Tell us about your rig...if you dare!

[Gate]

Some computer upgrades are definitely on my christmas list this year.

Currently I have:
1 gig of RAM
90 gigs of hardrive space in-case and a 120 gig external hard drive
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 2.07GHz
ATI Radeon 9600 Atlantis 128MB
Creative Soundblaster Live soundcard
Windows XP Home
And a pair of 19" Dell flatscreen monitors

 

[Draethor]

Athlon 3400+ 64 bit
1.5GB RAM
600GB disk space (25 free )
ATi All in wonder radeon x800 xt
pair of 19" LCDs

Total cost almost a year and a half ago - $450. The video card was almost $300 of that too! Good game circuit city price mistake!

 

[thebiv]

current
AMD athalon 64 3200+
1024mb pc3200 ram
80gb EIDE 7200 rpm HD
BFG 6800gt oc 256 mb ram

Up grading to (thanks to a killer bundle from intel for retailers)

E6300 Core 2 Duo processor
2048 ddr2 pc2 6400
160gb sata 3gb/s 16mb cache HD
x1950xtx video card (great deal from ATI for retailers also)
probably going to end up spending 1000$ after all is said and done

 

[Nnem]

Mine is jsut like thebiv's

As plenty of people probably are, I plan on upgrading around next Spring/Summer

 

[PrestoAdam]

Friday of last week the computer gods were kind to me, and my new rig, which I have been waiting on for over 6 months, came in.

Why waiting? Because AMD would not come out with a processor equivalent to the Intel Core 2 Duo, but in the socket AM2 flavor.

So, without further adieu...

Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 on an ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium
4GB 800MHz DDRII
750W PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 EPS12V
Antec P180 Sound Dampening Chassis
Dual nVidia 7800GTX (256) in SLI
Dual 10k rpm 80GB drives in a RAID stripe (3 partitions: WinXP, WinVista, Games)
Dual 7200 rpm 300GB drives in a RAID mirror (data)
X-Fi Audio

Ok, now the interesting part...

The SLI boards have one external DVI-VGA connector that connects to a Matrox TripleHead2Go. This is then connected to three LCDs. Using this technique, I 3D accelerate with 2 GPUs across 3 screens. My Windows resolution is 3840x1024x32.

Over the weekend, I got the three screens working with Serious Sam II, X3 (stunning), Planetside, Railroads!, Darkstar One, and Neverwinter Nights.

I was surprised at how cleanly this whole rig worked. Usually I have to fight new machines to make them happy. So far, this one I have not.

 

[cordy_CinVin]

Presto gratz on finally getting your new system up and going. I'm still running 2 vx922's and have been thinking about going the route you did with the triplehead2go. Now that you have given some feedback I think i'll be more apt to purchase it.

 

[HJ-Navarre]

*Returns Cordy's machine and steals Presto's instead*

Very nice setup, Presto.
4GB. Yum.
4GB is the new 2GB, it seems.

Did you install the games on the Vista partition? If so, how are games on Vista? The 'release' version was available for download for MSDN subscribers on Friday. I have it DL'd/burned, but I haven't tried to install it yet. Can't wait.

I read the triplehead2go was analog only, no DVI. Is that right? Ick, if so.

 

[Javewa]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my rig bit by bit.

Pentium 4 651 3,4 Ghz @ 4Ghz
Asrock 775Dual-VSTA Mobo (Cheap, I know. Only a temporary solution)
ASUS GeForce 6600 (Will upgrade to an 8800 for DX10 when Vista comes out)
1.0 GB DDR400 RAM (Upgrade to 2 GB DDR2 800Mhz soon)
2x 160 GB IDE HDD + 1x 70 GB SATA 10k rpm HDD for OS, Page File, Temp, etc.
2x modded 19" Yakumo TFTs (couldn't live without two)
External Samsung WriteMaster 16x DVD-R
Modded Logitech DiNovo Keyboard & -Pad
Wacom Intous 3 A4 Graphic Tablet
MS Intellipoint Explorer 2.0 (slowly fading, getting a Logitech MX Revolution as soon as they become affordable (>50 EUR).
Running WinXP Prof x64 SP1

The fun part about the Dual MoBo is the possibilty to run both, an AGP and PCI-Ex VGA simultanously, allowing 4 Screens.

 

[Homeslice513]

Friday of last week the computer gods were kind to me, and my new rig, which I have been waiting on for over 6 months, came in.

Why waiting? Because AMD would not come out with a processor equivalent to the Intel Core 2 Duo, but in the socket AM2 flavor.

So, without further adieu...

Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 on an ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium
4GB 800MHz DDRII
750W PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 EPS12V
Antec P180 Sound Dampening Chassis
Dual nVidia 7800GTX (256) in SLI
Dual 10k rpm 80GB drives in a RAID stripe (3 partitions: WinXP, WinVista, Games)
Dual 7200 rpm 300GB drives in a RAID mirror (data)
X-Fi Audio

Ok, now the interesting part...

The SLI boards have one external DVI-VGA connector that connects to a Matrox TripleHead2Go. This is then connected to three LCDs. Using this technique, I 3D accelerate with 2 GPUs across 3 screens. My Windows resolution is 3840x1024x32.

Over the weekend, I got the three screens working with Serious Sam II, X3 (stunning), Planetside, Railroads!, Darkstar One, and Neverwinter Nights.

I was surprised at how cleanly this whole rig worked. Usually I have to fight new machines to make them happy. So far, this one I have not.

I want to have your babies!!!!

 

[PrestoAdam]

*Returns Cordy's machine and steals Presto's instead*

Very nice setup, Presto.
4GB. Yum.
4GB is the new 2GB, it seems.

Did you install the games on the Vista partition? If so, how are games on Vista? The 'release' version was available for download for MSDN subscribers on Friday. I have it DL'd/burned, but I haven't tried to install it yet. Can't wait.

I read the triplehead2go was analog only, no DVI. Is that right? Ick, if so.

Thanks all for the compliments. I am very pleased to be a playa again!

Agreed, 4GB is becoming more common, though if you look at the Windows resource meter, it only shows 3GB (under Vista as well). Under 64-bit XP and Vista, you see it all.

I have not gamed on the Vista partition yet. Drivers for the mobo and the SLI setup are not available. I will keep you posted.

Yes, the TripleHead2Go is purely analog. It comes with a DVI-VGA cable for conversion purposes. If you saw the output, I doubt you would be disappointed.

This is actually my second triple screen system. Matrox first came out with the Parhelia-512 in 2002. That was an amazing card for its time, and I spent months in Planetside beta and SWG beta, three screened.

If anyone is considering multiple screens, here are some things to consider. First, you can put as many vid cards in your rig as you like, but only one frame buffer can be used for 3D acceleration at a time. This is why SLI is so nice, because you symmetrically use the GPUs AND the frame buffer of the two cards (oh yeah, the TripleHead2Go will NOT work with ATI crossfire). Also, odd numbers of screens are better than even, because even numbers always have a gap right in the middle. 1, 3, 5, etc always have a screen in the middle. Also, remember that when purchasing your screens for this type of setup, it is better, imo, to go with 4:3 aspect ratio vs 16:9. The reason is that 4:3 gives more square footage than 16:9 of equivalent diagonal length. The TripleHead2Go supports both types however.

Sometime next year I will go quad GPU, which is why I put the 750W p/s in the rig.

 

[Nnem]

As I clean my keyboard because of excessive drooling....


As anyone ever heard of the Killer NIC?

HugeDomains.com

Supposed to be a great NIC. Works the same way vid cards do with their GPUs. It has a NPU. It is pretty pricey though...something like $250.

The little testing that has been done with it, seems to be pretty promising. Im just not sure if I can bring myself to paying that much for a NIC...

 

[HJ-Navarre]

Sometime next year I will go quad GPU, which is why I put the 750W p/s in the rig.

Geez... Will 750w even be enough for 4? Might have to up to 1KW
*All the lights in the city dim for a moment as Presto powers up his new rig*

 

[blur]

We'll go beyond quad in 2007

 

[PrestoAdam]

Blur, sounds like you have inside information.

I was wondering, do you think we'll see multiple core GPUs anytime soon?

 

[blur]

Blur, sounds like you have inside information.

Well I was talking to the GM of a local box builder and he was abolutely adamant that we'll go past quad next year. It seemed too soon, to me, but he was absolutely adamant. So we'll see.

I was wondering, do you think we'll see multiple core GPUs anytime soon?

I have no solid information on that. It would seem a no-brainer, though... especially with all these GPU makers getting tied into chip vendors...

 

[cordy_CinVin]

Blur, sounds like you have inside information.

I was wondering, do you think we'll see multiple core GPUs anytime soon?

More then likely you'll see them within the first few months after vista goes gold. Well even though it is tech gold now but im meaning when its released to the public.

I'll link some articles after work that leads me to this conclusion.

 

[HJ-Navarre]

I have not gamed on the Vista partition yet. Drivers for the mobo and the SLI setup are not available. I will keep you posted.

I installed the release version of Windows Vista Ultimate edition (x86) today at work and at home. I did an upgrade from XP Pro on both machines and it worked w/o any hardware, networking, or even any major application problems. I did need to update a few drivers.. Nvidia, for one.

Vista has some great new features and I love the new Aero UI as well.
I had an issue where, when I launched Trillian, it would revert from the Aero UI to the Basic UI. Aparently I just needed to, oddly enough, upgrade Quicktime. (well.. Quicktime codecs for KLite Mega Codec Pack, actually)

Unfortunately, my gaming mouse (Razer Copperhead) does not currently have any drivers for Vista. I am going to call Razer tomorrow at first light and give 'em hell. X-( I basically can't play 'any' games until I resolve this issue. Even with my mouse movement speed maxed in windows, it moves super slow in game. Windows won't recognize mouse buttons 4,5,6,or 7 either. Blorch. :-L

Anyway... I have been avoiding beta versions of Vista, so this is my first look. I was expecting a 'ho hum' new experience, like going from Win95 to Win98, but this is definitely a big leap for MS. At least as big as going from 3.1 to 95.

 

[Nnem]

What do you use your computer at work for?

Alot of people inmy school (including myself) have put vista on our lappys and have had a TERRIBLE time trying to develop in Visual Studio

Plus as of now, I think Vista just eats up resources because it can, it needs to do something

 

[Llillith]

My new system just arrived!

State of the art, it so totally rocks!

Read and weep.....eat your hearts out!

Motherboard - Cedar plank....that is red cedar by the way!

Monitor - Refurbished Etch-A-Sketch (the 9 inch one!)

Keyboard - Plundered from an IBM Selectric

Mouse - Thanks to my old tom cat, Buford, I got one that isn't (too) badly mangled.

Video card - 3 very imaginative chimps fighting over the two knobs (see monitor above)

RAM - 1! But it is a very nice one, only used briefly during the seige of Castle Montagne in southern France in the late 16th century.

Sound card - Comb and tissue (I upgraded to the Charmin and it doesn't require speakers!)

Hard drive - Recycled 78 phonograph. Read only but hey, I never save anything anyways.

Network adapter - Western Union telegraph set. (8 bits a minute! Woohoo!)

Power Supply - DUAL Hamster wheels.


EQ2 still runs a bit chunky and I may have to add more chimps since the anti-aliasing is not quite up to par, but it only takes up a small part of my office (okay, the wife made me keep the RAM outside because it smelled) and it uses no electricity.

 

[HJ-Navarre]

What do you use your computer at work for?

Alot of people inmy school (including myself) have put vista on our lappys and have had a TERRIBLE time trying to develop in Visual Studio

Plus as of now, I think Vista just eats up resources because it can, it needs to do something

I do develop on that machine, but I am aware of the issues with VS 2005 and SQL 2005. Fortunately, I have a lots of other dev machines on different OSs to keep me going in the event of a Vista/VS hiccup.

I have had a couple of other driver issues since I last posted. Nothing major. I think MS cried wolf for so long about setting a firm Vista release date that no software houses actually believed this time would be the 'real deal.' Now everyone has to scramble to get new drivers out.