It started off great, and we had a good many years together. Fun and games all the time. Things changed as I grew older however, and I needed more than just games. Plus those old CRT's just weren't as hawt as they used to be...
My old desk sat down in the "dungeon" - a corner in the game room downstairs. A dark cove, the lit of twin 17" CRTs lit the keyboard. This was by design; I mostly played games with my home PC. Times have changed, and now I spend most of my time working on various projects, from photo enhancing, video editing, and a heavy dose of programming. I like to work on projects in a setup similar to an office at a company; I'm just more efficient that way. For a time I used my laptop, but I always planned to upgrade not only my PC, but also my desk.
At first I wanted to buy a desk. Just a small thing that would fit in my bedroom upstairs. (Upstairs is key as I can be in earshot of the girls). Anything I liked, or found acceptable however was costing too much, $250 or more, and I would rather spend money on PC components than designer label particle board. I got lucky, my ex's company had a desk they were getting rid of and all I had to do was pick it up. It was a huge corner monster though - so I took a weekend and a table saw and built the desk you see below.
(click the image to see the notes)
For my PC upgrade I spared only a few expenses. My Grandmother once told me, "when it comes to technology buy what you really want; if you get only what 'will do' in six months you'll not be happy and buy again." Mom-mom couldn't find a start menu and yet had more insight into technology expenditures than most fortune 500 companies. With that advice I decided on an AMD Athlon 4800+ 64 X2. The X2 means it's a dual-core chip - or two chips pressed into one. 64 is 64-bit; most desktop systems are 32-bit and this related to the amount of data a CPU can "think" on at once. To put it simply, 32-bit systems can think of a number from 1 to 4 gigabytes. 64-bit systems can think of a number from one to 17,179,869,184 gigabytes. Yes you read that right, 17,179,869,180 gigabytes of numbers. Not all software can take advantage of this increase, and applications that will need these extra numbers (such as video applications) as just now starting to appear on the market. So this is a bit excessive now, but in a few years 64-bit apps will be more common and I'll be ready.
Other systems details: MSI Geforce 7600GT SLI graphics card, Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard, 4x512 MB Corsair ram for a 2 GB total, Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM SATA2 320 GB hard drive. I kept my existing SATA 160 GB hard drive as well as my SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum Ex which sports every type of audio connection known to man on a sweet breakout box (no crawling under the desk to hook up a headset). The SLI means I can add a second video card and connect it to the first - then they will both act as one for increased speed. Again, some future proofing like the 64-bit.
What good is all this if you have old CRT's looming over you like the judge from the Wall? Exactly, so to pimp this ride we went with a dual config 19" Digital LCDs - one normal and one widescreen. Widescreens give you extra elbow space, great for toolbox and window heavy applications like Visual Studio and Photoshop (and movies!). Having a second monitor is great for working in one window while observing the results in the other - death to alt-tab! I went with a normal perspective instead of dual widescreens because I didn't know if I'd have the space and I want to have a place to preview projects in both perspectives.
Last, I want to give a shout out to PCS here in Knoxville; the best little PC store in the state. Prices are comparable to online rates, but unlike those sites the service is outstanding. I've used these guys for 5 years now, and highly recommend them to anyone in the area. You don't have to know anything about PC components either, they have the most knowledgeable staff I have ever seen - just tell them what you want to do with your PC and they will get you setup - literally, come to your house and set you up!
Okay, now I gotta go be productive on my new toy computer!
Posted By Mike On Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Filed under life |
Comments (2)
Perry
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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
12:07:59 PM
What a beautiful setup! Congratulations, Mike. Color me green with envy.
