Fine, you win. Build a PC for Girz0r's friend.

 

Optical drive shmoptical drive.

--Ian

 

 

What's the best way to paint this without having to paint the entire ceiling? Paint is oil based so I'm afraid it yellowed/darkened some since it was painted a while ago.
1-prime and paint only repair area
2-prime and paint a strip of ceiling so it captures repair area and goes from end to end of ceiling
3-prime only repair area but paint strip of ceiling from end to end

 

4) Paint a mural over it, something like this:



If it's yellowed/darkened then you either need to take a paint chip to a store to make a matching color, or you need to paint the whole ceiling.

--Ian

 

Ehh, I think it all depends on how good of a result you're looking for. If you want it done so it looks right, and without any likelihood of disappointment for your efforts, I think you know what you need to do.

 

Because then he wouldn't be able to claim that "I built a computer for you, therefore I am awesome".

The goal is not to "get a computer that does X for less than $Y", but rather it's "provide you my skills for less than $Y".

 

Build a computer for someone: save $100

Point someone to a computer to buy: save a lifetime of free IT support

 

I agree, which was why I was looking fro mini or micro-atx cases. For the pricing though a mid-atx leaves all that room for future upgrades.

Dimm speedz y0, Also attempt of future proofing the machine. Said user mentioned he want's it to not be obsolete in the near future.

So I can get paid monies - Low TDP + mild gpu is also a selling point.

Customization of the package is my thangg

I'd like to set it and forget it. Give him the option for future proof upgrades like mentioned.



No no.... it needs LEDs.

Customer wants one - He's still old school like that.



Nah, I charge after a while on systems I build. If I'm being asked just outright on some unknown system, pay up.

 

Surely @rleete. 1925 Model T, 1929 Model A. The T has electric start, water pump, front suspension upgrade from what I can tell.







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Any suggestions on what's up with my own computer?

Randomly shut down, and would only boot in safe mode. Tried going through all the startup bias fix stuff with an IT friend on the phone, this hard drive has acted up in the past, so I said to hell with it and bought a new SSD and a real copy of Win 10. I put in the new SSD, install Win10. It keeps restarting for the updates, I turn that off, let it do it's thing. It starts the random reboots again. Sometimes after 5 minutes, sometimes after 3 hours.

At this point, the only thing I can conclude is the Power Supply exhaust fan isn't turning on. So it gets hot, shuts down and turns off the computer.

Here's my dilemma, after buying a new SSD and a copy of Win10. I'm already $250 in the hole. I'm hesistant to buy another monster power supply (monster 4gb video card running 3 monitors and 6 year old, energy hogging AMD CPU) and have that not be the issue. At that point I'll be $350 in with a non-working computer. For $400, you can buy an entry-level compy that would do what I need to until I build another sim rig.......but that seems like a waste.

Do I go ahead and bite the bullet and just buy another quality/monster PSU/Mobo/CPU/RAM that should theoretically last another 6+ years like everything but the video card/PSU has?

 

Seems like you've diagnosed the problem.


And perfectly adequate power supplies aren't profanely expensive: EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Continuous Power Supply Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready - Newegg.com

The $250 is already gone. Sunk cost. It doesn't factor into the decision, which sounds like it's $40 to fix the existing machine vs. $400 for a new entry-level box?


Maybe it's not the power supply. Maybe the motherboard is somehow at fault. But it's not expensive to find out.

 

True on the sunk cost, but would you consider a 500w power supply sufficient for a processor that pulls something like 140w and a video card that is a touch over 250w? That doesn't seem like much headroom for the rest of system.

I'm also reading a bunch of reviews about people who have the same video card, SAPPHIRE TRI-X OC 100362-2SR Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Video Card - Newegg.com talking about black screen crashes with no seeming fix. Black screen crashes is exactly what's happening to me.

And my particular motherboard doesn't have an onboard graphics chipset for me to test again. Dang.

 

Forgive the gratuitous use of anime, but for the last 4-6 years I've found this to be completely accurate:



After the driver and stability hell I went through with my wife's Radeon 6870 I completely gave up on AMD/ATI products.

My gripe with Nvidia is that the cards run incredibly hot unless you install something like Precision or Afterburner and change the fan curve.

Just my unsolicited

 

I tend to take those ratings with a grain of salt, based upon empirical observations and common sense.

Empirical given that my UPS has a multifunction display on the front which will show you, among other things, instantaneous readings of voltage and power output. I've never seen it tip over 300w while playing TF2, and that's including my ancient 28" monitor that draws 120 watts all by itself. My system probably isn't quite as power-hungry as yours (i5-750 rated at 95w TDP, plus MSI Radeon HD 7770 video card rated at who the **** knows) but whatever...

On the other hand, think about how much 500 watts of heat is. A typical toaster oven consumes about 1,200 watts. Is your PC spitting out nearly half as much heat as a toaster oven?


Still, 700w = $60: EVGA 100-B1-0700-K1 700W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Power Supply - Newegg.com




Graphics Cards & Video Cards from Nvidia, ATI & More - Newegg

 

So replace the fan in the power supply?

--Ian

 

(pauses for a moment to slap self on forehead.)

Come to think of it, that's a pretty good starting point...

 

Your sensible and logical recommendation has no purpose here!

 

Many thanks and props to you.

I would kill for any one of those vehicles.

 

They are both for sale. I'll find out how much.