Computer bragging rights

Off shoot from e.allag's thread so what do you have under the hood.

The machine I'm running right now is getting up in the years, purchased in 2003 but its still very good. Looking and to get new quad core machine shortly.

CPU: Northwood 3.0ghz overclocked to 3.3
PSU: Antec TruPower 480watt supply
MB: Gigabyte P4 Titan - GA-8IPE1000 w/Intel 865PE Chip (this is one thing I wish I had purchased better unit)
RAM: 1024 MB Corsair PC-3200 XMS
Video Card: Leadtek A380 - GeforceFX 5950 256MB (this was replcement installed in spring of 04)
HD's: 2x 120GB Seagate 7200 SATA
Soundcard: Audigy2

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This system is comparable to many of the low end systems offered now, not bad for 4 years.

My home computers aren't anything special, they get the jobs done. (Still running Windows 98 on one!)

My work computer is a IBM Intellistation, Xenon 3.0Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 20" Flat panel.

WNY wrote: 20" Flat panel.

ah forgot about my pride and joy. A 19 inch Sony Trinitron, unfortunately you can only get the really large ones new and they cost a fortune. Even those are getting scarce.

You guys won't like me... I have 2 - 24" widescreens on my desk at work and more horsepower next to and under that desk than I'd care to disclose. All Dell stuff, but servers and workstations for my pet projects. I'm waiting for the quad-core chipset Optiplex stuff to order my new everyday machine. At home I use a Macbook Pro core2 duo exclusively having switched to the Mac just about a year ago. I run Vista in a Parallels virtual machine on that mac and it runs faster than any Vista machine I've seen to date. My home PC is used by the wife and kids and is a 5yr old 2.5ghz Dell with 2gb of ram and an old ATI All In Wonder Radeon card in it. I used to spend hours on it and with that card I could watch TV in a small window while I worked. 2 servers at home...both Dells, 1400SC models I think. They're both pulls from businesses I support that replaced them with newer equipment. They have to be at least 5 yrs old. I use one as a gateway/Frankenpix firewall device and the other is a Naslite2 SAN holding a little over 2T of drive space. I do a lot of photography and have way too many client's pics stored on that box.

I used to build desktops and servers to the tune of 20-30 a month many years ago...I got sick and tired of the support nightmares and started buying off the shelf stuff and couldn't be happier. So much easier to click a few clicks and have a machine delivered to the client, pretty much ready to go.

Can you say.....GEEEK!

Just kidding....

WNY wrote:Can you say.....GEEEK!

Just kidding....

Oh no offense....it's a badge of honor...sometimes!

Well I guess I'm the opposite of av8r. Mine's Dell, running windows XP. It's black and the mouse has a cool looking red light under it. As far as the rest of those numbers are concerned, eh, who knows. I turn it on, click internet explorer and I'm here.

av8r wrote: an old ATI All In Wonder Radeon card in it.

Which one? if it's the 9xxx series that's one of the better cards on the market for SD capture and you have a small gem on your hands.

I want to get a dedicated video editing workstation but its not looking promising, Cheapest Matrox system starts at $15K. That's an estimate as they don't even list the prices online. Ahh the joys of realtime editing.

It is a 9xxx series. Didn't realize it was anything special. I know it was pricey when I bought it...a long time ago...

I used that machine for video editing for a few years. Worked fine using Pinnacle stuff. I actually used to build systems to compete with the Avid and FAST systems that were around back in the late 90s and early 2000's. We used RAID5 SCSI hot packs, externally attached, man did those things make noise and get HOT. Had some company in TX that used to buy them from me. Got the idea when a local video editing place had me come in to consult on their system which were home brewed and poorly configured.

I use my mac to edit video now. Haven't updated my Pinnacle software for at least 2 years. I get the educational discount on stuff like Premiere so it's cheap to use the good stuff. These days I prefer stuff that's easy like the imovie stuff...simple and quick.

I'm still amazed at how easily anyone with XP SP2 can use moviemaker and a $300 camera to produce a decent video these days. I do lust after one of those 3 chip Canons when I see one...although I know I'd never use it for anything worthwhile!! Just another toy....

av8r wrote:It is a 9xxx series. Didn't realize it was anything special. I know it was pricey when I bought it...a long time ago...

For analog SD capture its a great card, you may experience problems if the tapes are older: http://www.nepadigital.com/mv/

Yes their are other pages on this site besides the forum.

If you want to give it try this guide to get started, see the section for capturing AVI: http://digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/index.htm

These days I prefer stuff that's easy like the imovie stuff...simple and quick.

For DVD and something smiliar but a lot better than Pinnacle try Ulead Video Studio.

I do lust after one of those 3 chip Canons when I see one....

I have Canon GL2, expensive but worth every penny.

I have tried the Ulead stuff..maybe 2 years ago. I wasn't impressed. I was using the Pinnacle Studio stuff, not the consumer software. Big difference, but I'm sure you already knew that.

I'm more into stills now anyway. I have a collection of Canon DSLRs that I don't use enough.

Well when you said Pinnacle I was assuming the consumer programs, not many fans on video help and some that wouldn't use it if it was the only thing available. I know the consumer programs and the capture boxes they have produced have been nothing but a disaster for the most part. Seems they keep releasing new versions and never fix the old ones. The consumer grade Ulead programs are about as good as it gets for that tier, very few bugs and tons of features. Some you'll only find in advanced editors.

The upper tier editor Ulead makes isn't bad, the best application they produced is DVD workshop which was outstanding in its day and still is to some degree but it hasn't been updated in a few years so it's lacking some features. Doesn't look like there will be an update either so I'll be moving to DVD Lab Pro.

av8r wrote: I have a collection of Canon DSLRs that I don't use enough.

Get a XL2 and you can use all those nice lenses on the video cam.

Here's a sample from the GL2, it's been converted to MPEG but it's 8000kbps so it's pretty accurate to the original DV (no sound):

http://www.nepadigital.com/reencode/8000cbr.mpg

You should see what it does when there's light.

Get a XL2 and you can use all those nice lenses on the video cam. [/quote]

Oh...I have some glass....my downfall in any hobby is the accessories....

Nice vid...great quality. I need to borrow that cam for one of my snowmobile trips....my helmet cam and mpg4 dvr aren't cutting it....

av8r wrote:Nice vid...great quality. I need to borrow that cam for one of my snowmobile trips....my helmet cam and mpg4 dvr aren't cutting it....

Sure if you want to put a $2k deposit on it, suprisingly this has held that price for at least year now and hasn't dropped much since I purchased it 2 years ago. Roughly $200.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... &Q=*&bhs=t

The XL2 is about $1k more but any cam that you can attach lenses too start to get real expensive.