Travel Technology - My desktop just died -- I have to replace it today!

A momentary power failure (and a failure of a Belkin UPS) fried my primary desktop computer that I use at home. As today is Superbowl Sunday, it struck me that this is the day I should go up to Frys and replace it, rather than wait until next weekend. So, this is the day but, unfortunately, I haven't paid as much attention to recent configurations as I should.

I need:

A CPU: I was thinking an Intel Core 2 Duo because that's what's in my laptop and it runs all the software I need just fine. I don't recall the numbers, but my laptop has, as I recall, a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo.

Memory: at least 2 gig, but eventually expandable to 4.

A motherboard with:

multiple free PCI slots for:
- a gigabit NIC
- a SCSI card
- a multiple 1394-port card
- an ATA card (I have 6 drives in the current machine, 4 of which are ATA)

A couple of built-in USB ports

Graphics bus support for one of the more recent graphics cards (I don't play games, but I do edit video).

Support for up to 4 gig of RAM

A graphics card: As I said, I don't play games, but I do use the machine for video editing.

Finally, please note, I have to do this on a budget -- replacing this computer was an unexpected and unplanned-for expense.

Any suggestions for appropriate components would be welcome (particularly if they're made within the next 2 hours).

Thanks.

The "most advanaced" graphics bus used these days is PCI-E (PCI Express) but beware you may actually need to go into the BIOS to set it up (may default as PCI). As far as that goes, watch the power requirement of your intended card. Most cheap systems use relatively-low power (<300W) PSs while some of the graphics cards suggest using much higher ones.

It seems most newer MBs these days use SATA (serial ATA) instead of PATA (paralle ATA/IDE/EIDE) for storage. Some of course support both. SATA is so much easier to set up (no ribbon cable but the power adapters and SATA cables can be atrociously expensive by comparison).

This is weird. I thought I'd go through the memory modules as the failure mode was consistent with bad memory. I tested each separately and each was okay. I put all four back in and the computer posted and then booted!

Perhaps it was only that one or more of the modules had worked loose, but the machine is back.

Needless to say, Mrs. PTravel is ecstatic -- no new computer purchase for me today.

Take this as a gentle reminder:

1) Backups

2) Keep up on specs

3) Test your UPS from time to time

4) Learn about cloning old disks to new machines

5) And backups! :D

Take this as a gentle reminder:

1) BackupsI do.

2) Keep up on specsI wasn't planning to buy a machine for another year or so.

3) Test your UPS from time to timeI do. BTW, it is an APC, not a Belkin, and it looks like the problem may have been in the computer, not the UPS -- the UPS isn't reporting any failure modes for more than a week. It may have been an internal problem that caused the power drawn by the PC to spike.

4) Learn about cloning old disks to new machinesI know how to do that. If I had to buy a new machine today, I would have wanted to economize as much as possible. There's no reason to buy new drives when the terabyte or so of drives in the current machine work fine.

5) And backups! :DAll of my data is backed up. Note that, if I had to bring up a new machine, I'd almost certainly have had to re-install all of my software (not a minor project) as XP would have all the wrong drivers for the mother board. There's no way to back up program installations when moving machines.

Needless to say, Mrs. PTravel is ecstatic -- no new computer purchase for me today.

And you told her it's fixed?

Why would you do that? :D

Couple of pointers;

Core2Duo is old (already), get yourself a Core2Quad for roughly the same price.

Gigabit should be onboard, saves a slot.

If you DO end up replacing it, i've found some amazingly cheap Core2Quad ACER machines at Bestbuy for under $500.

I don't understand why someone would want to buy a new computer right away, and certainly not from Fry's. The hassle factor, if you have to return anything is way too high.

I don't understand why someone would want to buy a new computer right away, and certainly not from Fry's. The hassle factor, if you have to return anything is way too high.

And on top of that you have to go to FRY'S. *shudders at the prospect

To the OP: Glad the byte fairies smiled upon you. You got lucky!

And you told her it's fixed?

Why would you do that? :DI swear I'm not thinking clearly, today. You're right -- it was a perfect opportunity! ;)

Couple of pointers;

Core2Duo is old (already), get yourself a Core2Quad for roughly the same price.

Gigabit should be onboard, saves a slot.Sounds good. Premiere Pro CS3, which I use for editing, supports quad-cores.

If you DO end up replacing it, i've found some amazingly cheap Core2Quad ACER machines at Bestbuy for under $500.Really? I would never have thought of either. I'll have to check out BB, as I was prepared to spend more than that just for an MB, case, CPU and PS.

I don't understand why someone would want to buy a new computer right away, and certainly not from Fry's. The hassle factor, if you have to return anything is way too high.For components, Frys is fine, as long as you know what you're buying. I get lots of stuff there, including most of the guts of my last 4 or 5 computers.

And on top of that you have to go to FRY'S. *shudders at the prospect

To the OP: Glad the byte fairies smiled upon you. You got lucky!Thanks -- I dodged a digital bullet today. ;)

Duplicate post.

Unexpected power spike, mysteriously "fixed" later = short circuit caused by a loose screw rattling around on the planar. Might be a good idea to power down the case and look around inside before it shorts out again.

Intel pricing for the quad cores is such that buying components is simply not competitive -- as the Acer at BB illustrates. Lots of other even cheaper sources (e.g. the "new" compusa.com is very cheap for quad cores if you don't care about the specific config). As for video cards, something like the ATI HD2600 is down to USD 100 now, which is quite a deal (and gives full 1080p native processing -- making your PC quite versatile as an MMC).

I don't understand why someone would want to buy a new computer right away

It's called How to Upgrade your computer and have the wife agree to spend the money :D

This is weird. I thought I'd go through the memory modules as the failure mode was consistent with bad memory. I tested each separately and each was okay. I put all four back in and the computer posted and then booted!

Perhaps it was only that one or more of the modules had worked loose, but the machine is back.

Needless to say, Mrs. PTravel is ecstatic -- no new computer purchase for me today.

I was going to suggest that you may have just fried the power supply, but glad you got it working. On all the systems I've had over the years, the power supply is usually the weak link and the first thing to go bad when there's a power problem.

If you feel like you want to replace/upgrade this system, I've priced out a very nice intel quad core system at newegg. The quad core processor is only about $100 more than the mainstream dual core processors right now.

Without a new case/PS and software, it comes in at around $600 - $800 depending on your choice of motherboard + the cost of a graphics card. There are definitely motherboards that include gigabit ethernet and 1394, so you don't need slots for those, and all the motherboards have x16 pci-e slots, even if they come with onboard graphics. I think you'd have a difficult time finding a modern motherboard that supports c2d or a quad core processor that doesn't support at least 4G memory. Most have 4 memory slots. You could easily do the entire thing for less that 1k including a very nice case and PS, plus OS software if you need windows.

I find the Asus motherboards the easiest ones to work with because they come with headers that make it very easy to make all the front panel and integrated device connections. That said, my last system was built on a Gigabyte motherboard. (an intel g33m based uATX board that included hdmi and dvi out. It was a great feature set and I can't find this board anymore unfortunately.)

That said, it's hard to beat the hw package of the Dell XPS 420 at $999, which comes with most everything you want. The base system includes 3G memory, so if you really need 4G, you would replace 2 of the DIMMs it comes with. It includes an intel quad core processor, a nice graphics card, gigabit ethernet and 1 1394 port. It also comes with Vista, so if you want XP Pro, you'd have to do some investigation to see if you can find all the drivers for it.

I don't have any 1394 devices, but I thought you could daisy chain them. I guess at least one of your devices has to have 2 ports on it to do that.

-David

My computer is designed to stay off after a power failure. After the power comes back you must press the power button, or it will stay "dead" forever. That protects the computer from surges and other problems that can happen with power going off and on.

Not accusing the OP of failing to turn on the computer. Just wondering a tiny bit. :D

My computer is designed to stay off after a power failure. After the power comes back you must press the power button, or it will stay "dead" forever. That protects the computer from surges and other problems that can happen with power going off and on.

Not accusing the OP of failing to turn on the computer. Just wondering a tiny bit. :D
My home system is designed to keep running through a power failure. I frequently access it (via vpn, vnc, ftp, etc.) remotely and I want it up when I need it up. That's why I have all the machines on UPSs.