Railworks America

I have run into some bad luck with computers lately, 3 broken motherboards, 2 RAM chips, 1 GPU. Can I have some tips to avoid this? especially since i am getting a computer worth a couple thousand $$ in a month or two, and I don't want that breaking within a couple months.

Here is the thing I rebuilt for the third time yesterday.
Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, NVidia G210, 400 Watt PSU, 500GB Seagate Disk Drive, Motherboard from an old IBM Thinkcentre The start button and front panel don't work, But it actually runs, so that's something

Just guessing however all those hardware failures make me think of heat issues.

I think the biggest "killers" of PC's are heat, static electricity and crappy power supplies (PSU's). In laptop's it's heat and damage (being dropped).

Heat is best controlled by good case airflow; fans in front drawing in cool air, fans in rear exhausting hot air. Water cooling (closed loop kind) is good for keeping the CPU nice and cool. For video cards use software to monitor card temps and control fan speed; if you can, get a card with a better-than-stock cooler. For laptops, get a cooler pad that sits underneath. And never block the bottom air holes! Every 6 months you should at least open up the side covers and look to see how dusty it is inside. A can of compressed air and a cheap paint brush ("chip" brush) works best on fans and heat sinks. Every year I take out the video card and remove the fan covers and give it a good cleaning (only if you are technically able!!), also take the CPU fan/ heatsink off, clean it good and put on new thermal paste.

Static is best controlled by grounding yourself to the case when working on the PC. Don't handle any parts by their pins or edge connectors if possible, make sure all sockets are clean before installing any parts. Never use any wire brush to clean any PC components or boards: use only a soft chip brush or tooth brush and some electronic spray cleaner and canned air. When installing a main board into a case, be double sure all the case standoff's are in the right places so as to not short out the board to the case. I don't use any old parts that I can't confirm are working good, if I can help it that is. Trying to trouble shoot a PC with replacement parts that are used and unknown just leads to more problems and frustration.

Cases are cheap. If yours has buttons that don't work, or your parts fit really tight, get a new case. One with case fans included is good, don't worry about the PSU as they are usually the El Cheapo ones. Get a good quality brand and at least 550 to 650 watts; higher with a high end video card or fast quad/ six/ eight core CPU. Cheap PSU's can over-volt your board and CPU and burn it out. Use either a good surge suppressor plug bar or a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to plug the PC into. Power brown-outs or power surges also contribute to many PC failures by damaging the PSU.

Keep Windows running lean by not installing too much junk and "stuff"- meaning don't just click OK to everything that wants to install. Keep the hard drive defragged and delete unused programs. Don't let any hard drive get over 75% full- drives are cheap these days. I like a main drive of 750Gb and a second backup drive of 1Tb. Stay away from just throwing in a used, unknown/ untested drive into your system- not only because of what may be on it, but it can ruin your main board. Anti virus is a MUST! With Win 7 I recommend just using Microsoft Security Essentials- free and gets updated weekly; then Malwarebytes for malware, and CCleaner to get rid of clutter. Don't pay for anti virus when there are several free, good ones out there.

OK, hope that helps.

If you have carpets, don't wear phentex slippers.