Yesterday I had one of those days, where the Computer causes Frustration, and time is  wasted running around.

My Desktop is an Compaq Persario with AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.19Ghz, so it runs like an Intel P4 @ 3.7 Ghz.  Its nowhere near the Core 2 duos.. but gets the job done.

So the built in video decided to fail on me.  I went to a local Tigerdirect store(45min drive each way) and Picked up a GeForce 9600 GSO again nothing super special, but considering what my Desktop is, I wouldn’t want to put anything more powerful inside.  Drove home and realized, shoot I didn’t check the power supply on my pc, and sure enough its under powered, its only 350Watts.

The minimum rating on my new video card is 500Watts or greater, whenever I hear minimum, that means bump it up a bit more.  So..... Back to the store which is a 45min drive.   I picked up a 600 Watt power supply which also came with the special 6 Pin PCIe Power cable which my original one didn’t.

Video Card $89
Power Supply $69
Time wasted:  3 hours.

At least my PC back up and running and as an added bonus, I can use both of my monitors. :)

The Whole experience........Priceless (hehe)

I'm jealous, you have a TD store local?

Quote - The Whole experience........Priceless (hehe)

I'm jealous, you have a TD store local?

hehehe Yes.. and what an Experience. :)

We've had a few TD stores open recently, none in my City hence the 45 Minute drive.  But I rather go there, vs Best Buy or Future Shop.  Future shop is now owned by Best Buy which was the Canadian version of Best Buy :) 

Individual Computer parts are simply to expensive to buy from Retail stores.  There are many smaller local computer stores that are cheaper but dont have the stock.  So TD is a good inbetween alternative.

The built in video card was an ATI  Radeon 200 Express with Shared Memory so now I get use of all the memory in pc. :)

 This is exactly what I need to do on my offline workstation.....bought an off the shelf ACER when my MOBO up and quit on me some months back and although it is dual core and I have 3 gigs of ram I get no where near the speed I should be getting...my old box with less RAM and a slower cpu on W2K actually rendered Br5.5 and terragen stuff faster than this ne machine due I'm guessing to the shared memory issue...I also have to get a sound card as I do a considerable amount of audio recording and music writing on the workstation and man does that tend to hang.....
Any recommendations on a sound card anyone?

I should have kept some Benchmarks info previously.  The Room Scene that I posted about in another thread, seems to be rendering faster now, could be my imagination.

Bobby: What are you planning to do with the sound card what application?

Unless they've changed, Compaq is pretty stiff about proprietary technology and parts (at least the 11 years I worked on 'em). You'd need to check with HP to see if they have a higher-wattage Power supply (HP bought Compaq a few years ago). 

Failing that, you might check some after-market suppliers in your area to see if they have something compatible.

Quote - I
Bobby: What are you planning to do with the sound card what application?

 
I write music in an app called **MelodyAssistant **[www.myriad-online.com....a very inexpensive music writing software from France{$20.00 USD}] and more than a couple of guitars and horns with bass and drums and it really starts clicking. I also plan on recording real music and editing/mixing it in the app and as these will be .wav files the're gonna be huge so an efficient sound card is very necessary. Bear in mind I'm as poor as a churchmouse as well so figger that into any recommendations.. ..thanx for asking.. ...

Attached Link: Musicians Friend; Canada

Hey Bobby. As a home-recording musician I've done a lot of business with these guys, and they have a shipping outlet in Canada too. This link will take you to the audio interface page. You can get a USB interface(mono) with an XLR mic input, and a 1/4" jack input, with included recording and mixing software, for $79.00. That isn't much more than a midi-only interface will run you.   You can step up to stereo recording capabilities(or if you like to record more than 1 instrument at once) by spending around $150.00. I recommend these interfaces over most sound cards cause the inputs are meant for musical instruments and mics, and the end result is nearly always better and more professional sounding. Good luck, and I hope this helps.

I find for buying parts, the best deals are online, but I guess at other times it's not worth the waiting. (What you managed doesn't sound all that bad though.)

In regards to power supplies, one should be careful on what a good deal is. It's not that the power supply is necessarily bad at a lower price, it's just that from my experience that the FCC noise rating (I believe it's indicated by a letter grade marking in addition to the other info) can vary quite a bit between "business" and "home" use computer parts. So if you like listening to the radio while rendering or browsing, be prepared for a lot of annoying buzzing if you go the cheaper route. (I learned this the hard way, and have since upgraded to a power supply with better shielding.)

Oh yeah - in addition to the "big box" stores, don't forget the office supply places. Sometimes they have halfway decent stuff hidden amongst their computer parts aisles. If you need a quicky part to get something up and running, sometimes they may have it. Might not be a better deal, but it gives more options and can save on driving if you've "got to have it now". ;)