Jan '04; your PC specs.

[Jake the Dog]

I was thinking earlier today about what spec PC I was running this same time last year and couldn't remember. partly because at the time I was changing hardware on a regular basis and partly because I have a memory like a sieve.

now, what was I saying? oh right, PC specs.

at best guess, my main personal usage PC spec was as follows:

CPU: AthlonXP 1800+ @ 1800MHz
Mobo: some VIA KT266A based board
RAM: 512MB (2 x 256MB)
HDD1: 40GB WD 400JB
HDD2: 20GB Quantum Fireball AS
CDRW: LiteOn 48x CDRW
Video: Leadtek 64MB GF4/4200 VIVO
Display: 2 x 17" HP CRT
O/S: WinXP Prof
Office app: Office XP Prof

I thought I'd post my current specs, and encourage others here to do so to, so that in a years time, we can have a compare our now and then PC discuss how little or large any hardware and O/S upgrade has actually improved our personal computing experience.

My specs today are:

CPU: P4'C' 2.6GHz @ 2.7GHz
Mobo: Intel 865PERL
RAM: 1GB (2 x 512MB) Crucial PC3200 (dual chan)
HDD1: 36GB WD Raptor SATA
HDD2: 120GB Samsung P80 PATA
HDD3: 120GB Seagate Barra 7200.7 SATA
DVDRW: Pioneer 106d
CDRW/DVD: LiteOn LTC-48161H 48x/16x
Video: Asus GF4/4800 VIVO
Display: 2 x 17" Benq FP767 LCD
Case: GMC Neo Classic
OS: WinXP SP1
Office app: OfficeXp Prof SP2

 

[ddrueding]

Current Specs:

CPU: AND Athlon "Barton" 2500+ @ 2.2GHz
Mobo: Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2 Ultra 400)
RAM: 1GB (2 x 512MB) Crucial PC2700 (dual channel)
HDD1: 36GB WD Raptor SATA (RAID0)
HDD2: 36GB WD Raptor SATA (RAID0)
DVDRW: Sony DRU-510
CDRW: Sony 52x24x52
DVD: LiteOn 16x
Video: ATI Radeon 9800Pro Ultimate Edition
Display: 2 x 19" Samsung 191T LCDs
Case: Antec Sonata
OS: WinXP SP1
Office app: Office 2003

 

[The JoJo]

Good idea!

My main Linux rig:
Barton 2800
Asus A7V600
512MB 400MHz
Adaptec 29160
X15-36LP 18GB
Atlas 10K3 18GB
2x Cheetach 10K rpm 18GB
SBLive
Antec 1240
Plextor 40x SCSI
Plextor 124TS
Toshiba SCSI DVD
Asus Geforce 2
Integrated GIGe NIC

My file server:
Athlon XP 1700+
Abit KT7A (POS)
768MB
3*160GB Samsung SP80 IDE
120GB Samsung IDE
Ati rage 8MB
Allied Telesyn GIGe NIC 2915t

My WinXP machine:
Barton 2800
MSI Nforce2 (K7N-delta 2 I think..)
512MB 400MHz ,only one stick....
160GB Samsung SP80 8MB
PNY Geforce 4200 64MB
Allied Telesyn GIGe NIC 2915t

Using a D-Link KVM, Zyxel GIGe switch 105 (same as Netgear?), Viewsonic 20" TFT. And 1MB/384KB ADSL.

 

[LiamC]

Then:

T/Bred A 1900+ ES @ 2100+
WD1000BB-SE
512MB (2 x 256) Crucial PC2100 @ 150MHz (300DDR)
TripleX GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB @ 4600 speeds
ThermalTake Volcano 6Cu
EPoX 8KHA+ or EPoX 8K7A+ (can't remember)
LiteOn 32125W CDRW
Lian Li PC60 case

Now:
Barton 2500+ ~ 2200MHz (3200+)
WD1800JB
512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200-LL @ 175MHz FSB
EPoX 8RDA+ (do I have a thing for EPoX?)
LeadTek Ti4200 VIVO 64MB
ThermalTake Volcano 7+
LiteOn 32125W CDRW
Lian Li PC60 case

 

[The JoJo]

Doh, I forgot, my winbloz machine has the Plextor 708 DVD-+rw in it.

 

[Tannin]

Athlon XP 2500
Albatron KT-400
1GB RAM at 333MHz
32MB Matrox G450
Hitachi CM753 19 inch
Tekram Ultra-160 controller
Seagate X15-36LP 18GB 15,000 RPM
Samsung 120GB 8MB cache 7200 RPM IDE
Samsung 80GB 2MB cache 7200 RPM IDE
Lite-on 52X CDRW
Mitsubishi 52X CD-ROM
Realtek Nic.

 

[GMac]

Mine has hardly changed at all since I built it early last year - the only significant change came in the autumn when I swapped one of the old Fujitsu MAJ3182MP hard drives for a bigger Atlas 10KIII (plus the upgrade from 2K to XP). This is the current setup:

Athon XP2100+ (Thermalright SK-7 cooler with 80mm Papst fan, not O/C'd)
Epox 8RDA+ (onboard NIC)
2*512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR (1GB total)
128MB ATi Radeon 9500 Pro AGP
Hercules Digifire 7.1
Fujitsu MAJ3182MP 18.2GB 10K rpm HDD (OS)
Atlas 10K III 18.2GB HDD (Apps)
Atlas 10K III 73.4GB HDD (Games & Storage)
Tekram DC-390 U3W SCSI controller
Plextor PX-40TSi CD-ROM
Plextor PX-1210S CDRW
Toshiba SD-1201 DVD
Panasonic FDD, Mitsubishi LS-120
Lian-Li PC-60 Aluminium case
Hansol H711 17" TFT
D-Link DSL-504 modem/router for 512Kb/256Kb ADSL
Altec Lansing ACS-33 speakers
Genius optical mouse
Windows XP Pro SP1
Office XP Pro + SP2 & Open Office 1.1

GM

 

[Fushigi]

1/03:
Athlon T-bird 1.4GHz, Thermaltake HSF
Asus POS Ali mobo
256MB PC2100
Tekram DC390-U2W
Seagate X15 Mark I 18GB
Atlas 10K II 36GB
LiteOn 48x CD-RW
PCP&C TurboCool 350 PSU
Generic full tower case
Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS 64MB
SB Live
NIC, modem, etc.
(shared) Samsung 15" LCD
dial-up Internet
HP DeskJet 990
Palm sync cradle
W2K SP3 + boatloads o' patches

1/04:
Athlon XP 1700 --> 2800, Speeze HSF
FIC AU13
1GB PC2700
Tekram DC390-U2W
Seagate X15 Mark I 18GB
Samsung 160GB 8MB PATA
Maxtor 200GB 8MB PATA
WD 160GB 8MB PATA in external USB2/FW enclosure
LiteOn 48x CD-RW
Pioneer 106 DVD+-RW
Antec TruePower 450 (or 480 .. something like that)
Generic mid-tower case w/Pabst fans
ATI AIW 9600
NEC-Mitsubishi SB930BK 19" CRT @ 1920 x 1440 x 32bpp x 75Hz
Cable modem
HP DeskJet 990
Canon 5000 Scanner
Treo sync cable
W2K SP3 + even more patches

Most parts I upgraded were re-deployed to upgrade other systems.

 

[Mercutio]

Computer I'm sitting at, right now:
AthlonXP 2500 + Speeze WhisperRock cooler
512MB PC2700 (Probably Crucial)
GA7VAXP
4x Samsung 160GB drives
3x Samsung 120GB drives
1x LiteOn DVD-ROM
ATI Radeon 9700AIW
Compucase clone of Antec Tower case
400W HEC PSU
Windows 2000 Server
SB Live 5.1 + HoonTech daughterboard

+associated HT equipment (Onkyo TXDS787 receiver etc)

This is basically my generic "powerful upstairs computer". I play games with it sometimes. It's the only Windows computer that lives in my computer room.

 

[Will Rickards WT]

Then
CPU: Pentium III 667
Mobo: Soyo 6VCA
RAM: 512MB (2 x 256)
HDD1: 30GB IBM 75GXP
HDD2: 10GB WD
CDRW: Liteon 40X
CD/DVD: Pioneer 105S
Video: ATI Rage PRO 16MB
Display: 17" NEC CRT
O/S: Windows 2000 SP?

Now:
CPU: Pentium III 667
Mobo: Soyo 6VCA
RAM: 512MB (2 x 256)
HDD1: 120GB Maxtor 8MB cache version
HDD2: 30GB IBM 75GXP
CDRW: Liteon 40X
CD/DVD: Pioneer 105S
Video: ATI Rage PRO 16MB
Display: 17" NEC CRT
O/S: Windows 2000 SP4

Really I just changed hard drives and added peripherals:
Scanner: Epson Perfection 1260
Camera: Canon A60

 

[Pradeep]

Currently:

P4 2.4 (C)
512MB ECC DDR 400 in dual channel (Crucial)
40GB Seagate
48x CD-RW
8MB ATI RAGE PCI vid card, that can't even do 24bit colour at UXGA rez.
FW 800 enclosure with 160GB Maxtor
FW 400 enclosure with Hitachi 200GB
FW 400 enclosure with Sony 500A

Sad to say it seems just as snappy as the dual Athlon with four 15K drives. Duallie is in the sin bin because it keeps dying, fans keep going but no video, no keyboard response. Perhaps too much dust.

 

[CougTek]

Back in January 2003 :

• Athlon XP Palomino 1500+
  Thermaltake Volcano 7 heatsink
  Soltek SL-75DRV2 (KT266A)
  256MB PC2700 Crucial
  Asus GeFarce 3 Ti200 64MB
  Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
  Maxtor D740X 40GB
  Lite-On 16X/10X/40X
  Floppy
  Antec SX1000 enclosure with an Enermax 300W PSU

Now :

• Athlon XP Thoroughbred 1800+ @ 2GHz/166MHz FSB
  Thermalright SK7
  GigaByte GA-7N400 Pro (nForce2 Ultra 400)
  256 MB PC3200 Cas2 Corsair
  ATI Radeon 9500 128MB
  Western Digital WD400JB 40GB
  Lite-On 52X/32X/52X
  Antec SX1000 with broken front panel and a ChannelWell 330W PSU

 

[blakerwry]

Then:
Enlight 7237 (moded)
AThlonXP 1700+
Soyo Dragon+
512MB PC2100
2x 15GB 75gxp RAID 0 + 80-120GB backup/bulk drive
Geforce3 Ti200
Matrox Millenium (off an on)
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
ATi TVwonder



Now:
Antec P160
AThlonXP 1800+ @ ~2.0GHz
ASrock k7s8xe+
512MB PC2700
80GB 180gxp + 1200BB backup/bulk
Geforce3 Ti200
FortissimoII sound


+ File server w/ 320GB capacity over 100baseT.

 

[MaxBurn]

Then:
Enlight 7237
P4 2.4b
ASUS P4S533
ATI Raedon 8500
512 PC2700 Corsair XMS
Two WD1000JB's
Lite-on 48x24x48 burner
52X ASUS CD reader

Now:
Antec Sonata
P4 3.0c HT (thank you intel for your reseller deal, otherwise I never would have upgraded)
Intel D875PBZ (sold the D865GBFL)
ATI Raedon 9700 PRO
1gig of Corsair Value Ram (2x 512)
WD740GD Raptor (just got it and damn)
two WD1000JB's
Sony DRU510 DVD±R &RW
Pioneer DVD-115 dvd reader (old drive but kicks ass)

The intel reseller deal kicked off a big time upgrade, never would have done that on my own, just would have done the video card and the DVD burner. Insetead I went all out and even painted the Sonata, all the bare metal is now Fire Engine Red.

 

[Buck]

January 2003

Athlon 1400C
ECS K7VTA3 V2
512MB PC2100
WD102BA - boot/software/swap
WD102BA - storage
NEC 48x CDRW
Creative 52x CD-ROM
32MB GeForce2
ViewSonic A95F

January 2004

Athlon 1400C
ECS K7VTA3 V2
512MB PC2100
WD102BA - boot/software/swap
WD102BA - storage
NEC 48x CDRW
Creative 52x CD-ROM
64MB Matrox P650
Samsung 192T

 

[blakerwry]

I see some of the things I missed such as:

16x10x40 CD-RW -> 32x10x40 CD-RW/DVD-ROM

Cheap stereo PC speakers -> Altec Lansing 4.1 speakers

17" NEC CRT -> 17" Samsung 172T LCD



I still have no direct printer (although the network printer went from a Lexmark POS to a HP 845C).. same HP 4100C scanner. PSU went from a 300 watt antec to a 300 watt FSP.

 

[zx]

01/2003

Athlon Tbird 1333
Mobo : ECS K7S5A
RAM : 512 MB PC-133 SDRAM
Vid Card : Hercules 3D Prophet II MX (Geforce2 MX 32MB)
Sound Card : Sound Blaster Live! Value
HDD1 : WD400JB
HDD2 : WD400JB
Storage1 : Maxtor D740X 80GB FDB
Storage2 : Maxtor D740X 80GB FDB
CDRW : Panasonic 8-4-32
DVD : Pioneer 16X
Display : 19" Viewsonic P90f

01/2004

Main rig :

CPU : Dual AthlonMP 2600+
Mobo : Tyan Tiger MPX
RAM : 1,5 GB PC-2100 DDR ECC/REG
Vid Card : ATI Radeon 9000 128MB
Sound : Good ol' sound blaster live value
HDD1 : Fujitsu MAM 15K SCSI 18GB
HDD2 : Fujitsu MAP 10K SCSI 36GB
HDD3 : Fujitsu MAN 10K SCSI 18GB
Storage : 2 X Maxtor D740X 80GB and 1 X Maxtor D740X 40GB
DVD : Pioneer 16X
Display : Viewconic P90f (primary) - Princeton Graphics 17" (secondary)
Other : ATI TV Wonder

Server/Router/Toy :

CPU : PII 266
Board : Asus P2L97
RAM : 512MB PC133
Vid : ATI RageIIc
Sound : Sound Blaster AWE32 ISA
HDD : WD400JB
Other : ATI TV Wonder ISA

 

[Jake the Dog]

I forgot to add sound; Hercules GameTheatreXP 6.1, which is the only thing that didn't change!

thank god I've stopped the endless cycle of constant upgrades. although it was fun playing with water-cooled P4'C' at 3.5GHz, PC4000 and 9800Pro-DDRII sometime mid-year '03, I'm getting more enjoyment using an always stable PC with a stable configuration.

I also wanted to add some other items; PSU and primary usage.

01/03
PSU: 300 > 400W something... no flippin' idea at all.
primary usages: photo and web editing

01/04
PSU: Zalman 400W
primary usages: video creation & manipulation, DVD rips, photo and web editing

 

[mangyDOG]

Jan 2003:
Server:
Mobo = ASUS Slot 7 (cannot remember model but super stable)
CPU = Athlon700
Mem = 512Mb PC133 (Legend)
Cards = Adaptec 2940UW Pro SCSI adaptor, TNT2 m64 graphics card, 3Com 100mbit NIC.
Drives = 1*9Gb IBM 10k drive, 1*9Gb Seagate 10k drive, 1*40Gb WD400BB, 1*24xSCSI CD-ROM
Monitor = on KVM with Workstation
UPS = Sola 325-700VA

WorkStation:
Mobo = ASUS A7V8X_Deluxe (Gbit lan + 2 SATA)
CPU = Athlon XP1600
Mem = 512MB PC2700 (Legend)
Cards = ASUS Ti4200 GeForce4 128Mb, Soundblaster Live 5.1
Drives = 1*60Gb WD600JB, ASUS CDRW
Monitor = Hitachi CM715 19" CRT
UPS = shared with Server.

Workshop:
Mobo = Unknown old Socket 7
CPU = K6-3 400Mhz
Mem = 128MB PC133 (Legend)
Cards = S3 Trio 3D2X
Drives = 1*20Gb WD200BB, Sony 52x
Monitor = Cheap 17"
UPS = Sola 305-600VA

LAN = 1*Netgear RO308 router with 8 port 100Mbit switch, Cable Internet

Speakers = Altec Lansing 4.1

Printers = HP6L + Canon S520

Scanner = Microtek Scanmaker 8700


Jan 2004:
Server:
Mobo = MSI 875P NEO (integrated Gbit lan + 4 SATA + Firewire)
CPU = P4 2.4/800
Mem = 512Mb PC3200 ECC (Legend)
Cards = Adaptec 2940UW Pro SCSI adaptor, TNT2 m64 graphics card
Drives = 2*9Gb IBM 10k drive, 1*9Gb Seagate 10k drive, 2*120Gb WD1200JD SATA Raid 1, 1*Seagate 120Gb SATA, 1*Pioneer DVD-Rom, 1*Pioneer DVD-Writer in External USB2
Monitor = on KVM with Workstation
UPS = Sola 520-1500VA

WorkStation:
Mobo = ASUS A7V8X_Deluxe (Gbit lan + 2 SATA)
CPU = Athlon XP2600 with Aero7+ cooler
Mem = 768MB PC2700 (Legend)
Cards = ASUS Ti4200 GeForce4 128Mb, Soundblaster Audigy2, Promise FTS150TX2 SATA Raid card, Pinnacle Analogue+Digital video capture card.
Drives = 2*WD360GD (Raid 0) + 2*Samsung 160GbSATA (Raid 0), LG DVD Writer & DVD-RAM
Monitor = Samsung 191N 19" LCD
UPS = shared with Server.

Workshop:
Mobo = ASUS A7V600 (Gbit Lan + 2 SATA)
CPU = AthlonXP 2500
Mem = 512MB PC2700 (Legend)
Cards = Albatron FX5200, Promise FT100 IDE (used to connect to customer HDDs)
Drives = 1*Samsung 120GbSATA, Sony 48*24*48*12 Combo
Monitor = Hitachi CM715 19"
UPS = Sola 305-700VA

LAN = 1*Netgear GS108 Gbit switch + 1*Netgear RO308 router with 8 port 100Mbit switch, Cable Internet

Speakers = Altec Lansing 4.1

Printers = Xerox P1210 + Canon i965

Scanner = Microtek Scanmaker 8700


Jan 2005 :wink:

Server: Probably the Same

Workshop: mainly bits from my current workstation

Workstation: i wish for a dual Opteron with lotsa ram and 500+Gb Raid5 storage with one of these monitors...

 

[Buck]

...with one of these monitors...

Indeed young furry one, I wish for one of those monitors too.

 

[blakerwry]

The only monitor that exercises for you.

 

[Bozo]

2003:
PIII 800
Aopen AX6BC Pro Gold
648M RAM
20Gb WD200JB
Santa Cruz sound
Matrox Millinia
3Ware 6500, RAID 0
2-IBM 75GXP, 15Gb each
Plextor 12x burner
Sony 32x CD-ROM
3Com NIC
Enlight 7237(?) server case

2004:
P4 2.6c Ghz @3.2Ghz
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
1Gb Crucial DDR
37Gb WD SATA Raptor
MB sound
MB NIC
3Ware 6500, RAID 0
2-IBM 75GXP, 15GB each
Sony 48x CD-ROM/16x DVD
Sony 24x CD/4x DVD burner
Radeon 9600 Pro
Antec PLUSVIEW1000AMG LE
Just got running last week

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[blakerwry]

will, you look like you could use an upgrade? waiting for 64 bit to take off?

 

[Bartender]

January 2003

PIII 1.2GHz Tualatin
ASUS TUSL2-C
512 MB (2 X 256) of Mushkin High Performance REV 3+ SDRAM
WD600BB - boot/software/storage
Fireball CR8.4A - swap
Kenwood CD-ROM UCR-412
Sapphire ATI 9000
Vivitron 17"
Santa Cruz/Turtle Beach Sound
3COM 3C905B-TX

January 2004

PIII 1.2GHz Tualatin
ASUS TUSL2-C
512 MB (2 X 256) of Mushkin High Performance REV 3+ SDRAM
WD600BB - boot/software/storage
Fireball CR8.4A - swap
Kenwood CD-ROM UCR-412
64MB Matrox P650
Vivitron 17"
Santa Cruz/Turtle Beach Sound
3COM 3C905B-TX

 

[Will Rickards WT]

will, you look like you could use an upgrade?

Absolutely, although the computer meets my needs just fine.

waiting for 64 bit to take off?

No I'm waiting to win the lottery

When the cars are paid off (may and then november) I'll have more free cash in the budget to do a computer upgrade. Then all I have to do is convince my wife it is worth it. And at that time I think I'll go for a laptop rather than a desktop. I want to be able to use it in the living room with the little one running around.

It is annoying to setup broadband for other people and wireless networks and fast computers... when I'm still chugging along with my P3 and dial-up. But being in first time homeowner ... a lot of my money is going into the house rather than my computer.

 

[blakerwry]

that's a much smarter place to put it anyway.

 

[blakerwry]

Never put money into a computer. It clogs the fans.

 

[sechs]

I stick mine in the PCI slots. Solves that problem with the fans.

 

[Adcadet]

December 2003

Tyan Tiger MP
2X 1.2 GHz Athlon MP's
512 MB PC2100 reg/ecc
ATi Radeon 8500
19" Samsun Syncmaster 950 p
19" LG Studioworks 995E
Lite-on DVD player
52X CD burner
FA311 NIC
SB Live
Adaptec 3050 U2B
2X 9GB Seagate Cheetah 18XL
9 GB Wuantum Atlas IV
80 GB WD Caviar SE
Sennheiser HD280 pro

late January 2004

MSI K8T Neo FISR
Athlon 64 3000+
512 MB PC3500 CL2
ATi Radeon 8500
19" Samsun Syncmaster 950 p
19" LG Studioworks 995E
Lite-on DVD player
52X CD burner
FA311 NIC
SB Live
Adaptec 3050 U2B
3X 9GB Seagate Cheetah 18XL
9 GB Wuantum Atlas IV
120 GB WD Caviar SE
Sennheiser HD280 pro

 

[freeborn]

Last year:
Intel 845 based P4 2.53GHz, I don't remember all the specifics. This is now my brother's computer but with a 3.06 GHz HT processor

Today:

Gaming:
(built from Area 64 prize package)
Asus SK8N Motherboard
Athlon 64 FX-51 processor
2 GB HyperX Registered DDR-400
Gainward CoolFX 5900 Ultra graphics
Seagate 160GB 8MB 7200.7 drive
Creative Audigy2 ZS Audio
Samsung DVD 16X reader
Dell 2000FP monitor

Productivity:
Intel 875P board
P4 3.0 GHz
2 GB ECC Crucial DDR-400
2 7200.7 160GB PATA 8MB drives
2 7200.7 160GB SATA 8MB drives striped on onboard controller - Scratch disks only to play with striping.
Sony DRU500A burner
Samsung DVD 16X reader
shares the 2000FP monitor

Also use a SONY 21" CRT for page flipped stereo at times.

House File Server/ Firewall/ Internet Portal:
Dell500SC main board
P3-1.0GHz
512MB RAM
160GB 7200.7 OS drive (W2k3 server)
Escalade 7850 w/ 8 7200.7 160GB PATA drives RAID-5 with hot spare gives 960GB space
Escalade 8500-12 w / 12 7200.7 160GB SATA drives RAID-5 with hot spare gives 1600GB of space.

Free

 

[The JoJo]

Wow, nice gaming rig freebord

 

[The JoJo]

Escalade 7850 w/ 8 7200.7 160GB PATA drives RAID-5 with hot spare gives 960GB space
Escalade 8500-12 w / 12 7200.7 160GB SATA drives RAID-5 with hot spare gives 1600GB of space.

Me want....it's either this or Merc's file server....*drool*

:mrgrn:

 

[blakerwry]

what case do you use for all those drives freeborn?

 

[freeborn]

Thanks, I'm blushing

Free

 

[freeborn]

what case do you use for all those drives freeborn?

I'm lazy so I'll copy from a post I made elsewhere about it.

At some point I need to take pictures of my setup. It's kind of a kludge but has been working great for the last few months. I've set up a Win2003 Server for my house which is my domain controller, firewall, internet portal, and File Server. The main case has 11 5X1/4 bays. In these I have a Floppy drive, a DVD drive, and 3 3Ware RDC-300 fixtures. Each fixture takes 2 5X1/4 bays and holds 3 IDE hard drives. This gave me a total of 9 3X1/2 IDE hard drive bays. 1 of these is the OS drive. The motherboard is from a Dell 500SC server. The server is a 1.2GHz P3 with 512MB of RAM and the board has 2 64-bit 66MHz PCI slots as well as a few 32-bit 33MHz PCI slots. Now the the RAID storage:

Inside the box are 8 7200.7 160GB PATA hard drives attached to a 3Ware 7850 card in RAID-5 with 1 drive designated as a hot spare. This array has 960GB of available space and contains my applications CD images.

I ran out of space so acquired a 3Ware 8500-12 card. I then purchased 3 CSE-M35T1 fixtures from newegg. Each fixture is designed to fit in 3 5X1/4 bays and hold 5 SATA hard drives each. I was out of room in my case so I stacked the fixtures next to my case and bolted them together with 4 pieces of small channel. On top I bolted an old Dell Power supply and jury rigged a switch to turn it on and off. The new fixtures are powered by this supply. After that I got 12 1 meter SATA cables and attached them to the 8500-12 and ran them out the back of the case through a PCI slot cover I removed. I attached the 12 cables to the stack of SATA fixtures and populated this kludge with 12 7200.7 160GB SATA drives again in RAID-5 with 1 drive set aside as a Hot Spare. Total usable space on this array is 1600GB. This array houses my Games CD Image library and my media libraryI mounted both arrays into my CD Images directory and have it shared on my home network.

Total space is a little over 2 TB and its available to any computer in my home

Free

Just realized looking at this that I misrepresented my processor speed above, The server came with a 1 GHz celeron but I swapped it out with a fast P3 processor from one of my test machines at work so it is now 1.2 GHz, not 1.0 GHz as I originally stated.

Free

 

[flagreen]

* CPUs - dual 2.2GHz Xeons

* RAM - 756MB RDRAM

* MOBO - Supermicro P4DC6

* Video - Visiontek GF4 TI-4600

* HDD - 2 x 18GB Atlas 10K IIIs (one for OS and one for backup), 1 x 200GB WD2000JB

* Pioneer DVR-106D

* PC Power and Cooling 450XE Power Supply

* Lite On FS 120 Case

* 19" Viewsonic A90f Montior

* Sony DVMC-DA2 Analog - Digital Converter

* Pinnacle DV200 glorified TI firewire card

* XP Pro SP2 w/ a few performance mods

Same system as last year and the year before except for the DVR-106 and the WD2000. I'm real happy with it and haven't a reason to change anything yet.

 

[freeborn]

I got my server case from www.servercases.com but it looks like it is no longer available. It looks like half of this case but only 11 bays high, not 13. The case I am unsing is from the same no name company and works well. I didn't have $400 to buy the double wide and as it turns out I need 2 power supplies anyway since the Enermax EG651P-VE(FMA)N RT supply I'm using cannot handle the full load. I may still buy the double wide case but for now my kludge is working well.

Free

 

[Jake the Dog]

Same system as last year and the year before except for the DVR-106 and the WD2000. I'm real happy with it and haven't a reason to change anything yet.

with dual 2.2GHz Xeons and 768MB RAM, I can completely understand Bill! nice system

 

[flagreen]

Thanks Tim. I do a lot of video encoding as a hobby of sorts and with the right software it works very well.

I felt a bit guilty when I bought it for having spent so much to build a system I really didn't need. But now that I had it for two years without having to upgrade, the life cycle cost has justified my original investment.

Actually I think that I probably spent more in the two years previous to buying the Xeons on PC components, through continuous upgrades, than I did when I built my current system.

 

[LunarMist]

Jan 2003: XP (Palamino) @1.87GHz, 2048MB PC2100, 15K.3, Western Digital, etc., two geriatric 32x12x48 CD-RW.

Jan 2004: P4 @3.45 GHz, 2048MB PC3200, 15K.3, Western Digital, etc., Lite-on 16x48x24x48 DVD/CD-RW and DVR-106D. Same old mouse, monitor, keyboard and most of the same hard drives. It is such a bummer that most everything else is going faster, but hard drives are nearly standing still.