The Great "Beat the Amber Hardware Issues to Death" Thread (split)

[Cvstos]

Nex: I'm actually Beta-testing the 32-bit version of Vista right now and it's damn near ready for prime time, IMO.  Just about everything I've thrown at it that has been made in the last 4 years has run flawlessly, and all the hardware worked right away (except the X-fi card, but a Windows Update run later and it was solved).  The only major problem I had with it has since been fixed by Microsoft, and now it's literally good enough to run as my main OS.

Now, I'm not running some random cheapo Dell, so YMMV.  I've got a custom machine with decent hardware, and a strong GPU is required for the "good" versions of Vista.  And having a dual-core 64-bit CPU just in general makes things all the sweeter.  Trust me on this one.  If you're going to get a new machine now, get one that's Vista-capable so you're not spending a ton of dough for a new system after those 2 years.

I'll be online more tomorrow and I'll be able to part stuff out then.  I'll likely not be able to do much until then.

Oh, and I think (not certain) Photoshop sells two different SKUs for the PC and Mac versions.  A Mac is a viable option if know you have the software you need for it (art-related stuff I mean).  (FULL DISCLOSURE: Yes, I'm beta-testing Vista.  But that's my desktop.  My laptop is an Apple PowerBook G4.)

[Netami]

Heh, you guys realize this thread was sort of made so that they didn't have to pay attention to it's contents, right?

[topher chee]

oh yeah, of course!

[Damaris]

darn, you're on to us... *shifty eyes*

[Netami]

Amber's never really been a big fan of going to the forum for help in any way, and she sort of has the same idea for other people doing the same. I guess when you get something whether you want it or not, that sort of belief develops.

[Damaris]

Mainly, I was finding it hard to read the thread with my eyes constantly glazed over   (not a computer geek).  So I figured, let you all have your fun

[Nex]

Cvstos: we have to keep in mind that Amber is most likely not wanting to spend close to $1500 or more on a PC. Therefore, the less she has to spend the better.

I have no doubt that Vista is close to running very well, the only problem is the majority of programs won't be able to catch up to vista for at least another year, running the unfortunate problem of not being able to run most programs as efficiently as you'd like to. In 6 months, there might be enough programs, and the cost might be well enough, but at this point it's not worth it.

I've already stated this, but my recommendation short-term is swap everything onto a new motherboard and salvage what you could out of the hard drive. It would be the cheapest solution.

[topher chee]

hehe yeah, lucky Amber, well she deserves that new comp, so jealous!!!
I've heard of some sites where you can actually decide all these additives on a computer and itll give you an estimate, such as if you want an interior water cooling system, a gigantic monitor, and much much more!!!
*steps down from the podium*
that went well

[Cvstos]

Cost is a factor, but so is TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).  A new, reliable PC is better in the long run than a 6-year-old PC at the end of it's lifespan.  I'm actually looking into a new computer for my grandfather, as he's got a 1998 machine that even lacks USB ports!

Amber, what were the old computer's specifications?  Be as specific as possible about model numbers of parts.  If the machine is more than 4 years old or so, it will be difficult to get simple replacement parts and a new machine may be a better option.  If it's relatively new, replacing a few parts may be the way to go.

After what you went through, if anyone here deserves that new computer, it's you.

[Sid]

Uh, guys? Did any of you read the new mainpage newsbox? You know, the one mentioning that she's "taking half the money and building a new, top-of-the-line machine, which hopefully will last longer than her old top-of-the-line machine" and that the "new computer will be ready in a week or so"?

Just throwing it in before Amber comes back with her new machine, going all "Erm, you can stop now..."

[Rowne]

Shhh!  It'll be funnier when that actually happens, rather than telling everyone it's going to happen.

[Cvstos]

Nope, didn't see that.  I did check recently but it didn't update until just a little while ago.  Stuck in browser cache, probably.  It doesn't usually do that for me, but I was on a different machine then.  I'm back on my laptop and it works fine now.

[Gornemant]

let's just buy an old P3 600Mhz for 50$, overclock it to 800Mhz and install Ubuntu on it 

[Vidar]

About vista: I'm going to wait and see if it will turn into a debacle of Windows ME-like proportions.
From what I've read the system requirements are rather high and the new features are likely to annoy, or will be (almost) completely useless.

There's supposed to be some added security, but Microsoft's track record for 'adequate' security is less then stellar, and no matter how much security they add, the user is still the biggest security-hole.

If you are happy with your current OS, stick with that.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

*cough*

My 2c. :-)

Amber: Go with what you need. Most of what is being discussed here is along the lines of (for those of us who are thinking about it) making your current tasks work better and faster - not trying to change what you're doing.
Your current screen is probably ok, unless you've already gotten rid of it in the hopes of getting a new one. Other than that - well, the folks you have on hand sound like they know what they're doing, so...

Those people who are talking data recovery are talking data recovery because they don't have anything better to do. And because it gives us all something to pass the time with until you get back to us with the next update :-) It's your computer, you do what you want with it. And we'll all stand behind you and slip money over your shoulder. :-)

The shifting countries thing eats money like nothing on earth, so we understand - take what money you get and work things out, and get back to us when you can. Heck, if it means Zina provides us with more guest comics, take a week or two out :-)

Whatever happens: Don't stress over it. We're all adult enough, here, to accept that our advice may or may not be useful due to information we -do- -not- -have-, since you're busy sorting the issue, and not typing out a massive great long missive about every single problem you encounter. :-)

llearch, out.

[Gornemant]

*cough*

My 2c. :-)

Amber: Go with what you need. Most of what is being discussed here is along the lines of (for those of us who are thinking about it) making your current tasks work better and faster - not trying to change what you're doing.
Your current screen is probably ok, unless you've already gotten rid of it in the hopes of getting a new one. Other than that - well, the folks you have on hand sound like they know what they're doing, so...

Those people who are talking data recovery are talking data recovery because they don't have anything better to do. And because it gives us all something to pass the time with until you get back to us with the next update :-) It's your computer, you do what you want with it. And we'll all stand behind you and slip money over your shoulder. :-)

The shifting countries thing eats money like nothing on earth, so we understand - take what money you get and work things out, and get back to us when you can. Heck, if it means Zina provides us with more guest comics, take a week or two out :-)

Whatever happens: Don't stress over it. We're all adult enough, here, to accept that our advice may or may not be useful due to information we -do- -not- -have-, since you're busy sorting the issue, and not typing out a massive great long missive about every single problem you encounter. :-)

llearch, out.

dito.

but anyway:
Vista, 2 words: software maturity. (well and budget too actually... and need?)
Mac: BUDGET  D:

Now that these points are out of the way, what do we have?  A fried computer, better go for new hardware, if you keep old parts they are more likely to go *poof* sooner or later (well maybe the tower can be reused)
So lets see, something cheap, stable and that does the job, forget your personal game rig or media center. What can you build up with those specs? 

[Amber Williams]

Okies. lets do dis.

On the issue of a Mac:  I honestly wouldn't want to get a mac at this time.  Nothing against them or what they do...its just I don't feel comfortable on them.  I've used them in college and didn't like them all that much, and all the programs I have are PC-based.   I find the Mac annoying to navigate and use in comparison to my old PC.

On issues of $1500+ PC:  I'd really rather not spend the majority of donations on the most top-of-the line built PC with all sorts of new and hitechness...when odds are 80% of what I do with it will be use Photoshop 6, the internet, and Baldur's Gate.  I don't need a whole lot to make me happy compy wise.  In theory I was happy with my old computer until it up and died(ok, granted it would have been nice to have tried WoW without all the special effects disabled...) So really as long as the problems from my old comp are resolved...I'll likely be happy with the new one despite lack of mega-stuff I dont know what does.

On issues of new compthulu:  Mat's dismantling my old tower for parts that are good and likely don't need upgrading (the disk drives for example that I can think of) and will likely replace my cd burner with something that does the dvdwhatevers.  I hope to get a price estimate and a rundown of what he's adding today/tomorrow.  If/when he does, I promise I'll post the specs up here for you guys to flail about going "you should get ____ instead!" 

On issues of hd recovery: Mat's taking the hd to work. If that fails, he'll send it to Mike. If that fails, I'll probably mail it to zorro. If that fails, you guys can pass it along however you like.  As said, I personally am not holding my breath anymore because to me, it's too much a waste of my time to keep clinging to the hope when I could be trying to move on.

Anything else:  My goals for the new compy is more or less an improved version of my old. It should run Photoshop and its filters fine, and maybe play one or two games.  A good storage space for high-rez files is also nice, and something with a bit of a backup plan.  One that will hopefully dodge a bullet that this current one took, and maybe have a bit of an upgrade here and there.   Hopefully $1000 will be able to cover that...give or take a few hundred.

Then again...I did get linked to a site that has these nifty looking cases that have shiny lights and doodads....*cough*

[Vidar]

...Baldur's Gate...

Soon, you will crave more freeform-RPG's then Black Isle has made, and then you go to Morrowind, and from there, there is only Oblivion. And Oblivion will bring your computer to its knees.
Then, you will crave the MHz, the GB's, the $800 video-cards, the SLI (or Crossfire). You will lament the power-consumption. You will crave more performence. Soon, you will crave shiney-ness, and lights, and L33t-ness.

Then again...I did get linked to a site that has these nifty looking cases that have shiny lights and doodads....*cough*

It has already begun, my apprentice.

[Rowne]

Oblivion?  Pah!  Oblivion is for weenies, it's been watered-down for consolers.  If you want a real and true hardcore freeform RPG to cut your teeth on, try any of the Gothic games.  Gothic I is frendlier so that's a good starting point but Gothic II is so hard it'll make most grown men cry.  Oblivion is a ten minute walk in the park (all quests inclusive) compared to Gothic!

I don't know why this Oblivion game is so overhyped.  <.<

Though if the Ambery one likes Baldur's Gate, she'll likely enjoy Neverwinter Nights and soon, Neverwinter Nights II shall be released and it will be awesome, much like Neverwinter Nights was.  Probably not for the game itself but due to the player created modules.

[Sid]

I don't know why this Oblivion game is so overhyped.  <.<

You can buy shiny horse armor
*is sent back to his Economics Work Camp*

[Rowne]

Technically, the metallic armour would actually break the Horse's back.  A riding Horse isn't a mule or a packhorse, after all.  Most medieval Horse decorations if I recall correctly were just cloth and leather.  When I first saw the incredibly heavy-looking Golden Horse-armour for Oblivion, I just giggled myself silly.

[Nex]

Oblivion rocks. shaddup ;_;

as for the cost: $1000 should do very nicely. I spent $700 initially on my computer (another $180 for the video card), and I can do almost anything with it. Just gotta find the right deals.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Woot! Go Amber! You put those geeks into their place!

... wait a sec, I'm one of "those geeks"... :-)

[Cvstos]

The use of old parts can drop the price of a computer dramatically, depending on which can and cannot be reused.  A lot of that depends on the motherboard: especially the CPU, RAM, and GPU, three of the pricier parts of a PC.

If your old computer was an AMD 939 board, for example, parts for that are readily available and cheap.  You could keep the CPU and RAM (and likely GPU as well) and buy a new board (those are readily available).  If it's really old like a Socket A board, you're going to need new [most everything but drives]. 

If you have DDR 400 RAM, but an older board and CPU, you can get a new 939 AMD Athlon and motherboard cheaply, and use the old RAM. 

It's a complicated puzzle that varies greatly on what you have and want to get. I've been there many times before. 

AMD just SLASHED prices on their CPUs, so that's some good news.

Optical drives and hard drives are normally easily transferable and the price above was for a whole new system.  I do recommend a DVD burner now, as they're getting really cheap.  $40 on NewEgg.  At that price point, why not?  Hard drives can be cheap, too, with $100 getting you as much as 300GB!  Such drives can also be added, rather than replaced.  So you could get twin, triple or even quad HDDs and Optical drives!  My own system has 4 hard drives and 3 optical drives.  (Two of those HDDs are old and I plan on getting another 300GB Samsung HDD and work some RAID 0 magic.)

[Aridas]

Yeah. But really, for what Amber says she does, it's easy to get away with some computer good enough for about $400 or $500. Spending over $1000 would probably turn it into a gaming computer that lasts a few months, when the next 3D game comes out. Depending on how long you want to drag it out in case something comes out that you want to get your hands on, you might be spending more than that first amount I put forward.

As for the deaded hard drive, though.. again, there are plenty of recovery tools out there, and each seems to have its own success rate for file recovery. I had a DOS-based recovery prog that actually found and restored the partition on a drive i had, where other programs would be kinda hazy at best, with only getting my files as well... Problem is, I forget which one that is. But I can make a few random suggestions of software that seems to be for recovery...

GetDataBack (This one kinda sucks, but it's easy to grab a serial for if it manages to find something and not have screwed up the guesswork.)

R-Studio (never tested it myself, but it looks to be powerful in the right hands.)

Partition Table Doctor (again, never tested, but it always helps to see if it has a few different features)

[Cvstos]

Photoshop is most hungry for RAM and CPU.  So the GPU isn't a huge factor.  A basic GPU (such as a cheap 6600 for AGP or PCI-Express) which can be had for under $100 will do and will be enough for a future upgrade to Vista.  A nice CPU (possible thanks to AMD's cutting of prices nad Intel's stupid-fast Core 2 Duo) and lots of RAM (can be had cheap if you look around) will be the most beneficial.

And as I said, the HDDs and Opticals are transferrable, but a DVD Burner at this point is a must.  It's silly to go without when they're super cheap.  Depending on the power needs of the new system, you may want a new case and power supply, but those aren't terribly expensive in the basic range, either.

If you wind up buying something from a retail vendor, make certain you get a real copy of Windows and just reformat right away.  &*^@#$ trial programs and other junk they put on there can REALLY drag down your performance.  I mean BIG TIME, and some of that crap's spyware, too.

[Gornemant]

The use of old parts can drop the price of a computer dramatically, depending on which can and cannot be reused.  A lot of that depends on the motherboard: especially the CPU, RAM, and GPU, three of the pricier parts of a PC.

If your old computer was an AMD 939 board, for example, parts for that are readily available and cheap.  You could keep the CPU and RAM (and likely GPU as well) and buy a new board (those are readily available).  If it's really old like a Socket A board, you're going to need new [most everything but drives]. 

If you have DDR 400 RAM, but an older board and CPU, you can get a new 939 AMD Athlon and motherboard cheaply, and use the old RAM. 

It's a complicated puzzle that varies greatly on what you have and want to get. I've been there many times before. 

AMD just SLASHED prices on their CPUs, so that's some good news.

Optical drives and hard drives are normally easily transferable and the price above was for a whole new system.  I do recommend a DVD burner now, as they're getting really cheap.  $40 on NewEgg.  At that price point, why not?  Hard drives can be cheap, too, with $100 getting you as much as 300GB!  Such drives can also be added, rather than replaced.  So you could get twin, triple or even quad HDDs and Optical drives!  My own system has 4 hard drives and 3 optical drives.  (Two of those HDDs are old and I plan on getting another 300GB Samsung HDD and work some RAID 0 magic.)

given that it's an old computer, I'd say at least 2-3 years old and not cutting edge at the time, I highly doubt it's a 939.... in fact it might even still be under that 2ghz bar...

[Netami]

Haha, Amber's computer is made of suck and fail.

[Gornemant]

well what did you expect, high performance game rig from 2 years ago?


think regular user, not computer geek, regular user 

edit:

Photoshop is most hungry for RAM and CPU.  So the GPU isn't a huge factor.  A basic GPU (such as a cheap 6600 for AGP or PCI-Express) which can be had for under $100 will do and will be enough for a future upgrade to Vista.  A nice CPU (possible thanks to AMD's cutting of prices nad Intel's stupid-fast Core 2 Duo) and lots of RAM (can be had cheap if you look around) will be the most beneficial.

honestly, 6600? an X300 for 30$ or X550 for 45$ is more than enough....

[Azlan]

well what did you expect, high performance game rig from 2 years ago?


think regular user, not computer geek, regular user 

edit:

Photoshop is most hungry for RAM and CPU.  So the GPU isn't a huge factor.  A basic GPU (such as a cheap 6600 for AGP or PCI-Express) which can be had for under $100 will do and will be enough for a future upgrade to Vista.  A nice CPU (possible thanks to AMD's cutting of prices nad Intel's stupid-fast Core 2 Duo) and lots of RAM (can be had cheap if you look around) will be the most beneficial.

honestly, 6600? an X300 for 30$ or X550 for 45$ is more than enough....

Why bother going that far?  A regular user can subsist on integrated graphics.  Sempron chips are getting exceptionally cheap, as are IDE hard drives.