posted
Sometime last week or so, I had a serious system meltdown where it was generally percieved that my power supply had eaten it. Previous to this, I spent long hours downloading updates because installing a new video card destabilized my Windows installation and I had to reinstall and re-update via dial-up modem.
Today I was overjoyed that my new power supply had come. I was assured that the other hardware was probably not damaged, so it was my hope that I'd have a fully-operational computer today.
Not so.
The death of my power supply did further damage to another component of my computer. Either the motherboard--or some component therein--is crispy, or the processor is. The current behavior--for the technically inclined--is that after pushing the power button all fans begin spinning, the hard drive lights up (it's quiet, so I assume it's spinning), and everything looks good. Then the processor fan stops (all other fans continue, and the hard drive remains active). Nothing appears on the screen.
I've tried clearing the CMOS and I've tried removing components. Neither gets a different response. I declared Time Of Death at 2:15 PM today, because I ran out of things I could think of to do with it.
The question I ask is this: what do I do? I am presented with a serious choice about what I want to do with this thing. My original intention was to put a little money into this computer until I had the cash to do a serious upgrade to something much nicer. I don't have the cash for a real upgrade, but if I buy a motherboard/processor that's comperable to the dead hardware, I'll feel like I'm spending a lot of money keeping an aging machine alive.
I can survive without a desktop, but I'd rather not. It was my primary computer, with my laptop used mostly to take notes and get work done on the move. I also have a job to think about--I have trouble with holding out for a better machine because I have a job that requires me to do things that I can't on my Mac.
I'm stuck going in circles...
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I'm sorry to hear that your power supply didn't die alone.
Do you any geek friends from whom you could scrounge some old parts? Hopefully, you could at least figure out which part is bad.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
The problem with power supply overloads is that it can effect everything. I'd say just get a new mobo/cpu. You should be able to find something decent for under a hundred dollar at pricewatch.com.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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It does look that way. I'm hoping I can drag together enough money to get a dual-processor Opteron machine or something. I really don't want to downgrade because of a stupid power supply. Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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Why get a dual processor when, from what I understand, very little code is written for it and very little out there really needs it?
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Any AMD 64 would be plenty for your task, single or double.
Re: dual processor, the operating system will split stuff up by process, resulting in a significant speed boost if one is using more than one even moderately intensive application (which, when one application can use all of one processor, is always, since the OS nowadays can get pretty active).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Newer Opterons are based off of the Athlon64 builds, rather than the other way around. The SledgeHammer architecture is found in both the 64-FX chips and Opterons.
I'm looking at a dual-processor setup becuase I do a lot of rendering. Dual-processor machines usually provide a 20-50% speed improvement in rendering tasks. It may not be a big deal for a little render, but I've done 9.5 hour render sessions before, and that was for a fairly simple scene. Cutting that down to 4.5 would make me very happy.
Although the Athlon64's are really nice processors. I hope I can afford one of those, at least. Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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