Different PC sites

[devon_metro]

I've got a case a bit like that, but red. Loads of LEDs

 

[nutter]

Got a picci?

 

[Death]

*Coughs*
I have to say that I'm pretty curious about all of these specs being thrown around, as it would seem that people are suggesting specs that are WAYYY over the line for standard home computing and gaming! I myself am not really one for high-end processing, but here are the specs of my fastest and slowest machines respectively. Configuration of the latter was just for the hell of it, but I enjoyed it all the same! :tongue3:

Thor - Deaths fastest machine:

• Processor: AMD Athlon 800Mhz,
• Memory: Varies randomly between 32Mb and 512Mb in 32Mb multiples on each boot. Generally keep rebooting the system until it successfully registers 128Mb.
• Graphics: Only the Gods know. Some random 32Mb AGP card I think.
• Sound: Whatever's on the motherboard...I would guess an SB-16 or similar.
• Storage: Two HDDs; 4Gb /dev/hda formatted with extfs3, and 28Gb /dev/hdb (Also extfs3) used for audio, video and other media storage.
• Case: Gateway 2000 generic full tower case. Good for RAID arrays.
• Network: 3-Com Etherlink III, 10Mb/s NIC - Capable of accepting 10-Base-T, 10-Base-2 and AUI connections.
• Operating System: Redhat Linux IX with KDE.
• Performance: Acceptable, considering Thor is configured as an HTTP, FTP, SSH, network, file, and print server. Slowdown is annoying at 04:00, when once-daily chron jobs are done.

Loki - Deaths slowest machine:

• Processor: Generic Intel 80286SX,
• Memory: 256Mb SIMM RAM, botched in using a home-made ISA card and memory controllers poached from other discarded motherboards.
• Graphics: On-board VGA - Can just about handle 16-bit colours over 640x480 resolution at a push.
• Sound: PC beeper only.
• Storage: One HDD; Almost worn out 6Gb IBM job formatted with NTFS. 2Gb reserved for swap space.
• Case: Bog standard IBM-PS/2 case, although neither the motherboard nor PSU are the original PS/2 ones.
• Network: Same as Thor.
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP unProfessional SP1 - Installed just for laughs.
• Performance: Not bad, considering WinXP isn't even supposed to run on 80286 processors! Takes ten minutes to boot though, and sadly this kind of demand has seriously shortened the life of the CPU, so I fear it may not last much longer!

What I am trying to say here is: You don't really need a *hugely* powerful machine to do anything other than the latest and most intensive games. Now I would advise a LOT of memory and speed for Windows Vista, but we all know that 75% capacity of all PCs running Vista will be going to waste until Vista SP2 comes out, thanks to Microsofts habits of bad coding and serious resource wastage! :roll:
You guys can keep kissing Microsofts backsides if you want...But I'm sticking with Linux!

And back to the original subject of PCs: If you're not planning on running the latest games, and you can live without Vista (Who can't? :tongue3, why not just get a standard off-the-shelf 1.2Ghz machine with, say, 512~1024Mb RAM and a 120Gb HDD, and add your own visual mods? It's not the fastest or best of specs, but it'll last you for a good 10+ years and should only set you back about £300.00 or less come the January sales.
Just a thought, of course... 8)

Farewell...
>> Death <<

Dont...buy...Microsoft...or...Apple...products...

 

[nutter]

Have you ever seen 'the regiment'. It's F.E.A.R but sped up x20 and with more things to think about.

The reason I want a fast PC is because I'm sick of not been able to play big MSTS routes on full settings (I'm VERY fussy about having settings to max) and getting rubbish frame-rates

 

[47205]

XP can't do SATA? You've gotta be kidding.

My mac is almost two years old and came with SATA...

Well XP was designed in 2001, and IDE was still the main interface back then because SATA was still unheard of in a desktop or laptop.

SATA came into wide-spread use after XP was developed and as such XP has never had the proper support for SATA, I believe that XP still needs the drivers installing via a floppy disk, although I also believe that some motherboards have the drivers pre-installed.

 

[nutter]

I've decided to build my own, as long as it's all plug-in (using gentle force (he says ) it shouldn't be too hard.

What I'm going to do is buy a part of the PC every Month, leaving the graphics and Sound cards late, so they are in date longer. WISH ME LUCK (I'm going to need it)

 

[47205]

I've decided to build my own, as long as it's all plug-in (using gentle force (he says ) it shouldn't be too hard.

What I'm going to do is buy a part of the PC every Month, leaving the graphics and Sound cards late, so they are in date longer. WISH ME LUCK (I'm going to need it)

Lots of screwing involved.

I would get components in affordable chunks, and the audio cards rarely go out of date, and graphics cards are just going to get more expensive for the moment, A 7900 or 7950 is plenty...

 

[devon_metro]

Got a picci?

I'll get one later for ya, looks better in the dark.

 

[yorkie]

I've decided to build my own, as long as it's all plug-in (using gentle force (he says ) it shouldn't be too hard.

What I'm going to do is buy a part of the PC every Month, leaving the graphics and Sound cards late, so they are in date longer. WISH ME LUCK (I'm going to need it)

You're not saying you're going to be buying components months before you're going to actually use them, surely? Or do you mean you are going to buy components and put them in an old PC initially and then move them into a new PC? (the latter is unlikely to work as the old PC won't support the latest technology). If the former, then that's a waste of money as you are paying for the cost of depreciation months before you even get to use the components!

 

[yorkie]

Well XP was designed in 2001, and IDE was still the main interface back then because SATA was still unheard of in a desktop or laptop.

This suggests that SATA was heard of in other uses, e.g. servers, but this was not (and is still not) the case (Servers generally use SCSI).

SATA was introduced in 2003.

SATA came into wide-spread use after XP was developed and as such XP has never had the proper support for SATA, I believe that XP still needs the drivers installing via a floppy disk, although I also believe that some motherboards have the drivers pre-installed.

I think there is a misuderstanding here. Motherboards are hardware devices, so cannot have device drivers 'installed'. A driver is software that provides a means for hardware to be used transparently.

It's actually the case that some SATA controllers do not require drivers, as they use a bridge chip, which means they lack certain SATA features and act as if they are legacy PATA drives.

 

[nutter]

You're not saying you're going to be buying components months before you're going to actually use them, surely? Or do you mean you are going to buy components and put them in an old PC initially and then move them into a new PC? (the latter is unlikely to work as the old PC won't support the latest technology). If the former, then that's a waste of money as you are paying for the cost of depreciation months before you even get to use the components!

Unfortunatly I mean the former, simply so I can afford it. I STRUGGLE to saveso this is a way of guranteeing I get a good PC

 

[Tom]

nutter, why don't you put the money in an ISA to build up over a few months to save and withdraw when you need it?

 

[nutter]

Because if i can save it I can withdraw it. Tried it before before I came down here.

I did save over £100, but because, via the internet, i could get hold of it, I only ended with £30

I'm going to get the graphics, sound, processor, RAM last, so a) they are more up-to-date and b) so I can get maximum de-pretation

 

[Respite]

Death,
I agree to apoint about computer specs being faster than a lot of people need for average home use. Although mine is just a games machine (both on & offline).At 3.2 GHz it does sometimes struggle with the latest games in full eye candy mode & like nutter I do like MSTS on full graphical delight.


Nutter,
If You need any help on the build email me,I'm not an expert but all my systems seem to work fine after I have built them.:toothy8:

 

[nutter]

As long as they still make them, what i pkan to do is buy a http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?mbb-c2d6pu&P=1 and a http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?nov-7950gt&P=1 and http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?TT-SHRKB

I'm going to get other components before hand, these will be towards the end of the year. If someone could tell me how to place other words (like this or here) instead of the URL I will be greatful

Thanks for your help guys

 

[mbonwick]

XP can't do SATA? You've gotta be kidding.

XP does support SATA, it just needs separate drivers.
Hit F6 during install when prompted to install other drivers.