Picture of me and my new computer

Here is me, myself and I and my new computer:

Get Lost on my T-shirt is from the ABC TV show.

My final computer setup

This is my "ultimate" computer setup, the computer I am going to be working with for a couple of years atleast:

Shuttle XPC SN25P
I could have gotten the more advanced SN26P but that barebone kit really made more for hardcore gamers due to its ability to support higher graphic cards. Since I am not going to really be playing games much, I save a couple of hundred dollars going for the lesser SN25P.

AMD 64 +4800 x2 processor
Not the superfastest CPU available, but the one I considered best for the price.

2GB of RAM
I could have put more RAM, maybe upto 4GB but really, that is a waste, and 2GB memory chips really go up in price per GB.

Two 74GB Raptors
These hard drives are simply the best and fastest you can get, and putting them in RAID 0 for a total of about 140GB makes them even faster. Setting up a RAID is so much easier now, and in fact its the standard for SATA drives.

NVidia 6800GT video card
Again, there are better and faster gfx cards out there, but as I said, I am not a hardcore gamer. This card seems to fit the bill since what I really want is superior 2D graphic for a dual monitor setup.

Two Samsung 214T monitors
These are simply the best monitors for their size. Sharp bright crisp colors, and even with fast response times for those times I want to play movies or games. I set these monitors next to each other vertically for a total resolution of 2400x1200!


Logitech MX5000 keyboard and mouse
I have always liked Logitech for its interface products. Microsoft keyboards are good too, but they have the disadvantage of being... Microsoft. The less MS in my system the better.

Windows XP x64 Edition
This is I hope my only Microsoft component in my system (except alas MS Office which I hope too wean out to Open Office Real Soon Now). Even so, I managed to strip this OS as bare as possible with nLite. Ahh, nLite, what a wonderful nifty little but grand utility (see blog entry below).

Well, there you have it, my ultimate dream system made reality. I plan to add a 400GB drive in the 5 1/4 slot soon for backup and media storage. Since I travel a lot from two places I intend to duplicate my Shuttle XPC except for the Raptors and just transport my hard drives from one place to the other. It should work like a charm.

An update on the bios chip problem

Well I finally decided to get another burned in chip, since the support people at Shuttle simply ignored my repeated requests to send me a new one. After a google search I found this site that sells preburned bios replacement chips.

After installing the replaced bios chip, my Shuttle XPC is finally working! I am installing Windows XP x64 edition on it with no problems.