Monday, January 11, 2010
Computer Destruction and Upgrade
My computer is fried.
I'm not exactly sure what happened, or how. But it's dead. Probably the motherboard, possibly the CPU. It's had a tendency to fry video cards since it was new. Maybe it heard me talking to my wife last week about how much longer I was going to put up with it before replacing it. It knew its days were numbered, and committed suicide.
The replacement is ordered. I think the hard drive should be okay, which is important to me, as that's got several days of Frayed Knights development on it which I don't have backed up yet (I was gonna do that Tuesday). Hopefully the replacement will arrive by the time I get back from Puerto Rico.
Ordering the replacement left me musing a bit about gaming PCs. Once upon a time, I built all of my new PCs myself. But these days, the discount gaming PC shops do a pretty reasonable job for really not much more than it would cost to build my own. Plus the old local hardware shops where I used to acquire my parts - and ask questions, since the technology had always changed every time I built a new PC - have largely gone the way of the dodo.
Back in the 90's, I'd get a new machine every three years or so, though I'd perform an intermediate upgrade in-between new systems where I'd swap in a new CPU, maybe add more memory, or whatnot. Back then (we're talking the 1990s, mostly), performance was based heavily on CPU speed, cache, memory speed, and video card (I really liked Matrox cards back in the SVGA era....). The most powerful of all-of-the-above would leave you capable of playing the newest games at reasonable framerates for about two years.
Nowadays, while all that remains important, it's mainly about the video card. Perhaps physics hardware may become a new bottleneck, but not yet. CPU clock speeds have all but hit a wall, and most games do not take advantage of dual-core or quad-core architecture. Having plenty of fast RAM helps, but the extra cores and RAM really helps the most by letting you with background tasks.
My now-deceased machine cost me over $1600 just four years ago, and I was planning on keeping it around another year. It was always a little quirky, having burned out three video cards (the first two were SLI-linked NVidia 6800s) and giving me a few other issues. It wasn't totally bleeding-edge, but it was a solid gaming rig when new. I tried not to think too hard about how machines at half the price could run circles around it only three years later.
Which is how much I'm paying for its replacement.
On a dollars-per-year perspective, buying a machine that costs twice as much that might only give you an extra 18 months of useful service before becoming obsolete isn't a great incredibly efficient. And while we're getting some games that demand cutting-edge machines, it's not like the 90's where you'd get several games each year that totally redefined gaming and demanded near-top-of-the-line hardware. And since I'm such an indie-game and retro-gaming fan, I'm very rarely running into hardware limits as it is. Though maybe I can finally pick up a cheap copy of Crysis and see what that was all about...
I can see the appeal of consoles. A $500 machine every five years is a lot cheaper.
But on the brightest side of all - hopefully the new machine will have no problem running Fallout 3. I could never play it more than about fifteen minutes straight on the old system. And often less than five minutes.
Labels: Geek Life
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:03 AM (Permalink)
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Yeah, upgrading PC's has always been a bit of a pitfall trap... requiring time and knowledge. These days, I'm glad I have a second (and now a third) computer handy to check the Internet for advice on things while I'm performing hardware surgery.
My brother upgraded he and his wife's computer about nine months ago. When they hooked everything up, nothing happened. No post, nothing. He called me in a panic and I downloaded the motherboard manual off the net and gave it a look. Then I asked him about his power supply. It turned out he had been running on an older supply in a new case, which could no longer meet the power requirements for a quad-core design. A quick trip to Best Buy, a new power supply installed, and everything started up smoothly.
It could be worse, you don't need a soldering iron anymore to do this kind of stuff. And modern hardware also has a LOT of fail-safes to prevent permanent damage or, worse, a fire from occurring if something goes wrong. I had a side fan die on me recently, and my case let out a horrendous screeching beep every time it sensed the fan was slowing down... never mind that it's main purpose was to circulate air in the case, it was hollering to let me know something was wrong.
But yeah, given the amount of money a good gaming PC rig costs, even in spare parts bought on Newegg, a decent game console is a better deal. I'm surprised we still even HAVE a PC game market.
My brother upgraded he and his wife's computer about nine months ago. When they hooked everything up, nothing happened. No post, nothing. He called me in a panic and I downloaded the motherboard manual off the net and gave it a look. Then I asked him about his power supply. It turned out he had been running on an older supply in a new case, which could no longer meet the power requirements for a quad-core design. A quick trip to Best Buy, a new power supply installed, and everything started up smoothly.
It could be worse, you don't need a soldering iron anymore to do this kind of stuff. And modern hardware also has a LOT of fail-safes to prevent permanent damage or, worse, a fire from occurring if something goes wrong. I had a side fan die on me recently, and my case let out a horrendous screeching beep every time it sensed the fan was slowing down... never mind that it's main purpose was to circulate air in the case, it was hollering to let me know something was wrong.
But yeah, given the amount of money a good gaming PC rig costs, even in spare parts bought on Newegg, a decent game console is a better deal. I'm surprised we still even HAVE a PC game market.
About 4 years ago I started buying laptops for personal use. (The kids still have a PC they use). I've never regretted it. For a few dollars more you get a portable system that runs everything but the bleeding edge games.
Besides, it's a great way to keep your dev work in front of you. You can do work in bed, in the living room, and even while travelling. (I've been tempted to do some coding during lunch at work, but I've avoided that for various legal reasons. :))
Currently I am using a 17" MacBook Pro, but I run Windows XP on it more than anything else so far. :)
Besides, it's a great way to keep your dev work in front of you. You can do work in bed, in the living room, and even while travelling. (I've been tempted to do some coding during lunch at work, but I've avoided that for various legal reasons. :))
Currently I am using a 17" MacBook Pro, but I run Windows XP on it more than anything else so far. :)
I have an Acer home theatre PC which came supposedly ready-to-run and looks very nice but gave me a lot of trouble over the last 3.5 years - especially because of Windows Media Center.
A self-built system would not have save me that kind of trouble but it would have been cheaper, way more flexible and I could replace parts more easily (and cheaper).
The next one I'll build myself - that much is certain.
My 2009 notebook is more of a mobile extension of my main PC. It runs Vista and while lowcost it is actually quiet nice (matte panel, not too loud). It's Intel graphics give it practically zero gaming capabilities but I can live with that. It's more of a mobile work horse and I would buy something like that again.
For my main PC I'll always use components - at least as long as this is possible - and build it myself. Yes it takes more time (incl. the accumulation of knowledge) but it's worth it in the long run: I get exactly the components and the performance I want, it's as quiet as I want and it's a clean system without gobs of unnecessary software pre-installed. It's also very satisfying to configure something and discover that it works well.
I have my current system since early 2008 and it's capable of running Crysis (not as bad as some say!) well until the last stage brings it to it's knees (you'll see what I mean...).
Only problem is that most of what I play is old stuff so I don't plan on upgrading soon. Perhaps when Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3 are on the shelves?
I definitely agree on the advantage of modern consoles as all of the non-bargain-bin games I bought in 2009 were for either the PS3 or the Nintendo DS(lite).
A self-built system would not have save me that kind of trouble but it would have been cheaper, way more flexible and I could replace parts more easily (and cheaper).
The next one I'll build myself - that much is certain.
My 2009 notebook is more of a mobile extension of my main PC. It runs Vista and while lowcost it is actually quiet nice (matte panel, not too loud). It's Intel graphics give it practically zero gaming capabilities but I can live with that. It's more of a mobile work horse and I would buy something like that again.
For my main PC I'll always use components - at least as long as this is possible - and build it myself. Yes it takes more time (incl. the accumulation of knowledge) but it's worth it in the long run: I get exactly the components and the performance I want, it's as quiet as I want and it's a clean system without gobs of unnecessary software pre-installed. It's also very satisfying to configure something and discover that it works well.
I have my current system since early 2008 and it's capable of running Crysis (not as bad as some say!) well until the last stage brings it to it's knees (you'll see what I mean...).
Only problem is that most of what I play is old stuff so I don't plan on upgrading soon. Perhaps when Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3 are on the shelves?
I definitely agree on the advantage of modern consoles as all of the non-bargain-bin games I bought in 2009 were for either the PS3 or the Nintendo DS(lite).
# posted by 
: January 11, 2010 2:02 PM
: January 11, 2010 2:02 PM
RC, Mind posting the specs/hardware on your new rig? My machine is about 4 years old and still going strong, but I'm curious what one can get for $500.
screeg
screeg
# posted by : January 12, 2010 10:03 AM
: January 12, 2010 10:03 AM
It was $700, actually, but I'm getting a system with the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8500 (3.16 Ghz x2, 6 MB L2 cache), 4 gigs of RAM, 750 gig HD, 1 Gig NVidia GForce 9800, 700 watt power supply, DVD-R, flash card reader (! It was standard and cheap), and... wait for it... a 1.44 meg 3.5" floppy drive. Just 'cuz. I got it without an OS installed, as I'm going to be using my old 300 gig HD as the primary.
Not exactly top-of-the-line bleeding edge, but it should be more than enough. Although I still can't believe I didn't pony up for a terrabyte hard drive. Just 'cuz, you know, it's a TERRABYTE. Although I'll have a little more than 1 Tb between the two drives.
Not exactly top-of-the-line bleeding edge, but it should be more than enough. Although I still can't believe I didn't pony up for a terrabyte hard drive. Just 'cuz, you know, it's a TERRABYTE. Although I'll have a little more than 1 Tb between the two drives.
Did you buy the 700-watt-PSU to be future proof? Your config will run fine with much less (500 watts is more than sufficient).
And, yes, you should slap yourself about the "terrabyte" harddrive: Somebody got rid of a 750 and you saved perhaps 10 bucks.
The Intel E8-series are strong overclockers by the way!
My E8400 runs at 3.6 GHz instead 3.0 since day one (March 2008), albeit with a good, silent air cooler (Scythe Mugen).
You might be able to "get your money back" by overclocking the CPU into the next speed rating... ;)
And, yes, you should slap yourself about the "terrabyte" harddrive: Somebody got rid of a 750 and you saved perhaps 10 bucks.
The Intel E8-series are strong overclockers by the way!
My E8400 runs at 3.6 GHz instead 3.0 since day one (March 2008), albeit with a good, silent air cooler (Scythe Mugen).
You might be able to "get your money back" by overclocking the CPU into the next speed rating... ;)
Your computer clearly heard that mine had given up the ghost and decided to accompany it to Silicon Heaven. At least you got your new one faster than I did.
@Calibrator - Yeah, I have a tendency to add additional junk to my comp. Which has caused me power supply issues *once*. And it also causes heat issues, which causes me to add additional cooling - which sucks down yet more power.
I figured 700 watt was probably an overkill. But it was like $10 more than a 600 watt, so I took it.
The hard drive upgrade was a slightly beefier chunk of money, but in retrospect an extra 250 gig would probably have been worth the extra - what - $30 or $40? But considering I only RECENTLY (after four years) started running into space issues on my 300 gig HD, I'm probably still in good shape. That;s the longest I remember ever going before running out of HD space...
@Space Bumby - We'll see. I don't have it yet :) But I can't run my business very well on this laptop. So it was kind of a critical purchase.
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I figured 700 watt was probably an overkill. But it was like $10 more than a 600 watt, so I took it.
The hard drive upgrade was a slightly beefier chunk of money, but in retrospect an extra 250 gig would probably have been worth the extra - what - $30 or $40? But considering I only RECENTLY (after four years) started running into space issues on my 300 gig HD, I'm probably still in good shape. That;s the longest I remember ever going before running out of HD space...
@Space Bumby - We'll see. I don't have it yet :) But I can't run my business very well on this laptop. So it was kind of a critical purchase.
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