[hrishig]

Wow ! Thanks for the great response. I think I will go with desktop only.

Planning to buy this hardware in couple of weeks.

20' monitor ( Yes the prices are down at least by 10 % )
Core2Duo 4*** series
Gigabyte mobo ( Blue ray and blue tooth compatible )
2/4 GB ram ( Needed for vista )
350 GB HDD
DVD writter
Wireless keyboard , mouse
Graphic card ( 256 MB)
Better looking SMALLER cabinet


Any suggestions for the above hardware?

[jango]

Why don't u consider a laptop with a docking Station. you can buy and add accessories to it as and when u require ...

[NOTORIOUS]

Give me your bugget and i will try to tailor best config. for that price afterwards yiu are the deciesion taker

[rkbharat]

Last week I bought Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop with

Intel Core 2 Duo T5300 Processor
1 GB Ram
160 GB HDD
DVD Combo
15.3 "" display
Card Readers inbuilt
Web cam 1.3 meg pix in built
Wifi, Blutooth Inbuilt
TV Tuner Card with Remote
Theater System compatible

for 48K Rs...

Upgraded the RAM to 2GB for 3200 Rs

There is another model Y300, without TV Tuner and Intel Dual Core and rest all same for around 41K Rs...

[n_aditya]

I have an assembled PC that i bought in 2009 purely for gaming purposes and it was working perfectly. But off late having frequent issues.

The configuration is as below:

AMD Athlon 3.2GHz processor

Seagate 1TB HDD

NVidia 9400 GT 1GB graphics card/driver

4 GB DDR2 RAM

ASUS M3A78EM motherboard.

Off late for the past few weeks (2 months to be precise) the PC has been crashing consistently every week.

I took it to a reputed technician and there seemed to be no major defect or issue. Turned out the first time, the HDD connection was loose and it was fixed and left on to check if it would crash again but nothing.

Worked for a week and then it wouldn't reboot. Turned out the RAM was loose. Got that rectified and now the PC boots but when loading windows it just shows the welcome screen. Does not go past the welcome screen.

I have checked all the wires and connections and completely frustrated with all the downtime and issues. So much that I am contemplating selling this off piece by piece and getting a new one.

So my query to you guru's is:

What should i do? I am sick of taking this thing to the shop every week and back.

If i should get a new one, which one should i get? A desktop or laptop? My main uses are FPS games like call of duty etc. and some browsing and quite a bit of downloading.

I understand a laptop might not be as versatile and "upgradable" as a desktop but given my needs, what is the best option?

I was thinking of a laptop and a PS3 or xBox but understand that these gaming consoles are not devoid of problems either and they have a pretty high failure rate, expensive after warranty period expires.

Please help.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I
Off late for the past few weeks (2 months to be precise) the PC has been crashing consistently every week.

now the PC boots but when loading windows it just shows the welcome screen. Does not go past the welcome screen.

I am sorry that I cannot be of much help regarding your choice of the new system, but just wanted to know if you have tried re-installing (clean reinstall) of the OS you are using. After fixing all the hardware issues, it may be a case of software failure as well which can be fixed after a format & install.

Regards,
Saket

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Worked for a week and then it wouldn't reboot. Turned out the RAM was loose. Got that rectified and now the PC boots but when loading windows it just shows the welcome screen. Does not go past the welcome screen.

Do a thorough scan of the HDD for any errors. This problem is normally caused when the HDD is about to fail or has developed bad sectors. Boot sector corruption can also be a cause for this problem.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I have an assembled PC that i bought in 2009 purely for gaming purposes and it was working perfectly. But off late having frequent issues.
.

Maybe some problem in the MBR.
Please try a fresh reinstall after you format the disk + delete all the existing partitions.
Do remember to take backup before you attempt anything.
Also - have another way of accessing the internet (tablet / cell phone / laptop) while you try anything for runtime trouble shooting.

[n_aditya]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will do the needful and post the results.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will do the needful and post the results.

+1 to what Vikram says. HDD is the first thing to check. Dont know it may have reached its end of life.

Since its already 4-years +, might be a good idea to buy a new disk and go with a clean install.

If you any way plan to hold the box, then when you upgrade the mother board, a new disk would be needed then too.

[zoombiee]

If you havent bought the desktop already, get urself a laptop. Plug it to a LCD tv or monitor and some good speakers. Install any linux OS and then xbmc on top of it. You can run the whole setup using universal remotes or cheaper IR remotes. Would be the lowest cost entertainment center. And yes, get as much storage as you can (external HDDs).

[Chipz]

1. Install segate seatool and check the hdd for bad sectors (http://www.seagate.com/support/downl...ls-win-master/)
2. Take the ram out and clean and put it back.
3. Check if any any recently installed program is the cause (consuming more memory)

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by zoombiee

If you havent bought the desktop already, get urself a laptop. Plug it to a LCD tv or monitor and some good speakers. Install any linux OS and then xbmc on top of it. You can run the whole setup using universal remotes or cheaper IR remotes. Would be the lowest cost entertainment center. And yes, get as much storage as you can (external HDDs).

Laptops with AMD processors are cheaper than desktops (finding an AMD-equipped desktop is uncommon) - and there's no additional cost of a UPS and its portable to be carried around when shifting homes. We don't really have peripherals to be installed within desktops like we used to back in the day - everything is hooked up via USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt so you don't really miss out on much of the experience by having a laptop instead of a desktop.

[Fillmore]

I would say a laptop over a desktop any day.

Pros
- Portability, you can place it anywhere and do your work
- Take it wherever you want to go
- Most laptops these days have an HDMI out, so you can hook it to your LCD/LED TV for any gaming etc..
- No need for any UPS, battery backup etc..
- You save a lot of space.
- They come in different budgets to suit your needs.

For regular stuff like Browsing/ Internet / Document updates etc.. you can even consider getting an AMD laptop with no OS, Install Linux Ubuntu or Mint Linux.

If you are going for one with Windows 8, then its a good idea to consider at least 6 -8 GB of ram. DDR3 ram is not so expensive.

[k_nitin_r]

The only disadvantage with a laptop is the ability to replace parts, but now the same is the case with desktops too - they are being sold as all-in-one units (I'm not sure if the old tower or horizontal desktop styles are still being sold in Indian stores, but I haven't seen any here).

4GB of RAM seems sufficient for most purposes - ever since the release of Windows Vista, memory requirements haven't increased. The only time you would need more is if you are running application servers or virtual machines (4GB RAM on a laptop in 2006; 4GB RAM on most laptops today. Our progress must be slowing down ).