My other expensive hobby.

[GazCaff]

I've felt the time was right to upgrade my system. I'm having to pace myself to keep to myself in budget

So far I've bought:

an Intel E6600 Core2duo, this was a bargain! I spotted someone at a computer fair selling these new and boxed for £120.00! You'd pay at least £130 to order these on the net if you are lucky.

a Dangerden RBX waterblock for the above (my system is watercooled) this was on clearance for £18.00!

2x1GB of OCZ 7200 platinum XTC. I've ordered these from Aria for a silly cheap price (£93 delivered) for what is high performance ram (Aria obviously don't know what they are selling). I saved £10 by using Google Checkout which deducts £10 from any purchases over £30!

An EK FCX1900 waterblock for my existing X1950XTX (I bought the graphics card at Christmas but never got round to addidng it to my Watercooling loop)

I'm going to use my existing PSUs and drives. All I need to get is a new motherboard, which I hope to have by the end of the month. Then I can waste my evenings overclocking this system to higher speeds than high end kit. Once I've got the computer bug out of my system, I can focus on blowing money on my Merc again (namely getting the alloys sorted out).

What is left of my current system, which is a dual core AMD 64 with motherboard and 2GB of ram will be going to my dad as he hasn't had an upgrade for a good few years, so it'll be going to a good cause.

Is anyone else doing anything daft with their PCs?

 

[SEM]

Er my graphic card was 2k... but it is my job, so can i count it as a hobby aswell as i spend most my time on my pc!??


and it's called Boxx...!! not THE Xbox or Xbox360.. The US are far ahead with PC kit now than the Japan or China

Looking into super cooling now but it's ok at the moment with the fans in it

 

[eGuru]

Sem, that is some machine, never seen anything like it. Went off PCs some months back and got myself a G5 Dual for training on Final Cut.
Like the fact that Macs hardly ever crash.

 

[Subyland]

I did something daft. Replaced my perfectly working motherboard with a brand new twin processor model I got from work . Since then nothing works: Raid card conflict with something, video card not working, keyboard locks up on booting...need to find someone who can sort it out for me...

 

[SEM]

Sem, that is some machine, never seen anything like it. Went off PCs some months back and got myself a G5 Dual for training on Final Cut.
Like the fact that Macs hardly ever crash.

I'd have another Mac if the software i used was readily available on it, Windows sucks but the hardware it great when running ok

 

[Chris_J]

Well you can run Windows on a Mac now

 

[shadowninja]

I did something daft. Replaced my perfectly working motherboard with a brand new twin processor model I got from work . Since then nothing works: Raid card conflict with something, video card not working, keyboard locks up on booting...need to find someone who can sort it out for me...

the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" has never been more true than in the world of computers.

 

[GazCaff]

Hopefully I'll be getting the new motherboard today (my dad will be chaufeuring me due to my current condition). With luck I'll have it all up and running before the end of the week!

I'll post some pictures when it's done, it'll be an eye-opener for some of you!

 

[Spinal]

To true regarding running windows on a Mac! I'm introducing Windows for the first time at my workplace (we've alwas been a mac environment) - and strangely enough, on our dual-boot machines (mac hardware, both windows and mac operating systems) - our longest uptime is held by Windows! (and I'm afraid macs do crash - just about as much as windows too...)

 

[hitt]

One of my systems run the other way round . . i.e. running MacOS on a standard PC . . works great! . . excellent interface and everything runs smoothly . . all Mac software seems to work . . and the PC was just a spare I had sitting around . . so cost me nothing . .

check it out . . its called OSx86.

bear in mind . . it does have issues with some hardware and just won't work . . but in my case its worked well on 3 PC's . .

my current project is a carputer . . fully integrated into the car . . I have most of the components now . . touch screen 7" high res display for the dash . . laptop and docking station . . reversing camera . . and all the software . . although I need to write some custom software of my own by the look of it to make it work the way I want. Can watch my movies (whilst parked ofcourse!) it also links to the mobile phone over bluetooth and i have full control via the touch screen.

Once its installed I'll start looking at intergrating it further into the car, rather than just as an entertainment system. The ability to add sensors and take feeds from the current engine sensors would be great . .

may post some pics to document my progress over the coming weeks.

If anyone has experience in setting up such a system I would be grateful for the input . . currently running Roadrunner as the front end and Freefone for my phone software . . DVD's are played using WinDVD integrated into RR and music/movies run through Winamp.

 

[glojo]

my current project is a carputer . . fully integrated into the car . . I have most of the components now . . touch screen 7" high res display for the dash . . laptop and docking station . . reversing camera . . and all the software . . although I need to write some custom software of my own by the look of it to make it work the way I want. Can watch my movies (whilst parked ofcourse!) it also links to the mobile phone over bluetooth and i have full control via the touch screen..

Sounds good, are you 100% certain this system complies with Construction and Use Regulations?

Regards
John the inquisitive

 

[ceejaySL]

............ Construction and Use Regulations?

....... my experience of umputers its Destruction and Abuse that counts..........

 

[Godot]

Any Black Rats on this board?
No don't ask they will know if they are here!

 

[whizzkid11]

Well..

I did upgrade one of my systems abt a month ago and this is what I went for...

E6600 Core2DUO
4 x 1Gb OCZ Platinum XTCs ( so I now you got a bargain!!!)
ASUS P5WDG2-WS-Pro (Workstation class) Motherboard
NVidia 8800 GTX Graphics card (That was the daft option! )
OCZ Gamestream 700W PSU
NZXT-Lexa-Classic Case (nice sexy looking case)
Pioneer Dual Layer DVD-RW
LG Lightscribe Dual Layer DVD-RW
and system currently has a 1TB Striped System disk +
7 additional Hard disk drives... providing a total of 5TB of internal storage
+ 2 x 1TB Firewire 800 Lacie drives...

Sorry to bore those of you not interested.... and all I use the system for surfing the net and checking my hotmail...

 

[SEM]

Well..
4 x 1Gb OCZ Platinum XTCs ( so I now you got a bargain!!!)

Not tempted to push it to 8Gb?? and the Quad Processor