computer died again

You may remember in October my computer died and my friends helped gather enough money to get me a new one. That computer too has now died.

That computer was called "Donatus" while my old one was called "Rev" or "Revolution". I am writing this on my laptop called "Acey". Donatus and Rev are HP machines, if you don't know what sort of machine Acey is, think harder. I also have an old AMD machine a friend gave me that has specs similar to Rev that I've not yet fired up. I will call this machine AMD.

Donatus died. Motherboard problem likely, maybe CPU. Donatus had been troublesome from the get-go with frequent crashes, at least one a week, somethings a cluster of a bunch in a few days, averaging one every 2 days over its lifespan of 8 months.

Problem with Donatus? fails to boot, or, if it does boot, windows fails to load, or, if it does load, either refuses to boot or load when tried again with everything exactly the same. I've done all the things you are supposed to do, like take out one of the ram sticks, turn it on, fails to work, turn it off, take out the other ram stick and put the 2nd one in the primary slot, turn it on, fails to load; or unplugging one hard drive, the other hard drive, etc etc etc. I even tried taking everything out; all hard drives, keyboard, monitor, ram sticks, graphics cards, everything, and it refused to even beep at me! All it wanted to do was run the fan at a high speed randomly for no reason.

So, I pulled out my backup. Acey. and am using it right now.

SO!

what do?

I have many options. I've decided I'm going to start saving up hardcore for a new and good computer. Something that's at LEAST $500. This is going to take a while. So in the interim I need something else. I've been looking at my options, and they are based on the various machines; they are, as follows:


Acey
Try to keep using the laptop. I'm most set up for this. The problem is this is a single core 32 bit vista machine. Just so we are on the same page; this is a picture of it. https://i.imgur.com/nKMZWHz.jpg it does not look much different at this time than when the picture was taken. The main downside to this is how very little I can do. I can't get steam to work at all for example. As such, this is almost certainly not going to be an option for longer than a week or two.

AMD
I took the HDD belonging to this computer and put it in Rev in the hopes of getting it working. It does not. I may take the HDD and put it back into AMD and see if this works. If so, I technically will have a working computer. I will likely try this after trying to fire Rev back up however. I can also try this with my SSD as I will explain more in the section on Rev.

Rev
I have a SSD that I got donated alongside Donatus, I may put Linux on it, and try to get it working on Rev. I have a Linux disc with Mint on it that I got today. Right now this is what I'm leaning most heavily towards and the most likely option I will pick. I may also consider purchasing a new HDD with Windows 7 on it for Rev.

Donatus
I'd need to fix the mobo, or, the CPU (whichever is being problematic) and this likely costs too much for a computer I only spent $200 on. Frankly, if fixing the mobo didn't solve the crashing issue, I'd consider it a bit of a waste, even if it was only $5 to fix.

New Laptop
A laptop would be excellent for an interim computer. The fact I can't play some games I could (cause laptops don't have graphics cards generally) will be a constant reminder that I need to be saving and not spending my money. This is the 2nd most favored option at this point and there's one laptop I have my eye on for $175.

New Desktop
Similar to a new laptop but involving a new desktop. The big problem here is that's exactly what Donatus was supposed to be, and as such, despite being what I chose last time, I'm extremely disfavoured to picking it again.

Cell Phone
This would be a combo of getting a cell with using Acey. The Cell would do some of the more heavy duty internet work that Acey as a vista single core can not handle. This still leaves me with the problems of the Acey option but will end up costing more meaning the saving period is extended.

Android Box
This was suggested to me, and while it would allow for unfettered internetting, it would severely limit my gaming and thus may not be any better than a cell phone, except that its more likely a one-time fee rather than a subscription.

Watch Paint Dry
This option would see me go offline totally. Surprisingly its not the dead last option, but is 2nd last. Basically I'd undergo a religious epiphany and conclude my life sucks so much cause God is mad at me, and join a monastery. This is not bloody likely.


My requirements for an interim machine would likely be as follows:

64 bit
Windows 7 and up, or, able to use WINE
a minimum of 120G hard drive size
dual core

I'd like to (not at the same time) have a dozen steam tabs open, and, run Hearts of Iron 4. Rev could do both of these, if with some difficulty.

The games I play are as follows:


Paradox games (CPU hevy, starting to become GPU heavy as well)
Victoria II
Europa Universalis 4
Crusader Kings 2
Hearts of Iron 4
Stellaris
Imperator
They are all moving to 64 bit, data on which can be found on the paradox developer website.

Civ Games: (CPU heavy)
Civilization V
Civilization VI
I've not played the civ games in quite a while but I'd like to.

Rockstar/Bethesda/Bioware RPGs (GPU heavy)
Fallout New Vegas
Skyrim
Mass Effect 3
Grand Theft Auto V

Other GPU heavy games:
Starbound
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII
Truck Sims (Euro Truck Sim 2, and American Truck Sim)

Other CPU heavy games:
Kerbal Space Program (don't believe its lies that its not CPU heavy, its a fucking beast)

Games that do, or prob would, run easily on Acey:
Mount and Blade Warband
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI
FTL
Rimworld
Factorio
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (and #2)
Prison Architect
The Sims 3
Crisis in the Kremlin
Stellar Monarch
Oblivion
Mass Effect 1
Three Kingdoms: The Last Warlord (told this would not work, but the gameplay graphics quality says otherwise??)

This list https://steamcommunity.com/id/pellaken/games/?tab=all may help in sorting the above.


and so, thats about it for now!