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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: edward shapiro who wrote (91)	2/1/1998 6:15:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Respond to of 14778

>>I was nervous and decided against it<< I lost my fear when I witnessed someone else replace a motherboard. There was a conflict between a Micron motherboard and one of my applications. Someone supplied us with an Intel motherboard to replace it. This guy took the cover off,pulled a few cards (this part I have done many times myself, replacing video cards and installing SCSI host adapters) He then took a few screws out of the motherboard, pulled a couple of cables off and then installed the Intel motherboard in reverse order. The whole thing took about an hour. It worked first time we booted it up. If we research the compatibility of the components in advance it will be a piece of cake to put it together IMO. >>I also had no need for a specialized machine.<< I am not trying to build a specialized machine. I am trying to build an open architecture machine. A machine that you can upgrade over time. A machine that can be developed for different specialties by adding more RAM or more storage capacity. I want the components to maintain value over time. I have two Dell computers. The only parts of value are keyboard, mouse and maybe a floppy drive. I think that it is not too much to ask that I can at least reuse the case. My new Compaq Presario (8 months old +/-) has a nice video card but it is integral to the motherboard. I want to upgrade it. I have a brother who could use this video card but it is not an option. I want an option to pull a motherboard and replace it with a new one with a new generation of CPU and still use my old case, power supply, video card and RAM. I don't think it is too much to ask. It is a bit of a challenge because I don't think Intel Compaq and Dell see the things the way I do. I do not want to drop two grand per year to replace an entire computer, I have done that once too many times. This Compaq I am using now was the latest when I purchased it less than a year ago and there is very little I can do to upgrade it. >>MicroChannel Architecture<< Sure glad that stuff is going away. I still have five computers with MCA and what a pain to add new components. Your whole life revolves around a floppy disc. >>I figured that if the voltage was low, then maybe the hard disk would not get all the power it needed and might not work correctly. Was I right? Did this help? I have no idea, but I felt better. Now I have a UPS and so the drive can never stop during a read or write.<< I am convinced that clean power is a significant concern. Low voltage for sure among other things. I suspect that some of my harddrive failures are related to power short-comings. I do not run any of my home computers without UPS either. Surge protectors are not enough. I find that most power interruptions are very short (less than one minute). I use the APC power strip with the built in battery. I just picked one up (today) for $119. I'll only get five minutes or less of back-up time but this is more that enough IMO. Thanks for your input Zeuspaul