My computer is dying

[Jessie]

It's in really bad shape.  The main hard drive is dying so it takes about 5 tries to reboot for it to even find the OS.  Then it takes about 20 minutes for Windows to start up.  Sometimes the USB ports work, sometimes not.  Sometimes the mouse and keyboard work, sometimes not.  It's 6 years old, and has had heavy use.  It's only a 1.1gb celeron with 256mb of RAM and a cd burner that no longer works, 2 40gb hard drives, one of which is obviously almost dead.

Anyhow, it's time for a new one.  I"m getting a bonus soon (I don't know when or how much) so I'm going to try to find a cheap but decent replacement.  My IT guy suggested dellauctions.com, which has some decent looking deals.  I'm also looking at this:  http://www.stootsi.com/store/item.aspx?item=64430169

What do you computer types think of that setup/price?

[Jessie]

Hmm.  I have a copy of XP Pro, and I like this setup... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3429564&CatId=6

[BigDun]

I would look for a computer that had at least 1GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive.

[Jessie]

I would look for a computer that had at least 1GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive.

What would you expect the price range on that to be?

[Gamplayerx]

I thought Carroll gave you a pirate computer.  What happened to that?

[BigDun]

I would look for a computer that had at least 1GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive.

What would you expect the price range on that to be?

You can probably find a refurb for ~ $300.

[ReBurn]

My gripes about the box are the same as BigDun's, except I'll add the 200W power supply. Seems kinda wimpy to me for a 3ghz P4. The RAM supplied will run XP Pro, but not much else. I'm not sure how easy it is to upgrade an IBM box these days. In the past it used to be a pain.

[Bennyhana]

My gripes about the box are the same as BigDun's, except I'll add the 200W power supply. Seems kinda wimpy to me for a 3ghz P4. The RAM supplied will run XP Pro, but not much else. I'm not sure how easy it is to upgrade an IBM box these days. In the past it used to be a pain.

I've always been a fan of the piece-by-piece self-built PC, because you can always replace one piece at a time if they are all standard form factor parts and not proprietary parts made to fit in a clever proprietary case.  It was also true (for a long time) that it was cheaper to get a new Motherboard, CPU, and RAM and keep your case, monitor, keyboard, and drives.  It seems that Jessie really needs to start from scratch, though.  I'd just recommend trying to get one of these refurb units with an ATX case and as beefy a power supply as possible. 

[meredith]

Unless you get a computer with an unusual chassis altogether, almost all prebuilts are made with standard parts now.  There are so many platform changes recently that for most people that have to do many pieces at a time when they get around to upgrading.

I don't have the time to screw with building a PC anymore, and just ordered an HP.  They actually list the motherboard and RAM models that they used.  It's all standard, even the connectors for the I/O stuff on the case.

[Dry then Catch]

I think its fine if you aren't planning on playing any newfangled games.  If you want to store music the hard drive might be a bit tight.  I might spend some more getting new RAM.  This computer would rock if it was '03

[Jessie]

I thought Carroll gave you a pirate computer.  What happened to that?

Im using it now.  The charger died on it, but my new one arrived today!  I'd still like to have a decent desktop as a backup though.  I do not like to be without computer.

[Dry then Catch]

fyi my computer is basically a jack booted version of what you want to buy.  Pentium 4 from late '02 but I've riced it out like an Integra owned by a UC Irvine sophomore.  I also tweak settings, strip down processes and am thorough with maintenance, so it runs common applications better than my core 2 duo at work. 

[Jessie]

Hmm.  I have a copy of XP Pro, and I like this setup... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3429564&CatId=6

I ended up buying this.  For me, the $200 total price tag was hard to pass up.  I don't do anything that requires a lot of power, and this machine is a hell of a lot better than my old, dying desktop (1.1ghz, 256mb RAM, and 2 40gb hard drives [only one that's even close to being full]).  I am pushing it to spend $200 on myself for anything, but I got a really nice bonus at work, so I don't feel TOO guilty about it.  It's hard for me to buy anything for myself without a lot of guilt and anxiety, because I know I should spend it on bills.

Because of this, I couldn't pass up a 'good enough' computer and save a few hundred bucks.  *shrugs*

[Dry then Catch]

I think its a great deal for a killer price

[Bennyhana]

I think you'll probably be quite satisfied.

[Jessie]

I think you'll probably be quite satisfied.

I think I will, too. 

[dazie]

I want a computer that will run Second Life.  Will this new one you're getting do that>?

[Jessie]

http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php

Looks like it, aside from maybe the video card.  I don't know anything about those.

[dazie]

Yeah- the video card is usually what trips me up.

[meredith]

the onboard video from the system linked above might be able to handle with the quality turned down, but I'm not sure. Intel's onboard video has never been all that great, and onboard video itself is rarely good either.

SL isn't too demanding on video cards, though - it uses relatively simple objects and textures because everything is downloaded once it is needed for display.  so if you have AGP or PCI-X slots, you could find a cheap card that is a generation or two older, which could handle a little better.

[Jessie]

Wow.   Ordered Sunday, delivered today.  That's service.  I'm installing Windows now.

[Dry then Catch]

the onboard video from the system linked above might be able to handle with the quality turned down, but I'm not sure. Intel's onboard video has never been all that great, and onboard video itself is rarely good either.

SL isn't too demanding on video cards, though - it uses relatively simple objects and textures because everything is downloaded once it is needed for display.  so if you have AGP or PCI-X slots, you could find a cheap card that is a generation or two older, which could handle a little better.

hatt, do you find when ordering installing more RAM does brand ever make a difference? 

[meredith]

my personal experience with generic ram has been okay but that has been luck, i'm sure.  lately i still search for ram by sorting by price, but i skip brands that look questionable - sometimes i google them or check product reviews on the page or with their other parts.  (one thing to remember when reading reviews for computer parts is that some people have no clue what they're talking about. ram can be very hard to isolate as the cause of an issue, and nobody ever sits down with memtest86 for an hour to be sure.)

the truth is that there are 2 major chip fabs and 1 smaller one, and that it's all about the same.  you get two tiers of RAM out there, generic bulk chips, and chips that tested well enough to sell as premium.   if you're specifically concerned about performance and overclocking, you can shop by the ram's timing profile.

so my answer is no, not really, but don't go too cheap.

[Dry then Catch]

my personal experience with generic ram has been okay but that has been luck, i'm sure.  lately i still search for ram by sorting by price, but i skip brands that look questionable - sometimes i google them or check product reviews on the page or with their other parts.  (one thing to remember when reading reviews for computer parts is that some people have no clue what they're talking about. ram can be very hard to isolate as the cause of an issue, and nobody ever sits down with memtest86 for an hour to be sure.)

the truth is that there are 2 major chip fabs and 1 smaller one, and that it's all about the same.  you get two tiers of RAM out there, generic bulk chips, and chips that tested well enough to sell as premium.   if you're specifically concerned about performance and overclocking, you can shop by the ram's timing profile.

so my answer is no, not really, but don't go too cheap.

thank you hatt, I hadn't considered the difference between value and premium to be simply a separation based on statistical failure testing. 

[Jessie]

Stevie played with my new computer before I did.

Then, she perched on top of my monitor like a little princess.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[BigDun]

Awwwwww....

[Jessie]

She got tired of me taking pictures of her up there so she eventually turned around so her ass was in my face.

[Dry then Catch]

are you satisfied with the performance of your computer

[Jessie]

It's fine.  I keep wanting to do something to see how much better it is, but I don't know what to do.

I think either the video card is crappy (likely) or the drivers aren't quite right (the computer is supposed to run Vista, but I'm running XP) because it was doing wonky stuff when I was watching a movie on Netflix yesterday.  It just looks like it's about to roll or something with weird lines now and then.

Otherwise though, no complaints at all.

[DownSouth]

Vista sucks

[Beefy]

Vista sucks

x2

[eo000]

What don't you like about it?

I've only been using it a few months, and for what I do, it's fine.

[Beefy]

What don't you like about it?

I've only been using it a few months, and for what I do, it's fine.

Our new tape label computer is Vista and it hasn't been very user intuitive.  Beyond that, it doesn't place very nice with lots of third party apps.

[DownSouth]

All of our new computers came with Vista last year.  Didn't play nicely with my acounting programs or our booking system.

[eo000]

those reasons make plenty of sense to me. i've just been using the computer for websurfing and photoshopping.

[DownSouth]

those reasons make plenty of sense to me. i've just been using the computer for websurfing and gay porn.

[meredith]

I haven't had any real issue with Vista, other than that it's the same piece of progressively bloated crap from Microsoft.  I've had it on my laptop for 9 months, and I just got a desktop last week with it installed.  I did turn all the new graphics stuff off, but that's a matter of preference.  Other than that, no tweaking or fiddling or any other sort of magic.

[Alice]

I've been trying to help my mom with her computer, it's Vista and new.  But it is running so effing slowly.  I tried defragging and that didn't help.  Any suggestions?

[BigDun]

Open the Task Manager (right click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager) and write down all the apps that running in the Processes tab. Google each of the names and find out if they are required or are apps like QuickTime or RealPlayer.

If they aren't required, highlight them and click End Process. If the computer keeps working, then it probably didn't need to be running.

After you have a list of processes that don't have to be running go into Start-Run-MSConfig. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck those that you have identified and not being needed. Reboot.

[meredith]

How much RAM does it have?

You might search for "vista disable services" for a how-to on disabling crap that runs but isn't needed.

[meredith]

vista is much better at avoiding fragmentation during use than XP, btw, and the default install schedules a full defrag every Wednesday, so it shouldn't get out of hand for the average user.

[Alice]

Thanks guys!  I'll try these.

[ReBurn]

All of our new computers came with Vista last year.  Didn't play nicely with my acounting programs or our booking system.

Your dad told me that while you were in a persistent vegetative state. He asked me what I do for a living and when I told him he did what anyone else who finds out I'm in the software business does. He asked me what's wrong with Microsoft.

those reasons make plenty of sense to me. i've just been using the computer for websurfing and photoshopping.

And by photoshopping you mean mspaint, right?

[eo000]

All of our new computers came with Vista last year.  Didn't play nicely with my acounting programs or our booking system.

Your dad told me that while you were in a persistent vegetative state. He asked me what I do for a living and when I told him he did what anyone else who finds out I'm in the software business does. He asked me what's wrong with Microsoft.

those reasons make plenty of sense to me. i've just been using the computer for websurfing and photoshopping.

And by photoshopping you mean mspaint, right?

i use actual photoshop at home. the mspaint is for work.