|
Register | Sign In |
|
QuickSearch
Thread ▼ Details |
Member (Idle past 1433 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
|
Thread Info
|
|
|
Author | Topic: HIV research - from wester to easter ... ? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IrishRockhound Member (Idle past 4465 days) Posts: 569 From: Ireland Joined: |
Hey all
I'm in the market for a new shiny piece of gadgetry, i.e. I've decided to get me a new computer! I'm going to build it myself and then shove it on the grid - just wondering if anyone has built their own machines, and any advice they might have?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asgara Member (Idle past 2331 days) Posts: 1783 From: Wisconsin, USA Joined: |
I've build several of them. My advice is to buy the biggest, best equip you can. No matter how much HD or RAM you install, eventually you will wish you had more. Of course, thay may just be me
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Omnivorous Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: Member Rating: 6.9 |
Nope, that's a universal law, Asgara.
I tell people to figure the maximum they think they need, then double it. "Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?" -Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night Save lives! Click here!Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC! ---------------------------------------
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jazzns Member (Idle past 3940 days) Posts: 2657 From: A Better America Joined: |
I have built all my own machines plus ones for my entire family and most of my friends for about the last 5 years.
1. Buy everything from Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptops, Gaming Systems, and more - Newegg.com. Seriously they are the best and if you are unsure of the quality of your product they have a product review system where people can post their comments and ratings. 2. Unless you are a totally processor speed freak, when looking for a processor always get the lowest speed of the newest stepping. These tend to have less issues with cooling and wont turn your home office into a furnace. 3. Don't buy Intel unless you want to pay too much for hardware that does not perform as well as the alternatives. 4. Of the many things not to skimp on in terms of quality probably the 2 worst ones are memory and disk. Bad memory causes freaky hard to diagnose problems and it is better just to not go down that road. The importance of your disk is just that if it happens to be the thing that fails you have more to loose. Everything else that has potential to break is mostly easy to diagnose and repair. 4. Don't spend $300+ on a video card. I promise that a quality $150 one will play all the games you would ever want to today and you wont notice. 5. Cases should have a removable motherboard tray if you are building yourself. This will save you lots of time and those annoying cuts on your fingers. 6. If a case comes with a power supply make sure it is not some generic brand that they just threw in as a "bundle" look for Antec power supplies if possible. As long as we are talking about brands here are my favorites. Motherboard - Asus 100% anything else is trash. Processor - AMD64 and if you need the extra performace go for the FX series. Memory - Corsair or Crucial Hard Disk - Seagate. I trust no other brand. CD/DVD ROM - Sony or LiteOn (which is just Sony without the name) Sound - Whatever comes on the motherboard. Unless you are a serious audio person you probably won't be able to tell the difference. Video Card - My favorite over the years has been LeadTek. Their availability has been waning as of late and I have had good luck with Asus cards. Shy away from cards that have the same video processor but are much cheaper than one of the well known brands. Cases - Antec is great but just pick a case you like and is lightweight. The thing to watch out for is just the power supply that it comes with. See if you can get a case without a power supply. It costs a little bit more but then you can be sure to get a quality power supply. Power - Antec all the way but I have heard good things about Vantec and Coolermaster. Network gear - Linksys or U.S. Robotics have always brought me luck. I avoid D-Link and Belkin like the plague. I am a wealth of useless computer hardware knowledge. Ask away if you have any questions. Of course, biblical creationists are committed to belief in God's written Word, the Bible, which forbids bearing false witness; --AIG (lest they forget)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IrishRockhound Member (Idle past 4465 days) Posts: 569 From: Ireland Joined: |
Thanks muchly Jazz, I'll take note of everything ^^
I buy AMD chips and nothing else - my current PC has an Athlon XP and I love it to bits. I had to travel 60 miles to get to a computer store that sold laptops with AMD chips - literally every shop in my home city had Intel and nothing else (and I swore never to buy from a few places after they said "What kind of Pentium is that?" Morons...) I got a 250GB hard drive at the moment. I may have to buy another if my fiancee doesn't stop downloading cartoons. My favourite video cards have always been NVidia GeForce - I usually look for the newest one and then buy the one a step or two steps down from that. When I buy cases I go for SIZE... ease of access and all that. (Size does matter!) Now, I've heard some good stuff about Alienware computers - and yes, I have drooled over them, because a local internet cafe has a bunch and they look like the ultimate gaming machines on the planet... I'm wondering if it's possible to build a computer with the same specs and fine tuning of an Alienware? I don't have a few grand to throw away on one, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion - but I'm wondering if I can make myself something close to one without going completely broke.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IrishRockhound Member (Idle past 4465 days) Posts: 569 From: Ireland Joined: |
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptops, Gaming Systems, and more - Newegg.com don't ship international.
*cries*
{I've spun this sub-theme off into its own topic - Adminnemooseus} This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 02-14-2006 06:26 PM
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asgara Member (Idle past 2331 days) Posts: 1783 From: Wisconsin, USA Joined: |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adminnemooseus Administrator Posts: 3976 Joined: |
I had to slam the door on this one, to get the good discussion to a good place, the Buying a new computer (Spun-off HIV topic) topic.
Sheesh - 3 of the members posting good material, albeit off-topic, also had admin status. Don't you people have any sense of when you're burying good info in a bad place (don't answer in this topic)? Has everyone moved their relevant material to that new topic? If not, maybe you should. OK - A bit of space left until the topic hits the 300 message wall. Have fun. Adminnemooseus New Members should start HERE to get an understanding of what makes great posts.
Comments on moderation procedures (or wish to respond to admin messages)? - Go to:
General discussion of moderation procedures Thread Reopen Requests Considerations of topic promotions from the "Proposed New Topics" forum Other useful links:
Forum Guidelines, Style Guides for EvC and Assistance w/ Forum Formatting |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1433 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
What confuses me is why my Athlon 1800 (linux) consistently returns results faster than my Athlon 2500 (windows). Try maxing the cache disk space allocated in windows (unless you need it) ... it's under your device profile settings, and the default is small. Other than that I would not be surprised that windoze takes up more ram than other OS's. we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1433 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Welcome aboard Funkaloyd!
Members (Rank) 29 (#313) Getting down to that 300 team rank, and this should help get to 500 rank on results!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Funkaloyd Inactive Member |
< Procrastinator extraordinaire. It took me one month from deciding to sign up to getting around to downloading the client, and then another two months until I actually installed it.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1433 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
betta late then neva.
we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Omnivorous Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: Member Rating: 6.9 |
Good to see you on the team, Funk.
"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?" -Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night Save lives! Click here!Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC! ---------------------------------------
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1433 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
getting closer
Current Members 30 (#297) we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parasomnium Member Posts: 2224 Joined: |
Since I hadn't looked at the World Community Grid results for a while, I was pleasantly surprised that, when I finally did, I noticed I am a rising star in the team, as far as returned results are concerned. I am now fourth in rank in that respect, and some analysis reveals that, if nothing changes, I can at most become third. Jazzns is the absolute champion, closely followed by Omnivorous. Right now, Asgara is third, but that place is rightfully mine and I will claim it at some point in the future. Asgara will also be overtaken by Edchem, who will stay in fourth place, circumstances staying what they are.
How do I know this? Here's the analysis: First, some statistics, taken from the World Community Grid website.
I put these figures in a spreadsheet and added some columns:
The first column (not counting the name column) gives the total run time in seconds. The second column is the number of run time seconds per returned result. The lower that figure, the better: the member is using his or her online time more efficiently. The third column contains the elapsed time in days since joining. The fourth column gives the ratio of online seconds and elapsed seconds. The higher that number, the better: the member is using his or her elapsed time more efficiently. Obviously, if this number is larger than 1, then the member must have more than one computer on the grid. The last column contains the ratio between the previous column and the second column. This number is a measure of the member's performance, the higher the number, the better. As you can see, if nothing changes, the highest place I can achieve is third. I keep using the phrase "if nothing changes", which I hope will induce the members of our illustrious group to add more computing power to the Grid. This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 15-Mar-2006 03:24 PM "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin. Did you know that most of the time your computer is doing nothing? What if you could make it do something really useful? Like helping scientists understand diseases? Your computer could even be instrumental in finding a cure for HIV/AIDS. Wouldn't that be something? If you agree, then join World Community Grid now and download a simple, free tool that lets you and your computer do your share in helping humanity. After all, you are part of it, so why not take part in it?
|
|
|
Do Nothing Button
Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved
Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024