DescentBB

So its upgrade time for me, which means my main computer will become my shop computer and remain in service but with no internet connection.

So…what are the most important things to do so the PC won’t nag me or have any real problems.

The usage will be down to...invoicing and music via WMP

Most of the nagging is going to be confined to stuff logged in event viewer that you would have to go looking for. There might be a couple extra tray icons that pop up once in a while, but they can be hidden.

Thanks

Do you have any specific advice before taking the machine offline?

Preemptive so to speak.

Make sure all the various device drivers you are using on it are good stable ones, you can disable factory overclocks and the like to save some power/heat/noise if you don't need the extra performance anymore.

I would turn off Windows Update and uninstall any applications you don't need, especially ones that have an updater running in the background (like Adobe products) -- unless you can disable it. Another option is launch "msconfig" from a Run prompt and disable any unnecessary services and startup applications (Bing bar anyone?). Take a few minutes to go through the system/power settings and choose power saving options where appropriate (spin down disks). I also think it's a good idea to remove hardware you don't need. For example, if you have a high power graphics card, get it out of there and use the on-board video if available. Should save a little electricity. I always go one step further and change BIOS/UEFI settings, but that's overkill for most people.

Very good…

Yea, I hadn’t even thought of reverting to the onboard graphics.

Thanks guys

The BIOS/UEFI stuff for VRM loading profiles can make a pretty big difference in light loading/idle conditions, especially on boards with a lot of power phases. Often the default settings run all 8-12 phases at once and is called "extreme" or something like that, it provides the most stable power possible which is handy for overclocking to the limit, but consumes more power in all situations. The Intel spec for power phases is just 4, and the "optimal" setting for boards with more phases is to cycle through them based on load and thermals.

For instance, my Asus board has 12 phase power, but most of the time my system is idle so it is slowly cycling through them and keeping only 4 running at any given time, when the system does something more demanding more phases will come online up to all 12 at once if necessary. But the difference between "extreme" and "asus optimized" is something like 10 watts at the wall, which doesn't sound like much till you take into account that my system can idle down to 40w, vs never going under 50w in "extreme" mode. A 20% power savings at idle/low loading conditions is worth it.

So the PC I had to replace finally died, DELL XPS 600, with the classic two cap failure on the MB trick. I’ve read about this particular failure on the 600…only took about 10 years or so to develop in my case. (probably longer but I forget when I got that machine)

I have the skills to replace them, but from what I have read, the failure tends to take the power supply with it, so not having any use for the machine I won’t be attempting any repairs.

Anyway thanks again for the advice, I took some of Krom’s and some of vision's as well. (totally forgot about selective startup since moving to more powerful machines)

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