Interview the next Cruncher

[Kayin]

Yeah, you know you'll regret it if you don't.

Who the hell uses air?

[G.Foyle]

If it's from laziness, you should start now. If the homework itself is stupid, pointless and uninteresting, don't do it.

Edit for ninja posting:
I use air. Air is cool. Air has more room for extreme than water does.

List all portable storage devices you own. (excluding laptops and non-rewritable media)

[twilyth]

3 1T dual raid 0 external drives
6+ 3.5 ide/sata/e-sata enclosures ranging from 100 to 500G
2 5" external IDE enclosures
2 SCSI Travan tape drives

that's all I can remember.

If you build a system for someone, should you charge by the hour, a fixed markup over cost or squeeze them for every dime they have?

[[XC] riptide]

3 1T dual raid 0 external drives
6+ 3.5 ide/sata/e-sata enclosures ranging from 100 to 500G
2 5" external IDE enclosures
2 SCSI Travan tape drives

that's all I can remember.

If you build a system for someone, should you charge by the hour, a fixed markup over cost or squeeze them for every dime they have?

By the second. But it should depend on material/labour split.

What will you buy yourself for Xmas?

[Martijn]

By the second. But it should depend on material/labour split.

What will you buy yourself for Xmas?

A decent pair of new skis


Do people consider you a 'nerd' because you are into computers?

[[XC] riptide]

A decent pair of new skis


Do people consider you a 'nerd' because you are into computers?

No. Because I look like somebody from 'Americas most wanted', and I often wear a black leather jacket. That offsets the Geek effect rather nicely.

Do you like going with parents on holidays?

[Martijn]

No. Because I look like somebody from 'Americas most wanted', and I often wear a black leather jacket. That offsets the Geek effect rather nicely.

Do you like going with parents on holidays?

Actually I don't really mind... My friends are coming along most of the time.



What's up with the sheep?

[[XC] riptide]

Actually I don't really mind... My friends are coming along most of the time.



What's up with the sheep?

Dunno. ASk Littleowl.

When is Holland going to be washed away?

[Bobsama]

When does it rain next?

Is it a miracle that my uncle finally upgraded his laptop to one that runs Vista64?

[G.Foyle]

No, it's one of the signs that the world is coming to an end.


Name three programs you ran most recently, or if you have more than three running, name first 3 windows on your task bar (from left to right). Service-like software that runs in background doesn't count.

[karl_eller]

On the Desktop: Firefox, TF2/Steam, Google Chrome.

On the Laptop: Firefox, Thunderbird, MSN.

To water-cool the X58 NB, or to leave it under stock cooling, that is the question.

Eller

[Bobsama]

No, it's one of the signs that the world is coming to an end.

It was a $680 Gateway with 4GB DDR2, a C2D T5800, GM45 chipset, and 250GB SATA drive. 15.4" LCD, 6.5lb, and garnet red. It's a nice system, and so far he actually likes it. I was never able to get him to move away from using XP with his older Celeron M or Pentium II/III's. Anyways, he says he'll at least try Vista64 for a good while. He couldn't find UAC so I turned it off and showed him a couple tricks. He actually likes Aero--which is a surprise. And he complimented how well Media Center worked. He's pretty happy with it and bought it on 30 seconds thought.

On the Desktop: Firefox, TF2/Steam, Google Chrome.

On the Laptop: Firefox, Thunderbird, MSN.

To water-cool the X58 NB, or to leave it under stock cooling, that is the question.

Eller

Whats the temperature? Heck--if you have the money, go watercool it. If it's nice and cold, stock will be fine.

How much do I want a Core i7, Biostar TPower X58, and 4GB DDR3 1333?

[G.Foyle]

Biostar TPower? it would be my choice... Gigabyte EX58-UD5 - that board is second only to Rampage 2 Extreme (in features; in stability it even surpasses it) imo, and it costs 1/3 less.

How is it that most high-end Gigabyte boards (DQ6, Extreme)are not so good, and mid-to-high end boards (DS3, DS4, DS5, UD5) are almost flawless?

[karl_eller]

Because the high-end boards always come out first, so they have time to learn from their mistakes with the mid-range stuff. I'm personally keeping an eye on the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4, looks pretty decent, just need to see how well they overclock. Plus it's about AU$100-200 than some of the other boards.

Should I go for a Lian Li PC-A10B for my next case, or something else? With the PC-A10, I can easily fit a 120x3 rad in the bottom chamber, plus probably another 120x2 in the future, and those cases just look SOOO damn sexy.

Eller

[Jaco]

The DS4 is only ~230€ here . Cheapest X58 board i've seen.
If these are as good as the P35 DS3/4 series , they have a winner.

[Bobsama]

Which one is less expensive? Go with that one.

Will a HD4830 or HD4850 be fine with my E2140 setup?

[Martijn]

Yeah, you'll be fine. You will be CPU limited anyways. Just to give you an example: I tossed my GTX280 in my backup rig (P4 630 @ 3.6) and it performed only a little better then my X1900XT.

What really p*sses you off?

[jcool]

You can't compare an E2140 (which is usually overclocked to 3Ghz) with an old Pentium D Martijn.. a 3Ghz E2140 will not bottleneck a GTX 280 in 95% of all games.

What pisses me off right now is that prices are rising every day as we approach Christmas.

Single Stage Phase unit or custom chiller for my mainrig? Trying to decide which way to go next.

[Martijn]

You can't compare an E2140 (which is usually overclocked to 3Ghz) with an old Pentium D Martijn.. a 3Ghz E2140 will not bottleneck a GTX 280 in 95% of all games.

What pisses me off right now is that prices are rising every day as we approach Christmas.

Single Stage Phase unit or custom chiller for my mainrig? Trying to decide which way to go next.

LOL... It's a single core

But yeah... I forgot the fact that this is XS and that it is probably overclocked.

[jcool]

Even worse
An OCed 2140 Duo is prolly like 5 times faster than a single core Pentium 4 ^^

[twilyth]

You can't compare an E2140 (which is usually overclocked to 3Ghz) with an old Pentium D Martijn.. a 3Ghz E2140 will not bottleneck a GTX 280 in 95% of all games.

What pisses me off right now is that prices are rising every day as we approach Christmas.

Single Stage Phase unit or custom chiller for my mainrig? Trying to decide which way to go next.

Depends on heat dump and electricity costs. Obviously phase gives you more head room but I don't know how many people run 24/7.

Should I start shopping for 1.5T drives or wait to see how reliable they are?

[Mr_Slinky]

wait and see on the 1.5TB drives.

I have 4 quads should i sell one to buy an i7?

[jcool]

I don't know how many people run 24/7.

Well, I do, and have been doing so for almost a year now. Zero issues, but the condenser fan's noise characteristics and high elec cost (NL11F eats 300W) are getting to me lately. So I think I'm gonna go for a chiller next

Should I start shopping for 1.5T drives or wait to see how reliable they are?

I'd wait a while. From what I have seen, only Seagate offers 1,5TB yet, and all they did was add more platters.

What BCLK do you think the next i7 stepping will reach?
Current max seems to be around 220...

[jcool]

Dang you posted while I wrote this, someone just answer both questions then

[Mr_Slinky]

next i7 will get to 240 or better or its not worth it.

I will just ask my question again
I have 4 quads should i sell one to buy an i7?