Oppo: What's your "setup?"

"Dsscats" (dsscats) 08/22/2014 at 00:42 • Filed to: None

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I know we have a ton of techies here.

Mine is a 13" i7 Macbook, 27" monitor, and a ratchet-ass speaker setup. 6.3 for the win! Harmon Kardon soundsticks, some Yamaha who-knows-whats and some Coby who-knows-whats. Works well, sounds great. Fun fact: I didn't pay close to full price on anything here.

I got the SoundSticks for free from a neighbor.

Ill leave you with my favorite photo of my car.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 00:49

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Custom PC running Windows 7 here. No recent pics due to other occupations.

Here are the specs:

AMD FX-8350 4.5 GHz on ASUS Sabertooth 990FX

8 GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance 1866

ASUS ENGTX560 (OC'd to 900 MHz Core, 2100 on the RAM)

NZXT Phantom case

Samsung SyncMaster 2343BWX @ 2048x1152

Logitech G510 keyboard

Logitech G25 steering wheel

Logitech X-240 sound system

Logitech G230 headset

Logitech G500 mouse

Dsscats > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 08/22/2014 at 00:51

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4.5 GHz!? Dayum!!

I'm probably going to pick up a lower end gaming computer off of CL soon. At a time when I was more into gaming, I had a loaded Alienware M11X R3. Paid $750 for it, sold it 2 years later for $650. Those things hold value like you would not believe.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 00:53

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It runs 4.0 GHz stock, and it is really easy to overclock.

I haven't been so keen on Alienware, but do have to agree, they certainly do keep their value.

GhostZ > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 00:55

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Not paying full price is awesome.

My setup is a 17" HP Envy side-by-side with a "14 HP Toucsmart Tmt2 (the one that swivels over and doubles as a tablet). One on windows 8, the other on windows 7. Got the ISOs and product keys for both OSs free also. Got the ENVY about half off as an outdated floor model, got the TMT2 about 80% off because HP had a fire sale when they were stopping production of laptops (before they changed their mind again). I have a 21" Samsung LCD 1080p screen attached to the ENVY also, via HDMI. Both have i5s, one is a 3rd gen the ENVY is a 4th gen. I have a mouse for each, and a keyboard attached to the ENVY (I hate the ENVY's keybard, it's too big).

I also have a graphics rig running Xubuntu and Tor off of a SSD USB with two AMD HD7850 graphics cards running double duty. I built it last summer for cheap, and it's still in pieces (constantly being tinkered with). I even jury-rigged a blow-through fan system to cool the cards directly so I can overclock the whole unit. When the rig is down, I just swap the SSD over to one of the laptops.

Best part? It's all on top of a wooden desk (Birch, I believe) that I got for free.99! Someone was moving out of my old apartment building when I moved in, and they just left it instead of taking it with them, so I carried it up to my room and have loved it and cared for it ever since.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 00:55

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Custom PC among other things...

PC Specs

AMD FX8320 @4.2GHZ

Asrock 990FX Killer

8GB G.Skill Ripjaws at 1333

8GB Corsair Vengeance at 1333

MSI R9 270

Antec H2O

EVGA 750 G2

256GB Crucial M4 SSD

500GB Seagate HDD

and a shitload of fans

Also

Deck Legend Mech Keyboard

Samsung Syncmaster 2693HM 1920x1200 (free!)

Logitech X530 5.1 (paid $30 at a thrift store!)

Viewsonic VX2025WM

2007 MacBook Pro (C2D, 4GB ram, 8600M GT (mini nuke basically)

There's probably something I'm forgetting

Dsscats > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 08/22/2014 at 00:58

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I'm not a huge Alienware fan either. The build quality was eh at best. The only reason I ended up with it was it had pretty great specs for the price, and it's pretty damn hard to build your own gaming laptop on the cheap.

Dsscats > GhostZ 08/22/2014 at 01:01

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Awesome on the desk thing. The desk I have is actually from 1869 and still has the original markings on the bottom to prove it. Also gotten for free. We put a slab of pink rock of some type on top (can't recall at the moment), which was also gotten for free as scrap from a counter place!

 V8 Rustler > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:07

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Excuse the food as it the only photo I have currently of my desktop.

15" Haswell MacBook Pro

2.6 GHz Quad-Core Core i7

16 GB 1600 DDR3 RAM

Nvidia Geforce GT750M 2GB + Intel Iris Pro 128MB

1TB SSD 1GB/s

OS X 10.9.0 + Wind0ws 7

Laptop Monitor: 2560x1600

27" HP ZR2740w @ 2560x1440

Apple Wireless Keyboard

Apple Magic Mouse

1TB WD MyBook

Tablet Surface Pro 1 (Talk about shitty battery life.)

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:12

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can't take a photo because I'm at work.

But I have an old centrino 2 work laptop connected to a 19" monitor.

a work desktop (i7 and just a cheap G210 card and 8GB's of your cheapest ram) connected to twin 19"'s

and 8 bays with their own monitors for fixing other PC's.

100Mb/s internet connection though :P


My home setup is nothing special, just twin 22"s connected to an old HP pavillion DV7. I'm about a month away from building a new desktop for vidya gamz.

I'm thinking one of the new Haswell-E chips coupled to a GTX 780 (likely the gainward phantom because it looks like an intercooler), and whatever else I can afford.. aiming for good-great performance as quietly as possible. anyone got any recommendations? it's been too long since I really looked in earnest for performance parts.

Big Bubba Ray > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:12

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I'm not a big computer guy, other than that I own one haha, my speaker set up is my techie thing.

Four massive speakers from the 70's hooked up to a fat sub under the table, all set up in my garage. With the garage doors open and the volume turned up, this can be heard clearly from a 1/4 mile away haha

My friends love to bring their cars to my garage for work because we always blast music and there's a nice little beer fridge next to the speakers!

Dsscats >  V8 Rustler 08/22/2014 at 01:12

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I had an apple wireless keyboard and mouse, but the keyboard crapped out and the mouse doesn't allow right clicking while left clicking, so it's useless for gaming.

 V8 Rustler > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/22/2014 at 01:13

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8600M GT

That was recalled, right?

 V8 Rustler > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:15

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Apple mice are useless for anything other than normal tasks. Useless for gaming and for CAD.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen >  V8 Rustler 08/22/2014 at 01:16

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Yep lol it actually blew up before the recall was issued but we never got reimbursed... probably because we got a better logic board?? 2.2 with 128mb vga ram replaced with 2.4 with 256 and 4gb ram ;) we werent about to complain LOL

treesmakewater > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 08/22/2014 at 01:16

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mine produces a metric ton of heat :/ my CM 212 is not enough anymore

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:17

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That's a sweet setup!

I'm leaving for college tomorrow, but I'll have a mid-2012 15" MacBook Pro (2.3GHz i7, 16GB RAM) with an Apple Wired Keyboard, Logitech G700, janky 17" 1280x1024 monitor I borrowed off of my parents, and Sony MDR-7506's for sound (which are fantastic and I completely recommend).

For portability in classes and the library (most of my time), I just bought an 11" MacBook Air (mid-2011, 1.6GHz i5, 4GB RAM) used for $430, which I'm actually enjoying quite a bit. Same size keyboard as my 15" Pro!

Dsscats > Kenaft - some new kid 08/22/2014 at 01:20

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I love the looks of the 11" MacBook Air. The size is just perfect as being above a tablet.

His Stigness > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:28

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Let's start with what you can see: two 24" LED 1920 monitors, Logitech Performance MX Mouse, Logitech Z-2300 2.1 speakers (man those things bump, Razer Vespula Pad, Logitech G19 keyboard, Vizio 42" LED tv, Onyo 7.1 speakers, Denon receiver, Chromecast, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and the piece de resistance:

COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE (6 120mm fans, two bigger ones [not sure what size], 240mm Corsair water cooler, blue fans)

INTEL i7-960 3.20GHZ 8M 1366

GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 3 WAY CROSSFIRE & SLI DDR3 2200+ USB3.0 SATA3 24 PHASEPOWER

128gb SSD RAID 1

1Tb RAID 1

SUPERCLOCK EVGA NVIDIA GTX 570 1.2 GB GDDR5 PCI-E

12GB DDR3 / 1600 MHZ MEMORY

THERMALTAKE TOUGH POWER 1000WATT

NZXT SENTRY LX ALUMINUM DUAL BAY DIGITAL FAN CONTROL

Pioneer Blu-Ray Player/Writer

His Stigness > Big Bubba Ray 08/22/2014 at 01:31

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Nice dude! A friend of mine had 5 or 6 PA speakers lying around and let me "borrow" them; I put them in the garage and wired it up to a Yamaha amp I have lying around, and....it BUMPS! I'm sure I piss my neighbors off, but man it's nice to have whenever I work on my car at home.

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:34

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Exactly. My friends and I all went different directions for that third device (computer, phone, in-between). One got an NVIDIA Shield 8" tablet, one got a Surface Pro 3, and I think I got the best deal and hardware out of the bunch. It's just awesome to one-hand everywhere, while playing music, doing Android development, playing Counter-Strike... insane value.

I don't really have a need for tons of power, so I haven't built a desktop yet. But that's eventually on the horizon.

Boxer_4 > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:35

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This will require some thought on my part, and might be a bit long:

This is currently my main setup: It's a Gateway GT5428, with a dual core 3.2 Ghz Pentium D and 2 gb of RAM, running Windows 7 Professional, Intel 945G integrated graphics, Conexant Falcon2 tuner card, 3.5" floppy drive, Gateway speakers, Logitech EX110 keyboard, Gateway mouse, Dell 2208WFP 22" widescreen monitor, and a Sony SLV-N51 VCR.

This is my Dell Dimension 4700. Pentium 4 HT 2.8 Ghz (I believe), 1.5 gb RAM, Windows XP Professional SP3, standard Dell keyboard, Dell Logitech mouse, and 15" Dell monitor.

This is my HP Pavilion 8390 and Dell Dimension XPS T500. I have a VGA switchbox hidden to switch between the two computers for the monitor an HP M90 19" CRT.

The HP: Pentium II 450 Mhz, 128 mb RAM, Iomega Zip100 Drive, Philips DVD-ROM CD-RW drive (now color matched), HP Deskjet 895 Cse, Polk Audio speakers, HP keyboard and mouse, currently running Windows 2000 SP4.

The XPS: Pentium III 500 Mhz, 128 mb RAM, Iomega Zip650 CD-RW, Toshiba DVD-ROM, Dell Quietkey keyboard, Microsoft mouse with scroll wheel, Altec Lansing ACS 340 speakers with 27 watt subwoofer (not pictured), running Windows 98 SE.

This is my Gateway2000 P5-90: Pentium I 90 mhz, 96 mb RAM, Mitsumi CR-ROM, Epson SD-600 5.25" floppy drive, Iomega Zip100 drive, Westinghouse 19" widescreen LCD, Gateway2000 keyboard, Microsoft 2 button mouse, Altec Lansing ACS 5 speakers (not pictured), HP Deskjet 720C, running DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1.

Those are all my desktops I have set up (there's a PowerEdge 1600SC and a Leading Edge Model D, too, just not set up or running) Laptop wise, I have a Lenovo W530, Dell Inspiron E1505, 2 Apple Powerbook G3s, and 2 Apple iBook G4s. I think that adds up to 13 total.

mcseanerson > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:36

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Home made.

I was going to type everything up but I realized a screencap of my microcenter receipts from my e-mail would be easier.

I returned the 660 and purchased the 560ti that was on sale and if the reviews I read at the time were accurate would outperform the 660 in most uses. There were some rebates that are not clearly visibly from the receipts but all in this cost just a little over $1,000. I always plan my builds around bottlenecks and leave room to upgrade as prices drop. My original intent was to go to an i5 or i7 and I might still but haven't really felt the need to. Similarly, I planned to upgrade my graphics card but short of spend $400 or more I feel like I'd be wasting time and money. This was pretty much planned around how much I ended up loving both Macbook Airs I purchased and became convinced I never wanted physical hard drives again. I am using the monitor listed with an old 32 inch flatscreen that I hope to eventually replace both with one of these .

For those unfamiliar with the case this is what it looks like. I have toddlers so I wanted something to keep on a stand and I also wanted something somewhat compact and easy to carry yet still roomy on the inside. I am very happy with this case.

kevin_kancer > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:36

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I just have an old laptop at home...

But I wish I could take a picture of my work setup. It's in a classified space though so no cameras. I kind of want to recreate it at home, or something close to it.

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:38

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Any reason why you went for the 13" Air?

Dsscats > Kenaft - some new kid 08/22/2014 at 01:40

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Mine's a 13" Pro. 2.9 i7, 8GB ram.

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:41

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Bleh. I don't know what I'm talking about.

Why did you go for the 13" Pro versus a 15"? Is that an upgraded CPU?

Dsscats > Kenaft - some new kid 08/22/2014 at 01:49

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It is the upgraded CPU. I got it for $800, plus got Apple Care until 2015 for free. And for portability and cheapness.

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:50

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Wow! How did you do that?

Miss Jennifer C. Yourface > Boxer_4 08/22/2014 at 01:52

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You have all the computers! How do you decide which one to use?

Dsscats > Kenaft - some new kid 08/22/2014 at 01:52

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CRAIGSLIST!

Kenaft - some new kid > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 01:54

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So you made a sketchy friend? :D

That's a crazy deal on Craigslist, though. I would think that's way below market price.

Dsscats > Kenaft - some new kid 08/22/2014 at 02:00

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It is. I was crazy lucky. He just didn't know what it was worth, I guess.

BATC42 > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 03:19

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Up until 3-months ago I had a 13" Macbook Pro (2010 model). Now I have :

Asus Zenbook 13" (Core i7, 8GB ram, 750GB HDD, nVidia GT730M). Great computer all around, except for the screen. I already have a few dead pixels, and backlighting sometimes has a mind of its own...

2x 22" monitors. I got a iiyama (which is great), and a LG. The LG is not so great, but it has sound output so I can use my PS3 with it.

Logitech MX5500 Revolution (this one is a few years old, I think I have it since 2008).

A good but not great 5.1 sound system from Hercules (and an external sound card to use it)

Sennheiser HD335s headset

2x 1TB external hard drive (both are almost full...)

2TB Western Digital MyBookWorld, network HDD

Plus a PS3 and an old Logitech Driving Force Pro wheel.

And that's about it. I does what it has to do, but I will upgrade to some more quality stuff when I have the money.

Saf1 > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 03:29

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Close up shot of your lover? :P

Dreadnaught > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 03:39

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Currently running a mid-tier custom-built system (I seldom game or perform intensive renders/modelling, hence the anemic specs)

Coolmax 700W PSU

FATAL1TY Z97 KILLER

Cosair Vengeance 8GB 1866 DDR3

Core i5 4690k OC @ 4.5GHz

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD

ATI R7 260x

Cooler Master Hyper T4

Sony 3d Display (repurposed for use as a monitor)

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Dsscats 08/22/2014 at 08:08

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Samsung Series 7 Chronos - yeah I'm a filthy laptop casual but it has a core i7, super thin aluminum body (that gets hotter than dragon's piss when charging and running at full bore), the usual laptop 8gB of ram, 1gB 640m vid card, 750gB SSD but unfortunately Windows 8. I used to think 8 was ok and everyone was just hitching because it was new and different but I've come across a number of issues that really bug me.

It plays payday 2 on full settings nicely so I can't complain. Do I have the know-how to build something stupid which uses more energy than the state of RI? Of course. Will I? Probably. But right now I enjoy the mobility of my laptop.

Boxer_4 > Miss Jennifer C. Yourface 08/22/2014 at 14:15

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How I decide really depends on what I'm trying to do. I've mostly been using the newer Gateway recently, but if I'm running older software or older games, then I'll use one of my older machines.

I recently used the Gateway2000 (probably my favorite of my machines) to help a friend of mine's church recover their records from their 5.25" floppy disks.

Miss Jennifer C. Yourface > Boxer_4 08/22/2014 at 14:58

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This will sound really dumb, but do the older computers upgrade to the new Windows or do they stay with the Windows that they came with? If you put new Windows on the computer that can read floppy disks, would it still read them?

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Dsscats 08/24/2014 at 10:33

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Those soundsticks are gorgeous.

Tohru > Dsscats 08/25/2014 at 17:54

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CPU: Intel i5-655k overclocked to 3.6GHz, tested up to 4.0GHz.
CPU Cooler: Corsair H70 watercooler
MB: Asus P7H55D-M EVO
RAM: 8GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
GPU: HIS Radeon 6950 2GB GDDR5 unlocked to 6970 spec
PSU: Ultra LS600
SSD: Kingston SSDNow 120GB
HDDs: Seagate 1TB, Spinpoint F1 750GB, Spinpoint F3 500GB
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 with custom LED installation
Montiors: Dual AOC 2236vw 1920x1080 displays
Keyboard: Dell L100
Mouse: Razer Naga Molten Edition
Mousepad: Razer Goliathus alpha Control Editon, Razer Goliathus World of Tanks Speed Edition (not pictured)
Desk Chair: 1997 Ford Escort passenger's seat mounted on Staples Montessa base

Boxer_4 > Miss Jennifer C. Yourface 08/26/2014 at 00:02

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For upgrading to newer versions Windows, it really depends on the hardware. The majority of computers can be upgraded one, possibly two, major versions of Windows newer than what they came with. Some can be upgraded more, and others can be upgraded less. For example, the HP originally came with Windows 98, but was upgraded to Windows 2000. With the system specs of that machine (450 Mhz Pentium II processor and 128 Mb of RAM) it probably would not run Windows XP very well. Newer versions of Windows often use more system resources, and often require more memory and faster processors to be usable. The better the system specifications were on the computer when it was new, the more upgradable it is in regards to Windows.

I usually enjoy keeping the original version of Windows on my older computers (with some exceptions), just as a little piece of history and nostalgia.

Surprisingly, Windows 7 (and Windows 8, I believe), still support floppy disks. The problem, however, is that most (all?) modern motherboards do not have the proper connectors to connect a floppy drive. The Gateway GT5428 is in the position that it is new enough to support Windows 7, but old enough to still support floppy disks (at least 3.5", I haven't tried 5.25")