My new computer

[admin]

Just got a new computer yesterday (my old computer was over 3 years old, and I think the hard drive may go at any moment). Had a limited budget, so had to save money on a few things (like the RAM, which doesn't have a better CAS value and isn't low latency, or the smaller hard drives):

Pentium 4 3.2 GHz (Northwood)
MSI 856PE PFISR motherboard
Kingston 1 GB PC3200 RAM (dual channel)
2 x Maxtor 120 GB SATA (raid)
ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB
Creative Audigy ZS Platinum Pro
Samsung 19" LCD monitor
Liteon DVD reader + 8x writer
Antec Sonata case

Altogether, about $AUD 4000 ($US 3000), mostly the monitor's fault. Not cheap, but cheaper than my last computer.

Had a right pain installing software for it, since Windows XP install does not recognise SATA drives without external drivers, and the drivers were only available on floppy and had to be on a floppy for the Windows XP install to find it (the new computer didn't have a floppy drive). Had to take out a floppy from an old computer. Lesson learned ...

[MPS]

"some people got money... some people got fame..."

nice one admin. i still have my 5'25'' handy, just in case

[anonymez]

man awesome comptuter admin... what exactly do you fill your hard drive space with? 240GB is tonnes.
and where in australia do you live?

[admin]

I live Melbourne.

I already have about 90 GBs of data to from the old computer - I'm sure I'll use up the 240 GBs in good time

[Enchanter]

How much did you buy that 19in LCD monitor, admin? I've been wanting to get one too (though I still have trouble finding the right excuse why I would want to since I still have a trusty 19in Sony CRT).

[admin]

I got it for around $AUD 1100. It's a good 19" monitor, but the response time is pretty bad compared to the new 17" ones.

[atifsh]

Re: My new computer

Originally posted by admin
Had a limited budget, $US 3000...

just could wish hav everytime that kinda LIMITED budget.

[admin]

just could wish hav everytime that kinda LIMITED budget.

Limited, as opposite to having no limit at all

Would have gotten better RAM, bigger hard drives and a faster CPU, but overall, I'm happy with the purchase.

My last computer (3 years ago - a Pentium III 1 GHz) cost well $AUD 5500, or $USD 4000 at the current exchange rate, but probably wasn't as well specified as this one - computers have become cheaper.

[ormonde]

"Would have gotten better RAM, bigger hard drives and a faster CPU, but overall, I'm happy with the purchase."

I just purchased a 300 Gig hard drive. (I have two) the primary C drive is 40 Gig, and this newest one is the 300 Gig. (Nice for storing video projects). I'm wondering when the terabyte drives will become affordable.

[MPS]

I'm wondering when the terabyte drives will become affordable.

2007 i guess is the year we get first 1TBs on the market. But what then? We'll give up the divx-like compression and just keep vdos in dvd or uncompressed raw avi format

[ormonde]

"But what then? We'll give up the divx-like compression and just keep vdos in dvd or uncompressed raw avi format"

I'd be in favor for that.........why trade down in quality with Divx, when you can have the space for DVD.

[admin]

I think with HD-DVD and HDTV recordings, we'll need terabyte drives

[MPS]

with HD-DVD and HDTV recordings, we'll need terabyte drives

true

[ormonde]

Question is, how affordable will they be. My 300 Gig ran me $340.

[MPS]

maybe something else will popup? like giga/tera-memo cards, some chips or sth else instead of hdd memory? who knows.