Tuesday 29 October 2013

I'm sure I deserve it!

Hi there, reader.

I'm writing this on a computer that I've had for a number of years now. When I first got it, it was a pretty good system. It's still a pretty good system even now.

But it's been giving me a bit of jip.

I got an SSD drive for it. I'd intended to use the SSD for my OS and program files, and use a larger capacity IDE HDD for data. And that's where the problems started. Whenever I tried to boot up from the SSD, the computer would run for a few minutes, and then freeze. This made it impossible to put an operating system on it as the install would never complete. I tried putting a linux OS on it instead but got the same issue.

Finally, I spent quite a lot of money on a genuine windows 8 disk, and was sure that this time, it would work.

Nope. Same problem. Get so far then crash. It seemed that the problem lay in the SATA controller, so I bought a SATA/RAID control card. And that didn't fix it either.

My PC is ok when it's got itself up and running, but I want my SSD to work.

So, having tried everything I could think of, to no avail, I had a look on ebay for a fast computer. I found one that has some fantastic stats, and after some hesitation, I've shelled out about five hundred quid for it. It's got an 8 core 4ghz CPU, and a 2Gb graphics card. It comes with 4Gb of DDR3 RAM, which I could upgrade to upto 32Gb, and a 320Gb Hard Drive.

It's a bit of a beast to say the least, at least on paper. I can't actually go get it just yet as the seller is on holiday for a few days, but on Thursday 7th November (which just happens to be my next day off), I will be driving up to Leeds to pick it up.

Something to look forward to. Tomorrow I will be working 9.5 hours paid time. I don't need to feel guilty about reaping the benefits of all this work.

driving lessons in North Wirral? learn to drive in Hoylake? driving instructor in Birkenhead?

13 comments:

Pete said...

What exactly are you after?? For that kind of money, you could get a very up-to-date and powerful desktop, brand new. Second hand computers could be damaged and full of viruses and malware. Just providing an alternative viewpoint.

Still if you've paid already, it is a moot point as you would say.

Pete said...

No golf next week then.

Paul said...

It's not something I went into lightly Pete. I explored a number of options, including what the likes of PC world and Staples had to offer, and bespoke pc websites, and to get anything like the same spec would have cost substantially more. As stated in the post, I have a new and legitimate copy of windows 8 and will be doing a clean install, onto a hard drive that I will be putting in myself, so the chance of an infection is pretty small.

Paul said...

and no, probably not going to be able to get a round of golf in next thursday :)

Paul said...

...unless you fancy playing Leeds

Pete said...

I'm outta my depth here, godammit. But if it smells like a duck it is probably too expensive.

Pete said...

I have played a couple of courses in "YORKSHIRE YORKSHIRE". Those were not impolite caps but a football chant.

Pete said...

Statman digs into his box of old golf scorecards.......

Pete said...

They were Pike Hills and Heworth. They are in the York area.

My first and only other attempt round Hoylake was on 30th May 1986 and I scored 132 not 140.

Pete said...

How come you need one of these SSD drives and I don't? You'll have to make it simple for me to understand.

Paul said...

SSD drives do not have a read head and a rotating disk.

So to find data they do not need to spin up to speed and move about from position to position. They work more like the RAM in your computer, and are much quicker for certain things. They also draw less power, so your laptop will last a bit longer on a charge.

Currently, they're more expensive than conventional hard drives, particular for larger capacity drives, but the price is dropping gradually, and I'd expect that in a couple of years time, they'll start to become the norm.

Pete said...

Did you get it?

Paul said...

Yes. I got both the PC and a new chair to replace my old broken one.

Uneventful journey. Shoved SSD drive into it and put windows 8 on it.

Windows rates my system at 7.4