Computer died, bld a new one or buy?

[Amompharetus]

My computer died. When I hit the power button it turns on for about 3 or 4 seconds and then dies. A light on the mobo remains on So I figure its time for a new computer. Here is the catch, about a month ago I just invested in an extra 1 gig of DDR400 RAM and a new SATA hard disk and a new dvd-rw player.

I figure its either my mo-bo or my 3.2 pentium 4 that is dead, but since I have $800 budget, I can either get a stripped down computer, or try to rebuild using the parts I have.

Q1 - My fear is that if I replace both the mobo and cpu, the OS wont work anymore. Does anyone know for sure if the OS will continue working?

Q2 - I now have 1.5 gigs of DDR4 RAM, should I buy a mobo that can utilize that or start over with a mobo that uses better RAM?

Q3 - I asked this question else where, but 7600 GS and 6800 XT are both available for the same price, which should I go for?

Q4 - I was thinking of going for the Athlon 4.2 X2 just because I cheer for the underdog. I know my reasoning is crap, but is this a bad choice for the budget?

Thanks!

[Custor]

Q1 - My fear is that if I replace both the mobo and cpu, the OS wont work anymore. Does anyone know for sure if the OS will continue working?

Q2 - I now have 1.5 gigs of DDR4 RAM, should I buy a mobo that can utilize that or start over with a mobo that uses better RAM?

Q3 - I asked this question else where, but 7600 GS and 6800 XT are both available for the same price, which should I go for?

Q4 - I was thinking of going for the Athlon 4.2 X2 just because I cheer for the underdog. I know my reasoning is crap, but is this a bad choice for the budget?
Thanks!

If your PC boots without error beeps then the CPU shouldn't be dead. Check your mobo manual troubleshooting section for error message beeps.
Can you get into the bios?
Have you tried another power supply?
Try booting with only 1 mem stick.

1. If your HD is fine (it should be) then the OS will be ok. I take it you bought the PC pre installed and dont have the disks?
2. Start over tbh. DDR2 is standard on both AMD and Intel now.
3. Benchmark the two cards - ATI X600XT and NVidia 7600GS on sites such as http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics/charts.html and make your own mind up.
4. Yes bad choice. AMD is worth it on budget machines only. Everyhting else the 6300 kicks it's arse. Buy AMD when they bring out the better product.

[Arakorn]

3. Benchmark the two cards - ATI X600XT and NVidia 7600GS on sites such as http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics/charts.html and make your own mind up.

He meant the 7600GS or the Nvidia 6800XT, not any Ati crap

[Amompharetus]

If your PC boots without error beeps

No, it doesnt boot.

Can you get into the bios?

No.

Have you tried another power supply?

No, I dont have access to one.

Try booting with only 1 mem stick.

Already tried it, but will cycle through all of my mem sticks.

I take it you bought the PC pre installed and dont have the disks?

I have the disks.

Start over tbh. DDR2 is standard on both AMD and Intel now.

OK

Benchmark the two cards . . . and make your own mind up.

Roger captain!

Yes bad choice.

Thanks!

[Erik]

My computer died. When I hit the power button it turns on for about 3 or 4 seconds and then dies. A light on the mobo remains on So I figure its time for a new computer. Here is the catch, about a month ago I just invested in an extra 1 gig of DDR400 RAM and a new SATA hard disk and a new dvd-rw player.

Have you tried stripping down your computer to it's bare essentials to find out where the real problem is?

Take out every PCI card (keep your graphics card), remove all your RAM except for one stick and disconnect all your drives.
Then see if your computer works, ie: if you can access the BIOS.

If it's not working replace your RAM with a different stick and try again.
Still nothing? then you at least know it's one of the remaining components (powersupply, CPU, graphics card or mobo).

If you manage to bring your computer back to live you just need to insert components one by one until it goes wrong.
But keep in mind that it's also possible your powersupply can't handle the current (computers use most power during start-up, that's what makes it a likely candidate to fail after a few second)

I figure its either my mo-bo or my 3.2 pentium 4 that is dead, but since I have $800 budget, I can either get a stripped down computer, or try to rebuild using the parts I have.

Why replace parts that are working fine?

Q1 - My fear is that if I replace both the mobo and cpu, the OS wont work anymore. Does anyone know for sure if the OS will continue working?

You OS wil keep working.
It might ask you to install some new drivers or to register with microsoft again, but that's it.

[quote]
Q2 - I now have 1.5 gigs of DDR4 RAM, should I buy a mobo that can utilize that or start over with a mobo that uses better RAM?
[/quote

That's a good one.
DDR2 is hardly any better than DDR.
It has faster fransfer rates but slower access times.
So I wouldn't switch from DDR400 to DDR2/533.

But if your going to buy a new processor as well as a new mobo you might want the newest mobo available, and sadly that means switching to DDR2.

You could always sell your old DDR on e-bay of course.

Q3 - I asked this question else where, but 7600 GS and 6800 XT are both available for the same price, which should I go for?

I don't know, haven't followed the graphics card battle much lately.
Just check some reviews and benchmarks.
tomshardware.com is always a good source.

Q4 - I was thinking of going for the Athlon 4.2 X2 just because I cheer for the underdog. I know my reasoning is crap, but is this a bad choice for the budget?

Thanks!

That is a bad reason.
I cheer for the underdog too but only because I want the competition to last, I would always buy the best product.

According to tomshardware here: http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...=464&chart=195
it has a good price/performance index.
But the intel Core2 Duo E6400 is faster and has a better price/performance index and doesn't cost much more I beleive.

[Amompharetus]

But the intel Core2 Duo E6400 is faster and has a better price/performance index and doesn't cost much more I beleive.

And a hundred bucks more here in Japan. Maybe I can find a better price somewhere.

[Custor]

Hadn't seen the XT before. A cut down version of the 6800 vanilla or a higher clocked version of the LE. Performance wise a little weird.

Going to break my own rules and advise on a more expensive card. I'd hold out for the 7600GT tbh. My price listings being 7600GS £72.84 vs. 7600GT £88.11 Not a massive difference. GT version gives approx 25% improvement in FPS.
or
Buy a card 2nd hand from someone.

[Lee1026]

I would use skt 939, because then you will get to keep your ram.

[Darkragnar]

Its your RAM thats the problem, how many Chips have u got ? a single 1 GB chip or 2-512 MB ones?
Try replaceing ur RAM with another one, if you dont have any extra chips then borrow one from your mates and then see if your computer is starting or not.
Also if it start's with another RAm then i suggest that u check with your vedor he might have give faulty RAM accidentaly.

[Bella]

stay away from high-density ram. nothing but trouble. of course, your ram stick could have been DOA and is not allowing you to post. it happens. i highly doubt it was your cpu though. pentiums are very reliable, albeit not very powerful. but very dependable.

as for buy vs. build, definitely build. you'll get much more bang for half the buck as long as you know what you're doing when you start piecing everything together.

[Amompharetus]

Its your RAM thats the problem

I have four boards, two of which are new DDR400 512 mb boards.
When the computer first starting having this problem, I took out both new boards and one of the old ones, my video card, my sound card, my dvd players and my floppy drive. It still didnt start up.

I will give it another try with a different board in.

[Custor]

If it dosen't boot at all and dosen't even tell you what the problem is - ie bad graphics card, ram etc error beeps then that to me would suggest it's the mobo or CPU. Neither of which is an easy test if you've not got a second PC to switch part with.
One last check - if you are a competent PC builder take the mobo out of your case and try booting it with just RAM, graphics and CPU installed.
If not a competent PC builder have a look for any screws ewtc that may of fallen down the back of teh mobo and may be shorting your Mobo to the case.

[Amompharetus]

If it dosen't boot at all and dosen't even tell you what the problem is - ie bad graphics card, ram etc error beeps then that to me would suggest it's the mobo or CPU.

my supposition as well.

if you are a competent PC builder take the mobo out of your case and try booting it with just RAM, graphics and CPU installed.

I have tried booting it with just the mobo, ram and cpu. why would taking it out of the case before booting make a difference?

If not a competent PC builder have a look for any screws ewtc that may of fallen down the back of teh mobo and may be shorting your Mobo to the case.

Will do.

Thanks!