September monthly poll

[Computer Hope Admin]

For the month of September we thought it would be interesting to see how long ago you built or purchased your computer. Feel free to talk about how great your computer is and list its specifications or if it's an older computer how much you need a new computer. For many of you who have more than one computer this poll would be related to your most current computer.

If you're wanting other forum users to rate your computer or look at some of the other members specs you may also want to view the Rate the computer above you! post.

All past monthly polls and results can be found on the Computer Hope poll page.

[Ivy]

My computer is my home and its really a very special computer, it was gifted to me by my mom on my birthday, after than i used it very little didnt connect it to internet for 2 years , then 5 months back i finally got internet in it( i used to use my sisters comp for internet all day ), and 2 months back it got infected ...thats another story , then i called so many engineers home and  everyone of them tells me that my comp is much better than even newly made computers , i took it to the company recently (for checkup and to increase its RAM) and that guy after having kept it under observation for 5 days told me that my comp is one of a kind . i dont know much technical language, but i love my computer, i call it japannas and its like my home.its very special to me and im emotionally attached to it cause its my mom's gift to me.

[GX44]

Built my latest computer back in january/february... (I forgot it was september when i selected "between 2 & 5 months ago" lol)

But probably towards the tail end of next year I'll be looking to build me another one... give my current one to my brother or something. I love building computers, even with all the hassle that comes with it sometimes. Not sure why I enjoy it so much.

I call my computer Yoda (when I'm not angry with it, otherwise there's a lot of very bad language in there.) My first custom build I made was called Melvin for some reason. My friend has around 5 custom builds in his house atm (he has his 2 brothers and dad living there also) and he has so much stuff hooked into the network we call his house Skynet, hah.

[Computer Hope Admin]

Sounds like a great computer Ivy, what a great gift. Thanks for sharing all that background information. 

You've got some great names for computers GX44.  My only original name for a computer was "Techno", all other computers have been called "Hope" or some variation of "Hope".

[Calum]

Nice monthly poll subject, and thanks for the mention of my "Rate the PC above you" thread.

Bought my laptop in May 06.
2GHz AMD Turion MT-37, X1600 Mobility 256Mb GDDR3, 1Gb RAM, 15.4" glossy 1280x800 widescreen, DVDRW drive, 100Gb 7200RPM HDD, XP Pro SP2.
Plus some extras - Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS Notebook, Logitech G5, Icemat 2nd Edition, Logitech X-230 2.1 speakers.

Regretted it ever since, it's had nothing but problems the whole time and has currently been at the workshop a month waiting for a replacement lid after it cracked open.
But it wasn't my decision - my dad decided I didn't have enough room for a desktop, however with assorted external drives etc this laptop takes up far more room than any desktop could . . . anyway, long and bitter story.
Suffice to say it was OK at the time, and I wish more and more every day for a desktop PC.

[Fed]

I guess my computer is about 5 years old now and still running like a clock on the original install of W2K.
Field   Value
Computer   
Operating System   Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
OS Service Pack   Service Pack 4
DirectX   4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name   EDDIE-XS6QT4QNA
User Name   Eddie
   
Motherboard   
CPU Type   Intel Pentium 4, 2400 MHz (18 x 133)
Motherboard Name   Asus P4P800 Deluxe  (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 WiFi, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
Motherboard Chipset   Intel Springdale i865PE
System Memory   1024 MB  (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type   AMI (08/20/03)
Communication Port   Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port   Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port   ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
   
Display   
Video Adapter   NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X  (128 MB)
3D Accelerator   nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X
Monitor   Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]  (CX  276964)
   
Multimedia   
Audio Adapter   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-2/A-3]
   
Storage   
IDE Controller   Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Floppy Drive   Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive   WDC WD800JB-00CRA1  (74 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive   HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8520B  (52x/24x/52x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status   OK
   
Partitions   
C: (NTFS)   76308 MB (60821 MB free)
   
Input   
Keyboard   Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse   Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
   
Network   
Network Adapter   WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface  (210.1.205.17)
Modem   Motorola SM56 Speakerphone Modem
   
Peripherals   
Printer   Canon BJC-2100SP
Printer   Fax
USB1 Controller   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB2 Controller   Intel 82801EB ICH5 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [A-2/A-3]

[Comp Guy]

Funny, I've never thought of naming my computer . Can anybody think of a good name for it? If you wanna know the specs, click here.

[honvetops]

I surf the net on this emachine T3422   which I bought at best buy on the famed!!!!  May 22 nd weekend 2005,  when corporate screwed up and sold the tower with a 15" lcd for 222.00   !!! ( stock- celeron 3.06 cpu / 120 gig hd/ 512 ram / dvd/cd )   While paying for it, I called my dad and he came up and bought one  too. This price lasted 48 hours before they caught it and realized they made a mistake.

I've built 2 other puters since,  one for my son for Christmas and the one you see on the bottom of my posts which I never use but bow to on occasion and say prayers 
I just don't use it too much except for games and watching a "loud" movie...( saving it for  c & c )  lol   

MSI P6N SLI Platinum /  XP-Pro
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 G.SKIL 2x1GB-DDR2 800 HK
MSI 8800GTS-“OC”  (2# >   Seagate hd  320gb 16MB SATA 3
Liteon 52x cd-rw/Samsung dvd w/ litescribe
Apevia Iceberg  ATX-680w/  Zalman 9500
Samsung 226bw black 22” LCD  : Logitech MX518
Logitech THX Z-5300e 280 watts 5.1/ CP UPS 900w
Sound - Fatality- gamer*

[Ivy]

Funny, I've never thought of naming my computer . Can anybody think of a good name for it? If you wanna know the specs, click here.

ummm i think you should call your computer Thunder( its a kool thing to call your comp) hope you like it , if you dont let me know and i will think of another one

[GX44]

Few years ago, one of my most stable builds (I ended up building a new one and keeping this one to use to test other components incase something went wrong on other computers) was called Old Trusty. It was a great little runner at the time. Had a 1GHZ cpu (forget which kind now though) 32MB Riva TNT2 GFX and a 10GB HDD. Forget the rest of the specs, I think it had 512MB Ram, but it never gave me any problems. I loved that machine... It's long gone now though

Comp Guy, you could call your computer Akira... Thunder does sound better though

[Comp Guy]

What's a word for small but powerful? I like thunder, but are there any other suggestions before I make my decision?

[Sashimi]

Got my first custom-built PC this year in January ^^. I don't know what to name mine either.. Right now i'm calling it Faithful.

Specs:

Nvidia Geforce 7600
2Gb Ram
230GB HDD
Intel Duo Core2
Black Thermaltake Soprano Case
G15 Keyboard
G5 Mouse
No-Brand Speakers
Canon MP170 Printer
Samsung SyncMaster 920N

=P Yes i love my accessories.

[DeltaSlaya]

I built my custom PC (stats in signature), somewhere between 2 and 5 months ago, so appropriately, thats what I voted.

I'll probably get a new graphics card after I pay off the 1/2 of my new car. Does that count as a new 'build' or just an 'upgrade' ? ?

[Zylstra]

I own 12 computers, but my newest was bought from Dell, its a laptop (though, I need to send it back since there is some supposed problem with the motherboard, so they will send me an empty box)

Its a Dell Inspiron E1505 with 1GB of RAM, Windows Vista, and a (x2) 1.73 CoreDuo processor, with a nVidia 7300 graphics card in it. It works great

[thedairyman]

I got my Compaq Presario laptop 3 years ago.

This is the 4th year, and it already needs to be replaced!
Our other computers always lasted more then 6 years.

Very tempted to buy an Acer or Toshiba with Vista Home Premium.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I think i've had my computer for about 4 years now, i'm not sure.

Apart from some RAM upgrades, new fans, new video card, new HD and processor (all over the past 4 years), this thing has been great.

[Richenstony]

I dont wanna explain it all again...

[James_Goku]

I've had Max (I call him Max on the account its a Mac) for about a good 3 months to commemorate my 13th birthday. This in it self came all in good timing as I can finally play MMOs legally again*. Stupid COPPA. Anyway this is the third computer in the family and I have claimed it as my own lol. If only I could upgrade parts with less hassle. I was thinking of putting a new graphics card in but I can't find anyone who will touch it because its a Mac. Why does Techno-God hate me so!

Tally Ho! Jamez.

*When I started playing computer games COPPA wasn't recognized till AFTER I joined. Got me in trouble with multiple gaming accounts.

[street1 (RIP)]

I dont wanna explain it all again...

Salute!!!

[unlovedwarrior]

i call mine the spartan god, becuase i built it the day 300 came out in theater.

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

    Version                                           EVEREST v2.20.405
    Homepage                                          http://www.lavalys.com/
    Report Type                                       Report Wizard
    Computer                                          IVAN-5DB7DF6D2D
    Generator                                         ivan
    Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
    Date                                              2007-09-09
    Time                                              17:13


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Computer:
      Operating System                                  Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
      OS Service Pack                                   Service Pack 2
      DirectX                                           4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
      Computer Name                                     IVAN
      User Name                                         ivan

    Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          Unknown, 2000 MHz
      Motherboard Name                                  Unknown
      Motherboard Chipset                               Unknown
      System Memory                                     2048 MB
      BIOS Type                                         AMI (10/26/06)

    Display:
      Video Adapter                                     NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS  (256 MB)
      Monitor                                           Gateway EV700  [17" CRT]  (LIC13304630)

    Multimedia:
      Audio Adapter                                     Realtek HD Audio output

    Storage:
      IDE Controller                                    NVIDIA MCP61 Serial ATA Controller
      IDE Controller                                    Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
      Disk Drive                                        WDC WD3200KS-00PFB0  (298 GB, IDE)
      Disk Drive                                        WDC WD800JD-75MSA3  (74 GB, IDE)
      Optical Drive                                     Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A
      SMART Hard Disks Status                           OK

    Partitions:
      C: (NTFS)                                         76285 MB (39234 MB free)
      D: (NTFS)                                         305234 MB (233877 MB free)
      Total Size                                        372.6 GB (266.7 GB free)

    Input:
      Keyboard                                          Easy Internet Keyboard
      Mouse                                             Logitech-compatible Mouse PS/2

    Network:
      Network Adapter                                   Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster 
      Network Adapter                                   NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller

    Peripherals:
      Printer                                           Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
      Printer                                           Microsoft XPS Document Writer
      USB1 Controller                                   Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
      USB2 Controller                                   Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller [NoDB]
      USB Device                                        Compact Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SpeedBooster

[Zylstra]

Ivan: (UnlovedWarrior)
Does your nVidia graphics card use any of the computers physical RAM? My 7300 Go Series nVidia card does, about 100MB's, which isnt bad, but I thought it was odd, since it already has 256MB built in

[unlovedwarrior]

not sure...

[GX44]

What's a word for small but powerful?

Not really a word for it, but your description reminds me of a Wolverine. Small animals but surprisingly strong. (not that I've had personal experience of this )

...Plus, Wolverine was always my faveourite X-Man.

[Calum]

Ivan: (UnlovedWarrior)
Does your nVidia graphics card use any of the computers physical RAM? My 7300 Go Series nVidia card does, about 100MB's, which isnt bad, but I thought it was odd, since it already has 256MB built in

The 7600GS does not use TurboCache (system memory).
Many mobile cards do now use system RAM to supplement their own VRAM, especially lower-end cards like the 7300 Go.

[Zylstra]

Ivan: (UnlovedWarrior)
Does your nVidia graphics card use any of the computers physical RAM? My 7300 Go Series nVidia card does, about 100MB's, which isnt bad, but I thought it was odd, since it already has 256MB built in

The 7600GS does not use TurboCache (system memory).
Many mobile cards do now use system RAM to supplement their own VRAM, especially lower-end cards like the 7300 Go.

Aww, mines lower-end? Dang.
Well, good enough for me. I was told not to get the ATI card

[Calum]

The 3 indicates how high in the series it is.
7100, 7200, 7300, 7400, 7600, 7700, 7800, 7900, 7950.
There is a large gap between the 7400 and 7600 in terms of performance though, the 7600/7700 are mainstream cards, the ones below that are budget/value cards, and the ones above that are performance cards.
Out of interest, what ATI card were you told not to get?

[Zylstra]

<snip>
Out of interest, what ATI card were you told not to get?

He tells me that he has had nothing but problems from their brand. They have heat and driver issues.

He has had many comparisons with different brands in the hardware world, I do not. So, I ask him, and he strongly recommended nVidia as compared to ATI.

[kaigun]

My current computer started life as a Compaq I bought in the fall of 2001 because I moved into a house with broadband and didn't want to just upgrade my old P133.

I forgot the exact original specs but had it a Pentium II CPU(maybe 1.2 GB), 128 MB ram, 40 GB HD, DVD and CD players and an LCD monitor. Unfortunately it also came with Windows ME.

What a horrible piece of s*!t that OS was. But I kept it until the summer of 2005, adding small hardware upgrades like a Belkin wireless card and SoundBlaster audio card.

Finally couldn't stand the ME crashes anymore and tried to update to XP.  I had all kinds of problems with that, eventually I had to give up and take it to my local shop for them to do the upgrade.

That worked fine for a while then it started shutting down like it had overheating or power supply problems. Took it to the shop and they found the motherboard was cracked. They offered to do a partial rebuild so I ended with this hybrid:

Antec SLK 1650 mini tower case w/350W PSU (new)
Gigabyte GA-8S661 FXMP board (new)
Intel Celeron 2.8 GB CPU (new)
128 MB RAM (original)
Quantum Fireball 40 GB HDD (original)
Compaq DVD player (original)
Compaq CD player (original)
Compaq 15" LCD monitor (original)

I have since bumped the ram up to 1 GB, put in a EVGA GeForce 7600GS video card,  replaced the Compaq CD player with a Yamaha CD/RW and added two additional cooling fans. I have Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, Bose Companion 2 speakers and an Iomega 160 GB external HD.

My computer is truly a work in progress.

Oh, and I still have the P133...and it still works.   

[Calum]

<snip>
Out of interest, what ATI card were you told not to get?

He tells me that he has had nothing but problems from their brand. They have heat and driver issues.

He has had many comparisons with different brands in the hardware world, I do not. So, I ask him, and he strongly recommended nVidia as compared to ATI.

Fair enough.
To be honest, in most situations it comes down to whoever has the better cards out at the time you want one.  I wouldn't personally buy a card based on brand preference, only on what suited me best.  But some people do, occasionally they have a really bad experience with one item and then avoid that manufacturer afterwards.

[banjo67xxx]

I own 11 computers.

I setup the 2 Ultra-5's running Solaris 10 about 3 years ago, and just tweak the software now and again. They run my email, apache, DNS, etc
I setup the ancient SPARCstation-1 with Solaris 7 about 5 years ago, it just runs sendmail cos I haven't migrated that to one of the Ultra-5's
The old AMD-K2 167MHz I setup about 4 years ago just runs a samba service on Suse 9.3 linux, I haven't got round to turning it off yet.
Just over a year ago I setup an Ultra-1 with Solaris 9 to run backups, but my mate hasn't given me the DAT jukebox he promised me yet.
The 2 SunRay's didn't need any setup, just power them on and they get all they need via DHCP boot from the Ultra-5.
The iMac I bought a year ago doesn't need any hardware setup, I just want to upgrade to MacOS 10.4.
The Acer Aspire 5672 laptop is setup dual boot with WinXP SP2 and Suse 10.0 linux, that was about a year ago.
The wife's Gigabyte laptop is just running WinXP SP2 Chinese Simplified version. Yes Gigabyte do sell laptops in China (and probably Taiwan) although I've not seen any on the market in the UK/US. That was setup about a year ago.
The Netra-T1 I've just got I'm about to setup with Solaris 10 and Asterisk to run a VoIP business.

[beachbumfromoz]

Have had my new Dell Inspiron 530 for 2 weeks now....and love it.

Dell Inspiron 530
Windows Vista Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 2Ghz, 2Mb L2 Cache, 800Mhz FSB
4Gb NECC Dual Channel DDR2 667Mhz SDRAM
22" Widescreen LCD Monitor
256Mb NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT video card
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card Dolby 7.1
500Gb SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD with Native Command
Dual Drives - 16X DVD+/- RW with Dual Layer Write capabilities & 16X Max DVD-ROM
Dell Hybrid PAL/SECAM/DVB-T TV Tuner with remote control
13-in-1 Hi-Speed multi card reader
Dell IEEE Firewire 1394 PCI Card
Logitech X-530 70watts RMS 5.1 speaker system

Cheers
Col

[joulzee]

A frend wanted me to biuld him a computer but i was sold a faulty power suply and it set on fire when i got the his place after a 4 hour drive had to take it back home the shop was kind enough to replace the motherboad, RAM, PSU and HDD as all of it was affected then take it back to him so i ended up driving 16 hours in two days but he is happy with it now and i have leant a lesson test the computer before i give it to the owner 

[michaewlewis]

I've got one dell latitude laptop that is about 4 years old and about time for replacing. It's mainly my wife's pc, so I can't do much experimenting with it.
Also a dell opti-something that I found in a dumpster. It was loaded with about 120 viruses, so I wiped it out when I got it home and installed linux. It's a happy computer now.
Also got a dell GX110 that my dad found in a house he cleaned up. Not much to it, just a 700MHz cpu and a little bit of ram. And of course linux now.
Last in line is a sony vaio that my pastor didn't want anymore. It's old too. I don't even know what the cpu rating is on it. If it's even got one. It had windows 98 on it, but now it's got nothing on it. Not even linux. Linux didn't even like it!
At work, it's another story. Both my computers have over 3GHz processors (one is dual core) and at least 2gb ram and probably close to a tb of hdd space each.

[Comp Guy]

Also a dell opti-something that I found in a dumpster. It was loaded with about 120 viruses, so I wiped it

Heh, I wish I could find a computer like that!

[michaewlewis]

oh, you like viruses? Maybe you should try dumpster diving! You'd be amazed at what people throw away.
It's not a very fast computer... I think its a 1.2ghz, 128mb ram, and 20-40gb hdd. It got me going on php though.

[Comp Guy]

Well it's a lot better than the old laptop I used to have, and it would work great for testing purposes.

Maybe people don't throw as much away here on the border (of Mexico) because they can't afford to do so.

[Calum]

I have a new PC now as well, a Compaq Ipaq.
Specs: Pentium 3 1000MHz, 512Mb RAM, 20Gb HDD, CD-ROM drive.  OS will be Win2K as soon as I get a keyboard for it, and I also need a new screwdriver to open the silly thing.

[michaewlewis]

Well it's a lot better than the old laptop I used to have, and it would work great for testing purposes.

Maybe people don't throw as much away here on the border (of Mexico) because they can't afford to do so.

Oh! I forgot about my other, old laptop!
My dad cleaned up a house a few years ago and found this laptop that had Windows 3.1 installed. It only had a black and white screen and the original battery looked like it was 6 C-cell batteries that were taped together. It was a work of art. I used it for a whole year, taking notes in class. But if the power ever went out (It did once) the battery didn't keep the thing on. It certainly served it's purpose though!

[Zylstra]

Well it's a lot better than the old laptop I used to have, and it would work great for testing purposes.

Maybe people don't throw as much away here on the border (of Mexico) because they can't afford to do so.

Oh! I forgot about my other, old laptop!
My dad cleaned up a house a few years ago and found this laptop that had Windows 3.1 installed. It only had a black and white screen and the original battery looked like it was 6 C-cell batteries that were taped together. It was a work of art. I used it for a whole year, taking notes in class. But if the power ever went out (It did once) the battery didn't keep the thing on. It certainly served it's purpose though!

Heh, sounds like my 1993 Leading Edge laptop, I guess it had 3.11 installed on it, but the HDD crapped out...

[Comp Guy]

Well it's a lot better than the old laptop I used to have, and it would work great for testing purposes.

Maybe people don't throw as much away here on the border (of Mexico) because they can't afford to do so.

Oh! I forgot about my other, old laptop!
My dad cleaned up a house a few years ago and found this laptop that had Windows 3.1 installed. It only had a black and white screen and the original battery looked like it was 6 C-cell batteries that were taped together. It was a work of art. I used it for a whole year, taking notes in class. But if the power ever went out (It did once) the battery didn't keep the thing on. It certainly served it's purpose though!

Did it have a funny little ball mouse?

[Zylstra]

Well it's a lot better than the old laptop I used to have, and it would work great for testing purposes.

Maybe people don't throw as much away here on the border (of Mexico) because they can't afford to do so.

Oh! I forgot about my other, old laptop!
My dad cleaned up a house a few years ago and found this laptop that had Windows 3.1 installed. It only had a black and white screen and the original battery looked like it was 6 C-cell batteries that were taped together. It was a work of art. I used it for a whole year, taking notes in class. But if the power ever went out (It did once) the battery didn't keep the thing on. It certainly served it's purpose though!

Did it have a funny little ball mouse?

No, it actually didnt have a mouse at all

[Comp Guy]

I was refering to michaellewis's post, but ok.

[Zylstra]

I was refering to michaellewis's post, but ok.

I sure pay attention...

[Comp Guy]

I was refering to michaellewis's post, but ok.

I sure pay attention...

lol, well you have (had?) and old laptop too, so it's fine.

[Zylstra]

I was refering to michaellewis's post, but ok.

I sure pay attention...

lol, well you have (had?) and old laptop too, so it's fine.

I still have it, my oldest computer is a IBM Model 30
This isnt mine, but its one just like it:
http://mastodonpc.tripod.com/personal/images/8530-h31.jpg
Specs mastodonpc.tripod.com/personal/8530-h31.html (I think mine is 4MHz though, and an 80MB HDD, and I think it had a max of 4MB Memory)
I used to use it all the time, until the hard drive crashed.

[Comp Guy]

We've had those type before. Ones with tape drives and the old large floppys.

[Zylstra]

We've had those type before. Ones with tape drives and the old large floppys.

That was one of the first IBM's to have the 3.5" floppy, I think

[michaewlewis]

Did it have a funny little ball mouse?

ya it had a ball mouse that hooked up via a serial port on the back.

[Comp Guy]

Did it have a funny little ball mouse?

ya it had a ball mouse that hooked up via a serial port on the back.

Are those things hard to use?

[michaewlewis]

What, the ball part or the serial part?
you just need a good mouse pad, that's all. Haven't you ever used a ball mouse?

[Comp Guy]

What, the ball part or the serial part?
you just need a good mouse pad, that's all. Haven't you ever used a ball mouse?

Ok sorry, I was refering a ballpoint mouse.

Of course I've used a ball mouse!

[michaewlewis]

ballpoint mouse? Where'd you come up with that idea? is it like a ball point pen?

[Comp Guy]

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=ballpoint+mouse&gbv=2

A friend had an old computer with one of those on it.