minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Loved those, but goddamn were they ever a huge bitch to repair. We used these giant foam blocks to support them. Even worse than the new iMacs that basically require a clean room to work on.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
Current, I do like the PS3, probably the phat better as it has the piano shine.
Older stuff, those IBM mainframes are nice, or the SGI workstation. We actually had one in our HS broadcasting classroom.
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EshTending bar. FFXIV. Motorcycles.Portland, ORRegistered Userregular
even though it was only 3 or 4 years ago, i think people forget what a fucking revelation the unibody macbook pro was. not a single thing out of place.
I saw this thread and was ready to post this. But, after reading through some of the replies, I decided I'd be too embarrassed to mention it... all this obscure, interesting stuff... can I really mention something so new and comparatively ubiquitous?
But yes, I thoroughly agree. I'm on my second unibody Macbook. The first one, a 2008 original unibody Macbook, literally still looks like it's new. It's been at my side for over three years, but it doesn't show at all. The only reason I upgraded to my new 15" MBP is because I needed more power. These are just astoundingly well designed machines... form following function to make something exceptionally durable and really quite nice to look at.
Along those lines, I have to mention the Thinkpad as well. Where the unibody Macbook design is something you can easily picture in Star Trek, the Thinkpad has a wonderfully utilitarian, almost cyberpunk feel to it. I can just picture some hacker hopped up on various stimulants, sitting cross-legged on a dirty mattress in a studio apartment in a 2000 foot tower, in a massive, gritty futuristic city, frantically typing away on a thoroughly worn, patinated Thinkpad. They're really just a different, equally great interpretation of form following function. And they really do last. I know a few people who have bought up used versions off ebay (the ultraportable X version, specifically), easily 6 years old to begin with. They proceeded to throw a nice, light Linux distro on it, and they ended up with a portable, durable, thoroughly optimized little laptop that will live longer than any similar HP, Dell, Acer, or whatever else.
The PS2 has come up a few times here, and I have to say I agree. The original always did the most for me. It just looks powerful. Black, monolithic, hard edges, minimal adornments.
And finally... I know this thread is for computers and consoles, but I have to give a nod to Nokia as well. Their hardware over the years has been positively gorgeous. I used to have an E71 before I got my iPhone, and that thing really looked like it meant business. I don't know if it's possible for a phone to look fast. But, if it is, that's what it looked like. Their current N9 and the Windows Phone equivalent are also really great looking phones. The minimalistic, unibody polycarbonate design looks completely unique and elegant in a sea of ever-growing generic black, plastic slates.
The thinkpad is "form following function" in that they just threw all the switches, ports and buttons on it and went "you can reach them, so who cares?".
A lot of it is silly. I don't know why I'd need a physical wifi switch and LED when that can be done with software. They just never thought about if those components were needed or not. It's just a lazy assumption on their part.
Now, someone probably has realized this before me, probably at least one of whom designs thinkpads. But they won't do anything about it because the thinkpad's target audience is neckbeards who're all "heh, ,<insert brand here, probably apple> don't even have a switch for their wifi. Silly sheeple paid extra for a laptop with less features".
Or you get the "but it's spill proof!" argument, as if pouring drinks into the keyboard is what you buy a laptop for.
Or something rambling about clit mice. Neither normal trackpads or clits are any good.
At the end of the day, my favourite computers are always the ones produced by good case modders. Something like this:
Just blows me away.
The stuff being done by these guys is just stunning and the guy who did this one in particular has such a committment to uncompromising perfection in his work.
It's watermarked on the photo, but if it's a little hard to read http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/ is the site. They've got quite a few beautiful cases on the front page
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
But in seriousness can you link one? I n
Didn't pick up on that. I've seen a few builds that actually have two complete systems in the one housing; one for work and one for play. I wonder if that's what you're seeing?
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
It makes sense, really. When you're going all out building baller cooling systems you're obviously more concerned with how reliable and cool running it is than price/performance.
And to be honest, I really have a hard time justifying graphics cards when you're not rocking multiple monitors. These days there aren't enough exclusives to warrant a pc set up for gaming, especially when all your friends are on xbox live.
I kinda hate graphics cards, myself. The idea of putting the second most important processor on the other end of an expansion bus is probably the stupidest thing anyone has ever done in the history of computers. Including SGI's serial numbers stored on cmos ram fuckup.
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
It makes sense, really. When you're going all out building baller cooling systems you're obviously more concerned with what it looks like and how reliable it is than price/performance.
see, I would disagree with this. The point is to have an incredibly (over)powered machine.
Having a graphics card also adds another layer of complexity to the build which many modders embrace
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
It makes sense, really. When you're going all out building baller cooling systems you're obviously more concerned with what it looks like and how reliable it is than price/performance.
see, I would disagree with this. The point is to have an incredibly (over)powered machine.
Having a graphics card also adds another layer of complexity to the build which many modders embrace
A 1.6Ghz atom board is incredibly overpowered. I can say with certainty that one of those has enough power to run an international business such as an airline. After all, 60s mainframes are incredibly weak machines with less than 512k of ram. But they still did that.
I can say that really, it makes no difference how powerful the components in these builds are. The actual focus is on the casework and the cooling. Anyone can spec out a "rig" on newegg, but it takes actual skill to build the machine in that photo.
I misrepresented my point in that latest post a bit; what I meant to say is that it's about that meeting point of form and function. Undeniably the aesthetics of the system play a huge part in it, but I know the guys pay considerable attention to the performance of the parts in their systems
I misrepresented my point in that latest post a bit; what I meant to say is that it's about that meeting point of form and function. Undeniably the aesthetics of the system play a huge part in it, but I know the guys pay considerable attention to the performance of the parts in their systems
Yes, they're paying attention the the performance of the cooling system.
Which is undoubtably more important than a benchmark dickwaving contest.
Except stock coolers are perfectly fine for stock clock speeds. Even aftermarket air coolers have reached the point where water cooling is only necessary for benchmark dickwaving contests.
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
I misrepresented my point in that latest post a bit; what I meant to say is that it's about that meeting point of form and function. Undeniably the aesthetics of the system play a huge part in it, but I know the guys pay considerable attention to the performance of the parts in their systems
Yes, they're paying attention the the performance of the cooling system.
Which is undoubtably more important than a benchmark dickwaving contest.
Of course, you won't be able to so much as run Skyrim without a discrete GPU. Well, maybe on low, at 30FPS, but who's going to build a beast like this to run a game on low settings? Dick waving is when you get up to dual GTX 590s for no reason. A reasonably powerful video card is not a crazy luxury in a machine that was clearly built with overclocking (read: gaming) in mind.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Which I realized DOES have a video card, but a rather old/low end single slot one that looks like it would hardly benefit from the crazy liquid cooling system.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
It's funny how they're so interested in fancy cooling that they forget to use partas that get even close to needing that kind of cooling. Like putting a diesel truck radiator system on a hand vacuum cleaner.
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I mean, they're mostly all beautiful, as a good liquid cooling system tends to be, but damn. A lot of them are like little ricer cars. Insane amounts of work on the exterior. Honda Civic on the inside.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
I'd say it's hard to find a computer that doesn't need stupid cooling crap on it, they've just made theirs pretty and quiet.
I hate how people crave performance so much that they consider it normal that a chip produces so much waste heat it not only requires it's own dedicated heat sink, but also a dedicated fan mounted to that heat sink. And that's considered the crappy stock cooling system.
Honestly if you're reliant on multi-ghz clock speeds and massive wattage, with resulting massive waste heat output, your computer's design sucks. Clock it down back to something sensible, you'll only need like a 100w PSU for everything. On the downside, you'll have to put software on it that isn't hilariously bloated and awful. Or maybe, actually design a computer that doesn't rely on a couple of high power processors and instead goes for multiple specialist ones.
People seem to have forgotten that once, high power consumption and excessive waste heat were only tolerated when there was no other option. Cray built those watercooled supercomputers because there was no other way of getting the (very needed) computer power. An actual sensible personal computer was built on more than just the principle of "crank it up waaaay high and deal with the problems with a big fan". For all the performance your penis extension PC gives you, what are you doing that's so important? Youtube, facebook and bideogame? This forum?
Basically all microcomputers today suck, and I don't like them. That's why I'm being a cranky old bastard.
I mean, being someone who has an interest in modding and who posts in a few different modding forums (overclock.net,bit-tech, OCAU and MDPC) I can say with a high degree of confidence that the components matter to the majority of the community. I can't speak to those two cases MI linked; since they're relatively small Lian Li cases, perhaps they're meant as HTPCs?
The main thing is that yes, you could argue it's a dickwaving competition, you won't get any argument from me there. I wouldn't consider it any different to any other hobby, such as car restoration and tuning. I agree that it is not strictly a utilitarian pursuit, but that doesn't make it any less valid. Things like being able to crank my clock speed up to 5GHz and making it stable for a 24 hour torture test is akin to tuning my car for a quarter mile.
Heck, there are sections of the community who are right into undervolting who attempt to achieve what you're talking about, Falken There are some gorgeous passively cooled, underclocked builds out there
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
I can't find a single system on that site that isn't using a graphics card. Are you sure they're using integrated graphics or did you not notice that the graphics cards' fans were replaced with the liquid cooling system?
The thing I don't understand about that site is that a surprising number of these insane mods with custom water cooling setups, custom RAM heatsinks, custom cases, etc, are using integrated graphics.
I can't find a single system on that site that isn't using a graphics card. Are you sure they're using integrated graphics or did you not notice that the graphics cards' fans were replaced with the liquid cooling system?
Which I realized DOES have a video card, but a rather old/low end single slot one that looks like it would hardly benefit from the crazy liquid cooling system.
I do feel like it's beside the point though. I would say overwhelmingly most people busting out detailed case mods are also interested in high end components
I'm going to just pass over some of the somewhat off-topic stuff on this last page for the sake of my own sanity and say that the Dreamcast is a very attractively designed console in my view. Compact, clean lines, nice tasteful use of curves to keep it from just being a brick but without going overboard. The overall design doesn't look dated even today well over a decade after its release (aside from having to open a cover to load a disc instead of just sticking it in a slot, of course).
Things like being able to crank my clock speed up to 5GHz and making it stable for a 24 hour torture test is akin to tuning my car for a quarter mile.
Not really. Clock frequency is nothing more than a throttle for a processor. Cranking it up to 5GHz isn't an engineering challenge of any kind, like say, modifying your cylinder head or building a better flowing exhaust manifold is. All you've done is leave a brick on the gas pedal.
I'd say it's hard to find a computer that doesn't need stupid cooling crap on it, they've just made theirs pretty and quiet.
I hate how people crave performance so much that they consider it normal that a chip produces so much waste heat it not only requires it's own dedicated heat sink, but also a dedicated fan mounted to that heat sink. And that's considered the crappy stock cooling system.
Honestly if you're reliant on multi-ghz clock speeds and massive wattage, with resulting massive waste heat output, your computer's design sucks. Clock it down back to something sensible, you'll only need like a 100w PSU for everything. On the downside, you'll have to put software on it that isn't hilariously bloated and awful. Or maybe, actually design a computer that doesn't rely on a couple of high power processors and instead goes for multiple specialist ones.
People seem to have forgotten that once, high power consumption and excessive waste heat were only tolerated when there was no other option. Cray built those watercooled supercomputers because there was no other way of getting the (very needed) computer power. An actual sensible personal computer was built on more than just the principle of "crank it up waaaay high and deal with the problems with a big fan". For all the performance your penis extension PC gives you, what are you doing that's so important? Youtube, facebook and bideogame? This forum?
Basically all microcomputers today suck, and I don't like them. That's why I'm being a cranky old bastard.
In summary: Hurf durf, I don't get it?
Some people like using thier computers for playing video games. These video games are capable of making very nice pictures and sounds, and we want to experience them at their best. To do that, we'll need some serious processing power. That doesn't mean our computers are badly designed, or that the software is somehow terrible and bloated, they are just capable of doing an extraordinary amount of things, all at the same time. You mention watercooled Cray supercomputers? How much computational power do you think a nice 'enthusiast' level home p.c. has these days? Or your idea of a personal computer with multiple specialist processors, instead of the big two CPU and GPU? You realise that would relegate the system to only running software designed specifically for it? Instead of writing game software to run on any Windows p.c. with enough power, you'd have to rewrite for each of tens of thousands of different hardware setups. Computers would cost a stupid amount of money, and so would the software.
Computers are designed the way they are (modular construction, parts interchangeability) to ensure the widest possible abilities from the least amount of hardware. From one mobo, CPU and RAM, with the simple addition of a graphics card you have a gaming machine capable of rendering a truly staggering visual experience. From the same basic setup, but a high-end audio card instead of the graphics card, you have an incredibly powerful music machine capable of creating, recording, editing and playing back what would otherwise require a room full of specialised equipment to do. If you built a computer with BOTH cards in it for, let's say, $1250, well now you're just being stupid and should go find an old AMIGA to do some word processing on.
I hope you enjoy playing Pong on your VIC 20 for ever and ever. Best of luck to you, sir!
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Things like being able to crank my clock speed up to 5GHz and making it stable for a 24 hour torture test is akin to tuning my car for a quarter mile.
Not really. Clock frequency is nothing more than a throttle for a processor. Cranking it up to 5GHz isn't an engineering challenge of any kind, like say, modifying your cylinder head or building a better flowing exhaust manifold is. All you've done is leave a brick on the gas pedal.
But why would you bother modifying a cylinder head or building a special exhaust manifold? Surely a Ford Model T does all you need an automobile to do? It has wheels and an engine, and a roof to keep the weather out. What more could you possibly want from a car?
You know, as much as the wii is kinda boring to look at, the consistency in the details is pretty nice. I mean how the plugs and the power source have the one cut corner... The tight packing inside the tiny cardboard box is pretty nice too.
Also, the GameCube has the coolest internal layout I've ever seen.
You know, as much as the wii is kinda boring to look at, the consistency in the details is pretty nice. I mean how the plugs and the power source have the one cut corner... The tight packing inside the tiny cardboard box is pretty nice too.
Also, the GameCube has the coolest internal layout I've ever seen.
I always loved that about the Wii. I hate USB ports because they're symmetrical on the exterior, which means at least 50% of the time, you'll struggle plugging it in if you're not looking right into it, or have the orientation memorized. A good port/connector needs to be externally asymmetrical, like the original Firewire ports, and the "cut corner" pentagon shape of the Wii's ports.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
And yes, some people do like big, powerful badass computers that play videogames exceptionally well. I do all my regular computer use and actual work on my MacBook Pro, but I have a monster of a machine at my desk that does nothing but play games with its dual-GPU setup. I love them both equally. One is the perfect laptop with my favorite GUI, and the other lets me run Skyrim and Battlefield 3 at 1080p on max settings at 120fps.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Things like being able to crank my clock speed up to 5GHz and making it stable for a 24 hour torture test is akin to tuning my car for a quarter mile.
Not really. Clock frequency is nothing more than a throttle for a processor. Cranking it up to 5GHz isn't an engineering challenge of any kind, like say, modifying your cylinder head or building a better flowing exhaust manifold is. All you've done is leave a brick on the gas pedal.
This is such a gross oversimplification I don't even know what to say.
Look, I get your point that quite often we are using components far and away more powerful than what is generally required.
What I'm interested in (at least for the purposes of this thread) is how we can combine all of these advanced, bulky, heat producing devices in an aesthetically pleasing way.
I can get that people can also be happy with just getting the thing running and they'll be happy with that. For me and many people like me, having a very well designed (as in, aesthetics) system is just as if not more important than how the thing runs
What I'm interested in (at least for the purposes of this thread) is how we can combine all of these advanced, bulky, heat producing devices in an aesthetically pleasing way.
I can get that people can also be happy with just getting the thing running and they'll be happy with that. For me and many people like me, having a very well designed (as in, aesthetics) system is just as if not more important than how the thing runs
Wait, I don't get it. Why are you suddenly agreeing with me? You're using and argumentative tone but your words support my views.
Now that you agree that computers are more powerful than is really necessary, and that aesthetics and industrial design are more important, wouldn't you say that it makes sense to sacrifice some of the former for some of the latter?
Got a CPU twice as fast as you need?
Run it half speed. Now you need a smaller heatsink with no fan insead of a big one with a fan. You've just allowed the product to be smaller because less space is needed for the cooling, as well as quieter because you've eliminated fan noise.
Ya really gotta take your thoughts to the logical conclusion. Like I know this post will probably have a mod come in and tell me off for being a meany pants or something.
Posts
Older stuff, those IBM mainframes are nice, or the SGI workstation. We actually had one in our HS broadcasting classroom.
The sexiest. (Apple IIc)
I saw this thread and was ready to post this. But, after reading through some of the replies, I decided I'd be too embarrassed to mention it... all this obscure, interesting stuff... can I really mention something so new and comparatively ubiquitous?
But yes, I thoroughly agree. I'm on my second unibody Macbook. The first one, a 2008 original unibody Macbook, literally still looks like it's new. It's been at my side for over three years, but it doesn't show at all. The only reason I upgraded to my new 15" MBP is because I needed more power. These are just astoundingly well designed machines... form following function to make something exceptionally durable and really quite nice to look at.
Along those lines, I have to mention the Thinkpad as well. Where the unibody Macbook design is something you can easily picture in Star Trek, the Thinkpad has a wonderfully utilitarian, almost cyberpunk feel to it. I can just picture some hacker hopped up on various stimulants, sitting cross-legged on a dirty mattress in a studio apartment in a 2000 foot tower, in a massive, gritty futuristic city, frantically typing away on a thoroughly worn, patinated Thinkpad. They're really just a different, equally great interpretation of form following function. And they really do last. I know a few people who have bought up used versions off ebay (the ultraportable X version, specifically), easily 6 years old to begin with. They proceeded to throw a nice, light Linux distro on it, and they ended up with a portable, durable, thoroughly optimized little laptop that will live longer than any similar HP, Dell, Acer, or whatever else.
The PS2 has come up a few times here, and I have to say I agree. The original always did the most for me. It just looks powerful. Black, monolithic, hard edges, minimal adornments.
And finally... I know this thread is for computers and consoles, but I have to give a nod to Nokia as well. Their hardware over the years has been positively gorgeous. I used to have an E71 before I got my iPhone, and that thing really looked like it meant business. I don't know if it's possible for a phone to look fast. But, if it is, that's what it looked like. Their current N9 and the Windows Phone equivalent are also really great looking phones. The minimalistic, unibody polycarbonate design looks completely unique and elegant in a sea of ever-growing generic black, plastic slates.
A lot of it is silly. I don't know why I'd need a physical wifi switch and LED when that can be done with software. They just never thought about if those components were needed or not. It's just a lazy assumption on their part.
Now, someone probably has realized this before me, probably at least one of whom designs thinkpads. But they won't do anything about it because the thinkpad's target audience is neckbeards who're all "heh, ,<insert brand here, probably apple> don't even have a switch for their wifi. Silly sheeple paid extra for a laptop with less features".
Or you get the "but it's spill proof!" argument, as if pouring drinks into the keyboard is what you buy a laptop for.
Or something rambling about clit mice. Neither normal trackpads or clits are any good.
Basically thinkpads are awful.
Just blows me away.
The stuff being done by these guys is just stunning and the guy who did this one in particular has such a committment to uncompromising perfection in his work.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
pretty.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
But in seriousness can you link one? I n
Didn't pick up on that. I've seen a few builds that actually have two complete systems in the one housing; one for work and one for play. I wonder if that's what you're seeing?
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
It makes sense, really. When you're going all out building baller cooling systems you're obviously more concerned with how reliable and cool running it is than price/performance.
And to be honest, I really have a hard time justifying graphics cards when you're not rocking multiple monitors. These days there aren't enough exclusives to warrant a pc set up for gaming, especially when all your friends are on xbox live.
I kinda hate graphics cards, myself. The idea of putting the second most important processor on the other end of an expansion bus is probably the stupidest thing anyone has ever done in the history of computers. Including SGI's serial numbers stored on cmos ram fuckup.
see, I would disagree with this. The point is to have an incredibly (over)powered machine.
Having a graphics card also adds another layer of complexity to the build which many modders embrace
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
A 1.6Ghz atom board is incredibly overpowered. I can say with certainty that one of those has enough power to run an international business such as an airline. After all, 60s mainframes are incredibly weak machines with less than 512k of ram. But they still did that.
I can say that really, it makes no difference how powerful the components in these builds are. The actual focus is on the casework and the cooling. Anyone can spec out a "rig" on newegg, but it takes actual skill to build the machine in that photo.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Yes, they're paying attention the the performance of the cooling system.
Which is undoubtably more important than a benchmark dickwaving contest.
Of course, you won't be able to so much as run Skyrim without a discrete GPU. Well, maybe on low, at 30FPS, but who's going to build a beast like this to run a game on low settings? Dick waving is when you get up to dual GTX 590s for no reason. A reasonably powerful video card is not a crazy luxury in a machine that was clearly built with overclocking (read: gaming) in mind.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
It has a card with s-video out, so it technically DOES have a "video card" but, you know what I mean.
Then I also saw this one: http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/systems-2009/lian-li/a05-xien16/033.htm
Which I realized DOES have a video card, but a rather old/low end single slot one that looks like it would hardly benefit from the crazy liquid cooling system.
I hate how people crave performance so much that they consider it normal that a chip produces so much waste heat it not only requires it's own dedicated heat sink, but also a dedicated fan mounted to that heat sink. And that's considered the crappy stock cooling system.
Honestly if you're reliant on multi-ghz clock speeds and massive wattage, with resulting massive waste heat output, your computer's design sucks. Clock it down back to something sensible, you'll only need like a 100w PSU for everything. On the downside, you'll have to put software on it that isn't hilariously bloated and awful. Or maybe, actually design a computer that doesn't rely on a couple of high power processors and instead goes for multiple specialist ones.
People seem to have forgotten that once, high power consumption and excessive waste heat were only tolerated when there was no other option. Cray built those watercooled supercomputers because there was no other way of getting the (very needed) computer power. An actual sensible personal computer was built on more than just the principle of "crank it up waaaay high and deal with the problems with a big fan". For all the performance your penis extension PC gives you, what are you doing that's so important? Youtube, facebook and bideogame? This forum?
Basically all microcomputers today suck, and I don't like them. That's why I'm being a cranky old bastard.
I'm occasionally tempted to track down an old Mac, but I don't know what purpose it would serve.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
The main thing is that yes, you could argue it's a dickwaving competition, you won't get any argument from me there. I wouldn't consider it any different to any other hobby, such as car restoration and tuning. I agree that it is not strictly a utilitarian pursuit, but that doesn't make it any less valid. Things like being able to crank my clock speed up to 5GHz and making it stable for a 24 hour torture test is akin to tuning my car for a quarter mile.
Heck, there are sections of the community who are right into undervolting who attempt to achieve what you're talking about, Falken
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
I can't find a single system on that site that isn't using a graphics card. Are you sure they're using integrated graphics or did you not notice that the graphics cards' fans were replaced with the liquid cooling system?
I do feel like it's beside the point though. I would say overwhelmingly most people busting out detailed case mods are also interested in high end components
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Not really. Clock frequency is nothing more than a throttle for a processor. Cranking it up to 5GHz isn't an engineering challenge of any kind, like say, modifying your cylinder head or building a better flowing exhaust manifold is. All you've done is leave a brick on the gas pedal.
In summary: Hurf durf, I don't get it?
Some people like using thier computers for playing video games. These video games are capable of making very nice pictures and sounds, and we want to experience them at their best. To do that, we'll need some serious processing power. That doesn't mean our computers are badly designed, or that the software is somehow terrible and bloated, they are just capable of doing an extraordinary amount of things, all at the same time. You mention watercooled Cray supercomputers? How much computational power do you think a nice 'enthusiast' level home p.c. has these days? Or your idea of a personal computer with multiple specialist processors, instead of the big two CPU and GPU? You realise that would relegate the system to only running software designed specifically for it? Instead of writing game software to run on any Windows p.c. with enough power, you'd have to rewrite for each of tens of thousands of different hardware setups. Computers would cost a stupid amount of money, and so would the software.
Computers are designed the way they are (modular construction, parts interchangeability) to ensure the widest possible abilities from the least amount of hardware. From one mobo, CPU and RAM, with the simple addition of a graphics card you have a gaming machine capable of rendering a truly staggering visual experience. From the same basic setup, but a high-end audio card instead of the graphics card, you have an incredibly powerful music machine capable of creating, recording, editing and playing back what would otherwise require a room full of specialised equipment to do. If you built a computer with BOTH cards in it for, let's say, $1250, well now you're just being stupid and should go find an old AMIGA to do some word processing on.
I hope you enjoy playing Pong on your VIC 20 for ever and ever. Best of luck to you, sir!
But why would you bother modifying a cylinder head or building a special exhaust manifold? Surely a Ford Model T does all you need an automobile to do? It has wheels and an engine, and a roof to keep the weather out. What more could you possibly want from a car?
Cars today are stupid and terribly designed!
Also, the GameCube has the coolest internal layout I've ever seen.
I always loved that about the Wii. I hate USB ports because they're symmetrical on the exterior, which means at least 50% of the time, you'll struggle plugging it in if you're not looking right into it, or have the orientation memorized. A good port/connector needs to be externally asymmetrical, like the original Firewire ports, and the "cut corner" pentagon shape of the Wii's ports.
This is such a gross oversimplification I don't even know what to say.
Look, I get your point that quite often we are using components far and away more powerful than what is generally required.
What I'm interested in (at least for the purposes of this thread) is how we can combine all of these advanced, bulky, heat producing devices in an aesthetically pleasing way.
I can get that people can also be happy with just getting the thing running and they'll be happy with that. For me and many people like me, having a very well designed (as in, aesthetics) system is just as if not more important than how the thing runs
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
Handbags at dawn then.
I correct myself, you've put a brick on the gas petal (clock multiplier) and spent a minute or two adjusting the fuel-air mix (voltage).
This is nothing like doing car tuning work. You're not in any way changing the computer, you're just changing some settings.
Wait, I don't get it. Why are you suddenly agreeing with me? You're using and argumentative tone but your words support my views.
Now that you agree that computers are more powerful than is really necessary, and that aesthetics and industrial design are more important, wouldn't you say that it makes sense to sacrifice some of the former for some of the latter?
Got a CPU twice as fast as you need?
Run it half speed. Now you need a smaller heatsink with no fan insead of a big one with a fan. You've just allowed the product to be smaller because less space is needed for the cooling, as well as quieter because you've eliminated fan noise.
Ya really gotta take your thoughts to the logical conclusion. Like I know this post will probably have a mod come in and tell me off for being a meany pants or something.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke