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The Ultimate Dream Computer

Discussion in 'Building a new PC' started by Praetor, May 29, 2004.

  1. Sophocles

    Sophocles Senior member

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    My dream computer is everything I can't afford so for now i'll just have to stick with what I can afford, my reality computer. I've been looking at the 64bit AMD's largely because of the price to performance ratio. I've also been looking into a possible dual Xeon system built on an Asus server board but the chips are really high priced. So maybe it's just back to the reality computer.

     
  2. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Last edited: Jun 25, 2004
  3. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Just joking about the Commodore 64....I have many fond memorys of the machine though, it was my first Computer. Now that I look back on it, I can't believe the whole Computer was built right into the Keyboard. HA HA.........My old Man gave me his C64 when he bought himself an C Amgia, he wouldn't let me even touch the damn thing. I can't even remember if you could add Ram to those old machines, if my memory serves me correct, you couldn't even upgrade those things. Far as a dream computers goes for me, I'm not really picky...

    DDR 3200 memory...1 or 2 gigs just fine

    ATI 9800Pro....Good enough for me

    200 GIG HD....Just Dandy

    A MotherBoard to support 8x (which most do these days)

    Any kick @ss Intel or AMd Processor...Intel 3.2 Hyperthreading or something comparable in the AMD line is just fine.

    Don't really care about a sound card, intergrated audio is good enough for me on my 3 set speakers I paid $19.99 for, HA HA

    Bassically I will take any budget to midgrade machine, as long as it's up to current technology, not a problem.
     
  4. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    They still do that btw.
     
  5. forkndave

    forkndave Member

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    My first Computer was a VIC-20 (also Commodore). I believe it had 2 KB of memory. I got a 16 K expander for it and it used cassette tapes for storage. It's really amazing what could be done with that 2 K of memory. I later upgraded to a Commodore 64, got a floppy drive and a printer and I was all set. Incidentally, the monitor was color. Commodore used seperate chroma and luminance signals for better resolution. I believe that's now called S-Video.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2004
  6. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    This is starting to drift off topic...... :)
     
  7. Sophocles

    Sophocles Senior member

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    If you mean that discussing pre 1980's computers don't quite rise to the level of "Dream Machine."

    I'll buy that!
     
  8. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Well not really... Dream Computer can mean anything. Back in 1982, A Commodore 64 was my dream Computer, and in 1984 I got one.
     
  9. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    The current year is 2004 so let's stick to Dream Computers as far as 2004 goes -- if you're gonna spam the forum, please do so in a more tactful manner.
     
  10. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Praetor (Moderator) 2 June 2004 10:13

    Im only picky because I once didnt understand the distinction between RAM and harddisk space :p
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    Sophocles (Senior Member) 2 June 2004 10:25


    I know the distinction but sometimes it's just easier to explain it by presenting the hard disks role in it first

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    Praetor (Moderator) 2 June 2004 10:27 True, good call! :)

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    aXidburn (Member) 2 June 2004 22:08 what the hell do u do on ur comp Praetor??...i think i use alot cuz i have 280 gigs (120 and 160 gig

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    Praetor (Moderator) 3 June 2004 00:52
    aXidburn:
    Digital photography stuff, 11MP ... we take about 400-500 shots per session and I need to keep them around for quite some time as my boss and I go over them and sutff. Additionally.... i download. A lot. Enough to get me blacklisted by both local ISPs. Twice.

    ------------------------------------------------------
    I COULD GO ON AND ON....I GET TIRED OF YOUR TELLING ME TO STAY ON THE SUBJECT LIKE EVERYTIME I WRITE. I ALWAYS WRITE ON THE SUBJECT OR RELATED MATTER... THEN YOU ARE ALWAYS CHANGING THE RULES, I MAKE A COMMENT ON A THREAD LIKE THIS ONE, STATING THE COMMODORE 64 WAS MY DREAM COMPUTER BACK IN THE DAY AND ALSO ON A ANOTHER POST ON THIS PAGE DREAM COMPUTER , I STATED WHAT MY CURRENT DREAM COMPUTER IS ALSO. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS BUD. AND AN ANSWER TO THE OTHER QUESTION....WHY DID I WRITE 4 DIFFERENT THINGS IN 15 MINUTES TIME ON THE OTHER THREAD? BECAUSE I GOT THINKING HOW STUPID THAT IDIOT WAS WHO WAS BUSTING MY BALLS AND HAD MORE TO SAY...NOTHING REALLY STRANGE ABOUT THAT, YOU PISS SOMEONE OFF THEIR GONNA LET YOU KNOW, I DON'T CARE IF IT'S ALL IN 1 POST OR MANY. I HAD TO SIT BACK AND TAKE IT ALL IN FIRST...IF I DID THAT TO START WITH, YEAH IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 1 POST INSTEAD OF 4 IN 15 MINUTES....I'M NOT COMING BACK TO THIS SITE, I'M SURE NONE OF YOU REALLY CARE, WHICH IS FINE WITH ME. I'M NOT PERFECT, SOME OF MY POST MIGHT SOUND STUPID, BECAUSE I'M NOT AN EXPERT IN COMPUTERS, MOST PEOPLE WHO ARE EXPERTS DON'T GO TO STUPID SITES LIKE THIS AND TALK ABOUT IT. MAYBE SOME DO, ALOT DON'T. I THINK MANY OF YOU NEED TO STAY ON THE SUBJECT YOURSELVES..AND STOP ALWAYS POINTING THE FINGER AT THE NEW GUY....BUT YEAH I'M OUT OF HERE...
     
  11. forkndave

    forkndave Member

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    Apparently, JSRife is a little more touchy than most of us, but he is right in some respects. I have seen several threads that looked like chat rooms and a good bit of the time it would be mods and senior members BSing. It doesn't bother me, but I could see how someone that has had a bad day might get upset about being admonished for the same thing that is seen in most threads.
     
  12. Sophocles

    Sophocles Senior member

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    JSRife

    If I've somehow offended you then I'm sorry.
     
  13. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    JSRife:
    You will notice that near and around where you have quoted me as going off topic, I have also chastised myself as well as Seniors/Addictz. In some other threads like the HP one I've even tended to take "your side" (if there's such a thing). If I seem like I'm harsh well then (a) I'm sorry and (b) too bad. The reason is because this section of the forum is relatively new and I dont intend to let it get all off-topic and disoriented like some other sections of the forum -- and so far it has been fairly well kept and groomed.
    The only thing you need to do is learn to be a little more open minded and consider other options -- your comments about video cards and HP for instance -- while perfectly acceptable (because they're you're opinions and that's fine) -- may not represent other people's views and they'll tell you about it -- as we did in both of those threads. Nothing quite beats a good, heated discussion but, for instance, considering your comment about HP for instance, you are essentially preaching to the wrong crowd -- in general -- the people that come to this section are either looking for help for their problems (and so wont be directly concerned about OEM manufacturers etc) or they are people who enjoy making mods and doing their own tweaks and stuff (and thus wont want to be hobbled by OEM limitations).
    With regards to this thread -- sure the C64 could have been your dream computer etc --- and that's perfectly fine -- but it seriously detracts from the spirit of the thread -- you and I both know a lot of people (yourself and myself included) would just like to see a listing or something of the "best of the best" so that they have an idea of what to shoot for when making their own computers or upgrading or whatnot -- that was the basis for this thread -- nothing wrong with the C64 except that most people wont be upgrading to a C64 anytime soon.
    Hope you reconsider coming back -- we're not that bad a lot -- you just be a bit more flexible and open-minded and we'll do the same..... and now I'm getting off topic so lets cease this and get back on track :)
     
  14. Prisoner

    Prisoner Guest

    My dream system would be portable, have no moving parts and vast amounts of space and speed.

    Similar to this, but with out looking like a freak:
    http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/history.html

    I would like the monitor to project out through sun glasses to what would look like a 60inch screen. The front of the glasses should also have a mini cammera to take pictures. For storage I would like removeable solid state cards. Typeing I would mind either in the air through something similar to a palm stylus, or a voice reconition software from a microphone at the noise end of the glasses. Also stereo sound should be possible from the ear ends.

    So I would basicly like to see the entire computer in a pair of sunglasses that would have cable connection down to a pocket for battery, external media cards and addaptor plugs to be backwards compatible.

    That I think would be the really cool future dream computer.
     
  15. Prisoner

    Prisoner Guest

    To add to the dream computer, I was thinking it should be possible with a pair of sunglasses to have a stereo visual view. Also you really don't need to too many interface ports if it was wireless. You could have it connected to the internet and a private space domain where you cold store files and upload to. So this would be complete dream, take photo's, video, audio and work with data files in 3D and have it all uploaded to an account that could be accessed by any computer system by the internet.

    3D computing I think would be really cool. Imagin how many window you could have open all at once.
    And Preator you would never run out of HD space with this type of setup.
     
  16. jvwheel

    jvwheel Member

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    Interesting thought - that the forum thread may be used as a idea generator - when building a new machine. This may not be dead on topic but I am in the process of building a new machine but within the constraints of a budget - a dream machine designed within the constraints of reality. Some one posted:

    1 x Western Digital 36.7Gb 'Raptor' Serial ATA150 10,000rpm 8mb Cache - for the system drive.
    2 x Western Digital WD740GD 74gb Serial ATA 150 10,000rpm 8mb Cache.

    and others posted about Swap Files and Virtual Memory.

    This got me thinking - When I was looking at MoBo(s) I was wondering why they were designed with two different RAID controllers (ASUS K8V SE Deluxe). After reading the post on swap files and the dream HDD post I was wondering, if a guy used two of these WD Raptor drives in a string array on one RAID for his primary HDD and two large drives on a second RAID array he could really increase the machines speed. Any thoughts?
     
  17. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Huh? So you are talking about two SATA-RAID configuration? :)
     
  18. jvwheel

    jvwheel Member

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    Yeah! I have a stripe RAID set up now on two secondary drives that I use for video (Faster transfer to the burner) and am currently putting together the plan for a new system (mine is 3 years old). Well, anyway when looking at MoBos I noticed the better ones come with Dual SATA RAIDs and I wondered why. After reading this thread yesterday it came to me that 1. I did my RAID all wrong - it s/b the primary drive so that I would get the faster swap files as well and 2. That a dual raid configuration might be great for a super fast primary drive setup using two small Raptors and a very fast secondary drive using 2 larger drives in a stripe. The secondary drive could be an ATA 133 drive setup depending on the MOBo configuration.
     
  19. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    I think i'm kinda understanding :) In the context of "Dream Computer" (or even "Resonable Dream Computer") -- wouldnt you get much much more performance from say 2 (or 4) GB of RAM and no swap? Like I mean for a nice (i.e., not Promise) RAID setup, the cards + the drives are pretty expensive (and too expensive IMO if you're just going to optimize it for swap).

     
  20. jvwheel

    jvwheel Member

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    Thanks for the input but I'm not sure Decent RAM prices out at about a grand (or more) for 3 GB and you still have to buy HDDs. The MoBO I am looking at maxes out at 3 GB with two chips. I can do the RAID with 1 GB RAM for that and have faster transfer rates throughout the system. I've noticed much fastrer tranfer rates from my HDD to my Burner with the RAID. In fact before the RAID would get errors from too slow a transfer rate to my burners. I think if a guy could put 5 GB of RAM on the MoBo at a reasonable cost that would be the ticket but I don't think 3 will do it. I'm not an expert and you may well be right on - I will have to look into this idea more.
     

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