Post your Computer set-up

[tassam380]

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but just picked up a new (used) system on Gumtree for $300.

CPU: Intel Core i5 750
RAM: 4GB 1333mhz DDR3
GPU: nVidia 9800GT 1GB
HDD: 500GB Seagate Internal, 1TB Seagate External

Also came with a 17" LCD Monitor, and a Razer Lycosa Keyboard.

So I think I got myself a pretty good deal and a decent upgrade from what I had before!

[Cyza]

that is a crazy pick up!

[photomike666]

My pc is 8 years old and about ready for an upgrade. It's still going strong, and is running xp, & ps7.

2.8ghz pentium 4
4gb DDR ram
Ati graphics
5.1 surround
2 internal hdd
1tb external
22" Samsong monitor

Epson photo scanner with neg hood
Canon photo inkjet printer

My laptop is even older!! Might have to stop spending money on cameras, guitars and motorbikes long enough to upgrade computers

[Speedway]

Computer, self built .

Third rebuild in this case since 2002.
Motherboard;- Gigabyte H55M-USB3 onboard video. This Motherboard was a cheap replacement for the original ASUS P7P55D-E LX That I purchased for the rebuild, this board was returned faulty but the claim was rejected they claimed I had bent one of the processor pins and the repair costs would be more than the board had cost me, I know this was not the case but the board had been purchased on special and was no longer available and a similar spec board would have been a lot dearer. This was the second warranty problem I had had with this dealer (PC Case Gear) I will no longer deal with or recommend them.

Processor:- Intel i5-650 3.2 Ghz
Power supply:- 600w.
Ram:- 2x2GB corsair 1600mhz.
Monitor:- ASUS VS247H 23.6’.
HDD:- 1x200 gig SeaGate:- System disc.
1x320 gig SeaGate:- Personal stuff.
1x1 Tb SeaGate:- Photos.
1x1 Tb SeaGate:- More photos and videos.
1x1 Tb SeaGate External:- Backups.
1x1 Tb WD External:- Backups.
2 DVD Burners.
2 CD Burner.
Internal USB2 Card reader.
Logitech cordless Mouse.
Cheap $5.00 Keyboard.
AV Labs 5-1 surround system.
Canon ip4700 Printer.
Canon N670U Scanner.
Telstra 4G wireless modem.
Soft Ware.
OS:- Windows7 Home Premium 32bit.
Photo Editing:- PS Elements 5, Corel Paintshop pro 9, Ulead photo express 3, Fastone Inage viewer, + all the canon stuff.
Keith.
Ps the relativly tidy desk is unusual.

[ameerat42]

I like your legacy "cut-and-paste" tools. IS that a 3 Giga-snip scissors?

[Speedway]

I like your legacy "cut-and-paste" tools. IS that a 3 Giga-snip scissors?

They may even be 4g They will handle up to .9mm ally sheet.
Keith.

[dieselpower]

I'd post a pic of mine but it's been packed up to move house! Maybe after I move.

@Rick - most commercial setups have fans to draw air through - the theory being same volume in as out, so intake at front and exhaust at back. Supposedly this is more efficient - I've never really experimented much but have always worked on this principal and it works for me. Servers work this way and it works very well for them, though they have much better designed cases to flow the air through in a nice way, rather than a big mostly empty cavern with an intake and exhaust fan.

As for dust - it will stick to the components inside regardless of fan configuration. Best bet is to open it up and vacuum or blow it out every now and then. I personally do mine every 6 months or so with compressed air.

[Cage]

My set-up is pretty tame compared to a couple posted above, but is suits my needs.

I build my own and tend to use what was the 'latest and greatest' twelve or so months back. I have this theory that gamers drive the technology train at least as much as NASA and the like.

Mobo: Asus GA-880GMH-USB3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.2 MHz (Black Edition ) - Unclocked
RAM: 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws @1333MHz
CPU Cooler: Noctura Twin Fan
PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 550W
GPU: Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB GDDR5
Case: Antec 300 plus 3 extra inlet fans and 1 exhaust (YATE LOONS)
HD: 2 x Western Digital 500GB
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
Monitor: Dell 22" TN (My next upgrade is to an IPS)

Just a couple of observations.

I very quickly found out that the 64 bit OS chews up almost 3GB of RAM just to keep it running, even after pruning all the crap from start-up etc. Try doing a focus stack and it struggles, big time. I was getting so many screen freezes it was driving me nuts.

I installed a little program called 'Core Temp' whose monitor now lives on my screen. It tells me CPU usage, RAM usage and CPU temps.

With the original 4GB of RAM installed I noticed that every time I had a screen freeze, my RAM usage was off the scale. Matched the RAM with another 4GB and problem solved.

CPUID, another free download, alerted me to the fact that my CPU fan was spinning at up to 10.000RPM. Not good for CPU longevity. Hence the upgrade to the Noctura CPU cooler set-up.

I am happy now with the way it does the things I need it to, but I have some leverage for over-clocking the CPU, RAM and GPU if I feel the need.

[camerasnoop]

I installed a little program called 'Core Temp' whose monitor now lives on my screen. It tells me CPU usage, RAM usage and CPU temps.

Something in that program upsets either Spybot S&D or AVG (can't remember which). It was reported as containing malware and I uninstalled it a while ago. I gather it was collecting data. It certainly was useful when I had it installed. I have another now that monitors my GPU temperature. My last graphics card (GT9600) ran at up to 76 deg C. The new one (GTX560) hasn't run at over 42 deg C.

[Cage]

Something in that program upsets either Spybot S&D or AVG (can't remember which). It was reported as containing malware and I uninstalled it a while ago. I gather it was collecting data. It certainly was useful when I had it installed.

That's interesting Snoopy.

I'm using MS Security Essentials and it hasn't found a problem with it.

I used to use AVG but found it rather finicky.

Cheers

Kevin

PS: Since I increased my RAM from 4GB to 8GB I haven't had a hiccup. Prior to that I'd have 4 or 5 screen freezes per day requiring a power off shut-down.

[Chris G]

Here's my rig which is now going to need more Ram and bigger HDDs thanks to the D800 lol..

Mobo: Asus Crosshair V Formula
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.7Ghz
RAM: 8GB G.SKILL Sniper @1600Mhz
CPU Cooler: Thermal Take Spin Q
PSU: Enermax Rev. 1250w
GPU: Gainward GTX 570
Case: Thermaltake Black Chaser MK-I Full Tower
HD: WD 150Gb Raptor, 2x WD 500Gb, WD 120Gb
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
Monitor 1: BenQ XL2410T 23.6" 120Hz
Monitor 2: LG Flatron W2442PA-BF 24"
Sound: Microlab PRO3 GAMER's audio speakers

[WhoDo]

Hmmm ... you guys are all too NEAT! And Chris G, I hope you have a licence to operate that thing!!!

Here's mine, such as it is ... my cubby hole on the left and the child bride's on the right. Messy, isn't she?
Computer : iMac i5 2.7GHz
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD6770Md RAM:512Mb
Ram: 16GB DDR3, 4x4GB 1330MHz
Motherboard: Intel 6 Series chip set
Power Supply: ?
Monitor: Integrated iMac 17" IPS monitor
Mouse: Apple touch mouse
Mouse Pad: N/R
KeyBoard: Apple wireless
Sound: Intel High Definition audio
Printer: Canon Pixma ip4600

home_5844.jpg

[Xebadir]

Just moved to a new system, my old M1530 has moved into retirement as it was causing too many problems with slow speeds (despite pretty reasonable reliability for a 4 year old laptop). Before going on I will point out I need a laptop for various reasons as I am of relatively fluid nature. Decided I needed some real horsepower, so I picked up this for $1300:

Dell - Alienware M14xR1
CPU: Core i7 2670QM 2.2Ghz (3.3 Boost)
RAM: 8GB 1600Hz DDR3 RAM
Graphics: 3Gb GT555 NVidia Optimus
Internal Drive: Patriot PS-100 128GB SSD (Planning to ditch this crappy model which has stability issues and put in a Samsung 830 or a Crucial M4 256GB)
OS: Windows 7 Pro (64-bit)
USB Ports: 2x USB3.0, 1 powered USB2.0
Optical: DVD RW 8x
Plus usual Alienware goodness .

From the Original system:
External Monitor: Samsung XL2370
External Hard-drives (Storage): 1xUSB3.0 Seagate 1TB portable, 1xUSB3.0 WD 500GB portable, 1xUSB2.0 Seagate 500GB portable.
Printer: Epson R800
Mouse: Cheapo Corded Microsoft Laser Mouse
Keyboard: No External

Will post a pic of my little beast later on.

[nogi]

Haven't got any recent pics of my desk but I've got a 27" 2010 iMac fully specd to the max (SSD, etc...). Next to that I have my Dell U2711 monitor which I plug my laptop into. And in the other man cave I have my other mini setup:

rack.jpeg

[WhoDo]

OMG! Think of all the great photography kit you could have bought with what you've spent on that IT money pit! Not your typical home network, is it?

[nogi]

OMG! Think of all the great photography kit you could have bought with what you've spent on that IT money pit! Not your typical home network, is it?

Bet you can't guess my profession

I actually just finished upgrading my cabling to Cat6, they all terminate back into this rack. Those black boxes you see are HP Microservers (2 x N36L and 1 x N40L). The 2 N36L's are running FreeNas 8.x and have 4 x 3TB HDDs each. The N40L is running ESXi along with 4 x 2TB HDDs. With all my video and photo now digital, I take my backups fairly seriously. The FreeNas boxes are a replica of each other and I also perform a weekly sync to another server at my parents. The last thing I want to be doing is explaining to the missus that all the photo's are gone.

[GerryK]

Neat thread. I am using a 3yo specd up laptop with 24" screen, wacom tablet, wireless kb & mouse + 3TB of external storage.
About to upgrade to a desktop but need guidance as to what specs I should be looking at.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Will be maintaining the laptop as an 'offsite' device to use when not at home taking shots.

[WhoDo]

Bet you can't guess my profession

I actually just finished upgrading my cabling to Cat6, they all terminate back into this rack. Those black boxes you see are HP Microservers (2 x N36L and 1 x N40L). The 2 N36L's are running FreeNas 8.x and have 4 x 3TB HDDs each. The N40L is running ESXi along with 4 x 2TB HDDs. With all my video and photo now digital, I take my backups fairly seriously. The FreeNas boxes are a replica of each other and I also perform a weekly sync to another server at my parents. The last thing I want to be doing is explaining to the missus that all the photo's are gone.

After more years as a systems engineer than I care to think about, I'd say it's a no-brainer! With that mountain (there's a name from the dim, dark past) of storage, you could back up the photo's of everyone here at AP and still have enough room not to fall out with the misses over lost history! Typical "plugger"; off-site synced backups as well!