Lots of Changes, Not the Least of Which is New Computer.

[RIBob 39]

I have been going through some significant changes.  A finalized divorce, planning for upcoming retirement, and a New Computer.  Needless to say, the last will be of most interest to folks here.

On something of a whim, I bought a Dell "Scratch and Dent" computer, which just arrived.  Here: https://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdRjpSk7TYUekmB3%2fa5eynSb%2fk7V1y9T5d5Dm%2bApQFACdbdCZC0Xh%2b8rMqzY92f2fdfVsCc5yLX7BiyhP53MoYDDxDFF6eGkkqALcNIewcw3AYrDZORLL8IuxBkXEgBy6hV6j89hfsOwawj2tyC2lbUZxtQ2r5HvFUBf14%2fiDOSeKCK92VJ1m1tZo4eeyrratrQ%3d%3d

Finally, having graduated from Small Form Computers, I now have enough room to install and run proper graphics cards, enough RAM, and am able to finally set up a "Dual Boot" computer with modern Win 10 Pro as primary OpSys, and Win 7 Pro as secondary OpSys.

The originally provided 2 TB HDD with Win 10 Home has already been upgraded to Win 10 Pro, and will be cloned onto a 2 Tb SSD, and the Win 7 Pro HDD will likewise be cloned onto a 2 Tb SDD.  The new computer will be set up as a "Dual Boot" computer, so access to either OpSys will be at the click of a button, on start-up.  I'll install the originally provided 2 Tb HDD into the available third drive bay for future use.

The installed RAM is 16GB, DDR4 RAM with two slots vacant.  While buying compatible RAM in order to double existing RAM would be fairly cheap, I will upgrade to the full 64 GB of RAM, just because.

The Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti  (4 GB  DDR5) GFX card is at the lower end of VR-capable cards, and so that is a likely upgrade at some point.  I am very much looking forward to VR experience while playing flight sims.  As some here have mentioned, there is nothing quite like it, and some have said that they would never, willingly, revert to the usual display.

I hope I have bought my last computer, upgrades excepted. 

 

[MarkEAW 62]

That link is a bit long and cryptic, not going to click on it. But none the less, glad you have what you wanted now.

I have a full ATX case but the MB is Small. I screwed up when buying stuff and didn't care to send stuff back at the time.

 

Just wondering if you have enough power in your power supply for the 1050 vid card and whatever else you need the power for, like cpu and mb. Or did it come with the vid card?

[RIBob 39]

55 minutes ago, MarkEAW said:

60hat link is a bit long and cryptic, not going to click on it. But none the less, glad you have what you wanted now.

I have a full ATX case but the MB is Small. I screwed up when buying stuff and didn't care to send stuff back at the time.

 

Just wondering if you have enough power in your power supply for the 1050 vid card and whatever else you need the power for, like cpu and mb. Or did it come with the vid card?

Comp came with the Vid card, so presumably it is OK.  I ran IL-2 1946 on it today, with all graphic settings as suggested by the game, with no problems.  Even so, the PS is easily upgradeable.  I looked into that before buying.  IIRC, Kensington 650 Watt P/S is something like $60 or so.

Edited May 12, 2019 by RIBob

[MarkEAW 62]

aw okay. :)
Glad its working out for you.

[RIBob 39]

18 hours ago, MarkEAW said:

aw okay. :)
Glad its working out for you.

Thanks for the sentiment!  As mentioned, I have lived well below my means for some time, and recent divorce property settlement was Very, Very much in my favor.  My Lawyer asked me if my wife was mentally competent, her agreeing to my "property settlement agreement".  It all went through.  Sure, I lost some money, but not nearly as much as is typical.

Yes, most things are working out well.  Some of that is luck, some planning.  For the most part, going well, indeed.

In every case, have a "Plan "B".  In every case, have a Plan "C". And so forth.

Always glad to be your friend, RIBob

[MarkEAW 62]

yeah, sorry for your problems, we all have something going on or other. Wish you the best.

Keeps us posted on your progress.

[RIBob 39]

On 5/12/2019 at 7:04 PM, MarkEAW said:

yeah, sorry for your problems, we all have something going on or other. Wish you the best.

Keeps us posted on your progress.

Hah!  On the way to the Computer Guy, my daily driver 1996 Honda's transmission, which had been acting a bit oddly, finally packed it in. A pain, but as I have two other running cars, not a huge one.  I prefer to put the mileage on the Honda, as the other cars get worse gas mileage.  Car is being evaluated by my mechanic, and I will have the necessary info make a decision by the end of the week

Aside from that, the rest of the day went fine, and computer guy has his my list of "wants"   We'll see what I can get.  It might be a Master/Slave type of Drive setup instead of Dual Boot.  I cloned the 1Tb HDD on my Win 7 Computer onto a 2 Tb SSD,  Installed into new computer in auxiliary slot..  Accessed the Clone of the Win 7 OpSys, and found all my games in "User" folder.  Tried a few of them, and they worked OK.  I'll have to investigate more, but even though that will not be as convenient as a "Dual Boot" setup, at least I will be able to play (hopefully) all the games installed on the Win 7 drive.  Won't know until I access them all, and there are a lot of them.   Time will tell.

The problem is, as I understand it, that running a "Dual Boot" setup requires two Drives (of sufficient capacity), and separate installs of the two desired Operating Systems.  After that is set up, then one can install programs on the separate drives.   I mistakenly thought that simple clones of existing drives from different computers could be installed into a new computer.  Not so, as Microsoft has disallowed such.  Sure, I can clone a drive from an HDD onto an SDD, and it will work fine, as long as it is installed into the SAME computer.  That's what people do when upgrading from HDDs to SSDs.  Putting the cloned drive into a completely different computer is apparently frowned-upon by the Lords of Microsoft, may the F#%K be upon them.

My Computer Guy said as much.  After reading my list of "wants", he said, rather pointedly, "You have no idea how all this works, do you?".  My response was "No, I don't.  I have NO problem admitting my ignorance to someone who knows more about the subject than I do.  That' s why I'm here.  Now that I've acknowledged my ignorance, let's see how we can get me what I want, or at least close to it.  That's where YOU come in."  We talked, he explained, and we left with an understanding of what I wanted to accomplish, and the promise, on my part, that the deal would be a CASH transaction.  The mention of a CASH transaction softened his mood considerably.

We'll see how things go.  Will report back later.

 

[MarkEAW 62]

You mentioned your clone drive wont work in the new computer.....
Yup, the OS from one computer to another can't be done, as its branded with the motherboard and possibly other hardware.
You should be able to get it working by repairing the install of the OS once its in the new computer, but then you have a licensing issue, which you most likely wont be able to activate.
So you end up with either a limited Windows or limited time you can use it.

It seems your learning some things the painful way, but your taking steps that anyone else would have taken if they where examining their options.

I'd still go with a fixed caddy hardware slot to swap drives. Better than having to switch your boot device in the bios or menu before the os loads.
But upto you.