New Computer!

[sundownz 197]

Built myself a new computer finally... had my old one since 2002 and it was overdue to be replaced. The old one is still stable as can be but is showing it's age speed-wise on newer programs.

Anyhow... on to the specifics:

Intel e4300 1.8 Ghz Dual-Core over-clocked to 3 Ghz (1.325 volts, stock voltage)

Massive Heat-Pipe based heat-sink with 120mm fan (forgot brand... copper base and aluminum fins)

ABIT AW9D-MAX Motherboard

2048 MB OCZ Reaper 1066 DDR-II RAM (2.1 volts)

2x Seagate Barracuda Perpendicular technology 250 GB SATA Drives

2x Sony DVD-RAM Drives (SATA interfaces)

EVGA Geforce 7800GT Video Card (all stock speeds, I don't really play games)

Viewsonic 19" LCD Screen

OCZ Gamestream 600-watt power supply

Coolermaster Mid-Tower Case

Very happy with it... I stress tested the over-clock running both Folding@Home and Prime95 with 1024 MB of RAM utilization for 24 hours. CPU sat around 57 degrees under the 100% load, it sits 42 - 45 degrees running only Folding@Home as I normally do (50% load 24/7). The system runs VERY quiet as well... my old one had 6x 80mm fans in it and was loud by my standards.

I forgot about the joys of over-clocking as a nerd My previous system was an Athlon XP 2100+ on the original core that made it to that speed. It was completely non-over-clockable and required an after-market Alpha heat-sink to maintain stability 24/7 at 100% CPU load at stock speeds. I was unable to tweak my computer for 6 years and I'm having fun doing it again!

PS: I should win some kind of nerd award for modding my APC UPS backup device with a fan. The previous set of batteries got hot enough to bulge out drastically on all sides -- never seen anything like it. Added a fan and it runs MUCH cooler now (I have it in a bad spot for cooling by passive means alone).

[JimJ 11]

...geek

[DevilDriver 28]

Never over-clocked a day in my life...maybe I'm missing out. I'm a nerd but I guess my nerd-quota is not being filled at the moment.

I think it's time to build a HTPC, though.

[sundownz 197]

...geek

I know... I can't help it. I was into computers ALOT before the stereo bug bit me in high school... otherwise I'd probably be a full time computer geek now rather than an audio geek

[sundownz 197]

Overclocking is great fun -- you are missing out

Never over-clocked a day in my life...maybe I'm missing out. I'm a nerd but I guess my nerd-quota is not being filled at the moment.

I think it's time to build a HTPC, though.

[JimJ 11]

...geek

I know... I can't help it. I was into computers ALOT before the stereo bug bit me in high school... otherwise I'd probably be a full time computer geek now rather than an audio geek

The last time I really kept up with the pace of computers, you were doing something if you had RAM chips with IC's on both sides I remember feeling bad when processors like the Pentium MMX were out in the 150-200MHz range...because my 75MHz tower wasn't top of the heap anymore.

That's what I like about technology that's been obsolete for 20, 30, 40 years - nobody's coming out with a record that spins faster

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I have helped friends tweak old machines in the past, but I won't touch anything of mine. Need durability and reliability. Even though I could always use more speed.

[2kchevy 3]

...geek

I know... I can't help it. I was into computers ALOT before the stereo bug bit me in high school... otherwise I'd probably be a full time computer geek now rather than an audio geek

I'm the same way you are. I was a geek long before I ever even heard about car audio.

[johnecon2001 82]

Why the DVD-RAM drives? Are the backwards compatible with normal media?

[Jmac 24]

Why the DVD-RAM drives? Are the backwards compatible with normal media?

Yes ...

[sundownz 197]

Computer is still doing great

Actually bought a PC game for the first time in YEARS -- HellGate London. Pretty much like a revised Diablo. Pretty fun... I probably play ~30 mins a day in between doing other things.

[helotaxi 46]

I know... I can't help it. I was into computers ALOT before the stereo bug bit me in high school... otherwise I'd probably be a full time computer geek now rather than an audio geek

They had computers worth tweaking when you were in high school? Damn, I feel old. When I left for college a 486DX was where it was at. I learned CAD on an 8088 machine that would take 30+ min for a redraw on a basic wireframe model (the whole file would fit on a 3.5" floppy). My first PC was a 386 enhanced with 8MB of RAM (8 x 1MB SIMs) and a 20MB hard drive. CD-ROMs were just coming out. I didn't have one for quite some time after that.

I built my first computer 3 years later. 100MHz Pentium with 32 MB of RAM. The memory cost more than the entire rest of the system ($200 IIRC). 2D only vid card (the 3D cards were still a year away). SB AWE16 sound card.

I built my last semi-up-to-date computer 5 years ago just before I left Japan. It lasted 6mos before a power supply failure cooked both HDs, the CD RW, MB, CPU, RAM, vid card, sound card and basically everything but the NIC. I rebuilt it in early '03 and haven't messed with it since.

[Jmac 24]

My first computer was an AMD K7 Thunderbird 1.2 GHz CPU (OCed to 1.4 GHz) w/ 512 MB of RAM and a GeForce2 MX (OCed to 250/220). I was in Grade 11 at the time.

[X-OvrDistortion 0]

Never over-clocked a day in my life...maybe I'm missing out. I'm a nerd but I guess my nerd-quota is not being filled at the moment.

I think it's time to build a HTPC, though.

I am with you on both points.

Right now, I run a p4 3.0g, 3g of DDR2 6400, 1 250g WD HD and 1 500g WD HD, ATI x1900 video card and on board 5.1 audio. It also has a DVD burner and a DVD-Rom, on board Gig NIC. 22" WS monitor, also hooked up to my 46" LCD. That is all I can think of in the PC.

Edited November 26, 2007 by X-OvrDistortion

[///M5 2,833]

Ha, my first pc was an Ohio Scientific C1P followed a while later by an Apple II.

My longest running most stable pc has been overclocked and running non-stop for 3 years.

[sundownz 197]

I know... I can't help it. I was into computers ALOT before the stereo bug bit me in high school... otherwise I'd probably be a full time computer geek now rather than an audio geek

They had computers worth tweaking when you were in high school? Damn, I feel old. When I left for college a 486DX was where it was at. I learned CAD on an 8088 machine that would take 30+ min for a redraw on a basic wireframe model (the whole file would fit on a 3.5" floppy). My first PC was a 386 enhanced with 8MB of RAM (8 x 1MB SIMs) and a 20MB hard drive. CD-ROMs were just coming out. I didn't have one for quite some time after that.

I built my first computer 3 years later. 100MHz Pentium with 32 MB of RAM. The memory cost more than the entire rest of the system ($200 IIRC). 2D only vid card (the 3D cards were still a year away). SB AWE16 sound card.

I built my last semi-up-to-date computer 5 years ago just before I left Japan. It lasted 6mos before a power supply failure cooked both HDs, the CD RW, MB, CPU, RAM, vid card, sound card and basically everything but the NIC. I rebuilt it in early '03 and haven't messed with it since.

My very first system was alot like yours -- I had a 386 SX 16 Mhz w/ 25 Mhz "turbo button" and 8 MB RAM. I did have a 100 MB hard drive, though, and we had a 1x CD drive with a "caddy" rather than a drawer style holder. Of course, I was around 8 years old at the time. I still messed with it alot

I've got an 8088 in my shed That thing is a beast and was made a year before I was born *laughs*

[buickid 0]

I've got two desktop/towers and a laptop.

The desktop:

Intel Pentium @ 99.5MHz

16MB of RAM

20GB Hard Drive! (The 500MB is in a safe place)

Some CD Drive I had around

No audio

The Tower:

Athlon64 3500+ Stock @ 2.21GHz (I don't really need the OC'ing) Socket AM2

1 GB RAM (Had another 512 stick in, but it died)

1x250GB SATA300 HD (Need another 250 for RAID 1)

2x120GB SATA150 HD in RAID 1

48x24x48 CD-RW (Sony)

52x32x52 CD-RW (Sony)

CD/DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM/Dual Layer (Sony OEM)

XFX GeForce 8600GTS XXX Overclocked Edition GPU

SB Audigy SE & Creative Gigaworks G500 5.1 Speakers (THX Certified! )

Hiper 580W Type-R PSU (It sounds cheesy, but its a great unit, modular wires and everything)

The 48x24x48 CD-RW and case is the only part from my original build. That was a Athlon XP 3200+ with only 512MB of RAM, and a GeForce FX5500 that I overclocked, and toasted. The 120GB HDs were added later, but not part of the original build.

My computers need more RAM, but they do alright.

[X-OvrDistortion 0]

My computers need more RAM, but they do alright.

Speaking of RAM. I just bought a 2G upgrade for my PC for $50 (after $30 mail-in rebate). I thought I would tell you where in case anyone else is looking. I think the sale goes on till the middle of the month.

www.microcenter.com

It is a brick and mortar place by my house, and I know they have a few more stores spewed out across the great country.

Edited November 26, 2007 by X-OvrDistortion

[sqguy 0]

lol, time for me to build another too. Tiger has some barebones (one is SLI) on sale now that look cheap but have not shopped for a few months. My first PC I bought used was an 8088 Tandy and its here someplace. The HD would actually vibrate the machine a little! 20meg as I recall. Later got a 486DX50 (Packard Bell!) and modded that to an overdrive AMD 586-133 with the first cpu fan I ever used. I made a duct over the MB to it, worked awesome and ran bench of a P90. Otherwise on games it overheated and freaked out, that machine had top of the line VESA video, lol. The ones I run now are from '01 AMD XPs. One I put an Iwill XP333 board in with raid and DDR333, sweet new OC board at the time. Later found it would not take much faster cpu, but I OCed it for years. Now I turned it back down because the socket is actually falling apart from heat. I took the cpu out and part of it broke right off, had to mod the clip just to get the sink back on.

I did read one review of a Pent D they OCed hard with a big liquid cooler and no other mods, it was impressive. I like AMD but looks like I can get a C2D board and have a lot more cpu to get in the future. Game season is coming so have to do something now. I picked up a bunch of great games cheap on ebay I need to play. Got through doom3 this fall, it played good on low settings but that is far as this machine can go...I'm thinking SLI. Actually have an 8x AGP in this 4x MB. Also have some driving games...I can dust off my momo wheel, that thing is awesome.

Edited November 26, 2007 by sqguyib

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I am noy sure if I still have the old tandy 1000sx.

[TechSys 3]

Well, since we're talking about our first computers......

My mom bought the very first Tandy computer to ever hit the shelves. In the attic of her house we have a Model 1, II, and III, along with a coco and model 1000/sx. My first computer was a Ti-99/4a then I built a timex sinclair zx-80. It was a kit my dad bought for me to play with.

Then I got into running a BBS on WWIV using a packard bell 286. Can't remember the exact specs, but it was so slow.

Now.. I own 9 computers, half of which are currently running. Speeds range from 366mhz to 3.0ghz. All running linux, one distro or another. Main ones that are used everyday are running PCLinuxOS 2007. the daily used systems are:

Mine:

Intel 2.8ghz P4 with hyperthreading

1gig DDR ram

ATI 9600 256meg vid card

close to 1TB of usable drive space (200gig Western Digital, 300gig Western Digitial Rock external USB, 250gig Maxtor, generic 80gig external USb, and a 160gig Maxtor

DVD burner

52x CD Burner

Hers:

AMD Athlon 2400+

1gig DDR ram

160gig Maxtor

DVD Burner

Nvidia 128meg AGP vid card.

The rest are either firewalls, ftp servers, LAN game servers, and network storage (like I really needed more space)

Every computer here is built by me. The 366mhz system is actually a Abit BP6 with dual Celeron 366mhz processors. Believe it or not

Damn, I've been into computers for far too long

[sqguy 0]

Yeah, I have 4 PCs here and maybe that many more not running. Was going to look into Linux and see if it would run windows games for the next one. Have an old Mandrake loaded one I surf with.

Tandy 1000 that was it. One of the first COLOR monitor PCs...lol...a TV is what it was too. I even upgraded mine with a couple DIPs....did the same thing on the PB put a bunch in the MB for memory before the days of memory cards. Those things would bend the pins so easy and went in so dang hard. Those Tandy were not cheap back then either, can buy a nice gaming system today for the same price.

[zins184 1]

Congrats on the new system and O/C. I just built one a few months back E6700 @ Stock, DFI LP NF680i LT SLI-T2R, OCZ Reaper 2048MB, 150 GB Raptor, WD 750Gb, Evga 8800 GTX, SB Audigy 2 ZS, 22" AL2216W, Logitech 5500Z. I as well play hellgate which is pretty good game I usually play FPS games btw we might run into each other on hellgate my SN is zins184 or zinsmeister

[Alaxan 0]

Grats on the system and the stable OC... I love OC'ing systems. I have an AMD 5200+ right now running at 3.01ghz on air cooling. It's a pretty nice setup, but it's time has passed and I'm selling a few of the majorcomponents in it now. My new system is based on the new AM2+ Asus motherboard with an AMD 6400+ black edition processor. Going to be using a Zalman 9700nt heat sink for this monster and gonna clock the hell out of it. (base performance on this one is 3.2ghz) Pair it up with a couple of 8800GT cards and 4gb of Corsair XMS ram and call it a day.

I recall my first system build being an old 333mhz celeron system. It was pretty hardcore for the day... (I think in '96-'97 or so). A big step up from the old 75mhz HP system I had bought a couple of years earlier. I've been doing it since and it's spawned into more than a hobby I now own a small boutique computer line. Hard to recall back in the day dreaming of 1tb of storage space ever being a "requirement" in one of my computers back then, let alone running at over 1ghz on the processor, let alone 3.2ghz....

Ahhh back in the good ol days

[Alaxan 0]

lol, time for me to build another too. Tiger has some barebones (one is SLI) on sale now that look cheap but have not shopped for a few months. My first PC I bought used was an 8088 Tandy and its here someplace. The HD would actually vibrate the machine a little! 20meg as I recall. Later got a 486DX50 (Packard Bell!) and modded that to an overdrive AMD 586-133 with the first cpu fan I ever used. I made a duct over the MB to it, worked awesome and ran bench of a P90. Otherwise on games it overheated and freaked out, that machine had top of the line VESA video, lol. The ones I run now are from '01 AMD XPs. One I put an Iwill XP333 board in with raid and DDR333, sweet new OC board at the time. Later found it would not take much faster cpu, but I OCed it for years. Now I turned it back down because the socket is actually falling apart from heat. I took the cpu out and part of it broke right off, had to mod the clip just to get the sink back on.

I did read one review of a Pent D they OCed hard with a big liquid cooler and no other mods, it was impressive. I like AMD but looks like I can get a C2D board and have a lot more cpu to get in the future. Game season is coming so have to do something now. I picked up a bunch of great games cheap on ebay I need to play. Got through doom3 this fall, it played good on low settings but that is far as this machine can go...I'm thinking SLI. Actually have an 8x AGP in this 4x MB. Also have some driving games...I can dust off my momo wheel, that thing is awesome.

Feel free to message me here or email me at jwilkinson@alchemy-computers.com I'd be happy to work with your budget and needs and help build up a complete system for you if you are interested.