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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: muchadoaboutnothing on Mon, 19 July 2010, 12:54:27

Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: muchadoaboutnothing on Mon, 19 July 2010, 12:54:27
I sit on the verge of spending $90 on a 2TB WD Green Hard drive, just 9 months after I bought a 500GB SpinPoint F3 for booting and a 1TB SpinPoint F1 for storage 7 months ago.

A terabyte and a hafl. That ought to be enough for a few years, right?

Wrong. The boot drive is half full and the 1TB drive is almost all the way full. I just bought 4GB of DDR3 for $40 after rebates to get 8GB into my system too.

It's pretty amazing when you consider what was high end in 2003. It's part of the reason I never buy cutting edge and usually opt out of bleeding edge too and go straight for the bang/$ sweet spot.

I'm sure somebody here can relate.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 12:56:53
The quantity of your data expands to fit the size of your hard drive space. Isn't that, like, Newton's Second Law?
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: hyperlinked on Mon, 19 July 2010, 13:00:26
Quote from: muchadoaboutnothing;204127
Wrong. The boot drive is half full and the 1TB drive is almost all the way full. I just bought 4GB of DDR3 for $40 after rebates to get 8GB into my system too.


Let me guess, you also bought a video camera recently too? I was able to make do by cobbling together old hard drives until I got a video camera. I bought a 1Tb WD Green figuring that ought to hold me for a while... my visions of spaciousness lasted two weeks. To be fair, I had to learn better ways of storing video, but still... Wow.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: muchadoaboutnothing on Mon, 19 July 2010, 13:17:37
Quote from: hyperlinked;204131
Let me guess, you also bought a video camera recently too? I was able to make do by cobbling together old hard drives until I got a video camera. I bought a 1Tb WD Green figuring that ought to hold me for a while... my visions of spaciousness lasted two weeks. To be fair, I had to learn better ways of storing video, but still... Wow.


Part of the reason. Digital video just eats up space like crazy.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: TheSoulhunter on Mon, 19 July 2010, 13:38:19
Yep, video eats a lot HDD space....

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11784&stc=1&d=1279564527)

Plus 2x 1TB NAS
:3
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 13:51:31
My 500GB recently got to 20GB shy of full, so I had to delete a bunch of stuff. I have a 320GB sitting at half full, but a lot of programs don't like being on D:\, or auto install onto C:\.


I'm going to get an F3 1TB next, and eventually turn my Athlon XP into a NAS.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Mon, 19 July 2010, 14:03:59
I still haven't filled up my 3.6GB hard disk. Or the 515MB one. Or the 768MB one.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: Mith on Mon, 19 July 2010, 14:15:09
It's easy when you don't produce.

Waiting for 60GB SSD from post, it will replace my 250GB HDD and I'll put both my media and my OS on it... :|
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: hyperlinked on Mon, 19 July 2010, 14:23:35
Hard drive manufacturers should buy out video camera makers and then adopt the business model used by the printer industry. They'll sell you the camera at cost or at a loss and then have the last laugh when you end up buying hard drive after hard drive. ;)

You need a special Cannon 750Gb Digital Media edition HD "specially formatted" for AVCHD at $350 a pop, don't you think?
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 14:44:52
I hear you need a cluster of Pentium Is to do that.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Mon, 19 July 2010, 15:04:12
Quote from: ch_123;204156
I hear you need a cluster of Pentium Is to do that.


Guess I'm out of that category then since it's the only pentium I don't possess currently (which is ironic).

Quote from: microsoft windows;204147
I still haven't filled up my 3.6GB hard disk. Or the 515MB one. Or the 768MB one.


I'm already using a few GB on my 20 GB IBM HDD. Windows games suck up lots of MB (plus I have music on there too).
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Tue, 20 July 2010, 04:30:18
I'm in a similar-ish situation.

I'm making do with my current setup, as I am slowly building a monster server to do *everything* I need. I am sick of boxes lying around, dedicated to 1 or 2 tasks, and my main rig is getting full, slow etc.

The plan is, 4x12 core Opteron's, a Supermicro board to accommodate, 32GB of RAM, and some RAID6 goodness. I'll use one of the retiring boxes and some new drives, and add in FreeNAS to make a viable backup solution, with the critical stuff going onto BD-RE DL discs for backup. Digital Video is partly to blame, but RAW pictures from a DSLR at the rate I shoot them at, coupled with 1200+ DPI scans of 6x6 Negs are the largest contributor.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 20 July 2010, 08:32:30
Quote from: ch_123;204156
I hear you need a cluster of Pentium Is to do that.


Nope. My Gateway2000 handles it just fine.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 20 July 2010, 08:33:36
Quote from: EverythingIBM;204164
Guess I'm out of that category then since it's the only pentium I don't possess currently (which is ironic).



I'm already using a few GB on my 20 GB IBM HDD. Windows games suck up lots of MB (plus I have music on there too).


Music's the thing that takes up hard disk space. I've got some music on my 10GB hard disk and it's down to only about 1Gb left.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Tue, 20 July 2010, 12:01:13
Quote from: microsoft windows;204493
Music's the thing that takes up hard disk space. I've got some music on my 10GB hard disk and it's down to only about 1Gb left.


There are times I'm sure someone has three accounts and is just trolling the **** out of us.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 July 2010, 13:29:27
It's me. I'm carrying out a bizarre social experiment, and having a verbal battle between my three alter egos at the same time.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Tue, 20 July 2010, 13:30:33
Quote from: ch_123;204558
It's me. I'm carrying out a bizarre social experiment, and having a verbal battle between my three alter egos at the same time.


Gentoo Compilation driven you over the edge?
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: instantkamera on Tue, 20 July 2010, 14:11:30
Quote from: InSanCen;204561
Gentoo Compilation driven you over the edge?


Definitely explains the over-abundance of free time for the aforementioned "social experiment"...
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: gr1m on Tue, 20 July 2010, 14:15:09
Quote from: InSanCen;204535
There are times I'm sure someone has three accounts and is just trolling the **** out of us.


Yes but not exactly how you imagine it - ch is troll account. So their posts are legit and anything ch says that makes sense is their idea of trolling because people aren't supposed to make sense right.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 July 2010, 14:34:59
Quote from: InSanCen;204561
Gentoo Compilation driven you over the edge?


It actually came from trying to make a PC300 do something useful. I can be seen standing at computer skips around Dublin with a thousand yard stare on rainy days.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 13:19:19
Quote from: InSanCen;204453
I'm in a similar-ish situation.

I'm making do with my current setup, as I am slowly building a monster server to do *everything* I need. I am sick of boxes lying around, dedicated to 1 or 2 tasks, and my main rig is getting full, slow etc.

The plan is, 4x12 core Opteron's, a Supermicro board to accommodate, 32GB of RAM, and some RAID6 goodness. I'll use one of the retiring boxes and some new drives, and add in FreeNAS to make a viable backup solution, with the critical stuff going onto BD-RE DL discs for backup. Digital Video is partly to blame, but RAW pictures from a DSLR at the rate I shoot them at, coupled with 1200+ DPI scans of 6x6 Negs are the largest contributor.


That really puts the monster in "monster server". Hot damn. Don't you want to wait for Bulldozer though.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:50:51
When you're dealing with that many CPUs, the quality of the individual ones isn't necessarily all that important.

Well, depends on what the server is being used for.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: niplfsh on Thu, 22 July 2010, 14:58:21
I can definitely relate to this thread. My computer's a total beast right now, and I've run out of things to upgrade at the moment, so I've turned my attention to the keyboard and mouse... which brought me to this forum :)
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: gr1m on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:26:40
Quote from: ch_123;205378
When you're dealing with that many CPUs, the quality of the individual ones isn't necessarily all that important.

Well, depends on what the server is being used for.


Well, if the Bulldozers are that much better than Opterons that he would be able to use less of them, that's a good thing no?
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Thu, 22 July 2010, 15:52:18
Quote from: gr1m;205408
Well, if the Bulldozers are that much better than Opterons that he would be able to use less of them, that's a good thing no?


Cash flow is the issue with this build, hence it being done in stages. If Bulldozers were a viable option financially, then I would have them. 4 of them, more if someone figures a way to squeeze 8 on a board that will fit in a 4U rack. As it is, they are an unknown quantity, and I can get the Opteron's at a nice price for what they offer, if you have the ability to utilise them fully.

What I am doing is highly parallel threaded (Raytracing), and although some tasks will be offloaded to the GPU's (CUDA), the simple rule is "Horsepower is king". The more I can get, the more I can do. As it is, there is a possibility I will get to test out a Bulldozer system (Don't bother asking, no offence, but no details will be given), but it's likely to be with a view to assessing one of my Clients needs, (which are the same as mine, albeit on a much larger scale), and speccing out a 500 node farm.

These cores (In my build) will be pegged at 100% utilisation, and stay there barring maintenance, upgrades etc. Sadly, Bulldozer will not be released until I have completed this build. I keep hearing that it will be a G34 drop in replacement though. I can always upgrade when the silicon matures a bit, asssuming there is truth to this rumor (AMD would be loved by me if they kept a G34 upgrade path open, assuming your motherboard just needs a BIOS flash or similar).

Oh, cheers for the comments on the build. It is a monster by all but the big "big iron" standards. It's just nice to hear about it from someone else other than my other half chipping in with comments like "How f**king much!?!?!?!?"
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: instantkamera on Thu, 22 July 2010, 16:01:26
Quote from: InSanCen;205419
. It's just nice to hear about it from someone else other than my other half chipping in with comments like "How f**king much!?!?!?!?"


I can only imagine, I feel like asking the same thing ;) ... Seriously, you deal with some gnarly hardware, Im interested to hear more about the software.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Thu, 22 July 2010, 16:50:21
Quote from: instantkamera;205426
I can only imagine, I feel like asking the same thing ;) ... Seriously, you deal with some gnarly hardware, Im interested to hear more about the software.


I fancy a bash at Tachyon to see if OSS is capable of utilising that many cores. I'm not decided on the software yet, as what I currently use is limited to a single core anyway, and is not 3D (Terragen, 2D). This is not something I do commercially, so a huge outlay on software is not what I want to do. But, Maya is very nice indeed... I'm just not sure if it's $5K nice.

As for the cost...

4 of These (http://www.cube247.co.uk/products.asp?partno=OS6168WKTCEGOWOF)

One of These (http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron6100/SR56x0/H8QGi_-F.cfm)

16 of These (http://www.saverstore.com/product/20035253/7725665/Kingston-KVR800D2D8P6-2G-ValueRam-2GB-PC2-6400-800MHz-DDR2-ECC-Registered-with-Parity-CL6)


Add on coolers, chassis, disks, redundant PSU's (Although initially it will run on a single 1.2KW PSU I have already)

It's a scary amount of cash, but barring bulldozer being the most awesome thing ever, that's it, it won't get touched for 5 years.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 22 July 2010, 17:11:13
AFAIK, Intel is only working on 10 core chips, and I've yet to hear of any definite plans for anything bigger.

Hell, the Sandy Bridge chips to replace the current Core i7s will only be quad core initially.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: Ekaros on Wed, 28 July 2010, 14:12:54
So, after 4 HDDs and 7 NTFS partitions, I'm still wondering about either to get new HDD soon, getting NAS/Server box project or chaning my using habits...

I'm having dreams of some day getting own SAN, just for sake, NAS being for newbies...

Addendum:
Yet haven't found need for more power than my current cheap quad-core, but I just have to wait ;(
On other hand 4GB should have done it, but still I had  to go and get another 4GB reaching 8GB which has done quite well... If game designers just had thought about multimonitor support in previous years...
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Wed, 28 July 2010, 19:03:20
Quote from: Ekaros;207122
So, after 4 HDDs and 7 NTFS partitions, I'm still wondering about either to get new HDD soon, getting NAS/Server box project or chaning my using habits...

I'm having dreams of some day getting own SAN, just for sake, NAS being for newbies...

Addendum:
Yet haven't found need for more power than my current cheap quad-core, but I just have to wait ;(
On other hand 4GB should have done it, but still I had  to go and get another 4GB reaching 8GB which has done quite well... If game designers just had thought about multimonitor support in previous years...


4 GB is suffice for me right now... I presume I'll have to buy 4 more GB of RAM in a couple of years though if everything keeps getting bl0ated.

Hard drive space was never really an issue for me though, but I don't download movies or any of that garbage. And a lot of my [current] work consists of text documents and FL projects which are very compact.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: InSanCen on Thu, 29 July 2010, 04:38:12
Quote from: EverythingIBM;207199
Hard drive space was never really an issue for me though, but I don't download movies or any of that garbage. And a lot of my [current] work consists of text documents and FL projects which are very compact.


See, this is why people have problems with you. The highlighting I have done above should have been a full stop. You don't download movies? Fine, stop there. There is no need to needlessly disparage it.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 30 July 2010, 14:36:57
Quote from: InSanCen;207427
See, this is why people have problems with you. The highlighting I have done above should have been a full stop. You don't download movies? Fine, stop there. There is no need to needlessly disparage it.


I think this calls for a QFT...
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Fri, 30 July 2010, 15:46:17
Quote from: InSanCen;207427
See, this is why people have problems with you. The highlighting I have done above should have been a full stop. You don't download movies? Fine, stop there. There is no need to needlessly disparage it.


My good friend, if my posts simply consisted of one-liners, there would be no MEAT to my writing! To make it interesting, I simply must add a few extra details.

Besides, if everyone's posts were pithy & uninteresting, there would be no point to a forum, which, is a collaborative effort on sharing various information and facts. Perhaps even a few opinions or jests here and there.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Fri, 30 July 2010, 16:02:21
So, in other words, "I have nothing useful or interesting to say, therefore I have to sound like an *******."
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Fri, 30 July 2010, 16:14:42
Quote from: ch_123;207867
So, in other words, "I have nothing useful or interesting to say, therefore I have to sound like an *******."


In other words, you got glitches in your britches:
hl=en_US&fs=1">hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385">[/youtube]
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: Lenny_Nero on Mon, 09 August 2010, 04:30:28
Quote from: InSanCen;205438
I fancy a bash at Tachyon to see if OSS is capable of utilising that many cores....

From what I have seen over the years OSS is often first to get the new/latest code tricks, but, I am biased because most of the OSS stuff I have used or played with the people have bent over backwards to help me, often much more so than places that were being paid thru the nose to do the same.
So now I always try to go OSS, but you need to give them a good amount of feedback first (not saying you will not) but IMO it is that which has helped me more at later dates. You stick in their minds and they might have taken an interest in what you are doing before you ever need them.

With the service co's you are just another in a long list for that day and they are there because they have to be and you are just another number to get thru.

The only ray tracing SW I know of is POVray and only because I and some of the coders have met in the same places and had things in common.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: 8_INCH_FLOPPY on Tue, 10 August 2010, 22:18:15
My hard drive is 70GB....
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 11 August 2010, 08:58:16
Quote from: Ekaros;207122
So, after 4 HDDs and 7 NTFS partitions, I'm still wondering about either to get new HDD soon, getting NAS/Server box project or chaning my using habits...


I think you oughta get a new hard disk and start over from scratch.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Wed, 11 August 2010, 15:27:28
Quote from: 8_INCH_FLOPPY;211225
My hard drive is 70GB....


Hey that's the same as mine! Except it's a 68-pin ultra 320 SCSI. So if the computer dies, I'll probably have difficulties getting files off (unlike my thinkpad).
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 August 2010, 15:33:11
Did the hard drive in the Thinkpad actually die?
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: phillip on Wed, 11 August 2010, 15:50:01
in my system I have 1x 640GB, 5x1TB, and 1x1.5TB.  2x2TB (mirrored) in a d-link dns-323.

I have several older smaller drives that i'm no longer using, too :/
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: phillip on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:22:48
i have a lot of music (on the nas and the 1.5 TB drive)

the rest is all movies, tv shows, anime >_>, and porn of course.  basically the only thing that gets listened to is the music though, since i dont have time for the rest of the **** because i'm too busy playing cs.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:25:42
I've got my music on cassettes and records still...
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: phillip on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:26:51
nothing wrong with records....cassettes?  ew
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:27:54
Most of my tapes are ones I recorded off the radio. "Proto-piracy" I guess you could call how we all got our free music before computers.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:30:52
I used to record stuff of the radio back in the day.  That's old school.  I have pretty much stopped buying music.  While I wish the sound quality was a little better, Pandora is my source of choice these days.

Completely OT, but here's a Pro Tip:  If you upgrade your cell phone, and your previous phone has WiFi (Palm Pre to HTC EVO, in my case), you can use the old phone as a portable media device in your home.  Even though there is no cell phone service, I can still use Pandora, Sirius/XM, etc. over WiFi.  I have my Palm Pre connected to a pair of Klipsch computer speakers in the game room, and it works great as a little Pandora streamer.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:31:06
(http://static.arstechnica.com/2009/10/07/Home_taping_is_killing_music.png)

Some things never change... such as record companies.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:34:25
Yeah, but nowadays, downloading music illegally is much easier to catch than home taping. I don't want some massive, crooked corporate alliance knocking at my door with a $500,000 lawsuit over 20 songs.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: phillip on Wed, 11 August 2010, 16:46:07
don't listen to music from riaa-affiliated labels then :D
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: J888www on Wed, 11 August 2010, 17:14:19
My present project, a ThinkPad T60p. I have nearly replaced/maxed out all the components.

Core 2 Duo T7600 (Mobo being Socket M)
1x 2GB + 1x 1GB RAM
80GB Intel X25-M SATA SSD

New NMB keyboard
New BOE HyDis 15" 1600x1200 FlexView Screen
New Heatsink + Fan unit
Windows 7 32-bit OS

Have accepted the fact that the ATI FireGL V5200 Graphics as the best possible when I chose the T60p for its build quality. I even replaced the two tarnished IBM ThinkPad logos.
Still there are two things which still trouble my mind.

3GB RAM is the maximum the system will recognise, but am considering replacing the 1GB stick with a 2GB stick for a more uniform combination for a minute increase in RAM speed. Is the teeny bitsy increase of RAM speed worth the cost for replacement ?

80GB is more than enough, after full installation, there's still 53GB free space, but......this X25-M Series with MLC technology is already considered to be outdated. An Intel Single-Level Cell SSD is on the wish list, with present product cost of SLC SSDs, it will remain on this list for a while.
Is the Multi-Level Cell be sufficient for my requirements, would SLC technology be beneficial ?

"Just when you think you have enough, you need more"
This yearning to better oneself is what makes us human, it is this strive which makes us better than other animals, also it is this strive which makes us to be animals.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 11 August 2010, 17:34:20
I would not advise maxing out the CPU in a laptop unless you really know what you're doing and are very careful with the cooling. Those Core 2 Duo's get hot.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: EverythingIBM on Wed, 11 August 2010, 18:10:08
Quote from: ch_123;211541
Did the hard drive in the Thinkpad actually die?


No of course not. That's probably the last thing to die (especially since it was well cared for and actually has decent protection and all that).
What died is presumably the systemboard, I think a capacitor blew. I'm always worrying over capacitors. I'm positive the heat provoked something and killed it: as it just goes into "limbo" when you power it on, it used wake out of sleep in limbo like that as well.

Quote from: J888www;211593
My present project, a ThinkPad T60p. I have nearly replaced/maxed out all the components.

Core 2 Duo T7600 (Mobo being Socket M)
1x 2GB + 1x 1GB RAM
80GB Intel X25-M SATA SSD

New NMB keyboard
New BOE HyDis 15" 1600x1200 FlexView Screen
New Heatsink + Fan unit
Windows 7 32-bit OS

Have accepted the fact that the ATI FireGL V5200 Graphics as the best possible when I chose the T60p for its build quality. I even replaced the two tarnished IBM ThinkPad logos.
Still there are two things which still trouble my mind.

3GB RAM is the maximum the system will recognise, but am considering replacing the 1GB stick with a 2GB stick for a more uniform combination for a minute increase in RAM speed. Is the teeny bitsy increase of RAM speed worth the cost for replacement ?

80GB is more than enough, after full installation, there's still 53GB free space, but......this X25-M Series with MLC technology is already considered to be outdated. An Intel Single-Level Cell SSD is on the wish list, with present product cost of SLC SSDs, it will remain on this list for a while.
Is the Multi-Level Cell be sufficient for my requirements, would SLC technology be beneficial ?

"Just when you think you have enough, you need more"
This yearning to better oneself is what makes us human, it is this strive which makes us better than other animals, also it is this strive which makes us to be animals.


I really wouldn't waste all my time on a T60p. They're not made to last, as I have the unfortunate experience of discovering.

Although being a massive hypocrite, I'll probably end up buying a T60p or something like it -- as they have certain qualities not found in other thinkpads, and I'm so used to it.

Quote from: microsoft windows;211600
I would not advise maxing out the CPU in a laptop unless you really know what you're doing and are very careful with the cooling. Those Core 2 Duo's get hot.


I'm not sure how hot they get, the one in my intellistation seems to be very cool.... almost too cool (the heatsink never gets even a little bit warm, nor does any hot air ever vent out at the back -- but then again, the rear fan was at max and *very* noisy). I would assume they're easier to manage than P4s. You see, the problem with P4s is that they constantly spew out heat regardless of how much they're processing. Older pentiums and C2Ds can regulate heat according to usage... if I'm not mistaken.
Title: Just when you think you have enough (RAM/HDD space/Processing power), you need more
Post by: washuai on Thu, 12 August 2010, 15:58:37
I have 1 TB internal, 1 TB external, 500 GB internal, 80 GB internal (2 dead 150 GB internals).  

I have definitely got the upgrade bug.  

My pc hasn't been upgraded in ages.  So if I wanted to play FFXIV on 9/22, I'd have to buy minimum cpu, mobo, RAM and video card.  I've been wanting to upgrade to SSD and win 7, quad or six core, etc., anyways.  The way life has converged, odds are I won't be upgrading until a year or two from now, as originally considered.  I probably won't play FFXIV, even on PS3.  Still, the upgrade bug has bitten me.

I wonder MSI Big Bang Xpower 1366 (which would require PSU upgrade) or Asus Rampage III Gene (which I don't want red & mATX in ATX case feels wasteful ).  Over $300 for the big rampage or dual cpu SLI is out of the question.
Of course, next year's intel is going to start new platforms and there's always the bulldozer question.  

New tech is old tech, when it first releases.  The problem is when the applications you need/want to run, require new hardware or just if you've hit some kind of ceiling with existing hardware.