New Computer(s?)
Timing really is everything, and the timing of placing my order for a new desktop PC was superb.
Not only was I excited about this system, since it would be faster (3.0 ghz P-something), but I’m moving on from a shitty, cheap on-motherboard raid controller to a real controller. I’ll include the full machine specs at the end of the post.
The I/O subsystem be faster, it should be a lot more reliable, and not subject to magically losing a disk at random intervals (only to have it reappear by powering down, unplugging and reseating the plugs).
Oh, and my current desktop exploded today. Crapped out completely and fully. No post, no bios screen, no beeps, nothing. I knew this day was coming, I just hoped it could last long enough that I could get my data off smoothly. Now I’ll have to deal with
- Restoring from my most recent backup (2-4 weeks old, so not bad)
- Re-entering any Quicken / Quickbooks data (timesheets!), but those backups are at most 3-4 days old
- Settings and reinstallation nightmares
As of this writing, I’ve agreed to pay through the nose for shipping, but the machine should be here between 8-8:30AM Monday morning. Then I can hopefully set up a few critical apps, and get a solid day of work in, and then move over / reinstall things during quiet moments, at lunch, and into the evening. I was lucky - I caught the guy who is building it for me literally on his way out the door to drop it off at Kinkos, and it would have arrived sometime Tuesday. Now I’ve bought myself almost a full 36 hours (8am Mon - 8pm Tuesday).
Also, I have my eye out for a new PowerBook, but they’re not on sale. Only the iBooks were. I’m tempted to wait for the x86 PowerBooks, but they might be another year in the making. Probably, I will get a 15″, but apparently there is a common problem with horizontal lines on the screen. Its for this reason that I’m hesitant to order from Amazon (where I could save $200!), since the Apple Store provides an easy exchange / complaint method. I’ll have to look at my finances a little more closely, and see how much income I’m trying to work against, tax wise, before making the final decision. I still have a desk, chair, and printer to buy!
In a streak of completely brash behavior I decided to treat myself to a computer game (or collection, as it were). I downloaded Steam and purchased a Half-Life 2 pack including CounterStrike and a bunch of other HL2-related games. I managed to play a bit before my computer exploded (it may have been HL2 that ultimately tipped the scale, since I couldn’t play for much more than 10-20 minutes without a crash). I was very pleased with the improved graphics, and the game play felt very smooth. I look forward to the arrival of my new machine so I can resume!
As promised, here at the full specs on my new machine:
- Pentium 4 630 3.0 ghz w/ 800mhz FSB
- Intel 915G chipset motherboard
- 1G Corsair DDR400 dual channel memory
- ATI Radeon X1300 512M PCI-Express video card
- 2x Seagate 160G NCQ SATA hard disks (RAID 1 config)
- LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-4
- 16x Lite-On DVD burner
- MS XP Pro License
Now, this is not a full-on insanity system, but it was selected because it would perform well on my boring desktop apps, be very stable and reliable, and be able to play a game or two when I felt like it. It should be significantly faster than my current machine (AMD64 2gz), and significantly more reliable. And I don’t mind that it has a gigabit nic. 