My Home system basically consists
XP2500 Barton @2.2Ghz (3200) with arctic copper silent + silver 5, & has idled as low as 27 degrees, maxed @ 56. Prime95 stable, no extra vcore & can go much higher! (such a good stepping
2Gb DDR400 2.5-5-3-3-1t. Memtest stable
Radeon9800Pro (XT board, with temp sensing) modded to XT with arctic VGA silencer 420/395 stable.
2xSeagate 250Gb SATA in Raid 0 with two dedicated fans
1xSeagate 200Gb IDE
1xWD 80Gb IDE
2 CD/DVD r/rw/ram drives
M-Audio Delta 1010
SCSI2 & 1394 cards
1 side fan, 2 exhaust fans, all with no speed control, which i’m now considering.
The motherboard is the unusual K7-Upgrade-880 (with which I don’t intend to upgrade to 754), cheap as chips and rock solid stable.
All running off a Q-tec 550W PSU (cheap, but doesn’t get even slightly warm), and all V rails are stable.
The whole thing does “HMMMMM” a bit but not to the point of driving you mad, and doesn’t distract me much, but i’m glad I don’t sleep in the same room!
As for CPUs, I’m all for the X2 range. Although a tad pricey for now, their performance ratings are supposed to wee on most, and with the new FX 57, others are struggling to keep up. Especially considering the X2 isn’t just two CPU’s strapped together on one die, unlike the P4s, which is a big advantage. Until they’re more affordable, i can still use a mobo with 939 socket with just an A64 (when I’ve finished paying off my new pair of 19" TFTs), and go for the X2 later.
OK, i’m just bragging now, shut me up.
Don’t get me started on Macs, I maintain them @ work, & I don’t like them much, but firmly believe they can do their stuff with logic etc. I just find thier OS somewhat patronising.
blah blah blah… and my Amiga… well…