OT: Best render PC for under $1200?

ken c wrote on 4/6/2006, 5:34 AM
Hi - I'm looking to get a new pc, I have a home-built Asus P4C800 w/2.8 Mhz cpu that's ok, but lately it's starting to lock up, have bios/heat problems, bsods etc, and I think it's about to die completely. Was up til 3am last night trying to get it to work...

(btw thx for the cpu cooling fan ideas in other thread, got one from newegg, will also add extra fans + 450-500W power supply vs the 400w antec I currently have).

But big picture, it's probably time to replace it, as it may just be getting old, after 2+ years of 18 hr/ day continuous usage..

Any recommendations for a 2.8-3.0+Mhz pc system?

I've checked tiger/newegg, there's a lot of different models out there. I've always built my own pcs, but now time's short and I'd just like to buy one out of the box...

other question: from what I recall, sometimes you can't just swap hard drives, eg they'll lock up since different machine configurations, is that true? (also I realize I'll need to re-register a lot of my software since many have machine-specific activation keys that'll need updating) ... ideas?


thx much,

Ken

Comments

jrazz wrote on 4/6/2006, 7:45 AM
If you buy the same MoBo, you should be able to transfer your hard drives to it without issue as it recognizes the same thing. XP may ask you to activate again due to a processor change, but it does not cause a problem... but, if your goal is to update to a new system, you probably don't want to use the same board.... but, then again, if you are buying a dell, hp, etc., you may already have a better board than they would give you in a 1200 machine.

Just a thought, you may want to pay someone 1200 dollars to buy and build you a machine (to where you can use your old drives, old hard drives, old ram (if compatible), etc.).

Ps. another way to get around the windows installed hard drive issue of it booting is to use a blank drive that has no content, hook up the old windows installed HD as slave and cipher out the content to the new drive or another drive that you have hooked up. An even easier way to do this would be to transfer all the files that you want to keep from that drive now to another drive that does not contain windows.

j razz
craftech wrote on 4/6/2006, 8:37 AM
Ken,
Although some of those boards had problems with blown FETs there were some which did not come with Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors and as a result some boards had blown caps. Take a look at the board in the area around the CPU for any caps with bulged (domed) tops with some brown ooze coming out of them. I spoke about that type of repair in this thread.

John
riredale wrote on 4/6/2006, 8:53 AM
Really, 2 years is not a long time for a PCs life. You'll get faster render speeds by going new, but otherwise maybe you can troubleshoot your current box to find out what's wrong.

You can transfer your current drives to a motherboard using the same I/O chipset without having to make many changes, but if you go with a different chipset the PC won't get past the BIOS boot. You'll get a bluescreen halt message that says something to the effect that Windows stopped itself to prevent damage, or something equally ominous-sounding.

The amazing thing is that there is a simple solution. Microsoft has an article here that shows how to add some additional entries into the registry so that XP will be able to boot with all the commonly-use IDE interface chipsets.

My assumption is that this will only work with IDE C drives, not the new SATA drives.

I've moved my original XPpro configuration three or four times to new motherboards and also to my laptop, and it's worked great once you get past the initial "Windows has discovered new hardware" screens.
ken c wrote on 4/6/2006, 10:23 AM
hi - thanks very much, great tips ... yes I'd like to keep getting mileage out of this current mobo, it's been terrific ... but when I see it halting and locking up during bios .. which it has been, I think either temperature (checked though, is all ok), or some m/b failure..

thx John re the capacitor tips... will do re checking it out ...

I'll also replace the power supply with a bigger one, though I'm just running 3 HDs internally, and a parhelia + other matrox g400 card, that's it... relatively light load for the current 400W p/s I think...

never seen bios lock up... maybe a virus? I hate to reflash bios, because if it gets screwed up, there goes the m/b ... maybe I'll just buy another m/b, that would be a great solution, plus another power supply, and just transfer everything over..

appreciate your thoughts, all - great ideas!

ken