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Technology Thread: Building a Desktop Computer

I am building a new one soon - my last build was in 2006 and this puppy still runs pretty well, but time to upgrade.
 
Supposedly we have a huge jump in graphics cards capabilities coming this year, so maybe don't invest too much in that?
SSD prices have never been lower though, good time to jump on that.
RAM is still the same price as 5 years ago, if not more.
 
I'm doing a complete build (only salvaging my case, monitor, keyboard, mouse and printer) for around $850 including an OS, I don't think anything coming out this year is going to change my approach given how out of reach it will be any way.
 
Somewhat related but my new to me computer arrived today. I bought my last laptop in 2011 and paid like $400 so I paid about the same for a refurbished Thinkpad with double the RAM and a faster processor. Got rid of the optical drive and switched over to SSD. Hard drive is smaller but I really don't need much space. It's so much quieter, faster, and doesn't heat up.
 
For anyone interested, I built my parents an HTPC last year. Ordered all the parts around the same time as a snow/ice storm and UPS or FedEx, whichever it was, had said that one of the boxes was lost. I went ahead a re-ordered the 3 parts so I could finish the build before going out of town, and both sets showed up at the same time.

So I now have unopened:
CPU: AMD A6-5400K
Motherboard: Gigabyte F2A88XM-HD3
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 450W Semi-Modular 80+ Gold

Obviously it's too late to return, so if anyone would like to buy these off me, I paid $220.20 including shipping.

PM for inquiries.

2qxoxf9.jpg
 
ugh.

So, I restarted my PC last night, and suddenly one of my SSDs (500GB Samsung 850 EVO) isn't being detected by Windows, BIOS, or Samsung Magician. I went and checked that the cables were all secured, still nothing. Swapped out the SATA and power cables with my still-working 250GB Samsung 850 PRO, and the EVO still wasn't detected, while the PRO still worked as normal. (For background info, I have a few of my SATA components on the same Molex chain, so I don't think it could be an issue with the power wiring anyway?)

I looked up Samsung's warranty info, and it all looks fine. 5 yr limited warranty, and I bought it in Spring 2015. But it says in the warranty that most returned SSDs are found to not be defective, so I'm wondering if I could be missing something on my end before I send it back. Any ideas?
 
bym051d said:
Did you try different ports?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I swapped the SATA cable with one from a working SSD. The working SSD worked on both cables, while this one worked on neither.

I'm gonna call Samsung on my lunch, because their website doesn't really say how to go about submitting a warranty claim as far as I can tell.
 
I need a new computer, but I don't wanna pay for it. Still working on my WFU-issued T400 and my 2007 Dell XPS 420 (few upgrades/replacements through the years).
 
PhysDeac said:
I need a new computer, but I don't wanna pay for it. Still working on my WFU-issued T400 and my 2007 Dell XPS 420 (few upgrades/replacements through the years).
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're at an impasse.
 
wow, samsung's support line is surprisingly helpful. took like 2 seconds to get the RMA started
 
Who knows what the problem was. It's probably bricked? Samsung SSDs usually have pretty good reliability, even the EVO series, so I'm surprised, but it is what it is.

As for the solution, I called 1-800-SAMSUNG, the guy asked what was going on, I told him, he asked what I had done to troubleshoot, I told him, and then he emailed me an RMA form to get a shipping label so I can send it to them for a replacement. The call took literally 2-3 minutes.
 
RedSoxFaithful said:
Who knows what the problem was. It's probably bricked? Samsung SSDs usually have pretty good reliability, even the EVO series, so I'm surprised, but it is what it is.

As for the solution, I called 1-800-SAMSUNG, the guy asked what was going on, I told him, he asked what I had done to troubleshoot, I told him, and then he emailed me an RMA form to get a shipping label so I can send it to them for a replacement. The call took literally 2-3 minutes.
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Sorry. I didn't realize what the "RMA" was. Thought Samsung gave you magic words to whisper that made it work.
 
Deaconblue said:
Sorry. I didn't realize what the "RMA" was. Thought Samsung gave you magic words to whisper that made it work.
Click to expand...

Nah, I think once I led with "yeah, I checked the SATA cables and tried a different port" he probably figured I had done my due diligence
 
RedSoxFaithful said:
Nah, I think once I led with "yeah, I checked the SATA cables and tried a different port" he probably figured I had done my due diligence
Click to expand...
I see your SSD is paying for all those times you've gotten rekt in Rocket League.
 
so I got the SSD back from Samsung, and I decided to upgrade my M.2 boot drive to a 960 EVO while I was at it, and everything was mostly working fine this weekend before my MOBO decided to brick. I tried to fix the damn thing for 4-5 hours before saying "fuck it" and taking it to a PC repair shop, who confirmed that, yup, it's the MOBO.

luckily, MSI provides 36 month warranties on their MOBOs, so, like with the Samsung SSD, this is probably all fine, but god, this is going to be another couple of weeks without my beloved PC :(

also, unlike Samsung, MSI requires you to pay for one-way shipping on RMA requests. so there's that.
 
probably what I get for having been a super early subscriber to the 2011-3 format, I guess.
 
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