Scourge of War Boards

@LP, are you going to put it together yourself, or buy a pre-assembled one?

@LP, are you going to put it together yourself, or buy a pre-assembled one?

I haven't really decided yet. I guess it all depends on whichever gives me the most bang for my buck. I have heard that building your own isn't really any cheaper then buying pre-assembled like it used to be, just gives you more options for customization.. I just need something with lots of memory, good graphics card, and a firewire card with multiple inputs.

LittlePowell wrote:

The fan starts spinning but no POST.. So I started with replacing the power supply. Nope, same problem. Tried all of your other usual troubleshooting steps (reseating memory, other devices) and same problem, so it must be the motherboard.

My guess is that the CPU is bad. But just like replacing the mobo it's a shot in the dark. If it isn't then you've got an extra CPU. An extra CPU doesn't even make a good paperweight so you might as well buy another mobo to go along with it. Suddenly, you've got half the pieces you need for another computer. You kept that old power supply, didn't you? Even better, they are all the expensive pieces. At this point you might as well finish the job and buy the rest of the parts. Instant home built computer! Now wasn't that an easy decision? :laugh:

LittlePowell wrote:

The fan starts spinning but no POST.. So I started with replacing the power supply. Nope, same problem. Tried all of your other usual troubleshooting steps (reseating memory, other devices) and same problem, so it must be the motherboard.

My guess is that the CPU is bad. But just like replacing the mobo it's a shot in the dark. If it isn't then you've got an extra CPU. An extra CPU doesn't even make a good paperweight so you might as well buy another mobo to go along with it. Suddenly, you've got half the pieces you need for another computer. You kept that old power supply, didn't you? Even better, they are all the expensive pieces. At this point you might as well finish the job and buy the rest of the parts. Instant home built computer! Now wasn't that an easy decision? :laugh:

Not a bad idea.. It's a good power supply, slim, 300 watts. I was just about to send it back, might not now... )

I used to be into building machines and stuff, but I deal with them everyday at work so it's not exactly something I want to do again when I get home.. :laugh:

I'll think about it.

The real problem with pre built machines (In General) is the spec's people don't know much or pay much attention to tend to be far worse.

IE, Power Supplies tend to be far smaller than they should be, it works fine outta the box but as it ages it carries less power and causes other components to fail. Graphics cards tend to also be junk.

I think that building your own is still far cheaper, it's just not as dramatic as it use to be.

I got a i5 2400, 8 GB of Ram upgradable to 32, an Asus Motherboard with LGA 1155 so its upgradable to the new Ivy Bridge, mediocre graphics card, and a 1000 W Power supply for only about 800. A similar PC prebuilt from HP would have been 1,100-1,200 at the time and with a much smaller and more questionable power supply.

Build your own. Definitely the way to go if you have the skills.

B