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It doesn't matter that much if the software eats up RAM because you can get 4 gigs of it for $50, and that's without any discount or sales or rebates. A two gig stick costs $20.

MythTV and Windows Media Center can do it just fine with a $40-80 USB TV tuner. SiliconDust even makes a unit that simultaneously streams from two integrated tuners over the network. No server machine necessary.

MythTV and Windows Media Center can do it just fine with a $40-80 USB TV tuner. SiliconDust even makes a unit that simultaneously streams from two integrated tuners over the network. No server machine necessary.

http://www.provantage.com/kensington-k33907us~7KNS904C.htm

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4431380&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=TBBTkwCjCVyBpAgf%20mwzygtCjCVRqCjCVRq

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815136002&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Devices+++TV+Tuners-_-Hightech+Information+System+Ltd.-_-15136002

Search for usb video adapter mac to find external video "cards" For less than $100 you can get an external video card.

Get a Wind U100 and install Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it, it runs so incredibly perfectly it's startling to think any other netbook has any problems with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152092

That's the one I have, I even managed to put a mini bluetooth adapter thing inside it; there's a part of the spraypaint shield that's left clear and mine even provided a wiring harness taped inside for after-market installation I cut up and used. I glued the adapter on the unpainted surface, put a layer of foil on it and taped over it and it works perfectly.

"I know tons of people who aren't buying Vista, and since they stopped selling xp, people just aren't buying windows."

Odd.
They're still selling XP from what I can tell.

They people who aren't buying Windows now are the same people who never buy Windows.

As you can see, ANY OEM can easily ship systems with XP. Dell still does. At no extra cost on many systems. Dell. The fucking largest OEM there is. So stop fucking lying.

THANK YOU! And the MSFT fanboys can keep marking me down all you want, I got karma to last until judgment day. But nobody seems to be addressing my point. I buy a shitty Dell(where MSFT gets MAYBE $50 on a sale) and I get Win7 free. Same with a shitty Compaq, or HP, or eMachine. I actually give them double that or even 4 1/2 times that and I get....screwed.

WTF? Does this make ANY business sense? Show me any other corp where paying double or quadruple gets you screwed, whereas paying them almost nothing gets you the good. This is like the Chewbacca defense, in that it makes no sense! There are a LOT of system builders out there. Gamer shops, boutique builders, mom & pop shops, etc. If I give my customers Vista in six months they are going to be abandoned, and I will have no way to get them off the dead OS, as guys like me aren't given the upgrade even though we are paying more cash than the OEMs are. If I give them WinXP, because of its popularity in business and home I can be assured that they will at least get security updates until 2014, by which time they will be ready for me to build them a new one anyway.

Now, why would I actually want Vista NOW for me or my customers? We all saw with WinME how many security holes and just plain bugs were left to rot when MSFT dumped it for XP. Considering that MSFT has lost a LOT more cash on Vista than WinME, and it has been a total PR disaster to boot, what are the odds that they will actually bother fixing all the bugs when me and my customers got stuck on their dead end OS? From what I've seen in the past from MSFT, not very good.

This is what I meant by the Osborne effect. Everyone KNOWS that MSFT is going to dump Vista at the first opportunity. You know it, I know it, MSFT knows it. Instead of ending up with warehouses full of Vista discs they could actually SELL Vista, and get folks migrating away from WinXP now, by negating their fears of being dumped by giving them a pass on Win7. After all they have already given MSFT MORE money than the OEMs, right? Instead they are going to end up with warehouse full of Vista discs that are going to be more worthless than an AOL CD because everybody and his dog has seen the Win7 hoopla. And by making it so the OEMs and ONLY the OEMs get Win7 free, they have just made sure that those warehouses full of Vista discs will stay right where they are at. I repeat, this is a seriously dumb move when their numbers are down and they have piles of an unpopular OS they need to move.

THANK YOU! And the MSFT fanboys can keep marking me down all you want, I got karma to last until judgment day. But nobody seems to be addressing my point. I buy a shitty Dell(where MSFT gets MAYBE $50 on a sale) and I get Win7 free. Same with a shitty Compaq, or HP, or eMachine. I actually give them double that or even 4 1/2 times that and I get....screwed.

WTF? Does this make ANY business sense? Show me any other corp where paying double or quadruple gets you screwed, whereas paying them almost nothing gets you the good. This is like the Chewbacca defense, in that it makes no sense! There are a LOT of system builders out there. Gamer shops, boutique builders, mom & pop shops, etc. If I give my customers Vista in six months they are going to be abandoned, and I will have no way to get them off the dead OS, as guys like me aren't given the upgrade even though we are paying more cash than the OEMs are. If I give them WinXP, because of its popularity in business and home I can be assured that they will at least get security updates until 2014, by which time they will be ready for me to build them a new one anyway.

Now, why would I actually want Vista NOW for me or my customers? We all saw with WinME how many security holes and just plain bugs were left to rot when MSFT dumped it for XP. Considering that MSFT has lost a LOT more cash on Vista than WinME, and it has been a total PR disaster to boot, what are the odds that they will actually bother fixing all the bugs when me and my customers got stuck on their dead end OS? From what I've seen in the past from MSFT, not very good.

This is what I meant by the Osborne effect. Everyone KNOWS that MSFT is going to dump Vista at the first opportunity. You know it, I know it, MSFT knows it. Instead of ending up with warehouses full of Vista discs they could actually SELL Vista, and get folks migrating away from WinXP now, by negating their fears of being dumped by giving them a pass on Win7. After all they have already given MSFT MORE money than the OEMs, right? Instead they are going to end up with warehouse full of Vista discs that are going to be more worthless than an AOL CD because everybody and his dog has seen the Win7 hoopla. And by making it so the OEMs and ONLY the OEMs get Win7 free, they have just made sure that those warehouses full of Vista discs will stay right where they are at. I repeat, this is a seriously dumb move when their numbers are down and they have piles of an unpopular OS they need to move.

I too have a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. I use it exclusively under Linux and it's a great little mouse.

However, I recently bought a new Microsoft bluetooth mouse for when I'm on the go: the Mobile Memory Mouse 8000. This mouse this is unreal. It supports 2.4 GHz RF AND Bluetooth. You can use it with the included USB RF receiver, or the computer's built-in bluetooth by flipping a switch on the bottom of the mouse. I use it in Bluetooth mode with my laptop, but if I need to work on a PC or a server which has a grimy or poorly-functioning mouse, I pull out the USB receiver and use my own mouse.

Batteries are an issue with all cordless mice unless you carry extras. Well, the Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 includes a thin magnet-tipped cord that attaches to the end of the USB receiver and the bottom of the mouse to charge the battery while you're using it! I've only ever had to use it once, but it was great to have that option.

If all that wasn't enough, the included USB RF receiver? ... is also a 1 GB flash drive! This mouse has everything but a kitchen sink! The only downside might be that its shape is a little unconventional, but it doesn't bother me. It's pretty small too, but I like small laptop mice. The clicking and scrolling are nearly silent which is great for using it during quiet meetings/presentations. It feels weird raving about a Microsoft product but the Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 is the coolest mouse I've ever owned. It's even very reasonably priced!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105088

I use this one on my htpc -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823111040

Funny, I wrote a review of this product but the product now shows zero reviews ;-)

Anyway, this keyboard is tiny and has some compromises, like a shift key only on the left side of the keyboard. There is no configuration utility for the trackpad which irritates me - and Synaptics or Alps utilities just don't work.

But - I love this little keyboard. I wouldn't write a novel on a keyboard that's about the same size as a netbook and sometimes it takes two or three tries to connect, but battery life on the keyboard has been good and if I had it do do over again I might buy something a little bigger, but this one works pretty well.

I did my research and bought a Bluetooth dongle I knew worked under Linux and the whole thing was pretty much plug and play.

Try the Radeon 3850HD. It'll do what you need and is the fastest AGP card available AFAIK. It's only got 320 stream processors and 512MB memory, but that's more than enough for everything I've thrown at it. A Nvidia 9600GS 1GB is about twice as fast though... Sadly, Windows XP is required. I was running Win2k pro just fine until ATI didn't make a driver for that card > I needed nothing from XP except that one driver.

My home desktop motherboard does AGP, and none of the AGP graphics cards I can find support 1920x1200

you can still get agp cards that will do 1920x1200 such as a Radeon X1950PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready IceQ3 Turbo Video Card. that's about as good as it gets for agp. the x1950 card is approximately twice as fast as the x850 that i'm using... and i use my x850 at 1920x1200. i am able to run some games at that res such as unreal tournament 2004. the x19xx chips were made for pci express but the cards have a bridge chip on them to make them work as agp (when the x1950 was new it was sold in both agp and pci-express flavours). full hd video playback might still be a bit iffy on a single core setup but if you're lucky enough to have dual core support on your agp board then you won't have any major issues. the only reason i'm not running one of those cards is because of a bridge chip compatibility issue with my particular board (asus a8v deluxe.. the a8v-mx variant runs it just fine).

$99 after $10 mail-in rebate at Newegg

Three of the five 4770's they have for sale are under $100 (with rebate).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%201305520549%20106792627%201067947628&name=Radeon%20HD%204770

First, why pay more than $99 USD for a video card?

Second, Newegg lists the ATI 4770 as $109 USD with a 128-bit memory.

Third, the ATI 4830 are a better deal for under $99 with a 256-bit memory.

First, why pay more than $99 USD for a video card?

Second, Newegg lists the ATI 4770 as $109 USD with a 128-bit memory.

Third, the ATI 4830 are a better deal for under $99 with a 256-bit memory.

$85 is close enough.

You can get one for 80 easily enough if you watch out for special offers.

At least he got something right:

"The price of storage per gigabyte is going to drop precipitously," Mr. Lawrence said.

Also did anyone tell them hard drives are already less than 10 cents a gigabyte? So instead of buying a new burner and $50 500gb holographic disks in 3 years, it'd be cheaper to buy a 500gb external USB drive today.... well, almost cheaper, it's $62, but I could almost probably guarantee it'll be at least $12 cheaper by 2011.

I agree; you can get such things from internet resellers for dirt cheap these days. The math boils down to: $1.49 / ~5m × 60m/h = $17.88/h so if you make more than $17.88/h ($36000/y), it's cheaper to buy the superior cable online. Plus, it means you can spend more time on more important issues that can't otherwise be outsourced (e.g. fix that damn server).

However, I've found that the extra cables I like having lying around seem to walk away. Having the spool, heads, and crimper for custom cables also means I can create a standard-length cable in a pinch when there are no spare cables. Suddenly, that $1.49 cable gets storefront premiums, tax, gas money, AND your time at the store (or a hefty overnight shipping fee) versus just crimping the damn cable.

(Yes, I also have another solution -- a box of cables hidden in my office. shhh...)

That would be a nice idea if newegg.com actually delivered anywhere useful.

If you actually lived in the civilized world they would deliver to you.

That would be a nice idea if newegg.com actually delivered anywhere useful.

So by "useful," you mean somewhere other than:
- Canada
- The US
- US territories
- AFO/FPO

Seems like a pretty decent shipping policy to me.

That would be a nice idea if newegg.com actually delivered anywhere useful.

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

My current tower (Althon64 X2/a great 780G mobo/8GB DDR2 800 CL4/good Seasonic CPU/Antec 300 case/WD 640GB AAKS HD) was only like $400 TOTAL!

I've got to call "bull" here. Even if you bought this today with prices dropped, you'd spend around $450:

• $56 for Althon64 X2
• $100 for a great 780G mobo
• $98 for 8GB DDR2 800 CL4
• $65 for a good Seasonic CPU
• $60 for an Antec 300 case
• $70 for WD 640GB AAKS

If you purchased very long ago, the CL4 DDR2 RAM would have been closer to $200.

$700 for something that doesn't really beat just getting the $200 AMD CPU by much, despite costing 3.5x as much.

Apparently, you haven't seen the benchmarks or used a Core i7 system. When I say they crush the Phenom II, I'm not exaggerating. Some things take quite literally 1/4 the time. If you are multitasking at all, you can really see the difference. I can run the Prime 95 torture test with 4 workers and still do normal computing without even noticing. Try that with any AMD processor.

If you include the Core 97 940 like I said before (something that's actually noticeably faster), then you're over $1000.

Anything more than the 920 is a waste of money. Only the 965 has an advantage in that it is fully multiplier-unlocked, but the 920 is unlocked between 12x and 20x. With that plus changing the BCLK, you can get pretty much any combination of CPU and RAM speed you want. With DDR3-1600 so cheap, this means the only limit to running the speed you want is cooling, and the 940 requires exactly the same cooling clock-for-clock as the 920.

I'm running the 920 at 3.33GHz (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro as HSF) and RAM at DDR3-1333 with no voltages out of spec. In fact, I'm under-volting the RAM (although I have raised it from the default 1.5V to 1.6V...still below the 1.65V spec). I also still have the Intel Turbo enabled, so for single-core apps, I can get over 3.5GHz. The CPU temps are still 20C below thermal shutdown even when running 8x Prime 95 torture tests, and in line with the 940 temperatures at stock speed.

So why would anyone pay literally twice as much ($560 vs. $280) for a CPU that runs slower?

Without a doubt, the CPU-only upgrade is the best deal (I'm going to do the same to my Barcelona Opteron server systems once the BIOS upgrade to support Shanghai comes out), but a Core i7 upgrade (X58 motherboard, Core i7 CPU, DDR3 RAM) isn't as much as you think:

• $239 for an ASUS P6T motherboard
• $279 for a Core i7 920, which is trivial to overclock to 3.2GHz, even with the stock heatsink
• $180 for 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3-1600

That's all you need to replace, as your existing power supply, video card, hard drives, etc., will all work just fine. So that's $698 for a system that will absolutely crush the Phenom-based system. Even at the stock 2.66GHz, the i7 920 is a beast compared to the socket AM2+ Phenoms.

The socket AM3 Phenom 955 is a good budget choice for a completely new computer compared to the i7 920, but it still requires a new motherboard and RAM for an upgrade, and then it loses on price/performance.

Without a doubt, the CPU-only upgrade is the best deal (I'm going to do the same to my Barcelona Opteron server systems once the BIOS upgrade to support Shanghai comes out), but a Core i7 upgrade (X58 motherboard, Core i7 CPU, DDR3 RAM) isn't as much as you think:

• $239 for an ASUS P6T motherboard
• $279 for a Core i7 920, which is trivial to overclock to 3.2GHz, even with the stock heatsink
• $180 for 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3-1600

That's all you need to replace, as your existing power supply, video card, hard drives, etc., will all work just fine. So that's $698 for a system that will absolutely crush the Phenom-based system. Even at the stock 2.66GHz, the i7 920 is a beast compared to the socket AM2+ Phenoms.

The socket AM3 Phenom 955 is a good budget choice for a completely new computer compared to the i7 920, but it still requires a new motherboard and RAM for an upgrade, and then it loses on price/performance.

Without a doubt, the CPU-only upgrade is the best deal (I'm going to do the same to my Barcelona Opteron server systems once the BIOS upgrade to support Shanghai comes out), but a Core i7 upgrade (X58 motherboard, Core i7 CPU, DDR3 RAM) isn't as much as you think:

• $239 for an ASUS P6T motherboard
• $279 for a Core i7 920, which is trivial to overclock to 3.2GHz, even with the stock heatsink
• $180 for 12GB (6x2GB) DDR3-1600

That's all you need to replace, as your existing power supply, video card, hard drives, etc., will all work just fine. So that's $698 for a system that will absolutely crush the Phenom-based system. Even at the stock 2.66GHz, the i7 920 is a beast compared to the socket AM2+ Phenoms.

The socket AM3 Phenom 955 is a good budget choice for a completely new computer compared to the i7 920, but it still requires a new motherboard and RAM for an upgrade, and then it loses on price/performance.

Cat5 or Cat5e is more than enough for 100mbps networks so there's no need to replace them with Cat6.

If you have a few dollars to spend it would be worth replacing very old cables with factory made patch cords like these.

Manually made (and less often factory made cables) can become bad because those copper terminations that are pushed in to make contact with the cable wires can get slightly loose in time and cause the connection to go down to half duplex or 10 mbps or you could get disconnections whenever someone steps on the cable or moves it.

You can fix it usually by using a crimping tool to press the contacts again but it's not worth it as they'll come loose again soon.

As for your last question... besides what I said above, what could get old is the plastic/pvc whatever that wraps the twisted pairs of copper.

That wrapping doesn't get old and dry enough to break in less than a few years, so you're safe.

Quad core laptops do exist, Lenovo no less. Up to 8 GB RAM. This thing also comes with 2 hard drives plus an optical drive bay (which you can presumably remove to add another drive). Three of these gives you 3TB without spindles or external drives. Three of these would give you 1.5 TB internally, which isn't too shabby, for much less $$$.

I would love to see a power-meter that shows exactly how much power you use when you use it.

You mean this?

What I would like is "smart electronics" so I can push a single button on my way out and be sure I am not wasting electricity, without shutting off my fridge, alarm clock, and PVR. Maybe somebody can point me to that?

So if you're willing to forgo support options, I'd build a server yourself from components. You'll be able to get the mix of horse power you want and power consumption that it seems you need. fuzzyfuzzyfungus suggested using a desktop given your modest specs, I'd concur with this, but the cases used by large PC vendors don't really lend themselves for operating in a really harsh environment. I'd start with a case like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

While the window is flashy, it's got a ton of fans, and good airflow, so while there will be dust and whatnot, you shouldn't see a lot of cake up, plus with the window, you can see when it needs any cleaning.

Depending on the size of your UPS, you can put the whole kit and kaboodle into a rolling rack:
http://www.racksolutions.com/portable-racks-guide.shtml

Or you could go with the google approach, instead of buying a case, just slap down a piece of corkboard on a shelf in the rack and place your components. You'll have to do a bit of jerry rigging with fans if you go that route, but it would save you $100. With a can of compressed air, you can keep it as clean as you need.

-Runz

The problem is this: you need something ultra rugged, basically a tank. Servers aren't really designed for that as 99.999% of them are going to nice, clean, air filtered and AC temped server rooms. That said the closet thing i think you are going to find that will meet those specs(tough as hell, wild temp and humidity conditions, as well as low power) are going to be Geode based like this.

Have you thought about going the DIY route? You can pick up an "all in one" mobo like this Nano based one, which since it is the Nano and has built in crypto it would be great for a server and there are plenty of car enthusiast websites that sell ultra rugged PC cases for mounting in off road vehicles. This would give you the ruggedness you require as the off road PC cases are well sealed to keep the dirt out as well as use the case itself as a heatsink which should cut down on the risk of heat death, and by going DIY you get the power you need for a server with the rugged design. Just add a marine or military LCD and you are good to go. Certainly faster than a $1500 Pentium, and by going DIY you can add a SSD and 2GB of RAM which will help with typical server jobs. I would check it out if you ain't made of money, as that will most likely be the cheapest way to go and still meet your requirements. Good Luck.

Build one:
Rackmount UPS
Shallow musician-style rack case
Shallow rackmount server case
Rackmount AC
Plus server components.

These are all just random 1st finds in each category so I have no idea if they're compatible, but assuming compatible variants of each part work, it seems feasible:
- Server is to whatever specs you want
- Assuming the A/C technology is decent (never heard of the company before) it should be enough for at least a single server & UPS
- Might need some kind of de-humidifier?
- Reasonably portable. By vehicle at least, since I'm assuming you're not lugging this thing by hand through the jungle

In looking at your specs I think your storage is going to be the hardest to deal with. Todays 1TB drives are quite fragile. Drop them from a table and 90% of the time they are goners. In addition without serious cooling they can get very hot (I am looking at you segate) and once you get upwards of 55 Celsius they start to break down fast. Even worse would the temperature cycling due to the fact the server is not online 24/7. Seeing as you are power constrained its probably not going to feasible to go with a ton of 250GB drives ect...

To build something like this in a ruggedized form is going to be expensive (5k + for the basics) Is there a way you could reduce your data requirments? 4TB is a tremendous amount of data.

If you were willing to compromise

One other suggestion. Go with a MiniITX board and a DC-DC power supply This one is cheap and you could put an AMD CPU in it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500021 Then add a 45 Watt AMD CPU and maybe RAID 5 with 500GB laptop HD's
In theory you could build a decent dual core 2.6 Ghz system with 1.5 TB of storage, 4GB of ram and all powered by 12Volt DC (negating the UPS need.. just use 12volt Batteries) for a reasonable price. A system like this would be small and portable. If you needed more horsepower I would suggest building multiples.

It would likely be much more cost effective to build multiple moderately powerful systems than one massive one.

Holy hell, where do you shop? Best Buy? Vid Card: Nvidia 9500 $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130378 550W power supply $23 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170010 And these are brand new parts, lucky for us we can hit e-bay or craigslist and get em used if necessary...The only real thing you have to worry about in a system is the graphics card. I dont think even crysis cares all that much about your mobo, psu, processor (within reason), and hard drive.

Holy hell, where do you shop? Best Buy? Vid Card: Nvidia 9500 $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130378 550W power supply $23 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170010 And these are brand new parts, lucky for us we can hit e-bay or craigslist and get em used if necessary...The only real thing you have to worry about in a system is the graphics card. I dont think even crysis cares all that much about your mobo, psu, processor (within reason), and hard drive.

And in case you want to see how I did it: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz: $46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239
Rendition by Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667: $10 ($40 for 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148240
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB: $85 ($170 for 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
ZOTAC ZT-98PES3P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1305520548+106792522+1067942261&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W: $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+113142557&Configurator=&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc= Now that doesn't include case, DVD drive and motherboard but your price is already $441 and at least $500 with a motherboard. I bought a 360 Pro and with my 3 years of Xbox Live and having bought 1 extra controller I've barely spent $500. So any claims that a PC is cheaper than a 360 with Xbox Live is just false.

And in case you want to see how I did it: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz: $46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239
Rendition by Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667: $10 ($40 for 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148240
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB: $85 ($170 for 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
ZOTAC ZT-98PES3P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1305520548+106792522+1067942261&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W: $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+113142557&Configurator=&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc= Now that doesn't include case, DVD drive and motherboard but your price is already $441 and at least $500 with a motherboard. I bought a 360 Pro and with my 3 years of Xbox Live and having bought 1 extra controller I've barely spent $500. So any claims that a PC is cheaper than a 360 with Xbox Live is just false.

And in case you want to see how I did it: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz: $46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239
Rendition by Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667: $10 ($40 for 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148240
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB: $85 ($170 for 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
ZOTAC ZT-98PES3P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1305520548+106792522+1067942261&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W: $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+113142557&Configurator=&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc= Now that doesn't include case, DVD drive and motherboard but your price is already $441 and at least $500 with a motherboard. I bought a 360 Pro and with my 3 years of Xbox Live and having bought 1 extra controller I've barely spent $500. So any claims that a PC is cheaper than a 360 with Xbox Live is just false.

And in case you want to see how I did it: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz: $46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239
Rendition by Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667: $10 ($40 for 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148240
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB: $85 ($170 for 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
ZOTAC ZT-98PES3P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1305520548+106792522+1067942261&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W: $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+113142557&Configurator=&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc= Now that doesn't include case, DVD drive and motherboard but your price is already $441 and at least $500 with a motherboard. I bought a 360 Pro and with my 3 years of Xbox Live and having bought 1 extra controller I've barely spent $500. So any claims that a PC is cheaper than a 360 with Xbox Live is just false.

And in case you want to see how I did it: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1640 Orleans 2.6GHz: $46 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103239
Rendition by Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667: $10 ($40 for 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148240
HITACHI 0A38016 1TB: $85 ($170 for 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233
ZOTAC ZT-98PES3P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB: $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1305520548+106792522+1067942261&Configurator=&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W: $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+113142557&Configurator=&Subcategory=58&description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc= Now that doesn't include case, DVD drive and motherboard but your price is already $441 and at least $500 with a motherboard. I bought a 360 Pro and with my 3 years of Xbox Live and having bought 1 extra controller I've barely spent $500. So any claims that a PC is cheaper than a 360 with Xbox Live is just false.

"And how much for a motherboard and CPU that can take that much RAM?"

Around $125 for the pair right here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.178918

"Not for hardware hackers. Windows Vista 64-bit editions require all kernel-mode code to be digitally signed"

True enough and depending on what you're doing it can be a show stopper, but if you're writing drivers for USB, they don't need to be kernel mode: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511026.aspx . But you probably already know the options.

Not that anybody else is reading this

Somebody modded my last one, so we're not completely alone here. :-)

do any operating systems you approve of install, by default, with all listening ports off?

By policy Ubuntu has not had open ports listening on the network in a default install for several years - I don't know if it ever has, or if it started with that policy. There could have been an exception made for zeroconf - there was some discussion about that for a while. OpenBSD has always been this way. Others do it too. Really, there's no reason for a desktop or a server to be listening to the network until it's told to do so - different users have different needs, but one need they all share is not to be exposed to vulnerabilities they don't need to be exposed to. I don't know what SuSe, RedHat or Mandriva do lately, nor OS-X. What I do know is that there isn't an army of millions of compromised zombies on the Internet attacking them so their users click links with gleeful abandon and purchase their MP3s from Amazon without a care in the world. But maybe it's just that they're not using Explorer.

Auto run is there because people want it. [....] Note, lots of business disables this using group policy , it's not hard.

Yes it is hard. For many the people neither the published manual method nor the group policy method of disabling this undesired feature worked reliably until recently and you know it. Does it now? Gee, is there some way to test that every client no longer performs this undesired behaviour in every circumstance? If you can't inspect it, you can't expect it. And as for people wanting it, well, I guess all the people who got Conficker this way have now decided they don't want it so badly. Many of them will be getting a Mac. But not the ones who don't know yet. Those people will be sending spam to you, me and everybody. Their computers will be shutting down legitimate businesses with denial of service attacks. They'll be used to store and forward the intimate details of millions of people to criminals who mean them harm - eventually probably including your details and mine. You never know what databases those millions of PCs were connected to. The "six degrees" rule makes it nearly certain that your banking information, credit report, medical history were all accessible from at least one of the myriad millions of machines that were compromised in the last five years, where those records exist in digital form. That they haven't been exploited yet is just dumb luck. Also, their zombies will become fast-flux hosts for "Bulletproof Hosting" to further exploit computers and defraud innocent netizens of many millions of dollars. All this because their users wanted Sony's rootkit to install when they put the CD in and you won't do the responsible thing and tell the children "No. You can't use the lawnmower until you can figure out how to start it yourself." I'm not saying the feature has to go away. It just shouldn't be the damned default! Let them turn it on, and then it's their fault. Until then, it's yours.

But, you are off the mark in many respects , Vista with well engineered drivers, a BIOS that has been well engineered, and lacking what some people call âoebloat wareâ will absolutely run acceptably well , the limiting factor is the HW not the OS or applications.

Ok, I cited a general case and made an assertion, you narrowed the scope and disagreed. Let's get a particular system like this one out and take it for a spin, shall we? Add 1GB of RAM, A DVDROM drive, a HDD and a decent monitor. With XP: quite adequate performance for a power efficient machine. Boots quickly. Full screen DVDs are no problem. With Flash installed

I'm still not sure... if I were hard-set on buying a new video card without replacing my motherboard, I'd have to say I'd go for one of these cards instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102814
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

So I could then be a whole two generations ahead of the cards you're recommending your customers.

Then again, I mostly play Valve games, so even with my P4 3.2 and 6600GT, I'm still CPU-bound most of the time.

That machine got me through my entire (5-year) college career, plus some -- that motherboard's seen 6 years of daily use. I doubled the RAM, went from a GF4-MX to a 6600GT, and have vastly more storage space, but it's ready for an upgrade. I'll probably do that this fall.

Disclaimer: I work for Intel, but what I said is based on my personal experience as a consumer. Until Larrabee comes out, I don't have an Intel-made discrete graphics card to pitch. :-P

I'm still not sure... if I were hard-set on buying a new video card without replacing my motherboard, I'd have to say I'd go for one of these cards instead:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102814
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

So I could then be a whole two generations ahead of the cards you're recommending your customers.

Then again, I mostly play Valve games, so even with my P4 3.2 and 6600GT, I'm still CPU-bound most of the time.

That machine got me through my entire (5-year) college career, plus some -- that motherboard's seen 6 years of daily use. I doubled the RAM, went from a GF4-MX to a 6600GT, and have vastly more storage space, but it's ready for an upgrade. I'll probably do that this fall.

Disclaimer: I work for Intel, but what I said is based on my personal experience as a consumer. Until Larrabee comes out, I don't have an Intel-made discrete graphics card to pitch. :-P

For example, if we all pay for 10GB total transfer per month, and all of us decided to watch hulu at the exact point in time, the ISP would face the same problems they are complaining from now and they cannot guarantee good service to the users.

Actually, the congestion problem happens only with some types of networks and this argument is brought up constantly because monopolies don't want to invest in better networks. There's no law saying you HAVE to use the same DSL or cable connections.

They can solve the problem anytime by bringing fiber to the premises or fiber to the home. Fiber to ethernet converters are cheap nowadays: link or link

In the case of an apartment building, they can just pull fiber to the basement and inject the signal into the cable network of that apartment building. Cable modems running on DOCSIS 3 can then be used easily. Or, you can add UTP cable to each apartment.

In the case of small houses, a fiber strand can go to one house and from that house it's possible to use UTP cable (up to 100 meters) in all directions.

Both solutions would give people up to 1gbps and there won't be any congestion issues as a 1gbps fiber link is relatively cheap.