The Blog of Josh Stodola

I've been saving up money for a little while now, with hopes of revamping my office at home to accomodate my ever-growing computing needs wants. I was finally able to purchase all that I wanted, and now I am quite happy with my home within my home. It's amazing how dropping a few grand on yourself can change your whole outlook on life. The ultimate addition to my office is obviously a new computer, but before I could go down that route I decided it would be best to get a new desk first. I'm sold on the multiple monitors concept, so I needed a spacious desk with room for at least two big LCDs for the new machine. Also, my old computer (ha, I can call it old now) still has plenty of life left, so I needed a desk that could accomodate it as well, without being cluttered. After shopping at a multitude of stores around town, I threw in the towel on the traditional market and turned to the web. I should've done that to begin with; I wasted too much time and gas wandering aimlessly, and I had to put up with a bunch of annoying salesmen. I don't need to be persuaded into believing that L-shaped desks are far superior to anything else! Damn salesmen. Anyways, I ended up settling on a desk from VersaTables.

I Heart VersaTables

They specialize in computer furniture for classrooms, computer labs, and medical establishments. They have adjustable desks, wall mount setups, carts, drafting tables, etc. No, I am not setting up a computer lab here, but I like these styles of desks because they are built to last. I purchased the 72" Encosed Classroom Desk, and I think it is fantastic. The first thing I noticed about this desk is its level of sturdiness. I could treat it like a trampoline and it would not budge. Also, they probably could've just dropped it right from the FedEx airplane, because it was packed better than anything I've ever seen. Not a single chip or scratch in the black paint, I was very impressed. You might be wondering, where are the drawers? It has none. I had a desk with drawers before, and I never used them. My life is practically paperless, so I really don't have a need for file cabinets and drawers; they just get in the way. In my eyes, the lack of drawers was actually a selling point. The desk comes with a nice cable management tray in the back, which helps you organize your coords and reduce the amount of exposure. I accessorized this beast by getting two enclosed CPU holders, an adjustable keyboard arm and tray for my new PC, and a keyboard drawer for the other machine. With these accessories, I have the whole desk surface to work with (aside from the space required for the monitors and speakers, of course). It's worth mentioning that the keyboard arm I purchased was not very sturdy, and it did not slide as smoothly as it should. I simply called them and talked about it and they were happy to send me a new one free of charge (and they spoke to me like a person, in clear English). Now it works perfectly. They didn't even ask me to ship the other one back. Now that is customer service. These desks are made in the USA and come with a lifetime warranty. I could not be happier.

My Buttocks Rejoice

Unfortunately, I was completely unable to find any Herman-Miller dealers around here that would let me take one of their prestine chairs for a test-trial, so I threw the Aeron and Mirra options right out the window. I've heard great things about them, but I guess they should do a better job of marketing; I had to make an effort just to locate a dealer, and I still was unable to reach a human being. I ended up purchasing an all-black Steelcase Leap off eBay for roughly $450, and so far I am pleased with it. Although I do wish it had a little more support for the upper back. I am 6'4" so perhaps I need more support in this area than the average user. One remarkable thing about this chair is that it reclines very comfortably. I never thought leaning back could feel so good! In other chairs that I have sat in, leaning back tends to increase the pressure on my spine. The Leap does a good job of distributing the pressure evenly with the so-called "Natural Glide System". There is an ungodly amount of adjustments on this chair. That said, you can expect it to take some time to find your "spot", and don't dare let anybody else sit in it!

The Ultimate PC

I've always wanted to build my own PC. Not only do you get a bigger bang for your buck, but there is a certain sense of pride that comes along with it. This was my first build, and I will probably never turn back to retail. As a control-freak, I just love being able to say "Yup, I built this". Ever since I read the post from the coding whore himself, Jeff Atwood, I was intrigued to give it a shot. And, as planned, I tried to go all-out. This is what my new machine consists of…

• Antec Sonata III Black Case - $124.95
  This is a very nice and quiet case, although I am not so sure that opening a door to reach my DVD drives is desired. It doesn't really bother me, but I could see how it could be a major annoyance to some. Also, I think it could be ventilated better. Came with a really good 500W power supply.
• GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Motherboard - $224.95
  This was probably more of a motherboard than I needed, but it's very nice indeed. I think the documentation could have been better.
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66Ghz Quad-Core Processor - $274.99
  This CPU is incredible. I considered getting an Extreme, but decided it was no way worth the price. I haven't overclocked this CPU yet (too chicken), but I'll bet it can handle it well. I plan to OC in the future, perhaps when I grow some balls.
• MSI NX8800GT 512MB OC GeForce 256-bit GDDR3 Video Card - $169.99
  This is an impressive video card, it handles my dual monitors like a champ. Such a work horse. Loaded with features I will probably never use. Overclocked to 660 MHz, this thing flies at decent temperatures. It's big, and it packs a punch.
• (2) mushkin 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 SDRAM 800 Dual Channel - $217.98
  This is 8GB of high quality RAM. Extremely fast. Came with an exceptional $25 mail-in rebate, too.
• Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10,000 RPM Hard Drive - $299.99
  This is the boot drive, and I cannot get over how fast and how quiet this hard drive is. It is literally sickening. Expensive, but I truly think it is worth it. Atwood even recommended it to RobCon. Get it. Now.
• Western Digital Caviar 500GB 7,200 Hard Drive - $79.99
  This is my secondary drive that I use primarily for multimedia storage. I just might buy a couple more of these, they are extremely cheap and would work great for backups. Could be quieter, of course, but the Antec case comes with these fantastic rubber grommets to help eliminate vibration noise.
• Zalman CNPS9700 2 Ball CPU Cooler - $53.99
  Supposed to be an excellent cooler, but I expected more. After 4 hours of Prime95, Core 0 had a temperature of 65C. I expected much lower than that; I'm not even overclocked!
• (2) Samsung 22X DVD Burner SATA - $57.98
  They work great, but I wish they were quieter when burning. Go ahead, call me a noise freak.
• (2) Acer Black 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - $439.98
  A great deal, has excellent picture quality. I did have one dead pixel in each of them, but they are barely noticeable, only when the entire screen is black. I didn't notice them for 2 days.
• Windows XP 64-bit - $139.99
  Since I wholeheartedly feel that Vista is the biggest heap of shit Microsoft has released since Bob, I had to go with good ol' XP. And let me tell you, this OS is very fast. Excitingly fast. Thus far, I have had no problems whatsoever. It runs intensive programs (such as Visual Studio and Photoshop) like a true champ. One complaint: it's too fast. I find the instantaneous appearance of windows somewhat disorienting. I should get used to it :)

I also got a Microsoft ComfortCurve Keyboard, a 5-Button Wired IntelliMouse, and Logitech Speakers (I already have a quality Plantronics headset). In the end, I spent about $2,250 on this machine. Note: these prices are as of early July 2008. And that, folks, is my ultimate PC! I love it, and I am guessing it will last me a good five years, at least.

I've never made a post like this before, I hope you enjoyed it!