Motherboard /processor upgrade ?

[Mark]

I would never advise skimping on RAM. Recent (Vista & 7) versions of Windoze are very greedy when it comes to memory.

And a crappy motherboard and PSU.

[Huge]

In 2000, the company I worked for was taken over by another, much larger, one. As IT manager, I was asked by many staff if they could have their PCs. Since our acquirer didn't want them, I had no issue with this (providing the data on them was deleted), but I was told by senior management that there were licensing, tax and H&S issues, so the vast majority went in the crusher.

Prior to that, I had tried to give older machines away to charity, but no-one wanted them - they all wanted up-to-date machines with recent Windows licenses. So they went in the crusher, too.

[tony sayer]

Correct me if I'm wrong but these days isn't all the data held one central servers and the like, and not individual desktop PC's?...

[tony sayer]

I think with olde stuff and machines if you've upped the RAM as much as you can and have removed all the slowing down junk then you're done all you reasonably can...

WOC are good if you live near them and are going by there to pick stuff up, but online suppliers provided you are ordering sufficient to get free on inc carriage can be cheaper..

[polygonum]

Even if that is the design and intent, you cannot preclude some files, caches, etc. containing sensitive information. And the registry...

[Owain]

so a bit like yast or synaptic ;-)

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

and less reliable.

Every time we bought a NON WOC 'cheaper than WOC' computer it turned out to be faulty, and we had to spend man hours trying to get out money back, and in one case we never did.

Phil was always 15% more than the cheapest. Phil has never once failed to get a dysfunctional machine working, or replace faulty parts under warranty. That is a small price to pay.

[The Natural Philosopher]

you would be surprised..windows especially is hard to configure to disallow the users from using 'private' disk space.

[The Natural Philosopher]

:-)

I was about to say that for some values of similarity of hardware all you need to do to clone a linux machine is to copy the entire primary disk partition with DD, put the disk in the new machine and boot. DHCP sorts out its IP address and all you probably need to do is set up a user, and that's it, done.

And in the case of corporations running a proper Unix style network, even that's not necessary, as all the 'home' data is held on a server.

[tony sayer]

What your saying that a hard disk in a sealed pack is less reliable?.

An LCD screen in the same makers box is less reliable?.

A CPU in an Intel sealed box is less reliable.

Yes I do know the firm I go there *sometimes for odd bits like when we need anything in a hurry, but otherwise online from a variety of suppliers.

If they sodded us about like any supplier without good reason then we simply do not go back there!.

It strikes me that these days how easy it is to set up and get going a modern machine!....

• Like PC Wurld is the need is sufficiently pressing;!..

[Steve Firth]

[Huge]

You're wrong. :o)

but these days isn't all the data held one

[The Natural Philosopher]

No what I am saying that the packs and the brands were always those that Phil got the least returns on. He got his fingers burned in the Solidisk days.

But it isn't in the same makers box largely. Its a different brand, or a factory second or a reject.,

It is if you fit it yourself. The WOC guys insert em with antistatic hooked up..and they ALWAYS get the pins straight.

I cant be arsed 'building' computers when for that extra 15% it gets built for me and if its a flop its not my problem.

IF the hardware plays nice, yes. Again been there done that. The graphics card worked fine. The serial parallel port worked fine. The two together in the same motherboard randomly crashed.

I dont need that shit.

Last time I went there to build a server I insisted on loading up Linux. It failed to connect to the Ethernet. Their MB had faulty Ethernet hardware. Changed it in the spot. NO sending back. No 'you must have broken it..there will be a refund fee to cover shipping..we will fix it and send it back' (and the same board comes back again and again unfixed until you give up) - and that WAS brand new in the makers ( Intel) carton.

I needed an NVidia graphics card for this Linux (Nvidia have the best Linux drivers). I walked into PC world and said 'which are the cards with Nvidia chipsets' and will they fit my case?

No one had a clue. I phoned WOC, who looked up the machine I had, got the correct Nvidia card in. took payment on the phone and a friend picked it up on his way past..

[The Natural Philosopher]

that link to the discussions

So

YOU'RE WRONG!

[Bob Eager]

Didn't you once say yu helped a friend set up WOC?

[John Rumm]

Depends on how it has been handled. I have used suppliers in the past that supplied new disks in a jiffy bag! (as opposed to the proper shock protecting padded drive boxes)

Unlikely

If its been installed in an Asrock motherboard rather than the Asus one you might have specced yourself, then yes.

Build quality also varies - one that has been sensibly put together with all lose cables neatly bundled and tied down will likely arrive with them all still connected even after the courier has used the box for a game who can drop kick the furthest, whereas one that is an internal birds nest might not.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I helped by buying a lot of stuff - I only occasionally worked with Phil on some major installations.

I was never a shareholder partner or employee. But we are sort of still casual occasional friends.

I admire what he built.

>

[Bob Eager]

a.k.a. CPC - who leave them loose in a big box with a load of other stuff

- well, quite often anyway.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

No, it was common at that point, plenty of people did it. Earlier Dell installations were a pig though, refusing to install unless they saw a Dell flag in the BIOS or elsewhere. '98 and W2K stand out in my memory for that.

[John Rumm]

I think an outfit called A2Z was the worst I found - literally posting in a jiffy bag with no other protection. At least with CPC you get a box

- just remember not to order a club hammer in the same order ;-)