PC Hardware, What have you got Options

[dvandorn]

I've got a 2.8 GHz PentIV system (HP Media Center model, very similar to their Pavilion), recently upgraded to 1 GB RAM, also recently upgraded to a 17" flat panel monitor. Amazing, how much prices have come down -- the additional 512 MB of RAM only cost $50, and the monitor was only $230.

It came with a 160 GB IDE internal drive, a CD drive and a CD/DVD burner drive. I've since added an external IDE drive, also 160 GB. (My roommate is a hard-core trainfan, and I'm a trainfan too, though a somewhat less passionate one than he-- I have about 250 GB devoted to Microsoft Train Simulator, at the moment.)

Of course, it has the standard USB ports, plus a bunch of slots for memory sticks and cards from digital cameras and such that I actually don't have much use for... and it has a TV receiver card in it that I also have no real use for at the moment (since I have a perfectly fine DVR and digital cable receiver from my local cable company). But I got the system for free from a friend a couple of years ago, so I was happy to get it, whether or not I had immediate use for all of the bells and whistles. (He had gotten it from a friend of his who had screwed up Windows real bad, and gave it to me to see if I could reload the software. I could.)

Interestingly, it runs a variant of Windows XP called Windows XP Media Center Edition. It's pretty much identical to regular XP, as near as I can tell -- I believe it just has some additional tools it uses with the TV receiver.

It has a nice 2:1 amplified sound system, complete with subwoofer, as well. I'll tell you, when I drive a big ol' steam train through the tunnels on Donner Pass, the neighbors can all hear it! (Better yet, I bet they can feel it in their teeth... *grin*...)

-the other Doug

[Bob Shaw]

Doug:

Panorama Maker certainly works on pre-Intel PowerBooks - it exports to VR as well. Dunno about the Intel side of things, but from what I hear things like Photoshop CS are NOT yet optimised for the new silicon - ie go for a non Intel, but cheaper model until the new software starts to show.

Another option is to ditch Windows and go for Linux - don't know any Penguin Pano software, though...

Bob Shaw

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

I'm getting a new computer soon. My current PC is a 667mhz Celeron, 320MB RAM, 15GB hard drive and Windows ME - i've been using it for 5 and a half years. It crashes at least twice every day, doesnt start up properly maybe 60% of the time and is now prone to crashing when I shut down.

I feel like a change, so i'm probably getting a Mac Mini or MacBook.

[Nix]

Whatever you do, beware of Lacie D2 externals. I had a 200 Gb but recently had to take it out of its casing and plug it inside the pc (it wouldn't mount anymore). I was very glad all of the data was still there.

In the store they told me there are frequent problems with the IDE-Firewire interfaces. Don't know about the USB editions.

Nico

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

My PC sits (of course) in a Chieftec body, CPU Pentium 4 2.80 GHz, 2 Giga RAM, Hard Disk 100 Giga and a proper screen to view Mars pans

[edstrick]

Frankenputer-IV is a 1800 mhz AMD running win 98se with some heritage software going back to a 1989 XT clone. They're called Frankenputer's cause about every 3 years, I'd buy a new case, MB, CPU and Memory and Frankenstein the drives and reasonably up-to-date-cards into the new machine from the previous Frankenputer. F-III (~500 mhz Pentium 2) is still in use for text editing (Word for DOS 5.0) and running Win 3x programs if I want to boot that partition. F-II (120 Mhz Pentium 1) would probably run if I put cards in it. F-I (40 Mhz AMD) died when the nicad leaked after it was retired ... green corrosion all over one end of the MB!

I've also got "Media Monster", a 2400 Mhz AMD machine running XP, for copying LP's to CD and video work and stuff, but It's rarely up and running, I don't have TIME to learn the software, and ROOM to keep it setup any length of time. There's also an inactive Sun Sparcstation discarded from work with our 32 bit image processing software on it, but again, no room to run it till I set up an in-construction fire and storm resistant concrete-block "media-room" building.

[paxdan]

but from what I hear things like Photoshop CS are NOT yet optimised for the new silicon

True, however, the point of the MacBooks Pro's is they they dual boot. In fact they do better than that they can run OSX, XP and Linux in parallel. Therefore it doesn't matter that Photoshop is not yet optomised for OSX as you can run it in XP on your MacBook whilst using OSX.

Check out this video of fast OS switching (OSX to XP and back) on a MacBook Pro utilising a motion sensor hack.

[Tesheiner]

They're called Frankenputer's cause about every 3 years, I'd buy a new case, MB, CPU and Memory and Frankenstein the drives and reasonably up-to-date-cards into the new machine from the previous Frankenputer.

That reminds me of a situation many years (15?) ago when we tried to upgrade a 'puter at work.
The initial idea was to upgrade just the MB and CPU but due to other additional incompatibilities we ended changing almost all the pieces. At the end, the only remains from the original machine were the casing and power-supply and, oh, we had to keep an older HD on it (in addition to the newer one), just connected to the power-supply but not to the HD controller. The reason was to act as a current load, otherwise the power supply would simply switch off because the current demand from the newer MB, CPU, HD, boards, etc. were not enough to drive it.

[CosmicRocker]

I'm upgrading in a few months. FWIW, I was thinking of trying AMD cpu (AM2 Athlon 64 X2 5000+) but I'm not sure yet.

What I am starting to be pretty sure about is display.
...
Nico

I have been pleased with my AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800, but of course, I am comparing it to my old 1.4 Athlon X1 machine with 512 MB. I put 2 GB of generic DDR2 in the new machine, and occasionally wonder if I should have purchased more memory, or higher quality memory. I seem to be able to run many applications with large files simultaneously, without hesitations, but MMB in panorama mode displaying all of the images in that Spirit sol 807-855 collection at full res sometimes bogs it down. There must be hundreds of pancams and navcams in that collection, so I am not complaining.

The thing I am most interested in upgrading now is the display, and Nico's "pretty sure about" comment caught my attention. That is what is most bewildering to me at the moment. I almost started a topic asking what are the best displays to use for color imagery work, but this looks to be an opportunity to insert that question here.

What we see on our monitors is critical to the quality of the work we can produce. I have long been under the impression that the principle advantage of LCD monitors was mostly ergonomic, and that CRTs remained superior for image rendition. Today, a modreately priced, wide-screen LCD monitor was delivered to my son, who purchased it for 3D gaming and portability. To test it, we connected it to my computer in dual screen mode, to compare the monitors side by side.

We tried a number of tests before he "just had to" carry it off to his friend's house, who has broadband. It was most interesting to stretch a Photoshop or MMB window across both his LCD monitor and my CRT, and then pan the image across the two monitors. To my surprise, MER color panoramas looked much better on the LCD than on the CRT. We ran the CRT at 1280x1024 and the wide screen LCD at 1440x900, which was it's native resolution, but I could detect little, if any, difference between the resolution of the monitors as I zoomed to high magnifications. But the color contrast was like day versus night.

So, now I am considering upgrading to a dual LCD monitor desktop, and am posing this question to the imagery gurus here: "Where have I gone wrong?" I've spent much of the night reading about CRT/LCD comparisons, and I'm still confused.

[edstrick]

"..That reminds me of a situation many years (15?) ago when we tried to upgrade a 'puter at work...."

With the Frankenputers, what would usually happen is that I'd progressively upgrade drives, cards as-needed during the 3 years between system upgrades. So when the time came for a system upgrade, the old system would be the most obsolete stuff. It would then be "back-graded" with cards and drives that had been retired during upgrades to replace the stuff moving to the new system.

It's amazing what old junk is good for. A year ago, I hauled out a 0.85 Gig drive when Frankenputer 4 wouldn't even "beep" on powerup after a thunderstorm. I put a stripped version of Win98 on it using a Media Monster, striped F4 down to almost nothing, and put the "sacrificial" drive in F4. Booted just fine. Turned out that apparently the ETHERNET card had been fried THROUGH the still-working cable-modem and prevented the machine from booting. Cable modem (apparently damaged) fried a second ethernet card before I got RoadRunner to swap it out for a new one.

[djellison]

My current PC has a floppy drive that's more than a decade old.....so basically I've just been upgrading ever since

Doug

[lyford]

Hmmmmm, anyone in the mood in this thread for an Atari vs. Amiga flame war?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Hmmmmm, anyone in the mood in this thread for an Atari vs. Amiga flame war?

I still have an Amiga A1200

[CosmicRocker]

I think I have some Amigas and Ataris up in the attic somewhere. You'd have to ask my (grown up) kids about them.

I'm still hoping to get some expert advice before I buy two new monitors to be used for exploring other planets...

[Nix]

I'd pick these;

If I could;

two 21" NEC Spectraview

If I manage;

two 21" Eizo Coloredge or two 21" NEC Multisync 2180UX or two 19" NEC Spectraview

'tight' budget;

two 20" Lacie 120

(or me personally probably one 21" Eizo Coloredge / NEC 21" Multisync 2180UX / Lacie 21" 321, I still have the CRT's..)

That would be my choice I'd like to hear others on this too though..

Nico