This is more of a fun thread then a serious kind. Let's all offer the specifications for our computers and perhaps ask any questions we have concerning upgrades + why you chose your setup.

Dell E520 - 305 PSU (dell underrated the power supplies though)
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+
1 GB DDR2 533 MHZ
160 GB SATA2 (never needed more, even with massive downloads using highspeed)
256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Onboard 7-Channel Sigmatel Audio (it's pretty descent)
Samsung 997DF (last of the CRT's worth buying, it's ashame to see flat panels coming out because they're just to expensive)
16x DVD+/-RW Drive - I forget what brand but it's really great, and it's a SATA too!
Windows XP Media Center 2005 (It's supposedly either Pro + extensions of some sort or Home + extensions of some sort, can't really tell the difference though)

I use alot of freeware stuff, I stopped pirating software LOL

As to why I chose my setup, I wanted something that didn't consume alot of power yet offered great speed + responsiveness.

P4 2.53GHz (wooohoo :| Well at least it has a nice Arctic Cooling fan)
1GB RAM
256MB nVidia 6800GS (not amazing)
120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (the very very quiet ones)
160GB Maxtor (Counting the days until it breaks and takes my porn collection with it. I suspended it across 2 elastic bands to make it very very quiet)
Sound Blaster Audigy
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 450 19"
Tagan 480W PSU (Incredibly quiet)
Antec SLK3000B case (Supposed to be quiet)

Can you see the theme I was going for?

Quiet!!!

Mine is fairly shite. I've been meaning to start again for a year now.. *daydreams of January's student loan payment*

P4 3.06GHz (prescott, probably 256k cache)
512MB RAM
ATI 9600 pro gfx card (256 meg)
120gig maxtor, 160gig maxtor, external 300gig buffalo drivestation attached to linksys NAS (nslu2) = 550GB or thereabouts of actual space.
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard
ancient 19" CRT that rapes retinas indiscriminately
random and cheap p.o.s. psu (not much of a loss if it ruins everything)
cheap, shit, full size case with an obscene number of drive spaces.
I have a lovely silent Arctic Cooling cpu fan, too, but sadly my psu sounds like a hoover.

here's mine:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=124172

let's see if the rest of you can prove your claims.

i also have a 1 megabit connection but my ISP swears it's 1.5

The main concern I've had is how in the past whenever I built the PC myself something always went wrong. With AMD it was the thunderbird processor and the fact the transistors were to close together (which caused many to overheat + burnout). With another system it was an unknown failure of the hard drive, which upon replacing would always happen again.

I'm tired of worrying about PC's but it would seem they aren't yet as good as I'd like. For example what's to prevent the PSU from damaging any of the internal components should there be a surge in it? Why don't they just place surge protectors of some kind inbetween the connections of the PSU, that way should one occur it won't fry your HD or mobo.

Also what's with everyone using IDE, get real people. Dell sells Intel systems that come with SATA HD's yet provides IDE DVD-R's? Crazy shite if you ask me... when I got my AMD it had both SATA HD + SATA DVD-R. The entire range of logic from them is confusing for that one!

Another weird thing Dell does is limit the PSU's. What the hell can anyone do with a 305 Watt PSU? Nothing man.... Eventually if I want I will need to upgrade the PSU and get one from PC Power & Cooling.

Dell's still kind silly in the design department.

Dell force you to use their parts by using strange proprietary connections. That way you're forced to buy things from them when you want to upgrade and they charge over the odds.

Leo, nobody's said anything outrageous yet, why would we need to prove what we had? =/ Especially my heap of shit. I should be ashamed to own it.

Dell stopped using Proprietary PSU's awhile back. Now I could technically buy one anywhere and install it. The only proprietary cable they have is the one from the motherboard to the front LED, audio, etc.

Dell force you to use their parts by using strange proprietary connections.
PC connectors are standardized and hve been for the last 10+ years.
the only problems i have with interchangability is mounting holes not lining up.
also i noticed that some cd-rom drives are about an inch longer than others, in a compact system that can be a major pain in the ass.

Really?

Oh well.. They're still cunts.

edit, grr.. don't post whilst I'm reply leo :P

That's BS. Dell have definitely used their own dodgy connections within the past 10 years on gfx cards, psu's and other things I'm sure.

Mine's sorta' beige, about two feet x two feet x eight inches or so. It's also got some wires running outta' the back of it and a couple of buttons on the front. Other than that, it just keeps doin' what I ask it to do.

Baron Max

450w PSU(some shitty brand i got on trademe)
MSI K8N NEO-F motherboard
AMD k8 3500+ CPU
dual channel DDR400 ram
80gb seagate HDD
250gb seagate HDD
300gb seagate HDD
geforce 6600gt PCI-e graphics
samsung 52x CD writer
emprex 16x DVD writer
MAG 19" LCD monitor
dvorak keyboard(just took to a QWERTY with my screwdriver until it looked right)

that's a big hunk'o iron there baron.
mine measures 13" X 15" X 8".
mine also has wires coming out the back.
but unlike yours mine has wires coming out the front too.

AMD Athalon 64-bit 3700+ processor at 2.39 ghz
1 gig RAM
250 HD
GeForce FX 5500
LCD Monitor
HP Printer
DVD-CDRW drive
CD Drive
3 1/2 floppy drive
5.1. surround sound speakers.
Windows XP Home.

got no pc.

P4 2.8 Hyperthread Prescott
120GB Hard Drive
200 GB Hard Drive
768 RAM
ATI All in Wonder Radeon 9600
Floppy
DVD -R
ASUS motherboard
Ethernet port
Echo Gina PCI with external box.
2 KRK Rokit5 Monitor Speakers
17in AOC crt monitor
19in AOC crt monitor
MXL microphone

12" PowerBook G4 867 MHz
640 MB RAM
DVD-R/CD-RW drive (slot-loading)
Mac OS X 10.3.9
Keyboard is in horrible shape

Old-ass PII Toshiba Satellite Pro
Maybe a 4 GB HD
OpenBSD 4.0

Cannibalized Gateway PII 400 MHz
Debian sid (A decision I deeply regret)
I use this as a server.

iMac DV (400 MHz G3)
128 MB RAM
OpenBSD 4.0

By their powers combined, I have nothing special!
http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary's/Pictures/NESGameCovers/C/Captain%20Planet.jpg