Back up machines

[DaHotFuzz]

Hello everyone,

Since my main pc has been out of service for a little bit now I've begun thinking of building a back up rig. You know, in case things go south with my main pc which may take a little while to diagnose.

I'm curious, how many of you have back up rigs and how similar are they to your main rig? Do you build ones similarly powerful or just powerful enough to get the job done? For those who do have back up rigs, have the machines come in handy when unexpected issues occurred with your main rigs? Not totally set on building a new rig yet but I'm debating and would like some input to see if it's worth the effort.

[Kaihekoa]

I don't have a dedicated backup PC. All the parts in my desktop are warrantied though, so if something did go wrong, I would just be without it until the replacement arrives. I do have a Microsoft Surface tablet for basic computer tasks if I was without my main computer. That's good enough for me.

[Omega]

A backup machine doesn't need to be gaming capable. A simple laptop will do.

I myself have both a laptop and a pile of parts. So I can always get my rig running again if something breaks. Once you have the rig running again with the spare parts you will have probably found the issue and know what to replace/RMA.

[Dysnomia]

No specific backup machine, each has its purpose, but if one is down, I can usually make-do with one of the others. I have all three on a KVM switch, and the first two have access to each other's filesystems via NFS.

Linux rig (mostly a dev workstation, some gaming):
CPU: AMD FX 9590
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake 240mm AIO with push-pull fans
Motherboard: ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0
RAM: 32GB Crucial DDR3 1600
GPU: Sapphire HD 7970 3GB
SSD: Transcend 128GB 2.5"
HDDs: 2x WD Black 1TB (RAID 0)
Optical: LG BD-RW
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW
Case: Corsair Carbide 230T Orange

OpenBSD rig (mostly a server):
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS5X
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro Turbo
RAM: 8 GB DDR2-1066
GPU: Radeon HD 6450 (I said it's mostly a server, didn't I?)
HDDs: 3x 320GB (2x in RAID 1)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750W
Case: Lian Li full tower

Win10 rig (mostly for gaming):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 @ 3.7 GHz
CPU Cooler: Stock
Motherboard: AsRock AB350M
Memory: 8 GB DDR4-2400
GPU: XFX RX580 4GB
SSD: NVMe 120 GB
HDD: WD Green 3 TB
PSU: SeaSonic 620W
Case: CoolerMaster N200

[FluffyPinkDecoyBunny]

Depends on your needs. I have a backup machine, it just happens to be about as good as my main one.

I've ran SLI builds for the past decade and it was no different with the 9xx series. I ended up with two 980Ti that I ran in SLI for about 6 months. I eventually pulled the trigger on putting together a HTPC to be used as a Plex server mainly. I moved one of my 980Ti cards to it. The HTPC could be easily used for my gaming needs should something seriously break on my main PC.

Right now, the HTPC holds around 2,100 movies and TV series shows and the kids use it to play minecraft every now and then. My younger brother has used it once when over to visit, he played Dying Light on it while I played on my computer and we ran through the game for a while in co-op.

For most people it would be hard to justify having a second rig that's as good at gaming as their main rig because most people wouldn't use it. By the time something probably happened to your main PC, the backup rig would most likely have gone unused and it would be running hardware that's on par or worse than what your main PC uses. To me, that just sounds like a waste of money. I just happen to have kids that are growing up and can make use of it and they can appreciate PC gaming on the second PC.

Having a secondary cheap laptop or tablet to give easy internet access might be essential....but a second gaming rig for simply the reason for having a backup, that just seems like a waste if it's never going to be used.

[CursedPanther]

I don't specifically build a 'backup' PC, but as I swap out parts from time to time the remaining slowly forms another functioning PC eventually.

Should you wish to merely sustain the need to browse the Internet, a tablet or even smartphone will do just fine.