I own five quad-core 775 chips...

[VirtualLarry]

Actually, I have a single-core AMD64 chip that I still have all of my personal stuff on. Since I rearranged my apt, I haven't gotten that one hooked back up yet.

So I'm using one of two of my E2140 dual-cores for my main rig right now.

Even though I've got one Q6600 built (and OCed to 3.6, yay), and have another Q6600, DFI X48 mobo, and another pair of Q9400/Gigabyte X48 mobos.

I don't really game much anymore, so the quad-core is just sitting there. I still have an X1950Pro in this machine too, although I upgraded my other dual-core E2140 to a 4850. I've got three more 4850s still brand-new in the box (VisionTek) that I bought when they first came out (got the 25% off deal at BestBuy on a pair of them, twice).

Anyone else in a similar situation? They own "monster rigs", but still prefer to use something a little simpler day-to-day?

 

[faxon]

i wish i had that kind of money to spend on my rigs without even putting it to good use. i get my moneys worth out of everything i buy, and if im not getting it i sell it off for something else

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Uh, nope. If I have more power available, I like to use it even for just browsing the web.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Anyone else in a similar situation? They own "monster rigs", but still prefer to use something a little simpler day-to-day?

Sorta

 

[Billb2]

A couple of years ago I used a Pentium III 550 for everyday and had an all out, watercooled, 939 benching rig.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the PIII worked for everyday use.

 

[vexingv]

similar situation; i use a 5-year old Powerbook for most day-to-day tasks although i have been using my C2D desktop more frequently in recent months. I use the Powerbook more simply because of OSX. I'm also thinking of building an Athlon II system and relegating it to HTPC tasks.

 

[LoneNinja]

I've currently got my Phenom II 940 rig just sitting without a monitor while using a Phenom 9850 rig for most tasks. I also use a rig with an Athlon X2 7750 on a regular basis as well. Monitor recently died and I don't have money for a new one at the moment, but even when the monitor worked I rarely turned the PII rig on.

Until just recently I was still using an old laptop with an Athlon 3500 almost daily as well, however I've got basically no use for the thing now and it's just in the way to keep it sitting on a desk(screen hinges are broke so I need it at a desk)

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I often use my netbook for light browsing. This is especially odd considering my desktop is light years faster.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Anyone else in a similar situation? They own "monster rigs", but still prefer to use something a little simpler day-to-day?

Yep, I went from a 4GHz QX6700 (under vaporphase) quad rig hosting raid-0 iram and 5GB ramdisk down to a stock 2.4GHz Q6600 for my day-to-day desktop work and even then I still do ~50% of my work on a 1.8GHz dual-core laptop.

For me the reason for the "step back" was that I bought five Q6600 @3.3GHz rigs that run in the background (headless, I remote desktop into them) pushing all my compute-intensive programs around.

Once I step away from the vaporphase cooled speed-racer and into a "more cores but lower clocked" mentality to distribute my workload I no longer needed super duper speedy fast system for doing my software compiles, transcodings, etc. Just about anything I need done quickly is done in <15min anyways, and anything I don't need quickly I just leave to process overnight and it is done come morning.

I would totally replace this Q6600 desktop rig with a 2C/4T Clarkdale when the time comes.

 

[Markfw]

I use a E8400@3.6 everyday, but the rest of my farm is used for F@H (the real horsepower) Except now for these three weeks while I am in Europe.

London
Cardiff
Edinburgh
Paris
Amsterdam
Berlin (there now)
Munich
Vienna
Venice
Paris
London

 

[yh125d]

I sort of am but to a much lesser degree. I bought a 4890 and OC'd it and my CPU to run FC2 better than my 9800gt, but when I reinstalled vista with the new motherboard I also got (so I could crossfire my 4890 >.<) I wasn't for the life of me able to figure out how to get my save game transferred to the new install (it was through steam which complicated it). I didn't want to start all over cause I had a lot of hours into it, and I haven't played since


The most I use it for is watching blu-rays and a little bit of WoW

 

[sgrinavi]

I used to run 2 rigs, a C2D for daily use and C2Q for modeling/rendering. Since I've gone to single i7 rig I usually fire up the netbook if I just want to check mail.

 

[drizek]

No, but I made sure to get silent and energy efficient components. I guess I wouldn't call my system a Monster Rig, but it is plenty fast. 3.5ghz X3, 4GB ram and 4830.

Now that temperatures are no longer over 100F outside, it is actually literally silent. I cannot hear it over the sound of the rustling leaves on the trees outside, so I have no reason to use anything less powerful. I did a relatively conservative CPU overclock, I actually underclocked my ram and I run my card at stock. This allows for perfect stability while still giving me all the power I need. The PSU is only 380w though, so when I game it goes crazy trying to cool itself, but I don't mind since it helps cool down the rest of the system without needing to ramp up my case fans.

I am also really happy that my system Sleeps perfectly on Windows 7. I disabled all the LEDs and all the annoying blinky things on it so I just let it go to sleep when I am not using it. When I want to hceck something quickly, I just smack the keyboard and it is awake in a couple seconds. It sounds like a minor thing, but up until recently I have never had a computer that actually worked properly this way.

 

[Shmee]

Nope, not really. I use 2 OC'd quads, a Q6600 @ 3.4 on an EVGA 780i FTW with 8800 GT and system in rig. I leave them on 24/7 now for folding, at least I have since I started a few days ago. Also, I keep my GTX 260 clocked at 702/1512/1150, 100% fan. I may go higher later on the core and memory.

 

[Eeqmcsq]

Not quite, but with CPUs being way overpowered for my needs at home, I now prefer smaller microATX and even mini-ITX builds with cheap 45w or 65w CPUs. My primary home machine is the Phenom I 9350e (recently upgraded from the Athlon 4850e), with a secondary machine of an old Pentium 4 2.4GHz for surfing and work VPNing. I put the 4850e in a mini-ITX build, and I have absolutely no use for it, so I'll probably give it away to a friend.

So while I don't have monster rigs at home, I also don't prefer them at home either.

 

[PCTC2]

Ummm... let's see. i7 @ 4.0GHz (Windows) with GTX260 SLI, Q9400 @ 3.6GHz (Hackinstosh) w/ 8800GTS G92, Q6600 @ 3.0GHz (Windows) w/ 8800GT, E6400 @ 2.13GHz (Linux Server) w/ 7950GT, and my dual E5504 server with 7950GT. Then my Lenovo laptop w/ nVIDIA Quadro NVS140, Mac Mini 2.0GHz nVIDIA 9400 (2009), and MacBook Pro 13" 2.26GHz


What do I use for day to day rigs? My headless E6400 server (instead of the dual E5504s), my headless Atom 330 Mediabox (instead of the Q6600 HTPC), my Mac Mini 2.0GHz (hooked up to dual 24" for programming at work), and MacBook Pro (hooked up to a 22" 1920x1200 for everything else). The others haven't been powered on in almost a month I think, except the Q6600 for ripping DVDs.

 

[eelw]

Hmm, I have my P4c 3.4GHz, a C2Q QX6850 and a i7 920. Only my 920 is on right now.

 

[Spikesoldier]

9 hours at work with amd k8 sempron 1.8 1gb 80gb hdd
pc at home is intel c2q 3.7 8gb 80gb x25-m g1

night and day? for work/web tasks? not really. everything else, yes.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Nope. I've been very conservative with my hardware, and I tend to hand down parts that I no longer use.

My current day-to-day system, used constantly:
E8400 @ stock, EVGA 680i SLI, 4GB DDR2, GTX 285, 150GB 10k RPM, 640GB 7200 RPM, Thermaltake Toughpower 750w, Antec P182 SE

My test bed / portable system, used 3-4 times a month:
E6600 @ stock, Gigabyte G31, 2GB DDR2, 7900 GS, 640GB 7200 RPM, Corsair HX520w, NZXT Rogue

My laptop, used 3-4 times a week:
P8600, 4GB DDR2, 9650M GT, 320GB 5400 RPM

I've been getting the itch to upgrade to an i7 and x58 (mainly to get away from the 680i), but I really can't think of a reason just yet. I don't have any issues running any of the games / programs I used on a daily basis, and I already have enough problems keeping this room cool. It's so fun to build computers, though... too bad it's an expensive hobby.

 

[Texun]

I'm sort of where you are now that I don't game as much.

Last week I dug up some spare parts and built a basic computer with a Gigabyte mATX, 2 gigs of DDR-800, a WD 500g Black and a lowly Orleans 2.7g single core CPU and a silent HD-4350. I hooked it up to a new Dell WS monitor and to be honest I enjoyed that little PC as much if not more than my larger machine. I also enjoyed building it. For once I used a stock heat sink and some low RPM case fans. The PC is quiet as a mouse, runs in the 20C's and is as smooth as glass.

For 99% of what I do there was no difference. I guess that's the reason I've held on to my ASUS M2N-E and X2-5600 for 2 years and counting. The only time I want more muscle is when I am creating a DVD.

 

[SpeedEng66]

built the wife a q9400 + ssd + raptor rig
built the inlaws a e6550 + 1tb htpc
my main rig is a netbook lol

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: SpeedEng66
built the wife a q9400 + ssd + raptor rig
built the inlaws a e6550 + 1tb htpc
my main rig is a netbook lol

lol