How over-specced are your work's computers?

Our work pcs are better spec'd depending on the grade of work you do. Server support have decent computers, desktop support, and the log and refer department don't have (on average) sufficient pc's to efficiently do their jobs at all times.
 
at work

P4 DualCore
512MB Ram
40GB HD (all stored on network)

My New System For Monitoring servers and run mutiple Video Screens which is coming soon
q6600
4GB
3870 256mb (i think)
Video Capture Card
2 network cards
2x20inch Monitors
 
Craig321 said:
Over-specced? Phttt

Dell OptiPlex GX270
Intel Pentium 4, 2400 MHz
Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller (96 MB)
Maxtor 6E040L0 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
System Memory 512 MB
Intel Springdale-G i865G(V)

Makes me cry :(
Click to expand...

That spec looks familiar! Pretty much what we use at our work, plus some 3Ghz GX280s. Most are being upgraded to 1Gb RAM which makes them fine for majority running Outlook, Word and IE.

Newer machines are Dual Core Athlons and Pentium Dual Cores around 2.2 Ghz and 1Gb RAM.

Does anyone else though thinkhard disks 'slow' down over time? I swear my PC was much slower until I installed a new Hard Disk, even after a full format and restore.

Andrew
 
I agree about HDD's slowing down over time, I swear they do, perhaps I should run a test, then run it again on a fresh install and low level format after a few years.

I have not long finished an XP rollout for a big steelworks, most machines were P3, some P2's, but also some 386's running 3.11. Not to mention there network was mostly Token Ring, some ppl were still running on coax aswell.

But now they all got a dual core setup, must be quite a jump from a laptop that struggled with win95.


I also helped with a company closing down around here, they had about 500 employees in the building and told me I could take as many of the pc's as I wanted as they had to pay to get rid of them. I thought xmas had come early until i realised that the highest spec was a P3 -450Mhz :(

DJH
 
Our new machines we're putting in are

Core2 E2180s
MSI microATX boards
1GB - 2GB DDR2

and this is for a school...kids who dont know how to spell "you" with more than one letter, teachers that come to us with problems of "its broken" and when asked why give the reply "umm err it doesnt do what i wanted it to thats why"

... completely overpowered but at least they wont be going slow anytime soon

djh82uk - the first 33% of a hard drive is the fastest part followed by the next 33% and then the final 33%, once it fills with Temporary files and users profiles amoung other things they get progressivly slower, half the time no ones maintaining them so they'll become stupidly fragmented, people will install programs which will no doubt add extra services meaning more useless stuff will be going on the background - so they will be slower over time unless maintained
 
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Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1918MB RAM
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI Radeon Xpress 1250
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x791E)
These things have HDMI too!!

I overspecced them slightly on purpose, but they were a couple of hundered £ each, I had to build them myself though, which was a pain.
 
On the shopfloor where I work we have a few 386's running windows 3.11!! I didn't even know they were still in use until someone wanted a memory upgrade and I saw that the PC only had 8mb ram!
 
90% of my company works on cellys

the three new laptops with c2d are the highest specced pcs in the office

was thinking about swapping my bosses e6600 for my e6300 form home though....

:D
 
the majority are P4s or 1.86GHz core 2 duos (50/50 split) but in the computer department they have about 50 Q6600s, they can use them in parralel to use them for high performance computing, moddeling ect i think its about 800 - 1000 cores when all linked together
 
ive no idea what our school computers were like...

they locked everything so you cant see anything even if you knew how to and wanted too..

even had locks on the case so i couldnt open it and looks lol..

good job aswell, i woulda took a few gigs for my old pc if i could get in ;)
 
I work for the NHS IT too and you want to hear the customers moan about how slow their machines are if they don't have a new C2D desktop. They run IE, Office and some legacy programs and they complain a P4 2.4 isn't fast enough!

They tell you all sorts of crap just to get a new machine

default spec now is Lenovo A96 - C2D 6550, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, XP sp2
 
Im self employed n have 2 x systems for work,

Laptop

Core2 1.7Ghz
2GB DDR2
160GB HDD
X3100 Gfx

Workshop Desktop

AMD 3800+ @ 2.5Ghz
2GB DDR
1TB HDDs
X-Fi Music
8800GTS 320MB :eek: (only since i got HD4850, was ATI X300 SE)

The desktop is a bit overkill, but theres nothing better than a quick fragfest when ** supposed to be working.
 
I think we're pretty sensible, most people have some form of core 2 duo, 1GB RAM, everybody has at least two screens though...

I've collected quite a number of machines though, 2x HP xw6600 workstations for my primary desktops (1 x XP Pro, 1x RHEL 5.1) - Quad core Xeons with 4GB of RAM.

Downside is, it sounds a little like I have a hoover running under my desk...

I have a HP workstation class laptop which I use for working from home (big, heavy but pretty quick) and my old Dell ultraportable which I drag around with me (up for replacement now really, still not sure what I want though...)
 
When I started my Ph.D at Jodrell Bank a couple of years back, the pc at my desk was an old pentium clocked at 300Mhz :/ It was truly pitiful. Had to do most of my work on my laptop. Then a year ago or so they upgraded it to a C2D e6300.
 
Core2Duo e6750
2GB DDR2 RAM
integrated graphics card

all i do is remote access into an actual Linux server with compilling software i need, and write Word reports.

still, i feel they are slow and sluggish comparing to my 8GB quad core.

there's no such thing as overspec :)
 
I run a Sony Vaio WGN-S2HP lappy here as my every day machine.

1.6 pentium mobile
XP 32
1gig ram
80gig hdd
Village tronic PCMCIA gfx card (I run two external monitors either side of the lappy screen)
My main work is done on this machine using my browser, FTP access and E-mail.

Also on my desk is my VM box for testing, and re-creating virtual environments.

Dell Optiplex GX620
XP 64bit
2x 3.2ghz
4gig ram
only 400gig of storage (:()

I also have on my desk a Windows 2008 Poweredge SC1420 as my misc box :) (its spec escapes me for the moment) along with a large number of thin clients, of varying spec from 400Mhz - 1.2Ghz :)

I am often reffered to as "Nasa" to visitors to the office. It seems 5 screens is a bit much for them to understand :D
 
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Overspecced? Try Underspecced.

Celeron 1.6ghz, 128mb RAM running Windows XP!

Also there are about 5 programs open at one time on each computer and to say it's slow would be a compliment!

I had to order some RAM on the sly.
 
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