this is really funky. i wanted a new computer really bad (people that go on the channel often should know how badly). i just got TWO new computers. one of them is a pentium 200 without a sound card and a celeron 733 that comes with a cd burner and all. i got a 17" monitor (huge) with it, too.

Great!

This has nothing to do with "General YPN" though, you should have posted it under "Off topic".

Flikm: great!!! congrats! now you can install a proper linux distro!

Actually, the good distros aren't the ones that need most HD space and CPU power

bah, low-end/power guys be quiet! --> robert
Flikm: Congrats!
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Seriously, do you people think a better computer is worth all the money? I mean, I have a total of about $1000, and for that you get a descent, new computer.

This P200 I'm using, I bought for $25. I could buy 40 computers like this, instead of one newer one.

Unless you feel deep in your heart you can't survive without the latest games, using Linux on an old Pentium is OK. You can use office programs (free ones, of course), you can code, you can use X, listen to mp3s. In fact - you can do everything except telling everyone about your 1.5GHz computer, or playing the latest games.

Reading is more fun than gaming. And books you can get for free (there are other libraries than the ones you find in /usr/lib)

Coding is fun too, and I guess that's what we in the YPN have in common, right?

I wouldn't be able to do much with it, even if it had a GF3 .... I play games, ok, that was the main reason I bought this PC for, but atm I don7t use it to play games, I use it to code in OpenGL, which is the funniest for me, and for that I need this CPU and graphics power
but, that's only me
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Expensive toy

nah, not a toy. call it a powerhorse!
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I kind of agree with Robert, although I feel a bit schizophrenic about it...

Right now I'm going to buy parts for a computer for my brother. I have an Athlon 1,1ghz CPU that I impulsively bought when I saw that they had entered the wrong price, so I got it for half as much.. hehe.. My dilemma is that I know that DDR is better than usual SDRAM but it's twice as expensive too, so I don't know what to buy :/..

I'd save myself these kind of problems if I'd buy myself some lower-effect computer, and give my bro this one.. But I still have that processor, and this motherboard supports up to 1ghz.. ah..

I'm now thinking of doubling the speec of my processor. Also I will have to buy DDR SDRAM (a new mobo too :/ ), since SDRAM is also too slow for my 1GHz Processor. The memory transfer rates are always on 100% when I do something more intensively, even if the processor is only @ 70% ... I'm running my RAM @ 100MHz tho ... ayways, I need a better processor as well a graphics card.
Sometimes when I code in OpenGL there will be bugs in my program ofcourse. When it's a really bad bug it just crashes my system, and if it's not _that_ bad it takes control over my PC for minutes, e.g. I can't do anything else than waiting that I can kill it.
So, DDR SDRAM isn't that expensive here in Japan (only like 1.5x of SDRAM), and the processosr also seem to be much cheaper than elsewhere in the world. So I'm seriously thinking of getting at least a AthlonXP1900+ with a GF3Ti200 with 256MB DDR SDRAM. But I will still have to see if I can get the money together and if the prices change
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peter: often motherboards that support "up to xxxmhz" in reality support MUCH faster clock speeds, because when the mobo comes out such fast processors often aren't available - take my motherboard for example: It's about 2-3 years old, and officially (what they say in the handbook), it supports up to 450Mhz. I have and PentiumIII on it, running happily at 800Mhz - to get it to run at 850 (the processory actual speed), i just set the Bus speed a bit higher than what it supports, overclocking it to 850.

motherboards/CPUs are also heavily downclocked. for example athlon. it first came out as 1GHz, thd then (absolutely the same thing) came out as 1.33 and 1.4. So, they're just downclocked for safety reasons ...
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Hope my 286 is just downclocked to 8 MHz

heh, it's probably an Alpha in disguise

The reason processors increase in speed, despite being the same model, is because the manufacuring process is constantly refined. You'd have trouble overclocking a 1 ghz thunderbird that came out as soon as they were released. But if you picked one up that was manufactured now (that the upper cap is like 1.6 ghz), you'd have a much better chance of overclocking it.

That said, I both enjoy playing the latest games (reason to get fast computer), assemble the stuff myself (cheaper), and live in the US (cheaper than otherplaces).

Yeah, processors with a later "stepping" doesn't heat up as much as older ones. That's the real main difference.

I also like to play games, and I also like to play around with my system and assemble my own one, and stuff is also hell cheap over here
And, I also need a bit of performance to keep control over my PC after making a buggy OpenGL app which can lead to disasters sometimes
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KaGez: can you get RAM and stuff cheap as well? And motherboards? just curious about the prices over there

RAM also is kinda Cheap. 512MB of DDR SDRAM are only $150US. Mobos are also cheap, but I don't have any prices in my head atm.
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cool! =)

I could fetch some prices till tomorrow, and list them in here if anybody is interested in them
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