Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I kind of miss the fact there aren't any ghetto mods

I do too, a bit. Not nearly as much "character", or at least that kind of character.

[momaka]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

That's a professional looking workstation

I kind of miss the fact there aren't any ghetto mods

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

seriously, retail? You should resell them with new builds for other people hehe

Student edition upgrades, ultimate. Both 32 and 64 bit (your choice). I already have one of each (an x64 for the D630, a x32 for V2 (or whatever I use it for next). I'm *suppossed to* delete the installs and destroy the discs when I graduate in 2015/2016 (if I stay for a master's degree). By then I bet M$ wouldn't give a ****, since we'd be on W9 or W10 by then.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

seriously, retail? You should resell them with new builds for other people hehe

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Oh wow even better, that's awesome! Any version you want?

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

the win 7 copies are from the college bookstore @ $20 a pop. I just need to go there, fill out some BS paperwork, and plunk $20.

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

That's pretty sweet having all that stuff still in the packaging. And the inside looks good, good cable management. Should get that PSU soon and you can always install Windows 7 and activate it later so that you can at least use it till your copy gets there.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Tv tuner came in a few days ago... but I didn't have time to open the box until today.

I was expecting just a used tuner, which for $30 shipped was a steal. However, the box was a tad large, and upon opening, I found this:



Ok, so they included the original box. I wonder what's inside?



Yup, all the accessories, all of which are unopened (maybe the CD's were used, I can't tell).

I already had used equivlents of those ready for use (scuffed remote, used sensor cable, S-vhs player as Svidio converter), so the new ones are going to be put away as spares, along with the original box and CD's (I have another cd for winTV verification).

If anybody has ever used one of these w/o a cable box, you'd know what a PITA dealing with the IR blaster side of the sensor cable is. Since I'm doing QAM directly, w/o a box, I decided to fix the issue once and for all:



This way I can just unplug the blaster side of the cable when I'm not using it (like all the time):



I keyed it by alternating pin genders...

I then installed it to the front of the case:



Note the newly installed Floppy/card reader combo.

I took some other pictures of the system while I was at it:

The insides, overall:



All the rear I/O:



All the cards:



Note the newly installed SMD header on the 3ware card, and the custom LED header extension connected to it.

The SATA cable harness:



The 4 HDDs, with the bays labeled by port #:



At this point, all it needs is the PSU (still in mail), Mobo (Shovenose hasn't shipped it yet ), and win 7 x64 disc (I haven't bought it yet).

Looking good?

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Bought one.

(the guy still has another up for sale )

I bought the other one good find

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Damn, that's a good find. I would go for it!!! You know that's a good unit except it might have OST in it

Bought one.

(the guy still has another up for sale )

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I may have found a PSU:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seasonic-SS-...item4853ef61be

From the review of the consumer version 's 430W variant, it's actually a single rail PSU and a decently built one.

I'm tempted to get it...

Is $42 shipped a fair price for one of these... or should I keep looking?

Damn, that's a good find. I would go for it!!! You know that's a good unit except it might have OST in it

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I may have found a PSU:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seasonic-SS-...item4853ef61be

From the review of the consumer version 's 430W variant, it's actually a single rail PSU and a decently built one.

I'm tempted to get it...

Is $42 shipped a fair price for one of these... or should I keep looking?

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I think I actually had that same card. Used it on my HTPC (win7 media center) box for a while but not for QAM, QAM wasn't available with my service provider

There were 4 versions:

1. original model, had two RCA audio-in plugs and (maybe) an FM radio hookup (3 Coax total). ATSC support only. may have had happauge IR hookup as well

2/3. Revisions with QAM added. RCA jacks replaced by single 3.5mm jack. IR hookup jack. No RCA.

4. Similar to 1, with no IR jack. Designed for windows media player, which at the time didn't have QAM support (not until W7), so no QAM capability. This is what my existant card is.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I think I actually had that same card. Used it on my HTPC (win7 media center) box for a while but not for QAM, QAM wasn't available with my service provider

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

To go with the TV tuner, I have this:



It's an old RCA S-VHS VCR I recently redid the drive belt in. The reason I use it is because S-VHS players are the best composite to S-Video converters I've seen (plug in adapters only work the other way around). Not to mention they work well as their intended purpose, as vcr's.

Look at all the "legacy" connections on the back of this thing:



I also have a recapped JVC S-VHS/DVD combo I could have used... but I kinda like this one a bit better. Feels a bit beefier. (if anybody needs/wants an S-VHS/DVD combo, PM me)

Win or fail?

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Bought this for it.

It's one of the few PCI tuners I know of with QAM support. It also has decent linux support IIRC but until and if AMD fixes the HD 2000/3000/4000 driver to work witht he latest xorg, linuxing it is out of the picture.

Too bad only 2 of 4 revisions do QAM... the ones with RCA audio plugs don't (like my other 1600). However, this one will... This could be one kick-ass system!

edit- I also have the remote and reciever for one of these... Not sure I'll use it though (I have 2 other NTSC cards with Hauppage IR jacks).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I may have a PSU after all.

I more or less forgot that I had one and a half OCZ 850W PSU's sitting. The half is one with missing screws and a busted case/PCB.

The issue is that it has a bunch of super skinny capxons and smaxon GF's that were blown... I am going to try to cram in the smallest diameter Nichicon HE's I could find in the given values... if that works, I'll have a PSU for now. If not, then the PSU is more or less junk...

I say "for now" because it's multirail... but it's also laid out so in the end I'd only be wasting one rail, not two. I have another system that would be a better fit for the PSU, also needing a PSU, so once I had a single rail unit I'd be good to go.

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I understand what Uranium is trying to say but I too have a liking to old hardware. Hell...I usually wander over to my older rigs unless I'm gaming. I think Windows 7 breathed life into older machines, it seems to be faster and more efficient than XP. Windows 7 is fast on a P4 or Athlon x2 as long as they have RAM to work with

[shovenose]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I'm going to respect RD's decision to build a computer however he wants.
That said, My secondary PC is running the Celeron G540 (was $50, now for $50 I'm contemplating the G1610 as it's Ivy not Sandy, but my mobo can handle it), and it's a fine CPU.
Got the RAM for like $30 (Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1333), had a brand new 500GB Seagate 7200RPM HDD sitting around, Motherboard is some cheap MSI H61 thing, Got the ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB for cheap off a friend, PSU is (now) an Antec 650W I got free, (was) a Cooler Master 500W that I didn't trust, and (would have been) the SuperMicro if I hadn't got the Antec.
It's been rock solid so far, run Windows 7 great on two 20" Dell LED monitors, and is almost as fast as my AMD FX-8350-based primary PC. But moving on, RD's build is certainly much more interesting than either of mine. Even though I disagree on the claim that it would be more reliable.
See, the way I disagree, I'm not an asshole about it

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

you don't need ECC. You're not running a server with a massive database system

You're fn like 19, by the time you have children that fucker won't be able to run windows NT 15 (or whatever the hell they choose to call it then). Remember technological breakthroughs double every few months in the computing world

'Run of the mill POS'. Bs. There are some good board offerings out there. And you can get some good quality DDR3 (which is actually QDR) for much less than you can get for a fraction of the price for the size of you can with your current rig. ECC is unnecessary for your application. You can wisely get GOOD 8GB DDR3-1600, and save yourself a lot of money. Another point is upgradability. Your board has a serious limit. You can get a G1610 (thank you for pointing that out 370, i've known about the 1610 ivb for some time and so far has used it in one of my customers computers, fucker passmarks ~2300+). But its still LGA 1155 which has a good upgrade path cause they JUST started moving IVB to 1155

I never said the new stuff was crap... all I meants was that it wasn't for me.

Nor did I say I wanted to run NT 15 on it. Hell, it will run 7 x64 just fine, so unless M$ ditches metro or my GPU gets decent xorg support, it will stay with win 7. Even if by then win 7 is obsolete... and hell by then I'll be on something newer for the main rig...

I know I don't need ECC... but it's there.

You're pretty much telling a guy with a classic gas guzzling crate car (like a ford LTD) to ditch it and buy some POS kia. I know the kia has a warranty, doesn't need much "tweaking" to "work", and has better gas mileage... but do people who buy classic cars care about those much? The reasons they care about are usually build quality (old cars were indeed built to last), style, and perhaps if it's a sportier car, engine performance.

Same here. I know the latest consumer crap may be faster and all... but I don't care about that as much. I like having my own workstation because it's very robust (other than a CMOS battery issue, V2 has been rock solid) and well built. Not to mention that I really have an affection for workstation gear... Sure, in some cases (like V2) it takes some modding to get it to work, but I love modding and it provides a good engineering challenge.

Are rigs like V2 and V3 for everybody? Hell no. Are they for me? Hell yes.

Now that I said that, let's keep this on topic. This thread isn't a toilet, so quit shitting in it.