Well, awful may be a bit strong. But a switching power supply has internal losses, some of which occur even if the power supply put out 0 watts. Clearly if it puts out 0 watts, and used up say 20 w, the efficiency is truely awful. The lower the output the greater this fixed loss is as a fraction of that.
Yeah I know, *real* DIY computer hackers etch their own PCBs, roll their own capacitors, build their own chip fab facilities ...
;-)
If I were building a new machine today, with any intention of processing HD video, I would probably build another i7 system like I'm using here. It absolutely beasts its way through Blu-Ray re-encodes.
Memory wise: If you want to have dozens of apps running concurrently ( I find that just too messy if taken to the extent you describe ) then yes, pile on the RAM.
That kind of leads to 64-bit OS. I think that 64-bit has finally come of age, and since win7, I'm 64 bit all the way. Never looked back.
Not really able to comment on the Linux side of things. My only Linux bos is my Asterisk machine, and it's a fairly low-spec box.
Again, with video in mind, I'd suggest a monitor that has native
1920x1080 for proper HD support. I'm using an iiyama one that was reasonably priced. It does thae a bit of getting used to a wide-screen ( or 'reduced height', depending on how you look at it! ).On the graphics card front, it looks like nVidia have lost their way, and AMD now rule the roost. I usually buy 1 generation old: it's still good, but doesn't command premium price.
same goes for any power supply really. They are all best around a fairly narrow range.
Some day we ought to set up uk.g-a-l-m-i for those who prefer to get a little man in.
Been there, done that. Got bored building computers and faffing around installing Linux (or more often, Solaris of some flavour). Too much like the day job.
Got an imac. Expensive slippery slope. Works well, needs minimal brain (just what I want for home), looks pretty (so it's allowed to live in the dining room) yet has *nix like underbelly that I can dip into at times when I want :-)
I've now completely sold my soul to Steve (several macs, appletv, iphone(s))
- shoot me :-)
Darren
well I tried that because wife had a spare G3. Hated it.
Tjought 'might as wel try L:nux, its been at lest 10 years since Xterm was a novelty'
And as pleasnatly supised. One set up, which took a day or two to get it the way I wanted,it it has been perrty much 'what operating system?' i,e. it does teh bob and I *seldom notice it's there*.
As opposed to WinMacple 'user experiences', which are in my face the whole bloody time getting it the way.
it'site the difference between having a wife who can cook, and is nice to be around, and going out with Naomi Cambell. Ultimately the wife is the better more satisfying relationship. But you need to spend more than just money achieving it.
This is something a bit more specialist than a computer, but a Mr Robert Trautman writes with news of literally rolling his own capacitors (down the bottom):
We have 26" Iiyamas at work. I think we got them because they were the cheapest, but they're really very nice.
My only complaint is that something somewhere in the software stack on Fedora 14 can't tell a lowercase l from an uppercase I, and thinks the manufacturer is called Liyama [1].
tom
[1] Unless that's coming over DCC or something, but i would have thought that the manufacturer would be able to spell their own name right.
Presumably you've tried a different font (pasted it in etc) ? I've never been sure whether I was misreading the name to be honest, whichever way it's spelt :)
Nick
Isn't that for removing pubes :-0
Or this bloke, who makes his own vacuum tubes...
In message , Phil Addison writes
I think that in most of the pictures, they already have been
Easy peasy: you just need a collection of spare bits - amounting to almost a second computer - to swap with. Which is fine if you want to build 2 computers but if you only want one then you're likely to end up with a load of expensive kit going obsolete (or spending more time trying to dispose of it on fleabay) as well as the time spent faffing around in the first place.
DIY, despite being commonly practiced on Sunday, is not a religion :-) I do it when it's appropriate. I need a PC that Just Works and is Good Enough. I'm asking on uk.d-i-y (as well as uk.comp.os.linux) because that's where the clueful people are!
Yeah, you're right, just ran Antec's calculater and got 256W. Thanks for the reminder.
Phil
Fair enough.
Errr... ask on here?
Horses for courses but if you change your mind there's loads of help on here... but you knew that!
Phil
Surely uk.comp.homebuilt would be the best place to ask. There are quite a few Linux-savvy people there.
I didn't know about that group. Prolly a bit late to ask there now: I'm going to bite the bullet and get the Novatech rig tomorrow (errr, [looks at clock] today) as I've wasted enough time trying to get the old one working and really need to get productive. But I'll have a look for interest's sake and future reference; thanks.
Ah. I was reading it on alt.comp.os.linux, so the d-i-y reference passed me by entirely, since I don't subscribe to that group, and I thought it was still within that reference. That's what cross-posting does, it misses the target audience. I don't knowingly cross-post, for that very reason. I have put this in both groups, though, to be sure it gets to you.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required