Computers and bits

sealcomm

New Member
Hey
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Recently my computer died, but it was under warrantee.

yey:D

So now i have a new motherboard and processor, and im pretty stoked about it....

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When i got my new machine back there was all this cool new stuff!!! 3 fire wire ports (now i need something that uses it), 6 usb (old one had 4!!), some kind of freaked out sound stuff?? i got digital outs and coalx outs, as well as seperate 5 sound outs.... man it's busy on the back now
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it's now an AMD 2000+ (was a 1600), and i can't find the info on the motherbaord MAN!!! AHha it's a gigabytle kt400. not to shabby.... haven't looked up any reviews on it yet. 2 busy, maybe next month

So i've still got 512 ddr 266 ram,
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2 hDD that i run seperately with their own OS depending on whether i am gaming or working... ( brak set that up, ask him how it's done)

19 inch monitor- lovin that:D

I got my Ipaq PPC jacked in( hand computer that tells me where to go, has all my info that i need where ever i am, pretty cool, but worth as much as a second hand laptop...hmm

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My nostromo gaming Pad (by Belkin) for all those serious fps games..... man it's good, except for a few gliches (doh) like pressing crouch and left ( also activates wep change- so i reconfigured a couple of things and she's ok!)

And my pc camera is faulty, so it's in the cupboard waiting for some love and attention.:D

I use to link my phone to my pc, but ive tired of that since my PPC came along. (use to run the diary on my nokia phone off it, with all my contacts etc)

I have the old Cambridge 4 point surround which needs the rear 2 speaker plugs reattached after a puppy attack.

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A plain microsoft 3 button, wheel mouse. (don't want optical)

and an ergonomic split keyboard ( so i know whether to press b with my left hand, and not my right-it has actually helped heaps with my typing)

Other than that, I've been playing Ns like a freak (natural selection - mod for Half life)

and a new mod for battlefield 1942..... desert something? alpha

Man if you haven't got this up yet, go get it.....

also a little cs on the side, after our recent lan here we've all been doing that a bit more lately.

ToJ | leolas won the comp overall. He's pretty sick on the old pc

And soon i'll be adding a PS2 cos it'll be free with a new mobile phone (good deal)

I'll do a photo thing and add it to braks post one day....

So what are your PC's and what's your toys??


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as you can see im pretty happy

sealcomm
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Oi...yep, check my hardware page at SLAMCentral.com. That's what I've got.

I've also got an Alienware small form factor system on the way in, as described in the link on the main page. Only major difference being that I ordered it with a 2.53 GHz CPU, and an 80 gig HD.

I too have an iPAQ :). Got a little MOD player for it too, and the compact flash sleeve, so I can take my favorite choons around :).
 
No offense dude, but alienware's are for show, not worth the money really. They look cool and all, but for same system, mine is half the price. Works just fine too.

lol, I have no idea what to use fire wire or usb ports for. Heck, my machine doesn't even have a game port so my gamepad and joystick are useless now. Only accessory I use is a 5 year old mic for teamspeak and I'm ready to go.

Why don't you want an optical mouse sealcomm? I can't live without it
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Ack you put way too many spaces in your posts. Makes it as unreadable as my 5000 word unbroken essays. I must say that it makes me sad when people know jack doodle about their computers and in general. I must say that your crazy not wanting an optical having used a ball mouse for like at least 8 years (still have our first one from our old 486 which I still have too), which makes me believe that either you've never used one or your usage of it's been very quick without time to get aclimated to it. So sad.

-Trevor
-amusedtoe
 
I feel sorry for Rizz too cause he's a nub who knows nothing about computers and so ordered an over-priced monstosity when he coulda paid toe to do a just as good of a job for a much better price. ;-)

-Trevor
-amusedtoe
 
Did you see the kind of system I'm getting? Small form factor. A very specialized SFF as well. After calculating prices, I found that it would cost about the same for everything I'm getting.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]The ICE system uses specially-designed aluminum/copper heat pipes filled with distilled water to carry heat away from the processor. A supplementary speed-controlled 80mm fan further reduces heat and minimizes fan noise, leaving the Area-51 Hybrid cool and quiet.

Cooling was a concern for me as well, given the area in which the system is being kept (onboard a ship, in the limited rack space I've got. I could have bought my parts separate and built it, but for one thing I didn't feel like it on this run. And besides, as you said, it IS an Alienware, and Alienware's a show pieces :). I'm not buying this to be my kickarse system. That's going to come later when I have an apartment, and around $5000 to spare. At the moment, I had under $2000, and the need for a decent system. Rather decent arrangement.
 
Well, my friend has all this nifty RAM, water-cooling system, massive tower, cool monitor, big speakers and nice soundcard. But you know what? Games run faster on my machine, sound the same, and look better. I'm tellin ya, all this fancy stuff is just a waste. IMHO.
 
Toe... Ive built my own computer before... Now im just lazy... plus the UK site for alienware is nicely priced..

I really could do with a warranty on my computer..lol
 
<<<EDITED OUT BECAUSE IT WAS STUPID OF ME>>>

I coulda built that SFF PC for ya.  you can get cases from Shuttle, and a miniATX mobo. (I still can't tell between mini/micro ATX, although flexATX is the one with the integrated proc)


Shuttle XPC Black SFF Case+Mobo Supporting 400/533mhz FSB P4, DDR200/266    (review)
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.53GHz Northwood 512K Socket 478 Processor 533MHz Processor Bus (OEM Right under it, a bit more expensive, though... dunno why)
Kingston PC2100 RAM
Samsung Black 15" LCD Monitor (2nd one on the list - 1st is white)

*edit* It appears that the Shuttle case+mobo does not have an AGP slot.  however, one that does have one shoudl be about the same price.  I'm not gonna bother for now.

All that stuff comes out to...
$860.
With Newegg's shipping policy, that will be about $920, total.
I just saved $780.  Wow.  Look at how much Alienware shafted you...
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uhm... OK, the HDD, DVD, Floppy, XP Home, and Ti4600 will come out to be ~$530, assuming XP Home to be $200.  I didn't include a sound card cuz the sound codec on the Shuttle is pretty good.  as good as, or just a little under the Audigy (1st generation, remember). +$10 shipping

Thats still $240 cheaper.  =/





EDITEDITEDIT
I stuck my foot in my mouth big time.... I forgot about the low pressure in the heatpipe.
 
Alienware is apparently using a slightly different cooling system than Shuttle barebones' normally come with (see Alienware's site, in the left side).

As for using USB and firewire ports, Justice, there are many things. Really, the best time to have many of them in both the front and back of the system is when you DON'T know what you could use them for. For one thing, I've got a digital camera I take pictures off of. If I were to get an external CD-RW drive (I prefer two drives, for direct disk copies, rather than a DVD/CD-RW combo) I would use either a USB 2.0 or Firewire port. Also, there are things that are just plain cool, life this, which I might end up getting (it would work well in my rack onboard the ship).

amorphus88, that's some pretty good research. For some reason, I was looking up price comparisons on TigerDirect, and the total came out to about even or more than the Alienware system. The only other thing, besides preferring a Creative Labs board, is that I'm getting PC2700 RAM. Oh, and I get a free t-shirt and subscription to Computer Games magazine
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. It doesn't hurt to have decent warrantee on it either.

Normally, yeah, I'd build my own system, but as Rizz said, I'm lazy right now :). Other than that, I've pretty much stated why I bought Alienware instead of building my own. There are some things you just can't build...without a lot of effort. Also, as I said, this isn't intended to be my ultimate system either. Some months from now, if I get multiple thousands of dollars saed up, I'll be building such a system for home use (need an apartment oo...they just don't make this easy on me ;-)) starting with a nice Xaser 3 case.

Anyway, thanks for the advice and opinions.
 
In Maximum PC they put an Alienware PC, Northwest PC, and Voodoo PC against each other. Obviously all the PC's looked real fancy, and were awesome machines. But Alienware lost because it cost so dang much. When you do decide to get a heavy machine, please don't get Alienware. They may make great machines, but so do many other companies. I hate to say it, but e-machines make a great machine. Alienware just makes it pretty.
 
Buy a PREBUILT machine for my HEAVY system? Perish the thought! Any super machine I get will be built from the case up. See the link I put in my last post for the Xaser 3 case :).

Song of the Post: "Tourniquet - Besprinkled in Scarlet Horror"
 
Wow

what a response. I can see that people are really passionate about their systems.

I'm acutally not so much of a newb with computers, just a little cheeky and teachable(ie not set in my opinions as computers change way to much way to fast)

We actually do all kinds of video production here etc, but not on my machine, and im keen to keep it that way so that i can play games when i have free time, and not have to use another computer so people can edit......

Mouseball.... why stick with the old?

Well my passion in FPS and i love 'the flick of the wrist' as i turn and the ball gives that little more movement... that's it. it's only a small thing and i could get use to change, as the laser mouse doesn't do that... but i like it. It, like many things is a preference that even though there are reasons for or against, i can choose what i prefer.

Like if i had the extra couple of hundred to say i' had an alien machine' (which isn't really in Australia) i would. Cos they DO look cool. really cool.

Yep im a brand bimbo. and proud. I wear skateboarding clothes mostly. I'm sorry, I feel good in them, and it's a personal thing.

A little echo, independent skateboards, blind, etc.

I think if it's not a hinderance (ie I 'have' to wear these things to be cool) then go for it. I know who I am, i know what i like. Cool toys and nice clothes. ahhh

And my new ps2 that i got for free. (which is the only reason i have it; keeps me at home a little more, and my wife a little happier- came free with a new mobile phone- that cost nothing either....?)

I talk heaps, cos im a preacher, and i do know more details about my machine, but don't want to sound to much like a geek. I have Brak teaching me intelligent stuff all the time cos he's a genius. So i know, what i know.

hehe

Be cool

Have fun, and pay what you want, for what you want...

personally i'd love to have a firewire lan, but we just put in a 10/100 switch with a netcomm router on dsl so it'll have to wait a while..

sealcomm
 
I dunno...I think I somehow like the Xaser III case more than even th new Alienware cases :). I just like things that tend ot lean more toward a square overall shape. This curvy stuff just doesn't fly with me. I want a box-shaped object that easy to place somewhere and save space. I mean, come on, I'm not decorating my home with it...exactly, anyway.
 
I must say that going with anything smaller then a mid-tower for gaming is a tad silly, unless your building a weak lil girly system with 1 optical drive and that's it or some such nonsense.  Mid-towers and up also benefit from having more space inside which allows air to circulate better.  Not to mention a bigger fancier case makes you more of a man. ;-)  Ya know I have like 9 fans of various size (majority 80mm) doing various things and it doesn't bother me a bit.  The background noise, at least to me, is barely noticable unless you listen for it until you turn the computer off.  Well I'm bored so that means time to tinker with it's innards :)

-Trevor
-amusedtoe
 
Toe, my friend has a big tower. Lots of empty space. His tower makes so much noise because of his cooling system. But it's really not worth it. All that extra space... The only extra stuff he has that I don't have is water cooling. Useless, he doesn't even OC. He has dual procs, but has it ever helped? I'm still pullin more FPS with my pre-built dell that's not as manly as you like. Hey, my case is cool looking, convenient, and opens up like a door for ease of getting into. And I don't waste space, nor do I kill my back hauling it to LAN parties. It wouldn't be logical for me to get anything fancier, more expensive, or bigger. And for most people, it's the same deal.

The next system I build will be with a little shuttle. Those are half the size of this case. Even more convenient.
 
Yeah, dual procs rarely ever help in games. I've heard that it hinders ion some cases. That's why, when building a system, it's necessary to know what you're going to use it for. Server...maybe dual or quad procs, and massive chained SCSI drives. Gaming machine...1 CPU, and one, possibly two, high speed drives.
 
Few games support dual procs, and yes it's said it actually slows the game. You don't notice, but it's obviously not worth it getting dual procs.
 
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