 |
Followup on computer issue.
26 October 2020 | by A few days ago I posted regarding a computer issue I was having and asked for some input regarding it. On my blog, Amateur radio.com and a computer geek site I subscribe too I received lots of great feedback. The consensus seemed to be I was having graphic card issues or maybe RAM issues.........or both! Yesterday I decided to haul the PC tower out from within my roll top desk. It's a real pain to do as I have to get in behind the desk and remove off the cabling........but it is what it is. The plan was to take the most common advice I received and look at the graphics card and the RAM. I also updated the graphics card software as it was out of date.
Right off the but I noticed the graphics card was seated but one clip that snaps the card in place was not engaged and the card seemed loose. I ended up removing both the 2 RAM cards and the video card, cleaned them off and replace them. The inside of the PC was dust bunny free as it was just a short time ago I had it open and cleaned it with compressed air. Once everything was back in place with the side covers still off I started the PC just to make sure the 3 cooling fans, CPU fan and graphics card fan were all running and they were.
Everything is back together now and it's a wait and see game to see if the issue happens again. Some of the advice I received was that it was about time to purchase a new PC. I agree that mine is not lightning-fast and by no means do I need a gaming computer so it was off to the internet for input. I came across WA7EWC post regarding this very subject. He has great information in his post and one tidbit was regarding the benchmark of your processor. He suggested anything between 3000-8000 and you should be good to go. I bench-marked my processor and it came back with a score of 5340. It seems I am middle of the road and I am happy with that.
For me to upgrade and with what I want to spend I am just moving up the ladder a tiny bit regarding processor speed and so on. To tell you the truth sometimes you can get lost in the PC specs and speed and the reality is I may not even notice a difference in the speed. To move up to something where I notice a difference means spending close to or over 1,000.00 and I am not prepared to do that. I may end up getting a solid-state hard drive as an upgrade but first I want to make sure the graphics card or whatever the issue is has been solved. I also can overclock or as AMD calls it "turbo speed" the PC to 4 GHz from 3.5 but again that would mean spending money on a new CPU fan as the stock one I have won't cut the cooling required............and will I notice a difference between 3.5 and 4.0 GHz?
This PC was built by me and I like doing it that way as I get what I want and can tinker with it. I have noticed brand name PC's on the market now there is little room for expanding and I am not too keen on that.
6 Responses to “Followup on computer issue.”
 Ham Radio Deluxe |
 Ham Radio Prep |
 Ham Radio School |
 KB3IFH QSL Cards  Hip Ham Shirts  HamRadioAuctions Reliance Antennas Enigma Shop |  morseDX  Ni4L Antennas  R&L Electronics antennas.us Ears to Our World |
- Matt W1MST, Managing Editor
Hi Mike I too prefer to build my own computers. Currently using an AMD 8 core processor with liquid cooling running abt the same speed as yours. I also have 16 Gb ram and an nVidia graphics card, & a 1TB hard drive. I will upgrade to an SSD when the tower seems to be slowing down, but not yet! Hi! Hi Thanks for the column, much appreciated as I often republish in our club newsletter.
73 Bob VE3ETE
Good evening Bob as always very nice to hear from you, I’m happy to hear you add the occasional post to your club newsletter.
Have a good week and 73,
Mike
VE9KK
Even today the majority of programs out there never utilize all the cores on a processor. Many do use up to 4, but seldom more than that. I wouldn’t even bother with anything more than 4 cores unless you can get it at a price cheaper than a 4 core, provided it has specs almost identical to the 4 core.
Just remember that the fast the processor has to run, the hotter it gets. Running a 3.5 GHz at 4 GHz will shorten the life of the processor about 1/4 if it isn’t cooled enough. Ask me how I know.
Moe very nice to hear from you again, it’s so very true and it seems we have become all caught up on computer speed. Heaven forbid I have to wait 5 seconds for a program to open instead of 2! I have thought about upping my PC from 3.5 to 4GHz but in the long run what is it going to give me….a bit more speed and less life on my CPU and I have to spend money on a cooling unit for the CPU. I would rather spend that money on a SSD hard drive.
Moe have a great weekend and again thanks for the comment,
73,
Mike
VE9KK
I resisted installing Windows 10 for a very long time–up to 2019 I finally tried it on one of my machines and was so impressed I upgraded all of my machines except for one that waas so old it would not go the next step. There are a lot fewer glitches and hangups on W10 and the program is mostly invisible. If your machine has at least 3 or 4 GB of RAM, put install Windows 10 into your search enging and follow the instructions. It’s worth it.
73
Well Good morning again Eric, yes I have to let the cat out of the bag and admit that over the holidays I ordered a copy of Win10 and installed it. So far I am very pleased with it and I have installed a windows update blocker app. This way I can allow the system updates proceed once all the glitches are out. I will be very soon posting about this adventure and the total rebuild of my home PC as well.
73 and have a good weekend……well what’s left of it.
Mike
VE9KK