Agreed, strip it down to the essentials. When all else fails, clean install time.
What to do? Buy a new motherboard and rebuild? Or wait for failure?
I’ve got computer problems. Don’t know what to do. I’ve a Windows PC, custom built, about 5 years old with an Intel Core i7 mother board. I’ve recently added Windows 10, so now It’s a dual boot Windows 7/Windows 10 with an SSD for the Windows 10 OS and and a HHD for the Windows 7 OS, a 4 tb RAID array for holding my data, including music. It has an internal sound card, the ASUS Xonar Essence II. Recently had to replace the power supply. All primo components when new.
Externally, for sound I have an Audiomat Arpege Tube amp and Spendor S3/5 Monitor Type speakers. I have a Roon subscription, and a Rega CD player and I can get some pretty nice music to listen to. That is IF the sound card works. It usually doesn’t.
So the computer problem is vague. Computer crashes on me, and I will have to reboot. Or it just freezes sometimes. Nothing very significant, but I just have an instinctive feeling something is wrong. My tech tells me there’s no easy way to diagnose “instinct”. Which I definitely understand. He advised me to keep it until it actually fails.
BUT, there’s another issue. I hate Windows 10 and want to stick with Windows 7 (which is why I have a dual boot system). So If it takes a long time to fail, maybe I won’t be able to buy a motherboard that supports Windows 7. How much longer will motherboards that support Windows 7 still be on the market? (I’m not even sure I can still buy one.) So I keep thinking I need to buy a new motherboard NOW, one that will support Windows 7 while they are still available. I will want to build a reasonably quiet computer, one that minimizes at least some of the criticisms about computers for audio. But, much as I’d like to I cant afford to go overboard about sound.
So finally I get to the important bits.
Is there a favored Windows 7 motherboard for audiophile computers?
Do I really need a specialized power supply, or can I reuse my almost brand new one?
Do I need all my hard drives to be SSDs? Or can I reuse all my existing hard drives?
Do I need a specialized video card? (I don’t play video games.)
Is there anything I’m forgetting to ask about?
Another topic, but I’ll mention that I have a lot of problems with my present internal sound card. The dang ASUS Xonar Essence II sound card won’t stay up and running. I’ve twice sent it to ASUS, who tell me nothing is wrong. I’ve three times hired a tech to see what’s wrong and they eventually get sound out of it, but it just won’t stay up. It’s down again today. Zero sound. I’m ready to throw the ASUS card in the trash at this point. I’ll want to invest in something external to replace it. So my ASUS sound card is not a candidate for transfer. I’ll need to buy an external DAC and I don’t know what else. But first priority is a new custom built computer.
Externally, for sound I have an Audiomat Arpege Tube amp and Spendor S3/5 Monitor Type speakers. I have a Roon subscription, and a Rega CD player and I can get some pretty nice music to listen to. That is IF the sound card works. It usually doesn’t.
So the computer problem is vague. Computer crashes on me, and I will have to reboot. Or it just freezes sometimes. Nothing very significant, but I just have an instinctive feeling something is wrong. My tech tells me there’s no easy way to diagnose “instinct”. Which I definitely understand. He advised me to keep it until it actually fails.
BUT, there’s another issue. I hate Windows 10 and want to stick with Windows 7 (which is why I have a dual boot system). So If it takes a long time to fail, maybe I won’t be able to buy a motherboard that supports Windows 7. How much longer will motherboards that support Windows 7 still be on the market? (I’m not even sure I can still buy one.) So I keep thinking I need to buy a new motherboard NOW, one that will support Windows 7 while they are still available. I will want to build a reasonably quiet computer, one that minimizes at least some of the criticisms about computers for audio. But, much as I’d like to I cant afford to go overboard about sound.
So finally I get to the important bits.
Is there a favored Windows 7 motherboard for audiophile computers?
Do I really need a specialized power supply, or can I reuse my almost brand new one?
Do I need all my hard drives to be SSDs? Or can I reuse all my existing hard drives?
Do I need a specialized video card? (I don’t play video games.)
Is there anything I’m forgetting to ask about?
Another topic, but I’ll mention that I have a lot of problems with my present internal sound card. The dang ASUS Xonar Essence II sound card won’t stay up and running. I’ve twice sent it to ASUS, who tell me nothing is wrong. I’ve three times hired a tech to see what’s wrong and they eventually get sound out of it, but it just won’t stay up. It’s down again today. Zero sound. I’m ready to throw the ASUS card in the trash at this point. I’ll want to invest in something external to replace it. So my ASUS sound card is not a candidate for transfer. I’ll need to buy an external DAC and I don’t know what else. But first priority is a new custom built computer.
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- 16 posts total
What to do is accept the fact that MS killed 7. Sorry. R.I.P. # 7. Not one computer I have own that did not have Windows 10 as the OS to start with had problems. Also a 2014 set up after July 2019 is going to feel really old. Intel and AMD have moved forward enough to where chips and boards work differently together from previous generations so the line for backward compatibility for chips and some components doesn't have more than 2 years of depth. But that mainly is regarding chips and motherboard components. Your power supply can be reused as well as your storage drives. Using the older drives may not take full advantage of the newer equipment but that concern should not drive your actions. I also wonder about your hardware if you were having previous problems with your power supply and what a failing supply may have done. What I do not understand is the frustration with the sound card because the rest of your equipment doesn't seem to match to a sub $200 soundcard. I would recommend an external DAC but if you want to upgrade your processor, motherboard, and RAM first or audition and save for a new DAC, the newer boards have audiophiles covered. The complaints of older threads regarding USB, onboard processing, jitter, clocking, power stabilization etc. are being addressed by the PC industry. Here is an example of what is on this motherboard before you want to look at spending money on another soundcard.
It seems like with the RAID you have a full tower so the motherboard to get will be an ATX in size which is good for you because I am still waiting for some of the full size options drop to the smaller sizes so I can build a Windows10 media server/streamer for my setup with Thunderbolt 3. |
Addressing the Windows 7 vs Windows 10 responses: The owner of my tech support company has been to my house twice on service calls and each time we’ve talked he mentions his strong preference for Windows 7 and disdain for Windows 10. He says it’s rock solid, the best OS Microsoft has even released and he calls Windows 10 some bad names. He does go into details which I won’t bother repeating, but they give me what I consider a reasonable reason for sticking with Win 7. I don’t use my computer except for music, so I’m not very concerned about keeping up to date. Besides, I’m getting to the age that I think this will probably be my last computer. |
- 16 posts total