Show off your Computer System (Pictures & Specs)

[firstadopter]

Share your computer rig!

I gots:

ASUS P4PE motherboard
1gig of RAM
ATI 9700 videocard
Dell 2001fp flat panel LCD
Antec Case
on-board audio (need to upgrade this)

[firstadopter]

Doh.. forgot to mention 2.66ghz Intel P4 processor.

[firstadopter]

I also gots an old HP scanner and a Treo 600.

[CAG]

Here are my home rigs:

Dell Dimension 8300 l P4 2.6C w/ HT Enabled l 1024MB DDR SDRAM l ATi Radeon 9800 l 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM HD l 16X DVD-ROM l 48X/24X/48X CD-RW l Dell UltraSharp 2001FP & 1702FP LCD's l Logitech Elite Keyboard l Logitech MX700 Optical Wireless Mouse l Logitech Z-340 2.1 Speakers l Logitech Freedom 2.4 Cordless Joystick l XP Home SP1

Sager NP5660 l 15" UXGA LCD l P4 2.4 GHz 533MHz FSB l 1024MB 266MHz DDR RAM l 64MB ATi Mobility Radeon 9000 l Logitech Cordless TrackMan Wheel Mouse l Logitech Extreme Digital 3D Joystick l XP Home SP1

Please, no flames about the Dell.

[firstadopter]

Dells are excellent machines for the price and quality, especially since you don't have to grow through the headaches of building them.

They generally use high quality parts, the only reason I build mine are I like to use quiet "fan less" parts, I'm becoming an old fogey where quietness is more important than performance.

[CAG]

They can be noisey...especially, of all things, the CD burner. When it ramps up, it sounds like a fighter jet. It'll be gone soon...replacing it with the Plextor PX-708A DVD burner.

[firstadopter]

I've owned a half dozen CD roms in my lifetime, I'd say 75% of them sounded like fighter jets. Maybe I'm just not installing them correctly in the PC case.

[CAG]

Then Dell must be installing them the same way you do.

[firstadopter]

LOL. That was funny.

[TheAngryIntern]

Mine's home built:

P4 3.2 northwood
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
2 GB Geil Golden Dragon PC3200 Dual Channel DDR
2x 74 GB Western Digital Raptors in RAID 0
1x 120 GB Seagate SATA
Plexy Plexwriter Premium
Plexy PX708A
Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS
ATI Radeon 9800XT
PC Power and Cooling TurboCool 510 deluxe Power Supply
Antec P-160 Case w/ side window
Thermalright SP94 heatpipe heatsink
Sony E540 21" CRT (hopefully will be upgrading to the 2001FP soon!!)

-TAI

[firstadopter]

Sheesh man that's the nicest system I've seen. Except for your monitor! lol ;)

[MailManX]

Bummer. Posting after TAI is a letdown. But at least I included pictures! I've owned computers for years, but this is the first one I've actually built:

Aspire X-SuperAlien case with 500W modded PS
MSI 865PE NEO2-FIS2R Mobo
Intel P4 2.6 Northwood (800MHz FSB)
512Mb Corsair TwinX3200LL Memory
MSI GeForceFX 5900XT Video Card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Sonigistix Monsoon Planar Media 9 desk speakers
LiteOn 52X24X52 CDRW
Hitachi Generic 40X DVD ROM
Intellimouse Explorer 3.0
Really old POS keyboard
DELL 2001FP!!! Yeah, Baby!

Here are pics:
http://www.preyerplanning.com/computer/mycomputer.htm

Cheers!
Michael

[TheAngryIntern]

Thanks guys....I did forget to mention my speakers....got the last generation Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's.....they rock. It sucks living in an apartment, cuz I can't use them to their full potential.

I think I'm finally to the point where I won't need to upgrade for some time...except for getting the 2001FP, of course!!!! After i get that, then it will mean more monies for games. Speaking of that, and I know this is way off topic, but is anyone else as excited about City of Heroes as I am??? I think this game is gonna kick some major butt. Any thoughts???

[firstadopter]

That's a pretty sweet looking case Michael. I think for my next home built PC I'll get a case with similar pizazzz.

[Deletion]

I've held off from upgrading so my systems are a tad old, but I'll be building a new main rig soon.

*WSONE* (main rig)
Intel P3 1.2GHz Tualatin
Thermalright SK-6
Vantec Stealth SF6025L
Asus TUSL2-C
(2x) 256MB Mushkin HI PERF REV3+ PC133
C/D/E/F: WD 120GB 1200JB
G: WD 120GB 1200JB
J/K/L/M: Acomdata multi-Flash! MF6
S: Lite-On 48x12x48 LTR-48125W Black
T: Toshiba 16x DVD SD-M1502 Black
FDD: Samsung 3.5" SFD321B/KEB Black
Matrox Millennium G450 32MB DualHead
Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II
Promise Ultra100
Intel Pro/100 S
Cooler Master ATC-201C SX1
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510
(2x) Enermax Thermal Control 80mm
(2x) YS Tech 80mm
Windows 2000 Pro SP4
Logitech Cordless iTouch
Logitech MX300
fUnc sUrface 1030 Black
19" Viewsonic P95f
17" iiyama i70A
Cambridge Audio A500 65Wpc integrated amp
NHT SuperOnes

*JOKERONE* (gaming rig)
AMD Athlon XP 2000+/1.67GHz
Thermalright AX-7
Vantec Stealth SF8025L
Asus A7N266-C
(2x) 256MB Crucial PC2100 DDR SDRAM CT3264Z265
Super Flower SF-201T
Enermax EG465P-VE(FC) 431W
(2x) Blue Cold Cathode Lights
C/D: WD 80GB 800JB
E: Seagate 60GB ST360021A
T: Lite-On 16x DVD LTD-163 Black
FDD: Teac 3.5" FD235HFA429 Black
Gainward GeForce3 Ti200 64MB
Hercules Game Theater XP
Linksys LNE100TX v5.1
Windows XP Home SP1a
Logitech Elite Keyboard
Logitech MX300
19" Samsung 900NF
Logitech Z-560
MS SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel
Belkin Nostromo N45

*DELL INSPIRON 4100*
Intel P3-M 1.13GHz
14.1" SXGA+
nVidia GeForce2 Go 32MB
512MB Crucial PC133 SDRAM CT235658
Hitachi 30GB
Modular 8X DVD-ROM
Modular 3.5" Floppy Drive
Linksys WPC11
Integrated NIC
Internal 56K Modem
(2x) 59WHr Li-Ion Battery
Iridescent Jade Inserts
Windows XP Home SP1a

OTHER EQUIPMENT:
Linksys BEFW11S4 v.2 wireless 4-port router
Linksys BEFCMU10 cable modem

HP LaserJet 5L Xtra
Epson Stylus Photo 780
Epson Perfection 1240U Photo

Whew ;)

[firstadopter]

Wow nice setups man. How does the Cambridge Audio amp sound with the PC?

[Deletion]

Thanks. The system (Fortissimo II, A500, SuperOnes) as a whole sounds great. CDs, mp3s and even FM radio sound great. There's a fullness to the sound that most computer speakers can't quite match. Granted the SuperOnes don't have the bass of say a good Logitech or Klipsch sub/sat set, but they excel at the frequencies they do produce.

I got a great deal on the A500. I bought it on clearance from www.audioadvisor.com for a little over $200 in 2002; IIRC, a new unit was $350 at the time. It was listed as a demo model, but I found no marks, dings or even any oxidation on the connectors.

[schleifnet]

three laptops:

tandy 2600?
2600 baud(yes thanks right just baud) modem with acoutic coupler(mmm text scroll internet bbs!)
about 64 kb of memory

tandy 400
600 baud modem
not real os about 16 kb of memory

neither of the above has a drive and both are from teh early 80s and still work

dell inspiron 4000
10 gig
256 meg memory
standard video etc
broken keyboard
dvd/cd rom
(sux am waiting for 4000 to buy a real computer... a mac)
pent 700

dell pent 133
64 meg o mem
1.5 gig hdd
standard hd
win 98 works great even over ethernet

original imac

yup i have the best setup there is

aren't you envious!

[firstadopter]

hehe imacs are cool too. I have one also. I love how quiet they are and the screen quality is top notch.

[firstadopter]

Post pictures of your computer setup to show off in this thread.

(Note: we have a 500k file size limit if you upload unto the forum. There is no limit if you host the picture yourself)

[TheAngryIntern]

This is a closeup of my cpu tower

[firstadopter]

That's one sweet looking PC man. THREE hard drives??? Major data collector I see. :)

[TheAngryIntern]

Thanks, man....top two are a pair of 74 GB Western Digital Raptors 10k rpm SATA in RAID 0, bottom one is a seagate 120 GB SATA.

[CAG]

TAI,

I read your system specs in another thread...you can't get much more top-of-the-line than your rig.

Anyway, does anybody really want me to upload a pic of my Dell Dimension 8300?...I thought not.

[MailManX]

CAG, you answered yourself too quickly. I DO want to see your Dell Dimension 8300! I want pictures from several angles as well as inside.

Michael

[CAG]

Well, I actually have two 8300's (got one for my son last week) so I'll show you both. Mine is here http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_8300?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=viewstab#tabtop and my son's is here http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_8300?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=viewstab#tabtop I'd like to thank my friend, Mike Dell, for hosting these.

[TheAngryIntern]

lol

[MailManX]

My wish is fulfulled. You da man!

[CAG]

Originally posted by MailManX
My wish is fulfulled. You da man!

I thought the pics were quite good...none of that home office clutter in the background to distract the viewer from the 8300's look of raw power.

[arogan]

I picked up a Raidmax Scorpio Case at Fry's for only $30 so I decided to do my first light mod. This was my first attempt at building anything but a plain beige box so be gentle:

Parts list (this was a minor upgrade to an existing system):
abit nf7-s
athlon 2600 xp mobile (going to oc to at least 200X12)
thermalright slk-947u with panaflo 92mm fan
antec true blue 480w (has 2 blue led fans in it)
raidmax scorpio case
1 X multicolor LED 80mm fan on the side
4X red quad LED 80mm fans in the front
2X green firework LED fans on the back
Blue acrylic led case feet
2X blue lazer LED clusters mounted below the window
dancing LED light kit mounted lower back
250gig WD running on SATA using a converter
16X liteon dvdrom reader
52X liteon cdrom burner
2X512mb corsair matched pair

I didn't go cold cathode because I hear though the lights themselves are cool the inverters that power them generate quite a bit of heat.

[arogan]

Front shot:

[arogan]

Back shot:

[CAG]

Very cool, arogan :cool:...really nice job! :)

[firstadopter]

Nice shots Arogan, it looks like a spaceship lifting off on 4 rockets. :)

[paladin]

I came to first adopter for the 2001fp thread but since im here ill participate :)

Here's mine
http://www.umich.edu/~rmcmacki/html/images/case04.jpg

http://www.umich.edu/~rmcmacki/html/images/case06.jpg

More Pics (www.umich.edu/~rmcmacki/html/computer.htm)

[CAG]

paladin, all I can say is...WOW! Along with everything else, a P4 2.4C OC'd to 3.5+...incredible. You really ought to post this over on the Intel forum here http://www.intelforums.net/index.php They'll wet their pants. :D

[sHAZBOT!]

no pics, but here's my specs:

P4 2.8HT Northwood
Gigabyte GI8EP1000 pro 800MHz FSB
1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC4000 RAM in dual channel.
ATI Radeon 9800pro 128MB w/Omega drivers
Audigy 2ZS
Kingwin Aluminum case w/ side window & led fans
500W PSU w/dual lighted fans
Zalman CPU & GPU heatsink & fan
40GB HD on IDE
and Dell 2001FP in a few days!

[CAG]

Nice rig, sHAZBOT!

[LordStryker]

No pics. Built mine around 4 years ago. So its quite dated. Still runs plenty fast. Only thing i've touched since was upgrading from a geforce 2 to a radeon 9600..but here we go

Abit vp7- motherboad
DUAL PIII 850mhz (gotta love dualies)
756 MB RAM
SB live!
radeon 9600 256 mb

x2 30gb HD 7200rpm in RAID 0

cd-rom,burner,tv tuner...

21" Viewsonic G810 CRT (2001fp next time it goes on sale) :)

[poolshark]

http://www.techimo.com/photo/showphoto.php/photo/5705/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

Here is my setup...not modded...but I like it...

[CAG]

Welcome to the forum, poolshark :)

Very nice set-up! You've got just about everything...including the beer in the fridge ;)

CAG

[poolshark]

HAHAH...yeah I live in Canada...but don't tell anyone I only drink Miller that we import from the US. I just bought MCE 2005 for the system so right now I am dual booting both until I get MCE to work how I want it to..bought the extender as well cause I want music on my home theater...

Once the prices come down on the Dell 20 inch LCDS I think I will switch to those in dual format....I game and have been waiting for something good to come along.

[poolshark]

Forgot to mention specs on my system:

P4 2.8
1GB Dual Channel 400
2 120GB SATA Drives
ATI 9800 256MB PRO
Audigy 2
Antec Case
Dual 21 Trinitron monitors
Dell 5.1 Speaker set up
Sony Mini Disc N1
Logitech Cordless Duo

Dell 8600 Laptop
Pentium M 1.4
512
80GB
15.4 SWXGA
DVD-RW

Beer Fridge: Kenmore
12-18 beer at anytime
Miller Genuine Draft (Always)

Linksys Wireless G Router

Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC

Sony UX-50 PDA

Prismiq Media Player on Home theater set up wireless

SUCKS!!!!! Music Skips...stay away

Pentax Optio MX Digi Cam and Vid Cam


Thats all I can think of for now

[CAG]

Originally posted by poolshark
Once the prices come down on the Dell 20 inch LCDS I think I will switch to those in dual format....I game and have been waiting for something good to come along. I don't think you can get a 2001FP any cheaper than you can get it now...~$600USD...does Dell Canada run deals like this? Anyway, one thing the LCD's will give you is more room...for more beer.

CAG

[poolshark]

lol..yeah Dell Canada..right ...deals...they want 998.00 Canuck dollars for it right now.....with our dollar being at a 12 year high...that price doesn't make sense

[sHAZBOT!]

Updated specs in Bold:

P4 2.8HT Northwood
Gigabyte GI8EP1000 pro 800MHz FSB
2GB Kingston Hyper-X PC4000 RAM in dual channel.
ATI Radeon 9800pro 128MB w/Omega drivers
Audigy 2ZS
Kingwin Aluminum case w/ side window & led fans
500W PSU w/dual lighted fans
Zalman CPU & GPU heatsink & fan
74GB WD Raptor 10K RPM SATA
40GB IBM 7200 RPM on IDE
Dell 2001FP
Bose Companion 2 speakers
Logitech Audio 90 Headset

[cvoytek]

Shazbot - Just a thought but have you thought of getting a second 74 Gig raptor and raid 0'ing them while having that ide drive as a backup? Looks like you have just about the best of everything and the added speed of raid 0 may be to your liking.

I have the gigabyte 8ik1100 and have that setup well without the 3rd internal drive (I have it as an external usb2 drive). If your mobo supports it and you have the $$ for another raptor I'd recommend raid 0 or 1 (if data integrity is your goal). I was/still am a raid noob but am not sure I'd do with out in the future.

My Specs:
no name ebay brand assembled (except my add ons: 2nd drive, dvd rom, new gpu hopefully soon)
P4 3.2 HT
8ik1100 mobo
2 120 gig Segate SATA drive in raid 0
1 external maxtor 40 gig usb2 drive
2 512 pc3200 dimms in slots 1 and 3 for dual channel
Nvid fx5600 256mb
Dell P991 monitor
Enermax cs 317 case w/ 350 watt ps
nec1300a cd rw dvd rw
generic dvd rom
avs-500 5 piece speakers
netgear 814 router for dell 8100 desktop (wife's) and for thinkpad t30 (for work)

[sHAZBOT!]

I did, but my MB doesn't support it, and a PCI controller card is not as good as on board raid controller because it is limited by the PCI bus speed. Also, I read somewhere recently that RAID 0 only shows its prowess on benchmarks...real world desktop apps do not take advantage of RAID 0. So for speed applications, RAID is not worth it on desktops. For redundancy, RAID is great. Server applications, however, do benefit greatly from RAID configurations.

Also, my friend has the 2 raptor set-up in RAID 0, and he said it made negligible difference.

Nevertheless, my next MB will support RAID and I will implement a RAID config when there is a noticeable performance benefit.

[TheAngryIntern]

I've also got a RAID 0 setup with 2 74 gb Raptors. I noticed a bit of a performance increase, specifically, while gaming, the level load times seemed to decrease quite a bit. Or maybe i was just imagining it, but it did seem to help my overall system performance. I did, however, notice what seemed to be a performance hit when I tried partitioning the RAID setup. Not sure if this is true for everyone, but it seemed to really slow my system down, so i went back to one big partition.

[sHAZBOT!]

Angry, was that a performance increase over one 74GB Raptor, or from some other drive?

I've noticed blazing load time performance increases over my 40GB IDE drive with just my one Raptor.

[cvoytek]

I noticed modest to high speed increases when I went raid0 but I do not partition. Games and anything that goes to disk is a lot faster. Deleting large folders or copying something large like a steam folder etc.

So I did notice a difference and do not partition which may be why.

[TheAngryIntern]

i originally got a 36 gb raptor when they first came out. That was a huge increase in performance over the 7200 rpm drive i had previous to this. Then I got another 36 gb raptor in RAID 0 and noticed a small increase in performance. Then I got the pair of 74 gb and noticed a bit of better performance even over the 36 gb. and the 74's are a lot quieter than the 36's.

[elmalloc]

PC (2ghz, 512 DDR, dvd burner, radeon 9700 all in wonder, thermaltake case):
<img src="http://s92486709.onlinehome.us/images/TV/desk.jpg">

home theater (denon dvd, denon receiver, onix speakers, gamecube, ps2, xbox, toshiba DLP):
<img src="http://s92486709.onlinehome.us/images/onix/rearrange-002.jpg">

-ELmO

[firstadopter]

How many inches is the Toshiba DLP? How do you like it?

[Michael G.]

Hey guys!
This is my first post here!!
Looks like an interesting forum...

Check out my rig!!

What do you guys think?

http://www.premierservice.ca/files/desk.jpg

[TheAngryIntern]

Nice Rig! Except it seems to be missing a 2001FP or a 2005FPW :D

Tri-monitor setup? very nice. What vid card(s) are you using to drive that? OH yeah, and Welcome to the forums!!

[elmalloc]

Great setup! now move your left and right speakers far away from the center!

Thanks,
ELmO

[elmalloc]

Originally posted by Rendition
How many inches is the Toshiba DLP? How doyou like it?

Only 46", love it but gotta use good equipment with it. HDMI doesnt work well at all on this set, so I'm stuick on component - which still looks amazing.

I just got a new job, so I'm probably going to give this ot my parents or move it intoa bedroom (its in a bedroom right now) if i buy a house..
-
ELmO

[elmalloc]

Here's my updated PC.

<img src="http://s92486709.onlinehome.us/images/LCD/Dell.jpg">

<img src="http://s92486709.onlinehome.us/images/LCD/Dell2.jpg">

[firstadopter]

I wish I had a 3 monitor setup. It would be pretty cool for FPS and flight sims. :)

[dane69]

These are the specs for my latest custom built PC. This is my third system build for my personal use. I use only top quality components. 95% of the components were purchased from zipzoomfly.com (formerly googlegear.com) they have excellent customer service and some of the lowest prices.


Case: Lian-Li PC-60 USB (Aluminum)
Power Supply: Vantec VAN-400B 400W
Mainboard: Intel D865PERL i865PE P4 Skt 487, Serial ATA, Gigabit LAN
Processor: Intel P4 2.8E/800 GHz Prescott, Socket 487, 1 MB Cache
Memory: 1 GB Geil DDR400 PC 3200 Dual Channel Dimms
Graphics Card: Gainward Ultra/880 GeForce FX 5700, AGP 8x 256 MB DDR
Sound: SoundMax 4.1 (built-in)
Speakers: Creative Labs Inspire 4.1 Surround w/ Sub-Woofer
USB 2.0 Card: Adaptec AUA-5100 (6 Port)
IDE Expansion Card: Promise Technology Ultra 133 TX2
DVD Drive: Pioneer DVD-116 (16x)
DVD+/-RW Drive: Sony DWU18a
O/S Hard Drive: IBM 40 GB ATA/100
Storage/Application Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB Serial ATA

EXTERNAL

Backup Storage: IOGEAR Ion Drive, USB 2.0 with IBM 120 GXP 80 GB HD
Wireless Router/Firewall: Linksys WRT54GS w/ speedbooster
Printer: Epson Stylus PHOTO 750
Scanner: Epson Perfection 1240U (1200 DPI)
Monitor: Sony GDM-F400 19” with .22 DP and 4 port USB hub
Web Cam: Logitech QuickCam Express USB
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural USB
Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer USB
Joystick: Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 USB
UPS: APC Backup UPS Pro 280
Other: Lexar USB 2.0 Multicard reader CF & SD+
CH Products USB Flight Sim Yoke and Rudder Pedals

OTHER:

Cox Cabke (Broadband) - Had to put in good word for them since they are (IMO) the best home IAP/ISP on the planet! I consistently get up to 4+ mbps download speeds and I've only had one maybe two instances of downtime which lasted only minutes. They also provide HD service which is now free!

FUTURE UPGRADES (in order of next purchase):

- MS Wireless Desktop Pro 2.0

- Dell 2005FPW 20" widescreen monitor or other TBD!

- Intel P4 3.4/800 GHz Prescott processor (as fast as I can go with my mobo)

- Water cooling (system is way too loud when running 3D, FPS apps.)

[TheAngryIntern]

all right!! finally got all my new parts and my new putar up and running. Here are the new specs:

AMD64 3500+ (soon to be replaced with an FX-57, when it is released, of course!)
MSI K8N Neo4 nForce4 Ultra motherboard - http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum&class=mb
1 GB Corsair XMS DDR400 2-2-2-5
2x 74GB WD Raptor 10k rpm in RAID 0
1x 300GB Maxtor SATA w/ 16mb cache -
Plextor Premium 52x cd burner - http://www.plextor.com/english/products/Premium.html
Plextor PX-716A DL DVD burner - http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716A.htm
Asus Radeon X800XT PCI-express - http://usa.asus.com/products/vga/eax800xt-pe/overview.htm
Silverstone Tek Temjin series TJ06 case - http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-tj06.htm
and of course, the mighty Dell 2001FP

I'll get some pics up here soon. Just got the thing put together yesterday and haven't even put any games on it yet.

[arogan]

Some very nice parts there. Let me know how the nforce4 mb works out. I'm thinking about building and new rig in about a month or two.

[DaMaN]

P4 3.8@4.0
Zalman CPS 7700CU HSF
ASUS P5P800
2X512CorsairXMS PC3500 TwinX LLTP
Gainward 6800gt Golden Sample Ultra 2400 256mb
2XMaxtorDM10300GB SATA HD 16MB Cache
Lite ON 16X Dual Layer DVDRW+/-
Firewire B PCI Card
Modded Lian Li PC71 with 7 UV Case fans & LCD Screen
Samsung SyncMaster 191t
Ultra X 550W Modular Power Supply
Creative Inspire 2.1 Speakers

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dmarti4444/IMG_0148.JPG

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dmarti4444/IMG_0153.JPG

[firstadopter]

man Daman, you are the man. lol. Did you do that mighty fan paint job yourself?

[DaMaN]

Actually no I got it in a trade from another forum. Nice forum you have here.

[firstadopter]

DaMan, nice. Yeah this forum is cool, it's a bit small at the moment, but the people are the smartet, nicest bunch on the net. My humble un-biased opinion of course. :)

[TheAngryIntern]

ok, i finally got around to taking a few pics of my newest gaming machine.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01405.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01406.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01407.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01408.jpg

[stupot42]

Here's my System. Click on the pics for bigger versions.

The Whole set up... (BTW, it used to be the babies room... hence the wall paper, but now it's my domain ;)):
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sfeltham/system/system.jpg" border="0"><img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sfeltham/system/system_sm.jpg" alt="Speaker from the front"></a>

The box and Base for my speakers:
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sfeltham/system/box.jpg" border="0"><img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sfeltham/system/box_sm.jpg" alt="Speaker from the front"></a>

Here's the specs:
Tower Case (no special make, but it looks nice and has the drives sheilded)
Pioneer DVD+/-RW Drive (4x)
32x Samsung DVD-Rom
Sony USB Floppy (just in case, but that's in a cupboard)
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP Mobo
Athlon 64 3200+ (1Mb L2 Cache)
Thermaltake Volcanoe Cooler (with manual fan speed adjuster in the 3.5" external bay)
1Gb Ram (Kingston)
XFX Geforce FX 5700 Ultra (128Mb DDR2) Graphics card
120Gb Mator Diamond HDD (7200RPM 8Mb Cache) & 30Gb Samsung (5400RPM)
Klipsch Promedia GMX A-2.1 speakers
Microsoft Wireless optical Desktop Pro (due tomorrow)
Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Monitor
Windows XP Pro / Suse Linux 9 Dual boot

Did I miss anything?

[sHAZBOT!]

P4 2.8C ==> P4 3.4E
Gigabyte GI8EP1000 pro 800MHz FSB
2GB Kingston Hyper-X PC4000 RAM in dual channel.
ATI Radeon 9800pro 128MB ==> x800pro 256MB w/Omega drivers
Audigy 2ZS
Kingwin Aluminum case w/ side window & led fans
500W PSU w/dual lighted fans
Zalman CPU heatsink & fan
74GB WD Raptor 10K RPM SATA
40GB IBM 7200 RPM on IDE
Dell 2001FP
Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse
==> Monster DVI400 Cable
==> Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000
==> Sony v700 Studio Headphones

[TheAngryIntern]

Shazbot: do you notice a difference using the Monster DVI cable as compared to the one that came with the 2001FP?

[sHAZBOT!]

Shazbot: do you notice a difference using the Monster DVI cable as compared to the one that came with the 2001FP?


Yes I do! Colors are more vivid, and details stand out more. However, let me say first that I wasn't displeased with the original cable, it's just that Monster's components made such a dramatic difference on my home theater, that I felt compelled to shell out the $99 just to see how it worked on the 2001FP. Anyway, after seeing the differences, I felt good about keeping it.

Some of the little things that I notice now are:
1. small, detailed lighting effects in games are WAY more noticeable, especially distant muzzle flashes and distant bullet impact effects!
2. More contrast between bright and dark.
3. details like the fabric of people's clothes in movies stand out to me.
4. VIVID colors...the bright orange DOOM3 Start-up Logo looks like it's actually burning on the screen.

So anyway, I just get a kick out of having that extra visual edge. I recommend it, but its pricey for a cable especially since the one you have is "good enough". But yeah, I do see a difference.

[Marri]

whats the monster DVI cable...is this the only good DVI cable or are there better ones out there...

would any one notice a difference between the picture quality..
thanks...

[arogan]

I just ordered all the parts for my new system:

bought part description price links
X cpu amd 64 3000 venice $150.00 http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=120205&AFFIL=TH&NR=1
X memory corsair 3200 valueram 1 gig $110.00 frys
X mb DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D $138.00 http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-136-152&DEPA=0
X video card ati x800xl $300.00 http://www.compusabusiness.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50881768
X heatsink THERMALRIGHT XP-90, 92mm panaflo H, zalman fanmate 2 $48.00 http://www.svc.com/xp-90-21.html
X case thermaltake tsunami $110.00 http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133132
X ps antec neo 480 $50.00 http://store.yahoo.com/directron/neopower480.html
X floppy sony black $11.50 http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=0-N82E16821103116
X HD X 2 RAID SATA II Hitachi 250gb (NCQ) $254.00 http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100594-2&affiliate=yahoo
optical nec dvd double layer burner 3520a $50.00 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-035&depa=1
X lights/fans 2 X antec light tubes, 2 X 3 way laser led $36.00 http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/anblinledlit.html
X sound card audigy 2zs gamer $60.00 best buy
X speakers logitech z5300e $120.00 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002SQ0AE/103-3951468-7260610?v=glance
X mouse logitech mx518 $50.00 best buy

total: $1,487.50

X - already purchased.

I've been waiting for the new venice cores and they are finally out!
I tried to include tax and shipping where possible.
I'm holding off on the optical since the nec 3540a (8x DL writing) is out in other countries and should be out here really soon.

I purchased some of the parts a few months back so they are kind of high (like the damn memory!)

Hopefully I'll get most of the stuff by the weekend so I can start putting it together.

[arogan]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/IMG_1210.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/IMG_1266.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/IMG_1274.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/IMG_1270.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/IMG_1284.jpg

This was my first amd64 pc build. This is also the first time I went raid.

I'm still tweaking things but so far I'm at 2.4 ghz (266x9) 600mhz overclock prime95/occt stable.
I'll post some benches in a bit.

[firstadopter]

Looks sweet man. The thing I love most is seeing all those videogames in the background. You must have quite a collection.

[arogan]

That's like 4 shelves double deep of games and that's just for the current consoles.

I think I'm done overclocking this pc.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/oc4.jpg

a few notes:
- I love the case. I think the only time I needed a screwdriver was for the floppy drive. the side fan is directly above the cpu with the way the dfi mb is layed out. I hate how the HD activity light is INSIDE the door.
- dfi mb is pretty awesome. The latest bios has memtest built in. You have four slots to save all your bios settings. It's hot keyed to 1 - 4. Just press that key during boot and it loads those settings. I have it setup 1=stock, 2=oc no v increase, 3=oc with v increase.
- I swapped out the stock side fan with a 92mm panaflo high speed fan.
- it allows you to set temperature ranges for cpu fan and fan2(I hooked it up to my side fan) to adjust speeds. so if the cpu goes above 35c it spins the fan at full speed otherwise it under voltages it and slows it down. I did the same thing with the side fan. It's also nice that when you first boot it gives full voltage to all fans to make sure they spin up before cutting back the voltage.
- pcie is kind of nice. weird having no agp apeture settings or GART in the drivers.
- raid was pretty easy to setup. so far RAID is definitely worth it. It is significantly faster. Installing apps, loading games, etc. You can really feel the difference (which you should with almost 100mb/s throughput)

some oc guides:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=107925
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=151373
http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=327

corsair forums:
http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=128

things learned on the road to 2.4ghz
- tools
a64 tweaker
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?&p=711532#post711532

OCCT - suppose to be more sensitive than prime95. Site is in french but program is in english. Up the memory usage to 512mb to help test the memory better.
http://www.ocbase.com/

speedfan - great mbm replacement
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

cpuz - there's also clockgen on the same site.
http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php

- clear you cmos after flashing. wait at least 30 sec when you jumper it. unplug your pc. load optimized defaults after that.
- plug in all 4 power cables into the mb. 24 pin atx, 12v 4 pin, molex, floppy.
- http://www.dfi-street.com is your friend.
These posts are by official dfi employees who support the forum.
post #15: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1541
post #9: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3393
Start with voltages from #15 and the very loose timings from #9.
This definitely took ram out as the issue. Everything ran fine at 2.4ghz with no issues (266 X 9).
Next I backed off the cpu voltage down to 1.425. Instant lockup in occt. Bumped it back up to 1.425 * 4% = 1.482v. occt finished the 30 min test.
- THE HIGHER THE FSB THE HARD IT IS TO STABILIZE YOUR SYSTEM PERIOD. For this reason alone I would recommend getting the 3200 with the 10x multiplier instead of the 3000 with only 9x. With 10x I could have kept fsb down to 250 and still achieve 2.5ghz. It doesn't matter what htt multiplier or memory divider you use. The above rule holds true.
- NOT ALL MEMORY DIVIDERS OFFER EQUAL STABILITY. Slower is not actually always better which was my case. Things actually got more stable near 200mhz than at 170mhz just by using a different divider. Test several dividers and see but just stay below the default 200mhz ram speed. You'll have to test this painfully to see what your memory likes. Mine likes 3/4. All Memory likes 1:1 the best that's why spending more money on memory isn't such a bad idea. Again, the 10x of the 3200 would help here too giving you a better chance to run 1:1.
Look for Samsung TCCD memory which runs well at 2.7v. A lot of people use this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890
- different memory likes different voltages. Corsair value select is rated up to 2.9v. So if you stay within that you are still within warranty.
- set Bank Interleave = DISABLED. It's a pretty big performance hit but it helps stability a lot while keeping your vdimm down.
http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=182398&postcount=10
- running 2T absolutely KILLS PERFORMANCE. You want to run at 1T if at all possible. 2.4ghz 2T is actually slower than 2.3ghz 1T.
- there are 3 vcore settings. The first is just for startup (this doesn't do much). The second is your base vcore, the 3rd is a % over the above setting. I've read that it's better to set your base vcore kind of low (like 1.425) and to incrase voltage change the % over instead of just increasing the base vcore.
- make sure you are running the LATEST versions of 3dmark. Earlier versions tend to crash out and it will have nothing to do with your oc.

final settings:
266 X 9 = 2.4ghz cpu (600mhz oc)
266 X 3 HTT = 800
266 X 3/4 = 200mhz memory
dropped all voltages back to stock except:
cpu 1.425 + 4% = 1.482v
memory 2.9v
memory timings: 1T, 2.5-3-3-8, interleave enabled
temps: 35 idle, 40 under OCCT load

at 2.4ghz I'm at stock 3800 speeds.
3000 $150
3800 $380
saved $230

prime95 stable for about 2 hrs.
occt 30min test passed.
5 hrs, 15 passes on memtest
played doom 3 exp for about 15 min.

hard drive raid:
hdtack:
221.1 mb/s burst
random access: 12.7ms
cpu utilization 10%
average read: 98.6 mb/s

3dmark01: 24120 (stock: 20751)
source 1024: 165.01 (stock: 140)
source 1600: 118.34
doom 3 1024: 88.3 (stock: 77.4)
doom 3 1280: 67.4
doom 3 1600: 49.2

3dmark03: 10802 (stock: 10202)
301.4
80.2
63.6
68.3
cpu: 1063
121
18.5

3dmark05: 4886 (stock: 4763)
22.8,13.4,24.2
cpu: 5009
2.5
4.4

3dmark05 @ 640X480: 6148
29.5
16.7
30.2

Overall I'm pretty happy with the results. Not too bad on a cheapy $150 cpu and corsair value select ram.

It's so nice to finally be able to run games at 1600x1200 dell 2001fp naitive resolution.

[demichae]

I've got the coolest looking machine that I've ever seen. It could be in the museum of modern art. I'm just not sure how to post photos of it here. If you could give me a quick tutorial I'd appreciate it.

[TheAngryIntern]

get a photobucket accout (http://www.photobucket.com) and you can upload the pics there, then post the photo's here using teh [img] tags

[arogan]

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?p=111506&highlight=spread#post111506
I found out recently that the hitachi drives come shipped limited to 1.5gb/sec (better compatibility with older motherboards). To enable 3.0gb/sec and Spread Spectrum Clocking you have to download Feature Tool (v1.97) from
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

I temporarly disabled all ide channels, unplugged the old maxtor, only leaving the hitachi and booted off the floppy that feature tool install creates. I enabled 3.0gb/sec and spread spectrum clocking taking full advantage of all the SATA II features.
Here are the results:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/hdtach.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/atto2.jpg

Burst speeds went way up.

[TheAngryIntern]

hmm, i wonder if the maxtor drives are like that too? limited to 1.5 instead of 3.0? cuz i'm pretty sure that my maxtor 300gb is sata II, but i'll have to check on that.

[arogan]

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100718-3

If you are talking about these they are SATA 150 so they are limited to 1.5Gb/sec. But you have that beefy 16mb cache that really helps performance. This was my first choice drive but the $25 premiuim over the hitachi killed the deal for me.

[arogan]

decided to to see if my video card would overclock.
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

Great little tool.
- has a built in little 3d window and scans for artifacts. You can have it automatically find your max core and max memory speeds by letting it slowly up the mhz, scan for errors, go through a heat cycle, repeat until it detects an artifact. It works really well.
- monitors gpu temps
- it can detect when in a 3d game (directx or opengl) and will only OC while in a 3d game.

stock 400 (core) / 490 (mem) (peak 77c)
oc1 425 / 525 (peak 80c)
oc2 427.50 / 542.25 (temps 52 idle, peak at 82c under full load)

stock
3dmark05: 4886
22.8,13.4,24.2

oc1
3dmark05: 5216
24.2,14.7,25.6

oc2
3dmark05: 5272
24.5,14.8,25.9

source latest fixed stress test 1600X1200:
stock: 102.95
oc1: 108.98
oc2: 110.98

doom 3 1.30 1600X1200 timedemo demo1:
stock: 49.3
oc1: 52.7
oc2: 53.5

I running at oc1 for now to determine long term stability. So far so good. Temps haven't broke 77c after long gaming sessions.

[arogan]

Flashed my motherboard bios to the latest oscar wu beta 5/10-2. This bios adds new bios options to run "value ram" at default voltages.
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=109132&postcount=1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/rchen/forum/oc5.jpg

Oscar Wu is my hero! I knew it was my memory that was holding me back. Before I couldn't even boot into windows at 2.5ghz without instant BSOD. Now it seems perfectly stable (OCCT and all benches) so far and this is with memory at 2.7v running at 207mhz! Heh I finally broke the 25K barrier on 3dmark01.

temps are hitting 44c under full load so this is probably as far as I want to go with the current cooling solution.

3dmark
01: 25158
03: 11411
05: 5233

1600X1200
cs: 108.46
doom3: 52.7

[stupot42]

I'm in the process of doing a bit of an upgrade, so thought I'd update you of my progress and plans.

previous system:

Tower Case (no special make, but it looks nice and has the drives sheilded)
Pioneer DVD+/-RW Drive (4x)
32x Samsung DVD-Rom
Sony USB Floppy (just in case, but that's in a cupboard)
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP Mobo
Athlon 64 3200+ (1Mb L2 Cache Socket 754)
Thermaltake Volcanoe Cooler (with manual fan speed adjuster in the 3.5" external bay)
1Gb Ram (Kingston)
XFX Geforce FX 5700 Ultra (128Mb DDR2) Graphics card
120Gb Mator Diamond HDD (7200RPM 8Mb Cache SATA) & 30Gb Samsung (5400RPM)
Klipsch Promedia GMX A-2.1 speakers
Microsoft Wireless optical Desktop Pro
Dell 2005FPW 20.1" Monitor
Windows XP Pro / Suse Linux 9 Dual boot

Current System (as above unless stated):
Coolermaster Centurion 5 case with 450W PSU
Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI Mobo
Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 939)
2Gb Ram (Kingston and Elixor)
Innovision Geforce 6600GT PCI-E (128Mb DDR3)
Windows XP Pro single boot (gonna put my Suse on a separate rig)

Planned upgrade (when I can afford it all/get round to it):
2x 6800 Ultra (SLI)
Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (this one might have to wait for the prices to come down)
74Gb Raptor drive
250Gb SATA drive for storage

I'll post a pic of the new case when I get a chance.

[TheAngryIntern]

i've upgrade once again! i did this a couple of months ago, but so far it's been good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01430.jpg

case is a MountainMods U2-UFO

the only real new parts from the last time i posted my specs is an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo and 2x eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra in SLI setup.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/theangryintern/DSC01424.jpg

I've temporarily removed the SLI setup cuz i was having crazy problems with the latest nVidia drivers. I have my X800XT PE installed instead until nVidia comes out with new drivers.

[stupot42]

That is an incredible rig! I wish I had the money to do the same!

Have you tried the latest beta drivers from Nvidia? I know it's probably a silly question, but they're supposed to have sorted out a lot of SLI issues; asuming that's what it is.

[TheAngryIntern]

last time i look in the beta section on nvidia's website, the only beta driver was from about 4 months ago. i'll look again. I don't think it was an SLI issue, just a driver issue in general. the computer would keep freezing up on me while doing simple stuff like browsing for files on my HDD, then the graphics would drop to the LOWEST settings possible and be all washed-out looking and i'd get some error message about the video drivers. a reboot would fix this, but it happened about 3 or 4 times, so i said screw it and dropped the spare ATI card i had in instead, and no problems since. ATI does have way better drivers and nvidia at the present time.

EDIT: and i look at the nvidia website right after posting this and notice new beta drivers posted on the 20th.... Thanks for the heads-up, i probably wouldn't have looked again for a while!!!

[stupot42]

No probs. Glad I could help. Let me know if it fixes your issues, and what you think of the beta drivers. I've not installed them myself, but had read the release notes. If you find them stable, I might give them a shot.

[TheAngryIntern]

Ok, put the 6800's back in last night and installed the 77.76 beta drivers. so far so good. i've done a fair amount of gaming since then and performance seems to be pretty good. the white-out look for video files is gone, too.

[stupot42]

Good stuff, it looks like you were right about it being the drivers. I hope it stays stable and reliable for you! :D

[JRW]

My room about 7 months ago before getting the 2001FP:
Xbox / PS2 / Gamecube / N64 / Sony 32" HDTV / Funky looking antenna on top is from the ATI HDTV Wonder:
http://img9.exs.cx/img9/4185/10-13-20043-59-35PM_0008.jpg

A more recent shot w/ the 2001FP,I also replaced my Logitech Z680's (Seen in shot above) with Logitech Z5500's , my camera settings were off so the image quality looks much worse on the LCD than in person ,although the black levels are washed out in person when compared to my CRT (an unfortunate downside to LCD technology)

http://zenblue.net/ded/g520p_2001fp.jpg

Closeup of CRT:
http://zenblue.net/ded/CRT_G520P_Closeup.jpg

Closeup of LCD:
http://zenblue.net/ded/LCD_Closeup.jpg

My case, I like them clean nothing fancy :)
http://zenblue.net/ded/antec_case.jpg
http://zenblue.net/ded/pny%206800%20gtr.jpg

When it comes to Gaming & Movies I use the CRT otherwise when browsing the web etc. I use the 2001FP.

PC Specs:

Antec 1080 performance plus case w/ 430W Antec Truepower PSU
P4 2.8C @ 3.3ghz w/ Zalman all copper heatsink
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
1 GB Corsair PC3200 XMS LL
PNY 6800GT 256mb
ATI HDTV Wonder
Logitech MX510 Optical mouse
Audigy 2 / Logitech Z5500's
Pioneer 107d 8x dvd burner
Sony 52x CD burner
730GB total between 4 HDD's
Sony 21" G520P CRT (19.8" viewable)
Dell 20" 2001FP LCD

[firstadopter]

Arogan, been meaning to ask you. Any reason you went with ATI X800XL vs. an Nvidia card?

[arogan]

At the time it was the best bang for the buck. A full blown 16 pipeline PCIE card for around $270 was hard to beat. Of course today I would get the 7800GT which I've seen come very close to $300.