# Dazzle me with your computer specs.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 27, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130 "2005-10-27T05:45:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/21 "2005-10-27T18:30:15Z")
This is what I built for myself last year. I’m trying to decide between upgrading or starting fresh and building a dual core AMD64 with SLI.
Processor: [AMD Athlon XP 2500+](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103377) (like this but 1.83ghz)
Motherboard: [MSI K7N2GM2-LSR](http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K7N2GM2-LSR&class=mb)
RAM: [1gig (512x2) Kingston](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141423)
Video: [RADEON 9600XT](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102344)
Case: [Antec Aria](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129146)
Hard drive: 120gig samsung.
OS: Win XP Pro
extras:
Linksys USB Bluetooth adapter
Currently the proc is running at 2.1ghz, I had to crack open the PSU to put a better fan in it (with Blue LEDs!). The PSU fan is running a 7volts (nice and quiet) I use headphones so I’m using the on board sound. So it sits quietly on my desk and casts a nice blue glow on the wall behind it.
The next step is to upgrade to a seriously kick ass video card so I can play EQ II with all of the effects cranked!
---
### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/22 "2005-10-27T19:15:25Z")
Main box at home is a 2.8 GHz P4 gently overclocked to 3 GHz.
1 GB RAM
Some sort of video - think it’s nVidia - it was upper midrange 2 years ago, but I like it because I was able to replace its fan with a stone-silent heatpipe.
Plextor optical drives and a floppy handle the disk-spinning chores.
Overall, it’s quiet enough for guests to sleep next to.
At work, it’s a ThinkPad T42 with a 1.7 GHz mobile proc.
Just for giggles, someone here gave me an AST Bravo with a 133 MHz Pentium and a whopping 16MB of RAM.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/23 "2005-10-27T19:55:16Z")
7-year old WallStreet PowerBook (PowerBook G3 Series '98).
500 MHz G4 (Sonnet upgrade daughtercard, stock was 300 MHz G3)
512 MB RAM
Dual internal 60 GB 7200 HDs
MCE 24x CDRW or DVD-ROM (exchangeable modules)
14" TFT screen 24 x 1024 x 768; ATI RagePro graphics (built-in)
56K modem
SCSI out
S-Video out
10-base-T ethernet (yeah, that part sucks)
ADB
Classic Mac Serial (printer/modem port)
16-bit Sound in / Sound out (analog)
VillageTronic Display-To-Go CardBus DVI/VGA out (nice)
USB out via CardBus card
FireWire via CardBus card
Operating System (primary): MacOS X 10.3.8
Alt Operating Systems (native, bootable): MacOS X 10.2.8, MacOS 9.2.2, MacOS 9.0.4, MacOS 8.6, MacOS 8.1
Other Operating Systems (virtual machines): MacOS 9.2.2., MacOS 8.6, Mac System 7.5.5, Mac System 7.0.1, 6.0.8, 4.1, 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 0.9; Windows 2000 Server, NT Server 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 95, MSDOS 5.0, MSDOS 3.3; AmigaOS (not working properly); FreeBSD; Darwinx86
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/24 "2005-10-27T23:45:38Z")
Dell Dimension 8300
P4 3.0GHz w/ 800MHz FSB/1Mb cache
1Gb DDR SDRAM 400MHz (2 x 512)
160Gb SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce FX5200 128Mb Video Card
SoundBlaster Live! Sound Card
16x DVD-ROM
8x DVD+RW
Dell E172FPb 17" Flat Panel monitor
Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19" CRT Monitor
Currently contemplating the following upgrades:
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb SATA HDD
1Gb Kingston ValueSelect RAM
I’ve been happy with the Dell so far (it’s about 16 months old), but next time i need a new computer, i’m going to bite the bullet and build it myself.
---
### Author:  [@LiQUiDBuD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiQUiDBuD)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/25 "2005-10-27T23:53:27Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#):
>
> Odd, Sapphire in my experience is a top tier card maker - IIRC, Sapphire is the company that actually makes most ATI branded cards as well. Seems odd to me that you went with a high end CPU and midrange graphics card - you probalby would have been better off form gaming with an Athlon 64 3000/3200+ and say a Radeon x800XL or Geforce 7800GT or something.
>
> Anyways, my machine is an Athlon 64 2800+, overclocked to 2.25ghz, 1GB Corsair Value Select RAM, and a Sapphire Radeon x800xl video card, with an Asus K8N nforce 3 motherboard.
You’re absolutely right that it’s odd, but there’s a reason behind it. I bought the 9800 Pro before I rebuilt my system with high end components. When I purchased it I had a lowly PIII 750/384MB RAM. I’m wishing now that I had bought an x850 🙂 Sapphire isn’t all that bad, their service is great, but maybe I’m the only one that’s had problems with their cards. Just wanted to give a heads up.
LiQUiDBuD
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### Author:  [@Tamryne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamryne)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/26 "2005-10-28T02:37:32Z")
Haha, yalls put mine to shame.
Sony VAIO VGN-FS660
1.73Ghz Pentium M
1022MB RAM
80GB hard drive
NVIDIA Geforce GO 6200
DVD+/- RW Dual Layer burner
15.4" XBRITE LCD
Aaaaand… thats about it. Its a wonderful laptop, and I love it to death! Well, except for the fact that until they come out with single 2GB+ RAM cards, im stuck, as this thing has only one slot. But! Its so thin, it makes up for it.
_hugs her laptop_
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/27 "2005-10-28T02:58:33Z")
ANTEC toolless case. 120mm fan. Whisper-quiet Antec power supply ($100)
3200+ AMD 64. (Free!)
Asus K8V SE Deluxe motherboard (Free!)
2.0 gigs of ram (Free, mostly, except for $40 for 512 megs)
160 gig SATA drive (Free!)
200 gig Western Digital Caviar 8 Meg Cache drive ($60)
DVD±R (Free!)
CD-RW (Free!)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 ($120)
Microsoft Wireless Desktop Elite keyboard
Microsoft Wireless Intelimouse Explorer 2. ($100)
Benq FP767 17" LCD (Free!)
Homebuilt 2.1 speakers (I have a set of 5.1s, but didn’t like them. While simpler, these are better.)
WinXP Pro SP2.
Uptime: 72 days. Despite beta-testing City of Villans and two other games.
Still at peak performance thanks to the power of Memturbo 3.0
Beat that in a Windows box. (My SUSE box has similar, if older stats, but is in small pieces right now, rebuilding it)
Oh, and 3 megabit down 1.5 up DSL at $30/mo, and a SmartUPS power supply.
A Nostromo N52, a Logitech wheel, gamepad, and a Sidewinder flight stick. (I like the rudder control)
---
### Author:  [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/28 "2005-10-28T03:14:03Z")
Well, here’s my desktop:
Athlon XP 3000+ oc’d to 2444 on an ASRock K7S41
1 gb generic ram
GeForce FX5500
HDs: 80g Excelstor
200g Maxtor
DL DVDRW drive
Some fans
A case
Laptop:
P4 2.8 ghz
768 mb ram
Radeon Mobility 9600 (?)
30g hd
(and a meek voice saying "selllllll me. I’m so oooollllldd… upgrade…)
---
### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/29 "2005-10-28T03:39:21Z")
I have nine. Four desktops and five laptops.
Which one?
😃
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### Author:  [@VenusProbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VenusProbe)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/30 "2005-10-28T03:59:40Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> I have nine. Four desktops and five laptops.
>
> Which one?
>
> 😃
Well if we’re counting, I have ten. Seven desktops and three laptops. That does not include any of the machines manufactured before Y2K. I assumed the OP wanted my main rig so I gave the specs for that but I could have given the specs for [this one](http://www.sbrune.com/COSMAC/Personal_Microcomputer_for_100.pdf) (warning large PDF) it’s the oldest still functioning rig in my collection and I built it myself back in 1978 😃
can you smell the geek testosterone?
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### Author:  [@Habanero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habanero)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/31 "2005-10-28T04:01:36Z")
AMD Athlon 2ghz
geforce 4 ti 4200
Only 512 mb ram ☹ (christmas is coming!)
pc2700
333 mh ram
Hm… Suzanne (my computer) is about 3 years old though. A bit behind on the times, but I plan to get another 5 years or so out of her 😃
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### Author:  [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/32 "2005-10-28T05:47:10Z")
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
512mb DDR Ramm
ATI All-in-wonder 9800
80GB+40GB drives
And everything else is pretty standard
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/33 "2005-10-28T14:05:04Z")
Oh, you want quantity?
Let’s see.
Athlon XP 3000+ is #2,
Athlon XP 2800+
Athlon 1800
Pentium 1700
Athlon 700
Athlon 500
Pentium II 500
Pentium 500 laptop
Pentium 800 laptop
Apple ][
TI-99/4A
Mac 512
And some others between those specifications.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/34 "2005-10-28T18:12:44Z")
> [@hawthorne](#):
>
> Athlon 64 X2
> **3 gig of ram!**
>
> I can only use 1 gig of ram at the moment - that’s the limit for 32bit Windows.
Nope - 2 GB is the normal limit, but some of the server versions can use more.
> [@](#):
>
> Someone’s testing how 64 bit XP works with the network, so it’s not a mere indulgence. Soon I will be able to invert some _really_ big matrices. It’s never enough though.
Matlab? 😃
---
### Author:  [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/35 "2005-10-29T00:09:32Z")
-
-
- I have an Athlon-3000 with 1 gig of RAM, running dual 19" CRT monitors. Dual monitors are the greatest for working (most-all games just run on the primary screen, so there’s no difference with them). I also have a low-noise setup (low-noise case, heatsink and fan setup). The computer is very quiet, and I like that aspect of it a lot.
…The only part that’s really unusual about it is that I have four hard drives, three of which are Raptor 74Gb’s. One is just for the OS+antivirus program, one is just for program files, the third is just for swap disk and the fourth (7400-RPM 180Gb) drive is for general file storage. They cost $180 each. I had planned to play with different configurations like RAID-0 but never bothered to do that. The system does run fast and gets fragged very little.
- What bums me out somewhat is that at least two different disk utilities I’ve run showed that the Raptor disk on the controller card has a _higher_ throughput rate than the ones connected directly to the motherboard… :mad: …the ones on the mobo clock at around 50+ Mb/sec and the one on the controller card is 65+ Mb/sec. I haven’t been able to find anyone who could tell me if this was an incorrect testing result or not. Can WinXP boot off a HD on a SATA controller card? I have wondered if it would be posible to move _all four_ of the drives to the card.
* * *
- I built this PC basically because I bought Half-Life-2 and it ran poorly on my older T-Bird 1.2Ghz. The novelty of games seem to be wearing off for me though. On the one hand I’d like to see how fast a full 1+0 RAID setup would be, but I spent $2700 on this setup and I doubt I’ll bother to spend that much again.
~
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/36 "2005-10-29T01:59:25Z")
I ordered my new Mac last week, and expect delivery in 2-3 weeks. Here are the specs:
2.5GHz Quad-core PowerPC G5
4GB 533 DDR2 Non ECC SDRAM Memory
2x500GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm Hard Drive
16x SuperDrive DL (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256MB SDRAM
Bluetooth Module + AirPort Extreme Card
---
### Author:  [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dazzle-me-with-your-computer-specs/328130/37 "2005-10-29T02:12:37Z")
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> I have a G-5 iMac 74.5 Gb hard drive
> 768 Mb RAM
> 1.8 GHz processor.
> LCD 17"
> Resolution: 1152 x 720
> Depth: 32-bit Color
>
> Built-in CD/DVD burner
oooh! you have that cool one that if I had just waiting 4 months…
I have a 4th gen iMac 1.25 GHz PowerPc G4 running OSX 10.3.9
768 MB DDR SDRAM
80 GB HD
Super Drive (read & write both CDs and DVDs)
with lots of other info I don’t understand but if you want to know, I’ll copy & paste
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