So here's my dilema
This is my current PC
Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Socket 478
Asus P4C800
***Geforce 5900 FX Ultra 256 - (The Dilema - AGP)
1 GB Kingston DDR
Maxtor 200 GB IDE
Maxtor 40 GB IDE
BenQ DVD Burner (New)
Definatly not a "Screamer" but all in all a decent system for most games (Plus I usully just Mud anyways on www.dsl-mud.org Dark & Shattered Lands) -insert shameless plug-
I guess first I should tell you why I'm in this predicament. For the past several months my PC has been running like shyte. I figured it was because my nephew downloaded a punch of Porn from Emule and got me all virus & spywared up. But alas I couldn't be so lucky. I formatted both drives and installed WinXP Pro on the 200 GB drive, (Though I never really trusted that drive) then Install went off without a hitch, but on first boot to windows it locked going into windows, I figured it was driver issues so I booted safe mode and tried updating some drivers and it locked again. Now I'm figuring it's the 200 GB drive so I formatted both again, ran checkdisk and installed it back to the 40 GB where I had it installed in the first place, and it seemed to work. I got all the way into windows this time, started downloading drivers and it locked again. Now when I say locked, I meen screen freeze locked. Now I figure it's hardware related and I just put in a new DVD burner so I was rattlin around in my case. Hardware 101 says re-seat everything, so that's what I did. Took everything off the mobo except processor, figured since it's been in place since I built the PC a little over a year ago it'd be perfectly fine. I even took the Mobo out of the case, put everything back in, and started installing windows, but when the PC rebooted during windows installation, it kept telling me new CPU detected, and it wouldn't save bios information. So I figured dead Bios battery. I figure out how to ignore it and continue with installation, get to windows and start a checkdisk running overnight. and it locks again sometime in the middle of the night, reboot again and now it's telling me in the Asus oh so wonderful Post speech reporter "NO CPU INSTALLED" and it dead to the world, long before windows. So I decide to go ahead and reseat everything again including the CPU this time. I take everything out including the CPU... I look at the CPU and one of the pins is bent! Now I am almost 100% certain there's NO way I bent the pin taking the processor out, considering it looked like it was bent down and not off to the side or anything. And I don't know if it's possible for processors to run with a bent pin, it doesn't seem likely but I honestly don't think I bent the pin taking it out, not the way it was bent. So I grabbed a pair of tweezers and tried bending it back straight and pretty much got it... but it was JUST a little off, so I tried a MINOR... LITTLE... TINY... ADJUS... *SNAP* The damn thing broke off, and thus the end of my processor.
Insert Dilema
Now I have a half decent system, with a guaranteed dead processor, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the processor was the problem to begin with.
So... do I spend $100 for a new P4 Socket 478 and hope nothing else was busted (Oh, I don't have any spare CPUs or motherboards with which to test) OR do I go for an LGA775 Intel 805 D mobo/processor combo?
And here's the kicker, My once uber video card is AGP!!! I have about $200 to play around with. Normally hands down it would be go for the upgrade to LGA775, but my video card gives me pause. I don't like doing upgrades to half assed hardware, and from all I've seen every Mobo that has both AGP & PCIe is trash. And if I upgrade to LGA775 I honestly can't seeing doing so with a board that only has AGP, and I don't have the money to go out and get a PCIe.
So... What the hell do I do?!
I need my computer up & running, but I can't justify spending $100 on last gen hardware when I can get nextgen for the same price or cheaper. But at the same time I don't have the cash on hand to go fully nextgen at this time. (Though I guess with Core Duo, LGA775 is now outdated, hehe)
In the noble words of Lilu... Please Help!!
This is my current PC
Pentium 4 2.8 GHz Socket 478
Asus P4C800
***Geforce 5900 FX Ultra 256 - (The Dilema - AGP)
1 GB Kingston DDR
Maxtor 200 GB IDE
Maxtor 40 GB IDE
BenQ DVD Burner (New)
Definatly not a "Screamer" but all in all a decent system for most games (Plus I usully just Mud anyways on www.dsl-mud.org Dark & Shattered Lands) -insert shameless plug-
I guess first I should tell you why I'm in this predicament. For the past several months my PC has been running like shyte. I figured it was because my nephew downloaded a punch of Porn from Emule and got me all virus & spywared up. But alas I couldn't be so lucky. I formatted both drives and installed WinXP Pro on the 200 GB drive, (Though I never really trusted that drive) then Install went off without a hitch, but on first boot to windows it locked going into windows, I figured it was driver issues so I booted safe mode and tried updating some drivers and it locked again. Now I'm figuring it's the 200 GB drive so I formatted both again, ran checkdisk and installed it back to the 40 GB where I had it installed in the first place, and it seemed to work. I got all the way into windows this time, started downloading drivers and it locked again. Now when I say locked, I meen screen freeze locked. Now I figure it's hardware related and I just put in a new DVD burner so I was rattlin around in my case. Hardware 101 says re-seat everything, so that's what I did. Took everything off the mobo except processor, figured since it's been in place since I built the PC a little over a year ago it'd be perfectly fine. I even took the Mobo out of the case, put everything back in, and started installing windows, but when the PC rebooted during windows installation, it kept telling me new CPU detected, and it wouldn't save bios information. So I figured dead Bios battery. I figure out how to ignore it and continue with installation, get to windows and start a checkdisk running overnight. and it locks again sometime in the middle of the night, reboot again and now it's telling me in the Asus oh so wonderful Post speech reporter "NO CPU INSTALLED" and it dead to the world, long before windows. So I decide to go ahead and reseat everything again including the CPU this time. I take everything out including the CPU... I look at the CPU and one of the pins is bent! Now I am almost 100% certain there's NO way I bent the pin taking the processor out, considering it looked like it was bent down and not off to the side or anything. And I don't know if it's possible for processors to run with a bent pin, it doesn't seem likely but I honestly don't think I bent the pin taking it out, not the way it was bent. So I grabbed a pair of tweezers and tried bending it back straight and pretty much got it... but it was JUST a little off, so I tried a MINOR... LITTLE... TINY... ADJUS... *SNAP* The damn thing broke off, and thus the end of my processor.
Insert Dilema
Now I have a half decent system, with a guaranteed dead processor, and I'm still not 100% convinced that the processor was the problem to begin with.
So... do I spend $100 for a new P4 Socket 478 and hope nothing else was busted (Oh, I don't have any spare CPUs or motherboards with which to test) OR do I go for an LGA775 Intel 805 D mobo/processor combo?
And here's the kicker, My once uber video card is AGP!!! I have about $200 to play around with. Normally hands down it would be go for the upgrade to LGA775, but my video card gives me pause. I don't like doing upgrades to half assed hardware, and from all I've seen every Mobo that has both AGP & PCIe is trash. And if I upgrade to LGA775 I honestly can't seeing doing so with a board that only has AGP, and I don't have the money to go out and get a PCIe.
So... What the hell do I do?!
I need my computer up & running, but I can't justify spending $100 on last gen hardware when I can get nextgen for the same price or cheaper. But at the same time I don't have the cash on hand to go fully nextgen at this time. (Though I guess with Core Duo, LGA775 is now outdated, hehe)
In the noble words of Lilu... Please Help!!
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