The Machine

So, since this site is "Musings of a Techno-Geek" and since almost all, if not all, of the posts so far have dealt with politics, here's some technology. It occurred to me that there is a small, but non-zero, probability that at least one person who reads this is interested in what I use for a home computer. Thus, I present you with the specs for...

The Neue Regel

• CPU: Athlon 2800+


• RAM: 1 GB Corsair SDRAM


• MB: Asus A7N8X Deluxe with nVidia nForce2 chipset and SoundStorm digital audio plus two integrated network adapters


• Video: ATi Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB RAM


• HD's: One 120 GB Western Digital Ultra ATA and one 40 GB Maxtor Ultra ATA


• Optical: One Asus DVD-ROM drive and one Plextore CD-RW drive


• Power Supply: Antec TrueBlue 480W with lighted fans


• Case: Antec/Chenming-style aluminum case with window


• Monitor: Viewsonic VX800 18" LCD flat panel at 1280x1024


• Mouse: Logitech MX500 optical mouse


• Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro


• Joystick: Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback


• Additional: Antec 80mm blue LED fan on CPU heatsink with adapter, two blue LED fans in the front of the case, and a cold cathode light that I never use because the LED fans light up the interior just fine

It's totally a gaming rig, which means it will do everything else plenty fast as well. The aluminum case and flat panel monitor are especially nice when hauling it to LAN parties. I've yet to encounter a game that it can't run totally smooth at 1024x768 resolution or higher. Most games I run at the monitor's native resolution of 1280x1024 with all the visual goodies turned on and maxed out. I bought this machine in anticipation of Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. Well, I have to wait a bit longer than I originally thought but the system should still run both titles with no problem.