Archive for the 'Hardware' Category

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Time for an upgrade?

Published on November 28, 2005 in Hardware and Random. 0 Comments

At what point is it time to upgrade your aging desktop? Is it based on financial limitations or performance needs? Does your PC do what you need it to (in a timely manner)? Is it better to build your own box or buy a whitebox machine? And if it is time for an upgrade, at what point do you say enough is enough?

Unfortunately I don’t have any one answer to these questions. But I can offer a couple suggestions that should probably be taken into consideration when buying/building a new PC…

1. Do you need it? – Now, I must admit that I don’t always live by this rule, but it is a good way to determine if its truly time to throw down. The important word here is ‘need’ though and how you happen to define it. Some might say they ‘need’ an upgrade because their computer won’t even run the latest version of Quicken. Others may say they ‘need’ an upgrade because they keep gettin’ fragged due to low frame-rates on their favorite multi-player FPS. Bottom line… this is a personal thing and it depends on how you use your computer.

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Aopen’s Pentium M Mac Mini clone – x86 and proud of it!

Published on November 3, 2005 in Hardware. 0 Comments

I am so going to buy one as soon as TigerDirect.com gets them in stock. This is the solution I’ve been looking for in my kitchen. In fact, until Aopen came to the rescue, I was on the verge of crossing over to Apple’s dark side. Who knew a little Taiwanese company with a can-do attitude would save me from losing my hard-won dignity? Here’s a little computer I can run Linux or Windows on, and tweak a little bit at my own discretion.

Thanks, guys, for sticking a thumb in Apple’s eye – they were getting a little too uppity out there and needed a little smack to remind them they’re second fiddle. Ok, they’re not so much fiddle players as they’re like the dude playing a lute at a renaissance fair trying to take on Megadeath. Long live PCs we can work on, non-proprietary software, and cheap parts from our buddies in Asia.

Here’s a link to one of the original posts with some nice pics.

It’s Finally Time (part II)

Published on August 17, 2005 in Hardware and Video Cards. 0 Comments

It has now been almost 3 weeks since I tore my machine down to upgrade. While in the middle of that operation, and much to my dismay, I found that the video card I had ordered was an AGP card and not PCIX as I had apparently assumed (Doh!). Well, my new MSI 6800 video card arrived today so it’s time to try again. I ended up just choking down the $200 and going with a real live 6800 this time. It would have been nice to jump to the GT, but I don’t have that kinda cash.

I will be installing my new card in the next couple days and benchmarking many games with it. It will be interesting to see how much difference I notice when playing games like Half-Life II and Guild Wars where I was already playing them at 1280 x 1024 with 2xAA. That said, it’s hard to let the old 5900XT go. It was a great card and served me well as all technology should slave away for the pleasure of mankind.

If you’re interested, it’s up on eBay now and will be sent to a loving new home where the new owner will enjoy many hours of fantastic fun-ness whilst playing violent brain-rotting drivel. I take absolutely no responsibility for the nagging and complaints the new owner will have to endure due to spending far too many hours in front of the computer.

You can view the auction HERE.

Always read the item specs before you order…

Published on July 28, 2005 in Hardware and Video Cards. 0 Comments

Well, so much for the Geforce 6800LE idea. I’m sure it would have worked had we read the specs for the cards before we ordered them. Turns out, they only make that card in an AGP form factor (which was clearly stated on the Newegg item page had we taken the time to read it). It sucks to figure that out half-way through a build though. So now my poor machine sits in a state of partial assembly till we can get the new cards sent out. What’s worse is that the Chaintec boards we decided to go with will not boot with a PCI video card. For some stupid reason they require that a PCI-express card be installed before they will even boot. The boards do support a PCI card as a secondary display adapter, but not without a PCI-X card installed as well. AAAARRRRRRGH!!!

Well, I suppose it’s my own fault for assuming. Cause we all know what happens when you assume…

Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long for my new MSI 6600GT card to arrive, but at least I can play Guild Wars on my laptop till then =)

I guess it’s finally time…

Published on July 22, 2005 in Hardware and Video Cards. 0 Comments

Well, the 64 bit processing age is upon us, so I guess it’s finally time to take the plunge. I’ve been holding off in the hopes of jumping to dual core, but when the fair mistress Opportunity knocks on the door, I seem to be too weak to turn her away.

As it happens, Zach and I have been presented with an opportunity to upgrade so we decided to go for it. Now, my current system isn’t really THAT out of date. The following is the heart of my current system:

Athlon XP 3000+ (Barton core)
MSI K7N2 Delta NForce2 Ultra board
512mb Dual Channel 3200 DDR Ram
MSI GeForce FX 5900XT

This baby runs Half Life 2 like a champ at 1280×1024 with 2x AA. The only thing I’ve ever really thrown at it that it had a hard time with was Doom 3 so…

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