Is anybody building a new computer, upgrading, or hanging on to what we have?
New computer
- Thread starter cleanteamofny
- Start date
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Is anybody building a new computer, upgrading, or hanging on to what we have?
Never had a desktop, probably never will
But with current priceing and availability, building yourself is a rather bad idea IMO.
Chip shortages are projected to resolve in 12-24 months.
If not immediately necessary, wait it out.
But with current priceing and availability, building yourself is a rather bad idea IMO.
Chip shortages are projected to resolve in 12-24 months.
If not immediately necessary, wait it out.
I'm hoping to hang onto my dell laptop which is probably about 5 or 6 years old now. It seems after the last update my finger print login is being temperamental. It works fine two or three times then doesn't and I have to enter my password to unock it.. Other times pages won't load completely. It's not that I don't have enough space either because I have the operating system on the SSD drive and most everything else is on the hard drive which is less than half full. As well my touchpad for the cursor is now so supersensitive that it's also giving me grief even though I went into the settings and adjusted it , it just won't.. I feel like they do this intentionally to get you to buy a new one
That sounds either like an operating system issue.
Have you re-installed Windows in the 5-6 years?
Might help.
The fingerprint thing might be an easy fix by just erasing all learned prints and retraining them.
I use Windows Hello on my laptop and did so on my last 2 Surface devices.
That gets temperamental every now and then and retraining the face recognition helps sometimes.
Have you re-installed Windows in the 5-6 years?
Might help.
The fingerprint thing might be an easy fix by just erasing all learned prints and retraining them.
I use Windows Hello on my laptop and did so on my last 2 Surface devices.
That gets temperamental every now and then and retraining the face recognition helps sometimes.
Building is a bad...
The parts shortages have been a royal pain in the Azz!
A whole lot has changed over the years and I've waited too long to refurbish my out-of-touch office PC. The constant freezing has made my web surfing a total nightmare.
And when they said to buy a new PC every 3-5 years, it is so true up to a point. Older hardware cannot keep up with the new media and with parts being so scarce I've had no choice but to pull the trigger on what available today.
The three major components that I want are either not available or priced well over the MSRP which makes no sense to purchase at this time. The next move is to buy a prebuilt that has all the components that are not available when sold separately. This market has crashed because of <span class="entry-content post-content">cryptocurrency and the pandemic making it hard for DYI'r pc building. </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">Henrik, </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">reinstalling windows did not solve BSOD or freezing.</span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">I think the old AMD FX-9590 is done. Bulldozer was OK when it came out but had too many issues to keep up with Intel. </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">My step-down AMD FX-8350 machine outshines the 9590 by leaps and bounds and holding up better for being a bedroom PC.
</span>
[this post was last edited: 3/28/2021-14:43]
The parts shortages have been a royal pain in the Azz!
A whole lot has changed over the years and I've waited too long to refurbish my out-of-touch office PC. The constant freezing has made my web surfing a total nightmare.
And when they said to buy a new PC every 3-5 years, it is so true up to a point. Older hardware cannot keep up with the new media and with parts being so scarce I've had no choice but to pull the trigger on what available today.
The three major components that I want are either not available or priced well over the MSRP which makes no sense to purchase at this time. The next move is to buy a prebuilt that has all the components that are not available when sold separately. This market has crashed because of <span class="entry-content post-content">cryptocurrency and the pandemic making it hard for DYI'r pc building. </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">Henrik, </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">reinstalling windows did not solve BSOD or freezing.</span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">I think the old AMD FX-9590 is done. Bulldozer was OK when it came out but had too many issues to keep up with Intel. </span>
<span class="entry-content post-content">My step-down AMD FX-8350 machine outshines the 9590 by leaps and bounds and holding up better for being a bedroom PC.
</span>
[this post was last edited: 3/28/2021-14:43]
I don't know if I agree.
I've been building computers since the early 90s, both personal and for office use. At this point I have 3 laptops around te house that I use all the time, and these are all at least 12 years old if not more. Zero issues browsing the net and doing basic stuff. Been replacing HDs with SSDs over time best $30-50 I've spent.
My main desktop is 4 to 5 years old, I did pop in more memory last year now up to 16g. It runs 24/7, streams Pandora 24/7 to feed around the house, helps with my tinnitus. It also run Channels DVR to record OTA TV, and PLEX- no issues. Works great with anything I throw at it.
The one reason it works so well? I DO NOT USE WINDOWS! Unless you need to use some rare proprietary obscure software there is no need for windows. Linux works great and can do anything windows can for free. Lose Windows and most of your problems with older equipment will go away. Put linux Mint of a USB drive and try it.
[this post was last edited: 3/28/2021-19:00]
I've been building computers since the early 90s, both personal and for office use. At this point I have 3 laptops around te house that I use all the time, and these are all at least 12 years old if not more. Zero issues browsing the net and doing basic stuff. Been replacing HDs with SSDs over time best $30-50 I've spent.
My main desktop is 4 to 5 years old, I did pop in more memory last year now up to 16g. It runs 24/7, streams Pandora 24/7 to feed around the house, helps with my tinnitus. It also run Channels DVR to record OTA TV, and PLEX- no issues. Works great with anything I throw at it.
The one reason it works so well? I DO NOT USE WINDOWS! Unless you need to use some rare proprietary obscure software there is no need for windows. Linux works great and can do anything windows can for free. Lose Windows and most of your problems with older equipment will go away. Put linux Mint of a USB drive and try it.
[this post was last edited: 3/28/2021-19:00]
warmsecondrinse
Well-known member
My newest laptop is 9 years old. I use Linux Ubuntu. My Lenovo X200s (which is apparently the laptop equivalent of the old Nokia 3300) has 8GB of RAM, as does my Lenovo T430s and DellE6510. The X200s and the Dell both dual boot to Windows, which I rarely need.
The first thing I'd do is max out your RAM. Second would be to install Ubuntu or similar Linux system. The third would be to get a faster disc.
But I agree with Matt: Once you go Linux you never go back
The first thing I'd do is max out your RAM. Second would be to install Ubuntu or similar Linux system. The third would be to get a faster disc.
But I agree with Matt: Once you go Linux you never go back
One thing I forgot to mention - I'm posting this on an old Macbook Pro circa 2005. I'm running Lubuntu on it, light weight fully functional version of Ubuntu- with no additional memory. 2g of ram does it
My first computer build was in 2006 and that system is in my gym running windows 10. It's a slow old man with the classic and most wanted AMD CPU FX-60 chip to this date. All of my builds have been AMD machines. My first commercial PC was the Compaq Presario 5832 which was much slower than my build and tech support has trained me to deal with software issues for that time. After dealing with windows for many years it does not bother me with slight glitches when service packs were issued. Every windows upgrade had issues and now window 10 is very stable. Don't get me wrong, windows update can screw older PCs or make certain PC hardware bricks because it does not have the correct drivers for it to work.
If you're just doing basic stuff you are doing yourself a disservice if you don't try Mint or it's base OS Ubuntu. With Mint the learning curve is very small and you will notice a MUCH snappier system. Plus you are not dealing with anti virus crap and hours long updates that take over your system.
Matt, I'm considering doing a dual OS build.
Currently, Windows 10 update has improved and it does not take forever to install service packs like Windows7.
Even if I were to do a clean install it takes half the time to get my system up and running.
Over the years I've enhanced where I load my software onto my SSDs so I do not have to do complete downloads of programs which is a time saver. Back in the days a complete install of Windows and software would take up to 6 hours to complete, now it's 3 hours or less to get my desktop up and running.
Wow, 3 hours, I did a fresh install of Mint in about 8 or 10 minutes. You must be installing more than just Windows. A few months back my HD was acting up and I picked up an SSD from AZ. We had planned on playing Scategories via Zoom and just then the HD died, I had it up and running in minutes.
What I wanted to do was to future proof my next build for a couple of years and only upgrade the GPU. The 3080Ti & 3090 GPUs will be released later this spring/summer which will be a paper launch and will be unavailable to the consumers because of reasons up above. I'm cutting corners by using my very old case, new EVGA 1200 power supply, and reusing current SSDs.
The Motherboard, CPU, and Ram are the star of the show, it's not what I really want but will have to do because of limited online suppliers, price, and worldwide shipping delivery which is a logistic nightmare on top of the Sh--sandwich.
Wanted:
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero AMD Motherboard
AMD Ryzen 5950X
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, 3080Ti , or 3090
DDR4 Ram
Taking sloppy seconds:
MSI Meg Unify B550
AMD 3950 CPU
DDR4 3600 G.SKILL Trident Z Neo (For AMD Ryzen) Series 64GB (4 x 16GB)
2 M.2-2280 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD 500GB & 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 1TB
(Unavailable GeForce RTX 3080, 3080 Ti, or 3090) Reusing my current EVGA GTX 1080 Fe
So building a new PC today is frustrating, my first taste of PC parts backlog when I've purchased my EVGA Super 1660 back on <strong class="order-item-info">12/1/2019.</strong>
Linux on USB
Hi Larry
I currently use a windows 10 machine that was my Dad's, but I don't use windows, I use Linux on a USB stick and boot up from the USB.
I am currently using Solus Linux.
It is very intuitive and easy to use.
My idea was to run Linux without disturbing the existing windows 10 installation.
However I haven't used the windows more than maybe once in the last year so I intend to delete windows and put the Linux on the SSD hard drive.
I quite like Solus Linux but I might go back to Mint next time?
the advantage of having Linux on USB is you can have a few different distros of Linux on different USB sticks, and see which one suits you best.
Hi Larry
I currently use a windows 10 machine that was my Dad's, but I don't use windows, I use Linux on a USB stick and boot up from the USB.
I am currently using Solus Linux.
It is very intuitive and easy to use.
My idea was to run Linux without disturbing the existing windows 10 installation.
However I haven't used the windows more than maybe once in the last year so I intend to delete windows and put the Linux on the SSD hard drive.
I quite like Solus Linux but I might go back to Mint next time?
the advantage of having Linux on USB is you can have a few different distros of Linux on different USB sticks, and see which one suits you best.
Yes, Mattl,
unboxing software is time-consuming, and when it's done correctly very few problems happen.
I'm a power surfer and I sometimes have up to 15 browser tabs open at any given time. LOL.
Life on the net is very educational.
Chris,
I've bookmarked your link and I will put it to use very soon.
Thanks for the link.
Windows is easy yet complicated when settings must be laid out according to the user's needs.
My desktop is clean, yet my taskbar is cluttered.
I used to build my own computers. Would go to places like Fry's and get motherboards, memory, drives, etc, and a tower case.
But about five years ago I got tired of that and realized prices on well designed towers at Costco were about the same as I would spend doing it myself. I've had this Intel 7 Dell XPS tower since then, running windows 10. I think it cost me about $800 (or less, can't recall now) but worth every penny. Plenty of memory, disk space, and it's relatively quiet and efficient.
Oh, and I get my notebook computers at Costco as well. Toshiba, generally.
But about five years ago I got tired of that and realized prices on well designed towers at Costco were about the same as I would spend doing it myself. I've had this Intel 7 Dell XPS tower since then, running windows 10. I think it cost me about $800 (or less, can't recall now) but worth every penny. Plenty of memory, disk space, and it's relatively quiet and efficient.
Oh, and I get my notebook computers at Costco as well. Toshiba, generally.
I have 10-12 tabs open on the little old 2G memory MacBook Pro and it functions fine.
As for running Linux on a USB stick, I don't know Solaris, but the only version I'm aware of having persistence is Ubuntu, and for me it's been spotty. But then I've been using live versions, I've never tried installing to a USB drive, that would be a different story.
As for running Linux on a USB stick, I don't know Solaris, but the only version I'm aware of having persistence is Ubuntu, and for me it's been spotty. But then I've been using live versions, I've never tried installing to a USB drive, that would be a different story.
Hi Matt
Not Solaris. Solus.
Full install to USB drive, works much faster than a live DVD.
Not Solaris. Solus.
Full install to USB drive, works much faster than a live DVD.
