James' system at Stedl.com
Main Page Bottom
Main
 Stedl Family Tree 
 Free Desktops 
Hobbies
 Motorcycle Trips 
 Camping 
 Paintball 
Games
 RPG 
 NWN Tales 
 NWN Finmark 
 VGA Planets 
James
 Bookmarks 
 System 
 Software 
Info
 Friends 
 Search 
 Vikings 

Locations of visitors to this page
My system is built with components I feel offer the best performance at the best price. And here is the basic story of my system. I bought a 386sx/16 way back when that was an entry level system. I needed a bigger hard drive, then a faster modem, then a faster motherboard, then, then, then.... Every original component has been upgraded at least five times and the CPU about 17. Will it stop? No. I have a better system than I could buy for the money and I know it top to bottom. The only question - what is next?

I now have four systems:
James' system is Windows XP Pro X64 for myself (James), used for gaming and general use.
Holly's system is Windows XP belongs to my fiancee (Holly), used for general use and gaming.
The third system WAS being built into a PVR using KnoppMyth, but I can not get the AVerMedia PCI M179 to work, seems it is too old.


Whats inside as of 2008-07-17!
James' System (Windows XP Pro)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ AM2 (2.9Ghz)
CPU Fan: AMD Athlon XP Stock
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 AMD 770 ATX
Memory: Corsair 4GB XMS2 DHX DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Video: ASUS ATI EAH4850 Radeon HD 4850 512MB DDR3 PCI-E
Monitor: Samsung 225BW 22inch Widescreen LCD @1680x1050x32bit
Drives: Samsung 750GB Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ

Western Digital 250GB IDE in Thermaltake A2396 USB 2.0 External
DVD±RW: Samsung SH-S203B 20X
DVD±RW: NEC 3520A Double Layer
Sound: On board (better that the SoundBlaster IMHO)

Boston Acoustics BA635 Speakers
Case: hec 6XR8 ATX Mid Tower *
Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W
Case Fans: Cooler Master R4-S2S-12AK-GP 120mm
Flash Reader: Sabrent CRW-UINB 65-in-1
KeyBoard: Logitech Deluxe Access 104 Keys

Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52
Mouse: Logitech USB Optical Wheel Mouse
Controllers: Kensington USB Expert Mouse Pro
Floppy: None
Bluetooth: Zonet 6110C USB Adapter
Power: Smart Strip Power Strip
Holly's System (Windows XP)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP Barton 2500+ 1.833Ghz
CPU Fan: AMD Athlon XP Retail
Mainboard: Chaintech 7NJL1 Apogee nForce2
Memory: Kingmax 1.5GB PC3200 DDR RAM (256 X2) (512 X2)
Video: XFX Nvidia FX 5600 Ultra 128MB
Monitor: Samsung 940BX 19inch LCD @1280x1024x32bit *
Drives: Maxtor 80gig DiamondMax Plus 9 ATA133 7200RPM
DVD±RW: NEC 2500A
Floppy: Sony 3.5/1.44
USB Hub: Chaintech CBox 7NJL1 Apogee nForce2<
Sound: Chaintech 7NJL1 Apogee nForce2
Case: InWin IW-S500
Power Supply: SilverStone SST-ST400 400w
KeyBoard: Mitsumi 104 keys
Mouse: Logitech 3 button Scroll Wheel
Power: Smart Strip Power Strip
Shared System Items
DSL Modem: SpeedStream  5100B
Router: LinkSys WRTSL54GS Wireless Firewall Router
Switch: Netgear FS605 Switch
Printer: Samsung SCX-4200
Flash Reader: Heisei USB 2.0 HR-2011 (CF)
Flash Reader: Microtech USB CameraMate (CF/SM)
Flash Drives: Corsair Flash Voyager 2gb Drive
Cardreaders: PQI USB Travel Flash 16meg (CF/SM/MM)
SuperFloppy: WinStation LS-120 USB SuperFloppy
Off line Equipment (Make an offer)
CPU: AMD K7 Thunderbird 900Mhz
AMD K6 500Mhz
CPU Fan: Generic AMD Athlon K7 Dual Turbo Cool Fan
Mainboard: ASUS K7M ATX Slot A
ASUS P5A ATX AGP
Router/Hub: Netgear WGT624v2 Wireless Firewall Router
Memory: Mushkin w/Siemens Infineon 288meg PC133 SDRAM
Video: ABit Siluro GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB
ABit PCI GeForce4 MX
Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy
Guillemot Nvidia Riva TNT2 32meg APG
AVerMedia PCI M179 Tuner
Mag DJ530 15inch NI @1024x768x16bit
Drives: Maxtor 40gig DiamondMax ATA100
Maxtor 17.5 gig
Maxtor 13.5 gig

Byte CC Slim Keypad TK323
DVD-Rom: Afreey 8X DVD
CD-R/RW: ASUS CRW-5224A
CD-Rom: Toshiba XM-6202B 32X 85ms
NIC: Linksys EtherFast 10/100
Some other tech toys I own, with the newest on top.
MP3 Player: SanDisk Sansa Clip 4GB
Found this for $60 at slickdeals.net, in fact got one for the misses too. Now I can hold more than just 3 or 4 books, :)
Camera: Canon PowerShot G9 12mp

Was going to see Yosemite National Park and want to be able to take some nice photos and this camera has almost as many optins as my old Canon AE1 35mm.

GPS Unit: Garmin eTrex Legend HCx

This one is in color and WILL give directions, but needed another $60 worth of software to do it right. I have a RAM mount for use on the motorcycle and bicycle.
MP3 Player: SanDisk Sansa C250 2GB
Found this for $49 at slickdeals.net Now I use this for music while doing yard work.
Cell Phone: Sanyo 8400
Memory: RiDATA 1GB microSD
Took some work to get MY ring tones into the phone.
Camera: Canon PowerShot CD1000 7mp

Wanted something that would fit any pocket and this does. Nice sized screen easy to use even with with one hand.

PDA: Dell Axim X51v
600+mhzm WiFi, Bluetooth built in and a QVGA screen
Memory: Lexar 1GB CompactFlash
SimpleTech 1Gig SD
I bought a copy of CarryDVD which lets me put my DVD's on to the gig card and watch a movie anywhere. A average 120 min movie is about 350 meg when done.
Off line!
MP3 Player: iPod Shuffle 512meg
Small, cheap just what I needed to make the trips to and from work enjoyable.
Off line!
Cell Phone: Sanyo MM-5600
Memory: RiDATA 512meg miniSD
Needed more space for MP3's, yes MP3's, I have taken about 2 dozen songs (~100meg) from CD's put them into my phone and can listen whenever I feel like it. If you get Nokia's Multimedia Player 1.1 You can convert most video formats to .3pg so you can put clips onto the phone too.
Off line!
Camera: Canon PowerShot S60 5mp

Mr. Flash 64meg CompactFlash

Canon 32meg CompactFlash

Was looking at the G5 but went for the smaller size of the S60. It was time for an upgrade from 2.1 mp and this one has fast start up time. I limited the camera I would buy to those that use CompactFlash which I have a number of. Also can use the gig card when going on trips, that is if it is not full of movies.

Off line!
MP3 Player: Frontier Labs NEX IIe
Memory: Viking 128meg CompactFlash

Mr. Flash 128meg CompactFlash

Much better than my old RCA Lyra, takes straight MP3 files. It is getting harder to find good MP3 players that take removable memory. I got the NEX IIe from My Digital Discount good price fast delivery.
Off line!
PDA: Palm m505

The E-100 is much easier to read and has many more uses but the small size of the Palm makes it so easy to carry. If the entry of text would catch up to the PocketPC's it would be even more usefull.

Off line!
GPS Unit: Garmin eTrex Legend

We are trying out a new hobbie called GeoCaching. I have a RAM mount for use on the motorcycle and bicycle.
Off line!
Camera: Nikon CoolPix 950 2.1mp
Memory: Nikon 8meg CompactFlash

I have to state that Nikon's "Nikon View" software that comes with the camera is poor, almost useless! If you go to their web site they do not have it available for download. At first I thought it was because it was some great program they did not want everyone to have it. The fact seems to be that it is so useless they do not want peope to see it. I have an older Olympus D-220L and its software lets you take full control of the camera from the computer.

Off line!
Windows CE: Casio Cassiopeia E-100
Memory: Simple Technology 32meg CompactFlash
Case: E&B Company Slipper C100
I was wondering what speeds my compactflash cards ran at, added in my thumbdrive and here are the numbers, using the USB 2.0 CF card reader. Numbers are MB/s and X numbers are based on 1X = 150 kB/s.



Program Used
Name  Avg   X   HD_Speed   DskSpeed   HD Tach 3 
 URDisk 128 meg Thumb drive  5.2 34X 5.1 5.2 5.5
Lexar 1 Gig CF  4.8 32X 4.8 4.6 4.9
Viking 128 meg CF  3.9 26X 3.9 3.8 4.0
Mr. Flash 64 meg CF  3.9 26X 3.9 3.8 4.0
Canon 32 meg CF  3.9 26X 3.9 3.8 3.9
 Simple Tech 32 Meg CF  1.8 12X 1.8 1.7 1.8
Mr. Flash 128 meg CF  1.5 10X 1.5 1.4 1.5
It is interesting to note that the Lexar is their cheaper one labled 4X. And the oldest card in the list is the 32 meg Simple Tech.

I bought my 1998 Nissan Altima SE new and it is still going strong at 9 years old. I found all the info at Edmunds. I also have a 1999 BMW R1100RT for my yearly cycle trips and when I feel the need for speed.

Main Page Top
All contents ©1999-2007 James Stedl
All rights reserved, Revised: 2007-03-01
These pages are best viewed at 800x600x32k or greater. Email:
Website: http://www.stedl.com/