Lain - my new personal computer system

If you've watched Serial Experiments: Lain, then you are already familiar with the main character of the anime after whom my new computer system has been named.  If you haven't, you really should, and you'll find a couple sample videos at the end of this post.

Lain consists of the following hardware:

 - X-Gene HTPC black microATX Case (model# 01006) - I chose this case because I am tired of generic computer cases.  I'm a PC repair technician, and since I've built and repaired computers for over nine years now, I've reached a point where a computer needs to be somewhat unique to interest me.  This particular case is shaped more like a box than the standard tower design, and allows the motherboard to be mounted on the base of the computer similar to the method employed by "desktop" style cases.  Unlike desktop cases the case has a second tier designed to hold the optical and hard drives.  The second tier is attached to hinges allowing it to be flipped open.  This makes it exceptionally easy to reach the motherboard underneath, unlike other cases of this style.  A 120mm and three 80mm case fans are supported for additional cooling.  There is also room for two 3.5" hard drives, two 5.25" optical drives, one 3.5" floppy drive or media card reader.  The hard drive bay is easily removable and held in place with a retention clip which can come in rather handy during diagnostics.  The front panels are also easy to remove and are black anodized aluminum with a brushed appearance, which is very durable and looks professional enough to sit in the same rack as an expensive stereo system.  The front panel USB, audio and floppy/media bays are covered with push release panels.  The optical drives are also covered but have a round push button for eject.  The main power switch is surrounded by a ring lit by a pair of bright blue LEDs.  The only flaw I can find with this case is that the black paint on the shell cover is easy to scratch or chip.  Also, because other customers who had purchased this case found the power supply was unreliable, I purchased a model that came without power supply.  Other than those two issues, this is one of the nicest cases I have ever worked with, if not the nicest.

 - AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ Dual Core 2.1GHz Processor - I have always held the stance that Intel processors are more reliable and therefore best suited for business computers, and AMD provides the best performance for the price and are therefore best suited for home users.  There are many different opinions on this topic.  With my laptop, I opted to go with Intel because at that time the Pentium M processor ran cooler than AMD's equivalent laptop processor, it consumed less electricity which meant my battery would last longer, and because laptops have a higher failure rate than normal computers I felt that Intel components would increase its life expectancy.  This was the only time I would choose to buy a new Intel based computer system.  In my opinion Intel products are priced much higher than they need to be.  Intel also has had a long history of locking down their products to prevent customers from taking advantage of their performance potential (also known as overclocking).  Lately Intel has managed to offend me with their stance during the OLPC project, especially when they initially treated the project as a threat to their ability to do business.  Finally, with a class action suit pending against Microsoft by customers who purchased "Vista Capable" computer systems at the end of 2006 that were not able to run anything beyond Windows Vista Home Basic, according to Microsoft intercompany e-mails Intel wanted Microsoft to create a version of Vista that could be supported by the aging Intel 915 chipset to make it possible for Intel to continue selling it.  Coincidentally, this was the chipset in the Medion laptop I purchased in March of 2005, well over a year and a half before Windows Vista was released.
These four issues alone are enough to make me buy AMD instead.  But I also like AMD.  Always the underdog to Intel, AMD has made great processors at great prices over the years, and almost every computer I have owned has had an AMD processor.  It helps that the AMD dual core processor I purchased offers a LOT of performance for the price I paid.  I also chose this particular model on a somewhat numerological basis based on its clock speed (2.1GHz, 2 cores, 2+1 + 2+1 = 6).  I wanted to hold out for one of the X3 Triple Core processors (code named Toliman), but I just don't have the patience to wait for vendors to carry them and for their initial price (which will likely be around $125-$175) to drop.  They also may require a significantly more expensive motherboard, possibly larger than can be supported by the case I chose.  Of course, since the processor is not out yet it is entirely possible that a BIOS update from MSI may give my motherboard the capability to support the X3 series.  Only time will tell on that one.

 - MSI  K9AGM3-FIH AMD microATX motherboard - I chose this board because it had one of the latest AMD chipsets, PCI-Express support for the latest video graphics accelerator cards, and support for up to four 2GB RAM modules (up to 8GB RAM total).  I do not currently see a need for anything over 2GB of RAM in the system configuration I prefer, but that may change down the road and I prefer to leave room for more.  I chose MSI because lately ASUS has seemed unreliable to me.  I've long held that ASUS is the best motherboard manufacturer anywhere, but I'm starting to find that MSI's track record is better overall.  It also helps that I prefer to use MSI motherboards at work.  My Medion laptop had a MSI motherboard and my previous computer had a MSI motherboard - none of which failed during the time that I used them.  I had a little trouble getting the HD audio drivers installed properly in Windows XP, but I've had similar issues on other boards so I do not think it is an MSI thing.

- Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 (PC2 6400) memory - Crucial has an excellent track record in my line of work.  I've used Kingston brand memory for years, and I used to prefer it, but I've found that their quality control with DDR2 memory has been less than satisfactory.  I no longer purchase anything except Crucial DDR2 memory.  I went with the 800MHz variety because it was the default supported speed for the MSI K9AGM3-FIH motherboard.

- Samsung Dual Layer SATA DVD+/-Rewriteable drive - I did not feel that I needed to get the best brand available (Plextor) because I don't have recording needs that require superior recording capabilities.  This is actually my first personal DVD-burner, and I opted against getting a LightScribe capable drive because again, I didn't feel I would use it.  I picked Samsung because it is the brand of optical drive in my Medion laptop, and has been reliable thus far.

- Samsung 320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive - I also had a Samsung 60GB ATA6 hard drive in my Medion laptop, which had to be replaced exactly three years from its date of manufacture.  For a laptop hard drive that's good.  I had originally intended to buy a Seagate brand drive due to their five year warranty support, but Seagate has recently gotten into trouble for mislabeling their hard drives with incorrect capacities, and they have also produced a new series of hard drives that are not LINUX friendly.  That second item was pretty much their death knell in my book, and because there are no other brands that I prefer, I decided to give Samsung another shot.  I went with a 7200RPM drive as a balance between performance and heat, the 10,000RPM drives are obviously faster but with a smaller case type like mine would possibly have heat related problems.  I see no reason to buy a 5400RPM hard drive unless it is for a laptop or a miniITX PC.  I also picked a drive that was over 5x the capacity of what I was used to with my laptop hard drive, and didn't see a need to go larger.

- nMediaPC All-In-One internal USB 2.0 media card reader - 1.44MB floppy drives are now officially obsolete, and I hate to see that 3.5" front panel bay go unused.  I'm not sure if this will even work in LINUX because it is a multi-card reader, but I'm not expecting to use it a whole lot either.  At $8.49, however, it was hard to pass up.

- Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB PCI-Express graphics accelerator card - this was the second most expensive component of my computer, following the monitor.  However, it is money well spent for anyone who likes 3D games or wants to be able to support a large screen monitor with at the recommended resolution.  I fall under both of those categories.
My introduction to good acceleration (the word good means that the i740 card I used for a while doesn't count) was the Voodoo3 2000 AGP by 3dfx Interactive.   This company was one of the main driving forces behind the current 3D acceleration market.  The Voodoo3 is still my favorite 3D card of all time, so much so that I have plans to put together a AMD K7 class system and track down a working Voodoo3 card on EBay just so I can put together a nostalgia PC from my gaming days of the 90s.
3dfx was a little too experimental, however, and went out of business.  They were then acquired by nVidia, who dissolved what was left of the company and refused to so much as make the drivers for any 3dfx cards available for download (they were instead put online by former 3dfx staff members, who even periodically released updated drivers for newer operating systems).  The fact that nVidia basically shit all over 3dfx's remains has never sat well with me, and to this day I carry a grudge.  Even with that I have been recommending nVidia based video cards for gamers because they tend to be the easiest to use and have the widest gaming range.
Lately, however, I have opted to go with a graphics company that was established before 3dfx or nVidia - ATI.  The affordable Radeon graphics accelerators have been beating nVidia's over and over again in performance versus price, and it really required little effort on my part to make the switch.  My source of info in this regard is Tom's Hardware Guide, which has also been around for years and is widely respected as an excellent source of information for computer enthusiasts.
Before last year I was unaware of the Sapphire company, but on a whim I have started carrying their cards and have so far had no complaints from my customers.  This particular model was the best in the $100 or less range on Tom's Hardware, and is far more power than what I typically need.  I can't wait to start saving up for some modern games.

- Seasonic 80+ Certified 400W power supply - According to Newegg.com's power supply wattage calculator, the components I chose require a 310W of power.  Since I may put additional components in (extra DVD drive, hard drive, etc) I opted to go with a bit extra.  Seasonic, however, also produces power supplies that are rated at over 80% energy efficient.  These power supplies effectively scale down to the amount of wattage required by the computer at any given time, which means my computer does not consume more power than it needs while it is idle.  The power supply cooling fan generates little noise, which is always a plus.  Seasonic is also a brand name with a perfect rating on Newegg.com, so I have a feeling that it will never need to be replaced.  

- SilenX 80MM and 120MM case fans - the problem with computers is they get hot, and just like an automobile, heat can kill parts.  The problem with using fans is that they tend to be noisy.  In this small case I had room for four cooling fans, and because it is a smaller case form factor and I have some high end parts I wanted as much cooling as possible.  I also wanted as little noise as possible.  The 80mm SilenX fans I chose are rated at 9db, (which is about the same amount of sound as leaves rustling), and the 120mm fan was rated at 11db (again at about the sound of leaves rustling).  What this means is that unless there is no other noise in the immediate area of my computer, you cannot hear these fans.  They were a bit more expensive than generic cooling fans but the additional price was well worth the sanity.

- Logitech Standard Deluxe 250 black USB keyboard - there's not a whole lot to say about this keyboard, it is as basic as I prefer.  There are no special multimedia buttons.  More importantly, there is no Sleep button (which Elish is really good at pushing at the most inopportune time).  The size of the backspace button and the layout of the arrow keys is exactly what I prefer.  It feels nice to type on this, especially after using an ultra-slim ultra-light laptop sized keyboard for the past three years.  I like Logitech brand input devices better than any other brand.

- Logitech LX3 silver & black 3 button optical USB mouse - I was pickier about the mouse than the keyboard.  This mouse does not have more than two standard buttons and a mouse wheel, and I really didn't want any more than that.  Whoever decided that a 4 or 5 button mouse would be better/easier/more efficient than a 3 button mouse is an idiot, in my opinion.  Nothing is more annoying than using a five button mouse, hitting one of the non-standard buttons by accident and wondering what happened to the window you were just looking at.  The mouse wheel can be used for side to side scrolling in addition to up and down, but I doubt I will take advantage of that feature.  My biggest concern was comfort, and this mouse fits my hand exactly the way I prefer, with no sloping for right handed people or other similar foolishness.  The optical sensor is also far more sensitive than a lot of the generic optical mice out there, which can come in handy while working with graphics software or playing 3d shooters.

- Samsung 2220WM 22-inch DVI Widescreen LCD monitor - In my opinion Samsung has been making the best monitors for computers for years.  They are a bit more expensive than a lot of other brands, but the money is well spent.  They are brighter, they have a great warranty package, and their sharpness of picture surpasses Sony.  I would only carry Samsung monitors in my store, but I already have a difficult time selling the significantly less expensive Acer brand as it is.  Around these parts, people are cheapskates.  But I digress. 
Ever since I took this monitor out of its box and hooked it up, I have become hopelessly spoiled.  From now on, anything less is too small, too dim, and produces a crappy picture.  My only complaint was that it required extra effort to get it at the proper resolution in Ubuntu 7.10 (I needed to build and manually install the latest LINUX drivers for the Radeon HD 2600 series from ATI - but realistically speaking the extra effort was well worth it).  This was a choice purchase, and if you have the means, I highly recommend one.  Brigitte is VERY jealous.

Currently this system set up to dual-boot Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.  Ubuntu needs a bit of customization at this point but most of the applications I need have already been installed.  Windows XP is there for gaming support, although I intend to try to get as many games working in Wine as possible.  Depending on how successful I am, I may end up wiping out the Windows XP partition when Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron is officially released and go back to a LINUX only computer system.  We'll just have to wait and see.