...get off on tech?...

....love spending ridiculous amounts of cash on top of the range cyber-bling?...

..yea?..

...well this thread' s for you.... ..post lots of pics of your insanely expensive hardware and make everyone else, super Jealous....


...i' ll start with my current pride and joy... ..my 2005 Apple Dual 2 Ghz PowerPC G5 ..which features:


1.5GB DDR SDRAM, 160GB Serial-ATA Hard-disk, x16 dual-layer DVD-R Superdrive, 512 KB L2 Cache (per CPU), 1 GHz Bus Speed and a ATI Radeon 9650 GPU with 256mb VRAM and a 2560 x 1600 max resolution...



behold: 21st Century Supercomputer


in profile... note un-removed plastic stickys.


from top, bottom left: silver power button, headphone jack, USB 2.0 and Firewire 400...


simple access.


that' s right... two of them.


..i want it remotely hooked up to my brain...


top left: latch release for side panel.
top right, from top: x3 33Mhz PCI slots, Dual DVI display ports, Airport Extreme Antenna port, Bluetooth Antenna port, Optical Digital Audio Out, Optical Digital Audio In, Analogue Audio Line Out, Analogue Audio Line In, x2 USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, 10/100/1000 twisted pair Ethernet and an internal modem (optional).


..all as standard, except the GPU (to power Apples 30" Cinema Display, which you' ll see in my next post) and the extra RAM (normally ships with 512MB)...

..my G5 can also be expanded to have a maximum of 4 GB' s RAM and has room for a second optional ATA hard-disk...

Cost: around $2,000 USD or £1,350 Pounds Sterling (inc VAT)...

note: Apple have updated their workstation range recently.. ...the newest models feature Intel' s and ' Dual-Core' processors, amongst other upgrades..

...

...ok ure turn!..



...actually... it doesn' t have to be ultra expensive.... ...it could just be something which you think looks amazingly stylish or whatever...

...don' t forget to include full specs also!...

Damn...I' ve always wanted one :)

Or you could spend $1000 on a pc and have it outperform the G5, not to mention actually having an upgrade path. At least they look cool though.

Does that pile of metal play any games?

...sort of......

....but really, with PS3 and 360 is that argument relevant?...

..besides, i' ve always been a console gamer anyway, so you' ll forgive me if i don' t start crying over lack of pc gaming...

Or you could spend $1000 on a pc and have it outperform the G5, not to mention actually having an upgrade path.

http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.aspx

http://www.apple.com/powermac/dualcore.aspx

http://www.apple.com/powermac/pciexpress.aspx

http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.aspx

http://www.apple.com/powermac/upgrade.aspx

...riiight....



....now back on topic please...

Or you COULD spend $9659 and buy...

[1] Auroraâ„¢ ALX

Processor: AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 FX-60 with HyperTransport and Dual Core Technology
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Chassis: Alienware® ALX Full-Tower Case - Space Black
Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Acoustic Dampening with AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling
Thermal Management System: Alienware® ALX Active Liquid Cooling System
Power Supply: 850 Watt Alienware® Approved Turbo Cool
Motherboard: Alienware Approved ATI CrossFireâ„¢ Motherboard
Memory: 4GB Low Latency Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 333MHz - 4 x 1024MB
System Drive: Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 1TB (2 x 500GB) Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 16MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive w/LightScribe Technology
Blank Media: Verbatim Lightscribe DVD+R 4.7GB 10-Pack in Spindle
Graphics Processor: Dual 512MB PCI-Express x16 ATI RADEON X1900 - XTX + CrossFire Edition
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Monitors: Dell 30" 2560 x 1600 UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor with HDCP!
Sound Card: Integrated High-Performance 7.1 Surround Sound with S/PDIF and Coaxial Digital Outputs
Speakers: Logitech® Z-5450 Digital 5.1 Speaker System
Networking : NetGear GS524T 24 Port Gigabit Rackmount Switch
Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service
Automated Support: AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Alienware Exclusive Offers: GameFly - Unlimited Game Rentals for 15 days - FREE TRIAL
Productivity Software: Microsoft® Works 8 Productivity Suite
ALX Out Of Box Experience: Exclusive Alienware® ALX Items
Power: UPS Power Protection - Tripp Lite LC1200 (1200W Capacity)
Free Alienware Shirt: Free Alienware® ALX Polo Shirt - Black
Alienware Extras: Exclusive AlienGUIse Theme Manager
Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $99.99 Value - FREE!

...and bankrupt yourself (alternatively pay $269.99 p/m for the rest of your LIFE!)

Power PCs suck, if you saw how your G5 performs against an AMD 64 bit proc or especially up against Intels newest Core 2 Duo' s you would cry. Next week Intel is going to take back its crown with gamers and blow away AMD performance, at the same time AMD will basically cut prices in half basically on the same day Conroe is released. All the while G5' s will lag even further behind in terms of both performance and price.

Don' t get me wrong, I respect people who buy mac' s, someone has to do it to keep MS in check.

Yeah I think they conroe is called intel duel core2. I only have 2 more days to wait until I can buy the rest of my PC. Yesterday I just bought my monitor, hard-drive, and sound card. I' ll show pics when they arrive.

Macs may look nice but my computer I' m using right now is over 3 years old and it owns that.

Edit:

Power PCs suck, if you saw how your G5 performs against an AMD 64 bit proc

...you do know that the PowerPC G5 is also a 64 bit processor right?.... ..check the links i posted again dude... ...there is NO WAY that AMD ' owned' the G5... ...and depending on who you speak to, it' s the AMD that actually gets owned..

Macs may look nice but my computer I' m using right now is over 3 years old and it owns that.

...well my G5 was only the entry level model, which was probably originally released by Apple around two years ago... ...and by today' s standards, would probably retail for around $1,000 anyway...

...about the Intel Core Duo ...

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/intelcoreduo.aspx

http://www.apple.com/imac/

...and Apple haven' t even got started yet ...

A 2X 4600+ mops the floor with any G5, and that proc is mid range. Secondly there is a huge difference between having a 64 bit cpu (any cpu can be 64 bit) and having the 64bit memory controller that only AMD has. The memory controller is the reason AMD has been so far ahead of Intel and the rest for the past few years. Of course conroe is going to steal the performance crown back with the godly Core 2 Duo, not to be confused with the old and busted Core Duo. A mainstream AMD or Intel (especially the new Core 2 Duo) pc still blows away even the top dual core G5.

Also I' m aware that Mac' s are now also using Intel cpus. There is a good reason for this. People were not buying G5s for their high price and low performance with power PCs.

This is my old baby. 34" Sony Wega. Kenwood stereo w/ 200 disc cd changer, and Infinity floor speakers ($400 each). The Sony does 1080i.



This is my NEW baby! Sony Cineza projector, 133" da-lite acoustical imager, and Yamaha Dolby Digital and DTS Neo amp. The screen comes with the front and center speakers built in, and also included 2 rear speakers and a sub. The projector does up to 720p.

That' s me standing to the right of the screen.

THe thing that I do like about macs is how they have ones that are built into the monitor and take up very little space and whatnot. The bad part about that is you can' t really upgrade and you can' t just use your monitor for other things. I' m still kinda surprised PC companies like Dell don' t even have this options like this.

Yeah those monitors are very sweet. I just bought a monitor (which kicks ass) for the computer I' m about to buy and I was drooling over the Apple monitors. I might have bought one had it not been for the Macs attached to them.

Power PCs suck, if you saw how your G5 performs against an AMD 64 bit proc or especially up against Intels newest Core 2 Duo' s you would cry.

yeah...well the thing is G5 is pretty old you know , so it' s no big deal to outperform it...

.

Also I' m aware that Mac' s are now also using Intel cpus. There is a good reason for this. People were not buying G5s for their high price and low performance with power PCs.

whatever :)

iMAC is an " internet Mac" and it' s aimed at people who want a nice and STABLE web browsing,mailing and everything except gaming (cause that' s what consoles do best).

These computers were never meant to be the fastest - they were meant to be silent,comfortable to use,good looking , fast enough and stable.

A 2X 4600+ mops the floor with any G5, and that proc is mid range. Secondly there is a huge difference between having a 64 bit cpu (any cpu can be 64 bit) and having the 64bit memory controller that only AMD has.

....so what does this mean then?:

64-Bit Memory Addressing
The dual-core PowerPC G5 joins forces with Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger to enable 64-bit computation. With 42 bits of physical address space, the PowerPC G5 supports a colossal 4 terabytes (4TB) of system memory. Although it’s not currently feasible to purchase 4TB of RAM, the advanced architecture of the PowerPC G5 allows for plenty of growth in the future.

More practical and still far more than a typical PC, the Power Mac G5 can be configured with 16GB of addressable memory. Such large quantities of memory enable the system to contain a complex 3D model, massive digital images, a scientific simulation, or a sequence of video entirely in RAM.

64-Bit Computational Power
The other advantage provided by the 64-bit PowerPC G5 is the ability to perform multiple simultaneous 64-bit floating-point and integer calculations. The PowerPC G5 features full 64-bit data paths and data registers, allowing it to express the extreme precision needed for floating-point mathematics and to express integers up to 18 billion billion. By contrast, a 32-bit processor must break these types of computations into multiple pieces — requiring multiple passes through the processor and slowing down application performance.

Eight Double-Precision Floating-Point Units
The PowerPC G5 core contains two double-precision floating-point units, each capable of performing a multiply and an add at the same time. This means a Power Mac G5 Quad, with four processor cores and a total of eight floating-point units, can complete up to sixteen 64-bit floating-point operations in a single cycle.

Such immense computational power accelerates applications in many fields, including audio creation, 3D content creation, and scientific visualization and analysis — resulting in performance levels far beyond those of previous Power Mac generations.(1)

.....

Of course conroe is going to steal the performance crown back with the godly Core 2 Duo, not to be confused with the old and busted Core Duo.

...ok, i missed that one... ...but surely Apple will switch to the new Intel Core when its released?.. ...sticking to the old model would be pretty unlikely methinks...

A mainstream AMD or Intel (especially the new Core 2 Duo) pc still blows away even the top dual core G5.

...the top G5 isn' t a dual processor...

...it' s a Quad.....

...and do you have any links to recent head to head benchmarks?....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ Chee Saw

...nice set up... ....but is it me, or is your sofa far to close to your massive screen?... ...don' t you need a good amount of viewing distance for such a large view area?....

...anyway, totally awesome...


..you seriously need to get yourself a decent digital camera btw...

iMAC is an " internet Mac" and it' s aimed at people who want a nice and STABLE web browsing,mailing and everything except gaming (cause that' s what consoles do best).

These computers were never meant to be the fastest - they were meant to be silent,comfortable to use,good looking , fast enough and stable.

They failed this misserably. At high school all we had was iMacs and they constantly crashed. It was horriblely frustraiting. Pretty much all we used them was for browsing the web and they couldn' t do it. That was like 4 years ago they are more stable now.

LMAO @ everyone debating the power of a Mac. What is the point of all that power if you cant run any software. And dont give me the standard mac " editing power" answer, no one actually uses that.

Chee Saw, if you wanted to make someone jealous with that big screen of yours, congrats,
- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

ORIGINAL: Bishonen

@ Chee Saw

...nice set up... ....but is it me, or is your sofa far to close to your massive screen?... ...don' t you need a good amount of viewing distance for such a large view area?....

The screen is the MINIMUM recommended distance, according to the guidlines at ProjectorCentral.com. I think the camera angle kinda makes it looks closer than it is (12 1/2 feet). It looks great from where it' s at. Especially high def sources!

..you seriously need to get yourself a decent digital camera btw...

Lol! True. The camera, when it came out, was top of the line. Sony Cybershot DSC-S70 with 3.3 mega-pixels. I think the problem was the lighting, more than anything, because I couldn' t use the flash (screen reflects too much light) and the room was made to absorb ambient light.

ORIGINAL: Bishonen

...anyway, totally awesome...

ORIGINAL: ginjirou
Chee Saw, if you wanted to make someone jealous with that big screen of yours, congrats,
- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Thanks guys. I' m always inviting people over to watch movies and play games. The more the merrier!

ok I can play at this game, although it' s been harder since I moved from network manager into being a lecturer...

Alienware Laptop topped out with everything
Shuttle running 7900gtx, 2gb ram dual screen
Media centre running 8700gtx dual screen both p4' s

2 digital slr' s for photography, 2 DV cams for video work,
5.1 in bedroom, 7.1 in living room, house cat 5 cabled,
axis network cameras installed recording to media centre for security
guest and kitchen have small fltscreens and run MCextenders.

as well as all the consoles etc.. oh and my work pc has a 7900 SLi in it, but dont think that counts!

and a central heating system thats just gone tits up right before I want to move house!

I have to use macs at work and never really had the flexibility that i want, they are great for singular purpose work, but when they get even slightly old htey get clunky.

through my photography work I have a lot of mates in the publishing industry, particularly at future in bath - and most of them hate the macs they have to use daily. But above their level you have plenty of gearhores - particularly high end photographers who have gota have the latest MAC..