Replacement computer options/ideas?

[Jim March]

A 750w power supply won't put out a lot of heat unless you USE all
750w.  If you put in low-powered parts, the 750 will be barely ticking
along - which means less heat, not more.

Suck 350w out of a 350w power supply and you'll get more heat than you
would out of the same parts and a 750w supply.

Personally, I would test the 750 power supply with a meter and if it's
good, keep it along with the case, drives, CD/DVD drive(s) and
whatever and just replace the motherboard, CPU (optional if your
current one is weak and/or bad), memory (probably replace, it's more
delicate than the CPU) and video card.

Jim

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 5:14 PM,  <joe at actionline.com> wrote:
>
> Last Friday, my main computer crashed -- a victim of overheating.
>
> Apparently, I had a few warning signs over the past few days that I did
> not recognize as such.  The keyboard would quit working with the last two
> of the three lights labeled "1" - "A" - "(down-arrow)" on the upper right
> corner of the keyboard blinking.  The first light "1" was lit when the
> numlock key was on, but I never did know what the other two lights were
> for.
>
> In any case, the only way I found to restore the keyboard was to reboot.
> I should have posted a note to PLUG about this, and perhaps could have
> avoided the crash/disaster.  But ... oh well ... c'est la vie.
>
> Fortunately, the hard drives are okay and my data is safe.
>
> But now the question arises, what to get as a replacement computer.
>
> The box that failed had a 750-watt power supply (seems rather excessive).
>
> As a temporary measure, I bought a little HP mini-tower off of Craig's
> list for $175 (1 gig ram, 175-gig hd) on which I've installed the newest
> version (10.1) of my distro of choice: PCLinuxOS.  It is very fast and
> runs very cool, I think because it has a very low-wattage power supply.
> I'm actually setting this up as a small desk unit for my wife to replace
> her old windows box that she rarely uses any more since I got her an IBM
> Thinkpad running PCLinux. She now likes Linux better ... yes!
>
> So, after all that too-long-winded explanation ... back to the original
> question.  I'm looking for ideas/suggestions for a replacement desk unit.
> I don't see any need for the latest and greatest high-powered unit.  I
> just want strong, reliable, low-heat, low-power consumption (I think).
>
> So what does the collective PLUG wisdom suggest?
>
>
>
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