Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
Fushigi's post in another thread sparked this off. Must be time we had a look at what people are using in their everyday computers these days.
Fushigi said:
Rollcall: who is running what?
- Thread starter Tannin
- Start date
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
The same machine I was running three or four years ago:
AMD Athlon 1400C
ECS K7VTA3
512 MB RAM
WD400BB x 2
LG GSA-4163BK DVD Burner (this is new)
Creative Labs 52x CD ROM drive
Matrox P65 (installed ~1 year ago)
Samsung 192t LCD (two years old)
Basically, my machine has been assembled from leftovers, except for the display, video card, and DVD burner.
AMD Athlon 1400C
ECS K7VTA3
512 MB RAM
WD400BB x 2
LG GSA-4163BK DVD Burner (this is new)
Creative Labs 52x CD ROM drive
Matrox P65 (installed ~1 year ago)
Samsung 192t LCD (two years old)
Basically, my machine has been assembled from leftovers, except for the display, video card, and DVD burner.
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
My systems, from most-used to least-used:
IBM Laptop, Pentium-M 1.6, 80GB Samsung, 768MB, W2K. I use this for nearly everything that is not work-related these days, and some stuff that is. Most of my surfing, all of my HTML coding, nearly all the photography stuff. I use the built-in 15 inch screen at work, plug in an Acer 19 inch LCD at home. The new docking station makes life so much easier! Soon, I'll get a second one to use at home. I'll probably keep it another year before I upgrade, maybe two.
Office: Athlon XP 2500, 512MB, X-15, a couple of small SCSI drives, 512MB, Ecomstation 1.x (essentially OS/2 but with modern device drivers and some candy), 22 inch Mitsubishi CRT. Probably an Albatron KT-400 motherboard but I can't really remember as I practically never need to play with it. Runs the business: accounts, faxes, email, invoices, price lists, all that stuff. Doesn't seem to need anything done to it yet. Plenty fast enough and it ain't broke.
Workshop: Athlon XP 3000, Albatron Nforce II, 512MB, Samsung 160GB, 17 inch CRT, W2K. Workshop tech server: stores disc images, burns CDs, stuff like that. Gets used quite a lot. Used to work fine when it was a K6-III+ but then the Soup Nazi loaded Winamp and stuff on it because he was tired of listening to my CDs on the old DOS box, and it slowed right up, so I took a "faulty" XP 3000 that we didn't trust enough to send back out into service, and a "faulty" Nforce board that had also been returned and upgraded it. They work just fine. No plan to upgrade this one either.
Showroom: Athlon XP 2500, 512MB, X-15 36LP, Samsung 120GB IDE, W2K, 17 inch Acer TFT. Showroom/sales unit. used to run OS/2, switched to W2K a few months ago, with mixed results. It does some things a lot better now, other things a lot worse. Sometimes I toy with the idea of adding an extra system with a KVM so that I can have the best of both worlds (flick between OS/2 and W2K), but two machines seems like overkill. No plans to upgrade.
Home: Athlon XP 2500, Biostar KT-600, 256MB, X-15 36LP, about 4 or 5 Samsung IDE drives in caddies (mostly 120s), W2K, 19 Hitachi CRT. These days, essentially just a big, ugly network storage unit. I tend to use the laptop for everything. I stole the XP 3000 out of it a year ago and couldn't tell any difference so I left it. I stole the 1GB of RAM out of it during a shortage a few months back, gave it 256MB just for the weekend, never bothered putting the RAM back in because it just sits there serving files up to the laptop. I probably should downgrade this one day. Something like a K6-III with an add-in IDE card would do the job just as well.
Office: Overclocked K6-III+ 450, 512MB, some elderly SCSI drive or other that I can't remember exactly but probably cost me $700 new, any monitor that's handy, Windows 98. Gets used exactly four times a year to do my electronic tax returns. Used to get used a lot but sidelined by the laptop. One day I'll spend a weekend transferring the tax stuff onto the laptop or somewhere (tricky job with this software!) and retire it.
Workshop: Pentium Classic 200, 32MB. Runs DOS 6.3. Used to play music and format floppy discs until the Soup Naxi came over all Century of the Fruitbat on me. Still gets used sometimes, but I'll retire it next time I have an organise.
Smoothwalls: 3 of them. A Pentium 133, a 6x86 Classic 200, and ... er ... something else about the same age. Pentium MMX 166 maybe?
Hmmm .... ten systems, 5 of them in daily use if I don't count the Smoothies. Time I put some thought into getting rid of one or two of them. Surely one person doesn't need that many computers?
The really interesting part, however, is my upgrade plans: there ain't any. Every machine I have is fast enough for the task it does, most of them much faster than they need to be. I'd love a faster hard drive in the laptop (it's only a 5400) but don't want to wear the extra power consumption.
IBM Laptop, Pentium-M 1.6, 80GB Samsung, 768MB, W2K. I use this for nearly everything that is not work-related these days, and some stuff that is. Most of my surfing, all of my HTML coding, nearly all the photography stuff. I use the built-in 15 inch screen at work, plug in an Acer 19 inch LCD at home. The new docking station makes life so much easier! Soon, I'll get a second one to use at home. I'll probably keep it another year before I upgrade, maybe two.
Office: Athlon XP 2500, 512MB, X-15, a couple of small SCSI drives, 512MB, Ecomstation 1.x (essentially OS/2 but with modern device drivers and some candy), 22 inch Mitsubishi CRT. Probably an Albatron KT-400 motherboard but I can't really remember as I practically never need to play with it. Runs the business: accounts, faxes, email, invoices, price lists, all that stuff. Doesn't seem to need anything done to it yet. Plenty fast enough and it ain't broke.
Workshop: Athlon XP 3000, Albatron Nforce II, 512MB, Samsung 160GB, 17 inch CRT, W2K. Workshop tech server: stores disc images, burns CDs, stuff like that. Gets used quite a lot. Used to work fine when it was a K6-III+ but then the Soup Nazi loaded Winamp and stuff on it because he was tired of listening to my CDs on the old DOS box, and it slowed right up, so I took a "faulty" XP 3000 that we didn't trust enough to send back out into service, and a "faulty" Nforce board that had also been returned and upgraded it. They work just fine. No plan to upgrade this one either.
Showroom: Athlon XP 2500, 512MB, X-15 36LP, Samsung 120GB IDE, W2K, 17 inch Acer TFT. Showroom/sales unit. used to run OS/2, switched to W2K a few months ago, with mixed results. It does some things a lot better now, other things a lot worse. Sometimes I toy with the idea of adding an extra system with a KVM so that I can have the best of both worlds (flick between OS/2 and W2K), but two machines seems like overkill. No plans to upgrade.
Home: Athlon XP 2500, Biostar KT-600, 256MB, X-15 36LP, about 4 or 5 Samsung IDE drives in caddies (mostly 120s), W2K, 19 Hitachi CRT. These days, essentially just a big, ugly network storage unit. I tend to use the laptop for everything. I stole the XP 3000 out of it a year ago and couldn't tell any difference so I left it. I stole the 1GB of RAM out of it during a shortage a few months back, gave it 256MB just for the weekend, never bothered putting the RAM back in because it just sits there serving files up to the laptop. I probably should downgrade this one day. Something like a K6-III with an add-in IDE card would do the job just as well.
Office: Overclocked K6-III+ 450, 512MB, some elderly SCSI drive or other that I can't remember exactly but probably cost me $700 new, any monitor that's handy, Windows 98. Gets used exactly four times a year to do my electronic tax returns. Used to get used a lot but sidelined by the laptop. One day I'll spend a weekend transferring the tax stuff onto the laptop or somewhere (tricky job with this software!) and retire it.
Workshop: Pentium Classic 200, 32MB. Runs DOS 6.3. Used to play music and format floppy discs until the Soup Naxi came over all Century of the Fruitbat on me. Still gets used sometimes, but I'll retire it next time I have an organise.
Smoothwalls: 3 of them. A Pentium 133, a 6x86 Classic 200, and ... er ... something else about the same age. Pentium MMX 166 maybe?
Hmmm .... ten systems, 5 of them in daily use if I don't count the Smoothies. Time I put some thought into getting rid of one or two of them. Surely one person doesn't need that many computers?
The really interesting part, however, is my upgrade plans: there ain't any. Every machine I have is fast enough for the task it does, most of them much faster than they need to be. I'd love a faster hard drive in the laptop (it's only a 5400) but don't want to wear the extra power consumption.
Fushigi
Storage Is My Life
Well, I can round out my configs:
The final 2 PCs are old Dell Latitude CSx P3/500MHz laptops. One runs XP Pro; the other is 98SE. Their sole purpose is a small contribution to my Folding cause. They each have 256MB RAM and a 10GB drive. One of the drives was flaking out so I picked up a 40GB Samsung notebook drive to replace it, but it stopped flaking out after the new drive came in. I guess it was sufficiently threatened. So the Samsung is sitting on the sidelines unused at the moment.
Storage-wise, it's random. No vendor preferences. My workstation has a WD320GB to supplement the X15, the wife gets by with the Atlas alone, and the AV box has a Maxtor 200GB to supplement the Samsung + two externals: a OneTouch 250GB and a WD200GB in an Acom enclosure. The disks have been purchased mostly as-needed and by looking at bargains du jour. No major reliability issues from anything, but my sample size is obviously insignificant. Opticals are Pioneer (DVD) or Liteon (CD).
PSUs vary but because I wind up buying them retail the selection is limited. Mostly I wind up with Antec TruePower but the AV box had a 'Mad Dog' with a silly blue LED. The specs were just as good as the Antec and it was a fair bit cheaper. I always buy 400W or larger. Probably a bit wasteful, but I've had PSU overloads before and I strongly dislike the symptoms that can generate. Better to spend a few extra than to have to try and diagnose that kind of issue.
Cases .. whatever. I don't think I've ever bought something better than a budget case. The AV box is in a Compaq case but I'm considering a transplant to something that'll hold a lot more drives. More of a SOHO server-type chassis. I sorta like this Thermaltake unit as the airflow and spacing between drives looks pretty good.
Displays .. I use a 19" Mitsu Diamondtron 930SB, the wife uses a Samsung 15" LCD, the AV uses a POS Dell 15" CRT, and the laptops use their flat panels. The laptops will be KVMed eventually (cables on order) so they'll use the same POS CRT shortly.
Keyboards .. IBM clicky Model M mostly, although I just switched my PC to a Logitech Access.
Printers .. HP DeskJet 990 and OfficeJet 5510.
LAN: Netgear 634U router & 311T PCI card for the wife's PC, onboard NIC for me & the laptops, SMC GbE card for the AV server, SMC GbE switch, IOGear 8-port KVM, Comcast cable modem @ 5Mb (supposedly; I haven't tested since the latest speed bump).
The AV box, laptops, KVM switch, and the GbE switch are in my basement on a couple of shelves I mounted under the staircase. I picked up some 3/4" MDF, cut to fit the width under the stairwell, and mounted on standard shelf brackets. The main shelf is the width of the stairwell and about 5 feet deep with 2 smaller shelves (24"x11") mounted under a stair and to the side respectively to hold everything. Being in the basement, heat & noise are no longer concerns. Dust is probably more of an issue, though, so I'll have to keep an eye on that over time.
And if ComEd would stop blowing my transformer every Sunday (2 weeks in a row), I wouldn't have any power concerns. As it is, my PC along with the Netgear router & cable modem are on a APC BackUPS. Nothing else is UPS-backed at the moment, but that will change.
The final 2 PCs are old Dell Latitude CSx P3/500MHz laptops. One runs XP Pro; the other is 98SE. Their sole purpose is a small contribution to my Folding cause. They each have 256MB RAM and a 10GB drive. One of the drives was flaking out so I picked up a 40GB Samsung notebook drive to replace it, but it stopped flaking out after the new drive came in. I guess it was sufficiently threatened. So the Samsung is sitting on the sidelines unused at the moment.
Storage-wise, it's random. No vendor preferences. My workstation has a WD320GB to supplement the X15, the wife gets by with the Atlas alone, and the AV box has a Maxtor 200GB to supplement the Samsung + two externals: a OneTouch 250GB and a WD200GB in an Acom enclosure. The disks have been purchased mostly as-needed and by looking at bargains du jour. No major reliability issues from anything, but my sample size is obviously insignificant. Opticals are Pioneer (DVD) or Liteon (CD).
PSUs vary but because I wind up buying them retail the selection is limited. Mostly I wind up with Antec TruePower but the AV box had a 'Mad Dog' with a silly blue LED. The specs were just as good as the Antec and it was a fair bit cheaper. I always buy 400W or larger. Probably a bit wasteful, but I've had PSU overloads before and I strongly dislike the symptoms that can generate. Better to spend a few extra than to have to try and diagnose that kind of issue.
Cases .. whatever. I don't think I've ever bought something better than a budget case. The AV box is in a Compaq case but I'm considering a transplant to something that'll hold a lot more drives. More of a SOHO server-type chassis. I sorta like this Thermaltake unit as the airflow and spacing between drives looks pretty good.
Displays .. I use a 19" Mitsu Diamondtron 930SB, the wife uses a Samsung 15" LCD, the AV uses a POS Dell 15" CRT, and the laptops use their flat panels. The laptops will be KVMed eventually (cables on order) so they'll use the same POS CRT shortly.
Keyboards .. IBM clicky Model M mostly, although I just switched my PC to a Logitech Access.
Printers .. HP DeskJet 990 and OfficeJet 5510.
LAN: Netgear 634U router & 311T PCI card for the wife's PC, onboard NIC for me & the laptops, SMC GbE card for the AV server, SMC GbE switch, IOGear 8-port KVM, Comcast cable modem @ 5Mb (supposedly; I haven't tested since the latest speed bump).
The AV box, laptops, KVM switch, and the GbE switch are in my basement on a couple of shelves I mounted under the staircase. I picked up some 3/4" MDF, cut to fit the width under the stairwell, and mounted on standard shelf brackets. The main shelf is the width of the stairwell and about 5 feet deep with 2 smaller shelves (24"x11") mounted under a stair and to the side respectively to hold everything. Being in the basement, heat & noise are no longer concerns. Dust is probably more of an issue, though, so I'll have to keep an eye on that over time.
And if ComEd would stop blowing my transformer every Sunday (2 weeks in a row), I wouldn't have any power concerns. As it is, my PC along with the Netgear router & cable modem are on a APC BackUPS. Nothing else is UPS-backed at the moment, but that will change.
blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
Here's my line up... I'll follow Tannin's lead and go by order of use.
Main PC-
Antec p160 w/ Fortron 300watt PSU, AthlonXP T-bred @2.0GHz, Asrock K78XE+ motherboard, 768MB PC3200, GeforceFX 5600, 160GB Seagate 72007 + 160GB Samsung P80, NEC3500AG DVD Burner, LG4320B CD-RW/DVD combo drive, Realtek Gbit NIC. Samsung 172T LCD and Logitec 2.1 Z3 speaker set.
Girlfriend's PC-
Shuttle SS51G, Celeron 2.0GHz, 1GB PC2100, Radeon 9200, 80GB Maxtor DM+9, LG 4480 CD-RW/DVD combo drive. Samsung 172T LCD, logitech wireless keyboard/mouse, Wacom Intous tablet.
File Server-
Antec 3700AMB, AthlonXP 2000, Asrock K78XE, 512MB PC2700, Matrox Millenium, 4x160GB Maxtor DM+9 on 3ware 7400-4LP, 1x80GB IBM 180GXP, NEC 3200 DVD Burner, Realtek Gbt NIC. KVM to main PC if needed.
HTPC-
Shuttle SB51G, Celeron 2.0GHz, 256MB PC2100, ATi AIW 8500DV, 40GB Seagate ATA IV, Toshiba DVD ROM, ATi Remote wonder. 29" RCA TV. VNC if needed.
New Laptop-
Dell Inspiron 6000, PentiumM 1.5, 256MB DDR2 PC2-3200, 40GB Hitachi 5k40, Integrated Intel graphics, 802.11g, sound, etc.
Smoothy-
Old Sony Vaio digital studio edition vomit box - PII 350, 192MB PC133 (only has so much because of retiring other PCs), 3 generic 10/100 NICs.
Green - Netgear GS608 8 port Gbit switch
Orange - Currently blank, will have Netgear MR814 802.11B AP
Red - Linksys 4port switch to RoadRunner 5Mbit/384kbit cable connection.
Old Laptop-
Compaq Armada 7360DMT, pMMX 200MHz, 64MB RAM, generic 802.11B and 10/100 PCMCIA cards, right click is broken and battery life is terrible so I always cary it in a case with the charger and a mouse ;-)
Printer-
Networked Dell 1700 (Lexmark based) Laser.
I would like to make a few upgrades...
1) More RAM in laptop (768MB or more)
2) More RAM in main PC (1GB)
3) Upgrade to 2.8GHz p4 in girlfriend's PC.
*I recently sold off an unused pIII and will probably throw away the 486 machines that have been collecting dust in the basement.
Main PC-
Antec p160 w/ Fortron 300watt PSU, AthlonXP T-bred @2.0GHz, Asrock K78XE+ motherboard, 768MB PC3200, GeforceFX 5600, 160GB Seagate 72007 + 160GB Samsung P80, NEC3500AG DVD Burner, LG4320B CD-RW/DVD combo drive, Realtek Gbit NIC. Samsung 172T LCD and Logitec 2.1 Z3 speaker set.
Girlfriend's PC-
Shuttle SS51G, Celeron 2.0GHz, 1GB PC2100, Radeon 9200, 80GB Maxtor DM+9, LG 4480 CD-RW/DVD combo drive. Samsung 172T LCD, logitech wireless keyboard/mouse, Wacom Intous tablet.
File Server-
Antec 3700AMB, AthlonXP 2000, Asrock K78XE, 512MB PC2700, Matrox Millenium, 4x160GB Maxtor DM+9 on 3ware 7400-4LP, 1x80GB IBM 180GXP, NEC 3200 DVD Burner, Realtek Gbt NIC. KVM to main PC if needed.
HTPC-
Shuttle SB51G, Celeron 2.0GHz, 256MB PC2100, ATi AIW 8500DV, 40GB Seagate ATA IV, Toshiba DVD ROM, ATi Remote wonder. 29" RCA TV. VNC if needed.
New Laptop-
Dell Inspiron 6000, PentiumM 1.5, 256MB DDR2 PC2-3200, 40GB Hitachi 5k40, Integrated Intel graphics, 802.11g, sound, etc.
Smoothy-
Old Sony Vaio digital studio edition vomit box - PII 350, 192MB PC133 (only has so much because of retiring other PCs), 3 generic 10/100 NICs.
Green - Netgear GS608 8 port Gbit switch
Orange - Currently blank, will have Netgear MR814 802.11B AP
Red - Linksys 4port switch to RoadRunner 5Mbit/384kbit cable connection.
Old Laptop-
Compaq Armada 7360DMT, pMMX 200MHz, 64MB RAM, generic 802.11B and 10/100 PCMCIA cards, right click is broken and battery life is terrible so I always cary it in a case with the charger and a mouse ;-)
Printer-
Networked Dell 1700 (Lexmark based) Laser.
I would like to make a few upgrades...
1) More RAM in laptop (768MB or more)
2) More RAM in main PC (1GB)
3) Upgrade to 2.8GHz p4 in girlfriend's PC.
*I recently sold off an unused pIII and will probably throw away the 486 machines that have been collecting dust in the basement.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
My systems, from most-used to least-used:
1) Built Dec. 2000; my main system
Antec SX 1030 with 300 watt Antec PS (came with case)
Tyan Tiger Rev. F. dual slot-1 mainboard 100 MHz, BX chipset
2 x Abit Slotkets
2 x P3-800 FC-PGA coppermine 100 MHz @ 112 MHz
4 x Crucial PC-133 256MB
ATI 9000 AGP video card (AGP 2x)
Promise Ultra-100 IDE card
Adaptec FW, USB cards
Linksys LAN card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card
ViewSonic PT775 17" CRT
Win 2k Pro
2) Purchased August 2001
IBM ThinkPad T23
14.1" LCD, SXGA+ (1400x1050)
P3-1.13 GHz, 133 MHz
2 x 512 MB SO-DIMM
48MB HDD, 5400 RPM
Swappable FDD, DVD-ROM, CD-burner
W2k Pro
3) Daughter's PC (hand-me-down)
Dell Dimension 4400
Intel D845PT mainboard, i845 D Chipset Rev. 4
P4 Wilamette, 1.6 GHz core, 400 MHz bus
2 x 512MB KingMax (put in by me)
NVidia video card (can't get to m/c now)
Mag DX700 17" CRT
Win 98
(haven't yet re-installed factory Win XP yet)
4) Built Dec. 2000; my test system
Antec SX 1030 with 300 watt Antec PS (came with case)
Tyan Tiger Rev. F. dual slot-1 mainboard 100 MHz, BX chipset
2 x Abit Slotkets
2 x P3-700 FC-PGA Coppermine 100 MHz @ 112 MHz
3 x Crucial PC-133 256MB
1 x Crucial PC-133 128MB
ATI Radeon AGP video card (AGP 2x)
This system has seen about 100 power on hours in all these years; I should get rid of it.
5) Built circa 1997; was my main system at one time
In Win Case
Abit BH6 slot-1 BX chipset mainboard
Celeron Slot-1 300 MHz (overclocks to 450 MHz)
2 x 128 MB
Matrox Millenium AGP
Used to be my daughter's game system; unused now, should get rid of it.
1) Built Dec. 2000; my main system
Antec SX 1030 with 300 watt Antec PS (came with case)
Tyan Tiger Rev. F. dual slot-1 mainboard 100 MHz, BX chipset
2 x Abit Slotkets
2 x P3-800 FC-PGA coppermine 100 MHz @ 112 MHz
4 x Crucial PC-133 256MB
ATI 9000 AGP video card (AGP 2x)
Promise Ultra-100 IDE card
Adaptec FW, USB cards
Linksys LAN card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card
ViewSonic PT775 17" CRT
Win 2k Pro
2) Purchased August 2001
IBM ThinkPad T23
14.1" LCD, SXGA+ (1400x1050)
P3-1.13 GHz, 133 MHz
2 x 512 MB SO-DIMM
48MB HDD, 5400 RPM
Swappable FDD, DVD-ROM, CD-burner
W2k Pro
3) Daughter's PC (hand-me-down)
Dell Dimension 4400
Intel D845PT mainboard, i845 D Chipset Rev. 4
P4 Wilamette, 1.6 GHz core, 400 MHz bus
2 x 512MB KingMax (put in by me)
NVidia video card (can't get to m/c now)
Mag DX700 17" CRT
Win 98
(haven't yet re-installed factory Win XP yet)
4) Built Dec. 2000; my test system
Antec SX 1030 with 300 watt Antec PS (came with case)
Tyan Tiger Rev. F. dual slot-1 mainboard 100 MHz, BX chipset
2 x Abit Slotkets
2 x P3-700 FC-PGA Coppermine 100 MHz @ 112 MHz
3 x Crucial PC-133 256MB
1 x Crucial PC-133 128MB
ATI Radeon AGP video card (AGP 2x)
This system has seen about 100 power on hours in all these years; I should get rid of it.
5) Built circa 1997; was my main system at one time
In Win Case
Abit BH6 slot-1 BX chipset mainboard
Celeron Slot-1 300 MHz (overclocks to 450 MHz)
2 x 128 MB
Matrox Millenium AGP
Used to be my daughter's game system; unused now, should get rid of it.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
System 1:
Supermicro P4SCT+II
P4 @ 3.0GHz
1 GB Cosair DDR RAM
Jaton (NVidia) grahics 16Mb
Using onboard Intel RAID 0
Sony CD-ROM
Sony Floppy
Antec 400W PS
2-WD 36Gb Rapters
System 2:
ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe (the MB from hell)
P4 @ 3.0GHz
2 GB Corsair DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9600
Sony CD/DVD-ROM
Sony CD/DVD Burner
Supermicro SATA HD carrier (5 slots)
WD 36GB Rapter
WD 200GB HD
Sony Floppy
Antec 400W PS
SYBA SATA expansion PCI card.
Turtle Beach sound card.
Bozo :mrgrn:
Supermicro P4SCT+II
P4 @ 3.0GHz
1 GB Cosair DDR RAM
Jaton (NVidia) grahics 16Mb
Using onboard Intel RAID 0
Sony CD-ROM
Sony Floppy
Antec 400W PS
2-WD 36Gb Rapters
System 2:
ASUS P4C800E-Deluxe (the MB from hell)
P4 @ 3.0GHz
2 GB Corsair DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9600
Sony CD/DVD-ROM
Sony CD/DVD Burner
Supermicro SATA HD carrier (5 slots)
WD 36GB Rapter
WD 200GB HD
Sony Floppy
Antec 400W PS
SYBA SATA expansion PCI card.
Turtle Beach sound card.
Bozo :mrgrn:
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
DUH.....
System 1 has no case. It is sitting on a milk create
System 2 is in a 10 year old Enlight server case.
Bozo :mrgrn:
System 1 has no case. It is sitting on a milk create
System 2 is in a 10 year old Enlight server case.
Bozo :mrgrn:
ddrueding
Fixture
More upgrades since my last post. It's getting really absurd since I'm spending more time upgrading the systems than working on them.
Workstation:
A64 3700+ San Diego Core (2.75Ghz - 250x11 @1.5V)
Scythe Ninja
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
1GB Corsair XMS DDR550
Gigabyte Fanless x800 PCIe
40GB Samsung SATA 2.5" in a Scythe Silent Box Enclosure
Nexus 120mm@500rpm
Antec Phantom 350W
HTPC:
Silverstone LC03 Chassis
Zalman CNPS-7700AlCu
A64 3500+ Venice
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
2GB Geil PC3200
MSI Fanless x300 PCIe
Samsung 160GB SATA in Vantec drive cooler
BenQ 1620 DVD-RW PATA
SeaSonic S12-380
Server:
Cooler Master Stacker
Zalman CNPS-7700AlCu
A64 3000+ Venice
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
1GB Geil PC3200
MSI Fanless x300 PCIe
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller
3Ware Escalade 8506-4
Samsung 160GB SATA in Vantec drive cooler (OS)
All following drives are in 2 Supermicro hot-swap enclosures:
5x 400GB Seagate 7200.8 (Added to onboard SATA as lose drives)
2x 74GB Raptors (RAID 1 on 3Ware)
2x 36GB Raptors (RAID 0 on 3Ware)
All following drives are in an internal drive rack with 92mm fan:
3x 74GB Atlas 10kII (Lose drives)
2x 300GB PATA Seagate 7200.7 (Software RAID 1)
3x BenQ 1620 DVD-RW PATA
Antec SmartPower 500W
Upgrades:
I know I should stop, but I'm really tempted to try out a 4400+ X2 in my workstation as my silent cooling solution could handle significantly more heat without issue.
I think the server may be needing a second PS before I add any more drives. Does any place still sell new AT PSs? Or is there a trick to wiring up a second ATX without using the motherboard connector?
Workstation:
A64 3700+ San Diego Core (2.75Ghz - 250x11 @1.5V)
Scythe Ninja
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
1GB Corsair XMS DDR550
Gigabyte Fanless x800 PCIe
40GB Samsung SATA 2.5" in a Scythe Silent Box Enclosure
Nexus 120mm@500rpm
Antec Phantom 350W
HTPC:
Silverstone LC03 Chassis
Zalman CNPS-7700AlCu
A64 3500+ Venice
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
2GB Geil PC3200
MSI Fanless x300 PCIe
Samsung 160GB SATA in Vantec drive cooler
BenQ 1620 DVD-RW PATA
SeaSonic S12-380
Server:
Cooler Master Stacker
Zalman CNPS-7700AlCu
A64 3000+ Venice
Gigabyte nForce4 SLI
1GB Geil PC3200
MSI Fanless x300 PCIe
Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller
3Ware Escalade 8506-4
Samsung 160GB SATA in Vantec drive cooler (OS)
All following drives are in 2 Supermicro hot-swap enclosures:
5x 400GB Seagate 7200.8 (Added to onboard SATA as lose drives)
2x 74GB Raptors (RAID 1 on 3Ware)
2x 36GB Raptors (RAID 0 on 3Ware)
All following drives are in an internal drive rack with 92mm fan:
3x 74GB Atlas 10kII (Lose drives)
2x 300GB PATA Seagate 7200.7 (Software RAID 1)
3x BenQ 1620 DVD-RW PATA
Antec SmartPower 500W
Upgrades:
I know I should stop, but I'm really tempted to try out a 4400+ X2 in my workstation as my silent cooling solution could handle significantly more heat without issue.
I think the server may be needing a second PS before I add any more drives. Does any place still sell new AT PSs? Or is there a trick to wiring up a second ATX without using the motherboard connector?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Well this won't take long or anything... <sob>
I'm fully aware that most of the PCs I'm describing here are better than what a lot of people here have as their only machine. I apologize for that.
Let's start with the computers in my office at my trainer job:
WorkPC: Athlon64/3200, Albatron board. 1GB RAM. Radeon 9700AIW. 2x160GB hard disks. 16x DVD burner. Server 2003. Mostly I use it to run Word, Firefox and miscellaneous software piracy, but it's also a DC for the office network.
And then there's the "workhorse", a generic machine I've got for miscellaneous classroom needs.
Workhorse: P4/2.4GHz HT, Soyo board (thanks Clocker!), 1GB RAM. S3 PCI video card, couple 3Com NICs, 80GB hard disk and a trio of 18GB 10k SCSI drives. Triple boots Netware 6, SuSE 9.3 and 2003 Server Web Edition. I use it to demo NOS stuff for classes.
Music Machine: AthlonXP 2400, Asus A7N266. 768MB RAM (machine won't boot with 2x512MB modules installed), 2x 120GB hard disks in a microATX case. Server 2000. This machine is connected to the receiver in my office (Pioneer VSX-D711) so I can enjoy Dolby Digital goodness on the 5.1 sub/sat system in my office. It'll be replaced someday with an X-mystique card but right now it works pretty well.
That's what's sitting in my office.
At home I've had to cut back a bit from my previous amount of computers.
I have four identical file servers:
Athlon64/3000, 1GB RAM, Gigabyte K8VM800 motherboards, 4x7k250s, 2x7k400s, 1xSP1614 PATA, 3Ware 8506-4LP, Intel Gbit NICs. Older DVD Burners. These machines run Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Someday I will get motivated enough to upgrade them to some other form of Linux.
Game Machine: Athlon64/3200 Venice core (this is the only 939-based machine I have). 2GB RAM. Soltek motherboard. AGP X800. X-Mystique. 3x7k250, 300GB Maxline, couple SP1614Ns. LiteOn DVD Burner. LiteOn 32x CD Burner (both on "SCSI Buddies" connected to an Adaptec 2940UW). Onkyo TX-NR801. 21" Dell CRT. Antec P180 case. "The Loft" - the coolest piece of computer furniture EVAR. This machine presently dual boots Windows Server 2003 Web Edition and SuSE 9.3.
HTServer: Athlon64/3500. 2GB RAM. Albatron motherboard. AGP 9800AIW. X-Mystique. 3Ware 7506-12 (sob). 10xPATA SP1614s - yes, cabling in that thing is teh suck. 2x7k250s. LiteOn DVD Burner. 5U case. Thermaltake 680W PSU. Machine runs 2000 Server. Integra DTR-8.2 Receiver. Comcast "On Demand" HD cable box. Samsung 60" DLP monitor. My ex- and her partner are making me a a wood-and-steel enclosure to replace the existing case, which will hopefully resemble a mission-style coffee table.
TechStation (aka "Pokey"): AthlonXP/2500. 1GB RAM. Radeon 9600VIVO. 1x 120GB drive (either a Samsung or a Maxtor). 5-in-3 SATA enclosure that usually has nothing in it. Asus A7N8X. LiteOn DVD Burner. 15" LCD and 12-year-old 17" Mag display. Cybex Video Switch. Spends most of its time in SuSE 9.3, but it's mostly a hardware test machine, so I've got DOS and 2000 server on it, too. For being my slowest computer, I use it a lot. Pokey is the computer that sits on my tech bench, which is where I tend to eat my meals. Pokey is the computer where I'm doing my RAID recovery project.
ComputerUnderMyBed: Sempron 3100, 1GB RAM. Radeon 9550. GA-K8VM800. 20" Samsung LCD. 2xSP1614Ns. Runs SuSE 9.3. Exists mostly so that I can send E-mail and remote control all the other computers from someplace comfortable. I am just that lazy.
Laptop: Thinkpad T40. 1.6GHz P4m. 1GB RAM. 80GB hard disk. It's a remote control for the other machines or "the office that lives in my car".
I'm using an 8-port TrendNet GigE switch at the moment, and a Sonicwall SOHO device for a firewall. I have a Linksys 802.11A+G router that I use for WLAN (2.4GHz is FAR too crowded for anything to connect in my apartment, though).
My ex-'s garage is home to the rest of my computers, mostly machines that I barely used, or used only for various client needs. My ex-'s partner uses them to copy DVDs, but I can "visit" them if I need to via VPN. These machines are mostly AthlonXPs of various stripes and IBM P4 desktop, but there's also a Sparc 20, and an UltraSparc10, some Motorola StarMAX machines, an original Mac, several old Dell and IBM laptops and an HP PA-RISC machine. Also my old IBM RAID enclosures, my Cisco 9005 and most of my older spare parts <sniff>.
I'm fully aware that most of the PCs I'm describing here are better than what a lot of people here have as their only machine. I apologize for that.
Let's start with the computers in my office at my trainer job:
WorkPC: Athlon64/3200, Albatron board. 1GB RAM. Radeon 9700AIW. 2x160GB hard disks. 16x DVD burner. Server 2003. Mostly I use it to run Word, Firefox and miscellaneous software piracy, but it's also a DC for the office network.
And then there's the "workhorse", a generic machine I've got for miscellaneous classroom needs.
Workhorse: P4/2.4GHz HT, Soyo board (thanks Clocker!), 1GB RAM. S3 PCI video card, couple 3Com NICs, 80GB hard disk and a trio of 18GB 10k SCSI drives. Triple boots Netware 6, SuSE 9.3 and 2003 Server Web Edition. I use it to demo NOS stuff for classes.
Music Machine: AthlonXP 2400, Asus A7N266. 768MB RAM (machine won't boot with 2x512MB modules installed), 2x 120GB hard disks in a microATX case. Server 2000. This machine is connected to the receiver in my office (Pioneer VSX-D711) so I can enjoy Dolby Digital goodness on the 5.1 sub/sat system in my office. It'll be replaced someday with an X-mystique card but right now it works pretty well.
That's what's sitting in my office.
At home I've had to cut back a bit from my previous amount of computers.
I have four identical file servers:
Athlon64/3000, 1GB RAM, Gigabyte K8VM800 motherboards, 4x7k250s, 2x7k400s, 1xSP1614 PATA, 3Ware 8506-4LP, Intel Gbit NICs. Older DVD Burners. These machines run Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Someday I will get motivated enough to upgrade them to some other form of Linux.
Game Machine: Athlon64/3200 Venice core (this is the only 939-based machine I have). 2GB RAM. Soltek motherboard. AGP X800. X-Mystique. 3x7k250, 300GB Maxline, couple SP1614Ns. LiteOn DVD Burner. LiteOn 32x CD Burner (both on "SCSI Buddies" connected to an Adaptec 2940UW). Onkyo TX-NR801. 21" Dell CRT. Antec P180 case. "The Loft" - the coolest piece of computer furniture EVAR. This machine presently dual boots Windows Server 2003 Web Edition and SuSE 9.3.
HTServer: Athlon64/3500. 2GB RAM. Albatron motherboard. AGP 9800AIW. X-Mystique. 3Ware 7506-12 (sob). 10xPATA SP1614s - yes, cabling in that thing is teh suck. 2x7k250s. LiteOn DVD Burner. 5U case. Thermaltake 680W PSU. Machine runs 2000 Server. Integra DTR-8.2 Receiver. Comcast "On Demand" HD cable box. Samsung 60" DLP monitor. My ex- and her partner are making me a a wood-and-steel enclosure to replace the existing case, which will hopefully resemble a mission-style coffee table.
TechStation (aka "Pokey"): AthlonXP/2500. 1GB RAM. Radeon 9600VIVO. 1x 120GB drive (either a Samsung or a Maxtor). 5-in-3 SATA enclosure that usually has nothing in it. Asus A7N8X. LiteOn DVD Burner. 15" LCD and 12-year-old 17" Mag display. Cybex Video Switch. Spends most of its time in SuSE 9.3, but it's mostly a hardware test machine, so I've got DOS and 2000 server on it, too. For being my slowest computer, I use it a lot. Pokey is the computer that sits on my tech bench, which is where I tend to eat my meals. Pokey is the computer where I'm doing my RAID recovery project.
ComputerUnderMyBed: Sempron 3100, 1GB RAM. Radeon 9550. GA-K8VM800. 20" Samsung LCD. 2xSP1614Ns. Runs SuSE 9.3. Exists mostly so that I can send E-mail and remote control all the other computers from someplace comfortable. I am just that lazy.
Laptop: Thinkpad T40. 1.6GHz P4m. 1GB RAM. 80GB hard disk. It's a remote control for the other machines or "the office that lives in my car".
I'm using an 8-port TrendNet GigE switch at the moment, and a Sonicwall SOHO device for a firewall. I have a Linksys 802.11A+G router that I use for WLAN (2.4GHz is FAR too crowded for anything to connect in my apartment, though).
My ex-'s garage is home to the rest of my computers, mostly machines that I barely used, or used only for various client needs. My ex-'s partner uses them to copy DVDs, but I can "visit" them if I need to via VPN. These machines are mostly AthlonXPs of various stripes and IBM P4 desktop, but there's also a Sparc 20, and an UltraSparc10, some Motorola StarMAX machines, an original Mac, several old Dell and IBM laptops and an HP PA-RISC machine. Also my old IBM RAID enclosures, my Cisco 9005 and most of my older spare parts <sniff>.
Gilbo
Storage is cool
My main computer is an IBM 42. I bought the least expensive model I could find that had a high resolution 14.1" screen (the 15" T42's are heavier and thicker than I like), and upgraded it to 1.5GB of RAM, and added in a 7K60.
Other than that I have 2 939-pin 3200+ A64's, 3 Athlon XP systems, and a pair of PII 266's around the house. These are all headless systems at the moment. The Athlon XP's are mainly used as music playing boxes to put music throughout the house. The A64's do a variety of things. They serve music to the players scattered around the house via NFS exports. They download it from etree.org and the Internet Live Music archive via FTP and Bittorrent. They also store photographs and video, and handle my CPU intensive photo processing tasks, which they're far faster at than the Pentium M in the T42. The A64's are controlled over ssh normally, but I fire up X and a VNC server when I do photography work on them. Hopefully I'll get around to replacing the VNC servers with NX servers at some point.
Other than that I have 2 939-pin 3200+ A64's, 3 Athlon XP systems, and a pair of PII 266's around the house. These are all headless systems at the moment. The Athlon XP's are mainly used as music playing boxes to put music throughout the house. The A64's do a variety of things. They serve music to the players scattered around the house via NFS exports. They download it from etree.org and the Internet Live Music archive via FTP and Bittorrent. They also store photographs and video, and handle my CPU intensive photo processing tasks, which they're far faster at than the Pentium M in the T42. The A64's are controlled over ssh normally, but I fire up X and a VNC server when I do photography work on them. Hopefully I'll get around to replacing the VNC servers with NX servers at some point.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Tannin said:
What the heck does that sentence mean?
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
Apparently, it is before the Century of the Anchovy.
Is the Century of the Anchovy before or after the Century of the Caesar Salad? Et tu Bruté?
S754 Athlon 64 2800+
Abit KV8 Pro (KT800 Pro)
120GB PATA Samsung, 120GB SATA Maxtor DM9+, 160GB SATA Samsung
Abit 128MB Radeon 9550 AGP
LiteOn 1653S DVDRW
52X Mitsubishi CD ROM
Soon to be (next month):
Athlon X2 4000+/4400+
S939 mobo (TBD)
New vid if I go the PCI-e route--6600 or X600 with ViVo
S754 Athlon 64 2800+
Abit KV8 Pro (KT800 Pro)
120GB PATA Samsung, 120GB SATA Maxtor DM9+, 160GB SATA Samsung
Abit 128MB Radeon 9550 AGP
LiteOn 1653S DVDRW
52X Mitsubishi CD ROM
Soon to be (next month):
Athlon X2 4000+/4400+
S939 mobo (TBD)
New vid if I go the PCI-e route--6600 or X600 with ViVo
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
Mercutio said:
Awesome!
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
Mercutio said:
Soup Nazi: works here. About 19 or 20 or some ridculously small number of years. Has been known to post on Storage Forum once or twice. Answers to "Michael" on a good day.
Century of the Fruitbat: Comes after the Century of the Lizard. Or possibly the Century of the Blowfly, I forget.
Floppy disc: thing used quite a lot once, but not now because this is the Century of the Fruitbat.
blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
You guys are making me want to build an AThlon64x2 machine...
Just to add to my post, My GeforceFX 5600 is passively cooled using a Zalman cooler and my gf's Radeon9200 is underclocked to ~60-70MHz
The 8500DV has an inline resistor to slow the fan down... just like all my other case fans in every machine with are throttled by either using a Zalman fan mate, inline resistors, or 5 volting the fan.
I'm also running WinXP on all my machines except my Smoothwall and File server which are running superKernel 2.4.30 and Fedora Core 2, respectively. Oh, and my old lappy which runs win2k.
At work I have a decent workstation - Dell Dimension something or rather... 2.8GHz Prescott, 768MB PC2700, 80GB 7200.7, ATi Radeon 9250 (underclocked here as well), w/ 2x Dell 17" flat panels.
Just to add to my post, My GeforceFX 5600 is passively cooled using a Zalman cooler and my gf's Radeon9200 is underclocked to ~60-70MHz
The 8500DV has an inline resistor to slow the fan down... just like all my other case fans in every machine with are throttled by either using a Zalman fan mate, inline resistors, or 5 volting the fan.
I'm also running WinXP on all my machines except my Smoothwall and File server which are running superKernel 2.4.30 and Fedora Core 2, respectively. Oh, and my old lappy which runs win2k.
At work I have a decent workstation - Dell Dimension something or rather... 2.8GHz Prescott, 768MB PC2700, 80GB 7200.7, ATi Radeon 9250 (underclocked here as well), w/ 2x Dell 17" flat panels.
Santilli
Hairy Aussie
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2002
- Messages
- 5,285
My primary workstation:
Yen Yao, or something like that, server box, with 17 drive bays.
Supermicro X5DA8 with dual Xeon 2.8ghz cpu, with Swiftech heatsinks.
XP, 2 gigs of ram, 2 NEC DVD 16X 3520A( thanks for the recommendations all)
Seasonic 600W powersupply( quiet for it's power)
ATI 800XL with 256 mb vram
Uses an Adaptec POS 2010s Raid card, limiting a raid 0 array of two Cheetah X15.3 36 gigs to about 80 mb/sec, on dual SCSI 320 channels.
Next buy is a LSI megaraid 320-1 single channel raid card.
Using a Supermicro 318 hotswap box, with refurbs dual 146 gig 10K Cheetahs, generation 4 or 5, and dual 36k 15.3 for the raid 0 boot array, and one more for the pagefile disk.
One 21" Hitachi montior, and another Sony 19 inch.
4000N HP printer.
Epson 3170 Scanner, Plextor video converter, Razer mouses, and back lit keyboard.
Second email system:
Gigabyte 939 Ultra motherboard, with 3000+ Athlon, XP, and swiftech heatsink. This system is pretty much silent. The heatsink is overkill, and the cpu fan hardly ever turns on.
ATI 700 XL
Seasonic 400w PS
2 gigs of ram
LSI single channel SCSI 320( 100 bucks) and 36 gig boot Cheetah 15.3.
Single Sony 19 inch.
Antec 160 case.
This system taught me duals, as a general rule, are not the way to go for gaming...
Panasonic Cf-37 and 51, and Lombard 333mhz, and Beige tower 333mhz, along with 450 mhz P3, Kyro II, gaming machine for kids.
Finally, Dell XPS 400mhz P2, I'm typing on now, upgraded a bit.
s
Yen Yao, or something like that, server box, with 17 drive bays.
Supermicro X5DA8 with dual Xeon 2.8ghz cpu, with Swiftech heatsinks.
XP, 2 gigs of ram, 2 NEC DVD 16X 3520A( thanks for the recommendations all)
Seasonic 600W powersupply( quiet for it's power)
ATI 800XL with 256 mb vram
Uses an Adaptec POS 2010s Raid card, limiting a raid 0 array of two Cheetah X15.3 36 gigs to about 80 mb/sec, on dual SCSI 320 channels.
Next buy is a LSI megaraid 320-1 single channel raid card.
Using a Supermicro 318 hotswap box, with refurbs dual 146 gig 10K Cheetahs, generation 4 or 5, and dual 36k 15.3 for the raid 0 boot array, and one more for the pagefile disk.
One 21" Hitachi montior, and another Sony 19 inch.
4000N HP printer.
Epson 3170 Scanner, Plextor video converter, Razer mouses, and back lit keyboard.
Second email system:
Gigabyte 939 Ultra motherboard, with 3000+ Athlon, XP, and swiftech heatsink. This system is pretty much silent. The heatsink is overkill, and the cpu fan hardly ever turns on.
ATI 700 XL
Seasonic 400w PS
2 gigs of ram
LSI single channel SCSI 320( 100 bucks) and 36 gig boot Cheetah 15.3.
Single Sony 19 inch.
Antec 160 case.
This system taught me duals, as a general rule, are not the way to go for gaming...
Panasonic Cf-37 and 51, and Lombard 333mhz, and Beige tower 333mhz, along with 450 mhz P3, Kyro II, gaming machine for kids.
Finally, Dell XPS 400mhz P2, I'm typing on now, upgraded a bit.
s
Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
I just want to say that I think you humans have a completely ridiculous number of computers, and you must all have spent an utterly crazy amount of money on them. Nuts!
It would take the output of a medium-sized nuclear submarine just to power them all up.
Look at you all: Santilli, twin Xeons no less; LiamC is going dualcore already before the price gets real (haven't changed a bit, have you Bill?); Mercutio ... words fail me when it comes to his rigs; then there is Dave, who doesn't actually have a computer because it's always being pulled apart to bolt more upgrades into it (what do you do when you want to post here, David? slip down to your local internet cafe or something?); Gilbo, with an array of machines second only to Mercutio's just to do the same music thing I can do with a $20 transistor radio ... the list goes on an on.
Mubs and Fushigi, there is still hope for you guys to turn into reasonable human beings, you're the only half-sensible ones among us. (Unless you count my main man Blakerwry (which is doubtful) or possibly Tannin (no, no, scratch that, what am I saying, he's just gone stupid on optics instead).
Which leaves Buck: sensible, practical Buck. In fact, Buck's system configuration is so sensible and practical that I think he must have made the whole thing up.
It would take the output of a medium-sized nuclear submarine just to power them all up.
Look at you all: Santilli, twin Xeons no less; LiamC is going dualcore already before the price gets real (haven't changed a bit, have you Bill?); Mercutio ... words fail me when it comes to his rigs; then there is Dave, who doesn't actually have a computer because it's always being pulled apart to bolt more upgrades into it (what do you do when you want to post here, David? slip down to your local internet cafe or something?); Gilbo, with an array of machines second only to Mercutio's just to do the same music thing I can do with a $20 transistor radio ... the list goes on an on.
Mubs and Fushigi, there is still hope for you guys to turn into reasonable human beings, you're the only half-sensible ones among us. (Unless you count my main man Blakerwry (which is doubtful) or possibly Tannin (no, no, scratch that, what am I saying, he's just gone stupid on optics instead).
Which leaves Buck: sensible, practical Buck. In fact, Buck's system configuration is so sensible and practical that I think he must have made the whole thing up.
ddrueding
Fixture
Tea said:
You wouldn't catch me deat in the local computer place, every time I go in there they insist that I do work; as if I owned the place or something!
I always have my laptop to fall back on; an Averatec XP-M 1600+ with 1GB and a 12" LCD. I really like it, and since it was $500, I hardly worry about it at all.
Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
:lol:
Tea said:
Aah but there is method to my madness this time. I've been roped into doing Java development with WebSphere (IBM bloatware--ah product) and if you see how many threads it kicks off in the debugger, you'd know that dual-cores would seriously cut the debug angst. And I'm even hoping to find a good AGP S939 board so I don't have an excuse--sorry, reason--to upgrade the vid card.
See, everything is under control. I don't have a habit. I can stop anytime I want too...
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I only have the "Walmart" laptop plugged into the wall anymore. I think it's a 1.4G Athlon. I can't remember. Any day now I'll put up my old gear for sale. Especially the dual MP needs to go.
Bartender
Storage is cool
Tea said:
That's being a little too dramatic. Although it is practical, but not because of his incredible sensibleness (which he doesn't have) -- he's never at the computer; he doesn't really work; I wonder how he makes his money sometimes. When he posts, it's usually from one of the systems left behind in the bar by Mercutio or David. (Maybe he doesn't make any money, that's why he's always here and hasn't paid his tab for years. :bleh: )
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
:zzz:
Gilbo
Storage is cool
LOL the power issue is indeed a little out of control. The Athlon XP's boot very speedily with customized, minimalistic kernels and the lack of a gui so they're off most of the time and take only a moment to boot up when I need tunes. I could probably hibernate them, but, as with a seeming unending list of other things, I haven't gotten around to setting that up yet...Tea said:
The irony about the power consideration is that it just makes me wish that every machine I owned was a modern A64, which certainly isn't good for the finances. The newest A64's use ridiculously little power, right down there with the P-M's. Also, as much as I would like to pretend that I paid for all those machines, I have to admit that several of them have simply been collected from friends and family who had no further use for them. I'm well known as the person to whom anything electronic that's going unused should be delivered. Having access to my music library anywhere in the house, with database and playlist functionality is pretty nice, and with so many perfectly good 'old' computers going unused these days, it's been pretty easy to pull off for zero dollars. The nasty vomit-box cases are a bit of an eyesore, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to spend the cash to get anything nice looking for them. I feel the money would be better off saved or used elsewhere.
In the end, only the laptop and the two A64's didn't come as giveaways. The A64's were about as cheap as can be. They don't have monitoer, they don't have video cards, hell, they don't even have cases, because I was too cheap for cases
.Finding a decent case at a price I consider reasonable has been pretty hard. I'm thinking of shelling out for a pair of Antec SLK3000B's for the A64's though. I'm not really willing to spend more than that, but I want a quality case. The additional cost of fans is rather annoying as well.
Finally, being torn between multiple hobbies imposes a good, "Do I really want to spend this money?" test on every purchase. What I would really like is a lighter tent and pack to make my bike camping trips a little easier, oh ya, I could really use a new sleeping bag if I'm going to go winter company this season, and I'm thinking of switching to a Minolta DSLR from my S2 Pro, which will mean buying new lenses. The Minolta's body is just a miracle in use and the local camera shop dealer is like a crack dealer... "Just let me take it out for a little so you can try it out... get used to it..." Especially compared to the S2 Pro, which is no convenient tool by any measure. I think I need a rich patron/wife... Fact of the matter though, is that I'm ridiculously cheap, and I'll survive without such things.
GIANT
Learning Storage Performance
- [list:bfff59aba9]
SYSTEM I
- Supermicro 942 chassis with 4-bay SCA SCSI and 2-each hot-plug Antec PATA drive bays
- Supermicro P4SCT+ii mobo (standard P4 with PCI-X slots)
- Adaptec 39160 dual-channel Ultra-160 SCSI
- Matrox P-650 graphics
- FirewireDirect 6-port TI-based Firewire + USB2 featuring internal and external ports
- Different mixes of Seagate 15K.3 (18GB and 36GB) and Seagate Barracuda ATA IV and ATA V drives (40 GB, 80 GB, and 160 GB)
- Yamaha CRW-F1 CD-R/W in Firewire enclosure
- Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-R/W in Firewire enclosure
- LiteON 52x CD-R/W ATAPI internal
- Imation Superdisc ATAPI floppy drive
- Addonics Firewire flash memory reader
- Microsoft (no-frills) Internet Keyboard
- Microsoft Wireless Explorer Mouse
- Mitsubishi DP2040U 22-inch monitor
- AgNeovo 19-inch LCD monitor
============================================================
- [list:bfff59aba9] SYSTEM II
- Simple but stylish In-Win ATX chassis from mid-1990s (with updated power 400-watt supply), hot-plug Antec PATA drive bay
- Supermicro P3TSSA mobo
- Intel Pentium III 1100 MHz "Tualatin" server processor with large cache
- Adaptec 2940 narrow SCSI
- Matrox G-550 graphics
- Nikon AX flat-bed scanner
- Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40 GB hard drive
- Memorex 16x CD-R/W ATAPI internal
- Imation Superdisc ATAPI floppy drive
- Microsoft (no-frills) Internet Keyboard
- Microsoft Wireless Explorer Mouse
- Mitsubishi DP2040U 22-inch monitor
============================================================
- [list:bfff59aba9] SYSTEM III
- "Walmart" (actually an ECS A-535) notebook computer, upgraded to 640 MB RAM, Hitachi 60GB 7200 PM E7K60 "enhanced version" hard drive, DVD-ROM / CD-RW drive, and Windows XP Pro (SP2).
- Logitech Marble Mouse USB track ball
- Netgear USB2 802.11G Wi-Fi antenna
- Hawking USB2 802.11G long-range Wi-Fi antenna
- Compaq soft-shell armoured carry case
- Inexpensive external USB2 hard drive chasis containing a Maxtor 60 GB 5400RPM drive (requires separate power, otherwise good for transferring globs of images between notebook and other computers, as well as occasional backup)
- PNY USB2 flash memory reader
- High-capacity NiMH battery
- 12-volt DC input power supply / charger (for use in automobiles)
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Tea said:
Like Gilbo I'd like to say in my own defense that the move to A64s has largely been for reasons of heat and efficiency.
However, in addition to all of the above, there are parts to construct and additional two to four computers in my apartment at all times, and my hobby is essentially self-sustaining. I spend almost no money of my own on new hardware unless I feel like having a moronically expensive graphics or sound card, or a fancy case.
I have a LOT of computers, but to me they are all basically low-end to midrange, high bang for the buck machines. That's pretty much my philosophy for assembling computers.
Besides, if I didn't have this equipment, or this hobby that I have, I would not have the experiences I've had, and I wouldn't not be able to contribute as much as I have in these forums.
Santilli
Hairy Aussie
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2002
- Messages
- 5,285
Mercutio said:
Mercutio: Don't get defensive. Apes will be apes :lol:
I also have a bunch of stuff I didn't list, that I won't sell, because I can use it in school, and, I guess if you want your kids to have computers, you have to bring, and buy them, yourself.
Since I have a home office, I have no problem spending my hard earned money, rather then letting my government spend it, in this communist state of Kalifornia.
s
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
You forgot to mention the processor.GIANT said:
Up to this day, my main and only computer system left is a two years old box consisting of the following elements :
- Athlon XP 1800+ thoroughbred at stock speed (used to be overclocked, not anymore)
- Thermaltake SilentBoost heatsink
- GigaByte GA-7N400 Pro nForce 2 Ultra 400 motherboard
- 2x 512MB Corsair PC3200 DDR SDRAM
- Sapphire Radeon 9550 256MB graphic card
- 2x WD400JB 40GB Special Edition (8MB) Caviar (not in RAID)
- Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40 40GB
- LG GSA-4163B black DVD writer 16X
- Antec SLK1650B w/350W SmartPower PSU
- 5 years old Sony Multiscan CPD-G400 19" CRT monitor that begs to be replaced
- Logitech MX700 wireless roden
- Generic USB keyboard
- Canon i960 printer
...and yes, a floppy drive.
sechs
Storage? I am Storage!
Now why would Tanin start a phallic comparison thread?
fb
Storage is cool
• Chieftec Dragon case
• Antec NeoPower 480
• P4 1,8GHz
• Asus P4B
• 3x 256MB Generic crap SDRAM
• Adaptec 29320
• Asus V9570TD (GeForce 5700 256MB)
• 1 Seagate 15.3 18GB
• 3 IBM GXP 180 60GB
• 1 IBM GXP 120 60GB
• 1 Plextor PlexWriter 8/20
• 1 Plextor UltraPlex 40
• 1 Floppy disk drive
• 2 80mm Pabst fans (12dB)
• 3Com 905B-TX
• Soundblaster Live 5.1
• Videologic Sirocco speakers
• Nokia 445Pro
• QMS Magicolor2 Desklaser (would also make a great boat anchor)
• Keytronic Ergoforce keyboard USB
• Microsoft optical wheel mouse USB
• CH Products Flight Stick Pro USB
• CH Products Pro Pedals USB
• Antec NeoPower 480
• P4 1,8GHz
• Asus P4B
• 3x 256MB Generic crap SDRAM
• Adaptec 29320
• Asus V9570TD (GeForce 5700 256MB)
• 1 Seagate 15.3 18GB
• 3 IBM GXP 180 60GB
• 1 IBM GXP 120 60GB
• 1 Plextor PlexWriter 8/20
• 1 Plextor UltraPlex 40
• 1 Floppy disk drive
• 2 80mm Pabst fans (12dB)
• 3Com 905B-TX
• Soundblaster Live 5.1
• Videologic Sirocco speakers
• Nokia 445Pro
• QMS Magicolor2 Desklaser (would also make a great boat anchor)
• Keytronic Ergoforce keyboard USB
• Microsoft optical wheel mouse USB
• CH Products Flight Stick Pro USB
• CH Products Pro Pedals USB
Computer Generated Baby
Learning Storage Performance
CougTek said:
I forgot to mention a number of things (as I realised later). Continued from above:
System I
- 3.0 GHz / 800 MHz FSB P4 microprocessor
- 2-each 512 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR DIMMs for a total of 1 GB of RAM
- Acard 2-channel ATA-133 host bus adapter
System II
- 1130 MHz / 133 MHz FSB Pentium III "Tualatin" server microprocessor with 512 MB cache (correction on clockspeed, etc)
- 4-each 128 MB Crucial SDR DIMMs for a total of 512 MB of RAM
- Adaptec FireConnect 4300 Firewire host bus adapter
System III
- 1.2 GHz Mobile Athlon
Groltz
My demeaning user rank is
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Are you absolutely sure about that? I think there's an upset "K" out there that's been screwed by a sneaky "M" while playing the musical chair or something. :wink:Computer Generated Baby said:
Thanks for the the missing info.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Since we're into pictures now, this used to be my system (didn't have the added memory, though). I learned to program on this puppy.
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
Hoolie doolie! That looks like a linotype machine I used to use.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
All right, Buck, go on, keep insulting me.
That's a 1401; the first "real" mainframe for commercial enviroments. It's scientific computing twin was the 1620. The 1401 boasted 16k of magnetic core memory (of which 80 bytes were dedicated to the card read buffer, 80 bytes were dedicated to the card punch buffer, and 132 bytes were dedicated to line-printer buffer). CPU cycle time was a giddy 11 microseconds.
It was the 1401 that led to IBM's dominance. ICL had its 1901 which was much less favored than the 1401. The piles of cash IBM made on the 1401 was put into developing the 360, which was, sadly, just a glorified 1401 (more ram and a wee bit of a faster CPU). After burning their customers and themselves with the 360, IBM went back to the drawing board and came up with a winner - the 370. The rest, as they say, is history.
(Tea's too young to know too much history, but her old man is younger than I am).
That's a 1401; the first "real" mainframe for commercial enviroments. It's scientific computing twin was the 1620. The 1401 boasted 16k of magnetic core memory (of which 80 bytes were dedicated to the card read buffer, 80 bytes were dedicated to the card punch buffer, and 132 bytes were dedicated to line-printer buffer). CPU cycle time was a giddy 11 microseconds.
It was the 1401 that led to IBM's dominance. ICL had its 1901 which was much less favored than the 1401. The piles of cash IBM made on the 1401 was put into developing the 360, which was, sadly, just a glorified 1401 (more ram and a wee bit of a faster CPU). After burning their customers and themselves with the 360, IBM went back to the drawing board and came up with a winner - the 370. The rest, as they say, is history.
(Tea's too young to know too much history, but her old man is younger than I am).
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
Is that from your personal museum mubs? Where is the wax statue of you?