Hello my good techie #CosoCommunity folksies!
I'm wondering if one of you technical geniuses can help me?
My PC is 15 years old. The only thing I ever replaced in it was the memory.
For it's age it runs really well, but, there's always a but, I cannot upgrade it from Windows 10 and she to be honest I'm not sure I can hold her together much longer. (Said in Mr. Scott's accent)
Is there anything I will be able to salvage or do I have to go all brand new?
@Tacitus_Kilgore Following with interest, as my advice is non-techie. I never regretted moving to a Macbook Air. I am sure you will get much better advice though. CoSo is loaded with technical geniuses.
@Tacitus_Kilgore you willing to explore Linux OS?
@Victor My understanding is you have to be more technically versed to run Linux. I'm not that great at understanding that stuff.
@Tacitus_Kilgore you have a 15 year computer that you can practice on. You have nothing to lose and a whole lot of learning to gain...never too old too start or not gifted enough to begin.
@Tacitus_Kilgore In 2000, I tried to get Linux going on my computer and gave up.
In 2010, I tried again, and it was easy-peasy. I admit, that in the 15 years since then, I had maybe five problems, but I was always able to solve them with StackOverflow. No serious event in the past decade.
@Tacitus_Kilgore So, I would give it a go. I run a Windows Linux dual boot, meaning, you still have Windows as a fallback, while Linux can share Firefox/Thunderbird/XYZ profiles with Windows, so you have always the same status of these programs in both installations. @Victor
@Tacitus_Kilgore And this is the advice of a nontechie. @Victor
@Tacitus_Kilgore I have ALWAYS been able to salvage the hard drives. ALWAYS. I have HDs that are gosh.. 30 years old? Older? You might need a new SSD for the main drive though.
My guess is (I don't memorize specs-I relearn them from scratch when I choose a new system - every couple decades ;) ) you can salvage a good sound card. Maybe a Blue tooth card.. but ram, cpu, mobo.. nope. Power supply? Probably not up to snuff but even if it is I'd not want to risk a power fluctuation on a new machine
@TrueBloodNet I was thinking of keeping the hard drive for storage and a new hard drive for OS.
@Tacitus_Kilgore That will work. My approach is this. I have a SSD for my OS, A hard drive where I keep programs and a hard drive where I keep DATA. (I actually have like 3 data hd's cuz I have a ton of old interviews that chew up lots of data) That way, if a program goes nuts, gets infected etc. it won't corrupt my data. Just FYI. At least keeping the OS separate from the rest as you are planning is a good approach.
@TrueBloodNet @Tacitus_Kilgore I strongly recommend setting up a *nix box with Nextcloud running on it for file backups and personal cloud stuff. If you have an older machine you're retiring, it'll likely do fine as nothing but a file server.
I've got an old NUC sitting in a corner that runs our personal cloud, with 14tb for backups, plus a 14tb mirror drive for the backup of _that_. I got the drives cheap on ebay a while back.
@TrueBloodNet Looks like either way I'm going to need more money then I can afford right now. I'm trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible but having a reliable system.
A friend built this PC I have now and it cost me $1600.
@Tacitus_Kilgore Are you going to build or buy?
@TrueBloodNet I wanted to try my hand at building.
@Tacitus_Kilgore Good. :) Although I bought this one, it was a great sale and I moved all the drives, video cards, sound cards, etc. here myself. I've got a fantastic box upstairs that I will use to build one again some day. But since I no longer game, I haven't needed a hugely expensive desktop.
@TrueBloodNet That's what I'm wondering. I have always gamed but now the appeal is wearing off. Besides I still have my Xbox.
@Tacitus_Kilgore I have/had a separate drive for my gaming stuff as well. Really, I have a shit ton of drives. LOL
@Tacitus_Kilgore Oh, if you have a DVD drive and a card reader you might be able to transfer them to a new system as well.
@TrueBloodNet I do have a DVD drive. Last time I used it was probably 8 years ago lol.
@Tacitus_Kilgore Same, but I have some music on DVD I might use some day... LOL actually, I have games on DVD I might use someday (nah) but anyway, in case of the apocalyspe.. I'm ready LOL!
@Tacitus_Kilgore There are gamers here. Ask them what their mobo/cpu/heat sink set up is. Oh and the ram they rec. (I installed my own ram too... started w the box, added some, then some ram died, fixed that. It's not too hard) the biggest thing is reading the schematics for the wiring, power and HDs. I don't add HDs till after the system is all set up, that way I can be sure I don't F up the boot order. LOL@myself
@TrueBloodNet Talking about this stuff is a little overwhelming. I'm going to have to think about this more. I'm just worried that one day soon I'm going to get up and find my PC shuffled off this mortal coil.
@Tacitus_Kilgore Yeah. Well, talk to your friend who built the last one if you're still in touch. On the bright side, there are some decent laptops that can get you through in a pinch. Is there a micro center near you?
@TrueBloodNet Near-ish. I live in the country and Moncton is an hour away.
@TrueBloodNet My friend who built this one lives in the Yukon still. That's 1500 kms away lol. So that's out of the question. lol.
@Tacitus_Kilgore @TrueBloodNet I think the most we've ever spent on a PC was $1000. We typically build our own, though.
@AskTheDevil @TrueBloodNet I love tinkering. I have always been a person that takes stuff apart and rebuilds them. I used to be good with cars and trucks but now they make them so you can't do the work yourself.
@Tacitus_Kilgore I quit working on cars after fuel injection motors and computers. I can do computers, and can do chores that scrape my knuckles and make me greasy, but if I have to argue with a computer with bloody, greasy knuckles, that's too much.
@TrueBloodNet
I want to try my hand at a self build.