Computer Totally Freezing During Gameplay, Video Editing, And Multitasking...HELP!!

Okay, I am VERY NEW to all of this...actually, I've never done it before....but apparently, this seems to be the way for me to go in order to get the PC I need. Here's my issue in a nutshell....

I bought my laptop from Dell (got screwed) in 2010....

Core i7 Q840 @ 1.87 GHz 1.87GHz....8GB RAM....64 Bit system....GeForce GT 445M

I have no idea what ANY of that stuff means.

Anyway, this thing can still run with the best of them in my opinion, but when it comes to running games or video editing and multitasking, there's a HUGE problem....IT FREAKING FREEZES!! Now, this wouldn't be a problem if it happened once in a blue moon...but it happens every single time I try to edit videos, even with Windows Movie Maker that came with the damn thing. When I try to convert large videos to a different format, and I'm dumb enough to open any web browser, the entire system freezes and I have to hold the power button to shut down and then wait a long time before I can turn it back on again. When I try to play games....sigh....lets say, I'll try to play a game for more than 5 minutes 100 times...it'll completely freeze on me 99 of the 100. Not the game itself...I'm talking the entire laptop. Once again forcing me to hold the power button.

Does anybody know why this is happening? And before you answer...no, it's not an issue with overheating. I've tried unplugging my USB devices, exiting my virus and malware software...nothing. It all ends up with me holding that damn power button. Can somebody PLEASE help me with this. Because NOBODY has been able to tell me why this thing keeps freezing.

Now, when it comes to building a gaming rig...

I'm assuming I need to spend thousands of dollars to build one because all i wanna do is be able to play games and multitask and edit and convert videos (not all at once obviously) without the damn thing freezing on me. Can anybody tell me if this "cheap" gaming rig they have here will work for what I'm asking? My main thing right now is trying to play Dragon Age Inquisition. I'll never get to finish the damn game because literally every minute and a half my laptop freezes. So I need some real help here from someone with patience.

Oh yeah, and I'm not trying to spend an arm and a leg either. I don't care about 3D. I'm not interested in that. I have no idea what 4K is. And I already have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, so that doesn't factor in. And I plan on using a projector, so monitors are pointless for me. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanx in advance guys

I have Malwarebytes, Avast, and Spybot installed. I've already run scans and nothing comes up. I've even exited each one of them and ran the game and it still freezes my entire computer. Wait, maybe I'm not describing it clear enough. When I say "freeze", I'm not talking about a slow down or a stop and go kind of thing. I'm talking about a complete shut down. Just look at your screen playing a video for a example...then out of nowhere everything just STOPS. The entire computer locks in place. No sound, no motion, keyboard and mouse are shut down, every single thing is unresponsive. The game itself runs perfectly for me. This isn't a case of lowering settings, because I've done that already. It's not the game freezing. The entire computer shuts down and I have to hold the power button to shut it off and wait for about a half hour to be able to turn it back on again, because it won't come back on right after shut down.

Hopefully that clears it up better.

Anyway, all I wanna do is be able to play games on the top settings and edit and convert videos, and multitask without ANY fear what-so-ever of my computer freezing up. Like I said before, I have no use, need, or interest in anything 3D, and I still don't know what 4K is, so i don't know if I need that or not. But I'm just asking for something that SOUNDS simple enough, but apparently must not be because no one seems to know what is making my laptop freeze each and every time I play a game or edit and convert videos. Not even computer repair stores....that by itself is sad.....and infuriating.

I'm willing to build a PC from scratch, but I am on a very tight budget. The first thing I need to know is about the motherboard. I need one that I won't need to replace anytime soon. Something powerful....even though I have no idea how these things work.

@HarlemVIP: Short answer: Its a 6yr old laptop, its too old for what you want it to do.

@PredatorRules He'll move it to PC hardware for you.

What's your budget and can it be a PC or does it have to be a laptop?

@GTR12: I'm fully aware of how old my laptop is. What I'm saying is that it's been doing this same thing since day one. Just telling me the age doesn't give me a REASON behind it. It still runs really good, and I don't have any of the typical "old computer" issues. I'm able to edit and convert videos, but as soon as I try to open a web browser or do ANYTHING ELSE for that matter while that's going on, it freezes. I play a game....especially Dragon Age Inquisition...it gives me about 2 minutes tops, then freezes. I need a REASON. I've come to the conclusion that the age of the laptop is probably a very small part of the problem. There has to be another reason, because it's been doing this back when it was new. And I've been using THE SAME editing and converting software the entire time. I never use anything different. And by the way, one editor / converter that i use is Windows Movie Maker that comes with the laptop. It even freezes with that.

Now, as far as my preference on which system type to build...I want it to be a PC this time. Mainly because the computer geeks in my old school laughed at me when I told them I had a laptop and we were talking gaming at the time. The literally laughed at me. They told me that if I wanted to do any real gaming I would need a PC and not a laptop. What I'm looking for is a reason why my system keeps freezing when I do these things so that I can know what kind of parts to add to my future PC so that I never have to worry about another system freeze again while doing what should be simple things.

Does the laptop have two sticks of RAM in it? Is it possible to remove them? If so, you should try removing one, then test out the laptop for a bit. Then put it back in, remove the other stick, and then test out the laptop again. See what type of results you get. You could just have a fault ram stick. Aside from that, there's little you can do to troubleshoot laptop hardware unless you really want to dig deep into the system since they aren't really built to be taken apart by a mere mortal.

As far as a PC build goes, I don't think you'd need to spend a lot for what you want. Maybe $600-$800 would get you an awesome PC. You don't necessarily need a desktop PC to game though, but it's is preferred. My current PC is about an $850-$900 build, and I just bought a comparable laptop for about $1600 though the laptop has a built in monitor of course. So it not only costs more, but it's also not really upgrade-able, or repairable without proper tech support. And in my opinion, being an all-in-one device is pretty clunky if you want to hook up an actual full keyboard, mouse, or a big-screen monitor.

But yeah, we gotta know your budget.

Like what others have said here..... RAM sticks have been known to go bad and make the computer act flaky. I don't think it's age that's causing the laptop to go haywire. I have a 2010 netbook I occasionally did some Windows Movie Maker stuff with. It got the job done despite having an Atom CPU and a measly 2 GB RAM.

The specs of your laptop is still pretty formidable for general use. Perhaps the video drivers are borked. Have you tried updating the video drivers?

That or the RAM sticks.

@GTR12: @HarlemVIP: Moved to Hardware forum

If you had Acer Predator x21 with mechanical keyboard and 2x 1080s those kids at school wouldn't be laughing at all ;)

@HarlemVIP: If you had these problems when you got the laptop, why didn't you just complain to Dell?

You have warranty you know? They are required to fix it, otherwise you could take them to court.

The problem is with the RAM, CPU or HDD, there's no point fixing it unless you can get some RAM very cheap <$40, the cost of upgrading/fixing is outweighed by being able to purchase a new laptop.

First off, thank you to everybody for responding....I really appreciate the help...

@GTR12: They (Dell) told me this thing was good for gaming. I told them to put something together for me that I wouldn't have to upgrade for at least 7 years, because I'm always dropping money on computers every year it seems like. So I wanted something on steroids to keep me going until it was no longer any good then I could move to something better. This laptop is still really good. But I learned the hard way that this is NOT a gaming laptop, unless you're playing something like The Sims 3, or Bejeweled 3. I've always been playing less demanding games right up until Prototype 2 came out...then I started noticing the freezing, but it wasn't bad. I read all over the place that it was because of overheating...okay...so i pointed my portable AC at the laptop while gaming. It seemed to work! No freezing. No anything. Then about a month later, AC and all, it started freezing again. I tried every trick I saw online and nothing worked. I took it to a tech shop, and they ran all types of tests. They told me there was nothing wrong with the laptop. No dust or anything. Now, things REALLY got bad when I tried to play Dragon Age Inquisition. I mean, every 2 to 5 minutes! The weird thing is, for every 100 times I play the game, it'll freeze 99 times. I still have yet to finish this game because of the freezing, and I'm fed up.

@beardmad: It's not possible for me to remove anything inside this thing without some tech shop doing it for me. As far as my budget goes. I am down to what's left in my savings. My limit for a PC is about $2,000..but I swear, I don't wanna spend that much because I really don't think I'm looking for anything special. All I wanna be able to do is edit / convert videos and multitask, and play heavy games without the freaking thing freezing on me. I have no interest in 3D, VR, or whatever the hell 4K is. None of that interests me, but if it ever DOES catch my attention (not 3D or VR), I wanna be able to open the case and swap out or add a part to make it easy for me to run something with that feature. I don't do anything special on a computer. I play games...simple games. I download movies, maybe convert them from WMV format to MP4 using either Windows Movie Maker or the usual software I always use. And I multitask with multiple windows open. Nothing special! That shouldn't cost $2,000. Oh, and I'm not gonna bother with a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. I already have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse that I've been using for the past 6 years. One huge question I have though is where do i buy these parts? What's the best place?

@jun_aka_pekto: I'm still using Windows 7 (I refuse to be bothered with 10). Windows Update for some reason isn't working anymore. I have that NVIDIA GeForce Experience thing installed and it keeps giving me game drivers to update. I don't know if those are the drivers you're referring to, but the ones NVIDIA gives me are updated almost 4 times a month. I'm not sure what drivers are needed for my video card, but I can try to look for them. I have a really strong feeling that it's not gonna matter, because I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I'm somehow overworking my laptop with Dragon Age Inquisition and other heavy games. That may or may not be the reason for the freezing...I have no idea. Now when it comes to the RAM sticks, or ANYTHING inside the laptop....this isn't one of those laptops that you can pop open on your own and swap something out. I think everything in here is permanent somehow. Something was telling me to get an Alienware rig from Dell, but I was too scared of the final price....then my dumb ass went and spent $4,000 on THIS ONE. Ugh! Please don't give me that face. I already know how stupid I am for that decision.

I would do a fresh install of windows 7 and get latest drivers and if that dont work you ruled all software and driver issues, which leaves a hardware issue.

Yeh run memtest, total freezes are pretty annoying to figure out when there's no crash dump's, I don't think it's teh windows install, that would most likely result in just bsod, I'm pretty sure it's hardware issue in either ram, memory controller, power shortage, could be gpu too(but unlikely)

Let's see.....

1. It doesn't freeze with regular desktop navigation.

2. It freezes when playing games, editing/transcoding videos, multitasking while editing/transcoding videos.

Do freezes happen when surfing the web with multiple tabs or using lighter apps such a Office?

@HarlemVIP:The companies will tell you anything to make a sale, that's business 101, anyway lesson learned.

You have $2000, but that's too much, how about $1000? keep the rest for upgrades in 2-3 years.

Don't worry about where to buy parts, people on here will help, is that $1000 USD? Can you wait till black Friday/cyber Monday if you are from the US?

@jun_aka_pekto: @howmakewood: @04dcarraher: Don't worry about the laptop, TC wants a new PC, budget $1000, no monitor or kb/mouse needed.

@jun_aka_pekto: @howmakewood: @04dcarraher: My apologies on this one...I had long responses typed out to all of you, but out of nowhere I got yet ANOTHER blue screen and everything got shut down. Before you say "aha!", just letting you know, the freezing has been going on for years. The blue screen just started this year and it's been really bad since I reset my computer a month ago for some reason. But to sum everything up before I got shut down.....I ran a Dell system check and everything passed every test. Every driver they have was last updated about 3 or 4 years ago...nothing for this year or even last year. Not sure if I should still update anything, especially since I've been freezing up for a really long time now. By the way, I've been playing Bejeweled 3 like crazy today with no freezing. It's not gonna freeze on "weak" games like this. But don't let me try and start Dragon Age....geez!

Anyway, I'm in the process right now as we speak of transferring everything from my desktop to my hard drive because I'm about to do another system reset to see if it helps anything as far as the blue screens go. I'm pretty much giving up with the freezing, unless someone can figure this crap out.

@GTR12: Are you sure I can put together a PC that can do the things I listed before for only $1,000? I already feel like a dork for dishing out $4,000 for the laptop I have now, but like you said, lesson definitely learned. But only $1,000? I mean, I'm not asking for much, but that seems kind of low even for what I wanna be able to do (play games, convert / edit videos, multitask without freezing). I guess all I need to know now is what store or website do I have to go to to buy the parts, motherboard, and case, etc...

By the way, I've never had a case of my laptop freezing when I have multiple browser tabs open, and I've had up to about 25 at one time and downloading from each one with no problems outside of my internet slowing down (because Time Warner sucks major hippo nipples).

@GTR12: Yes, I'm in the US and can wait until black friday, but I don't know where to go or look for computer parts.

@Mareczek99: I'm sorry for not seeing your response sooner. I guess everything got moved to this topic...I have to delete the other one.

Anyway, I can't open this laptop on my own. It would have to be professionally done, and I think everything is permanently installed in this thing, so removing a RAM stick might not even be possible. I actually tried what you suggested with the task manager in the Performance tab a few weeks ago. Yes, there were spikes, I think CPU Usage went up to nearly 90% while playing Dragon Age Inquisition. Sometimes it would only go as high as 65%. I proved a couple years back that the heat wasn't an issue with the freezing when I pointed my portable AC directly at this thing while gaming. It was literally ice cold the entire time. It still froze, only not as often. I don't want to give up on this thing, but I might not have a choice if I wanna play games and do all the other things I wanna do.

1k budget will allow you to get a great gaming PC.

@HarlemVIP:

You'd be surprised what you can get for $1000 or less these days. I think you could max out every modern game at 1080p with a $1000 computer, and hit 60+fps in most all of them

But yes, it's unfortunate you had to learn the expensive way. Laptops have come a long way in just a few short years, and fantastic laptops can be had for $1500-$2000 that would run circles around what you have. But a nice, clean, custom desktop PC would be a good thing to get. They're a bit cheaper for what you get, they seem to be quite a bit better at handling lots of monitors/peripherals if multitasking is something you want, they are far less susceptible to overheating, and if a desktop ever needs fixed it's so easy to just open up the case, and pull something out, or replace something.

Use a website like www.newegg.com to shop for parts. If you need help putting one together, something like https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ would be good. That site even has tons of other people posting their own builds for various budgets, so you can always check out what other people are putting together. For instance, I just checked out some of the builds other people put together, and here's one I found under $1000

I run a PC similar to that one, and it's fantastic. That gtx 1060 card will get you playing all games at 1080p with max settings. I even put some of my games up to a resolution of 3440x1440 since I run an ultrawide on this PC. And I run an ultrawide because I needed a PC for productivity myself. I can tell you this PC is quite awesome.

@beardmad: Thanx for the info. I'm gonna get right into all of this once I get this laptop reset...AGAIN....

That GTX card you mentioned...I always hear that NVIDIA and AMD cards are the best ones for gaming. I am 100% new to this world, so I really have no idea. One thing is for damn sure though, I am NOT trying to break the bank again. That PC someone put together that you have a link to is really cheap! I don't wanna sound like an annoying, nagging pest with this, but my biggest worry is freezing. Heavy gaming is cool and everything, but if heavy gaming and the video activity comes with PC freezing, then it's gonna be a waste of money. I just hope everything you talked about translates into "PC freezing is a thing of the past".

I'm going to check out NewEgg the first chance I get, and I'm also gonna run through that other website you posted. All of this info is greatly appreciated, and I can't even begin to explain how helpful you guys have been, and thank you all for not being those tech geek DICKS who make fun of "newbies" like me just because we know absolutely nothing.

You guys rock!

@HarlemVIP: freezing is not an issue any computer should have. Freezing is a sign that something was faulty, or the computer was overheating which it doesn't sound like.

I've always had great experiences with computers I build myself though. It's nice because you can find reviews for all parts you buy, so you can get the most reliable stuff, and lots of parts makers back their products with decent warranties.

But I still have custom computer parts from a decade ago that still work, and I've had almost no problems with freezing or crashing. The handful of problems I have had I was able to easily fix myself. Desktops are much nicer if you have a problem you need to fix yourself.

It might be worth making a separate, more-focused thread about building a PC. Maybe in the PC Gaming forum. Just give a list of 3-5 games you want to play, a couple programs like your video editor, and a budget and you'll get a lot of input on builds.

But I can verify that PC i linked is awesome. I don't do video editing though, so maybe it can be tweaked here or there in ways to benefit video editing. But I've seen smooth video editing done on way less powerful PCs than mine.

@HarlemVIP: $1000 USD is plenty, I'll post a build when I get home.

Don't worry about the freezing, it wont happen.

Okay...before I get to your responses, I'm on that PCPartPicker.com website and I'm putting together a PC now....right now, I need to know if I'm overdoing it with this particular part. I want a Core i7. Something's telling me it's better than an i5. So can somebody set me straight on this?

@HarlemVIP said:

I would spend the money on a more powerful gpu instead of getting a i7 you'll get more out of it for gaming and anyway gpu's are also used for video editing (i'm not the person to ask about video editing etc).

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/3xvqhq

@locus-solus: Wait...I always thought that Core i7's were better than Core i5's. I'm so lost right now. What's the difference?

That's fine for the gaming part. But, I think we should still make an effort to fix that laptop. I mean as a general purpose laptop, his still has very formidable specs especially when the vast majority of laptops are of the Celeron and Pentium types. I wouldn't let it go to waste.

I don't know if this link will show what I put together, but I'm gonna try it anyway...

Test PC Build

This is what I put together. Sorry I haven't been responding...I've been focused on this ridiculous clown show election.

@jun_aka_pekto: Once I manage to buy and build a PC, I'm not sure what to do with this laptop. More than likely, I'll give it to my mother. But yes, it's still formidable. I guess I just need something better.

And by the way, I looked around and saw that Core i7's are better for video editing and multitasking, while Core i5's are best for gaming. So I'm gonna go with the i5.

gpu's (video cards) are more important in gaming than cpu's

i'm only talking about desktop cpu's here. i7 has hyperthreading i5 don't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnS50lJicXc

hyperthreading doubles the thread of a cpu so a 4 core i7 has 8 theads 4 core/8 theads 6 cores/12 threads etc. sounds good and it can be if a game takes advantage of more than 4 threads. one more things those extra threads are inferior to real core depending on optimization you will be getting a potential of 0-30% performance increase. if you want a faster cpu maybe get a overclockable k-series (just make sure the motherboard is compatible with overclocking etc). overclocking is when you run your gpu/cpu/ram at a faster speed than factory setting for free performance increase ignoring your increased power bill etc.

@locus-solus: Okay, I understand now. So I guess I'll be staying away from the i7's for now. It doesn't sound like it's worth the extra $100 for such a small difference in performance.

@jun_aka_pekto: Yeah I get that, but with BF/CM coming up, time is a little short, the laptop probably has a bad stick of RAM, but even still, with a GT445, you're not doing any recent gaming.

@HarlemVIP

Hows this?

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/VVZTm8

You said you do video-editing chores. The i7's extra ooomph might be beneficial.

I have an i7 and I will NEVER look back.

Okay....sorry I cut things short last night...the election really hurt to watch. Being black, I know my people are gonna be more of a target NOW than ever before...

Ugh!

Well, back to the whole PC topic...

@GTR12: Here is what I put together last night. Let me know what you think...

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/vdVGxY

@jun_aka_pekto: I was reading around online and like you said, the i7 is better for video editing, while the i5 is better for gaming. It's the gaming that I put ahead of the video editing. But it's the freezing that I put at the very top of the list of things I never wanna have to go through again. But in short, I'm gonna go with the i5. Check the link I posted to see the PC I put together. Please let me know if I did anything wrong. And if you think any of those parts will get cheaper during Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/vdVGxY

@_SKatEDiRt_: I have an i7 now, but my laptop keeps freezing when I try to edit or convert videos with Windows Movie Maker and I have ANYTHING ELSE open at the same time.

@HarlemVIP:Its missing a few things;

Add an SSD, 160GB or around that size.

Your missing Windows 10 OEM, so add that.

That's a great PC. Notice though that all the parts are listed with prices from different websites. I think some of those parts can be had cheaper either by switching the brand, or by using other sites. Personally, I just buy all my parts from newegg.com. It's just easier that way, but you can sometimes find great deals for individual parts elsewhere. I might be biased though, but newegg.com has always been a good company to shop from.

I wonder though, have you ever built a PC? Do you know exactly what you're looking at when you see these parts? It'll be worth it for you to maybe check out a tutorial video or two on youtube just to make sure you know what you're getting into. It's not difficult at all to put together a PC, but you don't want to just start plugging away at it without concern for what should go where. That can lead to breaking something.

Here's a video newegg posted to Youtube. It's about 30 minutes long and appears to go through the process of building a PC. Definitely worth a watch.

@GTR12: I'm looking for that SSD thing, but there's no option for me to add it to my list.

@beardmad: Okay, thanx for the video. I'm gonna freaking study that thing. No, I've never done anything like this before. I'm as new as one can get to this world. All I know is what I DON'T want to happen anymore (freezing)...no idea what to do to make it happen. I'm really hoping I don't break something by mistake.

And if all of these parts can be found on NewEgg, then that'll be where I'll look for everything. But I'm curious if the prices will be lower come Black Friday....

Oh and by the way...

@GTR12: I don't want Windows 10. ll I've heard are bad things about it when it comes to gaming compatibility. I downloaded Windows 7 SP1 last night. I'm gonna save it to install on the PC I buy.

@HarlemVIP: Edit build --> Add additional storage --> On the left select SSD

Also who told you W10 was bad for games? you're going to regret sticking with W7 big time...

Some games are ONLY allowed to run on W10 already, FH3 and I think Gears 4 as of now, future games could also be only for W10. Also you're already missing out on the best graphics of games cos you're limited to DX11 visuals, DX12 will never come to W7.

@GTR12: Yeah, I did all that with the list, but there's no option to add an SSD card. It's just not there. And I have read in forums here and there that games have issues running on Windows 10. I'm not gonna be playing any of the normal gamer titles really. I mean, I'm stuck on Dragon Age Inquisition, and I'm gonna be going after Final Fantasy 15, but that might be as heavy as I get. Everything else will be probably minor or moderate (See? Not asking for much). But I don't want any headaches trying to get my games and other things going on Windows 10. Besides, I tried using it myself and I absolutely cannot stand the way that thing is setup. But if that's the only place to get DX12 and above, then I guess I'm stuck with not having a choice. But I swear, if Dragon Age has trouble with that OS, I'm gonna be freaking pissed!

@HarlemVIP: I have Dragon Age, it works great on W10, never had a problem.

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/3kL7YJ/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam

That's a very popular model, remember, its only for Windows and 1 or 2 games max.

@GTR12: I don't understand what you mean. What's only for Windows and what do you mean 1 or 2 games max? I'm confused

SSD's are like fast HDD's, but don't fill it past 80% of the available storage. So you have your traditional 1TB HDD (The WD Blue you selected) and you get another additional SSD (250GB or so), and you install W10 on the SSD and depending on how big the game is, 1 or 2 games.

That's about 180GB used already, no more.

Every other game/media/applications is installed on the 1TB HDD.

That means you choose D drive instead of C drive when you install games.

@GTR12:.....@horgen:....

Holy sh*t! Time out....I have a D drive on this laptop that's labeled "DATAPART1". I always thought that thing was off limits, so all these years I stayed away from it. I have no idea what it is or what it was for? Are you telling me that i could have saved games to that thing? And even if I could, what difference would it make if I saved stuff there as opposed to my normal C drive?

@HarlemVIP: Yes, you could have.

On a laptop it makes no difference, as there is only 1 HDD, its just split (partioned) into 2 drives.

But on a desktop, it could be 2 different drives completely, or 3 drives, or 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 etc.

Its just a way of organising things, some of us with OCD, its brilliant, one place for Windows, one for games, one for media, one for music, you get the point...

@GTR12: Okay, now THAT I understand. I have a bunch of external hard drives that i have for certain things (games, random stuff, porn, etc...), And I hook one up with a USB and save my stuff to the right one. But you're talking about installing stuff TO different hard drives. I didn't even know that was possible. I always thought hard drives were for storage, not installing anything.

Wait a minute....now I'm curious....

Now, correct me if I sound like an idiot here...but is it at all possible that if I install Dragon Age Inquisition to one of my external hard drives and play it from there (via USB port from my docking station), that my system won't freeze up? I hope I'm thinking along the right path on this one, because that would really help. I've been going through the reset process all this time and finally got my laptop back going again (minus some old stuff that I previously had installed...including Service Pack 1). I haven't installed the game yet, but I'm uneasy about it.

And also, when is a good time to START looking for Black Friday or Cyber Monday discounts on those PC parts? I'm trying to get the price below $1,000.

Okay, this is getting annoying...I'm following every instruction and tip you guys have given me when it comes to looking for the right parts, but it seems like I just can't seem to find a good, WORKING motherboard anywhere. Every single motherboard I look up has people reviewing them saying they stop working after about a year and earlier. I mean each and every one. I don't know much about computers, but I DO know that without a motherboard, it's just not gonna happen. So that's where I am now. I'm on NewEgg looking at upcoming Black Friday deals and I'm adding items to my cart on there. But this whole motherboard issue has me stuck.

***Update***

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130873&ignorebbr=1

Can somebody let me know if this one is any good? After doing an ass load of reading, I didn't see anybody saying anything really bad about this one (at least not in any language I can understand anyway). So this is gonna be the one I settle on.

Still building....

@HarlemVIP: Installing it to an external HDD is always a bad idea. USB is just too slow for intensive tasks, internal drives are always faster.

As for that mobo (motherboard), yes that's fine. Don't worry about reviews too much, everything fails, and people always complain when it fails, you never hear anything if something works good, only the bad things.

With that said, abuse the hell out of everything when you get it, there's always a 7 day minimum return on PC parts. When I mean abuse, don't hit or anything lol, just play a lot of games, push the PC to its limits and use every USB port, headphone port etc.

If something doesn't fail early on, you know you wont run into major problems later on.

As for BF shopping, start now.

@GTR12: Okay I gotcha....

I know you guys must think I'm a freaking annoying pest, but I honestly do appreciate all this help. I'm learning a hell of a lot while I'm going through this process thanx to everybody.

Well, I transferred my part choices over to NewEgg. Can't seem to get the price down below $997. I'm gonna save my cart on NewEgg and hope the prices get lower on the stuff I have saved.

@HarlemVIP: Not really, your willing to learn and you admitted your mistake with the laptop. Most people just think they are right, and a nagging "fix it fix it fix it" mind without trying any fixes, or just say they have tried it.