Posts by fadedorca66

So, what kind of email client are you running?

I honestly thought you’d already pulled the trigger on it and were typing this from a brand-new PC 😁

What isn't going to be enough for? Web browsing and basic office work? I mean, come on. Back in 2007, those old Socket 775 chips were dirt cheap and performed about the same as these Pentium or Celeron models, yet they still handle surfing and Word just fine today. We aren't living in the nineties anymore where tech changes every five minutes; things move way slower now. What, is Office or Flash really going to require a quad-core processor in two years?

Grabbed my popcorn, ready to watch this train wreck unfold 🤣

But yeah, I guess an APU is overkill here unless she’s planning on playing some heavy games. Since she isn't, a basic Pentium is plenty. And honestly, throwing money $67 at a beefy cooler? You guys might actually be crazy 😁

So, I'm with David Sanders4 on this one—a Pentium for $133. Those coolers are whisper-quiet anyway since the chip stays so cool, so she won't even hear it. An SSHD is also a solid move; she'll notice that speed boost way more than any AMD quad-core beast.

The whole setup will be so chill she won't even need extra fans. That little exhaust on the power supply should do the trick. I built a similar rig for some elderly neighbors over in suburban Chicago—mostly just web browsing and office stuff—and they love it. It’s fast and dead silent.

Nah, I guess every single setup here is meant for gaming 🤣

Rachel Jones8 said:Would an i3 or i5 be any better? I mean, maybe, but nobody even suggested those builds—just Celerons and Pentiums.

An i3 wouldn't really give you much over this APU, and while an i5 would definitely be an upgrade, you probably don't even need that much power.

What are you even doing over here in the desktop PC section? 😁

But yeah, 1GB should be plenty and it'll be fast enough.

You could probably just snag a used tray on eBay or something.

As for the soldering part, I'm sure you'll figure it out—it's not that deep, don't sweat it 😁

Nah, it's not that, I just don't really pay attention to those tiny details... Honestly, it's probably best if you just pick one yourself since you know what you're looking for and which side you want the USB ports on.

If you plug that old hard drive into a new PC, everything’s going to look exactly the same. I mean, if you can find what you're looking for now, you'll be able to find it just fine once you hook it up as an external drive.

You can barely find DVD ROM drives for sale anymore, and even if you do, they're only a couple of bucks cheaper than a burner, so there's really no point. Honestly, you might be better off just getting two burners... though I guess it's kind of silly to spend $50 on another one when people hardly even use them. Besides, what's wrong with just copying everything to a disc first and then burning it? It's probably safer that way anyway.

As for the case, that's totally up to you—just pick one you actually like and that fits your setup. I see you're worried about dust getting into the USB ports, so I won't even go there. 😍

I mean, that case should be fine, you can totally use it if you want.

Can you show us what the inside of your rig looks like? We definitely need a photo.

Basically, you just grab one of those enclosures, pop your hard drive in, and plug it straight into a USB port. It’s way cleaner than trying to juggle bare drives and random adapters, especially if you aren't some kind of PC expert:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

You just need to make sure you get an enclosure meant for ATA/PATA drives.

Come on, that's already an ATX standard. If you want to be 100% sure, just open it up and snap a photo. 🙂

It’s not really a limitation; most modern motherboards come with those slots anyway, so it shouldn't be much of an issue. Plus, the new keyboard is $17 😁

Nah, that would mean putting the hard drive in an enclosure and using it as an external drive. It looks way cleaner than having that adapter cluttering up your desk.

How old is that case even? If it’s an ATX standard—which, I guess, it probably is—then you shouldn't have much to worry about. As for the USB ports not working, I can't say for sure, but maybe someone was just lazy when they built the PC and didn't plug them in, or maybe they didn't have a header for it or something. You should probably just pop the side panel off and check if they're actually connected.

That purple circular thing is just a PS/2 port. It isn't part of the case, it's on the motherboard, so you'll need to make sure the board actually has a PS/2 port or two.

And yeah, you could totally hook up the HDD with that adapter and use it like a thumb drive. Though, honestly, you might be better off grabbing an enclosure for it so the whole thing looks a bit cleaner and more practical.

It’s pretty simple: if you actually like this case, just keep it. There’s really no reason to swap things out if it works for you and gets the job done.

Maybe just swap those noisy fans, but as for those LEDs giving you such a hard time—they probably just aren't plugged into the motherboard right or were wired incorrectly.

Good grief, you guys suggested ten different builds, and they’re all basically the same thing anyway. Nobody even mentioned a budget, nobody asked for help putting one together, and honestly, nobody even showed up here to ask... you just made a total mess. 😬

Exactly. There's really no point in getting an APU if you're pairing it with a dedicated GPU anyway, especially since you've got enough left over to grab a better processor (maybe an Intel Core i3 or even an Intel Core i7). You can probably save some cash on RAM too since you won't need top-tier speeds, and you might as well pick up a Seagate Barracuda since you'll have an SSD handling the heavy lifting.

XFX is basically just rebranded Seasonic anyway, so you probably don't have much to worry about

I mean, I guess the real question is whether you actually need a power supply that beefy...

Chieftec is a decent enough PSU, I don't really see why you'd bother swapping it out.

Maybe some fresh paste would drop things by a couple of degrees, but honestly, your temps look solid as they are.

If it’s working, I wouldn't touch a thing. 😁