fox_forma Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Well my comp is finally about to take a dump. This thing is pretty old and out dated now and lately I have been having a ton of problems. My hard drives for the most part are new but everything else is just crap. It took me over an hour just to get this thing to boot up, everytime it would start to boot a nice blue screen with white writing would pop up which looked like this........ Bad Computer I have scanned the hard drives twice and it says it is clear of viruses so I just think my processor and everything that is in its dionsaur age is just starting to fail. Either way i want to build a new one and would like suggestions of how to build it and with what components. I want something that is decent but I dont need anything that is crazy high tech. So I need opinions on what set-up I should use. If any of you have any good ideas please let me know. Proccessor Motherboard Video card sound Card memory etc, etc. If you list stuff, make sure it will all be compatible with eachother, I dont really want to have to deal with mixing things up and being stuck with nothing that works and down a lot of $$$$. Hope someone can help. Sorry for the long post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_a_n_payne Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 The same thing is happening to my computer, sometimes. And I have a new Inspiron 9200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshift Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I would just buy a new system and call it a day. You can get a nice setup for $600 - $800. Technology has gotten so cheap! WW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilveradoSSobsession Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Proccessor: Intel processors are alright but they generally are slower compared to AMD's and are usually more expensive. (for example, an Athlon XP 3000+ runs around 2.0 Gigahertz, but its as fast as a 3 Gigahertz Intel Chip. I recommend an Athlon XP or Athlon 64. The Athlon 64 is set up for the new 64 bit Operating Systems, though not many are out yet. If you plan on having your new PC for years to come then i would definetly go with the Athlon 64. Anything over 3 Gigahertz should be fine. Motherboard: ASUS makes some of the best Motherboards in the industry. You can go the their website for CPU configuration info. Video card: Nvidia Geforce with atleast 128MB of on board memory. Geforce cards can be found in a variety of configurations. Sound Card: Many boards come with sound and video integrated. If you just plan on using your PC for web browsing and stuff like that then the integrated sound cards work fine. If you want something set up for more of a home entertainment system then a nice SoundBlaster card would work well. memory: At the very least get 256MB of PC3200 DDR. 512MB is preferrable for optimum performance. DDR2 should be out soon if it isnt already, but will be fairly expensive compared to 3200 In all honesty its hard to beat the price on some of the packages that major computer manufacturers provide, such as HP. If you think about all the time you have to spend configuring the motherboard and everything else, it can be very frustrating if you have to pay a PC tech $40 an hour to fix something you cant figure out. Im assuming your probably a novice since your asking for the best parts to install in your PC. Im no expert but i took 2 years of computer classes in high school, and some college too. Hope this helps. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted April 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I would just buy a new system and call it a day.You can get a nice setup for $600 - $800. Technology has gotten so cheap! WW <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I dont really have the money for a whole new set-up, If I know what i need I can prob search around ebay for a while and find it pretty cheap. Plus I have a ton of crap on my hard drives that I dont want to lose and i really dont feel like adding 2 extra hard drives to a new system. A new system was a thought but I just aint gots the cash right now. Plus i would like to build it myself so I know whats in there and if something goes wrong I will know my system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted April 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Proccessor: Intel processors are alright but they generally are slower compared to AMD's and are usually more expensive. (for example, an Athlon XP 3000+ runs around 2.0 Gigahertz, but its as fast as a 3 Gigahertz Intel Chip. I recommend an Athlon XP or Athlon 64. The Athlon 64 is set up for the new 64 bit Operating Systems, though not many are out yet. If you plan on having your new PC for years to come then i would definetly go with the Athlon 64. Anything over 3 Gigahertz should be fine. Motherboard: ASUS makes some of the best Motherboards in the industry. You can go the their website for CPU configuration info. Video card: Nvidia Geforce with atleast 128MB of on board memory. Geforce cards can be found in a variety of configurations. Sound Card: Many boards come with sound and video integrated. If you just plan on using your PC for web browsing and stuff like that then the integrated sound cards work fine. If you want something set up for more of a home entertainment system then a nice SoundBlaster card would work well. memory: At the very least get 256MB of PC3200 DDR. 512MB is preferrable for optimum performance. DDR2 should be out soon if it isnt already, but will be fairly expensive compared to 3200 In all honesty its hard to beat the price on some of the packages that major computer manufacturers provide, such as HP. If you think about all the time you have to spend configuring the motherboard and everything else, it can be very frustrating if you have to pay a PC tech $40 an hour to fix something you cant figure out. Im assuming your probably a novice since your asking for the best parts to install in your PC. Im no expert but i took 2 years of computer classes in high school, and some college too. Hope this helps. Richard <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanx for the info, I dont know much about what is good but I am good with figuring all the crap out if and when i need to. Anyways, my mom actually just said something about my dinasour computer today and asked if I wanted a new one for my b-day so i may take her up on that. What is a good one to buy? I heard compac is good but there hard to upgrade and everybody i know who have a dell dont really like it to much. Like I said I'm not looking for something off the charts, just something that is good and hold up. Most of the brands and parts you mentioned for building a new one I have in my comp but it is just there old old stuff. This comp was built in 99 I think so that gives ya an idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBSS Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I used to build systems for all my friends but now it is so cheap, and I mean SOOOO CHEAP that it would be silly not to just buy a brand-new system. Just as an example, I recently got a mail ad from Dell's Small Business Division (of which I am a customer) and it had a 2.8Ghz system INCLUDING A 15" LCD MONITOR for $399! That is an outrageously good deal. The last 2 years or so I have either helped friends configure systems for themselves to buy through Dell, or bought them systems through my corporate account for them. There really is no better way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSThunder Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Don't get a Dell. They have gone down hill since moving tech support to India. Compaq is fine. I still use my old one with the Athlon 900 Mhz chip. You can make an old PC run like new with lots of memory and a fast hard drive(7200 RPM or Faster). Don't build one. It's a pain unless you got lots of free time. HP makes a good PC. Here are some things you must have: 1.) Lots of memory-At least 512 MB of RAM. This is what makes a PC fast 2.) Fast hard drive-Size isn't the main thing, speed is. 7200 RPM or faster. 3.) Video cards are fine if you play lots of games that require the high speed graphics, if not just get a card with 128 Megs. 4.) Factory install OS with a Recovery Disc-All new systems come with a recover disc. It's simple and easy to re-install the factory software when something major goes wrong and you can't fix it Another thing. Get a PC that doesn't share RAM. Some share RAM with the video card. Good luck on your purchase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Don't get a Dell. They have gone down hill since moving tech support to India. RANT - I worked for Dell I/T between 1997 and 2001, and I am ashamed to admit that their 1-800 phone queues have fallen to the dogs, have become just terrible. However, if you do manage to get a service order in, the on-site support is still first rate, you will get a tech to visit you and repair it on the spot right away. Still the best machine for the money IMO but I have made several hostile calls to friends back in Round Rock over piss-poor over-the-phone customer service... Mr. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 F_F - do you have a single processor system, or dual-proc? I am assuming single processor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 BACK UP YOUR STUFF FIRST. Generally speaking - STOP 0x00000024 is generated by the windows file system driver under a variety of circumstances, usually -not- hardware related but either file system corruption, screwed-up NTFS account permissions, or misconfiguration of HDD device drivers caused by some kinds of virus scanning or backup packages. So I would investigate the windows install/setup/config more than the hardware. Especially if the system feels like it is 'unraveling' on you and becoming less and less stable each week, I personally would try formatting the machine fresh and reinstalling Windows. But didn't you tell me you just put windows on this PC recently? You can experiment with running CHKDSK /F to see if it triggers the blue screen; if it does you for sure know the problem is either HDD-related, or Windows config (not RAM, motherboard, video, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 ...However, I just had a thought - the NTFS corruption may have been caused because your system blue-screened for a different reason. So you could have bad RAM/motherboard which failed (giving one kind of stop code) and corrupting your file system. This may cause (later) STOP 0x00000024 errors... Not trying to bum you out, just being a realist Run CHKDSK /f /r to get the filesystem back to good working order. More references: link 1 link 2 link 3 Mr. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBSS Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I can understand not liking Dell tech support, but if you never need to use it, who cares? Also, if you are saying that Compaq tech support is better than Dell's, well, umm....... Most desktop systems from Dell have absolutely no problems and are an excellent value. I've helped people buy 8-10 systems over the past few months, only one had to use tech support, and Dell was very responsive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fox_forma Posted April 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Good stuff i will try to run that in a sec. The past two times I have tried to post it shut down on me again. There seems to be two different blue screens that come up on occasion. The one that says run chkdsk and another that I was able to catch something about my video adapter. Oh and right now I'm in safe mode and all seems good So once more, here is what my system consists of.... AMD K6 3D Processor 501Mhz, 320mb of RAM Maxtor 9 1741U4 SCSI ( secondary drive) WDC WD80 0BB-00CAA1 SCSI S3 Graphics Inc. Savage4 display adapter Legacy Audio Driver Legacy Video Capture Devices Media Control Devices Video Codec Silicon Image SiI 0680 Ultra-133 Medley ATA raid Controller There were more but it isnt showing up in Safe Mode I think it may be my video card more and more plus I could need more memory but a new comp would be nice. Oh and half the time, once it restarts I cant even get to the main screen to try and run the CHKDSK. As soon as it goes to the main screen a bunch of windows has encountered a problem and needs to shut down things keep popping up and then it will continue to reset itself, then it will stop and work for a little bit then it starts all over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterp Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 I can understand not liking Dell tech support, but if you never need to use it, who cares? Also, if you are saying that Compaq tech support is better than Dell's, well, umm....... Most desktop systems from Dell have absolutely no problems and are an excellent value. I've helped people buy 8-10 systems over the past few months, only one had to use tech support, and Dell was very responsive. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Oh don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you (especially about Compaq!) I just have prejudice from working "inside". In my current business we use refurbished Dell here exclusively, about 80 systems. And Boeing, Ford, Toyota, M&M Mars, WalMart etc etc etc all use *refurbished* Dell systems, because they have even lower out-of-the-box failure rates than the new Dells and ship inside 24-hours, plus they're a little cheaper and still warrantied. By my memory over the last six years, never had an incident on our 10 PowerEdge boxes, only one failured motherboard in 60ish desktops, but the laptops have been problematic, 4 service calls (out of 10 systems) in last 18 months and getting someone out to service them took days... Not the Dell I left... Mr. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.