Starting the PC upgrade nightmare... Again.
#1
Posted 05 January 2011 - 10:14 AM
Simple enough solution, upgrade to Win7 64 bit which can address 16 exabytes. However, doing that means I need to add more RAM to have it run efficiently as Win7 recommends 4GB RAM minimum, but I still had the 1.5GB card to take into account so more RAM was needed. I decided on 8GB. However, my current motherboard would only take 4GB max, so I would need to upgrade my MoBo too. Found a nice one on sale as well which can have 64GB RAM, but if I got it I would need to upgrade my CPU as it would not work with the new one. Plus, the RAM on the new MoBo is DDR3 and my old one is DDR2. Then I saw that the game I wanted to play on the new video card was not even Win7 compatible. ~sigh~
Basically, I decided to build a new PC from the ground up and leave the old WinXP box for full backwards compatibility.
So the $250 video card upgrade is going to cost me $1600 by the time I get the above mentioned parts, new case, power supply and hard drives. Plus, the new monitor needed on the separate system.
Technology. Gotta love it.
Tech Support - The hard we do right away; the impossible takes us a little longer...
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#2
Posted 05 January 2011 - 10:17 AM
Backups???
Are you all doing them?
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formerly...
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#3
Posted 05 January 2011 - 10:19 AM
BTW... I bought a external hard drive for backing up my computer yesterday...
#4
Posted 05 January 2011 - 11:15 AM
Simon, brand-new off-the-shelf PC's cost substantially less than $1,600. Are you using gold connections or something?
#5
Posted 05 January 2011 - 11:36 AM
And yes Wenchie... even my backups have backups, as well as offsite duplicate storage in the event of a fire. I can't even imagine losing months worth of recording work simply because of hardware failure... what a nightmare that would be!
TheScubaCowboy
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#6
Posted 05 January 2011 - 12:31 PM
Where you say "brand-new off-the-shelf PC's" I read "PC's that use the lowest cost generic components made in the seedier back alleys of Taiwan". A lot of manufacturers and big box stores sell PC's with cheap no-name brand internal components and / or everything built on the motherboard.Simon, brand-new off-the-shelf PC's cost substantially less than $1,600. Are you using gold connections or something?
I build all my own computers with hand picked, top of the line components from reputable manufacturers with long guarantee periods. Not only do I get a quality computer, but as I put it together I know how to fix it if it breaks. On my current PC I had a DVD burner and video card go futzy on me. Both were replaced at no cost to me. Quality does cost extra, but seldom lets you down in the long run.
Tech Support - The hard we do right away; the impossible takes us a little longer...
"I like ponies on no-stop diving. They convert "ARGH!! I'M GOING TO DIE" into a mere annoyance." ~Nigel Hewitt
#7
Posted 05 January 2011 - 12:48 PM
Where you say "brand-new off-the-shelf PC's" I read "PC's that use the lowest cost generic components made in the seedier back alleys of Taiwan". A lot of manufacturers and big box stores sell PC's with cheap no-name brand internal components and / or everything built on the motherboard.
I build all my own computers with hand picked, top of the line components from reputable manufacturers with long guarantee periods. Not only do I get a quality computer, but as I put it together I know how to fix it if it breaks. On my current PC I had a DVD burner and video card go futzy on me. Both were replaced at no cost to me. Quality does cost extra, but seldom lets you down in the long run.
[/quote]
Simon -
The whole issue is that you started doing the putz routine on the machine without talking sweetly to it, promising it surge protection (cue the theme from 'Shaft' here) and suddenly it realized that The Man with his hand on the MoBo was really a bad MoFo (raise volume on theme from 'Shaft' here).
Smile, order more premium components, pay the VAT upon arrival and enjoy the world of 64 bit systems!
UP Diver
but most people just call me - Jim."
Gene Wilder, Blazing Saddles
#8
Posted 05 January 2011 - 12:51 PM
Personally, I am waiting for 256 bit Quantum computers that know the answer before I ask the question. hahahahahaSmile, order more premium components, pay the VAT upon arrival and enjoy the world of 64 bit systems!
Tech Support - The hard we do right away; the impossible takes us a little longer...
"I like ponies on no-stop diving. They convert "ARGH!! I'M GOING TO DIE" into a mere annoyance." ~Nigel Hewitt
#9
Posted 05 January 2011 - 01:46 PM
And as far as backups go, HP has a USB external backup drive with a software package called simplesave that automatically backs it up when I connect it.
#10
Posted 05 January 2011 - 01:55 PM
Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
SD LEGACY/OLD/MANUAL Forms & Documents.... here !
Click here TO PAY for Merchandise, Membership, or Travel
"Imitation is the sincerest flattery." - Gandhi
"Imitation is proof that originality is rare." - ScubaHawk
SingleDivers.com...often imitated...never duplicated!
Kamala Shadduck c/o SingleDivers.com LLC
2234 North Federal Hwy, #1010 Boca Raton, FL 33431
formerly...
710 Dive Buddy Lane; Salem, SC 29676
864-557-6079 tel/celfone/office or tollfree fax 888-480-0906
#11
Posted 06 January 2011 - 09:51 AM
I stick with Windows XP... tried and true, all my software works with it, 3-4 GB of RAM is generally plenty for most of what I do. I also have machines running Win 98, Win 95, Win 3.1, DOS and even CP/M. However, they stay in storage until I need the capabilities of them (say to read a 5 1/4" floppy).
As for upgrading component by component, you really have to research what you have and what is out there. With so many different types of RAM, MB sockets, slots, etc., one can easily get stuck with a number of components that simply don't work with one another. To some extent this represents advanced technology (but most people don't need it anyway if they are working just with word processing, spreadsheets and still images), but to a large extent it represents manufacturer "incentives" to upgrade and keep current.
Edited by drbill, 06 January 2011 - 09:57 AM.
#12
Posted 06 January 2011 - 10:04 AM
But if you can stay with what you know...its better.
Contact me directly at Kamala@SingleDivers.com for your private or group travel needs or 864-557-6079 AND don't miss SD's 2018-2021 Trips! ....here! Most are once in a lifetime opportunities...don't miss the chance to go!!
SD LEGACY/OLD/MANUAL Forms & Documents.... here !
Click here TO PAY for Merchandise, Membership, or Travel
"Imitation is the sincerest flattery." - Gandhi
"Imitation is proof that originality is rare." - ScubaHawk
SingleDivers.com...often imitated...never duplicated!
Kamala Shadduck c/o SingleDivers.com LLC
2234 North Federal Hwy, #1010 Boca Raton, FL 33431
formerly...
710 Dive Buddy Lane; Salem, SC 29676
864-557-6079 tel/celfone/office or tollfree fax 888-480-0906
#13
Posted 06 January 2011 - 10:59 AM
Too bad, because our Point of Sale software (which was VERY expensive -- $50K+) will not run on anything higher than WinXP. Get the new POS software version, and I have to replace every piece of computer hardware we own....
Sucks.
#14
Posted 06 January 2011 - 11:09 AM
Edited by peterbj7, 06 January 2011 - 11:10 AM.
#15
Posted 07 January 2011 - 06:41 AM
As far as the latest version of Office it is the latest stepping stone toward leased software and I suspect the next versions will be charged monthly. MS as a corporation needs to generate funds and Office / Windows are two legs of their main income stream. Unless MS changes their closed business model they will not survive the next ten years. Go check their stock price over the last 5 years. It is actually below average now and after the Zune / WinPhone debacles, only Win7 and Kinect are keeping them afloat in the short term.
OpenOffice does everything MS Office does without the drama, overhead and background tasks. It is free and can load / save in MS document formats and many others to boot.
As for going to Mac, sorry Peter, but Apple is more of a closed garden environment than MS. OSX has much less software choice and higher prices than any MS product and if it is not "Officially Approved" software you may have issues with it. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of happy MS/Apple users out there and if it works for you/them then great. However, no OS is perfect and the answer is virtual computing. It is such a wonderful tool. Lets you run copies of any OS (or version) as you need them. It works even better than dual boot PC's as you can access two, three or more OS's simultaneously and exchange info between them. You do need beefy hardware to run it, but a small price to pay for the flexibility and you can run your scanner on WinXP as long as it lasts.
Check out VMWare. Run it on a Linux OS for stability and you can snapshot any major OS to run under it in minutes.
Tech Support - The hard we do right away; the impossible takes us a little longer...
"I like ponies on no-stop diving. They convert "ARGH!! I'M GOING TO DIE" into a mere annoyance." ~Nigel Hewitt
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