We were watching a movie on the new monitor a few weeks ago and it was skipping frames. Lauren asked why it was doing that and I said my computer was too slow for the fantastically amazing resolution of the new monitor. She said I should get a new computer.
I actually just changed the resolution on the monitor to something a mere mortal might use, and the movie was fine, but she did say I could get a new computer.
The next day I spent about, no kidding, six hours figuring out what parts to buy. I’m pretty computer geeky, so you might think that I would be up on all that stuff, but the tightwad in me knows that if I start looking at new computer things, I’ll realize how slow mine is and want to buy something new. So I don’t ever look at computer parts unless I’m ready to buy something.
Here’s what I came up with:
- Motherboard: ASUS M4A78T-E $114 (nice enough)
- Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz $104 (overclocked to 3.4GHz)
- Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 4850 1GB $114 (4 times faster than my old one)
- Case: Antec Three Hundred $28 ($54 discount on this & power supply)
- hec Raptor500 $17 (cables are almost too short)
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 250GB $53 (I don’t need this much space)
- Memory: Crucial 4GB $58 (about what I was using before)
- DVD Writer: SAMSUNG SH-S223L $28 (I needed a black one)
Total cost was $517 after shipping (which was only $10) and rebates. If you’re interested in this sort of thing you can read all of the details on the various parts. Most of the parts arrived in a few days, but I had to wait on the stupid DVD burner. I didn’t wait, I started putting it together right away.
The old computer would get incredibly dirty inside (this happens with all computers that sit on the floor unless your house looks like Annette’s house). We decided to raise it up a few inches to keep that from happening so quickly. Lauren thought a basket would look good. I was really pulling for turtles to support it. Since it was about 4 inches higher, the cooling system had to be re-engineered as well.
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Lloyd, “Why don’t you just get a new computer” is a figure of speech – like “Have a nice day”. Nobody really means it.
250GB! Does anybody need that much space?
Don’t they make iPods with 120GB? The cost has very little to do with the size anymore. an 80GB drive was $35 so tripling the size for only palindroming the price seemed reasonable.
Lauren actually uses a fair amount space on her computer with the movies she
throws togetherlovingly crafts.Our iPod is 160GB.
And we only use about 16 GB. Having that extra space makes Karla sleep better at night.
Maybe you could rent it out. Start a little side business. I know I could use about 4GB more on my iPod.
cooling system reengineering… so you moved the fan to the top of the case?
No, the fan came there. I do a little over-clocking (running the CPU faster than the specified speed) and to provide some extra cooling (because that makes the CPU hotter and hotter is bad) I have a little duct work to pipe the air conditioning right into the case.
It was piped into the side of the case at the bottom, but now the bottom is 5 inches higher. Lauren made a little cardboard extension to send the air up and over.
I see; never thought about that before, and we’ve always had troubles of one kind or another with over heating. Generally, when we’re having fan issues, Leo takes the vacuum or blower to it. I just cry… Lauren’s inventions are ingenious!
My mind blew a fuse reading this post! Hey Lloyd…how are you at rewiring brains?
It’s no good. They always overheat.
Well done!! Wow, overclocked to 3.4GHz. I would overclock my computer, but I am afraid that I couldn’t keep it cool enough since it is a laptop.
Some day I will build my own computer, really it is the best way to go. I just need to get over this laptop kick. Plus I haven’t given up on my old windows 98 desktop. Still use it for old games.
That third picture made me a little sick to my stomach!
Is there anything the two of you CAN’T do?
You should have your own TV show on The Discovery Channel.
We can’t hang borders, but we’ve switched to paint, so it doesn’t come up much anymore.
And yards. Can’t do those either.
Picnic tonight at Annette’s….we’ll be eating off the floor!
Wouldn’t cooling the cpu with a liquid carry the heat off better than air does? Lauren could construct a small radiator, coolant lines and a thermostatically controlled fan. Would it be a way to keep dust from accumulating so quickly in the unit? Worth a try?
If Lloyd was awake, I’m sure he’d say that allowing me to construct something that holds water and then allowing me to put it near his precious computer would be a very, very bad idea.
I think it’s genius! I’m on it, Dad! Where are those bendy straws……
Methinks someone is eyeing the mouse with great interest…