Gav's World

My Desktop PC [picard]

This was my first shot (believe it or not) at building a PC from component parts. Most parts came from Overclockers and Dabs who are both very fast at delivering.

As I've said before, all of my computers are named after Star Trek characters, so may I present ... "picard" ... the 'next generation' of my desktop PC.

Now I know that "picard" isn't bleeding edge technology (now), however ... it's fast enough for the stuff I do like surfing the web / writing websites / checking my e-mail / manipulating photos and the likes. That said though, it's not a slow machine either ... at the time, the CPU was the fastest dual core 64 bit processor available and same goes for the DDR2 RAM - sorry, did I make you think that this was an underspecified machine? I thought you knew me better by now! ;-)

I currently have "picard" running the 64 bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) which I highly recommend. It boots up very quickly and once you have all of the extra multimedia stuff installed, then things just work! Note that unlike other 64 bit "operating systems" ... all of the applications are also 64 bit!

"What does this mean?" I hear you ask. Well unlike you mugs that buy PCs pre-installed with Windows on them (you pay for the privilege you know), my entire operating system and all applications are completely free! In a year's time my computer will boot up in exactly the same time that it boots up just now - or in fact ... it may even boot up a bit quicker!

In case you're wondering why I'm ranting ... I'm sick to the back teeth of re-installing Windows for folk. Main reason for re-installs is the [lack of] speed that their relatively new computer runs at after a year or so of use and all of the junk that's managed to get onto them! ... and ... breath ...

Anyway, the nitty gritty that I know you're desperate to know:

Specifications:

Case:	NZXT Hush
Power Supply:	Seasonic S12-430 (430W Silent 12cm Fan Series)
Motherboard:	Asus M2V
Processor:	AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 (3GHz)
CPU Heat-sink:	Zalman CNPS9700 LED
RAM:	2 x TWIN2X1024A-6400 (4GBytes total, 5-5-5-12 timings)
Graphics Card:	Asus EN7300GT Silent (nVidia GeForce 7300GT, 256MBytes)
Hard Drives:	Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 (160GByte PATA, root file-system) Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 (500GByte PATA, home file-system)
Optical Drive:	LG GH22LS30 DVD RAM (with Light-scribe)
Extra USB Hub:	Belkin F5U220vea1 (5 port USB 2.0)
Floppy / Card Reader:	TEAC FD-CR07
Monitor:	DELL 2209WA ( 22inch wide-screen, eIPS panel)
Keyboard / Mouse:	Logitech Cordless Desktop Comfort Laser
Webcam:	Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000
Scanner:	Epson Perfection 1660
Battery Backup UPS:	Belkin f6H350ukUNV

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[ Page last updated Mon 3rd May 2010 | viewed 457 times ]