Still trying...
The fight against modern technology continues...
So I've finally given up on trying to mend my broken BIOS so I went ahead and spent the money I had saved for a new screen (one that doesn't flicker) to buy a new motherboard, new RAM and a new processor. Sure, it was quite expensive but I didn't have much of a choice.
Anyway, the motherboard I ordered was an MSI NEO2-FR, a motherboard which has won its fair share of prizes. I was actually quite happy with my order (once I got past the price tag) until today.
I prepared our dinner table to be my workbench for the day, I connected my ESD-mat to the radiator and I was good to go. I disassembled the old computer, making sure that all the good components were in pristine condition and then I opened the box of the new motherboard. Everything seemed great until I lifted the ESD-bag containing the motherboard itself. It rattled. Motherboards aren't supposed to rattle, they are supposed to be one solid chunk of modern engineering. This one obviously missed that bit.
One of the bullet-points on the box was that this board had a big copper heatsink which ran along all the vital components, reviewers loved it and I was looking forward to see just how efficient it really was. This thing was fastened to three vital components using rather a rather flimsy plastic device with a spring attached, naturally, the middle one had snapped clean off. Luckily, the leftover parts were still in the bag, rattling when I lifted it so I was lucky enough to notice. If I hadn't, the whole thing would probably only have lived for about a month.
Unfortunately, the place where I ordered the parts, Dustin Home, had a policy where they want to see the broken goods before they'll ship you a new one so I'm lucky if I get my new bits and pieces within the nearest week. Fuckers.
Just for the record, it doesn't feel that great to have an Intel Quad-core processor which some day will run at 2.4 GHz and 4 GB worth of kick-ass RAM just scattered on my table without anything to mount it in.
Suddenly, the option of buying things at a real store seems much more reliable.
So I've finally given up on trying to mend my broken BIOS so I went ahead and spent the money I had saved for a new screen (one that doesn't flicker) to buy a new motherboard, new RAM and a new processor. Sure, it was quite expensive but I didn't have much of a choice.
Anyway, the motherboard I ordered was an MSI NEO2-FR, a motherboard which has won its fair share of prizes. I was actually quite happy with my order (once I got past the price tag) until today.
I prepared our dinner table to be my workbench for the day, I connected my ESD-mat to the radiator and I was good to go. I disassembled the old computer, making sure that all the good components were in pristine condition and then I opened the box of the new motherboard. Everything seemed great until I lifted the ESD-bag containing the motherboard itself. It rattled. Motherboards aren't supposed to rattle, they are supposed to be one solid chunk of modern engineering. This one obviously missed that bit.
One of the bullet-points on the box was that this board had a big copper heatsink which ran along all the vital components, reviewers loved it and I was looking forward to see just how efficient it really was. This thing was fastened to three vital components using rather a rather flimsy plastic device with a spring attached, naturally, the middle one had snapped clean off. Luckily, the leftover parts were still in the bag, rattling when I lifted it so I was lucky enough to notice. If I hadn't, the whole thing would probably only have lived for about a month.
Unfortunately, the place where I ordered the parts, Dustin Home, had a policy where they want to see the broken goods before they'll ship you a new one so I'm lucky if I get my new bits and pieces within the nearest week. Fuckers.
Just for the record, it doesn't feel that great to have an Intel Quad-core processor which some day will run at 2.4 GHz and 4 GB worth of kick-ass RAM just scattered on my table without anything to mount it in.
Suddenly, the option of buying things at a real store seems much more reliable.