Atomic Systems

I have been looking at prices for an graphic and power unit upgrade but my concern is with the warrenty. I could approach HP and request a costing but I know this is going to be much higher than my usual outlet. My thought were to stick with what I have until next March when the warrenty expires.
As I have had Nvidia Geforce graphic in my systems over the years, I would choose to opt for the same, do you have a recommendations?

prairie4566 wrote:Just a thought, perhaps the thunk / beep sound of the error can at least be a barrel of laughs.

Error messages can be an endless source of amusement and frustration.

Years ago before I moved into System Admin I was a general programmer on our big system in work. Every now and a spurious error message box would appear with simply a "stop" sign in it. We used to ignore it until it started happening in user acceptance testing and the business users in Italy refused to sign off until we fixed it. We soon found out what error message it was and set off looking for where it was triggering from only to discover to our dismay that the other programmers had been using message 999 as a placeholder for all sorts of error conditions pending the creation of new specific error messages. After running an overnight code scan we found it was being called from dozens of programs usually in quite obscure cases.

Given we only had 2 days to fix the issue, creating dozens of new error messages (if we could figure out what the message actually ought to say) and modifying the programs was out of the question. Thus was born the legend (in our company) of the "undefined error condition". That is all the short text said but if you clicked on the information button you had the following mine of information displayed.

The program has encountered an undefined error condition. By it's definition it is undefined so there is no sensible advice we can give you apart from go get a coffee from the vending machine and if it is after 15:00 on Friday go home for the weekend !

We did fix the most obvious error messages quickly as well so the management were blissfully unaware that the message was in existence for about 9 months or so until an HR manager complained about his staff going home early because the system told them to..........

We did have some other gems hidden in the system by programmers who had a warped sense of humour. Whilst these might seem very childish you do have to remember some of our programmers were working 18 hour days for weeks on end so a little light relief went a long way.

"Only German staff may run this report. Nobody else is dull enough to want the information" - from the report about company cars and the entitlement to different models by salary and jobcode.

"You are not able to modify your own account - stop trying before we send round the big guys with sticks" - in the authorisations database maintenance screens.

"Your spouse must not be the same sex as you. This message does not apply in San Francisco." - from the HR module where you maintained family members for pension arrangements etc. Clearly not true these days but in 1996 ......

"This message should not appear. If it does then something has gone badly wrong." - caused by trying to send a report that was bigger than the mail system would accept or change the basic salary of a dead employee.

"Stop what you are doing and look behind you !" - this one was triggered if you tried to run the compensation report for anybody other than yourself.

markwhale wrote:I have been looking at prices for an graphic and power unit upgrade but my concern is with the warrenty. I could approach HP and request a costing but I know this is going to be much higher than my usual outlet. My thought were to stick with what I have until next March when the warrenty expires.
As I have had Nvidia Geforce graphic in my systems over the years, I would choose to opt for the same, do you have a recommendations?

First I would check whether a new PSU will actually fit in your machine. A new PSU will be to standard ATX dimensions, but some OEMs have been known to fit oddly-shaped PSUs for a variety of reasons. If it will fit, then go and buy a PSU (about 500W, with "80 Plus" certification) and fit it first.

Then - and preferably once RW3 is released and therefore we have some concrete recommendations - think about a new graphics card.

If a new, standard PSU won't fit in your current case, you could see whether moving your existing machine into a new, standard case is an option.

Thanks for the advise. I don't see there being a problem with fitting a standard PSU but will check to make sure.