what pc do you normally use

[TheTopher]

First and foremost, anybody who says big brand companies are more reliable than home built machines and are easier to service needs to stop buying cheap parts.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way...

my laptop is an Asus EEEpc 1002HA that serves its purpose quite well. Had it about a year and a half.

My desktop is nothing too special. It's built with a watercooled Intel C2D e7400 processor, Coolermaster PSU, Gigabyte p31 chipset motherboard, eVGA GeForce 9800GT, 4gb of G.Skill DDR2 1066 (WinXP can only read 3.33gb though) an SB Audigy for the sound card, all in a custom modified Lian Li PC61 case.

My real pride and joy though was my old gaming rig, which I sold to a buddy of mine after I stopped having a lot of time for video games. I wanted to see it go to somebody who'd use it.

Bear in mind I built it about three years ago, so most of the parts are outdated by today's standards.


It had a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 g0 revision processor running at 4.1ghz (stock clock, speed was 2.4ghz), 2gb of memory (Quick lesson kiddies, more memory than your system's going to use actually slows it down) OCZ 900watt PSU, a pair of Raptor 74gb 10,000 rpm drives in a RAID0 a BFG Geforce 8800GTS (g92 core, 512mb) video card, an Abit p35 motherboard in a modified Lian-Li PC65B Case. For the cooling system.... I had modified the motherboard by pulling off the heatpipe and replacing the stock TIM with arctic silver ceramique and then replaced the plastic mounting clips with bolts. On the video card I used a Zalman VNF1000 for the core and a custom billet heatsink from petrastechshop.com for the video memory. For the CPU I used a D-tek Fuzion waterblock connected with half inch ID hose to a 3*120mm cooling tower mounted on top of the case, which had the heat drawn out of it by 3 120mm Delta fans pushing a max of 190CFM a piece, all controlled by a custom built rheobus controller from performance-pcs.com For the DVD drive, I pulled the original bezel off the drive and then cut the side flanges off one of the drive bay blanks from the case. Then I mounted it to the end of the drive-tray and added shims to make it rest against the release button. Now you just touch the faceplate and the drive pops out

Here's just a few pictures...man I miss this thing.

When I first built it, it was running a pair of 8800GTS 320mb video cards in SLI, an eVGA 680i motherboard and only had a 550watt Mushkin power supply and the CPU topped out at 3.6ghz

The system put such a load on the power supply that the 12v rail was only putting out 11.03v It was still rock stable (tested via 24 hours of prime95) I eventually switched to the p35 chipset motherboard and gave up SLI in an attempt to raise the CPU clock speed. Between that and the 900w power supply, I finally got it up to its final 4.1ghz

 

[Jaymz9350]

I know I don't need a lightspeed desktop, I DO however need my desktop computer to possess as near the reliability of an Estwing hammer as I can achieve.
and no "handrolled" machine will do that, as well as a purpose built buisness desktop will and you CAN replace the low bidder crap.

Once you replace the lowest bidder crap on an OEM you have basically a "hand rolled PC". Aside from the often cheap motherboards and power supplies they use the same components.

Also the second biggest problem I've had is with the pre-bundled OS. If you wipe that also and do a fresh install without their crap it works great.

So after wiping their crap bloat filled OS and replace their cheap components what exactly makes them more stable or reliable than a "hand rolled system"?

 

[anchorshot]

For my "gaming" machine, I currently have a Intel Xeon Quad Core processor with hyperthreading, 2 nVidia 275's in SLI, Intel Solid State Drive, and 10G of ram.

Then I have a 13" Dell XPS Studio laptop for whatever else I want, and my g/f has the same laptop on 15"

 

[88_Eddie]

i'll dominate ANYONE on here in oregon trail

 

[TheTopher]

i'll dominate ANYONE on here in oregon trail

I challenge, you, sir, to beat me at it on an old Apple IIe

 

[barrys]

Question for JayMZ9350
> Core i5 655k running @ 4.5 ghz (also have an i5 750 still debating on which I like better)
Why do you think you might like the 655 over the 750?
I bought a 650 and was regretting not upgrading to the 750.

 

[Jaymz9350]

Question for JayMZ9350
> Core i5 655k running @ 4.5 ghz (also have an i5 750 still debating on which I like better)
Why do you think you might like the 655 over the 750?
I bought a 650 and was regretting not upgrading to the 750.

Very little that I do needs a quad and I can get higher clocks with less voltage and heat with the 655. Since this is mainly a gaming machine I see little to no benefit from a quad (which ran at 4 Ghz) vs my dual with HT at 4.5 (I know it can go higher just haven't messed with stability testing, it benches at 5.2 on air)

 

[barrys]

> So after wiping their crap bloat filled OS and replace their cheap components what exactly makes them more stable or reliable than a "hand rolled system"?

I've been building my desktop PCs for about 23 years. I finally punted and bought a Dell this time after watching prices for a couple of months on the Dells and the RYO components. The cost was exactly the same -- almost to the dollar. With the Dell, I get a PC with an in-home warranty for a year. With the components I buy, if I zorch any of them during the build I'm on my own. If a component fails and I need warranty service, I have to take the component out, pay to ship it back to the vendor, and sit around for 1-3 weeks without a running computer and wait for them to send me a new one. With the Dell warranty, some very nice dude shows up at my house in one day with new parts and fixes it in my kitchen.

Speaking very generally, the components typically fail quickly or last for at least a few years if not 5-8. Eventually, it just gets too old and slow and parts get harder to find. So, I replace it.

I work with a team of software engineers and we have long conversations on this stuff at lunch. The votes on buy or build run about 50/50. So, there you have it; three paragraphs and no useful information.

 

[shane96ranger]

My first PC was a prebuilt IBM Aptiva with an AMD K6-2 400Mhz processor, 64mb ram, 8mb ATI video card (I think this may have been pre-raedon days), and an 8 GB 5400 rpm ide hard drive. Man was I flyin'!!! I actually still have the computer. It had Windows 98 on it when I got it, but I quickly scrapped that when NT 5 (later dubbed Windows 2000) came out. I also ran this a a dual boot with Linux SuSe on it.

Fast forward to now, and I won't touch a pre-built computer for myself. In the past pre-builts were more stable, but I've never had an issue with anything that wasn't el-cheapo that I've built. I rock ASUS motherboards, AMD processors, ATI video cards, Thermaltake power supplies, and Kingston Ram exclusively. I've only had issues with one ATI video card, but it was one that was previously used and given to me.

I also build and fix computers on the side. And it seems that almost every computer I fix is a pre-built. Most of them are HP brand with desktops and with laptops it's Toshiba or Compaq/HP. Most of them also run Vista......which really makes for a headache. I refuse to own a Vista machine because it is the Edsel of operating systems.

 

[barrys]

I could not agree more on Vista. That's a funny comment... I'm running Win7 on the new one since it was free. I run XP on my others and still love it. On the Win7 machine I run in "classic mode" (for any who don't know, that means make my PC look and feel like it was purchased in 1995).

I also like your taste in component vendors. You can't go wrong with any of those.
I just ended up saving money on the Dell over the cost of components and it's for my wife for whom "styling matters." The Dell was black and shiny and had built in everything including card reader, firewire, eSata, etc. Getting all that in an ASUS MB was not the cheapest one they had, although not that bad. And... it's small and incredibly quiet. I know you could build something as small and quiet. But, I did a lot of research on cases and component fit issues kept popping up on the smaller cases. The alternative was to go to a "micro-atx" mb and those seem to have issues with components hitting each other and even some occasional cooling issues.
So, I punted. It's a full size desktop. If some component craps out I can and will replace it.

I can't believe I'm talking about building PCs on my favorite car forums. But, alas, I don't know shit about cars and at least I used to know a bit about computers.

 

[shane96ranger]

I could not agree more on Vista. That's a funny comment... I'm running Win7 on the new one since it was free. I run XP on my others and still love it. On the Win7 machine I run in "classic mode" (for any who don't know, that means make my PC look and feel like it was purchased in 1995).

I also like your taste in component vendors. You can't go wrong with any of those.
I just ended up saving money on the Dell over the cost of components and it's for my wife for whom "styling matters." The Dell was black and shiny and had built in everything including card reader, firewire, eSata, etc. Getting all that in an ASUS MB was not the cheapest one they had, although not that bad. And... it's small and incredibly quiet. I know you could build something as small and quiet. But, I did a lot of research on cases and component fit issues kept popping up on the smaller cases. The alternative was to go to a "micro-atx" mb and those seem to have issues with components hitting each other and even some occasional cooling issues.
So, I punted. It's a full size desktop. If some component craps out I can and will replace it.

I can't believe I'm talking about building PCs on my favorite car forums. But, alas, I don't know shit about cars and at least I used to know a bit about computers.

Yeah, my wife likes the "cute" stuff too. After we got married she wanted a "cute" Dodge Durango, but I had to put the kibosh on that. It's all good though, she's a great wife. Anyway, mine is a full size board. I want options for expansion......like you say, you don't get that with Micro boards. My case has a lot of stuff in it.....I have 4 HD's in it and two DVD drives (not into blue ray yet).

 

[barrys]

You mean a Fiat Durango?
After 20 years of working on a computer for a living my home computing needs have diminished. To me, it's right up there with a dishwasher... If I needed all the resources you do I would build just like you did -- big case with plenty of big, slow, quiet fans and tons of fun peripherals. I agree that blue-ray is still a little too new. I burn tons of DVDs and I do some video editing -- got a kid and all.
A while back I got into the small form factor stuff and bought two Shuttle XPCs. They have their issues, but they are good at being small. I've been runing one in a file drawer for about 9 years with two monitors on the desk. Everyone comes over and asks, "Where's your computer?" It wants to be upgraded, but most of what that thing does is play DVDs and connect to my office PC with RDC so it's OK that it's slow.
I don't know if I'd want to run a Shuttle nowadays with all the power requirements of new CPUs. But, maybe they're keeping up on that.

P.S. My first PC -- a Columbia "luggable":

They called it a "portable." It weighed about 60 lbs. I used it for about 6 years until my dog peed on it. It had thicker metal than anything on a Ranger except the frame members. On the new Dell, I can bend the case metal almost like clay.

Anyway, back to unhijacking this thread...
I agree with what's being said here. If you want a fast, reliable PC, you're better off building -- preferably with the components from vendors listed above. If you're getting old and lazy like me, I've had decent luck with Dell. I've heard lots of complaints about HP (although I have my own about Dell). If you can afford it and like the UI, then Apple's doing some wonderful stuff. For most people, a stock Mac has all the software you'll ever need for free - preinstalled. Their support is incredible. I'm just too used to Windoze to take the plunge on that.

 

[kd5jnx]

I can build a home brew with 5 year old parts dirt cheap and run Linux circles around *Most* brand new PC's or Macs. I have 7 computers in my house and only my work provided laptop runs Windows. My kids see people using a computer, walk up behind them and say "Ewwww, Windows" if its a Mac they say "Good computer, but you wasted alot of money" LOL, they are both 3rd graders.

My 2 cents which in this economy is worth about half a cent!!!

 

[barrys]

> they are both 3rd graders.
That's the amazing part. My daughter's 4.7 and what she knows already blows my mind.

I run linux a lot at work. If I was worried about the money, I'd be running a linux rig. I used to run a web server at home. "Linux makes every computer fast." I just don't have the time for it anymore.

I have a buddy in NC who's running at least 7 linux boxes and he runs many on new hardware. He's got a 16 camera surveillance system, a VoIP PBX, various media servers and fanless media viewing clients, and a bunch of crap I haven't asked about yet. I've got another buddy who's writing audio resampling software that's maxing out dual quad pentiums. So, I'm trying to push him to move to linux. That's where that OS would really shine. So, in short, linux rules. Almost all commercial servers are running it these days. And the best part? It costs less than 2 cents.

 

[m-jackson]

Hi
My favorite is my old laptop, a OCZ 15" nvidia DIY. an Intel T9300 dual core, nvidia graphic card, 4 gb ram and a seagate momentus 7200rpm 500gb /4gb(wish they had a larger one) flash sata drive. Cold boot is about 30 seconds thanks to the hard drive but I often just hibernate( takes as long but your work is still open). I stay in virtual fedora under fedora most of the time but do sometimes run windows 7 or Sabayon, sometimes even Debian Next one I going back to a smaller display, I believe around 13" would be better for being more portable.