WinSP MBT: Das Reich

[RecruitMonty]

Interesting idea. Keep them coming.

My machine is on its last legs at the moment. Its an HP Compaq 6730b. So it is quite long in the tooth. I've saved all the important stuff - SPMBT related files etc. As this one likes to over-heat - leading to a BSOD in one case - I'll likely have to get a new machine. Any suggestions?

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by RecruitMonty

I'll likely have to get a new machine. Any suggestions?

What's your budget? I recently put together a computer back in December 2015, and...I'd have to say, avoid build-your-own-PC now.

Apparently there's a 1-2% initial failure rate amongst PC components, so let the PC manufacturer find that out at the factory and fix it, rather than you be the one running back and forth to the nearest MicroCenter for parts.

(What happened was I think I got a motherboard with some bad parts, it could only recognize two out of four sticks of RAM in it; if you put more than 2 sticks in, it failed to boot/POST. If two or less, it booted. I didn't feel like taking everything out of the case to take the mobo out to see if it was bad, so I'll just wait until RAM prices fall enough to upgrade to 32GB (wanted that on four sticks, had to settle for 16GB on two sticks)

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

Apparently there's a 1-2% initial failure rate amongst PC components

To elaborate, an average 1.5% failure rate of components out the box doesn't sound so bad (98.5% Chance of each component working out of the box), but because your average PC needs about 6 to 7 major parts to work (CPU, Graphics Card (if discrete), Motherboard, CPU, RAM Stick 1, RAM stick 2, HDD/SSD, Power Supply), the probability of initial failure adds up quick, reducing your crude odds of everything working out of the box to about 89% or so.

That's...not really good odds to be honest.

[RecruitMonty]

Originally Posted by MarkSheppard

To elaborate, an average 1.5% failure rate of components out the box doesn't sound so bad (98.5% Chance of each component working out of the box), but because your average PC needs about 6 to 7 major parts to work (CPU, Graphics Card (if discrete), Motherboard, CPU, RAM Stick 1, RAM stick 2, HDD/SSD, Power Supply), the probability of initial failure adds up quick, reducing your crude odds of everything working out of the box to about 89% or so.

That's...not really good odds to be honest.

Agreed.

[scorpio_rocks]

Originally Posted by RecruitMonty

I'll likely have to get a new machine. Any suggestions?

Decide what you want to do on it - word processing/winsp,etc or online gaming or whatever; desktop/laptop and buy the best (with the relevant stats) that your budget allows.

These days build your own is, as the other Mark quite rightly says, more of a hassle and in most cases no cheaper than buying from a reputable retailer.

[RecruitMonty]

Thanks for the advice, chaps. Wish me luck!

[MarkSheppard]

If you're buying a laptop, be very careful about what you buy!

They're no longer like 2005 or 2007, with easy-to-unscrew covers over the hard drive, CPU or memory locations, allowing easy upgrades/modernizations of the laptop -- virtually all laptops now shipping are sealed units -- if you want to replace the hard drive (if for example upgrading to a SSD), you have to unscrew the case, and take out the keyboard to get to the HDD cage.

There are still a few laptops that have HDD access ports, but they're the more high end lines, like Lenovo's high end ThinkPads.

So effectively in 2016, assume all laptops you buy are sealed for life units, if you're not able to examine them at the local electronics store for access ports on the bottom.