Computer totally dead.

[Julio Jerez]

It could not be a worse time than now.
this morning I found me PC dead with all king of re led on and flashing.
I have this pc for more than 10 years, and I have made few updates, but I had a good run.
I guess is about time I get a more modern one. with many cores.
but with the uncertainty, It make one hesitate to spent few thousands dollar on a PC.

[Dave Gravel]

I got this problem many times from my old computers.
Major part of the times the power supply become fail or inflated capacitors on the motherboard.
I have already get some luck too by removing all pc cards and the cpu.
After have removing all I try to power on the pc without devices and I do a bios reset and after I replace only the cpu and the memory.
If it boot I replace all other devices.
If you have a other power supply it is always good to test this first.
One of the most basic problem too is the motherboad battery...

It make one hesitate to spent few thousands dollar on a PC.

Yes I understand you.
My brother asking me to build him a computer setup similar to my current setup.
My current setup is close to 2 years old and when I have finish to build my brother computer I have seen the price is around 600-700$ higher of what I have pay 2 years before.
It's not the best time for buy a new computer with all problems from this pandemic time.

I wishes the best for you and all users in this bad times it's nothing easy.

[Slick]

I find that often if you source your parts and put it together you can get a good setup for less. There are sites that show people's builds with links to where to get all the parts. I generally get the generation behind on video cards.

[lewd]

Get older parts if you don't want to spend a lot. Moore's law is over, it won't be that much of a difference. There is less of a gap between a 2015 and 2020 computer than there was between 2005 and 2010.

[misho]

I feel your pain, Julio.

I am working on a 7 year old computer with a mid-range chip/mobo even for that time (2013), but I did upgrade video card to NVIDIA 1060. I still get ~60 fps with my project, when I test, but with all graphics fx full tilt, it goes down to ~30 fps. I love developing on an older rig - it exposes all the deficiencies and when I have a chance to run it on a powerful setup, it really shines!

That being said, I will have to pull a $3000-$5000 (Canadian) trigger soon ... I need it to make promo videos, test the VR headgear, and of course, personal enjoyment.

I am seriously looking at getting Dell Alienware gamer rig....

[Julio Jerez]

I went to Fry's electronics for a repair, but the store is now only open for delivery.
Boy this was such bad timing.

[JoeJ]

Last summer did the 'update' to Ryzen 2700 + cheap mainboard + Vega56 GPU + 16GB ram, and it was only 600 euros IIRC. Put the stuff in existing case and kept PSU as well.

I'm happy. CPU is not the fastest they say but i get nice speedups of factor 7 vs. single threaded. That's all i need to feel 'up to date'.

[Dave Gravel]

Here I have the 2700x and with good bios setup the speed is very nice. I have a full gaming pro Asus motherboard. For a lower cost the ryzen 5 3600x is very good too. For my 2 years old ryzen7 2700x + nv1060gtx it have cost around 1600$ Canadian for the whole setup. The most important with ryzen for use all cores at full speed you need to install a water cooling. The air cooler is not good for full processing task. I have try last week to build the same computer for my brother and the price going around 2100$. I have remake the setup but with a ryzen 5 3600x for around 1400$
I think it is pretty good for the current pandemic situation and the speed is good too for the price.

[JernejL]

RIP your pc, i bet it was a good battlestation. I had something similar happen in 2017 with my old system - motherboard died. I then built a mini-itx 1st gen ryzen which at that time was brand new, this is a 8 core 16 thread monster with 16gb ram and the whole thing was kinda cheap and will hopefully last me next 10 years. AMD definetly brought in really good processors, increased core counts and halved CPU cost.

I'm right now planning to build a mini-STX system ( with https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskM ... cification ) and a quad core cpu for htpc server, and have calculalated cost to come at around 350 euros ( ~380 usd ) with 1/3 cost going for hard drives. In usa i assume this would be even cheaper as pc components are cheaper.

[Julio Jerez]

did you say 380 usd?
how can you build a system for that amount of money. when a cpu cost more than that?
I just had a call from a repair shop that said they will come to pick up the pc. the diagnostic is $99.00 up front.
here all those kind of businesses are considered no essential and a re close for in person, so every thing is but phone.
I will let then to see if they can repair it. but I think is will almost cost as mush as building a new one from scratch.

[JernejL]

380 for a htpc build with 4 core ryzen with embedded graphics.

What kind of cpu were you looking for 380 usd? You can get a threadripper for that in europe:

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info ... 79063.html

If your psu is good and you are building pcs then you can get super decent ryzen cpu, mobo and ddr4 ram under 400, unless you maybe have old ram you can use. I guess that your gpu is probably still good too?

Where in usa do you live? I thought pc components are super cheap in usa, do you have a microcenter nearby?

[Julio Jerez]

ryzen 7 thirst generation is liste at 330

AMD - Ryzen 7 3800X 3rd Generation 8-Core - 16-Thread - 3.9 GHz (4.5 GHz Max boost) Socket AM4 Unlocked Desktop Processor

and that's no even the lates which is the one with 12 cores whi si 400.00
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/amd-ryzen-7-3800x-3rd-generation-8-core-16-thread-3-9-ghz-4-5-ghz-max-boost-socket-am4-unlocked-desktop-processor/6356636.p?skuId=6356636&ref=212&loc=1&ref=212&loc=1&msclkid=a5d1521bc8ca1a8b0b4d0cd67c1401b7&gclid=CKeU6bDl0ukCFQx2fgod0_0Bog&gclsrc=ds
the is California, but I believe is the same every where.

thread ripper is too expensive because it requires too many extra expensive accessories like special coolinga nd power supply.

a repair shop is coming to pic the system up this Friday, let us see what the say.

[JoeJ]

This thread confirms again only gamers can afford the new and hot stuff

[espresso]

These days it has become somewhat popular to build a gaming machine from a refurbished desktop tower Dell Optiplex 3020, 7020 or 9020 (the latter may be best) and there are instructionals around the net. Some have a fast i7 and there are decent GPUs that will fit.
This DIY build should save a lot of expense and still perform with games.
Happy hunting?

[FSA]

Did you try resetting the CMOS/BIOS? It may become corrupted over time. Also remove every SATA drive from MB after CMOS reset and see if it POSTs.
You also dont have to spend few thousand dollars on a new PC. The most expensive part right now is the GPU, so if you continue using your old one, you can get a really good machine for 1200$.
I just build my new machine with i9 10850k, 2TB SSD+NVME and paid about 1600$. And this is Germany, we pay 20% more then the rest of the world