Thomas Williams

Hardware vs. Software, and a new PC case

I'm a software guy, no question about it. I just don't “get” hardware. I struggled at Uni with the classes on computer architecture and still can only barely tell my ROM from my RAM.

So when our new-ish 2nd-hand home computer began playing up, I went through various emotional & mental phases. I reasoned that I got such a good deal on the PC (a private sale), that I didn't want to take it back (this is a mistake; you should always get what you pay for, and not be emotionally attached!). I also believed that somehow I'd caused the problem so I wouldn't be able to take it back (this could be true, but as I didn't change one piece of hardware, I doubt it). Lastly, perhaps through pride, I felt that I could have a go and fix the problem (and maybe it would be a good family project?)

Whatever the reason, I decided to stick it out and have a go at repairing it myself. This would take (a) money and (b) time, so it had to wait until our budget allowed and I had a spare afternoon.

The issue was that every so often, when worked particularly hard (like in games), the PC would blue screen. A bit of newsgroup trolling turned up the possibility of an over-heating problem - which I was able to sort of confirm - so I went and bought two fans which eased the frequency of crashing but did not eliminate it completely. After buying the fans (a Vantech PCI fan and an 80mm case fan), I decided I'd add more cooling, when I found out the case didn't have any more spaces to accept fans. At that stage I was considering cutting my own fan openings into the case (which would have maybe helped, but would have been an interesting job in itself). Thankfully, sanity prevailed and I began looking around for a new case which would also have a bigger power supply to replace the 300W one.

Any new case I bought couldn't be shipped (because the case size and weight hikes up the price), so I looked locally and found a pretty good case; however, when I e-mailed the retailer regarding picking it up they didn't get back to me (a bad sign), so I kept looking.

Then I spotted a case that was above my price range (I had been looking up to around $150, this one was $180) which had 2x120mm fans (larger than the standard 80mm) and 1x90mm fan on the side just above the processor, and a 400W quiet power supply. The 120mm fans caught my attention as they spin slower than smaller fans and are a bit quieter. The case (a big black Thermaltake Soprano) also had tool-less hard drive/floppy drive/CD-ROM/PCI card slots and a side window (cool) and thumb-screws at the back. My wife too appreciated the snazzy appearance of the case and we bought it last weekend.

I had an interesting time moving everything over to this new case, and after a few problems (computer wouldn't start) and some internal re-arrangement (I can't believe how many wires are inside a computer), the PC is up and running at 5 or 6 degrees cooler, and I've only crashed it once (on a 30+ degree day). <pats self on the back>

I reckon it's been worth the price and effort that it's taken to get the new case going. Even though I remain firmly a software guy, I'm starting to also get more interested in the hardware (hopefully more knowledgeable too). Perhaps eventually we'll upgrade the current Athlon XP 2500+ and motherboard - another great project...