Building computers

scope

Cadet
I will be the first one to say this, I am a computer geek. I have sat in front of a computer longer in one week than most people spend in a year. About 4 years ago I built my first computer. It was really crappy now days but back then it was the bomb. i had a gig of sdram (back when most computers where running only 32 or 64) i had a 30gb hd, a 1ghz processor. 24x lite-on burner. I have since built on to this computer first getting a better mobo, then switching from sdram to ddr, to a new processor, a first gen dvd burner (by the way it sucked bad), dual 80gb hds, another new mobo, more ram, new video card. well just say i have spent in the past 4 years just around 7grand on my computer. so here are my specs as of today.

gigabyte 7vaxp mobo
amd athlon xp 1800+
1gb reg ecc ddr micron ram
128mb ati 9600 video card
8x double layer lite-on dvd +/- r/rw drive
52x24x52 lite-on cd-rw
dual 80gb wd se (raided - strap)
ati tv wonder ve

i do have a back up computer at home that is better than most peoples computers
is missing a processor right now since it had died but it was running a 1ghz with 512ddr with a msi mobo with a geforce 4 mx.

if anyone else has built their computer post their specs here. I know im not the only nerd out there that has built their own computer.
 
My specs as of today:

A7N8X-D mobo
Athlon 2700+ XP
3 GB PC3200 RAM
128 MB ATI 9000 AIW
4x DVD +/- r/rw burner (jumped on the bandwagon a ittle early and missed the dual layer)
52x24x52 lite-on cd-rw
4 X 250 GB WD Caviar SE (RAID5)
1 160 GB UDMA Maxtor
1 200 GB Seagate Drive (courtesy of the Labor day sale at fry's)
ATI HDTV Tuner
Antec 550 Watt ATX12V power supply
 
so want to get another job so i can upgrade. i need to get a faster processor but since the 64's are out im just going to buy one of those and get new gigabyte mobo. so hows the 3gbs of ram going? i just got my other stick of 512 working on ecc and i cant see the need for more than a gb. well maybe for ripping and encoding to make it faster. do you like the 250 se's? i need to so get something bigger than my 80's but yeah me being poor i cant. i so miss my pell checks for 1800 a sem.
oh to the dual layer thing. i got mine for only $6 more than the non dual layer, but the media is so $$$ that i am sticking to my 4x tdk -r disc's for now. i think newegg had like one double(dual) layer for 21 something. for that price i'll just go buy the dvd and not waste my time ripping.
 
The drives are nice.. I'm not really using them in a performance oriented way. They are just there to archive all the TV shows and DVDs I keep on my computer. I'm in the process of ripping S1 and 2 of Alias so I can put it on my drive. It'll also come in handy when I start HD Tivoing Alias S4. It takes about 4 GB of drive space per hour of HD. So Alias being about 42 minutes without the commercials, it'll be like 3 GB per episodes. 22 episodes translate to 66 GB. Having some double sided DVDs will help. I'll need 11 discs to archive the entire season. Or maybe I'll recompress it, and be able to fit 3 episodes per disc. That way, I can squeeze it on 8 discs.

The RAM is nice too. The only reason I have an obscene amount of RAM is that A) I run lots of server software for work, and B) I do some digital video editing since I have a digicam.
 
Back
Top