Help review my PC workstation build list, please and thanks.

[Hammerskjold]

Check out this drive retailers say is available in a month:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6884/cruci...40gb-120gb

That's crazy, as in crazy good. Some of the replies there speculates that it might not be fully enterprise ready yet, but at this point I say that's beside the point. Reliability improvement hasn't stopped AFAIk, and will probably continue to advance. HDDs are not going away anytime soon, but breaking the Terrabyte \gig per dollar barrier, is amazing.

Even if all it does is drive the price down on current SSDs, it's still a benefit. Time to save my nickels and dimes.

Ahaha I am not surprised the code is inefficient and unable to flex his hardware muscle.

Yep. This isn't to just single out Adobe, but IMO it's a sign of a bigger problem.

I remember when I was a wee lad, learning on the family compu-tron the bottleneck was hardware.

Nowadays 9 times out of 10 (completely unscientific number I just pull out) it's just as likely to be software. Either inefficient, feature creeped, or bloated.

There is no good reason I can think of at the moment, why that user with a beastly dual Xeon, 128 gig ram, a top tiered Quadro card, is struggling with the Smudge tool in PS. Especially when he mention it tears through video editing, which is usually more taxing than static image editing.

The closest my non-scientific, non programming mind can come up is PS can be nutty in some areas. If PS was a Commander, it would sometimes lead an attack with a bayonet charge. Despite having artillery support, air support, multiple Hellfire drones, a tank division, mechanized infantry, a recon sniper team in place, and solid intel on the enemy position.

Occasionally, it starts yelling out 'TROOPS! FIX BAYONETS!' The rest of the force is all:...uh...sir?
YOU HEARD ME!
Ready all bayonets people...
..allright..LET'S DO THIS!! LEEEEROYYYY....JEEENKINS!!!!111

So basically, risky either way. Take your pick. I'm happy with my two rigs though. I've already played Borderlands 2 with an invited friend over and played it crispy clear. I just realized I technically could do all four players in Borderlands 2 in my apartment. Hmmm... 2 Laptops able to play it smoothly, and two Desktops.

Nice. Add beer and pizza, that's pretty much a textbook perfect LAN party.

[Drasca]

Nice. Add beer and pizza, that's pretty much a textbook perfect LAN party.

Ahaha, it was, except modernized for this age. Beer and Pizza and chicken poppers were present. So was the mongolian beef, sushi and anime! Yum yum! Plus, home made chinese tea eggs:

http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-braised-soy-sauce-eggs/

Oh, and I found out what was wrong with the initial build mobo / GPU combination. For motherboards, slot number 3 who is off color (black instead of all reds in this case) means using that slot disables the other slots. It is a PCIe configuration issue. If I had all 2 slot GPU's , I could fit them in slots 1 2 4 and 5 and it'd work fine. Small potential to be bandwidth starved, but unlikely as there's a few factors:

1) The motherboard has a PLX chip, thus enabling 8x lanes spread all around

2) Video cards are still not bandwidth starved except in the most extreme of cases

3) Most of the data passes through the Crossfire or SLI bridges when in SLI/CF mode.

I do see occasional microstutter, and I'd rather have an Nvidia card if it were purely for gaming, but since I want it to mine to pay for itself, it is mining quite nicely.

[Hammerskjold]

I do see occasional microstutter, and I'd rather have an Nvidia card if it were purely for gaming, but since I want it to mine to pay for itself, it is mining quite nicely.

Yeah, I'm fortunate that for my own use I rarely need more than one card.

I was reading some chatter on the upcoming Haswell, and how it will threaten Nvidia and AMD. I doubt that, and I really have to see it for myself if on actual release it matches the hype.

Though I can see it if Intel is approaching it as 'good enough' for most use. For people who do no-frills spreadsheet and word processing, light browsing, non heavy 3d gaming, built in graphics have probably been good enough for some years now.

And it makes sense if this is targeted more towards the 'mobile' category.
I can see when I scraped enough of my pennies, my next big purchase will most likely be a mobile device. Not to replace my main rig but as a supplement \ satellite.

If Haswell will enable me to finally have a 'good enough' tablet pc with a stylus, I'm all set. We don't have StarTrek datapads just yet IMO, but damn it's getting closer each cycle.

[Drasca]

If Haswell will enable me to finally have a 'good enough' tablet pc with a stylus, I'm all set. We don't have StarTrek datapads just yet IMO, but damn it's getting closer each cycle.

In that case you may want to keep an eye out for Broadwell and later. The Intel roadmap is pretty clear about the TDP requirements, and I'm very excited to see what can be done with those much lower power requirements.

About star trek though:

I absolutely LOVE the PADD ipad app. It simulates the ST datapad, making all the associated noises and is like a memory alpha-lite. Not as good as Memory Alpha for complete info, but still delicious to have in your hand with the interactive noises and Majel Barrett as the computer voice. I'm submerged into the atmosphere of Star Trek.

Note: As time passes, I am loving the Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 case more and more. I've added fans, and it is performing much better than initial sight. The whole thing is nicely engineered from cable management to aesthetics.

[Hammerskjold]

In that case you may want to keep an eye out for Broadwell and later. The Intel roadmap is pretty clear about the TDP requirements, and I'm very excited to see what can be done with those much lower power requirements.

Yes, it seems aimed at the next gen Ultrabook\tablets. I'd like to see more fanless designs. I'm not so obsessed with 'thin' at the cost of functionality. I want to see manufacturers keep\expand user replaceable parts and more ease of repair.

I understand all those can be very difficult given the design constraint of a laptop\ultra\tablet. But IMO there's a not so great trend of making hardware and software a 'consumer item', or worse. A toy with increasingly short life cycle, built in obsolescence gone nuts.

About star trek though:

I absolutely LOVE the PADD ipad app. It simulates the ST datapad, making all the associated noises and is like a memory alpha-lite.

I always liked their visual design, but I didn't notice this part until I read this link:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2010/08/how...years-ago/

Still, the design of the user interface on the various control panels was influenced by user experience considerations. "What I tried to do was create something that, at a distance, looked like it had a macro-level organization," Okuda told Ars, "and when you got closer, there appeared to be an additional overlay of organization on top of that. The viewer would imagine, looking at it, 'If I study this close enough, I could figure out how to fly a starship.'"

I find that very elegant and clever. It's self similarity, like looking at the silhouette of a tree and realizing the silhouette of the branch has the same basic structure of the tree.

Note: As time passes, I am loving the Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 case more and more. I've added fans, and it is performing much better than initial sight. The whole thing is nicely engineered from cable management to aesthetics.

I was thinking of adding intake fans on mine, but I read some reviews that my case is optimized for stock config. It's a negative pressure design, supposedly it's optimized for that, but I'm somewhat meh on negative pressure cases mostly for the dust. After dismantling 2 older computers headed for recycling, I really prefer designs that can reduce\eliminate dust entry as much as possible. Time will tell I suppose.

The DS2 case looks good, like a tasteful stereo component.

[Drasca]

Hey Hammer, or any other old time Lurkers I know, want a AMD promo code for games? I've got extra codes from the AMD GPU promo and I can't really be bothered to try to sell these. I'd rather they go into deserving hands. I've already used / earmarked the ones I want already.

Here's what I have:

Bioshock Infinite + Crysis 3 coupons x4

It may also be possible to get Farcry 3 Blood Dragon with that code, but not guaranteed.

Just go to www.AMD.com/neversettlepromo after I PM you with the code.

edit: gave away sleeping dogs and one coupon. not exclusive to direct interaction, as long as your face is familiar to me it'll be fine. will likely give out by monday. post a reply with interest

[swirly]

Hey Hammer, or any other old time Lurkers I know, want a AMD promo code for games?

We've had no direct interaction that I can think of, but if none of the Lurkers who have been helping in this thread speak up I would be interested in the Bioshock Infinite + Crysis 3 code. I've never played any version of either of those games, but know people speak highly of them. So figure a free version would be a good place to stick my toe in the water and see what I think of them. Something for me to try once I reach the fast approaching tired of Path of Exile point. Please do favor those who have been helpful or that you actually know though.

[Hammerskjold]

That's incredibly generous of you sir, I would be very interested in the Bioshock Infinite \ (possible but no guarantee) Blood Dragon code.

Many gracias.

[kandrathe]

Hey Hammer, or any other old time Lurkers I know, want a AMD promo code for games?

I'll bite for the Bioshock Infinite + Crysis 3. You are a gentleman and a scholar. {something my ol'man usd to say to me...}

I love the Lounge.

[Hammerskjold]

Code is a go go, playing Blood Dragon right now.

Again, much thanks and gratitude for your incredible generosity.

[Drasca]

Welcome to the glorious 1980's! BOOM!

[Drasca]

More hjiacking:

For those of you enjoying FC3: Blood Dragon.. Holy rideable flying laser deathsharks-- welcome the mock movie trailer

http://kotaku.com/far-cry-3-blood-dragon...-494889286

[Hammerskjold]

I, cyber love this game. I'm playing it on my older computer since the new rig is strictly for business, mostly.
So it's set on a lower resolution, with all the lowest setting.*
I think it's the only modern game I ever played where a lower rez actually increased it's charm.


*Even then, IMO it still looks good. And great music soundtrack as well.
I still can't believe how excellent they pulled off Blood Dragon.

I definitely want a sequel, providing the same team comes back to do it.
The Apocalypse that had an apocalypse, must have an Armageddon. Part 2.