Show off your rig!

ERLoft · Jul 7, 2013

Since I didn't see one of these threads here...

I know we're not Overclock.net or anything, but the fact is that given our choice of Civ, we are, by definition, computer geeks to one extent or another. As such, many of us likely have some pretty cool computers to share.

Post up what you're running - equipment, overclock specs, pics, etc.

ERLoft · Jul 7, 2013

Starting off with my own...

Gear & Specs:

Spoiler :

Pics:

Spoiler :

Maniacal · Jul 7, 2013

We have the same keyboard.

bhsup · Jul 8, 2013

My main computer is just a boring HP Pavilion from 2010, so I'm instead going to show off my DOS box!

Asus SP97 motherboard
AMD K6-200MHz processor
64MB RAM ( I honestly don't recall if it is EDO or FPM DRAM)
8GB Quantum Fireball HDD
1.44MB 3.5" floppy drive
1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive
Yamaha 24/8/8 CD-RW
100MB ATAPI ZIP drive (and I have a 100MB USB ZIP on my main machine for easy file transfer)
3COM Etherlink III 3C509 ethernet card
Creative Labs Vibra16 (Soundblaster) sound card
S3 Virge 385 PCI video card w/4MB RAM
Thermaltake cup holder w/automotive style cigarette lighter
Vision Graphics V90f+ 15" monitor

Running PC-DOS 7.0 / Windows For Workgroups 3.11 / QEMM 9.0

WHO NEEDS EMULATORS TO PLAY X-COM?!

ERLoft · Jul 8, 2013

Maniacal said:
We have the same keyboard.

It's a pretty solid keyboard - I really like the G13 though - I have profiles for that with all my normal Civ commands.

Been toying with the idea of a mechanical keyboard, but haven't decided on a model yet...

ERLoft · Jul 8, 2013

Holy flashbacks Batman!

Spoiler :

illram · Jul 8, 2013

My current main home PC is housed in a Lian Li Q11, which is one of my favorite cases ever. It sits in my living room under the TV so I wanted it to look minimalistic and be quiet, which I achieved.

Lian Li Q11
Intel i5-2400
ASRock H67M-ITX
SILVERSTONE Strider Plus ST50F-P 500W
MSI Radeon HD 6850 1 GB DDR5 2DVI/ HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card, R6850 CYCLONE PE/OC

PSU and Video card are surprisingly quiet, although when gaming video card can get noisy. That is basically impossible to avoid unless you build a passively cooled card, although a bigger case with better airflow could probably run a little quieter. Runs everything at a little under max settings. Video card had to be (1) short (case cannot fix anything over 240mm) (2) have good reviews for cooling and noise, and (3) be good for running modern games at good looking settings (not max, but not low) and this card was good on all accounts. Bioshock Infinite for example looks fantastic even though this thing is essentially 2.5 years old now (i.e. ancient in PC years). Mobo has excellent fan control options and when doing normal things like streaming video or browsing the web it is next to silent. Also goes without saying the i5-2400 has been a champ.

Quintillus · Jul 10, 2013

VRWCAgent, I think you won the thread. 5.25" floppy, S3 video card, ZIP drive, Quantum Fireball hard drive, and cupholder? That's winning.

My rig slots somewhere between illram's and ERLoft's in most categories:

- Core i5 2500K. Ran it at 3.9 GHz in the winter, but it's hot now, so it's at stock currently.
- ATI Radeon 6870 1 GB GDDR5 (Sapphire). This is not a short card.
- 8 GB DDR3 at 1600 MHz. More than adequate and only cost $30 at the time. 2133 MHz would be cool, but I'm too cheap for that.
- Intel 80 GB SSD. Adequate, good at what it does, but nothing more.
- 2 x WD Caviar Green 2 TB (different models). More than adequate storage.
- Some cheap DVD +/- RW drive. Who needs Blu-Ray when you have a VHS player in the house?
- Antec P280 case. Big, but does do a fairly good job of keeping things quiet.
- 24" Dell Ultrasharp at 1920x1200. I like my vertical pixels - no 16x9 here.
- Windows XP x64. I'm not intentionally trying to build the world's most powerful XP rig - yet. But later versions haven't convinced me to part ways with my money for them so far.

Probably going to keep it, perhaps with minor modifications, for several years. I'm hoping that by the time I'm thinking of replacing it AMD will have a CPU that's faster per-core than the 2500K.

I do kind of want a floppy drive, though. Mainly because it would be anachronistic. Sadly my motherboard doesn't have a floppy header, so it's less easy than it could be. It'd probably have to be 3.5" floppies, since that's the only type for which I actually have disks that I could use anachronistically.

It handles almost everything I want very quickly. But more CPU power (or in my case, improved cooling) would still be helpful for Civ turn times. I don't think you can ever have a powerful enough CPU for that.

Zelig · Jul 10, 2013

Oh dear lord XP x64 was awful.

I used it for a year before the release of Vista 64-bit because I needed the RAM support, and it's was hands down the worst Windows experience I've ever had.

bhsup · Jul 10, 2013

You never met Bob, did you?

Zelig · Jul 10, 2013

No, I never did.

Quintillus · Jul 12, 2013

I think XP x64 is probably a better experience now than it was in 2005 and 2006. Hardware support is fairly good - the only driver issue I've had is that my printer, which is from 2001 or so, only has a generic XP x64 driver, but I use it so little that that's been sufficient. Software-wise, the only real issue has been that Microsoft's support for XP x64 is even poorer than their support for XP x86 - though in most cases the software actually works once you get around the installer trying to stop the installation. But as third-party software goes, it's not bad. I've actually had a lot fewer compatibility issues, hardware and software combined, with XP x64 than I did with Vista x86 back in 2007. Though similarly, Vista x86 is probably better today than in 2007.

Windows customization software, like Object Dock, is a weak point of XP x64. A lot of that doesn't work with it. But I never used it very extensively to begin with, and the only one that I grew to depend on does work with XP x64.

I'm sure XP 32-bit or Windows 7 64-bit would be more convenient for compatibility overall, though. Just not enough more so that I have any desire to go through the effort of reinstalling when I have a perfectly-fine, customized XP x64 installation, especially since I'd have to spend money for Windows 7 or lose memory to use 32-bit XP.

BirraImperial · Jul 12, 2013

My rig:

OS is Windows 8 x64
Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.1 GHZ
8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1666 mhz RAM
Some generic SATA DVD drive
2x 1TB HDDs (I know, I need SSDs)
Creative X-fi soundcard PCI
EVGA Geforce GTX 580 (A bit old, but my monitor's max resolution is 1600x1200, so it still plays most games well).

Case is a CM Storm Trooper. I don't post pics because my cable management is non existant... :blush:

Zelig · Jul 12, 2013

Pff, you can still post pics of that. I haven't posted pics yet because my case is buried behind a bunch of boxes and random old hardware, so you can't actually see it at all.

Takhisis · Jul 13, 2013

I really need some sort of upvote/reputation system for V's rig.

Show off your rig!

ERLoft

San Diegan

ERLoft

San Diegan

Maniacal

the green Napoleon

bhsup

Deity

ERLoft

San Diegan

ERLoft

San Diegan

illram

Deity

Quintillus

Restoring Civ3 Content

Zelig

Beep Boop

bhsup

Deity

Zelig

Beep Boop

Quintillus

Restoring Civ3 Content

BirraImperial

Pura Vida!

Zelig

Beep Boop

Takhisis

¡Patria y vida!

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