The fix it pc, has been the victim of having the power taken away randomly and repeatedly. I currently live in Italy and the power here is complete trash, I feel like the power grid is made of coke cans and aluminum foil, It drops alot, for a while it was everyday multiple times a day, I had surge protection but no ups.... it wasn't that big of a deal to me to lose power it happened so rarely to me in the States. so the Do I Fix it machine was bsod a few times. I'd leave it off for a coupe days and it would boot up, it would drop the bios settings..I have replaced 4 cmos batteries in the last year in a half, which is four more than i ever had to replace on any board at all..
so heres the dilemma, I would like to build a new pc, but part of me is trying to wait for ddr4, GPU prices to drop, ram prices to drop... etc etc. so if i buld now i would want to Consciously not make it too good. I was too comfortable with my current pc i didnt feel the need to upgrade it, because it was a champ (its only phenom 4gb ram(DDR2) and a 9800gt.. i am super impressed with the 9800gt for being able to survive so long and just be tough but i feel like its time to get my hands on new tech.. If i build a pc now I'd like to keep things under $700, I mostly game but i would like to be able to handle Photoshop pretty well, and if possible id like to learn some lite 3d modelling stuff. I am a bang for the buck fan more than anything and I am a dad of 3 in the military so I dont often have a pile of money to spend on me.. thats why its been about 5-6 years for this dead machine... oh i forgot would a new power supply and an ups and a new cmos battery possibly "fix" my current machine.. i havent even thought to fix it until last night when i heard Logan and Wendell talking about psu's (the WS board video)
thanks for any help in advance, I will answer any questions
~Also planning on migrating the old junk to a new case if i revive it, the old one is the : CM-690 Nvidia, there are some things i dont love about it that i have lived with, EX: the usb ports on top tend to push down into the case and i have to go in an push it up, there are no screws just pressure fittings, also the case fan on the side sucks , i hate how long the cable is it doesnt tuck in nicely makes me wish there wasnt a window because of how ugly it looks... the case i am considering is: Fractal Design Arc mini and for the power supply i was looking at coolermaster 700w. Is this too much or not enough ? thanks!
Also this is the ups i am considering... Cyberpower 340w i have never purchased one before so figuring out how much is enough is hard. most of the power outages are little 2-10 second interuptions. there are some that last longer, I dont need to be able to still operate during an outage i just want to prevent damage from having the power suddenly taken away, and also to help get rid of some of the variance in the ac power ... i can see it cycling the lights... looks like very dirty power.
With 700$ to spare i would just go AMD all the way maybe like a 6 core and a 7870 or maybe even a 760. Get a good power supply such as this and a mobo with good power delivery. I you are have power outages that cyberpower 340w is a must. More ram is always nice but just get some fast 4gb ram sticks (2*4Gb) like 1866 or even 2133. last but not least the arc mini is a great choice; good airflow and good looks.
Thanks for the response, but should i even attempt to fix the old machine? or just replace anything. the old mobo only supports ddr2 and since im using 32bit win7 4gb is the max.. this old pc would be used while i wait on sales for a new build and would go to my daughter so she can have something thatll play minecraft better than her laptop... is the 650w psu enough? or is it over kill? ie could i drop it to a 500w or so or do i need that kind of head room? and on my bidget id like to at least get into a GPU thatll be capable of mantle if i am giving up Physx...
I used the psu calculator feature on newegg and it reccomended >456W PSU, so here is my new choice... this is for the current pc which i guess I will try to fix with this new PSu and hope that it was mostly just my old one going bad... it has been in use pretty solidly for the last 5-6 years..anyways here is the PSU: Corsair cx500 I dont really need modular for this old pc not at an additional 10 bucks... thats like almost enough for an extra fan for the case.. I would still love any advice that might be out there...
A 500w would be fine. In regards to fixing up your old rig, go for it if you have the extra cash but make sure your primary rig is set straight.