What should I do? (computer advice needed)

[Scarpozzi]

I had a GREAT PIII 800 system that was running the best it possibly could for 2 years...I rebooted it maybe once a month. I went on a trip to Maine and when I came back, I noticed my system had been restarted. I sat down and tried to use my system and it started randomly rebooting. I checked my log files and Windows2000 with all the patches had been hacked....big surprise. However, started rebooting anytime I did a virus scan on it. I thought there was something wrong with my OS so I decided to back it up....that's when my hard drive died. So I ordered a new hard drive thinking the hard drive was causing the reboots... I tried installing Windows again and it rebooted. My question: Should I spend $60 to get a new motherboard and have continue replacing parts on my system? Or should I spend $600-800 and get a new system. I haven't checked to see what the latest hardware requirements are for games, etc lately. I haven't attempted to keep up with the latest hardware for the last 2 years. Thanks in advance-

-Ryan

 

[SaltBoy]

I say get a new system.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm thinking if I get a new system, I could still troubleshoot this one and get it going for a decent Linux box-

I was running windows2000 and using it for a webserver running IIS. That's the main reason I got hacked to begin with. I'm suprised that ANYONE on the internet would ever run that intentionally. The only reason I did was because I was new to web serving and it was something new. I'm all about Apache now.

 

[murphy55d]

i believe it is time to build yourself a system, my friend.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Lucky for me I still have my trusty Win98SE box and about 25 servers at work to play with until I gather up the money to do whatever I do.

 

[BornStar]

Yeah, build yourself a new system. If I had the money to upgrade my 800, I would.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My system wasn't slow at all...it had half a gig of RAM and a GeForceII Pro so it was a heavyweight machine even when you compared it to newer systems. I'm just trying to find reasons to justify spending the extra cash now since I started a car payment recently and everything. I guess I should probably try to find a good barebone somewhere or maybe just buy a Dell...

 

[BornStar]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
I guess I should probably try to find a good barebone somewhere or maybe just buy a Dell...

Go for a barebone. I beg you to stay away from a Dell. I've had mine for 2 years now and it's finally "working" the way it should. It's kind of a waste to finally get a working computer after all of the technology in it is two years out of date.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I work for a University and get a good financing deal throught them since we're an "all dell" university. I haven't purchased a computer from a store for personal use since 1996 and it wasn't even a major namebrand.... I just figured it'd be nice to own a system that actual had a name on the bezel for a change... Of course, I'm not concerned with getting the latest and greatest and I certainly don't want to spend much on whatever I get. I'm just stuck because I have 1 Gig of PC-133 RAM that I got last Xmas. If I don't get something that it will work with, I'll have to sell it and don't want to have to worry about that sorta thing.