It might finally be time...

[SWing'R]

...to replace my home pc

I'm getting tired of dealing with its quirks and fixing one thing after another.

First it was rebooting, ended up being RAM, then the monitor went out, then the video card, then my external HD,

now the damn thing just keeps shutting off whenever it wants. I think the power supply is beginning to fail.

Looks like a trip to Micro Center this weekend. Didn't need this extra expense so close to Christmas,

especially since our garage door opener took a shit last weekend, that was $138 I wasn't ready to shell out but had to.

[Meanie]

I would suggest building one, it's not hard and you know your getting quality parts. Although it may be a bit more expensive to begin with you probably won't have as many problems with it if you stay off the PRON....

[InyaAzz]

Power supply or internal heat issue, which could be cause by a bad fan in there somewhere. Power supply problems are a bitch to track down. They mimick just about everything else that could go wrong with every other part in there.

Do you really need the PC this weekend? You should cruise fatwallet.com, slickdeals,net or cheapstingybargains.com for deals before you go all brick and mortar.

[SWing'R]

...you probably won't have as many problems with it if you stay off the PRON....

Funny you should say that, I picked up a trojan the other night on The Huns but my AV cleaned it as soon as it hit.

[InyaAzz]

xhamster.com

Not that I've been there...

[SWing'R]

Do you really need the PC this weekend? You should cruise fatwallet.com, slickdeals,net or cheapstingybargains.com for deals before you go all brick and mortar.

I prefer to buy local so I have someone to go see if I have a problem soon after the purchase. The one I have now is a PowerSpec from

MicroCenter as it the wife's pc. I can use hers or our NetBook if mine won't stay running.

So far it just acts up here and there, yesterday it shut down everytime I tried to turn it on after work, it would make it to windows

then shortly after shut off, then later on it ran fine and stayed on

[jporter12]

Power supply problems are a bitch to track down.

Unless they completely quit, like mine did a few weeks ago.

I also highly recommend building one. Although, prebuilt systems are much better than they were for a while.

[InyaAzz]

Buy a MAC.

I had to say it...someone was going to anyways.

[RVTPilot]

+1 on the build. I have done 3 in the last few months, and a handful of repairs. One was similar to what you had starting there, and it ended up being heat on the proc. A new fan, some clean grease and so far, so good (since May). Good luck!

[RVTPilot]

Buy a MAC.

I had to say it...someone was going to anyways.

Tsk. And from someone who knows better, too. No iTrash.

[InyaAzz]

I had to be a prick didn't I?

[jporter12]

+1 on the build. I have done 3 in the last few months, and a handful of repairs. One was similar to what you had starting there, and it ended up being heat on the proc. A new fan, some clean grease and so far, so good (since May). Good luck!

Had a similar case on an old PC running Win 95 at work! I threw a new heatsink/fan on it and all was well! Saved several thousand dollars to replace the biggest part of the system.

I had to be a prick didn't I?

Well, it IS your nature.

[SWing'R]

I swore I'd never buy another eMachine, but this ain't a bad sounding machine for under $300!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/eMachines-EL1352G-01w/15062989#Specifications

[J_Copeland]

I bought all of my cpu stuff from Tiger Direct,cheap, and I got exactly what I wanted.

[Meanie]

I bought all of my cpu stuff from Tiger Direct,cheap, and I got exactly what I wanted.

I used to use Tiger Direct for all my builds, but over the last 2 or 3 years I have been using New Egg. They seem to have better prices and discounts on shipping. I usually compare prices between the 2 and buy from both if Tiger Direct has an awesome deal on something I want. I've built about 20 PCs over the last year or so, and only really had an issue with one of them, after about a year the PS died, it got a power surge though. The manufacturer covered the replacement under warranty.

So what manufacturers does everyone like??

Cases - Ultra or Antec

Power Supplies - OCZ or Ultra

Processors - AMD and AMD only

Hard Drives - Western Digital or Seagate

Memory - OCZ or Crucial

Optical Drives - Sony or LG

Motherboards - ASUS

Video Cards - BFG Tech or XFX

Sound Cards - Sound Blaster only

Anyone else use any other brands they really like?

[jporter12]

I used to use Tiger Direct for all my builds, but over the last 2 or 3 years I have been using New Egg. They seem to have better prices and discounts on shipping. I usually compare prices between the 2 and buy from both if Tiger Direct has an awesome deal on something I want. I've built about 20 PCs over the last year or so, and only really had an issue with one of them, after about a year the PS died, it got a power surge though. The manufacturer covered the replacement under warranty.

So what manufacturers does everyone like??

Cases - Ultra or Antec

Power Supplies - OCZ or Ultra

Processors - AMD and AMD only

Hard Drives - Western Digital or Seagate

Memory - OCZ or Crucial

Optical Drives - Sony or LG

Motherboards - ASUS

Video Cards - BFG Tech or XFX

Sound Cards - Sound Blaster only

Anyone else use any other brands they really like?

Newegg FTW!!!

Cases whatever, but lean towards Antec

Power Supply Antec or Thermaltake

Processor AMD, although I've been thinking of building an Intel system

Hard drive WD, and Seagate, and I have a Hitachi or 2 around here, too

RAM Crucial, Corsair and G.Skill

Optical Lite-on or Samsung (aka TSST, or toshiba)

Motherboard Biostar MSI ABIT ASUS depends on who makes something good at the time

Video Card Nvidia, brand isn't ususally a big deal, unless a particular model is known for cooling issues or something

For sound, I use integrated these days, unless it's for professional use, then something that's made for pro use.

I have used all sorts of brands, all sorts of quality levels and the majority worked ok. My current desktop system still runs well, is about 2 1/2 or so years old, maybe 3, and for most of what I ever do, about the only thing I could use to improve it would be a current video card, since my 9800GT's are a bit outdated.

[shittygsxr]

I just added a solid state hd to my pc and wow it made a difference

[jporter12]

I just added a solid state hd to my pc and wow it made a difference

I've tossed that idea around. I was running a couple Raptor 74's striped until one of them failed, then I switched to a single Raptor 150 that I had barely used that I replaced the RAID with. I'd like a SSD in my laptop, as long as the power consumption is low enough, which I'm guessing it would be.

[Cypress]

The one I have now is a PowerSpec from

MicroCenter as it the wife's pc.

I swore I'd never buy another eMachine' date=' but this ain't a bad sounding machine for under $300![/quote']

Well there's your problem... Stop buying crap.

Take the time to shop around for quality parts and build your own. That way you get the satisfaction of building it yourself, you know exactly what's in it and what it can do, and sometimes you might even save money building it from scratch. If you buy cheap, you get cheap.

[SWing'R]

Well there's your problem... Stop buying crap.

Take the time to shop around for quality parts and build your own. That way you get the satisfaction of building it yourself, you know exactly what's in it and what it can do, and sometimes you might even save money building it from scratch. If you buy cheap, you get cheap.

The PowerSpecs are not crap, I've gotten lots of years use out of all the ones I've owned, just like anything else, eventually things happen.

As for building my own, I don't really have the time or patience for that.

The pc ran fine all night last night, and is doing fine again this morning, so not sure if I'll be replacing it this weekend or letting it ride a little longer.

[Meanie]

Time or patience? You can normally assemble a PC in about 45 mins. Then the rest is loading software. Once you start an install you can walk away from it periodically and start installs when you get a chance. But to each their own. Personally I love building PC's from scratch because of the reasons Cypress mentioned. You get what you pay for, everyone knows it and its very much that way in the computer realm.

[jporter12]

The PowerSpecs are not crap' date=' I've gotten lots of years use out of all the ones I've owned, just like anything else, eventually things happen.

[/quote']

If you buy the $200-300 one it will be built cheap. It's a fact that the cheap ones won't last as long. That's not a bad thing as long as you know that you may be replacing it in a couple years.

Edited November 12, 2010 by jporter12

[curby]

Newegg is definitely the way to go... IF you don't get a Mac.

Building one is cake. Don't let it intimidate you if you haven't done it before. There are enough guys on here that we can walk you through it if need be.

Just give me your credit card # and i'll have the parts sent to your house... j/k

[Strictly Street]

Replace the motherboard, cpu/fan ~ $100

Replace memory $0 to $XXX depending on what you have and what the new stuff is.

If it makes you feel better, replace power supply ~ $30

Re-use all drives, power supply and case.

[jporter12]

Replace the motherboard, cpu/fan ~ $100

Replace memory $0 to $XXX depending on what you have and what the new stuff is.

If it makes you feel better, replace power supply ~ $30

Re-use all drives, power supply and case.

Good point Street. That's pretty much all that's left to replace! Microcenter usually has some good deals on motherboard CPU combos. I would probably go a bit more than the cheapest they have, but for under $200 you could have something that kicks! They have a 500 GB hard drive for $39, which wouldn't be a bad idea to replace, and under $50 for a power supply.