My first post, hello fellow members!
Tech Background:
I don't have any formal education in computers, or technology. I read tech mags, and try to stay current. I've been dreaming of building my own PC -when funds allow- for a very long time, an thus have read a couple books. I think I understand the basics of computer components and how they work.
Blown Capacitors:
My family has an old Dell Dimension 4400 that BSOD after a decade of use [multimedia, World of Warcraft]. It came with indication lights and the documentation claimed it was a RAM issue. We tried refitting the RAM, and also the vid. card but to no avail. Relatives sent us appropriate RAM upgrades, but still no progress. We eventually bought a new PC that following Christmas, leaving this to gather dust. I grew more into tech. and started toying and learning more[optimizing win xp, vista, 7] about the laptops, and PCs we have sitting around. Upon further inspection of the Dell I found two blown capacitors near the CPU. They have a pinky-finger nail measurement of corrosion -or otherwise orange gunk- built up on top of them. Is this likely the reason the PC failed?
Recycling The Dell:
I'd rather build my own rig, than replace the caps. and upgrade the Dell [I can appreciate beggars can't be choosers, but it just seems harder to find compatible parts. (Mid-tower ATX mobo, low profile everything, etc.)]. I probably wouldn't use the CPU/MOBO/Fan [Intel Pentium 4 / ??? / Stock Fan ], vid. card, or RAM [ddr2 i think]. How about the optical drive, HDD [IDE unfortunately], or PSU?
I re-edited this a few times before posting, hopefully making it bearable to read. Any information is greatly appreciated!
Shopping
Additional Info. - First Build:
My impending PC build will be a multimedia rig, leaning towards game use. I've used pcpartpicker and created three ideal builds ranging from $600-$1,100. My latter build consisted of a Amd FX-6300 / Radeon HD 7950, can't remember mobo it was like $70 32gb RAM, Corsair PSU 600w, 8gb RAM, 1tb seagate barracuda hdd, 128gb ssd, legit copy win 8, cheapest full tower case $80 or something, cheapest bluray writable drive, wireless adapter (haha guilty convenience), cheap sound card, cheap mechanical keyboard, and cheap speakers.
My reasoning (I used cpubenchmark for g3d scores and price/performance ratios):
Amd FX-6300 has at least 4 cores (6) and 3.5ghz, good g3d & price/perf ratio
The model Radeon HD 7950 I'm looking at has 2gb memory and a nice g3d score & price/perf ratio
Whatever mobo i picked had 3.0 USB with headers, sata 6, 4x pci slots, 32 max ram
PSU had 150w~ extra breathing room, semi-modular cording, and 80 plus bronze certified
8gb 1333 (I hear that most wont notice the difference between a 18xx and a 1333 speed) RAM for gaming, photoshop processing ( i hear 4gb is for a typical user, 8+ for what i'm looking for)
1tb 7,200rpm seagate barracuda (i'm also an aspiring photographer with a heavy shutter finger)
128gb ssd This is just a luxury for better boot speeds, and snappier access to my fave games
Legit Win 8 I don't care too much for the app style interface, but I hear good things about the speed of file operations, and boot up
Cheapest Full Tower Case; Full size for easier cord management and upgrading. Also, header 3.0 USB, audio in/out. I think there's a side panel too for lights later.
Cheapest Bluray Writable Drive; I enjoy visual media a lot.
Wireless Adapter; I know Ethernet is the way to go competitively in games. Unfortunately my room is on the other side of the house from the router, and there aren't any central coax jacks to reposition the modem for the router.
Cheap Sound Card; I saw they were as cheap as $5. I think I threw in a $20 one. I'm not sure if that's just the same as going without one.
Cheap Speakers just to hear.
Tech Background:
I don't have any formal education in computers, or technology. I read tech mags, and try to stay current. I've been dreaming of building my own PC -when funds allow- for a very long time, an thus have read a couple books. I think I understand the basics of computer components and how they work.
Blown Capacitors:
My family has an old Dell Dimension 4400 that BSOD after a decade of use [multimedia, World of Warcraft]. It came with indication lights and the documentation claimed it was a RAM issue. We tried refitting the RAM, and also the vid. card but to no avail. Relatives sent us appropriate RAM upgrades, but still no progress. We eventually bought a new PC that following Christmas, leaving this to gather dust. I grew more into tech. and started toying and learning more[optimizing win xp, vista, 7] about the laptops, and PCs we have sitting around. Upon further inspection of the Dell I found two blown capacitors near the CPU. They have a pinky-finger nail measurement of corrosion -or otherwise orange gunk- built up on top of them. Is this likely the reason the PC failed?
Recycling The Dell:
I'd rather build my own rig, than replace the caps. and upgrade the Dell [I can appreciate beggars can't be choosers, but it just seems harder to find compatible parts. (Mid-tower ATX mobo, low profile everything, etc.)]. I probably wouldn't use the CPU/MOBO/Fan [Intel Pentium 4 / ??? / Stock Fan ], vid. card, or RAM [ddr2 i think]. How about the optical drive, HDD [IDE unfortunately], or PSU?
I re-edited this a few times before posting, hopefully making it bearable to read. Any information is greatly appreciated!
Shopping
Additional Info. - First Build:
My impending PC build will be a multimedia rig, leaning towards game use. I've used pcpartpicker and created three ideal builds ranging from $600-$1,100. My latter build consisted of a Amd FX-6300 / Radeon HD 7950, can't remember mobo it was like $70 32gb RAM, Corsair PSU 600w, 8gb RAM, 1tb seagate barracuda hdd, 128gb ssd, legit copy win 8, cheapest full tower case $80 or something, cheapest bluray writable drive, wireless adapter (haha guilty convenience), cheap sound card, cheap mechanical keyboard, and cheap speakers.
My reasoning (I used cpubenchmark for g3d scores and price/performance ratios):
Amd FX-6300 has at least 4 cores (6) and 3.5ghz, good g3d & price/perf ratio
The model Radeon HD 7950 I'm looking at has 2gb memory and a nice g3d score & price/perf ratio
Whatever mobo i picked had 3.0 USB with headers, sata 6, 4x pci slots, 32 max ram
PSU had 150w~ extra breathing room, semi-modular cording, and 80 plus bronze certified
8gb 1333 (I hear that most wont notice the difference between a 18xx and a 1333 speed) RAM for gaming, photoshop processing ( i hear 4gb is for a typical user, 8+ for what i'm looking for)
1tb 7,200rpm seagate barracuda (i'm also an aspiring photographer with a heavy shutter finger)
128gb ssd This is just a luxury for better boot speeds, and snappier access to my fave games
Legit Win 8 I don't care too much for the app style interface, but I hear good things about the speed of file operations, and boot up
Cheapest Full Tower Case; Full size for easier cord management and upgrading. Also, header 3.0 USB, audio in/out. I think there's a side panel too for lights later.
Cheapest Bluray Writable Drive; I enjoy visual media a lot.
Wireless Adapter; I know Ethernet is the way to go competitively in games. Unfortunately my room is on the other side of the house from the router, and there aren't any central coax jacks to reposition the modem for the router.
Cheap Sound Card; I saw they were as cheap as $5. I think I threw in a $20 one. I'm not sure if that's just the same as going without one.
Cheap Speakers just to hear.
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