Warp speed Scotty!
Holy Speed Racer Batman!!!
Ok, with the wife finished with school and about to take her board exams. It was time to get a new computer together. I am doing this so she may have my old one to play World of Warcraft on. Yes, she loves the game and I give her credit for not playing the last to months as she finished school and studied for her exams.
But with the test looming Saturday I knew she was going to want to play and soon.
So I set a budget...
...and threw it out the window.
Ok, so not that bad, I only came in $500 over budget, but I figured we have lots of stuff to pay off once she starts working so my logic: Get it now while the getting is good.
Now I usually upgrade to new hardware a step or two behind the high end of the hardware curve. This usually seems to be a good price point to get a lot of bang for you buck without breaking the bank.
My old system:
Shuttle SN95G SFF*
P4 - 2.8 Hz
512MB RAM (later upgraded to 1GB)
ATI 9600XT
WD Raptor 36GB
Liteon DVD-R +/-
Now I spent $1100 back in the fall of 2003. I could have easily spent more on a 3.2Ghz CPU and a 9800XT video card. But I would have been set back an additional $950 to do that. Money I simply didn't have.
But the system was fast and still running great today. Which is why the wife is going to get it. The point is would I have seen a big difference in performance back then if I spend the extra cash? Probably not or maybe very little. Simply not worth the extra cost.
Now setting my budget @ the same $1100 I looked at what I could get.
Shuttle SN25P SFF*
AMD 64 2.2Ghz
1GB RAM
Nvidia 6800GT 256MB
WD 72GB Raptor
Not shabby and I was coming in at $1200+
But I priced out a slightly larger system
Shuttle SN25P SFF*
AMD 64 X2 2.2Ghz 4200+
2GB RAM
Nvidia 7800GT 256MB
2 WD 36GB Raptors RAID 0**
Only $1600, $500 over my budget and $400 over the system I had priced.
My thought is that hardware will last a long time, before I ever have to buy again. And the price of a 4800+ X2 and a 7800GTX would take the system cost up to $2800, and am I really going to see that performance. Probably not anytime soon. So screw it. I have this chance lets do it and the money is right. Google the benchmarks, the performance of those components is only slightly higher then what I chose.
Well last night September 21st all my hardware arrived. After a few hiccups getting the BIOS updated and getting a working floppy in the system (it isn't staying it is only there to get the RAID drivers loaded during the windows setup, after I probably not need it again, and I have a USB floppy if I really need it). Other then that everything went smoothly.
One note, HOT DAMN!!! I don't think I've seen system files copied to disk that fast unless I have a high end server with some major IO subsystem hardware. As of this posting I have just the base OS and the updated driver for everything on it.
My initial thought. Two words, really fucking fast. This thing boots to the windows logon screen in seven seconds. SEVEN!!! My old system is only @ 15 on a good day. Usually around 18,19. Everything runs like butter there is no waiting ever. And I have yet to put my other software on.
I'll post more when I've had a chance to really put this thing through its paces, but I don't think I am going to be disappointed in the least.
It's just too back hot chicks don't dig fast computers like they do fast cars. :(
*SFF is for Small Form Factor PCs. These are small boxes with a custom motherboard and cooling system. I love how small they are and they are easy to carry to LAN parties. Couple that with a 20" LCD Keyboard, mouse and CD tote. I only need on trip in from the car. They days of large cases are over for me unless I ever build a Media box for video storage and creation. In which case I would have a lot of drives, optical devices, and video input/output jacks.
**Now I have never been a fan of RAID0, sure it's fast but if 1 drive dies you loose the whole volume. Now thinking about what someone said to me. What are you really storing on there? Good point. I have a server with RAID5 that all the important stuff is on. That and once I am done loading software, I create an image of my machine so I can restore it quickly if a hardware failure does happen. So I went with the dual drives since the cost was only $40 over the single drive.
Ok, with the wife finished with school and about to take her board exams. It was time to get a new computer together. I am doing this so she may have my old one to play World of Warcraft on. Yes, she loves the game and I give her credit for not playing the last to months as she finished school and studied for her exams.
But with the test looming Saturday I knew she was going to want to play and soon.
So I set a budget...
...and threw it out the window.
Ok, so not that bad, I only came in $500 over budget, but I figured we have lots of stuff to pay off once she starts working so my logic: Get it now while the getting is good.
Now I usually upgrade to new hardware a step or two behind the high end of the hardware curve. This usually seems to be a good price point to get a lot of bang for you buck without breaking the bank.
My old system:
Shuttle SN95G SFF*
P4 - 2.8 Hz
512MB RAM (later upgraded to 1GB)
ATI 9600XT
WD Raptor 36GB
Liteon DVD-R +/-
Now I spent $1100 back in the fall of 2003. I could have easily spent more on a 3.2Ghz CPU and a 9800XT video card. But I would have been set back an additional $950 to do that. Money I simply didn't have.
But the system was fast and still running great today. Which is why the wife is going to get it. The point is would I have seen a big difference in performance back then if I spend the extra cash? Probably not or maybe very little. Simply not worth the extra cost.
Now setting my budget @ the same $1100 I looked at what I could get.
Shuttle SN25P SFF*
AMD 64 2.2Ghz
1GB RAM
Nvidia 6800GT 256MB
WD 72GB Raptor
Not shabby and I was coming in at $1200+
But I priced out a slightly larger system
Shuttle SN25P SFF*
AMD 64 X2 2.2Ghz 4200+
2GB RAM
Nvidia 7800GT 256MB
2 WD 36GB Raptors RAID 0**
Only $1600, $500 over my budget and $400 over the system I had priced.
My thought is that hardware will last a long time, before I ever have to buy again. And the price of a 4800+ X2 and a 7800GTX would take the system cost up to $2800, and am I really going to see that performance. Probably not anytime soon. So screw it. I have this chance lets do it and the money is right. Google the benchmarks, the performance of those components is only slightly higher then what I chose.
Well last night September 21st all my hardware arrived. After a few hiccups getting the BIOS updated and getting a working floppy in the system (it isn't staying it is only there to get the RAID drivers loaded during the windows setup, after I probably not need it again, and I have a USB floppy if I really need it). Other then that everything went smoothly.
One note, HOT DAMN!!! I don't think I've seen system files copied to disk that fast unless I have a high end server with some major IO subsystem hardware. As of this posting I have just the base OS and the updated driver for everything on it.
My initial thought. Two words, really fucking fast. This thing boots to the windows logon screen in seven seconds. SEVEN!!! My old system is only @ 15 on a good day. Usually around 18,19. Everything runs like butter there is no waiting ever. And I have yet to put my other software on.
I'll post more when I've had a chance to really put this thing through its paces, but I don't think I am going to be disappointed in the least.
It's just too back hot chicks don't dig fast computers like they do fast cars. :(
*SFF is for Small Form Factor PCs. These are small boxes with a custom motherboard and cooling system. I love how small they are and they are easy to carry to LAN parties. Couple that with a 20" LCD Keyboard, mouse and CD tote. I only need on trip in from the car. They days of large cases are over for me unless I ever build a Media box for video storage and creation. In which case I would have a lot of drives, optical devices, and video input/output jacks.
**Now I have never been a fan of RAID0, sure it's fast but if 1 drive dies you loose the whole volume. Now thinking about what someone said to me. What are you really storing on there? Good point. I have a server with RAID5 that all the important stuff is on. That and once I am done loading software, I create an image of my machine so I can restore it quickly if a hardware failure does happen. So I went with the dual drives since the cost was only $40 over the single drive.
posted by z-man at 2:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home