Tell me how to upgrade my toaster

[JackFlash]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hm! Now I have to decide whether to buy a laptop, buy a used toaster, or build my own.

Is building one really going to save me much money and give a better result? The price range seems similar.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck I would say build your own. The in-store only prices on stuff at microcenter can easily offset any savings you would get from buying a pre-made desktop. Not to mention the bloatware and low level components on base models.

[Doctor Jeff]

Building your own will result in a far better PC than you can get for a laptop or prebuilt at that price.

When you buy a laptop or pre-built PC, it comes with tons of proprietary software, boot managers, and an added cost in the form of whatever the manufacturer decided putting it together was worth.

Additionally, in 2 or 3 years when that new fancy game comes out and you want to upgrade your computer to be able to play on super high quality, you won't be able to with a laptop.

[JackFlash]

^^ Also,

Laptops and gaming (new games) don't really go together for less than 800-1000. Anything cheaper will have integrated graphics as opposed to a dedicated video card which is one of the main factors for laptops sucking at anything graphics intensive.

[CmaN]

Additionally, laptops + gaming = heat. Overall all that heat for extended periods of time can lead to shortened lifespan of all those components packed into a little box [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Daywolf]

Yeah me thinks they are screwing with you. If the system is that bad, it shouldn't even start, or would suddenly reboot w/o warning often (also other obvious signs). You would have a lot worse problems than being a little short on memory which is the very likely case here. I bet that creep doesn't even have an industry recognized tech support cert (not hard to get, but takes effort). I've had idiots try to hustle me in shops etc, it happens, that's a fact. This system should run EQ very well, with just a little more memory.

Now just wanting a new system is something else. But I wouldn't just trash the old one. Me I'd just toss more ram in and drop linux onto it, but that's just me [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Thulack]

Originally Posted by Daywolf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah me thinks they are screwing with you. If the system is that bad, it shouldn't even start, or would suddenly reboot w/o warning often (also other obvious signs). You would have a lot worse problems than being a little short on memory which is the very likely case here. I bet that creep doesn't even have an industry recognized tech support cert (not hard to get, but takes effort). I've had idiots try to hustle me in shops etc, it happens, that's a fact. This system should run EQ very well, with just a little more memory.

Now just wanting a new system is something else. But I wouldn't just trash the old one. Me I'd just toss more ram in and drop linux onto it, but that's just me [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

OP said PC isnt even working anymore in post further down from first one.

[Doctor Jeff]

Originally Posted by Daywolf [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah me thinks they are screwing with you. If the system is that bad, it shouldn't even start, or would suddenly reboot w/o warning often (also other obvious signs). You would have a lot worse problems than being a little short on memory which is the very likely case here. I bet that creep doesn't even have an industry recognized tech support cert (not hard to get, but takes effort). I've had idiots try to hustle me in shops etc, it happens, that's a fact. This system should run EQ very well, with just a little more memory.

Now just wanting a new system is something else. But I wouldn't just trash the old one. Me I'd just toss more ram in and drop linux onto it, but that's just me [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you read the posts, you would know that his PC won't start at all.

Thanks for your sagely advice.

[trite]

Intel 2.8 Ghz Pentium D
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
2 GB of ram - not sure how to tell what type. Is that "seriously low"?
Windows 7 (I always forget if it's 64-bit or 32. Computer is currently fried - having the doc take a look at it tomorrow.)

........your ram count is low by todays standards for sure but the experience you're describing makes me think you didn't install the correct video card drivers and it's running on integrated graphics.....you should install the 64-bit version of windows since your CPU is 64-bit........

http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/99994

if that link doesn't work for you google "GeForce 341.95 Driver"

[Doctor Jeff]

Originally Posted by trite [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Intel 2.8 Ghz Pentium D
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
2 GB of ram - not sure how to tell what type. Is that "seriously low"?
Windows 7 (I always forget if it's 64-bit or 32. Computer is currently fried - having the doc take a look at it tomorrow.)

........your ram count is low by todays standards for sure but the experience you're describing makes me think you didn't install the correct video card drivers and it's running on integrated graphics.....you should install the 64-bit version of windows since your CPU is 64-bit........

http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/99994

if that link doesn't work for you google "GeForce 341.95 Driver"

If you are talking about OP, his power supply failed and fried his motherboard.

[Daywolf]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you read the posts, you would know that his PC won't start at all.

Thanks for your sagely advice.

Or try taking your own advice and read up one post, hah.

--

anyway, imo 2 in 1 is the way to go. f desktops.
ok, so a gaming-ish 2 in 1 will set you back, and a major architecture change is coming to outdate most systems, but still plenty of low cost laptops to be had until then which will still be useful after we reach quantum speeds.