A tale of two PCs

[Deacon]

I've been debating whether I should get a new system for a while now. I haven't been gaming too much, other than on my 360, so I couldn't justify the price... or so I thought.

On Friday my wife called and asked if I had used any harsh cleaners on our second floor. She said the place was stinky... now this happens from time to time if our oldest hides a diaper from our 18 month old, but she said this wasn't THAT kind of stink. Then she realized that it was coming from her office. Tracking the offensive smell like only a mother can she determined that it was coming from her computer. She shut it off and I said I'd look at it when I got home.

Sure enough the smell was that of melting components... the only question is which one. I fired it up and put my hand behind the PC to see if the fans were working right. I noticed that the power supply fan was really weak. Having just cleaned the fans out a month ago I knew that this was not related to dust build up so I shut the system down and started my operation.

I unplugged the system and opened the case and removed the power supply. Even with it being powered off for most of the day it was very warm. Easy fix. I decided to check the rest of the fans to make sure that I didn't need anything else...

Well, after 6+ years my trusty BFG GeForce FX 5600 has died. The fan was locked hard and the heat build up melted most of the thermal paste. BFG has a lifetime warranty so we'll be getting a new card, most likely upgraded, which will promptly be posted on ebay.

So here I sit w/ a system that needs a new video card and power supply. No worries as we have a computer show in the area the next day. So I drive to the show through tropical storm Hanna and buy a new power supply. When I get home I open the package and the power supply is dented so I drive back.

While there I check to make sure the PS will work in my wife's old system. I explain the connectors that I need... 20 block and a separate 4 block. The sales guy assures me that this will work and show me the cables. So that night I set to fix my wife's PC.

I get the new PS installed and realize that I can't use the 24 block power connector w/ the separate 4 block connector because my Primary IDE connector is in the way. #@*()@#

So I drive back to the show the next day and go to get a new motherboard for my system. I just give my wife my old power supply (thermaltake) and video card BFG GeForce 6800 GTOC. I'll get a system which can support PCIe and my proc right? No. I have an AMD Athlon FX2 64bit 3800 939 chipset... they dont' have any 939 boards. Well #@*()@!.

So I left with a new motherboard and processor and now my wife has my old system.

So here are the new components that I bought. Once I get everything put together I'll let you know how it runs.

AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION
ASUS M3A78-T
2 GB OCZ DDR2 1066 RAM

The silver lining to this is that I was able to upgrade my system for under $400. I was on the verge of just buying a dell, but I have everything else and just needed a few odds and end. Better luck next time Dell.

To Be Continued...

-Deac

 

[Eire.32]

Wow after that story i never want to buy computer parts again...you make it sound like a nightmare. But it seems you got what you wanted after a while.
Eire.32

 

[Deacon]

Oh yeah... after 20 years of building my own PCs I don't think I'll be doing that again. Computer shows just aren't the same anymore.

If I had to build a PC I'll buy the parts from Newegg or TigerDirect, but that's it.

For my wife's new PC I'll be ordering from Dell or HP. I would recommend that any gamer at least build their own PC once. It's a good experience to have, but with the state of computer shows these days I'll say pass after your first build.

-Deac

 

[NinjaFluff]

Go for NewEgg, their customer service is outstanding. Tiger Direct has some of the best prices, but just hope and pray that they get the order right the first time. When they're good, they're great. When TD is off, it's a nightmare.

 

[trykael]

NinjaFluff is right - I LOVE tigerdirect. I've purchased the parts for two personal computer builds, and have a business account with them as well. However, recently their shipping process has gotten worse and worse...and while their prices tend to be great for certain parts, when it comes to a full system build you end up with close to the same price at NewEgg without the hassles

 

[Desert Fox]

Newegg is the way to go, I've never heard of a "computer show."

 

[Deacon]

Like I said... it's a dying art.

http://www.marketproshows.com/computershows/index.html

 

[sgt mar?ne]

nice lol

 

[Frank Booth]

I cannot stand Dell. I am using HP. I have had good success with it. And i gave up on building my own PC as well.

 

[SPARTAN MAN]

I feel for you bro.

 

[Sexy Beast]

I feel your pain mate. Had the same issue when replacing a motherboard. My processor was a 939 so I had to buy a new processor with my board and then format my HD.

 

[Booster37]

Heh, the first and only time I went to a computer show was when I was like 7 and my mom was buying our first PC.

 

[TwistedZ]

I built my PC with my dad nearly 5 years ago... Still plays CSS and works like a charm.... except how LOUD it is You can hear it from upstairs

 

[PhIxX]

Before the internet was our primary means of shopping, computer shows were about the only real way to get any parts - now they're just a way to scam people who think they're getting an amazing deal on what turns out to be a refurb or something. Too bad.

Glad you got it figured out though Deacon - I wanna hear how the new setup runs.

 

[Deacon]

And the horse Microsoft rode in on...

now they're just a way to scam people who think they're getting an amazing deal on what turns out to be a refurb or something. Too bad.

No kidding there. I saw some of the junkiest gear there. It's sad, just sad. There are about 4 vendors which I still deal with as they've never screwed me.

Now for more of my story:
I did all my price shopping on newegg before the show and paid in cash. All of the prices I paid were within $5 of the newegg price so I figured that isn't bad for instant gratification.

I didn't get as much work done on my system last night as I would have liked. I was just about to put the kids to bed when a sales person from VerizonFiOS walked up to my door. Instead of getting the kids to bed on time and getting my PC rebuilt I ordered FiOS. I'm a bad daddy and a bad gamer... but I have 20Mb down and 5 Mb up w/ 3 rooms of HD so I think I'll live.

After getting the kids to bed I worked on breaking down my old system, which by the way will probably be up for sale soon. I removed the ThemalTake liquid cooling gear, cards, memory, etc and gave my case a good cleaning. Then I re-did the wiring so that most of it is behind the MB plate, MB, or behind the 5.25 bays. I wanted to make as much room for air-flow.

Then I started adding my drives, TV-Tuner, USB2.0 card, etc. After I got everything installed I connected my primary HDD and ensured that the cover to the case was off; after all, if you close the cover before testing your PC WILL NOT WORK. Anyone who's ever built a computer knows that this is the golden rule and the violators will be met with swift punishment and some technical reason to have to open the case again. So I followed the rule and powered the system up. All the fans began to spin emitting their wonderful hue of LED blue. The DVD drives did their little blink dance. The HDD began to spin.

... then ... the Vista logo... working... working... working... not working.

@#*()@#... I followed the rule and everything. Basically, I had changed so many hardware components that Vista could not recover. I then went searching for spare HDDs drive. A few months back my liquid cooling system leaked after a fluid change. Coolant dropped on my mirror pair of 120 GB HDDs and they stopped working. I thought I had lost them, but I figured what the hell... It can't get any worse.

I swapped out the drives and rebooted. Holy #@*()@# the drive is returning a NTLDR error message... it works. The mirror drive is alive. I then switched to the old master drive and it tried to boot Vista. It didn't complete, but it showed that the drives were back from the dead.

Now I connected the old Mirrored drive (secondary) and did a fresh install of Vista. After about 35 minutes the install completed and I was online. I profiled my Hardware... 5.9... 5.9... 1.0... 1.0... 5.7.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. A freakin Phenom Quad Core proc and I have a Vista rating of 1.0! 1.0!

@*#()@#*@( !!!! EDS*()!)!@)!(# !*#$*()@#$&*(!# (!*(#)!@ and the horse Microsoft rode in on.

After my meltdown I looked at the device manager and noticed that the ATI video drivers had not loaded and THAT is why the card had a rating of 1.0.

So I started loading drivers and windows updates. By this point is was 3:30 in the morning and I had to be up at 5:30 to get ready for work and my son's first day at Pre-school.

So I left my computer running, loading updates and drivers... I'm not sure how its doing now, but I'm hoping it's better than 1.0.

Pre-School
On a side note, our son did GREAT today. He only wanted his mommy to stay for about 10 minutes and then he was playing with the other kids and ignoring us. I was able to sneak out before any meltdowns.

For those of you how have been around since the start of eGO or before... this is our 3yr old... the preemie. Can you believe that... 3 yrs and in school!

After I get home tonight my oldest son (3) and I will be working on putting together my old computer system. We're going to clean things up and then try to piece together a good gaming rig which will be posted for sale at some point. Not sure where it will be sold, but I can't justify three computers in my office these days and we've already built one that he can use to play nick.com/pbskids.org games and other learning type games. I do get a kick out of him playing the Reader Rabbit matching game on a PC that he build... it seems kind of backwards, but I think it is important to start them young!

 

[Eire.32]

Parts back from the dead. Wish that happened to me more often. Wouldn't need to spend so much money on parts. Your 3year sounds like a wonder child. My sister always sought attention from parents, in the excess. Parents had to stay all the first day.
Eire.32

 

[WhiteSoxFan5622]

i remember going to computer shows when i was like 8. They had them like every sunday. My dad and i would go almost every week. I think that is what has caused my obsessions with computers.

 

[Desert Fox]

Like I said... it's a dying art.

http://www.marketproshows.com/computershows/index.html

I might check it out, if they ever come to Florida.. but I'd probably just look around, and if there was a really good deal on something then I might purchase it.

And congrats on your son.

 

[Macaroni]

Go for NewEgg, their customer service is outstanding. Tiger Direct has some of the best prices, but just hope and pray that they get the order right the first time. When they're good, they're great. When TD is off, it's a nightmare.

Hooray for newegg! What Ninjafluff said.

Don't mean to advertise but I make a decent salary out of researching parts, maximizing value and stuff on newegg. If you need help deciding which parts to buy or how to balance the build correctly, PM me, ego members get it for free

 

[boomsta]

i have a shizy dell vostro 200, ive had to upgrade it for about the same amount as it cost, had to get a new video card, processor, ram and motherboard. My parents should of asked me what computer i wanted before they went off and bought one (i gets good grades XD). I dont want to sell it or buy a new one, itll probably make them mad, so ill wait 2 years and buy a new one, one that i customize