Computer Recommendations - Help

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  • HBombToo
    HBombToo Posts: 5,256
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by stevelarrison
    I spent about 9 years in the night vision industry working for Litton, and about 2 1/2 years working for the Aircraft & Missiles division of Boeing.

    Cool! I spent a few years with Litton Electron Device division in Williamsport PA. What an amazing company to say the least and I also was exposed to many of the programs you referred to.

    HBomb
    ***WAREMTAE***
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by HBombToo


    Cool! I spent a few years with Litton Electron Device division in Williamsport PA. What an amazing company to say the least and I also was exposed to many of the programs you referred to.

    HBomb

    Electron Devices? When were you there? I worked in the Tempe, Az. facility. I was a permanent employee between 1990 and 1998, then turned to a consultant in 1998 and stayed for about another year. As I am sure you are well aware, Tempe was part of Electron Devices until the aquisition of Intevac and Varo. At that point, we separated from San Carlos and became the Electro Optical Systems Division.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    Steve,
    I'd be happy to let you lead me into a new system when I need one. You are the kind of person we like to see on the Polk site!
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • faster100
    faster100 Posts: 6,124
    edited January 2003
    Its is alot of good advice, However i really need your computer parts house website, : ) to get a P4 2.4 for 160.00.... thats pretty cheap. seems like alot of info for a computer build but i guess more info is better then not enough.. right
    MY HT RIG:
    Sherwood p-965
    Sherwood sd871 dvd
    Rotel 1075 amp x5
    LSI15 mains
    LsiC center
    LSIfx surround backs
    Lsi7 side surrounds
    SVS pb12/plus2


    2 Channel Rig:

    nad 1020 Pre-amp
    Rotel 1080 stereo amp
    Polk sda 2B
    kenwood grunt Tuner
    realistic lab 450 TT
    Signal cable IC
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    Just wondering, does the new Gforce handle multiple monitors?
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Max, feel free to ask for help/advice anytime you need it. I will be more than glad to help you, or anyone else. Actually, it kind of makes me feel like I am pulling my own weight. In the audio world, I am a relative neophite. Though I have a decent home system, I have a lot to learn on the subject. The only reason I am fortunate enough to own SDA speakers is because I happened to be in a good audio store a few years back, and they happened to be selling a used pair for a reasonable price.

    Although I am a relative newbie to high-end audio, I think I am intelligent enough to separate good advice from bad advice; however, please do me a favor. If you see anyone feeding me misinformation, feel free to step in and offer other opinions. If I can't tell the difference between good advice and bad, at the bare minimum, it gives me areas to research independantly.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    As a matter of fact I just deleted the post right before you responded. I re-read it and it didn't sound like what I meant to say. It was more of a rhetorical question but came out sounding nasty.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by faster100
    Its is alot of good advice, However i really need your computer parts house website, : ) to get a P4 2.4 for 160.00.... thats pretty cheap. seems like alot of info for a computer build but i guess more info is better then not enough.. right

    160 is my estimate for the price of a Pentium 4 2.4 with a 200/400 FSB at the end of March. The ones with the 200/400 FSB aren't shipping yet. Intel just announced them to their vendors in early December. Current prices (on the 133/533 processors of course) are slightly higher than that. You can get a 133/533 2.4GHz P4 for $174 ($177.76 shipped) from

    http://www.sonicparts.com/index.html?target=dept_48.html%23item_728&lang=en-us


    Product Description Price MaxTotalCost
    Price + Max Shipping Dealer/Phone/State
    Intel
    Info...

    PENTIUM® 4 2.4GHz, 512K cache, 533Mhz FSB, Socket 478 - OEM INCLUDES - 15 Day Dealer Warranty
    (Part - INP4-2.478K)
    Price: $174

    Ship: $3.76 Flat Fee w/ Tracking #
    Updated:12/21, 4:14PM
    $177.76 SonicParts
    Info...

    888-647-5457
    847-498-6926 - P.O.'s accepted

    IL


    The way I find current prices is simple. I use www.pricewatch.com and www.pricescan.com. As for future prices, and prices on unreleased products, I read articles available at a variety of sources.
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by madmax001
    Just wondering, does the new Gforce handle multiple monitors?
    madmax

    By "new" Geforce, are you referring to the Geforce FX about to be released in late January/early February? Or are you referring to the Geforce 4 line?

    I have a Visiontek Geforce 4 4600 in my primary machine. Although I am not running dual monitors at home, I have friends who do so. All reports are that it works as advertised, and is kind of cool. On the tech-side, the only thing you really need to look at is the type of output for monitors. The Visiontek Extasy series have a standard VGA output and a DVI output. There are convertors that will allow you to run a standard monitor on a DVI interface. Some vendors include them with their cards, others don't. So be aware if you don't have a flat-panel that you intend to use for your second machine.

    As for the upcoming Geforce FX, though they haven't shipped yet and only a handful have been seen by reviewers in controlled environments, I have a friend who writes drivers for nVidia. Though he is somewhat limited in his ability to talk freely, it sounds like a very nice piece of hardware. There is no reason to assume that dual monitor support will suffer in future products.
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    No problem. I edited the appropriate part of my post to avoid bringing up any conflicts.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    Most everyone on this site will help you out with anything they know about. Sometimes you help people out thinking you know the topic but you end up being wrong and someone else knows better. It is what happens when you have a group of people as diverse as the one here. I don't think people would mislead you intentionally.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    I have one of those big screen Gateway monitors monitors from the past and although I wouldn't give it up for anything, sometimes I wish I had a good high def monitor off to the side for schematic capture and stuff so the dual monitor feature would be great. I don't want to steal the thread away from what you are doing so I'll leave it at that.
    Thanks!
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by madmax001
    Most everyone on this site will help you out with anything they know about. Sometimes you help people out thinking you know the topic but you end up being wrong and someone else knows better. It is what happens when you have a group of people as diverse as the one here. I don't think people would mislead you intentionally.
    madmax

    It seems like a friendly community. Also, if I don't spot them on my own, I hope that someone points me to a pair of 1.2TLs (while someone else distracts har_navalta) at some point in the future.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    You can't distract Har_navalta away from SDA's! Heh heh!
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by madmax001
    I have one of those big screen Gateway monitors monitors from the past and although I wouldn't give it up for anything, sometimes I wish I had a good high def monitor off to the side for schematic capture and stuff so the dual monitor feature would be great. I don't want to steal the thread away from what you are doing so I'll leave it at that.
    Thanks!
    madmax

    One of those 36" PC/TVs they were selling on Pentium platforms around 1998 or so? I have never seen one in real life, but was intrigued when they originally came out. Personally, I think the best road to convergence is to get the TV you want and select computer components properly. You may be interested in the All-in-wonder version of the Radeon 8500 or the Radeon 9700. (If you aren't a hardcore gamer, save a few bucks and get the R8500) Aside from offering very good image quality, the All-in-wonder version allows you to use your machine as a Tivo device.
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by madmax001
    You can't distract Har_navalta away from SDA's! Heh heh!

    Can he be physically restrained? I'll give you lots of good computer advice if you can help me out.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    Thats the one. They are awesome. I tried one of the converters out to a standard tv and that seemed pretty bad. Maybe with one of the high def tv's it would be pretty good.

    Off to start the day!
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited January 2003
    I'll hold him back, you hit "place bid now".
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,761
    edited January 2003
    steve,

    You might be ok, I think Har is done........for now.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by madmax001
    Thats the one. They are awesome. I tried one of the converters out to a standard tv and that seemed pretty bad. Maybe with one of the high def tv's it would be pretty good.

    Off to start the day!
    madmax

    Essentially, those Gateway PC/TVs just use big monitors. Resolution/image quality on the worst PC monitor blows away image quality on the best (analog) TV. A nice monitor still offers better resolution/image quality than a HDTV.

    If you are still running the original PC that came with the unit, I gave you bad advice on the video card you want. The R8500 All-in-wonder I recommended requires an AGP slot. If I recall correctly, those PC/TVs only come with PCI. If that is the case, ATI recently released a PCI based version of the R9100 (I think that is the model, but can check if you are interested) with All-in-wonder capability that runs for about $130 or so.

    Also, if you are interested, I can recommend a PCI card that will let you use your machine as an HDTV. I am not in the market for one, but if I recall correctly, it is somewhere in the $250 range.
  • stevelarrison
    stevelarrison Posts: 63
    edited January 2003
    Originally posted by F1nut
    steve,

    You might be ok, I think Har is done........for now.

    It think it is fairly obvious that he is simply trying to lure everyone into a false sense of security.