Old pc dead, have a query about what I can do next

nkay1985

Hi all,

So I've had a Dell Dimension 5150 since about 2005 (if I was to guess). While I was away, it finally packed in while my girlfriend was using it. After a few days of debug, I'm pretty sure the motherboard is gone. I'm hopefully going to verify this soon but all signs point to it.

When you apply power, the fan doesn't even do its little test run. There is power on the motherboard, according to the LED. I've swapped in another power supply and got the same result. I've used my power supply in another PC and it was fine. I've changed out the processor to no avail. I've also ruled out the RAM. So, as I said, I'm fairly sure the motherboard's the problem.

I'm just wondering about my best way forward from here. To me, it's fairly obvious that there's no point in spend €100 or whatever on a replacement motherboard for the old machine. The best solution would be to build from scratch. The problem is that I don't really have the money to do so at the moment. So I'm wondering if I am correct in what I'm thinking.

If the motherboard is the problem, I have working versions of the following:
2 X 80Gb SATA HDDs.
PCI Audio Card.
PCI Graphics Card (some crappy Radeon that I got when I first bought the pc).
2Gb RAM (DDR2?).
Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz processor
Keyboard / Mouse / Monitor
Dell H305PP-00 (Part Number: HP-P3067F3P) Power Supply

I'm wondering am I correct in thinking that if I were to get a new case and motherboard, that I'd be able to use pretty much everything else and would end up back in the same situation I was before it calfed but with the possibility of upgrading individual elements as I was in a position to.

Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I partly right?

I'd appreciate any guidance as, while I know a decent bit about hardware debug etc, I'm not that knowledgeable on that subject.

Thanks.

dyer

a new motherboard won't have pci slots, won't support your processor and probably not the ram either (that is unless you find an old replacement of course..)

you're better off buying a new motherboard, ram and processor in my opinion (perhaps with integrated audio and graphics until you can afford to get better.. if you need it, that is.. most modern integrated gpu's can handle hd and blu ray and are fine for general use unless you need it for gaming etc and likewise, integrated audio will serve you fine for most purposes)

there's no point in flogging a dead horse..

Supermensch

You might want to check and see if the PSU connector is proprietary or not, I've run into hassle with Dell computers because of this.

What socket is the processor?

nkay1985

dyer wrote: »

a new motherboard won't have pci slots, won't support your processor and probably not the ram either (that is unless you find an old replacement of course..)

you're better off buying a new motherboard, ram and processor in my opinion (perhaps with integrated audio and graphics until you can afford to get better.. if you need it, that is.. most modern integrated gpu's can handle hd and blu ray and are fine for general use unless you need it for gaming etc and likewise, integrated audio will serve you fine for most purposes)

there's no point in flogging a dead horse..

Thanks for that. Has PCI disappeared so yeah? I just didn't think so because the new pcs we get in in work still have them. Thought the RAM might be a problem but wasn't sure. That's cheap out anyway sure.

So new case, motherboard, RAM and processor in your opinion yeah?

Any recommendations? An i3 or would it be worth splashing for an i5? Any decent motherboards? The onboard audio and graphics should be fine as I, unfortunately, don't have a lot of time for gaming!

I'd look to upgrade my drives and that in the future.

Supermensch wrote: »

You might want to check and see if the PSU connector is proprietary or not, I've run into hassle with Dell computers because of this.

What socket is the processor?

I don't think there's a problem with the PSU but there might be alright. I can check that out. I don't understand the question about the processor, sorry!

Supermensch

nkay1985 wrote: »

I don't think there's a problem with the PSU but there might be alright. I can check that out. I don't understand the question about the processor, sorry!

The socket is the connector between your motherboard and your processor. Pentium 4 mainly use either Socket 432, Socket 478 or LGA775. You're going to need to find out what socket your processor uses if you want to use it in another motherboard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_4_microprocessors

That is assuming, of course, you want to re-purpose your old components. If you're thinking of building from scratch, you could build a daecent AMD computer for very little.

And on high-end motherboards, it would be mostly pci-express, but I still use pci for my wireless card.

dyer

sry my bad i was thinking of agp for some reason, you can still get boards with legacy pci slots alright.

all depends on your budget really nkay.. as supermensch said, you can put together a decent AMD build cheaply enough.

5mins searching komplett and you could throw something like this together for 240 bucks (minus case) you could go cheaper again by swapping the phenom for an athlon or less ram etc depending on your needs.

you could also check adverts.ie for a second hand rig!

ASRock 880GMH/U3S3 - Socket AM3+ - Micro-ATX
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz 6MB AM3 Black Edition
Corsair Vengeance - 8GB 1600MHz PC3-12800

nkay1985

Budget isn't really that much of a problem, only that I have other places that my money could be going that would be more useful so I can't really bring myself to buy a complete new build but that kind of money is certainly not bad.

A couple of noob questions.

If you buy a case, are you better to buy one with a PSU or without and buy a PSU separately?

Does the heat sink come when you buy a processor or what, because I've seen no mention of that, except the AMD you linked where it says cooling included. No problems fitting whatever cooling system there is into any case that you might buy?

I certainly wouldn't scrimp on the processor. Is that Phenom pretty good, yeah? Is it worth stepping up from that? How much more would you be spending and what advantages would you get?

Thanks for all the help lads.

Supermensch

PSU's that are bundled with cases are usually crappy, but if you're not intending on overclocking or running a very powerful graphics setup it should be fine. If you're trying to build something to get you by, a no-name PSU is grand, but if you're building something more expensive, buy one separately.

Heatsinks are bundled with most cheaper processors. More expensive, enthusiast processors won't be, pretty much for the same reason €100+ motherboards don't have that purple fax connector. You'd want to check before you buy. The Phenom does come with a heatsinks.

The processor you're buying, like the rest of the components, depends on what you're mostly going to be using the computer for. What kind of programs do you be working with?

If you're doing things like rendering, or video encoding, then you would benefit from a more expensive Intel cpu. But if you're watching high-def video, browsing the Internet, using word, then you won't see much of a gain.

I use a Phenom 955 in my computer, and I find it very fast for using applications like Photoshop, InDesign, AutoCAD and 3Ds Max, and for compiling code. If you don't need the extra horsepower, my advice would be to save your money and buy a good graphics card.

Supermensch

Without a case or power supply;

Item|Price
ASRock 960GM-GS3 FX Motherboard (Socket AM3+, AMD 760G, DDR3, S-...|£34.43
AMD HDZ965FBGMBOX Phenom II X4 965 - 3.4 Ghz AM3 Black Edition C...|£79.00
Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 XMS3 8GB Two Memory Module Kit|£37.50
Shipping| £0
Total|£150.93

dyer

worth remembering you'll be paying for shipping with amazon so might not work out cheaper in the end (komplett offer free shipping on all orders)

that phenom is great for general use at the price point, im still using a tri core phenom, have no need to upgrade and i use my system for just about everything and anything. most cpu's come with a stock heatsink and fan.. you won't have any problems fitting the heatsink into a case.

if you want to compare some specs have a look here : http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Phenom+II+X4+965