Tavel

This is kind of about a new computer, but also about me trying to deal with a new emotion.


My wife started playing Left 4 Dead with me (we got a second copy) and it's a lot of fun. Only her computer is one of my old computers and can BARELY run Left 4 Dead on the lowest graphics settings.

I want to get her a new computer to make it run all nice an pretty...but I can't. And that's my new emotion, I feel like a bad provider because I can't give her a new computer.

We live comfortably and aren't in NEED for anything, but I wish I could give her more. You know?


...also gladly accepting donations for her new computer

Tony G.

Hi tavel. I recently bought a new Toshiba laptop (the one im using at the moment) and is working great! It ws fairly cheap, (7,599) and it has 2g ram and 160g hdd ( i dont know what that is, its on the sticker next to the mouse pad!) and its great, the graphics are great also. One of the Lap tops i deffinatly dont reccomend are the HP pavillions 6000's. I bought it 2 years ago, within 3 months, the battery died, and had to be plugged in to work. Then, about a year ago, the fan that cools the computterr malfunctioned and burned some cards inside. I fixed it, but cost me 7000 pesos( around 690 dlls) so i would reccomend any of the pavillions in the 6000 series.

Borisbbadd

My wife just got a Toshiba laptop for work, she really likes it alot.
2 gb ram 160 gb hard drive, it has Vista ( which takes some getting used to ) I like XP.
Cost about $450.00.

Tavel

Thanks for all the advice guys, but I already have it spec'd out. We run desktop systems because they're cheaper and easier to fix (and less prone to failure to begin with).


I can make the upgrade for about $450...but I'd have to scrounge for months to get the money. I WISH I didn't have to, I wish I could just do it for her.


I talked to her about it and she said that she likes the old one and not to upgrade it. But I can't help but feel she really DOES want it, but is trying to be responsible to save money.

I wish we didn't have to be so tight...maybe if I could finish school and get a real job sometime before we're 30!

*sigh*

Tony G.

lol its fine. You could upgrade little things every so often..

bolivianbaby

It's really sweet that you want to give her everything she wants and needs. That isn't too common a trait in people nowadays, but it'll really help keep your marriage strong. Even if you can't, the fact that you want to, is magical

Gouramiguy17

just remember it is the thought that counts!

Brimstonepdx

Another thing you can do is set aside a little money here and there and before you know it you will have enough to build her a nice new computer. When I was having trouble saving I set up a savings account at a credit union thats a real pain to get to with out an atm card, then I bought my pieces that I wanted as they came on sale. 4 months without my morning mocha's and not going out to lunch I had my nice new gaming rig

Lucy

Such a sweet husband.

IMO, more respect is gained by not buying something until you can afford it than buying it and find yourself with more debt than you can handle.

Tavel

You all made me feel a lot better *sigh*

We CAN afford it, we have plenty of money...in savings. I just don't want to touch that money for something this silly.

I'm angry because it looks like I might have to use some of that money to pay tuition...I don't know how I feel about that. It's a little scary, honestly.


Edit: Well, her computer flaked out and wouldn't turn on today. I got a little excited that I might finally be able to upgrade her PC. But it turns out the power supply fan went out, so the power supply was overheating and shutting down. I'll have it back up and running with a $6 fan...

...stinky.

aquarist48

Hello Tavel. Times are tough right now I know. Have you ever thought of looking into a refurbished computer? That's the route we go here in Hootersville We have a Dell Hybrid and absolutely love it. (just thought I'd throw that in there) Nice of you to be thinking about your wife's needs Good man!
Ken

Slug

Mind me asking what the specs on her computer are now? RAM is getting quite cheap these days compared to what it was, and a simple video card upgrade can do wonders. I prefer Desktops too, easy to mod and easier to get running fast.

Tavel

It's a Shuttle XPC...so can't upgrade the motherboard, or even replace the PSU because it's proprietary and no one sells it. So if it breaks I need a new PC.

-AMD Sempron 3400+ (2.0ghz)
-1 gb memory
-ATI Radeon X800GTO (AGP interface, lawls)

Unfortunately, that computer's already been upgraded to it's max spec years ago. The memory is the only thing left to upgrade, but it's kind of silly at $60 (for the performance gain...) I'd rather put that money toward the new PC.


The new rig would be very nice...

-AMD Phenom II x2 550 (3.1ghz) $100 + $85 for mobo
-2gb memory (runing winxp, no use for more) $45
-ATI HD4850 (which will actually be MY 4850, and I'll get a 4870 for myself.) $140

A case and power supply bring the total to just under $450.

My PC's about 1 performance tier up from hers with an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.0ghz)...the HD4850 will be a better match to her CPU, and the HD4870 to mine. It works out well.

(I have no loyalty to either Intel or AMD...just whichever has the most cost effective product. I DO have a preference to ATI though, Nvidia's drivers are very bad and cause a lot of stability issues.)

Slug

See, i'm an Nvidia fan and will never put another ATI in my computers hehe. Well, i won't say never...but its highly unlikely at this point.

Tavel

maybe nvidia improved their drivers...but it's too late, they've already lost this customer. They're only chance is if ATI fouls up somehow...we'll see, haha.

Tavel

update: We decided to go with it. She played on my PC one night and was like "woah, I need a new PC!" and I was like "seriously..."

She did a lot better because of the improved frame rate, details and resolution settings. Now she doesn't want to go back to the barely functional computer, go figure.


The parts come tomorrow, I'm pretty excited.

AMD Phenom II x3 710 (2.8ghz)
2gb system memory
ATI HD4870 w/512mb memory


I decided to give her the HD4870 because I made a promise when I bought my current graphics card that I would keep it for at least a year...and it hasn't been a year until November. She doesn't care, but I'm a man of integrity if nothing else. I don't lie and I don't break promises.

(I usually skirt the issue by not making promises to begin with, lol.)

Besides, I'll definitely upgrade faster than she does so it makes sense to start her off slightly ahead.

It came out to a little over $500 with the slight upgrades, not bad. It could jump to $700 if I can't get our WinXP license to work and have to purchase Vista.

I basically bought an OEM license by accident, so Microsoft won't provide customer service. It's usually not an issue, but it's extremely frustrating when you need to reset your activations (for a reinstall) and they simply won't listen.

(I don't pirate software either! If you steal music, movies, or software you are a criminal and you ARE the piracy problem. My impotent protest won't change anything, but at least I'm not part of the problem!)

bolivianbaby

Congratulations on the new computer!

Lucy

I didn't undertand any of that LOL
But congrats to your wife on her new computer!
When I got my lap top I refused to go back on the dino-puter that he uses.
Poor man really needs a new computer too.

Tavel

hahaha..."it's an awesome computer" is all you need to know ;-D

It's not running yet because I'm still waiting on the operating system (Windows Vista Ultimate), it should come today...I even paid for that fancy next day shipping.


Last night she said "You're gonna play on MY computer tonight so you can see how junky it is!"

And I was like "I already KNOW it's junky, it took me 2 weeks to convince YOU it's junky!"

I love how women can just flip the tables like that...lol

bolivianbaby

I like her, she's smart!

Tavel

omg omg omg it's awesome! It's seriously jaw-dropping awesome.

It's gorgeous in every way except one...gaming lag. She connects through a Wireless-G PCI card, and I set the router to channel 11 to minimize interference...I live in an apartment with literally 20 other wireless networks that all seem to use channel 6, so yay for me!

So the wireless network technically offers ample bandwidth for gaming, but Vista does this thing where it polls for new wireless networks every minute or so. Microsoft thinks this is a "feature" because they envision a world carpeted by open wi-fi and a computer user would seamlessly walk through it.

rant/

There's a few problems with that assessment...
1. It's a desktop, I sincerely doubt I'll find myself polling for new networks as I sit at the desk.

2. No such network even exists...and I doubt it will ever exist.

3. The polling spikes latency for ALL online applications, flash games...videos...browsing...whatever.

It seems outlandish to force such a "feature" onto the 95% of PC users that don't travel. Save it as an option for the very few users that actually need it, not as a burden to everyone else!

/rant

So I need to use a third party wireless manager, but I can't get the linksys one to work. Does anyone know how to get it working?

I install it...but it just disappears and Vista goes back to the WLAN autoconfig. Rarr!

Tavel

ok so I fixed the wireless problem...Vista WLAN autoconfig


I got her another 2gb of memory (4gb totaly) and now I'm really jealous. Windows Vista runs a lot faster than XP on sufficiently beastly PC's. Our PC's are technically equivalent...but you wouldn't know it

Apparently Vista loads a frequently used applications and data into the system memory as an idle process. When you want to use those applications there's almost zero wait time! And the more memory you have, the more applications it can preload and you don't have to wait for anything!

4gb can hold just about everything, It's a beautiful thing. I'm jealous.

She's thinking of getting me Windows 7 for Christmas...now THAT'S a good wife!

mathas

I never cared for Vista the few times I had to use it, but 7 is great... mainly because it mimics my favorite features of OS X Heck, it even does some things better, and I'm a huge Apple fan. Speaking as someone who has either supported or beta tested (or both) every Microsoft operating system since Windows 2K Pro, upgrading my desktop from XP SP3 to 7 Ultimate was the most dramatic step forward since going from 3.11 to 95, in my opinion.

I'm sure you'll love it, assuming you aren't a stickler for the current taskbar.