HWC's unofficial Upgrade-itis/Folding-itis club

[Grampa]

Hi kids!

***note this is meant as amusement in a sarcastic way, as well as therapeutic***

I would like to throw my name into the hat of people who suffer from upgrade-itis.

Only requirement is that you introduce yourself, and let the community know of what type of upgrade-itis you suffer from.
Does not just have to be computer related, could be related to anything you constantly finding you have an itch to always upgrade. (that you actually follow through with)
Brag all you want, so long as you admit your faults, then, and only then can we heal one another.

Have you ever had one of those big oops!:doh: moments in your life?

Have you ever felt you wanted to buy something nice and simple, only to find yourself constantly making adjustments or upgrading your equipment???
"oh yeah I'll only upgrade this and this, it'll be cheap":rofl:
A few upgrades later you find that you really haven't "upgraded" anything, you've just bought or built yourself an entirely new computer/car/home cinema.

You're not alone!! together we can find a cure!!!

Hi, I'm Grampa.
I suffer from upgrade-itis.
It in my nature to tinker,
I haven't built myself a computer in years... so I decided to have some fun.

I build computers now and then for friends, and family (for fun).
To cut a long story short, I had 2 e8400's (which are now personal computers for the kids), and a mac pro (still in use).
I set myself a budget of $5000, figured it would be plenty (I'm sure it is enough for 3-4 computers)

I ended up with an sr-2 rig dual x5650's , a 980x unit for work use replacing the mac pro, a 2600k unit for personal use, an 875k sort of being tinkered with, an am3 1090T that my wife uses for general computer use.
2 months, 88gb of ram, about $12000 later (includes a couple of notebook computers)
I've come to the realization, maybe I went overboard. :doh:

Computers aren't the only thing I do this with.
I have the same symptoms when playing around with my home theatre, and home audio systems.
I wont even start on cars, golf, tennis, or home gym equipment.

Where does it all end???

In all seriousness I spoke to the wife, and I probably wont be building computers for anyone any longer :haha::haha: (her words not mine)

As penance for my misdeeds, my wife donated 2 of the laptops to a local women's shelter.
I will also post some stuff in the BST area later on, if people are interested in getting some sweet deals.
I want to donate a portion of the proceeds to HWC's annual charity.

I realize this is not the typical case of upgrade-itis, and your experiences may differ.
Its an exception and not the norm, as not everyone is willing nor wants to pour so many resources into a hobby.
To that I say, to each his/ or her own.
Cheers to you.

I just wanted to share my crazy story, and tell others of what I'm doing to make it a positive in my life, and a positive for others.

How did you turn your over indulgence into something positive?
Let the community know by sharing your story.

I'm Grampa, and thank you for reading my story. :doh:

Cheers.

 

[lowfat]

I am pretty much the same way. I wanted to do a small upgrade for some better PPD in folding@home. And I end up two SR-2s w/ 12 cores a piece.

And I really hope you decide to join out folding@home team. You could be one of the biggest contributors to our team if you did so.

 

[Polygon]

I am too poor to suffer from upgrade-itis

more like if-I-had-a-high-paying-job-i'd-buy-this-itis

 

[chrisk]

I am pretty much the same way. I wanted to do a small upgrade for some better PPD in folding@home. And I end up two SR-2s w/ 12 cores a piece.

And I really hope you decide to join out folding@home team. You could be one of the biggest contributors to our team if you did so.

My name is Chris and I too, suffer from this affliction.

I started by using my spare parts lying around to build a humble folding rig.

Now, I have two water-cooled i7 970 rigs. The folding rig (which used to be spare parts) would be the envy of many, I think.

I have considered ways to re-wire the apartment to support SR-2 rigs, but the wife would find out and she would cure me of upgraditis...permanently.

 

[Arinoth]

My name is Chris and I too, suffer from this affliction.

I started by using my spare parts lying around to build a humble folding rig.

Now, I have two water-cooled i7 970 rigs. The folding rig (which used to be spare parts) would be the envy of many, I think.

I have considered ways to re-wire the apartment to support SR-2 rigs, but the wife would find out and she would cure me of upgraditis...permanently.

I'm Arinoth and i have upgrade-itis

I've been upgrading machines since i was able to build my own P4 system. I've tempted to move to SB from my 1366 however couldnt justify it. Instead my girlfriend's system is being overhauled instead so i'll still get to play with new SB techy.

You should really move into a house one of these days Chris

 

[badatcards]

Hi, I'm Badatcards, I too have a F@H Addictionh34r:. I just cant afford the upgrade-itis:sad:. If my PC's not folding I go through PPD withdraws :shok:WTFWay To Fold

 

[jergreen]

I'm jergreen and I have Upgrade-itis.

I spend hours and hours surfing the 'net checking ncix and newegg as well as benchmark sites to get the absolute best framerates at the absolute cheapest price. The biggest problem is I don't even play graphically intense games. Since I upgraded from a e8400 to a i5 760 I have noticed no increase in framerate in Mass Effect 2, Starcraft or EVE.

But that doesn't stop me from figuring out whatwould be the best upgrade for my GTX 275, so btw d'you think 2-460 GTX in SLI would out perform a GTX 570?

 

[Xeven]

Hello. I'm Xeven and I have upgrade-itis.

I was rehabilitated a few years back and haven't been a junkie for at least 4 or 5 years. During the second half of 2010 I decided to build a desktop to replace my G73JH gaming "laptop". So I bought some second hand parts (x4 965 + HD5770 + etc) and I was satisfied. Two days later I decided to build an HTPC and this is where all my troubles restarted. Because of the irrational dissatisfaction with my initial HTPC build, I went from a $300.00 dollar very functional machine to $2000.00 dollar overkill (http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/htpc-systems-software/35412-how-not-build-htpc.html).

I then decided to support folding@home and initially bought a second hand i7 920 to do CPU folding. From this 920 build, all hell broke loose. I started hoarding hardware as folding addiction took over my life and I ended up with 3x i7 920 machines (2x OC'd, 1x Stock) with 10xGTX460s and an HTPC with 2xGTS450.

A sensible person would stop there and be content with the relatively large PPD output of his/her machines. But an addict, will not. I decided the PPD output was puny so I sold most of my hardware and bought 4x Hexcore Xeons (L5639) and upgraded to 2x SR-2 machines. Still dissatisfied, I bought one more and now have 3 dedicated folders and a 920 that doubles as my workstation.

Sadly this does not end here. I am now waiting to receive 2x570s to replace my "aging" 460s for my gaming machine/workstation and is always on the lookout for "parts" that I don't need but MUST HAVE.

I feel desensitized with rationality and one of this days my wife will realize how much I spent on hardware on the last quarter of last year and sadly, be terminated with extreme prejudice.

I am Xeven. Please pray for me?

PS: Grampa if you're not folding already, how about donating some of that CPU time to the HWC folding@home team? h34r:

 

[ilya]

Hi, ilya here. I have an addiction.

I don't play any demanding games, (or play much at all anymore) but I still find myself buying a GTX 470 and a new X3440 build. I said to myself "I should really get some more energy efficient folding hardware," and before you know it $1000 goes down the drain. Now that folding hardware is either very hot or very loud, so I said to myself "I should really get some better cooling," and now I have a giant pile of computer fans, most of which I've barely even used.

Even though I got incredibly good results with my X3440 and no longer feel buyer's remorse, I still feel the itch for a Sandy Bridge build...

 

[CMetaphor]

Meta here. Yes I have upgrade-itis as well.

Although I'm partially in denial about the whole thing. How? Give every computer a different purpose. Even though a good pc is entirely multipurpose, i feel the need to build many different ones for each possible thing they can do. HTPC, Net Box, Server, Gamer, Secondary Gamer, low-power... etc etc... If they all have different uses, then i dont normally feel as bad about building them. Whats next? I dont know, but it'll probably be soon...