[OT] I got a new computer!

[SurfMonkey01]

W00T!!! This has been a long time coming, buddy! I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging or anything, but goddammit, am I happy! 2.26 GHz, 256 MB of RAM, 80 GB hard drive, 250 MB Zip Drive, 40x CD-Burner, 16x DVD-ROM, 64 MB GeForce 4 Ti4200, 19-inch flat-screen monitor, Windows XP Pro... and the first thing I'm gonna do after work today is go buy Neverwinter Nights

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Congratulations!

It looks like a nice set-up!

I hope you enjoy NWN.

FD

 

[Kibo]

when ya gotta go ya gotta go

Not to rain on your parade, cause I wish ya the best of luck in all your computational endevors.

But I am a little curious as to what caused you to buy now considering the new generation of 3d chips just around the corner, how serial ata is comming on, and the near arrival of agp 8x.

You didn't buy at the ultra high end, but certainly in the case of serial ata, and at least having the option of 8x agp must have been a consideration.

(For my part I'm waiting to upgrade partly due to these factor, and I really want to be able to easily make a nice tivo-essque capable computer. Which doesn't seem quite feasible yet. Maybe with gig ethernet so I can do network storage later.)

 

[Leopold]

i'm holding off my next major computer upgrade until serial ATA and U320 SCSI come down a bit in price. That and AGP 8X combined with a dual AMD board with USB 2.0 is what i want..that'll be enough to hold me off fer a while...

 

[SurfMonkey01]

Well, look at it like this... my old machine was a 600 Mhz, 256 MB of RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive, 4x Cd-burner, 8x DVD-ROM, Voodoo 3 3500... barely even mediocre by today's standards. So I needed a new machine like a year ago. And yeah, I could have waited for all the nifty newness, but all of that would have made the machine cost a lot more than what I paid for this new one, and a WHOLE lot more than what I've got. As it stands, I had a hard enough time reigning in my excessive tendancies... if I waited for the new stuff, it would have been a million times worse....

 

[Tharkun]

I have a 20GB HD too but you know it can be very quickly eaten up if you never compress anything!

That's why I use OGG Vorbis instead of MP3s, PNG instead of GIF and 7zip instead of ZIP. I also tend to load up on the games too I had almost 200 games at one point!!

 

[Psionicist]

Why do you want AGP 8x, really? Not even TI4600 or the new ATI chipsets need the bandwidth. 4x is more than enough.

And regarding U320 SCSI, you realize you need PCI-X slots to use all the bandwidth right? Not 64 bit slots, but PCI-X slots. REAL full-length stuff, found only on server motherboard, not workstation dual-MP boards but real server motherboards (www.supermicro.com anyone?). And they are EXPANSIVE. Not $250 dollers, more in the $700-5000 range.

If you really want low access time, get a board with 64-bit/66mhz PCI slots, as the Tyan Tiger MPX or MSI K7D Master-L for Athlon MP, and an U160 SCSI RAID card, preferable from LSI, much better than overpriced adaptec adapters. The "made in USA" sticker is not worth hundreds of dollars. A SCSI-RAID card and two 15k RPM Cheetahs are very fast, and expansive. Probably around $600 new.

There you have it.

 

[Mark]

Congrats!

... and the first thing I'm gonna do after work today is go buy Neverwinter Nights

See you in September!