New Dell computer....

I had the dual monitors with my old computer and found I didn't really need them. I went thru a couple of video cards with my old computer, don't really them, I have professional quality sound cards, they are made obsolete by the new computer, so I don't need them anymore either. My old computer had an ASUS motherboard with 6 SATA ports, but I don't need them anymore, and something was wrong with it and it wouldn't accept any more that 1 gig of memory, I get 4 gigs upgradable to 8 on the new computer. The old mother board was designed to work with Vista, and Windows 7 upgrade drivers are not available from ASUS. I had to buy a bigger power supply that would heat up the room, don't need it anymore. I had to buy a special cooling fan for the Intel Core2Duo because the stock one was junk and kept falling off the motherboard and the new one made lots of noise, don't need it anymore the new computer runs very quiet and very cool. The old computer would lock up and shut down when it got warm, the new computer runs cool and hasn't locked up once yet. I had to buy and install a Windows 7 license to run the old computer, the new computer comes with Windows 7-64 bit already installed.

The new computer was all put together. I brought it home, plugged it in and it worked first time, no monkeying around needed. The old computer wouldn't post at first because somebody set the power supply switch to 220 volts. Two days messing around figuring that one out.

All in all the new computer is cheaper than the old one and much more powerful. I say it's up to date because it has the second generation i3 processor that was just released a couple of months ago, I'm comparing that to my old Core2Duo which is many years old and now obsolete.

The old computer was one headache after the next and I've already gutted it for parts. It's not coming back---ever !!!

Here's a picture of the inside of the new Dell. Nice and neat, notice how the hard drives are mounted facing the opening of the computer for easy access...click on the picture to enlarge....

Originally Posted by djwayne

I had the dual monitors with my old computer and found I didn't really need them. I went thru a couple of video cards with my old computer, don't really them,

Some people like it some people don't. It was an example of why a person would want to stay away from on board graphics. Not really a rule of thumb.

Originally Posted by djwayne

I have professional quality sound cards, they are made obsolete by the new computer, so I don't need them anymore either.

Doubt if you had a professional sound card. Most professionals use sound boards with the ability to control something along the lines of 512 different frequency ranges. I can see that it may have studio quality with 24 bit sound. But that is sill far from professional.

Originally Posted by djwayne

My old computer had an ASUS motherboard with 6 SATA ports, but I don't need them anymore, and something was wrong with it and it wouldn't accept any more that 1 gig of memory, I get 4 gigs upgradable to 8 on the new computer.

Six SATA ports is a decent amount, the point was that modern and top of the line computers in the last three years come standard with more than that, for the fact of everything is running SATA now and for the ability to have many eSATA ports. With the RAM it sounds like you where trying to run RAM faster than it wanted to run. That or it could have been a BIOS issue. With eight GB max RAM, that should be more like twenty four to thirty two minimum, if not sixty four. With a 64 Bit Windows system four to eight is the minimum you should be running.

Originally Posted by djwayne

The old mother board was designed to work with Vista, and Windows 7 upgrade drivers are not available from ASUS.

That is irrelevant to running an OS, especially Windows. There are not Windows Vista or 7 drivers for a Dell Dimension 4550, though it will still run Vista and 7, because they both have drivers for all the hardware built in to the OS. So it doesn't matter what the manufacture puts out, the Hardware can still run that OS.

Originally Posted by djwayne

I had to buy a bigger power supply that would heat up the room, don't need it anymore. I had to buy a special cooling fan for the Intel Core2Duo because the stock one was junk and kept falling off the motherboard and the new one made lots of noise, don't need it anymore the new computer runs very quiet and very cool.

Bigger power supplies put out more heat, that is just a fact of life. Not matter what, you start pumping a large amount of power through one spot it will make lots of heat. That is a faulty part and should have been taken back to be replaced. Parts of the same design and model type, regardless of the price, are to work properly, or it is broken. Broken parts from the manufacture cannot be a factor when talking about if a computer is obsolete, because there would be nothing but obsolete. The noise that the fan makes is all dependent on the model that you buy. You bought a fan with a high decibel rating, and so it was loud. Not the fans fault, the fan is running as it was designed to. You get what you pay for and if you wanted a more quiet fan, should have bought the higher priced one.

Originally Posted by djwayne

The old computer would lock up and shut down when it got warm, the new computer runs cool and hasn't locked up once yet. I had to buy and install a Windows 7 license to run the old computer, the new computer comes with Windows 7-64 bit already installed.

With just the statement that you let parts fall of of it, makes me wonder what other issues it had. If you run your car with out oil, it is not the cars fault that the engine fell apart. That would be the same thing, if there where not enough thermal compound or the attachments where shotty...there could be a million different reasons for bad performance caused by poor maintenance.

Originally Posted by djwayne

The new computer was all put together. I brought it home, plugged it in and it worked first time, no monkeying around needed. The old computer wouldn't post at first because somebody set the power supply switch to 220 volts. Two days messing around figuring that one out.

Still that would be user error, not a problem with the computer itself. The computer doesn't have arms to reach out and change it's own input power ratting. That could have easily happened to the new one you got, if worked on by a chowder head.

Originally Posted by djwayne

All in all the new computer is cheaper than the old one and much more powerful. I say it's up to date because it has the second generation i3 processor that was just released a couple of months ago, I'm comparing that to my old Core2Duo which is many years old and now obsolete.

The old computer was one headache after the next and I've already gutted it for parts. It's not coming back---ever !!!

I know that I have had this discussion many time and especially with a member that will remain nameless. Age newer doesn't translate into better. Just like any Mac you will find, brand new $2000+ is still obsolete. There are still people using Core 2 Duos for application servers that I know of. Running Microsoft Office and three releases of Visual Studio, in a 200 or 300 user environment. That is 10x if not ore than what you are running, and they still barley hit 78% or 80% CPU usage. It's all about what you do with it and how much you are willing to work on it to get it humming just right. It is like anything in the world, you only get out as much performance as you are willing to put in work.

That's not a new design, Antec has been using that for 10+ years. I have a case from 2003 with that design, but has trays that the HDD mounts to and locks in place.

The power supply came like that from the factory. My whole point is that there are so many factors involved with building a computer sometimes it's just better to buy one already put together. If you count my time involved the old computer was a fiscal nightmare. A friend of mine who's into computers talked me into building my own with no formal training. He promised it would be a piece of cake, and it turned into a big headache. Even he's not talking to me since I bought one already put together. I guess I don't belong in the "club" anymore. Again he said I could get a much bigger, faster computer if I built my own...I don't need bigger and faster, I just want that darn thing to work with no hassles. So far the Dell is working out perfectly for me.


Oh by the way my sound cards are professional studio quality, one is even a 10 channel in/10 channel out, sound card.

I never had an Antec case, so I wouldn't know. My old case had the hard drives facing the back of the computer which made them difficult to access, not impossible but difficult. Here again this is the difference between somebody who builds computers full time, and a hobbyist like me. There's so many details that I'm not aware of that I have no business attempting to build a computer from scratch.

Wait, it looks like we are talking about almost the same thing but not. I was talking: Studio, would be music CDs, low grade sound for video games, that kinds of thing. Professional, would be something like high quality for movies and video games. The kind of high quality that could run 50+ speakers and the sound out of each of them be just a little different depending of the placement that is intended. that true surround sound effect. So we are pretty much talking about the same thing.

Screw that crap. Let him be all but hurt if he wants to be. I was under the impression that you either had formal training or had learned a lot about computers in some other form or fashion. You may not know how to put together a computer or know everything there is to know about computers, but you did have cognitive thoughts and opinions. You said what you wanted to and did it very well. You didn't try to use jargon that you didn't understand like you did. You have much to learn, but you are on the right path all ready.

Yea, not so much on that hard drive issue. I have a case like that, I put in the hard drives before the motherboard, and refuse to change them out. Though they are a 1 TB and 2 TB, so I wont need to for a while. Though the point is still valid, even I with 20+ years of experience, I too hate that design. It's not just you LoL

This may be a bit of encouragement for you. Back in the day, when William Henry Gates III, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Richard Stallman, Linus Truvaulds, Eric S Raymond...when they where starting out, they where nothing more than hobbyist. They all where part of the Hombrew Computer Club at one point and time. You never know, one day you may come up with some great idea, and boom, you are there in the history books with them.

Well I have had electrical training and I worked as a wireman for Reliance Electric and Rockwell Automation for 12 years so I do have some knowledge of electronics. Now I have a very good basic knowledge of computer components. Even though the old computer was a pita, it was also a great learning experience.

The purpose of the old computer was to be the heart and soul of a recording studio, which it did serve that purpose for a while, but times have changed and I don't need a whole studio anymore, a simple home studio will suffice for now. There's a saying in the music business that applies here..."You spent HOW MUCH MONEY just so you can make MP3's ?????" In my old age now, I don't want a big studio anymore, so I'm scaling everything back to a simple home studio. The new Dell fits that bill perfectly.

That would be the cost effective strategic investor. Look five years in the future, if it wont need to be upgraded more than 35% to 50% then that is exactly what you need. It all depends on the application it is used for. It sounds like you are right on track with where you need to be. Kudos.

If this Dell lasts 5 years I'll be thrilled. I can upgrade anytime if I need to but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Who knows what will be available 5 years from now. I'll worry about that when I get there, if I get there.