Nobody Reads This » HP is shit

Out of Sight

James Reynolds — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:43:53 +0000

Out of Mind. That’s currently my policy on the HP piece of shit sat on my desk at home. I’m getting ever closer to the idea of just mounting a different HDD in it rather than sending it off, but tbh I still want to get my money back.

Until that moon turns blue i’ve been doing some shopping on Overclockers UK (a site recommended by a friend) and have come out with the following 2 spec sets:

Set 1

Intel 6600 Quadcore £130
(Undecided) Quality Mobo £120
Cooling £20
4 Gb DDR8500+ Ram £60
(Undecided) Graphics Card £120
1Tb HDD £85
(Undecided) Case £80
DVD-RW £25
PSU £70
Total: £700~

Set2

Intel 6600 Quadcore £130
(Undecided) Quality Mobo £120
Cooling £20
2 Gb DDR8500+ Ram £30
(Undecided) Graphics Card £45
500Gb HDD £40
(Undecided) Case £47
DVD-RW £25
PSU £43
Total: £500~

The point here was, look at what PC I would like to have … Then scale back the interchangeable components and upgrade them one by one. So whilst keeping the solid Intel 6600 & Mainboard there makes up literally half the price of the machine they’re also key components that probably won’t need changing for years (Considering 6600s have been clocked over 3.2Ghz/core on air cool).

Further cost cutting could include pulling out the Graphics card altogether but generally it becomes a negative economy of scale to go much further down the specs from what you see in Set 2.

Atm the hunk of junk at home is:

Tri-core
4Gb Ram
£700~ Gb HDD
8800GT (I think … Evan probably knows )
Unknown Mobo (probably terrible)
DVD-RW + Lightscribe
Unknown PSU (probably stock and terrible)

I think my Set 2 with an overclocked Quad-core (Would probably not push it and take a safe clock of about 2.8) would out perform the Non-clocked Tri core with more RAM and a better GFX card. Then in a few months I could always sink £100-£150 into a (some?) graphics cards and up the RAM and you’ve got a winner.

Would probably need a new PSU though because my Set 2 only has a 500w in my price range, although it is a quality 500 and ultra silent.

… Out of sight, out of mind … Out of reach. Sigh.

Regards,
JamesR.

P.S. Whatever Wordpress did to their WYSIWYG editor – Fucking undo it. I spent more time resizing this post and putting breaks in than I did writing it.

Another Weekend

James Reynolds — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:17:43 +0000

It seems that it only takes an afternoon to go from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon … Especially when there’s a hulk of useless PC sat on your desk reminding you of the shit you have to deal with.

Anyway … I don’t really feel like posting so you’ll look at these screenshots and YOU’LL LIKE IT.

Blood Elf Males are Gay - Don't play them

WoW players are stupid AND blind

A New Mage is Born!

Regards,
JamesR.

I wonder how many Elemental Templites still read this regularly.

Rapid Fragmentation

James Reynolds — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:30:52 +0000

So here’s the question: Is it better to have loved and … No just kidding.

Right I found that the problem with my PC was rapid fragmentation – Or at least that appears to be the case. During work yesterday I ran the defragger (because the tool reported a shocking 25%+ Fragmented data) and returned home to a happy and healthy PC.

The point being … Something here is defective probably the HDD itself … But if it IS defective but regular defrags not only fix the problem but keep the system healthy is it that bad a trade off?

The main reason I don’t want to warranty the piece of shit is because, at the end of the day, I think they’ll only factory reset / defrag it and send it back because it LOOKS fixed.

Whilst you might be saying “Yeah but it’s broken”. Trust me, i’ve worked as an engineer in a place like this before and it’s hardly their fault if it looks fixed but isn’t … In the mean time maybe my constant defrags will actually completely break the harddrive then in 6 months when these PCs are no longer on the shelf I can warranty the fucker and get something new

Thats the plan anyway. Company of Heroes still rocks but the German Panzer Elite do not.

Regards,
JamesR.

Never buying boxed PC again.