I have finally entered the 21st Century

[capnq]

Ever since I bought my first home computer (used), I've tended to stay well behind the tech curve. Only one of the PCs I've owned was bought new.

On Sunday, I took possession of my seventh PC, bought used from a friend. It's at least a tech generation ahead of my fifth and sixth PCs. I've never been much into hardware, but I know enough to feel impressed with a few of the specs. The new-to-me machine has:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ running at 1.99GHz
1G RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X
Dell MM90 19" monitor
Soundblaster Audigy L5
Two HDs totaling 31.7G capacity

Windows XP Pro SP2

I know this isn't anywhere near cutting edge, but it's such a leap over my previous best machine that I'd be embarrassed to admit what those specs were. This beast is going to allow me to finally check out several games that my old machine couldn't run, including three of Shrapnel's titles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Combat Wombat]

Most of that is fine but please trust me on this get a new video card if it was anything but the MX440 it would be fine but those are the worst video cards on gods green earth. Go spend another $50 or $60 and get something else.

[Ballbarian]

Congratulations capnq!
Me and my 1.3Ghz AMD Athlon will look on in envy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[capnq]

Hmm, I'll think about the video card. I think the most graphically demanding game I'm looking at is probably SEV, so I don't really need the video power that something like a FPS would call for. I've got a long shopping list of things I need more urgently than computer hardware, so I only expect to be downloading demos in the short term.

I made a mistake in my description. It doesn't have two HDs, just two partitions on the HD. This is the first system I've had with a big enough HD to warrant more than 1 partition.

[Atrocities]

I am still using my Acer P75 with its 100mhz cpu, 16 megs of ram, 2meg Mytrox Mystic video card, and 800meg hard drive. Its the best damn machine money could buy. I especially love windows 95, the best OS ever made for a pc. This is my work horse PC and if a game won't run on it, then I don't play it.

[Combat Wombat]

Atrocities said:
I am still using my Acer P75 with its 100mhz cpu, 16 megs of ram, 2meg Mytrox Mystic video card, and 800meg hard drive. Its the best damn machine money could buy. I especially love windows 95, the best OS ever made for a pc. This is my work horse PC and if a game won't run on it, then I don't play it.



That was all sarcastic right? The only OS worse than 95 was ME and you couldn't even fit SE4 on that hard drive.

[capnq]

Combat Wombat said: you couldn't even fit SE4 on that hard drive.

Now you're being sarcastic. My SEIV folder is only 566M currently.

[Combat Wombat]

capnq said:

Combat Wombat said: you couldn't even fit SE4 on that hard drive.

Now you're being sarcastic. My SEIV folder is only 566M currently.



I am sitting at 1.28GB for my install and also keep in mind hes got have room for the OS and stuff too.

[capnq]

Combat Wombat said: I am sitting at 1.28GB for my install and also keep in mind hes got have room for the OS and stuff too.

A minimum install of Win98 is less than 250M; I assume Win95 would be similar in size. An 800M HD would have enough room if you used compression and limited how many mods and shipsets you installed. Granted you couldn't do much else with it, but it's still possible.

[Gandalf Parker]

What happened to the old machine?
You can load Linux to it for free. Since linux needs so much less machine than Windows does, you will get a box at least as powerful as your new one (altho limited to other purposes).

Make a server out of it and you can replace all of your ISP needs for you, family, and friends. No more limits on webspace, email size, ftping. And host domains. And you can host games. And be useful as a beta tester. And you can provide hosting for peoples mods/maps.

Or if you are a programmer then you can play with the power side of it. Especially for really large text applications, databases, spreadsheets, etc.

Or you can automate your house. Lights, temperature, security, all of the things you have seen on any SciFi tv show. You can even give it voice control and give it a name or have it work as if its magical spells. If you want to consider that then visit www.SmartHome.com (http://www.SmartHome.com) (WARNING: hand the credit cards to someone else to hold before going there the first time if you have low self-control)

[Azselendor]

Atrocities, you brought back an old memeory.

I used to have an old Compaq 2200 running windows 95. For years, I kept the default config but over time, components failed. I still have it in my closet, a hulk of metal, duct tape, and good intentions. 120mhz processor, 32mb ram, 3.1 gb hard drive (shipped with a massive 1.2 gb drive), built-in sub-woofer and speakers, CD-rom running windows 95.

It lasted for a good 10 years and I did everything from designing websites to playing video games to work on it. It still works, but I had to join the 17th century back in 2003 and bought a new computer.

On the flip side, I bought an emachine once, lasted 3 years (two of which was spent with a lunch-box-cold-pack cooling system keeping it from catching fire). It ended its life flying across my front yard where it was savagely beaten with a metal bat.

[capnq]

Gandalf Parker said: What happened to the old machine?

I'm still using it for day-to-day Web surfing and gaming, because one thing the new box has is an empty slot where the DSL modem is going to go when I get around to signing up for it.

My friend and I discussed putting a third partition on it with Linux, but I don't really have any projects that I want to do with it. She thought I'd get more use out of the DOS emulator (DOS Box) she put on it. (So far, she's been right. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif I've been playing Master of Orion (I) on it.)

I may eventually connect the new PC to this one and the other old one in a LAN.

[Edi]

Capnq, you will actually want to buy an external 4-port DLS router/switch if your finances are up to it. A basic model should cost somewhere around $40 to $50 and a WLAN-enabled no more than $100. I work tech support for a major ISP and believe me when I tell you that internal DSL modems are nothing less than bastard hellspawn nightmares.

They're quite fine and dandy as long as there aren't any problems, but the second something manifests, you're up the creek without a paddle because it's usually impossible to tell if the problem is with the modem, with the computer in general or with the actual DSL line unless something in the network is obviously at fault (such as a DSLAM going down or not being reachable from operations).

An external DSL modem uses the network card to connect to the computer to the modem, so from the computer point of view, it acts like any other network connection. Any problems can be easily isolated to either computer, DSL modem, the connecting cables or the actual network (which is the responsibility of the ISP, the rest are on your own head).

I've heard enough about various US ISPs that I guarantee you that if you have an internal DSL modem, they will refuse to give you any tech support whatsoever and will insist that the problem is with your modem and computer until you have it analyzed by some qualified computer repair professionals, out of your own pocket.

As for what kind of a DSL modem you should get, I recommend a Telewell if you can get it. That may be difficult to find in the US, as it's a Finnish company and mainly operates here, but they make really solid products these days, unlike the old days when they were known as Telehell in some tech support circles. Zyxel DSL modems are solid, easily configurable and not liable to give you crap in any way. Stay the hell away from D-Link, though, those boxes are the spawn of everything unholy and then some.

As far as computer specs go, this thread almost embarrasses me. I had a 500 MHz Celeron system up until a year ago when it finally burned out. It survived a lightning strike, a couple of blown capacitors and two burned out coils (literally, the motherboard was scorched around them and the wiring crumbled to dust on touch) which I replaced (and needed a hammer and a nail to actually remove the last bits of the other one so I could solder in the replacement) as well as one CPU socket failure. It was one of the Abit double processor boards and it was a very good computer.

The replacement rig is state of the art as of one year ago, with Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 350 GB HD and an Nvidia 7900GT graphics card. The performance is almost ridiculously over the top for most of the games I play, I can basically amp everything to the max and not see a hit. Except in Dominions 3...

[Atrocities]

Windows 95 rulz!

[capnq]

The friend that I bought the new-to-me machine from is a certified network analyst; I expect to have to pester her with tech support questions until I've learned more about it myself. Leaving the internal modem slot open was her idea.

One of the reasons I haven't gotten DSL before this was reluctance to deal with the provider (Verizon) any more than I have to, but they're the lesser evil of the options I have available here.

To ease your embarrassment about your specs, the system I'm currently using for dialup only has a Pentium II/233MHz, as does the other one that might end up on the LAN.

[Edi]

If you're going to be dealing with Verizon, an external DSL modem is definitely the way to go. I've heard bad things about them customer service wise. The external modem allows instant troubleshooting and problem isolation and if somebody at the ISP tries to blame things on your comp, you can tell them to go play with themselves. An external one is also easier to swap out if you need to test it and you can take only the modem to be looked at instead of hauling the whole rig. You just can't lose with an external one.

[capnq]

In another great leap forward, I activated my new DSL account yesterday. The improvement in performance is impressive. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Edi, it turns out that here in the USA, external DSL modems are standard issue. (Verizon sent me a Westell Model 6100.) Perhaps my friend thought that I might be getting a cable modem rather than DSL when she left that slot open.

[Atrocities]

Congrats man. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[troopie]

I got a new to me 2.8ghz Intel with 1gig ram and a 250GB HD running XP Pro SP2. It is light years better than my old Duron 1200 with Win98. Now I have to learn everything all over again.

troopie

[Ballbarian]

Have fun with your shiny new machine troopie! Sounds like you were long overdue for an upgrade. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[capnq]

Since some else dredged this up, an update.
capnq said: I made a mistake in my description. It doesn't have two HDs, just two partitions on the HD.

Turns out I was right the first time; it had two HDs. I only verified this when the larger drive died of mechanical failure. Now I'm down to only 12.7G. Luckily, the OS and all the internet software were on the surviving drive; the one that failed was almost all games, so all I really lost was assorted solo games in progress.

Ironically, the sole HD on my second PC failed on the same day, apparently due to a corrupted boot sector. I'm undecided what to do about that one; I may try to transplant the HD from the third PC to the second.

[Herode]

That was all sarcastic right? The only OS worse than 95 was ME
You forgot Vista. I never went to Linux - I am computer-lazy and don't like heavy intall procedures at all - but now I've installed Vista on my new PC & I know... I will soon migrate (to Ubuntu) :smash:

:cry: Give me baaaaaack my XP :cry: