Now My Main PC Has Died As Well!

Everton | Mar 23, 2008 | Comments


I’m really not having a good time with my PCs at the moment.  Last week my Windows Home Server died, taking with it a lot of my music and photos. Now my main PC has died and won’t boot into Windows.  I don’t know why all my bits and bobs are all failing at the same time, as my laptop is playing up as well.

I’m really annoyed as I’d decided about 5 mins before the latest crash that I was going to bring forward the PC upgrade I was going to do in April.  My plan was to order a new processor, motherboard and memory with the old components going towards a building a 2nd media center for my new home.

If I can get my PC working again I’m going to do a full backup of all my files and strip the whole machine down. In fact, I think I’m actually going to give all of my PCs a full rebuild as they are all running a bit slow and have picked up a lot of crap over the months. I’ve tried installing a WHS backup with no joy so far, and I’m now trying the repair option on the Windows Vista installation CD.

I’m thinking of the following spec for my new PC. It’ll be interesting to see what people think in particular of the mobo selection, particularly PC experts like Zath and Kline. I’m not going to bother with much overclocking; I just need a nice stable and cheap motherboard.

New PC

  • Processor: Intel Q6600 – NEW
  • Motherboard: Asus P5K SE – NEW
  • Memory: 2GB Value memory – NEW
  • GPU: X1900XTX – OLD
  • Scard: X-Fi Xtreme Music – OLD
  • Cooling: Swiftech GPU&CPU watercooling – OLD
  • Chassis: Gigabyte Aurora – OLD
  • PSU: Seasonic S12-600 – OLD

I’ve gone for an intel processor for the first time because pound for pound they are much better than AMD at the moment.

New Media Center PC

  • Chassis: Thermaltake Mozart VS4001SNS – NEW
  • Processor: 4200+ – OLD
  • CPU Cooling: Coolermaster Hyper TX2 – NEW
  • Motherboard: DFI Lanparty – OLD
  • Memory: 2GB – OLD
  • GPU: ASUS EN8800GT – NEW
  • PSU: Antec Neo 550 – NEW
  • Scard: Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 – NEW

Even though my other media center has a better CPU (4600+) and I could put the new soundcard and GPU in that machine, I think I’m going to put the new components in this HTPC and use it in my main room because the Thermaltake case is much cooler. I think the new soundcard will go well with the new SVS 7.1 speakers I’m planning on buying, and the more powerful EN8800GT graphics card with the new 1080P plasma I’ve already purchased.

Any thoughts on the new components before I whip out the credit card?


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About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University.He also writes for Windows 7 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day.

  • Wishing you the best as you search for solutions to your computing problems...
  • Amit, 10k rpm hard is great, but it is very loud! Some time ago a had one in my homePC, it was extremely unconfortable...
    It will be much better if it used as bootable HardDisk.
    BTW, Everton, I know what a pity is when PC is crashes..My condolences.
  • I think you have a solid plan there. Good luck.
  • Those components look good from what you listed Everton, I'd personally have held back on the Quad Core for now as well (have put PC and a HTPC together in the last few months and just went for Core Duo), but like you say it's time will come!

    In terms of memory, I'm sticking with DDR2 800s for now, but I'd defintely go for 4GB - I got some from Crucial a couple of weeks ago and the 4GB was only £7 more than the 2GB - it seemed ridiculous not too!

    The Asus board should be good, both PC and HTPC I've put together recently are built around P5K variants - much better than a Gigabyte board I had for the preceding 6 months and gave me nothing but hassle.

    I'm working on a post detailing my new HTPC, specs and how I found putting it together, so should hopefully be useful to others in future.

    Good luck with getting it all up and running again soon - I know the hassle and annoyance of not having PCs working all too well, anything you need, just give me a shout!
  • @Everton

    I used to buy the best i can get all the time, but then i realized that it is better to buy just what you need. Thats because the components are getting so advanced so quickly and by the time you want to use your computer for more that you wanted in the first place its already outdated and you are all bummed out.

    and one more thing, if you want some real performance the most important thing is a 10k rpm Hard Drive. Because, if you think about it, the HD is what "everyone" in the computer is waiting for all the time because it is the slowest component of all by a margin. I had no idea how much improvement a 10k rpm drive can give until i got my hands on one. It is amazing.

    Amit
  • I read somewhere that the 9800Gt x2 has 2 8800Gt not 2 9800... so if thats true well its better to get the 800Gt.

    For bang for the buck vcard I'll go with Nvidia's 9600GT, it can compete agaianst the more expensive Ati 3870.

    For shelf life.. you might wait for P4x intel chipset. said to have support for higher FSB.
  • @Amit

    I'm going Quadcore as I try to buy the best kit I can afford and cascade old parts down to slower machines, so that the newer kit has as long a shelf life as possible. I think you are right about the 8800GT though, but I'm going for more than I need right now, as I don't know what the 8800GT will be doing in the future.

    I ordered all my bits this afternoon - will let you know what I plumped for in a future post!
  • i really hate it when your gear seems to fail all at the same time.
  • Well it still depends on the purpose of the CPU... if your into rendering and video editing then a Quadcore CPU is a must! but if its for daily routines and some video editing the Intel Wolfdale 8400 will be a very good choice.

    As for memory I always suggest that 2Gb will be enough. A 32-bit Windows os (Vista and XP) will only read upto 3.5Gb.
  • I would go with the E8400 which is abit cheaper.
    reagarding the memory, I dont think that the 1066 Ram are worth it but if you do here is what i recomend :

    1066
    1. The cheaper but great otion - http://www.ksp.co.il/gourl.php?uin=4373
    2. The Oh My God option :) - http://www.ksp.co.il/gourl.php?uin=5154

    800
    1. The cheaper but great otion - http://www.ksp.co.il/gourl.php?uin=4743
    2. The performance - http://www.ksp.co.il/gourl.php?uin=4593

    And no you dont have to switch mobo but still i would consier this one - Gygabyte ‏P35-DS4.
    And one last thing regarding the ASUS EN8800GT if it is just for HDTV and movies that it is a huge overkill. unless you are play games, or use Autocad/3dmax and such, you have no need for that.

    I am also looking into a new computer but i am waiting to see what will the new AMD platform look like.

    Feel free to ask anything else you want

    p.s Love your blog!

    Amit
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