Technically Ambiguous - All Comments

re: Build Guide: High Capacity $300 Budget Media Server

Joe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:01:37 GMT

What OS did you end up using with each of these builds?

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Nicomater — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:23:21 GMT

nice setup, but today you must go for ddr3 ;)

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Jason Parfitt — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:56:31 GMT

Alternatively you can grab the Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor for $69.99 from newegg.

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:56:51 GMT

Don't go with intel mb go with asus msi gigabyte or any other mb which has the capability to overclock because E5200 really shine after overclocking

re: Effective Computer Maintenance: The Three-Beers Rule

gibbersome — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:27:00 GMT

My dorm room mate used to do this to me all the time. I'm sorry, I'm not going to spend all Friday night on the phone with Dell trying to figure out why your video card doesn't work.

re: Effective Computer Maintenance: The Three-Beers Rule

Joey — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:49:04 GMT

TRUE THIS STORY

I just told my parents and brother that I could not bother to install word on their pc just because they 'are only able to msn and use social contact sites'

I told them to "try stuff out for yourself. trial and error. Like i learnt it."

they got freaking angry with me.

re: Build Guide: High Capacity $300 Budget Media Server

fbonzo — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:12:14 GMT

Lots of good grist for thought here--thanks. I'd like to expand this a bit into a minimal HTPC w/Blu Ray and good audio processing (and maybe a slightly glitzier case so I can tell what's going on w/a glance). Wonder if the built-in HDMI on the recommended ASUS board will be adequate? And do you know anything about power draws for mid-lo-end audio boards? Again, thanks for what's here already.

re: Effective Computer Maintenance: The Three-Beers Rule

3vi1 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:43:18 GMT

Lol... this is like reading my past: I remember getting invited to parties by friends in the OLD days and then eventually cornered (by their parents, even) with the "I can't seem to get Doom to run on this PC" question halfway through the night. Or, "How do I install this memory? Here's the memory and here's the PC."

I never had any problem fixing their EMM386/hardware problems, as long as they kept handing me drinks. :)

Yes, Alex - this is about your parents. LoL.

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Jay Tee — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:27:21 GMT

Go for a Intel ATX Desktop Motherboard. It's a little more spendy, but it backs 1333MHz bus, 4 800 DDR2 slots, 12 USBs, 1 PCI 16x, 3 PCI 1x, and 3 vanilla PCIs. The price tag is higher, but the 775 socket will work with the rig and it has plenty of room for future upgrading.

re: Build Guide: High Capacity $300 Budget Media Server

Mike — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:12:32 GMT

Just the info i was looking for. THANKS!!!!

re: Effective Computer Maintenance: The Three-Beers Rule

InfinityzeN — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:25:58 GMT

I actually always preferred a home cooked meal or an invite over to their place to watch the next UFC. Beer works though.

re: Build Guide: High Capacity $300 Budget Media Server

Benny — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:25:57 GMT

Good guide. Thanks for the work. Looking at building a media server for my house and this has given me alot of info.

Thanks again

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Matt K — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:00:43 GMT

Both motherboards are "Deactivated" on Newegg. What else should I use as I have already bought all the other parts.

re: Build Guide: $500 & $400 Gaming Rigs

Nick D — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:20:25 GMT

if you have extra money to spare, i recommend getting this video card instead. it has much more memory for higher resolutions and etc

pcreviewer.org/new-radeon-hd-4890-video-cards

MikeL_HH — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:25:01 GMT

I did consider using an Atom setup. Actually, that was my first thought and I mentioned this in the processor section already. I decided against it for this guide since many home servers aren't strictly file servers and may be used as a media server where the media is processed on the server. A lot of people also use their home server to rip and encode media, which would be more of a pain on an Atom vs the 4850e. Desktop atoms are also only available with the 945GC chipset at this time, which is a pretty awful chipset for a low power build considering it chews up 22W on its own.

There is no way this particular build would idle at anything near 80W total for the whole system. Perhaps 80W at full-load. The 4850e gets a TDP of 45W and the real-world power consumption is likely closer to half that, especially when idle. Then consider the 780 chipset which draws less than 15W total. The 780 northbridge actually idles at less than a watt! The numbers simple don't add up to 80W, any way you stack them.

I also explained why I didn't choose an even smaller chassis in the body of the blog post already. I didn't choose a smaller cube-style or ultra-slim mATX chassis or ITX simply because they don't have enough expansion space for more than 1 hard drive. Many ITX chassis don't even support 3.5" drives. I wanted this server build to be easily upgradeable and the one thing most likely to be upgraded is the storage capacity.