Your existing computer specs and/or dream specs

Medium FormatPro · 08-02-2012, 08:41 AM

Feel welcome to post some (or all) of your computer specs onto this thred, without any Apple/Mac VS PC wars.

I presently own three different PC's, yet all are tri-boot.

In addition to my favorite Origin laptop; here are a few of the specs of my secondary laptop.

Eurocom Panther 2.0 laptop

Custom case; at 2k extra (similiar to Falcon Northwest)
(just above) 17 " screen @ 1920x1080
2x 4gb nvidia

(the heart) Xeon 6core 3.46 - even runs on batteries when overclocked to 4.0+ under full load, but not for long due to limited battery life

4x 600gb ssd's - raid1

awaiting Wifi a/c card, currently running n

**imtheguy** · 08-02-2012, 09:35 AM

Just built my new desktop to take advantage of OpenCL support by Adobe as well as all the new tech for speed when processing video.

Mobo - Asus Rampage IV Formula for the overclocking options. Sata6, PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0
CPU - Intel Sandy Bridge-E 3930K unlocked hexacore CPU @4.4ghz on air cooling (love watching 12 threads go to 100% usage)
Memory - 16GB G.Skill DDR3 @2133mhz
SSD - 256GB Motorola 830
HD - 600GB Raptor for Windows libraries only
Video - AMD7950 factory overclocked by Sapphire
Big beautiful Zalmann CPU cooler
PSU - 1000watt PC Power and Cooling
Gigabit connection to home server

Ran some CorelVideo plugins for testing and the times make my older units look very sick. Overkill many times for email but it sure loves kicking out a Gaussian blur.

Its fun to be a geek.

**imtheguy** · 08-02-2012, 09:40 AM

Originally posted by Medium FormatPro

4x 600gb ssd's - raid1

For real?? Running FOUR 600GB SSDs in raid1? Mind blowing!!

Medium FormatPro · 08-02-2012, 11:09 AM

Well I guess I could have made due with just two of them; or maybe raid10

**RKKS08** · 08-02-2012, 11:09 AM

My computers are mainly for doing office work and programming work/simulations for industry applications (and as I may retire later this year, even this may change). For these tasks I need neither a dedicated graphics card nor over-clocking or multiple CPUs. I don't play games (occasionally some very old ones which could easily run even with a 40MHz/386DX CPU). Very occasionally I do transcode some movies, but this can run over night.

However, I am using dual CPUs so the many background services don't slow down my applications too much. The only task for which a faster machine would make sense is working with RAW files from my DSLR. But as my computers (officially) are for business only, any investment in upgrading would have to pay itself. Presently it wouldn't, so this has to wait, specially as both my computers which are still in use have not yet be fully written down in respect to taxes.

All my equipment is carefully chosen for lowest energy consumption - during the last years energy cost have gone through the roof in my country, and at least one machine is running 20-24 hours every day, 7 days a week.

Presently I am using (as my office computer) a self-built machine with dual core AMD CPU (2 x 2.6 GHz) and 4 GB RAM; the CPU was a special low consumption version which had been offered for a short time only. It varies speed dynamically between 1 GHz and 2.6 GHz, over-clocking is internally disabled. The built-in graphics is the equivalent of a low priced external graphics card (far superior to the integrated Intel graphics), very fast for video and 2D graphics, but slow with 3D which I do not need anyway.
As I am still running dual systems with XP professional (32 bit) and Linux, for XP I use a hacked older driver to use 1 GB RAM as a RAM disk and modified the configuration of many programs to use it for temp files. I even succeeded to make the contents of the RAM disk survive hibernation mode (which computer magazines and blogs usually say is impossible).

My notebook is a IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Z61m (manufactured by Lenovo, but still labelled IBM). Dual core Intel 2x 1.67 GHz, 2.5 GHz RAM. I intended to increase the memory to 4 GB as with my desktop, but found that even the increase from 1 GB to 2.5 GB and the changing of the original 180 GB hard drive to a ("non-Lenovo-certified") 500 GB hard drive reduced the battery life time by 30 per cent!
Like the desktop, the notebook is running a dual system with XP professional and Linux.

When I am at home, the notebook is docked in the kitchen where it is connected to an external monitor and otherwise hidden keyboard/mouse. It then connects to a DVB-T (terrestrial digital television), which presently offers 24 programs in my region for free. In this location it is used averagely 1 hour a day as a computer, otherwise as a television/recorder set, if switched on.

For the time being, I don't intend to upgrade the operating systems for multiple reasons. For the hardware, I may add USB 3.0 interfaces to both machines to connect to external 2 TB hard drives. May happen this year.

I forgot to say: I don't want to HEAR my computers running! My desktop has a big tower case and when I built it I used only very big, slow turning fans; so it runs absolute silently even at full load. Sadly, I can now hear my notebook all the time as the 500 GB hard disk produces MUCH more heat than the originally one (with which it was also silent).

Medium FormatPro · 08-02-2012, 11:41 AM

Originally posted by RKKS08

I don't want to HEAR my computers running

Although I'm capable of running a laptop at about 4.0x6; it really kicks the fans up to full speed. So much so it almost sounds like a small model F35 doing a vertical take-off. Plus the Eurocom isn't much in the way of a laptop; it's more of a small desktop that just happens to have a built in flip screen and also a trivial battery. One has to almost underclock to get the battery to run more than one half hour.

I almost wish that I could get away with running with an i3 and a limited small raid1. A system that works at far less than 1k; sure beats a system that starts at about 4k

**Vylen** · 08-02-2012, 01:00 PM

Time to throw a Mac into the mix:

Mac Pro 2010, Intel 6 Core @ 3.33Ghz, 24GB RAM, Radeon 5870, 3x 2TB HDD.

2x Dell U2311H, 1x Cruddy 20" Samsung monitor :P

**ChrisPlatt** · 08-02-2012, 01:39 PM

I use a DEC VT220 with LA120 printer.
I connect to a remote VAX using an acoustic coupler.

Chris

magkelly · 08-02-2012, 02:50 PM

I do need a better graphics card now and the full 8 GBS of memory this machine can hold. Photoshop CS6 is a picky beast compared to CS5, and I wouldn't mind a flat screen about 6" bigger than my 22" but other than that I'm pretty happy with my Dell. It came with a bum burner but they fixed that right off, sent me a new one, no problem. Other than that it's been a sweet machine and I like it just fine. I'm going to upgrade the memory/video soon and probably install Win 64 bit for CS6, but once I do that I'm set for a while. I don't want Windows 8 or a new computer unless it can run Win 7. You can keep 8 from what I've seen. Want nothing to do with it.

**RichardS** · 08-02-2012, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by ChrisPlatt

I use a DEC VT220 with LA120 printer.
I connect to a remote VAX using an acoustic coupler.

Chris

Cool! I used to have a VT100 at home connected to whole, humungous network of VAXes via a 300bps modem. But that was when I worked for DEC in the last millenium

Richard.

**ChrisPlatt** · 08-02-2012, 03:37 PM

Originally posted by magkelly

I don't want Windows 8 or a new computer unless it can run Win 7. You can keep 8 from what I've seen. Want nothing to do with it.

I was still getting along okay using XP and had resisted buying a new computer.
Then I saw Windows 8. I immediately ran out and bought two Windows 7 PCs!

Chris

**imtheguy** · 08-02-2012, 08:46 PM

Originally posted by RichardS

Cool! I used to have a VT100 at home connected to whole, humungous network of VAXes via a 300bps modem. But that was when I worked for DEC in the last millenium

Richard.

A man after my own heart! Next, you will claim to own a bank of VT-52s as backup for your PDP8. I was there too and did enjoy the DEC days.

**RichardS** · 08-06-2012, 01:30 AM

Originally posted by imtheguy

A man after my own heart! Next, you will claim to own a bank of VT-52s as backup for your PDP8. I was there too and did enjoy the DEC days.

Nothing left from my DEC days. I was in the first round of redundancies in 1990. Very good deal. My only souvenirs from the good old days are a Burroughs flowchart template and forms design steel rule. I've also got a half-size 80 column card box that's very useful for keeping stuff in. Showing my age

Richard.

wombat2go · 08-06-2012, 06:44 AM

Existing:
https://www.box.com/s/8e886df03ee648cf1617

This is last year's Intel I7 Sandy Bridge 3.2 GHz with 12 GB ram and a Geforce 570 GPU
These are for industrial numerical work where the cores run parallel processes.
The Intel hyperthreading is turned off and the operating system is a Fedora 14_X64 with modified drivers.

I have one in my office but i don't use it for photo hobby, it sits in standby most of the time because of the heat from it in the summer.
However I am starting to learn image stacking and stitching so I might use it more next winter!

Dream Specs:
I just tested the newer Ivy bridge which is about 30% faster and has a smaller power supply.

Hi RichardS, I learned Fortran with those 80 col cards in 1968 in Bendigo.

reeftool · 08-06-2012, 09:10 AM

Originally posted by ChrisPlatt

I was still getting along okay using XP and had resisted buying a new computer.
Then I saw Windows 8. I immediately ran out and bought two Windows 7 PCs!

Chris

I think a lot of people feel that way. I'm running 2 computers right now with Windows 7, a desktop with with an Athlon X3 and an HP laptop. I'm certainly not waiting to rush out and buy a Windows 8 machine but I will admit that the possibility of running Lightroom and Photoshop on a high res tablet like the ones announced by Microsoft are intriguing. I'm waiting and watching like most people. The computer world is in a state of change right now. From a business point of view, I understand what Microsoft is doing and it has no choice. The tablet is rapidly replacing replacing the laptop as the portable computing device of choice and they are very late to the party. My daughter has a brand new Ipad with the retina display and it is really stunning to look at. She stores her photos on it and IMO, that display is as clear and crisp as any desktop monitor out there. Microsoft could be travelling the same road as Kodak if Windows 8 turns out to be a dud.

08-02-2012, 08:41 AM	#1
Medium FormatPro Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Charleston & Pittsburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 1,668	Your existing computer specs and/or dream specs Feel welcome to post some (or all) of your computer specs onto this thred, without any Apple/Mac VS PC wars. I presently own three different PC's, yet all are tri-boot. In addition to my favorite Origin laptop; here are a few of the specs of my secondary laptop. Eurocom Panther 2.0 laptop Custom case; at 2k extra (similiar to Falcon Northwest) (just above) 17 " screen @ 1920x1080 2x 4gb nvidia (the heart) Xeon 6core 3.46 - even runs on batteries when overclocked to 4.0+ under full load, but not for long due to limited battery life 4x 600gb ssd's - raid1 awaiting Wifi a/c card, currently running n

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08-02-2012, 09:35 AM	#2
imtheguy Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Virginia Beach Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,950	Just built my new desktop to take advantage of OpenCL support by Adobe as well as all the new tech for speed when processing video. Mobo - Asus Rampage IV Formula for the overclocking options. Sata6, PCIe 3.0, USB 3.0 CPU - Intel Sandy Bridge-E 3930K unlocked hexacore CPU @4.4ghz on air cooling (love watching 12 threads go to 100% usage) Memory - 16GB G.Skill DDR3 @2133mhz SSD - 256GB Motorola 830 HD - 600GB Raptor for Windows libraries only Video - AMD7950 factory overclocked by Sapphire Big beautiful Zalmann CPU cooler PSU - 1000watt PC Power and Cooling Gigabit connection to home server Ran some CorelVideo plugins for testing and the times make my older units look very sick. Overkill many times for email but it sure loves kicking out a Gaussian blur. Its fun to be a geek.

08-02-2012, 09:40 AM	#3
imtheguy Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Virginia Beach Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,950	Originally posted by Medium FormatPro 4x 600gb ssd's - raid1 For real?? Running FOUR 600GB SSDs in raid1? Mind blowing!!

08-02-2012, 11:09 AM	#4
Medium FormatPro Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Charleston & Pittsburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 1,668 Original Poster	Well I guess I could have made due with just two of them; or maybe raid10

08-02-2012, 11:09 AM	#5
RKKS08 Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Frankfurt am Main Posts: 1,231	My computers are mainly for doing office work and programming work/simulations for industry applications (and as I may retire later this year, even this may change). For these tasks I need neither a dedicated graphics card nor over-clocking or multiple CPUs. I don't play games (occasionally some very old ones which could easily run even with a 40MHz/386DX CPU). Very occasionally I do transcode some movies, but this can run over night. However, I am using dual CPUs so the many background services don't slow down my applications too much. The only task for which a faster machine would make sense is working with RAW files from my DSLR. But as my computers (officially) are for business only, any investment in upgrading would have to pay itself. Presently it wouldn't, so this has to wait, specially as both my computers which are still in use have not yet be fully written down in respect to taxes. All my equipment is carefully chosen for lowest energy consumption - during the last years energy cost have gone through the roof in my country, and at least one machine is running 20-24 hours every day, 7 days a week. Presently I am using (as my office computer) a self-built machine with dual core AMD CPU (2 x 2.6 GHz) and 4 GB RAM; the CPU was a special low consumption version which had been offered for a short time only. It varies speed dynamically between 1 GHz and 2.6 GHz, over-clocking is internally disabled. The built-in graphics is the equivalent of a low priced external graphics card (far superior to the integrated Intel graphics), very fast for video and 2D graphics, but slow with 3D which I do not need anyway. As I am still running dual systems with XP professional (32 bit) and Linux, for XP I use a hacked older driver to use 1 GB RAM as a RAM disk and modified the configuration of many programs to use it for temp files. I even succeeded to make the contents of the RAM disk survive hibernation mode (which computer magazines and blogs usually say is impossible). My notebook is a IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Z61m (manufactured by Lenovo, but still labelled IBM). Dual core Intel 2x 1.67 GHz, 2.5 GHz RAM. I intended to increase the memory to 4 GB as with my desktop, but found that even the increase from 1 GB to 2.5 GB and the changing of the original 180 GB hard drive to a ("non-Lenovo-certified") 500 GB hard drive reduced the battery life time by 30 per cent! Like the desktop, the notebook is running a dual system with XP professional and Linux. When I am at home, the notebook is docked in the kitchen where it is connected to an external monitor and otherwise hidden keyboard/mouse. It then connects to a DVB-T (terrestrial digital television), which presently offers 24 programs in my region for free. In this location it is used averagely 1 hour a day as a computer, otherwise as a television/recorder set, if switched on. For the time being, I don't intend to upgrade the operating systems for multiple reasons. For the hardware, I may add USB 3.0 interfaces to both machines to connect to external 2 TB hard drives. May happen this year. I forgot to say: I don't want to HEAR my computers running! My desktop has a big tower case and when I built it I used only very big, slow turning fans; so it runs absolute silently even at full load. Sadly, I can now hear my notebook all the time as the 500 GB hard disk produces MUCH more heat than the originally one (with which it was also silent).

08-02-2012, 11:41 AM	#6
Medium FormatPro Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Charleston & Pittsburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 1,668 Original Poster	Originally posted by RKKS08 I don't want to HEAR my computers running Although I'm capable of running a laptop at about 4.0x6; it really kicks the fans up to full speed. So much so it almost sounds like a small model F35 doing a vertical take-off. Plus the Eurocom isn't much in the way of a laptop; it's more of a small desktop that just happens to have a built in flip screen and also a trivial battery. One has to almost underclock to get the battery to run more than one half hour. I almost wish that I could get away with running with an i3 and a limited small raid1. A system that works at far less than 1k; sure beats a system that starts at about 4k

08-02-2012, 01:00 PM	#7
Vylen Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,262	Time to throw a Mac into the mix: Mac Pro 2010, Intel 6 Core @ 3.33Ghz, 24GB RAM, Radeon 5870, 3x 2TB HDD. 2x Dell U2311H, 1x Cruddy 20" Samsung monitor :P

08-02-2012, 01:39 PM	#8
ChrisPlatt Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rockaway Beach NYC Posts: 6,363	I use a DEC VT220 with LA120 printer. I connect to a remote VAX using an acoustic coupler. Chris

08-02-2012, 02:50 PM	#9
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,900	I do need a better graphics card now and the full 8 GBS of memory this machine can hold. Photoshop CS6 is a picky beast compared to CS5, and I wouldn't mind a flat screen about 6" bigger than my 22" but other than that I'm pretty happy with my Dell. It came with a bum burner but they fixed that right off, sent me a new one, no problem. Other than that it's been a sweet machine and I like it just fine. I'm going to upgrade the memory/video soon and probably install Win 64 bit for CS6, but once I do that I'm set for a while. I don't want Windows 8 or a new computer unless it can run Win 7. You can keep 8 from what I've seen. Want nothing to do with it.

08-02-2012, 03:17 PM	#10
RichardS Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Nelson Bay, NSW, Australia Posts: 2,391	Originally posted by ChrisPlatt I use a DEC VT220 with LA120 printer. I connect to a remote VAX using an acoustic coupler. Chris Cool! I used to have a VT100 at home connected to whole, humungous network of VAXes via a 300bps modem. But that was when I worked for DEC in the last millenium Richard.

08-02-2012, 03:37 PM	#11
ChrisPlatt Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rockaway Beach NYC Posts: 6,363	Originally posted by magkelly I don't want Windows 8 or a new computer unless it can run Win 7. You can keep 8 from what I've seen. Want nothing to do with it. I was still getting along okay using XP and had resisted buying a new computer. Then I saw Windows 8. I immediately ran out and bought two Windows 7 PCs! Chris

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08-02-2012, 08:46 PM	#12
imtheguy Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Virginia Beach Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,950	Originally posted by RichardS Cool! I used to have a VT100 at home connected to whole, humungous network of VAXes via a 300bps modem. But that was when I worked for DEC in the last millenium Richard. A man after my own heart! Next, you will claim to own a bank of VT-52s as backup for your PDP8. I was there too and did enjoy the DEC days.

08-06-2012, 01:30 AM	#13
RichardS Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Nelson Bay, NSW, Australia Posts: 2,391	Originally posted by imtheguy A man after my own heart! Next, you will claim to own a bank of VT-52s as backup for your PDP8. I was there too and did enjoy the DEC days. Nothing left from my DEC days. I was in the first round of redundancies in 1990. Very good deal. My only souvenirs from the good old days are a Burroughs flowchart template and forms design steel rule. I've also got a half-size 80 column card box that's very useful for keeping stuff in. Showing my age Richard.

08-06-2012, 06:44 AM	#14
wombat2go Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Michigan Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,207	Existing: https://www.box.com/s/8e886df03ee648cf1617 This is last year's Intel I7 Sandy Bridge 3.2 GHz with 12 GB ram and a Geforce 570 GPU These are for industrial numerical work where the cores run parallel processes. The Intel hyperthreading is turned off and the operating system is a Fedora 14_X64 with modified drivers. I have one in my office but i don't use it for photo hobby, it sits in standby most of the time because of the heat from it in the summer. However I am starting to learn image stacking and stitching so I might use it more next winter! Dream Specs: I just tested the newer Ivy bridge which is about 30% faster and has a smaller power supply. Hi RichardS, I learned Fortran with those 80 col cards in 1968 in Bendigo.

08-06-2012, 09:10 AM	#15
reeftool Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Upstate New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 8,858	Originally posted by ChrisPlatt I was still getting along okay using XP and had resisted buying a new computer. Then I saw Windows 8. I immediately ran out and bought two Windows 7 PCs! Chris I think a lot of people feel that way. I'm running 2 computers right now with Windows 7, a desktop with with an Athlon X3 and an HP laptop. I'm certainly not waiting to rush out and buy a Windows 8 machine but I will admit that the possibility of running Lightroom and Photoshop on a high res tablet like the ones announced by Microsoft are intriguing. I'm waiting and watching like most people. The computer world is in a state of change right now. From a business point of view, I understand what Microsoft is doing and it has no choice. The tablet is rapidly replacing replacing the laptop as the portable computing device of choice and they are very late to the party. My daughter has a brand new Ipad with the retina display and it is really stunning to look at. She stores her photos on it and IMO, that display is as clear and crisp as any desktop monitor out there. Microsoft could be travelling the same road as Kodak if Windows 8 turns out to be a dud.