Upgrading my computer

[BooHag]

Hi, I'm planning on upgrading my computer in the next week or so. As soon as possible, actually, since I've been without for about a month now and I'm tired of using my husband's. My computer died about a month ago, and I don't have spare parts/knowledge to diagnose the problem. I figure I'll start by replacing the CPU, mobo, RAM, and HD right now, and if it's not one of those things, then I'll replace the GPU and/or power supply.

I haven't had a stable computer in over two years. I've spent way too much money in two years trying to "fix" my system. More than once I've bought a replacement for a dead component to find out that I need to upgrade something else in order for the new component to work. So I'm hoping that y'all can tell me if everything will work together.

Also, I need stability. I'm willing to pay for stability.

P.S. I know the new Intel processors are coming out soon, but I really can't wait until then.

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1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Some games, mostly just WoW right now. Probably Warhammer when it comes out.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$800 or so for CPU, mobo, RAM, and HD. Willing to go higher as necessary.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

Nope.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 512MB
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V
Monitor: Acer 22" LCD

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yep.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default speeds; stability is much more important than speed.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Next week or so.

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Here's what I've got so far:

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400
Mobo: P5Q Pro or P5Q E
HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB
RAM: ??

Existing components:
GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 512MB
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V
Monitor: Acer 22" LCD

I have a few questions:

1. Will everything work together? Including what I already have?

2. Which mobo is better? There's only a $10 or so difference in price, and the only difference I can find is in the LAN controller. Which I know nothing about.

3. I'm lost when it comes to RAM. My impressions from reading these boards: DDR3 isn't worth it; DDR2-1066 is probably overkill; G.Skill/Mushkin are good. These (DDR-1066) are on ASUS's QVL, but these (DDR2-800) are faster and aren't on the QVL.

4. I've got Vista 32-bit. I'm not going to upgrade to 64-bit in the near future, mainly because I have to find someone to buy me the Chinese version from Taiwan and ship it to me. I know about the 4GB limitation in 32-bit -- should I buy 3x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks?

I know this is long, and I thank you for reading any/all of it and offering your advice.

 

[DSF]

Since you've had trouble in the past diagnosing problems with your PC, is this really the best choice for you? What if something goes wrong with this build? For example, what if your motherboard arrives defective? How will you know?

Besides which, you could be throwing a lot of money at something that would be a pretty simple fix. Have you considered a post in the Computer Help forum here describing the problem and the components in your current system, or maybe taking your PC to a local shop?

I would try those things first, and if you're not willing to do that, then I'd strongly consider a pre-built like a Dell. Get one that accepts a standard ATX psu, and then pop in your PSU and graphics card and call it a day.

Edit: Although even that doesn't help you if your Video Card or PSU turn out to be the problem. Then you've still spent a lot of money for nothing.

Your husband has a computer - can you try your parts in his, or is it a laptop?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

1. yes
2. get the cheaper of the two
3. get DDR2-800, cheapest you can find from a name brand maker
4. 2x2gb sticks

 

[Somniferum]

Like DSF, I'm curious to know what your current system components are and what specific symptoms you've been having. I'm also kind of curious why your husband doesn't step up and help you fix it, but maybe he's not the enthusiast type. I've probably spent more time working on my GF's machine than on mine over the past few years.

Having said that, the components you listed should work fine together (assuming of course it's not the PSU or video card that has the problem).

 

[BooHag]

Thank you very much for your replies -- there was a death in the family just after I posted and I haven't been able to get back to this topic until now.

I have a new question about memory. Newegg is offering rebates on OCZ memory, bringing the cost of 4g down to $50-$66. This is a comparison of four different models: Comparison

Are any of these significantly better? I was planning on going with the last ones, because of the lower timing. Should I forget the rebates and go with Mushkin or G.skill? Should I go with something that's on ASUS's QVL?

Thanks again -- responses to questions about my husband & my old computer follow, in case you don't care to read it

My husband is clueless when it comes to computers. I've been building systems for the last 10 years or so. He has an HP right now because the last time we replaced his computer, he didn't want to wait for me to do the research to build him a new one.

As far as my old computer, I had:

CPU: Athlon 64x2 5000+
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gig
RAM: Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Video: EVGA 8800GT 512MB
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V
Monitor: Acer 22" LCD

The problem began after I started playing Age of Conan. My computer would lock up randomly, jump to 100% CPU usage in the task manager, and then never fall below 50% to 60% CPU usage. Thinking it was AoC-related, I quit AoC and uninstalled the game. That didn't solve the problem, so I thought maybe it was video driver-related as I had updated the video driver in an attempt to solve AoC performance issues. Uninstalling video drivers didn't help. I left it in safe mode for a couple of hours and didn't experience the lock up, so I decided to re-install Vista. Vista installation hangs, always at the same % (don't remember what % though). I ran a hard drive diagnostic -- I seem to remember that it had problems reading the drive, but I did something and it worked and reported no errors. Then I tried to write 0's to the drive and that gave me an error.

 

[Viper GTS]

Grab this & see what it says about your HDD:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-...ort/downloads/seatools

Quick & easy, you won't even have to open the case.

Viper GTS

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: BooHag
The problem began after I started playing Age of Conan. My computer would lock up randomly, jump to 100% CPU usage in the task manager, and then never fall below 50% to 60% CPU usage. Thinking it was AoC-related, I quit AoC and uninstalled the game. That didn't solve the problem, so I thought maybe it was video driver-related as I had updated the video driver in an attempt to solve AoC performance issues. Uninstalling video drivers didn't help. I left it in safe mode for a couple of hours and didn't experience the lock up, so I decided to re-install Vista.

This particular description makes me think it could either be your graphics card overheating or that the PSU isn't quite doing its job in regards giving the card all the power it needs. Either the latter is not the case or your PSU is in some way defective, or the former is more likely. Try downloading nTune to see what kind of temperatures your graphics card is running at, and what kind of max fan speed percentages it is getting to in normal use; it could just be a case of blowing the fan out with compressed air or making sure it spins up a little faster.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Originally posted by: Roguestar

Originally posted by: BooHag
The problem began after I started playing Age of Conan. My computer would lock up randomly, jump to 100% CPU usage in the task manager, and then never fall below 50% to 60% CPU usage. Thinking it was AoC-related, I quit AoC and uninstalled the game. That didn't solve the problem, so I thought maybe it was video driver-related as I had updated the video driver in an attempt to solve AoC performance issues. Uninstalling video drivers didn't help. I left it in safe mode for a couple of hours and didn't experience the lock up, so I decided to re-install Vista.

This particular description makes me think it could either be your graphics card overheating or that the PSU isn't quite doing its job in regards giving the card all the power it needs. Either the latter is not the case or your PSU is in some way defective, or the former is more likely. Try downloading nTune to see what kind of temperatures your graphics card is running at, and what kind of max fan speed percentages it is getting to in normal use; it could just be a case of blowing the fan out with compressed air or making sure it spins up a little faster.

nTune BAAAD. Just download the newest version of GPU-Z, it will also tell you the temps and fan speed.

It might not be a bad idea to get a power supply tester too (multimeter)

 

[BooHag]

Thanks for all of the replies!

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Grab this & see what it says about your HDD:

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-...ort/downloads/seatools

Quick & easy, you won't even have to open the case.

Viper GTS

That's the diagnostic I used... This is from memory, but the short test passed, couldn't run the long test, and zero fill gave me an error. Just woke up, so I'll look for the CD after some caffeine and try it again to make sure I'm remembering right.

Originally posted by: Roguestar
This particular description makes me think it could either be your graphics card overheating or that the PSU isn't quite doing its job in regards giving the card all the power it needs. Either the latter is not the case or your PSU is in some way defective, or the former is more likely. Try downloading nTune to see what kind of temperatures your graphics card is running at, and what kind of max fan speed percentages it is getting to in normal use; it could just be a case of blowing the fan out with compressed air or making sure it spins up a little faster.

I used RivaTuner to adjust fan speed and monitor graphics card temps. I don't remember exact numbers -- and now that there's no OS on that hard drive it's not possible for me to retest -- but I seem to remember I set RivaTuner to 100% fan speed at 80C and that temps never got much higher than 80C.

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
nTune BAAAD. Just download the newest version of GPU-Z, it will also tell you the temps and fan speed.

It might not be a bad idea to get a power supply tester too (multimeter)

Where would I buy one of those? Radio Shack?

 

[Viper GTS]

If SeaTools is failing I would start there. Run the test again, make note of the results, & then check your warranty status here:

http://support.seagate.com/cus...arranty_validation.jsp

If it's under warranty RMA it, if not just replace it. I'd put decent money on that solving your problem entirely.

Viper GTS