yeah i wonder if it was bad power or something ( to cook all those PSU's).. as for the hard drives, who knows... - mnx
Interesting, I am trading off of 2 right now, one going on 3 years, 15-17 hours a day run time, and no issues. Just vacum out dust and blow it out with compressed air every 6 weeks. I also have them on plastic mats as I heard that reduces static buildup? The one I am typing on right now is overclocked with RM clock for the last 10 months and no heat issues or power.
I have been around 100's of trading computers (strike that thousands). I have seen very few problems with Dell workstations and even fewer problems with HP. Furthermore, I have not ever seen a problem with Nvidia cards. Not saying there aren't any. I don't know jack about computers. I always used to ask tech support at my shop at the Cbot. Just my observation over the years. Now I listen to ---or PM GNOME-----he steered me correct a few times. on another note a couple buddies of mine got workstations built by tradingcomputers.com ----apparently they have top of the line parts and use all nvidia cards etc. They look good and they friggin fly ----two of the fastest machines I have ever been in front off-----I was impressed and so far they have not had any problems running --4 and 6 monitors and multiple programs. (it has only been a couple months). Just my 2cents ---from 11+ years of being around computers for trading
The problems I have found with Dells has more to do with their suppliers than anything else. Dell tries to keep costs low, and make the best deals possible from their suppliers for the components in their units. But because of the volume and the source of their suppliers (take a look at where these parts for the most part are manufactured) the quality control is not quite what it used to be. A few years ago I got my office loaded with Dell Dimensions, all pretty much identical in memory and configurations, and I have had to literally have 20% more units on hand to use when others went down. These were virtually identically, with the same software installed on these machines (used exclusively for trading, so trading software only) and the performance varied from desk to desk. I also have old dells in the office for b.s., like browsing and Word/Excel processing (from late 90's) that are better than the current crop that were purchased. They even feel sturdier than the new ones. I am currently looking for new units too but won't go Dell again for critical trading. I'd even be willing to overpay for the ridiculously price "trading computers" that advertise here and there because I don't think I could do any worse than the last set of Dells. Just my personal experiences. Also, to the OP, sounds like you are using cheap memory.
Don't use Vista. It tends to reboot whenever they think you need an update. They give you a tiny warning a few minutes ahead of time, but its easy to miss if you're in the middle of a Webinar or concentrading on tra
I had the exact same trouble recently... If it is an nvidia based MB. Try unistalling the s/w call Nvidia network administrator (or something like that). It is not needd and know to be buggy. I did that on mine and it has been 110% stable since. I found this out by looking at the blue screen of death for the files causing the crash. I had to first go into: my computer -> right click -> properties -> advanced -> startup and recovery -> uncheck "auto restart" This will prevent the reboot and will just let your sys hang with the BSOD (blue screen of death). From there you can see what file is causing the crash. good luck
Yeah, that is why Dell stock tanked I think, because their machines became substandard. They used to be good; I worked for a large corporation that bought hundreds of desktops and laptops at a time. They stopped using Dell because they became so unreliable. They switched to HP & IBM. IMO, the problem is the Hard Drive & PSU's. Dell has their own PSU's manufactured, so I am told, as well as the motherboards. They also use cheap Western Digital HD's with a one year warranty. It is ridiculous, because for an extra 20 bucks you can get an HD with a 5 year warranty. I have an IBM desktop that needed a new video card, and the tech who came out to service it told me his company serviced all the different vendors, and 90% of the repairs were Dells and his opinion was they were lousy.