObi · « **Reply #308 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:43:38 AM »

XP is a good OS still, at least it isn't Vista.

Hopefully you can find an easy fix.

Mongrel · « **Reply #309 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:49:21 AM »

Well, it's mainly because a lot of my software is old, but works just fine as-is. I don't feel like finding compatibility programs for a ton of my old crap right now. I'm not going to buy a high-end quad-core, so I don't need a new OS for the hardware. When I can afford (or otherwise procure) shiny new software or hardware that requires Win 7 absolutely, then I can look at Win 7 (which is the only thing I'd upgrade to right now).

A budget computer wants less OS processing overhead anyway.

TA · « **Reply #310 on:** October 27, 2010, 09:53:14 AM »

Win7 has less processing overhead than XP, I believe, and you shouldn't need compatibility programs unless you're running 16-bit programs on 64-bit Win7 - and that's as easy turning on a virtual machine.

Mongrel · « **Reply #311 on:** October 27, 2010, 10:08:53 AM »

I know it's that way on paper, but Starr has had strange issues with legacy software on her fancy-pants system, which does run Win 7.

Just looking to keep problems down. If Win 7 actually has lower overall usage, than I may switch sooner, but I think I'm still going to hold off for now. Plus I'd have to buy Win 7 of course.

Mongrel · « **Reply #312 on:** October 27, 2010, 10:28:10 AM »

Question: how good of a deal is this?

It seems a lot more legit than the other "whole computer" listings on Craigslist.

TA · « **Reply #313 on:** October 27, 2010, 10:47:01 AM »

Looks like it might be a good get. It being cash on delivery helps with that - I'd see if you can hook it up and test it before forking over the cash though.

yeoz · « **Reply #314 on:** October 27, 2010, 11:08:05 AM »

Quote from: Mongrel on October 27, 2010, 10:28:10 AM

Question: how good of a deal is this?
It seems a lot more legit than the other "whole computer" listings on Craigslist.

The only thing that bothers me with that listing is that the stuff that is not listed as brand new definitely isn't brand new. The included processor, the C2Q Q8200, hasn't been generally available for purchase since April/May. Same with the RAM, which was no longer available as of around Feb/March. If the motherboard is brand new, then the other components are likely recycled or pulled from other computers. If you don't mind used parts, it probably is ok. D: Does something like this work for you or not? --> http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-desktop-computer-featuring-amd-athlon-ii-x3-435-triple-core-ax3400-e3102-ax3400-e3102/10152772.aspx?path=1ccc0e752dfd54ca7e6cb4a58ef1f9b7en02

ObliviousObi · « **Reply #315 on:** October 27, 2010, 11:33:51 AM »

He could mean brand new as in he's had it, but this is the first install, kind of like how food is still "fresh" if it has only been frozen the initial time.

yeoz · « **Reply #316 on:** October 27, 2010, 12:19:45 PM »

Yeah, but he would list everything as brand new then, not just the two brand new items...

Mongrel · « **Reply #317 on:** October 27, 2010, 01:15:09 PM »

Good points. I was trying to calculate the value of the computer on NewEgg and a lot of the components weren't available, so that was a flag.

Anyway, no need to rush. Going to see if I can fix the current box tomorrow, before I run out and drop munnys I don't really have in the first place.

Mongrel · « **Reply #318 on:** October 28, 2010, 12:18:22 PM »

Okay, old computer works again. The BIOS just got its brains scrambled without warning. Again.

Oh well. It's not like I didn't already know that this box is overdue for replacement.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #319 on:** November 07, 2010, 07:43:42 AM »

So about a year ago I got a new HD, and I've been using it as just a slave ever since. Just a 1.5 TB seagate hooked in via SATA. Anyway, for a while now it's been kind of stalling. The drive never specifically hangs or crashes, but while browsing with Windows explorer it occasionally will hang for about 10-15 seconds, and while watching videos on the drive, they occasionally stall every 4-5 minutes or so. It's also slow as dickens to transfer files to and install stuff on the drive. Is this something I just have to do deal with unless I get a new drive, or would can I scan the disk or reformat to get it to work faster?

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Author Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65323 times)