Coming soon! Two boxes of mediocrity!
so there I was, grinding along with my computer of misery, wondering why my life seemed to be slideshows and molasses, when I decided to get a new machine.
"Heck!," I thought. "My car has two forward gears, which is better than none. It usually starts within 5 minutes of turning the key. It has a sunroof. It has a CD player, even if I don't have and CD's to speak of."
why not?
I decided to get a Dell base SC420, and rather than get all the silly little parts that a desktop OUGHT to have, I went with the basic server configuration.
of course, it isn't perfect. no AGP means performing elective surgery on the PCIe x8 slot to make it a PCIe x16 (something I'm bypassing, but keeping in mind for later). three PCI slots quickly fill up with a sound card (sound = not supported by the server) and a video card (which will be creeping along at PCI bus rates) to override the craptastic intel(r) CopperRiver 8mb integrated video, leaving only the PCIe x8 and x1 slots (not much to fit in there until sound blaster gets their zeneith out in march, or until I get busy with a dremel/xacto) and a single PCI left over.
but the good news: 160 gigs is bigger than 16. p4 2.8 is faster than a runkel-special celeron overclocked to 1.8. and with two boxes to run on, I can cut my productivity in half.
next stop: the adelphia office, crowbar in hand.
"Heck!," I thought. "My car has two forward gears, which is better than none. It usually starts within 5 minutes of turning the key. It has a sunroof. It has a CD player, even if I don't have and CD's to speak of."
why not?
I decided to get a Dell base SC420, and rather than get all the silly little parts that a desktop OUGHT to have, I went with the basic server configuration.
of course, it isn't perfect. no AGP means performing elective surgery on the PCIe x8 slot to make it a PCIe x16 (something I'm bypassing, but keeping in mind for later). three PCI slots quickly fill up with a sound card (sound = not supported by the server) and a video card (which will be creeping along at PCI bus rates) to override the craptastic intel(r) CopperRiver 8mb integrated video, leaving only the PCIe x8 and x1 slots (not much to fit in there until sound blaster gets their zeneith out in march, or until I get busy with a dremel/xacto) and a single PCI left over.
but the good news: 160 gigs is bigger than 16. p4 2.8 is faster than a runkel-special celeron overclocked to 1.8. and with two boxes to run on, I can cut my productivity in half.
next stop: the adelphia office, crowbar in hand.