My Computers
Note: I write this as it is happening. Therefore as you read down the page events change. So be aware this first statement about what computers I have is totally inaccurate now as it was written years ago.
My present computers are running dual Xeon processors from 2.4 to 3.2 ghz depending on the machine. I have a variety of motherboards hosting them. The Asus PC-DL is my main machine and have a couple of them. The Tyan Tiger board is another that I have on 2 machines I think. Both are very stable but the PC-DL is the overclocker. I have experimented some with overclocking but not as much as others. I am more into reliability than speed, although speed certainly is nice... lol
I have some sites that I go to on a regular basis for deals on computer stuff. SlickDeals, TechBargains, and good ole reliable NewEgg are my favorites.
Below you will find links to some of the things I experiment with. Please look into the FOLDING link. It is a very worthwhile project and could save many lives.
COMING SOON!
My struggles with a new high powered video card have prompted me to set up some details here. Since I read posts all over the net for over 2 days... I see most folks are having the same problems with these new ATI chipsets. Mine is a Sapphire X1950 pro AGP card with 512mb. I will be adding a link soon to pages fully describing all the problems and solutions I have found. Stay tuned!
UPDATE 2/14/07
Quad Core Intel rigs to replace my Xeon systems. Folding and testing to follow soon. My plan is to replace all my present systems with the quad cores. I will detail my experiences with these as they become affordable on my budget.
UPDATE 10/22/07
Ok the beginning of my new quad core rig is on its way... see the Quad Core link below for details
UPDATE 2/16/10
Well it has been quite a while since I wrote much here. A few things happening in the pc world. I did get the dual quad core running as is documented here. Now that the video cards are so powerful they overtake the CPU's at least for my folding project. Folding is of course my main purpose for buying all this hardware. In any case I now have another machine running dual GeForce 9800 GTX+'s and it turns out more work than any of my other machines. Some time I will sit down and write an article about it. I don't think I ever did explain that new SLI machine. But it really cooks!
UPDATE 12/26/2010
I guess I have been a little lax about updating this page. I have now retired the 9800GTX+'s and replaced them with GTX460's. Quite happy with the 460's as they increase my ppd without any more power being consumed. You can read about it in the video cards section. Also I no longer have the quad core machine as I gave it to my son-in-law for his enjoyment. I am now running a socket 775 board with a Q9550 in it. I also have most of the parts to build a new I7 machine and will write that up some time in the near future.
12-02-2011 Update
I have not updated this in a while as you can tell. I now have 3 machines running 24/7 folding. One is a Q9550 cpu, an I7-970, and an I7-2600K. I have my eyes on a new machine which will probably be dual xeon hex processors but that is still to be determined. I also haven't written much lately about the builds because I didn't really think I had done anything new that anyone would be interested in. I primarily write this stuff so that if someone is looking to do the same sort of build they can take a few tips from here and not cause themselves too much grief. In other words I will find what works and pass it along. Since I haven't been doing any real cutting edge stuff lately I haven't written. I do plan on building a new powerful machine, Ivy Bridge or higher in the near future. Since I retired I don't have a lot of cash so this will take some help from manufacturers. I am hoping I can get a few onboard to help out and then we can build some real high power folding machines.
One other note. I hang out on several computer related websites, especially in their forums reading and gaining knowledge. I see a lot of folks running machines that just up and quit. Sometimes it is the power supply, sometimes the motherboard, etc. I don't seem to have the same failure rate as others. My machines run 24/7 at 100% load and still mine seem to just chug on with no problems. I have to think it is my power system. First off I always run PC Power and Cooling PSUs. I must admit that other manufacturers have really stepped up the last few years and some make really good PSUs too but I have kept these same power supplies for years without a hint of trouble. Now on to the important note. I have always ran my systems on a UPS. Yes it is a really big one to be able to run 2 or 3 machines but none the less I am beginning to think this is my secret to long life. I have had such good luck with my systems not failing that I am convinced that this power line conditioning has saved me a few times. Now these are UPSes that whenever the line voltage is low or high they kick in and take over. Thus my machines see very little fluctuation in line voltage. NOTE: this is not a surge protector. A surge protector merely trys to stop large voltage surges on the line, it does absolutely nothing for low voltage. Therefore if your voltage sags you draw more amps and that heats whatever device is using it and sometimes damages it or burns it out. So I guess I am saying all this to recommend you all use UPSs on your systems. I'm just sayin.
COMPUTER PICS PC-DL FOLDING VIDEO CARDS