My Computer Broke - Bye for a while

[Mudder]

So my computer broke about a week and a half ago. My friend (My computer tech) told me it'd cost more to replace the old parts than to just rebuild a better computer, so that's probably what i'll do but I won't get the $ until near the end of the month.

You kids probably won't see much of me at all until a little after July 5th.

[savnt]

what parts do you need? i will be throwing away alot over the next week and have parts up the wazoo

[Guest emp_newb]

I have extra motherboard, harddrive, video card(agp), prolly well over 1024 megs of ram, and other random crap.

[Dale]

let me get the ram emp.

[BigMac]

If your friend said that replacing failed components is more expensive than building a new PC... he's either planning on building a pile, or your computer was struck by lightning and you've got multiple failed components. Regardless, I wouldn't trust anyone who said that. Maybe I can help diagnose.

What kind of motherboard do you have? What kind of RAM do you have? What kind of processor (slot type)?

What happened to the system? What's it do when you try to power it up? Does it give any video at all? Does it beep at you? If so, in what pattern?

[Guest emp_newb]

also, I did not really read much into the post other than bad parts, but bigmac is def right, unless your running CREAM of the crop, or a laptop, new parts should not be more than new computer.

DDR ram is all I have dale, toss me an address and Ill ship it wrapped in wool socks.

[EyeSeeU]

are you serious, ofcourse it costs more money to replace things then to just buy it new, you gotta pay for labor. take a dvd player for instance maybe cost 250-300 new, but to fix it you'd probably pay around the same amount. I would think the same applies for anything electronic nowadays.

U can get a brand new computer thats pretty much around top of the line for like 500 bucks.

[goldbond]

Intel prepping computer-chip price cuts: report

Last Update: 1:37 PM ET Jun 12, 2007

INTC22.35, +0.42, +1.9%) , the world's largest chipmaker, is reportedly planning to cut prices on some its computer chips in July and September, a move that may put more pressure on Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD : Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. INTC22.35, +0.42, +1.9%) intends to cut prices on its Core 2 Quad processors by 50% and some of its Core 2 Duo processors by 24% to 32%, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy declined to confirm or deny the price cuts, citing company policy. "We do price cuts routinely," Mulloy said. "We cut prices to make room at the high end of the product line." Intel is slated to roll out a new chip family, called "Penryn," this fall. The processors will increase computing performance by 15% to 40% over its current chip line up. AMD, which is fighting renewed pressure from Intel, also plans to launch new processor families, called "Barcelona" and "Phenom." Intel shares rose almost 2% to $22.31 in midday trading.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/intel-prepping-computer-chip-price-cuts/story.aspx?guid=%7B1EAF38BA%2DBDEE%2D4AD3%2DB562%2D9E15AFE5A393%7D

looks like your comp broke at a really good time, especially if you intend to build

[BigMac]

are you serious, ofcourse it costs more money to replace things then to just buy it new, you gotta pay for labor. take a dvd player for instance maybe cost 250-300 new, but to fix it you'd probably pay around the same amount. I would think the same applies for anything electronic nowadays.

U can get a brand new computer thats pretty much around top of the line for like 500 bucks.

You're wrong about that. A sweeping general statement about "electronics" is just something that begs to be ripped apart. All electronic devices are different; some are complex, some are simple. Most older computer hardware can be replaced for dirt cheap. In the DVD Player vs Computer argument, the DVD player would be more expensive to build because most of the components are going to be proprietary. Computer hardware is made by thousands of vendors, and most vendors make things that will work fine with other vendors' hardware. Also, why pay for labor? That's like paying someone to put your Ikea table together. It's all very simple stuff, it just takes a bit of patience and research if you've never done it before.

Intel prepping computer-chip price cuts: report

Last Update: 1:37 PM ET Jun 12, 2007

INTC22.35, +0.42, +1.9%) , the world's largest chipmaker, is reportedly planning to cut prices on some its computer chips in July and September, a move that may put more pressure on Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD : Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. INTC22.35, +0.42, +1.9%) intends to cut prices on its Core 2 Quad processors by 50% and some of its Core 2 Duo processors by 24% to 32%, Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy declined to confirm or deny the price cuts, citing company policy. "We do price cuts routinely," Mulloy said. "We cut prices to make room at the high end of the product line." Intel is slated to roll out a new chip family, called "Penryn," this fall. The processors will increase computing performance by 15% to 40% over its current chip line up. AMD, which is fighting renewed pressure from Intel, also plans to launch new processor families, called "Barcelona" and "Phenom." Intel shares rose almost 2% to $22.31 in midday trading.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/intel-prepping-computer-chip-price-cuts/story.aspx?guid=%7B1EAF38BA%2DBDEE%2D4AD3%2DB562%2D9E15AFE5A393%7D

looks like your comp broke at a really good time, especially if you intend to build

The interesting thing there is what AMD is doing. I <3 my AMD processor, and I honestly don't think I'll ever buy an Intel processor again (as long as I can help it). AMD processors tend to be faster, cheaper, cooler, and they take more kindly to being overclocked. Intel seems to squeeze their products for numbers, and sacrifice performance for something that looks good on the sticker that's platsered on to the front of your E-Machine.

AMD FTW.

[EyeSeeU]

I was saying if you were taking your computer to go get it fixed your paying for labor and in all honesty whatever parts they fix plus their labor would probably be just as much money for a new dell. Oh and just so you know dvd technology is dirt cheap just like computer stuff. Which brings me back to where I started... Labor is expensive and thats why you should in most cases when dealing with electronics, just buy it new.

[goldbond]

but the comical thing is, that expensive "labor" is more often than not something I can already do, and so can most all of my friends who've never even worked in the field. well, 2 of them did briefly. thing is, this labor is almost common knowledge now to so many people, that it's overpriced.

i live in a mid-sized city, we had 3 computer repair/build/consult shops until a year ago. now we have 1... and it's not the busiest enterprise in town but it's making it. people realized that they can do a lot of this crap on their own.

[Mudder]

Well my computer tech friend is lending me one of his computers until I get myself situated with a new one.

About my old broken computer... It is an old gateway that my family bought in '97. When it boots up it says something is missing... I forget the exact message. I'll check it later and let you know.

But in the end, it says it cannot find the operating system. It's a harddrive problem my friend said and that the parts aren't made anymore and would be expensive. *shrug* I dunno. I'll get you the details when im not dead tired.

Thanks for all the replies though! I just checked back today.