My New Baby!

[Tony Alicea]

Well, NOT the living kind but I found a place in Ohio where they build
computers to your specifications and after reading the reviews I decided
to order this, that will replace my 6.5 year old mid-tower. It was not
cheap but that's how I buy PCs: With near top of the line components so
that they will last a long time (computer time that is).

My first tower PC was bought in 1995. The present one in 2001 and now
this one:

Add-on PCI Express card: STARTECH, PEX1394B3, 2 Port FireWire 800 + 1 Port FireWire 400 PCI
Express Card

+ GAMING PC, Core 2 *DDR3* Gaming System1

# INTEL, Core� 2 Quad Q9550 Quad-Core 2.83GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 12MB (2 x
6MB) L2 Cache, 45nm, 95W, EM64T EIST VT XD, OEM

# ARCTIC COOLING, Freezer 7 Pro Quiet CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink, Socket
775, Ceramic Bearing, Retail

# INTEL, DX38BT, LGA775, Intel X38, 1333MHz FSB, DDR3-1333MHz 8GB /4,
PCIe x16 CF /3, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s RAID 5 /6, HDA, GbLAN /2, FW /2, ATX, Retail
This motherboard has TWO eSATA ports on the back I/O panel

# OCZ, 4GB (2 x 2GB) Platinum Edition PC3-10666 DDR3 1333MHz CL
(7-7-7-20) 1.8V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC

# eVGA, e-GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 675MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1800MHz, PCIe
x16 SLI, DVI /2, HDTV/S-Video Out, Retail

# CREATIVE, Sound Blaster� X-Fi� XtremeGamer, 7.1 channels, 24-bit
96KHz, PCI

# WESTERN DIGITAL, 150GB WD Raptor�, SATA 150MB/s, 10000 RPM, 16MB cache

# WESTERN DIGITAL, 160GB WD RE, SATA 300MB/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache

# SEAGATE, 500GB Barracuda 7200.11, SATA NCQ 3 GB/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache

# RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives

# LINKSKEY, LKA-CR15BW Black/White 52-in-1 Card Reader/Writer Drive,
3.5" Bay, Internal USB

# LITE-ON, DH-20A4H-08 Black/White 20x DVD�RW Dual-Layer Burner w/
LightScribe, EIDE/ATAPI, Retail

# LITE-ON, DH-20A4H-08 Black/White 20x DVD�RW Dual-Layer Burner w/
LightScribe, EIDE/ATAPI, Retail

# NETWORK, Integrated Dual 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN Network Controller

# LIAN LI, Classical Plus PC-60AplusII Silver Mid-Tower Case w/ Window,
ATX, No PSU

# CUSTOM WIRING, Standard Wiring with Round Cables

# COOLERMASTER, Real Power Pro, 80 PLUS�, 750W Power Supply, 24-pin ATX
EPS12V, SLI Certified

# MICROSOFT, Windows XP Professional Edition w/ SP2c, OEM

# SERVICE, System Binder

# ALTEC LANSING, VS2421 Black 2.1 Powered Audio System, 28W (2x7W + 14W)
w/ Wired Remotethat
[ July 12, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[Tony Alicea]

I forgot! I bought it from

http://avadirect.com/

A great forum about computer hardware is:

http://hardforum.com/

Ciao!

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

That's quite a machine.

Course, putting WinXP on it is like spending 10,000 for a Thermador cooktop and then using it for nothing but cooking Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
putting WinXP on it is like spending 10,000

That's not nice. And not fair.

If he was putting Vista on it, I'd agree with Ernest!

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Vista is just an XP service pack, ain't it?

Don't worry about it, I'm just tryin' to start up the ole Windows/UNIX flame war. Best to ignore troublemakers like me.

[Tony Alicea]

Ha ha!

Actually, according to the latest news in the industry, there's a new fix for Windows Vista problems. It's called Windows XP Pro!

[Ashok Mash]

Yummy! R-rated spec!

Now, I don't get the idea behind three internal harddisks - I understand the first one with 10000 rpm, buy why two more smaller harddisks rather than say a 1TB disk? Not that its a big deal or anything, especially with two eSATA ports..!
[ May 03, 2008: Message edited by: Ashok Mash ]

[Tony Alicea]

>"Not that its a big deal or anything,"

It isn't.

[fred rosenberger]

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Course, putting WinXP on it is like spending 10,000 for a Thermador cooktop and then using it for nothing but cooking Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.

What's wrong with Kraft Mac'n'Cheese?

Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
I'm just tryin' to start up the ole Windows/UNIX flame war.

A buddy at work sent me the "unix tip of the day" the other day. it basically went:

Want to stop people from stealing your hardware? label them with things like "Formatted for Linux only" and "Linux drivers only"

[marc weber]

Congrats!

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by fred rosenberger:
Formatted for linux...

Rich, but of course, Windoze users have to regularly "format c:" and reinstall, so installing over Linux is not a big deal.

Back when I had to use Windows, I would do a "format c:" every six months, whether I needed it or not

[Vishal Oberoi]

I didn't get it. People keep on saying that they reinstalled Windows. I have been using Windows since 2000 (98, 2000, XP, Vista) and never reinstalled the OS.

Are these people Linux/Mac fan boyz or am I smart :roll:
[ May 05, 2008: Message edited by: Vishal Oberoi ]

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Vishal Oberoi:
am I smart :roll:

Probably just that you are smart.

And it depends on what you do with it. When I was professionally developing C on windows, and doing occasional raw device stuff, I would frequently hose it (NT3.1 on up). The interlocking DLLs that are Windows can get very confused with bad pointers.

For users, they rarely cause Windows to die, but they can download all sorts of evil malware. And for many kinds of malware, its easier to just format C than to fix all the broken things.

Sadly, the commercial malware scanning software don't work very well, so its often faster to format c: than explain why someone really should not go to the free gambling and porn sites.

[Mapraputa Is]

Tony: Thanks for your reply but I would not take the Vista OS if it was for free

Good thing about Vista is I can't imagine anyone writing viruses for it. It already works like it has all possible viruses pre-installed.

[Pat Farrell]

So Tony, can you run Grand Theft Auto 4 on it yet?

If not, what else cool can you run on it?

[Nicholas Jordan]

Originally posted by Pat Farrell:
(...snip...)The interlocking DLLs that are Windows can get very confused with bad pointers.(...snip...)

'scuse me for a moment OP while I low-jack your thread:

What about this review:an overview of the weaknesses of Eric Raymond's (ESR) paper - some pointers are runaway in their authority, and cannot be questioned. That is how some want it. I would comment on your bad pointers with the G.T.-Auto comment but I just had a 350 pound 6-5 Bear tell me to be nice.

[Tony Alicea]

I've already made the decision to move to Vista 64-bit sometime in the next 6 months. I will keep the order with AVADirect with XP Pro in part because I am curious to compare it side by side with my current XP Pro PC that is 6.5 years old.

Although Microsoft has already been found guilty in court before, and was almost split in two by the courts, I think that in the end "Resistance Is Futile" so...

Now that I will have a powerful enough system to run Vista 64 in all its splendor, I will resist no more, ha!

[Tony Alicea]

Originally posted by Pat Farrell:
So Tony, can you run Grand Theft Auto 4 on it yet?

If not, what else cool can you run on it?

The original* Pac Man, Donkey Kong and Centipede and ...

Oh wait; those can run OK in a 486 CPU...

Never Mind!


*original as in MAME-32 (Multi Arcade Machine Emulation) ROMS... look it up
[ May 17, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[Tony Alicea]

just got a call from AVA and they said that the CPU that I wanted, the Q9550 (2.83 GHz) is not immediately available and that if I would mind waiting for it to be (around two weeks time give or take).

I instead chose the one below it, the Q9450 (2.66 GHz) that is available right away; I'm tired of this old rig! Even the downloading of plain email (POP3 protocol) is noticeably faster on my 5 month old 4th generation Centrino (800 MHz FSB) dual-core laptop!

I doubt that I could tell the difference between 2.83 and 2.66 GHz in my daily usage anyway.

They will refund the difference right away. (I didn't even ask what that would be, BTW...)
[ May 21, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
I doubt that I could tell the difference between 2.83 and 2.66 GHz in my daily usage anyway.

Except for bragging rights, its nearly always smarter to get the one down from the very latest and fastest anyway. Cheaper, more reliable and still fast enough to be amazing.

I failed this once. I bought a Pentium Pro 200 from Micron as soon as it was announced. I got serial number 000001. Really. It was no end to troubles. It was fast, but too fast for things like the SCSI controller.

[Tony Alicea]

Been there (more on that later)!

In fact that's exactly what I was trying to do: buy the Q9550 (2.83 GHz) which was exactly below the fastest at the time, the QX9650 (3.00 GHz). But Noooooooooo... PC makers didn't even have that CPU available at the time of the Q9450 release a while ago and now they have it.. on back order!

I was tired of waiting (my mid-tower is 6.5 yrs. old). I'll be saving more than few dollars on that decision.

Anyway, in 2006 I made the mistake of just going out to one my employer's (10% employee discount!) local stores and bought, out of the blue and with 0 research, a single core laptop only because the other one I had was very old. Well, if I had done my research, I would have waited *just* a few short months and gotten one of the first dual core laptops that came out. Two cores are better than one in cases like these .

I have since corrected that mistake and bought one laptop last DEC. A fourth generation Centrino (800 Mhz FSB, Core 2 Duo T7500 processor; 4GB of RAM that XP Pro can only see 3GB of, just like Vista-32 bit would).

Oh well...
[ May 24, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[Tony Alicea]

Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
They will refund the difference right away. (I didn't even ask what that would be, BTW...)

I just checked and it's $180! Not bad!
[ May 24, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[Tony Alicea]

Here are pics of my PC as it's being built by AVADirect:

http://www.avadirect.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=193

[Tony Alicea]

My new PC arrived Wednesday! (My new "baby" has arrived!)

As expected, and since this was a custom build, they included all the
papers, connectors and cables that they didn't need for this particular
build but were part of the original kits purchased (motherboard,
FireWire 800 card, nVidia video card, sound card etc.)

<em>"I didn't know PCs could be this fast!"</em> OK, I did know, but I had never
seen one before.

Really, sometimes when I click, at first I don't know if the system is
still working on the click or if it's just that it finished doing what I
told it to do very fast. You have to watch closely to see the effect
only because it's so fast.

I am still testing it but so far all the FireWire 800 and FireWire 400
ports work. I will have to wait to test the two eSATA ports though...

The only thing that did not work out of the box was the recovery disk
that's supposed to bring back the PC to its original setup. The
recovery process said it didn't have a valid image in it.

For me that's no problem since it was my intention from the start to
begin from absolute scratch and INSTALL the whole OS with the blue
screen configuration and formatting of drive options etc.

Of course I made sure, beforehand, that the builder included a Micro$oft
Windows XP authentic disk with the whole deal. Not all PC manufacturers
include that, and instead give you a "recovery" disk that restores your
computer to its original state as it came from the vendor,
INCLUDING the CRAPWARE! HA!

More Later...

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
<em>"I didn't know PCs could be this fast!"</em>

So how fast is it?
What do you do that can show off how fast it is?

I remember going from a 486/66 to a Pentium Pro 200, and it was "wow fast" but since then, the thrill is gone.

Why nuke the OS and reinstall Winders? why not dual boot to a good OS :-)

[Tony Alicea]

It is the freakin' fastest that I have ever experienced. That will do for the "<em>scientific</em>" tests . I am satisfied so God is also.

[Arun Kumarr]

All said,
Can I be the foster-parent of the kid?

[Pat Farrell]

Not as cool as Tony's, but I just got a Quad AMD Phenom X4 9500(2.2GHz) with 3GB and a ATI Radeon HD 2400XT (dual DVI), 500GB SATA disk for under $600. For me, its fast.

[Tony Alicea]

That's a good buy in any league!

[Tony Alicea]

Well, bad news

Mine began to reboot itself last night, about three weeks after receiving it.

This is what we software developers using JIRA call a BLOCKER. In other words, "<em>sine qua non</em>" (without which not). Without which not a computer can be a useful computer.

The beta version of an Intel tool, Desktop Control Center does not report any overheating and reports that all fans are working.

Its associated diagnostics all return PASSED grades so I don't have a clue.

Will keep you informed...
[ June 21, 2008: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]

[marc weber]

Damn!

There go our hopes of calculating pi to the last digit.

[Pat Farrell]

Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
Mine began to reboot itself [qb]last night, about three weeks after receiving it.[/QB]

I hate it when they do that.

There are times when I run arround the house yelling "I hate computers"
and my wife says "yeah, I know"

Which is bad, because:
1) I've been earning my living as a developer for nearly 40 years
2) I have about 20 computers in my house.

[Tony Alicea]

It seems so far that it was a loosely connected second memory stick! It is now running like the CHAMP that it really is.

It is just BLAZINGLY FAST!! If you blink, you miss programs and folders opening!

They just seem to appear from nothingness in a freakin' flash!

[sumaraghavi ragha]

[ UD: Please don't post unrelated question to existing topics. That's called "hijacking" and is frowned upon. Start a new thread instead; your question might fit into the "General Computing" forum. ]
[ June 26, 2008: Message edited by: Ulf Dittmer ]

[sumaraghavi ragha]

Ok i will start a new topic

Thanks
Suma