Computer show-off thread

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Before the other thread on "the internet is full of shit" goes way off-topic. I thought it be interesting to post here all the things you want to show-off about your pc (be it an old one or a state-of-the-art brandnew one).

Here is the pc i got started with when i was about 8 years old:

386/33
4mb ram / video memory
640kb conventional memory (wait thats still true today :D)
14" monitor
256 colour graphics at maximum resolution of 800*600
ms-dos 6.2 and windows 3.1
8-bit soundblaster 2.0 from creative labs
100mb harddisk


Here is the pc i have now:

PIII 550mhz
320mb ram
riva tnt2 model 64 32mb pci video card
17" philips monitor
13Gb harddisk
windows xp pro
cmedia 8738 pci soundchip with 4CH support

I'm planning to get a new one soon, i hope :D

[Todd The Kiwi]

p4 2.4 ghz
512 ram
120 gb hdd
:skull:m-audio 2496 soundcard:skull:
yamaha 270 watt power amp
2 wharfedale valdus 500 speakers
17" monitor
optical mouse
56k dialup

not too serious,
but being my first computer of any kind
i'm quite pleased with it ...

[hedge]

my comp at the moment (always bits being added and taken out...)
athlon 2700+
1gig ddr 2700 ram
asus a7n8x deluxe mobo
wd80 gig hd
crappy sb live 5.1 dig
radeon 9800pro (oh HELL YEAH this thing kicks!!!)
19 inch diamond view monitor
zalmancnps7000 (chunka cpu fan.. )
etc.. etc...
sound hooked up to a philips 300 watt rms hifi (not great, but still does alright)

mainly a gaming and fiddling rig... :D
i find this pic quite funny, take a look at the size of this fan... i barely fit it into my case!!!

[Hanzo]

I've had 4 computers over the course of my life:

First Computer:
P1 200Mhz MMX
32 MB ram
2.1 GB Hard Drive
2 MB PCI video card
SoundBlaster 16 soundcard
15 inches CRT display, serial mouse, and Mini-Din (or something) keyboard.
Win95
Floppy and 24X CD-ROM, no USB

Second Computer
P3 400Mhz
64 MB ram
12 GB Hard Drive
8 MB PCI video card
Integrated sound
15 inches CRT display, ps/2 mouse and keyboard
Win98
Floppy and 48X CD-ROM, USB 1.1 capable (never used)

Third Computer
P3 1.4Ghz
128 MB ram
20 GB Hard Drive
32 MB AGP video card
Creative SoundBlaster Live!
17 inches CRT display, ps/2 mouse and keyboard
Win2K
Floppy and 12X CD-RW, died before I could use USB (had 1.1)

(this computer died because I messed up flashing the BIOS and I could not access the floppy to re-flash it again. Basically I killed the computer and sold the parts shortly after. Also, shortly after this computer died the company I worked for previously gave me a Latitude LS as a present for christmas at that time, the third computer only lived 3 months. RIP)

Fourth Computer
P4 3.06Ghz
512 MB ram
80 GB Hard Drive
64 MB AGP video card w / TV-Out
Integrated sound
17 inches FP display, wireless ps/2 mouse and keyboard.
WinXP
Floppy, DVD and 24X CD-RW, USB 2.0 (printer, scanner)

My Laptop:
P3 400Mhz
128 MB ram
12 GB Hard Drive
4 MB integrated video card
Integrated sound
12.1 inches LCD, touchpad and integrated keyboard.
External Floppy and 4X CD-RW, USB 1.1 (not used)

The first and third computer were dissasembled and sold part by part at the time they were useful.

Right now my dad uses the "big one" (the fourth), I use the laptop and the second computer a.k.a "small one" is used by my brother and sister. All are hooked to a wireless network. I also got for 50.00 a similar HP Vectra to act as a server, because my stupid ISP only provides a USB ADSL modem, so I hooked the modem to this computer and the router to the network jack so all the others can access the internet. By the way this computer has been on for the last 3 months now.

I bought a wireless PCI card for the "small one". I plan on upgrading as much as I can later next month so it can last a couple of years more. Later this year I'll build a new one for my brother, any nice names for it? I might get a modded case from www.xoxide.com (http://www.xoxide.com/)

My sister (who only knows how to chat and use word obviously) will keep the "small one". :p

[Cabinessence]

Current computer:

P4 2.6 GHz
512 DDRAM
60 Gb (next step is to buy another harddisc)
GeForce4 MX440
TerraTec 128i soundcard
Studioworks 17" monitor

[matty28carter]

First Computer (1997 so it was crap even then)

486DX33
16Mb SIMM RAM
250MB HDD
8bit Creative Sound Shite
1Mb graphics
Windows 95 Plus! (which was utter crap)
14" Monitor (that was actaully rather good apart from the case on the computer wasn't properly shielded so it used to interfere with it, bit of tin foil sorted that though :p)

i hated that machine it was crap used to crash just when it was doing something as simple as the screensaver!

Second Computer (1999)
Pentium 166MMX
32Mb SIMM RAM
2Mb Graphics
16Bit Yamaha Sound Card (which was really really crap)
Windows 98 First Edition (god i though 95 Plus! was bad!)
2GB HDD
Modem! Yes finally i got a modem!
14" Monitor
8X CD ROM (that never stopped.)

well this computer was more stupid then the first! used to turn it on and it did absolutly nothing, dead. puched it all was fine!

Third Computer (2000)
Cyrex 300Mhz
32Mb RAM
2.5GB HDD
56k Modem
Windows 98SE
15" Monitor
36x CD ROM (creative drive it was crap, used to grind if it got copied cd's in it)
16Bit Creative Soundblaster 16

well this computer used to reset itself so nevermind

Fourth Computer (2002)

FINALLY! something half decent!

800Mhz Duron
256MB DDR SDRAM
16X DVD Rom
24X CD Writer
64Mb Ge-Force 2 MX 400
20GB HDD
Win XP Pro
17" Samsung Monitor

ah... finally a computer that works and does what i ask of it... well most of the time!

[chicubs]

AMD Athlon 3000 nuff said.

[plover]

My first computer was a Mac 512k when I was 15 or so. But I'd already had an account on a Vax for several years...http://beta.quinnware.com/forum/images/emots/cyclops.gif

[Mootang]

Since I hooked up my Atari to my old school projector I have not had any problems yet keeping up with the Joneseses.

[ace2701]

OK, I gotta say it! My first computer was a Vic27. Anyone remember that?:laugh:

[duckie]

I started with a 286-12, with start of the art EGA graphics and a massive 20 meg hard drive.

Now I'm on a AthlonXP 1700+, 512 megs RAM and a combined storage capacity of 240 gig. Its not the fastest thing, but I don't need a fast computer to type code.

[Assmongrel]

Can only list my latest computer, because frankly, the rest weren't technically mine, and i can't remember the stats anyway, so here we go:

(2002)
Athlon XP 2000+
512 megs ram
GF4 Ti4400
Asus A7V333 w/ RAID (although I don't use RAID...)
Maxtor 80 gb ATA-133
16x dvd-rom
24x12x48 cd-rw (which actually pre-dates this computer by about 6 months)
NEC MultiSync FE950+ (expensive, but worth it)

Since then, its been slightly upgraded:
1024 megs ram
soundblaster audigy 2
Logitech Z-560 speakers

[drewkeller]

haven't posted in a while... what the heck

some of these weren't technically *mine* but i was the primary user

1985(?) Commodore 64
*wins the fastest boot time award*
64k ram
0Meg HD (heh)
hey, it had a 5-1/4 floppy drive.. that was pretty rockin... only took 2 minutes to load something

1989(?) 286 i think.. don't remember much else about it
2M HD... does that sound right? maybe it was 10M
monochrome monitor
DOS

there was another one in here somewhere (286 maybe?). my parents bought it used.. must've been owned by a smoker, it stank like the dickens whenever i opened the case
Win3.1

1995 - first one i bought myself, very bare bones
486-66Mhz
100M hard drive (had to uninstall Wordperfect over the weekend to play warcraft on the dorm LAN - at least until i worked a deal on a 1G HD that turned out to be somewhat flaky - had to warm boot for it to work)
15" monitor (gotta like color, though)
Win95, then 98

1997 - graduated and had money :)
my parents are still using this one daily
P3-400MHz
santa cruz sound with altec lansing surround speaker set (pretty nice)
19" monitor
20G HD i think
Win2k (now)

2000?
my girlfriend is using this one now (she has the speakers above and i have the original ones from this one)
P3 1GHz (something like that anyway)
santa cruz sound with bigger altec lansing speaker set
256M RAM
40G HD
21" monitor
ATI radeon ALL-IN-Wonder video (i was doing some video editing at the time)
WinXP Pro

2002?
my daily user now - i have the 21" monitor and g/f has a 17"
P4 2.0GHz
256M RAM
80G HD
GeForce Ti 4200 video
santa cruz sound (with speakers from above)
WinXP Pro

2003
bought this one cuz it was cheap, now it's a semi HTPC/music server
P4 2.2GHz
?? RAM
80G HD
GeForce video (not sure of model)
has a nice multi-media front input panel
infrared reciever
X10 controller
no monitor (use the TV... and thank god for TightVNC)
WinXP Home

the last three of these are on my home network. my next one will prolly be a laptop cuz i like to be outside when it's nice. or in a sunny room. or something. not down here in the basement. well, anyway.....
the stuff of memories

[rorythedog]

P4 2.4Ghz
512Mb RAM
80Ghz HD
FX5200
Soundblaster 5.1
DVD drive
CD/RW drive
TV Card
Digital Satellite
Rotel Pre-Power
Marantz CD player
Canon bubblejet
Hansol 19" monitor
Eltax Liberty 5+ front channels
Sony MZ-N1 MD player

That,s all folks :carrot: :carrot:

[Lich]

Well, that's my CPU heatsink and fan. It was made for Soviet army, you know:)
Militaty computers are the best - slow and heavy:)

[hedge]

Well, that's my CPU heatsink and fan. It was made for Soviet army, you know:)
Militaty computers are the best - slow and heavy:)
Oh yeah take a look at that thing... I've been well and truly outdone in the cpu fan stakes!!!

[Todd The Kiwi]

you almost had us fooled man
they are props off a russian sub aren't they ha ha ha ha

[Inthewoods]

Hi All,

Well, there were nicknames for "computers" if you can call them that when I got started. My first computers were a "Trash 80", a "PET", and a "C64" complete with tape drive. An ya, Ace, I remember the Vic27 ....he he he. And I just changed everybody's mental image of me, but hey...I still have all my own teeth, and some of my own hair too....



Woods :nervous:

[MrZebra]

I also started with a C64 back then. I even wrote my own version of Tetris of it!

[Todd The Kiwi]

I just changed everybody's mental image of me, but hey...I still have all my own teeth, and some of my own hair too....
Woods :nervous:

ha ha ha ha classic
i could send you some of my hair man, both sets of dreads that i've grown and removed i have kept in a bag for conversational purposes...
i think i've heard of a c64 ,apparently they were quite the business back in the day.

[Dulce]

Black Dell Chassis
2.0ghz P4 CPU
Yucky Dell Motherboard
512mb DDR2100 RAM (1/2 of it Kingston ValueRam, other 1/2 generic)
80gb Hard Drive
SB Audigy Sound Card
Altec Lansing ACS90 2.1 Speaker Set
GeForce4 MX420 64mb Video Card
Generic Black 40x-24x-40x CD-RW
15" CRT Black Dell Monitor (piddly display maxed out at 1024 by 768 pixels)
Sony (V330?) Microphone
Windows XP Home
Lexmark Z35 Printer (bundled crapola)

Despite my positon against big-name computer manufacturers, I must admit that this baby runs like a dream. All in all, after shipping and upgrades, the system cost me no more than $750 about 3 years ago.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I'm currently looking for good components for a new pc. After extensive searches mostly on websites of shops nearby i came up with this list:

Motherboard
Albatron PX865PE Pro i865PE DDR400 AGP8x

Processor
P4 2.8Ghz 800FSB 512kb cache

Videocard
ATI Radeon 9600 128MB DDR AGP

Harddisk
Seagate 120 GB 7200 rpm 2mb cache

memory
512 MB DDR

TV card
pinnacle PCTV stereo XE PAL

Midi Case + fan + power supply

Other components i already have

In total the price will be about 700 euros, maybe a bit less.

What do you guys think? Are these good components for the amount of money im going to have to pay?

Or do you have any suggestions for better components, but not too expensive?

I didn't include soundcard because there is onboard sound '97AC 6 CH. And i know nothing about good, but relative cheap soundcards.

PS. Im a pentium kinda guy, so i dont do AMD... :cyclops:

[Dulce]

I have a few suggestions:

- Choose a Seagate 120gb hard drive with 8mb of cache. (it's really worth it for a few bucks more)

- If you want to get a nice-sounding, relatively cheap soundcard, go with a Chaintech 7.1 card with the Envy24 audio chip (under $30)

- The best case deal in my opinion is the Antec Sonata that is handsomely finished in piano black and comes with a supersilent 380w power supply (retails for about $100). Quality is incomparable and appearance is gorgeous.

- 2.8ghz p4 is a great choice and so is the Albatron motherboard

- For memory, make sure it is at least PC3200 and I'd suggest Mushkin Black for high performance on a reasonable budget

- Make sure you get at least an ATI Radeon 9600XT as it is considerably faster than the regular 9600. I would personally recommend the Radeon 9800 Pro, which can be had for about $220.

All of these components can be bought at www.newegg.com for around $700 to $800. Good luck with your system. Hope I helped.

[Hanzo]

Black Dell Chassis
2.0ghz P4 CPU
Yucky Dell Motherboard
512mb DDR2100 RAM (1/2 of it Kingston ValueRam, other 1/2 generic)
80gb Hard Drive
SB Audigy Sound Card
Altec Lansing ACS90 2.1 Speaker Set
GeForce4 MX420 64mb Video Card
Generic Black 40x-24x-40x CD-RW
15" CRT Black Dell Monitor (piddly display maxed out at 1024 by 768 pixels)
Sony (V330?) Microphone
Windows XP Home
Lexmark Z35 Printer (bundled crapola)

Despite my positon against big-name computer manufacturers, I must admit that this baby runs like a dream. All in all, after shipping and upgrades, the system cost me no more than $750 about 3 years ago.
Glad you choose Dell... I'm a tech support agent there... :)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I have a few suggestions:

- Choose a Seagate 120gb hard drive with 8mb of cache. (it's really worth it for a few bucks more)

- If you want to get a nice-sounding, relatively cheap soundcard, go with a Chaintech 7.1 card with the Envy24 audio chip (under $30)

- The best case deal in my opinion is the Antec Sonata that is handsomely finished in piano black and comes with a supersilent 380w power supply (retails for about $100). Quality is incomparable and appearance is gorgeous.

- 2.8ghz p4 is a great choice and so is the Albatron motherboard

- For memory, make sure it is at least PC3200 and I'd suggest Mushkin Black for high performance on a reasonable budget

- Make sure you get at least an ATI Radeon 9600XT as it is considerably faster than the regular 9600. I would personally recommend the Radeon 9800 Pro, which can be had for about $220.

All of these components can be bought at www.newegg.com for around $700 to $800. Good luck with your system. Hope I helped.

Thanks man, you sure helped :D. I'm off to buy them components, which will probably take another month regarding the fact that i'm rather busy at the moment.

[Lich]

I would personally recommend the Radeon 9800 Pro, which can be had for about $220.Wow! Lucky dog:) Here we can buy only 9800SE for $180-220, and hope to unlock pipelines. 9800Pro is above $300.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Wow! Lucky dog:) Here we can buy only 9800SE for $180-220, and hope to unlock pipelines. 9800Pro is above $300.

Fock, i just saw that it's 339 euros here ( = $273). That is a little too much.


1) Connect3D ATI Radeon 9600 128MB DDR AGP is € 119,00 ($96)

and

2) Connect3D ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB DDR is € 189,00 ($152)

Perhaps i'll stick with the first one. The difference in price is considerable, for an XT extension i know nothing about.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

YAY I have it, a new computer, the ultimate machine! Damn it's fast compared to my old p3 550MHz. Here are the components listed i used to build my pc:

Motherboard
Albatron PX865PE Pro i865PE DDR400 AGP8x

Processor
P4 2.8Ghz 800FSB 1MB cache HyperThreading

Videocard
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 XT 128MB DDR AGP

Harddisk
Maxtor 120 GB 7200 rpm 8mb cache ATA133 UDMA

memory
512 MB DDR 3200/400MHz

Midi Case + genuine intel fan + power supply (350W)

Onboard network 3com / sound: AC97 6CH

It simply rocks my world :D

[-swt-]

nice !
but i dont like Pentium... AMD 4 ever :P


okay... my PC :


CPU : AMD Athlon Thunderbird XP1400Mhz
RAM : 768 MB SD-Ram CL2
SPU : Creative Soundblaster Live PCI 128
GPU : Saphiere Radeon 9200
HDD : 1x Seagate 29,9 Gigs, 1x Maxtor 40,2 Gigs, 1x Maxtor 250 Gigs - external HDD !!!
CD/DVD-Drives : 1x Pioneer Slot-In DVD-Drive, 1x Polaris 52x24x52 CD-Burner

Mouse : Logitech MouseMan Dual-Optical
KeyBoard : Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard Special Edition ^_^
Sound-System : Logitech Soundman S-20

no no ! i dont like Logitech ;-P

Monitor : Samsung SyncMaster 950pPlus - 19" CRT

Misc : 1x Iomega 250MB USB Zip-Drive external, 1x Touchstone Cable-Modem Arris, 1x COMPAD Speed-pad MousePad ^_^

[buvypapy]

Initial config (as I got it in June, 1998):

-Pentium II 233 MHz
-32 MB RAM
-2'5 GB HD
-S3 VirGE graphics card, PCI, 4 MB
-SoundBlaster 16 Value
-LG 32x CD-ROM drive
-HP DJ 670c printer
-Zoltrix 33.6 kbps external modem
-Win95 OSR2
-everything else generic ;)

Upgrades so far:
- December, 1998: AltecLansing ACS295 2.1 speaker set
- January, 1999: LG Scanworks 36a scanner
- May, 2000: Win98 SE
- September, 2001: Iomega Zip 100 internal drive
- December, 2001: 128 MB additional RAM
- January, 2003: Labtec WebCam
- June, 2003: nVidia Riva TNT2 graphics card, AGP, 16 MB, TV-out
(now I have only this graphic card plugged)
- September, 2003: Genius Wireless keyboard and mouse set
- December, 2003: LG CD-Burner, 52x24x52x.
- September, 2004: Internal Soft56k Modem.

[Sheepeh]

Currently running a :

MSI KT333 mobo
AMD 2600+ XP (Thouroughbred)
1gig DDR 333 RAM
ATI Radeon 9800PRO
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Digital
Goodmans 5.1 Amplifier
Western Digital 180GB Hard drive (8mb cache)
Sony 4x DVD +-r re-writer
Creative 52x CD reader (for games that don't work in burners)
D-Link 510 Wireless PCI network card
17 inch monitor
HP PSC 1110 printer/scanner/photocopier
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical (5 button version)
Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard
1mb/s ntl Cable Modem
Skytech silver brushed aluminium case (with blue LED temp gauge, and window fan)
WinXP Pro
QCD =)

[Tokelil]

Just got an Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2150, Radeon 9800Pro, 512 MB DDR500 RAM, etc. :heart: Have been nice so far!!!

[chicubs]

Just got an Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2150, Radeon 9800Pro, 512 MB DDR500 RAM, etc. :heart: Have been nice so far!!!

similar to mine except for a different graphics card.

[Roj]

This be the RojRig:

Athlon 2600+ (Barton this time - next stop, Opteron. Say g'nite Intel)

MSI KT4V-L (nice and rock solid stable)

512Mb DDR2700 (I'm thinking another 512Mb stick would do me the world of good right about now)

M-Audio Revolution 7.1 (the pride and joy of this system - say g'nite, Creative Labs)

Monsoon Planar Media 14s (the other pride and joy of this system - think of them as being mini-Martin-Logans for the PC. There is STILL nothing else out there in a multimedia speaker that comes close to having this kind of clarity, definition and imaging and the 8" sub is definitely more than enough bass for me)

Western Digital 80Gb / 120Gb JB drives with the 8Mb cache (if I wanted to trade up, I'd go SATA like I built for my wife a few months ago)

ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128Mb (not the fastest but I don't game on the PC)

LG GDR-8162B DVD-ROM (copy protection? What copy protection?? Did I hear you say this CD was copy protected???)

Lite-On LDW-451S 4x DVD Burner (burns all formats except DVD-RAM and who cares about that dead standard anyway)

17" ViewSonic G773-3 (yeah, it's old but it's the Graphics series and was pretty good in its day - the next one will be a Samsung 19")

Antec Solution Series SLK-1600 mini-tower / Tru-Power power supply

Vantec Stealth 80MM case fan

MS Internet Keyboard

MS Intellimouse

Windows XP Pro w/SP-1A (like what else would I be running on this thing? Linux???? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight... )

It's a pretty average rig except for the audio component. Printers and scanners are scattered across my home netwrk (three printers and two scanners - all Canon) as well as webcams, so I use as required.

This beast is *quiet*. Yes it could have been quieter if I had gone with an Antec Sonata case and in retrospect I probably should have, but I didn't want to spend loads of cash on a case.

I build my own - no Dell, Gateway, IBM or Compaq stuff EVER. With all due respect, I'm in the biz, know folks who work for those companies and know the, shall we say, less-than optimal stuff that goes into them. No Thank You. This way I get to name and know my poison - and pay less for it too... :) I also typically don't buiy a new machine - I design around the concept of replacing parts and my idea of a new computer is a motherboard / CPU / RAM replacement.

[Tokelil]

Im hear you Roj! Homebuild systems are the way to go! Wouldn't recommend anything else to any of my friends. (Though I probably have to use a little time assemling it)

Btw. my new case is:
http://3rsystem.co.kr/english/products/view.asp?navi=case&idx_num=7

Best looking case I have seen! (IMO)

[Willow of Oz]

I"ve always been a build-it-yourself kinda guy, but I have a Dell at work. And it's nice. And it's quiet. But anyway:

First machine (90?): Amstrad CPC464 tapedecker. Not bad. Taught myself to code in Basic on that thing.

Second machine (92?): 486-25, 4MB ram, 100MB HDD. Quite a beast.

...through to celeron 400, to a duron, and now to my current duo:

Celebrimbor:
Athlon 2000
1 gig ram
280gig HDDs
gigabit ethernet
tnt 1 video card
21 inch Dell monitor (shared input)

Manwe:
Athlon 2700
1 gig ram
240gig raid 5 HDDs
240gig standalone HDDs
gigabit ethernet
nvidia 4200 dualhead video card
appian (ati) rushmore quadhead video card
17 inch panasonic crt
19 inch dell crt
19 inch dell crt
19 inch hitachi crt
21 inch dell crt
21 inch dell crt (shared input with Celebrimbor)
various add-on things like matrix orbital LCD display...
MS and logitech mice
Starkey and logitech keyboards

I had a 7th monitor hooked up earlier this year when I was running a matrox g200 quadhead and an ATI 7000 card instead of the appian, and a third mouse (boomslang) as well. Aiming to get the third mouse and keyboard up and running in the next few weeks.

[Jost]

My homebuilt rigs consist of:

Mission Control:
4U Custom Rackmount
Pentium 4 2.0A Ghz
Gigabyte 8IRXP, with LAN and onboard as 2nd Sound Soundcard, Dual BIOS
1 Gig Ram
120 Gig WD 8meg cache
Nvidia Ti4600 Dual Head
21" Nokia CRT .22dp
21" Intergraph
Nvidia Vanta
21" Sony Made Generic
ST Audio Cport 10-Inputs 10-Output 96k ASIO
Digital I/O (Spdif Coax & Optical/AES EBU)
WinTV+FM PCI Tuner
5 Button Optical Mouse
Sony CD-Burner
Sony CD-Rom
Sony Floppy (Why not?)
2 Internal 80mm Case fans, 1 60mm
400Watt Powersupply
Direcway Satellite Internet
Linksys Wireless Nework
WinXP Pro
Cubase VST32
Reason + Rewire

The Print Server, Backup File & Instant Message Machine:
4U Custom Rackmount
Pentium 400Mhz
128Mb Ram
8Gb HDD
2.5Gb HDD
4.0Gb HDD
6Gb HDD
Matrox G400 Max
19" CRT
19" TV <-- converted to RF via VCR (Allows me to Instant message from the couch)
10/100 3comm EtherLinkIII
5 button Blue LED Optical Mouse with translucent blue plastic buttons
WinXP Pro

All backed by 2 APC 1400 Smart UPS Battery Backups & Generator
Network and Email notification of powerfailure and automatic shutdown.

[Willow of Oz]

Multiple monitors, primary and secondary machines, APC UPs ... I'd be feeling right at home :-) That's a very nice setup.

How do you find your TV tuner card? I bought one a year or two ago and haven't used it much - wasn't overly impressed. Am thinking of getting one of those digital tuner cards. That would be nice.

Just when I thought I could resist the urge to buy new hardware, you have to go and inspire me...

[hedge]

My god, how much have you got going at once to need that many monitors????

[Jost]

I'm very pleased with my TV Tuner card. It's a Hauppauge WinTV PCI with FM Radio tuner.
Some of the cool features it includes: SVIDEO input, Composite Video Input, Dual RF IN (one for FM one for the TV/Cable), 1/8" audio in and 1/8" audio out.
The picture quality is excellent, and I found that since it's displayed on the computer screen, all the way to the edge, more of the TV image is viewable. So, what would be off the screen on a TV, I could see on the computer screen. Sometime the ID information can be seen at the top of the screen. Really kinda cool.
Yes I can use it to run a PS2, Xbox, Game Cube as well ;) I can also use it to record from any SVIDEO or Composite source including DVD. It will also do screen captures and can be selected as the web cam source.
The Radio portion is very awesome. Right now, I can pick up stations up to 80mi away, that's with a large FM antenna on the basement ceiling! Eventually I hope to own a receiver tower.

[Roj]

haven't posted in a while... what the heckMy current home network as of September 2005:


Roj's primary box:

- Athlon XP 2600+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI KT4V-L (Via KT400)
- 1GB PC2700
- Sapphire Radeon 9550 (256Mb)
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1
- 120Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG DVD-ROM
- Sony DW-D18A DVD Burner (OEM Lite-ON SOHW-832S)
- ViewSonic G773 17"
- Monsoon Planar Media 14 2.1 system


Roj's secondary box (the MP3 server):

- AMD Athlon XP 1900+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI K7 Master
- 512Mb PC2100
- ATI XPert128
- 80Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG DVD-ROM
- LG 42x24x42
- NEC Multisync XV15+ 15"

Wife:

- Athlon XP 2600+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI KT6V-LSR (Via KT600)
- 512Mb PC2700
- Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE (64Mb)
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1
- Pinnacle Firewire card
- 160Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG DVD-ROM
- Sony DW-D18A DVD Burner (OEM Lite-ON SOHW-832S)
- Samsung 753MB 17" (flat CRT)
- Monsoon Planar Media 14 2.1 system


12 year old son:

- Athlon XP 2000+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI K7T Turbo2 (Via KT133A)
- 512Mb PC133
- PowerColor Radeon 9000 Pro (128Mb)
- Hercules Fortissimo III
- 80Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Pioneer DVD-116
- Lite-On LDW-451S
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Altec-Lansing ATP3

18 year old daughter:

- Athlon XP 2200+
- MSI K7T Turbo2 (Via KT133A)
- 512Mb PC133
- PowerColor Radeon 9000 Pro (128Mb)
- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
- 120Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Creative Labs Webcam
- Asus 40x CD-ROM
- Lite-On LDW-451S
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Monsoon Planar Media 9 2.1 System


14 year old daughter:

- Sempron 2600+
- Asus A7V8X-X
- 512Mb DDR333
- Sapphire Radeon 9200SE (128Mb)
- Hercules Fortissimo III
- 80Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG DVD-ROM
- LG 52x24x52
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Altec-Lansing ATP-3 2.1 system


All machines run at 100Base-T over CAT5E internal to the network; of course to go out to broadband necessitates a drop to 10Base-T. Internal communications are handled via a hardware firewall / router running DHCP.
All machines also run Windows XP Professional / SP1a. My external pipe is 6Mbit.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Lol, i downloaded this funky information utility called cpuz (use google to find it) and guess what i said under the heading cpu codename? -> Prescott! I mean, lol, i did not even know this. When i boot up it says northwood / springdale something. Never knew i had a prescott :cheeky: :cross-eye

[rorythedog]

Lol, i downloaded this funky information utility called cpuz (use google to find it) and guess what i said under the heading cpu codename? -> Prescott! I mean, lol, i did not even know this. When i boot up it says northwood / springdale something. Never knew i had a prescott :cheeky: :cross-eye

Aye, Prescott's the new architecture for P4 or something like that.

In the UK, we have a politician who goes by that name. Strange, because he seems to have more in common with Microsoft than Intel. i.e. Bloated.

He's commonly known as "Two Jags Prescott" or just "Two Jags", due to him running two Ministerial Jaguars (the car, not the wild animal - he'd eat those), whilst at the same time encouraging people to be less wasteful.

Actually, I used to have a lot of time for him. Unfortunately, as with most of their breed, one whiff of power and his principles went out the window. Fascist! :reallymad

[J44xm]

Here's me:


Karen's Computer Profiler v2.5.1
Created: 5/31/2004 9:54:07 PM

Operating System Name: Windows XP
Operating System Platform: Windows NT/2000/XP
Operating System Major Version: 5
Operating System Minor Version: 1
Operating System Build Number: 2600
Service Pack Description: Service Pack 1
Service Pack Major Version: 1
Service Pack Minor Version: 0

Processor Architecture: Intel
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
Processor Level: Pentium III or higher (15)
Processor Revision: Model 2 Stepping 7
Approximate CPU Clock Rate: 1794 MHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Page Size: 4,096 bytes (4.00 KB)
Allocation Unit: 65,536 bytes (64.00 KB)
Minimum Application Address: 65,536
Maximum Application Address: 2,147,418,111
Slow Machine: No [Whoo-hoo!]

Memory Load: 81%
Total Physical Memory: 267,763,712 bytes (255.36 MB)
In-Use Physical Memory: 219,541,504 bytes (209.37 MB)
Available Physical Memory: 48,222,208 bytes (45.99 MB)
Total Page File Size: 702,865,408 bytes (670.30 MB)
In-Use Page File Size: 485,081,088 bytes (462.61 MB)
Available Page File Size: 217,784,320 bytes (207.70 MB)
Total Virtual Memory: 2,147,352,576 bytes (2.00 GB)
In-Use Virtual Memory: 60,121,088 bytes (57.34 MB)
Available Virtual Memory: 2,087,231,488 bytes (1.94 GB)

Keyboard Type: IBM enhanced (101- or 102-key) keyboard
Keyboard SubType: 0
Number of Function Keys: 12
Mouse Present: Yes
Mouse Buttons: 3
Mouse Wheel Present: Yes
Mouse Buttons Swapped: No
PenWindows Present: No
Number of Monitors: 1
Screen Size (Primary Monitor): 1024w x 768h
Bits per Pixel: 32
Number of Colors: 4,294,967,296
Pixels per Inch: 96w x 96h

A:\ (Removable Drive)
Volume Name: Unknown
File System Type: Unknown
Items in Recycle Bin: 0
Bytes in Recyle Bin: 0 bytes

C:\ (Fixed)
Volume Name: My Laptop
File System Type: NTFS
Max Component Length: 255
Create Time Resolution: 100 nanoseconds
Modify Time Resolution: 100 nanoseconds
Access Time Resolution: 100 nanoseconds
Drive Status: Ready
Volume Size: 30,005,788,672 bytes (27.95 GB)
Free Space: 1,339,674,624 bytes (1.25 GB)
Cluster/Allocation Unit Size: 4,096 bytes (4.00 KB)

D:\ (CD-ROM/DVD-ROM)
Volume Name: SECRETTROVE
File System Type: CDFS
Max Component Length: 110
Drive Status: Ready
Volume Size: 714,385,408 bytes (681.29 MB)
Free Space: 0 bytes
Cluster/Allocation Unit Size: 2,048 bytes (2.00 KB)

E:\ (Removable Drive)
Volume Name: Unknown
File System Type: Unknown
Max Component Length: 110

P:\ (Removable Drive)

All Drives
Total Volume Size: 30,720,174,080 bytes (28.61 GB)
Total Free Space: 1,339,674,624 bytes (1.25 GB)
Items in Recycle Bin: 111
Bytes in Recyle Bin: 73,853,236 bytes (70.43 MB)

HP DeskJet 840C
Port: LPT1:
Driver: winspool
Height: 11.00 inches
Width: 8.50 inches
Current Paper Size: U.S. Letter, 8 1/2 x 11 in.
Default Paper Bin: Use paper from the forms bin.
Print Quality: 300 dpi
Color Mode: Color
Current Orientation: Portrait
Current Duplex Setting: Single-sided printing with the current orientation setting.

Ghostscript PDF Maker
Port: RPT1:
Driver: winspool
Height: 11.00 inches
Width: 8.50 inches
Current Paper Size: U.S. Letter, 8 1/2 x 11 in.
Default Paper Bin: Use paper from the forms bin.
Print Quality: 600 dpi
Color Mode: Monochrome (B/W)
Current Orientation: Portrait
Current Duplex Setting: Single-sided printing with the current orientation setting.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Woo hoo, today i finally was able to install a very silent fan. It's the Zalman CNPS7000A. Man, is it sweet. In silent mode the rotational speed is only 1400 rpm and my computer is noiseless, except when my hdd starts doing things. The cooling has not improved much, cpu still at 50 degrees celcius in idle. But what the heck, its in silent mode and i have a prescott that can sustain temperatures upto 70 degrees celcius. :) Finally can i let downloads finish while i go sleeping without being interrupted by so much fan noise. I also took out 3 redundant fans, no longer necessary, oh yeah! :grin:

[Jost]

Wow! That's awesome! Im surprised it cools so well, considering its speed.

Mine runs at 6250RPM and keeps the CPU at 38°C... ThermalTake P4 Dragon 478 (49.4CFM), Not very quite though :(

[hedge]

Woo hoo, today i finally was able to install a very silent fan. It's the Zalman CNPS7000A. Man, is it sweet. In silent mode the rotational speed is only 1400 rpm and my computer is noiseless, except when my hdd starts doing things. The cooling has not improved much, cpu still at 50 degrees celcius in idle. But what the heck, its in silent mode and i have a prescott that can sustain temperatures upto 70 degrees celcius. :) Finally can i let downloads finish while i go sleeping without being interrupted by so much fan noise. I also took out 3 redundant fans, no longer necessary, oh yeah! :grin:
Yep I have exactly the same fan sitting on my athlon 2700, and it is very nice indeed :). I also recently bought myself an antec 1080A server case, and may i say, very very roomy, quiet, and dropped my cpu temperatures from mid 50's to mid 30's :silly: .

[matty28carter]

I once went round someones house with a AMD Athlon XP 3200 and it was running at 72 degrees C!!! It was using a crappy OEM fan so I bought a Coolermaster Aero 7 copper. The thing was a beast! Quiet and cooled it to a nice 38 degrees! Only running at 3200 rpm.

[Lich]

Congratulate me:)

Last week I've assembled water cooling in my 'puter. Got a 17 C temperature drop and absolute silence.

FYI: it's not a brand system, but hand-made monster: Opel radiator, copper+brass K49 waterblock (http://www.stopnagrev.narod.ru/INFO/vodoblK.htm) and weakest Aquael pump (300 l/h).

This thing can even cool AXP 2400+ in passive mode (without fan).

Water rules!

[DanTheManPR]

The computer I started on:

A 1990 Toshiba staleite laptop:

A 286
Half a meg of RAM
a 40mb HD
a 10 inch monocrome screen
a cool snap-on trackball!

Nowadays, I use:

2.4ghz p4
512mb of RAM
visiontek radeon 9600XT
60gb HD
crappy motherboard
crappy on-board sound
crappy power supply
a nice 17-inch monitor
A DVD drive and a 40/10/40 CDRW drive

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Recently, i bought a better cd-rw burner. The old one, a philips 8x cd-r and no cd-rw, has finally passed on. So anyways, this is my new burner. It's an ASUS 52x/32x/52x burner with buffer underrun prevention. It's ultra quiet and considerable shorter than the conventional burners. I thought about getting a DVD-R but decided against it. They are still relatively more expensive than a cd-rw, and the one i bought was only 25 Euros. Can you imagine? A big chunck of new hardware that cheap? 512MB 400MHz DDR-RAM costs like at least 90 Euros here, in shops 100 Euros! And that is just a little stick ha ha ha.

http://www.asus.com/products/optical/crw-5232as/CRW-5232as_l.jpg

http://www.asus.com/products/optical/crw-5232as/overview.htm#

[Seal]

Athlon 2600
1GB RAM
GeForce 6800GT [modded from 6800OC]
320GB HDD [120GB + 200GB]
DVD+/-RW
Audigy LS

LG1710S 17" LCD (16ms, 550:1)

http://www.jmcardle.com/storage/pc2.jpg

Oddities:
12USB Ports
7 Internal Fans

[hedge]

Athlon 2600
1GB RAM
GeForce 6800GT [modded from 6800OC]
320GB HDD [120GB + 200GB]
DVD+/-RW
Audigy LS

LG1710S 17" LCD (16ms, 550:1)

Oddities:
12USB Ports
7 Internal Fans
Yeah those sonata's come up a treat, nice case.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Check out this gingerbread computer :cool: Anyone hungry? ;)

http://www.mediatinker.com.nyud.net:8090/blog/images/gingerbreadCPU-thumb.jpg

source (http://www.mediatinker.com/blog/archives/008798.html#008798)

[Young Twig]

Just got a new computer. My old one was:

566mHz
10GB
128 MB RAM (Who knows what kind?)
CD-ROM (A slow one, too.)
Other crappy parts...


The new one is:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
120GB
512MB DDR RAM
DVD+/-RW
nVidia Graphics, Sound

It's pretty nice, but the DVDRW was defective. eMachines is shipping us a new one, though (for free). :)

[o2xygen]

I started in 1995 with a

100mhz
some mb graphic card... 8 i think
creative sb soundcard
15 inch KFC monitor (not fried chicken)
I dont remember more
HP Deskjet 660 that i still use

some years later

A tyan 800mhz Celeron thing
with a soundblaster live
again on the KFC monitor

some years later
my current PC
1Ghz Aopen Ax32ProII pentium 3 coppermine (probably better than any other 1ghz-1.6ghz pc, seriously)
with 3*40ghz Maxtor DiamondMax8
640mb Ram
cmedia 5.1 PCI soundcard... They gave it to me free
geforce2mx440
Plextor 12/4/32
Plextor 40x
Asus16x Dvd

and I have another at home my bro is using but i also use it for games as well
Intel Perl Motherboard
3.0E
1 120Gb Sata hd
1 40gb maxtor ide
and another one i don't know
1gb DDR
a plextor px712a dvd RW
a Sony cd rom
a DDS2
and a Laserdrive
AC97 Soundcard on board
geforce fx 5800

[Roj]

my current PC
1Ghz Aopen Ax32ProII pentium 3 coppermine (probably better than any other 1ghz-1.6ghz pc, seriously)
My network config has undergone some changes over the last little while - see above. Also, with all due respect, intel hasn't had a product that has been able to consistently beat AMD since the 1Ghz Athlon. :)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

My network config has undergone some changes over the last little while - see above. Also, with all due respect, intel hasn't had a product that has been able to consistently beat AMD since the 1Ghz Athlon. :)

Perhaps, but that doesnt mean that intel is crap. Intel is still good value for money. You expect what you buy, you buy what you expect. I believe Intel is still the old faithful. Quality has always been excellent despite a tad lower performance than AMD. AMD processors still run hot, and frankly the majority of commercial pre-build machines (eg Dell) still have Intel processors. That sure means something. There has old been news of a new Pentium processor, the Pentium V with 64 bit processor. I wonder how things are progressing.

I, myself, am very happy with my P4 2.8GHz HT 1MB cache processor. You might have guessed by now that i ally with Intel ;)

[Tokelil]

Quality has always been excellent despite a tad lower performance than AMD.I haven't heard of a serious problem since the K6... And Quality hasn't always been excellent with Intel, if you remember the P3 1.13 GHz.
AMD processors still run hot, and frankly the majority of commercial pre-build machines (eg Dell) still have Intel processors. That sure means something.The new A64 run a lot cooler than P4 Prescott and probably even the Northwood.
And the only reason why Dell uses primarily Intel (IMO) is because people outside the enthusiast crowd still think they are better than Intel. The name and the high frequency still sells...
The P4 still has its uses if the primary task of the computer is mediaencoding etc. (which is SSE2 optimized)

There has old been news of a new Pentium processor, the Pentium V with 64 bit processor. I wonder how things are progressing.Rumour say we'll see it in the first half of 2005. It sholdn't be different from the Prescott on their 90nm node, but with their EM64T "enabled".

Anyway, Im not flaming Intel... Im not a fan of any CPU maker, but I think AMD has the best CPU's to offer to the gaming crowd and the ordinary user. The Pentium M CPU is great though and I wish they will bring it to the desktop in a EM64T variant sometime in 2005.

[Roj]

Perhaps, but that doesnt mean that intel is crap. Intel is still good value for money. You expect what you buy, you buy what you expect. I believe Intel is still the old faithful. Quality has always been excellent despite a tad lower performance than AMD. AMD processors still run hot, and frankly the majority of commercial pre-build machines (eg Dell) still have Intel processors. That sure means something. There has old been news of a new Pentium processor, the Pentium V with 64 bit processor. I wonder how things are progressing.

I, myself, am very happy with my P4 2.8GHz HT 1MB cache processor. You might have guessed by now that i ally with Intel ;)No they aren't crap but on every other point I'm sorry but I have to disagree. When your chips cost consistently a lot more than the competition but you are slower (varying from significantly slower to barely at par) then that's not good value. Also, intel is the only chip / chipset vendor in recent memory that had a chipset recall due to design flaws so the quality control thing is largely a myth now. When your competition is outstripping you in terms of technology teaching the market, you tend to rush things out the door before they're cooked and they've done that on more than one occasion.

intel has also been the only vendor in recent memory that intentionally crippled chipsets to force customers to buy an upgrade (430TX / i815 were both crippled as to how much RAM they would support, both to force customers to support the lame duck RAMBUS technology which eventually died the death it deserved).

Dell is, was and likely always will be intel's whore - period. The reason is simple: the rubes out there recognise intel and Dell will capitalize on that, going as far as to repeatedly make excuses about quality and performance that had no basis in fact to prop up that perception because it sells machines. The funny thing is that their machines aren't stellar either - they (like other so-called "name brand" vendors) were proprietary to force their customers to buy Dell parts (at a significant price premium of course) and that at least in part is where they make their money. It's interesting to note that Dell is the only major PC vendor that doesn't run AMD - that's costing them money. When it becomes obvious to their bottom line (translation: "when the hype no longer works"), they'll flip-flop the ad campaign.

Heat? Schmeet! That's what case fans are for and when you execute more instructions per clock cycle than the competition, you will run hotter because you're actually doing more work. That's what rendered the whole MHz race a farce; higher clock rate hasn't meant faster speed in quite a while. It just means you pedal faster to travel less distance.

As to news of a Pentium V, intel finally realized that they couldn't keep overclocking the P4 core - it had simply run out of gas. That's essentially what they've been doing for the last four years and that limitation ("We've finally hit the wall!!! Oh No!") is why they had to cancel their next round of processors and go back to the drawing board. It's also why they had to copy AMD's design for a 64-bit chip - they had none of their own. Hyperthreading was ahype, Centrino the largest on-chip security vulnerability I've ever seen (that's more due to the inherent drawbacks of wireless than poor design) and the Emergency Edition a lame duck ("Let's prop up a dead architecture as a last ditch attempt to answer the competion, charge a lot more money for it and maybe no one will notice that it doesn't do much").

intel remains the market leader (due in no small part to blind brand recognition and faith and terrific marketing) but they have ceded the technological lead to AMD and are effectively technologically bankrupt as far as PC microprocessor architecture goes. No serious gaming machine built today uses an intel processor - they're just too slow - and the multi-billion dollar gaming industry drives the PC business and the advances developed for it.

I haven't bought an intel processor since 1998 and that's because my money ain't going there until they actually start providing real-world value for it instead of hype. The evidence is all there to be seen in black and white, so this isn't a flame - I just call 'em as I see 'em. :)

[Tokelil]

I dont agree on Hyperthreading being all hype. It is probably something you'll see from AMD at some point now that all programs will need to go multithreaded to get some benifit from the coming dual core CPUs. HT can make a difference in a lot of programs and probably more so in the future.

Intel "copying" AMDs 64bit extension is probably a good thing for the market. It wouldn't be good to have 2 extensions fighting agaist eash other. Especially because it would probably be quite bad for the looser. (And that probably would be AMD, because Intel has so much more money to buy support)

[Roj]

I dont agree on Hyperthreading being all hype. It is probably something you'll see from AMD at some point now that all programs will need to go multithreaded to get some benifit from the coming dual core CPUs. HT can make a difference in a lot of programs and probably more so in the future.

Intel "copying" AMDs 64bit extension is probably a good thing for the market. It wouldn't be good to have 2 extensions fighting agaist eash other. Especially because it would probably be quite bad for the looser. (And that probably would be AMD, because Intel has so much more money to buy support)
Perhaps when applications are coded to take advantage of multiprocessor CPUs (NOT a trivial undertaking and completley irrelevant to things like an office suite) it will mean something but with today's apps, it's just a buzzword, a marketing ploy and window dressing.

I agree that it's a good thing that intel support AMD's 64-bit architecture for the same reasons you do up to a point. In today's rapidly evolving server market where proprietary back ends are now being seen in their true light (what a HUGE waste of money!!!), Linux server acceptance all but sealed intel's fate had they chosen to ignore those extensions. It's not an obvious thing today but I believe it would be inevitable tomorrow.

AMD weren't going to lose this one and intel realized that.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Yeah well, maybe we should start looking at microsoft. Eventhough it hyperthreading is supported by windows (which is a good thing), most of its applications and others from microsoft are probably not optimised. Does it really matter then if AMD is supposedly better than Intel? Then comes the next question: Are processors designed for gaming or processing? There is nothing Intel cant do that AMD can. You know what we all should do? We should get an Apple Power Mac with the G5 processor. 64-bit sweetness :P.

[Tokelil]

There is nothing Intel cant do that AMD can.True. But is nothing you cant do on Pentium 2 that you can do on the Pentium 4 either...

Perhaps when applications are coded to take advantage of multiprocessor CPUs (NOT a trivial undertaking and completley irrelevant to things like an office suite) it will mean something but with today's apps, it's just a buzzword, a marketing ploy and window dressing.Multithreading isn't irrelevant to office programs. Most modern office suites already is multithreaded where a thread runs the GUI, another spellchecking, new thread does background saving and backup, etc. A lot of things can be put into threads and will run faster on multiple CPU's. (How many threads are QCD running? 3?)

Anyway, as we all know it isn't the office suites that makes the industry progress, but games and they will need to go multithreaded in next generation. (With the XBox2 and PS3 being multicored) Most other applications will probably also go multithreaded in the near future, so while HT doesn't give a big boost at the moment, it isn't just marketing. It is a way to make better use of the already precent resources in a CPU. Intel has it in their P4 line (hopefully another thing they move to the Pentium M when they can the P4 line) and IBM has it in their PowerPC 5... Hopefully AMD will follow.

(Regarding HT as a buzzword, marketing plot etc. I have cursed a lot of times when seeing the Dell commercials.
"We sell computers without all the gibberish and neerd talk. For example buy a Pentium 4 with HT technology and double the RAM for bla bla..."
Not a single person that buys a Dell has any idea on what HT technology is and those that sell them at Dell probably doesn't know either... :dead:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I've even heard about a video card with a dual gpu (graphics processor unit). How sweet can that be? :cool:

[Tokelil]

I've even heard about a video card with a dual gpu (graphics processor unit). How sweet can that be? :cool:I guess you are refering to the Gigabyte video card with 2 x Geforce 6 6600GT chips. Actually thats nothing really new. 3dfx did it with their Voodoo3 5000 and 6000 and ATI did it with their Rage Fury MAXX.
Problem is that it isn't really good approach when considering price/performance since graphics is "singled threaded"... So both GPU's work on the same data/"thread" which is a waste due to things like textures, geometry data etc. taken double the space in GPU local RAM.

Besides for it to be really sweet they would have to use the fastests GPUs available... Which would result in a graphicscard with a price of 700-900 US$ :scared:

Edit: 1000'th post. :) Or maybe a :( is better considering all the time spent where I should have read uni stuff instead...

[Roj]

Yeah well, maybe we should start looking at microsoft. Eventhough it hyperthreading is supported by windows (which is a good thing), most of its applications and others from microsoft are probably not optimised. Does it really matter then if AMD is supposedly better than Intel? Then comes the next question: Are processors designed for gaming or processing? There is nothing Intel cant do that AMD can. You know what we all should do? We should get an Apple Power Mac with the G5 processor. 64-bit sweetness :P.It's not up to MS to make sure apps are multipro aware - it's up to the vendors of those apps (including MS). Having an office suite that's multipro aware however is an exercise in pointless silliness. Server apps are multipro aware and things like graphics apps should be.

Does it matter if AMD is faster?

Do you play games?

Do you do multimedia like encoding DVDs?

Do you encode MP3s?

Do you switch your machine on? ;P

And yes there's something AMD can do that intel can't/won't (and hasn't for a number of years):

Go faster (the "can't") for less money (the "won't") at the same or greater level of robustness and stability.

Are processors designed for gaming?

What industry inside the PC biz is a multi-BILLION dollar industry?

'nuff said.

[Roj]

I've even heard about a video card with a dual gpu (graphics processor unit). How sweet can that be? :cool:
Do NOT let my friend Stephane hear of that card. He just spent $600 on an X800 and will roundly curse you. :)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Do NOT let my friend Stephane hear of that card. He just spent $600 on an X800 and will roundly curse you. :)

Bah, the latest one is actually the X850, yet it would seem that Nvidia currently posesses the fastest video card. At least thats what i read on tweakers forums. I've lost track which video card that might be though.

» December 15, 2004 NVIDIA Introduces New GeForce 6200 with TurboCache :ermm:

What is it with PCI express anyways? I thought AGP was so great... What mainboards support PCI express or is it yet another new slot? :confused:

[Roj]

Bah, the latest one is actually the X850, yet it would seem that Nvidia currently posesses the fastest video card. At least thats what i read on tweakers forums. I've lost track which video card that might be though.

:ermm:

What is it with PCI express anyways? I thought AGP was so great... What mainboards support PCI express or is it yet another new slot? :confused:AGP was another intel innovation and is best described as a solution in search of a problem. Video cards with gobs of RAM obviated it and besides that nothing over AGP 2x provides any seriously significant benefit, never mind the hype.

The industry is now going back to a single bus architecture, specifically a switched bus which is what PCI Express is. It promises gobs and gobs of bandwidth which nothing will use in the near future.

Audio?

Yer kidding, right?

Video?

Nothing out there saturates the existing AGP 8x bus.

Drives?

Only in RAID configurations geared for performance and certainly no two drive combo (four or more at RAID 0 have a decent chance.

In short, PCI Express doesn't offer much today. I recall talking to a MS engineer who said it would take over the world by 2005. Yeah right. Maybe by 2007 it will be seriously mainstream, not before. Installed inertia, no perceived benefits and legacy PCI cards that it aren't compatible with will slow market penetration to a glacial pace.

And yes, nVidia have the edge by a hairsbreadth - for now. They still have to catch up in 2D image quality and given that they depend on third party manufacturers to implement their DACs the last time I checked...

[Sheepeh]

I'm thinking of upgrading my NForce2 based AthlonXP 2600+ (running at 3200+) with an AMD64 Winchester (probably the 3200+, it's a right overclocker). Currently there isn't even a PCI-E board out for it (thought that will change in a week or two) - I'm currently debating wether to stay with Good ole AGP and keep my 9800pro (at XT speeds) or go the whole hog and get a PCI-E slot n card. I'd be keeping my ddr400 1GB RAM and my tatty old IDE hard drives (no SATA!!)...

Would a 9800 Pro (XT) "keep up" with an AMD64, or is it a bit underpowered? Bearing in mind I play EverQuestII...the most stupidly power hungry engine on the market...and that I won't be able to upgrade again for a loooooong time...what's the current concencus?

After all, if Roj's prediction of 2007 for PCI-E to be "useful" as opposed to "nice to have" my upgraded mobo will be knackered anyway...

[hedge]

I'm thinking of upgrading my NForce2 based AthlonXP 2600+ (running at 3200+) with an AMD64 Winchester (probably the 3200+, it's a right overclocker). Currently there isn't even a PCI-E board out for it (thought that will change in a week or two) - I'm currently debating wether to stay with Good ole AGP and keep my 9800pro (at XT speeds) or go the whole hog and get a PCI-E slot n card. I'd be keeping my ddr400 1GB RAM and my tatty old IDE hard drives (no SATA!!)...

Would a 9800 Pro (XT) "keep up" with an AMD64, or is it a bit underpowered? Bearing in mind I play EverQuestII...the most stupidly power hungry engine on the market...and that I won't be able to upgrade again for a loooooong time...what's the current concencus?

After all, if Roj's prediction of 2007 for PCI-E to be "useful" as opposed to "nice to have" my upgraded mobo will be knackered anyway...
The 9800pro is still a very competitive card, and is only beaten in performance by the big boys (x800 and 6800's). At the moment it isn't worthwhile updating to an x800 or 6800 unless you want everything maxed out graphics wise, along with anti aliasing and antisoptric. HL2 shows how good a game can look whilst still running really well on older hardware. But theres always games out there which demand the best of the best to run well (like doom 3), and soon enough to run games well and still get your fill of graphics splendor, a x800 or 6800 will be a must.

On the topic of PCI-E... well just like all new things it takes a while to become the mainstream. At this stage there is no real advantage in it, and i agree with roj, it will take a while before it is a requirement for utmost performance.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Does that also go for SATA versus IDE? SATA can theoretically obtain speeds of 150MB/s whereas ATA133 / UDMA6 can get speeds up to 133MB/s theoretically. SATA is serial, IDE is parallel. I'd be buggered if i knew which one is better. :robot:

[Tokelil]

Does that also go for SATA versus IDE? SATA can theoretically obtain speeds of 150MB/s whereas ATA133 / UDMA6 can get speeds up to 133MB/s theoretically. SATA is serial, IDE is parallel. I'd be buggered if i knew which one is better. :robot:All SATA drivers are bridged PATA drives (except Maxtor MaXLine III) AFAIK at the moment, so the SATA drives are actually slower than their PATA counterparts. Besides the only time a disk gets near the 133/150 MB/s transferrate is when it burst from cache, so transfer of large files etc. wont be faster with a faster interface. (For now...) Anyway, even though SATA might be marginaly slower I would still by the SATA variant so I dont have to throw out the drive when I upgrade my motherboard in the future.

http://www.storagereview.com/ is a good place to read harddrive reviews BTW.

[Tokelil]

Perhaps when applications are coded to take advantage of multiprocessor CPUs (NOT a trivial undertaking and completley irrelevant to things like an office suite) it will mean something but with today's apps, it's just a buzzword, a marketing ploy and window dressing.I ran into this benchmark in another context and wanted to show that HT is more than hype:
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/pentium4-570j/index.x?pg=13
Of course it all depents on the application you are running... But in this case HT is the reason why P4 wins over the Athlon 64.

[Roj]

I'm thinking of upgrading my NForce2 based AthlonXP 2600+ (running at 3200+) with an AMD64 Winchester (probably the 3200+, it's a right overclocker). Currently there isn't even a PCI-E board out for it (thought that will change in a week or two) - I'm currently debating wether to stay with Good ole AGP and keep my 9800pro (at XT speeds) or go the whole hog and get a PCI-E slot n card. I'd be keeping my ddr400 1GB RAM and my tatty old IDE hard drives (no SATA!!)...

Would a 9800 Pro (XT) "keep up" with an AMD64, or is it a bit underpowered? Bearing in mind I play EverQuestII...the most stupidly power hungry engine on the market...and that I won't be able to upgrade again for a loooooong time...what's the current concencus?

After all, if Roj's prediction of 2007 for PCI-E to be "useful" as opposed to "nice to have" my upgraded mobo will be knackered anyway...
1) I'd never touch a 1.0 implementation of *anything* and PCI-E right now is 1.0. Wait a while.

2) Your graphics card does not have to keep up with your processor. It has to keep up with your games.

3) Why an nVidia chipset? The nForce stuff for 64 has zero performance advantages over Via which has been building chipsets a lot longer and has fewer incompatibilities / more features than an nForce solution.

4) I'll be upgrading this year to a 64 and rest assured it *won't* be PCI-R (if that means anything to you).

5) SATA is only worth it if you're going SATA II with command tag queueing. The rest is hype.

[Roj]

Does that also go for SATA versus IDE? SATA can theoretically obtain speeds of 150MB/s whereas ATA133 / UDMA6 can get speeds up to 133MB/s theoretically. SATA is serial, IDE is parallel. I'd be buggered if i knew which one is better. :robot:
The 150MB/s transfer rate is wunnerful marketing hype. consider:

There is not a single drive today, SCSI or IDE, that is fast enough to full the Ultra66 pipe, let alone anything higher. You're dealing with simple mechanics of rotational latency and platter density. And yes, that inclides 15K drives (which will never be built in gonzo sizes because centrifugal forces would tear the platters apart - there are rather strict laws of Physics governing this).

Current SATA is a crock. It got the public to pay for its development until the release of SATA II where the advantages of SCSI finally become aparrent with command tag queueing.

The only time you'll ever saturate either bus is with a multiple drive configuration in a RAID array of some kind.

[Roj]

I ran into this benchmark in another context and wanted to show that HT is more than hype:
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/pentium4-570j/index.x?pg=13
Of course it all depents on the application you are running... But in this case HT is the reason why P4 wins over the Athlon 64.
Perhaps I need to modify my phrasing to say "hype for the vast majority of users" since most users won't be running real-time rendering applications. :) I tend to see things from a mainstream perspective - a broad canvas if you will.

[Tokelil]

I tend to see things from a mainstream perspective - a broad canvas if you will.Thats fair and good in most cases... But sometimes special cases pave the way for more general cases and personally I think this is the case with HT. Btw. not trying to hype Intel or the P4. After all I love my Athlon 64 and wouldn't recommend anything else at the moment. :)

[Roj]

Thats fair and good in most cases... But sometimes special cases pave the way for more general cases and personally I think this is the case with HT. Btw. not trying to hype Intel or the P4. After all I love my Athlon 64 and wouldn't recommend anything else at the moment. :)That kind of depends on the special case. For example, some kind of niche dev for Matlab use sure ain't gonna make it into mainstream. As to HT, it's kind of a toss-up. Most mainstream office apps out there are single pro by nature but games are a whole different ballgame - there's real potential there. Now to convince the game devs (notorious for poorly tested buggy code / cutting corners to get the game to market faster / produce faster play) to write SOLID multi pro platforms. I'm not holding my breath though...

For the record:

If intel actually produced a faster processor at a competitive price (i.e. faster than the A64 at less money) and motherboards / RAM for that platform were similarly competitively priced, I'd give it serious consideration. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened for about five years at last count.

[Tokelil]

Now to convince the game devs (notorious for poorly tested buggy code / cutting corners to get the game to market faster / produce faster play) to write SOLID multi pro platforms. I'm not holding my breath though...All game developers will have to go multithreaded or suffer from very poor performance in the future. After all we'll see dual core CPU's from AMD within half a year and probably dual core from Intel within a year. (And as said XBox2 and PS3 are multicored)

For example take a post like this from Deano Calver (Game developer) from marts 2004:
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10761
Serious multi-processing game/rendering coding is the next big shift, doesn't matter how much you don't like it, its almost here. I'm currently playing with the concept of micro-threads and borrowing techniques from the real-time OS field, as a way of maximising multi CPU's
His reply in this thread is also quite interresting:
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=281704#281704

[Roj]

All game developers will have to go multithreaded or suffer from very poor performance in the future. After all we'll see dual core CPU's from AMD within half a year and probably dual core from Intel within a year. (And as said XBox2 and PS3 are multicored)

For example take a post like this from Deano Calver (Game developer) from marts 2004:
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10761

His reply in this thread is also quite interresting:
http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=281704#281704I have only one thing to say:

Prepare For Massive Bugginess And Rampant System Weirdness Until Developers Get Their Heads Out Of Their Collective Asses And Finally Begin To Build code Responsibly.

Yes, I am saying they're being irresponsible now. Anyone seen The Sims lately?

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Anyone seen The Sims lately?

Nah, stupid game ;)

[Roj]

Nah, stupid game ;)
My kids live and die by than thing. We have XBox versions, PC versions, expansion packs, The Sims 2...

And It's All Buggy As Hell!

[matty28carter]

My kids live and die by than thing. We have XBox versions, PC versions, expansion packs, The Sims 2...

And It's All Buggy As Hell!

i conveinently deleted the sims...
:evil:

[Sheepeh]

I'm quite picky about what motherboards make it in to my machines, and I had nothing but trouble with my last VIA chipset (kt400) but my NForce machine has been solid as a rock and overclocked like a champ. I have no religious hatred of VIA, just that my experiances to date have been better with nVidia chipsets

[hedge]

nForce 2 was an awesome chipset, and definitely beat VIA. However when it comes to the new 64 chipsets, theres nothing wrong with VIA.

[Roj]

I'm quite picky about what motherboards make it in to my machines, and I had nothing but trouble with my last VIA chipset (kt400) but my NForce machine has been solid as a rock and overclocked like a champ. I have no religious hatred of VIA, just that my experiances to date have been better with nVidia chipsetsIt also depends on the mobo manufacturer. There are a few that will never darken my door and ABit and FIC are at the top of that list. I typically buy MSI or Asus and only MSI if I can help it - I find Asus' BIOS implementations to be less than optimal (too many damned loose ends due to inadequate testing that result in rev after rev after rev ad nauseum).

All that being said, I've been running a MSI KT4V-L KT400-based board for the last two years with no incident whatsoever. I have two more of those boards at the office and my buddy Stephane has one too - he's had his for as long as I've had mine. If a board doesn't cut it, it's out the door VERY quickly.

nForce is fine until you start adding peripherals. nVidia's PCI implementation has never been up to the competition in that area. Their drivers have been flaky too as my brother in-law just found out (LAN issues with his nForce3-based Asus board that the latest rev of ForceWare finally corrected).

Thanks, I'll stick to Via.

[Roj]

nForce 2 was an awesome chipset, and definitely beat VIA. However when it comes to the new 64 chipsets, theres nothing wrong with VIA.For me, speed is strictly secondary - stability is all. nForce2 wasn't a bad chipset except again for a poor PCI implementation. Soundstorm was a good onboard solution as onboard sound solutions go but came nowhere near any dedicated PCI sound card of the day despite the lofty claims and hype. People who build video cards shouldn't touch audio - they'll only embarass themselves. :)

As to the current crop of chipsets for A64, the Northbridge is on the CPU so memory performance will not vary. All the chipset vendors have to do is add a Southbridge and a fast interface to the Northbridge. Via definitely has the edge over nVidia there in no uncertain terms.

[Sheepeh]

It also depends on the mobo manufacturer. There are a few that will never darken my door and ABit and FIC are at the top of that list. I typically buy MSI or Asus and only MSI if I can help it - I find Asus' BIOS implementations to be less than optimal (too many damned loose ends due to inadequate testing that result in rev after rev after rev ad nauseum).

All that being said, I've been running a MSI KT4V-L KT400-based board for the last two years with no incident whatsoever. I have two more of those boards at the office and my buddy Stephane has one too - he's had his for as long as I've had mine. If a board doesn't cut it, it's out the door VERY quickly.

nForce is fine until you start adding peripherals. nVidia's PCI implementation has never been up to the competition in that area. Their drivers have been flaky too as my brother in-law just found out (LAN issues with his nForce3-based Asus board that the latest rev of ForceWare finally corrected).

Thanks, I'll stick to Via.

I love Abit boards, been using them for years and never had a problem. My MSI wouldn't overclock at all so it got dumped for my current Abit Nforce2 (which, incedently, is very stable). A mate of mine likes Asus, so I may try them out.

<edit> I know this thread is getting increasingly off-topic, but what sound-card would you suggest for a great sound? I'm currently using my SoundStorm over my Live!, but would like something a little more quality. Conventional wisdom says Audigy, but I would prefer to stay away from Creative. Also, Linux support would be welcome =) </edit>

[Roj]

I love Abit boards, been using them for years and never had a problem. My MSI wouldn't overclock at all so it got dumped for my current Abit Nforce2 (which, incedently, is very stable). A mate of mine likes Asus, so I may try them out.

<edit> I know this thread is getting increasingly off-topic, but what sound-card would you suggest for a great sound? I'm currently using my SoundStorm over my Live!, but would like something a little more quality. Conventional wisdom says Audigy, but I would prefer to stay away from Creative. Also, Linux support would be welcome =) </edit>Given that I don't overclock (I view it as greasy kid's stuff :) ) and also given that ABit is known for *intentionally* overclocking their boards *out of the box* at their "stock settings"...

I *like* boards that don't everclock.

I guess you've never seen the ABit boards that had the capacitors blow their stack - literally. Black goo everywhere. Dead NIC, video and sound card because everything blew. Likely came from pushing the components of the board too hard and what made it even more interesting is that the user *doesn't* overclock (he's a colleague of mine) and had a rock stable Antec power supply (it's still running smoothely with the MSI he replaced the ABit with a year later). It also wasn't an isolated occurrance - I'm aware of more than a couple similar experiences. The voltage settings on ABit boards are always a bit more than the processor manufacturer recommends - that's the intentional overclock. And you wonder how they get such sterling benchmarks...

As to sound cards, if you're a gamer then get an Audigy 2ZS. If you're into music and movies, get a M-Audio Revolution (it has Linux support!!!) or one of the ENVY24-based cards. If you go the route of another manufacturer using ENVY24, make sure the DACs it uses are up to snuff - Turtle Beach uses the ENVY24 on their new Catalina but the DACs are junk made by C-Media. It's kind of like putting lawnmower tires on your Porsche...

There's no single card that gives you the best of both worlds and likely never will be. Creative Labs doesn't know how to build quality audio cards (it's a gaming card company) and the quality audio card manufacturers have to take whatever Creative Labs parcels out to them in terms of gaming capabilities now that it owns Sensaura.

I guess you know what I own. :)

[Sheepeh]

Hehe I don't think there's a part of my system that can be overclocked and isn't...

This "greasy kid" upgraded :-

Athlon XP 2600+
DDR 333 value ram
Saphire Atlantis Radeon 9800pro

to

Athlon XP 3200+
DDR 400
Radeon 9800XT

for nowt. And it's very stable (can't say I've ever seen in crash in the past month) so I say bring on the grease monkeys! I am a gamer who loves his music which is a bit of a bastard...I'm loathe to give Creative any more cash but I may well go with the Audigy.

http://www.labtec.com/index.cfm/gear/details/APAC/EN,crid=18,contentid=70,crid2=22

That is my current set of speakers (well they are actually 400's but thats the closest I can find) do you think it'd be worth spending money on a decent card with those...and if not what speakers does the Roj own? ;)

(can you tell I know jack about sound systems ;) )

[Roj]

Hehe I don't think there's a part of my system that can be overclocked and isn't...
It's funny - I was in a store trying it out for the first time before Christmas and there was this oriental kid ahead of me asking about the proper voltage settings to overclock a P4 Northwood and the guy in the store said "We don't support that stuff here". The kid appeared shocked and said "but I thought that this store supported overclocking - it used to". The guy replied "Yeah, we did once when the owner was younger - we grew out of it. Besides it shortens the life of a system.". I just about choked. :) My whole mindset is:

Hardware is cheap and fast these days (especially if you buy AMD) - if you want "faster", just buy "faster". :)

Given your existing system, one has to wonder why you even overclock at all - you're already at rarified altitude. :)

and if not what speakers does the Roj own? ;)
These:

http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review482.html

They're no longer made although you can still buy a few of them online at cut rate prices - the company was shut down after it got bought out by a Far Eastern conglomerate (EASTECH) and the technological rights pillaged for resale to cheap half-assed companies like RCA and Emerson (this is how that particular conglomerate makes money). This particularly pissed me off because Monsoon was a company started by a group of Canadian college kids in British Columbia, Canada.

Suffice it to say that I'm yet to hear anything beat them for clarity, presence and imaging in a 2.1 system and that includes the Creative Labs MegaWorks, klipsch Pro Medias and Altec Lansing flagship models. Logitech need not even apply. The only *5.1 system* that measures up to them for music is oddly enough *another* Caadian product designed as a companion for gaming consoles, DVD players and PCs (it has eight separate inputs and a remote control and is driven by a rather unique amplifier design):

http://www.spherexinc.com/home.asp

I heard these over the Christmas and was finally able to say:

THERE is a worthy successor to Monsoon, never mond the glam from the abovementioned speaker vendors.

(can you tell I know jack about sound systems)
What - you think I was born knowing this stuff? :)

[Tokelil]

The guy replied "Yeah, we did once when the owner was younger - we grew out of it. Besides it shortens the life of a system.". I just about choked. :) My whole mindset is:

Hardware is cheap and fast these days (especially if you buy AMD) - if you want "faster", just buy "faster". :)Personally I used countless of hours overclocking in my "young" days, benchmarking for hours etc., but yer I grew out of it... Kind of. I dont use much time on it anymore. A day maybe when I buy the new hardware. Its a free upgrade after all. Buy the 3. fastest CPU and overclock it to speeds between the fastest and second fastest and you have saved 100$. (If not more...) Its a poor mans way of gettings hands on decent hardware.
Overclocking doesn't have to comprimise stability if you know what you are doing. (Stability is my number one goal too when Im not gaming) And who cares if your CPU burns after 5 years instead of 10? My CPU is out of my box in 1-3 years anyway.

[Willow of Oz]

My current home network as of January 1, 2005:

<snip>

IM and file transfer are permitted as are P2P file sharing via eMule and Azureus. My pipe is 5Mbit.

Woah, woah, woah. When did this happen, Roj? Last I heard, I thought p2p was the spawn of the devil? Better AV protection? Or a reevaluation of p2p viruses? Or c) other?

[Roj]

Woah, woah, woah. When did this happen, Roj? Last I heard, I thought p2p was the spawn of the devil? Better AV protection? Or a reevaluation of p2p viruses? Or c) other?1) I mellowed with age. :)

2) I found a good way to secure my router against unwanted intruders and still use P2P

3) I finally found P2P clients that were configurable and reasonably well constructed that could be throttled effectively and not just claim to be (like Shareaza)

4) I switched from SAV to Avast! which provides P2P checking.

5) I upgraded my network infrastructure and modem to be able to copy with multiple users running P2P without bringing down the network

6) I discovered a lossless cache on P2P :) :) :)

[matty28carter]

i might give e-mule a try, found a custom installer on the K-Lite site with ip blocker and stuff http://www.filesharingguide.com/index.php?content=emule
getting fed up with all the shite thats on kazaa now. can't seem to find anything without sifting through hours of crap.

[#The fREaK!]

Prepare For Massive Bugginess And Rampant System Weirdness Until Developers Get Their Heads Out Of Their Collective Asses And Finally Begin To Build code Responsibly.Not only developers, but also the companies employing them. Hardly any big companies give a damn about the quality of their products as long as they sell, and therefore don't give their developers time to get anything done right. As soon as something "works", it is concidered done, and the developers are given a new task to move on to.

And It's All Buggy As Hell!
Did you really expect anything else from a company owned by EA? :silly:

[Todd The Kiwi]

i got a bit carried away...:skull:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v608/toddthekiwi/kaboom.jpg

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Ha ha nice try Todd :biggrin: Only until i see a pic of a monitor thrown out of the window, i can believe you ;)

[Todd The Kiwi]

pretty cool stickers aye, i got them from this shop (http://www.sas-kiwi.com/) :nervous:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

No kiddin'? Cus i thought that you drew them with photoshop CS. :cheerful:

[matty28carter]

My pipe is 5Mbit.

would i be correct in saying you can download a whole album in say FLAC (of around 500MB) in a little under 15minutes?
:cross-eye

[Roj]

would i be correct in saying you can download a whole album in say FLAC (of around 500MB) in a little under 15minutes?
:cross-eye
Most definitely. :) :) :)

Usenet is a wonderful thing.

[matty28carter]

Most definitely. :) :) :)

Usenet is a wonderful thing.

:cry: i've only just been able to upgrade to 512k!!!!

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Better than being downgraded from 2400 kpbs to 240 kbps. :depressed Damn i hate my ISP. :mad:

[acushla]

['QUOTE']=Roj'] What - you think I was born knowing this stuff? :)['/QUOTE']


Gotta luv it!

[acushla]

ASUS X series P4S8X-X motherboard

Intel® Pentium® 4 2.8

WINDOWS XP PRO

RADEON 9200 Series

ATI WONDER PRO

M-AUDIO Revolution 7.1 (Soon!)

1024 RAM

160G HD

LOGITECH MX-1000 LASER MOUSE

LOGITECH CORDLESS KEYBOARD

SONY 19” HS-SERIES FLAT PANEL LCD DISPLAY

ALTEC LANSING 2.1 PLANAR SPEAKERS

APC BX-1000 BACK UP POWER

...AND I'M VERY HAPPY!

[matty28carter]

Computer #1 (Wired)

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Core
MSI NEO4 Platinum NForce4 Ultra 939
2x 200GB Maxtor SATA 150 8MB Cache HDD
Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce 6600 128MB Turbo
LG DVD +/-RW/RAM Supermulti Drive
1GB (2x512MB) DDR 3200 RAM
17" Sharp LL172AB TFT Monitor
Microsoft Wireless Multimedia Keyboard & Mouse
Antec Sonata II & Antec 450W Power Supply
Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 Speakers

Computer #2 (Wireless 54g)

AMD Duron 800MHz
256MB DDR 2100 RAM
80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HDD
GeForce 2 MX400 64MB
Samsung DVD-ROM Drive
Unbranded CD-RW Drive
Gigabyte 54g Wireless Network Card
17" Samtron (Samsung) CRT Monitor
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard & Mouse
Goodmans 2.0 Speakers (They were cheap)

Computer #3 (Wired)

Intel Celery 800Mhz
256Mb PC100 (Could be 133) RAM
20GB IDE 5400RPM HDD
Intel Intergrated 82815 Graphics/82801 Audio (*cough* crap *cough*)
D-Link 10/100 Fast Eithernet Card
LG 52X CD-ROM Drive
17" AOC CRT Monitor
Logitech Optical USB Wheel Mouse
Mitsumi Crap Keyboard (Gonna replace it)
Cheap £5 Speakers

Computer/Laptop #4 (Wireless 54G)

Intel Celeron 1.2Ghz
256MB DDR 2100 RAM
20GB 4200RPM HDD
SiS 630 Intergrated Graphics/7012 Audio (Seriously crap)
24X CD-ROM Drive
Asus USB 2.0 Wireless 54g Dongle (Laptop has USB 1.1)
14.1" TFT Screen
Speakers work when they want to...

All Computers running Windows XP Professional SP2

All Networked by ASUS WL-500g Wireless 802.11g Router (great router, has a built in wireless print server. When I replace it with and all in one ADSL modem etc I'll probably keep it for my printer :) )

BT Voyager 205 ADSL Eithernet Modem Router - Internet @ 2Mb/s DL 256Kb/s UL (need to get an all in one ADSL/Firewall/Router/Wireless).

[Todd The Kiwi]

you have all that and still enough time to visit forums :cross-eye
the wireless print server thingy sounds cool, does this mean you don't have to plug your printer in ('cause that's what it sounds like)?

[matty28carter]

the wireless print server thingy sounds cool, does this mean you don't have to plug your printer in ('cause that's what it sounds like)?

It just gets plugged in via USB to the router (it still has to have mains though) and it gets shared to all the computers on the network. Those things are normally around £60-70 to buy on their own.


you have all that and still enough time to visit forums :cross-eye

Yep, its a big job when they go wrong, which they have done recently, Comp#1 the PSU blew and Comp#2 kept uninstalling the mouse on restarting the computer but I think I've fixed that now. I need to get another computer to act as a file and settings server, having all these machines with seperate my documents and settings etc is a pain in the arse. I could just set it up so that they all synchronize to one computer, but thats a pain and its slow.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Why not have a different OS on every computer just to make things interesting ;)

[matty28carter]

Why not have a different OS on every computer just to make things interesting ;)

Yeah put the original Windows 98 on one of them for a laugh.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Yeah put the original Windows 98 on one of them for a laugh.

I was more thinking along the lines of linux: Ubuntu, Vector, Mandriva, Gentoo, Red Hat, Debian, etc... ;)

[matty28carter]

I was more thinking along the lines of linux: Ubuntu, Vector, Mandriva, Gentoo, Red Hat, Debian, etc... ;)

Trouble is though they would work properly, giving me less work to do! :cyclops:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Right, my pc seemed to get noisier by the day until a few days ago it made a racket. Now i thought it was the cpu fan at first and thought "oh great, and that calls itself Zalman silent cpu fan". Upon closer inspection it happened to be my gpu (graphics processor unit) fan making all the noise. I then cleaned it but to no avail, it got only worse. Now i remembered having had similar problems before with the rear fan. What i did was to spray some lubricant oil into the rotating bit and then clean it as much as possible. Hey presto! I did that to my gpu fan and the noise is gone! At least for now, and i can sleep well again ;)

Funny enough in the process when i had my pc up and running again, the rear exit from my onboard sound apparently stopped working. I have no clue why im not getting sound from the output anymore so i use the alternative output which does output sound still. Whatever... :cross-eye

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Actually...the noise continued. Then i looked on the internet and found that i may be caused by the power wire running from the fan to the socket. I kinda pulled on the wire, messed with it, but didnt think i was changing anything. This was after i had disassembled my gpu fan. Now the noise is gone again (for now). So it was scraping against something, but really i have no idea. This sucks terribly and i have no desire to buy a new gpu fan because of this. :(

[hedge]

Actually...the noise continued. Then i looked on the internet and found that i may be caused by the power wire running from the fan to the socket. I kinda pulled on the wire, messed with it, but didnt think i was changing anything. This was after i had disassembled my gpu fan. Now the noise is gone again (for now). So it was scraping against something, but really i have no idea. This sucks terribly and i have no desire to buy a new gpu fan because of this. :(
yep i'm starting to get this problem, and it'll be the second time a gpu fan has buggered up on me. The first time it happened on my old ti4200, which was still under warranty, but it took em about 3 weeks to simply replace the bloody fan. Now my radeon 9800 fan is starting to make some rather dodgy noises at startup... fun fun fun.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

The fan stopped making noise for 2 days now, so i guess the lubricant took effect.

Now for the interesting part in my ever ongoing process of upgrading my machine, i got myself a second screen (15") from someone from my corridor in the student flat who apparently didn't need it anymore and dumped it in the common kitchen. Let me illustrate why everyone should have a second monitor:

1)You can put all your msn conversations there and leave the primary monitor available for doing stuff like browsing or word processing.

2)You can fill the screen with qcd visuals if your computer is fast enough to manage that.

3)If you have a tv card in your pc, you can watch tv on the 2nd monitor.

4)You can open side by side your two most commonly used applications like email client and browser.

And more of course. The screen is old and the colours dont have as much contrast as my better 17" monitor but i'm liking it a lot! :P

[Todd The Kiwi]

oh man i so want to do that.
actually someone else who used to visit this forum sent me a couple of photos of his setup
which includes, wait for it...

4 MONITORS :biggrin: :cross-eye
http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/705/studiofront22bh.jpg
if you don't want this pic here tell me and i'll remove it
shame to waste a pic of such a cool setup though aye mate :biggrin:

[moose]

wow, what a nice setup :)

[Willow of Oz]

Two's the minimum for a PC person!

[Roj]

OK, here's Roj's Realm as of September 2005:


Roj:

- Athlon XP 2600+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI KT4V-L (Via KT400)
- 1GB PC2700
- Sapphire Radeon 9550 (256Mb)
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1
- 120Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG 16X DVD-ROM
- Sony DW-D18A DVD Burner (OEM Lite-ON SOHW-832S)
- ViewSonic G773 17"
- Monsoon Planar Media 14 2.1 system


MP3 server:

- AMD Athlon XP 1900+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI K7 Master
- 512Mb PC2100
- Promise Ultra133 TX2
- ATI XPert128
- 80Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Pioneer DVD-116
- LG 42x24x42 CD-RW
- NEC Multisync XV15+ 15"


Vil:

- Athlon XP 2600+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI KT6V-LSR (Via KT600)
- 512Mb PC2700
- Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE (64Mb)
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1
- Pinnacle Firewire card
- 160Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG 16X DVD-ROM
- Sony DW-D18A DVD Burner (OEM Lite-ON SOHW-832S)
- Samsung 753MB 17" (flat CRT)
- Monsoon Planar Media 14 2.1 system


Stefani:

- Athlon XP 2200+
- MSI K7T Turbo2 (Via KT133A)
- 512Mb PC133
- PowerColor Radeon 9000 Pro (128Mb)
- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
- 120Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Creative Labs Webcam
- LG 16X DVD-ROM
- Lite-On LDW-451S
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Monsoon Planar Media 9 2.1 System


Krista:

- Sempron 2600+
- Asus A7V8X-X
- 512Mb DDR333
- Sapphire Radeon 9200SE (128Mb)
- Hercules Fortissimo III
- 80Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG 16X DVD-ROM CD-RW
- LG 52x24x52 CD-RW
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Altec-Lansing ATP-3 2.1 system


Nicholas:

- Athlon XP 2000+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI K7T Turbo2 (Via KT133A)
- 512Mb PC133
- PowerColor Radeon 9000 Pro (128Mb)
- Hercules Fortissimo III
- 80Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- LG 16X DVD-ROM
- Lite-On LDW-451S
- Philips 107/B 17"
- Altec-Lansing ATP-3 2.1 system

XP Service Pack 2 has started to make inroads (yeah, I know: the horror, The Horror!). The kids' machines have been converted over and slowly but surely the others may follow (kids make great testbeds :) :) ;) ). As you can see, all intel-ness has been removed and this is a pure AMD network. Also, note that the average audio capabilities are pretty reasonable. I'm now on a 8-port switch and my connection has been upgraded to 6Mbit - I need every kilobit of throughput, what with online games, eMule, Bittorrentm, Usenet and the like.

[fatal error]

i've been running with my latest rig all summer:

Pentium 4, 3ghz (w/ a Thermaltake Beetle cpu fan)
Abit IS7-V2 (i use the onboard sound pumped thru a kenwood shelf system stereo)
1gb DDR400 pc3200
BFG Asylum nvidia fx5200 256mb
2x 80Gb Western Digital's
NEC dvd burner

boxed in a Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA


Sceptre 20" LCD

[rorythedog]

Hiya. I've been busy in that department too.

Hiper 525Watt modular PSU,
Asus A8N-SLI mobo,
AMD64 3800+ CPU,
2GB DDR400 PC3200 Corsair TwinXPro RAM,
Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX graphics,
Creative Audigy ZS sound,
Western Digital SATA 250GB HD,
2xHitachi Deathstar 80GB HD's,
Belkin 1200Watt UPS.

All wrapped in a Coolermaster Wavemaster case.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Hiya. I've been busy in that department too.

Hiper 525Watt modular PSU,
Asus A8N-SLI mobo,
AMD64 3800+ CPU,
2GB DDR400 PC3200 Corsair TwinXPro RAM,
Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX graphics,
Creative Audigy ZS sound,
Western Digital SATA 250GB HD,
2xHitachi Deathstar 80GB HD's,
Belkin 1200Watt UPS.

All wrapped in a Coolermaster Wavemaster case.

Lemme suggest some improvements:

-DDR2 RAM
-At least an 21" screen
-Cluster grid for your CPU's
-64bit whatever soundcard
-1 Terabyte of harddisks
-Your own tesla coil

I'm positive others can fill in the gaps ;)

(You know im just kiddin' right? Your machine still amazes me today!)

[acushla]

OK, here's Roj's Realm as of September 2005:


Roj:


- Sony DW-D18A DVD Burner (OEM Lite-ON SOHW-832S)





Hu-huh.

[Willow of Oz]

OK, here's Roj's Realm as of September 2005:

MP3 server:

- AMD Athlon XP 1900+ / Thermaltake Silent Boost
- MSI K7 Master
- 512Mb PC2100
- Promise Ultra133 TX2
- ATI XPert128
- 80Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Pioneer DVD-116
- LG 42x24x42 CD-RW
- NEC Multisync XV15+ 15"



Am I missing something or is the mp3 server the only machine without a soundcard ??
Also interesting that noone has a screen over 17 inches. Other than that, sounds like a top place to spend time!

[acushla]

DESKTOP PC

ASUS X series P4S8X-X motherboard

Processor Type Intel® Pentium® 4 2.8

Operatinf System WINDOWS XP PRO w/SP 2

Graphics RADEON 9200 Series

TV Tuner ATI WONDER PRO

Sound Card M-AUDIO Revolution 7.1

Optical Drive TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R 5112

Opitical Drive AOPEN CD-RW CRW 5232

Memory 1024 RAM

Hard Drive 240G HD

Mouse LOGITECH MX-1000 LASER MOUSE

Keyboard LOGITECH CORDLESS KEYBOARD

External Card Reader SanDisk 7 in 1 Card Reader

Speakers ALTEC LANSING FX - 6021 PLANAR

Monitor SONY 19” HS-SERIES FLAT PANEL LCD DISPLAY

Back Up Power APC BX-1000 BACK UP POWER


HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPAQ PRESARIO LAPTOP

Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz

Monitor Screen Size 15.4"

RAM (Preloaded / Maximum) 512MB DDR RAM

Cache 512KB L2

Hard Drive 100GB 4200RPM

Optical Drives CD Rom Drive: DVD+/-R/RW, CD-RW Combo Drive With Double Layer

Graphics ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP With 128MB

Average Battery Life Up To 3 Hours

Product Weight 2.9 kg

Audio Type Altec Lansing

Battery Type 8-Cell Lithium-Ion



Network Card Integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN

Preloaded Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2

Interfaces: 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x Headphone-Out, 1 x Microphone-In, 1 x VGA (15 -Pin), 1 x TV-Out (S-Video), 1 x RJ-11 (Modem), 1 x RJ-45 (LAN), 1 x Expansion Port 2 Connector, 1 x IEEE 1394 FireWire (4-Pin)

PC Card Slots: 1 x ExpressCard/54 Slot (Also Supports ExpressCard/34), 1 x Type I/II 32-Bit Card Bus (Also Supports 16-Bit)

[matty28carter]

My Sonata II came and PC#1 is nice and snug in there (and all the better, its quieter in there!). I've got plans to build a server to host all the documents on so that'll be yet another computer coming. Also I plan to replace the Duron 800Mhz with a Sempron 2600Mhz 64Bit in the coming months. Hopefully by this time next year BT and what not should have brought ADSL 2+ to the majority of the country and I should have at least an 8Mbit pipe to the house... woo! Can't wait!

[hedge]

Am I missing something or is the mp3 server the only machine without a soundcard ??
Also interesting that noone has a screen over 17 inches. Other than that, sounds like a top place to spend time!
Well if its only purpose is to dish out files to the other computers on the network, it really has no need for a soundcard... ;)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Am I missing something or is the mp3 server the only machine without a soundcard ??
Also interesting that noone has a screen over 17 inches. Other than that, sounds like a top place to spend time!

Great for LAN parties :p I wish we had them more often here. :cheeky:

[Willow of Oz]

Well if its only purpose is to dish out files to the other computers on the network, it really has no need for a soundcard... ;)

(sound of me banging my head against the wall).
Of course. That's what I do with my own setup. I guess I was just so dazed by the fact the machine didn't have a card to realise it didn't need one.

[Todd The Kiwi]

i'm wondering how Roj gets any work done with all those kids/computers ha ha ha :shocked:

[matty28carter]

I've got a server built!

#Server

Intel Pentium III 800Mhz
8GB Western Digital HDD
20GB Maxtor 5400rpm 2mb Cache (butchered from another machine)
LG 52x CD-ROM
4Mb S3 Virge AGP Graphics Card (such a good card... :knocked-o)
10/100 Realtek Network Card

Currently though it hasn't got any RAM :nervous:. Gonna get a stick of 256MB SDRAM PC133 RAM for it somewhen next week. Once thats all done I'm gonna stick Server 2003 Enterprise Edition on it (I've got an evaluation copy lying around :bandit:). Yeah its not the world fastest machine, but it'll do for the mean time - till I get some more money :cheerful:.

Also Computer #3 died a horrible death (damned intel m/b's), should be getting a replacement for that next week. Hopefully it'll be the same spec as well, otherwise I'll be really pissed. :ermm:

I don't think my parents will let me have any more computers after all these! I'll just be glad once there all up and running and the servers good to go.

The plan is for my network (if it ever happens) to have all machines running at over 1.5Ghz and having at least 512 -1GB of RAM. And perhaps to have all TFT's. That may be pushing it slightly though!!!

@roj, Nice to see all your machines have at least 512MB of RAM, defintaly a reccommended minimum for today.

[Shewolf]

Nothing to really 'show off' but i FINALLY got the cash to order new components! Woo!
*Jumps around a bit*
Now... to get the thing built before i go totally nuts at this one...

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I got myself one of these suckers today because my normal vga fan was giving up on me:

http://www.pricenetwork.ca/images/products/prod_1154.jpg

I tell you, it's HUGE! But sucking air it sure can do! :cool:

While i was at it, i also got 512MB RAM extra. So i now have 1GB DUAL DDR RAM in total. I start up windows and guess what? Yes, windows decides to cache HALF my RAM! Right...i see now what difference it makes though. Less swapping of the pagefile on the harddrive, better performance in games, but the page file still is 400MB! I mean i only have 57 processes running ;)

[acushla]

I got myself one of these suckers today because my normal vga fan was giving up on me:

http://www.pricenetwork.ca/images/products/prod_1154.jpg

I tell you, it's HUGE! But sucking air it sure can do! :cool:



How loud is it?

[moose]

very quiet, i got one of these myself, when i built my rig, ive never ever heard it :)

[Sheepeh]

I have one of these (http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/zalman_vf700/index.shtml) it's literally silent. The only part of my PC that makes a sound are my hard drives and my PSU. And as it's a quality Hiper unit, it's quiet too.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

How loud is it?

Actually it's not that quiet when all other fans are quiet too. Probably as loud as the standard fan but the pitch is higher, so less annoying to the ears or something like that. At least that's what it said on the package. The greatest benefit is that the temperature of my video card stays at ~30C no matter how much i stress it. The fan exhausts at the back of my pc case. I tried overclocknig my vid card, but it became unstable so i stopped doing that.

[Roj]

Actually it's not that quiet when all other fans are quiet too. Probably as loud as the standard fan but the pitch is higher, so less annoying to the ears or something like that. At least that's what it said on the package. The greatest benefit is that the temperature of my video card stays at ~30C no matter how much i stress it. The fan exhausts at the back of my pc case. I tried overclocknig my vid card, but it became unstable so i stopped doing that.
You could always go the thermal pipe route.

[Roj]

Hu-huh.
Lite-On makes all of Sony's burners, OEMs and branded. They've been doing it for over a year now.

[Roj]

Am I missing something or is the mp3 server the only machine without a soundcard ??
Also interesting that noone has a screen over 17 inches. Other than that, sounds like a top place to spend time!
No you're not - the mp3 / video server does not have a sound card. It's a server - it serves files to the other machines. The configuration has also changed as of today:

- Intel Pentium III 933Mhz
- Asus CUSL2
- 512Mb PC133
- Promise Ultra133 TX2
- Matrox G450
- 80Gb / 250Gb Western Digital JB w/8Mb cache
- Asus 40X
- LG 42x24x42 CD-RW
- NEC Multisync XV15+ 15"

Why the change?

MSI claimed that the K7 master 1.1 could handle Palomino processors up to a XP 1900+.

That's rubbish.

When I changed the FSB to 133Mhz and the appropriate multipliers, I found the video failed at AGP 4x. If I dialled back the AGP in BIOS to 2X, all was well. Also, if I placed the server under heavy load (lots of network traffic), it would spontaneously reboot within two minutes. That combination is a clear sign of overclocking which means that MSI lied.

Of course I never overclock.

I was forced to find another solution and not having much cash on hand I went with a setup I "inherited", specifically the one iterated above.

Also the Sony DVD burners have been replaced with his 'n' hers LG GSA-4163B 16x dual layer DVD burners - there was a sale and I got 'em for $50CDN each. The Sony / Lite-Ons are now spares. As to no one having a monitor larger than 17", I'm not made of money. I do have a 19" OptiQuest lying around as a spare - it's brand new. The dot pitch is .27 and that of my G773 is .26 so I kept it active. My wife is due for a video card upgrade (her Sapphire is dying) and we'll likely get her an All-In-Wonder, a TV card and at least a 21" LCD, likely by Samsung. That will happen at Christmas (Boxing Day sales so another Boxing Day freezing in line at 4AM in front of Future Shop or Best Buy).

[acushla]

My wife is due for a video card upgrade (her Sapphire is dying) and we'll likely get her an All-In-Wonder, a TV card and at least a 21" LCD, likely by Samsung..

Hey...an ATI All-In-Wonder?

You can buy mine for 1/2 the price of what you can buy a new one for. (That should appeal to your cost conscious approach.) :bandit:

Why am I selling it? Ah gee, you HAD to ask. Well, OK.

I would sell it to you because of any piece of hardware I have owned I have had more annoying problems with this than with everything else put together. When it works it works fine (and it works fine MOST of the time)...but too often you need to reinstall it...and even then you might reinstall only to be asked to reinstall again. After that it's repeat as needed.

Now you might be tempted to suggest it has something to do with the computer and not the program. You'd be wrong.

This has been on three computers and it performs the same on each.

So...if you're feeling lucky...send me a cheque and I'll get it to you post haste. :)

(Now I'm going to start researching other TV Tuners to see what I will replace it with.) :cheeky:

[Roj]

Hey...an ATI All-In-Wonder?

You can buy mine for 1/2 the price of what you can buy a new one for. (That should appeal to your cost conscious approach.)
What model? I'm looking at a relatively high-end model.

[acushla]

What model? I'm looking at a relatively high-end model.

ALL-IN-WONDER 9800 PRO DVD+MMC 8.2 CD, REMOTE CONTROL EDITION.

This can be upgraded to ver. 9.08...although to be honest, I couldn't tell you what the difference is.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I overclocked my processor from 2.8GHz to 3GHz today. It's a P4 HT with a FSB of 860MHz now. DUAL DDR RAM is at 430MHz. My mobo says it can handle 1GHz FSB. But that means i need to OC my CPU to 3.5GHz...ermmm no. But as so far the temperature increase of the CPU is hardly noticeable. This means good news for when the elder scrolls 4: Oblivion comes out :P

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Ok this is insane. I overclocked my pentium 4 prescott to 3.5GHz!!!! That is 700MHz more than the manufactured speed and still the temps are within acceptable range. I had to increase the vcore voltage with 0.1 volt to 1.4 volts to make windows run stable at that speed. Man im freaking out here ha ha :biggrin: Windows is so much faster now.

*FSB is at 1GHz
*RAM is back at 400MHz (thanks to a CPU at 3.5GHz due to the 1.6 multiplier in the bios). I wasnt comfortable OC my RAM because it hasnt got ECC parity and all.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Rrrright. I almost killed windows and my bios tonite. I think my little overclocking adventure is over lol :biggrin: Actually, im not sure windows did become faster while everything was maxed now that ive gone back to the defaults. Dang!

[Tokelil]

I would be very surprised if you could messure a speed difference in normal surfing, writing, doing OS stuff from overclocking. Those things are disk and/or RAM bandwidth bottlenecked.
Overclocking will gain you something when gaming (if not graphiccard bottlenecked) or when doing CPU intensive things like encoding.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

if not graphiccard bottlenecked

That was very noticeable. Games nowadays depend more on the GPU than the CPU. Anyway i will save money from now on. No more upgrades. A faster pc in 2 years or so with PCI express 2 (or 3 who knows) and DDR3 would be nice...

[Todd The Kiwi]

far out! i just install xp pro with 'slipstreamed' sp2 in like 35 mins flat :shocked:
god bless 1 gig of ram*




*i'm assuming this is the reason for it.

[Todd The Kiwi]

*no such luck ha ha ha it skipped the format :P

qmp keeping its settings was a dead givaway...

[matty28carter]

You could always go the thermal pipe route.
My gigabyte graphics card in PC#1 has a heatpipe cooler, works really well. True silence.
Computer #3 is back, same, but with a 40Gb HDD. I'm probably going to start doing some swapping around soonish as I plan to upgrade PC#2 to a Sempron 64 and to get some quieter fans 'n swap the 20Gb hard disk in the server. I've replaced the shit BT Voyager 205 ADSL modem, THANK GOD, got a new Zyxel Prestiege 660HW wireless adsl router. The wireless isn't as powerful as the Asus is so I've kept the wireless on that enabled. The server has been running well on windows 2003, I need to play around with it a little more to get used to all the options.

*no such luck ha ha ha it skipped the format :P

qmp keeping its settings was a dead givaway...

During the install tell it to do a Quick Format [NTFS], only takes a minute at most.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

My gigabyte graphics card in PC#1 has a heatpipe cooler, works really well. True silence.
Computer #3 is back, same, but with a 40Gb HDD. I'm probably going to start doing some swapping around soonish as I plan to upgrade PC#2 to a Sempron 64 and to get some quieter fans 'n swap the 20Gb hard disk in the server. I've replaced the shit BT Voyager 205 ADSL modem, THANK GOD, got a new Zyxel Prestiege 660HW wireless adsl router. The wireless isn't as powerful as the Asus is so I've kept the wireless on that enabled. The server has been running well on windows 2003, I need to play around with it a little more to get used to all the options.


Come again? How old are you really? :ninja: :bandit: :biggrin: I wouldn't know where to get the money from...:ermm:

[Todd The Kiwi]

must be a pimp... :rolleyes:

[matty28carter]

Come again? How old are you really? :ninja: :bandit: :biggrin: I wouldn't know where to get the money from...:ermm:

I'm a mere 17. Its amazing what you can earn being a pimp... or a cleaner more like!

The server 2003 is an "evaluation" copy... far too expensive for me to buy!!!

[Willow of Oz]

Sob.
My main computer is hosed.
Middle of the night - all fine.
3 hours later - hung, with ansi text crap all over the main screen.
Then it failed to boot - even failed posting (ansi crap all over the main screen).
Later attempts have success posting and then partial booting.
Now begins the arduous task of figuring out what's wrong, and if it's fixable.

(send me your love)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Sob.
My main computer is hosed.
Middle of the night - all fine.
3 hours later - hung, with ansi text crap all over the main screen.
Then it failed to boot - even failed posting (ansi crap all over the main screen).
Later attempts have success posting and then partial booting.
Now begins the arduous task of figuring out what's wrong, and if it's fixable.

(send me your love)

Format C:\ :biggrin:

But seriously, that sucks big time. Last night i tried to fix someones computer. There were virusses all over the place, adware and spyware. There was also a virus on the master boot record. I was half surprised that with a firewall windows would still operate. But disabling the firewall and windows froze instantly.

[B.E.L.B.H.D.]

Format C:\ :biggrin:


Definitely agree with that. Waste of time to figure out what's wrong, and you probably won't be able to completely get rid of it anyway.

[Willow of Oz]

Format C:\

Well, for a further update, I started booting and went into the bios. Sat there for a few minutes and then it locked up with garbage on the screen. No hdd involvement there.
That made me think it was a video card thing, so I swapped the card out for an old nvidia Ti4200. Sat in the bios fine for over an hour. Booted windows fine. Played a few minutes of q3 fine. Left it sitting idle overnight and it locked (no screen garbage though). However, the 4200 does have a dead fan. And doing the switchover, I did notice the mobo northbridge fan is also inactive.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Well, for a further update, I started booting and went into the bios. Sat there for a few minutes and then it locked up with garbage on the screen. No hdd involvement there.
That made me think it was a video card thing, so I swapped the card out for an old nvidia Ti4200. Sat in the bios fine for over an hour. Booted windows fine. Played a few minutes of q3 fine. Left it sitting idle overnight and it locked (no screen garbage though). However, the 4200 does have a dead fan. And doing the switchover, I did notice the mobo northbridge fan is also inactive.

Some of your fans died or is your mobo on its way out?

Hmmm, I dont have a fan, but a heatsink, on my northbridge or whatever you call those fanless aluminium things.

[Willow of Oz]

Some of your fans died or is your mobo on its way out?

Hmmm, I dont have a fan, but a heatsink, on my northbridge or whatever you call those fanless aluminium things.


Yeah, suspect the northbridge fan is dead. Going to replace it tomorrow, maybe with a fanless aluminium heatsink thing.

[Roj]

OK kidz, all drool. From the quote:

AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ S939 Dual-Core Processor, Retail
DFI LanParty Ultra-D NF4 S939 PCIe Mainboard w/Audio,FW,GB Lan,RAID,SATA II
Thermaltake Big Typhoon Heatpipe Heatsink / Fan, K7/K8/P4/LGA775
4Gb OCZ Performance DC 2GB (4x1024) PC3200 DDR Memory
2 WD 250GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 3Yr
Mitsumi 3.5" Floppy Drive, Black
LG 16X DVD-Rom IDE Drive OEM NO SW, Black
LG 4167B 16X Dual-Layer DVD±RW Drive BLACK, No Software, OEM
Gigabyte Radeon X800 XL 256MB PCIe Video Card w/TV Out, DVI (Passive)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card
Antec TX1050B Super Mid Tower Case w/500w SmartPower2.0 PSU, Black
Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical, Black
Microsoft Internet Keyboard BLACK, Retail
Samsung 930BF 19" SXGA LCD Monitor, 700:1 3ms DVI, Black
APC Surge Protectors Network Surge Arrest Net8 Surge Bar

That's my new custom-built rig for work; behold the BlackBitch (TM).

No slow-assed overpriced intel dreck. No unreliable Maxtor junk. Just pure blazing mayhem. The only drawback is the X-Fi but I was curious and I can always send it back - it will be mated to a set of Monsoon MH-500s (yes, they're black too). And yes, this is indeed a Roj design. Do I need all this horsepower? Can you say "multiple virtual machines under VMWare"? Oh yes, I do need this horsepower.

[Sheepeh]

OK kidz, all drool. From the quote:

AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ S939 Dual-Core Processor, Retail
DFI LanParty Ultra-D NF4 S939 PCIe Mainboard w/Audio,FW,GB Lan,RAID,SATA II
Thermaltake Big Typhoon Heatpipe Heatsink / Fan, K7/K8/P4/LGA775
4Gb OCZ Performance DC 2GB (4x1024) PC3200 DDR Memory
2 WD 250GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 3Yr
Mitsumi 3.5" Floppy Drive, Black
LG 16X DVD-Rom IDE Drive OEM NO SW, Black
LG 4167B 16X Dual-Layer DVD±RW Drive BLACK, No Software, OEM
Gigabyte Radeon X800 XL 256MB PCIe Video Card w/TV Out, DVI (Passive)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card
Antec TX1050B Super Mid Tower Case w/500w SmartPower2.0 PSU, Black
Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical, Black
Microsoft Internet Keyboard BLACK, Retail
Samsung 930BF 19" SXGA LCD Monitor, 700:1 3ms DVI, Black
APC Surge Protectors Network Surge Arrest Net8 Surge Bar

That's my new custom-built rig for work; behold the BlackBitch (TM).

No slow-assed overpriced intel dreck. No unreliable Maxtor junk. Just pure blazing mayhem. The only drawback is the X-Fi but I was curious and I can always send it back - it will be mated to a set of Monsoon MH-500s (yes, they're black too). And yes, this is indeed a Roj design. Do I need all this horsepower? Can you say "multiple virtual machines under VMWare"? Oh yes, I do need this horsepower.

Not bad, I've heard some bad things about the reliability of DFI boards of late, but then I also had my 2nd Epox blow up last week and replaced it with an Abit so I think it's a mobo killing spree on my part =)

I do wonder why you've gone for a 64 bit processor running a 32 bit operating system though, surely money wasted there?

[Roj]

Not bad, I've heard some bad things about the reliability of DFI boards of late, but then I also had my 2nd Epox blow up last week and replaced it with an Abit so I think it's a mobo killing spree on my part =)

I do wonder why you've gone for a 64 bit processor running a 32 bit operating system though, surely money wasted there?
Actually about a year and a half ago, the top engineers from both Asus and ABit defected to DFI.

The 64bit processor runs the 32-bit OS faster than it would on an equivalent 32-bit processor. XP64 is in no way shape or form ready for prime time - drivers STINK and will for the foreseeable future (read: at least the next two years).

[Sheepeh]

Actually about a year and a half ago, the top engineers from both Asus and ABit defected to DFI.

The 64bit processor runs the 32-bit OS faster than it would on an equivalent 32-bit processor. XP64 is in no way shape or form ready for prime time - drivers STINK and will for the foreseeable future (read: at least the next two years).

Which is why I chose companies that actually have their asses in gear and writing good drivers, they will all have to support x64 eventually unless they want to get left behind with Vista and I'm well aware of who I'm going to be backing in to the "next gen".

Big props to M-Audio, Logitech, HP, and Realtek. XP64 is an enthusiast system, sure, but don't knock it til you've seen the bitch fly when properly set up :ninja:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card


Creative labs? Man i so dont get you...:puzzled:

Nice rig though. You and Rory must have the fastest machines on the forum now.

EDIT: Why no DDR2 RAM? Sounds promising.

[Willow of Oz]

Not bad, I've heard some bad things about the reliability of DFI boards of late, but then I also had my 2nd Epox blow up last week and replaced it with an Abit so I think it's a mobo killing spree on my part

huh.
I heard some good things about DFI recently (second hand), but until now I had no opinion on them.

That is indeed a fearsome system Roj.

[Tokelil]

EDIT: Why no DDR2 RAM? Sounds promising.AMD64 has build in memory controller and there aren't any of their CPU's that support DDR2 yet.

[Roj]

Which is why I chose companies that actually have their asses in gear and writing good drivers, they will all have to support x64 eventually unless they want to get left behind with Vista and I'm well aware of who I'm going to be backing in to the "next gen".

"Eventually" is at least two years away. A 64bit OS is irrelevant on the consumer desktop today and will remain that way for quite some time. Inertia alone precludes anything meaningful happening there. Seen it all before with 32bit.

Big props to M-Audio, Logitech, HP, and Realtek. XP64 is an enthusiast system, sure, but don't knock it til you've seen the bitch fly when properly set up :ninja:

I'll wait untilt he ride is silky smooth - two years at least.

[Roj]

Creative labs? Man i so dont get you...:puzzled:

Now I'll be able to say that it sounds like crap - with credibility. :) :) ;)

As I said, I'm curious. I wanna see if their so called "bypass hack" actually does produce decent sound and whether their drivers actually work. It will be hooked to Mnsoons so the twin radio telescopes that hear all, er, my ears will be able to analyse.

Nice rig though. You and Rory must have the fastest machines on the forum now.

10-Q.

EDIT: Why no DDR2 RAM? Sounds promising.

Northbridge doesn't support it. Funny thing is that despite that it STILL blows off the intel junk by a handy margin. That company is banmkrupt technologically as far as processor chip design does (and has been for *a while*).

[Sheepeh]

If I was AMD I would have added a clause in the licence of AMD64 technology that whenver the little Intel Jingle is played it *has* to show the AMD64 "swoosh" and say "Powered by AMD64 Technology". I'd then laugh every single time Intel bragged about their "HT Technology".

[Roj]

If I was AMD I would have added a clause in the licence of AMD64 technology that whenver the little Intel Jingle is played it *has* to show the AMD64 "swoosh" and say "Powered by AMD64 Technology". I'd then laugh every single time Intel bragged about their "HT Technology".
intel's HyperThreading is in the same category as their High Definition Audio:

Overhyped and BADLY overrated.

intel should be completely embarassed that my Athlon 2600+ w/DDR333 at home runs circles around the HT P4 3Ghz w/DDR400 that I have at the office (that's the system that's about to be replaced with UberBox).

[matty28carter]

OK kidz, all drool. From the quote:

AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ S939 Dual-Core Processor, Retail
DFI LanParty Ultra-D NF4 S939 PCIe Mainboard w/Audio,FW,GB Lan,RAID,SATA II
Thermaltake Big Typhoon Heatpipe Heatsink / Fan, K7/K8/P4/LGA775
4Gb OCZ Performance DC 2GB (4x1024) PC3200 DDR Memory
2 WD 250GB 7200RPM 16MB SATAII Hard Drive, 3Yr
Mitsumi 3.5" Floppy Drive, Black
LG 16X DVD-Rom IDE Drive OEM NO SW, Black
LG 4167B 16X Dual-Layer DVD±RW Drive BLACK, No Software, OEM
Gigabyte Radeon X800 XL 256MB PCIe Video Card w/TV Out, DVI (Passive)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card
Antec TX1050B Super Mid Tower Case w/500w SmartPower2.0 PSU, Black
Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical, Black
Microsoft Internet Keyboard BLACK, Retail
Samsung 930BF 19" SXGA LCD Monitor, 700:1 3ms DVI, Black
APC Surge Protectors Network Surge Arrest Net8 Surge Bar

That's my new custom-built rig for work; behold the BlackBitch (TM).

No slow-assed overpriced intel dreck. No unreliable Maxtor junk. Just pure blazing mayhem. The only drawback is the X-Fi but I was curious and I can always send it back - it will be mated to a set of Monsoon MH-500s (yes, they're black too). And yes, this is indeed a Roj design. Do I need all this horsepower? Can you say "multiple virtual machines under VMWare"? Oh yes, I do need this horsepower.

Nice machine, whats new about the LG-GSA4167B compared to the 4163?
Be cool to see what throughput you get on your SATAII hard disks, I get ~230MB/s (with HDTach) on my 2x200GB SATA1 Maxtor Diamondmax 10's in a RAID 0.

[Roj]

Nice machine, whats new about the LG-GSA4167B compared to the 4163?
Be cool to see what throughput you get on your SATAII hard disks, I get ~230MB/s (with HDTach) on my 2x200GB SATA1 Maxtor Diamondmax 10's in a RAID 0.
No idea on the LG - I couldn't get a 4163B so I went with this one. As to the throughput, I'll let you know.

[moose]

finally, i have a chance to host a pic of my pc... even though its now an old pic... i need a digital cam... BAH
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/21/desktop32uu.th.jpg (http://img452.imageshack.us/my.php?image=desktop32uu.jpg)http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/868/desktop23vu.th.jpg (http://img452.imageshack.us/my.php?image=desktop23vu.jpg)

too lazy to list everything... so ill use 3dmark :)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000
Processor: AMD 3200+ @ 2.15GHz
Graphics Card: RADEON 9600XT 256MB
Total Physical Memory: 512MB
Motherboard Manufacturer: Biostar
Motherboard Model: nVidia-nForce2

and the operating table
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/5389/desktop11an.th.jpg (http://img452.imageshack.us/my.php?image=desktop11an.jpg)
pretty much where i have all the frankenstein computers
and under the table,there, on the left, with the 13" moniter, is a genuine 1989 IBM personal system/2
one of the world's first "laptops"
still works :)
im selling if anyone in interested in owning a peice of history

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Im currently looking for another harddrive. The one i have in mind is the Maxtor Diamond Max 10 (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.ba88f6d7cf664718376049b291346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/Desktop%20Storage/DiamondMax%20Family/DiamondMax%2010&productview=Overview) with 300GB space. Reason being: good high performance drive with most disk space to lowest price ratio. The thing is, i have all my IDE channels full (4) so i need it as a SATA/150 drive which my mobo supports up to 2 channels. Question remains howerver, can i attach it to my SATA controller and will it operate along side my IDE drives no problem?

[hedge]

Im currently looking for another harddrive. The one i have in mind is the Maxtor Diamond Max 10 (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.ba88f6d7cf664718376049b291346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/Desktop%20Storage/DiamondMax%20Family/DiamondMax%2010&productview=Overview) with 300GB space. Reason being: good high performance drive with most disk space to lowest price ratio. The thing is, i have all my IDE channels full (4) so i need it as a SATA/150 drive which my mobo supports up to 2 channels. Question remains howerver, can i attach it to my SATA controller and will it operate along side my IDE drives no problem?
Can't see any reason why it shouldn't. I run a 120GB SATA alongside my other Hard drives no problem at all.

[Willow of Oz]

Im currently looking for another harddrive. The one i have in mind is the Maxtor Diamond Max 10 (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.ba88f6d7cf664718376049b291346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/Desktop%20Storage/DiamondMax%20Family/DiamondMax%2010&productview=Overview) with 300GB space. Reason being: good high performance drive with most disk space to lowest price ratio. The thing is, i have all my IDE channels full (4) so i need it as a SATA/150 drive which my mobo supports up to 2 channels. Question remains howerver, can i attach it to my SATA controller and will it operate along side my IDE drives no problem?

Yep, as per Hedge.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

That's great! Thanks :)

[Roj]

Im currently looking for another harddrive. The one i have in mind is the Maxtor Diamond Max 10 (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.ba88f6d7cf664718376049b291346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Products/Desktop%20Storage/DiamondMax%20Family/DiamondMax%2010&productview=Overview) with 300GB space. Reason being: good high performance drive with most disk space to lowest price ratio. The thing is, i have all my IDE channels full (4) so i need it as a SATA/150 drive which my mobo supports up to 2 channels. Question remains howerver, can i attach it to my SATA controller and will it operate along side my IDE drives no problem?
Personally I wouldn't buy a Maxtor drive with your money - the failure rate I have observed in their products of late is far too high. I'd be much more inclined to go with a Western Digital or Seagate model instead, especially given Seagate's 5 year warranty.

And yes, concurrent operation is no problem.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

I've never had problems with Maxtor and i only have (used) Maxtor drives. Good 'nuff fer me ;)

[Roj]

I've never had problems with Maxtor and i only have (used) Maxtor drives. Good 'nuff fer me ;)
You're lucky - we have vendors here in town that won't carry their line any more because of the failure rate.

[Todd The Kiwi]

seagate and samsung i've heard are just the mac daddies of hdds.

rex - why not external ?

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

seagate and samsung i've heard are just the mac daddies of hdds.

rex - why not external ?

More expensive while i can still add two (cheaper) additional internal drives :bulb: I'm not going to spend more than 130 euro for a new harddrive. Maxtor with 300GB is the only one that comes close. From 300GB onward the price suddenly jumps to 250 euro. Ha ha no way!

[Todd The Kiwi]

any excuse to open the box and tinker ;)

[matty28carter]

You're lucky - we have vendors here in town that won't carry their line any more because of the failure rate.

I've only ever used Maxtor & Seagate drives, both have been good. The school which I goto and work also only use Maxtor drives in all 500+ pc's and rarely ever have a failer, which is is 9 times out of 10 due to some moron dicking around with the machine!

Anywho, just a quick update on the specs:
Computer #1 (Wired)

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Core
MSI NEO4 Platinum NForce4 Ultra 939
2x 200GB Maxtor SATA 150 8MB Cache HDD
Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce 6600 128MB Turbo
LG DVD +/-RW/RAM Supermulti Write Drive
1GB (2x512MB) Geil DDR 3200 RAM
17" Sharp LL172AB TFT Monitor
Microsoft Digital Multimedia Keyboard
Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse
Antec Sonata II & Antec 450W Power Supply
Altec Lansing VS4121 2.1 Speakers
Coolermaster Aerocool3 Fan Controller
2x Nebula-DigiTV DVB-T PCI TV Cards
M-Audio Revolution 7.1

Computer #2 (Wireless 54g)

AMD Athlon XP 1700+
512MB Corsair DDR 2100 RAM
40GB Seagate 7200RPM HDD
Asus Nvidia GeForce 6200 128MB AGP
Samsung DVD-ROM Drive
Unbranded CD-RW Drive (Crap)
Gigabyte 54g Wireless Network Card
17" Samtron (Samsung) CRT Monitor
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard & Mouse
Altec Lansing VS2121 2.1 Speakers

Server #1 (Wired)

Intel PIII 800Mhz
512Mb PC133 SDRAM
20GB Maxtor 5400RPM HDD
80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HDD
SiS S3 Virge PCI Graphics
3COM 10/100 PCI Network Card
Unbranded 52X CD-ROM Drive
Black Unbranded Keyboard

Computer/Craptop #3 (Wireless 54G)

Intel Celeron 1.2Ghz
256MB DDR 2100 RAM
20GB 4200RPM HDD
SiS 630 Intergrated Graphics/7012 Audio (Seriously crap)
24X CD-ROM Drive (Rubbish)
Asus USB 2.0 Wireless 54g Dongle (Laptop has USB 1.1 so 11b speeds)
14.1" TFT Screen
Speakers work when they want to...

The laptop really needs to go in the bin, its falling apart now!

Broadband goes upto 8mb/475kb (down/up) at the end of this month also, for no extra charge! So I'm happy!

//updated specs

[acushla]

any excuse to open the box and tinker ;)
...did somebody call my name?

[Todd The Kiwi]

...did somebody call my name?
suddenly nobody can find a screwdriver :P

matty - you're doing well there mate
nice BB upgrade too man
we are supposed to be getting the same here, NZ has a max speed of 4mb/ps =(

but then again we are a little island too ;)

[matty28carter]

Just got my t'internet upgrade. It takes 3-10 days to stablise but it started off at 2Mb (what I already had) then moved upto 4.5Mb. Today its at 6.5Mb. Hopefully tommorow I'll see full 8mb!!! Wooo....

[Willow of Oz]

Okay, finally a positive post from me.
I've moved my PCs out from the bedroom to a spare room, so I've got a little more room to play with. Still plugging in some final things (like speakers) but the system is now usable.
The main setup is now:

CPU: Athlon 2700+ (abit at7-max2)
PSU: 550W Antec TruePower2
RAM: 2 gig (corsair)
HDD: 80 ide, 160 sata, 200 sata, 300 ide, 300 ide
Gfx: Nvidia 6800 ultra, Matrox g200, Ati 7000
Display: Hitachi 19" crt, Dell 19" crt * 2, Dell 21" crt * 2, HP 24" widescreen crt * 2
input: G7 logitech mouse, logitech wired keyboard
sound: Audigy 2ZS
speakers: creative gigaworks 750
network: netgear 302T gb nic, netgear GS116 gb switch

PCs #2 and #3 are fairly plain Athlon 2000+s. I haven't picked up a replacement UPS yet. There's a portable AC to cool the lot during the summer months.
Anyway, the ati 7000 did what the appian and matrox g450 did not, which was to work. Last I checked they would work fine by themselves, but they've got some issues with other video cards present in the system. bleugh.

[B.E.L.B.H.D.]

So you had three PCs in your bedroom? Where are you located again? Heaven?

[deathbloomz6]

hi to all,
quinn rocks,quinn is very cool in audio and mp3 player
do you have new plugin in quinn player just email me
at deathbloomz6@yahoo.com tnx and god bless!!

[acushla]

hi to all,
quinn rocks,quinn is very cool in audio and mp3 player
do you have new plugin in quinn player just email me
at deathbloomz6@yahoo.com tnx and god bless!!Well, kool. You've established the fact that you are very discerning and have excellent taste.

Welcome aboard...hope you enjoy and decide to stay.:)

[BALTY]

Where did you say you are from?Probably Mid West USA heheha!
Signed,
Dean Slist

http://www.quinnware.com/plugins.php

[BALTY]

Okay, finally a positive post from me.
I've moved my PCs out from the bedroom to a spare room, so I've got a little more room to play with. Still plugging in some final things (like speakers) but the system is now usable.
The main setup is now:


I was thinking of adding all my PCs to my home network, but 386, 486 just doesn't cut it. Although I now have an old laptop Pentium 120 <MHz 20 Gig drive Win 95, and a new notebook XP, to go with a Pentium 600MHz WIN 2000 Server. Just got an 8 port Switch added to my router. My son has his here on my network too, but just for the summer (College Student).
But over all, nothing to write home about. :ermm: Wait, I am home. N e v e r miiiiiiiiiind!

[matty28carter]

Upgraded the Server:

Server #1 (Wired)

Intel P4 2Ghz
512Mb DDR 266 RAM
20GB Maxtor 5400RPM HDD
80GB Maxtor 7200RPM HDD
SiS Graphics
3COM 10/100 PCI Network Card
Unbranded 16X DVD-ROM Drive
Black Unbranded Keyboard
Windows 2003 Advanced Server

Gives it a little more grunt now!

[WHAT?]

I was thinking of adding all my PCs to my home network, but 386, 486 just doesn't cut it. Although I now have an old laptop Pentium 120 <MHz 20 Gig drive Win 95, and a new notebook XP, to go with a Pentium 600MHz WIN 2000 Server. Just got an 8 port Switch added to my router. My son has his here on my network too, but just for the summer (College Student).
But over all, nothing to write home about. :ermm: Wait, I am home. N e v e r miiiiiiiiiind!
No upgrade for me, but I have five PCs on my home network. I won't write home about each one either. 98s, & XPs. It's paid off when one goes down and you need a driver, or web access for something else, or just check e-mail until the other's back up. I have three to five people now wanting to get online at the same time (sometimes). It's crazy like an business office at home.
I feel as though I've been a junk collector too. I have so many old parts (sound cards Controller cards, video, even I/O port cards, cables galore !, etc.) From all the upgrades of the past.

[rorythedog]

No upgrade for me, but I have five PCs on my home network. I won't write home about each one either. 98s, & XPs. It's paid off when one goes down and you need a driver, or web access for something else, or just check e-mail until the other's back up.

This may be of some relevance to you then - CLICK! (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx).

[WHAT?]

This may be of some relevance to you then - CLICK! (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx).
It says,,,,, "Customers who upgrade to Windows XP report improved security, richer functionality, and increased productivity."

How do they know how productive it will make me?:silly:

Well, thank for the reminder!!:grin:

[Willow of Oz]

No upgrade for me, but I have five PCs on my home network. I won't write home about each one either. 98s, & XPs. It's paid off when one goes down and you need a driver, or web access for something else, or just check e-mail until the other's back up. I have three to five people now wanting to get online at the same time (sometimes). It's crazy like an business office at home.
I feel as though I've been a junk collector too. I have so many old parts (sound cards Controller cards, video, even I/O port cards, cables galore !, etc.) From all the upgrades of the past.

Indeed. Sometimes its actually a problem, in that if one machine goes down, you put off fixing it because you can just use another in the meantime. And I've also got a hell of a lot of bits and pieces. Got partway through constructing a spreadsheet to at least let me know what I have (handy when you think, I need a vga extension cable, are they all in use or do I have one spare?). Of course, if they were all sitting easily found in one spot then I'd have less of a need for a spreadsheet. As it stands, now I can look some stuff up and go ... *apparently* I've got one spare. Buggered if I know where it is.

[Sheepeh]

Sounds like the company I work at!

"Yes, Sir, the stock computer says we have 341 left in stock. Buggered if I know where they are, mind."

:ninja:

[rorythedog]

Sounds like the company I work at!

"Yes, Sir, the stock computer says we have 341 left in stock. Buggered if I know where they are, mind."

:ninja:


Haha! It seems our companies have the same computers :silly:

[Todd The Kiwi]

dude you are in Spain, we could make an Earth Sandwich (http://www.zefrank.com/sandwich/)
send me a pm if you are keen :biggrin:

original thread (http://www.quinnware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5938)

[buvypapy]

Sorry for not posting by a looooong time :sleeping: ...

Finally the "Oldie But Goodie" gets a good rest after 8 years of loyal service.

While I was at work (for my local Hall, during all this summer), collecting used furnitures for recycling, I found a CPU in awesome conditions ;)

Specs:
-Shuttle AK12, Via Apollo KT133 MB
-AMD Duron CPU at 700 MHZ
-64 Megs of RAM
-10 gigs of HD
-50x CD-ROM drive
-SiS AGP graphics card, 8 Megs video memory.

This config is enough to run WinXP decently, but I reused some components from the "Oldie But Goodie" for better performance:

-Added 128 more Megs of RAM (total 192 Megs)
-Changed graphics card by the nVidia TNT2, 16 Megs video memory from my older CPU.
-Changed CD-ROM drive by the LG CD-Burner from my older CPU.
-Added 56 Kbps, V.92 modem.
-Added 6-port USB 2.0 PCI card.

I called my near-new CPU as "Turris Eburnea" ("Ivory Tower" in Latin) :cheeky: , and the new QMP b112 runs great there :cool:

[MadRocketeer]

At the moment, I have:

P4 2.67 GHz Socket 478
230W PSU
Crappy Beige Case
Some old discontinued Intel motherboard
768MB DDR-SDRAM 266 MHz clock effective
ATI Radeon X700 128MB. Dunno if it's GDDR1 or GDDR3, but the website from which I bought it from says GDDR3.
Iomega DVD Writer

Pretty crappy. However, I in the middle of an upgrade plan at the moment, and I have completed 66.7% (2 out of 3 items acquired) of Stage 1 (out of 6 stages).

[Willow of Oz]

hey, keep us posted on the upgrade dude. I love hearing about other people's plans.
Especially when my own get postponed and postponed and postponed.

[MadRocketeer]

hey, keep us posted on the upgrade dude. I love hearing about other people's plans.
Especially when my own get postponed and postponed and postponed.

Well... okay. Here's a screenshot of the Excel spreadsheet I'm using to track my progress:

All I need now to complete Stage 1 is the CPU. I'm currently saving up for that, and my estimation is I will have enough money for that in two weeks time, barring any uncertainties.

The AsRock motherboard has both DDR and DDR2 memory slots (400MHz and 667MHz, respectively, 2GB max), both AGP 8x and PCIe 16x slots, although the latter actually only run at 4x, and has limited compatibility. Still, this is sufficient for most tasks barring playing something like Doom 3. Dirt cheap, and pretty good reviews - this is a nice interim board until I get to Stage 3.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k198/MadRocketeer/UpgradePlan.png

[Todd The Kiwi]

do you not want to play doom 3 ? :cross-eye
you're so organised, i'm well impressed :silly:

[MadRocketeer]

do you not want to play doom 3 ? :cross-eye


Well, maybe, but I'm really upgrading my computer with only one game in mind: Supreme Commander (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/supremecommander/index.html)


you're so organised, i'm well impressed :silly:


Thanks.

Edit: Yay! My new photobucket account works!

[Willow of Oz]

Great stuff Rocketeer. Thanks for posting!

[B.E.L.B.H.D.]

This config is enough to run WinXP decently, but I reused some components from the "Oldie But Goodie" for better performance:


I'd like to see a system with only 64 MB of ram. Sure, it is technically supported, but I've seen XP run with 128 MB. It wasn't pretty. :silly:

[MadRocketeer]

Got myself a Samsung SyncMaster 740B TFT LCD monitor today. It's a freebie from a friend.

Screen size: 17'"
Native Resolution: 1280x1024
Response Time: 8ms
Contrast: 600:1
Interface: both Analog DB-15 and Digital DVI (needs seperate cable)

I'm using it with a DVI, and it's quite nice. Image is surprisingly sharp even at non-native resolutions, and the contrast is adequate for me.

Not bad - for a freebie.

[acushla]

Got myself a Samsung SyncMaster 740B TFT LCD monitor today. It's a freebie from a friend.
Sweet.:)

[Willow of Oz]

Gonna grab me an ati 9250 this weekend, probably tomorrow (16 hrs time). If anyone can suggest a better pci vid card that I can actually find/purchase, let me know asap and I'll look into it. The ati 7000 that I've got is just not cutting it. Text / graphics are crappy / distorted / unreadable on that monitor and I'm pretty sure it's the videocard. It's certainly not the monitor.
Might pick up an intel pro 1000 nic at the same time since the netgear ga302t that's in this machine has conflicts or something (not explicit but a bit of traffic over it results in bluescreens).
If I'm feeling sporadic I might even grab one of seagate's latest puppies.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Gonna grab me an ati 9250 this weekend, probably tomorrow (16 hrs time). If anyone can suggest a better pci vid card that I can actually find/purchase, let me know asap and I'll look into it. The ati 7000 that I've got is just not cutting it. Text / graphics are crappy / distorted / unreadable on that monitor and I'm pretty sure it's the videocard. It's certainly not the monitor.
Might pick up an intel pro 1000 nic at the same time since the netgear ga302t that's in this machine has conflicts or something (not explicit but a bit of traffic over it results in bluescreens).
If I'm feeling sporadic I might even grab one of seagate's latest puppies.

PCI? Why invest in an old computer? :cross-eye

[Heigar]

PCI? Why invest in an old computer? :cross-eye

If someone doesn't have the funds to purchase a new pc then that leaves only one other option(invest in an older one).


Here's what i'm running:

Motherboard- Gigabyte 8165GME-775 (dual core support)
CPU- Intel celeron D 3.33ghz 533 mhz fsb/ masscool heatsink and fan
Ram- ocz 1gb dual channel ddr 400mhz ( 2 sticks of 512)
Case- thermaltake matrix with 1 front 120mm fan, 1 back 120mm fan,1 side mounted 92mm fan ( all antec)
video card- xfx geforce 6200
450w power supply
hp dvd640 dvd writer (with lightscribe)
cheap 17" crt monitor
wireless logitech mouse and keyboard

[Willow of Oz]

PCI? Why invest in an old computer? :cross-eye

I'm not looking at an upgrade just yet. This rig is mostly getting me by. For much of the time, it really was a case of cpus getting marginally faster, so what the hell would I be paying for? I'd have to get a whole system for just a percentage increase in cpu speed.

Also, you have to remember that my main box is running 7 monitors. When I go to a new system, having something running 7 monitors off pci-express is not going to be cheap. I also don't tend to skimp on el-cheapo cases, motherboards, power supplies etc, so it does tend to all add up. But with quadcores, I think it's verging on Time(tm).
I just want a pci card to tide me over ...

I'd like my next system to be as legacy free as possible, but I suspect my motherboard choices may be close to nil when it comes to no pci, no ide.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Also, you have to remember that my main box is running 7 monitors.

OK I had to read that 3 times over. :biggrin: 7 monitors aye? Well I got ... uhm ... I got a ... dang! Kudos man!

[MadRocketeer]

Here's what I got:

Crappy Beige case
Enermax Liberty 500W
AsRock 775Dual-VSTA Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz
2 GB of DDR2 533 MHz dual channel RAM
ATI Radeon X700 128 MB
80 GB ATA133 Western Digital hard drive
Iomega DVD Writer
Samsung Syncmaster 740B 17" LCD monitor.
Saitek Eclipse Keyboard (with blue LEDs, oooh glowy!)
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Crappy Genius stereo speakers.

Here's what I'm getting in the next couple of months:

1. A new case. My primary choice is the Antec Performance One P180b (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81802). If I can't get that, I'm also keeping Cooler Master Praetorian 732 (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=RC-732&other_title=+RC-732+Praetorian%20732), Cooler Master Cavalier 3 (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CAV-T03&other_title=+CAV-T03+Cavalier%203), and Raidmax Smilodon (http://www.raidmax.com/specs/smilodon.html) as secondary options. But I am still looking. If anyone have any suggestions, please make them.

2. New motherboard. The AsRock 775Dual-VSTA is just an interim motherboard. I plan on moving my hardware to a new, permanent motherboard. I have something like 13 different candidates from ASUS, Intel and MSI, but the ones that stand out are the ASUS P5B-E (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1347&modelmenu=1) and the ASUS P5B Deluxe (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1295&modelmenu=1). I have no use for onboard WiFi.

3. CPU cooling. Intel's stock heatsink and fan sucks monkey balls, so I'm looking for a new cooler, but the Zalman ones are absolutely GINORMOUS! I'm looking for something good but low-profile, otherwise I'll just screw it and go for the Zalman CNPS-9500 LED (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223) (Zalman's site seem to be screwed).

4. Any graphics card within the US$300-350 range. Currently looking at ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB. I do not intend to get a DX10 card until their 80/65nm shrink, and when I get Vista.

5. New hard drive. Seagate 320 GB SATA.

Here's what I'm envisioning getting - eventually:

1. Sound card and speakers. I just had my fill of onboard sound, but also realize a good sound card is worth nothing without good speakers, so I'll get them both in one go.

2. Headphones. Went to a place that sell Sennheiser headphones. I dunno if it's just me, but man they sound nice! I'm getting one, definitely, eventually.

[janipiipponen]

Haha! This a suitable thread for a wnbe geek like me :). Bought a new rig about 2 months ago.

Intel E6400 @ 3.5 Ghz
Gigabyte DS3
X1900 XT 512 Mb
WD 320 Gb, WD 160 Gb
2 x 1 Gb Corsair DDR2 800
Seasonic S430W PSU

Scythe Ninja for the CPU and Zalman VF-900 for the VGA. And I'm really hearing the silence ;)

And here's a pic of the whole setup (since you're all interested)
http://koti.mbnet.fi/j4n1/kuvat/nurkka.jpg

[Todd The Kiwi]

heeeey nice man :biggrin:
i like the 'backlight' too, although i would have a green one.

willow - 7 monitors? you will never breed...

[Willow of Oz]

OK I had to read that 3 times over. :biggrin: 7 monitors aye? Well I got ... uhm ... I got a ... dang! Kudos man!

Well, you do recall the pic I posted in the room pics thread. And I've put the specs up here before. I tell you, it's a juggling act keeping it going.
It really does miss having a UPS keeping it up though, and whilst I've taken note of Rory et al's recommendations, stuff like Belkin just doesn't visit our stores it seems, so my only brandname type choice is APC. Still holding off on that.

That Optimus 103 keyboard would be nice. End of 2006 they say.

[janipiipponen]

Here's what I got:

Crappy Beige case
Enermax Liberty 500W
AsRock 775Dual-VSTA Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz
2 GB of DDR2 533 MHz dual channel RAM
ATI Radeon X700 128 MB
80 GB ATA133 Western Digital hard drive
Iomega DVD Writer
Samsung Syncmaster 740B 17" LCD monitor.
Saitek Eclipse Keyboard (with blue LEDs, oooh glowy!)
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Crappy Genius stereo speakers.

Here's what I'm getting in the next couple of months:

1. A new case. My primary choice is the Antec Performance One P180b (http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81802). If I can't get that, I'm also keeping Cooler Master Praetorian 732 (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=RC-732&other_title=+RC-732+Praetorian%20732), Cooler Master Cavalier 3 (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CAV-T03&other_title=+CAV-T03+Cavalier%203), and Raidmax Smilodon (http://www.raidmax.com/specs/smilodon.html) as secondary options. But I am still looking. If anyone have any suggestions, please make them.

2. New motherboard. The AsRock 775Dual-VSTA is just an interim motherboard. I plan on moving my hardware to a new, permanent motherboard. I have something like 13 different candidates from ASUS, Intel and MSI, but the ones that stand out are the ASUS P5B-E (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1347&modelmenu=1) and the ASUS P5B Deluxe (http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1295&modelmenu=1). I have no use for onboard WiFi.

3. CPU cooling. Intel's stock heatsink and fan sucks monkey balls, so I'm looking for a new cooler, but the Zalman ones are absolutely GINORMOUS! I'm looking for something good but low-profile, otherwise I'll just screw it and go for the Zalman CNPS-9500 LED (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223) (Zalman's site seem to be screwed).

4. Any graphics card within the US$300-350 range. Currently looking at ATI Radeon X1900 XT 256MB. I do not intend to get a DX10 card until their 80/65nm shrink, and when I get Vista.

5. New hard drive. Seagate 320 GB SATA.


1. P180 seems to be one of the best cases there is. Air-flow is designed superbly. If you like the looks go for it.

3. I didn't even bother to try the Intels stock cooler so I wouldn't know. Why low-profile? Less mass (surface area) means more powerful fan and powerful fan means more noise. Here's a good picture how tiny the Intels heatsink really is. Click (http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/proscools06_52.jpg)

4. X1950 -series have arrived. ATi has managed to reduce the power consumption since the X1900 -series and X1950 PRO seems to be the best bang for the buck at the moment.

[Willow of Oz]

Gonna grab me an ati 9250 this weekend, probably tomorrow (16 hrs time).
Done. Working fine. Not stressed atm and I'd like to change which monitors are using it, but I'm a bit worn out currently


Might pick up an intel pro 1000 nic at the same time
Arghhh goddamnit. I got like the desktop adaptor version or something - it's like half height for the bracket. So I took to it with a screwdriver and mangled it so it can fit in the case, but that means that it can't be screwed in or anything. And it wasn't recognised straight off by windows, it had to access the net to realise what it was. Oh well.


If I'm feeling sporadic I might even grab one of seagate's latest puppies. Done. The guy coming out of the backroom even looked surprised, "hey did someone buy a 750gig harddrive??"
I also picked up a molex->sata power convertor and a coolermaster 4 in 3 module, which is a cage thing you put in your 5.25" bays, taking up 3 of them and allowing you to hold 4 hdds in there, with a massive fan at the front. Looks sweet as.
That one's going in the other pc, which has just been fixed up too and is getting plugged in real soon.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Done. The guy coming out of the backroom even looked surprised, "hey did someone buy a 750gig harddrive??"

I'd be careful mate. With all that hardware some one might think you are up to something. ;)

[Willow of Oz]

Okay, some joy finally.
Ungoliant is online with only some minor tweaking left.

Intel Core2 E2140 CPU
Gigabyte GA-P35-S3L motherboard
2GB 667 Kingston RAM
Thermaltake Armor case
Thermaltake Toughpower 850W PSU
Highpoint 2340 16 port raid 5 SATA 2 PCIE-8x card
1 * 80GB Seagate IDE drive
8 * 500GB WD SATA 2 drives in software raid 6 configuration

APC UPS powered

Still have to finish setting up some networking and notification stuff, but it's humming along pretty fine and fully GbE connected to the main switch with plenty of room for expansion in the future.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Nice machine Will. :beer: How does it play quake 3? ha ha

[Todd The Kiwi]

only 500GB? did you run out of money :ponder::biggrin:

the rig sounds hellish mate.

[Willow of Oz]

only 500GB? did you run out of money :ponder::biggrin:

the rig sounds hellish mate.

Nothing like logging on and seeing a drive (/directory) with 3 TB free. When I was buying the 8 drives, they gave me a box for them :)

Not looking forward to the bitching thread when I have to explain how I end up killing the thing. Bah, it'll never happen. :grimreape:ponder:

[Todd The Kiwi]

Nothing like logging on and seeing a drive (/directory) with 3 TB free. When I was buying the 8 drives, they gave me a box for them

Not looking forward to the bitching thread when I have to explain how I end up killing the thing. Bah, it'll never happen. pardon? did you say 8 drives? obviously i missed that :scared: :o

[markdentoffe]

Here's my pc.
It's already half a year old, though.
Had I noticed this thread before, I'd have posted it sooner.


ASUS P5B P965
OCZ-600Watt Gamexstream
Premium-1024MB DDR2 PC6400 x 2
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40 (Overclocked @ 3GHz)
NEC-AD-7173A Zwart DVD-RW Labelflash
Apacer-3.5 " 33in1 Card Reader
WD 150 GB Raptor X
WD 320GB-KS SATA300
ASUS-EN8800GTS 640MB
USRobotics-805417A 125MBps PCI
Antec-NSK6000 Black & Silver
Logitech Azerty Classic Black
Logitech G5 Laser mouse

[acushla]

Here's my pc.
It's already half a year old, though.
Had I noticed this thread before, I'd have posted it sooner.


ASUS P5B P965
OCZ-600Watt Gamexstream
Premium-1024MB DDR2 PC6400 x 2
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40 (Overclocked @ 3GHz)
NEC-AD-7173A Zwart DVD-RW Labelflash
Apacer-3.5 " 33in1 Card Reader
WD 150 GB Raptor X
WD 320GB-KS SATA300
ASUS-EN8800GTS 640MB
USRobotics-805417A 125MBps PCI
Antec-NSK6000 Black & Silver
Logitech Azerty Classic Black
Logitech G5 Laser mouse
This looks very, very nice. I am really surprised to see that you only have 2GB of RAM.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

This looks very, very nice. I am really surprised to see that you only have 2GB of RAM.

Odd indeed. Everyone has 4GB nowadays...

[Todd The Kiwi]

Odd indeed. Everyone has 4GB nowadays...ha ha ha ha ha ha :laugh:
acushla just bought a new mobo so he's full of it :cheeky:

[Willow of Oz]

This looks very, very nice. I am really surprised to see that you only have 2GB of RAM.
So you are saying that you are surprised that he might be running a 32-bit OS?

[acushla]

So you are saying that you are surprised that he might be running a 32-bit OS?
Er...no. I am saying that I am surprised that he has only 2GB of RAM.

[Willow of Oz]

Er...no. I am saying that I am surprised that he has only 2GB of RAM.
32-bit OSes can't efficiently make use of more than 2-3 gig of RAM.
If you expect him to have 4gig+ of RAM, then you either are expecting him to be running a 64-bit OS, or you are expecting him to have bought more RAM for little to no use on a 32-bit OS.
... no? Did I misread the statement?

[acushla]

32-bit OSes can't efficiently make use of more than 2-3 gig of RAM.
If you expect him to have 4gig+ of RAM, then you either are expecting him to be running a 64-bit OS, or you are expecting him to have bought more RAM for little to no use on a 32-bit OS.
... no? Did I misread the statement?Well my understanding is that a WIN 32-bit OS will not use the full 4GB of RAM but will use at least 3GB. Installing anything less than 4GB of RAM on a WIN-32bit OS is to use less than the maximum you are capable of using.

[WHAT?]

Check out my 142 inch screen ...:ponder:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

14.2" ? :laugh:

[Toe]

I think this is about as close to a 142" monitor as you're gonna get on a desktop:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/alienware-curved-display-rocks-crysis-at-2880-x-900/

[Todd The Kiwi]

ho ho, dude that is the shizzle! :biggrin:

[Toe]

I'd settle for one of these, though:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/pioneers-project-kuro-the-9mm-thick-infinite-contrast-50-inch/

;)

[B.E.L.B.H.D.]

Some of you probably heard about Panasonic's new 150 in. television at the CES.

http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Technology/article/291728

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Some of you probably heard about Panasonic's new 150 in. television at the CES.

http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Technology/article/291728

Yeah anyone got an insurance policy with the devil? May be needed when getting one of those babies. :laugh:

[Todd The Kiwi]

uh, what were we talking about?
i was immediately distracted by this yoga vid (http://www.thestar.com/yoga) ha ha ha


aaah, 9mm thick tv = the good shit :cheeky:

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

uh, what were we talking about?
i was immediately distracted by this yoga vid (http://www.thestar.com/yoga) ha ha ha


aaah, 9mm thick tv = the good shit :cheeky:

The best yoga for men, watching good looking chicks do it. :cyclops:

I was almost going to say "on a 150" screen" ha ha