MCE Cometh to a TechNudge Near You
Thanks to a deal on Windows XP Media Center Edition over at Newegg (not to mention Crucial Technology donating some of its outstanding Ballistix memory sticks), there's an MCE box in the not too distant future.
Why?
Because I've stayed away from MCE since I saw the first edition, which was a ball of crap wrapped in touch-feely goodness. Supposedly it changed. I also wanted to do something with this Antec P150 case. The white is getting on my nerves and I aim to cure that with a couple of cans of Krylon Fusion spray paint, color to remain unknown until later. (By the way, "honeydew" is the identical color Chevrolet used on the dash gauge carriers at least in 1976.)
Anyway... I intend to throw a quartet of 300GB hard drives in their - the two Seagates I have and maybe two Samsungs --or else a pair of the new perpendicular Seagates just so I can see how (if?) the perps differ from the standard drives in speed. I'm going to resurrect the ATI All-in-Wonder XT800 XL for graphics and analog TV tuner. (I know, I'm ready for yet another disappointment but ATI apparently has a retail driver disk available and I ordered it.) Pioneer's DVR-111D will be used for burning and, yes, there will be a floppy drive included too. (My opinion that floppies are still viable was re-confirmed this evening when I needed to upgrade the firmware on one of the Seagates and the instructions began with, "unplug any other drives, create a bootable floppy, unzip the contents of this file to another floppy...")
wondering about the motherboard? It's an ASUS P5WD2-E Premium board. I still haven't decided on the CPU but that cute little Pentium D 805 is looking nice and is hopefully as overclockable as everyone thinks. But that's still up in the air. Speaking of which, I have a Thermaltake Big Typhoon heatsink and fan just waiting for it (54cfm at 16dBA is wonderful) and my trusty Hitachi grinder on standby just in case it needs a field retrofit.
If you've been counting on your fingers as we went along, no, I didn't hit the Lottery, there hasn't been anything tossed in the tip jar since the fund drive, and the ad rates are still just dribbling in. Some things are just worth going into hock for --and I really want to see, among other things, if there's a difference in the drives. There should be.
Of course, you'll be privy to all of the trials and tribulations --as well as whatever I do learn from the system as it's built and when it's completed. I mean, if you can't kvetch to your friends, who can you kvetch to?
Why?
Because I've stayed away from MCE since I saw the first edition, which was a ball of crap wrapped in touch-feely goodness. Supposedly it changed. I also wanted to do something with this Antec P150 case. The white is getting on my nerves and I aim to cure that with a couple of cans of Krylon Fusion spray paint, color to remain unknown until later. (By the way, "honeydew" is the identical color Chevrolet used on the dash gauge carriers at least in 1976.)
Anyway... I intend to throw a quartet of 300GB hard drives in their - the two Seagates I have and maybe two Samsungs --or else a pair of the new perpendicular Seagates just so I can see how (if?) the perps differ from the standard drives in speed. I'm going to resurrect the ATI All-in-Wonder XT800 XL for graphics and analog TV tuner. (I know, I'm ready for yet another disappointment but ATI apparently has a retail driver disk available and I ordered it.) Pioneer's DVR-111D will be used for burning and, yes, there will be a floppy drive included too. (My opinion that floppies are still viable was re-confirmed this evening when I needed to upgrade the firmware on one of the Seagates and the instructions began with, "unplug any other drives, create a bootable floppy, unzip the contents of this file to another floppy...")
wondering about the motherboard? It's an ASUS P5WD2-E Premium board. I still haven't decided on the CPU but that cute little Pentium D 805 is looking nice and is hopefully as overclockable as everyone thinks. But that's still up in the air. Speaking of which, I have a Thermaltake Big Typhoon heatsink and fan just waiting for it (54cfm at 16dBA is wonderful) and my trusty Hitachi grinder on standby just in case it needs a field retrofit.
If you've been counting on your fingers as we went along, no, I didn't hit the Lottery, there hasn't been anything tossed in the tip jar since the fund drive, and the ad rates are still just dribbling in. Some things are just worth going into hock for --and I really want to see, among other things, if there's a difference in the drives. There should be.
Of course, you'll be privy to all of the trials and tribulations --as well as whatever I do learn from the system as it's built and when it's completed. I mean, if you can't kvetch to your friends, who can you kvetch to?
posted by Bill at 10:46 PM
3 Comments:
I vote the 805 chip as well. Intel gave us a serious bargain with that chip.
Well, the thing is, I have access to another 955EE and what I might do is put that in first, get some baselines, and then swap in the 805 to see how close a $129 processor can come to a $1,056 CPU. It should be a hoot.
Kind of a David vs. Goliath, or no frills vs top end. Should be great. I'm rooting for the underdog already!
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