What Robert Gault said... do the dust bunny thing and check all your fans. If that doesn't help, hie thee to a shop before it is toast.

I'm really over it, Draclvr. Rather than spend money on this computer I'd rather invest it in a new one. I'd been thinking about it, this is just driving me to it. Couple of questions: do I need an installation disc for the monitor I have now which came with this PC? And does 'onboard sound' mean that I'll have sound? (I know that sounds dumb but I don't know.)

Gil.

No. If you decide you don't like the Plug 'n Play drivers that Windows 7 will use for it, you can look for drivers for the monitor model on the Internet.


Onboard sound means the sound chip is built into the motherboard instead of being on a separate sound card. You can add a sound card if you don't like the onboard sound and disable the onboard sound in the BIOS.

Thank you so much, Jenny, thank you all for your advice and your patience with me.

I knew absolutely nothing about the inner workings of a computer when I bought this one and I'm still angry at the Geek Squad at Best Buy which assured me that my integrated graphics card, a GeForce 9100, was going to be fine for gaming. You can imagine how likely I am to buy anything there again except, maybe, a jewel case or something equally innocuous.

I've been reading cazziejoe's thread and his/her choice sounded great. I'm probably going to end up with something very similar from Ecollegepc. That I even know to go there is due to the great people here on Gameboomers, so once again, thank you all so very much.

Gil.

Gil, just remember you have to make sure the power supply is large enough to run whatever card you chose. It's better to have a large power supply, which isn't running at full capacity, then to have a small one that limits your choices.

One nice thing about ecollegePC is that they use power supplies that are appropriate to the computer you put together. The minimum is 400 watts. I just ordered a Core i3 computer from them last night for a friend and the stock power supply was 550 watts. No wimpy 250 - 300 watt power supplies from them!

Well, based on what I've been reading here (I'm trying to ignore how long I'll be eating beans after this), here's what I've come up with.

CPU: 2.8Ghz Intel Core i5-760 8MB Cache Quad-Core
Heatsink/Fan: Stock Intel LGA1156 Heatsink and Fan
Motherboards: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 (Intel P55, 2xPCI-E, 8xSATA2, 4xDDR3, 1394)
Memory: 8GB (4GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Major Brand)
CD/DVD/CDRW1: 22x LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
Video Card: 1GB GeForce GTX 460 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI (Major Brand)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Case: CoolerMaster Black Elite 430 (3 5.25, 6 3.5) Fan, Audio/USB
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W
Networking: Onboard LAN included
Sound Card: Onboard Sound included
Case Fans: 2x 120mm Case Fan
Wires and Cables neatly tied up away from fans
3 Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty

If I'm making a big mistake somewhere, stop me now before I order this! <g>

Gil.

Looks great to me - don't know if you need the 8 GB of RAM or the 650 watt power supply, but the rest looks great. This particular case comes with one 120mm LED case fan in front. I just ordered one from them last night and added 1 extra rear 120mm case fan. You may only need one extra one. But non of these extras can hurt - it just all depends on your budget.

See what Inland and Jenny have to say.

What's eating a few beans compared to getting a great new computer?!

Looks fine to me.
Watch out for those beans.

I love beans. I'd better love beans! Gone and went and done it. Butterflies in my stomach and grinning ear to ear.

Yeehee!

Gil.

Congratulations, traveler... You're going to love it.

A couple of things to know with the computers they build... You will have to activate your Windows 7 operating system yourself. No biggie - just go to Help and Support and enter activate. Since you actually get your OS disk (and all your motherboard driver disks etc.) just enter your key. Windows 7 does not come with things like Live Mail, Messenger, etc. preinstalled. I love that you can simply download what you need and don't have to deal with the things you don't need. And be sure to take the "tour" of your new OS - it will explain a lot. Have fun!!

One question, Draclvr (oh, right, the first of a flood, most likely): Am I the one who sets the computer's name and password? (I really don't want a password to get into my computer's innards.) Or do they do it at Ecollegepc? I assume I do it when I install Windows but, hey, ignorant is my middle name.

I know I'm going to love this computer! I'm going to love being able to play games that are sitting on my shelf because this darned graphics card couldn't handle them. I know I may have gone overboard a bit...reaction I guess...but the beans and I can handle it and right now I feel like a kid at Christmas. <g>

Gil.

All they do at ecollegePC is install the OS and make sure it all works. You will set up everything the way you want it. This is a really good down-to-earth explanation of how to set up your new Windows 7. Setting Up Windows 7 If you want things to be set up like they are on your old computer, you can even use the Windows Easy Transfer program to do that.

I'm sure you and your beans are going to have a ball!!

Good for you traveler. I hope the new computer is everything you hope for and more!!!

I always have liked people from Chicago. <g> Thank you, oldbroad!

Gil.

As one new owner to another,

traveler and draclvr,
Here is another place you should know about so you can have another option.I buy my computers here,where you can choose EVERY componant.I think they are fairly priced and use quality componants.
( http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ )