Computers

A short description of the computers that inhabit my home network follows.

Feena

Main workhorse

This machine was originally built in 2006 with radically different specifications. I've since sold the original mainboard (ASUS P5W DH), and the rest of the parts went into my FreeBSD server. The name comes from the famous goddess of the Ys video game series by Falcom Corporation.

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.46 GHz
• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard rev 2.1
• Tuniq Tower 120 CPU cooler
• 8GB OCZ Platinum DDR2-800
• Leadtek PX8800GTS video card
• HDD: 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, 2TB Hitachi, 500GB WD, 750GB WD, 1.5TB Seagate
• Onkyo WAVIO SE-200PCI sound card
• Pioneer DVR-109 DVD-RW
• Lite-On LTR-52246S CD-RW
• Corsair HX-620W PSU
• Antec TX-1050B case
• 24" Dell 2408WFP monitor
• Filco Majestouch FKB108M/JB keyboard
• Microsoft Comfort 4500 Mouse
• Windows 7 Ultimate x64
• Debian GNU/Linux "wheezy/testing"

Nanoha

FreeBSD server

This machine was an upgrade using parts originally from Feena in 2008. Nanoha in its original form is now my router "Nagisama". The original Nanoha ran FreeBSD and Gentoo for a few years before being "retired" and eventually brought back into service as "Nagisama". I transferred most files from the original Nanoha so it felt apt to keep the machine name.

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 motherboard rev 2.0
• 16GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800
• S3 ViRGE DX 4MB graphics
• HDD: 250GB WD, 1TB WD, 6x2TB Hitachi, 4x2TB Seagate
• Samsung 48x24x48 CD-RW
• Dell SAS 5/E 8-port SAS HBA
• Vantec ION2+ 450W PSU
• Intel Gigabit CT ethernet adapter
• Antec SX-1040B case
• FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE (amd64)

Chihiro

Home theatre PC

Built in 2008 to serve the new Sony BRAVIA television I had bought in the 2007 Christmas break. I originally envisioned running some form of Linux and XBMC on it but unfortunately bought the worst hardware combination possible for the job. Everyone knows AMD (ATI at the time) drivers are rubbish - god knows how it would perform in Linux. The other mistake was purchasing the Leadtek DTV-1000S TV card which also has spotty Linux driver support. Fortunately it has served me well under both Windows Vista and Windows 7. Underclocking and undervolting the CPU meant I could remove the CPU fan altogether as long as I was using one of the "chunky copper" Intel OEM heatsinks. The majority of the noise now comes from the hard disk which I might eventually replace with a solid state disk.

08/11/2011: The power supply blew up and I've had to replace most parts inside this machine. Specs below. The new system consumes slightly less power and is capable of 1080p software decoding at all resolutions, Hi10p or not. Not bad for a 50 dollar mainbooard and $70 CPU.

• Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 @ 2.00 GHz
• MSI P43 Neo-F mainboard
• 2GB Team Group DDR2-800
• Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD4550 graphics
• HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB
• Pioneer DVD-120
• Leadtek DTV1000 S TV tuner card
• Antec Smart Power 500 PSU
• Intel PRO/1000 MT ethernet adapter
• Silverstone GD01MX HTPC case
• Sony KDL46X3100 LCD TV
• Windows 7 Ultimate x86

New specs:

• Intel Pentium G620 @ 2.6GHz
• ASRock H61DEL mainboard
• 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 memory
• Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD4550 graphics
• HDD: Seagate 7200.10 320GB HDD
• Hitachi-LG BDROM Combo
• Seasonic SII Bronze 430W PSU
• Silverstone GD01MX HTPC case
• Sony KDL46X3100 LCD TV
• Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Miyako

Dell XPS M1330 notebook

Bought in early 2008 to replace my Sony VAIO which had definitely not aged gracefully. I've had almost 4 years of trouble free computing from it, bar the dying NVIDIA GPU which required a motherboard replacement in 2009. Fortunately it was a quick job and Dell sent a tech to my house to get things sorted out. Getting old but still fast and good, so I don't see myself buying a new one any time soon.

• Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.5 GHz
• 4GB DDR2-800 memory
• SSD: Crucial M4 128GB
• HDD: 500GB WD Scorpio Blue
• NVIDIA 8400M GS graphics
• LED-backlit 13" TMD LCD
• Windows 7 Ultimate x64
• Debian GNU/Linux "wheezy/testing"

Fate

Nostalgia box

Built from spare parts to cater for my DOS/Win9x gaming needs. The CPU is probably a bit underpowered for the Voodoo2 combination but it still runs quite well. Unbelievable cards for the time I'd say, considering the fluid smooth performance in Quake II and Half Life. I have OS/2 on there for when I want to "do work" :P

• Intel Pentium MMX 200 @ 250 MHz
• 128MB PC100 SDRAM
• HDD: 20GB Quantium Fireball lct20, 6.4GB Seagate Medalist
• 2D card: S3 ViRGE DX 4MB graphics
• 3D cards: 3dfx Voodoo2 1000 12MB SLI configuration
• Panasonic S110 21" CRT monitor
• Focus FK-2001 clicky keyboard
• Windows 98 SE
• IBM OS/2 Warp 4.52

Totori

Sun Blade 1000 workstation

Kindly donated by a friend. I'm still not sure to do with it but it currently serves as an on-demand Oracle DBMS server. I'm not too keen on running it 24/7 due to its ridiculous power consumption. I will try installing Linux/BSD one of these days but I've heard that the driver support is spotty at best, especially for the exotic framebuffer. I'm not against replacing it with something more conventional like a Sun XVR-100 (Radeon 7000). The FFB2+ has quite frankly, dismal performance.

• 2xUltraSPARC III Cu 900MHz processors
• 8GB PC133 SDRAM
• HDD: 36GB Seagate Cheetah 10K FC-AL disk
• Sun Creator 3D Series 3 (FFB2+) Framebuffer
• Panasonic S110 21" CRT monitor
• 10x Toshiba DVD-ROM drive
• Intel PRO/1000 MT Dual gigabit server adapter
• "Oracle" Solaris 10 8/11