Question about my computer issues

[HaemishM]

I'll try to make a long story short.

My computer... she is dead. I've swapped out almost everything in this machine (video card, sound card, power supply, hard drive) and my computer will not boot or stay booted correctly. I can only assume the CPU or motherboard is hosed, and these are things I lack the knowledge or desire to try to swap out. Too much chance for fuckupage.

But, my buddy at work has an AMD 2000 CPU, main board and case that works, it just needs a new power supply. I have all the parts I need to make this work, but I have one question. The Power supply I have from my old computer is a 250W ATX style power supply. Is that enough juice to run a AMD 2000 XP processor with GF420 MX video card, SB Live sound card, 40GB HD, and network card? Or will I need to go to a 300W? I have a new 250W that I bought to test out and can exchange for a 300W if need be. But will the 250W do?

[daveNYC]

I would guess no, but what do I know.

How big a power supply did his machine have in it?

[schild]

I'd suggest going with a 300 watt and taking this oppurtunity to upgrade that horrid graphics card. You can pick up a GeforceFX 5500 for like $129 from a Best Buy (has 256 megs of ram) or a 5200 for like $99 with 128 megs.

[HaemishM]

Did I mention the problem is that I have no fucking money whatsoever to upgrade with? :) My fiancee ended up with an abscessed tooth that we have to get extracted next week, so money to fix shit is tight, tight, tight.

I got the GF 420 MX for $27 new. That was about as much as I could spend on an upgrade right now.

[Shavnir]

A 250 watt?  You'll be pushing it.  I would presonally recommend going more along the lines of a 400 at least.  A lot of the newer video cards (the new GeForce for example) will be drawing a lot more power.  After that I agree with schild that you should go to the video card (unless you have less than 512 MB of RAM, then that should be the next thing to buy)

EDIT : Ah shit, dental work?  that stuff gets fucking expensive :|  The 250W power supply is probably a bad idea, and if you can get the 300W for about the same price I'd go with that.  The RAM would be a cheap upgrade (Depending on how many open slots you have) but from the sound of it you really don't have the $$$ to spare.  Good luck with it :)

[Dark Vengeance]

I understand user error accounts for the majority of IT help desk calls?

Have you tried replacing the user? ;)

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

[HaemishM]

I would, but he pays my bills.

[Madman]

You didn't list it, but have you tried changing the RAM?

As for the power supply, I would also suggest going for the 300W. You could probably get away with the 250, but it would be dicey.

Edit - Just for informations sake, I use a 350W power supply with a Asus  A7N8X-X, AMD XP 2600, COOLERMASTER AERO 7+ fan, Radeon 9600, Soundblaster X-Gamer (I think), 2 80GB HDs, 1 CD-Rom, 1 CD-Rewriter and 512 MB Ram. I haven't had any problems with it yet.

[Lanei]

The dinky little 250 may well be mightier than you think.  I recently had a power supply issue with my system.  My old 430W PSU wasn't keeping the +5V rail high enough to make the comptuer run stable.  I swapped in a 250W generic CompUSA brand power supply, and damned if it didn't run my Dual processor AMD rig just fine.

I don't think every 250W PSU could do this, and its possible yours won't, but it may just get you by long enough for the money to come in.

[WayAbvPar]

I have solved your money problems- see below for cost saving dental care tools!



and



The Booker's might be a little spendy for the budget, but you can replace it with any rotgut you can get down her throat.

[Rof]

I ran an AMD 1800XP CPU, along with a higher-end video card than your GF4MX, on a 275W supply without any apparent problems. So your 250W may be OK.

[HaemishM]

I have solved your money problems- see below for cost saving dental care tools!



and



The Booker's might be a little spendy for the budget, but you can replace it with any rotgut you can get down her throat.

The Booker's is already gone from having to deal with no PC (i.e. no CoH) and the dental problems all in the same day.

[Fabricated]

This is a reasonably accurate little thing I use when putting stuff together.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

[HaemishM]

This is a reasonably accurate little thing I use when putting stuff together.

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Cool link. That says I should be ok with 244 watts.

Update on the situation. I traded my buddy a shitton of old Epic 40k minis, some painted, some not, for some old case/CPU/RAM setups he had sitting in his garage. He'd had a dead power supply in one and some weird BIOS things on another, so he just put them aside and now he has all HP's. He had gone through a stage of building his own for a while, but just gave up when it got to be more hassle than it was worth. Since he had the money to buy pre-built, he did.

After about 24 hours of futzing with these things, shelling out money for a bit more RAM and a monitor (my 7-year old Panasonic monitor finally shot itself), myself and my fiancee now have two new PC's.

I went from a 1.2 Ghz AMD Athlon to a 2200 XP with a bigger hard drive and DDR RAM. Same video card, but it'll do for COH, which is why I went through all this shit. My fiancee went from an AMD Duron 800 Mhz POS w/ 196MB RAM (Sony Vaio... never fucking again) to a P3 800 Mhz with 512 MB RAM. I was also able to ditch her Windows ME and put Win98 SE on both machines (no money to upgrade to XP, but that'll come). I have gone through so many computer parts in the last 24 hours, and I'm just happy I have both running with the DSL connection shared correctly.

The only issues I seem to have are surmountable. The main board on my machine has a known "problem." Sometimes when I reboot, the machine will not display on the monitor. However, switching power cables on the PC allows me to reboot just fine. /shrug Abit says I need a stronger power supply, and I'll get that when I can afford it. For now, just having a PC is better than none, even if I have to swap cables out every reboot.

Thanks for the help, guys and gals.

[Signe]

What is an old Epic 40K mini?

[Righ]

Hopefully it wasn't an Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing minicomputer, or he got shafted on the deal. I suspect those grotesque Warhammer miniatures that Citadel got into after they decided not to make figures that could be used for other peoples' games.

[TripleDES]

In the past, I ran two P3's, a Geforce3 and three disks on a 250W PSU without blowing it. I'd say it'll do until you can get a bigger one to be on the safe side, and for upgrading bigger shit like a GeforceFX6800.

[HaemishM]

Yes, he got shafted on the deal, IMO. He's ok with that, considering that none of the components he gave me were getting any use in his house at all. I wasn't using the minis, he wasn't using the computers.

Epic 40k is/was a wargame using 6mm miniatures of both plastic and lead/pewter. I had stuff back from the 1st edition of Epic. I'd estimate he probably got $200-$300 worth of stuff, maybe less.

[Shavnir]

I believe Epic 40k is still around.  Know of a place where I could check prices on it (actually value more than price)?  the local gamestore is a piece of shit, but they've had miniatures lying on various shelves for 4-6 years :|  If any are worth more than the purchase price its off to eBay-land for 'em :D

[HaemishM]

The Epic minis (and the old game) aren't on the official list of supported products by GW anymore. They've half-heartedly supported the game over the last 3-5 years. Apparently, they have a new version coming out, which will, of course, have new minis, though old minis will still work.

[Shavnir]

Can't stand GW, just wondering if the minis are worth more on eBay than the "Wizards Keep" (Note : Entierly underground) sells them for

[HaemishM]

I'd say wait til about a month before the new Epic goes live, and price your stuff just under the highway robbery prices GW is charging.