Computing » Computer specs
Referring people to here is easier than typing everything out manually. I also have a list of retired computers and their specs.
Main workstation
I decided to upgrade after eight years with a Dell XPS 8700, and the internals only cost me $1100 altogether. Never in my life did I think I’d go AMD.
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core @ 4.20GHz, 35MB LSB |
|---|---|
| Memory | 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX PC4-28800 DDR4-SDRAM @ 3600MHz |
| Motherboard & chipset |
MSI X470 GAMING PLUS MAX AMD X470 |
| Graphics | XFX Speedester SWFT 309 RX 6700 2304-core @ 2174MHz w/ 10GB 2000MHz GDDR6-SDRAM Acer SB230 23″ IPS FHD display (1920×1080)Logitech C920 HD Webcam (2017 model) |
| Storage | Samsung 980 1TB M.2 NVMe solid-state drive @ 3500MB/s Western Digital Red Plus 3TB SATA III hard-disk drive @ 5400RPM Seagate Barracuda 2TB SATA III hard-disk drive @ 7200RPM Western Digital Blue 1TB SATA III hard-disk drive @ 7200RPM |
| Media | Dell SATA III Multi Burner Drive @ 24× |
| Audio | Realtek ALC892/897 7+1HP SPDIF with additional dual-jack |
| Logitech Z323 2.1 speaker system Sony MDR-V6 headphones TONOR TC30 USB condenser microphone |
|
| Networking | Realtek 8111H Gigabit 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter |
| Expansion slots/ports |
2 full-height PCIe 3.0 x16 1 full-height PCIe 3.0 x16 3 full-height PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| 2 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type A 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 Type A 2 USB 3.0 Type A 4 USB 2.0 Type A DE-9 serial port DB-25 parallel port |
|
| Input | IBM Enhanced Keyboard (Model M), 1991 (1391401) Elecom DEFT PRO finger-operated wireless trackball |
| Other devices & components |
Fractal Design Define R5 mid-tower case EVGA 100-GD-0600-V1 600-watt power supply Scythe Fuma 2 dual sink w/ 2× 120mm Kaze Flex fans 3× Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 140mm fans |
| Operating sys. | Gentoo Linux AMD64 Windows 11 Pro x86-64 (via QEMU/KVM) |
Fun fact about that Radeon RX 580 mentioned at the top of this section: I got it for a then-cheap $200 used during the chip shortage in ‘21, but I managed to brick the card in ‘23 by flashing the wrong vBIOS image.
Dell XPS 8700
My wife’s PC; formerly mine from 2013–21. She basically only uses it to play The Sims 4 and Minecraft, so it still works for her purposes.
| Processor | Intel Core i7 4770 Quad Core @ 3.40GHz, 8MB LSB |
|---|---|
| Memory | 12GB Crucial PC3-12800 DDR3-SDRAM @ 1600MHz |
| Motherboard & chipset |
Proprietary Intel Z87 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 1162-core @ 1033MHz w/ 2048MB 6100MHz GDDR5-SDRAM |
| Storage | Kingston 120GB SATA III solid-state drive @ 550MB/s Western Digital 250GB SATA II hard-disk drive @ 7200RPM |
| Media | Realtek 2C44C Card Reader |
| Audio | Realtek ALC899-GR 7+1HP with additional dual-jack |
| Networking | Intel 82573L Gigabit 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter OEM Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Expansion slots/ports |
1 full-height PCIe 2.0 x16 1 full-height PCIe 2.0 x4 2 full-height PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| 6 USB 3.0 Type A 4 USB 2.0 Type A |
|
| Operating sys. | Windows 10 Pro x86-64 |
Acer Aspire A315-51-380T
Basically what my wife and I use when we don’t want to (or can’t) be sitting at our desktops.
| Processor | Intel Core i3-7100U Dual Core @ 2.40GHz, 3MB LSB |
|---|---|
| Memory | 4GB OEM PC4-17000 DDR4-SDRAM @ 2133MHz 8GB PNY PC4-19200 DDR4-SDRAM @ 2133MHz (underclocked) |
| Motherboard & chipset |
Proprietary (chipset unknown) |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 620 15.6″ LCD WXGA display (1366×768) Integrated webcam (unknown model) |
| Storage | Timetec 256GB SATA III M.2 solid-state drive Seagate 1TB SATA III hard-disk drive @ 5400RPM, 300MB/s |
| Media | OEM five-in-one card reader |
| Audio | Realtek ALC3234CG 2-channel with microphone input |
| Networking | OEM 10/100 Ethernet adapter OEM 802.11ac wireless adapter OEM Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Expansion slots/ports |
1 USB 3.0 Type A 2 USB 2.0 Type A |
| Input | OEM touchpad OEM keyboard |
| Operating sys. | Windows 11 Pro x86-64 |
Dell PowerEdge R710
The computer which serves as a… server. My website, Minecraft server, a mailserver and some other services are hosted here, at my house. While the cost of electricity puts it at just barely more expensive than dedicated hosting, getting to play sysadmin makes it worthwhile.
| Processor | 2 Intel Xeon L5630 quad-core @ 2.13GHz, 12MB LSB |
|---|---|
| Memory | 96GB DDR3-SDRAM (specifics yet to be determined) |
| Motherboard & chipset |
Proprietary Intel 5520 |
| Storage | PERC 6/i SAS RAID controller 4× Western Digital RE4 2TB SATA II hard-disk drive @ 7200RPM, 300MB/s |
| Media | (to be determined) |
| Networking | 4 Broadcom NetXtreme II 5709c Gigabit 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter |
| Expansion slots/ports |
2 full-height PCIe 2.0 x8 2 full-height PCIe 2.0 x4 |
| 4 USB 2.0 Type A 1 DE-9 serial port |
|
| Operating sys. | FreeBSD 14-STABLE x86-64 |
Archive-O-Matic 3000
An old prebuilt originally used for bookkeeping at a gas station in Ohio (for which it was severely over-specced), now serving as a floppy disk archival machine in lieu of not having enough drive bays on my workstation.
| Processor | AMD A8-3850 quad-core @ 2.90 GHz, 4MB LSB |
|---|---|
| Memory | 8GB Nanya PC3-10600 DDR3-SDRAM @ 1333MHz |
| Motherboard & chipset |
MSI A75MA-G55 AMD A75 |
| Storage | Western Digital Caviar 200GB SATA hard-disk drive @ 7200RPM, 300MB/s |
| Media | SATA II multi burner drive @ 16× (unknown model) Chinon FR-506 RevB 5¼″ floppy disk drive NEC FD1231H 3½″ diskette drive Panasonic JU-256A216P 3½″ diskette drive |
| Networking | Realtek RTL8111E 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter |
| Expansion slots/ports |
2 full-height PCIe x16 1 full-height PCIe x1 1 full-height PCI |
| 2 USB 3.0 Type A 6 USB 2.0 Type A DE-9 serial port DB-25 parallel port |
|
| Other devices & components |
Thermaltake V3 mid-tower case Thermaltake TR2-430 430-watt power supply |
| Operating sys. | Gentoo Linux AMD64 |