what pc do you normally use

[Jaymz9350]

Just because your homerolled pride & joy seems stable doesn't mean it is...

How many times have you had a minor "clitch" that went away when you closed all your applications and rebooted?

I've gone MONTHS without rebooting. (or shutting down!)

THAT is stable.

The only time my PC is shut down or rebooted is for updates that require it so I'd say I'm pretty stable and that's even running quite abit over stock speeds.

You DO NOT need a cutting edge lightspeed computer to post here on TRS, surf ebay or rip and compress audio files off that new Disturbed CD
(presuming like me you still insist that music you buy comes as a physical artifact)


AD

Never said you need a cutting edge computer for internet and such, but you can build a basic computer too, not just a power house.

I do use the power of the PC's I build for gaming and video encoding and some photoshop. Mainly the gaming part is why I build my own, Have you ever seen the outrageous prices people pay for a prebuilt gaming rig?

BTW, the big manufacturs buy their MoBo's from Asus, Gigabyte and Intel too... my likely next computer is an HP D5000T and that MoBo is actually mfg'd by Asus, but since the MoBo identifies itself as an HP I can get
drivers, firmware and BIOS updates from HP...

AD

They are also built to the OEM's specs and price point. Even the top tier manufactures make lowend cheap crap (for example the cheap wal-mart computers you mentioned) and I know they make the majority of boards for all OEM's, doesn't mean they are good.



I'm not trying to argue there isn't a place for pre-built PC's, but I definitely do not see them as better or more stable than a custom build made with known quality parts.

 

[AllanD]

the thing is with the used buisness desktop market by the time they become common on the used market pretty much everyone knows what is good and what is crap.

Remember the Dell GX280's and 8400 desktops with the bad capacitors?
that made these computers (halfway descent P4's in their day)
the Audi 5000 of the desktop computer world, the ones that had
their caps replaced are fine, but still nobody will touch them...

Generally speaking if a buisness desktop has any bugs letting 50,000 of them run 24/7/365 in the corporate world pretty much flushes out those bugs....

thus my current desktops one HP dc7600 and another dc7800

the D5000T I'm getting has a Q9450 in it already.

AD

 

[barrys]

Another issue to consider with the used corp desktops -- especially in the recent economic environment -- is age. Our company employs thousands of people and we have a policy of "refreshing" desktops every two or three years. If it's still under service contract (see posting above on this), then it might be re-purposed. If the service contract is over, it does indeed go to the recyler who will sell it off for a song.
So, let's say you buy a 3-4 year old PC for $100.00. If you're going to run linux on it, then it's like scoring an old running Ranger for $800.00. But, if you want to try to run any reasonably new version of Windows with modern software that does anything interesting (build code, work on pics or videos, music editing), you're wasting your money when something like 500-700 will buy you a state of the art box that should last you 4-6 years.

 

[barrys]

OK, double posting because I'm bored and can't help myself...
I have all these long talks about PCs with engineers who I really do respect. After that last post I anticipate about 20 replies talking about how much Windows sucks or Mac is better or Linux blows them both away... To me, they're all correct.

Before buying a PC, you must ask: WTF am I going to do with this thing?

It's just like a car. I love my Ranger and I can't fit a family in it. I love our Honda CR-V and I can't put mulch or rock in it.

Now for my opinions that people can throw rocks at:
Linux is hands down the best OS platform for a server that the user interacts with rarely and which is dedicated to a few applications -- usually networking centric -- like serving up web pages, email, security monitoring, etc. It's the Ranger.

Mac has the best design, the most intuitive user interface for new users, and fantastic support. It doesn't have a very broad software application market although that's getting better. It's the Mercedes.

Windows is the best all around desktop platform which is a nice medium between linux and Mac. You can run server apps on it although they run like slugs compared to linux. It's got the broadest application offering in the industry. And, it's the cheapeast platform that meets all those criteria. Let's call that the "Buick." And, as we all see on all those TV commercials, Buicks are getting nicer these days. Even though they're still Buicks.

 

[ragajungle]

Dell latitude 620 (for work)
Toshiba Quisimo (for home)

 

[Hahnsb2]

My "lightning fast unstable gaming machine" that I built

I've also got a HP laptop that I use mainly to tune my truck.

 

[barrys]

The gaming machine looks rad.

>I've also got a HP laptop that I use mainly to tune my truck.
How or where can I start learning more about this? Do you use SCT Tuner products or PC software that can speak OBD II/CAN?

 

[Hahnsb2]

The gaming machine looks rad.

>I've also got a HP laptop that I use mainly to tune my truck.
How or where can I start learning more about this? Do you use SCT Tuner products or PC software that can speak OBD II/CAN?

My truck runs on Megasquirt.

 

[AllanD]

My "lightning fast unstable gaming machine" that I built

I've also got a HP laptop that I use mainly to tune my truck.

I'm willing to bet my computer that you spent more on the CPU than I have in my ENTIRE computer (less my data drives)
Likely you spend more on that water cooling system (or case) than I have in my system

Your machine looks "snazzy" but unless it also makes cappucino...

Or Moonshine?...



AD

 

[Jaymz9350]

I'm willing to bet my computer that you spent more on the CPU than I have in my ENTIRE computer (less my data drives)
Likely you spend more on that water cooling system (or case) than I have in my system

Your machine looks "snazzy" but unless it also makes cappucino...

Or Moonshine?...



AD

And the point? I'll also bet it does 90% of tasks faster than yours as well, hence the price premium. I know my Video card alone cost more than my moms tower (which was purchased new) and I also know that tower can't do what I use a PC for very well or at all. It's great for her but not me.

 

[Hahnsb2]

I'm willing to bet my computer that you spent more on the CPU than I have in my ENTIRE computer (less my data drives)
Likely you spend more on that water cooling system (or case) than I have in my system

Your machine looks "snazzy" but unless it also makes cappucino...

Or Moonshine?...



AD

The CPU, a QX9650 ($1250 at the time), is courtesy of Intel

A lot of the parts were prizes or gifts but I have spent a lot of money on it myself, just like my vehicles, it's hobby and it's fun

As of now I'm a couple generations behind on my CPU and GPU but it still plays anything I can throw at it, and I've got 2.32TB of storage for my media as well. It's not just my computer, it's my gaming machine, TV and movie theater too

 

[AllanD]

And the point? I'll also bet it does 90% of tasks faster than yours as well, hence the price premium. I know my Video card alone cost more than my moms tower (which was purchased new) and I also know that tower can't do what I use a PC for very well or at all. It's great for her but not me.

My computer does all I need and want it to do probably as fast as yours would, because most of what I do wouldn't run any faster anyway...

Gamers will spend thousands to reduce latency by a few microseconds.

what games I have will run fine on any prescott P4

Basically a Ferrari won't get you to work in urban rush-hour traffic than a pinto with a missing spark wire and a slipping transmission would.

 

[Jaymz9350]

You just restated my point, it does everything you need it to do and that's great for you. I know 95% of the games I play won't play on any P4 (at least not playable if at all) and any video card that will be of any use on a P4 system won't work either.

You are right with your Ferrari analogy but the problem is gaming on a PC isn't like urban rush hour traffic where extra performance is wasted, it's more like a race track where it can be used.

 

[Hahnsb2]

Try playing Rigs of Rods on your P4. It can even bring my CPU to it's knees at times at it's current 3.8GHz clock..

I spent too long when I was younger trying to play games at crappy detail levels and low resolutions and still getting crappy framerates, no more! Crysis, GTA4, Black Ops, MW2, BC2, you name it, my computer will run it without batting an eye. And actually, while my Computer will run GTA4 at graphic levels better than a console, it has even higher graphic levels my computer isn't capable of, when they made the game they made it so there wouldn't be anything that could run it at max settings for a year or two. GTA4 is the only game I can think of that I cannot run at max settings.

Other than the CPU (which I didn't even buy, the original was an E6550), all the hardware is pretty modest by today's and even then's standards. 4GB of Patriot Viper RAM (not pictured, previously 2GB of Patriot), a pretty cheap yet very overclockable Gigabyte board, Nvidia GTX260 216 core, before that I had 2 8800GTs in SLI and before that I started off with a 7600GT. And until less than a year ago I was running XP home, I got a copy of Windows 7 Pro 64bit from a friend who got free copies from his college and I love it so far!

 

[cdawall]

My apparantly unstable htpc is my main

Intel core i3 560 (prerelease es version) clocked to 4.5ish
Gigabyte h55n-usb3
2x2gb gskill ripjaws 2000cl9 (have the tridents too hs is to tall for case)
2x1tb samsung 7200rpm f3
Zotac eco 9800gt 512mb
Corsair watercooling (best I could do for mini itx)
Windows 7 64bit

That ones been up 24/7 for a few months now just restarting on occasion for driver install etc.

My cad rig

Phenom x6 1090t@4.5ghz
Custom watercooled
Asus m4a78t-e
2x4850x2 2gb
2x2gb d9jnm@2000cl7
32gb supertalent ssd
320gb seagate 2.5"

That one I shut down when I'm done it sucks a bit of juice down so its just cheaper that way. Its not unstable. In autodesk inventor or maya 3d so if that won't kill it no idea what will.


Some stuff that's still running that was built not bought

Wifes folks pc

Athlon 64 3000+ @2.4ghz (venice cored)
Dfi infinity nf4
4x512mb samsung tccd/tccc@450 3-4-3-9 2t
Bfg 8400gs 512mb ddr2
80gb+160gb drives (ide carryover)

That's been up 3 years now almost 24/7/365 shut off for updates or power outs