 sj |
||
|
||
Tech: Is it time for a new PC?
|
|
|
Subject: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 05 Mar 24 - 08:31 AM Our old desktop (10 years old-ish) runs Windows 10 but cannot go to 11. I would go for Linux myself but Mrs G loves Windows so it looks like we are stuck with that. It has recently started blue screening with critical structure errors so I have been replacing the bits I can do at little or no cost. I replaced some duff dimms and it was the same. Tried a higher spec PSU - same. I have installed a new copy of Windows and thought that had cracked it but after 24 hours it crashed again. Do I splash out on a higher spec PC that I can upgrade to Win 11 or does anyone have any other suggestions. Apart from replacing the Mrs :-D |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 05 Mar 24 - 08:41 AM Current spec is an ATX with Intel i7 processor and 16Gb memory BTW |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: GUEST Date: 05 Mar 24 - 11:09 AM 10 years IS quite old for as PC. If you buy a new one it'll almost certainly come with Win 11. 16GB is a reasonably minimum spec, but it depends on what you use it for as to whether it's enough or not... |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 05 Mar 24 - 11:59 AM I had a mobo fail recently. I wondered whether to buy a mobo/CPU bundle off ebay. One went recently for £255 - just needed a cooler - 11th gen i7 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145632621500 There's a risk it won't work, of course. But I need a mico-ATX. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 Mar 24 - 01:03 PM I choose carefully when purchasing off of eBay - electronics are kind of iffy. There's more of a risk that you're buying something that fell off the back of a truck, so to speak, and support is often non-existent. I still haven't upgraded to Win11, though I did pick up a new external hard drive to do the full backup in preparation. One of these days . . . Meanwhile, Dave, it sounds like it's time for a new PC. The time you spend fixing the old one could be better spent trying to get everything on the new Win11 machine to approximate the way you really liked how the Win10 machine did it. ;-) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 06 Mar 24 - 05:42 AM Serious respect (as the yoof would say) for keeping a system going for a decade. Businesses used to throw them out after three years, though I hear they're stretching that a bit these days. (I'll spare you the cynicism and conspiracy theories in the technical press about MS-Win 11's hardware requirements.) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: GUEST,Grishka Date: 06 Mar 24 - 06:52 AM If you have not yet done so, use a utility to check your hard disk for bad sectors and to mark them as unusable, then reinstall if necessary. Or buy a new hard disk. Try to convince your Mrs. that modern Linux is quite similar to Windows for most users, and most software has good Linux alternatives. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: John MacKenzie Date: 06 Mar 24 - 07:33 AM Recently bought an excellent refurbished Tower from these folks. The delivery was quick their prices are good, and their feedback is excellent. https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/goodcheaplaptops?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l2563 |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 06 Mar 24 - 08:46 AM Thanks Grishka - It is a new disk too! Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I will go for a new or refurb and recycle to old as a Linux box :-) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 06 Mar 24 - 10:13 AM Linux desktop usage is growing. Having taken 30 years to get to 3% it's grown to 4% in the eight months. And 15% in India. Why Desktop Linux Is Finally Growing In Popularity I've concluded it's a mistake to encourage people to use Linux distros that try to emulate Windows. They just expect it to behave the same and complain when it doesn't. Use one that looks different, and uses standard linux menus and mouse clicks so they don't perpetuate habits peculiar to Windows. Then they'll be able to easily move to another distro in future. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Mar 24 - 10:33 AM When my son went to the university to study computer science 15 years ago we were setting up his new computer to take with him to school. Since my university made the OS and a lot of software available to students free or really cheap, I called his university department and asked if that was the case, should we wait to install Windows when he got to campus? The professor told me he could install it but that all of their coursework would be using Linux. And he still uses that on his main devices (like musicians with more than one guitar, computer folks often have more than one computer.) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 06 Mar 24 - 01:25 PM Beware of software sellers bearing free gifts. MS software (not just their OS) supplied by universities has to be uninstalled before the equipment can be taken home, under the terms of the licence the universities buy into. When the users accept the software, they are deemed to have agreed to these terms. For completeness, Apple OS software licensing is downright weird. Every now and then, one or two departing postgrads would ask whether they could buy "their" computers. But before Apple hardware can be sold on, the software on it has to be restored to the exact condition it was when it was delivered. No third-party software, no OS-version updates, no security updates of the base OS: an OS that's three to four years out of date. When we (the Physics Dept) then explained that the hardware would also be three to four years old, and that much nearer to failure, we found the uptake from postgrads went right down. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 06 Mar 24 - 02:34 PM That's an understood that is largely ignored, but there are also features of the university system that are extended to graduates these days, such as keeping some of that stuff and retaining their university email address (most of them are hosted by Microsoft.) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 09 Mar 24 - 11:46 AM My Windows PC is also well over 10 years old: started life on Windows 7 but upgraded it to 10 when that came in. It still works and has loads of hard disk space left, though it can be a bit slow at times. I also have an ancient Mac which is fairly full, largely because I have most of my music and photos/videos on it (which is also why my PC is not so full). It won’t let me update from its current operating system (El Capitan, Ithink), so there are certain things I can’t run on it. And I do have an iCloud subscription to hopefully keep it all backed up, and an iPad and iPhone. So…..thinking I should get a new one or the other, but not sure which. I haven’t totally joined the brigade of Mac-lovers, and certainly feel more at home on Windows, despite all its foibles. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: robomatic Date: 11 Mar 24 - 06:06 PM Tattie Boble: Be sure that your music and photos and video although backed up are READABLE with software that is up-to-date in case your primary computer ages out. Also that the material you care about is on a separate external hard drive so that if your primary computer requires work your cared about material is separable. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 11 Mar 24 - 07:16 PM New one should arrive tomorrow. I'll keep you posted |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 11 Mar 24 - 07:33 PM Thanks robomatic: I think all is safely gathered in! |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 Mar 24 - 10:35 PM Dave, what did you buy? |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 12 Mar 24 - 04:28 AM Real cheap one (£320) from a UK company called OCHW OCHW Elite Ultra Fast School Home Office Gaming PC Desktop Computer AMD Ryzen 3-3200G Quad Core ATI Radeon HD Vega 8 Graphics USB 3.0 120GB SSD 32GB DDR4 Wifi Windows 11 https://amzn.eu/d/03Gpn0Q They get bad reviews from the gaming community because they are not good enough for serious gaming. But I don't do any so it's OK for me :-) I have a 500Gb SSD and a half decent graphics card in the old one that I can use if required plus all my data is on a sperate 2Tb disk that I can either install or connect via USB |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 12 Mar 24 - 06:31 AM Who are OCHW? Their website doesn't give much away. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 12 Mar 24 - 06:44 AM Answering my own question - there is a VAT number - an individual based in Birmingham. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 12 Mar 24 - 06:49 AM This is part of a review from 10 years ago - "OCHW is a British custom pc building company, who provide bad computer builds for the price of dirt" I also know they are based in Birmingham from their Faceache page. A few comments about not being well established but, as I said, they are at least 10 years old! Some Amazon reviews were very positive bearing in mind that I do not do seious gaming. I'll give it a week to see how it goes. Currently cloning my 2Tb daya disk so I can have both old and new PCs running at the same time. Anyone got any advice about using Windows 11 BTW? |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 12 Mar 24 - 08:54 AM Check you have a genuine Win 11 licence. (I've no idea how.) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Mar 24 - 10:18 AM It looks a lot different than Win10. It took me a minute to figure out where the start button was to turn it off (isn't that ironic!) From PC World is How to make Windows 11 look like Windows 10 Windows 11 gives Microsoft's operating system a bold new look, but you can still make it feel (mostly) familiar. There's also the existing Tech: They lied, Here's Windows 11 - (12!) Mudcat thread with some answers. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 12 Mar 24 - 12:35 PM > Be sure that your music and photos and video although > backed up are READABLE with software that is up-to-date > in case your primary computer ages out. Hear, hear: failure to check this has nobbled many companies over the years. We had astronomers coming back from observing trips with their data on digital audio tape, many of which couldn't be read on our DAT drives.* Oh, and make sure you've copies of your data in two or more physically independent places. Somewhere I've got a ZIPdrive disc containing the only copy of all my e-mails from a previous existence. Not only do I no longer have access to a ZIPdrive, but when I checked at the time, I couldn't read the data without using the software in question (which I no longer have access to either). * High-density magnetic tape drives fall into the category of "interchangeable parts aren't". |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 12 Mar 24 - 02:39 PM William the Conqueror undertook a remarkably modern project. In 1086, he began compiling and storing a detailed record of his realm: where everyone lived, what they did and where they came from.Cautionary Tales – Laser Versus Parchment: Doomsday for the Disc |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 12 Mar 24 - 03:40 PM It does call into question how much of our personal computer content we actually need to save? Who will want to look at it all once we're gone? Having been on a number of folk-related committees over the last 25 or so years, do I really need to keep every last minutes of a meeting? As far as HMRC is concerned, it's usually 6 years. Will anyone want to listen to a mediocre concert recording from 15 years ago, or watch those silly short video clips? Time for some housekeeping, I think. But I take your point about the Domesday project, DaveRo! |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 12 Mar 24 - 06:48 PM 15-20 years ago I knew a bloke who had every apple computer so was able to retrieve the floppy disk script of a well known Australian movie from the 80s. On another note, I have custody of the only typescript of a TV folk drama proposed in the 70s or 80s that was given by the author to the folklorist who interviewed him for the National Library Oral History collection. Sometime soon I'll be passing it to the National Library as no-one knows it exists, apart from the people I've told. I wonder how many similar valuable bits of paper & products of earlier computers have disappeared, excluding the lost works of the famous & not so famous writers/thinkers/scholars of history. sandra |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: FreddyHeadey Date: 12 Mar 24 - 10:37 PM Tiny bit of thread creep ^^^,,,Cautionary Tales – Laser Versus Parchment Beyond laser ,,,, beyond parchment ,,, forward to storytelling: BBC Radio4 - 2021 The Nuclear Priesthood - ,,,how we might warn people three thousand generations from now about the radioactive waste we’ve left in geological disposal facilities deep underground. As he does so he explores the essence of communication and storytelling and the elements of our language, art and culture which are truly universal. There’s compelling evidence that oral traditions can carry memories of events not just for centuries but for thousands of years. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zdq9 |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 13 Mar 24 - 03:57 AM So far so good. It is a good motherboard - MSI A520M A PRO - and well put together. The only odd omission is a case fan so I have ordered one. The Vega 8 graphics on board the Raedon 3 3200G chip seem as good as the Gforce GT730 card in the old one so I am not swapping the card for now. Added bonus - I have booted it with the Win11 installation on the Internal SSD and have also booted it with a clone of my Win10 disk mounted in an external USB3 cradle. I will have to relicense that if I use it but that is an option. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Mar 24 - 10:20 AM Are you completely retiring the device that the prior version of Win10 was on? I know Microsoft doesn't like the idea of transferring licenses (heck, they have enough trouble understanding that the OS on the same machine is the same if you swap out the motherboard) but it's always something to try (just to see if you can do it. It's not like you didn't purchase the OS and license already.) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 13 Mar 24 - 01:35 PM I bought a new product key from China :-D It worked fine second time. This is me on the new PC with the old Windows 10 disk and a new license. I have done a backup of this system disk as it is now and will migrate to Windows 11 soon-ish. I still have the original Windows 11 system disk as well. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: DaveRo Date: 13 Mar 24 - 05:45 PM That seems a good result. It's certainly not a gaming system. I wouldn't have bought something without knowing what the motherboard was, but that one - while cheap - should be reliable. My main 12 year old i7 desktop works fine, but I had another - 15 years old - which ran Windows 10, rather slowly, and that one failed. I've been looking at replacement parts. I've stuck to Intel because I understand their numbering, and with GigaByte because the last one lasted well, and it's Taiwanese. A mobo processor and RAM, and maybe a bigger PSU would cost £300 new from Amazon for Intel 10th generation - 4 year old technology. Mobos are very cheap, but processors are expensive and so is RAM. I reckon I can get that for <£200 on ebay - preferably as a bundle. But it'll take patience. |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 13 Mar 24 - 07:15 PM Yea, went over those options myself but decided a cheap desktop would save me time and hassle. I would have done it 10 years ago but have decided I have done enough computer building and fixing for now :-) |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 18 Mar 24 - 03:56 AM Having said that, I have just acquired a motherboard, PSU and gfx card so I will probably rebuild the old one anyway. It won't be able to run win11 but at least it should stop blue screening |
|
Subject: RE: Tech: Is it time for a new PC? From: Dave the Gnome Date: 19 Mar 24 - 01:07 PM Well, I'll be blowed! This message is coming to you from the new PC running Windows 11. The Win10 disk is still in there and is the default boot but I hope to switch over in the next week or so. At first it looked like I could either have Windows 10 accessing my (seperate) data disk and Windows 11 strugling with finding my old data or upgrade my existing Windows 10 drive to 11. The old 10 drive had so much crap on, I didn't really want to do the latter so I chose another option Clean install of Windows 10 on the new SSD. Set it up as I wanted it with multiple users and access to all the old data then upgrade to Win11. Seems to work but the jury (in the form of Mrs G) is still out! Once again, I'll keep you posted but for now I'm off to sample some Glenmorangie Solara to celebrate :-D |
| Share Thread: |