PC Wanted

[upnorthal]

I'm now sick to death of the blue screen of death on my PC.

I built this a couple of years ago after carefully researching individual components on the overclockers site. I purchased the best memory, mboard etc I could afford at the time.

I've been plauged by the blue screen of death and the 'IRQ not less or equal'.
I've tried:-
Several rebuilds of OS.
Running memory test
Low level diags
Checking internal temperaturs
Adding extra fan
Monitor internal voltage

I susepct it is to to with the nVidia motherboard. There were several threads with people with similar experiences.

Anyway, I've had enough. I want a new PC and I don't care if I have to pay a little extra to have reliability.

I'm looking at a base system http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/786588

I like the idea of being able to walk in and purchase it. Years ago I would never have thought of buying a PC from PC World, but their prices are good now.
I can pay on credit card and have full consumer protection.
The problem with my DIY build was I could not prove preciesley which component was at fault. I just don't have time to look into it further.

I don't play games and have a 24inch Acer flatscreen to connect this to. (I probably need to check the graphic card output on this Dell).


What do people think?

[Place of design]

I'm now sick to death of the blue screen of death on my PC.

I built this a couple of years ago after carefully researching individual components on the overclockers site. I purchased the best memory, mboard etc I could afford at the time.

I've been plauged by the blue screen of death and the 'IRQ not less or equal'.
I've tried:-
Several rebuilds of OS.
Running memory test
Low level diags
Checking internal temperaturs
Adding extra fan
Monitor internal voltage

I susepct it is to to with the nVidia motherboard. There were several threads with people with similar experiences.

Anyway, I've had enough. I want a new PC and I don't care if I have to pay a little extra to have reliability.

I'm looking at a base system http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/786588

I like the idea of being able to walk in and purchase it. Years ago I would never have thought of buying a PC from PC World, but their prices are good now.
I can pay on credit card and have full consumer protection.
The problem with my DIY build was I could not prove preciesley which component was at fault. I just don't have time to look into it further.

I don't play games and have a 24inch Acer flatscreen to connect this to. (I probably need to check the graphic card output on this Dell).


What do people think?

Its a very decent PC - what do you use it for?

[upnorthal]

Hi Mate

Mainly for browsing the Internet and developing web based software and occasionally using Photoshop.

On a day to day I would be running

MS Visual Studio Pro
IIS as a webserver locally
Outlook for email

I don't think I'm going to be doing anything too demanding!

I've worked in IT for a while but I don't profess to be an expert on hardware. Its so hard to keep up to date.

I know Dell is a good brand and to be honest, that seems like a fair price.

Cheers

Al

[Place of design]

that PC wil be fine for your tasks

I hammer Photoshop, lightroom, dreamweaver, WAMP and all sorts of other applicatiions like ablum and video creation software on a much lesser PC day in day out with no issues

[FireFleur]

Have you played with the BIOS, there should be some interrupt settings in there, worth a look, just in case you have a conflict.

Updating the BIOS may also help, if you haven't done that.

But, a new computer is always fun :)

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Hi Mate

Mainly for browsing the Internet and developing web based software and occasionally using Photoshop.

On a day to day I would be running

MS Visual Studio Pro
IIS as a webserver locally
Outlook for email

I don't think I'm going to be doing anything too demanding!

I've worked in IT for a while but I don't profess to be an expert on hardware. Its so hard to keep up to date.

I know Dell is a good brand and to be honest, that seems like a fair price.

Cheers

Al

Its old hardware hence the price.

I spent £1,200 the other week on a new box I do everything, running virtual systems for testing server configs i.e. can be anything from 1-6 virtual machines at a time. I also use Visual Studio and IIS7 on the same box plus outlook and anything else you can imagine.

If you have £1k to spend go for a Core i7 system well worth the money, VS flies unlike on my old Core2Duo.

Ended up with
Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67Ghz
6Gb DDR2 1333Mhz Corsair
Asus P6T SE X58 Motherboard
1Gb XFX GTX285 XXX Graphics
150Gb WDC Velociraptor

Well worth the investment shouldn't need to buy anything new for two years at least.

[Made4Print]

Get a Dell Precision Desktop with Next Business Day Support.

Dell machines are work horses and work well. Next Business Day support ensures a technician is round the next day with parts to sort it out.

If you get a Dell you wont be fiddling around getting component parts to work. It will work. The only fiddling I did was adding an Adaptec RAID conroller for some added resilience and add additional RAM. Building machines is for Home computing where you have time to spend messing about. I dont think I'd ever want to build a machine again.

[asonda]

Why not try MAC? (Just thought I throw it in here)

[Made4Print]

Why not try MAC? (Just thought I throw it in here)

These days mentioning MACs to PC Users/Developers is actually not as bad as it used to be.

When I upgrade my Desktop, or more-so my Laptop I may consider replacing them with MACs and using them with windows. In terms of stability, they are also pre-built so less fiddling with component parts.

[openmind]

Why not try MAC? (Just thought I throw it in here)
Or you could just throw it out :p

<< ducks under flame poof blanket >>

[love2hire]

Shame on you replacing a PC with another PC.
Get a Mac...i switched over 5 years ago and NEVER had a single issue with it.....just common sense:D

[upnorthal]

lol.

Macs do look very polished and I love the general environment.

Thing is, I've used PCs for years. I don't know anything about Macs.

I'd be scared to switch!! :redface:

I had a look at PC world yesterday and made the lad pull the display model apart for me so I could look inside. I wasn't impressed with what I saw.

all four memory banks full with 1gig sticks. Why not use two 2gig sticks?
very basic power supply. some weird (look like proprietry fittings). Not sure if this is true of all Dells (our work only buys Dells and never seem to have problems.

I've ordered a Mesh now. Not sure what I am going to do with the nasty Vista 64 bit OS (with free upgrade to windows 7). I suspect it will make a nice coaser next to my toilet seat. Trust me, XP is getting installed as soon as I get it.

Perhaps I am just an old fart. I like an OS that is stable and works and will work with legacy hardware.

[openmind]

Perhaps I am just an old fart. I like an OS that is stable and works and will work with legacy hardware.

No you are perfectly normal :)

The thing is with mass produced PCs you will get low end components and tricky upgrade paths.

I built the one I'm using at the moment from scratch and it flies because I got to choose what I wanted in it...

[Dawg]

Shame on you replacing a PC with another PC.
Get a Mac...i switched over 5 years ago and NEVER had a single issue with it.....just common sense:D

Can we have a policy of kicking smug Mac'o'***** in the apples when they come up with this sort of gloob?

[asonda]

You've made a very good point about mass produced PCs.

And also what has been said is true, with mass produced equipment you will be getting a set of cheap components. Everything purchased in bulk to maximise profits.

That's why us 'Custom Builders' don't make anywhere near the profit of the big boys.

That is why when we build PCs for out customers (Asonda Custom Computers) we make sure we spec a PC that has a 'clear' upgrade path to allow our customers to come back to us and upgrade at minimal cost.

Not only does this mean you get a MUCH better specification PC with high quality components but one that is completely cutting edge and will give a longer working life.

I mentioned MAC because honestly, I'm thinking about making the move to a Mac Pro (You know the big 8-Core Intel Xeon Powered Beasts). I won't be doing it really any time soon as it's going to be at quite a high cost but what a beautiful machine with some hardcore power.

I want to be able to process video and render much faster and use some special 'Mac Only' applications which means if I want to do some of the stuff I have in mind, I don't really have a choice.

I'd be interested to find out the true legal implications of setting up a hackintosh (I.E Installing MAC OS onto a PC/Laptop), If I purchase a legal license etc why should they care?

EDIT - Sorry for jacking the thread with MACs. I'll make a new thread up and let you get back to what you want to know about.

[openmind]

Shame on you replacing a PC with another PC.
Get a Mac...i switched over 5 years ago and NEVER had a single issue with it.....just common sense:D
Do you also now have a goatee and wear a kaftan? :p ;)

[KM-Tiger]

Perhaps I am just an old fart. I like an OS that is stable and works and will work with legacy hardware.

It's called Linux, and some old farts have been using it for years. Leave the shiny beeping toys to the kids.

Xubuntu (http://xubuntu.com/about) is a variation of Ubuntu that is designed to work on minimal or old hardware.

Google for 'lug' (Linux User Group) and join your local one if you need help or support.