# The End of my PC Building Era **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150 "2007-04-08T02:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/1 "2007-04-08T02:24:09Z")
Hi, it’s me, Una. Some of you still remember the person I used to be, most only see the always angry me now. One thing which makes me angry is building home computers. Let me tell you a tale. In very late 2005 I built two computers, one for me and one for Fierra. I did months of research and comparison, digging deep to find the best and most stable, trouble-free, and high performance components. I did not spare expense, buying top-quality equipment all around. Times 2, because I was building two identical computers. SO I bought everything, and tried to assemble them. My main goal was this - get a good gaming system with 1.3TB of RAID drives (not that much, but then this was in 2005), a good DVD burner, and above all, have it keep my data safe. I spent a month trying to build the systems, following instruction, calling the company, reading the FAQs, and could not succeed. Here is an example of what I faced then. I initially set up the computer RAID 5 using the Silicon Image RAID controller (henceforth called “SIRAID”). This had the odd habit of losing redundancy, and requiring a rebuild (which means that the PC MUST be left on for about 36 hours straight, because if you power it down, it starts over from scratch.) Since I had a whole other RAID controller (the “main” NVIDIA RAID, henceforth called “NVRAID”), on-board I decided to use that instead. I had done extensive testing on every other component of the computer, and the only thing that came up as flaky was the SIRAID when I used it in mode 5. Here’s my narrative. > [@](#): > > I started on it at 10:00am. My goal was to use the NVRAID in mode 1, thus cutting my hard drive size in half, but making it so it was completely backed up (and faster). > > First problem: one of my Windows XP boot floppies had a CRC error. Everything stops for half an hour while I make a new set of bootable floppies (my CD is non-bootable). > > Then, even though it said the NVRAID did NOT need a driver disc - it did! Cancel the XP install AGAIN, and make a driver disk. Then start over… > > BUT! BUT! The driver disc doesn’t work - it gives me a crazy error. What does it mean? I search on the net, and find a non-stop horror show of posts on message boards about how the NVRAID driver does NOT work, even though it is the MAIN driver for the motherboard, because the OEM disc setup was coded wrong - and that in one year out in the market, NVIDIA has not issued a patch, fix, tutorial, or even instructions on how to get around it. In fact, there seems to be no real accepted way. > > It’s a sad, sad, motherfucking state of computer affairs when the manufacturer has no information on the bug, so you have to go to sites like “[gamerz.com](http://gamerz.com)” and “[otakucoven.net](http://otakucoven.net)” and shit to find the real scoop! > > So, I tried several other XP installs. Each one of course goes about 2/3 of the way through, then fails, wasting untold amounts of time. > > - First, I try the latest driver disc. Nope. > > - Next, I take someone’s suggestion and manually edit my oemsetup text file on the floppy. Nope. > > - Next, I copy the drivers to different locations. Nope. > > - Next, I try faking Windows out by manually copying them to the hard drive. Nope. > > - Next, I try installing them in the wrong order (which reputedly works). Nope. > > And remember folks - it’s not that the driver is bad, it’s that Windows cannot seem to copy a 50kb file off of a floppy disc! > > Finally, the only solution left which everyone guarantees “works” is one where you get on bitTorrent or Limewire, download a cracked version of XP Pro which has the special NVIDIA drivers hacked onto it, install from this cracked version (which, for some reason, MUST be burned onto a CD in a special way using only some bizarre fucking flavour of Linux!), AND using a special “hacked” version of Nero (which you also must download from eDonkey), THEN it _might_ work. > > At this point, things suck. No, wait, they SUCKED MONTHS AGO, when I first discovered I spent $2000 and got NOTHING for my money. > > OK, but I have an ace in the hole - I’ll just skip RAID completely. No RAID, go commando, nothing funny needed for a driver. > > BUT WAIT - Windows now only sees my 1.3TB drive array as a single 137GB array. Further research shows that you need SP2 before you can see any more. OK…but I don’t have SP2 as an install. SHIT! > > So I try to install anyhow, thinking that I’ll upgrade to SP2 later, and then I’ll be able to see the drives. Uh-uh, even though the installation program lets me make partitions, and set them installable, I get this crazy error message telling me that the partitions, no matter how tiny I make them, are “invalid”. So after another hour of Googling, I realize that I am truly fucked - I can’t even NOT use the RAID! > > OK…so I decide on one, last-ditch item. Using the SIRAID, but in Mode 1 (which is basically what the UnaServer runs) - rather than Mode 5, which is what gave me trouble. Once again, the instructions say I don’t need a driver disc, but I’m smarter, and I make one anyways. Good choice, because it turns out I DID need it. > > So…it installs! And after another 2 hours of installs, upgrdes to SP2… > > (insert - my SP2 disc is bad! I have to download a 130MB file EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I go through this, as the CD I burned of SP2 is bad!!!) > > …installing all my drivers, the system works. It’s stable, fast, and works well. So finally, I’m about to shut down, and I think “Oh yeah…I’ll install the Java runtime environment from Sun, since I need it for these other things. No big deal.” > > The install goes well, and then…blam! Blue screen of death! And then, before I can read the gibberish, it reboots automatically. > > And then, we enter a very sad land. The land of the Windows install which: > > - Cannot boot, since it blue screens and reboots in a continuous cycle. > > - Cannot run in Safe Mode, as even that is somehow fucked! > > - Cannot access any of its restore points, even though several were made. > > - Cannot use the Automated Recovery tool, as even THAT is fucked > > - Cannot use the “Repair” option on the install CD/floppies, as even THAT is fucked! > > In fact, installing Java has fucked the computer so badly, that I have to repartition, re-format, and reinstall. Months pass. Seasons change. The PC sits, unused. Finally, this last week, Fierra’s PC, the clone of the first one, has had far too many RAID failures, so I decide it’s time to get a new computer. Again, I research, etc. etc. And try to build things again. Here’s what happened. First off, this supposedly name-brand motherboard gave extremely confusing information on its website, in its manual (which I downloaded and read in its entirety in advance), and in reviews of it. People claimed it supported 4 RAID devices, and it only supports 2. That’s a show-stopper, and I might go ahead and get a different one by them, but then we come to the next phase. Second off, there is apparently NO WAY IN HELL to use an IDE DVD/CD when you have the RAID devices activated. It simply cannot be done. It says you can, in comically broken English, but there is no way to use the information they give to make it work. Plus the fact that the basic system things like this are supposed to be basic. Third, the USB drivers that came with the Board disable USB under Windows, and there is no earthly way to get it back. Again, the comically stupid instructions say to get rid of the question marks in Device manager by “removing them.” Gosh, that’s helpful - “fix your problem by solving it.” The problem is, the Setup utility that installs the motherboard chipset drivers automatically installs the bad USB drivers - there’s no option not to. So the chipset drivers don’t update, because then I have no USB. Fourth, there is a device called the SM Bus driver. It took 2 hours to get it to install, because every time I installed the driver that came with the MB, the USB ports would shut off. Finally, for no apparent reason, it stopped whining. Fifth, there is supposed to be a hard drive monitoring utility. But it doesn’t actually seem to exist. Sixth, the Ethernet driver on board has a driver installed on the CD that does not work. If you download the latest driver from the MB manufacturer, it still doesn’t work. Fierra finally went to the ethernet chipset manufacturer’s website, and found a driver that reluctantly worked. So what I have now is a system which is designed for RAID and yet cannot run RAID. Which has drivers that do not work. Which has broken items in Device manager giving me warnings all the time. Which has a user manual that’s a joke, online help that’s almost as bad, and yet all over the net there are dinguses writing glowing reviews of the board… I have failed. All I want is this - a motherboard that; 1. Runs RAID with 4 disks. 2. Has drivers that it comes with or you can download that will let you install Windows XP. 3. Is modern and uses dual-core CPUs. That’s it. That’s really fucking it. And yet I failed. I’m approaching $2500 of sunk cost and absolutely no benefit. It’s not even the money, it’s the principle. WHY can I buy name-brand motherboards that get great reviews, and they all suck? WHY CAN’T I get the most basic, fundamental things that should have been working decades ago to work? WHY CAN’T driver discs have drivers on them for the motherboard you buy? WHY CAN’T the manufacturer find anyone, anyone at all who speaks fucking English when they’re selling a board for the US market? Tomorrow, the whole thing goes back to the store, and I (try to) get a refund. But where do I go from here? I try to buy name-brand things I research and get reviews on, and I have to deal with insanity? And it’s not just these boards - I read all the time about people saying “board X ships with audio drivers that don’t actually work” or something - how can that be allowed to happen??? I guess this means I finally have to admit I’m worthless. I cannot deal with the insanity of what are supposed to be well-built pieces of high technology that appear to be designed by, have drivers written by, and manuals written by retarded assgoblins. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/2 "2007-04-08T02:43:33Z")
Well, in the near future, _nobody_ is really going to be able to build their own PCs. Why, do you ask? Because in order to ensure DRM compliance with HD content, you’re simply _not_ going to be able to buy certain pieces of hardware seperately. IOW, if the PC you bought doesn’t originally come with it, you’re SOL. That’s a smart marketing move, doncha think? Now, for a little bit of advice that might be practicable. Check out [Maximum PC](http://www.maximumpc.com/), I pick up their magazines every now and then and they do pretty intensive hardware write ups as well as build uberPCs from scratch, so they have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. Also, [Linux Hardware](http://www.linuxhardware.org/). Yeah, I know, you’re not running Linux, but a lot of times the only way someone can get hardware working under Linux is if they write the drivers from scratch (if possible). The site has a lot of info on hardware, so you should be able to get a good idea if what you want to do is possible. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/3 "2007-04-08T02:48:35Z")
Most “hardware” raid controllers aren’t really hardware raid, especially on the SATA/PATA side. A good rule of thumb is that if it costs less than a hundred bucks, it’s the storage version of a Winmodem. If you need an OS driver for it, it’s probably trash. That goes double for onboard controllers. My suggestion is some kind of software raid. Linux md has been rock solid for me. I’m currently in a theological argument with one of the other admins at work about whether we’re going to go with the onboard SAS raid controller in our upcoming hardware refresh-slash-UNIX to Linux migration. I’m on the side of md - among other things, it means there’s no controller to lose. And since most of IBM’s controllers are integrated these days, it means we won’t have to replace a fucking system board if the controller dies. If I were you, I’d try Linux on it, just for shits and giggles. Set up md at install time on Debian, so you get the right kernel, and use one of the machines as a SMB server. It shouldn’t take more than an hour if you know what you’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/4 "2007-04-08T02:57:10Z")
RAID is overrated. I’ve never encountered a RAID that works as promised - they are more likely to fail than any individual hard drive. I keep away, and advise others to do so also (though they never listen, and end up paying for it). ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/5 "2007-04-08T02:59:02Z")
If you really have the 3K to spend on a computer, and you really don’t enjoy the building experience, I’d suggest calling Falcon Northwest. They have a good website but if you call them you can tell them specifically what you need in a raid setting and they’ll work with you. They’re terrifically helpful people. Actual English speaking humans answer the phone. I was amazed. I’ve had a Talon for two years now and it still runs like silk. Anyway, the Falcon Talon system is running around $1800 right now and the MachV starts at $2500. I’d say it’s worth paying extra to get the nvidia 8800 card rather than the 7600 since you’ll want Dx10 probably sooner than you think. As for why this or that piece doesn’t work right/doesn’t come with needed stuff/doesn’t have a Slot B for Tab D/doesn’t have manuals in any known Earth language - assgoblins is a good an explanation as any. Do not taunt them. They have a wider range than you might think. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/6 "2007-04-08T03:11:13Z")
There _must_ have been a good call center in Kenya that could have solved your problems lickety-split. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/7 "2007-04-08T03:21:21Z")
Time to get a Dell. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/8 "2007-04-08T03:32:56Z")
[QUOTE=Maeglin] Time to get a Dell. [/QUOTE] Adell who? (You forgot to include your rolleyes smiley.) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/9 "2007-04-08T03:39:40Z")
[QUOTE=Maeglin] Time to get a Dell. [/QUOTE] Fuck me running, I’m thinking of getting a Mac. YES, a Mac. If it has RAID5 that works and 3TB of drive space, I’ll consider it. I don’t even care about games any more. Games are for the weak. All I want is peace. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/10 "2007-04-08T03:46:08Z")
Let me summarize the parts of the OP I understood: > [@](#): > > Hi, it’s me, Una. Some of you still remember the person I used to be, most only see the always angry me now. > > One thing which makes me angry is…retarded assgoblins. I can’t help you with the technical issues but have you considered a different brand of underwear? ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/11 "2007-04-08T03:46:41Z")
Can I ask what brand of mobo you were using? And while I’m at it, can I ask why you didn’t spring for a copy of XP SP2? I realize you already had/have a copy, but $140 might have saved a lot of hassles (the USB and drive array problems, for example). And I’m going to differ on the Falcon NW recommendation. For the specs, they are overpriced. Support is nice, but it ain’t worth what they charge for it. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/12 "2007-04-08T03:47:48Z")
Just for the record, what are you doing that uses 1.3TB of storage? The next Star Wars sequel? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/13 "2007-04-08T03:49:25Z")
Raid is overrated, but for a home system, I would _agree_ on going software raid. I’ve heard surprisingly good things about it, even under windows. Something with a nice Nforce 650 chipset should do SATA 4 drives IDE 2 drives, RAID and all that. If you want to try to fix the existing computer, I have two simple solutions. First, build a slipstreamed SP2 XP install. Saved me more trouble than I can think of. > **[ITPro Today: IT News, How-Tos, Trends, Case Studies, Career Tips, More](https://www.itprotoday.com)** > > IT Pro Today Homepage This solves ALL problems. Or lots of them. Gives you a copy of XP SP2 you can install from, nice and easy. Really. REALLY easy. Fixes most of the stupid hard drive problems, too. Second, maybe a SATA CD-ROM drive might help… or not. But really. Build that XP SP2 CD. It’s easy! ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/14 "2007-04-08T03:53:08Z")
[QUOTE=Brainiac4] Can I ask what brand of mobo you were using? [/QUOTE] The first two were ASUS, and the current shambling atrocity was a Gigabyte. > [@](#): > > And while I’m at it, can I ask why you didn’t spring for a copy of XP SP2? I realize you already had/have a copy, but $140 might have saved a lot of hassles (the USB and drive array problems, for example). Well, I have several legal copies of XP, so I’m loathe to get another one. And as it turned out, even after I was able to get SP2 installed on either computer, it did not fix the USB and drive issues. In the latest case, I was actually using an SP2 installation, and still no dice. The problem was the drivers of the USB and motherboard over-writing the Windows drivers every time, and the manu-fucking-facturer’s own drivers failing on their own hardware. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/15 "2007-04-08T03:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] Fuck me running, I’m thinking of getting a Mac. YES, a Mac. If it has RAID5 that works and 3TB of drive space, I’ll consider it. I don’t even care about games any more. Games are for the weak. All I want is peace. [/QUOTE] Ah, when tired maturity outweighs the reckless abandon of youth. As a plus benefit, you’ll have a rock solid operating system that is by default more secure than Windows. (Although, with the Intel Macs, you can do that too, if you like.) I resisted going to Apple for years based upon my experiences with pre-OSX operating systems, and was only persuaded to buy a PowerBook out of frustration of trying to get Linux or FreeBSD to run properly on the proprietary, anti-standard hardware of your average laptop. Now I have Unix-y goodness that talks to my other systems without mumbling AND a stable, well thought out, unobtrusive OS. Plus, if you keep a sense of humor about you and don’t become some kind of zealot, you can enjoy [humor at the expense of both Mac and Windows](http://tv.truenuff.com/mac/) campaigners. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/16 "2007-04-08T03:59:31Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Just for the record, what are you doing that uses 1.3TB of storage? The next Star Wars sequel? [/QUOTE] I have a huge amount of public domain (legal) movies and such, as well as multiple backups of the UnaBoard and the UnaLouvre (6GB per), work laptop backups (11GB per) and cross-redundancy with Fierra’s computer (200GB reserved). I was using 1.3TB in RAID1, giving me about 660GB effective. ~ I commented that for this install (the last one) I was working with XPSP2 in the last post, I neglected to mention that it did not matter in the OP. However, this needs response. [QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Second, maybe a SATA CD-ROM drive might help… or not. [/QUOTE] You, sir, are Lord Satan. I was tempted, oh dear how I was tempted. But I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t spend more money when so many other things were going wrong. And I have a fantastic (the only item which, when Windows recognizes it, has no problems) DVD+/-RW. So I decided not to. Plus…I mean, dude! Think about the madness - a standard DVD on a standard IDE bus which is installed on the motherboard, does not work when you use RAID. What kind of sickness is that? What’s next, “mouse does not work when keyboard is in use?” ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/17 "2007-04-08T04:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Ah, when tired maturity outweighs the reckless abandon of youth. As a plus benefit, you’ll have a rock solid operating system that is by default more secure than Windows. (Although, with the Intel Macs, you can do that too, if you like.) [/QUOTE] It’s tempting. Why am I fighting so hard? I should just give up. I’ll bet Apple Mac folks are laughing so hard at my OP they can’t even type a response, and they’d be right to be laughing. Imagine - drivers made by a manufacturer, shipped on a CD with the item, that don’t work? ZIP files that don’t unzip? Horrifying mis-spelled text on critical help screens (my fav of the night “WARNNING! Ethernett is installed now! Patience is expected! Copy driver and disk reboot? (Yes/No)?” (ironically, this message pops up as it fails to install the Ethernet driver…). RAID drives that fail with every sunrise. DVD drives that fade in and out like Kirk in the _Tholian Web?_ Competing audio devices that don’t work, CPU fans that make noises like a sack full of doorknobs in a garbage disposal? This from $200 and up “tier 1” motherboards? Apple folks, laugh at me and my woe. For I may join you soon. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/18 "2007-04-08T04:12:05Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Adell who? (You forgot to include your rolleyes smiley.) [/QUOTE] My Inspiron doesn’t come with one of those. No rolleyes smileys unless you buy the platinum service plan. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/19 "2007-04-08T04:14:38Z")
I buiild my own, and I’ve probably replaced my main box five or six times with motherboard, CPU, video card and hard drive replacements. This is probably going to be it for now, though; I’ve got the urge to get a Mac again. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150/20 "2007-04-08T04:15:45Z")
If you’re going for a Mac, I suggest you check out [Mac Tactic](http://mactactic.com/) as it has a pretty good track record of what Mac’s are going to be discontinued. Also, check out Leo Laporte’s [Mac Break Weekly podcasts](http://mactactic.com/) which have all kinds of info about Macs. If you want, I can supply you with the email addy of a buddy of mine who’s a Mac expert (No shit, when the folks at the Mac stores see him come in, they turn their customers over to him because he knows more than they do.), who’ll no doubt be able to tell you more than you want to know about Macs from a technical side. He does high end video editing (amongst other things) with the Macs he as at work. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-my-pc-building-era/399150.md?page=2)