A buddy of mine ran into a bit of a headache after installing Windows 8—he couldn't find his optical drive anywhere under "My Computer." Turns out, the fix was surprisingly simple: I just had him unplug the SATA connector from the drive and plug it back in, and just like that, everything popped up again. It might be worth giving that a shot if you're stuck...
Personally, I wouldn't bother selling it. With a desktop, if things start slowing down, you can just swap out a few parts or upgrade a single component—whereas with a laptop, you're pretty much stuck with just upgrading the RAM or maybe the processor at most...
p.s. If you're thinking about listing the computer on eBay, you'll probably have better luck selling it piece by piece. It's tough to find someone looking for a full setup when they could spend that same amount of money at Best Buy on something much more powerful that comes with a full warranty on every single part. Plus, let's face it—people are tight on cash lately...
I can tell you that I am—it’s a shame about the GeForce GTX 680, really, but what's the point of owning an expensive component if you don't have a warranty? Plus, my power supply isn't exactly top-tier, so I wouldn't feel totally confident running it without any hiccups. I'm not saying it would fail immediately, but the PSU would definitely be working overtime whenever the card hits 100% load... and since the card only has a single fan, I'd probably be dealing with some pretty high temps, too.
So, I finally pulled the trigger on that Corsair 200R case. Once I've got some extra cash flowing in, I'll pick up a high-quality power supply—and then it’ll be time to hunt for a new graphics card...
I mean, seriously, look at that price tag—especially when there isn't even a warranty included $633. My old 7870 still gets the job done just fine, and instead of dumping all that cash into a new GPU, I decided to treat myself to a brand-new case:
And honestly, you really ought to get a dedicated controller... It just plugs right into the motherboard, and then you’ve got two extra USB 3.0 ports sitting there right behind the board.
Taylor Morales31 I hear you, but honestly, it’s probably not worth swapping out the motherboard just for that speed boost 😁 unless you're feeling as impatient as I am 😁
Dana Peterson39
If you're moving several gigabytes of data every single day—and if your budget can handle the hit—then yeah, go ahead and upgrade that motherboard..
Hey guys, what are your thoughts on the MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680—specifically the single-fan version? Has anyone here actually put one through its paces personally?
Unfortunately, that's a no-go. If you don't mind me asking, why is that specific upgrade such a big deal to you? It’s not like there's a massive, world-changing speed gap between USB 2.0 and 3.0—is it really worth swapping out your entire motherboard just for that? Plus, of course, you'd actually need devices that support USB 3.0 to see any of those faster speeds anyway...
From what I can tell, your motherboard doesn't actually have USB 3.0—those are usually the blue ones, right? Most newer boards come with them built-in anyway, and unfortunately, it’s not really something you can just upgrade or slap on later. 🙂
Sorry guys, crimsonstag84 called me out on that—my bad. With so many different power supply versions floating around, I thought the author was specifically looking for the VS label. I really should have double-checked the quote more closely.
If I were in your shoes, I’d probably just go with the power supply I linked earlier—it's a solid way to be extra safe without breaking the bank, since it's actually pretty affordable and high quality.
Back in 2009, my i5 750 was actually pretty decent at handling the latest big titles. I honestly wouldn't have swapped it out if I didn't have to—but since I finally had the extra cash sitting around, I decided to upgrade the socket. It feels good to get that peace of mind, too... I'm 110% sure I won't have to worry about another upgrade for at least another two years or so.
Man, what kind of setup is that? She’s still driving me around in her own car just to get to her place 😍 It really should be the other way around, shouldn't it?
I totally get where everyone is coming from, but I don't actually have a job or any steady income—my folks basically bankroll me, so whenever I catch a bit of extra cash, I dive straight into upgrading my rig. I just swapped out my CPU and motherboard, so I should be pretty much set for the next three years. The only thing holding me back now is the GPU; I know the Radeon HD 7870 is still a solid card by any standard, but if the opportunity to jump to something more powerful comes up, I’ll definitely take it. It's just tough when so much of my budget goes toward other stuff, like dating 😍
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